第 12 页

Again and again the boys shouted, but the ship sailed steadily on.

Peter dashed the tears aside, and Tom said, with a quiver in his

voice, "Never mind, Peter; better luck next time, old boy. God has

been so good to us, that I feel quite confident we shall be saved."

"So do I, Tom," Peter said. "It was only a disappointment for a

minute. We may as well put the oar down, for my arm and back ache

holding it."

"Mind how you do it, Peter. If we let the end go through the canvas,

we shall lose our watches and bugles, and then we shall not be able to

fish."

"Oh, Tom, the bugles!"

"What, Peter?" Tom said, astonished.

"We can make them hear, Tom, don't you see?"

"Hurrah, Peter! so we can. What a fool I was to forget it!"

In a moment the bugles rang out the assembly across the water. Again

and again the sharp, clear sound rose on the quiet evening air.

"Look, Peter, there are men going up the rigging to look round. Sound

again!"

Again and again they sounded the call, and then they saw the ship's

head come round, and her bow put towards them, and then they fell on

their knees and thanked God that they were saved.

In ten minutes the ship was close to them, thrown up into the wind, a

boat was lowered, and in another minute or two was alongside.

"Hallo!" the officer in charge exclaimed, "two boys, all alone. Here,

help them in, lads--that's it; now pull for the ship. Here, boys, take

a little brandy from this flask. How long have you been on that raft?"

"It is three days since we went overboard, sir; but we were in the

water for about eighteen hours before we made the raft."

Tom and Peter drank a little brandy, and felt better for it; but they

were weaker than they thought, for they had to be helped up the side

of the ship. A number of officers were grouped round the gangway, and

the boys saw that they were on board a vessel of war.

"Only these boys?" asked the captain in surprise of the officer who

had brought them on board.

"That is all, sir."

"Doctor, you had better see to them," the captain said. "If they are

strong enough to talk, after they have had some soup, let them come

to my cabin; if not, let them turn in in the sick bay, and I will see

them in the morning. One question though, boys. Are there any others

about--any one for me to look for or pick up?"

"No one else, sir," Tom said, and then followed the doctor aft. A

basin of soup and a glass of sherry did wonders for the boys, and in

an hour they proceeded to the captain's cabin, dressed in clothes

which the doctor had borrowed from two of the midshipmen for them,

for their own could never be worn again; indeed, they had not brought

their jackets from the raft, those garments having shrunk so from the

water, that the boys had not been able to put them on again, after

first taking them off to dry.

The doctor accompanied them, and in the captain's cabin they found the

first lieutenant, who had been in charge of the boat which picked them

up.

"I am glad to see you looking so much better," the captain said as

they entered. "Sit down. Do you know," he went on with a smile, "I

do not think that any of us would have slept had you not recovered

sufficiently to tell your story to-night. We have been puzzling over

it in vain. How you two boys came to be adrift alone on a raft, made

up of three water-kegs, as Mr. Armstrong tells me, and how you came to

have two bugles with you on the raft, is altogether beyond us."

"The last matter is easily explained, sir," Tom said. "My brother and

myself are buglers in H.M.'s Regiment of Norfolk Rangers, and as we

were on duty when we went overboard, we had our bugles slung over our

shoulders."

"Buglers!" the captain said in surprise. "Why from your appearance and

mode of expressing yourselves, I take you to be gentlemen's sons."

"So we are, sir," Tom said quietly, "and I hope gentlemen--at any

rate we have been Etonians. But we have lost our father, and are now

buglers in the Rangers."

"Well, lads," the captain said after a pause, "and now tell us how you

came upon this little raft?"

Tom related modestly the story of their going overboard from the

"Nancy," of the formation of the raft, and of their after proceedings.

Their hearers were greatly astonished at the story; and the captain

said, "Young gentlemen, you have done a very gallant action, and have

behaved with a coolness and bravery which would have done credit to

old sailors. Had your father been alive he might have been proud

indeed of you. I should be proud had you been my sons. If you are

disposed to change services I will write directly we reach the Tagus

to obtain your discharge, and will give you midshipmen's berths on

board this ship. Don't answer now; you can think it over by the time

we reach Portugal. I will not detain you now; a night's rest will set

you up. Mr. Armstrong will introduce you to the midshipmen to-morrow;

you are passengers here now, and will mess with them. Good-night."

It was not many minutes before the boys were asleep in their hammocks.

If people's ears really tingle when they are being spoken about,

Tom and Peter would have had but little sleep that night. The first

lieutenant related the circumstances to the other lieutenants; the

second lieutenant, whose watch it was, told the gunner, who related

it to the petty officers; the doctor told his mates, who retailed the

story to the midshipmen; and so gradually it went over the whole ship,

and officers and men agreed that it was one of the pluckiest and

coolest things ever done.

The boys slept until nearly breakfast time, and were just dressed when

Mr. Armstrong came for them and took them to the midshipmen's berth,

where they were received with a warmth and heartiness which quite

surprised them. The midshipmen and mates pressed forward to shake

hands with them, and the stiflingly close little cock-pit was the

scene of an ovation. The boys were quite glad when the handshaking was

over, and they sat down to the rough meal which was then usual among

midshipmen. As the vessel had only left England four days before,

the fare was better than it would have been a week later, for there

was butter, cold ham and tongue upon the table. After breakfast they

were asked to tell the story over again, and this they did with great

modesty. Many questions were asked, and it was generally regretted

that they were not sailors. Upon going up on deck there was quite an

excitement among the sailors to get a look at them, and the gunner and

other petty officers came up and shook hands with them heartily, and

the boys wished from the depths of their hearts that people would not

make such a fuss about nothing; for, as Tom said to Peter, "Of course

we should not have jumped overboard if we had thought that we could

not have kept hold of the rope."

