The Cruise of the Frolic Part 9

As soon as our visitor had left us, O'Malley told us that he had met him many years before in India, at the house of a relation, he believed, of Sandgate's; that this relation had nursed him most kindly through a severe illness with which he had been attacked, and that he had, on his recovery, travelled with Sandgate through the country. He met him once or twice after that, and he then disappeared from India, nor had he seen him again, till he encountered him in London soon after his return. He believed that he had been connected with the opium trade, and suspected that he had actually commanded an opium clipper in his more youthful days, though he fancied he had engaged in the pursuit for the sake of the excitement and danger it afforded, as he appeared superior to the general run of men employed in it.

The next morning, the tide having made against us, we brought up off Yarmouth, when we went on board the "Rover," to breakfast, and a very sumptuous entertainment Mr Sandgate gave us, with some cigars, which beat any thing I had ever tasted. The cabin we went into was handsomely fitted up; but he did not go through the usual ceremony of showing us over the vessel. It was late in the afternoon when the two vessels anch.o.r.ed in Cowes Harbour.

Soon after we brought up we saw the "Dido" come into the harbour, and just as we were going on sh.o.r.e, Mr Ribbons himself, in full nautical costume, pulled alongside. He insisted on coming on board, and taxed Harcourt's hospitality considerably before we could get rid of him.

Hearing me mention the Granvilles, he very coolly asked us to introduce him. "Why, you see," he added, "there's an acquaintance of mine, I find, staying with them whom I should like to meet." We all, of course, positively declined the honour he intended us.

"Probably if you send a note to your friend he may do as you wish," I observed. "I am not on sufficiently intimate terms with the family."

"Oh! why you see it's a lady--a young lady, you know--and I can't exactly ask her."

"I regret, but it is impossible, my dear sir," I answered. "You must excuse us, or we shall be late for dinner;" and leaving him biting his thumbs with doubt and vexation, we pulled on sh.o.r.e.

The party at the Granvilles' was excessively pleasant. The Miss Granvilles were pretty, nice girls, and they had a friend staying with them, who struck me as being one of the most lovely creatures I had ever seen. She had dark hair and eyes, with an alabaster complexion, a figure slight and elegant, and features purely cla.s.sical; the expression of her countenance was intelligent and sweet in the extreme, but a shade of melancholy occasionally pa.s.sed over it, which she in vain endeavoured to conceal. Harcourt at once became deeply interested in her, though he could learn little more about her than that her name was Emily Manners, and that she was staying with some friends at Ryde, the Bosleys, he understood. Who they were he could not tell, for he had never heard their names before. She sang very delightfully; and some more people coming in, we even accomplished a polka. During the evening, while he was speaking to her, he overheard O'Malley, in his usually amusing way, describing our rencontre with Mr Warwick Ribbons, and he was surprised, when she heard his name, to see her start and look evidently annoyed, though she afterwards could not help smiling as he continued drawing his picture.

"And, do you know, Miss Granville," he added, "he wanted us to bring him here, declaring that some mutual and very dear friend of his and yours was staying, with you."

"Absurd! Who can the man be?" said Miss Granville. "Miss Manners is the only friend staying with us, and I am sure she cannot know such a person, if your description of him is correct. Do you, Emily, dear?"

To my astonishment, Miss Manners blushed, and answered, "I am acquainted with a Mr Ribbons; that is to say, he is a friend of Mr Bosley's; but I must disclaim any intimacy with him, and I trust that he did not a.s.sume otherwise."

O'Malley saw that he had made a mistake, and with good tact took pains to show that he fully believed little Ribbons had imposed on us, before he quietly dropped the subject, and branched off into some other amusing story.

The Granvilles and their fair friend promised to take a cruise in the "Amethyst" on the following day, but as the weather proved not very favourable, Harcourt put off their visit till the day after. He thus also gained an excuse for pa.s.sing a greater part of it in their society.

