Channing, furnished every comfort the brig would afford to the two liberated Americans, showing a kind and friendly consideration for them, and that he had their interests near at heart. The day passed on in the usual routine of the vessel as she stood on her Northern course. Young Lovell and his companion in prison, after being shaved and furnished with comfortable clothing and enjoying a few days of plenty and comparative rest, looked like different beings. Captain Channing having learned of the martial skill and experience of Lovell, had as we have seen, placed him as his second in command, immediately after his arrival on board the Constance; since which time he had trusted almost entirely her management and sailing to him, while he passed the greater portion of his time in his cabin below, apparently in study, reading, &c.; appearing upon deck but seldom and then only for a short period at a time.
The fourth day out from Havana, Captain Channing sent word from the cabin that he wished to see Mr. Lovell. The mate came forthwith, saluting the young commander with due respect, for Channing was strict in exacting every degree of the usual forms on ship-board. Lovell had learned of the captain’s noble conduct during the voyage; of the suppression of the mutiny, and various other matters that had led him earnestly to desire an opportunity to express his admiration and respect.
But since his arrival on board, the captain had remained almost entirely below, as above said, leaving the charge of matters to his first mate, in whom he appeared to place all confidence as well as all trust. He had seldom appeared upon deck and when he did so, it was in such a manner as to preclude all attempt at gaining his ear in conversation even for a moment.
‘The captain’s very handsome, don’t you think so?’ said Herbert one day to Lovell, when during a clear calm he had left the barque and come on board the brig. ‘He’s evidently commissioned by your girl down there at Lynn, at the High Rock Hamlet. I should not like to have such a young hero for a rival, Lovell, that’s all!’ said Herbert playfully.
‘I’ve been trying to get his ear for a few minutes ever since we sailed from Cuba,’ said Lovell, ‘but he keeps down below there so snugly that one don’t see much of him, though it’s all a compliment to me, Herbert, don’t you think so?’
‘Of course, sir, for he trusts you far enough.’
‘That’s the way I look at it, Herbert. But he’s a stern sour sort of a man, I think, and must have met with some cross—he never laughs.’
‘He’s a gentleman, though, every inch of him,’ said Jack Herbert warmly, ‘rival or no rival, and clear grit when he’s up. Why, bless you, Bill Lovell, he didn’t make any more of blowing that mutinous Englishman into eternity than I would have done despatching a dog.’
‘I’m his debtor at any rate,’ said Lovell, thoughtfully. ‘To be sure you are, you may give him all the thanks that you are not rotting in that cursed prison yonder at Havana, this very hour. What could I have done alone? Just nothing at all; it took him to plan, and as to that matter, to execute the business too.’
‘How odd that this Irishman insists upon sleeping at his cabin door every night when off watch; can you account for it?’