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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Terrible Coward, by George Manville Fenn
+
+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: A Terrible Coward
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23376]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TERRIBLE COWARD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+A Terrible Coward, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+The book is set in a small Cornish fishing village.  There is a
+dangerous swimming feat which is used as a rite of passage among the
+boys and young men.  One young man, the hero of this short book, has not
+yet dared to do this feat.  Another young man, annoyed by the hero's
+apparent lack of courage, does something very nasty and unkind which
+very nearly drowns our hero.
+
+However, shortly afterwards, events so pan out that the tables are
+turned, and it is seen that our hero is not the coward, while his enemy
+is.
+
+It's about a two-hour read, but is well-written and in the vintage
+Manville Fenn style in which "how does he get out of this?" events
+follow closely on one another.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+A TERRIBLE COWARD, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE DIVER'S ROCK.
+
+Boom! with a noise like thunder.
+
+_Plash_! directly after; but the sounds those two words express,
+multiplied and squared if you like, till the effect upon the senses is,
+on the first hearing, one of dread mingled with awe at the mightiness of
+the power of the sea.
+
+For this is not "how the waters come down at Lodore," but how they come
+in at Carn Du, a little fishing town on the Cornish coast.
+
+There's a black mass of rock standing out like a buttress just to the
+west of the little harbour, running right into the sea, and going down
+straight like a wall into the deep clear water at its foot, as if to say
+to the waves, "Thus far may you come, and no farther."  For hundreds
+upon hundreds of years the winds and tides have combined to rid
+themselves of this obstacle to their progress, the winds urging the
+waves that come rolling in from the vast Atlantic, gathering force as
+they increase in speed, like one rushing at a leap; and at last leap
+they do, upon the great black mass of shale, tons upon tons in weight,
+seeming as if they would sweep it clear away, and rush on in mad ruin to
+tumble the fishing luggers together and shatter them like eggs as they
+lie softly rubbing together in the harbour.
+
+But no; it is only another of the countless millions of failures on the
+part of those Atlantic billows.  They leap and fall with a mighty boom
+upon that rock, but only to break up with a hissing plash into a mass of
+foam, defeated, churned up with froth that runs hissing back, ready to
+give way to another wave advancing to the charge.
+
+They have worn the rock smooth, so that it glistens like glass in the
+morning sun, for, as if aware of the folly of urging on its regiments of
+well-mounted cavalry to come dashing in upon the wild white-maned
+sea-horses, or the more sober lines of heavy infantry in uniforms of
+green and blue, the sea has for countless ages bombarded Carn Du with
+stone-shot in the shape of great boulders.  These have ground and
+polished off every scrap of seaweed, every barnacle, limpet, and
+sea-anemone, leaving the rock all smooth and bare, while the boulders
+lie piled to the east in a heap, where the waves that try to take the
+rock in flank leap amongst them, and roll them over higher and higher,
+to come rumbling down as if they were tiny pebbles instead of rounded
+masses of granite and spar-veined stone a quarter, half, and a
+hundredweight each.
+
+It was an awful place in a storm--Carn Du.  It was there that the great
+Austrian full-rigged ship came on, during one black and raging night;
+when one minute from the harbour, and off the cliff, the fishermen in
+their oilskins could see the lights of a vessel--the next minute,
+nothing.
+
+There were the remains of a few timbers, though, in the morning--torn,
+twisted, gnawed, as it were, into fibres and splintering rags.  That was
+all.
+
+It was an awful place in a storm, where the spray, broken up into
+feathery froth by the battle on the rocks, came flying over the town,
+and then away landward, like a fine misty rain; but it was a grand place
+in a calm.  It has been said that there was always deep water, even at
+low tide, at the foot of the Carn, and here for generations had been the
+training place of the swimmers of Carn Du, who were famous for their
+prowess all round the coast.
+
+It was too much for the boys, but the performance of the big dive was
+looked upon as the passing of a lad from boyhood into the manly stage,
+upon which he entered through the Shangles Gate, and then swam back,
+coming, as it were, of age amidst the shouts of his companions to swim
+ashore and land upon the big boulders, where the boys bathed and learned
+to swim in the calm weather, gazing the while in admiration at their
+older companions.
+
+For there was something very stirring in the act, and a stranger to the
+place would hold his breath in dread as he saw Mark Penelly, who was the
+finest swimmer at the port of Carn Du, climb up the side of the great
+black rock upon some fine summer evening, then go round along the narrow
+shelf of shaley stone, till he stood alone there forty feet above the
+sea, his white figure as he rested against the black rock, every muscle
+standing out from his well-knit frame, and his arms crossed, looking
+like some antique statue in its niche.
+
+There were plenty of young men who could perform the feat, but Mark
+Penelly was acknowledged to be the master.
+
+Dotted about the swelling surface there would be the heads of plenty of
+swimmers--men and lads--some going smoothly along, mounting the rollers
+as they came in, and descending softly into the hollows; others again
+swimming to meet each wave, then rising a little, and with a plunge like
+a duck or one of the great bronze-black shags, or cormorants, that sat
+upon the rock-shelves, diving right through the mass of water, to come
+out fairly on the other side.
+
+Some would swim out to the little buoys, rest by them for a time, and
+swim back.  Others would make for one of the cinnamon-sailed luggers
+lying at anchor, to go round and back, or would get into one of the
+boats; while some, more venturesome, or really more confident in their
+powers over the water, would go boldly out, perhaps a mile, to meet some
+lugger coming in from the fishing-ground, sure of being taken aboard and
+riding back abreast of the boulders where they had left their clothes.
+
+To be a good swimmer was everything at Carn Du.  They looked upon it as
+a business--as part of their education--for no boy or man was counted
+fit to go out in a boat who could not leap overboard and swim alongside,
+or, during a capsize, keep himself afloat, and help to turn the boat and
+bale her out.
+
+But from the meanest to the best swimmer there, every one paused to
+watch Mark Penelly standing statue-like up against the black rock,
+waiting till a great ninth wave came majestically rolling in, sweeping
+over the outer rocks--the Shangles--and then with a boom leaping at Carn
+Du, running up it, as it were, in a mighty column of water, some twenty
+feet even on a calm day.
+
+Now was the time, calculated by practised eyes to the moment.
+
+As the wave struck, Mark could be seen to grow suddenly less statuesque.
+His arms would drop to his side, and then as it rushed up towards where
+he stood, like some mighty sea-monster seeking to make him its prey,
+Mark's hands joined above his head, he bent forward slightly, and then
+with one tremendous leap seemed to leave the rocky ledge, and plunge
+down head foremost into the wave.
+
+The effect was electric, but its daring seemed to savour of madness.
+There one moment stood the statuesque figure, white as a cameo cut in
+the black rock, the next moment there was a gleam of something flashing
+through the air, and passing into the deep blue wave, which, as if by
+the contact of the figure, broke into silvery foam, rushing back like a
+vast cascade towards the Shangles.
+
+Where all before was smooth heaving water all was now rushing foam, as
+the broken wave raced back, as if to pass between two narrow jagged
+pieces of rock rising up like a gateway some fifty yards away before the
+next wave came in.
+
+The breath of the person who saw it for the first time was held as he
+looked in vain for the brave diver, or wondered whether the act he had
+seen was not some mad effort to destroy life.  There was the foaming
+water, there the black rocks, that were swept over by the roaring wave,
+but now showing plainly amidst a sheet of white surf, with beyond them a
+comparatively smooth surface, through which a current seems to run.
+
+But there was no diver to be seen, nothing but the racing, hissing foam.
+
+Yes: there he was--that was his head, rising out of the foam thirty or
+forty yards away, and being carried to inevitable destruction against
+those terrible jagged rocks.
+
+No man could swim against the furious, racing torrent which was now
+passing between them.  No one could get out of such a current when once
+in.  It was horrible to look at, for the helpless swimmer seemed as if
+he would be dashed against the crags and then float, stunned, wounded,
+and helpless, out to sea.
+
+That seemed to be Mark Penelly's fate; but no--as he neared the gate in
+the Shangles he could be seen to turn over upon his back, keeping his
+head well out of the water, paddling with his hands, and feet foremost,
+showing from time to time amongst the foam, literally shooting like a
+canoe right between the rocks, to float directly after in smooth water,
+and calmly swim round towards the shore.
+
+The feat had been seen hundreds of times; every swimmer who had attained
+manhood could do it; and at times it was hard work to keep back the
+venturesome boys.  But no matter when it was done there was always a
+cheer for the brave young fellow who took the leap, and who was now seen
+to alter his mind, and make for a fishing lugger a quarter of a mile
+away--one which was just coming in from the fishing-ground miles away.
+
+"Huh, Harry Paul," said one of a group of dark, weather-tanned
+fishermen, to a fair-haired, clear-skinned young fellow of two or three
+and twenty; who had just thrown his straw-hat upon the rocks, showing
+his crisp, short, yellowish hair, and broad, white forehead.  "Going to
+have a swim?"
+
+"Yes," said the young man quietly, as he proceeded to divest himself of
+his neckerchief and let loose his thick white throat; "nice night for
+it."
