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diff --git a/23811.txt b/23811.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45f9ab7 --- /dev/null +++ b/23811.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1044 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Good Ship Rover, by Robina F. Hardy + + +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: The Good Ship Rover + + +Author: Robina F. Hardy + + + +Release Date: December 10, 2007 [eBook #23811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOOD SHIP ROVER*** + + +Transcribed from the [1888] T. Nelson and Sons, Home Sunshine Series, by +David Price, ccx074@pglaf.org + +{Cover: cover.jpg} + + + + + +THE +GOOD SHIP "ROVER." + + +T. NELSON AND SONS. +London, Edinburgh, and New York. + + + + +I. HIGH AND DRY. + + +A gallant ship, some three feet in length, with full equipment of white +sails and sturdy masts, rigging, pennon, and figurehead; but it had never +seen the sea--never! It had "cast anchor" nearly a year before my story +begins in the Leslies' nursery--a very pleasant, airy room, with nice +pictures on the wall and a good many toys scattered about, but certainly +not the very least resembling the sea. In fact, I don't think Mrs. +Leslie would have liked if it had resembled it; for she was very much +afraid of the children being near a lake or a pond even, on account of +the dangers of damp feet and catching cold--two evils which always +haunted her mind more or less. She was rather a delicate creature, often +ailing,--which, perhaps, was the reason of these nervous fancies; and +most of the children resembled their mother in this, that there was sure +to be something the matter with one or other of them most days of the +week. The doctor was seldom long out of the house. Fortunately, Dr. +Hammond lived just next door, so he was easily sent for; and Walter +Hammond, the doctor's eldest boy, was Harry Leslie's dearest and most +intimate friend. The two boys were about eight years old, went to the +same school, spent most of their play-hours together, and intended both +to go to the sea together when they were old enough. For Harry Leslie, +though he had never once seen the sea any more than his ship had done, +had heard and read a great deal about sailor life and adventures, and had +inspired Walter with the same admiration for these as he himself felt. +Besides, his uncle Jack, Mr. Leslie's brother, who had made the ship for +his little nephew, had often told him stories about the sea which he +treasured in his heart all the more, perhaps, because he was so often +mured up by his nursery walls, or even in his little iron bed, on account +of colds, coughs, measles, chicken-pox, etc. + +Walter Hammond, unlike his friend, was a strong, bright, merry little +fellow, never a day in the house or away from school; but he was very +fond of Harry all the same. Walter had only two sisters and then a baby- +brother, all of whom were rather young for him to play with, so he spent +a great deal of his leisure time in the Leslies' nursery. What scores of +times had Harry and Walter studied and examined the _Rover_! They had +taken down its sails and its rigging and its masts over and over again. +They knew every inch of its planks, every nail and screw about its +framework. And how often they had spoken about the delight of launching +it in "real live water," in the wide blue sea perhaps! That would be +something worth living for. + +Harry and Walter were in the same class at Dr. Grierson's Academy in +Rosehampton, and very good scholars both were. One or other was pretty +sure to be at the top most days, and if Walter was first, Harry would be +not far off, and _vice versa_. + +One day, however, the rest of the boys were very much amused at some +strange mistakes made by these duxes. Harry having been told to mention +some chief towns in Asia Minor, rashly began with "Kingshaven," and then +corrected himself, blushing and looking very much ashamed, while Dr. +Grierson himself had some difficulty in subduing the bursts of laughter +all down the forms. + +Then Walter, who had been called upon to stand up and give some account +of the appearance and structure of a steam-engine, astonished everybody +by saying it had "_two masts_!" + +That day the inseparable friends were very much lower down in the class +than they were accustomed to be, and it required no little effort on +their part during the succeeding days to prevent their thoughts from +wandering, and to keep them fixed on the more dry and uninteresting +subjects of their lesson. + +The younger Leslies were also much excited about going to the sea-side; +but visions of shell-gathering, digging in the sands, and such mild +pursuits, were quite enough for them; and, indeed, they knew so little +about the sea that they had no materials whereof to form any more +brilliant plans. As to bathing, they were rather frightened about that, +considering that it must be something like going into the green nursery +tub, but with very cold water to wash in! + +Walter had been at Margate once with