Читать книгу The Admiral - Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen - Страница 9

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THE Admiral bettered his promise to Mrs. Hardres. He was not only a father to Will, but attached him to his person as a sort of supernumerary member of his staff. And Will wanted a good friend, for there is no denying that he was none too popular with those who should have been his mates. With the Admiral and the high officers he was a great favourite. His manner to them was a marvel—so dignified, as well as respectful. Give Will a chance of shining, and he always shone, and I loved him from the day he came on board. Will Hardres always seemed to me to be the grandest man I ever knew. I am sure I expected him to be a greater man than the Admiral himself some day. His mother brought him up in certain principles. He was too proud to be tempted from them, too courageous to be daunted from them. I do not think he was much above the average in strength or activity but I never saw such courage in any man except the Admiral. With the other mids, some of them little boys, he was not likely to have much in sympathy. He was a good deal older than most midshipmen, and big for his age, and, so far as habits were concerned, the difference was still greater.

The junior lieutenants, on the other hand, disliked his haughtiness and self-assurance, though they all of them saw that he had corresponding courage. By all rights they should have patronised him, but he could much more properly patronise them. The climax, of course, was the Admiral’s very marked favour. But this signified less by the fact that he dined at the Admiral’s table, and was in almost constant attendance on his person.

I shall let you know how Will first made his mark. One summer morning, July 19th, 1798, as I remember it, we found ourselves off Syracuse. It was not the first time, either, during our long chase after the French, so we all knew the place well by sight.

We could make out the old castle of Maniace, eight hundred years old, they say, standing at the end of the island of Ortygia; if it had not been for the great high walls stopping there, we should never have known where this island left off. And we could make out the opposite shore with its low cliffs, where the Athenians would have been safe if they could have reached it, as the chaplain explained to us mids last time we sighted the place. The Admiral was very busy with his glass, and Captain Berry was standing by him with some reports, which seemed to trouble him.

“It seems to me, Berry,” he said, “that we are short of nearly everything. But this question of running out of water is a serious one. We must see to that. There are polacres in the Little Port, I see, and we could hire or even impress them to bring off water and supplies; but could we tranship with this sea on?”

“You can do anything, sir; but I think it will be very difficult and dangerous.”

“But the Great Port, Berry, I read in the Mirror, that though it was one of the most famous ports of antiquity, it has been too silted up for large ships of the last few centuries to be able to enter it, though the water inside is in places too deep for the best anchorage. There is a footnote which says the passage is so well known to be impossible, that it is never attempted. Now, Berry, it is equally well known that in the course of centuries channels change, and I shall try it. Of course, we shall take the utmost care, and at the worst only one vessel can strike; and we have force enough to haul her off. I shall lead myself.”

“I know it is useless to ask if there is any need for this, sir; but it would be so bad for the fleet if anything should happen to your ship.”

“Our ship, Berry?”

“Captain Troubridge, sir, every captain in the fleet, would volunteer.”

“It is my post where there is risk: I shall try it. Head the ship for the opening, and signal to the fleet to prepare to follow.”

The Captain stepped away to give the necessary orders. I felt rooted to the spot, where I had been standing, just within earshot.

“Here, youngster,” called the Admiral, “come and see a bit of navigation that may go down in the annals of the Navy.”

It is a matter of ancient history now, how the Vanguard sailed in without a check. We did not have one anxious sounding as we swept round and brought up abreast of the Marina, just opposite the cathedral, which used to be the Temple of somebody, and has half its columns outside and the other half inside, doing duty as the pillars of an aisle. The Marina is a sort of carriage drive dividing the landing quays from the ancient wall, which in other parts is washed by the sea itself. It is handsomely laid out with shade-trees and flowers, and at one end terminated by the natural rocks from which rushes the famous Fountain of Arethusa. This pleased the Admiral extravagantly. He said several times: “I shall water my ships at the Fountain of Arethusa, and then Fortune cannot fail to smile upon me.”

We brought up in beautiful order, with our larboard resting on a shore with ruins all along the horizon, which the chaplain told us formed four-fifths of the city in the ancient times. The island of Ortygia, which is occupied by the present city, was the smallest of the five quarters. On the sky-line was the Castle of Euryalus, which might have been a mediæval fortress, with its fine square towers and high curtain wall, though it was built by the Athenians in the famous siege. Our starboard ran up to the entrance of the port, under the Castle of Maniace.

As we were running in, the flag was hoisted on the Castle, to which we replied by showing English colours. Almost at the same time a boat came aboard with the Captain of the Port and an Adjutant of the town to offer us any refreshments of which we might be in need, and to point out that it would not be necessary for us to lose the wind by entering the harbour, for that they could be brought to us as we lay off. But since the Admiral would not listen to him, and held straight on, a second boat boarded us soon after, this time with the Town Major and the Second Commandant of Artillery to confer with the Admiral, repeating the compliments and offers of assistance, and at the same time acquainting him that the Governor’s orders and instructions prevented his admitting into the harbour more than three or four ships at one time, even though they should belong to an allied and friendly power, as the English nation was. But the Admiral having a Royal letter with orders that the whole squadron should be admitted, proceeded to enter the harbour without waiting, and anchored, as I have said.

No sooner had we let go the anchor than the Admiral hailed Will.

“Will,” he said (he always called him Will), “ask Mr. Comyn to come to me. I believe he knows a little Italian, and I take it that the Governor will be able to speak Italian as well as Sicilian, though one never knows. These Sicilian magnificoes, though their language is no better than a dialect of Italian, make it a point of honour not to know the mother-language, and hate the people on the mainland better than any one in Europe. However, Comyn can talk a little French too.”

“If I may interrupt, sir,” said Will, “I can speak both languages very well. My mother”—here he blushed—“could not afford me any better schooling than I could have at the village school and of the Rector. But she did her best to make up for it by teaching me these languages. She was brought up in these countries; my father married her while he was serving in the Mediterranean.”

“Bravo!” said the Admiral. “I do not like employing a black coat on these occasions, especially in a priest-ridden country like this, where the bare sight of a Protestant clergyman fills them with envy, hatred, and malice, because they are no longer able to Inquisition him and burn him. Will, I must promote you lieutenant; we can rig you out from Vassall’s sea-chest—he’s about your build: we could hardly send a midshipman on an affair of this sort. And you shall go ashore in my barge, so as to observe ceremony. When you get there, demand to be taken with your guard to the Governor, and when you see him——” He turned round to me with more coldness than I thought necessary, and said, “You can leave us, Trinder, and ask the Captain, with my compliments, if he will order my barge to be lowered and manned, with a guard of marines for the officer carrying despatches. And ask Mr. Vassall to come to me.”

I shall never forget Will as he was rowed away from the flagship, sitting in the stern-sheets of the Admiral’s barge. Vassall’s uniform—it was his best full-dress parade uniform, and he was richer than most of us, being the son of a wealthy Jamaica planter and careful of his appearance—well, his uniform fitted Will almost as trimly as if it had been made for him; and there Will sat, with that fair, proud face of his, which I would back against the Apollo Belvedere, though I have never seen it, set as stern as a statue’s.

The Admiral himself could not have had it written in his features more plainly that he had the guns of the squadron behind him—a fine squadron, with which we hoped to break up the French fleet and capture the convoy with “Bony” and all his army on board. There Will sat, as if there were no one in the barge with him—no sea, no land, no walls between him and the Governor of Syracuse. And as the barge sheered off I caught the Admiral’s eye looking at him. What would not Sir Horatio have given to have had such a son?