CHAPTER VI.
THE "WARREN HASTINGS."
Time, the inexorable, kept mowing away at poor Charles's flowers untilthe disagreeable old creature had cut them all down but two or three,and mowed right into the morning when it was necessary that he should gohome; and then Charles, looking forward through his tears, could seenothing at first but the very commonest grass. For was he not going toleave Adelaide, probably never to see her again? In short, Charles wasin love, and going to separate from the object of his affections for thefirst time; at which I request you not to laugh, but just reflect howold you were yourself when you first fell in love.
The little flirt, she must have waited till she heard him coming out ofhis room, and then have pretended to be coming upstairs all in a hurry.He got a kiss or a dozen, though, and a lock of hair, I believe; but hehadn't much time to think about it, for Lord Ascot was calling out forhim, and when he got into the hall, there was all the household to seehim off. Everybody had a kind word for him; the old lady cried; LordSaltire and the general shook hands; Lord Welter said it was a beastlysell; and Lord Ascot hummed and hawed, and told him to tell his fatherhe had been a good boy. They were all sorry he was going, and he felt asthough he was leaving old friends; but the carriage was there, and therain was pouring down; and, with one last look at the group of faces, hewas in the carriage and away.
It was a terrible day, though he did not notice it at first. He wasthinking how pleasant it was that the people were all so kind to him,just as kind as they were at home. He thought of Adelaide, and wonderedwhether she would ever think of him. He was rather glad that Welter wasa naughty boy (not really naughty, you know), because she would be lesslikely to like him. And then he thought how glad the people at homewould be to see him; and then he looked out of the window. He had leftLord Ascot's carriage and got into the train some time before this. Nowhe saw that the train was going very slowly, and nothing was visiblethrough the driving rain. Then he tried to remember whether he had heardhis father speak of Lord Saltire, and what he had heard about him; andthinking about this, the train stopped.--Swindon.
He got out to go to the refreshment room, and began wondering what thenoise was which prevented him from hearing any one when they spoke, andwhy the people looked scared, and talked in knots. Then he found that itwas the wind in the roof; and some one told him that a chimney had beenblown across the line, and they must wait till it was removed.
All the day the brave engine fought westward against the wind, and twohours after time Charles found himself in the coach which would take himto Stonnington. The night crept on, and the coach crawled on its waythrough the terrible night, and Charles slept. In the cold pitilessmorning, as they were going over a loftily exposed moor, the coach,though only going foot's pace, stood for a moment on two wheels, andthen fell crashing over on to a heap of road-side stones, awakingCharles, who, being unhurt, lay still for a minute or so, with a faintimpression of having been shaken in his sleep, and, after duereflection, made the brilliant discovery that the coach was upset.
He opened the door over his head and jumped out. For an instant he wasblinded by the stinging rain, but turned his back to it; and then, forthe first time, he became aware that this was the most terrible gale ofwind he had ever seen in his lifetime.
He assisted the coachman and guard, and the solitary outside passenger,to lead the poor horses along the road. They fought on for about twohundred yards, and came to an alehouse, on the sight of which Charlesknew that they were two stages short of where he thought they had been,for this was the Watershed Inn, and the rain from its roof ran partlyinto the Bristol Channel and partly into the British.
After an hour's rest here Charles was summoned to join the coach in thevalley below, and they crawled on again. It was a weary day over somevery bleak country. They saw in one place a cottage unroofed on a moor,and the terrified family crouched down beneath the tottering walls. Inthe valleys great trees were down across the road, which were cross-cutand moved by country men, who told of oaks of three hundred years fallenin the night, and of corn stacks hurried before the blast like theleaves of autumn. Still, as each obstacle was removed, there was theguard up blowing his horn cheerily, and Charles was inside with a jump,and on they went.
At last, at three o'clock, the coach drove under the gate of the"Chichester Arms," at Stonnington, and Charles, jumping out, wasreceived by the establishment with the air of people who had done aclever thing, and were ready to take their meed of praise with humility.The handsome landlady took great credit to herself for Charles'sarrival--so much so, that one would have thought she herself hadsinglehanded dragged the coach from Exeter. "_She_ had been sure allalong that Mr. Charles would come"--a speech which, with the cuttingglance that accompanied it, goaded the landlord to retort in a voicewheezy with good living, and to remind her that she had said, not tenminutes before, that she was quite sure he wouldn't; whereupon thelandlady loftily begged him not to expose himself before the servants.At which the landlord laughed, and choked himself; at which the landladyslapped him on the back, and laughed too; after which they went in.
