"Good God, Captain Cuffe, how unlucky! Cannot an express be sent across by land, so as yet to reach the flag-ship in time?"
"I have thought of that, Griffin, and Clinch has gone precisely on that errand."
"Clinch! Pardon me, sir; but such a duty requires a very active and sober officer!"
"Clinch is active enough, and I know his besetting weakness will have no power over him to-day. I have opened the way for a commission to him, and no one in the ship can go to Naples in a boat sooner than Clinch, if he really try. He will make the most of the afternoon's breeze, should there be any, and I have arranged a signal with him, by which he may let us know the result even at the distance of eight or ten miles."
"Has Lord Nelson left no discretion in the orders, sir?"
"None; unless Raoul Yvard distinctly consent to give up the lugger. In that case, I have a letter, which authorizes me to delay the execution until I can communicate directly with the commander-in-chief."
"How very unlucky it has been all round! Is there no possibility, sir, of making up a case that might render this discretion available?"
"That might do among you irresponsibles, Mr. Griffin," answered Cuffe, a little sharply; "but I would rather hang forty Frenchmen than be Brontéd by Nelson for neglect of duty"
Cuffe spoke more strongly than he intended, perhaps; but the commander of a ship-of-war does not always stop to weigh his words, when he condescends to discuss a point with an inferior. The reply put a check upon Griffin's zeal, however, though the discourse did not the less proceed.
"Well, sir," the lieutenant answered, "I'm sure we are all as anxious as you can be, to avert this affair from our ship. 'Twas but the other day we were boasting in the gun-room, to some of the Lapwing's officers that were on a visit here, that the Proserpine never had an execution or a court-martial flogging on board her, though she had now been under the British ensign near four years, and had been seven times under fire."