The Queen's Cup by G. A. Henty
Chapter 12.
Frank Mallet and Lady Greendale crossed to Southampton by thetwelve o'clock boat, and arrived in London at three.
"I have been thinking," she said, as they went up, "that it will bebetter for me to stop in town. I shall have less difficulty inanswering questions there than I should have at home. Everyone isleaving now, and in another week there will be scarcely a soul inLondon I know; and I shall keep down the front blinds, and no onewill dream of my being there. I shall only have to mention toBertha's own maid that my daughter has remained at Cowes, that Ihave left Anna with her, and that she can wait upon me until shereturns. There will be another advantage in it--you can see mewhenever you are in town. I shall get your letters a post quickerwhen you are away, and you can telegraph to me freely; whereas, ifyou telegraphed to Chippenham, whoever received the message theremight mention its contents as curious to someone or other, andthen, of course, it would become a matter of common gossip."
Frank agreed that it would certainly be better, and more bearablethan having to answer questions about Bertha to every visitor whocalled on her. He crossed that evening to Ostend, and at teno'clock next morning George Lechmere received the followingmessage:
"Make inquiries as to small brigantine that looked like convertedyacht: had very large yards on foremast. I saw her pass Cowes onTuesday afternoon. Let Hawkins go to Portsmouth and Southampton.Find out yourself whether she anchored between Osborne and Ryde. Ifnot, inquire at Seaview whether she passed there going east.Telegraph result tomorrow morning to my chambers. Shall cross againtonight."
Lechmere had the gig at once lowered, and started, with four handsat the oars, eastward, while the captain went ashore in the dinghyto leave for Southampton by the next boat. The tide was againstLechmere, who, keeping close in round the point, steered the boatalong at the foot of the slopes of Osborne, and kept eastward untilhe reached the coast-guard station at the mouth of Wootton creek.
"Oh, yes, we noticed her," the boatswain in charge replied inanswer to his question. "We saw her, as you say, on Tuesdayafternoon, going east. We could not help noticing her, for she wassomething out of the way. We should not have thought so much of it,if she had not come back again just before dusk the next day, andanchored a mile to the west. We kept a sharp lookout that night,thinking that she might be trying to smuggle some contrabandashore; but everything was quiet, and next morning she was gone.The man who was on the watch said he thought that he made her outwith his night glass going east at about eleven o'clock; but it wasa dark night, and it might have been a schooner yacht or a brig."
"You don't happen to know whether she stopped at Ryde the firsttime she passed?"
"Yes; having been all talking about her, we watched to see if shewas going to anchor there or keep on to the east. She lowered aboat as she passed, and two men landed. They threw her up into thewind and waited until the boat came off again. The men did not comeback in her. They hoisted the boat up again and went east. Shestopped off Seaview; then she came back and sent the boat ashore,and two men went off in her. Of course, I can't say whether theywere the same. It was as much as I could do to make out that therewere two of them, though our glass is a pretty good one. Is thereanything wrong about the craft?"
"Not that I know of; but there was a good deal of curiosity abouther among the yachts, she being an out-of-the-way sort of craft;and I fancy there were some bets about her. There was an idea thatshe was seen going west two days later, and the governor asked meto take the boat and find out whether she had been noticed here orat Ryde. Thank you very much for your information. I have no doubtthat it will be sufficient to decide any bets there may be abouther."
So saying, he took his seat in the gig again, and rowed back to theOsprey. The skipper returned in the evening.
"No such craft has gone into Southampton or Portsmouth," he said;"so I have had my journey for nothing."
"No, I don't think you have," George replied. "It is something toknow that she is not in either of the ports now, and has been toneither of them."
George returned in time to send off a full account of what he hadlearned from the coast-guardsman by the mail that would bedelivered in London that night. On his return to town the nextmorning, Frank found the letter awaiting him; and at ten o'clock,after wiring to Hawkins and the steward to stock the yacht at oncewith provisions of all kinds for a long voyage, he went into thecity and called upon the secretary at Lloyd's.
After giving his name, he told him that he believed that a younglady had been carried off forcibly in the craft, which he minutelydescribed, and that he was desirous of having a telegram sent toevery signal station between Hull and the Land's End, asking ifsuch a craft had passed.
