Chapter 8. Alice At Daisy Cottage...

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_ CHAPTER EIGHT. ALICE AT DAISY COTTAGE--A BOAT'S CREW CAPSIZED--PICK UP DICKY SHARPE-- OUR FRIENDSHIP COMMENCED.

I may as well say that my uncle got a fair round sum for the salvage of the good ship the _Poictiers_, and a very welcome addition to his year's pay. Our passengers went on shore at Portsmouth, and as soon as we arrived there, I thought I was to see no more of them, when, having accompanied them to the door of the George Hotel, I was about to bid them farewell.

"What! we are not going to part yet," said Mr Marlow. "Come in, young gentleman--come in."

There was the usual bustle consequent on the arrival of a party at an inn. It soon subsided. Rooms were selected, and we found ourselves seated in a parlour, which looked doubly comfortable after the deck of the dismasted ship and the small cabin of the cutter.

"You will come and dine with us to-day, Mr D'Arcy; and I must beg you to convey an invitation to your uncle," said Mr Marlow.

As midshipmen are not always their own masters, I had to explain that I would, if I could; though I did not think my uncle would refuse me leave. I was not disappointed; and at six o'clock I found myself seated at Mr Marlow's dinner-table, and opposite my Commander. I thought the little lady, Miss Alice, still looked very much fatigued.

"She is scarcely yet fit to perform the journey to London," observed her father. "Still I am anxious to be there, and must also visit Liverpool in the course of a few days."

"If you will allow her to remain with Mrs O'Flaherty, I can answer for my wife being most happy to receive her," said my uncle.

To my great joy, though I was afraid of showing if, Mr Marlow at once acceded to the proposal.

"I will, then, bring Mrs O'Flaherty over to fetch her," added my uncle. "You will, I suspect, agree very well, Miss Alice."

"Indeed, my dear sir, you are laying me under a tenfold obligation," said Mr Marlow. "All our connections are, I believe, in the North, and in dreary London there is no one with whom I could leave the dear child."

I don't remember the rest of our conversation. I know that I discussed a very good dinner; and that same evening we got under weigh and ran over to Ryde, and my uncle went up to Daisy Cottage. The next morning my aunt accompanied him on board, and we returned to Portsmouth. She received little Alice, as I knew she would, most kindly, and before many hours had passed they became great friends; and, to make a long story short, Miss Marlow became an inmate for several weeks of Daisy Cottage.

We were lying one day soon after this in Portsmouth Harbour, off Haslar Creek, ready to start for the westward. It was Sunday. My uncle had gone over to Ryde, and I was in hopes of getting across in the afternoon to visit my aunt and her guest. I had turned out in full fig; and while all the people were below dressing for muster, I walked the deck as officer of the watch, with my spy-glass under my arm, looking out for the signal from the flag-ship to make it eight-bells. I felt very important, but I have reasons to doubt whether I looked proportionably consequential. All the ships in the harbour and at Spithead ran up their bunting at the same moment; and I had just belayed our signal halliards when I saw a boat, crowded with seamen and marines, putting off from a frigate lying right ahead of us. The tide was running strong out of the harbour. A young midshipman was at the helm, and he did not seem to have made due allowance for the strength of the current. The consequence was that the boat drifted down some way below the intended place of landing, and while he was putting her head up the harbour to regain his lost ground, her keel struck the mast of a barge which had sunk the day before, and which scarcely showed above the water. In an instant over she went, and the people in her were spilt out into the eddying, rushing tide-way. Some struck out for the shore, a few clung on the boat, and others came drifting down helplessly with the current.

So suddenly had the accident occurred, that I had not a moment to consider what was best to be done, nor to call any one from below. Fortunately we had a punt alongside. Casting off the painter, I jumped into her, and shoved off to where three men were struggling, close ahead of the cutter. I caught hold of one who was just sinking, and hauled him over the bows, while the other two got in without my help. I looked round to see what had become of the rest of the people. Two marines were clinging to the keel of the boat, and she was on the point of striking our stern, by which she would have been carried under our bottom, when I sculled alongside and got the two jollies on board. By the glance I had had at her just before, I observed that another person had been with them, while, as I was getting in the three first men, a cry for help had reached my ears.

"Oh! sir, there's Mr --- gone, poor fellow!" exclaimed one of the marines saved. "There he is, though!"

Directly under the water, where he pointed, I saw a head of hair or a bunch of seaweed, I could not tell which; but, on the chance of its being the former, I sculled up to it. The sun shone forth brightly, and I caught a glimpse of a human face convulsed with agony beneath the tide. Twice it eluded me; but stretching out my arm, and almost going overboard and capsizing our already over-crowded boat, I got firm hold of a person by the hair, who, I saw, had a midshipman's patch on the collar of his jacket. I had some difficulty in getting the seemingly lifeless body of my brother officer into the boat.

Seeing that there was no one else to be saved--for several boats had shoved off from the shore and vessels at anchor near at hand to pick up the rest of the people--I paddled my nearly sinking boat alongside the cutter. Hearing my hail as I jumped into the punt, the crew had rushed on deck, and were standing ready to hand on board the half-drowned midshipman and the men I had been the means of saving. The latter were none the worse for their ducking, except that their clothes were wettish.

"You'll want a clean shirt, mate," said one of our people to a Patlander from the frigate.

"Arrah! now didn't I put a dry one in my pocket this blessed morning; so it will be all handy for me," he exclaimed, diving into the recesses of his dripping peacoat.

