Fortune's My Foe

cs generally. Against a large number of ships of war, now riding in the waters off Boca Chica, the waves slapped monotonously in their regularity, though each crash whic

eace with this world; then, next, a brighter and more cheery sparkle. Soon the waves were smoothed, nought but a little ripple supplying the place of their recent turbulence; the sun burst forth, the banks of clouds were dispersed, the bright glory of a West Indian day s

Admiral Vernon, and in that fleet were also numbers of soldiers and marines who constituted what, in those days, were termed

uence of England being once again, as she had been so often in the past, at war with Spain. Now that fleet lay off Cartagena and the neighbourhood; some of the officers and men--both sailors and soldiers--wer

ze from the South American coast--a breeze soft as a maiden's first kiss to him she loves; one odorous and sweet, and luscious, too, with the scents of nutmeg and banana, guava and orange, begonia, bignonia, and poinsettia, all wafted from the flower-laden shore. But be

!--through the line made by the Cumberland, the Boyne, the Lion, the Shrewsbury, and a score of others, went the hideous white sharks of the Caribbean

enry Thorne--said, half to himself, half aloud, as he gazed through t

heeks looked shiny and brilliant--he having been standing near Thorne while he murmured to himself--"specially since they have been

to the chaplain, he asked, "How is it with her below? Have you see

y hope to congratulate you, sir, upon paternal honours. 'Tis much to be desired that the Admir

on board, Mr. Glew, had I known either of two things. The first that she was so near her time;

great war vessels which had sailed from England under the order of the Admirals. Instead, sh

captain c

. He may be a bold sailor--or soldier, at least. He may go far, too; do well. He will be fortunate also in his worldly gear. I--I--am not rich, Glew, but he--or she--

t morning. "The will you talked about. As a chaplain who, on board ship, is also supposed to be something of a lawyer, I feel it right t

erform it in my cabin the moment I know the good news." Then, changing t

ladder beneath, "I doubt it. The event is very near at hand. The wife of the master-at-arms, as well as the wife of

ged in a bombardment--the captain went about his duties. He visited the gun decks and saw that all were at their proper stations, inspected the twenty-four, twelve, and nine pounders, swivel guns, stern and bow chasers, and indeed, everything that could throw a ball; he saw that sp

Royal, where she would have been well and carefully attended to, and where he could have joined her after this siege was over? He had been mad to bring her! Already the bomb-ketches were making a hideous din all around; already, too, some

rs to the men in the tops to train their swivel guns more accurately upon the shore, "wh

the poor mother below; surroundings more terrible a

s which they passed, cheer rang upon cheer; the bands of the flagships, and others which possessed such music, played "Britons, Strike Home." Soon five hundred great guns were firing on those forts, which replied with courage; the din was tremendous, as also was the vibration caused to each of the vessels while the flames belched forth and the guns shook. And in the middle

utching the captain by the arm, "sir

Thorne exclaim

sir. And the

ha

gir

l the roar of the cannonading, Glew seemed to think h

y love to my dear wife. I must not leave the deck now. Say--s

* *

tures had been unshipped, since the concussion of the guns would otherwise have brought them from the bulkheads to the floor, or deck, to say nothing of shivering any glass they might possess. And also all china and glass in the cabin, and the pretty knick-knacks which Thorne had bestowed about it, were removed from their usual positions. Whereby the apartment in the Ariadne, in which Mrs. Thorne had but recently presented a child to her hus

r the sweet young thing to give birth to a babe in. Yet," and, as she spoke, she took a sip of rumbullion from a cannikin close to her hand, and then passed it over t

have been wuss. Even now it may be so. What if one of them forts should plump a round shot into us be

half ago, it was common enough for the wives of the petty officers and the lower-deck men to sail on board ships with their husbands, they doing much such work therein as, in these days, is done by soldier's wives who are on the "strength of the regiment." They could also turn their hands to other things, even a

now as she spoke, and endeavouring in her newly-developed materna

as, to another who needed her care. "Not yet, poor lamb. Lawk's sakes," she whispered to her comrade, "can't she hear the guns a-belching? Ah! drat you all," she muttered, as at this moment a

was brought round so that now her starboard broadside could be fired, she lifted her arms feebly and enfolded

such a beginning as this? What shocks and tempests must threaten th

al, "you 'ear! She is quite calm and full of understanding. Ah! poor dear.

