his
maneuvers, he shouted again, "Look out! sharp! watch the sheets!"
An involuntary cry broke forth from all on board. But it was no cry
of terror. Right ahead was a narrow opening in the solid rock; it was
hardly forty feet wide. Whether it was a passage or no, it mattered
little; it was at least a refuge; and, driven by wind and wave, the
Dobryna
, under the dexterous guidance of the lieutenant, dashed in
between its perpendicular walls.
Had she not immured herself in a perpetual prison?
Chapter XIII - A Royal Salute
*
"Then I take your bishop, major," said Colonel Murphy, as he made a move
that he had taken since the previous evening to consider.
"I was afraid you would," replied Major Oliphant, looking intently at
the chess-board.
Such was the way in which a long silence was broken on the morning of
the 17th of February by the old calendar.
Another day elapsed before another move was made. It was a protracted
game; it had, in fact, already lasted some months—the players being
so deliberate, and so fearful of taking a step without the most mature
consideration, that even now they were only making the twentieth move.
Both of them, moreover, were rigid disciples of the renowned Philidor,
who pronounces that to play the pawns well is "the soul of chess"; and,
accordingly, not one pawn had been sacrificed without a most vigorous
defense.
The men who were thus beguiling their leisure were two officers in the
British army—Colonel Heneage Finch Murphy and Major Sir John Temple
Oliphant. Remarkably similar in personal appearance, they were hardly
less so in personal character. Both of them were about forty years of
age; both of them were tall and fair, with bushy whiskers and mustaches;
both of them were phlegmatic in temperament, and both much addicted to
the wearing of their uniforms. They were proud of their nationality,
and exhibited a manifest dislike, verging upon contempt, of everything
foreign. Probably they would have felt no surprise if they had been
told that Anglo-Saxons were fashioned out of some specific clay, the
properties of which surpassed the investigation of chemical analysis.
Without any intentional disparagement they might, in a certain way,
be compared to two scarecrows which, though perfectly harmless in
themselves, inspire some measure of respect, and are excellently adapted
to protect the territory intrusted to their guardianship.
English-like, the two officers had made themselves thoroughly at home in
the station abroad in which it had been their lot to be quartered. The
faculty of colonization seems to be indigenous to the native character;
once let an Englishman plant his national standard on the surface of the
moon, and it would not be long before a colony was established round it.
The officers had a servant, named Kirke, and a company of ten soldiers
of the line. This party of thirteen men were apparently the sole
survivors of an overwhelming catastrophe, which on the 1st of January
had transformed an enormous rock, garrisoned with well-nigh two thousand
troops, into an insignificant island far out to sea. But although the
transformation had been so marvelous, it cannot be said that either
Colonel Murphy or Major Oliphant had made much demonstration of
astonishment.
"This is all very peculiar, Sir John," observed the colonel.
"Yes, colonel; very peculiar," replied the major.
"England will be sure to send for us," said one officer.
"No doubt she will," answered the other.
Accordingly, they came to the mutual resolution that they would "stick
to their post."
To say the truth, it would have been a difficult matter for the gallant
officers to do otherwise; they had but one small boat; therefore, it was
well that they made a virtue of necessity, and resigned themselves to
patient expectation of the British ship which, in due time, would bring
relief.
They had no fear of starvation. Their island was mined with
subterranean stores, more than ample for thirteen men—nay, for
maneuvers, he shouted again, "Look out! sharp! watch the sheets!"
An involuntary cry broke forth from all on board. But it was no cry
of terror. Right ahead was a narrow opening in the solid rock; it was
hardly forty feet wide. Whether it was a passage or no, it mattered
little; it was at least a refuge; and, driven by wind and wave, the
Dobryna
, under the dexterous guidance of the lieutenant, dashed in
between its perpendicular walls.
Had she not immured herself in a perpetual prison?
Chapter XIII - A Royal Salute
*
"Then I take your bishop, major," said Colonel Murphy, as he made a move
that he had taken since the previous evening to consider.
"I was afraid you would," replied Major Oliphant, looking intently at
the chess-board.
Such was the way in which a long silence was broken on the morning of
the 17th of February by the old calendar.
Another day elapsed before another move was made. It was a protracted
game; it had, in fact, already lasted some months—the players being
so deliberate, and so fearful of taking a step without the most mature
consideration, that even now they were only making the twentieth move.
Both of them, moreover, were rigid disciples of the renowned Philidor,
who pronounces that to play the pawns well is "the soul of chess"; and,
accordingly, not one pawn had been sacrificed without a most vigorous
defense.
The men who were thus beguiling their leisure were two officers in the
British army—Colonel Heneage Finch Murphy and Major Sir John Temple
Oliphant. Remarkably similar in personal appearance, they were hardly
less so in personal character. Both of them were about forty years of
age; both of them were tall and fair, with bushy whiskers and mustaches;
both of them were phlegmatic in temperament, and both much addicted to
the wearing of their uniforms. They were proud of their nationality,
and exhibited a manifest dislike, verging upon contempt, of everything
foreign. Probably they would have felt no surprise if they had been
told that Anglo-Saxons were fashioned out of some specific clay, the
properties of which surpassed the investigation of chemical analysis.
Without any intentional disparagement they might, in a certain way,
be compared to two scarecrows which, though perfectly harmless in
themselves, inspire some measure of respect, and are excellently adapted
to protect the territory intrusted to their guardianship.
English-like, the two officers had made themselves thoroughly at home in
the station abroad in which it had been their lot to be quartered. The
faculty of colonization seems to be indigenous to the native character;
once let an Englishman plant his national standard on the surface of the
moon, and it would not be long before a colony was established round it.
The officers had a servant, named Kirke, and a company of ten soldiers
of the line. This party of thirteen men were apparently the sole
survivors of an overwhelming catastrophe, which on the 1st of January
had transformed an enormous rock, garrisoned with well-nigh two thousand
troops, into an insignificant island far out to sea. But although the
transformation had been so marvelous, it cannot be said that either
Colonel Murphy or Major Oliphant had made much demonstration of
astonishment.
"This is all very peculiar, Sir John," observed the colonel.
"Yes, colonel; very peculiar," replied the major.
"England will be sure to send for us," said one officer.
"No doubt she will," answered the other.
Accordingly, they came to the mutual resolution that they would "stick
to their post."
To say the truth, it would have been a difficult matter for the gallant
officers to do otherwise; they had but one small boat; therefore, it was
well that they made a virtue of necessity, and resigned themselves to
patient expectation of the British ship which, in due time, would bring
relief.
They had no fear of starvation. Their island was mined with
subterranean stores, more than ample for thirteen men—nay, for
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