The G.A. Henty MEGAPACK ®. G.a. Henty Henty
and we will take care that you shall get your promotion as soon as you have served your full time. You would like a couple of months’ leave, no doubt, before you return. Would you rather wait before going in to be examined, or would you prefer going in at once?”
“I would rather go in at once, sir. I should enjoy my holiday much better if it was over.”
“I do not think it will take very long,” the admiral said with a smile. “After having been in command of a ten-gun brig for six months you should be able to satisfy the requirements of the examiners without difficulty. You will be good enough to wait in the ante-room.”
The delay was not long. In ten minutes the official messenger requested him to follow him, and took him to a room where three naval captains were sitting. The one in the centre looked up from the papers that he was examining.
“Good-morning, Mr. Wilkinson! I see by these papers that you have for six months been in command of the ten-gun brig Tigress, cruising for pirates among the Turkish and Greek islands.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I suppose during that time you met once or twice with bad weather?”
“We had one tremendous squall, sir.”
“It came suddenly upon you?”
“Yes, sir. Our first intimation of it was that we saw two native craft suddenly lower their sails.”
“Let us know exactly the measures that you took and the orders you gave.”
Wilkinson described what had passed from the time that the first order was given until the violence of the squall abated.
“That will do as far as seamanship is concerned,” the officer said.
Another now asked him a few questions as to navigation, and these being answered correctly, the president, after a word with the others, said:
“That will do, Mr. Wilkinson. You have answered creditably, and, indeed, the mere fact that Sir Sidney Smith should have considered you fit to command the Tigress in so difficult and dangerous a work as cruising among those islands is in itself a better guarantee of your fitness for promotion than the most rigid examination could be.”
A few further questions were asked, and then Wilkinson was congratulated upon having passed successfully. He then went to the prize court, saw the President, and presented Sir Sidney Smith’s note to him. He read it through, and then glanced at a copy of the bill of lading which had been taken when the cargo was transferred.
“You do not know the contents of all those bales and casks, Mr. Wilkinson?”
“No, sir. The greater portion of them have never been opened. Some, of course, one could recognize from the nature of the packing, and I put them down as nearly as I could guess—Manchester goods, woollen, hardware, and so on; but, as we wanted to be off, and it was better that the things should remain in their original packing, we did not trouble to open them, and they were received as cargo consigned to you.”
“The Eastern goods you know nothing about, I suppose?”
“Nothing whatever.”
“Well, when the brig arrives in the river the captain will, of course, call here, and I will give him instructions where to land them.”
“I understand,” he went on, looking again at the letter, “that Mr. Blagrove, to whom Sir Sidney asks me to intrust the sale of these goods, is an expert in this special line?”
“Yes, sir; he has been for many years established as a merchant in Alexandria, and Sir Sidney thought that he would not only be able to estimate accurately the value of the goods, but would know exactly where to place them, and would, by bringing them gradually forward, get far larger sums for them than if they were thrown all at once upon the market.”
“I see the vessel is his property, Mr. Wilkinson?”
“It is so, sir, his son purchased it in his name. He is a fellow-midshipman of mine in the Tigre, and was with me in the craft with which we captured all these goods and the vessels that have been sold for twelve thousand five hundred. This I have brought up with me in gold, and will pay into the hands of anybody you may appoint, to be added to the proceeds of the sales, for division by the court.”
“Have you any idea of the value of these Eastern goods?”
“Not in the slightest, sir; only a few of the bales were opened in the presence of Sir Sidney Smith. He himself said that it would be better not to open more, as there were no facilities for repacking.”
“I think that it was a very good idea of Sir Sidney’s to suggest that it would be for the advantage of all concerned to vary the usual course, and to place these goods in the hands of an expert instead of selling them by auction. I should like to see Mr. Blagrove. I suppose you know his address. Is he in town?”
“He is living in Dulwich, sir.”
“Well, will you let him know that if he calls upon me to-morrow morning I will give him full authority to act in the matter, and then we can settle whether to stow that portion of the cargo in our warehouses or whether to make other arrangements. I will myself write to Sir Sidney Smith to thank him for his suggestion with respect to the sale of these goods, and to say that I have so arranged it. The question of freight is, of course, a matter altogether separate, and I shall give Mr. Blagrove a cheque for the amount arranged between his representative and Sir Sidney Smith at the rate of three pounds per ton when he brings me the receipt of the officer in charge of the warehouse of his having received the stores in good order from the ship.”
Edgar had, on reaching London, stopped at the Golden Cross for the night, and the first thing in the morning taken a hackney-coach and driven at once to Dulwich, where his father had taken a house close to that of his brother. It was now the first week in December. Edgar drove up to the entrance to the garden in which the house stood, paid the coachman, and then rang the bell. The servant opened it, and looked somewhat surprised at seeing a young naval officer standing there.
“Are Mr. and Mrs. Blagrove in?” he asked.
“Yes, sir, they are both in.”
“All right!” he said; “show me to the room where they are. You need not announce me; I am their son.”
The girl at once led the way into the house, and Edgar walked into the room, where the party were seated at breakfast. Mr. Blagrove was sitting with his back to the door, and did not see him come in. His mother and sisters looked up in surprise as he entered unannounced. It was two years since they had seen him, and they scarcely recognized in the tall young officer the lad whom they had last seen at Alexandria on their departure for England. Mr. Blagrove, on seeing their eyes fixed on the door, turned round, and leapt to his feet.
“My dear Edgar,” he exclaimed as he warmly embraced him, “where have you sprung from? Your last letter was from Smyrna three months ago. Mother,” he went on, turning round, “let me introduce your boy to you.”
For some minutes there was little coherent conversation.
“Now, sit down, Edgar,” Mr. Blagrove said at last, “and let us hear what unexpected chance has brought you home. I suppose, as you are in uniform, that you have not left the service.”
“Not at all, sir; I am home on three months’ leave, having come home in the Suzanne, a brig belonging to yourself.”
“Belonging to me!” Mr. Blagrove said in astonishment. “What on earth do you mean?”
“I bought her in your name, father, and you will have a bill presented in the course of a couple of months or so for eight hundred and fifty pounds. At any rate you will not be a loser by her. There will be from six to seven hundred pounds, I cannot say how much exactly, for the cargo was not weighed, but it is somewhat over two hundred tons at three pounds a ton, and there is, besides, a hundred pounds for the passage-money of twenty invalid sailors, so you see you get the ship for practically about a hundred pounds, to which there