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THE TWO ADMIRALS
the intrusion, and receive her carving and attentions as an excuse for her company.”
Bluewater looked at the pallid countenance of the girl, and
never before had he found the resemblance to Agnes Hedworth so strong, as that moment. The last year or two of his
own sweet friend’s life had been far from happy, and the languid look and tearful eyes of Mildred revived the recollection
of the dead with painful distinctness.
“Good God!” he murmured to himself; “that two such beings should exist only to suffer! my good Mrs. Dutton, make
no excuses; but believe me when I say that you could not have
found in England another that would have proved as welcome
as my present little messmate.”
Mildred struggled for a smile; and she did succeed in looking extremely grateful. Beyond this, however, it exceeded her
powers to go. Mrs. Dutton was gratified, and soon left the two
to partake of their neat, but simple meal, by themselves; household duties requiring her presence elsewhere.
“Let me persuade you to take a glass of this really excellent
port, my child,” said Bluewater. “If you had cruised as long as
I have done, on the coast of Portugal, you would know how to
value a liquor as pure as this. I don’t know of an admiral that
has as good!”
“It is probably our last, sir,” answered Mildred, shaking a
tear from each of her long dark lashes, by an involuntarily
trembling motion, as she spoke. “It was a present from dear,
old, Sir Wycherly, who never left my mother wholly unsupplied with such plain delicacies, as he fancied poverty placed
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
beyond our reach. The wine we can easily forget; not so easily
the donor.”
Bluewater felt as if he could draw a cheque for one-half the
fortune he had devised to his companion; and, yet, by a caprice
of feeling that is not uncommon to persons of the liveliest susceptibility, he answered in a way to smother his own emotion.
“There will not soon be another old Sir Wycherly to make
his neighbours comfortable; but there is a young one, who is
not likely to forget his uncle’s good example. I hope you all
here, rejoice at the sudden rise in fortune, that has so unexpectedly been placed within the reach of our favourite lieutenant?”
A look of anguish passed over Mildred’s face, and her companion noted it; though surprise and pity – not to say resentment – prevented his betraying his discovery.
“We endeavour to be glad, sir,” answered Mildred, smiling
in so suffering a manner, as to awaken all her companion’s
sympathies; “but it is not easy for us to rejoice at any thing
which is gained by the loss of our former valued friend.”
“I am aware that a young follow, like the present Sir
Wycherly, can be no substitute for an old fellow like the last
Sir Wycherly, my dear; but as one is a sailor, and the other was
only a landsman, my professional prejudices may not consider
the disparity as great as it may possibly appear to be to your
less partial judgment.”
Bluewater thought the glance he received was imploring,
and he instantly regretted that he had taken such means to
divert his companion’s sadness. Some consciousness of this regret probably passed through Mildred’s mind, for she rallied
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
her spirits, and made a partially successful effort to be a more
agreeable companion.
“My father thinks, sir,” she said, “that our late pleasant
weather is about to desert us, and that it is likely to blow heavily before six-and-thirty hours are over.”
“I am afraid Mr. Dutton will prove to be too accurate an
almanac. The weather has a breeding look, and I expect a dirty
night. Good or bad, we seamen must face it, and that, too, in
the narrow seas, where gales of wind are no gales of Araby.”
“Ah, sir, it is a terrible life to lead! By living on this cliff, I
have learned to pity sailors.”
“Perhaps, my child, you pity us when we are the most
happy. Nine seamen in ten prefer a respectable gale to a flat
calm. There are moments when the ocean is terrific; but, on
the whole, it is capricious, rather than malignant. The night
that is before us promises to be just such a one as Sir Gervaise
Oakes delights in. He is never happier than when he hears a
gale howling through the cordage of his ship.”
“I have heard him spoken of as a very daring and self-relying commander. But you cannot entertain such feelings, Admiral Bluewater; for to me you seem better fitted for a fireside,
well filled with friends and relatives, than for the conflicts and
hardships of the sea.”
Mildred had no difficulty now in forcing a smile, for the
sweet one she bestowed on the veteran almost tempted him
to rise and fold her in his arms, as a parent would wrap a beloved daughter to his heart. Discretion, however, prevented a
betrayal of feelings that might have been misinterpreted, and
he answered in his original vein.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“I fear I am a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he said; “while
Oakes admits the happiness he feels in seeing his ship ploughing through a raging sea, in a dark night, he maintains that
my rapture is sought in a hurricane. I do not plead guilty to
the accusation, but I will allow there is a sort of fierce delight
in participating, as it might be, in a wild strife of the elements.
To me, my very nature seems changed at such moments, and
I forget all that is mild and gentle. That comes of having lived
so much estranged from your sex, my dear; desolate bachelor,
as I am.”
