“I felt that, though it made me very unhappy,” answered Terence; “but did you wish me to come?”
“Yes,” said Lucy, “I should have been very glad to see you; I should not be speaking the truth if I did not say so.”
“Then, if I get my promotion and come back with lots of prize-money, may I hope—”
“Pray don’t speak about that,” answered Lucy, growing agitated; “I can make no promise without papa’s sanction, and I have already said enough to show that I am not indifferent to you.”
Terence was an Irishman, and Irishmen are not wont to be bashful, but at that moment Alick and Stella entered the room, not failing to remark the confusion their appearance created. Terence, of course, explained that he had called, not expecting to see Miss Rogers, but had come to pay his respects to Mrs Murray. She tried to send her husband out of the room, intending to follow, but he would not take the hint; and Terence, who had but a short time to spare, was compelled at length to pay his adieux without eliciting the promise he wished from Lucy. She looked very sorry when he had gone, but probably was the better able, from sympathy, to afford consolation to poor Stella, when the moment for her parting with her husband arrived. That moment came the very next day. It need not be dwelt on. Stella’s lot was that which numberless wives of naval officers have to endure; but, though widely shared, her grief was not the less poignant as she watched with tearful eyes through the admiral’s spy-glass the corvette under all sail standing down the Solent.
Chapter Two.
Crossing the Equator—Billy Blueblazes looks out for the Line, but does not see it—He and Gerald mastheaded—Tristan d’Acunha: Jos Green, as usual, “meets with a Friend”—The Opal at the Cape—Sails for Madagascar—Commodore Douce of the Radiant—A Boat Expedition up the Angoxa River—The Slavers’ Stronghold—Mildmay’s Sonnet interrupted by the Guns of the Fort—Attack on the Slave-Dhows—The Commodore is landed by Tom Bashan—Capture of the Fort—Crossing the Bar.
Her Majesty’s corvette Opal, under all sail, was slowly gliding across the line, for which Dicky Duff and Billy Blueblazes were eagerly looking out, Paddy Desmond having assured them that if they watched fast enough they would be sure to see it. Mr Mildmay, being addicted to poetry, was busily engaged in writing a sonnet on the subject, which, however, did not corroborate Gerald’s statement, as it began, “Ideal cincture which surrounds the globe;” but as he was interrupted by Ben Snatchblock’s pipe summoning the crew to exercise at the guns, the second line was not written, when Jos Green caught sight of the manuscript which he had left on the gun-room table.