Frank Mildmay; Or, The Naval Officer

There is usually but little of incident in a run home of this sort. I was not directed to stop at St Helena, and had no inclination to loiter on my way. I carried sail night and day to the very utmost. Talbot and myself became inseparable friends, and our cabin mess was one of perfect harmony. We avoided all national reflections, and abstained as much as possible from politics. I made a confidant of Talbot in my love affair with Emily. Of poor Eugenia, I had long before told him a great deal.

One day at dinner we happened to talk of swimming. "I think," said Talbot, "that my friend Frank is as good a hand at that as any of us.

Do you remember when you swam away from the frigate at Spithead, to pay a visit to your friend, Mrs Melpomene, at Point?"

"I do," said I, "and also how generously you showered the musket-balls about my ears for the same."

"Your escape from either drowning or shooting on that occasion, among many others," said the commander, "makes me augur something more serious of your future destiny."

"That may be," said I; "but I dispute the legality of your act, in trying to kill me before you knew who I was, or what I was about. I might have been mad, for what you knew; or I might have belonged to some other ship; but, in any event, had you killed me, and had my body been found, a coroner's inquest would have gone very hard with you, and a jury still worse."

"I should have laughed at them," said Talbot.

"You might have found it no laughing matter," said I.

"How?" replied Talbot, "what are sentinels placed for, and loaded with ball?"

"To defend the ship," said I; "to give warning of approaching danger; to prevent men going out of the ship without leave; but never to take away the life of a man unless in defence of their own, or when the safety of the king's ship demands it."

"I deny your conclusion," said Talbot; "the articles of war denounce death to all deserters."

"True," said I, "they do, and also to many other crimes; but those crimes must first of all be proved before a court-martial. Now you cannot prove that I was deserting, and if you could, you had not the power to inflict death on me unless I was going towards the enemy. I own I was disobeying your orders, but even that would not have subjected me to more than a slight punishment, while your arbitrary act would have deprived the king, as I flatter myself, of a loyal, and not a useless subject; and if my body had not been found, no good could have accrued to the service from the severity of example. On the contrary, many would have supposed I had escaped, and been encouraged to make the same attempt."

"I am very sorry now," said Talbot, "that I did not lower down a boat to send after you; however, it has been a comfort to me since to reflect that the marines missed you."

This ended the subject: we walked the deck a little, talked of sweethearts, shaped the course for the night to make Fayal, which we were not far from, and then returned to our beds.

Falling into a sound sleep, it was natural that the conversation of the evening should have dwelt on my mind, and a strange mixture of disjointed thoughts, a compound of reason and insanity, haunted me till the morning. Trinidad and Emily, the Nine-Pin Rock, and the mysterious Eugenia, with her supposed son; the sinking wreck, and the broken schooner, all appeared separately or together.

"When nature rests,
Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes."

I thought I saw Emily standing on the pinnacle of the Nine-Pin Rock, just as Lord Nelson is represented on the monument in Dublin, or Bonaparte in that of the Place Vendome; but with a grace as far superior to either, as the Nine-Pin Rock is in majesty and natural grandeur to those works of human art.

Emily, I thought, was clad in complete mourning, but looking radiant in health and loveliness, although with a melancholy countenance. The dear image of my mistress seemed to say, "I shall never come down from this pinnacle without your assistance." "Then," thinks I, "you will never come down at all." Then I thought Eugenia was queen of Trinidad, and that it was she who had placed Emily out of my reach on the rock; and I was entreating her to let Emily come down, when Thompson tapped at my cabin door, and told me that it was daylight, and that they could see the island of Fayal in the north-east, distant about seven leagues.

I dressed myself, and went on deck, saw the land, and a strange sail steering to the westward. The confounded dream still running in my head—like Adam, I "liked it not," and yet I thought myself a fool for not dismissing such idle stuff; still it would not go away. The Americans came on deck soon after; and seeing the ship steering to the westward, asked if I meant to speak her. I replied in the affirmative. We had then as much sail as we could carry; and as she had no wish to avoid us, but kept on her course, we were soon alongside of her. She proved to be a cartel, bound to New York with American prisoners.

