OPORTO, 22nd May - Naval Landing Parties

"Better? Aye, somewhat I could say." The lad smiled. Back on the ship felt like an improvement, the floor beneath his feet at last again moving in an appropriate manner. It was very stiff on land. Odd that he would notice the difference, but he did. He didn't feel sick from it, no, but it was not as familiar as this anyhow.

Having his head ache was one of the few problems and he had to be glad for it. Seeing some, he could well have returned bleeding, armless, lifeless. Well, in the latter he wondered if he would be returned to the ship at all. Shaking these rather dark thoughts from his mind he averted his gaze back to the young marine.

"Don't mind drill if it mean I don't need ter do any rowin' there." He said, bravely, though he could only have judged what he minded if he'd truthfully experienced it. "Do mind not eatin' though!" And his belly would agree, even if it remained silent. "Les' go!" He grinned though knowing that their ways would part, once on the way down. The lad going to his mess, and he to Chase's. "N' Oxley. ..." He turned, dropping his voice to a quiet murmur. "...thanks. Ye've been a... a lifesaver there." It might not have been as terrible but he could not imagine what Mister Hollow would have done if he had recognised him. One thing was certain, he would have been gleeful and he stopped at that thought, before his mind produced any of the cruel scenarios a vivid, active imagination can.

It felt good to be out from the scrutiny of that horrible midshipman - or from the possibility of coming under his scrutiny, anyway. And de Guarde was feeling better, though Oxley had no idea if that was because they were back aboard, or because he was actually feeling better. And they weren't wounded or injured or anything else, so there was no need to see the sawbones, and everything was all right.

"I dunno what the time is, but even if it's after dinner time, I reckon the Captain will have to let us all eat summat," he said, suddenly feeling hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since about breakfast, and grimaced at the gurgle his stomach suddenly produced.

He went red as de Guarde said he was lifesaver. "Warn't nothin' much, mate," he said, looking at the deck planking. "You'd've done the same for me, wouldn't you?"

"I .. I guess I would." He smiled and tugged at his shirt and then at his sleeve. It was no surprise that he would do so. "Yes, I think I would." He said after a pause. He'd given it more thoguht and was slowly realising, perhaps with a bit of horror thrown in the mix, that he was not just thinking of himself any longer. Not just how he would fair better, and use others but rather ..how some of the others that he knew, he wanted to be safe as well.

Odd that, really. "Wos' lots though. Not everybody would be willin' ter do that. 'specially fer me." He smiled tamely. "They'd have been.. callin' 'im over, I bet."

"Don't reckon they would," Oxley said. "Not if they'd seen the way you was with him earlier, like I done." He grinned. "You's a proper Terpsy, an' I never thought I'd be sayin' that to you. Not after the first time I met you, anyhow." He rested his hand on a stay. "Reckon we should have us another skylarkin', don't you?"

"Wos' I.. that terrible?" He felt the rush of blood to his cheeks which coloured in embarrassment. Though he knew he'd have acted no different it was, as always, that when one was away from the danger that they would feel embarrassed by how they have acted when faced with it. It didn't help that Oxley threw in another, kinder compliment, which only turned his cheeks another shade of red, mimicing a bit the coat he had earlier worn. He could feel the blush creep to his cheeks so and could do nothing to make it go away nor to stay it either!

"I'd never thought I'd be talking to you again after that'un. Let 'lone in a tone like we do now. Friendly n' not tryin' ter get either in trouble." It was true. At that time he hoped only the worst for Oxley. It did remind him a bit of the prank that he thought only Oxley had played on him. He'd forgotten about it nearly and did not know if he would ever return the favour now. Would he? He had to. But... well, at the very least, he would think about it at some other time! No need to ruin his mood.

He nearly missed the last of the lad's words, and hurried to nod, with a small grin spread on his face. "Yes, ..I'd love to join , if you would let me." He said. "I think.. I like those."

