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He set his teeth firmly, pulled the tompion out of his gun, and flung it away disdainfully as if he would never need it again, blew into the muzzle to see if the tube was clear, and wiped off the lock with a fine white handkerchief one of the relics of his by-gone elegance which he drew from the breast of his blouse. "Sergeant Glan Sergeant Glancey will remain," said the Captain peremptorily.
Presently the Tompion turned sharply to starboard, steering westward for quite two miles before she shaped a course exactly opposite to that of the convoy, signalling the while to the Ponto, asking various, almost commonplace questions regarding her speed and coal-consumption. It was merely a ruse to lull suspicion.
These hopes were nipped in the bud by the Tompion blowing away the Ponto's stern and putting both propellers out of action. Of subsequent events immediately following the brief action Wilmshurst and his brother officers saw little.
I turned to Tompion, who was standing abaft near the helmsman. "Tompion," said I, "we must get some canvas of some sort upon the ship or we shall be overrun by the sea. Do you think we might venture to set the foresail, close reefed?"
"Indeed it didn't," contradicted the Scotchman, instantly bristling. "Though if it had, you would not need to be pitied for those makers would have bequeathed you some pretty fine products. And when you consider that Tompion, at least, began life as a blacksmith it is the more remarkable. Think what it meant to work out of such a crude, rough trade into one so delicate!
The sight sobered him somewhat, for he immediately shouted orders to cast loose the guns, himself tearing the breeching from the nine-pounder next him and taking out the tompion.
No sooner did the fine promissory note of the discharge of its tompion reach his ear, than he cried out, with the authority of a field-officer at least: "Decant it. Leave the last glass in the bottom." The laird filled a decanter, and set it before him. "Haven't you a mangum-jug?" "No, my lord." "Then fill another decanter, and mind the last glass." "I have not another decanter, my lord."
The frigate and corvette had each sent two lieutenants; and Linton insisted on being as well able to undergo the fatigue as his captain; the rest of the boats were commanded by the mates and midshipmen. Tompion had the jolly boat, and Jack Raby the gig, while the frigate sent also her lieutenant of marines to command those of the other messes. "Now, gentlemen, you clearly understand my wishes.
Notwithstanding the dangers and hardships of boat service, it is one Jack likes excessively, on account of its excitement and variety. The commander intended to lead in the first gig. Linton was to command the cutter, and Tompion, one of the mates, the second gig, which were the only boats to be employed.
He never knew how it happened, but, instead of a cartridge, he got hold of the tompion, called by the boys the "tompin," used to stop the muzzle of the gun and protect it from moisture, and was actually proceeding to ram it down the barrel before he discovered his mistake! "Take a cartridge, Winch!" said Captain Edney, who was coolly noting the conduct of his men.
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