Chapter 8

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_ CHAPTER EIGHT.

When Owen regained his senses he found himself in a hammock in the sick bay of the frigate, with Mike and Nat close alongside of him.

"How do you feel, Mike?" asked Nat, who had not observed that Owen was awake.

"Mighty quare, but not sorry to find myself here. I hope Mr Hartley will come to soon. They seem to treat him as one of us."

"He ought to be with the officers aft," said Nat. "The mate is with them, I suppose, but I have not seen him."

"Shure he'll not fail to make himself out to be a big man somehow or other," said Mike. "He'll be after swaring he was the captain of the ship, although he will forget to say that it was through him that she was cast away."

The conversation was cut short by the appearance of the surgeon, who observed, as he glanced over the hammocks--

"I am glad to see you are coming round again, lads."

He stopped by Owen's side.

"Well, boy, how do you feel?" he inquired, in a kind tone.

"Very weak, sir," said Owen; "but all I want is food and water."

"You shall have an ample supply by-and-by, but in your present state you must take only a little at a time."

One of the sick bay attendants brought in three small basins of broth, from one of which the doctor fed Owen.

"Thank you, sir," said Owen, "though I think I might save you that trouble."

"You shall be welcome to do so next time," answered the doctor, smiling.

"What rating did you hold on board the ship you belonged to?" asked the surgeon.

"I was a passenger, although I did duty as a midshipman."

"Why, the captain described you as a ship's boy," observed the doctor.

"Arrah, shure, he'd not the captain at all, at all," exclaimed Mike, lifting up his head; "he was first mate until the raal capt'n died. But maybe he didn't say how the ship came to be cast away."

The doctor made no reply to the Irishman's remark. "I must see about this," he said to himself.

Owen and his companions remained in their hammocks for a couple of days, when they all declared themselves strong enough to get up. A large tub was brought them to wash in, and they were supplied by the purser with a seaman's suit apiece. Owen was thankful to put on clean clothing, as the garments he had on when wrecked were worn completely into rags. Thus habited, although in the dress of a common seaman, he certainly did not look like an ordinary ship's boy. Still, he was allowed to remain forward with his two companions. As yet they had seen nothing of Mr Scoones, who was, they understood, occupying one of the officers' cabins aft.

Owen found that they were on board the "Sylvia," a thirty-six gun frigate, commanded by Captain Stanhope, on her way to Batavia. He had reason to suspect that the sand-bank on which they had been wrecked was further to the westward than Mr Scoones had supposed, and that had they not been picked up they would have perished long before reaching Java.

Having now sufficiently recovered to do duty, they were placed in a watch under the command of the second lieutenant, Mr Leigh. Owen concluded that this was as it should be. It did not occur to him that it would be of any use to explain who he was, and to endeavour to obtain a better position on board. He thought it but natural that he should be expected to work, and he was ready to do duty in any station in which he was placed. He supposed that his friend the doctor had forgotten him, or had not thought fit to carry out his intentions. Owen, who had been accustomed to go aloft while on board the "Druid," soon attracted the attention of Lieutenant Leigh by the activity and diligence with which he performed all his duties. The lieutenant at length spoke to him.

"If you go on as you have begun, you will become a smart seaman," he said, in a kind tone.

"Thank you, sir," answered Owen, touching his hat; "I will do my best."

"What is your name?" asked the lieutenant.

"Owen Hartley, sir."

"Owen Hartley!" repeated a tall midshipman, who was in Mr Leigh's watch, and who was standing near. He looked hard at Owen, but said no more.

It struck Owen, as he glanced at the midshipman, that he had seen him somewhere before, but he could not at first recollect where it was.

He puzzled his brains for some time. At last he inquired the midshipman's name of one of the men, pointing him out as he walked the deck.

"That is Mr Ashurst, a sprig of nobility of some sort," was the answer. "Take care you don't get foul of him. He carries on with a pretty high hand when he has the chance, especially if you go away with him in a boat, or he is in command on any occasion."

