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diff --git a/6293.txt b/6293.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a02079 --- /dev/null +++ b/6293.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2249 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook No Defense, by Gilbert Parker, v2 +#120 in our series by Gilbert Parker + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: No Defense, Volume 2. + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6293] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 12, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO DEFENSE, BY PARKER, V2 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + + + +NO DEFENSE + +By Gilbert Parker + +Volume 2. + + + +BOOK II + +X. DYCK CALHOUN ENTERS THE WORLD AGAIN +XI. WHITHER NOW? +XII. THE HOUR BEFORE THE MUTINY +XIII. TO THE WEST INDIES +XIV. IN THE NICK OF TIME +XV. THE ADMIRAL HAS HIS SAY + + + +CHAPTER X + +DYCK CALHOUN ENTERS THE WORLD AGAIN + +"Is it near the time?" asked Michael Clones of his friend, as they stood +in front of the prison. + +His companion, who was seated on a stone, wrapped in dark-green coverings +faded and worn, and looking pinched with cold in the dour November day, +said, without lifting his head: + +"Seven minutes, an' he'll be out, God bless him!" "And save him and +protect him!" said Michael. "He deserved punishment no more than I did, +and it's broke him. I've seen the grey gather at his temples, though +he's only been in prison four years. He was condemned to eight, but +they've let him free, I don't know why. Perhaps it was because of what +he told the government about the French navy. I've seen the joy of life +sob itself down to the sour earth. When I took him the news of his +father's death, and told him the creditors were swallowing what was left +of Playmore, what do you think he did?" + +Old Christopher Dogan smiled; his eyes twinkled with a mirth which had +more pain than gaiety. "God love you, I know what he did. He flung out +his hands, and said: 'Let it go! It's nothing to me.' Michael, have I +said true?" + +Michael nodded. + +"Almost his very words you've used, and he flung out his hands, as you +said. + +"Aye, he'll be changed; but they've kept the clothes he had when he went +to prison, and he'll come out in them, I'm thinking--" + +"Ah, no!" interrupted Michael. "That can't be, for his clothes was +stole. Only a week ago he sent to me for a suit of my own. I wouldn't +have him wear my clothes--he a gentleman! It wasn't fitting. So I sent +him a suit I bought from a shop, but he wouldn't have it. He would leave +prison a poor man, as a peasant in peasant's clothes. So he wrote to me. +Here is the letter." He drew from his pocket a sheet of paper, and +spread it out. "See-read it. Ah, well, never mind," he added, as old +Christopher shook his head. "Never mind, I'll read it to you!" +Thereupon he read the note, and added: "We'll see him of the Calhouns +risin' high beyant poverty and misfortune some day." + +Old Christopher nodded. + +"I'm glad Miles Calhoun was buried on the hilltop above Playmore. He had +his day; he lived his life. Things went wrong with him, and he paid the +price we all must pay for work ill-done." + +"There you're right, Christopher Dogan, and I remember the day the +downfall began. It was when him that's now Lord Mallow, Governor of +Jamaica, came to summon Miles Calhoun to Dublin. Things were never the +same after that; but I well remember one talk I had with Miles Calhoun +just before his death. 'Michael,' he said to me, 'my family have had +many ups and downs, and some that bear my name have been in prison before +this, but never for killing a man out of fair fight.' 'One of your name +may be in prison, sir,' said I, 'but not for killing a man out of fair +fight. If you believe he did, there's no death bad enough for you!' +He was silent for a while; then at last he whispered Mr. Dyck's name, and +said to me: 'Tell him that as a Calhoun I love him, and as his father I +love him ten times more. For look you, Michael, though we never ran +together, but quarrelled and took our own paths, yet we are both +Calhouns, and my heart is warm to him. If my son were a thousand +times a criminal, nevertheless I would ache to take him by the hand.'" + +"Hush! Look at the prison gate," said his companion, and stood up. + +As the gates of the prison opened, the sun broke through the clouds and +gave a brilliant phase to the scene. Out of the gates there came slowly, +yet firmly, dressed in peasant clothes, the stalwart but faded figure of +Dyck Calhoun. + +Terribly changed he was. He had entered prison with the flush upon his +cheek, the lilt of young manhood in his eyes, with hair black and hands +slender and handsome. There was no look of youth in his face now. It +was the face of a middle-aged man from which the dew of youth had +vanished, into which life's storms had come and gone. Though the body +was held erect, yet the head was thrust slightly forward, and the heavy +eyebrows were like a pent-house. The eyes were slightly feverish, and +round the mouth there crept a smile, half-cynical but a little happy. +All freshness was gone from his hands. One hung at his side, listless, +corded; the other doffed his hat in reply to the salute of his two humble +friends. + +As the gates closed behind him he looked gravely at the two men, who were +standing not a foot apart. There swept slowly into his eyes, enlarging, +brightening them, the glamour of the Celtic soul. Of all Ireland, or all +who had ever known him, these two were the only ones welcoming him into +the world again! Michael Clones, with his oval red face, big nose, +steely eye, and steadfast bearing, had in him the soul of great kings. +His hat was set firmly on his head. His knee-breeches were neat, if +coarse; his stockings were clean. His feet were well shod, his coat +worn, and he had still the look that belongs to the well-to-do peasant. +He was a figure of courage and endurance. Dyck's hand went out to him, +and a warm smile crept to his lips. + +"Michael--ever--faithful Michael!" + +A moisture came to Michael's eyes. He did not speak as he clasped the +hand Dyck offered him. Presently Dyck turned to old Christopher with a +kindly laugh. + +"Well, old friend! You, too, come to see the stag set loose again? +You're not many, that's sure." A grim, hard look came into his face, but +both hands went out and caught the old man's shoulders affectionately. +"This is no day for you to be waiting at prison's gates, Christopher; but +there are two men who believe in me--two in all the world. It isn't the +killing," he added after a moment's silence--"it isn't the killing that +hurts so. If it's true that I killed Erris Boyne, what hurts most is the +reason why I killed him." + +"One way or another--does it matter now?" asked Christopher gently. + +"Is it that you think nothing matters since I've paid the price, sunk +myself in shame, lost my friends, and come out with not a penny left?" +asked Dyck. "But yes," he added with a smile, wry and twisted, "yes, I +have a little left!" + +He drew from his pocket four small pieces of gold, and gazed ironically +at them in his palm. + +"Look at them!" He held out his hand, so that the two men could see the +little coins. "Those were taken from me when I entered prison. They've +been in the hands of the head of the jail ever since. They give them to +me now--all that's left of what I was." + +"No, not all, sir," declared Michael. "There's something left from +Playmore--there's ninety pounds, and it's in my pocket. It was got from +the sale of your sporting-kit. There was the boat upon the lake, the +gun, and all kinds of riffraff stuff not sold with Playmore." + +Dyck nodded and smiled. "Good Michael!" + +Then he drew himself up stiffly, and blew in and out his breath as if +with the joy of living. For four hard years he had been denied the free +air of free men. Even when walking in the prison-yard, on cold or fair +days, when the air was like a knife or when it had the sun of summer in +it, it still had seemed to choke him. + +In prison he had read, thought, and worked much. They had at least done +that for him. The Attorney-General had given him freedom to work with +his hands, and to slave in the workshop like one whose living depended on +it. Some philanthropic official had started the idea of a workshop, and +the officials had given the best of the prisoners a chance to learn +trades and make a little money before they went out into the world. All +that Dyck had earned went to purchase things he needed, and to help his +fellow prisoners or their families. + +Where was he now? The gap between the old life of nonchalance, +frivolity, fantasy, and excitement was as great as that between heaven +and hell. Here he was, after four years of prison, walking the highway +with two of the humblest creatures of Ireland, and yet, as his soul said, +two of the best. + +Stalking along in thought, he suddenly became conscious that Michael and +Christopher had fallen behind. He turned round. + +"Come on. Come on with me." But the two shook their heads. + +"It's not fitting, you a Calhoun of Playmore!" Christopher answered. + +"Well, then, list to me," said Dyck, for he saw the men could not bear +his new democracy. "I'm hungry. In four years I haven't had a meal that +came from the right place or went to the right spot. Is the little +tavern, the Hen and Chickens, on the Liffeyside, still going? I mean the +place where the seamen and the merchant-ship officers visit." + +Michael nodded. + +"Well, look you, Michael--get you both there, and order me as good a meal +of fish and chops and baked pudding as can be bought for money. Aye, and +I'll have a bottle of red French wine, and you two will have what you +like best. Mark me, we'll sit together there, for we're one of a kind. +I've got to take to a life that fits me, an ex-jailbird, a man that's +been in prison for killing!" + +"There's the king's army," said Michael. "They make good officers in +it." + +A strange, half-sore smile came to Dyck's thin lips. + +"Michael," said he, "give up these vain illusions. I was condemned for +killing a man not in fair fight. + +"I can't enter the army as an officer, and you should know it. The king +himself could set me up again; but the distance between him and me is ten +times round the world and back again!" But then Dyck nodded kindly. It +was as if suddenly the martyr spirit had lifted him out of rigid, painful +isolation, and he was speaking from a hilltop. "No, my friends, what is +in my mind now is that I'm hungry. For four years I've eaten the bread +of prison, and it's soured my mouth and galled my belly. Go you to that +inn and make ready a good meal." + +The two men started to leave, but old Christopher turned and stretched a +hand up and out. + +"Son of Ireland, bright and black and black and bright may be the picture +of your life, but I see for you brightness and sweet faces, and music and +song. It's not Irish music, and it's not Irish song, but the soul of the +thing is Irish. Grim things await you, but you will conquer where the +eagle sways to the shore, where the white mist flees from the hills, +where heroes meet, where the hand of Moira stirs the blue and the witches +flee from the voice of God. There is honour coming to you in the world." + +Having said his say, with hand outstretched, having thrilled the air with +the voice of one who had the soul of a prophet, the old man turned. Head +bent forward, he shuffled away with Michael Clones along the stony +street. + +Dyck watched them go, his heart beating hard, his spirit overwhelmed. + +It was not far to the Castle, yet every footstep had a history. Now and +again he met people who knew him. Some bowed a little too profoundly, +some nodded; but not one stopped to speak to him, though a few among them +were people he had known well in days gone by. Was it the clothes he +wore, or was it that his star had sunk so low that none could keep it +company? He laughed to himself in scorn, and yet there kept ringing +through his brain all the time the bells of St. Anselm's, which he was +hearing: + + "Oh, God, who is the sinner's friend, + Make clean my soul once more!" + +When he arrived at the Castle walls he stood and looked long at them. + +"No, I won't go in. I won't try to see him," he said at last. "God, how +strange Ireland is to me! The soil of it, the trees of it, the grass of +it, are dearer than ever, but--I'll have no more of Ireland. I'll ask +for nothing. I'll get to England. What's Ireland to me? I must make my +way somewhere. There's one in there"--he nodded towards the Castle-- +"that owes me money at cards. He should open his pockets to me, and see +me safe on a ship for Australia; but I've had my fill of every one in +Ireland. There's nothing here for me but shame. Well, back I'll go to +the Hen and Chickens, to find a good dinner there." + +He turned and went back slowly along the streets by which he had come, +looking not to right nor left, thinking only of where he should go and +what he should do outside of Ireland. + +At the door of the inn he sniffed the dinner Michael had ordered. + +"Man alive!" he said as he entered the place and saw the two men with +their hands against the bright fire. "There's only one way to live, and +that's the way I'm going to try." + +"Well, you'll not try it alone, sir, if you please," said Michael. "I'll +be with you, if I may." + +"And I'll bless you as you go," said Christopher Dogan. