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diff --git a/36624.txt b/36624.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..908492c --- /dev/null +++ b/36624.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7942 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Adventures of Working Men, 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: Adventures of Working Men + From the Notebook of a Working Surgeon + +Author: George Manville Fenn + +Illustrator: Anonymous + +Release Date: July 5, 2011 [EBook #36624] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES OF WORKING MEN *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Adventures of Working Men +From the Notebook of a Working Surgeon +By George Manville Fenn +Illustrations by Anon +Published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co, London. +Adventures of Working Men, by George Manville Fenn. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +ADVENTURES OF WORKING MEN, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +MY PATIENTS. + +I have had patients enough in a busy life as a working surgeon, you may +be sure, but of all that I have had, young or old, give me your genuine, +simple-hearted working man; for whether he be down with an ordinary +sickness or an extraordinary accident, he is always the same--enduring, +forbearing, hopeful, and with that thorough faith in his medical man +that does so much towards helping on a cure. + +Wealthy patients as a rule do not possess that faith in their doctor. +They always seem to expect that a disease which has been coming on, +perhaps, for months, can be cured right off in a few hours by a touch of +the doctor's hand. If this result does not follow, and I may tell you +at once it never does--unless it be in a case of toothache, and a tooth +is drawn--the patient is peevish and fretful, the doctor is looked upon +as unskilful, and, money being no object, the chances are that before +the doctor or surgeon has had a chance, another practitioner is called +in. + +On the other hand, a quiet stalwart working man comes to you with a +childlike faith and simplicity; he is at one with you; and he helps his +cure by his simple profound belief in your skill. + +A great deal of working-class doctoring and surgery has fallen to my +lot, for fate threw me into a mixed practice. Sooner than wait at home +idle for patients who might never come, I have made a point of taking +any man's practice _pro tem_, while the owner was ill, or away upon a +holiday, and so improved my own knowledge better than I should have done +by reading ever so hard. The consequence is that I have been a good +deal about the country, and amongst a great variety of people, and the +result of my experience is that your genuine working man, if he has been +unspoiled by publicans, and those sinners, the demagogues, who are +always putting false notions into his head, is a thoroughly sterling +individual. That is the rule. I need not quote the exceptions, for +there are black sheep enough among them, even as there are among other +classes. Take him all in all, the British workman is a being of whom we +may well be proud, and the better he is treated the brighter the colours +in which he will come out. + +Of course he has his weak points; we all have them, and very unpleasant +creatures we should be without. A man all strong points is the kind of +being to avoid. Have nothing to do with him. Depend upon it the +finest--the most human of God's creatures, are those who have their +share of imperfections mingled with the good that is in every one more +or less. + +They are men, these workers, who need the surgeon more than ordinary +people, for too often their lives are the lives of soldiers fighting in +the battle of life; and many are the wounded and slain. + +I used at one time--from no love of the morbid, please bear in mind, but +from genuine desire to study my profession--to think that I should like +to go out as an army surgeon, and be with a regiment through some +terrible war. For it seemed to me that nothing could do more towards +making a professional man prompt and full of resources than being called +upon to help his suffering fellow-creatures--shot down, cut down, +trampled beneath horses' feet, blown up, bayoneted, hurt in one of the +thousand ways incidental to warfare, besides suffering from the many +diseases that follow in an army's train. But I very soon learned that +there was no need for any such adventure, for I could find ample demands +on such poor skill as I possessed by devoting myself to the great army +of toilers fighting in our midst. Talk of demands upon a man's energy +and skill; calls upon his nerve; needs for promptness and presence of +mind! There are plenty such in our every-day life; for, shocking as it +may sound, the tale of killed and wounded every week in busy England is +terribly heavy. Go to some manufacturing town where steam hisses and +pants, and there is the throb and whirr of machinery from morn till +night--yes, and onward still from night to morn--where the furnaces are +never allowed to slacken--go there and visit the infirmary, and you will +find plenty of wounded in the course of the year. You have the same +result, too, in the agricultural districts, where, peaceful as is the +labourer's pursuit, he cannot avoid mishaps with horses, waggons, +threshing-machines, even with his simple working tools. In busy London +itself the immense variety of calls upon the surgeon's skill leaves him +little to desire in the way of experience. + +Many years of sheer toil have caused a kind of friendship to grow up +between me and the working man. In fact I consider myself a working +man, and a hard-worker. I have told you how I like him for a patient, +but I have not told you of the many good qualities that I have found, +too often lying latent in his breast. Those I will touch upon +incidentally in the course of these pages, for years ago the fancy came +upon me to make a kind of note-book of particular cases, principally for +my own amusement. Not a surgical or medical note-book, but a few short +jottings of the peculiarities of the cases, and these short jottings +grew into long ones, so that now I present them to the reader as so many +sketches of working men--adventures, that is to say, met with in their +particular avocations. + +Sometimes I have been called in to attend the workman for the special +case of which his little narrative treats, for I have thought it better +for the most part to let him tell his story in his own words; and now I +come to look through my collection--the gatherings of many years--I find +that I have a strange variety of incident, some of which in their peril +and danger will show those who have never given a thought to such a +subject, how many are the risks to which the busy ants of our great hill +are exposed, and how often they go about their daily tasks with their +lives in their hands. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +MY PATIENT THE STOKER. + +I would not wish for a better specimen of faith and confidence than was +shown by one of my patients, Edward Brown, a stoker, with whose little +narrative I will commence my sketches. + +"Ah! doctor," he said one day, "I wish you had had to do with me when I +came back from the East." + +"Why?" I said, and went on dressing a very serious injury he had +received to one hand, caused by his crushing it between a large piece of +coal and the edge of the furnace door. + +"Because I should have got better much quicker if I had known you." + +"Perhaps not," I said, "your own medical man may have done his best." + +"Perhaps he did," was the reply. "But, lor! hard down I was just then. +It brings it all up again--those words." + +"What words?" I said. "There, don't let that bandage be touched by +anyone." + +"`In the midst of life we are in death.'" + +"Why, Brown!" I exclaimed. + +"Yes sir, those were the words--`In the midst of life we are in death.' +And they sounded so quiet and solemn, that Mary and I stopped short +close to the old-fashioned gate at the little churchyard; and then, as +if we moved and thought together, we went in softly to the funeral, and +stood at a little distance, me with my hat off and Mary with her head +bent down, till the service was over. + +"There it all is again as I'm telling it to you, come back as fresh and +clear as if I was looking at it now: a nice little old-fashioned church, +with a stone wall round the yard, where the graves lay pretty thick and +close, but all looking green and flowery and old, a great clump of the +biggest and oldest yew-trees I ever saw, and a tall thick hedge +separating the churchyard from the clergyman's house. The sun was +shining brightly, turning the moss-covered roofs of the church and +vicarage into gold; from the trees close by came the faint twittering of +birds, and away past the village houses bathed in the bright afternoon +sunshine there were the fields of crimson clover, and the banks full of +golden broom and gorse. Over all was a sense of such peace and silence +that it seemed as if there was nothing terrible, only a quiet sadness in +the funeral, with its few mourners round the open grave, and the +grey-haired clergyman standing by; and last of all, when Mary and I went +up and looked into the grave, and read on the coffin-plate, `Aged _77_.' +one couldn't help feeling that the poor soul had only gone to sleep +tired with a long life. + +"It was my fancy perhaps, but as we strolled round that churchyard, and +read a tombstone here and a board there, it seemed as if no sooner had +the parson gone in to take off his surplice, and the mourners left the +churchyard, than the whole place woke up again into busy life. A +chaffinch came and jerked out its bit of a song in one of the yews, the +Guinea-fowls in a farm close by set up their loud crying, the geese +shrieked on the green, and creaking, and rattling and bumping, there +came along a high-filled waggon of the sweetest hay that ever was caught +in loose handfuls by the boughs of the trees, and then fell softly back +into the road. + +"We were very quiet, Mary and I, as we strolled out of the churchyard, +down one of the lanes; and then crossing a stile, we went through a +couple of fields, and sat down on another stile, with the high hedge on +one side of us and the meadow, that they were beginning to mow at the +other end, one glorious bed of flowers and soft feathery grass. + +"`Polly,' I says at last, breaking the silence, `ain't this heavenly?' + +"`And you feel better?' she says, laying her hand on mine. + +"`Better!' I says, taking a long draught of the soft sweet-scented air, +and filling my chest--`better, old girl! I feel as if I was growing +backwards into a boy.' + +"`And you fifty last week!' she says. + +"`Yes,' I says, smiling, `and you forty-seven next week.' And then we +sat thinking for a bit. + +"`Polly,' I says at last, as I sat there drinking in that soft breeze, +and feeling it give me strength, `it's worth being ill only to feel as I +do now.' + +"For you see I'd been very bad, else I dare say I'm not the man to go +hanging about churchyards and watching funerals: I'm a stoker, and my +work lies in steamers trading to the East. I'd come home from my last +voyage bad with fever, caught out in one of those nasty hot bad-smelling +ports--been carried home to die, as my mates thought; and it was being +like this, and getting better, that had set me thinking so seriously, +and made me so quiet; not that I was ever a noisy sort of man, as any +one who knows me will say. And now, after getting better, the doctor +had said I must go into the country to get strength; so as there was no +more voyaging till I was strong, there was nothing for it but to leave +the youngsters under the care of the eldest girl and a neighbour, and +come and take lodgings out in this quiet Surrey village. + +"Polly never thought I should get better, and one time no more did I; +for about a month before this time, as I lay hollow-eyed and yellow on +the bed, knowing, too, how bad I looked--for I used to make young Dick +bring me the looking-glass every morning--the doctor came as usual, and +like a blunt Englishman I put it to him flat. + +"`Doctor,' I says, `you don't think I shall get better?' and I looked +him straight in the face. + +"`Oh, come, come, my man!' he says, smiling, `we never look at the black +side like that.' + +"`None of that, doctor,' I says; `out with it like a man. I can stand +it: I've been expecting to be drowned or blown up half my life, so I +shan't be scared at what you say.' + +"`Well, my man,' he says, `your symptoms are of a very grave nature. +You see the fever had undermined you before you came home, and unless--' + +"`All right, doctor,' I says; `I understand: you mean that unless you +can get a new plate in the boiler, she won't stand another voyage.' + +"`Oh, come! we won't look upon it as a hopeless case,' he says; `there's +always hope;' and after a little more talk, he shook hands and went +away. + +"Next day, when he came, I had been thinking it all over, and was ready +for him. I don't believe I was a bit better; in fact, I know I was +drifting fast, and I saw it in his eyes as well. + +"I waited till he had asked me his different questions, and then just as +he was getting up to go, I asked him to sit down again. + +"`Polly, my dear,' I says, `I just want a few words with the doctor;' +and she put her apron up to her eyes and went out, closing the door +after her very softly, while the doctor looked at me curious-like, and +waited for me to speak. + +"`Doctor,' I says, `you've about given me up. There, don't shake your +head, for I know. Now don't you think I'm afraid to die, for I don't +believe I am; but look here: there's seven children downstairs, and if I +leave my wife a widow with the few pounds I've been able to save, what's +to become of them? Can't you pull me through?' + +"`My dear fellow,' he says, `honestly I've done everything I can for +your case.' + +"`That's what you think, doctor,' I says, `but look here: I've been at +sea thirty years, and in seven wrecks. It's been like dodging death +with me a score of times. Why, I pulled my wife there regularly out of +the hands of death, and I'm not going to give up now. I've been--' + +"`Stop, stop,' he says gently. `You're exciting yourself.' + +"`Not a bit,' I says, though my voice was quite a whisper. `I've had +this over all night, and I've come to think I must be up and doing my +duty.' + +"`But, my good man--' he began. + +"`Listen to me, doctor,' I says. `A score of times I might have given +up and been drowned, but I made a fight for it and was saved. Now I +mean to make a fight for it here, for the sake of the wife and bairns. +I don't mean to die, doctor, without a struggle. I believe this here, +that life's given to us all as a treasure to keep; we might throw it +away by our own folly at any time, but there's hundreds of times when we +may preserve it, and we never know whether we can save it till we try. +Give me a drink of that water.' + +"He held the glass to my lips, and I took a big draught and went on, he +seeming all the time to be stopping to humour me in my madness. + +"`That's better, doctor,' I says. `Now look here, sir, speaking as one +who has sailed the seas, it's a terrible stormy time with me; there's a +lee shore close at hand, the fires are drowned out, and unless we can +get up a bit of sail, there's no chance for me. Now then, doctor, can +you get up a bit of sail?' + +"`I'll go and send you something that will quiet you,' he said, rising. + +"`Thank ye, doctor,' I says, smiling to myself. `And now look here,' I +says, `I'm not going to give up till the last; and when that last comes, +and the ship's going down, why, I shall have a try if I can't swim to +safety. If that fails, and I can really feel that it is to be, why, I +hope I shall go down into the great deep calmly, like a hopeful man, +praying that Somebody above will forgive me all I've done amiss, and +stretch out His fatherly hand to my little ones at home.' + +"He went away, and I dropped asleep, worn out with my exertion. + +"When I woke, Polly was standing by the bedside watching me, with a +bottle and glass on the little table. + +"As soon as she saw my eyes open, she shook up the stuff, and poured it +into a wine-glass. + +"`Is that what the doctor sent?' I says. + +"`Yes, dear; you were to take it directly.' + +"`Then I shan't take it,' I says. `He's given me up, and that stuff's +only to keep me quiet. Polly, you go and make me some beef-tea, and +make it strong.' + +"She looked horrified, poor old girl, and was going to beg me to take +hold of the rotten life-belt he'd sent me, when I held out my shaking +hand for it, took the glass, and let it tilt over--there was only about +a couple of teaspoonfuls in it--and the stuff fell on the carpet. + +"I saw the tears come in her eyes, but she said nothing--only put down +the glass, and ran out to make the beef-tea. + +"The doctor didn't come till late next day, and I was lying very still +and drowsy, half asleep like, but I was awake enough to hear him whisper +to Polly, `Sinking fast;' and I heard her give such a heart-broken sob, +that as the next great wave came on the sea where I was floating, I +struck out with all my might, rose over it, and floated gently down the +other side. + +"For the next four days--putting it as a drowning man striving for his +life like a true-hearted fellow--it was like great foaming waves coming +to wash over me, but the shore still in sight, and me trying hard to +reach it. + +"And it was a grim, hard fight: a dozen times I could have given up, +folded my arms, and said goodbye to the dear old watching face safe on +shore; but a look at that always cheered me, and I fought on again and +again, till at last the sea seemed to go down, and, in utter weariness, +I turned on my back to float restfully with the tide bearing me +shorewards, till I touched the sands, crept up them, and fell down worn +out, to sleep in the warm sun--safe! + +"That's a curious way of putting it, you may say, but it seems natural +to me to mix it up with the things of seagoing life, and the manner in +which I've seen so many fight hard for their lives. It was just like +striving in the midst of a storm to me, and when at last I did fall into +a deep sleep, I felt surprised--like to find myself lying in my own bed, +with Polly watching by me; and when I stretched out my hand, and took +hers, she let loose what she had kept hidden from me before, and, +falling on her knees by my bedside, she sobbed for very joy. + +"`As much beef-tea and brandy as you can get him to take,' the doctor +says, that afternoon; and it wasn't long before I got from slops to +solids, and then was sent, as I told you, into the country to get +strong, while the doctor got no end of praise for the cure he had made. + +"I never said a word though, even to Polly, for he did his best; but I +don't think any medicine would have cured me then. + +"I was saying a little while back that I pulled my wife regularly out of +the hands of death, and of course that was when we were both quite +young; though, for the matter of that, I don't feel much different, and +can't well see the change. That was in one of the Cape steamers, when I +first took to stoking. They were little ramshackle sort of boats in +those days, and how it was more weren't lost puzzles me. It was more +due to the weather than the make or finding of the ships, I can tell +you, that they used to steer their way safe to port; and yet the +passengers, poor things, knowing no better, used to take passage, ay, +and make a voyage too, from which they never got back. + +"Well, I was working on board a steamer as they used to call the +_Equator_, heavy laden and with about twenty passengers on board. We +started down Channel and away with all well, till we got right down off +the west coast of Africa, when there came one of the heaviest storms I +was ever in. Even for a well-found steamer, such as they can build +to-day, it would have been a hard fight; but with our poor shaky wooden +tub, it was a hopeless case from the first. + +"Our skipper made a brave fight of it, though, and tried hard to make +for one of the ports; but, bless you! what can a man do when, after ten +days' knocking about, the coals run out, and the fires, that have been +kept going with wood and oil, and everything that can be thrust into the +furnaces, are drowned; when the paddle-wheels are only in the way, every +bit of sail set is blown clean out of the bolt-ropes, and at last the +ship begins to drift fast for a lee shore? + +"That was our case, and every hour the sea seemed to get higher, and the +wind more fierce, while I heard from more than one man how fast the +water was gaining below. + +"My mate and I didn't want any telling, though. We'd been driven up out +of the stoke-hole like a pair of drowned rats, and came on deck to find +the bulwarks ripped away, and the sea every now and then leaping aboard, +and washing the lumber about in all directions. + +"The skipper was behaving very well, and he kept us all at the pumps, +turn and turn in spells, but we might as well have tried to pump the sea +dry; and when, with the water gaining fast, we told him what we thought, +he owned as it was no use, and we gave up. + +"We'd all been at it, crew and passengers, about forty of us altogether, +including the women--five of them they were, and they were all on deck, +lashed in a sheltered place, close to the poop. Very pitiful it was to +see them fighting hard at first and clinging to the side, but only to +grow weaker, half-drowned as they were; and I saw two sink down at last +and hang drooping-like from their lashings, dead, for not a soul could +do them a turn. + +"I was holding on by the shrouds when the mate got to the skipper's +side, and I saw in his blank white face what he was telling him. Of +course we couldn't hear his words in such a storm, but we didn't want +to, for we knew well enough he was saying-- + +"`She's sinking!' + +"Next moment there was a rush made for the boats, and two of the +passengers cut loose a couple of the women; place was made for them +before the first boat was too full, and she was lowered down, cast off, +and a big wave carried her clear of the steamer. I saw her for a moment +on the top of the ridge, and then she plunged down the other side out of +our sight--and that of everybody else; for how long she lived, who can +say? She was never picked up or heard of again. + +"Giving a bit of a cheer, our chaps turned to the next, and were getting +in when there came a wave like a mountain, ripped her from the davits, +and when I shook the water from my eyes, there she was hanging by one +end, stove in, and the men who had tried to launch her gone--skipper and +mate as well. + +"There were only seven of us now, and I could see besides the three +women lashed to the side, and only one of them was alive; and for a bit +no one moved, everybody being stunned-like with horror; but there came a +lull, and feeling that the steamer was sinking under our feet, I shouted +out to the boys to come on, and we ran to the last boat, climbed in, and +were casting off, when I happened to catch sight of the women lashed +under the bulwarks there. + +"`Hold hard!' I roars, for I saw one of them wave her hand. + +"`Come on, you fool,' shouts my mate, `she's going down!' + +"I pray I may never be put to it again like that, with all a man's +selfish desire for life fighting against him. For a moment I shut my +eyes, and they began to lower; but I was obliged to open them again, and +as I did so, I saw a wild scared face, with long wet hair clinging round +it, and a pair of little white hands were stretched out to me as if for +help. + +"`Hold hard!' I shouts. + +"`No, no,' roared out two or three, `there isn't a moment;' and as the +boat was being lowered from the davits, I made a jump, caught the +bulwarks with my hands, and climbed back on board, just as the boat +kissed the water, was unhooked, and floated away. + +"Then as I crept, hand-over-hand, to the girl's side, whipped out my +knife, and was cutting her loose, while her weak arms clung to me, I +felt a horrible feeling of despair come over me, for the boat was +leaving us; and I knew what a coward I was at heart, as I had to fight +with myself so as not to leave the girl to her fate, and leap overboard +to swim for my life. I got the better of it, though--went down on my +knees, so as not to see the boat, and got the poor trembling, clinging +creature loose. + +"`Now, my lass,' I says, `quick'--and I raised her up--`hold on by the +side while I make fast a rope round you.' + +"And then I stood up to hail the boat--the boat as warn't there, for in +those brief moments she must have capsized, and we were alone on the +sinking steamer, which now lay in the trough of the sea. + +"As soon as I got over the horror of the feeling, a sort of stony +despair came over me; but when I saw that little pale appealing face at +my side, looking to me for help, that brought the manhood back, and in +saying encouraging things to her, I did myself good. + +"My first idea was to make something that would float us, but I gave +that up directly, for I could feel that I was helpless; and getting the +poor girl more into shelter, I took a bit of tobacco in a sort of stolid +way, and sat down with a cork life-buoy over my arm, one which I had cut +loose from where it had hung forgotten behind the wheel. + +"But I never used it, for the storm went down fast, and the steamer +floated still, waterlogged, for three days, when we were picked up by a +passing vessel, half-starved, but hoping. And during that time my +companion had told me that she was the attendant of one of the lady +passengers on board; and at last, when we parted at the Cape, she kissed +my hand, and called me her hero, who had saved her life--poor grimey me, +you know! + +"We warn't long, though, before we met again, for somehow we'd settled +that we'd write; and a twelvemonth after, Mary was back in England, and +my wife. That's why I said I took her like out of the hands of death, +though in a selfish sort of way, being far, you know, from perfect. But +what I say, speaking as Edward Brown, stoker, is this: Make a good fight +of it, no matter how black things may look, and leave the rest to Him." + +He nodded gravely at me, placed his bandaged hand in the sling I had +contrived, and went away without another word. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +MY PATIENT THE WELL-SINKER. + +"It's no more than I expected, doctor," said my patient, Goodsell, a +stern, hard-featured, grey-haired man, with keen, yet good-natured eyes; +and he shifted his head a little on the pillow to look at me. "Good job +it's no worse, ain't it?" + +"It is a mercy you were not killed," I said. + +"You're right, doctor," he replied, smiling. "Two inches to the left, +and the iron rim of the bucket would have broken my skull instead of my +shoulder, eh? and then my boy could have carried on the business." + +"You take it very philosophically," I said. + +"To be sure, doctor. Why not? A man must die some time; and he may +just as well die at work, as a miserable creature in bed. I expects to +die by my business, straightforward and honourable. The pitcher that +goes oftenest to the well is sure to be broken at last," he added, with +a laugh. "I'm a pitcher always going to the well, and shall be broken +at last. + +"I've been a well-sinker ever since I was quite a lad; my father was a +well-sinker afore me, and he got sent to sleep with the foul air at the +bottom of a well, and never got waked again; and I, being the eldest of +six, and only fourteen, had to set at it to keep the family, while +father's master, being a kind-hearted sort of man, took me on, and gave +me as good wages as he could, for my father had been a sort of favourite +of his, from being a first-class, steady workman. My grandfather was a +well-sinker too, and he got buried alive, he did, poor old chap, through +a fall of earth; while his father--my great-grandfather, you know--was +knocked on the head by the sinker's bucket; for the rope broke when they +were drawing it up full of earth, and it fell on the old gentleman, and +ended him. I ain't got killed yet, I ain't; but my turn'll come some +day, I suppose, for it's in our profession, you know. But then you must +have water; and ours is a very valuable trade--so what is to be will be, +and what's the good of fretting? It don't do to be always fidgeting +about danger in your way through life, but what we have to do is to go +straight ahead, and do our duty, and trust to Providence for the rest. + +"Now, after all these years--and I'm 'most fifty, you know--I never look +down a well without having the creeps, and I never go down one without +having the creeps; for they're queer, dark, echoing, shadowy, grave-like +sort of holes, and one thinks of the depth, and the darkness, and the +water, and of how little chance there is of escape, and so on, if one +fell; and perhaps this is a bit owing to one or two narrow escapes I've +had, and them making me a bit nervous. Soon as I get right to work I +forget all the fidgeting, but the first starting is certainly rather +nervous work for me, though I don't believe as I ever told any one of it +before. + +"That well down at Rowborough need to be like a nightmare to me, and +laid heavier upon me than any, well ever did before; but I kept on to my +work like the rest, and we gradually went on lower and lower, step after +step, month after month, always expecting to strike a main-spring, but +never succeeding. Now it was loamy earth, then yellow clay, then +gravel, then blue clay, then more gravel, then sand for far enough, then +flinty soil, and then chalk, and so on month after month; but never any +water worth speaking about. Of course we struck water times enough, and +it bothered us a good deal to stop it out, but it was only from little +upper springs, while what we wanted was the deep spring from far below-- +one that, when we tapped it, should come up strongly and give a good +supply of water for the deep well. + +"We were years digging that well--years; for money being in plenty, and +them wanting a good supply of water, our orders were to keep on, and we +did dig--down, down a good six hundred feet; and, mind you, the farther +you get from the surface the slower the work gets on, on account of the +time taken in sending the stuff up. Now, when I talk of six hundred +feet, you mustn't suppose I mean a bored well, quite a little hole, +perhaps six inches across, but one dug all the way, and a good nine foot +in diameter. + +"That was a fine well--is a fine well, I may say--with one of the best +supplies of clear soft water in this country, and that too in a place +where good water is terribly scarce. Our firm had the job; and I was +one of the men put on at the beginning, and I was on it till it was +finished. + +"We did not go straight down all the way, but when we got down to the +chalk made a sort of chamber, and cut out sideways for a bit, and then +began digging down again another shaft, this making it more convenient +for the drawing up of the rubbish dug out; every scrap of which had, of +course, to be taken to the surface. + +"You perhaps hardly think of what it is being lowered down five hundred +feet in a bucket, and then working by the light of a lantern in the +bottom of the pit, whose walls you have to take care shall be carefully +bricked up as you go on down, for fear they should fall in upon you. It +is that hot you can hardly bear it, for very little fresh air comes down +there; while, if it was not for smothering the thoughts, one might +always be in dread of an accident. Now here, instead of feeling afraid +of an incoming of the water, what we were most afraid of was that we +should never get any water at all; and after all the labour bestowed on +the place, it seemed quite disheartening to strike upon nothing but +beggarly little rills worth nothing. But our governor was a George +Stephenson sort of a man, and he had taken it into his head that we must +get to water sooner or later, and he used to say that when we did strike +it there would be plenty. So we dug on, slowly and surely, day after +day, month after month, till some of the men got scared of the job on +account of the depth, and left it. We had had no accidents, though, for +everything had been worked out carefully and quietly, and though this +was an underground place, every part was finished as carefully and truly +as if it had been in full light of the sun. + +"Last of all, we'd got down a good six hundred feet, while, according to +appearances, it seemed that we might go on a good six hundred more +before we got to water; while in my case it seemed to be now part of my +regular life to go down there, day after day, to work my spell, and I +used to dig and lay bricks, dig and lay bricks, without thinking about +water, or when it was coming, though the governor used to warn us to be +careful in case when it did come it should come very fast. + +"We did most part of our work by buckets and windlass; but, all the +same, we had stagings and ladders down to the bottom, ever so many feet; +and one day when I was down with a mate--only us two right at the +bottom, though, of course, there were others at the stages and top--I +was digging away and filling the bucket, giving the signal and sending +it up, when I got looking at the course of bricks my mate was laying, +and, as you will see, bricklayers in wells lay their bricks one under +the other, and not one on the top of another like they would in building +a house. + +"All at once he says to me, `Just shovel this gravel away again; there +ain't room to get a brick under.' + +"`There was plenty of room just now,' I says, `for I took notice. The +bricks give a little from up above.' + +"Well, he thought so too, and went on with his work, while I went on +with mine, picking and shovelling up the loose gravel and putting it in +the bucket; but, though I worked pretty hard, I seemed to make no way; +and, instead of him being able to go on and lay another course of +bricks, he had to take a shovel and help me. + +"`It's rum, ain't it?' he says, after we'd been digging hard for about +an hour. `Something's wrong; or else the place is bewitched. Here we +haven't sunk an inch this last hour, I'll swear, though we've sent up no +end of bucketfuls. There's the last course of bricks just where it was, +and I'm blest if I don't think it's sunk a bit in!' + +"`Well, it does look like it,' I said, `certainly; and I 'spose the +brickwork's giving a bit from the tremendous weight up above. You've +been working too hard, Tom,' I says, laughing, `and your work hasn't had +time to set.' + +"`Well, I've only kept up with you,' he says, quite serious; `but I +'spose it's as you say, and we'll take it a bit easier, for this is +labour in vain.' + +"It really looked so, for after another hour we seemed to be just where +we were before, and I began almost to think it very likely something +really was wrong, but what I couldn't tell. This was something new to +me, for I had never been in so deep a well before, and I felt puzzled. +It seemed no use to dig, for we got no lower; and once I really thought +that instead of our getting any deeper, we were making the well +shallower; but the next moment I laughed at this stupid thought, and +filled and started the bucket, when, dinner-time being come, we laid +down our tools, and made our way up to daylight; but before I started, I +could not help feeling more puzzled than ever, for now, on one side, +there was the bottom course of bricks quite below the loose gravel and +sand. + +"I didn't say anything to my mate, and, truth to tell, I forgot all +about it the next moment, for I was thinking of dinner; and I didn't +recollect it again until after two, when we were nearly at the bottom, +when it came back with a flash, and I then seemed to see the cause of it +all. + +"I was at the bottom, and Tom above me, and we were just below the last +staging, when I heard a strange roaring, rumbling noise that turned my +very blood cold; for it seemed to me then, as I stood on, the rounds of +that bottom ladder, that a wild beast was breaking loose, and about to +tear at me and drag me off the rungs, and for a few seconds I couldn't +speak or move, till Tom sings out: + +"`Hallo! what's up?' and that seemed to give me breath. + +"`Up, up!' I shouted; `the water!' and he started climbing again as +hard as he could, and me panting and snorting after him, for, with a +tremendous bubbling, roaring rush, the water, that had been forcing the +earth slowly upwards for hours past, had now pushed its way through, and +as we reached the second stage, we heard the one below us regularly +burst up, and saw the ladder we had just left sink down. + +"Heard in that hollow, echoing well, hundreds of feet from the surface, +and under such circumstances, the roar of the water was something awful +to listen to. We could not see it, but it was coming up seething and +bubbling like a fountain, while the pressure beneath must have been +something fearful. + +"As we got higher our progress was slower, for the men on the upper +stages were before us; and though they had taken the alarm from our +shouts and the bellowing of the water, they did not travel so fast as we +did. Stage after stage was forced up, and ladder after ladder sunk down +as we got higher, and never did I feel such a relief as when we stood in +the chamber cut out of the chalk, where we could look up and see the +little ring of daylight far above us; and then, half a dozen men as we +were, we clung to the bucket and rope, and gave the signal for them to +wind up, the water leaping round our feet as we slowly rose. + +"As it happened it was a new and a strong rope, or it must have given +way with the tremendous strain put upon it, and I shivered again and +again as we swung backwards and forwards, while my only wonder now is +that some of us did not fall back from sheer fright. + +"But we reached the surface safely, with the water bubbling and running +after us nearly the whole way, for it rose to within fifty feet of the +top, and has stayed at that height ever since; but though one man +fainted, and we all looked white and scared, no one was hurt. Ah! it +was the narrowest escape I ever had. + +"Our tools we lost, of course, but a great deal of the woodwork and many +of the short ladders floated up, and were brought out. It would take a +good deal to make me forget the well that grew shallower the more we +shovelled out the gravel. For a supply of water no town can be better +off than Rowborough; and then, look at the depth--six hundred feet!" + +Poor old Goodsell had a hard time of it, and suffered great pain before +I got his shoulder well, and even then he never was able to carry on his +occupation as of old. For it was a terrible accident, the rope +breaking, and a bucket used in drawing up the earth from a well falling +upon his shoulder; and, as he said, a couple of inches more to the left, +and he would have been killed. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +MY UNDERGROUND PATIENT. + +I had a very singular case, one day, being called in to attend, in a +busy part of London, upon a curious-looking man who lay in bed suffering +from the effects of bad gas. He was a peculiar-looking fellow, with +grizzled black hair, excessively sallow skin, piercing eyes, and his +face was as strangely and terribly seamed with the smallpox. + +I had some little trouble with his case, which was the result of his +having been prisoned for some hours in one of the sewers that run like +arteries under London. A sudden flood had come on, and he had been +compelled with a companion to retreat to a higher level, where the foul +air had accumulated, and he had had a narrow escape for his life. + +As he amended! Used to chat with him about his avocation, and I was +much struck by the coolness with which he used to talk about his work, +and incidentally I learned whence came the seaming in his face. + +"You see, sir," he said, "the danger's nothing if a man has what you +call presence of mind--has his wits about him, you know. For instance, +say he's in danger, or what not, and he steps out with his right foot, +and he steps out of danger; but say he steps out with his left foot, and +he loses his life. Sounds but very little, that does; but it makes two +steps difference between the right way and the wrong way, and that's +enough to settle it all; sound or cripple, home or hospital, fireside or +a hole in the churchyard. Presence of mind's everything to a working +man, and it's a pity they can't teach a little more of it in schools to +the boys. I don't want to boast, for I'm very thankful; but a little +bit of quiet thought has saved my life more than once, when poor +fellows, mates of mine, have been in better places and lost theirs. + +"I'm a queer sort of fellow, always having been fond of moling and +working underground from a boy. Why, when I went to school, nothing +pleased me better than setting up what we called a robbers' cave in the +old hill, where they dug the bright red sand; and there, of a Wednesday +afternoon, we'd go and climb up the side to the steep pitch where it was +all honeycombed by the sand-martins, and then, just like them, we'd go +on burrowing and digging in at the side, scooping away in the beautiful +clean sand, till I should think one summer we had dug in twenty feet. +Grand place that was, so we thought, and fine and proud we used to be; +and the only wonder is that the unsupported roof did not come down and +bury some half-dozen of us. Small sets-out of that sort of course we +did have, parts of the side falling down; but as long as it did not bury +our heads we rather enjoyed it, and laughed at one another. + +"Well, my old love for underground work seemed to cling to me when I +grew up, and that's how it is I've always been employed so much upon +sewers. They're nasty places, to say the best of them; but, then, as +they're made for the health of a town, and it's somebody's duty to work +down in them, why, one does it in a regular sort of way, and forgets all +the nastiness. + +"Now, just shut your eyes for a few minutes and fancy you're close at my +elbow, and I'll try if I can't take you down with me into a sewer, and +you shall have the nice little adventure over again that happened to +me--nothing to signify, you know, only a trifling affair; but rather +startling to a man all the same. The sewerage is altered now a good +deal, and the great main stream goes far down the river, but I'm talking +about the time when all the sewers emptied themselves straight into the +Thames. + +"Now, we've got an opening here in the street on account of a stoppage, +and we've gone down ladder after ladder, and from stage to stage, until +we are at the bottom, where the brick arch has been cut away, and now +I'm calling it all up again, as you shall hear. + +"I don't think I ever knew what fear was in those days--I mean fear in +my work, for, being the way in which I got my daily bread, danger seemed +nothing, and I went anywhere, as I did on the night I am speaking of. +It was a very large sewer, and through not having any clock at home, I'd +come out a good hour before my time. I stopped talking to the men I was +to relieve for some little time, waiting for my mates to come--the job +being kept on with, night and day. Last of all, I lit a bit of candle +in one of the lanterns, and, taking it, stepped down into the water, +which came nearly to the tops of my boots, and began wading up stream. + +"Now, when I say up to the tops of my boots, I mean high navigator's +boots that covered the thigh; and so I went wading along, holding my +lantern above my head, and taking a good look at the brickwork, to see +if I could find any sore places--it being of course of great consequence +that all should be sound and strong. + +"Strange wild places those are when you are not busy! Dark as pitch, +and with every plash in the water echoing along quite loud when by you, +and then whispering off in a curious creepy way, as if curious creatures +in the far-off dark were talking about it, and wondering at you for +going down there. Over your head the black, damp brickwork; both sides +of you, wet, slimy brickwork; and under your feet slippery brickwork, +covered inches deep with a soft yielding mud that gives way under your +feet, and makes walking hard work. In some places the mud is swept +nearly clean away, and then you go splashing along, while always in a +curious, echoing, musical way, comes the sound of running water, +dripping water, plashing water, seeming always to be playing one +melancholy strange tune, sad and sweet, and peculiar. Busy at work, one +don't notice it, but when looking about, as I was, it all seemed to +strike me in a way I can't explain. + +"Slowly on through the running water, holding my lantern up, and always +looking at the same sight--a little spot of brickwork shining in the +light of my bit of candle, and all beyond that black darkness. The +light shone, too, a little off the top of the water in a queer +glimmering way, as at every step I took there were little waves sent on +before me to go beating and leaping up against the sides. But every now +and then I could hear a little splash, and see the water on the move in +a strange way in front, presenting just the same appearance as if some +one was drawing a stick through it, and leaving a widening trail behind. + +"I said `in a strange way,' but it wasn't a strange way to me, for I +knew it well enough, and had seen it so often that I took hardly any +notice of it. If I had had a strong light I should have seen a little +dark shape leap from the opening of a drain into the water, and then +disappear for a few moments, to come up again, and swim along quite +fast; but with such a light as I had I could only see the disturbed +water. + +"Bats were old friends of mine, and did not trouble me in the least, as +I went on, now turning to the right and now to the left, sometimes going +back a little, and then pushing on again, till all at once, without a +moment's warning, out went my bit of candle, and I was in complete +darkness. + +"Well, I growled a good deal at that--not that I minded the dark, but it +put a stop to the bit of overlooking I was upon; and though in most +cases I had a bit or two of extra candle, it so happened that this time +I hadn't a scrap, and all I had to do was to get back. + +"I suppose I hadn't gone a dozen yards before I stopped short, with the +cold sweat standing all over my face, and my breath coming thick and +short, for, instead of the low musical, whispering tinkle of the water, +there was a rushing noise I well knew coming along a large sewer to the +left, and for want of the bit of presence of mind that I ought to have +had then, instead of rushing up stream past the mouth of the opening, I +must run down; and then came a curious wild, confused state of mind that +I can always call back now when I like to go into the dark for a few +minutes--when I was being borne along by a furious rush of water that +seemed to fill the sewer, washing me before it now up and now down, like +a cork in a stream. + +"As a matter of course, I must try to do everything to make matters +worse, and keep on fighting against a power that would have borne fifty +men before it. But that was an awful minute--I call it a minute, though +I dare say the struggle only lasted a few moments--when I seemed dashed +against a corner, and there I was fighting my way with the stream +carrying me swiftly along, but seeming weaker every moment; and at last +I was standing, with my hands thrust into a side drain to keep me +steady, while I coughed and panted, and tried to get my breath once +more, feeling all the while dizzy and confused, and unable to make out +where I was. + +"The rush of water was now past, and the sewer two feet above its +regular level; but, stunned as I had been, I could not get into my +regular way of thinking, nor collect myself as to what I ought to do +next; and it is no light thing to be fifty foot under ground in a dark +tunnel with the water rushing furiously by, and you not able to think. + +"When I say able to think, I mean not regularly, for I could think too +much, and that too about things that I did not want to think about, for +they troubled me. What I ought to have thought of then was the keeping +of myself cool and trying to get out, but I couldn't move, for I fancied +that if I did I must be swept away again. Now, I had often been along +the sewers when the water was deeper than it now was and running +swifter, but for all that I was afraid to move. + +"How I magnified the danger, and made out no end of fanciful images in +the darkness, all of them seeming to point to my end, and telling me +that I should never get out alive! Then I got calling up all the +accidents and horrors of that great place where I was. First I +recollected how two poor fellows came down not very far from where I +stood--half a mile perhaps--and were working in one of the small drains +that was half stopped with soil and rubbish; they were down on one knee, +in a bent position, and shovelling the mud back from one to another +underneath them, and working towards a man-hole, when a rush of water +came, and they struggled on against it till a mate at the man-hole, who +stood there with a lantern and shouted, just got hold of the first man's +hand, when there came a sharper rush than ever from above, and the poor +fellow was gone. I was one of those who hunted for them the next day, +now in one branch and then in another, going up culverts and drains of +all sizes, where I thought it possible they could have been swept, for +there had been a watch kept at the mouths, and hurdles put down to stop +anything from being washed out. A whole week I was on that job before I +found both, the last being in a narrow place, where the poor fellows +must have crawled. + +"Nice thing that was to think of at such a time! But it would come, and +I seemed to have no power to stop it. Then I recollected about the mate +of mine who lost his life in the foul air which collects sometimes in +places where there isn't a free current; and then, too, about the rat +case, where the man who came up off the river-shore got amongst the +rats, or else fell down in a fit, and the way he came out was in a +basket, for there was nothing left but his bones. + +"Ah! nice things these were for a man to get thinking of, shivering as I +was there in the dark! But I didn't shiver long, for I came all over +hot and feverish, and I should have yelled for help but I was afraid, +for the idea had come upon me that if I made the slightest noise I +should have the rats about me; and although it was pitch dark, I seemed +to see them waiting in droves, clustering like bees all over the sides +of the sewer, clinging to the top and swimming across and across the +surface of the water. There they all were plain enough, with their +bright black eyes and sharp noses, while I kept on fancying how keen +their teeth must be. We always supposed that they would attack a man in +the dark, but as we never went unprovided with lights there was never +any case known among us of a fight with them. But now, in the dark as I +was, I quite made up my mind that they were waiting till I made a +movement, and that then they would be swarming over me in all +directions; and I shuddered, and my blood ran cold, as I thought of what +would follow. + +"Every drip--every little hollow splash, or ripple against the side +seemed to me to be made by rats; the beating of my heart against my ribs +with its heavy throb seemed to be the hurrying by of the little patting +animals, and at times I fancied that I could hear their eager panting as +they were scuffling by, hunting for me. Bats everywhere, as it seemed +to me; and again and again I was feeling myself all over to see if any +were clinging to me or climbing up, for the motion of the water as it +swept on seemed for all the world like the little wretches brushing +against my side. + +"I don't believe now that there was a rat near me all the time, for it +was all pure imagination. Still the imagination was so strong that it +was worse than reality, and even in what came afterwards I don't think I +suffered more. It seems to be that one's nerves at such a time get +worked up to a dreadful pitch, and everything one thinks of seems to +come strongly before one, so that if the horror was strung up much +tighter, nature could not bear it. + +"I could bear no more then as I stood there; and knowing all the while-- +or feeling all the while--that to move was to bring the rats upon me, I +started off, bewildered so that I had no idea where I was, only feeling +that I must go with the stream to get out of the sewer, whichever branch +I was in. So I tore on with the water up to my middle, but getting +deeper and deeper every minute as I ran my hand along the wall, now +turning to the left, now to the right, and shuddering every moment as I +fancied I felt a rat touch me. But I had been walking and wading along +for a good half-hour before I felt one, and then just as I fancied I saw +a gleam of light peer out of the darkness right in front, something ran +hastily up my breast and shoulder, and then leaped off with a splash +into the water. + +"If I had not grasped at the slippery side of the sewer and supported +myself, I must have gone down; and to have sunk down in four feet of +water was certain death, in the state I then was in; but I kept up, and +giving a shout, half-shriek, half-yell, I dashed on towards where I +fancied I had seen the light. + +"Fancied, indeed, for it seemed to grow darker as I went on, and I grew +more and more confused every moment. If I could only have known where I +was for a single instant, that would have been sufficient, even to +knowing only what particular branch I was in; but I was too confused to +try and make out any of the marks that might have told me. + +"There it was again--a scratching of tiny claws and a hurried rush up my +breast, over my shoulder, something wet and cold brushing my face, then +the half-leap, half-start I gave, and the sharp splash in the water as +the beast leaped off me. And then it came quicker and faster--two and +three--six--a dozen upon me, and as I tore them off they bit me +savagely, making their little teeth meet in my hands, and hanging there; +while more than one vicious bite in the face made me yell out with pain. + +"The horrible fear seemed now to have gone, strange as it may appear to +say so. I was mad with rage now, and fought desperately for my life, as +the rats swarmed round and attacked me furiously, without giving me a +moment's rest. I had a large knife, which I managed to get open and +strike with, but it was more than useless, for my enemies were so small +and active and constant in their attacks that I could not get a fair +blow at them, and dashing away the blade I was glad enough to fight them +with their own weapons, and bit and tore at them, seizing them one after +another in my hands, and either crushing or dashing them up against the +sides of the sewer. + +"But it seemed toil in vain, for as I dashed one off half a dozen +swarmed up me, over my arms and back, covering my chest, fastening on to +the bare parts of my neck, and making my face run down with blood. + +"`Can't last much longer!' I remember thinking; but I felt that I must +fight on to the last, and I kept on tearing the squeaking vermin off, +and crushing them in my hands, often so that they had no chance of +biting; but there must have been hundreds swarming round me, waiting +until others were beaten off to make a lodgment. Now I was dashing up +stream as hard as I could, in the hope that I could shake them off; and +as I waded splashing along I tore those off that were upon me, but they +hunted me as dogs would a hare; and though it was dense black darkness +there, so that I groped my way along with outstretched hands, it seemed +to me that the little beasts could see well enough, and kept dashing up +me as fast as I could beat them off. + +"Splashing along as I was, I had a better chance of keeping the vermin +off; but then I could not keep it up. I must have been struggling about +for hours now, and was worn out, for even at the best of times it is +terribly hard work walking in water; and now that I was drenched with +it, and had my great thigh boots full, the toil was fearful, and I felt +that I must give in. + +"`I wouldn't mind so much,' I thought, `if I could find a dry spot where +I could lie down;' but the idea of this double death was dreadful, and +spurred me on again to new efforts, so that I kept on rushing forward by +spurts, my breath coming in groans and sobs, while I kept the vermin off +my face as well as I could. + +"`It's all over!' I groaned at last, sinking on my knees close to the +side of the sewer, and nearly going under, as my legs slipped in the +ooze at the bottom. But I stopped that by trying to force my nails in +one of the cracks between the slimy bricks, and as the rats came at me +there was only my head and neck up above the filthy water; while I gave +a long shriek that drove them back for a moment. And now it seemed to +me that I could see the little wretches coming at me, and, yes--no--yes, +I could see a faint gleam on the top of the water, and then it was +brighter, and I heard a shout which I believe I answered, though I can +recollect no more. + +"Well, they ain't such very deep marks, sir--only just through the skin, +you know; but they spoil a man's beauty, which they say is just +skin-deep. Lots of people have thought as I've had the smallpox very +bad, and I let them, for this here as you've heard the whole story about +is one of the things as I don't like to bring up very often. I always +feel as if I'd been very close to the end and had been dragged back, +which makes me feel solemn, and I always back out when any mate tries to +draw the story out of me, for they're uncommon fond of hearing it over +and over again. Joe Stock--that's one of them--he could tell you the +part as I can't about how they hunted for me and shouted till they were +tired--going miles, you know, for it would surprise you to thoroughly +know what there is under the streets of London. + +"`Harry,' he's said to me before now, `I never see such a sight in my +life, and when I saw you get up off your knees, mate, and come a reeling +towards me, I'm blest if I didn't think it was somethin' no canny, and I +nearly dropped my lantern and ran for it. There was your face all +streaming down with blood, and your hands the same, and as to the noise +you was making--ugh!' he'd say, `it was awful bad.' + +"And now, just one word of advice, sir--don't you never go down no +sewers without two or three bits of candle in your pocket--high up in +the breast of your jacket, you know--and plenty of lucifers in a +watertight tin box, or perhaps you may get in such a mess as I did." + +Very good advice, no doubt; but after seeing the place where three men +went down to work some short time since, listening to the hollow musical +drip of the water, and the strange whisperings of the long tunnels; +after listening to the history of the hard fight against a sudden rush +of water told me by the sturdy toiler, who shuddered and turned pale as +he recalled the desperate fight for life, and then, in lowered tones, +narrated how he had found his poor mate's body washed into a narrow +culvert, I felt quite satisfied, and I don't think I shall ever make any +explorations in a sewer. + +In fact, I never see a grating open, or meet one of the sturdy fellows +in his blue Jersey shirt and high boots without thinking of my patient, +and the risks such people run to earn their daily bread. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +MY BLACK PATIENT. + +There's a very terrible disease upon which a great deal has been +written, but not a great deal done. In fact, it is difficult to deal +with special diseases brought on by the toiler's work. It is a vexed +question what to do or how to treat the consumption that attacks the +needle-grinders and other dry grinders; the horrible sufferings of those +who inhale the dust of deadly minerals; the bone disease of the workers +in phosphorus and many other ills brought on by working at particular +trades. + +The disease I allude to in particular is one that attacks that familiar +personage, the chimney sweep, and I have often had to treat some poor +fellow or another for it. + +There was one man who stands in my note-book as J.J.--John Johnson, I +had under my care several times, and we came to be very good friends, +for under that sooty skin of his--I never saw it once really clean-- +there was a great deal of true humanity and tenderness of heart, as I +soon found from the way in which he behaved to his wife. + +"Why don't you chimney sweeps--Ramoneurs as you call yourselves now-- +invent a better cry than svi-thee-up?" + +"Ramoneur," he said with a husky chuckle. "Yes, that's it, doctor. +Fine, aint it? I allus calls myself a plain sweep, though. That's good +enough for me." + +"But you might do without that yell of yours," I said. "London cries +are a terrible nuisance, though I don't know that I'd care to have them +done away with. Your _svi-thee-up_ don't sound much like sweep." + +"_Svi-thee-up, svi-thee-up_," he cried, as he lay there in bed, to the +utter astonishment of his wife. "Don't sound much like sweep? No, it +don't; but then one has to have one's own regular cry, as folks may know +us by. Why, listen to any of them of a morning about the street, and +who'd think it was creases as this one was a hollering, or Yarmouth +bloaters that one; or that `Yow-hoo!' meant new milk? It ain't what we +say--it's the sound of our voices. Don't the servant gals as hears us +of a morning know what it means well enough when the bell rings, and +them sleepy a-bed? Oh, no, not at all! But there's no mussy for 'em, +and we jangles away at the bell, and hollers a good 'un till they lets +us in; for, you see, it comes nat'ral when you're obliged to be up +yourself, and out in the cold, to not like other folks to be snugging it +in bed. + +"But, then, it's one's work, you know, and I dunno whether it was that +or the sutt as give me this here coarse voice, which nothing clears +now--most likely it was the sutt. How times are altered, though, since +I was a boy! That there climbing boy Act o' Parliament made a reg'lar +revolution in our business, and now here we goes with this here bundle +o' canes, with a round brush at the end, like a great, long screw +fishing-rod, you know, all in jints, and made o' the best Malacky cane, +so as to go into all the ins and outs, and bend about anywhere, till +it's right above the pot, and bending and swinging down. But they're +poor things, bless you, and don't sweep a chimbley half like a boy used. +You never hears the rattle of a brush at the top of a chimbley-pot now, +and the boy giving his `hillo--hallo--hullo--o--o--o!' to show as he'd +not been shamming and skulking half-way up the flue. Why, that was one +of the cheery sounds as you used to hear early in the mornin', when you +was tucked up warm in bed; for there was always somebody's chimbley a +being swept. + +"Puts me in mind again of when I was a little bit of a fellow, and at +home with mother, as I can recollect with her nice pleasant face, and a +widder's cap round it. Hard pushed, poor thing, when she took me to Joe +Barkby, the chimbley sweep, as said he'd teach me the trade if she +liked. And there was I, shivering along aside her one morning, when she +was obliged to take me to Joe, and we got there to find him sitting over +his brexfass, and he arst mother to have some; but her heart was too +full, poor thing, and she wouldn't, and was going away, and Joe sent me +to the door to let her out; and that's one of the things as I shall +never forget--no, not if I lives to a hundred--my mother's poor, sad, +weary face, and the longing look she give me when we'd said `Good bye,' +and I was going to shut the door after her. Such a sad, longing look, +as if she could have caught me up and run off with me. I saw it as she +stood on the step, and me with the door in my hand--that there green +door, with a bright brass knocker, and brass plate with `Barkby, +Chimbley Sweep,' on it. There was tears in her eyes, too; and I felt so +miserable myself I didn't know what to do as I stood watching her, and +she came and give me one more kiss, saying, `God bless you!' and then I +shut the door a little more, and a little more, till I could see the +same sad look through quite a little crack; and then it was close shut, +and I was wiping my eyes with my knuckles. + +"Ah! I've often thought since as I shut that door a deal too soon; but +I was too young to know all as that poor thing must have suffered. + +"Barkby warn't a bad sort; but then, what can you expect from a sweep? +He didn't behave so very bad to us little chummies; but there it was--up +at four, and tramp through the cold, dark streets, hot or cold, wet or +dry; and then stand shivering till you could wake up the servants--an +hour, perhaps, sometimes. Then in you went to the cold, miserable +house, with the carpets all up, or p'r'aps you had to wait no one knows +how long while the gal was yawning, and knick-knick-knicking with a +flint and steel over a tinder-box, and then blowing the spark till you +could get a brimstone match alight. Then there was the forks to get for +us to stick the black cloth in front of the fireplace, and then there +was one's brush, and the black cap to pull down over one's face, pass +under the cloth, and begin swarming up the chimbley all in the dark. + +"It was very trying to a little bit of a chap of ten years old, you +know--quite fresh to the job; and though Barkby give me lots of +encouragement, without being too chuff, it seemed awful as soon as I got +hold of the bars, which was quite warm then, and began feeling my way, +hot, and smothery, and sneezy, in my cap, till I give my head such a +pelt against some of the brickwork that I began to cry; for, though I'd +done plenty of low ones this was the first high chimbley as I'd been put +to. But I chokes it down, as I stood there with my little bare toes all +amongst the cinders, and then began to climb. + +"Every now and then Barkby shoves his head under the cloth, and `Go +ahead, boy,' he'd say; and I kep' on going ahead as fast as I could, for +I was afeared on him, though he never spoke very gruff to me; but I had +heard him go on and cuss awful, and I didn't want to put him out. So +there was I, poor little chap--I'm sorry for myself even now, you know-- +swarming up a little bit at a time, crying away quietly, and rubbing the +skin off my poor knees and elbows, while the place felt that hot and +stuffy I could hardly breathe, cramped up as I was. + +"Now, you wouldn't think as any one could see in the dark, with his eyes +close shut, and a thick cap over his face, pulled right down to keep the +sutt from getting up his nose--you wouldn't think anyone could see +anything there; but I could, quite plain; and what do you think it was? +Why, my mother's face, looking at me so sad, and sweet, and smiling, +through her tears, that it made me give quite a choking sob every now +and then and climb away as hard as ever I could, though my toes and +knees seemed to have the skin quite off, and smarted ever so; while I +kep' on slipping a bit every now and then, for I was new at climbing, +and this was a long chimbley, from the housekeeper's room of a great +house, right from under ground, to the top. + +"Sometimes I'd stop and have a cry, for I'd feel beat out, and the face +as had cheered me on was gone; but then I'd hear Barkby's choky voice +come muttering up the floo, same as I've shouted to lots o' boys in my +time, `Go ahead, boy!' and I'd go ahead again, though at last I was +sobbing and choking as hard as I could, for I kep' on thinking as I +should never get to the top, and be stuck there always in the chimbley, +never to come out no more. + +"`I won't be a sweep, I won't be a sweep,' I says, sobbing and crying; +and all the time making up my mind as I'd run away first chance, and go +home again; and then, after a good long struggle, I was in the pot, with +my head out, then my arms out, and the cap off for the cool wind to blow +in my face. + +"And, ah! how cool and pleasant that first puff of wind was, and how the +fear and horror seemed to go away as I climbed out, and stood looking +about me; till all at once I started, for there came up out of the pot, +buzzing like, Barkby's voice, as he calls out, `Go ahead, boy!' + +"So then I set to rattling away with my brush-handle to show as I was +out, and then climbs down on to the roof, and begins looking about me. +It was just getting daylight, so that I could see my way about, and all +seemed so fresh and strange that, with my brush in my hand, I begins to +wander over the roofs, climbing up the slates and sliding down t'other +side, which was good fun, and worth doing two or three times over. Then +I got to a parapet, and leaned looking over into the street, and +thinking of what a way it would be to tumble; but so far off being +afraid, I got on to the stone coping, and walked along ever so far, till +I came to an attic window, where I could peep in and see a man lying +asleep, with his mouth half open; then I climbed up another slope, and +had another slide down; and then another, and another, till I forgot all +about my sore knees; and at last sat astride of the highest part, +looking about me at the view I had of the tops of houses as far as I +could see, for it was getting quite light now. + +"All at once I turned all of a horrible fright, for I recklected about +Barkby, and felt almost as if he'd got hold of me, and was thrashing me +for being so long. I ran to the first chimbley stack, but that wasn't +right, for I knew as the one I came up was a-top of a slate-sloping +roof. Then I ran to another, thinking I should know the one I came out +of by the sutt upon it. But they'd all got sutt upon 'em--every +chimbley-pot I looked at, and so I hunted about from one to another till +I got all in a muddle, and didn't know where I was nor which pot I'd got +out of. Last of all, shaking and trembling, I makes sure as I'd got the +right one, and climbing up I managed, after nearly tumbling off, to get +my legs in, when pulling down my cap, I let myself through a bit at a +time, and leaving go I slipped with a regular rush, nobody knows how +far, till I came to a bend in the chimbley, where I stopped short-- +scraped, and bruised, and trembling, while I felt that confused I +couldn't move. + +"After a bit I came round a little, and, whimpering and crying to +myself, I began to feel my way about a bit with my toes, and then got +along a little away straight like, when the chimbley took another bend +down, and stiffly and slowly I let myself down a little and a little +till my feet touched cold iron, and I could get no farther. But after +thinking a bit, I made out where I was, and that I was standing on the +register of a fireplace, so I begins to lift it up with my toes as well +as I could, when crash it went down again, and there came such a +squealing and screeching as made me begin climbing up again as fast as I +could till I reached the bend, where I stopped and had another cry, I +felt so miserable; and then I shrunk up and shivered, for there came a +roar and a rattle that echoed up the chimbley, while the sutt came +falling down in a way that nearly smothered me. + +"Now, I knew enough to tell myself that the people being frightened had +fired a gun up the chimbley, while the turn round as it took had saved +me from being hurt. So I sat squatted up quite still, and then heard +some one shout out `Hallo!' two or three times, and then `Puss, puss, +puss!' Then I could hear voices whispering a bit, and then the register +was banged down, as I supposed by the noise. + +"Only fancy! sitting in a bend of the chimbley shivering with fear, and +half smothered with heat and sutt, while your breath comes heavy and +thick from the cap over your face! Not nice, it ain't; and more than +once I've felt a bit sorry for the poor boys as I've sent up chimbleys +in my time. But there I was, and I soon began scrambling up again, and +worked hard, for the chimbley was wider than the other one. Last of all +I got up to the pot, and out on to the stack, and then again I had a +good cry. + +"Now, when I'd rubbed my eyes again, I had another look round, and felt +as if I was at the wrong pot, so I scrambled down, slipped over the +slates, and got to a stack in front, when I felt sure I was right, for +there were black finger-marks on the red pot; so I got up, slipped my +legs in, and taking care this time that I didn't fall, began to lower +myself down slowly, though I was all of a twitter to know what Barkby +would do to me for being so long. Now I'd slip a little bit, being so +sore and rubbed I could hardly stop myself; and then I'd manage to let +myself down gently; but all at once the chimbley seemed to open so wide, +being an old one I suppose, that I couldn't reach very well with my back +and elbows pressed out; so, feeling myself slipping again, I tried to +stick my nails in the bricks, at the same time drawing my knees 'most up +to my chin, when down I went perhaps a dozen feet, and then, where there +was a bit of a curve, I stuck reg'lar wedged in all of a heap, nose and +chin altogether, knees up against the bricks on one side, and my back +against the other, and me not able to move. + +"For a bit I was so frightened that I never tried to stir, but last of +all the horrid fix I was in came upon me like a clap, and there I was, +half choked, dripping with perspiration, and shuddering in every limb, +wedged in where all was dark as Egypt. + +"After a bit I managed to drag off my cap, thinking that I could then +see the daylight through the pot. But no; the chimbley curved about too +much, and all was dark as ever; while what puzzled me was, that I +couldn't breathe any easier now the cap was off, for it seemed hot, and +close, and stuffy, though I thought that was through me being so +frightened, for I never fancied now but I was in the right chimbley, and +wondered that Barkby didn't shout. + +"All at once there came a terrible fear all over me--a feeling that I've +never forgotten, nor never shall as long as I'm a sweep. It was as if +all the blood in my body had run out and left me weak, and helpless, and +faint, for down below I could hear a heavy beat-beat-beat noise, that I +knew well enough, and up under me came a rush of hot smoke that nearly +suffocated me right off; when I gave such a horrid shriek of fear as +I've never forgot neither, for the sound of it frightened me worse. + +"It didn't sound like my voice at all, as I kept on shrieking, and +groaning, and crying for help, too frightened to move, though I've often +thought since as a little twisting on my part would have set me loose, +to try and climb up again. But, bless you, no; I could do nothing but +shout and cry, with the noise I made sounding hollow and stifly, and the +heat and smoke coming up so as to nearly choke me over and over again. + +"I knew fast enough now that I had come down a chimbley where there had +been a clear fire, and now some one had put lumps of coal on, and been +breaking them up; and in the fright I was in I could do nothing else but +shout away till my voice got weak and wiry, and I coughed and wheezed +for breath. + +"But I hadn't been crying for nothing, though; for soon I heard some one +shout up the chimbley, and then came a deal of poking and noise, and the +smoke and heat came curling up by me worse than ever, so that I thought +it was all over with me, but at the same time came a whole lot of hot, +bad-smelling steam; and then some one knocked at the bricks close by my +head, and I heard a buzzing sound, when I gave a hoarse sort of cry, and +then felt stupid and half asleep. + +"By-and-by there was a terrible knocking and hammering close beside me, +getting louder and louder every moment; and yet it didn't seem to matter +to me, for I hardly knew what was going on, though the voices came +nearer and the noise plainer, and at last I've a bit of recollection of +hearing some one say `Fetch brandy,' and I wondered whether they meant +Barkby, while I could feel the fresh air coming upon me. Then I seemed +to waken up a bit, and see the daylight through a big hole, where there +was ever so much rough broken bricks and mortar between me and the +light; and next thing I recollect is lying upon a mattress, with a fine +gentleman leaning over me, and holding my hand in his. + +"`Don't,' I says in a whisper; `It's all sutty.' Then I see him smile, +and he asked me how I was. + +"`Oh, there ain't no bones broke,' I says; `only Barkby'll half kill +me.' + +"`What for?' says another gentleman. + +"`Why, coming down the wrong chimbley,' I says; and then, warming up a +bit with my wrongs, `But 'twarn't my fault,' I says. `Who could tell +t'other from which, when there warn't no numbers nor nothink on 'em, and +they was all alike, so as you didn't know which to come down, and him a +swearing acause you was so long? Where is he?' I says in a whisper. + +"One looked at t'other, and there was six or seven people about me; for +I was lying on the mattress put on the floor close aside a great hole in +the wall, and a heap o' bricks and mortar. + +"`Who?' says the first gent, who was a doctor. + +"`Why, Barkby,' I says; `my guv'nor, who sent me up number seven's +chimbley.' + +"`Oh, he's not here,' says someone. `This ain't number seven; this is +number ten. Send to seven,' he says. + +"Then they began talking a bit; and I heard something said about `poor +boy,' and `fearful groans,' and `horrid position;' and they thought I +didn't hear 'em, for I'd got my eyes shut, meaning to sham Abram when +Barkby came, for fear he should hurt me; but I needn't have shammed, for +I couldn't neither stand nor sit up for a week arter; and I believe +arter all, it's that has had something to do with me being so +husky-voiced. + +"Old Barkby never hit me a stroke, and I believe arter all he was sorry +for me; but a sweep's is a queer life even now, though afore the act was +passed some poor boys was used cruel, and more than one got stuck in a +floo, to be pulled out dead." + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +MY SHEFFIELD PATIENT. + +Plenty of you know Sheffield by name; but I think those who know it by +nature are few and far between. If you tried to give me your +impressions of the place, you would most likely begin to talk of a +black, smoky town, full of forges, factories, and furnaces, with steam +blasts hissing, and Nasmyth hammers thudding and thundering all day +long. But there you would stop, although you were right as far as you +went. Let me say a little more, speaking as one who knows the place, +and tell you that it lies snugly embosomed in glorious hills, curving +and sweeping between which are some of the loveliest vales in England. +The town is in parts dingy enough, and there is more smoke than is +pleasant; but don't imagine that all Sheffield's sons are toiling +continually in a choking atmosphere. There is a class of men--a large +class, and one that has attained to a not very enviable notoriety in +Sheffield--I mean the grinders--whose task is performed under far +different circumstances; and when I describe one wheel, I am only +painting one of hundreds clustering round the busy town, ready to +sharpen and polish the blades for which Sheffield has long been famed. + +Through every vale there flows a stream, fed by lesser rivulets, making +their way down little valleys rich in wood and dell. Wherever such a +streamlet runs trickling over the rocks, or bubbling amongst the stones, +water rights have been established, hundreds of years old; busy hands +have formed dams, and the pent-up water is used for turning some huge +water-wheel, which in its turn sets in motion ten, twenty, or thirty +stones in the long shed beside it, the whole being known in the district +as "a wheel." + +One of my favourite walks lay along by a tiny bubbling brook, overhung +with trees, up past wheel after wheel, following the streamlet towards +its head, higher up the gorge through which it ran--a vale where you +might stand and fancy yourself miles from man and his busy doings, as +you listened to the silvery tinkle of the water playing amidst the +pebbles, the sweet twittering song of birds overhead, or the hum of bees +busy amidst the catkins and the blossoms; watched the flashing of the +bright water as the sun glistened and darted amidst the leaves, till on +the breeze would come the "plash, plash," of the water-wheel, and the +faintly-heard harsh "chir-r-r-r" of blade upon grindstone, When, +recollecting that man was bound to earn his bread in the sweat of his +brow, one would leave the beauties around, and hurry on to some visit. + +I had a patient who used to work in one of those pleasant little vales-- +a patient to whom it fell to my lot to render, next to life, almost one +of the greatest services man can render to man. + +He was genial and patient, handsome too, and I used to think what a fine +manly looking fellow he must have been before he suffered from the +dastardly outrage of which he was the victim. + +He was very low spirited during the early part of his illness and he +used to talk to me in a quiet patient way about the valley, and I was +surprised to find how fond he was of nature and its beauties, some of +the sentiments that came from his lips being far above what one would +have expected from such a man. + +My bill, I am sorry to say, was a very long one with him, but he laughed +and said that he had been a long patient. + +"Why Doctor," he said one evening many many months after his accident, +and when he had quite recovered, and as he spoke he took his wife's +hand, "I shouldn't have found fault if it had been twice as much. I +only wish it was, and I had the money to pay you that or four times as +much. But you haven't made a very handsome job of me: has he, Jenny?" + +There were tears in his wife's eyes, though there was a smile upon her +lip, and I knew that she was one who, as he told me, looked upon the +heart. + +"Ah, Doctor," he said to me as he went over the troublous past, "it was +very pleasant there working where you had only to lift your eyes from +the wet whirling stone and look out of the open shed window at the +bright blue sky and sunshine. There was not much listening to the birds +there amongst the hurrying din of the rushing stones, and the chafing of +band, and shriek of steel blade being ground; but the toil seemed +pleasanter there, with nothing but the waving trees to stay the light of +God's sunshine, and I used to feel free and happy, and able to drink in +long draughts of bright, pure air, whenever I straightened myself from +my task, and gathered strength for the next spell. + +"I could have been very happy there on that wheel, old and ramshackle +place as it was, if people would only have let me. I was making a +pretty good wage, and putting by a little every week, for at that time +it had come into my head that I should like to take to myself a wife. +Now, I'd lived nine-and-twenty years without such a thing coming +seriously to mind, but one Sunday, when having a stroll out on the +Glossop Road with John Ross--a young fellow who worked along with me--we +met some one with her mother and father; and from that afternoon I was a +changed man. + +"I don't know anything about beauty, and features, and that sort of +thing; but I know that Jenny Lee's face was the sweetest and brightest I +ever saw; and for the rest of the time we were together I could do +nothing but feast upon it with my eyes. + +"John Ross knew the old people; and when I came to reckon afterwards, I +could see plainly enough why my companion had chosen the Glossop Road: +for they asked us to walk with them as far as their cottage, which was +nigh at hand; and we did, and stayed to tea, and then they walked part +of the way back in the cool of the evening. When we parted, and John +Ross began to chatter about them, it seemed as if a dark cloud was +settling down over my life, and that all around was beginning to look +black and dismal. + +"`You'll go with me again, Harry?' he said to me as we parted. `I +shan't wait till Sunday, but run over on Wednesday night.' + +"`I don't know, I'll