his father, and could describe the +sea to Harry in very lively terms. The sands, the bathing-coaches, the +rocks, the billows--nothing was forgotten in Walter's narratives. But, +alas! the little town of Rosehampton, where they lived, was very far away +from any part of this enchanting ocean, and for long there seemed no +chance whatever of Mrs. Leslie consenting to let her children brave the +perils of a month's residence near the sea. + +"I like them to go to the country," she would say to her husband or the +doctor, who often recommended sea-air, "and to think of them running +about on the grass when it is dry and sunny; for it is very close and +airless sometimes here in Diamond Terrace in the long summer days. But +do let me keep to dry land. It makes me quite nervous to think of Harry +falling over the rocks or getting into boats, and Bobby and Frank getting +their feet wet constantly on the shore when they are _so_ subject to +bronchitis." + +"Pooh, pooh, my dear!" her husband would say, "you are far too much +afraid of these children getting into danger. It makes them little molly- +coddles, indeed it does." But he was an easy-going man, who let his wife +do pretty much as she liked, and did not interfere with her management of +house or children. + +"Mamma," said Harry one day, "how is it that Uncle Jack _never_ catches +cold?--and, besides, he has never been drowned." + +"Hush, Harry; don't talk so rashly. You don't know what may happen to +your uncle yet. And I do wish he wouldn't tell you all those long +stories about the sea when he comes; they make me quite miserable." + +"I like them _awfully_, mamma," cried Harry, "and so does Walter. And do +you know, mamma, Walter and I are both going to be sailors when we grow +big. Only I do wish we might sail the _Rover_ first in real sea-water; +it would look so splendid!" + +"Well, Harry, be a good boy," said his mother, who did not like to +disappoint her boy more than was for his good, "and don't go on talking +about being a sailor, for that you shall never be. Your papa and I will +never hear of it. As to Walter, his father may do what he pleases; but +you are going to help your father in the warehouse when you grow big, so +you don't need to trouble your head about anything else. But, as I was +saying, if you are a good boy till next holidays, I promise to take you +all to Kingshaven, and you shall sail your ship as much as you like from +the little jetty or the rocks. It is a nice safe place with lovely +sands--if the sea ever can be said to be _safe_." + +Harry listened in silent amazement to these words. The utter crushing of +his hopes as to sailor-life was for the moment completely forgotten in +the near and enchanting prospect held out to him in its place. But he +was a kind-hearted, affectionate boy, and even in this hour of excitement +he did not forget his friend. + +"But Walter, mamma?" he cried, as his mother was leaving the room,--"how +can I sail it without Walter?" + +"Well, you can ask Walter to come with us. I daresay he will be very +glad," said his mother, calling back from the staircase, for she was in a +hurry about some household affair. + +Harry clapped his hands, and ran to tell Walter, who was equally +overjoyed at the idea of going to Kingshaven with Harry. So they set to +work and counted the weeks and days that must elapse until the holidays +came round, and then they once more thoroughly overhauled the "good ship +_Rover_" to see if it was water-tight and ready for its first voyage. + +It would be literally its first voyage. Harry and Walter had tried the +green tub that belonged to the nursery, but in vain. It was not nearly +long enough. Cook would not let them try the fixed tubs in the laundry, +and it was very doubtful if even they would have held the _Rover_. + +The bath would have done so easily, and longing eyes had often been fixed +on it with that idea. But Mrs. Leslie was inexorable--no such dabbling +among water, either hot or cold, was to be permitted; so the _Rover_ +still stuck high and dry in the nursery window. + + + + +II. THE SEA! THE SEA! + + +The midsummer holidays at last came round, and Mrs. Leslie, who had been +busy packing up and arranging things for some weeks, now resolved to shut +up the house for a whole month and, with the family, set off for +Kingshaven. + +It was a long way off--some thirty or forty miles--so it was quite like +an adventure to Harry Leslie and his little brothers and sisters, and +scarcely less so to Walter Hammond, who was to accompany them. Dr. +Hammond could not leave home on account of his numerous patients; and had +it not been for this fine chance, Walter would have had only a few days +in the country now and then. He was a good-tempered, sensible boy, and a +pleasant guest in any household. Mr. Leslie would be able to go down +with his family to Kingshaven; but was to leave them there and return to +business, making his home for the time at a married sister's house in +Rosehampton. So everything seemed promising; and even Mrs. Leslie, +naturally of a most anxious