On the day but one following, he reappeared in almost as excited a state as before.
“Hurrah!” he exclaimed, as he entered the room. “We are ordered to proceed home at once and payoff, so we can all go together. The frigate has had a very successful time of it while she has been out here; we shall go home with our pockets well lined; and I think I must seize upon the opportunity which the paying-off of the ship will afford, in order to get spliced. I should think Florrie will never have the heart to send me to sea a bachelor again, will she?”
“Upon my word, sir, I don’t know,” I replied. “Girls are very curious in their notions sometimes, and occasionally require a great deal of persuasion to bring them up to the mark. However, your persuasive powers seemed to be pretty effective with my sister when you last tried them upon her; and, as in duty bound, I will of course do all I can to promote my captain’s success.”
“Ah, you rogue,” rejoined he. “You are fast recovering, I see. There is not much the matter with a midshipman when he is able to fling a sly jest in the face of his captain. But—midshipman? My dear Ralph, you are no longer such. How could I be so forgetful? Your commission has come out by the packet which arrived yesterday, and the admiral will hand it you the first time you call upon him. Now let me be the first to congratulate you, which I do most heartily.”
We left the house together in the cool of the evening, driving down to the wharf in a ketureen which some friend had been ill-advised enough to lend the skipper, who was no great hand at the ribbons, and who narrowly missed capsizing the concern two or three times during the trip. The gig was waiting for us; and, jumping in, the sails were set, and we flew down the boat-channel with a spanking land breeze under the glorious light of a full moon.
When we reached the ship, I found that my return on board had been made the occasion of a regular jollification; the skipper having invited the whole of the quarter-deck officers to meet me in the cabin at a late dinner and wet my commission.
All the old faces were there, I was glad to see, including even that of Captain Flinn, whose ship, the “Artemise,” happened to be in port at the time, and little Fisher, who had recovered in a most marvellous manner from his dreadful wounds. There was a great deal of yarn-spinning, some capital singing, and a great deal of wine-drinking, too, on the part of one or two of the guests, notwithstanding which latter drawback we spent a very pleasant evening.
On the following morning I waited upon the admiral and received my commission, the presentation of which he saw fit to accompany with a few complimentary as well as congratulatory remarks; and in the afternoon I drove out to Hurstleigh, as Mr Finnie had named his place, for the purpose of packing up my few traps and bidding my kindest of friends farewell. I remained there that night, joining the ship about twelve o’clock next day.
Two days afterwards we sailed from Port Royal, about five o’clock a.m., and after a long but uneventful passage arrived safely home. We anchored at Spithead on the night of our arrival, and next day the ship was taken into harbour and paid off.
When all was done, it was too late for a start for home that night; so the skipper—who had no relations belonging to him, and therefore intended to visit his dearie before going anywhere else—and I put up at the “George,” starting the first thing after breakfast next morning.