Charles Holland, for it was, indeed, himself, heard the friendly voice
of the doctor, and he called out to him. "Speak to me of Flora. Oh, speak to me of Flora, if you would not have
me die at once of suspense, and all the torture of apprehension." "She lives and is well." "Thank Heaven. Do with me what you please." Dr. Chillingworth sprang forward, and addressing the magistrate, he
said,--

"Sir, I know this gentleman. He is no one of the rioters, but a dear
friend of the family of the Bannerworths. Charles Holland, what in the
name of Heaven had become of you so long, and what brought you here at
such a juncture as this?" "I am faint," said Charles; "I--I only arrived as the crowd did. I had
not strength to fight my way through them, and was compelled to pause
until they had dispersed Can--can you give me water?" "Here's something better," said one of the soldiers, as he handed a
flask to Charles, who partook of some of the contents, which greatly
revived him, indeed. "I am better now," he said. "Thank you kindly. Take me into the house. Good God! why is it made a point of attack? Where are Flora and Henry? Are they all well? And my uncle? Oh! what must you all have thought of
my absence! But you cannot have endured a hundredth part of what I have
suffered. Let me look once again upon the face of Flora. Take me into
the house." "Release him," said the officer, as he pointed to his head, and looked
significantly, as much as to say, "Some mad patient of yours, I
suppose." "You are much mistaken, sir," said Dr. Chillingworth; "this gentleman
has been cruelly used, I have no doubt. He has, I am inclined to
believe, been made the victim, for a time, of the intrigues of that very
Sir Francis Varney, whose conduct has been the real cause of all the
serious disturbances that have taken place in the country." "Confound Sir Francis Varney," muttered the officer; "he is enough to
set a whole nation by the ears. However, Mr. Magistrate, if you are
satisfied that this young man is not one of the rioters, I have, of
course, no wish to hold him a prisoner." "I can take Mr. Chillingworth's word for more than that," said the
magistrate. Charles Holland was accordingly released, and then the doctor, in
hurried accents, told him the principal outlines of what had occurred. "Oh! take me to Flora," he said; "let me not delay another moment in
seeking her, and convincing her that I could not have been guilty of the
baseness of deserting her." "Hark you, Mr. Holland, I have quite made up my mind that I will not
leave Bannerworth Hall yet; but you can go alone, and easily find them
by the directions which I will give you; only let me beg of you not to
go abruptly into the presence of Flora. She is in an extremely delicate
state of health, and although I do not take upon myself to say that a
shock of a pleasurable nature would prove of any paramount bad
consequence to her, yet it is as well not to risk it." "I will be most careful, you may depend." At this moment there was a loud ringing at the garden bell, and, when it
was answered by one of the dragoons, who was ordered to do so by his
officer, he came back, escorting no other than Jack Pringle, who had
been sent by the admiral to the Hall, but who had solaced himself so
much on the road with divers potations, that he did not reach it till
now, which was a full hour after the reasonable time in which he ought
to have gone the distance. [Illustration]

Jack was not to say dumb, but he had had enough to give him a very jolly
sort of feeling of independence, and so he came along quarrelling with
the soldier all the way, the latter only laughing and keeping his temper
admirably well, under a great deal of provocation. "Why, you land lubbers," cried Jack, "what do you do here, all of you, I
wonder! You are all wamphighers, I'll be bound, every one of you. You
mind me of marines, you do, and that's quite enough to turn a proper
seaman's stomach, any day in the week." The soldier only laughed, and brought Jack up to the little group of
persons consisting of Dr. Chillingworth, the hangman, Charles Holland,
and the officer. "Why, Jack Pringle," said Dr. Chillingworth, stepping before Charles, so
that Jack should not see him,--"why, Jack Pringle, what brings you
here?" "A slight squall, sir, to the nor'west. Brought you something to eat." Jack produced a bottle. "To drink, you mean?" "Well, it's all one; only in this here shape, you see, it goes down
better, I'm thinking, which does make a little difference somehow." "How is the admiral?" "Oh, he's as stupid as ever; Lord bless you, he'd be like a ship without
a rudder without me, and would go swaying about at the mercy of winds
and waves, poor old man. He's bad enough as it is, but if so be I wasn't
to give the eye to him as I does, bless my heart if I thinks as he'd be
above hatches long. Here's to you all." Jack took the cork from the bottle he had with him, and there came from
it a strong odour of rum. Then he placed it to his lips, and was
enjoying the pleasant gurgle of the liquor down his throat, when Charles
stepped up to him, and laying hold of the lower end of the bottle, he
dragged it from his mouth, saying,--

"How dare you talk in the way you have of my uncle, you drunken,
mutinous rascal, and behind his back too!" The voice of Charles Holland was as well known to Jack Pringle as that
of the admiral, and his intense astonishment at hearing himself so
suddenly addressed by one, of whose proximity he had not the least idea,
made some of the rum go, what is popularly termed, the wrong way, and
nearly choked him. He reeled back, till he fell over some obstruction, and then down he sat
on a flower bed, while his eyes seemed ready to come out of his head. "Avast heavings," he cried, "Who's that?" "Come, come," said Charles Holland, "don't pretend you don't know me; I
will not have my uncle spoken of in a disrespectful manner by you." "Well, shiver my timbers, if that ain't our nevey. Why, Charley, my boy,
how are you? Here we are in port at last. Won't the old commodore pipe
his eye, now. Whew! here's a go. I've found our nevey, after all." "You found him," said Dr. Chillingworth; "now, that is as great a piece
of impudence as ever I heard in all my life. You mean that he has found
you, and found you out, too, you drunken fellow. Jack, you get worse and
worse every day." "Ay, ay, sir." "What, you admit it?" "Ay, ay, sir. Now, Master Charley, I tell you what it is, I shall take
you off to your old uncle, you shore going sneak and you'll have to
report what cruise you've been upon all this while, leaving the ship to
look after itself. Lord love you all, if it hadn't been for me I don't
know what anybody would have done." "I only know of the result," said Dr Chillingworth, "that would ensue,
if it were not for you, and that would consist in a great injury to the
revenue, in consequence of the much less consumption of rum and other
strong liquors."