Ralph was released, and began to search in his pockets. Poor Jessie stood by, still trembling with alarm, and anxiously watching him.
“Oh! You must have it, Ralph,” she exclaimed in a plaintive tone, as she saw that he did not produce the important document. “Oh! Let me try,” and she plunged her hands eagerly into his pockets. She uttered a cry of dismay when it was not to be found.
“I must have forgotten to take it out of my other jacket when I dressed to come on shore,” said Ralph; “I had it just before I left the brig, I know. Don’t be alarmed, Jessie dear, all will come right; Captain Mudge will send it to me, or, if the officer will permit me to go on board, I’ll get it—I will, indeed, sir,” he added, addressing the old mate, “and will, on my honour, return with it to any place you may name; I will, on my honour.”
“That sort of note, I tell you, don’t pass current with us, my lad,” answered the old mate, more moved perhaps by Jessie’s agony of grief and terror than from his gruff manner and language might have been supposed. “It’s hard lines for you, I’ll allow, as matters stand, I see; out cheer up, my good girl, many another man has had to serve his Majesty for a year or two and come home with his pockets full of rhino to set up house. As to the protection, I knew from the first that was all fudge; so as we’ve lost too much time already palavering about it, come along, my brave fellow, without more ado.” As he spoke he again seized Ralph by the arm, and three of the men stepped forward to assist him.
Poor Jessie clung to Ralph frantically, entreating that he might be allowed to remain. “He will bring you the paper to-morrow; I can answer for him, and so can my grandmother. He never told a falsehood in his life; he would not deceive even you,” she exclaimed. “Oh, let him go! Cruel, cruel men!”
“The young man speaks only the truth,” said Dame Treviss, trembling with agitation as she rose from her chair and tottered to her grand child’s assistance.
While two of the men had seized Ralph, another was about to tear Jessie from him, when the dame took the poor girl in her arms.
“Take off your hands, lads, and I will accompany you without attempting to escape,” he said, and the men releasing him he bore Jessie to the little horse-hair sofa, where he placed her by the dame’s side, bestowing on her a loving kiss as he did so.
Having released himself gently from her arms, “Now I am ready to accompany you, sir,” he said, and walked steadily towards the door. Perhaps even then the king’s officer might have felt that the merchant seaman was, morally, his superior.
The dame, fearing that Jessie might be exposed to some rough treatment should she attempt to stop Ralph, held her in her arms till he had reached the door. She cast a fond look at him as his captors hurried him away.