+
+"Where are you going, lad?" said another, for somehow they took a great
+interest in his proceedings.
+
+"Oh, I thought of swimming out to James's boat and back, or else coming
+back in her.  She seems to have plenty of fish."
+
+"Ay, lad, plenty," said another; "they've been signalling that they're
+'most full.  But when are you going to take the jump, lad, eh?"
+
+"I don't know," said Harry quietly, as he went on preparing for his
+bathe; "perhaps never."
+
+"I wonder at you, Master Harry," said another, a grey-headed old
+fisherman.  "Here's you, son of the biggest owner here in Carn Du, a
+young chap as can swim like a seal, and yet never had the pluck to take
+the big leap."
+
+"Yes," said the first speaker, "a dive as there's dozens of boys o'
+fifteen and sixteen ready to do if they'd let 'em."
+
+"Ay," said the grey-haired old fellow, "that they would.  Why, I done it
+when I was fourteen and a half."
+
+"Mark.  Penelly says as you're the biggest coward as ever stepped," said
+another maliciously.
+
+"Oh! never you mind what Mark Penelly says, Master Harry," said the
+grey-haired man.  "He's jealous; that's about what he is.  He's 'feared
+you'll go and do the dive better than him.  And it's my opinion, seeing
+what a swimmer you are, as you would beat him all to fits."
+
+"So I think," said another, who had not yet spoken; and he winked at his
+companions as he thrust his hands a little farther down into his
+capacious pockets.
+
+"Go on, and do it to-night, Master Harry," said the old fellow.  "Don't
+you be bet.  The tide's just right for it, and if I was you I'd just
+show Mark Penelly as he knows nothing about it."
+
+The young man went on calmly divesting himself of his outer clothing
+while this talk went on, and though there was a slight flush on his
+cheeks he did not speak a word.
+
+"He'll do it," said the man with his hands in his pockets.  "He'll do
+it; you see if he don't.  Mas'r Harry's made up his mind.  He's just
+made up his mind, he have, and he's going to do it."
+
+"I'll lay a ounce o' baccy he does it better than Mark Penelly.  I wish
+he was here to see him do it."
+
+"Ay, to be sure," said the old grey-haired man.  "He's going to do it--
+now aren't you, Mas'r Harry?  I feel kinder quite glad of it, lad, for I
+taught you to swim."
+
+"To be sure you did, Tom Genna," said the young man, smiling, "and I
+hope I haven't disgraced my master."
+
+"Not you, lad; there is not a finer swimmer nowhere," said the old man
+enthusiastically; "and I'm glad you've made up your mind at last to take
+the dive."
+
+"I've not made up my mind," said the young man coolly.
+
+"Not made up your mind!" cried several.
+
+"No," replied the bather.
+
+"Why, you said just now as you would do it!" cried the man with his
+hands in his pockets.
+
+"Ay, so he did," was chorused.
+
+"Not I," said Harry quietly; "and if you will all clear off, and let me
+have my swim in peace, I shall be much obliged."
+
+"Why, you are a coward, then," said the man with his hands in his
+pockets, and to show his disgust he began to sprinkle the boulders about
+with tobacco-juice.
+
+"I suppose I am," said Harry Paul, smiling.  "I can't help it.  I
+suppose it is my nature."
+
+"Bah!" growled the grey-haired man, who, as one of the oldest fishermen,
+was looked up to as an authority.  "You aren't a coward, Master Harry;
+it's only 'cause you want to make a plucky effort, don't you?  Just you
+make up your mind to do it, and you'd do it like a shot."
+
+"I daresay I could," replied the young man; "but why should I?"
+
+"Why should you!" sneered the man with his hands in his pockets; "why,
+'cause every one does."
+
+"Because everyone goes and risks his life just for the sake of
+gratifying his vanity," replied Harry Paul, "I don't see why I should go
+and do the same."
+
+"Ah, now you're beginning to talk fine," growled the old fisherman, "and
+a-shoving your book-larning at us.  Look here, young 'un; a lad as can't
+swim ain't--'cordin' to my ideas--hardly worth the snuff of a candle."
+
+"I don't go so far as you do, Tom," said the young man, smiling; "but I
+do hold that every young fellow should be able to swim well, and so I
+learned."
+
+"Yes, but you can't do the dive," said the man with his hands in his
+pockets mockingly.
+
+"Oh, he's going to do it," said the old fisherman.  "The water's just
+right, Master Harry.  You go.  Take my advice: you go.  Just wait till
+the wave's coming well up, then fall into her, and out you come, and the
+current'll carry you out through the Shangles."
+
+"And what the better shall I be if I do?" said the young man warmly.
+
+"What the better, my lad!" said the old fellow, looking aghast.  "Why,
+you'll ha' made quite a man o' yourself."
+
+"But I shall have done no good whatever."
+
+"Oh, yes, you would; oh, yes, you would," said the party, sagely shaking
+their heads and looking at one another.
+
+"I don't see it," said Harry Paul.  "If it was to do any one good, or to
+be of any benefit, perhaps I might try it; but I cannot see the
+common-sense of risking my life just because you people have made it a
+custom to jump off Carn Du."
+
+As he spoke he ran down over the boulders, and plunged off a rock into
+the clear sea, his white figure being traceable against the olive brown
+sea-wrack waving far below, as he swam for some distance below the
+surface, and then rose, shook the water from his eyes, and struck out
+for the lugger lying becalmed in the offing.
+
+The party of fishermen on shore stood growling together, and making
+unpleasant remarks about Harry Paul, whom they declared to be a terrible
+coward--all but old Tom Genna, who angrily took his part.
+
+"He's not a bad 'un at heart, and I believe he's no coward," growled the
+old fellow.
+
+"Then why don't he show as he ar'n't?" said the man with his hands in
+his pockets, places they never seemed to leave.
+
+"Ah, that's what no one can't say!" growled old Tom, and sooner than
+hear his favourite swimming pupil condemned, he walked away, muttering
+that, "he'd give a half-crown silver piece any day to see Mas'r Harry do
+that theer dive better than Mark Penelly."
+
+Meanwhile the latter had swum right out to the fishing lugger, where he
+was taken on board, and it being one of his father's boats, he was soon
+furnished with a blue jersey and a pair of rough flannel trousers, for
+he did not care about swimming back.  Then seating himself on the side,
+he began talking and chatting to the men, who were shaking mackerel out
+of their dark-brown nets, where they hung caught by the gills, which
+acted like the barbs to their arrow-like flight through the sea against
+the drift-net, and prevented their return.
+
+They were in no hurry to get in, for there was no means of sending their
+fish off till morning, hence they took matters coolly enough.
+
+"Did you do the dive to-night, Master Mark?" said the master of the
+boat.
+
+"Yes, to be sure," said Mark conceitedly.  "Bah! it's mere child's
+play."
+
+"And yet Mas'r Harry Paul never does it," said another, in the sing-song
+tone peculiar to the district.
+
+"He! a miserable coward!" cried Penelly, contemptuously.  "He hasn't the
+spirit of a fly.  Such a fellow ought to be hounded out of the place.
+Why, I could pick out a dozen boys of twelve who would do it."
+
+"Yes," said the master of the lugger maliciously, "but he's a beautiful
+swimmer."
+
+"Tchah!  I'd swim twice as far," said Penelly.  "He's a wretched coward,
+and I hate him."
+
+"What! because he can swim better than you, sir?" said the master.
+
+"I tell you I'm the better swimmer," said Penelly sharply.
+
+"Then it must be because he thrashed you for behaving ill to poor old
+Tom Genna?"
+
+"He thrash me!" cried Penelly contemptuously.  "I should like to see him
+do it."
+
+"Here's your chance, then," said the master maliciously.  "He's swimming
+straight for the boat."
+
+Mark Penelly's face grew a shade more sallow, but he said nothing, only
+knelt down by a pile of loose net, and watched the young man, whom he
+looked upon as his rival, till Harry, swimming gracefully and well, came
+right up and answered the hail of the fishermen with a cheery shout.
+
+"Come aboard, Mas'r Harry; we're going to have the sweeps out soon, and
+we'll take you in."
+
+"No, thank you," was the reply.  "I am going round you, and then back."
+
+Mark Penelly had gone over to the other side of the lugger while the
+conversation was going on, and he did not face the man he looked upon as
+his rival; while Harry, unnoticed by the busy fishers as he swam round,
+went on, touching the sides of the lugger as he lightly swam, but only
+the next moment to find himself entangled in a quantity of the thin
+mackerel net, which seemed somehow to descend upon him like a cloud, and
+before he could realise the fact he was under water, hopelessly fettered
+by the net, and feeling that if he could not extricate himself directly
+he should be a dead man.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+ZEKLE MAKES HAY.
+
+At first sight nothing seems more frail than a herring or mackerel net,
+one of those slight pieces of mesh-work that, in a continuation of
+lengths perhaps half-a-mile long, is let down into the sea to float with
+the tide, ready for the shoals of fish that dart against it as it forms
+a filmy wall across their way.  The wonder always is that it does not
+break with even a few pounds of fish therein, but it rarely does, for
+co-operation is power, and it is in the multiplicity of crossing threads
+that the strength consists.