"Of course," he added, "I am ready to defray the expense of thetelegrams and replies. She left the Solent late on Wednesdayevening, and on Thursday would have been between Beachy Head andDover, if she had gone that way, and yesterday up the Thames orsomewhere between Harwich and Yarmouth."
"Well, Major Mallett, if you will sit down and write the telegramwith the description that you have given, I will send it off atonce. Then, if you will call again in an hour's time, I have nodoubt all the answers will have come in."
"Your craft has gone west," he said when Frank returned. "All theanswers the other way are negative. Saint Catherine says: 'Craftanswering description was seen well out at sea on Thursdaymorning.' Portland noticed her in the afternoon, and she was offthe Start yesterday morning; the wind was light then; and theLizard reports seeing her this morning. When abreast of them, sheheaded south, apparently making a departure, as she could be madeout keeping that course as long as seen. These are the fourtelegrams, so I think that there can be little doubt that she hasmade for the Mediterranean."
"Thank you very much indeed," Frank said. "Can you tell me if Ihave any chance of getting similar information from the south?"
"You could get it from Finisterre if she passed within sight, butby her holding on as far west as the Lizard, instead of taking adeparture from the Start, it is likely that she will take a morewesterly course, and then Cape St. Vincent is the first point whereshe is likely to be noticed. If not there, she would probably beobserved at Tarifa, although, if she kept on the southern side ofthe Straits, she might not be noticed. I should think that shewould do so; she would not be likely to put into Gibraltar,although, from what you tell me, the owner would believe that nosuspicion whatever of being concerned in this affair would belikely to rest upon him. But you must bear in mind that it isprobable that, as a measure of precaution, he has painted out thewhite streak, sent down the yards, and converted her into afore-and-aft schooner; in which case she would attract no attentionwhatever if she passed without making her number."
"I certainly think that they will convert her back into a schooneryacht, as otherwise there will be a difficulty about paperswhenever she enters a port. There is one more thing I wish to askyou. You see, she might not turn into the Mediterranean. She might,for example, make for the West Indies, in which case she would bealmost certain to touch at Madeira or Palmas."
"Or possibly at Teneriffe, Major. Of course, we have an agent ateach of these places, and I will gladly request them, if abrigantine or schooner looking like her puts in there, to find outif possible where she is bound for, and to let you know at--shall Isay Gibraltar? I am afraid it is of no use trying to get thePortuguese authorities to arrest the ship or to search her. Yousee, to a certain extent it is an extradition case. Still, I willask them to get it done if possible, though I fear that it is quitebeyond their power."
"Thank you very much indeed. It would be an immense thing only tofind out that she has gone in that direction. Of course, she maynot put in at any of these places, as she is sure to haveprovisioned for a long voyage, but at any rate I will wait atGibraltar until I get the letters, unless I can get some clue thatshe has gone up the Mediterranean.
"Of course, if I don't hear of her at Cape Saint Vincent or Tarifa,I shall try Ceuta and Tangier. If she go
"The Royal mail and the mail down the African coast will start, onetomorrow, the other on Monday, and I will send letters by them tothe islands. They are sure to get there before this craft that youare in search of, and our agents will be on the lookout for her. Itmay not be long before you hear from Madeira, but it may be sometime before you get the other letters, as the craft may be anythingbetween three weeks and five in getting there. Of course, I shallmention when she sailed, and they will not write until all chanceof her having arrived is passed."
"Would you kindly give me the addresses of your three agents? Iwill wait for the answer from Madeira, but I am afraid my patiencewill never hold out until the others can come. It will be givingthe schooner a fearfully long start as it is, and as you maysuppose I shall be almost mad at having to wait and do nothing."
The secretary wrote the three addresses, and, thanking him verywarmly for his kindness and courtesy, Frank went out and despatcheda telegram to the skipper, telling him to engage ten extra hands atonce, and to buy muskets and cutlasses for the whole crew.
"I shall come down by the twelve o'clock train from town. Be at thesteamboat pier to meet me. If all is ready, shall sail at once."
