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/'BERKELEY \ 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 S. CALIFORNIA 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS 
 
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3IUuatrat^& Qlabinrt lEiUifltt 
 
 THE TWO ADMIRALS 
 
 By 
 
 James Fenimore Cooper 
 
 Boston 
 Dana Estes & Company 
 
 Publishers 
 
MOFFITT - UGH 
 
PS/41^ 
 
 / 3 
 
 UNOERGRAO. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 TWO ADMIRALS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Kiss me, Oakes Frontispiece 
 
 Photogravure from Barley steel plate 
 
 It required a prodigious effort 35 
 
 Photogravure from Barley steel plate 
 
 The flash, the roa:^. ... .... 456 
 
 Photogravure from drawing by W. H. Overend 
 
PREFACE; 
 
 It is a strong proof of the diffuse tendency of everything in 
 this country that America never yet collected a fleet. Noth- 
 ing is wanting to this display of power but the will. But a 
 fleet requires only one commander, and a feeling is fast 
 spreading in the country that we ought to be all comman- 
 ders; unless the spirit of unconstitutional innovation and 
 usurpation that is now so prevalent at Washington be con- 
 trolled, we may expect to hear of proposals to send a com- 
 mittee of Congress to sea, in command of a squadron. We 
 sincerely hope that their first experiment may be made on 
 the coast of Africa. 
 
 It has been said of Napoleon that he never could be 
 made to understand why his fleets did not obey his orders 
 with the same accuracy, as to time and place, as his corps 
 (Tarmee. He made no allowances for the winds and cur- 
 rents, and least of all did he comprehend that all-important 
 circumstance, that the efficiency of a fleet is necessarily con- 
 fined to the rate of sailing of the dullest of its ships. More 
 may be expected from a squadron of ten sail, all of which 
 shall be average vessels, in this respect, than from the same 
 number of vessels, of which one-half are fast and the remain- 
 der dull. One brigade can march as fast as another, but it 
 is not so with vessels. The efficiency of a marine, therefore, 
 depends rather on its working qualities than on its number 
 of ships. 
 
 Perhaps the best fleet that ever sailed under the English 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 flag was that with which Nelson fought the battle of the 
 Nile. It consisted of twelve or thirteen small seventy-fours, 
 each of approved qualities, and commanded by an officer of 
 known merit. In all respects it was efficient and reliable. 
 With such men as Hallowell, Hood, Trowbridge, Foley, 
 Ball, and others, and with such ships, the great spirit of 
 Nelson was satisfied. He knew that whatever seamen could 
 do, his comparatively little force could achieve. When his 
 enemy was discovered at anchor, though night was ap- 
 proaching and his vessels were a good deal scattered, he at 
 once determined to put the qualities we have mentioned to 
 the highest proof, and to attack. This was done without any 
 other order of battle than that which directed each comman- 
 der to get as close alongside of an enemy as possible — the 
 best proof of the high confidence he had in his ships and in 
 their commanders. 
 
 It is now known that all the early accounts of the ma- 
 noeuvring at the Nile, and of Nelson's reasoning on the sub- 
 ject of anchoring inside and of doubling on his enemies, are 
 pure fiction. The " Life," by Southey, in all that relates to 
 this feature of the day, is pure fiction, as, indeed, are other 
 portions of the work of scarcely less importance. This fact 
 came to the writer through the late Commodore (Charles 
 Valentine) Morris, from Sir Alexander Ball, in the early 
 part of the century. In that day it would not have done to 
 proclaim it, so tenacious is public opinion of its errors; but 
 since that time naval officers of rank have written on the 
 subject, and stripped the Nile, Trafalgar, etc., of their 
 poetry, to give the world plain, nautical, and probable ac- 
 counts of both those great achievements. The truth, as re- 
 lates to both battles, was just as little like the previously 
 published accounts as well could be. 
 
 Nelson knew the great superiority of the English seamen, 
 their facility in repairing damages, and, most of all, the high 
 advantage possessed by the fleets of his country, in the ex- 
 ercise of the assumed right to impress, a practice that put 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 not only the best seamen of his own country, but those of 
 the whole world, more or less, at his mercy. His great 
 merit, at the Nile, was in the just appreciation of these ad- 
 vantages, and in the extraordinary decision which led him 
 to go into action just at nightfall, rather than give his enemy 
 time to prepare to meet the shock. 
 
 It is now known that the French were taken, in a great 
 measure, by surprise. A large portion of their crews were 
 on shore, and did not get off to their ships at all, and there 
 was scarce a vessel that did not clear the decks by tumbling 
 the mess-chests, bags, etc., into the inside batteries, render- 
 ing them, in a measure, useless, when the English doubled 
 on their line. 
 
 It was this doubling on the French line, by anchoring 
 inside, and putting two ships upon one, that gave Nelson 
 so high a reputation as a tactician. The merit of this ma- 
 noeuvre belongs exclusively to one of his captains. As the 
 fleet went in without any order, keeping as much to wind- 
 ward as the shoals would permit, Nelson ordered the Van- 
 guard hove-to, to take a pilot out of a fisherman. This 
 enabled Foley, Hood, and one or two more to pass that fast 
 ship. It was at this critical moment that the thought oc- 
 curred to Foley (we think this was the officer) to pass the 
 head of the French line, keep dead away, and anchor inside. 
 Others followed, completely placing their enemies between 
 two fires. Sir Samuel Hood anchored his ship (the Zealous) 
 on the inner bow of the most weatherly French ship, where 
 he poured his fire into, virtually, an unresisting enemy. 
 Notwithstanding the great skill manifested by the English 
 in their mode of attack, this was the only two-decked ship 
 in the English fleet that was able to make sail on the fol- 
 lowing morning. 
 
 Had Nelson led in upon an American fleet, as he did 
 upon the French at the Nile, he would have seen reason to 
 repent the boldness of the experiment. Something like it 
 was attempted on Lake Champlain, though on a greatly 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 diminished scale, and the English were virtually defeated 
 before they anchored. 
 
 The reader who feels an interest in such subjects will 
 probably detect the secret process of the mind, by which 
 some of the foregoing facts have insinuated themselves into 
 this fiction. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Then, if he were my brother's, 
 My brother might not claim him ; nor your father, 
 Being none of his, refuse him : This concludes — 
 My mother's son did get your father's heir ; 
 Your father's heir must have your father's land," 
 
 King John, 
 
 The events we are about to relate occurred near the middle 
 of the last century, previously even to that struggle which 
 it is the fashion of America to call " the old French War." 
 The opening scene of our tale, however, must be sought in 
 the other hemisphere, and on the coast of the mother coun- 
 try. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the American 
 colonies were models of loyalty; the very war to which 
 there has just been allusion causing the great expenditure 
 that induced the ministry to have recourse to the system of 
 taxation which terminated in the Revolution. The family 
 quarrel had not yet commenced. Intensely occupied with 
 the conflict, which terminated not more gloriously for the 
 British arms than advantageously for the British American 
 possessions, the inhabitants of the provinces were perhaps 
 never better disposed to the metropolitan state than at the 
 very period of which we are about to write. All their early 
 predilections seemed to be gaining strength, instead of be- 
 coming weaker; and, as in nature the calm is known to suc- 
 ceed the tempest, the blind attachment of the colony to the 
 parent country was but a precursor of the alienation and 
 violent disunion that were so soon to follow. 
 
lO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Although the superiority of the English seaman was well 
 established, in the conflicts that took place between the 
 years 1740 and that of 1763, the naval warfare of the period 
 by no means possessed the very decided character with 
 which it became stamped a quarter of a century later. In 
 our own times, the British marine appears to have improved 
 in quality, as its enemies deteriorated. In the year 18 12, 
 however, " Greek met Greek," when, of a verity, came " the 
 tug of war." The great change that came over the other 
 navies of Europe was merely a consequence of the revolu- 
 tions, which drove experienced men into exile, and which, 
 by rendering armies all- important even to the existence of 
 the different states, threw nautical enterprises into the 
 shade, and gave an engrossing direction to courage and tal- 
 ent in another quarter. While France was struggling, first 
 for independence, and next for the mastery of the continent, 
 a marine was a secondary object; for Vienna, Berlin, and 
 Moscow were as easily entered without as with its aid. To 
 these, and other similar causes, must be referred the expla- 
 nation of the seeming invincibility of the English arms at 
 sea, during the late great conflicts of Europe; an invincibil- 
 ity that was more apparent than real, however, as many well- 
 established defeats were, even then, intermingled with her 
 thousand victories. 
 
 From the time when her numbers could furnish succor of 
 this nature, down to the day of separation, America had her 
 full share in the exploits of the English marine. The gen- 
 try of the colonies willingly placed their sons in the royal 
 navy, and many a bit of square bunting has been flying at 
 the royal mastheads of king's ships, in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, as the distinguishing symbols of flag-officers who had 
 to look for their birthplaces among ourselves. In the course 
 of a checkered life, in which we have been brought in col- 
 lision with as great a diversity of rank, professions, and 
 characters as often falls to the lot of any one individual, we 
 have been throxMi into contact with no less than eight Eng- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. II 
 
 lish admirals of American birth; while it has never yet 
 been our good fortune to meet with a countryman who has 
 had this rank bestowed on him by his own government. On 
 one occasion, an Englishman, who had filled the highest 
 civil office connected with the marine of his nation, ob- 
 served to us that the only man he then knew, in the British 
 navy, in whom he should feel an entire confidence in en- 
 trusting an important command, was one of these translated 
 admirals; and the thought unavoidably passed through our 
 mind, that this favorite commander had done well in adher- 
 ing to the conventional, instead of clinging to his natural 
 allegiance, inasmuch as he might have toiled for half a 
 century in the service of his native land, and been rewarded 
 with a rank that would merely put him on a level with a 
 colonel in the army! How much longer this short-sighted 
 policy and grievous injustice are to continue, no man can 
 say; but it is safe to believe that it is to last until some 
 legislator of influence learns the simple truth, that the fan- 
 cied reluctance of popular constituencies to do right oftener 
 exists in the apprehensions of their representatives than in 
 reality. — But to our tale. 
 
 England enjoys a widespread reputation for her fogs; but 
 little do they know how much a fog may add to natural 
 scenery w^ho never witnessed its magical effects, as it has 
 caused a beautiful landscape to coquette with the eye, in 
 playful and capricious changes. Our opening scene is in 
 one of these much-derided fogs; though, let it always be 
 remembered, it was a fog of June, and not of November. 
 On a high headland of the coast of Devonshire stood a little 
 station-house, which had been erected wdth a view to com- 
 municate by signals with the shipping that sometimes lay 
 at anchor in an adjacent roadstead. A little inland, was a 
 village, or hamlet, that it suits our purposes to call Wyche- 
 combe; and at no great distance from the hamlet itself, sur- 
 rounded by a small park, stood a house of the age of Henry 
 VII., which was the abode of Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, a 
 
12 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 baronet of the creation of King James I., and the possessor 
 of an improvable estate of some three or four thousand a 
 year, which had been transmitted to him through a line of 
 ancestors that ascended as far back as the times of the 
 Plantagenets. Neither Wychecombe, nor the headland, nor 
 the anchorage, was a place of note; for much larger and 
 more favored hamlets, villages, and towns lay scattered 
 about that fine portion of England ; much better roadsteads 
 and bays could generally be used by the coming or the part- 
 ing vessel ; and far more important signal-stations were to 
 be met with, all along that coast. Nevertheless, the road- 
 stead was entered when calms or adverse winds rendered it 
 expedient; the hamlet had its conveniences, and, like most 
 English hamlets, its beauties; and the hall and park were 
 not without their claims to state and rural magnificence. A 
 century since, whatever the table of precedency or Black- 
 stone may say, an English baronet, particularly one of the 
 date of 1611, was a much greater personage than he is to- 
 day; and an estate of ^4,000 a year, more especially if not 
 rack-rented, was of an extent, and necessarily of a local 
 consequence, equal to one of near or quite three times the 
 same amount in our own day. Sir Wycherly, however, en- 
 joyed an advantage that was of still greater importance, and 
 which was more common in 1745 than at the present mo- 
 ment. He had no rival within fifteen miles of him, and the 
 nearest potentate was a nobleman of a rank and fortune that 
 put all competition out of the question ; one who dwelt in 
 courts, the favorite of kings; leaving the baronet, as it 
 might be, in undisturbed enjoyment of all the local homage. 
 Sir Wycherly had once been a member of Parliament, and 
 only once. In his youth he had been a fox-hunter; and a 
 small property in Yorkshire had long been in the family, 
 as a sort of foothold on such enjoyments ; but, having broken 
 a leg in one of his leaps, he had taken refuge against enn?/:', 
 by sitting a single session in the House of Commons, as the 
 member of a borough that lay adjacent to his hunting-box. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 3 
 
 This session sufficed for his whole life; the good baronet 
 having taken the matter so literally as to make it a point to 
 be present at all the sittings; a sort of tax on his time 
 which, as it came wholly unaccompanied by profit, was very 
 likely soon to tire out the patience of an old fox-hunter. 
 After resigning his seat, he retired altogether to Wyche- 
 combe, where he passed the last fifty years, extolling Eng- 
 land, and most especially that part of it in which his own 
 estates lay; in abusing the French, with occasional innuen- 
 does against Spain and Holland; and in eating and drink- 
 ing. He had never travelled; for, though Englishmen of 
 his station often did visit the continent a century ago, they 
 of tener did not. It was the courtly and the noble, who then 
 chiefly took this means of improving their minds and man- 
 ners; a class to which a baronet by no means necessarily 
 belonged. To conclude, Sir Wycherly was now eighty-four; 
 hale, hearty, and a bachelor. He had been born the oldest 
 of five brothers; the cadets taking refuge, as usual, in the 
 inns of court, the church, the army, and the navy; and pre- 
 cisely in the order named. The lawyer had actually risen 
 to be a judge, by the style and appellation of Baron Wyche- 
 combe; had three illegitimate children by his housekeeper, 
 and died, leaving to the eldest thereof all his professional 
 earnings, after buying comrnissions for the two younger in 
 the army. The divine broke his neck, while yet a curate, 
 in a fox-hunt; dying unmarried, and, so far as is generally 
 known, childless. This was Sir Wycherly's favorite brother ; 
 who, he was accustomed to say, "lost his life, in setting an 
 example of field-sports to his parishioners." The soldier 
 was fairly killed in battle, before he was twenty; and the 
 name of the sailor suddenly disappeared from the list of 
 His Majesty's lieutenants, about half a century before the 
 time when our tale opens, by shipwreck. Between the sailor 
 and the head of the family, however, there had been no great 
 sympathy; in consequence, as it was rumored, of a certain 
 beauty's preference for the latter, though this preference 
 
14 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 produced no suites^ inasmuch as the lady died a maid. Mr. 
 Gregory Wychecombe, the lieutenant in question, was what 
 is termed a " wild boy" ; and it was the general impression, 
 when his parents sent him to sea, that the ocean would now 
 meet with its match. The hopes of the family centred in 
 the judge, after the death of the curate, and it was a great 
 cause of regret, to those who took an interest in its perpetu- 
 ity and renown, that this dignitary did not marry; since the 
 premature death of all the other sons had left the hall, park, 
 and goodly farms without any known legal heir. In a 
 word, this branch of the family of Wychecombe would be 
 extinct, when Sir Wycherly died, and the entail become 
 useless. Not a female inheritor, even, or a male inheritor 
 through females, could be traced; and it had become im- 
 perative on Sir Wycherly to make a will, lest the property 
 should go off, the Lord knew where ; or, what was worse, it 
 should escheat. It is true, Tom Wychecombe, the judge's 
 eldest son, often gave dark hints about a secret and a timely 
 marriage between his parents, a fact that would have super- 
 seded the necessity for all devises, as the property was 
 strictly tied up, so far as the lineal descendants of a certain 
 old Sir Wycherly were concerned; but the present Sir 
 Wycherly had seen his brother, in his last illness, on 
 which occasion the following conversation had taken 
 place. 
 
 "And now brother Thomas," said the baronet, in a 
 friendly and consoling manner, "having, as one may say, 
 prepared your soul for heaven, by these prayers and admis- 
 sions of your sins, a word may be prudently said concern- 
 ing the affairs of this world. You know I am childless — 
 that is to say " 
 
 " I understand you, Wycherly," interrupted the dying man ; 
 " you're a bachelor^ 
 
 "That's it, Thomas; and bachelors ought not to have 
 children. Had our poor brother James escaped that mishap, 
 he might have been sitting at your bedside at this moment, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 5 
 
 and he could have told us all about it. St. James I used to 
 call him; and well did he deserve the name!" 
 
 " St. James the Least, then, it must have been, Wycherly." 
 
 " It's a dreadful thing to have no heir, Thomas ! Did you 
 ever know a case in your practice, in which another estate 
 was left so completely without an heir, as this of ours?" 
 
 "It does not often happen, brother; heirs are usually 
 more abundant than estates." 
 
 " So I thought. Will the king get the title as well as the 
 estate, brother, if it should escheat, as you call it?" 
 
 " Being the fountain of honor, he will be rather indiffer- 
 ent about the baronetcy." 
 
 "I should care less if it went to the next sovereign, who 
 is English born. Wychecombe has always belonged to 
 Englishmen." 
 
 ^'That it has; and ever will, I trust. You have only to 
 select an heir, when I am gone, and by making a will, with 
 proper devises, the property will not escheat. Be careful to 
 use the full terms of perpetuity." 
 
 " Everything was so comfortable, brother, while you were 
 in health," said Sir Wycherly, fidgeting; "you were my 
 natural heir " 
 
 " Heir of entail," interrupted the judge. 
 
 "Well, well,/^(?/>, at all events; and M^/was a prodigious 
 comfort to a man like myself, who has a sort of religious 
 scruples about making a will. I have heard it whispered 
 that you were actually married to Martha; in which case, 
 Tom might drop into our shoes, so readily, without any more 
 signing and sealing." 
 
 " h^filius nullius^^ returned the other, too conscientious to 
 lend himself to a deception of that nature. 
 
 " Why, brother, Tom often seems to me to favor such an 
 idea, himself." 
 
 " No wonder,^ Wycherly, for the idea would greatly favor 
 him. Tom and his brothers are 2\\Jilii nullorum^ God for- 
 give me for that same wrong." 
 
l6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " I wonder neither Charles nor Gregory thought of marry- 
 ing before they lost their lives for their king and country," 
 put in Sir Wycherly, in an upbraiding tone, as if he thought 
 his penniless brethren had done him an injury in neglecting 
 to supply him with an heir, though he had been so forgetful 
 himself of the same great duty. " I did think of bringing 
 in a bill for providing heirs for unmarried persons, without 
 the trouble and responsibility of making wills." 
 
 " That would have been a great improvement on the law 
 of descents — I hope you wouldn't have overlooked the an- 
 cestors." 
 
 " Not I — everybody would have got his rights. They tell 
 me poor Charles never spoke after he was shot ; but I dare 
 say, did we know the truth, he regretted sincerely that he 
 never married." 
 
 "There, for c ce, Wycherly, I think you are likely to be 
 wrong. KfeiJime sole without food is rather a helpless sort 
 of a person." 
 
 " Well, well, I wish he had married. What would it have 
 been to me, had he left a dozen widows .''" 
 
 " It might have raised some awkward questions as to 
 dowry ; and if each left a son, the title and estates would 
 have been worse off than they are at present, without widows 
 or legitimate children." 
 
 " Anything would be better than having no heir. I be- 
 lieve I'm the first baronet of Wychecombe who has been 
 obliged to make a will!" 
 
 "Quite likely," returned the brother, drily; "I remember 
 to have got nothing from the last one, in that way. Charles 
 and Gregory fared no better. Never mind, Wycherly, you 
 behaved like a father to us all." 
 
 "I don't mind signing checks, in the least; but wills 
 have an irreligious appearance, in my eyes. There are a 
 good many Wychecombes in England; I wonder some of 
 them are not of our family! They tell me a hundredth 
 cousin is just as good an heir as a first-born son." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I7 
 
 " Failing nearer of kin. But we have no hundredth cou- 
 sins of the whole blood.'''' 
 
 "There are the Wychecombes of Surrey, brother 
 Thomas ?" 
 
 " Descended from a bastard of the second baronet, and 
 out of the line of descent, altogether." 
 
 " But the Wychecombes of Hertfordshire, I have always 
 heard, were of our family, and legitimate." 
 
 "True, as regards matrimony — rather too much of it, by 
 the way. They branched off in 1487, long before the crea- 
 tion, and have nothing to do with the entail ; the first of 
 their line coming from old Sir Michael Wychecombe, Kt. 
 and Sheriff of Devonshire, by his second wife Margery; 
 while we are derived from the same male ancestor, through 
 Wycherly, the only son by Joan, the first wife. Wycherly 
 and Michael, the son of Michael and Margery, were of the 
 half-blood, as respects each other, and could not be heirs of 
 blood. What was true of the ancestors is true of the de- 
 scendants." 
 
 " But we came of the same ancestor, and the estate is far 
 older than 1487." 
 
 "Quite true, brother; nevertheless, the half-blood can't 
 take; so says the perfection of human reason." 
 
 "I never could understand these niceties of the law," 
 said Sir Wycherly, sighing; "but I suppose they are all 
 right. There are so many Wychecombes scattered about 
 England that I should think some one among them all 
 might be my heir!" 
 
 " Every man of them bears a bar in his arms, or is of the 
 half-blood." 
 
 " You are quite sure, brother, that Tom is 2,filius 7mllus ? " 
 for the baronet had forgotten most of the little Latin he 
 ever knew, and translated this legal phrase into "no son." 
 
 '''' Films fiullius, Sir Wycherly, the son of nobody: your 
 reading would literally make Tom nobody; whereas, he is 
 only the son of nobody." 
 2 
 
1 8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 *' But, brother, he is your son, and as like you as two 
 hounds of the same litter." 
 
 " I am nullus, in the eye of the law, as regards poor Tom ; 
 who, until he marries and has children of his own, is alto- 
 gether without legal kindred. Nor do I know that legiti- 
 macy would make Tom any better; for he is presuming and 
 confident enough for the heir apparent to the throne, as 
 it is." 
 
 "Well, there's this young sailor, who has been so mucii at 
 the station lately, since he was left ashore for the cure of 
 his wounds. 'Tis a most gallant lad; and the First Lord 
 has sent him a commission, as a reward for his good con- 
 duct, in cutting out the Frenchman. I look upon him as a 
 credit to the name ; and I make no question he is, some 
 way or other, of our family." 
 
 "Does he claim to be so?" asked the judge, a little 
 quickly, for he distrusted men in general, and thought, from 
 all he had heard, that some attempt might have been made 
 to practise on his brother's simplicity. " I thought you 
 told me that he came from the American colonies?" 
 
 " So he does; he's a native of Virginia, as was his father 
 before him." 
 
 " A convict, perhaps ; or a servant, quite likely, who has 
 found the name of his former master more to his liking 
 than his own. Such things are common, they tell me, be- 
 yond seas." 
 
 " Yes, if he were anything but an American, I migHt wish 
 he were my heir," returned Sir Wycherly, in a melancholy 
 tone ; " but it would be worse than to let the lands escheat, 
 as you call it, to place an American in possession of Wyche- 
 combe. The manors have always had English owners, down 
 to the present moment, thank God!" 
 
 " Should they have any other, it will be your own fault, 
 Wycherly. When I am dead, and that will happen ere 
 many weeks, the human being will not be living who can 
 take that property, after your demise, in any other manner 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I9 
 
 than by escheat or by devise. There will then be neither 
 heir of entail, nor heir at law; and you may make whom 
 you please master of Wychecombe, provided he be not an 
 alien." 
 
 "Not an Am.erican, I suppose, brother; an American is 
 an alien, of course." 
 
 *' Humph! — why, not in law, whatever he may be accord- 
 ing to our English notions. Harkee, brother Wycherly; 
 I've never asked you, or wished you to leave the estate to 
 Tom, or his younger brothers; for one, and all, zx^ Jilii 7iul- 
 lorum — as I term 'em, though my brother Record will have 
 it, it ought to h&jftlii nullius^ as well z.^ filius nulHus. Let 
 that be as it may ; no bastard should lord it at Wychecombe ; 
 and rather than the king should get the lands, to bestow on 
 some favorite, I would give it to the half-blood." 
 
 " Can that be done without making a will, brother 
 Thomas?" 
 
 " It cannot. Sir Wycherly; nor with a will, so long as an 
 heir of entail can be found." 
 
 " Is there no way of making Tom 2iJiUus somebody^ so that 
 he can succeed?" 
 
 " Not under our laws. By the civil law, such a thing 
 might have been done, and by the Scotch law; but not 
 under the perfection of reason." 
 
 "I wish you knew this young Virginian! The lad bears 
 both of my names, Wycherly Wychecombe." 
 
 "He is not 2.fiUus Wycherly — is he, baronet?" 
 
 " Fie upon thee, brother Thomas ! Do you think I have 
 less candor than thyself, that I would not acknowledge my 
 own flesh and blood. I never saw the youngster, until 
 within the last six months, when he was landed from the 
 roadstead, and brought to Wychecombe, to be cured of his 
 wounds; nor ever heard of him before. When they told me 
 his name was Wycherly Wychecombe, I could do no less 
 than call and see him. The poor fellow lay at death's door 
 for a fortnight; and it was while we had little or no hope 
 
20 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of saving him that I got the few family anecdotes from 
 him. Now, that would be good evidence in law, I believe, 
 Thomas.'' 
 
 " For certain things, had the lad really died. Surviving, 
 he must be heard on his voire dire^ and under oath. But 
 what was his tale?" 
 
 " A very short one. He told me his father was a Wych- 
 erly Wychecombe, and that his grandfather had been a Vir- 
 ginia planter. This was all he seemed to know of his 
 ancestry." 
 
 " And probably all there was of them. My Tom is not 
 the only filius nuUius that has been among us, and this 
 grandfather, if he has not actually stolen the name, has got 
 it by these doubtful means. As for the Wycherly, it should 
 pass for nothing. Learning that there is a line of baronets 
 of this name, every pretender to the family would be apt to 
 call a son Wycherly." 
 
 "The line will shortly be ended, brother," returned Sir 
 Wycherly, sighing. "I wish you might be mistaken; and, 
 after all, Tom shouldn't prove to be \h2X filius you call him." 
 
 Mr. Baron Wychecombe, as much from esprit de corps as 
 from moral principle, was a man of strict integrity, in all 
 things that related to meum and tuiim. He was particularly 
 rigid in his notions concerning the transmission of real 
 estate, and the rights of primogeniture. The world had 
 taken little interest in the private history of a lawyer, and, 
 his sons having been born before his elevation to the bench, 
 he passed with the public for a widower, with a family of 
 promising boys. Not one in a hundred of his acquaint- 
 ances, even, suspected the fact; and nothing would have 
 been easier for him than to have imposed on his brother, 
 by inducing him to make a will under some legal mystifica- 
 tion or other, and to have caused Tom Wychecombe to suc- 
 ceed to the property in question, by an indisputable title. 
 There would have been no great difficulty even, in his son's 
 assuming and maintaining his right to the baronetcy, in- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 21 
 
 asmuch as there would be no competitor, and the crown 
 officers were not particularly rigid in inquiring into the 
 claims of those who assumed a title that brought with it no 
 political privileges. Still, he was far from indulging in any 
 such project. To him it appeared that the Wychecombe 
 estate ought to go with the principles that usually governed 
 such matters; and, although he submitted to the dictum of 
 the common law, as regarded the provision which excluded 
 the half-blood from inheriting, with the deference of an 
 English common-law lawyer, he saw and felt that, failing 
 the direct line, Wychecombe ought to revert to the descen- 
 dants of Sir Michael by his second son, for the plain reason 
 that they were just as much derived from the person who 
 had acquired the estate as his brother Wycherly and him- 
 self. Had there been descendants of females, even, to in- 
 terfere, no such opinion would have existed; but, as between 
 an escheat, or a devise in favor of z.JiHus niillius, or of the 
 descendant of 2^filius nidlius^ the half-blood possessed every 
 possible advantage. In his legal eyes, legitimacy was every- 
 thing, although he had not hesitated to be the means of 
 bringing into the world seven illegitimate children, that 
 being the precise number Martha had the credit of having 
 borne him, though three only survived. After reflecting a 
 moment, therefore, he turned to the baronet, and addressed 
 him more seriously than he had yet done, in the present 
 dialogue; first taking a draught of cordial to give him 
 strength for the occasion. 
 
 " Listen to me, brother Wycherly,'^ said the judge, with a 
 gravity that at once caught the attention of the other. " You 
 know something of the family history, and I need do no 
 more than allude to it. Our ancestors were the knightly 
 possessors of Wychecombe, centuries before King James es- 
 tablished the rank of baronet. When our great-grandfather, 
 Sir Wycherly, accepted the patent of 1611, he scarcely did 
 himself honor; for, by aspiring higher, he might have got 
 a peerage. However, a baronet he became, and, for the first 
 
22 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 time since Wychecombe was Wychecombe, the estate was 
 entailed, to do credit to the new rank. Now, the first Sir 
 Wycherly had three sons, and no daughter. Each of these 
 sons succeeded ; the two eldest as bachelors, and the young- 
 est was our grandfather. Sir Thomas, the fourth baronet, 
 left an only child, Wycherly, our father. Sir Wycherly, our 
 father, had five sons, Wycherly, his successor, yourself, and 
 the sixth baronet; myself; James; Charles; and Gregory. 
 James broke his neck at your side. The two last lost their 
 lives in the king's service, unmarried, and neither you nor 
 I have entered into the holy state of matrimony. I cannot 
 survive a month, and e hope of perpetuating the direct 
 line of the family rests with yourself. This accounts for 
 all the descendants of Sir Wycherly, the first baronet; and 
 it also settles the question of heirs of entail, of whom there 
 are none after myself. To go back beyond the time of King 
 James I. : Twice did the elder lines of the Wychecombes 
 fail, between the reign of King Richard II. and King 
 Henry VII., when Sir Michael succeeded. Now, in each 
 of these cases, the law disposed of the succession; the 
 youngest branches of the family, in both instances, getting 
 the estate. It follows that agreeably to legal decisions had 
 at the time, when the facts must have been known, that the 
 Wychecombes were reduced to these younger lines. Sir 
 Micahel had two wives. From the first loe are derived — 
 from the last, the Wychecombes of Hertfordshire — since 
 known as baronets of that county, by the style and title of 
 Sir Reginald Wychecombe of Wychecombe-Regis, Herts." 
 
 " The present Sir Reginald can have no claim, being of 
 the half-blood," put in Sir Wycherly, with a brevity of man- 
 ner that denoted feeling. " The half-blood is as bad as a 
 nullius, as you call Tom." 
 
 " Not quite. A person of the half-blood may be as legiti- 
 mate as the king's majesty; whereas, a nullius is of no 
 blood. Now, suppose for a moment, Sir Wycherly, that you 
 had been a son by a first wife, and I had been a son by a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 23 
 
 second — would there have been no relationship between 
 us?" 
 
 "What a question, Tom, to put to your own brother!" 
 
 "But I should not be your own brother, my good sir; 
 only your /^^//-brother ; of the half, ^nd not of the whole 
 blood." 
 
 "What of that — what of that? — your father would have 
 been my father — we would have had the same name — the 
 same family history — the same family/^^//;z^i- — poh! poh! 
 — we should have been both Wychecombes, exactly as we 
 are to-day." 
 
 " Quite true, and yet I could not have been your heir, nor 
 you mine. The estate would escheat to the king, Hano- 
 verian or Scotchman, before it came to me. Indeed, to 7?ie 
 it could never come." 
 
 "Thomas, you are trifling with my ignorance, and mak- 
 ing matters worse than they really are. Certainly, as long 
 as you lived, you would be my heir!" 
 
 "Very true, as to the /^2o,ooo in the funds, but not as to 
 the baronetcy and Wychecombe. So far as the two last are 
 concerned, I am heir of blood, and of entail, of the body of 
 Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, the first baronet, and the maker 
 of the entail." 
 
 " Had there been no entail, and had I died a child, who 
 would have succeeded our father, supposing there had been 
 two mothers?" 
 
 " I, as the next surviving son." 
 
 "There! — I knew it must be so!" exclaimed Sir Wych- 
 erly, in triumph; "and all this time you have been joking 
 with me!" 
 
 " Not so fast, brother of mine — not so fast. I should be 
 of the whole blood, as respected our father, and all the 
 Wychecombes that have gone before him; but of the half- 
 blood, as respected you. From our father I might have 
 taken, as his heir-at-law: but from you, never, having been 
 of the hal/-h\ood.^^ 
 
24 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " I would have made a will, in that case, Thomas, and 
 left you every farthing," said Sir Wycherly, with feeling. 
 
 " That is just what I wish you to do with Sir Reginald 
 Wychecombe. You must take him; 2i Jtlius fiulHus, in t\iQ 
 person of my son Tom ; a stranger ; or let the property es- 
 cheat; for we are so peculiarly placed as not to have a 
 known relative, by either the male or female lines; the 
 maternal ancestors being just as barren of heirs as the 
 paternal. Our good mother was the natural daughter of the 
 third Earl of Prolific; our grandmother was the last of her 
 race, so far as human ken can discover; our great-grand- 
 mother is said to have had semi -royal blood in her veins, 
 without the aid of the church, and beyond that it would be 
 hopeless to attempt tracing consanguinity on that side of 
 the house. No, Wycherly; it is Sir Reginald who has the 
 best right to the land; Tom, or one of his brothers, an utter 
 stranger, or His Majesty, follow. Remember that estates 
 of ^4,000 a year don't often escheat, now-a-days." 
 
 "If you'll draw up a will, brother, I'll leave it all to 
 Tom," cried the baronet, with sudden energy. " Nothing 
 need be said about the nidliiis ; and when I'm gone he'll 
 step quietly into my place." 
 
 Nature triumphed a moment in the bosom of the father; 
 but habit, and the stern sense cf right, soon overcame the 
 feeling. Perhaps certain doubts, and a knowledge of his 
 son's real character, contributed their share towards the 
 reply. 
 
 " It ought not to be. Sir Wycherly," returned the judge, 
 musing; "Tom has no right to Wychecombe, and Sir Regi- 
 nald has the best moral right possible, though the law cuts 
 him off. Had Sir Michael made the entail, instead of our 
 great-grandfather, he would have come in, as a matter of 
 course." 
 
 " I never liked Sir Reginald Wychecombe," said the 
 baronet, stubbornly. 
 
 "What of that? — He will not trouble you while living, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 25 
 
 and when dead it will be all the same. Come — come — I 
 will draw the will myself, leaving blanks for the name; and 
 when it is once done, you will sign it, cheerfully. It is the 
 last legal act I shall ever perform, and it will be a suitable 
 one, death being constantly before me." 
 
 This ended the dialogue. The will was drawn according 
 to promise; Sir Wycherly took it to his room to read, care- 
 fully inserted the name of Tom Wychecombe in all the blank 
 spaces, brought it back, duly executed the instrument in his 
 brother's presence, and then gave the paper to his nephew 
 to preserve, with a strong injunction on him to keep the 
 secret, until the instrument should have force by his own 
 death. Mr. Baron Wychecombe died in six weeks, and the 
 baronet returned to his residence, a sincere mourner for the 
 loss of an only brother. A more unfortunate selection of 
 an heir could not have been made, as Tom Wychecombe 
 was, in reality, the son of a barrister in the Temple; the 
 fancied likeness to the reputed father existing only in the 
 imagination of his credulous uncle. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 — — " How fearful 
 And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 The crows, and choughs, that wing the midway air, 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles I Half-way down 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire ! dreadful trade ! " 
 
 King Lear, 
 
 This digression on the family of Wychecombe has led us 
 far from the signal-station, the headland, and the fog, with 
 which the tale opened. The little dwelling connected with 
 the station stood at a short distance from the staff, sheltered, 
 by the formation of the ground, from the bleak winds of the 
 channel, and fairly embowered in shrubs and flowers. It 
 was a humble cottage, that had been ornamented with more 
 taste than was usual in England at that day. Its whitened 
 
26 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 walls, thatched roof, picketed garden, and trellised porch, 
 bespoke care, and a mental improvement in the inmates, 
 that were scarcely to be expected in persons so humbly em- 
 ployed as the keeper of the signal-staff, and his family. All 
 near the house, too, was in the same excellent condition; 
 for while the headland itself lay in common, this portion of 
 it was enclosed in two or three pretty little fields, that were 
 grazed by a single horse and a couple of cows. There 
 were no hedges, however, the thorn not growing willingly 
 in a situation so exposed; but the fields were divided by 
 fences, neatly enough made of wood, that declared its own 
 origin, having in fact been part of the timbers and planks 
 of a wreck. As the whole was whitewashed, it had a rustic 
 and, in a climate where the sun is seldom oppressive, by no 
 means a disagreeable appearance. 
 
 The scene with which we desire to commence the tale, 
 opens about seven o'clock on a July morning. On a bench 
 at the foot of the signal-staff was seated one of a frame that 
 was naturally large and robust, but which was sensibly be- 
 ginning to give way, either by age or disease. A glance at 
 the red, bloated face would suffice to tell a medical man 
 that the habits had more to do with the growing failure of 
 the system than any natural derangement of the physical 
 organs. The face too, was singularly manly and had once 
 been handsome, even; nay, it was not altogether without 
 claims to be so considered still; though intemperance was 
 making sad inroads on its comeliness. This person was 
 about fifty years old, and his air, as well as his attire, de- 
 noted a mariner; not a common seaman, nor yet altogether 
 an officer; but one of those of a middle station, who in 
 navies used to form a class by themselves; being of a rank 
 that entitled them to the honors of the quarter-deck, though 
 out of the regular line of promotion. In a word, he wore 
 the unpretending uniform of a master. A century ago, the 
 dress of the English naval officer was exceedingly simple, 
 though more appropriate to the profession, perhaps, than the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2^ 
 
 more showy attire that has since been introduced. Epau- 
 lettes were not used by any, and the anchor button, with the 
 tint that is called navy blue, an ' which is meant to repre- 
 sent the deep hue of the ocean, with white facings, composed 
 the principal peculiarities of the dress. The person intro- 
 duced to the reader, whose name was Button, and who was 
 simply the officer in charge of the signal-station, had a cer- 
 tain neatness about his well-worn uniform, his linen, and 
 all of his attire, which showed that some person more inter- 
 ested in such matters than one of his habits was likely to 
 be had the care of his wardrobe. In this respect, indeed, 
 his appearance was unexceptionable ; and there was an air 
 about the whole man which showed that nature, if not edu- 
 cation, had intended him for something far better than the 
 being he actually was. 
 
 Dutton was waiting, at that early hour, to ascertain, as 
 the veil of mist was raised from the face of the sea, whether 
 a sail might be in sight, that required of him the execution 
 of any of his simple functions. That some one was near 
 by, on the headland, too, was quite evident, by the occa- 
 sional interchange of speech ; though no person but himself 
 was visible. The direction of the sounds would seem to 
 indicate that a man was actually over the brow of the cliff, 
 perhaps a hundred, feet removed from the seat occupied by 
 the master. 
 
 " Recollect the sailor's maxim, Mr. Wychecombe," called 
 out Dutton, in a warning voice ; " one hand for the king, 
 and the other for self! Those cliffs are ticklish places; 
 and really it does seem a little unnatural that a seafaring 
 person like yourself should have so great a passion for 
 flowers as to risk his neck in order to make a posy!" 
 
 " Never fear for me, Mr. Dutton," answered a full, manly 
 voice, that one could have sworn issued from the chest of 
 youth; "never fear for me; we sailors are used to hanging 
 in the air." 
 
 " Ay, with good three-stranded ropes to hold on by, young 
 
28 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 gentleman. Now His Majesty's government has just made 
 you an officer, there is a sort Of obligation to take care of 
 your life, in order that it may be used, and, at need, given 
 away, in his service." 
 
 "Quite true — quite true, Mr. Button — so true, I wonder 
 you think it necessary to remind me of it. I am very grate- 
 ful to His Majesty's government, and " 
 
 While speaking, the voice seemed to descend, getting at 
 each instant less and less distinct, until, in the end, it be- 
 came quite inaudible. Button looked uneasy, for at that 
 instant a noise was heard, and then it was quite clear some 
 heavy object was falling down the face of the cliff. Now 
 it was that the mariner felt the want of good nerves, and 
 experienced the sense of humiliation which accompanied 
 the consciousness of having destroyed them by his excesses. 
 He trembled in every limb, and, for the moment, was ac- 
 tually unable to rise. A light step at his side, however, 
 drew a glance in that direction, and his eye fell on the form 
 of a lovely girl of nineteen, his own daughter, Mildred. 
 
 " I heard you calling to some one, father," said the latter, 
 looking wistfully but distrustfully at her parent, as if won- 
 dering at his yielding to his infirmity so early in the day; 
 "can I be of service to you?" 
 
 "Poor Wychecombe!" exclaimed Button. "He went 
 over the cliff in search of a nosegay to offer to yourself, 
 and — and — I fear — greatly fear " 
 
 " What, father?" demanded Mildred, in a voice of hor- 
 ror, the rich color disappearing from a face which it left of 
 the hue of death. " No — no — no — he can7iot have fallen." 
 
 Button bent his head down, drew a long breath, and then 
 seemed to gain more command of his nerves. He was about 
 to rise, when the sound of a horse's feet was heard, and then 
 Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, mounted on a quiet pony, rode 
 slowly up to the signal-staff. It was a common thing for 
 the baronet to appear on the cliffs early in the morning, but 
 it was not usual for him to come unattended. The instant 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2g 
 
 her eyes fell on the fine form of the venerable old man, Mil- 
 dred, who seemed to know him well, and to use the famil- 
 iarity of one confident of being a favorite, exclaimed : 
 
 "Oh! Sir Wycherly, how fortunate — where is Richard?" 
 
 "Good morrow, my pretty Milly," answered the baronet 
 cheerfully ; " fortunate or not, here I am, and not a bit flat- 
 tered that your first question should be after the groom, 
 instead of his master. I have sent Dick on a message to 
 the vicar's. Now my poor brother, the judge, is dead and 
 gone, I find Mr. Rotherham more and more necessary to 
 me." 
 
 " Oh ! dear Sir Wycherly — Mr. Wychecombe — Lieutenant 
 Wychecombe, I mean — the young officer from Virginia — he 
 who was so desperately wounded— in whose recovery we all 
 took so deep an interest " 
 
 "Well — what of him, child? — you surely do not mean 
 to put him on a level with Mr. Rotherham, in the way of 
 religious consolation — and, as for anything else, there is no 
 consanguinity between the Wychecombes of Virginia and 
 my family. He may be 2ifilius nullius of the Wychecombes 
 of Wychecombe-Regis, Herts, but has no connection with 
 those of Wychecombe-Hall, Devonshire." 
 
 " There— there— the cliff!— the cliff!" added Mildred, 
 unable, for the moment, to be more explicit. 
 
 As the girl pointed towards the precipice, and looked the 
 very image of horror, the good-hearted old baronet began to 
 get some glimpses of the truth ; and, by means of a few 
 words with Dutton, soon knew quite as much as his two 
 companions. Descending from his pony with surprising 
 activity for one of his years, Sir Wycherly was soon on his 
 feet, and a sort of confused consultation between the three 
 succeeded. Neither liked to approach the cliff, which was 
 nearly perpendicular at the extremity of the headland, and 
 was always a trial to the nerves of those who shrunk from 
 standing on the verge of precipices. They stood like per- 
 sons paralyzed, until Dutton, ashamed of his weakness, and 
 
30 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 recalling the thousand lessons in coolness and courage he 
 had received in his own manly profession, made a move- 
 ment toward advancing to the edge of the cliff, in order to 
 ascertain the real state of the case. The blood returned to 
 the cheeks of Mildred, too, and she again found a portion 
 of her natural spirit raising her courage. 
 
 "Stop, father," she said hastily; "you are infirm and 
 are in a tremor at this moment. My head is steadier — let 
 me go to the verge of the hill, and learn what has happened." 
 
 This was uttered with a forced calmness that deceived 
 her auditors, both of whom, the one from age, and the other 
 from shattered nerves, were certainly in no condition to as- 
 sume the same office. It required the all-seeing eye, which 
 alone can scan the heart, to read all the agonized suspense 
 with which that young and beautiful creature approached 
 the spot where she might command a view of the whole of 
 the side of the fearful declivity, from its giddy summit to 
 the base, where it was washed by the sea. The latter, in- 
 deed, could not literally be seen from above, the waves 
 having so far undermined the cliff as to leave a projection 
 that concealed the point where the rocks and the water came 
 absolutely in contact; the upper portion of the weather- 
 worn rocks falling a little inwards, so as to leave a ragged 
 surface that was sufficiently broken to contain patches of 
 earth, and verdure, sprinkled with the flowers peculiar to 
 such an exposure. The fog, also, intercepted the sight, giv- 
 ing to the descent the appearance of a fathomless abyss. 
 Had the life of the most indifferent person been in jeop- 
 ardy, under the circumstances named, Mildred would have 
 been filled with deep awe; but a gush of tender sensations, 
 which had hitherto been pent up in the sacred privacy of 
 her virgin affections, struggled with natural horror, as she 
 trod lightly on the very verge of the declivity, and cast a 
 timid but eager glance beneath. Then she recoiled a step, 
 raised her hands in alarm, and hid her face as if to shut 
 out some frightful spectacle. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3 1 
 
 By this time, Button's practical knowledge and recollec 
 don had returned. As is common with seamen, whose 
 minds contain vivid pictures of the intricate tracery of their 
 vessel's rigging in the darkest nights, his thoughts had 
 flashed athwart all the probable circumstances, and pre- 
 sented a just image of the facts. 
 
 " The boy could not be seen had he absolutely fallen, and 
 were there no fog; for the cliff tumbles home. Sir Wych- 
 erly," he said eagerly, unconsciously using a familiar nau- 
 tical phrase to express his meaning. " He must be clinging 
 to the side of the precipice, and that, too, above the swell 
 of the rocks." 
 
 Stimulated by a common feeling, the two men now ad- 
 vanced hastily to the brow of the hill, and there, indeed, as 
 with Mildred herself, a single look sufficed to tell them the 
 whole truth. Young Wychecombe, in leaning forward to 
 pluck a flower, had pressed so hard upon the bit of rock on 
 which a foot rested, as to cause it to break, thereby losing 
 his balance. A presence of mind that amounted almost to 
 inspiration, and a high resolution, alone saved him from 
 being dashed to pieces. Perceiving the rock to give way, 
 he threw himself forward, and alighted on a narrow shelf, a 
 few feet beneath the place where he had just stood, and at 
 least ten feet removed from it, laterally. The shelf on 
 which he alighted was ragged, and but two or three feet 
 wide. It would have afforded only a check to his fall, had 
 there not fortunately been some shrubs among the rocks 
 above it. By these shrubs the young man caught, actually 
 swinging off in the air, under the impetus of his leap. Hap- 
 pily, the shrubs were too well rooted to give way; and, 
 swinging himself round, with the address of a sailor, the 
 youthful lieutenant was immediately on his feet, in compar- 
 ative safety. The silence that succeeded was the conse- 
 quence of the shock he felt, in finding him so suddenly 
 thrown into this perilous situation. The summit of the cliff 
 was now about six fathoms above his head, and the shelf 
 
32 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 on which he stood impended over a portion of the cliff 
 that was absolutely perpendicular, and which might be 
 said to be out of the line of those projections along which 
 he had so lately been idly gathering flowers. It was physi- 
 cally impossible for any human being to extricate himself 
 from such a situation, without assistance. This Wyche- 
 combe understood at a glance, and he had passed the few 
 minutes that intervened between his fall and the appearance 
 of the party above him in devising the means necessary to 
 his liberation. As it was, few men, unaccustomed to the 
 giddy elevations of the mast, could have mustered a suffi- 
 cient command of nerve to maintain a position on the ledge 
 where he stood. Even he could not have continued there, 
 without steadying his form by the aid of the bushes. 
 
 As soon as the baronet and Dutton got a glimpse of the 
 perilous position of young Wychecombe, each recoiled in 
 horror from the sight, as if fearful of being precipitated on 
 top of him. Both then actually lay down on the grass, and 
 approached the edge of the cliff again, in that humble atti- 
 tude, even trembling as they lay at length, with their chins 
 projecting over the rocks, staring downward at the victim. 
 The young man could see nothing of all this; for, as he 
 stood with his back against the cliff, he had not room to 
 turn, with safety, or even to look upwards. Mildred, how- 
 ever, seemed to lose all sense of self and of danger, in view 
 of the extremity in which the youth beneath was placed. 
 She stood on the very verge of the precipice, and looked 
 down with steadiness and impunity that would have been 
 utterly impossible for her to attain under less exciting 
 circumstances; even allowing the young man to catch a 
 glimpse of her rich locks, as they hung about her beautiful 
 face. 
 
 "For God's sake, Mildred," called out the youth, "keep 
 further from the cliff — I see you, and we can now hear each 
 other without so much risk." 
 
 "What can we do to rescue you, Wychecombe?" eagerly 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 33 
 
 asked the girl. "Tell me, I entreat you; for Sir Wycherly 
 and my father are both unnerved!" 
 
 "Blessed creature! and you are mindful of my danger! 
 But, be not uneasy, Mildred ; do as I tell you, and all will 
 yet be well. I hope you hear and understand what I say, 
 dearest girl?" 
 
 " Perfectly," returned Mildred, nearly choked by the effort 
 to be calm. " I hear every syllable — speak on." 
 
 " Go you then to the signal -halyards — let one end fly loose, 
 and pull upon the other, until the whole line has come down 
 — when that is done, return here, and I will tell you more 
 — but, for heaven's sake, keep farther from the cliff." 
 
 The thought that the rope, small and frail as it seemed, 
 might be of use, flashed on the brain of the girl ; and in a 
 moment she was at the staff. Time and again, when liquor 
 incapacitated her father to perform his duty, had Mildred 
 bent on, and hoisted the signals for him ; and thus, hap- 
 pily, she was expert in the use of the halyards. In a min- 
 ute she had unrove them, and the long line lay in a little 
 pile at her feet. 
 
 " 'Tis done, Wycherly," she said, again looking over the 
 cliff; "shall I throw you down one end of the rope? — but, 
 alas! I have not strength to raise you; and Sir Wycherly 
 and father seem unable to assist me!" 
 
 " Do not hurry yourself, Mildred, and all will be well. 
 Go, and put one end of the line around the signal-staff, then 
 put the two ends together, tie them in a knot, and drop them 
 down over my head. Be careful not to come too near the 
 cliff, for " 
 
 The last injunction was useless, Mildred having flown to 
 execute her commission. Her quick mind readily compre- 
 hended what was expected of her, and her nimble fingers 
 soon performed their task. Tying a knot in the ends of the 
 line, she did as desired, and the small rope was soon dan- 
 gling within reach of Wychecombe's arm. It is not easy to 
 make a landsman understand the confidence which a sailor 
 3 
 
34 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 feels in a rope. Place but a frail and rotten piece of twisted 
 hemp in his hand, and he will risk his person in situations 
 from which he would otherwise recoil in dread. Accus- 
 tomed to hang suspended in the air, with ropes only for his 
 foothold, or with ropes to grasp with his hand, his eye gets 
 an intuitive knowledge of what will sustain him, and he 
 unhesitatingly trusts his person to a few seemingly slight 
 strands, that, to one unpractised, appear wholly unworthy of 
 his confidence. Signal-halyards are ropes smaller than the 
 little finger of a man of any size; but they are usually made 
 with care, and every rope-yarn tells. Wychecombe, too, was 
 aware that these particular halyards were new, for he had 
 assisted in reeving them himself, only the week before. It 
 was owing to this circumstance that they were long enough 
 to reach him; a large allowance for wear and tear having 
 been made in cutting them from the coil. As it was, the 
 ends dropped some twenty feet below the ledge on which 
 he stood. 
 
 "All safe, now, Mildred!" cried the young man, in a 
 voice of exultation the moment his hand caught the two 
 ends of the line, which he immediately passed around his 
 body, beneath the arms, as a precaution against accidents. 
 " All safe, now, dearest girl ; have no further concern about 
 me." 
 
 Mildred drew back, for worlds could not have tempted her 
 to witness the desperate effort that she knew must follow. 
 By this time. Sir Wycherly, who had been an interested wit- 
 ness of all that passed, found his voice, and assumed the 
 office of director. 
 
 " Stop, my young namesake," he eagerly cried, when he 
 found that the sailor was about to make an effort to drag his 
 own body up the cliff; "stop; that will never do; let But- 
 ton and me do that much for you, at least. We have seen 
 all that has passed, and are now able to do something." 
 
 "No — no. Sir Wycherly — on no account touch the hal- 
 yards. By hauling them over the top of the rocks you will 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 35 
 
 probably cut them, or part them, and then I'm lost, without 
 hope!" 
 
 "Oh! Sir Wycherly," said Mildred earnestly, clasping 
 her hands together, as if to enforce the request with prayer; 
 "do not — do not touch the line." 
 
 "We had better let the lad manage thematter in his own 
 way," put in Button ; " he is active, resolute, and a seaman, 
 and will do better for himself than I fear we can do for him. 
 He has got a turn round his body, and is tolerably safe 
 against any slip or mishap." 
 
 As the words were muttered, the whole three drew back a 
 short distance and watched the result, in intense anxiety. 
 Button, however, so far recollected himself as to take an 
 end of the old halyards, which were kept in a chest at the 
 foot of the staff, and to make an attempt to stopper together 
 the two parts of the little rope on which the youth depended, 
 for should one of the parts of it break, without this precau- 
 tion, there was nothing to prevent the halyards from running 
 round the staff, and destroying the hold. The size of the 
 halyards rendered this expedient very difficult of attainment, 
 but enough was done to give the arrangement a little more 
 of the air of security. All this time young Wychecombe 
 was making his own preparations on the ledge, and quite 
 out of view ; but the tension on the halyards soon announced 
 that his weight was now pendent from them. Mildred's 
 heart seemed ready to leap from her mouth, as she noted 
 each jerk on the lines ; and her father watched every new pull, 
 as if he expected the next moment would produce the final 
 catastrophe. It required a prodigious effort in the young 
 man to raise his own weight for such a distance, by lines so 
 small. Had the rope been of any size, the achievement 
 would have been trifling for one of the frame and habits of 
 the sailor, more especially as he could slightly avail himself 
 of his feet, by pressing them against the rocks; but, as it 
 was, he felt as if he were dragging the mountain up after him. 
 At length, his head appeared a few inches above the rocks, 
 
36 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 but with his feet pressed against the cliff, and his body in- 
 clining outward, at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
 
 " Help him — help him, father !" exclaimed Mildred, cover- 
 ing her face with her hands, to exclude the sight of Wyche- 
 combe's desperate struggles. " If he fall now, he will be 
 destroyed. Oh, save him, save him. Sir Wycherly!" 
 
 But neither of those to whom she appealed could be of 
 any use. The nervous trembling again came over the father ; 
 and as for the baronet, age and inexperience rendered him 
 helpless. 
 
 " Have you no rope, Mr. Dutton, to throw over my shoul- 
 ders," cried Wychecombe, suspending his exertions in pure 
 exhaustion, still keeping all he had gained, with his head 
 projecting outward, over the abyss beneath, and his face 
 turned towards heaven. " Throw a rope over my shoulders, 
 and drag my body in to the cliff." 
 
 Dutton showed an eager desire to comply, but his nerves 
 had not yet been excited by the usual potations, and his 
 hands shook in a way to render it questionable whether he 
 could perform even this simple service. But for his daugh- 
 ter, indeed, he would hardly have set about it intelligently. 
 Mildred, accustomed to using the signal-halyards, procured 
 the old line, and handed it to her father, who discovered 
 some of his professional knowledge in his manner of using 
 it. Doubling the halyards twice, he threw the bight over 
 Wychecombe's shoulders, and, aided by Mildred, endeav- 
 ored to draw the body of the young man upwards and tow- 
 ard the cliff. But their united strength was unequal to 
 the task, and wearied with holding on, and, indeed, unable 
 to support his own weight any longer by so small a rope, 
 Wychecombe felt compelled to suffer his feet to drop be- 
 neath him, and slid down again upon the ledge. Here, even 
 his vigorous frame shook with its prodigious exertions , and 
 he was compelled to seat himself on the shelf, and rest with 
 his back against the cliff, to recover his self-command and 
 Strength. Mildred uttered a faint shriek as he disappeared, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3/ 
 
 but was too much horror-stricken to approach the verge of 
 the precipice to ascertain his fate. 
 
 " Bt composed, Milly," said her father, " he is safe, as 
 you may see by the halyards; and to say the truth, the stuff 
 holds on well. So long as the line proves true, the boy 
 can't fall ; he has taken a double turn with the end of it 
 round his body. Make your mind easy, girl, for I feel bet- 
 ter now, and see my way clear. Don't be uneasy. Sir Wych- 
 erly ; we'll have the lad safe on terra Jirma again, in ten 
 minutes. I scarce know what has come over me, this morn- 
 ing; but I've not had the command of my limbs as in com- 
 mon. It cannot be fright, for I've seen too many men in 
 danger to be disabled by that ; and I think, Milly, it must 
 be the rheumatism, of which I've so often spoken, and which 
 I've inherited from my poor mother, dear old soul. Do you 
 know, Sir Wycherly, that rheumatism can be inherited like 
 gout?" 
 
 " I dare say it may — I dare say it may, Dutton — but never 
 mind the disease, now; get my young namesake back here 
 on the grass, and I will hear all about it. I would give the 
 world that I had not sent Dick to Mr. Rotherham's this 
 morning. Can't we contrive to make the pony pull the boy 
 up?" 
 
 "The traces are hardly strong enough for such work, Sir 
 Wycherly. Have a little patience, and I will manage the 
 whole thing, 'ship-shape, and Brister fashion,' as we say at 
 sea. Halloo there, Master Wychecombe — answer my hail, 
 and I will soon get you into deep water." 
 
 "I'm safe on the ledge," returned the voice of Wyche- 
 combe, from below; " I wish you would look to the signal- 
 halyards, and see they do not chafe against the rocks, Mr. 
 Dutton." 
 
 "All right, sir; all right. Slack up, if you please, and 
 let me have all the line you can, without casting off from 
 your body. Keep fast the end for fear of accidents." 
 
 In an instant the halyards slackened, and Dutton, who 
 
38 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 by this time had gained his self-command, though still weak 
 and unnerved by the habits of the last fifteen years, forced 
 the bight along the edge of the cliff, until he had brought it 
 over a projection of the rocks, where it fastened itself. This 
 arrangement caused the line to lead down to the part of the 
 cliffs from which the young man had fallen, and where it 
 was by no means difficult for a steady head and active limbs 
 to move about and pluck flowers. It consequently remained 
 for Wychecombe merely to regain a footing on that part of 
 the hillside, to ascend to the summit without difficulty. It 
 is true he was now below the point from which he had 
 fallen, but by swinging himself off laterally, or even by 
 springing, aided by the line, it was not a difficult achieve- 
 ment to reach it, and he no sooner understood the nature of 
 the change that had been made than he set about attempt- 
 ing it. The confident manner of Button encouraged both 
 the baronet and Mildred, and they drew to the cliff again; 
 standing near the verge, though on the part where the rocks 
 might be descended, with less apprehension of consequences. 
 As soon as Wychecombe had made all his preparations, 
 he stood on the end of the ledge, tightened the line, looked 
 carefully for a foothold on the other side of the chasm, and 
 made his leap. As a matter of course, the body of the young 
 man swung readily across the space, until the line became 
 perpendicular, and then he found a surface so broken as to 
 render his ascent by no means difficult, aided as he was by 
 the halyards. Scrambling upward, he soon rejected the 
 aid of the line, and sprang upon the headland. At the 
 same instant, Mildred fell senseless on the grass. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 *' I wast a hero : — an uncommon want, 
 
 When every year and month send forth a new one : 
 'Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, 
 The age discovers he is not a true one ; — " 
 
 Byron. 
 
 In consequence of the unsteadiness of the father's nerves, 
 the duty of raising Mildred in his arms, and of carrying her 
 to the cottage, devolved on the young man. This he did 
 with a readiness and concern which proved how deep an 
 interest he took in her situation, and with a power of arm 
 which showed that his strength was increased rather than 
 lessened by the condition into which she had fallen. So 
 rapid was his movement, that no one saw the kiss he im- 
 pressed on the pallid cheek of the sweet girl, or the tender 
 pressure with which he grasped the lifeless form. By the 
 time he reached the door, the motion and air had begun to 
 revive her, and Wychecombe committed her to the care of 
 her alarmed mother, with a few hurried words of explana- 
 tion. He did not leave the house, however, for a quarter of 
 an hour, except to call out to Button that Mildred was re- 
 viving, and that he need be under no uneasiness on her ac- 
 count. Why he remained so long, we leave the reader to 
 imagine, for the girl had been immediately taken to her own 
 little chamber, and he saw her no more for several hours. 
 
 When our young sailor came out upon the headland again, 
 he found the party near the flagstaff increased to four. 
 Dick, the groom, had returned from his errand, and Tom 
 Wychecombe, the intended heir of the baronet, was also 
 there, in mourning for his reputed father, the judge. This 
 young man had become a frequent visitor to the station of 
 late, affecting to imbibe his uncle's taste for sea-air and a 
 view of the ocean. There had been several meetings be- 
 tween himself and his namesake, and each interview was 
 
40 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 becoming less amicable than the preceding, for a reason 
 that was sufficiently known to the parties. When they met 
 on the present occasion, therefore, the bows they exchanged 
 were haughty and distant, and the glances cast at each other 
 might have been termed hostile, were it not that a sinister 
 irony was blended with that of Tom Wychecombe. Still, 
 the feelings that were uppermost did not prevent the latter 
 from speaking in an apparently friendly manner. 
 
 "They tell me, Mr. Wychecombe," observed the judge's 
 heir (for this Tom Wychecombe might legally claim to be) ; 
 " they tell me, Mr. Wychecombe, that you have been taking 
 a lesson in your trade this morning, by swinging over the 
 cliffs at the end of a rope? Now, that is an exploit more to 
 the taste of an American than to that of an Englishman, I 
 should think. But I dare say one is compelled to do many 
 things in the colonies that we never dream of at home." 
 
 This was said with seeming indifference, though with 
 great art. Sir Wycherly's principal weakness was an over- 
 weening and an ignorant admiration of his own country, and 
 all it contained. He was also strongly addicted to that 
 feeling of contempt for the dependencies of the empire, 
 which seems to be inseparable from the political connection 
 between the people of the metropolitan country and their 
 colonies. There must be entire equality, for perfect respect, 
 in any situation in life; and, as a rule, men always appro- 
 priate to their own shares any admitted superiority that may 
 happen to exist on the part of the communities to which 
 they belong. It is on this principle that the tenant of a 
 cockloft in P ris or London is so apt to feel a high claim 
 to superiority over the occupant of a comfortable abode in 
 a village. As between England and her North American 
 colonies in particular, this feeling was stronger than is the 
 case usually, on account of the early democratical tenden- 
 cies of the latter; not that these tendencies had already be- 
 come the subject of political jealousies, but that they left 
 social impressions which were singularly adapted to bring- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4 1 
 
 ing the colonists into contempt among a people predominant 
 for their own factitious habits, and who are so strongly in- 
 clined to view everything, even to principles, through the 
 medium of arbitrary, conventional customs. It must be 
 confessed that the Americans, in the middle of the eigh- 
 teenth centur}', were an exceedingly provincial, and in many 
 particulars a narrow-minded people, as well in their opin- 
 ions as in their habits; nor is the reproach altogether re- 
 moved at the present day; but the country from which they 
 are derived had not then made the vast strides in civili- 
 zation for which it has latterly become so distinguished. 
 The indifference, too, with which all Europe regarded the 
 whole American continent, and to which England herself, 
 though she possessed so large a stake on this side of the 
 Atlantic, formed no material exception, constantly led that 
 quarter of the world into profound mistakes in all its rea- 
 soning that was connected with this quarter of the world, 
 and aided in producing the state of feeling to which we 
 have alluded. Sir Wycherly felt and reasoned on the sub- 
 ject of America much as the great bulk of his countrymen 
 felt and reasoned in 1745; the exceptions existing only 
 among the enlightened, and those whose particular duties 
 rendered more correct knowledge necessary, and not always 
 among them. It is said that the English minister conceived 
 the idea of taxing America from the circumstance of seeing 
 a wealthy Virginian lose a large sum at play, a sort of argu- 
 mentum ad hominem that brought with it a very dangerous 
 conclusion to apply to the sort of people with whom he had 
 to deal. Let this be as it might, there is no more question 
 that, at the period of our tale, the profoundest ignorance 
 concerning America existed generally in the mother country, 
 than there is that the profoundest respect existed in America 
 for nearly everything English. Truth compels us to add 
 that, in despite of all that has passed, the cis-atlantic portion 
 of the weakness has longest endured the assaults of time 
 and of an increased intercourse. 
 
42 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Young Wycherly, as is ever the case, was keenly alive to 
 any insinuations that might be supposed to reflect on the 
 portion of the empire of which he was a native. He con- 
 sidered himself an Englishman, it is true ; was thoroughly 
 loyal ; and was every way disposed to sustain the honor and 
 interests of the seat of authority; but when questions were 
 raised between Europe and America he was an Ameriqan; 
 as, in America itself, he regarded himself as purely a Vir- 
 ginian, in contradistinction to all the other colonies. He 
 understood the intended sarcasm of Tom Wychecombe, but 
 smothered his resentment, out of respect to the baronet, and 
 perhaps a little influenced by the feelings in which he had 
 been so lately indulging. 
 
 "Those gentlemen who are disposed to fancy such things 
 of the colonies would do well to visit that part of the world," 
 he answered calmly, " before they express their opinions 
 too loudly, lest they should say something that future ob- 
 servation might make them wish to recall." 
 
 "True, my young friend — quite true," put in the baronet, 
 with the kindest possible intentions. "True as gospel. 
 We never know anything of matters about which we know 
 nothing; that we old men must admit. Master Button, and 
 I should think Tom must see its force. It would be unrea- 
 sonable to expect to find ever}'thing as comfortable in Amer- 
 ica as we have it here in England ; nor do I suppose the 
 Americans, in general, would be as likely to get over a cliff 
 as an Englishman. However, there are exceptions to all 
 general rules, as my poor brother James used to say, when 
 he saw occasion to find fault with the sermon of a prelate. 
 I believe you did not know my poor brother. Button; he 
 must have been killed about the time you were bom — St. 
 James, I used to call him, although my brother Thomas, the 
 judge that was, Tom's father, there — said he was St. James 
 the Less." 
 
 " I believe the Rev. Mr. Wychecombe was dead before I 
 was of an age to remember his virtues, Sir Wycherly," said 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 43 
 
 Dutton respectfully; '' though I have often heard my own 
 father speak of all your honored family." 
 
 " Yes, your father, Dutton, was the attorney of the next 
 town, and we all knew him well. You have done quite right 
 to come back among us to spend the close of your own days. 
 A man is never as well off as when he is thriving in his 
 native soil; more especially when that soil is old England, 
 and Devonshire. You are not one of us, young gentleman, 
 though your name happens to be Wychecombe ; but then we 
 are none of us accountable for our own births or birth- 
 places." 
 
 This truism, which is in the mouths of thousands while 
 it is in the hearts of scarcely any, was well meant by Sir 
 Wycherly, however plainly expressed. It merely drew from 
 the youth the simple answer that " he was born in the col- 
 onies, and had colonists for his parents" ; a fact that the 
 others had heard already, some ten or a dozen times. 
 
 " It is a little singular, Mr. Wychecombe, that you should 
 bear both of my names, and yet be no relative," continued 
 the baronet. " Now, Wycherly came into our family from 
 old Sir Hildebrand Wycherly, who was slain at Bosworth 
 Field, and whose only daughter, my ancestor, and Tom's 
 ancestor, there, married. Since that day, Wycherly has been 
 a favorite name among us. I do not think that the Wyche- 
 combes of Herts ever thought of calling a son Wycherly, 
 although, as my poor brother the judge used to say, they 
 were related, but of the half-blood, only. I suppose your 
 father taught you what is meant by being of the half-blood, 
 Thomas?" 
 
 Tom Wychecombe's face became the color of scarlet, and 
 he cast an uneasy glance at all present; expecting, in partic- 
 ular, to meet with a look of exultation in the eyes of the 
 lieutenant. He was greatly relieved, however, at finding 
 that neither of the three meant or understood more than was 
 simply expressed. As for his uncle, he had not the small- 
 esc intention of making any allusion to the peculiarity of 
 
44 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 his nephew's birth ; and the other two, in common with the 
 world, supposed the reputed heir to be legitimate. Gather • 
 ing courage from the looks of those around him, Tom an- 
 swered with a steadiness that prevented his agitation from 
 being detected: 
 
 " Certainly, my dear sir; my excellent parent forgot noth- 
 ing that he thought might be useful to me, in maintaining 
 my rights, and the honor of the family, hereafter. I very 
 well understand that the Wychecombes of Hertfordshire 
 have no claims on us; nor, indeed, any VVychecombe who 
 is not descended from my respectable grandfather, the late 
 Sir Wycherly." 
 
 " He must have been an early ^ instead of a late Sir 
 Wycherly, rather, Mr. Thomas," put in Dutton, laughing at 
 his own conceit; "for I can remember no other than the 
 honorable baronet before us, in the last fifty years." 
 
 " Quite true, Dutton — very true," rejoined the person last 
 alluded to. " As true as that ' time and tide wait for no 
 man.* We understand the meaning of such things on the 
 coast here. It was half a century, last October, since I suc- 
 ceeded my respected parent; but it will not be another half 
 century before some one will succeed me!" 
 
 Sir Wycherly was a hale, hearty man for his years, but he 
 had no unmanly dread of his end. Still he felt it could not 
 be very distant, having already numbered fourscore and four 
 years. Nevertheless, there were certain phrases of usage 
 that Dutton did not see fit to forget on such an occasion, 
 and he answered accordingly, turning to look at and admire 
 the still ruddy countenance of the baronet, by way of giving 
 emphasis to his words. 
 
 " You will yet see half of us into our graves. Sir Wycher- 
 ly," he said, " and still remain an active man. Though I 
 dare say another half-century will bring most of us up. 
 Even Mr. Thomas, here, and your young namesake can 
 hardly hope to run out more line than that. Well, as for 
 myself, I only desire to live through this war, that I may 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 45 
 
 again see His Majesty's arms triumphant; though they do 
 tell me that we are in for a good thirty years' struggle. 
 Wars have lasted as long as that^ Sir Wycherly, and I don't 
 see why this may not, as well as another." 
 
 "Very true, Dutton; it is not only possible, but probable; 
 and I trust both you and I may live to see our flower-hunter 
 here a post-captain, at least — though it would be wishing 
 almost too much to expect to see him an admiral. There 
 has been one admiral of the name, and I confess I should 
 like to see another!" 
 
 "Has not Mr. Thomas a brother in the service?" de- 
 manded the master; " I had thought that my lord, the judge, 
 had given us one of his young gentlemen." 
 
 " He thought of it ; but the army got both of the boys, 
 as it turned out. Gregory was to be the midshipman; my 
 poor brother intending him for a sailor from the first, and 
 so giving him the name that was once borne by the unfor- 
 tunate relative we lost by shipwreck. I wished him to call 
 one of the lads James, after St. James; but, somehow, I 
 never could persuade Thomas to see all the excellence of 
 that pious young man." 
 
 Dutton was a little embarrassed, for St. James had left 
 anything but a godly savor behind him ; and he was about 
 to fabricate a tolerably bold assertion to the contrary, rather 
 than incur the risk of offending the lord of the manor, when, 
 luckily, a change in the state of the fog afforded him a 
 favorable opportunity of bringing about an apposite change 
 in the subject. During the whole of the morning the sea 
 had been invisible from the headland, a dense body of 
 vapor resting on it, far as eye could reach; veiling the 
 whole expanse with a single white cloud. The lighter por- 
 tions of the vapor had at first floated around the headland, 
 which could not have been seen at any material distance; 
 but all had been gradually settling down into a single mass, 
 that now rose within twenty feet of the summit of the cliffs. 
 The hour was still quite early, but the sun was gaining 
 
46 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 force, and it speedily drank up all the lighter particles of 
 the mist, leaving a clear, bright atmosphere above the 
 feathery bank, through which objects might be seen for 
 miles. There was what seamen call a "fanning breeze," or 
 just wind enough to cause the light sails of a ship to swell 
 and collapse, under the double influence of the air and the 
 motion of the hull, imitating in a slight degree the vibra- 
 tions of that familiar appliance of the female toilet. But- 
 ton's eye had caught a glance of the loftiest sail of a vessel, 
 above the fog, going through this very movement; and it 
 afforded him the release he desired, by enabling him to 
 draw the attention of his companions to the same object. 
 
 "See, Sir Wycherly — see, Mr. Wychecombe," he cried 
 eagerly, pointing in the direction of the sail ; " yonder is 
 some of the king's canvas coming into our roadstead, or I 
 am no judge of the set of a man-of-war's royal. It is a 
 large bit of cloth, too, Mr. Lieutenant, for a sail so lofty!" 
 
 "It is a two-decker's royal. Master Dutton," returned the 
 young sailor; "and now you see the fore and main, sepa- 
 rately,, as the ship keeps away." 
 
 "Well," put in Sir Wycherly, in a resigned manner; 
 "here have I lived fourscore years on this coast, and, for 
 the life of me, I have never been able to tell a fore-royal 
 from a back-royal; or a mizzen head-stay from a head 
 mizzen-stay. They are the most puzzling things imagina- 
 ble ; and now I cannot discover how you know that yonder 
 sail, which I see plain enough, is a royal any more than 
 that it is a jib!" 
 
 Dutton and the lieutenant smiled, but Sir Wycherly's 
 simplicity had a cast of truth and nature about it that de- 
 terred most people from wishing to ridicule him. Then, 
 the rank, fortune, and local interest of the baronet counted 
 for a good deal on all such occasions. 
 
 " Here is another fellow, farther east," cried Dutton, still 
 pointing with a finger; "and every inch as big as his con- 
 sort ! Ah ! it does my eyes good to, see our roadstead come 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4/ 
 
 Into notice, in this manner, after all I have said and done 
 in its behalf. But, who have we here — a brother chip, by 
 his appearance; I dare say some idler who has been sent 
 ashore with despatches." 
 
 " There is another fellow further east, and every inch as 
 big as his consort," said Wychecombe, as we shall call our 
 lieutenant, in order to distinguish him from Tom f the 
 same name, repeating the very words of Button, with an 
 application and readiness that almost amounted to wit, 
 pointing, in his turn, at two strangers who were ascending 
 to the station by a path that led from the beach. " Cer- 
 tainly both these gentlemen are in His Majesty's service, 
 and they have probably just landed from the ships in the 
 offing." 
 
 The truth of this conjecture was apparent to Button at a 
 glance. As the strangers joined each other, the one last 
 seen proceeded in advance ; and there was something in his 
 years, the confident manner in which he approached, and 
 his general appearance, that induced both the sailors to 
 believe he might be the commander of one of the ships that 
 had just come in view. 
 
 "Good-morrow, gentlemen," commenced this person, as 
 soon as near enough to salute the party at the foot of the 
 flagstaff; "good-morrow to ye all. I'm glad to meet you, 
 for it's but a Jacob's ladder, this path of yours, through the 
 ravine in the cliffs. Hey! why, Atwood," looking around 
 him at the sea of vapor, in surprise, "what the devil has 
 become of the fleet?" 
 
 " It is lost in the fog, sir ; we are above it, here ; when 
 more on a level with the ships, we could see, or fancy we 
 saw, more of them than we do now." 
 
 " Here are the upper sails of two heavy ships, sir," ob- 
 served Wychecombe, pointing in the direction of the vessels 
 already seen ; " ay, and yonder are two more — nothing but 
 the royals are visible." 
 
 "Two more! — I left eleven two-deckers, three frigates, a 
 
48 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 sloop, and a cutter in sight, when I got into the boat. Yon 
 might have covered 'em all with a pocket-handkerchief, hey! 
 Atwood! ' 
 
 "They were certainly in close order, sir, but I'll not take 
 it on myself to say quite as near together as that." 
 
 " Ay, you' e a dissenter by trade, and never will believe 
 in a miracle. Sharp work, gentlemen, to get up such a hill 
 as this, after fifty." 
 
 " It is, indeed, sir," answered Sir Wycherly kindly. 
 "Will you do us the favor to take a seat among us, and 
 rest yourself after so violent an exertion? The cliff is hard 
 enough to ascend, even when one keeps the path; though 
 here is a young gentleman who had a fancy just now to go 
 down it, without a path; and that, too, merely that a pretty 
 girl might have a nosegay on her breakfast-table." 
 
 The stranger looked intently at Sir Wycherly for a mo- 
 ment, then glanced his eye at the groom and the pony, after 
 which he took a survey of Tom Wychecombe, the lieutenant, 
 and the master. He was a man accustomed to look about 
 him, and he understood, by that rapid glance, the characters 
 of all he surveyed, with perhaps the exception of that of 
 Tom Wychecombe ; and even of that he formed a tolerably 
 shrewd conjecture. Sir Wycherly he immediately set down 
 as the squire of the adjacent estate; Button's situation he 
 hit exactly, conceiving him to be a worn-out master, who 
 was employed to keep the signal-station ; while he under- 
 stood Wychecombe, by his undress and air, to be a sea- 
 lieutenant in the king's service. Tom Wychecombe he 
 thought it quite likely might be the son and heir of the lord 
 of the manor, both being in mourning; though he decided 
 in his own mind that there was not the smallest family 
 likeness between them. Bowing with the courtesy of a man 
 who knew how to acknowledge a civility, he took the prof- 
 fered seat at Sir Wycherly's side without farther ceremony. 
 
 "We must carry the young fellow to sea with us, sir," re- 
 joined the stranger, " and that will cure him of looking for 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 49 
 
 flowers in such ticklish places. His Majesty has need of 
 us all, in this war; and I trust, young gentleman, you have 
 not been long ashore, among the girls." 
 
 " Only long enough to make a cure of a pretty smart hurt, 
 received in cutting out a lugger from the opposite coast," 
 answered Wychecombe, with sufficient modesty, and yet 
 with sufficient spirit. 
 
 " Lugger ! — ha ! what, Atwood ? You surely do not mean, 
 young gentleman, La Voltigeuse?" 
 
 " That was the name of the craft, sir — we found her in 
 the roads of Groix." 
 
 '• And then I've the pleasure of seeing Mr. Wychecombe, 
 the young officer who led in that gallant attack .'"' 
 
 This was said with a most flattering warmth of manner, 
 the stranger even rising and removing his hat, as he uttered 
 the words with a heartiness that showed how much his feel- 
 ings were in unison with what he said. 
 
 " I am Mr. Wychecombe, sir," answered the other, blush- 
 ing to the temples, and returning the salute; "though I had 
 not the honor of leading; one of the lieutenants of our 
 ship being in another boat," 
 
 " Yes — I know all that — but he was beaten off, while you 
 boarded and did the work. What have my lords commis- 
 sioners done in the matter?" 
 
 "All that is necessary, so far as I am concerned, sir, I do 
 assure you; having sent me a commission the very next 
 week. I only wish they had been equally generous to Mr. 
 Walton, who received a severe wound also, and behaved as 
 well as man could behave." 
 
 " That would not be so wise, Mr. Wychecombe, since it 
 would be rewarding a failure," returned the stranger coldly. 
 " Success is all in all, in war. Ah! there the fellows begin 
 to show themselves, Atwood." 
 
 This remark drew all eyes again toward the sea, where 
 a sight now presented itself that was really worthy of a 
 passing notice. The vapor appeared to have become 
 4 
 
50 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 packed into a mass of some eighty or a hundred feet in 
 height, leaving a perfectly clear atmosphere above it. In 
 the clear air, were visible the upper spars and canvas of 
 the entire fleet mentioned by the stranger; sixteen sail in 
 all. There were the eleven two-deckers, and the three 
 frigates, rising in pyramids of canvas, still fanning in 
 toward the anchorage, which in that roadstead was within 
 pistol-shot of the shore ; while the royals and upper part of 
 the topgallant sails of the sloop seemed to stand on the 
 surface of the fog, like a monument. After a moment's 
 pause, Wychecombe discovered even the head of the cutter's 
 royal-mast, with the pennant lazily fluttering ahead of it, 
 partly concealed in vapor. The fog seemed to settle, in- 
 stead of rising, though it evidently rolled along the face of 
 the waters, putting the whole scene in motion. It was not 
 long ere the tops of the ships of the line became visible, 
 and then living beings were for the first time seen in the 
 moving masses. 
 
 "I suppose we offer just such a sight to the topmen of 
 the ships as they offer to us," observed the siranger. " They 
 must see this headland and flagstaff, Mr. Wychecombe; 
 and there can be no danger of their standing in too far!" 
 
 "I should think not, sir; certainly the men aloft can see 
 the cliffs above the fog, as we see the vessels' spars. Ha! 
 Mr. Button, there is a rear-admiral's flag flying on board 
 the ship farthest to the eastward." 
 
 " So I see, sir; and by looking at the third vessel on the 
 western side of the line, you will find a bit of square bunt- 
 ing at the fore, which will tell you there is a vice-admiral 
 beneath it." 
 
 "Quite true!" exclaimed Wychecombe, who was ever en- 
 thusiastic on matters relating to his profession; "a vice 
 admiral of the red, too ; which is the next step to being a full 
 admiral. This must be the fleet of Sir Digby Downes!" 
 
 " No, young gentleman," returned the stranger, who per- 
 ceived, by the glance of the other's eye, that a question was 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 5 1 
 
 inuirectly put to himself; " it is the southern squadron ; and 
 the vice-admiral's flag you see belongs to Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes. Admiral Bluewater is on board the ship that carries 
 a flag at the mizzen." 
 
 " Those two officers always go together, Sir Wycherly," 
 added the young man. "Whenever we hear the name of Sir 
 Gervaise, that of Bluewater is certain to accompany it. 
 Such a union in service is delightful to witness." 
 
 "Well may they go in company, Mr. Wychecombe," re- 
 turned the stranger, betraying a little emotion. " Oakes 
 and Bluewater were reefers together, under old Breasthook, 
 in the Mermaid; and when the first was made a lieutenant 
 into the Squid, the last followed as a mate. Oakes was first 
 of the Briton, in her action with the Spanish frigates, and 
 Bluewater third. For that affair Oakes got a sloop, and his 
 friend went with him as his first. The next year they had 
 the luck to capture a heavier ship than their own, when, for 
 the first time in their service, the two young men were sepa- 
 rated; Oakes getting a frigate, and Bluewater getting the 
 Squid. Still they cruised in company, until the senior was 
 sent in command of a flying squadron, with a broad pennant, 
 when the junior, who by this time was post, received his 
 old messmate on board his own frigate. In that manner 
 they served together, down to the hour when the first hoisted 
 his flag. From that time, the two old seamen have never 
 been parted; Bluewater acting as the admiral's captain, 
 until he got the square bunting himself. The vice-admiral 
 has never led the van of a fleet, that the rear-admiral did 
 not lead the rear-division; and, now that Sir Gervaise is a 
 commander-in-chief, you see his friend, Dick Bluewater, is 
 cruising in his company." 
 
 While the stranger was giving this account of the Two 
 Admirals, in a half-serious, half-jocular manner, the eyes of 
 his companions were on him. He was a middle-sized, red- 
 faced man, with an aquiline nose, a light-blue, animated 
 eye, and a mouth which denoted more of the habits and 
 
52 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 care of refinement than either his dress or his ordinary 
 careless mien. A great deal is said about the aristocracy 
 of the ears, and the hands, and the feet; but of all the 
 features, or other appliances of the human frame, the mouth 
 and the nose have the greatest influence in producing an 
 impression of gentility. This was peculiarly the case with 
 the stranger, whose beak, like that of an ancient galley, 
 gave the promise of a stately movement, and whose beauti- 
 ful teeth and winning smile often relieved the expression 
 of a countenance that was not unfrequently stern. As he 
 ceased speaking, Dutton rose in a studied manner, raised 
 his hat entirely from his head, bowed his body nearly to a 
 right angle, and said: 
 
 " Unless my memory is treacherous, I believe I have the 
 honor to see Rear- Admiral Bluewater, himself; I was a 
 mate in the Medway, when he commanded the Chloe ; and, 
 unless five-and-twenty years have made more changes than 
 I think probable, he is now on this hill." 
 
 " Your memory is a bad one, Mr. Dutton, and your hill 
 has on it a much worse man in all respects, than Admiral 
 Bluewater. They say that man and wife, from living to- 
 gether, and thinking alike, having the same affections, lov- 
 ing the same objects, or sometimes hating them, get in time 
 to look alike; hey! Atwood? It may be that I am grow- 
 ing like Bluewater, on the same principle; but this is the 
 first time I ever heard the thing suggested. I am Sir 
 Gervaise Oakes, at your service, sir." 
 
 The bow of Dutton was now much lower than before, 
 while young Wychecombe uncovered himself, and Sir 
 Wycherly arose and paid his compliments cordially, intro- 
 ducing himself and offering the admiral and all his officers 
 the hospitality of the Hall. 
 
 "Ay, this is straightforward and hearty, and in the good 
 old English manner!" exclaimed the admiral, when he had 
 returned the salutes, and cordially thanked the baronet. 
 " One might land in Scotland, now, anywhere between the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 53 
 
 Tweed and John o' Groat's house, and not be asked so much 
 as to eat an oaten cake; hey! Atwood? — always excepting 
 the mountain dew." 
 
 " You will have your fling at my poor countrymen, Sir 
 Gervaise, and so there is sno more to be said on the subject, 
 returned the secretary, for such was the rank of the admiral's 
 companion. " I might feel hurt at times, did I not know 
 that you get as many Scotsmen about you, in your own ship, 
 as you can; and that a fleet is all the better in your judg- 
 ment, for having every other captain from the lando' cakes." 
 
 " Did you ever hear the like of that, Sir Wycherly ? Be- 
 cause I stick to a man I like, he accuses me of having a 
 predilection for his whole country. Here's Atwood, now; 
 he was my clerk, when in a sloop ; and he has followed me 
 to the Plantagenet, and, because I do not throw him over- 
 board, he wishes to make it appear half Scotland is in her 
 hold." 
 
 " Well, there are the surgeon, the purser, one of the mates, 
 one of the marine officers, and the fourth lieutenant, to keep 
 me company. Sir Gervaise," answered the secretary, smiling 
 like one accustomed to his superior's jokes, and who cared 
 very little about them. "When you send us all back to 
 Scotland, I'm thinking there will be many a good vacancy 
 to fill." 
 
 " The Scotch make themselves very useful. Sir Gervaise," 
 put in Sir Wycherly, by way of smoothing the matter over; 
 "and now we have a Brunswick prince on the throne, we 
 Englishmen have less jealousy of them than formerly. I 
 am sure I should be happy to see all the gentlemen men- 
 tioned by Mr. Atwood, at Wychecombe Hall." 
 
 " There, you're all well berthed while the fleet lies in 
 these roads. Sir Wycherly, in the name of Scotland, I 
 ' thank you. But what an extr'ornary [for so admirals pro- 
 nounced the word a hundred years agoj scene this is, hey! 
 Atwood? Many a time have I seen the hulls of ships when 
 their spars were hid in the fog; but I do not remember ever 
 
54 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 to have seen before sixteen sets of masts and sails moving 
 about on vapor, without a single hull to uphold them. The 
 tops of all the two-decked ships are as plainly to be seen as 
 if the air were without a particle of vapor, while all below 
 the cat-harpings is hid in a cloud as thick as the smoke of 
 battle. I do not half like Bluewater's standing in so far; 
 perhaps, Mr. Button, they cannot see the cliffs, for I assure 
 you we did not until quite close under them. We went 
 altogether by the lead, the masters feeling their way like so 
 many blind beggars!" 
 
 "We always keep, that nine-pounder loaded, Sir Ger- 
 vaise," returned the master, " in order to warn vessels when 
 they are getting near enough in ; and if Mr. Wychecombe, 
 who is younger than I, will run to the house and light this 
 match, I will prime, and we may give 'em warning where 
 they are in less than a minute." 
 
 The admiral gave a ready assent to this proposition, and 
 the respective parties immediately set about putting it in 
 execution. Wychecombe hastened to the house to light the 
 match, glad of an opportunity to inquire after Mildred; 
 while Button produced a priming-horn from a sort of arm- 
 chest that stood near the gun, and put the latter in a condi- 
 tion to be discharged. The young man was absent but a 
 minute, and when all was ready he turned toward the admi- 
 ral, in order to get the signal to proceed. 
 
 " Let 'em have it, Mr. Wychecombe," said Sir Gervaise, 
 smiling; " it will wake Bluewater up; perhaps he may favor 
 us with a broadside by way of retort." 
 
 The match was applied, and the report of the gun suc- 
 ceeded. Then followed a pause of more than a minute; 
 when the fog lifted around the Caesar, the ship that wore a 
 rear-admiral's flag, a flash like lightning was seen glancing 
 in the mist, and then came the bellowing of a piece of heavy 
 ordnance. Almost at the same instant three little flags ap- 
 peared at the mast-head of the Caesar, for previously to 
 quitting his own ship Sir Gervaise had sent a message to his 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 55 
 
 friend, requesting him to take care of the fleet. This was 
 the signal to anchor. The effect of all this, as seen from 
 the height, was exceedingly striking. As yet not a single 
 hull had become visible, the fog remaining packed upon the 
 water in a way to conceal even the lower yards of the two- 
 deckers. All above was bright, distinct, and so near as 
 almost to render it possible to distinguish, persons. There 
 everything was vivid, while a sort of supernatural mystery 
 veiled all beneath. Each ship had an officer aloft to look 
 out for signals, and no sooner had the Caesar opened her 
 three little flags, which had long been suspended in black 
 balls, in readiness for this service, than the answers were 
 seen floating at the masthead of each of the vessels. Then 
 commenced a spectacle still more curious than that which 
 those on the cliff had so long been regarding with interest. 
 Ropes began to move, and the sails were drawn up in fes- 
 toons, apparently without the agency of hands. Cut off from 
 a seeming communication with the ocean or the hulls, the 
 spars of the different ships appeared to be instinct with life; 
 each machine playing its own part independently of the oth- 
 ers, but all having the same object in view. In a very few 
 minutes the canvas was hauled up, and the whole fleet was 
 swinging to the anchors. Presently head after head was 
 thrown out of the fog, the upper yards were alive with men, 
 and the sails were handed. Next came the squaring of the 
 yards, though this was imperfectly done, and a good deal by 
 guesswork. The men came down, and there lay a noble 
 fleet at anchor, with nothing visible to those on the cliffs 
 but their top-hamper and upper spars. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes had been so much struck and amused 
 with a sight that to him happened to be entirely novel that 
 he did not speak during the whole process of anchoring. 
 Indeed, many a man might pass his life at sea and never 
 witness such a scene; but those who have know that it is 
 one of the most beautiful and striking spectacles connected 
 with tiie wonders of the great deep. 
 
56 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 By this time the sun had got so high as to begin to stir 
 the fog, and streams of vapor were shooting up from the 
 beach, like smoke rising from coal-pits. The wind in- 
 creased, too, and rolled the vapor before it, and in less than 
 ten minutes the veil was removed; ship after ship coming 
 out in plain view, until the entire fleet was seen riding in 
 the roadstead in its naked and distinct proportions. 
 
 "Now Bluewater is a happy fellow," exclaimed Sir Ger- 
 vaise. " He sees his great enemy, the land, and knows how 
 to deal with it." 
 
 " I thought the French were the great and natural enemies 
 of every British sailor," observed Sir Wycherly simply, but 
 quite to the point. 
 
 " Hum — there's truth in that, too. But the land is an 
 enemy to be feared, while the Frenchman is not — hey! 
 Atwood?" 
 
 It was, indeed, a goody sight to view the fine fleet that 
 now lay anchored beneath the cliffs of Wychecombe. Sir 
 Gervaise Oakes was, in that period, considered a successful 
 naval commander, and was a favorite both at the Admiralty 
 and with the nation. His popularity extended to the most 
 distant colonies of England, in nearly all of which he had 
 served with zeal and credit. But we are not writing of an 
 age of nautical wonders, like that which succeeded at the 
 close of the century. The French and Dutch, and even the 
 Spaniards, were then all formidable as naval powers; for 
 revolutions and changes had not destroyed their maritime 
 corps, nor had the consequent naval ascendency of England 
 annihilated their navigation ; the two great causes of the 
 subsequent apparent invincibility of the latter power. Bat- 
 tles at sea in that day were warmly contested, and were fre- 
 quently fruitless; more especially when fleets were brought 
 in opposition. The single combats were usually more de- 
 cisive, though the absolute success of the British flag was 
 far from being as much a matter of course as it subsequently 
 became. In a word, the science of naval warfare had not 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 57 
 
 made those great strides which marked the career of England 
 in the end, nor had it retrograded among her enemies to the 
 point which appears to have rendered their defeat nearly 
 certain. Still SirGervaise was a successful officer; having 
 captured several single ships in bloody encounters, and hav- 
 ing actually led fleets with credit in four or five of the great 
 battles of the times; besides being second and third in 
 command on various similar occasions. His own ship was 
 certain to be engaged, let what would happen to the others. 
 Equally as captains and as flag-officers, the nation had be- 
 come familiar with the names of Oakes and Bluewater, as 
 men ever to be found sustaining each other in the thickest 
 of the fight. It may be well to add here that both these 
 favorite seamen were men of family, or at least what was 
 considered men of family among the mere gentry of Eng- 
 land; SirGervaise being a baronet by inheritance, while 
 his friend actually belonged to one of those naval lines 
 which furnishes admirals for generations — his father having 
 worn a white flag at the main, and his grandfather having 
 been actually ennobled for his services, dying vice-admiral 
 of England. These fortuitous circumstances perhaps ren- 
 dered both so much the greater favorites at court. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " All with you ; except three 
 
 On duty, and our leader Israel, 
 Who is expected momently." 
 
 Marino Faliero. 
 
 As his fleet was safely anchored, and that too in beautiful 
 order, in spite of the fog, Sir Gervaise Oakes showed a dis- 
 position to pursue what are termed ulterior views. 
 
 "This has been a fine sight — certainly a very fine sight, 
 such as an old seaman loves ; but there must be an end to 
 it," he said. " You will excuse me, Sir Wycherly, but the 
 
58 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 movements of a fleet always have interest in my eyes, and it 
 is seldom that I get such a bird's-eye view of those of my 
 own ; no wonder it has made me a somewhat unreflecting 
 intruder." 
 
 " Make no apologies, Sir Gervaise, I beg of you; for none 
 are needed on any account. Though this headland does 
 belong to the Wychecombe property, it is fairly leased to 
 the crown, and none have a better right to occupy it than 
 His Majesty's servants. The Hall is a little more pri- 
 vate, it is true, but even that has no door that will close 
 upon our gallant naval defenders. It is but a short walk, 
 and nothing will make me happier than to show you the 
 way to my poor dwelling, and to see you as much at home 
 under its roof as you could be in the cabin of the Plan- 
 tagenet." 
 
 " If anything could make me as much at home in a house 
 as in a ship, it would be so hearty a welcome; and I intend 
 to accept your hospitality in the very spirit in which it is 
 offered. Atwood and I have landed to send off some im- 
 portant despatches to the First Lord, and we will thank you 
 for putting us in the way of doing it in the safest and most 
 expeditious manner. Curiosity and surprise have already 
 occasioned the loss of half an hour; while a soldier or a 
 sailor should never lose half a minute." 
 
 " Is a courier who knows the country well needed, Sir 
 Gervaise?" the lieutenant demanded modestly, though with 
 an interest that showed he was influenced only by zeal for 
 the service. 
 
 The admiral looked at him intently for a moment, and 
 seemed pleased with the hint implied in the question. 
 
 "Can you ride?" asked Sir Gervaise, smiling. "I could 
 have brought half-a-dozen youngsters ashore with me ; but, 
 besides the doubts about getting a horse — a chaise, I take 
 it, is out of the question here — I was afraid the lads might 
 disgrace themselves on horseback," 
 
 "This must be said in pleasantry, Sir Gervaise," returned 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 59 
 
 Wychecombe; "he would be a strange Virginian at least, 
 who does not know how to ride!" 
 
 "And a strange Englishman, too, Bluewater would say; 
 and yet I never see the fellow straddle a horse that I do not 
 wish it were a studding-sail boom run out to leeward! We 
 sa.iloTs/a/iry we ride, Mr. Wychecombe, but it is some such 
 fancy as a marine has for the foretopmast cross-trees. Can 
 a horse be had, to go as far as the nearest post-office that 
 sends off a daily mail.'*" 
 
 " That can it. Sir Gervaise," put in Sir Wycherly. " Here 
 is Dick mounted on as good a hunter as is to be found in 
 England; and I'll answer for my young namesake's willing- 
 ness to put the animal's mettle to the proof. Our little mail 
 has just left Wychecombe for the next twenty-four hours, 
 but by pushing the beast there will be time to reach the 
 high road in season for the great London mail, which 
 passes the nearest market-town at noon. It is but a gallop 
 of ten miles and back, and that I'll answer for Mr. Wyche- 
 combe's ability to do, and to join us at dinner by four." 
 
 Young Wychecombe expressing his readiness to perform 
 all this, and even more at need, the arrangement was soon 
 made. Dick was dismounted, the lieutenant got his de- 
 spatches and his instructions, took his leave, and had gal- 
 loped out of sight in the next five minutes. The admiral 
 then declared himself at liberty for the day, accepting the 
 invitation of Sir Wycherly to breakfast and dine at the Hall, 
 in the same spirit of frankness as that in which it had been 
 given. Sir Wycherly was so spirited as to refuse the aid of 
 his pony, but insisted on walking through the village and 
 park to his dwelling, though the distance was more than a 
 mile. Just as they were quitting the signal-station, the old 
 man took the admiral aside, and in an earnest but respectful 
 manner disburdened his mind to the following effect. 
 
 "Sir Gervaise," he said, "I am no sailor, as you know, 
 and least of all do I bear His Majesty's commission in the 
 navy, though I am in the county commission as a justice of 
 
60 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the peace; so if I make any little mistake you will have the 
 goodness to overlook it, for I know that the etiquette of the 
 quarter-deck is a very serious matter, and is not to be trifled 
 with; — but here is Button, as good a fellow in his way as 
 lives — his father was a sort of a gentleman too, having been 
 the attorney of the neighborhood, and the old man was ac- 
 customed to dine with me forty years ago " 
 
 " I believe I understand you, Sir Wycherly," interrupted 
 the admiral ; " and I thank you for the attention you wish to 
 pay my prejudices; but you are master of Wychecombe, and 
 I should feel myself a troublesome intruder, indeed, did you 
 not ask whom you please to dine at your own table." 
 
 "That's not quite it, Sir Gervaise, though you have not 
 gone far wide of the mark. Button is only a master, you 
 know; and it seems that a master on board ship is a very 
 different thing from a master on shore ; so Button himself 
 has often told me." 
 
 "Ay, Button is right enough as regards a king's ship, 
 though the two offices are pretty much the same when other 
 craft are alluded to. But, my dear Sir Wycherly, an admi- 
 ral is not disgraced by keeping company with a boatswain, 
 if the latter is an honest man. It is true we have our cus- 
 toms, and what we call our quarter-deck and forward offi- 
 cers; which is court end and city, on board ship; but a 
 master belongs to the first, and the master of the Plantage- 
 net, Sandy McYarn, dines with me once a month, as regu- 
 larly as he enters a new word at the top of his log-book. I 
 beg, therefore, you will extend your hospitality to whom you 
 please — or " the admiral hesitated, as he cast a good- 
 natured glance at the master, who stood still uncovered, 
 waiting for his superior to move away; "or, perhaps, Sir 
 Wycherly, you would permit me to ask a friend to make one 
 of our party." 
 
 "That's just it. Sir Gervaise," returned the kind-hearted 
 baronet; "and Button will be one of the happiest fellows 
 in Bevonshire. I wish we could have Mrs. Button and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 6 1 
 
 Milly, and then the table would look what my poor brother 
 James — St. James I used to call him — what the Rev. James 
 Wychecombe was accustomed to term mathematical. He 
 said a table should have all its sides and angles duly filled. 
 James was a most agreeable companion, Sir Gervaise, and, 
 in divinity, he would not have turned his back on one of 
 the apostles, I do verily believe!" 
 
 The admiral bowed, and, turning to the master, he invited 
 him to be of the party at the Hall, in the manner which one 
 long accustomed to render his civilities agreeable by a sort 
 of professional off-handed way well knew how to assume. 
 
 " Sir Wycherly has insisted that I shall consider his table 
 as set in my own cabin," he continued; "and I know of no 
 better manner of proving my gratitude than by taking him 
 at his word, and filling it with guests that will be agreeable 
 to us both. I believe there is a Mrs. Button and a Miss — 
 a—a— a " 
 
 "Milly," put in the baronet eagerly; "Miss Mildred 
 Button — the daughter of our good friend Button, here, and 
 a young lady who would do credit to the gayest drawing- 
 room in London." 
 
 "You perceive, sir, that our kind host anticipates the 
 wishes of an old bachelor, as it might be by instinct, and 
 desires the company of the ladies also. Miss Mildred will, 
 at least, have two young men to do homage to her beauty, 
 and three old ones to sigh in the distance — hey! Atwood?" 
 
 "Mildred, as Sir Wycherly knows, sir, has been a little 
 disturbed this morning," returned Button, putting on his 
 best manner for the occasion; "but, I feel no doubt, will be 
 too grateful for this honor, not to exert herself to make a 
 suitable return. As for my wife, gentlemen " 
 
 " And what is to prevent Mrs. Button from being one of 
 the party," interrupted Sir Wycherly, as he observed the 
 husband to hesitate; "she sometimes favors me with her 
 company." 
 
 "I rather think she will to-day, Sir Wycherly, if Mildred 
 
62 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 is well enough to go; the good woman seldom lets her 
 daughter stray far from her apron-strings. She keeps her, 
 as I tell her, within the sweep of her own hawse, Sir Ger- 
 vaise." 
 
 " So much the wiser she, Master Button," returned the 
 admiral pointedly. " The best pilot for a young woman is 
 a good mother; and now you have a fleet in your roadstead, 
 I need not tell a seaman of your experience that you are on 
 pilot-ground — hey! Atwood?" 
 
 Here the parties separated, Button remaining uncovered 
 until his superior had turned the corner of his little cottage 
 and was fairly out of sight. Then the master entered his 
 dwelling to prepare his wife and daughter for the honors 
 they had in perspective. Before he executed this duty, 
 however, the unfortunate man opened what he called a locker 
 — what a housewife would term a cupboard — and fortified 
 his nerves with a strong draught of pure Nantes; a liquor 
 that no hostilities, custom-house duties, or national antipa- 
 thies has ever been able to bring into general disrepute in 
 the British Islands. In the mean time the party of the two 
 baronets pursued its way toward the Hall. 
 
 The village or hamlet of Wychecombe lay about half-way 
 between the station and the residence of the lord of the 
 manor. It was an exceedingly rural and retired collection 
 of mean houses, possessing neither physician, apothecary, 
 nor attorney, to give it importance. A small inn, two or 
 three shops of the humblest kind, and some twenty cottages 
 of laborers and mechanics, composed the place, which at that 
 early day had not even a chapel or a conventicle; dissent 
 not having made much progress then in England. The 
 parish church, one of the old edifices of the time of the 
 Henrys, stood quite alone, in a field, more than a mile from 
 the place; and the vicarage, a respectable abode, was just 
 on the edge of the park, fully half a mile more distant. In 
 short, Wychecombe was one of those places which was so 
 far on the decline that few or no traces of any little impor- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 63 
 
 tance it may have once possessed were any longer to be dis- 
 covered; and it had sunk entirely into a hamlet that owed 
 its allowed claims to be marked on the maps, and to be 
 noted in the gazetteers, altogether to its antiquity and the 
 name it had given to one of the oldest knightly families in 
 England. 
 
 No w^onder, then, that the arrival of a fleet under the head 
 produced a great excitement in the little village. The an- 
 chorage was excellent, so far as the bottom was concerned, 
 but it could scarcely be called a roadstead in any other point 
 of view, since there was shelter against no wind but that 
 which blew directly offshore, which happened to be a wind 
 that did not prevail in that part of the island. Occasion- 
 ally a small cruiser would come-to in the offing, and a ftw 
 frigates had lain at single anchors in the roads for a tide or 
 so, in waiting for a change of weather; but this was the first 
 fleet that had been known to moor under the cliffs within 
 the memory of man. The fog had prevented the honest vil- 
 lagers from ascertaining the unexpected honor that had been 
 done them, until the reports of the two guns reached their 
 ears, when the important intelligence spread with due rapid- 
 ity over the entire adjacent country. Although Wychecombe 
 did not lie in actual view of the sea, by the time the party 
 of Sir Wycherly entered the hamlet its little street was 
 already crowded with visitors from the fleet ; every vessel 
 having sent at least one boat ashore, and many of them some 
 three or four. Captain's and gunroom stewards, midship- 
 men's foragers, loblolly boys, and other similar harpies, were 
 out in scores; for this was a part of the world in which 
 bumboats were unknown; and if the mountain would not 
 come to Mahomet, Mahomet must fain go to the mountain. 
 Half an hour had sufficed to exhaust all the unsophisticated 
 simplicity of the hamlet; and milk, eggs, fresh butter, soft- 
 tommy, vegetables, and such fruits as were ripe had already 
 risen quite one hundred per cent, in the market. 
 
 Sir Gervaise had called his force the southern squadron, 
 
64 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 from the circumstance of its having been cruising in the Bay 
 of Biscay for the last six months. This was a wild winter- 
 station, the danger from the elements greatly surpassing any 
 that could well be anticipated from the enemy. The duty 
 notwithstanding had been well and closely performed; sev- 
 eral West India and one valuable East India convoy having 
 been effectually protected, as well as a few straggling fri'g- 
 ates of the enemy picked up; but the service had been ex- 
 cessively laborious to all engaged in it, and replete with 
 privations. Most of those who now landed had not trod 
 terra firma for half a year, and it was not wonderful that all 
 the officers whose duties did not confine them to the vessels 
 gladly seized the occasion to feast their senses with the ver- 
 dure and odors of their native island. Quite a hundred 
 guests of this character were also pouring into the street of 
 Wychecombe, or spreading themselves among the surround- 
 ing farmhouses; flirting with the awkward and blushing 
 girls, and keeping an eye at the same time to the main chance 
 of the mess-table. 
 
 " Our boys have already found out your village, Sir 
 Wycherly, in spite of the fog," the vice-admiral remarked 
 good-humoredly, as he cast his eyes around at the movement 
 of the street; "and the locusts of Egypt will not come 
 nearer to breeding a famine. One would think there was a 
 great dinner in petto ^ in every cabin of the fleet, by the 
 number of the captain's stewards that are ashore, hey ! At- 
 wood? I have seen nine of the harpies myself, and the 
 other seven can't be far off." 
 
 " Here is Galleygo, Sir Gervaise," returned the secretary, 
 smiling; "though he can scarcely be called a captain's 
 steward, having the honor to serve a vice-admiral and a 
 commander-in-chief." 
 
 " Ay, but 7ve feed the whole fleet at times, and have some 
 excuse for being a little exacting — harkee, Galleygo — get a 
 horse-cart, and push off at once, four or five miles further 
 into the country ; you might as well expect to find real pearls 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 6$ 
 
 in fishes eyes as hope to pick up anything nice among so 
 many gunroom and cockpit boys. I dine ashore to-day, but 
 Captain Greenly is fond of mutton-chops, you'll remember." 
 This was said kindly, and in the manner of a man accus- 
 tomed to treat his domestics with the familiarity of humble 
 friends. Galleygo was as unpromising a looking butler as 
 any gentleman ashore would be at all likely to tolerate; but 
 he had been with his present master, and in his present ca- 
 pacity, ever since the latter had commanded a sloop of war. 
 All his youth had been passed as a topman, and he was 
 really a prime seaman; but accident having temporarily 
 placed him in his present station. Captain Oakes was so 
 much pleased with his attention to his duty, and particularly 
 with his order, that he ever afterwards retained him in his 
 cabin, notwithstanding the strong desire the honest fellow 
 himself had felt to remain aloft. Time and familiarity at 
 length reconciled the steward to his station, though he did 
 not formally accept it, until a clear agreement had been 
 made that he was not to be considered an idler on any occa- 
 sion that called for the services of the best men. In this 
 manner David, for such was his Christian name, had become 
 a sort of nondescript on board of a man-of-war; being fore- 
 most in all the cuttings out, a captain of a gun, and was fre- 
 quently seen on a yard in moments of difficulty, just to keep 
 his hand in, as he expressed it, while he descended to the 
 duties of the cabin in peaceable times and good weather. 
 Near thirty years had he thus been half-steward, half-sea- 
 man when afloat, while on land he was rather a counsellor 
 and minister of the closet than a servant; for out of a ship 
 he was utterly useless, though he never left his master for a 
 week at a time, ashore or afloat. The name of Galleygo was 
 a sobriquet conferred by his brother topmen, but had been 
 so generally used that for the last twenty years most of his 
 shipmates believed it to be his patronymic. When this 
 compound of cabin and forecastle received the order just 
 related, he touched the lock of hair on his forehead, a cere- 
 5 
 
66 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 mony he always used before he spoke to Sir Gervaise, the 
 hat being removed at some three or four yards' distance, 
 and made his customary answer of : 
 
 "Ay-ay, sir — your honor has been a young gentleman 
 yourself, and knows what a young gentleman's stomach gets 
 to be, a'ter a six months' fast in the Bay of Biscay ; and a 
 young gentleman's l^oys stomach, too. I always thinks 
 there's but a small chance for us, sir, when I sees six or 
 eight of them light cruisers in my neighborhood. They're 
 som'mat like the sloops and cutters of a fleet, which picks 
 up all the prizes." 
 
 "Quite true. Master Galleygo; but if the light cruisers 
 get the prizes, you should recollect that the admiral always 
 has his share of the prize-money." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I knows we has our share, but that's accordin* 
 to law, and because the commanders of the light craft can't 
 help it. Let 'em once get the law on their side, and not a 
 ha'pence would bless our pockets! No, sir, what we gets 
 we gets by the law ; and as there is no law to fetch up young 
 gentlemen or their boys, that pays as they goes, we never 
 gets anything they or their boys puts hands on." 
 
 " I dare say you are right, David, as you always are. It 
 wouldn't be a bad thing to have an act of Parliament to 
 give an admiral his twentieth in the reefers' foragings. 
 The old fellows would sometimes get back some of their 
 own poultry and fruit in that way, hey! Atwood?" 
 
 The secretary smiled his assent, and then Sir Gervaise 
 apologized to his host, repeated the order to the steward, 
 and the party proceeded. 
 
 " This fellow of mine, Sir Wycherly, is no respecter of 
 persons, beyond the etiquette of a man-of-war," the admiral 
 continued, by way of further excuse. " I believe His Maj- 
 esty himself would be favored with an essay on some part 
 of the economy of the cabin, were Galleygo to get an oppor- 
 tunity of speaking his mind to him. Nor is the fool with- 
 out his expectations of some day enjoying this privilege; 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 6/ 
 
 for the last time I went to court I found honest David 
 rigged, from stem to stern, in a full suit of claret and steel, 
 under the idea that he was * to sail in company with me,* as 
 he called it, * with or without signal ! ' " 
 
 " There was nothing surprising in that, Sir Gervaise," 
 observed the secretary. "Galleygo has sailed in company 
 with you so long, and to so many strange lands; has been 
 through so many dangers at your side, and has got so com- 
 pletely to consider himself as part of the family, that it was 
 the most natural thing in the world he should expect to go 
 to court with you." 
 
 "True enough. The fellow would face the devil, at my 
 side, and I don't see why he should hesitate to face the 
 king. I sometimes call him Lady Oakes, Sir Wycherly, for 
 he appears to think he has a right of dower, or to some other 
 lawyer-like claim on my estate; and as for the fleet, he 
 always speaks of that as if we commanded it in common. 
 I wonder how Bluewater tolerates the blackguard; for he 
 never scruples to allude to him as under our orders! If 
 anything should befall me, Dick and David would have a 
 civil war for the succession, hey! Atwood?" 
 
 " I think military subordination would bring Galleygo to 
 his senses. Sir Gervaise, should such an unfortunate acci- 
 dent occur — which Heaven avert for many years to come ! 
 There is Admiral Bluewater coming up the street, at this 
 very moment, sir." 
 
 At this sudden announcement, the whole party turned to 
 look in the direction intimated by the secretary. It was by 
 this time at one end of the short street, and all saw a man 
 just entering the other, who, in his walk, air, attire, and 
 manner, formed a striking contrast to the active, merry, 
 bustling, youthful young sailors who thronged the hamlet. 
 In person, Admiral Bluewater was exceedingly tall and ex- 
 ceedingly thin. Like most seamen who have that physical 
 formation, he stooped ; a circumstance that gave his years a 
 greater apparent command over his frame than they pos- 
 
68 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 sessed in reality. While this bend in his figure deprived 
 it, in a great measure, of the sturdy martial air that his su- 
 perior presented to the observer, it lent to his carriage a 
 quiet and dignity that it might otherwise have wanted. Cer- 
 tainly, were this officer attired like an ordinary civilian, no 
 one would have taken him for one of England's bravest and 
 most efficient sea-captains ; he would have passed rather as 
 some thoughtful, well-educated, and refined gentleman, of 
 retired habits, diffident of himself, and a stranger to am- 
 bition. He wore an undress rear-admiral's uniform, as a 
 matter of course ; but he wore it carelessly, as if from a 
 sense of duty only; or conscious that no arrangement could 
 give him a military air. Still all about his person was 
 faultlessly neat, and perfectly respectable. In a word, no 
 one but a man accustomed to the sea, were it not for his 
 uniform, would suspect the rear-admiral of being a sailor; 
 and even the seaman himself might be often puzzled to de- 
 tect any other signs of the profession about him than were 
 to be found in a face, which, fair, gentlemanly, handsome, 
 and even courtly as it was, in expression and outline, wore 
 the tint that exposure invariably stamps on the mariner's 
 countenance. Here, however, his unseaman-like character 
 ceased. Admiral Oakes had often declared that " Dick 
 Bluewater knew more about a ship than any man in Eng- 
 land;" and as for a fleet, his mode of manoeuvring one had 
 got to be standard in the service. 
 
 As soon as Sir Gervaise recognized his friend, he ex- 
 pressed a wish to wait for him, which was courteously con- 
 verted by Sir Wycherly into a proposition to return and 
 meet him. So abstracted was Admiral Bluewater, however, 
 that he did not see the party that was approaching him, 
 until he was fairly accosted by Sir Gervaise, who led the 
 advance by a few yards. 
 
 "Good-day to you, Bluewater," commenced the latter, in 
 his familiar, off-hand way; "I'm glad you have torn your- 
 self away from your ship ; though I must say the manner in 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 69 
 
 which you came-to, in that fog, was more like instinct, than 
 anything human! I determined to tell you as much, the 
 moment we met; for I don't think there is a ship half her 
 length out of mathematical order, notwithstanding the tide 
 runs, here, like a race-horse." 
 
 "That is owing to your captains, Sir Gervaise," returned 
 the other, observing the respect of manner that the in- 
 ferior never loses with his superior, on service, and in 
 a navy, let their relative rank and intimacy be what 
 they may on all other occasions; "good captains make 
 handy ships. Our gentlemen have now been together so 
 long that they understand each other's movements; and 
 every vessel in the fleet has her character as well as her 
 commander!" 
 
 " Vtiy true, Admiral Bluewater^ and yet there is not an- 
 other otticer in His Majesty's service that could have 
 brought a fleet to anchor, in so much order, and in such a 
 fog; and I ask your leave, sir, most particularly to thank 
 you for the lesson you have given, not only to the captains, 
 but to the commander-in-chief. I presume I may admire 
 that which I cannot exactly imitate." 
 
 The rear-admiral merely smiled and touched his hat in 
 acknowledgment of the compliment, but he made no direct 
 answer in words. By this time Sir Wycherly and the others 
 had approached, and the customary introductions took place. 
 Sir Wycherly now pressed his new acquaintance to join his 
 guests, with so much heartiness that there was no such thing 
 as refusing. 
 
 "Since you and Sir Gervaise both insist on it so ear- 
 nestly, Sir Wycherly," returned the rear-admiral, " I must 
 consent; but as it is contrary to our practice, when on for- 
 eign service — and I call this roadstead a foreign station, as 
 to anything we know about it — as it is contrary to our prac- 
 tice for both flag-officers to sleep out of the fleet, I shall 
 claim the privilege to be allowed to go off to my ship be- 
 fore midnight. I think the weather looks settled, Sir Ger- 
 
yO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 vaise, and we may trust that many hours, without apprehen- 
 sion." 
 
 " Pooh — pooh — Bluewater, you are always fancying the 
 ships in a gale, and clawing off a lee-shore. Put your heart 
 at rest, and let us go and take a comfortable dinner with Sir 
 Wycherly, who has a London paper, I dare to say, that may 
 let us into some of the secrets of state. Are there any tid- 
 ings from our people in Flanders?" 
 
 "Things remain pretty much as they have been," re- 
 turned Sir Wycherly, " since that last terrible affair, in 
 which the Duke got the better of the French at — I never 
 can remember an outlandish name ; but it sounds something 
 like a Christian baptism. If my poor brother, St. James, 
 were living, now, he could tell us all about it." 
 
 "Christian baptism! That's an odd allusion for a field 
 of battle. The armies can't have got to Jerusalem; hey! 
 Atwood?" 
 
 "I rather think. Sir Gervaise," the secretary coolly re- 
 marked, "that Sir Wycherly Wychecombe refers to the bat- 
 tle that took place last spring — it was fought at Font- 
 something ; and a font certainly has something to do with 
 Christian baptism." 
 
 "That's it— that's it," cried Sir Wycherly, with some 
 eagerness ; " Fontenoy was the name of the place, where the 
 Duke would have carried all before him, and brought Mar- 
 shal Saxe and all his frog-eaters prisoners to England, had 
 our Dutch and German allies behaved better than they did. 
 So it is with poor old England, gentlemen; whatever she 
 gains, her allies always lose for her — the Germans, or the 
 colonists, are constantly getting us into trouble!" 
 
 Both Sir Gervaise and his friend were practical men, and 
 well knew that they never fought the Dutch or the French 
 without meeting with something that was pretty nearly their 
 match. They had no faith in general national superiority. 
 The courts-martial that so often succeeded general actions 
 had taught them that there were all degrees of spirit, as 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. /I 
 
 well as all degrees of a want of spirit; and they knew too 
 much to be the dupes of flourishes of the pen, or of vapid 
 declamation at dinner-speeches, and in the House of Com- 
 mons. Men, well led and commanded, they had ascertained 
 by experience, were worth twice as much as the same men 
 when ill led and ill commanded; and they were not to be 
 told that the moral tone of an army or a fleet, from which 
 all its success was derived, depended more on the conven- 
 tional feeling that had been got up through moral agencies, 
 than on birthplace, origin, or color. Each glanced his eye 
 significantly at the other, and a sarcastic smile passed over 
 the face of Sir Gervaise, though his friend maintained his 
 customary appearance of gravity. 
 
 *' I believe le Grand Monarque and Marshal Saxe give a 
 different account of that matter. Sir Wycherly," drily ob- 
 served the former; "and it may be well to remember that 
 there are two sides to every story. Whatever may be said 
 of Dettingen, I fancy history will set down Fontenoy as any- 
 thing but a feather in His Royal Highness' cap." 
 
 " You surely do not consider it possible for the French 
 arms to overthrow a British army. Sir Gervaise Oakes!" ex- 
 claimed the simple-minded provincial — for such was Sir 
 Wycherly Wychecombe, though he had sat in Parliament, 
 had four thousand a year, and was one of the oldest families 
 in England — " It sounds like treason to admit the possibil- 
 ity of such a thing." 
 
 " God bless us, my dear sir, I am as far from supposing 
 any such thing as the Duke of Cumberland himself; who, 
 by the way, has as much English blood in his veins as the 
 Baltic may have of the water of the Mediterranean — hey! 
 Atwood? By the way, Sir Wycherly, I must ask a little 
 tenderness of you in behalf of my friend the secretary, here, 
 who has a national weakness in favor of the Pretender, 
 and all of the clan Stuart." 
 
 "I hope not — I sincerely hope not. Sir Gervaise!" ex- 
 claimed Sir Wycherly, with a warmth that was not entirely 
 
72 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 free from alarm ; his own loyalty to the new house being 
 altogether without reproach. " Mr. Atwood has the air of a 
 gentleman of too good principles not to see on which side 
 real religious and political liberty lie. I am sure you are 
 pleased to be jocular, Sir Gervaise; the very circumstance 
 that he is in your company is a pledge of his loyalty." 
 
 "Well, well, Sir Wycherly, I would not give you a false 
 idea of my friend Atwood, if possible; and so I may as well 
 confess that, while his Scotch blood inclines him to tory- 
 ism, his English reason makes him a whig. If Charles 
 Stuart never gets the throne until Stephen Atwood helps 
 him to a seat on it, he may take leave of ambition forever." 
 
