"I will write whenever I can, dearest," I said, "but I expect it will not be an easy matter. You must be content to hear from me at odd intervals till the war is over. You will trust me, dear, will you not?"
"With my very life!" was her passionate reply. "Oh, Herbert! Herbert!" she cried, the tears, which nothing could now hold back, coming thick and fast; "I will pray for you always—always, that the God of battles may spare you to me!"
At length I managed to tear myself away, leaving her to find consolation from Him who dries all tears with His infinite pity and compassion, and gives even to weak women and little children a strength that many an erring man envies.
I reached the Quickmatch the same night, and found instructions to join up with the great fleet which was already assembling at Spithead.
The next morning we weighed anchor in the presence of the greatest crowd of people it has ever been my lot to witness. Southsea beach was one compact mass of men, women, and children, anxious to get a last glimpse of the near and dear ones who were so soon to do battle for their native land.
Slowly we moved off, and though we were far from the shore, on the outside right of the fleet, we could hear the hoarse cries which broke wildly from the vast concourse watching us steam away—from home and friends, from love and life, from all that man holds dear, to death and an unknown resting-place.
Two days later saw us across the Bay of Biscay, in compliance with the sealed instructions which the Admiral had opened as soon as we were out of sight of land. The Channel Squadron, with Gibraltar as its temporary headquarters, was to keep open the line of communication from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. This, with the information that France and Russia were actively operating against us, was all we knew.
The Blenheim had been sent on ahead as one of our scouts, and she had signalled nothing of consequence till we had arrived off Cape St. Vincent. Then, however, she sent us some sufficiently startling news by her mast-head semaphore. She reported that a strong French fleet lay stretched right across the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar.