Ben Burton: Born and Bred at Sea, Page 2

  CHAPTER TWO.

  The First-Lieutenant was not a man to be defeated. Wounded as he was,he still resolved to persevere.

  "Never say die, lads!" he shouted, as they were driven back. "Give thema taste of our powder in return!"

  On this, the boats poured a hot fire of musketoons and small-armsthrough the brig's stern and quarter-ports. It told with tremendouseffect, for not a shot was now fired upon the boats.

  "On, on, lads!" shouted the First-Lieutenant; and before the Frenchmencould recover, the boats were hanging on to her quarters, and the crewswere climbing up on deck. The First-Lieutenant, in spite of his woodenleg and wound, was among the foremost. My father, though also hit,followed close behind the brave young mate--Harry Oliver. Scarcely hadthey gained the brig's deck, however, ere the Frenchmen rallied andopposed them with the most determined bravery. The English crewclimbing up one after the other, quickly gained possession of the wholeof the after part of the brig, not, however, without several beingkilled and wounded, the Second-Lieutenant being among the former. Hewas cut down, after being twice shot through the body. For a fewminutes a most bloody and tremendous conflict ensued. A Frenchmanthrust his pike through Mr Oliver's side, and another was following itup with his sword, and would certainly have put an end to the youngofficer, had not my father, just as he got an ugly prong in his side ofthe same description, with one sweep of his cutlass brought the man tothe deck, never to move again. French crews can very seldom, if ever,stand against English boarders. The bravest of the enemy were cut down,or began to give way. My father, with Mr Oliver on one side and theFirst-Lieutenant and Master on the other, with the men at their backs,now made a clear path, strewing the decks with the bodies of those whoattempted to oppose them. The remainder of the enemy fled; some leapeddown the hatchways, others took shelter on the bowsprit and jib-boom,and the more nimble sprang up the shrouds, where, as my father declared,like so many monkeys, they hung chattering and asking for quarter.

  "Of course, if they would but have been quiet and peaceable, we had nowish to kill them," he used to say, "and glad enough we were when wefound ourselves in possession of the brig, just about five minutes fromthe time we had first stepped on her decks. It was about the hardestbit of work I ever was engaged in," he always averred. "We lost ourSecond-Lieutenant, five seamen and three marines killed, three officersand twenty-two men wounded. The Frenchman had a crew of one hundred andsixty men and boys, out of whom there were no less than fourteen killedand twenty wounded--pretty badly, too, for we were not apt to use ourcutlasses over gently, you may suppose.

  "We had still plenty of work to do, for, though cowed for the moment,the Frenchmen would not have made much ceremony in trying to turn thetables again upon us. We had barely fifty men fit for work, and theyhad still one hundred and twenty--considerable odds against us.

  "Mr Schank, as soon as he saw that the deck was ours, directed one ofthe officers to hurry down into the cabin and secure the privatesignals, and ordered me, at the same time, to go with a couple ofmarines to take charge of the magazine, for one never knows whatdesperate fellows may do when they have lost their ship, and some madchap or other might have set fire to it, and blown us and themselves upinto the air. Such things have been done before now.

  "The next thing we did was to carry the wounded below. Our own peopleand the enemy's were treated alike. Poor fellows! How some of them didgroan when they were lifted up. Next, an order was given to heave thedead overboard, `And look out, lads, that you don't send any with thebreath in their bodies to feed the sharks,' said the First-Lieutenant.The caution did not come too soon. Two men, one of whom was PaddyBrady, were about shoving a big Frenchman through a port, when the poorfellow uttered a groan. `What is that you say, monsieur? Just speakagain. Are you alive or dead?' exclaimed Brady. No answer wasreturned, and Paddy began to drag the dead body nearer the port. Againa groan, considerably louder than the first was heard. `Arrah, now,'said Paddy, `I wish you would just make up your mind whether it isoverboard you would wish to go, or be carried below. Speak, man; I axye again for the last time: are ye alive or dead?'

  "The Frenchman, maybe, might not have understood exactly what Brady wassaying, but he must have had a pretty horrible idea that he was about tobe sent overboard. This time he not only groaned, but uttered somewords, and endeavoured to drag himself along the deck. `Arrah, now,that's like a dacent, sinsible man,' observed Pat. `Anyhow, you deserveto have your hurts looked to, and so we will carry him below, Jim.'"

  The truth was that the man had been only slightly wounded, andafterwards stunned by a blow. Had he not come to himself at thatmoment, his career would undoubtedly have been finished. Hands were nowsent aloft, the studden-sails hauled down, and the brig brought on awind. The sweeps, which had all this time remained run out, were takenin-board, and the boats were veered astern.