+
+Harry Paul, as he struggled in the water, was like a fly in the web of a
+spider, for every effort seemed only to increase the tangle.  He could
+not break that which yielded on every side, but with fresh lengths
+coming over the lugger's side to tangle him the more.  Even if he had
+had an open sharp knife in his hand he could hardly have cut himself
+free, and in the horror of those brief moments he found that his
+struggles were sending him deeper and deeper, and that unconsciously he
+had wound himself still farther in the net, till his arms and legs were
+pinioned in the cold, slimy bonds, which clung to and wrapped round him
+more and more.
+
+A plunge deep down into the sea is confusing at the best of times.  The
+water thunders in the ears, and a feeling of helplessness and awe
+sometimes comes over the best of swimmers.  In this case, then, tangled
+and helpless as he was, Harry Paul could only think for a few moments of
+the time when he swam into the sea-cave at Pen Point at high tide, and
+felt the long strands of the bladder wrack curl and twist round his
+limbs like the tentacles of some sea-monster; and he realised once more
+the chilling sense of helpless horror that seemed to numb his faculties.
+He made an effort again and again, but each time it was weaker, and at
+last, with the noise of many waters in his ears, and a bewildering rush
+of memories through his brain, all seemed to be growing very dark around
+him, and then he knew no more.
+
+On board the lugger the fishermen were busily running the net from one
+compartment of the vessel into the other, still shaking the fish out as
+they went on, for a sudden squall at the fishing-ground had compelled
+them to haul in their nets hastily and run for home.  The slimy net grew
+into a large brown heap on one side, and the little hill of
+brilliantly-tinted mackerel bigger on the other, and in the evening
+light it seemed as if the wondrous colours with which the water shone in
+ripples far and near had been caught and dyed upon the sides of the
+fish.
+
+Mark Penelly came over from the other side of the lugger, where he
+seemed to have been busy for a moment or two, while the men were bending
+over their work, and seated himself upon the low bulwark close to the
+master.
+
+"Has he got round?" said the latter, looking up for a moment.
+
+"Whom do you mean?" said Penelly, who was rather pale.
+
+"Young Mas'r Harry.  Didn't you see him?"
+
+"See him?--no.  I thought he had swum back."
+
+"Went round the other side," said the master quietly.  "Here, you Zekle,
+don't throw a fish like that on to the heap; the head's half off."
+
+The man advanced, picked the torn mackerel off the heap, where he had
+inadvertently thrown it, and the work went on, till as the master raised
+his eyes to where Penelly sat, he saw how pale and strange he looked.
+
+"Why, lad," he exclaimed, "you've been too long in the water.  You look
+quite cold and blue.  I'd lay hold of one of the sweeps if I were you.
+It will warm you to help pullin'.  Here, hallo!" he shouted, "who's let
+all that net go trailing overboard?  Here's a mess! we shall have to run
+it all through our hands again."
+
+Mark Penelly's eyes seemed starting out of his head as, with a
+convulsive gasp, he seized hold of the net, along with the master and
+another, and they began to haul in fathom after fathom, which came up
+slowly, and as if a great deal of it were sunk.
+
+"Why, there's half the net overboard!" cried the master angrily.  "How
+did you manage it?  What have you been about?"
+
+"There can't be much over," said the man who was helping; "she was all
+right just now.  There's a fish in it, and a big one."
+
+"Don't talk such foolery, Zekle Wynn," said the master.  "I tell 'ee
+half the net's overboard."
+
+"How can she be overboard when she's nigh all in the boat?" said the man
+savagely.
+
+"Zekle's right," cried Mark Penelly, who was hauling away excitedly;
+"there's a big fish in it.  Look! you can see the gleam of it down
+below."
+
+"Well, don't pull a man's nets in like that, Mas'r Mark!" said the
+other, now growing interested and hauling steadily in; "nets cost money
+to breed."  [Note.  Cornish.  Making nets is termed "breeding."] "Why,
+it's a porpoise, and a good big 'un too!  Steady, lads; steady!  She's
+swum into the net that trailed overboard.  Steady, or we shall lose her!
+Here, hold on, lads, and I'll get down into the boat and--haul away!"
+he roared excitedly, as he had made out clearly what was entangled in
+the net.  "Quick, lads! quick!  It's a man!  It's--my word if it ar'n't
+young Harry Paul!"
+
+The net was drawn in steadily over the roller at the lugger's side, till
+Penelly and the master could lean down and grasp the arms of the
+drowning or drowned man, whom they dragged on board, and then, not
+without some difficulty, freed from the net that clung to his limbs.  He
+had struggled so hard that he had wound it round and round him, and so
+tight was it in places that, without hesitation, the master pulled out
+his great jack-knife and cut the meshes in three or four places.
+
+"You can get new nets," he said hoarsely, "but you couldn't get a new
+Harry Paul.  There's some spirit down in the cabin, Zekle.  Quick, lad,
+and bring the blanket out of the locker, and my oilskin.  Poor dear lad!
+he must have got tangled as he was swimming round.  I'll break that
+Zekle's head with a boat-hook for this job; see if I don't."
+
+The threatened man, however, came just then with the blanket and
+spirits, when everything else was forgotten in the effort to restore the
+apparently drowned man.  Mark Penelly worked with all his might, and
+after wrapping Paul in the blanket and covering him with coats and
+oilskins, some of the spirit was trickled between his clenched teeth,
+and the men then rubbed his feet and hands.
+
+"Get out the sweeps, lads.  There's no wind, and we must get him ashore.
+Poor dear lad!  If he's a drowned man, Zekle Wynn, you've murdered
+him!"
+
+"I tell 'ee I didn't let no net trail overboard," cried the man angrily,
+as he seized a long oar and began to tug at it, dropping it into the
+water every time with a heavy splash.
+
+"Don't stand talking back at me!" roared the master, seizing another oar
+and dragging at it with all his might, "pull, will 'ee? pull!"
+
+"I am a-pulling, ar'n't I?" shouted back the other, as the man and lad,
+who formed the rest of the crew, each got an oar overboard and began to
+pull.
+
+"Yes, you're a-pulling, but not half pulling!" roared the master, as if
+his man were half a mile away instead of close beside him.
+
+Plenty more angry recrimination went on as all tugged at the long oars,
+and the lugger began to move slowly through the water towards the little
+harbour; but if Harry Paul's life had depended upon the services of the
+doctor at Carn Du he would never have seen the sun rise on the morrow's
+dawn.  But as it happened, the warmth of the wrapping, the influence of
+the spirit that had been poured liberally down his throat, and the
+chafing, combined with his naturally strong animal power to revive him
+from the state of insensibility into which he had fallen, and long
+before they reached the granite pier of the little harbour his eyes had
+opened, and he was staring in a peculiarly puzzled way at Mark Penelly,
+who still knelt beside him in the double character of medical man and
+nurse.
+
+"Eh! lad, and that's right," cried the master in a sing-song tone; "why,
+we thought we was too late.  How came 'ee to get twisted up in the nets
+like that?"
+
+Harry Paul did not answer, but lay back on the heap of what had so
+nearly proved to be his winding-sheet, trying to think out how it was
+that he had come to be lying on the deck of that fishing lugger, with
+those men whom he well knew apparently taking so much interest in his
+state.
+
+For all recollection of his swim and the conversation that had preceded
+it had gone.  All he could make out was that Mark Penelly, who was never
+friendly to him, was now kneeling by his side looking in a curious way
+into his eyes.
+
+By degrees, though, the cloud that had been over his understanding
+seemed to float away, and as they were nearing the harbour he began to
+recall the urgings he had received to leap from Carn Du, which now stood
+up black and forbidding on his left; the swim out to the lugger and
+round; and then--"Well, how do you feel now, lad?" said the master.
+
+"Better," said Harry, forcing a smile.
+
+"How came ye to swim into the net?  Didn't 'ee see it?"
+
+"No," said Harry, thoughtfully; and as he spoke Mark Penelly watched him
+very attentively.  "I hardly know how it was, only that it seemed to
+come down on me all at once."
+
+"Just what I said," cried the master angrily; "and if I was you I'd have
+it out of Zekle Wynn here, somehow--leaves a heap of net so as it falls
+overboard."
+
+"Tell 'ee I didn't," roared Zekle, shouting out his words as if he was
+hailing a ship.  "Nets went over o' theirselves."
+
+Mark Penelly seemed to breathe more freely, as he now rose and placed
+the spirits on the deck.
+
+"I'd take a taste o' that myself, Mas'r Mark, if I was you," said the
+master.  "You don't look quite so blue as you did.  But you seemed quite
+scared over this job."
+
+Mark declined, however, saying that he was quite well; and soon after,
+in spite of the opposition he met with from the master, who said it was
+foolishness, Harry Paul plunged overboard, and swam to the
+bathing-place, where he dressed; and, saving that he was suffering from
+a peculiar sensation of stiffness, he was not much the worse.
