diff options
Diffstat (limited to '21755.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 21755.txt | 5784 |
1 files changed, 5784 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/21755.txt b/21755.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc001a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/21755.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5784 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Personal Reminiscences in Book Making, by R.M. Ballantyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Personal Reminiscences in Book Making + and Some Short Stories + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21755] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKMAKING *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Personal Reminiscences of Book Making, by R.M. Ballantyne +(1825-1894). + +________________________________________________________________________ + +He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, and in 1841 he became a clerk +with the Hudson Bay Company, working at the Red River Settlement in +Northen Canada until 1847, arriving back in Edinburgh in 1848. The +letters he had written home were very amusing in their description of +backwoods life, and his family publishing connections suggested that he +should construct a book based on these letters. Three of his most +enduring books were written over the next decade, "The Young Fur +Traders", "Ungava", "The Hudson Bay Company", and were based on his +experiences with the H.B.C. In this period he also wrote "The Coral +island" and "Martin Rattler", both of these taking place in places never +visited by Ballantyne. Having been chided for small mistakes he made in +these books, he resolved always to visit the places he wrote about. +With these books he became known as a great master of literature +intended for teenagers. He researched the Cornish Mines, the London +Fire Brigade, the Postal Service, the Railways, the laying down of +submarine telegraph cables, the construction of light-houses, the +light-ship service, the life-boat service, South Africa, Norway, the +North Sea fishing fleet, ballooning, deep-sea diving, Algiers, and many +more, experiencing the lives of the men and women in these settings by +living with them for weeks and months at a time, and he lived as they +lived. + +He was a very true-to-life author, depicting the often squalid scenes he +encountered with great care and attention to detail. His young readers +looked forward eagerly to his next books, and through the 1860s and +1870s there was a flow of books from his pen, sometimes four in a year, +all very good reading. The rate of production diminished in the last +ten or fifteen years of his life, but the quality never failed. + +He published over ninety books under his own name, and a few books for +very young children under the pseudonym "Comus". + +For today's taste his books are perhaps a little too religious, and what +we would nowadays call "pi". In part that was the way people wrote in +those days, but more important was the fact that in his days at the Red +River Settlement, in the wilds of Canada, he had been a little +dissolute, and he did not want his young readers to be unmindful of how +they ought to behave, as he felt he had been. + +Some of his books were quite short, little over 100 pages. These books +formed a series intended for the children of poorer parents, having less +pocket-money. These books are particularly well-written and researched, +because he wanted that readership to get the very best possible for +their money. They were published as six series, three books in each +series. + +In this book of personal reminiscences, the author, hearing in the +distance the Grim Reaper, is at his most pi. The first few chapters +describe the effort he had to make to gain the background information he +needed to write the books, but suddenly he tells us that he doesn't feel +at all well, that his time may well be near, and he fills out the book +with half-a- dozen short stories, all very moralist, but still well up +to his usual quality of output. + +Re-created as an e-Text by Nick Hodson, August 2003. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF BOOK MAKING, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +INCIDENTS IN BOOK MAKING--INTRODUCTORY. + +Book making is mixed up, more or less, with difficulties. It is +sometimes disappointing; often amusing; occasionally lucrative; +frequently expensive, and always interesting--at least to the maker. + +Of course I do not refer to that sort of book making which is connected +with the too prevalent and disgraceful practice of gambling, but to the +making of literary books--especially story-books for the young. + +For over eight-and-thirty years I have had the pleasure of making such +books and of gathering the material for them in many and distant lands. + +During that period a considerable number of the juvenile public have +accepted me as one of their guides in the world of Fiction, and through +many scenes in the wildest and most out-of-the-way regions of our +wonderful world. + +Surely, then, it is not presumptuous in me to suppose--at least to +hope--that a rambling account of some of the curious incidents which +have occurred, now and then, in connection with my book making, will +interest the young people of the present day. Indeed I entertain a hope +that some even of the old boys and girls who condescended to follow me +in the days gone by may perchance derive some amusement, if not profit, +from a perusal of these reminiscences. + +The shadows of life are lengthening, and, for me, that night, "in which +no man can work," may not be far off. Before it is too late, and while +yet the flame of the lamp burns with sufficient clearness, I would fain +have a personal chat with those for whom, by God's blessing, I have been +permitted to cater so long. + +But fear not, dear reader, that I shall inflict on you a complete +autobiography. It is only the great ones of the earth who are entitled +to claim attention to the record of birth and parentage and school-days, +etcetera. To trace my ancestry back through "the Conquerors" to Adam, +would be presumptuous as well as impossible. Nevertheless, for the sake +of aspirants to literary fame, it may be worth while to tell here how +one of the rank and file of the moderately successful Brotherhood was +led to Authorship as a profession and how he followed it out. + +I say "led" advisedly, because I made no effort whatever to adopt this +line of life, and never even dreamed of it as a possibility until I was +over twenty-eight years of age. + +Let me commence, then, by at once taking a header into the middle of +that period when God--all unknown to, and unrecognised by, myself--was +furnishing me with some of the material and weapons for the future +battle of life. + +One day my dear father was reading in the newspapers some account of the +discoveries of Dease and Simpson in the neighbourhood of the famous +North-west Passage. Looking at me over his spectacles with the +perplexed air of a man who has an idle son of sixteen to start in the +race of life, he said-- + +"How would you like to go into the service of the Hudson's Bay Company +and discover the North-west Passage?"--or words to that effect. + +"All right, father," said I--or something of that sort. + +I was at that age, and in that frame of mind, which regards difficulties +with consummate presumption and profound inexperience. If the discovery +of the North-pole had been suggested, or the South-pole, or any other +terrestrial pole that happened to exist at the time, I was quite ready +to "rush in" where even a Franklin might "fear to tread!" + +This incident was but a slight one, yet it was the little hinge on which +turned my future career. + +We had a relation--I won't say what, because distant relationships, +especially if complicated, are utterly beyond my mental grasp--who was +high up in the service of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company. Through Iain I +became a clerk in the service with a salary of 20 pounds for the first +year. Having been born without a silver spoon in my mouth, I regarded +this as an adequate, though not a princely, provision. + +In due time I found myself in the heart of that vast North American +wilderness which is variously known as Rupert's Land, the Territories of +the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Great Nor'west, many hundreds of miles +north of the outmost verge of Canadian civilisation. + +I am not learned in the matter of statistics, but if a rough guess may +be allowed, I should say that the population of some of the regions in +which I and my few fellow-clerks vegetated might have been about fifty +to the hundred square miles--with uninhabited regions around. Of course +we had no libraries, magazines, or newspapers out there. Indeed we had +almost no books at all, only a stray file or two of American newspapers, +one of which made me acquainted with some of the works of Dickens and of +Lever. While in those northern wilds I also met--as with dear old +friends--some stray copies of _Chambers's Edinburgh Journal_, and the +_Penny Magazine_. + +We had a mail twice in the year--once by the Hudson's Bay ship in +summer, and once through the trackless wilderness by sledge and +snow-shoe in winter. It will easily be understood that surroundings of +such a nature did not suggest or encourage a literary career. My +comrades and I spent the greater part of our time in fur-trading with +the Red Indians; doing a little office-work, and in much canoeing, +boating, fishing, shooting, wishing, and skylarking. It was a "jolly" +life, no doubt, while it lasted, but not elevating! + +We did not drink. Happily there was nothing alcoholic to be had out +there for love or money. But we smoked, more or less consumedly, +morning, noon, and night. Before breakfast the smoking began; after +supper it went on; far into the night it continued. Some of us even +went to sleep with the pipes in our mouths and dropped them on our +pillows. Being of such an immature age, I laboured under the not +uncommon delusion that to smoke looked manly, and therefore did my best +to accommodate myself to my surroundings, but I failed signally, having +been gifted with a blessed incapacity for tobacco-smoking. This +afflicted me somewhat at the time, but ever since I have been +unmistakably thankful. + +But this is wandering. To return. + +With a winter of eight months' duration and temperature sometimes at 50 +below zero of Fahrenheit, little to do and nothing particular to think +of, time occasionally hung heavy on our hands. With a view to lighten +it a little, I began to write long and elaborate letters to a loving +mother whom I had left behind me in Scotland. The fact that these +letters could be despatched only twice in the year was immaterial. +Whenever I felt a touch of home-sickness, and at frequent intervals, I +got out my sheet of the largest-sized narrow-ruled imperial paper--I +think it was called "imperial"--and entered into spiritual intercourse +with "Home." To this long-letter writing I attribute whatever small +amount of facility in composition I may have acquired. Yet not the +faintest idea of story-writing crossed the clear sky of my unliterary +imagination. I am not conscious of having had, at that time, a love for +writing in any form--very much the reverse! + +Of course I passed through a highly romantic period of life--most youths +do so--and while in that condition I made a desperate attempt to tackle +a poem. Most youths do that also! The first two lines ran thus:-- + + "Close by the shores of Hudson's Bay, + Where Arctic winters--stern and grey--" + +I must have gloated long over this couplet, for it was indelibly stamped +upon my memory, and is as fresh to-day as when the lines were penned. +This my first literary effort was carried to somewhere about the middle +of the first canto. It stuck there--I am thankful to say--and, like the +smoking, never went further. + +Rupert's Land, at that time, was little known and very seldom visited by +outsiders. During several years I wandered to and fro in it, meeting +with a few savages, fewer white men--servants of the Company--and +becoming acquainted with modes of life and thought in what has been +aptly styled "The Great Lone Land." Hearing so seldom from or of the +outside world, things pertaining to it grew dim and shadowy, and began +to lose interest. In these circumstances, if it had not been that I +knew full well my mother's soul was ready to receive any amount of +out-pourings of which I was capable, I should have almost forgotten how +to use the pen. + +It was in circumstances such as I have described that I began my first +book, but it was not a story-book, and I had no idea that it would ever +become a printed book at all. It was merely a free-and-easy record of +personal adventure and every-day life, written, like all else that I +penned, solely for the uncritical eye of that long-suffering and too +indulgent mother! + +I had reached the advanced age of twenty-two at the time, and had been +sent to take charge of an outpost, on the uninhabited northern shores of +the gulf of Saint Lawrence, named Seven Islands. It was a dreary, +desolate, little-known spot, at that time. The gulf, just opposite the +establishment, was about fifty miles broad. The ships which passed up +and down it were invisible, not only on account of distance, but because +of seven islands at the mouth of the bay coming between them and the +outpost. My next neighbour, in command of a similar post up the gulf, +was, if I remember rightly, about seventy miles distant. The nearest +house down the gulf was about eighty miles off, and behind us lay the +virgin forests, with swamps, lakes, prairies, and mountains, stretching +away without break right across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. + +The outpost--which, in virtue of a ship's carronade and a flagstaff, was +occasionally styled a "fort"--consisted of four wooden buildings. One +of these--the largest, with a verandah--was the Residency. There was an +offshoot in rear which served as a kitchen. The other houses were a +store for goods wherewith to carry on trade with the Indians, a stable, +and a workshop. The whole population of the establishment--indeed of +the surrounding district--consisted of myself and one man--also a horse! +The horse occupied the stable, I dwelt in the Residency, the rest of +the population lived in the kitchen. + +There were, indeed, other five men belonging to the establishment, but +these did not affect its desolation, for they were away netting salmon +at a river about twenty miles distant at the time I write of. + +My "Friday"--who was a French-Canadian--being cook, as well as +man-of-all-work, found a little occupation in attending to the duties of +his office, but the unfortunate Governor had nothing whatever to do +except await the arrival of Indians, who were not due at that time. The +horse was a bad one, without a saddle, and in possession of a pronounced +backbone. My "Friday" was not sociable. I had no books, no newspapers, +no magazines or literature of any kind, no game to shoot, no boat +wherewith to prosecute fishing in the bay, and no prospect of seeing any +one to speak to for weeks, if not months, to come. But I had pen and +ink, and, by great good fortune, was in possession of a blank paper book +fully an inch thick. + +When, two or three years after, a printer-cousin, seeing the manuscript, +offered to print it, and the well-known Blackwood, of Edinburgh, seeing +the book, offered to publish it--and did publish it--my ambition was +still so absolutely asleep that I did not again put pen to paper in +_that_ way for eight years thereafter, although I might have been +encouraged thereto by the fact that this first book--named _Hudson's +Bay_--besides being a commercial success, received favourable notice +from the press. + +It was not until the year 1854 that my literary path was opened up. At +that time I was a partner in the late publishing firm of Thomas +Constable and Company of Edinburgh. Happening one day to meet with the +late William Nelson, publisher, I was asked by him how I should like the +idea of taking to literature as a profession. My answer I forget. It +must have been vague, for I had never thought of the subject at all. + +"Well," said he, "what would you think of trying to write a story?" + +Somewhat amused, I replied that I did not know what to think, but I +would try if he wished me to do so. + +"Do so," said he, "and go to work at once,"--or words to that effect. + +I went to work at once, and wrote my first story, or work of fiction. +It was published in 1855 under the name of _Snowflakes and Sunbeams; or, +The Young Fur-traders_. Afterwards the first part of the title was +dropped, and the book is now known as _The Young Fur-traders_. From +that day to this I have lived by making story-books for young folk. + +From what I have said it will be seen that I have never aimed at the +achieving of this position, and I hope that it is not presumptuous in me +to think--and to derive much comfort from the thought--that God led me +into the particular path along which I have walked for so many years. + +The scene of my first story was naturally laid in those backwoods with +which I was familiar, and the story itself was founded on the adventures +and experiences of my companions and myself. When a second book was +required of me, I stuck to the same regions, but changed the locality. +While casting about in my mind for a suitable subject, I happened to +meet with an old, retired "Nor'wester" who had spent an adventurous life +in Rupert's Land. Among other duties he had been sent to establish an +outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company at Ungava Bay, one of the most +dreary parts of a desolate region. On hearing what I wanted, he sat +down and wrote a long narrative of his proceedings there, which he +placed at my disposal, and thus furnished me with the foundation of +_Ungava, a tale of Eskimo-Land_. + +But now I had reached the end of my tether, and when a third story was +wanted I was compelled to seek new fields of adventure in the books of +travellers. Regarding the Southern seas as the most romantic part of +the world--after the backwoods!--I mentally and spiritually plunged into +those warm waters, and the dive resulted in _The Coral Island_. + +It now began to be borne in upon me that there was something not quite +satisfactory in describing, expatiating on, and energising in, regions +which one has never seen. For one thing, it was needful to be always +carefully on the watch to avoid falling into mistakes geographical, +topographical, natural-historical, and otherwise. + +For instance, despite the utmost care of which I was capable, while +studying up for _The Coral Island_, I fell into a blunder through +ignorance in regard to a familiar fruit. I was under the impression +that cocoa-nuts grew on their trees in the same form as that in which +they are usually presented to us in grocers' windows--namely, about the +size of a large fist with three spots, suggestive of a monkey's face, at +one end. Learning from trustworthy books that at a certain stage of +development the nut contains a delicious beverage like lemonade, I sent +one of my heroes up a tree for a nut, through the shell of which he +bored a hole with a penknife and drank the "lemonade"! It was not till +long after the story was published that my own brother--who had voyaged +in Southern seas--wrote to draw my attention to the fact that the +cocoa-nut is nearly as large as a man's head, and its outer husk over an +inch thick, so that no ordinary penknife could bore to its interior! Of +course I should have known this, and, perhaps, should be ashamed of my +ignorance--but, somehow, I'm not! + +I admit that this was a slip, but such, and other slips, hardly justify +the remark that some people have not hesitated to make, namely, that I +have a tendency to draw the long bow. I feel almost sensitive on this +point, for I have always laboured to be true to fact, and to nature, +even in my wildest flights of fancy. + +This reminds me of the remark made to myself once by a lady in reference +to this same _Coral Island_. "There is one thing, Mr Ballantyne," she +said, "which I really find it hard to believe. You make one of your +three boys dive into a clear pool, go to the bottom, and then, turning +on his back, look up and wink and laugh at the other two." + +"No, no, Peterkin did not `_laugh_,'" said I remonstratively. + +"Well, then, you make him smile." + +"Ah, that is true, but there is a vast difference between laughing and +smiling under water. But is it not singular that you should doubt the +only incident in the story which I personally verified? I happened to +be in lodgings at the seaside while writing that story, and, after +penning the passage you refer to, I went down to the shore, pulled off +my clothes, dived to the bottom, turned on my back, and, looking up, I +smiled and winked." + +The lady laughed, but I have never been quite sure, from the tone of +that laugh, whether it was a laugh of conviction or of unbelief. It is +not improbable that my fair friend's mental constitution may have been +somewhat similar to that of the old woman who declined to believe her +sailor-grandson when he told her he had seen flying-fish, but at once +recognised his veracity when he said he had seen the remains of +Pharaoh's chariot-wheels on the shores of the Red Sea. + +Recognising, then, the difficulties of my position, I formed the +resolution always to visit--when possible--the scenes in which my +stories were laid, converse with the people who, under modification, +were to form the _dramatis personae_ of the tales, and, generally, to +obtain information in each case, as far as lay in my power, from the +fountain-head. + +Thus, when about to begin _The Lifeboat_, I went to Ramsgate, and, for +some time, was hand and glove with Jarman, the heroic coxswain of the +Ramsgate boat, a lion-like as well as lion-hearted man, who rescued +hundreds of lives from the fatal Goodwin Sands during his career. In +like manner, when getting up information for _The Lighthouse_, I +obtained permission from the Commissioners of Northern Lights to visit +the Bell Rock Lighthouse, where I hobnobbed with the three keepers of +that celebrated pillar-in-the-sea for three weeks, and read Stevenson's +graphic account of the building of the structure in the library, or +visitor's room, just under the lantern. I was absolutely a prisoner +there during those three weeks, for boats seldom visited the rock, and +it need scarcely be said that ships kept well out of our way. By good +fortune there came on a pretty stiff gale at the time, and Stevenson's +thrilling narrative was read to the tune of whistling winds and roaring +seas, many of which sent the spray right up to the lantern and caused +the building, more than once, to quiver to its foundation. + +In order to do justice to _Fighting the Flames_ I careered through the +streets of London on fire-engines, clad in a pea-jacket and a black +leather helmet of the Salvage Corps;--this, to enable me to pass the +cordon of police without question--though not without recognition, as +was made apparent to me on one occasion at a fire by a fireman +whispering confidentially, "I know what _you_ are, sir, you're a +hamitoor!" + +"Right you are," said I, and moved away in order to change the subject. + +It was a glorious experience, by the way, this galloping on fire-engines +through the crowded streets. It had in it much of the excitement of the +chase--possibly that of war--with the noble end in view of saving, +instead of destroying, life! Such tearing along at headlong speed; such +wild roaring of the firemen to clear the way; such frantic dashing aside +of cabs, carts, 'buses, and pedestrians; such reckless courage on the +part of the men, and volcanic spoutings on the part of the fires! But I +must not linger. The memory of it is too enticing. _Deep Down_ took me +to Cornwall, where, over two hundred fathoms beneath the green turf, and +more than half-a-mile out under the bed of the sea, I saw the sturdy +miners at work winning copper and tin from the solid rock, and acquired +some knowledge of their life, sufferings, and toils. + +In the land of the Vikings I shot ptarmigan, caught salmon, and gathered +material for _Erling the Bold_. A winter in Algiers made me familiar +with the _Pirate City_. I enjoyed a fortnight with the hearty +inhabitants of the Gull Lightship off the Goodwin Sands, from which +resulted _The Floating Light_; and went to the Cape of Good Hope, and up +into the interior of the Colony, to spy out the land and hold +intercourse with _The Settler and the Savage_--although I am bound to +confess that, with regard to the latter, I talked to him only with mine +eyes. I also went afloat for a short time with the fishermen of the +North Sea, in order to be able to do justice to _The Young Trawler_. + +To arrive still closer at the truth, and to avoid errors, I have always +endeavoured to submit my proof-sheets, when possible, to experts and men +who knew the subject well. Thus, Captain Shaw, late Chief of the London +Fire Brigade, kindly read the proofs of _Fighting the Flames_, and +prevented my getting off the rails in matters of detail, and Sir Arthur +Blackwood, financial secretary to the General Post Office, obligingly +did me the same favour in regard to _Post Haste_. + +In conclusion, there are some things that I shrink from flaunting in the +eyes of the public. Personal religion is one of these. Nevertheless, +there are a few words which I feel constrained to write before closing +this chapter. + +During all the six years that I spent in Rupert's Land I was "without +God." He was around me and within me, guarding me, bestowing upon me +the physical and mental health by which alone I could fully enjoy a life +in the wilderness, and furnishing me with much of the material that was +to serve as my stock-in-trade during my subsequent career; yet--I +confess it with shame--I did not recognise or think of, or care for, +Him. It was not until after I had returned home that He opened my eyes +to see myself a lost soul, and Jesus Christ--"God with us"--an +all-sufficient Redeemer, able and willing to save me from sin, as He is +to save all sinners--even the chief. + +More than this I will not say. Less I could not say, without being +unfaithful to my Creator. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +LIFE IN THE BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. + +One of my most interesting experiences in hunting up materials for books +was at the Bell Rock Lighthouse; interesting because of the novelty of +the situation, the pleasant intercourse with the keepers, and the +grandeur of the subjects brought under my observation. + +The lighthouses of this kingdom present, in their construction, a +remarkable evidence of the capacity of man to overcome almost +insurmountable difficulties, and his marvellous power of adapting means +to ends. They also stand forth as a grand army of sentinels, who, with +unobtrusive regularity, open their brilliant eyes on the great deep, +night after night--from year to year--from age to age, and gaze-- +Argus-like--all around our shores, to guard our shipping from the +dangers of the sea, perhaps I should rather say from the dangers of the +coast, for it must be well-known to most people that the sailor regards +"blue water" as his safe and native home, and that it is only when he +enters the green and shallow waters of the coast that a measure of +anxiety overclouds his free-and-easy spirit. + +It is when he draws near to port that the chief dangers of his career +surround him, and it is then that the lighthouse is watched for +anxiously, and hailed with satisfaction. + +These observations scarce need confirmatory proof. Of all the vessels, +great and small, that annually seek and leave our ports, a large +proportion meet their doom, and, despite all our lighthouses, beacons, +and buoys, lay their timbers and cargoes in fragments, on our shores. +This is a significant fact, for if those lost ships be--as they are--a +mere fraction of our commerce, how great must be the fleet, how vast the +wealth, that our lighthouses guide safely into port every year? If all +our coast-lights were to be extinguished for only a single night, the +loss of property and life would be terrible beyond conception. But such +an event can never happen, for our coast-lights arise each evening at +sunset with the regularity of the sun himself. Like the stars, they +burst out when darkness begins to brood upon land and sea like them, +too, their action and aspect are varied. Some, at great heights, in +exposed places, blaze bright and steady like stars of the first +magnitude. Others, in the form of revolving lights, twinkle like the +lesser stars--now veiling, now flashing forth their beams. + +One set of lights shine ruby-red like Mars; another set are white, like +Venus; while those on our pier-heads and at our harbour mouths are +green; and, in one or two instances, if not more, they shine, (by means +of reflecting prisms), with borrowed light like the moon; but all-- +whether revolving or fixed, large or small, red or white or green--beam +forth, like good angels, offering welcome and guidance to the mariner +approaching from beyond seas; with God-like impartiality shedding their +radiance on friend and foe, and encircling--as with a chaplet of living +diamonds, rubies, and emeralds--our highly favoured little islands of +the sea. + +Lighthouses may be divided into _two_ classes, namely, those which stand +on cliffs, and elsewhere, somewhat above the influence of the waves, and +those built on outlying rocks which are barely visible at high tide, or +invisible altogether except at low-water. The North and South Foreland +lights in Kent, the Girdleness in Aberdeenshire, and Inchkeith in the +Forth, are examples of the former. The Eddystone, Bell Rock, and +Skerryvore, are well-known examples of the latter, also the Wolf Rock +off the Land's End. + +In one of the latter--namely the Bell Rock--I obtained permission, a +good many years ago, from the Commissioners of Northern Lights, to spend +a fortnight for literary purposes--to be imprisoned, in fact, for that +period. + +This lighthouse combines within itself more or less of the elements of +all lighthouses. The principles on which it was built are much the same +with those of Skerryvore. It is founded on a tidal rock, is exposed to +the full "fetch" and fury of an open sea, and it has stood for the +greater part of a century exposed to inconceivable and constantly +recurring violence of wind and wave--not, indeed, unshaken, but +altogether undamaged. + +The Bell Rock lies on the east of Scotland, off the mouths of the Forth +and Tay, 12 miles from the Forfarshire coast, which is the nearest land. +Its foundation is always under water except for an hour or two at +low-tide. At high tides there are about 12 or 16 feet of water above +the highest ledge of the Bell Rock, which consists of a series of +sandstone ridges. These, at ordinary low-tides, are uncovered to the +extent of between 100 and 200 yards. At neap tides the rock shows only +a few black teeth with sea-weed gums above the surface. + +There is a boat which attends upon this lighthouse. On the occasion of +my visit I left Arbroath in it one morning before daybreak and reached +the Rock about dawn. We cast anchor on arriving--not being able to +land, for as yet there _was_ no land! The lighthouse rose out of the +sea like a bulrush out of a pond! No foundation rock was visible, and +the water played about the tower in a fashion that would have knocked +our boat to pieces had we ventured to approach the entrance-door. + +In a short time the crest of the rock began to show above the foam. +There was little or no wind, but the ordinary swell of the calm ocean +rolled in upon these rocks, and burst upon them in such a way that the +tower seemed to rise out of a caldron of boiling milk. At last we saw +the three keepers moving amid the surges. They walked on an iron +platform, which, being light and open, and only a few feet above the +waves, was nearly invisible. + +When the tide was near its lowest ebb, so that there was a piece of +smooth water under the lee of the rock, we hoisted out our little "twin" +boat. This was a curious contrivance, being simply a small boat cut +across amidships, so as to form two parts which fitted into each other +like saucers, and were thus rendered small enough to be easily carried +in the larger boat. When about to be used, the twins are put into the +water and their sterns brought together and screwed tight. Thus one +little boat, sharp at each end, is formed. + +Embarking in this we rowed between tangle-covered ridges up to the +wrought-iron landing-place. The keepers looked surprised as we drew +near. It was evident that visitors were not "common objects of the +shore" out there! + +There were three keepers. One, the chief, was very tall, dark, and +thin; of grave temperament and sedate mien. Another was a florid, +hearty young fellow, full of fire and energy. The third was a stout, +short, thick-set man, with placidity and good-humour enthroned on his +fat countenance. He was a first-rate man. I shall call him Stout; his +comrade, Young. The chief may appropriately be named Long. + +There was no time for more than a hurried introduction at first, for the +fresh water-casks and fortnightly allowance of fresh provisions had to +be hoisted into the tower, the empty casks got out, and the boat +reloaded and despatched, before the tide--already rising--should +transform the little harbour into a wild whirlpool. In little more than +an hour the boat was gone, and I proceeded to make myself at home with +my new friends. + +Probably every one knows that the Bell Rock is the Inch Cape Rock, +immortalised by Southey in his poem of "Sir Ralph the Rover," in which +he tells how that, in the olden time-- + + "The Abbot of Aberbrothock + Had placed a bell on the Inch Cape Rock. + On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung + And over the waves its warning rung." + +A pirate named "Sir Ralph the Rover" came there one day and cut away the +bell in a wicked frolic. Long years after, returning with a rich cargo +of ill-gotten wealth, retributive justice overtook Sir Ralph, caused his +vessel to strike on the Inch Cape Rock--for want of the warning bell +which he had cut away--and sent him and his belongings to the bottom. + +Whether this legend be true or not, there is no doubt that the Rock had +been so dangerous to shipping, that seamen often avoided the firths of +Forth and Tay in bad weather for fear of it, and many captains, in their +anxiety to keep clear of it, ran their vessels in the neighbouring +coasts and perished. + +Another proof that numerous wrecks took place there lay in the fact that +the fishermen were wont to visit the rock after every gale, for the +purpose of gathering wreckage. It was resolved, therefore, about the +beginning of this century, to erect a lighthouse on the Inchcape Rock, +and to Mr Robert Stevenson, Engineer at that time to the Board of +Northern Lights, was assigned the task of building it. He began the +work in August 1807, and finished it in February 1811. + +I began my sojourn in the Bell Rock Lighthouse with breakfast. On +ascending to the kitchen I found Stout preparing it. Mr Long, the +chief, offered, with delicate hospitality, to carry my meals up to the +library, so that I might feast in dignified solitude, but I declined the +honour, preferring to fraternise with the men in the kitchen. Breakfast +over, they showed me through the tower--pointed out and explained +everything--especially the lantern and the library--in which last I +afterwards read Mr Stevenson's interesting volume on the building of +the Bell Rock; a book which has been most appropriately styled the +_Robinson Crusoe_ of Engineering literature. + +On returning to the entrance-door, I found that there was now _no land_! +The tide had risen. The lighthouse was a mere pillar in the sea. +"Water, water everywhere"--nothing else visible save the distant coast +of Forfarshire like a faint blue line on the horizon. But in the +evening the tide again fell, and, the moment the rock was uncovered, we +descended. Then Mr Long showed me the various points of interest about +the rock, and Stout volunteered anecdotes connected with these, and +Young corroborated and expounded everything with intense