 "I thought as much, Sir Gervaise — I thought j'our secre- 
 tary could never lean to the doctrine of 'passive obedience 
 and non-resistance.' That's a principle which would hardly 
 suit sailors. Admiral Bluewater." 
 
 Admiral Bluewater's fine, full, blue eye lighted with an 
 expression approaching irony ; but he made no other answer 
 than a slight inclination of the head. In point of fact, ^e 
 was a Jacobite; though no one was acquainted with the cir- 
 cumstance but his immediate commanding officer. As a 
 seaman he was called on only to serve his country; and, as 
 often happens to military men, he was willing to do this 
 under any superior whom circumstances might place over 
 his head, let his private sentiments be what they might. 
 During the civil war of 17 15, he was too young in years, 
 and too low in rank, to render his opinions of much impor- 
 tance; and, kept on foreign stations, his services could only 
 affect the general interests of the nation, without producing 
 any influence on the contest at home. Since that period, 
 nothing had occurred to require one whose duty kept him 
 on the ocean to come to a very positive decision between 
 the two masters that claimed his allegiance. Sir Gervaise 
 had always been able to persuade him that he was sustain- 
 ing the honor and interests of his country, and that ought 
 to be sufficient to a patriot, let who would rule. Notwith- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 73 
 
 Standing this wide difference in political feeling between 
 the two admirals — Sir Gervaise being as decided a whig as 
 his friend was a tory — their personal harmony had been 
 without a shade. As to confidence, the superior knew the 
 inferior so well that he believed the surest way to prevent 
 his taking sides openly with the Jacobites, or of doing them 
 secret service, was to put it in his power to commit a great 
 breach of trust. So long as faith were put in his integrity, 
 Sir Gervaise felt certain his friend Bluewater might be re- 
 lied on; and he also knew that, should the moment ever 
 come when the other really intended to abandon the service 
 of the house of Hanover, he would frankly throw up his em- 
 ployments, and join the hostile standard, without profiting, 
 in any manner, by the trusts he had previously enjoyed. It 
 is also necessary that the reader should understand that Ad- 
 miral Bluewater had never communicated his political opin- 
 ions to any person but his friend; the Pretender and his 
 counsellors being as ignorant of them as George II. and 
 his ministers. The only practical effect, therefore, that 
 they had ever produced was to induce him to decline sepa- 
 rate commands, several of which had been offered to him ; 
 one, quite equal to that enjoyed by Sir Gervaise Oakes 
 himself. 
 
 "No," the latter answered to Sir Wycherly's remark; 
 though the grave, thoughtful expression of his face showtid 
 how little his feelings chimed in, at the moment, with the 
 ironical language of his tongue. " No — Sir Wycherly, a 
 man-of-war's man, in particular, has not the slightest idea 
 of 'passive obedience and non-resistance,' — that is a doc- 
 trine which is intelligible only to papists and tories. Blue- 
 water is in a brown study ; thinking no doubt of the manner 
 in which he intends to lead down on Monsieur de Gravelin, 
 should we ever have the luck to meet that gentleman again ; 
 so we will, if it's agreeable to all parties, change the subject." 
 
 "With all my heart, Sir Gervaise," answered the baronet, 
 cordially; "and, after all, there is little use in discussing 
 
74 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the affair of the Pretender any longer, for he appears to be 
 quite out of men's minds, since that last failure of King 
 Louis XV." 
 
 " Yes, Norris rather crushed the young viper in its shell, 
 and we may consider the thing at an end." 
 
 " So my late brother. Baron Wychecombe, always treated 
 it, Sir Gervaise. He once assured me that the twelve judges 
 were clearly against the claim, and that the Stuarts had noth- 
 ing to expect from them.^^ 
 
 " Did he tell you, sir, on what ground these learned gen- 
 tlemen had come to this decision?" quietly asked Admiral 
 Bluewater. 
 
 " He did, indeed; for he knew my strong desire to make 
 out a good case against the tories so well that he laid all 
 the law before me. I am a bad hand, however, to repeat 
 even what I hear; though my poor brother, the late Rev. 
 James Wychecombe — St. James as I used to call him — -could 
 go over a discourse half an hour long, and not miss a word. 
 Thomas and James appear to have run away with the mem- 
 ories of the rest of the family. Nevertheless, I recollect it 
 all depended on an act of Parliament, which is supreme; 
 and the house of Hanover reigning by an act of Parliament, 
 no court could set aside the claim." 
 
 " Very clearly explained, sir," continued Bluewater ; " and 
 you will permit me to say that there was no necessity for an 
 apology on account of the memory. Your brother, however, 
 might not have exactly explained what an act of Parliament 
 is. King, Lords, and Commons are all necessary to an act 
 of Parliament." 
 
 " Certainly — we all know that, my dear admiral ; we poor 
 fellows ashore here, as well as you mariners at sea. The 
 Hanoverian succession had all three to authorize it." 
 
 "Had it a king?" 
 
 "A king! Out of dispute — or, what we bachelors ought 
 to consider as much better, it had a queen. Queen Anne 
 approved of the act, and tha:^ made it an act of Parliament. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 75 
 
 I assure you, I learned a good deal of law in the Baron's 
 visits to Wychecombe, and in the pleasant hours we used 
 to chat together in his chambers!" 
 
 " And who signed the act of Parliament that made Anne 
 a queen ? or did she ascend the throne by regular succes- 
 sion? Both Mary and Anne were sovereigns by acts of 
 Parliament, and we must look back until we get the ap- 
 proval of a prince who took the crown by legal descent." 
 
 "Come — come, Bluewater," put in Sir Gervaise gravely; 
 "we may persuade Sir Wycherly, in this manner, that he 
 has a couple of furious Jacobites in company. The Stuarts 
 were dethroned by a revolution, which is a law of nature, 
 and enacted by God, and which of course overshadows all 
 other laws when it gets into the ascendant, as it clearly has 
 done in this case. I take it. Sir Wycherly, these are your 
 park-gates, and that yonder is the Hall." 
 
 This remark changed the discourse, and the whole party 
 proceeded towards the house, discussing the beauty of its 
 position, its history, and its advantages, until they reached 
 its door. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ' Monarch and ministers, are awful names: 
 Whoever wear them, challenge our devoir." 
 
 Our plan does not require an elaborate description of the 
 residence of Sir Wycherly. The house had been neither 
 priory, abbey, nor castle, but it was erected as a dwelling 
 for himself and his posterity, by a Sir Michael Wychecombe, 
 two or three centuries before, and had been kept in good 
 serviceable condition ever since. It had the usual long, 
 narrow windows, a suitable hall, wainscoted rooms, battle- 
 mented walls, and turreted angles. It was neither large, 
 nor small; handsome, nor ugly; grand, nor mean, but it 
 
76 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 was quaint, respectable in appearance, and comfortable as 
 an abode. 
 
 The admirals were put each in possession of bed-cham- 
 bers and dressing-rooms, as soon as they arrived ; and At- 
 v;ood was berthed not far from his commanding officer, in 
 readiness for service, if required. Sir Wycherly was nat- 
 urally hospitable; but his retired situation had given him a 
 zest for company that greatly increased the inborn disposi- 
 tion. Sir Gervaise, it was understood, was to pass the night 
 with him, and he entertained strong hopes of including his 
 friend in the same arrangement. Beds were ordered, too, 
 for Dutton, his wife, and daughter; and his namesake, the 
 lieutenant, was expected also to sleep under his roof that 
 night. 
 
 The day passed in the customary manner; the party hav- 
 ing breakfasted, and then separated to attend to their sev- 
 eral occupations, agreeably to the usages of all country- 
 houses, in all parts of the world, and, we believe, in all 
 time. Sir Gervaise, who had sent a messenger off to the 
 Plantagenet for certain papers, spent the morning in writ- 
 ing; Admiral Bluewater walked in the park, by himself; 
 Atwood was occupied with his superior; Sir Wycherly rode 
 among his laborers; and Tom Wychecombe took a rod, 
 and pretended to go forth to fish, though he actually held 
 his way back to the headland, lingering in and around the 
 cottage until it was time to return home. At the proper 
 hour, Sir Wycherly sent his chariot for the ladies; and a 
 few minutes before the appointed moment the party began 
 to assemble in the drawing-room. 
 
 When Sir Wycherly appeared, he found the Buttons al- 
 ready in possession, with Tom doing the honors of the 
 house. Of the sailing-master and his daughter, it is un- 
 necessary to say more than that the former was in his best 
 uniform — an exceedingly plain one, as was then the case 
 with the M'hole naval wardrobe — and that the last had re- 
 covered from her illness, as was evident by the bloom that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 77 
 
 the sensitive blushes constantly cast athwart her lovely face. 
 Her attire was exactly what it ought to have been; neat, 
 simple, and becoming. In honor of the host, she wore her 
 best; but this was what became her station, though a little 
 jewelry that rather surpassed what might have been expected 
 in a girl of her rank of life threw around her person an air 
 of modest elegance. Mrs. Button was a plain, matronly 
 woman — the daughter of a land-steward of a nobleman in 
 the same county — with an air of great mental suffering, 
 from griefs she had never yet exposed to the heartless sym- 
 pathy of the world. 
 
 The baronet was so much in the habit of seeing his hum- 
 ble neighbors that an intimacy had grown up between 
 them. Sir Wycherly, who was anything but an acute ob- 
 server, felt an interest in the melancholy looking and almost 
 heart-broken mother, without knowing why; or certainly 
 without suspecting the real character of her habitual sad- 
 ness; while Mildred's youth and beauty had not failed of 
 producing the customary effect of making a friend of the 
 old bachelor. He shook hands all round, therefore, with 
 great cordiality; expressing his joy at meeting Mrs. Button, 
 and congratulating the daughter on her complete recovery. 
 
 '' I see Tom has been attentive to his duty," he added, 
 "while I've been detained by a silly fellow about a com- 
 plaint against a poacher. My namesake, young Wycherly, 
 has not got back yet, though it is quite two hours past his 
 time; and Mr. Atwood tells me the admiral is a little un- 
 easy about his despatches. I tell him Mr. Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe, though I have not the honor of ranking him among 
 my relatives, and he is only a Virginian by birth, is a young 
 man to be relied on; and that the despatches are safe, let 
 what may detain the courier." 
 
 " And why should not a Virginian be every way as trust- 
 worthy and prompt as an Englishman, Sir Wycherly?" asked 
 Mrs. Button. " He is an Englishman, merely separated 
 from us by the water." 
 
78 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 This was said mildly, or in the manner of one accustomed 
 to speak under a rebuked feeling; but it was said earnestly, 
 and perhaps a little reproachfully, while the speaker's eye 
 glanced with natural interest toward the beautiful face of 
 her daughter. 
 
 " Why not, sure enough, my dear Mrs. Button !" echoed 
 the baronet. "They are Englishmen, like ourselves, only 
 born out of the realm, as it might be, and no doubt a little 
 different on that account. They are fellow-subjects, Mrs. 
 Button, and that is a great deal. Then they are miracles 
 of loyalty, there being scarcely a Jacobite, as they tell me, 
 in all the colonies." 
 
 " Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe is a very respectable young 
 gentleman," said Button ; " and I hear he is a prime sea- 
 man for his years. He has not the honor of being related 
 to this distinguished family, like Mr. Thomas, here, it is 
 true; but he is likely to make a name for himself. Should 
 he get a ship, and do as handsome things in her as he has 
 done already. His Majesty would probably knight him ; and 
 then we should have tivo Sir Wycherly Wychecombes!" 
 
 "I hope not — I hope not!" exclaimed the baronet; "I 
 think there must be a law against that. As it is, I shall be 
 obliged to put Bart, after my name, as my worthy grand- 
 father used to do, in order to prevent confusion ; but Eng- 
 land can't bear two Sir Wycherlys, any more than the world 
 can bear two suns. Is not that your opinion, Miss Mil- 
 dred?" 
 
 The baronet had laughed at his own allusion, showing he 
 spoke half jocularly; but, as his question was put in too 
 direct a manner to escape general attention, the confused 
 girl was obliged to answer. 
 
 " I dare say Mr. Wychecombe will never reach a rank 
 high enough to cause any such difficulty," she said; and it 
 was said in all sincerity; for, unconsciously perhaps, she 
 secretly hoped that no difference so wide might ever be cre- 
 ated between the youth and herself. " If he should, I sup- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 79 
 
 pose his rights would be as good as another's, and he must 
 keep his name." 
 
 " In such a case, which is invprobable enough, as Miss 
 Mildred has so well observed," put in Tom Wychecombe, 
 " we should have to submit to the knighthood^ for that comes 
 from the king, who might knight a chimney-sweep, if he see 
 fit; but a question might be raised as to the name. It is 
 bad enough as it is; but if it really got to be two Sir Wych- 
 erlys, I think my dear uncle would be wrong to submit to 
 such an invasion of what one might call his individuality, 
 without making some inquiry as to the right of the gentle- 
 man to one or both his names. The result might show that 
 the king had made a Sir Something Nobody." 
 
 The sneer and spite with which this was uttered were too 
 marked to escape notice; and both Dutton and his wife felt 
 it would be unpleasant to mingle farther in the discourse. 
 Still the last, submissive, rebuked, and heart-broken as she 
 was, felt a glow on her own pale cheek, as she saw the col- 
 or mount in the face of Mildred, and she detected the 
 strong impulses that urged the generous girl herself to 
 answer. 
 
 " We have now known Mr. Wychecombe several months," 
 observed Mildred, fastening her full, blue eye calmly on 
 Tom's sinister-looking face; ^' and we have never known 
 anything to ca«se us to think he would bear a name — or 
 names — that he does not at least think he has a right to." 
 
 This was said gently, but so distinctly, that every word 
 entered fairly into Tom Wychecombe's soul ; who threw a 
 quick, suspicious glance at the lovely speaker, as if to ascer- 
 tain how far she intended any allusion to himself. Meeting 
 with no other expression than that of generous interest, he 
 recovered his self-command, and made his reply with suffi- 
 cient coolness. 
 
 "Upon my word, Mrs. Dutton," he cried, laughing; "we 
 young men will all of us have to get over the cliff, and hang 
 dangling at the end of a rope, in order to awaken an interest 
 
80 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 in Miss Mildred, to defend us when our backs are turned. 
 So eloquent — and most especially, so lovely, so charming 
 an advocate, is almost certain of success; and my uncle and 
 myself must admit the absent gentleman's right to our name ; 
 though, heaven be praised, he has not yet got either the title 
 or the estate." 
 
 " I hope I have said nothing. Sir Wycherly, to displease 
 yoii^'' returned Mildred, with emphasis; though her face was 
 a thousand times handsomer than ever, with the blushes that 
 suffused it. "Nothing would pain me more than to sup- 
 pose I had done so improper a thing. I merely meant that 
 we cannot believe Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe would will- 
 ingly take a name he had no right to." 
 
 " My little dear," said the baronet, taking the hand of the 
 distressed girl, and kissing her cheek, as he had often done 
 before, with fatherly tenderness ; " it is not an easy matter 
 for you to offend me; and I'm sure the young fellow is 
 quite welcome to both my names, if you wish him to have 
 'em." 
 
 "And I merely meant, Miss Mildred," resumed Tom, who 
 feared he might have gone too far, " that the young gentle- 
 man — quite without any fault of his own — is probably igno- 
 rant how he came by two names that have so long pertained 
 to the head of an ancient and honorable family. There is 
 many a young man born, who is worthy of being an earl, 
 
 but whom the law considers " here Tom paused to choose 
 
 terms suitable for his auditor, when the baronet added: 
 
 " A Jilius fiullius — that's the phrase, Tom — I had it from. 
 your own father's mouth." 
 
 Tom Wychecombe started, and looked furtively around 
 him, as if to ascertain who suspected the truth. Then he 
 continued, anxious to regain the ground he feared he had 
 lost in Mildred's favor. 
 
 '"'' Filius nullius means. Miss Mildred, exactly what I wish 
 to express; a family without any legal origin. They tell 
 me, however, that in the colonies, nothing is more common 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 8 1 
 
 than for people to take the names of the great families at 
 home, and after a while they fancy themselves related." 
 
 " I never heard Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe say a word to 
 lead us to suppose that he was, in any manner, connected 
 with this family, sir," returned Mildred calmly, but quite 
 distinctly. 
 
 " Did you ever hear him say he was not^ Miss Mildred?" 
 
 "I cannot say I ever did, Mr. Wychecombe. It is a sub- 
 ject that has seldom been introduced in my hearing." 
 
 "But it has often been introduced in his! I declare, Sir 
 Wycherly, it has struck me as singular that, while you and 
 I have so very frequently stated in the presence of this gen- 
 tleman that our families are in no way connected, he has 
 never, in any manner, not even by a nod or a look of appro- 
 bation, assented to what he must certainly know to be the 
 case. But I suppose, like a true colonist, he was unwilling 
 to give up this hold on the old stock." 
 
 Here the entrance of Sir Gervaise Oakes changed the dis- 
 course. The vice-admiral joined the party in good spirits, 
 as is apt to be the case with men who have been much occu- 
 pied with affairs of moment, and who meet relaxation with 
 a consciousness of having done their duty. 
 
 " If one could take with him to sea the comforts of such 
 a house as this. Sir Wycherly, and such handsome faces as 
 your own, young lady," cried Sir Gervaise cheerfully, after 
 he had made his salutations; " there would be an end of our 
 exclusiveness, for every petit maitre of Paris and London 
 would turn sailor, as a matter of course. Six months in the 
 Bay of Biscay gives an old fellow, like myself, a keen relish 
 for these enjoyments, as hunger makes any meat palatable; 
 though I am far, very far, indeed, from putting this house 
 or this company on a level with an indifferent feast, even 
 for an epicure." 
 
 " Such as it is. Sir Gervaise, the first is quite at your ser- 
 vice, in all things," rejoined the host; "and the last will 
 do all in its power to make itself agreeable." 
 6 
 
82 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Ah — here comes Bluewater to echo all I have said and 
 feel. I am telling Sir Wycherly and the ladies, of the satis- 
 faction we grampuses experience when we get berthed under 
 such a roof as this, with woman's sweet face to throw a gleam 
 of happiness around her." 
 
 Admiral Bluewater had already saluted the mother, but 
 when his eye fell on the face and person of Mildred, it was 
 riveted, for an instant, with an earnestness and intentness 
 of surprise and admiration that all noted, though no one 
 saw fit to comment on it. 
 
 " Sir Gervaise is so established an admirer of the sex," 
 said the rear-admiral, recovering himself, after a pause, 
 "that I am never astonished at any of his raptures. Salt 
 water has the usual effect on him, however ; for I have now 
 known him longer than he might wish to be reminded of, 
 and yet the only mistress who can keep him true is his 
 ship." 
 
 " And to that I believe I may be said to be constant. I 
 don't know how it is with you. Sir Wycherly, but everything 
 I am accustomed to I like. Now, here I have sailed with 
 both these gentlemen, until I should as soon think of going 
 to sea without a binnacle as to go to sea without 'em both 
 — hey, Atwood? Then, as to the ship, my flag has been 
 flying in the Plantagenet these ten years, and I can't bear 
 to give the old craft up, though Bluewater, here, would have 
 turned her over to an inferior after three years' service. I 
 tell all the young men they don't stay long enough in any 
 one vessel to find out her good qualities. I never was in a 
 slow ship yet." 
 
 " For the simple reason that you never get into a fast one, 
 that you do not wear her fairly out, before you give her up. 
 The Plantagenet, Sir Wycherly, is the fastest two-decker in 
 His Majesty's service, and the vice-admiral knows it too 
 well to let any of us get foot in her, while her timbers will 
 hang together." 
 
 "Let it be so, if you will; it only shows, Sir Wycherly, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 8$ 
 
 that I do not choose my friends for their bad qualities. 
 But, allow me to ask, young lady, if you happen to know a 
 certain Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe — a namesake, but no 
 relative, I understand, of our respectable host — and one 
 who holds a commission in Plis Majesty's service?" 
 
 " Certainly, Sir Gervaise," answered Mildred, dropping 
 her eyes to the floor, and trembling, though she scarce knew 
 why ; " Mr. Wychecombe has been about here, now, for some 
 months and we all know something of him." 
 
 '' Then, perhaps you can tell me whether he is generally 
 a loiterer on duty. I do not inquire whether he is a lag- 
 gard in his duty to you, but whether, mounted on a good 
 hunter, he could get over twenty miles, in eight or ten hours, 
 for instance?" 
 
 " I think Sir Wycherly would tell you that he could, sir." 
 
 " He may be a Wychecombe, Sir Wycherly, but he is no 
 Plantagenet, in the way of sailing. Surely the young gen- 
 tleman ought to have returned some hours since!" 
 
 " It's quite surprising to me that he is not back before 
 this," returned the kind-hearted baronet. " He is active, 
 and understands himself, and there is not a better horseman 
 in the county — is there. Miss Mildred?" 
 
 Mildred did not think it necessary to reply to this direct 
 appeal ; but spite of the manner in which she had been en- 
 deavoring to school her feelings since the accident on the 
 cliff, she could not prevent the deadly paleness that dread 
 of some accident had produced, or the rush of color to her 
 cheeks that followed from the unexpected question of Sir 
 Wycherly. Turning to conceal her confusion, she met the 
 eye of Tom Wychecombe riveted on her face, with an ex- 
 pression so sinister that it caused her to tremble. Fortu- 
 nately, at this moment, Sir Gervaise turned away, and, draw- 
 ing near his friend, on the other side of the large apartment, 
 he said in an undertone: 
 
 "Luckily, Atwood has brought ashore a duplicate of my 
 despatches, Bluewater, and, if this dilatory gentleman does 
 
84 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 not return by the time we have dined, I will send off a sec- 
 ond courier. The intelligence is too important to be trifled 
 with; and after having brought the fleet north, to be in 
 readiness to serve the state in this emergency, it would be 
 rare folly to leave the ministry in ignorance of the reasons 
 why I have done it." 
 
 " Nevertheless, they would be almost as well-informed 
 as I am myself," returned the rear-admiral, with a little 
 point, but quite without any bitterness of manner. " The 
 only advantage I have over them is that I do know where 
 the fleet is, which is more than the First Lord can boast of." 
 
 " True — I had forgot, my friend — but you must feel that 
 there is a subject on which I had better not consult you. I 
 have received some important intelligence, that my duty, as 
 a commander-in-chief, renders it necessary I should — keep 
 to myself." 
 
 Sir Gervaise laughed as he concluded, though he seemed 
 vexed and embarrassed. Admiral Bluewater betrayed nei- 
 ther chagrin, nor disappointment; but strong, nearly un- 
 governable curiosity, a feeling from w'nch he was singularly 
 exempt in general, glowed in his eyes, and lighted his whole 
 countenance. Still, habitual submission to his superior, 
 and the self-command uf discipline, enabled him to wait 
 for anything more that his friend might communicate. At 
 this moment, the door opened, and Wycherly entered the 
 room, in the state in which he had just dismounted. It was 
 necessary to throw but a single glance at his hurried man- 
 ner, and general appearance, to know that he had something 
 of importance to communicate, and Sir Gervaise made a 
 sign for him not to speak. 
 
 "This is public service. Sir Wycherly," said the vice- 
 admiral, " and I hope you will excuse us for a few minutes. 
 I beg this good company will be seated at table, as soon as 
 dinner is served, and that you will treat us as old friends — 
 as I should treat you, if we were on board the Plantagenet. 
 Admiral Bluewater, will you be of our conference?" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 85 
 
 Nothing more was said until the two admirals and the 
 young lieutenant were in the dressing-room of Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes. Then the latter turned and addressed Wycherly, 
 with the manner of a superior. 
 
 " I should have met you with a reproof, for this delay, 
 young gentleman," he commenced, " did I not suspect, from 
 your appearance, that something of moment has occurred to 
 produce it. Had the mail passed the market-town, before 
 you reached it, sir?" 
 
 "It had not. Admiral Oakes; and I have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that your despatches are now several hours on 
 their way to London. I reached the office just in season to 
 see them mailed." 
 
 "Humph! On board the Plantagenet it is the custom 
 for an officer to report any important duty done, as soon as 
 it is in a condition to be thus laid before the superior!" 
 
 " I presume that is the usage in all His Majesty's ships, 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes; but I have been taught that a proper 
 discretion, when it does not interfere with positive orders, 
 and sometimes when it does, is a surer sign of a useful offi- 
 cer than even the most slavish attention to rules." 
 
 "That is a just distinction, young gentleman, though 
 safer in the hands of a captain, perhaps, than in those of a 
 lieutenant," returned the vice-admiral, glancing at his friend, 
 though he secretly admired the youth's spirit. " Discretion 
 is a comparative term; meaning different things with 
 different persons. May I presume to ask what Mr. 
 Wycherly Wychecombe calls discretion, in the present 
 instance?" 
 
 " You have every right, sir, to know, and I only wanted 
 your permission to tell my whole story. While waiting to 
 see the London mail start with your despatches, and to rest 
 my horse, a post-chaise arrived that was carrying a gentle- 
 man, who is suspected of being a Jacobite, to his country- 
 seat, some thirty miles further west. This gentleman held 
 a secret conference with another person of the same way of 
 
S6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 thinking as himself; and there was so much running and 
 sending of messages that I could not avoid suspecting 
 something was in the wind. Going to the stable to look 
 after Sir Wycherly's hunter, for I knew how much he values 
 the animal, I found one of the stranger's servants in dis- 
 course with the ostler. The latter told me, when the chaise 
 had gone, that great tidings had reached Exeter, before the 
 travellers quitted the town. These tidings he described as 
 news that 'Charley was no longer over the water.* It was 
 useless, Sir Gervaise, to question one so stupid; and, at the 
 inn, though all observed the manner of the traveller and his 
 visitor, no one could tell me anything positive. Under the 
 circumstances, therefore, I threw myself into the return 
 chaise, and went as far as Fowey, where I met the important 
 intelligence that Prince Charles has actually landed, and is 
 at this moment up, in Scotland!" 
 
 "The Pretender is then really once more among us!" ex- 
 claimed Sir Gervaise, like one who had half suspected the 
 truth. 
 
 " Not the Pretender, Sir Gervaise, as I understand the 
 news; but his young son. Prince Charles Edward, one much 
 more likely to give the kingdom trouble. The fact is cer- 
 tain, I believe; and as it struck me that it might be impor- 
 tant to the commander of so fine a fleet as this which lies 
 under Wychecombe Head to know it, I lost no time in 
 getting back with the intelligence." 
 
 " You have done well, young gentleman, and have proved 
 that discretion is quite as useful and respectable in a lieu- 
 tenant as it can possibly prove to be in a full admiral of 
 the white. Go, now, and make yourself fit to take a seat by 
 the side of one of the sweetest girls in England, where I 
 shall expect to see you, in fifteen minutes. Well, Blue- 
 water," he continued, as soon as the door closed on Wych- 
 erly; "this is news, of a certainty!" 
 
 "It is, indeed; and I take it to be the news, or connected 
 with the news, that you have sent to the First Lord, in the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 8/ 
 
 late despatches. It has not taken you altogether by sur- 
 prise, if the truth were said?" 
 
 " It has not, I confess. You know what excellent intelli- 
 gence we have had, the past season, from the Bordeaux 
 agent; he sent me off such proofs of this intended expedi- 
 tion that I thought it advisable to bring the fleet north on 
 the strength of it, that the ships might be used as the 
 exigency should require." 
 
 " Thank God, it is a long way to Scotland, and it is not 
 probable we can reach the coast of that country until all is 
 over! I wish we had inquired of this young man with what 
 sort of and how large a naval force the prince was accom- 
 panied. Shall I send for him, that we may put the question ?" 
 
 *' It is better that you remain passive, Admiral Bluewater. 
 I now promise you that you shall learn all I hear; and that, 
 under the circumstances, I think ought to content you." 
 
 The two admirals now separated, though neither returned 
 to the company for some little time. The intelligence they 
 had just learned was too important to be lightly received, 
 and each of these veteran seamen paced his room, for near 
 a quarter of an hour, reflecting on what might be the prob- 
 able consequences to the country and to himself. Sir Ger- 
 vaise Oakes expected some event of this nature, and was 
 less taken by surprise than his friend ; still he viewed the 
 crisis as exceedingly serious, and as one likely to destroy 
 the prosperity of the nation, as well as the peace of fam- 
 ilies. There was then in England, as there is to-day, and 
 as there probably will be throughout all time, two parties; 
 one of which clung to the past with its hereditary and ex- 
 clusive privileges, while the other looked more toward 
 change for anticipated advantages and created honors. 
 Religion, in that age, was made the stalking-horse of poli- 
 ticians; as is liberty on one side, and order on the other, in 
 our own times; and men just as blindly, as vehemently, and 
 as regardlessly of principle, submitted to party in the mid- 
 dle of the eighteenth century, as we know they do in the 
 
88 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 middle of the nineteenth. The mode of acting was a little 
 changed, and the watchwords and rallying-points were not 
 exactly the same, it is true; but, in all that relates to igno- 
 rant confidence, ferocious denunciation, and selfishness but 
 half concealed under the cloak of patriotism, the England of 
 the original whigs and tories was the England of conservatism 
 and reform, and the America of 1776 the America of 1841. 
 
 Still thousands always act, in political struggles, with the 
 fairest intentions, though they act in bitter opposition to each 
 other. When prejudice becomes the stimulant of ignorance, 
 no other result may be hoped for; and the experience of the 
 world, in the management of human affairs, has left the up- 
 right and intelligent but one conclusion as the reward of all 
 the pains and penalties with which political revolutions have 
 been effected — the conviction that no institutions can be in- 
 vented, which a short working does not show will be per- 
 verted from their original intention, by the ingenuity of 
 those entrusted with power. In a word, the physical con- 
 stitution of man does not more infallibly tend to decrepitude 
 and imbecility, imperiously requiring a new being and a 
 new existence, to fulfil the objects of his creation, than the 
 moral constitutions which are the fruits of his wisdom con- 
 tain the seeds of abuses and decay, that human selfishness 
 will be as certain to cultivate as human indulgence is to 
 aid the course of nature, in hastening the approaches of 
 death. Thus, while on the one hand, there exists the con- 
 stant incentive of abuses and hopes to induce us to wish for 
 modifications of the social structure, on the other there stands 
 the experience of ages to demonstrate their insufficiency to 
 produce the happiness we aim at. If the world advances in 
 civilization and humanity, it is because knowledge will pro- 
 duce its fruits in every soil, and under every condition of 
 cultivation and improvement. 
 
 Both Sir Gervaise Oakes and Admiral Bluewater believed 
 themselves to be purely governed by principles, in submit- 
 ting to the bias that each felt toward the conflicting claims 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 89 
 
 of the houses of Brunswick and Stuart. Perhaps no two 
 men in England were in fact less influenced by motives that 
 they ought to feel ashamed to own ; and yet, as has been 
 seen, while they thought so much alike on most other things, 
 on this they were diametrically opposed to each other. Dur- 
 ing the many years of arduous and delicate duties that they 
 had served together, jealousy, distrust, and discontent had 
 been equally strangers to their bosoms, for each had ever 
 felt the assurance that his own honor, happiness, and inter- 
 ests were as much ruling motives with his friend as they 
 could well be with himself. Their lives had been constant 
 scenes of mutual but unpretending kindnesses; and this 
 under circumstances that naturally awakened all the most 
 generous and manly sentiments of their natures. When 
 young men, their laughing messmates had nicknamed them 
 Pylades and Orestes; and later in life, on account of their 
 cruising so much in company, they were generally known in 
 the navy as the " twin captains." On several occasions had 
 they fought enemies' frigates, and captured them; on these 
 occasions, as a matter of course, the senior of the two be- 
 came most known to the nation- but Sir Gervaise had made 
 the most generous efforts to give his junior a full share of 
 the credit, while C ptain Bluewater never spoke of the 
 affairs without mentioning them as victories of the commo- 
 dore. In a word, on all occasions, and under all circum- 
 stances, it appeared to be the aim of these generous-minded 
 and gallant seamen to serve each other, nor was this at- 
 tempted with any effort, or striving for effect; all that was 
 said, or done, coming naturally and spontaneously from the 
 heart. But, for the first time in their lives, events had now 
 occurred which threatened a jarring of the feelings between 
 them, if they did not lead to acts which must inevitably 
 place them in open and declared hostility to each other. 
 No wonder, then, that both looked at the future with gloomy 
 forebodings, and a distrust which, if it did not render them 
 unhappy, at least produced uneasiness. 
 
90 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " The circle form'd, we sit in silent state, 
 Like figures drawn upon a dial-plate ; 
 Yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am, uttered softly, show, 
 Every five minutes, how the minutes go." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to tell the reader that England, 
 as regarded material civilization, was a very different coun- 
 try a hundred years since, from what it is to-day. We are 
 writing of an age of heavy wagons, coaches and six, post- 
 chaises and four ; and not of an era of MacAdam roads, or 
 of cars flying along by steam. A man may now post down 
 to a country-house, some sixty or eighty miles, to dinner, 
 and this, too, by the aid of only a pair of horses; but, in 
 1745 such an engagement would have required at least a 
 start on the previous day ; and, in many parts of the island, 
 it would have been safer to have taken two days' grace. 
 Scotland was then farther from Devonshire, in effect, than 
 Geneva is now; and news travelled slowly, and with the 
 usual exaggerations and uncertainties of delay. It was no 
 wonder, then, that a Jacobite who was posting off to his 
 country-house — the focus of an English landlord's influence 
 and authority — filled with intelligence that had reached him 
 through the activity of zealous political partisan, preceded 
 the more regular tidings of the mail by several hours. The 
 little that had escaped this individual, or his servants rather, 
 for the gentleman was tolerably discreet himself, confiding 
 in only one or two particular friends at each relay, had not 
 got out to the world, either very fully or very clearly. 
 Wycherly had used intelligence in making his inquiries* 
 and he had observed an officer's prudence in keeping his 
 news for the ears of his superior alone. When Sir Gervaise 
 joined the party in the drawing-room, therefore, he saw that 
 Sir Wycherly knew nothing of what had occurred at the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 9I 
 
 north; and he intended the glance which he directed at the 
 lieutenant to convey a hearty approval of his discretion. 
 This forbearance did more to raise the young officer in the 
 opinion of the practised and thoughtful admiral than the 
 gallantry with which the youth had so recently purchased 
 his commission ; for, while many were brave, few hi d the 
 self-command and prudence, under circumstances like the 
 present, that alone can make a man safe in the management 
 of important public interests. The approbation that Sir 
 Gervaise felt, and which he desired to manifest, for Wych- 
 erly's prudence, was altogether a principle, however; since 
 there existed no sufficient reason for keeping the secret from 
 as confirmed a whig as his host. On the contrary, the 
 sooner those opinions, which both of them would be apt to 
 term sound, were promulgated in the neighborhood, the 
 better it might prove for the good cause. The vice-admiral, 
 therefore, determined to communicate himself, as soon as 
 the party was seated at table, the very secret which he so 
 much commended the youth for keeping. Admiral Blue- 
 water joining the company at this instant. Sir Wycherly 
 led Mrs. Button to the table. No alteration had taken 
 place among the guests, except that Sir Gervaise wore 
 the red riband; a change in his dress that his friend 
 considered to be openly hoisting the standard of the house 
 of Hanover. 
 
 "One would not think. Sir Wycherly," commenced the 
 vice-admiral, glancing his eyes around him, as soon as all 
 were seated, " that this good company has taken its place 
 at your hospitable table, in the midst of a threatened civil 
 war, if not of an actual revolution." 
 
 Every hand was arrested, and every eye turned towards 
 the speaker; even Admiral Bluewater earnestly regarding 
 his friend, anxious to know what would come next. 
 
 " I believe my household is in due subjection," answered 
 Sir Wycherly, gazing to the right and left, as if he expected 
 to see his butler heading a revolt, "and I fancy the only 
 
92 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 change we shall see to-day will be the removal of the 
 courses and the appearance of their successors." 
 
 " Ay, so says the hearty, comfortable Devonshire baronet, 
 while seated at his own board, favored by abundance and 
 warm friends. But it would seem the snake was only 
 scotched; not killed." 
 
 " Sir Gervaise Oakes has grown figurative, with his snakes 
 and scotcIixYi^s^' observed the rear-admiral, a little drily. 
 
 " It is Scotch-\Xig^ as you say with so much emphasis. Blue- 
 water. I suppose, Sir Wycherly — I suppose, Mr. Button, 
 and you, my pretty young lady — I presume all of you have 
 heard of such a person as the Pretender; — some of you may 
 possibly have seen him." 
 
 Sir Wycherly now dropped his knife and fork, and sat gaz- 
 ing at the speaker in amazement. To him the Christian 
 religion, the liberties of the subject — more especially of the 
 baronet and lord of the manor, who had four thousand a year 
 — and the Protestant succession, all seemed to be in sudden 
 danger. 
 
 " I always told my brother, the judge — Mr. Baron Wyche- 
 combe, who is dead and gone — that what between the 
 French, that rogue the Pope, and the spurious offspring of 
 King James II., we should yet see troublesome times in 
 England! And now, sir, my predictions are verified!" 
 
 " Not as to England, yet, my good sir. Of Scotland I 
 have not quite so good news to tell you; as your namesake, 
 here, brings us the tidings that the son of the Pretender has 
 landed in that kingdom, and is rallying the clans. He 
 has come unattended by any Frenchmen, it would seem, and 
 has thrown himself altogether on the misguided nobles and 
 followers of his house." 
 
 " 'Tis, at least, a chivalrous and princely act!" exclaimed 
 Admiral Bluewater. 
 
 " Yes — inasmuch as it is a heedless and mad one. Eng- 
 land is not to be conquered by a rabble of half-dressed 
 Scotchmen.'^ 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS- 93 
 
 "True; but England may be conquered by England, not- 
 withstanding." 
 
 Sir Gervaise now chose to remain silent, for never before 
 had Bluewater come so near betraying his political bias, in 
 the presence of third persons. This pause enabled Sir 
 Wycherly to find his voice. 
 
 " Let me see, Tom," said the baronet, " fifteen and ten 
 are twenty-five, and ten are thirty, and ten are forty-five — it 
 is just thirty years since the Jacobites were up before! It 
 would seem that half a human life is not sufficient to fill the 
 cravings of a Scotchman's maw for English gold." 
 
 " Twice thirty years would hardly quell the promptings 
 of a noble spirit, when his notions of justice showed him 
 the way to the English throne," observed Bluewater coolly. 
 " For my part, I like the spirit of this young prince, for he 
 who nobly dares nobly deserves. What say you, my beau- 
 tiful neighbor?" 
 
 " If you mean to address me, sir, by that compliment," 
 answered Mildred modestly, but with the emphasis that the 
 gentlest of her sex are apt to use when they feel strongly, 
 " I must be suffered to say that I hope every Englishman 
 will dare as nobly, and deserve as well in defejice of his 
 liberties." 
 
 " Come — come, Bluewater," interrupted Sir Gervaise, with 
 a gravity that almost amounted to reproof, " I cannot per- 
 mit such innuendoes before one so young and unpractised. 
 The young lady might really suppose that His Majesty's 
 fleet was entrusted to men unworthy to enjoy his confidence, 
 by the cool way in which you carry on the joke. I propose, 
 now. Sir Wycherly, that we eat our dinner in peace, and say 
 no more about this mad expedition, until the cloth is drawn, 
 at least. It's a long road to Scotland, and there is little 
 danger that this adventurer will find his way into Devon- 
 shire before the nuts are placed before us." 
 
 '' It would be nuts to us, if he did. Sir Gervaise," put in 
 Tom Wycherly, laughing heartily at his own wit. "My 
 
94 '^'HE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 uncle would enjoy nothing more than to see the spurious 
 sovereign on his own estate, here, and in the hands of his 
 own tenants. I think, sir, that Wychecombe and one or two 
 of the adjoining manors would dispose of him." 
 
 " That might depend on circumstances," the admiral an- 
 swered, a little drily. " These Scots have such a thing as a 
 claymore, and are desperate fellows, they tell me, at a charge. 
 The very fact of arming a soldier with a short sword shows 
 a most bloody-minded disposition." 
 
 " You forget, Sir Gervaise, that we have our Cornish hug, 
 here in the west of England; and I will put our fellows 
 against any Scotch regiment that ever charged an enemy." 
 
 Tom laughed again at his own allusion to a proverbial 
 mode of grappling, familiar to the adjoining county. 
 
 "This is all very well, Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, so long 
 as Devonshire is in the west of England, and Scotland lies 
 north of the Tweed. Sir Wycherly might as well leave the 
 matter in the hands of the Duke and his regulars, if it were 
 only in the way of letting every man follow his own trade." 
 
 " It strikes me as so singularly insolent in a base-born 
 boy like this, pretending to the English crown, that I can 
 barely speak of him with patience! We all know that his 
 father was a changeling, and the son of a changeling can 
 have no more right than the father himself. I do not re- 
 member what the law terms such pretenders ; but I dare say 
 it is something sufficiently odious." 
 
 "//7///J- iiuUii/.s^ Thomas," said Sir Wycherly, with a little 
 eagerness to show his learning. "That's the very phrase. 
 I have it from the first authority; my late brother, Baron 
 Wychecombe, giving it to me with his own mouth, on an 
 occasion that called for an understanding of such matters. 
 The judge was a most accurate lawyer, particularly in all 
 that related to names; and I'll engage, if he were living at 
 this moment, he would tell you the legal appellation of a 
 changeling ought to h^ films nulliusy 
 
 In spite of his native impudence, and an innate deter- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 95 
 
 mination to make his way in the world, without much re- 
 gard to truth, Tom Wychecombe felt his cheek burn so 
 much, at this innocent allusion of his reputed uncle, that 
 he was actually obliged to turn away his face, in order to 
 conceal his confusion. Had any moral delinquency of his 
 own been implicated in the remark, he might have found 
 means to steel himself against its consequences ; but, as is 
 only too often the case, he was far more ashamed of a mis- 
 fortune over which he had no possible control than he 
 would have been of a crime for which he was strictly re- 
 sponsible in morals. Sir Gervaise smiled at Sir Wycherly's 
 knowledge of law terms, not to say of Latin; and turning 
 good-humoredly to his friend the rear-admiral, anxious to 
 re-establish friendly relations with him, he said with well- 
 concealed irony: 
 
 "Sir Wycherly must be right, Bluewater. A changeling 
 is nobody — that is to say, he is not the body he pretends to 
 be, which is substantially being nobody — and the son of 
 nobody is clearly 2ijtlius nullius. And now having settled 
 what may be called the law of the case, I demand a truce, 
 until we get our nuts — for as to Mr. Thomas Wychecombe's 
 having his nut to crack, at least to-day, I take it there are 
 too many loyal subjects in the north." 
 
 When men know each other as well as was the case with 
 our two admirals, there are a thousand secret means of an- 
 noyance, as well as of establishing amity. Admiral Blue- 
 water was well aware that Sir Gervaise was greatly superior 
 to the vulgar whig notion of the day, which believed in the 
 fabricated tale of the Pretender's spurious birth; and the 
 secret and ironical allusion he had made to his impression 
 on that subject acted as oil to his own chafed spirit, dis- 
 posing him to moderation. This had been the intention of 
 the other; and the smiles they exchanged, sufficiently proved 
 that their usual mental intercourse was temporarily restored 
 at least. 
 
 Deference to his guests made Sir Wycherly consent to 
 
96 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 change the subject, though he was a little mystified with the 
 obvious reluctance of the two admirals to speak of an enter- 
 prise that ought to be uppermost, according to his notion of 
 the matter, in every Englishman's mind. Tom had received 
 a rebuke that kept him silent during the rest of the dinner; 
 while the others were content to eat and drink, as if nothing 
 had happened. 
 
 It is seldom that a party takes its seat at table without 
 some secret manoeuvring as to the neighborhood, when the 
 claims of rank and character do not interfere with personal 
 wishes. Sir Wycherly had placed Sir Gervaise on his right 
 and Mrs. Button on his left. But Admiral Bluewater had 
 escaped from his control, and taken his seat next to Mildred, 
 who had been placed by Tom Wychecombe close to himself, 
 at the foot of the table. Wycherly occupied the seat oppo- 
 site, and this compelled Button and Mr. Rotherham, the 
 vicar, to fill the other two chairs. The good baronet had 
 made a wry face, at seeing a rear-admiral so unworthily 
 bestowed; but Sir Gervaise assuring him that his friend 
 was never so happy as when in the service of beauty, he was 
 fain to submit to the arrangement. 
 
 That Admiral Bluewater was struck with Mildred's beauty, 
 and pleased with her natural and feminine manner, one alto- 
 gether superior to what might have been expected from her 
 station in life, was very apparent to all at table; though it 
 was quite impossible to mistake his parental and frank air 
 for any other admiration than that which was suitable to 
 the difference in years, and in unison with their respective 
 conditions and experience. Mrs. Button, so far from taking 
 the alarm at the rear-admiral's attentions, felt gratification 
 in observing them; and perhaps she experienced a secret 
 pride in the consciousness of their being so well merited. 
 It has been said, already, that she was, herself, the daughter 
 of a land-steward of a nobleman, in an adjoining county; 
 but it may be well to add, here, that she had been so great 
 a favorite with the daughters of her father's employer as to 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 97 
 
 have been admitted, in a measure, to their society, and to 
 have enjoyed some of the advantages of their education. 
 Lady Wilmeter, the mother of the young ladies, to whom 
 she was admitted as a sort of humble companion, had formed 
 the opinion it might be an advantage to the girl to educate 
 her for a governess ; little conceiving, in her own situation, 
 that she was preparing a course of life for Martha Ray, foi 
 such was Mrs. Button's maiden name, that was perhaps the 
 least enviable of all the careers that a virtuous and intelli- 
 gent female can run. This was, as education and gover- 
 nesses were appreciated a century ago ; the world, with all 
 its faults and sophisms, having unquestionably made a vast 
 stride towards real civilization, and moral truths, in a thou- 
 sand important interests, since that time. Nevertheless, the 
 education was received, together with a good many tastes, 
 and sentiments, and opinions, which it may well be ques- 
 tioned whether they contributed most to the happiness or 
 unhappiness of the pupil, in her future life. Frank Button, 
 then a handsome, though far from polished young sea-lieu- 
 tenant, interfered with the arrangement, by making Martha 
 Ray his wife when she was two-and-twenty. This match 
 was suitable, in all respects, with the important exception 
 of the educations and characters of the parties. Still, as a 
 woman may well be more refined, and in some things, even 
 more intelligent than her husband; and as sailors, in the 
 commencement of the eighteenth century, formed a class of 
 society much more distinct than they do to-day, there would 
 have been nothing absolutely incompatible with the future 
 well-being of the young couple, had each pursued his or her 
 own career in a manner suitable to their respective duties. 
 Young Button took away his bride, with the two thousand 
 pounds she had received from her father, and for a long time 
 he was seen no more in his native county. After an absence 
 of some twenty years, however, he returned, broken in con- 
 stitution, and degraded in rank. Mrs. Button brought with 
 her one child, the beautiful girl introduced to the reader, 
 7 ^ .-. 
 
gS THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and to whom she was studiously imparting all she had her- 
 self acquired in the adventitious manner mentioned. Such 
 were the means by which Mildred, like her mother, had 
 been educated above her condition in life ; and it had been 
 remarked that, though Mrs. Button had probably no cause 
 to felicitate herself on the possession of manners and senti- 
 ments that met with so little sympathy, or appreciation, in 
 her actual situation, she assiduously cultivated the same 
 manners and opinions in her daughter; frequently manifest- 
 ing a sort of sickly fastidiousness on the subject of Mil- 
 dred's deportment and tastes. It is probable the girl owed 
 her improvement in both, however, more to the circumstance 
 of her being left so much alone with her mother than to any 
 positive lessons she received; the influence of example, for 
 years, producing its usual effects. 
 
 No one in Wychecombe positively knew the history of 
 Button's professional degradation. He had never risen 
 higher than to be a lieutenant; and from this station he 
 had fallen by the sentence of a court-martial. His restora- 
 tion to the service, in the humbler and almost hopeless rank 
 of a master, was believed to have been brought about by 
 Mrs. Button's influence with the present Lord Wilmeter, 
 who was the brother of her youthful companions. That the 
 husband had wasted his means was as certain as that his 
 habits, on the score of temperance at least, were bad, and 
 that his wife, if not positively broken-hearted, was an un- 
 happy woman; one to be pitied, and admired. Sir Wych- 
 erly was little addicted to analysis, but he could not fail to 
 discover the superiority of the wife and daughter over the 
 husband and father; and it is due to his young namesake 
 to add that his obvious admiration of Mildred was quite as 
 much owing to her mind, deportment, character, and tastes, 
 as to her exceeding personal charms. 
 
 This little digression may perhaps, in the reader's eyes, 
 excuse the interest Admiral Bluewater took in our heroine. 
 With the indulgence of years and station, and the tact of a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 99 
 
 man of the world, he succeeded in drawing Mildred out, 
 without alarming her timidity; and he was surprised at dis- 
 covering the delicacy of her sentiments, and the accuracy of 
 her knowledge. He was too conversant with society, and 
 had too much good taste, to make any deliberate parade of 
 opinions ; but in the quiet manner that is so easy to those 
 who are accustomed to deal with truths and tastes as famil- 
 iar things, he succeeded in inducing her to answer his own 
 remarks, to sympathize with his feelings, to laugh when he 
 laughed, and to assume a look of disapproval when he felt 
 that disapprobation was just. To all this Wycherly was a 
 delighted witness, and in some respects he participated in 
 the conversation; for there was evidently no wish on the 
 part of the rear-admiral to monopolize his beautiful com- 
 panion to himself. Perhaps the position of the young man, 
 directly opposite to her, aided in inducing Mildred to be- 
 stow so many grateful looks and sweet smiles on the older 
 officer; for she could not glance across the table without 
 meeting the admiring gaze of Wycherly, fastened on her 
 own blushing face. 
 
 It is certain, if our heroine did not, during this repast, 
 make a conquest of Admiral Bluewater in the ordinary 
 meaning of the term, that she made him a friend. Sir Ger- 
 vaise, even, was struck with the singular and devoted man- 
 ner in which his old messmate gave all his attention to the 
 beautiful girl at his side; and, once or twice, he caught 
 himself conjecturing whether it were possible that one as 
 practised, as sensible, and as much accustomed to the beau- 
 ties of the court as Bluewater had actually been caught, by 
 the pretty face of a country girl, when so well turned of 
 fifty, himself! Then, discarding the notion as preposterous, 
 he gave his attention to the discourse of Sir Wycherly; a 
 dissertation on rabbits and rabbit-warrens. In this manner 
 the dinner passed away. 
 
 Mrs. Button asked her host's permission to retire, with 
 her daughter, at the earliest moment permitted by propriety. 
 
lOO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 In quitting the room she cast an anxious glance at the face 
 of her husband, which was already becoming flushed with 
 his frequent applications of port; and, spite of an effort to 
 look smiling and cheerful, her lips quivered, and by the 
 time she and Mildred reached the drawing-room tears were 
 fast falling down her cheeks. No explanation was asked, 
 or needed, by the daughter, who threw herself into her 
 mother's arms, and for several minutes they wept together, 
 in silence. Never had Mrs. Button spoken, even to Mil- 
 dred, of the besetting and degrading vice of her husband; 
 but it had been impossible to conceal its painful conse- 
 quences from the world ; much less from one who lived in 
 the bosom of her family. On that failing which the wife 
 treated so tenderly, the daughter of course could not touch; 
 but the silent communion of tears had got to be so sweet to 
 both that, with the last year, it was of very frequent occur- 
 rence. 
 
 " Really, Mildred," said the mother at length, after hav- 
 ing succeeded in suppressing her emotion, and in drying 
 her eyes, while she smiled fondly in the face of the lovely 
 and affectionate girl, "this Admiral Bluewater is get- 
 ting to be so particular, I hardly know how to treat the 
 matter." 
 
 " Oh, mother, he is a delightful old gentleman ! and he 
 is so gentle, while he is so frank, that he wins your confi- 
 dence almost before you know it. I wonder if he could 
 have been serious in what he said about the noble daring 
 and noble deserving of Prince Edward!" 
 
 " That must pass for trifling, of course ; the ministry would 
 scarcely employ any but a true whig, in command of a fleet. 
 I saw several of his family, when a girl, and have always 
 heard them spoken of with esteem and respect. Lord Blue- 
 water, this gentleman's cousin, was very intimate with the 
 present Lord Wilmeter, and was often at the castle. I re- 
 member to have heard that he had a disappointment in love, 
 when quite a young man, and that he has ever since been 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. lOI 
 
 considered a confirmed bachelor. So you will take heed, 
 my love." 
 
 "The warning was unnecessary, dear mother," returned 
 Mildred, laughing; " I could dote on the admiral as a father, 
 but must be excused from considering him young enough for 
 a nearer tie." 
 
 " And yet he has the much admired profession, Mildred," 
 said the mother, smiling fondly, and yet a little archly. " I 
 have often heard you speak of your passion for the sea." 
 
 " That was formerly, mother, when I spoke as a sailor's 
 daughter, and as girls are apt to speak, without much reflec- 
 tion. I do not know that I think better of a seaman's pro- 
 fession, now, than I do of any other. I fear there is often 
 much misery in store for soldiers' and sailors' wives." 
 
 Mrs. Button's lip quivered again ; but, hearing a foot 
 at the door, she made an effort to be composed, just as 
 Admiral Bluewater entered. 
 
 " I have run away from the bottle, Mrs. Button, to join 
 you and your fair daughter, as I would run from an enemy 
 of twice my force," he said, giving each lady a hand, in a 
 manner so friendly as to render the act more than gracious ; 
 for it was kind. "Oakes is bowsing out his jib with his 
 brother baronet, as we sailors say, and I have hauled out of 
 the line without a signal." 
 
 " I hope Sir Gervaise Oakes does not consider it neces- 
 sary to drink more wine than is good for the mind and 
 body," observed Mrs. Button, with a haste that she imme- 
 diately regretted. 
 
 " Not he. Gervaise Oakes is as discreet a man in all 
 that relates to the table as an anchorite ; and yet he has a 
 faculty of seeming to drink, that makes him a boon compan- 
 ion for a four-bottle man. How the deuce he does it is 
 more than I can tell you; but he does it so well that he 
 does not more thoroughly get the better of the king's 
 enemies on the high seas than he floors his friends under 
 the table. Sir Wycherly has begun his libations in honor 
 
102 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of the house of Hanover, and they will be likely to make 
 a long sitting." 
 
 Mrs. Button sighed, and walked away to a window to con- 
 ceal the paleness of her cheeks. Admiral Bluewater, though 
 perfectly abstemious himself, regarded license with the bot- 
 tle after dinner, like most men of that age, as a very venial 
 weakness, and he quietly took a seat by the side of Mildred, 
 and began to converse. 
 
 " I hope, young lady, as a sailor's child you feel an hered 
 itary indulgence for a seaman's gossip," he said. " We, who 
 are so much shut up in our ships, have a poverty of ideas on 
 most subjects; and as to always talking of the winds an^i 
 waves, that would fatigue even a poet." 
 
 "As a sailor's daughter I honor my father's calling, sir; 
 and as an English girl I venerate the brave defenders of the 
 island. Nor do I know that seamen have less to say than 
 other men." 
 
 " I am glad to hear you confess this, for — shall I be frank 
 with you, and take a liberty that would better become a 
 friend of a dozen years than an acquaintance of a day? — 
 and yet I know not why it is so, my dear child, but I feel 
 as if I had long known you, though I am certain we never 
 met before." 
 
 " Perhaps, sir, it is an omen that we are long to know 
 each other in future," said Mildred, with the winning confi- 
 dence of unsuspecting and innocent girlhood. " I hope you 
 will use no reserve." 
 
 " Well, then, at the risk of making a sad blunder, I will 
 just say that *my nephew Tom' is anything but a prepossess- 
 ing youth; and that I hope all eyes regard him exactly as 
 he appears to a sailor of fifty-five." 
 
 " I cannot answer for more than those of a girl of nine- 
 teen. Admiral Bluewater," said Mildred, laughing; "but 
 for her I think I may say that she does not look on him as 
 either an Adonis or a Crichton." 
 
 " Upon my soul ! I am right glad to hear this, for the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. IO3 
 
 fellow has accidental advantages enough to render him for- 
 midable. He is the heir to the baronetcy and this estate, I 
 believe?" 
 
 "I presume he is. Sir Wycherly has no other nephew — 
 or at least this is the eldest of three brothers, I am told — 
 and, being childless himself, it viust be so. My father tells 
 me Sir Wycherly speaks of Mr. Thomas Wychecombe as his 
 future heir." 
 
 "Your father! — Ay, fathers look on these matters with 
 eyes very different from their daughters!" 
 
 "There is one thing about seamen that renders them at 
 least safe acquaintances," said Mildred, smiling; "I mean 
 their frankness." 
 
 "That is a failing of mine, as I have heard. But you 
 will pardon an indiscretion that arises in the interest I feel 
 in yourself. The eldest of three brothers — is the lieutenant, 
 then, a 5'ounger son?" 
 
 ^^ He does not belong to the family at all, I believe," Mil- 
 dred answered, coloring slightly, in spite of a resolute deter- 
 mination to appear unconcerned. " Mr. Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe is no relative of our host, I hear; though he bears 
 both of his names. He is from the colonies; born in 
 Virginia." 
 
 " He is a noble and a noble looking fellow ! Were I the 
 baronet I would break the entail rather than the acres should 
 go to that sinister-looking nephew, and bestow them on the 
 namesake. From Virginia, and not even a relative, at all?" 
 
 "That is what Mr. Thomas W^ychecombe says; and even 
 Sir Wycherly confirms it. I have never heard Mr. Wych- 
 erly Wychecombe speak on the subject, himself." 
 
 " A weakness of poor human nature! The lad finds an 
 honorable, ancient, and affluent family here, and has not the 
 courage to declare his want of affinity to it; happening to 
 bear the same name." 
 
 Mildred hesitated about replying; but a generous feeling 
 got the better of her diffidence. " I have never seen any- 
 
104 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 thing in the conduct of Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe to in- 
 duce me to think that he feels any such weakness," she said 
 earnestly. " He seems rather to take pride in, than to feel 
 ashamed of, his being a colonial ; and you know we in Eng- 
 land hardly look on the people of the colonies as our equals." 
 
 " And have you, young lady, any of that overweening 
 prejudice in favor of your own island?" 
 
 " I hope not ; but I think most persons have. Mr. Wych- 
 erly Wychecombe admits that Virginia is inferior to Eng- 
 land in a thousand things; and yet he seems to take pride 
 in his birthplace." 
 
 " Every sentiment of this nature is to be traced to self. 
 We know that the fact is irretrievable, and struggle to be 
 proud of what we cannot help. The Turk will tell you he 
 has the honor to be a native of Stamboul ; the Parisian will 
 boast of his Faubourg; and the cockney exults in Wapping. 
 Personal conceit lies at the bottom of all; for we fancy that 
 places to which we belong are not places to be ashamed of." 
 
 " And yet I do not think Mr. Wycherly at all remarkable 
 for conceit. On the contrary, he is rather diffident and un- 
 assuming." 
 
 This was said simply, but so sincerely, as to induce the 
 listener to fasten his penetrating blue eye on the speaker, 
 who now first took the alarm, and felt that she might have 
 said too much. At this moment the two young men entered, 
 and a servant appeared to request that Admiral Bluewater 
 would do Sir Gervaise Oakes the favor to join him in the 
 dressing-room of the latter. 
 
 Tom Wychecombe reported the condition of the dinner- 
 table to be such as to render it desirable for all but three 
 and four-bottle men to retire. Hanoverian toasts and senti- 
 ments were in the ascendant, and there was every appear- 
 ance that those who remained intended to make a night of 
 it. This was sad intelligence for Mrs. Dutton, who had 
 come forward eagerly to hear the report, but who now re- 
 turned to the window, apparently irresolute as to the course 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 10$ 
 
 she ought to take. As both the young men remained near 
 Mildred, she had sufficient opportunity to come to her 
 decision without interruption or hindrance. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Somewhat we will do. 
 
 And look, when I am king, claim thou of me 
 The earldom of Hereford, and all the movables 
 Whereof the king my brother was possessed." 
 
 Richard III. 
 
 Rear- Admiral Bluewater found Sir Gervaise Oakes pac- 
 ing a large dressing-room, quarter-deck fashion, with as 
 much zeal as if just released from a long sitting, on official 
 duty, in his own cabin. As the two officers were perfectly 
 familiar with each other's personal habits, neither deviated 
 from his particular mode of indulging his ease ; but the last 
 comer quietly took his seat in a large chair, disposing of his 
 person in a way to show he intended to consult his comfort, 
 let what would happen. 
 
 " Bluewater," commenced Sir Gervaise, " this is a very 
 foolish affair of the Pretender's son, and can only lead to 
 his destruction. I look upon it as altogether unfortunate." 
 
 " That, as it may terminate. No man can tell what a day 
 or an hour may bring forth. I am sure, such a rising was 
 one of the last things / have been anticipating, down 
 yonder in the Bay of Biscay." 
 
 " I wish with all my heart we had never left it," muttered 
 Sir Gervaise, so low that his companion did not hear him. 
 Then he added in a louder tone, " Our duty, however, is 
 very simple. We have only to obey orders; and it seems 
 that the young man has no naval force to sustain him. We 
 shall probably be sent to watch Brest, or I'Orient, or some 
 other port. Monsieur must be kept in, let what will happen." 
 
 " I rather think it would be better to let him out, our 
 
I06 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 chances on the high seas being at least as good as his own. 
 I am no friend to blockades, which strike me as an un- 
 English mode of carrying on a war." 
 
 " You are right enough, Dick, in the main," returned Sir 
 Gervaise, laughing. 
 
 " Ay, and 07i the main, Oakes. I sincerely hope the First 
 Lord will not send a man like you, who are every way so 
 capable of giving an account of your enemy with plenty of 
 sea-room, on duty so scurvy as a blockade." 
 
 "A man like me! ^Vhy a man like me in particular? I 
 trust I am to have the pleasure of Admiral Bluewater's 
 company, advice, and assistance?" 
 
 " An inferior never can know. Sir Gervaise, where it may 
 suit the pleasure of his superiors to order him." 
 
 " That distinction of superior and inferior, Bluewater, 
 will one day lead you into a confounded scrape, I fear. If 
 you consider Charles Stuart your sovereign, it is not prob- 
 able that orders issued by a servant of King George will be 
 much respected. I hope you will do nothing hastily or 
 without consulting 5'our oldest and truest friend!" 
 
 "You know my sentiments, and there is little use in 
 dwelling on them, now. So long as the quarrel was be- 
 tween my own country and a foreign land, I have been con- 
 tent to serve ; but when my lawful prince, or his son and 
 heir, comes in this gallant and chivalrous manner, throwing 
 himself, as it might be, into the very arms of his subjects, 
 confiding all to their loyalty and spirit, it makes such an 
 appeal to every noble feeling that the heart finds it difficult 
 to repulse. I could have joined Norris, with right good 
 will, in dispersing and destroying the armament that Louis 
 XV. was sending against us in this very cause; but here 
 everything is English, and Englishmen have the quarrel en- 
 tirely to themselves. I do not see how as a loyal subject 
 of my hereditary prince I can well refrain from joining his 
 standard." 
 
 "And would you^ Dick Bluewater, who, to my certain 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 10/ 
 
 knowledge, were sent on board ship at twelve years of age, 
 and who, for more than forty years, have been a man-of- 
 war's-man, body and soul; would you now strip your old 
 hulk of the sea-blue that has so long covered and become 
 it, rig yourself out like a soldier, with a feather in your hat, 
 — ay, d — e, and a camp-kettle on your arm, and follow a 
 drummer, like one of your kinsmen, Lord Bluewater's fel- 
 lows of the guards? — for of sailors, your lawful prince, as 
 you call him, hasn't enough to stopper his conscience, or to 
 whip the tail of his coat, to keep it from being torn to tatters 
 by the heather of Scotland. If you do follow the adventurer, 
 it must be in some such character, since I question if he can 
 muster a seaman to tell him the bearings of London from 
 Perth." 
 
 *' When I join him he will be better off." 
 
 " And what could even you do alone among a parcel of 
 Scotchmen, running about their hills under bare poles? 
 Your signals will not manoeuvre regiments, and as for ma- 
 noeuvring in any other manner you know nothing. No — no; 
 stay where you are and help an old friend with knowledge 
 that is useful to him. — I should be afraid to do a dashing 
 thing, unless I felt the certainty of having you in my van to 
 strike the first blow ; or in my rear to bring me off hand- 
 somely." 
 
 "You would be afraid of nothing, Gervaise Oakes, wheth- 
 er I stood at your elbow or were off in Scotland. Fear is 
 not your failing, though temerity may be." 
 
 " Then I want your presence to keep me within the bounds 
 of reason," said Sir Gervaise, stopping short in his walk, 
 and looking his friend smilingly in the face. " In some 
 mode or other I always need your aid." 
 
 "I understand the meaning of your words. Sir Gervaise, 
 and appreciate the feeling that dictates them. You must 
 have a perfect conviction that I will do nothing hastily, and 
 that I will betray no trust. When I turn my back on King 
 George it will be loyalty in one sense, whatever he may 
 
I08 'THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 think of it in another; and when I join Prince Charles Ed- 
 ward, it will be with a conscience that he need not be 
 ashamed to p-robe. What names he bears! They are the 
 designations of ancient English sovereigns, and ought of 
 themselves to awaken the sensibilities of Englishmen." 
 
 "Ay, Charles in particular," returned the vice-admiral, 
 with something like a sneer. "There's the second Charles, 
 for instance — St. Charles, as our good host, Sir Wycherly, 
 might call him — he is a pattern prince for Englishmen to 
 admire. Then his father was of the school of the Star- 
 Chamber martyrs!" 
 
 "Both were lineal descendants of the Conqueror, and of 
 the Saxon princes; and both united the double titles to the 
 throne in their sacred persons. I have always considered 
 Charles II. as the victim of the rebellious conduct of his 
 subjects rather than vicious. He was driven abroad into a 
 most corrupt state of society, and was perverted by our 
 wickedness. As to the father, he was the real St. Charles, 
 and a martyred saint he was; dying for true religion as 
 well as for his legal rights. Then the Edwards — glorious 
 fellows! — remember that they were all but one Plantage- 
 nets; a name, of itself, to rouse an Englishman's fire!" 
 
 " And yet the only difference between the right of these 
 very Plantagenets to the throne and that of the reigning 
 prince is that one produced a revolution by the strong hand, 
 and the other was produced by a revolution that came from 
 the nation. I do not know that your Plantagenets ever did 
 anything for a navy; the only real source of England's 
 power and glory. D — e, Dick, if I think so much of your 
 Plantagenets, after all!" 
 
 "And yet the name of Oakes is to be met with among 
 their bravest knights and most faithful followers." 
 
 "The Oakes, like the pines, have been timbers in every 
 ship that has floated," returned the vice-admiral, half- 
 unconscious himself of the pun he was making. 
 
 For more than a minute Sir Gervaise continued his walk. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. IO9 
 
 his head a little inclined forward, like a man who wondered 
 deeply on some matter of interest. Then, suddenly stop- 
 ping, he turned toward his friend, whom he regarded for 
 near another minute, ere he resumed the discourse. 
 
 " I wish I could fairly get you to exercise your excellent 
 reason on this matter, Dick," he said after the pause; " then 
 I should be certain of having secured you on the side of 
 liberty." 
 
 Admiral Bluewater merely shook his head, but he contin- 
 ued silent, as if he deemed discussion altogether supererog- 
 atory. During this pause a gentle tap at the door an- 
 nounced a visitor; and, at the request to enter, Atwood 
 made his appearance. He held in his hand a large pack- 
 age, which bore on the envelope the usual stamp that indi- 
 cated it was sent on public service. 
 
 "I beg pardon. Sir Gervaise," commenced the secretary, 
 who always proceeded at once to business, when business 
 was to be done; "but His Majesty's service will not admit 
 of delay. This packet has just come to hand, by the arrival 
 of an express, which left the admiralty only yesterday noon." 
 
 " And how the devil did he know where to find me!" ex- 
 claimed the vice-admiral, holding out a hand to receive the 
 communication. 
 
 " It is all owing to this young lieutenant's forethought in 
 following up the Jacobite intelligence to a market-town. 
 The courier was bound to Falmouth, as fast as post-horses 
 could carry him, when he heard luckily that the fleet lay at 
 anchor under Wychecombe Head; and, quite as luckily, 
 he is an officer who had the intelligence to know that you 
 would sooner get the despatches, if he turned aside, and 
 came hither by land, than if he went on to Falmouth, got 
 aboard the sloop that was to sail with him for the Bay of 
 Biscay, and came round here by water." 
 
 Sir Gervaise smiled at this sally, which was one in keep- 
 ing with all Atwood's feelings; for the secretary had ma- 
 tured a system of expresses, which, to his great mortification, 
 
no THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 his patron laughed at, and the admiralty entirely overlooked. 
 No time was lost, however, in the way of business; the 
 secretary having placed the candles on a table, where Sir 
 Gervaise took a chair, and had already broken a seal. The 
 process of reading, nevertheless, was suddenly interrupted 
 by the vice-admiral's looking up, and exclaiming: 
 
 "Why, you are not about to leave us, Bluewater?" 
 
 "You may have private business with Mr. Atwood, Sir 
 Gervaise, and perhaps I had better retire." 
 
 Now, it so happened that while Sir Gervaise Oakes had 
 never, by look or syllable, as he confidently believed, be- 
 trayed the secret of his friend's Jacobite propensities, At- 
 wood was perfectly aware ^f their existence. Nor had the 
 latter obtained his knowledge by any unworthy means. He 
 had been neither an eavesdropper, nor an inquirer into pri- 
 vate communications, as so often happens around the per- 
 sons of men in high trusts; all his knowledge having been 
 obtained through native sagacity and unavoidable opportu- 
 nities. On the present occasion, the secretary, with the tact 
 of a man of experience, felt that his presence might be dis- 
 pensed with; and he cut short the discussion between the 
 two admirals, by a very timely remark of his own. 
 
 " I have left the letters uncopied, Sir Gervaise," he said, 
 "and will go and finish them. A message by Locker" — ■ 
 this was Sir Gervaise's body-servant — "will bring me back 
 at a moment's notice, should you need me again to-night." 
 
 "That Atwood has a surprising instinct, for a Scotch- 
 man!" exclaimed the vice-admiral, as soon as the door was 
 closed on the secretary. " He not only knows when he t's 
 wanted, but when he is nof wanted. The last is an extraor- 
 dinary attainment for one of his nation." 
 
 "And one that an Englishman may do well to emulate," 
 returned Bluewater. " It is possible my company may be 
 dispensed with also, just at this important moment." 
 
 " You are not so much afraid of the Hanoverians, Dick, 
 as to run away from their handwriting, are ye ? Ha — what's 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. Ill 
 
 this? — As I live, a packet for yourself, and directed to 
 *Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bluewater, K.B.' By the Lord, 
 my old boy, they've given you the red riband at last! This 
 is an honor well earned, and which may be fitly worn." 
 
 " 'Tis rather unexpected, I must own. The letter, how- 
 ever, cannot be addressed to me, as I am not a Knight of 
 the Bath." 
 
 " This is rank nonsense. Open the packet at once, or I 
 will do it for you. Are there two Dick Bluewaters in the 
 world, or another rear-admiral of the same name?" 
 
 " I would rather not receive a letter that does not strictly 
 bear my address," returned the other coldly. 
 
 "As I'll be sworn this does. But hand it to me, since 
 you are so scrupulous, and I will do that small service for 
 you." 
 
 As this was said, Sir Gervaise tore aside the seals; and, 
 as he proceeded rather summarily, a red riband was soon 
 uncased and fell upon the carpet. The other usual insignia 
 of the Bath made their appearance, and a letter was found 
 among them, to explain the meaning of all. Everything 
 was in due form, and went to acquaint Rear- Admiral Blue- 
 water that His Majesty had been graciously pleased to con- 
 fer on him one of the vacant red ribands of the day, as a 
 reward for his eminent services on different occasions. 
 There was even a short communication from the premier, 
 expressing the great satisfaction of the ministry in thus 
 being able to second the royal pleasure with hearty good 
 will." 
 
 "Well, what do you think of that, Richard Bluewater?" 
 asked Sir Gervaise triumphantly. " Did I not always tell 
 you that sooner or later it must come?" 
 
 "It has come too late, then," coldly returned the other, 
 laying the riband, jewels, and letters, quietly on the table. 
 "This is an honor, I can receive, now^ only from my right- 
 ful prince. None other can legally create a knight of the 
 Bath." 
 
112 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "And pray, Mr. Richard Bluewater, who made you a cap- 
 tain, a commander, a rear-admiral? Do you believe me an 
 impostor, because I wear this riband on authority no better 
 than that of the house of Hanover? Am I, or am I not, in 
 your judgment, a vice-admiral of the red?" 
 
 " I make a great distinction, Oakes, between rank in the 
 navy and a mere personal dignity. In the one case you 
 serve your country, and give quite as much as you receive ; 
 whereas, in the other, it is a grace to confer consideration 
 on the person honored, without such an equivalent as can 
 find an apology for accepting a rank illegally conferred." 
 
 " The devil take your distinctions, which would unsettle 
 everything, and render the service a Babel. If I am a vice- 
 admiral of the red, I am a knight of the Bath; and, if you 
 are a rear-admiral of the white, you are also a knight of 
 that honorable order. All comes from the same source of 
 authority and the same fountain of honor." 
 
 " I do not view it thus. Our commissions are from the 
 admiralty, which represents the country; but dignities come 
 from the prince who happens to reign, let his title be what 
 it may." 
 
 " Do you happen to think Richard III. a usurper, or a 
 lawful prince?" 
 
 " A usurper, out of all question ; and a murderer to boot. 
 His name should be struck from the list of English kings. 
 I never hear it, without execrating him and his deeds." 
 
 " Pooh — pooh, Dick, this is talking more like a poet than 
 a seaman. If only one-half the sovereigns who deserve to 
 be execrated had their names erased, the list of even our 
 English kings would be rather short; and some countries 
 would be without historical kings at all. However much 
 Richard III. may deserve cashiering in this summary man- 
 ner, his peers and laws are just as good as any other prince's 
 peers and laws. Witness the Duke of Norfolk, for in- 
 stance." 
 
 " Ay, that cannot be helped by me ; but it is in my power 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. II3 
 
 to prevent Richard Bluewater's being made a knight of the 
 Bath, by George II. ; and the power shall be used." 
 
 " It would seem not, as he is already created; and, I dare 
 to say, gazetted." 
 
 " The oaths are not yet taken, and it is, at least, an Eng- 
 lishman's birthright to decline an honor; if, indeed, this 
 can be esteemed an honor, at all." 
 
 "Upon my word. Rear- Admiral Sir Richard Bluewater, 
 you are disposed to be complimentary, to-night! The 
 unworthy knight present, and all the rest of the order, are 
 infinitely indebted to you!" 
 
 "Your case and mine, Oakes, are essentially different," 
 returned the other, with some emotion in his voice and man- 
 ner. " Your riband was fairly won, fighting the battles of 
 England, and can be worn with credit to yourself and to 
 your country ; but these baubles are sent to me at a moment 
 when a rising was foreseen, and as a sop to keep me in good 
 humor, as well as to propitiate the whole Bluewater interest." 
 
 "That is pure conjecture, and I dare say will prove to be 
 altogether a mistake. Here are the despatches to speak for 
 themselves; and, as it is scarcely possible that the ministry 
 should have known of this rash movement of the Pretender's 
 son more than a few days, my life on it, the dates will show 
 that your riband was bestowed before the enterprise was 
 even suspected." 
 
 As Sir Gervaise commenced with his constitutional ardor 
 to turn over the letters as soon as his mind was directed to 
 this particular object. Admiral Bluewater resumed his seat, 
 awaiting the result, with not a little curiosity; though, at 
 the same time, with a smile of incredulity. The examina- 
 tion disappointed Sir Gervaise Oakes. The dates proved 
 that the ministers were better informed than he had sup- 
 posed ; for it appeared they had been apprised about the 
 time he was himself of the intended movement. His orders 
 were to bring the fleet north, and in substance to do the very 
 thing his own sagacity had dictated. So far everything was 
 8 
 
114 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 well ; and he could not entertain a doubt about receiving the 
 hearty approbation of his superiors for the course he had 
 taken. But here his gratification ended; for, on looking at 
 the dates of the different communications it was evident that 
 the red riband was bestowed after the intelligence of the 
 Pretender's movement had reached London. A private let- 
 ter from a friend at the Board ^f Admiralty, too, spoke of 
 his own probable promotion to the rank of admiral of the 
 blue; and mentioned several other similar preferments in a 
 way to show that the government was fortifying itself in the 
 present crisis as much as possible, by favors. This was a 
 politic mode of procedure, with ordinary men, it is true; but 
 with officers of the elevation of mind and of the indepen- 
 dence of character of our two admirals, it was most likely to 
 produce disgust. 
 
 " D — n 'em, Dick," cried Sir Gervaise, as he threw down 
 the last letter of the package, with no little sign of feeling, 
 "you might take St. Paul, or even Wychecombe's dead 
 brother, St. James the Less, and put him at court, and he 
 would come out a thorough blackguard in a week!" 
 
 "That is not the common opinion concerning a court edu- 
 cation," quietly replied the friend; "most people fancying 
 that the place gives refinement of manners if not of senti- 
 ment." 
 
 " Poh — poh — you and I have no need of a dictionary to 
 understand each other. I call a man who never trusts to a 
 generous motive — who thinks it always necessary to bribe 
 or cajole — who has no idea of anything's being done with- 
 out its direct quid pro quo^ a scurvy blackguard, though he 
 has the airs and graces of Phil Stanhope, or Chesterfield, 
 as he is now. What do you think those chaps at the Board 
 talk of doing by way of clinching my loyalty at this blessed 
 juncture?" 
 
 " No doubt to get you raised to the peerage. I see noth- 
 ing so much out of the way in the thing. You are of one 
 of the oldest families of England, and the sixth baronet by 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. II5 
 
 inheritance, and have a noble landed estate, which is none 
 the worse for prize-money. Sir Gervaise Oakes of Bowl- 
 dero would make a very suitable Lord Bowldero." 
 
 "If it were only that, I shouldn't mind it; for nothing is 
 easier than to refuse a peerage. I've done that twice 
 already, and can do it a third time, at need. But one can't 
 very well refuse promotion in his regular profession ; and, 
 here, just as a true gentleman would depend on the princi- 
 ples of an officer, the hackneyed consciences of your cour- 
 tiers have suggested the expediency of making Gervaise 
 Oakes an admiral of the blue, by way of sop! — me, who was 
 made vice-admiral of the red only six months since, and 
 who take an honest pride in boasting that every commission, 
 from the lowest to the highest, has been fairly earned in 
 battle!" 
 
 "They think it a more delicate service, perhaps, for a 
 gentleman to be true to the reigning house, when so loud 
 an appeal is made to his natural loyalty ; and therefore class 
 the self-conquest with a victory at sea!" 
 
 "They are so many court-lubbers, and I should like to 
 have an opportunity of speaking my mind to them. I'll not 
 take the new commission ; for every one must see, Dick, that 
 it is a sop." 
 
 " Ay, that's just my notion, too, about the red riband; and 
 I'll not take that. You have had the riband these ten years, 
 have declined the peerage twice, and their only chance is the 
 promotion. Take it you ought, and must, however, as it 
 will be the means of pushing on some four or five poor 
 devils, who have been wedged up to honors in this manner, 
 ever since they were captains. I am glad they do not talk 
 of promoting me, for I should hardly know how to refuse 
 such a grace. There is great virtue in parchment, with all 
 us military men." 
 
 " Still it must be parchment fairly won. I think you are 
 wrong, notwithstanding, Bluewater, in talking of refusing 
 the riband, which is so justly your due, for a dozen differ- 
 
Il6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 ent acts. There is not a man in the service who has been 
 less rewarded for what he has done than yourself." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear you give this as your opinion ; for 
 just at this moment I would rather think that I have no 
 cause of complaint in this way against the reigning family 
 or its ministers. I'm sure I was posted when quite a young 
 man, and since that time no one has been lifted over my 
 head." 
 
 The vice-admiral looked intently at his friend; for never 
 before had he detected a feeling which betrayed, as he fan- 
 cied, so settled a determination in him to quit the service 
 of the powers that were. Acquainted from boyhood with 
 all the workings of the other'.** mind, he perceived that the 
 rear-admiral had been endeavoring to persuade himself that 
 no selfish or unworthy motive could be assigned to an act 
 which he f It to proceed from disinterested chivalry, just as 
 he himself broke out with his expression of an opinion that 
 no officer had been less liberally rewarded for his profes- 
 sional services than his friend. While there is no greater 
 mystery to a selfish manager than a man of disinterested 
 temperament, they who feel and submit to generous im- 
 pulses understand each other with an instinctive facility. 
 When any particular individual is prone to believe that 
 there is a predominance f good over evil in the w^orld he 
 inhabits, it is a sign of inexperience, or of imbecility; but 
 when one acts and reasons as if all honor and virtue are ex- 
 tinct, he furnishes the best possible argument against his 
 own tendencies and character. It has often been remarked 
 that stronger friendships are made between those who have 
 different personal peculiarities, than between those whose 
 sameness of feeling and impulses would be less likely to 
 keep interest alive; but, in all cases of intimacies, there 
 must be great identity of principles, and even of tastes in 
 matters at all connected with motives, in order to ensure 
 respect among those whose standard of opinion is higher 
 than common, or sympathy among those with whom it is 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 17 
 
 lower. Such was the fact, as respected Admirals Oakes and 
 Bluewater. No two men could be less alike in temperament 
 or character, physically, and, in some senses, morally con- 
 sidered; but, when it came to principles, or all those tastes 
 or feelings that are allied to principles, there was a strong 
 native as well as acquired affinity. This union of senti- 
 ment was increased by common habits, and professional 
 careers so long and so closely united as to be almost iden- 
 tical. Nothing was easier, consequently, than for Sir Ger- 
 vaise Oakes to comprehend the workings of Admiral Blue- 
 water's mind, as the latter endeavored to believe he had 
 been fairly treated by the existing government. Of course, 
 the reasoning which passed through the thoughts of Sir Ger- 
 vaise, on this occasion, required much less time than we 
 have taken to explain its nature; and, after regarding his 
 friend intently, as already related for a few seconds, he an- 
 swered as follows, a good deal influenced, unwittingly to 
 himself, with the wish to check the other's Jacobite propen- 
 sities: 
 
 " I am sorry not to be able to agree with you, Dick," he 
 said, with some warmth. " So far from thinking you well 
 treated by any ministry, these twenty years, I think you 
 have been very /// treated. Your rank you have, beyond a 
 question ; for of that no brave officer can well be deprived 
 in a regulated service ; but, have you had the commands to 
 which you are entitled? — I was a commander-in-chief when 
 only a rear-admiral of the blue ; and then how long did I 
 wear a broad pennant, before I got a flag at all!" 
 
 " You forget how much I have been with you. When two 
 serve together, one must command and the other must obey. 
 So far from complaining of these Hanoverian Boards and 
 First Lords, it seems to me that they have always kept in 
 view the hoUowness of their claims to the throne, and have 
 felt a desire to purchase honest men by their favors." 
 
 "You are the strangest fellow, Dick Bluewater, it has 
 ever been my lot to fall in with! D — me, if I believe 
 
Il8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 you know always when you are ill treated. There are a 
 dozen men in service who have had separate commands, 
 and who are not half as well entitled to them as you are 
 yourself." 
 
 " Come, come, Oakes, this is getting to be puerile, for two 
 old fellows, turned of fifty. You well know that I was 
 offered just as good a fleet as this of your own, with a choice 
 of the whole list of flag-officers below me, to pick a junior 
 from; and so we'll say no more about it. As respects their 
 red riband, however, it may go a-begging for me." 
 
 Sir Gervaise was about to answer in his former vein, when 
 a tap at the door announced the presence of another visitor. 
 This time the door opened on the person of Galleygo, who 
 had been included in Sir Wycherly's hospitable plan of 
 entertaining every soul who immediately belonged to the 
 suite of Sir Gervaise. 
 
 "What the d — 1 has brought >'^// here!" exclaimed the 
 vice-admiral, a little warmly; for he did not relish an inter- 
 ruption just at this moment. "Recollect you're not on 
 board the Plantagenet, but in the dwelling of a gentleman, 
 where there are both butler and housekeeper, and who have 
 no occasion for your advice, or authority, to keep things in 
 order." 
 
 " Well, there, Sir Gervaise, I doesn't agree with you the 
 least bit; for I thinks as a ship's steward — I mean a cabin 
 steward, and a good 'un of the quality — might do a great 
 deal of improvement in this very house. The cook and I 
 has had a partic'lar dialogue on them matters already ; and 
 I mentioned to her the names of seven different dishes, 
 every one of which she quite as good as admitted to me 
 was just the same as so much gospel to //^r." 
 
 "I shall have to quarantine this fellow in the long run, 
 Bluewater! I do believe if I were to take him to Lambeth 
 Palace, or even to St. James', he'd thrust his oar into the 
 archbishop's benedictions, or the queen's caudle-cup!" 
 
 " Well, Sir Gervaise, where would be the great harm if I 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. II9 
 
 did ? A man as knows the use of an oar may be trusted 
 with one, even in a church or an abbey. When your honor 
 comes to hear what the dishes was, as Sir Wycherly's cook 
 had never heard on, you'll think it as great a cur'osity as I 
 do myself. If I had just leave to name 'em over, I think as 
 both you gentlemen would look at it as remarkable." 
 
 "What are they, Galleygo?" inquired Bluewater, putting 
 one of his long legs over an arm of the adjoining chair, in 
 order to indulge himself in a yarn with his friend's steward, 
 with greater freedom ; for he greatly delighted in Galleygo's 
 peculiarities, seeing just enough of the fellow to find amuse- 
 ment without annoyance in them. " I'll answer for Sir 
 Gervaise, who is always a little diffident about boasting of 
 the superiority of a ship over a house." 
 
 " Yes, your honor, that he is — that is just one of Sir 
 Jarvy's weak p'ints, as a body might say. Now, I never 
 goes ashore, without trimming sharp up and luffing athwart 
 every person's hawse I fall in with ; which is as much as to 
 tell 'em belongs to a flag-ship, and a racer, and a craft as 
 hasn't her equal on salt-water; no disparagement to the bit 
 of bunting at the mizzen-topgallant masthead of the Caesar, 
 or to the ship that carries it. I hopes as we are so well 
 acquainted, Admiral Bluewater, no offence will be taken." 
 
 " Where none is meant, none ought to be taken, my friend. 
 Now let us hear your bill-of-fare." 
 
 " Well, sir, the very first dish I mentioned to Mrs. Larder, 
 Sir Wycherly's cook, was lobscous ; and, would you believe 
 it, gentlemen, the poor woman had never heard of it! I be- 
 gan with a light hand, as it might be, just not to overwhelm 
 her with knowledge, at a blow, as Sir Jarvy captivated the 
 French frigate with the upper tier of guns, that he might 
 take her alive, like." 
 
 " And the lady knew nothing of a lobscous — neither of its 
 essence, nor nature?" 
 
 " There's no essences as is ever put in a lobscous, besides 
 potaties, Admiral Bluewater; thof we make 'em in the old 
 
I20 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Planter" — nautice for Plantagenet — " in so liquorish a fash- 
 ion, you might well think they even had Jamaiky in 'em. 
 No, potaties is the essence of lobscous ; and a very good 
 thing is a potatie, Sir Jarvy, when a ship's company has 
 been on salted oakum for a few months." 
 
 " Well, what was the next dish the good woman broke 
 down under?" asked the rear-admiral, fearful the master 
 might order the servant to quit the room; while he himself 
 was anxious to get rid of any further political discussion. 
 
 " Well, sir, she knowed no more of a chowder than if the 
 sea weren't in the neighborhood, and there weren't such a 
 thing as a fish in all England. When I talked to her of a 
 chowder, she gave in, like a Spaniard at the fourth or fifth 
 broadside." 
 
 "Such ignorance is disgraceful, and betokens a decline 
 in civilization ! But you hoisted out more knowledge for 
 her benefit, Galleygo — small doses of learning are poor 
 things." 
 
 " Yes, your honor ; just like weak grog — burning the prim- 
 ing, without starting the shot. To be sure I did. Admiral 
 Blue. I just named to her burgoo, and then I mentioned 
 duff" — {angUce dough) — ''to her, but she denied that there 
 was any such things in the cookery-book. Do you know, Sir 
 Jarvy, as these here shore-craft get their dinners as our 
 master gets the sun ; all out of a book as it might be. Aw- 
 ful tidings, too, gentlemen, about the Pretender's son ; and 
 I s'pose we shall have to take the fleet up into Scotland, as 
 I fancy them 'ere sogers will not make much of a hand in 
 settling law?" 
 
 " And have you honored us with a visit, just to give us 
 an essay on dishes, and to tell us what you intend to do 
 with the fleet?" demanded Sir Gervaise, a little more sternly 
 than he was accustomed to speak to the steward. 
 
 " Lord bless you, Sir Jarvy, I didn't dream of one or 
 t'other. As for telling you, or Admiral Blue" — (so the sea- 
 men used to call the second in rank) — " here, anything about 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 121 
 
 lobscous, or chowder, why, it would be carrying coals to 
 New Market. I've fed ye both with all such articles when 
 ye was nothing but young gentlemen ; and when you was no 
 longer young gentlemen, too, but a couple of sprightly luffs 
 of nineteen. And as for moving the fleet, I know well 
 enough that will never happen, without our talking it 
 over in the old Planter's cabin; which is a much more 
 nat'ral place for such a discourse than any house in Eng- 
 land!" 
 
 " May I take the liberty of inquiring, then, what did bring 
 you here.-*" 
 
 "That you may, with all my heart. Sir Jarvy, for I likes 
 to answer your questions. My errand is not to your honor 
 this time, though you are my master. It's no great matter, 
 after all, being just to hand this bit of a letter over to Ad- 
 miral Blue." 
 
 " And where did this letter come from, and how did it 
 happen to fall into your hands?" demanded Bluewater, look- 
 ing at the superscription, the writing of which he appeared 
 to recognize. 
 
 " It hails from Lun'nun, I hear; and they tell me it's to 
 be a great secret that you've got it at all. The history of 
 the matter is just this. An officer got in to-night, with 
 orders for us, carrying sail as hard as his shay would bear. 
 It seems he fell in with Master Atwood, as he made his land- 
 fall, and, being acquainted with that gentleman, he just 
 whipped out his orders, and sent 'em off to the right man. 
 Then he laid his course for the landing, wishing to get 
 aboard of the Dublin, to which he is ordered; but falling 
 in with our barge, as I landed, he wanted to know the where- 
 away of Admiral Blue here; believing him to be afloat. 
 Some 'un telling him as I was a friend and servant of both 
 admirals, as it might be, he turned himself over to me for 
 advice. So I promised to deliver the letter, as I had a 
 thousand afore, and knowed the way of doing such things ; 
 and he gives me the letter, under special orders, like; that 
 
122 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 is to say, it was to be handed to the rear-admiral as it might 
 be under the lee of the mizzen-staysail, or in a private fash- 
 ion. Well, gentlemen, you both knows I understand that, 
 too, and so I undertook the job." 
 
 " And I have got to be so insignificant a person that I 
 pass for no one, in your discriminating mind. Master Gal- 
 leygo!" exclaimed the vice-admiral, sharply. "I have sus- 
 pected as much, these five-and-twenty years." 
 
 " Lord bless you, Sir Jarvy, how flag-officers will make 
 mistakes sometimes ! They're mortal, I says to the people 
 of the galley, and have their appetites false, just like the 
 young gentlemen, when they get athwart-hawse of a body, I 
 says. Now, I count Admiral Blue and yourself pretty much 
 as one man, seeing that you keep few or no secrets from 
 each other. I know'd ye both as young gentlemen, and then 
 you loved one another like twins; and then I know'd ye as 
 luffs, when ye'd walk the deck the whole watch, spinning 
 yarns; and then I know'd ye as Pillardees and Arrestee, 
 though one pillow might have answered for both; and as 
 for Arrest, I never know'd either of ye to get into that scrape. 
 As for telling a secret to one, I've always looked upon it as 
 pretty much telling it to t'other." 
 
 The two admirals exchanged glances, and the look of 
 kindness that each met in the eyes of his friend removed 
 every shadow that had been cast athwart their feelings by 
 the previous discourse. 
 
 "That will do, Galleygo," returned Sir Gervaise mildly. 
 "You're a good fellow in the main, though a villanously 
 rough one " 
 
 "A little of old Boreus, Sir Jarvy," interrupted the stew- 
 ard, with a grim smile; " but it blows harder at sea than it 
 does ashore. These chaps on land ar'n't battened down 
 and caulked for such weather as we sons of Neptun' is ob- 
 ligated to face." 
 
 " Quite true, and so good-night. Admiral Bluewater and 
 myself wish to confer together for half an hour; all that it 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 123 
 
 is proper for you to know shall be communicated another 
 time." 
 
 " Good-night, and God bless your honor. Good-night, 
 Admiral Blue: we three is the men as can keep any secret 
 as ever floated, let it draw as much water as it pleases." 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes stopped in his walk, and gazed at his 
 friend with manifest interest, as he perceived that Admiral 
 Bluewater was running over his letter for the third time. 
 Being now without a witness, he did not hesitate to express 
 his apprehensions. 
 
 " 'Tis as I feared, Dick!" he cried. " That letter is from 
 some prominent partisan of Edward Stuart.-*" 
 
 The rear-admiral turned his eyes on the face of his friend, 
 with an expression that was difficult to read ; and then he 
 ran over the contents of the epistle for the fourth time. 
 
 "A set of precious rascals they are, Gervaise!" at length 
 the rear-admiral exclaimed. " If the whole court was culled, 
 I question if enough honesty could be found to leaven one 
 puritan scoundrel. Tell me if you know this hand, Oakes? 
 I question if you ever saw it before." 
 
 The superscription of the letter was held out to Sir Ger- 
 vaise, who, after a close examination, declared himself 
 unacquainted with the writing. 
 
 " I thought as much," resumed Bluewater, carefully tear- 
 ing the signature from the bottom of the page, and burning 
 it in a candle; " let this disgraceful part of the secret die at 
 least. The fellow who wrote this has put *confidentiar at 
 the top of his miserable scrawl; and a most confident 
 scoundrel he is for his pains. However, no man has a right 
 to thrust himself in this rude manner between me and my 
 oldest friend; and least of all will I consent to keep this 
 piece of treachery from your knowledge, I do more than 
 the rascal merits in concealing his name; nevertheless, I 
 shall not deny myself the pleasure of sending him such an 
 answer as he deserves. Read that, Oakes, and then say if 
 keel-hauling would be too good for the writer." 
 
124 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Sir Gervaise took the letter in silence, though not without 
 great surprise, and began to peruse it. As he proceeded, 
 the color mounted to his temples, and once he dropped his 
 hand, to cast a look of wonder and indignation toward his 
 companion. That the reader may see how much occasion 
 there was for both these feelings, we shall give the com- 
 munication entire. It was couched in the following words: 
 
 " Dear Admiral Bluewater : 
 
 " Our ancient friendship, and, I am proud to add, affinity 
 of blood, unite in inducing me to write a line, at this inter- 
 esting moment. Of the result of this rash experiment of 
 the Pretender's son, no prudent man can entertain a doubt. 
 Still the boy may give us some trouble before he is disposed 
 of altogether. We look to all our friends, therefore, for 
 their most efficient exertions and most prudent co-operation. 
 On yo/i every reliance is placed; and I wish I could say as 
 much for every flag-officer afloat. Some distrust — unmerited, 
 I sincerely hope — exists in a very high quarter, touching 
 the loyalty of a certain commander-in-chief, who is so com- 
 pletely under your observation that it is felt enough is done 
 in hinting the fact to one of your political tendencies. The 
 king said this morning, 'Veil, dere isht Bluevater; of him 
 we are shure asht of ter sun.' You stand excellently well 
 there^ to my great delight; and I need only say be watchful 
 and prompt. 
 
 " Yours, with the most sincere faith and attachment, my 
 dear Bluewater, &c., &c. 
 
 *' Rear- Admiral Bluewater. 
 
 "P.S. — I have just heard that they have sent you the red 
 riband. The king himself was in this." 
 
 When Sir Gervaise had perused this precious epistle to 
 himself, he read it slowly, and in a steady, clear voice, 
 aloud. When he had ended he dropped the paper, and 
 stood gazing at his friend. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 125 
 
 "One would think the fellow some exquisite satirist," 
 said Bluewater, laughing. " / am to be vigilant, and see 
 that you do not mutiny, and run away with the fleet to the 
 Highlands, one of these foggy mornings! Carry it up into 
 Scotland, as Galleygo has it! Now, what is your opinion 
 of that letter?" 
 
 •'That all courtiers are knaves and all princes ungrateful. 
 'I should think my loyalty to the good cause^ if not to the 
 ina?i^ the last in England to be suspected." 
 
 " Nor is it suspected in the smallest degree. My life on 
 it, neither the reigning monarch nor his confidential servants 
 are such arrant dunces as to be guilty of so much weakness. 
 No, this masterly move is intended to secure me by creating 
 a confidence that they think no generous-minded man would 
 betray. It is a hook, delicately baited to catch a gudgeon, 
 and not an order to watch a whale." 
 
 " Can the scoundrels be so mean — nay, dare they be so 
 bold! They must have known you would show me the 
 letter." 
 
 " Not they — they have reasoned on my course as they 
 would on their own. Nothing catches a weak man sooner 
 than a pretended confidence of this nature ; and I dare say 
 this blackguard rates me just high enough to fancy I may be 
 duped in this flimsy manner. Put your mind at rest; King 
 George knows he may confide in you^ while I think it prob- 
 able /am distrusted." 
 
 " I hope, Dick, you do not suspect my discretion ! My 
 own secret would not be half so sacred to me." 
 
 " I know that, full well. Of you I entertain no distrust, 
 either in heart or head ; of myself, I am not quite so certain. 
 When we feel^ we do not always reason ; and there is as 
 much feeling as anything else in this matter." 
 
 "Not a line is there in all my despatches that go to be- 
 tray the slightest distrust of me or any one else. You are 
 spoken of, but it is in a manner to gratify you rather than 
 to alarm. Take, and read them allj I intended to show 
 
126 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 them to you as soon as we had got through with that cursed 
 discussion." 
 
 As Sir Gervaise concluded, he threw the whole package 
 of letters on the table, before his friend. 
 
 "It will be time enough when you summon me regularly 
 to a council of war," returned Bluewater, laying the letters 
 gently aside. " Perhaps we had better sleep on this affair; 
 in the morning we shall meet with cooler heads, and just as 
 warm hearts." 
 
 " Good-night, Dick," said Sir Gervaise, holding out both 
 hands for the other to shake as he passed him in quitting 
 the room. 
 
 "Good-night, Gervaise; let this miserable devil go over- 
 board, and think no more of him. I have half a mind to 
 ask you for a leave to-morrow, just to run up to London, 
 and cut off his ears." 
 
 Sir Gervaise laughed and nodded his head, and the two 
 friends parted, with feelings as kind as ever had distin- 
 guished their remarkable career. 
 
 :hapter VIII. 
 
 " Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest. 
 Thursday is near ; lay hand on heart, advise ; 
 An' you be mine, I'll give you to my friend ; 
 An' you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i' the streets." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 WvcHECOMBE Hall had most of the peculiarities of a bach- 
 elor's dwelling in its internal government; nor was it in any 
 manner behind, or, it might be better say, before the age in 
 its modes and customs connected with jollifications. When 
 its master relaxed a little, the servants quite uniformly imi- 
 tated his example. Sir Wycherly kept a plentiful table, and 
 the servants' hall fared nearly as well as the dining-room; 
 the single article of wine excepted. In lieu of the latter, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 12/ 
 
 however, was an unlimited allowance of double-brewed ale; 
 and the difference in the potations was far more in the name 
 than in the quality of the beverages. The master drank 
 port; for in the middle of the last century few Englishmen 
 had better wine — and port, too, that was by no means of a 
 very remarkable delicacy, but which, like those who used it, 
 was rough, honest, and strong; while the servant had his 
 malt liquor of the very highest stamp and flavor. Between 
 indifferent wine and excellent ale the distance is not inter- 
 minable; and Sir Wycherly's household was well aware of 
 the fact, having frequently instituted intelligent practical 
 comparisons, by means of which all but the butler and Mrs. 
 Larder had come to the conclusion to stand by the home- 
 brewed. 
 
 On the present occasion not a soul in the house was igno- 
 rant of the reason why the baronet was making a night of it. 
 Every man, woman, and child in or about the Hall was a 
 devoted partisan of the house of Hanover; and as soon as 
 it was understood that this feeling was to be manifested by 
 drinking " Success to King George, and God bless him," on 
 the one side, and " Confusion to the Pretender and his mad 
 son," on the other, all under the roof entered into the duty 
 with a zeal that might have seated a usurper on a throne, if 
 potations could do it. 
 
 When Admiral Bluewater, therefore, left the chamber of 
 his friend, the signs of mirth and of a regular debauch were 
 so very obvious that a little curiosity to watch the result 
 and a disinclination to go off to his ship so soon united to 
 induce him to descend into the rooms below, with a view to 
 get a more accurate knowledge of the condition of the house- 
 hold. In crossing the great hall to enter the drawing-room, 
 he encountered Galleygo, when the following discourse took 
 place. 
 
 " I should think the master-at-arms has not done his duty, 
 and dowsed the glim below, Master Steward," said the rear- 
 admiral, in his quiet way, as they met; "the laughing and 
 
128 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 singing and hiccupping are all upon a very liberal scale 
 for a respectable country-house." 
 
 Galleygo touched the lock of hair on his forehead with 
 one hand, and gave his trousers a slew with the other, be- 
 fore he answered ; which he soon did, however, though with 
 a voice a little thicker than was usual with him, on account 
 of his having added a draught or two to those he had taken 
 previously to visiting Sir Gervaise's dressing-room; and 
 which said additional draught or two had produced some 
 such effect on his system as the fresh drop produces on the 
 cup that is already full. 
 
 "That's just it, Admiral Blue," returned the steward, in 
 passing good-humor, though still sober enough to maintain 
 the decencies after his own fashion; "that's just it, your 
 honor. They've passed the word below to let the lights 
 stand for further orders, and have turned the hands up for a 
 frolic. Such ale as they has, stowed in the lower hold of 
 this house, like leaguers in the ground-tier, it does a body's 
 heart good to conter'plate. All hands is bowsing out their 
 jibs on it, sir, and the old Hall will soon be carrying as 
 much siiail as she can stagger under. It's nothing but loose 
 away and sheet-home." 
 
 " Ay, ay, Galleygo, this may be well enough for the peo- 
 ple of the household, if Sir Wycherly allows it; but it ill 
 becomes the servants of guests to fall into this disorder. If 
 I find Tom has done anything amiss, he will hear more of 
 it; and as your own master is not here to admonish you, I'll 
 just take the liberty of doing it for him, since I know it 
 would mortify him exceedingly to learn that his steward had 
 done anything to disgrace himself." 
 
 "Lord bless your dear soul. Admiral Blue, take just as 
 many liberties as you think fit, and I'll never pocket one on 
 *em. I know'd you, when you was only a young gentleman, 
 and now you're a rear. You're close on our heels; and by 
 the time we are a full admiral, you'll be something like a 
 vice. I looks upon you as bone of our bone, and flesh of 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 129 
 
 our flesh — Pillardees and Arrestees — and I no more minds 
 a setting-down from your honor than I does from Sir Jarvy 
 hisself." 
 
 "I believe that is true enough, Galleygo; but take my 
 advice, and knock off with the ale for to-night. Can you 
 tell me how the land lies, with the rest of the company?" 
 
 *' You couldn't have asked a better person, your honor, as 
 I've just been passing through all the rooms, from a sort of 
 habit I has, sir; for, d'ye see, I thought I was in the old 
 Planter, and that it was my duty to overlook everything as 
 usual. The last pull at the ale put that notion in my head; 
 but it's gone now, and I see how matters is. Yes, sir, the 
 mainmast of a church isn't stiffer and more correct- like than 
 my judgment is at this blessed moment. Sir Wycherly guv' 
 me a glass of his black-strap as I ran through the dining- 
 room, and told me to drink * Confusion to the Pretender,' 
 which I did with hearty good-will; but his liquor will no 
 more lay alongside of the ale they've down on the orlop 
 than a Frenchman will compare with an Englishman. 
 What's your opinion. Admiral Blue, consarning this cruise 
 of the Pretender's son up in the Highlands of Scot- 
 land?" 
 
 Bluewater gave a quick, distrustful glance at the steward, 
 for he knew that the fellow was half his time in the outer 
 cabin and pantries of the Plantagenet, and he could not tell 
 how much of his many private dialogues with Sir Gervaise 
 might have been overheard. Meeting with nothing but the 
 unmeaning expression of one half-seas-over, his uneasiness 
 instantly subsided. 
 
 " I think it a gallant enterprise, Galleygo," he answered, 
 too manly even to feign what he did not believe; "but I 
 fear as a cruise it will not bring much prize-money. You 
 have forgotten you were about to tell me how the land lies. 
 Sir Wycherly, Mr. Button, Mr. Rotherham are still at the 
 table, I fancy — are these all? What have become of the two 
 young gentlemen?'* 
 9 
 
I30 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "There's none ashore, sir," said Galleygo promptly, 
 accustomed to give that appellation only to midshipmen. 
 
 " I mean the two Mr. Wychecombes ; one of whom, I had 
 forgot, is actually an officer." 
 
 " Yes, sir, and a most partic'lar fine officer he is, as every- 
 body says. Well, sir, he's with the ladies; while his name- 
 sake has gone back to the table, and has put luff upon luff, 
 to fetch up leeway." 
 
 " And the ladies — what have they done with themselves, 
 in this scene of noisy revelry?" 
 
 "They'se in yonder stateroom, your honor. As soon as 
 they found how the ship was heading, like all women-craft, 
 they both makes for the best harbor they could run into. 
 Yes, they'se yonder." 
 
 As Galleygo pointed to the door of the room he meant, 
 Bluewater proceeded towards it, parting with the steward after 
 a few more words of customary but very useless caution. 
 The tap of the admiral was answered by Wycherly in person, 
 who opened the door, and made way for his superior to 
 enter, with a respectful obeisance. There was but a single 
 candle in the little parlor, in which the two females had 
 taken refuge from the increasing noise of the debauch; and 
 this was due to a pious expedient of Mildred's, in extin- 
 guishing the others, with a view to conceal the traces of 
 tears that were still visible on her own and her mother's 
 cheeks. The rear-admiral was at first struck with this com- 
 parative obscurity ; but it soon appeared to him appropriate 
 to the feelings of the party assembled in the room. Mrs. 
 Button received him with the ease she had acquired in her 
 early life, and the meeting passed as a matter of course with 
 persons temporarily residing under the same roof. 
 
 "Our friends appear to be enjoying themselves," said 
 Bluewater, when a shout from the dining-room forced itself 
 on the ears of all present. "The loyalty of Sir Wycherly 
 seems to be of proof." 
 
 "Oh! Admiral Bluewater," exclaimed the distressed wife, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I3I 
 
 feeling momentarily getting the better of discretion; ^^ do 
 you — can you call such a desecration of God's image enjoy- 
 ment?" 
 
 "Not justly, perhaps, Mrs. Button; and yet it is what 
 millions mistake for it. This mode of celebrating any great 
 event, and even of illustrating what we think our principles, 
 is, I fear, a vice not only of our age, but of our country." 
 
 "And yet neither you nor Sir Gervaise Oakes, I see, find 
 it necessary to give such a proof of your attachment to the 
 house of Hanover, or of your readiness to serve it with your 
 time and persons." 
 
 " You will remember, my good lady, that both Oakes and 
 myself are flag-officers in command, and it would never do 
 for us to fall into a debauch in sight of our own ships. I 
 am glad to see, however, that Mr. Wychecombe, here, prefers 
 such society as I find him in to the pleasures of the table." 
 
 Wycherly bowed, and Mildred cast an expressive, not to 
 say grateful, glance towards the speaker; but her mother 
 pursued the discourse, in which she found a little relief to 
 her suppressed emotion. 
 
 " God be thanked for that!" she exclaimed, half-uncon- 
 scious of the interpretation that might be put on her words. 
 " All that we have seen of Mr. Wychecombe would lead us 
 to believe that this is not an unusual or an accidental 
 forbearance." 
 
 " So much the more fortunate for him. I congratulate 
 you, young sir, on this triumph of principle, or of tempera- 
 ment, or of both. We belong to a profession in which the 
 bottle is an enemy more to be feared than any that the king 
 can give us. A sailor can call in no ally as efficient in 
 subduing this mortal foe as an intelligent and cultivated 
 mind. The man who really thinks much, seldom drinks 
 much; but there are hours — nay, weeks and months of idle- 
 ness in a ship, in which the temptation to resort to unnatural 
 excitement in quest of pleasure is too strong for minds that 
 are not well fortified to resist. This is particularly the case 
 
132 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 with commanders, who find themselves isolated by their rank 
 and oppressed with responsibility in the privacy of their 
 own cabins, and get to make a companion of the bottle, by 
 way of seeking relief from uncomfortable thoughts and of 
 creating a society of their own. I deem the critical period 
 of a sailor's life to be the first few years of solitary com- 
 mand." 
 
 "How true! — how true!" murmured Mrs. Dutton. "Oh! 
 that cutter — that cruel cutter!" 
 
 The truth flashed upon the recollection of Blue water at 
 this unguarded and instantly regretted exclamation. Many 
 years before, when only a captain himself, he had been a 
 member of a court-martial which cashiered a lieutenant of 
 the name of Dutton, for grievous misconduct while in com- 
 mand of a cutter; the fruits of the bottle. From the first he 
 thought the name familiar to him; but so many similar 
 things had happened in the course of forty years' service 
 that this particular incident had been partially lost in the 
 obscurity of time. It was now completely recalled, however ; 
 and that, too, with all its attendant circumstances. The 
 recollection served to give the rear-admiral renewed interest 
 in the unhappy wife and lovely daughter of the miserable 
 delinquent. He had been applied to at the time for his 
 interest in effecting the restoration of the guilty officer, or 
 even to procure for him the hopeless station he now actually 
 occupied; but he had sternly refused to be a party in plac- 
 ing any man in authority who was the victim of a propensity 
 that not only disgraced himself, but which, in the peculiar 
 position of a sailor, equally jeoparded the honor of the 
 country and risked the lives of all around him. He was 
 aware that the last application had been successful, by 
 means of a court influence it was very unusual to exert in 
 cases so insignificant; and then he had for years lost sight 
 of the criminal and his fortunes. This unexpected revival 
 of his old impressions caused him to feel like an ancient 
 friend of the wife and daughter; for well could he recall a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 33 
 
 scene he had with both, in which the struggle between his 
 humanity and his principles had been so violent as actually 
 to reduce him to tears. Mildred had forgotten the name of 
 this particular officer, having been merely a child ; but well 
 did Mrs. Button remember it, and with fear and trembling 
 had she come that day to meet him at the Hall. The first 
 look satisfied her that she was forgotten, and she had 
 struggled herself to bury in oblivion a scene which was one 
 of tlie most painful of her life. The unguarded expression 
 mentioned entirely changed the state of affairs. 
 
 " Mrs. Button," said Bluewater, kindly taking a hand of 
 the distressed wife; "I believe we are old friends; if, after 
 what has passed, you will allow me so to consider myself." 
 
 " Ah ! Admiral Bluewater, my memory needed no admon- 
 isher to tell me that. Your sympathy and kindness are as 
 grateful to me now as they were in that dreadful moment 
 when we met before." 
 
 "And I had the pleasure of seeing this young lady more 
 than once on that unpleasant occasion. This accounts for 
 a fancy that has fairly haunted me throughout the day ; for, 
 from the instant my eye fell on Miss Mildred, it struck me 
 that the face, and most of all its expression, was familiar to 
 me. Certainly it is not a countenance, once seen, easily to 
 be forgotten." 
 
 "Mildred was then but a child, sir, and your recollection 
 must have been a fancy indeed, as children of her age sel- 
 dom make any lasting impression on the mind, particularly 
 in the way of features." 
 
 "It is not the features that I recognize, but the expres- 
 sion; and that, I need not tell the young lady's mother, is 
 an expression not so very easily forgotten. I dare say Mr. 
 Wychecombe is ready enough to vouch for the truth of what 
 I say." 
 
 "Hark!" exclaimed Mrs. Button, who was sensitively 
 alive to any indication of the progress of the debauch. 
 "There is great confusion in the dining-room! — I hope the 
 
134 '^^^ "^^^ ADMIRALS. 
 
 gentlemen are of one mind as respects this rising in Scot- 
 land!" 
 
 " If there is a Jacobite among them, he will have a warm 
 time of it; with Sir Wycherly, his nephew, and the vicar — 
 all three of whom are raging lions in the way of loyalty. 
 There does, indeed, seem something out of the way, for 
 those sounds, I should think, are the feet of servants, run- 
 ning to and fro. If the servants' hall is in the condition I 
 suspect, it will as much need the aid of the parlor as the 
 parlor can possibly " 
 
 A tap at the door caused Bluewater to cease speaking; 
 and, as Wycherly threw open the entrance, Galleygo appeared 
 on the threshold, by this time reduced to the necessity of 
 holding on by the casings. 
 
 "Well, sir," said the rear-admiral sternly, for he was no 
 longer disposed to trifle with any of the crapulous set; 
 "well, sir, what impertinence has brought you here?" 
 
 " No impertinence at all, your honor; we carries none of 
 that in the old Planter. There being no young gentlemen 
 hereabouts to report proceedings, I thought I'd just step in 
 and do the duty with my own tongue. We has so many re- 
 ports in our cabin, that there isn't an officer in the fleet that 
 can make 'em better as myself, sir." 
 
 " There are a hundred who would spend fewer words on 
 anything. What is your business?" 
 
 " Why, sir, just to report one flag struck and a commander- 
 in-chief on his beam-ends." 
 
 "Good God! Nothing has happened to Sir Gervaise — 
 speak, fellow, or I'll have you sent out of this Babel, and 
 off to the ship, though it were midnight." 
 
 " It be pretty much that, Admiral Blue; or past six bells, 
 as any one may see by the ship's clock on the great com- 
 panion ladder; six bells, going well on to seven " 
 
 " Your business, sir ! what has happened to Sir Gervaise ?" 
 repeated Bluewater, shaking his long forefinger menacingly 
 at the steward. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 35 
 
 ** We are as well, Admiral Blue, as the hour we came over 
 the Planter's side. Sir Jarvy will carry sail with the best 
 on 'em, I'll answer for it, whether the ship floats in old Port 
 Oporto or in a brewer's vat. Let Sir Jarvy alone for them 
 tricks — he wasn't a young gentleman for nothing." 
 
 *' Have a moment's patience, sir," put in Wycherly, " and 
 I will go myself and ascertain the truth." 
 
 *' I shall make but another inquiry," continued Admiral 
 Bluewater. as Wycherly left the room. 
 
 **Why, d'ye see, your honor, old Sir Wycherly, who is 
 commander-in-chief along shore here, has capsized in con- 
 sequence of carrying sail too hard in company with younger 
 craft; and they're now warping him into dock to be over- 
 hauled." 
 
 " Is this all? — that was a result to be expected in such a 
 debauch. You need not have put on so ominous a face for 
 this, Galleygo." 
 
 " No, sir, so I thought myself ; and I only tried to look 
 as melancholy as a young gentleman who is sent below to 
 report a topgallantmast over the side or a studding-sail 
 boom gone in the iron. D'ye remember the time. Admiral 
 Blue, when you thought to luff up on the old Planter's 
 weather-quarter, and get between her and the French ninety 
 on three decks, and how your stu'n-sails went, one a'ter an- 
 other, just like so many musherrooms breaking in peeling?" 
 
 Galleygo, who was apt to draw his images from his two 
 trades, might have talked on an hour without interruption ; 
 for while he was uttering the above sentence, Wycherly re- 
 turned and reported that their host was seriously, even dan- 
 gerously ill. While doing the honors of his table, he had 
 been seized with a fit, which the vicar, a noted three-bottle 
 man, feared was apoplexy. Mr. Rotherham had bled the 
 patient, who was already a little better, and an express had 
 been sent for a medical man. As a matter of course, the 
 co7ivives had left the table, and alarm was frightening the 
 servants into sobriety. At Mrs. Button's earnest request, 
 
136 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Wycherly immediately left the room again, forcing Galleygo 
 out before him, with a view to get more accurate information 
 concerning the baronet's real situation; both the mother and 
 daughter feeling a real affection for Sir Wycherly, the kind 
 old man having won their hearts by his habitual benevolence 
 and a constant concern for their welfare. 
 
 " Sic transit gloria mimdi^^'' muttered Admiral Bluewater, 
 as he threw his tall person, in his own careless manner, on 
 a chair in a dark corner of the room. "This baronet has 
 fallen from his throne in a moment of seeming prosperity 
 and revelry; why may not another do the same?" 
 
 Mrs. Button heard the voice, without distinguishing the 
 words, and she felt distressed at the idea that one whom she 
 so much respected and loved might be judged of harshly by 
 a man of the rear-admiral's character. 
 
 " Sir Wycherly is one of the kindest-hearted men breath- 
 ing," she said, a little hurriedly; " and there is not a better 
 landlord in England. Then he is by no means addicted to 
 indulgence at table more than is customary with gentlemen 
 of his station. His loyalty has, no doubt, carried him this 
 evening farther than was prudent or than we could have 
 wished." 
 
 " I have every disposition to think favorably of our poor 
 host, my dear Mrs. Button, and • we seamen are not accus- 
 tomed to judge a hon 7' iv a fit too harshly." 
 
 "Ah! Admiral Bluewater, j^//, who have so widespread a 
 reputation for sobriety and correct deportment! Well do I 
 remember how I trembled when T heard your name men- 
 tioned as one of the leading members of that dreadful 
 court!" 
 
 " You let your recollections dwell too much on these un- 
 pleasant subjects, Mrs. Button, and I should like to see you 
 setting an example of greater cheerfulness to your sweet 
 daughter. I could not befriend you thefi, for my oath and 
 my duty were both against it; but fwzv there exists no pos- 
 sible reason why I should not, while there does exist almost 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 37 
 
 every possible disposition why I should. This sweet child 
 interests me in a way I can hardly describe." 
 
 Mrs. Button was silent and thoughtful. The years of 
 Admiral Bluewater did not absolutely forbid his regarding 
 Mildred's extreme beauty with the eyes of ordinary admira- 
 tion ; but his language, and most of all his character, ought 
 to repel the intrusive suspicion. Still Mildred was surpass- 
 ingly lovely, and men were surpassingly weak in matters 
 of love. Many a hero has passed a youth of self-command 
 and discretion, to consummate some act of exceeding folly 
 of this very nature in the decline of life; and bitter experi- 
 ence had taught her to be distrustful. Nevertheless, she 
 could not at once bring herself to think ill of one whose 
 character she had so long respected; and, with all the rear- 
 admiral's directness of manner, there w^as so much real and 
 feeling delicacy, blended with the breeding of a gentleman- 
 like sailor, that it was not easy to suppose he had any other 
 motives than those he saw fit to avow. Mildred had made 
 many a friend by a sweetness of countenance that was even 
 more winning than her general beauty of face and form was 
 attractive; and why should not this respectable old seaman 
 be of the number? 
 
 This train of thought was interrupted by the sudden and 
 unwelcome appearance of Button. He had just returned 
 from the bedside of Sir Wycherly, and now came to seek his 
 wife and daughter, to bid them prepare to enter the chariot 
 which was in waiting to convey them home. The miserable 
 man was not intoxicated, in the sense w-hich deprives a man 
 of the use of speech and limbs; but he had drunk quite 
 enough to awaken the demon within him, and to lay bare the 
 secrets of his true character. If anything, his nerves were 
 better strung than common; but the wine had stirred up all 
 the energies of a being whose resolutions seldom took the 
 direction of correct feeling or of right doing. The darkness 
 of the room, and a slight confusion which nevertheless ex- 
 isted in his brain, prevented him from noticing the person 
 
138 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of his superior, seated, as the latter was, in the dark corner; 
 and he believed himself once more alone with those who 
 were so completely dependent on his mercy, and who had 
 so long been the subjects of his brutality and tyranny. 
 
 " I hope Sir Wycherly is better, Button," the wife com- 
 menced, fearful that her husband might expose himself and 
 her before he was aware of the presence in which he stood. 
 " Admiral Bluewater is as anxious as we are ourselves to 
 know his real state." 
 
 "Ay, you women are all pity and feeling for baronets and 
 rear-admirals," answered Button, throwing himself rudely 
 into a chair, with his back toward the stranger, in an attitude 
 completely to exclude the latter from his view ; " while a 
 husband or father might die a hundred deaths, and not draw 
 a look of pity from your beautiful eyes or a kind word from 
 your devilish tongues." 
 