"We-ell... you wasn't 'zackly nice," Oxley said, thinking how to phrase it. "Johnny showed me what you done to his shoulder at the Cap'n's dinner, you know. An' when I come to talk to you that night, I didn't know it was you till it was too late. I'd've prob'ly gone away if I'd known. We mightn't have had that fight, but then, we'd likely not have got to be friends." He shrugged, thinking. "I dunno, really. I'm just glad you bin listenin' to folks who've bin showin' you how things are on Terpsy. And, well," he shrugged, "I still can't b'lieve you ain't never had a proper friend till you come here."

"I mean'.. was it as.. obvious how I felt 'bout that midshipman and his showin' up." He looked back at the marine.

"Bu' thanks...heh.. n' I can't take full blame for Johnny there. It ain't as if I'd do it if he didn't do what he'd done." He shook his head. If Oxley had known then he would not have fought him because Oxley would not even have been there. But in that case, would he ever have talked with the marine drummer?

He dropped his gaze a little at Oxley's last words and slowed his pace. He shrugged and waved his hand in a gesture that was supposed to be expresive but it wasn't exactly clear in what way. "Sum'time things ain't meant to be." He smiled and stopped by the way leading downwards , belowdecks. "We's suppose to be returning these weapons, ain't we? All'a before we go eat, that is. See that there ain't no ..." He made a mumble of the word which started on m. "Couse us Tars have summat pointy in us hands!"

"It was kinda... obvious, seein' the way you hung back an' din't want to talk with him. He didn't look like the sort of man I'd want to talk with, neither, not if I could help it. Not a nice sort of man at all... a real bullyin' type who jus' wants to make ev'ryone else mis'rable."

He nodded as de Guarde paused. "We is, right 'nough. That cutlass of yourn goes in the arms chest, and me sword goes back to Sar'nt Quinn to go with the muskets and things. An' I ain't no Tar, neither." He held out one red-clad arm. He'd pulled his jacket on, even f he hadn't buttoned it up yet. "See? I'm a M'rine, see. But yes, we'd best be careful even so." He slipped the white cross-belt over his head. "Got to get me other trousers cleaned up, an' all," he said. "Well, as soon's I can, I'd better get 'em done."

He grinned, shrugged, and gave the other boy a light punch on the arm. "You's all right, you is, Buckles, mate."

"I'd think you knew him if I didn't know better." The lad mused smiling at the young marine. He raised the cutlass. He was glad Oxley found one. He had no recollection , or did he, of where he lost his own and he was not going to go see if it's still in one piece, or even still there. If it had been found, probably it either roamed to the pile of weapons and found things, and if it hadn't, well he doubted the later.

"Eh.. I know you ain't. Alright. I know yer a marine n' nothin' else. Well.. maybe a marine drummer, if we was to be exact. But nothing else than that." He grinned. "I think us... Tars.. would ask that you wash your trousers somewher out of our nose's range. ...which I guess I might attempt to do with that bundle there. Not sure if I ain't jus' going to throw it away anyhow. " Well, he was glad the French had some clothes to spare. Else he doubted that heither of them would've been allowed to even board, smelly as they had been.

He still hadn't been quite used to the idea that a punch could be made in good spirits, and blinked startled then smiled as he came to the right conclusion. He reached out to the lad's hair and as quick as he could, he tried messing it some. "You ain't .. half that bad either, Tom lad." He mimicked Oxley a bit when saying so. "Careful down t' steps now. Heard you marines are real clumsy when it comes to that." He winked and with a laugh , and albeit having a headache, he started down the companion way, as steady as his condition allowed.

"Well, I dunno him - how could I? - but I know the sort of bully he is. Had one of 'em on me last ship. Well, he warn't a middy, but he was one of the boys. Older'n me, and allus pickin' on the younger lads. So I had a fight with him. Soon sorted him out - they's all cowards, that sort."

