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THE TWO ADMIRALS
The effect on Bluewater was not trifling. The devil had
placed the bait before his eyes in a most tempting form; for he
felt that he had only to hold his division in reserve to render
an engagement morally improbable. Abandon his friend to a
superior force he could and would not; but, it is our painful
duty to avow that his mind had glimpses of the possibility of
doing the adventurer in Scotland a great good, without doing the vice-admiral and the van of the fleet any very essential
harm. Let us be understood, however. The rear-admiral did not
even contemplate treason, or serious defection of any sort; but
through one of those avenues of frailty by which men are environed, he had a glance at results that the master-spirit of evil
momentarily placed before his mental vision as both great and
glorious.
“I wish we were really certain of de Vervillin’s object,”
he said; the only concession he made to this novel feeling, in
words. “It might, indeed, throw a great light on the course we
ought to take ourselves. I do detest this German alliance, and
would abandon the service ere I would convoy or transport a
ragamuffin of them all to England.”
Here Sir Reginald proved how truly expert he was in the
arts of management. A train of thought and feeling had been
lighted in the mind of his companion, which he felt might lead
to all he wished, while he was apprehensive that further persuasion would awaken opposition, and renew old sentiments.
He wisely determined, therefore, to leave things as they were,
trusting to the strong and declared bias of the admiral in favour of the revolution, to work out its own consequences, with
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
a visible and all-important advantage so prominently placed
before his eyes.
“I know nothing of ships,” he answered, modestly; “but
I do know that the Comte has our succour in view. It would
ill become me to advise one of your experience how to lead a
force like this, which is subject to your orders; but a friend of
the good cause, who is now in the west, and who was lately in
the presence itself, tells me that the prince manifested extreme
satisfaction when he learned how much it might be in your
power to serve him.”
“Do you then think my name has reached the royal ear,
and that the prince has any knowledge of my real feelings?”
“Nothing but your extreme modesty could cause you to
doubt the first, sir; as to the last, ask yourself how came I to approach you to-night, with my heart in my hand, as it might be,
making you master of my life as well as of my secret. Love and
hatred are emotions that soon betray themselves.”
It is matter of historical truth that men of the highest principles and strongest minds have yielded to the flattery of rank.
Bluewater’s political feelings had rendered him indifferent to
the blandishments of the court at London, while his imagination, that chivalrous deference to antiquity and poetical
right, which lay at the root of his Jacobitism, and his brooding
sympathies, disposed him but too well to become the dupe of
language like this. Had he been more a man of facts, one less
under the influence of his own imagination; had it been his
good fortune to live even in contact with those he now so devoutly worshipped, in a political sense at least, their influence
over a mind as just and clear-sighted as his own, would soon
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
have ceased; but, passing his time at sea, they had the most
powerful auxiliary possible, in the high faculty he possessed
of fancying things as he wished them to be. No wonder, then,
that he heard this false assertion of Sir Reginald with a glow of
pleasure; with even a thrill at the heart to which he had long
been a stranger. For a time, his better feelings were smothered
in this new and treacherous sensation.
The gentlemen, by this time, were at the landing, and it
became necessary to separate. The barge of the rear-admiral
was with difficulty kept from leaping on the rock, by means of
oars and boat-hooks, and each instant rendered the embarkation more and more difficult. The moments were precious on
more accounts than one, and the leave-taking was short. Sir
Reginald said but little, though he intended the pressure of
the hand he gave his companion to express every thing.
“God be with you,” he added; “and as you prove true, may
you prove successful! Remember, ‘a lawful prince, and the
claims of birth-right.’ God be with you!”
“Adieu, Sir Reginald; when we next meet, the future will
probably be more apparent to us all. – But who comes hither,
rushing like a madman towards the boat?”
A form came leaping through the darkness; nor was it
known, until it stood within two feet of Bluewater, it was that
of Wycherly. He had heard the guns and seen the signals.
Guessing at the reasons, he dashed from the park, which he
was pacing to cool his agitation, and which now owned him
for a master, and ran the whole distance to the shore, in order
not to be left. His arrival was most opportune; for, in another
minute, the barge left the rock.
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CHAPTER XIX
“O’er the glad waters of the dark-blue sea.
Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free.
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire and behold our home.”
The Corsair.
One is never fully aware of the extent of the movement
that agitates the bosom of the ocean until fairly subject to its
action himself, when indeed we all feel its power and reason
closely on its dangers. The first pitch of his boat told Bluewater
that the night threatened to be serious. As the lusty oarsmen
bent to their stroke, the barge rose on a swell, dividing the
foam that glanced past it like a marine Aurora Borealis, and
then plunged into the trough as if descending to the bottom. It
required several united and vigorous efforts to force the little
craft from its dangerous vicinity to the rocks, and to get it in
perfect command. This once done, however, the well-practised
crew urged the barge slowly but steadily ahead.