+
+Mark Penelly watched him as he swam ashore easily and well, and the
+bitter feelings of dislike which had for the time being lain in abeyance
+before the scene of peril of which he had been witness, began once more
+to grow stronger, completely changing the appearance of his face as now,
+to get rid of the thoughts that troubled him, he took hold of one of the
+sweeps and began to row.
+
+"Nice lad, Harry Paul," said the master to him then.
+
+"Yes, very," said Penelly dryly.
+
+"Good swimmer, too."
+
+"Yes," replied Penelly.
+
+"Narrow 'scape for him, though, poor lad.  Lucky thing we saw that the
+nets was overboard in time.  If I was him I'd just give Zekle Wynn there
+the very biggest hiding he ever had in his life, that I would.  He ain't
+content with doing a thing wrong, but he ain't man enough to own it.  I
+haven't patience with such ways!"
+
+Penelly did not speak, and Zekle remained silent, but he was evidently
+moved to indignation at what had been said, for he kept lifting his big
+oar and chopping it down in the water as if he were trying to take off
+the master's head.
+
+The buoy outside the harbour was reached, however, directly after, and
+as soon as the oars were laid in all hands were busy for the next two
+hours shaking out and landing mackerel ready for basketing and sending
+across country to catch the early morning train.
+
+It was soon known all over Carn Du that Harry Paul had had a very narrow
+escape from drowning, and knot after knot of fishermen discussed the
+matter and joined in blaming Zekle Wynn for letting the net trail
+overboard.
+
+"Still, he must have been a foolish sort of a creature to go and swim
+right into a tangle o' net," said the man who always had his hands in
+his pockets.
+
+"Not he," said old Tom Genna; "Harry Paul's too clever a swimmer to go
+and do such a thing as that."
+
+"Here's Zekle Wynn," cried another eagerly, for such an event caused
+plenty of excitement, and was seized upon with avidity.  "Hi!  Zekle! it
+was you as left the net trailing, warn't it?"
+
+"Skipper says so," replied Zekle grimly, as he took out some tobacco and
+made himself a pill to chew.
+
+"You're a pretty sort of a chap," said another; "why, you'll be running
+the lugger on the rocks next."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," said Zekle.
+
+"Well," said Tom Genna, "if I was Harry Paul, I'd knock you down with
+the first thing I could get hold of, capstan-bar or boat-hook, or
+anything."
+
+"Ah, that's what our old man said!" replied Zekle coolly.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed o' yourself, Zekle Wynn, that you ought, and I
+wouldn't sail in the same boat with you."
+
+"No, it wouldn't be safe," said Zekle dryly.
+
+"Yes, you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said someone else angrily.
+"I don't like Harry Paul, for he's a regular coward--chap as hasn't had
+courage to take the big dive as yet; but that's no reason he should be
+drowned by a fellow who can't manage a drift-net no better than to leave
+half on it trailing overboard."
+
+"Well, if you come to that," said Tom Genna, who was an authority in the
+place, "I think it was the skipper's dooty to ha' seen that his nets was
+all in the boat, and not leave it to a fellow like Zekle Wynn here, who
+don't seem to have so much brains as a boy."
+
+"Quite right!" said Zekle, "quite right!"
+
+"Yes: what I say's quite right," said Tom Genna; "but as for you, young
+fellow, you're quite wrong, and it's my belief you're about half out of
+your mind."
+
+Zekle Wynn stared vacantly round at the speakers, and then, putting his
+hand to his head, he walked thoughtfully away.
+
+"He is going wrong," said the fishing sage, nodding his head; and this
+formed a fresh subject for discussion, especially as one of the knot of
+idlers recollected that a second cousin of Zekle Wynn's was an idiot.
+
+But Zekle Wynn was not going out of his mind, but, as soon as it was
+dark, straight up to the house where Mark Penelly lived with his father,
+and as soon as he had watched Penelly, senior, out of the house, he went
+boldly up and asked to see Mark.
+
+The latter came at the end of a few minutes, looking curiously at his
+visitor.
+
+"Sit down, Zekle," he said.  "Brought a message?"
+
+"No!" said Zekle.
+
+"Brought up some fish, then?"
+
+"No!" was the very gruff reply.
+
+"Did you want to see my father?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Then what do you want?" exclaimed Penelly sharply.
+
+"You!"
+
+"What is it, then, my good fellow?" said Penelly, speaking now in a
+haughty tone, for the man's way was rude and offensive.
+
+"I want to know something," said Zekle.
+
+"Then why don't you go to somebody else?"
+
+"'Cause you know best what I want to know."
+
+"Speak out, then, quickly, for I am busy," said Penelly, who, while in
+an ordinary way ready enough to chat and laugh with the fishermen, was
+at times, on the strength of his father's position as a boat-owner,
+disposed to treat them as several degrees lower in social standing.
+
+"Busy, eh?" said Zekle scornfully.  "I dessay you are; but you mus'n't
+be too busy to talk to me."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Penelly hotly.  "How dare you speak to me in
+that insolent way?"
+
+"Insolent, eh?" said the man.  "Ah! you call that insolent, do you?" he
+continued, raising his voice.  "What would you call it, then, if I was
+to speak out a little plainer?"
+
+"Look here, Zekle Wynn," said Penelly; "there are times when I come down
+to the harbour, and into the boats, and go fishing with the men; but
+recollect, please, whom you are talking to."
+
+"Oh, I know who I'm talking to," said Zekle; "I ain't blind."
+
+"If you speak to me again like that I'll kick you out of the house.  How
+dare you come in here and address me in this way?"
+
+"Where's your father?" said Zekle; "suppose I talk to him."
+
+"Go and talk to him, then; and mind how you speak, sir, or you'll get
+different treatment to that you receive from me."
+
+"All right, then!" said Zekle mockingly.  "I shall go to him and tell
+him that, while I was busy shaking out fish in our boat to-night, young
+Harry Paul come swimming up, and our mas'r says, `Come aboard,' he says;
+but Mas'r Harry Paul he says, `No,' he says, `I shall swim round,' he
+says, and he swims round our boat."
+
+"Well, he knows that," said Penelly, looking at him strangely.
+
+"And then I'm going to tell him," continued Zekle, "that as soon as ever
+a certain person who was aboard our boat sees young Mas'r Harry coming,
+he goes and sits on the other side."
+
+"Yes, I did," said Penelly sharply.
+
+"Oh, you did, did you?  You owns to that?"
+
+"Of course," replied Penelly scornfully.  "What then?"
+
+"What then?  Ah!  I'll soon tell you what then," said Zekle.  "You ups
+with an armful of net, and just as young Harry Paul comes round under
+you, you drops it on top of his head."
+
+"Hush!"
+
+Mark Penelly sprang at the speaker and clapped his hand over his lips.
+
+"I thought," said Zekle, freeing himself, "that it was only for a bit of
+mischief; I'd forgot all about young Mas'r Harry; but now I know as you
+did it to drown--"
+
+"Hush!" cried Penelly again hoarsely, and his face was like ashes.  "I
+didn't; indeed I did not, Zekle."
+
+"Why, I see you with my own eyes," said the man.
+
+"Yes, I did drop the net over, but it was only out of mischief.  I did
+not think it would do more than duck him well.  I never thought it would
+be so dangerous.  I meant it in fun."
+
+"But it _was_ dangerous," said Zekle with a grin; "and as people know
+you hate Mas'r Harry, they'll say you meant to mur--"
+
+"Hush!" cried Penelly again; and he clapped his hand once more upon the
+speaker's lips.
+
+"Oh, that won't stop me from speaking!" said Zekle.  "I'm going to tell
+all I know, and it's my belief as they'll have you up, and bring it in
+'tempt to kill young Mas'r Harry."
+
+"But you won't speak about it, Zekle," said Penelly imploringly.
+
+"But I just will," said Zekle, "and I come to ask you what they'll do to
+you for it.  I don't want to tell, but you see it's 'bout my dooty."
+
+"I'll give you anything to be silent."
+
+"But I must tell," said Zekle, shaking his head; "it's my dooty to, and
+I wouldn't hold my tongue not for twenty pounds."
+
+Penelly gave a gasp, and in those few moments of thought he saw all the
+consequences of his escapade--the disgrace and shame--perhaps
+prosecution for an attempt at murder, for a magistrate might refuse to
+listen to his plea that it was only in fun.
+
+But there was a gleam of hope.  Zekle had mentioned money.  He would not
+hold his tongue for twenty pounds he said.  Perhaps he would.  Penelly
+had not twenty pounds, nor yet five; but perhaps he could get it.
+Turning to Zekle then he said:
+
+"If I give you ten pounds, Zekle, will you swear that you will never say
+a word?"
+
+"No," said Zekle stoutly, "nor yet for twenty; and now I'm going to tell
+all I know."
+
+As he spoke he turned towards the door, and Mark Penelly made a clutch
+at the nearest chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+HARRY PAUL'S PRESENT.
+
+Zekle Wynn already had his hand upon the door when, mastering the
+strange feeling of dread that had seized him, Mark Penelly caught him by
+the arm and held him tightly:
+
+"Look here, Zekle," he said hoarsely; "that was all a bit of fun--a
+joke; but I don't want anyone to know.  I'll give you fifteen pounds if
+you'll hold your tongue."
