Page 78 - A Jacobite Exile

When they returned to the inn, after an absence of two hours, they found
that the landlord had sold the horses, for a sum nearly approaching their

value, the gentlemen being as anxious to purchase them as they were to
sell. The next day, they bought three or four rolls of west country cloth, and

a supply of clothes suitable to their condition, together with trunks for their
carriage. All these were sent down to the ship, in the course of the
afternoon, and they themselves embarked late in the evening, as she was to

set sail at daybreak.

The lads, accustomed to spacious and airy rooms, were quite taken aback at
the small and stuffy cabin allotted to their joint use, and slept but badly, for
the loading of the ship continued by torchlight, until within an hour of the

time of their departure. After tossing about for some hours in their narrow
beds, they were glad to go on deck, and to plunge their heads into a pail of

water, and were then, after combing their long hair, able to take an interest
in what was passing round them.

The sailors were busy; stowing away the cargo last received, tidying the
decks, and coiling down the ropes. There were but few persons on the quay,

for those who had been engaged in loading the cargo had gone off to bed,
as soon as the last bale was on board.

In half an hour the sailors began to hoist the sails, the hawsers were thrown
off, and, with a gentle wind blowing aft, the ship glided along past the

shore, being helped by the tide, which had begun to ebb half an hour
before. The lads were greatly interested in watching the well-wooded slope
on the left, with the stately ruins of Tintern Abbey rising above the trees.

Then they passed the round fort, at the water's edge, on their right, and
issued out from Southampton Water into the broad sheet between the island

and the mainland.

It was dotted with sails; fishing craft and coasters for the most part, but

with some larger ships bound from the east to Southampton, and others that
had come in through the Solent. This was very entertaining to the boys, and

they were still more pleased when they saw the fortifications of
Portsmouth, with cannon pointing seaward, and with many vessels riding in