"No, no, good faith!" replied Sir Henry; "I came upon a very different errand. Since I was with Sir Thomas Peechy and yourself in Flanders, by my good Lord Surrey's favour I have obtained the command of one of the king's great ships, and as I lay last night off the mouth of the river, a pursuivant came down from London, with orders to stop every vessel that I saw, and search for a traitor who is endeavouring to make his escape to the Continent."
The knight's cheek burned, and for a moment he hesitated whether to avow himself at once, and repel the opprobrious epithet thus attached to the name he had assumed, and under which, he felt full sure, he had never merited aught but honour. A moment's thought, however, showed him the madness of such a proceeding, and he replied, "I believe you will find no greater traitor here, Sir Henry, than myself."
The officer smiled. "If that be the case," replied he, "I may as well row back to the ship. Perhaps he may be in the other vessel that lies-to there, about a mile to windward. But come, Darnley, leave this filthy Dutch tub, come with me aboard, and after we have searched the other, I will land you in any port to which you are going, if it be between Middlebourg and Boulogne."
Although the knight did not feel himself bound, even by the most chivalrous principles of honour, to betray his own secret to Sir Henry Talbot, yet he did not consider himself at liberty to take advantage of his offer, and thus make one of the king's own ships the means of conveying him away from pursuit. He therefore replied, that as he was going to Dunkirk in some haste, and the Dutchman was steering straight thither, he thought it would be best to proceed without changing his ship, though he felt extremely obliged by the offer.
The officer received his excuses in good part, and bidding him farewell with many hearty wishes for his future prosperity, he mounted again to the deck, called his men together, abused the Dutchman vigorously for a few minutes, and getting into the boat, rowed away for his own vessel.
It is hardly necessary here to inform the reader, that the distinction which at present exists between the naval and military services has not been known above a hundred and fifty years; and that, consequently, the fact of Sir Henry Talbot's having distinguished himself on land, so far from being a disqualification, was one of the highest recommendations to him in the sea service! Vonderbrugius takes no notice of the circumstance, as probably the same practice existed in his time, although the latest instance that I can call to mind is that of General Monk, who, after having lived on land all his life, grew amphibious at the age of fifty.
However that may be, deceiving himself as we have seen, Sir Henry Talbot left the young knight to meditate over the conduct of Wolsey, who would indeed have committed an egregious piece of folly in sending to arrest him by the name of Sir Osborne Maurice alone, if he had known him to be Lord Darnley, as Sir Osborne thought. Attributing it, however, to one of those accidental omissions which often disconcert the best-arranged proceedings, the knight was congratulating himself on his good fortune, when Master Skippenhausen descended to offer his felicitations also, exclaiming, "My Cot! where did you hide yourself? Under that pile of hammocks, I'll warrant."
"No, you man of salt herrings! No, you cousin-german to a tub of butter!" exclaimed Longpole, whose indignation at the captain for having by his delay of the night before put them in such jeopardy now broke forth irresistibly. "No, you dyke-begotten son of a swamp and a canal! If it had not been for you we should never have run any risk, and don't flatter yourself that either you or your dirty hammocks either had any hand in saving us."
"How did I make you run any risk, pray?" exclaimed the master. "You would have made me and my ship run a risk if you had been found in it; but I made you run none."
"Stockfish, you lie!" cried the custrel. "Did you not lie in the mouth of the river all last night, when, if the blood in your veins had been anything but muddy Dutch puddle, of the heaviest quality, you would have had us over to Dunkirk by this time? Deny it if you dare, Dutchman, and I will prove it upon your body, till I leave you no more shape than one of your own cheeses."