The Rival Crusoes Part 10

England was engaged in a severe struggle with the Dutch for naval pre-eminence in those days; and perhaps she never had to sustain a more arduous maritime contest; and Michael had many perils to encounter besides the danger of the stormy seas; but then he was very punctual in writing to his relatives--they were sure to have a letter from him at every opportunity; and Michael took a pride in sending home a considerable portion of his pay. Amy had so often heard that Michael was safe and well, that it was only after hearing of some sharp engagement that her heart ached for him. James was as diligent and industrious as ever, and kept his old place, and pleased his good master. Poor Amy had nouris.h.i.+ng food and warm clothing, and more comforts in her old age than she had ever expected.

Three years pa.s.sed quickly away, and James had grown a fine-looking young man. Old Amy, though healthy and strong for her years, seemed to fear that she should not see her dear Michael before she died.

The war now raged more fiercely than ever between the English and Dutch; and it was said that the fleets would soon come to action in the seas between England and Holland. James and Amy understood very little about this. All their care was to know whether it was likely for Michael's s.h.i.+p to be in the action: this they could not learn; but they saw a great fleet nearly opposite at sea, hovering to and fro, and many seamen and officers came on sh.o.r.e; but they neither saw nor heard anything of Michael; so they hoped he was not in the fleet.

It was a lovely morning in the latter end of May, and James had been some time at work in his master's fields, when he was suddenly startled with a tremendous noise, louder than any thunder he had ever heard. He looked round about, and up at the heavens; all was blue and serene there, and he could see no traces of a thunder-cloud: still the roar continued in horrid bursts that seemed to shake the sh.o.r.es and the very ground he stood on, and it rang and rebounded through the hollow coast with the most frightful din.[14] At last he cast his eyes towards the East, and there he saw, in the bar, white clouds of smoke, mixed with flashes of flame. "The sea-fight has surely begun," he said aloud, "so near in sh.o.r.e! Our cottage will certainly be knocked down with the b.a.l.l.s." This thought induced him to throw down his hoe, and away he ran towards his home, thinking of nothing but his poor grandmother.

[Footnote 14: In an old song, published a few days after Solebay fight, there are the following lines:--

"Well might you hear their guns, I guess, From Sizewell Gap to Easton Ness; They fill'd up all the hollow coast, From Walberswick to Dunwich."]

He got safely down the cliffs, though the cannon-b.a.l.l.s were coming on sh.o.r.e very near him, and in some places they actually shattered large pieces of earth and stones from the cliffs. James found poor old Amy kneeling by the bed in the inner room, hiding her face and half dead with terror. He wanted to take her farther up the country, out of the reach of danger; but Amy dared not venture out of the house, and James could not persuade her that the cottage would be no defence in case a cannon-ball should strike it. He determined at first to take her in his arms and carry her away to a place of safety: "But, who knows," thought he, "but I may drag her into the very danger she dreads so much?" So he determined to stay with her at every risk, and they spent the day half-deafened with the roar of the cannon, expecting every moment that their little home would be shattered about them.

Towards evening, the firing grew weaker and weaker, and the people who were beholding the fight from the cliffs, shouted that the Duke of York had gained the victory. But before the action was quite over, a boat was seen making to the sh.o.r.e; it seemed to bear in the direction of Amy's cottage, and actually ran on sh.o.r.e within a few yards of it. The sailors leaped out, and, lifting an officer in their arms, bore him towards the cottage; whilst a young sailor walked slowly after, leaning on an old seaman's arm. James flung open the cottage door, and told them to place the officer on the bed. They accordingly laid him down. He moaned faintly with pain. At the sound of his voice, the young sailor approached the bed with an unsteady step. Amy gazed wistfully on the young man, and then on James;--they were exactly alike. "It is my own boy Michael!" she cried at last.

"Yes, it is Michael!" said James, throwing himself on his neck.

"Ah, my poor grandmother! and my dear James!" said Michael, "I have come home to you in a sorrowful hour! My n.o.ble Captain is mortally wounded."

"Is this the brave gentleman who took you away, and behaved so kindly to us? Alas, how wan he looks!" said Amy, looking mournfully on the pale features of Captain Lucas, as he lay fainting on the lowly bed, where they had placed him.

"But you look as white and ill as he does, Michael!"

"Yes," said he faintly, pointing to his side, from which the blood slowly trickled; "I was wounded whilst fighting near him--I return to my home once more; but it is to die. Our Captain's brother took the command of the s.h.i.+p after he fell; and when the fight slackened, he sent the boat ash.o.r.e with him, in hopes of getting better a.s.sistance. He did not know I was wounded, but he told me to go on sh.o.r.e with my master, and take care of him. Instead of suffering the sailors to take him to the town, I bade them steer direct for the cottage on the beach. He laid his n.o.ble head there when he was in distress before; and I resolved that he should not die among strangers."

Here Michael's voice faltered with grief and pain; and he was so faint that he would have sunk from his seat, had not James supported him in his arms. A surgeon arrived soon after, and at once p.r.o.nounced that the Captain's wounds were mortal, and that Michael was in a dangerous state.

Before night, Captain Lucas's brother came on sh.o.r.e, and hastened to the cottage: Captain Lucas held out his hand when he saw his brother.

"William," said he, "is England victorious?" William Lucas turned from his dying brother, and wept.--"Oh yes, Charles! The Duke has gained the battle, but it is a dearly-purchased victory."

"Many a one has fallen, William, who will be more missed than I shall be," replied the Captain. "I have but one dear brother to weep my loss.--Hear my last request: you know, by my will, you inherit my estates;--but give my faithful Michael the gold in my portmanteau, and a hundred pounds besides, to be divided between him and his brother: if Michael should die, give his share to his grandmother--I fear I have robbed her of one of the props of her age! It is owing to the good inhabitants of this cottage that my death has been a glorious one: three years ago they saved my life from the waves on this coast."

Captain Lucas did not live through that night: and Michael only survived him two days. They were buried together, with many a hero who fell in that engagement. Captain William faithfully executed his brother's dying request. But it was not the riches they obtained that could console Amy and James for the loss of their dear Michael;--it was long before they could think, without extreme sorrow, on his untimely death.

James's good master a.s.sisted him with his advice in laying out the Captain's legacy, which amounted to more than five hundred pounds. James took a good farm, and, by his unremitting industry, soon became a rich man; and old Amy had the pleasure of seeing her great grandchildren born to affluence: yet the beautiful month of May never returned but she remembered with sadness the fall of her brave sailor-boy and his n.o.ble captain.

THE END