"I will warn off all trespassers, sir," I said soberly in reply to
Mr. Allardyce's remark, and my answer seemed to give him great
delight.
Having said my farewells to my friends in Shrewsbury also, I
hastened back to my ship. We set sail in the last week of August,
being escorted down the channel by Sir George Rooke and Sir John
Munden with a large fleet. On the second of September we left Sir
George off Scilly, and on the twenty-eighth made St. Mary's, one of
the Azores, and remained there some eight days, during which Mr.
Benbow (who was now promoted vice admiral) called his flag officers
and captains together on board the Breda, his flagship, and
communicated to them his instructions. The junior officers and some
of the men were allowed to go in detachments for a few hours on
shore, and it was on one of these trips that I heard a piece of
news that interested me deeply.
I was strolling along with Mr. Venables when we encountered Joe
Punchard and a group of men from the Breda. Seeing me, he touched
his cap, and begged that he might have a few words with me in
private. I went aside with him, and he began:
"That there young lady, sir--wasn't she kin to Dick Cludde--Mr.
Lieutenant Cludde, begging his pardon?" (I had told Joe how 'twas
Mistress Lucy had saved me from a horse whipping when first I
appeared at the Hall.)
"To be sure, Joe," I replied, "she is his cousin."
"That be bad, sir," says he, "and 'twill be worse, by all
accounts.
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