CHAPTER XIX
HOME
The voyage home was a pleasant but not an exciting one. No suspicioussails were sighted until they neared the mouth of the Channel. Then twoor three craft, which bore the appearance of French privateers, had atdifferent times approached them, but only to draw off as soon as theymade out the line of ports of the _Spartane_. There had been sufficientdays of calm and light winds to enable the Duchesnes to frequently spenda few hours on board the frigate. Nat had felt a little uncomfortable atfirst, but it was not long before he became accustomed to the position.Of course he could not be on the same familiar terms with his officersas he had been on board the _Agile_, but he insisted upon the first andsecond lieutenants dining with him regularly.
"It will really be kind of you if you will," he said, "for I shall feellike a fish out of water sitting here in solitary state." And as he haddrawn something on account of his prize-money and kept an excellenttable, the two officers willingly agreed to the suggestion.
"I have always thought, Mr. Winton," he said, "that there is a good dealmore stiffness than is at all necessary or even desirable on board aship of war. It is not so in the army. I dined several times atregimental messes at Kingston, and although the colonel was, of course,treated with a certain respect, the conversation was as general and asunrestrained as if all had been private gentlemen; yet, of course, onthe parade ground, the colonel was as supreme as a captain on hisquarter-deck. At sea, the captain really never gets to know anythingabout his officers, except with regard to their duties on board a ship,and I don't think it is good, either for him or the officers in general,that he should be cut off from them as much as if he were an emperor ofChina."
"I agree with you so far," Mr. Winton said. "I do think the reins ofdiscipline are held too tautly, and that where the captain is a reallygood fellow, life on board might be much more pleasant than it now is;but with a bad-tempered, overbearing sort of man your suggestion wouldact just the other way."
"Well, we could easily put a stop to that," Nat said, "if the admiraltywould refuse to appoint bad-tempered and overbearing men to anycommand."
The other laughed. "That would help us out of the difficulty, certainly;but I think that any change had better be deferred until they perceive,as every junior officer in the service perceives, that such men are acurse to themselves and everyone else, that they are hated by the wholecrew, from the ship's boys to the first lieutenant, and that a ship witha contented and cheerful crew can be trusted at all times to do her dutyagainst any odds."
Sailing south of the Isle of Wight, the _Spartane_ came in through theNab Channel. There she left her convoy, who anchored on the Mother Bank,while she sailed into Portsmouth harbour, with the white ensign flyingover the tricolour. As she entered she was greeted with loud cheers bythe crews of the ships of war. As soon as she had picked up moorings Natlanded at the dockyard, and, proceeding to the admiral's, reportedhimself there.
"The admiral is away inspecting the forts in the Needles passage," ayoung officer said. "Captain Painton might be able to give you anyinformation that you require."
"I only want formally to report myself before taking post-chaise toLondon."
"Perhaps you had better see him," the other said, a little puzzled as towho this young officer could be who was in charge of despatches.
"I think I had."
"What name shall I say?"
"Glover."
The flag-captain was a short, square-built man, with keen eyes, and anot unpleasant expression, but bluff and hasty in manner.
"Now, Mr. Glover, what can I do for you?" he asked shortly.
"Well, sir, I hardly know the course of procedure, but as I want tostart with despatches for London in a quarter of an hour I shall be gladto be able to hand over the ship I command, or, if it cannot be takenover in that summary way, to know whether my first officer is to retaincharge of her until I can return from town."
"And what is the vessel that you have the honour to command, sir?"Captain Painton said with a slight smile.
"The _Spartane_ frigate, a prize mounting thirty-six guns, that enteredthe harbour a quarter of an hour ago."
The captain had an idea that this was an ill-timed joke on the part ofthe young lieutenant.
"Do you wish me to understand, sir," he said sternly, "that you are incommand of that prize?"
"That certainly, sir, is what I wish you to understand. I have broughther home from Jamaica, and have the honour to hold the appointment ofacting commander. There, you see, are the official despatches of which Iam the bearer, addressed to the Admiralty, and with the words 'In chargeof Acting Commander Glover.'"
"And your officers, sir?" suppressing with difficulty an explosion ofwrath at what he considered a fresh sign that the service was going tothe dogs.
"The first officer is Lieutenant Winton, the second Lieutenant Plumber."
"Very well, sir, I will go off myself at once. I will detain you nolonger."
