Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (283 page)

"Yes,
that
was
her
first
cruise."
It
seemed
the
natural,
inevitable thing
for
him
to
say.

At
that
moment
a
fat,
sallow,
dark-haired
man,
dressed
in
nankeen and
wearing
a
broad
panama
hat,
strolled
along
the
beach
in
front of
us,
whistling
to
himself
a
tune
which
I
seemed
to
have
heard before.

"Who's
that?"
I
asked.

"That's
the
Captain,"
said
my
host.
"He's
--------
"
He
touched
his

forehead
meaningly. "Mad?"
asked
I.

"No,
not
mad,
but
queer,"
said
my
host.
"Has
illusions—thinks
he's King
of
England
one
day
and
Emperor
of
India
the
next.
A
curious career
his
as
ever
man
had.
His
real
name
is
Bonnypart,
though
he now
goes
by
the
name
of
Jackson,
and
his
father,
so
they
say,
was
an Italian
skipper
in
one
of
the
French
colonial
islands.
He
was
anxious for
his
son
to
have
a
good
education,
so
he
sent
him
to
England
to be
naturalized
as
an
Englishman
and
to
serve
King
George
in
the British
Navy.
The
lad
was
partial
to
learning
and
took
to
the
sea
like a
duck
takes
to
water,
and
all
went
well
till
the
French
Jacobites declared
war
on
us
a
second
time
in
1805.
He
was
already
a
Captain then,
promotion
in
those
times
being
speedy.
He
disobeyed
orders when
the
fleet
was
pursuing
Admiral
Villeneuve,
and
some
say
it
was thanks
to
his
breach
of
discipline
that
the
fleet
was
not
destroyed
at Trafalgar.
Be
that
as
it
may,
the
Admiralty
had
a
black
mark
against his
name
from
that
moment,
and
he
was
warned
that
he
had
got
off lightly
the
first
time,
owing
to
the
victory
and
to
Admiral
Nelson's intercession;
Admiral
Nelson
saying
that
he
had
no
use
for
the
man who
did
not
know
how
to
obey
orders
at
the
right
moment
(but
that did
not
please
their
Lordships).
But
shortly
after
the
battle
he
was accused
of
cheating
at
cards,
whether
rightly
or
wrongly
I
don't
know, but
I
have
seen
men
who
have
been
shipmates
with
him
who
said that
never
had
they
seen
a
man
with
a
quicker
brain
for
business
and a
slower
head
for
cards;
that
there
was
no
game
he
could
master, and
he
cheated
for
very
weariness,
and
neither
for
love
of
gain
nor gambling.
This
time
he
was
court-martialled,
found
guilty
and
dismissed
from
the
service.
Admiral
Nelson
could
no
longer
intercede for
him,
for
the
Admiral
himself
had
been
superseded
owing
to
the newspaper
clamour
which
arose
over
his
handling
of
the
fleet
at Trafalgar.
Bonnypart
changed
his
name
to
Jackson,
and
enlisted
as a
soldier
in
Wellesley's
Army.
He
fought
against
the
French
Republic in
Germany,
and
on
the
Eastern
frontier
against
the
Russians,
and after
a
year
or
two
he
was
given
a
commission.
After
the
French Jacobites
were
defeated
by
the
Germans
and
the
Russians
in
1814,
he was
once
more
promoted
to
the
rank
of
Captain.
This
time
he
came into
collision
with
Wellesley,
now
Lord
Wellington.
When
the
Allies occupied
Paris,
the
Duke
declared
he
would
go
out
fox-hunting
in
the Forest
of
Fontainebleau,
and
Captain
Jackson,
being
a
poor
rider,