--"How could
I see him, if he wasn't there?" "But he was there; he said he would be there." --"Then he's gone again,
for there's nobody there that I know of in the shape of a doctor. I went
through every part of the ship--I mean the house--and the deuce a soul
could I find; so as it was rather lonely and uncomfortable, I came away
again. 'Who knows,' thought I, 'but some blessed vampyre or another may
come across me.'" "This won't do," said the old admiral, buttoning up his coat to the
chin; "Bannerworth Hall must not be deserted in this way. It is quite
clear that Sir Francis Varney and his associates have some particular
object in view in getting possession of the place. Here, you
Jack." --"Ay, ay, sir." [Illustration]

"Just go back again, and stay at the Hall till somebody comes to you. Even such a stupid hound as you will be something to scare away
unwelcome visitors. Go back to the Hall, I say. What are you staring
at?" --"Back to Bannerworth Hall!" said Jack. "What! just where I've come
from; all that way off, and nothing to eat, and, what's worse, nothing
to drink. I'll see you d----d first." The admiral caught up a table-fork, and made a rush at Jack; but Henry
Bannerworth interfered. "No, no," he said, "admiral; no, no--not that. You must recollect that
you yourself have given this, no doubt, faithful fellow of your's
liberty to do and say a great many things which don't look like good
service; but I have no doubt, from what I have seen of his disposition,
that he would risk his life rather than, that you should come to any
harm." "Ay, ay," said Jack; "he quite forgets when the bullets were scuttling
our nobs off Cape Ushant, when that big Frenchman had hold of him by the
_skirf_ of his neck, and began pummelling his head, and the lee scuppers
were running with blood, and a bit of Joe Wiggins's brains had come slap
in my eye, while some of Jack Marling's guts was hanging round my neck
like a nosegay, all in consequence of grape-shot--then he didn't say as
I was a swab, when I came up, and bored a hole in the Frenchman's back
with a pike. Ay, it's all very well now, when there's peace, and no
danger, to call Jack Pringle a lubberly rascal, and mutinous. I'm
blessed if it ain't enough to make an old pair of shoes faint away." "Why, you infernal scoundrel," said the admiral, "nothing of the sort
ever happened, and you know it. Jack, you're no seaman." --"Werry good,"
said Jack; "then, if I ain't no seaman, you are what shore-going people
calls a jolly fat old humbug." "Jack, hold your tongue," said Henry Bannerworth; "you carry these
things too far. You know very well that your master esteems you, and you
should not presume too much upon that fact." --"My master!" said Jack;
"don't call him my master. I never had a master, and don't intend. He's
my admiral, if you like; but an English sailor don't like a master." "I tell you what it is, Jack," said the admiral; "you've got your good
qualities, I admit." --"Ay, ay, sir--that's enough; you may as well leave
off well while you can." "But I'll just tell you what you resemble more than anything
else." --"Chew me up! what may that be, sir?" "A French marine." --"A what! A French marine! Good-bye. I wouldn't say
another word to you, if you was to pay me a dollar a piece. Of all the
blessed insults rolled into one, this here's the worstest. You might
have called me a marine, or you might have called me a Frenchman, but to
make out that I'm both a marine and a Frenchman, d--me, if it isn't
enough to make human nature stand on an end! Now, I've done with you." "And a good job, too," said the admiral. "I wish I'd thought of it
before. You're worse than a third day's ague, or a hot and a cold fever
in the tropics." --"Very good," said Jack; "I only hope Providence will
have mercy upon you, and keep an eye upon you when I'm gone, otherwise,
I wonder what will become of you? It wasn't so when young Belinda, who
you took off the island of Antiggy, in the Ingies, jumped overboard, and
I went after her in a heavy swell. Howsomdever, never mind, you shook
hands with me then; and while a bushel of the briny was weeping out of
the corner of each of your blinkers, you says, says you,--"

"Hold!" cried the admiral, "hold! I know what I said, Jack. It's cut a
fathom deep in my memory. Give us your fist, Jack, and--and--"--"Hold
yourself," said Jack; "I know what you're going to say, and I won't hear
you say it--so there's an end of it. Lor bless you! I knows you. I ain't
a going to leave you. Don't be afraid; I only works you up, and works
you down again, just to see if there's any of that old spirit in you
when we was aboard the Victory. Don't you recollect, admiral?" "Yes--yes; enough, Jack." --"Why, let me see--that was a matter of forty
years ago, nearly, when I was a youngster." "There--there, Jack--that'll do. You bring the events of other years
fresh upon my memory. Peace--peace. I have not forgotten; but still, to
hear what you know of them, if recited, would give the old man a
pang." --"A pang," said Jack; "I suppose that's some dictionary word for
a punch in the eye. That would be mutiny with a vengeance; so I'm off." "Go, go." --"I'm a going; and just to please you, I'll go to the Hall, so
you sha'n't say that you told me to do anything that I didn't." Away went Jack, whistling an air, that might have been popular when he
and the admiral were young, and Henry Bannerworth could not but remark
that an appearance of great sadness came over the old man, when Jack was
gone. "I fear, sir," he said, "that heedless sailor has touched upon some
episode in your existence, the wounds of which are still fresh enough to
give you pain." --"It is so," said the old admiral; "just look at me,
now. Do I look like the hero of a romantic love story?" "Not exactly, I admit." --"Well, notwithstanding that, Jack Pringle has
touched a chord that vibrates in my heart yet," replied the admiral. "Have you any objection to tell me of it?" --"None, whatever; and
perhaps, by the time I have done, the doctor may have found his way back
again, or Jack may bring us some news of him. So here goes for a short,
but a true yarn." CHAPTER LXVII. THE ADMIRAL'S STORY OF THE BEAUTIFUL BELINDA. [Illustration]

Just at this moment Flora Bannerworth stole into the room from whence
she had departed a short time since; but when she saw that old Admiral
Bell was looking so exceedingly serious, and apparently about to address
Henry upon some very important subject, she would have retired, but he
turned towards her, and said,--

"My story, my dear, I've no objection to your hearing, and, like all
women folks, a love story never comes amiss to you; so you may as well
stay and hear it." --"A love story," said Flora; "you tell a love story,
sir?" "Yes, my dear, and not only tell it, but be the hero of it, likewise;
ain't you astonished?" --"I am, indeed." "Well, you'll be more astonished then before I've done; so just listen.