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHITHER NOW? + +England was in a state of unrest. She had, as yet, been none too +successful in the war with France. From the king's castle to the poorest +slum in Seven Dials there was a temper bordering on despair. Ministries +came and went; statesmen rose and fell. The army was indifferently +recruited and badly paid. England's battles were fought by men of whom +many were only mercenaries, with no stake in England's rise or fall. + +In the army and navy there were protests, many and powerful, against +the smallness of the pay, while the cost of living had vastly increased. +In more than one engagement on land England had had setbacks of a serious +kind, and there were those who saw in the blind-eyed naval policy, in +the general disregard of the seamen's position, in the means used for +recruiting, the omens of disaster. The police courts furnished the navy +with the worst citizens of the country. Quota men, the output of the +Irish prisons--seditious, conspiring, dangerous--were drafted for the +king's service. + +The admiralty pursued its course of seizing men of the mercantile marine, +taking them aboard ships, keeping them away for months from the harbours +of the kingdom, and then, when their ships returned, denying them the +right of visiting their homes. The press-gangs did not confine their +activities to the men of the mercantile marine. From the streets after +dusk they caught and brought in, often after ill-treatment, torn from +their wives and sweethearts, knocked on the head for resisting, tradesmen +with businesses, young men studying for the professions, idlers, debtors, +out-of-work men. The marvel is that the British fleets fought as well as +they did. + +Poverty and sorrow, loss and bereavement, were in every street, peeped +mournfully out of every window, lurked at street corners. From all parts +of the world adventurers came to renew their fortunes in the turmoil of +London, and every street was a kaleidoscope of faces and clothes and +colours, not British, not patriot, not national. + +Among these outlanders were Dyck Calhoun and Michael Clones. They had +left Ireland together in the late autumn, leaving behind them the +stirrings of the coming revolution, and plunging into another revolt +which was to prove the test and trial of English character. + +Dyck had left Ireland with ninety pounds in his pocket and many tons' +weight of misery in his heart. In his bones he felt tragedies on foot in +Ireland which concession and good government could not prevent. He had +fled from it all. When he set his face to Holyhead, he felt that he +would never live in Ireland again. Yet his courage was firm as he made +his way to London, with Michael Clones--faithful, devoted, a friend and +yet a servant, treated like a comrade, yet always with a little +dominance. + +The journey to London had been without event, yet as the coach rolled +through country where frost silvered the trees; where, in the early +morning, the grass was shining with dew; where the everlasting green +hedges and the red roofs of villages made a picture which pleased the eye +and stirred the soul, Dyck Calhoun kept wondering what would be his +future. He had no profession, no trade, no skill except with his sword; +and as he neared London Town--when they left Hendon--he saw the smoke +rising in the early winter morning and the business of life spread out +before him, brave and buoyant. + +As from the heights of Hampstead he looked down on the multitudinous area +called London, something throbbed at his heart which seemed like hope; +for what he saw was indeed inspiring. When at last, in the Edgware Road, +he drew near to living London, he turned to Michael Clones and said: + +"Michael, my lad, I think perhaps we'll find a footing here." + +So they reached London, and quartered themselves in simple lodgings in +Soho. Dyck walked the streets, and now and then he paid a visit to the +barracks where soldiers were, to satisfy the thought that perhaps in the +life of the common soldier he might, after all, find his future. It was, +however, borne in upon him by a chance remark of Michael one day--"I'm +not young enough to be a recruit, and you wouldn't go alone without me, +would you?"--that this way to a livelihood was not open to him. + +His faithful companion's remark had fixed Dyck's mind against entering +the army, and then, towards the end of the winter, a fateful thing +happened. His purse containing what was left of the ninety pounds--two- +fifths of it--disappeared. It had been stolen, and in all the bitter +days to come, when poverty and misery ground them down, no hint of the +thief, no sign of the robber, was ever revealed. + +Then, at last, a day when a letter came from Ireland. It was from the +firm in which Bryan Llyn of Virginia had been interested, for the letter +had been sent to their care, and Dyck had given them his address in +London on this very chance. It reached Dyck's hands on the day after +the last penny had been paid out for their lodgings, and they faced the +streets, penniless, foodless--one was going to say friendless. The +handwriting was that of Sheila Llyn. + +At a street corner, by a chemist's shop where a red light burned, Dyck +opened and read the letter. This is what Sheila had written to him. + + MY DEAR FRIEND: + + The time is near (I understand by a late letter to my mother from an + official) when you will be freed from prison and will face the world + again. I have not written you since your trial, but I have never + forgotten and never shall. I have been forbidden to write to you or + think of you, but I will take my own way about you. I have known + all that has happened since we left Ireland, through the letters my + mother has received. I know that Playmore has been sold, and I am + sorry. + + Now that your day of release is near, and you are to be again a free + man, have you decided about your future? Is it to be in Ireland? + No, I think not. Ireland is no place for a sane and level man to + fight for honour, fame, and name. I hear that things are worse + there in every way than they have been in our lifetime. + + After what has happened in any case, it is not a field that offers + you a chance. Listen to me. Ireland and England are not the only + places in the world. My uncle came here to Virginia a poor man. + He is now immensely rich. He had little to begin with, but he was + young like you--indeed, a little older than you--when he first came. + He invested wisely, worked bravely, and his wealth grew fast. No + man needs a fortune to start the business of life in this country. + He can get plenty of land for almost nothing; he can get credit for + planting and furnishing his land, and, if he has friends, the credit + is sure. + + All America is ready for "the likes of you." Think it over, and + meanwhile please know there has been placed with the firm in Dublin + money enough to bring you here with comfort. You must not refuse + it. Take it as a loan, for I know you will not take it as a gift. + + I do not know the story of the killing, even as it was told in + court. Well, some one killed the man, but not you, and the truth + will out in time. If one should come to me out of the courts of + heaven, and say that there it was declared you were a rogue, I + should say heaven was no place for me. No, of one thing I am sure-- + you never killed an undefended man. Wayward, wanton, reckless, + dissipated you may have been, but you were never depraved--never! + + When you are free, lift up your shoulders to all the threats of + time, then go straight to the old firm where the money is, draw it, + take ship, and come here. If you let me know you are coming, I will + be there to meet you when you step ashore, to give you a firm hand- + clasp; to tell you that in this land there is a good place for you, + if you will win it. + + Here there is little crime, though the perils of life are many. + There is Indian fighting; there are Indian depredations; and not a + dozen miles from where I sit men have been shot for crimes + committed. The woods are full of fighters, and pirates harry the + coast. On the wall of the room where I write there are carbines + that have done service in Indian wars and in the Revolutionary War; + and here out of the window I can see hundreds of black heads-slaves, + brought from Africa and the Indies, slaves whose devotion to my + uncle is very great. I hear them singing now; over the white-tipped + cotton-fields there flows the sound of it. + + This plantation has none of the vices that belong to slavery. Here + life is complete. The plantation is one great workshop where trades + are learned and carried out-shoeing, blacksmithing, building, + working in wood and metal. + + I am learning here--you see I am quite old, for I am twenty-one now + --the art of management. They tell me that when my uncle's day is + done--I grieve to think it is not far off--I must take the rod of + control. I work very, very hard. I have to learn figures and + finance; I have to see how all the work is done, so that I shall + know it is done right. I have had to discipline the supervisors and + bookkeepers, inspect and check the output, superintend the packing, + and arrange for the sale of the crop-yes, I arranged for the sale of + this year's crop myself. So I live the practical life, and when I + say that you could make your home here and win success, I do it with + some knowledge. + + I beg you take ship for the Virginian coast. Enter upon the new + life here with faith and courage. Have no fear. Heaven that has + thus far helped you will guide you to the end. + + I write without my mother's permission, but my uncle knows, and + though he does not approve, he does not condemn. + + Once more good-bye, my dear friend, and God be with you. + + SHEILA LLYN. + + P. S.--I wonder where you will read this letter. I hope it will + find you before your release. Please remember that she who wrote it + summons you from the darkness where you are to light and freedom + here. + + +Slowly Dyck folded up the letter, when he had read it, and put it in his +pocket. Then he turned with pale face and gaunt look to Michael Clones. + +"Michael," said he, "that letter is from a lady. It comes from her new +home in Virginia." + +Michael nodded. + +"Aye, aye, sir, I understand you," he said. "Then she doesn't know the +truth about her father?" Dyck sighed heavily. "No, Michael, she doesn't +know the truth." + +"I don't believe it would make any difference to her if she did know." + +"It would make all the difference to me, Michael. She says she wishes to +help me. She tells me that money's been sent to the big firm in Dublin- +money to take me across the sea to Virginia." + +Michael's face clouded. + +"Yes, sir. To Virginia--and what then?" + +"Michael, we haven't a penny in the world, you and I, but if I took one +farthing of that money I should hope you would kill me. I'm hungry; +we've had nothing to eat since yesterday; but if I could put my hands +upon that money here and now I wouldn't touch it. Michael, it looks as +if we shall have to take to the trade of the footpad." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE HOUR BEFORE THE MUTINY + +In the days when Dyck Calhoun was on the verge of starvation in London, +evil naval rumours were abroad. Newspapers reported, one with +apprehension, another with tyrannous comment, mutinous troubles in the +fleet. + +At first the only demand at Spithead and the Nore had been for an +increase of pay, which had not been made since the days of Charles II. +Then the sailors' wages were enough for comfortable support; but in 1797 +through the rise in the cost of living, and with an advance of thirty per +cent. on slops, their families could barely maintain themselves. It was +said in the streets, and with truth, that seamen who had fought with +unconquerable gallantry under Howe, Collingwood, Nelson, and the other +big sea-captains, who had borne suffering and wounds, and had been in the +shadow of death--that even these men damned a system which, in its stern +withdrawal of their class for long spaces of time from their own +womenfolk, brought evil results to the forecastle. + +The soldier was always in touch with his own social world, and he had +leave sufficient to enable him to break the back of monotony. He drank, +gambled, and orated; but his indulgences were little compared with the +debauches of able-bodied seamen when, after months of sea-life, they +reached port again. A ship in port at such a time was not a scene of +evangelical habits. Women of loose class, flower-girls, fruit-sellers, +and costermongers turned the forecastle into a pleasure-house where the +pleasures were not always secret; where native modesty suffered no +affright, and physical good cheer, with ribald paraphrase, was notable +everywhere. + +"How did it happen, Michael?" + +As he spoke, Dyck looked round the forecastle of the Ariadne with a +restless and inquisitive expression. Michael was seated a few feet away, +his head bent forward, his hands clasped around his knees. + +"Well, it don't matter one way or 'nother," he replied; "but it was like +this. The night you got a letter from Virginia we was penniless; so at +last I went with my watch to the pawnbroker's. You said you'd wait till +I got back, though you knew not where I was goin'. When I got back, you +were still broodin'. You were seated on a horse-block by the chemist's +lamp where you had read the letter. It's not for me to say of what you +were thinkin'; but I could guess. You'd been struck hard, and there had +come to you a letter from one who meant more to you than all the rest of +the world; and you couldn't answer it because things weren't right. +As I stood lookin' at you, wonderin' what to do, though, I had twelve +shillin's in my pocket from the watch I'd pawned, there came four men, +and I knew from their looks they were recruitin' officers of the navy. +I saw what was in their eyes. They knew--as why shouldn't they, when +they saw a gentleman like you in peasant clothes?--that luck had been +agin' us. + +"What the end would have been I don't know. It was you that solved the +problem, not them. You looked at the first man of them hard. Then you +got to your feet. + +"'Michael,' says you quietly, 'I'm goin' to sea. England's at war, and +there's work to do. So let's make for a king's ship, and have done with +misery and poverty.' + +"Then you waved a hand to the man in command of the recruitin' gang, and +presently stepped up to him and his friends. + +"'Sir,' I said to you, 'I'm not going to be pressed into the navy.' + +"'There's no pressin', Michael,' you answered. 'We'll be quota men. +We'll do it for cash--for forty pounds each, and no other. You let them +have you as you are. But if you don't want to come,' you added, 'it's +all the same to me.' + +"Faith, I knew that was only talk. I knew you wanted me. Also I knew +the king's navy needed me, for men are hard to get. So, when they'd paid +us the cash--forty pounds apiece--I stepped in behind you, and here we +are--here we are! Forty pounds apiece--equal to three years' wages of +an ordinary recruit of the army. It ain't bad, but we're here for three +years, and no escape from it. Yes, here we are!" + +Dyck laughed. + +"Aye, here we're likely to remain, Michael. There's only this to be +said--we'll be fighting the French soon, and it's easy to die in the +midst of a great fight. If we don't die, Michael, something else will +turn up, maybe." + +"That's true, sir! They'll make an officer of you, once they see you +fight. This is no place for you, among the common herd. It's the dregs +o' the world that comes to the ship's bottom in time of peace or war." + +"Well, I'm the dregs of the world, Michael. I'm the supreme dregs." + +Somehow the letter from Virginia had decided Dyck Calhoun's fate for him. +Here he was--at sea, a common sailor in the navy. He and Michael Clones +had eaten and drunk as sailors do, and they had realized that, as they +ate and drank on the River Thames, they would not eat and drink on the +watery fairway. They had seen the tank foul with age, from which water +was drawn for men who could not live without it, and the smell of it had +revolted Dyck's senses. They had seen the kegs of pickled meat, and they +had been told of the evil rations given to the sailors at sea. + +The Ariadne had been a flag-ship in her day, the home of an admiral and +his staff. She carried seventy-four guns, was easily obedient to her +swift sail, and had a reputation for gallantry. From the first hour on +board, Dyck Calhoun had fitted in; with a discerning eye he had +understood the seamen's needs and the weaknesses of the system. + +The months he had spent between his exit from prison and his entrance +into the Ariadne had roughened, though not coarsened, his outward +appearance. From his first appearance among the seamen he had set +himself to become their leader. His enlistment was for three years, and +he meant that these three should prove the final success of this naval +enterprise, or the stark period in a calendar of tragedy. + +The life of the sailor, with its coarseness and drudgery, its inadequate +pay, its evil-smelling food, its maggoty bread, its beer drawn from casks +that once had held oil or fish, its stinking salt-meat barrels, the +hideous stench of the bilge-water--all this could in one sense be no +worse than his sufferings in jail. In spite of self-control, jail had +been to him the degradation of his hopes, the humiliation of his manhood. + +He had suffered cold, dampness, fever, and indigestion there, and it had +sapped the fresh fibre of life in him. His days in London had been +cruel. He had sought work in great commercial concerns, and had almost +been grateful when rejected. When his money was stolen, there seemed +nothing to do, as he said to Michael Clones, but to become a footpad or a +pirate. Then the stormy doors of the navy had opened wide to him; and as +many a man is tempted into folly or crime by tempestuous nature, so he, +forlorn, spiritually unkempt, but physically and mentally well-composed, +in a spirit of bravado, flung himself into the bowels of the fleet. + +From the moment Dyck arrived on board the Ariadne he was a marked man. +Ferens, a disfranchised solicitor, who knew his story, spread the +unwholesome truth about him among the ship's people, and he received +attentions at once offensive and flattering. The best-educated of the +ship's hands approached him on the grievances with which the whole navy +was stirring. + +Something had put a new spirit into the life of his majesty's ships; it +was, in a sense, the reflection of the French Revolution and Tom Paine's +Age of Reason. What the Americans had done in establishing a republic, +what France was doing by her revolution, got into the veins and minds of +some men in England, but it got into the veins and minds of the sailor +first; for, however low his origin, he had intercourse not given to the +average landsman. He visited foreign ports, he came in touch with other +elements than those of British life and character. + +Of all the ships in the navy the Ariadne was the best that Dyck Calhoun +could have entered. Her officers were humane and friendly, yet firm; and +it was quite certain that if mutiny came they would be treated well. The +agitation on the Ariadne in support of the grievances of the sailors was +so moderate that, from the first, Dyck threw in his lot with it. Ferens, +the former solicitor, first came to him with a list of proposals, which +only repeated the demands made by the agitators at Spithead. + +"You're new among us," said Ferens to Dyck. "You don't quite know what +we've been doing, I suppose. Some of us have been in the navy for two +years, and some for ten. There are men on this ship who could tell +you stories that would make your blood run cold--take my word for it. +There's a lot of things goin' on that oughtn't to be goin' on. The time +has come for reform. Have a look at this paper, and tell me what you +think." + +Dyck looked at the pockmarked face of Ferens, whose record in the courts +was a bad one, and what he saw did not disgust him. It was as though +Ferens had stumbled and been badly hit in his fall, but there were no +signs of permanent evil in his countenance. He was square-headed, +close-cropped, clear-eyed, though his face was yellow where it was not +red, and his tongue was soft in his head. + +Dyck read the paper slowly and carefully. Then he handed it back without +a word. + +"Well, what have you got to say?" asked Ferens. "Nothing? Don't you +think that's a strong list of grievances and wrongs?" + +Dyck nodded. "Yes, it's pretty strong," he said, and he held up his +hand. "Number One, wages and cost of living. I'm sure we're right +there. Cost of living was down in King Charles's time, and wages were +down accordingly. Everything's gone up, and wages should go up. Number +Two, the prize-money scandal. I'm with you there. I don't see why an +officer should get two thousand five hundred times as much as a seaman. +There ought to be a difference, but not so much. Number Three, the food +ought to be better; the water ought to be better. We can't live on rum, +maggoty bread, and foul water--that's sure. The rum's all right; it's +powerful natural stuff, but we ought to have meat that doesn't stink, +and bread that isn't alive. What's more, we ought to have lots of lime- +juice, or there's no protection for us when we're out at sea with the +best meat taken by the officers and the worst left to us; and with foul +water and rotten food, there's no hope or help. But, if we're going in +for this sort of thing, we ought to do it decently. We can't slap a +government in the mouth, and we can't kick an admiral without paying +heavy for it in the end. If it's wholesome petitioning you're up to, +I'm with you; but I'm not if there's to be knuckle-dusting." + +Ferens shrugged a shoulder. + +"Things are movin', and we've got to take our stand now when the time is +ripe for it, or else lose it for ever. Over at Spithead they're gettin' +their own way. The government are goin' to send the Admiralty Board down +here, because our admiral say to them that it won't be safe goin' unless +they do." + +"And what are we going to do here?" asked Dyck. "What's the game of the +fleet at the Nore?" + +Ferens replied in a low voice: + +"Our men are goin' to send out petitions--to the Admiralty and to the +House of Commons." + +"Why don't you try Lord Howe?" + +"He's not in command of a fleet now. Besides, petitions have been sent +him, and he's taken no notice." + +"Howe? No notice--the best admiral we ever had! I don't believe it," +declared Dyck savagely. "Why, the whole navy believes in Howe. They +haven't forgotten what he did in '94. He's as near to the seaman as the +seaman is to his mother. Who sent the petitions to him?" + +"They weren't signed by names--they were anonymous." + +Dyck laughed. + +"Yes, and all written by the same hand, I suppose." Ferens nodded. + +"I think that's so." + +"Can you wonder, then, that Lord Howe didn't acknowledge them? But I'm +still sure he acted promptly. He's a big enough friend of the sailor to +waste no time before doing his turn." + +Ferens shook his head morosely. + +"That may be," he said; "but the petitions were sent weeks ago, and +there's no sign from Lord Howe. He was at Bath for gout. My idea is he +referred them to the admiral commanding at Portsmouth, and was told that +behind the whole thing is conspiracy--French socialism and English +politics. I give you my word there's no French agent in the fleet, +and if there were, it wouldn't