enthusiasm. +Evidently Young rejoiced in the rare opportunity my visit afforded him +of breaking the monotony of life on the Bell Rock. He was like a caged +bird, and on one occasion expressed his sentiments very forcibly by +saying to me, "Oh, sir, I sometimes wish I could jump up and never come +doon!" As for Long and Stout, they had got used to lighthouses and +monotony. The placid countenance of each was a sure index of the +profound tranquillity within! + +Small though it was, the rock was a very world in itself to the +residents--crowded with "ports," and "wharves" and "ledges," which had +reference to the building-time. There were "Sir Ralph the Rover's +ledge," and "the Abbot's ledge," and "the Engineer's ledge," and +"Cunningham's ledge," and "the Smith's ledge," etcetera. Then there +were "Port Stevenson," and "Port Boyle," and "Port Hamilton," and many +others--each port being a mere hole capable of holding a boat or two. +Besides which there were "tracks," leading to these ports--such as +"Wilson's track," and "Macurich's track," and "Gloag's track." And then +there were "Hope's Wharf," and "Rae's Wharf," and "Watt's Reach," and +"Scoresby Point," while, among numerous outlying groups of rocklets, +there were the "Royal Burghs," the "Crown Lawyers," and the "Maritime +Sheriffs"--each and all teeming with interesting associations to those +who know the Story of the Rock,--_all_ comprehended within an area of a +few hundred yards--the whole affair being wiped entirely and regularly +off the face of nature by every rising tide. + +Close beside Rae's Wharf, on which we stood, Mr Long showed me the +holes in which had been fixed the ends of the great beams of the beacon. +The beacon was a point of considerable interest to me. If you had seen +the rock as I saw it, reader, in a storm, with the water boiling all +over and round it for more than a mile, like seething milk--and if you +had reflected that the _first_ beacon built there was carried away in a +gale, you would have entertained very exalted ideas of the courage of +the men who built the Bell Rock lighthouse. + +While the tower was building, Mr Stevenson and his men were exposed for +many days and nights in this beacon--this erection of timber-beams, with +a mere pigeon-house on the top of it for a dwelling. Before the beacon +was built, the men lived in the _Pharos_ floating light; a vessel which +was moored not far from the Rock. Every day--weather permitting--they +rowed to the rock, landed, and worked for _one, two_, or _three_ hours, +when they were drowned out, so to speak, and obliged to return to their +floating home. Sometimes the landing was easy. More frequently it was +difficult. Occasionally it was impossible. When a landing was +accomplished, they used to set to work without delay. There was no time +to lose. Some bored holes in the rock for hold-fasts; others, with pick +and chisel, cut out the foundation-pit. Then the courses began to be +laid. On each occasion of landing the smith had to set up his bellows, +light his fire, and work in hot haste; because his whole shop, except +the anvil, had to be taken down, and carried away every tide! +Frequently, in fine weather, this enterprising son of Vulcan might have +been seen toiling with his head enveloped in volumes of smoke and +sparks, and his feet in the water, which gradually rose to his ankles +and knees until, with a sudden "hiss," it extinguished his fire and +ended his labours for the day. Then he was forced to pack up his +bellows and tools, and decamp with the rest of the men. + +Sometimes they wrought in calm, sometimes in storm; always, more or +less, in water. Three hours was considered a fair day's work. When +they had the good fortune to work "double tides" in a day, they made +five, or five-and-a-half, hours; but this was of rare occurrence. + +"You see that mark there, sir, on Smith's Ledge?" said Mr Long to me +one day, "that was the place where the forge stood; and the ledge +beyond, with the old bit of iron on it, is the `_Last Hope_,' where Mr +Stevenson and his men were so nearly lost." Then he went on to tell me +the following incident, as illustrating one of the many narrow escapes +made by the builders. + +One day, soon after the men had commenced work, it began to blow hard, +and the crew of the boat belonging to the attending vessel, named the +"Smeaton," fearing that her moorings might be insufficient, went off to +examine them. This was wrong. The workmen on the rock were +sufficiently numerous to completely fill three boats. For one of these +to leave the rock was to run a great risk, as the event proved. Almost +as soon as they reached the "Smeaton," her cables parted and she went +adrift, carrying the boat with her away to leeward, and although sail +was instantly made, they found it impossible to regain the rock against +wind and tide. Mr Stevenson observed this with the deepest anxiety, +but the men, (busy as bees about the rock), were not aware of it at +first. + +The situation was terrible. There were thirty-two men left on a rock +which would in a short time be overflowed to a depth of twelve or +fifteen feet by a stormy sea, and only two boats in which to remove +them. These two boats, if loaded to the gunwales, could have held only +a few more than the half of them. + +While the sound of the numerous hammers and the ring of the anvil were +heard, the situation did not appear so hopeless; but soon the men at the +lowest part of the foundation were driven from work by the rising tide; +then the forge-fire was extinguished, and the men generally began to +make towards their respective boats for their jackets and dry socks. +When it was discovered that one of the three boats was gone not a word +was uttered, but the men looked at each other in evident perplexity. +They seemed to realise their position at once. + +In a few minutes some of that band must inevitably be left to perish, +for the absent boat and vessel were seen drifting farther and farther +away to leeward. Mr Stevenson knew that in such a case, where life and +death were in the balance, a desperate struggle among the men for +precedence would be certain. Indeed he afterwards learned that the +pickmen had resolved to stick by their boat against all hazards. While +they were thus gazing in silence at each other and at the distant +vessel, their enterprising leader had been casting about in his mind as +to the best method of at least attempting the deliverance of his men, +and he finally turned round to propose, as a forlorn hope, that all +hands should strip off their upper clothing, that every unnecessary +article should be removed from the boats, that a specified number should +get into each, and that the remainder should hang on by the gunwales, +and thus be dragged through the water while they were rowed cautiously +towards the "Smeaton"! But when he tried to speak his mouth was so +parched that his tongue refused utterance! and then he discovered, (as +he says himself), "that saliva is as necessary to speech as the tongue +itself!" Turning to a pool, he moistened his lips with sea-water, and +found immediate relief. He was again about to speak when some one +shouted "a boat! a boat!" and, sure enough, a large boat was seen +through the haze making towards the rock. This timely visitor was James +Spink, the Bell Rock pilot, who had come off express from Arbroath with +letters. His visit was altogether an unusual one, and his truly +providential appearance unquestionably prevented loss of life on that +critical occasion. This is one specimen--selected from innumerable +instances of danger and risk--which may give one some idea of what is +encountered by those who build such lighthouses as the Bell Rock. + +Our rambles on the rock were necessarily of short duration. We used to +stand in the doorway watching the retreating waves, and, the moment the +rails were uncovered, we hurried down the ladder--all of us bent on +getting as much exercise as possible on land! We marched in single +file, up and down the narrow rails, until the rock was uncovered--then +we rambled over the slippery ledges. + +Sometimes we had one hour--sometimes two, or even three hours, according +to the state of the tides. Then the returning waves drove us gradually +from the rocks to the rails, from the rails to the ladder--and so back +into the lighthouse. + +Among other things that impressed me deeply was the grandeur of the +waves at the Bell Rock. + +One enjoys an opportunity there of studying the form and colour of ocean +billows which cannot be obtained on any ordinary shore, because, the +water being deep alongside the Rock, these waves come up to it in all +their unbroken magnificence. I tried to paint them, but found it +difficult, owing to the fact that, like refractory children, they would +not stand still to be painted! It was not only in stormy weather that +these waves arose. I have seen them during a dead calm, when the sea +was like undulating glass. No doubt the cause of them was a gale in +some distant part of the sea--inducing a heavy ground-swell; but, be the +cause what it might, these majestic rollers often came in without a +breath of air to help them, and with the sun glittering on their +light-green crystal sides. Their advance seemed slow and solemn amid +the deep silence, which made them all the more impressive. The rise of +each wave was so gradual that you could not tell where it began in the +distant sea. As it drew near, it took definite form and swelled +upwards, and at last came on like a wall of glass--probably ten or +twelve feet high--so high, at all events, that I felt as if looking up +at it from my position on the low rock. When close at hand its green +edge lipped over and became fringed with white--then it bent forward +with a profound obeisance to the Bell Rock and broke the silence with a +grand reverberating roar, as it fell in a ruin of foam and rushed up to +my very feet! + +When those waves began to paint the canvas with their own spray and +change the oil into a water-colour, I was constrained to retire to the +lighthouse, where Mr Long, (a deeply interested student), watched me as +I continued my studies from the doorway. + +Mr Long had an inquiring mind and closely observed all that went on +around him. Among other things, he introduced me to a friend of his, a +species of fish which he called a "_Paddle_." + +Stout called it a sucker, in virtue of an arrangement on its breast +whereby it could fasten itself to a rock and hold on. This fish dwelt +in Port Hamilton, near Sir Ralph the Rover's ledge, and could be visited +at low-tide. He happened to be engaged at that time in watching his +wife's spawn, and could not be induced to let go his hold of the rock on +any account! Mr Long pulled at him pretty forcibly once or twice, but +with no effect, and the fish did not seem in the least alarmed! While +Mr Paddle did duty in the nursery, Mrs Paddle roamed the sea at large. +Apparently women's rights have made some progress in that quarter! It +was supposed by Stout that she took the night-watches. Mr Young +inclined to the opinion that she attended to the commissariat--was out +marketing in fact, and brought food to her husband. All that I can say +on the matter is, that I visited the family frequently, and always saw +the father "on duty," but only once found Mrs Paddle at home! The +tameness of this kind of fish is very remarkable. One day I saw a large +one in a pool which actually allowed me to put my hand under him and +lift him gently out! Suddenly it occurred to me that I might paint him! +The palette chanced to be at hand, so I began at once. In about two +minutes the paddle gave a flop of discomfort as he lay on the rock; I +therefore put him into a small pool for a minute or so to let him, +breathe, then took him out and had a second sitting, after which he had +another rest and a little refreshment in the pool. Thus in about ten +minutes, I had his portrait, and put him back into his native element. + +I am inclined to think that this is the only fish in the sea that has +had his portrait taken and returned to tell the tale to his admiring, +perhaps unbelieving, friends! + +Of course one of the most interesting points in the lighthouse was the +lantern. I frequently sat in it at night with the man on duty, who +expounded the lighting apparatus to me, or "spun yarns." + +The fifth day of my sojourn on the Bell Rock was marked by an event of +great interest,--the arrival of a fishing-boat with letters and +newspapers. I had begun by that time to feel some degree of longing to +hear something about the outer world, though I had not felt lonely by +any means--my companions were too pleasant to admit of that. Our little +world contained a large amount of talent! Mr Long had a magnificent +bass voice and made good use of it. Then, Young played the violin, (not +so badly), and sang tenor--not quite so well; besides which he played +the accordion. His instrument, however, was not perfect. One of the +bass notes would not sound, and one of the treble notes could not by any +means be silenced! Between the two, some damage was done to the +harmony; but we were not particular. As to Stout--he could neither sing +nor play, but he was a _splendid_ listener! and the sight of his +good-humoured face, smiling through clouds of tobacco smoke as he sat by +the kitchen fire, was of itself sufficient to encourage us. + +But Stout could do more than listen and admire. He was cook to the +establishment during my visit. The men took this duty by turns--each +for a fortnight--and Stout excelled the others. It was he who knew how +to extract sweet music from the tea-kettle and the frying-pan! But +Stout's forte was buttered toast! He was quite an adept at the +formation of this luxury. If I remember rightly, it was an entire loaf +that Stout cut up and toasted each morning for breakfast. He knew +nothing of delicate treatment. Every slice was an inch thick at the +least! It was quite a study to see him go to work. He never sawed with +the knife. Having a powerful hand and arm, one sweep of the blade +sufficed for one slice, and he cut up the whole loaf before beginning to +toast. Then, he always had the fire well prepared. You never saw +alternate stripes of black and white on Stout's toast; and he laid on +the butter as he might have laid tar on the side of a ship, thick and +heavy. He never scraped it off one part to put it on another--and he +never picked the lumps out of the holes. Truly, Stout was quite a +genius in this matter. + +The fisherman who brought off our letters could not have landed if the +weather had not been fine. Poor fellow! after I left, he lost his boat +in consequence of being on too familiar terms with the Bell Rock. He +was in the habit of fishing near the rock, and occasionally ran in at +low-water to smoke a pipe with the keepers. One morning he stayed too +long. The large green billows which had been falling with solemn boom +on the outlying rocks began to lip over into the pool where his boat +lay--Port Stevenson. Embarking in haste with his comrade he pushed off. +Just then there came a tremendous wave, the crest of which toppled over +Smith's Ledge, fell into the boat, and sank it like a stone. The men +were saved by the keepers, but their boat was totally destroyed. They +never saw a fragment of it again. What a commentary this was on the +innumerable wrecks that have taken place on the Inch Cape Rock in days +gone by! + +Sometimes, on a dark stormy night, I used to try to realise something of +this. Turning my back on the lighthouse I tried to forget it, and +imagine what must have been the feelings of those who had actually stood +there and been driven inch by inch to the higher ledges, with the +certain knowledge that their doom was fixed, and without the comfort and +assurance that, behind them, stood a strong tower of refuge from the +storm! + +I was fortunate, during my stay, in having experience of every variety +of weather--from a dead calm to a regular gale. It was towards the end +of my visit that the gale came on, and it lasted two days. No language +can convey an adequate idea of the sublimity of the scene and the sense +of power in the seething waves that waged furious war over the Rock +during the height of that gale. The spray rose above the kitchen +windows, (70 feet on the tower), in such solid masses as to darken the +room in passing, and twice during the storm we were struck by waves with +such force as to shake the tower to its foundation. + +This storm delayed the "Relief boat" a day. Next day, however, it +succeeded in getting alongside--and at length, after a most agreeable +and interesting sojourn of two weeks, I parted from the hospitable +keepers with sincere regret and bade adieu to a lighthouse which is not +only a monument of engineering skill, but a source of safety to the +shipping, and of confidence to the mariners frequenting these waters. + +In former days men shunned the dreaded neighbourhood of the Inch Cape +Rock with anxious care. Now, they look out for that:-- + + "Ruddy gem of changeful light + Bound on the dusky brow of night,--" + +And _make for it_ with perfect safety. In time past human lives, and +noble ships, and costly merchandise were lost on the Bell Rock every +year. Now, disaster to shipping there is not even dreamed of; and one +of the most notable proofs of the value of the lighthouse, (and, +indirectly, of all other lighthouses), lies in the fact, that not a +single wreck has occurred on the Bell Rock since that auspicious evening +in 1811 when the sturdy pillar opened its eyes for the first time, and +threw its bright beams far and wide over the North Sea. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +NIGHTS WITH THE FIRE BRIGADE. + +There are few lives, we should think, more trying or more full of +curious adventure and thrilling incident than that of a London fireman. + +He must always be on the alert. No hour of the day or night can he ever +count on as being his own, unless on those occasions when he obtains +leave of absence, which I suppose are not frequent. If he does not +absolutely sleep in his clothes, he sleeps beside them--arranged in such +a way that he can jump into them at a moment's notice. + +When the summons comes there must be no preliminary yawning; no soft +transition from the land of dreams to the world of reality. He jumps +into his boots which stand invitingly ready, pulls on his trousers, +buttons his braces while descending to the street, and must be +brass-helmeted on the engine and away like a fiery dragon-gone-mad +within three minutes of "the call," or thereabouts, if he is to escape a +fine. + +Moreover, the London fireman must be prepared to face death at any +moment. When the call comes he never knows whether he is turning out to +something not much more serious than "a chimney," or to one of those +devastating conflagrations on the river-side in which many thousand +pounds worth of property are swept away, and his life may go along with +them. Far more frequently than the soldier or sailor is he liable to be +ordered on a duty which shall turn out to be a forlorn hope, and not +less pluckily does he obey. + +There is no respite for him. The field which the London Brigade covers +is so vast that the liability to be sent into action is continuous-- +chiefly, of course, at night. At one moment he may be calmly polishing +up the "brasses" of his engine, or skylarking with his comrades, or +sedately reading a book, or snoozing in bed, and the next he may be +battling fiercely with the flames. Unlike the lifeboat heroes, who may +sleep when the world of waters is calm, he must be ever on the watch; +for his enemy is a lurking foe--like the Red Indian who pounces on you +when you least expect him, and does not utter his warwhoop until he +deems his victory secure. The little spark smoulders while the fireman +on guard, booted and belted, keeps watch at his station. It creeps +while he waits, and not until its energies have gained considerable +force does it burst forth with a grand roar and bid him fierce defiance. + +Even when conquered in one quarter it often leaps up in another, so that +the fireman sometimes returns from the field twice or thrice in the same +night to find that the enemy is in force elsewhere and that the fight +must be resumed. + +In the spring of 1867 I went to London to gather material for my book +_Fighting the Flames_, and was kindly permitted by Captain Shaw--then +Chief of the Fire Brigade--to spend a couple of weeks at one of the +principal west-end stations, and accompany the men to fires. + +My first experience was somewhat stirring. + +My plan was to go to the station late in the evening and remain up all +night with the men on guard waiting for fires. + +One day, in the afternoon, when it was growing dusk, and before I had +made my first visit to the station, a broad-shouldered jovial-looking +fellow in blue coat, belted, and with a sailor's cap, called on me and +asked if I should like to "see a 'ouse as 'ad bin blowed up with gas." + +Of course I was only too glad to follow him. He conducted me to an +elegant mansion in Bayswater, and chatted pleasantly as we went along in +somewhat nautical tones, for he had been a man-of-war's man. His name +was Flaxmore. + +I may remark here that the men of the London brigade were, and still +are, I believe, chosen from among seamen. + +"You see, sir," said Flaxmore, in explanation of this fact, "sailors are +found to be most suitable for the brigade because they're accustomed to +strict discipline,--to turn out suddenly at all hours, in all weathers, +and to climbing in dangerous circumstances." + +Arrived at the mansion, we found that the outside looked all right +except that most of the windows were broken. The interior, however, +presented a sad and curious appearance. The house had been recently +done up in the most expensive style, and its gilded cornices, painted +pilasters and other ornaments, with the lath and plaster of walls and +ceilings had been blown into the rooms in dire confusion. + +"Bin a pretty considerable smash here, sir," said Flaxmore, with a +genial smile on his broad countenance. I admitted the fact, and asked +how it happened. + +"Well, sir, you see," said he, "there was an 'orrid smell of gas in the +'ouse, an' the missus she sent for a gas man to find out where it was, +and, _would_ _you believe it_, sir, they went to look for it _with a +candle_! Sure enough they found it too, in a small cupboard. The gas +had been escapin', it had, but couldn't git out o' that there cupboard, +'cause the door was a tight fit, so it had made its way all over the +'ouse between the lath and plaster and the walls. As soon as ever it +caught light, sir, it blowed the whole place into smash--as you see. It +blowed the gas man flat on his back; (an' sarved him right!) it blowed +the missus through the doorway, an' it blowed the cook--(as was on the +landin' outside)--right down the kitchen stairs, it did;--but there was +none of 'em much hurt, sir, they wasn't, beyond a bruise or two!" + +After examining this house, Flaxmore proposed that I should go and see +his engine. He was proud of his engine, evidently, and spoke of it as a +man might speak of his wife! + +On our way to the station the driver of a passing 'bus called out-- + +"Fireman, there's a fire in New Bond Street." + +One word Flaxmore exchanged with the driver, and then, turning to me, +said, "Come on, sir, I'll give you a ride!" + +Off we went at a run, and burst into the station. "Get her out, Jim," +cried Flaxmore, (_her_ being the engine). Jim, the man on duty, put on +his helmet without saying a word, and hauled out the fire-engine, while +a comrade ran for the horses, and another called up the men. In five +minutes more I was seated beside seven men in blue uniforms and brass +helmets, dashing through the streets of London at full gallop! + +Now, those who have never seen a London fire-engine go to a fire have no +conception of what it is--much less have they any conception of what it +is to ride on the engine! To those accustomed to it, no doubt, it may +be tame enough--I cannot tell; but to those who mount an engine for the +first time and dash through the crowded thoroughfares at a wild tearing +gallop; it is probably the most exciting drive conceivable. It beats +steeplechasing! It feels like driving to destruction--so desperate and +reckless is it. And yet, it is not reckless in the strict sense of that +word; for there is a stern need-be in the case. Every moment, (not to +mention minutes or hours), is of the utmost importance in the progress +of a fire, for when it gets the mastery and bursts into flames it +flashes to its work, and completes it quickly. At such times one moment +wasted may involve the loss of thousands of pounds, ay, and of human +lives also. This is well-known to those whose profession it is to fight +the flames. Hence the union of apparent mad desperation, with cool, +quiet self-possession in their proceedings. When firemen can work in +silence they do so. No unnecessary word is uttered, no voice is +needlessly raised; but, when occasion requires it, their course is a +tumultuous rush, amid a storm of shouting and gesticulation! + +So was it on the present occasion. Had the fire been distant, they +would have had to commence their gallop somewhat leisurely, for fear of +breaking down the horses; but it was not far off--not much more than a +couple of miles--so they dashed round the corner of their own street and +swept into the Edgeware Road at full speed. + +Here the noise of our progress began, for the great thoroughfare was +crowded with vehicles and pedestrians. + +To pass through such a crowd without coming into collision with anything +required not only dexterous driving, but rendered it necessary that two +of the men on the engine should stand up and shout incessantly as we +whirled along, clearing everything out of our way. + +The men seemed to shout with the memory of the boatswain strong upon +them, for their tones were pitched in the deepest and gruffest bass-key. +Sometimes there was a lull for a moment, as a comparatively clear space +of 100 yards or so lay before us; then their voices rose like the +roaring of the gale as a stupid or deaf cabman got in our way, or a +plethoric 'bus threatened to interrupt our furious career. The cross +streets were the points where the chief difficulties met us. There cab- +and van-drivers turned into or crossed the great thoroughfare, all +ignorant of the thunderbolt that was rushing on like a fiery meteor, +with its lanterns casting a glare of light before, and the helmets of +the stern charioteers flashing back the rays from street-lamps and +windows. At the corner of one of the streets the crowd of vehicles was +so great that the driver of the engine began to tighten his reins, while +Flaxmore and his comrades raised a furious roar. Cabs, 'buses, and +pedestrians scattered right and left in a marvellous manner; the driver +slackened his reins, cracked his whip, and the horses stretched out +again. + +"There, it shows a light," observed Flaxmore, as we tore along Oxford +Street. At that moment a stupid cabman blocked up the way. There was a +terrific shout from all the firemen, at once! but the man did not hear. +Our driver attempted both to pull up and to turn aside; the first was +impossible, the latter he did so effectively that he not only cleared +the cab but made straight at a lamp-post on the other side! A crash +seemed inevitable, but Flaxmore, observing the danger, seized the rein +next to him and swung the horses round. We flew past, just shaving the +lamp-post, and in three minutes more pulled up at a house which was +blazing in the upper floors. Three engines were already at work on it. +Flaxmore and his men at once entered the burning house, which by that +time was nearly gutted. I stood outside looking on, but soon became +anxious to know what was doing inside, and attempted to enter. A +policeman stopped me, but at that moment Flaxmore came out like a +half-drowned rat, his face streaked with brick-dust and charcoal. +Seeing what I wanted he led me into the house, and immediately I found +myself in a hot shower-bath which did not improve my coat or hat! At +the same time I stepped up to the ankles in hot water! Tons of water +were being poured on the house by three powerful engines, and this, in +passing through so much heated material had become comfortably warm. +The first thing I saw on entering was a foaming cataract! This was the +staircase, down which the water rushed, breaking over masses of fallen +brickwork and debris, with a noise like a goodly Highland burn! Up this +we waded, but could get no further than the room above, as the upper +stair had fallen in. I was about to descend in order to try to reach +the roof by some other way, when a fireman caught me by the collar, +exclaiming--"Hold on, sir!" He thought the staircase was about to fall. +"Bolt now, sir," he added, releasing me. I bolted, and was out in the +street in a moment, where I found that some of the firemen who had first +arrived, and were much exhausted, were being served with a glass of +brandy. If there were any case in which a teetotaller might be +justified in taking spirits, it would be, I think, when exhausted by +toiling for hours amid the heat and smoke and danger of a fire-- +nevertheless I found that several of the firemen there were +teetotallers. + +There was a shout of laughter at this moment, occasioned by one of the +firemen having accidentally turned the _branch_ or delivery pipe full on +the faces of the crowd and drenched some of them. This was followed by +a loud cheer when another fireman was seen to have clambered to the roof +whence he could apply the water with better effect. At last their +efforts were crowned with success. Before midnight the fire was +extinguished, and we drove back to the Paddington Station at a more +leisurely pace. Thus ended my first experience of a London fire. + +Accidents, as may be easily believed, are of frequent occurrence. + +Accidents. + +There were between forty to fifty a year. In 1865 they were as +follows:-- + ++=========================+==+ +|Cuts and Lacerated Wounds|12| ++-------------------------+--+ +|Contusions |15| ++-------------------------+--+ +|Fractures | 2| ++-------------------------+--+ +|Sprains | 9| ++-------------------------+--+ +|Burns and Scalds | 3| ++-------------------------+--+ +|Injury to Eyes | 5| ++-------------------------+--+ +| |46| ++=========================+==+ + +My friend Flaxmore himself met with an accident not long afterwards. He +slipped off the roof of a house and fell on his back from a height of +about fifteen feet. Being a heavy man, the fall told severely on him. + +For about two weeks I went almost every evening to the Regent Street +Station and spent the night with the men, in the hope of accompanying +them to fires. The "lobby"--as the watch room of the station was +named--was a small one, round the walls of which the brass helmets and +hatchets of the men were hung. Here, each night, two men slept on two +trestle-beds. They were fully equipped, with the exception of their +helmets. Their comrades slept at their own homes, which were within a +few yards of the station. The furniture of the "lobby" was scanty--a +desk, a bookcase, two chairs, a clock, an alarm-bell, and four +telegraphic instruments comprised it all. These last formed part of a +network of telegraphs which extended from the central station to nearly +all the other stations in London. By means of the telegraph a "call" is +given--i.e. a fire is announced to the firemen all over London, if need +be, in a very few minutes. Those who are nearest to the scene of +conflagration hasten to it at once with their engines, while each +outlying or distant station sends forward a man on foot. These men, +coming up one by one, relieve those who have first hastened to the fire. + +"Calls," however, are not always sent by telegraph. Sometimes a furious +ring comes to the alarm-bell, and a man or a boy rushes in shouting +"_fire_!" with all his might. People are generally much excited in such +circumstances,--sometimes half mad. In one case a man came with a +"call" in such perturbation of mind that he could not tell where the +fire was at all for nearly five minutes! On another occasion two men +rushed in with a call at the same moment, and both were stutterers. My +own opinion is that one stuttered by nature and the other from +agitation. Be that as it may, they were both half mad with excitement. + +"F-f-f-fire!" roared one. + +"F-f-f-fire!" yelled the other. + +"Where away?" asked a fireman as he quietly buckled his belt and put on +his helmet. + +"B-B-Brompton!"