"What is her age?" the mate asked.

"Well, of course we can't tell exactly; but the dockyard people thought she couldn't be above four or five years old. That is what they put her down as when they sold her. At any rate she is sound, and in as good condition as if she had just come off the stocks. She had been hulled in two or three places in the fight when she was captured, but she was made all right in the dockyard before she was put up for sale. All her gear, sails, and so on are in excellent condition."

"Where are they?"

"They are on board. As we had a care-taker it was cheaper to leave them there and have good fires going occasionally to keep them dry than it would have been to stow them away on sh.o.r.e."

There was a brisk breeze blowing, and in less than the half hour mentioned by the agent he said: "That's her lying over on the farther side."

"She looks like a slaver all over," Martyn said as he stood up to examine the long low craft. "I suppose they caught her coming out of a river, for she would show her heels, I should guess, to any cruiser that was ever built, at any rate in light winds. If she is as good as she looks she is just the thing for us."

When they reached the vessel they rowed round her before going on board.

"She is like a big _Surf_," Will said to Horace; "finer in her lines, and lighter. She ought to sail like a witch. I see she carried four guns on each side."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEIR FIRST SIGHT OF THE SCHOONER]

"Yes, and a long pivot-gun. They are down in the hold now. She was sold just as she stood; but I suppose they will be of no use to you."

"Some of them may be," Martyn said carelessly. "If we go cruising up the Mediterranean it is just as well to have a gun or two on board.

Now let us look at her accommodation.

"Yes, she is a very roomy craft on deck," he went on as he stepped on board. "She has a wonderful lot of beam, much more than she looks to have when you see her on the water, owing to her lines being so fine."

"She has lots of head-room here," Horace said as they went below. "I thought that slavers had very low decks."

"So they have," the mate said. "I expect when she took a cargo on board they rigged up a deck of planks here so as to have two tiers for the slaves; that would give them about three foot three to each tier."

They spent over two hours on board. Will Martyn examined everything most carefully, prodding the planks and timbers with his knife, going down into the hold and prying into the state of the timbers there, getting into the boat, to examine the stern-post and rudder, and afterwards overhauling a good deal of the gear. The inspection was in all respects satisfactory.

"She will do if the price will do," he said. "How much do they want for her?"

"He paid fifteen hundred at the dockyard sale," the agent said; "that is ten pound a ton, with all her gear, fittings, and so on, thrown in.

As you see, there is the cabin furniture, and so on, all complete, except the paint. There needn't be a penny laid out on her."

"Well, how much will he take off?" Martyn said. "Fifteen hundred was anyone's price, and as she don't suit him, she won't suit many people.

If he is likely to have her on his hands any time, eating her head off and losing value, he ought to be glad to take anything near what he gave for her. Well, frankly, how much will he take off? Business is business. I have admitted the boat will suit me; now what is the limit you are authorized to take?"

"He will take two hundred less. It is a ridiculously low price."

"Of course it is," Will agreed. "But shipping at present is a drug in the market, and this ship is practically fit for nothing but a yacht or the Levant trade. I expect I could get her a couple of hundred pounds cheaper if I held off. What do you think, Horace?"

"I don't think it would be fair to knock down the price lower than that," Horace said.

"It is fair to get a thing as cheap as you can. If you try to get it for less than he will sell it for you don't get it, that is all. He is not obliged to sell, and you are not obliged to buy. Still, the price is a very reasonable one, and we will take her at that. You have full authority to sell, I suppose, without reference to your princ.i.p.al?"

"Yes."

"Very well, then, we will go to your office. Mr. Beveridge will give you a cheque for thirteen hundred pounds, and you shall hand over possession."

"Good. It is eleven o'clock now, Johnson," he said to the care-taker.

"Here is your money up to to-night, but from twelve o'clock to-day Mr.

Martyn takes possession as agent for the owners, so you will take your orders from him."

"You can go on as usual," Will said. "We will pay you from twelve o'clock, so you will make a half-day's pay by the change."

CHAPTER V

FITTING OUT

The cheque for the payment of the _Creole_ was filled up and handed over, the agent giving a formal receipt and possession of the vessel, and undertaking to sign the necessary papers as soon as they could be drawn out.