see,' I said; and then we parted. + +"I went out that afternoon happy and light-hearted, I came back mad and +angry. `He wants me to go with him to talk to the old people, while he +can chatter, and say empty nothings to that girl, who is as much too +good for him as she is for--' + +"`Me!' I said after a pause, for I seemed to grow sensible all at once, +and to see that I was making myself what I called rather stupid. Then I +began to take myself to task, and to consider about the state of +affairs, seeing how that John Ross's visits were evidently favoured by +the old people, perhaps by their daughter, and therefore, why was I to +thrust myself in the way, and, besides being miserable myself, make two +or three others the same? + +"`I'll go to bed and have a good night's rest,' I said, `and so forget +all about it.' + +"How easy it is to make one's arrangements, but how hard sometimes to +follow them out! I had no sleep at all that night; and so far from +getting up and going to begin the fresh week's work light-hearted and +happy, and determined not to pay any more visits along with John Ross, I +was dull, disheartened, and worrying myself as to whether Jenny Lee +cared anything for my companion. + +"`If she does,' I said to myself, `I'll keep away, but if she does not, +why may she not be brought to think about me?' + +"Somehow or another, John Ross had always made companion of me, in spite +of our having very different opinions upon certain subjects. He was +for, and I was strongly against trades unions. He always used to tell +me that he should convert me in time; but although we had been intimate +for three years, that time had not come yet. On the contrary, certain +outrages that had disgusted the working men, had embittered me against +the unions. However, we kept friends; and it was not upon that question +that he became my most bitter enemy. + +"After many a long consultation with myself, I had determined to go with +Ross to the Lees only once more, and had gone; but somehow that `only +once more' grew into another and another visit; till from going with +John Ross alone, I got into the habit of calling without him, and was +always well received. Jenny was pleasant and merry, and chatty, and the +old folks were sociable; and the pleasure derived from these visits +smothered the remorse I might otherwise have felt, for I could plainly +see, from John Ross's manner, how jealous and annoyed he was. And yet +his visits always seemed welcome. There was the same cheery greeting +from the old folks, the same ready hand-shake from Jenny; but matters +went on until, from being friends, John Ross and I furiously hated one +another, even to complete avoidance; while, from the honest, matured +thoughts of later years, I can feel now that it was without cause, +Jenny's feelings towards us being as innocent and friendly as ever dwelt +in the breast of a true-hearted English girl. + +"But we could not see that, and in turn accused her of lightness and +coquetry, of playing off one against the other, and thought bitterly of +much that was kindly, true, and well meant. + +"As may be supposed, each feelings bore bitter fruit. John Ross accused +me of treachery, and sowing dissension, ending by desiring, with +threats, that I should go to the Lees no more; while I, just as angry, +declared that unless forbidden by Jenny, I should go there as frequently +as I desired. + +"We came to blows. It was during dinner hour, and the wheel was +stopped; we had been talking by the dam side, and at last, when in his +anger he had struck me, I had furiously returned the blow; then more +passed, and after a sharp struggle, I shook myself free, when, unable to +save himself, John Ross fell heavily into the deep water, and plunged +out of sight for a few moments. But there was no danger, for as he came +up he was within reach, and he seized my outstretched hand, and I helped +him out, my anger gone, and ready to laugh at him, as he stood there +pale and dripping. + +"`I shan't forget this,' he said, shaking his fist in my face. + +"`Pooh! nonsense, man!' I exclaimed, catching the threatening hand in +both mine. `Let bygones be bygones, and make friends.' But snatching +his hand away, he dashed in amongst the trees, and in a few moments was +out of sight. + +"I did not go up to the Lees that night, but the next evening upon +walking up after work-hours, I found John Ross there; and that on all +sides I was received with a studied coldness. The old people were quite +gruff, and their daughter only replied quietly to my questions. I soon +found that my presence acted as a restraint upon the party, and with a +reproachful look at Jenny I rose to go. + +"I did not see the tears that rose to Jenny's eyes as I left; for I was +meeting the triumphant looks of John Ross, and trying to smother down +the bitterness that rose in my breast. + +"`He must have been poisoning them against me,' I muttered, as I took my +solitary way towards the town. `I wonder what he has said!' then I +began to think of how I had come between him and his happiness, and +accused myself of selfishness, and at last reached my lodgings +determined to fight down my disappointment, and to try to forget it in +work. + +"I fought hard, and it would be beyond words to tell the misery of my +solitary heart as I kept steadfastly from the Lees, working early and +late to drive away my thoughts, and too much taken up with my own +affairs to observe the strange, sullen way in which I was treated by the +other men in the wheel. I did notice John Ross's scowls; but knowing +their cause, I did not pay much heed to them, telling myself that I was +serving him to the best of my ability, and that if he knew all I +suffered, he would only be too glad to offer me the hand of good +fellowship. + +"`He'll find it out for himself some day,' I said, with a sigh, and went +on with my work. + +"Of course you know what I mean by the wheel-bands, doctor? You know +that to every grindstone there are endless leathern straps, to connect +them with the main shafts set in motion by the water-wheel; and by means +of these connections each man's stone is made to revolve. As a matter +of course, if these bands were removed, a man's grindstone would be +motionless, and work impossible; and though such acts were common enough +in some wheels, nothing of the kind had taken place on our stream, so +that I was perfectly astounded one morning upon going to work to find +that my bands had been cut. + +"I took it to be meant as a joke, so, though much annoyed, I merely set +to, and looking as good-humoured as possible, repaired my bands after a +rough fashion, so that, saving one or two breaks down, I managed to get +a pretty good day's work done. + +"There was plenty of bantering going on, not of a pleasant, jovial kind, +but of a sneering, harsh nature, and I went home that night disheartened +and put out. I did not give John Ross the credit of the trick, as being +too small; and I began to hope, too, that he saw me in my right light. +But there was another stab for me that night, for passing along one of +the streets whom should I meet but John himself, walking by the side of +Jenny Lee and her mother. + +"Jenny gazed hard at me, for I moved to her as I passed; but it seemed +to me that she only looked on my salute with contempt, and I passed on +feeling more bitter than ever. + +"The next morning on going to work my bands were gone, and the only +reply to my inquiries was a hoarse kind of laughter mingled with jeers. +I could see now plainly enough that, probably incited by John Ross, the +men intended to make my life so unpleasant at the wheel that I should be +glad to seek for work elsewhere. + +"`Don't want no such independent men here,' shouted somebody, and +several other remarks were made of a like nature. + +"`I can give way when I'm in the wrong, John Ross,' I muttered to +myself; `but if you're at the bottom of this, I intend to show you that +mine is consistency of behaviour and not cowardice.' So, quietly +leaving the wheel, I took no heed of the laughter and jeers of the men, +but went back to the town, bought new bands, and, to the surprise of +those who had thought me driven away, went on with my work as though +nothing had happened. + +"`I should take them bands home t'-night, lad,' said one, jeeringly. + +"`Ay, they wean't be safe here,' said another. + +"But I let them banter away, though I took care that my new bands should +not be stolen, rolling them up and carrying them away with me every +night when I left off work. + +"This only served to increase the animosity of the men, and sneers and +sullen looks were hurled at me from morn till night, till at times I +began to ask myself whether it would not be wiser to seek elsewhere for +work. But I always came to one conclusion--that I was in the right, and +that it would be miserable cowardice on my part to give up. + +"So I kept on suffering in silence every insult and annoyance, such as, +to their disgrace be it said, some working men are only too ready to +heap upon any fellow-toiler who has had the misfortune to make himself +obnoxious. + +"And so matters went on till one morning, when, passing a number of +lowering faces, I made my way to my seat, slipped on my bands, and then, +not noticing that the others were lingering about against door and +window, took up the first of the knife-blades I had to grind, and +applied it to the stone. There was the sharp `chirring' noise, the +sparks darted away from beneath the blade, and then there was a sharp +blinding flash, a dull report, and I felt myself dashed back, scorched, +half stunned, and helpless, but still sensible enough to know that some +cowardly hand had placed a quantity of gunpowder where the sparks from +my stone would fly--a cruel unmanly trick that was not new in those +days--and as I lay there and groaned, I believe it was as much from +agony of mind as of body; for it seemed so mean, so despicable, that it +was hard to believe that men living in a Christian country could be +guilty of such an act. + +"But there were some there who did not sympathise with the outrage; and +three or four lifted me up, and would have taken me to the infirmary, +but I begged them to bear me to my lodgings, and then fetch a doctor, +and they brought you. + +"`I'd tell 'ee, lad, who put in the poother,' said one of them, +whispering in my ear, `but I darn't.' + +"`I don't want to know, Jack Burkin,' I groaned, as I lay there in the +dark, `I'd rather not hear;' and as I spoke, my heart seemed to tell me +who was my enemy. + +"`I wish the poor girl might have chosen a better husband,' I said to +myself that night, as I lay there sleepless from pain, when you had done +what you could for me, and I lay waiting for the day. Not that I could +see it, for all was blank to me now; and as I thought, I pictured myself +as I felt I should be in the future--a tall, stout man, with vacant eyes +and a seamed and scarred face: for I knew that I was fearfully scorched, +and that hair, eyebrows, and lashes were burned off, and my face +terribly disfigured. + +"It was a bitter time that, but though the pain was still most keen, I +laughed at it after the first four-and-twenty hours, glorying in and +blessing the day that had laid me helpless there; and I'll tell you the +reason why. + +"John Ross had overshot the mark, while I had been blinder than I was at +the present time, when a happy light darted into my understanding, and I +learnt that I was not to be the solitary man I had expected. + +"I was lying in pain and bitterness on the afternoon after the accident, +all in darkness. You remember you had been to dress my blackened face +and hands once more, but you did not give me much comfort when I asked +you about my sight. + +"`Remember' I said, `I told you to be hopeful, for I was in great +doubt.' + +"`And what was I to do when blind?' I asked myself. Certainly, I had +saved up a little money, but I knew that would not last long, and that +it would be sunken by the doctor's bill. + +"`Pity I did not go into the infirmary,' I groaned, and then I felt +ready to eat my words, for a sweet little sad voice, that made my heart +leap, said, `May I come in?' + +"I could not have answered to have saved my life, but only groan and try +to turn away my face, lest she should see it--my blackened and scarred +face, disfigured with cotton-wool and dressing, my head with every scrap +of hair scorched off--and, had I been able, I should have tried to hide +it with my hands, but they too, with my arms, were burned and bandaged, +and I could only slightly turn my head and groan, as I thought of my +past manly looks, and trembled to be seen by the bright-faced girl who +had first made my heart to beat more swiftly. + +"`May I come in?' was repeated again, but still I could not answer; and +then there was the light sound of a step crossing the chamber floor, a +rustle by the bedside, and I heard some one go down upon her knees, and +felt two little gentle hands laid upon one of my arms, and a sweet +little voice sobbing, `Oh, Harry! oh, Harry! that it should come to +this!' + +"Speak? I could not speak; and as to pain, I believe, with the +exultation then in my heart, I could have borne the keenest pangs that +ever fell to the lot of man. + +"She did not love John Ross, then, and never had, or she would not have +come to me thus to lay bare the secret of her pure young heart. Had I +been well and strong, and had the sense to have followed up the +opportunity once given, she would have been quiet and retiring; but now, +in this perilous time--for I learnt after that I was in danger, and that +this was known--Jenny had come to my bedside, like some ministering +angel, to tend and comfort me. + +"I could speak at last though, even if it was but in a whisper; and in +those long hours, as she sat by my bed, all reserve was cast aside; and, +speaking as one who only looked upon things as they might have been, I +told her how I loved her, and how I had kept away, believing that she +would be happier with John Ross. + +"I learnt now of his pettiness, of the way in which he had defamed me; +but let that pass. I could forgive him all since I learned that he had +never gained entrance to the little heart beating by my side. I +learned, too, of Jenny's suspicions, aroused by a purchase she had seen +the young man make, at a shop in the town, one day when she was not +perceived; but I would not have the thought harboured, for I bore him no +malice then. And at last I groaned again, and the weak tears forced +themselves into my poor smarting eyes as the thought would come of what +might have been, and of how I must not indulge in such ideas now, +binding the fresh young girl by my side to a scarred and blinded man. I +knew that I must be hideous to look upon, but in my ignorance I knew not +the heart placed by God in a true woman's breast, and I could only groan +again as I felt a little soft cheek laid to mine, cruelly burned as it +was, and the tender sympathising voice ask me if I was in much pain. + +"`Only of the heart, Jenny,' I whispered, `as I think of what I might +have been.' + +"And then her sobbing question, as she asked me not to think it +unmaidenly and bold of her to come to me, and to talk as she had done. + +"What could I say, but ask God's blessing upon her head as her little +light step crossed the floor? And then the brightness seemed to have +gone, and all was once more dark. + +"Day after day she was at my side, to read to me gentle words of hope +and resignation; and when, more than once, I spoke of my altered looks, +my scarred face and sightless eyes, telling her how it cut me to the +heart to say it, but that all this must end, for I should not be acting +as a man if I bound her to such a wreck, spoiling her fair young life, +did she not tell me she could love me better than if I had been as I was +before, begging me not to send her away, lest I should break her heart? + +"And it was almost in happiness that day that I lay there, very weak and +helpless. You remember when I had been delirious, and very nigh unto +death. The light still burned, but the oil was low and the flame danced +and flickered so that at any moment it might expire. In the days of my +strength I had looked upon death with horror, trembling almost at the +name; but now, quite sensible as I lay there, as I thought, waiting for +its coming, it was with a strange calm feeling of resignation. There +was no dread; I only felt happy and at ease, for those pure little lips +at my side had hour after hour offered up prayers in my behalf to where +prayers are heard, and with the sincere hope of forgiveness for what I +had done amiss, I lay waiting till my eyes should close in the last long +sleep. I was sorry, and yet glad, for I felt that it would be cruel to +poor Jenny to get well; and though I knew her true heart and her love +for me, what was there in the future for her if she took to her heart a +husband who was blind and maimed? + +"And then the flame grew stronger, ceasing to flicker, and burning with +a faint but steady flame--a flame that brightened day by day, and hope +would come back, whispered as it was in my too willing ears. + +"Then, too, there came a day when there was, as it were, a pale dawn +before my eyes--a dawn which took months before it fully broke into day; +when after a good long look at my altered face, I took the stick I had +not yet been able to lay aside, and one bright afternoon in early spring +made my way up to the Lees, to find the old folks out, but Jenny at +home. + +"And we talked long and earnestly that day, for I had made up my mind to +be a man. I knew that I should always be plain, almost to distortion, +and I told myself that it was my duty to offer once more to set her +free. + +"Jenny had been weeping silently for some time, when, turning to me, she +said, gently. `Don't think me irreverent, Harry, but do you remember +how God chose David to be king over his people?' + +"I nodded, for my heart seemed swelled unto bursting, and I could not +speak. + +"`He looked upon the heart,' sobbed Jenny; `and oh, Harry, I have tried +to choose my king like that.' + +"People call this world a vale of sorrows, and I pity those who always +speak like that, for they can never have felt the happiness that was +mine that night, as two fond arms clasped my neck, and a loving cheek +was laid to mine, and they were those of her who has been my wife these +fifteen happy years. + +"I believe that there are those who think us a strangely-matched couple, +and that our little ones all favour their mother; but they don't know +all, for my foolish little wife is even proud of her husband." + +"And well she may be!" I said to myself as I went away, thinking what a +blot these trade outrages have been upon working-class history, and how +generous stout-hearted men often allow themselves to be led away by the +mouthing idlers of their workshops--by men who are constantly declaiming +against their betters, and who want as they say for all to be free and +equal, with as much sense as the child who cried for the moon. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +MY NON-STRIKING PATIENT. + +I had just such a man as my Sheffield grinder to tend once for a broken +leg. Samuel Harris was his name, and a very bad fracture I had to deal +with. + +He lay there without a murmur as I made my examination and then shook my +head. + +"Seems nasty, don't it, doctor," he said coolly. + +"It's a very serious fracture," I said, "and I'm really afraid,--" + +"That I shall lose my leg?" he said, anticipating my words. + +"I will try and save it," I replied, "but you must be prepared for +amputation at any moment." + +"All right doctor," he said, "I'm in your hands. I won't grumble. If +you do take it off, though, and it don't kill me, I'll see if I can't +contrive something better than those old wooden legs, that some fellows +peg about on." + +"Well we'll see," I said, "and if you'll look at matters in that +cheerful way perhaps we shall get on." + +I saved that man's leg: for a more patient fellow under suffering it was +impossible to find, and in the course of various conversations with him, +we talked of strikes and outrages, and the various trade disputes, and +by degrees he talked about himself and his experiences over similar +affaire. + +"Ah!" he said, "some men can always make plenty of friends without +taking any trouble, and some can make plenty of enemies in the same way; +and that last seems to have been my luck through life. I suppose as an +ordinary mechanic I'm not such a very bad sort, and I'll tell you why: +after about a dozen years of married life there's always a pleasant +smile to welcome me home--a sweet look that I always answer with a grin +which spreads all over my rough, dirty face till it gets lost on each +side in my whiskers, and up a-top in my hair. Then, too, for all I'm a +big, grim-looking fellow, as my mates call Sour Sam, the little ones +never seem a bit frightened of me; but one comes and gets hold of my +cap, and another my coat, and one come and pulls before, and another +comes and pushes behind, till they get me in my chair beside the table; +and I know times and times I haven't had half a meal for the young +rebels climbing on me; for, somehow or another, if there is any time in +the day that goes fast, it's dinner hour. You get sat down, and toss +this little one, and play with that, and eat two or three mouthfuls, and +then it's time to go back to the shop, and grime yourself up again with +steel filings and oil. + +"I was such a grim, gruff fellow, that my shopmates took precious little +notice of me; and one day, after it had been brewing for some time, they +all turned out--hundred and forty of 'em. + +"Now, I was so took aback, and it come upon me so unexpectedly, that I +put on my coat and came out with the rest, and stood outside the gates; +but as soon as I was outside, I felt mad at having done so, and would +have gone back, only it was too late, and what my shopmates had settled +it seemed that I must abide by. So, thinking of how it would end, I +walked home, though two or three called me a sneak for not joining their +meeting at a public-house hard by. After sitting by the fire for an +hour I made up my mind what I should do, and that was to go back to +work, for I didn't want to strike, and felt that the treatment we got at +the works was quite as good as we deserved; and it didn't seem fair to +me to look upon my employer as an enemy because he had had so much +better luck in the world than I had. So back I went without a word, and +as I got near the gates there were three or four of our chaps hanging +about. + +"`Where going, Sam?' says one. + +"`Works,' I says, gruffly. + +"`What for?' he says; and just then some others came up, and then from +here and there more and more, till fifty or sixty stood round. + +"`I'm going into the works,' I said, roughly, and trying to shove my way +on. + +"`Well, but what for!' he says, with a sort of half laugh. `We haven't +heard that they've given the rise, but being a favourite you got the +news first. Why didn't you tell us, mate?' + +"Of course I didn't like his bantering way, nor I didn't like the half +laugh which followed; but I said nothing, only tried to push through the +crowd, when being brought up short I swallowed down a sort of feeling of +rage that seemed to come up my throat, and facing round, I says boldly: + +"`Harry Perkins, you're on strike, as yer call it; well, I'm not. You +don't mean work: I do; and I'm off into the shop.' + +"Well, this seemed to stagger him for a moment, but the next minute half +a dozen fellows had hold of me, and I was dragged back right into the +middle of the crowd, and the voices I heard naming the pump and river +told me I should get some rather rough usage; but the English obstinacy +in me began to kick against this treatment, and, shouting out loudly, on +the chance of there being some present of my way of thinking, I says: + +"`I mean work, mates, and down with the strikers. Who's on my side?' +when fifteen or twenty came forward, and then I can't tell you how it +was, for I always was hot-blooded; the next minute we all seemed to be +raging and tearing at one another in a regular fight; men shouting, and +swearing, and striking fiercely at one another; some down and trampled +upon; some wrestling together; and the crowd swaying backwards forwards, +here and there, and the battle growing more and more bitter every +moment. + +"You can't see much in a fight like this, when you have an enemy to +contend with the whole time; but I saw that the men now all came out in +their true colours, and that the sides were evenly balanced, for a good +half had turned out more from feeling bound to act as the others did, +than from being dissatisfied with the rate of pay; while now, seeing the +stand I had made on their side, they felt bound to take my part in +return, and, as I said before, the fight grew fiercer every moment, +while headed by Perkins, the man who had spoken to me, the other side +was making head, and we were being beaten back step by step and driven +along a narrow street, but fighting desperately the whole time. + +"Every now and then a chap on one side or the other would stagger out +bleeding and wild, and make his way on to a doorstep, or up one of the +courts that connected the street with the next, and more than one went +down with a groan; while by some means or other about eight or nine of +our side were driven up a court by some of the other party, when, seeing +the chance, I shouted to them to follow, and we all ran hard, pursued by +our enemies for twenty yards or so, when they turned back. + +"`Come on,' I shouted, and, leading the way, I got into the next street, +led them along it a little way, and then turned down the next court. +`Keep together,' I said, `and we'll take 'em behind;' and the next +minute we were back in the street, where our mates still fought on +desperately, for in my heart I believe every blow struck on our side was +nerved by the thought of home, and those we worked for. + +"Next moment we took them in the rear, with a desperate rush, cheering +as we did so, and tumbling them over right and left; whilst our mates in +front who were just then giving way, cheered again and the fight was +hotter than ever. But now, hemmed in between the two parties, the +strikers fought desperately, and I caught sight of Perkins with a small +hammer in his hand, knocking down first one and then another poor +fellow, who crawled out of the struggling mob as well as he could. + +"There were no police visible, but they could have done nothing if they +had been there; but every window was crowded with people, while men's +wives came harrying up, and shrieking to the people looking on to stop +the fight. + +"Just then I had downed the man opposed to me, when I heard a heavy +blow, and turning, saw the man who worked at the next vice to me go down +from a crack on the forehead from Perkins's hammer, and the next moment +I stood on one side just in time to avoid a blow aimed at me, when the +handle caught me on the shoulder, and the hammer-head snapped off, +falling upon the ground behind me. + +"I believe I was half-mad then with pain and excitement as I leaped at +Perkins, and closed with him; when, being both big, stout fellows, and +heads of the row, the desperate struggle going on between us seemed to +act like magic on the others, who stopped to watch us as we wrestled +together here and there--now up, now down, the centre of a busy throng, +cheering and shouting us on, as if we had been two wild beasts fighting +for their amusement. + +"I'm not going to give you a long description of a hard fight, nor of +the savage feelings that burned in my brain, as mad with fury I tore at +him again and again; for I often look back upon that time with feelings +of shame, though I can't help thinking that I only acted as most men +would have done in such a case. All I can tell you is that I've a +recollection of giving and receiving fierce blows, of falling, being +picked up, and being cheered on, and muttering through my set teeth +`It's for those at home,' till there came a fiercer and longer struggle +than ever, ending in both falling