Towards evening, the firing grew weaker and weaker, and the people who were beholding the fight from the cliffs, shouted that the Duke of York had gained the victory. But before the action was quite over, a boat was seen making to the shore; it seemed to bear in the direction of Amy's cottage, and actually ran on shore within a few yards of it. The sailors leaped out, and, lifting an officer in their arms, bore him towards the cottage; whilst a young sailor walked slowly after, leaning on an old seaman's arm. James flung open the cottage door, and told them to place the officer on the bed. They accordingly laid him down. He moaned faintly with pain. At the sound of his voice, the young sailor approached the bed with an unsteady step. Amy gazed wistfully on the young man, and then on James;—they were exactly alike. "It is my own boy Michael!" she cried at last.
"Yes, it is Michael!" said James, throwing himself on his neck.
"Ah, my poor grandmother! and my dear James!" said Michael, "I have come home to you in a sorrowful hour! My noble Captain is mortally wounded."
"Is this the brave gentleman who took you away, and behaved so kindly to us? Alas, how wan he looks!" said Amy, looking mournfully on the pale features of Captain Lucas, as he lay fainting on the lowly bed, where they had placed him.
"But you look as white and ill as he does, Michael!"
"Yes," said he faintly, pointing to his side, from which the blood slowly trickled; "I was wounded whilst fighting near him—I return to my home once more; but it is to die. Our Captain's brother took the command of the ship after he fell; and when the fight slackened, he sent the boat ashore with him, in hopes of getting better assistance. He did not know I was wounded, but he told me to go on shore with my master, and take care of him. Instead of suffering the sailors to take him to the town, I bade them steer direct for the cottage on the beach. He laid his noble head there when he was in distress before; and I resolved that he should not die among strangers."
Here Michael's voice faltered with grief and pain; and he was so faint that he would have sunk from his seat, had not James supported him in his arms. A surgeon arrived soon after, and at once pronounced that the Captain's wounds were mortal, and that Michael was in a dangerous state. Before night, Captain Lucas's brother came on shore, and hastened to the cottage: Captain Lucas held out his hand when he saw his brother. "William," said he, "is England victorious?" William Lucas turned from his dying brother, and wept.—"Oh yes, Charles! The Duke has gained the battle, but it is a dearly-purchased victory."
"Many a one has fallen, William, who will be more missed than I shall be," replied the Captain. "I have but one dear brother to weep my loss.—Hear my last request: you know, by my will, you inherit my estates;—but give my faithful Michael the gold in my portmanteau, and a hundred pounds besides, to be divided between him and his brother: if Michael should die, give his share to his grandmother—I fear I have robbed her of one of the props of her age! It is owing to the good inhabitants of this cottage that my death has been a glorious one: three years ago they saved my life from the waves on this coast."
Captain Lucas did not live through that night: and Michael only survived him two days. They were buried together, with many a hero who fell in that engagement. Captain William faithfully executed his brother's dying request. But it was not the riches they obtained that could console Amy and James for the loss of their dear Michael;—it was long before they could think, without extreme sorrow, on his untimely death.
James's good master assisted him with his advice in laying out the Captain's legacy, which amounted to more than five hundred pounds. James took a good farm, and, by his unremitting industry, soon became a rich man; and old Amy had the pleasure of seeing her great grandchildren born to affluence: yet the beautiful month of May never returned but she remembered with sadness the fall of her brave sailor-boy and his noble captain.