Jack turned round, and observed Mesty with his foot on a head which had been blown from the trunk.
“What are you about, Mesty?”
“Massa Easy, I look at dis, and I tink it Massa Vigors’ head, and den I tink dis skull of his enemy nice present make to little Massa Gossett; and den I tink again, and I say, no, he dead and nebber thrash any more—so let him go overboard.”
Jack turned away, forgiving Vigors in his heart; he thought of the petty animosities of a midshipman’s berth, as he looked at the blackened portion of a body, half an hour before possessing intellect.
“Massa Easy,” said Mesty, “I tink you say right, anyhow, when you say forgive: den, Massa Vigors,” continued Mesty, taking up the head by the singed hair, and tossing it out of the port, “you really very bad man—but Ashantee forgive you.”
“Here’s somebody alive,” said Gascoigne to Jack, examining a body, the face of which was black as a cinder and not to be recognized, “and he is one of our men, too, by his dress.”
Our hero went up to examine, and to assist Gascoigne in disengaging the body from a heap of ropes and half-burnt tarpaulings with which it was entangled. Mesty followed, and looking at the lower extremities said, “Massa Easy, dat Massa Jolliffe, I know him trousers; marine tailor say he patchum for ever, and so old dat de thread no hold; yesterday he had dis patch put in, and marine tailor say he d—n if he patch any more, please nobody.”
Mesty was right; it was poor Jolliffe, whose face was burnt as black as a coal by the explosion. He had also lost three fingers of the left hand, but as soon as he was brought out on the deck he appeared to recover, and pointed to his mouth for water, which was instantly procured.
“Mesty,” said Jack, “I leave you in charge of Mr.Jolliffe; take every care of him till I can come back.”
The investigation was then continued, and four English sailors found who might be expected to recover, as well as about the same number of Frenchmen; the remainder of the bodies were then thrown overboard. The hat only of the master was picked up between the guns, and there were but eleven Frenchmen found below.
The vessel was the Franklin, a French privateer, of ten guns and sixty-five men, of which, eight men were away in prizes. The loss on the part of the vessel was forty-six killed and wounded. On that of the Harpy, it was five drowned in the cutter, and eighteen blown up belonging to the pinnace, out of which total of twenty-three, they had only Mr.Jolliffe and five seamen alive.
“The Harpy is standing in with a breeze from the offing,” said Gascoigne to Easy.
“So much the better, for I am sick of this, Ned; there is something so horrible in it, and I wish I was on board again. I have just been to Jolliffe; he can speak a little; I think he will recover. I hope so, poor fellow; he will then obtain his promotion, for he is the commanding officer of all us who are left.”
“And if he does,” replied Gascoigne, “he can swear that it was by having been blown up which spoilt his beauty—but here comes the Harpy. I have been looking for an English ensign to hoist over the French, but cannot find one; so I hoist a wheft over it—that will do.”
The Harpy was soon hove-to close to the brig, and Jack went on board in the cutter to report what had taken place. Captain Wilson was much vexed and grieved at the loss of so many men; fresh hands were put in the cutter to man the pinnace, and he and Saw-bridge both went on board to witness the horrible effects of the explosion as described by our hero.