In case of meeting with any vessel bound to the United States, the admiral had given me permission to send my prisoners home without carrying them to England. I had not mentioned this either to Peters or Green, for fear of producing disappointment; but when I found I could dispose of them so comfortably, I acquainted them with my intention. Their joy and gratitude were beyond all description; they thanked me a thousand times, as they did my friend Talbot for our kindness to them.

"Leftenant," said Peters, "I am not much accustomed to the company of you Englishmen; and if I have always thought you a set of tyrants and bullies, it arn't my fault. I believed what I was told; but now I have seen for myself, and I find the devil is never so black as he is painted." I bowed to the Yankee compliment. "Howsoever," he continued, "I should like to have a sprinkling of shot between us on fair terms. Do you bring this here brig to our waters; I hope to get another just like her, and as I know you are a d–d good fellow, and would as soon have a dust as sit down to dinner, I should like to try to get the command of the True-blooded Yankee again."

"If you man your next brig, as you manned the last, with all your best hands Englishmen," said I, "I fear I should find it no easy matter to defend myself."

"That's as it may be," said the captain; "no man fights better than he with a halter round his neck: and remember what neighbour Green has said, for he has 'let the cat out of the bag:' we should have no Englishmen in our service, if they had not been pressed into yours."

I could make no return to this salute, because, like the gunner at Landguard Fort, I had no powder, and, in fact, I felt the rebuke.

Green stood by, but never opened his lips until the captain had finished; then holding out his hand to me, with his eyes full of tears, and his voice almost choked, "Farewell, my excellent friend," said he; "I shall never forget you; you found me a villain, and, by the blessing of God, you have made me an honest man. Never, never, shall I forget the day when, at the risk of your own life, you came to save one so unworthy of your protection; but God bless you! and if ever the fortune of war should send you a prisoner to my country, here is my address—what is mine is yours, and so you shall find."

The man who had mutinied in the boat, and afterwards entered on board the privateer, who was sent home with me to take his trial, held out his hand to Captain Green, as he passed him, to wish him good-by, but he turned away, saying, "A traitor to his country is a traitor to his God. I forgive you for the injury you intended to do me, and the more so, as I feel I brought it on myself; but I cannot degrade myself by offering you the hand of fellowship."

So saying, he followed Captain Peters into the boat. I accompanied them to the cartel, where, having satisfied myself that they had every comfort, I left them. Green was so overcome that he could not speak, and poor Mungo could only say, "Good-by, massa leptenant, me tinkee you berry good man."

I returned to my own vessel, and made sail for England: once more we greeted the white cliffs of Albion, so dear to every true English bosom. No one but he who has been an exile from its beloved shores can fully appreciate the thrill of joy on such an occasion. We ran through the Needles, and I anchored at Spithead, after an absence of fourteen months. I waited on the admiral, showed him my orders, and reported the prisoners, whom he desired me to discharge into the flag ship; "and now," said he, "after your extraordinary escape, I will give you leave to run up to town and see your family, to whom you are no doubt an object of great interest."

Here a short digression is necessary.

Chapter XXII

Such was my brother too,
So went he suited to his watery tomb:
If spirits can assume both form and suit,
You come to fright us.

    Twelfth Night.

Soon after the frigate which had taken me off from New Providence had parted company with the American prize that I was sent on board of, the crew of the former, it appeared, had been boasting among the American prisoners of the prize-money they should receive.

"Not you," said the Yankees; "you will never see your prize any more, nor any one that went in her."

These words were repeated to the captain of the frigate, when he questioned the mate and the crew, and the whole nefarious transaction came out. They said the ship was sinking when they left her, and that was the reason they had hurried into the boat. The mate said it was impossible to get at the leaks, which were in the fore peak, and under the cabin deck in the run; that he wondered Captain Green had not made it known, but he supposed he must have been drunk: "the ship," continued the mate, "must have gone down in twelve hours after we left her."

This was reported to the Admiralty by my captain, and my poor father was formally acquainted with the fatal story. Five months had elapsed since I was last heard of, and all hopes of my safety had vanished: this was the reason that when I knocked at the door, I found the servant in mourning: he was one who had been hired since my departure, and did not know me. Of course he expressed no surprise at seeing me.

