boat,
and
the
Honourable
Mrs.
Beresford
and
poodle
hoisted
on
board
,
item
her
white
maid
,
item
her
black
nurse
,
item
her
little
boy
and
male
Oriental
in
charge
thereof
,
the
strangest
compound
of
dignity
and
servility
,
and
of
black
and
white
,
being
clad
in
snowy
cotton
and
japanned
to
the
nine
.
Mrs.
Beresford
was
the
wife
of
a
member
of
council
in
India
.
She
had
been
to
Macao
for
her
boy
's
health
,
intending
to
return
to
Calcutta
:
but
meantime
her
husband
was
made
a
director
,
and
went
home
:
so
she
was
going
to
join
him
.
A
tall
,
handsome
lady
,
with
too
curved
a
nose
.
Like
most
aquiline
women
,
she
was
born
to
domineer
a
bit
;
and
,
for
the
last
ten
years
,
Orientals
clinging
at
her
knee
and
Europeans
flattering
at
her
ear
had
nursed
this
quality
high
and
spoiled
her
with
all
their
might
.
A
similar
process
had
been
applied
to
her
boy
Frederick
from
infancy
;
he
was
now
nearly
six
.
Arrogance
and
caprice
shone
so
in
both
their
sallow
faces
,
and
spoke
so
in
every
gesture
,
that
as
they
came
on
board
,
Sharpe
,
a
reader
of
passengers
,
whispered
the
second
mate
:
“
Bayliss
,
we
have
shipped
the
devil
.
”
“
And
a
cargo
of
his
imps
,
”
grunted
Mr.
Bayliss
.
Mr.
Fullalove
was
a
Methodist
parson
—
to
the
naked
eye
:
grave
,
sober
,
lean
,
lank-haired
.
But
some
men
are
hidden
fires
.
Fullalove
was
one
of
the
extraordinary
products
of
an
extraordinary
nation
,
the
United
States
of
America
.
He
was
an
engineer
for
one
thing
,
and
an
inventive
and
practical
mechanician
;
held
two
patents
of
his
own
creating
,
which
yielded
him
a
good
income
both
at
home
and
in
Great
Britain
.
Such
results
are
seldom
achieved
without
deep
study
and
seclusion
;
and
,
accordingly
,
Joshua
Fullalove
,
when
the
inventive
fit
was
on
,
would
be
buried
deep
as
Archimedes
for
a
twelvemonth
,
burning
the
midnight
oil
:
then
,
his
active
element
predominating
,
the
pale
student
would
dash
into
the
forest
or
the
prairie
,
with
a
rifle
and
an
Indian
,
and
come
out
bronzed
,
and
more
or
less
be-panthered
or
be-buffaloed
;
thence
invariably
to
sea
for
a
year
or
two
.
There
,
Anglo-Saxon
to
the
backbone
,
his
romance
had
ever
an
eye
to
business
;
he
was
always
after
foreign
mechanical
inventions
—
he
was
now
importing
a
excellent
one
from
Japan
—
and
ready
to
do
lucrative
feats
of
knowledge
:
thus
he
bought
a
Turkish
ship
at
the
bottom
of
the
Dardanelles
for
twelve
hundred
dollars
,
raised
her
cargo
(
hardware
)
,
and
sold
it
for
six
thousand
dollars
;
then
weighed
the
empty
ship
,
pumped
her
,
repaired
he
;
and
navigated
her
himself
into
Boston
harbour
,
Massachusetts
.
On
the
way
he
rescued
,
with
his
late
drowned
ship
,
a
Swedish
vessel
,
and
received
salvage
.
He
once
fished
eighty
elephants
'
tusks
out
of
a
craft
foundered
in
the
Firth
of
Forth
,
to
the
disgust
of
elder
Anglo-Saxons
looking
on
from
the
shore
.
These
unusual
pursuits
were
varied
by
a
singular
recreation
:
he
played
at
elevating
the
African
character
to
European
levels
.
With
this
view
he
had
bought
Vespasian
for
eighteen
hundred
dollars
;
whereof
anon
.
America
is
fertile
in
mixtures
:
what
do
we
not
owe
her
?
Sherry
cobbler
,
gin
sling
,
cocktail
,
mint
julep
,
brandy
smash
,
sudden
death
,
eye
openers
.
Well
,
one
day
she
outdid
herself
,
and
mixed
Fullalove
:
Quaker
,
Nimrod
,
Archimedes
,
Philanthropist
,
decorous
Red
Rover
,
and
What
Not
.
The
passenger
boats
cast
loose
.
“
All
hands
make
sail
.
”
The
boatswain
piped
,
the
light-heeled
topsmen
sped
up
the
ratlines
and
lay
out
the
yards
,
while
all
on
deck
looked
up
as
usual
to
see
them
work
.
Out
bellied
sail
after
sail
aloft
;
the
ship
came
curtseying
round
to
the
southward
,
spread
her
snowy
pinions
high
and
wide
,
and
went
like
a
bird
over
the
wrinkled
sea
—
homeward
bound
.
It
was
an
exhilarating
start
,
and
all
faces
were
bright
—
but
one
.
The
captain
looked
somewhat
grave
and
thoughtful
,
and
often
scanned
the
horizon
with
his
glass
;
he
gave
polite
but
very
short
answers
to
his
friend
Colonel
Kenealy
,
who
was
firing
nothings
in
his
ear
,
and
sent
for
the
gunner
.
While
that
personage
,
a
crusty
old
Niler
called
Monk
,
is
cleaning
himself
to
go
on
the
quarter-deck
,
peep
we
into
captain
Dodd
's
troubled
mind
,
and
into
the
circumstances
which
connect
him
with
the
heart
of
this
story
,
despite
the
twelve
thousand
miles
of
water
between
him
and
the
lovers
at
Barkington
.
It
had
always
been
his
pride
to
lay
by
money
for
his
wife
and
children
,
and
,
under
advice
of
an
Indian
friend
,
he
had
,
during
the
last
few
years
,
placed
considerable
sums
,
at
intervals
,
in
a
great
Calcutta
house
,
which
gave
eight
per
cent
for
deposits
:
swelled
by
fresh
capital
and
such
high
interest
,
the
hoard
grew
fast
.
When
his
old
ship
,
sore
battered
off
the
Cape
,
was
condemned
by
the
company
's
agents
at
Canton
,
he
sailed
to
Calcutta
,
intending
to
return
thence
to
England
as
a
passenger
.
But
while
he
was
at
Calcutta
,
the
greatest
firm
there
suspended
payment
carrying
astonishment
and
dismay
into
a
hundred
families
.
At
such
moments
the
press
and
the
fireside
ring
for
a
little
while
with
the
common-sense
cry
,
“
Good
interest
means
bad
security
.
”
As
for
Dodd
,
who
till
then
had
revered
all
these
great
houses
with
nautical
or
childlike
confidence
,
a
blind
terror
took
the
place
of
blind
trust
in
him
;
he
felt
guilty
towards
his
children
for
risking
their
money
(
he
had
got
to
believe
it
was
theirs
,
not
his
)
,
and
vowed
,
if
he
could
only
get
hold
of
it
once
more
,
he
would
never
trust
a
penny
of
it
out
of
his
own
hands
again
,
except
,
perhaps
,
to
the
Bank
of
England
.
But
should
he
ever
get
it
?
It
was
a
large
sum
.
He
went
to
Messrs.
Anderson
+
Anderson
,
and
drew
for
his
fourteen
thousand
pounds
.
To
his
dismay
,
but
hardly
to
his
surprise
,
the
clerks
looked
at
one
another
,
and
sent
the
cheque
into
some
inner
department
.
Dodd
was
kept
waiting
.
His
heart
sank
with
him
:
there
was
a
hitch
.
Meantime
came
a
Government
officer
,
and
paid
in
an
enormous
sum
in
notes
and
mercantile
bills
,
principally
the
latter
.
Presently
Dodd
was
invited
into
the
manager
's
room
.
“
Leaving
the
country
,
Captain
Dodd
?
”
“
Yes
,
sir
.