Having despatched this, he drove at once to Lady Greendale's, andtold her that he had learnt that the craft in which Bertha had beencarried off had sailed for the south, probably the Mediterranean,and that he should start that evening in pursuit.
"It may be a long chase, Lady Greendale, but never fear but that Iwill bring her back safely. It will be for you to decide whetheryou will continue to remain here, or go down into the country aftera time; but, of course, there is no occasion for you to make upyour mind now. I must be off at once, for I have several things todo before I catch the twelve o'clock train."
"God bless you, Frank!" she said. "You are looking terribly wornand fagged."
"I shall be all right when I am once fairly off," he said. "I havenot had an hour's sleep for the last two nights, and not much thenight before. At first the whole thing seemed hopeless; now that Iam fairly on the track and know what I have to do, I shall soon beall right again."
"I don't know what I should have done without you, Frank; and I dobelieve that you will succeed."
"I have no doubt about it," he said; "so keep your courage up,mother--for you know that you are almost that to me now."
He kissed her affectionately, and then hurried downstairs and droveto his chambers.
Here he packed a portmanteau with Indian suits and underclothing,took his pistol and rifle cases, drove to a gunmaker's in theStrand for a stock of ammunition, called at his bank and cashed acheque for two thousand pounds, and then drove to Waterloo.
Hawkins and George Lechmere were on the landing stage at Cowes.
"How are things going on, Hawkins?" Frank asked, as he came acrossthe gangway.
"All right, sir. I have had my hands pretty full, sir, since I gotyour second telegram. Lechmere saw to getting the arms. Of course,he could not help me as to hiring the hands. I think I have got tenfirst-class men. A few of the yachts have paid off already, and Iknow something about all of those I have engaged. While I wasashore, the mate looked after getting on board and stowing thegoods as they came alongside."
"Quite right, Hawkins. Did you think of ammunition, George?"
"Yes, Major; I was not likely to forget that. I got twenty-fivemuskets and cutlasses. Luckily they kept them at Pascal Aikey's,for the use of steam yachts going out to the east; and they hadammunition too, so I got fifty rounds for each musket. It is notlikely that we shall want to use that much, but it is best to be onthe right side."
"I think, sir," Hawkins said, "as it is going to be a long voyage,and as we have doubled our crew, that I had better get anothermate. Purvis is a very good man, but he is no navigator; and weshall have to keep watches regularly. I met an old shipmate of minejust now who would be just the man. He commanded the Amphitrite forten years, and I know that he is a good navigator. He has been upin the Scotch waters since the spring, and was paid off last week.I told him that it might be that I could give him a berth as secondmate, and he jumped at it."
"By all means, Hawkins; of course you will want an officer for eachwatch. You can find him without loss of time, I hope."
"Yes, sir. I have told him to hang about outside the gate here, andI would give him an answer."
"Very well. When you have seen him you will find me at Aikey's. Ihave to go there to get a lot of charts. I have only those forBritish waters.
"George, do you see to getting these traps down to the boat. Ishall be there in a quarter of an hour. Is there anything else thatyou can think of, or that you want yourself?"
"Nothing, sir."
"When you go on board, you may as well get your traps in one of thespare cabins aft.
"You had better move, too, captain. You and one of the mates canhave the stern cabin. For the present the other mate can haveyours, and the steward can sleep in the saloon. That will make moreroom for the extra hands forward."
"It will be a tight stow, sir," the captain said. "I have orderedten more hammocks and hooks, but I doubt whether there will be roomto sling them all."
"I am sure there won't, Hawkins. You had better put the hooks inthe saloon beams, and swing five or six of the hammocks there. Wecan take the hooks out and stop up the holes when we don't needthem any longer. We may be having hot weather before we have done,and I don't want the men crowded too closely forward."
Twenty minutes later Frank came down to the boat with the skipper,carrying a large roll of charts, and a man with a handcartcontaining a bundle of jerseys and caps, and fifty white ducktrousers. A large shore boat was alongside when they reached theOsprey.
"Is this the last lot?" the captain asked the man in charge of thepile of casks and boxes with which it was filled.
"Yes, sir, this is the last batch."
"Get them on deck, Hawkins," Frank said, "and we can get them downand stowed when we are under sail. Get the anchor short at once,the sail covers off and the mainsail up.