heavily; and I shall never forget the +sickening crash with which my opponent's head came down upon the +kerb-stone. + +"Then, blind and giddy, I was standing panting there with a policeman +hold of each arm, but only to be dragged from him next moment by my +mates, who bore me away cheering. + +"Early next morning, though, the police were at my place, and I followed +them quietly, shuddering as I went, for I heard that Perkins was in a +dying state. Then came the examination before the magistrates, and I +was remanded a day or two till the doctors had given in their opinion. +Our heads of the firm, though, took great interest in the case as soon +as they knew all the particulars; and one of the cleverest counsel they +could get took my affairs in hand, which ended in my being discharged, +for Perkins grew better; but a good many of us were fined pretty smartly +for the breach of the peace. + +"The workshop was open directly, and quite half the men went back to +work; but from that day I began to find out that our town was no place +for me. My employers were kind enough, and I was not a penny the worse +in pocket for my encounter; but it grew plainer and plainer to me, day +by day, that I should be driven out of the place. Threatening letters +came; once I was struck down from behind as I came home on a dark night, +and though I felt sure the man I caught a glance of was Perkins, I could +not swear it. Then came news of the cowardly tricks at Sheffield-- +throwing powder into houses--and my wife grew pale and ill with +apprehension; while what filled the measure up to the brim was my poor +lass being set upon and insulted one night only a few yards from our +door, so near that I heard her call `Help,' and knew the voice, and ran +out. + +"The next week I was sitting in our empty room; the floor trampled and +dirty with the feet of those who had been to the sale of the things in +our bit of a four-roomed house. And the things had sold well, too; for +my mates had sent their wives, and one had bought one thing, and another +another. But I was down-hearted and sad at seeing first one little +familiar thing and then another dragged away, while the thought of being +driven out of the place was bitter to me. The wife and children had +gone on to London, and there was no one there to see me as something +which showed there were weak places in the strong man came into my eyes. + +"But I had to choke that down, for a knock came at the door, and it +sounded hollow and strange in the empty place. It was a letter; just in +time, too, for I was thinking just before of locking up the place and +going away, but fancied I should just like one pipe of tobacco for the +last where I had spent so many quiet evenings. However, I opened the +letter, and then started to run after the postman, feeling that it must +be a mistake, for inside was a crisp new twenty-pound note, with a few +lines telling me that it was from two friends who regretted the loss to +the town and its works, of an honest, upright man, and begging my +acceptance of the trifle enclosed, as a testimony of the esteem in which +my services had been held. + +"Twenty pounds, sir--a larger sum than I had ever before owned at once; +but as I'm an honest man I thought more of the words of that letter then +than I did of the money; while through being weak, I suppose, there was +a wet spot or two upon the note when I put it away. + +"After it was dark that night, I went and thanked those from whom I knew +it had come, though they would not own to it; but the senior partner +slapped me on the shoulder as I went out, and he said: + +"`There's too much holding aloof between master and man, Samuel Harris; +but if all mechanics were like you we should have no more strikes.'" + +"He was quite right," I said, nodding. + +"Think so, sir? perhaps he was, perhaps he was not, but depend upon it +the best way is to give and take all you can. Striking's expensive work +for both sides; but you see the thing is this--what makes the trouble is +that neither side likes to be beat." + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +MY PATIENT, THE DRIVER. + +I wish I could put Solomon Gann before you in the flesh; for a finer +broad-shouldered specimen of humanity I never saw. He was gruff, bluff, +swarthy; and rugged as his face was, it always bore a pleasant smile, +just as if he had said to you, "Ah! all right; things are rough; but I'm +going to take it coolly." + +And he was cool; nobody cooler--even in cases of emergency; and a better +man for an engine-driver could not have been chosen. + +I first met Solomon Gann in connection with an accident at Grandton, +where I and other surgeons were called in to attend the sufferers by a +collision with a goods train. After that I attended him two or three +times; for he came to me in preference to the Company's surgeon, and he +used to give me scraps of information about his life, and tell me little +incidents in his career. + +"Glorious profession, ain't it, Sir," he said. "Grows more important +every day, does the railway profession, and is likely to. Ah! people in +our great-grandfathers' days would have opened their eyes if you had +talked about being an engine-driver; and I ain't much like a four-horse +mail coachee, am I? Rum set out, the rail. Not so many years back, and +there wasn't such a thing; and now it employs its thousands, beginning +with your superintendents, and going down through clerks, and guards, +and drivers, and so on, to the lowest porter or cleaner on the line. + +"I've had some experience, I have. I was cleaner in the engine-house +afore I got put on to stoke; and I'm not going to say that +engine-drivers are worse off than other men because I happen to be one: +for we want a little alteration right through the whole machine: a +little easing in this collar; a little less stuffing there; them nuts +give a turn with the screw-hammer; and the oily rag put over the working +gear a little more oftener, while the ile-can itself ain't spared. +Don't you see, you know, I'm a speaking metaphorically; and of course I +mean the whole of the railways' servants. + +"The Public, perhaps--and he's a terrible humbug that fellow Public-- +thinks we are well paid and discontented; and leaving out danger, let me +ask him how he would like to be racing along at express speed through a +storm of wind and rain, or snow, or hail, for fifty miles without +stopping, blinded almost, cut to pieces almost; or roasting on a +broiling summer's day; or running through the pitchiest, blackest +night--Sunday and week-day all the year round. `Well, you're paid for +it,' says the public. So we are, and pretty good wages as times goes; +but those wages don't pay a man for the wear and tear of his +constitution; and though there's so much fuss made about the beauty of +the British constitution, and people brag about it to an extent that's +quite sickening, when you come down to the small bit of British +constitution locked up in a single British person's chest--him being an +engine-driver, you know--you'll find that constitution wears, and gets +weak, and liable to being touched up with the cold, or heat, or what +not; and it's a precious ticklish thing to mend--so now then! + +"We don't want to grumble too much, but railway work isn't all lying +down on a feather-bed, smoking shag at threepence an ounce, and drinking +porter at threepence a pot in your own jugs; we have to work, and think +too, or else there would soon be an alteration in the companies' +dividends. Accidents will happen, do what we will to stop 'em, and +there's no mistake about it, our accidents are, as a rule, bad ones-- +terrible bad ones, even when life and limb don't get touched. Only an +engine damaged, perhaps, but that can easily wear a thousand pound; +while a hundred's as good as nothing when a few trucks and coaches are +knocked into matchwood. Then, too, when we have a bad `pitch-in,' as we +call it, look at the thousands as the company has to pull out for +damages to injured folks. One chap, I see, got seven thousand the other +day for having his back damaged; and I don't know but what I'd think it +a good bargain to be knocked about to that tune. But, there, they +wouldn't think my whole carcase worth half as much. But our work ain't +feather-bed work, I can tell you; and as to risk, why, we all of us come +in for that more or less, though we get so used to it that we don't seem +to see the danger. + +"Oh! you'll say `Familiarity breeds contempt,' or something else fine; +but just you come and stoke, or drive, or guard, or be signalman, or +pointsman, every day of your life, and just see if you'll pull a blessed +long face and be seeing a skillington with a hour-glass in one hand and +a harpoon in t'other, ready to stick it into yours or somebody else's +wesket every precious hour of the day. It's all worry fine to talk, but +a man can't be always thinking of dying when he is so busy thinking +about living, and making a living for half-a-dozen mouths at home. I +like to be serious, and think of the end in a quiet, proper way, as a +man should; but it's my humble opinion as the man who is seeing grim +death at every turn and in every movement, has got his liver into a +precious bad state, and the sooner he goes to the doctor the better. +'Taint natural, nor it ain't reasonable; and though we often get the +credit of being careless, I mean to say we don't deserve it half the +times, and the very fact of often being in risky places makes you think +nothing of 'em. It's natural, you know, and a wonderful wise thing, +too; for if we were always to be thinking of the danger, it's my +belief--my honest belief--that your railway accidents would be doubled; +for the men would be that anxious and worried that they would work +badly, and in a few years knock up altogether, with their nerves +shattered to pieces. + +"I've been on the line twenty year, and of course I've seen a little in +that space, and I could tell you hundreds of things about the different +dangers, if I had time. Now, for instance, I'll tell you what's a great +danger that some railway servants has to encounter, and that is being at +a small country station, say where perhaps very few trains stop in a +day. It don't matter whether it's clerk or porter, the danger's the +same; there's the fast trains thundering by over and over again, twenty +times a day may be, and after a time you get so used to them that _you +don't hear them coming_; and many's the time some poor fellow has +stepped down to cross the line right in front of one, when--there, you +know the old story, and I've got one horror to tell you, and that will +be quite enough, I dare say. + +"`Carelessness--want of caution--the man had been years in the company's +service, and must have known better,' says the public. But there-- +that's just it--it's that constant being amongst the perils that makes a +man forget things that he ought to recollect; and are you going to try +and make me believe a man can have such power over his thinking +apparatus that he can recollect everything? He must be a very perfect +piece of goods if there is such a one, and one as would go for ever, I +should think, without a touch of the oily rag. No spots of rust on him, +I'll wager. + +"Shunting's hard work--terrible hard work--for men; I mean the shunting +of goods trains at the little stations--picking up empty trucks, and +setting down the full ones; coupling, and uncoupling; and waving of +lanterns, and shouting and muddling about; and mostly in the dark; for, +you see, the passenger traffic is nearly all in the day-time, while we +carry on the goods work by night. Ah! shunting's queer work where +there's many sidings, and you are tripping over point-handles, and rods, +or looking one way for the train and going butt on to an empty truck the +other way. There's some sad stories relating to shunting--stories of +fine young fellows crushed to death in a moment; let alone those of the +poor chaps you may see to this day at some of the crossings with wooden +legs or one sleeve empty--soldiers, you know, who have been wounded in +the battle of life, and I think as worthy of medals as anybody. + +"Of course, you know, a `pitch-in' will come some time spite of all +care; and I've been in one or two in my time, but never to get hurt. I +remember one day going down our line and getting pretty close to a +junction where another line crossed the down so as to get on to the up. +I knew that it was somewhere about the time for the up train to come +along, for it was generally five minutes before me, and I passed it +about a couple of miles before I got to the junction--me going fast, it +slow. Sometimes we were first, and then it was kept back by signal till +we had passed, so that on the day I am talking of, I thought nothing of +it that my signal was up `All clear,' though the up train hadn't +crossed, and with my stoker shovelling in the coal, I opened the +screamer and on we were darting at a good speed--ours always having been +reckoned a fast line. + +"All at once, though, I turned as I had never turned before--thoroughly +struck aback; for as I neared the station I saw the signal altered, and +at the same moment the up train coming round the curve; then it was +crossing my line; and it seemed to me that the next moment we should cut +it right in two and go on through it. But we were not quite so nigh as +that, and before we got close up I had shut off, reversed, and was +screwing down the break, for my stoker seemed struck helpless; then I +just caught a glimpse of him as he leaped off; there was a crash, and I +was lying half stunned back amongst the coal in the tender, and we were +still dashing on for nearly a mile before I was quite recovered and the +train at a standstill. + +"I was half stupid for a bit, and on putting my hand to my head I found +that it was bleeding, whilst the screen was bent right down over me, and +had saved my life, no doubt. As far as I could see then there was no +more damage done to us, and just then the guard came running up and +shook hands when he found I'd got off so well. + +"`But where's Joe?' he says, meaning my stoker. + +"`He went off,' I says, `just as we went into 'em. How about t'other +train?' + +"`Let's run back,' he says; and I put her gently back; but all the while +in a muddly sort of way, as if I wasn't quite right in my head, which +bled powerful. Then there was a good deal of shouting and noise amongst +the passengers; but my guard went along the foot-board from coach to +coach till he had quieted them all pretty well, and then by that time +they signalled to us to stop. + +"Not many ruins to see, there wasn't, only the guard's break of the up +train, which my engine had struck full, and another few seconds of time +would have let us go clear; while how the points didn't throw us off I +can't tell, for it's quite a wonder that my train kept on the line. + +"The guard's break was knocked all to shivers, of course, but he had +jumped out and escaped with a bruise or two; but not so poor Joe, as I +soon saw; for when I asked about him, they showed me something lying +under a tarpaulin which a doctor was just putting straight again. But +of all things that struck me on the day of that accident there was +nothing like the face of the poor young fellow as had the management of +the signal. I never saw a face so pale and ghastly and frightened +before. But there let it rest. I suppose he was frightened and +confused at seeing the two trains coming in together; and as better men +have done afore now, he lost his nerve. + +"Ever kill anyone? What! run him down? Yes, one. Shocking thing, too, +and one I don't much like talking about; but then, it was not my fault, +and I did my best to save him: but then, what can you do when you're +going nearly a mile a minute? + +"That was a shunting case, that was, with a goods train, at a little +station, past which we on the express down used to go at the rate I said +just now. This goods up used to stop there, and be picking up and +setting down nearly every day when we passed. I used to give a whistle, +and then it was touch and go, and we were thundering along and past +them. But one day as we were running along the straight I could see the +guard signalling his engine-driver to back a bit to run into a siding, +as it came out at the inquest, for some empties, and to do this, what +does he do but step on to the down line, and right in front of my train. + +"Now all he had to do was to step off again, for he had plenty of time, +and keep in the six-foot till we were gone by. I set the whistle going, +and I saw his driver waving his hand to him, and a man at the station +seemed to me to be shouting; and all this I noticed as we tore along; +and then he did not move, while I felt my blood creep like, as I leaned +round the screen, holding on to the handle; and just as if he could hear +me I shouted to him to take care as I wrenched the handle and signed my +stoker to grind down the break. + +"But there, bless you, it was impossible to stop, and though I felt no +shock, it seems to me that my heart did, and when we pulled up in a +wonderful short time, my stoker and I were looking at one another in a +queer scared way, for the buffer had caught the poor fellow and driven +him along; then the wheels had him, and he was tossed at last into the +six-foot to lie with his life-blood soaking into the gravel. + +"I'm a big, stout fellow, but as I ran back towards the station I felt +sick, and my head was in a whirl; while I seemed to be hearing the +thundering-by of the train, the shriek of the whistle, the grinding and +screeching of the braked wheels, and seeing that poor fellow torn to +pieces. And then I got close up to the spot where there was something +lying, and others were coming up to it, all feeling the same creeping, +horrified sensation as they trembled and gathered up the pieces of what +had a minute before been one of themselves. + +"What ought I to have done? Gone back to my engine, helped the men from +the station, thrown sand and ballast over the horrible stains? What +ought I to have done? I don't know. But I'll tell you what I did do. +I went and sat down on the bank beside the line, and cried like a great +girl. + +"But no one saw it, for I had my hands over my face, and them down on my +knees, while a gentleman from my train, thinking I was faint, gave me +some brandy from his flask, and then I went back to my engine and +finished my journey. + +"No fault of mine, you know, and though in the heat of a fight a man may +perhaps strike down another without feeling any sorrow, yet to cause the +death of a fellow servant, when in the ordinary daily work of one's +life, had something very awful in it, and it was a long time before I +could run down past that station without feeling my heart beat faster, +and a strange shuddering sensation come over me. + +"I could tell you some strange stories of our life, sir, not one of the +easiest, but I think we'll stop here for to-day." + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +MY PATIENT AT THE FIRE. + +"And you don't think she'll be marked, sir?" + +"No; scarcely at all," I said. "Poor child! she feels the shock more +than anything." + +"Thank God!" he said, fervently. "I'd sooner have lost my own life than +she should have suffered. You see, sir, I get blaming myself for taking +her; but she said she would so like to see a pantomime, and I thought it +would be such a treat. I don't think I shall ever take her, though, +again." + +"How did it happen?" I said. + +"Ah! that's what nobody seems to know, sir," he said. "It was a +terribly full night at the theatre; and though we reached the doors in +very good time, with my poor little lassie in high glee, I found we were +behind a great many more; and I half wished that I had left work +earlier, so as not to disappoint the child. The only pity is, though, +that we could get in at all; but we did, and tried to go slowly up the +great corkscrew staircase, crowded with good-tempered people, laughing, +and pushing their way up. Twice over I felt disposed to give it up; but +I thought the child would be so disappointed, and I kept on, taking her +upon my back at last when the crowding was worst, and at last getting +past the pay barrier, and hurrying up the almost endless steps. + +"There was a regular sea of heads before me when I stood at last looking +for a favourable spot, and soon finding that taking a seat meant seeing +nothing of the performance, I contrived to wedge my way along between +two rows of seats occupied by people loud in their protestations that +there was no room, till I found a standing-place in front of one of the +stout supports of the upper gallery--a pillar that I have always thought +of since as the saving of my life. + +"I am not going to discuss whether theatres are good or bad places, but +I know that night the greatest enjoyment I had was in watching my little +girl's animated countenance, as her eyes rested now upon the handsome +chandelier, now upon the boxes full of well-dressed people, then half +dancing with pleasure at the strains from the orchestra, while her +delight bordered almost upon excitement when the curtain drew up and a +showy piece was performed. + +"Hundreds must have been turned from the doors that night, for, +excepting in the principal parts of the house, there was not standing +room, while the heat was frightful. In our poor part of the house we +had been wedged in till there was not a vacant spot to be seen, and +between the acts the men and women, with their baskets of apples and +oranges, came forcing their way through, and were terribly angry with +me, as I stood leaning against my pillar, for standing in their way. + +"All at once I turned all of a cold shiver, and then the blood seemed to +run back to my heart, while my hands were wet with perspiration; for +quite plainly I had smelt that unmistakable odour of burning wood. I +looked about me; all was as it should be; people were eating, drinking, +and laughing; the curtain was down, and the orchestra sending out its +lively strains. + +"`Fancy,' I thought to myself; and I leaned back against my pillar once +more, resting my hands upon my child's shoulders, as we stood there +exactly opposite the centre of the stage, and consequently as far from +the doors as possible; while the recollection of that tremendous +corkscrew staircase made me shudder again, and, fancy or no fancy, I +took hold of the child's arm, meaning to force myself through the crowd, +and get out. Once I nearly started, but hesitated, thinking how +disappointed she would be to leave when the best part of the performance +was to come; twice I was going, and so hesitated for about five +minutes--just long enough to have enabled me to reach the staircase and +begin running down. Just five minutes; and then smelling the fire once +more, I grasped the child's arm, said `Come along,' and had made two +steps, when I saw that I was too late, and dashed back to where I had +stood a minute before, by the pillar. + +"I won't call it presence of mind, for fear of being considered vain; +but I felt sure that, if I wished to save my child's life, my place was +by that pillar in the centre, for I knew the people would rush right and +left towards the doors at the first alarm. + +"And now, what made me start back? why, the sight of several people +hurrying towards the door; of one here and another there starting up and +looking anxiously round as if aware of coming danger; of people +whispering together; and anxious faces beginning to show amongst those +which smiled. Then came a dead pause; the band had ceased playing, and +the musicians were hurrying out through the door beneath the stage, +upsetting their music-stands as they went. Still, people did not move, +but seemed wondering, till right at the top above the curtain there was +a faint flash of light, and a tiny wreath of faint blue smoke, when a +shriek, which rang through the whole place, was heard--the most +horrible, despairing cry I ever heard--a cry which acted like a shock to +every soul present, and unlocked their voices, for before the eye had +seen another flash, the whole audience was afoot, shrieking, yelling, +and swaying backwards and forwards in a way most horrible, and never to +be forgotten. Box doors crashed, as men flung them open and the +hurrying crowd in the passage dashed them to again, making the people +shriek more than ever, as they fancied themselves fastened in. + +"First one and then another man rushed from behind the curtain upon the +stage, moving his arms and speaking; but they might as well have shouted +to a storm, as the cry of `Fire!' rang through the house, and people +tore towards the doors. Self, self, self, seemed to be the only thought +as men clambered into the upper gallery, or dropped down into ours. +Scores climbed down into the boxes; hundreds dashed frantically along, +trampling others under foot, and even clambering over the heads of the +dense, wedged-in throng, trying to reach the doors; but all hindering +one another. + +"It would have been a madman's act; but I wanted to run, too, and be one +of the surging crowd--to be in action at a time when one's blood ran +cold to hear the horrible groans and shrieks of the frightened mob, +wedged into a mass, from which now and then a horrid cry rose from a +poor wretch beaten down and trampled under foot. I closed my eyes for a +moment, but I could see plainly enough the horrors that were going on +upon that staircase, and yet I had to fight hard against not only self, +but the mob who swayed backwards and forwards past me, some making for +one door, some for the other, perhaps only to return again shrieking +with horror; while more than one, in climbing over the rails in front of +the gallery, fell headlong into the pit. + +"As soon as I had been able to collect myself a little, I had caught +hold of my child and thrust her at full length beneath the nearest seat, +and there she lay, too terrified to move, while people leaped from form +to form, over and over her, and I all the time clung desperately to that +pillar where I had stood all the evening. More than once I was nearly +dragged away; but it acted as a break to the violence of the onslaughts, +and whichever way the crowd came, I sheltered myself behind it. + +"I felt that it was madness to try and get out, though, had I been +alone, I should have tried to reach the pit by climbing from tier to +tier; but with a child it was impossible. My best plan seemed to be to +follow the example of a grey-haired old man who was holding on by the +railings in front of the gallery and calmly, to all appearance, watching +the leaping of the fire, though I shuddered as I saw the progress it was +making: the curtain was dropping in fiery flakes upon the stage; scenery +and woodwork were falling crashing down; while from over the chandelier +in the centre of the ceiling a red glowing light kept playing, towards +which the smoke floated in wreaths. + +"Crash! crash! crash! wings and flies kept falling upon the stage, now +from back to front one blaze, from which the sparks, like a golden +whirlwind, rushed up amidst the smoke; while the roar became fiercer and +fiercer as the currents of air rushed towards the body of flame and +fanned it into fresh fury. The glow now fell upon my face, and I turned +to fly, for there seemed greater danger in staying than in attempting to +escape. The gallery was now nearly empty, though the cries, shouts, and +groans from the staircase were still awful. + +"I had already leaped over two or three benches, when I remembered the +child, and dashed to drag out the little trembling thing, pale and +half-stifled with the wreathing smoke which spread through the place. +The next moment I had her on my back, and hurried to the right-hand +door; but here the struggle and turmoil were fearful, and I turned and +made my way to the other, climbing over the broken-down barrier at the +back of the gallery, beneath which lay two women groaning. + +"I looked back: there were the flames, now crawling round the pillars on +each side the stage, and licking and playing amongst the curtains of the +private boxes. The audience had all gone from the other