"You are evidently lucky about ships," William Martyn said as he left the agent's office with Horace. "You have got a little wonder in the _Surf_, and there is no doubt about the _Creole_ being a bargain. When the war was going on she would have been snapped up at double the price, and would have been cheap at that. Now the first thing to do is to get first and second mates. Directly I have got them I can put a gang of riggers on board. I will go to the Naval Club, and see the list of the officers on board the ships here. I am pretty sure to know some of them, and shall find out from them whether there are any of my old messmates down here. If they don't know of any, we might hear of men to suit at the Club. There are always plenty of men here and at Portsmouth waiting about on the chance of meeting some officer they have served under and getting him to put in a word for them at the Admiralty."

"I will walk down with you to the Club, but I won't go in with you; one is only in the way when people who know each other are talking.

And besides, Martyn, don't you think before you do anything you ought to see about your clothes?"

"Of course I ought; I never gave the matter a thought before. But I certainly could not put my foot on the quarter-deck of one of His Majesty's ships in this turn-out. No. The first thing to do is to drop into my father's agent to draw some money. Then I will go into a slop-shop and get a suit. I know a place where they keep really decent togs. A man often has to join in a hurry, and wants a fit-out at half an hour's notice. Then I can order the rest of the things at the tailor's I used to get my clothes from. 'Pon my word, now you speak of it, I am ashamed to be going out in these things. They were an old suit that I put on when bad weather set in, and they have shrunk so that the sleeves don't come half-way down to the wrists, and the trousers are up to the ankles. As a master's mate it didn't matter so very much, for masters' mates are very often out at elbows, but as commander of the _Creole_ it is a different thing altogether."

Martyn was lucky in picking up the undress uniform of a lieutenant that just fitted him.

"I can let you have it at that price, because I got it a bargain," the man said. "The owner came in here a few weeks ago with a man beside him. He had just come down to join his ship, which was to sail in a few hours, and as he stepped off the coach was served with a writ by a Jew he had borrowed money of two or three years before. It was only a few pounds, but to make up the sum he had to sell some of his things, and this suit was among them."

"And nicely you ground him down in the price, I have no doubt," Martyn growled. "However, I have got the benefit of it. Now, Horace, I can show at the Club. Just take your knife out and cut this strap off the shoulder. I can't go about as a full-fledged lieutenant, though I have pa.s.sed."

They were walking up the main street when a voice exclaimed:

"Hullo, Martyn! is that you?" and a young officer shook him warmly by the hand.

"Why, Dacent, this is luck. I am glad to see you indeed. It is three years since we ran against each other last; five since we served together in the _Nonpareil_. What are you doing?"

"I am third in the flagship here. What are you doing? I met O'Connor the other day; he told me he had run across you at Malta, and that you had gone into the merchant service like so many other of our old friends."

"That was so, Dacent. It was of no use kicking my heels on sh.o.r.e when I hadn't the ghost of a chance of getting appointed to a ship. So I had to swallow my pride and ship in a merchantman. We were wrecked at the back of the Wight in the storm last week, and I have had the luck to get a fresh appointment, and that is what I am here for. I was just on my way to the Club to see if I could find any of my old chums. You are just the fellow to help me. But first let me introduce Mr.

Beveridge. He is the son of my owner. Half an hour ago he completed the purchase of the craft that I am to command. She is a beauty. I don't know whether you know her. She is called the _Creole_, a schooner of a hundred and fifty tons. She is lying up the river."

"I know her well enough," Dacent said, as he shook hands with Horace.

"She was brought in here the week after I joined. I thought she was as pretty a looking craft as I ever set eyes on. I congratulate you, old fellow. There are not many things that you won't be able to show your heels to. But what line is she going to be in? She would make a fine craft for the Levant trade."

"That is just where we are going, Dacent, but not to trade. I will tell you what we are going to do, but it must be kept dark. I don't know whether they might not look upon it as a breach of the neutrality laws. Mr. Beveridge is an enthusiast for the cause of Greece, and we are going to take out a cargo of guns and ammunition, and then we shall hoist the Greek flag, and do a little fighting on our own account with the Turks as a Greek privateer."

"By Jove, I envy you, Martyn. That is a thousand times better than sticking in Plymouth Sound with nothing to do but to see the men holy-stone the deck, and fetching and carrying messages. Now, what is it I can do for you?"

"Well, in the first place, I want a couple of officers; for choice, I would have one who has pa.s.sed, and could take the command in case anything happened to me. I don't care whether the second is a mate or a midshipman who has pretty nearly served his time."