CHAPTER XV
ESCAPED
So he travelled across France, avoiding all large towns. Once or twice hegot into trouble with a pompous village official on account of his notholding a pedlar's permit; but the feeling of the people was strong infavour of a man who was selling goods for the benefit of poor prisoners,and, of course, he always had some plausible story ready to account forits absence. At last he came to Dunkirk. He had saved money as he went,and on his arrival there had eight louis in his pocket. He took up alodging at a little cabaret, and, leaving his box, which was now almostempty, strolled down to the harbour. Fishing-boats were coming in andgoing out. Observing that they were not very well manned, probably becausemany of the men had been drafted into the navy, he selected one which hadbut four men, a number barely sufficient to raise the heavy lug-sail, andwhen she made fast alongside the quay he went on board.
"Do you want a hand?" he said, "I am not accustomed to the sea, but I haveno doubt I could haul on a rope as well as others."
"Where do you come from," one asked, "and how is it that you have escapedthe conscription?"
"I am exempt," he said, "as the only son of my mother. I come fromChampagne."
"But why have you left?"
"I came away because the girl I was engaged to jilted me for a richersuitor, and I could not stop there to see her married; I should have cuthis throat or my own. So I have tramped down here to see if I can findsome work for a time."
"You are a fool for your pains," the skipper said. "No girl is worth it."
"Ah, you never could have been jilted! If you had been you wouldn't thinkso lightly of it."
"Well, mates, what do you say? Shall we take this young fellow? He looksstrong and active, and I dare say will suit us."
"At any rate we can give him a trial for a voyage or two."
"Well, you may begin by helping us up into the town with our fish. We havehad a heavy catch to-day."
Will at once shouldered a basket and went up with them to themarket-place.
"We are going to get a drink," the fisherman said. "Let us see how wellyou can sell for us. You must get a franc a kilogramme. Here are scales."
For a couple of hours Will sold fish, attracting, by his pleasant face,buyers who might otherwise have passed him; and when the fishermenreturned they were pleased to find that he had almost sold out theirstock, and accounted for his take to the last sou.
"I have been watching you all the time," the captain said, "though you didnot know. I wanted to see if you were honest, and, now that I have a proofof it, will take you willingly. The pay is twelve francs a week and atenth share in the sales. The boat takes a third, I take two, and thesailors take one apiece, and you will have half a share besides your paytill you know your business. Do you agree to that?"
"Yes," Will said.
Accordingly he settled down to the work of a fisherman, and gave greatsatisfaction. His mates were indeed astonished at the rapidity with whichhe learned his work, and congratulated themselves upon the acquisition ofso promising a recruit.
A month after he had joined the smack a ship-of-war was seen sailing alongthree miles from shore. The fishermen were half-way between her and theland, and paid no great attention to her, knowing that British men-of-wardid not condescend to meddle with small fishing-boats. Will waited untilthe captain and one of the men were below; then, suddenly pushing thehatch to and throwing a coil of rope over it, he produced from his pocketsa brace of pistols which he had bought at Dunkirk out of the stock ofmoney he had had in his pocket when he was captured, and ordered the manat the helm to steer for the frigate. The man let go the tiller at once,and he and his companion prepared to make a rush upon Will. But the sightof the levelled pistols checked them.
"HE ORDERED THE MAN AT THE HELM TO STEER FOR THE FRIGATE"]
"You will come to no harm," Will said. "You have but to put me on board,and I warrant you shall be allowed to depart unmolested. I am an Englishofficer. Now, down with the helm without hesitation, or I will put abullet through your head; and do you, Jacques, sit down by his side."
Sullenly the men obeyed his orders, and the boat went dancing through thewater in a direction which, Will calculated, would enable him to cut offthe frigate. In the meantime the captain and his companion, unable tounderstand what was going on, were thumping at the hatchway. Will,however, paid no attention to them, but stood on it, keeping his eye uponthe men in the stern. Twenty minutes brought them close to the frigate,which, on seeing a small boat making for her, threw her sails aback towait for it. As they came close a rope was thrown; Will grasped it andswung himself up the side, leaving the boat to drift away. The sailorsstood looking in surprise at him, but Will went straight up to the firstlieutenant.
"I beg to report myself as having come on board, sir. I am, or rather was,a midshipman on board the _Tartar_. I have just escaped from Verdun."