Nat at once hurried off, while Captain Painton went into the office ofanother of the officials of the dockyard.
"The service is going to the dogs," he said. "Here is a younglieutenant, who from his appearance can't have passed more than a year,pitchforked over the head of heaven knows how many seniors, and placedas acting commander of a thirtysix-gun frigate, French prize, sir. Justlook up the records of the lieutenants under him."
"One is a lieutenant of fifteen years' service, the other of twelve."
"It is monstrous, scandalous. This sort of thing is destructive of alldiscipline, and proves that everything is to go by favouritism. Just atthe outbreak of the war it is enough to throw cold water on the spiritsof all who are hoping to distinguish themselves."
Ignorant of the storm that had been excited in the mind of theflag-captain, Nat was already on his way, having as soon as he landedsent his coxswain to order a post-chaise to be got ready for starting ina quarter of an hour. It was eight o'clock when he dropped anchor, bynine he was on the road, and by handsomely tipping the post-boys he drewup at the Admiralty at half-past four.
"What name shall I say, sir?" the doorkeeper asked.
"Acting Commander Glover, with despatches from Jamaica."
The admiral looked up with amazement as Nat was announced. The latterhad not mounted the second epaulette to which as commander he wasentitled, and the admiral on his first glance thought that the attendantmust have made a mistake.
"Did I understand, sir, that you are a commander?"
"An acting one only, sir. I have come home in command of the _Spartane_,a prize mounting thirty-six guns. The admiral was good enough to appointme to the acting rank in order that I might bring her home withdespatches, and the report respecting her capture by the brigantine_Agile_, of ten guns, which I had the honour to command."
"Yes, I saw a very brief notice of her capture in the _Gazette_ ten daysago, but no particulars were given. I suppose the mail was just comingout when she arrived."
"That was partly the reason, no doubt, sir; but I think the admiralcould have written more, had he not in his kindness of heart left it tome to hand in a full report. I may say that I had the good fortune torecapture two valuable West Indiamen that the _Spartane_ had picked upon her way out."
The admiral rose from the table and took down a thick volume from thebook-case. At the back were the words, "Records of Service." It waspartly printed, a wide space being left under each name for furtherrecords to be written in.
"Glover, Nathaniel. Is that your Christian name, Captain Glover?"
Nat bowed.
"An exceptionally good record. 'Distinguished himself greatly in theattack by the frigate _Orpheus_ on three piratical craft protected bystrong batteries. Passed as lieutenant shortly afterwards. Appointed tothe command of the schooner _Arrow_, four guns, charged to rescue whiteinhabitants off Hayti, and if possible to enter into communications withnegro leaders and learn their views. In the course of the performance ofthis duty he landed with all his crew of twenty
men, took off a Frenchplanter and family and eight other whites in the hands of a forceestimated at three hundred and fifty blacks, and fought his way on boardhis ship again. Later on engaged a pirate brigantine, the _Agile_, often guns, which had just captured a Spanish merchantman. After a sharpfight, took possession of the prize, and with the aid of her crewcapture the _Agile_.' And now with the _Agile_ you have taken the_Spartane_, a thirty-six gun frigate, to say nothing of recapturing twovaluable West Indiamen, prizes of hers. And I suppose, Commander Glover,if we confirm you in your rank and command, you will go forth and appearnext time with a French three-decker in tow. From a tiny schooner to afrigate is a greater distance than from a frigate to a line-of-battleship."
"Yes, sir," Nat said with a smile; "but the advantage of quickmanoeuvring that one gets in a small craft, and which gives one achance against a larger adversary, becomes lost when it is a frigateagainst a line-of-battle ship. The _Spartane_ is fairly handy, but shecould not hope to gain much advantage that way over a bigger vessel."
"I wonder the admiral had men enough to spare to send her home."
"He could hardly have done so, sir, but fifty of the merchant sailorsbelonging to the recaptured prizes volunteered for the voyage, and werefurnished by the admiral with discharges on arrival at Portsmouth."
"A very good plan, for it is hard work to get men now that we arefitting out every ship at all the naval ports. Now, Commander Glover, Iwill detain you no longer. I shall carefully read through thesedespatches this evening, and shall discuss them with my colleaguesto-morrow. I shall be glad if you will dine with me to-morrow evening athalf-past six; here is my card and address."
"I beg your pardon, sir, but I am altogether ignorant of suchmatters--should I come in uniform or plain clothes?"