That day they dined in the cabin with the captain, who, after the

officers present had withdrawn, asked them if they would tell him

about their past lives. This the boys did frankly, and took the

opportunity of explaining that they had chosen the army because the

enemies' fleet having been destroyed, there was less chance of active

service in the navy than with the army just starting for Lisbon, and

that their uncle having commanded the regiment that they were in, they

had entered it, and had received so much kindness that they had fair

reason to hope that they would eventually obtain commissions. Hence,

while thanking him most warmly for his offer, they had decided to go

on in the path that they had chosen.

The captain remarked that, after what they had said, although he

should have been glad to have them with him, he thought that they had

decided rightly.

The next morning, when the boys woke, they were surprised at the

absence of any motion of the vessel, and upon going on deck they found

that they were running up the Tagus, and that Lisbon was in sight.

CHAPTER VI.

PORTUGAL.

The boys were delighted with the appearance of the Tagus, covered as

it now was with a fleet of transports and merchantmen. As they were

looking at it, the officer commanding the marines on board, who had

talked a good deal to them upon the preceding day, came up to them. "I

thought that you would be in a fix about clothes, my lads," he said.

"You could not very well join in these midshipman's uniforms, so I set

the tailor yesterday to cut down a couple of spare suits of my corps.

The buttons will not be right, but you can easily alter that when you

join. You had better go below at once and see if the things fit pretty

well. I have told the tailor to take them to the cock-pit and if they

do not fit they can alter them at once."

Thanking the officer very much for his thoughtful kindness, and much

relieved in mind--for they had already been wondering what they should

do--the boys ran below, and found that the tailor had guessed their

sizes pretty correctly, aided as he had been by the trousers they

had worn when they came on board. A few alterations were necessary,

and these he promised to get finished in a couple of hours. They had

scarcely gone on deck again when the anchor was let fall, and a boat

was lowered, in order that the captain might proceed to shore with the

despatches of which he was the bearer.

Just as he was upon the point of leaving the deck, his eye fell upon

the boys. "I shall be back again in an hour or two," he said; "do not

leave until I return. I will find out where your regiment is, and if

it has marched I will give you a certificate of how I picked you up,

otherwise you may be stopped on the way, and get into a scrape as two

boys who have strayed away from their regiment."

So saying, the captain got into his boat and rowed to shore. It was

one o'clock before he returned. The boys had dinner with the gunroom

officers, then changed their dress, and had now the appearance of

buglers in the marines.

The captain at once sent for them. "Your regiment went on yesterday

with the rest of the division. It halts to-day ten miles out of the

town. There is the certificate I spoke of. Mr. Armstrong is just going

off with two boats' crew to assist in unloading stores; I have asked

him to hand you over to the charge of some officer going up with a

convoy. And now good-bye, lads. I wish you every luck, and hope that

some day or other you may win your epaulets."

With renewed thanks for his kindness, the boys went up on deck. There

they shook hands and said good-bye to all the officers and midshipmen.

As they were waiting while the boats were being lowered, two of the

sailors went aft to the captain, who had come up from below and was

walking alone on the quarter-deck, and, with a touch of the hat, the

spokesman said, "Your honor, we're come to ax as how, if your honor

has no objection, we might just give a parting cheer to those 'ere

youngsters."

"Well, Jones," the captain said, smiling, "it's rather an unusual

thing for the crew of one of His Majesty's ships to cheer two young

soldiers."

"It is unusual, your honor, mighty unusual, because soldiers ain't in

general of much account at sea; but you see, your honor, this ain't a

usual circumstance, nohow. These here boys, which ain't much more than

babbies, have done what there ain't many men, not even of those who

are born and bred to the sea, would have done; and we should just like

to give them a bit of a cheer for good luck."

"Very well, Jones, tell the men they can do as they like."

Accordingly, as the boys took their seats in the boat they were

surprised at seeing the crew clustering to the side of the ship, while

some of the men ran up the rigging.

"What can the men be up to?" Tom asked Mr. Armstrong in surprise.

The lieutenant smiled, for he knew what was coming.

"Sheer off, men," he said, and as he did so the boatswain of the ship

gave the word, "Now, lads, three cheers for them boys; may they have

the luck they deserve."

Three thundering cheers burst from the whole crew, the men in the

boats tossing their oars in the naval fashion of acknowledgment of

the salute. Tom and Peter, astonished and affected, stood up, took

off their caps, and waved their hands in thanks to the crowd of faces

looking down upon them, and then sat down again and wiped their eyes.

"Row on," the lieutenant said, and the oars fell in the water with

a splash; one more cheer arose, and then the boats rowed for the

landing-place. The boys were too much affected to look up or speak,

until they reached the shore, nor did they notice a boat which rowed

past them upon its way to the vessel they had left, just after they

had started. It contained an officer in a general's uniform. The boat

steered to the ship's side, and the officer ascended the ladder. The

captain was on deck. "Ah, Craufurd," he said, "this is an unexpected

pleasure."

"I have just come back from my division for a few hours, Merivale;

there are a lot of stores which are essential, and some of my

artillery is not landed, so I thought I could hurry things up a bit.

My spare charger, and most of the chargers of my staff, are being

landed, too; the ship they came in was a day or two late; and as I had

to confer with the Portuguese Minister of War, I am killing a good

many birds with one stone. I heard you had just come in, and as I was

on board the "Clio" about my charger, I thought it would not be much

out of my way to run round and shake hands with you."

"I am very glad you did. Come into my cabin; you can spare time to

take some lunch, I hope."

While they were at lunch General Craufurd remarked, "So you have just