"Do you really mean it?" the lieutenant said. "I thought only one or twoEnglish prisoners had ever made their escape from there."
"That is so, sir, and I am one of the fortunate ones."
"But how on earth have you managed to pass right through France?"
"I was detained three months at Toulon, sir, and there was allowed to buysome French books. I was then a month on the way to Verdun, and fivemonths there. During that time I practised French incessantly, and pickedup enough to pass muster. At last, thanks to a French girl, I succeeded ingetting a disguise and climbing over the wall, and passed through Franceas a pedlar with wares made by the prisoners."
"Come with me to the captain's cabin. He will, I am sure, be glad to hearyour story. How were you captured?"
"In the attack the _Tartar_ made on a battery on one of the Isles d'HyeresI was shot through the leg and left behind in the retreat."
"Yes, I heard of that affair, and a most unfortunate one it was. Youcaught it hot there, and no mistake!"
The captain listened to the story with great interest, and then said:"Well, Mr. Gilmore, I congratulate you very heartily on getting out ofthat terrible prison. I am rather short of officers, and will rate you asmidshipman until I have an opportunity of sending you home. I have nodoubt your brother officers will manage to rig you out."
The lieutenant went out with Will and introduced him to the officers ofthe ship, to whom he had again to tell the tale of his adventure. "Nowcome down below to our berth," the senior midshipman said, "and we willsee what we can do to rig you out. We lost one of our number the otherday, and I have no doubt the purser's clerk will let you take what yourequire out of his kit if you give him a bill on your paymaster."
Fortunately the clothes fitted Will, so he took over the whole of theeffects, as there was sufficient standing to his account on the _Tartar_to pay for them, in addition to the pay that would accrue during the timeof his captivity.
He learned that they were on their way to the Texel, where they were tocruise backwards and forwards to watch the flotilla of boats that Napoleonwas accumulating there for the invasion of England. It was arduous work,for the heavy fogs rendered it necessary to use the greatest caution, asthere were many dangerous shoals and currents in the vicinity.
One dark night, when they thought that they were in deep water, the shipgrounded suddenly. The tide was running out, and though they dideverything in their power they could not get her off.
"If we have but another couple of hours," the first lieutenant said, "weshall float, as the tide will be turning very soon. But it is gettinglight already, and we are likely to have their gun-boats out in no time."
His anticipation turned out correct, for six gun-boats were soon seenmaking their way out of the Texel. When within range they opened fire. The_Artemis_ replied with such guns as she could bring to bear on them. Shesuffered a good deal of damage, but the tide had turned and was flowingfast. Hawsers had been run out at the stern and fastened to the capstan,and the bars were now manned, and the sailors put their whole
strengthinto the work. At last there was a movement; the ship quivered from stemto stern, and then slipped off into deep water. A joyous cheer burst fromthe crew. But they did not waste time. They ran at once to their guns, andopened a broadside fire on the gun-boats. One was disabled and taken intow by two others; and the rest, finding themselves no match for thefrigate, sheered off and re-entered the Texel.
The _Artemis_ continued to cruise to and fro for upwards of a month. Oneevening the first lieutenant said to Will: "The captain is worried becausewe were told to expect a messenger with news as to the state of affairs atAmsterdam and in Holland generally, and none has arrived. There is nodoubt that they are adding to the number of gun-boats there, and also tothe flat-bottomed boats for the conveyance of troops. The delay is mostannoying, especially as we have orders to sail for England with the newsas soon as we get it, and we are all heartily sick of this dull and drearywork."
"I will volunteer to land and communicate with some of the country-peoplenear Amsterdam," Will said, "if the captain would like it. We know thattheir sympathies are all with us, and I have no doubt that I could getwhat information is required. If my offer is accepted I should greatlyprefer to go in uniform, for, while I am quite ready to run the risk ofbeing taken prisoner, I have certainly no desire to be captured out ofuniform, as I should be liable to be hanged as a spy."
The first lieutenant mentioned the matter to the captain, who at onceembraced the offer, for he, too, was sick of the work, in which no honourwas to be obtained, and in which the risks were great, as the coast was adangerous one. He sent for Will and said: "I hear, Mr. Gilmore, that youare willing to volunteer to land and gain information. Have you consideredthe risks?"
