Frederick Gale

“ Does any other officer want to give me any advice, because if he does he had better say his prayers first, for I’ll shoot him as dead as a nail, by Gad! Fire, ye scoundrels, and be hanged to you.”
Another broadside was poured into the luckless ship; but, to our surprise, not a living creature appeared on her deck.
“Now, Mr. Bluejacket, you are skulking, as usual; you are a disgrace to the family, and as great a rascal as your father, who is in Hades. Take the jolly-boat, sir, and board the prize; and mind before you board that the swivel-gun and firearms are discharged into the port-holes. ”

“ I felt that my fate was sealed, but I managed to drop into the boat.
“Good-bye, my boys,” cried the quartermaster, rising up in the boat, “it’s all over with us—if there’s a man amongst you, you will bring that old villain to a court-martial.”
“Fire into the boat!” sung out my uncle, “there’s a mutiny amongst them, by Gad!” ”

“ I sail in the good ship “Cat-o’-nine-Tails,” under my uncle Lord Tartar.—Am blown up and blown away.
"Pitch the mainmast overboard, and splice the main-deck! Throw her up to the wind’s eye, Mr. Smith, and be hanged to you; the service is going to the deuce, and there’s not a man amongst you who knows his duty.” ”

“ This was the cricket of our forefathers about 120 years ago, and from this rude beginning of a sport which much depended on gambling for excitement, and which was by no means unmixed with quarrelling, our great national game has sprung up, and acquired not only a firm growth in every part of England, but has overrun our English possessions in all parts of the world. ”

“ I was on board my schooner at the time, taking advantage of the darkness of the weather to run a cargo of niggers—don’t start, my calling is apostolic, and I am a fisher of men—which accounts for your being picked up. ”

“ You can go anywhere you please about the garden or grounds, but take my advice and don’t try to go beyond them, for there are some queer fellows in my establishment, who, you will find, are rather more active than your London flunkeys. We dine in an hour’s time, and a mouthful of air will give you an appetite. ”

“ Bluejacket,” replied the boatswain, “my impression is that we had better at the last moment let the niggers loose, and they will turn the tables on these scoundrels.”
The advice was too good not to be followed. We gutted the Don’s house of all which was valuable, and as the yacht was well victualled we had nothing to do but to go. We prepared the state-cabin for the Princess Swanka, as I still called her, and after we were all embarked, we gave the keys of the niggers’ huts to Pompey, whom we sent ashore in the dingy, and we bade farewell to Pirates’ Island. ”

“ Let me only give you one more caution, don’t be too polite to La Principessa, or you may find too much sugar in your grog some odd morning, as I cannot stand a rival.”
Well! I thought, I am in a pretty fix. Here I am the guest of a man who treats me well, and tells me quietly that I shall be poisoned if I make any overtures to the angel whom I intend to marry, and coolly hints at my coming short home if I go out of bounds, or seek after my companions. ”

“ The only thing which you must do to-night is to take all the arms out, and hide them in the garden. I will help you, and if any of the servants interfere, stab them; our liberty is as valuable as their lives. ”

“ The niggers took possession of the island, and established the slave trade with all its horrors, repaying the ill-treatment which they received on the unfortunate pirates.
The Princess makes me an excellent wife. Her relations tried hard to penetrate into Belgravian society without much success. I am happy and contented; our eldest child, a girl, was christened “Swanka,” and we don’t quite forget old times, as at a grand state ball at B—— P——, Kitty appeared in her pirate dress. ”

“ We all make mistakes sometimes, and the Marylebone Club are not infallible. They have done great things for our noblest national sport, so we may conclude this article by wishing them and all cricket-clubs an uninterrupted career of success in promoting a sport which is dear to rich and poor. ”

“ She’s within two hundred yards of us now.”
“Pipe all hands for action!” roared old Tartar. “I don’t care the turn of a marling-spike for all the signals of distress; but, by Gad, we’ll send a broadside into her, as sure as I’m a peer!”
“I don’t think the ship will bear a broadside now,” observed the first lieutenant: “the hurricane is at its height, my lord, and she’s pitching heavily; a broadside will send her over.”
“And serve her right, too, sir!” replied his lordship; “who the deuce asked your advice, I should like to know. This is the worst ship in the service, by Gad! ”

“ The whim pleased me, and I felt half inclined to lead what you call an honest life; i. e., live as hard as you can without being particular about paying your bills. I announced myself as an anti-slavery man, and was dragged to Exeter Hall meetings. By the way, the Duchess of Bijou’s breakfast bored me; and men of my profession never being idle, I took the liberty of pocketing a few spoons and salt-cellars—here is one of them, try some salt out of it with your nuts. My yacht being built, I sent for my own crew ”

“ Mr. Bluejacket, allow me to introduce you to La Principessa Swanka—my fiancée. We shall be married the day after to-morrow, and you can act as my best man.”
The princess looked imploringly at me; and I fancied I read her thoughts. “Is it too late?” I whispered to her, as I handed her into the drawing-room.
“Faint heart never won fair woman,” she replied, tremulously. “I am an Englishwoman: save me, dear Mr. Bluejacket!”
I inwardly vowed to do so, or die; and my fate for death or love was sealed.
CHAPTER III.
A grand dinner off borrowed plate.—The Don opens his heart.—A conspiracy. ”

“ Thither I went, without any suspicion, shipped a cargo of niggers, and landed them safe in Cuba. Now,” he added, “I think I have been pretty candid; and you may warn your English friends on your return, that when they make Lions of unknown foreigners, to keep an eye to their spoons.”
“But why have you taken such care of me?” I could not help asking.
“Because,” he answered, “you are a peer’s nephew, and will be a peer some day, and if you don’t turn up there will be the deuce to pay. ”

“ Mr. Lillywhite tells us that he was fortunate enough to see in the flesh one of the crack players of the old Hambledon Club, William Beldham, whose first recorded match was a match played between All England and the White Conduit Club, in the year 1787. When Mr. Lillywhite paid Beldham a visit in April 1858, he found the old man, then in his ninety-second year, at work in his garden before eight o’clock in the morning. ”

“ Shout, ‘All hands ashore for my wedding.’
“He obeyed mechanically, and in a few minutes the pirates’ crew, dressed in their best, pulled to the landing-place with a will. Our men being well armed, the pirates were secured in an instant, and the island and the ship were ours. ”

“ I will go to the yacht and sleep on board of her.” So saying, he proceeded down the cliff, and hailed for a boat.
Well, I thought, you are a romantic scoundrel for a gentleman who steals spoons and kidnaps niggers.
No sooner had his footsteps died away, than La Principessa, who talked to him over the cliff as long as he was within hearing, came tripping back to me.
“Oh! my dear Mr. Bluejacket,” she exclaimed, “I thought I should have died with fright, just now—but all’s well that ends well. The Don would have shot you in a moment, if he had stumbled across you ”

“ The Don was never tried for stealing the spoons. There was something high-minded about the man which made him shudder at the thought of stand­ing in the dock of the Old Bailey on such a charge.
“I could,” he said, “have well borne being an interesting criminal, with half Mayfair and Belgravia for spectators, on the charge of piracy and murder—but for stealing spoons!—bah! ”

“ The materials which were provided for their amusement were the skeleton hurdles aforesaid, two rude clubs of about the size and weight of the levers with which artillerymen work the heavy guns, and a small hard ball of a size and weight now unknown. ”