have any effect. Our men's grievances +are not new. They're as old as Cromwell." + +Suddenly a light of suspicion flashed into Ferens's face. + +"You're with us, aren't you? You see the wrongs we've suffered, and how +bad it all is! Yet you haven't been on a voyage with us. You've only +tasted the life in harbour. Good God, this life is heaven to what we +have at sea! We don't mind the fightin'. We'd rather fight than eat." +An evil grin covered his face for a minute. "Yes, we'd rather fight than +eat, for the stuff we get to eat is hell's broil, God knows! Did you +ever think what the life of the sailor is, that swings at the top of a +mast with the frost freezin' his very soul, and because he's slow, owin' +to the cold, gets twenty lashes for not bein' quicker? Well, I've seen +that, and a bad sight it is. Did you ever see a man flogged? It ain't a +pretty sight. First the back takes the click of the whip like a damned +washboard, and you see the ridges rise and go purple and red, and the man +has his breath knocked clean out of him with every blow. Nearly every +stroke takes off the skin and draws the blood, and a dozen will make the +back a ditch of murder. Then the whipper stops, looks at the lashes, +feels them tender like, and out and down it comes again. When all the +back is ridged and scarred, the flesh, that looked clean and beautiful, +becomes a bloody mass. Some men get a hundred lashes, and that's torture +and death. + +"A man I knew was flogged told me once that the first blow made his flesh +quiver in every nerve from his toe-nails to his finger-nails, and stung +his heart as if a knife had gone through his body. There was agony in +his lungs, and the time between each stroke was terrible, and yet the +next came too soon. He choked with the blood from his tongue, lacerated +with his teeth, and from his lungs, and went black in the face. I saw +his back. It looked like roasted meat; yet he had only had eighty +strokes. + +"The punishments are bad. Runnin' the gauntlet is one of them. Each +member of the crew is armed with three tarry rope-yarns, knotted at the +ends. Then between the master-at-arms with a drawn sword and two +corporals with drawn swords behind, the thief, stripped to the waist, is +placed. The thing is started by a boatswain's mate givin' him a dozen +lashes. Then he's slowly marched down the double line of men, who flog +him as he passes, and at the end of the line he receives another dose of +the cat from the boatswain's mate. The poor devil's body and head are +flayed, and he's sent to hospital and rubbed with brine till he's healed. + +"But the most horrible of all is flogging through the fleet. That's +given for strikin' an officer, or tryin' to escape. It's a sickenin' +thing. The victim is lashed by his wrists to a capstan-bar in the ship's +long-boat, and all the ship's boats are lowered also, and each ship in +harbour sends a boat manned by marines to attend. Then, with the master- +at-arms and the ship's surgeon, the boat is cast off. The boatswain's +mate begins the floggin', and the boat rows away to the half-minute bell, +the drummer beatin' the rogue's march. From ship to ship the long-boat +goes, and the punishment of floggin' is repeated. If he faints, he gets +wine or rum, or is taken back to his ship to recover. When his back is +healed he goes out to get the rest of his sentence. Very few ever live +through it, or if they do it's only for a short time. They'd better have +taken the hangin' that was the alternative. Even a corpse with its back +bare of flesh to the bone has received the last lashes of a sentence, and +was then buried in the mud of the shore with no religious ceremony. + +"Mind you, there's many a man gets fifty lashes that don't deserve them. +There's many men in the fleet that's stirred to anger at ill-treatment, +until now, in these days, the whole lot is ready to see the thing +through--to see the thing through--by heaven and by hell!" + +The pockmarked face had taken on an almost ghastly fervour, until it +looked like a distorted cartoon-vindictive, fanatical; but Dyck, on the +edge of the river of tragedy, was not ready to lose himself in the stream +of it. + +As he looked round the ship he felt a stir of excitement like nothing he +had ever known, though he had been brought up in a country where men were +by nature revolutionists, and where the sword was as often outside as +inside the scabbard. There was something terrible in a shipboard +agitation not to be found in a land-rising. On land there were a +thousand miles of open country, with woods and houses, caves and cliffs, +to which men could flee for hiding; and the danger of rebellion was less +dominant. At sea, a rebellion was like some beastly struggle in one +room, beyond the walls of which was everlasting nothingness. The thing +had to be fought out, as it were, man to man within four walls, and God +help the weaker! + +"How many ships in the fleet are sworn to this agitation?" Dyck asked +presently. + +"Every one. It's been like a spread of infection; it's entered at every +door, looked out of every window. All the ships are in it, from the +twenty-six-hundred-tonners to the little five-hundred-and-fifty-tonners. +Besides, there are the Delegates." + +He lowered his voice as he used these last words. "Yes, I know," Dyck +answered, though he did not really know. "But who is at the head?" + +"Why, as bold a man as can be--Richard Parker, an Irishman. He was once +a junior naval officer, and left the navy and went into business; now he +is a quotaman, and leads the mutiny. Let me tell you that unless there's +a good round answer to what we demand, the Nore fleet'll have it out with +the government. He's a man of character, is Richard Parker, and the +fleet'll stand by him." + +"How long has he been at it?" asked Dyck. + +"Oh, weeks and weeks! It doesn't all come at once, the grip of the +thing. It began at Spithead, and it worked right there; and now it's +workin' at the Nore, and it'll work and work until there isn't a ship and +there isn't a man that won't be behind the Delegates. Look. Half the +seamen on this ship have tasted the inside of a jail; and the rest come +from the press-gang, and what's left are just the ragged ends of street +corners. But"--and here the man drew himself up with a flush--"but +there's none of us that wouldn't fight to the last gasp of breath for the +navy that since the days of Elizabeth has sailed at the head of all the +world. Don't think we mean harm to the fleet. We mean to do it good. +All we want is that its masters shall remember we're human flesh and +blood; that we're as much entitled to good food and drink on sea as on +land; and that, if we risk our lives and shed our blood, we ought to have +some share in the spoils. We're a great country and we're a great +people, but, by God, we're not good to our own! Look at them there." + +He turned and waved a hand to the bowels of the ship where sailors traded +with the slop-sellers, or chaffered with women, or sat in groups and +sang, or played rough games which had no vital meaning; while here and +there in groups, with hands gesticulating, some fanatics declared their +principles. And the principles of every man in the Nore fleet so far +were embraced in the four words--wages, food, drink, prize-money. + +Presently Ferens stopped short. "Listen!" he said. + +There was a cry from the ship's side not far away, and then came little +bursts of cheering. + +"By Heaven, it's the Delegates comin' here!" he said. He held up a +warning palm, as though commanding silence, while he listened intently. +"Yes, it's the Delegates. Now look at that crowd of seamen!" He swung +his hand towards the bowels of the ship. Scores of men were springing to +their feet. Presently there came a great shouting and cheers, and then +four new faces appeared on deck. They were faces of intelligence, but +one of them had the enlightened look of leadership. + +"By Judas, it's our leader, Richard Parker!" declared Ferens. + +What Dyck now saw was good evidence of the progress of the agitation. +There were officers of the Ariadne to be seen, but they wisely took no +notice of the breaches of regulation which followed the arrival of the +Delegates. Dyck saw Ferens speak to Richard Parker after the men had +been in conference with Parker and the Delegates, and then turn towards +himself. Richard Parker came to him. + +"We are fellow countrymen," he said genially. "I know your history. +We are out to make the navy better--to get the men their rights. I +understand you are with us?" + +Dyck bowed. "I will do all possible to get reforms in wages and food put +through, sir." + +"That's good," said Parker. "There are some petitions you can draft, +and some letters also to the Admiralty and to the Houses of Lords and +Commons." + +"I am at your service," said Dyck. + +He saw his chance to secure influence on the Ariadne, and also to do good +to the service. Besides, he felt he might be able to check the worst +excesses of the agitation, if he got power under Parker. He was free +from any wish for mutiny, but he was the friend of an agitation which +might end as successfully as the trouble at Spithead. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TO THE WEST INDIES + +A fortnight later the mutiny at the Nore shook and bewildered the British +Isles. In the public journals and in Parliament it was declared that +this outbreak, like that at Spithead, was due partly to political strife, +but more extensively to agents of revolution from France and Ireland. + +The day after Richard Parker visited the Ariadne the fleet had been put +under the control of the seamen's Delegates, who were men of standing in +the ships, and of personal popularity. Their first act was to declare +that the fleet should not leave port until the men's demands were +satisfied. + +The King, Prime Minister, and government had received a shock greater +than that which had come with the announcement of American independence. +The government had armed the forts at Sheerness, had sent troops and guns +to Gravesend and Tilbury, and had declared war upon the rebellious fleet. + +At the head of the Delegates, Richard Parker, with an officer's +knowledge, became a kind of bogus admiral, who, in interview with the +real admirals and the representatives of the Admiralty Board, talked like +one who, having power, meant to use it ruthlessly. The government had +yielded to the Spithead mutineers, giving pardon to all except the +ringleaders, and granting demands for increased wages and better food, +with a promise to consider the question of prize-money; but the Nore +mutineers refused to accept that agreement, and enlarged the Spithead +demands. Admiral Buckner arrived on board his flag-ship, the Sandwich, +without the deference due to an admiral, and then had to wait three hours +for Parker and the Delegates on the quarter-deck. At the interview that +followed, while apologizing to the admiral for his discourtesy, Parker +wore his hat as quasi-admiral of the fleet. The demands of the Delegates +were met by reasoning on the part of Buckner, but without effect: for the +seamen of the Nore believed that what Spithead could get by obstinacy the +Nore could increase by contumacy; and it was their firm will to bring the +Lords of the Admiralty to their knees. + +The demands of the Nore Delegates, however, were rejected by the +Admiralty, and with the rejection two regiments of militia came from +Canterbury to reinforce the Sheerness garrison. The mutineers were +allowed to parade the town, so long as their conduct was decent, as +Admiral Buckner admitted it to be; but Parker declared that the presence +of the militia was an insult to the seamen in the Nore fleet. + +Then ensued the beginning of the terror. When Buckner presented the +Admiralty's refusal to deal with the Delegates, there came quick +response. The reply of the mutineers was to row into Sheerness harbour +and take away with them eight gunboats lying there, each of which fired a +shot at the fort, as if to announce that the mutineers were now the +avowed enemies of the government. + +Thereupon the rebels ordered all their ships together at the Great Nore, +ranging them into two crescents, with the newly acquired gunboats at the +flanks. The attitude of the authorities gave the violent mutineers their +opportunity. Buckner's flag was struck from the mainmast-head