+
+"No," said Zekle, stoutly; "it's my duty to tell, and I'm agoing to
+tell."
+
+"Twenty pounds," cried Penelly.
+
+"No, I said afore that I wouldn't do it for twenty pounds," said Zekle,
+with a very virtuous shake of the head; and as he made an effort to get
+away, Penelly, who felt desperate, offered him twenty-five pounds.
+
+"Yes, twenty-five pounds, Zekle; I'll give you twenty-five," he cried.
+
+"It ain't no use to try and tempt me, Mas'r Mark--it ain't indeed.  I
+didn't ought to hold my tongue about it.  No, I'll go and do my duty."
+
+"But it will nearly drive my father mad," said Penelly imploringly;
+while Zekle's little sharp eyes twinkled as their owner wondered whether
+his victim could muster twenty-five pounds.
+
+"I'm very sorry, of course," said Zekle; "but you see a man must do his
+duty.  No, no, Mas'r Mark, you mustn't tempt me."
+
+"I'll get you the money at once, Zekle," said Penelly, who saw that his
+visitor was trembling in the balance--that is, he appeared to be; but
+Zekle had make up his mind to have twenty-five pounds down before he
+entered the house.
+
+"I didn't ought to take it, you know," said Zekle, hesitating.
+
+"But you will, Zekle, and I'll never forget your goodness," said Penelly
+imploringly; and then hastily locking the door to make sure that his
+visitor did not go, he went out of the room straight to a desk in his
+father's office, which he opened with a key of his own, and returned
+directly with four five-pound notes and five sovereigns.
+
+"I oughtn't to take this, Mas'r Mark," Zekle grumbled; "it ar'n't my
+duty, you know; and I wish you'd give me sov'rins instead of them
+notes."
+
+"I cannot," said Penelly sharply.  "It has been hard work to get that."
+
+"Then I s'pose I must take them," said Zekle, "but it don't seem like my
+duty to;" and as he spoke he carefully wrapped up the notes and placed
+them with the gold in his pocket.
+
+"Now, you'll swear you'll never say a word to a soul about this, Zekle."
+
+"Of course I won't, Mas'r Mark.  But it goes again the grit.  I wouldn't
+do it for anyone, you know; but as you say it would be hard on your poor
+father, I won't tell."
+
+Penelly bit his lips and said nothing, while Zekle went maundering on
+about his duty, and how unwilling he was to take the money, till, seeing
+an awkward look in his victim's eyes, he concluded that he had better
+go, and went out, turning at the door to tell Penelly that he might be
+quite comfortable now, and wishing him good-night.
+
+"Comfortable, you scoundrel!" cried Penelly as soon as he was alone.  "I
+shall never be comfortable till the news comes in that you have been
+lost overboard in a storm.  I've been a fool.  I was a fool to do such a
+thing.  I only thought it would give him a ducking; and I'm a greater
+fool to try and bribe that scoundrel.  He'll be always bleeding me now.
+I'd far better have set him at defiance and bid him do his worst.  Bah!
+I wish I was not such a coward."
+
+"If I don't make him pay me pretty heavy for all this," said Zekle,
+chuckling to himself, "I'll know the reason why.  Five-and-twenty pounds
+earned right slap off by just seeing that net pitched overboard!  That's
+cleverness, that is.  Now I'll just go up to Mas'r Harry Paul and see
+what he has got to say.  P'r'aps there's a five or a ten to be made
+there.  It's better than fishing by a long way."
+
+Harry Paul's home was a pleasant cottage on the cliff-side, and on Zekle
+knocking the door was opened by Harry's widowed mother, who fetched her
+son and left the two together.
+
+"Ah, Zekle!" cried Harry frankly, as he held out his hand, "I'm afraid I
+did not half thank you for helping to save my life."
+
+"Oh! it don't matter, Mas'r Harry," said the fellow, smiling and
+shuffling about.
+
+"But it does matter," said Harry warmly; "and I am very grateful to you.
+I am going into Penzance to-morrow, Zekle, and when I come back I'm
+going to ask you to accept a silver watch to keep in remembrance of what
+you did."
+
+"Oh, you needn't do that, Mas'r Harry," replied Zekle; "but I thought
+I'd like to tell you, don't you know, all about like how it happened.  I
+kinder felt it to be my duty, you see, and then if you liked to say to
+me, `Here, Zekle Wynn, here's five or ten pounds for you for what you
+did,' why you could, you know; but if you didn't, why it wouldn't matter
+a bit, for I always feel as if it was a man's duty not to take no money
+'less he's earned it."
+
+"Ah!" said Harry, looking at him with quite an altered expression.
+
+"You see, you don't know all," said Zekle mysteriously, as he went
+softly to the door, peeped out, and then spoke in a whisper.
+
+"Know all!" said Harry.  "Why, I know I was nearly drowned."
+
+"Yes," said Zekle, going closer to him and taking hold of his pilot
+jacket, "you was nearly drownded; but how was it?"
+
+"Some of your pile of mackerel net fell overboard and covered me up.  It
+was very careless of you people."
+
+"Mack'rel nets don't tumble overboard and nigh upon drownd people
+without somebody makes 'em," said Zekle with a cunning leer.
+
+"Somebody makes them!" said Harry with his eyes flashing.  "Why, you
+don't mean to say that anybody threw that net over me as I swam round!"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Zekle, "I wouldn't say such a thing of nobody.  Oh, no!
+'tain't my duty to go about telling tales."
+
+"Look here," said Harry sharply, "if you expect to earn any reward from
+me, Zekle Wynn, for telling how it was that that net came over me--and I
+own that it was very strange that it should just as I was swimming by--
+speak out like a man."
+
+"Oh, no!  I can't go accusing people of what they p'r'aps didn't do,"
+said Zekle; "but look here, Mas'r Harry, have you got any enemies?"
+
+"Enemies! no," said the young man.  "Perhaps Mark Penelly is not very
+fond of me since we had that quarrel, but I've no enemies."
+
+"Ho!" said Zekle with a peculiar grin.  "Who was aboard our boat?"
+
+"I did not see him as I swam up, but I suppose Mark Penelly was there."
+
+Zekle nodded.
+
+"Yes, and he walked round to the side; and I saw him, as I was shaking
+out the fish, go and stand by them mack'rel nets."
+
+"And do you dare to say that he threw them over me?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Zekle, "I wouldn't say such a thing of anybody, Mas'r
+Harry; no, 'tain't my duty.  I wouldn't accuse no one; but them nets was
+safe aboard one minute, and the next minute twenty fathom was atop of
+you; and if we hadn't hauled you out you wouldn't have been talking to
+me just now."
+
+Harry Paul jumped up and began to walk about the room, his face flushed
+and his hands twitching.
+
+"Look here, Zekle Wynn!" he said sharply, "I'm plain-spoken, and I like
+people to be plain-spoken with me.  Now, mind what you are saying."
+
+"Oh, yes!  Mas'r Harry, I am very careful what I say, and I'll go now;
+but I thought it was my duty to come, and I said to myself, `If he likes
+to say to me, "There's five or ten pound for you, Zekle Wynn," why, he
+could,' but of course I don't expect nothing for doing my duty."
+
+"Oh, you don't expect anything?" said Harry sharply.
+
+"Oh, no, Mas'r Harry, sir; I never expect to receive anything for doing
+my duty."
+
+"And you thought it was your duty to come and tell me that Mark Penelly
+tried to drown me?"
+
+"Oh, no!  Mas'r Harry, sir--oh dear, no!  I never said nothing o' that
+sort; I only said as the net was in the boat one minute and the next
+minute it was all over you."
+
+"Same thing, Zekle," said Harry sharply.  "And you didn't expect
+anything for coming and telling me this?"
+
+"Oh dear, no!  Mas'r Harry, sir," replied Zekle.
+
+"Then you'll be disappointed," said Harry, smiling pleasantly, "for I
+shall give you something."
+
+"Oh, thank you!  Mas'r Harry, sir," said Zekle, whose face expanded with
+pleasure.  A moment before he had not liked the way in which Harry had
+taken his hints; but now this declaration of an intention to give him
+something was pleasant, and he smiled quite broadly as the young man
+went to a cupboard.
+
+"Will it be five or ten pound?" said Zekle to himself.  "I'm making a
+good night of it this time, and if I don't--Don't you hit me with that
+there, Mas'r Harry! don't you hit me with that there!" he roared
+suddenly.  "Don't you hit me with that there, or I'll have the law of
+you."
+
+"Get out of the place, you contemptible, tale-bearing sneak!" said
+Harry; and he accompanied his words with lash after lash of a big
+old-fashioned dog-whip.  "How dare you come here with your miserable
+stories!  Out with you, you dog, or I'll lash you till you are blue!"
+
+There could be no doubt but that some of the strokes administered would
+leave blue weals, though Zekle did not get many.  Four or five fell upon
+his back and sides, however, before he got out of the door; and he was
+just turning to shake his fist and vow vengeance when a tremendous lash
+curled round him, inflicting so much pain that he uttered a loud yell
+and ran as hard as he could to a safe distance, where he turned once to
+shout, "Yah, coward!" and then disappeared.
