CHAPTER XVII

EMIGRATION

A glimpse of London Society: smart and otherwise - Discovery of Archangels in our family - Queen Victoria's Court : no sailors need apply - A spiritualistic cheat - A challenge - Childish sequel - Engaged to be married - Emigration - More steamer experiences - Near foundering - Ravensworth once more.

MY father and mother being as usual domiciled abroad, I remained in London as long as my money lasted, which, however, was not long, though long enough to give me a glimpse of a life - hitherto unknown to me - of Fashion, of Politics, of crowded ball-rooms, of a Court where a confectioner's son in the Household Cavalry was of more esteem than a British Admiral, of men who lived on cards and billiard cues, of ladies who accepted diamonds or bonnets, of parsons of the lap-dog variety, of swell tailors who lent money.

Fresh as I was from scenes not entirely flat or devoid of adventure, I found, however, that I was nowhere with any young man who knew all about the theatres, the matrimonial and other liaisons of Society, or could talk its shibboleths. Nor did my own family connection help me much towards this useful knowledge, for those in it who were clever had higher occupations, and the others had, all more or less, got religion in some acute form : my Uncles Robert and George Gambler both Admirals

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SOME OF MY RELATIONS

both prematurely Archangels in the Irvingite Church, and so on. The people I saw most of were my father's cousins, Monckton Milnes (Houghton), Lord Galway - a genuine sportsman of the old school - the Sumners, Morant Gales, Pyms, Chattertons, Murdochs, Noels, Marshams and others, all kinsmen. These - with the exception of Monckton Milnes, who knew every one from prince to scene-shifter and was equally popular with all - formed a clique in London Society where to be up in the aforesaid coulisse lore was not considered essential. For it had not become the fashion to marry actresses, nor had the noveaux riches as yet bought their footing, whilst though, of course, the Society Phryne and Aspasia existed, it had not become customary to introduce them to one's wife or sister, who were then neither curious about them nor discussed them.

I have alluded to the fact that Naval men, and indeed the Navy itself, were held in very little respect in those days. The Prince Consort hated the sight of the sea - where he was always deadly sick - and everything in connection with it, and, though himself dead at this time, from his newly-made grave his hand could still exert its maleficent influence. The profession of the Navy conferred no social rank or advantage as did that of the Army in the Germanised Court of Queen Victoria where naval men were rarely seen, and, in which, not a single naval man held any appointment. Of course, one or two Court favourites were stuffed into good billets, maugre that they were sailors : or supposed to be.

My money being spent I went to Dieppe to stay with my father until I should get a ship. They were still occupying the old house on the Quai Henri IV.

A Chaplain had come to the place, who had been bear-leader to the Prince Consort's idiot brother, but many of the old clique had vanished or had been submerged.

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DIEPPE

Home, the spiritualist, and his sister, with Mrs. Milner Gibson and others, had formed a spiritualistic coterie, into which my mother had been engulfed, many séances being held in our haunted old house, which seemed to lend itself to the imposture.

It is difficult to understand why my father did not kick Home out of the house at once, for there never breathed a greater charlatan ; the whole thing ridiculous, transparent fraud, resting merely on Home's word, a hopelessly rotten security. For instance, in a pitch-dark room, making us all sit down, and having bound us by promise not to move, he would turn up the light in a minute or two and point out that a heavy china vase had changed its place from the chimney-piece to the top of the piano, whilst he himself was supposed to have sat still holding a lady's hand all the time, who must naturally have been a dupe or a liar.

Of course, all the other varieties of spiritual manifestations went on - table-rapping: table-turning: planchette ; but Home did not stop at that. He had dark séances where he persuaded my poor mother that she was in communication with my sister who was supposed to have been massacred in Cawnpore, and with my brother who had fallen at Delhi, the lying rascal pretending he had never even heard their names or anything about this incident in our family history, whereas, it turned out, that Mrs. Milner Gibson had told him everything about it, down to the most minute particulars. But when taxed with this by my father, he had the audacity to deny that Mrs. Milner Gibson had ever said a word about it, giving her the lie direct. And still all his devotees continued to believe in him and none more vehemently than Mrs. Milner Gibson herself. Then an old French Marquise, a friend of ours, disappeared and her son rushed off to ask Home to inquire of the spirits

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A SPIRITUALIST FRAUD

where she was to be found. Home, who was in our house when the news reached us, immediately closed his eyes and began to jabber some nonsense, finally declaring that the old lady was in the water, by which he distinctly referred to the Port. Great was the excitement - for she was a kind of leader of sections in Dieppe - the police were put on the alert, and people began running up and down the quays, shouting for their mothers or the Virgin Mary, if a fish splashed, or if a gas-bubble from the town sewers burst in the water. Then a policeman, more practical and perhaps bolder than the rest, determined to search the house of the missing lady, which by this time was empty, every one having scattered in the quest. In and out of every room and attic, finally the minion of the law came on the door of a little-used room ; burst it open, and beheld the old lady sitting in a big tub of tepid water sound asleep. She had been missing for about four hours, and it was supposed that the unusual effect of her body coming in contact with water had produced a state of semi-coma. The news quickly spread, and Home was at once accredited with having learnt through the spirits that the old lady was in water, and was more than ever believed in.

