第 24 页

Cyril bowed deeply and retired, while Prince Rupert and the Duke

hurried away again to see that the operations they had directed were

properly carried out.

CHAPTER X

HOW JOHN WILKES FOUGHT THE DUTCH

After leaving Prince Rupert, Cyril returned to John Wilkes, who was

standing a short distance away.

"John! John!" he said eagerly, as he joined him. "Who do you think

those gentlemen are?"

"I don't know, lad. It is easy to see that they are men of importance

by the way they order everyone about."

"The one who went with us to the garden is Prince Rupert; the other

is the Duke of Albemarle. And the Prince has told me to call upon him

to-morrow at Whitehall."

"That is a stroke of luck, indeed, lad, and right glad am I that I

took it into my head to fetch you out to see the fire. But more than

that, you have to thank yourself, for, indeed, you behaved right

gallantly. You nearly had the Prince for your helper, for just before

I went up the ladder the last time he stepped forward and said to me,

'You must be well-nigh spent, man. I will go up this time.' However,

I said that I would finish the work, and so, without more ado, I

shook off the hand he had placed on my arm, and ran up after you.

Well, it is a stroke of good fortune to you, lad, that you should

have shown your courage under his eye--no one is more able to

appreciate a gallant action. This may help you a long way towards

bringing about the aim you were talking about the other night, and I

may live to see you Sir Cyril Shenstone yet."

"You can see me that now," Cyril said, laughing. "My father was a

baronet, and therefore at his death I came into the title, though I

am not silly enough to go about the City as Sir Cyril Shenstone when

I am but a poor clerk. It will be time enough to call myself 'Sir'

when I see some chance of buying back our estate, though, indeed, I

have thought of taking the title again when I embark on foreign

service, as it may help me somewhat in obtaining promotion. But do

not say anything about it at home. I am Cyril Shenstone, and have

been fortunate enough to win the friendship of Captain Dave, and I

should not be so comfortable were there any change made in my

position in the family. A title is an empty thing, John, unless there

are means to support it, and plain Cyril Shenstone suits my position

far better than a title without a guinea in my purse. Indeed, till

you spoke just now, I had well-nigh forgotten that I have the right

to call myself 'Sir.'"

They waited for two hours longer. At the end of that time four

mansions had been burnt to the ground, but the further progress of

the flames had been effectually stayed. The crowd had already begun

to scatter, and as they walked eastward the streets were full of

people making their way homeward. The bell of St. Paul's was striking

midnight as they entered. The Captain and his family had long since

gone off to bed.

"This reminds one of that last business," John whispered, as they

went quietly upstairs.

"It does, John. But it has been a pleasanter evening in every way

than those fruitless watches we kept in the street below."

The next morning the story of the fire was told, and excited great

interest.

"Who were the girls you saved, Cyril?" Nellie asked.

"I don't know. I did not think of asking to whom the house belonged,

nor, indeed, was there anyone to ask. Most of the people were too

busy to talk to, and the rest were spectators who had, like

ourselves, managed to make their way in through the lines of the

soldiers and watch."

"Were they ladies?"

"I really don't know," Cyril laughed. "The smoke was too thick to see

anything about them, and I should not know them if I met them to-day;

and, besides, when you only see a young person in her nightdress, it

is hard to form any opinion as to her rank."

Nellie joined in the laugh.

"I suppose not, Cyril. It might make a difference to you, though.

Those houses in the Savoy are almost all the property of noblemen,

and you might have gained another powerful friend if they had been

the daughters of one."

"I should not think they were so," Cyril said. "There seemed to be no

one else in the house but three maid servants and the woman who was

in the room with them. I should say the family were all away and the

house left in charge of servants. The woman may have been a

housekeeper, and the girls her children; besides, even had it been

otherwise, it was merely by chance that I helped them out. It was

John who tied the ladders together and who carried the girls down,

one by one. If I had been alone I should only have had time to save

the youngest, for I am not accustomed to running up and down ladders,

as he is, and by the time I had got her down it would have been too

late to have saved the others. Indeed, I am not sure that we did save

them; they were all insensible, and, for aught I know, may not have

recovered from the effects of the smoke. My eyes are smarting even

now."

"And so you are to see Prince Rupert to-day, Cyril?" Captain Dave

said. "I am afraid we shall be losing you, for he will, I should say,

assuredly appoint you to one of his ships if you ask him."

"That would be good fortune indeed," Cyril said. "I cannot but think

myself that he may do so, though it would be almost too good to be

true. Certainly he spoke very warmly, and, although he may not

himself have the appointment of his officers, a word from him at the

Admiralty would, no doubt, be sufficient. At any rate, it is a great

thing indeed to have so powerful a friend at Court. It may be that,

at the end of another two years, we may be at war with some other

foreign power, and that I may be able to enter our own army instead

of seeking service abroad. If not, much as I should like to go to sea

to fight against the Dutch, service in this Fleet would be of no real

advantage to me, for the war may last but for a short time, and as

soon as it is over the ships will be laid up again and the crews

disbanded."

"Ay, but if you find the life of a sailor to your liking, Cyril, you

might do worse than go into the merchant service. I could help you

there, and you might soon get the command of a trader. And, let me

tell you, it is a deal better to walk the decks as captain than it is

to be serving on shore with twenty masters over you; and there is

money to be made, too. A captain is always allowed to take in a

certain amount of cargo on his own account; that was the way I

scraped together money enough to buy my own ship at last, and to be

master as well as owner, and there is no reason why you should not do

the same."

"Thank you, Captain Dave. I will think it over when I find out

whether I like a sea life, but at present it seems to me that my

inclinations turn rather towards the plan that my father recommended,

and that, for the last two years, I have always had before me. You

said, the other day, you had fought the Dutch, John?"

