Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs Part 20

"A sail to the north-west, she is standing this way and close hauled."

On hearing this Mr Stewart went aloft with his spy-gla.s.s. After waiting some time he shouted--

"She is the frigate, sir, coming to look for us--no doubt about that."

The "Venus," by this time having got sufficiently far from the coast, was hove to. The Frenchmen, finding that they were out in their calculations, changed their conduct and became very submissive.

Before long the "Sylvia" was up to the prize. A boat came off from her, and Mr Leigh in return sent a report, written at his dictation by Owen, of what had occurred, with the request that the more troublesome of the prisoners might be removed. This occupied time, when the "Sylvia"

shortening sail to keep company with the prize, the two frigates stood for the Bay of Marrack.

Here the French crew were sent on sh.o.r.e, the officers receiving permission, on giving their parole, to reside in the neighbouring village. Every effort was now made to repair the "Sylvia's" damages, and to fit the prize for going round to Batavia, where, it was hoped, a sufficient number of men would be found to man her, as she would prove a valuable addition to the British squadron in those seas. As soon as Mr Leigh was able he went on board the "Sylvia," taking Owen with him.

"Young Hartley has behaved admirably, sir," he said to Captain Stanhope.

"Through his intelligence we were saved from being set upon by the Frenchmen, who had formed a plot to attempt the recapture of the prize."

He then gave the particulars with which he was acquainted of Owen's history.

"I believe I am right, am I not?" he continued, turning to Owen.

"Yes, sir," was the answer.

Captain Stanhope then put numerous questions to Owen, which he answered in an apparently satisfactory way.

"As my clerk--poor Jones--in our action with the 'Venus' was wounded and has since died, I will give you his berth at once," said the captain, "as I understand you are fully capable of filling it, and I may perhaps, if you wish it, place you on the quarter-deck as a mids.h.i.+pman, unless you would rather take any opportunity which may occur of returning to your friends. If you stick to the service you may rise in it."

"Thank you, sir," said Owen; "I wish to do as you think best. I am very willing to act as your clerk, and hope that I may give you satisfaction.

I had not thought of entering the navy or remaining at sea in the merchant service."

"At all events, I will at once give you a rating as my clerk; you will then be on the quarter-deck and mess in the mids.h.i.+pmen's berth. In regard to your entering the service I will leave it to your further consideration."

"If poor Jones' things have not yet been sold I shall be happy to purchase them for Mr Hartley," said Mr Leigh.

The second lieutenant was a young man of good means.

"You shall do as you wish," said the captain. "At all events I will speak to the purser, and see that Hartley gets a proper outfit. The tailor will soon put a patch on his jacket should he become a mids.h.i.+pman."

Owen felt very grateful to the captain and his kind friend the second lieutenant. He did not hesitate for a moment about acting as the captain's clerk while he remained on board, but he asked himself the question whether it was not his duty, should he find the opportunity, to return to Mr Fluke's counting-house, from which he had not been formally dismissed. He had come only for a holiday to regain his health, and he considered that he was bound to go back again. He found, however, that, having once entered, he could not leave the s.h.i.+p without the captain's leave until she returned home and was paid off. There was now no help for it. Captain Stanhope was evidently a kind man, and would, should a favourable opportunity occur, allow him to go home.

Still, Owen saw that the present was no time to talk about that. He at once set to work on his new duties, and he soon found, from the approval expressed by the captain, that he performed them satisfactorily.

Mr Sc.o.o.nes, who had not left the s.h.i.+p, wis.h.i.+ng to go round in her to Batavia, looked very much astonished when he saw Owen in an officer's dress on the quarter-deck. He had himself, however, so completely lost credit with the officers from his conduct in the action that few of them spoke to him. He was glad therefore for some one to speak to. Going up to Owen, he addressed him with a patronising air--

"Glad to see that your talents have been discovered, my young friend,"

he said; "had I felt justified, I should have recommended you to the captain from the first, but as you thought fit to a.s.sociate with the s.h.i.+p's boys and men, I could not do so with any propriety."

"I do not know with whom else I could have a.s.sociated, Mr Sc.o.o.nes,"

answered Owen, laughing. "You certainly showed no inclination for my society, and unhappily all the other officers were lost. Had it not been for the s.h.i.+p's boy you speak of, and the only man who remained sober, we none of us should have escaped."

"Well, well," answered Mr Sc.o.o.nes, "let bygones be bygones. If I get home first I will report your good fortune--that you are as strong and hearty as your friends could wish you to be. You will not, I suppose, send home an account of the s.h.i.+pwreck, for you and I may differ in our statements. Mine of course is the one which will be accredited, as no one at home will fancy that you can know anything about the matter."

"I should not wish to say anything to incriminate you," answered Owen; "but the lives of a great number of our fellow-creatures are at stake when an officer loses his senses, and I therefore hope that you will either give up drinking or quit the sea."

"Then you intend to accuse me of casting away the s.h.i.+p through drunkenness?" exclaimed Mr Sc.o.o.nes, looking as though he could eat Owen up.

"Whatever I say or do will be from a sense of duty," answered Owen.

A part of this conversation had been overheard by the first lieutenant, who held Mr Sc.o.o.nes in most supreme contempt, fully believing, from what he knew of him, that it was through his drunkenness that the s.h.i.+p had been lost.