"Whichever would suit you best," the admiral replied with a smile. "Asyou have only just arrived to-day from the West Indies, and doubtlesshave had little time for preparations before you sailed, it is more thanlikely that you may not have had time to provide yourself with afull-dress uniform."
"I have not, sir; and indeed, had I had time I should not have thoughtof buying one of my acting rank, which would naturally terminate as soonas the object for which it was granted was attained."
"Very well, then, come in plain dress. I may tell you for yourinformation, that when invited by an admiral to his official residenceyou would be expected to appear in uniform, but when asked to dine athis private residence it would not be considered as a naval function,and although I do not at all say that it would be wrong to appear inuniform, there would be no necessity for doing so."
As everyone dressed for dinner in the West Indies for the sake ofcoolness and comfort, Nat was well provided in this way. After hisdinner at the Golden Cross he went to a playhouse. He had posted aletter to his father, which was written before he landed, directly hereached town, saying that he was home; that of course he could not sayhow long it would be before he would be able to leave his ship, but assoon as he did so he would run down into Somersetshire and stay thereuntil he received orders either to join another vessel or to return tothe West Indies. The next afternoon the papers came out with theofficial news, and news-boys were shouting themselves hoarse:
"Capture of a French frigate by a ten-gun British brig! Thirty-six gunsagainst ten! Three hundred and fifty Frenchmen against fifty Englishmen!Nearly half the monsieurs killed or wounded, the rest taken prisoners!Glorious victory!" And Nat was greatly amused as he looked out of thewindow of the hotel at the eager hustling that was going on to obtainone of the broadsheets.
"It sounds a big thing," he said to himself, "but there was nothing init, and the whole thing was over in less time than it takes to talkabout it. Well, I hope I shall either get off to Portsmouth againto-morrow or go down to the dear old pater. I wish this dinner was over.No doubt there will be some more of these old admirals there, and theywill be wanting to learn all the ins and outs, just as if twenty wordswould not tell them how it was we thrashed them so easily. They knowwell enough that if you have a quick handy craft, and get her under theweather quarter of a slow-moving frigate the latter hasn't a shadow of achance."
Although not an official dinner, all the twelve gentlemen who sat downwere, with the exception of Nat, connected with the admiralty. The firstlord and several other admirals were there, the others were heads ofdepartments and post-captains.
"Before we begin dinner," the first lord said, "I have pleasure inhanding this to you, Commander Glover. There is but one opinion among mycolleagues and myself, which is that as you have captured the _Spartane_and have come home as her commander, we cannot do less than confirm youin that rank and leave her in your charge. You are certainly unusuallyyoung for such promotion, but your career has been for the past fouryears so exceptional that we seem to have scarcely any option in thematter. Such promotion is not only a reward you have gallantly won, butthat you should receive it will, we feel, animate other young officersto wholesome emulation that will be advantageous both to themselves andto the service in general."
Nat could scarcely credit his ears. That he might be appointed secondlieutenant of the _Spartane_ or some other ship of war was, he thought,probable; but the acme of his hopes was that a first lieutenancy in asmart sloop might possibly be offered to him. His two officers on theway home had talked the matter over with him, and they had been a littleamused at seeing that he never appeared to think it within the bounds ofpossibility that his rank would be confirmed, although, as the admiralbefore sailing told them, he had most strongly recommended that thisshould be done, and he thought it certain that the authorities at homewould see the matter in the same light. He had asked them not to givethe slightest hint to Nat that such promotion might be awarded to him."You never can tell," the admiral said, "what the Admiralty will do, buthere is a chance that they don't often get of making a really popularpromotion, without a suspicion of favouritism being entertained. Beyondthe fact that he has been mentioned in despatches, I doubt if anyone atWhitehall as much as knows the young fellow's name, and the servicegenerally will see that for once merit has been recognized on the partof one who, so far as patronage goes, is friendless."
Nat returned to Portsmouth the following morning, and spent some hoursin signing papers and going through other formalities.
"The _Spartane_ will be paid off to-morrow, Captain Glover," the portadmiral said; "she will be recommissioned immediately. I hope you willbe able to get some of the men to re-enter, for there is a good deal ofdifficulty about crews. So great a number of ships have been fitted outduring the past four or five months that we have pretty well exhaustedthe seafaring population here, and even the press-gangs fail to bringmany in."