”
“
You
had
better
take
some
of
your
money
in
bills
at
sight
on
London
.
”
“
I
would
rather
have
notes
,
sir
,
”
faltered
Dodd
.
“
Oh
,
bills
by
Oliveira
upon
Baring
are
just
as
good
,
even
without
our
endorsement
.
However
,
you
can
have
half
and
half
.
Calcutta
does
but
little
in
English
bank-notes
,
you
know
.
”
They
gave
him
his
money
.
The
bills
were
all
manifestly
good
.
But
he
recognised
one
of
them
as
having
just
been
paid
in
by
the
civilian
.
He
found
himself
somehow
safe
in
the
street
clutching
the
cash
,
with
one
half
of
his
great
paternal
heart
on
fire
,
and
the
other
half
freezing
.
He
had
rescued
his
children
's
fortune
,
but
he
had
seen
destruction
graze
it
.
The
natural
chill
at
being
scraped
by
peril
soon
passed
,
the
triumphant
glow
remained
.
The
next
sentiment
was
precaution
:
he
filled
with
it
to
the
brim
;
he
went
and
bought
a
great
broad
pocket-book
with
a
key
to
it
;
though
he
was
on
dry
land
.
He
covered
it
with
oiled
silk
against
the
water
;
and
sewed
the
whole
thing
to
his
flannel
waistcoat
,
and
felt
for
it
with
his
hand
a
hundred
times
a
day
:
the
fruit
of
his
own
toil
,
his
children
's
hoard
,
the
rescued
treasure
he
was
to
have
the
joy
of
bringing
home
safe
to
the
dear
partner
of
all
his
joys
.
Unexpectedly
he
was
ordered
out
to
Canton
to
sail
the
Agra
to
the
Cape
.
Then
a
novel
and
strange
feeling
came
over
him
like
a
cloud
;
that
feeling
was
,
a
sense
of
personal
danger
:
not
that
the
many
perils
of
the
deep
were
new
to
him
:
he
had
faced
them
this
five-and-twenty
years
:
but
till
now
they
were
little
present
to
his
imagination
:
they
used
to
come
,
be
encountered
,
be
gone
:
but
now
,
though
absent
,
they
darkened
the
way
.
It
was
the
pocket-book
.
The
material
treasure
,
the
hard
cash
,
which
had
lately
set
him
in
a
glow
,
seemed
now
to
load
his
chest
and
hang
heavy
round
the
neck
of
his
heart
.
Sailors
are
more
or
less
superstitious
,
and
men
are
creatures
of
habit
,
even
in
their
courage
.
Now
David
had
never
gone
to
sea
with
a
lot
of
money
on
him
before
.
As
he
was
a
stout-hearted
man
,
these
vague
forebodings
would
,
perhaps
,
have
cleared
away
with
the
bustle
,
when
the
Agra
set
her
studding
sails
off
Macao
,
but
for
a
piece
of
positive
intelligence
he
had
picked
up
at
Lin-Tin
.
The
Chinese
admiral
had
warned
him
of
a
pirate
,
a
daring
pirate
,
who
had
been
lately
cruising
in
these
waters
:
first
heard
of
south
the
line
,
but
had
since
taken
a
Russian
ship
at
the
very
mouth
of
the
Canton
river
,
murdered
the
crew
in
sight
of
land
,
and
sold
the
women
for
slaves
,
or
worse
.
Dodd
asked
for
particulars
:
was
he
a
Ladroner
,
a
Malay
,
a
Bornese
?
In
what
latitude
was
he
to
be
looked
for
?
The
admiral
on
this
examined
his
memoranda
:
by
these
it
appeared
little
was
known
as
yet
about
the
miscreant
,
except
that
he
never
cruised
long
on
one
ground
;
the
crew
was
a
mixed
one
:
the
captain
was
believed
to
be
a
Portuguese
,
and
to
have
a
consort
commanded
by
his
brother
:
but
this
was
doubtful
;
at
all
events
,
the
pair
had
never
been
seen
at
work
together
.
The
gunner
arrived
and
saluted
the
quarter-deck
;
the
captain
on
this
saluted
him
,
and
beckoned
him
to
the
weather
side
.
On
this
the
other
officers
kept
religiously
to
leeward
.
“
Mr.
Monk
,
”
said
Dodd
,
“
you
will
clean
and
prepare
all
the
small
arms
directly
.
”
“
Ay
,
ay
,
sir
,
”
said
the
old
Niler
,
with
a
gleam
of
satisfaction
.
“
How
many
of
your
deck-guns
are
serviceable
?
”
This
simple
question
stirred
up
in
one
moment
all
the
bile
in
the
poor
old
gentleman
's
nature
.
“
My
deck-guns
serviceable
!
how
the
—
—
can
they
when
that
son
of
a
sea-cook
your
third
mate
has
been
and
lashed
the
water
butts
to
their
breechings
,
and
jammed
his
gear
in
between
their
nozzles
,
till
they
ca
n't
breathe
,
poor
things
,
far
less
bark
.
I
wish
he
was
lashed
between
the
devil
's
hind-hocks
with
a
red
hot
cable
as
tight
as
he
has
jammed
my
guns
.
“
Be
so
good
as
not
to
swear
,
Mr.
Monk
,
”
said
Dodd
.
“
At
your
age
sir
,
I
look
to
you
to
set
an
example
to
the
petty
officers
.
”
“
Well
,
I
wo
n't
swear
no
more
,
sir
,
d
—
d
if
I
do
!
”
He
added
very
loudly
,
and
with
a
seeming
access
of
ire
,
“
And
I
ax
your
pardon
,
captain
,
and
the
deck
's
.
”
When
a
man
has
a
deep
anxiety
,
some
human
midge
or
mosquito
buzzes
at
him
.
It
is
a
rule
.
To
Dodd
,
heavy
with
responsibility
,
and
a
dark
misgiving
he
must
not
communicate
,
came
delicately
,
and
by
degrees
,
and
with
a
semigenuflexion
every
three
steps
,
one
like
a
magpie
;
and
,
putting
his
hands
together
,
as
our
children
do
to
approach
the
Almighty
,
delivered
himself
thus
,
in
modulated
tones
,
and
good
Hindostanee
.
“
The
Daughter
of
light
,
in
whose
beams
I
,
Ramgolam
,
bask
,
glows
with
an
amicable
desire
to
see
the
lord
commander
of
the
ship
resembling
a
mountain
;
and
to
make
a
communication
.
”
Taught
by
sad
experience
how
weighty
are
the
communications
the
daughters
of
light
pour
into
nautical
commanders
at
sea
,
Dodd
hailed
Mr.
Tickell
,
a
midshipman
,
and
sent
him
down
to
the
lady
's
cabin
.
Mr.
Tickell
soon
came
back
reddish
,
but
grinning
,
to
say
that
nothing
less
than
the
captain
would
do
.
Dodd
sighed
,
and
dismissed
Monk
with
a
promise
to
inspect
the
gun-deck
himself
;
then
went
down
to
Mrs.
Beresford
and
found
her
indignant
.
Why
had
he
stopped
the
ship
miles
and
miles
from
Macao
,
and
given
her
the
trouble
and
annoyance
of
a
voyage
in
that
nasty
little
boat
?
Dodd
opened
his
great
brown
eyes
,
“
Why
,
madam
,
it
is
shoal
water
off
Macao
;
we
dare
not
come
in
.
”
“
No
evasion
,
sir
.
What
have
I
to
do
with
your
shoal
water
?
It
was
laziness
,
and
want
of
consideration
for
a
lady
who
has
rented
half
your
ship
.
”
“
Nothing
of
the
kind
,
madam
,
I
assure
you
.
”
“
Are
you
the
person
they
call
Gentleman
Dodd
?
”
“
Yes
.
”
“
Then
do
n't
contradict
a
lady
,
or
I
shall
take
the
liberty
to
dispute
your
title
.
”
Dodd
took
no
notice
of
this
,
and
with
a
patience
few
nautical
commanders
would
have
shown
,
endeavoured
to
make
her
see
that
he
was
obliged
to
give
Macao
shoals
a
wide
berth
,
or
cast
away
the
ship
.
