Charley Laurel

Charley Laurel, by W. H. G.
Kingston

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Title: Charley Laurel A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land
Author: W. H. G. Kingston
Illustrator: Savile Lumley
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21458]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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LAUREL ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Charley Laurel
A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land

by W H G Kingston
CHAPTER ONE.
VALUABLE BOOTY.
A good many years ago, before, indeed, I can remember, His Majesty's
Ship Laurel, a corvette of eighteen guns and a hundred and thirty men,
commanded by Captain Blunt, formed one of the West India squadron.
She, with another corvette, and a brig in company, came one fine
morning off a beautiful island, then in possession of the French,
although, as Dick Driver, from whom I got the particulars, said,
properly belonged to England, at least, it once had. Of course, therefore,
it was their business to get it back again. Dick could not recollect its
name, nor the exact date of the occurrences I am describing, for, being
no scholar, he was a very bad hand at recollecting dates; and as he
could not write his own name, of course it was not to be expected that
he would keep a journal, or remember very accurately all the places he
had visited.
The Laurel and her consorts, having hoisted French colours, stood
along the coast, which the captain and officers of the former ship
narrowly examined with their glasses.
At length the shades of evening drew on, and they came off a small
town, situated on the shore of a bay, the entrance of which was guarded
by a fort. The Laurel stood on, as if about to enter the bay, but the
land-wind coming off the shore, she and the other two vessels stood
away till they had got such a distance from the harbour that there was
no chance of their being seen by the sharpest eyes, with the best of
night-glasses, looking out for them.
The ships having hove-to, the commanders of the other vessels came on
board the Laurel, when Captain Blunt announced his intention of
attacking the town, hoping to hold possession of it till another squadron,
which had been destined for the purpose, had captured a more
important place on the other side of the island. The captain's plan was

to send in the different boats of the squadron with a strong party of
marines and blue-jackets, in three divisions, a couple of hours before
daylight, as it was hoped at that time, the garrison of the fort being less
on the alert than at an earlier hour, the boats might enter the bay
unperceived.
The first and largest division was instructed to take possession of the
town; the second was to attack the fort; and the third to cut out any
vessels found in the harbour, in case the other two should be compelled
to retreat, so that, at all events, there might be something to show for
the night's work.
The boats' crews, and all who were fortunate enough, as they
considered it, to be selected for the expedition, were soon busily
employed in sharpening cutlasses, fitting fresh flints to their pistols,
and making other preparations for the possible bloody work in which
they were to be engaged. Dick Driver, who belonged to the cutter's
crew, was among the most active. Dick was a short, strongly built,
powerful fellow, with a broad, honest countenance, bright blue eyes,
and fair bushy beard and whiskers,--a truer-hearted, braver seaman than
Dick Driver never stepped.
"If this here cutlass of mine does its duty, we'll thrash the Mounseers,
and gain the King his own again," exclaimed Dick, as he applied his
weapon to the grindstone, feeling that he was a host in himself; and so
he was, provided no treacherous bullet found its way through his sturdy
frame, when, alas, Dick's strength and courage would have availed him
nothing.
The boats at length collected round the Laurel; the oars were muffled;
the officers were ordered to maintain a strict silence. It was hoped that
by getting in the rear of the fort it might be taken with a rush, while the
larger party entered the town, and took by surprise any troops who
might be stationed within it.
The night was very dark, for clouds were in the sky, and the water was