and troubled disposition, set off with hardly +a cloud on her horizon. + +Harry had been very active in helping his mother all the day before the +departure, and once when carrying a heavy box down from the attics he had +felt it bump heavily against his knee; but being a brave little boy, he +said and thought nothing about it at the time. All through the afternoon +and night, however, a strange, dull pain in the knee haunted him. He did +not tell anybody, but he wished frequently it would go away before he got +to Kingshaven. There stood the _Rover_, all nicely packed and ready for +the railway journey, and Harry's heart beat high when he thought how soon +he should see it riding proudly on the waves--the admired of all +beholders. + +Harry wakened early on the Saturday morning that had been fixed for their +journey with this bright vision before his eyes; but a sudden shoot of +pain, as he moved his knee, made him fall back on his pillow and almost +scream for help. He controlled himself, however, and began to examine +again the wounded spot. There was a swelling; but the blue and black +marks he had seen last night were nearly gone. The thing had rather too +white a look; but Harry took this for a good sign, and hoped it would be +all right before long. He got up and dressed, slowly and with +difficulty, and still concealed even from his mother's sharp eyes that +anything was wrong. Walter came round early, and in time the whole party +were off. + +After a long but pleasant journey they reached the busy little sea-side +resort of Kingshaven--a brisk, rising town, greatly patronized by +families in search of bathing and safe boating and other marine +enjoyments. Briery Cottage, which Mrs. Leslie had hired for the month, +was very satisfactory in every way but one. It stood so far up in the +town and in such a position that no view of the sea whatever, not even +the tiniest bit, was to be obtained from its windows. That was a +drawback certainly; and as they had only chosen it from an advertisement, +they had not taken this point into consideration. It could not be helped +now. + +"Well, it does not much matter, after all," said Mrs. Leslie. "You +children will be all day long on the beach; and as for me, if I take my +knitting down to the rocks all the afternoons, I shall see as much of the +sea as I want to. You know I am not so much in love with it as you all +are." + +Briery Cottage, though it did not command a sea-view, was a very nice, +comfortable little cottage, with a pleasant garden in front and a long +strip of bowling-green behind. In front passed the wide public road, +with many carriages and other vehicles constantly coming and going; so it +could not be called a dull place at all events. + +"O mamma, what a nice place Kingshaven is!" said Harry, quite +enthusiastically. "I'm sure I should never weary here even if we were to +stay for a whole year!" + +"Not even if you didn't see the sea, Harry?" asked his father, laughing. + +"Oh, but that would be impossible, you know, papa!" answered Harry. + +Harry was to have a longer time at Kingshaven than he imagined, and +perhaps if he could have foreseen everything he would not have talked so +very confidently of "_never_ wearying." But it is very good for all of +us that just one step of our way is open before us. It helps to make us +humble and trustful, looking for guidance better and higher than our own, +and may often preserve us from being needlessly downcast and depressed. + +Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were very glad to see all their children so well and +bright and so pleased with the holiday treat they had provided for them. + +"I must come down on Monday morning to the shore before going home," Mr. +Leslie said to the boys as he saw them carrying their boat, "and see the +good ship _Rover's_ first voyage. It will be quite a sight!" + +"Oh, we are all coming!" added his wife. "I assure you none of us would +like to miss the spectacle; and if none of the little ones fall over the +rocks, I'm sure everything will go well!" + +By the time they got thoroughly settled in their new home it was getting +quite late in the day, so there was only time for a saunter all along the +beach and the parade and the principal streets of Kingshaven. It was +with some difficulty that Harry managed to walk now; but so anxious was +he to secure his grand treat on Monday that he still kept his pain to +himself. Walter and he had selected one delightful rock, stretching far +out into the sea, from which to make the first launch and trial trip of +the _Rover_. There were lots of little boys already there, and on +similar rocks, sailing their tiny boats, but none of them had anything +the least like the _Rover_. + +"We'll call it a pirate ship, Wat," cried Harry excitedly, "and it will +be grand to see it chasing the little boats all about. What a splendid +thing the sea is! I wish we could stay always beside it." + +Walter agreed to all Harry said. + +"Yes," he said, "that will be the very thing. The _Rover_ is the very +name for a pirate ship, you