  "We now stood in the direction we hoped to find the frigate, hoistingtwo lights at the mast-head, firing guns, and burning blue lights toshow our position. It was an anxious time, however, and we had to keepa very watchful eye on the Frenchmen. They evidently were hatchingmischief, for they must have known as well as we did that the frigatewas still a long way off, and that if they could overcome us they mightyet get away with their brig. She was called the `Loup' (the Wolf), anda wolf she had proved herself among our merchantmen. I had beenrelieved at my station at the magazine, when Pat Brady came up to me.`Burton,' he said, `I wish you would just take a look at the woundedprisoners. There is one of them whom I thought dead, and there he is,sitting up and talking away as if there was nothing the matter with him.I cannot understand his lingo, but, by the way he moves his arms about,I think he means mischief!'

  "I went below with Brady, and there, sure enough, was the man he had sonearly thrown overboard, apparently very little the worse for his hurt,and evidently, as it appeared to me, trying to persuade his countrymento do something or other which he had proposed. Sentries had beenplaced over the other prisoners, of course, but desperate men might soonhave overpowered them, especially if the prisoners knew that there wouldbe a little diversion in their favour.

  "Hurrying on deck, I reported what we had seen to Mr Schank, whoimmediately ordered the man to be brought on deck, and as his wound wasdressed, there was no cruelty in that. He grumbled considerably; themore so, probably, because his plan had been defeated.

  "We continued every now and then sending up blue lights, keeping a verywatchful eye all the time on our prisoners. At length, far away on ourweather-beam, a bright light suddenly burst forth as if out of the darkocean. We tacked and stood towards it. However, as the wind was verylight, the Third-Lieutenant was sent off in the gig with an account ofour success. Two hours had still to pass away before we at length gotup to the frigate, and pretty well-pleased we were when the cheer whichour shipmates sent forth to congratulate us on our success reached ourears." Such was the substance of my father's account, oftensubsequently told.

  I do not know whether the anxiety which Burton felt when she saw herhusband setting out on what she knew must be a dangerous expedition hadany peculiar effect on her, but certain it is, that while my father wasslashing away at the Frenchmen, and the bullets were flying about hishead, I was born into the world.

  With regard to the prize, she was carried safely into Macao, in theexpectation that she would be fitted out as a cruiser, and that MrSchank would get the command of her. Her fate I shall have hereafter torelate.

  I meantime grew apace, and speedily cut out Quacko in the estimation ofour shipmates. He, however, had his friends and supporters; for somemonths, at all events, he afforded them more amusement than I could do.They could tease him and play him tricks, which my mother and Mrs Kingtook very good care they should not do to me. I had no lack of nursesfrom the first, and highly honoured were those into whose hands mymother ventured to commit me.

  Mrs King had enough to do for some time after the action, in attendingboth to my mother and the po
or fellows who had been wounded, bothEnglish and French, the latter receiving as much care from her gentlehands as did our own people. The two chief rivals for the honour oflooking after me were my cousin, Pat Brady, and Toby Kiddle, boatswain'smate. Although many of my old shipmates have passed away from mymemory, Toby Kiddle made an impression which was never erased. Naturehad not intended him for a topman, for though wonderfully muscular, hisfigure was like a tun. His legs were short, and his arms were unusuallylong. With them tucked akimbo, he could take up two of the heaviest menin the ship, and run along the deck with them as lightly as he wouldhave done with a couple of young children. He had a generous, kindheart, could tell a good story, and troll forth a ditty with any man;and as to his bravery, where all were brave, I need scarcely mention it,except to say that I do no not think anyone beat him at that.Boatswain's mate though he was, Toby Kiddle had a heart as gentle as alamb's. He scarcely seemed cut out for the post, and yet there was arough crust over it which enabled him to do his duty, and when he had tolay on with the cat, to shut his eyes, and to hit as hard as he wasordered. And yet I always have pitied a kind-hearted boatswain's mate,though he is not after all worse off than the captain and officers, whohave to stand by and see men punished. However, I will not say anythingabout that matter just now. Time went on, and I grew bigger, and beganto chew beef and bacon with the rest of the ship's company becoming moreand more independent of my mother in every way. Yet I loved her, assuch a mother deserved to be loved. As I grew bigger I made more andmore friends. The Captain himself very frequently took notice of me,and patted my head, which was beginning to get curls upon it, and oftengave me cakes and other Chinese manufactured delicacies which he had gotfrom the shore. Captain Cobb was a short man, and since he came out toChina had grown very round and stout. His face, as a boy, had beenprobably pink and white, but it had now been burnt into a deep redcopper colour. His eyes, which were small, were bloodshot, with aferrety expression, and altogether his outward man was not attractive.His uniforms, which had hung loosely on him when he left home, had been,by the skill of the tailor, let out and out to meet the demands of hisincreasing corpulency; but no art or skill could do more for them; andas he was unwilling to procure others till those were worn out, helooked, when walking the quarter-deck, very much as if he had on astraight waistcoat.

