The Rival Crusoes | Page 3

count wellnigh a score of shot-holes in them;
and her side, too, shows the hard knocks she has been getting. Just run
to the top of the beach, and see if any other ships are following. Maybe
the fleet has had a brush with the enemy, and yonder frigate has been
sent on ahead with news of the action."
Dick, doing as he was bid, soon reached a point of the shingly bank
whence he could obtain a view of the sea to the westward. "Hurrah!" he

shouted; "here comes another ship under a fore-jurymast and her
bowsprit gone. She seems to me to have not a few shot-holes in her
canvas, though it's hard to make out at the distance she is off."
Ben, in his eagerness, forgetting his work, ran up to where Dick was
standing. "Yes, there's no doubt about it, yonder craft is a prize to the
first. When she gets nearer we shall see that her sails are well riddled
and her hull battered, too. Those Frenchmen don't give in till they've
been thoroughly drubbed; but I doubt whether we shall know more
about the matter to-night than we do now, for the wind is falling, and
the tide making out strong against her. See, the frigate can only just
stem it, and unless the breeze freshens, she must bring up or drift out
through the Needles again."
Such, indeed, was likely to be the case, for though still going ahead, her
progress was very slow. She had already got some little distance to the
eastward of Hurst Point, when, the wind freshening again, her sails
blew out, and, gliding majestically on, she edged over to the Isle of
Wight shore.
"She'll not get to Spithead to-night, notwithstanding," remarked Ben,
"for there's not a breath of air away to the eastward; see, the sails of
that brig out there are hanging flat against the masts."
Ben was right. The wind again dropping, presently the hands were seen
flying aloft, the studding-sails were quickly taken in, the courses
brailed up; the topsail yards being rapidly lowered, the ready crew
sprang on to them, and in another minute the frigate dropped her anchor
in Yarmouth Roads.
"All very fine!" growled Ben, as he saw Dick's look of admiration at
the smartness with which the manoeuvre had been effected; "but if
you'd been on board you would have seen how it was all done. There's
the first lieutenant, with his black list in his hand, and the other
lieutenants with their reports, ready to note down anything they may
think amiss; then there are the midshipmen, the boatswain and his
mates, cursing and swearing, with their switches and rope's ends in
their hands, and the cat-o'-nine-tails hung up ready for any who don't

move fast enough. Again, I say, don't you ever enter on board a
man-of-war if you wish to keep a whole skin in your body."
The old smuggler's picture, though exaggerated, approached too nearly
the truth as to the way in which discipline was enforced on board many
men-of-war in those days. Happily, some were as free from the
reproach as are those of the present time, when the seamen of the navy
have good reason to be contented with their lot, as everything is done
which can conduce to their comfort and improvement.
Ben's remarks did not fail to have their effect on Dick's mind.
"Don't think I'm a fool!" he answered. "I'll keep out of their clutches,
depend upon that, for, as I am not a seaman, a pressgang can't catch
hold of me."
"Well, do you be wise, my boy, and don't forget what I say," remarked
Ben. "But if we stand talking here we shan't get the boat finished, so
come along, and don't let us trouble ourselves about the frigate. We
shall hear by-and-by what she has been doing, and how the captain and
officers are praised for the victory the seamen have won for them."
Saying this, Ben led the way back to his boat, and went on with his
work, though Dick Hargrave could not help every now and then casting
a look at the beautiful ship as she lay at anchor a little distance off. Ben
was labouring away as assiduously as before, when Dick exclaimed--
"Here comes a boat from the frigate. I thought I saw one lowered; she
is steering for this point, and it will not be long before she is here."
"Then they intend to put some one on shore at Keyhaven," observed
Ben; "but as the boat can't get up the creek with this low tide, whoever
he may be he'll have to trudge along the beach."
"There seem to be several officers in her," remarked Dick, who stood
watching the boat as she