E-text prepared by Martin Robb
THE TIGER OF MYSORE:
A Story of the War with Tippoo Saib
by
G. A. HENTY.
Illustrated by W. H. Margetson
1895
Preface.Chapter 1: A Lost Father.Chapter 2: A Brush With Privateers.Chapter 3: The Rajah.Chapter 4: First Impressions.Chapter 5: War Declared.Chapter 6: A Perilous Adventure.Chapter 7: Besieged.Chapter 8: The Invasion Of Mysore.Chapter 9: News Of The Captive.Chapter 10: In Disguise.Chapter 11: A Useful Friend.Chapter 12: A Tiger In A Zenana.Chapter 13: Officers Of The Palace.Chapter 14: A Surprise.Chapter 15: Escape.Chapter 16: The Journey.Chapter 17: Back At Tripataly.Chapter 18: A Narrow Escape.Chapter 19: Found At Last.Chapter 20: The Escape.Chapter 21: Home.
Preface.
While some of our wars in India are open to the charge that they wereundertaken on slight provocation, and were forced on by us in orderthat we might have an excuse for annexation, our struggle with TippooSaib was, on the other hand, marked by a long endurance of wrong, anda toleration of abominable cruelties perpetrated upon Englishmen andour native allies. Hyder Ali was a conqueror of the true Eastern type.He was ambitious in the extreme. He dreamed of becoming the Lord ofthe whole of Southern India. He was an able leader, and, thoughruthless where it was his policy to strike terror, he was not cruelfrom choice.
His son, Tippoo, on the contrary, revelled in acts of the mostabominable cruelty. It would seem that he massacred for the verypleasure of massacring, and hundreds of British captives were killedby famine, poison, or torture, simply to gratify his lust for murder.Patience was shown towards this monster until patience became a fault,and our inaction was naturally ascribed by him to fear. Had firmnessbeen shown by Lord Cornwallis, when Seringapatam was practically inhis power, the second war would have been avoided and thousands oflives spared. The blunder was a costly one to us, for the work had tobe done all over again, and the fault of Lord Cornwallis retrieved bythe energy and firmness of the Marquis of Wellesley.
The story of the campaign is taken from various sources, and thedetails of the treatment of the prisoners from the publishednarratives of two officers who effected their escape from prisons.
G. A. Henty.
Chapter 1: A Lost Father.
"There is no saying, lad, no saying at all. All I know is that yourfather, the captain, was washed ashore at the same time as I was. Asyou have heard me say, I owed my life to him. I was pretty nigh gonewhen I caught sight of him, holding on to a spar. Spent as I was, Imanaged to give a shout loud enough to catch his ear. He looked round.I waved my hand and shouted, 'Goodbye, Captain!' Then I sank lower andlower, and felt that it was all over, when, half in a dream, I heardyour father's voice shout, 'Hold on, Ben!' I gave one more struggle,and then I felt him catch me by the arm. I don't remember whathappened, until I found myself lashed to the spar beside him.
"'That is right, Ben,' he said cheerily, as I held up my head; 'youwill do now. I had a sharp tussle to get you here, but it is allright. We are setting inshore fast. Pull yourself together, for weshall have a rough time of it in the surf. Anyhow, we will sticktogether, come what may.'
"As the waves lifted us up, I saw the coast, with its groves ofcoconuts almost down to the water's edge, and white sheets of surfrunning up high on the sandy beach. It was not more than a hundredyards away, and the captain sang out,
"'Hurrah! There are some natives coming down. They will give us ahand.'
"Next time we came up on a wave, he said, 'When we get close, Ben, wemust cut ourselves adrift from this spar, or it will crush the lifeout of us; but before we do that, I will tie the two of us together.'
"He cut a bit of rope from the raffle hanging from the spar, and tiedone end round my waist and the other round his own, leaving about fivefathoms loose between us.
"'There,' he shouted in my ear. 'If either of us gets chucked well up,and the natives get a hold of him, the other must come up, too. Nowmind, Ben, keep broadside on to the wave if you can, and let it rollyou up as far as it will take you. Then, when you feel that its forceis spent, stick your fingers and toes into the sand, and hold on likegrim death.'
