Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-11-23
Roy, The Royalist.
By WILLIAM WEsTALL.
CHAPTER x.

CHATTER K
 Any port in storm," they say; an
 1t was well to find myself safe an
 sound on board an English ship. I
 might have been a French ship, or, stil
 worse, might have gone to the bolton
 with the smack. But it was with
 feeling akin to dismay that heard tn
 Mercia was bound for Calcutta, that be
 ing about the last place In the world
 except French prison, whither
 wanted to go. My desire was to get t,
 Portsmouth, report myself to the ad
 miral and, after running up to London
 to see my parents and Mime. de Gex, re
 join the Sylph, or some ship in commis
 sion, as soon as possible.
 ''I am sorry that 1t is not consisten
 with my duty to bout ship and put yo, ashore" said Capt. Cox, when hat told him my story. But there's n, call to worry yourself. We shall may be fall in with the Channel squadron and If we don't we are sure to com, within hail of some homeward-bounc ship, on which can put you aboard"
 Unfortunately, neither of these thing. happened. For the next three days 1S made bad weather, and, though We l passed several vessels, the sea wRa ec rough as to render the lowering ot boats highly dangerous, and could not ask Capt. Cox to risk the lives of hi. men merely for my convenience. And, then, to mel1e matters worse he crowded his ship with sail and showed her sou'wcst as fast as he could For, albeit the Mercia was fine East lndla1nau, mounting twenty guns, ma quite able to hold her own against any ordinary privatcer or pirate and French ocean cruisers were too scarce to be much of a bugbear-her business was trading, not fighting. Cox, natur- ally, sterrcd a course where enemies were least likely to be encountered, likewise friends, the one implying the other, with the result that for weeks after leaving tho narrow seas we did not sight single sail Moreover, when at length we did sight one, Cox, not knowing whether 1t was an enemy or friend, gave 1t a wide berth
 After hoping against hope for the greater part of month, f saw that l was booked for Calcutta, after all. Cox thought that with good luck we should make the voyage in five months There fore, if found homewapd- bound yes s"l in tn" lloogly ready to sail, might be ln England by the end of the year ten months after my departure from BouloEur.
 It was bitter disappointment. I should miss my promotion; my time on the East lndiaman would not count; my father and mother would hear of my escape, but not of my rescue, and mourn me us dead; and nearly O year must clapse before I could convoy De 0ex's message to his mother and stsse~.
 But il might have been vvo1sos The Mcrcia was better than French priS- on, and life on board of her, albeit mo- not0nous, was not intolerablo. She carried passengers. Among them were two pretty, engaging young women Minnie Cartwright and Dora Kilbride- with whom naturally fell in love. had way ill falling in love in those .."Ts, Perhaps it would be more correct .n say that l was half in lovo with eaoh If them. rather think they recipocat- 2d the feeling. At any rate, they were Ir|y kind. and after hearing my story mad" much more of me than deserved Gut, as they were going to India (where ,hvy had kinfolk) on a matrmonio1 venture, and was not an eligible parti. no harm was done. They knew how to take care of themselves, those young women,
 Another passenger was Dr. Joyce, missionary, who had spent tho greater part of his life in India and branalated th', Bible, or part of it, into twenty languages. He was deer. good old man, and offered to teach khe young ladies llindustani and Arabic, the one because 1t would bo the everyday lan- wuurc of their lives, tho other because it was the language of poetry and the French of the cast. Tho offer was gratefully accepted, and asked and obtained permission to join in the les sons, partly pour passer le temps, part ly because liked the company.
 Then one of the mates played the fid- dic, and one of the passengers the clarionct; on dark nights we had the atricals below, and, when 1t was moon light, dances on deck; and so, despite the fact that l was voyaging against my will, the days passed not unpleas- antly. All the same it was a slow voy- age. We had light bafling winds and frequent calms, and at our second crossing of the equator the Mercia had been at sea nearly five months. Bets were laid that she would not reach Cal cutta before September.
 We were now in attitudes where the French flag was seldom if ever seen, and Capt. Cox no longer steered clear of every passing sail. One day, a ship being sighted which had an English look about her, he ordered the Mercia's course to be altered n point so as to cross her bows, and as they neared each other the vessels exchanged signals The stranger proved to be the Strath- clyde, homeward bound from Calcutta On this Cox decided to send a boat to her with the letters which some of the passengers had been industriously writing ever since they left England. It was an opportunity not to be lost. 1 went with the letters, after quite a pathetic parting with the many friends whom I had made on the Mercia.
 Minnie and Dora let me, kiss them Dr. Joyce gave me his Messing. shook hands with the captain and his officers I '