 "Neither Mildred nor I merit this irom you^ Button!" 
 
 "No, you're both perfection; like mother, like child. 
 Haven't I been fifty times at death's door with this very 
 complaint of Sir Wycherly's, and did either of you ever send 
 for an apothecary even?" 
 
 "You have been occasionally indisposed. Button, but 
 never apoplectic; and we have always thought a little sleep 
 would restore you; as, indeed, it always has." 
 
 " What business had you to t/iink ? Surgeons think, and 
 medical men, and it was your duty to send for the nearest 
 professional man, to look after one you're bound both to 
 honor and obey. You are your own mistress, Martha, I do 
 suppose, in a certain degree; and what can't be cured must 
 be endured; but Mildred is my child; and I'll have her 
 respect and love, if I break both your hearts in order to gQt 
 at them." 
 
 " A pious daughter always respects her parent, Button," 
 said the wife, trembling from head to foot; "but love must 
 come willingly, or it will not come at all." 
 
 "We'll see as to that, Mrs. Martha Button; we'll see as 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 39 
 
 to that. Come hither, Mildred; I have a word to say to 
 you, which may as well be said at once." 
 
 Mildred, trembling like her mother, drew near; but, with 
 a feeling of filial piety that no harshness could entirely 
 smother, she felt anxious to prevent the father from further 
 exposing himself in the presence of Admiral Bluewater. 
 With this view then, and with this view only, she summoned 
 firmness enough to speak. 
 
 " Father," she said, " had we not better defer our family 
 matters until we are alone?" 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances Bluewater would not have 
 waited for so palpable a hint, for he would have retired on 
 the first appearance of anything so disagreeable as a misun- 
 derstanding between man and wife. But an ungovernable 
 interest in the lovely girl, who stood trembling at her father's 
 knee, caused him to forget his habitual delicacy of feeling 
 and to overlook what might perhaps be termed almost a law 
 of society. Instead of moving, therefore, as Mildred had 
 both hoped and expected, he remained motionless in his 
 seat. Button's mind was too obtuse to comprehend his 
 daughter's allusions, in the absence of ocular evidence of a 
 stranger's presence, and his wrath was too much excited to 
 permit him to think much of anything but his own causes of 
 indignation. 
 
 " Stand more in front of me, Mildred," he answered an- 
 grily. " More before my face, as becomes one who don't 
 know her duty to her parent, and needs be taught it." 
 
 " Oh ! Button," exclaimed the afflicted wife ; " do not — do 
 not — accuse Mildred of being undutiful ! You know not 
 what you say — know not her obliga — you cannot know her 
 hearty or you would not use these cruel imputations!" 
 
 " Silence, Mrs. Martha Button — my business is not with 
 you at present, but with this young lady, to whom, I hope, I 
 may presume to speak a little plainly, as she is my own 
 child. Silence, then, Mrs. Martha Button. If my memory 
 is not treacherous, you once stood up before God's altar with 
 
140 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 me, and there vow'd to love, honor, and obey. Yes, that was 
 the word; obey, Mrs. Martha Button." 
 
 "And what did you promise at the same time, Frank?" 
 exclaimed the wife, from whose bruised spirit this implied 
 accusation was torn in an agony of mental suffering. 
 
 " Nothing but what I have honestly and manfully per- 
 formed. I promised to provide for you; to give you food 
 and raiment; to let you bear my name, and stand before the 
 world in the honorable character of honest Frank Button's 
 wife." 
 
 "Honorable!" murmured the wife, loud enough to be 
 heard by both the Admiral and Mildred, and yet in a tone 
 so smothered as to elude the obtuse sense of hearing that 
 long excess had left her husband. When this expressive 
 word had broken out of her very heart, however, she suc- 
 ceeded in suppressing her voice, and, sinking into a chair, 
 concealed her face in her hands in silence. 
 
 " Mildred, come hither," resumed the brutalized parent. 
 " You are my daughter, and whatever others have promised 
 at the altar and forgotten, a law of nature teaches you to 
 obey me. You have two admirers, either of whom you ought 
 to be glad to secure, though there is a great preference 
 between them " 
 
 " Father!" exclaimed Mildred, every feeling of her sensi- 
 tive nature revolting at this coarse allusion to a connection 
 and to sentiments that she was accustomed to view as among 
 the most sacred and private of her moral being. " Surely, 
 you cannot mean what you say!" 
 
 " Like mother, like child! Let but disobedience and dis- 
 respect get possession of a wife, and they are certain to run 
 through a whole family, even though there were a dozen 
 children! Harkee, Miss Mildred, it is you who don't hap- 
 pen to know what you say, while I understand myself as 
 well as most parents. Your mother would never acquaint 
 you with what I feel it a duty to put plainly before your 
 judgment; and therefore I expect you to listen as becomes 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I4I 
 
 a dutiful and affectionate child. You can secure either of 
 these young Wychecombes, and either of them would be a 
 good match for a poor, disgraced sailing-master's daugh- 
 ter." 
 
 " Father, I shall sink through the floor if you say another 
 word in this cruel manner!" 
 
 "No, dear; you'll neither sink nor swim, unless it be by 
 making a bad or a good choice. Mr. Thomas Wychecombe 
 is Sir Wycheriy's heir, and must be the next baronet and 
 possessor of this estate. Of course he is much the best 
 thing, and you ought to give him a preference." 
 
 " Button, ca7i you, as a father and a Christian, give such 
 heartless counsel to your own child!" exclaimed Mrs. But- 
 ton, inexpressibly shocked at the want of principle as well 
 as at the want of feeling discovered in her husband's advice. 
 
 " Mrs. Martha Button, I can ; and believe the counsel to 
 be anything but heartless, too. Bo you wish your daughter 
 to be the wife of a miserable signal-station keeper, when 
 she may become Lady Wychecombe with a little prudent 
 management, and the mistress of this capital old house and 
 noble estate?" 
 
 " Father — father," interrupted Mildred soothingly, though 
 ready to sink with shame at the idea of Admiral Bluewater's 
 being an auditor of such a conversation ; " you forget your- 
 self and overlook my wishes. There is little probability of 
 Mr. Thomas Wychecombe's ever thinking of me as a wife 
 — or, indeed, of any one else's entertaining such thoughts." 
 
 "That will turn out as you manage matters, Milly. Mr. 
 Thomas Wychecombe does not think of you as a ivife quite 
 likely just at this moment; but the largest whales are taken 
 by means of very small lines, when the last are properly 
 handled. This young lieutenant would have you to-morrow ; 
 though a more silly thing than for you two to marry could 
 not well be hit upon. He is only a lieutenant; and though 
 his name is so good a one, it does not appear that he has 
 any particular right to it." 
 
142 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " And yet, Button, you were only a lieutenant when you 
 married, and your name was ?iothi?ig in the way of interest or 
 preferment," observed the mother, anxious to interpose some 
 new feeling between her daughter and the cruel inference 
 left by the former part of her husband's speech. " We then 
 thought all lay bright before us!" 
 
 "And so all would lie to this hour, Mrs. Button, but for 
 that one silly act of mine. A man with the charges of a 
 family on him, little pay, and no fortune, is driven to a 
 thousand follies to hide his misery. You do not strengthen 
 your case by reminding me of that imprudence. But, Mil- 
 dred, I do not tell you to cut adrift this young Virginian, 
 for he may be of use in more ways than one. In the first 
 place, you can play him off against Mr. Thomas Wyche- 
 combe; and, in the second place, a lieutenant is likely one 
 day to be a captain; and the wife of a captain in His Maj- 
 esty's navy is no disreputable berth. I advise you, girl, to 
 use this youngster as a bait to catch the heir with; and, 
 failing a good bite, to take up with the lad himself." 
 
 This was said dogmatically, but with a coarseness of 
 manner that fully corresponded with the looseness of the 
 principles and the utter want of delicacy of feeling that 
 alone could prompt such advice. Mrs. Button fairly 
 groaned as she listened to her husband, for never before had 
 he. so completely thrown aside the thin mask of decency that 
 he ordinarily wore; but Mildred, unable to control the burst 
 of wild emotion that came over her, broke away from the 
 place she occupied at her father's knee, and, as if blindly 
 seeking protection in any asylum that she fancied safe, found 
 herself sobbing as if her heart would break in Admiral 
 Bluewater's arms. 
 
 Button followed the ungovernable, impulsive movement 
 with his eye, and for the first time he became aware in whose 
 presence he had been exposing his native baseness. Wine 
 had not so far the mastery of him as to blind him to all the 
 consequences, though it did stimulate him to a point that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I43 
 
 enabled him to face the momentary mortification of his 
 situation. 
 
 " I beg a thousand pardons, sir," he said, rising and bow- 
 ing low to his superior; "I was totally ignorant that I had 
 the honor to be in the company of Admiral Bluewater — 
 Admiral Blue, I find Jack calls you, sir; ha-ha-ha — a fa 
 miliarity which is a true sign of love and respect. I nevei 
 knew a captain or a flag-officer that got a regular, expressive 
 ship's name, that he wasn't the delight of the whole service. 
 Yes, sir; I find the people call Sir Gervaise, Little Jarvy, 
 and yourself, Admiral Blue — ha-ha-ha — an infallible sign 
 of merit in the superior and of love in the men." 
 
 "I ought to apologize, Mr. Button, for making one, so 
 unexpectedly to myself, in a family council," returned the 
 rear-admiral. " As for the men, they are no great philoso- 
 phers, though tolerable judges of when they are well com- 
 manded and well treated. But the hour is late, and it was 
 my intention to sleep in my own ship to-night. The coach 
 of Sir Wycherly has been ordered to carry me to the land- 
 ing, and I hope to have your permission to see these ladies 
 home in it." 
 
 The answer of Button was given with perfect self-posses- 
 sion, and in a manner to show that he knew how to exercise 
 the courtesies of life or to receive them when in the humor. 
 
 "It is an honor, sir, they will not think of declining, if 
 my wishes are consulted," he said. "Come, Milly, foolish 
 girl, dry your tears and smile on Admiral Bluewater for his 
 condescension. Young women, sir, hardly know how to 
 take a joke; and our ship's humors are sometimes a little 
 strong for them. I tell my dear wife sometimes — * Wife,' I 
 say, ' His Majesty can't have stout-hearted and stout-handed 
 seamen, and the women poets and die-away swains, and all 
 in the same individual,' says I. Mrs. Button understands 
 me, sir; and so does little Milly; who is an excellent girl 
 in the main; though a little addicted to using the eye- 
 pumps, as we have it aboard ship, sir." 
 
144 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 '^ And now. Mr. Button, it being understood that I am to 
 seethe ladies home, will you do me the favor to inquire after 
 the condition of Sir Wycherly? One would not wish to 
 quit his hospitable roof in uncertainty as to his actual 
 situation." 
 
 Dutton was duly sensible of an awkwardness in the pres- 
 ence of his superior, and he gladly profited by this commis- 
 sion to quit the room; walking more steadily than if he had 
 not been drinking. 
 
 All this time Mildred hung on Admiral Bluewater's shoul- 
 der, weeping, and unwilling to quit a place that seemed to 
 her, in her fearful agitation, a sort of sanctuary. 
 
 " Mrs. Dutton," said Bluewater, first kissing the cheek of 
 his lovely burden, in a manner so parental that the most 
 sensitive delicacy could not have taken the alarm, "you will 
 succeed better than myself in quieting the feelings of this 
 little trembler. I need hardly say that if I have acciden- 
 tally overheard more than I ought, it is as much a secret 
 with me as it would be with your own brother. The charac- 
 ters of all cannot be affected by the mistaken and excited 
 calculations of one ; and this occasion has served to make 
 me better acquainted with you and your admirable daughter 
 than I might otherwise have been by means of years of 
 ordinary intercourse." 
 
 "Oh, Admiral Bluewater, do not judge him /oo harshly! 
 He has been too long at that fatal table, which I fear has 
 destroyed poor, dear Sir Wycherly, and knew not what he 
 said. Never before have I seen him in such a fearful hu- 
 mor, or in the least disposed to trifle with or to wound the 
 feelings of this sweet child!" 
 
 " Her extreme agitation is a proof of this, my good mad- 
 am, and shows all you can wish to say. View me as your 
 sincere friend, and place every reliance on my discretion." 
 
 The wounded mother listened with gratitude, and Mildred 
 withdrew from her extraordinary situation, wondering by what 
 species of infatuation she could have been led to adopt it. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I45 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Ah, Montague, 
 
 If thou be there, sweet brother, take my hand, 
 And with thy lips keep in my soul awhile ! 
 Thou lov'st me not ; for, brother, if thou didst, 
 Thy tears would wash this cold congealed blood 
 That glues my lips, and will not let me speak. 
 Come quickly, Montague, or I am dead." 
 
 King Henry VI. 
 
 Sir Wycherly had actually been seized with a fit of apo- 
 plexy. It was the first serious disease he had experienced 
 in a long life of health and prosperity; and the sight of 
 their condescending, good-humored, and indulgent master 
 in a plight so miserable had a surprising effect on the 
 heated brains of all the household. Mr. Rotherham, a good 
 three-bottle man, on emergency had learned to bleed, and 
 fortunate the vein he struck, as his patient still lay on the 
 floor where he had fallen, sent out a stream that had the 
 effect not only to restore the baronet to life, but, in a great 
 measure, to consciousness. Sir Wycherly was not a hard 
 drinker like Button; but he was 2l fair drinker, like Mr. 
 Rotherham and most of the beneficed clergy of that day. 
 Want of exercise, as he grew older, had as much influence 
 in producing his attack as excess of wine; and there were 
 already strong hopes of his surviving it, aided as he was by 
 a good constitution. The apothecary had reached the Hall 
 within five minute after the attack, having luckily been pre- 
 scribing to the gardener; and the physician and surgeon of 
 the family were both expected in the course of the mornin-g. 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes had been acquainted with the state of 
 his host by his own valet, as soon as it was known in the 
 servants' hall, and, being a man of action, he did not hesi- 
 tate to proceed at once to the chamber of the sick, to offer 
 his own aid, in the absence of that which might be better. 
 At the door of the chamber he met Atwood, who had been 
 10 
 
146 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 summoned from his pen, and they entered together, the vice- 
 admiral feeling for a lancet in his pocket, for he, too, had 
 acquired the art of the blood-letter. They now learned the 
 actual state of things. 
 
 "Where is Bluewater.?" demanded Sir Gervaise, after re- 
 garding his host a moment with commiseration and concern. 
 " I hope he has not yet left the house." 
 
 *' He is still here, Sir Gervaise, but I should think on the 
 point of quitting us. I heard him say that, notwithstanding 
 all Sir Wycherly's kind plans to detain him, he intended to 
 sleep in his own ship." 
 
 "That I've never doubted, though I've affected to believe 
 otherwise. Go to him, Atwood, and say I beg he will pull 
 within hail of the Plantagenet as he goes off, and desire Mr. 
 Magrath to come ashore as soon as possible. There shall 
 be a conveyance at the landing to bring him here; and he 
 may order his own surgeon to come also, if it be agreeable 
 to himself." 
 
 With these instructions the secretary left the room; while 
 Sir Gervaise turned to Tom Wychecombe and said a few of 
 the words customary on such melancholy occasions. 
 
 "I think there is hope, sir," he added, "yes, sir, I think 
 there is hope; though your honored relative is no longer 
 young — still, this early bleeding has been a great thing; 
 and if we can gain a little time for poor Sir Wycherly, our 
 efforts will not be thrown away. Sudden death is awful, 
 sir, and few of us are prepared for it, either in mind or 
 affairs. We sailors have to hold our lives in our hands, it 
 is true, but then it is for king and country ; and we hope for 
 mercy on all who fall in the discharge of their duties. For 
 my part I am never unprovided with a will, and that dis- 
 poses of all the interests of this world, while I humbly trust 
 in the Great Mediator for the hereafter. I hope Sir Wych- 
 erly is equally provident as to his worldly affairs?" 
 
 " No doubt my dear uncle could wish to leave certain 
 trifling memorials behind him to a few of his intimates/' 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 4/ 
 
 returned Tom, with a dejected countenance ; " but he has not 
 been without a will, I believe, for some time; and I pre- 
 sume you will agree with me in thinking he is not in a con- 
 dition to make one now, were he unprovided in that way?'' 
 
 " Perhaps not exactly at this moment, though a rally might 
 afford an opportunity. The estate is entailed, I think Mr. 
 Dutton told me, at dinner." 
 
 " It is, Sir Gervaise, and I am the unworthy individual 
 who is to profit by it, according to the common notions of 
 men, though Heaven knows I shall consider it anything but 
 a gain; still I am the unworthy individual who is to be 
 benefited by my uncle's death." 
 
 " Your father was the baronet's next brother?" observed 
 Sir Gervaise casually, a shade of distrust passing athwart 
 his mind, though coming from what source, or directed to 
 what point, he was himself totally unable to say. " Mr. 
 Baron Wychecombe, I believe, was your parent?" 
 
 " He was. Sir Gervaise, and a most tender and indulgent 
 father I ever found him. He left me his earnings, some 
 seven hundred a year, and I am sure the death of Sir Wych- 
 erly is as far from my necessities as it is from my wishes." 
 
 "Of course you will succeed to the baronetcy as well as 
 to the estate?" mechanically asked Sir Gervaise, led on by 
 the supererogatory expressions of Tom himself, rather than 
 by a vulgar curiosity, to ask questions that under other cir- 
 cumstances he might have thought improper. 
 
 " Of course, sir. My father was the only surviving brother 
 of Sir Wycherly; the only one who ever married; and I am 
 his eldest child. Since this melancholy event has occurred 
 it is quite fortunate that I lately obtained this certificate of 
 the marriage of my parents — is it not, sir?" 
 
 Here Tom drew from his pocket a soiled piece of paper, 
 which professed to be a certificate of the marriage of Thomas 
 Wychecombe, barrister, with Martha Dodd, spinster, &c., 
 &c. The document was duly signed by the rector of a par 
 ish church in Westminster, and bore a date sufficiently old 
 
148 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 to estaolish the legitimacy of the person who held it. This 
 extraordinary precaution produced the very natural effect of 
 increasing the distrust of the vice-admiral, and, in a slight 
 degree, of giving it a direction. 
 
 "You go well armed, sir," observed Sir Gervaise drily. 
 " Is it your intention, when you succeed, to carry the patent 
 of the baronetcy and the title-deeds in your pocket?" 
 
 " Ah ! I perceive my having this document strikes you as 
 odd. Sir Gervaise, but it can be easily explained. There 
 was a wide difference in rank between my parents, and some 
 ill-disposed persons have presumed so far to reflect on the 
 character of my mother as to assert she was not married at 
 all." 
 
 " In which case, sir, you would do well to cut off half-a- 
 dozen of their ears." 
 
 " The law is not to be appeased in that way. Sir Gervaise. 
 My dear parent used to inculcate on me the necessity of 
 doing everything according to law; and I endeavor to re- 
 member his precepts. He avowed his marriage on his death- 
 bed, made all due atonement to my respected and injured 
 mother, and informed me in whose hands I should find this 
 very certificate; I only obtained it this morning, which fact 
 will account for its being in my pocket at this melancholy 
 and unexpected crisis in my beloved uncle's constitution." 
 
 The latter part of Tom's declaration was true enough; 
 for, after having made all the necessary inquiries, and ob- 
 tained the handwriting of a clergyman who was long since 
 dead, he had actually forged the certificate that day on a 
 piece of soiled paper that bore the water-mark of 1720. 
 His language, however, contributed to alienate the confi- 
 dence of his listener; Sir Gervaise being a man who was so 
 much accustomed to directness and fair-dealing himself as 
 to feel disgust at anything that had the semblance of cant 
 or hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he had his own motives for 
 pursuing the subject; the presence of neither at the bedside 
 of the sufferer being just then necessary. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 149 
 
 " And this Mr. Wycherly Wychecombe," he said ; " he 
 who has so much distinguished himself of late; your uncle's 
 namesake; — is it true that he is not allied to your family?" 
 
 " Not in the least, Sir Gervaise," answered Tom, with one 
 of his sinister smiles. " He is only a Virginian, you know, 
 sir, and cannot well bebng to us. I have heard my uncle 
 say often that the young gentleman must be descended from 
 an old servant of his father's, who was transported for steal- 
 ing silver out of a shop on Ludgate Hill, and who was ar- 
 rested for passing himself off as one of the Wychecombe 
 family. They tell me, Sir Gervaise, that the colonies are 
 pretty much made of persons descended from that sort of 
 ancestors?" 
 
 " I cannot say that I have found it so ; though, when I 
 commanded a frigate, I served several years on the North 
 American station. The larger portion of the Americans, 
 like much the larger portion of the English, are humble 
 laborers, established in a remote colony, where civilization 
 is not far advanced, wants are many, and means few; but, 
 in the way of character, I am not certain that they are not 
 quite on a level with those they left behind them; and, as 
 to the gentry of the colonies, I have seen many men of the 
 best blood of the mother country among them; — younger 
 sons, and their descendants, as a matter of course, but of an 
 honorable and respected ancestry." 
 
 "Well, sir, this surprises me; and it is not the general 
 opinion, I am persuaded! Certainly, it is not the fact as 
 respects the gentleman — stranger, I might call him, for 
 stranger he is at Wychecombe — who has not the least right 
 to pretend to belong to us." 
 
 " Did you ever know him to lay claim to that honor, 
 sir?" 
 
 "Not directly. Sir Gervaise; though I am told he has 
 made many hints to that effect, since he landed here to be 
 cured of his wound. It would have been better had he pre- 
 sented his rights to the landlord than to present them to the 
 
150 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 tenants, I think you will allow, as a man of honor yourself, 
 Sir Gervaise?" 
 
 " I can approve of nothing clandestine in matters that re- 
 quire open and fair dealing, Mr. Thomas Wychecombe. 
 But I ought to apologize for thus dwelling on your family 
 affairs, which concern me only as I feel an interest in the 
 wishes and happiness of my new acquaintance, my excellent 
 host." 
 
 " Sir Wycherly has property in the funds that is not en- 
 tailed — quite ^1,000 a year, beyond the estates — and I know 
 he has left a will," continued Tom; who, with the short- 
 sightedness of a rogue, flattered himself with having made 
 a favorable impression on his companion, and who was de« 
 sirous of making him useful to himself, in an emergency 
 that he felt satisfied must terminate in the speedy death of 
 his uncle. " Yes, a good ^1,000 a year, in the fives ; money 
 saved from his rents in a long life. This will probably has 
 some provision in favor of my younger brothers; and per- 
 haps of this namesake of his,"^ — Tom was well aware that 
 it devised every shilling, real and personal, to himself; — 
 " for a kinder heart does not exist on earth. In fact this 
 will my uncle put in my possession, as heir at law, feeling 
 it due to my pretensions, I suppose; but I have never pre- 
 sumed to look into it." 
 
 Here was another instance of excessive finesse, in which 
 Tom awakened suspicion by his very efforts to allay it. It 
 leemed highly improbable to Sir Gervaise that a man like 
 the nephew could long possess his uncle's will, and feel no 
 desire to ascertain its contents. The language of the young 
 man was an indirect admission that he might have examined 
 the will if he would ; and the admiral felt disposed to sus- 
 pect that what he might thus readily have done he actually 
 had done. The dialogue, however, terminated here; But- 
 ton just at that moment entering the room on the errand on 
 which he had been sent by Admiral Bluewater, and Tom 
 joining his old acquaintance as soon as the latter made his 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I5I 
 
 appearance. Sir Gervaise Oakes was too much concerned 
 for the condition of his host, and had too many cares of his 
 own, to think deeply or long on what had just passed between 
 himself and Tom Wychecombe. Had they separated that 
 night, what had been said, and the unfavorable impressions 
 it had made, would have been soon forgotten ; but circum- 
 stances subsequently conspired to recall the whole to his 
 mind, of which the consequences will be related in the 
 course of our narrative. 
 
 Button appeared to be a little shocked as he gazed upon 
 the pallid features of Sir Wycherly, and he was not sorry 
 when Tom led him aside and began to speak confidentially 
 of the future and of the probable speedy death of his uncle. 
 Had there been one present gifted with the power of read- 
 ing the thoughts and motives of men, a deep disgust of hu- 
 man frajlties must have come over him as these two impure 
 spirits betrayed to him their cupidity and cunning. Out- 
 wardly, they were friends mourning over a mutual probable 
 loss; while inwardly Button was endeavoring to obtain such 
 a hold of his companion's confidence as might pave the way 
 to his own future preferment to the high and unhoped-for 
 station of a rich baronet's father-in-law; while Tom thought 
 only of so far mystifying the master as to make use of him 
 on an emergency as a witness to establish his own claims. 
 The manner in which he endeavored to effect his object, 
 however, must be left to the imagination of the reader, as 
 we have matters of greater moment to record at this particu- 
 lar juncture. 
 
 From the time Sir Wycherly was laid on his bed, Mr. 
 Rotherham had been seated at the sick man's side watching 
 the course of his attack, and ready to interpret any of the 
 patient's feebly and indistinctly expressed wishes. We say 
 indistinctly, because the baronet's speech was slightly 
 affected with that species of paralysis which reduces the 
 faculty to the state that is vulgarly called thick-tongued. 
 Although a three-bottle man, Mr. Rotherham was far from 
 
152 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 being without his devout feelings on occasions, discharging 
 all the clerical functions with as much unction as the habits 
 of the country and the opinions of the day ordinarily ex- 
 acted of divines. He had even volunteered to read the 
 prayers for the sick as soon as he perceived that the pa- 
 tient's recollection had returned; but this kind offer had 
 been declined by Sir Wycherly, under the clearer views of 
 fitness that the near approach of death is apt to give, and 
 which views left a certain consciousness that the party as- 
 sembled was not in the best possible condition for that sa- 
 cred office. Sir Wycherly revived so much at last as to look 
 about him with increasing consciousness; and at length his 
 eyes passed slowly over the room, scanning each person 
 singly, and with marked deliberation. 
 
 " I know you all — now," said the kind«-hearted baronet, 
 though always speaking thick, and with a little difficulty; 
 "am sorry to give — much trouble. I have — little time to 
 spare." 
 
 " I hope not. Sir Wycherly," put in the vicar, in a conso- 
 latory manner; " you have had a sharp attack, but then there 
 is a good constitution to withstand it." 
 
 "My time — short — feel it here," rejoined the patient, 
 passing his hand over his forehead. 
 
 " Note that, Button," whispered Tom Wycherly. " My 
 poor uncle intimates himself that his mind is a little shaken. 
 Under such circumstances it would be cruel to let him 
 injure himself with business.'' 
 
 " It cannot be done lega?Iy, Mr. Thomas — I should think 
 Admiral Oakes would interfere to prevent it." 
 
 " Rotherham," continued the patient, " I will — settle with 
 — world; then give — thoughts — to God. Have we — guests 
 — the house? — Men of family — character?" 
 
 "Certainly, Sir Wycherly; Admiral Oakes is in the room 
 even; and Admiral Bluewater is, I believe, still in the 
 house. You invited both to pass the night with you." 
 
 " I remember it — now ; my mind — still — confused," — here 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 55 
 
 Tom Wychecombe again nudged the master — " Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes — an Admiral — ancient baronet — man of high honor. 
 Admiral Bluewater, too — relative — Lord Bluewater; gentle- 
 man — universal esteem. You, too, Rotherham; wish my 
 poor brother James — St. James — used to call him — had been 
 living ; — you — good neighbor — Rotherham." 
 
 "Can I do anything to prove it, my dear Sir Wycherly? 
 Nothing would make me happier than to know and to com- 
 ply with all your wishes at a moment so important!" 
 
 " Let all quit — room — but yourself — head feels worse — I 
 cannot delay " 
 
 " 'Tis cruel to distress my beloved uncle with business or 
 conversation in his present state," interposed Tom Wyche- 
 combe with emphasis, and, in a slight degree, with au- 
 thority. 
 
 All not only felt the truth of this but all felt that the 
 speaker, by his consanguinity, had a clear right to interfere 
 in the manner he had. Still Sir Gervaise Oakes had great 
 reluctance in yielding to this remonstrance; for, to the dis- 
 trust he had imbibed of Tom Wychecombe, was added an 
 impression that his host wished to reveal something of in- 
 terest in connection with his new favorite, the lieutenant. 
 He felt compelled, notwithstanding, to defer to the acknowl- 
 edged nephew's better claims, and he refrained from inter- 
 fering. Fortunately, Sir Wycherly was yet in a state to 
 enforce his own wishes. 
 
 " Let all quit — room," he repeated in a voice that was 
 startling by its unexpected firmness and equally unexpected 
 distinctness. " All but Sir Gervaise Oakes — Admiral Blue- 
 water — Mr. Rotherham. Gentlemen — favor to remain — rest 
 depart." 
 
 Accustomed to obey their master's orders, more especially 
 when given in a tone so decided, the domestics quitted the 
 room, accompanied by Button ; but Tom Wychecombe saw 
 fit to remain, as if his presence were to be a matter of course. 
 
 " Do me — favor — withdraw, — Mr. Wychecombe," resumed 
 
154 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the baronet, aftef fixing his gaze on his nephew for some 
 time, as if expecting him to retire without this request. 
 
 " My beloved uncle, it is I — ^Thomas, your own brother's 
 son — your next of kin — waiting anxiously by your respected 
 bedside. Do not — do not — confound me with strangers. 
 Such a forgetfulness would break my heart!" 
 
 " Forgive me, nephew — but I wish — alone with these gen- 
 tle — head— getting — confused " 
 
 *' You see how it is, Sir Gervaise Oakes — you see how it 
 is, Mr. Rotherham. Ah! there goes the coach that is to 
 take Admiral Bluewater to his boat. My uncle wished for 
 three witnesses to something, and I can remain as one of 
 the three." 
 
 ^^ Is it your pleasure. Sir Wycherly, to wish to see us 
 alone?" asked Sir Gervaise in a manner that showed au- 
 thority would be exercised to enforce his request, should the 
 uncle still desire the absence of his nephew. 
 
 A sign from the sick man indicated the affirmative, and 
 that in a manner too decided to admit of mistake. 
 
 " You perceive, Mr. Wychecombe, what are your uncle's 
 wishes," obser^^ed Sir Gervaise, very much in the way that 
 a well-bred superior intimates to an inferior the compliance 
 he expects; " I trust his desire will not be disregarded at a 
 moment like this." 
 
 "I am Sir Wycherly Wychecombe's next of kin," said 
 Tom in a lightly bullying tone; " and no one has the same 
 right as a relative, and, I may say, his heir, to be at his bed- 
 side." 
 
 "That depends on the pleasure of Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe himself, sir. He is master here; and, having done 
 me the honor to invite me under his roof as a guest, and, 
 now having requested to see me alone, with others he has 
 expressly named — one of whom you are not — I shall con- 
 ceive it my duty to see his wishes obeyed." 
 
 This was said in the firm, quiet way that the habit of 
 command had imparted to Sir Gervaise's manner j and Tom 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I55 
 
 began to see it might be dangerous to resist. It was im- 
 portant, too, that one of the vice-admiral's character and 
 station should have naught to say against him in the event 
 of any future controversy ; and, making a few professions of 
 respect, and of his desire to please his uncle, Tom quitted 
 the room. 
 
 A gleam of satisfaction shot over the sick man's counte- 
 nance as his nephew disappeared; and then his eye turned 
 slowly toward the faces of those who remained. 
 
 " Bluewater," he said, the thickness of his speech and the 
 general difficulty of utterance seeming to increase ; " the 
 rear-admiral — I want all — respectable — witnesses in the 
 house." 
 
 " My friend has left us, I understand," returned Sir Ger- 
 vaise, " insisting on his habit of never sleeping out of his 
 ship; but Atwood must soon be back; I hope he will 
 answer!" 
 
 A sign of assent was given ; and then there was the pause 
 of a minute or two ere the secretary made his appearance. 
 As soon, however, as he had returned, the three collected 
 around the baronet's bed, not without some of the weakness 
 which men are supposed to have inherited from their com- 
 mon mother Eve, in connection with the motive for this 
 singular proceeding of the baronet. 
 
 " Sir Gervaise — Rotherham — Mr. Atwood," slowly re- 
 peated the patient, his eye passing from the face of one to 
 that of another, as he uttered the name of each; "three 
 witnesses — that will do — Thomas said — must have three — 
 three good names." 
 
 "What can we do to serve you, Sir Wycherly?" inquired 
 the admiral with real interest, " You have only to name 
 your requests to have them faithfully attended to." 
 
 "Old Sir Michael Wychecombe, Kt. — two wives — Mar- 
 gery and Joan. Two wives — two sons — half-blood — Thom- 
 as, James, Charles, and Gregory, whole — Sir Reginald 
 Wychecombe, half. Understand — hope — gentlemen?" 
 
156 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " This is not being very clear, certainly," whispered Sir 
 Gervaise ; " but, perhaps by getting hold of the other end 
 of the rope, we may underrun it, as we sailors say, and come 
 at the meaning — we will let the poor man proceed therefore. 
 Quite plain, my dear sir, and what have you next to tell us? 
 You left off, without saying only /i a// about Sir Reginald." 
 
 " Half-blood ; only /la//— Tom and the rest whole. Sir 
 Reginald, no nullius — young Tom, a mdlius.'' 
 
 "A nullius, Mr. Rotherham! You understand Latin, sir; 
 what can a nullius mean ? No such rope in the ship, hey, 
 Atwood?" 
 
 ''Nullius or nulttus, as it ought sometimes to be pro- 
 nounced, is the genitive case, singular, of the pronoun nul- 
 lus ; ftullus, nulla, nullum; which means 'no man,' 'no wo- 
 man,' 'no thing.' Nullius means 'of no man,' 'of no woman,' 
 'of no thing.' " 
 
 The vicar gave this explanation much in the way a peda- 
 gogue would have explained the matter to a class. 
 
 " Ay-ay — any school-boy could have told that, which is 
 the first form learning. But what the devil can 'Nom. 7iul- 
 lus, 7iulla, nullum; Gen. nullius, 7iullius, nullius^ have to do 
 with Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, the nephew and heir of the 
 present baronet?" 
 
 "That is more than I can inform you. Sir Gervaise," an- 
 swered the vicar stiffly; "but for the Latin I will take upon 
 myself to answer that it is good." 
 
 Sir Gervaise was too well-bred to laugh, but he found it 
 difficult to suppress a smile. 
 
 "Well, Sir Wycherly," resumed the vice-admiral, "this 
 is quite plain — Sir Reginald is only half, while your nephew 
 Tom and the rest are whole — Margery and Joan, and all that. 
 Anything more to tell us, my dear sir?" 
 
 "Tom not whole — fiullus, I wish to say. Sir Reginald 
 half — no melius. ^^ 
 
 "This is like being at sea a week without getting a sight 
 of the sun! I am all adrift now, gentlemen." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 57 
 
 " Sir Wycherly does not attend to his cases," put in At- 
 wood drily. " At one time he is in the genitive^ and then 
 he gets back to the nominative ; which is leaving us in the 
 vocative r 
 
 " Come — come — Atwood, none of your gun-room wit on 
 an occasion so solemn as this. My dear Sir Wycherly, have 
 you anything more to tell us? I believe we perfectly under- 
 stand you now. Tom is not tvhole — you wish to say nidlus^ 
 and not to say nuUiics. Sir Reginald is only half^ but he is 
 no milliis.'''' 
 
 " Yes, sir — that is it," returned the old man, smiling. 
 JF/a/f, but no nullus. Change my mind — seen too much of 
 the other lately — Tom, my nephew — want to make him my 
 heir." 
 
 " This is getting clearer, out of all question. You wish 
 to make your nephew, Tom, your heir. But the law does 
 that already, does it not, my dear sir? Mr. Baron Wyche- 
 combe was the next brother of the baronet; was he not, Mr. 
 Rotherham?" 
 
 "So I have always understood, sir; and Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe must be the heir at law." 
 
 " No — no — nidlus — nulbcs^^ repeated Sir Wycherly, with 
 so much eagerness as to make his voice nearly indistinct; 
 " Sir Reginald — Sir Reginald — Sir Reginald." 
 
 "And pray, Mr. Rotherham, who may this Sir Reginald 
 be? Some old baronet of the family, I presume." 
 
 "Not at all, sir; it is Sir Reginald Wychecombe of 
 Wychecombe-Regis, Herts ; a baronet of Queen Anne's time, 
 and a descendant from a cadet of this family, I am told." 
 
 "This is getting on soundings — I had taken it into my 
 head this Sir Reginald was some old fellow of the reign of 
 one of the Plantagenets. Well, Sir Wycherly, do you wish 
 us to send an express into Hertfordshire, in quest of Sir 
 Reginald Wychecombe, who is quite likely your executor? 
 Do not give yourself the pain to speak; a sign will answer." 
 
 Sir Wycherly seemed struck with the suggestion, which 
 
158 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the reader will readily understand was far from being his 
 real meaning; and then he smiled, and nodded his head in 
 approbation. 
 
 Sir Gervaise, with the promptitude of a man of business, 
 turned to the table where the vicar had written notes to the 
 medical men, and dictated a short letter to his secretary. 
 This letter he signed, and in five minutes Atwood left the 
 room to order it to be immediately forwarded by express. 
 When this was done the admiral rubbed his hands in satis- 
 faction, like a man who felt he had got himself cleverly out 
 of a knotty difficulty. 
 
 " I don't see, after all, Mr. Rotherham," he observed to 
 the vicar, as they stood together in a corner of the room, 
 waiting the return of the secretary; "what he lugged in 
 that schoolboy Latin for — nulliis, millay nullum! Can you 
 possibly explain thatV^ 
 
 •' Not unless it was Sir Wycherly's desire to say that Sir 
 Reginald, being descended from a younger son, was nobody 
 — as yet, had no woman— and I believe he is not married — 
 and was poor, or had 'no ihing.^ " 
 
 " And is Sir Wycherly such a desperate scholar that he 
 would express himself in this hieroglyphical manner on 
 what I fear will prove to be his death-bed?" 
 
 "Why, Sir Gervaise, Sir Wycherly was educated like all 
 other young gentlemen, but has forgotten most of his clas. 
 sics in the course of a long life of ease and affluence. Is it 
 not" probable now that his recollection has returned to him 
 suddenly, in consequence of this affection of the head? I 
 think I have read of some curious instances of these reviv- 
 ing memories, on a death-bed or after a fit of sickness." 
 
 " Ay, that you may have done!" exclaimed Sir Gervaise, 
 smiling; "and poor, good Sir Wycherly must have begun 
 afresh, at the very place where he left off. But here is 
 Atwood again." 
 
 After a short consultation the three chosen witnesses 
 returned to the bedside, the admiral being spokesman. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 59 
 
 "The express will be off in ten minutes, Sir Wycherly," 
 he said ; " and you may hope to see your relative in the 
 course of the next two or three days." 
 
 " Too late — too late," murmured the patient, who had an 
 inward consciousness of his true situation; "too late — turn 
 the will round — Sir Reginald, Tom; — Tom, Sir Reginald. 
 Turn the will round." 
 
 "Turn the will round! — this is very explicit, gentlemen, 
 to those who can understand it. Sir Reginald, Tom ; — Tom, 
 Sir Reginald. At all events it is clear that his mind is 
 dwelling on the disposition of his property, since he speaks 
 of wills. Atwood, make a note of these words, that there 
 need be no mistake. I wonder he has said nothing of our 
 brave young lieutenant, his namesake. There can be no 
 harm, Mr. Rotherham, in just mentioning that fine fellow 
 to him, in a moment like this?" 
 
 " I see none, sir. It is our duty to remind the sick of 
 their duties." 
 
 " Do you not wish to see your young namesake, Lieuten- 
 ant ^jr-^<fr/j^ Wychecombe, Sir Wycherly?" asked the ad- 
 miral ; sufficiently emphasizing the Christian name. " He 
 must be in the house, and I dare say would be happy to 
 obey your wishes." 
 
 " I hope he is well, sir — fine young gentleman — honor to 
 the name, sir." 
 
 "Quite true, Sir Wycherly; and an honor to the nation^ 
 too." 
 
 " Didn't know Virginia was a nation — so much the better 
 — fine young Virgi?iian, sir." 
 
 " Of your fa7nily, no doubt, Sir Wycherly, as well as of 
 your name," added the admiral, who secretly suspected the 
 young sailor of being a son of the baronet, nowithstanding 
 all he had heard to the contrary. "An exceedingly fine 
 young man, and an honor to any house in England!" 
 
 "I suppose they hai'e houses in Virginia — bad climate; 
 houses necessary. No relative, sir; — probably a nullus. 
 
l60 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Many Wychecombes, nuUuses. Tom, a nullus — this young 
 gentleman, a ?iullus — Wychecombes of Surrey, all nulluses 
 — Sir Reginald no nullus; but a half — Thomas, James, 
 Charles, and Gregory, all whole. My brother, Baron 
 Wychecombe, told me — before died." 
 
 " Whole what^ Sir Wycherly?" asked the admiral, a little 
 vexed at the obscurity of the other's language. 
 
 " Blood — whole bloody sir. Capital law, Sir Gervaise ; had 
 it from the baron — first hand." 
 
 Now, one of the peculiarities of England is, that in the 
 division of labor few know anything material about the law, 
 except the professional men. Even their knowledge is 
 divided and subdivided in a way that makes a very fair 
 division of profit. Thus the conveyancer is not a barrister; 
 the barrister is not an attorney; and the chancery prac- 
 titioner would be an unsafe adviser for one of the purely 
 law courts. That particular provision of the common law 
 which Baron Wychecombe had mentioned to his brother, as 
 the rule of the half-bloody has been set aside or modified by 
 statute within the last ten years; but few English laymen 
 would be at all likely to know of such a law of descent even 
 when it existed; for, while it did violence to every natural 
 sentiment of right, it lay hidden in the secrets of the profes- 
 sion. Were a case stated to a thousand intelligent English- 
 men, who had not read law, in which it was laid down that 
 brothers by different mothers, though equally sons of the 
 founder of the estate, could not take from each other, unless 
 by devise or entail, the probability is that quite nine in ten 
 would deny the existence of any rule so absurd; and, this, 
 too, under the influence of feelings that were creditable to 
 their sense of natural justice. Nevertheless, such was one 
 of the important provisions of the " perfection of reason," 
 until the recent reforms in English law; and it has struck 
 us as surprising that an ingenious writer of fiction, who has 
 recently charmed his readers with a tale the interest of 
 which turns principally on the vicissitudes of practice, did 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. l6l 
 
 hot bethink him of this peculiar feature of his country's 
 laws; inasmuch as it would have supplied mystery sufficient 
 for a dozen ordinary romances, and improbabilities enough 
 for a hundred. That Sir Gervaise and his companions 
 should be ignorant of the " law of the half-blood," is con- 
 sequently very much a matter of course; and no one 
 ought to be surprised that the worthy baronet's repeated 
 allusions to the "whole" and the "half" were absolutely 
 enigmas, which neither had the knowledge necessary to 
 explain. 
 
 " What can the poor fellow mean ?" demanded the admiral, 
 more concerned than he remembered ever before to have 
 been on any similar occasion. " One could wish to serve 
 him as much as possible, but all this about ''iiulliis,^ and 
 Svhole blood' and 'half,' is so much gibberish to me — can 
 you make anything of it, — hey! Atwood.-*" 
 
 " Upon my word. Sir Gervaise, it seems a matter for a 
 judge rather than for man-of-war's men like ourselves." 
 
 " It certainly can have no connection with this rising of 
 the Jacobites? That is an affair likely to trouble a loyal 
 subject in his last moments, Mr. Rotherham!" 
 
 " Sir Wycherly's habits and age forbid the idea that he 
 knows more of that^ sir, than is known to us all. His re- 
 quest, however, to 'turn the will round,' I conceive to be 
 altogether explicit. Several capital treatises have appeared 
 lately on the 'human will,' and I regret to say, my honored 
 friend and patron has not always been quite as orthodox on 
 that point as I could wish. I therefore consider his words 
 as evidence of a hearty repentance." 
 
 Sir Gervaise looked about him, as was his habit when any 
 droll idea crossed his mind; but, again suppressing the in- 
 clination to smile, he answered with suitable gravity: 
 
 "I understand you, sir; you think all these inexplicable 
 
 terms are connected with Sir Wycherly's religious feelings. 
 
 You may certainly be right, for it exceeds my knowledge to 
 
 connect them with anything else. I wish, notwithstanding, 
 
 1 1 
 
l62 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 he had not disowned this noble young lieutenant of ours! 
 Is it quite certain the young man is a Virginian?" 
 
 " So I have always understood it, sir. He has never been 
 known in this part of England until he was landed from a 
 frigate in the roads, to be cured of a serious wound. I 
 think none of Sir Wycherly's allusions have the least refer- 
 ence to him.'''' 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes now joined his hands behind his 
 back, and walked several times, quarter-deck fashion, to 
 and fro, in the room. At each turn his eyes glanced towards 
 the bed, and he ever found the gaze of the sick man anx- 
 iously fastened on himself. This satisfied him that religion 
 had nothing to do with his host's manifest desire to make 
 himself understood; and his own trouble was greatly in- 
 creased. It seemed to him as if the dying man was making 
 incessant appeals to his aid, without its being in his power 
 to afford it. It was not possible for a generous man like 
 Sir Gervaise to submit to such a feeling without an effort; 
 and he soon went to the side of the bed again, determined 
 to bring the affair to some intelligible issue. 
 
 " Do you think, Sir Wycherly, you could write a few lines, 
 if we put pen, ink, and paper before you?" he asked, as a 
 sort of desperate remedy. 
 
 " Impossible — can hardly see ; have got no strength — stop 
 — will try — if you please." 
 
 Sir Gervaise was delighted with this, and he immediately 
 directed his companions to lend their assistance. Atwood 
 and the vicar bolstered the old man up, and the admiral put 
 the writing materials before him, substituting a large quarto 
 bible for a desk. Sir Wycherly, after several abortive at- 
 tempts, finally got the pen in his hand, and with great diffi- 
 culty traced six or seven nearly illegible words, running the 
 line diagonally across the paper. By this time his powers 
 failed him altogether, and he sunk back, dropping the pen, 
 and closing his eyes in a partial insensibility. At this 
 critical instant the surgeon entered, and at once put an end 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. IO3 
 
 to the interview by taking charge of the patient, and direct- 
 ing all but one or two necessary attendants to quit the room. 
 
 The three chosen witnesses of what had just past repaired 
 together to a parlor; Atwood, by a sort of mechanical habit, 
 taking with him the paper on which the baronet had scrawled 
 the words just mentioned. This by a sort of mechanical use 
 also he put into the hands of Sir Gervaise, as soon as they 
 entered the room; much as he would have laid before his 
 superior an order to sign or a copy of a letter to the secre- 
 tary of the Navy Board. 
 
 "This is as bad as the ^nullus/^ " exclaimed Sir Gervaise, 
 after endeavoring to decipher the scrawl in vain. " What 
 is this first word, Mr. Rotherham — 'Irish,' is it not — hey! 
 Atwood?" 
 
 "I believe it is no more than 'I-n,' stretched over much 
 more paper than is necessary." 
 
 " You are right enough, vicar ; and the next word is *the,' 
 though it looks like a chevaux de frise — what follows? It 
 looks like 'man-of-war,' Atwood?" 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Sir Gervaise; this first letter is what 
 I should call an elongated n — the next is certainly an a — 
 the third looks like the waves of a river — ah! it is an m — • 
 and the last is an e — n-a-m-e — that makes 'name,' gentle- 
 men." 
 
 " Yes," eagerly added the vicar, " and the two next words 
 are 'of God.'" 
 
 "Then it is religion after all that was on the poor man's 
 mind!" exclaimed Sir Gervaise, in a slight degree dis- 
 appointed, if the truth must be told. " What's this A-m-e-n 
 — 'Amen' — why it's a sort of prayer." 
 
 "This is the form in which it is usual to commence wills, 
 I believe, Sir Gervaise," observed the secretary, who had 
 written many a one on board ship in his day. " In the 
 name of God, Amen.'" 
 
 " By George, you're right, Atwood ; and the poor man was 
 trying all the while to let us know how he wished to dispose 
 
164 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of his property! What could he mean by the nullus — it is 
 not possible that the old gentleman has nothing to leave?" 
 
 "I'll answer for it, Sir Gervaise, that is not the true ex- 
 planation," the vicar replied. " Sir Wycherly's affairs are 
 in the best order; and besides the estate he has a large sum 
 in the funds." 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, we can do no more to-night. A medi- 
 cal man is already in the house, and Bluewater will send 
 ashore one or two others from the fleet. In the morning, if 
 Sir Wycherly is in a state to converse, this matter shall be 
 attended to." 
 
 The party now separated; a bed being provided for the 
 vicar, and the admiral and his secretary retiring to their 
 respective rooms. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Bid physicians talk our brains to temper 
 And with an argument new-set a pulse ; 
 Then think, my lord, of reasoning into love." 
 
 Young. 
 
 While the scene just related took place in the chamber 
 of the sick man, Admiral Bluewater, Mrs. Button, and Mil- 
 dred left the house in the old family coach. The rear- 
 admiral had pertinaciously determined to adhere to his 
 practice of sleeping in his ship; and the manner in which 
 he had offered seats to his two fair companions — for Mrs. 
 Button still deserved to be thus termed — has already been 
 seen. The motive was simply to remove them from any 
 further brutal exhibitions of Button's cupidity, while he 
 continued in his present humor; and, thus influenced, it is 
 not probable that the gallant old sailor would be likely to 
 dwell more than was absolutely necessary on the unpleasant 
 scene of which he had been a witness. In fact no allusion 
 was made to it during the quarter of an hour the party was 
 driving from the Hall to the station-house. They all spoke 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 10^ 
 
 with regret — Mildred with affectionate tenderness even — of 
 poor Sir Wycherly; and several anecdotes, indicative of his 
 goodness of heart, were eagerly related to Bluewater by the 
 two females, as the carriage moved heavily along. In the 
 time mentioned the vehicle drew up before the door of the 
 cottage and all three alighted. 
 
 If the morning of that day had been veiled in mist, the 
 sun had set in as cloudless a sky as is often arched above 
 the island of Great Britain. The night was what in that 
 region is termed a clear moonlight. It was certainly not 
 the mimic day that is so often enjoyed in purer atmospheres, 
 but the panorama of the headland was clothed in a soft, 
 magical sort of semi-distinctness that rendered objects suffi- 
 ciently obvious and exceedingly beautiful. The rounded, 
 shorn swells of the land hove upward to the eye, verdant 
 and smooth; while the fine oaks of the park formed a 
 shadowy background to the picture inland. Seaward the 
 ocean was glittering like a reversed plane of the firmament, 
 far as eye could reach. If our own hemisphere, or rather 
 this latitude, may boast of purer skies than are enjoyed by 
 the mother country, the latter has a vast superiority in the 
 tint of the water. While the whole American coast is 
 bounded by a dull-looking sheet of sea-green, the deep blue 
 of the wide ocean appears to be carried close home to the 
 shores of Europe. This glorious tint, from which the term 
 of " ultramarine" has been derived, is most remarkable in 
 the Mediterranean, that sea of delights; but it is met with 
 all along the rock-bound coasts of the Peninsula of Spain 
 and Portugal, extending through the British Channel, until 
 it is in a measure lost on the shoals of the North Sea ; to be 
 revived, however, in the profound depths of the ocean that 
 laves the wild romantic coast of Norway. 
 
 "'Tis a glorious night!" exclaimed Bluewater, as he 
 handed Mildred the last from the carriage; "and one can 
 hardly wish to enter a cot, let it swing ever so lazily." 
 
 " Sleep is out of the question" returned Mildred sorrow* 
 
1 66 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 fully. " These are nights in which even the weary are re- 
 luctant to lose their consciousness; but who can sleep while 
 there is this uncertainty about dear Sir Wycherly." 
 
 " I rejoice to hear you say this, Mildred," — for so the ad- 
 miral had unconsciously and unrepelled begun to call his 
 sweet companion — " I rejoice to hear you say this, for I am 
 an inveterate star-gazer and moon-ite; and I shall hope to 
 persuade you and Mrs. Button to waste yet another hour 
 with me in walking on this height. Ah! yonder is Sam 
 Yoke, my coxswain, waiting to report the barge; I can send 
 Sir Gervaise's message to the surgeons by deputy, and there 
 will be no occasion for my hastening from this lovely spot 
 and pleasant company." 
 
 The orders were soon given to the coxswain. A dozen 
 boats, it would seem, were in waiting for officers ashore, not- 
 withstanding the lateness of the hour; and directions were 
 sent for two of them to pull off and obtain the medical men. 
 The coach was sent round to receive the latter, and then all 
 was tranquil again on the height. Mrs. Button entered the 
 house to attend to some of her domestic concerns, while the 
 rear-admiral took the arm of Mildred and they walked to- 
 gether to the verge of the cliffs. 
 
 A fairer moonlight picture seldom offered itself to a sea- 
 man's eye than that which now lay before the sight of Ad- 
 miral Bluewater and Mildred. Beneath them rode the fleet; 
 sixteen sail of different rigs, eleven of which, however, were 
 two-decked ships of the largest size then known in naval 
 warfare ; and all of which were in that perfect order that an 
 active and intelligent commander knows how to procure, 
 even from the dilatory and indifferent. If Admiral Blue- 
 water was conspicuous in manoeuvring a fleet and in render- 
 ing every vessel of a line that extended a league efficient, 
 and that too in her right place, Sir Gervaise Oakes had the 
 reputation of being one of the best seamen, in the ordinary 
 sense of the word, in England. No vessel under his com- 
 mand ever had a lubberly look; and no ship that had any 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 6/ 
 
 sailing in her failed to have it brought out of her. The 
 vice-admiral was familiar with that all-important fact — one 
 that members equally of Congress and of Parliament are so 
 apt to forget, or rather not to know at all — that the efficiency 
 of a whole fleet as a fleet is necessarily brought down to the 
 level of its worst ships. Of little avail is it that four or five 
 vessels of a squadron sail fast and work well, if the eight or 
 ten that remain behave badly and are dull. A separation 
 of the vessels is the inevitable consequence, when the prop- 
 erties of all are thoroughly tried ; and the division of a force 
 is the first step toward its defeat; as its proper concentra- 
 tion is a leading condition of victory. As the poorer ves- 
 sels cannot imitate the better, the good are compelled to 
 regulate their movements by the bad ; which is at once es- 
 sentially bringing down the best ships of a fleet to the level 
 of its worst; the proposition with which we commenced. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes was so great a favorite that all he 
 asked was usually conceded to him. One of his conditions 
 was that his vessels should sail equally well. " If you give 
 me fast ships," he said, " I can overtake the enemy ; if dull, 
 the enemy can overtake me ; and I leave you to say which 
 coiTse will be most likely to bring on an action. At any 
 rate give me consorts ; not one flyer and one drag; but ves- 
 sels that can keep within hail of each other without anchor- 
 ing." The Admiralty professed every desire to oblige the 
 gallant commander; and as he was resolved never to quit 
 the Plantagenet until she was worn out, it was indispensably 
 necessary to And as many fast vessels as possible to keep 
 her company. The result was literally a fleet of '' horses," 
 as Galleygo used to call it; and it was generally said in the 
 service that " Oakes had a squadron of flyers, if not a flying 
 squadron." 
 
 Vessels like these just mentioned are usually symmetrical, 
 and graceful to the eye as well as fast. This fact was ap- 
 parent to Mildred, accustomed as she was to the sight of 
 ships; and she ventured to express as much after she and 
 
l68 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 her companion had stood quite a minute on the cliff, gazing 
 at the grand spectacle beneath them. 
 
 " Your vessels look even handsomer than common, Ad- 
 miral Bluewater," she said, " though a ship to me is always 
 an attractive sight." 
 
 "This is because they afe handsomer than common, my 
 pretty critic. Vice-Admiral Oakes is an officer who will no 
 more tolerate an ugly ship in his fleet than a peer of the 
 realm will marry any woman but one who is handsome; 
 unless indeed she happen to be surpassingly rich." 
 
 " I have heard that men are accustomed to lose their 
 hearts under such an influence," said Mildred, laughing; 
 " but I did not know before that they were ever frank enough 
 to avow it!" 
 
 " The knowledge has been imparted by a prudent mother, 
 I suppose," returned the rear-admiral, in a musing manner; 
 " I wish I stood sufficiently in the parental relation to you, 
 my young friend, to venture to give a little advice also. 
 Never before did I feel so strong a wish to warn a human 
 being of a great danger that I fear is impending over her, 
 could I presume to take the liberty." 
 
 " It is not a liberty but a duty, to warn any one of a dan- 
 ger that is known to ourselves, and not to the person who 
 incurs the risk. At least, so it appears to the eyes of a very 
 young girl." 
 
 "Yes, if the danger was of falling from these cliffs, or of 
 setting fire to a house, or of any other visible calamity. The 
 case is different when young ladies and setting fire to the 
 heart are concerned." 
 
 " Certainly I can perceive the distinction," answered Mil- 
 dred, after a short pause ; " and can understand that the same 
 person who would not scruple to give the alarm against any 
 physical danger would hesitate even at hinting at one of a 
 moral character. Nevertheless, if Admiral Bluewater thinks 
 a simple girl like me of sufficient importance to take the 
 trouble to interest himself in her welfare, I should hope he 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 69 
 
 would not shrink from pointing out this danger. It is a 
 terrible word to sleep on; and I confess, besides a little 
 uneasiness, to a good deal of curiosity to know more." 
 
 "This is said, Mildred, because you are unaccustomed to 
 the shocks which the tongue of rude man may give your 
 sensitive feelings." 
 
 "Unaccustomed!" said Mildred, trembling so that the 
 weakness was apparent to her companion. " Unaccustomed ! 
 Alas! Admiral Bluewater, can this be so, after what you 
 have seen and heard!" 
 
 " Pardon me, dear child : nothing was farther from my 
 thoughts than to wish to revive those unpleasant recollec- 
 tions. If I thought I should be forgiven, I might venture 
 yet to reveal my secret ; for never before — though I cannot 
 tell the reason of so sudden and so extraordinary an interest 
 in one who is almost a stranger " 
 
 "No — no — not a stranger, dear sir. After all that has 
 passed to-day ; after you have been admitted, though it were 
 by accident, to one most sacred secret; — after all that was 
 said in the carriage and the terrible scenes my beloved 
 mother went through in your presence so many years since, 
 you can never be a stranger to tis^ whatever may be your 
 own desire to fancy yourself one." 
 
 "Girl, you do not fascinate — you do not charm me, but 
 you bijid me to you in a way I did not think it in the power 
 of any human being to subjugate my feelings!" 
 
 This was said with so much energy that Mildred dropped 
 the arm she held, and actually recoiled a step, if not in 
 alarm, at least in surprise. But, on looking up into the face 
 of her companion, and perceiving large tears actually glis- 
 tening on his cheek, and seeing the hair that exposure and 
 mental cares had whitened more than time, all her confi- 
 dence returned, and she resumed the place she had aban- 
 doned, of her own accord, and as naturally as a daughter 
 would have clung to the side of a father. 
 
 " I am sure, sir, my gratitude for this interest ought to be 
 
170 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 quite equal to the honor it does me," Mildred said earnestly. 
 "And now, Admiral Bluewater, do not hesitate to speak 
 to me with the frankness that a parent might use. I will 
 listen with the respect and deference of a daughter." 
 
 " Then do listen to what I have to say, and make no an- 
 swer, if you find yourself wounded at the freedom I am tak- 
 ing. It would seem that there is but one subject on which 
 a man, old fellow or young fellow, can speak to a lovely 
 young girl when he gets her alone under the light of a fine 
 moon; — and that is love. Nay, start not again, my dear, 
 for if I am about to speak on so awkward a subject, it is not 
 in my own behalf. I hardly know whether you will think 
 it in behalf of any one ; as what I have to say is not an ap- 
 peal to your affections but a warning against bestowing 
 them." 
 
 "A warning, Admiral Bluewater! Do you really think 
 that can be necessary?" 
 
 " Nay, my child, that is best known to yourself. Of one 
 thing I am certain ; the young man I have in my eye affects 
 to admire you, whether he does or not; and when young 
 women are led to believe they are loved, it is a strong ap- 
 peal to all their generous feelings to answer the passion, if 
 not with equal warmth, at least with something very like it." 
 
 "Affects to admire, sir! — And why should any one be at 
 the pains of affecti7ig feelings toward me that they do not 
 actually entertain? I have neither rank nor money to bribe 
 any one to be guilty of an hypocrisy so mean, and which in 
 my case would be so motiveless." 
 
 " Yes, if it were motiveless to win the most beautiful crea- 
 ture in England! But, no matter. We will not stop to an- 
 alyze motives, when/^<r/j- are what we aim at. I should think 
 there must be some passion in this youth's suit, and that will 
 only make it so much the more dangerous to its object. At 
 all events I feel a deep conviction that he is altogether un- 
 worthy of you. This is a bold expression of opinion, on an 
 acquaintance of a day ; but there are such reasons for it that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I/I 
 
 a man of my time of life, if unprejudiced, can scarcely be 
 deceived." 
 
 "All this is very singular, sir, and I had almost used 
 your own word of 'alarming,' " replied Mildred, slightly agi- 
 tated by curiosity, but more amused. " I shall be as frank 
 as yourself, and say that you judge the gentleman harshly. 
 Mr. Rotherham may not have all the qualities that a clergy- 
 man ought to possess, but he is far from being a bad man. 
 Good or bad, however, it is not probable that he will carry 
 his transient partiality any farther than he has gone already." 
 
 " Mr. Rotherham ! — I have neither thought nor spoken of 
 the pious vicar at all!" 
 
 Mildred was now sadly confused. Mr. Rotherham had 
 made his proposals for her only the day before, and he had 
 been mildly but firmly refused. The recent occurrence was 
 naturally uppermost in her mind; and the conjecture that 
 her rejected suitor, under the influence of wine, might have 
 communicated the state of his wishes, or what he fancied to 
 be the state of his wishes, to her companion, was so very 
 easy that she had fallen into the error almost without re- 
 flection. 
 
 " I beg pardon, sir — I really imagined," the confused girl 
 answered; "but it was a natural mistake for me to suppose 
 you meant Mr. Rotherham, as he is the only person who has 
 ever spoken to my mother on the subject of anything like a 
 peference for me." 
 
 " I should have less fear of those who spoke to your 
 mother, Mildred, than of those who spoke only to you. As 
 I hate ambiguity, however, I will say at once that my allu- 
 sion was to Mr. Wychecombe." 
 
 "Mr. Wychecombe, Admiral Bluewater!" — and the vet- 
 eran felt the arm that leaned on him tremble violently, a 
 sad confirmation of even more than he apprehended, or he 
 would not have been so abrupt. " Surely — surely — the 
 warning you mean cannot, ought not to apply to a gentleman 
 of Mr. Wychecombe's standing and character!" 
 
172 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Such is the world, Miss Button, and we old seamen in 
 particular get to know it, whether willingly or not. My 
 sudden interest in you, the recollection of former but pain- 
 ful scenes, and the events of the day have made me watch- 
 ful, and you will add bold — but I am resolved to speak, 
 even at the risk of disobliging you forever — and in speak- 
 ing I must say that I never met with a young man who has 
 made so unfavorable an impression on me as this same Mr. 
 Wychecombe." 
 
 Mildred, unconsciously to herself, withdrew her arm, and 
 she felt astonished at her own levity, in so suddenly becom- 
 ing sufficiently intimate with a stranger to permit him thus 
 to disparage a confirmed friend. 
 
 " I am sorry, sir, that you entertain so indifferent an opin- 
 ion of one who is, I believe, a general favorite in this part 
 of the country," she answered, with a coldness that rendered 
 her manner marked. 
 
 " I perceive I shall share the fate of all unwelcome coun- 
 sellors, but can only blame my own presumption. Mildred, 
 we live in momentous times, and God knows what is to hap- 
 pen to myself, in the next few months ; but so strong is the 
 inexplicable interest that I feel in your welfare that I shall 
 venture still to offend. I like not this Mr. Wychecombe, 
 who is so devout an admirer of yours — real or affected — 
 and, as to the liking of dependants for the heir of a con- 
 siderable estate, it is so much a matter of course that I count 
 it nothing." 
 
 "The heir of a considerable estate!" repeated Mildred, in 
 a voice to which the natural sweetness returned, quietly re- 
 suming the arm she had so unceremoniously dropped — 
 " Surely, dear sir, you are not speaking of Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe, Sir Wycherly's nephew." 
 
 "Of whom else should I speak? — Has he not been your 
 shadow the whole day? — so marked in his attentions as 
 scarce to deem it necessary to conceal his suit?" 
 
 "Has it really struck you thus, sir? — I confess I did not 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 73 
 
 SO consider it. We are so much at home at the Hall that 
 we rather expect all of that family to be kind to us. But 
 whether you are right in your conjecture or not, Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe can never be aught to me — and as proof, Ad- 
 miral Bluewater, that I take your warning as it is meant, 
 in kindness and sincerity, I will add that he is not a very 
 particular favorite." 
 
 "I rejoice to hear it! Now there is his namesake, our 
 young lieutenant, as gallant and as noble a fellow as ever 
 lived — would to Heaven he was not so wrapped up in his 
 profession as to be insensible to any beauties but those of 
 a ship. Were you my own daughter, Mildred, I could give 
 you to that lad, with as much freedom as I would give him 
 my estate, were he my son." 
 
 Mildred smiled — and it was archly, though not without a 
 shade of sorrow, too — but she had sufficient self-command 
 to keep her feelings to herself, and too much maiden reserve 
 not to shrink from betraying her weakness to one who, after 
 all, was little more than a stranger. 
 
 " I dare say, sir," she answered with an equivocation 
 which was perhaps venial, " that your knowledge of the 
 world has judged both these gentlemen rightly. Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecome, notwithstanding all you heard from my poor 
 father, is not likely to think seriously of me; and I will 
 answer for my own feelings as regards him. I am in no 
 manner a proper person to become Lady Wychecombe ; and 
 I trust I should have the prudence to decline the honor were 
 it even offered to me. Believe me, sir, my father would have 
 held a different language to-night, had it not been for Sir 
 Wycherly's wine and the many loyal toasts that were drunk. 
 He must be conscious in his reflecting moments that a child 
 of his is unsuited to so high a station. Our prospects in life 
 were once better than they are now. Admiral Bluewater; but 
 they have never been such as to raise these high expecta- 
 tions in us," 
 
 " An officer's daughter may always claim to be a gentle- 
 
174 THa TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 woman, my dear; and as such you might become the wife 
 of a duke, did he love you. Since I find my warning un- 
 necessary, however, we will change the discourse. Did not 
 something extraordinary occur at this cliff this morning, and 
 in connection with this very Mr. Thomas Wychecombe? 
 Sir Gervaise was my informant; but he did not relate the 
 matter very clearly." 
 
 Mildred explained the mistake, and then gave a vivid de- 
 scription of the danger in which the young lieutenant had 
 been placed, as well as of the manner in which he had extri- 
 cated himself. She particularly dwelt on the extraordinary 
 presence of mind and resolution, by means of which he had 
 saved his life, when the stone first gave way beneath his 
 foot. 
 
 "All this is well, and what I should have expected from 
 so active and energetic a youth," returned the rear-admiral 
 a little gravely; "but I confess I would rather it had not 
 happened. Your inconsiderate and reckless young men, who 
 risk their necks idly in places of this sort, seldom have 
 much in them after all. Had there been a motive, it would 
 have altered the case." 
 
 "Oh! but there was a motive, sir; he was far from doing 
 so silly a thing for nothing!" 
 
 " And what was the motive, pray? — I can see no sufficient 
 reason why a man of sense should trust his person over a 
 cliff as menacing as this. One may approach it by moon- 
 light; but in the day, I confess to you, I should not fancy 
 standing as near it as we do at this moment." 
 
 Mildred was much embarrassed for an answer. Her own 
 heart told her Wycherly's motive, but that it would never do 
 to avow to her companion, great as was the happiness she 
 felt in avowing it to herself. Gladly would she have 
 changed the discourse ; but, as this could not be done, she 
 yielded to her native integrity of character, and told the 
 truth as far as she told anything. 
 
 " The flowers that grow on the sunny side of these rocks, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 75 
 
 Admiral Bluewater, are singularly fragrant and beautiful," 
 she said ; " and hearing my mother and myself speaking of 
 them, and how much the former delighted in them, though 
 they were so seldom to be had, he just ventured over the 
 cliff — not here, where it is so z'e'/j perpendicular, but yonder, 
 where one may cling to it very well with a little care — and 
 it was in venturing a little — just a very little too far, he told 
 me himself, sir, to-day after dinner, — that the stone broke, 
 and the accident occurred. I do not think Mr, Wycherly 
 Wychecombe in the least foolhardy, and not at all disposed 
 to seek a silly admiration by a silly exploit." 
 
 " He has a most lovely and a most eloquent advocate,'^ 
 returned the admiral, smiling, though the expression of his 
 countenance was melancholy, even to sadness; "and he is 
 acquitted. I think few men of his years would hesitate 
 about risking their necks for flowers so fragrant and beauti- 
 ful, and so much coveted hy your mother, Mildred." 
 
 " And he a sailor, sir, who thinks so little of standing on 
 giddy places, and laughs at fears of this nature?" 
 
 "Quite true; though there are few cliffs on board ship. 
 Ropes are our sources of courage." 
 
 " So I should think, by what passed to-day," returned Mil- 
 dred, laughing. " Mr. Wycherly called out for a rope, and 
 we just threw him one, to help him out of his difficulty. 
 The moment he got his rope, though it was only yonder 
 small signal-halyards, he felt himself as secure as if he 
 stood up here, on the height, with acres of level ground 
 around him. I do not think he was frightened at any time; 
 but when he got hold of that little rope, he was fairly 
 valiant!" 
 
 Mildred endeavored to laugh at her own history, by way 
 of veiling her interest in the event; but her companion was 
 too old, and too discerning, to be easily deceived. He con- 
 tinued silent, as he led her away from the cliff; and, when 
 he entered the cottage, Mildred saw, by the nearer light of 
 the candles, that his countenance was still sad. 
 
iy6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Admiral Bluewater remained half an hour longer in the 
 cottage, when he tore himself away from a society which, 
 for him, possessed a charm that he could not account for, 
 nor yet scarcely estimate. It was past one when he bid 
 Mrs. Button and her daughter adieu; promising, however, 
 to see them again before the fleet sailed. Late as it was, 
 the mother and Mildred felt no disposition to retire, after 
 the exciting scenes they had gone through; but, feeling a 
 calm on their spirits, succeeding the rude interruption pro- 
 duced by Button's brutality, they walked out on the cliff to 
 enjoy the cool air, and the bland scenery of the headland, at 
 that witching hour. 
 
 " I should feel alarm at this particularity of attention, 
 from most men, my child," observed the prudent mother, as 
 they left the house; "but the years, and especially the char- 
 acter, of Admiral Bluewater are pledges that he meditates 
 nothing foolish nor wrong." 
 
 " His years would be sufficient, mother," cried Mildred, 
 laughing — for her laugh came easily, since the opinion she 
 had just before heard of Wycherly's merit — " leaving the 
 character out of the question." 
 
 " For you, perhaps, Mildred, but not for himself. Men 
 rarely seem to think themselves too old to win the young of 
 our sex; and what they want in attraction they generally 
 endeavor to supply by flattery and artifice. But I acquit 
 our new friend of all that." 
 
 " Had he been my own father, dearest mother, h'x^ 
 language and the interest he took in me could not have 
 been more paternal. I have found it truly delightful 
 to listen to such counsel, from one of his sex; for, in 
 general, they do not treat me in so sincere and fatherly a 
 manner." 
 
 Mrs. Button's lip quivered, her eyelids trembled too, and 
 a couple of tears fell on her cheeks. 
 
 " It !s new to you, Mildred, to listen to the language of 
 disinterested affection and wisdom from one of his years 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1/7 
 
 and sex. I do not censure your listening with pleasure, but 
 merely tell you to remember the proper reserve of your years 
 and character. Hist! there are the sounds of his barge's 
 oars." 
 
 Mildred listened, and the measured but sudden jerk of 
 oars in the ruUocks ascended on the still night air, as dis- 
 tinctly as they might have been heard in the boat. At the 
 next instant, an eight-oared barge moved swiftly out from 
 under the cliff, and glided steadily on toward a ship that 
 had one lantern suspended from the end of her gaff, another 
 in her mizzen-top, and the small night-flag of a rear- 
 admiral fluttering at her mizzen royal-masthead. The cut- 
 ter lay nearest to the landing, and, as the barge approached 
 her, the ladies heard the loud hail of "Boat ahoy!" The 
 answer was also audible ; though given in the mild gentle- 
 manlike voice of Bluewater himself. It was simply, " Rear- 
 admiral's flag." A deathlike stillness succeeded this an- 
 nunciation of the rank of the officer in the passing boat, 
 interrupted only by the measured jerk of the oars. Once or 
 twice, indeed, the keen hearing of Mildred made her fancy 
 she heard the common dip of the eight oars, and the wash 
 of the water, as they rose from the element to gain a re- 
 newed purchase. As each vessel was approached, however, 
 the hail and the answer were renewed, the quiet of midnight 
 in every instance succeeding. At length the barge was seen 
 shooting along on the quarter of the Caesar, the rear-admiral's 
 own ship, and the last hail was given. This time there was 
 a slight stir in the vessel ; and, soon after the sound of the 
 oars ceased, the lanterns descended from the stations they 
 had held since nightfall. Two or three other lanterns were 
 still displayed at the gaffs of other vessels, the signs that 
 their captains were not on board; though whether they were 
 ashore, or visiting in the fleet, were facts best known to 
 themselves. The Plantagenet, however, had no light; it 
 being known that Sir Gervaise did not intend to come off 
 that night. 
 13 
 
178 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 When all this was over, Mrs. Dutton and Mildred sought 
 their pillows, after an exciting day, and, to them, one far 
 more momentous than they were then aware of. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat ; 
 Yet fool'd with hope, men favor the deceit ; 
 Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay ; 
 To-morrow's falser than the former day." 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 Although Admiral Bluewater devoted the minimum of 
 time to sleep, he was not what the French term matinal. 
 There is a period in the morning, on board of a ship of 
 war — that of washing decks — which can best be compared 
 to the discomfort of the American purification, yclep'd "a 
 house-cleaning." This occurs daily, about the rising of the 
 sun; and no officer whose rank raises him above mingling 
 with the duty ever thinks, except on extraordinary occasions 
 that may require his presence for other purposes, of intrud- 
 ing on its sacred mysteries. It is a rabid hour in a ship, 
 and the wisest course for all idlers and all watch-officers 
 who are not on duty is to keep themselves under hatches, 
 if their convenience will possibly allow it. He w1:o wears 
 a flag, however, is usually reposing in his cot at this critical 
 moment; or, if risen at all, he is going through similar daily 
 ablutions of his own person. 
 
 Admiral Bluewater was in the act of opening his eyes 
 when the splash of the first bucket of water was heard on the 
 deck of the Caesar, and he lay in the species of enjoyment 
 which is so peculiar to naval men after they have risen to 
 the station of commander; a sort of semi -trance, in which 
 the mind summons all the ancient images connected with 
 squalls; reefing topsails in the rain; standing on the quar- 
 ter of a yard, shouting, " Haul out to leeward!" peering over 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 79 
 
 the weather hammock-cloths to eye the weather, with the 
 sleet pricking the face like needles; — and washing decks! 
 These dreamy images of the past, however, are summoned 
 merely to increase the sense of present enjoyment. They 
 are so many well-contrived foils, to give greater brilliancy 
 to the diamonds of a comfortable cot and the entire con- 
 sciousness of being no longer exposed to an untimely sum- 
 mons on deck. 
 
 Our rear-admiral, nevertheless, was not a vulgar dreamer 
 on such occasions. He though little of personal comforts at 
 any time, unless indeed when personal discomforts obtruded 
 themselves on his attention ; he knew little or nothing of 
 the table, whereas his friend was a knowing cook, and in 
 his days of probation had been a distinguished caterer; but 
 he was addicted to a sort of dreaming of his own, even when 
 the sun stood in the zenith and he was walking the poop in 
 the midst of a circle of his officers. Still he could not re- 
 frain from glancing back at the past that morning, as plash 
 after plash was heard, and recalling the time w^hen magna 
 pars quorum FUiT. At this delectable instant the ruddy 
 face of a "young gentleman" appeared in his stateroom 
 door, and, first ascertaining that the eyes of his superior were 
 actually open, the youngster said : 
 
 "A note from Sir Gervaise, Admiral Bluewater." 
 
 " Very well, sir" — taking the note. — " How's the wind, 
 Lord Geoffrey?" 
 
 "An Irishman's hurricane, sir; right up and down. Our 
 first says, sir, he never knew finer Channel weather." 
 
 " Our first is a great astrologer. Is the fleet riding flood 
 yet?" 
 
 "No, sir; it's slack-water; or, rather, the ebb is just 
 beginning to make." 
 
 " Go on deck, my lord, and see if the Dover has hove in 
 any upon her larboard bower, so as to bring her more on our 
 quarter." 
 
 "Ay-ay, sir," and this cadet of one of the most illustrious 
 
l80 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 houses of England skipped up the ladder to ascertain this 
 fact. 
 
 In the mean while Bluewater stretched out an arm, drew a 
 curtain from before his little window, fumbled for some 
 time among his clothes before he got his spectacles, and 
 then opened the note. This early epistle was couched in 
 the following words: 
 
 " Dear Blue : 
 
 " I write this in a bed big enough to ware a ninety in. 
 I've been athwart-ships half the night without knowing it. 
 Galleygo has just been in to report ' our fleet' all well and 
 the ships riding flood. It seems there is a good lookout 
 from the top of the house, where part of the roads are visi- 
 ble. Magrath and the rest of them have been at poor Sir 
 Wycherly all night, I learn, but he remains down by the 
 head yet. I am afraid the good old man will never be in 
 trim again. I shall remain here until something is decided; 
 and as we cannot expect our orders until next day after to- 
 morrow at the soonest, one might as well be here as on 
 board. Come ashore and breakfast with us; when we can 
 consult about the propriety of remaining or of abandoning 
 the wreck. Adieu, 
 
 " Oakes. 
 
 " Rear- Admiral Bluewater. 
 
 " P.S. — There was a little occurrence last night, connected 
 with Sir Thomas Wycherly 's will, that makes me particu- 
 larly anxious to see you as early as possible this morning. 
 
 Sir Gervaise, like a woman, had written his mind in his 
 postscript. The scene of the previous night had forcibly 
 presented itself to his recollection on awakening, and, call- 
 ing for his writing-desk, he had sent off this note at the dawn 
 of day, with the wish of having as many important witnesses 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. l8l 
 
 as he could well obtain at the interview he intended to de- 
 mand at the earliest practicable hour. 
 
 " What the deuce can Oakes have to do with Sir Wycherly 
 Wychecombe's will?" thought the rear-admiral. "By the 
 way, that puts me in mind of my own ; and of my own recent 
 determination. What are my poor ^^30,000 to a man with 
 the fortune of Lord Bluewater? Having neither a wife nor 
 child, brother nor sister of my own^ I'll do what I please 
 with my money. Oakes won^t have it; besides, he's got 
 enough of his own, and to spare. An estate of ^^7,000 a 
 year, besides heaps of prize-money funded. I dare say he 
 has a good ^12,000 a year, and nothing but a nephew to 
 inherit it all. I'm determined to do as I please with my 
 money. I made every shilling of it, and I'll give it to 
 whom I please." 
 
 The whole time Admiral Bluewater lay with liis eyes shut 
 and with a tongue as motionless as if it couldn't stir. With 
 all his laissez aller manner, however, he had the promptitude 
 of a sailor when his mind was made up to do a thing, though 
 he always performed it in his own peculiar mode. To rise, 
 dress, and prepare to quit his stateroom occupied him but 
 a short time ; and he was seated before his own writing-desk 
 in the after-cabin within twenty minutes after the thoughts 
 just recorded had passed through his mind. His first act 
 was to take a folded paper from a private drawer, and glance 
 his eye carelessly over it. This was the will in favor of 
 Lord Bluewater. It was expressed in very concise terms, 
 filling only the first side of a page. This will he copied, 
 verbatim et literatim, leaving blanks for the name of the leg- 
 atee, and appointing Sir Gervaise Oakes his executor, as in 
 the will already executed. When finished in this manner, 
 he set about filling up the blanks. For a passing instant he 
 felt tempted to insert the name of the Pretender; but, smil- 
 ing at his own folly, he wrote that of " Mildred Button, 
 daughter of Francis Button, a master in His Majesty's 
 Navy," in all the places that it was requisite so to do. Then 
 
1 82 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 he affixed the seal, and, folding all the upper part of- the 
 sheet over, so as to conceal the contents, he rang a little 
 silver bell, which always stood at his elbow. The outer 
 cabin-door was opened by the sentry, who thrust his head in 
 at the opening. 
 
 "I want one of the young gentlemen, sentry," said the 
 rear-admiral. 
 
 The door closed, and, in another minute, the smiling face 
 of Lord Geoffrey was at the entrance of the after-cabin. 
 
 " Who's on deck, my lord," demanded Bluewater, " be- 
 sides the watch?" 
 
 " No one, sir. All the idlers keep as close as foxes when 
 the decks are getting it; and as for any of our snorers show- 
 ing their faces before six bells, it's quite out of the question, 
 sir." 
 
 " Some one must surely be stirring in the gun-room by 
 this time ! Go and ask the chaplain and the captain of 
 marines to do me the favor to step into the cabin — or the 
 first lieutenant, or the master, or any of the idlers." 
 
 The midshipman was gone two or three minutes, when he 
 returned with the purser and the chaplain. 
 
 "The first lieutenant is in the fore-hold, sir; all the ma- 
 rines have got their deadlights still in, and the master is 
 working-up his log, the gun-room steward says. I hope 
 these will do, sir; they are the greatest idlers in the ship, 
 I believe." 
 
 Lord Geoffrey Cleveland was the second son of the third 
 duke in the English empire, and he knew it as well as any 
 one on board. Admiral Bluewater had no slavish respect 
 for rank; nevertheless, like all men educated under an aris- 
 tocratic system, he was influenced by the feeling to a degree 
 of which he himself was far from being conscious. This 
 young scion of nobility was not in the least favored in mat- 
 ters of duty, for this his own high spirit would have re- 
 sented; but he dined in the cabin twice as often as any 
 other midshipman on board, and had obtained for himself a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 83 
 
 sort of license for the tongue, that emboldened him to utter 
 what passed for smart things in the cockpit and gun-room, 
 and which, out of all doubt, were pert things everywhere. 
 Neither the chaplain nor the purser took offence at his lib- 
 erties on the present occasion ; and, as for the rear-admiral, 
 he had not attended to what had been uttered. As soon, 
 however, as he found others in his cabin, he motioned to 
 them to approach his desk, and pointed to the paper, folded 
 down as mentioned. 
 
 " Every prudent man," he said, " and especially every 
 prudent sailor and soldier in a time of war, ought to be pro- 
 vided with a will. This is mine, just drawn up by myself; 
 and that instrument is an old one, which I now destroy in 
 your presence. I acknowledge this to be my hand and seal," 
 writing his name and touching the seal with a finger as he 
 spoke; "affixed to this my last will and testament. Will 
 you have the kindness to act as witnesses?" 
 
 When the chaplain and purser had affixed their names, 
 there still remained a space for a third signature. This, by 
 a sign from his superior, the laughing midshipman filled 
 with his own signature. 
 
 " I hope you've recollected, sir," cried the boy with glee, 
 as he took his seat to obey, "that the Bluewaters and Cleve- 
 lands are related. I shall be grievously disappointed when 
 this will is proved, if my name be not found somewhere 
 in it!" 
 
 " So shall I, too, my lord," drily returned Bluewater ; " for 
 I fully expect it will appear as a witness; a character that 
 is at once fatal to all claims as a legatee." 
 
 " Well, sir, I suppose flag-officers can do pretty much as 
 they please with their money, since they do pretty much as 
 they please with the ships and all in them. I must lean so 
 much the harder on my two old aunts, as I appear to have 
 laid myself directly athwart-hawse of fortune in this affair!" 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the rear-admiral, with easy courtesy, 
 '* I regret it is not in my power to have your company at 
 
184 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 dinner to-day, as I am summoned ashore by Sir Gervaise, 
 and it is uncertain when I can get off again ; but to-morrow 
 I shall hope to enjoy that pleasure." 
 
 The officers bowed, expressed their acknowledgments, ac- 
 cepted the invitation, bowed once or twice more each, and 
 left the cabin, with the exception of the midshipman. 
 
 " Well, sir," exclaimed Bluewater, a little surprised at 
 finding he was not alone, after a minute of profound reverie; 
 "to what request am I indebted still for the pleasure of your 
 presence .''" 
 
 "Why, sir, it's just forty miles to my father's house in 
 Cornwall, and I know the whole family is there; so I just 
 fancied that by bending on two extra horses, a chaise might 
 make the Park gates in about five hours; and by getting 
 under way on the return passage to-morrow about this time, 
 the old Caesar would never miss a crazy reefer more or less." 
 
 "Very ingeniously put, young gentleman, and quite 
 plausible. When I was of your age, I was four years with- 
 out once seeing either father or mother." 
 
 " Yes, sir, but that was such a long time ago! Boys can't 
 stand it half as well now as they did then, as all old people 
 say." 
 
 The rear-admiral's lips moved slightly, as if a smile 
 struggled about his mouth; then his face suddenly lost the 
 expression in one approaching to sadness. 
 
 " You know, Geoffrey, I am not commander-in-chief. Sir 
 Gervaise alone can give a furlough." 
 
 "Very true, sir; but whatever you ask of Sir Gervaise he 
 always does; more especially as concerns us of your flag- 
 ship." 
 
 " Perhaps that is true. But, my boy, we live in serious 
 times, and we may sail at an hour's notice. Are you igno- 
 rant that Prince Charles Edward has landed in Scotland, 
 and that the Jacobites are up and doing? If the French 
 back him, we may have our hands full here in the Channel. '^ 
 
 " Then my dear mother must go without a kiss for the next 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 85 
 
 twelvemonth!" cried the gallant boy, dashing a hand fur- 
 tively across his eyes, in spite of his resolution. " The 
 throne of old England must be upheld, even though not a 
 mother nor a sister in the island see a midshipman in 
 years!" 
 
 " Nobly said. Lord Geoffrey, and it shall be known at 
 headquarters. Your family is whig; and you do well at 
 your time of life to stick to the family politics." 
 
 "A small run on the shore, sir, would be a great pleasure 
 after six months at sea.-*" 
 
 *'You must ask Captain Stowel's leave for that. You 
 know I never interfere with the duty of the ship." 
 
 "Yes, sir; but there are so many of us, and all have a 
 hankering after terra firma. Might I just say that I have 
 your permission to ask Captain Stowel to let me have a run 
 on the cliffs.?" 
 
 "You may do that, my lord, if you wish it; but Stowel 
 knows that he can do as he pleases." 
 
 " He would be a queer captain of a man-of-war if he 
 didn't, sir! Thank you. Admiral Bluewater; I will write to 
 my mother, and I know she'll be satisfied with the reason I 
 shall give her for not coming to see her. Good- morning, 
 sir." 
 
 " Good-morning" — then, when the boy's hand was on the 
 lock of the cabin-door — "my lord?" 
 
 " Did you wish to say anything more, sir?" 
 
 " When you write, remember me kindly to the Duchess. 
 We were intimate when young people; and, I might say, 
 loved each other." 
 
 The midshipman promised to do as desired; then the 
 rear-admiral was left alone. He walked the cabin for half 
 an hour, musing on what he had done in relation to his 
 property, and on what he ought to do in relation to the Pre- 
 tender; when he suddenly summoned his coxswain, gave a 
 few directions, and sent an order on deck to have his barge 
 manned. The customary reports went their usual rounds, 
 
1 86 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and reached the cabin in about three minutes more; Lord 
 Geoffrey bringing them down again. 
 
 " The barge is manned, sir/' said the lad, standing near 
 the cabin -door, rigged out in the neat go-ashore clothes of 
 a midshipman. 
 
 " Have you seen Captain Stowel, my lord?" demanded the 
 rear-admiral. 
 
 "I have, sir; and he has given me permission to drift 
 along shore until sunset; to be off with the evening gun of 
 the vice-admiral." 
 
 " Then do me the favor to take a seat in my barge, if you 
 are quite ready." 
 
 This offer was accepted, and in a few minutes all the cere- 
 monies of the deck had been observed, and the rear-admiral 
 was seated in his barge. It was now so late that etiquette 
 had fair play, and no point was omitted on the occasion. 
 The captain was on deck in person, as well as gun-room 
 officers enough to represent their body ; the guard was pa- 
 raded, under its officers; the drums rolled; the boatswain 
 piped six side-boys over, and Lord Geoffrey skipped down 
 first into the boat, remaining respectfully standing until his 
 superior was seated. All these punctilios observed, the 
 boat was shoved off from the vessel's side, the eight oars 
 dropped as one, and the party moved towards the shore. 
 Every cutter, barge, yawl, or launch that was met, and which 
 did not contain an officer of rank itself, tossed its oars as 
 this barge, with the rear-admiral's flag fluttering in its bow, 
 passed, while the others lay on theirs, the gentlemen saluting 
 with their hats. In this manner the barge passed the fleet 
 and approached the shore. At the landing, a little natural 
 quay formed by a low, flat rock, there was a general move- 
 ment as the rear-admiral's flag was seen to draw near; and 
 even the boats of captains were shoved aside to give the 
 naval pas. As soon, however, as the foot of Bluewater 
 touched the rock, the little flag was struck; and, a minute 
 later, a cutter with only a lieutenant in her coming in, that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 8/ 
 
 officer ordered the barge to make way for him^ with an air of 
 high and undisputed authority. 
 
 Perhaps there was not a man in the British marine to 
 whom the etiquette of the service gave less concern than to 
 Bluewater. In this respect he was the very reverse of his 
 friend; for Sir Gervaise was a punctilious observer and a 
 rigid enforcer of all the prescribed ceremonials. This was 
 by no means the only professional point on which these two 
 distinguished officers differed. It has already been men- 
 tioned that the rear-admiral was the best tactician in Eng- 
 land, while the vice-admiral was merely respectable in that 
 branch of his duty. On the other hand, Sir Gervaise was 
 deemed the best practical seaman afloat, so far as a single 
 ship was concerned, while Bluewater had no particular rep- 
 utation in that way. Then, as to discipline, the same dis- 
 tinction existed. The commander-in-chief was a little of a 
 martinet, exacting compliance with the most minute regula- 
 tions; while his friend, even when a captain, had thrown 
 the police duty of his ship very much on what is called the 
 executive officer, or the first lieutenant; leaving to that im- 
 portant functionary the duty of devising as well as of exe- 
 cuting the system by which order and cleanliness were 
 maintained in the vessel. Nevertheless, Bluewater had his 
 merit even in this peculiar feature of the profession. He 
 had made the best captain of the fleet to his friend that had 
 ever been met with. This office, which in some measure 
 corresponds to that of an adjutant-general on shore, was 
 suited to his generalizing and philosophical turn of mind; 
 and he had brought all its duties within the circle and con- 
 trol of clear and simple principles, which rendered them 
 pleasant and easy. Then, too, whenever he commanded in 
 chief, as frequently happened for a week or two at a time, 
 Sir Gervaise being absent, it was remarked that the common 
 service of the fleet went on like clockwork; his mind seem- 
 ing to embrace generals, when it refused to descend to de- 
 tails. In consequence of these personal peculiarities, the 
 
1 88 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 captains often observed that Bluewater ought to have been 
 the senior and Oakes the junior, and then their joint com- 
 mands would have produced perfection ; but these criticisms 
 must be set down in a great measure to the natural propen- 
 sity to find fault, and an inherent desire in men, even when 
 things are perfectly well in themselves, to prove their own 
 superiority by pointing out modes and means by which they 
 might be made much better. Had the service been on land, 
 this opinion might possibly have had more practical truth 
 in it; but the impetuosity and daring of Sir Gervaise were 
 not bad substitutes for tactics in the straightforward combats 
 of ships. To resume the narrative. 
 
 When Bluewater landed, he returned the profound and 
 general salute of all on or near the rock by a sweeping but 
 courteous bow, which was nevertheless given in a vacant, 
 slovenly manner; and immediately began to ascend the 
 ravine. He had actually reached the grassy acclivity above 
 before he was at all aware of any person's being near him. 
 
 Turning, he perceived that the midshipman was at his 
 heels, respect alone preventing one of the latter's active 
 limbs and years from skipping past his superior on the 
 ascent. The admiral recollected how little there was to 
 amuse one of the boy's habits in a place like Wychecombe, 
 and he good-naturedly determined to take him along with 
 himself. 
 
 " You are little likely to find any diversion here, Lord 
 Geoffrey," he said; " if you will accept of the society of a 
 dull old fellow like myself, you shall see all I see, be it 
 more or less." 
 
 " I've shipped for the cruise, sir, and am ready and happy, 
 too, to follow your motions, with or without signals," re- 
 turned the laughing youngster. " I suppose Wychecombe 
 is about as good as Portsmouth or Plymouth; and I'm sure 
 these green fields are handsomer than the streets of any 
 dirty town I ever entered," 
 
 " Ay, green fields are indeed pleasant to the eyes of us 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 89 
 
 sailors, who see nothing but water for months at a time. 
 Turn to the right, if you please, my lord; I wish to call at 
 yonder signal-station on my way to the Hall." 
 
 The boy, as is not usual with lads of his age, inclined in 
 "the way he was told to go," and in a few minutes both 
 stood on the headland. As it would not have done for the 
 master to be absent from his staff during the day, with a 
 fleet in the roads. Button was already at his post, cleanly 
 dressed as usual, but trembling again with the effect of the 
 last night's debauch on his nerves. He arose with great 
 deference of manner to receive the rear-admiral, and not 
 without many misgivings of conscience; for, while memory 
 furnished a tolerable outline of what had occurred in the 
 interview between himself and his wife and daughter, wine 
 had lost its influence and no longer helped to sustain his 
 self-command. He was much relieved, however, by the 
 discreet manner in which he was met by Bluewater. 
 
 "How is Sir Wycherly?" inquired the admiral, saluting 
 the master as if nothing had happened, "a note from Sir 
 Gervaise, written about daybreak, tells me he was not then 
 essentially better." 
 
 " I wish it were in my power to give you any good news, 
 sir. He must be conscious, notwithstanding, for Dick, his 
 groom, has just ridden over with a note from Mr. Rotherham, 
 to say that the excellent old baronet particularly desires to 
 see my wife and daughter; and that the coach will be here 
 to take them over in a few minutes. If you are bound to 
 the Hall this morning, sir, I'm sure the ladies would be 
 delighted to give you a seat." 
 
 "Then I will profit by their kindness," returned Blue- 
 water, seating himself on the bench at the foot of the staff; 
 "more especially if you think they will excuse my adding 
 Lord Geoffrey Cleveland, one of Stowel's midshipmen, to 
 the party. He has entered to follow my motions, with or 
 without signals." 
 
 Dutton uncovered again and bowed profoundly at this 
 
190 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 announcement of the lad's name and rank ; the boy himself 
 taking the salute in an off-hand and indifferent way, like 
 one already wearied with vulgar adulation, while he gazed 
 about him with some curiosity at the headland and flagstaff. 
 
 "This is a good lookout, sir," observed the midshipman; 
 " and one that is somewhat loftier than our cross-trees. A 
 pair of sharp eyes might see everything that passes within 
 twenty miles; and, as a proof of it, I shall be the first to 
 sing out * Sail, ho! '" 
 
 " Where-away, my young lord?" said Button, fidgeting as 
 if he had neglected his duty in the presence of a superior; 
 " I'm sure your lordship can see nothing but the fleet at an- 
 chor and a few boats passing between the different ships 
 and the landing!" 
 
 " Where-away, sure enough, youngster?" added the admi- 
 ral. " I see some gulls glanc ng along the surface of the 
 water a mile or two outside the ships, but nothing like a 
 sail." 
 
 The boy caught up Button's glass, which lay on the seat, 
 and in a minute he had it levelled at the expanse of water. 
 It was some little time and not without much sighting along 
 the barrel of the instrument that he got it to suit himself. 
 
 " Well, Master Sharp-eyes," said Bluewater drily, " is it 
 a Frenchman or a Spaniard?" 
 
 " Hold on a moment, sir, until I can get this awkward 
 glass to bear on it. — Ay — now I have her — she's but a speck 
 at the best — royals and head of topgallant-sails — no, sir, 
 by George, it's our own cutter, the Active, with her square- 
 sail set, and the heads of her lower sails just rising. I 
 know her by the way she carries her gaff." 
 
 " The Active ! — that betokens news," observed Bluewater 
 thoughtfully — for the march of events at that moment must 
 necessarily bring on a crisis in his own career. " Sir Ger- 
 vaise sent her to look into Cherbourg." 
 
 "Yes, sir; we all know that — and there she comes to tell 
 us, I hope, that Monsieur de Vervillin has at last made up 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I9I 
 
 his mind to come out and face us like a man. Will you 
 look at the sail, sir?" 
 
 Bluewater took the glass, and, sweeping the horizon, he 
 soon caught a view of his object. A short survey sufficed 
 for one so experienced, and he handed the glass back to the 
 boy. 
 
 " You have quick eyes, sir," he said as he did so ; " that 
 is a cutter certainly, standing in for the roads, and I believe 
 you may be right in taking her for the Active." 
 
 "'Tisa long way to know so small a craft!" observed 
 Button, who also took his look at the stranger. 
 
 " Very true, sir," answered the boy ; " but one ought to 
 tell a friend as far as he can see him. The Active carries 
 a longer and a lower gaff than any other cutter in the navy, 
 which is the way we all tell her from the Gnat, the cutter 
 we have with us." 
 
 •" I am glad to find your lordship is so close an observer," 
 returned the complaisant Button ; " a certain sign, my lord, 
 that your lordship will make a good sailor in time." 
 
 " Geoffrey is a good sailor already," observed the admiral, 
 who knew that the youngster was never better pleased than 
 when he dropped the distance of using his title, and spoke 
 to or of him as of a connection; which in truth he was. 
 " He has now been with me four years; having joined when 
 he was only twelve. Two more years will make an officer 
 of him." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Button, bowing first to one and then to 
 the other. "Yes, sir; his lordship may well look forward 
 to that with his particular merit, your esteemed favor, and 
 his own great name. Ah! sir, they've caught a sight of the 
 stranger in the fleet, and bunting is at work already." 
 
 In anchoring his ships. Admiral Bluewater had kept them 
 as close together as the fog rendered safe ; for one of the 
 great difficulties of a naval commander is to retain his ves- 
 sels in compact order in thick or heavy weather. Orders 
 had been given, however, for a sloop and a frigate to weigh 
 
192 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and stretch out into the offing a league or two as soon as the 
 fog left them the preceding day, in order to sweep as wide 
 a reach of the horizon as was convenient. In order to 
 maintain their ground in a light wind and with a strong tide 
 running, these two cruisers had anchored; one at the dis- 
 tance of a league from the fleet, and the other a mile or two 
 farther outside, though more to the eastward. The sloop 
 lay nearest to the stranger, and signals were flying at her 
 main-royal-masthead, which the frigate was repeating and 
 transmitting to the flagship of the commander-in-chief. 
 Bluewater was so familiar with all the ordinary signals that 
 it was seldom he had recourse to his book for the explana- 
 tions; and in the present instance he saw at once that it 
 was the Active's number that was shown. Other signals, 
 however, followed, which it surpassed the rear-admiral's 
 knowledge to read without assistance ; from all which he was 
 satisfied that the stranger brought intelligence of importance, 
 and which could only be understood by referring to the 
 private signal-book. 
 
 While these facts were in the course of occurrence, the 
 coach arrived to convey Mrs. Button and Mildred to the 
 Hall. Bluewater now presented himself to the ladies, and 
 was received as kindly as they had separated from him a few 
 hours before ; nor were the latter displeased at hearing he 
 was to be their companion back to the dwelling of Sir 
 Wycherly. 
 
 " I fear this summons bodes evil tidings," said Mrs. But- 
 ton; " he would hardly think of desiring to see us, unless 
 something quite serious were on his mind; and the mes- 
 senger said he was no better." 
 
 "We shall learn all, my dear lady, when we reach the 
 Hall," returned Bluewater ; " and the sooner we reach it the 
 sooner our doubts will be removed. Before we enter the 
 carriage, let me make you acquainted with my young friend, 
 Lord Geoffrey Cleveland, whom I have presumed to invite 
 to be of the party." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 93 
 
 The handsome young midshipman was well received, 
 though Mrs. Button had been too much accustomed in early- 
 life to see people of condition to betray the same deference 
 as her husband for the boy's rank. The ladies occupied, as 
 usual, the hind seat of the coach, leaving that in front to 
 their male companions. The arrangement accidentally 
 brought Mildred and the midshipman opposite each other: 
 a circumstance that soon attracted the attention of the ad- 
 miral in a way that was a little odd, if not remarkable. 
 There is a charm in youth that no other period of life pos- 
 sesses; infancy, with its helpless beauty, scarcely seizing 
 upon the imagination and senses with an equal force. Both 
 the young persons in question possessed this advantage in a 
 high degree ; and had there been no other peculiarity, the 
 sight might readily have proved pleasing to one of Blue- 
 water's benevolence and truth of feeling. The boy was 
 turned of sixteen ; an age in England when youth does not 
 yet put on the appearance of manhood ; and he retained all 
 the evidences of a gay, generous boyhood, rendered a little 
 piquant by the dash of archness, roguery, and fun, that a 
 man-of-war is tolerably certain to impart to a lad of spirit. 
 Nevertheless his countenance retained an expression of 
 ingenuousness and of sensitive feeling that was singularly 
 striking in one of his sex, and which, in spite of her beauty 
 of feature, hair, and complexion, formed the strongest attrac- 
 tion in the loveliness of Mildred ; that expression which had 
 so much struck and charmed Bluewater — haunted him, we 
 might add — since the previous day, by appearing so familiar 
 even while so extraordinary, and for which he had been 
 unable to recollect a counterpart. As she now sat face to 
 face with Lord Geoffrey, to his great surprise the rear-admi- 
 ral found much of the same character of this very expression 
 in the handsome boy as in the lovely girl. It is true, the 
 look of ingenuousness and of sensitive feeling was far less 
 marked in young Cleveland than in Mildred, and there was 
 little general resemblance of feature or countenance between 
 13 
 
ig4 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the two; still the first was to be found in both, and so dis- 
 tinctly as to be easily traced when placed in so close contact. 
 Geoffrey Cleveland had the reputation of being like his 
 mother; and, furnished with this clue, the fact suddenly 
 flashed on Bluewater's mind that the being whom Mildred 
 so nearly and strikingly resembled was a deceased sister of 
 the Duchess, and a beloved cousin of his own. Miss Hed- 
 worth, the young lady in question, had long been dead; but 
 all who had known her retained the most pleasing impres- 
 sions equally of her charms of person and of mind. Be- 
 tween her and Bluewater there had existed a tender friend- 
 ship, in which, however, no shade of passion had mingled; 
 a circumstance that was in part owing to the difference in 
 their years, Captain Bluewater having been nearly twice his 
 young relative's age ; and in part probably to the invincible 
 manner in which the latter seemed wedded to his profession 
 and his ship. Agnes Hedworth, notwithstanding, had been 
 very dear to our sailor from a variety of causes — far more 
 so than her sister, the Duchess, though she was a favorite 
 — and the rear-admiral, when his mind glanced rapidly 
 through the chain of association that traced the accidental 
 resemblance of Mildred to this esteemed object, had a sin- 
 cere delight in finding he had thus been unconsciously at- 
 tracted by one whose every look and smile now forcibly re- 
 minded him of the countenance of a being whom, in her 
 day, he had thought so near perfection. This delight, how- 
 ever, was blended with sadness, on various accounts ; and 
 the short excursion proved to be so melancholy, that no one 
 was sorry when it terminated. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. I95 
 
 CHAPTER XII. , 
 
 " Nat. Truly, Master Holofemes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar 
 at the least. But, sir, I assure ye, it was a buck of the first head. 
 Hoi. Sir Nathaniel, haud credo. 
 Bull. 'Twas not a haud credo., 'twas a pricket." 
 
 Lovers Labor's Lost. 
 
 Every appearance of the jolly negligence which had been 
 so characteristic of life at W}'checombe Hall had vanished, 
 when the old coach drew up in the court to permit the party 
 it had brought from the station to alight. As no one was 
 expected but Mrs. Button and her daughter, not even a foot- 
 man appeared to open the door of the carriage ; the vulgar- 
 minded usually revenging their own homage to the powerful 
 by manifesting as many slights as possible to the weak. 
 Galleygo let the new comers out, and consequently he was 
 the first person of whom inquiries were made as to the state 
 of things in the house. 
 
 " Well," said Admiral Bluewater, looking earnestly at the 
 steward; "how is Sir Wycherly, and what is the news?" 
 
 "Sir Wycherly is still on the doctor's list, your honor; 
 and I expects his case is set down as a hard 'un. We's as 
 well as can be expected, and altogether in good heart. Sir 
 Jarvy turned out with the sun, thof he didn't turn in 'till the 
 middle-watch was half gone — or two bells, as they calls 'em 
 aboard this house — -four bells, as we should say in the old 
 Planter — and chickens, I hears, has riz a shillin' a head 
 since our first boat landed." 
 
 " It's a melancholy business, Mrs. Button ; I fear there 
 can be little hope." 
 
 "Yes, it's all that^ Admiral Blue," continued Galleygo, 
 following the party into the house, no one but himself hear- 
 ing a word he uttered; "and 'twill be worse afore it's any 
 better. They tells me potaties has taken a start, too; and 
 as all theb'ysof all the young gentlemen in the fleet is out, 
 
196 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 like so many wild locusts of Hegypt, I expects nothing bet- 
 ter than as our mess will fare as bad as sogers on a retreat." 
 
 In the hall Tom Wychecombe and his namesake, the 
 lieutenant, met the party. From the formal despondency of 
 the first, everything they apprehended was confirmed. The 
 last, however, was more cheerful and not altogether without 
 hope; as he did not hesitate openly to avow. 
 
 " For myself, I confess I think Sir Wycherly much bet- 
 ter," he said; "although the opinion is not sanctioned by 
 that of the medical men. His desiring to see these ladies 
 is favorable; and then cheering news for him has been 
 brought back already by the messenger sent only eight hours 
 since for his kinsman, Sir Reginald Wychecombe. He has 
 sensibly revived since that report was brought in." 
 
 "Ah! my dear namesake," rejoined Tom, shaking his 
 head mournfully; "you cannot know my beloved uncle's 
 constitution and feelings as well as I! Rely on it, the 
 medical men are right; and your hopes deceive you. The 
 sending for Mrs. Button and Miss Mildred, both of whom 
 my honored uncle respects and esteems, looks more like 
 leave-taking than anything else; and as to Sir Reginald 
 Wychecombe — though a relative, beyond a question — I 
 think there has been some mistake in sending for him; 
 since he is barely an acquaintance of the elder branch of 
 the family, and he is of the half-blood." 
 
 '^ Half what, Mr. Thomas Wychecombe?" demanded the 
 vice-admiral so suddenly, behind the speaker, as to cause all 
 to start; Sir Gervaise having hastened to meet the ladies 
 and his friend as soon as he knew of their arrival. " I ask 
 pardon, sir, for my abrupt inquiry ; but, as / was the means 
 of sending for Sir Reginald Wychecombe, I feel an interest 
 in knowing his exact relationship to my host?" 
 
 Tom started and even paled at this sudden question; 
 then the color rushed into his temples; he became calmer, 
 and replied : 
 
 ''Half-blood, Sir Gervaise," he said steadily. "This is 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 19/ 
 
 an affinity that puts a person altogether out of the line of 
 succession ; and, of course, removes any necessity or wish to 
 see Sir Reginald." , 
 
 '' Half -^/^^^— hey! Atwood?" muttered the vice-admiral, 
 turning away toward his secretary, who had followed him 
 down-stairs. " This may be the solution, after all ! Do you 
 happen to know what half-^/<?^^ means? It cannot signify 
 that Sir Reginald comes from one of those who have no 
 father — all their ancestry consisting only of a mother?" 
 
 "I should think not, Sir Ger\'aise; in that case, Sir Reg- 
 inald would scarcely be considered of so honorable a line- 
 age as he appears to be. I have not the smallest idea, sir, 
 what half -^/<:?^^ means ; and perhaps it may not be amiss to 
 inquire of the medical gentlemen. Magrath is up stairs; 
 possibly he can tell us." 
 
 " I rather think it has something to do with the law. If 
 this out-of-the-way place now could furnish even a lubberly 
 attorney, we might learn all about it. Harkee, Atwood; 
 you must stand by to make Sir Wycherly's will, if he says 
 anything more about it — have you got the heading all writ- 
 ten out, as I desired." 
 
 " It is quite ready. Sir Gervaise — beginning, as usual, * In 
 the name of God, Amen.' I have even ventured so far as 
 to describe the testator's style and residence, etc., etc. — ' I, 
 Sir Wycherly Wycheconjbe, Bart., of Wychecombe Hall, 
 Devon, do make and declare this to be my last will and tes- 
 tament, etc., etc' Nothing is wanting but the devises, as 
 the lawyers call them. I can manage a will well enough. 
 Sir Gervaise, I believe. One of mine has been in the courts 
 now these five years, and they tell me it sticks there as well 
 as if it had been drawn in the Middle Temple." 
 
 "Ay, I know your skill. Still there can be no harm in 
 just asking Magrath; though I think it must be law, after 
 all! Run up and ask him, Atwood, and bring me the an- 
 swer in the drawing-room, where I see Bluewater has gone 
 with his convoy ; and — harkee — tell the surgeons to let us 
 
198 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 know the instant the patient says anything about his tempo- 
 ral affairs. The twenty thousand in the funds are his, to do 
 what he pleases with ; let the land be tied up as it may." 
 
 While this " aside" was going on in the hall, Bluewater 
 and the rest of the party had entered a small parlor, that 
 was in constant use, still conversing of the state of Sir 
 Wycherly. As all of them but the two young men were ig- 
 norant of the nature of the message to Sir Reginald Wyche- 
 combe and of the intelligence in connection with that gen- 
 tleman which had just been received, Mrs. Button ventured 
 to ask an explanation, which was given by Wycherly with a 
 readiness that proved he felt no apprehensions on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 " Sir Wycherly desired to see his distant relative, Sir 
 Reginald," said the lieutenant; "and the messenger who 
 was sent to request his attendance fortunately learned from 
 a postboy that the Hertfordshire baronet, in common with 
 many other gentlemen, is travelling in the west just at this 
 moment; and that he slept last night at a house only twenty 
 miles distant. The express reached him several hours since, 
 and an answer has been received, informing us that we may 
 expect to see him in an hour or two." 
 
 Thus much was related by Wycherly; but we may add 
 that Sir Reginald Wychecombe was a Catholic, as it was 
 then usual to term the Romanists, and in secret a Jacobite; 
 and, in common with many of that religious persuasion, he 
 was down in the west to see if a rising could not be organ- 
 ized in that part of the kingdom, as a diversion to any at- 
 tempt to repel the young Pretender in the north. As the 
 utmost caution was used by the conspirators, this fact was 
 not even suspected by any who were not in the secret of the 
 whole proceeding. Understanding that his relation was an 
 inefficient old man. Sir Reginald, himself an active and 
 sagacious intriguer, had approached thus near to the old 
 paternal residence of his family, in order to ascertain if his 
 own name and descent might not aid him in obtaining levies 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 1 99 
 
 among the ancient tenantry of the estate. That day he had 
 actually intended to appear at Wychecombe, disguised and 
 under an assumed name. He proposed venturing on this 
 step because circumstances put it in his power to give what 
 he thought would be received as a sufficient excuse, should 
 his conduct excite comment. 
 
 Sir Reginald Wychecombe was a singular but by no means 
 an unnatural compound of management and integrity. His 
 position as a Papist had disposed him to intrigue, while his 
 position as one proscribed by religious hostility had dis- 
 posed him to be a Papist. Thousands are made men of 
 activity, and even of importance, by persecution and pro- 
 scription, who would pass through life quietly and unnoticed, 
 if the meddling hand of human forethought did not force 
 them into situations that awaken their hostility and quicken 
 their powers. This gentleman was a firm believer in all the 
 traditions of his church, though his learning extended little 
 beyond his missal ; and he put the most implicit reliance on 
 the absurd because improbable fiction of the Nag's Head 
 consecration, without having even deemed it necessary to 
 look into a particle of that testimony by which alone such a 
 controversy could be decided. In a word, he was an in- 
 stance of what religious intolerance has ever done, and will 
 probably forever continue to do, with so wayward a being 
 as man. 
 
 Apart from this weakness. Sir Reginald Wychecombe had 
 both a shrewd and an inquiring mind. His religion he left 
 very much to the priests; but of his temporal affairs he as- 
 sumed a careful and prudent supervision. He was much 
 richer than the head of the family; but, while he had no 
 meannesses connected with money, he had no objection to 
 be the possessor of the old family estates. Of his own re- 
 lation to the head of this family he was perfectly aware, and 
 the circumstance of the half-blood, with all its legal conse- 
 quences, was no secret to him. Sir Reginald Wychecombe 
 was not a man to be so situated, without having recourse to 
 
200 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 all proper means, in order, as it has become the fashion of 
 the day to express it, "to define his position." By means 
 of a shrewd attorney, if not of his own religious at least of 
 his own political opinions, he had ascertained the fact, and 
 this from the mouth of Martha herself, that Baron Wyche- 
 combe had never married ; and that, consequently, Tom and 
 his brothers were no more heirs at law to the Wychecombe 
 estate than he was in his own person. He fully under- 
 stood, too, that there was no heir at law; and that the lands 
 must escheat, unless the present owner made a will ; and to 
 this last act his precise information told him that Sir 
 Wycherly had an unconquerable reluctance. Under such 
 circumstances, it is not at all surprising that, when the Hert- 
 fordshire baronet was thus unexpectedly summoned to the 
 bedside of his distant kinsman, he inferred that his own 
 claims were at length to be tardily acknowledged, and that 
 he was about to be put in possession of the estates of his 
 legitimate ancestors. It is still less wonderful that, believ- 
 ing this, he promptly promised to lose no time in obeying 
 the summons, determining momentarily to forget his politi- 
 cal in order to look a little after his personal interests. 
 
 The reader will understand, of course, that all these de- 
 tails were unknown to the inmates of the Hall, beyond the 
 fact of the expected arrival of Sir Reginald Wychecombe, 
 and that of the circumstance of the half-blood ; which in its 
 true bearing was known alone to Tom. Their thoughts were 
 directed toward the situation of their host, and little was 
 said or done that had not his immediate condition for the 
 object. It being understood, however, that the surgeons 
 kept the sick chamber closed against all visitors, a silent 
 and melancholy breakfast was taken by the whole party, in 
 waiting for the moment when they might be admitted. 
 When this cheerless meal was ended, Sir Gervaise desired 
 Bluewater to follow him to his room, whither he led the way 
 in person. 
 
 " It is possible, certainly, that Vervillin is out," com- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 20I 
 
 menced the vice-admiral, when they were alone ; " but we 
 shall know more about it when the cutter gets in and re- 
 ports. You saw nothing but her number, I think you told 
 me?" 
 
 " She was at work with private signals, when I left the 
 headland ; of course I was unable to read them without the 
 book." 
 
 " That Vervillin is a good fellow," returned Sir Gervaise, 
 rubbing his hands, a way he had when much pleased; " and 
 has stuff in him. He has thirteen two-decked ships, Dick, 
 and that will be one apiece for our captains, and a spare one 
 for each of our flags. I believe there is no three-decker in 
 that squadron?" 
 
 "There you've made a small mistake, Sir Gervaise, as 
 the Comte de Vervillin had his flag in the largest three- 
 decker of France; Le Bourbon 120. The rest of his ships 
 are like our own, though much fuller manned." 
 
 " Never mind. Blue — never mind : — we'll put two on the 
 Bourbon, and try to make our frigates of use. Besides, you 
 have a knack at keeping the fleet so compact that it is 
 nearly a single battery." 
 
 " May I venture to ask, then, if it's your intention to go 
 out, should the news by the Active prove to be what you 
 anticipate?" 
 
 Sir Gervaise cast a quick, distrustful glance at the other, 
 anxious to read the motive for the question, at the same 
 time that he did not wish to betray his own feelings; then 
 he appeared to meditate on the answer. 
 
 " It is not quite agreeable to lie here, chafing our cables, 
 with a French squadron roving the Channel," he said; " but 
 I rather think it's my duty to wait for orders from the Admi- 
 ralty, under present circumstances." 
 
 "Do you expect my lords will send you through the 
 Straits of Dover, to blockade the Frith?" 
 
 " If they do, Bluewater, I shall hope for your company. 
 I trust a night's rest has given you different views of what 
 
202 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 ought to be a seaman's duty, when his country is at open 
 war with her ancient and most powerful enemies." 
 
 " It is the prerogative of the crown to declare war, Oakes. 
 No one but a lawful sow exQi^n can make a lauful yizx." 
 
 " Ay, here come your cursed distinctions about de jure 
 and de facto again. By the way, Dick, you are something of 
 a scholar — can you tell me what is understood by calling a 
 man a nuUus ? " 
 
 Admiral Bluewater, who had taken his usual lolling atti- 
 tude in the most comfortable chair he could find, while his 
 more mercurial friend kept pacing the room, now raised his 
 head in surprise, following the quick motions of the other 
 with his eyes, as if he doubted whether he had rightly heard 
 the question. 
 
 " It's plain English, is it not? — or plain Latin, if you will 
 — what is meant by calling a man a 7mllusV repeated Sir 
 Gervaise, observing the other's manner. 
 
 " The Latin is plain enough, certainly," returned Blue- 
 water, smiling; "you surely do not mean nullus^ ftulla, 
 nullum ? " 
 
 " Exactly that — you've hit it to a gender. — Nullus, nulla, 
 nullum. No man, no woman, no thing. Masculine, femi- 
 nine, neuter." 
 
 " I never heard the saying. If ever used, it must be some 
 silly play on sounds, and mean a numskull — or, perhaps, a 
 fling at a fellow's position, by saying he is a ' nobody.' Who 
 the deuce has been calling another a fiullus in the presence 
 of the commander-in-chief of the southern squadron ?" 
 
 "Sir Wycherly Wychecombe — our unfortunate host, here: 
 the poor man who is on his death-bed on this very floor." 
 
 Again Bluewater raised his head, and once more his eye 
 sought the face of his friend. Sir Gervaise had now stopped 
 short, with his hands crossed behind his back, looking 
 intently at the other, in expectation of the answer. 
 
 " I thought it might be some difficulty from the fleet — 
 some silly fellow complaining of another still more silly foi 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 203 
 
 using such a word. Sir Wycherly! — the poor man's mind 
 must have failed him." 
 
 "I rather think not; if it has, there is ' method in his 
 madness,' for he persevered most surprisingly in the use of 
 the term. His nephew, Tom Wychecombe, the presumptive 
 heir, he insists on it, is a nidliis ; while this Sir Reginald, 
 who is expected to arrive every instant, he says is only half 
 — or '\\2\i-bIood^ as it has since been explained to us." 
 
 " I am afraid this nephew will prove to be anything but 
 millus^ when he succeeds to the estate and title," answered 
 Bluewater gravely. " A more sinister-looking scoundrel I 
 never laid eyes on." 
 
 "That is just my way of thinking; and not in the least 
 like the family." 
 
 "This matter of likenesses is not easily explained, Oakes. 
 We see parents and children without any visible resem- 
 blance to each other; and then we find startling likenesses 
 between utter strangers." 
 
 " Bachelor's childreii may be in that predicament, certainly; 
 but I should think few others. I never yet studied a child 
 that I did not find some resemblance to both parents; cov- 
 ert and only transitory perhaps, but a likeness so distinct as 
 to establish the relationship. What an accursed chance it is 
 that our noble young lieutenant should have no claim on this 
 old baronet; while this d — d ?mllus is both heir at law 
 and heir of entail ! I never took half as much interest in 
 any other man's estate as I take in the succession to this of 
 our poor host!" 
 
 "There you are mistaken, Oakes; you took more in mine ; 
 for when I made a will in your own favor and gave it to you 
 to read, you tore it in two and threw it overboard, with your 
 own hand." 
 
 " Ay, that was an act of lawful authority. As your supe- 
 rior, I countermanded that will ! I hope you've made an- 
 other, and given your money, as I told you, to your cousin, 
 the Viscount." 
 
204 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " I did, but that will has shared the fate of the first. It 
 appearing to me that we are touching on serious times, and 
 Bluewater being rich already, I destroyed the devise in his 
 favor, and made a ne^v one this very morning. As you are 
 my executor, as usual, it may be well to let you know it." 
 
 " Dick, you have not been mad enough to cut off the head 
 of your own family — your own flesh and blood, as it might 
 be — to leave the few thousands you own to this mad adven- 
 turer in Scotland!" 
 
