“I must apologise for intruding upon you at so late an hour, sir,” I replied; “but my instructions are that I should not lose a moment in placing in your hands the despatches from Lord Hood of which I have the honour to be the bearer.”
“You have the honour! Despatches from Lord Hood? The d—?” he exclaimed. “Do you mean to say that you have charge of the despatch-boat signalled this evening?”
“I do sir, certainly,” I rather resentfully replied. The somewhat contemptuous emphasis he laid on the word you slightly nettled me.
“What, in the name of—um! um! What’s your name, pray, young gentleman?” said he.
“Ralph Chester, midshipman, of the frigate ‘Juno,’ at your service, sir,” I replied.
“Ralph Chester, eh? Of the ‘Juno.’ Ah! um! Let me see. Um! Your name seems familiar to me. Where did I hear it before? Must have heard it before, somewhere; never make mistakes about names; never. Where did I hear it before, eh, youngster?”
“It is quite impossible for me to say, sir,” I replied. “The only way in which an officer in your high position is likely to become acquainted with the name of an obscure midshipman is, it seems to me, through the Gazette.”
“Gazette? Gazette? Oh, ay; to be sure. Yes, yes; certainly; that was it. ‘Juno’—Captain Hood—of course. And are you the lad who distinguished himself so conspicuously at the storming of the Convention Redoubt?”
“I was named in the despatches in connection with that affair, sir,” I modestly replied.
“Then I congratulate you most heartily, my boy,” said he, shaking hands with me vigorously, and changing his hitherto gruff and somewhat churlish demeanour for one of almost paternal cordiality. “Ha! ha! you made the whole service your debtor that night, by helping your skipper to get into the breach before the red-coat. The rascals! They like to ‘top the officer’ over us, and claim to be the more useful arm of the service; but you gave us the pull on them that night, my boy, and no mistake. Poor Dundas! How awfully disgusted he must have felt. But—sit down, and let me see your despatches—we can talk afterwards.”