Taking the road south she crept along under the shade of the hedge, till
about a mile from the town she noticed a heap of clothes lying on the
ground, flung there by some labourers who were working at the other end
of the field.
'It will be many hours yet before they will look for them,' thought she,
'and fair exchange is no robbery,' so stooping low in the ditch she
slipped off her regimentals, and hiding them at the very bottom of the
pile, put on an old coat and trousers belonging to one of the men. Then
full of hope, she started afresh.
Perhaps the commander in Carlisle never heard of the desertion of one of
the garrison, or perhaps search for James Gray was made in the wrong
direction. However that may be, nobody troubled the fugitive, who weary
and footsore, in a month's time entered Portsmouth.
At this point a new chapter begins in Hannah Snell's history. The old
desire to see the world was still strong upon her, and, after resting
for a little in the house of some kind people, she enlisted afresh in a
regiment of marines. A few weeks later, she was ordered to join the
'Swallow,' and to sail with Admiral Boscawen's fleet for the East
Indies.
It was Hannah's first sea-voyage, but, in spite of the roughness of the
life on board ship in those days, she was happy enough. England was
behind her; that was the chief thing, and who could tell what wonderful
adventures lay in front? So her spirits rose, and she was so
good-natured and obliging as well as so clever, that the crew one and
all declared they had found a treasure. There was nothing 'James Gray'
could not and would not do--wash their shirts, cook their food, mend
their holes, laugh at their stories. And, as she looked a great deal
younger in her men's clothes than she had done in her woman's dress, no
one took her for anything but a boy, and all willingly helped to teach
her the duties which would fall to her, both now and in case of war.
She kept watch for four hours in turn with the rest, and soon began to
see in the dark with all the keenness of a sailor. Next she was taught
how to load and unload a pistol, which pleased her very much, and was
given her place on the quarter-deck, where she was at once to take up
her station during an engagement. Most likely she was forced from time
to time to attend drill, but this we are not told.
The 'Swallow' was not half through the Bay of Biscay when a great storm
arose which blew the fleet apart, and did great damage to the vessel.
Both her topmasts were lost, and it is a wonder that, in this crippled
condition, the ship was able to make her way to Lisbon, where the crew
remained on shore till the ship was refitted, and she could join the
rest of the fleet, which then set sail down the Atlantic towards the
coast of India.
Except for more bad weather and a scarcity of provisions on board the
'Swallow,' nothing worthy of note occurred, till they had rounded the
Cape of Good Hope and passed Madagascar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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