know. Let's be up in good time on Monday +morning, Harry, and be down here for a first venture by ourselves, in +case it doesn't work right just at the very first, you know, and people +might laugh." + +So the two boys chatted and planned while Mr. and Mrs. Leslie and the +rest sallied on in front. But Harry was not sorry when his mother gave +the order for everybody to go home and get to bed, so as to have a good +wash--it being Saturday night--and a good sound sleep before Sunday; for +Mrs. Leslie was a good mother, and loved to teach her children to observe +the Lord's day rightly, and to enjoy it in a way worthy of its sacred +rest. The Leslies all liked going with their parents to church. It was +never thought a weariness or a punishment even by the youngest. They +could not, of course, understand all that was said and done there, but +they learned to sit quietly and reverently while their elders listened, +which was in itself a valuable training for after life; and there were +many portions of the service which they could appreciate for themselves. +Mr. Leslie always liked them to say over the text and the psalms and +hymns they had heard, and this was looked forward to by the youngsters as +quite a pleasant exercise. + +But we must go on with the story. + +"What are you thinking about, Harry?" said his mother as she bustled +about, getting Bobby and Frank, Lucy and Janey, washed and dried and put +to bed in the tiny nursery at Briery Cottage, which indeed was very +different from the one they had left at Rosehampton, though, with the +usual happy taste of children, Lucy and Janey thought their narrow cribs +ever so much nicer than the home ones; while Bobby and Frank considered +the two skylights here infinitely preferable to the large bow-window they +were accustomed to. + +Harry was sitting in a contemplative manner upon a trunk on the landing +below, Walter having preceded him upstairs. + +"Run after Walter and see that you two boys have a good scrub. The bath +is ready for you; and see you don't hang about after it to catch cold, +but get into Blanket Bay as fast as you can. I'm sure I feel quite ready +for it myself after all that trudging about over sands and rocks." + +Thus admonished, Harry made his way upstairs to the back attic, where +Walter and he and the _Rover_ were moored. + + + + +III. "BLANKET BAY." + + +Early next morning Walter Hammond knocked at Mrs. Leslie's door. + +"Could you come and look at Harry's knee?" he asked in rather a +frightened voice. "We think there is something wrong with it." + +Mrs. Leslie lost no time, you may be sure. And here, sure enough, she +found poor Harry lying in excruciating pain, and with a great white +swelling on his knee, which her experienced eyes saw at once was no +ordinary bruise or sprain. + +"My boy!" she cried, "why didn't you tell me sooner? If I had only +known!" + +Harry could not help his tears flowing fast now. It had been such a long +strain upon him to keep up hour after hour, that it was quite a relief at +last to have the very worst fully confessed. + +"I thought it would go off, mamma," he said, "or I would have told. And +I was so anxious to be well just now, for the sea; and oh, I can't move +one single step!" + +"Don't cry, dear. We'll send for the doctor and see what he says. I +daresay he will make it better before long. And you mustn't fret, you +know, or you'll make yourself worse." So saying, Mrs. Leslie had the +nearest medical man sent for, and the little patient laid neatly and +comfortably in bed--as her skilful hands could well do. + +Dr. Bell came, and pronounced poor Harry's a very grave case of what is +popularly known as "white swelling," brought on by the hurt he had +received, but chiefly owing to the little boy's very delicate system. "He +must lie quite still for some weeks at least," said the doctor. "There +must be no trying to get up or move about until I give permission." + +Poor Harry! it was indeed a hard and bitter trial, and he did not then +know that he would yet be thankful one day for a lesson taught him by +this very trouble. But, indeed, we very seldom know such things till the +time of trial is long past. + +Walter was removed to a sofa-bed in the parlour, so as to give Harry more +room and air, since the little attic must be his sole abode for long +weeks in all probability. + +And so it proved. Harry lay there day after day, hardly daring even to +sit half up in bed for meals, and compelled to lie mostly on his back. +There stood the unfortunate ship _Rover_, whose piratical wanderings had +also been cruelly frustrated. It stood on a table just below the +skylight, so that Harry could see it easily where he lay; but now the +sight rather added to his vexation than otherwise. Would he ever be able +to sail it before they left Kingshaven and returned to Rosehampton? It +seemed very unlikely. + +Their kind friend Dr. Hammond came down at once on hearing of Harry's +illness--which was of course a great comfort, as he knew so well about +his little patient; but he only confirmed Dr. Bell's verdict, and +declared Harry must continue in the quiet quarters of "Blanket Bay," as +his mother called it. The unfortunate thing of _this_ Blanket Bay was +that it did not look to the sea, nor indeed to anything but the sky. + +The days passed wonderfully, however. Harry was fond of reading, and +plenty of nice books were got for him; the younger children were, of +course, perfectly happy digging houses and castles in the sand; and +Walter did the best he could to amuse himself companionless, or with any +boys who seemed friendly and ready to play with him. He did all he could +to amuse Harry, too, by coming home with stories of all he had seen, and +would sit for hours on the bedside chatting to him, if allowed; but Mrs. +Leslie said it was very wrong to waste his holidays that way, and +generally packed him off to the shore again. + +Harry Leslie knew that to Walter as well as to himself it was a great +disappointment not to see the _Rover_ floated. He thought over it many a +time, and being a kind-hearted boy in general, it did vex him not a +little that Walter also should be disappointed. But the idea of his +telling Walter to take the _Rover_ down himself to the rocks, and have +the delight of seeing it ride proudly on the waves--oh, that was too much +for Harry! If the idea ever did really present itself plainly to his +mind as a thing that might be done--and I am not at all sure that it +did--then it was put aside at once as a plan quite ridiculous and not to +be encouraged. Harry had read of Sir Philip Sidney passing the cup of +water from his own parched lips to the dying-soldier who had still +greater need of it than himself, and he had thought it a grand and +beautiful action; but then it had never occurred to him that in his own +little common life--the every-day life of home and school, or it might be +sick-room--deeds of the _same kind of heroism_, though not by any means +so likely to be spoken of, were possible to and even required of him and +every one who wished to lead a brave and noble life. + +It was not till nearly a fortnight had come and gone--half the time they +were to spend at Kingshaven--that some words of his father's set Harry +thinking of this very subject, and the thing struck him as it had never +done before. + +Mr. Leslie had come down at the end of the week, as he always did, to +spend Sunday with his family, and to see how his little sick boy was +getting on. He stood looking at the _Rover_ for a little that Saturday +night, and then said before leaving the room,-- + +"By-the-by, you've never got your grand ship sailed yet. What will Uncle +Jack say when he hears of it? But let me see. Couldn't Watty there sail +it? It's a sort of pity he shouldn't have some pleasure out of it, isn't +it?" + +"O papa!" cried Harry as if in pain. + +"Why, what is it?" said his father, alarmed at the crimson colour rising +in his son's face. "Is the knee so painful, my man?" + +"No, no, papa," said Harry, rather abashed; "I was thinking of what you +said. You know it is _my_ ship--my very own. How _could_ I let Walter +or any one else sail it, when I can't even look out and see it, you +know?" + +Mr. Leslie was greatly surprised by this speech, but he was a +good-natured, easy-going man, as has been said, never liking to cross or +disappoint anybody if he could help it, and the sight of his poor little +Harry lying there perhaps weighed against his own better judgment. + +"Ah! I see," he said. "You don't like it to go out of your own hands. +Well, you must just act 'dog in the manger' if you will, my boy. It is +for yourself to judge. I never meddle with other people's affairs, +whether about toys or big things! You shall do exactly as you like with +your boat, my boy; and I daresay it won't be so very long before you and +Walter will be able to go down to the beach together. By-the-by, did I +tell you I met Dr. Grierson, and he was asking most kindly for his little +scholar--quite sorry to hear of your being laid up, Harry? And the young +Melvilles are perhaps coming down to Kingshaven before long. You'll like +to see them again. Jack Lowford had a nasty fall off that bicycle of +his. He was coming down Grove Lane, where it is rather steep, you know, +and the thing went right over. Jack cut his head badly against the big +gray stone at Mr. Sheffard's gate, and had to be taken into the house and +doctored up a bit before he could go home. Very kind people these +Sheffards are, I must say.