As we walked down to the esplanade in front of the club-house to look at the yacht, which they had expressed a wish to see, we encountered no less a person than Warwick Ribbons himself. He pa.s.sed us several times without venturing to speak; but at last, mustering courage, he walked up to Miss Manners and addressed her--

"Good morning, Miss Emily. Happy to see you here. Couldn't tell where you'd run to, till old Bosley told me. Been looking for you in every place along the coast. Venture back to Ryde in the 'Dido'? Come, now, you never yet have been on board, and I got her on purpose"--he was, I verily believe, going to say "for you," but he lost confidence, and finished with a smirking giggle--"to take young ladies out, you know."

Harcourt felt inclined to throw the little abomination into the water.

"Thank you," said Miss Manners; "I prefer returning by the steamer."

"Oh, dear, now that is--but I'm going to see your guardian, Miss, and may I take a letter to him just to say you're well?" asked Mr Ribbons; "he'll not be pleased if I don't."

"I prefer writing by the post," answered Emily, now really becoming annoyed at his pertinacity.

"You won't come and take a sail with me, then?" he continued; "you and your friends, I mean."

She shook her head and bowed.

"Well, then, if you won't, I'm off," he exclaimed, with a look of reproach, and, striking his forehead, he turned round and tumbled into his boat.

We watched him on board his vessel, and the first thing he did was to set to and beat his boy; he then dived down below and returned with a swimming belt, or rather jacket, on, which he immediately began to fill with air, till he looked like a balloon or a Chinese tumbler. The "Dido," then got under way; but her crew were apparently drunk, for she first very nearly ran right on to the quay, and then foul of a boat which was conveying a band of musicians across the river.

A most amusing scene ensued, Ribbons abused the musicians, who had nothing at all to do with it, and they retorted on him, trying to fend off the vessel with their trombones, trumpets, and cornopeans. At one time they seemed inclined to jump on board and take forcible possession of the "Dido," but they thought better of it, and when they got clear they put forth such a discordant blast of derision, finis.h.i.+ng like a peal of laughter, that all the spectators on sh.o.r.e could not help joining them, and I wonder the little man ever had courage again to set his foot in Cowes.

We were still on the quay when Sandgate came on sh.o.r.e and pa.s.sed us; as he did so, he nodded to us, and I observed him looking very hard at Miss Manners. He soon after, without much ceremony, joined us, and managed quietly to enter into conversation with all the ladies. After some time, however, I perceived that he devoted his attention almost exclusively to Emily. He was just the sort of fellow to attract many women, and I suspect that Harcourt felt a twinge of jealousy attacking him, and regretted that O'Malley had ever introduced him; at the same time I trusted that Emily would perceive that want of innate refinement which I had discovered at once; but then, I thought, women have have not the same means of judging of men which men have of each other. He did not, however, speak of his vessel, nor offer to take out any of the party.

I shall pa.s.s over the next two or three days which we spent in the neighbourhood, each day taking the Granvilles and their friends on the water; and so agreeable did we find that way of pa.s.sing our time that none of us felt any inclination to go further. It was, if I remember rightly, on the 24th of July that we went to Spithead to see those four magnificent s.h.i.+ps, the "Queen," "Vengeance," "St. Vincent," and "Howe,"

riding at anchor there. Though the morning was calm, a light breeze sprung up just as we got under way, and we arrived in time to see her Majesty and Prince Albert come out of Portsmouth Harbour in their yacht steamer, and cruise round the s.h.i.+ps. We hove-to just to the southward of the "Howe," so as to have a good view of all the s.h.i.+ps in line, and it was a beautiful and enlivening sight, as they all manned yards and saluted one after the other. From every s.h.i.+p, also, gay flags floated, in long lines from each masthead to the bowsprit and boom-ends, the bands played joyous tunes, and then arose those heart-stirring cheers such as British seamen alone can give. The ladies were delighted-- indeed, who could not be so at the proud spectacle?