He started down the steps of the companionway. "Them things do stink a bit. Anyone'd think you'd gone crawlin' in a privy." He held his nose as though offended by the smell, before letting go and starting to laugh. "You might 'ave to throw 'em away if you can't get 'em clean. I'd start with washin' 'em in salt water first, mate - you don't want to use up all your ration of fresh washin' water and not bein' able to do anythin' till the last drop, after all. Wash 'em in salt an rinse 'em in fresh and you might stand a chance."

He batted de Guarde's hand away. Obviously it hadn't been a good idea to go down first and let the other lad come behind him, where he could do that. He grinned. "Warn't me what tripped down a companionway and give meself a black eye with me own fist, was it?" he asked, still chuckling.

"Him, a coward? Ain't that though. He's anythin' but a coward , I'll reckon." He frowned and shook his head. "Well, he's .. a ..he'll divide them people n' rule 'em. A self proclaimed captain.. without bein' a cap'n that is. He ain't saying he is one, but if there'd be ever a cap'n of t' middy's mess, then that would be him." He shrugged at the thought. "See. Wot' he is ..is, you even get inter a fight with 'im.. he'll win. Either 'cos there'll be others backin' him up or else he'll know any way ter have yer look as t' guilty one and him jus' t' right sort to report the culprit!"

With that ended he paused. "Oh, washin'? Well, wot' if I pay yer with a bit of a ration. Could do both yours and mine then, eh?" He looked innocent, though he was chuckling no less, amused. "Wise idea that. If them'll much let us use any of the fresh water. All depends where we'll be going next. If it's a long voyage ter nowhere, then we'll be savin' every drop...but if we'um going to stay close to here, well..as long as the Portugal ain't French we're good."

He grinned and swatted the lad lightly with his hand." Oy, hush you! You's not been falling down a companionway, but....where did you fall again, yeself?" He asked with a short laugh. "Anyway. I ain't planning to be falling down anything, or over anystuff for a while now. Hope you agree?"

"I s'pose it'd only take one lad to stand up to him prop'ly, without any of his mates to back him up. Like I say, we had one lad in Atalanta who was like that. Kept pickin' on the younger boys. He was bigger'n me, but I tole him straight I warn't 'avin' none of it. Had a proper punch-up, we done, and we both got in trouble for it, but he never tried that no more 'cause i showed 'im we wasn't goin' to stand for it."

He grinned and blew a raspberry. "I ain't doin' your washin' for you, Buckles, so don't even think it. An' you know perfickly well I tripped over a ringbolt on the gundeck. So there. An' no, I ain't plannin' on doin' any of that ag'in any time soon, neither."

"I don't..." He looked thoughtful at Oxley's suggestion, but try as he might, to imagine himself fighting with the taller and much older lad, he could not. Not now, for it would mean an offence thanks to which he would hang. And not if he were a midshipman. Was he afraid? Probably yes. "...I tried before, you know. T' figh' 'im. N' ain't like that boy you said. Jus' got t' worse of it. Dunno..why he'd want to stop though. I mean.. jus' couse I had a punch with 'im?" Which he was sure to loose.

"Hmph, child!" He exclaimed and tried to get Oxley's hair more messed. "Why not? I'd even be willin' ter pay ye. ..with...hmm, wot' would you need any'ow?" He grinned. No need to be tripping over anything. Yes, that's right. Hopefuly for a long time.

"Well, I didn't mean you had to do it. But it's that sort of thing that'll show him up." He shrugged. "He didn't look to me much like he'd done any fightin', neither. When everyone else looked half wore out - even the Captain. So I dunno that he'll get away with it for much longer. It ain't summat you can for long, bein' a coward, like." He batted the other lad's hand away again, though he was grinning. "You gerroff that, you hear me? And I still ain't doin' your washin' for you. So there."

"Oh.. that ye might be right. He ain't... well, he's real head strong on becomin' more than a midshipman. See.. he's failed ter advance 'bout.. well n'uff times. Nearest he's been to t' liuetenant post was when he was an actin' one. " He did like to say that in the form of past tense!