"Ay, ay, Master Cyril; but, in truth, it was from no wish or desire

on my part that I did so. I had come ashore from Captain Dave's ship

here in the Pool, and had been with some of my messmates who had

friends in Wapping and had got three days' leave ashore, as the cargo

we expected had not come on board the ship. We had kept it up a bit,

and it was latish when I was making my way down to the stairs. I

expect that I was more intent on making a straight course down the

street than in looking about for pirates, when suddenly I found

myself among a lot of men. One of them seized me by the arm.

"'Hands off, mate!' says I, and I lifted my fist to let fly at him,

when I got a knock at the back of the head. The next thing I knew

was, I was lying in the hold of a ship, and, as I made out presently,

with a score of others, some of whom were groaning, and some cursing.

"'Hullo, mates!' says I. 'What port is this we are brought up in?'

"'We are on board the _Tartar_,' one said.

"I knew what that meant, for the _Tartar_ was the receiving hulk

where they took the pressed men.

"The next morning, without question asked, we were brought up on

deck, tumbled into a small sloop, and taken down to Gravesend, and

there put, in batches of four or five, into the ships of war lying

there. It chanced that I was put on board Monk's flagship the

_Resolution_. And that is how it was I came to fight the Dutch."

"What year was that in, John?"

"'53--in May it was. Van Tromp, at that time, with ninety-eight ships

of war, and six fire-ships, was in the Downs, and felt so much Master

of the Sea that he sailed in and battered Dover Castle."

"Then you were in the fight of the 2nd of June?"

"Ay; and in that of the 31st of July, which was harder still."

"Tell me all about it, John."

"Lor' bless you, sir, there is nothing to tell as far as I was

concerned. I was at one of the guns on the upper deck, but I might as

well have been down below for anything I saw of it. It was just load

and fire, load and fire. Sometimes, through the clouds of smoke, one

caught a sight of the Dutchman one was firing at; more often one

didn't. There was no time for looking about, I can tell you, and if

there had been time there was nothing to see. It was like being in a

big thunderstorm, with thunderbolts falling all round you, and a

smashing and a grinding and a ripping that would have made your hair

stand on end if you had only had time to think of it. But we hadn't

time. It was 'Now then, my hearties, blaze away! Keep it up, lads!

The Dutchmen have pretty near had enough of it!' And then, at last,

'They are running, lads. Run in your guns, and tend the sails.' And

then a cheer as loud as we could give--which wasn't much, I can tell

you, for we were spent with labour, and half choked with powder, and

our tongues parched up with thirst."

"How many ships had you?"

"We had ninety-five war-ships, and five fire-ships, so the game was

an equal one. They had Tromp and De Ruyter to command them, and we

had Monk and Deane. Both Admirals were on board our ship, and in the

very first broadside the Dutch fired a chain-shot, and pretty well

cut Admiral Deane in two. I was close to him at the time. Monk, who

was standing by his side, undid his own cloak in a moment, threw it

over his comrade, and held up his hand to the few of us that had seen

what had happened, to take no notice of it.

"It was a good thing that Deane and Monk were on board the same ship.

If it had not been so, Deane's flag would have been hauled down and

all the Fleet would have known of his death, which, at the

commencement of the fight, would have greatly discouraged the men.

"They told me, though I know naught about it, that Rear-Admiral

Lawson charged with the Blue Squadron right through the Dutch line,

and so threw them into confusion. However, about three o'clock, the

fight having begun at eleven, Van Tromp began to draw off, and we got

more sail on the _Resolution_ and followed them for some hours, they

making a sort of running fight of it, till one of their big ships

blew up, about nine in the evening, when they laid in for shore.

Blake came up in the night with eighteen ships. The Dutch tried to

draw off, but at eight o'clock we came up to them, and, after

fighting for four hours, they hauled off and ran, in great confusion,

for the flats, where we could not follow them, and so they escaped to

Zeeland. We heard that they had six of their best ships sunk, two

blown up and eleven taken, but whether it was so or not I knew not,

for, in truth, I saw nothing whatever of the matter.

"We sailed to the Texel, and there blocked in De Ruyter's squadron of

twenty-five large ships, and we thought that there would be no more

fighting, for the Dutch had sent to England to ask for terms of

peace. However, we were wrong, and, to give the Dutchmen their due,

they showed resolution greater than we gave them credit for, for we

were astonished indeed to hear, towards the end of July, that Van

Tromp had sailed out again with upwards of ninety ships.

"On the 29th they came in view, and we sailed out to engage them, but

they would not come to close quarters, and it was seven at night

before the _Resolution_, with some thirty other ships, came up to

them and charged through their line. By the time we had done that it

was quite dark, and we missed them altogether and sailed south,

thinking Van Tromp had gone that way; but, instead, he had sailed

north, and in the morning we found he had picked up De Ruyter's

fleet, and was ready to fight. But we had other things to think of

besides fighting that day, for the wind blew so hard that it was as

much as we could do to keep off the shore, and if the gale had

continued a good part of the ships would have left their bones there.

However, by nightfall the gale abated somewhat, and by the next

morning the sea had gone down sufficient for the main deck ports to

be opened. So the Dutch, having the weather gauge, sailed down to

engage us.

"I thought it rough work in the fight two months before, but it was

as nothing to this. To begin with, the Dutch fire-ships came down

before the wind, and it was as much as we could do to avoid them.

They did, indeed, set the _Triumph_ on fire, and most of the crew

jumped overboard; but those that remained managed to put out the

flames.

"Lawson, with the Blue Squadron, began the fighting, and that so

briskly, that De Ruyter's flagship was completely disabled and towed

out of the fight. However, after I had seen that, our turn began, and

I had no more time to look about. I only know that ship after ship

came up to engage us, seeming bent upon lowering Monk's flag. Three