She
would
not
see
it
.
When
Dodd
saw
she
wanted
,
not
an
explanation
,
but
a
grievance
,
he
ceased
to
thwart
her
.
“
I
am
neglecting
my
duties
to
no
purpose
,
”
said
he
,
and
left
her
without
ceremony
.
This
was
a
fresh
offence
;
and
,
as
he
went
out
,
she
declared
open
war
.
And
she
made
it
too
from
that
hour
:
a
war
of
pins
and
needles
.
Dodd
went
on
the
gun-deck
and
found
that
the
defence
of
the
ship
had
,
as
usual
in
these
peaceful
days
,
been
sacrificed
to
the
cargo
.
Out
of
twenty
eighteen-pounders
she
carried
on
that
deck
,
he
cleared
three
,
and
that
with
difficulty
.
To
clear
any
more
he
must
have
sacrificed
either
merchandise
or
water
:
and
he
was
not
the
man
to
do
either
on
the
mere
chance
of
a
danger
so
unusual
as
an
encounter
with
a
pirate
.
He
was
a
merchant
captain
,
not
a
warrior
.
Meantime
the
Agra
had
already
shown
him
great
sailing
qualities
:
the
log
was
hove
at
sundown
and
gave
eleven
knots
;
so
that
with
a
good
breeze
abaft
,
few
fore-and-aft
rigged
pirates
could
overhaul
her
.
And
this
wind
carried
her
swiftly
past
one
nest
of
them
,
at
all
events
:
the
Ladrone
isles
.
At
nine
P.M.
,
all
the
lights
were
ordered
out
.
Mrs.
Beresford
had
brought
a
novel
on
board
,
and
refused
to
comply
;
the
master-at-arms
insisted
;
she
threatened
him
with
the
vengeance
of
the
Company
,
the
premier
,
and
the
nobility
and
gentry
of
the
British
realm
.
The
master-at-arms
,
finding
he
had
no
chance
in
argument
,
doused
the
glim
—
pitiable
resource
of
a
weak
disputant
—
then
basely
fled
the
rhetorical
consequences
.
The
northerly
breeze
died
out
,
and
light
variable
winds
baffled
the
ship
.
It
was
the
6th
April
ere
she
passed
the
Macclesfield
Bank
in
latitude
16.
And
now
they
sailed
for
many
days
out
of
sight
of
land
.
Dodd
's
chest
expanded
:
his
main
anxiety
at
this
part
of
the
voyage
lay
in
the
state
cabin
;
of
all
the
perils
of
the
sea
,
none
shakes
a
sailor
like
fire
.
He
set
a
watch
day
and
night
on
that
spoiled
child
.
On
the
1st
May
they
passed
the
great
Nantuna
,
and
got
among
the
Bornese
and
Malay
islands
:
at
which
the
captain
's
glass
began
to
sweep
the
horizon
again
,
and
night
and
day
at
the
dizzy
foretop
gallant
mast-head
he
perched
an
Eye
.
They
crossed
the
line
in
longitude
107
,
with
a
slight
breeze
,
but
soon
fell
into
the
Doldrums
.
A
dead
calm
,
and
nothing
to
do
but
kill
time
.
Dodd
had
put
down
Neptune
:
that
old
blackguard
could
no
longer
row
out
on
the
ship
's
port
side
and
board
her
on
the
starboard
,
pretending
to
come
from
ocean
's
depths
;
and
shave
the
novices
with
a
rusty
hoop
and
dab
a
soapy
brush
in
their
mouths
.
But
champagne
popped
,
the
sexes
flirted
,
and
the
sailors
span
fathomless
yarns
,
and
danced
rattling
hornpipes
,
fiddled
to
by
the
grave
Fullalove
.
“
If
there
is
a
thing
I
can
dew
,
it
's
fiddle
,
”
said
he
.
He
and
his
friend
,
as
he
systematically
called
Vespasian
,
taught
the
crew
Yankee
steps
,
and
were
beloved
.
One
honest
saltatory
British
tar
offered
that
Western
pair
his
grog
for
a
week
.
Even
Mrs.
Beresford
emerged
,
and
walked
the
deck
,
quenching
her
austere
regards
with
a
familiar
smile
on
Colonel
Kenealy
,
her
escort
.
This
gallant
good-natured
soldier
flattered
her
to
the
nine
,
and
,
finding
her
sweeten
with
his
treacle
,
tried
to
reconcile
her
to
his
old
friend
Dodd
.
Straight
she
soured
,
and
forbade
the
topic
imperiously
.
By
this
time
the
mates
and
midshipmen
of
the
Agra
had
fathomed
their
captain
.
Mr.
Tickell
delivered
the
mind
of
the
united
midshipmen
when
he
proposed
Dodd
's
health
in
their
mess-room
,
“
as
a
navigator
,
a
mathematician
,
a
seaman
,
a
gentleman
,
and
a
brick
,
with
three
times
three
.
”
Dodd
never
spoke
to
his
officers
like
a
ruffian
,
nor
yet
palavered
them
,
but
he
had
a
very
pleasant
way
of
conveying
appreciation
of
an
officer
's
zeal
,
by
a
knowing
nod
with
a
kindly
smile
on
the
heels
of
it
.
As
for
the
men
,
they
seldom
came
in
contact
with
the
captain
of
a
well-officered
ship
:
this
crew
only
knew
him
at
first
as
a
good-tempered
soul
,
who
did
n't
bother
about
nothing
.
But
one
day
,
as
they
lay
becalmed
south
of
the
line
,
a
jolly
foretopman
came
on
the
quarter-deck
with
a
fid
of
soup
,
and
saluting
and
scraping
,
first
to
the
deck
,
then
to
the
captain
,
asked
him
if
he
would
taste
that
.
“
Yes
,
my
man
.
Smoked
!
”
“
Like
—
—
and
blazes
,
your
honour
,
axing
your
pardon
,
and
the
deck
's
.
”
“
Young
gentleman
,
”
said
Dodd
to
Mr.
Meredith
,
a
midshipman
,
“
be
so
good
as
to
send
the
cook
aft
.
”
The
cook
came
,
and
received
,
not
an
oath
nor
a
threat
but
a
remonstrance
,
and
a
grim
warning
.
In
the
teeth
of
this
he
burnt
the
soup
horribly
the
very
next
day
.
The
crew
sent
the
lucky
foretopman
aft
again
.
He
made
his
scrape
and
presented
his
fid
.
The
captain
tasted
the
soup
,
and
sent
Mr.
Grey
to
bid
the
boatswain
's
mate
pipe
the
hands
on
deck
and
bring
the
cook
aft
.
“
Quartermaster
,
unsling
a
fire-bucket
and
fill
it
from
the
men
's
kids
:
Mr.
Tickell
,
see
the
cook
swallow
his
own
mess
.
Bosen
's
mate
,
take
a
bight
of
the
flying
jib
sheet
stand
over
him
,
and
start
him
if
he
dailies
with
it
.
”
With
this
the
captain
went
below
,
and
the
cook
,
supping
at
the
bucket
delivered
himself
as
follows
:
“
Well
,
ye
lubbers
,
it
is
first
—
rate
.
There
's
no
burn
in
it
.
It
goes
down
like
oil
.
Curse
your
ladylike
stomachs
;
you
ai
n't
fit
for
a
ship
;
why
do
n't
ye
go
ashore
and
man
a
gingerbread
coach
and
feed
off
French
frogs
and
Italian
baccy-pipe
stems
?
(
Whack
.
)
What
the
—
—
is
that
for
?
”
Boatswain
's
mate
.
“
Sup
more
,
and
jaw
less
.
”
“
Well
,
I
am
supping
as
fast
as
I
can
.
(
Whack
,
whack
.
)
Bloody
end
to
ye
,
what
are
ye
about
?
(
Whack
,
whack
,
whack
.
)
Oh
,
Joe
,
Lord
bless
you
,
I
ca
n't
eat
any
more
of
it
.
(
Whack
.
)
I
'll
give
you
my
grog
for
a
week
only
to
let
me
fling
the
—
—
stuff
over
the
side
.