His father, the landlord told him, had sent his pony over, as he wasafraid of a carriage on the moor to-day, and that, if he felt at allafraid to come on, he was to sleep where he was. Charles looked at thecomfortable parlour and hesitated; but, happening to close his eyes aninstant, he saw as plain as possible the library at home, and theflickering fire-light falling on the crimson and oak furniture, and hisfather listening for him through the roaring wind; and so he hesitatedno longer, but said he would push on, and that he would wish to see hisservant while he took dinner.
The landlord eyed him admiringly with his head on one side, andproceeded to remark that corn was down another shilling; that SquireWest had sold his chesnut mare for one hundred and twenty pounds; andthat if he kept well under the walls going home he would be out of thewind; that his missis was took poorly in the night with spasms, and hadbeen cured by two wine-glasses of peppermint; that a many chimney-potswas blown down, and that old Jim Baker had heard tell as a pig wasblowed through a church window. After which he poked the fire andretired.
Charles was hard at his dinner when his man came in. It was the oldestof the pad grooms--a man with grizzled hair, looking like a whiteterrier; and he stood before him smoothing his face with his hand.
"Hallo, Michael," said Charley, "how came you to come?"
"Master wouldn't send no other, sir. It's a awful day down there;there's above a hundred trees down along the road."
"Shall we be able to get there?"
"As much as we shall, sir."
"Let us try. Terrible sea, I suppose?"
"Awful to look at, sir. Mr. Mackworth and Mr. Cuthbert are down to lookat it."
"No craft ashore?"
"None as yet. None of our boats is out. Yesterday morning a Pill boat,52, stood in to see where she was, and beat out again, but that wasbefore it came on so bad."
So they started. They pushed rapidly out of the town, and up a narrowwooded valley which led to the moor which lay between them andRavenshoe. For some time they were well enough sheltered, and madecapital way, till the wood began to grow sparer, and the road to riseabruptly. Here the blast began to be more sensibly felt, and in aquarter of mile they had to leap three uprooted trees; before them theyheard a rushing noise like the sea. It was the wind upon the moor.
Creeping along under the high stone walls, and bending down, they pushedon still, until, coming to the open moor, and receiving for the firsttime the terrible tornado full in their faces, the horses reared up andrefused to proceed; but, being got side by side, and their heads beinghomeward, they managed to get on, though the rain upon their faces wasagonising.
As they were proceeding thus, with Michael on the windward side, Charleslooked up, and there was another horseman beside him. He knew himdirectly; it was Lloyd's agent.
"Anything wrong, Mr. Lewis? Any ship ashore?" he shouted.
"Not yet, sir," said th
e agent. "But there'll be many a good sailor goneto the bottom before to-morrow morning, I am thinking. This is theheaviest gale for forty years."
By degrees they descended to more sheltered valleys, and after a timefound themselves in the court-yard of the hall. Charles was caught up byhis father; Lloyd's agent was sent to the housekeeper's room; and verysoon Charles had forgotten all about wind and weather, and was pouringinto his father's ear all his impressions of Ranford.
"I am glad you liked it," said Densil, "and I'll be bound they likedyou. You ought to have gone first, Cuthbert don't suit them."
"Oh, Cuthbert's too clever for them," said Charles; "they are not at allclever people, bless you!" And only just in time too, for Cuthbertwalked into the room.
"Well, Charley," he said, coolly, "so you're come back. Well, and whatdid you think of Welter, eh? I suppose he suited you?"
"I thought him very funny, Cuthbert," said Charles, timidly.
"I thought him an abominable young nuisance," said Cuthbert. "I hope hehasn't taught you any of his fool's tricks."
Charles wasn't to be put off like this; so he went and kissed hisbrother, and then came back to his father. There was a long dullevening, and when they went to complines, he went to bed. Up in hisroom he could hear that the wind was worse than ever, not rushing up ingreat gusts and sinking again, as in ordinary gales, but keeping up onecontinued unvarying scream against the house, which was terrible tohear.
He got frightened at being alone; afraid of finding some ghostly thingat his elbow, which had approached him unheard through the noise. Hebegan, indeed, to meditate upon going down stairs, when Cuthbert, cominginto the next room, reassured him, and he got into bed.