"Mr Sc.o.o.nes," he said, addressing that person, "it has been decided that you should go on sh.o.r.e at once. If you are in a hurry to reach Batavia, you can, without difficulty, find your way overland."

A boat was just then about to shove off. The first mate of the hapless "Druid" having no traps to get ready, stepped into her, and was conveyed on sh.o.r.e.

"Hartley," said the first lieutenant, turning to Owen, "I wish you to draw up an exact account of the s.h.i.+pwreck, and state, to the best of your belief, how it occurred, and if corroborated by your two surviving s.h.i.+pmates, they shall sign it, and it shall be sent home. That fellow ought never to get the command of a s.h.i.+p, or sail again even as a mate."

Owen was sorry to leave Mr Leigh, who remained in command of the prize; at the same time he was glad to escape from Ashurst, who showed, during a short visit he paid to the frigate to get some of his traps, that he retained the ill-feeling he had all along manifested towards him.

Mike and Nat managed to come on board the "Sylvia" for a few moments to congratulate Owen, they having heard of what they called his good fortune.

"You are in your proper place now, Mr Hartley," exclaimed Nat; "one good thing is, that Mr Ashurst won't venture to hit you with the rope's end."

"Shure I'm mighty plased to see you made an officer, Mr Hartley," said Mike; "when you are a commander, as you will be sartain one of these days, I'd be proud to be your c.o.xswain."

"I'm not a mids.h.i.+pman yet," answered Owen, laughing, "though I truly thank you for your good wishes."

Owen drew up a faithful report of the loss of the "Druid," which, meeting with the approbation of Captain Stanhope, was forwarded by the first opportunity. The repairs to the frigate and her prize having been made, they sailed to Batavia, where several other men-of-war were found at anchor.

Not without some, difficulty a crew was collected to man the "Venus,"

partly from the seamen of merchant vessels in port, as also from some who had been s.h.i.+pwrecked, with a few men-of-war's men from the "Sylvia"

and other s.h.i.+ps. Mr Hawkins, the first lieutenant of the "Sylvia," who had just been promoted to the rank of commander, received an acting order as captain of the "Venus," and Mr Leigh returned to the "Sylvia"

as her first lieutenant. Owen was very glad to have Mr Leigh on board, as he had shown him so much kindness, and equally well pleased that Ashurst remained in the "Venus."

Ashurst, however, paid two or three visits to the "Sylvia," during which he made disparaging remarks about Owen in the mess.

Although several of the things were said in his presence, Owen took no notice of them. He trusted that he might win the regard of his new messmates by his uniform good conduct and gentlemanly bearing towards them. Still, he found that he had much to put up with. Ashurst possessed considerable influence in the berth, and there is an old saying, that "dirt cannot be thrown without some of it sticking." Owen was often treated in a contemptuous manner by several of the mates and mids.h.i.+pmen. He heard himself called a wretched young quill-driver, Cheeseparings, junior--Cheeseparings being the name gived to the purser--the captain's spy, or licenced talebearer, with many similar uncomplimentary epithets. He made no complaint even when Mr Leigh once kindly asked him if he was happy in the berth, nor did he reply in a way to excite the anger of those who were endeavouring to annoy him.

He knew that it could not last long. He had written to Mr Fluke, stating the position in which he was on board the "Sylvia," and asking whether it was his wish that he should return home and resume his duties in the counting-house. He dispatched a much longer letter to his friends at Fenside, giving a full account of his adventures. He did not forget either to write to Mrs Aggett, describing her husband's peaceful death, feeling that a knowledge of this would be far more consolatory to the widow, than should she suppose that he had been lost during the horrors of a s.h.i.+pwreck, which otherwise she would very naturally have concluded to have been the case. He was greatly puzzled whenever he thought the matter over, to account for Ashurst's manner. As far as Owen could judge, Ashurst did not treat any of his other young messmates in the same way, although he might have been somewhat supercilious in his manner towards them, as if he considered himself a being of a superior order. Captain Stanhope was anxious, as soon as possible, to get away from Batavia, there being much sickness in the place, as is usually the case in that unhealthy town. He hoped, however, that the s.h.i.+ps would escape, as he allowed none of the officers or men to visit the sh.o.r.e oftener than could be helped. Owen, however, on one occasion accompanied the captain, who had business to transact. They were returning to the harbour to embark when they met a party of natives, carrying a person on a stretcher, followed by several Dutchmen, and two or three English sailors. The bearers stopped on seeing the captain, supposing that he was some one in authority, and placed the stretcher on the ground.

"Please, sir," said one of the seamen, "we have just picked up this Englishman; can you tell us where we are to take him to?"

"To the public hospital of course," answered Captain Stanhope, "if the man is alive. But are you sure of that?" he asked, looking down.

Owen just then recognised the countenance of the first mate of the "Druid," as did also Captain Stanhope.

"I suspect that he is a subject for the dead-house rather than the hospital," observed the captain.

"Why, so I believe," cried the seaman, placing his hand on the mate's heart, and then lifting up his arm, it fell motionless by his side.

Captain Stanhope ascertained that the man had been seen to fall down, apparently in a drunken fit and had not since uttered a word.

"Take him to the hospital, and you will soon learn whether he is dead, or if there is any hope of his recovering," said the captain.