ho had landed overnight was adding to the tumult; the bo'sun's pipes were heard whistling like some shrill-voiced bird that sings its loudest amidst the violence of a summer storm; the master-gunner's voice was h

quil as became a sailor's wife who had been in battle

to Davy Jones. Yet," she continued, the woman rising above the Amazon, "I have three poor little children at home in

mering of the terrors that enveloped it. And while it did so the ship listed to starboard, causing Mrs. Thorne's body to move somewhat, and, at the same moment, the white, delicate hands seemed to strain the infant closer to her; the liquor can, too

stopped the water from pouring in. Go, Pottle, and find the surgeon.

eadly peril!--but only of the little children at home in Portsmouth town. Above all, she thought of the half-blind one who could n

woman were left alone. "My husband! Will he not come to me? To me

uty before all." Then she bent her head a little nearer to the other's, and

allow Irishman, who was now making his first cruise. The surgeon, an old man, who had an army of children of his own at home in Rotherhi

moment she imagined, guessed, that the ship's corporal was dead! By that freemasonry, by some telegraphic method of the eyes, which women alone know how to use, she signalled to the other to ask if such were the case, yet only to discover that she had not divined aright. Mrs. Pottle sh

g up into the dark eyes of the handsome young fel

the berth, "nay, not yet; the bombardment is not over." While, turning his head round,

sh on deck and a noise which was the fall of the foremast, added to the piercing cries of the child, Mrs. Thorn

moment--one that was to be laid in the very next cabin to that which Mrs. Thorne was

, shaking his head sadly, yet mut

child is safe. Although it seems, no will was nee

* *

whenever she walked abroad, the eyes of men were turned towards her approvingly; a girl, tall, and with a figure that full womanhood would develop into one of extreme grace and beauty; one who possessed also such charms as deep hazel

r these old salts, no matter what their rank was, regarded her as their own child and property. Had she not been born amidst the roar and smoke of England's cannon as they vomited forth fire and fury? Was she not a sailor's child, and he one who had fallen as a sailor should fall, dying on his own deck, while doing his duty? That was enough to make them love the little thing who grew beneath their eyes towards beauteous womanhood; enough to make old lieutenants who had served sufficiently long to be admirals, and admirals--fortunate dogs!--who had not seen half the service of those old lieutenants, worship her; to make them wander up to her mother's house and smoke their pipes there, and talk to her about th

o, although still beardless, had fought in many of the numerous sea-fights of the period. Young fellows with boyish faces who had, all the same, been with Hawke at the Isle of Aix

e General Thorne; but he was a very old man--so old, indeed, that he could talk of Eugene's campaign against the Turks, and speak of that great soldier as one whom he had seen in boyhood; while he was also able to boast that he had formed one of the guard of honour which had accompanied the present King, George II., now grown old, to his coronation. He dwelt at, and owned, an estate spoken of generally as "Fawnshawe Manor," which lay five miles or so on the London si

an could have loved her. A hard, rugged woman was this friend, with a deep voice and corrugated face, yet poss

," as she pronounced the loved one's name, "was not left to me, mine would be a weary lot. Pottle, he've gone; he done his duty, but he've gone; at Anson's victory off Finisterre, it were. And as to all my children--oh!" she wou

r--in company with her own little ones--of fierce and turbulent sea-fights and land-fights, without becoming a foster-mother to her. So, now, she accompanied the girl, clad in her deep mourning and weeping sorrowfully for her loss, and also for having to quit the little house where she had lived so happi

you go to what is your inheritance. It will be all your'n, and you will rule

r herself. General Thorne was now helpless with old age, and was glad to know that, already, the girl was in the home which must so soon be hers; that

came its mistress from then until now, when this history opens, and when "Ariadne Thorne" was a toast in the county, while many gentlemen of various degrees aspired to win both her hand and her love. When, too, others aspired t