“Oh no, no!” cried Alphonse; “I will never more fight against you English. I was told that you were little better than barbarians—a nation of fierce lords, money-making shopkeepers, and wretched slaves; but I find you very different. I love you now, and I love you for ever.”
Alphonse parted in a most affectionate manner from Paul, telling him how glad he should be, when the war was over, if he would come and see him at his father’s château, where he said he should go and remain quietly, and escape, if possible, being sent again to sea.
The Cerberus sailed with sealed orders. This was known. It was hoped that they would give permission to the captain to attack the Spanish frigate. The captain opened his orders off the east end of the island, when he found that he was to proceed off Cape Delavela, on the Spanish Main, a point of land about seventy leagues to leeward of Puerto Cabello, and that he was to remain as long as his provisions, wood, and water would allow, to endeavour to intercept the frigate supposed to be bound to the Havana. Thither the Cerberus accordingly proceeded. To wait in expectation of meeting a friend is a matter of no little interest; but when an enemy is looked-for, and there is the prospect of a battle, and a pretty tough one to boot, the excitement is immense. In this instance it was tenfold: the enemy was no ordinary one; the object was to win back a ship foully taken and disgracefully retained.
“There is no necessity to tell you to keep a sharp look-out,” said the captain to the officers of the watch, as he went below the first night of their arrival on their cruising-ground.
“She’ll be clever if she escapes us,” was the answer. However, the captain was on deck that night several times, as he was on many subsequent nights, and sharp eyes were looking out all night and all day, and still no enemy’s frigate hove in sight. Paul was very ambitious to be the first to see her. Whenever his duty would allow, he was at the mast-head till the hot sun drove him down, or darkness made his stay there, useless. He often dreamed, when in his hammock at night, that he heard the drum beat to quarters, and jumping up, slipped into his clothes, and hurried on deck, when finding all quiet, with no small disappointment he had again to turn in. “The opportunity will come, however, in some way or other,” said Paul to himself as he tried to go to sleep, and succeeded, as ship-boys generally do. “I must have patience. Even if I were to be killed the next day, I should like to have been a midshipman.” Week after week passed away; no enemy appeared. Now and then a prize was taken; but it was always the same story—the frigate was still in Puerto Cabello. At length it became known that the water and wood were running short, while it was a fact no one would dispute, that the provisions were very bad. The Cerberus must return to Jamaica. The disappointment was general.
“Och, the blackguards of Dons, to keep us waiting all this time, and not to give us the satisfaction of thrashing them after all!” cried Paddy O’Grady, as the matter was discussed in the midshipmen’s berth.
“The fellow has probably slipped by us in the dark; but we’ll catch him some day; that’s a comfort,” observed Devereux.
“Our skipper is not a man to take that for granted without ascertaining the fact,” remarked Bruff.
He was right. Before a course was shaped for Jamaica, the Cerberus stood for Puerto Cabello. All hands were eagerly on the look out as they approached the port, to ascertain whether the frigate was still there. A shout of satisfaction broke from the throats of the crew as she was discovered with her sails bent ready for sea, though moored head and stern between two strong batteries, one on either side, at the entrance of the harbour. By herself, she looked no insignificant opponent; while the batteries, it was supposed, mounted not less than two hundred guns. The Cerberus stood in till she was within gun-shot of the enemy, and then continued her course, as if fearing a contest. Not a word was said by the captain as to what he intended doing. Hope returned when the ship was tacked. For two or three days the Cerberus continued cruising up and down before the port. Another day was drawing to a close, when, as it seemed, she had given a farewell to the port. Some of the officers had been dining with the captain. They came out of the cabin with an expression of satisfaction on their countenances.
“Something is in the wind,” said Reuben to Paul. “They wouldn’t look so pleased otherwise.”