On our way back to Cowes we were to land Miss Manners, who, most unwillingly on her part, I believe, was obliged to return to her guardian. We accordingly hove-to off the pier, and all the party landed to conduct her to Mr Bosley's house. After taking a turn to the end of the pier, as we were beginning our journey along its almost interminable length, we on a sudden found ourselves confronted by two most incongruous personages walking arm-in-arm--Warwick Ribbons and Miles Sandgate. The latter, the instant he saw us, withdrew his arm from that of his companion, and in his usual unembarra.s.sed manner, advanced towards us, putting out his hand to O'Malley and me, and bowing to the ladies. He, as usual, placed himself at the side of Emily, who had Harcourt's arm, and certainly did his best to draw off her attention from him. Little Ribbons tried, also, to come up and speak to her, but either his courage or his impudence could not overcome the cold, low bow she gave him. By the by, she had bestowed one of a similar nature on Sandgate. After some time, however, he ranged up outside of Harcourt, for he had no shadow of excuse to speak to either Mrs Granville or her daughters.

"Ah, Miss Emily," he exclaimed in a smirking way, "you said you would prefer returning here in a steamer to a yacht, and now you've come in one after all."

Emily did not know what to answer to his impudence, so Harcourt relieved her by answering--

"Miss Manners selected a larger vessel, and had, also, the society of her friends."

"In that case, I might have claimed the honour for my vessel, which is larger than either," observed Mr Sandgate, with a tone in which I detected a sneer lurking under a pretended laugh.

"Ah, but then I'm an old friend," interposed the little man; "ain't I, Miss Emily?--known you ever since you was a little girl, though you do now and then pretend not to remember it."

"Hang the fellow's impudence!" Harcourt was on the point of exclaiming, and perhaps might have said something of the sort, when his attention was called off by another actor in the drama. He was a corpulent, consequential-looking gentleman, with a vulgar expression of countenance, dressed in a broad-brimmed straw hat and shooting-coat, with trousers of a huge plaid pattern, and he had an umbrella under his arm though there was not a cloud in the sky. He was, in fact, just the person I might have supposed as the friend of little Ribbons, who, as soon as he espied him, with great glee ran on to meet him. Poor Emily, at the same time, p.r.o.nounced the words, "My guardian, Mr Bosley," in a tone which showed little pleasure at the _rencontre_, and instantly withdrew her arm from Harcourt's. She was evidently anxious to prevent a meeting between the parties, for she turned round to the Miss Granvilles and begged them not to come any further, and then holding out her hand to Harcourt, thanked him for the pleasant excursions he had afforded her. She was too late, however, for Mr Bosley advancing, bowed awkwardly to the Miss Granvilles, and then addressing Emily, said,--

"Ay, little missie, a long holiday you've been taking with your friends; but I shan't let you play truant again, I can tell you. I've heard all about your doings from my friend Warwick here--so come along, come along;" and seizing her arm, without more ceremony he walked her off, while Mr Ribbons smirked and chuckled at the thoughts of having her now in his power, as he fancied. Miles Sandgate, at the same time, bowing to the ladies, and nodding to us in a familiar way which verged upon cool impudence, followed their steps. We all felt excessively annoyed at the scene; but far more regretted that so charming a girl should be in the power of such a coa.r.s.e barbarian as Mr Bosley appeared.

On our pa.s.sage back to Cowes, Miss Granville told me all she knew of Miss Manners. She was the daughter of a Colonel Manners, who had gone out on some mining speculation or other, to one of the South American States, but it was believed that the s.h.i.+p which was conveying him to England had foundered, with all hands, at sea.

He had left his daughter Emily under the charge of a Mr Eastway, a merchant of high standing, and a very gentlemanly man. Mr Eastway, who was the only person cognisant of Colonel Manners' plans, died suddenly, and Mr Bosley, his partner, took charge of her and the little property invested in his house for her support. She had been at the same school with the Miss Granvilles, who there formed a friends.h.i.+p for her which had rather increased than abated after they grew up. This was the amount of the information I could extract from them. She never complained of her guardian to them; but she was as well able as they were to observe his excessive vulgarity, though there was probably under it a kindliness of feeling which in some degree compensated for it.

