Paul Gerrard | Page 3

being judge, I will plead boy
Gerrard's cause against Paddy O'Grady, Esquire, midshipman of his
Majesty's frigate Cerberus," cried Devereux, striking the table with his
fist, a proceeding which obtained a momentary silence. "To commence,
I must go back to first causes. You understand, gentlemen of the jury,
that there is a strong wind blowing, which has kicked up a heavy sea,
which is tossing about our stout ship in a way to make it difficult for a
seaman, and much more for a ship's boy, to keep his legs, and therefore
I suggest--"
"Belay all that, Master Long-tongue," shouted Noakes; "if the boy is to
be cobbed, why let's cob him; if not, why let him fill the mustard-pot,
for it's empty."
Others now joined in; some were for cobbing poor Gerrard forthwith;
others, who had not had their supper, insisted on the mustard-pot being
first replenished.
Devereux had gained his point in setting his messmates by the ears, and
Peter Bruff seeing his object, sent off Gerrard for a supply of the
required condiment. It was O'Grady's next watch on deck; and thus
before Gerrard returned, he had been compelled to leave the berth.
Devereux, however, immediately afterwards turned on Gerrard and
scolded him harshly for not keeping steady while waiting at the door of
the berth. At length the master-at-arms came round, the midshipmen
were sent to their hammocks, and Paul Gerrard was allowed to turn into
his. He felt very sick and very miserable. It was the commencement of
his sea life, a life for which he had long and enthusiastically yearned,
and this was what it proved to be. How different the reality from what
he had expected! He could have cried aloud for very bitterness of heart,
but that he was ashamed to allow his sobs to be heard.

"He treat me thus! he by birth my equal! to speak to me as if I was a
slave! he who might have been in my place, had there been justice done
us, while I should have been in his. A hard fate is mine; but yet I chose
it, and I'll bear it."
With such thoughts passing through his mind, the young ship-boy fell
asleep, and for a time forgot his cares and suffering. He dreamed of
happier times, when he with his parents and brothers and sisters
enjoyed all the luxuries which wealth could give, and he was a loved
and petted child. Then came a lawsuit, the subject of which he could
not comprehend. All he knew was, that it was with the Devereux family.
It resulted in the loss to his father of his entire fortune, and Paul
remembered hearing him say that they were beggars. "That is what I
will not be," he had exclaimed; "I can work--we can all work--I will
work."
Paul was to be tried severely. His father died broken-hearted. It seemed
too probable that his mother would follow him ere long. Paul had
always desired to go to sea. He could no longer hope to tread the
quarter-deck as an officer, yet he still kept to his determination of
following a life on the ocean.
"I will enter as a cabin-boy; I will work my way upwards. Many have
done so, why should not I?" he exclaimed with enthusiasm; "I will win
wealth to support you all, and honours for myself. `Where there's a will
there's a way.' I don't see the way very clearly just now; but that is the
opening through which I am determined to work my way onward."
Paul's mother, though a well-educated and very excellent person, knew
nothing whatever of the world. She would, indeed, have hesitated, had
she known the real state of the case, and what he would have to go
through, ere she allowed her son to enter before the mast on board a
man-of-war; but she had no one on whom she could rely, to consult in
the matter. Mrs Gerrard had retired to the humble cottage of a former
servant in a retired village, where she hoped that the few pounds a year
she had left her would enable her to support herself and her children,
with the aid of such needlework as she might obtain. Little did she
think, poor woman, to what trying difficulties she would be exposed.

Not only must she support herself, but educate her children. She had
saved a few books for this purpose, and some humble furniture for her
little cottage; everything else had been sold to raise the small sum on
the interest of which she was to live.
"Mother! mother! do let me at once go to sea!" exclaimed Paul, who
understood tolerably well the state of affairs. "I can do nothing at home
to help you, and only eat