Shortly afterwards a squall was seen coming up, and the various necessary orders were issued for the shortening of sail. The midshipmen hurried to their posts, repeating the orders they had received. Mr Ashurst came forward, shouting out, as he did so, to the men.

"Yes, those are the very same tones," thought Owen, and he recognised the naval officer who, with his brother, had been thrown out of their carriage, and whom he had assisted in getting to rights again. "His brother called him Reginald. If this midshipman's name is the same I shall have no doubt about the matter."

Owen had not hitherto been stationed aloft, but one of the other boys was on the sick list.

"What are you doing on deck here, you idle young rascal?" exclaimed Mr Ashurst. "Quick, up the rigging and help to hand the fore royal."

Owen obeyed, and flew up aloft. The lighter sails were quickly handed. The topsails were reefed, and the crew called down; the frigate stood on her proper course. The way Mr Ashurst addressed Owen convinced him that he was the person he supposed.

"I will take care not to give him any cause of offence, for he is evidently not an amiable person," thought Owen.

A few minutes afterwards the look-out at the masthead shouted--

"A sail on the weather bow!"

One of the officers immediately went aloft. On his return the bearings of the stranger were taken. She was a large ship, standing in for the land.

The frigate was immediately put about. The squall having blown over, all sail was made in chase. Many surmises were expressed as to what she was, but it was a general opinion that she was a French frigate.

"If she is, we shall have a fight, and take her too," cried one of the men near whom Owen was standing.

"Little doubt about that, mates," observed another.

Such were the expressions uttered by the crew. Owen felt as eager as any one. He had not come to sea to fight, but he knew that even on board the "Druid" they might have fallen in with an enemy and have had to defend themselves.

"Is there any chance of her getting away, Mr Hartley?" asked Nat, who never forgot their relative positions, though Owen treated him as a friend.

"No," replied Owen; "for this frigate sails very fast, and from what I hear, Captain Stanhope is not likely to let an enemy escape him if he can help it."

"I feel somewhat strange at the thoughts of having round shot and bullets flying about our ears," said Nat.

"We must run our chance along with the rest," answered Owen.

Mr Scoones, who had only come on deck that day for the first time, on seeing that there was a prospect of a sharp engagement, seemed to wish that he had kept below. After pacing up and down several times, he spoke to the first lieutenant.

"As I have had some experience in dressing wounds, although, of course, I should wish to see the fight on deck, I may be of assistance to the doctor. With your leave I will go into the cock-pit and offer to help him."

The first lieutenant looked at him hard, suspecting the reasons.

"You are a passenger, and we do not expect you to fight, so do as you please," he answered.

Mr Scoones immediately dived below. The doctor, who had been arranging the various instruments and dressings which he expected would be required, received Mr Scoones coldly.

"You have not thought of bringing the two boys and the seaman saved with you. They might like to escape the risk of being shot."

"They have entered as part of the ship's company, and must run their chance," answered Mr Scoones.

"I thought as much," remarked the doctor, and continued his preparations without further accepting the offer made him.

The "Sylvia" showed herself to be a fast craft as she rapidly gained on the chase. As yet, however, the colours of the latter had not been shown. It was possible, after all, that she might prove to be a friend. All hands were on deck watching the chase. A loud cheer rose from the crew as the French flag flew out from the stranger's peak. She had tacked several times to keep the weather gauge, which it was Captain Stanhope's wish to obtain. She was seen to be a frigate of the same size as the "Sylvia," if not larger. The decks were now cleared for action, and the drum beat to quarters. Owen found that he and the other boys were to be employed in bringing up powder from the magazines in flannel bags placed in buckets. They had then to sit on them until the powder was wanted for loading the guns.

He would rather have been employed on some other duty, as he would thus have seen what was going forward. Still he did not for a moment think of trying to avoid what he was ordered to do. It was a satisfaction to find that Nat was near him.

"I don't half like it," said Nat; "but there is no one to care for me if I'm killed, except my old grandmother, and my brothers and sisters. You'll tell them all about me, and take them my love, won't you, Mr Hartley?"

"Yes, I will not forget your message, and I assure you, Nat, that I should care very much indeed if you were to be killed," answered Owen. "But do not be down-hearted; it will be a great thing to have been in a fight, although we may have taken no very active part in it."