 Bluewater smiled at this evidence of the familiarity of 
 his friend with his own way of thinking and feeling; and 
 for a single instant he regretted that he had not put his first 
 intention in force, in order that the conformity of views 
 might have been still more perfect; but, putting a hand in 
 his pocket, he drew out the document itself, and, leaning 
 forward, gave it carelessly to Sir Gervaise. 
 
 " There is the will; and by looking it over you will know 
 what I've done," he said. " I wish you would keep it; for 
 if ' misery makes us acquainted with strange bedfellows,' 
 revolutions reduce us often to strange plights, and the paper 
 will be safer with you than with me. Of course you will 
 keep my secret, until the proper time to reveal it shall 
 arrive." 
 
 The vice-admiral, who knew that he had no direct interest 
 in his friend's disposition of his property, took the will with 
 a good deal of curiosity to ascertain its provisions. So 
 short a testament was soon read ; and his eye rested intently 
 on the paper until it had taken in the last word. Then his 
 hand dropped, and he regarded Bluewater with a surprise he 
 neither affected nor wished to conceal. He did not doubt 
 his friend's sanity, but he greatly questioned his discretion. 
 
 " This is a very simple but a very ingenious arrangement 
 to disturb the order of society," he said, " and to convert a 
 very modest and unpretending, though lovely girl, into a 
 forward and airs-taking old woman! What is this Mildred 
 Button to you, that you should bequeath to her ^^30,000?" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 205 
 
 *• She is one of the meekest, most ingenuous, purest, and 
 loveliest of her meek, ingenuous, pure, and lovely sex, 
 crushed to the earth by the curse of a brutal, drunken father ; 
 and I am resolute to see that this world, for once, afford 
 some compensation for its own miseries." 
 
 "Never doubt that, Richard Bluewater; never doubt that. 
 So certain is vice or crime to bring its own punishment in 
 this life, that one may well question if any other hell is 
 needed. And, depend on it, your meek, modest ingenuous- 
 ness, in its turn, will not go unrewarded." 
 
 " Quite true, so far as the spirit is concerned ; but I mean 
 to provide a little for the comfort of the body. You remem- 
 ber Agnes Hedworth, I take it for granted?" 
 
 "Remember her! — out of all question. Had the war left 
 me leisure for making love, she was the only woman I ever 
 knew who could have brought me to her feet — I mean as a 
 dog, Dick." 
 
 " Do you see any resemblance between her and this Mil- 
 dred Dutton? It is in the expression rather than in the 
 features — but it is the expression which alone denotes the 
 character." 
 
 "By George, you're right, Bluewater; and this relieves 
 me from some embarrassment I've felt about that very ex- 
 pression of which you speak. She is like poor Agnes, who 
 became a saint earlier than any of us could have wished. 
 Living or dead, Agnes Hedworth must be an angel! You 
 were fonder of her than of any other woman, I believe. At 
 one time I thought you might propose for her hand." 
 
 " It was not that sort of affection, and you could not have 
 known her private history, or you would not have fancied 
 this. I was so situated in the way of relatives that Agnes, 
 though only the child of a cousin-german, was the nearest 
 youthful female relative I had on earth ; and I regarded 
 her more as a sister than as a creature who could ever be- 
 come my wife. She was sixteen years my junior ; and by the 
 time she had become old enough to marry, I was accustomed 
 
206 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 to think of her only as one destined for another station. 
 The same feeling existed as to her sister, the Duchess, 
 though in a greatly lessened degree." 
 
 "Poor, sweet Agnes! — and it is on account of this acci- 
 dental resemblance that you have determined to make the 
 daughter of a drunken sailing-master your heiress?" 
 
 "Not altogether so; the will was drawn before I was con- 
 scious that the likeness existed. Still it has probably, un- 
 known to myself, greatly disposed me to view her with 
 favor. But, Gervaise, Agnes herself was not fairer in per- 
 son or more lovely in mind than this very Mildred Button." 
 
 " Well, you have not been accustomed to regard her as 
 a sister; and she has become marriageable, without there 
 having been any opportunity for your regarding her as so 
 peculiarly sacred, Dick!" returned Sir Gervaise, half sup- 
 pressing a smile, as he threw a quiet glance at his friend. 
 
 " You know this to be idle, Oakes. Some one must in- 
 herit my money; my brother is long since dead; even poor, 
 poor Agnes is gone; her sister don't need it; Bluewater is 
 an over-rich bachelor already ; you won't take it, and what 
 better can I do with it.** If you could have seen the cruel 
 manner in which the spirits of both mother and daughter 
 were crushed to the earth last night, by that beast of a hus- 
 band and father, you would have felt a desire to relieve their 
 misery, even though it had cost you Bowldero, and half your 
 money in the funds." 
 
 " Umph ! Bowldero has been in my family five centuries, 
 and is likely to remain there. Master Bluewater, five more; 
 unless, indeed, your dashing Pretender should succeed, and 
 take it away by confiscation." 
 
 "There, again, was another inducement. Should I leave 
 my cash to a rich person, and should chance put me on the 
 wrong side in this struggle, the king, defacto^ would get it 
 all; whereas, even a German would not have the heart to 
 rob a poor creature like Mildred of her support." 
 
 " The Scotch are notorious for bowels, in such matters ! 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 20/ 
 
 Well, have it your own way, Dick. It's of no great moment 
 what you do with your prize-money ; though I had supposed 
 it would fall into the hands of this boy, Geoffrey Cleveland, 
 who is no discredit to your blood." 
 
 " He will have a hundred thousand pounds, at five-and- 
 twenty, that were left him by old Lady Greenfield, his great- 
 aunt, and that is more than he will know what to do with. 
 But enough of this. Have you received further tidings from 
 the north, during the night?" 
 
 "Not a syllable. This is a retired part of the country; 
 and half Scotland might be capsized in one of its loughs, 
 and we not know of it, for a week, down here in Devonshire. 
 Should I get no intelligence or orders, in the next thirty-six 
 hours, I think of posting up to London, leaving you in com- 
 mand of the fleet." 
 
 " That may not be wise. You would scarcely confide so 
 important a trust, in such a crisis, to a man of my political 
 feelings — I will not say opinions ; since you attribute all to 
 sentiment." 
 
 " I would confide my life and honor to you, Richard Blue- 
 water, with the utmost confidence in the security of both, so 
 long as it depended on your own acts or inclinations. We 
 must first see, however, what news the Active brings us; for 
 if de Vervillin is really out, I shall assume that the duty of 
 an English sailor is to beat a Frenchman, before all other 
 considerations." 
 
 " If he ca7i^^ drily observed the other, raising his right leg 
 so high as to place the foot on the top of an old-fashioned 
 chair; an effort that nearly brought his back in a horizontal 
 line. 
 
 " I am far from regarding it as a matter of course. Admi- 
 ral Bluewater; but it has been done sufficiently often to 
 render it an event of no very v\o\&xiX, possibility. Ah, here is 
 Magrath to tell us the condition of his patient." 
 
 The surgeon of the Plantagenet entering the room at that 
 moment, the conversation was instantly changed. 
 
208 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "Well, Magrath," said Sir Gervaise, stopping suddenly in 
 his quarter-deck pace, "what news of the poor man?" 
 
 " He is reviving. Admiral Oakes," returned the phleg- 
 matic surgeon ; " but it is like the gleaming of sunshine that 
 streams through clouds, as the great luminary sets behind 
 the hills " 
 
 "Oh! hang your poetry, doctor; let us have nothing but 
 plain matter-of-fact, this morning." 
 
 " Well, then. Sir Gervaise, as commander-in-chief, you'll 
 be obeyed, I think. Sir Wycherly Wychecombe is suffering 
 under an attack of apoplexy — or a-u-X7j'=t^, as the Greeks 
 had it. The diagnosis of the disease is not easily mistak- 
 en, though it has its affinities as well as other maladies. 
 The applications for gout, or arthritis — sometimes produce 
 apoplexy; though one disease is seated in the head, while 
 the other usually takes refuge in the feet. Ye'U understand 
 this the more readily, gentlemen, when ye reflect that as a 
 thief is chased from one hiding-place, he commonly endeav- 
 ors to get into another. I much misgive the prudence of 
 the phlebotomy ye practised among ye, on the first summons 
 to the patient." 
 
 "What the d — 1 does the man mean by phlebotomy?" 
 exclaimed Sir Gervaise, who had an aversion to medicine, 
 and knew scarcely any of the commonest terms of practice, 
 though expert in bleeding. 
 
 " I'm thinking it's what you and Admiral Bluewater so 
 freely administer to His Majesty's enemies, whenever ye 
 
 fall in with 'em at sea; — he-he-he " answered Magrath, 
 
 chuckling at his own humor; which, as the quantity was 
 small, was all the better in quality. 
 
 "Surely he does not mean powder and shot! We give 
 the French shot; Sir Wycherly has not been shot?" 
 
 " Varra true. Sir Gervaise, but ye've let him blood, amang 
 ye : a measure that has been somewhat preceepitately prac- 
 tised, I've my misgivings." 
 
 "Now, any old woman can tell us better than that, doctor. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2O9 
 
 Blood-letting is the every-day remedy for attacks of this 
 sort." 
 
 " I do not dispute the dogmas of elderly persons of the 
 other sex, Sir Gervaise, or your every-day remedia. If 
 'every-day' doctors would save life and alleviate pain, di- 
 plomas would be unnecessary; and we might, all of us, 
 practise on the principle of the ' de'el tak' the hindmaist,' 
 as ye did yoursel', Sir Gervaise, when ye cut and slash'd 
 amang the Dons, in boarding El Lirio. I was there, ye'll 
 both remember, gentlemen ; and was obleeged to sew up the 
 gashes ye made with your own irreverent and ungodly 
 hands." 
 
 This speech referred to one of the most desperate hand- 
 to-hand struggles in which the two flag-officers had ever 
 been engaged ; and, as it afforded them the means of exhib- 
 iting their personal gallantry, when quite young men, both 
 usually looked back upon the exploit with great self-com- 
 placency; Sir Gervaise in particular, his friend having of- 
 ten declared since that they ought to have been laid on the 
 shelf for life, as a punishment for risking their men in so 
 mad an enterprise, though it did prove to be brilliantly 
 successful. 
 
 " That was an affair in which one might engage at twenty- 
 two, Magrath," observed Bluewater; " but which he ought to 
 hesitate about thinking of even, after thirty." 
 
 *' I'd do it again, this blessed day, if you would give us a 
 chance!" exclaimed Sir Gervaise, striking the back of one 
 hand into the palm of the other, with a sudden energy, that 
 showed how much he was excited by the mere recollection 
 of the scene. 
 
 " That w'ud ye! — that w'ud ye!" said Magrath, growing 
 more and more Scotch, as he warmed in the discourse; 
 " ye'd board a mackerel-hoy, rather than not have an engage- 
 ment. Ye'r a varra capital vice-admiral of the red, Sir 
 Gervaise, but I'm judging ye'd mak' a varra indeeferent 
 loblolly-boy." 
 14. 
 
2IO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Bluewater, I shall be compelled to change ships with 
 you, in order to get rid of the old standbys of the Planta- 
 genets! They stick to me like leeches; and have got to be 
 so familiar that they criticise all my orders, and don't more 
 than half obey them, in the bargain." 
 
 "No one will criticise your nautical commands, Sir Ger- 
 vaise; though, in the way of the healing airt- science, 
 it should be called — ye're no mair to be trusted than 
 one of the young gentlemen. I'm told ye drew ye'r lancet 
 on this poor gentleman, as ye'd draw ye'r sword on an 
 enemy!" 
 
 "I did, indeed, sir; though Mr. Rotherham had rendered 
 the application of the instrument unnecessary. Apoplexy is 
 a rushing of the blood to the head; and by diminishing the 
 quantity in the veins of the arms or temples, you lessen the 
 pressure on the brain." 
 
 " Just layman's practice, sir — just layman's practice. Will 
 ye tell me now if the patient's face was red or white? 
 Everything depends on t/iat; which is the true diagnosis of 
 the malady" 
 
 "Red, I think; was it not, Bluewater? Red, like old 
 port, of which I fancy the poor man had more than his 
 share." 
 
 " Weel, in that case, you were not so varra wrong ; but 
 they tell me his countenance was pallid and deathlike; in 
 which case ye came near to committing murder. There is 
 one principle that controls the diagnosis of all cases of apo- 
 plexy among ye'r true country gentlemen — and that is, that 
 the system is reduced and enfeebled, by habitual devotion 
 to the decanter. In such attacks ye canna' do wars® than 
 to let blood. But I'll no be hard upon you. Sir Gervaise; 
 and so we'll drop the subject — though, truth to say, I do 
 not admire your poaching on my manor. Sir Wycherly is 
 materially better, and expresses, as well as a man who has 
 not the use of his tongue, can express a thing, his besetting 
 desire to make his last will and testament. In ordinary 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 211 
 
 cases of apoplexia^ it is good practice to oppose this craving; 
 though, as it is my firm opinion that nothing can save the 
 patient's life, I do not set myself against the measure, in 
 this particular case. Thar' was a curious discussion at 
 Edinbro', in my youth, gentlemen, on the question whether 
 the considerations connected with the disposition of the 
 property, or the considerations connected with the patient's 
 health, ought to preponderate in the physician's mind, when 
 it might be reasonably doubted whether the act of making a 
 will would or would not essentially affect the nervous sys- 
 tem, and otherwise derange the functions of the body. A 
 very pretty argument, in excellent Edinbro' Latin, was made 
 on each side of the question. I think, on the whole, the 
 physicos had the best o' it; for they could show a plausible 
 present evil, as opposed to a possible remote good." 
 
 "Has Sir Wycherly mentioned my name this morning?" 
 asked the vice-admiral, with interest. 
 
 "He has, indeed. Sir Gervaise; and that in a way so 
 manifestly connected with his will that I'm opining ye'll 
 no be forgotten in the legacies. The name of Bluewater 
 was in his mouth, also." 
 
 " In which case no time should be lost; for never before 
 have I felt half the interest in the disposition of a stranger's 
 estate. Hark! Are not those wheels rattling in the court- 
 yard?" 
 
 " Ye'r senses are most pairfect, Sir Gervaise, and that I've 
 always said was one reason why ye'r so great an admiral," 
 returned Magrath. "Mind, only onc^ Sir Gervaise; for 
 many qualities united are necessary to make a truly great 
 man. I see a middle-aged gentleman alighting, and ser- 
 vants around him, who wear the same liveries as those of 
 this house. Some relative, no doubt, come to look after the 
 legacies, also." 
 
 "This must be Sir Reginald Wychecombe; it may not be 
 amiss if we go forward to receive him, Bluewater." 
 
 At this suggestion, the rear-admiral drew in his legs, 
 
212 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 which had not changed their position on account of the 
 presence of the surgeon, arose, and followed Sir Gervaise, 
 as the latter left the room. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 *' Videsne quis venit ? " 
 "Video, et gaudeo. " 
 
 Nathaniel et Holofernes. 
 
 Tom Wychecombe had experienced an uneasiness that it is 
 unnecessary to explain, ever since he learned that his re- 
 puted uncle had sent a messenger to bring the " half-blood" 
 to the Hall. From the moment he got a clew to the fact, he 
 took sufficient pains to ascertain what was in the wind; and 
 when Sir Reginald Wychecombe entered the house, the first 
 person he met was this spurious supporter of the honors of 
 his name. 
 
 " Sir Reginald Wychecombe, I presume, from the arms 
 and the liveries," said Tom, endeavoring to assume the 
 manner of a host. " It is grateful to find that, though we 
 are separated by quite two centuries, all the usages and the 
 bearings of the family are equally preserved and respected 
 by both its branches." 
 
 " I am Sir Reginald Wychecombe, sir, and endeavor not 
 to forget the honorable ancestry from which I am derived. 
 May I ask what kinsman I have the pleasure now to 
 meet?" 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, sir, at your command ; the 
 eldest son of Sir Wycherly's next brother, the late Mr. Baron 
 Wychecombe. I trust. Sir Reginald, you have not consid- 
 ered us as so far removed in blood as to have entirely over- 
 looked our births, marriages, and deaths." 
 
 " I have ?iot, sir," returned the baronet drily, and with an 
 emphasis that disturbed his listener, though the cold, Jesu- 
 itical smile that accompanied the words had the effect to 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 213 
 
 calm his vivid apprehensions. ^^ All that relates to the 
 house of Wychecombe has interest in my eyes ; and I have 
 endeavored, successfully I trust, to ascertain all that relates 
 to its births, marriages, and deaths. I greatly regret that 
 the second time I enter this venerable dwelling should be 
 on an occasion as melancholy as this on which I am now 
 summoned. How is your respectable — how is Sir Wycherly 
 Wychecombe, I wish to say?" 
 
 There was sufficient in this answer, taken in connection 
 with the deliberate, guarded, and yet expressive manner of 
 the speaker, to make Tom extremely uncomfortable, though 
 there was also sufficient to leave him in doubts as to his 
 namesake's true meaning. The words emphasized by the 
 latter were touched lightly, though distinctly; and the cold, 
 artificial smile with which they were uttered completely 
 baffled the sagacity of a rogue as commonplace as the heir- 
 expectant. Then the sudden change in the construction of 
 the last sentence, and the substitution of the name of the 
 person mentioned, for the degree of affinity in which he was 
 supposed to stand to Tom, might be merely a rigid observ- 
 ance of the best tone of society, or it might be equivocal. 
 All these little distinctions gleamed across the mind of 
 Tom Wychecombe; but that was not the moment to pursue 
 the investigation. Courtesy required that he should make 
 an immediate answer, which he succeeded in doing steadily 
 enough as to general appearances, though his sagacious and 
 practised questioner perceived that his words had not failed 
 of producing the impression he intended ; for he had looked 
 to their establishing a species of authority over the young 
 man. 
 
 " My honored and beloved uncle has revived a little, they 
 tell me," said Tom ; " but I fear these appearances are de- 
 lusive. After eighty-four, death has a fearful hold upon us, 
 sir! The worst of it is, that my poor, dear uncle's mind is 
 sensibly affected; and it is quite impossible to get at any of 
 his little wishes, in the way of memorials and messages " 
 
214 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " How then, sir, came Sir Wycherly to honor me with a 
 request to visit him?" demanded the other, with an extremely 
 awkward pertinency. 
 
 " I suppose, sir, he has succeeded in muttering your name, 
 and that a natural construction has been put on its use, at 
 such a moment. His will has been made some time, I un- 
 derstand; though I am ignorant of even the name of the ex- 
 ecutor, as it is closed in an envelope, and sealed with Sir 
 Wycherly's arms. It cannot be, then, on account of a willy 
 that he has wished to see you. I rather think, as the next 
 of the family, out of the direct line of successio7i, he may have 
 ventured to name you as the executor of the will in exist- 
 ence, and has thought it proper to notify you of the same." 
 
 "Yes, sir," returned Sir Reginald, in his usual cold, wary 
 manner; "though it would have been more in conformity 
 with usage had the notification taken the form of a request 
 to serve, previously to making the testament. My letter 
 was signed * Gervaise Oakes,' and, as they tell me a fleet is 
 in the neighborhood, I have supposed that the celebrated 
 admiral of that name has done me the honor to write it." 
 
 "You are not mistaken, sir; Sir Gervaise Oakes is in the 
 house — ah — here he comes to receive you, accompanied by 
 Rear-Admiral Bluewatei, whom the sailors call his main- 
 mast." 
 
 The foregoing conversation had taken place in a little 
 parlor that led off from the great hall, whither Tom had 
 conducted his guest, and in which the two admirals now 
 made their appearance. Introductions were scarcely neces- 
 sary, the uniform and star — for in that age officers usually 
 appeared in their robes — the uniform and star of Sir Ger- 
 vaise at once proclaiming his rank and name; while be- 
 tween Sir Reginald and Bluewater there existed a slight 
 personal acquaintance, which had grown out of their covert, 
 but deep, Jacobite sympathies. 
 
 " Sir Gervaise Oakes," and " Sir Reginald Wyche- 
 combe," passed between the gentlemen, with a hearty shake 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 21$ 
 
 of the hand from the admiral, which was met by a cold 
 touch of the fingers on the part of the other, that might very 
 well have passed for the great model of the sophisticated 
 manipulation of the modern salute, but which, in fact, was 
 the result of temperament rather than of fashion. As soon 
 as this ceremony was gone through, and a few brief expres- 
 sions of courtesy were exchanged, the newcomer turned to 
 Bluewater, with an air of greater freedom, and continued : 
 
 " And you, too. Sir Richard Bluewater! I rejoice to meet 
 an acquaintance in this melancholy scene." 
 
 "I am happy to see you, Sir Reginald; though you have 
 conferred on me a title to which I have no proper claim." 
 
 " No! — the papers tell us that you have received one of 
 the lately vacant red ribands?" 
 
 " I believe some such honor has been in contempla- 
 tion " 
 
 "Contemplation! — I do assure you, sir, your name is 
 fairly and distinctly gazetted — as, by sending to my car- 
 riage, it will be in my power to show you. I am, then, the 
 first to call you Sir Richard." 
 
 " Excuse me. Sir Reginald — there is some little misap- 
 prehension in this matter; I prefer to remain plain Rear- 
 Admiral Bluewater. In due season, all will be explained." 
 
 The parties exchanged looks, which, in times like those 
 in which they lived, were sufficiently intelligible to both; 
 and the conversation was instantly changed. Before Sir 
 Reginald relinquished the hand he held, however, he gave 
 it a cordial squeeze, an intimation that was returned by a 
 warm pressure from Bluewater. The party then began to 
 converse of Sir Wycherly, his actual condition, and his 
 probable motive in desiring to see his distant kinsman. 
 This motive. Sir Gervaise, regardless of the presence of Tom 
 Wychecombe, declared to be a wdsh to make a will ; and, as 
 he believed, the intention of naming Sir Reginald his exec- 
 utor, if not in some still more interesting capacity. 
 
 "I understand Sir Wycherly has a considerable sum en* 
 
2l6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 tirely at his own disposal," continued the vice-admiral; 
 " and I confess I like to see a man remember his friends 
 and servants, generously, in his last moments. The estate 
 is entailed, I hear; and I suppose Mr. Thomas Wychecombe 
 here, will be none the worse for that precaution in his an- 
 cestor; let the old gentleman do as he pleases with his 
 savings." 
 
 Sir Gervaise was so much accustomed to command that 
 he did not feel the singularity of his own interference in 
 the affairs of a family of what might be called strangers, 
 though the circumstance struck Sir Reginald as a little odd. 
 Nevertheless, the last had sufficient penetration to under- 
 stand the vice-admiral's character at a glance, and the pecu- 
 liarity made no lasting impression. When the allusion was 
 made to Tom's succession as a matter of course, however, he 
 cast a cold, but withering look at the reputed heir, which 
 almost chilled the marrow in the bones of the jealous 
 rogue. 
 
 " Might I say a word to you, in your own room. Sir Ger- 
 vaise?" asked Sir Reginald, in an aside. "These matters 
 ought not to be indecently hurried; and I wish to under- 
 stand the ground better, before I advance." 
 
 This question was overheard by Bluewater; who, begging 
 the gentlemen to remain where they were, withdrew himself, 
 taking Tom Wychecombe with him. As soon as they were 
 alone, Sir Reginald drew from his companion, by questions 
 warily but ingeniously put, a history of all that had occurred 
 within the last twenty-four hours; a knowledge of the really 
 helpless state of Sir Wycherly, and of the manner in which 
 he himself had been summoned, included. When satisfied, 
 he expressed a desire to see the sick man. 
 
 " By the way. Sir Reginald," said the vice-admiral, with 
 his hand on the lock of the door, arresting his own move- 
 ment to put the question ; " I see, by your manner of express- 
 ing yourself, that the law has not been entirely overlooked 
 in your education. Do you happen to know what * half- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 21/ 
 
 blood' means? It is either a medical or a legal term, and 
 I understand few but nautical." 
 
 " You could not apply to any man in England, Sir Ger- 
 vaise, better qualified to tell you," answered the Hertford- 
 shire baronet, smiling expressively. " I am a barrister of 
 the Middle Temple, having been educated as a younger son, 
 and having since succeeded an elder brother, at the age of 
 twenty-seven ; I stand in the unfortunate relation of the 
 * half-blood ' myself, to this very estate, on which we are 
 now conversing." 
 
 Sir Reginald then proceeded to explain the law to the 
 other, as we have already pointed it out to the reader ; per- 
 forming the duty succinctly, but quite clearly. 
 
 "Bless me! — bless me! Sir Reginald," exclaimed the di- 
 rect-minded and yV/j-Z-minded sailor — "here must be some 
 mistake! A fortieth cousin, or the king, take this estate 
 before yourself, though you are directly descended from all 
 the old Wychecombes of the times of the Plantagenets!" 
 
 " Such is the common law. Sir Gervaise. Were I Sir 
 Wycherly's half-brother, or a son by a second wife of our 
 common father, I could not take from him^ although that 
 common father had earned the estate by his own hands or 
 services." 
 
 " This is damnable, sir — damnable — and you'll pardon 
 me, but I can hardly believe we have such a monstrous 
 principle in the good, honest, well-meaning laws, of good, 
 honest, well-meaning old England!" 
 
 Sir Reginald was one of the few lawyers of his time who 
 did not recognize the virtue of this particular provision of 
 the common law; a circumstance that probably arose from 
 his having so small an interest now in the mysteries of the 
 profession, and so large an interest in the family estate of 
 Wychecombe, destroyed by its dictum. He was, conse- 
 quently, less surprised, and not at all hurt, at the evident 
 manner in which the sailor repudiated his statement, as do- 
 ing violence equally to reason, justice, and probability. 
 
2l8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Good, honest, well-meaning old England tolerates many 
 grievous things, notwithstanding, Sir Gervaise," he an- 
 swered ; " among others, it tolerates the law of the half- 
 blood. Much depends on the manner in which men view 
 these things; that which seems gold to one resembling sil- 
 ver in the eyes of another. Now, I dare say" — this was 
 said as a feeler, and with a smile that might pass for ironi- 
 cal or confiding, as the listener pleased to take it — " Now, I 
 dare say, the clans would tell us that England tolerates a 
 usurper, while her lawful prince was in banishment; though 
 yoic and /might not feel disposed to allow it." 
 
 Sir Gervaise started, and cast a quick, suspicious glance 
 at the speaker; but there the latter stood, with as open and 
 guileless an expression on his handsome features as was 
 ever seen in the countenance of confiding sixteen. 
 
 " Your supposititious case is no parallel," returned the 
 vice-admiral, losing every shade of suspicion, at this ap- 
 pearance of careless frankness; "since men often follow 
 their feelings in their allegiance, w^hile the law is supposed 
 to be governed by reason and justice. But, now we are on 
 the subject, will you tell me, Sir Reginald, if you also know 
 what a nullus is?" 
 
 " I have no farther knowledge of the subject. Sir Ger- 
 vaise," returned the other, smiling, this time quite natur- 
 ally, " than is to be found in the Latin dictionaries and 
 grammars." 
 
 " Ay — you mean 7iullus^ nulla^ nullum. Even we sailors 
 know that ; as we all go to school before we go to sea. 
 But, Sir Wycherly, in efforts to make himself understood, 
 called you a ' half-blood.' " 
 
 "And quite correctly — I admit such to be the fact; and 
 that I have no more legal claim whatever on this estate 
 than you have yourself. My moral right, however, may be 
 somewhat better." 
 
 " It is much to your credit that you so frankly admit it. 
 Sir Reginald; for, hang me, if I think even the judges would 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2ig 
 
 dream of raising such an objection to your succeeding, un- 
 less reminded of it." 
 
 "Therein you do them injustice, Sir Gervaise; as it is 
 their duty to administer the laws, let them be what they 
 may." 
 
 " Perhaps you are right, sir. But the reason for my ask- 
 ing what a nullus is, was the circumstance that Sir VVych- 
 erly, in the course of his efforts to speak, repeatedly called 
 his nephew and heir, Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, by that 
 epithet." 
 
 " Did he, indeed? — Was the epithet, as you well term it, 
 Jilius nullius ^" 
 
 " I rather think it was melius — though I do believe the 
 vioxdjtlms was muttered, once or twice, also." 
 
 "Yes, sir, this has been the case; and I am not sorry Sir 
 Wycherly is aware of the fact, as I hear that the young man 
 affects to consider himself in a different point of view. A 
 Jilius nullius is the legal term for a bastard — the 'son of no- 
 body,' as you will at once understand. I am fully aware 
 that such is the unfortunate predicament of Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe, whose father, I possess complete evidence to 
 show, was never married to his mother." 
 
 "And yet. Sir Reginald, the impudent rascal carries in 
 his pocket even a certificate, signed by some parish priesr 
 in London, to prove the contrary. 
 
 The civil baronet seemed surprised at this assertion of 
 his military brother; but Sir Gervaise explaining what had 
 passed between himself and the young man, he could no 
 longer entertain any doubt of the fact. 
 
 " Since you have seen the document," resumed Sir Regi- 
 nald, "it must, indeed, be so; and this misguided boy is 
 prepared to take any desperate step in order to obtain the 
 title and the estate. All that he has said about a will must 
 be fabulous, as no man in his senses would risk his neck to 
 obtain so hollow a distinction as a baronetcy — we are equally 
 members of the class, and may speak frankly, Sir Gervaise— 
 
220 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and the will would secure the estate, if there were one. 1 
 cannot think, therefore, that there is a will at all." 
 
 " If this will were not altogether to the fellow's liking, 
 would not the marriage, besides the hollow honor of which 
 you have spoken, put the whole of the landed property in 
 his possession, under the entail.'"' 
 
 "It would, indeed; and I thank you for the suggestion. 
 If, however. Sir Wycherly is desirous, now^ of making a ?iew 
 will, and has strength and mind sufficient to execute his pur- 
 pose, the o/d one need give us no concern. This is a most 
 delicate affair for one in my situation to engage in, sir; and 
 I greatly rejoice that I find such honorable and distinguished 
 witnesses in the house, to clear my reputation, should any- 
 thing occur \o require such exculpation. On the one side. 
 Sir Gervaise, there is the danger of an ancient estate's fall- 
 ing into the hands of the crown, and this, too, while one of 
 no siaifi of blood, derived from the same honorable ances- 
 tors as the last possessor, is in existence; or, on the other, 
 of its becoming the prey of one of base blood, and of but 
 very doubtful character. The circumstance that Sir Wych- 
 erly desired my presence is a great deal ; and I trust to 
 you, and to those with you, to vindicate the fairness of my 
 course. If it's your pleasure, sir, we will now go to the 
 sick-chamber." 
 
 "With all my heart. I think, however. Sir Reginald," 
 said the vice-admiral, as he approached the door, "that 
 even in the event of an escheat, you would find these Bruns- 
 wick princes sufficiently liberal to restore the property. I 
 could not answer for those wandering Scotchmen, who have 
 so many breechless nobles to enrich ; but, I think, with the 
 Hanoverians you would be safe." 
 
 " The last have certainly one recommendation the most," 
 returned the other, smiling courteously, but in a way so 
 equivocal that even Sir Gervaise was momentarily struck 
 by it; "they have fed so well, now, at the crib, that they 
 may not have the same voracity as those who have been 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 22*1 
 
 long fasting. It would be, however, more pleasant to take 
 these lands from a Wychecombe — a Wychecombe to a 
 Wychecombe — than to receive them anew from even the 
 Plantagenet who made the first grant." 
 
 This terminated the private dialogue, as the colloquists 
 entered the hall, just as the last speaker concluded. Wych- 
 erly was conversing earnestly with Mrs. Button and Mildred, 
 at the far end of the hall, when the baronets appeared ; but, 
 catching the eye of the admiral, he said a few words hastily 
 to his companions, and joined the two gentlemen, who were 
 now on their way to the sick man's chamber. 
 
 " Here is a namesake, if not a relative. Sir Reginald," 
 observed Sir Gervaise, introducing the lieutenant; "and 
 one, I rejoice to say, of whom all of even your honorable 
 name have reason to be proud." 
 
 Sir Reginald's bow was courteous and bland, as the ad- 
 miral proceeded to complete the introduction ; but Wycherly 
 felt that the keen, searching look he bestowed on himself 
 was disagreeable. 
 
 " I am not at all aware that I have the smallest claim to 
 the honor of being Sir Reginald Wychecombe's relative," he 
 said, with cold reserve. " Indeed, until last evening, I was 
 ignorant of the existence of the Hertfordshire branch of this 
 family; and you will remember. Sir Gervaise, that I am a 
 Virginian." 
 
 "A Virginian!" exclaimed his namesake, taken so much 
 by surprise as to lose a little of his self-command. " I did 
 not know, indeed, that any who bear the name had found 
 their way to the colonies." 
 
 " And if they had, sir, they would have met with a set of 
 fellows every way fit to be their associates. Sir Reginald. 
 We English are a little clannish — I hate the word, too; it 
 has such a narrow Scotch sound — but we are clannish, al- 
 though generally provided with garments to our netlier 
 limbs; and we sometimes look down upon even a son whom 
 the love of adventure has led into that part of the world 
 
^22 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 In my view an Englishman is an Englishman, let him come 
 from what part of the empire he may. That is what I call 
 genuine liberality, Sir Reginald." 
 
 "Quite true, Sir Gervaise; and a Scotchman is a Scotch- 
 man, even though he come from the north of Tweed." 
 
 This was quietly said, but the vice-admiral felt the mer- 
 ited rebuke it contained, and he had the good-nature and the 
 good sense to laugh at it, and to admit his own prejudices. 
 This little encounter brought the party to Sir Wycherly's 
 door, where all three remained until it was ascertained that 
 they might enter. 
 
 The next quarter of an hour brought about a great change 
 in the situation of all the principal inmates of Wychecombe 
 Hall. The interdict was taken off the rooms of Sir Wych- 
 erly, and in them had collected all the gentlemen, Mrs. 
 Dutton and her daughter, with three or four of the upper 
 servants of the establishment. Even Galleygo contrived to 
 thrust his ungainly person in among the rest, though he 
 had the discretion to keep in the background among his 
 fellows. In a word, both dressing-room and bedroom had 
 their occupants, though the last was principally filled by the 
 medical men, and those whose rank gave them claims to be 
 near the person of the sick. 
 
 It was now past a question known that poor Sir Wycherly 
 was on his death-bed. His mind had sensibly improved, 
 nor was his speech any worse; but his physical system gen- 
 erally had received a shock that rendered recovery hopeless. 
 It was the opinion of the physicians that he might possibly 
 survive several days; or that he might be carried off, in a 
 moment, by a return of the paralytic affection. 
 
 The baronet, himself, appeared to be perfectly conscious 
 of his situation ; as was apparent by the anxiety he expressed 
 to get his friends together, and more especially the concern 
 he felt to make a due disposition of his worldly affairs. 
 The medical men had long resisted both wishes, until, con- 
 vinced that the question was reduced to one of a few hours 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 223 
 
 more or less of life, and that denial was likely to produce 
 worse effects than compliance, they finally and unanimously 
 consented. 
 
 " It's no a great concession to mortal infirmity to let a 
 dying man have his way," whispered Magrath to the two 
 admirals, as the latter entered the room. " Sir Wycherly is 
 a hopeless case, and we'll just consent to let him make a 
 few codicils, seeing that he so fairvently desires it; and 
 then there may be fewer hopeless deevils left behind him, 
 when he's gathered to his forefathers." 
 
 " Here we are, my dear Sir Wycherly,'' said the vice- 
 adpiiral, who never lost an occasion to effect his purpose, by 
 any unnecessary delay; "here we all are anxious to comply 
 with your wishes. Your kinsman, Sir Reginald Wyche- 
 combe, is also present, and desirous of doing your pleasure." 
 
 It was a painful sight to see a man on his death-bed, so 
 anxious to discharge the forms of the world as the master 
 of the Hall now appeared to be. There had been an un- 
 necessary alienation between the heads of the two branches 
 of the family; not arising from any quarrel or positive 
 cause of disagreement, but from a silent conviction in both 
 parties that each was unsuited to the other. They had met 
 a few times, and always parted without regret. The case 
 was now different; the separation was, in one sense at least, 
 to be eternal; and all minor considerations, all caprices of 
 habits or despotism of tastes, faded before the solemn im- 
 pressions of the moment. Still, Sir Wycherly could not 
 forget that he was master of Wychecombe, and that his 
 namesake was esteemed a man of refinement; and, in his 
 simple way of thinking, he would fain have arisen, in order 
 to do him honor. A little gentle violence, even, was neces- 
 sary to keep the patient quiet. 
 
 " Much honored, sir — greatly pleased," muttered Sir 
 Wycherly, the words coming from him with difficulty. 
 " Same ancestors — same name — Plantagenets — old house, 
 sir — head go, new one come — none better, than " 
 
224 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Do not distress yourself to speak, unnecessarily, my 
 dear sir," interrupted Sir Reginald, with more tenderness 
 for the patient than consideration for his own interest, as 
 the next words promised to relate to the succession. " Sir 
 Gervaise Oakes tells me he understands your wishes, gener- 
 ally, and that he is now prepared to gratify them. First 
 relieve your mind, in matters of business; and then I shall 
 be most happy to exchange with you the feelings of kindred." 
 
 "Yes, Sir Wycherly," put in Sir Gervaise, on this hint; 
 "I believe I have now found the clew to all you wish to 
 say. The few words written by you, last night, were the 
 commencement of a will which it is your strong desire to 
 make. Do not speak, but raise your right hand, if I am not 
 mistaken." 
 
 The sick man actually stretched his right arm above the 
 bedclothes, and his dull eyes lighted with an expression of 
 pleasure, that proved how strongly his feelings were enlisted 
 in the result. 
 
 " You see, gentlemen !" said Sir Gervaise, with emphasis. 
 "No one can mistake the meaning of this! Come nearer, 
 doctor — Mr. Rotherham — all who have no probable interest 
 in the affair — I wish it to be seen that Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe is desirous of making his will." 
 
 The vice-admiral now went through the ceremony of 
 repeating his request, and got the same significant answer. 
 
 " So I understood it. Sir Wycherly, and I believe now I 
 also understand all about the ' half,' and the * whole,' and 
 the * 7uiUus.^ You meant to tell us that your kinsman, Sir 
 Reginald Wychecombe, was of the ' half-blood ' as respects 
 yourself, and that Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, your nephew, 
 is what is termed in law — however painful this may be, 
 gentlemen, at such solemn moments the truth must be 
 plainly spoken — that Mr. Thomas Wychecombe is what the 
 law terms a ''filius nuUius.^ If we have understood you in 
 this, also, have the goodness to give this company the same 
 sign of assent" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 22$ 
 
 The last words were scarcely spoken before Sir Wycherly, 
 again raised his arm and nodded his head. 
 
 " Here there can be no mistake, and no one rejoices in it 
 more than I do myself; for the unintelligible words gave 
 me a great deal of vexation. Well, my dear sir, under- 
 standing your wishes, my secretary, Mr. Atwood, has drawn 
 the commencement of a will, in the usual form, using your 
 own pious and proper language of * In the name of God, 
 Amen,' as the commencement; and he stands ready to write 
 down your bequests as you may see fit to name them. We 
 will take them, first, on a separate piece of paper; then read 
 them to you, for your approbation ; and afterward transcribe 
 them into the will. I believe, Sir Reginald, that mode 
 would withstand the subtleties of all the gentlemen of all 
 the Inns of Court?" 
 
 " It is a very proper and prudent mode for executing a 
 will, sir, under the peculiar circumstances," returned he of 
 Hertfordshire. " But, Sir Gervaise, my situation, here, is a 
 little delicate, as may be that of Mr. Thomas Wychecombe 
 — others of the name and family, if any such there be. 
 Would it not be well to inquire if our presence is actually 
 desired by the intended testator?" 
 
 " Is it your wish. Sir Wycherly, that your kinsmen and 
 namesakes remain in the room, or shall they retire until the 
 will is executed? I will call over the names of the com- 
 pany, and when you wish any one, in particular, to stay in 
 the room you will nod your head." 
 
 "All — all stay," muttered Sir Wycherly; " Sir Reginald 
 —Tom— Wycherly— all " 
 
 "This seems explicit enough, gentlemen," resumed the 
 vice-admiral. "You are a// requested to stay; and, if I 
 might venture an opinion, our poor friend has named those 
 on whom he intends his bequests to fall — and pretty much, 
 too, in the order in which they will come." 
 
 "That will appear more unanswerably when Sir Wycherly 
 has expressed his intentions in words," observed Sir Regi • 
 15 
 
226 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 nald, very desirous that there should not be the smallest 
 appearance of dictation or persuasion offered to his kinsman, 
 at a moment so grave. " Let me entreat that no leading 
 questions be put." 
 
 " Sir Gervaise understands leading in battle much better 
 than in a cross-examination, Sir Reginald," Bluewater ob- 
 served, in a tone so low that none heard him but the person 
 to whom the words were addressed. " I think we shall 
 sooner get at Sir Wycherly's wishes by allowing him to take 
 his own course." 
 
 The other bowed, and appeared disposed to acquiesce. 
 In the mean time preparations were making for the construc- 
 tion of the will. Atwood seated himself at a table near the 
 bed, and commenced nibbing his pens; the medical men 
 administered a cordial; Sir Gervaise caused all the wit- 
 nesses to range themselves around the room, in a way that 
 each might fairly see and be seen ; taking care, however, so 
 to dispose of Wycherly as to leave no doubt of his hand- 
 some person's coming into the sick man's view. The lieu- 
 tenant's modesty might have rebelled at this arrangement, 
 had he not found himself immediately at the side of 
 Mildred. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 •' Vet, all is o'er ! — fear, doubt, suspense, are fled, 
 Let brighter thoughts be with the virtuous dead ! 
 The final ordeal of the soul is past. 
 And the pale brow is sealed to Heaven at last." 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 It will be easily supposed that Tom Wychecombe witnessed 
 the proceedings related in the preceding chapter with dis- 
 may. The circumstance that he actually possessed a ho?ia 
 Jide will of his uncle, which left him heir of all the latter 
 owned, real or personal, had made him audacious, and first 
 induced him to take the bold stand of asserting his legiti- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS 22/ 
 
 macy, and of claiming all its consequences. He had fully 
 determined to assume the title on the demise of Sir Wych- 
 erly; plausibly enough supposing that, as there was no heir 
 to the baronetcy, the lands once in his quiet possession, no 
 one would take sufficient interest in the matter to dispute 
 his right to the rank. Here, however, was a blow that men- 
 aced death to all his hopes. His illegitimacy seemed to be 
 known to others, and there was every prospect of a new 
 will's supplanting the old one, in its more important provi- 
 sions, at least. He was at a loss to imagine what had made 
 this sudden change in his uncle's intentions; for he did not 
 sufficiently understand himself to perceive than the few 
 months of close communion which had succeeded the death 
 of his reputed father had sufficed to enlighten Sir Wycherly 
 on the subject of his own true character, and to awaken a 
 disgust that had remained passive, until suddenly aroused 
 by the necessity of acting; and least of all could he under- 
 stand how surprisingly the moral vision of men is purified 
 and enlarged, as respects both the past and the future, by 
 the near approach of death. Although symptoms of strong 
 dissatisfaction escaped him, he quieted his feelings as much 
 as possible, cautiously waiting for any occurrence that 
 might be used in setting aside the contemplated instrument 
 hereafter; or, what would be better still, to defeat its execu- 
 tion now. 
 
 As soon as the necessary preparations were made, Atwood, 
 his pen nibbed, ink at hand, and paper spread, was ready 
 to proceed : and, a breathless stillness existing in the cham- 
 ber, Sir Gervaise resumed the subject on which they were 
 convened. 
 
 "Atwood will read to you what he has already written, 
 Sir Wycherly," he said; "should the phraseology be agree- 
 able to you, you will have the goodness to make a sign to 
 that effect. Well, if all is ready, you can now commence — 
 hey! Atwood?" 
 
 *** In the name of God, Amen,' " commenced the methodi- 
 
228 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 cal secretary; *' * I, Wycherly Wychecombe, Bart., of Wyche- 
 combe Hall, in the county of Devon, being of sound mind, 
 but of a feeble state of health, and having the view of death 
 before my eyes, revoking all other wills, codicils, or testa- 
 mentary devises, whatsoever, do make and declare this in- 
 strument to be my last will and testament: that is to say, 
 
 Imprimis, I do hereby constitute and appoint of 
 
 , the executor of this my said will, with all the powers 
 
 and authority that the law gives, or may hereafter give to 
 
 said executor. Secondly, I give and bequeath to .' 
 
 This is all that is yet written. Sir Gervaise, blanks being 
 left for the name or names of the executor or executors, as 
 well as for the * s ' at the end of ' executor,' should the testa- 
 tor see fit to name more than one." 
 
 " There, Sir Reginald," said the vice-admiral, not alto- 
 gether without exultation, "this is the way we prepare 
 these things on board a man-of-war! A flag-officer's secre- 
 tary needs have himself qualified to do anything, short of a 
 knowledge of administering to the cure of souls!" 
 
 " And the cure of bodies, ye'll be permitting me to add, 
 Sir Gervaise," observed Magrath, taking an enormous pinch 
 of a strong yellow snuff. 
 
 " Our secretary would make but a lubberly fist at turning 
 off a delicate turtle-soup out of pig's-head; such as we puts 
 on our table at sea, so often," muttered Galleygo in the ear 
 of Mrs. Larder. 
 
 " I see nothing to object to, Sir Gervaise, if the language 
 is agreeable to Sir Wycherly," answered the barrister by 
 profession, though not by practice. " It would be advisable 
 to get his approbation of even the language." 
 
 "That we intend to do, of course, sir. Sir Wycherly, do 
 you find the terms of this will to your liking?" 
 
 Sir Wycherly smiled, and very clearly gave the sign of 
 assent. 
 
 " I thought as much — for Atwood has made the wills of 
 two admirals and of three captains, to my knowledge; and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 229 
 
 my Lord Chief Justice said that one of the last would have 
 done credit to the best conveyancer in England, and that it 
 was a pity the testator had nothing to bequeath. Now, Sir 
 Wycherly, will you have one executor, or more? If one^ 
 hold up a single finger; and a finger for each additional 
 executor you wish us to insert in these blanks. One, At- 
 wood — you perceive, gentlemen, that Sir Wycherly raises 
 but 07ie finger; and so you can give a flourish at the end of 
 the * r,' as the word will be in the singular ; — hey ! Atwood ?" 
 
 The secretary did as directed, and then reported himself 
 ready to proceed. 
 
 "It will be necessary for you now to 7iame your executor, 
 Sir Wycherly — make as little effort as possible, as we shall 
 understand the name, alone." 
 
 Sir Wycherly succeeded in uttering the name of " Sir 
 Reginald Wychecombe," quite audibly. 
 
 " This is plain enough," resumed the vice-admiral ; " how 
 does the sentence read now, AtwOod?" 
 
 ^^^Impri?nis : — I do hereby constitute and appoint Sir 
 Reginald Wychecombe, of Wychecombe-Regis, in the county 
 of Herts, Baronet, the executor of this my said will, etc.'" 
 
 "If that clause is to your liking. Sir Wycherly, have the 
 goodness to give the sign agreed on." 
 
 The sick man smiled, nodded his head, raised his hand, 
 and looked anxiously at his kinsman. 
 
 " I consent to serve. Sir Wycherly, if such is your desire," 
 observed the nominee, who detected the meaning of his kins- 
 man's look. 
 
 " And now, sir," continued the vice-admiral, " it is nec- 
 essary to ask you a few questions, in order that Atwood may 
 know what next to write. Is it your desire to bequeath any 
 real estate?" Sir Wycherly assented. "Do you wish to 
 bequeath all your real estate?" The same sign of assent 
 was given. "Do you wish to bequeath ^// to one person?" 
 The sign of assent was given to this also. " This makes 
 plain sailing and a short run, — hey! Atwood?" 
 
230 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 The secretary wrote as fast as possible, and in two or three 
 minutes he read aloud, as follows : 
 
 *' ' Secondly, I make and declare the following bequests or 
 
 devises — that is to say, I give and bequeath to • 
 
 of , all the real estate of which I may die seised, 
 
 together with all the houses, tenements, hereditaments, and 
 appurtenances thereunto belonging, and all my rights to 
 the same, whether in law or equity, to be possessed and 
 
 enjoyed by the said of in fee, by 
 
 heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, forever.' There 
 are blanks for the name and description, as well as for the 
 sex of the devisee," added the secretary. 
 
 "All very proper and legal, I believe, Sir Reginald? 
 — I am glad you think so, sir. Now, Sir Wycherly, we 
 wait for the name of the lucky person you mean thus to 
 favor." 
 
 " Sir Reginald Wychecombe," the sick man uttered pain- 
 fully; "half-blood — no nuUus, Sir Michael's heir — my 
 heir." 
 
 "This is plain English!" cried Sir Gervaise, in the way 
 of a man who is not displeased; "put in the name of ' Sir 
 Reginald Wychecombe of Wychecombe-Regis, Herts,' At- 
 wood — ay — that just fills the blank handsomely — you want 
 ^ his heirs, executors, etc.,' in the other blank." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Sir Gervaise; it should read * by 
 himself^ his heirs, etc' " 
 
 " Very true — very true, Atwood. Now read it slowly, and 
 Sir Wycherly will assent, if he approve." 
 
 This was done, and Sir Wycherly not only approved, but 
 it was apparent to all present, the abashed and confounded 
 Tom himself not excepted, that he approved with a feeling 
 akin to delight. 
 
 "That gives a black eye to all the land, — hey! Atwood?" 
 said Sir Gervaise; who, by this time, had entered into the 
 business in hand with all the interest of a regular notary — 
 or, rather, with that of one on whose shoulders rested the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 23 1 
 
 responsibility of success or failure. " We come next to the 
 personals. Do you wish to bequeath your furniture, wines, 
 horses, carriages, and other things of that sort, to any par- 
 ticular person, Sir Wycherly?" 
 
 "All — Sir Reginald — Wychecombe — half-blood — old Sir 
 Michael's heir," answered the testator. 
 
 " Good — clap that down, Atwood, for it is doing the thing 
 as I like to see family affairs settled. As soon as you are 
 ready, let us hear how it sounds in writing." 
 
 "*I furthermore bequeath to the said Sir Reginald 
 Wychecombe of Wychecombe-Regis, as aforesaid, baronet, 
 all my personal property, whatsoever,' " read Atwood, as 
 soon as ready ; '' ' including furniture, wines, pictures, books, 
 horses and carriages, and all other goods and chattels, of 
 which I may die possessed, excepting thereout and there- 
 from, nevertheless, such sums in money, stocks, bonds, 
 notes, or other securities for debts, or such articles as I may 
 in this instrument especially devise to any other person.' 
 We can now go to especial legacies. Sir Gervaise, and then 
 another clause may make Sir Reginald residuary legatee, if 
 such be Sir Wycherly's pleasure." 
 
 " If you approve of that clause, my dear sir, make the 
 usual sign of assent." 
 
 Sir Wycherly both raised his hand and nodded his head, 
 evidently quite satisfied. 
 
 " Now, my good sir, we come to the pounds — no — guin- 
 eas? You like that better — well, I confess that it sounds 
 better on the ear, and is more in conformity with the habits 
 of gentlemen. Will you now bequeath guineas.'' Good — 
 first name the legatee — is that right. Sir Reginald.'"' 
 
 "Quite right. Sir Gervaise; and Sir Wycherly will un- 
 derstand that he now names the first person to whom he 
 wishes to bequeath anything else.'' 
 
 " Milly," muttered the sick man. 
 
 "What? Mills!— the mills go with the lands. Sir Regi- 
 nald?" 
 
232 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "He means Miss Mildred Dutton," eagerly interposed 
 Wycherly, though with sufficient modesty. 
 
 " Yes— right— right," added the testator. " Little Milly 
 — Milly Dutton— good little Milly." 
 
 Sir Gervaise hesitated, and looked round at Bluewater, as 
 much as to say, " This is bringing coals to Newcastle" ; but 
 Atwood took the idea, and wrote the bequest, in the usual 
 form. 
 
 "'I give and bequeath to Mildred Dutton,'" he read 
 aloud, '* 'daughter of Francis Dutton of the Royal Navy, 
 
 the sum of .' What sum shall I fill the blank with, Sir 
 
 Wycherly.?" 
 
 "Three — three — yes, three." 
 
 "Hundreds or thousands, my good sir.**" asked Sir Ger- 
 vaise, a little surprised at the amount of the bequest. 
 
 " Guineas — three — thousand — guineas — five per cents." 
 
 "That's as plain as logarithms. Give the young lady 
 three thousand guineas in the fives, Atwood." 
 
 "*Igive and bequeath to Mildred Dutton, daughter of 
 Francis Dutton of the Royal Navy, the sum of three thou- 
 sand guineas in the five per cent, stocks of this kingdom.' 
 Will that do. Sir Wycherly?" 
 
 The old man looked at Mildred and smiled benevolently; 
 for, at that moment, he felt he was placing the pure and 
 lovely girl above the ordinary contingencies of her situa- 
 tion, by rendering her independent. 
 
 "Whose name shall we next insert, Sir Wycherly?" re- 
 sumed the vice-admiral. " There must be many more of 
 these guineas left." 
 
 "Gregory — and — James — children of my brother Thomas 
 — Baron Wychecombe — five thousand guineas each," added 
 the testator, making a great effort to express his meaning as 
 clearly as possible. 
 
 He was understood; and, after a short consultation with 
 the vice-admiral, Atwood wrote out the devise at length. 
 
 "* I give and bequeath to my nephews, Gregory and James 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 233 
 
 Wychecombe, the reputed sons of my late brother, Thomas 
 Wychecombe, one of the Barons of His Majesty's Exchequer, 
 the sum of five thousand guineas, each, in the five per cent, 
 funded debt of this kingdom.' " 
 
 " Do you approve of the devise, Sir Wycherly? If so, 
 make the usual sign of assent." 
 
 Sir Wycherly complied, as in all the previous cases of his 
 approval. 
 
 "Whose name shall we next insert, in readiness for a leg- 
 acy. Sir Wycherly?" asked the admiral. 
 
 Here was a long pause, the baronet evidently turning over 
 in his mind what he had done, and what yet remained to do. 
 
 " Spread yourselves, my friends, in such a way as to per- 
 mit the testator to see you all," continued the vice-admiral, 
 motioning with his hand to widen the circle around the bed, 
 which had been contracted a little by curiosity and interest; 
 " stand more this way. Lieutenant Wycherly Wychecombe^ 
 that the ladies may see and be seen; and you, too, Mr. 
 Thomas Wychecombe, come further in front, where your 
 uncle will observe you." 
 
 This speech pretty exactly reflected the workings of the 
 speaker's mind. The idea that Wycherly was a natural 
 child of the baronet's, notwithstanding the Virginian story, 
 was uppermost in his thoughts; and, taking the supposed 
 fact in connection with the young man's merit, he earnestly 
 desired to obtain a legacy for him. As for Tom, he cared 
 little whether his name appeared in the will or not. Justice 
 was now substantially done, and, the judge's property being 
 sufficient for his wants, the present situation of the lately 
 reputed heir excited but little sympathy. Nevertheless, Sir 
 Gervaise thought it would be generous, under the circum- 
 stances, to remind the testator that such a being as Tom 
 Wychecombe existed. 
 
 " Here is your nephew, Mr. Thomas, Sir Wycherly," he 
 said ; " is it your wish to let his name appear in your 
 will?" 
 
234 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 The sick man smiled coldly; but he moved his head, as 
 much as to imply assent. 
 
 " * I give and bequeath to Thomas Wychecombe, the eldest 
 reputed son of my late brother, Thomas, one of the Barons 
 of His Majesty's Exchequer,' " read Atwood, when the clause 
 
 was duly written ; " ' the sum of , in the five per cent. 
 
 stocks of this kingdom.' " 
 
 "What sum will you have inserted. Sir Wycherly?" 
 asked the vice-admiral. 
 
 " Fifty — fifty — pounds" said the testator, in a voice 
 clearer and fuller than he had before used that day. 
 
 The necessary words were immediately inserted; the 
 clause, as completed, was read again, and the approval was 
 confirmed by a distinctly pronounced " yes." Tom started, 
 but, as all the others maintained their self-command, the 
 business of the moment did not the less proceed. 
 
 " Do you wish any more names introduced into your will, 
 Sir Wycherly?" asked the vice-admiral. "You have be- 
 queathed but — a-a-a — how much — hey! Atwood? — ay, 
 ten and three are thirteen, and ^ity potrnds, make ^13,180; 
 and I hear you have ;^2 0,000 funded, besides loose cash, 
 beyond a doubt." 
 
 "Ann Larder — Samuel Cork — Richard Bitts — David 
 Brush — Phoebe Keys," said Sir Wycherly slowly, giving 
 time after each pause, for Atwood to write; naming his 
 cook, butler, groom, valet or body-servant, and housekeeper, 
 in the order they have been laid before the reader. 
 
 "How much to each. Sir Wycherly? — I see Atwood has 
 made short work, and put them all in the same clause — 
 that will never do, unless the legacies are the same." 
 
 "Good — good — right," muttered the testator; ";^2oo — 
 each — ^^1,000 — all — money — money." 
 
 This settled the point, and the clause was regularly writ- 
 ten, read, and approved. 
 
 "This raises the money bequests to ;£"i4,i8o. Sir Wych- 
 erly — some ;j^6,ooo or ^^7,000 more must remain to be dis- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2 35 
 
 posed of. Stand a little further this way, if you please, Mr. 
 Wycherly Wychecombe, and allow the ladies more room. 
 Whose name shall we insert next, sir?" 
 
 Sir Wycherly, thus directed by the eager desire of the 
 admiral to serve the gallant lieutenant, fastened his eyes on 
 the young man, regarding him quite a minute in silent 
 attention. 
 
 "Virginian — same name — American — colonies — good lad 
 — brave lad — ;2^i,ooo," muttered the sick man between his 
 teeth ; and yet, so breathless was the quiet of the chamber, 
 at that moment, every syllable was heard by all present. 
 "Yes — ^i,ooo — Wycherly Wychecombe — royal navy " 
 
 Atwood's pen was running rapidly over the paper, and had 
 just reached the name of the contemplated legatee, when his 
 hand was arrested by the voice of the young man him- 
 self. 
 
 " Stop, Mr. Atwood — do not insert any clause in my fa- 
 vor!" cried Wycherly, his face the color of crimson, and his 
 chest heaving with the emotions he felt it so difficult to re- 
 press. " I decline the legacy — it will be useless to write it, 
 as I will not receive a shilling." 
 
 "Young sir," said Sir Gervaise, with a little of the sever- 
 ity of a superior, when he rebukes an inferior, in his man- 
 ner; "you speak hastily. It is not the office of an auditor 
 or of a spectator to repel the kindness of a man about to 
 pass from the face of the earth, into the more immediate 
 presence of his God!" 
 
 " I have every sentiment of respect for Sir Wycherly 
 Wychecombe, sir; — every friendly wish for his speedy re- 
 covery, and a long evening to his life; but I will accept of 
 the money of no man who holds my country in such obvious 
 distaste as, it is apparent, the testator holds mine." 
 
 "You are an Englishman, I believe. Lieutenant Wyche- 
 combe; and a servant of King George II.?" 
 
 "I am not a.n Englishman, Sir Gervaise Oakes — but an 
 American; a Virginian, entitled to all the rights and privi 
 
236 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 leges of a British subject. I am no more an Englishman 
 than Dr. Magrath may lay claim to the same character." 
 
 "This is putting the case strongly, — hey! Atwood?" an- 
 swered the vice-admiral, smiling in spite of the occasion. 
 "I am far from saying that you are an Englishman, in all 
 senses, sir; but you are one in the sense that gives you na- 
 tional character and national rights. You are a subject of 
 
 "No, Sir Gervaise; your pardon. I am the subject of 
 George II., but in no manner a subject of E?igland. I am, 
 in one sense, perhaps, a subject of the British empire; but 
 I am not the less a Virginian, and an American. Not a 
 shilling of any man's money will I ever touch who expresses 
 his contempt for either." 
 
 " You forget yourself, young man, and overlook the future. 
 The hundred or two of prize-money, bought at the expense 
 of your blood, in the late affair at Groix, will not last for- 
 ever." 
 
 " It is gone, already, sir, every shilling of it having been 
 sent to the widow of the boatswain who was killed at my 
 side. I am no beggar. Sir Gervaise Oakes, though only an 
 American. I am the owner of a plantation, which affords 
 me a respectable independence, already ; and I do not serve 
 from necessity, but from choice. Perhaps, if Sir Wycherly 
 knew this, he would consent to omit my name. I honor and 
 respect him; would gladly relieve his distress, either of 
 body or mind; but I cannot consent to accept his money 
 when offered on terms I consider humiliating." 
 
 This was said modestly, but with a warmth and sincerity 
 which left no doubt that the speaker was in earnest. Sir 
 Gervaise too much respected the feelings of the young man 
 to urge the matter any further, and he turned toward the bed, 
 in expectation of what the sick man might next say. Sir 
 Wycherly heard and understood all that passed, and it did 
 not fail to produce an impression, even in the state to which 
 he was reduced. Kind-hearted, and indisposed to injure 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 23/ 
 
 even a fl}', all the natural feelings of the old man resumed 
 their ascendency, and he would gladly have given every 
 shilling of his funded property to be able freely to express 
 his compunction at having ever uttered a syllable that could 
 offend sensibilities so noble and generous. But this ex- 
 ceeded his powers, and he was fain to do the best he could, 
 in the painful situation in which he was placed. 
 
 " Noble fellow !" he stuttered out ; " honor to name — come 
 here — Sir Gervaise — bring here " 
 
 "I believe it is the wish of Sir Wycherly, that you would 
 draw near the bed, Mr. Wychecombe of Virginia^^'' said the 
 vice-admiral pithily, though he extended a hand to, and 
 smiled kindly on, the youth as the latter passed him in com- 
 pliance. 
 
 The sick man now succeeded, with a good deal of diffi- 
 culty, in drawing a valuable signet-ring from a finger. — This 
 ring bore the Wychecombe arms, engraved on it. It was 
 without the bloody hand, however ; for it was far older than 
 the order of baronets, having, as Wycherly well knew, been 
 given by one of the Plantagenet Dukes to an ancestor of the 
 family, during the French wars of Henry VI., and that, too, 
 in commemoration of some signal act of gallantry in the field. 
 
 "Wear this — noble fellow — honor to name," said Sir 
 Wycherly. ^^ Must be descended — all Wychecombes de- 
 scended — him " 
 
 " I thank you, Sir Wycherly, for this present, which I 
 prize as it ought to be prized," said Wycherly, every trace 
 of any other feeling than that of gratitude having vanished 
 from his countenance. " I may have no claims to your 
 honors or money; but this ring I need not be ashamed to 
 wear, since it was bestowed on one who was as much my 
 ancestor as he was the ancestor of any Wychecombe in 
 England." 
 
 "Legitimate?" cried Tom, a fierce feeling of resentment 
 upsetting his caution and cunning. 
 
 " Yes, sir, legitimate ^^^ answered Wycherly, turning to his 
 
2^8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 interrogator, with the calmness of one conscious of his own 
 truth, and with a glance of the eye that caused Tom to 
 shrink back again into the circle. " I need no dar^ to ena- 
 ble me to use this seal, which, you may perceive. Sir Ger- 
 vaise Oakes, is ajac simile of the one I ordinarily wear, and 
 which was transmitted to me from my direct ancestors." 
 
 The vice-admiral compared the seal on Wycherly's watch- 
 chain with that on the ring, and, the bearings being princi- 
 pally griffins, he was enabled to see that one was the exact 
 counterpart of the other. Sir Reginald advanced a step, 
 and when the admiral had satisfied himself, he also took the 
 two seals and compared them. As all the known branches 
 of the Wychecombes of Wychecombe bore the same arms, 
 viz., griffins for Wychecombe, with three battering-rams 
 quartered, for Wycherly — he saw, at once, that the young 
 man habitually carried about his person this proof of a 
 common origin. Sir Reginald knew very well that arms 
 were often assumed, as well as names, and the greater the 
 obscurity of the individual who took these liberties, the 
 greater was his impunity; but the seal was a very ancient 
 one, and innovations on personal rights were far less fre- 
 quent a century since than they are to-day. Then the char- 
 acter and appearance of Wycherly put fraud out of the ques- 
 tion, so far as the young lieutenant himself was concerned. 
 Although the elder branch of the family, legitimately speak- 
 ing, was reduced to the helpless old man who was now 
 stretched upon his death-bed, his own had been extensive; 
 and it well might be that some cadet of the Wychecombes 
 of Wychecombe-Regis had strayed into the colonies and 
 left descendants. Secretly resolving to look more closely 
 into these facts, he gravely returned the seals, and intimated 
 to Sir Gervaise that the more important business before them 
 had better proceed. On this hint, Atwood resumed the pen, 
 and the vice-admiral his duties. 
 
 "There want yet some ^6,000 or £'j,ooo to make up 
 ;!^2 0,000, Sir Wycherly, which I understand is the sum you 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 239 
 
 have in the funds. Whose name or names will you have 
 next inserted?" 
 
 "Rotherham — vicar — poor St. James — gone; yes — Mr. — • 
 Rotherham — vicar." 
 
 The clause was written, the sum of ^i,ooo was inserted, 
 and the whole was read and approved. 
 
 "This still leaves some ;^5,ooo more to deal with, my 
 dear sir." 
 
 A long pause succeeded, during which time Sir Wycherly 
 was deliberating what to do with the rest of his ready money. 
 At length his wandering eye rested on the pale features of 
 Mrs. Button; and, while he had a sort of liking, that pro- 
 ceeded from habit, for her husband, he remembered that she 
 had many causes for sorrow. With a feeling that was 
 creditable to his own heart, he uttered her name, and the 
 sum of ^2,000. The clause was written, accordingly, read, 
 and approved. 
 
 "We have still ^3,000 certainly, if not ^4,000," added 
 Sir Gervaise. 
 
 "Milly— dear little — Milly— pretty Milly," stammered 
 out the baronet affectionately. 
 
 "This must go into a codicil. Sir Gervaise," interrupted 
 Atwood; "there being already one legacy in the young 
 lady's favor. Shall it be one, two, three, or four thousand 
 pounds. Sir Wycherly, in favor of Miss Mildred, to whom 
 you have already bequeathed ;i^3,ooo." 
 
 The sick man muttered the words "three thousand," after 
 a short pause, adding " codicil." 
 
 His wishes were complied with, and the whole was read 
 and approved. After this, Sir Gervaise inquired if the tes- 
 tator wished to make any more devises. Sir Wycherly, who 
 had in effect bequeathed, within a few hundred pounds, all 
 he had to bestow, bethought himself, for a few moments, of 
 the state of his affairs, and then he signified his satisfac- 
 tion with what had been done. 
 
 "As it is possible. Sir Wycherly, that you may have over- 
 
240 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 looked something," said Sir Gervaise, " and it is better that 
 nothing should escheat to the crown, I will suggest the ex- 
 pediency of your making some one residuary legatee.'^ 
 
 The poor old man smiled an assent, and then he succeeded 
 in muttering the name of " Sir Reginald Wychecombe." 
 
 This clause, like all the others, was written, read, and ap- 
 proved. The will was now completed, and preparations 
 were made to read it carefully over to the intended testator. 
 In order that this might be done with sufficient care for fu- 
 ture objections, the two admirals and Atwood, who were 
 selected for the witnesses, each read the testament himself, 
 in order to say that nothing was laid before the testator but 
 that which was fairly contained in the instrument, and that 
 nothing was omitted. When all was ready, the will was 
 audibly and slowly read to Sir Wycherly, by the secretary, 
 from the beginning to the end. The old man listened with 
 great attention; smiled when Mildred's name was men- 
 tioned; and clearly expressed, by signs and words, his 
 entire satisfaction when all was ended. It remained only 
 to place a pen in his hand, and to give him such assistance 
 as would enable him to affix his name twice; once to the 
 body of the instrument; and, when this was duly witnessed, 
 then again to the codicil. By this time, Tom Wychecombe 
 thought that the moment for interposing had arrived. He 
 had been on thorns during the whole proceeding, forming 
 desperate resolutions to sustain the bold fraud of his legiti- 
 ma y, and thus take all the lands and heirlooms of the 
 estate, under the entail; still he well knew that a subordi- 
 nate but important question might arise, as between the va- 
 lidity of the two wills, in connection with Sir Wycherly's 
 competency to make the last. It was material, therefore, 
 in his view of the case, to enter a protest. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, advancing to the foot of the bed; 
 " I call on you all to observe the nature of this whole trans- 
 action. My poor, beloved, but misled uncle, no longer ago 
 than last night, was struck with a fit of apoplexy, or some- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 24 1 
 
 thing so very near it as to disqualify him to judge in these 
 matters; and here he is urged to make a will " 
 
 "By whom, sir?" demanded Sir Gervaise, with a severity 
 of tone that induced the speaker to fall back a step. 
 
 "Why, sir, in my judgment, by all in the room. If not 
 with their tongues, at least with their eyes." 
 
 "And why should all in the room do this? Am I a leg- 
 atee? — is Admiral Bluewater to be a gainer by this will? — ■ 
 can witnesses to a will be legatees?" 
 
 " I do not wish to dispute the matter with you, Sir Ger- 
 vaise Oakes; but I solemnly protest against this irregular 
 and most extraordinary manner of making a will. Let all 
 who hear me remember this, and be ready to testify to it 
 when called on in a court of justice," 
 
 Here Sir Wycherly struggled to rise in the bed, in evident 
 excitement, gesticulating strongly to express his disgust, 
 and his wish for his nephew to withdraw. But the physi- 
 cians endeavored to pacify him, while Atwood, with the 
 paper spread on a portfolio, and a pen in readiness, coolly 
 proceeded to obtain the necessary signatures. Sir Wych- 
 erly's hand trembled so much when it received the pen that, 
 for the moment, writing was out of the question, and it be- 
 came necessary to administer a restorative in order to 
 strengthen his nerves. 
 
 " Away — out of sight," muttered the excited baronet, leav- 
 ing no doubt on all present that the uppermost feeling of 
 the moment was the strong desire to rid himself of the pres- 
 ence of the offensive object. " Sir Reginald — little Milly 
 — poor servants — brothers — all the rest, stay." 
 
 "Just be calming the mind. Sir Wycherly Wychecombe," 
 put in Magrath, " and ye'll be solacing the body by the same 
 effort. When the mind is in a state of exaltation, the ner- 
 vous system is apt to feel the influence of sympathy. By 
 bringing the two in harmonious co-operation, the testamen- 
 tary devises will have none the less of validity, either in 
 reality or in appearances." 
 16 
 
242 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Sir Wycherly understood the surgeon, and he struggled 
 for seii-command. He raised the pen, and succeeded in 
 getting its point on the proper place. Then his dim eye 
 lighted, and shot a reproachful glance at Tom ; he smiled 
 in a ghastly manner, looked toward the paper, passed a hand 
 across his brow, closed his eyes, and fell back on the pil- 
 low, utterly unconscious of all that belonged to life, its in- 
 terests, its duties, or its feelings. In ten minutes, he ceased 
 to breathe. 
 
 Thus died Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, after a long life, 
 in which general qualities of a very negative nature had 
 been somewhat relieved by kindness of feeling, a passive if 
 not an active benevolence, and such a discharge of his re- 
 sponsible duties as is apt to flow from an absence of any 
 qualities that are positively bad; as well as of many of 
 material account, that are affirmatively good. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 *' Come ye, who still the cumbrous load of life 
 
 Push hard up hill ; but at the farthest steep 
 You trust to gain, and put an end to strife, 
 
 Down thunders back the stone with mighty sweep, 
 And hurls your labors to the valley deep ; — " 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 The sudden, and, in some measure, unlooked-for event, re- 
 lated in the close of the last chapter, produced a great 
 change in the condition of things at Wychecombe Hall. 
 The first step was to make sure that the baronet was actually 
 dead; a fact that Sir Gervaise Oakes, in particular, was 
 very unwilling to believe, in the actual state of his feelings. 
 Men often fainted, and apoplexy required three blows to 
 kill; the sick man might still revive, and at least be able to 
 execute his so clearly expressed intentions. 
 
 " Ye'U never have act of any sort, testamentary or matri- 
 monial, legal or illegal, in this life, from the late Sir Wych- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 243 
 
 erly Wychecombe, of Wychecombe Hall, Devonshire," coolly 
 observed Magrath, as he collected the different medicines 
 and instruments he had himself brought forth for the occa- 
 sion. " He's far beyond the jurisdiction of My Lord High 
 Chancellor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; and 
 therefore ye'll be acting prudently to consider him as de- 
 ceased; or in the light in which the human body is placed 
 by the cessation of all the animal functions." 
 
 This decided the matter, and the necessary orders were 
 given- all but the proper attendants quitting the chamber of 
 death. It would be far from true to say that no one la- 
 mented Sir Wycherly Wychecombe. Both Mrs. Button and 
 Mildred grieved for his sudden end, and wept sincerely for 
 his loss ; though totally without a thought of its consequences 
 to themselves. The daughter did not even once think how 
 near she had been to the possession of ^^6,000, and how 
 unfortunately the cup of comparative affluence had been 
 dashed from her lips; though truth compels us to avow that 
 the mother did once recall this circumstance, with a feeling 
 akin to regret. A similar recollection had its influence on 
 the manifestations of sorrow that flowed from others. The 
 domestics, in particular, were too much astounded to indulge 
 in any very abstracted grief, and Sir Gervaise and Atwood 
 were both extremely vexed. In short, the feelings usual to 
 such occasions were but little indulged in, though there was 
 a strict observance of decorum. 
 
 Sir Reginald Wychecombe noted these circumstances at- 
 tentively, and he took his measures accordingly. Seizing a 
 favorable moment to consult with the two admirals, his de- 
 cision was soon made; and, within an hour after his kins- 
 man's death, all the guests and most of the upper servants 
 were assembled in the room which it was the usage of the 
 house to call the library; though the books were few, and 
 seldom read. Previously, there had been a consultation 
 between Sir Peginald and the two admirals, to which Atwood 
 had been admitted, ex officio. As everything, therefore, had 
 
244 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 been arranged in advance, there was no time lost unneces- 
 sarily, when the company was collected; the Hertfordshire 
 baronet coming to the point at once, and that in the clearest 
 manner. 
 
 " Gentlemen, and you, good people, domestics of the late 
 Sir Wycherly Wychecombe," he commenced; "you are all 
 acquainted with the unfortunate state of this household. 
 By the recent death of its master, it is left without a head; 
 and, the deceased departing this life a bachelor, there is no 
 child to assume his place, as the natural and legal successor. 
 In one sense, I might be deemed the next of kin ; though, 
 by a dictum of the common law, I have no claim to the suc- 
 cession. Nevertheless, you all know it was the intention of 
 our late friend to constitute me his executor, and I conceive 
 it proper that search should now be made for a will, which, 
 by being duly executed, must dispose of all in this house, 
 and let us know who is entitled to command at this solemn 
 and important moment. It strikes me. Sir Gervaise Oakes, 
 that the circumstances are so peculiar as to call for prompt 
 proceedings." 
 
 " I fully agree with you, Sir Reginald," returned the vice- 
 admiral ; " but, before we proceed any further, I would sug- 
 gest the propriety of having as many of those present as 
 possible who have an interest in the result. Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe, the reputed nephew of the deceased, I do not 
 see among us." 
 
 On examination, this was found to be true, and the man of 
 Tom Wychecombe, who had been ordered by his master to 
 be present as a spy, was immediately sent to the latter, with 
 a request that he would attend. After a delay of two or 
 three minutes, the fellow returned with the answer. 
 
 " Sir Thomas Wychecombe's compliments, gentlemen," he 
 said, " and he desires to know the object of your request. 
 He is in his room, indulging in natural grief for his recent 
 loss; and he prefers to be left alone with his sorrows, just 
 at this moment, if it be agreeable to you." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 245 
 
 This was taking high ground in the commencement; and, 
 as the man had his cue, and delivered his message with 
 great distinctness and steadiness, the effect on the depen- 
 dants of the houseliold was very evident. Sir Reginald's 
 face flushed, while Sir Gervaise bit his lip ; Bluewater played 
 with the hilt of his sword, very indifferent to all that was 
 passing; while Atwood and the surgeons shrugged their 
 shoulders and smiled. The first of these persons well knew 
 that Tom had no shadow of a claim to the title he had been 
 in so much haste to assume, however, and he hoped that the 
 feebleness of his rights in all particulars was represented by 
 the mixed feebleness and impudence connected with this 
 message. Determined not to be bullied from his present 
 purpose, therefore, he turned to the servant and sent him 
 back with a second message, that did not fail of its object. 
 The man was directed to inform his master that Sir Regi- 
 nald Wychecombe was in possession of facts that, in his 
 opinion, justified the course he was taking, and if "Mr. 
 Thomas Wychecombe" did not choose to appear, in order to 
 look after his own interests, he should proceed without him. 
 This brought Tom into the room, his face pale with uncer- 
 tainty rather than with grief, and his mind agitated with 
 such apprehensions as are apt to beset even the most wicked, 
 when they take their first important step in evil. He bowed, 
 however, to the company, with an air that he intended to 
 represent the manner of a well-bred man acknowledging /lis 
 duties to respected guests. 
 
 " If I appear remiss in any of the duties of a host, gentle- 
 men," he said, " you will overlook it, I trust, in considera- 
 tion of my present feelings. Sir Wycherly was my father's 
 elder brother, and was very dear, as he was very near to me. 
 By this melancholy death. Sir Reginald, I am suddenly and 
 unexpectedly elevated to be the head of our ancient and 
 honorable family; but I know my own personal unworthi- 
 ness to occupy that distinguished place, and feel how much 
 better it would be filled by yourself. Although the law 
 
246 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 has placed a wide and impassable barrier between all of 
 your branch of the family and ourselves, I shall ever be 
 ready to acknowledge the affinity, and to confess that it does 
 us quite as much honor as it bestows." 
 
 Sir Reginald, by a great effort, commanded himself so far 
 as to return the bow, and apparently to receive the conde- 
 scending admissions of the speech, with a proper degree of 
 respect. 
 
 "Sir, I thank you," he answered, with formal courtesy; 
 "no affinity that can be properly and legally established 
 will ever be disavowed by me. Under present circum- 
 stances, however, summoned as I have been to the side of 
 his death-bed by the late Sir Wycherly himself, and named 
 by him, as one might say, with his dying breath, as his exec- 
 utor, I feel it a duty to inquire into the rights of all parties, 
 and, if possible, to ascertain who is the successor, and con- 
 sequently who has the best claim to command here." 
 
 "You surely do not attach any validity. Sir Reginald, to 
 the pretended will that was so singularly drawn up in my 
 dear uncle's presence, an hour before he died! Had that 
 most extraordinary instrument been duly signed and sealed, 
 I cannot think that the Doctor's Commons would sustain it; 
 but imsigned and misealed, it is no better than so much waste 
 paper," 
 
 " As respects the real estate, sir, though so great a loser 
 by the delay of five minutes, I am willing to admit that you 
 are right. With regard to the personals, a question in 
 equity — one of clearly expressed intention — might possibly 
 arise; though even of that I am by no means certain." 
 
 "No, sir; no!" cried Tom, a glow of triumph coloring 
 his cheek, in spite of every effort to appear calm ; " no Eng- 
 lish court would ever disturb the natural succession to the 
 personals! I am the last man to wish to disturb some of 
 these legacies — particularly that to Mr. Rotherham, and 
 those to the poor, faithful domestics" — Tom saw the pru- 
 dence of conciliating allies, at such a critical moment, and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 24/ 
 
 his declaration had an instant and strong effect, as was evi- 
 dent by the countenances of many of the listeners; "and, I 
 may say, that to Miss Mildred Button; all of which will be 
 duly paid, precisely as if my beloved uncle had been in his 
 right mind, and had actually made the bequests; for this 
 mixture of reason and justice, with wild and extraordinary 
 conceits, is by no means uncommon among men of great 
 age, and in their last moments. However, Sir Reginald, I 
 beg you will proceed, and act as in your judgment the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances of what may be called a very 
 peculiar case, require.'' 
 
 " I conceive it to be our duty, sir, to search for a will. 
 If Sir Wycherly has actually died intestate, it will be time 
 enough to inquire into the question of the succession at 
 common law. I have here the keys of his private secretary; 
 and Mr. Furlong, the land-steward, who has just arrived, 
 and whom you see in the room, tells me Sir Wycherly was 
 accustomed to keep all his valuable papers in this piece of 
 furniture. I shall now proceed to open it." 
 
 " Do so. Sir Reginald; no one can have a stronger desire 
 than myself to ascertain my beloved uncle's pleasure. 
 Those to whom he seemed to wish to give, even, shall not be 
 losers for the want of his name." 
 
 Tom was greatly raised in the opinions of half in the 
 room, by this artful declaration, which was effectually se- 
 curing just so many friends, in the event of any occurrence 
 that might render such support necessary. In the mean time. 
 Sir Reginald, assisted by the steward, opened the secretary, 
 and found the deposit of papers. The leases were all in 
 order; the title-deeds were properly arranged; the books 
 and accounts appeared to be exactly kept; ordinary bills 
 and receipts were filed with method ; two or three bags of 
 guineas proved that ready cash was not wanting; and, in 
 short, everything showed that the deceased had left his 
 affairs in perfect order and in a very intelligible condition. 
 Paper after paper, however, was opened, and nothing like a 
 
24S THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 will, rough draft or copied, was to be found. Disappoint- 
 ment was strongly painted on the faces of all the gentlemen 
 present; for they had ignorantly imbibed the opinion that 
 the production of a will would, in some unknown manner, 
 defeat the hopes of the soi-disa?it Sir Thomas Wychecombe. 
 Nor was Tom himself altogether without concern ; for, since 
 the recent change in his uncle's feelings toward himself, he 
 had a secret apprehension that some paper might be found, 
 to defeat all his hopes. Triumph, however, gradually as- 
 sumed the place of fear, in the expression of his counte- 
 nance ; and when Mr. Furlong, a perfectly honest man, de- 
 clared that, from the late baronet's habits, as well as from 
 the result of this search, he did not believe that any such 
 instrument existed, his feelings overflowed in language. 
 
 "Not so fast. Master Furlong— not so fast," he cried; 
 " here is something that possibly even your legal acumen 
 may be willing to term a will. You perceive, gentlemen, I 
 have it in my possession on good authority, as it is addressed 
 to me by name, and that, too, in Sir Wycherly's own hand- 
 writing; the envelope is sealed with his private seal. You 
 will pronounce this to be my dear uncle's hand. Furlong" 
 • — showing the superscription of the letter — " and this to be 
 his seal?" 
 
 " Both are genuine, gentlemen," returned the steward, 
 with a sigh. "Thus far, Mr. Thomas is in the right." 
 
 '''■Mr. Thomas, sirrah! — and why not Sir Thomas? Are 
 baronets addressed as other men, in England? But no mat- 
 ter! There is a time for all things. Sir Gervaise Oakes, 
 as you are perfectly indifferent in this affair, I ask of you 
 the favor to break the seal, and to inquire into the contents 
 of the paper?" 
 
 The vice-admiral was not slow in complying; for, by this 
 time, he began to feel an intense interest in the result. The 
 reader will readily understand that Tom had handed to Sir 
 Gervaise the will drawn up by his father, and which, after 
 inserting his reputed nephew's name. Sir Wycherly hr.d 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 249 
 
 duly executed, and delivered to the person most interested. 
 The envelope, address, and outer seal, Tom had obtained 
 the very day the will was signed, after assuring himself of 
 the contents of the latter, by six or eight careful perusals. 
 The vice-admiral read the instrument from beginning to 
 end, before he put it into the hands of Sir Reginald to ex- 
 amine. The latter fully expected to meet with a clumsy 
 forgery; but the instant his eyes fell on the phraseology, he 
 perceived that the will had been drawn by one expert in the 
 law. A second look satisfied him that the hand was that of 
 Mr. Baron Wychecombe. It has already been said that in 
 this instrument Sir Wycherly bequeathed all he had on 
 earth to " his nephew, Thomas Wychecombe, son, etc., etc.," 
 making his heir, also, his executor. 
 
 " This will appears to me to have been drawn up by a 
 very skilful lawyer; the late Baron Wychecmbe," observed 
 the baronet. 
 
 " It was. Sir Reginald," answered Tom, endeavoring to 
 appear unconcerned. " He did it to oblige my respected 
 uncle, leaving blanks for the name of the devisee, not liking 
 to make a will so very decidedly in favor of his own son. 
 The writing in the blanks is by Sir Wycherly himself, leav- 
 ing no doubts of his intentions." 
 
 " I do not see but you may claim to be the heir of 
 Wychecombe, sir, as well as of the personals; though your 
 claims to the baronetcy shall certainly be contested and 
 defeated." 
 
 "And why defeated?" demanded Wycherly, stepping for- 
 ward for the first time, and speaking with a curiosity he 
 found it difficult to control. "Is not Mr. Thomas — Sir 
 Thomas, I ought rather to say — the eldest son of the late 
 Sir Wycherly's next brother; and, as a matter of course, heir 
 to the title, as well as to the estate.-*" 
 
 " Not he, as I can answer from a careful examination of 
 proofs. Mr. Baron Wychecombe was never married, and 
 thus could have no heir at law." 
 
250 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "Is this possible! — How have we all been deceived then, 
 in America!" 
 
 " Why do you say this, young gentleman ? Can you have 
 any legal claims here?" 
 
 " I am Wycherly, the only son of Wycherly, who was the 
 eldest son of Gregory, the younger brother of the late baro- 
 net; and, if what you say be true, the next in succession to 
 the baronetcy, at least." 
 
 "This is " Tom's words stuck in his throat; for the 
 
 quiet, stern eye of the young sailor met his look and warned 
 him to be prudent. — " This is a mistake^' he resumed. " My 
 uncle Gregory was lost at sea, and died a bachelor. He can 
 have left no lawful issue." 
 
 " I must say, young gentleman," added Sir Reginald 
 gravely, "that such has always been the history of his fate. 
 I have had too near an interest in this family, to neglect its 
 annals." 
 
 " I know, sir, that such has been the opinion here for 
 more than half a century ; but it was founded in error. The 
 facts are simply these. My grandfather, a warm-hearted 
 but impetuous young man, struck an older lieutenant, when 
 ashore and on duty, in one of the West India Islands. The 
 penalty was death ; but neither the party injured nor the 
 commander of the vessel wished to push matters to extrem- 
 ity, and the offender was advised to absent himself from the 
 ship, at the moment of sailing. The injured party was in- 
 duced to take this course, as in a previous quarrel my 
 grandfather had received his fire, without returning it, 
 frankly admitting his fault. The ship did sail without Mr. 
 Gregory Wychecombe, and was lost, every soul on board 
 perishing. My grandfather passed into Virginia, where he 
 remained a twelvemonth, suppressing his story, lest its nar- 
 ration might lead to military punishment. Love next sealed 
 his future fate. He married a woman of fortune, and, 
 though his history was well known in his own retired circle, 
 it never spread beyond it. No one supposed him near the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 25 I 
 
 succession, and there was no motive for stating the fact, on 
 account of his interests. Once he wrote to Sir Wycherly 
 but he suppressed the letter, as likely to give more pain than 
 pleasure. That letter I now have, and in his own hand- 
 writing. I have also his commission, and all the other 
 proofs of identity that such a person would be apt to pos- 
 sess. They are as complete as any court in Christendom 
 would be likely to require, for he never felt a necessity for 
 changing his name. He has been dead but two years, and 
 previously to dying he saw that every document necessary to 
 establish my claim, should a moment for enforcing it ever 
 arrive, was put in such a legal form as to admit of no cav- 
 illing. He outlived my own father, but none of us thought 
 there was any motive for presenting ourselves, as all be- 
 lieved that the sons of Baron Wychecombe were legitimate. 
 I can only say, sir, that I have complete legal evidence that 
 I am heir at law of Gregory, the younger brother of the late 
 Sir Wycherly Wychecombe. Whether the fact will give me 
 any rights here, you best can say." 
 
 " It will make you heir of entail to this estate, master o?. 
 this house, and of most of what it contains, and the present 
 baronet. You have only to prove what you say, to defeat 
 every provision of this will, with the exception of that which 
 refers to the personal estate." 
 
 "Bravo!" cried Sir Gervaise, fairly rubbing his hands 
 with delight. "Bravo, Dick; if we were aboard the Plan- 
 tagenet, by the Lord, I'd turn the hands up, and have three 
 cheers. So then, my brave young seaman, you turn out to 
 be Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, after all!" 
 
 " Yes, that's the way we always does, on board ship," ob- 
 served Galleygo, to the group of domestics; "whenevei 
 anything of a hallooing character turns up. Sometimes we 
 makes a signal to Admiral Blue and the rest on 'em, to 
 * stand by to cheer,' and all of us sets to, to cheer as if our 
 stomachs was full of hurrahs, and we wanted to get rid on 
 'em. If Sir Jarvy v.ould just pass the word now, you'd have 
 
252 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 a taste of that 'ere custom, that would do your ears good for 
 a twelvemonth. It's a cheering matter when the one of the 
 trade falls heir to an estate." 
 
 "And would this be a proper mode of settling a question 
 of a right of property, Sir Gervaise Oakes?" asked Tom, 
 with more of right and reason than he commonly had of his 
 side; "and that, too, with my uncle lying dead beneath this 
 roof?" 
 
 "I acknowledge the justice of the reproof, young sir, and 
 will say no more in the matter — at least, nothing as indis- 
 creet as my last speech. Sir Reginald, you have the affair 
 in hand, and I recommend it to your serious attention." 
 
 " Fear nothing. Sir Gervaise," answered he of Hertford- 
 shire. " Justice shall be done in the premises, if justice 
 rule in England. Your story, young gentleman, is probable, 
 and naturally told, and I see a family likeness between you 
 and the Wychecombes, generally; a likeness that is cer- 
 tainly not to be traced in the person of the other claimant. 
 Did the point depend on the legitimacy of Mr. Thomas 
 Wychecombe, it might be easily determined, as I have his 
 own mother's declaration to the fact of his illegitimacy, as 
 well as of one other material circumstance that may possi- 
 bly unsettle even the late Baron Wychecombe's will. But 
 this testamentary devise of Sir Wycherly appears to be per- 
 fect, and nothing but the entail can defeat it. You speak 
 of your proofs; where are they? It is all-important to 
 know which party is entitled to possession." 
 
 " Here they are, sir," answered Wycherly, removing a belt 
 from his body, and producing his papers; "not in the orig- 
 inals, certainly; for most of them are matters of official 
 record, in Virginia; but in what the lawyers call ' exempli- 
 fied copies,' and which I am told are in a fit state to be read 
 as evidence in any court in England, that can take cogni- 
 zance of the matter." 
 
 Sir Reginald took the papers, and began to read them, 
 one by one, and with deep attention. The evidence of the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 253 
 
 identity of the grandfather was full, and of the clearest na- 
 ture. He had been recognized as an old schoolfellow, by 
 one of the governors of the colony, and it was at this gen- 
 tleman's suggestion that he had taken so much pains to per- 
 petuate the evidence of his identity. Both the marriages, 
 one with Jane Beverly, and the other with Rebecca Ran- 
 dolph, were fully substantiated, as were the two births. 
 The personal identity of the young man, and this too as the 
 only son of Wycherly, the eldest son of Gregor}% was well 
 certified to, and in a way that could leave no doubt as to the 
 person meant. In a word, the proofs were such as a careful 
 and experienced lawyer would have prepared, in a case that 
 admitted of no doubt, and which was liable to be contested 
 in a court of law. Sir Reginald was quite half an hour in 
 looking over the papers; and during this time, every eye in 
 the room was on him, watching the expression of his coun- 
 tenance with the utmost solicitude. At length, he finished 
 his task, when he again turned to Wycherly. 
 
 " These papers have been prepared with great method, 
 and an acute knowledge of what might be required," he said. 
 "Why have they been so long suppressed, and why did you 
 permit Sir Wycherly to die in ignorance of your near affin- 
 ity to him, and of your claims?" 
 
 " Of my claims I was ignorant myself, believing not only 
 Mr. Thomas Wychecombe, but his two brothers, to stand 
 before me. This was the opinion of my grandfather, even 
 when he caused these proofs to be perpetuated. They were 
 given to me that I might claim affinity to the family on my 
 arrival in England; and it was the injunction of my grand- 
 father that they should be worn on my person, until the 
 moment arrived when I could use them." 
 
 " This explains your not preferring the claim — why not 
 prefer the relationship?" 
 
 "What for, sir? I found America and Americans looked 
 down on, in England — colonists spoken of as a race of infe- 
 rior beings — of diminished stature, feebler intellects, and a 
 
254 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 waning spirit, as compared to those from whom they had so 
 recently sprung; and I was too proud to confess an affinity 
 where I saw it was not desired. When wounded, and ex- 
 pecting to die, I was landed here, at my own request, with 
 an intention to state the facts; but, falling under the care 
 of ministering angels" — here Wycherly glanced his eye at 
 Mildred and her mother — " I less felt the want of relatives. 
 Sir Wycherly I honored; but he too manifestly regarded us 
 Americans as inferiors, to leave any wish to tell him I was 
 his great-nephew." 
 
 " I fear we are not altogether free from this reproach, Sir 
 Gervaise," observed Sir Reginald thoughtfully. "We do 
 appear to think there is something in the air of this part of 
 the island that renders us better than common. Nay, if a 
 claim comes from oi^cr water ^ let it be what it may, it strikes 
 us as a foreign and inadmissible claim. The fate from 
 which even princes are not exempt, humbler men must cer- 
 tainly submit to!" 
 
 " I can understand the feeling, and I think it honorable 
 to the young man. Admiral Bluewater, you and I have had 
 occasion often to rebuke this very spirit in our young 
 officers; and you will agree with me when I say that this 
 gentleman has acted naturally, in acting as he has." 
 
 " I must corroborate what you say, Sir Gervaise," an- 
 swered Bluewater; "and, as one who has seen much of the 
 colonies, and who is getting to be an old man, I venture to 
 predict that this very feeling, sooner or later, will draw down 
 upon England its own consequences, in the shape of condign 
 punishment." 
 
 " I don't go as far as that, Dick — I don't go as far as that. 
 But it is unwise and unsound, and we, who know both hem- 
 ispheres, ought to set our faces against it. We have already 
 some gallant fellows from that quarter of the world among 
 us, and I hope to live to see more." 
 
 This, let it be remembered, was said before the Hallo 
 wells, and Coffins, and Brentons of our own times were en- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2$ 5 
 
 rolled in a service that has since become foreign to that of 
 the land of their birth; but it was prophetic of their appear- 
 ance, and of that of many other high names from the colo- 
 nies, in the lists of the British marine. Wycherly smiled 
 proudly, but he made no answer. All this time, Sir Regi- 
 nald had been musing on what had passed. 
 
 "It would seem, gentlemen," the latter now observed, 
 "that, contrary to our belief, there is an heir to the baro- 
 netcy, as well as to the estate of Wychecombe; and all our 
 regrets that the late incumbent did not live to execute the 
 will we had drawn at his request have become useless. Sir 
 Wycherly Wychecombe, I congratulate you on thus succeed- 
 ing to the honors and estates of your family ; and, as a mem- 
 ber of the last, I may be permitted to congratulate all of the 
 name in being so worthily represented. For one of that 
 family I cheerfully recognize you as its head and chief." 
 
 Wycherly bowed his acknowledgments, receiving also the 
 compliments of most of the others present. Tom Wyche- 
 combe, however, formed an exception, and, instead of mani- 
 festing any disposition to submit to this summary disposal 
 of his claims, he was brooding over the means of maintain- 
 ing them. Detecting by the countenances of the upper ser- 
 vants that they were effectually bribed by his promise to 
 pay the late baronet's legacies, he felt tolerably confident of 
 support from that quarter. He well knew that possession 
 was nine points of the law, and his thoughts naturally turned 
 toward the means necessary to securing this great advantage. 
 As yet, the two claimants were on a par, in this respect; for 
 while the executed will might seem to give him a superior 
 claim, no authority that was derived from an insufficient, 
 source would be deemed available in law; and Sir Wycherly 
 had clearly no right to devise Wychecombe, so long as 
 there existed an heir of entail. Both parties, too, were 
 merely guests in the house ; so that neither had any posses- 
 sion that would require a legal process to eject him. Tom 
 had been entered at the Temple, and had some knowledge 
 
256 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of the law of the land, more especially as related to real 
 estate; and he was aware that there existed some quaint 
 ceremony of taking possession, as it existed under the feu- 
 dal system ; but he was ignorant of the precise forms, and 
 had some reasonable doubts how far they would benefit him, 
 under the peculiar circumstances of this case. On the 
 whole, therefore, he was disposed to try the effect of intimi- 
 dation, by means of the advantages he clearly possessed, 
 and of such little reason as the facts connected with his 
 claim allowed him to offer. 
 
 " Sir Reginald Wychecombe," he said gravely, and with 
 as much indifference as he could assume ; " you have betrayed 
 a facility of belief in this American history that has sur- 
 prised me in one with so high a reputation for prudence and 
 caution. This sudden revival of the dead may answer for 
 the credulous lovers of marvels, but it would hardly do for 
 a jury of twelve sober-minded and sworn men. Admitting 
 the whole of this gentleman's statement to be true, however, 
 you will not deny the late Sir Wycherly's right to make a 
 will, if he only devised his old shoes; and, having this 
 right, that of naming his executor necessarily accompanied 
 it. Now, sir, I am clearly that executor, and as such I de- 
 mand leave to exercise my functions in this house, as its 
 temporary master at least." 
 
 '' Not so fast — not so fast, young sir. Wills must be 
 proved and executors qualified, before either has any valid- 
 ity. Then, again, Sir Wycherly could only give authority 
 over that which was his own. The instant he ceased to 
 breathe, his brother Gregory's grandson became the life- 
 tenant of this estate, the house included; and I advise him 
 to assert that right, trusting to the validity of his claim for 
 his justification in law, should it become necessary. In 
 these matters he who is right is safe; while he who is wrong 
 must take the consequences of his own acts. Mr. Furlong, 
 your stewardship ceased with the life of your principal; if 
 you have any keys or papers to deliver, I advise your plac- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 25/ 
 
 ing them in the hands of this gentleman, whom, beyond all 
 cavil, I take to be the rightful Sir Wycherly Wychecombe." 
 
 Furlong was a cautious, clear-headed, honest man, and, 
 with every desire to see Tom defeated, he was tenacious of 
 doing his duty. He led Sir Reginald aside, therefore, and 
 examined him, at some length, touching the nature of the 
 proofs that had been offered; until, quite satisfied that there 
 could be no mistake, he declared his willingness to comply 
 with the request. 
 
 " Certainly, I hold the keys of the late Sir Wycherly's 
 papers — those that have just been seen in the search for the 
 will," he said, " and have every wish to place them in the 
 hands of their proper owner. Here they are, Sir Wycherly ; 
 though I would advise you to remove the bags of gold that 
 are in the secretary, to some other place ; as those your uncle 
 had a right to bequeath to whom he saw fit. Everything else 
 in the secretary goes with the estate; as do the plate, furni- 
 ture, and other heirlooms of the Hall." 
 
 " I thank you, Mr. Furlong, and I will first use these keys 
 to follow your advice," answered the new baronet; "then I 
 will return them to you with a request that you will still 
 retain the charge of all your former duties." 
 
 This was no sooner said than done ; Wycherly placing the 
 bags of gold on the floor, until some other place of security 
 could be provided. 
 
 " All that I legally can. Sir Wycherly, will I cheerfully 
 do, in order to aid you in the assertion of your right; 
 though I do not see how I can transfer more than I hold. 
 Quifacitperaliiim^facitpcrse^ is good law. Sir Reginald; 
 but the principal must have power to act, before the deputy 
 can exercise authority. It appears to me that this is a case 
 in which each party stands on his own rights, at his own 
 peril. The possession of the farms is safe enough, for the 
 time being, with the tenants; but as to the Hall and Park, 
 there would seem to be no one in the legal occupancy. This 
 makes a case in which title is immediately available." 
 17 
 
258 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Such is the law, Mr. Furlong, and I advise SirWycherly 
 to take possession of the key of the outer door at once, as 
 master of the tenement." 
 
 No sooner was this opinion given, than Wycherly left the 
 room, followed by all present to the hall. Here he pro- 
 ceeded alone to the vestibule, locked the great door of the 
 building, and put the key in his pocket. This act was 
 steadily performed, and in a way to counteract, in a great 
 degree, the effect on the domestics of Tom's promises con- 
 cerning the legacies. At the same moment. Furlong whis- 
 pered something in the ear of Sir Reginald. 
 
 " Now you are quietly in possession, Sir Wycherly," said 
 the latter, smiling; "there is no necessity of keeping us all 
 prisoners in order to maintain your claims. David, the 
 usual porter, Mr. Furlong tells me, is a faithful servant, and, 
 if he will accept of the key as your agent, it may be returned 
 to him with perfect legal safety." 
 
 As David cheerfully assented to this proposition, the key 
 was put into his hands again, and the new Sir Wycherly 
 was generally thought to be in possession. Nor did Tom 
 dare to raise the contemplated question of his own legiti- 
 macy before Sir Reginald, who, he had discovered, pos- 
 sessed a clew to the facts; and he consequently suppressed, 
 for the moment at least, the certificate of marriage he had 
 so recently forged. Bowing round to the whole company, 
 therefore, with a sort of sarcastic compliance, he stalked off 
 to his own room with the air of an injured man. This left 
 our young hero in possession of the field; but, as the condi- 
 tion of the house was not one suitable to an unreasonable 
 display of triumph, the party soon separated; some to con- 
 sult concerning the future, some to discourse of the past, 
 and all to wonder, more or less, at the present. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ' Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, 
 
 I fear not wave nor wind ; 
 
 Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I 
 
 Am sorrowful of mind." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 " Well, Sir Jarvy," said Galleygo, following on the heels 
 of the two admirals, as the latter entered the dressing-room 
 of the officer addressed; "it has turned out just as I 
 thought; and the County of Fair-villain has come out of 
 his hole, like a porpoise coming up to breathe, the moment 
 our backs is turned ! As soon as we gives the order to 
 square away for England, and I see the old Planter's cabin 
 windows turned upon France, I foreseed them consequences. 
 Well, gentlemen, here's been a heap of prize-money made in 
 this house without much fighting. We shall have to give 
 the young lieutenant a leave, for a few months, in order that 
 he may take his swing ashore, here, among his brother 
 squires !" 
 
 "Pray, sir, what may be your pleasure?" demanded Sir 
 Gervaise; "and what the devil has brought you at my 
 heels?" 
 
 " Why, big ships always tows small craft, your honor," 
 returned Galleygo, simpering. " Howsever, I never comes 
 without an errand, as everybody knows. You see, Sir 
 Jarvy — you see. Admiral Blue, that our signal-officer is 
 ashore, with a report for us; and meeting me in the hall, he 
 made it to me first like, that I might bring it up to you a'ter- 
 ward. His news is that the French county is gone to sea, 
 as I has just told you, gentlemen." 
 
 " Can it be possible that Bunting has brought any such 
 tidings here! Harkee, Galleygo; desire Mr. Bunting to 
 walk up ; and then see that you behave yourself as is decent 
 in a house of mourning." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir. No fears of I, gentlemen. I can put on as 
 
26o THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 grievous a look as the best on 'em, and if they wishes to see 
 sorrow becomingly, and ship-shape, let them study my con- 
 duct and countenance. We has all seen dead men afore 
 now, gentlemen, as we all knows. When we fou't Moun- 
 sheer Graveland [Gravelin], we had forty-seven slain, be- 
 sides the hurt that lived to tell their own pain; and when 
 we had the " 
 
 "Go to the devil. Master Galleygo, and desire Mr. Bunt- 
 ing to walk up-stairs," cried Sir Gervaise impatiently. 
 
 *' Ay, ay, sir. Which will your honor have done first?" 
 
 "Let me see the signal-officer,yf^i-/," answered the vice- 
 admiral, laughing; "then be certain of executing the other 
 order." 
 
 "Well," muttered Galleygo, as he descended the stairs; 
 " if I was to do as he says, now, what would we do with the 
 fleet ? Ships wants orders to fight ; and flags wants food to 
 give orders; and food wants stewards to be put upon the 
 table; and stewards wants no devils to help 'em do their 
 duty. No — no — Sir Jarvy; I'll not pay that visit, till we 
 all goes in company, as is suitable for them that has sailed 
 so long together." 
 
 "This will be great news, Dick, if de Vervillin has really 
 come out!" cried Sir Gervaise, rubbing his hands with de- 
 light. " Hang me, if I wait for orders from London ; but 
 we'll sail with the first wind and tide. Let them settle the 
 quarrel at home, as they best can; it is our business to 
 catch the Frenchman. How many ships do you really sup- 
 pose the count to have?" 
 
 "Twelve of two decks, besides one three-decker, and 
 beating us in frigates. Two or three, however, are short 
 vessels, and cannot be quite as heavy as our own. I see no 
 reason why we should not engage him." 
 
 " I rejoice to hear you say so! How much more honora- 
 ble is it to seek the enemy, than to be intriguing about a 
 court ! I hope you intend to let me announce that red riband 
 in general orders to-morrow, Dick?" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 26l 
 
 "Never, with my consent, Sir Gervaise, so long as the 
 house of Hanover confers the boon. But what an extraor- 
 dinary scene we have just had below! This young lieuten- 
 ant is a noble fellow, and I hope, with all my heart, he will 
 be enabled to make good his claim." 
 
 "Of that Sir Reginald assures me there can be no man- 
 ner of doubt. His papers are in perfect order, and his story 
 simple and probable. Do you not remember hearing, when 
 we were midshipmen in the West Indies, of a lieutenant of 
 the Sappho's striking a senior officer, ashore; and of his 
 having been probably saved from the sentence of death, by 
 the loss of the ship?" 
 
 " As well as if it were yesterday, now you name the ves- 
 sel. ' And this you suppose to have been the late Sir 
 Wycherly's brother. Did he belong to the Sappho?" 
 
 " So they tell me, below ; and it leaves no doubt on my 
 mind of the truth of the whole story." 
 
 " It is a proof, too, how easy it is for one to return to 
 England, and maintain his rights, after an absence of more 
 than half a century. He in Scotland has a claim quite as 
 strong as that of this youth!" 
 
 " Dick Bluewater, you seem determined to pull a house 
 down about your own ears ! What have you or I to do with 
 these Scotch adventurers, when a gallant enemy invites us 
 to come out and meet him ! But mum — here is Bunting." 
 
 At this instant the signal-lieutenant of the Plantagenet 
 was shown into the room, by Galleygo, in person. 
 
 "Well, Bunting; what tidings from the fleet?" demanded 
 Sir Gervaise. " Do the ships still ride to the flood?" 
 
 " It is slack water. Sir Gervaise, and the vessels are look- 
 ing all ways at once. Most of us are clearing hawse, for 
 there are more round turns in our cables than I remember 
 ever to have seen in so short a time." 
 
 "That comes of there being no wind, and the uselessness 
 of the staysails and spankers. What has brought you ashore ? 
 Galleygo tells us something of a cutter's coming in, with 
 
262 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 information that the French are out ; but his news is usually 
 galley -ViQ.\NS J' 
 
 " Not always, Sir Gervaise," returned the lieutenant, cast- 
 ing a side look at the steward, who often comforted him 
 with ship's delicacies in the admiral's cabin; "this time, he 
 is right, at least. The Active is coming in slowly, and has 
 been signalling us all the morning. We make her out to 
 say that Monsieur Vervillin is at sea with his whole force." 
 
 " Yes," muttered Galleygo to the rear-admiral, in a sort 
 of aside ; *' the County of Fairvillain has come out of his 
 hole, just as I told Sir Jarvy. Fair-weather-villains they 
 all is, and no bones broken." 
 
 " Silence — and you think, Bunting, you read the signals 
 clearly?" 
 
 " No doubt of it. Sir Gervaise. Captain Greenly is of 
 the same opinion, and has sent me ashore with the news. 
 He desired me to tell you that the ebb would make in half 
 an hour, and that we can then fetch past the rocks to the 
 westward, light as the wind is." 
 
 "Ay, that is Greenly, I can swear! — He'll not sit down 
 until we are all aweigh, and standing out. Does the cutter 
 tell us which way the count was looking.'*" 
 
 "To the westward, sir; on an easy bowline, and under 
 short canvas." 
 
 " The gentleman is in no hurry, it would seem. Has he 
 a convoy .''" 
 
 " Not a sail, sir. Nineteen sail, all cruisers, and only 
 twelve of the line. He has one two-decker, and two frigates 
 more than we can muster; just a Frenchman's odds, sir." 
 
 " The count has certainly with him the seven new ships 
 that were built last season," quietly observed Bluewater, 
 leaning back in his easy-chair, until his body inclined at 
 an angle of forty-five degrees, and stretching a leg on an 
 empty stand, in his usual self-indulgent manner. "They 
 are a little heavier than their old vessels, and will give us 
 harder work." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 263 
 
 *' The tougher the job, the more creditable the workman- 
 ship. The tide is turning, you say, Bunting.?" 
 
 "It is, Sir Gervaise; and we shall all tend ebb, in twenty 
 minutes. The frigates outside are riding down channel 
 already. The Chloe seems to think that we shall be mov- 
 ing coon, as she has crossed topgallant and royal yards. 
 Even Captain Greenly was thinking of stretching along the 
 messenger." 
 
 " Ah ! you're a set of uneasy fellows, all round ! — You tire 
 of your native land in twenty-four hours, I find. Well, Mr. 
 Bunting, you can go off, and say that all is very well. 
 This house is in a sad state of confusion, as I presume, you 
 know. Mention this to Captain Greenly." 
 
 " Ay ay sir; is it your pleasure I should tell him anything 
 else, Sir Gervaise Oakes?" 
 
 " Why — yes — Bunting," answered the vice-admiral, smil- 
 ing; "you may as well give him a hint to get all his fresh 
 grub off, as fast as he can — and — yes; to let no more men 
 quit the ship on liberty." 
 
 "Anything more, Sir Gervaise?" added the pertinacious 
 officer. 
 
 " On the whole, you may as well run up a signal to be 
 ready to unmoor. The ships can very well ride at single 
 anchors, when the tide has once fairly made. What say 
 you, Bluewater?" 
 
 " A signal to unmoor, at once, would expedite matters. 
 You know very well you intend to go to sea, and why not do 
 the thing off-hand?" 
 
 " I dare say, now, Bunting, you too w^ould like to give the 
 commander-in-chief a nudge of some sort or other." 
 
 " If I could presume so far. Sir Gervaise. I can only 
 say, sir, that the sooner we are off, the sooner we shall flog 
 the French," 
 
 "And Master Galleygo, what are your sentiments on this 
 occasion? It is a full council, and all ought to speak 
 freely." 
 
264 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "You knows, Sir Jarvy, that I never speaks in these mat- 
 ters unless spoken to. Admiral Blue and your honor are 
 quite enough to take care of the fleet in most circumstances, 
 though there is some knowledge in the tops, as well as in 
 the cabin. My ideas is, gentlemen, that by casting to star- 
 board on this ebb tide, we shall all have our heads off-shore, 
 and we shall fetch into the offing as easily as a country 
 wench turns in a jig. What we shall do with the fleet, when 
 we gets out, will be shown in our ultra movements." 
 
 By " ultra," David meant " ulterior," a word he had caught 
 up from hearing despatches read, which he understood no 
 better than those who wrote them at the Admiralty. 
 
 "Thanks to you all, my friends!" cried Sir Gervaise, who 
 was so delighted at the prospect of a general engagement 
 that he felt a boyish pleasure in this fooling; "and now to 
 business, seriously. Mr. Bunting, I would have the signal 
 for sailing shown. Let each ship fire a recall-gun for her 
 boats. Half an hour later, show the bunting to unmoor; 
 and send my boat ashore as soon as you begin to heave on 
 the capstan. So, good-morning, my fine fellow, and show 
 your activity." 
 
 " Mr. Bunting, as you pass the Caesar, do me the favor to 
 ask for my boat also," said Bluewater lazily, but half-rais- 
 ing his body to look after the retiring lieutenant. " If we 
 are to move, I suppose I shall have to go with the rest of 
 them. Of course we shall repeat all your signals." 
 
 Sir Gervaise waited until Bunting was out of the room, 
 when he turned to the steward, and said with some dryness 
 of manner : 
 
 " Mr. Galleygo, you have my permission to go on board, 
 bag and baggage." 
 
 "Yes, Sir Jarvy, I understands. We are about to get the 
 ships under way, and good men ought to be in their places. 
 Good-by, Admiral Blue. We shall meet before the face of 
 the French, and then I expects every man on us will set an 
 example to himself of courage and devotion." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 265 
 
 "That fellow grows worse and worse each day, and I 
 shall have to send him forward, in order to check his im- 
 pertinence," said Sir Gervaise, half-vexed and half-laugh- 
 ing. " I wonder you stand his saucy familiarity as well as 
 you appear to do — with his Admiral Blues!" 
 
 "I shall take offence as soon as I find Sir Jarvy really 
 out of humor with him. The man is brave, honest, and 
 attached; and these are virtues that would atone for a 
 hundred faults." 
 
 " Let the fellow go to the devil! — Do you not think I had 
 better go out, without waiting for despatches from town?" 
 
 *' It is hard to say. Your orders may send us all down 
 into Scotland to face Charles Stuart. Perhaps, too, they 
 may make you a duke, and me a baron, in order to secure 
 our fidelity!" 
 
 "The blackguards! — well, say no more of that, just now. 
 If M. de Vervillin is steering to the westward, he can hardly 
 be aiming at Edinburgh, and the movements in the north," 
 
 "That is by no means so certain. Your really politic 
 fellows usually look one way and row another." 
 
 " It is my opinion that his object is to effect a diversion, 
 and my wish is to give it to him, to his heart's content. So 
 long as this force is kept near the chops of the Channel, it 
 can do no harm in the north, and, insomuch, must leave the 
 road to Germany open." 
 
 " For one, I think it a pity — not to say a disgrace — that 
 England cannot settle her own quarrels without calling in 
 the aid of either Frenchman or Dutchman." 
 
 "We must take the world as it is, Dick, and act like two 
 straightforward seamen, without stopping to talk politics. 
 I take it for granted, notwithstanding your Stuart fervor, 
 that you are willing enough to help me thresh Monsieur de 
 Vervillin." 
 
 " Beyond a question. Nothing but the conviction that he 
 was directly employed in serving my natural and legitimate 
 prince could induce me to show him any favor. Still, 
 
266 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Oakes, it is possible he may have succors for the Scotch on 
 board, and be bound to the north by the way of the Irish 
 channel!" 
 
 "Ay, pretty succors, truly, for an Englishman to stomach! 
 Mousquetaires^ and r/giments de Croy, or de Dillon, or some 
 d — d French name or other; and, perhaps, beautiful mus- 
 kets from the Bois de Vincemies ; or some other infernal nest 
 of Gallic inventions to put down the just ascendency of old 
 England! No — no — Dick Bluewater, your excellent, loyal, 
 true-hearted English mother never bore you to be a dupe of 
 Bourbon perfidy and trick. I dare say she sickened at the 
 very name of Louis!" 
 
 " I'll not answer for that. Sir Jarvy," returned the rear- 
 admiral, with a vacant smile; "for she passed some time at 
 the court of le Gra?id Motiarque. But all this is idle ; we 
 know each other's opinions, and, by this time, ought to 
 know each other's characters. Have you digested any plan 
 for your future operations; and what part am I to play 
 in it?" 
 
 Sir Gervaise paced the room, with hands folded behind 
 his back, in an air of deep contemplation, for quite five 
 minutes, before he answered. All this time Bluewater le- 
 mained watching his countenance and movements, in antici- 
 pation of what was to come. At length, the vice-admiral 
 appeared to have made up his mind, and he delivered him- 
 self of his decision, as follows: 
 
 " I have reflected on them, Dick," he said, " even while 
 my thoughts have seemed to be occupied with the concerns 
 of others. If de Vervillin is out, he must still be to the 
 eastward of us; for, running as the tides do on the French 
 coast, he can hardly have made much westing with this light 
 southwest wind. We are yet uncertain of his destination, 
 and it is all-important that we get immediate sight of him, 
 and keep him in view, until he can be brought to action. 
 Now, my plan is this. I will send out the ships in succes- 
 sion, with orders to keep on an easy bowline, until each 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 26/ 
 
 reaches the chops of the Channel, when she is to go about 
 and stand in toward the English coast. Each succeeding 
 vessel, however, will weigh as soon as her leader is hull 
 down, and keep within signal distance, in order to send in- 
 telligence through the whole line. Nothing will be easier 
 than to keep in sight of each other in such fine weather; 
 and by these means we shall spread ?. wide clew, — quite a 
 hundred miles, — and command the whole of the Channel. 
 As soon as Monsieur de Vervillin is made, the fleet can 
 close, when we will be governed by circumstances. Should 
 we see nothing of the French, by the time we make their 
 coast, we may be certain they have gone up Channel ; and 
 then a signal from the van can reverse the order of sailing, 
 and we will chase to the eastward, closing to a line abreast 
 as fast as possible." 
 
 "All this is very well, certainly; and by means of the 
 frigates and smaller cruisers we can easily sweep a hundred 
 and fifty miles of ocean; — nevertheless, the fleet will be 
 much scattered." 
 
 *' You do not think there will be any danger of the French's 
 engaging the van before the rear can close to aid it?" asked 
 Sii Gervaise with interest, for he had the profoundest re- 
 spect for his friend's professional opinions. " I intended 
 to lead out in the Plantagenet myself, and to have five or 
 six of the fastest ships- next to me, with a view that we 
 might keep off, until you could bring up the rear. If they 
 chase, you know we can retire." 
 
 " Beyond a doubt, if Sir Gervaise Cakes can make up his 
 mind to retire^ before any Frenchman who was ever born," 
 returned Bluewater, laughing. " All this sounds well; but, 
 in the event of a meeting, I should expect to find you, with 
 the whole van dismasted, righting your hulks like bull-dogs, 
 and keeping the Count at bay, leaving the glory of covering 
 your retreat to me." 
 
 "No — no — Dick: I'll give you my honor I'll do nothing 
 SO boyish and silly. I'm a different man at fifty-five from 
 
268 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 what I was at twenty-five. You may be certain that I will 
 run, until I think myself strong enough to fight." 
 
 " Will you allow me to make a suggestion, Admiral 
 Oakes ; and this wdth all the frankness that ought to char- 
 acterize our ancient friendship?" 
 
 Sir Gervaise stopped short in his walk, looked Bluewater 
 steadily in the face, and nodded his head. 
 
 " I understand by the expression of your countenance," 
 continued the other, " that I am expected to speak. I had 
 no more to say than to make the simple suggestion that your 
 plan would be most likely to be executed, were I to lead the 
 van, and -^qxq you to bring up the rear." 
 
 "The devil you do! — This comes as near mutiny — or 
 scandalum piagnatum — as one can wish ! And why do you 
 suppose that the plan of the commander-in-chief will be 
 least in danger of failing, if Admiral Bluewater lead on 
 this occasion, instead of Admiral Oakes?" 
 
 " Merely because I think Admiral Oakes, when an enemy 
 is pressing him, is more apt to take counsel of his heart than 
 of his head; while Admiral Bluewater is «<?/. You do not 
 know yourself. Sir Jarvy, if you think it so easy a matter to 
 run away." 
 
 " I've spoiled you, Dick, by praising your foolish manoeu- 
 vring so much before your face, and that's the whole truth 
 of the matter. No — my mind is made up; and, I believe 
 you know me well enough to feel sure, when that is the 
 case, even a council of war could not move it. / lead out, 
 in the Jtrst two-decked ship that lifts her anchor, and you 
 follow in the last. You understand my plan, and will see 
 it executed, as you see everything executed, in face of the 
 enemy." 
 
 Admiral Bluewater smiled, and not altogether without 
 irony in his manner ; though he managed, at the same time, 
 to get the leg that had been lowest for the last five minutes 
 raised, by an ingenuity peculiar to himself, several inches 
 above its fellow. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 269 
 
 "Nature never made you for a conspirator, Oakes," he 
 said, as soon as this change was effected to his mind; "for 
 you carry a top-light in your breast that even the blind can 
 see!" 
 
 "What crotchet is uppermost in your mind, now, Dick? 
 Ar'n't the orders plain enough to suit you?" 
 
 " I confess it; — as well as the motive for giving them just 
 in this form." 
 
 . "Let's have it, at once. I prefer a full broadside to your 
 minute-guns. What is my motive?" 
 
 " Simply that you. Sir Jarvy, say to a certain Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes, Bart., Vice-Admiral of the Red, and Member for 
 Bowldero, in your own mind, 'Now, if I can just leave that 
 fellow, Dick Bluewater, behind me, with four or five ships, 
 he'll never desert me^ when in front of the enemy, whatever 
 he might do with King George ; and so I'll make sure of 
 him by placing the question in such a light that it shall be 
 one of friendship, rather than one of loyalty."' 
 
 Sir Gervaise colored to the temples, for the other had 
 penetrated into his most secret thoughts; and, yet, spite of 
 his momentary vexation, he faced his accuser, and both 
 laughed in the heartfelt manner that the circumstance would 
 be likely to excite. 
 