(
Whack
,
whack
,
whack
.
)
Oh
,
good
,
kind
,
dear
Mr.
Tickell
,
do
go
down
to
the
captain
for
me
.
”
(
Whack
,
whack
.
)
“
Avast
!
”
cried
the
captain
,
reappearing
;
and
the
uplifted
rope
fell
harmless
.
“
Silence
,
fore
and
aft
!
”
(
Pipe
.
)
“
The
cook
has
received
a
light
punishment
this
time
,
for
spoiling
the
men
's
mess
.
My
crew
shall
eat
nothing
I
ca
n't
eat
myself
.
My
care
is
heavier
than
theirs
is
;
but
not
my
work
,
nor
my
danger
in
time
of
danger
.
Mind
that
,
or
you
'll
find
I
can
be
as
severe
as
any
master
afloat
.
Purser
.
”
“
Sir
.
”
“
Double
the
men
's
grog
:
they
have
been
cheated
of
their
meal
.
”
“
Ay
,
ay
,
sir
.
”
“
And
stop
the
cook
's
and
his
mate
's
for
a
week
.
”
“
Ay
,
ay
,
sir
.
”
“
Bosen
,
pipe
down
.
”
“
Shipmates
,
listen
to
me
,
”
said
the
foretopman
.
“
This
old
Agra
is
a
d
—
—
d
com
—
for
—
table
ship
.
”
The
oracular
sentence
was
hailed
with
a
ringing
cheer
.
Still
,
it
is
unlucky
the
British
seaman
is
so
enamoured
of
theological
terms
;
for
he
constantly
misapplies
them
.
After
lying
a
week
like
a
dead
log
on
the
calm
but
heaving
waters
,
came
a
few
light
puffs
in
the
upper
air
and
inflated
the
topsails
only
:
the
ship
crawled
southward
,
the
crew
whistling
for
wind
.
At
last
,
one
afternoon
,
it
began
to
rain
,
and
after
the
rain
came
a
gale
from
the
eastward
.
The
watchful
skipper
saw
it
purple
the
water
to
windward
,
and
ordered
the
topsails
to
be
reefed
and
the
lee
ports
closed
.
This
last
order
seemed
an
excess
of
precaution
;
but
Dodd
was
not
yet
thoroughly
acquainted
with
his
ship
's
qualities
:
and
the
hard
cash
round
his
neck
made
him
cautious
.
The
lee
ports
were
closed
,
all
but
one
,
and
that
was
lowered
.
Mr.
Grey
was
working
a
problem
in
his
cabin
,
and
wanted
a
little
light
and
a
little
air
,
so
he
just
drooped
his
port
;
but
,
not
to
deviate
from
the
spirit
of
his
captain
's
instructions
,
he
fastened
a
tackle
to
it
;
that
he
might
have
mechanical
force
to
close
it
with
should
the
ship
lie
over
.
Down
came
the
gale
with
a
whoo
,
and
made
all
crack
.
The
ship
lay
over
pretty
much
,
and
the
sea
poured
in
at
Mr.
Grey
's
port
.
He
applied
his
purchase
to
close
it
.
But
though
his
tackle
gave
him
the
force
of
a
dozen
hands
,
he
might
as
well
have
tried
to
move
a
mountain
;
on
the
contrary
,
the
tremendous
sea
rushed
in
and
burst
the
port
wide
open
.
Grey
,
after
a
vain
struggle
with
its
might
,
shrieked
for
help
;
down
tumbled
the
nearest
hands
,
and
hauled
on
the
tackle
in
vain
.
Destruction
was
rushing
on
the
ship
,
and
on
them
first
.
But
meantime
the
captain
,
with
a
shrewd
guess
at
the
general
nature
of
the
danger
he
could
not
see
,
had
roared
out
,
“
Slack
the
main
sheet
.
”
The
ship
righted
,
and
the
port
came
flying
to
,
and
terror-stricken
men
breathed
hard
,
up
to
their
waists
in
water
and
floating
boxes
.
Grey
barred
the
unlucky
port
and
went
aft
,
drenched
in
body
,
and
wretched
in
mind
,
to
report
his
own
fault
.
He
found
the
captain
looking
grim
as
death
.
He
told
him
,
almost
crying
,
what
he
had
done
,
and
how
he
had
miscalculated
the
power
of
the
water
.
Dodd
looked
and
saw
his
distress
.
“
Let
it
be
a
lesson
,
sir
,
”
said
he
,
sternly
.
“
How
many
ships
have
been
lost
by
this
in
fair
weather
,
and
not
a
man
saved
to
tell
how
the
craft
was
fooled
away
?
”
“
Captain
,
bid
me
fling
myself
over
the
side
,
and
I
'll
do
it
.
”
“
Hummph
!
I
'm
afraid
I
ca
n't
afford
to
lose
a
good
officer
for
a
fault
he
—
will
—
never
—
repeat
”
It
blew
hard
all
night
and
till
twelve
the
next
day
.
The
Agra
showed
her
weak
point
:
she
rolled
abominably
.
A
dirty
night
came
on
.
At
eight
bells
Mr.
Grey
,
touched
by
Dodd
's
clemency
and
brimful
of
zeal
,
reported
a
light
in
Mrs.
Beresford
's
cabin
.
It
had
been
put
out
as
usual
by
the
master-at-arms
;
but
the
refractory
one
had
relighted
it
.
“
Go
and
take
it
away
,
”
said
Dodd
.
Soon
screams
were
heard
from
the
cabin
.
“
Oh
,
mercy
!
mercy
!
I
will
not
be
drowned
in
the
dark
.
”
Dodd
,
who
had
kept
clear
of
her
so
long
,
went
down
and
tried
to
reassure
her
.
“
Oh
,
the
tempest
!
the
tempest
!
”
she
cried
.
“
AND
TO
BE
DROWNED
IN
THE
DARK
!
”
“
Tempest
?
It
is
blowing
half
a
gale
of
wind
;
that
is
all
.
”
“
Half
a
gale
!
Ah
!
that
is
the
way
you
always
talk
to
us
ladies
.
Oh
,
pray
give
me
my
light
,
and
send
me
a
clergyman
.
”
Dodd
took
pity
,
and
let
her
have
her
light
,
with
a
midshipman
to
watch
it
.
He
even
made
her
a
hypocritical
promise
that
should
there
be
one
grain
of
danger
,
he
would
lie
to
;
but
said
he
must
not
make
a
foul
wind
of
a
fair
one
for
a
few
lee
lurches
.
The
Agra
broke
plenty
of
glass
and
crockery
though
,
with
her
fair
wind
and
her
lee
lurches
.
Wind
down
at
noon
next
day
,
and
a
dead
calm
.
At
two
P.
M
.
the
weather
cleared
;
the
sun
came
out
high
in
heaven
's
centre
;
and
a
balmy
breeze
from
the
west
.
At
six
twenty-five
,
the
grand
orb
set
calm
and
red
,
and
the
sea
was
gorgeous
with
miles
and
miles
of
great
ruby
dimples
:
it
was
the
first
glowing
smile
of
southern
latitude
.
The
night
stole
on
so
soft
,
so
clear
,
so
balmy
,
all
were
loth
to
chose
their
eyes
on
it
:
the
passengers
lingered
long
on
deck
,
watching
the
Great
Bear
dip
,
and
the
Southern
Cross
rise
,
and
overhead
a
whole
heaven
of
glorious
stars
most
of
us
have
never
seen
,
and
never
shall
see
in
this
world
.
No
belching
smoke
obscured
,
no
plunging
paddles
deafened
;
all
was
musical
;
the
soft
air
sighing
among
the
sails
;
the
phosphorescent
water
bubbling
from
the
ship
's
bows
;
the
murmurs
from
little
knots
of
men
on
deck
subdued
by
the
great
calm
:
home
seemed
near
,
all
danger
far
;
Peace
ruled
the
sea
,
the
sky
,
the
heart
:
the
ship
,
making
a
track
of
white
fire
on
the
deep
,
glided
gently
yet
swiftly
homeward
,
urged
by
snowy
sails
piled
up
like
alabaster
towers
against
a
violet
sky
,
out
of
which
looked
a
thousand
eyes
of
holy
tranquil
fire
.