"I don't want to lose a minute," he went on, turning to GeorgeLechmere. "I know that an hour or even a day will make no materialdifference, but I am in a fever to be off."
"Have you found out which way they have gone, Major?"
"I have found out that they have sailed for the south, but whetherfor the Mediterranean or for the West Indies or South America Ihave no idea; but I have some hopes of finding out by the time weget to Gibraltar."
"And they have got a three days' start of us?"
"Yes, I can hardly believe that it is not more. It seems to me afortnight since I went ashore to dine at the club. Three days is along start, and unless the change of rig has spoiled her, thePhantom is as fast, or very nearly as fast, as we are. We can'thope to catch her up, unless she stops for two or three days in aport, and that she is certain not to do. No, I don't think thatthere is any chance of our overtaking her until she has got towhatever may be her destination. Of course, what Carthew countsupon is that, in time, he will get Miss Greendale to consent tomarry him. That is one reason why I think that he will not go upthe Mediterranean. The further he takes her the more hopeless theprospect will seem to her."
"But she will never give in, Major," George Lechmere said,confidently.
"I have no fear of that--no fear whatever, and we may be quite surethat as long as he thinks that he will be able to tire her out hewill show himself in his best light, and try to make everything aspleasant for her as is possible under the circumstances. It is onlywhen he loses all hope of her consenting willingly that he willshow himself in his true light; and you know, George, he isscoundrel enough for anything. However, I consider that she isperfectly safe for a long time, and I hope to be alongside thecraft long before he becomes desperate."
Half an hour later, the anchor was on the rail and the Ospreystarted on her voyage. The tid
"You had better give them the whole of the duck trousers, to fitthemselves from, Captain," Frank said. "There are assorted sizes,you know, and when they have suited themselves you can take theother ten pairs into store. You and the mates will want some whenwe get into warmer climates."
"Are we bound for the Mediterranean?" Hawkins asked.
"To Gibraltar, to begin with. What we shall do afterwards willdepend upon what news I get there. We may have to go round theworld, for all I know."
"Well, sir, I hope not, for your sake, and the young lady's; but asfar as we are concerned, we would as lief go round the world asanything else, though she is not a very big craft for such ajourney as that."
"How long will the water tanks hold out?"
"That is where the pinch will come in, sir. I reckon that atordinary times we might make shift to go on for three weeks withoutfilling up, but, you see, we have twenty hands instead of ten, andthat will make all the difference.. I did get ten good-sized casksyesterday morning, and got them filled as well as the tanks. Theyare stowed away forward, but they won't improve her speed. Theyhave brought her head down over two inches, but, of course, weshall use the water in them first."
"You had better bring them amidships, captain, and stow them roundthe saloon skylight. Appearances are of no consequence whatever,and the great thing is to get her in her best sailing trim. If badweather comes on, we must put half in the bow and half in thestern, where we can wedge them in tightly together. It would not doto risk having them rolling about the decks.
"Well, then," he went on, seeing that the captain did not like thethought of having weight at each end of the yacht, "if the weathergets bad we will take the saloon skylight off, and lower them downinto it. I can eat my meals on deck or in my stateroom, but thewater we must keep. If we get a spell of head winds or calms, wemay be three weeks getting to Gib."
"That would be a very good plan, sir, if you can do without thesaloon, and don't mind its being littered up."
"Well, I hope we shan't get any bad weather until we get wellacross the bay, Hawkins. I don't mind the discomfort, but it wouldstop her speed. We want a wind that will just let us carry all ourcanvas. We can travel a deal faster so than we can in heavyweather, when we might be obliged to get down the greater part ofour canvas and perhaps to lie to.
"It looks like a strong crew, doesn't it?" he went on, as heglanced forward.
"That it does, sir. A craft of this size can do well with more whenshe is racing, but for a crew it is more than one wants, a gooddeal; and people would stare if we went into an English port.Still, I don't say that it is not an advantage to be strong-handedif we get heavy weather, and it makes light work of getting up sailor shifting it, and one wants to shift pretty often when he istrying to get high speed out of a craft."