This wasn't much better, though, for there was a thing in a black hoodcame and stood at the head of his bed; and, though he could not see it,he could feel the wind of its heavy draperies as it moved. Moreover, athing like a caterpillar, with a cat's head, about two feet long, camecreep--creeping up the counterpane, which he valiantly smote, and foundit to be his handkerchief; and still the unvarying roar went on till itwas unendurable.
He got up and went to his brother's room, and was cheered to find alight burning; he came softly in and called "Cuthbert."
"Who is there?" asked he, with a sudden start.
"It's I," said Charles; "can you sleep?"
"Not I," saith Cuthbert, sitting up. "I can hear people talking in thewind. Come into bed; I'm so glad you're come."
Charles lay down by his brother, and they talked about ghosts for a longtime. Once their father came in with a light from his bedroom next door,and sat on the bed talking, as if he, too, was glad of company, andafter that they dozed off and slept.
It was in the grey light of morning that they awoke together and startedup. The wind was as bad as ever, but the whole house was still, and theystared terrified at one another.
"What was it?" whispered Charles.
Cuthbert shook his head, and listened again. As he was opening his mouthto speak it came again, and they knew it was that which woke them. Asound like a single footstep on the floor above, light enough, but whichshook the room. Cuthbert was out of bed in an instant, tearing on hisclothes. Charles jumped out too, and asked him, "What is it?"
"A gun!"
Charles well knew what awful disaster was implied in those words. Thewind was N.W., setting into the bay. The ship that fired that gun wasdoomed.
He heard his father leap out of bed, and ring furiously at his bell.Then doors began to open and shut, and voices and rapid footsteps wereheard in the passage. In ten minutes the whole terrified household wererunning hither and thither, about they hardly knew what. The men werepale, and some of the women were beginning to whimper and wring theirhands; when Densil, Lewis the agent, and Mackworth came rapidly down thestaircase and passed out. Mackworth came back, and told the women to puton hot water and heat blankets. Then Cuthbert joined him, and they wenttogether; and directly after Charles found himself between twomen-servants, being dragged rapidly along towards the low headland whichbounded the bay on the east.
When they came to the beach, they found the whole village pushing on ina long straggling line the same way as themselves. The men were walkingsingly, either running or going very fast; and the women were in knotsof twos and threes, straggling along and talking excitedly, with muchgesticulation.
"There's some of the elect on board, I'll be bound," Charles heard onewoman say, "as will be supping in glory this blessed night."
"Ay, ay," said an old woman. "I'd sooner be taken to rest sudden, likethey're going to be, than drag on till all the faces you know are gonebefore."
"My boy," said another, "was lost in a typhoon in the China sea. Darnthey lousy typhoons! I wonder if he thought of his mother afore he wentdown."
Among such conversation as this, with the terrible, ceaseless thunder ofthe surf upon the left, Charles, clinging tight to his two guardians,made the best weather of it he could, until they found themselves on theshort turf of the promontory, with their faces seaward, and the waterright and left of them. The cape ran out about a third of a mile, ratherlow, and then abruptly ended in a cone of slate, beyond which, about twohundred yards at sea, was that terrible sunken rock, "the Wolf," on towhich, as sure as death, the flowing tide carried every stick which wasembayed. The tide was making; a ship was known to be somewhere in thebay; it was blowing a hurricane; and what would you more?
They hurried along as well as they could among the sharp slates whichrose through the turf, until they came to where the people had halted.Charles saw his father, the agent, Mackworth, and Cuthbert together,under a rock; the villagers were standing around, and the crowd wasthickening every moment. Every one had his hand over his eyes, and waspeering due to windward, through the driving scud.
They had stopped at the foot of the cone, which was between them and thesea, and some more adventurous had climbed partly up it, if, perhaps,they might see further than their fellows; but in vain: they all saw andheard the same--a blinding white cauldron of wind-driven spray below,and all around, filling every cranny, the howling storm.
A quarter of an hour since she fired last, and no signs of her yet. Shemust be carrying canvas and struggling for life, ignorant of thefour-knot stream. Some one says she may have gone down--hush! who spoke?
Old Sam Evans had spoken. He had laid his hand on the squire's shoulder,and said, "There she is." And then arose a hubbub of talking from themen, and every one crowded on his neighbour and tried to get nearer. Andthe women moved hurriedly about, some moaning to themselves, and somesaying, "Ah, poor dear!" "Ah, dear Lord! there she is, sure enough."