"But...t' ..lets jus' say that where it counts on t' ship.. he's got his fingers nice n' right." He pulled his hand from the lad and rubbed it gently. "Oi, don't ye be so violent now!" He grinned. "I'um jus'... messin' out t' spider legs!"

"You ain't. You's messin' me hair up, you is. Not that it ain't mussed a'ready, though, what with crawlin' through that tunnel an' all." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Proper officers don't have to worry 'bout makin' other folks look bad to make theirselves look good, though. Well, none of the middies I saw ever did. An' the Marine officer on me old ship was, well, he didn't really talk to us much, but he was just one of them sorts that left things mostly to the sar'nt unless there was real trouble, which we never had."

He looked thoughtful. "I reckon if any of our middies got to be actin' lieutenants, it'd be either Mister Kinsella or Mister Chandos, an' they'd be just as good as any other officer. I s'pose I'm luck I never had any problems with any middies bein' bullies. Well, not yet I ain't - and of course I ain't a sailor, neither, so I don't have so much to do with the middies as all that."

"No middies ? So's you didn't consider me a bully then?" He chuckled softly, slowing down a little as he saw that there would be a line forming soon for all those coming to return the weapons to their chest. "Think Chandos would be a....calmer sort. Kinsella.. I've a feel .." He spoke a lot more quietly as if afraid that his words could get him in trouble. "He's.. a bit o' a quick temper. Not 'zactly a bad thing. But he is like that. That's all."

He shrugged glancing at his cutlass. "I just hope captain Bolitho never decides to accept anyone from that ship. Ain't t' lot I want to see." The remaining was said even more quietly.

"You? I hardly saw you when you was a middy. Not even that night when you was so drunk you ended up throwin' up into Mister Bush's lap. Warn't till that night I found you on the gundeck I even got to see you prop'ly, an' you warn't a middy then, was you?" He looked thoughtful. "Think Mister Kinsella'd be all right, if he don't 'splode at the wrong folks, or at the wrong time. He ain't likely to do anythin' real bad, like. He's, well, he's mostly all right, from what I've seen."

He shrugged one shoulder and jumped to the deck from the second step up. "The Navy's big enough we ain't likely to get any more folks from that ship. 'Specially as she's the same size as us. Least, I think she is. She'm prob'ly goin' back to England or somewhere, and we's likely to go off who knows where. Well, 'part from the officers. Be fun to see where we end up goin', though. I never really been anywhere real excitin'."

"You .. you know 'bout that?" He looked up at the young marine. "Does everybody know wot' happened?" He lowered his gaze, nearly missed a step and had to steady himself. " Hm. Kinsella jus' needs ter.. right, not ter explode at someone that's t' wrong sort. Else he might well still loose 'is advancement." Which he was loosing in his good time. Atleast the months in which he would serve as a midshipman.

"We won't be doin' no blockage eh?.. I hope we won't. Not with some ships in t' fleet. N'.. it'd be a bloody tedious job. Real boring, if we had ter jus' stay put.. n' wait for summat ter happen and nothing would!"

"I know 'bout it 'cause I was tole 'bout it afterwards. An't said anythin' and I don't reckon other folks know - or care. It was ages ago, really, if you thin 'bout it. And folks ain't goin' to 'member it, not with this landin' today and all."

He caught hold of de Guarde's arm to help steady him because the younger lad looked as though he was about to miss his footing. "We don't want you doin' your ankle in, do we, now? And Terpsy's a frigate, not a line-of-battle ship like, well, like Victory and it's the bigger ships that do all the blockadin' and what-not else. Frigates get to do the real excitin' stuff an' go off on their own. We could end up goin' almost anywhere. Some of the other M'rines have been to the West Indies or even the South Seas. I think one or two of 'em have even gone round the Horn." The awe was evident in his voice as he said the last.

"True.. Guess it was." Though no less, it wasn't something he was too proud of having done, or have other people knowing. Ah well, ships were like that. Something happened that was worthy of mention , and the story could possibly have become a near world disaster when it reached the last Tar, each storyteller adding something of his own to the story, and possibly.. well he was lucky if they hadn't gone that far. He smiled.