--But here comes Wat, who will give you news of +the beach more interesting than mine. So good-night, my boy, and see +that you sleep sound." + +So saying Mr. Leslie left him to repose + + + + +IV. FAIRLY AFLOAT. + + +Harry Leslie lay long awake that night, thinking over the words his +father had carelessly enough dropped. "Dog in the manger"--what did that +mean exactly? He had heard the phrase more than once, but had never +stopped to consider it in any way. Yet it was a plain sort of +illustration, carrying its own meaning along with it. Harry had once +been staying in the country with some cousins at a farm-house called +Clover Hollow, and he remembered them all laughing one day at "Grip," a +little Skye terrier, that had got into one of the mangers in the stable, +and kept at a respectable distance the good old pony to which it +belonged, barking at him and refusing to allow him the enjoyment of his +own breakfast. And Grip could not, of course, enjoy it himself--chopped +hay and oats not being at all in _his_ line. Seemingly, the only +pleasure Grip derived from this performance lay in keeping "Donald," the +old pony, from having any breakfast! And it was very laughable at the +time. Yes; Harry understood the words perfectly. And though it had been +laughable enough in the case of Grip, which was only a terrier, still, +however clever he might have been thought, Harry felt that it was not +quite the same when practised by rational beings. True, he was only +keeping that which most clearly belonged only to himself, whereas Master +Grip had feloniously seized on the possession of another. There was that +difference, certainly. Still, there was something in the thing Harry did +not quite like. He was usually a kind, unselfish sort of boy, and he did +not enjoy feeling that he was doing something rather miserly now. And +then, just that evening, his mother had been reading some verses from the +Bible to him, as she usually did, and one of them had been: "Whatsoever +ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." He had not +thought much about the words at the time, but they came back to his +memory now. + +Early next morning Harry sent for Walter to come and speak to him. + +"Wat," he said very cheerily, "the _Rover_ is going to make its first +voyage to-day. Hurrah! Aren't you glad?" + +Walter stared at his friend and wondered if he had grown suddenly worse, +and was talking nonsense through feverishness. + +"I doubt they won't let you out to the beach just yet, Hal!" he said +soothingly. + +"No, indeed!" said Harry, smiling brightly. "But _you_ are going to take +the ship down for me, and launch her, and all that. Bobby and Frank will +go too, of course, and the girls, if nurse can take them; and then you'll +come back and tell me all about it--won't you, Wat?" + +{Harry's proposal: p39.jpg} + +"Nonsense, Harry, nonsense!" cried his friend. "Why, we _couldn't_ do it +without you; it would be no fun at all. Your own ship too. No, you +needn't say another word about it." + +But Harry kept to his purpose; and in time Walter felt that he was really +quite in earnest, and that to refuse would only vex him. + +"Well, if you really want me to, Harry," he said reluctantly. "But won't +you be awfully dull when I take the good ship away from your room? You've +often said it was quite a companion to you when we're all out." + +"Not a bit!" cried Harry bravely. "I'm quite tired of seeing the old +thing on dry land. I'm wearying awfully to know how it floats, and +you'll come home and tell me all about it. Tell me if there were people +looking on, and if the pennons looked well when they were waving out at +sea, and all that. I want to hear what everybody says about it, and if +they think the _Rover_ as fine a boat as they have ever seen at the Shelf +Rock before. So you see, Wat, you must make haste and be off with it, or +I'll be quite put out, and that will be sure to make me worse again. Ask +mamma if that isn't true! I wonder I never thought of this before. It +was awfully stupid of me, to be sure!" + +His eyes sparkled brightly now, all the brighter, perhaps, because he had +just dashed away some childish tears; for he was very young, you must +remember, and also weak from illness. He wanted to make his tiny bit of +self-sacrifice right bravely and cheerfully, feeling that a grudging +manner of giving sadly mars a gift. + +Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were greatly pleased at hearing what Harry had +planned for the others, especially as it had come entirely from himself. +He had certainly not been urged to do it in any way; it had not even been +suggested to him. + +{The "Rover" on a trial trip: p41.jpg} + +Well, a large and enthusiastic crowd of juveniles gathered round the +Shelf Rock that afternoon to watch the good ship _Rover_ make her first +voyage on the deep. And beautifully indeed did she spread her white +sails to the breeze, while, guided by a string secured in Walter's hand, +her graceful form cut the waves or danced lightly over them, her bright +red pennons floating gracefully from stern and mast. It was quite a long +time before the excitement of this first voyage wore away. Each of the +children had in turn to get a "hold" of the guiding-string; and great +amusement was caused by one of the wooden-doll sailors which Mrs. Leslie +had dressed for Harry's ship tumbling overboard and bobbing about for a +long time among the creeks and crannies of Shelf Rock. + +At last "Jack-a-tar" was rescued by means of a hand-net which Walter had +for his natural history researches; and the little man was found to be +not a whit the worse, except for a drenching of his blue serge suit--for +even