So
melted
the
sweet
night
away
.
Now
carmine
streaks
tinged
the
eastern
sky
at
the
water
's
edge
;
and
that
water
blushed
;
now
the
streaks
turned
orange
,
and
the
waves
below
them
sparkled
.
Thence
splashes
of
living
gold
flew
and
settled
on
the
ship
's
white
sails
,
the
deck
,
and
the
faces
;
and
with
no
more
prologue
,
being
so
near
the
line
,
up
came
majestically
a
huge
,
fiery
,
golden
sun
,
and
set
the
sea
flaming
liquid
topaz
.
Instantly
the
look-out
at
the
foretop-gallant-mast-head
hailed
the
deck
below
.
“
STRANGE
SAIL
!
RIGHT
AHEAD
!
”
The
strange
sail
was
reported
to
Captain
Dodd
,
then
dressing
in
his
cabin
.
He
came
soon
after
on
deck
and
hailed
the
lookout
:
“
Which
way
is
she
standing
?
”
“
Ca
n't
say
,
sir
.
Ca
n't
see
her
move
any
.
”
Dodd
ordered
the
boatswain
to
pipe
to
breakfast
;
and
taking
his
deck
glass
went
lightly
up
to
the
fore-top-gallant-mast
crosstrees
.
Thence
,
through
the
light
haze
of
a
glorious
morning
,
he
espied
a
long
low
schooner
,
lateen-rigged
,
lying
close
under
Point
Leat
,
a
small
island
about
nine
miles
distant
on
the
weather
bow
,
and
nearly
in
the
Agra
's
course
,
then
approaching
the
Straits
of
Gaspar
,
4
latitude
S.
“
She
is
hove-to
,
”
said
Dodd
very
gravely
.
At
eight
o'clock
,
the
stranger
lay
about
two
miles
to
windward
,
and
still
hove-to
.
By
this
time
all
eyes
were
turned
upon
her
,
and
half
a
dozen
glasses
.
Everybody
,
except
the
captain
,
delivered
an
opinion
.
She
was
a
Greek
lying-to
for
water
:
she
was
a
Malay
coming
north
with
canes
,
and
short
of
hands
:
she
was
a
pirate
watching
the
Straits
.
The
captain
leaned
silent
and
sombre
with
his
arms
on
the
bulwarks
,
and
watched
the
suspected
craft
.
Mr.
Fullalove
joined
the
group
,
and
levelled
a
powerful
glass
,
of
his
own
construction
.
His
inspection
was
long
and
minute
,
and
,
while
the
glass
was
at
his
eye
,
Sharpe
asked
him
half
in
a
whisper
,
could
he
make
out
anything
?
“
Wal
,
”
said
he
,
“
the
varmint
looks
considerable
snaky
.
”
Then
,
without
removing
his
glass
,
he
let
drop
a
word
at
a
time
,
as
if
the
facts
were
trickling
into
his
telescope
at
the
lens
,
and
out
at
the
sight
“
One
—
two
—
four
—
seven
,
false
ports
.
”
There
was
a
momentary
murmur
among
the
officers
all
round
.
But
British
sailors
are
undemonstrative
:
Colonel
Kenealy
,
strolling
the
deck
with
his
cigar
,
saw
they
were
watching
another
ship
with
maritime
curiosity
,
and
making
comments
but
he
discerned
no
particular
emotion
nor
anxiety
in
what
they
said
,
nor
in
the
grave
low
tones
they
said
it
in
.
Perhaps
a
brother
seaman
would
though
.
The
next
observation
that
trickled
out
of
Fullalove
's
tube
was
this
:
“
I
judge
there
are
too
few
hands
on
deck
,
and
too
many
—
white
—
eyeballs
—
glittering
at
the
portholes
.
”
“
Confound
it
,
”
muttered
Bayliss
,
uneasily
;
“
how
can
you
see
that
?
”
Fullalove
replied
only
by
quietly
handing
his
glass
to
Dodd
.
The
captain
thus
appealed
to
,
glued
his
eye
to
the
tube
.
“
Well
,
sir
;
see
the
false
ports
,
and
the
white
eyebrows
?
”
asked
Sharpe
ironically
.
“
I
see
this
is
the
best
glass
I
ever
looked
through
,
”
said
Dodd
doggedly
,
without
interrupting
his
inspection
.
“
I
think
he
is
a
Malay
pirate
,
”
said
Mr.
Grey
.
Sharpe
took
him
up
very
quickly
,
and
indeed
angrily
:
“
Nonsense
.
And
if
he
is
,
he
wo
n't
venture
on
a
craft
of
this
size
.
”
“
Says
the
whale
to
the
swordfish
,
”
suggested
Fullalove
,
with
a
little
guttural
laugh
.
The
captain
,
with
the
American
glass
at
his
eye
,
turned
half
round
to
the
man
at
the
wheel
:
“
Starboard
!
”
“
Starboard
it
is
.
”
“
Steer
south-south-east
”
“
Ay
,
ay
,
sir
.
”
And
the
ship
's
course
was
thus
altered
two
points
.
This
order
lowered
Dodd
fifty
per
cent
.
in
Mr.
Sharpe
's
estimation
.
He
held
his
tongue
as
long
as
he
could
:
but
at
last
his
surprise
and
dissatisfaction
burst
out
of
him
,
“
Wo
n't
that
bring
him
out
on
us
!
”
“
Very
likely
,
sir
,
”
replied
Dodd
.
“
Begging
your
pardon
,
captain
,
would
it
not
be
wiser
to
keep
our
course
,
and
show
the
blackguard
we
do
n't
fear
him
?
”
“
When
we
do
!
Sharpe
,
he
has
made
up
his
mind
an
hour
ago
whether
to
lie
still
or
bite
;
my
changing
my
course
two
points
wo
n't
change
his
mind
,
but
it
may
make
him
declare
it
;
and
I
must
know
what
he
does
intend
before
I
run
the
ship
into
the
narrows
ahead
.
”
“
Oh
,
I
see
,
”
said
Sharpe
,
half
convinced
.
The
alteration
in
the
Agra
's
course
produced
no
movement
on
the
part
of
the
mysterious
schooner
.
She
lay-to
under
the
land
still
,
and
with
only
a
few
hands
on
deck
,
while
the
Agra
edged
away
from
her
and
entered
the
Straits
between
Long
Island
and
Point
Leat
,
leaving
the
schooner
about
two
miles
and
a
half
distant
to
the
N.W.
Ah
!
The
stranger
's
deck
swarms
black
with
men
.
His
sham
ports
fell
as
if
by
magic
,
his
gums
grinned
through
the
gaps
like
black
teeth
;
his
huge
foresail
rose
and
filled
,
and
out
he
came
in
chase
.
The
breeze
was
a
kiss
from
Heaven
,
the
sky
a
vaulted
sapphire
,
the
sea
a
million
dimples
of
liquid
,
lucid
gold
.
CHAPTER
VIII
AMONGST
the
curiosities
of
human
reasoning
is
this
:
one
forms
a
judgment
on
certain
statements
;
they
turn
out
incorrect
,
yet
the
judgment
sound
.
This
occurs
oftenest
when
,
to
divine
what
any
known
person
will
do
in
a
case
stated
,
we
go
boldly
by
his
character
,
his
habits
,
or
his
interest
:
for
these
are
great
forces
,
towards
which
men
gravitate
through
various
and
even
contrary
circumstances
.
Now
women
,
sitting
at
home
out
of
detail
's
way
,
are
somewhat
forced
,
as
well
as
naturally
inclined
,
to
rely
on
their
insight
into
character
;
and
,
by
this
broad
clue
,
often
pass
through
false
or
discoloured
data
to
a
sound
calculation
.
Thus
it
was
Mrs.