 " Harkee, Dick," said the vice-admiral, as soon as he 
 could command sufficient gravity to speak; "they made a 
 mistake when they sent you to sea; you ought to have been 
 apprenticed to a conjuror. I care not what you think about 
 it; my orders are given, and they must be obeyed. Have 
 you a clear perception of the plan?" 
 
 " One quite as clear, I tell you, as I have of the motive." 
 
 "Enough of this, Bluewater; we have serious duties 
 before us." 
 
 Sir Gervaise now entered more at length into his scheme; 
 explaining to his friend all his wishes and hopes, and let- 
 ting him know, with official minuteness, what was expected 
 at his hands. The rear-admiral listened with his accus- 
 
2/0 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 tomed respect, whenever anything grave was in discussion 
 between them; and, had any one entered while they were 
 thus engaged, he would have seen in the manner of one 
 nothing but the dignified frankness of a friendly superior, 
 and in the other the deference which the naval inferior 
 usually pays to rank. As he concluded Sir Gervaise rang 
 ills bell, and desired the presence of Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe. 
 
 " I could have wished to remain and see this battle for the 
 succession fairly fought," he said ; " but a battle of a differ- 
 ent sort calls us in another quarter. Show him in," he 
 added, as his man intimated that the young baronet was in 
 waiting. 
 
 " What between the duties of our professional stations, 
 and those of the guest to the host," said the vice-admiral, 
 rising and bowing to the young man, " it is not easy to set- 
 tle the question of etiquette between us. Sir Wycherly; and 
 I have, from habit, thought more of the admiral and the 
 lieutenant, than of the lord of the manor and his obliged 
 guests. If I have erred, you will excuse me." 
 
 " My new situation is so very novel that I still remain all 
 sailor. Sir Gervaise," answered the other, smiling; " as such 
 I hope you will ever consider me. Can I be of any service, 
 here?" 
 
 " One of our cutters has just come in with news that will 
 take the fleet to sea again this morning; or, as soon as the 
 tide begins to run a strong ebb. The French are out, and 
 we must go and look for them. It was my intention and 
 my hope to be able to take you to sea with me in the Plan- 
 tagenet. The date of your commission would not put you 
 very high among her lieutenants; but Bunting deserves a 
 first lieutenancy, and I meant to give it to him this after- 
 noon, in which case there would be a vacancy in the situa- 
 tion of my own signal-officer, a duty you could well perform. 
 As it is, you ought not to quit this house, and I must take 
 my leave of you with regret it is so." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2/1 
 
 " Admiral Oakes, what is there that ought to keep one of 
 my station ashore, on the eve of a general battle? I sin- 
 cerely hope and trust you will alter the last determination, 
 and return to the first." 
 
 " You forget your own important interests — remember that 
 possession is nine points of the law." 
 
 "We had heard the news below, and Sir Reginald, Mr. 
 Furlong, and myself were discussing the matter when I re- 
 ceived your summons. These gentlemen tell me that pos- 
 session can be held by deputy, as well as in person. I am 
 satisfied we can dispose of this objection." 
 
 " Your grandfather's brother, and the late head of your 
 family, lies dead in this house; it is proper his successor 
 should be present at his funeral obsequies." 
 
 " We thought of that, also. Sir Reginald has kindly 
 offered to appear in my place ; and, then, there is the chance 
 that the meeting with Monsieur de Vervillin will take place 
 within the next eight-and-forty hours; whereas my uncle 
 cannot be interred certainly for a week or ten days." 
 
 "I see you have well calculated all the chances, young 
 sir," said Sir Gervaise, smiling. " Bluewater, how does 
 this matter strike you?" 
 
 " Leave it in my hands, and I will see to it. You will 
 sail near or quite twenty-four hours before me, and there 
 will be time for more reflection. Sir Wycherly can remain 
 with me in the Caesar, in the action ; or he can be thrown 
 aboard the Plantagenet, when we meet." 
 
 After a little reflection, Sir Gervaise, who liked to give 
 every one a fair chance, consented to the arrangement, and 
 it was decided that Wycherly should come out in the Caesar, 
 if nothing occurred to render the step improper. 
 
 This arrangement completed, the vice-admij-al declared 
 he was ready to quit the Hall. Galleygo and the other ser- 
 vants had already made the dispositions necessary for em- 
 barking, and it only remained to take leave of the inmates 
 of the dwelling. The parting between the baronets was 
 
272 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 friendly; for the common interest they felt in the success 
 of Wycherly had, in a degree, rendered them intimates, and 
 much disposed Sir Reginald to overlook the sailor's well- 
 known Whiggery. Button and the ladies took their depar- 
 ture at the same time, and what passed between them and Sir 
 Gervaise on this occasion took place on the road to the 
 headland, whither all parties proceeded on foot. 
 
 A person so important as Sir Gervaise Oakes did not 
 leave the roof that had sheltered him, to embark on board 
 his own ship, without a due escort to the shore. Bluewater 
 accompanied him, in order to discuss any little point of 
 duty that might occur to the mind of either, at the last mo- 
 ment ; and Wycherly was of the group, partly from profes- 
 sional feeling, and more from a desire to be near Mildred. 
 Then there were Atwood, and the surgeons, Mr. Rotherham, 
 and two or three of the cabin attendants. Lord Geoffrey, 
 too, strolled along with the rest, though it was understood 
 that his own ship would not sail that day. 
 
 Just as the party issued from the gate of the park into the 
 street of the hamlet, a heavy gun was fired from the fleet. 
 It was soon succeeded by others, and whiffs and cornets 
 were seen flying from the mastheads that rose above the 
 openings in the cliffs, the signals of recall for all boats. 
 This set every one in motion, and, never within the memory 
 of ma^i, had Wychecombe presented such a scene of con- 
 fusion and activity. Half-intoxicated seamen were driven 
 down to the boats, by youngsters with the cloth diamond in 
 their collars, like swine, who were reluctant to go, and yet 
 afraid to stay. Quarters of beeves were trundled along in 
 carts or barrows, and were soon seen swinging at different 
 mainstays; while the gathering of eggs, butter, poultry, 
 mutton, lamb, and veal, menaced the surrounding country 
 with a scarcity. Through this throng of the living and the 
 dead, our party held its way, jostled by the eager country- 
 men, and respectfully avoided by all who belonged to the 
 fleet, until it reached the point where the roads to the cliffs 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2/3 
 
 and the landing separated, when the vice-admiral turned to 
 the only midshipman present, and, courteously lifting his 
 hat, as if reluctant to impose such a duty on a " young gen- 
 tleman" on liberty, he said: 
 
 " Do me the favor, Lord Geoffrey, to step down to the 
 landing and ascertain if my barge is there. The officer of 
 the boat will find me at the signal-station." 
 
 The boy cheerfully complied; and this son of an English 
 duke, who, by the death of an elder brother, became in time 
 a duke himself, went on a service that among gentlemen of 
 the land would be deemed nearly menial, with as much alac- 
 rity as if he felt honored by the request. It was by a train- 
 ing like this that England came, in time, to possess a marine 
 that has achieved so many memorable deeds; since it taught 
 those who were destined to command the high and useful 
 lesson how to obey. 
 
 While the midshipman was gor\e to look for the boat, the 
 two admirals walked the cliff, side by side, discussing their 
 future movements; and when all was ready, Sir Gervaise 
 descended to the shore, using the very path by which he 
 had ascended the previous day ; and, pushing through the 
 throng that crowded the landing, almost too much engaged 
 to heed even his approach, he entered his barge. In an- 
 other minute, the measured strokes of the oars urged him 
 swiftly toward the Plantagenet. 
 i3 
 
2^4 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 •* 'Twas not without some reason, for the wind 
 
 Increased at night until it blew a gale ; 
 And though 'twas not much to a naval mind, 
 
 Some landsmen would have look'd a little pale, 
 For sailors are, in fact, a different kind ; 
 
 At sunset they began to take in sail, 
 For the sky show'd it would come on to blow, 
 And carry away, perhaps, a mast or so." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 As it was just past the turn of the day, Bluewater deter- 
 mined to linger on the cliffs for several hours, or until it 
 was time to think of his dinner. Abstracted as his thoughts 
 were habitually, his mind found occupation and pleasure in 
 witnessing the evolutions that succeeded among the ships; 
 some of which evolutions it may be well now briefly to 
 relate. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes' foot had not been on the deck of the 
 Plantagenet five minutes, before a signal for all comman- 
 ders was flying at that vessel's masthead. In ten minutes 
 more every captain of the fleet, with the exception of those 
 belonging to the vessels in the offing, were in the flagship's 
 cabin, listening to the intentions and instructions of the 
 vice-admiral. 
 
 '' My plan of sailing, gentlemen, is easily comprehended," 
 continued the commander-in-chief, after he had explained 
 his general intentions to chase and engage ; " and every one 
 of you will implicitly follow it. We have the tide strong at 
 ebb, and a good six-knot breeze is coming up at southwest. 
 I shall weigh, with my yards square, and keep them so, 
 until the ship has drawn out of the fleet, and then I shall 
 luff up on a taut bowline and on the starboard tack, bring- 
 ing the ebb well under my lee-bow. This will hawse the 
 ship over toward Morlaix, and bringing us quite as far to 
 windward as is desirable. While the ebb lasts, and this 
 breeze stands, we shall have plain sailing; the difficulty will 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2/5 
 
 come on the flood, or with a shift of wind. The ships that 
 come out last must be careful to keep their seconds, ahead 
 and astern, in plain sight, and regulate their movements, as 
 much as they can, by the leading vessels. The object is to 
 spread as wide a clew as possible, while we hold the ships 
 within signal-distance of each other. Toward sunset I shall 
 shorten sail, and the line will close up within a league from 
 vessel to vessel, and I have told Bluewater to use his discre- 
 tion about coming out with the last ships, though I have 
 requested him to hold on as long as he shall deem it pru- 
 dent, in the hope of receiving another express from the Ad- 
 miralty. When the flood makes, I do not intend to go 
 about, but shall continue on the starboard tack, and I wish 
 you all to do the same. This will bring the leading ves- 
 sels considerably to windward of those astern, and may 
 possibly throw the fleet into a bow and quarter line. Being 
 in the van, it will fall to my duty to look to this, and to 
 watch for the consequences. But I ask of you to keep an 
 eye on the weather, and to hold your ships within plain 
 signal-distance of each other. If it come on thick, or to 
 blow very hard, we must close, from van to rear, and try our 
 luck in a search in compact order. Let the man who first 
 sees the enemy make himself heard at once, and send the 
 news, with the bearings of the French, both ahead and 
 astern, as fast as possible. In that case you will all close 
 on the point from which the intelligence comes; and, mark 
 me, no cruising to get to windward, in your own fashions, 
 as if you sailed with roving commissions. You know I'll 
 not stand that. And now, gentlemen, it is probable that 
 we shall all never meet again. God bless you ! Come and 
 shake hands with me, one by one, and then to your boats, 
 for the first lieutenant has just sent Greenly word that we 
 are up and down. Let him trip, Greenly, and be off as 
 soon as we can." 
 
 The leavetaking, a scene in which joyousness and sad- 
 ness were strangely mingled, succeeded, and then the cap- 
 
2/6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 tains disappeared. From that moment every mind was bent 
 on sailing. 
 
 Although Bluewater did not witness the scene in the 
 Plantagenet's cabin, he pictured it, in his mind's eye, and 
 remained on the cliffs to watch the succeeding movements. 
 As Wycherly had disappeared in the house, and Button 
 clung to his flagstaff, the rear-admiral had no one but Lord 
 Geoffrey for a companion. The latter, perceiving that his 
 relation did not seem disposed to converse, had the tact 
 to be silent himself; a task that was less difficult than 
 common, on account of the interest he felt in the spec- 
 tacle. 
 
 The boats of the different captains were still shoving off 
 from the starboard side of the Plantagenet, whither etiquette 
 had brought them together, in a little crowd, when her three 
 topsails fell, and their sheets steadily drew the clews toward 
 the ends of the lower yards. Even while this was in proc- 
 ess, the yards began to ascend, and rose with that steady 
 but graduated movement which marks the operation in a 
 man-of-war. All three were fairly mastheaded in two min- 
 utes. As the wind struck the canvas obliquely, the sails 
 filled as they opened their folds, and, by the time their sur- 
 faces were flattened by distention, the Plantagenet steadily 
 moved from her late berth, advancing slowly against a 
 strong tide, out of the group of ships among which she had 
 been anchored. This was a beautiful evolution, resembling 
 that of a sea-fowl, which lazily rises on its element, spreads 
 its wings, emerges from the water, and glides away to some 
 distant and unseen point. 
 
 The movement of the flagship was stately, measured, and 
 grand. For five minutes she held her way nearly due east, 
 with the wind on her starboard quarter, meeting the tide in 
 a direct line; until, having drawn sufficiently ahead of the 
 fleet, she let fall her courses, sheeted home topgallant-sails 
 and royals, set her spanker, jibs, and staysails, and braced 
 up sharp on a wind, with her head at south-southeast. This 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2// 
 
 brought the tide well under her lee fore-chains, and set her 
 rapidly off the land, and to windward. As she trimmed her 
 sails, and steadied her bowlines, she fired a gun, made the 
 numbers of the vessels in the offing to weigh, and to pass 
 within hail. All this did Bluewater note, with the attention 
 of an amateur, as well as with the critical analysis of a con- 
 noisseur. 
 
 "Very handsomely done, Master Geoffrey — very hand- 
 somely done, it must be allowed. Never did a bird quit a 
 flock with less fuss, or more beautifully, than the Plantage- 
 net has drawn out of the fleet. It must be admitted that 
 Greenly knows how to handle his ship." 
 
 " I fancy Captain Stowel would have done quite as well 
 with the Caesar, sir," answered the boy, with a proper esprit- 
 d^-ship. " Don't you remember. Admiral Bluewater, the 
 time when we got under way off I'Orient, with the wind 
 blowing a gale directly on shore? Even Sir Gervaise said, 
 afterward, that we lost less ground than any ship in the 
 fleet, and yet the Plantagenet is the most weatherly two- 
 decker in the navy; as everybody says." 
 
 "Everybody! — She is certainly a weatherly vessel, but 
 not more so than several others. Whom did you ever hear 
 give that character to this particular ship?" 
 
 " Why, sir, her reefers are always bragging as much as 
 that ; and a great deal more, too." 
 
 " Her reefers ! — Young gentlemen are particularly struck 
 with the charms of their first loves, both ashore and afloat, 
 my boy. Did you ever hear an old seaman say that much 
 for the Plantagenet?" 
 
 " I think I have, sir," returned Lord Geoffrey, blushing. 
 "Galleygo, Sir Gervaise's steward, is commonly repeating 
 some such stuff, or other. They are furious braggarts, the 
 Plantagenets, all round, sir." 
 
 "That comes honestly," answered Bluewater, smiling, 
 " her namesakes and predecessors of old having some such 
 characteristic, too. Look at that ship's yards, boy, and 
 
2/8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 learn how to trim a vessel's sails on a wind. The pencil of 
 a painter could not draw lines more accurate!" 
 
 " Captain Stowel tells us, sir, that the yards ought not to 
 be braced in exactly alike; but that we ought to check the 
 weather-braces, a little, as we go aloft, so that the topsail 
 yard should point a little less forward than the lower yard, 
 and the topgallant than the topsail." 
 
 "You are quite right in taking Stowel's opinion in all 
 such matters, Geoffrey : but has not Captain Greenly done 
 the same thing in the Plantagenet? When I speak of sym- 
 metry, I mean the symmetry of a seaman." 
 
 The boy was silenced, though exceedingly reluctant to 
 admit that any ship could equal his own. In the mean 
 time, there was every appearance of a change in the weather. 
 Just about the time the Plantagenet braced up, the wind 
 freshened, and in ten minutes it blev\»a stiff breeze. Some 
 time before the admiral spoke the vessels outside, he was 
 compelled to take in all his light canvas; and when he filled 
 again, after giving his orders to the frigate and sloop, the 
 topgallant sheets were let fly, a single reef was taken in the 
 topsails, and the lighter sails were set over them. This 
 change in the weather, more especially as the night threat- 
 ened to be clouded, if not absolutely dark, would necessarily 
 bring about a corresponding change in the plan of sailing, 
 reducing the intervals between the departures of the vessels, 
 quite one-half. To such vicissitudes are all maritime oper- 
 ations liable, and it is fortunate when there is sufficient 
 capacity in the leaders to remedy them. 
 
 In less than an hour, the Plantagenet's hull began to sink 
 to those on a level with it, when the Carnatic tripped her 
 anchor, opened her canvas, shot out of the fleet, hauled by 
 the wind, and followed in the admiral's wake. So accurate 
 was the course she steered that, half an hour after she had 
 braced up, a hawse-bucket, which had been dropped from 
 the Plantagenet in hauling water, was picked up. We may 
 add, here, though it will be a little anticipating events, that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 2/9 
 
 the Thunderer followed the Carnatic; the Blenheim the 
 Thunderer; the Achilles the Blenheim; the Warspite the 
 Achilles; the Dover the Warspite; the York the Dover; the 
 Elizabeth the York; the Dublin the Elizabeth; and the 
 Caesar the Dublin. But hours passed before all these ships 
 were in motion, and hours in which we shall have some 
 occurrences to relate that took place on shore. Still it will 
 aid the reader in better understanding the future incidents 
 of our tale, if we describe, at once, some of the circum- 
 stances under which all these ships got in motion. 
 
 By the time the Plantagenet's topsails were beginning to 
 dip from the cliffs, the Carnatic, the Thunderer, the Blen- 
 heim, the Achilles, and the Warspite were all stretching out 
 in line, with intervals of quite two leagues between them, 
 under as much canvas as they could now bear. The admiral 
 had shortened sail the most, and was evidently allowing the 
 Carnatic to close, most probably on account of the threaten- 
 ing look of the sky, to windward; while he was suffering 
 the frigate and sloop, the Chloe and Driver, to pass ahead 
 of him, the one on his weather and the other on his lee 
 bow. When the Dover weighed, the admiral's upper sail 
 was not visible from her tops, though the Warspite's hull 
 had not yet disappeared from her deck. She left the fleet, 
 or the portions of it that still remained at anchor, with her 
 fore-course set, and hauled by the wind, under double-reefed 
 topsails, a single reef in her mainsail, and with her main- 
 topgallant sail set over its proper sail. With this reduced 
 canvas, she started away on the track of her consorts, the 
 brine foaming under her bows, and with a heel that denoted 
 the heavy pressure that bore on her sails. By this time the 
 York was aweigh, the tide had turned, and it became neces- 
 sary to fill on the other tack in order to clear the land to 
 the eastward. This altered the formation, but we will now 
 revert to the events as they transpired on the shore, with a 
 view to relate them more in their regular order. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that Bluewater must have 
 
280 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 remained on or about the cliffs several hours, in order to 
 witness the departure of so many of the vessels. Instead of 
 returning to the Hall at the dinner hour, agreeably to prom- 
 ise, he profited by the appearance of Wycherly, who left the 
 cottage with a flushed, agitated manner, just as he was think- 
 ing of the necessity of sending a message to Sir Reginald, 
 and begged the young man to be the bearer of his excuses. 
 He thought that the change in the weather rendered it neces- 
 sary for him to remain in sight of the sea. Button over- 
 heard this message, and, after a private conference with his 
 wife, he ventured to invite his superior to appease his ap- 
 petite under his own humble roof. To this Bluewater 
 cheerfully assented; and when the summons came to the 
 table, to his great joy he found that his only companion was 
 to be Mildred, who, like himself, for some reason known 
 only to her own bosom, had let the ordinary dining-hour 
 pass without appearing at table, but whom her mother had 
 now directed to take some sustenance. 
 
 " The late events at the Hall have agitated the poor child, 
 sir," said Mrs. Dutton, in the way of apology, " and she 
 has not tasted food since morning. I have told her you 
 would excuse the intrusion, and receive her carving and 
 attentions as an excuse for her company." 
 
 Bluewater looked at the pallid countenance of the girl, 
 and never before had he found the resemblance to Agnes 
 Hedworth so strong, as that moment. The last year or two 
 of his own sweet friend's life had been far from happy, and 
 the languid look and tearful eyes of Mildred revived the 
 recollection of the dead with painful distinctness. 
 
 "Good God!" he murmured to himself; "that two such 
 beings should exist only to suffer! My good Mrs. Dutton, 
 make no excuses; but believe me when I say that you could 
 not have found in England another that would have proved 
 as welcome as my present little messmate." 
 
 Mildred struggled for a smile; and she did succeed in 
 looking extremely grateful. Beyond this, however, it ex- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 28 1 
 
 ceeded her powers to go. Mrs. Button was gratified, and 
 soon left the two to partake of their neat, but simple meal, 
 by themselves; household duties requiring her presence 
 elsewhere. 
 
 " Let me persuade you to take a glass of this really excel- 
 lent port, my child," said Bluewater. " If you had cruised 
 as long as I have done on the coast of Portugal, you would 
 know how to value a liquor as pure as this. I don't know 
 of an admiral that has as good!" 
 
 " It is probably our last, sir," answered Mildred, shaking 
 a tear from each of her long dark lashes, by an involuntarily 
 trembling motion, as she spoke. " It was a present from 
 dear, old Sir Wycherly, who never left my mother wholly 
 unsupplied with such plain delicacies as he fancied poverty 
 placed beyond our reach. The wine we can easily forget; 
 not so easily the donor." 
 
 Bluewater felt as if he could draw a check for one-half 
 the fortune he had devised to his companion ; and yet, by a 
 caprice of feeling that is not uncommon to persons of the 
 liveliest susceptibility, he answered in a way to smother his 
 own emotion. 
 
 "There will not soon be another old Sir Wycherly to 
 make his neighbors comfortable; but there is a yowig one, 
 who is not likely to forget his uncle's good example. I 
 hope you all here rejoice at the sudden rise in fortune that 
 has so unexpectedly been placed within the reach of our 
 favorite lieutenant?" 
 
 A look of anguish passed over Mildred's face, and her 
 companion noted it; though surprise and pity — not to say 
 resentment — prevented his betraying his discovery. 
 
 "We endeavor to be glad, sir," answered Mildred, smiling 
 in so suffering a manner as to awaken all her companion's 
 sympathies; "but it is not easy for us to rejoice at anything 
 which is gained by the loss of our former valued friend." 
 
 "I am aware that a young fellow, like the present Sir 
 Wycherly, can be no substitute for an old fellow like the 
 
282 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 last Sir Wycherly, my dear; but as one is a sailor, and the 
 other was only a landsman, my professional prejudices may 
 not consider the disparity as great as it may possibly ap- 
 pear to be to your less partial judgment." 
 
 Bluewater thought the glance he received was imploring, 
 and he instantly regretted that he had taken such means to 
 divert his companion's sadness. Some consciousness of this 
 regret probably passed through Mildred's mind, for she ral- 
 lied her spirits, and made a partially successful effort to be 
 a more agreeable companion. 
 
 " My father thinks, sir," she said, *' that our late pleasant 
 weather is about to desert us, and that it is likely to blow 
 heavily before six-and-thirty hours are over." 
 
 " I am afraid Mr. Button will prove to be too accurate an 
 almanac. The weather has a breeding look, and I expect 
 a dirty night. Good or bad, we seamen must face it, and 
 that, too, in the narrow seas, where gales of wind are no 
 gales of Araby." 
 
 "Ah, sir, it is a terrible life to lead! By living on this 
 cliff, I have learned to pity sailors." 
 
 " Perhaps, my child, you pity us when we are the most 
 happy. Nine seamen in ten prefer a respectable gale to a 
 flat calm. There are moments when the ocean is terrific; 
 but, on the whole, it is capricious, rather than malignant. 
 The night that is before us promises to be just such a one 
 as Sir Gervaise Oakes delights in. He is never happier 
 than when he hears a gale howling through the cordage of 
 his ship." 
 
 " I have heard him spoken of as a very daring and self- 
 relying commander. But you cannot entertain such feelings, 
 Admiral Bluewater; for to me you seem better fitted for a 
 fireside, well filled with friends and relatives, than for the 
 conflicts and hardships of the sea." 
 
 Mildred had no difficulty now in forcing a smile, for the 
 sweet one she bestowed on the veteran almost tempted him 
 to rise and fold her in his arms, as a parent would wrap a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 283 
 
 beloved daughter to his heart. Discretion, however, pre- 
 vented a betrayal of feelings that might have been misinter- 
 preted, and he answered in his original vein. 
 
 "I fear I am a wolf in sheep's clothing," he said; "while 
 Oakes admits the happiness he feels in seeing his ship 
 ploughing through a raging sea, in a dark night, he main- 
 tains that my rapture is sought in a hurricane. I do not 
 plead guilty to the accusation, but I will allow there is a 
 sort of fierce delight in participating, as it might be, in a 
 wild strife of the elements. To me, my very nature seems 
 changed at such moments, and I forget all that is mild and 
 gentle. That comes of having lived so much estranged 
 from your sex, my dear; desolate bachelor as I am." 
 
 "Do you think sailors ought to marry?" asked Mildred, 
 with a steadiness that surprised herself; for, while she put 
 the question, consciousness brought the blood to her 
 temples. 
 
 " I should be sorry to condemn a whole profession, and 
 that one I so well love, to the hopeless misery of single life. 
 There are miseries peculiar to the wedded lives of both sol- 
 diers and sailors; but are there not miseries peculiar to 
 those who never separate ? I have heard seamen say — men, 
 too, who loved their wives and families — that they believed 
 the extreme pleasure of meetings after long separations, the 
 delights of hope, and the zest of excited feelings, have ren- 
 dered their years of active service more replete with agree- 
 able sensations than the stagnant periods of peace. Never 
 having been married myself, I can only speak on report." 
 
 " Ah ! this may be so with men ; but — surely — surely — 
 womeft never can feel thus!" 
 
 " I suppose, a sailor's daughter yourself, you know Jack's 
 account of his wife's domestic creed! 'A good fire, a clean 
 hearth, the children abed, and the husband at sea,' is sup- 
 posed to be the climax of felicity." 
 
 "This may do for the sailor's jokes, Admiral Bluewater," 
 answered Mildred, smiling; "but it will hardly ease a 
 
284 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 breaking heart. I fear from all I have heard this afternoon, 
 and from the sudden sailing of the ships, that a great battle 
 is at hand?" 
 
 " And why should you, a British officer's daughter, dread 
 that? Have you so little faith in us, as to suppose a battle 
 will necessarily bring defeat! I have seen much of my own 
 profession, Miss Button, and trust I am in some small degree 
 above the rhodomontade of the braggarts ; but it is not usual 
 for us to meet the enemy, and to give those on shore reason 
 to be ashamed of the English flag. It has never yet been 
 my luck to meet a Frenchman who did not manifest a manly 
 desire to do his country credit; and I have always felt that 
 we must fight hard for him before we could get him; nor 
 has the result ever disappointed me. Still, fortune, or skill, 
 or rights is commonly of our side, and has given us the 
 advantage in the end." 
 
 "And to which, sir, do you ascribe a success at sea so 
 very uniform?" 
 
 "As a Protestant, I ought to say to our religion; but this 
 my own knowledge of Protestant vices rejects. Then to say 
 fortune would be an exceeding self-abasement — one that, 
 between us, is not needed; and I believe I must impute it 
 to skill. As plain seamen, I do believe we are more expert 
 than most of our neighbors; though I am far from being 
 positive we have any great advantage over them in tactics. 
 Lf any, the Dutch are our equals." 
 
 " Notwithstanding, you are quite certain of success. It 
 must be a great encouragement to enter into the fight with a 
 strong confidence in victory! I suppose — that is, it seems 
 to me — it is a matter of course, sir — that our new Sir VVych- 
 erly will not be able to join in the battle, this time?" 
 
 Mildred spoke timidly, and she endeavored to seem un- 
 concerned ; but Bluewater read her whole heart, and pitied 
 the pain which she had inflicted on herself, in asking the 
 question. It struck him, too, that a girl of his companion's 
 delicacy and sensibility would not thus advert to the young 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 285 
 
 man's movements at all, if the latter had done aught justly 
 to awaken censure; and this conviction greatly relieved his 
 mind as to the effect of sudden elevation on the handsome 
 lieutenant. As it was necessary to answer, however, lest 
 Mildred might detect his consciousness of her feelings, not 
 a moment was lost before making a reply. 
 
 " It is not an easy matter to prevent a young, dashing 
 sailor, like this Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, from doing his 
 part in a general engagement, and that, too, of the character 
 of the one to which we are looking forward," he said. 
 " Oakes has left the matter in my hands ; I suppose I shall 
 have to grant the young man's request." 
 
 " He has then requested to be received in your ship?" 
 asked Mildred, her hand shaking as she used the spoon it 
 held. 
 
 " That of course. No one who wears the uniform could 
 or would do less. It seems a ticklish moment for him to 
 quit Wychecombe, too; where I fancy he will have a battle 
 of his own to fight ere long; but professional feeling will 
 overshadow all others, in young men. Among us seamen, 
 it is said to be even stronger than love." 
 
 Mildred made no answer; but her pale cheek and quiver- 
 ing lips, evidences of feeling that her artlessness did not 
 enable her to conceal, caused Bluewater again to regret the 
 remark. With a view to restore the poor girl to her self- 
 command, he changed the subject of conversation, which 
 did not again advert to Wycherly. The remainder of the 
 meal was consequently eaten in peace, the admiral mani- 
 festing to the last, however, the sudden and generous inter- 
 est he had taken in the character and welfare of his com- 
 panion. When they rose from table, Mildred joined her 
 mother, and Bluewater walked out upon the cliffs again. 
 
 It was now evening, and the waste of water that lay 
 stretched before the eye, though the softness of summer was 
 shed upon it, had the wild and dreary aspect that the winds 
 and waves lend to a view, as the light of day is about to 
 
286 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 abandon the ocean to the gloom of night. All this had no 
 effect on Bluewater, however, who knew that two-decked 
 ships, strongly manned, with their heavy canvas reduced, 
 would make light work of worrying through hours of dark- 
 ness that menaced no more than these. Still the wind had 
 freshened, and when he stood on the verge of the cliff, sus- 
 tained by the breeze, which pressed him back from the 
 precipice, rendering his head more steady, and his footing 
 sure, the Elizabeth was casting, under close-reefed topsails, 
 and two reefs in her courses, with a heavy staysail or two, 
 to ease her helm. He saw that the ponderous machine 
 would stagger under even this short canvas, and that her 
 captain had made his dispositions for a windy night. The 
 lights that the Dover and the York carried in their tops 
 were just beginning to be visible in the gathering gloom, 
 the last about a league and a half down Channel, the ship 
 standing in that direction to get to windward, and the former 
 more to the southward, the vessel having already tacked to 
 follow the admiral. A chain of lights connected the whole 
 of the long line, and placed the means of communication in 
 the power of the captains. At this moment, the Plantage- 
 net was full fifty miles at sea, ploughing through a heavy 
 southwest swell, which the wind was driving into the chops 
 of the Channel from the direction of the Bay of Biscay and 
 the broad Atlantic. 
 
 Bluewatter buttoned his coat, and he felt his frame invig- 
 orated by a gale that came over his person, loaded by the 
 peculiar flavor of the sea. But two of the heavy ships re- 
 mained at their anchors, the Dublin and the Caesar; and his 
 experienced eye could see that Stowel had everything on 
 board the latter ready to trip and be off, as soon as he, him- 
 self, should give the order. At this moment the midship- 
 man, who had been absent for hours, returned, and stood 
 again at his side. 
 
 "Our turn will soon come, sir," said the gallant boy, 
 "and, for one, I shall not be sorry to be in motion. Those 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 28/ 
 
 chaps on board the Plantagenet will swagger like so many 
 Dons, if they should happen to get a broadside at Monsieur 
 de Vervillin while we are lying here, under the shore, like 
 a gentleman's yacht hauled into a bay, that the ladies might 
 eat without disturbing their stomachs." 
 
 " Little fear of that, Geoffrey. The Active is too light of 
 foot, especially in the weather we have had, to suffer heavy 
 ships to be so close on her heels. She must have had some 
 fifteen or twenty miles the start, and the French have been 
 compelled to double Cape la Hogue and Alderney, before 
 they could even look this way. If coming down Channel at 
 all, they are fully fifty miles to the eastward; and should 
 our van stretch far enough by morning to head them off, it 
 will bring us handsomely to windward. Sir Gervaise never 
 set a better trap, than he has done this very day. The 
 Elizabeth has her hands full, boy, and the wind seems to be 
 getting scant for her. It it knock her off much more, it will 
 bring the flood on her weather-bow, and compel her to tack. 
 This will throw the rear of our line into confusion!" 
 
 " What should we do, sir, in such a case? It would never 
 answer to leave poor Sir Jarvy out there, by himself!" 
 
 " We would try not to do that I^'' returned Bluewater, smil- 
 ing at the affectionate solicitude of the lad, a solicitude that 
 caused him slightly to forget his habitual respect for the 
 commander-in-chief, and to adopt the sobriquet of the fleet. 
 " In such a case, it would become my duty to collect as 
 many ships as I could, and to make the best of our way 
 toward the place where we might hope to fall in with the 
 others, in the morning. There is little danger of losing 
 each other, for any length of time, in these narrow waters, 
 and I have few apprehensions of the French being far 
 enough west, to fall in with our leading vessels before 
 morning. If they should^ indeed, Geoffrey " 
 
 " Ay, sir, if they should^ I know well enough what would 
 come to pass!" 
 
 "What, boy? — On the supposition that Monsieur de Ver- 
 
288 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 villin did mQtt with Sir Gervaise by daybreak, what, in your 
 experienced eyes, seem most likely to be the consequences?" 
 
 " Why, sir. Sir Jarvy would go at 'em, like a dolphin at a 
 flying-fish; and if he j"/^^z/r/^ really happen to catch one or 
 two of 'em, there'd be no sailing in company with the Plan- 
 tagenets, for us Caesars! — When we had the last 'bout with 
 Monsieur de Gravel in, they were as saucy as peacocks, be- 
 cause we didn't close until their foreyard and mizzen-top- 
 gallantmast were gone, although the shift of wind brought 
 us dead to leeward, and, after all, we had eleven men the 
 most hurt in the fight. You don't know them Plantagenets, 
 sir; for they never dare say anything before >'^z/ /" 
 
 " Not to the discredit of my young Caesar's, I'll answer for 
 it. Yet you'll remember Sir Gervaise gave us full credit, in 
 his despatches." 
 
 "Yes, sir, all very true. Sir Gervaise knows better; and 
 then he understands what the Csesar is ; and what she can 
 do, and has done. But it's a very different matter with his 
 youngsters, who fancy, because they carry a red flag at the 
 fore, they are so many Blakes and Howards, themselves. 
 There's Jack Oldcastle, now; he's always talking of our 
 reefers as if there was no sea-blood in our veins, and that 
 just because his own father happened to be a captain— a 
 commodore, he says, because he happened once to have three 
 frigates under his orders." 
 
 " Well, that would make a commodore, for the time being. 
 But surely he does not claim privilege for the Oldcastle 
 blood, over that of the Clevelands!" 
 
 "No, sir, it isn't that sort of thing, at all," returned the 
 fine boy, blushing a little, in spite of his contempt for any 
 such womanly weakness; "you know we never talk of that 
 nonsense in our squadron. With us it's all service, and 
 that sort of thing. Jack Oldcastle says the Clevelands are 
 all civilians, as he calls 'em; or soldiers, which isn't much 
 better, as you know, sir. Now, I tell him that there is an 
 old picture of one of 'em, with an anchor-button, and that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 289 
 
 was long before Queen Anne's time— Queen Elizabeth's, 
 perhaps — and then you know, sir, I fetch him up with a yarn 
 about the Hedworths; for I am just as much Hedworth as 
 Cleveland." 
 
 "And what does the impudent dog say to that, Geoffrey ?" 
 
 " Why, sir, he says the name should be spelt Headw^r/-, 
 and that they were all lawyers. But I gave him as good as 
 he sent for that saucy speech, I'm certain !" 
 
 "And what did you give him, in return for such a com- 
 pliment? Did you tell him the Oldcastles were just so 
 much stone, and wood, and old iron; and that, too, in a 
 tumble-down condition ?" 
 
 "No, sir, not I," answered the boy, laughing; "I didn't 
 think of any answer half so clever; and so I just gave him 
 a dig in the nose, and that laid on with right good will." 
 
 " And how did he receive that argument? Was it conclu- 
 sive — or did the debate continue?" 
 
 "Oh, of course, sir, we fought it out. 'Twas on board the 
 Dover, and the first lieutenant saw fair play. Jack carried 
 too many guns for me, sir, for h.'s more than a year older; 
 but I hulled him so often that he owned it was harder work 
 than being mastheaded. After that the Dover's chaps took 
 my part, and they said the Hedworths had no llea.dwor^ at 
 all, but they were regular sailors; admirals, and captains, 
 and youngsters, you know, sir, like all the rest of us. I 
 told 'em my grandfather Hedworth was an admiral, and a 
 good one, too." 
 
 " In that you made a small mistake. Your mother's father 
 was only 3. genera/; but /lis father was a full admiral of the 
 red — for he lived before that grade was abolished — and as 
 good an officer as ever trod a plank. He was my mother's 
 brother, and both Sir Gervaise and myself served long under 
 his orders. He was a sailor of whom you well might boast." 
 
 "I don't think any of the Plantagenets will chase in that 
 quarter again, sir; for we've had an overhauling among our 
 chaps, and we find we can muster four admirals, two com- 
 "9 
 
290 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 modores, and thirteen captains in our two messes; that is, 
 counting all sorts of relatives, you know, sir.'' 
 
 " Well, my dear boy, I hope you may live to reckon all 
 that and more too, in your own persons, at some future day. 
 Yonder is Sir Reginald Wychecombe, coming this way, to 
 my surprise ; perhaps he wishes to see me alone. Go down 
 to the landing and ascertain if my barge is ashore, and let 
 me know it, as soon as is convenient. Remember, Geoff rey, 
 you will go off with me; and hunt up Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe, who will lose his passage, unless ready the instant 
 he is wanted." 
 
 The boy touched his cap, and went bounding down the 
 hill, to execute the order. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 *' So glozed the Tempter, and his poison tuned ; 
 Into the heart of Eve his words made way, 
 Though at the voice much marvelling." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 It was, probably, a species of presentiment, that induced 
 Bluewater to send away the midshipman, when he saw the 
 adherent of the dethroned house approaching. Enough had 
 passed between the parties to satisfy each of the secret bias 
 of the other; and, by that sort of freemasonry which gener- 
 ally accompanies strong feelings of partisanship, the admi- 
 ral felt persuaded that the approaching interview was about 
 to relate to the political troubles of the day. 
 
 The season and the hour, and the spot, too, were all poet- 
 ically favorable to an interview between conspirators. It 
 was now nearly dark; the headland was deserted. Button 
 having retired, first to his bottle, and then to his bed; the 
 wind blew heavily athwart the bleak eminence, or was heard 
 scuffling in the caverns of the cliffs, while the portentous 
 clouds that drore through the air now veiled entirely, and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 29 1 
 
 now partially and dimly revealed, the light of the moon, in 
 a way to render the scene both exciting and wild. No won- 
 der, then, that Bluewater, his visitor drawing near, felt a 
 stronger disposition than had ever yet come over him to 
 listen to the tale of the tempter, as, under all the circum- 
 stances, it would scarcely exceed the bounds of justice to 
 call Sir Reginald. 
 
 " In seeking you at such a spot, and in the midst of this 
 wild landscape," said the latter, " I might have been assured 
 I should be certain of finding one who really loved the sea 
 and your noble profession. The Hall is a melancholy 
 house, just at this moment; and when I inquired for you, 
 no one could say whither you had strolled. In following 
 what I thought a seaman's instinct, it appears that I did 
 well. — Do my eyes fail me, or are there no more than three 
 vessels at anchor yonder?" 
 
 "Your eyes are still good, Sir Reginald; Admiral Oakes 
 sailed several hours since, and he has been followed by all 
 the fleet, with the exception of the two line-of -battle ships 
 and the frigate you see; leaving me to be the last to quit 
 the anchorage." 
 
 " Is it a secret of state, or are you permitted to say whither 
 so strong a force has so suddenly sailed.''" demanded the 
 baronet, glancing his dark eye so expressively toward the 
 other as to give him, in the growing obscurity, the appear- 
 ance of an inquisitor. '' I had been told the fleet would 
 wait for orders from London?" 
 
 " Such was the first intention of the commander-in-chief; 
 but intelligence of the sailing of the Comte de Vervillin has 
 induced Sir Gervaise to change his mind. An English ad- 
 miral seldom errs when he seeks and beats an active and 
 dangerous enemy." 
 
 " Is this always true, Admiral Bluewater?" returned Sir 
 Reginald, dropping in at the side of the other, and joining 
 in his walk, as he paced, to and fro, a short path that But- 
 ton called his own quarter-deck; "or is it merely an un- 
 
292 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 meaning generality that sometimes causes men to become 
 the dupes of their own imaginations. Are those ahvays our 
 enemies who may seem to be so? or are we so infallible 
 that every feeling or prejudice may be safely set down as an 
 impulse to which we ought to submit, without questioning 
 its authority?" 
 
 " Do you esteem it a prejudice to view France as the nat- 
 ural enemy of England, Sir Reginald?" 
 
 " By heaven, I do, sir! I can conceive that England may 
 be much more her own enemy than France has ever proved 
 to be. Then, conceding that ages of w^arfare have contrib- 
 uted to awaken some such feeling as this you hint at, is 
 there not a question of right and wrong that lies behind all? 
 Reflect how often England has invaded the French soil, and 
 what serious injuries she has committed on the territory of 
 the latter, while France has so little wronged us, in the same 
 way; how even her throne has been occupied by our 
 princes, and her provinces possessed by our armies." 
 
 " I think you hardly allow for all the equity of the differ- 
 ent cases. Parts of what is now France were the just in- 
 heritance of those who have sat on the English throne, 
 and the quarrels were no more than the usual difficulties 
 of neighborhood. When our claims were just in them- 
 selves, you surely could not have wished to see them aban- 
 doned." 
 
 "Far from it; but when claims were disputed, is it not 
 natural for the loser to view them as a hardship? I believe 
 we should have had a much better neighborhood, as you call 
 it, with France, had not the modern difficulties connected 
 with religious changes occurred." 
 
 " I presume you know. Sir Reginald, that I and all my 
 family are Protestants." 
 
 "I do. Admiral Bluewater; and I rejoice to find that a 
 difference of opinion on this great interest does not neces- 
 sarily produce one on all others. From several little allu- 
 sions that have passed between us to-day, I am encouraged 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 293 
 
 to believe that we think alike on certain temporal matters, 
 however wide the chasm between us on spiritual things." 
 
 " I confess I have fallen into the same conclusion ; and 
 I should be sorry to be undeceived if wrong." 
 
 " What occasion, then, for farther ambiguity ? Surely two 
 honorable men may safely trust each other with their com- 
 mon sentiments, when the times call for decision and frank- 
 ness! I am a Jacobite, Admiral Bluewater; if I risk life 
 or fortune by making the avowal, I place both, without 
 reserve, at your mercy." 
 
 "They could not be in safer hands, sir; and I know no 
 better mode of giving you every possible assurance that the 
 confidence will not be abused than by telling you, in return, 
 that I would cheerfully lay down my life could the sacrifice 
 restore the deposed family to the throne." 
 
 "This is noble, and manly, and frank, as I had hoped 
 from a sailor!" exclaimed Sir Reginald, more delighted 
 than he well knew how to express at the moment. " This 
 simple assurance from your lips carries more weight than 
 all the oaths and pledges of vulgar conspiracy. We under- 
 stand each other, and I should be truly sorry to inspire 
 less confidence than I feel." 
 
 "What better proof can I give you of the reliance placed 
 on your faith than the declaration you have heard, Sir Regi- 
 nald? My head would answer for your treachery in a 
 week ; but I have never felt it more securely on my shoul- 
 ders than at this moment." 
 
 The baronet grasped the other's hand, and each gave and 
 received a pressure that was full of meaning. Then both 
 walked on, thoughtful and relieved, for quite a minute, in 
 profound silence. 
 
 " This sudden appearance of the prince in Scotland has 
 taken us all a little by surprise," Sir Reginald resumed, 
 after the pause ; "though a few of us knew that his inten- 
 tions led him this way. Perhaps he has done well to come 
 unattended by a foreign force, and to throw himself, as it 
 
294 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 might be singly, into the arms of his subjects; trusting 
 everything to their generosity, loyalty, and courage. Some 
 blame him; but I do not. He will awaken interest, now, in 
 every generous heart in the nation" — this was artfully 
 adapted to the character of the listener — "whereas some 
 might feel disposed to be lukewarm under a less manly ap- 
 peal to their affections and loyalty. In Scotland, we learn 
 from all directions that His Royal Highness is doing won- 
 ders, while the friends of his house are full of activity in 
 England, though compelled, for a time, to be watchful and 
 prudent." 
 
 "I rejoice, from the bottom of my heart, to hear this!" 
 said Bluewater, drawing a long breath, like one whose mind 
 was unexpectedly relieved from a heavy load. " From the 
 bottom of my heart, do I rejoice! I had my apprehensions 
 that the sudden appearance of the prince might find his 
 well-wishers unprepared and timid." 
 
 "As far from that as possible, my dear sir; though much 
 still depends on the promptitude and resolution of the mas- 
 ter spirits of the party. We are strong enough to control 
 the nation, if we can bring those forward who have the 
 strength to lead and control ourselves. All we now want 
 are some hundred or two of prominent men to step out of 
 their diffidence, and show us the way to honorable achieve- 
 ment and certain success." 
 
 "Can such men be wanting, at a moment like this?" 
 
 "I think we are secure of most of the high nobility, 
 though their great risks render them all a little wary in the 
 outset. It is among the professional men — the gallant sol- 
 diers, and the bold, ardent seamen of the fleet, that we must 
 look for the first demonstrations of loyalty and true patriot- 
 ism. To be honest with you, sir, I tire of being ruled by 
 a German." 
 
 " Do you know of any intention to rally a force in this 
 part of England, Sir Reginald? If so, say but the word — 
 point out the spot where the standard is to be raised, and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 295 
 
 I will rally under it, the instant circumstances will per- 
 mit!" 
 
 " This is just what I expected, Mr. Bluewater," answered 
 the baronet, more gratified than he thought it prudent to 
 express; "though it is not exactly the /^rw in which you 
 can best serve us at this precise moment. Cut off from the 
 north, as we are in this part of the island, by all the re- 
 sources of the actual government, it would be the height of 
 imprudence in us to show our hands, until all the cards are 
 ready to be played. Active and confidential agents are at 
 work in the army; London has its proper share of business 
 men, while others are in the counties, doing their best to 
 put things in a shape for the consummation we so anxiously 
 look for. I have been with several of our friends in this 
 vicinity, to bring matters into a combined state; and it was 
 my intention to visit this very estate, to see what my own 
 name might do with the tenantry, had not the late Sir 
 Wycherly summoned me as he did, to attend his death-bed. 
 Have you any clew to the feelings of this new and young 
 head of my family, the sea-lieutenant and present baronet?" 
 
 "Not a very plain one, sir, though I doubt if they be 
 favorable to the House of Stuart." 
 
 " I feared as much ; this very evening I have had an 
 anonymous communication that I think must come from his 
 competitor, pretty plainly intimating that, by asserting his 
 rights, as they are called, the whole Wychecombe tenantry 
 and interest could be united, in the present struggle, on 
 whichever side I might desire to see them." 
 
 " This is a bold and decided stroke, truly ! May I inquire 
 as to your answer, Sir Reginald?" 
 
 "I shall give none. Under all circumstances I will ever 
 refuse to place a bastard in the seat of a legitimate descen- 
 dant of my family. We contend for legal and natural 
 rights, my dear admiral, and the means employed should not 
 be unworthy of the end. Besides, I know the scoundrel to 
 be unworthy of trust, and shall not have the weakness to put 
 
296 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 myself in his power. I could wish the other boy to be of 
 another mind; but, by getting him off to sea, whither he 
 tells me he is bound, we shall at least send him out of 
 harm's way." 
 
 In all this Sir Reginald was perfectly sincere ; for, while 
 he did not always hesitate about the employment of means 
 in matters of politics, he was rigidly honest in everything 
 that related to private property; a species of moral contra- 
 diction that is sometimes found among men who aim at the 
 management of human affairs; since those often yield to a 
 besetting weakness who are nearly irreproachable in other 
 matters. Bluewater was glad to hear this declaration; his 
 own simplicity of character inducing him to fancy it was an 
 indication to the general probity of his companion. 
 
 "Yes," observed the latter, " in all cases, we must main- 
 tain the laws of the land, in an affair of private right. This 
 young man is not capable, perhaps, of forming a just esti- 
 mate of his political duties, in a crisis like this, and it may 
 be well, truly, to get him off to sea, lest by taking the losing 
 side he endangers his estate before he is fairly possessed 
 of it. And having now disposed of Sir Wycherly, what can 
 I do most to aid the righteous and glorious cause?" 
 
 " This is coming to the point manfully. Sir Richard — I 
 beg pardon for thus styling you, but I happen to know that 
 your name has been before the prince, for some time, as one 
 of those who are to receive the riband from a sovereign 
 really authorized to bestow it; if I have spoken a little pre- 
 maturely, I again entreat your pardon; — but this is at once 
 coming manfully to the point! Serve us you can, of course, 
 and tlieat most effectually, and in an all-important manner. 
 I now greatly regret that my father had not put me in the 
 army, in my youth, that I might serve my prince as I could 
 wish, in this perilous trial. But we have many friends ac- 
 customed to arms, and among them your own honorable 
 name will appear conspicuous as to the past, and encourag- 
 ing as to the future." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 29/ 
 
 "I have carried arms from boyhood, it is true, Sir Regi- 
 nald, but it is in a service that will scarcely much avail us 
 in this warfare. Prince Edward has no ships, nor do I 
 know he will need any." 
 
 "True, my dear sir, but King George has! As for the 
 necessity, permit me to say you are mistaken; it will soon 
 be all-important to keep open the communication with the 
 continent. No doubt. Monsieur de Vervillin is out, with 
 some such object, already." 
 
 Bluewater started, and he recoiled from the firm grasp 
 which the other took of his arm, in the earnestness of dis- 
 course, with some such instinctive aversion as a man recoils 
 from the touch of the reptile. The thought of a treachery 
 like that implied in the remark of his companion had never 
 occurred to him, and his honest mind turned with a strong 
 disrelish from even the implied proposition of the other. 
 Still, he was not quite certain how far Sir Reginald wished 
 to urge him, and he felt it just to ascertain his real views 
 before he answered them. Plausible as this appeared, it 
 was a dangerous delay for one so simple-minded, when 
 brought in contact with a person so practised as the baronet ; 
 Sir Reginald having the tact to perceive that his new 
 friend's feelings had already taken the alarm, and at once 
 determined to be more wary. 
 
 "What am I to understand by this, Sir Reginald Wyche- 
 combe?" demanded the rear-admiral. "In what manner 
 can I possibly be connected with the naval resources of the 
 House of Hanover, when it is my intention to throw off its 
 service? King George's fleets will hardly aid the Stuarts; 
 and they will, at least, obey the orders of their own officers." 
 
 " Not the least doubt in the world of this. Admiral Blue- 
 water! What a glorious privilege it was for Monk to have 
 it in his power to put his liege sovereign in his rightful 
 seat, and thus to save the empire, by a coup de mai?i, from 
 the pains and grievances of a civil contest! Of all the 
 glorious names in English history, I esteem that of George 
 
298 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Monk as the one most to be envied! It is a great thing to 
 be a prince — one born to be set apart as God's substitute 
 on earth, in all that relates to human justice and human 
 power; — yet it is greater, in my eyes, to be the subject to 
 restore the order of these almost divine successions, when 
 once deranged by lawless and presuming men." 
 
 "This is true enough, sir; though I would rather have 
 joined Charles on the beach at Dover, armed only with 
 an untainted sword, than followed by an army at my 
 heels!" 
 
 "What, when that army followed cheerfully^ and was 
 equally eager with yourself to serve their sovereign!" 
 
 "That, indeed, might somewhat qualify the feeling. But 
 soldiers and sailors are usually influenced by the opinions 
 of those who have been placed over them by the higher 
 authorities." 
 
 " No doubt they are ; and that is as it should be. We 
 are encouraged to believe that some ten or fifteen captains 
 are already well disposed toward us, and will cheerfully take 
 their respective ships to the points our wants require, the 
 moment they feel assured of being properly led, when col- 
 lected. By a little timely concert, we can command the 
 North Sea, and keep open important communications with 
 the continent. It is known the ministry intend to employ 
 as many German troops as they can assemble, and a naval 
 force will be all-important in keeping these mustachioed 
 foreigners at a distance. The quarrel is purely English, sir, 
 and ought to be decided by Englishmen only." 
 
 " In that, indeed, I fully concur. Sir Reginald," answered 
 Bluewater, breathing more freely. " I would cruise a whole 
 winter in the North Sea to keep the Dutchmen at home, and 
 let Englishmen decide who is to be England's king. To 
 me, foreign interference, in such a matter, is the next evil 
 to positive disloyalty to my rightful prince." 
 
 " These are exactly my sentiments, dear sir, and I hope to 
 see you act on them. By the way, how happens it you are 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 299 
 
 left alone, and in what manner do you admirals divide your 
 authority when serving in company?" 
 
 " I do not know I comprehend your question, Sir Regi- 
 nald. I am left here to sail the last with the Caesar; Sir 
 Gervaise leading out in the Plantagenet, with a view to 
 draw a line across the channel that shall effectually prevent 
 de Vervillin from getting to the westward." 
 
 "To the westward r' repeated the other, smiling ironi- 
 cally, though the darkness prevented the admiral from see- 
 ing the expression of his features. "Does Admiral Oakes 
 then think that the French ships are steering in that direc- 
 tion?" 
 
 " Such is our information ; have you any reason to suppose 
 that the enemy intend differently?" 
 
 The baronet paused, and he appeared to ruminate. 
 Enough had already passed to satisfy him he had not an 
 ordinary mind in that of his companion to deal with, and 
 he was slightly at a loss how to answer. To bring the other 
 within his lures, he was fully resolved ; and the spirits that 
 aid the designing just at that moment suggested the plan 
 which, of all others, was most likely to be successful. 
 Bluewater had betrayed his aversion to the interference of 
 foreign troops in the quarrel, and on this subject he in- 
 tended to strike a chord which he rightly fancied would 
 thrill on the rear-admiral's feelings. 
 
 "We have our information, certainly," answered Sir 
 Reginald, like one who was reluctant to tell all he knew; 
 "though good faith requires it should not actually be ex- 
 posed. Nevertheless, any one can reason on the probabili- 
 ties. The Duke of Cumberland will collect his German 
 auxiliaries, and they must get into England the best way 
 that they can. Would an intelligent enemy with a well- 
 appointed fleet suffer this junction, if he could prevent it? 
 We know he would not; and when we remember the precise 
 time of the sailing of the Comte, his probable ignorance of 
 the presence of this squadron of yours in the Channel, and 
 
300 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 all the other circumstances of the case, who can suppose 
 otherwise than to believe his aim is to intercept the German 
 regiments." 
 
 " This does seem plausible ; and yet the Active's signals 
 told us that the French were steering west; and that, too, 
 with a light westerly wind." 
 
 "Do not fleets, like armies, frequently make false demon- 
 strations? Might not Monsieur de Vervillin, so long as his 
 vessels were in sight from the shore, have turned toward the 
 west, with an intention, as soon as covered by the darkness, 
 to incline to the east again, and sail up Channel, under 
 English ensigns, perhaps? Is it not possible for him to 
 pass the Straits of Dover, even, as an English squadron — ■ 
 your own, for instance — and thus deceive the Hanoverian 
 cruisers until ready to seize or destroy any transports that 
 may be sent?" 
 
 "Hardly, Sir Reginald," said Bluewater, smiling. "A 
 French ship can no more be mistaken for an English ship, 
 than a Frenchman can pass for a Briton. We sailors are 
 not as easily deceived as that would show. It is true, 
 however, that a fleet might well stand in one direction, until 
 far enough off the land or covered by night, when it might 
 change its course suddenly, in an opposite direction; and 
 it is possible the Comte de Vervillin has adopted some such 
 stratagem. If he actually knew of the intention to throw 
 German troops into the island, it is even quite probable. 
 In that case, for one, I could actually wish him success!" 
 
 "Well, my dear sir, and what is to prevent it?" asked Sir 
 Reginald, with a triumph that was not feigned. " Nothing, 
 you will say, unless he fall in with Sir Gervaise Oakes. 
 But you have not answered my inquiry, as to the manner in 
 which flag-officers divide their commands, at sea?" 
 
 " As soldiers divide their commands ashore. The supe- 
 rior orders, and the inferior obeys." 
 
 "Ay, this is true; but it does not meet my question. 
 Here are eleven large ships, and two admirals ; now what 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3OI 
 
 portion of these ships are under your particular orders, and 
 what portion under those of Sir Gervaise Oakes?" 
 
 "The vice-admiral has assigned to himself a division of 
 six of the ships, and left me the other five. Each of us has 
 his frigates and smaller vessels. But an order that the 
 commander-in-chief may choose to give any captain must 
 be obeyed by him, as the inferior submits, as a rule, to the 
 last order." 
 
 " And you^^^ resumed Sir Reginald, with quickness ; " how 
 2X0. you situated, as respects these captains?" 
 
 " Should I give a direct order to any captain in the fleet, 
 it would certainly be his duty to obey it; though circum- 
 stances might occur which would render it obligatory on him 
 to let me know that he had different instructions from our 
 common superior. But why these questions, Sir Reginald V 
 
 " Your patience, my dear admiral ; — and what ships have 
 you specifically under your care?" 
 
 "The Caesar, my own; the Dublin, the Elizabeth, the 
 York, and the Dover. To these must be added the Druid 
 frigate, the sloop of war, and the Gnat. My division num- 
 bers eight in all." 
 
 " What a magnificent force to possess at a moment as crit- 
 ical as this! — But where are all these vessels? I see but 
 four and a cutter, and only two of these seem to be large." 
 
 " The light you perceive there, along the land to the west- 
 ward, is on board the Elizabeth; and that broad off here, in 
 the Channel, is on board the York. The Dover's lantern 
 has disappeared further to the southward. Ah ! there the 
 Dublin casts, and is off after the others!" 
 
 "And you intend to follow. Admiral Bluewater?" 
 
 "Within an hour, or I shall lose the division. As it is, 
 I have been deliberating on the propriety of calling back 
 the sternmost ships, and collecting them in close squadron; 
 for this increase and hauling of the wind render it probable 
 they will lose the vice-admiral, and that daylight will find 
 the line scattered and in confusion. One mind must control 
 
 / 
 
302 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the movements of ships, as well as of battalions, Sir Regi- 
 nald, if they are to act in concert." 
 
 " With what view would you collect the vessels you have 
 mentioned, and in the -manner you have named, if you do 
 not deem my inquiry indiscreet?" demanded the baronet, 
 with quickness. 
 
 " Simply that they might be kept together, and brought in 
 subjection to my own particular signals. This is the duty 
 that more especially falls to my share, as head of the divi- 
 sion." 
 
 " Have you the means to effect this, here, on this hill, and 
 by yourself, sir?" 
 
 " It would be a great oversight to neglect so important a 
 provision. My signal-officer is lying under yonder cover, 
 wrapped in his cloak, and two quartermasters are in readi- 
 ness to make the very signal in question; for its necessity 
 has been foreseen, and really would seem to be approaching. 
 If done at all, it must be done quickly, too. The light of 
 the York grows dim in the distance. It shall he done, sir; 
 prudence requires it, and you shall see the manner in which 
 we hold our distant ships in command." 
 
 Bluewater could not have announced more agreeable in- 
 telligence to his companion. Sir Reginald was afraid to 
 propose the open treason he meditated ; but he fancied, rf 
 the rear-admiral could fairly withdraw his own division 
 from the fleet, it would at once weaken the vice-admiral so 
 much as to render an engagement with the French impossi- 
 ble, and might lead to such a separation of the commands 
 as to render the final defection of the division in-shore easier 
 of accomplishment. It is true, Bluewater himself was ac- 
 tuated by motives directly contrary to these wishes; but, as 
 the parties travelled the same road to a certain point, the 
 intriguing baronet had his expectations of being able to 
 persuade his new friend to continue on in his own route. 
 
 Promptitude is a military virtue, and, among seamen, it is 
 a maxim to do everything that is required to be done with 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 303 
 
 activity and vigor. These laws were not neglected on the 
 present occasion. No sooner had the rear-admiral deter- 
 mined on his course than he summoned his agents to put it 
 in execution. Lord Geoffrey had returned to the heights 
 and was within call, and he carried the orders to the lieu- 
 tenant and the quartermasters. The lanterns only required 
 lighting, and then they were run aloft on Button's staff, as 
 regularly as the same duty could have been performed on 
 the poop of the Caesar. Three rockets were thrown up, im- 
 mediately after, and the gun kept on the cliffs for that pur- 
 pose was fired, to draw attention to the signal. It might 
 have been a minute ere the heavy ordnance of the Caisar re- 
 peated the summons, and the same signal was shown at her 
 masthead. The Dublin was still so near that no time was 
 lost, but, according to orders, she too repeated the signal ; 
 for in the line that night it was understood that an order of 
 this nature was to be sent from ship to ship. 
 
 "Now for the Elizabeth!" cried Bluewater; "she cannot 
 fail to have heard our guns, and to see our signals." 
 
 "The York is ahead of her, sir!" exclaimed the boy; 
 "see; she has the signal up already!" 
 
 All this passed in a very few minutes, the last ships hav- 
 ing sailed in the expectation of receiving some such recall. 
 The York preceded the ship next to her in the line, in con- 
 sequence of having gone about, and being actually nearer to 
 the rear-admiral than her second astern. It was but a min- 
 ute before the gun and the lanterns of the Elizabeth, how- 
 ever, announced her knowledge of the order, also. 
 
 The two ships last named were no longer visible from 
 the cliffs, though their positions were known by their lights; 
 but no sign whatever indicated the part of the ocean on 
 which the Dover was struggling along through the billows. 
 After a pause of several minutes, Bluewater spoke. 
 
 "I fear we shall collect no more," he said; "one of my 
 ships must take her chance to find the commander-in-chief, 
 alone. Ha! — that means something!" 
 
304 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 At that instant a faint, distant flash was seen, for a single 
 moment, in the gloom, and then all heads were bent forward 
 to listen, in breathless attention. A little time had elapsed, 
 when the dull, smothered report of a gun proclaimed that 
 even the Dover had caught the rapidly transmitted order. 
 
 "What means that, sir?" eagerly demanded Sir Reginald, 
 who had attended to everything with intense expectation. 
 
 " It means, sir, that all of the division are still under my 
 command. No other ship would note the order. Their di- 
 rections, unless specifically pointed out by their numbers, 
 must come from the vice-admiral. Is my barge ashore. 
 Lord Geoffrey Cleveland?" 
 
 " It is, sir, as well as the cutter for Mr. Cornet and the 
 quartermasters." 
 
 "It is well. Gentlemen, we will go on board; the Caesar 
 must weigh and join the other vessels in the offing. I will 
 follow you to the landing, but you will shove off, at once, 
 and desire Captain Stowel to weigh and cast to port. We 
 will fill on the starboard tack, and haul directly off the 
 land." 
 
 The whole party immediately left the station, hurrying 
 down to the boats, leaving Bluewater and Sir Reginald to 
 follow more leisurely. It was a critical moment for the 
 baronet, who had so nearly effected his purpose that his 
 disappointment would have been double did he fail of his 
 object altogether. He determined, therefore, not to quit the 
 admiral while there was the slightest hope of success. The 
 two consequently descended together to the shore, walking, 
 for the first minute or two, in profound silence. 
 
 " A great game is in your hands, Admiral Bluewater," 
 resumed the baronet; "rightly played, it may secure the 
 triumph of the good cause. I think I may say I know de 
 Vervillin's object, and that his success will reseat the Stu- 
 arts on the thrones of their ancestors ! One who loves them 
 should ponder well before he does aught to mar so glorious 
 a result." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 30$ 
 
 This speech was as bold as it was artful. In point of 
 fact, Sir Reginald Wychecombe knew no more of the Comte 
 de Vervillin's intended movements than his companion ; but 
 he did not hesitate to assert what he now did, in order to 
 obtain a great political advantage, in a moment of so much 
 importance. To commit Bluewater and his captains openly 
 on the side of the Stuarts would be a great achievement in 
 itself; to frustrate the plans of Sir Gervaise might safely be 
 accounted another; and, then, there were all the chances 
 that the Frenchman was not at sea for nothing, and that his 
 operations might indeed succor the movements of the prince. 
 The baronet, upright as he was in other matters, had no 
 scruples of conscience on this occasion ; having long since 
 brought himself over to the belief that it was justifiable to 
 attain ends as great as those he had in view, by the sacrifice 
 of any of the minor moral considerations. 
 
 The effect on Bluewater was not trifling. The devil had 
 placed the bait before his eyes in a most tempting form ; 
 for he felt that he had only to hold his division in reserve to 
 render an engagement morally improbable. Abandon his 
 friend to a superior force he could and would not ; but it is 
 our painful duty to avow that his mind had glimpses of the 
 possibility of doing the adventurer in Scotland a great good, 
 without doing the vice-admiral and the van of the fleet any 
 very essential harm. Let us be understood, however. The 
 rear-admiral did not even contemplate treason or serious 
 defection of any sort; but, through one of those avenues of 
 frailty by which men are environed, he had a glance at results 
 that the master-spirit of evil momentarily placed before his 
 mental vision as both great and glorious. 
 
 " I wish we were really certain of de Vervillin's object," 
 he said; the only concession he made to this novel feeling, 
 in words. "It might, indeed, throw a great light on the 
 course we ought to take ourselves. I do detest this German 
 alliance, and would abandon the service ere I would convoy 
 or transport a ragamufhn of them all to England." 
 20 
 
306 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Here Sir Reginald proved how truly expert he was in the 
 arts of management. A train of thought and feeling had 
 been lighted in the mind of his companion, which he felt 
 might lead to all he wished, while he was apprehensive that 
 further persuasion would awaken opposition, and renew old 
 sentiments. He wisely determined, therefore, to leave 
 things as they were, trusting to the strong and declared bias 
 of the admiral in favor of the revolution, to work out its own 
 consequences, with a visible and all-important advantage so 
 prominently placed before his eyes. 
 
 "I know nothing of ships," he answered modestly; "but 
 I do k7iow that the Comte has our succor in view. It would 
 ill become me to advise one of your experience how to lead 
 a force like this, which is subject to your orders; but a 
 friend of the good cause, who is now in the west, and who 
 was lately in the presence itself, tells me that the prince 
 manifested extreme satisfaction when he learned how much 
 it might be in your power to serve him." 
 
 " Do you then think my name has reached the royal ear, 
 and that the prince has any knowledge of my real feelings?" 
 
 " Nothing but your extreme modesty could cause you to 
 doubt the first, sir; as to the last, ask yourself how came I 
 to approach you to-night, with my heart in my hand, as it 
 might be, making you master of my life as well a^3 of my 
 secret. Love and hatred are emotions that soon betray 
 themselves." 
 
 It is matter of historical truth that men of the highest 
 principles and strongest minds have yielded to the flattery 
 of rank. Bluewater's political feelings had rendered him 
 indifferent to the blandishm.ents of the court at London, 
 while his imagination, that chivalrous deference to antiquity 
 and political right, which lay at the root of his Jacobitism, 
 and his brooding sympathies, disposed him but too well to 
 become the dupe of language like this. Had he been more 
 a man of facts, one less under the influence of his own im- 
 agination ; had it been his good fortune to live even in con- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 307 
 
 tact with those he now so devoutly worshipped, in a political 
 sense at least, their influence over a mind as just and clear- 
 sighted as his own, would soon have ceased; but, passing 
 his time at sea, they had the most powerful auxiliary possi- 
 ble, in the high faculty he possessed of fancying things as 
 he wished them to be. No wonder, then, that he heard this 
 false assertion of Sir Reginald with a glow of pleasure; 
 with even a thrill at the heart to which he had long been a 
 stranger. For a time, his better feelings were smothered in 
 this new and treacherous sensation. 
 
 The gentlemen, by this time, were at the landing, and it 
 became necessary to separate. The barge of the rear-admiral 
 was with difficulty kept from leaping on the rock, by means 
 of oars and boat-hooks, and each instant rendered the em- 
 barkation more and more difficult. The moments were 
 precious on more accounts than one, and the leave-taking 
 was short. Sir Reginald said but little, though he intended 
 the pressure of the hand he gave his companion to express 
 everything. 
 
 " God be with you," he added *' and as you prove true, 
 may you prove successful ! Remember, ' a lawful prince, 
 and the claims of birthright.' God be with you!" 
 
 "Adieu, Sir Reginald; when w^e next meet, the future 
 will probably be more apparent to us all. — But who comes 
 hither, rushing like a madman toward the boat.-'" 
 
 A form came leaping through the darkness ; nor was it 
 known, until it stood within two feet of Bluewater, it was 
 that of Wycherly. He had heard the guns and seen the 
 signals. Guessing at the reasons, he dashed from the park, 
 which he was pacing to cool his agitation, and which now 
 owned him for a master, and ran the whole distance to the 
 shore, in order not to be left. His arrival was most oppor- 
 tune; for, in another minute, the barge left the rock. 
 
308 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 *• O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, 
 Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free. 
 Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 
 Survey our empire and behold our home." 
 
 The Corsair. 
 
 One is never fully aware of the extent of the movement that 
 agitates the bosom of the ocean until fairly subject to its 
 action himself, when indeed we all feel its power and reason 
 closely on its dangers. The first pitch of his boat told 
 Bluewater that the night threatened to be serious. As the 
 lusty oarsmen bent to their stroke, the barge rose on a swell, 
 dividing the foam that glanced past it like a marine Aurora 
 Borealis, and then plunged into the trough as if descending 
 to the bottom. It required several united and vigorous 
 efforts to force the little craft from its dangerous vicinity to 
 the rocks, and to get it in perfect command. This once 
 done, however, the well -practised crew urged the barge 
 slowly but steadily ahead. 
 
 "A dirty night! — a dirty night!" muttered Bluewater, un- 
 consciously to himself; "we should have had a wild berth, 
 had we rode out this blow at anchor. Oakes will have a 
 heavy time of it out yonder in the very chops of the Chan- 
 nel, with a westerly swell heaving in against this ebb." 
 
 "Yes, sir," answered Wycherly; "the vice-admiral will 
 be looking out for us all, anxiously enough, in the morning." 
 
 Not another syllable did Bluewater utter until his boat 
 had touched the side of the Caesar. He reflected deeply on 
 his situation, and those who know his feelings will easily 
 understand that his reflections were not altogether free from 
 pain. Such as they were, he kept them to himself, however, 
 and in a man-of-war's boat, when a flag-officer chooses to be 
 silent, it is a matter of course for his inferiors to imitate his 
 example. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3O9 
 
 The barge was about a quarter of a mile from the landing, 
 when the heavy flap of the Caesar's main-topsail was heard, 
 as, close-reefed, it struggled for freedom, while her crew 
 drew its sheets down to the blocks on the lower yard-arms. 
 A minute later, the Gnat, under the head of her fore-and-aft 
 mainsail, was seen standing slowly off from the land, look- 
 ing in the darkness like some half-equipped shadow of her- 
 self. The sloop of war, too, was seen bending low to the 
 force of the wind, with her mere apology of a topsail thrown 
 aback, in waiting for the flagship to cast. 
 
 The surface of the waters was a sheet of glancing foam, 
 while the air was filled with the blended sounds of the wash 
 of the element and the roar of the winds. Still there was 
 nothing chilling or repulsive in the temperature of the air, 
 which was charged with the freshness of the sea, and was 
 bracing and animating, bringing with it the flavor that a 
 seaman loves. After fully fifteen minute's severe tugging 
 at the oars, the barge drew near enough to permit the black 
 mass of the Caesar to be seen. For some time, Lord 
 Geoffrey, who had seated himself at the tiller — yoke- lines 
 were not used a century since — steered by the top-light of 
 the rear-admiral; but now the maze of hamper was seen 
 waving slowly to and fro in the lurid heavens, and the huge 
 hull became visible, heaving and setting, as if the ocean 
 groaned with the labor of lifting such a pile of wood and 
 iron. A light gleamed from the cabin windows, and ever 
 and anon one glanced athwart an open gunroom port. In 
 all other respects, the ship presented but one hue of black- 
 ness. Nor was it an easy undertaking, even after the barge 
 was under the lee of the ship, for those in it to quit its 
 uneasy support and get a firm footing on the elects that 
 lined the vessel's side like a ladder. This was done, how- 
 ever, and all ascended to the deck but two of the crew, who 
 remained to hook on the yard and stay tackles. This 
 effected, the shrill whistle gave the word, and that large 
 boat, built to carry at need some twenty souls, was raised 
 
3IO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 from the raging water, as it were by some gigantic effort of 
 the ship herself, and safely deposited in her bosom. 
 
 " We are none too soon, sir," said Stowel, the moment he 
 had received the rear-admiral with the customary etiquette 
 of the hour. " It's a capful of wind already, and it promises 
 to blow harder before morning. We are catted and fished, 
 sir, and the forecastlemen are passing the shank-painter at 
 this moment." 
 
 " Fill, sir, and stretch off, on an easy bowline," was the 
 answer; "when a league in the offing, let me know it. Mr. 
 Cornet, I have need of you, in my cabin." 
 
 As this was said, Bluewater went below, followed by his 
 signal-officer. At the same instant the first lieutenant 
 called out to man the main-braces, and to fill the topsail. 
 As soon as this command was obeyed, the Caesar started 
 ahead. Her movement was slow, but it had a majesty in it 
 that set at naught the turbulence of the elements. 
 
 Bluewater had paced to and fro in his cabin no less than 
 six times, with his head drooping, in a thoughtful attitude, 
 ere his attention was called to any external object. 
 
 "Do you wish my presence, Admiral Bluewater?" the 
 signal-officer at length inquired. 
 
 " I ask your pardon, Mr, Cornet; I was really unconscious 
 that you were in the cabin. Let me see — ay — our last sig- 
 nal was, * Division come within hail of rear-admiral.' They 
 must get close to us, to be able to do that to-night. Cornet! 
 The winds and waves have begun their song in earnest." 
 
 " And yet, sir, I'll venture a month's pay that Captain 
 Drinkwater brings the Dover so near us as to put the officer 
 of the watch and the quartermaster at the wheel in a fever. 
 We once made that signal, in a gale of wind, and he passed 
 his jib-boom end over our taffrail." 
 
 " He is certainly a most literal gentleman, that Captain 
 Drinkwater, but he knows how to take care of his ship. 
 Look for the number of * Follow the rear-admiral's motions.' 
 *Tis2n, I think." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3 r I 
 
 "No, sir; but 212. Blue, red, and white, with the flags. 
 With the lanterns, 'tis one of the simplest signals we have." 
 
 "We will make it, at once. When that is done, show 
 * The rear-admiral ; keep in his wake, in the general order 
 of sailing.' That I am sure is 204." 
 
 "Yes, sir; you are quite right. Shall I show the second 
 signal as soon as all the vessels have answered the first, 
 sir?" 
 
 " That is ni}^ intention. Cornet. When all have answered, 
 let me know it." 
 
 Mr. Cornet now left the cabin, and Bluewater took a seat 
 in an arm-chair, in deep meditation. For quite half an hour 
 the former w^as busy on the poop, wdth his two quartermas- 
 ters, going through the slow and far from easy duty of mak- 
 ing night-signals, as they were then practised at sea. It 
 was some time before the most distant vessel, the Dover, 
 gave any evidence of comprehending the first order, and 
 then the same tardy operation had to be gone through with 
 for the second. At length the sentinel threw open the cabin- 
 door, and Cornet reappeared. During the whole of his ab- 
 sence on deck, Bluewater had not stirred ; scarce seemed to 
 breathe. His thoughts w^ere away from his ships, and for 
 the first time, in the ten years he had worn a flag, he had 
 forgotten the order he had given. 
 
 "The signals are made and answered, sir," said Cornet, 
 as soon as he had advanced to the edge of the table, on 
 which the rear-admiral's elbow was leaning. "The Dublin 
 is already in our wake, and the Elizabeth is bearing down 
 fast on our weather- quarter; she will bring herself into her 
 station in ten minutes." 
 
 "What news of the York and Dover, Comet?" asked 
 Bluewater, rousing himself from a fit of deep abstraction. 
 
 "The York's light nears us, quite evidently; though that 
 of the Dover is still a fixed star, sir," answered the lieuten- 
 ant, chuckling a little at his own humor; "it seems no 
 larger than it did when we first made it." 
 
312 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " It is something to have made it at all. I was not aware 
 it could be seen from deck?" 
 
 "Nor can it, sir; but by going up half-a-dozen ratlins 
 we get a look at it. Captain Drinkwater bowses up his 
 lights to the gaff -end, and I can see him always ten minutes 
 sooner than any other ship in the fleet, under the same cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 "Drinkwater is a careful officer; do the bearings of his 
 light alter enough to tell the course he is steering?" 
 
 " I think they do, sir, though our standing out athwart his 
 line of sailing would make the change slow, of course. 
 Every foot we get to the southward, you know, sir, would 
 throw his bearings farther west ; while every foot he comes 
 east would counteract that change and throw his bearings 
 further south." 
 
 " That's very clear ; but, as he must go three fathoms to 
 our one, running off with square yards before such a breeze, 
 I think we should be constantly altering his bearings to the 
 southward." 
 
 "No doubt of it, in the world, sir; and that is just what 
 we are doing. I think I can see a difference of half a 
 point, already; but, when we get his light fairly in view 
 from the poop, we shall be able to tell with perfect ac- 
 curacy." 
 
 "All very well. Comet. Do me the favor to desire Cap- 
 tain Stowel to step into the cabin ; and keep a bright look- 
 out for the ships of the division. Stay, for a single instant; 
 what particularly sharp-eyed youngster happens to belong to 
 the watch on deck?" 
 
 " I know none keener in that way than Lord Geoffrey 
 Cleveland, sir; he can see all the roguery that is going on 
 in the whole fleet, at any rate, and ought to see other 
 things." 
 
 " He will do perfectly well ; send the young gentleman to 
 me, sir ; but first inform the officer of the watch that I have 
 need of him." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 313 
 
 Bluewater was unusually fastidious in exercising his 
 authority over those who had temporary superiors on the 
 assigned duty of the ship ; and he never sent an order to 
 any of the watch, without causing it to pass through the offi- 
 cer of that watch. He waited but a minute before the boy 
 appeared. 
 
 "Have you a good gripe to-night, boy?" asked the rear- 
 admiral, smiling; " or will it be both hands for yourself and 
 none for the king? I want you on the fore-topgallant yard, 
 for eight or ten minutes." 
 
 "Well, sir, it's a plain road there, and one I've often trav- 
 elled," returned the lad, cheerfully. 
 
 " That I well know; you are certainly no skulk when duty 
 is to be done. Go aloft then, and ascertain if the lights of 
 any of Sir Gervaise's squadron are to be seen. You will 
 remember that the Dover bears somewhere about southwest 
 from us, and that she is still a long way to seaward. I 
 should think all of Sir Gervaise's ships must be quite as far 
 to windward as that point would bring them, but much far- 
 ther off. By looking sharp a point or half a point to wind- 
 ward of the Dover, you may possibly see the light of the 
 Warspite, and then we shall get a correct idea of the bear- 
 ings of all the rest of the division " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," interrupted the boy ; " I think I understand 
 exactly what you wish to know, Admiral Bluewater." 
 
 "That is a natural gift at sixteen, my lord," returned the 
 admiral, smiling; " but it may be improved a little, perhaps, 
 by the experience of fifty. Now it is possible Sir Gervaise 
 may have gone about, as soon as the flood made; in which 
 case he ought to bear nearly west of us, and you will also 
 look in that direction. On the other hand. Sir Gervaise 
 may have stretched so far over toward the French coast be- 
 fore night shut in as to feel satisfied Monsieur de Vervillin 
 is still to the eastward of him ; in which case he would keep 
 off a little, and may, at this moment, be nearly ahead of us. 
 So that, under all the circumstances, you will sweep the 
 
314 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 horizon, from the weather-beam to the lee-bow, ranging 
 forward. Am I understood, now, my lord?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, I think you are," answered the boy, blushing 
 at his own impetuosity. " You will excuse my indiscretion, 
 Admiral Bluewater; but I thought I understood all you 
 desired, when I spoke so hastily." 
 
 " No doubt you did, Geoffrey, but you perceive you did 
 not. Nature has made you quick of apprehension, but not 
 quick enough to foresee all an old man's gossip. Come 
 nearer, now, and let us shake hands. So go aloft, and hold 
 on well, for it is a windy night, and I do not desire to lose 
 you overboard." 
 
 The boy did as told, squeezed Bluewater's hand, and 
 dashed out of the cabin to conceal his tears. As for the 
 rear-admiral, he immediately relapsed into his fit of forget- 
 fulness, waiting for the arrival of Stowel, 
 
 A summons to a captain does not as immediately produce 
 a visit, on board a vessel of war, as a summons to a mid- 
 shipman. Captain Stowel was busy in looking at the man- 
 ner in which his boats were stowed, when Cornet told him 
 of the rear-admiral's request; and then he had to give some 
 orders to the first lieutenant concerning the fresh meat that 
 had been got off, and one or two other similar little things, 
 before he was at leisure to comply. 
 
 "See me, do you say, Mr. Cornet; in his own cabin, as 
 soon as it is convenient?" he at length remarked, when all 
 these several offices had been duly performed. 
 
 The signal -officer repeated the request, word for word as 
 he had heard it, when he turned to take another look at the 
 light of the Dover. As for Stowel, he cared no more for 
 the Dover, windy and dark as the night promised to be, 
 than the burgher is apt to care for his neighbor's house 
 when the whole street is threatened with destruction. To 
 him the Caesar was the great centre of attraction, and Cornet 
 paid him off in kind ; for, of all the vessels in the fleet, the 
 Caesar was precisely the one to which he save the least 
 
. THE TWO ADMIRALS. 3l5 
 
 attention ; and this for the simple reason that she was the 
 only ship to which he never gave, or from which he never 
 received, a signal. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Bluff," said Stowel to the first lieutenant; 
 "one of us will have to be on deck most of the night, and 
 I'll take a slant below, for half an hour first, and see what 
 the admiral wishes." 
 
 Thus saying, the captain left the deck, in order to ascer- 
 tain his superior's pleasure. Captain Stowel was several 
 years the senior of Bluewater, having actually been a lieu- 
 tenant in one of the frigates in which the rear-admiral had 
 served as a midshipman; a circumstance to which he occa- 
 sionally alluded in their present intercourse. The change 
 in the relative positions was the result of the family influ- 
 ence of the junior, who had passed his senior in the grade 
 of master and commander; a rank that then brought many 
 an honest man up for life, in the English marine. At the 
 age of five-and-forty, that at which Bluewater first hoisted 
 his flag, Stowel was posted; and soon after he was invited 
 by his old shipmate, who had once had him under him as 
 his first lieutenant in a sloop of war, to take the command 
 of his flagship. From that day down to the present moment, 
 the two officers had sailed together, whenever they sailed at 
 all, perfectly good friends; though the captain never ap- 
 peared entirely to forget the time when they were in the 
 aforesaid frigate; one a gunroom officer, and the other only 
 a " youngster." 
 
 Stowel must now have been about sixty-five ; a square, 
 hard-featured, red-faced seaman, who knew all about his 
 ship, from her truck to her limber-rope, but who troubled 
 himself very little about anything else. He had married a 
 widow when he was posted, but was childless, and had long 
 since permitted his affections to wander back into their 
 former channels; from the domestic hearth to his ship. 
 He seldom spoke of matrimony, but the little he saw fit to 
 say on the subject was comprehensive and to the point. A 
 
3l6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 perfectly sober man, he consumed large quantities of both 
 wine and brandy, as well as of tobacco, and never seemed 
 to be the worse for either. Loyal he was by political faith, 
 and he looked upon a revolution, let its object be what it 
 might, as he would have regarded a mutiny in the Caesar. 
 He was exceedingly pertinacious of his rights as " captain 
 of his own ship," both ashore and afloat; a disposition that 
 produced less trouble with the mild and gentlemanly rear- 
 admiral, than with Mrs. Stowel. If we add that this plain 
 sailor never looked into a book, his proper scientific works 
 excepted, we shall have said all of h^m that his connection 
 with our tale demands. 
 
 " Good-evening, Admiral Bluewater," said this true tar, 
 saluting the rear-admiral, as one neighbor would greet an- 
 other, on dropping in of an evening, for they occupied 
 different cabins. " Mr. Cornet told me you would like to 
 say a word to me, before I turned in ; if, indeed, turn in at 
 all I do this blessed night." 
 
 " Take a seat, Stowel, and a glass of this sherry, in the 
 bargain," Bluewater answered kindly, showing how well he 
 understood his man, by the manner in which he shoved both 
 bottle and glass within reach of his hand. " How goes the 
 night? — and is this wind likely to stand?" 
 
 "I'm of opinion, sir — we'll drink His Majesty, if youVe 
 no objection. Admiral Bluewater — I'm of opinion, we shall 
 stretch the threads of that new main-topsail, before we've 
 done with the breeze, sir. I believe I've not told you, yet, 
 that I've had the new sail bent, since w'e last spoke together 
 on the subject. It's a good fit, sir; and, close-reefed, the 
 sails stands like the side of a house." 
 
 "I'm glad to hear it, Stowel; though I think all your 
 canvas usually appears to be in its place." 
 
 " Why, you know. Admiral Bluewater, that I've been long 
 enough at it, to understand something about the matter. It 
 is now more than forty years since we were in the Calypso 
 together, and ever since that time I've borne the commission 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 31/ 
 
 of an officer. You were then a youngster, and thought more 
 of your joke than of bending sails, or of seeing how they 
 would stand." 
 
 "There wasn't much of me, certainly, forty years ago, 
 Stowel ; but I well remember the knack you had of making 
 every robin, sheet, bowline, and thread do its duty, then, as 
 you do to-day. By the way, can you tell me anything of the 
 Dover, this evening.''" 
 
 " Not I, sir ; she came out with the rest of us, I suppose, 
 and must be somewhere in the fleet; though I dare say the 
 log will have it all, if she has been anywhere near us, lately. 
 I am sorry we did not go into one of the watering-ports, in- 
 stead of this open roadstead, for we must be at least twenty- 
 seven hundred gallons short of what we ought to have, by 
 my calculation ; and then we want a new set of light spars, 
 pretty much all round; and the lower hold hasn't as many 
 barrels of provisions in it, by thirty odd, as I could wish to 
 see there." 
 
 " I leave these things to you, entirely, Stowel ; you will 
 report in time to keep the ship efficient." 
 
 "No fear of the Caesar, sir; for, between Mr. Bluff, the 
 master, and myself, we know pretty much all about her ; 
 though I dare say there are men in the fleet who can tell 
 you more about the Dublin, or the Dover, or the York. We 
 will drink the queen, and all the royal family, if you please, 
 sir." 
 
 As usual, Bluewater merely bowed, for his companion 
 required no further acquiescence in his toasts. Just at that 
 moment, too, it would have needed a general order, at least, to 
 induce him to drink any of the family of the reigning house. 
 
 " Oakes must be well off, mid-channel, by this time, Cap- 
 tain Stowel ?" 
 
 "I should think he might be, sir; though I can't say I 
 took particular notice of the time he sailed, I dare say it's 
 all in the log. The Plantagenet is a fast ship, sir, and 
 Captain Greenly understands her trim, and what she can do 
 
3l8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 on all tacks; and, yet, I do think His Majesty has one ship 
 in this fleet that can find a Frenchman quite as soon, and 
 deal with him, when found, quite as much to the purpose." 
 
 "Of course you mean the Caesar; — well, I'm quite of your 
 way of thinking, though Sir Gervaise manages never to be 
 in a slow ship. I suppose you know, Stowel, that Monsieur 
 de Vervillin is out, and that we may expect to see or hear 
 something of him, to-morrow." 
 
 " Yes, sir, there is some such conversation in the ship, I 
 know; but the quantity of galley-news is so great in this 
 squadron that I never attend much to what is said. One of 
 the officers brought off a rumor, I believe, that there was a 
 sort of a row in Scotland. By the way, sir, there is a super- 
 numerary lieutenant on board, and as he has joined entirely 
 without orders, I'm at a loss how to berth or to provision 
 him. We can treat the gentleman hospitably to-night; but 
 in the morning I shall be obliged to get him regularly on 
 paper." 
 
 "You mean Sir Wycherly Wychecombe; he shall come 
 into my mess, rather than give you any trouble." 
 
 "I shall not presume to meddle with any gentleman you 
 may please to invite into your cabin, sir," answered Stowel, 
 with a stiff bow, in the way of apology. " That's what I 
 always tell Mrs. Stowel, sir; — that my cahifi is my own^ and 
 even a wife has no right to shake a broom in it." 
 
 " Which is a great advantage to us seamen ; for it gives 
 us a citadel to retreat to, when the outworks are pressed. 
 You appear to take but little interest in this civil war, 
 Stowel!" 
 
 "Then it's true, is it, sir? I didn't know but it might 
 turn out to be galley-news. Pray what is the rumpus all 
 about. Admiral Bluewater? for I never could get that story 
 fidded properly, so as to set up the rigging, and have the 
 spar well stayed in its place." 
 
 " It is merely a war to decide who shall be king of Eng- 
 land; nothing else, I do assure you, sir." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 319 
 
 "They're an uneasy set ashore, sir, if the truth must be 
 said of them! We've got one king, already; and on what 
 principle does any man wish for more? Now, there was 
 Captain Blakely, from the Elizabeth, on board of me this 
 afternoon ; and we talked the matter over a little, and both 
 of us concluded that they got these things up much as a 
 matter of profit among the army contractors and the dealers 
 in warlike stores." 
 
 Bluewater listened with intense interest, for here was proof 
 how completely two of his captains, at least, would be at his 
 own command, and how little they would be likely, for a 
 time, at least, to dispute any of his orders. He thought of 
 Sir Reginald, and of the rapture with which he would have 
 received this trait of nautical character. 
 
 " There are people who set their hearts on the result, not- 
 withstanding," carelessly observed the rear-admiral ; " and 
 some who see their fortunes marred or promoted, by the suc- 
 cess or downfall of the parties. They think de Vervillin is 
 out on some errand connected with this rising in the north." 
 
 " Well, I don't see what he has got to do with the matter 
 at all ; for I don't suppose that King Louis is such a fool as 
 to expect to be king of England as well as king of France!" 
 
 " The dignity would be too much for one pair of shoul- 
 ders to bear. As well might one admiral wish to command 
 all the divisions of his own fleet, though they were fifty 
 leagues asunder." 
 
 " Or one captain two ships ; or what is more to the pur- 
 pose, sir, one ship to keep two captains. We'll drink to 
 discipline, if you've no objection, sir. 'Tis the soul of 
 order and quiet, ashore or afloat. For my part, I want no 
 co-equal — I believe that's the cant word they use on such 
 occasions — but I want no co-equal, in the Caesar, and I am 
 unwilling to have one in the house at Greenwich; though 
 Mrs. Stowel thinks differently. Here's my ship; she's in 
 her place in the line; it's my business to see she is fit for 
 any service that a first-class two-decker can undertake, and 
 
320 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 that duty I endeavor to perform ; and I make no doubt it is 
 all the better performed because there's no wife or co-equal 
 aboard here. Where the ship is to go^ or what she is to do^ 
 are other matters, which I take from general orders, special 
 orders, or signals. Let them act up to this principle in 
 London, and we should hear no more of disturbances, north 
 or south." 
 
 " Certainly, Stowel, your doctrine would make a quiet na- 
 tion, as well as a quiet ship. I hope you do me the justice 
 to think there is no co-equal in my commands!" 
 
 " That there is not, sir — and I have the honor to drink 
 your health — that there is not. When we were in the Ca- 
 lypso together, I had the advantage ; and I must say that I 
 never had a youngster under me who ever did his duty more 
 cheerfully. Since that day we've shifted places; end for 
 end, as one might say ; and I endeavor to pay you in your 
 own coin. There is no man whose orders I obey more will- 
 ingly or more to my own advantage; always excepting those 
 of Admiral Oakes, who, being commander-in-chief, overlays 
 us all with his anchor. We must dowse our peaks to his 
 signals, though we can maintain, without mutinying, that 
 the Caesar is as good a boat on or off a wind as the Plantag- 
 enet, the best day Sir Jarvy ever saw." 
 
 " There is no manner of doubt of that. You have all the 
 notions of a true sailor, I find, Stowel ; obey orders before 
 all other things. I am curious to know how our captains, 
 generally, stand affected to this claim which the Pretender 
 has set up to the throne." 
 
 "Can't tell you, on my soul, sir; though I fancy few of 
 them give themselves any great anxiety in the matter. 
 When the wind is fair we can run off large, and when it is 
 foul we must haul upon a bowline, let who will reign. I 
 was a youngster under Queen Anne, and she was a Stuart, I 
 believe; and I have served under the German family ever 
 since; and to be frank with you. Admiral Bluewater, I see 
 but little difference in the duty, the pay, or the rations. My 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 321 
 
 maxim is to obey orders, and then I know the blame will 
 fall on them that give them, if anything goes wrong." 
 
 " We have many Scotchmen in the fleet, Stowel," observed 
 the rear-admiral, in a musing manner, like one who rather 
 thought aloud than spoke. " Several of the captains are 
 from the north of Tweed." 
 
 " Ay, sir, one is pretty certain of meeting gentlemen from 
 that part of the island, in almost all situations in life. I 
 never have understood that Scotland had much of a navy in 
 ancient times, and yet the moment old England has to pay 
 for it, the lairds are willing enough to send their children 
 to sea." 
 
 " Nevertheless it must be owned that they make gallant 
 and useful officers, Stowel." 
 
 "No doubt they do, sir; but gallant and useful men are 
 not scarce anywhere. Vou and I are too old and too expe- 
 rienced, Admiral Bluewater, to put any faith in the notion 
 that courage belongs to any particular part of the world, or 
 usefulness either. I never fought a Frenchman yet that I 
 thought a coward; and, in my judgment, there are brave 
 men enough in England, to command all her ships, and to 
 fight them too." 
 
 " Let this be so, Stowel, still we must take things as they 
 come. What do you think of the night.?" 
 
 " Dirty enough before morning, I should think, sir, though 
 it is a little out of rule that it does not rain with this wind, 
 already. The next time we come-to, Admiral Bluewater, I 
 intend to anchor with a shorter scope of cable than we have 
 been doing lately; for I begin to think there is no use in 
 wetting so many yarns in the summer months. They tell 
 me the York brings up always on forty fathoms." 
 
 " That's a short range, I should think, for a heavy ship. 
 But here is a visitor." 
 
 The sentinel opened the cabin door, and Lord Geoffrey, 
 with his cap fastened to his head by a pocket-handkerchief, 
 and his face red with exposure to the wind, entered the cabin. 
 
 21 
 
322 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Well," said Bluewater quietly ; " what is the report from 
 aloft?" 
 
 "The Dover is running down athwart our forefoot, and 
 nearing us fast, sir," returned the midshipman. " The York 
 is close on our weather-beam, edging in to her station ; but 
 I can make out nothing ahead of us, though I was on the 
 yard twenty minutes." 
 
 " Did you look well on the weather-beam, and thence for- 
 ward to the lee-bow?" 
 
 " I did, sir; if any light is in view, better eyes than mine 
 must find it." 
 
 Stowel looked from one to the other, as this short conver- 
 sation was held ; but, as soon as there was a pause, he put 
 in a word in behalf of the ship. 
 
 "You've been up forward, my lord?" he said. 
 
 " Yes, I have, Captain Stowel." 
 
 " And did you think of seeing how the heel of the topgal- 
 lantmast stood it, in this sea? Bluff tells me 'tis too loose 
 to be fit for very heavy weather." 
 
 " I did not, sir. I was sent aloft to look out for the ships 
 of the commander-in-chief's division, and didn't think of 
 the heel of the topgallantmast's being too loose, at all." 
 
 "Ay, that's the way with all the youngsters, nowadays. 
 In my time, or even \n you/s, Admiral Bluewater, we never 
 put our feet on a ratlin, but hands and eyes were at work, 
 until we reached the halting-place, even though it should be 
 the truck. That is the manner to know what a ship is 
 made of!" 
 
 " I kept my hands and eyes at work, too, Captain Stowel ; 
 but it was to hold on well, and to look out well." 
 
 "That will never do — that will never do, if you wish to 
 make yourself a sailor. Begin with your own ship first; 
 learn all about /ier, then, when you get to be an admiral, as 
 your father's son, my lord, will be certain to become, it will 
 be time enough to be inquiring about the rest of the fleet." 
 
 " You forget, Captain Stowel " 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 323 
 
 "That will do, Lord Geoffrey," Bluewater soothingly 
 interposed, for he knew that the Captain preached no more 
 than he literally practised; ''if / am satisfied with your 
 report, no one else has a right to complain. Desire Sir 
 Wycherly Wychecombe to meet me on deck, where we will 
 now go, Stowel, and take a look at the weather for our- 
 selves." 
 
 "With all my heart. Admiral Bluewater, though I'll just 
 drink the First Lord's health before we quit this excellent 
 liquor. That youngster has stuff in him, in spite of his 
 nobility, and by fetching him up with round turns, occa- 
 sionally, I hope to make a man of him, yet." 
 
 " If he do not grow into that character, physically and 
 morally, within the next few years, sir, he will be the first 
 person of his family who has ever failed of it." 
 
 As Bluewater said this, he and the captain left his cabin, 
 and ascended to the quarter-deck. Here Stowel stopped to 
 hold a consultation with his first lieutenant, while the admi- 
 ral went up the poop-ladder, and joined Cornet. The last 
 had nothing new to communicate, and as he was permitted 
 to go below, he was desired to send Wycherly up to the 
 poop, where the young man would be expected by the rear- 
 admiral. 
 
 Some little time elapsed before the Virginian could be 
 found; no sooner was this effected, however, than he joined 
 Bluewater. They had a private conversation of fully half 
 an hour, pacing the poop the whole time, and then Cornet 
 was summoned back, again, to his usual station. The latter 
 immediately received an order to acquaint Captain Stowel 
 the rear-admiral desired that the Ccesar might be hove-to, 
 and to make a signal for the Druid 36 to come under the 
 flagship's lee, and back her main-topsail. No sooner did 
 this order reach the quarter-deck than the watch was sent 
 to the braces, and the main-yard was rounded in, until the 
 portion of sail that was still set lay against the mast. This 
 deadened the way of the huge body, which rose and fell 
 
324 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 heavily in the seas, as they washed under her, scarcely large 
 enough to lift the burden it imposed upon them. Just at 
 this instant, the signal was made. 
 
 The sudden check to the movement of the Caesar brought 
 the Dublin booming up in the darkness, when, putting her 
 helm up, that ship surged slowly past to leeward, resem- 
 bling a black mountain moving by in the gloom. She was 
 hailed and directed to heave-to, also, as soon as far enough 
 ahead. The Elizabeth followed, clearing the flagship by 
 merely twenty fathoms, and receiving a similar order. The 
 Druid had been on the admiral's weather-quarter, but she 
 now came gliding down, with the wind abeam, taking room 
 to back her topsail under the Caesar's lee-bow. By this 
 time a cutter was in the water, rising six or eight feet up 
 the black side of the ship, and sinking 5ls low apparently 
 beneath her bottom. Next, Wycherly reported himself ready 
 to proceed. 
 
 " You will not forget, sir," said Bluewater, " any part of 
 my commission; but inform the commander-in-chief of the 
 whole. It may be important that we understand each other 
 fully. You will also hand him this letter which I have 
 hastily written while the boat was getting ready." 
 
 "I think I understand your wishes, sir; — at least, I hope 
 so; — and I will endeavor to execute them." 
 
 *' God bless you. Sir Wycherly Wychecombe," added Blue- 
 water, with emotion. "We may never meet again; we sail- 
 ors carry uncertain lives; and we may be said to carry them 
 in our hands." 
 
 Wycherly took his leave of the admiral, and he ran down 
 the poop-ladder to descend into the boat. Twice he paused 
 on the quarter-deck, however, in the manner of one who felt 
 disposed to return and ask some explanation ; but each time 
 he moved on, decided to proceed. 
 
 It needed all the agility of our young sailor to get safely 
 into the boat. This done, the oars fell and the cutter was 
 driven swiftly away to leeward. In a few minutes, it shot 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 325 
 
 beneath the lee of the frigate, and discharged its freight. 
 Wycherly could not have been three minutes on the deck of 
 the Druid, ere her yards were braced up, and her topsail 
 filled with a heavy flap. This caused her to draw slowly 
 ahead. Five minutes later, however, a white cloud was seen 
 dimly fluttering over her hull, and the reefed mainsail was 
 distended to the wind. The effect was so instantaneous that 
 the frigate seemed to glide away from the flagship, and in a 
 quarter of an hour, under her three topsails double-reefed, 
 and her courses, she was a mile distant on her weather-bow. 
 Those who watched her movements, without understanding 
 them, observed that she lowered her light, and appeared to 
 detach herself from the rest of the division. 
 
 It was some time before the Ccesar's boat was enabled to 
 pull up against the tide, wind, and sea. When this hard 
 task was successfully accomplished, the ship filled, passed 
 the Dublin and Elizabeth, and resumed her place in the 
 line. 
 
 Bluewater paced the poop an hour longer, having dismissed 
 his signal-officer and the quartermasters to their hammocks. 
 Even Stowel had turned in, nor did Mr. Bluff deem it neces- 
 sary to remain on deck any longer. At the end of the hour, 
 the rear-admiral bethought him of retiring too. Before he 
 quitted the poop, however, he stood at the weather-ladder, 
 holding on to the mizzen-rigging, and gazing at the scene. 
 
 The wind had increased, as had the sea, but it was not yet 
 a gale. The York had long before hauled up in her station, 
 a cable's length ahead of the Caesar, and was standing on, 
 under the same canvas as the flagship, looking stately and 
 black. The Dover was just shooting into her berth, under 
 the standing sailing-orders, at the same distance ahead of 
 the York; visible, but much less distinct and imposing. 
 The sloop and the cutter were running along, under the lee 
 of the heavy ships, a quarter of a mile distant, each vessel 
 keeping her relative position, by close attention to her can- 
 vas. Further than this, nothing was in sight. The sea had 
 
326 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 that wild mixture of brightness and gloom which belongs to 
 the element when much agitated in a dark night, while the 
 heavens were murky and threatening. 
 
 Within the ship, all was still. Here and there a lantern 
 threw its wavering light around, but the shadows of the 
 masts and guns, and other objects, rendered this relief to 
 the night trifling. The lieutenant of the watch paced the 
 weather side of the quarter-deck, silent but attentive. Occa- 
 sionally he hailed the lookouts, and admonished them to be 
 vigilant, also, and at each turn he glanced upward to see 
 how the topsail stood. Four or five old and thoughtful 
 seamen walked the waist and forecastle, but most of the 
 watch were stowed between the guns, or in the best places 
 they could find, under the lee of the bulwarks, catching cat's 
 naps. This was an indulgence denied the young gentlemen, 
 of whom one was on the forecastle, leaning against the mast, 
 dreaming of home, one in the waist, supporting the nettings, 
 and one walking the lee-side of the quarter-deck, his eyes 
 shut, his thoughts confused, and his footing uncertain. As 
 Bluewater stepped on the quarter-deck ladder, to descend to 
 his own cabin, the youngster hit his foot against an eye-bolt, 
 and fetched way plump up against his superior. Bluewater 
 caught the lad in his arms, and saved him from a fall, set- 
 ting him fairly on his feet before he let him go. 
 
 " 'Tis seven bells, Geoffrey," said the admiral, in an un- 
 dertone. " Hold on for half an hour longer, and then go 
 dream of your dear mother." 
 
 Before the boy could recover himself to thank his supe- 
 rior, the latter had disappeared. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 32/ 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint ; 
 As humorous as winter, and as sudden 
 As flaws congealed in the spring of day. 
 His temper, therefore, must be well observed." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 The reader will remember that the wind had not become 
 fresh when Sir Gervaise Oakes got into his barge, with the 
 intention of carrying his fleet to sea. A retrospective glance 
 at the state of the weather will become necessary to the 
 reader, therefore, in carrying his mind back to that precise 
 period whither it has now become our duty to transport him 
 in imagination. 
 
 The vice-admiral governed a fleet on principles very dif- 
 ferent from those of Bluewater. While the last left so much 
 to the commanders of the different vessels, his friend looked 
 into everything himself. The details of the service he knew 
 were indispensable to success on a larger scale, and his 
 active mind descended into all these minutiae, to a degree, 
 sometimes, that annoyed his captains. On the whole, how- 
 ever, he was sufficiently observant of that formidable barrier 
 to excessive familiarity, and that great promoter of heart- 
 burnings in a squadron, naval etiquette, to prevent anything 
 like serious misunderstandings, and the best feelings pre- 
 vailed between him and the several magnates under his 
 orders. Perhaps the circumstance that he was 2, fighting ad- 
 miral contributed to this internal tranquillity; for, it has 
 been often remarked, that armies and fleets will both tolerate 
 more in leaders that give them plenty to do with the enemy 
 than in commanders who leave them inactive and less ex- 
 posed. The constant encounters with the foe would seem 
 to let out all the superfluous quarrelsome tendencies. Nel- 
 son, to a certain extent, was an example of this influence in 
 the English marine, Suffren^ in that of France, and Preble, 
 
 1 Suffren, though one of the best sea-captains France ever possessed, was a man of 
 extreme severity and great roughness of manner. Still he must have been a man of 
 
328 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 to a much greater degree than in either of the other cases, in 
 our own. At all events, while most of his captains sensibly 
 felt themselves less of commanders, while Sir Gervaise was 
 on board or around their ships, than when he was in the 
 cabin of the Plantagenet, the peace was rarely broken be- 
 tween them, and he was generally beloved as well as obeyed. 
 Bluewater was a more invariable favorite, perhaps, though 
 scarcely as much respected ; and certainly not half as much 
 feared. 
 
 On the present occasion, the vice-admiral did not pull 
 through the fleet, without discovering the peculiar propen- 
 sity to which we have alluded. In passing one of the ships, 
 he made a sign to his coxswain to cause the boat's crew to 
 lay on their oars, when he hailed the vessel, and the follow- 
 ing dialogue occurred. 
 
 " Carnatic, ahoy!" cried the admiral. 
 
 " Sir," exclaimed the officer of the deck, jumping on a 
 quarter-deck gun, and raising his hat. 
 
 "Is Captain Parker on board, sir?" 
 
 "He is, Sir Gervaise; will you see him, sir?" 
 
 A nod of the head sufficed to bring the said Captain Par- 
 ker on deck, and to the gangway, where he could converse 
 with his superior, without inconvenience to either. 
 
 "How do you do. Captain Parker?" — a certain sign Sir 
 Gervaise meant to rap the other over the knuckles, else 
 would it have been Parker. " How do you do. Captain Par- 
 ker? I am sorry to see you have got your ship too much 
 down by the head, sir. She'll steer off the wind, like a colt 
 when he first feels the bridle; now with his head on one 
 side, and now on the other. You know I like a compact 
 line, and straight wakes, sir." 
 
 family, as his title of Bailli de Suffren was derived from his being a Knight of Malta. 
 It is a singular circumstance connected with the death of this distinguished officer, 
 which occured not long before the French Revolution, that he disappeared in an ex- 
 traordinary manner, and is buried no one knows where. It is supposed that he was 
 killed by one of his own officers, in a rencontre in the streets of Paris, at night, and 
 that the influence of the friends of the victor was sufficiently great to suppress 
 inquiry. The cause of the quarrel is attributed to harsh treatment on service. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 329 
 
 " I am well aware of that, Sir Gervaise," returned Parker, 
 a gray-headed, meek old man, who had fought his way up 
 from the forecastle to his present honorable station, and, 
 who, though brave as a lion before the enemy, had a partic- 
 ular dread of all his commanders; "but we have been 
 obliged to use more water aft than we could wish, on ac- 
 count of the tiers. We shall coil away the cables anew, 
 and come at some of the leaguers forward, and bring all 
 right again, in a week, I hope, sir." 
 
 "A week? — the d — 1, sir; that will never do, when I ex- 
 pect to see de Vervillin to-mofrow. Fill all your empty 
 casks aft with salt water immediately; and if that wont do 
 shift some of your shot forward. I know that craft of yours, 
 well ; she is as tender as a fellow with corns, and the shoe 
 mustn't pinch anywhere." 
 
 "Very well. Sir Gervaise; the ship shall be brought in 
 trim, as soon as possible." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir, that is what I expect from every vessel, at 
 all times; and more especially when we are ready to meet 
 an enemy. And, I say, Parker'^ — making a sign to his 
 boat's crew to stop rowing again — " I say, Parker^ I know 
 you love brawn; — I'll send you some that Galleygo tells me 
 he has picked up, along shore here, as soon as I get aboard. 
 The fellow has been robbing all the hen-roosts in Devon- 
 shire, by his own account of the matter." 
 
 Sir Gervaise waved his hand, Pa?'ker smiled and bowed 
 his thanks, and the two parted with feelings of perfect kind- 
 ness, notwithstanding the little skirmish with which the 
 interview had commenced. 
 
 " Mr. Williamson," said Captain Parker to his first lieu- 
 tenant, on quitting the gangway, "you hear what the com- 
 mander-in-chief says ; and he must be obeyed. I ^/^;/'/ think 
 the Carnatic would have sheered out of the line, even if she 
 is a little by the head; but have the empty casks filled, and 
 bring her down six inches more by the stern," 
 
 "That's a good fellow, that old Parker," said Sir Ger- 
 
330 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 vaise to his purser, whom he was carrying off good-natured- 
 ly to the ship, lest he might lose his passage ; " and I won- 
 der how he let his ship get her nose under water, in that 
 fashion. I like to have him for a second astern ; for I feel 
 sure he'd follo\7 if I stood into Cherbourg, bows on! Yes; 
 a good fellow is Parker ; and. Locker," — to his own man, who 
 was also in the boat, — " mind you send him two of the best 
 pieces of that brawn — hey! — hey! — hey! — what the d — 1 
 has Lord Morganic" — a descendant from royalty by the 
 left hand — been doing now! That ship is kept like a tail- 
 or's lay figure, just to stuff jackets and gimcracks on her — 
 Achilles, there!" 
 
 A quartermaster ran to the edge of the poop, and then 
 turning, he spoke to his captain, who was walking the deck, 
 and informed him that the commander-in chief hailed the 
 ship. The Earl of Morganic, a young man of four-and- 
 twenty, who had succeeded to the title a few years before 
 by the death of an elder brother, — the usual process by 
 which an old peer is brought into the British navy, the work 
 being too discouraging for those who have fortune before 
 their eyes from the start, — now advanced to the quarter of 
 the ship, bowed with respectful ease, and spoke with a self- 
 possession that not one of the old commanders of the fleet 
 would have dared to use. In general, this nobleman's in- 
 tercourse with his superiors in naval rank betrayed the con- 
 sciousness of his own superiority in civil rank; but Sir Ger- 
 vaise being of an old family, and quite as rich as he himself, 
 the vice-admiral commanded more of his homage than was 
 customary. His ship was full of "nobs," as they termed it 
 in the British navy, or the sons and relatives of nobles; and 
 it was by no means an uncommon thing for her messes to 
 have their jokes at the expense of even flag-officers, who 
 were believed to be a little ignorant of the peculiar sensi- 
 bilities that are rightly enough imagined to characterize 
 social station. 
 
 ** Good-morning, Sir Gervaise," called out this noble cap- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 33 1 
 
 tain ; " I'm glad to see you looking so well, after our long 
 cruise in the Bay; I intended to have the honor to inquire 
 after your health in person, this morning, but they told me 
 you slept out of your ship. We shall have to hold a court 
 on you, sir, if you fall much into that habit!" 
 
 All within hearing smiled, even to the rough old tars, 
 who were astraddle of the yards; and even Sir Gervaise's 
 lip curled a little, though he was not exactly in a joking 
 humor. 
 
 " Come, come, Morganic, do you let my habits alone, and 
 look out for your own fore-topmast. Why, in the name of 
 seamanship, is that spar stayed forward in such a fashion, 
 looking like a xebec's foremast?" 
 
 "Do you dislike it, Sir Gervaise? — Now to our fancies 
 aboard her, it gives the Achilles a knowing look, and we 
 hope to set a fashion. By carrying the head-sails w^ell for- 
 ward we help the ship round in a sea, you know, sir." 
 
 " Indeed, I know no such thing, my lord. What you gain 
 after being taken aback, you lose in coming to the wind. 
 If I had a pair of scales suitable to such a purpose, I would 
 have all that hamper you have stayed away yonder over 
 your bows, on the end of such a long lever, weighed, in order 
 that you might learn what a beautiful contrivance you've 
 invented, among you, to make a ship pitch in a head sea. 
 Why, d — e if I think you'd lie-to, at all, with so much stuff 
 aloft to knock you off to leeward. Come up everything 
 forward; come up everything, my lord, and bring the mast 
 as near perpendicular as possible. It's a hard matter, I 
 find, to make one of your new-fashioned captains keep 
 things in their places." 
 
 "Well, now, Sir Gervaise, I think the Achilles makes as 
 good an appearance as most of the other ships ; and as to 
 travelling or working, I do not know that she is either dull 
 or clumsy!" 
 
 " She is pretty well, Morganic, considering how many 
 Bond-street ideas you have got among you; but she'll never 
 
332 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 do in a head sea, with that fore-topmast threatening your 
 knightheads. So get the mast up-and-down, again, as soon 
 as convenient, and come and dine wdth me, without further 
 invitation, the first fine day we have at sea. I'm going to 
 send Parker some brawn; but I'll ieed you on some of Gal- 
 leygo's turtle-soup, made out of pig's heads." 
 
 "Thank'ee, Sir Gervaise; we'll endeavor to straighten 
 the stick, since you wi// have it so; though I confess I 
 get tired of seeing everything to-day just as we had it yes- 
 terday." 
 
 " Yes — yes — that's the way with most of these St. James 
 cruisers," continued the vice-admiral, as he rowed away. 
 " They want a fashionable tailor to rig a man-of-war, as 
 they are rigged themselves. There's my old friend and 
 neighbor, Lord Scupperton — he's taken a fancy to yacht- 
 ing, lately, and when his new brig was put into the water. 
 Lady Scupperton made him send for an upholsterer from town 
 to fit out the cabin ; and when the blackguard had surveyed 
 the unfortunate craft, as if it were a country box, what does 
 he do but give an opinion that * this here edifice, my lord, in 
 my judgment, should be furnished in cottage style' — the 
 vagabond!" 
 
 This story, which was not particularly original, for Sir 
 Gervaise himself had told it at least a dozen times before, 
 put the admiral in a good humor, and he found no more 
 fault with his captains, until he reached the Plantagenet. 
 
 " Daly," said the Earl of Morganic to his first lieutenant, 
 an experienced old Irishman of fifty, who still sung a good 
 song and told a good story, and, what was a little extraordi- 
 nary for either of these accomplishments, knew how to take 
 good care of a ship — " Daly, I suppose we must humor 
 the old gentleman, or he'll be quarantining me, and that 
 I shouldn't particularly like on the eve of a general action; 
 so we'll ease off forward, and set up the strings aft, again. 
 Hang me if I think he could find it out if we didn't, so 
 long as we kept dead in his wakel" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 333 
 
 "That wouldn't be a very safe desait for Sir Jarvy, my 
 lord, for he's a wonderful eye for a rope ! Were it Admiral 
 Blue, now I'd engage to cruise in his company for a week, 
 with my mizzen-mast stowed in the hold, and there should 
 be no bother about the novelty, at all; quite likely he'd be 
 hailing us, and ask, *What brig's that?' But none of these 
 tricks will answer with t'other, who misses the whipping off 
 the end of a gasket, as soon as any first luff of us all. And 
 so I'll just go about the business in earnest; get the car- 
 penter up with his plumb-bob, and set everything as straight 
 up-and-down as the back of a grenadier." 
 
 Lord Morganic laughed, as was usual with him when his 
 lieutenant saw fit to be humorous; and then his caprice in 
 changing the staying of his masts, as well as the order which 
 countermanded it, w^as forgotten. 
 
 The arrival of Sir Gervaise on board his own ship was 
 always an event in the fleet, even though his absence had 
 lasted no longer than twenty-four hours. The effect was 
 like that which is produced on a team of high-mettled cat- 
 tle, when they feel that the reins are in the hands of an 
 experienced and spirited coachman. 
 
 " Good-morning, Greenly, good morning to you all, gen- 
 tlemen," said the vice-admiral, bowing to the quarter-deck 
 in gross, in return for the "Present arms!" and rattling of 
 drums, and lowering of hats that greeted his arrival ; " a 
 fine day, and it is likely we shall have a fresh breeze. 
 Captain Greenly, your spritsail-yard wants squaring by 
 the lifts; and. Bunting, make the Thunderer's signal to get 
 her fore-yard in its place as soon as possible. She's had it 
 down long enough to make a new one, instead of merely 
 fishing it. Are your boats all aboard, Greenly?" 
 
 " All but your barge. Sir Gervaise, and that is hooked 
 on." 
 
 "In with it, sir; then trip, and we'll be off. Monsieur 
 de Vervillin has got some mischief in his head, gentlemen, 
 and we must go and take it out of him." 
 
334 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 These orders were promptly obeyed ; but, as the mannef 
 in which the Plantagenet passed out of the fleet, and led the 
 other ships to sea, has been already related, it is unnecessary 
 to repeat it. There was the usual bustle, the customary or- 
 derly confusion, the winding of calls, the creaking of blocks, 
 and the swinging of yards, ere the vessels were in motion. 
 As the breeze freshened, sail was reduced, as already re- 
 lated, until, by the time the leading ship was ten leagues 
 at sea, all were under short canvas, and the appearance of 
 a windy, if not a dirty, night had set in. Of course, all 
 means of communication between the Plantagenet and the 
 vessels still at anchor had ceased, except by sending sig- 
 nals down the line; but to those Sir Gervaise had no re- 
 course, since he was satisfied Bluewater understood his 
 plans, and he then entertained no manner of doubt of his 
 friend's willingness to aid them. 
 
 Little heed was taken of anything astern, by those on 
 board the Plantagenet. Every one saw, it is true, that 
 ship followed ship in due succession, as long as the move- 
 ments of those in-shore could be perceived at all; but the 
 great interest centred on the horizon to the southward and 
 eastward. In that quarter of the Channel the French were 
 expected to appear, for the cause of this sudden departure 
 was a secret from no one in the fleet. A dozen of the best 
 lookouts in the ship were kept aloft the whole afternoon, 
 and Captain Greenly himself sat in the forward cross- 
 trees, with a glass, for more than an hour, just as the sun 
 was setting, in order to sweep the horizon. Two or three 
 sail were made, it is true, but they all proved to be English 
 coasters ; Guernsey or Jerseymen, standing for ports in the 
 west of England, most probably laden with prohibited arti- 
 cles from the country of the enemy. Whatever may be the 
 dislike of an Englishman for a Frenchman, he has no dis- 
 like to the labor of his hands; and there probably has not 
 been a period since civilization has introduced the art of 
 smuggling among its other arts, when French brandies, and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 335 
 
 laces, and silks, were not exchanged against English to- 
 bacco and guineas, and that in a contraband way, let it be 
 in peace or let it be in war. One of the characteristics of 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes was to despise all petty means of an- 
 noyance; usually he disdained even to turn aside to chase 
 a smuggler. Fishermen he never molested at all; and, on 
 the whole, he carried on a marine warfare, a century since, 
 in a way that some of his successors might have imitated 
 to advantage in our own times. Like that high-spirited 
 Irishman, Caldwell,' who conducted a blockade in the 
 Chesapeake, at the commencement of the Revolution, with 
 so much liberality, that his enemies actually sent him an 
 invitation to a public dinner, Sir Gervaise knew how to dis- 
 tinguish between the combatant and the non-combatant, and 
 heartily disdained all the money-making parts of his pro- 
 fession, though large sums had fallen into his hands, in 
 this way, as pure godsends. No notice was taken, there- 
 fore, of anything that had not a warlike look; the noble 
 old ship standing steadily on toward the French coast, as 
 the mastiff passes the cur, on his way to encounter anoth- 
 er animal of a mould and courage more worthy of his 
 powers. 
 
 " Make nothing of 'em, hey! Greenly?" said Sir Gervaise, 
 as the captain came down from his perch, in consequence 
 of the gathering obscurity of evening, followed by half-a- 
 dozen lieutenants and midshipmen, who had been aloft as 
 volunteers. " Well, we know they cannot yet be to the west- 
 ward of us, and by standing on shall be certain of heading 
 them off, before this time six months. How beautifully all 
 the ships behave, following each other as accurately as if 
 Bluewater himself were aboard each vessel to conn her!" 
 