The midshipman, who was still insensible, was, by Hanks' advice, carried down into the gun-room. We were unwilling to run the risk of the delay which must have occurred had he been conveyed on board his own ship.

"Bring a glass of hot grog; and let it be pretty stiff, steward!" said Hanks, as we were engaged in stripping our patient and putting him into my berth between the blankets.

We then set to work to rub his body with a coarse worsted sock, the first suitable thing which came to hand. Having got some of the salt water he had swallowed out of his mouth, Hanks poured a little warm grog into it instead. This, with the rubbing, had the effect of speedily restoring animation. In a few minutes he opened his eyes, and tried to sit up and look about him.

"Hillo! where am I? I say, are the poor fellows all picked up?" he asked, in a weak tone.

I liked him at once for thinking of his men.

"All right, mate," I answered; "no harm has come of the capsize, except a few wet jackets."

Just then, on looking round, I saw a man, who by his uniform I knew to be a naval surgeon, standing near me. "So I see you've saved me my work, gentlemen," he said, smiling. "You could not have acted better than you appear to have done; and, thanks to you, we shall soon have him all right again."

"Thank'ee, Doctor, I've come round pretty well already," sung out the midshipman. "But, I say, mate, I just want another glass of your stuff. It's prime physic."

The medico smelt the tumbler, which stood on the table full of grog, and then felt the youngster's pulse and looked at his tongue.

"You may take half a glass--it's quite enough for you, and then we'll have you wrapped up in blankets, and carried on board," he answered.

"Oh, thank'ee, Doctor, I'm very comfortable where I am, and my clothes ain't dried yet; so if you'll let me stay here, I think it would be the better for me," said the midshipman.

The Doctor's objections, if he had any, were soon overruled; and, telling the midshipman to return on board the frigate as soon as his clothes were dry, he quitted the cutter.

"What's your name, mate?" asked my new friend, as he was sipping his glass of grog.

I told him.

"Mine's Richard Sharpe; but I'm mostly called Dicky Sharpe," he answered. "Some of my messmates give me all sorts of names; but I don't mind them. As long as they don't cob me, it's all very well. I'm a happy fellow, and ready for all the ups and downs of life. I'm pretty well wide awake, and know my duty, so I don't often get mast-headed. If I happen to get a fall, I generally manage to pitch on my feet; and as I'm some day or other to come into a fortune, I'm not troubled about the future. If the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty give me my promotion, it will be all very well; if not, why they'll have to dispense with my valuable services, and the country will be the loser."

I was highly edified by Master Dicky's philosophy, and I at once conceived a great regard and respect for him.

"Now, D'Arcy, my boy," he continued, in his free and easy tone, "it's stupid work lying here between the blankets; so if you'll just give me the loan of some of your toggery till mine are dry, I'll sit up at table and crack a bottle of wine with you."

I had to remind him of the early hour, and to confess that wine our mess did not possess, but that he should have some breakfast and hot tea, which would be better for him, and that he should be welcome to my clothes.

While he was seated at table, Hanks, who had gone on deck to see the medico off, returned. "Well, D'Arcy, I told him how you had saved the youngster and the other men," he said. "It will be a feather in your cap, my lad, and you deserve to wear it."

"What!" exclaimed my volatile young friend, grasping my hand, while the tears came into his eyes, "you saved me from drowning. On my word, I'm very much obliged to you. I shouldn't like to have become food for fishes just yet. I'd rather eat a few dinners off them first."

"Oh, faith, I could not have done less if you'd been only a sheep or a pig," I answered, laughing; "so you've little to thank me for."

"I suppose, though, even a sheep or a pig would have tried to show their gratitude, unless you had intended to turn them into mutton and pork directly afterwards," replied Dicky Sharpe. "So, D'Arcy, I must look upon you as my friend and preserver; and I just wish, when you can get leave, that you would come down and see my governor and mother and sisters. They won't make much of you, won't they, that's all."

I told him that I should be very glad to accept his invitation if I could; but at the time I was thinking that my aunt and Miss Alice would admire the feather Hanks said I might wear in my cap more than anybody else. I never met a merrier or more contented fellow than Dicky Sharpe. I was quite sorry to lose him when his clothes were dry and a boat came alongside to take him on board his ship, the _Cynthia_, What was my surprise to receive by her, at the same time, a note from the captain of the frigate, inviting me to dine with him on the following day, stating that he wished to thank me for the presence of mind I had displayed in saving the lives of one of his midshipmen and several of his people.

"I'm glad to hear it," exclaimed Hanks. "It shows your talents are not hid under a bushel; and now get away over to Ryde with that note in your pocket, and explain its meaning in the best way you can."

I jumped into a wherry just then passing, and in less than an hour landed at Ryde Pier, whence I found my way up to Daisy Cottage. My aunt was delighted to hear my story, which, I flatter myself, I told with all the innate modesty of an Irishman. Alice, I thought, blushed her approval most sweetly; and my uncle congratulated me warmly. I spent a very pleasant evening, some of the time walking with Alice on the shore, and resting under the trees, which come almost close down to the water's edge. I found that I could not dine with Captain Bruff, as we were to sail next morning for the westward; so I was obliged to be content with the empty honour of the invitation; and, I dare say, my absence did not break his heart. I was more sorry to miss seeing Dicky Sharpe again, as I should have liked to have had another palaver with him; and before our return the _Cynthia_ would probably have sailed. _

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