"I know that, of course, there is a certain amount of danger, sir, but donot consider it to be excessive. At any rate I am ready to try it."
"I am very much obliged to you," the captain said, "for we are all anxiousto get away from this place; but mind, I cannot but consider that the riskis considerable. With our glasses we constantly see bodies of horsemenriding along the sands, and have sometimes noticed solitary men, no doubtsentinels; and it is probably because of them that the messenger weexpected has not been able to put out. I will give you his address. Helives within half a mile of Amsterdam, in a house near the shore of theTexel. When are you prepared to start?"
"This evening if you wish it, sir."
"Well, I think the sooner you go the better. If you land to-night I willsend the boat ashore to the same spot to-morrow night. They will lie offtwo or three hundred yards, and come to your whistle."
"Very well, sir."
Will had no preparations to make for his journey. He received a letterfrom the captain authorizing the man to give every information in hispower to the bearer, and with this in his pocket he took his place in theboat after dark and was rowed towards the shore. The _Artemis_ was fourmiles from the land when he embarked in the gig, the oars were muffled,and the men were enjoined to row with the greatest care when theyapproached the land. An officer went in charge, and the _Artemis_ was toshow a light an hour after they started, so that they could find their wayback to her. Will chatted in a whisper to the officer till they were, hejudged, within half a mile of the land. Then they rowed on in perfectsilence till the keel grated on the sands. At that moment a musket shotwas heard from a sand-hill a couple of hundred yards away. Will leapt outand ran at full speed for some little distance, and then threw himselfdown. The shots were repeated from point to point, and men ran down to thewater's edge and fired after the retiring boat.
Presently the noise ceased. Whether he had been seen or not he could notsay, but he hoped that, although the sentinel had made out the boatagainst the slight surf that broke on the beach, he had not been able tosee him leave it. He got up cautiously, and, stooping low, moved off untilhe was quite certain that he was well beyond the line of sentries. Once ortwice he heard the galloping of parties of men, evidently attracted by thesound of firing, but none of them came very near him, and he ran onwithout interruption. In two hours he saw lights before him, and knew thathe was approaching Amsterdam. He turned to the right, and went on until hecame to a wide sheet of water, which must, he knew, be the Texel. Then helay down and slept for some hours. At the first gleam of dawn he was onhis feet again, and made his way to a farmhouse which exactly agreed withthe description that had been given him. He knocked at the door, and itwas presently opened by a man in his shirt-sleeves.
"Are you Meinheer Johan Van Duyk?" he asked.
"I am," the man said. "Who are you?"
"I am the bearer of this letter from the captain of the _Artemis_, who hadexpected you to communicate with him."
"Come in," the man said. "We are early risers here, and it is advisablethat no one should see you. Yes," he went on when the door was closed, "Ihave been trying to communicate, but the cordon of sentries along theshore has been so close, and the watch so vigilant, that it has been quiteimpossible for me to come out. I suppose you are an officer of that ship?"
"Yes."
"Do you speak Dutch?"
"No, I speak French."
The man read the letter.
"That is all right; I can furnish you with all these particulars when youleave to-night, but of course in that uniform you must lie dark untilthen. For some reason or other the French have suspicions of me, and theyhave paid me several visits. Were you seen to land last night?"
"I do not know. They fired on the boat, and I expect they have a shrewdidea that somebody was put on shore."
"In that case," the man said, "it is probable that they will search myhouse to-day. By this time they know every little corner of it, so Icannot see where I am to conceal you."
"I observed a stack behind your house," suggested Will.
"Yes, there is one."
"Well, if you would at once get a ladder, and take off some of the thatchand make a hole, I could get into it, and you could then replace thethatch long before the soldiers are likely to come out from Amsterdam."
"Yes, I could do that, and I could hand you in a bottle of schnapps andsome water and bread and meat."
"That will do very well. I suppose you have men?"
"Yes, I have two, and both of them are true Dutchmen, and may be trusted.I will give you at once the list of the gun-boats and flat-boats I havemade ready to send on the first opportunity. I shall be glad to get it outof the house, for, though it is well hidden, they search so strictly thatthey might find it. They broke all my wainscots, pulled up the flooring,and almost wrecked the house the last time they came; and I don't supposethey will be less vigilant this time."