 '' Yes, sir, they do keep the line uncommonly well, con- 
 sidering that the tides run in streaks in the Channel. I 
 do think if we were to drop a hammock overboard that the 
 
 • The writer believes this noble-minded sailor to have been the late Admiral Sir 
 Benjamin Caldwell. It is scarcely necessary to say that the invitation could not be 
 accepted, though quite seriously given. 
 
33^ THE TWO ADMIRALS, 
 
 Carnatic would pick it up, although she must be quite four 
 leagues astern of us." 
 
 "Let old Parker alone for that! I'll warrant you, he is 
 never out of the way. Were it Lord Morganic, now, in the 
 Achilles, I should expect him to be away off here on our 
 weather-quarter, just to show us how his ship can eat us 
 out of the wind when he tries ; or way down yonder, under 
 our lee, that we might understand how she falls off, when 
 he don't try." 
 
 " My lord is a gallant officer, and no bad seaman, for his 
 years, notwithstanding, Sir Gervaise," observed Greenly, 
 who generally took the part of the absent, whenever his 
 superior felt disposed to berate them. 
 
 " I deny neither. Greenly, most particularly the first. I 
 know very well, were I to signal Morganic to run into 
 Brest, he'd do it; but whether he would go in ringtail- 
 boom or jib-boom first, I couldn't tell till I saw it. Now 
 you are a youngish man yourself. Greenly " 
 
 " Every day of eight-and-thirty. Sir Gervaise, and a few 
 months to spare ; and I care not if the ladies know it." 
 
 "Poh! — They like us old fellows, half the time, as well 
 as they do the boys. But you are of an age not to feel time 
 in your bones, and can see the folly of some of our old- 
 fashioned notions, perhaps; though you are not quite as 
 likely to understand the fooleries that have come in, in 
 your own day. Nothing is more absurd than to be experi- 
 menting on the settled principles of ships. They are ma- 
 chines. Greenly, and have their laws, just the same as the 
 planets in the heavens. The idea comes from a fish, — head, 
 run, and helm ; and all we have to do is to study the fishes in 
 order to get the sort of craft we want. If there is occasion 
 for bulk, take the whale, and you get a round bottom, full 
 fore-body, and a clean run. When you want speed, models 
 are plenty — take the dolphin, for instance, — and there you 
 find an entrance like a wedge, a lean fore-body, and run as 
 clean as this ship's decks. But some of our young captains 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 337 
 
 would spoil a dolphin's sailing, if they could breathe under 
 water, so as to get at the poor devils. Look at their fan- 
 cies ! The First Lord shall give one of his cousins a frigate, 
 now, that is moulded after nature itself, as one might say; 
 with a bottom that would put a trout to shame. Well, one 
 of the first things the lad does, when he gets on board her, 
 is to lengthen his gaff, perhaps, put a cloth or two in his 
 mizzen, and call it a spanker, settle away the peak till it 
 sticks out over his taffrail like a sign -post, and then away 
 he goes upon a wind, with his helm hard-up, bragging what 
 a weatherly craft he has, and how hard it is to make her 
 even look to leeward." 
 
 " I have known such sailors, I must confess. Sir Ger- 
 vaise ; but time cures them of that folly." 
 
 "That is to be hoped; for what would a man think of a 
 fish to which nature had fitted a tail athwartships, and which 
 was obliged to carry a fin, like a lee-board, under its lee- 
 jaw, to prevent falling off dead before the wind!" 
 
 Here Sir Gervaise laughed heartily at the picture of the 
 awkward creature to which his own imagination had given 
 birth ; Greenly joined in the merriment, partly from the 
 oddity of the conceit, and partly from the docility with 
 which commander-in-chief's jokes are usually received. 
 The feeling of momentary indignation which had aroused 
 Sir Gervaise to such an expression of his disgust at mod- 
 ern inventions was appeased by this little success; and, 
 inviting his captain to sup with him, — a substitute for a 
 dinner, — he led the way below in high good-humor, Gal- 
 leygo having just announced that the table was ready. 
 
 The C07wives on this occasion were merely the admiral 
 himself. Greenly, and Atwood. The fare was substantial, 
 rather than scientific; but the service was rich; Sir Ger- 
 vaise uniformly eating off of plate. In addition to Gal- 
 leygo, no less than five domestics attended to the wants 
 of the party. As a ship of the Plantagenet's size was 
 reasonably steady at all times, a gale of wind excepted. 
 
 22 
 
338 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 when the lamps and candles were lighted, and the group 
 was arranged, aided by the admixture of rich furniture with 
 frowning artillery and the other appliances of war, the great 
 cabin of the Plantagenet was not without a certain air of 
 rude magnificence. Sir Gervaise kept no less than three 
 servants in livery, as a part of his personal establishment, 
 tolerating Galleygo, and one or two more of the same stamp, 
 as a homage due to Neptune. 
 
 The situation not being novel to either of the party, and 
 the day's work having been severe, the first twenty minutes 
 were pretty studiously devoted to the duty of " restoration," 
 as it is termed by the great masters of the science of the 
 table. By the end of that time, however, the glass began 
 to circulate, though moderately, and with it tongues to 
 loosen. 
 
 "Your health. Captain Greenly — Atwood, I remember 
 you," said the vice-admiral, nodding his head familiarly 
 to his two guests, on the eve of tossing off a glass of sherry. 
 "These Spanish wines go directly to the heart, and I only 
 wonder why a people who can make them don't make better 
 sailors." 
 
 " In the days of Columbus, the Spaniards had something 
 to boast of in that way, too. Sir Gervaise," Atwood re- 
 marked. 
 
 "Ay, but that was a long time ago, and they have got 
 bravely over it. I account for the deficiencies of both the 
 French and Spanish marines something in this way, Greenly. 
 Columbus, and the discovery of America, brought ships and 
 sailors into fashion. But a ship without an officer fit to 
 command her is like a body without a soul. Fashion, how- 
 ever, brought your young nobles into their services, and 
 men were given vessels because their fathers were dukes 
 and counts, and not because they knew anything about 
 them." 
 
 " Is our own service entirely free from this sort of favor- 
 itism?" quietly demanded the captain, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 339 
 
 "Far from it, Greenly; else would not Morganic have 
 been made a captain at twenty, and old Parker, for in- 
 stance, one only at fifty. But, somehow, our classes slide 
 into each other, in a way that neutralizes, in a great degree, 
 the effect of birth. Is it not so, Atwood?" 
 
 ^^ So?ne of our classes, Sir Gervaise, manage to slide into 
 all the best places, if the truth must be said." 
 
 "Well, that is pretty bold for a Scotchman!" rejoined the 
 vice-admiral good-humoredly. " Ever since the accession 
 of the house of Stuart, we've built a bridge across the Tweed 
 that lets people pass in only one direction. I make no 
 doubt this Pretender's son will bring down half Scotland 
 at his heels, to fill all the berths they may fancy suitable 
 to their merits. It's an easy way of paying bounty — 
 promises." 
 
 "This affair in the north, they tell me, seems a little 
 serious," said Greenly. " I believe this is Mr. Atwood's 
 opinion?" 
 
 " You'll find it serious enough, if Sir Gervaise's notion 
 about the bounty be true," answered the immovable secre- 
 tary. " Scotia is a small country, but it's well filled with 
 * braw sperits,' if there's an opening for them to prove it." 
 
 "Well, well, this war between England and Scotland is 
 out of place, while we have the French and Spaniards on 
 our hands. Most extraordinary scenes have we had ashore, 
 yonder, Greenly, with an old Devonshire baronet, who slipped 
 and is off for the other world, while we were in his house." 
 
 " Magrath has told me something of it, sir; and he tells 
 me t\iQ JiU-us-null-Hs — hang me if I can make out his gib- 
 berish, five minutes after it was told to me." 
 
 " Filius fiuUius^ you mean ; nobody's baby — the son of 
 nobody — have you forgotten your Latin, man.?" 
 
 " Faith, Sir Gervaise, I never had any to forget. My fa- 
 ther was a captain of a man-of-war before me, and he kept 
 me afloat from the time I was five, down to the day of his 
 death; Latin was no part of my spoon-meat." 
 
340 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Ay — ay — my good fellow, I knew your father, and was 
 in the third ship from him, in the action in which he fell," 
 returned the vice-admiral kindly. " Bluewater was just 
 ahead of him, and we all loved him, as we did an elder 
 brother. You were not promoted, then." 
 
 '' No, sir, I was only a midshipman, and didn't happen 
 to be in his own ship that day," answered Greenly, sen- 
 sibly touched with this tribute to his parent's merit; "but 
 I was old enough to remember how nobly you all behaved 
 on the occasion. Well," — slily brushing his eye with his 
 hand, — " Latin may do a schoolmaster good, but it is of lit- 
 tle use on board ship. I never had but one scholar among 
 all my cronies and intimates." 
 
 "And who was he. Greenly? You shouldn't despise 
 knowledge, because you don't understand it. I dare say 
 your intimate was none the worse for a little Latin — enough 
 to go through fiuHus^ 7iuUa^ fiuilum, for instance. Who was 
 this intimate. Greenly?" 
 
 " John Bluewater — handsome Jack, as he was called ; the 
 younger brother of the admiral. They sent him to sea, to 
 keep him out of harm's way in some love affair; and you 
 may remember that while he was with the admiral, or Cap- 
 tain Bluewater, as he was then, I was one f the lieutenants. 
 Although poor Jack was a soldier and in the guards, and he 
 was four or five years my senior, he took a fancy to me, and 
 we became intimate. He understood Latin, better than he 
 did his own interests." 
 
 " In what did he fail ? — Bluewater was never very commu- 
 nicative to me about that brother." 
 
 " That was a private marriage, and cross guardians, and 
 the usual difficulties. In the midst of it all, poor John fell 
 in battle, as you know, and his widow followed him to the 
 grave within a month or two. 'Twas a sad story all round, 
 and I try to think of it as little as possible." 
 
 "A private marriage!" repeated Sir Gervaise slowly. 
 "Are you quite sure of that? I don't think Bluewater is 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 341 
 
 aware of that circumstance; at least, I never heard him 
 allude to it. Could there have been any issue?" 
 
 " No one can know it better than myself, as I helped to 
 get the lady off, and was present at the ceremony. That 
 much I know. Of issue, I should think there was none; 
 though the colonel lived a year after the marriage. How 
 far the admiral is familiar with all these circumstances I 
 cannot say, as one would not like to introduce the partic- 
 ulars of a private marriage of a deceased brother, to his 
 commanding officer." 
 
 " I am glad there was no issue, Greenly — particular cir- 
 cumstances make me glad of that. But we will change the 
 discourse, as these family disasters make one melancholy; 
 and a melancholy dinner is like ingratitude to Him who 
 bestows it." 
 
 The conversation now grew general, and in due season, 
 in common with the feast, it ended. After sitting the usual 
 time, the guests retired. Sir Gervaise then went on deck, 
 and paced the poop for an hour, looking anxiously ahead, 
 in quest of the French signal; and, failing of discovering 
 them, he was fain to seek his berth out of sheer fatigue. 
 Before he did this, however, the necessary orders were 
 given; and that to call him, should anything out of the 
 common track occur, was repeated no less than four times. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " Roll on, thou deep and dark-blue ocean— roll. 
 Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; 
 Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 
 
 Stops with the shore ;— upon the wat'ry plain 
 The wrecks are all thy deed." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 It was broad daylight when Sir Gervaise Oakes next 
 appeared on deck. As the scene then offered to his view, 
 as well as the impression it made on his mind, will suffi* 
 
342 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 ciently explain to the reader the state of affairs, some six 
 hours later than the time last included in our account, we 
 refer him to those for his own impressions. The wind now 
 blew a real gale, though the season of the year rendered it 
 less unpleasant to the feelings than is usual with the winter 
 tempests. The air was even bland, and still charged with 
 the moisture of the ocean ; though it came sweeping athwart 
 sheets of foam, with a fury, at moments, which threatened 
 to carry the entire summits of waves miles from their beds, 
 in spray. Even the aquatic birds seemed to be terrified, 
 in the instants of the greatest power of the winds, actually 
 wheeling suddenly on their wings, and plunging into the 
 element beneath to seek protection from the maddened 
 efforts of that to which they more properly belonged. 
 
 Still, Sir Gervaise saw that his ships bore up nobly 
 against the fierce strife. Each vessel showed the same can- 
 vas, viz. — a reefed foresail; a small triangular piece of 
 strong, heavy cloth, fitted between the end of the bowsprit 
 and the head of the fore-topmast; a similar sail over the 
 quarter-deck, between the mizzen and main masts, and a 
 close-reefed main-topsail. Several times that morning. 
 Captain Greenly had thought he should be compelled to 
 substitute a lower surface to the wind than that of the sail 
 last mentioned. As it was an important auxiliary, however, 
 in steadying the ship, and in keeping her under the command 
 of her helm, on each occasion the order had been delayed, 
 until he now began to question whether the canvas could 
 be reduced, without too great a risk to the men whom it 
 would be necessary to send aloft. He had decided to let 
 it stand or blow away, as fortune might decide. Similar 
 reasoning left nearly all the other vessels under precisely 
 the same canvas. 
 
 The ships of the vice-admiral's division had closed in 
 the night, agreeably to an order given before quitting the 
 anchorage, which directed them to come within the usual 
 sailing distance, in the event of the weather's menacing a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 343 
 
 separation. This command had been obeyed on the ships 
 astern carrying sail hard, long after the leading vessels had 
 been eased by reducing their canvas. The order of sailing 
 was the Plantagenet in the van, and the Carnatic, Achilles, 
 Thunderer, Blenheim, and Warspite following, in the order 
 named; some changes having been made in the night, in 
 order to bring the ships of the divisions into their fighting- 
 stations, in a line ahead, the vice-admiral leading. The 
 superiority of the Plantagenet was a little apparent, not- 
 withstanding; the Carnatic alone, and that only by means 
 of the most careful watching, being able to keep literally in 
 the commander-in-chief's wake ; all the other vessels gradu- 
 ally but almost imperceptibly setting to leeward of it. These 
 several circumstances struck Sir Gervaise, the moment his 
 foot touched the poop, where he found Greenly keeping an 
 anxious lookout on the state of the w^eather and the condi- 
 tion of his own ship; leaning at the same time against 
 the spanker-boom to steady himself in the gusts of the gale. 
 The vice-admiral braced his own well-knit and compact 
 frame, by spreading his legs; then he turned his handsome 
 but weatherbeaten face toward the line, scanning each ship 
 in succession, as she lay over to the wind and came wallow- 
 ing on, shoving aside vast mounds of water with her bows, 
 her masts describing short arcs in the air, and her hull roll- 
 ing to windw^ard, and lurching, as if boring her way through 
 the ocean. Galleygo, who never regarded himself as a stew- 
 ard in a gale of wind, was the only other person on the poop, 
 whither he went at pleasure by a sort of imprescriptible 
 right. 
 
 '' Well done, old Planter!" cried Sir Gervaise heartily, as 
 soon as his eye had taken in the leading peculiarities of the 
 view. " You see. Greenly, she has everybody but old Parker 
 to leeward, and she would have him there, too, but he would 
 carry every stick he has out of the Carnatic, rather than not 
 keep his berth. Look at Master IMorganic; he has his main 
 course close-reefed on the Achilles, to luif into his station, 
 
344 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and I'll warrant you will get a good six months' wear out of 
 that ship in this one gale; loosening her knees, and jerking 
 her spars like so many whip-handles; and all for love of the 
 new fashion of rigging an English two-decker like an Alger- 
 ine xebec! Well, let him tug his way up to windward, 
 Bond-street fashion, if he likes the fun. What has become 
 of the Chloe, Greenly?" 
 
 " Here she is, sir, quite a league on our lee-bow, looking 
 out, according to orders." 
 
 " Ay, that is her work, and she'll do it effectually. — But I 
 don't see the Driver!" 
 
 " She's dead ahead, sir," answered Greenly, smiling; " her 
 oiders being rather more difficult of execution. Her station 
 would be off yonder to windward, half a league ahead of 
 us; but it's no easy matter to get into that position. Sir 
 Gervaise, when the Plantagenet is really in earnest." 
 
 Sir Gervaise laughed, and rubbed his hands, then he 
 turned to look for the Active, the only other vessel of his 
 division. This little cutter was dancing over the seas, half 
 the time under water, notwithstanding, under the head of 
 her mainsail, broad off, on the admiral's weather-beam; 
 finding no difficulty in maintaining her station there, in the 
 absence of all top-hamper, and favored by the lowness of 
 her hull. After this he glanced upward at the sails and 
 spars of the Plantagenet, which he studied closely. 
 
 "No signs of de Vervillin, hey! Greenly?" the admiral 
 asked, when his survey of the whole fleet had ended. ** I 
 was in hopes we might see something of /«w, when the light 
 returned this morning." 
 
 " Perhaps it is quite as well as it is. Sir Gervaise," re- 
 turned the captain. " We could do little besides look at 
 each other, in this gale, and Admiral Bluewater ought to 
 join before I should like even to do that.^^ 
 
 "Think you so. Master Greenly! There you are mis- 
 taken, then; for I'd lie by him, were I alone in this ship, 
 that I might know where he was to be found as soon as 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS 345 
 
 the weather would permit us to have something to say to 
 him." 
 
 These words were scarcely uttered, when the lookout in 
 the forward cross-trees shouted at the top of his voice, 
 "Sail-ho!" At the next instant the Chloe fired a gun, the 
 report of which was just heard amid the roaring of the gale, 
 though the smoke was distinctly seen floating above the 
 mists of the ocean; she also set a signal at her naked 
 mizzen-topgallant-masthead. 
 
 " Run below, young gentleman," said the vice-admiral, 
 advancing to the break of the poop and speaking to a mid- 
 shipman on the quarter-deck ; " and desire Mr. Bunting to 
 make his appearance. The Chloe signals us — tell him not 
 to look for his knee-buckles." 
 
 A century since, the last injunction, though still so much 
 in use on shipboard, was far more literal than it is to-day, 
 nearly all classes of men possessing the articles in question, 
 though not invariably wearing them when at sea. The 
 midshipman dove below, however, as soon as the words 
 were out of his superior's mouth; and, in a very few min- 
 utes. Bunting appeared, having actually stopped on the 
 main-deck ladder to assume his coat, lest he might too un- 
 ceremoniously invade the sacred precincts of the quarter- 
 deck, in his shirt-sleeves. 
 
 "There it is. Bunting," said Sir Gervaise, handing the 
 lieutenant the glass; "two hundred and twenty-seven — *A 
 large sail ahead,' if I remember right." 
 
 " No, Sir Gervaise, * Sails ahead '; the number of them to 
 follow. Hoist the answering flag, quartermaster." 
 
 "So much the better! So much the better, Bunting! 
 The number to follow? Well, zue'/lioWow the number, let 
 it be greater or smaller. Come, sirrah, bear a hand up with 
 your answering flag." 
 
 The usual signal that the message was understood was now 
 run up between the masts, and instantly hauled down again, 
 the flags seen in the Chloe descending at the same moment. 
 
34^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "Now for the number of the sails, ahead," said Sir Ger- 
 vaise, as he, Greenly, and Bunting each levelled a glass at 
 the frigate, on board which the next signal was momentarily 
 expected. "Eleven, by George!" 
 
 " No, Sir Gervaise," exclaimed Greenly, " I know better 
 than that. Red above and blue beneath, with the distin- 
 guishing pennant be?teath^ make fourteen^ in our books, 
 now!" 
 
 "Well, sir, if they z.rQ/orty, we'll go nearer and see of 
 what sort of stuff they are made. Show your answering 
 flag, Bunting, that we may know what else the Chloe has to 
 tell us." 
 
 This was done, the frigate hauling down her signals in 
 haste, and showing a new set as soon as possible. 
 
 "What now. Bunting? — what now, Greenly?" demanded 
 Sir Gervaise, a sea having struck the side of the ship and 
 thrown so much spray into his face as to reduce him to the 
 necessity of using his pocket-handkerchief, at the very mo- 
 ment he was anxious to be looking through his glass. 
 "What do you make of that, gentlemen?" 
 
 "I make out the number to be 382," answered Greenly; 
 "but what it means, I know not." 
 
 "* Strange sails, <?;/^w/<?j,' " read Bunting from the book. 
 " Show the answer, quartermaster." 
 
 " We hardly wanted a signal for that, Greenly, since there 
 can be no friendly force hereaway; and fourteen sail, on 
 this coast, always means mischief. What says the Chloe 
 next?" 
 
 " * Strange sails on the larboard tack, heading as fol- 
 lows.' " 
 
 " By George, crossing our course ! — We shall soon see 
 them from deck. Do the ships astern notice the signals?" 
 
 " Every one of them. Sir Gervaise," answered the captain ; 
 "the Thunderer has just lowered her answering flag, and 
 the Active is repeating. I have never seen quartermasters 
 so nimble!" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. ^^'y 
 
 "So much the better — so much the better — down he 
 comes; stand by for another." 
 
 After the necessary pause, the signal to denote the point 
 of the compass was shown from the Chloe. 
 
 "Heading how, Bunting?" the vice-admiral eagerly in- 
 quired. ''Heading how, sir?" 
 
 " North-west-and-by-north," or, as Bunting pronounced it, 
 " nor-west-and-by-noathe, I believe, sir — no, I am mistaken, 
 SirGervaise; it is nor-nor-west." 
 
 "Jammed up like ourselves, hard on a wind! This gale 
 comes directly from the broad Atlantic, and one party is 
 crossing over to the north and the other to the south shore. 
 We musf meet, unless one of us run away — hey! Greenly?" 
 
 " True enough. Sir Gervaise ; though fourteen sail is rather 
 an awkward odds for seven." 
 
 "You forget the Driver and Active, sir; we've nine; nine 
 hearty, substantial British cruisers." 
 
 "To wit: six ships of the line, one frigate, a s/ooJ>, and a 
 cutter^' laying heavy emphasis on the two last vessels. 
 
 "What does the Chloe say now. Bunting? That we're 
 enough for the French, although they are two to one?" 
 
 " Not exactly that, I believe. Sir Gervaise. * Five more 
 sail ahead.' They increase fast, sir." 
 
 " Ay, at that rate, they may indeed grow too strong for 
 us," answered Sir Gervaise, with more coolness of manner; 
 " nineteen to nine are rather heavy odds. I wish we had 
 Bluewater here!" 
 
 "That is what I was about to suggest. Sir Gervaise," 
 observed the captain. " If we had the other division, as 
 some of the Frenchmen are probably frigates and corvettes, 
 we might do better. Admiral Bluewater cannot be far from 
 us; somewhere down here, toward northeast — or nor-nor- 
 east. By waring round, I think we should make his division 
 in the course of a couple of hours." 
 
 " What, and leave to Monsieur de Vervillin the advantage 
 of swearing he frightened us away ! No— no— Greenly ; we 
 
34^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 will first pass him tairly and manfully, and that, too, within 
 reach of shot; and then it will be time enough to go round 
 and look after our friends." 
 
 "Will not that be putting the French exactly between our 
 two divisions, Sir Gervaise, and give him the advantage of 
 dividing our force? If he stand far, on a nor-nor-west 
 course, I think he will infallibly get between us and Admi- 
 ral Bluewater." 
 
 "And what will he gain by that, Greenly? — What, ac- 
 cording to your notions of matters and things, will be the 
 great advantage of having an English fleet on each side of 
 him?" 
 
 " Not much, certainly, Sir Gervaise," answered Greenly, 
 laughing; ''if these fleets were at all equal to his own. 
 But as they will be much inferior to him, the Comte may 
 manage to close with one division, while the other is so far 
 off as to be unable to assist; and one hour of a hot fire may 
 dispose of the victory." 
 
 " All this is apparent enough, Greenly ; yet I could hardly 
 brook letting the enemy go scatheless. So long as it blows 
 as it does now, there will not be much fighting, and there 
 can be no harm in taking a near look at M. de Vervillin. 
 In half an hour, or an hour at most, we must get a sight of 
 him from off deck, even with this slow headway of the two 
 fleets. Let them heave the log, and ascertain how fast we 
 go, sir." 
 
 " Should we engage the French in such weather. Sir Ger- 
 vaise," answered Greenly, after giving the order just men- 
 tioned; "it would be giving them the very advantage they 
 like. They usually fire at the spars, and one shot would do 
 more mischief, with such a strain on the masts, than half-a- 
 dozen in a moderate blow." 
 
 "That will do. Greenly — that will do," said the vice- 
 admiral impatiently; "if I didn't so well know you, 
 and hadn't seen you so often engaged, I should think 
 you were afraid of these nineteen sail. You have lee- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 349 
 
 tured long enough to render me prudent, and we'll say 
 no more." 
 
 Here Sir Gervaise turned on his heel, and began to pace 
 the poop, for he was slightly vexed, though not angered. 
 Such little dialogues often occurred between him and his 
 captain, the latter knowing that his commander's greatest 
 professional failing was excess of daring, while he felt that 
 his own reputation was too well established to be afraid to 
 inculcate prudence. Next to the honor of the flag, and his 
 own perhaps. Greenly felt the greatest interest in that of Sir 
 Gervaise Oakes, under whom he had served as midshipman, 
 lieutenant, and captain ; and this his superior knew, a cir- 
 cumstance that would have excused far greater liberties. 
 After moving swiftly to and fro several times, the vice- 
 admiral began to cool, and he forgot this passing ebullition 
 of quick feelings. Greenly, on the other hand, satisfied that 
 the just mind of the commander-in-chief would not fail to 
 appreciate facts that had been so plainly presented to it, 
 was content to change the subject. They conversed to- 
 gether in a most friendly manner. Sir Gervaise being even 
 unusually frank and communicative, in order to prove he was 
 not displeased, the matter in discussion being the state of 
 the ship and the situation of the crew. 
 
 " You are always ready for battle, Greenly," the vice- 
 admiral said smilingly, in conclusion; "when there is a 
 necessity; and always just as ready to point out the inexpe- 
 diency of engaging, where you fancy nothing is to be gained 
 by it. You would not have me run away from a shadow, 
 however, or a signal, — and that is much the same thing: so 
 we will stand on, until we make the Frenchmen fairly from 
 off-deck, when it will be time enough to determine what 
 shall come next." 
 
 "Sail-ho!" shouted one of the lookouts from aloft, a cry 
 that immediately drew all eyes toward the mizzen-topmast 
 cross-trees, whence the sound proceeded. 
 
 The wind blew too fresh to render conversation, even by 
 
350 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 means of a trumpet, easy, and the man was ordered down to 
 give an account of what he had seen. Of course he first 
 touched the poop-deck, where he was met by the admiral 
 and captain, the officer of the watch, to whom he properly be- 
 longed, giving him up to the examination of his two supe- 
 riors, without a grimace. 
 
 " Where-away is the sail you've seen, sir?" demanded Sir 
 Gervaise a little sharply, for he suspected it was no more 
 than one of the ships ahead, already signalled. " Down 
 yonder to the southward and eastward^ — hey! sirrah?" 
 
 "No, Sir Jarvy," answered the topman, hitching his 
 trousers with one hand, and smoothing the hair on his 
 forehead with the other; "but out here, to the nor'ard 
 and west'ard, on our weather-quarter. It's none o' them 
 French chaps as is with the County of Fairvillian" — 
 for so all the common men of the fleet believed their 
 gallant enemy to be rightly named — " but is a square- 
 rigged craft by herself, jammed up on a wind, pretty 
 much like all on us." 
 
 "That alters the matter. Greenly! How do you know 
 she is square-rigged, my man?" 
 
 "Why, Sir Jarvy, your honor, she's under her fore and 
 main tawsails, close-reefed, with a bit of the mainsail set, 
 as well as I can make it out, sir." 
 
 "The devil she is! It must be some fellow in a great 
 hurry, to carry that canvas in this blow 1 Can it be possible, 
 Greenly, that the leading vessel of Bluewater is heaving in 
 sight?" 
 
 "I rather think not, Sir Gervaise; it would be too far to 
 windward for any of his two-deckers. It may turn out to 
 be a lookout ship of the French, got round on the other tack 
 to keep her station, and carrying sail hard, because she 
 dislikes our appearance." 
 
 " In that case she must claw well to windward to escape 
 us ! What's your name, my lad — Tom Davis, if I'm not 
 mistaken?" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 35 1 
 
 "No, Sir Jarvy, it's Jack Brown; which is much the 
 same your honor. We's no ways partic'lar about names." 
 
 "Well, Jack, does it blow hard aloft? So as to give you 
 any trouble in holding on?" 
 
 " Nothing to speak on, Sir Jarvy. A'ter cruising a win- 
 ter and spring in the Bay of Biscay, I looks on this as no 
 more nor a puff. Half a hand will keep a fellow in his 
 berth, aloft." 
 
 "Galleygo — take Jack Brown below to my cabin, and 
 give him a fresh nip in his jigger — he'll hold on all the 
 better for it." 
 
 This was Sir Gervaise's mode of atoning for the error in 
 doing the man injustice, by supposing he was mistaken 
 about the new sail, and Jack Brown went aloft devoted to 
 the commander-in-chief. It costs the great and powerful so 
 little to become popular that one is sometimes surprised to 
 find that any are otherwise ; but, when we remember that it 
 is also their duty to be just, astonishment ceases; justice 
 being precisely the quality to which a large portion of the 
 human race are most averse. 
 
 Half an hour passed, and no further reports were received 
 from aloft. In a few minutes, however, the Warspite sig- 
 nalled the admiral, to report the stranger on her weather- 
 quarter, and, not long after, the Active did the same. Still 
 neither told his character; and, the course being substan- 
 tially the same, the unknown ship approached but slowly, 
 notwithstanding the unusual quantity of sail she had set. 
 At the end of the period mentioned, the vessels in the south- 
 eastern board began to be visible from the deck. The ocean 
 was so white with foam that it was not easy to distinguish a 
 ship, under short canvas, at any great distance ; but, by the 
 aid of glasses, both Sir Gervaise and Greenly satisfied 
 themselves that the number of the enemy at the southward 
 amounted to just twenty; one more having hove in sight, 
 and been signalled by the Chloe, since her first report. 
 Several of these vessels, however, were small ; and the vice- 
 
352 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 admiral, after a long and anxious survey, lowered his glass 
 and turned to his captain in order to compare opinions. 
 
 " Well, Greenly," he asked, " what do you make of them, 
 now? — According to my reckoning, there are thirteen of the 
 line, two frigates, four corvettes, and a lugger; or twenty 
 sail in all." 
 
 "There can be no doubt of the twenty sail. Sir Gervaise, 
 though the vessels astern are still too distant to speak of 
 their size. I rather think it will turn o\i\. /ourtee?i of the 
 line and only three frigates." 
 
 " That is rather too much for us, certainly, without Blue- 
 water. His five ships, now, and this westerly position, 
 would make a cheering prospect for us. We might stick by 
 Mr. de Vervillin until it moderated, and then pay our respects 
 to him. What do you say to ///<?/, Greenly.''" 
 
 "That it is of no great moment. Sir Gervaise, so long as 
 the other division is ?wt with us. But yonder are signals 
 flying on board the Active, the Warspite, and the Blenheim." 
 
 "Ay, they've something to tell us of the chap astern and 
 to windward. Come, Bunting, give us the news." 
 
 " ' Stranger in the northwest shows the Druid's number,' ^ 
 the signal-officer read mechanically from the book. 
 
 " The deuce he does ! Then Bluewater cannot be far off. 
 Let Dick alone for keeping in his proper place; he has an 
 instinct for a line of battle, and I never knew him fail to be 
 in the very spot I could wish to have him, looking as much 
 at home as if his ships had all been built there! The 
 Druid's number! The Caesar and the rest of them are in a 
 line ahead, further north, heading up well to windward even 
 of our own wake. This puts the Comte fairly under our 
 lee." 
 
 But Greenly was far from being of a temperament as san- 
 guine as that of the vice-admiral's. He did not like the 
 circumstance of the Druid's being alone visible, and she, 
 too, under what in so heavy a gale might be deemed a press 
 of canvas. There was no apparent reason for the division's 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 353 
 
 carrying sail so hard, while the frigate would be obliged to 
 do it, did she wish to overtake vessels like the Plantagenet 
 and her consorts. He suggested, therefore, the probability 
 that the ship was alone, and that her object might be to 
 speak them. 
 
 " There is something in what you say, Greenly," answered 
 Sir Gervaise, after a minute's reflection ; " and we must 
 look into it. If Denham doesn't give us anything new from 
 the Comte to change our plans, it may be well to learn what 
 the Druid is after." 
 
 Denham was the commander of the Chloe, which ship, a 
 neat six-and-thirty, was pitching into the heavy seas that 
 now came rolling in heavily from the broad Atlantic, the 
 water streaming from her hawse-holes, as she rose from each 
 plunge, like the spouts of a whale. This vessel, it has been 
 stated, was fully a league ahead and to leeward of the Plan- 
 tagenet, and consequently so much nearer to the French, 
 who were approaching from that precise quarter of the ocean, 
 in a long single line, like that of the English; a little re- 
 lieved, however, by the lookout vessels, all of which, in their 
 case, were sailing along on the weather-beam of their friends. 
 The distance was still so great as to render glasses neces- 
 sary in getting any very accurate notions of the force and 
 the point of sailing of Monsieur de Vervillin's fleet, the 
 ships astern being yet so remote as to require long practice 
 to speak with any certainty of their characters. In nothing, 
 notwithstanding, was the superior practical seamanship of 
 the English more apparent than in the manner in which these 
 respective lines were formed. That of Sir Gervaise Oakes 
 was compact, each ship being as near as might be a cable's 
 length distant from her seconds, ahead and astern. This 
 was a point on which the vice-admiral prided himself; and 
 by compelling his captains rigidly to respect their line of 
 sailing, and by keeping the same ships and officers, as much 
 as possible, under his orders, each captain of the fleet had 
 got to know his own vessel's rate of speed, and all the other 
 23 
 
354 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 qualities that were necessary to maintain her precise posi- 
 tion. All the ships being weatherly, though some, in a 
 slight degree, were more so than others, it was easy to keep 
 the line in weather like the present, the wind not blowing 
 sufficiently hard to render a few cloths more or less of canvas 
 of any very great moment. If there was a vessel sensibly 
 out of her place, in the entire line, it was the Achilles; 
 Lord Morganic not having had time to get all his forward 
 spars as far aft as they should have been ; a circumstance 
 that had knocked him off a little more than had happened 
 to the other vessels. Nevertheless, had an air-line been 
 drawn at this moment, from the mizzen-top of the Plantage- 
 net to that of the Warspite, it would have been found to 
 pass through the spars of quite half the intermediate vessels, 
 and no one of them all would have been a pistol-shot out 
 of the way. As there were six intervals between the vessels, 
 and each interval as near as could be guessed at was a ca- 
 ble's length, the extent of the whole line a little exceeded 
 three-quarters of a mile. 
 
 On the other hand, the French, though they preserved a 
 very respectable degree of order, were much less compact, 
 and by no means as methodical in their manner of sailing. 
 Some of their ships were a quarter of a mile to leeward of 
 the line, and the intervals were irregular and ill-observed. 
 These circumstances arose from several causes, neither of 
 which proceeded from any fault in the commander-in-chief, 
 who was both an experienced seaman and a skilful tactician. 
 But his captains were new to each other, and some of them 
 were recently appointed to their ships ; it being just as much 
 a matter of course that a seaman should ascertain the quali- 
 ties of his vessel, by familiarity, as that a man should learn 
 the character of his wife, in the intimacy of wedlock. 
 
 At the precise moment of which we are now writing, the 
 Chloe might have been about a league from the leading ves- 
 sel of the enemy, and her position to leeward of her own 
 fleet threatened to bring her, half an hour later, within range 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 355 
 
 of the Frenchmen's guns. This fact was apparent to all in 
 the squadron; still the frigate stood on, having been placed 
 in that station, and the whole being under the immediate 
 supervision of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 " Denham will have a warm berth of it, sir, should he 
 stand on much longer," said Greenly, when ten minutes more 
 had passed, during which the ships had gradually drawn 
 nearer. 
 
 " I was hoping he might get between the most weatherly 
 French frigate and her line," answered Sir Gervaise ; " when 
 I think, by edging rapidly away, we could take her alive, 
 with the Plantagenet." 
 
 " In which case we might as well clear for action ; such 
 a manoeuvre being certain to bring on a general engage- 
 ment." 
 
 " No — no — I'm not quite mad enough for that, Master 
 Telemachus; but we can wait a little longer for the chances. 
 How many flags can you make out among the enemy, Bunt- 
 ing?" 
 
 " I see but two. Sir Gervaise ; one at the fore, and the 
 other at the mizzen, like our own. I can make out, now, 
 only twelve ships of the line, too; neither of which is a 
 three-decker." 
 
 " So much for rumor; as flagrant a liar as ever wagged a 
 tongue! Twelve ships on two decks, and eight frigates, 
 sloops, and luggers. There can be no great mistake in 
 this." 
 
 "I think not, Sir Gervaise; their commander-in-chief is 
 in the fourth ship from the head of the line. His flag is 
 just discernible, by means of our best glass. Ay, there 
 goes a signal, this instant, at the end of his gaff!" 
 
 " If one could only read French now. Greenly," said 
 the vice-admiral, smiling; "we might get into some of Mr. 
 de Vervillin's secrets. Perhaps it's an order to go to quar- 
 ters or to clear; look out sharp, Bunting, for any signs oi 
 such a movement. What do you make of it?" * 
 
35^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "It's to the frigates, Sir Gervaise; all of which answer, 
 while the other vessels do not." 
 
 " We want no French to read that signal, sir," put in 
 Greenly; "the frigates themselves telling us what it means. 
 Monsieur de Vervillin has no idea of letting the Plantage- 
 net take anything he has, alive^ 
 
 This was true enough. Just as the captain spoke, the 
 object of the order was made sufficiently apparent, by all the 
 light vessels to windward of the French fleet bearing up 
 together, until they brought the wind abaft their beams, 
 when away they glided to leeward, like floating objects that 
 have suddenly struck a swift current. Before this change in 
 their course, these frigates and corvettes had been strug- 
 gling along, the seas meeting them on their weather-bows, 
 at the rate of about two knots or rather less ; whereas their 
 speed was now quadrupled, and in a few minutes the whole 
 of them had sailed through the different intervals in their 
 main line, and had formed as before, nearly half a league to 
 leeward of it. Here, in the event of an action, their princi- 
 pal duties would have been to succor crippled ships that 
 might be forced out of their allotted stations during the 
 combat. All this Sir Gervaise viewed with disgust. He 
 had hoped that his enemy might have presumed on the state 
 of the elements, and suffered his light vessels to maintain 
 their original positions. 
 
 " It would be a great triumph to us. Greenly," he said, " if 
 Denham could pass without shifting his berth. There would 
 be something manly and seamanlike in an inferior fleet's 
 passing a superior, in such a style." 
 
 " Yes, sir, though it might cost us a fine frigate. The 
 count can have no difficulty in fighting his weather main- 
 deck guns, and a discharge from two or three of his leading 
 vessels might cut away some spar that Denham would miss 
 sadly, just at such a moment." 
 
 Sir Gervaise placed his hands behind his back, paced the 
 deck a minute, and then said decidedly: 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 35/ 
 
 "Bunting, make the Chloe's signal to ware — tacking in 
 this sea, and under that short canvas, is out of the ques- 
 tion." 
 
 Bunting had anticipated this order, and had even ventured 
 clandestinely to direct the quartermasters to bend on the 
 necessary flags; and Sir Gervaise had scarcely got the words 
 out of his mouth, before the signal was abroad. The Chloe 
 was equally on the alert; for she too each moment expected 
 the command, and ere her answering flag was seen her helm 
 was up, the mizzen-staysail down, and her head falling off 
 rapidly toward the enemy. This movement seemed to be 
 expected all round — and it certainly had been delayed to 
 the very last moment — for the leading French ship fell off 
 three or four points, and as the frigate was exactly end-on 
 to her, let fly the contents of all the guns on her forecastle, 
 as well as of those on her main-deck, as far aft as they 
 could be brought to bear. One of the topsail-sheets of the 
 frigate was shot away by this rapid and unexpected fire, and 
 some little damage was done to the standing rigging; but 
 luckily none of immediate moment. Captain Denham was 
 active, and the instant he found his topsail flapping, he or- 
 dered it clewed up, and the mainsail loosed. The latter 
 was set, close-reefed, as the ship came to the wind on the 
 larboard tack, and by the time everything was braced up 
 and hauled aft, on that tack, the main-topsail was ready to 
 be sheeted home anew. During the few minutes that these 
 evolutions required, Sir Gervaise kept his eye riveted on 
 the vessel ; and when he saw her fairly round, and trimmed 
 by the wind again, with the mainsail dragging her ahead, 
 to own the truth he felt mentally relieved. 
 
 " Not a minute too soon, Sir Gervaise;" observed the cau- 
 tious Greenly, smiling. " I should not be surprised if Den- 
 ham hears more from that fellow at the head of the French 
 line. His weather chase-guns are exactly in a range with 
 the frigate, and the two upper ones might be worked well 
 enough." 
 
353 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " I think not, Greenly. The forecastle gun, possibly ; 
 scarcely anything below it." 
 
 Sir Gervaise proved to be partly right and partly wrong. 
 The Frenchman did attempt a fire with his main-deck gun ; 
 but, at the first plunge of the ship, a sea slapped up against 
 her weather-bow, and sent a column of water through the 
 port, that drove half its crew into the lee-scuppers. In the 
 midst of this waterspout, the gun exploded, the loggerhead 
 having been applied an instant before, giving a sort of 
 chaotic wildness to the scene in-board. This satisfied the 
 party below; though that on the forecastle fared better. 
 The last fired their gun several times, and always without 
 success. This failure proceeded from a cause that is seldom 
 sufficiently estimated by nautical gunners; the shot having 
 swerved from the line of sight, by the force of the wind 
 against which it flew, two or three hundred feet, by the time 
 it had gone the mile that lay between the vessels. Sir Ger- 
 vaise anxiously watched the effect of the fire, and, perceiv- 
 ing that all the shot fell to leeward of the Chloe, he was no 
 longer uneasy about that vessel, and he began to turn his 
 attention to other and more important concerns. 
 
 As we are now approaching a moment when it is neces- 
 sary that the reader should receive some tolerably distinct 
 impression of the relative positions of the two entire fleets, 
 we shall close the present chapter here; reserving the duty 
 of explanation for the commencement of a new one. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 359 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 All were glad, 
 
 And laughed, and shouted, as she darted on. 
 And plunged amid the foam, and tossed it high, 
 Over the deck, as when a strong, curbed steed 
 Flings the froth from him in his eager race." 
 
 Percival. 
 
 The long twilight of a high latitude had now ended, and 
 the sun, though concealed behind clouds, had risen. The 
 additional light contributed to lessen the gloomy look of the 
 ocean, though the fury of the winds and waves still lent to 
 it a dark and menacing aspect. To windward there were no 
 signs of an abatement of the gale, while the heavens con- 
 tinued to abstain from letting down their floods on the rag- 
 ing waters beneath. By this time, the fleet was materially 
 to the southward of Cape la Hogue, though far to the west- 
 ward, where the Channel received the winds and waves from 
 the whole rake of the Atlantic, and the seas were setting in, 
 in the long, regular swells of the ocean, a little disturbed 
 by the influence of the tides. Ships as heavy as the two- 
 deckers moved along with groaning efforts, their bulkheads 
 and timbers " complaining," to use the language of the sea, 
 as the huge masses, loaded with their iron artillery, rose and 
 sunk on the coming and receding billows. But their move- 
 ments were stately and full of majesty ; whereas the cutter, 
 sloop, and even the frigates, seemed to be tossed like foam, 
 very much at the mercy of the elements. The Chloe was 
 passing the admiral, on the opposite tack, quite a mile to 
 leeward, and yet, as she mounted to the summit of a wave, 
 her cutwater was often visible nearly to the keel. These 
 are the trials of a vessel's strength; for, were a ship always 
 water-borne equally on all her lines, there would not be the 
 necessity which now exists to make her the well-knit mass of 
 wood and iron she is. 
 
 The progress of the two fleets was very much the same. 
 
360 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 both squadrons struggling along through the billows, at the 
 rate of about a marine league in the hour. As no lofty sail 
 was carried, and the vessels were first made in the haze of 
 a clouded morning, the ships had not become visible to each 
 other until nearer than common ; and, by the time at which 
 we have now arrived in our tale, the leading vessels were 
 separated by a space that did not exceed two miles, estimat- 
 ing the distance only on their respective lines of sailing; 
 though there would be about the same space between them 
 when abreast, the English being so much to windward of 
 their enemies. Any one in the least familiar with nautical 
 manoeuvres will understand that these circumstances would 
 bring the van of the French and the rear of their foes much 
 nearer together in passing, both fleets being close-hauled. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes, as a matter of course, watched the 
 progress of the two lines with close and intelligent atten- 
 tion. Monsieur deVervillin did the same from the poop of 
 Le Foudroyant, a noble eighty-gun ship in which his flag of 
 vice-amiral was flying, as it might be, in defiance. By the 
 side of the former stood Greenly, Bunting, and Bury, the 
 Plantagenet's first lieutenant; by the side of the latter his 
 capitaine de vaisseau, a man as little like the caricatures of 
 such officers as a hostile feeling has laid before the readers 
 of English literature, as Washington was like the man held 
 up to odium in the London journals, at the commencement 
 of the great American war. Monsieur de Vervillin himself 
 was a man of respectable birth, of a scientific education, 
 and of great familiarity with ships, so far as a knowledge of 
 their general powers and principles was concerned ; but here 
 his professional excellence ceased, all that infinity of detail 
 which composes the distinctive merit of the practical sea- 
 man being, in a great degree, unknown to him, rendering it 
 necessary for him to thi7ik in moments of emergency ; periods 
 when the really prime mariner seems more to act by a sort 
 of i?isiinct than by any very intelligible process of ratiocina- 
 tion. With his fleet drawn out before him, however, and 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 36I 
 
 with no unusual demands on his resources, this gallant offi- 
 cer was an exceedingly formidable foe to contend with in 
 squadron. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes lost all his constitutional and feverish 
 impatience while the fleets drew nigher and nigher. As is 
 not unusual with brave men who are naturally excitable, as 
 the crisis approached he grew calmer, and obtained a more 
 perfect command over himself; seeing all things in their 
 true colors, and feeling more and more equal to control 
 them. He continued to walk the poop, but it was with a 
 slower step; and, though his hands were still closed behind 
 his back, the fingers were passive, while his countenance 
 became grave and his eye thoughtful. Greenly knew that 
 his interference would now be hazardous ; for whenever the 
 vice-admiral assumed that air he literally became com- 
 mander-in-chief; and any attempt to control or influence 
 him, unless sustained by the communication of new facts, 
 could only draw down resentment on his own head. Bun- 
 ting, too, was aware that the " admiral was aboard," as the 
 officers, among themselves, used to describe this state of 
 their superior's mind, and was prepared to discharge his 
 own duty in the most silent and rapid manner in his power. 
 All the others present felt more or less of this same influence 
 of an established character. 
 
 " J/r. Bunting," said Sir Gervaise, when the distance be- 
 tween the Plantagenet and Le Temeraire, the leading French 
 vessel, might have been about a league, allowing for the 
 difference in the respective lines of sailing — ^^ Mr. Bunting, 
 bend on the signal for the ships to go to quarters. We may 
 as well be ready for any turn of the dice." 
 
 No one dared to comment on this order: it was obeyed 
 in readiness and silence. 
 
 " Signal ready. Sir Gervaise," said Bunting, the instant 
 the last flag was in its place. 
 
 " Run it up at once, sir, and have a bright lookout for the 
 answers. Captain Greenly, go to quarters, and see all clear 
 
362 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 on the main-deck, to use the batteries if wanted. The peo- 
 ple can stand fast below, as I think it might be dangerous 
 to open the ports." 
 
 Captain Greenly passed off the poop to the quarter-deck, 
 and in a minute the drum and fife struck up the air which 
 is known all over the civilized world as the call to arms. 
 In most services this summons is made by the drum alone, 
 which emits sounds to which the fancy has attached peculiar 
 words; those of the soldiers of France being " Prend ton sac 
 — pre?id to7i sac — prend ton sac^^^ no bad representatives of the 
 meaning; but in English and American ships, this appeal 
 is usually made in company with the notes of the " ear- 
 piercing fife," which gives it a melody that might otherwise 
 be wanting. 
 
 " Signal answered throughout the fleet, Sir Gervaise," said 
 Bunting. 
 
 No answer was given to this report beyond a quiet incli- 
 nation of the head. After a moment's pause, however, the 
 vice-admiral turned to his signal-officer and said: 
 
 " I should think, Bunting, no captain can need an order 
 to tell him not to open his lee lower-deck ports in such a sea 
 as this?" 
 
 " I rather fancy not, Sir Gervaise," answered Bunting, 
 looking drolly at the boiling element that gushed up each 
 minute from beneath the bottom of the ship, in a way to 
 appear as high as the hammock-cloths. " The people at the 
 ?«^/;z-deck guils would have rather a wet time of it." 
 
 " Bend on the signal, sir, for the ships astern to keep in 
 the vice-admiral's wake. Young gentleman," to the mid- 
 shipman who always acted as his aid in battle, "tell Cap- 
 tain Greenly I desire to see him as soon as he has received 
 all the reports." 
 
 Down to the moment when the first tap of the drum was 
 heard, the Plantagenet had presented a scene of singular 
 quiet and unconcern, considering the circumstances in which 
 she was placed. A landsman v/ould scarcely credit that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 363 
 
 men could be so near their enemies, and display so much 
 indifference to their vicinity ; but this was the result of long 
 habit, and a certain marine instinct that tells the sailor when 
 anything serious is in the wind, and when not. The differ- 
 ence in the force of the two fleets, the heavy gale, and the 
 weatherly position of the English, all conspired to assure the 
 crew that nothing decisive could yet occur. Here and there 
 an officer or an old seaman might be seen glancing through 
 a port, to ascertain the force and position of the French; 
 but, on the whole, their fleet excited little more attention 
 than if lying at anchor in Cherbourg. The breakfast hour 
 was approaching, and that important event monopolized the 
 principal interest of the moment. The officers' boys, in par- 
 ticular, began to make their appearance around the galley, 
 provided, as usual, with their pots and dishes, and, now 
 and then, one cast a careless glance through the nearest 
 opening to see how the strangers looked; but as to warfare, 
 there was much more the appearance of it between the pro- 
 tectors of the rights of the different messes, than betw^een 
 the two great belligerent navies themselves. 
 
 Nor was the state of things materially different in the 
 gunroom, or cockpit, or on the orlops. Most of the people 
 of a two-decked ship are berthed on the lower gun-deck, and 
 the order to "clear ship" is more necessary to a vessel of 
 that construction, before going to quarters seriously, than to 
 smaller craft; though it is usual in all. So long as the bags, 
 mess-chests, and other similar appliances were left in their 
 ordinary positions, Jack saw little reason to derange himself; 
 and as reports were brought below% from time to time, re- 
 specting the approach of the enemy, and more especially of 
 his being well to leeward, few of those whose duty did not 
 call them on deck troubled themselves about the matter at 
 all. This habit of considering his fortune as attached to 
 that of his ship, and of regarding himself as a point on her 
 mass, as we all look on ourselves as particles of the orb we 
 accompany in its revolutions, is sufTiciently general among 
 
364 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 mariners; but it was particularly so as respects the sailors 
 of a fleet who were kept so much at sea, and who had been 
 so often, with all sorts of results, in the presence of the ene- 
 my. The scene that was passing in the gunroom at the 
 precise moment at which our tale has arrived was so char- 
 acteristic, in particular, as to merit a brief description. 
 
 All the idlers by this time were out of their berths and 
 cots ; the signs of those who " slept in the country," as it is 
 termed, or who were obliged, for want of staterooms, to sling 
 in the common apartment, having disappeared. Magrath 
 was reading a treatise on medicine, in good Leyden Latin, 
 by a lamp. The purser was endeavoring to decipher his 
 steward's hieroglyphics, favored by the same light, and the 
 captain of marines was examining the lock of an aged mus- 
 ket. The third and fourth lieutenants were helping each 
 other to untangle one of their Bay-of-Biscay reckonings, 
 which had set both plane and spherical trigonometry at 
 defiance, by a lamp of their own ; and the chaplain was hur- 
 rying the steward and the boys along with the breakfast — 
 his usual occupation at that " witching time" in the morning. 
 
 While things were in this state, the first lieutenant, Mr. 
 Bury, appeared in the gunroom. His arrival caused one or 
 two of the mess to glance upward at him, though no one 
 spoke but the junior lieutenant, who, being an honorable, 
 was at his ease with every one on board, short of the 
 captain. 
 
 "What's the news from deck. Bury?" asked this officer, a 
 youth of twenty, his senior being a man ten years older. 
 "Is Mr. de Vervillin thinking of running away yet?" 
 
 "Not he, sir; there's too much of the gamecock about 
 him for that,^^ 
 
 " I'll warrant you he can crow ! But what is the news, 
 Bury?" 
 
 " The news is that the old Planter is as wet as a washtub, 
 forward, and I must have a dry jacket — do you hear, there, 
 Tom? Soundings," turning to the master, who just then 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 365 
 
 came in from forward, " have you taken a look out of doors 
 this morning?" 
 
 "You know I seldom forget that, Mr. Bury. A pretty 
 pickle the ship would soon be in, if / forgot to look about 
 me!" 
 
 " He swallowed the deep-sea, down in the bay," cried the 
 honorable, laughing, ^' and goes every morning at daylight 
 to look for it out at the bridle-ports." 
 
 "Well, then. Soundings, what do you think of the third 
 ship in the French line?" continued Bury, disregarding the 
 levity of the youth; "did you ever see such topmasts as she 
 carries, before?" 
 
 " I scarce ever saw a Frenchman without them, Mr. Bury. 
 You'd have just such sticks in this fleet, if Sir Jarvy would 
 stand them." 
 
 " Ay, but Sir Jarvy wonU stand them. The captain who 
 sent such a stick up in his ship would have to throw it over- 
 board before night. I never saw such a pole in the air in 
 my life!" 
 
 "What's the matter with the mast, Mr. Bury?" put in Ma- 
 grath, who kept up what he called constant scientific skir- 
 mishes with the e^der sea-officers; the j'umor being too inex- 
 perienced in his view to be worthy of a contest. "I'll 
 engage the spar is moulded and fashioned agreeably to the 
 most approved pheelosophical principles; for in //laf the 
 French certainly excel us." 
 
 "Who ever heard of moulding a spar?" interrupted Sound- 
 ings, laughing loudly; "we mould a ship's frame, doctor, 
 but we lengthen and shorten, and scrape andyf^ her masts." 
 
 " I'm answered as usual, gentlemen, and voted down, I 
 suppose by acclamation, as they call it in other learned 
 bodies. I would advise no creature that has a reason to go 
 to sea; an instinct being all that is needed to make a Lord 
 High Admiral of twenty tails." 
 
 " I should like Sir Jarvy to hear that^ my man of books," 
 cried the fourth, who had satisfied himself that a book was 
 
^66 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 not his own forte — " I fancy your instinct, doctor, will pre- 
 vent you from whispering this in the vice-admiral's ear!" 
 
 Although Magrath had a profound respect for the com- 
 mander-in-chief, he was averse to giving in, in a gunroom 
 discussion. His answer, therefore, partook of the feeling 
 of the moment. 
 
 " Sir Gervaise" (he pronounced this word Jairvis), " Sir 
 Gervaise Oakes, honorable sir," he said, with a sneer, " may 
 be a good seaman, but he's no linguist. Now, there he was, 
 ashore among the dead and dying, just as ignorant of the 
 meaning oijilius nullius, which is boy's Latin, as if he had 
 never seen a horn-book ! Nevertheless, gentlemen, it is sci- 
 ence, and not even the classics, that makes the man; as for 
 a creature's getting the sciences by instinct, I shall contend 
 it is against the possibilities, whereas the attainment of what 
 you call seamanship is among even the lesser probabilities." 
 
 "This is the most marine-ish talk I ever heard from your 
 mouth, doctor," interrupted Soundings. "How the devil 
 can a man tell how to ware ship by instinct, as you call it, 
 if one may ask the question?" 
 
 " Simply, Soundings, because the process of ratiocination 
 is dispensed with. Do you have to think in waring ship, 
 now? — I'll put it to your own honor, for the answer." 
 
 "Think! — I should be a poor creature for a master, in- 
 deed, if much thinking were wanting in so simple a matter 
 as tacking or veering. No — no — your real sea-dog has no 
 occasion for much thi7iki7ig^ when he has his work before 
 him." 
 
 "That'll just be it, gentlemen! — that'll be just what I'm 
 telling ye," cried the doctor, exulting in the success of his 
 artifice. "' Not only will Mr. Soundings not thi?ik^ when he 
 has his ordinary duties to perform, but he holds the process 
 itself in merited contempt, ye'll obsairve ; and so my theory 
 is established, by evidence of a pairty concerned; which is 
 more than a postulate logically requires." 
 
 Here Magrath dropped his book, and laughed with that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 367 
 
 sort of hissing sound that seems peculiar to the genus of 
 which he formed a part. He was still indulging in his tri- 
 umph, when the first tap of the drum was heard. All lis- 
 tened ; every ear pricking like that of a deer that hears the 
 hound, when there followed — " R-r-r-ap tap — r-r-r-ap tap — 
 r-r-r-ap tap a-tap-tap — rap-a-tap — a-rap-a-tap a-rap a-tap a- 
 tap-tap." 
 
 " Instinct or reason, Sir Jarvy is going to quarters," ex- 
 claimed the honorable. " I'd no notion we were near 
 enough to the monsieurs for that 1^'' 
 
 " Now," said Magrath, with a grinning sneer, as he rose to 
 descend to the cockpit, " there'll may be arise an occasion 
 for a little learning, when I'll promise ye all the science 
 that can be mustered in my unworthy knowledge. Sound- 
 ings, I may have to heave the lead in the depths of your 
 physical formation, in which case I'll just endeevor to avoid 
 the breakers of ignorance." 
 
 "Go to the devil, or to the cockpit, whichever you please, 
 sir," answered the master; "I've served in six general ac- 
 tions, already, and have never been obliged to one of your 
 kidney for so much as a bit of court-plaster or lint. With 
 me, oakum answers for one, and canvas for the other." 
 
 While this was saying, all hands were in motion. The 
 sea and marine officers looking for their side-arms, the sur- 
 geon carefully collecting his books, and the chaplain seiz- 
 ing a dish of cold beef, that was hurriedly set upon a table, 
 carrying it down with him to his quarters, by way of taking 
 it out of harm's way. In a minute, the gun-room was 
 cleared of all who usually dwelt there, and their places were 
 supplied by the seamen who manned the three or four 
 thirty-two's that were mounted in the apartment, together 
 with their opposites. As the sea-officers, in particular, ap- 
 peared among the men, their faces assumed an air of au- 
 thority, and their voices were heard calling out the order to 
 " tumble up," as they hastened themselves to their several 
 stations. 
 
368 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 All this time, Sir Gervaise Oakes paced the poop. Bunt- 
 ing and the quartermaster were in readiness to hoist the 
 new signal, and Greenly merely waited for the reports, to 
 join the commander-in chief. In about five minutes after 
 the drum had given its first tap these were completed, and 
 the captain ascended to the poop. 
 
 " By standing on, on our present course, Captain Greenly," 
 observed Sir Gervaise, anxious to justify to himself the 
 evolution he contemplated, "the rear of our line and the 
 van of the French will be brought within fair range of shot 
 from each other, and, by an accident, we might lose a ship; 
 since any vessel that was crippled would necessarily sag 
 directly down upon the enemy. Now, I propose to keep 
 away in the Plantagenet, and just brush past the leading 
 French ships, at about the distance the Warspite will have 
 to pass, and so alter the face of matters a little. What do 
 you think would be the consequence of such a manceuvre?" 
 
 " That the van of our line and the van of the French will 
 be brought as near together as you have just said must 
 happen to the rear. Sir Gervaise, in any case." 
 
 " It does not require a mathematician to tell that much, 
 sir. You will keep away, as soon as Bunting shows the 
 signal, and bring the wind a-beam. Never mind the braces; 
 let them stand fast ; as soon as we have passed the French 
 admiral, I shall luff again. This will cause us to lose a 
 little of our weatherly position, but about that I am very in- 
 different. Give the order, sir — Bunting, run up the signal." 
 
 These commands were silently obeyed, and presently the 
 Plantagenet was running directly in the troughs of the seas, 
 with quite double her former velocity. The other ships an- 
 swered promptly, each keeping away as her second ahead 
 came down to the proper line of sailing, and all complying 
 to the letter with an order that was very easy of execution. 
 The effect, besides giving every prospect of a distant en- 
 gagement, was to straighten the line to nearly mathematical 
 precision. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 369 
 
 "Is it your wish, Sir Gervaise, that we should endeavor 
 to open our lee lower ports?" asked Greenly. " Unless we 
 attempt something of the sort, we shall have nothing heavier 
 than the eighteens to depend on, should Monsieur de Ver- 
 villin see fit to begin." 
 
 "And will he be any better off? — It would be next to 
 madness to think of fighting the lower-deck guns, in such 
 weather, and we will keep all fast. Should the French 
 commence the sport, we shall have the advantage of being 
 to windward; and the loss of a few weather shrouds might 
 bring down the best mast in their fleet." 
 
 Greenly made no answer, though he perfectly understood 
 that the loss of a mast would almost certainly ensure the 
 loss of the ship, did one of his own heavier spars go. But 
 this was Sir Gervaise's greatest weakness as a commander, 
 and he knew it would be useless to attempt persuading him 
 to suffer a single ship under his order to pass the enemy 
 nearer than he went himself in the Plantagenet. This was 
 what he called covering his ships; though it amounted to 
 no more than putting all of them in the jeopardy that hap- 
 pened to be unavoidable, as regarded one or two. 
 
 The Comte de Vervillin seemed at a loss to understand 
 this sudden and extraordinary movement in the van of his 
 enemy. His signals followed, and his crews went to their 
 guns; but it was not an easy matter for ships that persevered 
 in hugging the wind to make any material alterations in 
 their relative positions, in such a gale. The rate of sailing 
 of the English, however, now menaced a speedy collision, 
 if collision were intended, and it was time to be stirring, in 
 order to be ready for it. 
 
 On the other hand, all was quiet, and, seemingly, death- 
 like, in the English ships. Their people were at their 
 quarters already, and this is a moment of profound still- 
 ness in a vessel of war. The lower ports being down, the 
 portions of the crews stationed on those decks were buried, 
 as it might be, in obscurity, while even those above were 
 24 
 
370 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Still partly concealed by the half-ports. There was vir- 
 tually nothing for the sail-trimmers to do, and everything 
 was apparently left to the evolutions of the vast machines 
 themselves, in which they floated. Sir Gervaise, Greenly, 
 and the usual attendants still remained on the poop, their 
 eyes scarcely turning for an instant from the fleet of the 
 enemy. 
 
 By this time the Plantagenet and Le Temeraire were little 
 more than a mile apart, each minute lessening this distance. 
 The latter ship was struggling along, her bows plunging 
 into the seas to the hawse-holes, while the former had a 
 swift, easy motion through the troughs and along the sum- 
 mits of the waves, her flattened sails aiding in steadying 
 her in the heavy lurches that unavoidably accompanied such 
 a movement. Still, a sea would occasionally break against 
 her weather side, sending its crest upward in a brilliant 
 jet-d cau^ and leaving tons of water on the decks. Sir Ger- 
 vaise's manner had now lost every glimmering of excite- 
 ment. When he spoke, it was in a gentle, pleasant tone^ 
 such as a gentleman might use in the society of women. The 
 truth was, all his energy had concentrated in the determina- 
 tion to do a daring deed ; and, as is not unusual with the 
 most resolute men, the nearer he approached to the consum- 
 mation of his purpose, the more he seemed to reject all the 
 spurious aids of manner. 
 
 " The French do not open their lower ports, Greenly," 
 observed the vice-admiral, dropping the glass after one of 
 his long looks at the enemy, " although they have the ad- 
 vantage of being to leeward. I take that to be a sign they 
 intend nothing very serious." 
 
 " We shall know better five minutes hence. Sir Gervaise. 
 This ship slides along like a London coach." 
 
 "His line is lubberly, after all, Greenly! Look at those 
 two ships astern — they are near half a mile to windward of 
 the rest of the fleet, and at least half a mile astern. Hey! 
 Greenly?" 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 371 
 
 The captain turned toward the rear of the French, and 
 examined the positions of the two ships mentioned with 
 sufficient deliberation ; but Sir Gervaise dropped his head 
 in a musing manner, and began to pace the poop again. 
 Once or twice he stopped to look at the rear of the French 
 line, then distant from him quite a league, and as often did 
 he resume his walk. 
 
 " Bunting," said the vice-admiral mildly, " come this way 
 a moment. Our last signal was to keep in the commander- 
 in-chief's wake, and to follow his motions?" 
 
 " It was, Sir Gervaise. The old order to follow motions, 
 *with or without signals,' as one might say." 
 
 " Bend on the signals to close up in line, as near as safe, 
 and to carry sail by the flagship." 
 
 " Ay, ay. Sir Gervaise— we'll have 'em both up in five 
 minutes, sir." 
 
 The commander-in-chief now even seemed pleased. His 
 physical excitement returned a little, and a smile struggled 
 round his lip. His eyed glanced at Greenly, to see if he 
 were suspected, and then all his calmness of exterior re- 
 turned. In the mean time the signals were made and an- 
 swered. The latter circumstance was reported to Sir Ger- 
 vaise, who cast his eyes down the line astern, and saw that the 
 different ships were already bracing in, and easing off their 
 sheets, in order to diminish the spaces between the differ- 
 ent vessels. As soon as it was apparent that the Carnatic 
 was drawing ahead, Captain Greenly was told to lay his 
 main and fore yards nearly square, to light up all his stay- 
 sail sheets, and to keep away sufficiently to make everything 
 draw. Although these orders occasioned surprise, they were 
 implicitly obeyed. 
 
 The moment of meeting had now come. In consequence 
 of having kept away so much, the Plantagenet could not be 
 quite three-fourths of a mile on the weather-bow of Le 
 Temeraire, coming up rapidly, and threatening a semi- 
 transverse fire. In order to prevent this, the French ship 
 
372 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 edged off a little, giving herself an easier and more rapid 
 movement through the water, and bringing her own broad- 
 side more fairly to the shock. This evolution was followed 
 by the two next ships, a little prematurely, perhaps; but the 
 admiral, in Le Foudroyant, disdaining to edge off from her 
 enemy, kept her luff. The ships astern were governed by 
 the course of their superior. This change produced a little 
 disorder in the van of the French, menacing still greater, 
 unless one party or the other receded from the course taken. 
 But time pressed, and the two fleets were closing so fast as 
 to induce other thoughts. 
 
 "There's lubberly work for you, Greenly!" said Sir Ger- 
 vaise, smiling. "A commander-in-chief heading up with 
 the bowlines dragged, and his second and third ahead — not 
 to say fourth — running off with the wind abeam! Now, if 
 we can knock the Comte off a couple of points, in passing, 
 all his fellows astern will follow, and the Warspite and 
 Blenheim and Thunderer will slip by like girls in a country 
 dance! Send Bury down to the main-deck, with orders to 
 be ready with those eighteens." 
 
 Greenly obeyed, of course, and he began to think better 
 of audacity in naval warfare, than he had done before, that 
 day. This was the usual course of things with these two 
 officers; one arguing and deciding according to the dictates 
 of a cool judgment, and the other following his impulses 
 quite as much as anything else, until facts supervened to 
 prove that human things are as much controlled by adventi- 
 tious agencies, the results of remote and unseen causes, as 
 by any well-digested plans laid at the moment. In their 
 cooler hours, when they came to reason on the past, the 
 vice-admiral generally consummated his triumphs, by re- 
 minding his captain that if he had not been in the way of 
 luck, he never could have profited by it; no bad creed for a 
 naval officer who is otherwise prudent and vigilant. 
 
 The quartermasters of the fleet were just striking six 
 bells, or proclaiming that it was seven o'clock in the morn- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 373 
 
 ing watch, as the Plantagenet and Le Temeraire came abeam 
 of each other. Both ships lurched heavily in the troughs 
 of the seas, and both rolled to windward in stately majesty, 
 and yet both slid through the brine with a momentum that 
 resembled the imperceptible motion of a planet. The water 
 rolled back from their black sides and shining hammock- 
 cloths, and all the other dark panoply that distinguishes a 
 ship-of-war glistened with the spray; but no sign of hos- 
 tility proceeded from either. The French admiral made no 
 signal to engage, and Sir Gervaise had reasons of his own 
 for wishing to pass the enemy's van, if possible, unnoticed. 
 Minute passed after minute, in breathless silence, on board 
 the Plantagenet and the Carnatic, the latter vessel being 
 now but half a cable's-length astern of the admiral. Every 
 eye that had any outlet for such a purpose was riveted on 
 the main-deck ports of Le Temeraire in expectation of seeing 
 the fire issue from her guns. Each instant, however, les- 
 sened the chances, as regarded that particular vessel, which 
 was soon out of the line of fire from the Plantagenet, when 
 the same scene was to follow with the same result, in con- 
 nection with Le Conquereur, the second ship of the French 
 line. Sir Gervaise smiled as he passed the three first ships, 
 seemingly unnoticed; but as he drew nearer to the admiral 
 he felt confident this impunity must cease. 
 
 " What they meaji by it all. Greenly," he observed to his 
 companion, " is more than I can say; but we will go nearer, 
 and try to find out. Keep her away a little more, sir; keep 
 her away half a point." Greenly was not disposed to re- 
 monstrate now, for his prudent temperament was yielding 
 to the excitement of the moment, just reversing the traits 
 of Sir Gervaise's character; the one losing his extreme dis- 
 cretion in feeling, as the other gained by the pressure of 
 circumstances. The helm was eased a little, and the ship 
 sheered nearer to Le Foudroyant. 
 
 As is usual in all services, the French commander-in- 
 chief was in one of the best vessels of his fleet. Not only 
 
374 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 was Le Foudroyant a heavy ship, carrying French forty-twos 
 below, a circumstance that made her rate as an eighty, but, 
 like the Plantagenet, she was one of the fastest and most 
 weatherly vessels of her class known. By "hugging the 
 wind," this noble vessel had got, by this time, materially to 
 windward of her second and third ahead, and had increased 
 her distance essentially from her supports astern. In a 
 word, she was far from being in a position to be sustained 
 as she ought to be, unless she edged off herself, a movement 
 that no one on board her seemed to contemplate. 
 
 "He's a noble fellow, Greenly, that Comte de Vervillin!" 
 murmured Sir Gervaise, in a tone of admiration, " and so 
 have I always found him, and so have I always reported 
 him, too! The fools about the Gazettes, and the knaves 
 about the offices, may splutter as they will; Mr. de Ver- 
 villin would give them plenty of occupation were they here. 
 I question if he mean to keep off in the least, but insists on 
 holding every inch he can gain!" 
 
 The next moment, however, satisfied Sir Gervaise that he 
 was mistaken in his last conjecture, the bows of the Fou- 
 droyant gradually falling off, until the line of her larboard 
 guns bore, when she made a general discharge of the whole 
 of them, with the exception of those on the lower deck. 
 The Plantagenets waited until the ship rose on a sea, and 
 then they returned the compliment in the same manner. 
 The Carnatic's side showed a sheet of flame immediately 
 after; and the Achilles, Lord Morganic, luffing briskly to 
 the wind, so as to bring her guns to bear, followed up the 
 game, like flashes of lightning. All three of these ships 
 had directed their fire at the Foudroyant, and the smoke 
 had not yet driven from among her spars when Sir Gervaise 
 perceived that all three of her topmasts were hanging to 
 leeward. At this sight. Greenly fairly sprang from the 
 deck, and gave three cheers. The men below caught up the 
 cry, even to those who were, in a manner, buried on the 
 lower deck, and presently, spite of the gale, the Carnatics 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 375 
 
 were heard following their example astern. At this instant 
 the whole French and English lines opened their fire, from 
 van to rear, as far as their guns would bear, or the shot tell. 
 
 "Now, sir, now is our time to close with de Vervillin!" 
 exclaimed Greenly, the instant he perceived the manner in 
 which his ship was crippled. "In our close order we might 
 hope to make a thorough wreck of him." 
 
 "Not so, Greenly," returned Sir Gervaise calmly. "You 
 see he edges away already, and will be down among his 
 other ships in five minutes; we should have a general 
 action with twice oar force. What is done, is well done, 
 and we will let it stand. It is sometJmig to have dismasted 
 the enemy's commander-in-chief; do you look to it that the 
 enemy don't do the same with ours. I heard shot rattling 
 aloft, and everything now bears a hard strain." 
 
 Greenly went to look after his duty, while Sir Gervaise 
 continued to pace the poop. The whole of Le Foudroyant's 
 fire had been directed at the Plantagenet, but so rough was 
 the ocean that not a shot touched the hull. A little injury 
 had been done aloft, but nothing that the ready skill of the 
 seamen was not able to repair even in that rough weather. 
 The fact is, most of the shot had touched the waves, and 
 had flown off from their varying surfaces at every angle that 
 offered. One of the secrets that Sir Gervaise had taught 
 his captains was to avoid hitting the surface of the sea, if 
 possible, unless that surface was reasonably smooth, and 
 the object intended to be injured was near at hand. Then 
 the French admiral received \\iQ first fire — always the most 
 destructive — of three fresh vessels ; and his injuries were in 
 proportion. 
 
 The scene was now animated, and not without a wild 
 magnificence. The gale continued as heavy as ever, and 
 with the raging of the ocean and the howling of the winds, 
 mingled the roar of artillery, and the smoky canopy of bat- 
 tle. Still the destruction on neither side bore any propor- 
 tion to the grandeur of the accompaniments; the distance 
 
376 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 and the unsteadiness of the ships preventing much accuracy 
 of aim. In that day, a large two-decked ship never carried 
 heavier metal than an eighteen above her lower batteries ; 
 and this gun, efficient as it is on most occasions, does not 
 bring with it the fearful destruction that attends a more 
 modern broadside. There was a good deal of noise, not- 
 withstanding, and some blood shed in passing; but, on the 
 whole, when the Warspite, the last of the English ships, 
 ceased her fire, on account of the distance of the enemy 
 abreast of her, it would have been difficult to tell that any 
 vessel but the Foudroyant had been doing more than salut- 
 ing. At this instant Greenly reappeared on the poop, his 
 own ship having ceased to fire for several minutes. 
 
 " Well, Greenly, the main-deck guns are at least scaled," 
 said Sir Gervaise, smiling; "and that is not to be done 
 over again for some time. You keep everything ready in 
 the batteries, I trust?" 
 
 " We are all ready. Sir Gervaise, but there is nothing to 
 be done. It would be useless to waste our ammunition at 
 ships quite two miles under our lee." 
 
 "Very true — very true, sir. But all the Frenchmen are 
 not quite so far to leeward, Greenly, as you may see by 
 looking ahead. Yonder two, at least, are not absolutely out 
 of harm's w^ay!" 
 
 Greenly turned, gazed an instant in the direction in which 
 the commander-in-chief pointed, and then the truth of what 
 Sir Gervaise had really in view in keeping away flashed on 
 his mind, as it might be, at a glance. Without saying a 
 word, he immediately quitted the poop, and, descending even 
 to the lower deck, passed through the whole of his batteries, 
 giving his orders, and examining their condition. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 377 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ** By Heaven ! it is a splendid sight to see 
 
 (For one who hath no friend nor brother there) 
 Their rival scarfs of mixed embroidery — 
 
 Their various arms that glitter in the air ! " 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 The little conflict between the English ships and the 
 head of the French line, the evolutions that had grown out 
 of it, the crippling of Le Foudroyant, and the continuance 
 of the gale, contributed to produce material changes in the 
 relative positions of the two fleets. All the English vessels 
 kept their stations with beautiful accuracy, still running to 
 the southward in a close line ahead, having the wind a trifle 
 abaft the beam, with their yards braced in. Under the cir- 
 cumstances, it needed but some seven or eight minutes for 
 these ships to glide a mile through the troubled ocean, and 
 this was about the period the most exposed of them all had 
 been under the random and slow fire that the state of the 
 weather permitted. The trifling damages sustained were 
 already repaired, or in a way soon to be so. On the other 
 hand, considerable disorder prevailed among the French. 
 Their line had never been perfect, extending quite a league; 
 a few of the leading vessels, or those near the commander- 
 in-chief, sustaining each other as well as could be desired, 
 while long intervals existed between the ships astern. 
 Among the latter, too, as has been stated, some were much 
 farther to windward than the others ; an irregularity that 
 proceeded from a desire of the Comte to luff up as near as 
 possible to the enemy — a desire which, practised on, nec- 
 essarily threw the least weatherly vessels to leeward. Thus 
 the two ships in the extreme rear, as has been hinted at 
 already, being jammed up unusually hard upon the wind, 
 had weathered materially on their consorts, while their way 
 through the water had been proportionably less. It was 
 
378 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 these combined circumstances which brought them so far 
 astern and to windward. 
 
 At the time Sir Gervaise pointed out their positions to 
 Greenly the two vessels just mentioned were quite half a 
 mile to the westward of their nearest consort, and more than 
 that distance to the southward. When it is remembered 
 that the wdnd was nearly due west, and that all the French 
 vessels, these two excepted, were steering north, the relative 
 positions of the latter will be understood. Le Foudroyant, 
 too, had kept away, after the loss of her topmasts, until 
 fairly in the wake of the ships ahead of her, in her own 
 line, and, as the vessels had been running off with the wind 
 abeam, for several minutes, this manoeuvre threw the French 
 still farther to leeward. To make the matter worse, just as 
 the Warspite drew out of the range of shot from the French, 
 M. de Vervillin showed a signal at the end of his gaff, for 
 his whole fleet to ware in succession; an order, which, while 
 it certainly had a gallant semblance, as it was bringing his 
 vessels round on the same tack as his enemy, and looked 
 like a defiance, was singularly adapted to restoring to the 
 latter all the advantage of the wind they had lost by keeping 
 away. As it was necessary to take room to execute this 
 evolution, in order to clear the ships that were now crowded 
 in the van, when Le Temeraire came to the wind again on 
 the starboard tack she w-as fully half a mile to leeward of 
 the admiral, who had just put his helm up. As a matter of 
 course, in order to form anew, with the heads of the ships 
 to the southward, each vessel had to get into her leader's 
 wake, which would be virtually throwing the whole French ' 
 line again two miles to leeward of the English. Never- 
 theless, the stragglers in the rear of the French continued 
 to hug the wind, with a pertinacity that denoted a resolution 
 to have a brush with their enemies in passing. The vessels 
 were Le Scipion and La Victoire, each of seventy-four guns. 
 The first of these ships was commanded by a young man of 
 very little professional experience, but of high court influ- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 379 
 
 ence; while the second had a captain who, like old Parker, 
 had worked his way up to his present station through great 
 difficulties, and by dint of hard knocks and harder work. 
 Unfortunately the first ranked, and the humble capitaine de 
 Jregate, placed by accident in command of a ship of the 
 line, did not dare to desert a capitaine de vaisseau who had 
 a due for an elder brother and called himself eomte. There 
 was perhaps a redeeming gallantry in the spirit which de- 
 termined the Comte de Chelincourt to incur the risk of pass- 
 ing so near six vessels, with only two, that might throw a 
 veil over the indiscretion ; more especially as his own fleet 
 was near enough to support him in the event of any dis- 
 aster, and it was certainly possible that the loss of a ma- 
 terial spar on board either of his foes might induce the 
 capture of the vessel. At all events, thus reasoned M. de 
 Chelincourt; who continued boldly on, with his larboard 
 tacks aboard, always hugging the wind, even after the 
 Temeraire was round; and M. Comptant chose to follow 
 him in La Victoire. The Plantagenet, by this time, being 
 not a mile distant from the Scipio, coming on with steady 
 velocity, these intentions and circumstances created every 
 human probability that she would soon be passing her 
 weather beam within a quarter of a mile, and, consequently, 
 that a cannonade far more serious than what had yet oc- 
 curred must follow. The few intervening minutes gave Sir 
 Gervaise time to throw a glance around him, and come to 
 his final decision. 
 
 The English fleet was never in better line than at that 
 precise moment. The ships were as close to each other as 
 comported with safety, and everything stood and drew as in 
 the trade-winds. The leading French vessels were waring 
 and increasing their distance to leeward, and it would re- 
 quire an hour for them to get up near enough to be at all 
 dangerous in such weather, while all the rest were follow- 
 ing, regardless of the two that continued their luff. The 
 Chloe had already got round, and, hugging the wind, was 
 
380 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 actually coming up to windward of her own line, though 
 under a press of canvas that nearly buried her. The 
 Active and Driver were in their stations, as usual ; one on 
 the weather-beam, and the other on the weather-bow ; while 
 the Druid had got so near as to show her hull, closing fast, 
 with square yards. 
 
 "That is either a very bold or a very obstinate fellow; 
 he who commands the two ships ahead of us," observed 
 Greenly, as he stood at the vice-admiral's side, and just as 
 the latter terminated his survey. " What object can he pos- 
 sibly have in braving three times his force in a gale like 
 this?" 
 
 " If it were an Englishman, Greenly, we should call him 
 a hero ! By taking a mast out of one of us, he might cause 
 the loss of the ship, or compel us to engage double our force. 
 Do not blame him, but help me, rather, to disappoint him. 
 Now, listen, and see all done immediately." 
 
 Sir Gervaise then explained to the captain what his in- 
 tentions really were, first ordering, himself (a very unusual 
 course for one of his habits), the first lieutenant to keep the 
 ship off as much as practicable, without seeming to wish to 
 do so; but, as the orders Mdll be explained incidentally, in 
 the course of the narrative, it is not necessary to give them 
 here. Greenly then went below, leaving Sir Gervaise, 
 Bunting, and their auxiliaries, in the possession of the poop. 
 A private signal had been bent on some little time, and it 
 was now hoisted. In about five minutes it was read, under- 
 stood, and answered by all the ships of the fleet. Sir Ger- 
 vaise rubbed his hands like a man who was delighted, and 
 he beckoned to Bury, who had the trumpet on the quarter- 
 deck, to join him on the poop. 
 
 " Did Captain Greenly let you into our plot. Bury?" asked 
 the vice-admiral, in high good-humor, as soon as obeyed- 
 " I saw he spoke to you in going below," 
 
 " He only told me. Sir Gervaise, to edge down upon the 
 Frenchmen as close as I could, and this we are doing, I 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 38 1 
 
 think, as fast as mounsheer" — Bury was an Anglo-Gall ican — 
 "will at all like." 
 
 " Ah ! there old Parker sheers bravely to leeward ! Trust 
 to him to be in the right place. The Carnatic went fifty 
 fathoms out of the line at that one twist. The Thunderer 
 and Warspite too ! Never was a signal more beautifully 
 obeyed. If the Frenchmen don't take the alarm now, every- 
 thing will be to our minds." 
 
 By this time. Bury began to understand the manoeuvre. 
 Each alternate ship of the English was sheering fast to lee- 
 ward, forming a weather and a lee line, with increased in- 
 tervals between the vessels, while all of them were edging 
 rapidly away, so as greatly to near the enemy. It was ap- 
 parent now, indeed, that the Plantagenet herself must pass 
 within a hundred fathoms of Le Scipion, and that in less 
 than two minutes. The delay in issuing the orders for this 
 evolution was in favor of its success, inasmuch as it did 
 not give the enemy time for deliberation. The Comte de 
 Chelincourt, in fact, did not detect it; or, at least, did not 
 foresee the consequences ; though both were quite apparent 
 to the more experienced capitaine de fregate astern. It was 
 too late, or the latter would have signalled his superior to 
 put him on his guard ; but, as things were, there remained 
 no alternative, apparently, but to run the gauntlet, and trust 
 all to the chances of battle. 
 
 In a moment like that we are describing, events occur 
 much more rapidly than they can be related. The Plan- 
 tagenet was now within pistol-shot of Le Scipion, and on 
 her weather bow. At that precise instant, when the bow- 
 guns on both sides began to play, the Carnatic, then nearly 
 in a line with the enemy, made a rank sheer to leeward, and 
 drove on, opening in the very act with her weather-bow 
 guns. The Thunderer and Warspite imitated this ma- 
 noeuvre, leaving the Frenchman the cheerless prospect of 
 being attacked on both sides. It is not to be concealed 
 that M. de Chelincourt was considerably disturbed by this 
 
382 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 sudden change in his situation. That which, an instant 
 before, had the prospect of being a chivalrous, but extremely 
 hazardous, passage in front of a formidable enemy, now 
 began to assume the appearance of something very like de- 
 struction. It was too late, however, to remedy the evil, and 
 the young Comte, as brave a man as existed, determined to 
 face it manfully. He had scarcely time to utter a few 
 cheering sentiments, in a dramatic manner, to those on the 
 quarter-deck, when the English flagship came sweeping 
 past in a cloud of smoke and a blaze of fire. His own 
 broadside was nobly returned, or as much of it as the weather 
 permitted, but the smoke of both discharges was still driv- 
 ing between his masts, when the dark hamper of the Car- 
 natic glided into the drifting canopy, which was made to 
 whirl back on the devoted Frenchman in another torrent of 
 flame. Three times was this fearful assault renewed on the 
 Scipio, at intervals of about a minute, the iron hurricane 
 first coming from to windward, and then seeming to be 
 driven back from to leeward, as by its own rebound, leaving 
 no breathing time to meet it. The effect was completely to 
 silence her own fire ; for what between the power of the rag- 
 ing elements, and the destruction of the shot, a species of 
 wild and blood-fraught confusion took the place of system 
 and order. Her decks were covered with killed and 
 wounded, among the latter of whom was the Comte de 
 Chelincourt, while orders were given and countermanded 
 in a way to render them useless, if not incoherent. From 
 the time when the Plantagenet fired her first gun, to that 
 when the Warspite fired her last, was just five minutes by 
 the watch. It seemed an hour to the French, and but a 
 moment to their enemies. One hundred and eighty-two 
 men and boys were included in the casualties of those teem- 
 ing moments on board the Scipio alone; and when that ship 
 issued slowly from the scene of havoc, more by the velocity 
 of her assailants in passing than by her own, the foremast 
 was all that stood, the remainder of her spars dragging 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS, 383 
 
 under her lee. To cut the last adrift, and to run off nearly 
 before the wind, in order to save the spars forward and to 
 get within the cover of her own fleet, was all that could 
 now be done. It may as well be said here, that these two 
 objects were effected. 
 
 The Plantagenet had received damage from the fire of 
 her opponent. Some ten or fifteen men were killed and 
 wounded; her main-topsail was split by a shot, from clew 
 to earing; one of the quartermasters was carried from the 
 poop, literally dragged overboard by the sinews that con- 
 nected head and body ; and several of the spars, with a good 
 deal of rigging, required to be looked to, on account of in- 
 juries. But no one thought of these things, except as they 
 were connected with present and pressing duties. Sir 
 Gervaise got a sight of La Victoire, some hundred and 
 twenty fathoms ahead, just as the roar of the Carnatic's 
 guns was rushing upon his ears. The French commander 
 saw and understood the extreme jeopardy of his consort, 
 and he had already put his helm hard up. 
 
 " Starboard — starboard hard, Bury !" shouted Sir Gervaise 
 from the poop. '' Damn him, run him aboard, if he dare 
 hold on long enough to meet us." 
 
 The lieutenant signed with his hand that the order was 
 understood, and, the helm being put up, the ship went 
 whirling off to leeward on the summit of a hill of foam. 
 A cheer was heard struggling in the tempest, and, glancing 
 over his left shoulder. Sir Gervaise perceived the Carnatic 
 shooting out of the smoke, and, imitating his own move- 
 ment, by making another and still ranker sheer to leeward. 
 At the same moment she set her mainsail close-reefed, as if 
 determined to outstrip her antagonist and maintain her 
 station. None but a prime seaman could have done such a 
 thing so steadily and so well, in the midst of the wild 
 haste and confusion of such a scene. Sir Gervaise, now 
 not a hundred yards from the Carnatic, waved high his h; t 
 in exultation and praise; and old Parker, alone on his own 
 
384 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 poop, bared his gray hairs in acknowledgment of the com- 
 pliment. All this time the two ships drove madly ahead, 
 while the crash and roar of the battle were heard astern. 
 
 The remaining French ship was well and nimbly handled. 
 As she came round she unavoidably sheered toward her 
 enemies, and Sir Gervaise found it necessary to counter- 
 mand his last order, and to come swiftly up to the wind, 
 both to avoid her raking broadside, and to prevent running 
 into his own consort. But the Carnatic, having a little 
 more room, first kept off, and then came to the wind again, 
 as soon as the Frenchman had fired, in a way to compel 
 him to haul up on the other tack, or to fall fairly aboard. 
 Almost at the same instant, the Plantagenet closed on his 
 weather-quarter and raked. Parker had got abeam, and, 
 pressing nearer, he compelled La Victoire to haul her bow- 
 lines, bringing her completely between two fires. Spar 
 went after spar, and, being left with nothing standing but 
 the lower masts, the Plantagenet and Carnatic could not 
 prevent themselves from passing their victim, though each 
 shortened sail; the first being already without a topsail. 
 Their places, however, were immediately supplied by the 
 Achilles and the Thunderer, both ships having hauled down 
 their staysails to lessen their way. As the Blenheim and 
 Warspite were quite near astern, and an eighteen-pound 
 shot had closed the earthly career of the poor capitai?ie de 
 frdgate^ his successor in command deemed it prudent to 
 lower his ensign ; after a resistance that in its duration was 
 unequal to the promise of its commencement. Still the 
 ship had suffered materially, and had fifty of her crew 
 among the casualties. His submission terminated the 
 combat. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes had now leisure and opportunity to 
 look about him. Most of the French ships had got round; 
 but, besides being quite as far astern, when they should 
 get up abeam, supposing himself to remain where he was, 
 they would be at very long gunshot dead to leeward. To 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 385 
 
 remain where he was, however, formed no part of his plan, 
 for he was fully resolved to maintain all his advantages. 
 The great difficulty was to take possession of his prize, the 
 sea running so high as to render it questionable if a boat 
 would live. Lord Morganic, however, was just of an age 
 and a temperament to bring that question to a speedy issue. 
 Being on the weather-beam of La Victoire, as her flag came 
 down, he ordered his own first lieutenant into the larger 
 cutter, and, putting half-a-dozen marines, with the proper 
 crew, into the boat, it was soon seen dangling in the air 
 over the cauldron of the ocean ; the oars on end. To lower, 
 let go, and unhook, were the acts of an instant; the oars 
 fell, and the boat was swept away to leeward. A com- 
 mander's commission depended on his success, and Daly 
 made desperate efforts to obtain it. The prize offered a 
 lee, and the French, with a national benevolence, courtesy, 
 and magnanimity that would scarcely have been imitated 
 had matters been reversed, threw ropes to their conquerors, 
 to help to rescue them from a very awkward dilemma. The 
 men did succeed in getting into the prize ; but the boat, in 
 the end, was stove and lost. 
 
 The appearance of the red flag of England, the symbol 
 of his own professional rank, and worn by most under his 
 own orders, over the white ensign of France, was the sign 
 to SirGervaise that the prize-officer was in possession. He 
 immediately made the signal for the fleet to follow the 
 motions of the commander-in-chief. By this time, his own 
 mainsail, close-reefed, had taken the place of the torn top- 
 sail, and the Plantagenet led off to the southward again, as 
 if nothing unusual had occurred. Daly had a quarter of an 
 hour of extreme exertion on board the prize, before he could 
 get her fairly in motion as he desired ; but, by dint of using 
 the axe freely, he cut the wreck adrift, and soon had La 
 Victoire liberated from that incumbrance. The foresail 
 and fore and mizzen staysails were on the ship, and the 
 mainsail, close-reefed also, was about to be set, to drag her 
 25 
 
386 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 from the tnel^e of her foes, when her ensign came down. 
 By getting the tack of the latter aboard, and the sheet aft, 
 he would have all the canvas set the gale would allow, and 
 to this all-essential point he directed his wits. To ride 
 down the main-tack of a two-decked ship, in a gale of wind, 
 or what fell little short of a real gale, was not to be under- 
 taken with twenty men, the extent of Daly's command ; and 
 he had recourse to the assistance of his enemies. A good- 
 natured, facetious Irishman himself, with a smattering of 
 French, he soon got forty or fifty of the prisoners in a suffi- 
 cient humor to lend their aid, and the sail was set, though 
 not without great risk of its splitting. From this moment, 
 La Victoire was better off, as respected the gale and keep- 
 ing a weatherly position, than any of the English ships, 
 inasmuch as she could carry all the canvas the wind per- 
 mitted, while she was relieved from the drift inseparable 
 from hamper aloft. The effect, indeed, was visible in the 
 first hour, to Daly's great delight and exultation. At the 
 end of that period, he found himself quite a cable's length 
 to windward of the line. But in relating this last particu- 
 lar events have been a little anticipated. 
 
 Greenly, who had gone below to attend to the batteries, 
 which were not worked without great difficulty in so heavy 
 a sea, and to be in readiness to open the lower ports should 
 occasion offer, reappeared on deck just as the commander- 
 in-chief showed the signal for the ships to follow his own 
 motions. The line was soon formed, as mentioned, and ere 
 long it became apparent that the prize could easily keep in 
 her station. As most of the day was still before him, Sir 
 Gervaise had little doubt of being able to secure the latter, 
 ere night should come to render it indispensable. 
 
 The vice-admiral and his captain shook hands cordially 
 on the poop, and the former pointed out to the latter, with 
 honest exultation, the result of his own bold manoeuvres. 
 
 "We've clipped the wings of two of them," added Sir 
 Gervaise, " and have fairly bagged a third, my good friend ; 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 38/ 
 
 and, God willing, when Bluewater joins, there will not be 
 much difficulty with the remainder. I cannot see that any 
 of our vessels have suffered much, and I set them all down 
 as sound. There's been time for a signal of inability, that 
 curse to an admiral's evolutions, but no one seems disposed 
 to make it. If we really escape that nuisance, it will be 
 the first instance in my life!" 
 
 " Half-a-dozen yards may be crippled, and no one the 
 worse for it, in this heavy weather. Were we under a press 
 of canvas, it would be a different matter ; but, now, so long 
 as the main sticks stand, we shall probably do well enough. 
 I can find no injury in my own ship that may not be reme- 
 died at sea." 
 
 " And she has had the worst of it. 'Twas a decided 
 thing. Greenly, to engage such an odds in a gale; but we 
 owe our success, most probably, to the audacity of the 
 attack. Had the enemy believed it possible, it is probable 
 he would have frustrated it. Well, Master Galleygo, I'm 
 glad to see you unhurt! What is your pleasure?" 
 
 " Why, Sir Jarvy, I've two opportunities, as a body might 
 say, on the poop, just now. One is to shake hands, as we 
 always does a'ter a brush, you knows, sir, and to look a'ter 
 each other's health ; and the other is to report a misfortin 
 that will bear hard on this day's dinner. You see. Sir Jarvy, 
 I had the dead poultry slung in a net, over the live stock, 
 to be out of harm's way ; well, sir, a shot cut the lanyard, 
 and let all the chickens down by the run, in among the gun- 
 room grunters; and as they never half feeds them hanimals, 
 there isn't as much left of the birds as would make a meal 
 for a sick young gentleman. To my notion, no one ought 
 to have live stock but the commanders-in-chief." 
 
 "To the devil with you and the stock! Give me a shake 
 of the hand, and back into your top — how came you, sir, to 
 quit your quarters without leave?" 
 
 " I didn't, Sir Jarvy. Seeing how things was a-going on 
 among the pigs, for our top hoverlooks the awful scene, I 
 
388 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 axed the young gentleman to let me come down to condole 
 with your honor; and as they always lets me do as I axes 
 in such matters, why down I come. We has had one rattler 
 in at our top, howsever, that came nigh to clear us all out 
 on it!" 
 
 "Is any spar injured?" asked Sir Gervaise quickly. 
 "This must be looked to — hey! Greenly?" 
 
 "Not to signify, your honor; not to signify. One of 
 them French eighteens aboard the prize just cocked its nose 
 up, as the ship lurched, and let fly a round 'un and a grist 
 of grape right into our faces. I see'd it coming and sung 
 out * Scaldings! ' and 'twas well I did. We all ducked in 
 time, and the round 'un cleared everything, but a handful of 
 the marbles are planted in the head of the mast, making the 
 spar look like a plum-pudding, or a fellow with the small- 
 pox." 
 
 " Enough of this. You are excused from returning to the 
 top; — and. Greenly, beat the retreat. Bunting, show the 
 signal for the retreat from quarters. Let the ships pipe to 
 breakfast, if they will." 
 
 This order affords a fair picture of the strange admixture 
 of feelings and employments that characterize the ordinary 
 life of a ship. At one moment, its inmates find themselves 
 engaged in scenes of wild magnificence and fierce confusion, 
 while at the next they revert to the most familiar duties of 
 humanity. The crews of the whole fleet now retired from 
 the guns, and immediately after they were seated around 
 their kids, indulging ravenously in the food for which the 
 exercise of the morning had given keen appetites. Still 
 there was something of the sternness of battle in the mer- 
 riment of this meal, and the few jokes that passed were sea- 
 soned with a bitterness that is not usual among the light- 
 hearted followers of the sea. Here and there a messmate 
 was missed, and the vacancy produced some quaint and 
 even pathetic allusion to his habits, or to the manner in 
 which he met his death ; seamen usually treating the rav 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 389 
 
 ages of this great enemy of the race, after the blow has been 
 struck, with as much solemnity and even tenderness as they 
 regard his approaches with levity. It is when spared them- 
 selves that they most regard the destruction of battle. A 
 man's standing in a ship, too, carries great weight with it 
 at such times; the loss of the quartermaster, in particular, 
 being much regretted in the Plantagenet. This man messed 
 with a portion of the petty officers, a set of men altogether 
 more thoughtful and grave than the body of the crew; and 
 who met, when they assembled around their mess-chest, 
 that morning, with a sobriety and even sternness of mien 
 that showed how much in the management of the vessel had 
 depended on their individual exertions. Several minutes 
 elapsed in the particular mess of the dead man, before a 
 word was spoken ; all eating with appetites that were of 
 proof, but no one breaking the silence. At length an old 
 quarter-gunner, named Tom Sponge, who generally led the 
 discourse, said in a sort of half-inquiring, half-regretting 
 way: 
 
 "I suppose there's no great use in asking why Jack 
 Glass's spoon is idle this morning. They says, them fore- 
 castle chaps, that they see'd his body streaming out over the 
 starboard quarter, as if it had been the fly of one of his own 
 ensigns. How was it, Ned? You was thereaway, and ought 
 to know all about it." 
 
 " To be sure I does," said Ned, who was Bunting's remain- 
 ing assistant. " I was there, as you says, and see*d as much 
 of it as a man can see of what passes between a poor fellow 
 and a shot, when they comes together, and that not in a very 
 loving manner. It happened just as we come upon the 
 weather beam of that first chap — him as we winged so hand- 
 somely among us. Well, Sir Tarvy had clapped a stopper on 
 the signals, seeing as we had got fairly into the smoke, and 
 Jack and I was looking about us for the muskets, not know- 
 ing but a chance might turn up to chuck a little lead into 
 some of the parly-woos; and so says Jack, says he, *Ned, 
 
390 
 
 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 you's got my musket;' — (as I had, sure enough) — and says 
 he, *Ned, you's got my musket; but no matter arter all, as 
 they're much of a muchness.' So when he'd said this, he 
 lets fly ; but whether he hit anybody, is more than I can 
 say. If he did, 'twas likely a Frenchman, as he shot that- 
 a-way. *Now,' says Jack, says he, 'Ned, as this is your 
 musket, you can load it, and hand over mine, and I'll sheet 
 home another of the b — s.' Well, at that moment the 
 Frenchman lifted for'ard, on a heavy swell, and let drive at 
 us with all his forecastle guns, fired as it might be with 
 one priming " 
 
 " That was bad gunnery," growled Tom Sponge ; " it racks 
 a ship woundily." 
 
 "Yes, they'se no judgment in ships, in general. Well, 
 them French twelves are spiteful guns, and a little afore 
 they fired it seemed to me I heard something give Jack a 
 rap on the cheek, that sounded as if a fellow's ear was 
 boxed with a clap of thunder. I looked up, and there was 
 Jack streaming out like the fly of the ensign, headforemost, 
 with the body towing after it by strings in the neck." 
 
 " I thought when a fellow's head was shot off," put in an- 
 other quartermaster, named Ben Barrel, " that the body was 
 left in the ship while only the truck went!" 
 
 " That comes of not seeing them things, Ben," rejoined 
 the eye-witness. " A fellow's head is stayed in its berth just 
 like a ship's mast. There's for'ard and back-stays, and 
 shrouds, all's one as aboard here; the only difference is that 
 the lanyards are a little looser, so as to give a man more play 
 for his head, than it might be safe to give to a mast. When 
 a fellow makes a bow, why he only comes up a little aft, 
 and bowses on the forestay, and now and then you falls in 
 with a chap that is stayed altogether too far for'ard, or who's 
 got a list perhaps from having the shrouds set up too taut 
 to port or to starboard." 
 
 " That sounds reasonable," put in the quarter-gunner 
 gravely ; " I've seen such droggers myself." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 39I 
 
 " If you'd been on the poop an hour or too ago, you'd ha' 
 seen more on it! Now, there's all our marines, their back- 
 stays have had a fresh pull since they were launched, and, 
 as for their captain, I'll warrant you, he had a luif upon 
 luff!" 
 
 " I've heard the carpenter overhauling them matters," re- 
 marked Sam Wad, another quarter-gunner, " and he chalked 
 it all out by the square and compass. It seems reasonable, 
 too." 
 
 " If you'd seen Jack's head dragging his body overboard, 
 just like the Frenchman dragging his wreck under his lee, 
 you'd ha' thought it reasonable. What's a fellow's shoulders 
 for, but to give a spread to his shrouds, which lead down 
 the neck and are set up under the arms somewhere. They 
 says a great deal about the heart, and I reckons it's likely 
 everything is key'd there." 
 
 " Harkee, Ned," observed a quartermaster who knew little 
 more than the mess generally, " if what you say is true, why 
 don't these shrouds lead straight from the head to the 
 shoulders, instead of being all tucked up under a skin in the 
 neck.'' Answer me that, now." 
 
 " Who the devil ever saw a ship's shrouds that wasn't cat- 
 harpened in!" exclaimed Ned, with some heat. "A pretty 
 hand a wife would make of it, in putting her arms around a 
 fellow's neck, if the rigging spread in the way you mean! 
 Them things is all settled accordin' to reason when a chap's 
 keel's laid." 
 
 This last argument seemed to dispose of the matter, the 
 discourse gradually turning on and confining itself to the 
 merits of the deceased. 
 
 Sir Gervaise had directed Galleygo to prepare his break- 
 fast as soon as the people were piped to their own; but he 
 was still detained on deck in consequence of a movement in 
 one of his vessels, to which it has now become necessary 
 more particularly to recur. 
 
 The appearance of the Druid to the northward, early in 
 
392 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the morning, will doubtless be remembered by the reader. 
 When near enough to have it made out, this frigate had 
 shown her number; after which she rested satisfied with 
 carrying sail much harder than any vessel in sight. When 
 the fleets engaged, she made an effort to set the fore-topsail, 
 close-reefed, but several of the critics in the other ships, 
 who occasionally noticed her movements, fancied that some 
 accident must have befallen her, as the canvas was soon 
 taken in, and she appeared disposed to remain content with 
 the sail carried when first seen. As this ship was materially 
 to windward of the line, and she was running the whole 
 time a little free, her velocity was much greater than that of 
 the other vessels, and by this time she had got so near that 
 Sir Gervaise observed she was fairly abeam of the Plantag- 
 enet, and a little to leeward of the Active. Of course her 
 hull, even to the bottom, as she rose on a sea, was plainly 
 visible, and such of her people as were in the tops and rig- 
 ging could be easily distinguished by the naked eye. 
 
 " The Druid must have some communication for us from 
 the other division of the fleet," observed the vice-admiral to 
 his signal-officer, as they stood watching the movements of 
 the frigate; "it is a little extraordinary Blewet does not 
 signal ! Look at the book, and find me a question to put 
 that will ask his errand?" 
 
 Bunting was in the act of turning over the leaves of his 
 little vocabulary of questions and answers, when three or 
 four dark balls, that Sir Gervaise, by the aid of the glass, 
 saw suspended between the frigate's masts, opened into flags, 
 effectually proving that Blewet was not absolutely asleep. 
 
 " Four hundred and sixteen, ordinary communication," 
 observed the vice-admiral, with his eye still at the glass. 
 " Look up that, Bunting, and let us know what it means." 
 
 "*The commander-in-chief — wish to speak him! '" read 
 Bunting, in the customary formal manner in which he an- 
 nounced the purport of a signal. 
 
 "Very well — answer; then make the Druid's number to 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 393 
 
 come within hail ! The fellow has got cloth enough spread 
 to travel two feet to our one; let him edge away and come 
 under our lee. Speaking will be rather close work to-day." 
 
 " I doubt if a ship ca7i come near enough to make herself 
 heard," returned the other, *' though the second lieutenant 
 of that ship never uses a trumpet in the heaviest weather, 
 they tell me, sir. Our gents say his father was a town-crier, 
 and that he has inherited the family estate." 
 
 " Ay, our gents are a set of saucy fellows, as is usually 
 the case when there isn't work enough aboard." 
 
 " You should make a little allowance, Sir Gervaise, for 
 being in the ship of a successful commander-in-chief. That 
 makes us all carry weather-helms among the other messes," 
 
 "Up with your signal, sir; up with your signal. I shall 
 be obliged to order Greenly to put you upon watch-and- 
 watch for a month, in order to bring you down to the old 
 level of manners." 
 
 " Signal answered, already, Sir Gervaise. By the way, 
 sir, I'll thank you to request Captain Greenly to give me 
 another quartermaster. It's nimble work for us when there 
 is anything serious to do." 
 
 "You shall have him, Bunting," returned the vice-admi- 
 ral, a shade passing over his face for the moment. " I had 
 missed poor Jack Glass, and from seeing a spot of blood on 
 the poop guessed his fate. I fancied, indeed, I heard a 
 shot strike something behind me." 
 
 " It struck the poor fellow's head, sir, and made a noise 
 as if a butcher were felling an ox." 
 
 " Well — well — let us try to forget it, until something can 
 be done for his son, who is one of the side boys. Ah! 
 there's Blewet keeping away in earnest. How the deuce he 
 is to speak us, however, is more than I can tell." 
 
 Sir Gervaise now sent a message to his captain to say that 
 he desired his presence. Greenly soon appeared, and was 
 made acquainted with the intention of the Druid, as well as 
 with the purport of the last signals. By this time, the rent 
 
394 '*'KE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 main-topsail was mended, and the captain suggested it 
 should be set again, close-reefed, as before, and that the 
 mainsail should be taken in. This would lessen the Plan- 
 tagenet's way, which ship was sensibly drawing ahead of 
 her consorts. Sir Gervaise assenting, the change was made, 
 and the effects were soon apparent, not only in the move- 
 ment of the ship, but in her greater ease and steadiness of 
 motion. 
 
 It was not long before the Druid was within a hundred 
 fathoms of the flagship, on her weather-quarter, shoving the 
 brine before her in a way to denote a fearful momentum. It 
 was evidently the intention of Captain Blewet to cross the 
 Plantagenet's stern, and to luff up under her lee quarter; the 
 safest point at which he could approach, in so heavy a swell, 
 provided it were done with discretion. Captain Blewet had 
 a reputation for handling his frigate like a boat, and the 
 occasion was one which would be likely to awaken all his 
 desire to sustain the character he had already earned. Still 
 no one could imagine how he was to come near enough to 
 make a communication of any length. The stentorian lungs 
 of the second lieutenant, however, might effect it; and, as 
 the news of the expected hail passed through the ship, many 
 who had remained below, in apathy, while the enemy was 
 close under their lee, came on deck, curious to witness what 
 was about to pass. 
 
 "Hey! Atwood?" exclaimed Sir Gervaise, for the little 
 excitement had brought the secretary up from the comman- 
 der-in-chief's cabin ; — " what is Blewet at! The fellow can- 
 not mean to set a studding-sail !" 
 
 " He is running out a boom, nevertheless, Sir Gervaise, 
 or my thirty years' experience of nautical things have been 
 thrown away." 
 
 " He is truly rigging out his weather fore-topmast stud- 
 dingsail-boom, sir!" added Greenly, in a tone of wonder. 
 
 " It is out," rejoined the vice-admiral, as one would give 
 emphasis to the report of a calamity. " Hey ! — what? Isn't 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 395 
 
 that a man they're running up to the end of it, Bunting? 
 Level your glass, and let us know at once." 
 
 "A glass is not necessary to make out that much, Sir 
 Gervaise. It is a man, beyond a doubt, and there he hangs 
 at the boom-end, as if sentenced by a general court-martial." 
 
 Sir Gervaise now suppressed every expression of surprise, 
 and his reserve w^as imitated, quite as a matter of course, by 
 the twenty officers, who, by this time, had assembled on the 
 poop. The Druid, keeping away, approached rapidly, and 
 had soon crossed the flagship's wake. Here she came by 
 the wind, and favored by the momentum with which she had 
 come down, and the addition of the mainsail, drew heavily 
 but steadily up on her lee-quarter. Both vessels being 
 close-hauled, it was not difficult steering; and by watching 
 the helms closely it would have been possible, perhaps, 
 notwithstanding the heavy sea, to have brought the two hulls 
 within ten yards of each other, and no harm should come of 
 it. This was nearer, however, than it was necessary to ap- 
 proach; the studding-sail-boom, with the man suspended on 
 the end of it, projecting twice that distance beyond the ves- 
 sel's bows. Still it was nice work; and while yet some 
 thirty or forty feet from the perpendicular the man on the 
 boom-end made a sign for attention, swung a coil of line he 
 held, and when he saw hands raised to catch it he made a 
 cast. A lieutenant caught the rope, and instantly hauled in 
 the slack. As the object was now understood, a dozen oth- 
 ers laid hold of the line, and, at a common signal, when 
 those on board the Plantagenet hauled in strongly, the peo- 
 ple of the Druid lowered away. By this simple, but united 
 movement, the man descended obliquely, leaping out of the 
 bowline in which he had sat, and casting the whip adrift. 
 Shaking himself to gain his footing, he raised his cap and 
 bowed to Sir Gervaise, who now saw Wycherly Wychecombe 
 on his poop. 
 
39^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 *' Yet weep not thou — the struggle is not o'er, 
 O victors of Phillippi ! many a field 
 Hath yielded palms to us:— one effort more, 
 By one stern conflict must our fate be sealed." 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 As soon as the people of the Plantagenet, who had so far 
 trespassed on discipline, when they perceived a man hang- 
 ing at the end of the studdingsail-boom, as to appear in the 
 rigging, on the booms, and on the guns, to watch the result, 
 saw the stranger safely landed on the poop, they lifted their 
 hats and caps, and, as one voice, greeted him with three 
 cheers. The officers smiled at this outbreak of feeling, and 
 the violation of usage was forgotten ; the rigid discipline of 
 a man-of-war, even, giving way occasionally to the sudden 
 impulses of natural feeling. 
 
 As the Druid approached the flagship. Captain Blewet had 
 appeared in her weather mizzen-rigging, conning his vessel 
 in person; and the order to luff, or keep off, had been given 
 by his own voice, or by a gesture of his own hand. As 
 soon as he saw Wycherly's feet on the poop of the Planta- 
 genet, and his active form freed from the double-bowline in 
 which it had been seated, the captain made a wide sweep of 
 the arm, to denote his desire to edge away; the helm of the 
 frigate was borne up hard, and, as the two-decker surged 
 ahead on the bosom of a sea, the Druid's bows were knocked 
 off to leeward, leaving a space of about a hundred feet, or 
 more, between the two ships, as it might be, in an instant. 
 The same causes continuing to operate, the Plantagenet 
 drove still farther ahead, while the frigate soon came to the 
 wind again, a cable's length to leeward, and abreast of the 
 space between the admiral and his second, astern. Here, 
 Captain Blewet seemed disposed to wait for further orders. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes was not accustomed to betray any sur- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 39/ 
 
 prise he might feel at little events that occurred on duty. 
 He returned the bow of Wycherly coolly, and then, without 
 question or play of feature, turned his eyes on the further 
 movements of the Druid. Satisfied that all was right with 
 the frigate, he directed the messenger to follow him, and 
 went below himself, leaving Wycherly to obey as fast as the 
 many inquiries he had to answer as he descended the lad- 
 ders would allow. Atwood, an interested observer of what 
 had passed, noted that Captain Greenly, of all present, was 
 the only person who seemed indifferent to the nature of the 
 communication the stranger might bring, though perhaps the 
 only one entitled by rank to put an interrogatory. 
 
 " You have come aboard of us in a novel and extraordi- 
 nary mode. Sir Wycherly Wychecombe!" observed the vice- 
 admiral, a little severely, as soon as he found himself in his 
 own cabin, alone with the lieutenant. 
 
 " It was the plan of Captain Blewet, sir, and was really 
 the only one that seemed likely to succeed, for a boat could 
 scarcely live. I trust the success of the experiment, and the 
 nature of the communications I may bring, will be thought 
 sufficient excuses for the want of ceremony." 
 
 " It is the first time, since the days of the Conqueror, I 
 fancy, that an English vice-admiral's ship has been boarded 
 so cavalierly; but, as you say, the circumstances may justify 
 the innovation. What is your errand, sir?" 
 
 "This letter, I presume. Sir Gervaise, will explain 
 itself. I have little to say in addition, except to report 
 that the Druid has sprung her foremast in carrying sail 
 so close with you, and that we have not lost a moment 
 since Admiral Bluewater ordered us to part company with 
 himself." 
 
 "You sailed on board the Caesar, then?" asked Sir Ger- 
 vaise, a great deal mollified by the zeal for service in a 
 youth situated ashore as he knew Wycherly to be. " You 
 left her, with this letter?" 
 
 " I did, Sir Gervaise, at Admiral Bluewater's command." 
 
398 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " Did you go aboard the Druid boom-fashion, or was that 
 peculiar style reserved for the commander-in-chief?" 
 
 " I left the Caesar in a boat, Sir Gervaise; and though we 
 were much nearer in with the coast, where the wind has not 
 the rake it has here, and the strength of the gale had not 
 then come, we were nearly swamped." 
 
 "If a true Virginian, you would not have drowned, 
 Wychecombe," answered the vice-admiral, in better humor. 
 " You Americans swim like cork. Excuse me, while I read 
 what Admiral Bluewater has to say." 
 
 Sir Gervaise had received Wycherly in the great cabin, 
 standing at the table which was lashed in its centre. He 
 would have been puzzled himself, perhaps, to have given 
 the real reason why he motioned to the young man to take a 
 chair, while he went into what he called his ''drawing- 
 room"; or the beautiful little apartment between the two 
 staterooms, aft, which was fitted with an elegance that might 
 have been admired in a more permanent dwelling, and 
 whither he always withdrew when disposed to reflection. 
 It was probably connected, however, with a latent appre- 
 hension of the rear-admiral's political bias, for, when by 
 himself, he paused fully a minute before he opened the let- 
 ter. Condemning this hesitation as unmanly, he broke the 
 seal, however, and read the contents of a letter, which was 
 couched in the following terms: 
 
 " My dear Oakes : Since we parted, my mind has under- 
 gone some violent misgivings as to the course duty requires 
 of me, in this great crisis. One hand — one heart — one 
 voice even, may decide the fate of England! In such cir- 
 cumstances, all should listen to the voice of conscience, and 
 endeavor to foresee the consequences of their own acts. 
 Confidential agents are in the west of England, and one of 
 them I have seen. By his communications I find more de- 
 pends on myself than I could have imagined, and more on 
 the movements of M. de Vervillin. Do not be too sanguine 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 399 
 
 — take time for your own decisions, and grant me time ; for 
 
 I feel like a wretch whose fate must soon be sealed. On 
 
 no account engage, because you think this division near 
 
 enough to sustain you, but at least keep off until you hear 
 
 from me more positively, or we can meet. I find it equally 
 
 hard to strike a blow against my rightful prince, or to desert 
 
 my friend. For God's sake act prudently, and depend on 
 
 seeing me in the course of the next twenty-four hours. I 
 
 shall keep well to the eastward, in the hope of falling in 
 
 with you, as I feel satisfied de Vervillin has nothing to do 
 
 very far west. I may send some verbal message by the 
 
 bearer, for my thoughts come sluggishly, and with great 
 
 reluctance. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "Richard Bluewater." 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes read this letter twice with great delib- 
 eration ; then he crushed it in his hand, as one would stran- 
 gle a deadly serpent. Not satisfied with this manifestation 
 of distaste, he tore the letter into pieces so small as to ren- 
 der it impossible to imagine its contents, opened a cabin- 
 window, and threw the fragments into the ocean. When he 
 fancied that every sign of his friend's weakness had thus 
 been destroyed, he began to pace the cabin in his usual 
 manner. Wycherly heard his step, and wondered at the 
 delay ; but his duty compelled him to pass an uncomforta- 
 ble half-hour in silence, ere the door opened, and Sir Ger- 
 vaise appeared. The latter had suppressed the signs of dis- 
 tress, though the lieutenant could perceive he was unusually 
 anxious. 
 
 "Did the rear-admiral send any message. Sir Wycherly?" 
 inquired Sir Gervaise; "in his letter he would seem to 
 refer me to some verbal explanations from yourself." 
 
 " I am ashamed to say, sir, none that I can render very 
 intelligible. Admiral Bluewater, certainly, did make a few 
 communications that I was to repeat, but when we had 
 
400 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 parted, by some extraordinary dulness of my own, I fear, I 
 find it is out of my power to give them any very great dis- 
 tinctness or connection." 
 
 *' Perhaps the fault is less your own, sir, than his. Blue- 
 water is addicted to fits of absence of mind, and then he has 
 no reason to complain that others do not understand him, 
 for he does not always understand himself." 
 
 Sir Gervaise said this with a little glee, delighted at find- 
 ing his friend had not committed himself to his messenger. 
 The latter, however, was less disposed to excuse himself by 
 such a process, inasmuch as he felt certain that the rear- 
 admiral's feelings were in the matter he communicated, let 
 the manner have been what it might. 
 
 " I do not think we can attribute anything to Admiral 
 Bluewater's absence of mind, on this occasion, sir," an- 
 swered Wycherly, with generous frankness. " His feelings 
 appeared to be strongly enlisted in what he said. It might 
 have been owing to the strength of these feelings that he 
 was a little obscure, but it could not have been owing to 
 indifference." 
 
 " I shall best understand the matter, then, by hearing what 
 he did say, sir." 
 
 Wycherly paused, and endeavored to recall what had 
 passed, in a way to make it intelligible. 
 
 " I was frequently told to caution you not to engage the 
 French, sir, until the other division had closed, and was 
 ready to assist. But, really, whether this was owing to 
 some secret information that the rear-admiral had obtained, 
 or to a natural desire to have a share in the battle, is more 
 than I can say." 
 
 " Each may have had its influence. Was any allusion 
 made to secret intelligence, that you name it?" 
 
 " I never felt more cause to be ashamed of my own dul- 
 ness than at this present moment. Sir Gervaise Oakes," ex- 
 claimed Wycherly, who almost writhed under the awkward- 
 ness of his situation; for he really began to suspect that his 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4OI 
 
 own personal grounds of unhappiness had induced him to 
 forget some material part of his message; "recent events 
 ashore had perhaps disqualified me for this duty." 
 
 " It is natural it should be so, my young friend ; and as 
 I am acquainted with them all, you can rest satisfied with 
 my indulgence." 
 
 " All ! no — Sir Gervaise, you know not half — but I forget 
 myself, sir, and beg your pardon." 
 
 "I have no wish to pry into your secrets. Sir Wycherly 
 Wychecombe, and we will drop the subject. You may say, 
 however, if the rear-admiral was in good spirits — as an 
 English seaman is apt to be, with the prospect of a great 
 battle before him." 
 
 " I thought not. Sir Gervaise. Admiral Bluewater to me 
 seemed sad, if I may presume to mention it — almost to 
 tears, I thought, sir, once or twice." 
 
 "Poor Dick!" mentally ejaculated the vice-admiral ; "he 
 never could have made up his mind to desert nie without 
 great anguish of soul. Was there anything said," speaking 
 aloud, "about the fleet of M. de Vervillin?" 
 
 "Certainly a good deal, sir; and yet am I ashamed to 
 say, I scarce know what! Admiral Bluewater appeared to 
 think the Comte de Vervillin had no intention to strike a 
 blow at any of our colonies, and with this he seemed to 
 connect the idea that there would be less necessity for our 
 engaging him. At all events, I cannot be mistaken in his 
 wish that you would keep off, sir, until he could close." 
 
 " Ay, and you see how instinctively I have answered to 
 his wishes!" said Sir Gervaise, smiling a little bitterly. 
 " Nevertheless, had the rear of the fleet been up this morn- 
 ing. Sir Wycherly, it might have been a glorious day for 
 England!" 
 
 " It has been a glorious day, as it is, sir. We, in the 
 Druid, saw it all; and there was not one among us that did 
 not exult in the name of Englishman !" 
 