"Well, we drifted nearer and nearer until, just as we got to the pointwhere the great waves tumbled over, the captain cut the lashings andswam a little away, so as to be clear of the spar. Then a big wavecame towering up. I was carried along like a straw in a whirlpool.Then there was a crash that pretty nigh knocked the senses out of me.I do not know what happened afterwards. It was a confusion of whitewater rushing past and over me. Then for a moment I stopped, and atonce made a clutch at the ground that I had been rolling over. Therewas a big strain, and I was hauled backwards as if a team of wildhorses were pulling at me. Then there was a jerk, and I knew nothingmore, till I woke up and found myself on the sands, out of reach ofthe surf.
"Your father did not come to for half an hour. He had been hurt a bitworse than I had, but at last he came round.
"Well, we were kept three months in a sort of castle place; and thenone day a party of chaps, with guns and swords, came into the yardwhere we were sitting. The man, who seemed the head of the fellows whohad been keeping us prisoners, walked up with one who was evidently anofficer over the chaps as had just arrived. He looked at us both, andthen laid his hand on the captain. Then the others came up.
"The captain had just time to say, 'We are going to be parted, Ben.God bless you! If ever you get back, give my love to my wife, and tellher what has happened to me, and that she must keep up her heart, forI shall make a bolt of it the first time I get a chance.'
"The next day, I was taken off to a place they call Calicut. There Istopped a year, and then the rajah of the place joined the Englishagainst Tippoo, who was lord of all the country, and I was released. Ihad got, by that time, to talk their lingo pretty well, though I haveforgotten it all now, and I had found out that the chaps who had takenyour father away were a party sent down by Tippoo, who, having heardthat two Englishmen had been cast on shore, had insisted upon one ofthem being handed over to him.
"It is known that a great many of the prisoners in Tippoo's hands havebeen murdered in their dungeons. He has sworn, over and over again,that he has no European prisoners, but every one knows that he hasnumbers of them in his hands. Whether the captain is one of those whohave been murdered, or whether he is still in one of Tippoo'sdungeons, is more than I or any one else can say."
"Well, as I have told you, Ben, that is what we mean to find out."
"I know that is what your mother has often said, lad, but it seems tome that you have more chance of finding the man in the moon than youhave of learning whether your father is alive, or not."
"Well, we are going to try, anyhow, Ben. I know it's a difficult job,but Mother and I have talked it over, ever since you came home withthe news, three years ago; so I have made up my mind, and nothing canchange me. You see, I have more chances than most people would have.Being a boy is all in my favour; and then, you know, I talk thelanguage just as well as English."
"Yes, of course that is a pull, and a big one; but it is a desperateundertaking, lad, and I can't say as I see how it is to be done."
"I don't see either, Ben, and I don't expect to see until we get outthere; but, desperate or not, Mother and I are going to try."
Dick Holland, the speaker, was a lad of some fifteen years of age. Hisfather, who was captain of a fine East Indiaman, had sailed fromLondon when he was nine, and had never returned. No news had beenreceived of the ship after she touched at the Cape, and it wassupposed that she had gone down with all hands; until, nearly t
hreeyears later, her boatswain, Ben Birket, had entered the East IndiaCompany's office, and reported that he himself, and the captain, hadbeen cast ashore on the territories of the Rajah of Coorg; the solesurvivors, as far as he knew, of the Hooghley.
After an interview with the Directors, he had gone straight to thehouse at Shadwell inhabited by Mrs. Holland. She had left there, buthad removed to a smaller one a short distance away, where she livedupon the interest of the sum that her husband had invested from hissavings, and from a small pension granted to her by the Company.
Mrs. Holland was a half caste, the daughter of an English woman whohad married a young rajah. Her mother's life had been a happy one; butwhen her daughter had reached the age of sixteen, she died, obtainingon her deathbed the rajah's consent that the girl should be sent toEngland to be educated, while her son, who was three years younger,should remain with his father.
Over him she had exercised but little influence. He had been broughtup like the sons of other native princes, and, save for his somewhatlight complexion, the English blood in his veins would never have beensuspected.
Margaret, on the other hand, had been under her mother's care, and asthe latter had always hoped that the girl would, at any rate for atime, go to her family in England, she had always conversed with herin that language, and had, until her decreasing strength rendered itno longer possible, given her an English education.
In complexion and appearance, she took far more after her Englishmother than the boy had done; and, save for her soft, dark eyes, andglossy, jet-black hair, might have passed as of pure English blood.When she sailed, it was with the intention of returning to India, inthe course of a few years; but this arrangement was overthrown by thefact that on the voyage, John Holland, the handsome young first mateof the Indiaman, completely won her heart, and they were married afortnight after the vessel came up the Thames.