Going on board, Nat sent for the boatswain and gunners, and informedthem that as he was to recommission the _Spartane_ he was anxious to getas many of the hands to reship as possible.
"I have no doubt that some of them will join, sir," the quarter-mastersaid. "I heard them talking among themselves, and saying that she hasbeen as pleasant a ship as they had ever sailed in, and if you was tohoist your pennant a good many of them would sign on."
"I would not mind giving a couple of pounds a head."
"I don't think that it would be of any use, sir. If the men will jointhey will join, if they won't they won't. Besides, they have all gotsome pay, and most of them some prize-money coming to them, and itwould be only so much more to chuck away if they had it. And anotherthing, sir, I think when men like an officer they like to show him thatit is so, and they would rather reship without any bounty, to show thatthey liked him, than have it supposed that it was for the sake of themoney."
After the men had been paid off the next morning, he told them in ashort speech that he had been appointed to recommission the _Spartane_,and said that he would be glad to have a good many of them with himagain. He was much gratified when fully two-thirds of the men, includingthe greater part of the merchantmen, stepped forward and entered theirnames.
"That speaks well
indeed for our young commander," the port admiral, whohad been present, said to his flag-captain. "It is seldom indeed thatyou find anything like so large a proportion of men ready to reship atonce. It proves that they have confidence in his skill as well as in hiscourage, and that they feel that the ship will be a comfortable one."
It was expected that the _Spartane_ would be at least a month in thehands of the shipwrights, and the men on signing were given leave ofabsence for that time. As soon as all this was arranged, Nat took apost-chaise and drove to Southampton. There he found the Duchesnes at anhotel. Their ship had gone into the port two days previously, but alltheir belongings were not yet out of the hold, and indeed it had beenarranged that they would not go up to town till they saw him. They weredelighted to hear that his appointment had been confirmed, and that hewas to have the command of the _Spartane_.
"Now, I suppose you will be running down to see your people at once?"Myra said with a little pout.
"I think that is only fair," he said, "considering that I have not seenthem for six years. I don't think that even you could grudge me a fewdays."
"Yeovil is a large place, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes; why do you ask?"
She looked at her mother, who smiled.
"The fact is, Nat, Myra has been endeavouring to persuade her father andme that it would be a nice plan for us to go down there with you and toform the acquaintance of your parents. Of course we should stay at anhotel. We are in no particular hurry to go up to London; and as whileyou are away we shall naturally wish to see as much as we can of yourpeople, this would make a very good beginning. And perhaps some of themwill come back to London with us when you join your ship."
"I think it would be a first-rate plan, madame, the best thing possible.Of course I want my father and mother and the girls to see Myra."
"When will you start?"
"To-morrow morning. Of course we shall go by post. It will be a verycross-country journey by coach, and many of these country roads aredesperately bad. It is only about the same distance that it is toLondon, but the roads are not so good, so I propose that we make a shortjourney to-morrow to Salisbury, and then, starting early, go through toYeovil. We shall be there in good time in the afternoon. I shall only betaking a very small amount of kit, so that we ought to be able to stowthree large trunks, which will, I suppose, be enough for you. Of coursewe could send some on by a waggon, but there is no saying when theywould get there, and as likely as not they would not arrive until justas we are leaving there; of course Dinah will go on the box."
At four o'clock, two days later, the post-chaise drove up to theprincipal hotel at Yeovil. Rooms were at once obtained for theDuchesnes, and Nat hired a light trap to drive him out to his father'srectory, some three miles out of the town. As he drove up to the house,three girls, from sixteen to two-and three-and-twenty, ran out, followeda moment later by his father and mother. For a few minutes there was butlittle coherent talk. His sisters could scarcely believe that this tallyoung officer was the lad they had last seen, and even his father andmother agreed that they would scarce have recognized him.
"I don't think the girls quite recognize me now," he laughed. "Theykissed me in a very feeble sort of way, as if they were not at all surethat it was quite right. Indeed, I was not quite sure myself that it wasthe proper thing for me to salute three strange young ladies."
"What nonsense you talk, Nat," his eldest sister Mary said. "I thoughtby this time, now you are a lieutenant, you would have become quitestiff, and would expect a good deal of deference to be paid to you."
"I can't say that you have been a good correspondent, Nat," his mothersaid. "You wrote very seldom, and then said very little of what you hadbeen doing."