But, however one may laugh at the absurdity of such frauds, their evil effects are undeniable, for my mother and my two sisters verily believed that hypernatural occurrences took place in our house, and an uncomfortable feeling seemed to settle on us all, from which even my father, my brothers, and myself did not entirely escape, whilst some of our friends reached a state of hysteria bordering on insanity.

One amongst these was the widow of a well-known man holding an office in the House of Commons. At one of these séances this lady suddenly sprang from her chair on to the top of a table - a large, massive piece of furniture

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DIEPPE

which three men could scarcely lift ; which, however, had been gyrating about the room in a ridiculous manner - and in a moment this very decorous person began to dance like a Mænad, kicking up her heels, flinging her arms about, whilst showering, on all and sundry, winks and gestures appropriate only to a café-chantant. Amazed and shocked, the other women seized hold of her feet, and begged her to return to the floor. But, no ! on she went until, nolens volens, she was hustled off by the outraged spectators. When she had recovered breath she was begged to explain, but before she had had time to do so the table began to rap a long message to this effect--

"It is your husband who is present. He loved the ballet and you have given him the greatest delight possible."

This was rather a revelation for the widow, for she had never known that her husband had this predilection. On the contrary, every one knew that in piety and all godliness he was hard to beat. So, whilst she was still in the room, the other people all agreed that this was a "bad" spirit and a liar ; though, as soon as she was gone away, opinion began to veer round : that, after all, it must have been more or less true, though the spirit had no right to give Mr. ---- away. This frightened a good many of Home's disciples and many abandoned the circle. For no one could tell what might happen next.

This was an extremely happy period in our lives, and we had many friends, Elmhirsts, Rawnsleys, Capels Beads, Hacketts, and many others. Amongst them was another very charming old French Marquise, who, the winter following, had to have her feet amputated - having got them frost-bitten in the snow in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris - and died. Another French friend of ours who had only heard the story of her death imperfectly thought she had lost her feet through putting them in water.

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RIDICULOUS AFFAIR OF HONOUR

" Que voulez vous ! " he exclaimed. " Elle avait cette mauvaise habitude Anglaise de se laver les pieds."

I came very near being engaged in a duel about this time, my one and only venture in that line all my life. I was dancing with my - sister at the Établissement and we had stopped to rest. A young Frenchman on a chair just behind us put out both his feet and encircled my sister's ankle. She told me of it and I followed him outside after the dance was over, caught him by the neck and boxed his ears soundly. He would doubtless have run off and said nothing had not some of his friends insisted on his calling me out. Men are often like that. So next day two French officers brought me his challenge and I selected broadswords as weapons, my two friends laying down stringent regulations that there should be no child's play. Late that night a very great man, one of the first Dukes of the French Empire, called on my father and begged him to intervene. My father, who knew nothing about the affair, sent for me and I told the Duke the whole story. He said he was ashamed that his son had behaved so like a blackguard, and that instead of his resenting my having boxed his ears he only wished I had given him a sound thrashing, and, that though he was his only son, he would kick him out of his house unless he made us the most ample apology. I said that I did not in the least want his apology, and, as far as I was concerned, the Duke could do as he liked. He left, pressing my hand most cordially.

" It would have killed his mother," he said, as he went away.

An hour after, the youth came to the house and apologised, and that was the end of it.

* * * * *

But high above such matters as I have just related, my Kismet was preparing for me a meeting of

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EMIGRATION

far-reaching consequence. We casually made the acquaintance of an American family : mother and two daughters, of the true stock of the F.F.V.'s, who, like many thousands of Southerners, had been reduced to absolute poverty by the war. To the youngest daughter I became engaged in a short time, and cast about in my mind by what process I could secure the home she was willing to share. My thoughts turned on Australia, for I had seen how pleasant life could be in the bush, its freedom and plenty : its vast possibilities. For my friends the Russells were amongst hundreds who had begun squatting with barely a farthing. Why should not I succeed ? and even if I did not realise their great fortunes, still we might live well and be happy. She, too, with American belief in a young man "getting on" saw no difficulty about it. We would wait a year or two and see how things went. Something would be sure to turn up ; that fond hope of all who love young. It is true every friend I had, including my father, tried to dissuade me from the enterprise, but they argued against the most potent instinct in the whole range of human nature. I think little of man or woman who does not believe in the dish of herbs.