“A dirty night! – a dirty night!” muttered Bluewater, unconsciously to himself; “we should have had a wild berth, had
we rode out this blow, at anchor. Oakes will have a heavy time
of it out yonder in the very chops of the channel, with a westerly swell heaving in against this ebb.”
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
“Yes, sir,” answered Wycherly; “the vice-admiral will be
looking out for us all, anxiously enough, in the morning.”
Not another syllable did Bluewater utter until his boat had
touched the side of the Cæsar. He reflected deeply on his situation, and those who know his feelings will easily understand
that his reflections were not altogether free from pain. Such as
they were, he kept them to himself, however, and in a man-ofwar’s boat, when a flag-officer chooses to be silent, it is a matter of course for his inferiors to imitate his example.
The barge was about a quarter of a mile from the landing,
when the heavy flap of the Cæsar’s main-top-sail was heard,
as, close-reefed, it struggled for freedom, while her crew drew
its sheets down to the blocks on the lower yard-arms. A minute later, the Gnat, under the head of her fore-and-aft-mainsail, was seen standing slowly off from the land, looking in the
darkness like some half-equipped shadow of herself. The sloop
of war, too, was seen bending low to the force of the wind, with
her mere apology of a top-sail thrown aback, in waiting for the
flag-ship to cast.
The surface of the waters was a sheet of glancing foam,
while the air was filled with the blended sounds of the wash of
the element, and the roar of the winds. Still there was nothing
chilling or repulsive in the temperature of the air, which was
charged with the freshness of the sea, and was bracing and animating, bringing with it the flavour that a seaman loves. After
fully fifteen minutes’ severe tugging at the oars, the barge drew
near enough to permit the black mass of the Cæsar to be seen.
For some time, Lord Geoffrey, who had seated himself at the
tiller, – yoke-lines were not used a century since, – steered by
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
the top-light of the rear-admiral; but now the maze of hamper
was seen waving slowly to and fro in the lurid heavens, and the
huge hull became visible, heaving and setting, as if the ocean
groaned with the labour of lifting such a pile of wood and iron.
A light gleamed from the cabin-windows, and ever and anon,
one glanced athwart an open gun-room port. In all other respects, the ship presented but one hue of blackness. Nor was
it an easy undertaking, even after the barge was under the lee
of the ship, for those in it, to quit its uneasy support and get a
firm footing on the cleets that lined the vessel’s side like a ladder. This was done, however, and all ascended to the deck but
two of the crew, who remained to hook-on the yard and staytackles. This effected, the shrill whistle gave the word, and that
large boat, built to carry at need some twenty souls, was raised
from the raging water, as it were by some gigantic effort of the
ship herself, and safely deposited in her bosom.
“We are none too soon, sir,” said Stowel, the moment he
had received the rear-admiral with the customary etiquette of
the hour. “It’s a cap-full of wind already, and it promises to
blow harder before morning. We are catted and fished, sir, and
the forecastle-men are passing the shank-painter at this moment.”
“Fill, sir, and stretch off, on an easy bowline,” was the answer; “when a league in the offing, let me know it. Mr. Cornet,
I have need of you, in my cabin.”
As this was said, Bluewater went below, followed by his signal-officer. At the same instant the first lieutenant called out
to man the main-braces, and to fill the top-sail. As soon as this
command was obeyed, the Cæsar started ahead. Her move-
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
ment was slow, but it had a majesty in it, that set at naught the
turbulence of the elements.
Bluewater had paced to and fro in his cabin no less than six
times, with his head drooping, in a thoughtful attitude, ere his
attention was called to any external object.
“Do you wish my presence, Admiral Bluewater?” the signal-officer at length inquired.
“I ask your pardon, Mr. Cornet; I was really unconscious
that you were in the cabin. Let me see – ay – our last signal
was, ‘division come within hail of rear-admiral.’ They must get
close to us, to be able to do that to-night, Cornet! The winds
and waves have begun their song in earnest.”
“And yet, sir, I’ll venture a month’s pay that Captain Drinkwater brings the Dover so near us, as to put the officer of the
watch and the quarter-master at the wheel in a fever. We once
made that signal, in a gale of wind, and he passed his jib-boomend over our taffrail.”
“He is certainly a most literal gentleman, that Captain
Drinkwater, but he knows how to take care of his ship. Look
for the number of ‘follow the rear-admiral’s motions.’ ‘Tis 211,
I think.”