+
+"Coward!" said Harry bitterly.  "Well, people say I am.  Don't be
+frightened, dear," he continued as his mother entered the room in haste.
+
+"But I am, my dear," she cried excitedly.  "What does all this mean?"
+
+"I only used the dog-whip to a scoundrel--that's all," he said, with a
+reassuring smile; and as soon as he had pacified her he went outside to
+walk up and down and think about his late escape.
+
+"No," he said at last after a long thought, during which he had gone
+well over his adventures that evening; "I will not believe that a man
+could be such a wretch."
+
+He felt better after this and went in; but that night the excitement of
+the adventure and the effects of his immersion were sufficient to keep
+him awake hour after hour, while when he dropped off into an uneasy
+slumber it was for his mind to be haunted by dreams in which he was
+being dragged down into the depths of the sea by a strange monster that
+clung to his limbs and writhed about him, making him shudder as he felt
+the chilling embrace.
+
+Again and again he awoke and tried to shake off the unpleasant
+sensation, but no sooner did he drop off to sleep again than the
+horrible dream came back, gathering in intensity as the time wore on.
+
+Then came a variation.  Mark Penelly was the creature that was trying to
+drown him; and as he dragged him down and down, lower and lower, into
+the depths, he kept telling him that it was because he was such a
+terrible coward, but that if he would dive off Carn Du into a ninth wave
+he would let him live.
+
+This went on till it grew unbearable, so, leaping out of bed, Harry went
+to the window, drew up the blind, and threw open the casement, to lean
+out and gaze at the grey sea, that looked so dark in the early dawn of
+morning.
+
+It was as smooth as a pond, except where, with a low moan, it heaved up
+and beat against Carn Du, falling back with an angry hiss as if of
+disappointment, while all above looked calm and dark and starlit.
+
+Away to the east, though, there was a faint light, telling of the coming
+day; and as Harry Paul stood there, with the soft fresh morning breeze
+blowing in his hair, he made up his mind that he would go and fish for
+three or four hours before breakfast, as he could not sleep.
+
+A good wash made him feel fresher.  Then dressing, he took a couple of
+lines from a cupboard down-stairs, and went out.
+
+He had no difficulty in getting half-a-dozen damaged mackerel down in
+the harbour--fish that had been torn by the nets; but he was only just
+in time, for in the soft grey light he could see the gulls already busy
+floating down on their ghostly-looking wings in the gloom, uttering a
+mournful, peevish wail, and carrying off fragments of fish for their
+morning meal.
+
+"Another ten minutes, and there would not have been one left," muttered
+Harry, as he strode along the rock-strewn shore to where his boat was
+drawn up high and dry.  He, however, soon had her afloat, and, taking
+one of the oars, he stood up in the stern and sculled her out with that
+peculiar fish-tail motion which is so puzzling to one not used to the
+custom.
+
+Half an hour's sculling took him out to a great buoy close by some
+sunken rocks; and having made fast his boat to the rusty,
+barnacle-encrusted ring, he proceeded to bait his lines, and lowered
+down the leads into the deep water below.
+
+"What's it to be this morning?" he said.  "They ought to bite on such a
+tide as this."
+
+He held one line in his hand, twisted the other round one of the
+thole-pins of the boat, and then sat waiting.  There was black Carn Du
+right in front, with the waters rising up dark and glistening, to fall
+back fringed with pale ghostly white.
+
+Then, as no fish bit to take up his attention, he began to think of the
+great black mass of rock, and to ask himself whether it was worth his
+while to go that or the next evening, and, climbing up, take the plunge
+as he had seen so many young men take it before.
+
+"If I did," he said, "it would please a good many people, and they would
+no longer look upon me as a coward.  I think I could--I feel sure I
+could.  But if I did take the dive how people would triumph after all,
+and say that I was stung into doing it by what they had said!"
+
+"No," he added, after a little more consideration; "they may say what
+they like.  I'll hold to my determination.  Coward or no, I'm not going
+to prove my courage for the sake of gratifying busy tattling people.
+Better remain a coward all my--Ah, that's one!"
+
+A sharp snatch at his line, followed by a long peculiar drag, told him
+what was at his bait; and after a little giving and taking, he drew a
+heavy twining conger eel over the boat's edge, having no little
+difficulty in preventing it from tangling his line, for it was quite a
+yard in length, and proportionately thick.
+
+His captive was, however, soon safe in the large basket, and he had
+hardly closed the lid and placed a boulder used as ballast upon it
+before a tug at his other line made the thole-pin rattle, and after a
+little hauling he dragged in a gloriously-coloured gurnard, whose
+outspread fins looked like the wings of some lovely butterfly.  Then he
+drew in, one after the other, a couple of wrasse, all grey and green and
+gold, with their protuberant mouths and curious teeth, after which there
+was a pause, and, drawing up one of his lines, Harry placed thereon a
+much larger hook, bound with wire right up the cord that held it.  Upon
+this he placed quite half a mackerel, secured it well to the hook with a
+piece of string, and then, throwing it over the side, he waited, after
+feeling the lead touch the rock below, and wondered whether he should
+capture what he believed to be lurking amongst the ledges of the piece
+of rock.
+
+"I may either get a conger or a good hake," he thought to himself.
+"There's always someone glad of a good hake."
+
+He waited with all a fisherman's patience, and, used as he was to such
+scenes, he could not help feeling gladdened at the glorious sight that
+met his gaze, for, one by one, the stars had paled, till only that named
+after the morning shone out resplendent in the now grey west; while to
+eastward all was blushing with bright red and gold and purple and
+orange, tints so wondrously beautiful and rich that Nature had enough to
+spare for sea as well as sky.  While the latter was growing moment by
+moment more refulgent, the former caught the wondrous dyes, till the
+water seemed everywhere like molten gold with ruddy and empurpled
+reflections where the sea gave a gentle heave.  Even the gulls and shags
+that floated on the tide seemed to be glorified by the wondrous colour,
+till Harry, as he sat there with the stout cord of his fishing-line
+twisted round his hand, felt how majestic and awe-inspiring was the
+coming of the new-born day, and involuntarily exclaimed:
+
+"Who would stay in bed if they knew what the dawn is like on such a morn
+as this!"
+
+So rapt was he in the grandeur of the scene that he had forgotten all
+about the object of his journey, but he was brought back to the
+matter-of-fact present by a tremendous snatch which jerked his arm
+hanging over the side, and made the cord cut so violently into his hand
+that he was glad to give the line a twist and set it free to run for
+some distance before he began to check it a little.
+
+"It's a monster," he said, as he felt the struggles of the fish, which
+dragged so heavily that, to save his line from breaking, as it was, in
+spite of giving and taking, nearly run out, he cast the boat loose and
+let it drift as the fish tugged.
+
+It was not big enough to drag it along, but it had some influence on the
+boat, moving it slowly, and this eased the line, which Harry had hauled
+upon, so that he kept getting in fathom after fathom ready for the
+captive's next run.
+
+This was not long in coming, for after keeping up a steady strain for
+about a minute, and drawing the fish, whatever it might be, nearer and
+nearer to the surface, there was a sudden snatch, and away it went again
+straight for the bottom like an arrow, and then right away.
+
+"The line will break directly," thought Harry.  "It must be either a
+great conger or a monster hake, or else it's a small shark.  Small!--no,
+that it isn't!" he exclaimed as he felt himself steadily drawn along
+with the current; "I shall never get it."
+
+Now he was able to haul in a little, the fish coming towards the surface
+in obedience to his steady drag; now it turned and went off again to the
+last yard of line, and then the boat was steadily drawn along, while
+Harry's wonder was that the strands did not break or the hook drag out.
+
+"This comes of having good new tackle," he said; and then, "Ah, I must
+lose it if it pulls like this."
+
+For the fish made so furious a strain upon the line that he felt that it
+must break; no such line could bear it.
+
+He felt in despair, for he was all eagerness now to see the monster he
+had hooked, when a happy thought suggested itself, and in an instant he
+had made three or four hitches round one of the oars with the end of the
+line, and cast it overboard.
+
+"There," he said, "you may tug at that, and I'll follow you."
+
+Away went the light oar over the surface, bobbing down at one end, and
+raising the blade in the air, while, putting the other over the stern,
+Harry stood up, full of excitement, and began sculling after the novel
+travelling float, when a wild cry for help, that seemed to send a
+shudder through his frame, came from behind him over the surface of the
+sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A FISH NOT FISHED FOR.
+
+Hake, conger, shark, whatever it might be, forgotten as Harry Paul heard
+that cry repeated.  He had already begun turning his little boat, and
+then, bending to his task, he forced it through the water as he stood up
+in the stern, making the rippling waves rattle and splash against her
+bows as a line of foam parted on either side.
+
+He could see nothing for the moment, but he knew that some one must be
+in deadly peril in the direction in which he had heard the cry, and,
+exerting all his strength, he made for the place whence he thought it
+must have come.
+
+He was puzzled, for, save a few luggers swinging from the little buoys
+that dotted the surface of the sea, there was not a sign of an accident
+by the upsetting of a boat, or of any one struggling in the water.