Owen and Nat were stationed on the main deck, and had just brought up their powder from below.

"Hold your tongues, youngsters," said a midshipman, who just then passed. Owen recognised Mr Ashurst; he looked pale, but whether this was from the thoughts of the coming fight, or from some other cause, Owen could not tell. He was stationed at the guns which it was Owen's duty to keep supplied.

The second lieutenant passed along the deck, speaking an encouraging word to the men at each of the guns, while he gave the orders in regard to their mode of firing.

He then turned to the boys, and addressed a few kind remarks to them.

During this time the French frigate had shortened sail, showing that she had no intention of avoiding an action.

Owen could only get a glimpse of her through the port. The "Sylvia" had tacked several times. Again Mr Leigh came along the deck.

"In another minute we shall pass under the enemy's stern, and every gun from forward is to be fired in succession," he cried.

Just as he spoke, loud roars were heard, and several of the Frenchmen's shot struck the frigate's upper works, none penetrating to the main deck.

Owen peered out eagerly to try and get a glimpse of the enemy; then their own guns began firing, the crew cheering as their shot told with considerable effect. The French frigate, however, which had immediately luffed up, though too late to avoid being raked, returned the fire with her other broadside. The two frigates ran on together to the eastward, exchanging broadsides as fast as the guns could be run in and loaded.

"I wonder when she's going to give in?" said Nat to Owen as they returned from below with a fresh supply of powder.

"Before long, if we continue pounding her as we have hitherto done," said Owen, who after the first shots had been fired felt as cool as he had ever done in his life. Nat, too, recovered his self-possession, and seemed to have lost all his fears. Still, it was a trying time for youngsters who had never before been in battle. Round shot at times struck the ship in quick succession. Three or four men had been killed on the main deck, and others had been carried below badly wounded. Owen had observed Mr Ashurst constantly moving about, evidently in no very happy frame of mind.

"I say," observed Nat, "I rather think he doesn't half like it," pointing at the midshipman as he spoke.

"You have no right to think that," answered Owen. At that moment a shot struck the cill of the port nearest to the spot where Owen was seated, killing one man and wounding another, then flying across the deck close to Mr Ashurst, it committed further havoc on the other side, laying low another of the crew.

The midshipman gave a spring and fell over near Owen, who was at that moment supplying his gun with powder. As soon as he was at liberty, Owen endeavoured to help the midshipman.

"Are you hurt, sir?" he asked.

"I don't know--I thought I was," answered Mr Ashurst, getting on his feet.

His reply produced a laugh from several of the men who heard him. He walked away without uttering a word of thanks to Owen for his good intentions. Another broadside was fired, when a loud cheer burst forth from the crew on the upper deck, and was echoed by those on the main deck.

"She has struck! she has struck!"

The English frigate had been a good deal cut up. The Frenchman had lost her foremast and main topmast, while her hull was severely battered. The "Sylvia" was hove to, and Mr Leigh, with a boat's crew, sent to take possession of the prize. She proved to be the "Venus," forty-four guns. Her captain having been killed, the first lieutenant presented his sword to Mr Leigh; as he did so he pointed to a number of dead and dying men about the decks, observing with a sigh--

"We did not yield until we had no hope of success. It is the fortune of war."

"You have fought bravely, monsieur, and you and your crew will be treated as brave men," answered Mr Leigh.

He then ordered that the dead should be hove overboard, and the wounded carried below, to be attended to by the surgeon. He also directed the French officers and most of the crew to prepare for going on board the English frigate, though a few were retained for attending to the sick. The remainder of the "Sylvia's" boats which had escaped damage now came alongside with fresh hands to form the prize crew and to carry off the Frenchmen. Mr Leigh, leaving the prize in charge of the master's mate, who had accompanied him, returned on board the frigate to deliver the swords he had received, and report the state of the prize.

"I intend you to have charge of the prize, and you can take any hands you choose with you," said Captain Stanhope.

Mr Leigh having selected two or three more men, observed--

"I will take the lads we picked up the other day; they are sharp fellows, especially one of them, and may be useful."