  Captain Cobb was not disregardful of his creature comforts, and in orderto supply himself with milk for breakfast and tea, he had shipped onboard, some time back, a she-goat, which fully answered his wishes.Seamen will make pets of everything--monkeys, babies, lions, pigs,bears, dogs, and cats. The goat had become a favourite, for she was ahandsome creature, and very tame, but it was chiefly in connection withQuacko, who was soon taught to ride upon her. Quacko was certainly verywell aware that he must never venture upon the quarter-deck, and before,therefore, he reached the sacred precincts on his daily rides, he alwaysmanaged to wheel the goat about and retrace his steps forward. Quackowas a wonderfully sagacious monkey, and held his position in the goodopinion of the crew in spite of my rival claims. Had I been thrownentirely upon their mercy as Quacko was, I might have completely cut himout; but having my mother and Mrs King, with two or three selectfriends to look after me, the remainder very naturally felt that theyhad not so much interest in the matter. On one occasion, when I wasabout three years old, the frigate was caught in a typhoon. I was safebelow in my poor mother's arms, but Quacko remained on deck to see whatwas going forward. Nobody was thinking of him. The seamen, indeed, hadto hold on with might and main to secure their own lives. Somepreparation had been made, and fortunately it was so, for all the sailsstill set were blown out of the bolt ropes. The frigate was hove on herbeam-ends. Where Quacko had come from nobody knew, when on a sudden hewas seen hanging to the slack end of a rope. In vain one of the topmenmade an attempt to grasp him. The rope swung away far over the foamingsea. He swung back, but it was to strike the side apparently, for thenext instant the rope returned on board and no Quacko hanging to it.The ship righted without having suffered much damage; indeed, the lossof Quacko was our greatest misfortune.

  After the sad event just mentioned, Quacko's friends made variousattempts to appropriate me; indeed, Mrs King and Toby Kiddle had, inorder to console them for their loss, to give me up to themoccasionally.

  "Here, Toby, let's have the little chap and learn him to ride," said TomTrimmers, one of the topmen. "Why, Nanny will be forgetting how tocarry a human being as she has been accustomed to do, and you will soonsee what a capital horseman he will make, won't you, Ben?"

  "Ay, ay," I answered, for though I could not say much I could say that,and so Nanny was brought forth, and I was placed on her back, Toby,however, remarking, that though some day I should have more sense thanthe defunct Quacko ever had, yet at present, as I had no experience inriding, he must decline allowing me to mount unless he held me up. "Itwill be time when the little chap has had some practice to let him goalong by himself," he observed, looking round at our shipmates. "Now,you don't know what would become of him, for Nanny is more than likelyto trot off on the quarter-deck and make herself disagreeable there, andmaybe pitch Master Benjy down the main hatchway. No, no, I will standby and hold him on till he is a bit older."

  This resolution was certainly very prudent; but I very soon began tocomplain of it, and to assert, by signs rather than by words, that I waswell able to take care of myself, and steer the goat as Quacko had done.

  "And where is Quacko, Master Ben?" asked Toby, who understood me betterthan anyone else. "He thought he could take care of himself, but hecould not do so, you see, nor can any of us, and that's my opinion. Ifthere was not one better able to take care of us than we are ofourselves, we poor sea-going chaps would be in a bad way."

  In spite, however, of Toby Kiddle, my other friends managed occasionallyto let me have my own way; and with great pride they looked on while I,with the end of a mop stick in my hand, went galloping about the deck,belabouring the goat's hinder quarters, very much after the fashion ofan Irishman riding a donkey at a race. The Sergeant of Marines, JulianKillock was his name, on seeing the use I made of my weapon, took itinto his head to teach me the broadsword exercise, which I very soonlearnt. The Jollies now began to contemplate appropriating me tothemselves, and thus, as it may be supposed, made the Blue-jacketssomewhat jealous.

  "No, no, Tom Sawyer," I remember hearing one of the latter observe, "youshall not have little Ben to turn into a horse-marine on no account. Heis our'n and cut out for a blue-jacket, and a blue-jacket he will betill the end of his days."

  Still the Jollies were in no way disposed to give up their share of me,to which they considered they had a right. I was very nearly the causeof a serious dispute between the two Services. A compromise was atlength entered into by the suggestion of my father, who agreed that theJollies might teach me the sword and platoon exercise, while theBlue-jackets might impart as much nautical knowledge as I was capable oftaking in.