As chance would have it, at this particular conjunction of affairs Willie Russell, the head of the Havens worth family, happened to be home from Australia, and did not dissuade me from trying my hand at squatting, although he knew from experience that the bush teemed with wellbred failures. But he also knew that the majority of these men had been failures in everything else before trying Australia, which he thought I was not, as I had already done well at sea : the best training in the world for any man. He gave me a most cordial invitation to go to Ravensworth and stay there whilst I looked about and gained " Colonial experience." Unconsciously, though, I began buying this experience in London before starting,

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BUOYANT HOPES

for, like many another greenhorn, I was persuaded by an ignorant impostor of a saddler in the Strand to invest in a thing he was pleased to call an Australian saddle, and much similar gear, not one single item of which was of the least use when I got to real work in the bush.

I managed to scrape together a little money, chiefly by borrowing, thus, at the outset, placing a loadstone round my neck, which for many years after was a burdensome reminder of my failure, taking me years of close sailing to the wind to get clear of.

As we had a very good interest at the Admiralty I got a year's leave, thus fortunately securing a way of escape if things went wrong abroad, though I thought this an unnecessary precaution, feeling confident that I should never again tread the cobble-stones of Whitehall to look up a Lord of the Admiralty.

I rushed over to Paris to say goodbye. My American friends were in a small pension in the Rue du Colysee, No. 8, and were practically living on the charity of a very noble-minded American millionaire, Mr. Corcoran, who, I believe, kept half the American colony of Southerners going all through the war. I found a well-known French historian hanging about the eldest girl, and instinctively mistrusted him. He was a plausible, sneaking, conceited humbug and brought great sorrow into that family. I also heard of an extremely wealthy German banker, of Jewish extraction, as paying great attention to the younger, my fiancée. But I thought nothing of it, and left again with as light a heart as the prospect of this temporary separation would permit. Could I have foreseen the future I should have stopped in Paris, called out both men and have tried to kill them.

I had taken my passage for Sydney in the steamship Otago, but had not given myself the trouble to go and inspect her before doing so, or I think that, with

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EMIGRATION

a reasonable predilection for a vessel that might be expected to float, I should have thought twice about going to sea in her. When I saw her lying alongside the quay in the London Docks it struck me that she was as low down in the water as anything I had ever seen, and yet they were still stowing away cargo and taking in iron rails. We were to have sailed that day, but apparently the desire to test how much she really could carry without foundering had prevailed, and next morning when I went to embark they were still at it. On the quay some of my fellow passengers had assembled, and I was surprised to see amongst them three or four unmistakable military men, whom I afterwards discovered were on their way to join their regiments in New Zealand. One of these was Major Clements, of the 68th Regiment, the late popular Secretary of Ascot Racecourse, and another, a not less popular man in the Army, by name Covey, in the same regiment.

This was very gratifying to me, as I had looked forward to some fifty or sixty days of pacing up and down the deck with some man in the "soft-goods line," or in "hats," which would have been very trying.

I got on board, and found my cabin a very small one in the waist of the ship where the scuttles could scarcely be kept open in harbour : a serious matter when one reflects that chance may give one for a companion in it a seasick man, or one not given to washing. I had not long to wait, however, to see who I was to have with me, for I had hardly taken possession of the upper berth when a clean-shaven individual - very like Buckstone, the actor - in very shabby clothes, appeared at the door bearing a fiddle case in one hand and a mangy-looking carpet bag in the other, the saloon steward bringing up the rear with a broad palmetto hat and a bottle of whisky. We at once entered into conversation and

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PROSPECTS OF A VOYAGE

I saw that as far as amusement was concerned he was likely to turn out satisfactory, though as to his washing it struck me he would leave much to be desired.

The ship cast off and steamed out into the stream ; a bright morning, with mist lying over the Pool, St. Paul's Cathedral looming up vast and shadowy, the cross catching the morning light, to remind one that there was hope even for the struggling Babylon below. Then the Tower, the Dreadnought, and Greenwich Hospital, with its memories of a monarch's mistress, and on past the broad, flat shores until the Nore is reached, and I thought of the time when my grandfather, Admiral Money, then a Lieutenant, helped to hang the men who had broken out in the celebrated mutiny, bringing their country into great peril.

