“Mr. Holdsworth,” said the General in a faint voice, sinking backwards against a thwart, “I am dying.”
His hands were pressed to his heart; he was breathing quickly and convulsively, and his face was bloodless. His exclamation broke the spell that held the others gazing in the direction of the smoke. They turned quickly, and Holdsworth jumped over to the old man and supported his head on his knee.
“No, no, General; don’t say that. This is a bitter disappointment; but we believe in God’s goodness. He cannot mean that we should perish. Johnson, pour some rum into the pannikin. Mrs. Tennent, dip your handkerchief into the sea and kindly pass it here.”
They put the spirit to the old man’s lip, and he drank a little, but gasped for breath when he had swallowed it and clenched his hands. They spread the wet handkerchief over his forehead and loosened his cravat.
“I——I know not what this giddiness may mean,” the General stammered, while the lustre faded out of his eyes. “If it is death ... I am ready to meet it. God is merciful and good. His Son is my Redeemer ... He will take me to Himself ... how faint! how faint! But I have eaten nothing”...
He ceased with a sudden gasp.
“You will feel better presently,” said Holdsworth, while Mrs. Tennent took the old man’s hand and fanned his face. “The shock of the burning ship has been too great for you. But you will live to recall this time. You have as manly a heart as ever God blessed His creatures with. Don’t let it fail you now.”
“I have ... I have striven to do my duty,” murmured the old man, so faintly that his words were scarcely audible. “I have served my country ... she is a great empire ... a great empire ... and my heart is with old England, too;” forcing a smile, “we should know each other better, sir, and our prejudices would leave us, for .... for.... See! yonder is Charleston!” he suddenly exclaimed, his eyes kindling, and drawing his hand from Mrs. Tennent’s, to point with it into the infinite horizon. “Do you see that house on the left, there, with the green facing it? I was born there, sir. Observe the barberry-bushes with the red fruit on them—just there I fought my cousin, when we were boys ... he’s a senator now, and they tell me a good speaker. Oh, how the time goes!” he sighed wearily. “But there’s my wife ... she is holding the little one by the hand, and nodding to me to attend her.... A moment, Sarah, a moment! Gentlemen, farewell. I beg your kind word in my favour among your countrymen, whom I honour. I am a plain American gentleman—a general, gentlemen ... but tell them that my sword was never drawn from its scabbard for any cause but a good one, and ... Ah, farewell! You see, gentlemen, my wife awaits me, and the little one beckons.”
He made a gesture as though he would bow; his venerable and honoured head sank upon his bosom; then he started, looked about him with a glazing eye, and smiling sweetly, whispered, “Sarah, I am coming,” lay back and spoke no more.