Dodd
applied
her
native
sagacity
to
divine
why
Richard
Hardie
declined
Julia
for
his
son
's
wife
,
and
how
to
make
him
withdraw
that
dissent
:
and
the
fair
diviner
was
much
mistaken
in
detail
but
right
in
her
conclusion
;
for
Richard
Hardie
was
at
that
moment
the
unlikeliest
man
in
Barkington
to
decline
Julia
Dodd
—
with
Hard
Cash
in
five
figures
—
for
his
daughter-in-law
.
I
am
now
about
to
make
a
revelation
to
the
reader
,
that
will
incidentally
lead
him
to
Mrs.
Dodd
's
conclusion
,
but
by
a
different
path
.
The
outline
she
gave
her
daughter
and
my
reader
of
Richard
Hardie
's
cold
and
prudent
youth
was
substantially
correct
;
but
something
had
occurred
since
then
,
unknown
to
her
,
unknown
to
all
Barkington
.
The
centuries
had
blown
a
respectable
bubble
.
About
two
hundred
and
fifty
years
ago
,
some
genius
,
as
unknown
as
the
inventor
of
the
lathe
,
laid
the
first
wooden
tramroad
,
to
enable
a
horse
to
draw
forty-two
cwt.
instead
of
seventeen
.
The
coalowners
soon
used
it
largely
.
In
1738
,
iron
rails
were
invented
;
but
prejudice
,
stronger
than
that
metal
,
kept
them
down
,
and
the
wooden
ones
in
vogue
,
for
some
thirty
years
.
Then
iron
prevailed
.
Meantime
,
a
much
greater
invention
had
been
creeping
up
to
join
the
metal
way
;
I
mean
the
locomotive
power
of
steam
,
whose
history
is
not
needed
here
.
Enough
that
in
1804
took
place
as
promising
a
wedding
as
civilisation
ever
saw
;
for
then
an
engine
built
by
Trevethick
,
a
great
genius
frittered
for
want
of
pluck
,
drew
carriages
,
laden
with
ten
tons
,
five
miles
an
hour
on
a
Welsh
railway
.
Next
stout
Stephenson
came
on
the
scene
,
and
insisted
on
benefiting
mankind
in
spite
of
themselves
,
and
of
shallow
legislators
,
a
priori
reasoners
,
and
a
heavy
Review
whose
political
motto
was
,
“
Stemus
super
antiquas
vias
;
”
which
may
be
rendered
,
“
Better
stand
still
on
turnpikes
than
move
on
rails
.
”
His
torments
and
triumph
are
history
.
Two
of
his
repartees
seem
neat
:
1.
To
Lord
Noodle
,
or
Lord
Doodle
,
which
was
it
?
objecting
haughtily
,
“
And
suppose
a
cow
should
get
in
the
way
of
your
engine
,
sir
?
”
he
replied
,
“
Why
,
then
it
would
be
bad
—
for
the
coow
.
”
The
objector
had
overrated
the
obstructive
power
of
his
honoured
parent
.
2.
To
the
a
priori
reasoners
,
who
sat
in
their
studies
and
demonstrated
with
complete
unanimity
that
uncogged
wheels
would
revolve
on
a
smooth
rail
,
but
leave
the
carriage
in
statu
quo
,
he
replied
by
building
an
engine
with
Lord
Ravensworth
's
noble
aid
,
hooking
on
eight
carriages
,
and
rattling
off
up
an
incline
.
“
Solvitur
ambulando
,
”
quoth
Stephenson
the
stout-hearted
to
Messrs.
A
Priori
.
Next
a
coach
ran
on
the
Stockton
and
Darlington
rail
.
Next
the
Liverpool
and
Manchester
line
was
projected
.
Oh
,
then
,
what
bitter
opposition
to
the
national
benefactors
,
and
the
good
of
man
!
Awake
from
the
tomb
echoes
of
dead
Cant
.
“
The
revolving
wheels
might
move
the
engine
on
a
rail
;
but
what
would
that
avail
if
they
could
not
move
them
in
the
closet
,
and
on
a
mathematical
paper
?
Railways
would
be
bad
for
canals
,
bad
for
morals
,
bad
for
highwaymen
,
bad
for
roadside
inns
:
the
smoke
would
kill
the
partridges
(
'
Aha
!
thou
hast
touched
us
nearly
,
'
said
the
country
gentlemen
)
,
the
travellers
would
go
slowly
to
their
destination
,
but
swift
to
destruction
.
”
And
the
Heavy
Review
,
whose
motto
was
“
Stemus
super
turnpikes
,
”
offered
“
to
back
old
Father
Thames
against
the
Woolwich
railway
for
any
sum
.
”
And
Black
Will
,
who
drove
the
next
heaviest
ephemeral
in
the
island
,
told
a
schoolboy
,
who
now
writes
these
pages
,
“
there
's
nothing
can
ever
be
safe
at
twenty
miles
an
hour
,
without
'
tis
a
bird
in
the
air
;
”
and
confirmed
it
with
an
oath
.
Briefly
,
buzz
!
buzz
!
buzz
!
Gray
was
crushed
,
Trevethick
driven
out
of
the
country
,
stout
Steevie
thwarted
,
badgered
,
taunted
,
and
even
insulted
,
and
bespattered
with
dirt
—
I
might
say
with
dung
,
since
his
opponents
discharged
their
own
brains
at
him
by
speech
and
writing
.
At
last
,
when
,
after
the
manner
of
men
,
they
had
manured
their
benefactor
well
,
they
consented
to
reap
him
.
Railways
prevailed
,
and
increased
,
till
lo
and
behold
a
Prime
Minister
with
a
spade
delving
one
in
the
valley
of
the
Trent
.
The
tide
turned
;
good
working
railways
from
city
to
city
became
an
approved
investment
of
genuine
capital
,
notwithstanding
the
frightful
frauds
and
extortion
to
which
the
projectors
were
exposed
in
a
Parliament
which
,
under
a
new
temptation
,
showed
itself
as
corrupt
and
greedy
as
any
nation
or
age
can
parallel
.
When
this
sober
state
of
things
had
endured
some
time
,
there
came
a
year
that
money
was
loose
,
and
a
speculative
fever
due
in
the
whirligig
of
time
.
Then
railways
bubbled
.
New
ones
were
advertised
,
fifty
a
month
,
and
all
went
to
a
premium
.
High
and
low
scrambled
for
the
shares
,
even
when
the
projected
line
was
to
run
from
the
town
of
Nought
to
the
village
of
Nothing
across
a
goose
common
.
The
flame
spread
,
fanned
by
prospectus
and
advertisement
,
two
mines
of
glowing
fiction
,
compared
with
which
the
legitimate
article
is
a
mere
tissue
of
understatements
;
princes
sat
in
railway
tenders
,
and
clove
the
air
like
the
birds
whose
effigies
surmount
their
armorials
;
our
stiffest
Peers
relaxed
into
Boards
;
Bishops
warned
their
clergy
against
avarice
,
and
buttered
Hudson
an
inch
thick
for
shares
;
and
turned
their
little
aprons
into
great
pockets
;
men
,
stainless
hitherto
,
put
down
their
infants
,
nurses
included
,
as
independent
subscribers
,
and
bagged
the
coupons
,
capturi
tartaros
.
Nearly
everything
that
had
a
name
,
and
,
by
some
immense
fortuity
,
could
write
it
,
demanded
its
part
in
the
new
and
fathomless
source
of
wealth
:
a
charwoman
's
two
sons
were
living
in
a
garret
on
fifteen
shillings
apiece
per
week
;
down
went
their
excellencies
'
names
for
£
37
,
000
worth
of
bubbling
iron
;
another
shareholder
applied
imperiously
from
a
house
in
Grosvenor
Square
;
he
had
breakfasted
on
the
steps
.
Once
more
in
Time
's
whirligig
gentlemen
and
their
footmen
jostled
one
another
on
the
Exchange
,
and
a
motley
crew
of
peers
and
printers
,
vicars
and
admirals
,
professors
,
cooks
,
costermongers
,
cotton-spinners
,
waiters
,
coachmen
,
priests
,
potboys
,
hankers
,
braziers
,
dairymen
,
mail-guards
,
barristers
,
spinsters
,
butchers
,
beggars
,
duchesses
,
rag-merchants
—
in
one
word
,
of
Nobs
and
Snobs
;
fought
and
scrambled
pell
mell
for
the
popular
paper
,
and
all
to
get
rich
in
a
day
.
Richard
Hardie
had
some
money
in
existing
railways
,
but
he
declined
to
invest
his
hard
cash
upon
hypotheticals
.
He
was
repeatedly
solicited
to
be
a
director
,
but
always
declined
.
Once
he
was
offered
a
canny
bribe
of
a
thousand
pounds
to
let
his
name
go
on
a
provisional
committee
.
He
refused
with
a
characteristic
remark
:
“
I
never
buy
any
merchandise
at
a
fancy
price
,
not
even
hard
cash
.
”
Antidote
to
the
universal
mania
,
Barkington
had
this
one
wet
blanket
;
an
unpopular
institution
;
but
far
more
salutary
than
a
damp
sheet
especially
in
time
of
Bubble
.
Nearly
all
his
customers
consulted
Richard
Hardie
,
and
this
was
the
substance
of
his
replies
:
“
The
Bubbles
of
History
,
including
the
great
one
of
my
youth
,
were
national
,
as
well
as
individual
,
follies
.
It
is
not
so
now
:
the
railways
,
that
ruin
their
allottees
and
directors
,
will
be
pure
additions
to
the
national
property
,
and
some
day
remove
one
barrier
more
from
commerce
.
The
Dutch
tulip
frenzy
went
on
a
petty
fancy
:
the
Railway
fury
goes
on
a
great
fact
.
Our
predecessors
blew
mere
soap
bubbles
;
we
blow
an
iron
bubble
:
but
here
the
distinction
ends
.
In
1825
the
country
undertook
immediate
engagements
,
to
fulfil
which
a
century
's
income
would
not
have
sufficed
:
today
a
thousand
railway
companies
are
registered
,
requiring
a
capital
of
six
hundred
million
and
another
thousand
projected
,
to
cost
another
five
hundred
million
.
Where
is
the
money
to
come
from
?
If
the
world
was
both
cultivated
and
civilised
(
instead
of
neither
)
,
and
this
nation
could
be
sold
,
with
every
building
,
ship
,
quadruped
,
jewel
,
and
marketable
female
in
it
,
it
would
not
fetch
the
money
to
make
these
railways
;
yet
the
country
undertakes
to
create
them
in
three
years
with
its
floating
capital
.
Arithmetic
of
Bedlam
!
The
thing
cannot
last
a
year
without
collapsing
.
”
Richard
Hardie
talked
like
this
from
first
to
last
.
But
,
when
he
saw
that
shares
invariably
mounted
;
that
even
those
who
,
for
want
of
interest
,
had
to
buy
them
at
a
premium
,
sold
them
at
a
profit
;
when
he
saw
paupers
making
large
fortunes
in
a
few
months
,
by
buying
into
every
venture
and
selling
the
next
week
—
he
itched
for
his
share
of
the
booty
,
and
determined
to
profit
in
act
by
the
credulity
of
mankind
,
as
well
as
expose
it
in
words
.
He
made
use
of
his
large
connections
to
purchase
shares
,
which
he
took
care
to
part
with
speedily
.
He
cleared
a
good
deal
of
money
,
and
that
made
him
hungrier
:
he
went
deeper
and
deeper
into
what
he
called
Flat-catching
,
till
one
day
he
stood
to
win
thirty
thousand
pounds
at
a
coup
.
But
it
is
dangerous
to
be
a
convert
,
real
or
false
,
to
Bubble
:
the
game
is
to
be
rash
at
once
,
and
turn
prudent
at
the
full
tide
.
When
Richard
Hardie
was
up
to
his
chin
in
these
time
bargains
,
came
an
incident
not
easy
to
foresee
:
the
conductors
of
the
Times
,
either
from
patriotism
or
long-sighted
policy
,
punctured
the
bladder
,
though
they
were
making
thousands
weekly
by
the
railway
advertisements
.
The
time
was
so
well
chosen
,
and
the
pin
applied
,
that
it
was
a
death-blow
:
shares
declined
from
that
morning
,
and
the
inevitable
panic
was
advanced
a
week
or
two
.
The
more
credulous
speculators
held
on
in
hopes
of
a
revival
;
but
Hardie
,
who
knew
that
the
collapse
had
been
merely
hastened
,
saw
the
gravity
of
the
situation
,
and
sold
largely
at
a
heavy
loss
.
But
he
could
not
sell
all
the
bad
paper
he
had
accumulated
for
a
temporary
purpose
:
the
panic
came
too
swiftly
and
too
strong
;
soon
there
were
no
buyers
at
any
price
.
The
biter
was
bit
:
the
fox
who
had
said
,
“
This
is
a
trap
;
I
'll
lightly
come
and
lightly
go
,
”
was
caught
by
the
light
fantastic
toe
.
In
this
emergency
he
showed
high
qualities
:
vast
financial
ability
,
great
fortitude
,
and
that
sense
of
commercial
honour
which
Mrs.
Dodd
justly
called
his
semi-chivalrous
sentiment
.
He
mustered
all
his
private
resources
to
meet
his
engagements
and
maintain
his
high
position
.
Then
commenced
a
long
and
steady
struggle
,
conducted
with
a
Spartan
dignity
and
self-command
,
and
a
countenance
as
close
as
wax
.
Little
did
any
in
Barkington
guess
the
doubts
and
fears
,
the
hopes
and
despondencies
,
which
agitated
and
tore
the
heart
and
brain
that
schemed
,
and
throbbed
,
and
glowed
,
and
sickened
by
turns
beneath
that
steady
modulated
exterior
.
And
so
for
months
and
months
he
secretly
battled
with
insolvency
;
sometimes
it
threatened
in
the
distance
,
sometimes
at
hand
,
but
never
caught
him
unawares
:
he
provided
for
each
coming
danger
,
he
encountered
each
immediate
attack
.
But
not
unscathed
in
morals
.
Just
as
matters
looked
brighter
,
came
a
concentration
of
liabilities
he
could
not
meet
without
emptying
his
tills
,
and
so
incurring
the
most
frightful
danger
of
all
.
He
had
provided
for
its
coming
too
;
but
a
decline
,
greater
than
he
had
reckoned
on
,
in
the
value
of
his
good
securities
,
made
that
provision
inadequate
.
Then
it
was
he
committed
a
faux-pas
.
He
was
one
of
his
own
children
's
trustees
,
and
the
other
two
signed
after
him
like
machines
.
He
said
to
himself
:
“
My
honour
is
my
children
's
;
my
position
is
worth
thousands
to
them
.
I
have
sacrificed
a
fortune
to
preserve
it
;
it
would
be
madness
to
recoil
now
.
”
He
borrowed
three
thousand
pounds
of
the
trust
money
,
and
,
soon
after
,
two
thousand
more
:
it
kept
him
above
water
;
but
the
peril
,
and
the
escape
on
such
terms
,
left
him
gasping
inwardly
.
At
last
,
when
even
his
granite
nature
was
almost
worn
down
with
labour
,
anxiety
,
and
struggling
all
alone
without
a
word
of
comfort
—
for
the
price
of
one
grain
of
sympathy
would
have
been
“
Destruction
”
—
he
shuffled
off
his
iron
burden
and
breathed
again
.
One
day
he
spent
in
a
sort
of
pleasing
lethargy
,
like
a
strong
swimmer
who
,
long
and
sore
buffeted
by
the
waves
,
has
reached
the
shore
at
last
.
The
next
day
his
cashier
,
a
sharp-visaged
,
bald-headed
old
man
called
Young
Skinner
,
invited
his
attention
rather
significantly
to
the
high
amount
of
certain
balances
compared
with
the
cash
at
his
(
Skinner
's
)
disposal
.
“
Indeed
!
”
said
Hardie
quietly
;
“
that
must
be
regulated
.
”
He
added
graciously
,
as
if
conferring
a
great
favour
,
“
I
'll
look
into
the
books
myself
,
Skinner
.