She hove in sight so rapidly that, almost as soon as they could be sureof a dark object, they saw that it was a ship--a great ship about 900tons; that she was dismasted, and that her decks were crowded. Theycould see that she was unmanageable, turning her head hither and thitheras the sea struck her, and that her people had seen the cliff at thesame moment, for they were hurrying aft, and crowding on to thebulwarks.
Charles and his guardians crept up to his father's party. Densil wasstanding silent, looking on the lamentable sight; and, as Charles lookedat him, he saw a tear run down his cheek, and heard him say, "Poorfellows!" Cuthbert stood staring intently at the ship, with his lipsslightly parted. Mackworth, like one who studies a picture, held hiselbow in one hand, and kept the other over his mouth; and the agentcried out, "A troop-ship, by gad. Dear! dear!"
It is a sad sight to see a fine ship beyond control. It is like seeingone one loves gone mad. Sad under any circumstances; how terrible it iswhen she is bearing on with her, in her mad Bacchante's dance, a freightof living human creatures to untimely destruction!
As each terrible feature and circumstance of the catastrophe becameapparent to the lookers-on, the excitement became more intense. Forward,and in the waist, there was a considerable body of seamen clusteredabout under the bulwarks--some half-stripped. In front of the cuddydoor, between the poop and the mainmast, about fo
rty soldiers were drawnup, with whom were three officers, to be distinguished by their bluecoats and swords. On the quarter-deck were seven or eight women, twoapparently ladies, one of whom carried a baby. A well-dressed man,evidently the captain, was with them; but the cynosure of all eyes wasa tall man in white trousers, at once and correctly judged to be themate, who carried in his arms a little girl.
The ship was going straight upon the rock, now only marked as a whiterspot upon the whitened sea, and she was fearfully near it, rolling andpitching, turning her head hither and thither, fighting for her life.She had taken comparatively little water on board as yet; but now agreat sea struck her forward, and she swung with her bow towards therock, from which she was distant not a hundred yards. The end wascoming. Charles saw the mate slip off his coat and shirt, and take thelittle girl again. He saw the lady with the baby rise very quietly andlook forward; he saw the sailors climbing on the bulwarks; he saw thesoldiers standing steady in two scarlet lines across the deck; he sawthe officers wave their hands to one another; and then he hid his facein his hands, and sobbed as if his heart would break.
They told him after how the end had come: she had lifted up her bowsdefiantly, and brought them crashing down upon the pitiless rock asthough in despair. Then her stem had swung round, and a merciful seabroke over her, and hid her from their view, though above the storm theyplainly heard her brave old timbers crack; then she floated off, withbulwarks gone, sinking, and drifted out of sight round the headland,and, though they raced across the headland, and waited a few breathlessminutes for her to float round into sight again, they never saw her anymore. The _Warren Hastings_ had gone down in fifteen fathoms. And nowthere was a new passion introduced into the tragedy to which it hadhitherto been a stranger--Hope. The wreck of part of the mainmast andhalf the main-topmast, which they had seen, before she struck, lumberingthe deck, had floated off, and there were three, four, five men clingingto the futtock shrouds; and then they saw the mate with the child hoisthimself on to the spar, and part his dripping hair from his eyes.
The spar had floated into the bay, into which they were looking, intomuch calmer water; but, directly too leeward, the swell was tearing atthe black slate rocks, and in ten minutes it would be on them. Every mansaw the danger, and Densil, running down to the water's edge, cried--
"Fifty pounds to any one who will take 'em a rope! Fifty gold sovereignsdown to-night! Who's going?"
Jim Matthews was going, and had been going before he heard of the fiftypounds--that was evident; for he was stripped, and out on the rocks,with the rope round his waist. He stepped from the bank of slipperyseaweed into the heaving water, and then his magnificent limbs were infull battle with the tide. A roar announced his success. As he was seenclambering on to the spar, a stouter rope was paid out; and very soon itand its burden were high and dry upon the little half-moon of land whichended the bay.
Five sailors, the first mate, and a bright-eyed little girl, were theirprecious prize. The sailors lay about upon the sand, and the mate,untying the shawl that bound her to him, put the silent and frightenedchild into the hands of a woman that stood close by.
The poor little thing was trembling in every limb. "If you please," shesaid to the woman, "I should like to go to mamma. She is standing withbaby on the quarter-deck. Mr. Archer, will you take me back to mamma,please? She will be frightened if we stay away."