"Good Heavens!" said I, "who is dead?" "My master's only son, Sir," said the man, "Mr Frank, drowned at sea."

"Oh! is that all?" said I, "I am glad it's no worse." The man concluded that I was an unfeeling brute, and stared stupidly at me as I brushed by him and ran up stairs to the drawing-room. I ought to have been more guarded; but, as usual, I followed the impulse of my feelings. I opened the door, when I saw my sister sitting at a table in deep mourning, with another young lady whose back was turned towards me. My sister screamed as soon as she saw me. The other lady turned round, and I beheld my Emily, my dear, dear Emily: she too was in deep mourning. My sister, after screaming, fell on the floor in a swoon. Emily instantly followed her example, and there they both lay, like two petrified queens in Westminster Abbey. It was a beautiful sight, "pretty, though a plague."

I was confoundedly frightened myself, and thought I had done a very foolish thing; but as I had no time to lose, I rang the bell furiously, and seeing some jars with fresh flowers in them, I caught them up and poured plentiful libations over the faces and necks of the young ladies; but Emily came in for much the largest share, which proves that I had neither lost my presence of mind nor my love for her.

My sister's maid, Higgins, was the first to answer the drawing-room bell, which, from its violent ringing, announced some serious event. She came bouncing into the room like a recouchée shot. She was an old acquaintance of mine; I had often kissed her when a boy, and she had just as often boxed my ears. I used to give her a ribbon to tie up her jaw with, telling her at the same time that she had too much of it. This Abigail, like a true lady's maid, seeing me, whom she thought a ghost, standing bolt upright, and the two ladies stretched out, as she supposed, dead, gave a loud and most interesting scream, ran out of the room for her life, nearly knocking down the footman, whom she met coming in.

This fellow, who was a country lout, the son of one of my father's tenants, only popped his head into the door, and saw the ladies lying on the carpet; he had probably formed no very good opinion of me from the manner in which I had received the news of my own demise, and seemed very much inclined to act the part of a mandarin, that is, nod his head and stand still.

"Desire some of the women to come here immediately," said I; "some one that can be of use; tell them to bring salts, eau de cologue, any thing. Fly, blockhead, goose, what do you stand staring at?"

The fellow looked at me, and then at the supposed corpses, which he must have thought I had murdered; and, either thunderstruck, or doubting whether he had any right to obey me, kept his head inside the door and his body outside, as if he had been in the pillory. I saw that he required some explanation, and cried out, "I am Mr Frank; will you obey me, or shall I throw this jar at your head?" brandishing one of the china vases.

Had I been inclined to have thrown it, I should have missed him, for the fellow was off like a wounded porpoise. Down he ran to my father in the library; "Oh, Sir—good news—bad news—good news—"

"What news, fool?" said my father, rising hastily from his chair.

"Oh, Sir, I don't know, Sir; but I believe, Sir, Mr Frank is alive again, and both the ladies is dead."

My poor father, whose health and constitution had not recovered the shock of my supposed death, tremblingly leaned over his table, on which he rested his two hands, and desired the man to repeat what he had said. This the fellow did, half crying, and my father, easily comprehending the state of things, came upstairs. I would have flown into his arms, but mine were occupied in supporting my sweet Emily, while my poor sister lay senseless on the other side of me; for Clara's lover was not at hand, and she still lay in abeyance.

By this time "the hands were turned up," every body was on the alert, and every living creature in the house, not excepting the dog, had assembled in the drawing-room. The maids that had known me cried and sobbed most piteously, and the new comer kept them company from sympathy. The coachman, and footman, and groom, all blubbered and stared; and one brought water, and one a basin, and the looby of a footman something else, which I must not name; but in his hurry he had snatched up the first utensil that he thought might be of use; I approved of his zeal, but nodded to him to retire. Unluckily for him, the housemaid perceived the mistake which his absence of thought had led him into; and, snatching the mysterious vessel with her left hand, she hid it under her apron, while with her right she gave the poor fellow such a slap on the cheek, as to bring to my mind the tail of the whale descending on the boat at Bermuda. "You great fool," said she, "nobody wants that."