his well-glued-on hat had survived the fury of the waves. + +You can imagine what a grand story all this made to tell poor Harry, +lying in his little bed under the skylight, with his back to the sea and +all the wonders thereof. And no one was more delighted with the whole +affair than Harry himself, feeling quite a weight off his mind, now that +he had got quit for ever of that nasty "dog-in-the-manger" sort of +feeling. How he laughed about poor Jack-a-tar, and took him into his own +hands to be thoroughly restored, while his mother took off the blue suit +to dry at the kitchen fire! + +Altogether this was one of the happiest days Harry had spent at +Kingshaven. Every day now the children took out the _Rover_, and many +happy hours they all spent with it. + +Next week a visitor was announced. It was Uncle Jack himself! And along +with him came the biggest, bulkiest parcel you could imagine. When it +was opened it proved to be a first-rate sort of invalid carriage, capable +of being folded up or out in any and every direction--quite an invention +of Uncle Jack's own brilliant genius. Dr. Bell said it was the very +thing for his little patient, who would be able for it in a very few days +now. Dr. Hammond also was greatly pleased with this new conveyance when +he came down. + +Various little trial trips were made in this couch, at first only into +the front garden, and then into the long strip of bowling-green at the +back. And how the little invalid _did_ enjoy the fresh, sweet summer +air, fragrant with honeysuckle and sweet-brier, and all the more +delightful to him from the whiff of strong salt and even _tar_ corning up +from the shore. Harry felt as if he should soon be well and strong again +if he were only to have such nice rides as this every day. + +At first his knee did pain him considerably even at the least motion; but +gradually, as he gained in health and strength, this wore away, and he +could be drawn quite a long distance and then left out in some nice +sheltered spot, with his book beside him, just to drink in the health- +giving breezes. + +Uncle Jack's own strong steady hand was usually the one which drew him +about for many days. It seemed to please the kindly sailor to do as much +for his little nephew. And no one could pull the chair so well, Harry +thought, for he never felt much pain when Uncle Jack was in charge. But +by-and-by Walter was allowed to try his skill at it, and very proud and +happy he was to try. The best days were those when Harry could be taken +right down to the shore and set upon one of the more sheltered rocks; but +that was only when the weather was very dry and sunny and there was not +too much wind for the patient. + +One very fine afternoon, however, quite a large party assembled at the +Shelf Rock. There was Harry in his couch, laid snugly in the centre of +the group, Bobby and Freddy, Janey and Lucy dancing round him, mamma with +a large basket of good things encamped close by, and papa, Uncle Jack, +Walter, and good Dr. Hammond, all there to enjoy the family "_picnic_!" +But before the feast was spread the good ship _Rover_ was to be launched +once more, and that was done by Uncle Jack's well-skilled hands, after +which he put the guiding-string in Harry's white little hand and bade him +hold it firm. Harry's eyes sparkled and his colour mounted; for he felt +the full pleasure of this moment, free from any mean or selfish thought. + +After all this Mr. Leslie began to think it would be best just to let +Harry remain all the summer at Kingshaven, so he secured another cottage +nearer the sea than their present quarters; and here Harry remained, and +the children by turns, with nurse to keep order, and the parents looking +down now and again to see that all was right. Walter had, of course, to +go back to school, and he was dux every day now since Harry was off the +field. However, next year Harry managed quite to make up to him again, +being ever so much stronger then; and in due time the two boys went to +Rugby together, remaining fast friends as before. + +But we are going on too fast. + +Let us look back first to the little seaside cottage where Harry is so +happy--never wearying of Kingshaven, as indeed he had declared he never +would, even when he knew not how long his stay was to be. He is taken +out to the beach every day by careful hands, and is gathering strength +bit by bit. Often he is carried over to the Shelf Rock, from there to +guide with his own hand the beautiful gliding movements of his pretty +ship. Harry feels that this past time of trial has been a blessing to +him, since it has saved him from growing into a grasping or selfish boy; +and he looks back with pleasure on a sight he did not see--the first +voyage of + +THE GOOD SHIP "ROVER." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOOD SHIP ROVER*** + + +******* This file should be named 23811.txt or 23811.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/1/23811 + + + +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. 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