The matter would not have been so hurried had not a letter she postedon landing, to her mother's sister, who had promised her a home,received an answer written in a strain which determined her to yield,at once, to John Holland's pressing entreaties that they should bemarried without delay. Her aunt had replied that she had consented tooverlook the conduct of her mother, in uniting herself to a native,and to receive her for a year at the rectory; but that her behaviour,in so precipitately engaging herself to a rough sailor, rendered itimpossible to countenance her. As she stated that she had come overwith a sum sufficient to pay her expenses, while in England, sheadvised her to ask the captain--who, by the way, must have grosslyneglected his duties by allowing an intimacy between her and hismate--to place her in some school, where she would be well lookedafter until her return to India.
The Indian blood in Margaret's veins boiled fiercely, and she wroteher aunt a letter which caused that lady to congratulate herself onthe good fortune that had prevented her from having to receive, underher roof, a girl of so objectionable and violent a character.
Although the language that John Holland used concerning this letterwas strong, indeed, he was well satisfied, as he had foreseen that itwas not probable Margaret's friends would have allowed her to marryhim, without communicating with her father; and that the rajah mighthave projects of his own for her disposal. He laid the case before thecaptain, who placed her in charge of his wife, until the marriage tookplace.
Except for the long absences of her husband, Margaret's life had beena very happy one, and she was looking forward to the time when, afteranother voyage, he would be able to give up his profession and settledown upon his savings.
When months passed by, and no news came of the Hooghley having reachedport, Mrs. Holland at once gave up her house and moved into a smallerone; for, although her income would have been sufficient to enable herto remain where she was, she determined to save every penny she wasable, for the sake of her boy. She was possessed of strong commonsense and firmness of character, and when Ben Birket returned with histale, he was surprised at the composure with which she received it.
"I have always," she said, "had a conviction that John was stillalive, and have not allowed Dick to think of his father as dead; andnow I believe, as firmly as before, that someday John will be restoredto me. I myself can do nothing towards aiding him. A woman can dolittle, here. She can do nothing in India, save among her own people.I shall wait patiently, for a time. It may be that this war willresult in his release. But in the meantime, I shall continue toprepare Dick to take up the search for him, as soon as he is oldenough.
"I hear, once a year, from my brother, who is now rajah; and he willbe able to aid my boy, in many ways. However, for a time I must bepatient and wait. I have learnt to wait, during my husband's longabsences; and besides, I think that the women of India are a patientrace. I trust that John will yet come home to me, but if not, when itis time, we will try to rescue him."
Ben said nothing, at the time, to damp her courage; but he shook hishead, as he left the cottage.
"Poor creature," he said. "I would not say anything to discourage her,but for a woman and boy to try to get a captive out of the claws ofthe Tiger of Mysore is just madness."
Each time he returned from a voyage, Ben called upon Mrs. Holland. Hehimself had given up every vestige of hope, when it was known that thename of her husband was not among the list of those whom Tippoo hadbeen forced to release. Margaret Holland, however, still clung tohope. Her face was paler, and there was a set, pathetic expression init; so, when she spoke of her husband as being still alive, Ben wouldsooner have cut out his tongue than allow the slightest word,indicative of his own feeling of certainty as to the captain's fate,to escape him; and he always made a pretence of entering warmly intoher plans.
The training, as she considered it, of her son went on steadily. Shealways conversed with him in her father's language, and he was able tospeak it as well as English. She was ever impressing upon him that hemust be strong and active. When he was twelve, she engaged an oldsoldier, who had set up a sort of academy, to instruct him in the useof the sword; and in such exercises as were calculated to strengthenhis muscles, and to give him strength and agility.
Unlike most mothers, she had no word of reproach when he returned homefrom school with a puffed face, or cut lips; the signs of battle.
"I do not want you to be quarrelsome," she often said to him, "but Ihave heard your father say that a man who can use his fists well issure to be cool and quick, in any emergency. You know what is beforeyou, and these qualities are of far more importance, in your case,than any book learning. Therefore, Dick, I say, never quarrel on yourown account, but whenever you see a boy bullying a smaller one, takethe opportunity of giving him a lesson while learning one yourself. Inthe days of old, you know, the first duty of a true knight was tosuccour the oppressed, and I want you to be a true knight. You willget thrashed sometimes, no doubt, but don't mind that. Perhaps, nexttime, you will turn the tables."
Dick acted upon this advice and, by the time he was fifteen, hadestablished a reputation among, not only the boys of his own school,but of the district. In addition to his strength and quickness, he hada fund of dogged endurance, and imperturbable good temper, that didnot fail him; even on the rare occasions when, in combats with boysmuch older than himself, he was forced to admit himself defeated.
The fact that he fought, not because he was angry, but as if it were amatter of business, gave him a great advantage; and his readiness totake up the cause of any boy ill-treated by another was so notorious,that "I will tell Dick Holland" became a threat that saved many a boyfrom being burned.
Ten days before his conversation with Ben, his mother had said:
"Dick, I can stand this no longer. I have tried to be patient, for sixyears, but I can be patient no longer. I feel that another year ofsuspense would kill me. Therefore, I have made up my mind to sail atonce. The voyage will take us five months, and perhaps you may have toremain some little time, at my brother's, before you can start.
"Now that the time is come, I think that perhaps I am ab
out to dowrong, and that it may cost you your life. But I cannot help it, Dick.I dream of your father almost every night, and I wake up thinking thatI hear him calling upon me to help him. I feel that I should go mad,if this were to last much longer."
"I am ready, Mother," the boy said, earnestly. "I have been hoping,for some time, that you would say you would start soon; and though Ihave not, of course, the strength of a man, I think that will be morethan made up by the advantage I should have, as a boy, in looking formy father; and at any rate, from what you tell me, I should think thatI am quite as strong as an average native of your country.
"Anyhow, Mother, I am sure that it will be best for us to go now. Itmust have been awful for you, waiting all this time; and though youhave never said anything about it, I have noticed for a long time thatyou were looking ill, and was sure that you were worrying terribly.What would be the use of staying any longer? I should not be very muchstronger in another year than I am now, and a year would seem an age,to Father."
And so it was settled, and Mrs. Holland at once began to makepreparations for their departure. She had already, without sayinganything to Dick, given notice that she should give up the house. Shehad, during the six years, saved a sum of money amply sufficient forthe expenses of the journey and outfit, and she had now only to orderclothes for herself and Dick, and to part with her furniture.
Ben, on his return, had heard with grave apprehension that she wasabout to carry out her intention; but, as he saw that any remonstranceon his part would be worse than useless, he abstained from offeringany, and warmly entered into her plans. After an hour's talk, he hadproposed to Dick to go out for a stroll with him.
"I am glad to have a talk with you, Ben," Dick said. "Of course, Ihave heard, from Mother, what you told her when you came home; but Ishall be glad to hear it from you, so as to know exactly how it allwas. You know she feels sure that Father is still alive. I should liketo know what your opinion really is about it. Of course, it will makeno difference, as I should never say anything to her; but I shouldlike to know whether you think there is any possibility of his beingalive."
To this Ben had replied as already related. He was silent when Dickasserted that, desperate or not, he intended to carry out his mother'splan.
"I would not say as I think it altogether desperate, as far as you areconcerned," he said thoughtfully. "It don't seem to me as there ismuch chance of your ever getting news of your father, lad; and as togetting him out of prison, if you do come to hear of him; why, honest,I would not give a quid of 'baccy for your chance; but I don't say asI think that it is an altogether desperate job, as far as you areconcerned, yourself. Talking their lingo as you do, it's just possibleas you might be able to travel about, in disguise, without anyonefinding you out; especially as the Rajah, your uncle, ought to be ableto help you a bit, and put you in the way of things, and perhaps sendsome trusty chap along with you. There is no doubt you are strong foryour age, and being thin, and nothing but muscle, you would passbetter as a native than if you had been thick and chunky. My old womantells me as you have a regular name as a fighter, and that you havegiven a lesson to many a bully in the neighbourhood. Altogether, thereis a lot in your favour, and I don't see why you should not pullthrough all right; at any rate, even should the worst come to theworst, and you do get news, somehow, that your poor father has gonedown, I am sure it will be better for your mother than going on as shehas done for the last six years, just wearing herself out withanxiety."
"I am sure it will, Ben. I can tell you that it is as much as I cando, sometimes, not to burst out crying when I see her sitting, by thehour, with her eyes open, but not seeing anything, or moving as muchas a finger--just thinking, and thinking, and thinking.
"I wish we were going out in your ship, Ben."
"I wish you was, lad; but it will be five or six weeks before we areoff again. Anyhow, the ship you are going in--the Madras--is a finecraft, and the captain bears as high a character as anyone in theCompany's fleet.
"Well, lad, I hope that it will all turn out well. If I could havetalked the lingo like a native, I would have been glad to have gonewith you, and taken my chances. The captain saved my life in thatwreck, and it would only have been right that I should risk mine forhim, if there was but a shadow of chance of its being of use. But Iknow that, in a job of this sort, I could be of no good whatsomever,and should be getting you into trouble before we had gone a miletogether."
"I am sure that you would help, if you could, Ben; but, of course, youcould be of no use."
"And when do you think of being home again, lad?"
"There is no saying, Ben--it may be years. But, however long it takes,I sha'n't give it up until I find out, for certain, what has become ofmy father."
"And ain't there a chance of hearing how you are getting on, Dick? Ishall think of you and your mother, often and often, when I am on deckkeeping my watch at night; and it will seem hard that I mayn't be ableto hear, for years, as to what you are doing."
"The only thing that I can do, Ben, will be to write if I get a chanceof sending a messenger, or for my mother to write to you, to theoffice."
"That is it. You send a letter to Ben Birket, boatswain of theMadeira, care of East India Company, Leadenhall Street; and I shallget it, sooner or later. Of course, I shall not expect a long yarn,but just two or three words to tell me how you are getting on, andwhether you have got any news of your father. And if you come back toEngland, leave your address at the Company's office for me; for itain't an easy matter to find anyone out, in London, unless you havegot their bearings right."
Ten days later, Mrs. Holland and Dick embarked on the Madras. Dick hadbeen warned, by his mother, to say nothing to anyone on board as tothe object of their voyage.
"I shall mention," she said, "that I am going out to make someinquiries respecting the truth of a report that has reached me, thatsome of those on board the Hooghley, of which my husband was captain,survived the wreck, and were taken up the country. That will be quitesufficient. Say nothing about my having been born in India, or that myfather was a native rajah. Some of these officials--and still more,their wives--are very prejudiced, and consider themselves to be quitedifferent beings to the natives of the country. I found it so on myvoyage to England.
"At any rate, we don't want our affairs talked about. It will be quitesufficient for people to know that we are, as I said, going out tomake some inquiries about the truth of this rumour."
"All right, Mother. At any rate, the captain has told you that he willlook after you, and make things comfortable for you, so we need notcare about anything else."
"We certainly need not care, Dick; but it is much more agreeable toget on nicely with everyone. I was very pleased when Captain Barstowcalled yesterday and said that, having heard at the office that theMrs. Holland on the passenger list was the widow of his old shipmate,John Holland, he had come round to see if there was anything that hecould do for her, and he promised to do all in his power to make uscomfortable. Of course, I told him that I did not regard myself asCaptain Holland's widow--that all we knew was that he had got safelyashore, and had been taken up to Mysore; and, as I had a strongconviction he was still alive, I was going out to endeavour toascertain, from native sources, whether he was still living.
"'Well, ma'am, I hope that you will succeed,' he said. 'All this isnew to me. I thought he was drowned, when the Hooghley went ashore.Anyhow, Mrs. Holland, I honour you for making this journey, just onthe off chance of hearing something of your husband, and you may besure I will do all I can to make the voyage a pleasant one for you.'
"So you see, we shall start favourably, Dick; for the captain can do agreat deal towards adding to the comfort of a passenger. When it isknown, by the purser and steward, that a lady is under the specialcare of the captain, it ensures her a larger share of civility, andspecial attentions, than she might otherwise obtain."
As soon as they went on board, indeed, the captain came up to them.
"Good morning,
Mrs. Holland," he said. "You have done quite right tocome on board early. It gives you a chance of being attended to,before the stewards are being called for by twenty people at once."
He beckoned to a midshipman.
"Mr. Hart, please tell the purser I wish to speak to him.
"So this is your son, Mrs. Holland? A fine, straight-looking youngfellow. Are you going to put him in the Service? You have a strongclaim, you know, which I am sure the Board would acknowledge."
"Do you know, Captain, it is a matter that I have hardly thoughtof--in fact, I have, for years, been so determined to go out and tryand obtain some news of my husband, as soon as Dick was old enough tojourney about as my protector, that I have not thought, as I ought tohave done, what profession he should follow. However, he is onlyfifteen yet, and there will be time enough when he gets back."