Owen and Nat were summoned and ordered to get into the boat with the other men, among whom was Mike Coffey. Owen was well pleased to have been selected by Mr Leigh.

"We shall be out of the way, too, of that midshipman Mr Ashurst," observed Nat. "He is a regular bully when he has the chance."

On reaching the deck of the prize, however, what was their disappointment to find that Mr Ashurst had gone on board her in one of the other boats. He looked hard at Owen as he came up the side.

"Who sent you here, boy?" he asked.

"I was ordered to come," answered Owen, touching his hat.

"Well, look out, and see that you behave yourself," said the midshipman, as he walked away.

Owen felt a sickening sensation as he looked along the decks of the prize. Those of the "Sylvia" had been bad enough. These, although the dead and wounded had been removed, were still covered in every direction with blood, while they were thickly strewed with shattered spars, fragments of bulwarks, blocks, pieces of rope, and torn sails, while from below came up cries and groans of the wounded, either waiting to have their hurts dressed or already in the surgeon's hands. As the frigates were at the time not far from the coast of Celebes, every effort was made to repair the more serious damages, in order to enable them to haul off the shore before nightfall. The first thing to be done was to get up a fore jury mast. Rather more than a third of the French crew still remained on board the prize; but as all hands were required for this work, Mr Leigh waited to send them away until it had been accomplished. Most of them, indeed, appeared willing to lend their help. It was nightfall, however, before sail could once more be made on the frigate. By that time it came on to blow very hard, and the sea getting up, made it dangerous for the boats to pass to and fro. Captain Stanhope, therefore, sent word to Mr Leigh to retain the remainder of the prisoners, and should the frigates get parted, to steer for Marrack, the nearest port on the Java coast where shelter could be found. The fort protecting the harbour had a short time before been captured by Lieutenant Lyons with two boats' crews. The captain's last directions to Lieutenant Leigh were to keep a sharp look-out on his prisoners. The wind increased, and the night became very dark. The English crew remained on deck, but most of the Frenchmen went below. All the sail the frigate could carry was set, but it soon became evident that she was making little or no way off the shore.

Captain Stanhope had directed Mr Leigh to keep the lead going, and to anchor should the prize drift into shoal water. He accordingly ordered the cables to be ranged ready for that emergency. Owen had been actively engaged the whole day, and Mr Leigh had employed him to carry orders to the different parties at work. Soon after nightfall the "Sylvia" was lost sight of; as, for her own safety, she had been compelled to get a good offing, Captain Stanhope not being willing to run the risk of anchoring on a lee shore. His intention was, however, to stand in the next morning and rejoin the prize. Had the wind been but moderate, the "Venus" would have run but little risk. Blowing, however, heavily, as it now did, Mr Leigh could not help acknowledging that they were in considerable danger. Though under reduced sail, she fortunately stayed very easily. The lieutenant, therefore, did not hesitate to go about as often as he considered necessary. A look-out was kept for the land, and every time she tacked the lead was hove, but as no bottom had yet been found, it was hoped she might yet be a considerable distance from it. The French crew had remained quietly below, one or two only occasionally coming on deck, apparently to ascertain the position of the ship.

Strange that even at this time of peril Mr Ashurst should have treated Owen in his usual tyrannical manner. He never met him without uttering a word of abuse. Two or three times he took up a rope's end and struck him, declaring that he was idling or not obeying orders. At last Owen could bear it no longer.

"You are perfectly well aware, Mr Ashurst, that you have no right to treat me thus," he said in a firm voice. "You are placing yourself in my power, for were I to complain of you, you would be punished. I have no wish to do that, but I must beg that you will desist."

"Who are you, to speak like this to me?" exclaimed the midshipman, apparently astonished at Owen's language and manner.

"Were I your inferior in birth and education I should have a perfect right to expostulate," said Owen.

"In birth--in birth and education! You, a contemptible ship's boy, put yourself on an equality with a nobleman's son!" exclaimed Ashurst.