The wind continued fitful, and, in spite of having her racingsails, the Osprey's run to the Start was a long one. It was notuntil thirty-six hours after getting up anchor that they wereabreast of the lighthouse.
"I try to be patient, George," Mallett said, "but it is enough tomake a saint swear. We have lost eight or ten hours instead ofmaking a gain, although we had the advantage of coming through theNeedles passage, while they had to go round at the back of theisland to escape observation."
"Yes, sir, but you know we have often found that sometimes one,sometimes another, makes a gain in these shifty winds; perhapstomorrow we may be running along fast, and the Phantom be lyingwithout a breath of wind."
"That is so, George. I will try to bear it in mind. There, you see,the skipper is taking the exact bearing of the lighthouse, and weshall soon be heading south."
In five minutes the captain gave the order to the helmsman, and thecraft was then laid on her new course.
"The wind is northing a bit," the skipper said as, after giving thehelmsman instructions, he came up to Frank. "It has shifted twopoints round in the last half hour, and you see we have got theboom off a bit. If it goes round a point more we will get thesquare-sail ready for hoisting. It will help her along rarely whenthe head-sails cease to be of any good."
Half an hour later the wind had gone round far enough for thesquare-sail to be used to advantage, and it was accordinglyhoisted. The captain then had the barrels brought aft, and rangedalong each side of the bulwark.
For eight-and-forty hours the Osprey maintained her speed, leavingall the sailing vessels she overtook far behind her, and keepingfor hours abreast of a cargo steamer going in the same direction.
"She is bound for Finisterre," the skipper said, "and we shall passit some thirty miles to the west, so our courses will graduallydraw apart; but we shall see her smoke anyhow until we are prettynigh abreast of the cape--that is, if the wind holds as it is now.It is falling lighter this afternoon."
Two or three hours later the wind died away altogether, thesquare-sail was got down, and the skipper then said:
"I will get the topsail down, too, sir. We can easily get it upagain, and I will put a smaller jib on her. I don't at all think bythe look of the sky that we are going to have a blow. The glasswould have altered more if we were, but one never can tell. I wouldnot risk the loss of a spar for anything."
"I should think that you might put a couple of reefs in themainsail, Hawkins."
"Well, perhaps it would be the best, sir; for a puff that onethinks nothing of, one way or the other, when a craft has way; willtake her over wonderfully when it catches her becalmed."
Just as he had finished his dinner, the captain came down and askedFrank to come on deck.
"There is a steamer bearing down on us. I can see both her sidelights, and as she is coming in from the west she may not noticeour starboard light. It is burning all right, but one never can seethese green lights. They are the deceivingest things at a distance.I have just sent down for the man to bring up the riding light, andas it is a first-rate one, if we put it on deck it will light upthe mainsail. I have told them to bring up the big horn. That oughtto waken them if anything will."
"How far is she off now, Hawkins?"
"About a mile and a half, Major. There are no signs of her alteringher course, as she ought to have done by this time if she had madeus out. You see, her head light shows up fair and square betweenher side lights, which shows that she is coming as near as possibleon to us. I think that I had better light a blue light."
Frank nodded. The blue light at once blazed out.
"They ought to see that if they are not all asleep," Frank said, ashe looked up at the sails standing out white against the dark sky.
"Set to work with that foghorn," the skipper said; and a man beganto work the bellows of a great foghorn, which uttered a roar thatmight have been heard on a still night many miles away. Again andagain the roar broke out.
"That has fetched them," the captain said. "She is starboarding herhelm to go astern of us. There, we have lost her red light, so itis all right. How I should have liked to have been behind thelookout or the officer of the watch with a marlinespike or acapstan bar. I will warrant that they would not have nodded when onwatch again for a long time to come.
"Here she comes; she is closer than I thought she was. She willpass within fifty yards of the stern. It is lucky that we had thatbig horn, Major Mallett, for if we had not woke them up when we didshe would have run us down to a certainty."
As the steamer came along, scarcely more than a length astern ofthe yacht, a yell of execration broke from the sailors gatheredforward.
"That was a near shave, George," Frank Mallett said, when thesteamer had passed. "It brought me out in a cold sweat at thethought that, if the Osprey were to be run down, there was an e