  But I was speaking of the goat. I was especially fond of mountingNanny's back, though she must have found me considerably heavier thanQuacko. However, as I never played her any tricks, which he constantlyhad done, she had no objection to carry me. I consequently took mydaily ride round and round the deck, sweeping close round the mainmastand forward again.

  It is not surprising that people should lose their temper under such aclimate as our ship's company was doomed for so many years to endure.One afternoon, just as the men had finished dinner, it being a deadcalm, the ocean like a sheet of molten lead, smooth as a mirror, thesun's rays striking down with tremendous force on our decks, making thepitch hiss and bubble, while one of the midshipmen was frizzling a pieceof beef on a metal plate, that he might declare when he got home,without injuring his conscience, that it was usual to cook dinners bythe heat of the sun out in China, and the men lay about gasping forbreath, I was brought up by Pat Brady, that, as he said, I might enjoy abreath of air, only there happened to be none at the moment,
and whileI, the least important personage on board thus made my appearance on theupper regions of our ocean world, so did the most important, theCaptain, come up to look about him, and whistle for a breeze. It didnot come however, although the Captain kept whistling and whistling awaytill his cheeks must have ached. Nanny had been let out of her pen todiscuss the remains of an old straw hat, the other part of which hadbeen given her for her supper the previous evening, when it came intoPat Brady's head to place me on her back; I, nothing loth, sung out formy broadsword, with which I began forthwith to whack the hinder quartersof my long-horned steed. Off she set, but instead of wheeling round themainmast, on she galloped along the forbidden district of thequarter-deck. The Captain just at that moment, with a stamp of hisfoot, vexed at his not getting the wished-for wind, turned round, whenNanny and I, at a furious speed, dashed bolt against him; and the goat,catching him between the legs by the impetus she had obtained, sent himsprawling on the deck, and her horns catching in his coat-tails, he andshe and I all went rolling over together. There we lay, the Captainspluttering and swearing incontinently, though scarcely able in his rageto utter a word clearly, the goat tugging away to get again on her legs,I all the time shrieking out lustily for help. The officers, who hadbeen pacing the other side of the deck, could scarcely for laughter cometo their chiefs assistance, nor could he, from the struggles of thegoat, get again on his legs, for each time he made the attempt theterrified animal in her efforts to escape his fury once more pulled himdown. I however, had managed to roll out of the way, while my cries,which did not cease, although I was clear of danger, caught the ears ofToby Kiddle, who was coming along the main-deck. He sprang up the mainhatchway ladder, and rushing up seized me in his arms. Just then thepurser and surgeon managed to raise up the Captain; not, however, tillNanny had almost torn off his coat-tails, and finding herself releasedwas scampering back to the fore-part of the ship. The Captain's wholeframe seemed bursting with indignation and rage. Just then his eye fellon Toby Kiddle and me in his arms.

  "Who did it? Who did it?" he exclaimed. "Who set them on? You did,sirrah--you did. You shall have three dozen for your fun!"

  "Please, sir, it was not me," answered Toby, "and it could not have beenthe poor innocent child. It was the goat, sir. What put it into herhead to do it, is more than I can tell."

  "Hang the goat!" exclaimed the Captain, who by this time had begun tofeel that his anger was not very dignified; and turning round he wentbelow to hide his annoyance, as well as to put on another coat, insteadof the nankeen garment which Nanny had destroyed.

  "Ay, ay, sir," answered Kiddle, as he turned forward. "I will take carethe goat never plays such a trick again."

  As Toby had always objected to my riding the goat, he now cametriumphantly forward among those who had placed me on her back, tellingthem the orders he had received from the Captain.

  "But the skipper will lose his milk if you hang his goat," observed oneof them.

  "Arrah, now, I suppose he is thinking it is time to wean himself,"observed Paddy Brady, who had been the chief cause of the accident.

  "At all events, his orders must be obeyed," observed Kiddle, "and so,mates, as it was an evident case of mutiny, we will run her up to theyard-arm at sunset. To my mind, if the goat was got rid of, we shouldhave a quieter ship than we have now."

  Fortunately, the preparations which the men were making for hanging thegoat were observed, and reported to the Captain.

  "Really, I do believe I did say so," he answered to theFirst-Lieutenant. "Just go and tell Kiddle and the rest, that, inconsideration of her general good conduct, I purpose reprieving her.That will settle the matter, and show my leniency and consideration infavourable colours."

  Thus our worthy Captain was in the habit of arranging even more weightymatters, by which mode of proceeding, in spite of his eccentricities, hewarmly attached the ship's company to him.