"I am not placing myself on an equality, for I am not a nobleman's son, but I am the son of a gentleman, and have received a gentleman's education, and have, I hope, the feelings of one," answered Owen, his temper rising in a way he found it difficult to quell; "all, however, I insist on is that you should not strike or abuse me, for by so doing, as you well know, you are acting contrary to the articles of war."

"A young sea lawyer, are you!" cried Ashurst. "Look out for squalls when we get on board the frigate again."

"Has it occurred to you, Mr Ashurst, that if this gale continues we may never get there?" asked Owen, feeling suddenly prompted to put the question. "We have a wild rocky coast under our lee, and should the anchors fail to hold, we may, before morning, be cast on it with little hope of any one on board escaping."

"Who told you that?" asked Ashurst, in a changed tone.

"My own sense and observation," answered Owen. "When Mr Leigh sent me into the cabin this afternoon, I examined the Frenchman's chart, which lay open on the table, and I saw the sort of coast we are off. I do not wish to alarm you, nor any one else, but I only tell you what I know to be the state of the case."

"Does Mr Leigh think the same?" inquired Ashurst, in the same tone he would have used to an equal.

"I have no doubt he does, but of course he would not tell the crew until it was absolutely necessary to do so; unless he had foreseen that we should probably have to anchor he would not have ordered the cables to be ranged."

"I hope things are not so bad as you think, Hartley," observed Ashurst, although, at the same time, his voice belied his words. Without apologising to Owen, he walked away in a very different manner to that he had just before assumed.

"It is a great shame that that midshipman should treat you as he does," said Nat. "Although he is civil enough now, he will be as bad as ever before long, and I have made up my mind what to do."

"You'd better not interfere, Nat," said Owen. "The officers probably would not listen to you, and you would only get yourself into bad odour."

Nat did not exactly understand what that meant, but he did not mind doing anything which might benefit Owen. By midnight the gale had increased considerably, and the English crew, in addition to their previous exertions--having to work hard at the pumps--were almost worn-out. It was difficult, therefore, to spare hands to keep a proper look-out on the French prisoners.

Mr Leigh, calling Owen, sent him below to ascertain what they were about.

"I must get the fellows to take their spell at the pumps, if not, their lives will be sacrificed as well as ours."

This last remark Owen did not hear, although the same idea had occurred to him.

Supposing him to be an ordinary ship's boy, who had come among them for curiosity, the prisoners took little notice of him. The greater number were collected together in the fore-part of the lower deck. Some were playing cards, others with dice or dominoes. Some were lying down, others singing snatches of songs, talking and laughing, appearing to have forgotten altogether that they were prisoners. One group, composed chiefly, it seemed, of petty officers and able seamen, were standing together, engaged in more earnest conversation.

Owen, as he had been directed to do, stood by, counting their numbers, concealed by the foremast from the last-mentioned group. Taking no notice of Owen the Frenchmen continued their conversation. He was on the point of going away to report that the prisoners seemed very quiet, when he caught some words which made him listen with more attention. Although not accustomed to hear French spoken by Frenchmen, he had frequently read and talked French with his mother, and was well acquainted with the ordinary phrases in use. The Frenchmen went on. They spoke of the danger the ship was in. That before long she must anchor, when probably half the crew would lie down to rest, while the other half would be kept at the pumps. They appeared to know the coast; there were several islands abreast where they then were, with channels between them. Their intention was to master the English crew, cut the cables, and, making sail by dawn, to run through one of these channels, where the "Venus" might lie completely concealed. They would then have time to repair damages, and as soon as the English frigate had gone away, supposing her prize to be lost, they might make their escape. Only two French officers, however, remained on board who understood navigation, and they must be gained over. This the French boatswain undertook to do. Some thought their officers would not agree to the plan.

"Then they must be forced to do so," answered the boatswain; "we will make them prisoners as well as the English, or heave them all overboard together."

"That would be dangerous," remarked another, "for should we be retaken, they would hang us."

"The fortune of war, my friend," answered the boatswain; "remain where you are, that the English may see that you are amusing yourselves, while I pay a visit to our lieutenant and the young Aspirante. They surely will not refuse to enter into our plan."