--"B-B-Bayswater!" burst from them both at the same +moment. Then one cried, "I--I s-s-say Brompton," and the other shouted, +"I--I s-say Bayswater." + +"What street?" asked the fireman. + +"W-W-Walton Street," cried one. + +"N-No--P-P-orchester Terrace," roared the other, and at the word the +Walton Street man hit the Porchester Terrace man between the eyes and +knocked him down. A regular scuffle ensued, in the midst of which the +firemen got out two engines--and, before the stutterers were separated, +went off full swing, one to Brompton, the other to Bayswater, and found +that, as they had guessed, there were in reality two fires! + +One night's experience in the "lobby" will give a specimen of the +fireman's work. I had spent the greater part of the night there without +anything turning up. About three in the morning the two men on duty lay +down on their trestle-beds to sleep, and I sat at the desk reading the +reports of recent fires. The place was very quiet--the sounds of the +great city were hushed--the night was calm, and nothing was heard but +the soft breathing of the sleepers and the ticking of the clock as I sat +there waiting for a fire. I often looked at the telegraph needles and, +(I am half ashamed to say it), longed for them to move and give us "a +call." At last, when I had begun to despair, the sharp little telegraph +bell rang. Up I started in some excitement--up started one of the +sleepers too, quite as quickly as I did, but without any excitement +whatever--he was accustomed to alarms! Reading the telegraph with +sleepy eyes he said, with a yawn, "it's only a stop for a chimbley." He +lay down again to sleep, and I sat down again to read and wait. Soon +after the foreman came down-stairs to have a smoke and a chat. Among +the many anecdotes which he told me was one which had a little of the +horrible in it. He said he was once called to a fire in a cemetery, +where workmen had been employed in filling some of the vaults with +sawdust and closing them up. They had been smoking down there and had +set fire to the sawdust, which set light to the coffins, and when the +firemen arrived these were burning fiercely, and the stench and smoke +were almost overpowering--nevertheless one of the men ran down the stair +of the vaults, but slipped his foot and fell. Next moment he rushed up +with a face like a ghost, having fallen, he said, between two coffins! +Quickly recovering from his fright he again descended with his comrades, +and they soon managed to extinguish the fire. + +The foreman went off to bed after relating this pleasant little incident +and left me to meditate on it. Presently a sound of distant wheels +struck my ear. On they came at a rattling pace. In a few minutes a cab +dashed round the corner and drew up sharply at the door, which was +severely kicked, while the bell was rung furiously. Up jumped the +sleepers again and in rushed a cabman, backed by a policeman, with the +usual shout of "fire." Then followed "question brief and quick +reply"--"a fire in Great Portland Street close at hand." + +"Get her out, Bill," was the order. Bill darted to the engine-shed and +knocked up the driver in passing. He got out the horses while the other +man ran from house to house of the neighbouring firemen giving a +_double_ ring to their bells. Before the engine was horsed one and +another and another of the men darted into the station, donned his +helmet, and buckled on his axe; then they all sprang to their places, +the whip cracked, and off we went at full gallop only eight minutes +after the alarm-bell rang. We spun through the streets like a rocket +with a tail of sparks behind us, for the fire of the engine had been +lighted before starting. + +On reaching the fire it was found to be only smouldering in the basement +of the house, and the men of another engine were swarming through the +place searching for the seat of it. I went in with our men, and the +first thing I saw was a coffin lying ready for use! The foreman led me +down into a vaulted cellar, and here, strange to say, I found myself in +the midst of coffins! It seemed like the realisation of the story I had +just heard. There were not fewer than thirty of them on the floor and +ranged round the walls. Happily, however, they were not tenanted. In +fact the fire had occurred in an undertaker's workshop, and, in looking +through the premises, I came upon several coffins laid out ready for +immediate use. Two of these impressed me much. They lay side by side. +One was of plain black wood--a pauper's coffin evidently. The other was +covered with fine cloth and gilt ornaments, and lined with padded white +satin! I was making some moral reflections on the curious difference +between the last resting-place of the rich man and the poor, when I was +interrupted by the firemen who had discovered the fire and put it out, +so we jumped on the engine once more, and galloped back to the station. +Most of the men went off immediately to bed; the engine was housed; the +horses were stabled; the men on guard hung up their helmets and lay down +again on their trestle-beds; the foreman bade me "good-night," and I was +left once more in a silence that was broken only by the deep breathing +of the sleepers and the ticking of the clock--scarcely able to believe +that the stirring events of the previous hour were other than a vivid +dream. + +All over London, at short distances apart, fire-escapes may be seen +rearing their tall heads in recesses and corners formed by the angles in +churches or other public buildings. Each night these are brought out to +the streets, where they stand in readiness for instant use. + +At the present time the escapes are in charge of the Fire Brigade. When +I visited the firemen they were under direction of the Royal Society for +the Protection of Life from Fire, and in charge of Conductors, who sat +in sentry-boxes beside the escapes every night, summer and winter, ready +for action. + +These conductors were clad like the firemen--except that their helmets +were made of black leather instead of brass. They were not very +different from other mortals to look at, but they were picked men--every +one--bold as lions; true as steel; ready each night, at a moment's +notice, to place their lives in jeopardy in order to rescue their +fellow-creatures from the flames. Of course they were paid for the +work, but the pay was small when we consider that it was the price of +indomitable courage, tremendous energy, great strength of limb, and +untiring perseverance in the face of appalling danger. + +Here is a specimen of the way in which the escapes were worked. + +On the night of the 2nd March 1866, the premises of a blockmaker named +George Milne caught fire. The flames spread with great rapidity, +arousing Milne and his family, which consisted of his wife and seven +children. All these sought refuge in the attics. At first Milne +thought he could have saved himself, but with so many little children +round him he found himself utterly helpless. Not far from the spot, +Henry Douglas, a fire-escape conductor, sat in his sentry-box, reading a +book, perchance, or meditating, mayhap, on the wife and little ones +slumbering snugly at home, while he kept watch over the sleeping city. +Soon the shout of fire reached his ears. At once his cloth-cap was +exchanged for the black helmet, and, in a few seconds, the escape was +flying along the streets, pushed by the willing hands of policemen and +passers-by. The answer to the summons was very prompt on this occasion, +but the fire was burning fiercely when Conductor Douglas arrived, and +the whole of the lower part of the house was so enveloped in flames and +smoke that the windows could not be seen at all. Douglas therefore +pitched his escape, at a venture, on what he _thought_ would bring him +to the second-floor windows, and up he went amid the cheers of the +on-lookers. Entering a window, he tried to search the room, (and the +cheers were hushed while the excited multitude gazed and listened with +breathless anxiety--for they knew that the man was in a position of +imminent danger). In a few moments he re-appeared on the escape, half +suffocated. He had heard screams in the room above, and at once threw +up the fly-ladder, by which he ascended to the parapet below the attic +rooms. Here he discovered Milne and his family grouped together in +helpless despair. We may conceive the gush of hope that must have +thrilled their breasts when Conductor Douglas leaped through the smoke +into the midst of them; but we can neither describe nor conceive, +(unless we have heard it in similar circumstances), the _tone_ of the +deafening cheers that greeted the brave man when he re-appeared on the +ladders, and, (with the aid of a policeman named John Pead), bore the +whole family, one by one, in safety to the ground! For this deed +Conductor Douglas received the silver medal of the Society, and Pead, +the policeman, received a written testimonial and a sovereign. +Subsequently, in consequence of Conductor Douglas's serious illness,-- +resulting from his efforts on this occasion--the Society voted him a +gratuity of 5 pounds beyond his sick allowance to mark their strong +approbation of his conduct. Now in this case it is obvious that but for +the fire-escape, the blockmaker and his family must have perished. + +Here is another case. I quote the conductor's own account of it, as +given in the Fire Escape Society's annual report. The conductor's name +was Shaw. He writes:-- + + "Upon my arrival from Aldersgate Street Station, the fire had gained + strong hold upon the lower portion of the building, and the smoke + issuing therefrom was so dense and suffocating as to render all escape + by the staircase quite impossible. Hearing cries for help from the + upper part of the house, I placed my Fire Escape, ascended to the + third floor, whence I rescued four persons--viz. Mrs Ferguson, her + two children, and a lodger named Gibson. They were all leaning + against the window-sill, almost overcome. I carried each down the + Escape, (a height of nearly fifty feet), in perfect safety; and + afterwards entered the back part of the premises, and took five young + children from a yard where they were exposed to great danger from the + fire." + +There was a man in the London Brigade who deserves special notice--viz. +Conductor Samuel Wood. Wood had been many years in the service, and +had, in the course of his career, saved no fewer than 168 lives. + +On one occasion he was called to a fire in Church Lane. He found a Mr +Nathan in the first-floor unable to descend the staircase, as the ground +floor was in flames. He unshipped his first-floor ladder, and, with the +assistance of a policeman, brought Mr Nathan down. Being informed that +there was a servant girl in the kitchen, Wood took his crowbar, wrenched +up the grating, and brought the young woman out in safety. Now this I +give as a somewhat ordinary case. It involved danger; but not so much +as to warrant the bestowal of the silver medal. Nevertheless, Wood and +the policeman were awarded a written testimonial and a sum of money. + +I have had some correspondence with Conductor Wood, whose broad breast +was covered with medals and clasps won in the service of the F.E. +Society. At one fire he rushed up the escape before it was properly +pitched, and caught in his arms a man named Middleton as he was in the +act of jumping from a window. + +At another time, on arriving at a fire, he found that the family thought +all had escaped, "but," wrote the conductor to me, "they soon missed the +old grandmother.--I immediately broke the shop door open and passed +through to the first-floor landing, where I discovered the old lady +lying insensible. I placed her on my back, and crawled back to the +door, and I am happy to say she is alive now and doing well!" + +So risky was a conductor's work that sometimes he had to be rescued by +others--as the following extract will illustrate. It is from one of the +Society's reports:-- + + "CASE 10,620. + + "Awarded to James Griffin, Inspector of the K Division of Police, the + Society's Silver Medal, for the intrepid and valuable assistance + rendered to Fire Escape Conductor Rickell at a Fire at the `Rose and + Crown' public-house, Bridge Street, at one o'clock on the morning of + February 1st, when, but for his assistance there is little doubt that + the Conductor would have perished. On the arrival of Conductor + Rickell with the Mile End Fire Escape, not being satisfied that all + the inmates had escaped, the Conductor entered the house, the upper + part of which was burning fiercely; the Conductor not being seen for + some time, the Inspector called to him, and, not receiving an answer, + entered the house and ascended the stairs, and saw the Conductor lying + on the floor quite insensible. With some difficulty the Inspector + reached him, and, dragging him down the staircase, carried him into + the air, where he gradually recovered." + +While attending fires in London, I wore one of the black leather helmets +of the Salvage Corps. This had the double effect of protecting my head +from falling bricks, and enabling me to pass the cordon of police +unquestioned. + +After a night of it I was wont to return home about dawn, as few fires +occur after that. On these occasions I felt deeply grateful to the +keepers of small coffee-stalls, who, wheeling their entire shop and +stock-in-trade in a barrow, supplied early workmen with cups of hot +coffee at a halfpenny a piece, and slices of bread and butter for the +same modest sum. At such times I came to know that "man wants but +little here below," if he only gets it hot and substantial. + +Fire is such an important subject, and an element that any one may be +called on so suddenly and unexpectedly to face, that, at the risk of +being deemed presumptuous, I will, for a few minutes, turn aside from +these reminiscences to put a few plain questions to my reader. + +Has it ever occurred to you to think what you would do if your house +took fire at night? Do you know of any other mode of exit from your +house than by the front or back doors and the staircase? Have you a +rope at home which would support a man's weight, and extend from an +upper window to the ground? Nothing easier than to get and keep such a +rope. A few shillings would purchase it. Do you know how you would +attempt to throw water on the walls of one of your rooms, if it were on +fire near the ceiling? A tea-cup would be of no use! A sauce-pan would +not be much better. As for buckets or basins, the strongest man could +not heave such weights of water to the ceiling with any precision or +effect. But there are garden hand-pumps in every seedsman's shop with +which a man could deluge his property with the greatest ease. + +Do you know how to tie two blankets or sheets together, so that the knot +shall not slip? Your life may one day depend on such a simple piece of +knowledge. + +Still further, do you know that in retreating from room to room before a +fire you should shut doors and windows behind you to prevent the supply +of air which feeds the flames? Are you aware that by creeping on your +hands and knees, and keeping your head close to the ground, you can +manage to breathe in a room where the smoke would suffocate you if you +stood up?--also, that a wet sponge or handkerchief held over the mouth +and nose will enable you to breathe with less difficulty in the midst of +smoke?--Do you know that many persons, especially children, lose their +lives by being forgotten by the inmates of a house in cases of fire, and +that, if a fire came to you, you ought to see to it that every member of +your household is present to take advantage of any means of escape that +may be sent to you? + +These subjects deserve to be considered thoughtfully by every one, +especially by heads of families--not only for their own sakes, but for +the sake of those whom God has committed to their care. For suppose +that, (despite the improbability of such an event), your dwelling really +_did_ catch fire, how inconceivable would be the bitterness added to +your despair, if, in the midst of gathering smoke and flames--with death +staring you in the face, and rescue all but hopeless--you were compelled +to feel that you and yours might have escaped the impending danger if +you had only bestowed on fire-prevention, fire-extinction, and +fire-escape a very little forethought and consideration. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +A WAR OF MERCY. + +There is a great war in which the British Nation is at all times +engaged. + +No bright seasons of peace mark the course of this war. Year by year it +is waged unceasingly, though not at all times with the same fury, nor +always with the same results. + +Sometimes, as in ordinary warfare, there are minor skirmishes in which +many a deed of heroism is done, though not recorded, and there are +pitched battles in which all our resources are called into action, and +the papers teem with the news of the defeats, disasters, and victories +of the great fight. + +This war costs us hundreds of lives, thousands of ships, and millions of +money every year. Our undying and unconquerable enemy is the storm, and +our great engines of war with which, through the blessing of God, we are +enabled to fight more or less successfully against the foe, are the +Lifeboat and the Rocket. + +These engines, and the brave men who work them, are our sentinels of the +coast. When the storm is brewing; when grey clouds lower, and muttering +thunder comes rolling over the sea, men with hard hands and bronzed +faces, clad in oilskin coats and sou'westers, saunter down to our quays +and headlands, all round the kingdom. These are the Lifeboat crews on +the look-out. The enemy is moving, and the sentinels are being posted-- +or, rather, they are posting themselves--for the night, for all the +fighting men in this great war are volunteers. They need no drilling to +prepare them for the field; no bugle or drum to sound the charge. Their +drum is the rattling thunder, their trumpet the roaring storm. They +began to train for this warfare when they were not so tall as their +fathers' boots, and there are no awkward squads among them now. Their +organisation is rough and ready, like themselves, and simple too. The +heavens call them to action; the coxswain grasps the helm; the men seize +the oars; the word is given, and the rest is straightforward fighting-- +over everything, through everything, in the teeth of everything, until +the victory is gained, and rescued men and women and children are landed +in safety on our shores. + +In the winter of 1863 my enthusiasm in the Lifeboat cause was aroused by +the reading in the papers of that wonderful achievement of the famous +Ramsgate Lifeboat, which, on a terrible night in that year, fought +against the storm for sixteen hours, and rescued a hundred and twenty +souls from death. + +A strange fatality attaches to me somehow--namely, that whenever I have +an attack of enthusiasm, a book is the result! + +Immediately after reading this episode in the great war, I called on the +Secretary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, who kindly gave me +minute information as to the working of his Society, and lent me its +journals. + +Then I took train to the coast of Deal, and spent a considerable part of +the succeeding weeks in the company of Isaac Jarman--at that time the +coxswain of the Ramsgate Lifeboat, and the chief hero in many a gallant +fight with the sea. + +The splendid craft which he commanded was one of the self-righting, +insubmergible boats of the Institution. Jarman's opinion of her was +expressed in the words "she's parfect, sir, and if you tried to improve +her you'd only spile her." From him I obtained much information, and +many a yarn about his experiences on the famous and fatal Goodwin Sands, +which, if recorded, would fill a volume. Indeed a volume has already +been written about them, and other deeds of daring on those Sands, by +one of the clergymen of Ramsgate. + +I also saw the captain of the steam-tug that attends upon that boat. He +took me on board his vessel and showed me the gold and silver medals he +had received from his own nation, and from the monarchs of foreign +lands, for rescuing human lives. I chatted with the men of Deal whose +profession it is to work in the storm, and succour ships in distress, +and who have little to do but lounge on the beach and spin yarns when +the weather is fine. I also listened to the thrilling yarns of Jarman +until I felt a strong desire to go off with him to a wreck. This, +however, was not possible. No amateur is allowed to go off in the +Ramsgate boat on any pretext whatever, but the restriction is not so +absolute in regard to the steamer which attends on her. I obtained +leave to go out in this tug, which always lies with her fires banked up +ready to take the Lifeboat off to the sands, if her services should be +required. Jarman promised to rouse me if a summons should come. As in +cases of rescue from fire, speed is all-important. I slept for several +nights with my clothes on--boots and all--at the hotel nearest to the +harbour. But it was not to be. Night after night continued +exasperatingly calm. + +No gale would arise or wreck occur. This was trying, as I lay there, +wakeful and hopeful, with plenty of time to study the perplexing +question whether it is legitimate, under any circumstance, to wish for a +wreck or a fire! + +When patience was worn out I gave it up in despair. + +At another time, however, I had an opportunity of seeing the Lifeboat in +action. It was when I was spending a couple of weeks on board of the +"Gull" Lightship, which lies between Ramsgate and the Goodwins. + +A "dirty" day had culminated in a tempestuous night. The watch on deck, +clad in drenched oil-skins, was tramping overhead, rendering my repose +fitful. Suddenly he opened the skylight, and shouted that the Southsand +Head Lightship was firing, and sending up rockets. As this meant a +wreck on the sands we all rushed on deck, and saw the flare of a +tar-barrel in the far distance. Already our watch was loading, and +firing our signal-gun, and sending up rockets for the purpose of calling +off the Ramsgate Lifeboat. It chanced that the Broadstairs boat +observed the signals first, and, not long after, she flew past us under +sail, making for the wreck. + +A little later we saw the signal-light of the Ramsgate tug, looming +through the mist like the great eye of the storm-fiend. She ranged +close up, in order to ask whereaway the wreck was. Being answered, she +sheared off, and as she did so, the Lifeboat, towing astern, came full +into view. It seemed as if she had no crew, save only one man-- +doubtless my friend Jarman--holding the steering lines; but, on closer +inspection, we could see the men crouching down, like a mass of oilskin +coats and sou'westers. In a few minutes they were out of sight, and we +saw them no more, but afterwards heard that the wrecked crew had been +rescued and landed at Deal. + +In this manner I obtained information sufficient to enable me to write +_The Lifeboat: a Tale of our Coast Heroes_, and _The Floating Light of +the Goodwin Sands_. + +A curious coincidence occurred when I was engaged with the Lifeboat +story, which merits notice. + +Being much impressed with the value of the Lifeboat service to the +nation, I took to lecturing as well as writing on this subject. One +night, while in Edinburgh in the spring of 1866, a deputation of working +men, some of whom had become deeply interested in Lifeboat work, asked +me to re-deliver my lecture. I willingly agreed to do so, and the +result was that the working men of Edinburgh resolved to raise 400 +pounds among themselves, and present a boat to the Institution. They +set to work energetically; appointed a Committee, which met once a week; +divided the city into districts; canvassed all the principal trades and +workshops, and, before the year was out, had almost raised the necessary +funds. + +In the end, the boat was ordered and paid for, and sent to Edinburgh to +be exhibited. It was drawn by six magnificent horses through the +principal streets of the city, with a real lifeboat crew on board, in +their sou'westers and cork life-belts. Then it was launched in Saint +Margaret's Loch, at the foot of Arthur's Seat, where it was upset--with +great difficulty, by means of a large erection with blocks and ropes--in +order to show its self-righting and self-emptying qualities to the +thousands of spectators who crowded the hill-sides. + +At this time the good people of Glasgow had been smitten with a desire +to present a lifeboat to the Institution, and, in order to create an +interest in the movement, asked the loan of the Edinburgh boat for +exhibition. The boat was sent, and placed on view in a conspicuous part +of the city. + +Among the thousands who paid it a visit was a lady who took her little +boy to see it, and who dropped a contribution into the box, which stood +invitingly alongside. That lady was the wife of a sea-captain, who lost +his ship on the coast of Wigton, where the Edinburgh boat was stationed, +and whose life was saved by that identical boat. And not only so, but +the rescue was accomplished on the anniversary of the very day on which +his wife had put her contribution into the collecting-box! + +Sixteen lives were saved by it at that time, and, not long afterwards, +fourteen more people were rescued by it from the insatiable sea; so that +the working men of Edinburgh have reason to be thankful for the success +which has attended them in their effort to "rescue the perishing." + +Moreover, some time afterwards, the ladies of Edinburgh--smitten with +zeal for the cause of suffering humanity, and for the honour of their +"own romantic town"--put their pretty, if not lusty, shoulders to the +wheel, raised a thousand pounds, and endowed the boat, so that, with +God's blessing, it will remain in all time coming on that exposed coast, +ready for action in the good cause. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +DESCENT INTO THE CORNISH MINES. + +From Lighthouses, Lifeboats, and Fire-brigades into the tin and copper +mines of Cornwall is a rather violent leap, but by no means an +unpleasant one. + +In the year 1868 I took this leap when desirous of obtaining material +for _Deep Down: a Tale of the Cornish Mines_. + +For three months my wife and I stayed in the town of Saint Just, close +to the Land's End, during which time I visited some of the principal +mines in Cornwall; associated with the managers, "captains," and miners, +and tried my best to become acquainted with the circumstances of the +people. + +The Cornish tin trade is very old. In times so remote that historical +light is dim, the Phoenicians came in their galleys to trade with the +men of Cornwall for tin. + +Herodotus, (writing 450 years B.C.) mentions the tin islands of Britain +under the name of the _Cassiterides_ and Diodorus Siculus, (writing +about half a century B.C.), says: + +"The inhabitants of that extremity of Britain which is called Bolerion, +excel in hospitality, and also, by their intercourse with foreign +merchants, they are civilised in their mode of life. These prepare the +tin, working very skilfully the earth which produces it." + +There is said to be ground for believing that Cornish tin was used in +the construction of the temple of Jerusalem. At the present time the +men of Cornwall are to be found toiling, as did their forefathers in the +days of old, deep down in the bowels of the earth--and even out under +the bed of the sea--in quest of tin. + +"Tin, Copper, and Fish" is one of the standing toasts in Cornwall, and +in these three words lie the head, backbone, and tail of the county, the +sources of its wealth, and the objects of its energies. + +As my visit, however, was paid chiefly for the purpose of investigating +the mines, I will not touch on fish here. Having obtained introduction +to the managers of Botallack--the most famous of the Cornish Mines--I +was led through miles of subterranean tunnels and to depths profound, by +the obliging, amiable, and anecdotal Captain Jan--one of the "Captains" +or overseers of the mine. + +He was quite an original, this Captain Jan; a man who knew the forty +miles of underground workings in Botallack as well, I suppose, as a +postman knows his beat; a man who dived into the bowels of the earth +with the vigour and confidence of a mole and the simple-minded serenity +of a seraph. + +The land at this part of Cornwall is not picturesque, except at the +sea-cliffs, which rise somewhere about three hundred feet sheer out of +deep water, where there is usually no strip of beach to break the rush +of the great Atlantic billows that grind the rocks incessantly. + +The most prominent objects elsewhere are masses of debris; huge pieces +of worn-out machinery; tall chimneys and old engine-houses, with big +ungainly beams, or "bobs," projecting from them. These "bobs" are +attached to pumps which work continually to keep the mines dry. They +move up and down very slowly, with a pause between each stroke, as if +they were seriously considering whether it was worth while continuing +the dreary work any longer, and could not make up their minds on the +point. Their slow motions, however, give evidence of life and toil +below the surface. Other "bobs" standing idle tell of disappointed +hopes and broken fortunes. There are not a few such landmarks at the +Land's End--stern monitors, warning wild and wicked speculators to +beware. + +One day--it might have been night as far as our gloomy surroundings +indicated--Captain Jan and I were stumbling along one of the levels of +Botallack, I know not how many fathoms down. We wore miners' hats with +a candle stuck in front of each by means of a piece of clay. The hats +were thicker than a fireman's helmet, though by no means as elegant. +You might have plunged upon them head first without causing a dint. + +Captain Jan stopped beside some fallen rocks. We had been walking for +more than an hour in these subterranean labyrinths and felt inclined to +rest. + +"You were asking about the word _wheal_," said the captain, sticking his +candle against the wall of the level and sitting down on a ledge, "it do +signify a mine, as Wheal Frances, Wheal Owles, Wheal Edwards, and the +like. When Cornishmen do see a London Company start a mine on a grand +scale, with a deal of fuss and superficial show, and an imposing staff +of directors, etcetera, while, down in the mine itself, where the real +work ought to be done, perhaps only two men and a boy are known to be at +work, they shake their heads and button up their pockets; perhaps they +call the affair wheal _Do-em_, and when that mine stops, (becomes what +we call a `knacked bal') it may be styled wheal _Donem_!" + +A traveller chanced to pass a water-wheel not long ago, near Saint Just. + +"What's that?" he said to a miner who sat smoking his pipe beside it. + +"That, sur? why, that's a pump, that is." + +"What does it pump?" asked the traveller. + +"Pump, sur?" replied the man with a grim smile, "why, et do pump gold +out o' the Londoners!" + +There have been too many wheal _Do-ems_ in Cornwall. + +Botallack mine is not, I need scarcely say, a wheal Do-em. It is a +grand old mine--grand because its beginning is enveloped in the mists of +antiquity; because it affords now, and has afforded for ages back, +sustenance to hundreds of miners and their families, besides enriching +the country; because its situation on the wild cliffs is unusually +picturesque, and because its dark shafts and levels not only descend to +an immense depth below the surface, but extend far out under the bottom +of the sea. Its engine-houses and machinery are perched upon the edge +of a steep cliff, and scattered over its face and down among its dark +chasms in places where one would imagine that only a sea-gull would dare +to venture. + +Underground there exists a vast region of shafts and levels, or +tunnels--mostly low, narrow, and crooked places--in which men have to +stoop and walk with caution, and where they work by candlelight--a +region which is measured to the inch, and has all its parts mapped out +and named as carefully as are the fields above. Some idea of the extent +of this mine may be gathered from the fact that it is 245 fathoms, (1470 +feet), deep, and that all the levels put together form an amount of +cutting through almost solid granite equal to nearly 40 miles in extent. +The deepest part of the mine is that which lies under the bottom of the +sea, three-quarters of a mile from the shore; and, strange to say, that +is also the _driest_ part of the mine. The Great Eastern would find +depth of water sufficient to permit of her anchoring and floating +securely in places where miners are at work, blowing up the solid rock, +1470 feet below her keel--a depth so profound that the wildest waves +that ever burst upon the shore, or the loudest thunder that ever +reverberated among the cliffs, could not send down the faintest echo of +a sound. + +The ladder-way by which the men descend to their work is 1230 feet deep. +It takes half an hour to descend and an hour to climb to the surface. + +It was a bright morning in May when I walked over from Saint Just with +Captain Jan to pay my first underground visit to Botallack. + +Arrayed in the red-stained canvas coat and trousers of the mine, with a +candle stuck in the front of our very strong hats and three spare ones +each hung at our breasts, we proceeded to the ladder-way. This was a +small platform with a hole in it just big enough to admit a man, out of +which projected the head of a strong ladder. Before descending Captain +Jan glanced down the hole and listened to a distant, regular, clicking +sound--like the ticking of a clock. "A man coming up," said he, "we'll +wait a minute." + +I looked down, and, in the profound abyss, saw the twinkling of, +apparently, a little star. The steady click of the miner's nailed shoes +on the iron rounds of the ladder continued, and the star advanced, +until, by its feeble light I saw the hat to which it was attached. +Presently a man emerged from the hole, and raising himself erect, gave +vent to a long, deep-drawn sigh. It was, I may say, a suggestive sigh, +for there was a sense of intense relief conveyed by it. The man had +just completed an hour of steady, continuous climbing up the ladders, +after eight hours of night-work in impure atmosphere, and the first +great draught of the fresh air of heaven must have seemed like nectar to +his soul! His red garments were soaking, perspiration streamed from +every pore in his body, and washed the red earth in streaks down his +pale countenance. Although pale, however, the miner was strong and in +the prime of life. Chills and bad air, (the two great demons of the +mines), had not yet smitten his sturdy frame with "miner's complaint." +He looked tired, but not exhausted, and bestowed a grave glance on me +and a quiet nod on Captain Jan as he walked away to change his dress in +the drying-house. My contemplation of the retiring miner was +interrupted by Captain Jan saying--"I'll go first, sir, to catch you if +you should fall." This remark reminded me of many stories I had heard +of men "falling away from the ladders;" of beams breaking and letting +them tumble into awful gulfs; of stones giving way and coming down the +shafts like grape or cannon-shot, and the like. However, I stepped on +the ladder and prepared to follow my guide into the regions of +unchanging night! A few fathoms' descent brought us into twilight and +to a small platform on which the foot of the first ladder rested. +Through a hole in this the head of the second ladder appeared. + +Here we lighted the candles, for the next ladder--a longer one, 50 feet +or so--would have landed us in midnight darkness. Half way down it, I +looked up and saw the hole at the top like a large white star. At the +foot I looked up again, the star was gone, and I felt that we were at +last in a region where, (from the time of creation), sunlight had never +shone. Down, down, ever _downwards_, was the uppermost idea in my mind +for some time after that. Other thoughts there were, of course, but +that one of never-ending descent outweighed them all for a time. As we +got lower the temperature increased; then perspiration broke out. Never +having practised on the treadmill, my muscles ere long began to feel the +unwonted exercise, and I thought to myself, "If you are in this state so +soon, what will you be when you get to the bottom, and how will you get +up again?" + +At this point we reached the foot of another ladder, and Captain Jan +said, "We'll walk a bit in the level here and then go down the +pump-shaft." The change of posture and action in the level we had now +entered was agreeable, but the path was not a good one. It was an old, +low, and irregular level, with a rugged floor full of holes with water +in them, and with projections in the roof that rendered frequent +stooping necessary. The difficulty of one's progress in such places is +that, while you are looking out for your head, you stumble into the +holes, and when the holes claim attention you run your head against the +roof; but, thanks to the miner's hat, no evil follows. + +We were now in a region of profound _silence_! When we paused for a +minute to rest, it felt as if the silence of the tomb itself had +surrounded us--for not the faintest echo reached us from the world +above, and the miners at work below us were still far down out of +ear-shot. In a few seconds we came to a yawning hole in the path, +bridged by a single plank. Captain Jan crossed. "How deep is it?" I +asked, preparing to follow. "About 60 feet," said he, "it's a winze, +and goes down to the next level!" + +I held my breath and crossed with caution. + +"Are there many winzes, Captain Jan?" + +"Yes, dozens of 'em. There are nigh 40 miles of levels and lots of +winzes everywhere!" + +The possibility of anything happening to Captain Jan, and my light +getting blown out occurred to me, but I said nothing. When we had +walked a quarter of a mile in this level, we came to the point where it +entered the pump-shaft. The shaft itself was narrow--about 8 or 10 feet +in diameter--but everything in it was ponderous and gigantic. The +engine that drove the pump was 70 horse power; the pump-rod was a +succession of wooden beams, each like the ridge-pole of a house, jointed +together--a rugged affair, with iron bolts, and nuts, and projections at +the joints. In this shaft the kibbles were worked. These kibbles are +iron buckets by which ore is conveyed to the surface. Two are worked +together by a chain--one going up full while the other comes down empty. +Both are free to clatter about the shaft and bang against each other in +passing, but they are prevented from damaging the pump-rod by a wooden +partition. Between this partition and the pump was the ladder we had +now to descend, with just space for a man to pass. + +Captain Jan got upon it, and as he did so the pump went up, (a sweep of +10 or 12 feet), with a deep watery gurgle, as if a giant were being +throttled. As I got upon the ladder the pump came down with another +gurgle, close to my shoulder in passing. To avoid this I kept close to +the planks on the other side, but at that moment I heard a noise as if +of distant thunder. "It's only the kibbles," said Captain Jan. + +Up came one and down went the other, passing each other with a dire +crash, not far from where we stood, and causing me to shrink into the +smallest possible space. "There's no danger," said the Captain +encouragingly, "if you only keep cool and hold on." Water was coursing +freely down the shaft and spirting over us in fine spray, so that, ere +long, we were as wet and dirty as any miner in Botallack. At last we +reached the 120 fathom level, 720 feet from "grass." + +Here the Captain told me men were at work not far off and he wished to +visit them. "Would I wait where I was until he returned?" + +"What!" said I, "wait in a draughty level with an extinguishable candle +close to the main shaft, with 30 or 40 miles of levels around, and no +end of winzes? No, no, Captain Jan, go on; I'll stick to you _now_ +through thick and thin like your own shadow!" + +With one of his benignant smiles the captain resumed his progress. In a +few minutes I heard the clink of hammers, and, soon after, came to a +singular cavern. It was a place where the lode had been very wide and +rich. Years before it had been all cut away from level to level, +leaving a void space so high and deep that the rays of our candles were +lost in obscurity. We walked through it in mid-air, as it were, +supported on cross beams with planks laid thereon. Beyond this we came +to a spot where a number of miners were at work in various places and +positions. + +One, a big, broad-shouldered man named Dan, was seated on a wooden box +hammering at the rock with tremendous energy. With him Captain Jan +conversed a few minutes on the appearance of the lode, and then +whispered to me, "A good specimen of a man that, sir, and he's got an +uncommon large family,"--then, turning to the man--"I say, Dan, you've +got a biggish family, haven't you?" + +"Iss, a'w iss, Cap'n Jan, I've a braave lot o' child'n." + +"How many have you had altogether, Dan?" + +"I've had seventeen, sur, but ten of 'em's gone dead--only seven left. +My brother Jim, though, he's had more than me." + +After a few more words we left this man, and, in another place, found +this brother Jim, working in the roof of the level with several others. +They had cut so high up in a slanting direction that they appeared to be +in another chamber, which was brilliantly lighted with their candles. +Jim, stripped naked to the waist, stood on the end of a plank, hammering +violently. Looking up into his curious burrow, Captain Jan +shouted--"Hallo! Jim!" + +"Hallo, Captain Jan." + +"Here's a gentleman wants to know how many children you've had." + +"How many child'n, say 'ee? Why, I've had nineteen, sur, but there's +eleven of 'em gone dead. Seven of 'em did come in three years and a +half--_three doubles and a single_--but there's only eight of 'em alive +now!" + +I afterwards found that, although this man and his brother were +exceptions, the miners generally had very large families. + +While we were talking, a number of shots were heard going off in various +directions. This was explained by Captain Jan. All the forenoon the +miners employ their time in boring and charging the blast-holes. About +mid-day they fire them and then hasten to a clear part of the mine to +eat luncheon and smoke their pipes while the gunpowder smoke clears +away. This it does very slowly, taking sometimes more than an hour to +clear sufficiently so as to let the men resume work. + +Immediately after the shots were heard, the men began to assemble. They +emerged from the gloom on all sides like red hobgoblins--wet and +perspiring. Some walked out of darkness from either end of the level; +some stalked out from diverging levels; others slid, feet first, from +holes in the roof and sides, and some rose, head-foremost, from yawning +gulfs in the floor. They all saluted Captain Jan as they came up, and +each stuck his candle against the wall and sat down on a heap of wet +rubbish, to lunch. Some had Cornish pasty, and others a species of +heavy cake--so heavy that the fact of their being able to carry it at +all said much for their digestive organs--but most of them ate plain +bread, and all of them drank water which had been carried down from the +realms of light in little canteens. Frugal though the fare was, it +sufficed to brace them for the rest of the day's work. + +After a short talk with these men Captain Jan and I continued our +descent of the ladders--down we went, ever downwards, until at last we +reached the very bottom of that part of the mine--1230 feet below the +surface. + +Here we found only two men at work, with whom Captain Jan conversed for +a time while we rested, and then proceeded to ascend "to grass" by the +same ladder-ways. If I felt that the descent was like never getting to +the bottom, much more did the ascent seem like never getting to the top! + +I may remark here that the bottom which we had reached was not the +bottom under the sea. At another time Captain Jan took me to that +submarine cavern where, as I have said, no sound ever reaches the ear +from the world above. There is, however, a level close under the sea +where the roar of Ocean is distinctly heard. It is in a part of +Botallack Mine named Wheal Cock. It was very rich in copper ore, and +the miners worked at the roof of it so vigorously, that they began to +fear it would give way. One of them, therefore, in order to ascertain +what thickness of solid rock still lay between them and the sea, bored a +small hole upwards, and advanced about three feet or so before the water +rushed in. Of course they had a wooden plug ready and stopped up the +hole. But, as it was dangerous to cut away any more of the roof, they +were finally obliged unwillingly to forsake that part of the mine. + +This occurred some thirty years before my visit, yet when I went to see +the place, I found the wooden plug still hard and fast in the hole and +quite immoveable. As I stood and listened I could well understand the +anxiety of the miners, for at the upward rush of each wave, I could hear +the rattle of the boulders overhead, like monster cannon balls, and a +repetition of the thunder when the waves retreated. + +On our way up the ladders we stopped several times to rest. At such +times Captain Jan related various anecdotes illustrative of mining life. + +"This is a place," said he, on one occasion, "which reminds me of a man +who was always ready to go in for dangerous work. His name was Old +Maggot. He was not really old, but he had a son named after himself, +and his friends had to distinguish him from the young Maggot." + +So saying, Captain Jan trimmed his candle with nature's own pair of +snuffers--the finger and thumb--and proceeded as follows: + +"Some time ago the miners in Botallack came to an old deserted mine that +was full of water--this is what miners call a `_house of water_.' The +ore there was rich, but the men were afraid to work it lest they should +come suddenly on the old mine and break a hole through to it--in other +words `_hole to that house of water_.' They stopped working at last, +and no one seemed willing to run the risk of driving the hole and +letting out the water. In this difficulty they appealed to Old Maggot, +who at once agreed to do it. The old mine was about three-quarters of a +mile back from the sea-shore, but at that time it could only be got at +by entering the _adit_ level from the shore. It was through this level +that the water would have to escape. At the mouth of it a number of men +assembled to see Old Maggot go in. In he went, alone, with a bunch of +candles, and, as he walked along, he stuck a lighted candle every here +and there against the wall to light him out,--for he expected to have to +run for it. + +"When he came to the place, the water was spirting out everywhere. But +Old Maggot didn't mind. He grasped his hammer and borer and began. The +work was done sooner than he had expected! Suddenly the rock gave way +and the water burst upon him, putting out his candle and turning him +heels over head. He jumped up and tried to run, but the flood rose on +him, carried him off his legs, swept him right through the level, and +hurled him through the adit-mouth at last, upon the sea-shore! He was +stunned a little, but soon recovered, and, beyond a few bruises and a +wetting, was nothing the worse of his adventure. + +"_That_," said Captain Jan, pointing to the rock beside us, "was the +place where Old Maggot holed to the house of water, and _this_ was the +level through which he was washed and through part of which I will now +conduct you." + +Accordingly, we traversed the level, and, coming to another shaft, +continued our upward progress. + +While we were slowly toiling up, step by step, we were suddenly arrested +by the sound of voices singing in the far distance above us. The music +was slow and solemn. Coming as it did so unexpectedly in such a strange +place, it sounded quite magical and inexpressibly sweet. + +"Miners descending to work," said my guide, as we listened. The air was +familiar to me, and, as it grew louder and louder, I recognised that +beautiful tune called "French," to which we are accustomed to sing the +121st Psalm, "I to the hills will lift mine eyes." Gradually the men +came down to us. We stood on one side. As they passed they ceased +singing and nodded to Captain Jan. There were five or six stout fellows +and a boy. The latter was as active as his companions, and his treble +voice mingled tunefully with theirs as they continued the descent, and +resumed the psalm, keeping time to the slow measured tread of their +steps. We watched until their lights disappeared, and then resumed our +upward way, while the sweet strains grew fainter and fainter, until they +were gradually lost in the depths below. The pleasant memory of that +psalm still remained with me, when I emerged from the ladder-shaft of +Botallack mine, and--after having been five hours underground--once more +drank in, (with a new and intensified power of appreciation), the fresh +air of heaven and the blessed influences of green fields and sunshine. + +To many a weird and curious part of the great mine did the obliging +Captain Jan lead me, but perhaps the most interesting part was the +lowest depth under the sea, to which my wife accompanied us. This part +is reached by the Boscawen shaft, a sloping one which the men descend in +an iron car or gig. The car is let down and hauled up by an iron rope. +Once this rope broke, the car flew to the bottom, was dashed against the +rock, and all the men--eight in number--were killed. + +In 1865 the Prince and Princess of Wales descended this shaft, and +Captain Jan was their amiable, not to say eccentric, guide. The Captain +was particularly enthusiastic in praise of the Princess. He said that +she was a "fine intelligent young lady; that she asked no end of +questions, would not rest until she understood everything, and +afterwards undertook to explain it all to her less-informed companions." +A somewhat amusing incident occurred while they were underground. + +When about to begin his duty as guide it suddenly flashed across the +mind of poor Captain Jan that, in the excitement of the occasion, he had +forgotten to take gloves with him. He was about to lead the Princess by +the hand over the rugged floors of the levels. To offer to do so +without gloves was not to be thought of. To procure gloves 200 fathoms +below the sea was impossible. To borrow from the Prince or the Duke of +Sutherland, who were of the party, was out of the question. What was he +to do? Suddenly he remembered that he had a newspaper in his pocket. +In desperation he wrapped his right hand in a piece of this, and, thus +covered, held it out to the Princess. She, innocently supposing that +the paper was held up to be looked at, attempted to read. This +compelled Captain Jan to explain himself, whereupon she burst into a +hearty fit of laughter, and, flinging away the paper, took the ungloved +hand of the loyal but bashful miner. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE LAND OF THE VIKINGS. + +To this romantic land of mountain and flood I paid four visits at +various times. These were meant as holiday and fishing rambles, but +were also utilised to gather material for future books. + +Norway, as every one knows, was the land of the ancient Vikings--those +grand old rascally freebooters--whose indomitable pluck carried them in +their open galleys, (little better than big boats), all round the coasts +of Europe, across the unknown sea to Iceland, and even to the shores of +America itself, before the other nations dreamed of such a continent, +and long before Columbus was born; who possessed a literature long +before we did; whose blood we Britons carry in our veins; and from whom +we have inherited many of our best laws, much of our nautical +enterprise, and not a little of our mischief and pugnacity. + +Norway, too, is the land where Liberty once found refuge in distress,-- +that much abused goddess, whom, since the fall of Adam and Eve, License +has been endeavouring to defame, and Tyranny to murder, but who is still +alive and kicking--ay, and will continue to kick and flourish in spite +of all her enemies! Liberty found a home, and a rough welcome, strange +to say, among those pagans of the North, at a time when she was banished +from every other spot, even from the so-called Christian states in +Europe. + +No wonder that that grand old country with its towering snow-clad +mountains, its mighty fords, its lonesome glens and its historical +memories should be styled "_gamle Norge_" (old Norway--as we speak of +old England), with feelings of affection by its energetic and now +peaceful inhabitants. + +I was privileged to go to Norway as one of a yachting party. There were +twelve of us altogether, three ladies, three gentlemen, and a crew of +six sailors. Our object was to see the land and take what of amusement, +discomfort, or otherwise might chance to come in our way. We had a +rough passage over, and were very sick, sailors included! except the +captain, an old Scotch highlander who may be described as a compound of +obstinacy and gutta-percha. It took us four days to cross. We studied +the Norse language till we became sea-sick, wished for land till we got +well, then resumed the study of Norse until we sighted the outlying +islands and finally cast anchor in the quaint old city and port of +Bergen. + +Now, it is well to admit at once that some of us were poor linguists; +but it is only just to add that we could not be expected to learn much +of any language in four days during intervals of internal derangement! +However, it is curious to observe how very small an amount of Norse will +suffice for ordinary travellers--especially for Scotchmen. The Danish +language is the vernacular tongue of Norway and there is a strong +affinity between Danish, (or Norse), and broad Scotch. Roughly +speaking, I should say that a mixture of three words of Norse to two of +broad Scotch, with a powerful emphasis and a strong infusion of +impudence, will carry you from the Naze to the North Cape in perfect +comfort. + +Bergen is a most interesting city, and our party had many small +adventures in it, which, however, I will not touch on here. But one +scene--the fish-market--must not be passed over. + +There must certainly be something in the atmosphere of a fish-market +which tends to call forth the mental and physical energies of mankind, +(perhaps I should rather say of _womankind_), and which calls forth a +tremendous flow of abusive language. Billingsgate is notorious, but I +think that the Bergen fish-market beats it hollow. One or two phases of +the national character are there displayed in perfection. It is the +Billingsgate of Norway--the spot where Norse females are roused to a +pitch of frenzy that is not equalled, I believe, in any other country. + +There are one or two peculiarities about the Bergen market, too, which +are noteworthy, and which account in some degree for the frantic +excitement that reigns there. The sellers of the fish, in the first +place, are not women but men. The pier and fleet of boats beside it +constitute the market-place. The fishermen row their cargoes of fish +direct from the sea to the pier, and there transact sales. There is a +stout iron railing along the edge of that pier--a most needful +safeguard--over which the servant girls of the town lean and look down +at the fishermen, who look up at them with a calm serio-comic +"don't-you-wish-you-may-get-it" expression that is deeply impressive. +Bargains, of course, are not easily made, and it is in attempting to +make these that all the hubbub occurs. The noise is all on the women's +side. The men, secure in their floating position, and certain of +ultimate success, pay very little attention to the flaxen-haired, +blue-eyed damsels who shout at them like maniacs, waving their arms, +shaking their fists, snapping their fingers, and flourishing their +umbrellas! They all carry umbrellas--cotton ones--of every colour in +the rainbow, chiefly pink and sky-blue, for Bergen is celebrated as +being the most rainy city in Europe. + +The shouting of the girls is not only a safety-valve to their feelings, +but is absolutely necessary in order to attract the attention of the +men. As 15 or 20 of them usually scream at once, it is only she who +screams loudest and flourishes her umbrella most vigorously that can +obtain a hearing. The calm unruffled demeanour of the men is as much a +feature in the scene as is the frenzy of the women. + +During one of my visits I saw a fisherman there who was the most +interesting specimen of cool impudence I ever encountered. He wore a +blue coat, knee-breeches, white worsted stockings, and on his head of +long yellow hair a red night-cap with a tall hat on top of all. When I +discovered him he was looking up with a grave sarcastic expression into +the flushed countenance of a stout, blue-eyed lass who had just eagerly +offered him _syv skillings_ (seven skillings), for a lot of fish. That +was about 3 and a half pence, the skilling being half a penny. The man +had declined by look, not by tongue, and the girl began to grow angry. + +"Haere du, fiskman," (hear you, fisherman), she cried, "vil du har otte +skillings?" (will you have eight skillings?) + +The fisherman turned away and gazed out to sea. The girl grew crimson +in the face at this. + +"Fiskman, fiskman!" she cried, "vil du har _ni_ (nine) skillings?" + +The fisherman kicked out of the way a lobster that was crawling too near +his naked toes, and began to bale out the boat. The girl now seemed to +become furious. Her blue eyes flashed like those of a tiger. She +gasped for breath, while her cotton umbrella flashed over the +fisherman's head like a pink meteor. Had that umbrella been only a foot +longer the tall black hat would have come to grief undoubtedly. +Suddenly she paused, and in a tone of the deepest solemnity, said-- + +"Haere du, fiskman, vil du har ti (ten) shillings?" + +The rock of Gibraltar is not more unyielding than was that "fiskman." +He took off his hat, removed his night-cap, smoothed his yellow hair, +and wiped his forehead; then, replacing the cap and hat, he thrust both +hands into his coat pockets, turned his back on the entire market, and +began to whistle. + +This was too much! It was past female endurance! The girl turned +round, scattered the bystanders right and left, and fled as if she had +resolved then and there to dash out her brains on the first post she +met, and so have done with men and fish for ever. But she was not done +with them yet! The spell was still upon her. Ere she had got a dozen +yards away she paused, stood one moment in uncertainty, and then rushing +back forced her way to the old position, and shouted in a tone that +might have moved the hearts even of the dead fish-- + +"Fiskman, here du, vil du hav tolve?" + +"Tolve" (or twelve) skillings was apparently not quite the sum he meant +to take; but he could hold out no longer--he wavered--and the instant +man wavers, woman's victory is gained! Smiling benignly he handed up +the fish to the girl, and held out his baling dish for the money. + +The storm was over! The girl walked off in triumph with her fish, not a +trace of her late excitement visible, the pink cotton umbrella tucked +under her arm, and her face beaming with the consciousness of having +conquered a "_fiskman_" in fair and open fight! + +Steamers ply regularly between the north and south of Norway in summer, +and an excursion in one of these is very enjoyable, not only on account +of the scenery, but because of the opportunity afforded of making the +acquaintance of the people. I once made a voyage in one of those +steamers from the Nordfjord to Bergen, and one thing struck me very +particularly on that occasion, namely, the _quietness_ that seemed to be +cultivated by the people as if it were a virtue. I do not mean to say +that the passengers and crew were taciturn--far from it. They bustled +about actively; they were quite sociable and talkative, but no voice was +ever raised to a loud pitch. Even the captain gave his orders in a +quiet tone. Whether this quietness of demeanour is peculiar to +Norwegian steamers in general, or was a feature of this steamer in +particular, I am not prepared to say. I can only state the fact of the +prevailing quietude on that particular occasion without pretending to +explain it. + +The state of quiescence culminated at the dinner-table, for there the +silence was total! I never saw anything like it! When we had all +assembled in the cabin, at the almost whispered invitation of the +steward, and had stood for a few minutes looking benign and expectant, +but not talking, the captain entered, bowed to the company, was bowed to +by the company, motioned us to our seats, whispered "_ver so goot_," and +sat down. + +Now this phrase "_ver so goot_" merits particular notice. It is an +expression that seems to me capable of extension and distension. It is +a flexible, comfortable, jovial, rollicking expression. To give a +perfect translation of it is not easy; but I cannot think of a better +way of conveying its meaning, than by saying that it is a compound of +the phrases--"be so good," "by your leave," "what's your will," "bless +your heart," "all serene," and "that's your sort!" + +The first of these, "be so good," is the literal translation--the others +are the super-induced sentiments, resulting from the tone and manner in +which it is said. You may rely on it, that, when a Norwegian offers you +anything and says _ver so goot_, he means you well and hopes you will +make yourself comfortable. + +Well, there was no carving at that dinner. The dishes were handed round +by waiters. First we had very thin rice soup with wine and raisins in +it--the eating of which seemed to me like spoiling one's dinner with a +bad pudding. This finished, the plates were removed. "_Now_," thought +I, "surely some one will converse with his neighbour during this +interval." No! not a lip moved! I looked at my right and left-hand +men; I thought, for a moment, of venturing out upon the unknown deep of +a foreign tongue, and cleared my throat for that purpose, but every eye +was on me in an instant; and the sound of my own voice, even in that +familiar process, was so appalling that I said nothing! I looked at a +pretty girl opposite me. I felt certain that the youth beside her was +about to speak--he looked as if he meant to, but he didn't. In a few +minutes the next course came on. This was a dish like bread-pudding, +minus currants and raisins; it looked like a sweet dish, but it turned +out to be salt,--and pure melted butter, without any admixture of flour +or water, was handed round as sauce. After this came veal and beef +cutlets, which were eaten with cranberry jam, pickles, and potatoes. +Fourth and last came a course of cold sponge-cake, with almonds and +raisins stewed over it, so that, when we had eaten the cake as a sort of +cold pudding, we slid, naturally and pleasantly, into dessert, without +the delay of a change of plates. + +There was no remaining to drink at that dinner. When the last knife and +fork were laid down, we all rose simultaneously, and then a general +process of bowing ensued. + +In regard to this proceeding I have never been able to arrive at a clear +understanding, as to what was actually done or intended to be done, but +my impression is, that each bowed to the other, and all bowed to the +captain; then the captain bowed to each individually and to all +collectively, after which a comprehensive bow was made by everybody to +all the rest all round--and then we went on deck to smoke. As each +guest passed out, he or she said to the captain, "_tak for mad_," which +is a manner and custom, and means "_thanks for meat_." With the +exception of these three words, not a single syllable, to the best of my +belief, was uttered by any one during the whole course of that meal! + +Of course the gentlemen of our party performed many wonderful exploits +in fishing, for sea-trout and salmon abound in Norway, and the river +beds are very rugged. + +In that land fishing cannot be styled the "gentle art." It is a +tearing, wearing, rasping style of work. An account of the catching of +one fish will prove this. + +One morning I had gone off to fish by myself, with a Norwegian youth to +gaff and carry the fish. Coming to a sort of weir, with a deep pool +above and a riotous rapid below, I put on a salmon fly and cast into the +pool. At once a fish rose and was hooked. It was not a big one--only +12 pounds or thereabouts--but quite big enough to break rod and line if +not played respectfully. + +For some time, as is usual with salmon, he rushed about the pool, leaped +out of the water, and bored up stream. Then he took to going down +stream steadily. Now this was awkward, for when a fish of even that +size resolves to go down stream, nothing can stop him. My efforts were +directed to turning him before he reached the rapid, for, once into +that, I should be compelled to follow him or break the line--perhaps the +rod also. + +At last he reached the head of the rapid. I put on a heavy strain. The +rod bent like a hoop and finally began to crack, so I was compelled to +let him go. + +At the lower end of the pool there was a sort of dam, along which I ran, +but soon came to the end of it, where it was impossible to reach the +shore owing to the dense bushes which overhung the stream. But the fish +was now in the rapid and was forced down by the foaming water. Being +very unwilling to break the line or lose the fish, I went slowly into +the rapid until the water reached the top of my long wading boots-- +another step and it was over them, but that salmon would not--indeed +could not--stop. The water filled my boots at once, and felt very cold +at first, but soon became warm, and each boot was converted into a +warmish bath, in which the legs felt reasonably comfortable. + +I was reckless now, and went on, step by step, until I was up to the +waist, then to the arm-pits, and then I spread out one arm and swam off +while with the other I held up the rod. + +The rapid was strong but deep, so that nothing obstructed me till I +reached the lower end, when a rock caught my legs and threw me into a +horizontal position, with the rod flat on the water. I was thrown +against the bank, where my Norwegian boy was standing mouth open, eyes +blazing, and hand extended to help me out. + +When I stood panting on the bank, I found that the fish was still on and +still inclined to descend, but I found that I could not follow, for my +legs were heavy as lead--the boots being full of water. To take the +latter off in a hurry and empty them was impossible. To think of losing +the fish after all was maddening. Suddenly a happy thought struck me. +Handing the rod to the boy I lay down on my back, cocked my legs in the +air, and the water ran like a deluge out at the back of my neck! Much +relieved, I resumed the rod, but now I found that the fish had taken to +sulking. + +This sulking is very perplexing, for the fish bores its nose into some +deep spot below a stone, and refuses to budge. Pulling him this way and +that way had no effect. Jerking him was useless. Even throwing stones +at him was of no avail. I know not how long he kept me there, but at +last I lost patience, and resolved to force him out, or break the line. +But the line was so good and strong that it caused the rod to show +symptoms of giving way. + +Just then it struck me that as there were several posts of an old weir +in the middle of the stream, he must have twisted the line round one of +these, broken himself off and left me attached to it! I made up my mind +therefore to wade out to the old weir, and unwind the line, and gave the +rod to the boy to hold while I did so. + +The water was deep. It took me nearly up to the neck before I reached +the shallow just above the posts, but, being thoroughly wet, that did +not matter. + +On reaching the post, and unwinding the line, I found to my surprise +that the fish was still there. At first I thought of letting go the +line, and leaving the boy to play him; "but," thought I, "the boy will +be sure to lose him," so I held on to the line, and played it with my +hands. Gradually the fish was tired out. I drew him slowly to my side, +and gaffed him in four feet of water. + +Even then I was not sure of him, for when I got him under one arm he +wriggled violently, so that it was difficult to wade ashore with him. +In this difficulty I took him to a place where the shoal in the middle +of the stream was about three inches deep. There I lay down on him, +picked up a stone and hammered his head with it, while the purling water +rippled pleasantly over my face. + +The whole of this operation took me upwards of two hours. It will be +seen, therefore, that fishing in Norway, as I have said, cannot be +called "the gentle art." + +One extremely interesting excursion that we made was to a place named +the Esse Fjord. The natives here were very hospitable and kind. +Besides that, they were fat! It would almost seem as if fat and +good-humour were invariably united; for nearly all the natives of the +Esse Fjord were good-humoured and stout! + +The language at this place perplexed me not a little. Nevertheless the +old proverb, "where there's a will there's a way," held good, for the +way in which I conversed with the natives of that region was astounding +even to myself. + +One bluff, good-humoured fellow took me off to see his house and family. +I may as well admit, here, that I am not a good linguist, and usually +left our ladies to do the talking! But on this occasion I found myself, +for the first time, alone with a Norwegian! fairly left to my own +resources. + +Well, I began by stringing together all the Norse I knew, (which wasn't +much), and endeavoured to look as if I knew a great deal more. But I +soon found that the list of sentences, which I had learned from Murray's +_Handbook_, did not avail much in a lengthened conversation. My speech +quickly degenerated into sounds that were almost unintelligible to +either my new friend or myself! and I terminated at last in a mixture of +bad Norse and broad Scotch. I have already remarked on the strong +family-likeness between Norse and broad Scotch. Here are a few +specimens. + +They call a cow a _coo_! A house is a _hoose_, and a mouse is a +_moose_! _Gaae til land_, is go to land, or go ashore. _Tak ain stole_ +is take a stool, or sit down. Vil du tak am dram? scarcely needs +translation--will you take a dram! and the usual answer to that question +is equally clear and emphatic--"Ya, jeg vil tak am dram!" One day our +pilot saw the boat of a fisherman, (or fiskman), not far off. He knew +we wanted fish, so, putting his hands to his mouth, he shouted "Fiskman! +har du fisk to sell?" If you talk of bathing, they will advise you to +"dook oonder;" and should a mother present her baby to you, she will +call it her "smook barn"--her pretty bairn--smook being the Norse word +for "pretty," and _barn_ for child; and it is a curious fact, worthy of +particular note, that all the mothers in Norway think their bairns +smook--very smook! and they never hesitate to tell you so--why, I cannot +imagine, unless it be that if you were not told you would not be likely +to find it out for yourself. + +Despite our difficulty of communication, my fat friend and I soon became +very amicable and talkative. He told me no end of stories, of which I +did not comprehend a sentence, but looked as if I did--smiled, nodded my +head, and said "ya, ya,"--to which he always replied "ya, ya,"--waving +his arms, and slapping his breast, and rolling his eyes, as he bustled +along beside me towards his dwelling. The house was perched on a rock +close to the water's edge. Here my host found another subject to +expatiate upon and dance round, in the shape of his own baby, a soft, +smooth, little imitation of himself, which lay sleeping in its crib, +like a small cupid. The man was evidently extremely fond of this +infant. He went quite into ecstasies about it; now gazing at it with +looks of pensive admiration; anon, starting and looking at me as if to +say, "_Did you ever, in all your life, see such a beautiful cherub_?" +The man's enthusiasm was really catching--I began to feel quite a +fatherly interest in the cherub myself. + +"Oh!" he cried, in rapture, "det er smook barn!" + +"Ya, ya," said I, "megit smook," (very pretty)--although I must confess +that _smoked_ bairn would have been nearer the mark, for it was as brown +as a red-herring. + +I spent an agreeable, though I must confess mentally confused, afternoon +with this gentleman, who, (when he succeeded in tearing himself away +from that much-loved and megit smook barn), introduced me to his two +sisters, who were stout and good-humoured like himself. They treated me +to a cup of excellent coffee, and to a good deal more of +incomprehensible conversation. Altogether, the natives of the Esse +Fjord made a deep impression on us, and we parted from their grand and +gloomy but hospitable shores with much regret. + +I had hoped, good reader, to have jotted down some more of my personal +reminiscences of travel--in Algiers, the "Pirate City," at the Cape of +Good Hope, and elsewhere--but bad health is not to be denied, and I find +that I must hold my hand. + +Perchance this may be no misfortune, for possibly the "garrulity of age" +is descending on me! + +Before closing this sketch, however, I would say briefly, that in all my +writings I have always tried--how far successfully I know not--to +advance the cause of Truth and Light, and to induce my readers to put +their trust in the love of God our Saviour, for this life as well as the +life to come. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE BURGLARS AND THE PARSON. + +A Country mansion in the south of England. The sun rising over a +laurel-hedge, flooding the ivy-covered walls with light, and blazing in +at the large bay-window of the dining-room. + +"Take my word for it, Robin, if ever this 'ouse is broke into, it will +be by the dinin'-room winder." + +So spake the gardener of the mansion--which was also the parsonage--to +his young assistant as they passed one morning in front of the window in +question. "For why?" he continued; "the winder is low, an' the catches +ain't overstrong, an there's no bells on the shutters, an' it lies handy +to the wall o' the back lane." + +To this Robin made no response, for Robin was young and phlegmatic. He +was also strong. + +The gardener, Simon by name, was not one of the prophets--though in +regard to the weather and morals he considered himself one--but if any +person had chanced to overhear the conversation of two men seated in a +neighbouring public-house that morning, that person would have inclined +to give the gardener credit for some sort of second sight. + +"Bill," growled one of the said men, over his beer, in a low, almost +inaudible tone, "I've bin up to look at the 'ouse, an' the dinin'-room +winder'll be as easy to open as a door on the latch. I had a good look +at it." + +"You are the man for cheek an' pluck," growled the other man, over his +beer, with a glance of admiration at his comrade. "How ever did you +manage it, Dick?" + +"The usual way, in course. Comed it soft over the 'ousemaid; said I was +a gardener in search of a job, an' would she mind tellin' me where the +head-gardener was? You see, Bill, I had twigged him in front o' the +'ouse five minutes before. `I don't know as he's got any odd jobs to +give 'ee,' says she; `but he's in the front garden at this minute. If +you goes round, you'll find him.' `Hall right, my dear,' says I; an' +away I goes right round past the dinin'-room winder, where I stops an' +looks about, like as if I was awful anxious to find somebody. In coorse +I glanced in, an' saw the fastenin's. + +"They couldn't keep out a babby! Sideboard all right at the t'other +end, with a lookin'-glass over it--to help folk, I fancy, to see what +they look like w'en they're a-eatin' their wittles. Anyhow, it helped +me to see the gardener comin' up one o' the side walks; so I wheels +about double quick, an' looked pleased to see him. + +"`Hallo!' cries he. + +"`I was lookin' for you,' says I, quite easy like. + +"`Did you expect to find me in the dinin'-room?' says he. + +"`Not just that,' says I, `but it's nat'ral for a feller to look at a +'andsome room w'en he chances to pass it.' + +"`Ah,' says he, in a sort o' way as I didn't quite like. `What d'ee +want wi' me?' + +"`I wants a job,' says I. + +"`Are you a gardener?' he axed. + +"`Yes--leastwise,' says I, `I've worked a goodish bit in gardings in my +time, an' can turn my 'and to a'most anythink.' + +"`Oh,' says he. `Look 'ere, my man, what d'ee call that there tree?' +He p'inted to one close alongside. + +"`That?' says I. `Well, it--it looks uncommon like a happle.' + +"`Do it?' says he. `Now look 'ere, you be off as fast as your legs can +take you, or I'll set the 'ousedog at 'ee.' + +"W'en he said that, Bill, I do assure you, lad, that my experience in +the ring seemed to fly into my knuckles, an' it was as much as ever I +could do to keep my left off his nob and my right out of his +breadbasket. But I restrained myself. If there's one thing I'm proud +of, Bill, it's the wirtue o' self-restraint in the way o' business. I +wheeled about, held up my nose, an' walked off wi' the air of a dook. +You see, I didn't want for to have no more words wi' the gardener,--for +why? because I'd seen all I wanted to see--d'ee see? But there was +one--no, two--things I saw which it was as well I did see." + +"An' what was they?" asked Bill. + +"Two statters." + +"An' what are statters?" + +"Man alive I don't ye know? It's them things that they make out o' +stone, an' marable, an' chalk--sometimes men, sometimes women, sometimes +babbies, an' mostly with no clo'es on to speak of--" + +"Oh! I know; but _I_ call 'em statoos. Fire away, Dick; what see'd you +about the statoos?" + +"Why, I see'd that they wasn't made in the usual way of stone or chalk, +but of iron. I have heerd say that sodgers long ago used to fight in +them sort o' dresses, though I don't believe it myself. Anyhow, there +they was, the two of 'em, one on each side of the winder, that stiff +that they could stand without nobody inside of 'em, an' one of 'em with +a big thing on his shoulder, as if he wor ready to smash somebody over +the head. I thought to myself if you an' me, Bill, had come on 'em +unbeknown like, we'd ha' got such a start as might have caused us to +make a noise. But I hadn't time to think much, for it was just then I +got sight o' the gardener." + +"Now my plan is," continued Dick, swigging off his beer, and lowering +his voice to a still more confidential tone, as he looked cautiously +round, "my plan is to hang about here till dark, then take to the +nearest plantation, an' wait till the moon goes down, which will be +about two o'clock i' the mornin'--when it will be about time for us to +go in and win." + +"All right," said Bill, who was not loquacious. + +But Bill was mistaken, for it was all wrong. + +There was indeed no one in the public at that early hour of the day to +overhear the muttered conversation of the plotters, and the box in which +they sat was too remote from the bar to permit of their words being +overheard, but there was a broken pane of glass in a window at their +elbow, with a seat outside immediately below it. Just before the +burglars entered the house they had observed this seat, and noticed that +no one was on it; but they failed to note that a small, sleepy-headed +pot-boy lay at full length underneath it, basking in the sunshine and +meditating on nothing--that is, nothing in particular. + +At first little Pat paid no attention to the monotonous voices that +growled softly over his head, but one or two words that he caught +induced him to open his eyes very wide, rise softly from his lair and +sit down on the seat, cock one ear intelligently upward, and remain so +absolutely motionless that Dick, had he seen him, might have mistaken +him for a very perfect human "statter." + +When little Pat thought that he had heard enough, he slid off the seat, +crawled close along the side of the house, doubled round the corner, +rose up, and ran off towards the parsonage as fast as his little legs +could go. + +The Reverend Theophilus Stronghand was a younger son of a family so old +that those families which "came over with the Conqueror" were mere +moderns in comparison. Its origin, indeed, is lost in those mists of +antiquity which have already swallowed up so many millions of the human +race, and seem destined to go on swallowing, with ever-increasing +appetite, to the end of time. The Stronghands were great warriors--of +course. They could hardly have developed into a family otherwise. The +Reverend Theophilus, however, was a man of peace. We do not say this to +his disparagement. He was by no means a degenerate son of the family. +Physically he was powerful, broad and tall, and his courage was high; +but spiritually he was gentle, and in manner urbane. He drew to the +church as naturally as a duck draws to the water, and did not by any +means grudge to his elder brothers the army, the navy, and the Bar. + +One of his pet theories was, to overcome by love, and he carried this +theory into practice with considerable success. + +Perhaps no one put this theory to the test more severely or frequently +than his only son Harry. War had been that young gentleman's chief joy +in life from the cradle. He began by shaking his fat fists at the +Universe in general. War-to-the-knife with nurse was the chronic +condition of a stormy childhood. Intermittent warfare with his only +sister Emmie chequered the sky of his early boyhood, and a decided +tendency to disobey wrung the soul of his poor mother, and was the cause +of no little anxiety to his father; while mischief, pure and simple for +its own sake, was the cherished object of his life. Nevertheless, Harry +Stronghand was a lovable boy, and love was the only power that could +sway him. + +The lad grew better as he grew older. Love began to gain the day, and +peace began--slowly at first--to descend on the parsonage; but the +desire for mischief--which the boy named "fun"--had not been quite +dislodged at the time we write of. As Harry had reached the age of +fifteen, feared nothing, and was quick-witted and ingenious, his +occasional devices not only got him into frequent hot water, but were +the source of some amusement to his people--and he still pretty well +ruled his easy-going father and the house generally with a rod of iron. + +It was to Harry Stronghand that little Pat directed his steps, after +overhearing the conversation which we have related. Pat knew that the +son of the parsonage was a hero, and, in his opinion, the most +intelligent member of the family, and the best fitted to cope with the +facts which he had to reveal. He met the object of his search on the +road. + +"Plaze yer honour," said Pat--who was an Irishman, and therefore +"honoured" everybody--"there's two tramps at the public as is plottin' +to break into your house i' the mornin'." + +"You don't mean it, do you?" returned Harry, with a smile and raised +eyebrows. + +"That's just what I do, yer honour. I heard 'em reel off the whole +plan." + +Hereupon the boy related all that he knew to the youth, who leaned +against a gate and nodded his curly head approvingly until the story was +finished. + +"You've not mentioned this to any one, have you, Pat?" + +"Niver a sowl but yersilf, sir." + +"You're a sensible boy, Pat. Here's a shilling for you--and, look here, +Pat, if you keep dark upon the matter till after breakfast to-morrow and +don't open your lips to a living soul about it, I'll give you half a +crown." + +"Thank yer honour." + +"Now mind--no hints to the police; no remarks to your master. Be dumb, +in fact, from this moment, else I won't give you a penny." + +"Sure I've forgot all about it already, sir," said the boy, with a wink +so expressive that Harry felt his word to be as good as his bond, and +went back to the parsonage laughing. + +Arrived there, he went in search of his sister, but found that she was +out. + +"Just as well," he muttered, descending to the dining-room with his +hands deep in his pockets, a pleased expression on his handsome mouth, +and a stern frown on his brows. "It would not be safe to make a +confidant of her in so delicate a matter. No, I'll do it all alone. +But how to do it? That is the question. Shall I invite the aid of the +police? Perish the thought! Shall I consult the Pater? Better not. +The dear, self-devoted man might take it out of my hands altogether." + +Harry paused in profound meditation. He was standing near the window at +the time, with the "statters" on either hand of him. + +They were complete suits of armour--one representing a knight in plate +armour, the other a Crusader in chain-mail. Both had been in the family +since two of the Stronghand warriors had followed Richard of the Lion +Heart to the East. As the eldest brother of the Reverend Theophilus was +in India, the second was on the deep, and the lawyer was dead, the iron +shells of the ancient warriors had naturally found a resting-place in +the parsonage, along with several family portraits, which seemed to show +that the males of the race were prone to look very stern, and to stand +in the neighbourhood of pillars and red curtains in very dark weather, +while the females were addicted to old lace, scant clothing, and benign +smiles. One of the warriors stood contemplatively leaning on his sword. +The other rested a heavy mace on his shoulder, as if he still retained +a faint hope that something might turn up to justify his striking yet +one more blow. + +"What would you advise, old man?" said Harry, glancing up at the +Crusader with the mace. + +The question was put gravely, for, ever since he could walk or do +anything, the boy had amused himself by putting free-and-easy questions +to the suits of armour, or defying them to mortal combat. As he was +true to ancient friendships, he had acquired the habit of giving the +warriors an occasional nod or word of recognition long after he had +ceased to play with them. + +"Shades of my ancestors!" exclaimed Harry with sudden animation, gazing +earnestly at the Crusader on his right, "the very thing! I'll do it." + +That evening, after tea, he went to his father's study. + +"May I sit up in the dining-room to-night, father, till two in the +morning?" + +"Well, it will puzzle you to do that to-night, my son; but you may if +you have a good reason." + +"My reason is that I have a problem--a very curious problem--to work +out, and as I positively shan't be able to sleep until I've done it, I +may just as well sit up as not." + +"Do as you please, Harry; I shall probably be up till that hour myself-- +if not later--for unexpected calls on my time have prevented the +preparation of a sermon about which I have had much anxious thought of +late." + +"Indeed, father!" remarked the son, in a sympathetic tone, on observing +that the Reverend Theophilus passed his hand somewhat wearily over his +brow. "What may be your text?" + +"`Be gentle, showing meekness to all men,'" answered the worthy man, +with an abstracted faraway look, as if he were wrestling in anticipation +with the seventh head. + +"Well, good-night, father, and please don't think it necessary to come +in upon me to see how I am getting on. I never can work out a difficult +problem if there is a chance of interruption." + +"All right, my son--good-night." + +"H'm," thought Harry, as he returned to the dining-room in a meditative +mood; "I am afraid, daddy, that you'll find it hard to be gentle to +_some_ men to-night! However, we shall see." + +Ringing the bell, he stood with his back to the fire, gazing at the +ceiling. The summons was answered by the gardener, who also performed +the functions of footman and man-of-all-work at the parsonage. + +"Simon, I am going out, and may not be home till late. I want either +you or Robin to sit up for me." + +"Very well, sir." + +"And," continued the youth, with an air of offhand gravity, "I shall be +obliged to sit up working well into the morning, so you may have a cup +of strong coffee ready for me. Wait until I ring for it--perhaps about +two in the morning. I shall sit in the dining-room, but don't bring it +until I ring. Mind that, for I can't stand interruption--as you know." + +"Yes, sir." + +Simon knew his imperious young master too well to make any comment on +his commands. He returned, therefore, to the kitchen, told the cook of +the order he had received to sit up and take Master Harry's coffee to +him when he should ring, and made arrangements with Robin to sit up and +help him to enliven his vigil with a game of draughts. + +Having thus made his arrangements, Harry Stronghand went out to enjoy a +walk. He was a tremendous walker--thought nothing of twenty or thirty +miles, and rather preferred to walk at night than during the day, +especially when moon and stars were shining. Perhaps it was a dash of +poetry in his nature that induced this preference. + +About midnight he returned, went straight to the dining-room, and, +entering, shut the door, while Simon retired to his own regions and +resumed his game with Robin. + +A small fire was burning in the dining-room grate, the flickering flames +of which leaped up occasionally, illuminated the frowning ancestors on +the walls, and gleamed on the armour of the ancient knight and the +Crusader. + +Walking up to the latter, Harry looked at him sternly; but as he looked, +his mouth relaxed into a peculiar smile, and displayed his magnificent +teeth as far back as the molars. Then he went to the window, saw that +the fastenings were right, and drew down the blinds. He did not think +it needful to close the shutters, but he drew a thick heavy curtain +across the opening of the bay-window, so as to shut it off effectually +from the rest of the room. This curtain was so arranged that the iron +sentinels were not covered by it, but were left in the room, as it were, +to mount guard over the curtain. + +This done, the youth turned again to the Crusader and mounted behind him +on the low pedestal on which he stood. Unfastening his chain-mail +armour at the back, he opened him up, so to speak, and went in. The +suit fitted him fairly well, for Harry was a tall, strapping youth for +his years, and when he looked out at the aperture of the headpiece and +smiled grimly, he seemed by no means a degenerate warrior. + +Returning to the fireplace, he sat down in an easy chair and buried +himself in a favourite author. + +One o'clock struck. Harry glanced up, nodded pleasantly, as if on +familiar terms with Time, and resumed his author. The timepiece chimed +the quarters. This was convenient. It prevented anxious watchfulness. +The half-hour chimed. Harry did not move. Then the three-quarters rang +out in silvery tones. Thereupon Harry arose, shut up his author, blew +out his light, drew back the heavy curtains, and, returning to the +arm-chair sat down to listen in comparative darkness. + +The moon by that time had set and darkness profound had settled down +upon that part of the universe. The embers in the grate were just +sufficient to render objects in the room barely visible and ghost-like. + +Presently there was the slightest imaginable sound near the bay-window. +It might have been the Crusader's ghost, but that was not likely, for at +the moment something very like Harry's ghost flitted across the room and +entered into the warrior. + +Again the sound was heard, more decidedly than before. It was followed +by a sharp click as the inefficient catch was forced back. Then the +sash began to rise, softly, slowly--an eighth of an inch at a time. +During this process Harry remained invisible and inactive; Paterfamilias +in the study addressed himself to the sixth head of his discourse, and +the gardener with his satellite hung in silent meditation over the +draught-board in the kitchen. + +After the sash stopped rising, the centre blind was moved gently to one +side, and the head of Dick appeared with a furtive expression on the +countenance. For a few seconds his eyes roved around without much +apparent purpose; then, as they became accustomed to the dim light, a +gleam of intelligence shot from them; the rugged head turned to one +side; the coarse mouth turned still more to one side in its effort to +address some one behind, and, in a whisper that would have been hoarse +had it been loud enough, Dick said-- + +"Hall right, Bill. We won't need matches. Keep clear o' the statters +in passin'." + +As he spoke, Dick's hobnailed boot appeared, his corduroy leg followed, +and next moment he stood in the room with a menacing look and attitude +and a short thick bludgeon in his knuckly hand. Bill quickly stood +beside him. After another cautious look round, the two advanced with +extreme care--each step so carefully taken that the hobnails fell like +rose-leaves on the carpet. Feeling that the "coast was clear," Dick +advanced with more confidence, until he stood between the ancient +warriors, whose pedestals raised them considerably above his head. + +At that moment there was a sharp click, as of an iron hinge. Dick's +heart seemed to leap into his throat. Before he could swallow it, the +iron mace of the Crusader descended with stunning violence on his crown. + +Well was it for the misguided man that morning that he happened to have +purchased a new and strong billycock the day before, else would that +mace have sent him--as it had sent many a Saracen of old--to his long +home. The blow effectually spoilt the billycock, however, and stretched +its owner insensible on the floor. + +The other burglar was too close behind his comrade to permit of a second +blow being struck. The lively Crusader, however, sprang upon him, threw +his mailed arms round his neck, and held him fast. + +And now began a combat of wondrous ferocity and rare conditions. The +combatants were unequally matched, for the man was huge and muscular, +while the youth was undeveloped and slender, but what the latter lacked +in brute force was counterbalanced by the weight of his armour, his +youthful agility, and his indomitable pluck. By a deft movement of his +legs he caused Bill to come down on his back, and fell upon him with all +his weight plus that of the Crusader. Annoyed at this, and desperately +anxious to escape before the house should be alarmed, Bill delivered a +roundabout blow with his practised fist that ought to have driven in the +skull of his opponent, but it only scarified the man's knuckles on the +Crusader's helmet. He tried another on the ribs, but the folds of +chain-mail rendered that abortive. Then the burglar essayed +strangulation, but there again the folds of mail foiled him. During +these unavailing efforts the unconscious Dick came in for a few +accidental raps and squeezes as he lay prone beside them. + +Meanwhile, the Crusader adopted the plan of masterly inactivity, by +simply holding on tight and doing nothing. He did not shout for help, +because, being bull-doggish in his nature, he preferred to fight in +silent ferocity. Exasperated as well as worn by this method, Bill +became reckless, and made several wild plunges to regain his feet. He +did not succeed, but he managed to come against the pedestal of the +knight in mail with great violence. The iron warrior lost his balance, +toppled over, and came down on the combatants with a hideous crash, +suggestive of coal-scuttles and fire-irons. + +Sleep, sermons, and draughts could no longer enchain! Mrs Stronghand +awoke, buried her startled head in the bed-clothes, and quaked. Emmie +sprang out of bed and huddled on her clothes, under the impression that +fire-engines were at work. The Reverend Theophilus leaped up, seized +the study poker and a lamp, and rushed towards the dining-room. +Overturning the draught-board, Simon grasped a rolling-pin, Robin the +tongs, and both made for the same place. They all collided at the door, +burst it open, and advanced to the scene of war. + +It was a strange scene! Bill and the Crusader, still struggling, were +giving the remains of the other knight a lively time of it, and Dick, +just beginning to recover, was sitting with a dazed look in a sea of +iron debris. + +"That's right; hit him hard, father!" cried Harry, trying to look round. + +"No, don't, sir," cried the burglar; "I gives in." + +"Let my son--let the Crusa--let _him_ go, then," said the Reverend +gentleman, raising his poker. + +"I can't, sir, 'cause he won't let _me_ go." + +"All right, I'll let you go now," said Harry, unclasping his arms and +rising with a long-drawn sigh. "Now you. Come to the light and let's +have a look at you." + +So saying, the lad thrust his mailed hand into the burglar's +neckerchief, and assisted by the Reverend Theophilus, led his captive to +the light which had been put on the table. The gardener and Robin did +the same with Dick. For one moment it seemed as if the two men +meditated a rush for freedom, for they both glanced at the still open +window, but the stalwart Simon with the rolling-pin and the sturdy Robin +with the tongs stood between them and that mode of exit, while the +Crusader with his mace and huge Mr Stronghand with the study poker +stood on either side of them. They thought better of it. "Bring two +chairs here," said the clergyman, in a gentle yet decided tone. + +Robin and Harry obeyed--the latter wondering what "the governor was +going to be up to." + +"Sit down," said the clergyman, quietly and with much solemnity. + +The burglars humbly obeyed. + +"Now, my men, I am going to preach you a sermon." + +"That's right, father," interrupted Harry, in gleeful surprise. "Give +it 'em hot. Don't spare them. Put plenty of brimstone into it." + +But, to Harry's intense disgust, his father put no brimstone into it at +all. On the contrary, without availing himself of heads or +subdivisions, he pointed out in a few plain words the evil of their +course, and the only method of escaping from that evil. Then he told +them that penal servitude for many years was their due according to the +law of the land. + +"Now," said he, in conclusion, "you are both of you young and strong men +who may yet do good service and honest work in the land. I have no +desire to ruin your lives. Penal servitude might do so. Forgiveness +may save you--therefore I forgive you! There is the open window. You +are at liberty to go." + +The burglars had been gazing at their reprover with wide-open eyes. +They now turned and gazed at each other with half-open mouths; then they +again turned to the clergyman as if in doubt, but with a benignant smile +he again pointed to the open window. + +They rose like men in a dream, went softly across the room, stepped +humbly out, and melted into darkness. + +The parson's conduct may not have been in accordance with law, but it +was eminently successful, for it is recorded that those burglars laid +that sermon seriously to heart--at all events, they never again broke +into that parsonage, and never again was there occasion for Harry to +call in the services of the ancient knight or the Crusader. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +JIM GREELY, THE NORTH SEA SKIPPER. + +When Nellie Sumner married James Greely--the strapping skipper of a +Yarmouth fishing-smack--there was not a prettier girl in all the town, +at least so said, or thought, most of the men and many of the women who +dwelt near her. Of course there were differences of opinion on the +point, but there was no doubt whatever about it in the mind of James +Greely, who was overwhelmed with astonishment, as well as joy, at what +he styled his "luck in catching such a splendid wife." + +And there was good ground for his strong feeling, for Nellie was neat, +tidy, and good-humoured, as well as good-looking, and she made Jim's +home as neat and tidy as herself. + +"There's always sunshine inside o' my house," said Greely to his mates +once, "no matter what sort o' weather there may be outside." + +Ere long a squall struck that house--a squall that moved the feelings of +our fisherman more deeply than the fiercest gale he had ever faced on +the wild North Sea, for it was the squall of a juvenile Jim! From that +date the fisherman was wont to remark, with a quiet smile of +satisfaction, that he had got moonlight now, as well as sunshine, in the +Yarmouth home. + +The only matter that distressed the family at first was that the father +saw so little of his lightsome home; for, his calling being that of a +deep-sea smacksman, or trawler, by far the greater part of our +fisherman's rugged life was spent on the restless ocean. Two months at +sea and eight days ashore was the unvarying routine of Jim's life, +summer and winter, all the year round. That is to say, about fifty days +on shore out of the year, and three hundred and fifteen days on what the +cockney greengrocer living next door to Jim styled the "'owlin' deep." + +And, truly, the greengrocer was not far wrong, for the wild North Sea +does a good deal of howling, off and on, during the year, to say nothing +of whistling and shrieking and other boisterous practices when the +winter gales are high. + +But a cloud began to descend, very gradually at first, on James Greely's +dwelling, for a demon--a very familiar one on the North Sea--had been +twining his arms for a considerable time round the stalwart fisherman. + +At the time of Jim's marriage those mission-ships of the Dutch--and, we +may add, of the devil--named _copers_, or floating grog-shops, were +plying their deadly traffic in strong drink full swing among the +trawlers of the North Sea. Through God's blessing the mission-ships of +the Cross have now nearly driven the _copers_ off the sea, but at the +time we write of the Dutchmen had it all their own way, and many a +splendid man, whom toil, cold, hardship, and fierce conflict with the +elements could not subdue, was laid low by the poisonous spirits of the +_coper_. Greely went to the _copers_ at first to buy tobacco, but, +being a hearty, sociable fellow, he had no objection to take an +occasional friendly dram. Gradually, imperceptibly, he became enslaved. +He did not give way at once. He was too much of a man for that. Many +a deadly battle had he with the demon--known only to himself and God-- +but as he fought in his own strength, of course he failed; failed again +and again, until he finally gave way to despair. + +Poor Nellie was quick to note the change, and tried, with a brave heart +at first but a sinking heart at last, to save him, but without success. +The eight days which used to be spent in the sunny home came at last to +be spent in the Green Dragon public-house; and in course of time Nellie +was taught by bitter experience that if her husband, on his periodical +return from the sea, went straight from the smack to the public-house, +it was little that she would see of him during his spell on shore. Even +curly-headed juvenile Jimmie--his father's pride--ceased to overcome the +counter-attraction of strong drink. + +Is it to be wondered at that Nellie lost some of her old +characteristics--that, the wages being spent on drink, she found it hard +to provide the mere necessaries of life for herself and her boy, and +that she finally gave up the struggle to keep either person or house as +neat and orderly as of yore, while a haggard look and lines of care +began to spoil the beauty of her countenance? Or is it a matter for +surprise that her temper began to give way under the strain? + +"You are ruining yourself and killing me," said the sorely-tried wife +one evening--the last evening of a spell on shore--as Jim staggered into +the once sunny home to bid his wife good-bye. + +It was the first time that Nellie had spoken roughly to him. He made no +answer at first. He was angry. The Green Dragon had begun to +demoralise him, and the reproof which ought to have melted only hardened +him. + +"The last of the coals are gone," continued the wife with bitterness in +her tone, "and there's scarcely enough of bread in the house for a good +supper to Jimmie. You should be ashamed of yourself, Jim." + +A glare of drunken anger shot fiercely from the fisherman's eyes. No +word did he utter. Turning on his heel, he strode out of the house and +shut the door after him with cannon-shot violence. + +"O Jim--stop Jim!" burst from timid Nellie. "I'll never--" + +She ceased abruptly, for the terrified Jimmie was clinging to her +skirts, and her husband was beyond the reach of her voice. Falling on +her knees, she prayed to God passionately for pardon. It was their +first quarrel. She ended by throwing herself on her bed and bursting +into a fit of sobbing that not only horrified but astounded little Jim. +To see his mother sobbing wildly while he was quiet and grave was a +complete inversion of all his former experiences. As if to carry out +the spirit of the situation, he proceeded to act the part of comforter +by stroking his mother's brown hair with his fat little hand until the +burst of grief subsided. + +"Dare, you's dood now, muzzer. Tiss me!" he said. + +Nellie flung her arms round the child and kissed him fervently. + +Meanwhile James Greely's smack, the _Dolphin_, was running down the Yare +before a stiff breeze, and Jim himself had commenced the most momentous, +and, in one sense, disastrous voyage of his life. As he stood at the +tiller, guiding his vessel with consummate skill out into the darkening +waters, his heart felt like lead. He would have given all he possessed +to recall the past hour, to have once again the opportunity of bidding +Nellie good-bye as he had been wont to do in the days that were gone. +But it was too late. Wishes and repentance, he knew, avail nothing to +undo a deed that is done. + +Jim toiled with that branch of the North Sea fleets which is named the +"Short Blue." It was trawling at a part of the North Sea called "Botney +Gut" at that time, but our fisherman had been told that it was fishing +at another part named the "Silverpits." It blew hard from the nor'west, +with much snow, so that Jim took a long time to reach his destination. +But no "Short Blue" fleet was to be seen at the Silverpits. + +To the eyes of ordinary men the North Sea is a uniform expanse of water, +calm or raging as the case may be. Not so to the deep-sea trawler. +Jim's intimate knowledge of localities, his sounding-lead and the nature +of the bottom, etcetera, enabled him at any time to make for, and surely +find, any of the submarine banks. But fleets, though distinguished by a +name, have no "local habitation." They may be on the "Dogger Bank" +to-day, on the "Swarte Bank" or the "Great Silverpits" to-morrow. With +hundreds of miles of open sea around, and neither milestone nor +finger-post to direct, a lost fleet is not unlike a lost needle in a +haystack. Fortunately Jim discovered a brother smacksman looking, like +himself, for his own fleet. Being to windward the brother ran down to +him. + +"What cheer O! Have 'ee seen anything o' the Red Cross Fleet?" roared +the skipper, with the power of a brazen trumpet. + +"No," shouted Jim, in similar tones. "I'm lookin' for the Short Blue." + +"I passed it yesterday, bearin' away for Botney Gut." + +"'Bout ship" went Jim, and away with a stiff breeze on his quarter. He +soon found the fleet--a crowd of smacks, all heading in the same +direction, with their huge trawling nets down and bending over before +what was styled a good "fishing-breeze." It requires a stiff breeze to +haul a heavy net, with its forty or fifty feet beam and other gear, over +the rough bottom of the North Sea. With a slight breeze and the net +down a smack would be simply anchored by the stern to her own gear. + +Down went Jim's net, and, like a well-drilled fisherman, he fell into +line. It was a rough grey day with a little snow falling, which +whitened all the ropes and covered the decks with slush. + +Greely's crew had become demoralised, like their skipper. There were +five men and a fair-haired boy. All could drink and swear except the +boy. Charlie was the only son of his mother, and she was a good woman, +besides being a widow. Charlie was the smack's cook. + +"Grub's ready," cried the boy, putting his head up the hatchway after +the gear was down. + +He did not name the meal. Smacksmen have a way of taking food +irregularly at all or any hours, when circumstances permit, and are easy +about the name so long as they get it, and plenty of it. A breakfast at +mid-day after a night of hardest toil might be regarded indifferently as +a luncheon or an early dinner. + +Black Whistler, the mate, who stood at the helm, pronounced a curse upon +the weather by way of reply to Charlie's summons. + +"You should rather bless the ladies on shore that sent you them wursted +mittens an' 'elmet, you ungrateful dog," returned the boy with a broad +grin, for he and Whistler were on familiar terms. + +The man growled something inaudible, while his mates went below to feed. + +Each North Sea trawling fleet acts unitedly under an "admiral." It was +early morning when the signal was given by rocket to haul up the nets. +Between two and three hours at the capstan--slow, heavy toil, with every +muscle strained to the utmost--was the result of the admiral's order. +Bitter cold; driving snow; cutting flashes of salt spray, and dark as +Erebus save for the light of a lantern lashed to the mast. Tramp, +tramp, tramp, the seemingly everlasting round went on, with the clank of +heavy sea-boots and the rustle of hard oil-skins, and the sound of +labouring breath as accompaniment; while the endless cable came slowly +up from the "vasty deep." + +But everything comes to an end, even on the North Sea! At last the +great beam appears and is secured. With a sigh of relief the capstan +bars are thrown down, and the men vary their toil by clawing up the net +with scarred and benumbed fingers. It is heavy work, causes much +heaving and gasping, and at times seems almost too much for all hands to +manage. + +Again Black Whistler pronounces a malediction on things in general, and +is mockingly reminded by the boy-cook that he ought to bless the people +as sends him wursted cuffs to save his wrists from sea-blisters. + +"Seems to me we've got a hold of a bit o' Noah's ark," growled one of +the hands, as something black and big begins to appear. + +He is partially right, for a bit of an old wreck is found to have been +captured with a ton or so of fish. When this is disengaged the net +comes in more easily, and the fish are dropped like a silver cataract on +the wet deck. + +One might imagine that there was rest for the fishermen now. Far from +it. The fish had to be "cleaned"--i.e. gutted and the superfluous +portions cut off and packed in boxes for the London market. The grey +light of a bleak winter morning dawned before the work was finished. +During the operation the third hand, Lively Dick, ran a fish-bone deeply +into his hand, and laid a foundation for future trouble. + +It was noon before the trunks, or fish-boxes, were packed. Then the +little boat had to be launched over the side, loaded with fish, and +ferried to one of the steamers which ply daily and regularly between +Billingsgate and the fleets. Three men jumped into it and pushed off--a +mere cockle-shell on a heaving flood, now dancing on a wave-crest, now +lost to view in a water-valley. + +"What's that?" said Whistler, as they pulled towards the steamer. +"Looks bigger than the or'nary mission-ships." + +"Why, that must be the noo hospital-ship, the _Queen Victoria_," +answered Lively Dick, glancing over his shoulder at a large vessel, +smack-rigged, which loomed up through the haze to leeward. + +They had no time for further remark, for the great side of the steamer +was by that time frowning over them. It was dangerous work they had to +do. The steamer rolled heavily in the rough sea. The boat, among a +dozen other boats, was soon attached to her by a strong rope. Men had +to be athletes and acrobats in order to pass their fish-boxes from the +leaping and plunging boats to the deck of the rolling steamer. The +shouting and noise and bumping were tremendous. An awkward heave +occasionally sent a box into the sea amid oaths and laughter. Jim's +cargo was put safely on board, and the boat was about to cast off when a +heavier lurch than usual caused Black Whistler to stagger. To save +himself from plunging overboard he laid both hands on the gunwale of the +boat--a dangerous thing to do at any time when alongside of a vessel. +Before he could recover himself the boat went crashing against the +steamer's iron side and the fisherman's hands were crushed. He fell +back into the boat almost fainting with agony. No cry escaped him, +however. Lively Dick saw the blood streaming, and while his mate shoved +off the boat he wrapped a piece of canvas in a rough-and-ready fashion +round the quivering hands. + +"I'm done for this trip," groaned Whistler, "for this means go ashore-- +weeks in hospital--wages stopped, and wife and chicks starving." + +"Never a bit, mate," said Dick; "didn't you know that the noo +mission-ship does hospital work afloat and that they'll keep you aboard +of her, and lend us one o' their hands till you're fit for work again?" + +Whether poor Whistler believed, or understood, or was comforted by this +we cannot say, for he made no reply and appeared to be almost overcome +with pain. On reaching the _Dolphin_ a signal of distress was made to +the floating hospital, which at once bore down to them. The injured man +was transferred to it, and there, in the pleasant airy cabin, Black +Whistler made acquaintance with men who were anxious to cure his soul as +well as his body. Up to this time he had resolutely declined to visit +the mission-ships, but now, when a skilled medical man tenderly dressed +his terrible wounds and a sympathetic skipper led him to a berth and +supplied him with some warm coffee, telling him that he would be free to +remain there without charge as long as was needed, and that meanwhile +one of the mission hands would take his place in the _Dolphin_ till he +was able to resume work, his opinion of mission-ships and work underwent +modification, and he began to think that mission crews were not such a +bad lot after all. + +Meanwhile Skipper Greely, leaving his man in the _Queen Victoria_, +returned to his smack accompanied by George King, the new hand. + +King's position was by no means an enviable one, for he found himself +thus suddenly in the midst of a set of men who had no sympathy with him +in religious matters, and whose ordinary habits and conversation +rendered remonstrance almost unavoidable. Unwilling to render himself +obnoxious at first, the man resolved to try the effect of music on his +new shipmates. He happened to possess a beautiful tenor voice, and the +first night--a calm bright one--while taking his turn at the helm, he +sang in a soft sweet voice one after another of those hymns which Mr +Sankey has rendered so popular. He began with "Come to the Saviour, +make no delay," and the first effect on his mates, most of whom were +below, was to arouse a feeling of contempt. But they could not resist +the sweetness of the voice. In a few minutes they were perfectly +silent, and listening with a species of fascination--each being wafted, +both by words and music, to scenes on shore and to times when his spirit +had not been so demoralised by sin. + +Greely, in particular, was transported back to the sunny home in +Yarmouth, and to the days of first-love, before the _demon_ had gained +the mastery and clouded the sunshine. + +As the night wore on, a fog settled down over the North Sea, and the +smacks of the Short Blue fleet began to blow their fog-horns, while the +crews became more on the alert and kept a bright look-out. + +Suddenly, and without warning, a dull beating sound was heard by the +look-out on the _Dolphin_. Next moment a dark object like a phantom +ship loomed out of the fog, and a wild cry arose as the men saw the bows +of a huge ocean steamer coming apparently straight at them. The smack +was absolutely helpless, without steering way. For an instant there was +shouting on board the steamer, and she fell off slightly as she rushed +into the small circle of the _Dolphin's_ light. A tremendous crash +followed, but the change of direction had been sufficient to prevent a +fatal collision. Another moment and the great steamer was gone, while +the little smack rocked violently from the blow as well as from the +swell left in the steamer's wake. + +This was but the beginning of a night of disaster. Skipper Greely and +his men had scarcely recovered from the surprise of this incident when +the fog lifted and quickly cleared away, revealing the Short Blue fleet +floating all round with flapping sails, but it was observed also that a +very dark cloud rested on the north-western horizon. Soon a stiffish +breeze sprang up, and the scattered fleet drew together, lay on the same +tack, and followed the lead of their admiral, to whom they looked for +the signal to shoot the trawls. But instead of giving this order the +admiral signalled to "lay-to." + +Being disgusted as well as surprised that their leader was not going to +fish, Jim Greely, being also exhausted by long watching, went below and +turned in to have a sleep. He had not been long asleep when fair-haired +Charlie came to tell him that Lively Dick, who acted as mate in +Whistler's absence, wanted him on deck. He ran up at once. + +"Looks like dirty weather, skipper," said Dick, pointing to windward. + +"Right you are, lad," said Jim, and called all hands to close-reef. + +This being done and everything made snug, the skipper again turned in, +with orders to call him if things should get worse. + +Soon after, Dick, who was at the helm, saw a squall bearing down on +them, but did not think it worth while to call the skipper. It broke on +them with a clap like thunder, but the good _Dolphin_ stood the shock +well, and Dick was congratulating himself when he saw a sea coming +towards them, but sufficiently astern, he thought, to clear them. He +was wrong. It broke aboard, right into the mainsail, cleared the deck, +and hove the smack on her beam-ends. + +This effectually aroused the skipper, who made desperate but at first +ineffectual efforts to get out of his berth, for the water, which poured +down the hatchway, washed gear, tackles, turpentine-tins, paint-pots, +and nearly everything moveable from the iron locker on the weather-side +down to leeward, and blocked up the openings. Making another effort he +cleared all this away, and sprang out of the berth, which was half full +of water. Pitchy darkness enshrouded him, for the water had put out the +lights as well as the fire. Just then the vessel righted a little. + +"Are you all right on deck?" shouted Jim, as he scrambled up the +hatchway. + +"All right, as far as I can see," answered Dick. + +"Hold on, I've a bottle o' matches in my bunk," cried the skipper, +returning to the flooded cabin. Fortunately the matches were dry; a +light was struck, and a candle and lamp lighted. The scene revealed was +not re-assuring. The water in the cabin was knee-deep. A flare, made +of a woollen scarf soaked in paraffin, was lighted on deck, and showed +that the mainsail had been split, the boat hopelessly damaged, and part +of the lee bulwarks broken. The mast also was leaning aft, the forestay +having been carried away. A few minutes later Lively Dick went tumbling +down into the cabin all of a heap, to avoid the mast as it went crashing +over the side in such a way as to prevent the use of the pumps, and +carrying the mizzenmast along with it. + +"Go to work with buckets, boys, or she'll sink," shouted the skipper, +himself setting the example, for the ballast had shifted and the danger +was great. Meanwhile George King seized an axe and cut away the rigging +that held on to the wrecked masts, and fair-haired Charlie laboured like +a hero to clear the pumps. The rays of the cabin lights did not reach +the deck, so that much of the work had to be done in what may be styled +darkness visible, while the little vessel kicked about like a wild thing +in the raging sea, and the torn canvas flapped with a horrible noise. +Pitiless wind, laden with sleet, howled over them as if thirsting +impatiently for the fishermen's lives. At last they succeeded in +clearing the pumps, and worked them with untiring energy for hours, but +could not tell how many, for the thick end of a marline-spike had been +driven through the clock-face and stopped it. + +It was still dark when they managed to rig up a jury-mast on the stump +of the old one and hoist a shred of sail. George King was ordered to +the tiller. As he passed Greely he said in a cheerful voice, "Trust in +the Lord, skipper, He can bring us out o' worse than this." + +It might have been half an hour later when another sea swept the deck. +Jim took shelter under the stump of the mast and held on for dear life. +Charlie got inside the coil of the derrick-fall and so was saved, while +the others dived into the cabin. When that sea had passed they found no +one at the tiller. Poor King had been washed overboard. Nothing +whatever could be done for him, even if he had been seen, but the greedy +sea had swallowed him, and he was taken to swell with his tuneful voice +the company of those who sing on high the praises of redeeming love. + +The sea which swept him into eternity also carried away the jury-mast, +and as the smack was now a mere wreck, liable to drift on shore if the +gale should continue long, Jim let down an anchor, after removing its +stock so that it might drag on the bottom and retard the drifting while +it kept the vessel's head to the sea. + +A watch was then set, and the rest of the crew went below to wait and +wish for daybreak! It was a dreary vigil under appalling circumstances, +for although the smack had not actually sprung a leak there was always +the danger of another sea overwhelming and altogether sinking her. Her +crew sat there for hours utterly helpless and literally facing death. +Fortunately their matches had escaped the water, so that they were able +to kindle a fire in the stove and obtain a little warmth as well as make +a pot of tea and eat some of their sea-soaked biscuit. + +It is wonderful how man can accommodate himself to circumstances. No +sooner had the crew in this wreck felt the stimulating warmth of the hot +tea than they began to spin yarns! not indeed of a fanciful kind--they +were too much solemnised for that--but yarns of their experience of +gales in former times. + +"It minds me o' this wery night last year," said Lively Dick, +endeavouring to light his damp pipe. "I was mate o' the _Beauty_ at the +time. We was workin' wi' the Short Blues on the Dogger, when a +tremendous squall struck us, an' it began to snow that thick we could +scarce see the end o' the jib-boom. Well, the gale came on in real +arnest before long, so we had to lay-to all that night. When it came +day we got some sail set and I went below to have a hot pot o' tea when +the skipper suddenly sang out `Jump up here, Dick!' an' I did jump up, +double quick, to find that we was a'most runnin' slap into a dismasted +craft. We shoved the tiller hard a-starboard and swung round as if we +was on a swivel, goin' crash through the rackage alongside an' shavin' +her by a hair. We could just see through the snow one of her hands +choppin' away at the riggin', and made out that her name was the _Henry +and Thomas_." + +"An' did ye see nothin' more of 'er arter that?" asked the boy Charlie +with an eager look. + +"Nothin' more. She was never heard of arter that mornin'." + +While the men were thus talking, the watch on deck shouted that one of +the mission-ships was close alongside. Every one ran on deck to hail +her, for they stood much in need of assistance, two of their water-casks +having been stove in and everything in the hold turned topsy-turvy-- +beef, potatoes, flour, all mixed up in horrible confusion. Just then +another sea came on board, and the crew had to dive again to the cabin +for safety. That sea carried away the boat and the rest of the +starboard bulwarks, besides starting a plank, and letting the water in +at a rate which the pumps could not keep down. + +Quickly the mission-ship loomed up out of the grey snow-cloud and ran +past. + +"You'll want help!" shouted the mission skipper. + +"Ay, we do," shouted Jim Greely in reply. "We're sinkin', and our +boat's gone." + +An arm thrown up indicated that the words were understood. A few +minutes later and the crew of the _Dolphin_ saw the mission crew +launching their little boat. With, such a sea running the venture was +perilous in the extreme, but when the mission skipper said "Who'll go?" +he had no lack of volunteers. The boat was manned at once, and the crew +of the _Dolphin_ were rescued a few minutes before the _Dolphin_ herself +went head-foremost to the bottom. Just as they got safely on deck the +mission-ship herself shipped a heavy sea, which washed several of the +men into the lee scuppers. They jumped up immediately--some with "Thank +God" on their lips, others with a laugh--but James Greely did not rise. +He lay stunned and rolling about in the water. It was found on raising +him that his right leg was broken at the thigh. + +When Jim recovered consciousness he did not complain. He was a man of +stern mould, and neither groaned nor spoke; but he was not the less +impressed with the kindness and apparent skill with which the mission +skipper treated him. + +Having received a certain amount of surgical training, the skipper-- +although unlearned and a fisherman--knew well how to put the leg in +splints and otherwise to treat the patient. + +"It's pretty bad, I fear," he said soothingly, observing that Jim's lips +were compressed, and that beads of perspiration were standing on his +brow. + +Jim did not reply, but smiled grimly and nodded, for the rolling of the +ship caused him increasing agony as the injured parts began to inflame. + +"I'm not very good at this sort o' work," said the mission skipper +modestly, "but thank God the new hospital-ship is cruisin' wi' the Short +Blue just now. I saw her only yesterday, so we'll put you aboard of her +and there you'll find a reg'lar shore-goin' surgeon, up to everything, +and with all the gimcracks and arrangements of a reg'lar shore-goin' +hospital. They've got a new contrivance too--a sort o' patent +stretcher, invented by a Mr Dark o' the head office in London--which'll +take you out o' the boat into the ship without movin' a bone or muscle, +so keep your mind easy, skipper, for you'll be aboard the _Queen +Victoria_ before many hours go by." + +Poor Greely appreciated the statement about the stretcher more than all +the rest that was said, for he was keenly alive to the difficulty of +passing a broken-boned man out of a little boat into a smack or steamer +in a heavy sea, having often had to do it. + +The mission skipper was right, for early the next day Jim was strapped +to a wonderful frame and passed into the hospital-ship without shake or +shock, and his comrades were retained in the mission smack until they +could be sent on shore. Greely and his men learned many lessons which +they never afterwards forgot on board of the _Queen Victoria_--the +foundation lesson being that they were lost sinners and that Jesus +Christ came "to seek and to save the lost." + +Slowly, and at first unwillingly, Skipper Greely took the great truths +in. Several weeks passed, and he began to move about with some of his +wonted energy. Much to his surprise he found himself one morning +signing the temperance pledge-books, persuaded thereto by the skipper of +the _Queen Victoria_. Still more to his surprise he found himself one +Sunday afternoon listening, with unwonted tears in his eyes, to some of +his mates as they told their spiritual experiences to an assembly of +some hundred or so of weather-beaten fishermen. Before quitting that +vessel he discovered that he possessed a powerful and tuneful voice, +admirably adapted for singing hymns, and that he was capable of publicly +stating the fact that he was an unworthy sinner saved by grace. + +When at last he returned ashore and unexpectedly entered the Yarmouth +home, Nellie could scarcely believe her senses, so great was the change. + +"Jim!" she cried, with opening eyes and beating heart, "you're like your +old self again." + +"Thank God," said Jim, clasping her in his strong arms. But he could +say no more for some time. Then he turned suddenly on curly-headed +Jimmie, who had been fiercely embracing one of his enormous sea-boots, +and began an incoherent conversation and a riotous romp with that +juvenile fisherman. + +A brighter sunshine than had ever been there before enlightened that +Yarmouth home, for God had entered it and the hearts of its occupants. + +Example is well-known to be infectious. In course of time a number of +brother fishermen began to think as Jim Greely thought and feel as he +felt. His house also became the centre, or headquarters, of an informal +association got up for the purpose of introducing warmth and sunshine +into poor homes in all weathers, and there were frequently such large +meetings of the members of that association that it taxed Nellie's +ingenuity to supply seats and stow them all away. She managed it, +however; for, as Jim was wont to remark, "Nellie had a powerful +intellec' for her size." + +Among the frequenters of this Yarmouth home were several of the men who +had once been staunch supporters of the Green Dragon, and of these the +most enthusiastic, perhaps, if not the most noisy, were Black Whistler, +Lively Dick, and fair-haired Charlie. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A NORTHERN WAIF. + +If a waif is a lost wanderer, then little Poosk was a decided waif for +he had gone very much astray indeed in the North American backwoods. It +was a serious matter for an Indian child of six years of age to become a +waif in the dead of winter, with four feet of snow covering the entire +wilderness, and the thermometer far below zero. + +Yes, little Poosk was lost. His Indian mother, when she tied up his +little head in a fur cap with ear-pieces, had said to him that morning-- +and it was a New Year's Day morning--"Poosk, you go straight to the +mission-house. The feast will be a very grand one--oh! _such_ a good +one! Better than the feast we have when the geese and ducks come back +in spring. Go straight; don't wander; follow in your father's tracks, +and you can't go wrong." + +Ah! what a compliment to father would have been implied in these words +had the mother meant his moral tracks. But she did not: she referred to +his snow-shoe tracks, which would serve as a sure guide to the +mission-house, if closely followed. Poosk had promised to obey orders, +of course, as readily as if he had been a civilised white boy, and with +equal readiness had forgotten his promise when the first temptation +came. That temptation had come in the form of a wood-partridge, in +chase of which, with the spirit of a true son of the forest, Poosk had +bolted, and soon left his father's tracks far behind him. Thus it came +to pass that in the pursuit of game, our little savage became a "waif +and stray." Had he been older, he would doubtless have returned on his +own little track to the spot where he had left that of his father; but, +being so young, he fancied that he could reach it by bending round +towards it as he advanced. + +Poosk was uncommonly small for his age--hence his name, which, in the +Cree language, means _half_. He came at the tail-end of a very large +family. Being remarkably small from the first, he was regarded as the +extreme tip of that tail. His father styled him _half_ a child--Poosk. +But his lack of size was counterbalanced by great physical activity and +sharp intelligence. Wrapped in his warm deerskin coat, which was lined +with flannel, and edged with fur, and secured with a scarlet belt, with +his little legs in ornamented leggings, his little feet in new +moccasins, and shod with little snowshoes not more than twenty-four +inches long by eight broad--his father's being five-feet by fifteen +inches,--and his little hands in leather mittens of the bag-and-thumb +order, Poosk went over the snow at an amazing rate for his size, but +failed to rejoin his father's track. Suddenly he stopped, and a pucker +on his brow betrayed anxiety. Compressing his little lips, he looked +round him with an expression of serious determination in his large brown +eyes. Was he not in his native wilds? Was he not the son of a noted +brave? Was _he_ going to submit to the disgrace of losing his way; and, +what was much worse, losing his feast? Certainly not! With stern +resolve on every lineament of his infantile visage he changed his +direction, and pushed on. We need scarcely add that he soon stopped +again; resolved and re-resolved to succeed, and changed his direction +again and again till he became utterly bewildered, and, finally, sitting +down on the trunk of a fallen tree, shut his eyes, opened his little +mouth, and howled. It was sad, but it was natural that at so early a +period of life the stoicism of the savage should be overcome by the +weakness of the child. Finding after a while that howling resulted in +nothing but noise, Poosk suddenly shut his mouth, and opened his eyes. +There seemed to be some intimate connection between the two operations. +Perhaps there was. The opening of the eyes went on to the uttermost, +and then became a fixed glare, for, right in front of him sat a white +rabbit on its hind legs, and, from its expression, evidently filled with +astonishment equal to his own. + +The spirit of the hunter arose, and that of the child vanished, as +little Poosk sprang up and gave chase. Of course the rabbit "sloped," +and in a few minutes both pursued and pursuer were lost in the depths of +the snow-encumbered forest. + +On a point of rocks which jutted out into a frozen lake, stood a small +church with a small spire, small porch, and diminutive windows. The +pastor of that church dwelt close to it in a wooden house or log cabin, +which possessed only one window and a door. A much larger hut alongside +of it served as a school-house and meeting-hall. In this little +building the man of God, assisted by a Red Indian convert, taught the +Red Men of the wilderness the way of life through Jesus Christ, besides +giving them a little elementary and industrial education suited to their +peculiar circumstances; and here, on the day of which we write, he had +prepared the sumptuous feast to which reference has just been made. The +pastor's wife and daughter had prepared it. There were venison pies and +ptarmigan pasties; there were roasts of fowls, and roasts of rabbits, +and stews of many things which we will not venture to describe, besides +puddings of meat, and puddings of rice, and puddings of plums; also tea +and coffee to wash it all down. There was no strong drink. Strong +health and appetite were deemed sufficient to give zest to the +proceedings. The company was remarkably savage to look at, but +wonderfully civilised in conduct, for the influence of Christian love +was there, and that influence is the same everywhere. Leathern garments +clothed the men; curtailed petticoats adorned the women; both wore +leggings and moccasins. The boys and girls were similarly costumed, and +all had brilliant teeth, brown faces, glittering eyes, lank black hair, +and a look of eager expectancy. + +The pastor went to the head of the table, and silence ensued while he +briefly asked God's blessing on the feast. Then, when expectation had +reached its utmost point, there was a murmur. Where was the smallest +mite of all the guests? Nobody knew. Poosk's mother said she had sent +him off hours ago, and had thought that he must be there. Poosk's +father--a very tall man, with remarkably long legs,--hearing this, +crossed the room in three strides, put on his five-feet by fifteen-inch +snow-shoes and went off into the forest at express speed. + +Anxiety is not an easily-roused condition in the North American Indian. +The feast began, despite the absence of our waif; and the waif's mother +set to work with undiminished appetite. Meanwhile the waif himself went +farther and farther astray--swayed alternately by the spirit of the +stoic and the spirit of the little child. But little Poosk was made of +sterling stuff, and the two spirits had a hard battle in him for the +mastery that wintry afternoon. His chase of the rabbit was brought to +an abrupt conclusion by a twig which caught one of his snow-shoes, +tripped him up, and sent him headlong into the snow. When snow averages +four feet in depth it affords great scope for ineffectual floundering. +The snow-shoes kept his feet near the surface, and the depth prevented +his little arms from reaching solid ground. When at last he recovered +his perpendicular, his hair, eyes, nose, ears, sleeves, and mittens were +stuffed with snow; and the child-spirit began to whimper, but the stoic +sprang on him and quickly crushed him down. + +Drawing his little body up with a look of determination, and wiping away +the tears which had already begun to freeze on his eyelashes, our little +hero stepped out more vigorously than ever, in the full belief that +every yard carried him nearer home, though in reality he was straying +farther and farther from his father's track. Well was it for little +Poosk that day that his hope of reaching home did not depend on his own +feeble efforts. Already the father was traversing the wilderness in +search of his lost lamb, though the lamb knew it not. + +But Poosk's disasters were not yet over. Although brave at heart and, +for his years, sturdy of frame, he could not withstand the tremendous +cold peculiar to those regions of ice and snow; and ere long the fatal +lethargy that is often induced by extreme frost began to tell. The +first symptom was that Poosk ceased to feel the cold as much as he had +felt it some time before. Then a drowsy sensation crept over him, and +he looked about for a convenient spot on which to sit down and rest. +Alas for the little savage if he had given way at that time! +Fortunately a small precipice was close in front of him, its upper edge +concealed by wreaths of snow. He fell over it, turning a somersault as +he went down, and alighted safely in a snow-bed at the bottom. The +shock revived him, but it also quelled the stoic in his breast. Rising +with difficulty, he wrinkled up his brown visage, and once again took to +howling. Half an hour later his father, steadily following up the +little track in the snow, reached the spot and heard the howls. A smile +lit up his swarthy features, and there was a gleam of satisfaction in +his black eyes as he descended to the spot where the child stood. + +Sudden calm after a storm followed the shutting of Poosk's mouth and the +opening of his eyes. Another moment, and his father had him in his +strong arms, turned him upside down, felt him over quietly, shook him a +little, ascertained that no bones were broken, put him on his broad +shoulders, and carried him straight back to the Mission Hall, where the +feasters were in full swing--having apparently quite forgotten the +little "waif and stray." + +North American Indians, as is well-known, are not demonstrative. There +was no shout of joy when the lost one appeared. Even his mother took no +further notice of him than to make room for him on the form beside her. +She was a practical mother. Instead of fondling him she proceeded to +stuff him, which she was by that time at leisure to do, having just +finished stuffing herself. The father, stalking sedately to a seat at +another table, proceeded to make up for lost time. He was marvellously +successful in his efforts. He was one of those Indian braves who are +equal to any emergency. + +Although near the end of the feast and with only _debris_ left to +manipulate, he managed to refresh himself to his entire satisfaction +before the tables were cleared. + +The feast of reason which followed was marked by one outstanding and +important failure. The pastor had trained the Indian boys and girls of +his school to sing several hymns, and repeat several pieces in prose and +verse. Our waif, besides being the smallest boy, possessed the sweetest +voice in the school. He was down on the programme for a hymn--a solo. +Having fallen sound asleep after being stuffed, it was found difficult +to awake him when his turn came. By dint of shaking, however, his +mother roused him up and set him on his legs on a table, where he was +steadied a little by the pastor's wife, and gently bid to begin, by the +pastor's daughter. + +Poosk was very fond of the pastor's daughter. He would have done +anything for her. He opened his large eyes, from which a sleepy gleam +of intelligence flashed. He opened his little mouth, from which rolled +the sweetest of little voices. The Indians, who had been purposely kept +in ignorance of this musical treat, were ablaze with surprise and +expectation; but the sound died away, the mouth remained open, and the +eyes shut suddenly as Poosk fell over like a ninepin, sound asleep, into +the arms of the pastor's daughter. + +Nothing more was to be got out of him that day. Even the boisterous +laugh which greeted his breakdown failed to rouse him; and finally our +Northern Waif was carried home, and put to bed beside a splendid fire in +a warm robe of rabbit skins. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OF LIFE: FROM A YOUNG MAN'S STANDPOINT. + +This world is full of niches that have to be filled, of paths that have +to be trod, of work that has to be done. + +Pouring continually into it there are millions of human beings who are +capable of being fitted to fill those niches, to traverse those paths, +and to do that work. I venture a step further and assert that every +human being, without exception, who arrives at the years of maturity +must, in the nature of things, have a particular niche and path and work +appointed for him; and just in proportion as a man finds out his exact +work, and walks in or strays from his peculiar path, will be the success +of his life. He may miss his aim altogether, and his life turn out a +failure, because of his self-will, or, perhaps, his mistaken notions; +and there are few sights more depressing than that of a round young man +rushing into a square hole, except that of a square young man trying to +wriggle himself into a round hole. What the world wants is "the right +man in the right place." What each man wants is to find his right +place. + +But the fact that man may, and often does, make a wrong choice, that he +may try to traverse the wrong path, to accomplish the wrong work, and do +many things in the wrong way, is a clear proof that his course in life +is not arbitrarily fixed, that he has been left to the freedom of his +own will, and may therefore fall short of the _best_, though he may be +fortunate enough to attain the good or the better. Hence devolves upon +every one the responsibility of putting and finding an answer to the +question--How shall I make the best of life? + +And let me say here in passing that I venture to address young men on +this subject, not because I conceive myself to be gifted with superior +wisdom, but because, being an old man, I stand on the heights and +vantage ground of Experience, and looking back, can see the rocks and +shoals and quicksands in life's ocean, which have damaged and well-nigh +wrecked myself. I would not only try my hand as a pilot to guide, but +as, in some sense, a buoy or beacon to warn from dangers that are not +only unseen but unsuspected. + +Every young man of ordinary common sense will at least aim at what he +believes to be best in life, and the question will naturally arise--What +_is_ best? + +If a youth's chief idea of felicity is to "have a good time;" to enjoy +himself to the utmost; to cram as much of sport, fun, and adventure into +his early manhood as possible, with a happy-go-lucky indifference as to +the future, he is not yet in a frame of mind to consider our question at +all. I feel disposed to say to him--in paraphrase--"be serious, man, +or, if ye can't be serious, be as serious as ye can," while we consider +a subject that is no trifling matter. + +What, then, _is_ best? I reply--So to live and work that we shall do +the highest good of which we are capable to the world, and, in the doing +thereof, achieve the highest possible happiness to ourselves, and to +those with whom we are connected. In the end, to leave the world better +than we found it. + +Now, there is only one foundation on which such a life can be reared, +and that foundation is God. + +To attempt the building on any other, or to neglect a foundation +altogether, is to solicit and ensure disaster. + +But supposing, young man, that you agree with me in this; are fully +alive to the importance of the question, and are desirous of obtaining +all the light you can on it, then I would, with all the earnestness of +which I am capable, urge you to begin on this sure foundation by asking +God to guide you and open up your way. "Ask, and ye shall receive; +seek, and ye shall find." "Commit thy way unto the Lord, and He will +bring it to pass." Without this beginning there is, there can be, no +possibility of real success, no hope of reaching the best. With it +there may still be partial mistake--owing to sin and liability to err-- +but there can be no such thing as absolute failure. Man's first prayer +in all his plans of life should be--"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to +do?" + +Many people think that they have put up that petition and got no answer, +when the answer is obviously before their eyes. It seems to me that +God's answers are always indicative, and not very difficult to +understand. + +An anxious father says--if he does not also pray--"What shall I train my +boy to be?" God, through the medium of common sense, replies, Watch +your son, observe his tastes, and especially his powers, and train him +accordingly. His capacities, whatever they are, were given to him by +his Maker for the express purpose of being developed. If you don't +develop them, you neglect a clear indication, unless, indeed, it be held +that men were made in some haphazard way for no definite purpose at all; +but this would be equivalent to making out the Creator to be less +reasonable than most of His own creatures! + +If a lad has a strong liking for some particular sort of work or +pursuit, and displays great aptitude for it, there is no need of an +audible voice to tell what should be his path in life. Contrariwise, +strong dislike, coupled with incapacity, indicates the path to be +avoided with equal precision. + +Of course, liking and disliking are not a sufficient indication, for +both may be based upon partial ignorance. The sea, as a profession, is +a case in point. How many thousands of lads have an intense liking for +the idea of a sailor's life! But the liking is not for the sea; it is +for some romantic notion of the sea; and the romancer's aptitude for a +sea life must at first be taken for granted while his experience is +_nil_. He dreams, probably, of majestic storms, or heavenly calms, of +coral islands, and palm groves, and foreign lands and peoples. If very +imaginative, he will indulge in Malay pirates and wrecks, and lifeboats, +and desert islands, on which he will always land safely, and commence a +second edition of Robinson Crusoe. But he will scarcely think, till +bitter experience compels him, of very long watches in dirty unromantic +weather, of holy-stoning the decks, scraping down the masts, and +clearing out the coal-hole. Happily for our navy and the merchant +service there are plenty of lads who go through all this and stick to +it, their love of the ocean is triumphant--but there are a few +exceptions! + +On the other hand, liking and fitness may be discovered by experience. +I know a man who, from childhood, took pleasure in construction and +invention. At the age of nine he made a real steam engine which "could +go" with steam, and which was small enough to be carried in his pocket. +He was encouraged to follow the providential indication, went through +all the drudgery of workshops, and is now a successful engineer. + +Of course, there are thousands of lads whose paths are not so clearly +marked out; but does it not seem reasonable to expect that, with prayer +for guidance, and thoughtful consideration on the part of the boy's +parents, as well as of the boy himself, the best path in life may be +discovered for each? + +No doubt there are many difficulties in the way; as when parents are too +ambitious, or when sons are obstinate and self-willed, or when both are +antagonistic to each other. If, as is not infrequently the case, a +youth has no particular taste for any profession, and shows no very +obvious capacity for anything, is it not a pretty strong indication that +he was meant to tread one of the many subordinate paths of life and be +happy therein? All men cannot be generals. Some must be content to rub +shoulders with the rank and file. If a lad is fit only to dig in a coal +pit or sweep the streets, he is as surely intended to follow these +honourable callings as is the captain who has charge of an ocean steamer +to follow the _sea_. And even in the selection of these lowly +occupations the path is divinely indicated, while the free-will is left +to the influence of common sense, so that the robust youth with powerful +frame and sinews will probably select the pit, and the comparatively +delicate man will prefer the crossing. + +I repeat, to say that any creature was called into being for no purpose +at all, is to question the wisdom of the Almighty. Even if a babe makes +its appearance on this terrestrial scene, and wails out its brief career +in a single day, it was sent here for a special purpose, else it would +not have been sent, and that purpose must have been fully accomplished, +else it would not have died. + +To my mind