"If he is to go into the service, the sooner the better, ma'am--onecan hardly begin too young. However, I don't say there are not plentyof good sailors, afloat, who did not enter until a couple of yearsolder than he is--there is no strict rule as to age.
"Only fifteen, is he? I should have taken him for at least a yearolder. However, if you like, Mrs. Holland, I will put him in the wayof learning a good deal, during the voyage. He might as well be doingthat as loafing about the deck all day."
"Much better, Captain. I am very much obliged to you, and I am surethat he will be, too."
"I should like it immensely, Captain," Dick exclaimed.
At this moment, the purser came up.
"Mr. Stevenson," the captain said, "this is Mrs. Holland. She is thewife of my old friend, John Holland--we were midshipmen together onboard the Ganges. He commanded the Hooghley, which was lost, you know,five or six years ago, somewhere near Calicut. There were two or threesurvivors, and he was one of them, and it seems that he was taken upthe country; so Mrs. Holland is going out to endeavour to ascertainwhether he may not be still alive, though perhaps detained by one ofthose native princes.
"Please do everything you can to make her comfortable, and tell thehead steward that it is my particular wish she shall be well attendedto. Who is she berthed with?"
The purser took the passenger list from his pocket.
"She is with Mrs. Colonel Williamson, and the wife of CommissionerLarkins."
The captain gave a grunt of dissatisfaction. The purser went on.
"There is a small cabin vacant, Captain. Two ladies who were to haveit--a mother and daughter--have, I hear this morning, beenunexpectedly detained, owing to the sudden illness of one of them.Their heavy baggage is all in the hold, and must go on, and they willfollow in the next ship. Shall I put Mrs. Holland in there?"
"Certainly. This is most fortunate.
"I don't think that you would have been comfortable, with the othertwo, Mrs. Holland. I don't know the colonel's wife, but Mrs. Larkinshas travelled with us before, and I had quite enough of her on thatvoyage."
"Thank you very much, Captain. It will indeed be a comfort to have acabin to myself."
Dick found that he was berthed with two young cadets, whose names, helearned from the cards fastened over the bunks, were Latham andFellows.
Half an hour after the arrival of the Hollands on board, thepassengers began to pour in rapidly, and the deck of the Madras wassoon crowded with them, their friends, and their luggage. Below, allwas bustle and confusion. Men shouted angrily to stewards; women,laden with parcels, blocked the gangway, and appealed helplessly toevery one for information and aid; sailors carried down trunks andportmanteaus; and Mrs. Holland, when she emerged from her cabin,having stowed away her belongings and made things tidy, congratulatedherself on having been the first on board, and so had not only avoidedall this confusion, but obtained a separate cabin, which she might nototherwise have been able to do, as the captain would have been toobusy to devote any special attention to her.
After having handed her over to the care of the purser, CaptainBarstow had spoken to the second officer, who happened to be passing.
"Mr. Rawlinson," he said, "this is the son of my old friend, CaptainHolland. He is going out with his mother. I wish you would keep youreye upon him, and let him join the midshipmen in their studies withyou, in the morning. Possibly he may enter the Service, and it will bea great advantage to him to have got up navigation, a bit, before hedoes so. At any rate, it will occupy his mind and keep him out ofmischief. A lad of his age would be like a fish out of water, amongthe passengers on the quarterdeck."
"Ay, ay, sir. I will do what I can for him."
And he hurried away.
Dick saw that, for the present, there was nothing to be done but tolook on, and it was not until the next morning, when the Madras wasmaking her way south, outside the Goodwins, that the second officerspoke to him.
"Ah, there you are, lad! I have been too busy to think of you, and itwill be another day or two before we settle down to regular work.However, I will introduce you to one or two of the midshipmen, andthey will make you free of the ship."
Dick was, indeed, already beginning to feel at home. The long table,full from end to end, had presented such a contrast to his quietdinner with his mother, that, as he sat down beside her and lookedround, he thought he should never get to speak to anyone throughoutthe voyage. However, he had scarcely settled himself when a gentlemanin a naval uniform, next to him, made the remark:
"Well, youngster, what do you think of all this? I suppose it is allnew to you?"
"It is, sir. It seems very strange, at first, but I suppose I shallget accustomed to it."
"Oh, yes. You will find it pleasant enough, by and bye. I am theship's doctor. The purser has been telling me about you and yourmother.