Owen waited some time longer, but finding that he was not likely to gain any further information he stole sway, concealed by the darkness, from where he had been standing, unperceived, as he hoped, by any of the prisoners. The boatswain, he believed, had not yet gone aft, he therefore hastened to report what he had heard to Mr Leigh.

"This is important information you have brought me," observed Lieutenant Leigh. "We can easily thwart the Frenchmen's plot, and I doubt whether their two officers would agree to it. I had no idea you understood French. The first thing to be done is to send a gang of these fellows to the pumps. They shall work whether they like it or not."

Calling Mr Stewart, the master's mate, who had accompanied him, Mr Leigh directed him to take a dozen armed men and to bring up thirty of the French crew. "If they refuse, let them understand that they will be placed in irons. Hartley, accompany Mr Stewart, and tell the Frenchmen why they are wanted."

The order was speedily put into execution. The Frenchmen grumbled, but as they had been deprived of all their weapons they could make no resistance, and the number required were marched up to the main deck. The French boatswain and several of his companions were greatly astonished, shortly afterwards, to find themselves handcuffed by another party of English seamen accompanied by their officers.

"You deserve it, you rascals," said the French lieutenant. "Did you suppose we should break our word of honour, and join you in your villainous plot?"

The greater number of the prisoners were now kept at the pumps, with the exception of those in irons and attending to the sick. In vain they expostulated. They could not deny that they intended to try and recapture the ship. The English crew were thus greatly relieved, and a portion were enabled to lie down and obtain the rest they so much required.

Thus night wore on, and as yet no sign of land had been discovered. Again the lead was hove. It gave twenty fathoms, shortly afterwards fifteen; and at the same moment, during a lull in the gale, the roar of breakers on a rocky shore could be heard.

Mr Leigh instantly gave the order to prepare for anchoring. The canvas was quickly taken in and the anchor let go. This was the moment the Frenchmen had intended to carry their plot into execution. The English officers, with a party of men, well armed, kept watch on them, and deprived of their leaders they dared not make the attempt. It was now a question whether the anchor would hold. A second had been got ready to let go if necessary, and the French lieutenant undertook, should they part from that, to pilot the frigate through one of the channels of which the boatswain had spoken, where she could remain in safety until the gale was over.

"I will trust you," said Mr Leigh, shaking him by the hand. "You have proved yourself a man of honour."

Notwithstanding the promised assistance of the French lieutenant, Mr Leigh felt considerable anxiety as to what might be the fate of the frigate. The French crew might still rise and attempt to retake the prize should they find themselves at a distance from the "Sylvia." The coast, too, was dangerous in the extreme, and it might be found impossible to reach the channel through which it was proposed to pass. Before sail could be made the frigate might be driven on the rocks under her lee, or the sails, if set, might be blown to tatters before she could again be brought to an anchor. With forebodings of evil, Lieutenant Leigh paced the deck. The night passed slowly away; when morning dawned the "Sylvia" was nowhere to be seen. The gale blew as furiously as ever. Captain Stanhope, in the crippled state to which his ship had been reduced by the action, although she had suffered much less than her opponent, had evidently considered it his duty to keep off the shore. "I should have done the same," thought Mr Leigh. "He would have risked the 'Sylvia's' safety by coming to our assistance. It was right to leave us to our fate."

Although a long scope of cable had been run out, the "Venus" rode uneasily over the heavy seas which came rolling in. Now she rose, now she pitched into them, as they passed under her, while the spray in thick showers broke over her bows.

Still the stout cable held, although the lieutenant cast many an anxious look astern, where little more than a quarter of a mile away the breakers burst with a continual roar on the rock-bound coast. They could distinguish the entrance to the passage some distance to the northward, but even had all the masts of the "Venus" been standing, and a strong crew been ready to make sail, the difficulty of gaining it would have been very great. Should the French prisoners have succeeded in carrying out their design, the frigate would have been cast away. The fate of the wounded would have been certain, and few of those on board would have escaped.

Ashurst still continued his ill-treatment of Owen. Nat saw him again strike him.

