Chapter LIV
We receive our sailing orders, and orders of every description--Aquarter-deck conversation--Listeners never hear any good of themselves.
When I arrived at Portsmouth, I reported myself to the captain, wholived at the hotel. I was ushered into his room to wait for him, as hewas dressing to dine with the admiral. My eyes naturally turned to whatlay on the table, merely from the feeling which one has to pass away thetime, not from curiosity; and I was much surprised to see a pile ofletters, the uppermost of which was franked by Lord Privilege. This,however, might be merely accidental; but my curiosity was excited, and Ilifted up the letter, and found that the second, the third, and indeedat least ten of these were franked by my uncle. I could not imagine howthere could be any intimacy between him and my uncle, and was reflectingupon it when Captain Hawkins, for that was his name, entered the room.He was very kind and civil, apologized for not being able to extend myleave, which, he said, was because he had consulted the admiral, whowould not sanction the absence of the first lieutenant, and had veryperemptorily desired he would recall me immediately. I was satisfied: heshook my hand, and we parted. On my arrival on board the hulk, for thebrig was still in dock, I was warmly received by my messmates. They toldme that the captain had, generally speaking, been very civil, but that,occasionally, the marks of the cloven foot appeared.
"Webster," said I, to the second lieutenant, "do you know anything abouthis family or connections?"
"It is a question I have asked of those who have sailed with him, andthey all say that he never speaks of his own family, but very oftenboasts of his intimacy with the nobility. Some say that he is a_bye-blow_ of some great man."
I reflected very much upon this, and connecting it with the numerousfranks of Lord Privilege, which I saw on the table, had my misgivings;but then I knew that I could do my duty, and had no reason to fear anyman. I resolved, in my own mind, to be very correct, and put it out ofthe power of any one to lay hold of me, and then dismissed the subject.The brig was repaired and out of dock, and for some days I was very busygetting her ready for sea. I never quitted her; in fact, I had no wish.I never had any taste for bad company and midnight orgies, and I had noacquaintance with the respectable portion of the inhabitants ofPortsmouth. At last the ship's company were removed into the brig: wewent out of harbour, and anchored at Spithead.
Captain Hawkins came on board and gave me an order-book, saying, "MrSimple, I have a great objection to written orders, as I consider thatthe articles of war are quite sufficient to regulate any ship. Still, acaptain is in a very responsible situation, and if any accident occurshe is held amenable. I therefore have framed a few orders of my own forthe interior discipline of the vessel, which may probably save meharmless, in case of being _hauled over the coals_; but not with anywish that they should interfere with the comforts of the officers, onlyto guard against any mischance, of which the _onus_ may fall uponmyself."
I received the order-book, and the captain went ashore. When I went downinto the gun-room, to look through it, I at once perceived that ifrigidly conformed to, every officer in the ship would be rendereduncomfortable; and if not conformed to, I should be the party that wasanswerable. I showed it to Webster, who agreed with me, and gave it ashis opinion that the captain's good nature and amiability were all ablind, and that he was intending to lay hold of us as soon as it was inhis power. I therefore called all the officers together, and told themmy opinion. Webster supported me, and it was unanimously agreed that theorders should be obeyed, although not without remonstrance. The majorpart of the orders, however, only referred to the time that the brig wasin harbour; and, as we were about to proceed to sea, it was hardly worthwhile saying anything at present. The orders for the sailing of the brigcame down, and by the same post I received a letter from my sisterEllen, stating that they had heard from Captain Fielding, who hadimmediately written to Bombay, where the regiment was stationed, and hadreceived an answer, informing him that there was no married man in theregiment of the name of Sullivan, and no woman who had followed thatregiment of that name. This at once put an end to all our researchesafter the wet-nurse, who had been confined in my uncle's house. Whereshe had been sent, it was of course impossible to say; but I gave up allchance of discovering my uncle's treachery; and, as I thought ofCeleste, sighed at the little hope I had of ever being united to her. Iwrote a long letter to O'Brien, and the next day we sailed for ourstation in the North Sea.
The captain added a night order-book to the other, and sent it up everyevening, to be returned in the morning, with the signature of everyofficer of the night watches. He also required all our signatures to hisgeneral order-book, that we might not say we had not read them. I hadthe first watch, when Swinburne came up to me. "Well, Mr Simple, I donot think we have made much by our exchange of captains; and I have ashrewd suspicion we shall have squalls ere long."
"We must not judge too hastily, Swinburne," replied I.