"Well, mother, there are not many post-offices in Hayti, and I shouldnot have cared to trust any letters to them if there had been. There isthe advantage, you see, that there is much more to tell you now than ifI had written to you before. You don't get papers very regularly here, Ithink?"
"No, we seldom see a London paper, and the Bath papers don't tell muchabout anything except the fashionable doings there."
"Then I have several pieces of news to tell you. Here is a _Gazette_, inwhich you will see that a certain Nathaniel Glover brought intoPortsmouth last week a French thirty-six-gun frigate which he hadcaptured, and in another part of the _Gazette_ you will observe that thesame officer has been confirmed in the acting rank of commander, andhas been appointed to the _Spartane_, which is to be recommissioned atonce. Therefore you see, sisters, you will in future address me ascaptain."
There was a general exclamation of surprise and delight.
"That is what it was," the rector said, "that Dr. Miles was talking tome about yesterday in Yeovil. He said that the London papers were fullof the news that a French frigate had been captured by a little ten-gunbrigantine, and had been brought home by the officer who had taken her,who was, he said, of the same name as mine. He said that it wasconsidered an extraordinarily gallant action."
"We shall be as proud as peacocks," Lucy, the youngest girl, said.
"Now as to my news," he went on. "Doubtless that was important, but notso important as that which I am now going to tell you. At the presentmoment there is at Yeovil a gentleman and lady, together with theirdaughter, the said daughter being, at the end of a reasonable time,about to become my wife, and your sister, girls."
The news was received with speechless surprise.
"Really, Nat?" his mother said in a tone of doubt; "do you actually meanthat you have become engaged to a young lady who is now at Yeovil?"
"That is the case, mother," he said cheerfully. "There is nothing verysurprising that a young lady should fall in love with me, is there? andI think the announcement will look well in the papers--on such and sucha date, Myra, daughter of Monsieur Duchesne, late of the island ofHayti, to Nathaniel, son of the Rev. Charles Glover of Arkton Rectory,commander in his majesty's navy."
"Duchesne!" Ada, the second girl, said, clapping her hands, "that is thename of the young lady you rescued from a dog. I remember at the timeMary and I quite agreed that the proper thing for you to do would be tomarry her some day. Yes, and you were staying at her father's place whenthe blacks broke out; and you had all to hide in the woods for sometime."
"Quite right, Ada. Well, she and her father and mother have posted downwith me from Southampton in order to make your acquaintance, andto-morrow you will have to go over in a body."
"Does she speak English?" Mrs. Glover asked.
"Oh, yes, she speaks a good deal of English; her people have for thepast two years intended to settle in England, and have all been studyingthe language to a certain extent. Besides that, they have had theinestimable advantage of my conversation, and have read a great manyEnglish books on their voyage home."
"Is Miss Duchesne very dark?" Lucy asked in a tone of anxiety.
Nat looked at her for a moment in surprise, and then burst into a fit oflaughter.
"What, Lucy, do you think because Myra was born in Hayti that she is alittle negress with crinkley wool?"
"No, no," the girl protested almost tearfully. "Of course I did notthink that, but I thought that she might be dark. I am sure when I wasat Bath last season and saw several old gentlemen, who, they said, wererich West Indians, they were all as yellow as guineas."
"Well, she won't be quite so dark as that, anyhow," Nat said; "in fact Ican tell you, you three will all have to look your best to make a goodshow by the side of her."
"But this talk is all nonsense, Nat," the rector said gravely. "Yourengagement is a very serious matter. Of course, now you have been sowonderfully fortunate, and are commander of a ship, you will, I have nodoubt, have an income quite sufficient to marry upon, and, of course,you are in a position to please yourself."
"We are not going to be married just at present, father. She is threeyears younger than I am, and I am not far advanced in years; so it hasbeen quite settled that we shall wait for some time yet. By the
n, if Iam lucky, my prize-money will have swelled to a handsome amount, andindeed, although I don't know the exact particulars, I believe I amentitled to from eight to ten thousand pounds. Moreover as the younglady herself is an only child, and her father is a very wealthy man, Ifancy that we are not likely to have to send round the hat to make endsmeet."
The visit was duly paid the next day, and was most satisfactory to allparties, and, as the rectory was a large building, Mr. and Mrs. Gloverinsisted upon the Duchesnes removing there at once.
"We want to see as much of Nat as we can," his mother urged, "and if heis to divide his time between Yeovil and the rectory, I am afraid weshould get but a very small share of him."