+Everything looked bright and cheerful in the morning sun, and after
+sculling along for some time he was beginning to think that the cry must
+have been uttered by some sea-bird, seeming weird and strange in the
+early morning, when he suddenly recalled the fact that sound travels far
+over a smooth, calm sea.
+
+Had he felt any further doubt it was solved on the instant by a
+repetition of the cry, this time clearer, and plainly to be interpreted
+into that agonising appeal that thrills the hearts of weak and strong
+alike--the one word "_Help_!"
+
+And now, plainly enough, he could see the head of some one whose hands
+appeared at intervals above the water, evidently in a fierce struggle
+for life.
+
+Whoever it was had lost his nerve and was in some peril, for though not
+above a hundred yards or so from the shore he was in the race of a
+fierce current that at certain periods of the tide ran so swiftly
+amongst the rocks that a strongly-manned boat could not stem its force.
+
+"It must be some stranger," thought Harry, as he exerted himself more
+and more.  "Poor fellow!  I shall never get to him in time."
+
+And then, with the big drops standing upon his forehead, he toiled on,
+his eyes fixed upon the drowning figure, and the feeling strong upon him
+of how awful it was for anyone to be called upon to yield up his life on
+such a glorious morning as this.
+
+At times his heart seemed to stand still with the chilling influence of
+the horror he felt, for, in spite of his efforts, the boat seemed to
+crawl over the surface of the water.
+
+He was now near enough to see that it was a man--evidently a bather--who
+was struggling for his life and in terrible danger.  The poor fellow
+seemed to have gone out too far, and, in his ignorance, had been drawn
+into the fierce current--one that no one dwelling about Carn Du would
+have ventured to approach; and, unless help were soon afforded, there
+would be a dead body cast up somewhere by a weedy cove just about the
+turn of the tide.
+
+Harry Paul's thoughts were busy, coward as he was, while his heart was
+beating so painfully that he seemed ready to choke.
+
+"I can only do one thing," he thought--"try to reach him with the boat.
+If I jump over and swim, I shall get there no faster, but if I do he
+will seize me in a drowning clutch, and we shall both go down."
+
+A curious shuddering sensation ran through him, and the remembrance of
+what he had gone through on the previous day came back with a strange
+exactness, in which he seemed to feel once more the cold clinging touch
+of the net upon his bare skin, and for the moment he felt as if he were
+paralysed.
+
+He shook off the horrible sensation, though, and, toiling away at his
+oar, sent the boat rapidly on, so as to get into the current at right
+angles to its course, and be swept on towards the drowning man.
+
+The help must come quickly if it was to be of use, for the swimmer was
+becoming a swimmer no longer.  The horror of his position had robbed
+him, as it were, of his knowledge, and instead of striking out slowly
+and calmly, almost without effort, and keeping his head as low down in
+the water as possible, he was making frantic efforts to raise himself
+from time to time, and beating the water with his hands.
+
+Then Harry could see an effort of the reason made over the animal
+faculties, and for a few moments the drowning man took a few steady
+strokes, but only to utter a gurgling cry and throw up his hands, beat
+the water again, and go under.
+
+The moment before Harry Paul seemed to have been exerting his full
+strength to force the boat through the water, but an accession of
+strength came to him, and with a few fierce thrusts he drove her bows
+into the edge of the current, which gave it so quick a snatch that it
+was whirled round, and its occupant nearly lost his footing; but he was
+too practised a boatman for that.  Recovering himself directly, he
+planted a foot on either side, the oar bent in the water, and, getting
+the boat's head right, he forced her along farther and farther into the
+current, with which she seemed to race onward towards the drowning man.
+
+He was quite a hundred yards from him yet; but rapidly diminishing the
+distance now, for the boat seemed to tear along; but Harry's heart sank
+lower and lower, and the chilly feeling of despair grew more strong as,
+just when he had reduced the distance to about fifty yards, he saw a
+hand appear for a moment above the water, and then disappear, leaving
+the glistening surface perfectly blank.
+
+Harry uttered a hoarse cry as he still sculled along, his eyes fixed
+upon the spot where the hand had disappeared, and then tracing in
+imagination the course the drowning man would take as he was swept along
+beneath the surface, he made for the place.
+
+It was in imagination, but his mental calculation was not far wrong, for
+within a few yards of where it might be expected, and not ten from where
+he was now sculling, he saw something roll up as it were to the surface,
+there was a gleam of white in the sunlit water, and then it was
+disappearing again, when, acting upon the impulse of the moment, Harry
+loosened his hold of the oar, took two steps forward over the thwarts,
+and leaped into the sea.
+
+As Harry Paul disappeared in the swift current the boat rocked and
+danced, and was sent many feet away by the impulse it received; but as
+he rose to the surface, regardless of everything but the drowning man he
+was striving to save, the boat swept by him, lightened of its load, and
+was whirled slowly round and round.
+
+It was a matter of impulse, and Harry Paul's experience should have
+taught him that keeping perfectly cool, and urging the boat along to
+where he had last seen the body, was the surest way of rendering help.
+But there are times when even those of the strongest mental capacity
+find it is difficult to retain their presence of mind.
+
+It was so here.  Led away by his feelings and the gallant desire he felt
+to succour someone in distress, Harry had as it were kicked away what
+meant life for both; but he did not realise the danger then.
+
+As he plunged beneath the surface of the racing current he recalled the
+fact that he was almost fully dressed, for the thick flannel jersey he
+wore seemed to cling to his arms and impede his action, but that was
+forgotten directly, as he rose in the water and looked around.
+
+There was nothing visible.  He was too late, so it seemed; but he swam
+strongly on, the cold immersion seeming to lend additional vigour to his
+frame.
+
+Now there was something!
+
+No; it was only a bunch of seaweed floating by, with its long streamers
+spreading out in the clear water like a woman's hair.  He was too late,
+too late, and--Yes, that was something white down in the water rising
+now, and--Yes, he had it--a man's wrist, and the next moment he had
+given it a drag which brought its owner's head above the surface.
+
+He was not dead, for, as Harry Paul turned him so that he floated on his
+back with his face above water, the drowning man began to make frantic
+clutches with his hands, so that it was only by loosing his hold and
+getting behind that Harry Paul avoided what would have been a deadly
+embrace.
+
+He knew well enough what he ought to do, namely, seize the drowning man
+by the hair, and then turn upon his own back and float, drawing the
+other after him; but on trying this a difficulty met him at the offset:
+the man's hair was very short; but he got over it by grasping his ears,
+and then, throwing himself back, he struck out with his legs so as to
+keep afloat and go with the racing current.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+COALS OF FIRE ON AN ENEMY'S HEAD.
+
+Harry Paul had been so busily employed in avoiding the drowning man's
+grasp that, for the moment, the boat was forgotten.  Now, however, that
+he had mastered him, he raised his head a little to look; but the boat
+was far away beyond his reach, and progressing at such a rate that he
+could not have overtaken it even had he been alone.
+
+A feeling of dread would have mastered him now, but for the strong nerve
+that he brought to bear.  There was no help there.  They were several
+hundred yards now from the shore, and every moment being carried farther
+away.  The part they were in was hidden by the great black pile of rocks
+by Carn Du from the little town and harbour, so that their peril could
+not be seen.  It was evident, too, that the loud cries for help had not
+reached the ears of those about the harbour, and that no one was
+anywhere about the boats that swung from the buoys.  On the one side
+there was the open sea, on the other the piled-up granite, which rose up
+like hand-built buttresses, composed of vast squared masses rising tier
+upon tier.  At their foot the foam fretted and beat, and the forests of
+seaweed washed to and fro, presenting an almost impenetrable barrier to
+any one wishing to land; though here it was impossible, for the racing
+current formed another barrier, which a boat propelled by stout rowers
+would hardly have passed.
+
+The act of his keeping the drowning man's face slightly above the water
+had a bad effect for Harry Paul, inasmuch as it made him he was trying
+to succour struggle and endeavour to clutch at the arms that held him.
+Once he could do this, Harry knew that his case would be hopeless, for
+from that death-grapple there could be no escape.  He held the man then
+firmly and swam on, feeling himself moment by moment grow more weary,
+for he was swimming in his clinging clothes, and unless help soon came
+he knew that he must loosen his grasp and strive to save his own life.
+
+Terrible coward as he was deemed, though, this was not in Harry Paul's
+disposition.  He possessed all the stern, dogged determination of the
+true Englishman--that determination which has made our race renowned
+throughout the length and breadth of the world.  He had determined to
+save this drowning man; he felt that it was incumbent upon him to give
+his best efforts to that end; so, setting his teeth, he cleverly managed
+to elude every clutch made at him, and swam on.
+
+He did not know where he was going, but he felt that his only chance was
+to go with the current till he should be swept near some of the outlying
+rocks, when they might be drawn into an eddy, and so be able to climb up
+on to the shell-covered stones, and wait there till they were seen.
