The _Morning Star_ anchored in the Tagus, just abreast of Belem, in the afternoon of the 5th April. Hardly was our anchor down when we were hailed from the deck of a British corvette which lay in the river half a cable's length ahead of us.
"_Mornin' Star_, transport; with drafts of the 14th Light Dragoons and 3rd and 66th Regiments. One hundred and fifty-eight all told," shouted our skipper. "Three weeks out of the Thames."
"Have you a Major Warrington of the 14th on board?" was the next question.
"We has," bawled the skipper. "He commands the troops."
"What can they want with me?" said the major, who had just come on deck.
"You'll soon know, major," observed Bradley, "for they're sending a boat off. Here she comes! Look at the Portuguese bumboats scuttling out of her way!" And the next minute the corvette's gig ran alongside, and a smart little midshipman sprang up the accommodation ladder.
"Major Warrington?" he said, looking inquiringly round.
[Illustration: "Major Warrington?" he said.]
"My name is Warrington, young gentleman," the major answered, stepping forward.
"Captain Calvert's compliments, sir, and will you kindly come on board the _Alacrity_. He has brought out a packet of letters for you."
"Do you belong to the _Alacrity_?" said the major in a tone of surprise. "Why, when did she sail from Portsmouth?"
"On the 25th of last month, sir, and anchored here this morning," the middy replied. "We met with beastly weather in the Bay, or should have got in two days ago." Then with an impudent look on his chubby face, he said to our skipper, "You left the Thames on the 12th, I believe? By George! your old hooker has taken her time over the passage. How many knots can she do at a pinch?" But the surly old shellback walked forward without vouchsafing an answer, beyond growling something about the "cheek of them young reefers."
Telling the middy that he would be with him in five minutes, Major Warrington took me aside, and informed me that Captain Calvert of the _Alacrity_ was Lord Buckland's cousin, and that probably the letters he had brought out referred to my case.
"Would they have had time to write, sir?" I questioned.
"Before the _Alacrity_ sailed?--yes, I think so," he replied. "The letters we wrote from Northfleet must have reached your father and Buckland by the 14th, and you may be sure they would not let the grass grow under their feet. I met Captain Calvert at Buckland, and he was then under orders to sail on the 30th March, but it appears he had to put to sea on the 25th. No doubt Lord Buckland knew of this, and took the opportunity to forward our letters."