“No, sir; but 212. Blue, red, and white, with the flags. With
the lanterns, ‘tis one of the simplest signals we have.”
“We will make it, at once. When that is done, show ‘the
rear-admiral; keep in his wake, in the general order of sailing.’
That I am sure is 204.”
“Yes, sir; you are quite right. Shall I show the second signal
as soon as all the vessels have answered the first, sir?”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“That is my intention, Cornet. When all have answered, let
me know it.”
Mr. Cornet now left the cabin, and Bluewater took a seat
in an arm-chair, in deep meditation. For quite half an hour
the former was busy on the poop, with his two quarter-masters, going through the slow and far from easy duty of making
night-signals, as they were then practised at sea. It was some
time before the most distant vessel, the Dover, gave any evidence of comprehending the first order, and then the same
tardy operation had to be gone through with for the second. At
length the sentinel threw open the cabin-door, and Cornet reappeared. During the whole of his absence on deck, Bluewater
had not stirred; scarce seemed to breathe. His thoughts were
away from his ships, and for the first time, in the ten years he
had worn a flag, he had forgotten the order he had given.
“The signals are made and answered, sir,” said Cornet, as
soon as he had advanced to the edge of the table, on which
the rear-admiral’s elbow was leaning. “The Dublin is already
in our wake, and the Elizabeth is bearing down fast on our
weather-quarter; she will bring herself into her station in ten
minutes.”
“What news of the York and Dover, Cornet?” asked Bluewater, rousing himself from a fit of deep abstraction.
“The York’s light nears us, quite evidently; though that of
the Dover is still a fixed star, sir,” answered the lieutenant,
chuckling a little at his own humour; “it seems no larger than
it did when we first made it.”
“It is something to have made it at all. I was not aware it
could be seen from deck?”
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
“Nor can it, sir; but, by going up half-a-dozen ratlins we
get a look at it. Captain Drinkwater bowses up his lights to the
gaff-end, and I can see him always ten minutes sooner than
any other ship in the fleet, under the same circumstances.”
“Drinkwater is a careful officer; do the bearings of his light
alter enough to tell the course he is steering?”
“I think they do, sir, though our standing out athwart his
line of sailing would make the change slow, of course. Every foot
we get to the southward, you know, sir, would throw his bearings farther west; while every foot he comes east, would counteract that change and throw his bearings further south.”
“That’s very clear; but, as he must go three fathoms to
our one, running off with square yards before such a breeze,
I think we should be constantly altering his bearings to the
southward.”
“No doubt of it, in the world, sir; and that is just what
we are doing. I think I can see a difference of half a point, already; but, when we get his light fairly in view from the poop,
we shall be able to tell with perfect accuracy.”
“All very well, Cornet. Do me the favour to desire Captain
Stowel to step into the cabin and keep a bright look-out for
the ships of the division. Stay, for a single instant; what particularly sharp-eyed youngster happens to belong to the watch
on deck?”
“I know none keener in that way than Lord Geoffrey
Cleveland, sir; he can see all the roguery that is going on in
the whole fleet, at any rate, and ought to see other things.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“He will do perfectly well; send the young gentleman to
me, sir; but, first inform the officer of the watch that I have
need of him.”
Bluewater was unusually fastidious in exercising his authority over those who had temporary superiors on the assigned duty of the ship; and he never sent an order to any of
the watch, without causing it to pass through the officer of
that watch. He waited but a minute before the boy appeared.
“Have you a good gripe to-night, boy?” asked the rear-admiral, smiling; “or will it be both hands for yourself and none
for the king? I want you on the fore-top-gallant-yard, for eight
or ten minutes.”
“Well, sir, it’s a plain road there, and one I’ve often travelled,” returned the lad, cheerfully.
“That I well know; you are certainly no skulk when duty is
to be done. Go aloft then, and ascertain if the lights of any of
Sir Gervaise’s squadron are to be seen. You will remember that
the Dover bears somewhere about south-west from us, and
that she is still a long way to seaward. I should think all of Sir
Gervaise’s ships must be quite as far to windward as that point
would bring them, but much further off. By looking sharp a
point or half a point to windward of the Dover, you may possibly see the light of the Warspite, and then we shall get a correct idea of the bearings of all the rest of the division – “
“Ay-ay-sir,” interrupted the boy; “I think I understand exactly what you wish to know, Admiral Bluewater.”
“That is a natural gift at sixteen, my lord,” returned the admiral, smiling; “but it may be improved a little, perhaps, by the
experience of fifty. Now, it is possible Sir Gervaise may have
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