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It was pure luck that we happened to get struck on the paddle-box, and also it was pure luck that the sea has gone down so rapidly. With a list like this, a really lively cross-sea would soon have settled us." We were silent for a few moments. The girl looked idly round the ship, and her eyes encountered the figure of the mysterious man. She seemed to shiver.
In another minute, the fore and aft hawsers that had previously made her fast to the pier were cast-off, and her paddles began to revolve with a heavy splashing sound, like that of flails in a farmyard threshing out the grain. "Starboard!" sang out her skipper, now mounting from the paddle-box to the bridge above. "Hard over, my man!"
She was punished for it. The insulted sportsman was casting about for the cruelest retort he could think of, when, as it happened, Miss Violet bethought her of looking round the corner of the boiler to see whether they were getting near Ryde; and at the same moment it also happened that a heavy wave, striking the bows of the steamer, sent a heap of water whirling down between the paddle-box and the funnel, which caught the young lady on the face with a crack like a whip.
"As the yacht approached the extremity of the pier near the lighthouse, where the people were most thickly congregated and were cheering enthusiastically, the Queen suddenly left the two ladies-in-waiting with whom she was conversing, ran with agility along the deck, and climbed the paddle-box to join Prince Albert, who did not notice her till she was nearly at his side.
The paddle-box extended almost the whole width of the boat; and under a pile of rubbish, which had evidently been placed there to conceal it, was a scuttle, leading into the hold of the port twin boat. Raising this, we found a mattress from one of the berths, a blanket, and some dishes.
The water was perfectly smooth, and I stood on the paddle-box for some hours, watching the distant hills as they rose into sight and faded from our view, and the bright phosphorescent light of the sea cut by our prow, and which, despite the clearness of the night, was sometimes almost too brilliant to be gazed at.
Knives were then drawn and nourished, and matters were beginning to assume a serious aspect, when Walker made his appearance forward of the paddle-box, pointing a heavy pistol right at the head of the ringleader. "Rupe!" shouted he, in a voice that attracted immediate attention, "drop that knife, or else I shoot!"
Altogether, that one day at Genoa though but a succession of glimpses formed a bright spot in my life, that neither time nor distance can dim or tarnish. I returned to the harbour two hours before the steamer was to leave. To commemorate my visit, I mounted the top of the paddle-box, took out my sketch book, and made a panoramic view of Genoa as seen from the harbour.
"All aboard?" inquired the captain of the steamer from his post on the port paddle-box, hailing the porter of the pier ashore, when they, the very last of the late-comers, had scrambled across the gangway; and the porter having signified that no one now was in sight, the blue-capped gentleman standing on the paddle-box touched the engine-room telegraph, and gave the signal to "Go ahead!"
The Beagle fired on them in return, as did Mr Tracy from the paddle-box boats, causing great confusion and dismay in their ranks. However, Mr Hayles pulled in, ably seconded by a seaman lent from the Agamemnon, Stephen Trewavas, who, though already wounded from the fire of the enemy, cut the hawsers and cast the boats adrift. Mr Hayles was also wounded.
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