"It is the last time he shall do that," exclaimed Nat, who was a witness of what took place.

Without speaking to Owen, he hurried aft to where Mr Leigh was standing.

"Please, sir, I've something to say to you," said Nat, touching his hat.

"What is it, boy?" asked the lieutenant, concluding that Nat had to give him some information regarding the conduct of the French prisoners. "Are the fellows down below inclined to be mutinous?"

"I don't think so, sir," answered Nat; "but what I want to say is about Mr Owen Hartley, who first found out their plot and saved us all from having our throats cut. He is a gentleman, sir, and came out with us as a passenger on board the 'Druid,' and I think, sir, if this had been known, he would not have been sent forward amongst us boys. Mr Scoones, our first mate, who pretended to be the captain, knows it as well as I do, but he had a spite against Mr Hartley, and so declared that he was a ship's boy, and allowed him to be rated as such on board the 'Sylvia.' Mike Coffey, who belonged to the old ship, will tell you, sir, that what I say is true."

"I am ready to believe what you say, and when we return on board the frigate I will speak to the captain on the subject. But what makes you come up now to say this? I wish that you had given me the information before."

"Please, sir, Mr Hartley didn't wish me to do that," answered Nat, "but I could stand it no longer when I saw, every hour in the day, Mr Ashurst knocking him about and abusing him as if he were a dog. He won't complain himself, so I made up my mind to complain for him, for I was sure you would not allow Mr Ashurst to behave in that way if you knew it."

"Certainly not, my lad," answered the lieutenant, who, not standing on his dignity or resenting the unusual conduct of a boy for presuming to bring a complaint against a midshipman, respected Nat for his boldness and eagerness to protect his friend. "Send Mr Hartley aft to me, but do not let Mr Ashurst discover that you have complained of him."

Nat harried forward. As soon as he could find Owen, without saying what he had done, he told him that Mr Leigh wished to speak with him. Owen went aft, not knowing what the lieutenant could have to say.

"Hartley," said Mr Leigh, "you appear to be superior to the other boys. In what capacity were you serving on board the ship in which you were cast away?"

Owen told him that he had come out as a passenger, but that, understanding mathematics and the principles of navigation, he had endeavoured to perfect himself in the science, as also to gain a knowledge of seamanship, although he had no intention of becoming a sailor, considering himself bound to return to the office in which he had been employed. Mr Leigh then questioned him, and learned more about his history.

"Had Captain Stanhope known this he would, I think, very likely, had you wished to enter the navy, have placed you on the quarter-deck. I cannot, of course, alter your rating now, but I will appoint you to act as my clerk, and I will let Mr Stewart and Mr Ashurst know that you are to mess with us, and that they are to treat you as a brother officer."

Owen could scarcely believe his senses when he heard this. How would Ashurst now behave to him? He himself would not of course refer to the treatment he had received from the hands of the midshipman, but would act as if nothing unpleasant had occurred between them. Mr Stewart, the master's mate, who was an amiable young man, had always treated him kindly, and would, he was sure, do so now.

It was nearly the dinner hour. "You will come at once into the cabin," said Mr Leigh; "there is no reason for delay."

Owen made his way forward, and told Nat what had happened.

Nat, who pretended to look very much surprised, said he was very glad to hear of Owen's good fortune. "But it's only your due," he added, "and please for the future remember that you are now in the midshipmen's berth, and a gentleman, that I am only a ship's boy, and treat me accordingly."

"I hope, Nat, I shall always treat you as a true friend, for such you have been to me," said Owen.

There was no time to lose. Owen managed to wash his hands and brush his hair, so that he might appear as neat as possible.

Mr Stewart had the watch, but Ashurst was in the cabin. He looked hard at Owen as he entered, supposing that he had come to receive some orders, or to wait at table. The two French officers were about to take their seats.

"I am glad to see you, Hartley," said Mr Leigh, when he came in.

Ashurst stared, and the colour rose to his brow.