”
He
did
more
:
he
sat
up
all
night
over
the
books
;
and
his
heart
died
with
him
.
Bankruptcy
seemed
coming
towards
him
,
slow
perhaps
,
but
sure
.
And
meantime
to
live
with
the
sword
hanging
over
him
by
a
hair
!
Soon
matters
approached
a
crisis
;
several
large
drafts
were
drawn
,
which
would
have
cleaned
the
bank
out
,
but
that
the
yearly
rents
of
a
wealthy
nobleman
had
for
some
days
past
been
flowing
in
.
This
nobleman
had
gone
to
explore
Syria
and
Assyria
.
He
was
a
great
traveller
,
who
contrived
to
live
up
to
his
income
at
home
,
but
had
never
been
able
to
spend
a
quarter
of
it
abroad
,
for
want
of
enemies
and
masters
—
better
known
as
friends
and
servants
—
to
help
him
.
So
Hardie
was
safe
for
some
months
,
unless
there
should
be
an
extraordinary
run
on
him
,
and
that
was
not
likely
this
year
;
the
panic
had
subsided
,
and
,
nota
bene
,
his
credit
had
never
stood
higher
.
The
reason
was
,
he
had
been
double-faced
;
had
always
spoken
against
railways
:
and
his
wise
words
were
public
,
whereas
his
fatal
acts
had
been
done
in
the
dark
.
But
now
came
a
change
,
a
bitter
revulsion
,
over
this
tossed
mind
:
hope
and
patience
failed
at
last
,
and
his
virtue
,
being
a
thing
of
habit
and
traditions
rather
than
of
the
soul
,
wore
out
;
nay
more
,
this
man
,
who
had
sacrificed
so
nobly
to
commercial
integrity
,
was
filled
with
hate
of
his
idol
and
contempt
of
himself
.
“
Idiot
!
”
said
he
,
“
to
throw
away
a
fortune
fighting
for
honour
—
a
greater
bubble
than
that
which
has
ruined
me
—
instead
of
breaking
like
a
man
,
with
a
hidden
purse
,
and
starting
fair
again
,
as
sensible
traders
do
.
”
No
honest
man
in
the
country
that
year
repented
of
his
vices
so
sincerely
as
Richard
Hardie
loathed
his
virtue
.
And
he
did
not
confine
his
penitence
to
sentiment
:
he
began
to
spend
his
days
at
the
bank
poring
over
the
books
,
and
to
lay
out
his
arithmetical
genius
in
a
subtle
process
,
that
should
enable
him
by
degrees
to
withdraw
a
few
thousands
from
human
eyes
for
his
future
use
,
despite
the
feeble
safeguards
of
the
existing
law
.
In
other
words
,
Richard
Hardie
,
like
thousands
before
him
,
was
fabricating
and
maturing
a
false
balance-sheet
.
One
man
in
his
time
plays
many
animals
.
Hardie
at
this
period
turned
mole
.
He
burrowed
darkling
into
oes
alienum
.
There
is
often
one
of
these
sleek
miners
in
a
bank
:
it
is
a
section
of
human
zoology
the
journals
have
lately
enlarged
on
,
and
drawn
the
painstaking
creature
grubbing
and
mining
away
to
brief
opulence
—
and
briefer
penal
servitude
than
one
could
wish
.
I
rely
on
my
reader
having
read
these
really
able
sketches
of
my
contemporaries
,
and
spare
him
minute
details
,
that
possess
scarcely
a
new
feature
,
except
one
:
in
that
bank
was
not
only
a
mole
,
but
a
mole-catcher
;
and
,
contrary
to
custom
,
the
mole
was
the
master
,
the
mole-catcher
the
servant
.
The
latter
had
no
hostile
views
;
far
from
it
:
he
was
rather
attached
to
his
master
.
But
his
attention
was
roused
by
the
youngest
clerk
,
a
boy
of
sixteen
,
being
so
often
sent
for
into
the
bank
parlour
,
to
copy
into
the
books
some
arithmetical
result
,
without
its
process
.
Attention
soon
became
suspicion
;
and
suspicion
found
many
little
things
to
feed
on
,
till
it
grew
to
certainty
.
But
the
outer
world
was
none
the
wiser
:
the
mole-catcher
was
no
chatterbox
;
he
was
a
solitary
man
—
no
wife
nor
mistress
about
him
;
and
he
revered
the
mole
,
and
liked
him
better
than
anything
in
the
world
—
except
money
.
Thus
the
great
banker
stood
,
a
colossus
of
wealth
and
stability
to
the
eye
,
though
ready
to
crumble
at
a
touch
;
and
indeed
self-doomed
,
for
bankruptcy
was
now
his
game
.
This
was
a
miserable
man
,
far
more
miserable
than
his
son
,
whose
happiness
he
had
thwarted
:
his
face
was
furrowed
and
his
hair
thinned
by
a
secret
struggle
;
and
of
all
the
things
that
gnawed
him
,
like
the
fox
,
beneath
his
Spartan
robe
,
none
was
more
bitter
than
to
have
borrowed
five
thousand
pounds
of
his
children
and
sunk
it
.
His
wife
's
father
,
a
keen
man
of
business
,
who
saw
there
was
little
affection
on
his
side
,
had
settled
his
daughter
's
money
on
her
for
life
,
and
in
case
of
her
death
,
on
the
children
upon
coming
of
age
.
The
marriage
of
Alfred
or
Jane
would
be
sure
to
expose
him
;
settlements
would
be
proposed
;
lawyers
engaged
to
peer
into
the
trust
,
etc.
No
;
they
must
remain
single
for
the
present
,
or
else
marry
wealth
.
So
,
when
his
son
announced
an
attachment
to
a
young
lady
living
in
a
suburban
villa
,
it
was
a
terrible
blow
,
though
he
took
it
with
outward
calm
,
as
usual
.
But
if
,
instead
of
prating
about
beauty
,
virtue
,
and
breeding
,
Alfred
had
told
him
hard
cash
in
five
figures
could
be
settled
by
the
bride
's
family
on
the
young
couple
,
he
would
have
welcomed
the
wedding
with
great
external
indifference
,
but
a
secret
gush
of
joy
;
for
then
he
could
throw
himself
on
Alfred
's
generosity
,
and
be
released
from
that
one
corroding
debt
;
perhaps
allowed
to
go
on
drawing
the
interest
of
the
remainder
.
Thus
,
in
reality
,
all
the
interests
with
which
this
story
deals
converged
towards
one
point
:
the
fourteen
thousand
pounds
.
Richard
Hardie
's
opposition
was
a
mere
misunderstanding
;
and
if
he
had
been
told
of
the
Cash
,
and
to
what
purpose
Mrs.
Dodd
destined
it
,
and
then
put
on
board
the
Agra
in
the
Straits
of
Gaspar
,
he
would
have
calmly
taken
off
his
coat
,
and
help
to
defend
the
bearer
of
It
against
all
assailants
as
stoutly
,
and
,
to
all
appearance
,
imperturbably
,
as
he
had
fought
that
other
bitter
battle
at
home
.
For
there
was
something
heroic
in
this
erring
man
,
though
his
rectitude
depended
on
circumstances
.
CHAPTER
IX
THE
way
the
pirate
dropped
the
mask
,
showed
his
black
teeth
,
and
bore
up
in
chase
,
was
terrible
:
so
dilates
and
bounds
the
sudden
tiger
on
his
unwary
prey
.
There
were
stout
hearts
among
the
officers
of
the
peaceable
Agra
;
but
danger
in
a
new
form
shakes
the
brave
,
and
this
was
their
first
pirate
:
their
dismay
broke
out
in
ejaculations
not
loud
but
deep
.
“
Hush
,
”
said
Dodd
doggedly
;
“
the
lady
!
”
Mrs.
Beresford
had
just
come
on
deck
to
enjoy
the
balmy
morning
.
“
Sharpe
,
”
said
Dodd
,
in
a
tone
that
conveyed
no
suspicion
to
the
new-comer
,
“
set
the
royals
and
flying
jib
.
—
Port
!
”