“Do you think sailors ought to marry?” asked Mildred, with
a steadiness that surprised herself; for, while she put the question, consciousness brought the blood to her temples.
“I should be sorry to condemn a whole profession, and that
one I so well love, to the hopeless misery of single life. There
are miseries peculiar to the wedded lives of both soldiers and
sailors; but are there not miseries peculiar to those who never
separate? I have heard seamen say – men, too, who loved their
wives and families – that they believed the extreme pleasure
of meetings after long separations, the delights of hope, and
the zest of excited feelings, have rendered their years of active
service more replete with agreeable sensations, than the stagnant periods of peace. Never having been married myself, I can
only speak on report.”
“Ah! this may be so with men; but – surely – surely – wom-
en never can feel thus!”
“I suppose, a sailor’s daughter yourself, you know Jack’s account of his wife’s domestic creed! ‘A good fire, a clean hearth,
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
the children abed, and the husband at sea,’ is supposed to be
the climax of felicity.”
“This may do for the sailor’s jokes, Admiral Bluewater,” answered Mildred, smiling; “but it will hardly ease a breaking
heart. I fear from all I have heard this afternoon, and from the
sudden sailing of the ships, that a great battle is at hand?”
“And why should you, a British officer’s daughter, dread
that? Have you so little faith in us, as to suppose a battle will
necessarily bring defeat! I have seen much of my own profession, Miss Dutton, and trust I am in some small degree above
the rhodomontade of the braggarts; but it is not usual for us
to meet the enemy, and to give those on shore reason to be
ashamed of the English flag. It has never yet been my luck to
meet a Frenchman who did not manifest a manly desire to do
his country credit; and I have always felt that we must fight
hard for him before we could get him; nor has the result ever
disappointed me. Still, fortune, or skill, or right, is commonly of
our side, and has given us the advantage in the end.”
“And to which, sir, do you ascribe a success at sea, so very
uniform?”
“As a Protestant, I ought to say to our religion; but, this my
own knowledge of Protestant vices rejects. Then to say for-
tune would be an exceeding self-abasement – one, that between us, is not needed; and I believe I must impute it to skill.
As plain seamen, I do believe we are more expert than most of
our neighbours; though I am far from being positive we have
any great advantage over them in tactics. If any, the Dutch are
our equals.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Notwithstanding, you are quite certain of success. It must
be a great encouragement to enter into the fight with a strong
confidence in victory! I suppose – that is, it seems to me – it is
a matter of course, sir, – that our new Sir Wycherly will not be
able to join in the battle, this time?”
Mildred spoke timidly, and she endeavoured to seem unconcerned; but Bluewater read her whole heart, and pitied the
pain which she had inflicted on herself, in asking the question.
It struck him, too, that a girl of his companion’s delicacy and
sensibility would not thus advert to the young man’s movements at all, if the latter had done aught justly to awaken censure; and this conviction greatly relieved his mind as to the
effect of sudden elevation on the handsome lieutenant. As it
was necessary to answer, however, lest Mildred might detect
his consciousness of her feelings, not a moment was lost before
making a reply.
“It is not an easy matter to prevent a young, dashing sailor,
like this Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, from doing his part in a
general engagement, and that, too, of the character of the one
to which we are looking forward,” he said. “Oakes has left the
matter in my hands; I suppose I shall have to grant the young
man’s request.”
“He has then requested to be received in your ship?” asked
Mildred, her hand shaking as she used the spoon it held.
“That of course. No one who wears the uniform could
or would do less. It seems a ticklish moment for him to quit
Wychecombe, too; where I fancy he will have a battle of his
own to fight ere long; but professional feeling will overshadow
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
all others, in young men. Among us seamen, it is said to be
even stronger than love.”
Mildred made no answer; but her pale cheek and quivering
lips, evidences of feeling that her artlessness did not enable
her to conceal, caused Bluewater again to regret the remark.
With a view to restore the poor girl to her self-command, he
changed the subject of conversation, which did not again advert to Wycherly. The remainder of the meal was consequently
eaten in peace, the admiral manifesting to the last, however,
the sudden and generous interest he had taken in the character and welfare of his companion. When they rose from table,
Mildred joined her mother, and Bluewater walked out upon
the cliffs again.
It was now evening, and the waste of water that lay stretched
before the eye, though the softness of summer was shed upon
it, had the wild and dreary aspect that the winds and waves
lend to a view, as the light of day is about to abandon the ocean
to the gloom of night. All this had no effect on Bluewater, however, who knew that two-decked ships, strongly manned, with
their heavy canvass reduced, would make light work of worrying through hours of darkness that menaced no more than
these. Still the wind had freshened, and when he stood on the
verge of the cliff sustained by the breeze, which pressed him
back from the precipice, rendering his head more steady, and
his footing sure, the Elizabeth was casting, under close-reefed
top-sails, and two reefs in her courses, with a heavy stay-sail
or two, to ease her helm. He saw that the ponderous machine
would stagger under even this short canvass, and that her captain had made his dispositions for a windy night. The lights
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
that the Dover and the York carried in their tops were just
beginning to be visible in the gathering gloom, the last about
a league and a half down channel, the ship standing in that direction to get to windward, and the former, more to the southward, the vessel having already tacked to follow the admiral.