"Messieurs," said Mr Leigh, turning to the French officers, "I beg to introduce this young gentleman to you. Ashurst, I now make him known to you as I intend to employ him as my clerk, and he will soon become your messmate, for I have little doubt, if he wishes it, when we return to the frigate, that Captain Stanhope will place him as a midshipman on the quarter-deck."

The first impulse of Ashurst on hearing this was to get up from the table, but he sat down again and fixed his eyes on Owen without saying a word. Owen, who at first felt somewhat strange at being thus suddenly introduced into the society of gentlemen, soon recovered himself, and behaved as might have been expected. He addressed Mr Leigh with freedom but perfect propriety, and spoke to the French officers in their own language. Although the eldest understood a little English, yet he expressed himself with difficulty in it.

Whenever Ashurst looked at him it was with a frown on his brow. He did not once speak to him, even though Mr Leigh attempted to make him do so. The dinner was got over rapidly, for it was not a time when the commanding officer could be long absent from the deck. The weather continued as before. So great was the strain on the cable that it appeared every instant ready to part. Hands were stationed at the stoppers of the second, ready to let it go should the first fail.

Owen had been sent into the cabin to make out some lists from notes which Mr Leigh gave him, the French lieutenant having supplied him with writing materials for the purpose.

Mr Leigh called Ashurst, who was on deck, to come to him.

"I am surprised at your conduct to young Hartley," he said. "I have myself observed it, and I should have supposed, now that I have thought fit to place him on the quarter-deck, that you would have welcomed him as a messmate. He is gentlemanly and well-informed, and I have no doubt that he is, as he states, a gentleman by birth."

"Pretenders often assume good manners when they have an object in doing so," answered Ashurst, in a scornful tone; "he appeared as a ship's boy, and I treated him as such, and made him do his duty."

"You may have bullied others, but you have shown a special ill-feeling towards this lad," answered Mr Leigh, feeling annoyed at the manner in which the midshipman spoke. "In future I beg that you will treat him as an equal."

"An equal, indeed! Do you forget, Mr Leigh, that I am the son of a nobleman, and that he is or was till a few minutes ago, merely a ship's boy!" exclaimed the midshipman, in a voice which made Mr Leigh almost smile.

"Had you said that in your berth, you would have been laughed at by all your messmates," observed Mr Leigh, "Come, come, I cannot listen to such nonsense. While you remain on board the prize, treat him as I desire, and when we rejoin the 'Sylvia' Captain Stanhope will see to it." Ashurst walked away, muttering something which Mr Leigh did not hear. All day long the weather continued the same as before, and night came on without any signs of an abatement of the gale. The British crew were well-nigh worn-out. Although the Frenchmen were now compelled to labour at the pumps, the English took a spell. They had, besides, to watch the prisoners, and be always on deck ready to let go the anchor and make sail. Not until morning did the wind begin to fall, although the sea appeared as heavy as ever. It burst forth again and blew with greater fury than before. Suddenly the cry arose--

"The cable has parted!"

"Let go the best bower," cried Lieutenant Leigh.

In an instant the stoppers were cut, and the cable ran at a rapid rate, setting the hawse hole on fire. The danger had been seen, and men stood ready with buckets of water to heave over it. The cable ran out to its full range.

"Does the anchor hold, Stewart?" asked the lieutenant.

"Yes, sir, it holds," answered the master's mate.

"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated Mr Leigh.

Before the fresh anchor brought up the ship, she had drifted much nearer the rocks. Should this cable part her destruction was inevitable.

The gale seemed to have exhausted itself by its last effort, and the wind now rapidly fell. Still the breakers burst with the same fury as before under the stern. More anxiously than ever every one on board waited for daylight.

As soon as it came, the lieutenant ordered all hands to get fresh stays on the jury mast preparatory to making sail, his intention being, should the wind come off the shore, to stand away from the coast, in hopes of falling in with the "Sylvia," and not finding her, at once to steer a course for Marrack.

At length a light wind began to blow off the land, but it was not sufficiently strong to make it prudent to cut the cable. Gradually it increased.

"All hands make sail!" shouted Mr Leigh.

The Frenchmen were as eager as the English crew to hoist away. The cable was cut and the prize stood off from the dangerous coast. _

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