of the +Sandwich, and the red flag was hoisted in its place. + +The Delegates would not accept an official pardon for their mutiny +through Buckner. They demanded a deputation from the Admiralty, Parker +saying that no accommodation could occur without the appearance of the +Lords of the Admiralty at the Nore. Then followed threatening +arrangements, and the Delegates decided to blockade the Thames and the +Medway. + +It was at this time that Dyck Calhoun--who, by consent of Richard Parker, +had taken control of the Ariadne--took action which was to alter the +course of his own life and that of many others. + +Since the beginning of the mutiny he had acted with decision, judgment, +and strength. He had agreed to the Ariadne joining the mutinous ships, +and he had skilfully constructed petitions to the Admiralty, the House of +Commons, and the King. His habit of thought, his knowledge of life, made +him a power. He believed that the main demands of the seamen were just, +and he made a useful organization to enforce them. It was only when he +saw the mutineers would not accept the terms granted to the Spithead +rebels that a new spirit influenced him. + +He had determined to get control of the Ariadne. His gift as a speaker +had conquered his fellow-sailors, and the fact that he was an ex-convict +gave them confidence that he was no friend of the government. + +One of the first things he did, after securing his own pre-eminence on +the ship, was to get the captain and officers safely ashore. This he did +with skill, and the crew of the ship even cheered them as they left. + +None of the regular officers of the Ariadne were left upon her, except +Greenock, the master of the ship, whose rank was below that of +lieutenant, and whose duties were many and varied under the orders of the +captain. Greenock chose to stay, though Dyck said he could go if he +wished. Greenock's reply was that it was his duty to stay, if the ship +was going to remain at sea, for no one else could perform his duties or +do his work. + +Then, by vote, Dyck became captain of the ship. He did not, however, +wear a captain's uniform--blue coat, with white cuffs, flat gold buttons; +with lace at the neck, a white-sleeved waistcoat, knee-breeches, white +silk stockings, and a three-cornered black hat edged with gold lace and +ornamented with a cockade; with a black cravat, a straight dress sword, +a powdered cue tied with a black-silk ribbon, and epaulets of heavy gold +stuff completing the equipment. Dyck, to the end of his career at sea, +wore only the common seaman's uniform. + +Dyck would not have accepted the doubtful honour had he not had long +purposes in view. With Ferens, Michael Clones, and two others whom +Ferens could trust, a plan was arranged which Dyck explained to his +fellow-seamen on the Ariadne. + +"We've come to the parting of the ways, brothers," he said. "We've all +become liable to death for mutiny. The pardon offered by the King has +been refused, and fresh demands are made. There, I think, a real wrong +has been done by our people. The Ariadne is well supplied with food and +water. It is the only ship with sufficiency. And why? Because at the +beginning we got provisions from the shore in time; also we got +permission from Richard Parker to fill our holds from two stopped +merchant-ships. Well, the rest of the fleet know what our food and drink +fitment is. They know how safe we are, and to-day orders have come to +yield our provisions to the rest of the fleet. That is, we, who have +taken time by the forelock, must yield up our good gettings to bad +receivers. I am not prepared to do it. + +"On shore the Admiralty have stopped the supply of provisions to us and +to all the fleet. Our men have been arrested at Gravesend, Tilbury, and +Sheerness. The fleet could not sail now if it wished; but one ship can +sail, and it is ours. The fleet hasn't the food to sail. On Richard +Parker's ship, the Sandwich, there is food only for a week. The others +are almost as bad. We are in danger of being attacked. Sir Erasmus +Gower, of the Neptune, has a fleet of warships, gunboats, and amateur +armed vessels getting ready to attack us. The North Sea fleet has come +to help us, but that doesn't save us. I'll say this--we are loyal men in +this fleet, otherwise our ships would have joined the enemy in the waters +of France or Holland. They can't go now, in any case. The men have lost +heart. Confidence in our cause has declined. The government sent Lords +of the Admiralty here, and they offered pardon if we accepted the terms +of the Spithead settlement. We declined the terms. That was a bad day +for us, and put every one of our heads in a noose. + +"For the moment we have a majority in men and ships; but we can't renew +our food or drink, or ammunition. The end is sure against us. Our +original agitation was just; our present obduracy is madness. This ship +is suspected. It is believed by the rest of the fleet--by ships like the +Invincible--that we're weak-kneed, selfish, and lacking in fidelity to +the cause. That's not true; but we have either to fight or to run, and +perhaps to do both. + +"Make no mistake. The government are not cowards; the Admiralty are +gentlemen of determination. If men like Admiral Howe support the +Admiralty--Howe, one of the best friends the seaman ever had--what do you +think the end will be? Have you heard what happened at Spithead? The +seamen chivvied Admiral Alan Gardner and his colleagues aboard a ship. +He caught hold of a seaman Delegate by the collar and shook him. They +closed in on him. They handled him roughly. He sprang on the hammock- +nettings, put the noose of the hanging-rope round his neck, and said to +the men who advanced menacingly: + +"'If you will return to your duty, you may hang me at the yard-arm!' + +"That's the kind of stuff our admirals are made of. We have no quarrel +with the majority of our officers. They're straight, they're honest, and +they're true to their game. Our quarrel is with Parliament and the +Admiralty; our struggle is with the people of the kingdom, who have not +seen to it that our wrongs are put right, that we have food to eat, water +to drink, and money to spend." + +He waved a hand, as though to sweep away the criticisms he felt must be +rising against him. + +"Don't think because I've spent four years in prison under the sternest +discipline the world offers, and have never been a seaman before, that +I'm not fitted to espouse your cause. By heaven, I am--I am--I am-- +I know the wrongs you've suffered. I've smelled the water you drink. +I've tasted the rotten meat. I've seen the honest seaman who has been +for years upon the main--I've seen the scars upon his back got from a +brutal officer who gave him too big a job to do, and flogged him for not +doing it. I know of men who, fevered with bad food, have fallen, from +the mainmast-head, or have slipped overboard, glad to go, because of the +wrongs they'd suffered. + +"I'll tell you what our fate will be, and then I'll put a question to +you. We must either give up our stock of provisions or run for it. +Parker and the other Delegates proclaim their comradeship; yet they have +hidden from us the king's proclamation and the friendly resolutions of +the London merchants. I say our only hope is to escape from the Thames. +I know that skill will be needed, but if we escape, what then? I say if +we escape, because, as we sail out, orders will be given for the other +mutiny ships to attack us. We shall be fired on; we shall risk our +lives. You've done that before, however, and will do it again. + +"We have to work out our own problem and fight our own fight. Well, +what I want to know is this--are we to give in to the government, or do +we stand to be hammered by Sir Erasmus Gower? Remember what that means. +It means that if we fight the government ships, we must either die in +battle, or die with the ropes round our necks. There is another way. +I'm not inclined to surrender, or to stand by men who have botched our +business for us. I'm for making for the sea, and, when I get there, I'm +for striking for the West Indies, where there's a British fleet fighting +Britain's enemies, and for joining in and fighting with them. I'm for +getting out of this river and away from England. It's a bold plan, but +it's a good one. I want to know if you're with me. Remember, there's +danger getting out, and there's danger when and if we get out. The other +ships may pursue us. The Portsmouth fleet may nab us. We may be caught, +and, if we are, we must take the dose prepared for us; but I'm for making +a strong rush, going without fear, and asking no favour. I won't +surrender here; it's too cowardly. I want to know, will you come +to the open sea with me?" + +There were many shouts of assent from the crowd, though here and there +came a growl of dissent. + +"Not all of you are willing to come with me," Dyck continued vigorously. +"Tell me, what is it you expect to get by staying here? You're famished +when you're not poisoned; you're badly clothed and badly fed; you're kept +together by flogging; you're treated worse than a convict in jail or a +victim in a plague hospital. You're not paid as well as your +grandfathers were, and you're punished worse. Here, on the Ariadne, +we're not skulkers. We don't fear our duty; we are loyal men. Many of +you, on past voyages, fighting the enemy, lived on burgoo and molasses +only, with rum and foul water to drink. On the other ships there have +been terrible cruelty and offence. Surgeons have neglected and ill- +treated sick men and embezzled provisions and drinks intended for the +invalids. Many a man has died because of the neglect of the ship's +surgeons; many have been kicked about the head and beaten, and haven't +dared to go on the sick list for fear of their officers. The Victualling +Board gets money to supply us with food and drink according to measure. +They get the money for a full pound and a full gallon, and we get +fourteen ounces of food and seven pints of liquor, or less. Well, what +do you say, friends, to being our own Victualling Board out in the open +sea, if we can get there? + +"We may have to fight when we get out; but I'm for taking the Ariadne +into the great world battle when we can find it. This I want to ask-- +isn't it worth while making a great fight in our own way, and showing +that British seamen can at once be mutineers and patriots? We have a +pilot who knows the river. We can go to the West Indian Islands, to the +British fleet there. It's doom and death to stay here; and it may be +doom and death to go. If we try to break free, and are fired on, the +Admiralty may approve of us, because we've broken away from the rest. +See now, isn't that the thing to do? I'm for getting out. Who's coming +with me?" + +Suddenly a burly sailor pushed forward. He had the head of a viking. +His eyes were strong with enterprise. He had a hand like a ham, with +long, hairy fingers. + +"Captain," said he, "you've put the thing so there can be only one answer +to it. As for me, I'm sick of the way this mutiny has been bungled from +first to last. There's been one good thing about it only--we've got +order without cruelty, we've rebelled without ravagement; but we've +missed the way, and we didn't deal with the Admiralty commissioners as +we ought. So I'm for joining up with the captain here"--he waved a hand +towards Dyck--"and making for open sea. As sure as God's above, they'll +try to hammer us; but it's the only way." + +He held a handkerchief-a dirty, red silk thing. "See," he continued, +"the wind is right to take us out. The other ships won't know what we're +going to do until we start. I'm for getting off. I'm a pressed man. I +haven't seen my girl for five years, and they won't let me free in port +to go and see her. Nothing can be worse than what we have to suffer now, +so let's make a break for it. That's what I say. Come, now, lads, three +cheers for Captain Calhoun!" + +A half-hour later, on the captain's deck, Dyck gave the order to pass +eastward. It was sunset when they started, and they had not gone a +thousand yards before some of the mutineering ships opened fire on the +Ariadne. The breeze was good, however, and she sailed bravely through +the leaden storm. Once twice--thrice she was hit, but she sped on. Two +men were killed and several were wounded. Sails were torn, and the high +bulkheads