“So I thought, and therefore I bought her,” remarked the old gentleman. “It was my original intention to have made her a tender to the Shark—in which capacity she would no doubt have proved, as you say, exceedingly useful; and I may further tell you that, subject to Captain Bentinck’s approval, I intended to have put you in command of her. But certain news which has reached me this morning has altered all my plans concerning her, at all events for the present, and instead of making her a tender to the Shark I now propose to send her across to the West Indies with dispatches of the utmost importance. You will therefore be so good as to proceed on board forthwith and take the command, give all her stores a thorough overhaul, and report to me what deficiencies, if any, require to be made good in order to fit her for the voyage across the Atlantic. I have issued instructions for your former crew to be turned over to her from the depot ship, and it will be as well, perhaps, for you to take over half a dozen extra hands from the late prize crew of the brig. I should like to be able to give you Mr Freeman as master, but I can’t spare him; so you will have to be your own navigator. By the way, what sort of a navigator is Keene?”
“Oh,” I said, laughingly, “he can fudge a day’s work as well as most people, sir!”
“Ah,” said the old gentleman, “I wonder whether you boys will ever be brought to understand that ‘fudging’ is no good, except to bamboozle the master! How would any of you manage if by chance it fell to you to take a ship into port, and you could only ‘fudge’ a day’s work? Well, you shall take him with you; but hark ye, my lad, for his own sake you must make him stick to his work and do it properly, so that he may be ready for any emergency that may happen to come along. Come and dine with me to-night, and bring the young monkey with you. I’ll talk to him like a Dutch uncle, and see if I can’t stir him up to a sense of his responsibilities. One word more, my lad. An opportunity to pass may occur while you are over yonder; and if it does, I very strongly advise you to seize it.”
“Be assured that I will, sir,” exclaimed I. “And—oh, sir, I really don’t know how to express my gratitude to you for giving me such a splendid—”
“There, there, never mind about that, boy,” interrupted the old fellow hurriedly. “I know all that you would say, so there is no need for you to repeat it. As to gratitude, you can best show that by proving yourself worthy of the trust that I am putting in you, as I have no doubt you will. Now, run along and get aboard your ship, and the sooner you can report yourself ready for sea, the better I shall be pleased with you. Don’t forget to-night—seven sharp!”
I was probably the most elated young man on the West Coast that afternoon as I hurried from the commodore’s presence and made my way aboard the sweet little Francesca, where I found the whole of my former crew, Keene included, already installed.
“Hullo, Grenvile, what is the meaning of this?” was his enquiry as I went up the vessel’s low side and passed through the gangway. “What’s in the wind? Here have we all been turned over at a moment’s notice, and there are already rumours floating about that we sail to-night.”
“No,” said I, “it is not quite so bad as that, but it means that we are bound to the West Indies at the earliest possible moment, and it also means, Jack, you villain, that I have received strict orders from the commodore to work you down until you are as fine and as sharp as a needle. You will hear more about it to-night, my lad, when you and I go to dine with him, so stand by and look out for squalls!”
“The West Indies? Hooray!” cried Jack. “The land of beauty and romance, of solitary cays with snug little harbours, each of them sheltering a slashing pirate schooner patiently waiting for us to go and cut her out; the land of fair women and hospitable men, the land of sugar plantations, lovely flowers, and delicious fruits, the land of—of—”
“Disastrous hurricanes, furious thunderstorms, yellow fever, poisonous reptiles, the horrible mysteries of voodoo worship, and so on, and so on,” I cut in.