"On deck there were twenty things worth noticing, that struck one at the same time. The schooner's light spars and white canvas seen sharp against the white glare of light in the west, as she settled round on the ship's other bow; while the light air high aloft in the Indiaman's royals still kept steadying her with her lee-side to the sunset, where it made a red trough along the horizon down through a golden cloud or two, that looked like bright-winged things whirling off and about the sun.
"Our gig was holding off by the boat-hook from her lee-quarter, the oars up-ended, and two or three sailors, with their heads shoved out under a port-lid on the main deck, talking to the boat's crew, while a few of the men hung over the high black top-sides, peering aft at the gig; the rest being gathered in the ship's bows, with their eyes fixed on the schooner. The huge round of the sun went down astern like the mouth of a furnace, sending a broad stream of red light across the face of the water with every wet streak and wrinkle shown heaving in it, right up to the Indiaman's white band and her pitch-black bulwarks. Her quarter-galleries lashed out, and you saw the passengers' heads aft through the red arch under the wide mainsail-foot, till every face shone crimson-bright out of the awning below; and I could see the midshipman's gold band glisten as he took his cap off to some ladies coming down the poop-stair, amidst a hubbub of cadets turning round to eye the schooner. For half-a-minute the smooth sea all astern of the ship seemed to wash to her water-line in a flood of light and blood almost, as if the horizon vanished; then the tip of the sun went down like a burning ruby, the blue heave of water sank away from the copper at the Indiaman's bows, giving us an easy lift at the other side of the swell, and the whole compass of the sea appeared to slide round cool and clear against the soft flush of all possible tints in the west; till the deep indigo hue of the calm spread melting off from both of us.
"What I gave most heed to was the knots of men's faces on the Seringapatam's forecastle, as the golden gleam of light and the red glare struck across them with all sorts of queer touches, that brought back every one of them clearly to mind at once; and, stepping forward where Mr Jones's figure was to be seen dark against the pale glow in the west, I could easily make out ugly Harry's big buffalo head, as he leant his chin on his two hands, and surveyed us up and down, with his dirty tarpaulin on the back of his head as usual, and his shaggy black hair like thatch over his forehead, almost down to the meeting of his thick eyebrows. The moment I appeared, Mister Harry Foster shifted himself with a start, looked aloft to his own ship, and began to whistle as if for wind; the same moment Jones turned and noticed me, too, and the difference of the two men's faces struck me the more, that I couldn't help thinking extremes met. 'That fellow there seems to like us so well, Mr Jones,' said I, laughing, 'that I've half a mind to bring him aboard, as I could!' 'Who—which, sir?' said the mate, looking to every part of the Indiaman but the right one. 'Why, that misbegotten-like rascal you were looking at,' said I; 'I know a little of him, and a more thorough blackguard doesn't walk planks!' 'There's the boat, though, Lieutenant Collins!' said Jones suddenly: the boat-hook struck our mizzen-chains on the other side in the dusk, and next minute Tom Westwood swung himself on board, with the midshipman and Old Rollock the planter following in his wake; the last, to my surprise, carrying two hat-boxes and an umbrella.
"'Why, Ned Collins!' broke out Westwood, 'what is the meaning of all this—what wind has blown you here?' 'My dear fellow!' shouted the planter, almost jumping on top of me, 'I never in my life saw the like of you—the very same infernal schooner, too! Come, let's hear—have you taken 'em all then, head and tail—have you——'
"'For Heaven's sake, Mr Rollock,' said I, sheering out of his way as well as I could, 'come below, sir, if I must answer all these questions!' 'So you are actually in command?' said Westwood; and hereupon I gave him the bearings of his own affair, with the fact of my falling in with Lord Frederick Bury, of course; and of all men in the world, I believe, the 'Honourable Bury' was the one Westwood could feel comfortable under, as his face showed at the time. 'Whether I lose you or not in the Hooghly, Tom,' said I, 'I daresay you'll find yourself in the end aboard the Hebe, in some shape or other! and meantime I shall be glad of you here for a first mate.' 'Well, well,' put in the planter again, impatiently, after having kept questioning me every now and then for the last ten minutes, which I answered without well knowing what he said—'then you hung him, of course?' 'Hung whom?' asked I, obliged to attend by Mr Rollock's perseverance. 'Why, El Americano, to be sure—the Yankee—Snout!' said he, trying to lengthen his face for the news. 'Hung him—no!' said I, laughing; 'when I saw him on deck there, last, he was lively enough, and anxious to get those images of his out of the Seringapatam.' The planter's rosy gills turned a shade or two paler, and he started off his seat. 'God bless me!' said he, in a low voice, and looking over his shoulder, 'you don't mean to say you've brought the man back on me. I declare to you I lost a few pounds of my weight here before, by his actually conceiving a friendship for me!' Old Rollock's dismay was so comical that I could scarce find in my heart to ease his mind, as I did.