were broken; but, without firing a shot in reply, the Ariadne +swung clear at last of the hostile ships and reached safe water. + +On the edge of the open sea Dyck took stock of the position. The Ariadne +had been hit several times, and the injury done her was marked. Before +morning the dead seamen were sunk in watery graves, and the wounded were +started back to health again. By daylight the Ariadne was well away from +the land. + +The first thing Dyck had done, after escaping from the river, was to +study the wants of the Ariadne and make an estimate for the future with +Greenock, the master. He calculated they had food and water enough to +last for three months, even with liberal provisioning. Going among the +crew, he realized there was no depression among them; that they seemed to +care little where they were going. It was, however, quite clear they +wished to fight--to fight the foes of England. + +He knew his task was a hard one, and that all efforts at discipline +would have dangers. He knew, also, that he could have no authority, +save personality and success. He set himself, therefore, to win the +confidence of Greenock and the crew, and he began discipline at once. +He knew that a reaction must come; that the crew, loose upon their own +trail, would come to regret the absence of official command. He realized +that many of them would wish to return to the fleet at the Nore, but +while the weather was good he did not fear serious trouble. The danger +would come in rough weather or on a becalmed sea. + +They had passed Beachy Head in the mist. They had seen no battle-ship, +and had sighted no danger, as they made their way westward through the +Channel. There had been one moment of anxiety. That was when they +passed Portsmouth, and had seen in the far distance, to the right of +them, the mastheads of Admiral Gardner's fleet. + +It was here that Dyck's orderly, Michael Clones, was useful. He brought +word of murmuring among the more brutish of the crew, that some of them +wished to join Gardner's fleet. At this news, Dyck went down among the +men. It was an unusual thing to do, but it brought matters to an issue. + +Among the few dissatisfied sailors was one Nick Swaine, who had been +the cause of more trouble on the Ariadne than any other. He had a +quarrelsome mind; he had been influenced by the writings of Wolfe Tone, +the Irish rebel. One of the secrets of Dyck's control of the crew was +the fact that he was a gentleman, and was born in the ruling class, and +this was anathema to Nick Swaine. His view of democracy was ignorance +controlling ignorance. + +By nature he was insolent, but under the system of control pursued by the +officers of the Ariadne, previous to the mutiny, he had not been able to +do much. The system had bound him down. He had been the slave of habit, +custom, and daily duty. His record, therefore, was fairly clean until +two days after the escape from the Thames and the sighting of the +Portsmouth fleet. Then all his revolutionary spirit ran riot in him. +Besides, the woman to whom he had become attached at the Nore had been +put ashore on the day Dyck gained control. It roused his enmity now. + +When Dyck came down, he had the gunners called to him, admonishing them +that drill must go on steadily, and promising them good work to do. Then +he turned to the ordinary seamen. + +At this moment Nick Swaine strode forward within a dozen feet of Dyck. + +"Look there!" he said, and he jerked a finger towards the distant +Portsmouth fleet. "Look there! You've passed that." + +Dyck shrugged a shoulder. + +"I meant to pass it," he said quietly. + +"Give orders to make for it," said Nick with a sullen eye. + +"I shall not. And look you, my man, keep a civil tongue to me, who +command this ship, or I'll have you put in irons." + +"Have me put in irons!" Swaine cried hotly. "This isn't Dublin jail. +You can't do what you like here. Who made you captain of this ship?" + +"Those who made me captain will see my orders carried out. Now, get you +back with the rest, or I'll see if they still hold good." Dyck waved a +hand. "Get back when I tell you, Swaine !" + +"When you've turned the ship to the Portsmouth fleet I'll get back, and +not till then." + +Dyck made a motion of the hand to some boatswains standing by. Before +they could arrest him, Swaine flung himself towards Dyck with a knife in +his hand. + +Dyck's hand was quicker, however. His pistol flung out, a shot was +fired, and the knife dropped from the battered fingers of Nick Swaine. + +"Have his wounds dressed, then put him in irons," Dyck commanded. + +From that moment, in good order and in good weather, the Ariadne sped on +her way westward and southward. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN THE NICK OF TIME + +Perhaps no mutineer in the history of the world ever succeeded, as did +Dyck Calhoun, in holding control over fellow-mutineers on the journey +from the English Channel to the Caribbean Sea. As a boy, Dyck had been +an expert sailor, had studied the machinery of a man-of-war, and his love +of the sea was innate and deep-seated; but his present success was based +upon more than experience. Quite apart from the honour of his nature, +prison had deepened in him the hatred of injustice. In soul he was +bitter; in body he was healthy, powerful, and sane. + +Slowly, sternly, yet tactfully, he had broken down the many customs of +ship life injurious to the welfare of the men. Under his system the +sailors had good coffee for breakfast, instead of a horrible mixture made +of burnt biscuits cooked in foul water. He gave the men pea-soup and +rice instead of burgoo and the wretched oatmeal mess which was the staple +thing for breakfast. He saw to it that the meat was no longer a hateful, +repulsive mass, two-thirds bone and gristle, and before it came into the +cook's hands capable of being polished like mahogany. He threatened the +cook with punishment if he found the meals ill-cooked. + +In all the journey to the West Indian seas there had been only three +formal floggings. His attitude was not that of the commander who +declared: + +"I will see the man's backbone, by God!" + +He wished to secure discipline without cruelty. His greatest difficulty, +at the start, was in making lieutenants. That he overcame by appointing +senior midshipmen before the Ariadne was out of the Channel. He offered +a lieutenancy to Ferens, who had the courage to decline it. + +"Make me purser," remarked Ferens. "Make me purser, and I'll do the job +justly." + +As the purser of the Ariadne had been sent to the sick-bay and was likely +to die (and did die subsequently), Ferens was put into his uniform-three- +cornered cocked hat, white knee-breeches, and white stockings. The +purser of a man-of-war was generally a friend of the captain, going with +him from ship to ship. + +Of the common sailors, on the whole, Dyck had little doubt. He had +informed them that, whatever happened, they should not be in danger; that +the ship should not join the West Indian fleet unless every man except +himself received amnesty. If the amnesty was not granted, then one of +two things should happen--the ship must make for a South American port, +or she must fight. Fighting would not frighten these men. + +It was rather among the midshipmen that Dyck looked for trouble. +Sometimes, with only two years' training at Gosport, a youngster became a +midshipman on first going to sea, and he could begin as early as eleven +years of age. A second-rate ship like the Ariadne carried eighteen +midshipmen; and as six lieutenants were appointed from them, only twelve +remained. From these twelve, in the dingy after-cockpit, where the +superficial area was not more than twelve square feet; where the air was +foul, and the bilges reeked with a pestilential stench; where the +purser's store-room near gave out the smell of rancid butter and +poisonous cheese; where the musty taint of old ropes came to them, there +was a spirit of danger. + +Dyck was right in thinking that in the midshipmen's dismal berth the +first flowers of revolt to his rule would bloom. + +Sailors, even as low as the pig-sty men, had some idea of fair play; and +as the weeks that had passed since they left the Thames had given them +better food and drink, and lessened the severity of those above them, +real obedience had come. + +It was not strange that the ship ran well, for all the officers under the +new conditions, except Dyck himself, had had previous experience. The +old lieutenants had gone, but midshipmen, who in any case were trained, +had taken their places. The rest of the ship's staff were the same, +except the captain; and as Dyck had made a friend of Greenock the master, +a man of glumness, the days were peaceful enough during the voyage to the +Caribbean Sea. + +The majority saw that every act of Dyck had proved him just and capable. +He had rigidly insisted on gun practice; he had keyed up the marines to a +better spirit, and churlishness had been promptly punished. He was, in +effect, what the sailors called a "rogue," or a "taut one"--seldom +smiling, gaunt of face but fearless of eye, and with a body free from +fatigue. + +As the weather grew warmer and the days longer, and they drew near to the +coast of Jamaica, a stir of excitement was shown. + +"You'd like to know what I'm going to do, Michael, I suppose?" said Dyck +one morning, as he drank his coffee and watched the sun creeping up the +sky. + +"Well, in three days we shall know what's to become of us, and I have no +doubt or fear. This ship's a rebel, but it's returning to duty. We've +shown them how a ship can be run with good food and drink and fair +dealing, and, please God, we'll have some work to do now that belongs to +a man-of-war!" + +"Sir, I know what you mean to do," replied Michael. "You mean to get all +of us off by giving yourself up." + +"Well, some one has to pay for what we've done, Michael." A dark, +ruthless light came into Dyck's eyes. "Some one's got to pay." A grim +smile crossed his face. "We've done the forbidden thing; we've mutinied +and taken to the open sea. We were fired on by the other mutiny ships, +and that will help our sailors, but it won't help me. I'm the leader. +We ought, of course, to have taken refuge with the nearest squadron of +the king's ships. Well, I've run my luck, and I'll have to pay." + +He scratched his chin with a thumb-nail-a permanent physical trait. "You +see, the government has pardoned all the sailors, and will hang only the +leaders. I expect Parker is hung already. Well, I'm the leader on the +Ariadne. I'm taking this ship straight to his majesty's West Indian +fleet, in thorough discipline, and I'll hand it over well-found, well- +manned, well-officered, on condition that all go free except myself. I +came aboard a common sailor, a quota man, a prison-bird, penniless. +Well, have I shown that I can run a ship? Have I learned the game of +control? During the weeks we've been at sea, bursting along, have I +proved myself?" + +Michael smiled. "What did I say to you the first night on board, sir? +Didn't I say they'd make an officer of you when they found out what +brains you had? By St. Patrick, you've made yourself captain with the +good-will of all, and your iron hand has held the thing together. You've +got a great head, too, sir." + +Dyck looked at him with a face in which the far future showed. + +"Michael, I've been lucky. I've had good men about me. God only knows +what would have happened to me if the master hadn't been what he is--a +gentleman who knows his job-aye, a gentleman through and through! If he +had gone against me, Michael"--he flicked a finger to the sky--"well, +that much for my chances! I'd have been dropped overboard, or stabbed in +my cabin, as was that famous Captain Pigot, son of an admiral, who had as +much soul as you'd find in a stone-quarry. When two men had dropped from +the masts, hurrying to get down because of his threat that the last man +should be thrashed--when the two men lay smashed to pieces at his feet, +Pigot said: 'Heave the lubbers overboard.' That night, Michael, the +seamen rose, crept to his cabin, stabbed him to death, pitched his body +overboard, put his lieutenants to sea in open boats, and then ran away to +South America. Well, I've escaped that fate, because this was a good +ship, and all the officers knew their business, and did it without +cruelty. I've been