Harcourt certainly did his best to conceal the feelings with which he could not help acknowledging to himself she had inspired him, and was much pleased at hearing the Granvilles say that they intended writing to her to propose joining her at Ryde on the day of the regatta.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

A LADY SPIRITED AWAY--THE CHASE--THE CONSEQUENCES.

In the mean time Harcourt made daily trips to Ryde, and promenaded the pier from one end to the other, and through every street of the town, in the hope of meeting Miss Manners, but in vain. He met Ribbons frequently, but of course he could not inquire after her from him, and consequently avoided him. Sandgate he encountered several times; but he had conceived such an antipathy to the man, as well as a suspicion of his character, that, as O'Malley was not with us, he did not think it necessary to recognise him. Harcourt felt all the time that he was not treating O'Malley and me fairly in keeping about the island, and therefore promised to start on a long cruise directly after the regatta.

The first day of the regatta was cold, and blowing fresh, so none of the ladies went. It was the schooner-match round the island, when the little "Bianca" carried off the cup from her huge compet.i.tors, though she came in last, so much time being allowed for the difference of tonnage. The next day of the regatta the weather was most propitious, and we had the pleasure of meeting Miss Manners on the end of the pier with Mr Bosley, who saved Harcourt from inviting him, by telling us that "if we would give him a hundred pounds for every minute he was in that gimcrack-looking boat, he wouldn't come. Let him have a steady-going steamer, which didn't care for winds and tides." He made no objection to Emily's accompanying us; though little Ribbons coming up just as she was stepping into the boat, reproached her for not visiting the "Dido" instead.

The sight was beautiful in the extreme; for, independent of the racing-vessels, hundreds of other yachts were sailing about in every direction. The course also being round the Nab light, and a similar light-vessel moored at the mouth of the Southampton Water, the racing-yachts were the whole time in sight of Ryde. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club-house was decorated with banners, and from a battery in front of it were fired the necessary signals and salutes, while several yachts anch.o.r.ed off the pier-head were also gayly-decked with flags. In the afternoon the Queen came from Osborne on board the "Fairy," amid the animated scene, and made several wide circles; pa.s.sing close to the pier, and as she glided by, each vessel saluted with their guns or lowered their flags. The whole day the "Dido" had most perseveringly endeavoured to follow us, and several times we saw her nearly run foul of other vessels. At last, as she pa.s.sed the "Fairy," Ribbons, in a fit of enthusiastic loyalty, I suppose, loaded his gun to the muzzle, and discharged it directly at the steamer, the lighted wadding almost falling on board, while the recoil of the gun upset the little man, who was looking with dismay at the effect of his achievement. He was not hurt, however, for he picked himself up, and managed to fire another wadding on board the "Amethyst." The last we saw of him that day, he was hard and fast on a mud-bank half-way between Ryde and Cowes.

Sandgate's vessel was also cruising about, and pa.s.sed us several times, though at a respectful distance; but I saw that his telescope was directed each time towards Miss Manners. On a sudden it struck me that Griffiths might possibly know something of the man, and I accordingly asked him, in a mere casual way, if he had ever seen him before he came on board us?

"Why, yes, sir, I have seen him more than once," he answered. "Maybe he don't recollect me, though we've gone through some wild scenes together."

"How is that?" I asked, with surprise.

"Why, you see, sir, I've done something in the free-trade line myself, I own, and he's lent me a hand at it."

"What! you don't mean to say that Mr Sandgate is a smuggler?" I asked.

"Yes, I do, sir, though, and many's the rich crop he's run in that ere craft of his."

"Impossible! why she's a yacht," I replied.

"No, sir, she's only a private vessel at the best, and if she was a yacht, she's not the only one as--. Howsomdever, I won't say any thing again yachts. It's the lookout of the other members of the club that they don't smuggle, and more's the shame of them who does."

"But I thought that smugglers were so bound together that they would never speak against each other," I observed.