"'Why, my dear fellow,' said Westwood, with a smile, 'I assure you that disappearance of yours took me by surprise. Indeed, I only guessed, from something Captain Finch let drop afterwards, how it came about; and till the very moment the brig-of-war got under way, I fancied you had some other plan in view, or else you never would have carried it out. The fact was, Ned, if your heart was bound for India, mine was ashore in old England, and I'd rather have run the risk to go back!' Here Tom caught my glance, and looked shyly into one waistcoat pocket, then into another, fidgeting on his chair, poor fellow! in a way that brought my sister Jane's grey eyes, and her demure little arch face, distinctly before me, thousands of miles as there were between us and Croydon. The thought of the Seringapatam being so near, on the other hand, somehow rushed on me at the same time, and I felt wonderfully mild toward Tom. 'Hang it, Tom!' said I, 'never mind thinking of it—mix your grog, man, and confound all care to the bottom of the sea. You're well off! For my part,' said I, 'I had no notion at all how that case stood, so I made a cursed mistake in the matter—but here's luck!'
"'However,' said he, 'I saw your drift by that time; and the young lady herself was in the fore-cabin when I told her father the whole story, not long after you went off. 'Twas no use with Sir Charles, though, to say you were only carrying out the joke to screen me, and amuse yourself at the same time—he was sure you were after some scheme; and all the while Miss Hyde sat sewing on the sofa behind us, as quiet and careless as if she didn't hear a word, or trouble herself about the matter. When I came upon your vanishing so suddenly in the brig, however, and said I was sure, by that time, you did so in order to let me clear off, I had my eye on the looking-glass opposite the young lady; and whatever you may make of it, Ned, I can tell you she started and glanced up at that point.' 'Well, and what of that?' I asked. But Westwood went on—'It was all one to Sir Charles, nevertheless, whatever way I turned it. According to him, this was just of a piece with the rest of your doings, which showed the bad effects of the naval service. 'Twas no use my standing up for you, saying how fast you had risen, and would rise, if you had the right thing to do—for the old gentleman allowed everything, adding it was so much the worse for such fellows to be set loose. "I tell you what, Mr Westwood," said he, looking round sharply, as if he were speaking at somebody else, "there is a soul of mischief in that young man that nothing will root out, unfitting him for everything else, however admirably it may be suited to maritime pursuits or to savage warfare. In short," added the judge, drawing himself up, "it is my conviction he will either be drowned or knocked on the head——"' 'The precious old curmudgeon!' I rapped out, betwixt laughter and rage at the thought of her hearing all this pretty character of me. '"And I must say, my young friend," said the judge, "I felt much relieved at finding Councillor Westwood's nephew so different an individual—exceedingly relieved! Besides that, you cannot, of course, continue in the navy!" Just at this moment,' continued Westwood, 'I saw the young lady gather up her work behind us with a sparkle in her eye, rise off the sofa, and walk straight aft through the cabin-door.'
"'Was that all?' said I, biting my lip. 'All, you heathen!' answered Tom, laughing. 'Why, what would you have? I'll be bound the judge didn't mean all that for my use, my dear fellow. But the worst of it was, that next day, when I met her with the Brigadier's lady on the poop, the young beauty passed me with as scornful an air as possible; and for a week or so, whenever the judge happened to ask me into the round-house cabins, either she wasn't there, or took an opportunity of walking out—the most I got was a bow or a "good-morning"; so you see the real Simon Pure didn't prosper half so well as the false one!' 'Pooh!' said I, gloomily, thinking of the little ground I had made myself, 'all contradiction—the fact is, you're too simple for women's ways, Westwood.' Westwood looked down and gave a queer smile—as much as to say, I suppose, the case stood just the contrary; and I must own, it struck me he must be rather a knowing fellow that could fathom my sister, seeing that, for my part, I understood her no more than my mother's housemaid did, with her high-flown music and poetry, and all that sort of thing.
"'However,' said Westwood, 'I contrived by degrees to get over all this, and for the last week or two we were as good acquaintances as before—in fact, the judge was evidently bent on it. And I tell you what it is, Ned, as charming a girl, in her way, as Violet Hyde I can't well fancy—but one more hopeless to deal with, for a fellow that hasn't got hold of her heart, I believe doesn't breathe! Why, young as she is, you'd feel her playing you round her pretty forefinger as a woman would, looking at you all the time under her soft eyelids with those bright eyes of hers, as if you could fancy her falling in love in a moment with someone else, but never with yourself!' 'By Jove, yes!' said I, feeling as dismal as I daresay I looked. 'Do you know,' Westwood went on, 'her figure and walk always remind me of a Hindoo girl's, all over English as her face and hair are, with a touch of the tropical, you can't say where, about it—owing to her being born in India, as I believe she was; and altogether, Ned, I'm glad to——' Here Westwood shrugged his shoulders, and I poured myself out another glass of grog in pure despair.
"'The truth is,' said I, 'I wish I had never seen that confounded Seringapatam! Didn't she say any—didn't you—in fact, Tom, what do you think of the matter, plump and plain, stem and stern?' said I manfully. 'Why,' said Tom, in a thoughtful way, 'not to set you at all wrong on either side, the thing that strikes me is, I don't think she ever once mentioned you, Ned, except in passing. But to my mind, in the circumstances, that's not so much against you. The young lady can say little when she pleases, I assure you; for only last night, in that fine moonlight, we happened to touch on that affair in the river—you know?' 'Yes,' I said, for it wasn't easy to forget. 'Now I always thought that night a turning-point with you,' Westwood said; 'and it was the last night you were aboard; so I spoke of you a good deal, and never a word did Miss Violet utter, save "Yes" and "No," while her face being in the shadow, I couldn't see it. Oh, by-the-by, though,' continued he, 'she did say one thing!'