+
+Try how he would, after some struggle with his captive it was impossible
+to help feeling a chill of dread, for he knew that he was swimming more
+laboriously, and that his limbs were like so much lead; but still he
+struggled on.  Every now and then, too, the water washed over his face,
+telling him that his position was lower, and at last, when all seemed to
+be over and his strength was ebbing away, he raised his head for a last
+farewell look-out for help, and one of his hands struck against a rock.
+
+Almost as he touched it the stream bore him by, but there was another
+mass close at hand, hung with tresses of seaweed and thickly strewed
+with mussels, and here he got a hold for a few moments, in spite of the
+drag of the rushing water.
+
+It required no little effort to hold on and support the drowning man as
+well, but even a few moments' rest gave him some return of power, and he
+was helped now by his companion, who in a feeble struggle to get at and
+clutch something, caught at the seaweed, into which his fingers
+convulsively wound themselves, and thus gave Harry Paul a hand at
+liberty for his own use.
+
+It was some time, though, before he dared to do more than cling to the
+rock.  He was too weak and helpless.  At the end of a few minutes,
+however, he felt stronger, and summoning up his energies for the effort,
+he got one hand higher, then the other, and clung there half out of the
+water.
+
+There was less drag upon him here from the stream; his breath came more
+freely, and with it returning strength, sufficient to enable him to
+climb right out of the water, lie face downwards upon the rock, and,
+stretching down his hands, clasp the wrists of his companion, whose
+fingers seemed to have grown into the tough weed to which they clung.
+
+This act brought his face within a foot or so of his companion's
+countenance.  Their eyes met, and in his surprise Harry Paul nearly let
+go, for he now for the first time realised the fact that he had been
+risking his life in an endeavour to save that of the man whom he had
+heard accused of an attempt to destroy him the night before.
+
+It was a strange position, and Harry Paul, as he bent down holding
+Penelly there, recalled all he had heard, and, in spite of his manly
+feelings, he could not help believing that in a sudden fit of dislike,
+or under a momentary temptation, Penelly had thrown the nets over him,
+though evidently repenting the next moment of what he had done.
+
+Penelly, too, was fast recovering his strength, and with it the horrible
+sense of confusion was passing away.  He, too, realised that the man
+whom he had so cruelly assailed was now sustaining him after evidently
+swimming to his aid.
+
+He gazed for a few moments straight into Harry's eyes, and in their
+stern gaze as they seemed to read him through and through, he saw, or
+fancied that he saw, his own condemnation, and that Harry was going to
+thrust him from his hold.
+
+It was a strange reaction as he hung there--he, the brave and daring
+swimmer, famed for his dives off Carn Du, held up by the man he had
+always denounced as a terrible coward; whom he had hated from boyhood
+almost, without cause, and whom really, under the impulse of a horrible
+temptation, he had on the previous night tried to hamper in his
+swimming, though not really to drown.
+
+Neither spoke, neither stirred for some time.  There was no great strain
+upon Harry's hands now, since Penelly's grasp was desperate.  The former
+was content to lie there gazing into his enemy's eyes, for his strength
+was returning with every breath; that breathing was less laboured, and,
+in place of his heart throbbing and jumping, sending hot gushes of
+blood, as it were, choking to his throat, it began to settle steadily
+down to its ordinary labours in the breast of a strongly-built, healthy,
+temperate man.
+
+"Conscience makes cowards of us all;" so the great writer has said; and
+truer words never stood out bold and striking from the paper on which
+they were written.
+
+In his abject misery and dread, Mark Penelly saw, in the stern gaze
+before him, anger and a vindictive desire for revenge; he saw therein
+fierce hate, and an implacable, unchanging condemnation; he felt that
+Harry was sustaining him there where he had dragged him to make his
+sufferings more acute, and that, after holding him up for a while, he
+would loosen his hold, causing him to sink at once into the deep water
+by the rocks, and be swept away by the tremendous current.
+
+He judged Harry Paul, in fact, by the same measure as he would have
+meted out to an enemy himself; and so terrible were his thoughts, so
+horrifying to him was the thought of the death from which he had
+escaped, that he was robbed of all energy; he had not strength to do
+more than hang there clinging to the weeds with desperate clutch, and,
+with only his head out of water, gaze up in Harry's stern eyes.
+
+And they were stern, for strange thoughts had intruded themselves,
+seeming to take possession of the young man's mind, and making him speak
+and act contrary to his wont.
+
+At last he spoke, and the trembling wretch beneath him shivered and
+uttered a despairing cry.
+
+"How came you in the water?" said Harry sternly.
+
+"Oh, in mercy, spare me, Harry Paul," shrieked the miserable wretch,
+"and I'll tell you all."
+
+"Then he _did_ throw the nets over me," thought Harry, in spite of
+himself; and he began to wonder why it was he did not make an effort to
+drag Penelly on to the rock.
+
+"Tell me, then," he said in a low hoarse voice, that he did not know for
+his own.
+
+"I will--yes, I will tell you," said Penelly; "only promise me you'll
+spare me."
+
+"Tell me this moment," said Harry sternly.
+
+"You are going to let me sink down," cried Penelly in horror-stricken
+tones.  "Oh, Harry Paul, my good, brave fellow! help me out--save me--
+save me!"
+
+A curious smile curled the young man's lip, one which horrified Penelly,
+who shrieked out:
+
+"Yes, yes; I'll confess all.  Zekle Wynn threatened to tell--to tell--"
+
+"That you threw the net over me last night?"
+
+"Yes--yes--I did; but it was an accident--an ac--"
+
+"What?" roared Harry.
+
+"No, no--I confess," said Penelly feebly, for he felt that his last hour
+had come.  "I did it.  I felt tempted to do it when you swam round; but
+Heaven's my witness, Harry, I only meant to duck you.  I meant to help
+drag you out after a minute, and so I did."
+
+"How came you in the race this morning?" said Harry, in a cold, cutting
+voice.
+
+"I'll--I'll confess all," said Penelly faintly, "only help me out and
+save my life.  I'll go away from Carn Du, Harry Paul.  I'll be like your
+dog in future, only save me."
+
+"The dog of a terrible coward?" said Harry coldly.
+
+"Oh, no; but you are not a coward, Harry.  Help!"
+
+"How came you in the race?"
+
+"I--I--swam off to the lugger.  I meant to swim off and cut her adrift--
+the lugger Zekle was in--he said he'd tell you.  I got into the water
+this side of Carn Du, and meant to swim to the buoy, cut her adrift, and
+swim back, but I was caught in the race.  Help me out--I'm dying!  Oh!
+help me, Harry! help!"
+
+Harry Paul made no effort to drag the wretched man out, but gazed
+thoughtfully downward into his eyes, while, under the influence of that
+stern gaze, Penelly quailed and shuddered, his blue lips parted, his
+eyes seem to start, but he could not speak.
+
+"Mark Penelly," said Harry at length; and his voice sounded deep and
+angry, and like the utterance of a judge, to the despairing wretch
+beneath him--"Mark Penelly, I never did you any harm."
+
+Penelly stared at him wildly, but he could not answer.
+
+"You have always made yourself my enemy, and tried to ruin me in the
+sight of others.  It is to you I owe the character of being the greatest
+coward in Carn Du.  You said I was a miserable cur--a dog.  Every dog
+has his day, and now it is mine.  It is my turn now, and I mean to have
+revenge."
+
+As he spoke his hands tightened round the shivering man's wrists till
+they seemed like iron bands.  He changed his position rapidly, and as
+Penelly closed his eyes, lowered the miserable wretch down till the
+water covered his lips, and then, by one strong effort, dragged him out
+on to the weedy rock, where he lay motionless and half dead, his eyes
+fixed upon Harry, and evidently waiting for the end.
+
+"Poor wretch!" said Harry to himself, as he gazed down at the helpless
+man, and, loosening and taking off his woollen jersey, he wrung it
+tightly, getting out as much water as he could, and then drew it on the
+stony cold figure lying in the washed-up dry brown weed.  This, too, he
+dragged over him, piling it up in a heap, to try and give him some
+warmth, while the exertion sent a thrill of heat through his own
+half-naked frame.
+
+Fortunately, the sun's rays came down hot and bright, and the rock grew
+warmer, so that by degrees the terribly void look began to leave Mark
+Penelly's face, and at last, when Harry held out his hand, saying, "Do
+you feel better?"  Mark Penelly caught it in both of his, clung to it,
+and, turning half over on his face, laid his forehead against it, and,
+forgetting his years of manhood, lay there in his weakness, and sobbed
+and cried like a child.
+
+They were on that rock till nightfall, when a passing lugger bound for
+the fishing-ground answered their hail, and sent a boat to take them
+off, giving them the news that Harry's boat had been found ashore, with
+only one oar, and Mark Penelly's clothes beyond Carn Du, and that they
+were mourned as lost.
+
+This mourning was soon, however, turned into joy; but before the two
+young men parted at the harbour Mark said humbly:
+
+"Forgive me, Harry, and I'll try to be another man."
+
+With a frank smile on his face Harry held out his hand, and giving the
+other's a hearty grip he exclaimed:
+
+"Ask God to forgive you, Mark; I am going to forget the past.  I thank
+Him that I saved your life."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Terrible Coward, by George Manville Fenn
+
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