"No, no--I don't say that we should; but still, one must go a little bylooks in the world, and I'm sure his looks wouldn't help him much. He'sjust like a winter's day, short and dirty; and he walks the deck as ifplanks were not good enough for his feet. Mr Williams says, he looks asif he were 'big with the fate of Cato and of Rome:' what that means, Idon't know--some joke, I suppose, for the youngsters are always joking.Were you ever up the Baltic, Mr Simple? Now I think of it, I know younever were. I've seen some tight work up there with the gun-boats; andso we should now with Captain O'Brien; but as for this little man, I'vean idea 'twill be more talk than work."
"You appear to have taken a great dislike to the captain, Swinburne. Ido not know whether, as first lieutenant, I ought to listen to you."
"It's because you're first lieutenant that I tell it you, Mr Simple. Inever was mistaken, in the main, of an officer's character, when I couldlook him in the face, and hear him talk for half an hour; and I came upon purpose to put you on your guard: for I feel convinced, that towardsyou he means mischief. What does he mean by having the greasy-facedserjeant of marines in his cabin for half an hour every morning? Hisreports as master of arms ought to come through you, as firstlieutenant; but he means him as a spy upon all, and upon you inparticular. The fellow has begun to give himself airs already, andspeaks to the young gentlemen as if they were beneath him. I thought youmight not know it, Mr Simple, so I thought it right to tell you."
"I am much obliged to you, Swinburne, for your good wishes; but I can domy duty, and why should I fear anything?"
"A man may do his duty, Mr Simple; but if a captain is determined toruin him, he has the power. I have been longer in the service than youhave, and have been wide awake: only be careful of one thing, Mr Simple;I beg your pardon for being so free, but in no case lose your temper."
"No fear of that, Swinburne," replied I.
"It's very easy to say 'no fear of that,' Mr Simple; but recollect, youhave not yet had your temper tried as some officers have. You havealways been treated like a gentleman; but should you find yourselftreated otherwise, you have too good blood in your veins not to speak--Iam sure of that. I've seen officers insulted and irritated, till noangel could put up with the treatment--and then for an unguarded word,which they would have been _swabs_ not to have made use of, sent out ofthe service to the devil."
"But you forget, Swinburne, that the articles of war are made for thecaptain as well as for everybody else in the ship."
"I know that; but still, at court-martials captains make a greatdistinction between what a superior says to an inferior, and what aninferior says to a superior."
"True," replied I, quoting Shakespeare:
"'That's in the captain but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is rank blasphemy.'"
"Exactly my meaning--I rather think," said Swinburne, "if a captaincalls you no gentleman, you mus'n't say the same to him."
"Certainly not, but I can demand a court-martial."
"Yes; and it will be granted: but what do you gain by that? It's likebeating
against a heavy gale and a lee tide--thousand to one if youfetch your port; and if you do, your vessel is strained to pieces, sailsworn as thin as a newspaper, and rigging chafed half through, wantingfresh serving: no orders for a re-fit, and laid up in ordinary for therest of your life. No, no, Mr Simple, the best plan is to grin and bearit, and keep a sharp look-out; for depend upon it, Mr Simple, in thebest ship's company in the world, a spy captain will always find spyfollowers."
"Do you refer that observation to me, Mr Swinburne?" said a voice fromunder the bulwark. I started round, and found the captain, who had creptupon deck, unperceived by us, during our conversation. Swinburne made noreply; but touched his hat and walked over to leeward. "I presume, MrSimple," said the captain, turning to me, "that you consider yourselfjustified in finding fault, and abusing your captain, to an inferiorofficer, on His Majesty's quarter-deck."
"If you heard the previous conversation, sir," replied I, "you must beaware that we were speaking generally about court-martials. I do notimagine that I have been guilty of any impropriety in conversing with anofficer upon points connected with the service."
"You mean then to assert, sir, that the gunner did not refer to me whenhe said the words, 'spy captain.'"
"I acknowledge, sir, that as you were listening unperceived, the termmight appear to refer to you; but the gunner had no idea, at the time,that you were listening. His observation was, that a spy captain wouldalways find spy followers. This I take to be a general observation; andI am sorry that you think otherwise."
"Very well, Mr Simple," said Captain Hawkins--and he walked down thecompanion ladder into his cabin.
"Now a'n't it odd, Mr Simple, that I should come up with the intentionof being of service to you, and yet get you into such a scrape? However,perhaps it is all for the best; open war is preferable to watching inthe dark, and stabbing in the back. He never meant to have shown hiscolours; but I hit him so hard, that he forgot himself."
"I suspect that to be the case, Swinburne; but I think that you hadbetter not talk any more with me to-night."
"Wish I hadn't talked quite so much, as things have turned out," repliedSwinburne. "Good-night, sir."
I reflected upon what had passed, and felt convinced that Swinburne wasright in saying that it was better this had occurred than otherwise. Inow knew the ground which I stood upon; and forewarned was beingforearmed.