"I suppose your brother has told you all his adventures," Myra said thenext morning, as she and all the party, with the exception of Mr. Gloverand Nat, were seated in the parlour after breakfast was over.
"No, he is a very poor correspondent. He just told us what he had beendoing, but said very little about his adventures. I suppose he thoughtthat girls would not care to hear about midshipmen's doings. He did tellus, though, that he had had a fight with a dog that had bitten you."
Myra's eyes opened wider and wider as the eldest, Mary Glover, spoke.Her face flushed, and she would have risen to her feet in herindignation had not her mother laid her hand upon her arm.
"I do not think, Miss Glover," Monsieur Duchesne said gravely, "that youcan at all understand the obligation that we are under to your brother.The bite of a dog seems but a little thing. A huge hound had thrown Myradown, and had rescue been delayed but half a minute her death wascertain. Your brother, riding past, heard her cries, and rushed in, and,armed only with his dirk, attacked the hound. He saved my daughter'slife, but it was well-nigh at the cost of his own, for although hekilled it, it was not until it had inflicted terrible injuries uponhim--injuries so serious that for a time it was doubtful whether hewould live. This was the first service to us. On the next occasion hewas staying with us when the blacks rose. Thanks to our old nurse, therewas time for them to run out into the shrubbery before the negroes cameup, and then take refuge in the wood. My wife was seized with fever, andwas for days unconscious.
"The woods were everywhere scoured for fugitives. Six blacks, led by twomulattoes, discovered their hiding-place. Your son shot the whole ofthem, but had one of his ribs broken by a pistol-ball. In spite of that,he and Dinah carried my wife some thirty miles down to the town acrossrough ground, where every step must have been torture to him, andbrought her and Myra safely to me. Equal services he performed anothertime to a family, intimate friends of ours, composed of a gentleman andhis wife and two daughters, who, with six white men, were prisoners inthe hands of the blacks, and would assuredly have suffered deaths ofagonizing torture. Though he had but twenty men with him, he landed themall, marched them up to the place, rescued the whole party, and made hisway down to his boat again through three hundred and fifty maddenedblacks. No less great was the service he rendered when he rescued somefifteen ladies and gentlemen who had been captured by a pirate, andwhose fate, had he not arrived, would have been too horrible to thinkof. As to his services at sea, the official reports have testified, andhis unheard-of promotion shows the appreciation of the authorities.Never were more gallant deeds done by the most valiant naval captainswho have ever lived."
Myra had held her father's hand while he was speaking; her breath hadcome fast, and her eyes were full of tears.
"Thank you, Monsieur Duchesne," Mrs. Glover said, gently; "pleaseremember that all this is quite new to us. Now that we know something ofthe truth, we shall feel as proud of our boy as your daughter has aright to be."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Glover," Myra said, walking across to her, and kissingher, "but when it seemed to me that these glorious deeds Nat hasachieved were regarded as the mere adventures of a midshipman, I feltthat I must speak."
"It is quite natural that you should do so," Mrs. Glover said; "for, iffault there is, it rests with Nat, who always spoke of his ownadventures in a jesting sort of way, and gave us no idea that they wereanything out of the common."
"They were out of the common, madame," Myra said; "why, when he cameinto Port Royal, with the great frigate in tow of his little brigantine,and two huge merchantmen he had recaptured from her, the admiral's shipand all the vessels of war in the harbour saluted him. I almost cried myeyes out with pride and happiness."
"Myra does not exaggerate," her mother said; "your son's exploits werethe talk of Jamaica, and even the capture of the French frigate was lessextraordinary than the way in which, with a little craft of four guns,he captured a pirate which carried ten, and a crew four times asnumerous as his own."
"I hope you will tell us in full about all these things, MadameDuchesne," Mrs. Glover said, "for I fear that we shall never get a fullaccount from Nat himself."
Myra went across to Mary.
"You are not angry with me, I hope," she said; "we are hot-tempered, weWest Indians. When it seemed that you were speaking slightingly of theaction to which I owe my life, I don't know what I should have said ifmy father had not stopped me."
"I am not in the slightest degree angry," Mary said; "or, rather, if Iam angry at all it is with Nat. It is too bad of him keeping all this tohimself. You see, he was quite a boy when he left us, and he used totell us funny stories about the pranks that the midshipmen played.Although we felt very proud of him when he told us that he had gainedthe rank of commander, we did not really know anything about seamatters, and could not appreciate the fact that he must have donesomething altogether out of the way to obtain that rank. But, of course,we like you all the better for standing up for him. I am sure that infuture we girls shall be just as angry as you were if anyone saysanything that sounds like running him down."