From such reveries as these I was awakened by a woman's voice remarking to me in broad Scotch that we had made a "Gey guid stairt," and, on turning round, found the speaker to be a strong-built, red-haired young woman of four-and-twenty or so - evidently already quite at home on board - with a silk handkerchief tied over her head. She struck me at once as being perfectly straightforward, and that she was evidently bent on being agreeable. After a few minutes' talk she informed me that she had come round from Aberdeen in the ship, that the captain was her brother, and that she was going out to keep her sister-in-law company, who was also on board, and at this particular time "not strong." We rapidly became friends and, having been joined by her brother and his wife, I found myself in genial company and was given the run of their private cabin. The skipper was the counterpart of his sister, except that he was considerably shorter, but he made up for his want of height by an astonishing breadth of back and chest, and a neck like a bull. His name was Smith, and the young woman's

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EMIGRATION

Christian name, Maggie. At dinner time, as we were still in smooth water, I obtained a view of the rest of our passengers, amongst whom my cabin mate - Corby by name - had already established a considerable degree of sociability, thanks to his jovial manner, which left no one out in the cold. Outside the river we dropped into a stiff north-easter, going down Channel over fourteen knots, with the square sail set forward, and in a few days were well across the Bay of Biscay, and shaping our course for St. Vincent in the Cape de Verde Islands. Here we coaled, and then stood on for Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope. We were only a few hours at the Cape, but when about to get under way a row broke out amongst the crew, à propos of what I never ascertained. Led by a blustering ruffian, who had already been insolent in his manner all the way out, nearly the whole crew had mutinied, barricading themselves under the forecastle, and refusing to weigh the anchor. The chief officer, a peaceful, careworn mariner, went forward to remonstrate, but the only point he could make out in their grievance was the end of a marling-spike, which came whizzing out of the dark and knocked him down. Then the second officer went to the rescue and two or three shots were fired, the first intimation that we in the saloon had of the row, which brought us all tumbling up on deck, preceded by the skipper, and followed by the gallant Maggie. As soon as the second officer explained what was going on we held a council of war, standing under the shelter of the deck-house for fear of raking shots coming aft. Some advised one thing, some another, most of the passengers, except Clements, Covey, and myself, retiring to their cabins, bolting their doors. Finally, Smith decided on a general assault of the barricade, and, followed by us, and a quarter-master, who had remained faithful, rushed forward, on

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QUELLING A MUTINY

one side of the deck. Then, before the men under the forecastle had time to act, the skipper sprang over the barricade, and plumping in amongst them, had the ringleader by the throat, and, by main force, hauled him, half strangled, back over the barricade, when the quartermaster slipped a running-bowling over his shoulders and roused him down to a ring-bolt on the deck, whilst the second officer clapped on the handcuffs. The rest of the mutineers showed no fight, and at once obeyed the order to man the boat which took the ringleader ashore, where he was handed over to the authorities.

When the boat returned we weighed and left the harbour. But though the mutiny was quelled the discontent was not allayed, and manifested itself in the form of a dastardly attempt to lose the ship ; some scoundrel placing a large sail needle under the compass card - after dark - with the consequence that, as the compass was deflected, the course we were steering was completely out, the danger increased by the extreme darkness of the night, rendering it impossible to distinguish the land, which was within a mile or two. We were as nearly as possible on the rocks, lying to the northward of the Cape of Good Hope, when the error was discovered, the breakers being only a few hundred feet from our bows. No clue to this villainy was ever obtained.

Soon after this we came in for a very heavy gale with a tremendous sea running, the deeply-laden steamer making poor weather of it, shipping seas fore and aft, and with difficulty getting rid of the water. We first tried to run, with a reefed foresail, but the sea curled over the stern in one broad mass, once reaching the man at the wheel, who was, however, caught by the legs by Clements just as he was going over the side. Then the skipper made up his mind to lie to, but this

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EMIGRATION

was very ticklish work as the bulwarks were already stove in on one side. However, the alternative was to risk being pooped : so the foresail came in and the staysails were got ready, and, watching his chance, he brought the ship steadily to the wind which - as we came up to it - roared like thunder through a narrow gorge, causing the steamer literally to stagger. It was one of the wildest nights I have ever seen, with a sea running of which no one who has not been on the Agulhas Bank off Cape of Good Hope can form an idea. As there was nothing else to be done I went below and turned in "all standing." But about midnight the ship broached to, when a gigantic wave, with a roar like an earthquake, broke over the bows and swept aft in one solid mass of water. Everything on the upper deck was swept away, the skipper and the mate standing on the bridge for a moment or two actually losing sight of the vessel underneath them. When the water rolled off, a boat and part of the deck-house had vanished. In my cabin I heard absolutely tons of water pouring down the companion - as the door had been wrenched off - and, springing out of bed saw a broad waterfall coming down from above, and to find at least a foot of water round my ankles. In the saloon, under the light of the violently swinging lamp, the passengers were huddled together, most of them in their night dresses, some of the women screaming and hanging on to the back of the long seat as best they could, in water over their knees, whilst a poor cripple girl was rolling about on the deck unable to rise, drenched to the skin, her hair all over her face. I lifted her up and put her into her berth in the cabin. "Are we going down?" she asked calmly. "Tell me the truth." "I don't think so," I answered; "but I will come to you if there is any danger."

