The Two Admirals (18 page)

"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 namesake 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 state-room, your honour. As soon as they found how
the ship was heading, like all women-craft, they both makes for the best
harbour 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 parlour, 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 extinguishing 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
comparative obscurity; but it soon appeared to him appropriate to the
feelings of the party assembled in the room. Mrs. Dutton 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, feeling,
momentarily, getting the better of discretion; "
do
you—
can
you
call such a desecration of God's image enjoyment?"

"Not justly, perhaps, Mrs. Dutton; 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-unconscious 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 temperament, 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 idleness 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 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 command."

"How true!—how true!" murmured Mrs. Dutton. "Oh! that cutter—that
cruel cutter!"

The truth flashed upon the recollection of Bluewater, 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
command 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 placing 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 honour 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 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. Dutton 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 the most painful of her life. The
unguarded expression, mentioned, entirely changed the state of affairs.

"Mrs. Dutton," 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 admonisher 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 seldom make any lasting
impression on the mind, particularly in the way of features."

"It is not the features that I recognize, but the expression; 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. Dutton, who was sensitively alive to any
indication of the progress of the debauch. "There is great confusion in
the dining-room!—I hope the gentlemen are of one mind as respects this
rising in Scotland!"

"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,
running to and fro. If the servants'-hall is in the condition I suspect,
it will as much need the aid of the parlour, as the parlour 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 honour; 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 reports 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 any thing. 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 companion ladder; six bells, going
well on to seven—"

"Your business, sir! what has happened to Sir Gervaise?" repeated
Bluewater, shaking his long fore-finger menacingly, at the steward.

"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 honour, old Sir Wycherly, who is
commander-in-chief, along shore here, has capsized in consequence of
carrying sail too hard, in company with younger craft; and they're now
warping him into dock to be overhauled."

"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 topgallant-mast 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 another, 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 returned, and reported that their host was
seriously, even dangerously ill. While doing the honours 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
convives
had left the table, and alarm was
frightening the servants into sobriety. At Mrs. Dutton's earnest
request, 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 mundi
," 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. Dutton 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, breathing," 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 favourably of our poor host, my dear
Mrs. Dutton; and we seamen are not accustomed to judge a
bon vivant
too harshly."

"Ah! Admiral Bluewater,
you
, who have so wide-spread a reputation for
sobriety and correct deportment! Well do I remember how I trembled, when
I heard your name mentioned as one of the leading members of that
dreadful court!"

"You let your recollections dwell too much on these unpleasant subjects,
Mrs. Dutton, and I should like to see you setting an example of greater
cheerfulness to your sweet daughter. I could not befriend you,
then
,
for my oath and my duty were both against it; but,
now
, there exists
no possible reason, why I should not; while there does exist almost
every possible disposition, why I should. This sweet child interests me
in a way I can hardly describe."