The time passed rapidly, and, as the girls were never tired of listeningto the tales of Nat's exploits, and Myra was never tired of relatingthem, Nat would have come in for any amount of hero-worship had he notpromptly suppressed the slightest exhibition in that direction.
It was but a few days after his arrival in England that MonsieurDuchesne learned by a letter from a friend, who was one of the few whoescaped from the terrible scene, that their fears had been justified,and that Cape Francois, the beautiful capital of Hayti, had ceased toexist. Santhonax and Poveren had established a reign of terror, plunder,and oppression, until the white inhabitants were reduced to the mostterrible state of suffering. The misery caused by these white monsterswas as great as that which prevailed in France. At last General Galbaudarrived, having been sent out to prepare for the defence of the colonyagainst an attack by the British. The two commissioners, however,refused to recognize his authority. Not only this, but they imperativelyordered him to re-embark, and return to France. Each party then preparedfor fighting. The commissioners had with them the regular troops, and alarge body of blacks. The governor had twelve hundred sailors, and thewhite inhabitants of the city, who had formed themselves into a body ofvolunteers.
The fighting was hard; the volunteers showed the greatest bravery, and,had they been well supported by the sailors, would have gained the day.The seamen, however, speedily broke into the warehouses, intoxicatedthemselves with rum, and it was with difficulty that their officerscould bring them back into the arsenal. The commissioners had, the nightbefore, sent to a negro chief, offering pardon for all past offences,perfect freedom, and the plunder of the city. He arrived at noon on the21st of June, and at once began the butchery of the white inhabitants.This continued till the evening of the 23rd, by which time the whole ofthe whites had been murdered, the city sacked, and then burned to theground.
Before Nat sailed in the _Spartane_, the Duchesnes had taken a house atTorquay. Here the climate would be better suited to madame, the summertemperature being less exhausting and the winter so free from extremesthat she might reasonably hope not to feel the change.
For five years Nat commanded the _Spartane_. If he did not meet with theexceptional good fortune that he had fo
und in the West Indies, he had,at least, nothing to complain of. He picked up many prizes, took part inseveral gallant cutting-out adventures, and captured the French frigate_Euterpe_, of forty-six guns. For full details of these and otheractions a search must be made in the official records of the Britishnavy, where they are fully set forth. After a long and hard-foughtbattle, for which action he received post rank, he retired from theservice, and settled down with Myra near Plymouth, where he was withineasy reach of his own relations.
As soon as he was established there, her father and mother took a housewithin a few minutes' walk of his home. He congratulated himself that hehad not remained in the West Indies, for had he done so he would, likeall the naval and military forces in the islands, have taken part in thedisastrous attempt to obtain possession of the island of San Domingo.The Spaniards had ceded their portion to the French, and although thewhites, mulattoes, and blacks were at war with each other, they were allready to join forces against the British. The attempt to conquer anisland so populous and strongly defended, and abounding with mountainsin which the enemy could maintain themselves, was, if undertaken by aforce of anything less than a hundred thousand men, foredoomed tofailure. The force at first sent was ridiculously inadequate, andalthough it received reinforcements from time to time, these were notmore than sufficient to fill the gaps caused by fever. Consequently,after four or five years' fighting, and the loss of fully thirtythousand men, by fatigue, hardship, and fever, the effort was abandoned,after having cost some thirty millions of money.
At the end of the war, Toussaint was virtually Dictator of Hayti. Hegoverned strongly and well, but as he was determined to admit nointerference on the part of the French, he was finally treacherouslyseized by them, carried to France, and there died, it is said bystarvation, in prison. His forebodings as to the unfitness of the blacksfor self-government have been fulfilled to the letter. Civil wars,insurrections, and massacres have been the rule rather than theexception; the island has been gradually going down in the scale ofcivilization, and the majority of the blacks are as savage, ignorant,and superstitious as their forefathers in Africa. Fetish worship andhuman sacrifices are carried on in secret, and the fairest island in thewestern seas lies sunk in the lowest degradation--a proof of the utterincapacity of the negro race to evolve, or even maintain, civilization,without the example and the curb of a white population among them.
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