The Tiger of Mysore | Page 6

is a lot in your favour, and I don't
see why you should not pull through all right; at any rate, even should
the worst come to the worst, and you do get news, somehow, that your
poor father has gone down, I am sure it will be better for your mother

than going on as she has done for the last six years, just wearing herself
out with anxiety."
"I am sure it will, Ben. I can tell you that it is as much as I can do,
sometimes, not to burst out crying when I see her sitting, by the hour,
with her eyes open, but not seeing anything, or moving as much as a
finger--just thinking, and thinking, and thinking.
"I wish we were going out in your ship, Ben."
"I wish you was, lad; but it will be five or six weeks before we are off
again. Anyhow, the ship you are going in--the Madras--is a fine craft,
and the captain bears as high a character as anyone in the Company's
fleet.
"Well, lad, I hope that it will all turn out well. If I could have talked the
lingo like a native, I would have been glad to have gone with you, and
taken my chances. The captain saved my life in that wreck, and it
would only have been right that I should risk mine for him, if there was
but a shadow of chance of its being of use. But I know that, in a job of
this sort, I could be of no good whatsomever, and should be getting you
into trouble before we had gone a mile together."
"I am sure that you would help, if you could, Ben; but, of course, you
could be of no use."
"And when do you think of being home again, lad?"
"There is no saying, Ben--it may be years. But, however long it takes, I
sha'n't give it up until I find out, for certain, what has become of my
father."
"And ain't there a chance of hearing how you are getting on, Dick? I
shall think of you and your mother, often and often, when I am on deck
keeping my watch at night; and it will seem hard that I mayn't be able
to hear, for years, as to what you are doing."
"The only thing that I can do, Ben, will be to write if I get a chance of

sending a messenger, or for my mother to write to you, to the office."
"That is it. You send a letter to Ben Birket, boatswain of the Madeira,
care of East India Company, Leadenhall Street; and I shall get it,
sooner or later. Of course, I shall not expect a long yarn, but just two or
three words to tell me how you are getting on, and whether you have
got any news of your father. And if you come back to England, leave
your address at the Company's office for me; for it ain't an easy matter
to find anyone out, in London, unless you have got their bearings
right."
Ten days later, Mrs. Holland and Dick embarked on the Madras. Dick
had been warned, by his mother, to say nothing to anyone on board as
to the object of their voyage.
"I shall mention," she said, "that I am going out to make some inquiries
respecting the truth of a report that has reached me, that some of those
on board the Hooghley, of which my husband was captain, survived the
wreck, and were taken up the country. That will be quite sufficient. Say
nothing about my having been born in India, or that my father was a
native rajah. Some of these officials--and still more, their wives--are
very prejudiced, and consider themselves to be quite different beings to
the natives of the country. I found it so on my voyage to England.
"At any rate, we don't want our affairs talked about. It will be quite
sufficient for people to know that we are, as I said, going out to make
some inquiries about the truth of this rumour."
"All right, Mother. At any rate, the captain has told you that he will
look after you, and make things comfortable for you, so we need not
care about anything else."
"We certainly need not care, Dick; but it is much more agreeable to get
on nicely with everyone. I was very pleased when Captain Barstow
called yesterday and said that, having heard at the office that the Mrs.
Holland on the passenger list was the widow of his old shipmate, John
Holland, he had come round to see if there was anything that he could
do for her, and he promised to do all in his power to make us

comfortable.