He went to the cupboard and brought out some food and drink.
"Now, sir," he said, "if you will eat this I will call up my two men andset to work at once to get your hiding-place made, so that you may besafely lodged in it before any people are about."
Will was by no means sorry to take breakfast. He ate the food leisurely,and just as he had finished Van Duyk came in to say that the place wasready for him.
It was not a large hole, but sufficient to let him lie down at full lengthunder the thatch. He climbed up the ladder the men had used and got intohis nest, and after Van Duyk had handed him in the provisions he hadpromised, the two men set to work with all speed to replace the thatch. Itwas made thin, so that he had no difficulty in raising it, and could evenwith his finger make a tiny opening through which he could look. The haythat had been removed to make room for him was carried away and throwndown in the mangers for the cows, so that there was nothing to show thatthe stack had recently been touched.
Two hours later Will heard the trampling of horses, and two officers, witha troop of cavalry, rode up.
"I bear a warrant to search your house, Van Duyk," Will heard one of themsay.
"You have searched it three times already, meinheer, but you can, ofcourse, search it again if you wish. You will certainly find no more nowthan you did then."
"A spy landed last night, Van Duyk, and it
is more than probable that heis taking shelter here."
"I don't know why you should suspect me more than anyone else. I am aquiet man, meddling in no way with public matters, and attending only tomy own business."
"It is all very well to say that; we have certain information about you."
"I am well known to my neighbours as a peaceable man," Van Duyk repeated,"and think it monstrous that I should be so interfered with and harried."
"Well, we don't want any talk. Now, men, set to work and search everycorner of the house, not only where a man could be hidden, but even apaper. These Dutchmen are traitors to a man, and if this fellow is noworse than others he is at least as bad."
For an hour and a half Will, in his hiding-place, heard the sound ofsmashing panels and furniture, and the pulling up of floors. At the end ofthat time the troopers left the house and mounted, the officer saying:"You have deceived us this time, old traitor, but we will catch you yet."
"Catch me if you can. I tell you that if you level the house to the groundyou will find nothing."
After they had ridden off, Van Duyk went out to the haystack.
"They have gone for the present, meinheer, but you had better stay whereyou are. They are quite capable of coming back again in the hope that youmay have come out from some hiding-place they may have overlooked."
Indeed, an hour later the troop galloped up again, only to find theDutchman smoking placidly on a seat before his house. Another search wasmade, but equally without success, and then, with much use of stronglanguage, the party rode off.
"I think you can come down safely now," the Dutchman said to Will.
"Thank you, but I don't wish to run the least risk. I will remain where Iam till it gets dark; I can very well sleep the time away till then. Isha'n't get much sleep to-night."
Not until it was quite dark did Van Duyk and his men come with a ladder toremove the thatch again. It took but a minute to extricate Will from hishole.
"We will get that filled up and mended before morning," Van Duyk said."Now, can I let you have a horse?"
"No, thank you, I have but twelve miles to walk. I noted the road as Icame, and can find the spot where I landed without difficulty."
With thanks for the Dutchman's kindness, and handing him the reward withwhich the captain had entrusted him, Will started on his walk. When heapproached the spot it was still four hours from the time at which theboat was to arrive, and seeing a light in a cottage he went and looked inat the window. Only a girl and an old woman were there, so he lifted thelatch and went in. "I am an English officer," he said, "will you let mesit down by your fire for a couple of hours? The cold is piercingoutside."
The old woman answered in broken French, bidding him welcome, and he satdown and began to talk to her. Her stock of French was small, and theconversation soon languished. Presently the girl leapt to her feet andexclaimed in Dutch: "Soldiers!" The old woman translated, and Will thenheard the trampling of horses. He jumped up, snatched a long cloak of theold woman's from the wall, and threw it round him. He also took one of hercaps that hung there and put it on his head. It was large, with frills,and almost covered his face. He had but just time to reseat himself by thefire and cower over it, as if warming his hands, when the door opened anda French officer entered. At the sight of the two apparently old womenbending over the fire, and the girl sitting knitting, he stopped.
"Madam," he said courteously, "it is my duty to search your house. It isbelieved that a spy who landed here last night may be returning to-night."
"You can look," the old woman said in her quavering voice, "as much as youlike; you will not find any spy here."