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TWO PHILOSOPHERS

"God's will be done," she said. "Life isn't very sweet to me."

I left her, knowing very well that if the ship filled there was no chance for any one and that she might as well stay where she was. And the same idea had evidently occurred to the fiddler, for, going to my cabin for my coat, I found he had climbed up into my berth, being the upper one, and there lay, philosophically waiting what might be in store for him, but none the less hugging his beloved fiddle and the remains of a bottle of whisky.

"What's up, mate!" he said, "bad weather? Ship going down? "

"Looks pretty bad," I answered.

"Well, I may as well stay here," said he. "It's no good spoiling my fiddle before it's necessary."

So we had two philosophers on board, with two points of view.

I then went on deck, getting there with difficulty, where, clinging on to what remained of the deck-house, I found Maggie, barefooted, in a long cotton wrapper.

"Where's your sister?" I bawled in her ear, though even that she hardly heard above the din : increased vastly by the roar of steam escaping up the steam pipe.

"I have tucked her in tight, I am afraid she is dying. I'm trying to get on the bridge to tell Jim," she screamed back.

"Go below again, and I will tell him," said I, and crawling forward and up the bridge ladder at the risk of my life as the bulwarks were gone, I told the skipper what Maggie had said.

"Can't help it," he said, with his face hard set, his hands clasping the rail, "I've got my duty to do here, and we must get some sail on her." Which was true

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enough : for it was touch and go : the waist full of water, the fires put out, and the ship in the trough of the sea, completely out of control. To think of the boats was useless, no boat could have lived five minutes in such a sea, even if they could have been lowered, which would have taken a long time. Everything was pitch dark, all lights extinguished except that one lamp in the saloon, and we could see no one forward. So, leaving the mate on the bridge, the skipper and I crawled forward and roused some of the men out of the forecastle, who thought, like the fiddler, that they might as well stay where they were. With great risk of being washed overboard, we managed to get the fore staysail set and so got her before the wind, and out of the trough of the sea, when the immediate peril seemed over. I wanted Smith to go below for a minute, but still he said he could not leave his post - so I then went below again and found that Clements and Covey had succeeded in allaying the alarm of the passengers, as much by their coolness as by anything they could tell them. Most of the women had returned to their berths, but some of the men were still hanging on to the seats, and the steward was trying to get things ship-shape - no easy matter. Maggie appeared at the door of the skipper's cabin - she was quite calm - but her unfortunate sister-in-law was in hysterics : calling piteously for her husband.

It was a night of terrible suspense, for there was now a cross sea running up against the wind, and at any moment we might have broached to again. But it was not to be, and by next morning we had run out of the worst of it, and the fires were once more lighted. The skipper's wife had survived the terrors of the night, and my little cripple friend appeared none the worse.

We reached Sydney in due time with no further

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"INSIDERS" AND "OUTSIDERS"

adventures, beyond a desperate fray - between a "soft-goods man" and another gentleman, who informed us he was "travelling in oil" - in which a considerable portion of the oily one's beard remained in "soft-goods'" hands. They did their fighting lying on the deck of the saloon, sometimes one, sometimes the other being under, using teeth and nails indifferently, and were so desperately in earnest that they were only separated by the steward capsizing a bucket of water over them, after the method adopted with cats.

* * * * *

I found Sydney greatly improved since I had left it, and even in that short time many of my old friends had gone, some dead, some married : outsiders now insiders the very Kernel of Society, whilst some of the original Kernel had blossomed into Knighthood. However, I did not remain in Sydney longer than I could help, and after looking up a few old friends took my passage in a steamer bound for Newcastle, N.S.W., the nearest port of disembarkation for Ravensworth, the Russell's Station. But I went to say goodbye to my little friend the cripple and found her, strange to say, staying with some old friends of mine of New Zealand days - the Raymonds - who had come to settle in Sydney.

I spent my last evening with these kind people, and can well remember that the views I heard expressed as to the chances of a young man getting on in the bush without capital were rather a damper.

"You would do much better in New Zealand," they said.

And I believe they were right.

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