The Two Shipmates | Page 8

you'll get
aboard the Amity, tell Captain Mudge that his mate, Ralph Michelmore,
has been pressed, and ask him to bring my protection, which he will
find in my jacket pocket, on board the Falcon. She sails to-morrow
early, so there is no time to be lost; or, if you can get off at once--and
you shall have thirty shillings if you do--he may overtake us before we
reach the boats."
"Trust me, mate," answered the lad, a sharp young mud-larker. "I
should just like the feel of a little earnest-money, though, to show that I
am not being sent on a fool's errand."
The seamen laughed, and told the boy that such was very likely to be
the case. Ralph, however, found a crown piece in his pocket.
"Here, my lad," he said, giving it to the boy; "notwithstanding what
they say, I will trust you. What's your name, that I may know you
again?"
"I'm sometimes called Peter Puddle, and sometimes Muddy Legs, and
all sorts of names, for that matter; but I'm no ways particular."
"Well then, Peter Puddle, be smart about it, and gain the rest of your
reward," said Ralph.
The lad, with a shout of delight, taking the money, ran off, and Ralph
was left in doubt whether or not he would fulfil his commission.
The sailors laughed even more than before. "It's easy to see who's the
fool now," observed one of them.
The attention of the party was, however, quickly recalled to what was
going forward in the harbour. The boat before seen could be discerned
dimly in the distance through the gloom, and from the same direction
there came the sound of oars splashing, or people struggling in the
water, and loud cries and shouts mingled with fierce oaths, while now a
piercing cry rang through the night air. Some of the press-gang were

eager to jump in and swim to their shipmates' assistance, but the officer
forbade them, ordering three or four to make another search for a boat.
At length the sounds of struggling ceased, but which party had been
defeated it was impossible to ascertain.
The sound of oars in the water was now heard, and a boat was observed
slowly approaching the shore. She reached at length the jetty near
which the man-of-war's men were standing. Some of them went down
to meet her, and a shout proclaimed that their shipmates had returned,
though without a prisoner. The two men were lifted out of the boat, not
having strength to walk. Their arms and shoulders were fearfully
battered and bruised, and the head of one of them was cut open. They
had reached the boat, when they were attacked by the men in her with
oars and stretchers, and they would have been drowned had they not
got hold of the gunwale, and, in spite of opposition, clambered on
board, and, after a desperate struggle, turned the occupants out, just at
the moment that another boat came up. The men, they believed, had
been taken on board her, as had, they supposed, the escaped prisoner;
and, at all events, she had made off and got out of sight.
Followed by a collection of men, women, and boys, still shouting and
hurling abuse at them, the press-gang, moving on, at length reached the
boats. Ralph and Dick were among the first not over gently hauled on
board; the rest of the captives were as quickly as possible shoved in
after them; a strong party of the press-gang remaining on shore to keep
back the mob, which seemed inclined to make a rush at the last, for the
purpose of rescuing some of their friends. Their courage, however,
failed them. The last of the man-of-war's men leaped on board, the
order to shove off was given, and the boats proceeded down the Sound,
followed by the yells and execrations of the people on shore.
"They'll hurt their own throats more than they do us," observed an old
seaman who was pulling at the thwart on which Ralph and Dick sat.
"It's hard lines, though, you think, for yourselves, mates, I dare say; but
before long you'll be used to a life aboard a man-of-war, and be as
ready to press others as we were to press you."
"Justice is justice; and I shall never think it right to press men against

their will," answered Ralph. "I, however, hope to be free to-morrow, as
I have a protection which will be brought on board to me."
"Don't count too much on that, mate," said the old sailor; "when they've
got a man, they're not in a mind to let him go. It's wisest to make the
best of a bad job, and that's what I advise you to do, my hearty."
"If