"Well, a-deary me," said the honest woman, "she'll break my heart, adarling; mamma's in heaven, my tender, and baby too."
"No, indeed," said the child eagerly; "she's on the quarter-deck. Mr.Archer, Mr. Archer!"
The mate, a tall, brawny, whiskerless, hard-faced man, aboutsix-and-twenty, who had been thrust into a pea-coat, now approached.
"Where's mamma, Mr. Archer?" said the child.
"Where's mamma, my lady-bird? Oh, dear! oh, dear!"
"And where's the ship, and Captain Dixon, and the soldiers?"
"The ship, my pretty love?" said the mate, putting his rough hand on thechild's wet hair; "why the good ship, _Warren Hastings_, Dixon master,is a-sunk beneath the briny waves, my darling; and all on board of her,being good sailors and brave soldiers, is doubtless at this moment inglory."
The poor little thing set up a low wailing cry, which went to the heartsof all present; then the women carried her away, and the mate, walkingbetween Mackworth and Densil, headed the procession homeward to thehall.
"She was the _Warren Hastings_, of 900 tons," he said, "from Calcutta,with a detachment of the 120th on board. The old story--dismasted, bothanchors down, cables parted, and so on. And now I expect you know asmuch as I do. This little girl is daughter to Captain Corby, in commandof the troops. She was always a favourite of mine, and I determined toget her through. How steady those sojers stood, by jingo, as though theywere on parade! Well, I always thought something was going to happen,for we had never a quarrel the whole voyage, and that's curious withtroops. Capital crew, too. Ah, well, they are comfortable enough now,eh, Sir?"
That night the mate arose from his bed like a giant refreshed with wine,and posted off to Bristol to "her owners," followed by a letter fromDensil, and another from Lloyd's agent of such a nature that he foundhimself in command of a ship in less than a month. Periodically, untothis day, there arrive at Ravenshoe, bows and arrows (supposed to bepoisoned), paddles, punkahs, rice-paper screens; a malignant kind ofpickle, which causeth the bowels of him that eateth of it to burn;wicked-looking old gods of wood and stone; models of Juggernaut's car;brown earthenware moonshees, translating glazed porcelain Bibles; andmany other Indian curiosities, all of which are imported and presentedby the kind-hearted Archer.
In a fortnight the sailors were gone, and, save a dozen or so of newgraves in the churchyard, nothing remained to tell of the _WarrenHastings_ but the little girl saved so miraculously--little Mary Corby.
She had been handed over at once to the care of the kind-hearted Norah,Charles's nurse, who instantaneously loved her with all her great warmheart, and about three weeks after the wreck gave Charles theseparticulars about her, when he went to pay her a visit in the cottagebehind the kennels.
After having hugged him violently, and kissed him till he laughinglyrefused to let her do it again till she had told him the news, shebegan--"The beauty-boy, he gets handsomer every day" (this might betrue, but there was great room for improvement yet), "and comes and seeshis old nurse, and who loves him so well, alanna? It's little I can tellye about the little girl, me darlin'. She's nine years old, and aheretic, like yer own darlin' self, and who's to gainsay ye from it?She's book-learned enough, and play she says she can, and I axed herwould she like to live in the great house, and she said no. She likedme, and wanted to stay with me. She cries about her mother, a dear, butnot so much as she did, and she's now inside and asleep. Come here,avick."
She bent down her handsome face to Charles's ear and whispered, "If myboy was looking out for a little wee fairy wife, eh?"
Charles shook his hair, and laughed, and there and then told Norah allabout Adelaide, which attachment Norah highly approved of, and remarkedthat he'd be old enough to be married before he knew where he was.
In spite of Densil's letters and inquiries, no friends came forward toclaim little Mary. Uncle Corby, when in possession of facts, was far toomuch a man of business to do anything of the kind. In a very short timeDensil gave up inquiring, and then he began dreading lest she should betaken from him, for he had got wonderfully fond of the quiet, pale,bright-eyed little creature. In three months she was considered as apermanent member of the household, and the night before Charles went toschool he told her of his grand passion. His lordship considered thisstep showed deep knowledge of the world, as it would have the effect ofcrushing in the bud any rash hopes which Mary might have conceived; and,having made this provision for her peace of mind, he straightwaydeparted to Shrewsbury school.