well served. It was a great thing making the new +lieutenants from the midshipmen. There never was a better lot on board a +ship." + +Michael's face clouded. "Sir, that's true. The new lieutenants have +done their work well, but them that's left behind in the midshipmen's +berth--do you think they're content? No, sir. The only spot on board +this ship where there lurks an active spirit against you is in the +midshipmen's berth. Mischief's there, and that's what's brought me to +you now." + +Dyck smiled. "I know that. I've had my eye on the midshipmen. I've +never trusted them. They're a hard lot; but if the rest of the ship is +with me, I'll deal with them promptly. They're not clever or bold enough +to do their job skilfully. They've got some old hands down there-- +hammock-men, old stagers of the sea that act as servants to them. What +line do they take?" + +Michael laughed softly. + +"What I know I've got from two of them, and it is this--the young +gentlemen'll try to get control of the ship." + +The cynicism deepened in Dyck's face. + +"Get control of the ship, eh? Well, it'll be a new situation on a king's +ship if midshipmen succeed where the rest dare not try. Now, mark what +I'm going to do." + +He called, and a marine showed himself. + +"The captain's compliments to the master, and his presence here at once. +Michael," he continued presently, "what fools they are! They're scarcely +a baker's dozen, and none of them has skill to lead. Why, the humblest +sailor would have more sense than to start a revolt, the success of which +depends upon his personal influence, and the failure of which must end in +his own ruin. Does any one think they're the kind to lead a mutiny +within a mutiny? Listen to me I'm not cruel, but I'll put an end to this +plot. We're seven hundred on this ship, and she's a first-class sailer. +I warrant no ship ever swam the seas that looks better going than she +does. So we've got to see that her, record is kept clean as a mutineer." + +At that moment the master appeared. He saluted. "Greenock," said Dyck, +"I wonder if you've noticed the wind blowing chilly from the midshipmen's +berth." A lurking devilish humour shot from Greenock's eyes. + +"Aye, I've smelled that wind." + +"Greenock, we're near the West Indian Islands. Before we eat many meals +we'll see land. We may pass French ships, and we may have to fight. +Well, we've had a good running, master; so I'll tell you what I mean to +do." + +He then briefly repeated what he had said to Michael, and added + +"Greenock, in this last to-do, I shall be the only man in danger. The +king's amnesty covers every one except the leaders--that lets you off. +The Delegate of the Ariadne is aboard the Invincible, if he's not been +hanged. I'm the only one left on the Ariadne. I've had a good time, +Greenock--thanks to you, chiefly. I think the men are ready for anything +that'll come; but I also think we should guard against a revolt of the +midshipmen by healthy discipline now. Therefore I'll instruct the +lieutenants to spread-eagle every midshipman for twelve hours. There's a +stiff wind; there's a good stout spray, and the wind and spray should +cool their hot souls. Meanwhile, though without food, they shall have +water as they need it. If at the end of the twelve hours any still seems +to be difficult, give him another twelve. Look!" + +He stretched out a hand to the porthole on his right. "Far away in front +are islands. You cannot see them yet, but those little thickening mists +in the distance mean land. Those are the islands in front of the +Windward Passage. I think it would be a good lesson for the young +gentlemen to be spread-eagled against the mists of their future. It +shall be' done at once; and pass the word why it's done." + +An hour later there was laughter in every portion of the ship, for the +least popular members of the whole personnel were being dragooned into +discipline. The sailors had seen individual midshipmen spread-eagled and +mastheaded, while all save those they could bribe were forbidden to bring +them drink or food; but here was a whole body of junior officers, +punished en masse, as it were, lashed to the rigging and taking the wind +and the spray in their teeth. + +Before the day was over, the whole ship was alive with anticipation, for, +in the far distance, could be seen the dark blue and purplish shadows +which told of land; and this brought the minds of all to the end of their +journey, with thoughts of the crisis near. + +Word had been passed that all on board were considered safe--all except +the captain who had manoeuvred them to the entrance of the Caribbean Sea. +Had he been of their own origin, they would not have placed so much +credence in the rumour; but coming as he did of an ancient Irish family, +although he had been in jail for killing, the traditional respect for the +word of a gentleman influenced them. When a man like Ferens, on the one +hand, and the mutineer whose fingers had been mutilated by Dyck in the +Channel, on the other--when these agreed to bend themselves to the rule +of a usurper, some idea of Calhoun's power may be got. + +On this day, with the glimmer of land in the far distance, the charges of +all the guns were renewed. Also word was passed that at any moment the +ship must be cleared for action. Down in the cockpit the tables were got +ready by the surgeon and the loblolly-boys; the magazines were opened, +and the guards were put on duty. + +Orders were issued that none should be allowed to escape active share in +the coming battle; that none should retreat to the orlop deck or the +lower deck; that the boys should carry the cartridge-cases handed to them +from the magazine under the cover of their coats, running hard to the +guns. The twenty-four-pounders-the largest guns in use at the time-the +eighteen-pounders, and the twelve-pounder guns were all in good order. + +The bags of iron balls called grape-shot-the worst of all--varying in +size from sixteen to nine balls in a bag, were prepared. Then the +canister, which produced ghastly murder, chain-shot to bring down masts +and spars, langrel to fire at masts and rigging, and the dismantling shot +to tear off sails, were all made ready. The muskets for the marines, the +musketoons, the pistols, the cutlasses, the boarding-pikes, the axes or +tomahawks, the bayonets and sailors' knives, were placed conveniently for +use. A bevy of men were kept busy cleaning the round shot of rust, and +there was not a man on the ship who did not look with pride at the guns, +in their paint of grey-blue steel, with a scarlet band round the muzzle. + +To the right of the Ariadne was the coast of Cuba; to the left was the +coast of Haiti, both invisible to the eye. Although the knowledge that +they were nearing land had already given the officers and men a feeling +of elation, the feeling was greatly intensified as they came through the +Turk Island Passage, which is a kind of gateway to the Windward Passage +between Cuba and Haiti. The glory of the sunny, tropical world was upon +the ship and upon the sea; it crept into the blood of every man, and the +sweet summer weather gave confidence to their minds. It was a day which +only those who know tropical and semitropical seas can understand. It +had the sense of soaking luxury. + +In his cabin, with the ship's chart on the table before him, Dyck Calhoun +studied the course of the Ariadne. The wind was fair and good, the sea- +birds hovered overhead. From a distant part of the ship came the sound +of men's voices in song. They were singing "Spanish Ladies": + + "We hove our ship to when the wind was sou'west, boys, + We hove our ship to for to strike soundings clear; + Then we filled our main tops'l and bore right away, boys, + And right up the Channel our course did we steer. + + "We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors, + We'll range and we'll roam over all the salt seas, + Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England + From Ushant to Scilly 'tis thirty-five leagues." + +Dyck raised his head, and a smile came to his lips. + +"Yes, you sing of a Channel, my lads, but it's a long way there, as +you'll find. I hope to God they give us some fighting! . . . Well, +what is it?" he asked of a marine who appeared in his doorway. + +"The master of the ship begs to see you, sir," was the reply. + +A moment afterwards Greenock entered. He asked Dyck several questions +concerning the possible fighting, the disposition of ammunition and all +that, and said at last: + +"I think we shall be of use, sir. The ship's all right now." + +"As right as anything human can be. I've got faith in my star, master." + +A light came into the other man's dour face. "I wish you'd get into +uniform, sir." + +"Uniform? No, Greenock! No, I use the borrowed power, but not the +borrowed clothes. I'm a common sailor, and I wear the common sailor's +clothes. You've earned your uniform, and it suits you. Stick to it; and +when I've earned a captain's uniform I'll wear it. I owe you the success +of this voyage so far, and my heart is full of it, up to the brim. Hark, +what's that?" + +"By God, it's guns, sir! There's fighting on!" + +"Fighting!" + +Dyck stood for a minute with head thrust forward, eyes fixed upon the +distant mists ahead. The rumble of the guns came faintly through the +air. An exultant look came into his face. + +"Master, the game's with us--it is fighting! I know the difference +between the two sets of guns, English and French. Listen--that quick, +spasmodic firing is French; the steady-as-thunder is English. Well, +we've got all sail on. Now, make ready the ship for fighting." + +"She's almost ready, sir." + +An hour later the light mist had risen, and almost suddenly the Ariadne +seemed to come into the field of battle. Dyck Calhoun could see the +struggle going on. The two sets of enemy ships had come to close +quarters, and some were locked in deadly conflict. Other ships, still +apart, fired at point-blank range, and all the horrors of slaughter were +in full swing. From the square blue flag at the mizzen top gallant +masthead of one of the British ships engaged, Dyck saw that the admiral's +own craft was in some peril. The way lay open for the Ariadne to bear +down upon the French ship, engaged with the admiral's smaller ship, and +help to end the struggle successfully for the British cause. + +While still too far away for point-blank range, the Ariadne's guns began +upon the French ships distinguishable by their shape and their colours. +Before the first shot was fired, however, Dyck made a tour of the decks +and gave some word of cheer to the men, The Ariadne lost no time in +getting into the thick of the fight. The seamen were stripped to the +waist, and black silk handkerchiefs were tightly bound round their heads +and over their ears. + +What the French thought of the coming of the Ariadne was shown by the +reply they made presently to her firing. The number of French ships in +action was greater than the British by six, and the Ariadne arrived just +when she could be of greatest service. The boldness of her seamanship, +and the favour of the wind, gave her an advantage which good fortune +helped to justify. + +As she drew in upon the action, she gave herself up to great danger; she +was coming in upon the rear of the French ships, and was subject to +fierce attack. To the French she seemed like a fugitive warrior +returning to his camp just when he was most needed, as was indeed the +case. Two of her shots settled one of the enemy's vessels; and before +the others could converge upon her, she had crawled slowly up against the +off side of the French admiral's ship, which was closely engaged with the +Beatitude, the British flagship, on the other side. + +The canister, chain-shot, and langrel of the French foe had caused much +injury to the Ariadne, and her canvas was in a sore plight. Fifty of her +seamen had been killed, and a hundred and fifty were wounded by the time +she reached the starboard side of the Aquitaine. She would have lost +many more were it not that her onset demoralized the French gunners, +while the cheers of the British sailors aboard the Beatitude gave +confidence to their mutineer comrades. + +On his own deck, Dyck watched the progress of the battle with the joy of +a natural fighter. He had carried the thing to an almost impossible +success. There had only been this in his