Guns to the Far East Read Online Free PDF

the Admiral smiled a trifle uncertainly at his wife. “A very good fellow, Melgund—but he talks too much.”
    Augusta Hazard did not return his smile. “He seems to be extremely well informed—much better than we are.”
    â€œIn his job, he has to be—but he doesn’t know it all, not by a long chalk. As he admitted himself, m’dear, a great many of these telegraphic reports are dictated by panic, especially the ones from India. You mustn’t believe all he said or let it upset you.”
    â€œNo.” Feeling tears come to prick at her eyes, Augusta Hazard made a brave attempt to hide them. Head averted, she offered her arm. “It’s not knowing that I find hard to bear, George. Not knowing what the girls are doing or even where they are with any certainty. The mails take so long. I ought to be used to it by now, I suppose—letters took long enough from the Crimea, heaven knows. But now I—”
    â€œNeither of us is getting any younger, m’dear.” The Admiral gently patted the hand he held. “It’s harder to bear as one begins to feel the weight of one’s years. But Graham will give us firsthand news—the Lady Wellesley should be in the Hoogly River by this time. He’ll make enquiries about the girls in Calcutta and he’ll write as soon as he can. He’ll know we’re anxious.” He released her arm and gave a resounding pull on the door bell.
    It was answered by their youngest daughter, Lucy, a pretty, blue-eyed seventeen-year-old, who was the apple of her father’s eye. She was flushed with excitement and hugged them both enthusiastically as they entered the hall.
    â€œOh, Mamma, Papa, I’ve been longing for you to come back,” she announced breathlessly. “There’s a letter … look, on the hall table! It came just after you left for the Park and I’ve been burning to open it.”
    â€œA letter?” The Admiral peered short-sightedly at the little gate-legged table which stood in the centre of the entrance hall. “From Hattie or Lavinia? Or”—remembering his remarks a few moments earlier—“is it from Graham?”
    Lucy shook her head. “No, from Phillip. Oh, please, Papa, read it aloud to us, will you not, before we have our luncheon?”
    â€œVery well,” her father agreed. “If your Mamma does not mind?” Receiving a nod of assent, he beamed, and went to pick up the letter. Augusta Hazard followed him, some of the tension draining out of her, and all three of them ascended the stairs to the second floor, where the Admiral had his sanctum.
    Settled in his favourite chair, his spectacles perched comfortably on his long, high-bridged nose and a glass of the excellent Madeira he had offered Lord George Melgund in his hand, he started to read. The letter began with enquiries as to their health and well-being and then continued: “By this time, no doubt, you will have heard of the loss of our beautiful Raleigh which—needless to tell you, Father—has broken Commodore Keppel’s heart. It was no fault of his or, indeed, of any of her people—the culprit was a rock, uncharted and, as we afterwards ascertained, lying nine feet beneath the water, shaped like a sugarloaf and the top so small that a boat’s anchor could not lie on it.
    â€œWe sailed from Singapore with a supply of shot and shell for conveyance to Hong Kong, having to beat up the coast against the monsoon—a weary business for the first few days of our passage. But on 14th April, a fine breeze was blowing and we were running close-hauled with land and islands all round us and Hong Kong barely 30 miles distant … and it was then that she struck. I was on deck and thought at first she had struck some heavy floating timber. Her bow lifted but it did not deaden her way—she heaved and passed on, and I heard the leadsman calling ‘By the mark,