this is an exceedingly cheering view of things, for it +encourages the belief that however poor or feeble may have been our +efforts to live a good life, these efforts cannot have been made in +vain, even although they may fall very far short of the "best." And +there is also this very hopeful consideration to comfort us, that the +race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, that +wisdom sometimes proceeds out of the mouths of babes, and that "we +little know what great things from little things may rise." + +To be sure, that cuts both ways, for, what sometimes are called "little +sins" may result in tremendous evil, but, equally, efforts that seem +insignificant may be the cause of great and unexpected blessing. + +If, then, as I sincerely believe, every living being has a special work +to do--or, rather, has a variety of appropriate paths in any one of +which he may walk with more or less advantage to himself and his +fellow-men--it behoves every young man to find out what path is the best +one for him, and to walk in it vigorously. Fatalism is folly. No one +believes in it. At least no one in this country acts upon it. When I +say that every being has a special work to do, I don't mean that it has +been decreed _exactly_ what each man has to do. Were this so, he would +have to do it, _nolens volens_, and there would be no such thing as +responsibility--for it would be gross injustice to hold a man +responsible for that which he could by no means prevent or accomplish. +That which has really been decreed is that man shall have free-will and +be allowed to exercise that free-will in the conduct of his affairs. It +is a most mysterious gift, but there it is--an unquestionable fact--and +it must be taken into account in all our reasoning. There is a +confusion here into which men are sometimes liable to fall. Man's will +is absolutely free, but his action is not so. He may will just as he +pleases, but all experience tells us that he may not do just as he +pleases. Whether his intentions be good or bad, they are frequently and +effectively interfered with, but his will--never. + +Seeing, then, that there is a best way for every one, and that there are +sundry common sense methods by which the path may be discovered, it may +be well to consider for a moment whether there are not some obstacles +which stand in the way of a young man's success in life, not only +because they are providentially allowed to lie there, but because the +young man himself either carelessly or unwittingly has planted them in +his own path. + +Selfishness is one of those obstacles. And by selfishness I do not mean +that gross form of it which secures for the man who gives way to it a +bad name, but those subtle phases of it which may possibly be allied +with much that is good, amiable, and attractive. It is not unfrequently +the consequence of that thoughtlessness which results in evil not less +than does want of heart. + +Talking too much about oneself and one's own affairs, and being too +little interested in the affairs of others, is one aspect of the +selfishness to which I refer. Some men, the moment they meet you, begin +to talk energetically about what they have been doing, or thinking, or +about what they are going to do, and if you encourage them they will go +on talking in the same strain, totally forgetting that _you_ may chance +to be interested in other things. Such men, if they begin young, and +are not checked, soon degenerate into "bores," and no bore, however +well-meaning or even religious, ever succeeded in making the best of +life. The cure for this is to be found--as usual--in the Scripture: +"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto +according to thy word." And what says the word? "Look not (only) on +your own things, but upon the things of others." + +I have a friend who was the confidant of a large number of his kindred +and of many other people besides. It was said of him that everybody +went to him for sympathy and advice. I can well believe it, for he +never spoke about himself at all that I can remember. He was not +unusually wise or superlatively clever, but he had "a heart at leisure +from itself to soothe and sympathise." The consequence was that, in +spite of a good many faults, he was greatly beloved. And it is certain, +reader, that to gain the affection of your fellow-men is one of the +surest steps in the direction of success in life. To be too much +concerned in conversation about yourself, your affairs and your opinions +will prove to be a mighty obstruction in your way. Perhaps one of the +best methods of fighting against this tendency is to resolve, when +meeting with friends, _never_ to begin with self, but _always_ with +them. But it is hard to crucify self! This mode of procedure, be it +observed, would not be a hypocritical exhibition of interest where none +was felt, but an honest attempt to snub self by deliberately putting +your friends' interests before your own. + +It is probable that we are not sufficiently alive to the influence of +comparatively insignificant matters on success in life. Illegible +handwriting, for instance, may go far to retard or arrest a youth's +success. It sometimes interferes with friendly intercourse. I once had +a friend whose writing was so illegible, and the cause of so much worry +in mere decipherment, that I was constrained to give up epistolary +correspondence with him altogether. There can be little doubt that many +a would-be author fails of success because of the illegibility of his +penmanship, for it is impossible that an editor or publisher can form a +fair estimate of the character or value of a manuscript which he has +much difficulty in reading. + +There is one thing which men are prone to do, and which it would be well +that they should not do, and that is, "nail their colours to the mast" +in early youth. The world is a school. We are ever learning--or ought +to be--and, in some cases, "never coming to a knowledge of the truth!" +Is not this partly owing to that fatal habit of nailing the colours? I +do not for a moment advocate the holding of opinions loosely. On the +contrary, whether a man be young or old, whenever he gets hold of what +he believes to be true, he ought to grasp it tenaciously and with a firm +grip, but he should never "nail" it. Being fallible, man is liable to +more or less of error; and, therefore, ought to hold himself open to +correction--ay, even to conversion. New or stronger light may convince +him that he has been wrong--and if a man will not change when he is +convinced, or "fully persuaded in his own mind," he has no chance of +finding out how to make the best of life, either from a young, or +middle-aged, or old man's standpoint. Why, new or stronger light--if he +would let it illumine him--might even convince him that his opinion was +not only true, but involved much greater and grander truths than he +supposed. It is difficult to go more minutely into details, even if it +were advisable to do so. I may fittingly conclude by saying that the +sum of all that might be written is comprehended in the statement that +obedience to God in all things is the sure and only road to success. + +Of all the bright and glorious truths with which our fallen world is +enlightened, there is one--a duplex truth--which lies at the foundation +of everything. It is unchangeable. Without it all other facts would be +valueless, and I would recommend every man, woman, and child to nail it +to the mast without hesitation, namely--"God is love," and "Love is the +fulfilling of the law." + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +FORGIVE AND FORGET: A LIFEBOAT STORY. + +Old Captain Bolter said he would never forgive Jo Grain--never. And +what Captain Bolter said he meant: for he was a strong and self-willed +man. + +There can be no doubt that the Captain had some ground of complaint +against Grain: for he had been insulted by him grossly--at least so he +thought. It happened thus:-- + +Joseph Grain was a young fisherman, and the handsomest, tallest, +strongest, and most active among the youths of the little seaport town +in which he dwelt. He was also one of the lifeboat's crew, and many a +time had his strong hand been extended in the midst of surging sea and +shrieking tempest to save the perishing. Moreover, he was of a frank, +generous disposition; was loved by most of his comrades; envied by a +few; hated by none. + +But with all his fine qualities young Grain had a great and serious +fault--he was rather fond of strong drink. It must not, however, be +supposed that he was a drunkard, in the ordinary sense at least of that +term. No, he was never seen to stagger homeward, or to look idiotic: +but, being gifted with a robust frame and finely-strung nerves, a very +small quantity of alcohol sufficed to rouse within him the spirit of +combativeness, inducing him sometimes to say and do things which +afterwards could not be easily unsaid or undone, however much he might +repent. + +One afternoon Grain and some of his mates were sauntering towards the +little lighthouse that stood at the end of their pier. It was an +old-fashioned stone pier, with a dividing wall or parapet down the +middle of it. As they walked along, some of the younger men began to +question Jo about a rumour that had recently been spread abroad. + +"Come, now, Jo," said one, named Blunt, "don't try to deceive us; you +can't deny that you're after Cappen Bolter's little gal." + +"Well, I _won't_ deny it," replied Jo, with sudden energy and somewhat +forced gaiety, while the blood mounted to his bronzed cheeks: "moreover, +I don't care who knows it, for there's not a sweeter lass in all the +town than Mary Bolter, an' the man that would be ashamed to own his +fondness for her don't deserve to have her." + +"That's true," said a young fisherman, named Guy, with a nod of +approval--"though there may be two opinions as to which is the sweetest +lass in all the town!" + +"I tell 'ee what, Jo," remarked a stern and rather cross-grained +bachelor, named Grime, "you may save yourself the trouble of givin' +chase to that little craft, for although old Bolter ain't much to boast +of--bein' nothin' more than the skipper of a small coastin' craft--he +thinks hisself far too big a man to give his darter to a fisherman." + +"Does he?" exclaimed Grain, with vehemence, and then suddenly checked +himself. + +"Ay, that does he," returned Grime, with something of a sneer in his +tone. + +It chanced that Jo Grain had been to the public-house that day, and the +sneer, which at other times would have been passed over with +indifference, stung him--coupled as it was with a slur on his lowly +position. He looked fiercely at Grime, and said, in a loud, angry tone: +"It's a matter of moonshine to me what Bolter thinks of himself. If the +girl's willin' to have me I'll wed her in spite o' the old grampus." + +Now, unhappily for Jo Grain, the "old grampus" chanced at that very time +to be sunning himself, and enjoying his pipe on the other side of the +pier-wall, and heard distinctly what Jo said. Moreover, there was some +truth in what Grime had said about the old skipper looking down on the +young fisherman's position: so that, although he could not deny that Jo +was a first-rate man, and knew that Mary was fond of him, he had +hitherto felt a strong disinclination to allow his darling and only +child to wed, as he considered it beneath her. When, therefore, the +speech above quoted broke harshly on his ears, the matter became finally +settled in his mind. He dropped his pipe, set his heel on it, and +ground it to powder. He also ground his teeth, and, turning round with +a snort, worthy of the creature to which he had been compared, sailed +wildly homewards. + +Next day Jo Grain chanced to meet him in the street, and held out his +hand as usual; but the captain, thrusting both hands deep into his +trousers pockets, looked the young man firmly in the face-- + +"No, Grain," he said sternly. "I've done with _you_!" + +"Why so, Captain Bolter?" asked Jo, in great surprise. + +"Because," hissed the Captain, as his wrath rose, "an _old grampus_ +don't choose to have anything more to do with a _young puppy_!" + +Instantly his reckless speech of the day before flashed into Jo's mind. + +"Forgive me, Captain Bolter," he said respectfully: "forgive me, and try +to forget it--I didn't mean it, believe me--I--I wasn't quite myself, +sir, when--" + +"No!" interrupted the Captain fiercely; "I'll never forgive you, nor +forget it." + +With that he turned away and left Jo Grain to meditate on the folly of +indulging in a stimulant which robbed him of his self-control. But +youth is very hopeful. Jo did not quite believe in the Captain's +sincerity. He comforted himself with the thought that time would soften +the old man's feelings, and meanwhile he would continue to court Mary +when opportunity offered. + +The Captain, however, soon proved that he was thoroughly in earnest: +for, instead of leaving his daughter under the care of a maiden aunt, as +had been his custom previously, during his frequent absences from home, +he took her to sea with him, and left Jo with an extra supply of food +for meditation. + +Poor Jo struggled hard under this his first severe trial, but struggled +in his own strength and failed. Instead of casting away the glass which +had already done him so much damage, he madly took to it as a solace to +his secret grief. Yet Jo took good care that his comrades should see no +outward trace of that grief. + +He was not, however, suffered to remain long under the baleful influence +of drink. Soon after the departure of Captain Bolter, a missionary +visited the little seaport to preach salvation from sin through Jesus +Christ, and, being a man of prayer and faith, his mission was very +successful. Among the many sins against which he warned the people, he +laid particular stress on that of drunkenness. + +This was long before the days of the Blue Ribbon movement: but the +spirit of that movement was there, though the particular title had not +yet arisen. The missionary preached Christ the Saviour of sinners, and +Temperance as one of the fruits of salvation. Many of the rough +fishermen were converted--bowed their heads and wills, and ceased to +resist God. Among them was Joseph Grain. + +There was not, indeed, a remarkably great outward change in Jo after +this: for he had always been an amiable, hearty, sweet-tempered fellow: +but there was, nevertheless, a radical change; for whereas in time past +he had acted to please himself, he now acted to please his Lord. To +natural enthusiasm, which had previously made him the hero of the town, +was now superadded the enthusiasm of a soldier of the Cross: and when +lifeboat duty called him, as in days gone by, to hold out his hand to +the perishing, even while in the act of saving their bodies he prayed +that the result might be salvation to their souls. + +You may be sure that Jo did not forget Mary: but his thoughts about her +were wonderfully changed: for in this affair of the heart despair had +given place to trust and submission. + +Time passed by, and one night in the dreary month of November the +storm-fiend was let loose on the shores of England. All round the coast +the crews of our lifeboats assembled at pier-heads and other points of +vantage to watch the enemy and prepare for action. Among others Jo +Grain and his comrades assembled at their post of duty. + +It was an awful night--such as, happily, does not often visit our +shores. Thick darkness seemed to brood over land and sea. Only the +robust and hardy dared to show face to the keen, withering blast, which +was laden with sleet. Sometimes a gleam of lightning would dart through +the raging elements; occasionally the murky clouds rolled off the sky +for a short time, allowing the moon to render darkness hideously +visible. Tormented foam came in from the sea in riven masses, and the +hoarse roaring of the breakers played a bass accompaniment to the +yelling blast, which dashed gravel and sand, as well as sleet, in the +faces of those who had courage enough to brave it. + +"There--wasn't that a light?" cried the coxswain of the lifeboat, as he +cowered under the shelter of the pier-wall and gazed seaward with +difficulty. + +"Ay," responded Blunt, who was bowman of the boat; "there it goes +again." + +"And a rocket!" shouted Jo Grain, starting up. + +"No mistake now," cried the coxswain. "Look alive, lads!" + +He ran as he spoke to the spot where the lifeboat lay ready under the +shelter of the pier, but Jo was on board before him. Almost +simultaneously did a dozen strong and fearless men leap into the noble +craft and don their cork life-belts. A few seconds sufficed. Every man +knew well his place and his duty. The short, powerful oars were +shipped. + +"Give way!" cried the coxswain. + +There was no cheer--no onlooker to encourage. Silently the strong backs +were bent, and the lively boat shot away towards the entrance of the +harbour like a "thing of life." + +No description can adequately convey to landsmen the work to be done and +the conditions under which it was performed. On passing the shelter of +the pier-head the boat and her crew were met not only by the tumultuous +surging of cross seas, but by a blast which caught the somewhat high bow +and almost whirled them into the air; while in its now unbroken force +the cold blast seemed to wither up the powers of the men. Then, in the +dark distance, an unusually huge billow was seen rushing down on them. +To meet it straight as an arrow and with all possible speed was +essential. Failure here--and the boat, turning side on, would have been +rolled over and swept back into the harbour, if not wrecked against the +breakwater. + +The coxswain strained at the steering oar as a man strains for life. +The billow was fairly met. The men also strained till the stout oars +were ready to snap; for they knew that the billow must be cut through if +they were to reach the open sea; but it was so high that the bow of the +boat was lifted up, and for one instant it seemed as if she were to be +hurled backward right over the stern. The impulse given, however, was +sufficient. The crest of the wave was cut, and next moment the bow fell +forward, plunging deep into the trough of the sea. At the same time a +cross-wave leaped right over the boat and filled it to the gunwales. + +This initial danger past, it was little the men cared for their +drenching. As little did the boat mind the water, which she instantly +expelled through the discharging tubes in her floor. But the toil now +began. In the teeth of tide and tempest they had to pull with might and +main; advancing foot by foot, sometimes only inch by inch. No rest; no +breathing time; nothing but continuous tearing at the oars, if progress +was to be made, while the spray enveloped them perpetually, and at +frequent intervals the "solid" water, plunging inboard, almost swept the +heroes from their seats. + +But if the raging sea through which the lifeboat struggled was dreadful, +much more terrible was the turmoil on the outlying sands where the wreck +was being gradually dashed to pieces. There the mad billows held high +revelry. Rushing in from all sides, twisted and turned in their courses +by the battered shoals, they met not far from, the wreck with the shock +of opposing armies, and clouds of foam sprang upward in dire, +indescribable confusion. + +The vessel in distress was a small brig. She had been lifted like a +plaything by the waves, and hurled high on the sand, where, although now +unable to lift her up, they rolled her to and fro with extreme violence. +Rocket after rocket had been sent up, until the drenching seas had +rendered the firing of them impossible. The foremast had already gone +by the board, carrying most of the crew with it. On the cross-trees of +the mainmast only two remained--a man and a woman, who could barely +maintain their hold as the battered craft swayed from side to side. + +"The end comes at last, darling Mary," said the man, as he grasped the +woman tightly with one arm and the mast with the other. + +"No, father--not yet," gasped the woman; "see--the lifeboat! I felt +sure that God would send it." + +On came the gallant little craft. There was just light enough to enable +those on the wreck to see dimly her white and blue sides as she laboured +through the foam towards them. + +"They have missed us, father; they don't see us!" cried the girl. + +The blast blew her long hair about, adding wildness to the look of alarm +which she cast on the man while speaking. + +"Nay, darling, it's all right. They've only pulled a bit to wind'ard. +Keep on praying, Mary." + +When well to windward of the wreck the anchor of the lifeboat was let +go, and they began to drop down towards the vessel by the cable. Then, +for the first time, the men could draw a long breath and relax their +efforts at the oars, for wind and waves were now in their favour, though +they still dashed and tossed and buffeted them. + +Soon they were nearly alongside, and the man on the cross-trees was +heard to shout, but his words could not be made out. + +What could it be that caused Jo Grain's heart to beat against his strong +ribs with the force of a sledge-hammer and his eyes to blaze with +excitement, as he turned on his thwart and crouched like a tiger ready +to spring? + +There was tremendous danger in drawing near: for, at one moment, the +boat rushed up on a sea as if about to plunge through the rigging of the +vessel, and the next she was down in a seething caldron, with the black +hull looming over her. It was observed that the two figures aloft, +which could barely be seen against the dark sky, were struggling with +some difficulty. They had lashed themselves to the mast, and their +benumbed fingers could not undo the fastenings. + +"Haul off!" shouted the coxswain, as the boat was hurled with such force +towards the vessel's hull that destruction seemed imminent. + +"No, hold on!" roared Jo Grain. + +The men obeyed their coxswain, but as the boat heaved upwards Jo sprang +with all his might, and fell into the rigging of the wreck. A few +seconds later and he was on the cross-trees, knife in hand, and the +lashings were cut. + +At the same moment a rending crash was heard, and again the stentorian +voice of the coxswain was heard shouting to the men. The lifeboat was +pulled off just in time to escape from the mainmast as it fell, burying +its cross-trees and all its tangled gearing in the sea. + +The bowman and young Guy leaned over the side, and at the risk of their +lives grasped at a drowning man. They caught him, and Captain Bolter +was dragged into the boat insensible. A moment later and a hand was +seen to rise in the midst of the wreckage. Guy knew it well. He +grasped it and held on. A few seconds more and Jo Grain, with blood +pouring down his face, from a deep cut in his head, was raised to the +gunwale. + +"Have a care," he gasped faintly. + +His right arm encircled an inanimate form. Both were dragged on board, +and then it was seen that the form was that of Mary Bolter, uninjured +though insensible. + +To haul up to the anchor was a slow process and laborious, but it was +done cheerily, for the hearts of the men were aglow with satisfaction. +Three lives saved! It was what Blunt styled a grand haul. Not many, +indeed: but was not one that of a loved comrade, and was not another +that of "the sweetest lass in all the town," in spite of young Guy's +difference of opinion? + +It was grey dawn when the lifeboat returned to port under sail, with a +small flag flying in token of success, and it would have done your heart +good, reader, to have seen the faces of the crowds that lined the pier, +and heard the ringing cheers that greeted the gallant rescuers as they +brought the rescued safe to land. + +Six hours after that Captain Bolter sat at the bedside of Jo Grain. + +"You've been hard hit, Jo, I fear," he said kindly. + +"Yes, rather hard, but the doctor says I'll be all right in a week or +two; and it's little I'll care about it, Captain, if you'll only agree +to forgive and forget." + +The Captain seized Jo's hand and tried to speak, but could not. After +an abortive effort he turned away with a grunt and left the room. + +Six months after that, Joseph Grain, transformed into a coast-guardsman, +led "the sweetest lass in all the town" to the village church, and young +Guy, still objecting to the title, was groom's-man. + +"Jo," said Captain Bolter that day, at parting, "I've forgiven you long +ago, but I _can't_ forget; for you said the truth that time. I _was_ an +old grampus, or a fool, if you like, and I'm not much better now. +However, good-bye, dear boy, and take care of her, for there's not +another like her in all England." + +"Except one," murmured young Guy, as he squeezed his friend's hand and +quietly attached an old slipper to their cab as they drove away. +Thereafter he swaggered off to a certain familiar cottage to talk over +the wedding with one whom _he_ considered the sweetest lass in all the +town. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"RESCUE THE PERISHING." + +Proverbial philosophy asserts that the iron should be struck when it is +hot. I sympathise with proverbial philosophy in this case, but that +teacher says nothing whatever about striking the iron when it is cold; +and experience--at least that of blacksmiths--goes to prove that cold +iron may be struck till heat is evolved, and, once heated, who knows +what intensity of incandescence may be attained? + +I will try it. My hammer may not be a large one. A sledge-hammer it +certainly is not. Such as it is I wield it under the impulse of great +heat within me, and will direct my blows at the presumably cold iron +around. I say presumably,--because if you, good reader, have not been +subjected to the same influences with myself you cannot reasonably be +expected to be even warm--much less white-hot. + +The cause of all this heat was Dr Barnardo's splendid meeting held +recently in the Royal Albert Hall. I came home from that meeting +incandescent--throwing off sparks of enthusiasm, and eagerly clutching +at every cold or lukewarm creature that came in my way with a view to +expend on it some of my surplus heat! + +The great Albert Hall filled is enough of itself to arouse enthusiasm, +whatever the object of the gathering may be. Ten thousand human beings, +more or less, swarming on the floor, clustering on the walls, rising +tier above tier, until in dim distance the pigmy throng seems soaring up +into the very heavens, is a tremendous, a solemn, a heart-stirring +sight, suggestive--I write with reverence--of the Judgment Day. And +when such an assembly is convened for the purpose of considering matters +of urgent importance, matters affecting the well-being of multitudes, +matters of life and death which call for instant and vigorous action, +then the enthusiasm is naturally intensified and needs but little +hammering to rouse it to the fiercest glow. + +It was no ordinary gathering this--no mere "annual meeting" of a grand +society. It was indeed that, but a great deal more. There was a "noble +chairman," of course, and an address, and several speeches by eminent +men; but I should suppose that one-half of the audience could not well +see the features of the speakers or hear their words. These were +relatively insignificant matters. + +The business of the evening was to present to the people a great Object +Lesson, and the only figure on the platform that bulked large--at least +in my esteem--was that of Dr Barnardo himself, and a magical master of +the ceremonies did the doctor prove himself to be. + +Being unable to induce the "West End" to visit the "East End," he had +simply cut several enormous slices out of the slums and set them down in +the Royal Albert Hall for inspection. + +The display was set forth interestingly and with emphasis, insomuch that +things almost spoke for themselves, and wherein they failed to do so the +Doctor supplemented in a satisfactorily sonorous voice. + +One of the slum-slices was a large one. It consisted of thirteen +hundred children--boys and girls--in bright, light, smart dresses, who +clustered on the orchestra and around the great organ, like flowers in +June. Looking at their clean, wholesome faces, neat attire, and orderly +demeanour, I thought, "Is it possible that these are the sweepings of +the streets?" The question was tellingly answered later on; but here it +may be stated that this beautiful band of 1300 was only a slice--a +sample--of the Doctor's large family, which at present numbers nearly +3500. (It now, in 1893, numbers nearly 5000.) + +It was grand to hear them sing! The great organ itself had to sing +small beside them, for wood and metal can never hope to equal the living +human voice, even though it be but a voice from the slums. Not only +hymns but humorous songs they sang, and heroic. A telling effect was +produced while singing one of the latter by the sudden display of 1300 +Union Jacks, each the size of a 'kerchief, which the singers waved in +time to the chorus. It seemed as though a stiff breeze had swept over +the flower-bed and kissed the national flag in passing. + +Another surprise of this kind was given during the stirring song of _The +Fire Brigade_, when 1300 bits of gold and silver paper, waved to and +fro, seemed to fill the orchestra with flashing fire. + +But much of this was for show, to tickle our eyes and ears and prepare +the way, as it were, for the grave and stern realities yet to come. + +There was a mighty platform covered with crimson cloth in the centre of +the hall in front of the orchestra. On it were several mysterious +objects covered with sheets. At a signal--a whistle--given by the +Doctor, a band of sturdy boys, clad in their work-a-day uniform, +scampered down the central passage of the hall, jumped on the platform, +flung off the sheets, and discovered carpenters' benches, saws, hammers, +wood--in short, all the appliances with which they carry on the various +trades at their "Home" in the East End. In a few seconds, as if by +magic, the platform was a workshop in full swing--hammering, sawing, +chiselling, wood-chopping, clattering, and indescribable din, which was +enhanced, but not drowned, by the applause of the astonished audience. +The little fellows worked as though life depended on their activity, for +the space, it seemed to me, of half a minute. Then the shrill whistle +sounded again, and the work ceased, as if the springs of life had been +suddenly cut off. Dead silence ensued; each worker remaining in the +attitude in which he had been petrified--a group of artisan statuary in +colour! + +The Doctor was thus enabled quietly to explain that the display +represented only a very few of the trades taught and carried on by his +rescued boys at Stepney Causeway. + +At another signal the splendidly drilled young fellows scampered off, +carrying not only their tools, but their benches, tables, stools, and +even debris along with them, and, disappearing in less than a couple of +minutes, left not a chip or shaving behind. + +It would take a good many pages of close writing to give anything like a +detailed account of all that I saw. I must pass over much in order to +emphasise one or two very telling incidents. The Doctor presented a +sample of all his wares. One of these was a very touching sample-- +namely, a band of cripples, who made their way slowly on crutches down +the passage to the platform--for it is one of the noteworthy points in +this Mission that no destitute boy is turned away, whether he be well or +ill, crippled or sound. So, also, there was a small procession of neat, +pleasant-looking nurses, each leading one or more mites of forsaken +humanity from "Babies' Castle." + +But it seemed to me that the kernel of the nut had been reached, and the +foundation of the God-like Mission laid bare for our inspection, when +the raw material was led forth. We had got accustomed by that time to +turn an expectant gaze at a far distant door when the Doctor's voice +ceased or his whistle sounded. Presently a solitary nurse with the neat +familiar white cap and apron appeared at the door leading two little +creatures by the hand. A hush--a distinct though indescribable +sensation--as of profound pity and pathos,--passed over the vast +assembly as a little boy and girl direct from the slums were led +forward. The nurse had to walk slowly to accommodate her pace to +theirs. Half naked, ragged, dirty, unkempt, bereft of their natural +guardians, or forsaken by them--helpless, yet left to help themselves +almost before they could walk! Forward they came to the central +platform, casting timid, wondering glances around at the mighty host of +well-to-do beings, not one of whom, perhaps, ever knew what it is to +hunger for a whole day and lie down at night with a door-step for a +pillow. Oh, it was pitiful! the Doctor advanced to these forlorn ones +and took them by the hands with inexpressible tenderness, and then, +facing the assembly, broke the silence and presented the human material +which it was, under God, his mission in life to rescue. + +Then turning abruptly to the flower-bed in the orchestra, he signalled +with his finger. A flower that might well have been styled a rosebud--a +neat little girl in pink with a natty straw hat--tripped lightly down +and stood on the platform beside the poor waifs. Looking up once more +to the entranced audience and pointing to the children, the Doctor +said-- + +"Such as these are, she was but a few months ago, and such as she is now +they will soon become, with God's blessing." + +I may not quote the words correctly, but that is my recollection of the +substance. + +The Doctor was not content, however, to show us the foundation and +progress of his work. He showed us the work, as it were, completed, in +the form of a band of sturdy young men in their working costume, ready +to start as rescued, trained, useful, earnest labourers for the fields +of Manitoba--young men who all had once been lost waifs and strays. + +Still further, he, as it were, put the copestone on his glorious work by +presenting a band of men and women--"old boys and girls"--who had been +tested by rough contact with the world and its temptations, and had come +off victorious "by keeping their situations with credit" for periods +varying from one to nine years--kept by the power of Christ! + +When I saw the little waifs and looked up at the bands of happy children +before me, and thought of the thousands more in the "Homes," and of the +multitudes which have passed through these Homes in years gone by; the +gladness and the great boon to humanity which must have resulted, and of +the terrible crime and degradation that might have been--my heart +offered the prayer, which at that moment my voice could not have +uttered--"God bless and prosper Dr Barnardo and his work!" + +I hear a voice from the "Back of Beyont," or some such far off +locality--a timid voice, perhaps that of a juvenile who knows little, +and can scarce be expected to care much, about London--asking "Who is +Dr Barnardo?" + +For the sake of that innocent one I reply that he is a Scavenger--the +chief of London Scavengers! He and his subordinates sweep up the human +rubbish of the slums and shoot it into a receptacle at 18 Stepney +Causeway, where they manipulate and wash it, and subject it to a variety +of processes which result, with God's blessing, in the recovery of +innumerable jewels of inestimable value. I say inestimable, because men +have not yet found a method of fixing the exact value of human souls and +rescued lives. The "rubbish" which is gathered consists of destitute +children. The Assistant Scavengers are men and women who love and serve +the Lord Jesus Christ. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +A KNOTTY QUESTION. + +"Tom Blunt," said Richard Sharp, "I deny your premises, condemn your +reasoning as illogical, and reject your conclusions with scorn!" + +The youth who made this remark with very considerable assurance and +emphasis was a student. His fellow-student received it with an air of +bland good-nature. + +"Dick," said he, "your oratory is rotund, and if it were convincing +might be impressive; but it fails to some extent in consequence of a +certain smack of self-assertion which is unphilosophical. Suppose, now, +that we have this matter out in a calm, dispassionate manner, without +`tooth,' or egotism, or prejudice, which tend so powerfully to mar human +disputation and render it abortive." + +"With all my heart, Tom," said the other, drawing close to the fire, +placing one foot against the mantelpiece, as being a comfortable, though +not elegant posture, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair, and +placing his hands in that position--with all the finger tips touching +each other--which seems, from the universal practice of civilised +society, to assist mental elucidation. "I am quite prepared. Come on!" + +"Stay; while my mind is working I like to have my hands employed. I +will proceed with my monkey while we talk," said Blunt, taking up a +walking-stick, the head of which he had carved into the semblance of a +monkey. "Sweet creature!" he added, kissing the object of his +affection, and holding it out at arm's-length. "Silent companion of my +solitary rambles, and patient auditor of my most secret aspirations, you +are becoming quite a work of art. A few more touches of the knife, and +something like perfection shall have been attained! Look here, Dick, +when I turn it towards the light--so--isn't there a beauty about the +contour of that upper lip and nose which--" + +"Don't be a fool, Tom," interrupted his friend, somewhat impatiently; +"you seem to me to be growing more and more imbecile every day. We did +not sit down to discuss fine art--" + +"True, Richard, true; but there is a power in the consideration of fine +art, which, when judiciously interpolated in the affairs of life, tends +to soften the asperities, to round away, as it were, the ruggedness of +human intercourse, and produce a tranquillity of mind which is eminently +conducive to--to--don't you see?" + +"No, I don't see!" + +"Then," continued Blunt, applying his knife to one of the monkey's eyes, +"there arises the question--how far is this intellectual blindness the +result of incapacity of intellectual vision, or of averted gaze, or of +the wilful shutting of the intellectual eyelids?" + +"Well, well, Tom, let that question alone for the present. Let us come +to the point, for I wish to have my mind cleared up on the subject. You +hold that gambling is wrong--essentially wrong." + +"I do; but let us not have a misunderstanding at the very beginning," +said Blunt. "By gambling I do not mean the playing of games. That is +not gambling. What I understand by gambling is betting on games--or on +anything--and the playing of games for the purpose of winning money, or +anything that possesses value, great or small. Such gambling I hold to +be wrong--essentially, morally, absolutely wrong, without one particle +of right or good in it whatever." + +As he spoke Blunt became slightly more earnest in tone, and less devoted +to the monkey. + +"Well, now, Tom, do you know I don't see that." + +"If you did see it, my dear fellow," returned Blunt, resuming his airy +tone, "our discussion of the subject would be useless." + +"Well, then, I _can't_ see it to be wrong. Here are you and I. We want +to have a game of billiards. It is uninteresting to play even billiards +for nothing; but we each have a little money, and choose to risk a small +sum. Our object is not gain, therefore we play for merely sixpenny +points. We both agree to risk that sum. If I lose, all right. If you +lose, all right. That's fair, isn't it?" + +"No; it is undoubtedly equal, but not necessarily fair. Fair means +`free from blemish,' `pure,' in other words, right. Two thieves may +make a perfectly fair division of spoil; but the fairness of the +division does not make their conduct fair or right. Neither of them is +entitled to divide their gains at all. Their agreeing to do so does not +make it fair." + +"Agreed, Tom, as regards thieves; but you and I are not thieves. We +propose to act with that which is our own. We mutually agree to run the +risk of loss, and to take our chance of gain. We have a right to do as +we choose with our own. Is not that fair?" + +"You pour out so many fallacies and half truths, Dick, that it is not +easy to answer you right off." + +"Morally and politically you are wrong. Politically a man is not +entitled to do what he chooses with his own. There are limitations. +For instance, a man owns a house. Abstractly, he is entitled to burn it +down if he chooses. But if his house abuts upon mine, he may not set it +on fire if he chooses, because in so doing he would set fire to my house +also, which is very much beyond his right. Then--" + +"Oh, man, I understand all that," said Sharp quickly. "Of course a man +may put what he likes in his garden, but with such-like limitations as +that he shall not set up a limekiln to choke his neighbours, or a +piggery to breed disease; but gambling does nothing like that." + +"Does it not?" exclaimed Blunt. "Does it not ruin hundreds of men, +turning them into sots and paupers, whereby the ruined gamblers become +unable to pay their fair share of taxation; and, in addition, lay on the +shoulders of respectable people the unfair burden of supporting them, +and perhaps their families?" + +"But what if the gambler has no family?" + +"There still remains his ruined self to be maintained." + +"But suppose he is not ruined--that he manages, by gambling, to support +himself?" + +"In that case he still remains guilty of two mean and contemptible acts. +On the one hand he produces nothing whatever to increase the wealth or +happiness of the world, and, on the other hand, whatever he gains is a +matter of direct loss and sorrow to others without any tangible +equivalent. It is not so with the orator or the musician. Though their +products are not indeed tangible they are distinctly real and valuable. +During the hour of action the orator charms the ear, eye, and intellect. +So does the musician. When the hour is past the heart is gladdened by +the memory of what has been, and the hopes are aroused in anticipation +of what may yet be in the future. As regards the orator, the lessons +inculcated may be a lasting gain and pleasure, and source of widespread +benefit through life. To a great extent this may also be said of the +musician when words are wedded to music. Who has not heard of souls +being delivered from spiritual darkness and brought into spiritual light +by means of song?--a benefit which will last through eternity as well as +time. Even the man of wealth who lives on the interest of his +possessions is not necessarily a drone in the human hive. He may, by +wise and careful use of his wealth, greatly increase the world's riches. +By the mere management of it he may fill up his days with useful and +happy employment, and by devoting it and himself to God he may so +influence the world for good that men shall bless him while he lives and +mourn him profoundly when he dies. But what fraction of good is done by +the gambler in all the wide world?" + +"Much the same that is accomplished by the others," put in Sharp at this +point. "The orator gives pleasure to those who are fond of recitation +or declamation; the musician pleases those who are fond of sweet sounds, +and the gambler gives pleasure to men who are fond of the excitement of +play. Besides, by paying his way he gives benefit to all whom he +employs. He rents a house, he buys furniture, he eats food, all of +which brings profit to house-owners, cabinet-makers, butchers, bakers, +etcetera, and is good done to the world by the gambler." + +"Nay, friend Richard, not by the gambler, but by the money which the +gambler spends." + +"Isn't that much the same thing?" + +"By no means. The money--or its equivalent--is created by some one +else. The gambler merely passes it on. If he had never been born the +same money would have been there for some one else to spend. The labour +of the gambler has not added one penny to it. He brought nothing into +the world, and has added nothing to the world's pile, though he has +managed to consume a good deal of its produce. Is there not something +very mean and contemptible in this state of being? On the other hand +the orator has spent laborious days and exerted much brain-power before +he made himself capable of pleasing and benefiting his fellows. The +musician has gone through exhausting drudgery and practice before being +fit to thrill or instruct by means of his sweet sounds, and the man of +wealth has had to be educated up to the point of using his possessions +to profitable account--so that his fields shall grow heavier crops than +they did when he began his work; his tenants shall be better housed than +they were at first, and shall lead healthier and happier lives to the +great moral and material advantage of the community. Nearly all the +other members of the hive produce, or help to produce, some sort of +equivalent for the money they obtain. Even those who produce what is +bad have still _something_ to show for their money, and that something, +bad though it be in one form, may be decidedly good in another form, or +if put to another use. The gambler alone--except, perhaps, the absolute +idler--enjoys the unenviable position of a thorough, out-and-out, +unmitigated drone. He does absolutely _nothing_, except produce +unhealthy excitement in himself and his fellows! He has nothing +whatever to show for the money he has obtained except `risk,' and that +can hardly be styled a commodity." + +"I beg pardon," interrupted Sharp, "the gambler produces skill; and +there can be no doubt that hundreds of men derive as much pleasure from +an exhibition of skill with the billiard-cue as others derive from an +exhibition of skill with the flute or violin." + +"You forget, Dick, my boy, that skill with the billiard-cue is not +gambling. What I condemn as being morally and politically wrong is +betting on games and staking anything upon the issue of them. Gamblers +are, if I may say so, a set of living pockets which circulate money +about amongst themselves, one pocket gaining neither more nor less than +what another pocket loses." + +"But you are now talking of professional gamblers, Tom. Of course I +don't defend these. What I do defend is my right to play, now and then, +for sixpenny, or say shilling, or even half-crown points, without laying +myself open to the charge of having been guilty of what you term a mean, +dishonourable, unjust, contemptible act." + +"In other words, you wish to steal now and then without being called a +thief! But come, old man, I won't call you bad names. I know you don't +look at this matter as I do, and therefore I don't think that you are +either mean or contemptible. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that +honourable, upright men may sometimes be reasoned into false beliefs, so +that for a time they may fail to see the evil of that which they uphold. +I am not infallible. If my reasoning is false, I stand open to +correction." + +Laying the monkey down on the table at this point and looking earnestly +at his friend, Tom Blunt continued-- + +"Let me ask a question, Dick. Is it for the sake of getting money that +you gamble?" + +"Certainly not," returned his friend, with a slight touch of +indignation. "You know that I _never_ play for high stakes, and with +penny or sixpenny points you know it is impossible for me either to win +or lose any sum that would be worth a moment's consideration. The game +is all that I care for." + +"If so, why do you lose interest in the game when there are no stakes?" + +"Oh--well, it's hard to say; but the value of the stake cannot be that +which adds interest, for it is so trifling." + +"I'm not so sure of that, Dick. You have heard gambling talked of as a +disease." + +"Yes, but I don't believe it is." + +"Do you believe that a miser is a morally diseased man?" + +"Well, perhaps he is," returned Sharp; "but a gambler is not necessarily +a miser." + +"Yet the two have some symptoms of this moral disease in common. The +miser is sometimes rich, nevertheless the covetous spirit is so strong +in him that he gloats over a sixpence, has profound interest in gaining +it, and mourns over it if lost. You, being well off with a rich and +liberal father, yet declare that the interest of a game is much +decreased if there are no stakes on it." + +"The cases are not parallel." + +"I did not say they were, but you must admit--indeed you have admitted-- +that you have one symptom of this disease in common with the miser." + +"What disease?" + +"The love of money." + +Richard Sharp burst into a laugh at this, a good-humoured laugh in which +there was more of amusement than annoyance. + +"Tom, Tom," he said, "how your notions about gambling seem to blind you +to the true character of your friends! Did you ever see me gloating +over gold, or hoarding sixpences, or going stealthily in the dead of +night to secret places for the purpose of counting over my wealth? Have +I not rather, on the contrary, got credit among my friends for being +somewhat of a spendthrift? But go on, old fellow, what more have you to +say against gambling--for you have not yet convinced me?" + +"Hold on a bit. Let me pare off just a morsel of my monkey's nose-- +there, that's about as near perfection as is possible in a monkey. What +a pity that he has not life enough to see his beautiful face in a glass! +But perhaps it's as well, for he would never see himself as others see +him. Men never do. No doubt monkeys are the same. Well now," +continued Blunt, again laying down the stick, and becoming serious, "try +if you can see the matter in this light. Two gamblers meet. Not +blacklegs, observe, but respectable men, who nevertheless bet much, and +play high, and keep `books,' etcetera. One is rich, the other poor. +Each wishes ardently to gain money from his friend. This is a somewhat +low, unmanly wish, to begin with; but let it pass. The poor one has a +wife and family to keep, and debts to pay. Many thousands of men, ay, +and women, are in the same condition, and work hard to pay their debts. +Our poor gambler, however, does not like work. He prefers to take his +chance at gambling; it is easier, he thinks, and it is certainly, in a +way, more exciting than work. Our rich gambler has no need to work, but +he also likes excitement, and he loves money. Neither of these men +would condescend for one moment to ask a gift of money from the other, +yet each is so keen to obtain his friend's money that they agree to +stake it on a chance, or on the issue of a contest. For one to _take_ +the money from the other, who does not wish to part with it, would be +unfair and wrong, of course; but their agreement gets rid of the +difficulty. It has not altered the _conditions_, observe. Neither of +them wishes to give up his money, but an arrangement has been come to, +in virtue of which one consents to be a defrauder, and the other to be +defrauded. Does the agreement make wrong right?" + +"I think it does, because the gamblers have a right to make what +agreement they please, as it is between themselves." + +"Hold there, Dick. Suppose that the poor man loses. Is it then between +themselves? Does not the rich gambler walk away with the money that was +due to the poor one's butcher, baker, brewer, etcetera?" + +"But the rich one did not know that. It is not his fault." + +"That does not free the poor gambler from the dishonourable act of +risking money which was not his own; and do you really think that if the +rich one did know it he would return the money? I think not. The +history of gambling does not point to many, if any, such cases of +self-sacrifice. The truth is that selfishness in its meanest form is at +the bottom of all gambling, though many gamblers may not quite see the +fact. I want your money. I am too proud to ask it. I dare not demand +it. I cannot cajole you out of it. I will not rob you. You are +precisely in the same mind that I am. Come, let us resort to a trick, +let us make an arrangement whereby one of us at least shall gain his +sneaking, nefarious, unjust end, and we will, anyhow, have the +excitement of leaving to chance which of us is to be the lucky man. +Chance and luck! Dick Sharp, there is no such condition as chance or +luck. It is as surely fixed in the mind of God which gambler is to gain +and which to lose as it is that the morrow shall follow to-day." + +"My dear Blunt, I had no idea you were such a fatalist," said Sharp in +surprise. + +"I am not a fatalist in the sense you mean," returned his friend. +"Everything has been fixed from the beginning." + +"Is not that fatalism of the most pronounced nature, Tom?" + +"You don't seem to see that, among other fixtures, it was fixed that +free-will should be given to man, and with it the right as well as the +power to fix many things for himself, also the responsibility. Without +free-will we could have had no responsibility. The mere fact that God +of course _knew_ what each man would will, did not alter the fixed +arrangement that man has been left perfectly free to will as he pleases. +I do not say that man is free to _do_ as he pleases. Sometimes the +doing is permitted; sometimes it is interfered with--never the willing. +That is always and for ever free. Gamblers use their free-wills, often +to their own great damage and ruin; just as good men use their +free-wills to their great advantage and happiness. In both cases they +make free use of the free-wills that have been bestowed on them." + +"Then I suppose that you consider gambling, even to the smallest extent, +to be sin?" + +"I do." + +"Under which of the ten commandments does it fall?" + +"`Thou shalt not covet.'" + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +TWO REMARKABLE DREAMS. + +Some natures are better than others. There can be no question about +that. Some dispositions are born moderately sweet, others are born +slightly sour. If you doubt the fact, reader, go study Nature, or get +you to an argumentative friend and dispute the point. We refuse flatly +to enter into a discussion of the subject. + +Look at that little boy sleeping there under the railway arch in the +East End of London--not the boy with the black hair and the hook nose +and the square under-jaw, but the one with the curly head, the extremely +dirty face, and the dimpled chin, on the tip of whose snub nose the +rising sun shines with a power that causes it to resemble a glowing +carbuncle on a visage still lying in shadow. + +That little boy's disposition is sweet. You can see it in every line, +in every curve, in every dimple of his dirty little face. He has not +been sweetened by training, he has had no training--at least none from +man or woman with a view to his good. He has no settled principles of +any kind, good or bad. All his actions are the result of impulse based +on mere animal propensity, but, like every other human being, he has a +conscience. At the time of his introduction to the reader his +conscience is, like himself, asleep, and it has not as yet been much +enlightened. His name is Stumpy, but he was never christened. + +Critical minds will object here that a boy would not be permitted to +sleep under a railway arch, and that London houses would effectually +prevent the rising sun from entering such a place. To which we reply +that the arch in question was a semi-suburban arch; that it was the +last, (or the first), of a series of arches, an insignificant arch under +which nothing ever ran except stray cats and rats, and that it spanned a +morsel of waste ground which gave upon a shabby street running due east, +up which, every fine morning, the rising sun gushed in a flood of glory. + +Each fleeting moment increased the light on Stumpy's upturned nose, +until it tipped the dimpled chin and cheeks and at last kissed his +eyelids. This appeared to suggest pleasant dreams, for the boy smiled +like a dirty-faced angel. He even gave vent to an imbecile laugh, and +then awoke. + +Stumpy's eyes were huge and blue. The opening of them was like the +revealing of unfathomable sky through clouds of roseate hue! They +sparkled with a light all their own in addition to that of the sun, for +there was in them a gleam of mischief as their owner poked his companion +in the ribs and then tugged his hair. + +"I say, you let me alone!" growled the companion, turning uneasily on +his hard couch. + +"I say, you get up," answered Stumpy, giving the companion a pinch on +the tender part of his arm. "Come, look alive, Howlet. I sees a +railway porter and a bobby." + +Owlet, whose nose had suggested his name, had been regardless of the +poke, the tug, and the pinch, but was alive to the hint. He at once +came to the sitting posture on hearing the dreaded name of "bobby," and +rubbed his eyes. On seeing that there was neither policeman nor guard +near, he uttered an uncomplimentary remark and was about to lie down +again, but was arrested by the animated expression of his comrade's face +and the heaving of his shoulders. + +"Why, what ever is the matter with you?" he demanded. "Are you goin' to +bust yourself wi' larfin', by way of gettin' a happetite for the +breakfast that you hain't no prospect of?" + +To this Stumpy replied by pulling from his trousers pocket four shining +pennies, which he held out with an air of triumph. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Owlet; and then being unable to find words sufficiently +expressive, he rubbed the place where the front of his waistcoat would +have been if he had possessed one. + +"Yes," said Stumpy, regarding the coppers with a pensive air, "I've +slep' with you all night in my 'and, an' my 'and in my pocket, an' my +knees doubled up to my chin to make all snug, an' now I'm going to have +a tuck in--a blow out--a buster--a--" + +He paused abruptly, and looking with a gleeful air at his companion, +said-- + +"But that wasn't what I was laughin' at." + +"Well, I suppose it warn't. What was it, then?" + +The boy's eyes sparkled again, and for some moments a half-suppressed +chuckling prevented speech. + +"It was a dream," he said at last. + +"A dream!" exclaimed Owlet contemptuously. + +"I hate dreams. When I dreams 'em they're always about bobbies and +maginstrates, an' wittles, an' when other fellows tells about 'em +they're so long-winded an' prosy. But I had a dream too. What was +yours?" + +"My dream was about a bobby," returned his friend. "See, here it is, +an' I won't be long-winded or prosy, Howlet, so don't growl and spoil +your happetite for that 'ere breakfast that's a-comin'. I dreamed--let +me see, was it in Piccadilly--no, it was Oxford Street, close by Regent +Street, where all the swells go to promynade, you know. Well, I sees a +bobby--of course I never can go the length my little toe without seein' +a bobby! but this bobby was a stunner. You never see'd sitch a feller. +Not that he was big, or fierce, but he had a nose just two-foot-six +long. I know for certain, for I'm a good judge o' size, besides, I went +straight up to him, as bold as brass, and axed him how long it was, an' +he told me without winkin'. The strange thing about it is that I wasn't +a bit surprised at his nose. Wery odd, ain't it, eh, Howlet, that +people never is surprised at anything they sees in dreams? I do +b'lieve, now, if I was to see a man takin' a walk of a' arternoon with +his head in his coat-tail pocket I'd take it quite as a matter of +course. + +"Well, w'en that bobby had told me his nose was two-foot-six inches long +I feels a most unaccountable and astonishin' gush of indignation come +over me. What it was at I don't know no more nor the man in the moon. +P'r'aps it was the sudden thought of all the troubles that bobbies has +brought on me from the day I was born till now. Anyhow, I was took +awful bad. My buzzum felt fit to bust. I knowed that I must do +somethin' to him or die; so I seized that bobby by the nose, and hauled +him flat down on his breast. He was so took with surprise that he never +made any struggle, but gived vent to a most awful howl. My joy at +havin' so easily floored my natural enemy was such that I replied with a +Cherokee yell. Then I gave his nose a pull up so strong that it +well-nigh broke his neck an' set him straight on his pins again! Oh! +Howlet, you can't think what a jolly dream it was. To do it all so +easy, too!" + +"Well, what happened arter that?" asked Owlet. + +"Nothin' happened after that," returned Stumpy, with a somewhat sad +expression on his usually gleeful visage. "It's a wery strange thing, +Howlet, that dreams inwariably wanishes away just at the most +interestin' p'int. Did you ever notice that?" + +"Notice it! I should think I did. Why the dream that I had w'en I was +layin' alongside o' you was o' that sort exactly. It was all about +wittles, too, an' it's made me that 'ungry I feels like a ravagin' +wolf." + +"Come along, then, Howlet, an' you an' me will ravage somethin' wi' them +browns o' mine. We'll 'ave a good breakfast, though it should be our +last, an' I'll stand treat." + +"You're a trump, Stumpy; an' I'll tell you _my_ dream as we goes along." + +"Hall right--but mind you don't come prosy over me. I can't stand it no +more nor yourself." + +"You mind Dick Wilkin, don't you?" + +"What--the young man from the country as I've see'd standin' at the dock +gates day after day for weeks without getting took on?" + +"That's him," continued Owlet, with a nod, as he shoved his hand into +his trousers pockets. "He brought a wife and five kids from the country +with him--thinkin' to better hisself in London. Ha! a sweet little town +for a cove as is 'ard up to better hisself in--ho yes, certingly!" +remarked the precocious boy in a tone of profound sarcasm. + +"Well," he continued, "Dick Wilkin came to better hisself an' he set +about it by rentin' a single room in Cherubs Court--a fine saloobrious +spot, as you know, not far from the Tower. He 'ad a few bobs when he +came, and bought a few sticks o' furniture, but I don't need for to tell +_you_, Stumpy, that the most o' that soon went up the spout, and the +Wilkins was redooced to beggary--waried off an' on with an odd job at +the docks. It was when they first comed to town that I was down wi' +that fever, or 'flenzy, or somethink o' that sort. The streets bein' my +usual 'abitation, I 'ad no place in partikler to go to, an' by good +luck, when I gave in, I lay down at the Wilkins' door. O! but I _was_ +bad--that bad that it seemed as if I should be cleared out o' my mortal +carcase entirely--" + +"Mulligrumps?" inquired his sympathetic friend. + +"No, no. Nothin' o' that sort, but a kind of hot all-overishness, wi' +pains that--but you can't understand it, Stumpy, if you've never 'ad +it." + +"Then I don't want to understand it. But what has all this to do wi' +your dream?" + +"Everythink to do with it, 'cause it was about them I was dreamin'. As +I was sayin', I fell down at their door, an' they took me in, and Mrs +Wilkin nussed me for weeks till I got better. Oh, she's a rare nuss is +Mrs Wilkin. An' when I began to get better the kids all took to me. I +don't know when I would have left them, but when times became bad, an' +Dick couldn't git work, and Mrs Wilkin and the kids began to grow thin, +I thought it was time for me to look out for myself, an' not remain a +burden on 'em no longer. I know'd they wouldn't let me away without a +rumpus, so I just gave 'em the slip, and that's 'ow I came to be on the +streets again, an' fell in wi' you, Stumpy." + +"'Ave you never seen 'em since?" + +"Never." + +"You ungrateful wagibone!" + +"What was the use o' my goin' to see 'em w'en I 'ad nothin' to give +'em?" returned Owlet in an apologetic tone. + +"You might 'ave given 'em the benefit of your adwice if you 'ad nothin' +else. But what did you dream about 'em?" + +"I dreamt that they was all starvin'--which ain't unlikely to be true-- +an' I was so cut up about it, that I went straight off to a butcher's +shop and stole a lot o' sasengers; then to a baker's and stole a loaf +the size of a wheel-barrer; then to a grocer's and stole tea an' sugar; +an' the strange thing was that neither the people o' the shops nor the +bobbies seemed to think I was stealin'! Another coorious thing was that +I carried all the things in my pockets--stuffed 'em in quite easy, +though there was 'arf a sack o' coals among 'em!" + +"Always the way in dreams," remarked his friend philosophically. + +"Yes--ain't it jolly convenient?" continued the other. "Well, w'en I +got to the 'ouse I set to work, made a rousin' fire, put on the kettle, +cooked the wittles as if I'd bin born and bred in a 'otel, and in less +than five minutes 'ad a smokin' dinner on the table, that would 'ave +busted an alderman. In course the Wilkins axed no questions. Father, +mother, five kids, and self all drew in our chairs, and sot down--" + +"What fun!" exclaimed Stumpy. + +"Ay, but you spoilt the fun, for it was just at that time you shoved +your fist into my ribs, and woke me before one of us could get a bite o' +that grub into our mouths. If we'd even 'ad time to smell it, that +would 'ave bin somethink to remember." + +"Howlet," said the other impressively, "d'ye think the Wilkins is livin' +in the same place still?" + +"As like as not." + +"Could you find it again?" + +"Could I find Saint Paul's, or the Moniment? I should think so!" + +"Come along, then, and let's pay 'em a wisit." + +They were not long in finding the place--a dirty court at the farther +end of a dark passage. + +Owlet led the way to the top of a rickety stair, and knocked at one of +the doors which opened on the landing. No answer was returned, but +after a second application of the knuckles, accompanied by a touch of +the toe, a growling voice was heard, then a sound of some one getting +violently out of bed, a heavy tread on the floor, and the door was flung +open. + +"What d'ee want?" demanded a fierce, half-drunken man. + +"Please, sir, does the Wilkins stop here?" + +"No, they don't," and the door was shut with a bang. + +"Sweet creature!" observed Stumpy as they turned disappointed away. + +"Wonder if his mother 'as any more like 'im?" said Owlet. + +"They've 'ad to change to the cellar," said a famished-looking woman, +putting her head out of a door on the same landing. "D'ye want 'em?" + +"In course we does, mother, else we wouldn't ax for 'em. W'ereabouts is +the cellar?" + +"Foot o' this stair." + +Descending to the regions below, the two boys groped their way along an +underground passage till they came to a door. It was opened by a woman, +who timidly demanded what they wanted. + +"It's me, Missis Wilkin. 'Ave you forgotten Howlet?" + +With an exclamation of surprise and joy the woman flung the door wide, +seized Owlet, dragged him into the room, and embraced him with as much +affection as if he had been her own child. Instantly there arose a +shout of juvenile joy, and Stumpy could see, in the semi-darkness, that +four little creatures were helping their mother to overwhelm his friend, +while a fifth--a biggish girl--was prevented from joining them by the +necessity that lay on her to take care of the baby. + +When the greetings were over, the sad condition of the family was soon +explained, and a single glance round sufficed to show that they had +reached the lowest state of destitution. It was a back room rather than +a cellar, but the dirty pane of thick glass near the roof admitted only +enough of light to make its wretchedness visible. A rickety table, two +broken chairs, and a bedstead without a bottom was all the furniture +left, and the grate was empty. + +"We've been obleeged to pawn everything," said Mrs Wilkin, with +difficulty suppressing a sob, "and I need hardly tell you why," she +added, with a glance at the children, who were living skeletons. + +The baby was perhaps the saddest object there, for it was so thin and +weak that it had not strength to cry--though the faces which it +frequently made were obviously the result of an effort to do so. + +Much interested in the scene, young Stumpy stood admiring it +patronisingly for a little, but when he heard the poor woman tell of +their desperate struggle to merely keep themselves alive, his feelings +were touched, and when he learned that not a bite of food had passed +their lips since the previous morning, a sudden impulse swelled his +little breast. He clutched his four pennies tightly; glanced quickly +round; observed an empty basket in a corner; caught it up, and left the +place hurriedly. + +He had scarcely gone when the father of the family entered. The +expression of his face and his whole bearing and aspect told eloquently +of disappointment as he sat down with a heavy sigh. + +"Stumped again," he said; "only a few hands took on." + +The words sounded as a death-knell to the famishing family, and the man +himself was too much cut up to take notice of the return of his friend +Owlet, except by a slight nod of recognition. + +Meanwhile Stumpy ran along several streets in quest of food. He had not +far to run in such a locality. At a very small grocer's shop he +purchased one halfpenny worth of tea and put it in his basket. To this +he added one farthing's worth of milk, which the amiable milkman let him +have in a small phial, on promise of its being returned. Two farthings +more procured a small supply of coal, which he wrapped in two cabbage +leaves. Then he looked about for a baker. One penny farthing of his +fund having been spent, it behoved him to consider that the staff of +life must be secured in preference to luxuries. + +At this point the boy's nose told him of a most delicious smell which +pervaded the air. He stood still for a moment and sniffed eagerly. + +"Ah, ain't it prime? I've jist 'ad some," said another much smaller and +very ragged street-boy who had noticed the sniff. + +"What ever is it?" demanded Stumpy. + +"Pea-soup," answered the other. + +"Where?" + +"Right round the corner. Look alive, they're shovellin' it out like one +o'clock for _fard'ns_!" + +Our hero waited for no more. He dashed round the corner, and found a +place where the Salvation Army was dispensing farthing and halfpenny +breakfasts to a crowd of the hungriest and raggedest creatures he had +ever seen, though his personal experience of London destitution was +extensive. + +"Here you are," said a smiling damsel in a poke bonnet. "I see you're +in a hurry; how much do you want?" + +"'Ow much for a fard'n?" asked Stumpy, with the caution natural to a man +of limited means. + +A small bowl full of steaming soup was placed before him and a hunk of +bread. + +"For _one_ fard'n?" inquired the boy in surprise. + +"For one farthing," replied the presiding angel in the poke bonnet. + +"Here, young 'ooman," said Stumpy, setting down his basket, "let me 'ave +eleven fard'n's worth right away. There's a big family awaitin' for it +an' they're all starvin', so do make haste." + +"But, dear boy, you've brought nothing to carry the soup in." + +Stumpy's visage fell. The basket could not serve him here, and the rate +at which the soup was being ladled out convinced him that if he were to +return for a jug there would not be much left for him. + +Observing his difficulty, the attendant said that she would lend him a +jug if he would promise to bring it back. "Are you an honest boy?" she +asked, with an amused look. + +"About as honest as most kids o' the same sort." + +"Well, I'll trust you--and, mind, God sees you. There, now, don't you +fall and break it." + +Our hero was not long in returning to the dreary cellar, with the eleven +basins of soup and eleven hunks of bread--all of which, with the +previously purchased luxuries, he spread out on the rickety table, to +the unutterable amazement and joy of the Wilkin family. + +Need we say that it was a glorious feast? As there were only two +chairs, the table was lifted inside of the bottomless bed, and some of +the young people sat down on the frame thereof on one side, and some on +the other side, while Mrs Wilkin and her husband occupied the places of +honour at the head and foot. There was not much conversation at first. +Hunger was too exacting, but in a short time tongues began to wag. Then +the fire was lighted, and the kettle boiled, and the half-pennyworth of +tea infused, and thus the sumptuous meal was agreeably washed down. +Even the baby began--to recover under the genial influence of warm food, +and made faces indicative of a wish to crow--but it failed, and went to +sleep on sister's shoulder instead. When it was all over poor Mrs +Wilkin made an attempt to "return thanks" for the meal, but broke down +and sobbed her gratitude. + +Reader, this is no fancy sketch. It is founded on terrible fact, and +gives but a faint idea of the wretchedness and poverty that prevail in +London--even the London of _to-day_! + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Personal Reminiscences in Book Making, by +R.M. Ballantyne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKMAKING *** + +***** This file should be named 21755.txt or 21755.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/5/21755/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |