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blockading the port of Guadeloupe, three French
line-of-battle ships attempted to make their escape
from the port, and succeeded by a strong breeze that
was in their favour. Pursuit was immediately given
by the British squadron, and foremost in the chase
during the whole night was Napier's little 18-gun
brig the Recruit. He also exchanged shots with the
three vessels repeatedly, in spite of their terrible
broadsides, by which he managed to interrupt their
speed, and especially confined himself to their hind-
most ship, the D'Haupoult, the sailing of which
he retarded so successfully, that her consorts, in
order to save her, were obliged to haul-to and pre-
pare for action. This pursuit and running fight,
alternately following each other, continued for two
days, during which the loud cannonading had directed
the British ships on the enemy's track, and at last
the IfHaupoult was taken by two of our squadron,
the Pompee and Castor. During this protracted
affair the skill with which Napier manoeuvred his
little vessel to escape the effects of the enemy's
heavy metal, was still more admirable than his bold-
ness in continuing so unequal a chase; after every
broadside, in which the Recruit seemed to disappear,
she was again upon another tack, and as buoyant as
ever, and although she was crippled at last, she had
only one man wounded. On the surrender of the
D Haupoult to the captors, the French admiral on
delivering up his sword desired to know the name of
that little vessel which had so fatally delayed his
movements; and on being told that it was the
Recruit, he shook his head and replied, "That ship
no recruit; it be one very old soldier." With his
new rank of post-captain Napier came home in com-
mand of the Jason, but on his arrival was displaced
from the command, although confirmed in his rank.
Being thus thrown out of active service, and obliged
to wait his appointment to a ship, he returned to
Scotland, and became—a student at the university
of Edinburgh! But a similar step had been taken
a few years previous by Lord Cochrane, when the
peace of Amiens threw him for a time out of naval
employment. At college Napier attended the classes
for modern languages, and those for history, chemistry,
and mathematics. Amidst this variety he was also
asked if he would attend the lectures on moral philo-
sophy, at that time highly popular in Edinburgh.
"I don't know what moral philosophy exactly
means," replied the young captain, "but at any rate
I'll have a rap at it also." The time that was not oc-
cupied in these studies he devoted to social amuse-
ments and field sports, in the last of which his ec-
centric proceedings furnished no little mirth to the
whole field. He was a fearless but at the same time
an awkward and careless rider, and being unable
one day in the hunt to make his horse face a high
fence, he wheeled about the animal, backed it against
the obstacle, and drove it through stern foremost,
splintering every bar in the way.
But neither the university nor field-sports were
enough for the ardour of "Mad Charlie Napier," as
he was called by his familiars; he longed for the
smell of gunpowder, the roar of artillery, and the
heady excitement of the fight; and being weary of
waiting on for an appointment from the admiralty,
he resolved to fill up the interval with a little ama-
teur soldiering in the land service. As an additional
inducement his three cousins, Charles, William, and
George Napier, were serving in the army of the Duke
of Wellington in Spain. Thither accordingly he
went, and on the 25th of September, 1810, reached
the British encampment at Busaco, where his three
cousins were as much astonished at the arrival of
"Black Charlie" (so called among the Napiers from
VOL. III.
his dark complexion) as if he had dropped from the
clouds. A hearty night's bivouac of frolic and feast-
ing ensued, that was followed by the battle of Busaco,
in the preliminary skirmishing of which "Black
Charlie " was wounded in the leg by a musket bullet
that went through the flesh of his thigh. Indifferent,
however, to this accident, he served as a volunteer
in the battle of the 27th, and was in the thickest of
the fight from the beginning to the close, except
during a short interval when he carried Major Napier
(afterwards the hero of Scinde), who was danger-
ously wounded, to the rear. After the battle of
Busaco, Charles accompanied the British army in its
retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras; and having now
acquired an amount of military experience which he
was afterwards to make so available in the sea-ser-
vice, he resolved to return home, and find occupation
in his own way, with a view to which he wrote the
following characteristic application to the admiralty:
—"My leave of absence is just out. I don't think
it worth remaining here, for I expect you will give
me a ship, as I am almost tired of campaigning,
which is a d------d rum concern."   This unofficial,
abrupt demand, which might have been roared
through a speaking-trumpet, was apparently taken
in good part at head-quarters; for on his return to
England he was early in 1811 appointed to the
Thames, a 32-gun frigate, which was commissioned
for service in the Mediterranean.
Being once more afloat, Captain Napier was not
likely to let slip an opportunity for action, and as
often as this occurred, whether at sea or ashore, he
illustrated his old family motto, "Ready, aye ready."
Sometimes he acted alone, and sometimes in com-
pany with other ships, but always from the force of
his character obtaining the leadership. After a fleet
of thirty merchantmen had been driven into the small
port of Infreschi on the 21st of July, 1811, he silenced
eleven gun-boats by which the convoy was protected;
and while the merchant ships were boarded and
taken by Captain Clifford of the Cephalus, Napier
landed at the head of the marines of his ship Thames,
drove the enemy's sharp-shooters up the hills, and
having seen the capture of the convoy secured, re-
embarked with eighty-four prisoners, while the neigh-
bouring hills were filled with armed men who could
do nothing but look on. In the following November,
being under the orders of Captain Duncan on the
coast of Naples, he was employed in a land operation
at Palinuro. Thirteen gun-boats and a number of
merchant-vessels were in the harbour, which was
also defended by a strong battery and tower, and a
large body of troops lined the sides of a valley through
which they thought the British must pass to the
heights, while the heights were also manned with
sharp-shooters. For this perilous adventure Napier,
besides his seamen, had a detachment of 250 men of
the 62d regiment. A path that was almost inacces-
sible being discovered, he judged it safer to take this
route than advance through the fire of the valley, and
his party thus succeeded in gaining the heights before
the enemy could prevent them. They, however,
compelled the boats which had landed the British to
retire, who were thus isolated from co-operation by
sea, and obliged to abide the attack of the enemy,
who assailed them in great force. The British beat
them back, but on the following day found their
difficulties increased, and the enemy more numerous,
while they were open also to the fire of the gun-boats
in the port. Thus inclosed on all sides, Captain
Napier caused himself to be lowered down the cliffs
with ropes, and having reached his ship, both British
vessels ran into the harbour with a favouring breeze,
destroyed the batteries and gun-boats, captured the
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