As the cottage consisted of only two rooms the search was quicklyeffected.
"Thank you, madam!" the French officer said; "I am quite satisfied, and amsorry I have incommoded you."
"That is a civil fellow," Will said, as the sound of the retreating hoofswas heard. "Some of these fellows would have blustered and sworn andturned the whole place upside down. Well, madam, I am deeply obliged toyou for the shelter you have given me and the risk you have run for mysake. Here is a guinea; it is all the gold I have with me, but it may buysome little comfort for you."
"It will buy me enough turf to last me all the winter," the old womansaid. "My son is a fisherman who is sometimes weeks from home, and oursupply of turf is running low. Thank you very much! though I would gladlyhave done it without reward, for we all hate the French."
Will went out cautiously and made his way down to the shore, listening atevery step for some sound that would tell of the presence of a sentry. Helay down near the edge of the sea and watched. At last he saw a dim shapelying stationary a hundred yards out. He gave a low whistle, but this wasalmost instantaneously followed by the report of a musket within fiftyyards of him. He did not hesitate, but with a shout to the boat ran intothe water and struck out towards it. Another musket was fired, fifty yardsto the left, and the signal was, as before, repeated by sentry aftersentry till the sound died away in the distance. Almost immediately thegalloping of horses could be heard. The boat rowed in to meet him, and ashe scrambled on board a volley of carbines rang out from the shore. Thesailors bent to their oars and, although the firing continued for sometime, they knew that the enemy had lost sight of them. A quarter of anhour later the sound of oars was heard. "Stop rowing," the lieutenant incommand of the boat ordered, "and don't move."
In about three minutes a large rowing-boat, manned by a number of oars,could be made out passing across ahead of them. The ship's boat, however,was so small an object in comparison that it remained unnoticed. Theywaited till the beat of oars ceased in the distance and then rowed onagain.
"That was a narrow escape," the lieutenant muttered. "Evidently she waslying in wait to catch you, and if she had been fifty yards nearer to usshe must have made us out. I think we are safe now, for the course she wastaking will not carry her anywhere near the frigate. At any rate we have agood start, and I have a lantern here to show in case we are chased."
They had rowed two miles farther when they again heard the sound of oars.
"We must row for it now," the lieutenant said. "The frigate is not muchmore than a mile away."
The men bent to their oars, and the lieutenant raised and lowered hislantern three times. This signal was almost immediately answered by theboom of a gun from the frigate. For a time the enemy continued thepursuit, but on a second gun being fired they ceased rowing.
"They must know that the frigate can't see them," the lieutenant said,"but they have no doubt come to the conclusion that they cannot overtakeus before we get to her. Anyhow it is certain that they have given it upas a bad job."
In ten more minutes they were alongside the frigate.
"Is Mr. Gilmore with you?" a voice asked from above.
"Yes, I am here, sir, safe and sound."
"That is good news," the first lieutenant said, as Will stepped on deck."The captain was afraid, after he had let you go, that he had sacrificedyou, and that, going as you did in your uniform, you would be certain tobe captured."
"No, sir; I had two narrow escapes, but got off all right, and havebrought you the list of gun-boats and row-boats that you required. I amafraid, though, that it will require careful opening, for I had to swimoff to the boat."
"That will not matter as long as we can read it," the lieutenant said."Now you had better come to the captain and hand it to him."
"I am heartily glad to see you, Mr. Gilmore," the captain said. "I havebeen very uneasy about you, and I really hardly expected you to returnto-night. We knew that the boat was being chased, by the lights LieutenantFalcon showed, but I feared that she was coming back without you. Now tellme what has happened to you. We knew by the firing that French sentriessaw the boat come to land last night."
Will gave a full account of his adventures.
"Well done indeed, Mr. Gilmore! I shall have much pleasure in reportingyour conduct. Now let us examine the list."
The words
were a good deal blurred by water, but were still quite legible.
"They are stronger in gun-boats than I expected," the captain said when hehad read it. "If they had had an ounce of pluck about them they would havecome out and fought us. A thirty-two-gun frigate is no match for sixteengunboats. Well, now that we have got this despatch, we can make forSheerness at once. Have her headed for that port, Mr. Falcon, if youplease. We won't lose a moment before making for England."