favour, that his was an +unexpected entrance--a fact which had been worth another ship at least. +He saw his boarders struggle for the Aquitaine. He saw them discharge +their pistols, and then resort to the cutlass and the dagger; and the +marines bringing down their victims from the masts of the French flag- +ship. + +Presently he heard the savagely buoyant shouts of the Beatitude men, and +he realized that, by his coming, the admiral of the French fleet had been +obliged to yield up his sword, and to signal to his ships--such as could +--to get away. That half of them succeeded in doing so was because the +British fleet had been heavily handled in the fight, and would have been +defeated had it not been for the arrival of the Ariadne. + +Never, perhaps, in the history of the navy had British ships clamped the +enemy as the Aquitaine was clamped by the Beatitude and the Ariadne. +Certain it is that no admiral of the British fleet had ever to perform +two such acts in one day as receiving the submission of a French admiral +and offering thanks to the captain of a British man-of-war whom, while +thanking, he must at once place under arrest as a mutineer. What might +have chanced further to Dyck's disadvantage can never be known, because +there appeared on the deck of the Beatitude, as its captain under the +rear-admiral, Captain Ivy, who, five years before, had visited Dyck and +his father at Playmore, and had gone with them to Dublin. + +The admiral had sent word to the Ariadne for its captain to come to the +Beatitude. When the captain's gig arrived, and a man in seaman's clothes +essayed to climb the side of the flag-ship, he was at first prevented. +Captain Ivy, however, immediately gave orders for Dyck to be admitted, +but without honours. + +On the deck of the Beatitude, Dyck looked into the eyes of Captain Ivy. +He saluted; but the captain held out a friendly hand. + +"You're a mutineer, Calhoun, but your ship has given us victory. I'd +like to shake hands with one that's done so good a stroke for England." + +A queer smile played about Calhoun's lips. + +"I've brought the Ariadne back to the fleet, Captain Ivy. The men have +fought as well as men ever did since Britain had a navy. I've brought +her back to the king's fleet to be pardoned." + +"But you must be placed under arrest, Calhoun. Those are the orders-- +that wherever the Ariadne should be found she should be seized, and that +you should be tried by court-martial." + +Dyck nodded. "I understand. When did you get word?" + +"About forty-eight hours ago. The king's mail came by a fast frigate." + +"We took our time, but we came straight from the Channel to find this +fleet. At the mouth of the Thames we willed to find it, and to fight +with it--and by good luck so we have done." + +"Let me take you to the admiral," said Captain Ivy. + +He walked beside Dyck to the admiral's cabin. "You've made a terrible +mess of things, Calhoun, but you've put a lot right to-day," he said at +the entrance to the cabin. "Tell me one thing honestly before we part +now--did you kill Erris Boyne?" Dyck looked at him long and hard. + +"I don't know--on my honour I don't know! I don't remember--I was drunk +and drugged." + +"Calhoun, I don't believe you did; but if you did, you've paid the price +--and the price of mutiny, too." In the clear blue eyes of Captain Ivy +there was a look of friendliness. "I notice you don't wear uniform, +Calhoun," he added. "I mean a captain's uniform." Dyck smiled. "I +never have." + +The next moment the door of the admiral's cabin was opened. + +"Mr. Dyck Calhoun of the Ariadne, sir," said Captain Ivy. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE ADMIRAL HAS HIS SAY + +The admiral's face was naturally vigorous and cheerful, but, as he looked +at Dyck Calhoun, a steely hardness came into it, and gave a cynical twist +to the lips. He was a short man, and spare, but his bearing had dignity +and every motion significance. + +He had had his high moment with the French admiral, had given his +commands to the fleet and had arranged the disposition of the captured +French ships. He was in good spirits, and the wreckage in the fleet +seemed not to shake his nerve, for he had lost in men far less than the +enemy, and had captured many ships--a good day's work, due finally to the +man in sailor's clothes standing there with Captain Ivy. The admiral +took in the dress of Calhoun at a glance--the trousers of blue cloth, the +sheath-knife belt, the stockings of white silk, the white shirt with the +horizontal stripes, the loose, unstarched, collar, the fine black silk +handkerchief at the throat, the waistcoat of red kerseymere, the shoes +like dancing-pumps, and the short, round blue jacket, with the flat gold +buttons--a seaman complete. He smiled broadly; he liked this mutineer +and ex-convict. + +"Captain Calhoun, eh!" he remarked mockingly, and bowed satirically. +"Well, you've played a strong game, and you've plunged us into great +difficulty." + +Dyck did not lose his opportunity. "Happily, I've done what I planned to +do when we left the Thames, admiral," he said. "We came to get the +chance of doing what, by favour of fate, we have accomplished. Now, sir, +as I'm under arrest, and the ship which I controlled has done good +service, may I beg that the Ariadne's personnel shall have amnesty, and +that I alone be made to pay--if that must be--for the mutiny at the +Nore." + +The admiral nodded. "We know of your breaking away from the mutinous +fleet, and of their firing on you as you passed, and that is in your +favour. I can also say this: that bringing the ship here was masterly +work, for I understand there were no officers on the Ariadne. She always +had the reputation of being one of the best-trained ships in the navy, +and she has splendidly upheld that reputation. How did you manage it, +Mr. Calhoun?" + +Dyck briefly told how the lieutenants were made, and how he himself had +been enormously indebted to Greenock, the master of the ship, and all the +subordinate officers. + +The admiral smiled sourly. "I have little power until I get instructions +from the Admiralty, and that will take some time. Meanwhile, the Ariadne +shall go on as she is, and as if she were--and had been from the first, a +member of my own squadron." + +Dyck bowed, explained what reforms he had created in the food and +provisions of the Ariadne, and expressed a hope that nothing should be +altered. He said the ship had proved herself, chiefly because of his +reforms. + +"Besides, she's been badly hammered. She's got great numbers of wounded +and dead, and for many a day the men will be busy with repairs." + +"For a man without naval experience, for a mutineer, an ex-convict and a +usurper, you've done quite well, Mr. Calhoun; but my instructions were, +if I captured your ship, and you fell into my hands, to try you, and hang +you." + +At this point Captain Ivy intervened. + +"Sir," he said, "the instructions you received were general. They could +not anticipate the special service which the Ariadne has rendered to the +king's fleet. I have known Mr. Calhoun; I have visited at his father's +house; I was with him on his journey to Dublin, which was the beginning +of his bad luck. I would beg of you, sir, to give Mr. Calhoun his parole +on sea and land until word comes from the Admiralty as to what, in the +circumstances, his fate shall be." + +"To be kept on the Beatitude on parole!" exclaimed the admiral. + +"Land or sea, Captain Ivy said. I'm as well-born as any man in the +king's fleet," declared Dyck. "I've as clean a record as any officer in +his majesty's navy, save for the dark fact that I was put in prison for +killing a man; and I will say here, in the secrecy of an admiral's cabin, +that the man I killed--or was supposed to kill--was a traitor. If I did +kill him, he deserved death by whatever hand it came. I care not what +you do with me"--his hands clenched, his shoulders drew up, his eyes +blackened with the dark fire of his soul--"whether you put me on parole, +or try me by court-martial, or hang me from the yard-arm. I've done a +piece of work of which I'm not ashamed. I've brought a mutinous ship out +of mutiny, sailed her down the seas for many weeks, disciplined her, +drilled her, trained her, fought her; helped to give the admiral of the +West Indian squadron his victory. I enlisted; I was a quota man. I +became a common sailor--I and my servant and friend, Michael Clones. I +shared the feelings of the sailors who mutinied. I wrote petitions and +appeals for them. I mutinied with them. Then at last, having been made +leader of the ship, with the captain and the lieutenants sent safely +ashore, and disagreeing with the policy of the Delegates in not accepting +the terms offered, I brought the ship out, commanding it from the +captain's cabin, and have so continued until to-day. If I'm put ashore +at Jamaica, I'll keep my parole; if I stay a prisoner here, I'll keep my +parole. If I've done you service, admiral, be sure of this, it was done +with clear intent. My object was to save the men who, having mutinied +and fled from Admiralty control, are subject to capital punishment." + +"Your thinking came late. You should have thought before you mutinied," +was the sharp reply. + +"As a common sailor I acted on my conscience, and what we asked for the +Admiralty has granted. Only by mutiny did the Admiralty yield to our +demands. What I did I would do again! We took our risks in the Thames +against the guns that were levelled at us; we've taken our risks down +here against the French to help save your squadron, and we've done it. +The men have done it, because they've been loyal to the flag, and from +first to last set to make the Admiralty and the people know they have +rights which must be cherished. If all your men were as faithful to the +Crown as are the men on the Ariadne, then they deserve well of the King. +But will you put for me on paper the written word that every man now +aboard the Ariadne shall be held guiltless in the eyes of the admiral of +this fleet; that the present officers shall remain officers, that the +reforms I have made shall become permanent? For myself, I care not; but +for the men who have fought under me, I want their amnesty. And I want +Michael Clones to be kept with me, and Greenock, the master, and Ferens, +the purser, to be kept where they are. Admiral, I think you know my +demands are just. Over there on the Ariadne are a hundred and fifty +wounded at least, and fifty have been killed. Let the living not +suffer." + +"You want it all on the nail, don't you?" + +"I want it at this moment when the men who have fought under me have +helped to win your battle, sir." There was something so set in Dyck's +voice that the admiral had a sudden revulsion against him, yet, after a +moment of thought, he made a sign to Captain Ivy. Then he dictated the +terms which Dyck had asked, except as to the reforms he had made, which +was not in his power to do, save for the present. + +When the document had been signed by the admiral, Dyck read the contents +aloud. It embodied nearly all he had asked. + +"Now I ask permission for one more thing only, sir--for the new captain +of the Ariadne to go with me to her, and there I will read this paper to +the crew. I will give a copy of it to the new captain, whoever he may +be." + +The admiral stood for a moment in thought. Then he said: + +"Ivy, I transfer you to the Ariadne. It's better that some one who +understands, as you do, should be in control after Calhoun has gone. +Go with him now, and have your belongings sent to you. I appoint you +temporary captain of the Ariadne, because I think no one could deal with +the situation there so wisely. Ivy, every ship in the squadron must +treat the Ariadne respectfully. Within two days, Mr. Calhoun, you shall +be landed at Jamaica, there to await the Admiralty decree. I will say +this: that as the sure victory of our fleet has come through you, you +shall not suffer in my report. Fighting is not an easy trade, and to +fight according to the rules is a very hard trade. Let me ask you to +conduct yourself as a prisoner of war on parole." + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NO DEFENSE, BY PARKER, V2 *** + +******* This file should be named 6293.txt or 6293.zip ******* + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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