"Thanks fer catchin'." He nodded as he steadied himself. " Ain't no time to bust an ankle. That'un for sure." He was quiet as he listened to Oxley speak about where they could go and watched how his face changed. From that of interest to that of awe and amazement, of perhaps hope to see something of the sort himself, to go there, sail to the places that others only talked about, dreamt about.

"Hmm. You'd really like us to go there, don't you? But.. we needed over here ye know." He waved his hand in the vague direction of land.

"Oh, well, they've got the Army over there. Ain't no reason for a ship to stay around here, is there?" Oxley said, solicitously dusting de Guarde down. "It'd be summat to see the South Sea, or the West Indies, 'cause for sure we ain't goin' to get into a battle like Trafalgar, not in Terpsy. Though I wouldn't want to be in a big ship - I heared that they's so big, it's like bein' in a town at sea, an' you don't get to know everyone like you do in a frigate like this here. And you wouldn't b'lieve some of the stories the sailors tell 'bout bein' out to the West Indies or wherever - like there's a sort of fish that fly, which ain't real. Can't be for real, can it, that?"

"True, it's like a big city, but if yer want ter be promoted, think that's t' best way. Big ships, bigger ships like.. more .. n' less space in a way. Certainly not such crammed, low ceilin' spaces I'd say. " He grinned. " You'd jus' like to go to the West Indies, wouldn't you? Don't matter what reason, 's long as this Terpsy sets sail for it.. though I reckon it would be a long journey. Probably hot too, maybe with disease that ain't nowhere here like." He imagined fish that flew. "Dunno about that. Could be real.. though If they've got feathers, then I don't believe it at all. Ain't no way a ship and a bird would be the same! N' they can't 'zactly make offspring, I'd think. "

He made a face. "Wot' was t' dustin' me fer?"

"I dunno. I hear they's much more crammed, 'cause the men are berthed on the gundecks, which we don't do on frigates. Can't - we's on the waterline, down here on our berth-deck, after all. And they've got bigger guns, which need more men - and they've got lots more guns. Three decks of guns, them old first- and second-rates have. I seen 'em in harbour, Portsmouth and other places. I 'member Dad was a carpenter on one, once, years ago. Was the biggest thing I think I've ever seen, 'specially right up close, but real dark and poky inside once she was near finished."

He gave a shrug. "Dunno how fish fly - I'm sure they'd die in the air, 'cause they breathe water, don't they? But folks tell me it's real. For sure I'd rather see one of them than a sea-monster or summat like that, though. An' you want to be all nice and clean and shiny, don't you?" He gave de Guarde an innocent look. "You need a bit o' polishin' first, though, 'fore that'll happen."

"Sure they do more guns.. they've got more space ter put them on. Though I think they never have enough men to man all of them guns. I wouldn't think they do. Hard to press so many men which you loose more frequent than yer press. " He paused. "Wait, were you on one with yer dad? Did you see it inside out n'all?" He asked very curious of that. He'd heard of the big ships, but hadn't been one one yet, himself. Not as far as he could remember.

He dropped the cutlass in its chest and took a step back to give way for the others. Turning to look at the marine he began again. "Think they can live up in the air for a short while. Jus' think of them fish that you catch. If'un you do. Or which go flippin' on deck in bad weather... a rare sort, those, but still! Think t' fish are much smarter n' jus' go much deeper when t' wave's all wild! Anyway." And then he continued: "They go flopping about in all directions. Don't look too dead to me.. not till a good while later or a fine smack on the head! Though.. I ain't no fisherman to know fer sure."

He blinked startled. "Polishin'? And I reckon you're suggestin' you'll be doing it fer me? " He sniffed at his clothes and then looked about them. Did the other sailors still hold a bit further from the pair thinking them to be stinking. His nose had become much adapt to the smell and so he couldn't be sure. " Ought I return t' favour? Though I have no idea , nothin' about t' proper polishing, no."