"I made one voyage with your father. It was my first, and a kindercaptain I never sailed with. I heard, from the purser, that thereseems to be a chance of his being still alive, and that your mother isgoing out to try and find out something about him. I hope, mostsincerely, that she may succeed in doing so; but he has been missing along time now. Still, that is no reason why she should not find him.There have been instances where men have been kept for years by someof these rascally natives--why, goodness only knows, except, Isuppose, because they fear and hate us; and think that, some time orother, an English prisoner may be useful to them.
"Your mother looks far from strong," he went on, as he glanced acrossDick to Mrs. Holland, who was talking to a lady on the other side ofher. "Has she been ill?"
"No, sir. I have never known her ill, yet. She has been worryingherself a great deal. She has waited so long, because she did not liketo go out until she could take me with her. She has no friends inEngland with whom she could leave me. She looks a good deal better,now, than she did a month ago. I think, directly she settled to comeout, and had something to do, she became better."
"That is quite natural," the doctor said. "There is nothing so tryingas inactivity. I have no doubt that the sea air will quite set her upagain. It performs almost miracles on the homeward-bound passengers.They come on board looking pale, and listless, and washed out; at theend of a month at sea, they are different creatures altogether."
The purser had taken pains to seat Mrs. Holland, at table, next to aperson who would be a pleasant companion for her; and the lady she wasnow talking to was the wife of a chaplain in the army. She had, a yearbefore, returned from India in the Madras, and he knew her to be akind and pleasant woman.
Dick did not care for his cabin mates. They were young fellows ofabout eighteen years of age. One was a nephew of a Director of theCompany, the other the son of a high Indian official. They paid butlittle attention to him, generally ignoring him altogether, andconversing about things and people in India, in the tone of men towhom such matters were quite familiar.
In three or four days, Dick became on good terms with the sixmidshipmen the Madras carried. Two of them were younger than himself,two somewhat older, while the others were nearly out of their time,and hoped that this would be their last trip in the midshipmen'sberth. T
he four younger lads studied, two hours every morning, underthe second officer's instruction; and Dick took his place at the tableregularly with them.
Mathematics had been the only subject in which he had at alldistinguished himself at school, and he found himself able to givesatisfaction to Mr. Rawlinson, in his studies of navigation. Afterthis work was over, they had an hour's practical instruction by theboatswain's mate, in knotting and splicing ropes, and in other similarmatters.
In a fortnight, he had learned the names and uses of what had, atfirst, seemed to him the innumerable ropes; and long before that, hadaccompanied one of the midshipmen aloft. On the first occasion that hedid so, two of the topmen followed him, with the intention of carryingout the usual custom of lashing him to the ratlines, until he paid hisfooting. Seeing them coming up, the midshipman laughed, and told Dickwhat was in store for him.
The boy had been as awkward as most beginners in climbing the shrouds,the looseness and give of the ratlines puzzling him; but he had, foryears, practised climbing ropes in the gymnasium at Shadwell, and wasconfident in his power to do anything in that way. The consequence wasthat, as soon as the sailors gained the top, where he and themidshipman were standing, Dick seized one of the halliards and, with amerry laugh, came down hand over hand. A minute later, he stood on thedeck.
"Well done, youngster," said the boatswain's mate, who happened to bestanding by, as Dick's feet touched the deck. "This may be the firsttime you have been on board a ship, but it is easy to see that itisn't the first, by a long way, that you have been on a rope. Couldyou go up again?"
"Yes, I should think so," Dick said. "I have never climbed so high asthat, because I have never had the chance; but it ought to be easyenough."
The man laughed.
"There are not many sailors who can do it," he said. "Well, let us seehow high you will get."
As Dick was accustomed to go up a rope thirty feet high, hand overhand, without using his legs, he was confident that, with theirassistance, he could get up to the main top, lofty as it was, and heat once threw off his jacket and started. He found the task harderthan he had anticipated, but he did it without a pause. He was glad,however, when the two sailors above grasped him by the arms, andplaced him beside them on the main top.
"Well, sir," one said, admiringly, "we thought you was a JohnnyNewcome, by the way you went up the ratlines, but you came up thatrope like a monkey.
"Well, sir, you are free up here, and if you weren't it would not makemuch odds to you, for it would take half the ship's company to captureyou."
"I don't want to get off paying my footing," Dick said, pulling fiveshillings from his pocket and handing them to the sailors; for hismother had told him that it was the custom, on first going aloft, tomake a present to them, and had given him the money for the purpose."I can climb, but I don't know anything about ropes, and I shall bevery much obliged if you will teach me all you can."