They stood staring at each other for a full minute, and then Archy—the gay, the debonair, the impetuous—was the first to show weakness. He trembled like a girl, and when Langton put both hands on his shoulders he almost had to hold Archy up.
"I thought you were drowned!" gasped Archy.
"So I thought myself, and a great many other persons too. But you—you are as white as a sheet; and where is your hair? and how, in Heaven's name, came you on the Royal George?"
"I am the fellow that was carried off by the press-gang. No one knew my name until an hour or two ago. I have many things to tell you—things that will surprise you. But do you tell me first how you came to life, for I swear I saw you dead."
"I was very near it when I came to myself, thrown high and dry on the rocks where the poor Seahorse went to pieces. Some fishermen in the tunny fisheries found me, and I was a month between life and death in a hut near those very rocks, with a Spanish doctor who spoke no English or French, and I spoke no Spanish. I suppose, as Dr. MacBean would say, if it were possible to kill a midshipman by ordinary means I should not be here now; but I escaped with my life, in spite of the doctor. It is a long story how I got to Barcelona and from thence to England; and within a week from the time I landed at Plymouth I was ordered to this ship. As there is fighting before us, I could not ask for leave, even to see my dear mother; but I wrote her, and I hope she knows by this time that I am still alive to love her and plague her."
"Can you come below with me? I have something important to tell you."
"My watch is up, but I must go below on an errand. I am as anxious to hear as you are to tell. I will be with you in five minutes."
And Langton ran below, leaving Archy almost doubting whether, after all, he had really seen his friend in the flesh.