 "What, even to the Virginian, Wychecombe!" rejoined 
 26 
 
402 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Sir Gervaise, greatly gratified with the natural commenda- 
 tion conveyed in the manner and words of the other, and 
 looking in a smiling, friendly manner, at the young man. 
 "I was afraid the hits you got in Devonshire might have 
 induced you to separate your nationality from that of old 
 England." 
 
 " Even to the Virginian, Sir Gervaise. You have been in 
 the colonies, sir, and must know we do not merit all that we 
 sometimes receive, on this side of the Atlantic. The king 
 has no subjects more loyal than those of America." 
 
 " I am fully aware of it, my noble lad, and have told the 
 king as much, with my own mouth. But think no more of 
 this. If your old uncle did give you an occasional speci- 
 men of true John BuUism, he has left you an honorable title 
 and a valuable estate. I shall see that Greenly finds a berth 
 for you, and you will consent to mess with me, I hope. I 
 trust some time to see you at Bowldero. At present we will 
 go on deck; and if anything that Admiral Bluewater has 
 said should recur to your mind more distinctly, you will not 
 forget to let me know it." 
 
 Wycherly now bowed and left the cabin, while Sir Ger- 
 vaise sat down and wrote a note to Greenly to request that 
 he would look a little after the comfort of the young man. 
 The latter then went on deck, in person. Although he en- 
 deavored to shake off the painful doubts that beset him, and 
 to appear as cheerful as became an officer who had just per- 
 formed a brilliant exploit, the vice-admiral found it difficult 
 to conceal the shock he had received from Blue water's com- 
 munication. Certain as he felt of striking a decisive blow 
 at the enemy, could he be reinforced with the five ships of 
 the rear division, he would cheerfully forego the triumph of 
 such additional success, to be certain his friend did not 
 intend to carry his disaffection to overt acts. He found it 
 hard to believe that a man like Bluewater could really con- 
 template carrying off with him the ships he commanded; 
 yet he knew the authority his friend wielded over his cap- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4O3 
 
 tains, and the possibility of such a step would painfully 
 obtrude itself on his mind, at moments. "When a man can 
 persuade himself into all the nonsense connected with the 
 jus divi7ium^^'' thought Sir Gervaise, " it is doing no great 
 violence to common sense to persuade himself into all its 
 usually admitted consequences." Then, again, would inter- 
 pose his recollections of Bluewater's integrity and simplicity 
 of character, to reassure him, and give him more cheering 
 hopes for the result. Finding himself thus vacillating be- 
 tween hope and dread, the commander-in-chief determined 
 to drive the matter temporarily from his mind, by bestowing 
 his attention on the part of the fleet he had with him. Just 
 as this wise resolution was formed, both Greenly and Wych- 
 erly appeared on the poop. 
 
 " I am glad to see you with a hungry look. Greenly," 
 cried Sir Gervaise cheerfully ; '' here has Galleygo just been 
 to report his breakfast, and, as I know your cabin has not 
 been put in order since the people left the guns, I hope for 
 the pleasure of your company. Sir Wycherly, my gallant 
 young Virginian, here, will take the third chair, I trust, and 
 then our party will be complete." 
 
 The two gentlemen assenting, the vice-admiral was about 
 to lead the way below, when, suddenly arresting his foot- 
 steps on the poop-ladder, he said : 
 
 " Did you not tell me, Wychecombe, that the Druid had 
 sprung her foremast?" 
 
 " Badly, I believe. Sir Gervaise, in the hounds. Captain 
 Blewet carried on his ship fearfully, all night." 
 
 " Ay, he's a fearful fellow with spars, that Tom Blewet. 
 I never felt certain of finding all the sticks in their places, 
 on turning out of a morning, when he was with you as a 
 lieutenant. Greenly. How many jib-booms and topgallant- 
 yards did he cost us, in that cruise off the Cape of Good 
 Hope? By George, it must have been a dozen, at least!" 
 
 "Not quite as bad as that, Sir Gervaise, though he did 
 expend two jib-booms and three topgallant-yards, for me. 
 
404 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Captain Blewet has a fast ship, and he wishes people to 
 know it.'' 
 
 " And he has sprung his foremast and he shall see / know 
 it! Harkee, Bunting, make the Druid's number to lie by 
 the prize; and when that's answered, tell him to take charge 
 of the Frenchman, and to wait for further orders. I'll send 
 him to Plymouth to get a new foremast, and to see the 
 stranger in. By the way, does anybody know the name of 
 the Frenchman — hey! Greenly?" 
 
 " I cannot tell you. Sir Gervaise, though some of our gen- 
 tlemen think it is the ship that was the admiral's second 
 ahead, in our brush off Cape Finisterre. I am not of the 
 same opinion, however; for that vessel had a billet-head, 
 and this has a woman figurehead, that looks a little like a 
 Minerva. The French have a La Minerve, I think." 
 
 " Not now. Greenly, if this be she, for she is ours.'''* Here 
 Sir Gervaise laughed heartily at his own humor, and all 
 near him joined in, as a matter of course. " But La Minerve 
 has been a frigate time out of mind. The Goddess of Wis- 
 dom has never been fool enough to get into line of battle 
 when she has had it in her power to prevent it." 
 
 " We thought the figurehead of the prize a Venus, as we 
 passed her in the Druid," Wycherly modestly observed. 
 
 " There is a way of knowing, and it shall be tried. When 
 you've done with the Druid, Bunting, make the prize's sig- 
 nal to repeat her name by telegraph. You know how to 
 make a prize's number, I suppose, when she has none." 
 
 "I confess I do not, Sir Gervaise," answered Bunting, 
 who had shown by his manner thai he was at a loss. 
 " Having no number in our books, one would be at a stand 
 how to get at her, sir." 
 
 " How would you do it, young man V asked Sir Gervaise, 
 who all this time was hanging on to the man-rope of the 
 poop-ladder. "Let us see how well you've been taught, 
 Bir." 
 
 *' I believe it may be done in different modes, Sir Ger- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 405 
 
 vaise," Wycherly answered, without any appearance of tri- 
 umph at his superior readiness, " but the simplest I know is 
 to hoist the French flag under the English, by way of saying 
 for whom the signal is intended." 
 
 " Do it, Bunting," continued Sir Gervaise, nodding his 
 head as he descended the ladder, " and I warrant you Daly 
 will answer. What sort of work he will make with the 
 Frenchman's flags is another matter. I doubt, too, if he 
 had the wit to carry one of our books with him, in which 
 case he will be at a loss to read our signal. Try him, how- 
 ever, Bunting; an Irishman always h.2iS somethmg to say, 
 though it be a bull." 
 
 This order given. Sir Gervaise descended to his cabin. 
 In half an hour the party was seated at table, as quietly as 
 if nothing unusual had occurred that day. 
 
 " The worst of these little brushes which lead to nothing 
 is that they leave as strong a smell of gunpowder in your 
 cabin. Greenly, as if a whole fleet had been destroyed," 
 observed the vice-admiral good-humoredly, as he began to 
 help his guests. " I hope the odor we have here will not 
 disturb your appetites, gentlemen." 
 
 "You do this day's success injustice. Sir Gervaise, in 
 calling it only a brush," answered the captain, who, to say 
 the truth, had fallen to as heartily upon the delicacies of 
 Galleygo as if he had not eaten in twenty-four hours. " At 
 any rate, it has brushed the spars out of two of King Louis' 
 ships, and one of them into our hands ; ay, and in a certain 
 sense into our pockets." 
 
 "Quite true. Greenly — quite true; but what would it 
 have been if " 
 
 The sudden manner in which the commander-in-chief 
 ceased speaking induced his companions to think that he 
 had met with some accident in eating or drinking; both 
 looked earnestly at him, as if to offer assistance. He was 
 pale in the face, but he smiled, and otherwise appeared at 
 his ease. 
 
406 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "It is over, gentlemen," said Sir Gervaise gently — "we'll 
 think no more of it." 
 
 "I sincerely hope you've not been hit, sir?" said Greenly. 
 " I've known men hit, who did not discover that they were 
 hurt until some sudden weakness has betrayed it." 
 
 " I believe the French have let me off this time, my good 
 friend — yes, I think Magrath will be plugging no shot-holes 
 in my hull for this affair. Sir Wycherly, those eggs are 
 from your own estate, Galleygo having laid the manor under 
 contribution for all sorts of good things. Try them, Greenly, 
 as coming from our friend's property." 
 
 " Sir Wycherly is a lucky fellow in having an estate," 
 said the captain. " Few officers of his rank can boast of 
 such an advantage; though, now and then, an old one is 
 better off." 
 
 " That is true enough — hey ! Greenly ? The army fetches 
 up most of the fortunes; for your rich fellows like good 
 county quarters and county balls. I was a younger brother 
 when they sent me to sea, but I became a baronet, and a 
 pretty warm one too, while yet a reefer. Poor Josselin died 
 when I was only sixteen, and at seventeen they made me an 
 officer." 
 
 "Ay, and we like you all the better. Sir Gervaise, for not 
 giving us up when the money came. Now Lord Morganic 
 was a captain when he succeeded, and we think much less 
 of that." 
 
 " Morganic remains in service, to teach us how to stay 
 topmasts and paint figureheads," observed Sir Gervaise, a 
 little drily. "And yet the fellow handled his ship well to- 
 day; making much better weather of it than I feared he 
 would be able to do." 
 
 "I hear we are likely to get another duke in the navy, 
 sir; it's not often we catch one of that high rank." 
 
 Sir Gervaise cared much less for things of this sort than 
 Bluewater, but he naturally cast a glance at the speaker, as 
 this was said, as much as to ask whom he meant. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4O7 
 
 "They tell me, sir, that Lord Montresor, the elder brother 
 of the boy in the Caesar, is in a bad way, and Lord Geoffrey 
 stands next to the succession. I think there is too much 
 stuff in him to quit us now he is almost fit to get his com- 
 mission." 
 
 " True, Bluewater has that boy of high hopes and promise 
 with him, too," answered Sir Gervaise, in a musing manner, 
 unconscious of what he said. " God send he may not forget 
 that^ among other things!" 
 
 *' I don't think rank makes any difference with Admiral 
 Bluewater or Captain Stowel. The nobles are worked up 
 in their ship, as well as the humblest reefer of them all. 
 Here is Bunting, sir, to tell us something." 
 
 Sir Gervaise started from a fit of abstraction, and, turning, 
 he saw his signal-officer ready to report. 
 
 "The Druid has answered properly, Sir Gervaise, and 
 has already hauled up so close that I think she will 
 luff through the line, though it may be astern of the 
 Carnatic." 
 
 " And the prize, Bunting? Have you signalled the prize, 
 as I told you to do?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; and she has answered so properly that I make 
 no question the prize-officer took a book with him. The 
 telegraphic signal was answered like the other." 
 
 " Well, what does he say? Have you found out the name 
 of the Frenchman?" 
 
 "That's the difficulty, sir; we are understood, but Mr. 
 Daly has shown something aboard the prize that the quar- 
 termaster swears is a paddy." 
 
 " A paddy — What, he hasn't had himself run up at a yard- 
 arm or stun'sail-boom end, has he — hey! Wychecombe? 
 Daly's an Irishman, and has only to show himself Xo show a 
 paddy." 
 
 " But this is a sort of an image of some kind or other. Sir 
 Gervaise, and yet it isn't Mr. Daly. I rather think he hasn't 
 the flags necessary for our words, and has rigged out a sort 
 
408 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of a woman, to let us know his ship's name ; for she has a 
 woman figurehead, you know, sir." 
 
 "The devil he has! Well, that will form an era in sig- 
 nals. Galleygo, look out at the cabin window and let me 
 know if you can see the prize from them — well, sir, what's 
 the news?" 
 
 " I sees her, Sir Jarvy," answered the steward, " and I sees 
 her where no French ship as sails in company with British 
 vessels has a right to be. If she's a fathom, your honor, 
 she's fifty to windward of our line! Quite out of her place, 
 as a body might say, and onreasonable." 
 
 "That's owing to our having felled the forests of her 
 masts, Mr. Galleygo; every spar that is left helping to put 
 her where she is. That prize must be a weatherly ship, 
 though, hey! Greenly? She and her consort were well to 
 windward of their own line, or we could never have got 'em 
 as we did. I'hese Frenchmen do turn off a weatherly vessel 
 now and then, that we must all admit." 
 
 "Yes, Sir Jarvy," put in Galleygo, who never let the con- 
 versation flag when he was invited to take a part in it; 
 " yes, Sir Jarvy, and when they've turned 'em off the stocks 
 they turns 'em over to us, commonly, to sail 'em. Building 
 a craft is one piece of knowledge, and sailing her well is 
 another." 
 
 " Enough of your philosophy, sirrah ; look and ascertain 
 if there is anything unusual to be seen hanging in the rig- 
 ging of the prize. Unless you show more readiness, I'll 
 send one of the Bowlderos to help you." 
 
 These Bowlderos were the servants that Sir Gervaise 
 brought with him from his house, having been born on his 
 estate, and educated as domestics in his own or his father's 
 family; and though long accustomed to a man-of-war, as 
 their ambition never rose above their ordinary service, the 
 steward held them exceedingly cheap. A severer punish- 
 ment could not be offered him than to threaten to direct one 
 of these common menials to do any duty that, in the least, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4O9 
 
 pertained to the profession. The present menace had the 
 desired effect, Galleygo losing no time in critically examin- 
 ing the prize's rigging. 
 
 " I calls nothing extr'ornary in a Frenchman's rigging, Sir 
 Jarvy," answered the steward, as soon as he felt sure of his 
 fact; "their dockmen have idees of their own as to such 
 things. Now there is sum'mat hanging at the lee foreyard- 
 arm of that chap, that looks as if it might be a topgallant- 
 stun'sail made up to be sent aloft and set, but which stopped 
 when it got as high as it is, on finding out that there's no 
 hamper overhead to spread it to." 
 
 " That's it, sir," put in Bunting. " Mr. Daly has run his 
 woman up to the foreyard-arm, like a pirate." 
 
 "Woman!" repeated Galleygo — "do you call that 'ere 
 thing-um-mee a woman, Mr. Buntin'? I calls it a bundle 
 of flags, made up to set, if there was anything to set *em to." 
 
 "It's nothing but an Irishwoman, Master Galleygo, as 
 you'll see for yourself, if you'll level this glass at it." 
 
 "I'll do that office myself," cried Sir Gervaise. "Have 
 you any curiosity, gentlemen, to read Mr. Daly's signal? 
 Galleygo, open that weather window, and clear away the 
 books and writing-desk, that we may have a look." 
 
 The orders were immediately obeyed, and the vice-admiral 
 was soon seated examining the odd figure that was certainly 
 hanging at the lee foreyard-arm of the prize; a perfect non- 
 descript as regarded all nautical experience. 
 
 " Hang me, if I can make anything of it. Greenly," said 
 Sir Gervaise, after a long look. ''' Do j'ou take this seat, 
 and try your hand at an observation. It resembles a sort of 
 a woman, sure enough." 
 
 "Yes, sir," observed Bunting, with the earnestness of a 
 man who felt his reputation involved in the issue, " I was 
 certain that Mr. Daly has run up the figure to let us know 
 the name of the prize, and that for want of a telegraph-book 
 to signal the letters; and so I made sure of what I was 
 about, before I took the liberty to come below and report." 
 
4IO 
 
 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " And pray what do you make of it, Bunting? The figure- 
 head might tell us better, but that seems to be imperfect." 
 
 " The figurehead has lost all its bust, and one arm, by a 
 shot," said Greenly, turning the glass to the object named; 
 "and I can tell Mr. Daly that a part of the gammoning of 
 his bowsprit is gone, too ! That ship requires looking to, 
 Sir Gervaise; she'll have no foremast to-morrow morning, 
 if this wind stand! Another shot has raked the lower side 
 of her foretop, and carried away half the frame. Yes, and 
 there's been a fellow at work, too " 
 
 " Never mind the shot — never mind the shot, Greenly," 
 interrupted the vice-admiral. "A poor devil like him 
 couldn't have six of us at him, at once, and expect to go 
 * shot free.' Tell us something of the woman." 
 
 "Well, Sir Gervaise, no doubt Daly has hoisted her as a 
 symbol. Ay, no doubt the ship is the Minerva, after all, 
 for there's something on the head like a helmet." 
 
 " It never can be the Minerva," said the vice-admiral pos- 
 itively, " for she^ I feel certain, is a frigate. Hand me the 
 little book with a red cover. Bunting; that near your hand; 
 it has a list of the enemy's navy. Here it is, ' La Minerve, 
 32, le capitame de fregate^ Mo7idoTi. Built in 1733, old and 
 dull.' That settles the Minerva, for this list is the last sent 
 us by the admiralty." 
 
 "Then it must be the Pallas," rejoined Greenly, "for 
 she wears a helmet, too, and I am certain there is not only 
 a cap to resemble a helmet, but a Guernsey frock on the 
 body to represent armor. Both Minerva and Pallas, if I 
 remember right, wore armor." 
 
 "This is coming nearer to the point — hey! Greenly?" 
 the vice-admiral innocently chimed in ; " let us look and see 
 if the Pallas is a two-decker or not. By George, there's 
 no such name on the list. That's odd, now, that the 
 French should have one of these goddesses and not the 
 other!" 
 
 "They never has anything right, Sir Jarvy," Galleygo 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4H 
 
 thrust in, by way of commentary on the vice-admiral's and 
 the captain's classical lore; "and it's surprising to me that 
 they should have any goddess at all, seeing that they has so 
 little respect for religion, in general." 
 
 Wycherly fidgeted, but respect for his superiors kept him 
 silent. As for Bunting, 'twas all the same to him, his father 
 having been a purser in the navy, and he himself educated 
 altogether on board ship, and this, too, a century since. 
 
 " It might not be amiss. Sir Gervaise," observed the cap- 
 tain, "to work this rule backward, and just look over the list 
 until we find a two-decked ship that ought to have a woman 
 figurehead, which will greatly simplify the matter. I've 
 known difficult problems solved in that mode." 
 
 The idea struck Sir Gervaise as a good one, and he set 
 about the execution of the project in good earnest. Just as 
 he came to L'Hecate, 64, an exclamation from Greenly 
 caught his attention, and he inquired its cause. 
 
 "Look for yourself, Sir Gervaise; unless my eyes are 
 good for nothing, Daly is running a kedge up alongside of 
 his woman." 
 
 " What ! a kedge ? — Ay, that is intended for an anchor, and 
 it means Hope. Everybody knows that Hope carries an 
 anchor — hey! Wychecombe? Upon my word, Daly shows 
 ingenuity. Look for the Hope, in that list. Bunting — you 
 will find the English names printed first, in the end of the 
 book." 
 
 "*The Hope, or L'Esperance,'" read the signal-officer; 
 "*36, lee capita7ig dee frigate dee Courtraii.^ " 
 
 "A single-decked ship after all! This affair is as bad 
 as the d — d niiUus, ashore, there. I'll not be beaten in 
 learning, however, by any Frenchman who ever floated. Go 
 below, Locker, and desire Doctor Magrath to step up here, 
 if he is not occupied with the wounded. He knows more 
 Latin than any man in the ship." 
 
 "Yes, Sir Jarvy, but this is French, you knows, your 
 honor, and isn't as Latin, at all. I expects she'll turn out 
 
412 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 to have some name as no modest person wishes to use, and 
 we shall have to halter it." 
 
 " Ay, he's catted his anchor, sure enough; if the figure be 
 not Hope, it must be Faith, or Charity." 
 
 " No fear of them, Sir Jarvy; the French has no faith, 
 nor no charity, no, nor no bowels, as any poor fellow knows 
 as has ever been wrecked on their coast, as once happened 
 to me, when a b'y. I looks upon 'em as no better than so 
 many heatheners, and perhaps that's the name of the ship. 
 I've seed heatheners, a hundred times, Sir Jarvy, in that 
 sort of toggery." 
 
 " What, man, did you ever see a heathen with an anchor? 
 — one that will weigh three hundred, if it will weigh a 
 pound?" 
 
 " Perhaps not, your honor, with a downright hanchor, but 
 with sum'mat like a killog. But that's no hanchor, a'ter 
 all but only a kedge, catted hanchor-fashion, sir." 
 
 "Here comes Magrath, to help us out of the difficulty; 
 and we'll propound the matter to him." 
 
 The vice-admiral now explained the whole affair to the 
 surgeon, frankly admitting that the classics of the cabin 
 were at fault, and throwing himself on the gunroom for as- 
 sistance. Magrath was not a little amused, as he listened, 
 for this was one of his triumphs, and he chuckled not a little 
 at the dilemma of his superiors. 
 
 "Well, Sir Jairvis," he answered, "ye might do warse 
 than call a council o' war on the matter; but if it's the name 
 ye'U be wanting, I can help ye to that, without the aids of 
 symbols, and signs, and hyeroglyphics of any sort. As we 
 crossed the vessel's wake, a couple of hours since, I read it 
 on her stern, in letters of gold. It's La Victoire, or the 
 Victory; a most unfortunate cognomen for an unlucky ship. 
 She's a French victory, however, ye'll remember, gen- 
 tlemen!" 
 
 "That must be a mistake, Magrath; for Daly has shown 
 an anchor, yonder; and Victory carries no anchor." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 413 
 
 " It's hard to say, veece-admiral, one man's victory being 
 another man's defeat. As for Mr. Daly's image, it's just an 
 Irish goddess; and allowances must be made for the coun- 
 try." 
 
 Sir Gervaise laughed, invited the gentlemen to help de- 
 molish the breakfast, and sent orders on deck to hoist the 
 answering flag. At a later day, Daly, when called on for an 
 explanation, asserted that the armor and helmet belonged to 
 Victory, as a matter of course ; though he admitted that he 
 had at first forgotten the anchor ; " but, when I did run it 
 up, they read it aboard the ould Planter, as if it had been 
 just so much primmer." 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 " There's beauty in the deep : — 
 The wave is bluer than the sky ; 
 And, though the light shines bright on high, 
 More softly do the sea-gems glow, 
 That sparkle in the depths below ; 
 The rainbow's tints are only made 
 When on the waters they are laid, 
 And sun and moon most sweetly shine 
 Upon the ocean's level brine. 
 There's beauty in the deep." 
 
 Brainard. 
 
 As Daly was the recognized jester of the fleet, his extraor- 
 dinary attempt to announce his vessel's name was received 
 as a characteristic joke, and it served to laugh at until 
 something better offered. Under the actual circumstances 
 of the two squadrons, however, it was soon temporarily for- 
 gotten in graver things, for few believed the collision that 
 had already taken place was to satisfy a man of the known 
 temperament of the commander-in-chief. As the junction 
 of the rear division was the only thing wanting to bring on 
 a general engagement, as soon as the weather should moder- 
 ate a little, every ship had careful lookouts aloft, sweeping 
 the horizon constantly with glasses, more particularly toward 
 
414 THE TWO ADMIRALS; 
 
 the east and northeast. The gale broke about noon, though 
 the wind still continued fresh from the same quarter as be- 
 fore. The sea began to go down, however, and at eight 
 bells material changes had occurred in the situations of both 
 fleets. Some of these it may be necessary to mention. 
 
 The ship of the French admiral, Le Foudroyant, and Le 
 Scipion had been received, as it might be, in the arms of 
 their own fleet in the manner already mentioned; and from 
 this moment the movement of the whole force was, in a 
 measuie, regulated by that of these two crippled vessels. 
 The former ship, by means of her lower sails, might have 
 continued to keep her station in the line, so long as the gale 
 lasted; but the latter unavoidably fell off, compelling her 
 consorts to keep near, or to abandon her to her fate. M. 
 de Vervillin preferred the latter course. The consequences 
 were that, by the time the sun was in the zenith, his line, a 
 good deal extended still, and far from regular, was quite 
 three leagues to leeward of that of the English. Nor was 
 this all : at that important turn in the day. Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes was enabled to make sail on all his ships, setting the 
 fore and mizzen topsails close-reefed; while La Victoire, a 
 fast vessel, was enable to keep in company by carrying 
 whole courses. The French could not imitate this, inasmuch 
 as one of their crippled vessels had nothing standing but a 
 foremast. Sir Gervaise had ascertained, before the distance 
 became too great for such observations, that the enemy was 
 getting ready to send up new topmasts and the other neces- 
 sary spars on board the admiral, as well as jury lower-masts 
 in Le Scipion; though the sea would not yet permit any 
 very positive demonstrations to be made toward such an 
 improvement. He laid his own plans for the approaching 
 night accordingly; determining not to worry his people, or 
 notify the enemy of his intentions, by attempting any simi- 
 lar improvement in the immediate condition of his prize. 
 
 About noon, each ship's number was made in succession, 
 and the question was put if she had sustained any material 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 415 
 
 injury in the late conflict. The answers were satisfactory 
 in general, though one or two of the vessels made such re- 
 plies as induced the commander-in-chief to resort to a still 
 more direct mode of ascertaining the real condition of his 
 .-.^eet. In order to effect this important object, Sir Gervaise 
 waited two hours longer, for the double purpose of letting 
 all the messes get through with their dinners, and to permit 
 the wind to abate and the sea to fall, as both were now fast 
 doing. At the expiration of that time, however, he appeared 
 on the poop, summoning Bunting to his customary duty. 
 
 At 2 P.M. it blew a whole-topsail breeze, as it is called; 
 but the sea being still high, and the ships close-hauled, the 
 vice-admiral did not see fit to order any more sail. Per- 
 haps he was also influenced by a desire not to increase his 
 distance from the enemy, it being a part of his plan to keep 
 M. deVervillin in plain sight so long as the day continued, 
 in order that he might have a tolerable idea of the position 
 of his fleet, during the hours of darkness. His present in- 
 tention was to cause his vessels to pass before him in re- 
 view, as a general orders his battalions to march past a sta- 
 tion occupied by himself and staff, with a view to judge by 
 his own eye of their steadiness and appearance. Vice- 
 Admiral Oakes was the only officer in the British navy who 
 ever resorted to this practice; but he did many things of 
 which other men never dreamed, and, among the rest, he 
 did not hesitate to attack double his force, when an occasion 
 offered, as has just been seen. The officers of the fleet 
 called these characteristic reviews " Sir Jarvy's field-days,'* 
 finding a malicious pleasure in comparing anything out of 
 the common nautical track to some usage of the soldiers. 
 
 Bunting got his orders, notwithstanding the jokes of the 
 fleet; and the necessary signals were made and the answers 
 given. Captain Greenly then received his verbal instruc- 
 tions, when the commander-in-chief went below, to prepare 
 himself for the approaching scene. When Sir Gervaise re- 
 appeared on the poop he was in full uniform, wearing the 
 
4l6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Star of the Bath, as was usual with him on all solemn official 
 occasions. Atwood and Bunting were at his side, while the 
 Bowlderos, in their rich shore-liveries, formed a group at 
 hand. Captain Greenly and his first lieutenant joined the 
 party as soon as their duty with the ship was over. On th", 
 opposite side of the poop, the whole of the marines off guard 
 were drawn up in triple lines, with their officers at their 
 head. The ship herself had hauled up her mainsail, hauled 
 down all her staysails, and lay with her main-topsail braced 
 sharp aback, with orders to the quartermaster to keep her 
 little off the wind ; the object being to leave a little way 
 through the water, in order to prolong the expected inter- 
 views. With these preparations the commander-in-chief 
 awaited the successive approach of his ships, the sun, for 
 the first time in twenty-four hours, making his appearance 
 in a flood of brilliant summer light, as if purposely to grace 
 the ceremony. 
 
 The first ship that drew near the Plantagenet was the 
 Carnatic, as a matter of course, she being the next in the 
 line. This vessel, remarkable, as the commander-in-chief 
 had observed, for never being out of the way, was not long 
 in closing, though as she luffed up on the admiral's weather- 
 quarter, to pass to windward, she let go all her topsail bow- 
 lines, so as to deaden her way, making a sort of half-board. 
 This simple evolution, as she righted her helm, brought her 
 about fifty yards to windward of the Plantagenet, past which 
 ship she surged slowly but steadily, the weather now per- 
 mitting a conversation to be held at that distance, and by 
 means of trumpets, with little or no effort of the voice. 
 
 Most of the officers of the Carnatic were on her poop, as 
 she came sweeping up heavily, casting her shadow on the 
 Plantagenet's decks. Captain Parker himself was standing 
 near the ridge-ropes, his head uncovered, and the gray hairs 
 floating in the breeze. The countenance of this simple- 
 minded veteran was a little anxious, for, had he feared the 
 enemy a tenth part as much as he stood in awe of his com- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 417 
 
 manding officer, he would have been totally unfit for his 
 station. Now he glanced upward at his sails, to see that 
 all was right; then, as he drew nearer, fathom by fathom, 
 as it might be, he anxiously endeavored to read the expres- 
 sion of the vice-admiral's face. 
 
 " How do you do. Captain Parker?" commenced Sir Ger- 
 vaise, with true trumpet formality, making the customary 
 salutation. 
 
 " How is Sir Gervaise Oakes to-day ? I hope untouched 
 in the late affair with the enemy.?" 
 
 " Quite well, I thank you, sir. Has the Carnatic received 
 any serious injury in the battle?" 
 
 " None to mention, Sir Gervaise. A rough scrape of the 
 foremast; but not enough to alarm us, now the weather has 
 moderated; a little rigging cut, and a couple of raps in the 
 hull." 
 
 "Have your people suffered, sir?" 
 
 "Two killed and seven wounded. Sir Gervaise. Good 
 lads, most of 'em; but enough like 'em remain." 
 
 " I understand, then, Captain Parker, that you report the 
 Carnatic fit for any service?" 
 
 " As much so as my poor abilities enable me to make her, 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes," answered the other, a little alarmed at 
 the formality and precision of the question. " Meet her 
 with the helm — meet her with the helm." 
 
 All this passed while the Carnatic was making her half- 
 board, and, the helm being righted, she now slowly and ma- 
 jestically fell off with her broadside to the admiral, gather- 
 ing way as her canvas began to draw again. At this instant, 
 when the yard-arms of the two ships were about a hundred 
 feet asunder, and just as the Carnatic drew up fairly abeam, 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes raised his hat, stepped quickly to the 
 side of the poop, waved his hand for silence, and spoke with 
 a distinctness that rendered his words audible to all in both 
 vessels. 
 
 "Captain Parker," he said, "I wish, publicly, to thank 
 27 
 
4l8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 you for your noble conduct this day. I have always said a 
 surer support could never follow a commander-in-chief into 
 battle ; you have more than proved my opinion to be true. 
 I wish, publicly, to thank you, sir." 
 
 " Sir Gervaise — I cannot express — God bless you. Sir 
 Gervaise!" 
 
 " I have but one fault to find with you, sir, and that is 
 easily pardoned." 
 
 " I'm sure I hope so, sir." 
 
 " You handled your ship so rapidly and so surely, that 
 we had hardly time to get out of the way of your guns!" 
 
 Old Parker could not now have answered had his life de- 
 pended on it; but he bowed, and dashed a hand across his 
 eyes. There was but a moment to say any more. 
 
 " If His Majesty's sword be not laid on your shoulder for 
 this day's work, sir, it shall be no fault of mine," added Sir 
 Gervaise, waving his hat in adieu. 
 
 While this dialogue lasted, so profound was the stillness 
 in the two ships, that the wash of the water under the bows 
 of the Carnatic was the only sound to interfere with Sir 
 Gervaise's clarion voice; but the instant he ceased to 
 speak, the crews of both vessels rose as one man, and 
 cheered. The officers joined heartily, and, to complete the 
 compliment, the commander-in-chief ordered his own ma- 
 rines to present arms to the passing vessel. Then it was 
 that, every sail drawing, again the Carnatic took a sudden 
 start, and shot nearly her length ahead, on the summit of a 
 sea. In half a minute more, she was ahead of the Planta- 
 genet's flying-jib-boom-end, steering a little free, so as not to 
 throw the admiral to leeward. 
 
 The Carnatic was scarcely out of the way, before the 
 Achilles was ready to take her place. This ship, having 
 more room, had easily luffed to windward of the Plantage- 
 net, simply letting go her bowlines, as her bows doubled 
 on the admiral's stern, in order to check her way, 
 
 ^'How do you do to-day, Sir Gervaise?" called out Lord 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4I9 
 
 Morganic, without waiting for the commander-in-chief's hail 
 — " allow me to congratulate you, sir, on the exploits of this 
 glorious day!" 
 
 " I thank you, my lord, and wish to say I am satisfied 
 with the behavior of your ship. You've all done well, and 
 I desire to thank you all. Is the Achilles injured?" 
 
 "Nothing to speak of, sir. A little rigging gone, and 
 here and there a stick." 
 
 " Have you lost any men, my lord ? I desire particularly 
 to know the condition of each ship." 
 
 " Some eight or ten poor fellows, I believe, Sir Gervaise; 
 but we are ready to engage this instant." 
 
 "It is well, my lord; steady your bowlines, and make 
 room for the Thunderer." 
 
 Morganic gave the order, but as his ship drew ahead he 
 called out in a pertinacious way: "I hope, Sir Gervaise, 
 you don't mean to give that other lame duck up. I've got 
 my first lieutenant on board one of 'em, and confess to a 
 desire to put the second on board another." 
 
 "Ay — ay — Morganic, we knock down the birds, and you 
 bag 'em. I'll give you more sport in the same way, before 
 I've done with ye." 
 
 This little concession, even Sir Gervaise Oakes, a man 
 not accustomed to trifle in matters of duty, saw fit to make 
 to the other's rank; and the Achilles withdrew from before 
 the flagship, as the curtain is drawn from before the scene. 
 
 '' I do believe, Greenleaf," observed Lord Morganic to his 
 surgeon, one of his indulged favorites; "that Sir Jarvy is a 
 little jealous of us, because Daly got into the prize before 
 he could send one of his own boats aboard of her. 'Twill 
 tell well in the gazette, too, will it not? — * The French ship 
 was taken possession of, and brought off, by the Achilles, 
 Captain the Earl of Morganic! ' I hope the old fellow will 
 have the decency to give us our due. I rather think it was 
 our last broadside that brought the colors down?" 
 
 A suitable answer was returned, but, as the ship is draw- 
 
420 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 ing ahead, we cannot follow her to relate it. The vessel 
 that approached the third was the Thunderer, Captain Foley. 
 This was one of the ships that had received the fire of the 
 three leading French vessels, after they had brought the 
 wind abeam, and, being the leading vessel of the English 
 rear, she had suffered more than any other of the British 
 squadron. The fact was apparent, as she approached, by the 
 manner in which her rigging was knotted, and the attention 
 that had been paid to her spars. Even as she closed, the 
 men were on the yard bending a new main-course, the old 
 one having been hit on the bolt-rope, and torn nearly from 
 the spar. There were also several plugs on her lee-side to 
 mark the spots where the French guns had told. 
 
 The usual greetings passed between the vice-admiral and 
 his captain, and the former put his questions. 
 
 " We have not been quite exchanging salutes. Sir Ger- 
 vaise," answered Captain Foley; "but the ship is ready for 
 service again. Should the wind moderate a little, I think 
 everything would stand to carry sail hard^ 
 
 " I'm glad to hear it, sir — rejoiced to hear it, sir. I 
 feared more for you, than for any other vessel. I hope 
 you've not suffered materially in your crew?" 
 
 "Nine killed, Sir Gervaise; and the surgeon tells me 
 sixteen wounded." 
 
 "That proves you've not been in port, Foley! Well, I 
 dare say, could the truth be known, it would be found that 
 M. de Vervillin's vessels bear your marks, in revenge. 
 Adieu — adieu — God bless you." 
 
 The Thunderer glided ahead, making room for the Blen- 
 heim, Captain Sterling. This was one of your serviceable 
 ships, without any show or style about her; but a vessel 
 that was always ready to give and take. Her commander 
 was a regular sea-dog, a little addicted to hard and outland- 
 ish oaths, a great consumer of tobacco and brandy; but who 
 had the discrimination never to swear in the presence of the 
 commander-in-chief, although he had been known to do so 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 421 
 
 in a church; or to drink more than he could well carry, 
 when he was in presence of an enemy or a gale of wind. 
 He was too firm a man, and too good a seaman, to use the 
 bottle as a refuge ; it was the companion of his ease and 
 pleasure, and, to confess the truth, he then treated it with an 
 affectionate benevolence that rendered it exceedingly diffi- 
 cult for others not to entertain some of his own partiality 
 for it. In a word, Captain Sterling was a sailor of the "old 
 school" ; for there was an " old school" in manners, habits, 
 opinions, philosophy, morals, and reason, a century since, 
 precisely as there is to-day, and probably will be, a century 
 hence. 
 
 The Blenheim made a good report, not having sustained 
 any serious injury whatever; nor had she a man hurt. The 
 captain reported his ship as fit for service as she was the 
 hour she lifted her anchor. 
 
 *' So much the better, Sterling — so much the better. You 
 shall take the edge off the next affair, by way of giving you 
 another chance. I rely on the Blenheim, and on her cap- 
 tain." 
 
 "I thank you, sir," returned Sterling, as his ship moved 
 on; "by the way, Sir Gervaise, would it not be fair play to 
 rummage the prize's lockers before she gets into the hands 
 of the custom-house? Out here on the high seas, there can 
 be no smuggling in that ; there must be good claret aboard 
 her." 
 
 " There would be * plunder of a prize,' Sterling," said the 
 vice-admiral, laughing, for he knew that the question was 
 put more as a joke than a serious proposition ; " and that is 
 death, without benefit of clergy. Move on; here is Good- 
 fellow close upon your heels." 
 
 The last ship in the English line was the Warspite, Cap- 
 tain Goodfellow, an officer remarkable in the service at that 
 day, for a "religious turn," as it was called. As is usually 
 the case with men of this stamp. Captain Goodfellow was 
 quiet, thoughtful, and attentive to his duty. There was less 
 
422 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 of the real tar in him, perhaps, than in some of his compan- 
 ions; but his ship was in good order, always did her duty, 
 and was remarkably attentive to signals; a circumstance' 
 that rendered her commander a marked favorite with the 
 vice-admiral. After the usual questions were put and an- 
 swered, Sir Gervaise informed Goodfellow that he intended 
 to change the order of sailing so as to bring him near the 
 van. 
 
 "We will give old Parker a breathing-spell, Goodfellow," 
 added the commander-in-chief, " and you will be my second 
 astern. I must go ahead of you all, or you'll be running 
 down on the Frenchman without orders; pretending you 
 can't see the signals, in the smoke." 
 
 The Warspite drove ahead, and the Plantagenet was now 
 left to receive the prize and the Druid; the Chloe, Driver, 
 and Active, not being included in the signal. Daly had 
 been gradually eating the other ships out of the wind, as 
 has been mentioned already, and when the order was given 
 to pass within hail he grumbled not a little at the necessity 
 of losing so much of his vantage-ground. Nevertheless, it 
 would not do to joke with the commander-in-chief in a mat- 
 ter of this sort, and he was fain to haul up his courses, and 
 wait for the moment when he might close. By the time the 
 Warspite was out of the way, his ship had drifted down so 
 near the admiral that he had nothing to do but to haul 
 aboard his tacks again, and pass as near as was at all de- 
 sirable. When quite near, he hauled up his mainsail, by 
 order of the vice-admiral. 
 
 "Are you much in want of anything, Mr. Daly?" de- 
 manded Sir Gervaise, as soon as the lieutenant appeared 
 forward to meet his hail. "The sea is going down so fast 
 that we might now send you some boats." 
 
 " Many thanks. Sir Gervaise; I want to get rid of a hun- 
 dred or two Frenchmen, and to have a hundred Englishmen 
 in their places. We are but twenty-one of the king's sub- 
 jects here, all told." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 423 
 
 " Captain Blewet is ordered to keep company with you, 
 sir; and as soon as it is dark, I intend to send you into 
 Plymouth under the frigate's convoy. Is she a nice ship, 
 hey! Daly?" 
 
 "Why, Sir Gervaise, she's like apiece of broken crockery, 
 just now, and one can't tell all her merits. She's not a bad 
 goer, and weatherly, I think, all will call her. But she's 
 thundering French, inside." 
 
 "We'll make her English in due time, sir. How are the 
 leaks? Do the pumps work freely?" 
 
 " Deuce the Take has she, Sir Gervaise, and the pumps 
 suck like a nine-months' babby. And if they didn't we're 
 scarce the boys to find out the contr^^ry, being but nineteen 
 working-hands." 
 
 "Very well, Daly; you can haul aboard your main-tack, 
 now; remember, you're to go into Plymouth, as soon as its 
 dark. If you see anything of Admiral Blucwater, tell him 
 I rely on his support, and only wait for his appearance to 
 finish Monsieur de Vervillin's job." 
 
 "I'll do all that, with hearty good-will, sir. Pray, 
 Sir Gervaise," added Daly, grinning, on the poop of 
 the prize, whither he had got by this time, having walked 
 aft as his ship went ahead, " how do you like French 
 signals? For want of a better, we were driven to the 
 classics!" 
 
 " Ay, you'd be bothered to explain all your own flags, I 
 fancy. The name of the ship is the Victory, I am told; 
 why did you put her in armor, and whip a kedge up against 
 the poor woman?" 
 
 " It's according to the books, Sir Gervaise. Every word 
 of it out of Cicero, and Cord^-iry, and Cornelius Nepos, and 
 those sort of fellows. Oh! I went to school, sir, before I 
 went to sea, as you say yourself, sometimes, Sir Gervaise; 
 and literature is the same in Ireland as it is all over the 
 world. Victory needs armor, sir, in order to be victorious, 
 and the anchor is to show that she doesn't belong to ' the 
 
424 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 cut and run' family. I am as sure that all was right as I 
 ever was of my moods and tenses." 
 
 "Very well, Daly," answered Sir Gervaise, laughing — 
 " My lords shall know your merits in that way, and it may 
 get you named a professor — keep your luff, or you'll be 
 down on our spritsail-yard; — remember and follow the 
 Druid." 
 
 Here the gentlemen waved their hands in adieu as usual, 
 and La Victoire, clipped as she was of her wings, drew 
 slowly past. The Druid succeeded, and Sir Gervaise simply 
 gave Blewet his orders to see the prize into port, and to look 
 after his own foremast. This ended the field-day; the frig- 
 ate luffing up to windward of the line again, leaving the 
 Plantagenet in its rear. A few minutes later, the latter ship 
 filled and stood after her consorts. 
 
 The vice-admiral having now ascertained, in the most 
 direct manner, the actual condition of his fleet, had data on 
 which to form his plans for the future. But for the letter 
 from Bluewater, he would have been perfectly happy ; the 
 success of the day having infused a spirit into the different 
 vessels, that, of itself, was a pledge of more important re- 
 sults. Still he determined to act as if that letter had never 
 been written, finding it impossible to believe that one who 
 had so long been true could really fail him in the hour of 
 need. " I know his heart better than he knows it himself," 
 he caught himself mentally exclaiming, "and before either 
 of us is a day older this will I prove to him, to his confu- 
 sion and my triumph." He had several short and broken 
 conversations with Wycherly in the course of the afternoon, 
 with a view to ascertain, if possible, the real frame of mind 
 in which his friend had written, but without success, the 
 young man frankly admitting that, owing to a confusion of 
 thought that he modestly attributed to himself, but which 
 Sir Gervaise well knew ought in justice to be imputed to 
 Bluewater, he had not been able to bring away with him 
 any very clear notions of the rear-admiral's intentions. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 42$ 
 
 In the mean while, the elements were beginning to exhibit 
 another of their changeful humors. A gale in summer is 
 seldom of long duration, and twenty-four hours would seem 
 to be the period which nature had assigned to this. The 
 weather had moderated materially by the time the review 
 had taken place, and five hours later, not only had the sea 
 subsided to a very reasonable swell, but the wind had hauled 
 several points; coming out a fresh topgallant breeze at 
 northwest. The French fleet wore soon after, standing about 
 northeast-by-north, on an easy bowline. They had been 
 active in repairing damages, and the admiral was all a-tanto 
 again, with everything set that the other ships carried. The 
 plight of Le Scipion was not so easily remedied, though 
 even she had two jury-masts rigged, assistance having been 
 sent from the other vessels as soon as boats could safely 
 pass. As the sun hung in the western sky, wanting about 
 an hour of disappearing from one of the long summer days 
 of that high latitude, this ship set a mizzen-topsail in the 
 place of a main, and a fore-topgallant-sail in lieu of a 
 mizzen-topsail. Thus equipped, she was enabled to keep 
 company with her consorts, all of which were under easy 
 canvas, waiting for the night to cover their movements. 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes had made the signal for his fleet to 
 tack in succession, from the rear to the van, about an hour 
 before Le Scipion obtained this additional sail. The order 
 was executed with great readiness, and, as the ships had 
 been looking up as high as west-southwest before, when 
 they got round, and headed north-northeast, their line of 
 sailing was still quite a league to windward of that of the 
 enemy. As each vessel filled on the larboard tack,* she 
 shortened sail to allow the ships astern to keep away, and 
 close to her station. It is scarcely necessary to say that this 
 change again brought the Plantagenet to the head of the 
 line, with the Warspite, however, instead of the Carnatic, 
 for her second astern ; the latter vessel being quite in the 
 rear. 
 
426 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 It was a glorious afternoon, and there was every promise 
 of as fine a night. Still, as there were but about six hours 
 of positive darkness at that season of the year, and the moon 
 would rise at midnight, the vice-admiral knew he had no 
 time to lose, if he would effect anything under the cover of 
 obscurity. Reefs were no longer used, though all the ships 
 were under short canvas, in order to accommodate their 
 movements to those of the prize. The latter, however, was 
 now in tow of the Druid, and, as this frigate carried her 
 topgallant-sails, aided by her own courses, La Victoire was 
 enabled not only to keep up with the fleet, then under whole 
 topsails, but to maintain her weatherly position. Such was 
 the state of things just as the sun dipped, the enemy being 
 on the lee bow, distant one and a half leagues, when the 
 Plantagenet showed a signal for the whole fleet to heave to, 
 with the main-topsails to the masts. This command was 
 scarcely executed, when the officers on deck were surprised 
 to hear a boatswain's mate piping away the crew of the vice- 
 admiral's barge, or that of the boat which was appropriated 
 to the particular service of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 " Did I hear aright, Sir Gervaise?" inquired Greenly, with 
 curiosity and interest; "is it your wish to have your barge 
 manned, sir?" 
 
 " You heard perfectly right, Greenly ; and, if disposed for 
 a row this fine evening, I shall ask the favor of your com- 
 pany. Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, as you are an idler here, 
 I have a flag-officer's right to press you into my service. By 
 the way, Greenl)', I have made out and signed an order to 
 this gentleman to report himself to you, as attached to my 
 family, as the soldiers call it; as soon as Atwood has copied 
 it, it will be handed to him, when I beg you will consider 
 him as my first aid." 
 
 To this no one could object, and Wycherly made a bow 
 of acknowledgment. At that instant the barge was seen 
 swinging off over the ship's waist, and, at the next, the yard 
 tackles were heard overhauling themselves. The splash of 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 42^ 
 
 the boat in the water followed. The crew was in her, with 
 oars on end, and poised boat-hooks, in another minute. 
 The guard presented, the boatswain piped over, the drum 
 rolled, and Wycherly jumped to the gangway and was out 
 of sight quick as thought. Greenly and Sir Gervaise fol- 
 lowed, when the boat shoved off. 
 
 Although the seas had greatly subsided, and their combs 
 were no longer dangerous, the Atlantic was far from being 
 as quiet as a lake in a summer eventide. At the very first 
 dash of the oars the barge rose on a long, heavy swell that 
 buoyed her up like a bubble, and, as the water glided from 
 under her again, it seemed as if she was about to sink into 
 some cavern of the ocean. Few things give more vivid im- 
 pressions of helplessness than boats thus tossed by the 
 waters when not in their raging humors; for one is apt to 
 expect better treatment than thus to be made the plaything 
 of the element. All, however, who have ever floated on 
 even the most quiet ocean, must have experienced more or 
 less of this helpless dependence, the stoutest boat, impelled 
 by the lustiest crews, appearing half the time like a feather 
 floating in capricious currents of the air. 
 
 The occupants of the barge, however, were too familiar 
 with their situation to think much of these matters; and, as 
 soon as Sir Gervaise assented to Wycherly's offer to take 
 the tiller, he glanced upward, with a critical eye, in order to 
 scan the Plantagenet's appearance. 
 
 " That fellow, Morganic, has got a better excuse for his 
 xebec-rig than I had supposed, Greenly," he said, after a 
 minute of observation. '' Your fore topmast is at least six 
 inches too far forward, and I beg you will have it stayed aft 
 to-morrow morning, if the weather permit. None of your 
 Mediterranean craft for me, in the narrow seas." 
 
 "Very well. Sir Gervaise; the spar shall be righted in 
 the morning watch," quietly returned the captain. 
 
 "Now, there's Goodfellow, half-parson as he is; the man 
 contrives to keep his sticks more upright than any captain 
 
428 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 in the fleet. You never see a spar half an inch out of its 
 place, on board the Warspite." 
 
 " That is because her captain trims everything by his own 
 life, sir," rejoined Greenly, smiling. "Were we half as 
 good as he is, in other matters, we might be better than we 
 are in seamanship." 
 
 " I do not think religion hurts a sailor, Greenly — no, not 
 in the least. That is to say, when he don't wedge his masts 
 too tight, but leaves play enough for all weathers. There is 
 no cant in Goodfellow." 
 
 " Not the least of it, sir, and that it is which makes him 
 so great a favorite. The chaplain of the Warspite is of 
 some use; but one might as well have a bowsprit rigged out 
 of a cabinwindow, as have our chap." 
 
 " Why, we never bury a man. Greenly, without putting 
 him into the water as a Christian should be," returned Sir 
 Gervaise, with the simplicity of a true believer of the de- 
 cency school. " I hate to see a seaman tossed in the ocean 
 like a bag of old clothes." 
 
 " We get along with that part of the duty pretty well ; but 
 before a man is dead, the parson is of opinion that he be- 
 longs altogether to the doctor." 
 
 " rd bet a hundred guineas, Magrath has had some in- 
 fluence over him, in this matter — give the Blenheim a wider 
 berth. Sir Wycherly, I wish to see how she looks aloft — he's 
 a d — d fellow, that Magrath" — no one swore in Sir Ger- 
 vaise's boat but himself, when the vice-admiral's flag was 
 flying in her bows — " and he's just the sort of man to put 
 such a notion into the chaplain's head." 
 
 " Why, there, I believe you're more than half right. Sir 
 Gervaise; I overheard a conversation between them one 
 dark night, when they were propping the mizzen-mast under 
 the break of the poop, and the surgeon ^/zV/maintain a theory 
 very like that you mention, sir." 
 
 "Ah!— he did, did he? It's just like the Scotch rogue, 
 who wanted to persuade me that your poor uncle, Sir Wych- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 429 
 
 erly, ought not to have been blooded, in as clear a case of 
 apoplexy as ever was met with." 
 
 "Well, I didn't think he could have carried his impu- 
 dence as far as that," observed Greenly, whose medical 
 knowledge was about on a par with that of Sir Gervaisc. 
 " I didn't think even a doctor would dare to hold such a doc- 
 trine! As for the chaplain, to him he laid down the princi- 
 ple that religion and medicine never worked well together. 
 He said religion was an * alterative,' and would neutralize a 
 salt as quick as fire." 
 
 " He's a great vagabond, that Magrath, when he gets hold 
 of a young hand, sir; and I wish with all my heart the Pre- 
 tender had him, with two or three pounds of his favorite 
 medicines with him — I think, between the two, England 
 might reap some advantage. Greenly. — Now, to my notion, 
 Wychecombe, the Blenheim would make better weather, if 
 her masts were shortened at least two feet." 
 
 "Perhaps she might. Sir Gervaise; but would she be as 
 certain a ship, in coming into action in light winds and at 
 critical moments?" 
 
 "Umph! It's time for us old fellows to look about us, 
 Greenly, when the boys begin to reason on a line of battle! 
 Don't blush, Wychecombe; don't blush. Your remark was 
 sensible, and shows reflection. No country can ever have a 
 powerful marine, or one likely to produce much influence in 
 her wars, that does not pay rigid attention to the tactics of 
 fleets. Your frigate actions and sailing of single ships are 
 well enough as drill; but the great practice must be in 
 squadron. Ten heavy ships, in ^00^ fleet discipline, and 
 kept at sea, will do more than a hundred single cruisers, in 
 establishing and maintaining discipline; and it is only by 
 using vessels together that we find out what both ships and 
 men can do. Now, we owe the success of this day to our 
 practice of sailing in close order, and in knowing how to 
 keep our stations; else would six ships never have been able 
 to carry away the palm of victory from twelve — palm! — Ay, 
 
430 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 that's the very word, Greenly, I was trying to think of this 
 morning. Daly's paddy should have had a palm-branch in 
 its hand, as an emblem of victory." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " He that has sailed upon the dark-blue sea, 
 
 Has viewed at times, I ween, a full fair sight, 
 When the fresh breeze is fair as breeze may be, 
 
 The white sail set, the gallant frigate tight ; 
 
 Mast, spires, and strand, retiring to the sight, 
 The glorious main expanding o'er the bow. 
 
 The convoy spread like wild swans in their flight, 
 The dullest sailer waring bravely now. 
 So gaily curl the waves before each dashing prow." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 As Sir Gervaise Oakes' active mind was liable to such sud- 
 den mutations of thought as that described in the close of 
 the last chapter, Greenly neither smiled nor dwelt on the 
 subject at all ; he simply pointed out to his superior the fact 
 that they were now abreast of the Thunderer, and desired 
 to know whether it was his pleasure to proceed any further. 
 
 "To the Carnatic, Greenly, if Sir Wycherly will have the 
 goodness to shape his course thither. I have a word to say 
 to my friend Parker, before we sleep to-night. Give us 
 room, however, to look at Morganic's fancies, for I never 
 pass his ship without learning something new. Lord Mor- 
 ganic's vessel is a good school for us old fellows to attend 
 —hey! Greenly?" 
 
 "The Achilles is certainly a model vessel in some re- 
 spects. Sir Gervaise, though I flatter myself the Plantage- 
 nets have no great occasion to imitate her, in order to gain 
 a character." 
 
 " Vou imitate Morganic in order to know how to keep a 
 ship in order! — Poh! let Morganic come to school to you. 
 Yet the fellow is not bashful in battle neither; keeps his 
 station well, and makes himself both heard and felt. Ah! 
 there he is, flourishing his hat on the poop, and wondering 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 431 
 
 what the deuce Sir Jarvy's after, now! Sheer in, Wyche- 
 combe, and let us hear what he has to say." 
 
 " Good evening, Sir Gervaise," called out the earl, as 
 usual taking the initiative in the discourse ; " I was in hopes, 
 when I saw your flag in the boat, that you were going to do 
 me the favor to open a bottle of claret, and to taste some 
 fruit, I have still standing on the table." 
 
 " I thank you, my lord, but business before pleasure. We 
 have not been idle to-day, though to-morrow shall be still 
 more busy. How does the Achilles steer, now her foremast 
 is in its place?" 
 
 "Yaws like a fellow with his grog aboard. Sir Gervaise, 
 on my honor ! We shall never do anything with her, until 
 you consent to let us stay her spars in our own fashion. 
 Do you intend to send me Daly back, or am I to play first 
 lieutenant myself, admiral?" 
 
 " Daly's shipped for the cruise, and you must do as well 
 as you can without him. If you find yourself without a 
 second astern, in the course of the night, do not fancy she 
 has gone to the bottom. Keep good lookouts, and pay atten- 
 tion to signals." 
 
 As Sir Gervaise waved his hand, the young noble did not 
 venture to reply, much less to ask a question, though there 
 was not a little speculation on the poop of the Achilles, con- 
 cerning the meaning of his words. The boat moved on, 
 and five minutes later Sir Gervaise was on the quarter-deck 
 of the Carnatic. 
 
 Parker received the commander-in-chief, hat in hand, with 
 a solicitude and anxiety that were constitutional, perhaps, 
 and which no consciousness of deserving could entirely ap- 
 pease. Habit, however, had its share in it, since, accus- 
 tomed to defer to rank from boyhood, and the architect of 
 his own " little fortune," he had ever attached more impor- 
 tance to the commendation of his superior than was usual 
 with those who had other props to lean on than their own 
 services. As soon as the honors of the quarter-deck had 
 
432 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 been duly paid — for these Sir Gervaise never neglected 
 himself, nor allowed others to neglect — the vice-admiral 
 intimated to Captain Parker a desire to see him in his cabin, 
 requesting Greenly and Wycherly to accompany them below. 
 
 " Upon my word, Parker," commenced Sir Gen^aise, look- 
 ing around him at the air of singular domestic comfort that 
 the after-cabin of the ship presented, *' you have the knack 
 of taking a house to sea with you, that no other captain of 
 the fleet possesses! No finery, no Morganics, but a plain, 
 wholesome, domestic look, that might make a man believe 
 he was in his father's house. I would give a thousand 
 pounds if my vagabonds could give the cabin of the Plan- 
 tagenet such a Bowldero look, now!" 
 
 "Less than a hundred, sir, have done the little you see 
 here. Mrs. Parker makes it a point to look to those mat- 
 ters, herself, and in that lies the whole secret, perhaps. A 
 good wife is a great blessing. Sir Gervaise, though you have 
 never been able to persuade yourself into the notion, I 
 believe." 
 
 "I hardly think, Parker, the wife can do it all. Now 
 there's Stowel, Bluewater's captain, he is married as well as 
 yourself — nay, by George, I've heard the old fellow say he 
 had as much wife as any man in his majesty's service — but 
 his cabin looks like a cobbler's barn, and his stateroom like 
 a soldier's bunk! When we were lieutenants together in the 
 Eurydice, Parker, your stateroom had just the same air of 
 comfort about it that this cabin has at this instant. No — 
 no — it's in the grain, man, or it would never show itself, in 
 all times and places." 
 
 "You forget, Sir Gervaise, that when I had the honor to 
 be your messmate in the Eurydice I was a married man." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, my old friend ; so you were, indeed I 
 Why, that was a confounded long time ago, hey! Parker?" 
 
 "It was, truly, sir; but I was poor, and could not afford 
 the extravagances of a single life, /married for the sake 
 of economy, Admiral Oakes." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 433 
 
 "And love," answered Sir Gervaise, laughing. "I'll 
 warrant you, Greenly, that he persuaded Mrs. Parker into 
 that notion, whether true or not. I'll warrant you, he didn't 
 tell her he married for so sneaking a thing as economy! I 
 should like to see your stateroom now, Parker." 
 
 "Nothing easier, Sir Gervaise," answered the captain, 
 rising and opening the door. " Here it is, sir, though little 
 worthy the attention of the owner of Bowldero." 
 
 "A notable place, truly! — and with a housewife-look 
 about it that must certainly remind you of Mrs. Parker — 
 unless, indeed, that picture at the foot of your cot puts other 
 notions into your head! What young hussy have you got 
 there, my old Eurydice? — Hey! Parker?" 
 
 "That is a picture of my faithful wife. Sir Gervaise; a 
 proper companion, I hope, of my cruise?" 
 
 " Hey 1 What, that young thing your wife, Parker ! How 
 the d — 1 came she to have you?" 
 
 " Ah, Sir Gervaise, she is a young thing no longer, but 
 is well turned toward sixty. The picture was taken when 
 she was a bride, and is all the dearer to me, now that I 
 know the original has shared my fortunes so long. I never 
 look at it, without remembering, with gratitude, how much 
 she thinks of me in our cruises, and how often she prays for 
 our success. You are not forgotten, either, sir, in her 
 prayers." 
 
 "I!" exclaimed the vice-admiral, quite touched at the 
 earnest simplicity of the other. " D'ye hear that, Greenly? 
 I'll engage, now, this lady is a good woman — a really excel- 
 lent creature — just such another as my poor sainted mother 
 was, and a blessing to all around her! Give me your hand, 
 Parker ; and when you write next to your wife, tell her from 
 me, God bless her; and say all you think a man ought to 
 say on such an occasion. And now to business. Let us 
 seat ourselves in this snug domestic-looking cabin of yours, 
 and talk our matters over." 
 
 The two captains and Wycherly followed the vice-admiral 
 28 
 
434 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 into the after-cabin, where the latter seated himself on a 
 small sofa, while the others took chairs, in respectful atti- 
 tudes near him, no familiarity or jocularity on the part of a 
 naval superior ever lessening the distance between him and 
 those who hold subordinate commissio?is — a fact that legisla- 
 tors would do well to remember, when graduating rank in a 
 service. As soon as all were placed, Sir Gervaise opened 
 his mind. 
 
 " I have a delicate piece of duty, Captain Parker," he 
 commenced, " which I wish intrusted to yourself. You must 
 know that we handled the ship which escaped us this morn- 
 ing, by running down into her own line, pretty roughly, in 
 every respect; besides cutting two of her masts out of her. 
 This ship, as you may have seen, has got up jury-masts 
 already; but they are spars that can only be intended to 
 carry her into port. Monsieur de Vervillin is not the man 
 I take him to be, if he intends to leave the quarrel between 
 us where it is. Still he cannot keep that crippled ship in 
 his fleet, any more than we can keep our prize, and I make 
 no doubt he will send her off to Cherbourg as soon as it is 
 dark; most probably accompanied by one of his corvettes, 
 or perhaps by a frigate." 
 
 "Yes, Sir Gervaise," returned Parker thoughtfully, as 
 soon as his superior ceased to speak; "what you predict is 
 quite likely to happen." 
 
 "It must happen, Parker, the wind blowing directly for 
 his haven. Now, you may easily imagine what I want of 
 the Carnatic." 
 
 "I suppose I understand you, sir; — and yet, if I might 
 presume to express a wish " 
 
 " Speak out, old boy — you're talking to a friend. I have 
 chosen you to serve you, both as one I like, and as the old- 
 est captain in the fleet. Whoever catches that ship will 
 hear more of it." 
 
 "Very true, sir; but are we not likely to have more work, 
 here? and would it be altogether prudent to send so fine a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 435 
 
 ship as the Carnatic away, when the enemy will count ten 
 to six, even if she remain?" 
 
 "All this has been thought of; and I suppose your own 
 feeling has been anticipated. You think it will be more 
 honorable to your vessel to keep her place in the line than 
 to take a ship already half beaten." 
 
 " That's it, indeed, Sir Gervaise. I do confess some such 
 thoughts were crossing my mind." 
 
 " Then see how easy it is to rowse them out of it. I can- 
 not fight the French, in this moderate weather, without a 
 reinforcement. When the rear joins, we shall be just ten 
 to ten, without you, and with you, should be eleven to ten. 
 Now, I confess, I don't wish the least odds, and shall send 
 away somebody ; especially when I feel certain a noble two- 
 decked ship will be the reward. If a frigate accompany the 
 crippled fellow, you'll have your hands full, and a very fair 
 fight; and should you get either, it will be a handsome 
 thing. What say you now, Parker?" 
 
 " I begin to think better of the plan, Sir Gervaise, and 
 am grateful for the selection. I wish, however, I knew your 
 own precise wishes — I've always found it safe to follow 
 them, sir." 
 
 " Here they are, then. Get four or five sets of the sharp- 
 est eyes you have, and send them aloft to keep a steady look 
 on your chap, while there is light enough to be certain of 
 him. In a little while, they'll be able to recognize him in 
 the dark; and by keeping your night glasses well levelled 
 he can scarcely slip off, without your missing him. The 
 moment he is gone, ware short round, and make the best of 
 your way for Cape la Hogue, or Alderney ; you will go three 
 feet to his two, and, my life on it, by daylight you'll have 
 him to windward of you, and then you'll be certain of him. 
 Wait for no signals from me, but be off, as soon as it is 
 dark. When your work is done, make the best of your way 
 to the nearest English port, and clap a Scotchman on your 
 shoulder to keep the king's sword from chafing it. They 
 
43^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 thought me fit for knighthood at three-and-twenty, and the 
 deuce is in it, Parker, if you are not worthy of it at three- 
 and-sixty !" 
 
 "Ah! Sir Gervaise, everything you undertook succeeded! 
 You never yet failed in any expedition." 
 
 "That has come from attempting much. Viy plans have 
 often failed; but, as something good has generally followed 
 from them, I have the credit of designing to do exactly what 
 I've done." 
 
 Then followed a long, detailed discourse, on the subject 
 before them, in which Greenly joined; the latter making 
 several useful suggestions to the veteran commander of the 
 Carnatic. After passing quite an hour in the cabin of 
 Parker, Sir Gervaise took his leave and re-entered his barge. 
 It was now so dark that small objects could not be distin- 
 guished a hundred yards, and the piles of ships, as the boat 
 glided past them, resembled black hillocks, with clouds 
 floating among their tree-like and waving spars. No cap- 
 tain presumed to hail the commander-in-chief, as he rowed 
 down the line, again, with the exception of the peer of the 
 realm. He indeed had always something to say; and, as 
 he had been conjecturing what could induce the vice-admi- 
 tal to pay so long a visit to the Carnatic, he could not refrain 
 from uttering as much aloud, when he heard the measured 
 stroke of the oars from the returning barge. 
 
 "We shall all be jealous of this compliment to Captain 
 Parker, Sir Gervaise," he called out, " unless your favors 
 are occasionally extended to some of us less worthy ones." 
 
 "Ay — ay — Morganic, you'll be remembered in proper 
 time. In the mean while, keep your people's eyes open, so 
 as not to lose sight of the French. We shall have some- 
 thing to say to them in the morning." 
 
 " Spare us a night action, if possible, Sir Gervaise! I do 
 detest fighting when sleepy ; and I like to see my enemy, 
 too. As much as you please in the daytime; but a quiei 
 night, I do beseech you, sir." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 437 
 
 " 1*11 warrant you, now, if the opera, or Ranelagh, or a 
 drum, or a masquerade, were inviting you, Morgan ic, you'd 
 think but little of your pillow!" answered Sir Gervaise 
 drily ; " whatever you do yourself, my lord, don't let the 
 Achilles get asleep on duty; I may have need of her to- 
 morrow. Give way, Wychecombe, give way, and let us get 
 home again." 
 
 In fifteen minutes from that instant. Sir Gervaise was 
 once more on the poop of the Plantagenet, and the barge in 
 its place on deck. Greenly was attending to the duties of 
 his ship, and Bunting stood in readiness to circulate such 
 orders as it might suit the commander-in-chief to give. 
 
 It was now nine o'clock, and it was not easy to distin- 
 guish objects on the ocean, even as large as a ship, at the 
 distance of half a league. By the aid of the glasses, how- 
 ever, a vigilant lookout was kept on the French vessels, 
 which, by this time, were quite two leagues distant, drawing 
 more ahead. It was necessary to fill away, in order to close 
 with them, and a night signal was made to that effect. The 
 whole British line braced forward their main-yards, as it 
 might be, by a common impulse, and, had there been one 
 there of sufficiently acute senses, he might have heard all 
 S'lr of the main-topsails flapping at the same instant. As a 
 matter of course the vessels started ahead, and, the order 
 being to follow the vice-admiral in a close line ahead, when 
 the Flantagenet edged off, so as to bring the wind abeam, 
 each vessel did the same, in succession, or as soon as in the 
 commander-in-chief's wake, as if guided by instinct. About 
 ten minutes later, the Carnatic, to the surprise of those who 
 witnessed the manoeuvre in the Achilles, wore short round, 
 and set studding-sails on her starboard side, steering large. 
 The darkest portion of the horizon being that which lay to 
 the eastward, or in the direction of the continent, in twenty 
 minutes the pyramid of her shadowy outline was swallowed 
 in the gloom. All this time. La Victoire, with the Druid 
 leading and towing, kept upon a bowline; and an hour later. 
 
438 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 when Sir Gervaise found himself abeam of the French line 
 again, and half a league to windward of it, no traces were to 
 be seen of the three ships last mentioned. 
 
 " So far, all goes well, gentlemen," observed the vice- 
 admiral to the group around him on the poop ; " and we will 
 now try to count the enemy, to make certain /le, too, has no 
 stragglers out to pick up waifs. Greenly, try that glass; it 
 is set for the night, and your eyes are the best we have. Be 
 particular in looking for the fellow under jury-masts." 
 
 "I make out but ten ships in the line, Sir Gervaise," an- 
 swered the captain, after a long examination; "of course 
 the crippled ship must have gone to leeward. Of /ler, cer- 
 tainly, I can find no traces." 
 
 "You will oblige me, Sir Wycherly, by seeing whait you 
 can make out, in the same way." 
 
 After a still longer examination than that of the captain, 
 Wycherly made the same report, adding that he thought he 
 also missed the frigate that had been nearest Le Foudroyant, 
 repeating her signals throughout the day. This circum- 
 stance gratified Sir Gervaise, as he was pleased to find his 
 prognostics came true, and he was not sorry to be rid of one 
 of the enemy's light cruisers; a species of vessel that often 
 proved embarrassing, after a decided affair, even to the con- 
 queror. 
 
 "I think, Sir Gervaise," Wycherly modestly added, "that 
 the French have boarded their tacks, and are pressing up to 
 windward to near us. Did it not appear so to you. Captain 
 Greenly?" 
 
 " Not at all. If they carry courses, the sails have been 
 set within the last five minutes — ha! Sir Gervaise, that is 
 an indication of a busy night!" 
 
 As he spoke, Greenly pointed to the place where the 
 French admiral was known to be, where at that instant ap- 
 peared a double row of lights; proving that the batteries had 
 their lanterns lit, and showing a disposition to engage. In 
 less than a minute the whole French line was to be traced 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 439 
 
 along the sea, by the double rows of illumination, the light 
 resembling that which is seen through the window of a 
 room that has a bright fire, rather than one in which lamps 
 or candles are actually visible. As this was just the species 
 of engagement in which the English had much to risk, and 
 little to gain, Sir Gervaise immediately gave orders to brace 
 forward the yards, to board fore and main tacks, and to set 
 topgallantsails. As a matter of course, the ships astern 
 made sail in the same manner, and hauled up on taut bow- 
 lines, following the admiral. 
 
 "This is not our play," coolly remarked Sir Gervaise; 
 " a crippled ship would drop directly into their arms, and 
 as for any success at long shot, in a two-to-one fight, it is 
 not to be looked for. No — no — Monsieur de Vervillin, 
 show us your teeth if you will, and a pretty sight it is, but 
 you do not draw a shot from me. I hope the order to show 
 no lights is duly attended to." 
 
 " I do not think there is a light visible from any ship in 
 the fleet. Sir Gervaise," answered Bunting, " though we are so 
 near there can be no great difficulty in telling where we are." 
 
 " All but the Carnatic and the prize. Bunting. The more 
 fuss they make with us, the less will they think of them." 
 
 It is probable the French admiral had been deceived by 
 the near approach of his enemy, for whose prowess he had 
 a profound respect. He had made his preparations in ex- 
 pectation of an attack, but he did not open his fire, although 
 heavy shot would certainly have told with effect. Indis- 
 posed to the uncertainty of a night action, he declined 
 bringing it on, and the lights disappeared from his ports an 
 hour later; at that time the English ships, by carrying sail 
 harder than was usual in so stiff a breeze, found themselves 
 out of gunshot, on the weather-bow of their enemies. Then, 
 and not till then, did Sir Gervaise reduce his canvas, hav- 
 ing, by means of his glasses, first ascertained that the 
 French had again hauled up their courses, and were moving 
 along at a very easy rate of sailing. 
 
440 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 It was now near midnight, and Sir Gervaise prepared to 
 go below. Previously to quitting the deck, however, he 
 gave very explicit orders to Greenly, who transmitted them 
 to the first lieutenant, that officer or the captain intending 
 to be on the lookout through the night; the movements of 
 the whole squadron being so dependent on those of the flag- 
 ship. The vice-admiral then retired, and went coolly to 
 bed. He was not a man to lose his rest, because an enemy 
 was just out of gunshot. Accustomed to be manoeuvring in 
 front of hostile fleets, the situation had lost its novelty, and 
 he had so much confidence in the practice of his captains 
 that he well knew nothing could occur so long as his orders 
 were obeyed ; to doubt the latter would have been heresy in 
 his eyes. In professional nonchalance, no man exceeded 
 our vice-admiral. Blow high, or blow low, it never dis- 
 turbed the economy of his cabin life, beyond what unavoid- 
 ably was connected with the comfort of his ship; nor did 
 any prospect of battle cause a meal to vary a minute in time 
 or a particle in form, until the bulkheads were actually 
 knocked down and the batteries were cleared for action. 
 Although excitable in trifles, and sometimes a little irritable, 
 Sir Gervaise, in the way of his profession, was a great man 
 on great occasions. His temperament was sanguine, and 
 his spirit both decided and bold; and, in common with all 
 such men who see the truth at all, when he did see it, he 
 saw it so clearly as to throw all the doubts that beset minds 
 of a less masculine order into the shade. On the present 
 occasion, he was sure nothing could well occur to disturb 
 his rest; and he took it with the composure of one on terra 
 firma^ and in the security of peace. Unlike those who are 
 unaccustomed to scenes of excitement, he quietly undressed 
 himself, and his head was no sooner on its pillow than he 
 fell into a profound sleep. 
 
 It would have been a curious subject of observation to an 
 inexperienced person, to note the manner in which the two 
 fleets manoeuvred throughout that night. After several hours 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 441 
 
 of ineffectual efforts to bring their enemies fairly within 
 reach of their guns, after the moon had risen, the French 
 gave the matter up for a time, shortening sail while most 
 of their superior officers caught a little rest. 
 
 The sun was just rising, as Galleygo laid his hand on the 
 shoulder of the vice-admiral, agreeably to orders given the 
 previous night. The touch sufficed. Sir Gervaise being 
 wide awake in an instant. " Well," he said, rising to a 
 sitting attitude, and putting the question which first occurs 
 to a seaman, "how's the weather?" 
 
 "A good topgallant breeze. Sir Jarvy, and just what's 
 this ship's play. If you'd only let her out, and on them 
 Johnny Crapauds, she'd be down among 'em, in half an 
 hour, like a hawk upon a chicken. I ought to report to 
 your honor that the last chicken will be dished for break- 
 fast, unless we gives an order to the gunroom steward to turn 
 us over some of his birds, as pay for what the pigs eat; 
 which were real capons," 
 
 " Why, you pirate, you would not have me commit a rob- 
 bery on the high seas, would ye.-*" 
 
 " What robbery would it be to order the gunroom to sell 
 us some poultry? Lord! Sir Jarvy, I'm as far from wishing 
 to take a thing without an order, as the gunner's yeoman ; 
 but let Mr. Atwood put it in black and white." 
 
 "Tush!" interrupted the master. " How did the French 
 bear from us, when you were last on deck?" 
 
 " Why, there they is, Sir Jarvy," answered Galleygo, 
 drawing the curtain from before the stateroom window, and 
 allowing the vice-admiral to see the rear of the French line 
 for himself, by turning half round; "and just where we 
 wants 'em. Their leading ship a little abaft our lee-beam, 
 distant one league. That's what I calls satisfactory, now." 
 
 " Ay, that is a good position. Master Galleygo. Was the 
 prize in sight, or were you too chicken-headed to look." 
 
 "I chicken-headed! Well, Sir Jarvy, of all characters 
 and descriptions of me^ that your honor has seen fit to put 
 
442 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 abroad, this is the most unjustest; chickens being a food I 
 never thinks on, off soundings. Pig-headed you might in 
 reason call me, Sir Jarvy; for I do looks arter the pigs, 
 which is the only real standby in a ship; but I never dreams 
 of a chicken, except for your happetite. When they was 
 eight on 'em " 
 
 "Was the prize in sight.'"' demanded Sir Gervaise, a little 
 sharply. 
 
 "No, Sir Jarvy; she had disappeared, and the Druid with 
 her. But this isn't all, sir; for they does say some'at has 
 befallen the Carnatic, she having gone out of our line, like 
 a binnacle lamp at eight bells." 
 
 "Ay, she is not visible, either." 
 
 "Not so much as a hencoop, Sir Jarvy! We all wonders 
 what has become of Captain Parker; no sign of him or of 
 his ship is to be found on the briny ocean. The young 
 gentlemen of the watch laugh, and say she must have gone 
 up in a waterspout, but they laughs so much at misfortins, 
 generally, that I never minds 'em." 
 
 " Have you had a good lookout at the ocean, this morn- 
 ing. Master Galleygo," asked Sir Gervaise, drawing his head 
 out of a basin of water, for, by this time, he was half dressed, 
 and making his preparations for the razor. " You used to 
 have an eye for a chase, w^hen we were in a frigate, and ought 
 to be able to tell me if Bluewater is in sight." 
 
 "Admiral Blue! — Well, Sir Jarvy, it is remarkable, but I 
 had just rubbed his division out of my log, and forgotten 
 all about it. There was a handful of craft, or so, off here 
 to the nor'ard, at daylight, but I never thought it was Ad- 
 miral Blue, it being more nat'ral to suppose him in his 
 place, as usual, in the rear of our own line. Let me see, 
 Sir Jarvy, how many ships has we absent under Admiral 
 Blue?" 
 
 "Why, the five two-deckers of his own division, to be 
 sure, besides the Ranger and the Gnat. Seven sail in all." 
 
 "Yes, that's just it! Well, your honor, there was five 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 443 
 
 sail to be seen, out here to the nor'ard, as I told you, and, 
 sure enough, it may have been Admiral Blue, with all his 
 craft." 
 
 By this time, Sir Gervaise had his face covered with lather, 
 but he forgot the circumstance in a moment. As the wind 
 was at the northwest, and the Plantagenet was on the lar- 
 board tack, looking in the direction of the Bill of Portland, 
 though much too far to the southward to allow the land to 
 be seen, his own larboard quarter-gallery window commanded 
 a good view of the whole horizon to windward. Crossing 
 over from the starboard stateroom, which he occupied ex 
 officio^ he opened the window in question, and took a look 
 for himself. There, sure enough, was visible a squadron of 
 five ships, in close order, edging leisurely down on the two 
 lines, under their topsails, and just near enough to allow it 
 to be ascertained that their courses were not set. This sight 
 produced a sudden change in all the vice-admiral's move- 
 ments. The business of the toilet was resumed in haste, 
 and the beard was mowed with a slashing hand, that might 
 have been hazardous in the motion of a ship, but for the 
 long experience of a sailor. This important part of the 
 operation was scarcely through, when Locker announced 
 the presence of Captain Greenly in the main cabin. 
 
 "What now. Greenly? — What now?" called out the vice- 
 admiral, puffing as he withdrew his head again from 
 the basin — " What now, Greenly ? Any news from Blue- 
 water?" 
 
 "I am happy to tell you. Sir Gervaise, he has been in 
 sight more than an hour, and is closing with us, though 
 shyly and slowly. I would not let you be called, as all was 
 right, and I knew sleep was necessary to a clear head." 
 
 "You have done quite right. Greenly; God willing, I in- 
 tend this to be a busy day! The French must see our rear 
 division?" 
 
 " Beyond a doubt, sir, but they show no signs of making 
 off. M. de Vervillin will fight, I feel certain; though the 
 
444 T^E TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 experience of yesterday may render him a little shy as to 
 the mode." 
 
 "And his crippled ship? — Old Parker's friend — I cake it 
 she is not visible." 
 
 "You were quite right in your conjecture, Sir Gervaise; 
 the crippled ship is off, as is one of the frigates, no doubt 
 to see her in. Blewet, too, has gone well to windward of 
 the French, though he can fetch into no anchorage short of 
 Portsmouth, if this breeze stand." 
 
 " Any haven will do. Our little success will animate the 
 king's party, and give it more kdat^ perhaps, than it really 
 merits. Let there be no delay with the breakfast this morn- 
 ing, Greenly; it will be a busy day." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," answered the captain, in the sailor's usual 
 manner; "//^^/has been seen to already, as I have expected 
 as much. Admiral Bluewater keeps his ships in most beau- 
 tiful order, sir! I do not think the Cassar, which leads, is 
 two cable's-lengths from the Dublin, the sternmost vessel. 
 He is driving four-in-hand, with a tight rein, too, depend 
 on it, sir." 
 
 At this instant. Sir Gervaise came out of his stateroom, 
 his coat in his hand, and with a countenance that was 
 thoughtful. He finished dressing with an abstracted air, 
 and would not have known the last garment was on, had not 
 Galleygo given a violent pull on its skirts, in order to 
 smooth the cloth about the shoulders. 
 
 " It is odd that Bluewater should come down nearly before 
 the wind, in a line ahead, and not in a line abreast!" Sir 
 Gervaise rejoined, as his steward did this office for him. 
 
 " Let Admiral Blue alone, for doing what's right," put in 
 Galleygo, in his usual confident and self-possessed manner. 
 "By keeping his ships astern of hisself, he can tell where 
 to find 'em, and we understands from experience, if Admiral 
 Blue knows where to find a ship, he knows how to use her." 
 
 Instead of rebuking this interference, w^hich went a little 
 further than common, Greenly was surprised to see the vice- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 445 
 
 admiral look his steward intently in the face, as if the man 
 had expressed some shrewd and comprehensive truth. 
 Then, turning to his captain, Sir Gervaise intimated an in- 
 tention of going on deck to survey the state of things with 
 his own eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Thou shouldst have died, O high-soul'd chief ? 
 
 In those bright days of glory fled, 
 When triumph so prevailed o'er grief. 
 
 We scarce would mourn the dead." 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 The eventful day opened with most of the glories of a sum- 
 mer's morning. The wind alone prevented it from being 
 one of the finest sunrisings of July. That continued fresh, 
 at northwest, and, consequently, cool for the season. The 
 seas of the southwest gale had entirely subsided, and were 
 already succeeded by the regular but comparatively trifling 
 swell of the new breeze. For large ships, it might be called 
 smooth water; though the Driver and Active showed by 
 their pitching and unsteadiness, and even the two-deckers, 
 by their waving masts, that the unquiet ocean was yet in 
 motion. The wind seemed likely to stand, and was what 
 seamen would be apt to call a good six-knot breeze. 
 
 To leeward, still distant about a league, lay the French 
 vessels, drawn up in beautiful array, and in an order so 
 close, and a line so regular, as to induce the belief that M. 
 de Vervillin had made his dispositions to receive the ex- 
 pected attack in his present position. All his main-topsails 
 lay flat aback; the topgallantsails were flying loose, but 
 with buntlings and clewlines hauled up; the jibs were flut- 
 tering to leeward of their booms, and the courses were hang- 
 ing in festoons beneath their yards. This was gallant fight- 
 ing-canvas, and it excited the admiration of even his 
 enemies. To increase this feeling, just as Sir Gervaise's 
 
44^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 foot reached the poop, the whole French line displayed their 
 ensigns, and Le Foudroyant fired a gun to windward. 
 
 "Hey! Greenly?" exclaimed the English commander-in- 
 chief; "this is a manly defiance, and, coming from M. de 
 Vervillin, it means something! He wishes to take the day 
 for it; though, as I think half that time will answer, we will 
 wash up the cups before we go at it. Make the signals, 
 Bunting, for the ships to heave to, and then to get their 
 breakfasts, as fast as possible. Steady breeze — steady 
 breeze. Greenly, and all we want!" 
 
 Five minutes later, while Sir Gervaise was running his 
 eye over the signal-book, the Plantagenet's calls were piping 
 the people to their morning meal, at least an hour earlier 
 than common; the people repaired to their messes, with a 
 sort of stern joy; every man in the ship understanding the 
 reason of a summons so unusual. The calls of the vessels 
 astern were heard soon after, and one of the officers who was 
 watching the enemy with a glass reported that he thought 
 the French were breakfasting, also. Orders being given to 
 the officers to employ the next half-hour in the same man- 
 ner, nearly everybody was soon engaged in eating; few 
 thinking that the meal might probably be their last. Sir 
 Gervaise felt a concern, which he succeeded in concealing, 
 however, at the circumstance that the ships to windward 
 made no more sail ; though he refrained from signalling the 
 rear-admiral to that effect from tenderness to his friend, and 
 a vague apprehension of what might be the consequences. 
 While the crews were eating, he stood gazing thoughtfully 
 at the noble spectacle the enemy offered, to leeward, occa- 
 sionally turning wistful glances at the division that was 
 constantly drawing nearer to windward. At length Greenly 
 himself reported that the Plantagenet had "turned the 
 hands to," again. At this intelligence Sir Gervaise started, 
 as from a reverie, smiled, and spoke. We will here remark 
 that now, as on the previous day, all the natural excitability 
 of manner had disappeared from the commander-in-chief, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 447 
 
 and he was quiet, and exceedingly gentle in his deportment. 
 This all who knew him understood to denote a serious 
 determination to engage. 
 
 "I have desired Galleygo to set my little table, half an 
 hour hence, in the after-cabin, Greenly, and you will share 
 the meal with me. Sir Wycherly will be of our party, and 
 I hope it will not be the last time we may meet at the same 
 board. It is necessary everything should be in fighting 
 order to-day!" 
 
 " So I understand it, Sir Gervaise. We are ready to begin, 
 as soon as the order shall be received." 
 
 "Wait one moment until Bunting comes up from his 
 breakfast. Ah ! here he is, and we are quite ready for him, 
 having bent on the signal in his absence. Show the order, 
 Bunting, for the day advances." 
 
 The little flags were fluttering at the main-topgallant 
 masthead of the Plantagenet in less than one minute, and 
 in another it was repeated by the Chloe, Driver, and Active, 
 all of which were lying to, a quarter of a mile to windward, 
 charged in particular v/ith this, among other duties. So 
 well was this signal known that not a book in the fleet was 
 consulted, but all the ships answered, the instant the flags 
 could be seen and understood. Then the shrill whistles 
 were heard along the line, calling "All hands" to "clear 
 ship for action, ahoy!" 
 
 No sooner was this order given in the Plantagenet than 
 the ship became a scene of active but orderly exertion. The 
 topmen were on the yards, stoppering, swinging the yards 
 in chains, and lashing, in order to prevent shot from doing 
 more injury than was unavoidable; bulwarks were knocked 
 down ; mess-chest, bags, and all other domestic appliances 
 disappeared below,^ and the decks were cleared of everything 
 which could be removed, and which would not be necessary 
 
 * In the action of the Nile, many of the French ships, under the impression that 
 the enemy must engage on the outside, put their lumber, bags, &c. , into the ports 
 and between the guns, in the larboard, or inshore batteries ; and when the British 
 Anchored inshore of them, these batteries could not be used. 
 
448 THE 'rWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 in an engagement. Fully a quarter of an hour was thus 
 occupied, for there was no haste, and, as it was no moment 
 of mere parade, it was necessary that the work should be 
 effectually done. The officers forbade haste, and nothing 
 important was reported as effected that some one in author- 
 ity did not examine with his own eyes, to see that no proper 
 care had been neglected. Then Mr. Bury, the first lieutenant, 
 went on the main-yard, in person, to look at the manner in 
 which it had been slung, while he sent the boatswain up for- 
 ward, on the same errand. These were unusual precautions, 
 but the word had passed through the ship "that Sir Jarvy 
 was in earnest"; and whenever it was known that "Sir 
 Jarvy" was in such a humor every one understood that the 
 day's work was to be hard, if not long. 
 
 " Our breakfast is ready. Sir Jarvy," reported Galleygo, 
 "and as the decks is all clear the b'ys can make a clean 
 run of it from the coppers. I only wants to know when to 
 serve it, your honor." 
 
 " Serve it now, my good fellow. Tell the Bowlderos to 
 be nimble, and expect us below. Come, Greenly — come, 
 Wychecombe — we are the last to eat — let us not be the last 
 at our stations." 
 
 " Ship's clear, sir," reported Bury to his captain, as the 
 three reached the quarter-deck, on their way to the cabin. 
 
 "Very well. Bury; when the lieet is signalled to go to 
 quarters, we will obey with the rest." 
 
 As this was said. Greenly looked at the vice-admiral to 
 catch his wishes. But Sir Gervaise had no intention of fa- 
 tiguing his people unnecessarily. He had left his private 
 orders with Bunting, and he passed down without an answer 
 or a glance. The arrangements in the after-cabin were as 
 snug and as comfortable as if the breakfast-table had been 
 set in a private house, and the trio took their seats and com- 
 menced operations with hearty good-will. The vice-admiral 
 ordered the doors thrown open, and, as the port-lids were up, 
 from the place where he sat he could command glimpses, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 449 
 
 both to leeward and to windward, that included a view of 
 the enemy, as well as one of his own expected reinforce- 
 ments. The Bowlderos were in full livery, and more active 
 and attentive than usual even. Their station in battle — for 
 no man on board a vessel of war is an ''''idler''' in a combat 
 — was on the poop, as musketeers, near the person of their 
 master, whose colors they wore, under the ensign of their 
 prince, like vassals of an ancient baron. Notwithstanding 
 the crisis of the morning, however, these men performed 
 their customary functions with the precision and method of 
 English menials, omitting no luxury or usage of the table. 
 On a sofa behind the table was spread the full dress-coat of 
 a vice-admiral, then a neat but plain uniform, without either 
 lace or epaulettes, but decorated with a rich star in bril- 
 liants, the emblem of the order of the Bath. This coat Sir 
 Gervaise always wore in battle, unless the weather rendered 
 a " storm uniform," as he used to term a plainer attire, 
 necessary. 
 
 The breakfast passed off pleasantly, the gentlemen eating 
 as if no momentous events were near. Just at its close, how- 
 ever. Sir Gervaise leaned forward, and, looking through one 
 of the weather-ports of the main cabin, an expression of 
 pleasure illuminated his countenance, as he said: 
 
 "Ah! there go Bluewater's signals, at last! — a certain 
 proof that he is about to put himself in communication 
 with us." 
 
 " I have been a good deal surprised, sir," observed 
 Greenly, a little drily, though with great respect of manner, 
 "that you have not ordered the rear-admiral to make more 
 sail. He is jogging along like a heavy wagon, and yet I 
 hardly think he can mistake these five ships for French- 
 men!" 
 
 " He is never in a hurry, and no doubt wishes to let his 
 crews breakfast, before he closes. I'll warrant ye, now, gen- 
 tlemen, that his ships are at this moment all as clear as a 
 church five minutes after the blessing has been pronounced." 
 29 / 
 
450 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " It will not be one of our Virginian churches, then, Sir 
 Gervaise," observed Wycherly, smiling; ''''they serve for an 
 exchange, to give and receive news in, after the service is 
 over." 
 
 "Ay, that^s the old rule — first pray, and then gossip. 
 Well, Bunting, what does the rear-admiral say?" 
 
 " Upon my word, Sir Gervaise, I can make nothing of the 
 signal, though it is easy enough to make out the flags," an- 
 swered the puzzled signal-officer. "Will you have the 
 goodness to look at the book yourself, sir. The number is 
 one hundred and forty." 
 
 " One hundred and forty ! Why, that must have some- 
 thing to do with anchoring! — ay, here it is. * Anchor, I 
 cannot, having lost my cables.' Who the devil asked him 
 to anchor?" 
 
 " That's just it, sir. The signal-officer on board the Cae- 
 sar must have made some mistake in his flags; for, though 
 the distance is considerable, our glasses are good enough to 
 read them." 
 
 " Perhaps Admiral Bluewater has set the private, personal 
 telegraph at work, sir," quietly observed Greenly. 
 
 The commander-in-chief actually changed color at this 
 suggestion. His face, at first, flushed to crimson; then it 
 became pale, like the countenance of one who suffered under 
 acute bodily pain. Wycherly observed this, and respect- 
 fully inquired if Sir Gervaise were ill. 
 
 " I thank you, young sir," answered the vice-admiral, 
 smiling painfully; " it is over. I believe I shall have to go 
 into dock, and let Magrath look at some of my old hurts, 
 which are sometimes troublesome. Mr. Bunting, do me the 
 favor to go on deck, and ascertain, by a careful examination, 
 if a short red pennant be not set some ten or twelve feet 
 above the uppermost flag. Now, Greenly, we will take the 
 other cup of tea, for there is plenty of leisure." 
 
 Two or three brooding minutes followed. Then Bunting 
 returned to say the pennant was there, a fact he had quite 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 45 I 
 
 overlooked in his former observations, confounding the 
 narrow flag in question with the regular pennant of the king. 
 This short red pennant denoted that the communication was 
 verbal, according to a method invented by Bluewater him- 
 self, and by means of which, using the ordinary numbers, he 
 was enabled to communicate with his friend, without any of 
 the captains, or, indeed, without Sir Gervaise's own signal- 
 officer's knowing what was said. In a word, without having 
 recourse to any new flags, but by simply giving new num- 
 bers to the old ones, and referring to a prepared dictionary, 
 it was possible to hold a conversation in sentences that 
 should be a secret to all but themselves. SirGervaise took 
 down the number of the signal that was flying, and directed 
 Bunting to show the answering flag, with a similar pennant 
 over it, and to continue this operation so long as the rear- 
 admiral might make his signals. The numbers were to be 
 sent below as fast as received. As soon as Bunting disap- 
 peared, the vice-admiral unlocked a secretary, the key of 
 which was never out of his own possession, took from it a 
 small dictionary, and laid it by his plate. All this time the 
 breakfast proceeded, signals of this nature frequently occur- 
 ring between the two admirals. In the course of the next 
 ten minutes, a quartermaster brought below a succession of 
 numbers written on small pieces of paper; after which Bunt- 
 ing appeared himself to say that the Caesar had stopped 
 signalling. 
 
 Sir Gervaise now looked out each word by its proper 
 number, and wrote it down with his pencil as he proceeded, 
 until the whole read — " God sake — make no signal. En- 
 gage not." No sooner was the communication understood, 
 than the paper was torn into minute fragments, the book re- 
 placed, and the vice-admiral, turning with a calm, deter- 
 mined countenance to Greenly, ordered him to beat to quar- 
 ters as soon as Bunting could show a signal to the fleet to 
 the same effect. On this hint, all but the vice-admiral went 
 on deck, and the Bowlderos instantly set about removing 
 
452 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 the table and all the other appliances. Finding himself 
 annoyed by the movements of the servants, Sir Gervaise 
 walked out into the great cabin, which, regardless of its 
 present condition, he began to pace as was his wont when 
 lost in thought. The bulkheads being down, and the furni- 
 ture removed, this was in truth walking in sight of the 
 crew. All who happened to be on the main-deck could see 
 what passed, though no one presumed to enter a spot that 
 was tabooed to vulgar feet, even when thus exposed. The 
 aspect and manner of " Sir Jarvy," however, were not over- 
 looked, and the men prognosticated a serious time. 
 
 Such was the state of things when the drums beat to 
 quarters, throughout the whole line. At the first tap, the 
 great cabin sunk to the level of an ordinary battery ; the 
 seamen of two guns, with the proper officers, entering within 
 the sacred limits, and coolly setting about clearing their 
 pieces and making the other preparations necessary for an 
 action. All this time Sir Gervaise continued pacing what 
 would have been the centre of his own cabin had the bulk- 
 heads stood, the grim-looking sailors avoiding him with 
 great dexterity, and invariably touching their hats as they 
 were compelled to glide near his person, though everything 
 went on as if he were not present. Sir Gervaise might have 
 remained lost in thought much longer than he did, had not 
 the report of a gun recalled him to a consciousness of the 
 scene that was enacting around him. 
 
 "What's that?" suddenly demanded the vice-admiral — 
 "Is Bluewater signalling again?" 
 
 "No, Sir Gervaise," answered the fourth lieutenant, look- 
 ing out of a lee-port; "it is the French admiral giving us 
 another weather-gun ; as much as to ask why we don't go 
 down. This is the second compliment of the same sort 
 that he has paid us already to-day!" 
 
 These words were not all spoken before the vice-admiral 
 was on the quarter-deck ; in half a minute more he was on 
 the poop. Here he found Greenly, Wychecombe, and Bunt- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 453 
 
 ing, all looking with interest at the beautiful line of the 
 enemy. 
 
 " Monsieur de Vervillin is impatient to wipe off the dis- 
 grace of yesterday," observed the first, " as is apparent by 
 the invitations he gives us to come down. I presume 
 Admiral Bluewater will wake up at this last hint." 
 
 " By Heaven, he has hauled his wind, and is standing to 
 the northward and eastward!" exclaimed Sir Gervaise, sur- 
 prise overcoming all his discretion. "Although an extraor- 
 dinary movement, at such a time, it is wonderful in what 
 beautiful order Bluewater keeps his ships!" 
 
 All that was said was true enough. The rear-admiral's 
 division having suddenly hauled up, in a close line ahead, 
 each ship followed her leader as mechanically as if they 
 moved by a common impulse. As no one in the least 
 doubted the rear-admiral's loyalty, and his courage was of 
 proof, it was the general opinion that this unusual manoeu- 
 vre had some connection with the unintelligible signals, 
 and the young officers laughingly inquired among them- 
 selves what " Sir Jarvy was likely to do next?" 
 
 It would seem, however, that Monsieur de Vervillin sus- 
 pected a repetition of some of the scenes of the preceding 
 day; for no sooner did he perceive that the English rear 
 was hugging the wdnd than five of his leading ships filled 
 and drew ahead, as if to meet that division, manoeuvring to 
 double on the head of his line; while the remaining five, 
 with the Foudroyant, still lay with their topsails to the masts, 
 w^aiting for their enemy to come down. Sir Gervaise could 
 not stand this long. He determined, if possible, to bring 
 Bluewater to terms, and he ordered the Plantagenet to fill. 
 Followed by his own division, he wore immediately, and 
 went off under easy sail, quartering, toward Monsieur de 
 Vervillin's rear, to avoid being raked. 
 
 The quarter of an hour that succeeded was one of intense 
 interest and of material changes, though not a shot was 
 fired. As soon as the Comte de Vervillin perceived that the 
 
454 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 English were disposed to come nearer, he signalled his own 
 division to bear up and to run off dead before the wind 
 under their topsails, commencing astern ; which reversed his 
 order of sailing, and brought Le Foudroyant in the rear, or 
 nearest to the enemy. This was no sooner done, than he 
 settled all his topsails on the caps. There could be no 
 mistaking this manoeuvre. It was a direct invitation to Sii 
 Gervaise to come down, fairly alongside ; the bearing up at 
 once removing all risk of being raked in so doing. The 
 English commander-in-chief was not a man to neglect such 
 a palpable challenge; but, making a few signals to direct 
 the mode of attack he contemplated, he set foresail and 
 main-topgallantsail, and brought the wind directly over his 
 own taffrail. The vessels astern followed like clockwork, 
 and no one now doubted that the mode of attack was settled 
 for that day. 
 
 As the French, with Monsieur de Vervillin, were still 
 half a mile to the southward and eastward of the approach- 
 ing division of their enemy, the Comte collected all his frig- 
 ates and corvettes on his starboard hand, leaving a clear 
 approach to Sir Gervaise on his larboard beam. This hint 
 was understood, too, and the Plantagenet steered a course 
 that would bring her up on that side of Le Foudroyant, and 
 at the distance of about one hundred yards from the muz- 
 zles of her guns. This threatened to be close work, and 
 unusual work in fleets, at that day ; but it was the game our 
 commander-in-chief was fond of playing, and it was one, 
 also, that promised soonest to bring matters to a result. 
 
 These preliminaries arranged, there was yet leisure for 
 the respective commanders to look about them. The French 
 were still fully a mile ahead of their enemies, and, as both 
 fleets were going in the same direction, the approach of the 
 English was so slow as to leave some twenty minutes of that 
 solemn breathing-time which reigns in a disciplined ship, 
 previous to the commencement of the combat. The feelings 
 of the two commanders-in-chief, at this pregnant instant, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 455 
 
 were singularly in contradiction to each other. The Comte 
 de Vervillin saw that the rear division of his force, under 
 the Comte-Amiral le Vicomte des Prez, was in the very po- 
 sition he desired it to be, having obtained the advantage of 
 the wind by the English division's coming down, and by 
 keeping its own luff. Between the two French officers there 
 was a perfect understanding as to the course each was to 
 take, and both now felt sanguine hopes of being able to 
 obliterate the disgrace of the previous day, and that, too, by 
 means very similar to those by which it had been incurred. 
 On the other hand. Sir Gervaise was beset with doubts as to 
 the course Bluewater might pursue. He could not, however, 
 come to the conclusion that he would abandon him to the 
 joint efforts of the two hostile divisions; and so long as the 
 French rear-admiral was occupied by the English force to 
 windward, it left to himself a clear field and no favor in the 
 action with Monsieur de Vervillin. He knew Bluewater's 
 generous nature too well not to feel certain his own compli- 
 ance with the request not to signal his inferior would touch 
 his heart, and give him a double chance with all his better 
 feelings. Nevertheless, Sir Gervaise Oakes did not lead 
 into this action without many and painful misgivings. He 
 had lived too long in the world not to know that political 
 prejudice was the most demoralizing of all our weaknesses, 
 veiling our private vices under the plausible concealment of 
 the public weal, and rendering even the well-disposed in- 
 sensible to the wrongs they commit to individuals, by means 
 of the deceptive flattery of serving the community. As 
 doubt was more painful than the certainty of his worst fore- 
 bodings, however, and it was not in his nature to refuse a 
 combat so fairly offered, he was resolved to close with the 
 Comte at every hazard, trusting the issue to God and his 
 own efforts. 
 
 The Plantagenet presented an eloquent picture of order 
 and preparation, as she drew near the French line, on this 
 memorable occasion. Her people were all at quarters, and, 
 
456 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 as Greenly walked through her batteries, he found every gun 
 on the starboard side loose, levelled, and ready to be fired; 
 while the opposite merely required a turn or two of the 
 tackles to be cast loose, the priming to be applied, and the 
 loggerhead to follow, in order to be discharged, also. A 
 deathlike stillness reigned from the poop to the cockpit, the 
 older seamen occasionally glancing through their ports in 
 order to ascertain the relative positions of the two fleets, that 
 they might be ready for the collision. As the English got 
 within musket-shot, the French ran their topsails to the 
 mastheads, and their ships gathered fresher way though the 
 water. Still the former moved with the greatest velocity, 
 carrying the most sail and impelled by the greater momen- 
 tum. When near enough, however. Sir Gervaise gave the 
 order to reduce the canvas of his own ship. 
 
 "That will do, Greenly," he said, in a mild, quiet tone. 
 " Let run the topgallant-halyards and haul up the foresail. 
 The way you have will bring you fairly alongside." 
 
 The captain gave the necessary orders, and the master 
 shortened sail accordingly. Still the Plantagenet shot 
 ahead, and, in three or four minutes more, her bows doubled 
 so far on Le Foudroyant's quarter as to permit a gun to 
 bear. This was the signal for both sides, each ship opening 
 as it might be in the same breath. The flash, the roar, and 
 the eddying smoke followed in quick succession, and in a 
 period of time that seemed nearly instantaneous. The crash 
 of shot and the shrieks of wounded mingled with the infernal 
 din, for nature extorts painful concessions of human weak- 
 nesses, at such moments, even from the bravest and firmest. 
 Bunting was in the act of reporting to Sir Gervaise that no 
 signal could yet be seen from the Caesar, in the midst of this 
 uproar, when a small round-shot, discharged from the 
 Frenchman's poop, passed through his body, literally driv- 
 ing the heart before it, leaving him dead at his comman- 
 der's feet. 
 
 " I shall depend on you. Sir Wycherly, for the discharge 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 457 
 
 of poor Bunting's duty, the remainder of the cruise," observed 
 Sir Gervaise, with a smile in which courtesy and regret 
 struggled singularly for the mastery. " Quartermasters, lay 
 Mr. Bunting's body a little out of the way, and cover it with 
 those signals. They are a suitable pall for so brave a man !" 
 Just as this occurred, the Warspite came clear of the 
 Plantagenet, on her outside, according to orders, and she 
 opened with her forward guns, taking the second ship in the 
 French line for her target. In two minutes more these ves- 
 sels also were furiously engaged in the hot strife. In this 
 manner, ship after ship passed on the outside of the Planta- 
 genet, and sheered into her berth ahead of her who had just 
 been her own leader, until the Achilles, Lord Morganic, the 
 last of the five, lay fairly side by side with Le Conquereur, 
 the vessel now at the head of the French line. That the 
 reader may understand the incidents more readily, we will 
 give the opposing lines in the precise form in which they 
 lay, viz. : 
 
 Plantagenet Le Foudroyant 
 
 Warspite Le Temeraire 
 
 Blenheim Le Dugay Trouin 
 
 Thunderer L'Ajax 
 
 Achilles Le Conquereur. 
 
 The constantly recurring discharges of four hundred pieces 
 of heavy ordnance, within a space so small, had the effect 
 to repel the regular currents of air, and, almost immediately, 
 to lessen a breeze of six or seven knots to one that would 
 not propel a ship more than two or three. This was the first 
 observable phenomenon connected with the action, but, as it 
 had been expected. Sir Gervaise had used the precaution to 
 lay his ships as near as possible in the positions in which 
 he intended them to fight the battle. The next great physi- 
 cal consequence, one equally expected and natural, but 
 which wrought a great change in the aspect of the battle, 
 was the cloud of smoke in which the ten ships were sud- 
 
458 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 denly enveloped. At the first broadsides between the two 
 admirals, volumes of light, fleecy vapor rolled over the sea, 
 meeting midway, and, rising thence in curling wreaths, left 
 nothing but the masts and sails of the adversary visible in 
 the hostile ship. This, of itself, would have soon hidden 
 the combatants in the bosom of a nearly impenetrable 
 cloud ; but as the vessels drove onward they entered deeper 
 beneath the sulphurous canopy, until it spread on each side 
 of them, shutting out the view of ocean, skies, and horizon. 
 The burning of the priming below contributed to increase 
 the smoke, until not only was respiration often difficult, but 
 those who fought only a few yards apart frequently could 
 not recognize each other's faces. In the midst of this scene 
 of obscurity, and a din that might well have alarmed the 
 caverns of the ocean, the earnest and well-drilled seamen 
 toiled at their ponderous guns, and remedied with ready 
 hands the injuries received in the rigging, each man as in- 
 tent on his own particular duty as if he wrought in the occu- 
 pations of an ordinary gale. 
 
 "Sir Wycherly," observed the vice-admiral, when the 
 cannonading had continued some twenty minutes, "there is 
 little for a flag-officer to do in such a cloud of smoke. I 
 would give much to know the exact positions of the divisions 
 of our two rear-admirals." 
 
 " There is but one mode of ascertaining that, Sir Gervaise 
 — if it be your pleasure, I will attempt it. By going on the 
 main-topgallant-yard, one might get a clear view, perhaps." 
 
 Sir Gervaise smiled his approbation, and presently he 
 saw the young man ascending the main-rigging, though half 
 concealed in smoke. Just at this instant. Greenly ascended 
 to the poop, from making a tour of observation below. 
 Without waiting for a question, the captain made his re- 
 port. 
 
 "We are doing pretty well, now. Sir Gervaise, though the 
 first broadside of the Comte treated us roughly. I think his 
 fire slackens, and Bury says he is certain that his foretop- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 459 
 
 mast is already gone. At all events, our lads are in good 
 spirits, and as yet all the sticks keep their places." 
 
 " I'm glad of this, Greenly; particularly of the latter, just 
 at this moment. I see you are looking at those signals — 
 they cover the body of poor Bunting." 
 
 " And this train of blood to the ladder, sir — I hope our 
 young baronet is not hurt?" 
 
 " No, it is one of the Bowlderos, who has lost a leg. I 
 shall have to see that he wants for nothing hereafter." 
 
 There was a pause ; then both the gentlemen smiled, as 
 they heard the crashing work made by a shot just beneath 
 them, which, by the sounds and the direction, they knew 
 had passed through Greenly's crockery. Still neither spoke. 
 After a few more minutes of silent observation. Sir Gervaise 
 remarked that he thought the flashes of the French guns 
 more distant than they had been at first, though, at that in- 
 stant, not a trace of their enemy was to be discovered, except 
 in the roar of the guns, and in these very flashes, and their 
 effect on the Plantagenet. 
 
 " If so, sir, the Comte begins to find his berth too hot for 
 him; here is the wind still directly over our taffrail, such as 
 it is." 
 
 " No — no — we steer as we began — I keep my eye on that 
 compass below, and am certain we hold a straight course. 
 Go forward. Greenly, and see that a sharp lookout is kept 
 ahead. It is time some of our own ships should be crip- 
 pled; we must be careful not to run into them. Should 
 such a thing happen, sheer hard to starboard, and pass 
 iyiside.^^ 
 
 "Ay, ay. Sir Gervaise; your wishes shall be attended to." 
 
 As this was said. Greenly disappeared, and, at the next 
 instant, Wycherly stood in his place. 
 
 "Well, sir — I am glad to see you back safe. If Greenly 
 were here now, he would inquire about his masts, but /wish 
 to know the position of the shij^s^ 
 
 " I am the bearer of bad news, sir.* Nothing at all could 
 
460 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 be seen from the top ; but in the cross-trees I got a good 
 look through the smoke, and am sorry to say the French 
 rear-admiral is coming down fast on our larboard quarter, 
 with all his force. We shall have him abeam in five min- 
 utes." 
 
 "And Bluewater?" demanded Sir Gervaise, quick as 
 lightning. 
 
 "I could see nothing of Admiral Bluewater's ships; but, 
 knowing the importance of this intelligence, I came down 
 immediately, and by the backstay." 
 
 "You have done well, sir. Send a midshipman forward 
 for Captain Greenly ; then pass below yourself, and let the 
 lieutenants in the batteries hear the news. They must di- 
 vide their people, and by all means give a prompt and well- 
 directed Tfrj-/ broadside." 
 
 Wycherly waited for no more. He ran below with the 
 activity of his years. The message found Greenly between 
 the knight-heads, but he hurried aft to the poop to ascertain 
 its object. It took Sir Gervaise but a moment to explain it 
 all to the captain. 
 
 " In the name of Heaven, what can the other division be 
 about," exclaimed Greenly, "that it lets the French rear- 
 admiral come upon us, in a moment like this!" 
 
 " Of that, sir, it is unnecessary to speak iiow^'* answered 
 the commander-in-chief solemnly. " Our present business 
 is to get ready for this new enemy. Go into the batteries 
 again, and, as you prize victory, be careful not to throw 
 away the first discharge, in the smoke." 
 
 As time pressed. Greenly swallowed his discontent, and 
 departed. The five minutes that succeeded were bitter min- 
 utes to Sir Gervaise Oakes. Beside himself there were but 
 five men on the poop ; viz., the quartermaster who tended the 
 signals, and three of the Bowlderos. All of these were 
 using muskets as usual, though the vice-admiral never per- 
 mitted marines to be stationed at a point which he wished 
 to be as clear of smoke and as much removed from bustle 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 46 1 
 
 as possible. He began to pace this comparatively vacant 
 little deck with a quick step, casting wistful glances toward 
 the larboard quarter; but though the smoke occasionally 
 cleared a little in that direction, the firing having much 
 slackened from exhaustion in the men, as well as from in- 
 juries given and received, he was unable to detect any signs 
 of a ship. Such was the state of things when Wycherly re- 
 turned and reported that his orders were delivered, and part 
 of the people were already in the larboard batteries. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 " And oh, the little warlike world within ! 
 
 The well-reeved guns, the netted canopy, 
 The hoarse command, the busy humming din, 
 When at a word the tops are manned on high : 
 Hark to the boatswain's call, the cheering cry ! 
 While through the seaman's hands the tackle glides. 
 Or schoolboy midshipman, that, standing by, 
 Strains his shrill pipe, as good or ill betides. 
 And well the docile crew that skilful urchin guides." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 "Are you quite sure, Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, that 
 there is not some mistake about the approach of the rear 
 division of the French?" inquired the vice-admiral, endeav- 
 oring to catch some glimpse of the water, through the smoke 
 on the larboard hand. " May not some crippled ship of 
 our own have sheered from the line, and been left by us, 
 unknowingly, on that side?" 
 
 "No, Sir Gervaise, there is 710 mistake; there can be 
 none, unless I may have been deceived a little in the dis- 
 tance. I saw nothing but the sails and spars, not of a sin- 
 gle vessel, but of three ships; and one of them wore the flag 
 of a French rear-admiral at the mizzen. As a proof that I 
 was not mistaken, sir, there it is this minute?" 
 
 The smoke on the off side of the Plantagenet, as a matter 
 of course, was much les^ dense than that on the side en- 
 gaged, and the wind beginning to blow in eddies, as ever 
 
462 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 happens in a heavy cannonade, there were moments in 
 which it cast aside the " shroud of battle." At that instant 
 an opening occurred through which a single mast and a 
 single sail were visible, in the precise spot where Wycherly 
 had stated the enemy might be looked for. It was a mizzen- 
 topsail, beyond a question, and above it was fluttering the 
 little square flag of the rear-admiral. Sir Gervaise decided 
 on the character of the vessel, and on his own course, in an 
 instant. Stepping to the edge of the poop, with his natural 
 voice, without the aid of a trumpet of any sort, he called 
 out in tones that rose above the roar of the contest, the 
 ominous but familiar nautical words of "Stand by!" Per- 
 haps a call from powerful lungs (and the vice-admiral's 
 voice, when he chose to use it, was like the blast of a 
 clarion) is clearer and more impressive, when unaided by 
 instruments, than when it comes disguised and unnatural 
 through a tube. At any rate, these words were heard even 
 on the lower deck, by those who stood near the hatches. 
 Taking them up, they were repeated by a dozen voices, with 
 such expressions as " Look out, lads; Sir Jarvy's awake!" 
 "Sight your guns!" "Wait till she's square!" and other 
 similar admonitions that it is usual for the sea-officer to 
 give as he is about to commence the strife. At this critical 
 moment Sir Gervaise again looked up, and caught another 
 glimpse of the little flag, as it passed into a vast wreath of 
 smoke ; he saw that the ship was fairly abeam, and, as if 
 doubling all his powers, he shouted the word "Fire!" 
 Greenly was standing on the lower-deck ladder,, with his 
 head just even with the coamings of the hatch, as this order 
 reached him, and he repeated it in a voice scarcely less 
 startling. The cloud on the larboard side was driven in all 
 directions, like dust scattered by wind. The ship seemed 
 on fire, and the missiles of forty-one guns flew on their 
 deadly errand, as it might be at a single flash. The old 
 Plantagenet trembled to her keel, and even bowed a little 
 at the recoils, but, like one suddenly relieved from a 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 463 
 
 burthen, righted and went on her way none the less active. 
 That timely broadside saved the English commander-in- 
 chief's ship from an early defeat. It took the crew of Le 
 Pluton, her new adversary, by surprise ; for they had not 
 been able to distinguish the precise position of their enemy; 
 and, besides doing vast injury to both hull and people, drew 
 her fire at an unpropitious moment. So uncertain and hasty, 
 indeed, was the discharge the French ship gave in return 
 that no small portion of the contents of her guns passed 
 ahead of the Plantagenet, and went into the larboard quarter 
 of Le Temeraire, the French's admiral's second ahead. 
 
 "That was a timely salute," said Sir Gervaise, smiling as 
 soon as the fire of his new enemy had been received with- 
 out material injury. "The first blow is always half the 
 battle. We may now work on with some hopes of success. 
 Ah! here comes Greenly again, God be praised! unhurt." 
 
 The meeting of these two experienced seamen was cor- 
 dial, but not without great seriousness. Both felt that the 
 situation of not only the ship, but of the whole fleet, was 
 extremely critical, the odds being much too great, and the 
 position of the enemy too favorable, not to render the result, 
 to say the very least, exceedingly doubtful. Some advan- 
 tage had certainly been obtained thus far; but there was 
 little hope of preserving it long. The circumstances called 
 for very decided and particularly bold measures. 
 
 " My mind is made up. Greenly," observed the vice- 
 admiral. " We must go aboard of one of these ships, and 
 make it a hand-to-hand affair. We will take the French 
 commander-in-chief; he is evidently a good deal cut up by 
 the manner in which his fire slackens, and if we can carry 
 him, or even force him out of the line, it will give us a 
 better chance with the rest. As for Bluewater, God only 
 knows what has become of him! He is not here at any 
 rate, and we must help ourselves." 
 
 " You have only to order. Sir Gervaise, to be obeyed. I 
 will lead the boarders myself." 
 
464 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "It must be a general thing, Greenly; I rather think we 
 shall all of us have to go aboard of Le Foudroyant. Go, 
 give the necessary orders, and when everything is ready, 
 round in a little on the larboard braces, clap your helm 
 aport, and give the ship a rank sheer to starboard. This will 
 bring matters to a crisis at once. By letting the foresail 
 fall, and setting the spanker, you might shove the ship 
 ahead a little faster." 
 
 Greenly instantly left the poop on this new and impor- 
 tant duty. He sent his orders into the batteries, bidding 
 the people remain at their guns, however, to the last mo- 
 ment; and particularly instructing the captain of marines 
 as to the manner in which he was to cover and then follow 
 the boarding-party. This done, he gave orders to brace 
 forward the yards, as directed by Sir Gervaise. 
 
 The reader will not overlook the material circumstance 
 that all we have related occurred amid the din of battle. 
 Guns were exploding at each instant, the cloud of smoke 
 was both thickening and extending, fire was flashing in the 
 semi-obscurity of its volumes, shot were rending the wood 
 and cutting the rigging, and the piercing shrieks of agony, 
 only so much the more appalling by being extorted from the 
 stern and resolute, blended their thrilling accompaniments. 
 Men seemed to be converted into demons, and yet there was 
 a lofty and stubborn resolution to conquer, mingled with 
 all, that ennobled the strife and rendered it heroic. The 
 broadsides that were delivered in succession down the line, 
 as ship after ship of the rear division reached her station, 
 however, proclaimed that Monsieur des Prez had imitated 
 Sir Gervaise's mode of closing, the only one by means of 
 which the leading vessel could escape destruction, and that 
 the English were completely doubled on. At this moment, 
 the sail-trimmers of the Plantagenet handled their braces. 
 The first pull was the last. No sooner were the ropes 
 started than the fore-topmast went over the bows, dragging 
 after it the main with all its hamper, the mizzen snapping 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 465 
 
 like a pipestem, at the cap. By this cruel accident, the 
 result of many injuries to shrouds, backstays, and spars, 
 the situation of the Plantagenet became worse than ever; 
 for not only was the wreck to be partially cleared, at least, 
 to fight many of the larboard guns, but the command of the 
 ship was, in a great measure, lost in the centre of one of 
 the most infernal melees that ever accompanied a combat at 
 sea. 
 
 At no time does the trained seaman ever appear so great 
 as when he meets sudden misfortunes with the steadiness 
 and quiet which it is a material part of the morale of disci- 
 pline to inculcate. Greenly was full of ardor for the as- 
 sault, and was thinking of the best mode of running foul of 
 his adversary, when this calamity occurred; but the masts 
 were hardly down, when he changed all his thoughts to a 
 new current, and called out to the sail-trimmers to " lay 
 over, and clear the wreck." 
 
 Sir Gervaise, too, met with a sudden and violent check to 
 the current of his feelings. He had collected his Bowlderos, 
 and was giving his instructions as to the manner in which 
 they were to follow, and keep near his person, in the ex- 
 pected hand-to-hand encounter, when the heavy rushing of 
 the air, and the swoop of the mass from above, announced 
 what had occurred. Turning to the men, he calmly ordered 
 them to aid in getting rid of the incumbrances, and was in 
 the very act of directing Wycherly to join in the same duty, 
 when the latter exclaimed : 
 
 " See, Sir Gervaise, here comes another of the Frenchmen 
 close upon our quarter. By heavens, they must mean to 
 board!" 
 
 The vice-admiral instinctively grasped his sword-hilt 
 tighter, and turned in the direction mentioned by his com- 
 panion. There, indeed, came a fresh ship, shoving the 
 cloud aside, and, by the clearer atmosphere that seemed to 
 accompany her, apparently bringing down a current of air 
 stronger than common. When first seen, the jib-boom and 
 30 
 
466 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 bowsprit were both enveloped in smoke, but his bellying 
 fore-topsail, and the canvas hanging in festoons, loomed 
 grandly in the vapor, the black yards seeming to embrace 
 the wreaths, merely to cast them aside. The proximity, 
 too, was fearful, her yard-arms promising to clear those of 
 the Plantagenet only by a few feet, as her dark bows brushed 
 along the admiral's side. 
 
 "This will be fearful work, indeed!" exclaimed Sir 
 Gervaise. " A fresh broadside from a ship so near, will 
 sweep all from the spars. Go, Wychecombe, tell Greenly 
 to call in — Hold! — 'Tis an English ship! No Frenchman's 
 bowsprit stands like that ! Almighty God be praised ! 'Tis 
 the Caesar — there is the old Roman's figure-head just shov- 
 ing out of the smoke!" 
 