A chain of lights connected the whole of the long line, and
placed the means of communication in the power of the captains. At this moment, the Plantagenet was full fifty miles at
sea, ploughing through a heavy south-west swell, which the
wind was driving into the chops of the channel, from the direction of the Bay of Biscay, and the broad Atlantic.
Bluewater buttoned his coat, and he felt his frame invigorated by a gale that came over his person, loaded by the peculiar flavour of the sea. But two of the heavy ships remained at
their anchors, the Dublin and the Cæsar; and his experienced
eye could see that Stowel had every thing on board the latter
ready to trip and be off, as soon as he, himself, should give the
order. At this moment the midshipman, who had been absent
for hours, returned, and stood again at his side.
“Our turn will soon come, sir,” said the gallant boy, “and,
for one, I shall not be sorry to be in motion. Those chaps on
board the Plantagenet will swagger like so many Dons, if they
should happen to get a broadside at Monsieur de Vervillin,
while we are lying here, under the shore, like a gentleman’s
yacht hauled into a bay, that the ladies might eat without disturbing their stomachs.”
“Little fear of that, Geoffrey. The Active is too light of foot,
especially in the weather we have had, to suffer heavy ships
to be so close on her heels. She must have had some fifteen or
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
twenty miles the start, and the French have been compelled to
double Cape la Hogue and Alderney, before they could even
look this way. If coming down channel at all, they are fully fifty
miles to the eastward; and should our van stretch far enough
by morning to head them off, it will bring us handsomely to
windward. Sir Gervaise never set a better trap, than he has
done this very day. The Elizabeth has her hands full, boy, and
the wind seems to be getting scant for her. If it knock her off
much more, it will bring the flood on her weather-bow, and
compel her to tack. This will throw the rear of our line into
confusion!”
“What should we do, sir, in such a case? It would never
answer to leave poor Sir Jarvy out there, by himself!”
“We would try not to do that!” returned Bluewater, smiling
at the affectionate solicitude of the lad, a solicitude that caused
him slightly to forget his habitual respect for the commanderin-chief, and to adopt the sobriquet of the fleet. “In such a case,
it would become my duty to collect as many ships as I could,
and to make the best of our way towards the place where we
might hope to fall in with the others, in the morning. There
is little danger of losing each other, for any length of time,
in these narrow waters, and I have few apprehensions of the
French being far enough west, to fall in with our leading vessels before morning. If they should, indeed, Geoffrey – “
“Ay, sir, if they should, I know well enough what would
come to pass!”
“What, boy? – On the supposition that Monsieur de Vervillin did meet with Sir Gervaise by day-break, what, in your
experienced eyes, seem most likely to be the consequences?”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Why, sir, Sir Jarvy, would go at ‘em, like a dolphin at a flying-fish; and if he should really happen to catch one or two of
‘em, there’ll be no sailing in company with the Plantagenet’s,
for us Cæsar’s! – When we had the last ‘bout with Monsieur
de Gravelin, they were as saucy as peacocks, because we didn’t
close until their fore-yard and mizzen-top-gallant-mast were
gone, although the shift of wind brought us dead to leeward,
and, after all, we had eleven men the most hurt in the fight.
You don’t know them Plantagenet’s, sir; for they never dare say
any thing before you!”
“Not to the discredit of my young Cæsars, I’ll answer for
it. Yet, you’ll remember Sir Gervaise gave us full credit, in his
despatches.”
“Yes, sir, all very true. Sir Gervaise knows better; and
then he understands what the Cæsar is; and what she can do,
and has done. But it’s a very different matter with his youngsters, who fancy because they carry a red flag at the fore, they
are so many Blakes and Howards, themselves. There’s Jack
Oldcastle, now; he’s always talking of our reefers as if there was
no sea-blood in our veins, and that just because his own father
happened to be a captain – a commodore, he says, because he
happened once to have three frigates under his orders.”
“Well, that would make a commodore, for the time being.
But, surely he does not claim privilege for the Oldcastle blood,
over that of the Clevelands!”
“No, sir, it isn’t that sort of thing, at all,” returned the fine
boy, blushing a little, in spite of his contempt for any such
womanly weakness; “you know we never talk of that nonsense
in our squadron. With us it’s all service, and that sort of thing.
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