 This was said with a yell, rather than a cry, of delight, 
 and in a voice so loud that the words were heard below, and 
 flew through the ship like the hissing of an ascending 
 rocket. To confirm the glorious tidings, the flash and roar 
 of guns on the off-side of the stranger announced the wel- 
 come tidings that Le Pluton had an enemy of her own to 
 contend with, thus enabling the Plantagenet's people to 
 throw all their strength on the starboard guns, and pursue 
 their other necessary work without further molestation from 
 the French rear-admiral. The gratitude of Sir Gervaise, as 
 the rescuing ship thrust herself in between him and his 
 most formidable assailant, was too deep for language. He 
 placed his hat mechanically before his face, and thanked 
 God, with a fervor of spirit that never before had attended 
 his thanksgivings. This brief act of devotion over, he found 
 the bows of the Caesar, which ship was advancing very 
 slowly, in order not to pass too far ahead, just abreast of 
 the spot where he stood, and so near that objects were pretty 
 plainly visible. Between her knight-heads stood Blue- 
 water, conning the ship, by means of a line of officers, his 
 hat in his hand, waving in encouragement to his own people, 
 while Geoffrey Cleveland held thQ trumpet at his elbov;. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 467 
 
 At that moment three noble cheers were given by the crews 
 of the two friendly vessels, and mingled with the increasing 
 roar of the Caesar's artillery. Then the smoke rose in a 
 cloud over the forecastle of the latter ship, and persons 
 could no longer be distinguished. 
 
 Nevertheless, like all that thus approached, the relieving 
 ship passed slowly ahead, until nearly her whole length 
 protected the undefended side of her consort, delivering her 
 fire with fearful rapidity. The Plantagenets seemed to im- 
 bibe new life from this arrival, and their starboard guns 
 spoke out again, as if manned by giants. It was five min- 
 utes, perhaps, after this seasonable arrival, before the guns 
 of the other ships of the English rear announced their pres- 
 ence on the outside of Monsieur des Prez's force; thus 
 bringing the whole of the two fleets into four lines, all 
 steering dead before the wind, and, as it were, interwoven 
 with each other. By that time, the poops of the Plantagenet 
 and Caesar became visible from one to the other, the smoke 
 now driving principally off from the vessels. There again 
 were our two admirals each anxiously watching to get a 
 glimpse of his friend. The instant the place was clear, Sir 
 Gervaise applied the trumpet to his mouth, and called out: 
 
 "God bless you — Dick! may God forever bless you — 
 your ship can do it — clap your helm hard a-starboard, and 
 sheer into M. des Prez; you'll have him in five minutes," 
 
 Bluewater smiled, waved his hand, gave an order, and 
 laid aside his trumpet. Two minutes later, the Caesar 
 sheered into the smoke on her larboard beam, and the crash 
 of the meeting vessels was heard. By this time the wreck 
 of the Plantagenet was cut adrift, and she, too, made a rank 
 sheer, though in a direction opposite to that of the Caesar's. 
 As she went through the smoke, her guns ceased, and when 
 she emerged into the pure air it was found that Le Fou- 
 droyant had set courses and topgallantsails, and was draw- 
 ing so fast ahead as to render pursuit, under the little sail 
 that could be set, unprofitable. Signals were out of the 
 
468 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 question, but this movement of the two admirals converted 
 the whole battle scene into one of inexplicable confusion. 
 Ship after ship changed her position, and ceased her fire 
 from uncertainty what that position was, until a general 
 silence succeeded the roar of the cannonade. It was indis- 
 pensable to pause and let the smoke blow away. 
 
 It did not require many minutes to raise the curtain on 
 the two fleets. As soon as the firing stopped, the wind in- 
 creased, and the smoke was driven off to leeward in a vast 
 straggling cloud, that seemed to scatter and disperse in the air 
 spontaneously. Then a sight of the havoc and destruction 
 that had been done in this short conflict was first obtained. 
 
 The two squadrons were intermingled, and it required 
 some little time for Sir Gervaise to get a clear idea of the 
 state of his own ships. Generally, it might be said that the 
 vessels were scattering, the French sheering toward their 
 own coast, while the English were principally coming by 
 the wind on the larboard tack, or heading in toward Eng- 
 land. The Caisar and Le Pluton were still foul of each 
 other, though a rear-admiral's flag was flying at the mizzen 
 of the first, while that which had so lately fluttered at 
 the royal -masthead of the other had disappeared. The 
 Achilles, Lord Morganic, was still among the French, more 
 to leeward than any other English ship, without a single 
 spar standing. Her ensigns were flying, notwithstanding, 
 and the Thunderer and Dublin, both in tolerable order, 
 were edging away rapidly to cover their crippled consort; 
 though the nearest French vessels seemed more bent on 
 getting out of the melee, and into their own line again, than 
 on securing any advantage already obtained. Le Temeraire 
 was in the same predicament as the Achilles as to spars, 
 though much more injured in her hull, besides having thrice 
 as many casualties. Her flag was down ; the ship having 
 fairly struck to the Warspite, whose boats were already 
 alongside of her. Le Foudroyant, with quite one-third of 
 her crew killed and wounded, was running off to leeward, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS, 469 
 
 with signals flying for her consorts to rally round her; but 
 within less than ten minutes after she became visible her 
 main and mizzen masts both went. The Blenheim had lost 
 all her topmasts, like the Plantagenet, and neither the Eliz- 
 abeth nor the York had a mizzenmast standing, although 
 engaged but a very short time. Several lower yards were 
 shot away, or so much injured as to compel the ships to 
 shorten sail; this accident having occurred in both fleets. 
 As for the damage done to the standing and running rig- 
 ging, and to the sails, it is only necessary to say that 
 shrouds, back and headstays, braces, bowlines, and lifts, 
 were dangling in all directions, while the canvas that was 
 open exhibited all sorts of rents, from that which had been 
 torn like cloth in the shopman's hands, to the little eyelet 
 holes of the canister and grape. It appeared, by the sub- 
 sequent reports of the two parties, that in this short but 
 severe conflict the slain and wounded of the English 
 amounted to seven hundred and sixty-three, including offi- 
 cers; and that of the French, to one thousand four hundred 
 and twelve. The disparity in this respect would probably 
 have been greater against the latter, had it not been for the 
 manner in which M. des Prez succeeded in doubling on his 
 enemies. 
 
 Little need be said in explanation of the parts of this 
 battle that have not been distinctly related. M. des Prez 
 had manoeuvred in the manner he did, at the commencement 
 of the affair, in the hope of drawing Sir Gervaise down 
 upon the division of the Comte de Vervillin; and no sooner 
 did he see the first fairly enveloped in smoke than he wore 
 short round and joined in the affair, as has been mentioned. 
 At this sight, Bluewater's loyalty to the Stuarts could resist 
 no longer. Throwing out a general signal to engage, he 
 squared away, set everything that would draw on the Caesar, 
 and arrived in time to save his friend. The other ships 
 followed, engaging on the outside, for want of room to imi- 
 tate their leader. 
 
470 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Two more of the French ships, at least, in addition to Le 
 Tem^raire and Le Pluton, might have been added to the 
 list of prizes, had the actual condition of their fleet been 
 known. But, at such moments, a combatant sees and feels 
 his own injuries, while he has to conjecture many of those 
 of his adversaries; and the English were too much occupied 
 in making the provisions necessary to save their remaining 
 spars, to risk much in order to swell an advantage that was 
 already so considerable. Some distant firing passed be- 
 tween the Thunderer and Dublin, and L'Ajax, Le Dugay 
 Trouin, and L'Hector, before the two former succeeded in 
 getting Lord Morgan ic out of his difficulties; but it led to 
 no material result; merely inflicting new injuries on cer- 
 tain spars that were sufficiently damaged before, and killing 
 and wounding some fifteen or twenty men quite uselessly. 
 As soon as the vice-admiral saw what was likely to be the 
 effects of this episode, he called off Captain O'Neil of the 
 Dublin, by signal, he being an officer of a " hot temper," as 
 the soldier said of himself at Waterloo. The compliance 
 with this order may be said to have terminated the battle. 
 
 The reader will remember that the wind, at the com- 
 mencement of the engagement, was at northwest. It was 
 nearly "killed," as seamen express it, by the cannonade; 
 then it revived a little, as the concussions of the guns grad- 
 ually diminished. But the combined effect of the advance 
 of the day, and the rushing of new currents of air to fill the 
 vacuums produced by the burning of so much powder, was 
 a sudden shift of wind ; a breeze coming out strong, and as 
 it might be, in an instant, from the eastward. This unex- 
 pected alteration in the direction and power of the wind 
 cost the Thunderer her foremast, and did other damage to 
 different ships; but, by dint of great activity and careful 
 handling, all the English vessels got their heads round to 
 the northward, while the French filled the other way, and 
 went off free, steering nearly southeast, making the best of 
 their way for Brest. The latter suffered still more than 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 4/1 
 
 their enemies, by the change just mentioned; and when 
 they reached port, as did all but one the following day, no 
 less than three were towed in without a spar standing, bow- 
 sprits excepted. 
 
 The exception was Le Caton, which ship M. de Vervillin 
 set fire to and blew up, on account of her damages, in the 
 course of the afternoon. Thus of twelve noble two-decked 
 ships with which this officer sailed from Cherbourg only 
 two days before, he reached Brest with but seven. 
 
 Nor were the English entirely without their embarrass- 
 ments. Although the Warspite had compelled Le Temeraire 
 to strike, she was kept afloat herself with a good deal of 
 difficulty, and that, too, not without considerable assistance 
 from the other vessels. The leaks, however, were eventu- 
 ally stopped, and then the ship was given up to the care of 
 her own crew. Other vessels suffered, of course, but no 
 English ship was in as much jeopardy as this. 
 
 The first hour after the action ceased was one of great 
 exertion and anxiety to our admiral. He called the Chloe 
 alongside by signal, and, attended by Wycherly and his 
 own quartermasters, Galleygo, who went without orders, 
 and the Bowlderos who were unhurt, he shifted his flag to 
 that frigate. Then he immediately commenced passing 
 from vessel to vessel, in order to ascertain the actual con- 
 dition of his command. The Achilles detained him some 
 time, and he was near her, or to leeward, when the wind 
 shifted; which was bringing him to windward in the pres- 
 ent state of things. Of this advantage he availed himself, 
 by urging the different ships off as fast as possible; and 
 long before the sun was in the meridian all the English 
 vessels were making the best of their way toward the land, 
 with the intention of fetching into Plymouth if possible; if 
 not, into the nearest and best anchorage to leeward. The 
 progress of the fleet was relatively slow, as a matter of 
 course, though it got along at the rate of some five knots, 
 by making a free wind of it. 
 
472 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 The master of the Chloe had just taken the sun, in order 
 to ascertain his latitude, when the vice-admiral commanded 
 Denham to set topgallantsails, and go within hail of the 
 Caesar, That ship had got clear of Le Pluton half an hour 
 after the action ceased, and she was now leading the fleet, 
 with her three topsails on the caps. Aloft she had suffered 
 comparatively little; but Sir Gervaise knew that there must 
 have been a serious loss of men in carrying, hand to hand, 
 a vessel like that of M. des Prez. He was anxious to see 
 his friend, and to hear the manner in which his success had 
 been obtained, and, we might add, to remonstrate with Blue- 
 water on a course that had led the latter to the verge of a 
 most dangerous abyss. 
 
 The Chloe was half an hour running through the fleet, 
 which was a good deal extended, and was sailing without 
 any regard to a line. Sir Gervaise had many questions to 
 ask, too, of the different commanders in passing. At last the 
 frigate overtook Le Temeraire, which vessel was following 
 the Cassar under easy canvas. As the Chloe came up a beam. 
 Sir Gervaise appeared in the gangway of the frigate, and, hat 
 in hand, he asked with an accent that was intelligible, though 
 it might not have absolutely stood the test of criticism : 
 
 " Le Vice- Admiral Oakes demande comment se porte-il^ le 
 contre-amiraly le Vicomte des Prez 1 " 
 
 A little elderly man, dressed with extreme care, with a 
 powdered head, but of a firm step and perfectly collected 
 expression of countenance, appeared on the verge of Le 
 Tdmeraire's poop, trumpet in hand, to reply: 
 
 *' Le Vicomte des Prez remercie bien Monsieur le Chevalier 
 Oake^ et dhire vivement de savoir comment se porte Monsieur 
 le V ice- Amir aU" 
 
 Mutual waves of the trumpets served as replies to the 
 questions, and then, after taking a moment to muster his 
 French, Sir Gervaise continued: 
 
 ''^ Pespere voir Monsieur le Contre-Amiral a diner ^ a cinq 
 hcureSy precis, ^^ 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 473 
 
 The vicomte smiled at this characteristic manifestation of 
 good-will and courtesy; and, after pausing an instant to 
 choose an expression to soften his refusal, and to express 
 his own sense of the motive of the invitation, he called 
 out: 
 
 " Veuillez biefi recevoi?- 7ios excuses pour aujourcT hut, Mons. 
 le Chevalier. Nous iC avons pas encore digere le repas si noble 
 re^u a vos mains cofnme dejeuner.'''' 
 
 The Chloe passing ahead, bows terminated the interview. 
 Sir Gervaise's French was at fault, for what between the 
 rapid, neat pronunciation of the Frenchman, the trumpet, 
 and the turn of the expression, he did not comprehend the 
 meaning of the co?itre-amiral. 
 
 "What does he say, Wychecombe?" he asked eagerly of 
 the young man. " Will he come, or not?" 
 
 "Upon my word, Sir Gervaise, French is a sealed lan- 
 guage to me. Never having been a prisoner, no opportunity 
 has offered for acquiring the language. As I understood, 
 you intended to ask him to dinner; I rather think, from his 
 countenance, he meant to say he was not in spirits for the 
 entertainment." 
 
 "Pooh! we would have put him in spirits, and Bluewater 
 could have talked to him in his own tongue, by the fathom. 
 We will close with the Caesar to leeward, Denham; never 
 mind rank on an occasion like this. It's time to let the 
 topgallant-halyards run; you'll have to settle your topsails 
 too, or we shall shoot past her. Bluewater may take it as a 
 salute to his gallantry in carrying so fine a ship in so hand- 
 some a manner." 
 
 Several minutes now passed in silence, during which the 
 frigate was less and less rapidly closing with the larger 
 vessel, drawing ahead toward the last, as it might be, foot 
 by foot. Sir Gervaise got upon one of the quarter-deck 
 guns, and, steadying himself against the hammock-cloths, 
 he was in readiness to exchange the greetings he was accus- 
 tomed to give and to receive from his friend, in the same 
 
474 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 heartfelt manner as if nothing had occurred to disturb the 
 harmony of their feelings. The single glance of the eye, 
 the waving of the hat, and the noble manner in which 
 Bluewater interposed between him and his most dangerous 
 enemy, was still present to his mind, and disposed him even 
 more than common to the kindest feelings of his nature. 
 Stowel was already on the poop of the Caesar, and, as the 
 Chloe came slowly on, he raised his hat in deference to the 
 commander-in-chief. It was a point of delicacy with Sir 
 Gervaise never to interfere with any subordinate flag-officer's 
 vessel any more than duty rigidly required; consequently 
 his communications with the captain of the Caesar had 
 usually been of a general nature, verbal orders and criti- 
 cisms being studiously avoided. This circumstance ren- 
 dered the commander-in-chief even a greater favorite than 
 common with Stowel, who had all his own way in his own 
 ship, in consequence of the rear-admiral's indifference to 
 such matters. 
 
 " How do you do, Stowel.'"' called out Sir Gervaise, cordi- 
 ally. " I am delighted to see you on your legs, and hope the 
 old Roman is not much the worse for this day's treatment." 
 
 " I thank you. Sir Gervaise, we are both afloat yet, though 
 we have passed through warm times. The ship is damaged, 
 sir, as you may suppose; and, although it stands so bravely, 
 and looks so upright, that foremast of ours is as good as a 
 condemned spar. One thirty-two through the heart of it, 
 about ten feet from the deck, an eighteen in the hounds, 
 and a double-header sticking in one of the hoops! A spar 
 cannot be counted for much that has as many holes in it as 
 those, sir!" 
 
 " Deal tenderly with it, my old friend, and spare the can- 
 vas; those chaps at Plymouth will set all to rights again 
 in a week. Hoops can be had for asking, and as for holes 
 in the heart, many a poor fellow has had them, and lived 
 through it all. You are a case in point; Mrs. Stowel not 
 having spared you in that way, I'll answer for it." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 475 
 
 " Mrs. Stowel commands ashore^ Sir Gervaise, and I com- 
 mand afloat; and in that way we keep a quiet ship and a 
 quiet house, I thank you, sir; and I endeavor to think of 
 her at sea as little as possible." 
 
 " Ay, that's the way with you doting husbands — always 
 ashamed of your own lively sensibilities. But what has be- 
 come of Bluewater? Does he know that we are alongside?" 
 
 Stowel looked round, cast his eyes up at the sails, and 
 played with the hilt of his sword. The rapid eye of the 
 commander-in-chief detected this embarrassment, and quick 
 as thought he demanded what had happened. 
 
 " Why, Sir Gervaise, you know how it is with some ad- 
 mirals, who like to be in everything. I told our respected 
 and beloved friend that he had nothing to do with board- 
 ing ; that if either of us was to go, / was the proper man ; 
 but that we ought both to stick by the ship. He answered 
 something about lost honor and duty, and you know, sir, 
 what legs he has, when he wishes to use them! One might 
 as well think of stopping a deserter by a halloo; away he 
 went, with the first party, sword in hand, a sight I never 
 saw before, and never wish to see again! Thus you see 
 how it was, sir." 
 
 The commander-in-chief compressed his lips, until his 
 features and indeed his whole form were a picture of des- 
 perate resolution, though his face was as pale as death, and 
 the muscles of his mouth twitched, in spite of all his physi- 
 cal self-command. 
 
 " I understand you, sir," he said, in a voice that seemed 
 to issue from his chest; "you wish to say that Admiral 
 Bluewater is killed." 
 
 "No, thank God! Sir Gervaise, not quite as bad as that, 
 though sadly hurt; yes, indeed, very sadly hurt!" 
 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes groaned, and for a few minutes he 
 leaned his head on the hammock-cloths, veiling his face 
 from the sight of men. Then he raised his person erect, 
 and said steadily : 
 
4/6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "Run your topsails to the masthead, Captain Stowel, and 
 round your ship to. I will come on board of you." 
 
 An order was given to Denham to take room, when the 
 Chloe came to the wind on one tack and the Caesar on the 
 other. This was contrary to rule, as it increased the dis- 
 tance between the ships; but the vice-admiral was impatient 
 to be in his barge. In ten minutes he was mounting the 
 Caesar's side, and in two more he was in Bluewater's main- 
 cabin. Geoffrey Cleveland was seated by the table, with 
 his face buried in his arms. Touching his shoulder, the 
 boy raised his head, and showed a face covered with tears. 
 
 "How is he, boy?" demanded Sir Gervaise hoarsely. 
 "Do the surgeons give any hopes?" 
 
 The midshipman shook his head, and then, as if the ques- 
 tion renewed his grief, he again buried his face in his arms. 
 At this moment, the surgeon of the ship came from the rear- 
 admiral's stateroom, and, following the commander-in-chief 
 into the after-cabin, they had a long conference together. 
 
 Minute after minute passed, and the Caesar and Chloe 
 still lay with their main-topsails aback. At the end of half 
 an hour, Denham wore round and laid the head of his frig- 
 ate in the proper direction. Ship after ship came up, and 
 went on to the northward, fast as her crippled state would 
 allow, yet no sign of movement was seen in the Caesar. 
 Two sail had appeared in the southeastern board, and they, 
 too, approached and passed without bringing the vice-admi- 
 ral even on deck. These ships proved to be the Carnatic 
 and her prize, Le Scipion, which latter ship had been inter- 
 cepted and easily captured by the former. The steering of 
 M. de Vervillin to the southwest had left a clear passage to 
 the two ships, which were coming down with a free wind at 
 a handsome rate of sailing. This news was sent into the 
 Caesar's cabin, but it brought no person and no answer out 
 of it. At length, when everything had gone ahead, the 
 barge returned to the Chloe. It merely took a note, how- 
 ever, which was no sooner read by Wycherly than he sum- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 47/ 
 
 moned the Bowlderos and Galleygo, had all the vice-admi- 
 ral's luggage passed into the boat, struck his flag, and took 
 his leave of Denham. As soon as the boat was clear of the 
 frigate, the latter made all sail after the fleet, to resume her 
 ordinary duties of a lookout and a repeating-ship. 
 
 As soon as Wycherly reached the Caesar, that ship hoisted 
 in the vice-admiral's barge. A report was made to Sir Ger- 
 vaise of what had been done, and then an order came on 
 deck that occasioned all in the fleet to stare with surprise. 
 The red flag of Sir Gervaise Oakes was run up at the fore- 
 royal-masthead of the Caesar, while the white flag of the 
 rear-admiral was still flying at her mizzen. Such a thing 
 had never before been known to happen, if it has ever hap- 
 pened since; and to the time when she was subsequently 
 lost the Caesar was known as the double flagship. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ** He spoke ; when behold the fair Geraldine's form 
 On the canvas enchantingly glowed ; 
 His touches, they flew like the leaves in a storm ; 
 And the pure pearly white, and the carnation warm, 
 Contending in harmony flowed." 
 
 Alston. 
 
 We shall now ask permission of the reader to advance the 
 time just eight-and-forty hours; a liberty with the unities 
 which, he will do us the justice to say, we have not often 
 taken. We must also transfer the scene to that already 
 described at Wychecombe, including the Head, the station, 
 the roads, and the inland and seaward views. Summer 
 weather had returned, too, the pennants of the ships at 
 anchor scarce streaming from their masts far enough to form 
 curved lines. Most of the English fleet was among these 
 vessels, though the squadron had undergone some changes. 
 The Druid had got into Portsmouth with La Victoire; the 
 Driver and Active had made the best of their way to the 
 
478 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 nearest ports, with dispatches for the admiralty; and the 
 Achilles, in tow of the Dublin, with the Chloe to take care 
 of both, had gone to leeward, with square yards, in the hope 
 of making Falmouth. The rest of the force was present, the 
 crippled ships having been towed into the roads that morn- 
 ing. The picture among the shipping was one of extreme 
 activity and liveliness. Jury-masts were going up in the 
 Warspite; lower and topsail yards were down to be fished, 
 or new ones were rigging to be sent aloft in their places; 
 the Plantagenet was all a-tanto, again, in readiness for an- 
 other action, with rigging secured and masts fished, while 
 none but an instructed eye could have detected, at a short 
 distance, that the Caesar, Carnatic, Dover, York, Elizabeth, 
 and one or two more had been in action at all. The land- 
 ing was crowded with boats as before, and gunroom servants 
 and midshipmen's boys were foraging as usual ; some with 
 honest intent to find delicacies for the wounded, but more 
 with the roguish design of contributing to the comforts of 
 the unhurt, by making appeals to the sympathies of the 
 women of the neighborhood, in behalf of the hurt. 
 
 The principal transformation that had been brought about 
 by this state of things, however, was apparent at the station. 
 This spot had the appearance of a place to which the head- 
 quarters of an army had been transferred, in the vicissitudes 
 of the field; warlike sailors, if not soldiers, flocking to it, 
 as the centre of interest and intelligence. Still there was 
 a singularity observable in the manner in which these he- 
 roes of the deck paid their court; the cottage being seem- 
 ingly tabooed, or at most, approached by very few, while the 
 grass at the foot of the flagstaff was already beginning to 
 show proofs of the pressure of many feet. This particular 
 spot, indeed, was the centre of attraction ; there officers of 
 all ranks and ages wert constantly arriving, and thence they 
 were as often departing; all bearing countenances sobered 
 by anxiety and apprehension. Notwithstanding the con- 
 stant mutations, there had been no instant since the rising 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 479 
 
 of the sun, when some ten or twelve, at least, including caj> 
 tains, lieutenants, masters, and idlers, had not been collected 
 around the bench at the foot of the signal-staff, and fre- 
 quently the number reached even to twenty. 
 
 A little retired from the crowd, and near the verge of the 
 cliff, a large tent had been pitched. A marine paced in its 
 front, as a sentinel. Another stood near the gate of the lit- 
 tle dooryard of the cottage, and all persons who approached 
 either, wdth the exception of a few of the privileged, were 
 referred to the sergeant who commanded the guard. The 
 arms of the latter were stacked on the grass, at hand, and 
 the men off post were loitering near. These were the usual 
 military signs of the presence of officers of rank, and may, 
 in sooth, be taken as clews to the actual state of things on 
 and around the Head. 
 
 Admiral Bluewater lay in the cottage, while Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes occupied the tent. The former had been transferred 
 to the place where he was about to breathe his last, at his 
 own urgent request, while his friend had refused to be sepa- 
 rated from him, so long as life remained. The two flags 
 were still flying at the mastheads of the Caesar, a sort of 
 melancholy memorial of the tie that had so long bound their 
 gallant owners in the strong sympathies of an enduring per- 
 sonal and professional friendship. 
 
 Persons of the education of Mrs, Button and her daughter 
 had not dwelt so long on that beautiful headland without 
 leaving on the spot some lasting impressions of their tastes. 
 Of the cottage, we have already spoken. The little garden, 
 too, then bright with flowers, had a grace and refinement 
 about it that we would hardly have expected to meet in such 
 a place; and even the paths that led athwart the verdant 
 common which spread over so much of the upland had been 
 directed with an eye to the picturesque and agreeable. One 
 of these paths, too, led to a rustic summer-house — a sort of 
 small, rude pavilion, constructed, like the fences, of frag- 
 ments of wrecks, and placed on a shelf of the cliff, at a 
 
480 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 dizzy elevation, but in perfect security. So far from there 
 being any danger in entering this summer-house, indeed, 
 Wycherly, during his six months' residence near the Head, 
 had made a path that descended still lower, to a point that 
 was utterly concealed from all eyes above, and had actually 
 planted a seat on another shelf with so much security that 
 both Mildred and her mother often visited it in company. 
 During the young man's recent absence, the poor girl, in- 
 deed, had passed much of her time there, weeping and 
 suffering in solitude. To this seat Button never ventured; 
 the descent, though well protected with ropes, requiring 
 greater steadiness of foot and head than intemperance had 
 left him. Once or twice, Wycherly had induced Mildred to 
 pass an hour with him alone in this romantic place, and 
 some of his sweetest recollections of this just-minded and 
 intelligent girl were connected with the frank communica- 
 tions that had there occurred between them. On this bench 
 he was seated at the time of the opening of the present 
 chapter. The movement on the Head, and about the cot- 
 tage, was so great as to deprive him of every chance of see- 
 ing Mildred alone, and he had hoped that, led by some secret 
 sympathy, she, too, might seek this perfecily retired seat, to 
 obtain a moment of unobserved solitude, if not from some 
 still dearer motive. He had not waited long ere he heard 
 a heavy loot over his head, and a man entered the summer- 
 house. He was yet debating whether to abandon all hopes 
 of seeing Mildred, when his acute ear caught her light and 
 well-known footstep, as she reached the summer-house 
 also. 
 
 " Father, I have come as you desired," said the poor girl, 
 in those tremulous tones which Wycherly too well under- 
 stood not to imagine the condition of Button. "Admiral 
 Bluewater dozes, and mother has permitted me to steal 
 away." 
 
 "Ay, Admiral Bluewater is a great man, though but little 
 better than a dead one!" answered Button, as harshly in 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 48 1 
 
 manner as the language was coarse. " You and your mother 
 are all attention to him ; did / lie in his place, which of you 
 would be found hanging over my bed, with pale cheeks and 
 tearful eyes.'"' 
 
 " Both of us, father! Do not — do not think so ill of your 
 wife and daughter as to suppose it possible that either of 
 them could forget her duty." 
 
 "Yes, duty might do something, perhaps; what has duty 
 to do with this useless rear-admiral .'* I hate the scoundrel 
 — he was one of the court that cashiered me ; and one, too, 
 that I am told, was the most obstinate in refusing to help 
 me into this pitiful berth of a master." 
 
 Mildred was silent. She could not vindicate her friend 
 without incriminating her father. As for Wycherly, he 
 would have given a year's income to be at sea; yet he 
 shrunk from wounding the poor daughter's feelings by let- 
 ting her know he overheard the dialogue. This indecision 
 made him the unwilling auditor of a conversation that he 
 ought not to have heard — an occurrence which, had there 
 been time for reflection, he would have taken means to 
 prevent. 
 
 " Sit you down here, Mildred," resumed Button sternly, 
 "and listen to what I have to say. It is time that there 
 should no longer be any trifling between us. You have the 
 fortunes of your mother and myself in your hands ; and, as 
 one of the parties so deeply concerned, I am determined 
 mine shall be settled at once." 
 
 " I do not understand you, father," said Mildred, with a 
 tremor in her voice that almost induced the young man to 
 show himself, though we owe it to truth to say that a lively 
 curiosity now mingled with his other sensations. " How 
 can I have the keeping of dear mother's fortunes and 
 yours?" 
 
 ^^ Dear mother, truly! — Dear enough has she proved to 
 me; but I intend the daughter shall pay for it. Hark you, 
 Mildred; I'll have no more of this trifling— but J ask you, 
 31 
 
482 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 in a father's name, if any man has offered you his hand? 
 Speak plainly, and conceal nothing — I will be answered." 
 
 " I wish to conceal nothing, father, that ought to be told; 
 but, when a young woman declines the honor that another 
 does her in this way, ought she to reveal the secret, even to 
 her father?" 
 
 " She ought ; and, in your case, she shall. No more hesi- 
 tation ; name one of the offers you have had." 
 
 Mildred, after a brief pause, in a low, tremulous voice, 
 pronounced the name of " Mr. Rotherham." 
 
 "I suspected as much," growled Button; "there was a 
 time when even he might have answered, but we can do bet- 
 ter than that now. Still he may be kept as a reserve; the 
 thousand pounds Mr. Thomas says shall be paid, and that 
 and the living will make a comfortable port after a stormy 
 life. Well, who next, Mildred? Has Mr. Thomas Wyche- 
 combe ever come to the point?" 
 
 " He has asked me to become his wife, within the last 
 twenty-four hours ; if that is what you mean." 
 
 " No affectations, Milly; I can't bear them. You know 
 well enough what I mean. What was your answer?" 
 
 " I do not love him in the least, father, and, of course, I 
 told him I could not marry him." 
 
 "That don't follow of course^ by any means, girl! The 
 marrying is done by the priest, and the love is a very 
 different thing. I hope you consider Mrs. Dutton as my 
 wife?" 
 
 " What a question !" murmured Mildred. 
 
 " Well, and do you suppose she loves me ; can love me, 
 now I am a disgraced, impoverished man?" 
 
 "Father!" 
 
 "Come — come — enough of this. Mr. Thomas Wyche- 
 combe may not be legitimate — I rather think he is not, by 
 the proofs Sir Reginald has produced within the last day or 
 two; and I understand his own mother is dissatisfied with 
 him, and that will knock his claim flat aback. Notwith- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 483 
 
 standing, Mildred, Tom Wychecombe has a good six hun- 
 dred a year already, and Sir Reginald himself admits that 
 he must take all the personal property the late baronet could 
 leave." 
 
 "You forget, father," said Mildred, conscious of the in- 
 efficacy of any other appeal, " that Mr. Thomas has promised 
 to pay the legacies that Sir Wycherly mteiided XoX^dM^^ 
 
 " Don't place any expectations on that, Mildred. I dare 
 say he would settle ten of the twenty thousand on you to- 
 morrow, if you would consent to have him. But, now, as to 
 this new baronet, for it seems he is to have both title and 
 estate — has he ever offered?" 
 
 There was a long pause, during which Wycherly thought 
 he heard the hard but suppressed breathing of Mildred. 
 To remain quiet any longer, he felt was as impossible as, 
 indeed, his conscience told him was dishonorable, and he 
 sprang along the path to ascend to the summer-house. At 
 the first sound of his footstep, a faint cry escaped Mildred; 
 but when Wycherly entered the pavilion, he found her face 
 buried in her hands, and Button tottering forward, equally 
 in surprise and alarm. As the circumstances would not 
 admit of evasion, the young man threw aside all reserve, 
 and spoke plainly. 
 
 " I have been an unwilling listener to 2^ part of your dis- 
 course with Mildred, Mr. Button," he said, "and can an- 
 swer your last question for myself. I hai^e offered my hand 
 to your daughter, sir; an offer that I now renew, and the 
 acceptance of which would make me the happiest man in 
 England. If your influence could aid me — for she has 
 refused my hand." 
 
 "Refused!" exclaimed Button, in a surprise that over- 
 came the calculated amenity of manner he had assumed the 
 instant Wycherly appeared — " Refused Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe! but it was before your rights had been as well 
 established as they are now. Mildred, answer to this — how 
 could you — nay, how dare you refuse such an offer as this.''" 
 
484 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Human nature could not well endure more. Mildred 
 suffered her hands to fall helplessly into her lap, and ex- 
 posed a face that was lovely as that of an angel's, though 
 pale nearly to the hue of death. Feeling extorted the an- 
 swer she made, though the words had hardly escaped her 
 ere she repented having uttered them, and had again buried 
 her face in her hands: 
 
 " Father" — she said — " could I — dare I to encourage Sir 
 Wycherly Wychecombe to unite himself to a family like 
 ours!" 
 
 Conscience smote Button with a force that nearly sobered 
 him, and what explanation might have followed it is hard to 
 say; Wycherly, in an undertone, however, requested to be 
 left alone with the daughter. Button had sense enough to 
 understand he was de trop^ and shame enough to wish to es- 
 cape. In half a minute, he had hobbled up to the summit 
 of the cliff and disappeared. 
 
 " Mildred! — Z><f^r^j-/ Mildred!" — said Wycherly tenderly, 
 gently endeavoring to draw her attention to himself, ''we 
 are alone now; surely — surely — you will not refuse to look 
 at me /" 
 
 "Is he gone?" asked Mildred, dropping her hands, and 
 looking wildly around. " Thank God ! It is over, for this 
 time, at least! Now, let us go to the house; Admiral Blue' 
 water may miss me." 
 
 " No, Mildred, not yet. You surely can spare me — me, 
 who have suffered so much of late on your account — nay, by 
 your means — you can, in mercy, spare me a few short min- 
 utes. Was this the reason — the only reason, dearest girl, 
 why you so pertinaciously refused my hand?" 
 
 "Was it not sufficient, Wycherly?" answered Mildred, 
 afraid the chartered air might hear her secret. " Remember 
 who you are, and what I am ! Could I suffer you to become 
 the husband of one to whom such cruel, cruel propositions 
 had been made by her own father!" 
 
 " I shall not affect to conceal my horror of such princi- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 485 
 
 pies, Mildred, but your virtues shine all the brighter by- 
 having flourished in their company. Answer me but one 
 question frankly, and every other difficulty can be gotten 
 over. Do you love me well enough to be my wife, were you 
 an orphan?" 
 
 Mildred's countenance was full of anguish, but this ques- 
 tion changed its expression entirely. The moment was ex- 
 traordinary, as were the feelings it engendered, and, almost 
 unconsciously to herself, she raised the hand that held her 
 own to her lips, in a sort of reverence. In the next instant 
 she was encircled in the young man's arms, and pressed 
 with fervor to his heart. 
 
 " Let us go," said Mildred, extricating herself from an 
 embrace that was too involuntarily bestowed and too heart- 
 felt to alarm her delicacy. " I feel certain Admiral Blue- 
 water will miss me!" 
 
 " No, Mildred, we cannot part thus. Give me, at least, 
 the poor consolation of knowmg that if this difficulty did not 
 exist — that if you were an orphan, for instance — you would 
 be mine." 
 
 " Oh ! Wycherly, how gladly — how gladly ! — But, say no 
 more — nay " 
 
 This time the embrace was longer, more fervent even than 
 before, and Wycherly was too much of a sailor to let the 
 sweet girl escape from his arms without imprinting on her 
 lips a kiss. He had no sooner relinquished his hold of the 
 slight person of Mildred ere it vanished. With this char- 
 acteristic leave-taking, we change the scene to the tent of 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes. 
 
 " You have seen Admiral Bluewater?" demanded the com- 
 mander-in-chief, as soon as the form of Magrath darkened 
 the entrance, and speaking with the sudden earnestness of 
 a man determined to know the worst. " If so, tell me at 
 once what hopes there are for him." 
 
 "Of all the human passions, Sir Jairvis," answered Ma- 
 grath, looking aside, to avoid the keen glance of the other, 
 
486 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " hope is generally considered, by all rational men, as the 
 most treacherous and delusive; I may add, of all denomi- 
 nations or divisions of hope, that which decides on life is the 
 most unsairtain. We all hope to live, I'm thinking, to a 
 good old age, and yet how many of us live just long enough 
 to be disappointed!" 
 
 Sir Gervaise did not move until the surgeon ceased speak- 
 ing; then he began to pace the tent in mournful silence. 
 He understood Magrath's manner so well that the last faint 
 hope he had felt from seeking his opinion was gone; he now 
 knew that his friend must die. It required all his fortitude 
 to stand up against this blow; for, single, childless, and 
 accustomed to each other almost from infancy, these two 
 veteran sailors had got to regard themselves as merely iso- 
 lated parts of the same being. Magrath was affected more 
 than he chose to express, and he blew his nose several times 
 in a way that an observer would have found suspicious. 
 
 "Will you confer on me the favor. Dr. Magrath," said Sir 
 Gervaise, in a gentle, subdued manner, " to ask Captain 
 Greenly to come hither, as you pass the flagstaff?" 
 
 " Most willingly, Sir Jairvis; and I know he'll be any- 
 thing but backward in complying." 
 
 It was not long ere the captain of the Plantagenet made 
 his appearance. Like all around him, the recent victory 
 appeared to bring no exultation. 
 
 "I suppose Magrath told you all," said the vice-admiral, 
 squeezing the other's hand. 
 
 " He gives no hopes, Sir Gervaise, I sincerely regret to 
 say." 
 
 " I knew as much ! I knew as much ! And yet he is easy, 
 Greenly! — nay, even seems happy. I diW feel a little hope 
 that this absence from suffering might be a favorable omen." 
 
 " I am glad to hear that much, sir; for I have been think- 
 ing that it is my duty to speak to the rear-admiral on the 
 subject of his brother's marriage. From his own silence on 
 the subject, it is possible — nay, from a// circumstances it is 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 48/ 
 
 probable he never knew of it, and there may be reasons why 
 he ought to be informed of the affair. As you say he is so 
 easy, would there be an impropriety in mentioning it to 
 him?" 
 
 Greenly could not possibly have made a suggestion that 
 was a greater favor to Sir Gervaise. The necessity of doing, 
 his habits of decision, and having an object in view, con- 
 tributed to relieve his mind by diverting his thoughts to 
 some active duty; and he seized his hat, beckoned Greenly 
 to follow, and moved across the hill with a rapid pace, tak- 
 ing the path to the cottage. It was necessary to pass the 
 flagstaff. As this was done, every countenance met the vice- 
 admiral's glance, with a look of sincere sympathy. The 
 bows that were exchanged had more in them than the naked 
 courtesies of such salutations; they were eloquent of feeling 
 on both sides. 
 
 Bluewater was awake, and retaining the hand of Mildred 
 affectionately in his own, when his friend entered. Relin- 
 quishing his hold, however, he grasped the hand of the vice- 
 admiral, and looked earnestly at him, as if he pitied the 
 sorrow that he knew the survivor must feel. 
 
 " My dear Bluewater," commenced Sir Gervaise, who 
 acted under a nervous excitement, as well as from constitu- 
 tional decision, " here is Greenly with something to tell 
 you that we both think you ought to know, at a moment like 
 this." 
 
 The rear-admiral regarded his friend intently, as if in- 
 viting him to proceed. 
 
 " Why, it's about your brother Jack. I fancy you cannot 
 have known that he was ever married, or I think I should 
 have heard you speak of it." 
 
 "Married!" repeated Bluewater, with great interest, and 
 speaking with very little difficulty. " I think that must be 
 an error. Inconsiderate and warm-hearted he was, but 
 there was only one woman he could ^ nay, zvoidd have mar- 
 ried. She is long since dead, but not as his wife ; for that 
 
488 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 her uncle, a man of great wealth, but of unbending will, 
 would never have suffered. He survived her, though my 
 poor brother did not." 
 
 This was said in a mild voice, for the wounded man 
 spoke equally without effort, and without pain. 
 
 "You hear. Greenly.-*" observed Sir Gervaise. "And 
 yet it is not probable that you should be mistaken." 
 
 " Certainly, I am not, gentlemen. I saw Colonel Blue- 
 water married, as did another officer who is at this moment 
 in this very fleet. Captain Blakely is the person I mean, 
 and I know the priest who performed the ceremony is still 
 living, a beneficed clergyman." 
 
 "This is wonderful to me! He fervently loved Agnes 
 Hedworth, but his poverty was an obstacle to the union ; 
 and both died so young that there was little opportunity of 
 conciliating the uncle." 
 
 "That, sir, is your mistake. Agnes Hedworth was the 
 bride." 
 
 A noise in the room interrupted the dialogue, and the 
 three gentlemen saw Wycherly and Mildred stooping to 
 pick up the fragments of a bowl that Mrs. Dutton had let 
 fall. The latter, apparently in alarm at the little accident, 
 had sunk back into a seat, pale and trembling. 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Dutton, take a glass of water," said Sir 
 Gervaise, kindly approaching her; "your nerves have been 
 sorely tried of late ; else would not such a trifle affect you." 
 
 "It is not that r' exclaimed the matron huskily. "It is 
 not that / Oh! the fearful moment has come at last; and, 
 from my inmost spirit I thank thee, my Lord and my God, 
 that it has come free from shame and disgrace!" 
 
 The closing words were uttered on bended knees, and 
 with uplifted hands. 
 
 "Mother! — dearest, dearest mother," cried Mildred, fall- 
 ing on her mother's neck. " What mean you? What new 
 misery has happened to-day?" 
 
 " Mother ! Yes, sweet one, thou art, thou ever shalt be 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 489 
 
 my child! This is the pang I have most dreaded; but what 
 is an unknown tic of blood, to use, and affection, and to a 
 mother's care? If I did not bear thee, Mildred, no natural 
 mother could have loved thee more, or would have died for 
 thee as willingly!" 
 
 " Distress has disturbed her, gentlemen," said Mildred, 
 gently extricating herself from her mother's arms, and help- 
 ing her to rise. "A few moments of rest will restore her." 
 
 "No, darling; it must come now — it ought to come now 
 — after what I have just heard, it would be unpardonable 
 not to tell it noiv. Did I understand you to say, sir, that 
 you were present at the marriage of Agnes Hedworth, and 
 that, too, with the brother of Admiral Bluewater?" 
 
 '• Of that fact, there can be no question, madam, I and 
 others will testify to it. The marriage took place in Lon- 
 don, in the summer of 1725, while Blakely and myself were 
 up from Portsmouth, on leave. Colonel Bluewater asked us 
 both to be present, under a pledge of secresy." 
 
 "And in the summer of 1726, Agnes Hedworth died in 
 my house and my arms, an hour after giving birth to this 
 dear, this precious child— Mildred Dutton, as she has ever 
 since been called — Mildred Bluewater, as it would seem her 
 name should be." 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell on the surprise with which all 
 present, or the delight with which Bluewater and Wycherly 
 heard this extraordinary announcement. A cry escaped 
 Mildred, who threw herself on Mrs. Dutton's neck, entwin- 
 ing it with her arms, convulsively, as if refusing to permit 
 the tie that had so long bound them together to be thus 
 rudely torn asunder. But half an hour of weeping, and of 
 the tenderest consolations, calmed the poor girl a little, and 
 she was able to listen to the explanations. These were ex- 
 ceedingly simple, and so clear as, in connection with the 
 other evidence, to put the facts out of all doubt. 
 
 Miss Hedworth had become known to Mrs. Dutton while 
 the latter was an inmate of the house of her patron. A year 
 
490 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 or two after the marriage of the lieutenant, and while he 
 was on a distant station, Agnes Hedworth threw herself on 
 the protection of his wife, asking a refuge for a woman in 
 the most critical circumstances. Like all who knew Agnes 
 Hedworth, Mrs. Button both respected and loved her; but 
 the distance created between them, by birth and station, was 
 such as to prevent any confidence. The former, for the few 
 days passed with her humble friend, had acted with the quiet 
 dignity of a woman conscious of no wrong; and no questions 
 could be asked that implied doubts. A succession of faint- 
 ing-fits prevented all communications in the hour of death, 
 and Mrs. Button found herself left with a child on her 
 hands, and the dead body of her friend. Miss Hedworth 
 had come to her dwelling unattended and under a false name. 
 These circumstances induced Mrs. Button to apprehend the 
 worst, and she proceeded to make her arrangements with 
 great tenderness for the reputation of the deceased. The 
 body was removed to London, and letters were sent to the 
 uncle to inform him where it was to be found, with a refer- 
 ence should he choose to inquire into the circumstances of 
 his niece's death. Mrs. Button ascertained that the body 
 was interred in the usual manner, but no inquiry was ever 
 made concerning the particulars. The young duchess, 
 Miss Hedworth's sister, was then travelling in Italy, whence 
 she did not return for more than a year; and we may add, 
 though Mrs. Button was unable to make the explanation, 
 that her inquiries after the fate of a beloved sister were met 
 by a simple statement that she had died suddenly, on a 
 visit to a watering-place, whither she had gone with a female 
 friend for her health. Whether Mr. Hedworth himself had 
 any suspicions of his niece's condition is uncertain; but 
 the probabilities were against it, for she had offended him by 
 refusing a match equal in all respects to that made by her 
 elder sister, with the single exception that the latter had 
 married a man she loved, whereas he exacted of Agnes a 
 very different sacrifice. Owing to the alienation produced 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 49I 
 
 by this affair, there was little communication between the 
 uncle and niece ; the latter passing her time in retirement, 
 and professedly with friends that the former neither knew 
 nor cared to know. In short, such was the mode of life of 
 the respective parties that nothing was easier than for the 
 unhappy young widow to conceal her state from her uncle. 
 The motive was the fortune of the expected child ; this uncle 
 having it in his power to alienate from it, by will, if he saw 
 fit, certain family property, that might otherwise descend to 
 the issue of the two sisters, as his co-heiresses. What might 
 have happened in the end, or what poor Agnes meditated 
 doing, can never be known ; death closing the secret with 
 his irremovable seal. 
 
 Mrs. Button was the mother of a girl but three months 
 old, at the time this little stranger was left on her hands. 
 A few weeks later her own child died; and, having waited 
 several months in vain for tidings from the Hedworth fam- 
 ily, she had the surviving infant christened by the same 
 name as that borne by her own daughter, and soon came to 
 love it, as much, perhaps, as if she had borne it. Three 
 years passed in this manner, when the time drew near for 
 the return of her husband from the East Indies. To be 
 ready to meet him, she changed her abode to a naval port, 
 and, in so doing, changed her domestics. This left her 
 accidentally, but fortunately, as she afterward thought, com- 
 pletely mistress of the secret of Mildred's birth; the one or 
 two others to whom it was known being in stations to render 
 it improbable they should ever communicate anything on the 
 subject, unless it were asked of them. Her original inten- 
 tion, however, was to communicate the facts, without reserve, 
 to her husband. But he came back an altered man ; brutal 
 in manners, cold in his affections, and the victim of drunk- 
 enness. By this time, the wife was too much attached to 
 the child to think of exposing it to the wayward caprices of 
 such a being; and Mildred was educated, and grew in sta- 
 ture and beauty as the real offspring of her reputed parents. 
 
492 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 All this Mrs. Dutton related clearly and briefly, refrain- 
 ing, of course, from making any allusion to the conduct of 
 her husband, and referring all her own benevolence to her 
 attachment to the child. Bluewater had strength enough to 
 receive Mildred in his arms, and he kissed her pale cheek, 
 again and again, blessing her in the most fervent and solemn 
 manner. 
 
 " My feelings were not treacherous or unfaithful," he 
 said; "I loved thee, sweetest, from the first. Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes has my will, made in thy favor, before we sailed on 
 this last cruise, and ever}' shilling I leave will be thine. 
 Mr. Atwood, procure that will, and add a codicil explaining 
 this recent discovery, and confirming the legacy; let not the 
 last be touched, for it is spontaneous and comes from the 
 heart." 
 
 " And, now," answered Mrs. Dutton, " enough has passed 
 for once. The sick-bed should be more quiet. Give me 
 my child, again : — I cannot yet consent to part with her for- 
 ever." 
 
 "Mother! mother!" exclaimed Mildred, throwing herself 
 on Mrs. Button's bosom — " I am yours, and yours only." 
 
 " Not so, I fear, Mildred, if all I suspect be true, and this 
 is as proper a moment as another to place that matter also 
 before your honored uncle. Come forward, Sir Wycherly — 
 I have understood you to say, this minute, in my ear, that 
 you hold the pledge of this wilful girl to become your wife, 
 should she ever be an orphan. An orphan she is, and has 
 been since the first hour of her birth." 
 
 " No — no — no," murmured Mildred, burying her face still 
 deeper in her mother's bosom, ''not while ^(?« live, can I be 
 an orphan. Not now — another time — this is unseasonable 
 — cruel — nay, it is not what I said." 
 
 " Take her away, dearest Mrs. Dutton," said Bluewater, 
 tears of joy forcing themselves from his eyes. " Take her 
 away, lest too much happiness come upon me at once. My 
 thoughts should be calmer at such a moment." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 493 
 
 Wycherly removed Mildred from her mother's arms, and 
 gently led her from the room. When in Mrs. Button's 
 apartment, he whispered something in the ear of the agitated 
 girl that caused her to turn on him a look of happiness, 
 though it came dimmed with tears; then he had his turn of 
 holding her, for another precious instant, to his heart. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Button — nay, my dear mother^'' he said, 
 " Mildred and myself have both need of parents. I am an 
 orphan like herself, and we can never consent to part with 
 you. Look forward, I entreat you, to making one of our 
 family in all things, for never can either Mildred or myself 
 ease to consider you as anything but a parent entitled to 
 more than common reverence and affection." 
 
 Wycherly had hardly uttered this proper speech, when he 
 received what he fancied a tenfold reward. Mildred, in a 
 burst of natural feeling, without affectation or reserve, but 
 yielding to her heart only, threw her arms around his neck, 
 murmured the word " thanks" several times, and wept freely 
 on his bosom. When Mrs. Button received the sobbing 
 girl from him, Wycherly kissed the mother's cheek, and he 
 left the room. 
 
 Admiral Bluewater would not consent to seek his repose 
 until he had a private conference with his friend and Wych- 
 erly. The latter was frankness and liberality itself, but the 
 former would not wait for settlements. These he trusted to 
 the young man's honor. His own time was short, and he 
 should die perfectly happy could he leave his niece in the 
 care of one like our Virginian. He wished the marriage to 
 take place in his presence. On this, he even insisted, and, 
 of course, Wycherly made no objections, but went to state 
 the case to Mrs. Button and Mildred. 
 
 " It is singular, Bick," said Sir Gervaise, wiping his 
 eyes, as he looked from a window that commanded a view 
 of the sea, " that I have left both our flags flying in the 
 Caesar! I declare, the oddness of the circumstance never 
 struck me till this minute." 
 
494 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 "Let them float thus a little longer, Gervaise. They 
 have faced many a gale and many a battle together, and 
 may endure each other's company a few hours longer." 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " Compound of weakness and of strength, 
 Mighty, yet ignorant of thy power ! 
 Loftier than earth, or air, or sea. 
 Yet meaner than the lowliest flower ! 
 
 Margaret Davidson. 
 
 Not a syllable of explanation, reproach, or self-accusation 
 had passed between the commander-in-chief and the rear- 
 admiral, since the latter received his wound. Each party 
 appeared to blot out the events of the last few days, leaving 
 the long vista of their past services and friendship undisfig- 
 ured by a single unsightly or unpleasant object. Sir Ger- 
 vaise, while he retained an active superintendence of his 
 fleet, and issued the necessary orders right and left, hovered 
 around the bed of Bluewater with the assiduity and almost 
 with the tenderness of a woman ; still not the slightest allu- 
 sion was made to the recent battles, or to anything that had 
 occurred in the short cruise. The speech recorded at the 
 close of the last chapter was the first words he had uttered 
 which might, in any manner, carry the mind of either back 
 to events that both might wish forgotten. The rear-admiral 
 felt this forbearance deeply, and now that the subject was 
 thus accidentally broached between them, he had a desire to 
 say something in continuation. Still he waited until the 
 baronet had left the window and taken a seat by his bed. 
 
 " Gervaise," Bluewater then commenced, speaking low 
 from weakness, but speaking distinctly from feeling, *' I can- 
 not die without asking your forgiveness. There were several 
 hours when I actually meditated treason — I will not say to 
 my king ; on that point my opinions are unchanged — but to 
 you'* 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 495 
 
 "Why speak of this, Dick? You did not know yourself 
 when you believed it possible to desert me in the face of 
 the enemy. How much better I judged of your character 
 is seen in the fact that I did not hesitate to engage double 
 my force, well knowing that you could not fail to come to 
 my rescue." 
 
 Bluewater looked intently at his friend, and a smile of 
 serious satisfaction passed over his pallid countenance as 
 he listened to Sir Gervaise's words, which were uttered with 
 his usual warmth and sincerity of manner. 
 
 " I believe you know me better than I know my- 
 self," he answered, after a thoughtful pause; "yes, better 
 than I know myself. What a glorious close to our 
 professional career would it have been, Oakes, had I 
 followed you into battle, as was our old practice, and 
 fallen in your wake, imitating your own high exam- 
 ple!" 
 
 " It is better as it is, Dick — if anything that has so sad a 
 termination can be well — yes, it is better as it is; you have 
 fallen at my side^ as it were. We will think or talk no more 
 of this." 
 
 " We have been friends, and close friends too, for a long 
 period, Gervaise," returned Bluewater, stretching his arm 
 from the bed, with the long, thin fingers of the hand ex- 
 tended to meet the other's grasp; "yet I cannot recall an 
 act of yours which I can justly lay to heart, as unkind, or 
 untrue." 
 
 "God forgive me, if you can — I hope not, Dick; most 
 sincerely do I hope not. It would give me great pain to 
 believe it." 
 
 " You have no cause for self-reproach. In no one act or 
 thought can you justly accuse yourself with injuring me. I 
 should die much happier could I say the same of myself, 
 Oakes!" 
 
 "Thought! — Dick? — Thought! You never meditated 
 aught against;//^ in your whole life. The love you bear me^ 
 
49^ THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 is the true reason why you lie there, at this blessed mo- 
 ment." 
 
 " It is grateful to find that I have been understood. I am 
 deeply indebted to you, Oakes, for declining to signal me 
 and my division down, when I foolishly requested that un- 
 timely forbearance. I was then suffering an anguish of 
 mind, to which any pain of the body I may now endure is 
 an elysium ; your self-denial gave time " 
 
 " For the heart to prompt you to that which your feelings 
 yearned to do from the first, Bluewater," interrupted Sir 
 Gervaise. " And, now, as your commanding officer, I en- 
 join silence on this subject, y"^r<?z'^r." 
 
 " I will endeavor to obey. It will not be long, Oakes, 
 that I shall remain under your orders," added the rear- 
 admiral, with a painful smile. " There should be no charge 
 of mutiny against me in the last act of my life. You ought 
 to forgive the one sin of omission, when you remember how 
 much and how completely my will has been subject to 
 yours, during the last five-and-thirty years, — how little my 
 mind has matured a professional thought that yours has not 
 originated!" 
 
 " Speak no more of 'forgive,' I charge you, Dick. That 
 you have shown a girl-like docility in obeying all my orders, 
 too, is a truth I will aver before God and man ; but when it 
 comes to mind, I am far from asserting that mine has had 
 the mastery. I do believe, could the truth be ascertained, 
 it would be found that I am, at this blessed moment, enjoy- 
 ing a professional reputation which is more than half due 
 to you." 
 
 " It matters little, now, Gervaise — it matters little, now. 
 We were two lighted-hearted and gay lads, Oakes, when we 
 first met as boys, fresh from school, and merry as health 
 and spirits could make us." 
 
 "We were, indeed, Dick! — yes, we were; thoughtless 
 as if this sad moment were never to arrive!" 
 
 "There were George Anson and Peter Warren, little 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 497 
 
 Charley Saunders, Jack Byng, and a set of us, that did, in- 
 deed, live as if we were never to die! We carried our 
 lives, as it might be, in our hands, Oakes!" 
 
 "There is much of that, Dick, in boyhood and youth. 
 But he is happiest, after all, who can meet this moment as 
 you do — calmly, and yet without any dependence on his 
 own merits." 
 
 " I had an excellent mother, Oakes ! Little do we think, 
 in youth, how much we owe to the unextinguishable tender- 
 ness and far-seeing lessons of our mothers ! Ours both died 
 while we were young, yet I do think we were their debtors 
 for far more than we could ever repay." 
 
 Sir Gervaise simply assented, but making no immediate 
 answer, otherwise, a long pause succeeded, during which 
 the vice-admiral fancied that his friend was beginning to 
 doze. He was mistaken. 
 
 "You will be made Viscount Bowldero, for these last 
 affairs, Gervaise," the wounded man unexpectedly observed, 
 showing how much his thoughts were still engrossed with 
 the interests of his friend, " Nor do I see why you should 
 again refuse a peerage. Those who remain in this world 
 may well yield to its usages and opinions, while they do 
 not interfere with higher obligations." 
 
 " I !" — exclaimed Sir Gervaise gloomily. " The thought 
 of so commemorating what has happened would be worse 
 than defeat to me ! No — I ask no change of name to re- 
 mind me constantly of my loss!" 
 
 Bluewater looked grateful, rather than pleased; but he 
 made no answer. Now he fell into a light slumber, from 
 which he did not awake until the time he had himself set 
 for the marriage of Wycherly and Mildred. With one 
 uncle dead and still unburied, and another about to quit the 
 world forever, a rite that is usually deemed as joyous as it 
 is solemn might seem unseasonable; but the dying man 
 had made it a request that he might have the consolation of 
 knowing ere he expired that he left his niece under the legal 
 32 
 
498 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 protection of one as competent as he was desirous of pro- 
 tecting her. The reader must imagine the arguments that 
 were used for the occasion, but they were such as disposed 
 all in the end to admit the propriety of yielding their or- 
 dinary prejudices to the exigencies of the moment. It may 
 be well to add, also, to prevent useless cavilling, that the 
 laws of England were not as rigid on the subject of the 
 celebration of marriages in 1745, as they subsequently be- 
 came; and that it was lawful then to perform the ceremony 
 in a private house without a license, and without the pub- 
 lishing of banns, even; restrictions that were imposed a 
 few years later. The penalty for dispensing with the pub- 
 lication of banns was a fine of ^100, imposed on the 
 clergyman, and this fine Bluewater chose to pay, rather than 
 leave the only great object of life that now remained before 
 him unaccomplished. This penalty in no degree impaired 
 the validity of the contract, though Mrs. Button, as a 
 woman, felt averse to parting with her beloved without a 
 rigid observance of all the customary fofms. The point had 
 finally been disposed of, by recourse to arguments addressed 
 to the reason of this respectable woman, and by urging the 
 necessity of the case. Her consent, however, was not given 
 without a proviso that a license should be subsequently 
 procured, and a second marriage be had at a more fitting 
 moment, should the ecclesiastical authorities consent to the 
 same; a most improbable thing in itself. 
 
 Mr. Rotherham availed himself of the statute inflicting 
 the penalty, as an excuse for not officiating. His real mo- 
 tive, however, was understood, and the chaplain of the 
 Plantagenet, a divine of character and piety, was substituted 
 in his place. Bluewater had requested that as many of the 
 captains of the fleet should be present as could be collected, 
 and it was the assembling of these warriors of the deep, to- 
 gether with the arrival of the clergyman, that first gave 
 notice of the approach of the appointed hour. 
 
 It is not our intention to dwell on the details of a cere- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 499 
 
 mony that had so much that was painful in its solemnities. 
 Neither Wycherly nor Mildred made any change in their 
 attire, and the lovely bride wept from the time the service 
 began, to the moment when she left the arms of her uncle, 
 to be received in those of her husband, and was supported 
 from the room. All seemed sad, indeed, but Bluewater; to 
 him the scene was exciting, but it brought great relief to his 
 mind. 
 
 " I am now ready to die, gentlemen," he said, as the door 
 closed on the new-married couple. " My last worldly care 
 is disposed of, and it were better for me to turn all my 
 thoughts to another state of being. My niece. Lady 
 Wychecombe, will inherit the little I have to leave; nor do 
 I know that it is of much importance to substantiate her 
 birth, as her uncle clearly bestowed what would have been 
 her mother's property on her aunt, the duchess. If my 
 dying declaration can be of any use, however, you hear it, 
 and can testify to it. Now come and take leave of me, one 
 by one, that I may bless you all, and thank you for much 
 undeserved, and, I fear, unrequited love." 
 
 The scene that followed was solemn and sad. One by 
 one, the captains drew near the bed, and to each the dying 
 man had something kind and affectionate to say. Even 
 the most cold-hearted looked grave, and O'Neil, a man re- 
 markable for a gaite de c(Kiir that rendered the excitement of 
 battle some of the pleasantest moments of his life, literally 
 shed tears on the hand he kissed. 
 
 "Ah! my old friend," said the rear-admiral, as Parker, 
 of the Carnatic, drew near in his customary meek and sub- 
 dued manner, " you perceive it is not years alone that bring 
 us to our graves! They tell me you have behaved as usual 
 in these late affairs; I trust that, after a long life of patient 
 and arduous services, you are about to receive a proper 
 reward." 
 
 " I will acknowledge, Admiral Bluewater," returned 
 Parker earnestly, "that it would be peculiarly grateful to 
 
500 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 receive some mark of the approbation of my sovereign; 
 principally on account of my dear wife and children. We 
 are not, like yourself, descended from a noble family; but 
 must carve our rights to distinction, and they who have 
 never known honors of this nature prize them highly." 
 
 "Ay, my good Parker," interrupted the rear-admiral, 
 " and they who have ever known them know their empti- 
 ness; most especially as they approach that verge of exist- 
 ence whence the eye looks in a near and fearful glance, over 
 the vast and unknown range of eternity." 
 
 " No doubt, sir; nor am I so vain as to suppose that hairs 
 which have got to be gray as mine can last forever. But, 
 what I was about to say is, that, precious as honors are to 
 the humble, I would cheerfully yield every hope of the sort 
 I have, to see you on the poop of the Caesar again, with Mr. 
 Cornet at your elbow, leading the fleet, or following the 
 motions of the vice-admiral." 
 
 "Thank you, my good Parker; that can never be; nor 
 can I say now that I wish it might. When we have cast 
 off from the world, there is less pleasure in looking back 
 than in looking ahead. God bless you, Parker, and keep 
 you, as you ever have been, an honest man." 
 
 Stowel was the last to approach the bed, nor did he do it 
 until all had left the room but Sir Gervaise and himself. 
 The indomitable good-nature, and the professional noncha- 
 lance of Bluewater, by leaving every subordinate undisturbed 
 in the enjoyment of his own personal caprices, had rendered 
 the rear-admiral a greater favorite, in one sense at least, 
 than the commander-in-chief. Stowel, by his near connec- 
 tion with Bluewater, had profited more by these peculiari- 
 ties than any other oQicer under him, and the effect on his 
 feelings had been in a very just proportion to the benefits. 
 He could not refrain, it is true, from remembering the day 
 when he himself had been a lieutenant in the ship in which 
 the rear-admiral had been a midshipman, but he no longer 
 recollected the circumstance with the bitterness that it 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. $01 
 
 sometimes drew after it. On the contrary, it was now 
 brought to his mind rnerely as the most distant of the many 
 landmarks in their long and joint services. 
 
 "Well, Stowel," observed Bluewater, smiling sadly, "even 
 the old Csesar must be left behind. It is seldom a flag- 
 captain has not some heart-burnings on account of his 
 superior, and most sincerely do I beg you to forget and for- 
 give any I may have occasioned yourself." 
 
 "Heaven help me, sir! — I was far, just then, from think- 
 ing of any such thing! I was fancying how little I should 
 have thought it probable, when we were together in the 
 Calypso, that I should ever be thus standing at your bed- 
 side. Really, Admiral Bluewater, I would rejoice to share 
 with you the remnant of life that is left me." 
 
 " I do believe you would, Stowel ; but that can never be. 
 I have just performed my last act in this world, in giving 
 my niece to Sir Wycherly Wychecombe." 
 
 "Yes, sir; — yes, sir — marriage is no doubt honorable, as 
 I often tell Mrs. Stowel, and therefore not to be despised; 
 and yet it is singular that a gentleman who has lived a 
 bachelor himself should fancy to see a marriage ceremony 
 performed, and that, too, at the cost of ^loo, if any person 
 choose to complain, just at the close of his own cruise! 
 However, men are no more alike in such matters, than 
 women in their domestic qualities; and I sincerely hope 
 this young Sir Wycherly may find as much comfort in the 
 old house I understand he has a little inland here, as you 
 and I have had together, sir, in the old Caesar. I suppose 
 there'll be no co-equals in Wychecombe Hall." 
 
 " I trust not, Stowel. But you must now receive my last 
 orders, as to the Caesar " 
 
 " The commander-in-chief has his own flag flying aboard 
 of us, sir!" interrupted the methodical captain, in a sort of 
 admonitory way. 
 
 "Nevermind that, Stowel; — I'll answer for his acquies- 
 cence. My body must be received on board, and carried 
 
502 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 round in the ship to Plymouth. Place it on the main-deck, 
 where the people can see the coffin ; I would pass my last 
 hours above ground in their midst." 
 
 " It shall be done, sir — yes, sir, to the letter, Sir Gervaise 
 not countermanding. And I'll write this evening to Mrs. 
 Stowel to say she needn't come down, as usual, as soon as 
 she hears the ship is in, but that she must wait until your 
 flag is fairly struck." 
 
 " I should be sorry, Stowel, to cause a moment's delay in 
 the meeting of husband and wife!" 
 
 "Don't name it, Admiral Bluewater; — Mrs. Stowel will 
 understand that it's duty ; and when we married I fully ex- 
 plained to her that duty, with a sailor, came before matri- 
 mony." 
 
 A little pause succeeded, then Bluewater took a final and 
 affectionate leave of his captain. Some twenty minutes 
 elapsed in a profound silence, during which Sir Gervaise 
 did not stir, fancying that his friend again dozed. But it 
 was ordered that Bluewater was never to sleep again, until 
 he took the final rest of the dead. It was the mind, which 
 had always blazed above the duller lethargy of his body, 
 that buoyed him thus up, giving an unnatural impulse to 
 his physical powers; an impulse, however, that was but 
 momentary, and which, by means of the reaction, contributed 
 in the end, to his more speedy dissolution. Perceiving, at 
 length, that his friend did not sleep, Sir Gervaise drew near 
 his bed. 
 
 " Richard," he said gently, " there is one without who 
 pines to be admitted. I have refused even his tears, under 
 the impression that you felt disposed to sleep." 
 
 " Never less so. My mind appears to become brighter 
 and clearer, instead of fading; I think I shall never sleep, 
 in the sense you mean. Whoever the person is, let him be 
 admitted." 
 
 Receiving this permission. Sir Gervaise opened the door, 
 and Geoffrey Cleveland entered. At the same moment, 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 5O3 
 
 Galleygo, who came and went at pleasure, thrust in his own 
 ungainly form. The boy's face betrayed the nature and the 
 extent of his grief. In his mind, Admiral Bluewater was 
 associated with all the events of his own professional life; 
 and, though the period had in truth been so short, in his 
 brief existence, the vista through which he looked back 
 seemed quite as long as that which marked the friendship 
 of the two admirals themselves. Although he struggled 
 manfully for self-control, feeling got the better of the lad, 
 and he threw himself on his knees, at the side of his bed, 
 sobbing as if his heart would break. Bluewater's eye glis- 
 tened, and he laid a hand affectionately on the head of his 
 young relative. 
 
 " Gervaise, you will take charge of this boy when I'm 
 gone," he said; "receive him in your own ship. I leave 
 him to you, as a very near and dear professional legacy. 
 Cheer up — cheer up — my brave boy; look upon all this as 
 a sailor's fortune. Our lives are the '' 
 
 The word '' king's," which should have succeeded, 
 seemed to choke the speaker. Casting a glance of mean- 
 ing at his friend, with a painful smile on his face, he con- 
 tinued silent. 
 
 "Ah! dear sir," answered the midshipman, ingenuously; 
 " I knew that we might all be killed, but it never occurred 
 to me that an admiral could lose his life in battle. I'm 
 sure — I'm sure you are the very first that has met with this 
 accident!" 
 
 " Not by many, my poor Geoffrey. As there are but 
 few admirals, few fall; but we are as much exposed as 
 others." 
 
 " If I had only run that Monsieur des Prez through the 
 body, when we closed with him," returned the boy, grating 
 his teeth, and looking all the vengeance for which, at the 
 passing instant, he felt the desire, " it would have been 
 something! I might have done it, too, for he was quite 
 unguarded! 
 
504 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " It would have been a very bad thifig^ boy, to have 
 injured a brave man uselessly." 
 
 " Of what use was it to shoot you, sir ? We took their 
 ship, just the same as if you had not been hurt." 
 
 " I rather think, Geoffrey, their ship was virtually taken 
 before I was wounded," returned Bluewater, smiling. " But 
 I was shot by a French marine, who did no more than his 
 duty." 
 
 "Yes, sir," exclaimed the boy impatiently; "and he 
 escaped without a scratch. He^ at least, ought to have been 
 massacred^ 
 
 "Thou art bloody-minded, child; I scarce know thee. 
 Massacred is not a word for either a British nobleman or a 
 British sailor. I saved the life of that marine; and, when 
 you come to lie, like me, on your death-bed, Geoffrey, you 
 will learn how sweet a consolation can be derived from the 
 consciousness of such an act; we all need mercy, and none 
 ought to expect it for themselves who do not yield it to 
 others." 
 
 The boy was rebuked, and his feelings took a better, 
 though scarcely a more natural direction. Bluewater now 
 spoke to him of his newly discovered cousin, and had a 
 melancholy satisfaction in creating an interest in behalf of 
 Mildred, in the breast of the noble-hearted and ingenuous 
 boy. The latter listened with respectful attention, as had 
 been his wont, until, deceived by the tranquil and benevo- 
 lent manner of Bluewater, he permitted himself to fall into 
 the natural delusion of believing the wound of the rear-ad- 
 miral less serious than he had supposed, and to begin to en- 
 tertain hopes that the wounded man might yet survive. 
 Calmed by these feelings, he soon ceased to weep; and, 
 promising discretion, was permitted by Sir Gervaise to re- 
 main in the room, where he busied himself in the offices of 
 a nurse. 
 
 Another long pause succeeded this exciting little scene, 
 during which Bluewater lay quietly communing with him- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 505 
 
 self and his God. Sir Gervaise wrote orders and read re- 
 ports, though his eye was never off the countenance of his 
 friend more than a minute or two at a time. At length the 
 rear-admiral aroused himself again, and began to take an 
 interest once more, in the persons and things around him. 
 
 "Galleygo, my old fellow-cruiser," he said, " I leave Sir 
 Gervaise more particularly in your care. As we advance 
 in life, our friends decrease in numbers ; it is only those 
 that have been well tried that we can rely on." 
 
 "Yes, Admiral Blue, I knows that, and so does Sir Jarvy. 
 Yes, old shipmates afore young 'uns, any day, and old sail- 
 ors, too, afore green hands. Sir Jarvy's Bowlderos are 
 good plate-holders, and the likes of that; but when it comes 
 to heavy weather, and a hard strain, I thinks but little on 
 *em, all put together." 
 
 " By the way, Oakes," said Bluewater, with a sudden in- 
 terest in such a subject, that he never expected to feel 
 again, " I have heard nothing of the first day's work, in 
 which, through the little I have gleaned by listening to 
 those around me, I understand you took a two-decker, be- 
 sides dismasting the French admiral.?" 
 
 "Pardon me, Dick; you had better try and catch a little 
 sleep ; the subject of those two days' work is really painful 
 to me." 
 
 " Well, then. Sir Jarvy, if you has an avarsion to telling 
 the story to Admiral Blue, I can do it, your honor," put in 
 Galleygo, who gloried in giving a graphic description of a 
 sea-fight. "I thinks, now, a history of that day will com- 
 fort a fiag-hofficer as has been so badly wounded himself." 
 
 Bluewater offering no opposition, Galleygo proceeded 
 with his account of the evolutions of the ships, as we have 
 already described them, succeeding surprisingly well in 
 rendering the narrative interesting, and making himself 
 perfectly intelligible and clear, by his thorough knowledge 
 and ready use of the necessary nautical terms. When he 
 came to the moment in which the English line separated, 
 
506 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 part passing to windward and part to leeward of the two 
 French ships, he related the incident in so clear and spirited 
 a manner that the commander-in-chief himself dropped his 
 pen, and sat listening with pleasure. 
 
 "Who could imagine, Dick," Sir Gervaise observed, 
 "that those fellows in the tops watch us so closely, and 
 could give so accurate an account of what passes!" 
 
 "Ah! Gervaise, and what is the vigilance of Galleygo to 
 that of the All-seeing eye! It is a terrible thought, at an 
 hour like this, to remember that nothing can be forgotten. 
 I have somewhere read that not an oath is uttered that does 
 not continue to vibrate through all time, in the wide-spread- 
 ing currents of sound — not a prayer lisped, that its record 
 is not also to be found stamped on the laws of nature, by 
 the indelible seal of the Almighty's will!" 
 
 There was little in common between the religious im- 
 pressions of the two friends. They were both sailors, and 
 though the word does not necessarily imply that they were 
 sinners in an unusual degree, neither does it rigidly imply 
 that they were saints. Each had received the usual ele- 
 mentary education, and then each had been turned adrift, 
 as it might be on the ocean of life, to suffer the seed to take 
 root and the fruit to ripen as best they might. Few of 
 those " who go down to the great deep in ships," and who 
 escape the more brutalizing effects of lives so rude, are al- 
 together without religious impressions. Living so much, 
 as it were, in the immediate presence of the power of God, 
 the sailor is much disposed to reverence his omnipotence, 
 even while he transgresses his laws; but in nearly all those 
 instances in which nature has implanted a temperament in- 
 clining to deep feeling, as was the case with Bluewater, not 
 even the harsh examples, nor the loose or irresponsible 
 lives of men thus separated from the customary ties of so- 
 ciety, can wholly extinguish the reverence for God which is 
 created by constantly dwelling in the presence of his earthly 
 magnificence. This sentiment in Bluewater had not been 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 50/ 
 
 altogether without fruits, for he both read and reflected 
 much. Sometimes, though at isolated and distant intervals, 
 he even prayed ; and that fervently, and with a strong and 
 full sense of his own demerits. As a consequence of this 
 general disposition, and of the passing convictions, his 
 mind was better attuned for the crisis before him than 
 would have been the case with most of his brethren in arms, 
 who, when overtaken with the fate so common to the pro- 
 fession, are usually left to sustain their last moments with 
 the lingering enthusiasm of strife and victory. 
 
 On the other hand. Sir Gervaise was as simple as a child 
 in matters of this sort. He had a reverence for his Creator 
 and such general notions of his goodness and love as the 
 well-disposed are apt to feel ; but all the dogmas concern- 
 ing the lost condition of the human race, the mediation, 
 and the power of faith, floated in his mind as opinions not 
 to be controverted, and yet as scarcely to be felt. In short, 
 the commander-in-chief admitted the practical heresy 
 which overshadows the faith of millions, while he deemed 
 himself to be a stout advocate of church and king. Still, 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes, on occasions, was more than usually 
 disposed to seriousness, and was even inclined to be de- 
 vout ; but it was without much regard to theories or revela- 
 tion. As such moments, while his opinions would not 
 properly admit him within the pale of any Christian church, 
 in particular, his feelings might have identified him with 
 all. In a word, we apprehend he was a tolerably fair ex- 
 ample of what vague generalities, w^hen acting on a tem- 
 perament not indisposed to moral impressions, render the 
 great majority of men; who flit around the mysteries of a 
 future state, without alighting either on the consolations of 
 faith, or discovering any of those logical conclusions which 
 half the time, unconsciously to themselves, they seem to ex- 
 pect. When Bluewater made his last remark, therefore, the 
 vice-admiral looked anxiously at his friend; and religion 
 for the first time since the other received his hurt mingled 
 
508 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 with his reflections. He had devoutly, though mentally, 
 returned thanks to God for his victory, but it had never oc- 
 curred to him that Bluewater might need some preparation 
 for death. 
 
 " Would you like to see the Plantagenet's chaplain, again, 
 Dick."*" he said tenderly; "you are no Papist; of that\ 
 am certain." 
 
 " In that you are quite right, Gervaise. I consider all 
 churches — the one holy Catholic- Q}i\\ixz\ if you will, as but 
 a means furnished by divine benevolence to aid weak men 
 in their pilgrimage; but I also believe that there is even a 
 shorter way to his forgiveness than through these common 
 avenues. How far I am right," he added, smiling, " none 
 will probably know better than myself, a few hours hence/' 
 
 "Friends must meet again, hereafter, Bluewater; it is 
 irrational to suppose that they who have loved each other 
 so well in this state of being are to be forever separated in 
 the other." 
 
 " We will hope so, Oakes," taking the vice-admiral's 
 hand; " we will hope so. Still, there will be no ships for 
 us — no cruises — no victories — no triumphs! It is only at 
 moments like this, at which I have arrived, that we come to 
 view these things in their proper light. Of all the past, 
 your constant, unwavering friendship gives me the most 
 pleasure!" 
 
 The vice-admiral could resist no longer. He turned 
 aside and wept. This tribute to nature, in one so manly, 
 was imposing even to the dying man, and Galleygo regarded 
 it with awe. Familiar as the latter had become with his 
 master, by use and indulgence, no living being, in his esti- 
 mation, was as authoritative or as formidable as the com- 
 mander-in-chief ; and the effect of the present spectacle 
 was to induce him to hide his own face in self-abase- 
 ment. 
 
 Bluewater saw it all, but he neither spoke nor gave any 
 token of his observation. He merely prayed, and that right 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 5O9 
 
 fervently, not only for his friend, but for his humble and 
 uncouth follower. 
 
 A reaction took place in the system of the wounded man, 
 about nine o'clock that night. At this time he believed 
 himself near his end, and he sent for Wycherly and his 
 niece, to take his leave of them. Mrs. Button was also 
 present, as was Magrath, who remained on shore, in attend- 
 ance. Mildred lay for half an hour, bathing her uncle's 
 pillow with her tears, until she was removed at the sur- 
 geon's suggestion. 
 
 "Ye'll see. Sir Gervaise," he whispered — (or "Sir 
 Jairvis," as he always pronounced the name,) — "ye'll see. 
 Sir Jairvis, that it's a duty of the faculty to prolong life, 
 even when there's no hope of savi?ig it; and if ye'll be re- 
 gairding the judgment of a professional man, Lady Wyche- 
 combe had better withdraw. It would really be a matter of 
 honest exultation for us Plantagenets to get the rear-admiral 
 through the night, seeing that the surgeon of the Caesar said 
 he could not survive the setting sun." 
 
 At the moment of final separation, Bluewater had little 
 to say to his niece. He kissed and blessed her again and 
 again, and then signed that she should be taken away. 
 Mrs. Button, also, came in for a full share of his notice, he 
 having desired her to remain after Wycherly and Mildred 
 had quitted the room. 
 
 " To your care and affection, excellent woman," he said, 
 in a voice that had now sunk nearly to a whisper, " we owe 
 it that Mildred is not unfit for her station. Her recovery 
 would have been even more painful than her loss, had she 
 been restored to her proper family, uneducated, vulgar, and 
 coarse." 
 
 "That could hardly have happened to Mildred, sir, in 
 any circumstances," answered the weeping woman. " Na- 
 ture has done too much for the dear child, to render her 
 anything but delicate and lovely, under any tolerable cir- 
 cumstances of depression." 
 
5IO THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " She is better as she is, and God be thanked that he 
 raised up such a protector for her childhood. You have 
 been all in all to her in her infancy, and she will strive to 
 repay it to your age." 
 
 Of this Mrs. Button felt too confident to need assurances; 
 and, receiving the dying man's blessing, she knelt at his bed- 
 side, prayed fervently for a few minutes, and withdrew. 
 After this, nothing out of the ordinary track occurred until 
 past midnight, and Magrath, more than once, whispered his 
 joyful anticipations that the rear-admiral would survive 
 until morning. An hour before day, however, the wounded 
 man revived, in a way that the surgeon distrusted. He 
 knew that no physical change of this sort could well 
 happen that did not arise from the momentary ascendency 
 of mind over matter, as the spirit is on the point of finally 
 abandoning its earthly tenement; a circumstance of no un- 
 usual occurrence in patients of strong and active intellec- 
 tual properties, whose faculties often brighten for an instant, 
 in their last moments, as the lamp flashes and glares as it is 
 about to become extinct. Going to the bed, he examined 
 his patient attentively, and was satisfied that the final mo- 
 ment was near. 
 
 "You're a man and a soldier, Sir Jairvis," he said, in a 
 low voice, " and it'll no be doing good to attempt mislead- 
 ing your judgment in a case of this sort. Our respectable 
 friend, the rear-admiral, is articulo 7nortis^ as one might 
 almost say; he cannot possibly survive half an hour." 
 
 Sir Gervaise started. He looked around him a little 
 wistfully; for, at that moment, he would have given much 
 to be alone with his dying friend. But he hesitated to 
 make a request which, it struck him, might seem improper. 
 From this embarrassment, however, he was relieved by 
 Bluewater himself, who had the same desire, without the 
 same scruples about confessing it. He drew the surgeon to 
 his side, and whispered a wish to be left alone with the 
 commander-in-chief. 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. JH 
 
 "Well, there will be no trespass on the rules of practice 
 in indulging the poor man in his desire," muttered Magrath, 
 as he looked about him to gather the last of his professional 
 instruments, like the workman who is about to quit one 
 place of toil to repair to another; " and I'll just be indulg- 
 ing him." 
 
 So saying, he pushed Galleygo and Geoffrey from the 
 room before him, left it himself, and closed the door. 
 
 Finding himself alone. Sir Gervaise knelt at the side of 
 the bed and prayed, holding the hand of his friend in both 
 his own. The example of Mrs. Button, and the yearnings 
 of his own heart, exacted this sacrifice; when it was over 
 he felt a great relief from sensations that nearly choked 
 him. 
 
 "Do you forgive me, Gervaise?" whispered Bluewater. 
 
 " Name it not — name it not, my best friend. We all have 
 our moments of weakness, and our need of pardon. May 
 God forget all 7ny sins, as freely as I forget your errors!" 
 
 " God bless you, Oakes, and keep you the same simple- 
 minded, true-hearted man, you have ever been." 
 
 Sir Gervaise buried his face in the bedclothes, and 
 groaned. 
 
 " Kiss me, Oakes," murmured the rear-admiral. 
 
 In order to do this, the commander-in-chief rose from 
 his knees and bent over the body of his friend. As he 
 raised himself from the cheek he had saluted, a benignant 
 smile gleamed on the face of the dying man, and he ceased 
 to breathe. Near half a minute followed, however, before 
 the last and most significant breath that is ever drawn from 
 man was given. The remainder of that night Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes passed in the chamber alone, pacing the floor, re- 
 calling the many scenes of pleasure, danger, pain, and 
 triumph, through which he and the dead had passed in com- 
 pany. With the return of light, he summoned the attena- 
 ants, and retired to his tent 
 
512 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 And they came for the buried king that lay 
 
 At rest in that ancient fane ; 
 For he must be armed on the battle day, 
 
 With them to deliver Spain ! — 
 Then the march went sounding on, 
 And the Moors by noontide sun 
 
 Were dust on Tolosa's plain." 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 It remains only to give a rapid sketch of the fortunes of 
 our principal characters, and of the few incidents that are 
 more immediately connected with what has gone before. 
 The death of Bluewater was announced to the fleet, at sun- 
 rise, by hauling down his flag from the mizzen of the Cae- 
 sar. The vice-admiral's flag came down with it, and reap- 
 peared at the next minute at the fore of the Plantagenet. 
 But the little white emblem of rank never went aloft again 
 in honor of the deceased. At noon, it was spread over his 
 coflBn, on the main-deck of the ship, agreeably to his own 
 request; and more than once that day did some rough old 
 tar use it to wipe the tear from his eyes. 
 
 In the afternoon of the day after the death of one of our 
 heroes, the wind came round to the westward, and all the 
 vessels lifted their anchors and proceeded to Plymouth. 
 The crippled ships, by this time, were in a state to carry 
 more or less sail, and a stranger who had seen the melan- 
 choly looking line, as it rounded the Start, would have fan- 
 cied it a beaten fleet on its return to port. The only signs 
 of exultation that appeared were the jacks that were flying 
 over the white flags of the prizes; and even when all had 
 anchored the same air of sadness reigned among these vic- 
 torious mariners. The body was landed, with the usual 
 forms; but the procession of warriors of the deep that fol- 
 lowed it was distinguished by a gravity that exceeded the 
 ordinary aspects of mere form. Many of the captains, and 
 Greenly in particular, had viewed the manoeuvring of Blue- 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 513 
 
 water with surprise, and the latter not altogether without 
 displeasure ; but his subsequent conduct completely erased 
 these impressions, leaving no other recollection connected 
 with his conduct that morning than the brilliant courage 
 and admirable handling of his vessels, by which the fortunes 
 of a nearly desperate day were retrieved. Those who did 
 reflect any longer on the subject attributed the singularity 
 of the course pursued by the rear-admiral to some private 
 orders communicated in the telegraphic signal, as already 
 mentioned. 
 
 It is unnecessary for us to dwell on the particular move- 
 ments of the fleet, after it reached Plymouth. The ships 
 were repaired, the prizes received into the service, and, in 
 due time all took to the sea again, ready and anxious to 
 encounter their country's enemies. They ran the careers 
 usual to English heavy cruisers in that age; and, as ships 
 form characters in this work, perhaps it may not be amiss 
 to take a general glance at their several fortunes, together 
 with those of their respective commanders. Sir Gervaise 
 fairly wore out the Plantagenet, which vessel was broken up 
 three years later, though not until she had carried a blue 
 flag at her main more than two years. Greenly lived to be 
 a rear-admiral of the red, and died of yellow-fever in the 
 Island of Barbadoes. The Caesar, with Stowel still in com- 
 mand of her, foundered at sea in a winter's cruise in the 
 Baltic, every soul perishing. This calamity occurred the 
 winter succeeding the summer of our legend, and the only 
 relieving circumstance connected with the disaster was the 
 fact that her commander got rid of Mrs. Stowel altogether, 
 from that day forward. The Thunderer had her share in 
 many a subsequent battle, and Foley, her captain, died rear- 
 admiral of England and a vice-admiral of the red, thirty 
 years later. The Carnatic was commanded by Parker, until 
 the latter got a right to hoist a blue flag at the mizzen; 
 which was done for just one day, to comply with form, when 
 both ship and admiral were laid aside, as too old for further 
 33 
 
514 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 use. It should be added, however, that Parker was knighted 
 by the king on board his own ship ; a circumstance that 
 cast a halo of sunshine over the close of the life of one who 
 had commenced his career so humbly as to render this 
 happy close more than equal to his expectations. In direct 
 opposition to this, it may be said here that Sir Gervaise re- 
 fused, for the third time, to be made Viscount Bowldero, 
 with a feeling just the reverse of that of Parker's; for, se- 
 cure of his social position and careless of politics, he 
 viewed the elevation with an indifference that was a natural 
 consequence enough of his own birth, fortune, and high 
 character. On this occasion — it was after another victory 
 — George II. personally alluded to the subject, remarking 
 that the success we have recorded had never met with its 
 reward ; when the old seaman let out the true secret of his 
 pertinaciously declining an honor, about which he might 
 otherwise have been supposed to be as indifferent to the 
 acceptance as to the refusal. " Sir," he answered to the 
 remark of the king, " I am duly sensible of your majesty's 
 favor; but I can never consent to receive a patent of nobil- 
 ity that, in my eyes, will always seem to be sealed with the 
 blood of my closest and best friend." This reply was re- 
 membered, and the subject was never adverted to again. 
 
 The fate of the Blenheim was one of those impressive 
 blanks that dot the pages of nautical history. She sailed 
 for the Mediterranean alone, and after she had discharged 
 her pilot was never heard of again. This did not occur, 
 however, until Captain Sterling had been killed on her 
 decks, in one of Sir Gervaise's subsequent actions. The 
 Achilles was suffered to drift in, too near to some heavy 
 French batteries, before the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
 signed ; and, after every stick had been again cut out of her, 
 she was compelled to lower her flag. His earldom and his 
 courage saved Lord Morganic from censure; but, being 
 permitted to go up to Paris, previously to his exchange, he 
 contracted a matrimonial engagement with a celebrate..' 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 515 
 
 danseuse^ 2l craft that gave him so much future employment 
 that he virtually abandoned his profession. Nevertheless, 
 his name was on the list of vice-admirals of the blue, when 
 he departed this life. The Warspite and Captain Goodfel- 
 low both died natural deaths; one as a receiving-ship, and 
 the other as a rear-admiral of the white. The Dover, Cap- 
 tain Drinkwater, was lost in attempting to weather Scilly in 
 a gale, when her commander, and quite half her crew, were 
 drowned. The York did many a hard day's duty before 
 her time arrived; but, in the end, she was so much injured 
 in a general action as to be abandoned and set fire to, at 
 sea. Her commander was lost overboard, in the very first 
 cruise she took after that related in this work. The Eliza- 
 beth rotted as a guard-ship, in the Medway ; and Captain 
 Blakely retired from the service with one arm, a yellow ad- 
 miral. The Dublin laid her bones in the cove of Cork, 
 having been condemned after a severe winter passed on the 
 north coast. Captain O'Neil was killed in a duel with a 
 French officer, after the peace ; the latter having stated that 
 his ship had run away from two frigates commanded by the 
 Chevalier. The Chloe was taken by an enemy's fleet, in 
 the next war; but Captain Denham worked his way up to 
 a white flag at the main, and a peerage. The Druid was 
 wrecked that very summer, chasing inshore, near Bordeaux; 
 and Blewet, in a professional point of view, never regained 
 the ground he lost on that occasion. As for the sloops and 
 cutters, they went the way of all small cruisers, while their 
 nameless commanders shared the usual fates of mariners. 
 
 Wycherly remained at Wychecombe until the interment 
 of his uncle took place; at which, aided by Sir Reginald's 
 influence and knowledge, and in spite of Tom's intrigues, 
 he appeared as chief mourner. The affair of the succession 
 was also so managed as to give him very little trouble. 
 Tom, discovering that his own illegitimacy was known, and 
 seeing the hopelessness of a contest against such an antago- 
 nist as Sir Reginald, who knew quite as much of the facts 
 
5l6 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 as he did of the law of the case, was fain to retire from the 
 field. From that moment, no one heard anything more of 
 the legacies. In the end he received the ^2^2 0,000 in the 
 five per cents., and the few chattels Sir Wycherly had a right 
 to give away; but his enjoyment of them was short, as he 
 contracted a severe cold that very autumn, and died of a 
 malignant fever in a few weeks. Leaving no will, his 
 property escheated ; but it was all restored to his two uterine 
 brothers, by the liberality of the ministry, and out of respect 
 to the long services of the baron, which two brothers, it will 
 be remembered, alone had any of the blood of Wychecombe 
 in their veins to boast of. This was disposing of the sav- 
 ings of both the baronet and the judge, with a very suitable 
 regard to moral justice. 
 
 Wycherly also appeared, though it was in company with 
 Sir Gervaise Oakes, as one of the principal mourners at the 
 funeral obsequies of Admiral Bluewater. These were of a 
 public character, and took place in Westminster Abbey. 
 The carriages of that portion of the royal personages who 
 were not restrained by the laws of court etiquette appeared 
 in the procession ; and several members of that very family 
 that the deceased regarded as intruders were present incog, 
 at his last rites. This, however, was but one of the many 
 illusions that the great masquerade of life is constantly 
 offering to the public gaze. 
 
 There was little difficulty in establishing the claims of 
 Mildred to be considered the daughter of Colonel Blue- 
 water and Agnes Hedworth. Lord Bluewater was soon sat- 
 isfied ; and, as he was quite indifferent to the possession of 
 his kinsman's money, an acquisition he neither wished nor 
 expected, the most perfect good-will existed between the 
 parties. There was more difficulty with the Duchess of 
 Glamorgan, who had acquired too many of the notions of 
 very high rank to look with complacency on a niece that 
 had been educated as the daughter of a sailing-master in the 
 navy. She raised many objections, while she admitted that 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 517 
 
 she had been the confidant of her sister's attachment to John 
 Bluewater. Her second son, Geoffrey, did more to remove 
 her scruples than all the rest united; and when Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes, in person, condescended to make a journey to the 
 Park, to persuade her to examine the proofs, she could not 
 well decline. As soon as one of her really candid mind 
 entered into the inquiry, the evidence was found to be irre- 
 sistible, and she at once yielded to the feelings of nature. 
 Wycherly had been indefatigable in establishing his wife's 
 claims — more so, indeed, than in establishing his own; 
 and, at the suggestion of the vice-admiral — or, admiral of 
 the white, as he had become by a recent general promotion 
 — he consented to accompany the latter in this visit, waiting 
 at the nearest town, however, for a summons to the Park, as 
 soon as it could be ascertained that his presence would be 
 agreeable to its mistress. 
 
 " If my niece prove but half as acceptable in appearance 
 as my nephew, Sir Gervaise," observed the duchess, when 
 the young Virginian was introduced to her, and laying stress 
 on the word we have italicized — " nothing can be wanting 
 to the agreeables of this new connection. I am impatient, 
 now, to see my niece; Sir Wycherly Wychecombe has pre- 
 pared me to expect a young woman of more than common 
 merit." 
 
 " My life on it, duchess, he has not raised your expecta- 
 tions too high. The poor girl is still dwelling in her cot- 
 tage, the companion of her reputed mother; but it is time, 
 Wychecombe, that you had claimed your bride." 
 
 "I expect to find her and Mrs. Button at the Hall, on my 
 return. Sir Gervaise; it having been thus arranged between 
 us. The sad ceremonies through which we have lately 
 been were unsuited to the introduction of the new mistress 
 to her abode, and the last had been deferred to a more fit- 
 ting occasion." 
 
 " Let the first visit that Lady Wychecombe pays be to 
 this place-," said the duchess. "I do not command it, Sir 
 
5l8 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Wycherly, as one who has some slight claims to her duty; 
 but I solicit it, as one who wishes to possess every hold 
 upon her love. Her mother was an on/y sister ) and an on/y 
 sister's child must be very near to one." 
 
 It would have been impossible for the Duchess of Gla- 
 morgan to have said as much as this before she saw the young 
 Virginian ; but, now he had t^irned out a person so very 
 different from what she expected, she had lively hopes in 
 behalf of her niece. 
 
 Wycherly returned to Wychecombe, after this short visit 
 to Mildred's aunt, and found his lovely bride in quiet pos- 
 session, accompanied by her mother. Dutton still remained 
 at the station, for he had the sagacity to see that he might 
 not be welcome, and modesty enough to act with a cautious 
 reserve. But Wycherly respected his excellent wife too 
 profoundly not to have a due regard to her feelings, in all 
 things; and the master was invited to join the party. Bru- 
 tality and meanness united, like those which belonged to 
 the character of Dutton, are not easily abashed, and he ac- 
 cepted the invitation, in the hope that, after all, he was 
 to reap as many advantages by the marriage of Mildred 
 with the affluent baronet, as if she had actually been his 
 daughter. 
 
 After passing a few weeks in sober happiness at home, 
 Wycherly felt it due to all parties to carry his wife to the 
 Park, in order that she might make the acquaintance of the 
 near relatives who dwelt there. Mrs. Dutton, by invitation, 
 was of the party; but Dutton was left behind, having no 
 necessary connection with the scenes and the feelings that 
 were likely to occur. It would be painting the duchess too 
 much dn beau, were we to say that she met Mildred without 
 certain misgivings and fears. But the first glimpse of her 
 lovely niece completely put natural feelings in the ascen- 
 dency. The resemblance to her sister was so strong as to 
 cause a piercing cry to escape her, and, bursting into tears, 
 she folded the trembling young woman to her heart, with 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 519 
 
 a fervor and sincerity that set at naught all conventional 
 manners. This was the commencement of a close intimacy; 
 which lasted but a short time, however, the duchess dying 
 two years later. 
 
 Wycherly continued in the service until the peace of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, when he finally quitted the sea. His 
 strong native attachments led him back to Virginia, where 
 all his own nearest relatives belonged, and where his whole 
 heart might be said to be, when he saw Mildred and his 
 children at his side. With him, early associations and 
 habits had more strength than traditions and memorials of 
 the past. He erected a spacious dwelling on the estate in- 
 herited from his father, where he passed most of his time; 
 consigning Wychecombe to the care of a careful steward. 
 With the additions and improvements that he was now ena- 
 bled to make, his Virginian estate produced even a larger 
 income than his English, and his interest^ really pointed to 
 the choice he had made. But no pecuniary considerations 
 lay at the bottom of his selection. He really preferred the 
 graceful and courteous ease of the intercourse which charac- 
 terized the manners of James River. In that age, they were 
 equally removed from the coarse and boisterous jollity of 
 the English country squire, and the heartless conventionali- 
 ties of high life. In addition to this, his sensitive feelings 
 rightly enough detected that he was regarded in the mother- 
 country as a sort of intruder. He was spoken of, alluded 
 to in the journals, and viewed even by his tenants as the 
 America7i landlord; and he never felt truly at home in the 
 country for which he had fought and bled. In England, 
 his rank as a baronet was not sufficient to look down these 
 little peculiarities; whereas, in Virginia, it gave him a cer- 
 tain cdat^ that was grateful to one of the main weaknesses 
 of human nature. " At home," as the mother-country was 
 then affectionately termed, he had no hope of becoming a 
 privy councillor; while in his native colony his rank and 
 Cortune, almost as a matter of course, placed him in the 
 
520 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 council of the governor. In a word, while Wycherly found 
 most of those worldly considerations which influence men in 
 the choice of their places of residence in favor of the re- 
 gion in which he happened to be born, his election was 
 made more from feeling and taste than from anything else. 
 His mind had taken an early bias in favor of the usages and 
 opinions of the people among whom he had received his first 
 impressions, and this bias he retained to the hour of his death. 
 
 Like a true woman, Mildred found her happiness with 
 her husband and children. Of the latter she had but three ; 
 a boy and two girls. The care of the last was early com- 
 mitted to Mrs. Dutton. This excellent woman had re- 
 mained at Wychecombe with her husband, until death put 
 an end to his vices, though the close of his career was ex- 
 empt from those scenes of brutal dictation and interference 
 that had rendered the earlier part of her life so miserable. 
 Apprehension of what might be the consequences to himself 
 acted as a check, and he had sagacity enough to see that the 
 physical comforts he now possessed were all owing to the 
 influence of his wife. He lived but four years, however. 
 On his death, his widow immediately took her departure for 
 America. 
 
 It would be substituting pure images of the fancy for a 
 picture of sober realities were we to say that Lady Wyche- 
 combe and her adopted mother never regretted the land of 
 ///^/rbirth. This negation of feeling, habits, and prejudice? 
 is not to be expected even in an Esquimau. They both 
 had occasional strictures to make on the climate (and this 
 to Wycherly 's great surprise, for he conscientiously believed 
 that of England to be just the worst in the world), on the 
 fruits, the servants, the roads, and the difficulty of procuring 
 various little comforts. But as this was said good-natured- 
 ly and in pleasantry, rather than in the way of complaint, 
 it led to no unpleasant scenes or feelings. As all three 
 made occasional voyages to England, where his estates, and 
 more particularly settlements with his factor, compelled the 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. $21 
 
 baronet to go once in about a lustrum, the fruits and the 
 climate were finally given up by the ladies. After many 
 years, even the slipshod, careless, but hearty attendance of 
 the negroes came to be preferred to the dogged mannerism 
 of the English domestics, perfect as were the latter in their 
 parts; and the whole subject got to be one of amusement, 
 instead of one of complaint. There is no greater mistake 
 than to suppose that the traveller who passes once through 
 a country, with his home-bred and quite \\V^\y provincial 
 notions thick upon him, is competent to describe, with due 
 discrimination, even the usages of which he is actually a 
 witness. This truth all the family came, in time, to dis- 
 cover; and while it rendered them more strictly critical in 
 their remarks, it also rendered them more tolerant. As it 
 was, few happier families were to be found in the British 
 empire than that of Sit Wycherly Wychecombe; its head 
 retaining his manly and protecting affection for all depen- 
 dent on him, while his wife, beautiful as a matron as she 
 had been lovely as a girl, clung to him with the tenacity of 
 the vine to its own oak. 
 
 Of the result of the rising in the north, it is unnecessary 
 to say much. The history of the Chevalier's successes in 
 the first year, and of his final overthrow at Culloden, is well 
 known. Sir Reginald Wychecombe, like hundreds of oth- 
 ers, played his cards so skilfully that he avoided commit- 
 ting himself; and, although he lived and eventually died a 
 suspected man, he escaped forfeitures and attainder. With 
 Sir Wycherly, as the head of his house, he maintained a 
 friendly correspondence to the last, even taking charge of 
 the paternal estate in its owner's absence; manifesting to 
 the hour of his death a scrupulous probity in matters of 
 money, mingled with an inherent love of management and 
 intrigue in things that related to politics and the succession. 
 Sir Reginald lived long enough to see the hopes of the Ja- 
 cobites completely extinguished, and the throne filled by a 
 native Englishman. 
 
522 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Many long years after the events which rendered the 
 week of its opening incidents so memorable among its ac- 
 tors must now be imagined. Time had advanced with its 
 usual unfaltering tread, and the greater part of a generation 
 had been gathered to their fathers. George III. had been 
 on the throne not less than three lustrums, and most of the 
 important actors of the period of '45 were dead — many of 
 them, in a degree, forgotten. But each age has its own 
 events and its own changes. Those colonies, which in 1745 
 were so loyal, so devoted to the house of Hanover, in the 
 belief that political and religious liberty depended on the 
 issue, had revolted against the supremacy of the parliament 
 of the empire. America was already in arms against the 
 mother country, and the very day before the occurrence of 
 the little scene we are about to relate the intelligence of 
 the battle of Bunker Hill had reached London. Although 
 the Gazette and national pride had, in a degree, lessened the 
 characteristics of this most remarkable of all similar com- 
 bats, by exaggerating the numbers of the colonists engaged, 
 and lessening the loss of the royal troops, the impression 
 produced by the news is said to have been greater than any 
 known to that age. It had been the prevalent opinion of 
 England — an opinion that was then general in Europe, and 
 which descended even to our own times — that the animals 
 of the new continent, man included, had less courage and 
 physical force than those of the old; and astonishment min- 
 gled with the forebodings of the intelligent when it was 
 found that a body of ill-armed countrymen had dared to 
 meet, in a singularly bloody combat, twice their number of 
 regular troops, and that, too, under the guns of the king's 
 shipping and batteries. Rumors, for the moment, were rife 
 in London, and the political world was filled with gloomy 
 anticipations of the future. 
 
 On the morning of the day alluded to, Westminster Ab- 
 bey, as usual, was open to the inspection of the curious and 
 interested. Several parties were scattered among its aisles 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 523 
 
 and chapels, some reading the inscriptions on the simple 
 tablets of the dead which illustrate a nation, in illustrating 
 themselves ; others listening to the names of princes who 
 derived their consequence from their thrones and alliances; 
 and still other sets, who were wandering among the more 
 elaborate memorials that have been raised equally to illus- 
 trate insignificance, and to mark the final resting-places of 
 more modern heroes and statesmen. The beauty of the 
 weather had brought out more visitors than common, and 
 not less than half-a-dozen equipages were in waiting, in 
 and about Palace Yard. Among others, one had a ducal 
 coronet. This carriage did not fail to attract the attention 
 that is more than usually bestowed on rank, in England. 
 All were empty, however, and more than one party of pe- 
 destrians entered the venerable edifice, rejoicing that the 
 view of a duke or a duchess was to be thrown in, among the 
 other sights, gratuitously. All who passed on foot, however, 
 were not influenced by this vulgar feeling; for one group 
 went by, that did not even cast a glance at the collection of 
 carriages; the seniors of the party being too much accus- 
 tomed to such things to lend them a thought, and the ju- 
 niors too full of anticipations of what they were about to see, 
 to think of other matters. This party consisted of a hand- 
 some man of fifty-odd, a lady some three or four years his 
 junior, well preserved and still exceedingly atractive; a 
 young man of twenty-six, and two lovely girls, that looked 
 like twins; though one was really twenty-one, and the other 
 but nineteen. These were Sir Wycherly and Lady Wyche- 
 combe, Wycherly, their only son, then just returned from a 
 five-years' peregrination on the continent of Europe, and 
 Mildred and Agnes, their daughters. The rest of the fam- 
 ily had arrived in England about a fortnight before, to greet 
 the heir on his return from the grafid tour, as it was then 
 termed. The meeting had been one of love, though Lady 
 Wychecombe had to reprove a few innocent foreign affecta- 
 tions, as she fancied them to be, in her son^ and the baro- 
 
524 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 net himself laughed at the scraps of French, Italian, and 
 German that quite naturally mingled in the young man's 
 discourse. All this, however, cast no cloud over the party, 
 for it had ever been a family of entire confidence and 
 unbroken love. 
 
 "This is a most solemn place to me,"observed Sir Wych- 
 erly, as they entered at the Poets' Corner, " and one in which 
 a common man unavoidably feels his own insignificance. 
 But we will first make our pilgrimage, and look at these 
 remarkable inscriptions as we come out. The tomb we seek 
 is in a chapel on the other side of the church, near to the 
 great doors. When I last saw it, it was quite alone." 
 
 On hearing this, the whole party moved on ; though the 
 two lovely young Virginians cast wistful and curious eyes 
 behind them at the wonders by which they were surrounded. 
 
 "Is not this an extraordinary edifice, Wycherly?" half 
 whispered Agnes, the youngest of the sisters, as she clung 
 to one arm of her brother, Mildred occupying the other. 
 "Can the whole world furnish such another.'*" 
 
 "So much for hominy and James River!" answered the 
 young man, laughing; "now could you but see the pile at 
 Rouen, or that at Rheims, or that at Antwerp, or even that 
 at York, in this good kingdom, old Westminster would have 
 to fall back upon its little tablets and big names. But Sir 
 Wycherly stops; he must see what he calls his landfall." 
 
 Sir Wycherly had indeed stopped It was in consequence 
 of having reached the head of the choeiir^ whence he could 
 see the interior of the recess, or chapel, toward which he 
 had been moving. It still contained but a single monu- 
 ment, and that was adorned with an anchor and other nau- 
 tical emblems. Even at that distance, the words " Richard 
 Bluewater, Rear-Admiral of the White," might be 
 read. But the baronet had come to a sudden halt, in con- 
 sequence of seeing a party of three enter the chapel, in 
 which he wished to be alone with his own family. The 
 party consisted of an old man, who walked with tottering 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 52$ 
 
 Steps, and this so much the more from the circumstance that 
 he leaned on a domestic nearly as old as himself, though of 
 a somewhat sturdier frame, and of a tall, imposing-looking 
 person of middle age, who followed the two with patient 
 steps. Several attendants of the cathedral watched this 
 party from a distance with an air of curiosity and respect; 
 but they had been requested not to accompany it to the 
 chapel. 
 
 " They must be some old brother-officers of my poor un- 
 cle's, visiting his tomb!" whispered Lady Wychecombe. 
 " The very venerable gentleman has naval emblems about 
 his attire." 
 
 ^^ Do you — can you forget him, love? 'Tis Sir Gervaise 
 Oakes, the pride of England! yet how changed! It is now 
 five-and-twenty years since we last met; still I knew him at 
 a glance. The servant is old Galleygo, his steward; but 
 the gentleman with him is a stranger. Let us advance ; we 
 cannot be intruders in such a place." 
 
 Sir Gervaise paid no attention to the entrance of the 
 Wychecombes. It was evident, by the vacant look of his 
 countenance, that time and hard service had impaired his 
 faculties, though his body remained entire ; an unusual thing 
 for one who had been so often engaged. Still there were 
 glimmerings of lively recollections, and even of strong sen- 
 sibilities about his eyes, as sudden fancies crossed his mind. 
 Once a year, the anniversary of his friend's interment, he 
 visited that chapel ; and he had now been brought here as 
 much from habit, as by his own desire. A chair was pro- 
 vided for him, and he sat facing the tomb, with the large 
 letters before his eyes. He regarded neither, though he 
 bowed courteously to the salute of the strangers. His com- 
 panion at first seemed a little surprised, if not offended, at 
 the intrusion ; but when Wycherly mentioned that they were 
 relatives of the deceased, he also bowed complacently, and 
 made way for the ladies. 
 
 "This it ia as what you wants to see. Sir Jarvy," ob- 
 
526 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 served Galleygo, jogging his master's shoulder by way o£ 
 jogging his memory. " Them 'ere cables and hanchors, 
 and that 'ere mizzenmast, with a rear-admiral's flag a-fly- 
 ing, is rigged in this old church, in honor of our friend, 
 Admiral Blue, as was; but as is now dead and gone this 
 many a long year." 
 
 " Admiral of the Blue," repeated Sir Gervaise coldly. 
 "You're mistaken, Galleygo; I'm an admiral of the white, 
 and admiral of the fleet in the bargain. I know my own 
 rank, sir." 
 
 " I knows that as well as you does yourself, Sir Jarvy," 
 answered Galleygo, whose grammar had rather become con- 
 firmed than improved by time, "or as well as the First Lord 
 himself. But Admiral Blue was once your best friend, and 
 I doesn't at all admire at your forgetting him — one of these 
 long nights you'll be forgetting me^ 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Galleygo; I rather think not. I 
 remember _)'(9/^, when a very young man." 
 
 "Well, and so you mought remember Admiral Blue, if 
 you'd just try. I know'd ye both when young luffs, myself." 
 
 "This is a painful scene," observed the stranger to Sir 
 Wycherly, with a melancholy smile. "This gentleman is 
 now at the tomb of his dearest friend; and yet, as you see, 
 he appears to have lost all recollection that such a person 
 ever existed. For what do we live, if a few brief years are 
 to render our memories such vacant spots!" 
 
 " Has he been long in this way.'" asked Lady Wyche- 
 combe, with interest. 
 
 The stranger started at the sound of her voice. He 
 looked intently into the face of the still fair speaker, before 
 he answered; then be bowed, and replied: 
 
 "He has been failing these five years, though his last 
 visit here was much less painful than this. But are our own 
 memories perfect? — Surely, I have seen that face before! — 
 These young ladies, too " 
 
 '* Geoffrey — dear cousin Geoffrey!" exclaimed Lady 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 52/ 
 
 Wychecombe, holding out both her hands. " It Is — it must 
 be the Duke of Glamorgan, Wycherly!" 
 
 No further explanations were needed. All the parties 
 recognized each other in an instant. They had not met for 
 many, many years, and each had passed the period of life 
 when the greatest change occurs in the physical appearance ; 
 butj now that the ice was broken, a flood of recollections 
 poured in. The duke, or Geoffrey Cleveland, as we prefer 
 to call him, kissed his cousin and her daughters with frank 
 affection, for no change of condition had altered his simple 
 sea-habits, and he shook hands with the gentlemen, with a 
 cordiality like that of old times. All this, however, was 
 unheeded by Sir Gervaise, who sat looking at the monu- 
 ment, in a dull apathy. 
 
 "Galleygo," he said; but Galleygo had placed himself 
 before Sir Wycherly, and thrust out a hand that looked like 
 a bunch of knuckles. 
 
 "I knows ye!" exclaimed the steward, with a grin. "I 
 know'd ye in the offing yonder, but I couldn't make out your 
 number. Lord, sir, if this doesn't brighten Sir Jarvy up, 
 again, and put him in mind of old times, I shall begin to 
 think we have run out cable to the better end." 
 
 "I will speak to him, duke, if you think it advisable?" 
 said Sir Wycherly, in an inquiring manner. 
 
 "Galleygo," put in Sir Gervaise, "what lubber fitted that 
 cable? — he has turned in the clench the wrong way." 
 
 " Ay — ay, sir, they is great lubbers, them stone-cutters, 
 Sir Jarvy; and they knows about as much of ships as ships 
 knows of them. But here is young Sir Wycherly Wyche- 
 combe come to see you — the old 'un's nevy." 
 
 " Sir Wycherly, you are a very welcome guest. Bowldero 
 is a poor place for a gentleman of your merit; but such as 
 it is, it is entirely at your service. What did you say the 
 gentleman's name was, Galleygo?" 
 
 " Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, the young 'un — the old 'un 
 slipped the night as we moored in his house." 
 
528 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " I hope, Sir Gervaise, I have not entirely passed from 
 your recollection; it would grieve me sadly to think so. 
 And my poor uncle, too ; he who died of apoplexy in your 
 presence!" 
 
 ^^ NuHus^ nullay nullum. That's good Latin, hey! Duke? 
 Nullius^ nullius^ nullius. My memory is excellent, gentle- 
 men; nominative, /<?««dr / genitive, />^«;?^, and so on." 
 
 " Now, Sir Jarvy, since you're veering out your Latin, 1 
 should likes to know if you can tell a *clove-hitch' from a 
 *carrick-bend?' " 
 
 "That is an extraordinary question, Galleygo, to put to 
 an old seaman!" 
 
 " Well, if you remembers that, why can't you just as 
 reasonably remember your old friend, Admiral Blue?" 
 
 "Admiral of the blue! I do recollect many admirals of 
 the blue. They ought to make me ah admiral of the blue, 
 duke; I've been a rear-admiral long enough." 
 
 "You've been an admiral of the blue once; and that's 
 enough for any man," interrupted Galleygo, again in his 
 positive manner; " and it isn't five minutes since you know'd 
 your own rank as well as the Secretary to the Admiralty 
 himself. He veers and hauls, in this fashion, on an idee, 
 gentlemen, until he doesn't know one end of it from t'other." 
 
 " This is not uncommon with men of great age," observed 
 the duke. " They sometimes remember the things of their 
 youth, while the whole of later life is a blank. I have re- 
 marked this with our venerable friend, in whose mind I 
 think it will not be difficult, however, to revive the recollec- 
 tion of Admiral Bluewater, and even of yourself; Sir Wych- 
 erly. Let me make the effort, Galleygo." 
 
 "Yes, Lord Geoffrey," for so the steward always called 
 the quondam reefer, "you does handle him more like a 
 quick-working boat than any on us; and so I'll take an 
 hopportunity of just overhauling our old lieutenant's young 
 'uns, and of seeing what sort of craft he has set afloat for 
 the next generation." 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 529 
 
 "Sir Gervaise," said the Duke, leaning over the chair, 
 "here is Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, who once served a 
 short time with us as a lieutenant; it was when you were in 
 the Plantagenet. You remember the Plantagenet, I trust, 
 my dear sir?" 
 
 "The PlantagenetsC Certainly, duke; I read all about 
 them when a boy. Edwards, and Henrys, and Richards — " 
 at the last name he stopped; the muscles of his face 
 twitched; memory had touched a sensitive chord. But it 
 was too faintly, to produce more than a pause. 
 
 " There, now," growled Galleygo, in Agnes' face, he be- 
 ing just then employed in surveying her through a pair of 
 silver spectacles that were a present from his master, "you 
 see, he has forgotten the old Planter; and the next thing 
 he'll forget to eat his dinner. It's wickea^ Sir Jarvy, to for- 
 get such a ship." 
 
 " I trust, at least, you have not forgotten Richard Blue- 
 water?" continued the Duke, "he who fell in our last action 
 with the Comte de Vervillin?" 
 
 A gleam of intelligence shot into the rigid and wrinkled 
 face; the eye lighted, and a painful smile struggled around 
 the lips. 
 
 "What, Z>/V/^.^" he exclaimed, in a voice stronger than 
 that in which he had previously spoken. '''Dick! hey! 
 duke? good^excelle7ii Dickl We were midshipmen together, 
 my lord duke; and I loved him like a brother!" 
 
 " I knew you did ! and I dare say now you can recollect 
 the melancholy occasion of his death?" 
 
 " Is Dick dead? " asked the admiral, with a vacant gaze. 
 
 " Lord — Lord, Sir Jarvy, you knows he is, and that 'ere 
 marvel constructure is his monerment — now you must re- 
 member the old Planter, and the County of Fairvillian, and 
 the threshing we guv'd him?" 
 
 " Pardon me, Galleygo ; there is no occasion for warmth. 
 When I was a midshipman, warmth of expression was dis- 
 approved of by all the elder officers." 
 34 
 
530 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 " You cause me to lose ground," said the Duke, looking 
 at the steward by way of bidding him be silent : " is it not 
 extraordinary, Sir Wycherly, how his mind reverts to his 
 youth, overlooking the scenes of later life! Yes, Dick is 
 dead. Sir Gervaise. He fell in that battle in which you 
 were doubled on by the French — when you had Le Foudroy- 
 ant on one side of you, and Le Pluton on the other " 
 
 "/ remember it P^ interrupted Sir Gervaise, in a clear 
 strong voice, his eye flashing with something like the fire of 
 youth — "I remember it! Le Foudroyant was on our star- 
 board beam ; Le Pluton a little on our larboard bow — Bunt- 
 ing had gone aloft to look out for Bluewater — no — poor 
 Bunting was killed " 
 
 " Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, who afterward married 
 Mildred Bluewater, Dick's niece," put in the baronet, him- 
 self, almost as eager as the admiral had now become ; " Sir 
 Wycherly Wychecome had been aloft, but was returned to 
 report the Pluton coming down!" 
 
 "So he did! — God bless him! A clever youth, and he 
 did marry Dick's niece. God bless them both. Well, sir, 
 you're a stranger, but the story will interest you. There 
 we lay, almost smothered in the smoke, with one two-decker 
 at work on our starboard beam, and another hammering 
 away on the larboard bow, with our topmasts over the side, 
 and the guns firing through the wreck." 
 
 "Ay, now you're getting it like a book!" exclaimed Gal- 
 leygo exultingly, flourishing his stick, and strutting about 
 the little chapel; "that's just the way things was, as I 
 knows from seeing 'em!" 
 
 "I'm quite certain I'm right, Galleygo?" 
 
 "Right! your honor's righter than any log-book in the 
 fleet. Give it to 'em. Sir Jarvy, larboard and starboard!" 
 
 "That we did — that we did" — continued the old man 
 earnestly, becoming even grand in aspect, as he rose, al- 
 ways gentlemanlike and graceful, but filled with native fire, 
 " that did we ! De Vervillin was on our right, and des Prez 
 
THE TWO ADMIRALS. 53 1 
 
 on our left — the smoke was choking us all — Bunting — no; 
 young Wychecombe was at my side ; he said a fresh French- 
 man was shoving in between us and Le Pluton, sir — God 
 forbid! I thought ; for we had enough of them, as it was. 
 There she comes! See, here is her flying- jib-boom-end — 
 and there — hey! Wychecombe? — Thafs the old Romany 
 shoving through the smoke! — Caesar himself! and there 
 stands Dick and young Geoffrey Cleveland — he was of your 
 family, duke — there stands Dick Bluewater, between the 
 knight-heads, waving his hat — HURRAH ! — He's true, at 
 last!— He's true, at \2^si— HURRAH / HURRAH/'' 
 
 The clarion tones rose like a trumpet's blast, and the 
 cheering of the old sailor rang in the arches of the Abbey 
 Church, causing all within hearing to start, as if a voice 
 spoke from the tombs. Sir Gervaise, himself, seemed sur- 
 prised; he looked up at the vaulted roof, with a gaze half- 
 bewildered, half-delighted. 
 
 " Is this Bowldero, or Glamorgan House, my lord duke," 
 he asked, in a whisper. 
 
 ''It is neither, Admiral Oakes, but Westminster Abbey; 
 and this is the tomb of your friend, rear-admiral Richard 
 Bluewater." 
 
 " Galleygo, help me to kneel," the old man added in the 
 manner of a corrected school-boy. " The stoutest of us all 
 should kneel to God, in his own temple. I beg pardon, 
 gentlemen; I wish to pray.^' 
 
 The Duke of Glamorgan and Sir Wycherly Wychecombe 
 helped the admiral to his knees, and Galleygo, as was his 
 practice, knelt beside his master, who bowed his head on 
 his man's shoulders. This touching spectacle brought all 
 the others into the same humble attitude — Wycherly, Mil- 
 dred, and their children, with the noble, kneeling and pray- 
 ing in company. One by one, the latter arose; still Gal- 
 leygo and his master continued on the pavement. At length 
 Geoffrey Cleveland stepped forward, and raised the old 
 man, placing him, with Wycherly's assistance, in the chair. 
 
J32 THE TWO ADMIRALS. 
 
 Here he sat, with a calm smile on his aged features, his 
 open eyes riveted seemingly on the name of his friend, per- 
 fectly dead. There had been a reaction, which suddenly 
 stopped the current of life, at the heart. 
 
 Thus expired Sir Gervaise Oakes, full of years and of 
 honors ; one of the bravest and most successful of England's 
 sea-captains. He had lived his time, and supplied an in- 
 stance of the insufficiency of worldly success to complete 
 the destiny of man ; having, in a degree, survived his facul- 
 ties, and the consciousness of all he had done and all he 
 merited. As a small offset to this failing of nature, he had 
 regained a glimmering view of one of the most striking 
 scenes, and of much the most enduring sentiment, of a long 
 life, which God, in mercy, permitted to be terminated in the 
 act of humble submission to his own greatness and glory. 
 
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