parts of the +house, but men were darting out of the orchestra door, bringing with +them loads of anything valuable they could rescue from the flames. + +"In front of the gallery still sat the old man leaning over the +railings, and with a half-dread upon me that something was wrong, I +hurried back and shook him heavily, when I started back in horror as he +fell across the benches, turning up the most distorted face I ever saw +as he lay evidently in a fit from fright. + +"The flames were coming nearer and nearer, and the smoke grew more and +more stifling. The anxiety to be out of this horrible place was +intense, but I could not go and leave a fellow-creature helpless in such +a situation; so once more making my way to the open door, I set the +child down close by the women, leaped back from bench to bench, and +somehow contrived to lift the old man and drag him to the top of the +staircase, where I staggered against the wall overcome with dread, for +the child was gone. `Had she been taken down the stairs?' I asked the +women, and shook them roughly to get an answer, but they were quite +insensible. It was too much to bear, and I dashed down the staircase, +up which still came the sounds of yelling and struggling, as the people +fought their way towards safety; but every here and there the crippled +and wounded of the fight were left behind, to slowly crawl downwards, +their countenances blanched with horror. + +"Round and round, ever downwards, I hurried till I came upon a party of +men coming up, headed by a body of policemen--for the staircase was at +length open; and in reply to my anxious inquiries, I learnt that they +had met someone carrying a child, and the next moment I was down in the +entrance catching the little one out of the arms of the man who had +turned back to bring her down. + +"And now, as I stood there faint and exhausted, I But first one and then +another brought out, crushed and bleeding, till I staggered off, the +child taking me home, further and further from the lurid light behind, +towards which people were hurrying from all directions; for I was giddy +and confused, but none the less thanks for for my escape." + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +MY PATIENTS AT THE MINE. + +My residence in Sheffield made me pretty well acquainted with the +Yorkshire character, bluff, rough, frank, and hospitable. The first +impressions of Yorkshire are perhaps not pleasant, but you soon find +that beneath the rough crust there is a great deal that is very +warm-hearted and kind. + +Upon more than one occasion some terrible accident at one of the coal +pits of the South Yorkshire collieries took me out of the town to supply +the extra help needed at such a time, and more than once I have been +present at terribly heart-rending sights. + +I know nothing more shocking, unless it be a wreck, than one of those +coal pit accidents, where a shift of men have gone down in robust health +to their work, and then there has been a noise like thunder, the news +has run like lightning, and the first cry is whose man or whose boy was +down. + +It was during one of those journeys when I had been summoned to help, +that, strolling towards a neighbouring pit for the sake of change and +rest after a couple of days' very hard toil amongst the injured by fire +and the falling of the mine roof, I came upon the manager of the +neighbouring mine. + +He nodded to me in a familiar way. + +"Nice morning," he said. + +"Yes, but cold," I replied. + +"Yes, it is cold. How are you going on yonder?" + +"I don't think there'll be any more deaths," I said. "The poor fellows +are getting on now." + +"Thank God!" he said with a genuine reverence in his tone of voice, "and +keep such an accident far from my pit." + +"Amen to that," I replied. "Is this your pit, then?" + +"I call it mine," he said laughing, "but it's a company's. I'm +manager." + +"Indeed," I said, "then perhaps you can gratify my wish to go down." + +"Go down?" he said laughing, "Yes, if you'll come and stay with us a +night or two." + +I hesitated, but he pressed me. + +"I should like you to come, doctor. A word or two from you would go +well home to my pit-lads who are terribly careless. You being a doctor +and a scientific man would be believed." + +"How did you know I was a doctor?" I asked. + +"How did I know thou wast a doctor? Why, didn't I come over to +Stannicliffe pit, and see you at work with the poor lads. Say you'll +come doctor, you'll do your work better after a change, and I'll send +word over that you are here if you're wanted." + +"On those conditions I'll come then," I said. "Is that your house?" + +"Yes, that's my house under the hillside there, facing the south, where +the lights are; you saw it as you came up. Pretty? Well, as pretty as +we can make it. Looks like an oasis in a black desert; and hard work it +is to keep it decent with so many pits about, each belching out its +clouds of villainous smoke black as the coal which makes it; for you see +we have not only the fires for the pumping and cage engine, but those at +the bottom of the ventilating shafts, and the soot they send floating +out into the air is something startling, without counting the sulphurous +vapours which ruin vegetation. + +"Of course, if you like to go down you can go. I'll go with you. Oh +yes: I've often been down. I should think I have! Hundreds of times. +Why, I've handled the pick myself in the two-foot seam as an ordinary +pitman, though I'm manager now. I don't see any cause to be ashamed of +it. And, after all, it's nothing new here in Yorkshire. I could point +out a score of men who have been at work in the factories, now holding +great works of their own. + +"Accidents? Well, yes; we do have accidents, in spite of all +precautions and inspection, but not so bad as at Stannicliffe. I'll +tell you of one by and by. Now you, coming down to see a coal pit, look +upon it as a dangerous place. Without being cowardly, you'll shudder +when we go down the great black shaft a couple of hundred yards, and +you'll then walk as if you were going through a powder-magazine. But +you know what you used to write in your copy-book at school, +`Familiarity breeds contempt.' Truer words were never written, and I +see it proved every week. It's dangerous work going up and down our +pit, and yet the men will laugh, and talk, and do things that will +almost make your blood run cold. It is like throwing a spark amongst +gunpowder to open a lamp in some parts of our mine; but our men, for the +sake of a pipe, will ran all risks, even to lighting matches on the +walls, and taking naked candles to stick up, that they may see better to +work. + +"Yes, we've had some bad accidents here, but I shall never forget one +that happened five-and-twenty years ago. Tell you about it? Good: but +it shall be after tea, by the warm fireside, and then if you like to go +down the pit in the morning, why, go you shall. + +"There, that's cosy. This is the time I always enjoy--after tea, with +the curtains drawn; the wind driving the snow in great pats against the +window-panes as it howls down the hillside, and makes the fire roar up +the chimney. Not particular over a scuttle of coals here, you see. One +of your London friends was down once, and he declared that if he lived +here he should amuse himself all day long with poker and shovel. + +"And now, about this story of the accident I promised--only to hear this +you must learn a little more beside. _You_ needn't go out of the room, +my dear. + +"Well, as I told you, it was five-and-twenty years ago, and I was just +five-and-twenty years old then--working as regular pitman on the day or +night shift. Dirty work, of course, but there was soap in the land even +in those days; and when I came up, after a good wash and a change, I +could always enjoy a read, such times as I didn't go to the +night-school, where, always having been a sort of reading fellow, I used +to help teach the boys, and on Sundays I used to go to the school and +help there. + +"Of course it was all done in a rough way, for hands that had been busy +with a coal-pick all day were not, you will say, much fit for using a +pen at night. However, I used to go, and it was there I found out that +teaching was a thing that paid you back a hundred per cent, interest, +for you could not teach others without teaching yourself. + +"But--I may as well own to it--it was the teaching at the Sunday-school +I used to look forward to, for it was there I used to see Mary Andrews, +the daughter of one of our head pitmen. He was not so very high up, +only at the pit village he lived in one of the best houses, and had +about double the wages of the ordinary men. + +"Consequently, Mary Andrews was a little better dressed and better +educated than the general run of girls about there; and there was +something about her face that used, in its quiet earnestness, to set me +anxiously watching her all the time she was teaching, till I used to +wake up of a sudden to the fact that the boys in my class were all at +play, when, flushing red all over the face, I used to leave off staring +over to the girls' part of the big school-room, and try to make up for +lost time. + +"I can't tell you when it began, but at that time I used somehow to +associate Mary Andrews' pale innocent face with everything I did. Every +blow I drove into a coal-seam with my sharp pick used to be industry for +Mary's sake. Of an evening, when I washed off the black and tidied up +my hair, it used to be so that she might not be ashamed of me if we met; +and even every time I made my head ache with some calculation out of my +arithmetic--ten times as difficult because I had no one to help me--I +used to strive and try on till I conquered, because it was all for +Mary's sake. + +"Not that I dared to have told her so, I thought, but somehow the +influence of Mary used to lift me up more and more, till I should no +more have thought of going to join the other pitmen in a public-house +than of trying to fly. + +"It was about this time that I got talking to a young fellow about my +age who worked in my shift. John Kelsey his name was, and I used to +think it a pity that a fine clever fellow like he was, handsome, stout, +and strong, should be so fond of the low habits, dog-fighting and +wrestling, so popular amongst our men, who enjoyed nothing better than +getting over to Sheffield or Rotherham for what they called a day's +sport, which generally meant unfitness for work during the rest of the +week. + +"`Well,' said John, `your ways seem to pay you,' and he laughed and went +away; and I thought no more of it till about a month after, when I found +out that I was what people who make use of plain simple language call in +love, and I'll tell you how I found it out. + +"I was going along one evening past old Andrews' house, when the door +opened for a moment as if some one was coming out, but, as if I had been +seen, it was closed directly. In that short moment, though, I had heard +a laugh, and that laugh I was sure was John Kelsey's. + +"I felt on fire for a few moments, as I stood there unable to move, and +then as I dragged myself away the feeling that came over me was one of +blank misery and despair. I could have leaned my head up against the +first wall I came to and cried like a child; but that feeling passed off +to be succeeded by one of rage. For, as the blindness dropped from my +eyes, I saw clearly that not only did I dearly love Mary Andrews--love +her with all a strong man's first love, such a love as one would feel +who had till now made his sole companions of his books--but that I was +forestalled, that John Kelsey was evidently a regular visitor there, +and, for aught I knew to the contrary, was her acknowledged lover. + +"I did not like playing the spy; but, with a faint feeling of hope on me +that I might have been mistaken, I walked back past the house, and there +was no mistake, John Kelsey's head was plainly enough to be seen upon +the blind, and I went home in despair. + +"How I looked forward to the next Sunday, half resolved to boldly tell +Mary of my love, and to ask her whether there was any truth in that +which I imagined, though I almost felt as if I should not dare. + +"Sunday came at last, and somehow I was rather late when I entered the +great school-room, one end of which was devoted to the girls, the other +to the boys. At the first glance I saw that Mary was in her place; at +the second all the blood in my body seemed to rush to my heart, for +there, standing talking to the superintendent, was John Kelsey, and the +next minute he had a class of the youngest children placed in his +charge, and he was hearing them read. + +"`He has done this on account of what I said to him,' was my first +thought, and I felt glad; but directly after I was in misery, for my +eyes rested upon Mary Andrews, and that explained all--it was for her +sake he had come. + +"I don't know how that afternoon passed, nor anything else, only that as +soon as the children were dismissed I saw John Kelsey go up to Mary's +side and walk home with her; and then I walked out up the hillside, +wandering here and there amongst the mouths of the old unused pits half +full of water, and thinking to myself that I might just as well be down +there in one of them, for there was no more hope or pleasure for me in +this world. + +"Time slipped on, and I could plainly see one thing that troubled me +sorely; John was evidently making an outward show of being a hardworking +fellow, striving hard for improvement, so as to stand well in old +Andrews' eyes, while I knew for a fact that he was as drunken and +dissipated as any young fellow that worked in the pit. + +"I could not tell Andrews this, nor I could not tell Mary. If she loved +him it would grieve her terribly, and be dishonourable as well, and +perhaps he might improve. I can tell him though, I thought, and I made +up my mind that I would; and meeting him one night, evidently hot and +excited with liquor, I spoke to him about it. + +"`If you truly love that girl, John,' I said, `you'll give up this sort +of thing.' + +"He called me a meddling fool, said he had watched me, that he knew I +had a hankering after her myself, but she only laughed at me; and one +way and another so galled me that we fought. I went home that night +braised, sore, and ashamed of my passion; while he went to the Andrews' +and said he had had to thrash me for speaking insultingly about Mary. + +"I heard this afterwards, and I don't know how it was but I wrote to her +telling her it was false, and that I loved her too well ever to have +acted so. + +"When next we met I felt that she must have read my letter and laughed +at me. At all events, John Kelsey did, and I had the mortification of +seeing that old Andrews evidently favoured his visits. + +"John still kept up his attendance at the school, but he was at the far +end; and more than once when I looked up it was to find Mary Andrews +with her eyes fixed on me. She lowered them though directly, and soon +after it seemed to me that she turned them upon John. + +"It seems to me that a man never learns till he is well on in life how +he should behave towards the woman of; his choice, and how much better +it would be if he would go and, in a straightforward, manly fashion, +tell her of his feelings. I was like the rest, I could not do it; but +allowed six months to pass away over my head. + +"I was sitting over my breakfast before starting for work, when I heard +a sound, and knew what it meant before there were shrieks in the +village, and women running out and making for the pit's mouth a quarter +of a mile away. I tell you I turned sick with horror, for I knew that +at least twenty men would be down on the night shift; and though it was +close upon their leaving time, they could not have come up yet. + +"`Pit's fired! pit's fired!' I heard people shrieking; not that there +was any need, for there wasn't a soul that didn't know it, the pit +having spoken for itself. And as I hurried out I thought all in a flash +like of what a day it would be for some families there, and I seemed to +see a long procession of rough coffins going to the churchyard, and to +hear the wailings of the widow and the fatherless. + +"There was no seeming, though, in the wailings, for the poor frightened +women, with their shawls pinned over their heads, were crying and +shrieking to one another as they ran on. + +"I didn't lose any time, as you may suppose, in running to the pit's +mouth, but those who lived nearer were there long before me; and by the +time I got there I found that the cage had brought up part of the men +and three who were insensible, and that it was just going down again. + +"It went down directly; and just as it disappeared who should come +running up, pale and scared, but Mary Andrews. She ran right up to the +knot of men who had come up, and who were talking loudly, in a wild, +frightened way, about how the pit had fired--they could not tell how-- +and she looked from one to the other, and then at the men who were +scorched, and then she ran towards the pit's mouth where I was. + +"`There's no one belonging to you down, is there?' I asked her. + +"`Oh yes--yes! my father was down, and John Kelsey.' + +"As she said the first words, I felt ready for anything; but as she +finished her sentence, a cold chill came over me, and she saw the +change, and looked at me in a strange, half-angry way. + +"`Here comes the cage up,' I said, trying hard to recover myself, and +going up to the bank by her side; but when half-a-dozen scorched and +blackened men stepped out, and we looked at their disfigured faces, poor +Mary gave a low wail of misery, and I head her say, softly, `Oh, father! +father! father!' + +"It went right to my heart to hear her bitter cry, and I caught hold of +her hand. + +"`Don't be down-hearted, Mary,' I said huskily; `there's hope yet.' + +"Her eyes flashed through her tears, as she turned sharply on me; and +pressing her hand for a moment, I said, softly, `Try and think more +kindly of me, Mary.' And then I turned to the men. + +"`Now, then, who's going down?' + +"`You can't go down,' shouted half-a-dozen voices; `the choke got 'most +the better of us.' + +"`But there are two men down!' I cried, savagely. `You're not all +cowards, are you?' + +"Three men stepped forward, and we got in the cage. + +"`Who knows where Andrews was?' I cried; and a faint voice from one of +the injured men told me. Then I gave the warning, and we were lowered +down; it having been understood that at the first signal we made we were +to be drawn up sharply. + +"The excitement kept me from being frightened; but there was a horrid +feeling of oppression in the air as we got lower and lower, and twice +over the men with me were for being drawn up. + +"`It steals over you before you know it,' said one. + +"`It laid me like in a sleep when Rotherby pit fired,' said another. + +"`Would you leave old Andrews to die?' I said, and they gave in. + +"We reached the bottom, and I found no difficulty in breathing, and, +shouting to the men to come on, I ran in the direction where I had been +told we should find Andrews; but it was terrible work, for I expected +each moment to encounter the deadly gas that had robbed so many men of +their lives. But I kept on, shouting to those behind me, till all at +once I tripped and fell over some one; and as soon as I could get myself +together, I lowered the light I carried, and, to my great delight, I +found it was Andrews. + +"Whether dead or alive I could not tell then; but we lifted him amongst +us, and none too soon, for as I took my first step back I reeled, from a +curious giddy feeling which came over me. + +"`Run if you can,' I said faintly; for my legs seemed to be sinking +under me. I managed to keep on, though, and at our next turn we were in +purer air; but we knew it was a race for life, for the heavy gas was +rolling after us, ready to quench out our lives if we slackened speed +for an instant. We pressed on, though, till we reached the cage, rolled +into it, more than climbed, and were drawn up, to be received with a +burst of cheers, Mary throwing her arms round her father's neck, and +sobbing bitterly. + +"`I'm not much hurt,' he said feebly, the fresh air reviving him, as he +was laid gently down. `God bless those brave lads who brought me up! +But there's another man down--John Kelsey.' + +"No one spoke, no one moved; for all knew of the peril from which we had +just escaped. + +"`I can't go myself, or I would,' said Andrews; `but you mustn't let him +lie there and burn. I left him close up to the lead. He tried to +follow me, but the falling coal struck him down. I believe the pit's on +fire.' + +"There was a low murmur amongst the men, and some of the women wailed +aloud; but still no one moved except old Andrews, who struggled up on +one arm, and looked up at us, his face black, and his whiskers and hair +all burnt off. + +"`My lads,' he said feebly, `can't you do nothing to save your mate?' +and as he looked wildly from one to the other, I felt my heart like in +my mouth. + +"`Do you all hear?' said a loud voice; and I started as I saw Mary +Andrews rise from where she had knelt holding her father's hand; `do you +all hear?--John Kelsey is left in the pit. Are you not men enough to +go?' + +"`Men can't go,' said one of the day-shift, gruffly; `no one could live +there.' + +"`You have not tried,' again she cried passionately. `Richard Oldshaw,' +she said, turning to me with a red glow upon her face, `John Kelsey is +down there dying, and asking for help. Will not you go?' + +"`And you wish me to go, then?' I said, bitterly. + +"`Yes,' she said. `Would you have your fellow-creature lie there and +die, when God has given you the power and strength, and knowledge to +save him?' + +"We stood there then, gazing in one another's eyes. + +"`You love him so that you can't even help risking my life to save his, +Mary. You know how dearly I love you, and that I'm ready to die for +your sake; but it seems hard--very hard to be sent like this.' + +"That was what I thought, and she stood all the time watching me +eagerly, till I took hold of her hand and kissed it; and though she +looked away then, it seemed to me as though she pressed it very gently. + +"The next minute I stepped up towards the pit's mouth, where there was a +dead silence, for no one would volunteer; and, in a half blustering way, +I said, `I'll go down.' + +"There was a regular cheer rose up as I said those words; but I hardly +heeded it, for I was looking at Mary, and my heart sank as I saw her +standing there smiling with joy. + +"`She thinks I shall save him,' I said to myself, bitterly, `Well, I'll +do it, if I die in the attempt; and God forgive her, for she has broken +my heart.' + +"The next minute I had stepped into the cage, and it began to move, when +a voice calls out, `Hang it all, Dick Oldshaw shan't go alone!' and a +young pitman sprang in by my side. + +"Then we began to descend, and through an opening I just caught sight of +Mary Andrews falling back senseless in the arms of the women. Then all +was dark, and I was nerving myself for what I had to do. + +"To go the way by which I had helped to save Andrews, was, I knew, +impossible; but I had hopes that by going round by one of the old +workings we might reach him, and I told my companion what I thought. + +"`That's right--of course it is,' he said slapping me on the back. +`That's books, that is. I wish I could read.' + +"Turning short off as soon as we were at the bottom, I led the way, +holding my lamp high, and climbing and stumbling over the broken shale +that had fallen from the roof; for this part of the mine had not been +worked for years. Now we were in parts where we could breathe freely, +and then working along where the dense gas made our lamps sputter and +crackle; and the opening of one for an instant would have been a flash, +and death for us both. Twice over I thought we had lost our way; but I +had a plan of the pit at home, and often and often I had studied it, +little thinking it would ever stand me in such good stead as this; and +by pressing on I found that we were right, and gradually nearing the +point at which the accident had occurred. + +"As we got nearer, I became aware of the air setting in a strong draught +in the direction in which we were going, and soon after we could make +out a dull glow, and then there was a deep roar. The pit was indeed on +fire, and blazing furiously, so that as we got nearer, trembling--I'm +not ashamed to own it, for it was an awful sight--there was the coal +growing of a fierce red heat; but, fortunately, the draught set towards +an old shaft fully a quarter of a mile farther on, and so we were able +to approach till, with a cry of horror, I leaped over heap after heap of +coal, torn from the roof and wall by the explosion, to where, close to +the fire lay the body of John Kelsey--so close that his clothes were +already smouldering; and the fire scorched my face as I laid hold of him +and dragged him away. + +"How we ever got him to the foot of the shaft I never could tell; for to +have carried him over the fallen coal of the disused galleries would +have been impossible. It was either to risk the gas of the regular way, +or to lie down and die by his side. I remember standing there for a few +moments, and sending a prayer up to Him who could save us; and then with +a word to my mate, we had John up between us, and staggered towards the +shaft in a strange, helpless, dreamy way. To this day it seems to me +little less than a miracle how we could have lived; but the fire must +have ventilated the passages sufficiently to allow us to stagger slowly +along till we climbed into the cage, and were drawn up. + +"I have some faint recollection of hearing a cheer, and of seeing the +dim light of the chill December day; but the only thing which made any +impression upon me was a voice which seemed to be Mary's, and a touch +that seemed to be that of her hand. I heard a voice saying `Terribly +burned, but he's alive. Got a pipe and matches in his hand;' and I knew +they were speaking about John Kelsey, and the thought came upon me once +more that I had saved him for her; and with an exceeding bitter cry, I +covered my poor fire blinded eyes, and lay there faint and +half-insensible. + +"And it's not much more that I can recollect, only of being in a wild, +feverish state, wandering through dark passages, with fire burning my +head, and coal falling always, and ready to crush me; and I then seemed +to wake from a long, deep sleep, and to be thinking in a weak, troubled +way about getting up. + +"It was a month, though, before I could do that, and then there was a +tender arm to help me, and a soft cheek ever ready to be laid to mine; +for in those long, weary hours of sickness Mary had been by my side to +cheer me back to health, and I had learned that I was loved." + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +MY SCALDED PATIENT. + +"Thanky doctor. Eh? feel faint? not a bit. Why bless your heart, I +could bear twice as much without winking. Scalding ain't nice, though." + +My patient, a frank, open-faced fellow, smiled as if he liked it all the +same. + +"There's something wrong with your boiler work, my man," I said, "or we +should not have so many explosions. How is it?" + +"Can't say, I'm sure, sir. Been used to bilers all my life; but working +'em's different to making 'em. There's something wrong, as you say, or +they wouldn't always be a-bustin'. 'Tain't once, nor twice, nor now and +then, for it's a thing as is always a-happening; and though I've never +had more than a scald or two myself, I've seen some strange sights; men +all blown to pieces, so that they were picked up afterwards in baskets; +men taken to the hospital with their flesh bulging to them in rags, and +there they'd lie writhing and tearing at the wrappings in such agony, +that--there, I ain't above owning it--I've cried like a child to see my +poor mates' sufferings. And there they'd be day after day, till a sort +of calm came over them and the pain went, when they'd quite smile if you +spoke to 'em, they seemed so easy; and it would be because a gentle hand +was laid upon 'em, and they were going into the long sleep. + +"Some gets better, but not when they're scalded badly; for it's strange +stuff, is steam. Well, no; I'm not afraid, and never do feel afraid. +What's the good? One's got it to do, and there's the mouths at home to +feed, so one can't afford it; and then the odds are precious long ones +against it's being one's own bustin'. But now so many more steam +engines are coming into use, day by day, it seems as if something ought +to be done in the way of making bilers stronger. Cheapness is +cheapness; but then a thing's dear at any price that makes such ruin as +I've seen sometimes; so why don't they try some tougher metal than +iron?--though certainly steam's strong enough to tear up anything. But +there seems to me to be some fresh plan wanted for making bilers. I +didn't work there, but I went and had a look d'reckly after that +horrible accident at the Big Works last autumn. Well, there was about +an acre of buildings--sheds and setrer--swept away as if you'd battered +'em all down: great fire bricks weighing a hundred and a half, pitched +here and there like chaff; sheets of lead sent flying a hundred yards; +tall chimneys powdered down; and the big busted biler itself jumped +right out of its place; while as to the middle of it, that was torn off +and crumpled up, and blown like a sheet of paper, to a distance. Plenty +of life lost there, and plenty of escapes; but what I took most notice +of was the plates torn off the biler--torn off as I said before, like so +much paper; while these sheets or plates of iron, had given way at the +rivets, and looked for all the world like postage stamps--torn off, of +coarse, along the perforating. + +"`Now then,' I says to myself, `that's a thing as wants altering. You +perforate the edges of your plates to admit rivets, and so takes half +their strength off--p'r'aps more; then you puts, perhaps, hot rivets in, +and they p'r'aps crystallises the iron'--only p'r'aps, mind, I don't say +so, only the raw edges of the biler looked crystally and brittle. +`Well, then, some day comes a hextry pressure o' steam, and up goes your +biler--busted, and spreading ruin and death and misery around.' + +"`Then how are we to fasten our biler plates,' says you, `if we don't +rivet 'em?' How should I know? I ain't a scientific man--I only +stokes. That's for you to find out. But you ain't a-going to tell me, +are you, that you scientific men and biler makers can't find no other +way to make bilers only by riveting them? Say you bends the plates' +edges over, and hooks one into the other like tin sarspan makers does +their tin. They'd stand some strain that way, and you wouldn't weaken +your plates. I ain't a biler maker or I should try that dodge, I think; +but there, that's only one way out of many as could be found by +experiment. + +"Seems to me, sir, as if we English people hates anything new, and +always wants to keep to what our fathers and grandfathers had before us. +They went along and made their footmarks, and we go along after 'em, +putting our feet in just the same spots, thinking it must be right, come +what will of it. + +"Had to do with engines many years. Stoked locomotives and +stationeries, agricultural and manufactories, and printing offices, and +been down in the engine-rooms of steamers; and that last's about the +hottest and worst of all. Killing work, you know, for anybody, +'specially in a hot country, where every breath of air that comes down +to you is already roasted, as it were, and don't do you no good. + +"Bustins? Well, no, only one, and that was quite enough; for though it +didn't hurt my body, it did hurt my heart, and if you happen to be a +father you'll understand what I mean. + +"It was dinner-time at our works--a great place where the engine used to +be going to pump water night and day, so that there was two of us; and +one week I'd be on daywork, next week night work, and so on. Now it so +happened that our water in that part was terribly hard--water that would +cover the inside of a biler with thick fur in no time. But whether it +was that or no, I can't say; all I know is, that one dinner-time I went +out into the yard to wash my hands and have a cooler, when I heard a +strange, wild, rushing noise, and felt something hit me on the back of +the head. Then turning round, I stood fixed to the spot, for the air +was black with tiles, and bricks and laths and rafters, while the whole +place seemed to be crumbling up together--just like as if you'd built up +a tall card house, and then tapped it so that it fell, one card on top +of another, till there was a little heap all lying close and snug; till +out of a tall building there was nothing left but some smoking ruins. + +"I knew it was not my fault; for I'd looked at the gauge just before, +and the pressure of steam wasn't heavy. I knew there was plenty of +water in the biler and the safety valve was all right; so that all I +could do was to be thankful for the accident happening at dinner-time, +and also for my own wonderful escape. And then, though I wasn't hurt, +something seemed to come over me like a flash, and struck me to the +ground in an instant. + +"When I came to, I fell, horribly sick and deathly like, and looked +about from face to face, wondering what was the matter; for I couldn't +make out why I should be lying on my back, with people round me in the +yard--one holding up my head, and another sprinkling my face with water. + +"Then it all came back at once, and I shuddered as I turned my head and +looked at the ruined works; for I knew what it was struck me down to the +earth. I said before it was like a flash, and it was--it was one quick +thought which came across my brain, for I knew that, being dinner-time, +my little golden-haired gal would have brought my 'lowance tied up in a +basin; and something told me that she had gone into the stoke-hole to +find me when I had gone into the yard. + +"`Let me get up,' I says, and I ran towards the ruins and began tearing +away at the heap of brick rubbish, while the crowd now gathered +together, hearing that there was some one underneath, began tearing away +at the rubbish like fury. + +"By-and-by the police came, and some gentlemen, and something like order +was got at, and the people worked well to get down to where the +stoke-hole had been. I had said that there was someone there, but I +couldn't shape my month to say who it was; and some said it was one man, +and some another; but whoever they named seemed to come directly, back +from his dinner, or because he had heard the explosion. So, by-and-by, +people began to look from one to another, and ask who it was. + +"`Ask Wilum,' says some one, `he was here at the time;' and some one +asked me. But I had no occasion to speak, for just then, alarmed at the +child's not going back as usual, the little gal's mother came shrieking +out and crying-- + +"`Where's little Patty? where's little Patty?' and then, when no one +spoke, she gave a sort of pitiful moan, and sank slowly down--first on +her knees, and then sideways on to a heap of bricks; and I remember +thinking it was best, for I could not find it in my heart to go to her +help, but kept on tearing away at the hot bricks and rubbish. + +"It was puzzling and worriting; for one could not seem to be sure of +where anything had once stood, in the horrible confusion before us. One +said the stoke-hole had been here, and another there; but even I who had +worked there two years, could not be sure. + +"Hour after hour went by, and still we worked on; while as every big +rafter or beam was lifted and dragged away, I was obliged to turn my +head, for I felt sick, and the place seemed to swim, for I expected to +see Patty's little bright curls torn out and hanging to the jagged wood, +and that underneath there would be something horrible and crushed. + +"I know it wasn't manly; but what can I say, when there was a little +bright, blue-eyed child in the case--one of those little things whose +look will make your great rough hand fall to your side when raised in +anger, while the tiny thing can lead you about and do what she likes +with you? P'r'aps I ain't manly; but somehow, children always seems to +get the upper hand of me. + +"And so on we worked, hour after hour; men getting tired and dropping +off, but always plenty more ready to take their places; while I--I never +thought of it, and kept on tearing away till my hands bled, and the +sweat ran down my face; but I turned away every time there was something +large lifted, for I said to myself `She must be under that!' And then +again and again, in my mind, I seemed to see the torn and crushed face +of my darling, and her long curls dabbled in blood. + +"In the midst of the piled-up, blackened ruins--bricks, mortar, tiles, +lead, and ragged and split beams, huge pieces of wood snapped and torn +like matches--we toiled on hour after hour till the dark night came, +when the gas pipes that had been laid bare and plugged were unstopped, +and the gas lit, so that it flared and blazed and cast a strange wild +light over the ruined place. There had been flames burst forth two or +three times from parts of the ruins, but a few sprinklings from the fire +engine in attendance had put them out; and as we worked on the rubbish +grew cooler and cooler. + +"Some said that the child could not have been there, but the sight of +her mother tearing out was sufficient, when once she got away from the +kind people who had her in their house--a house where but part of the +windows had been broken by the explosion--and came running to where I +was at work, snatching at the bricks and wood, till I got two or three +to take her back for I couldn't have left where I was to have saved my +life. But I remember so well asking myself why it was that women will +let down their back hair when they're in a state of excitement, and make +'emselves look so wild. + +"By-and-by someone came to say how bad my wife was, and that she wanted +to see me; but I felt that I couldn't go, and kept on in a fevered sort +of way, work, work; and I've thought since that if she had been dying it +would have been all the same. However, I heard soon after that she +seemed a little better; and I found out afterwards that a doctor there +had given the poor thing something that seemed to calm her and she went +to sleep. + +"It would have been a strong dose, though, that would have sent me off +to sleep, as still on, hour after hour, I worked there, never tiring, +but lifting beams that two or three men would have gone at, and tossing +the rubbish away like so much straw. + +"The owners were kind enough, and did all they could to encourage the +men, sending out beer and other refreshments; but the heap of stuff to +move was something frightful, and more than once I felt quite in +despair, and ready to sit down and weakly cry. But I was at it again +the next moment, and working with the best of them. + +"`Hadn't you better leave now?' said one of my masters; `I'll see that +everything is done.' + +"I gave him one look, and he laid his hand kindly on my shoulder, and +said no more to me about going; and I heard him say, `Poor fellow!' to +some one by him, as he turned away. + +"We came upon the biler quite half-a-dozen yards out of its place, +ripped right across where the rivers went; while as for the engine, it +was one curious bit of iron tangle--rode, and bars, and pieces of iron +and brass, twisted and turned and bent about, like so much string; and +the great flywheel was broken in half-a-dozen places. + +"This showed us now where the great cellar-like place--the stoke-hole-- +was; and we worked down now towards that; but still clearing the way, +for how could I tell where the child might be? But it was weary, slow +work; every now and then rigging up shears, and fastening ropes and +pulley and sheaf, to haul up some great piece of iron or a beam; and +willing as every one was, we made very little progress in the dark +night. + +"Once we had to stop and batter away a wall with a scaffold pole; for +the police declared it to be unsafe, and the sergeant would not let us +work near it till it was down; and all the while I was raging like a +madman at the check. But it was of no use, and the man was right. He +was doing his duty, and not like me, searching for the little crushed +form of my darling in the cruel ruins. The people made me worse, for +they would talk and say what they thought, so that I could hear. One +would say she might still be alive, another would shake his head, and so +on; when I kept stopping, in spite of all I tried not, listening to what +they said, and it all seemed so much lost time. + +"The engine-room was now cleared, and in spite of my trembling and +horror, as every big piece was disturbed, nothing had been found; but +all at once, as we were trying to clear behind the biler, and get down +to the stoke-hole, one of the men gate a cry. I caught at the man +nearest to me, and then lights, rubbish, the strange wild scene, all +seemed to run round me, and I should have fallen only the man held me +up, and some one brought me some brandy. + +"I was myself again directly, and stumbling over the bricks to where a +knot of men had collected, and a policeman had his bull's-eye lantern +open, and they were stooping to look at something that lay just under a +beam they had raised--to the left of where I expected she would be +found. + +"`Smashed,' I heard some one, with his back to me, say; and then some +one else, `Poor little thing, she must have run past here!' + +"Then, with my throat dry and my eyes staring, I crept up and thrust two +men aside, right and left, when the others made way for me without +speaking, and, when I got close up, I covered my face with my hands, and +softly knelt down. + +"The policeman said something, and some one else spoke cheerily; but I +couldn't hear what they said, for my every thought was upon what I was +going to see. And now, for the first time, the great, blinding tears +came gushing from my eyes, so that when I slowly took down first one +hand and then another, I was blinded, and could not see for a few +moments; till, stooping a little lower, there, smashed and flattened, +covered with mortar and dust, was my old red cotton handkercher tied +round the basin and plate that held my dinner, dropped here by my little +darling girl. + +"For a few moments I was, as it were, struck dumb--it was so different a +sight to what I had expected to see; and then I leaped up and laughed, +and shouted, and danced--the relief was so great. + +"`Come on!' I cried again; and then, for an hour or more, we were at +it, working away till the light began to come in the east, and tell us +that it was daybreak. + +"Late as it was, plenty of people had stopped all the time; for, somehow +or another, hundreds had got to know the little bright, golden-haired +thing that trotted backwards and forwards every day with my dinner +basin. She was too little to do it, but then, bless you, that was our +pride; for the wife combed and brushed and dressed her up on purpose. +And fine and proud we used to be of the little thing, going and coming-- +so old-fashioned. Why, lots of heads used to be thrust out to watch +her; and seeing how pretty, and artless, and young she was, we used to +feel that every one would try and protect her; and it was so. Time +after time, that night, I saw motherly-looking women, that I did not +know, with their aprons to their eyes, sobbing and crying; and though I +didn't notice it then, I remembered it well enough afterwards--ah! and +always shall; while the way in which some of the men worked--well-to-do +men, who would have thought themselves insulted if you'd offered 'em +five shillings for their night's job--showed how my poor little darling +had won the hearts of all around. Often and often since, too, I could +have stopped this one, and shook hands with that one for their kindness; +only there's always that shut-upness about an Englishman that seems to +make him all heart at a time of sorrow, and a piece of solid bluntness +at every other time. + +"Well, it was now just upon morning, and we were all worked up to a +pitch of excitement that nothing could be like. We had been expecting +to come upon the poor child all the afternoon and night, but now there +could be no doubt of it. She must be here; for we were now down in the +stoke-hole, working again with more vigour than had been shown for +hours. Men's faces were flushed, and their teeth set. They didn't +talk, only in Whispers; and the stuff went flying out as fast as others +could take it away. + +"`Easy, easy,' the sergeant of police kept saying, as he and two of his +men kept us well lit with the strong light of their lanterns. + +"But the men tore on, till at last the place was about cleared out, and +we had got to a mass of brick wall sloping against one side, and a +little woodwork on the other side, along with some rubbish. + +"And now was the exciting time, as we went, four of us, at the brick +wall, and dragged at it, when some women up above shrieked out, and we +stood trembling, for it had crumbled down and lay all of a heap where we +had raised it from. + +"`Quick!' I shouted, huskily. And we tore the bricks away till there +was hardly a scrap left, and we stood staring at one another. + +"`Why, she ain't here, arter all!' says a policeman. + +"`I'm blest,' says another. + +"But I couldn't speak, for I did not know what to do; but stood staring +about as if I expected next to see the little darling come running up +again unhurt. + +"`Try there,' says the sergeant. + +"Then he turned on his light in a dark corner, where the bits of wood +lay, and I darted across and threw back two or three pieces, when I gave +a cry, and fell on my knees again. For there was no mistake this time: +I had uncovered a little foot, and there was the white sock all +blood-stained; and I felt a great sob rise from my breast as I stooped +down and kissed the little red spot. + +"`Steady,' said the sergeant; and then quickly, as I knelt there, they +reached over me, and lifted piece after piece away, till there, in the +grey light of the morning, I was looking upon the little motionless +figure, lying there with her golden hair, as I had fancied, dabbled in +blood from a cut in her little white forehead, where the blood had run, +but now lay hard and dry. Covered with blood and scraps of mortar, she +lay stretched out there, and I felt as if my heart would break to see +the little, peaceful face almost with a smile upon it; while, as if out +of respect to my feelings, the men all drew back, till I knelt there +alone. + +"And now far up in the sky the warm light of the rising sun shone, and +it was reflected down upon that tiny face, and as I knelt there in the +still silence of that early morn I could hear again and again a +half-stifled sob from those looking on. + +"With trembling hands I leaned forward and gently raised her head; then, +passing one beneath her, I rose on my knee to bear her out, when I +stopped as if turned to stone, then left go, and clasped both my raw and +bleeding hands to my blackened forehead, as shrieking out--`My God, +she's alive!' I fell back insensible; for those little blue eyes had +opened at my touch, and a voice, whispered the one word-- + +"`Father!' + +"That's her, sir. Fine girl she's grown, ain't she? but she was +beautiful as a child. Hair ever so many shades lighter; and, unless you +went close up, you couldn't see the mark of that cut, though it was some +time before the scar gave over looking red. + +"But really, you know, sir, there ought to be something done about these +bilers; for the rate at which they're a-bustin's fearful." + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +MY PATIENT THE CAPTAIN. + +Captain Greening as he was called was a curious old patient of mine whom +I had to attend pretty regularly when I lived at Basingstoke. His title +of captain was derived from the fact that he had in his younger days +been captain of a barge plying along the canal. His was a chronic case +that was incurable, so I rarely called upon him at a busy time, for +nothing pleased the old fellow better than buttonholing me for a long +talk. + +"Look ye here, doctor," he'd say, "I like you, and it's a pleasure to be +ill that it is, so as to have you to talk to." + +I believe that any good return would have done as well but I did not say +so, and we remained the best of friends. + +I called upon him one day at his cottage where he very comfortably +enjoyed the snug winter of his days, and found him so excited over a +newspaper that he forgot all about his asthma, and could only answer my +questions with others. + +"Have you seen about this Regent's Park accident?" he exclaimed. + +"Yes," I replied, "I read it all yesterday morning. Terrible affair." + +"Awful, only it might have been so much worse. There sit down, doctor. +You know I used to have a canal boat--monkey boat we called 'em, because +they are so long and thin." + +"Yes, I know it," I said. + +"Ah, and I've had a load of powder scores o' times both in monkey boats +and lighters on the Thames. You ain't in a hurry to-day, doctor?" + +"Not particularly," I said. + +"That's good," said the old fellow. "Asthma's better. Look here, +doctor, I might have been blown up just as those poor chaps was at any +time, and I nearly was once." + +"What, blown up by powder!" + +"To be sure I was. Look here, I take my long clay pipe off the table-- +so; I pulls the lead tobacco box towards me--so; I fills my pipe-bowl-- +so; and then I pulls open this neat little box, made like somebody's +first idea of a chest of drawers, takes out one of these little splints +of wood, rubs it on the table, no good--on the floor, no good--on the +sole of my boot, no good; but when I gives it a snap on the side of a +box--fizz, there's a bright little light, the wood burns, and I am +holding it to the bowl of my pipe, drawing in the smoke and puffing it +out again, looking at you pleasantly through the thin blue cloud, and-- +how are you? + +"Times is altered since I was a lad, I can tell you. Why, as you know, +that there match wouldn't light not nowhere but on the box, so as to be +safe and keep children from playing with 'em and burning themselves, or +people treading on 'em and setting fire to places; and what I've got to +say is this, that it's a precious great convenience--so long as you've +got the box with you--and a strange sight different to what it was when +I was a boy. + +"Now I'll just tell you how it was then, whether you know or whether you +don't know. Lor' bless you, I've seen my old aunt do it lots o' times. +There used to be a round, flat tin box, not quite so big as the top of +your hat; and the lid on it used to be made into a candlestick, with a +socket to hold a dip. Then into this box they used to stuff a lot of +old cotton rag, and set light to it--burn it till it was all black, and +the little sparkles was all a-running about in it, same as you've seen +'em chasing one another in a bit o' burnt paper. Down upon it would +come a piece o' flat tin and smother all the sparkles out, 'cos no air +could get to 'em; and then they'd put on the lid, and there was your +tinder-box full o' tinder. + +"Next, you know, you used to have a piece o' soft iron, curled round at +each end, so as you took hold on it, and held it like a knuckle-duster; +and also you had a bit o' common flint, such as you might pick up in any +road as wasn't paved with granite; and, lastly, you had a bundle--not a +box, mind, but a bundle--of matches, and them was thin splints o' wood, +like pipe lights, pointed at the ends same's wood palings, and dipped in +brimstone. Them's what the poor people used to sell about the streets, +you know--a dozen of 'em spread out and tied like a lady's fan--in them +days, and made 'em theirselves, they did. A piece o' even splitting +wood and a penn'orth o' brimstone was a stock in trade then, on which +many a poor creetur lived--helped by a bit o' begging. + +"Say, then, you wanted a light--mind, you know, those was the days when +the sojers used to carry the musket they called Brown Bess, as went off +with a flint and steel, long before the percushin cap times--well, say +you wanted a light, you laid your match ready, took your tinder-box off +the chimneypiece, opened it, took the bit o' flint in one hand and the +steel or iron in the other, and at it you went--nick, nick, nick, nick, +nick, with the sparks flying like fun, till one of 'em dropped on your +black tinder, and seemed to lie there like a tiny star. You were in +luck's way if you did that at the end of five minutes; and then you made +yourself into a pair o' human bellows, and blew away at that spark, till +it began to glow and get bigger, when you held to it one of the +brimstone matches, and that began to melt and burn blue, and flamed up; +when the chances was as the stifling stuff got up your nose, and down +your throat, and you choked, and sneezed, and puffed the match out, and +had to begin all over again. + +"Well, that's a long rigmarole about old ways of getting a light; but I +mention it because we'd got one o' them set-outs on board, and that's +the way we used to work. You know, after that came little bottles in +which you dipped a match, and lit it that way--in fosseros, I think you +call it. Next came what was a reg'lar wonder to people then--lucifers, +which in them days was flat-headed matches, which you put between a +piece of doubled-up stuff, like a little book cover, and pulled 'em out +smart. Soon after, some one brought out them as you rubbed on the +bottoms of the box on sand-paper, and they called them congreves; but by +degrees that name dropped out, and we got back to lucifers for name, and +now folks never says nothing but matches. + +"In the days I'm telling you about, I was capen of a lighter--a big, +broad, flat barge, working on the Thames; not one of your narrow monkey +boats as run on the canals, though it was the blowing up of the +_Tilbury_ the other day as put me in mind of what I'm going to tell you +in my long-winded, roundabout fashion. But I s'pose you ain't in no +hurry, so let me go on in my own way. + +"You see, your genuine lighterman ain't a lively sort of a chap, the +natur' of his profession won't lot him be; for he's always doing things +in a quiet, slow, easy-going fashion. Say he's in the river: well, he +tides up and he tides down, going as slow as you like, and only giving a +sweep now and then with a long oar, to keep the barge's head right, and +stay her from coming broadside on to the piers o' the bridges. + +"Well, that's slow work, says you; and so it is. And it ain't no better +when your bargeman gets into a canal, for then he's only towed by a +horse as ain't picked out acause he's a lovely Arab as gallops fifty +mile an hour--one and a half or two's about his cut, and that ain't +lively. As for your new-fangled doing with your steam tugs, a-puffing, +and a-blowing, and as smoking, like foul chimneys on a foggy day, what I +got to say about them is as it's disgustin', and didn't ought to be +allowed. Just look at 'em on the river now, a-drawing half-a-dozen +barges full o' coal at once, and stirring up the river right to the +bottom! Ah! there warn't not no such doings when I was young, and a +good job too. + +"Well, as I was going to tell you, I was capen of the _Betsy_--as fine a +lighter as you'd ha' found on the river in them days, and I'd got two +hands aboard with me. There was Billy Jinks--Gimlet we used to call +him, because he squinted so. I never did see a fellow as could squint +like Billy could. He'd got a werry good pair o' eyes, on'y they was odd +uns and didn't fit. They didn't belong to him, you know, and was +evidently put in his head in a hurry when he were made, and he couldn't +do nothing with 'em. Them eyes of his used to do just whatever they +liked, and rolled and twissened about in a way as you never did see; and +I've often thought since as it was them eyes o' Billy's as made him take +to drink--and drink he could, like a fish. + +"T'other chap was Bob Solly--Toeboy they used to call him on the river, +acause of his lame foot and the thick sole he used to wear to make one +leg same length as t'other; and perhaps, after all, it was Bob's toe as +made him such a drinking chap, and not the example as Gimlet set him. +Anyhow, that there don't matter; only when I'm a-telling a thing I likes +to be exact, as one used to be with the inwoices o' the goods one had to +deliver up or down the river. + +"Well, I was going up and down the river with all sorts o' goods, from +ships, and wharves, and places--sundry things, you know, for I never had +no dealings with coals--and one day, down the river, we loaded up with +barrels off a wharf down by Tilbury--not the Tilbury as was blowed up +the other day, 'cause that was only a monkey boat, but Tilbury down the +river, you know; where there's the fort, and soldiers, and magazines, +and all them sort o' things. + +"Loaded up we were, and the little barrels all lying snug, and covered +up with tarpaulins, and us a-waiting for the tide to come--for we was +going up to Dumphie's Wharf, up there at Isleworth--when Bob Solly comes +up to me, and he says, says he-- + +"`Guv'nor,' he says, `we ain't got no taties.' + +"`Well, Bob,' I says, `then hadn't you better get some?' + +"`Yes,' he says, `I will.' + +"And then Gimlet, who had been standing by, he says-- + +"`And we ain't got no herrins.' + +"The long and the short on it was that them two chaps goes ashore to buy +some herrins and some taties, so as we could cook 'em aboard in the +cabin, where we bargees reg'lar kind o' lived, you know. + +"I ought to ha' knowed better; but I'd got an old _Weekly Dispatch_, as +was the big paper in them days, and I was a-spelling it over about the +corrynation o' King George the Fourth, and the jolly row there'd been up +by Westminster Abbey when Queen Carryline went up to the doors and said +as she wanted to be crowned too. I might ha' knowed what ud follow, but +I was so wrapped up in that there old noosepaper, not being a fast +reader, that I never thought about it; and consequently, when it was +about low tide, and time for us to go, them two chaps was nowhere. + +"`Seen anything o' my mates?' I hollers to a chap ashore, for I was now +out in the stream. + +"`They're up at the Blue Posties,' he says. `Shall I fetch 'em?' + +"`Yes, and be hanged to 'em!' I says; and I goes down to the cabin, +vexed like, gets hold o' the flint and steel and my pipe, and was going +to fill it, when I remembered what we took aboard, and I put 'em all +back in the cupboard. + +"Quarter of an hour arter, just as the tide was beginning to turn, them +two chaps comes aboard, reg'lar tossicated, not to say drunk, and werry +wild I was, and made 'em go down into the cabin, thinking as they'd +sleep it off; and then, casting loose, I put out one of the sweeps, and +we began to float gently up the river. + +"I got on very comfortably that afternoon, never fouling any of the +ships lying in the Pool, getting well under London Bridge, and old +Blackfriars with its covered-in seats like small domes of St. Paul's cut +in half, and so on and under Westminster Bridge, which was very much +like the one at Blackfriars, and on and on, till the tide was at its +height, when I let go the anchors and went to look at them two chaps; +when, instead of being all fight, I found as the money as ought to have +bought herrins and taties had gone in a bottle of stuff which one of 'em +had smuggled in under his jacket, and they was wuss than ever. + +"Of course I was precious wild; but as it's waste o' words to talk to +men in that state, I saved it up for them, went forward, and rolled +myself up in my jacket, pulled a bit o' tarpaulin over me, wished for a +pipe, and then began to think. + +"Now, I suppose that I got thinking too hard, as I sat there looking at +the lights, blinking here and there ashore, as the tide ran hissing down +by the sides of the barge; for after a time I got too tired to think, +and I must have gone off fast asleep, for I got dreaming of all sorts of +horrible things through being in an uncomfortable position, and among +others--I suppose all on account of twenty ton of gunpowder I had on +board--I dreamed as it had blown up, and I was in our little boat, +rowing about on the river amongst burnt wood and bits of barge and +powder barrels, picking up the pieces of myself. + +"Yes, rowing about and picking up the pieces of myself; because, I said +to myself, I ought to be buried decently, and not be left to go floating +about up and down with the tide. I had a hard job, I remember--now +fishing up a foot, now a leg, and now pieces of my body. How it was I +never seemed to ask myself, that I could be rowing about and fishing +myself up; but there it was, and I got quite cross at last because my +head gave me so much trouble: for every time I reached at it with one of +the oars it bobbed under water, and came up again, and rolled over and +over, and seemed to laugh at and wink at me, till, in a passion, I gave +it a heavy tap with the oar, and it went under again, and came up on the +other side of the boat, bobbing up and down like a big apple. + +"`Now what's the good of making a fool of yourself?' I says. `Why +don't you come in the boat along with the rest of the pieces?' + +"Then it opened its mouth, and says out loud-- + +"`I'm as thirsty as a fish.' + +"Now, the idea of that head of mine being thirsty, when it was +swallowing water out there in the river, so tickled me that I began to +laugh, and that laughing woke me, all of a cold shiver, to find it very +dark, and these words seeming still to be buzzing in my ears-- + +"`I'm as thirsty as a fish.' + +"What followed seems to me now just like some horrible nightmare; for as +I sat there, in the forepart of the boat, I could just make out Bob +Solly and Gimlet bending over a little keg, evidently as drunk as owls; +and I saw in a flash that they'd been busy with an augur, and bored a +hole in it, thinking it was spirit of some kind, when it was fine grain +powder. + +"What did I do? Nothing; but come all over of a cold sweat, the big +drops ran down my face, and I felt as if I couldn't move. I knew well +enough what they'd done--they'd pulled up the tarpaulin, and dragged out +a cask, and were going as they thought to drink; and as I saw them +struggle along towards the cabin, I thought of my dream, and felt that +the barge would be blown to pieces. + +"I wanted to jump overboard, and swim for my life; and even then I +remember smiling, and wondering whether I should go in a boat and pick +myself up. Then I tried to go after them, to shout, to do something; +but the bones seemed to have been taken out of my body, and for the +first time in my life I knew what it was to be in a horrible state of +fear. + +"That went, though, at last, and I stood up shivering and made for the +side. I looked at our distance from shore--about fifty yards--and +kicked off my boots. I raised my hands, and in another moment I should +have plunged overboard, when something seemed to say to me `You coward!' +and I stopped short. + +"Of course: I was capen, and if I deserted the barge up she must go, and +Lord help the poor people ashore. + +"But if I stayed? + +"Well, I might save 'em. + +"I ran aft along the side of the barge, feeling sure that it was all a +dream, for the men were out of sight; but when I reached the cabin +hatchway I heard words as chilled me right through. + +"`It's awful queer, Bob,' Gimlet hiccupped; `the stuff's running out all +over my hands, and yet it ain't wet, and it tastes salt.' + +"`We'll soon see what it's made on, lad,' says Gimlet, thickly; and then +I had the old nightmare feeling come over me, and couldn't stir-- +couldn't speak, only listen, with the thought of twenty ton of powder +aboard and there, with the loose powder running all over them, was my +mate Gimlet busy with tinder-box, flint, and steel. + +"Nick--nick--nick--nick! + +"And I couldn't move. + +"Nick--nick--nick--nick! + +"I tried to get down the hatchway, but hadn't a muscle that would work. + +"Nick--nick--nick--nick! + +"There was a stoppage--a faint glow, as of a man blowing the tinder, and +I became myself again, and mad with fear, I crawled through the trap. + +"Then there was the sputtering and blue burning of a brimstone match; +and I saw the faces of the two men quite plain. + +"The splint blazed up. + +"`We'll soon see what it's like now,' said Gimlet, thickly. And he +lowered the burning match, and in that one moment I saw the barrel at +one side of the cabin, and the powder that had run out of the hole they +had bored running about over the white floor zig-zag, like a black +snake, and making a reg'lar train. + +"At that same moment a burnt piece fell from the burning match, the +train fired and began to run over the floor, and I threw myself between +it and the barrel flat on the planks. + +"I can't tell you how it was, only that some one uttered a horrible +yell, there was the sharp flash and hiss of the powder, my face was +scorched as I lay flat, and the place was full of smoke and as dark as +pitch. + +"It seemed to be an hour, it may only have been a few seconds, when I +heard them two rush up on the little deck; then there were two heavy +splashes, and I knew that they were swimming ashore and I was alone. + +"I daren't move, for the powder cask was touching me, and, for aught I +knew, there might be scores of sparks on my clothes. And so I lay +there, expecting my dream to come true each moment, till I could bear it +no more, for a giddy feeling came over me, and I suppose I fainted. + +"When I came to, the smoke had cleared away, but, all the same, I +daren't move for long enough; and at last, when my sense--what was +left--told me that if there had been any danger it would have been over +before now, I roused myself and edged a little away. I felt ready to +faint again; but by degrees I got away, went on deck and threw my coat +into the river, looked myself all over, and then, fighting hard against +the wish to jump over and swim ashore, I forced myself to the hatchway, +looked down to see all black there as pitch, and then I knelt down on +that bit of a deck and said the first prayer to God as I'd said for +years. + +"At daylight next morning I went below again; and I could see how we +were saved; for my throwing myself down had driven the light dust two +ways, and what with that and my body, the train when fired had not gone +within two feet of the barrel. + +"It was a horrible shock, though; and I didn't get over it for years. I +used to dream night after night about trying to get that bobbing head of +mine into the boat, and then I used to cry out and fancy I saw the +flash; but I got over it in time, and seldom had the horrible dream any +more. But I had it the night after the _Tilbury_ went, for I thought a +good deal that day about my lucky escape, and that upset me more than it +did Toeboy and Gimlet, for they went ashore that night, and next day +were tossicated as ever. + +"It's dangerous work, though, with that powder; and, speaking as an old +man, I say thank God I'm out of the trade." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +MY PATIENT THE QUARRYMAN. + +I had a very pleasant visit once to Cornwall where a resident +practitioner who was an old friend asked me to come down and take his +practice for a couple of months. + +This I did, and thoroughly enjoyed Cornwall and the common people with +their sing-song, intonation, and genuine honest simple ways. During my +leisure, I used to fish for mackerel and a dozen other wholesome fish +that, freshly cooked, were delicious at the table. Then I had many a +pleasant boating trip along the coast, the last being in company with a +very intelligent workman whom I had had to attend for a bad bruise on +one arm, caused by the falling over against it of a huge block of +granite in the yard of the works where he was employed. + +Ezra Hanson was never tired of showing me the interesting bits of the +rugged shore if he could get me out with him for guide, and whenever I +had time, nothing pleased me better than placing myself in his care +either for a scramble amongst the rocks, picking up specimens, or out in +a boat skirting the shore. + +I was out with him one day in the neighbourhood of the Lizard when he +gave me a very interesting account of an accident that befel him, and I +give it here nearly in his own words. + +"We were out in a little boat rising and falling upon the heaving tide +under the shadow of the mighty cliffs that bound the shore, looking +awfully forbidding to a ship on a stormy night when the sea is covered +with foam; and as I sat almost awe stricken at the grandeur of the +scene, and the beauty of the sky reflections in the water, he began to +run on picturing all he could to me in the most vivid way, as he +illustrated it so to speak by pointing out the locality as it lay before +me dotted with lichen and the sea birds that made their homes upon the +shelves of the massive racks. + +"`Look sir,' he said, pointing as we landed, `see what a change there is +in the colour. Now we come to the serpentine. That last black jagged +rock you learned people call trap or basalt, sir; and this, that we come +to now, serpentine. We have it here in great variety as to colour; but +mostly it is of a deep blood-red, or a dark green, with white veins of +steatite or soapstone running through it. That yonder's the quarry +where I work. And now I'll show you the spot where I fell from; and +when we get on to that point which runs out towards those rocks--there, +where the water is all silvery foam--I can show you again the mouth of +the cave; for it's almost underneath our feet now; while here--you see +this chink, just as if the rock had been split at some time--you could +lower yourself down through it, and get into the cave; but I never yet +saw a man bold enough to do it. I came up it, and that was enough for +me. Now, listen at the roaring of the sea as it runs up the cave. It's +all dark below there, or you might see the water rushing, and bubbling, +and foaming in. Perhaps you're strong-nerved, and can stand it--I +can't. It makes me shudder.' + +"Five years ago I came down here as foreman, for we were busy at that +time quarrying this serpentine rock for ornamental masonry; and my duty +then was to investigate a bit here and there along the face of the rock +for good veins of the stone. What we want, you see, are richly-marked, +showy pieces that will out and polish well; some being firm and good, +but when quarried out not having the requisite qualities for our work. +Many a time I've been all along the face of this precipice, climbing +from ledge to ledge, holding on to a rope fastened round my waist, and +chipping the rock here and there. Now I'd swing ever so far to reach a +vein, then I'd be lowered down, then drawn up; for I always took care to +have three stout and true men up above at the end of the rope; while, +for further security, they'd drive a strong pin into the rock round +which to twist the rope. + +"Fine veins I've marked down, too, at different times; and, from being +used to the work, our men will go on chipping and working away as coolly +as can be when the waves come thundering in, and then, striking the face +of the rock, fly up in a storm of spray, while the noise is deafening. +Of course they can't do that when the wind reaches them; but when +sheltered they'll take no more notice of the waves than if they were so +much smooth grass just beneath them, instead of perhaps a hundred feet +below. + +"Now, lie down here, and crawl just up to the edge and look over. +There, that's a fine sight, isn't it? There's no fear, for you can't +fall, even if you turn giddy. Now, you might drop a plumb-line from +here right into those silvery breakers just beneath us, and the length +of that line would be two hundred and thirty feet. Fine sight this, +isn't it? There's the Lizard, with its lights; there to the left's +Black's Head; and in front of you, rock after rock fighting against the +long rolling waves that never cease their attacks, but as one is broken +and falls back into the ocean in hundreds of little waterfalls, another +comes tearing in to try and wear down the rock. When the sea is very +calm, even from this height you may look down into the beautiful clear +water and see the rocks beneath, covered in places where they are +sheltered by richly-coloured seaweeds. But now watch carefully where I +drop this big piece of rock. There's a ledge down there, about a +hundred feet above the sea--a spot where I stood twice: the first time +by daylight, with a rope round my body; the second time by moonlight, +and without the rope. Now watch, and when the stone strikes it will be +on the shelf I mean; for I think I can hit the spot, though, looking +down, one ledge is so confused with the other that I don't think I could +point it out so that you could understand. Mind, too, when the stone +splits up into pieces, and you will see the birds fly out in all +directions. + +"There, I thought I could do it. That's the ledge, and there they go, +gulls and shag; but they don't mind; and after screaming like that for a +few minutes, and having a circle round, they'll settle down again as if +they had not been disturbed. + +"Well, that was the ledge I stood on one day, after slowly clambering +down, with a rope round me, in search of a good, well-marked vein. Now, +as a matter of course, we should not have set men to work there, for it +was too awkward a spot; but after swinging here, pulling there, and +gradually making my way along the face of the cliff, I saw that ledge +overhanging the mouth of the cave; and shouting to the men above to hold +on tightly, I felt so strong a desire to stand there, that I went on and +on--now ascending a little way, now scrambling down. Twice I was about +to give it up; but after breathing a bit I had another try, for I had a +regular climbing fit upon me. And at last there I stood; and then sat +with my legs dangling over the precipice till I felt rested; and then, +half-drawn, half-climbing, I made my way up. Then thoroughly satisfied +that we should do no good in that direction, I went back to my lodgings, +with the intention of exploring somewhere else the next day. + +"I went to bed very tired that night, and well recollect lying down; but +my next sensation was that of cold, and a deep roaring noise seemed +ringing in my ears. I tried to think of what it could be, for I was too +sleepy to feel startled; and, stretching out my hands, they fell upon +the cold, bare rock. I was thoroughly awake the next moment, though I +could not believe it; and I closed and opened my eyes again and again, +because it all seemed so utterly impossible. I felt that I must be +asleep, and that this was a vivid dream--the consequence of the +excitement and exertion of the previous day. So convinced was I that it +was a dream, that I began to wonder to myself how long it would last; +while ever came, as it were, right beneath me, that deep, heavy, rolling +roar of the waves, as they tumbled in over the rocks, dashed into the +caves, and then poured out again. + +"At last I slowly opened my eyes, battling all the while with my +thoughts to make them take the direction I wanted. But all in vain; for +as I looked there was the moon shining full upon me; the cool night +breeze was blowing; and right below me, just as we are looking upon them +now, only five times as rough, were the foam-topped waves rushing and +beating in. + +"I tried again to think that it was a dream; but a cold shiver ran +through me--a shudder of fear and dread--and there I was digging my +nails into the crevices of the rock, whose grey moss crumbled under my +fingers; while, with a horrible dread seeming to turn me into stone +itself, I drew up my legs, and cowered close to the rock, ready even to +seize anything with my teeth if it would have made me more secure. + +"That fit of horrible fear only lasted a few minutes, and then I seemed +to recover my nerve; and, standing up, I began to wonder how I had come +there, and to try and recall the ledges I had climbed along the day +before. I had recognised the shelf again, from its peculiar shape, and +the steep rock at the end which stopped further travelling in one +direction; while for a moment I fancied that a trick had been played me, +and that I had been lowered down by a rope. Under the influence of that +thought, I shouted two or three times; but my voice seemed lost, and the +cold chill of fear began to creep over me again, so that I felt that if +I wished to save my life I must fight for it. So, thoroughly awakened +to my danger, and now feeling that from the excitement of what I had +gone through I must have climbed down in my sleep, I cheered myself on +with the idea that if I could climb down I could climb up again; and +then I cautiously made my way to the end of the ledge, when a thought +struck me, and I again sat down. + +"Was it possible that I had climbed up? + +"That wanted a little thinking out; and shivering there in my shirt and +trousers, with my bare feet bleeding, and making the rock feel slippery, +I sat on thinking; while the more I thought, the more possible it seemed +that I had climbed up from the ledge of rock that ran along to the cave +beneath. + +"Trifling as this may seem, it acted as a stimulant to me; for I could +see pretty clearly in the moonlight, and it struck me that every foot I +lowered myself would make my position less perilous, while if I climbed +up the distance would be still greater to fall. Not a thing to study +much in such great heights, where a fall of one or two hundred feet can +make but little difference to the unfortunate; but it cheered me then, +and, rousing up, I began to look where I had better begin. + +"The ledge beneath me, as I looked down, did not seem far--for, as you +can see, these cliffs appear to be built up of great regular courses of +stone; and I began to let myself down over the side--first my legs; then +I was hanging over to my chest; then, with my fingers only clinging to +the rough rock, I was resting with my toes upon a point; but feeling my +hands giving way, I lowered myself yet more and more, still feeling +about with my feet, which could now find no rest. + +"As I looked down, the distance had only seemed a few feet; but the +moonlight was deceptive, and I found that the next ledge was beyond my +reach. I could not look down to see if I could drop, and it was only by +an effort that I kept the cold chill of fear from seizing upon me again. +A moment's thought reassured me; and dangerous as it seemed right up +there, on the face of such a precipice, I closed my eyes and dropped. + +"Then, all trembling as I was, I laughed; for I had only dropped a few +inches, and it was upon a broader ledge than before; and without +stopping to rest, I searched along for another place to lower myself, +and soon found it; when, thoroughly desperate from my position--half +drunk, you may say, with excitement--I climbed along here, down there, +now with loose stones slipping from beneath me, now nearly falling, but +always making my way lower and lower, till I was quite half-way down, +when I stopped, regularly beaten, upon a ledge down to which I had +slipped. There was the silvered water below me; the black face of the +rock overhanging me; and on either side rugged masses that would give me +no hold either to climb up, down, or side-wise. To lower myself was +impossible, for the rock sloped away; to my left there was a large +split, while it seemed perfectly hopeless to try and climb again, and +find another way of getting down. + +"However, I felt that if I stopped still I should soon turn giddy with +fright, and fall, for the ledge was only a few inches wide where I +stood; so, again rousing myself, I made an effort to climb up once more. +You may think that it would have been wiser to have stayed where I was, +in the hopes of attracting attention in the morning, and getting +assistance either from one of the quarrymen or by signalling one of the +boats that would be putting out from the cave; but, as I tell you, I +dared not keep still, and the only way I could keep off the horrible +dread was by trying to escape, and so exerting myself to my full +strength. At last seizing a projecting fragment of the rock, just +within reach of my fingers as I stood, I drew myself up, and got my chin +above my hands, seeking all the while for a resting-place for my feet, +and at last getting my right foot upon a tiny ledge. + +"I think I told you that my foot were bare and bleeding--painful, too, +they were--but I could not stop to think of that in the struggle I was +making for life; but all at once, as I was making an effort to get a +little higher, just at the moment when I put forth my whole strength, my +bloody foot slipped from the ledge, and I was hanging by my hands to the +rough piece of rock, my body swinging to and fro, my nails being torn +from their roots, while what I fancied then was the death-sweat stood +upon my face, and seemed to be trickling among the roots of my hair. + +"As a young man I was always active, strong, and full of vigour, ready +to join in any athletic sports; proud, too, of my muscles, and the feats +I could perform. But in those seconds--drawn out, as it were, into +hours--what a poor, frail, weak mortal I felt! The strength upon which +I had so much prided myself seemed, as it were, nothing; and the brawny +arms, whose corded muscles I had been so fond of rolling up my shirt +sleeves to display, I felt were getting weaker and weaker every moment; +while beneath me, in an ever increasing, angry roar, I could hear the +waves, as if exulting and longing for their prey. + +"As an earnest man, perhaps I should have prayed then; but what control +have we in great peril over our thoughts? I think I once exclaimed, +`God help me!' and then my brain was one wild state of confusion; whilst +the great difficulty seemed to me to realise that I was going to die--to +fall headlong into the sea. But even in my horror I could picture how +the water would fly sparkling up in the moonlight; while falling from +such a height I should be killed by striking upon one of the rocks just +beneath--all below me being a mass of foam. Now, I thought, how long +would my arms bear the weight of my body, and why had I not practised +them more to such exertion? Then, rousing myself once more, I made an +effort, and tried to find a resting-place for my feet. Could I have +reached the ledge on which I had been standing, I would have given years +of my life; and then a sort of feeling of contempt for myself came upon +me, as I thought I was trying to bargain with Death by offering him a +few years of my unworthy life in exchange for the whole. But to reach +the ledge I found was impossible, since I had leaped sideways from it to +gain the piece of rock I hung by, while every effort made me weaker and +weaker. I should have shouted, but my mouth and throat were dry. A +horrible pain seized the back of my neck, and I could feel my eyes +strained, and as if starting. Once I thought I would loose my hold and +end my misery; but I was clinging for life, and I held on. + +"It could only have been for a minute or two, but the time seemed +endless; while the thoughts flashed through my mind in a wild confusion, +faster and faster, as I felt my muscles giving way. At last I felt that +I must fall, for my arms would bear the dead weight no longer; so, in a +last despairing effort, I drew myself up, found for an instant a +resting-place for my feet, then one knee was up by my hands, and the +next instant I should have been lying panting upon a shelf; but the +effort was made too late, and I believe a wild cry tore from my throat +as I lost my hold, and could feel the air whistling by my ears as I fell +down, down, what seemed an endless distance. + +"Then came the cold plunge in the water--down into darkness, with the +waves thundering in my ears, and the strangling water gushing into my +nose. I could not think; but nature seemed to be prompting me to +struggle on for my life, and, as I rose uninjured to the surface, I +struck out feebly to reach the rocks. + +"It was a wonder that I was not killed, for all along beneath us the +shore is sown, as it were, with rocks of all sizes, covered at high +water; but I fell in a deep part--there I think it must have been, where +I throw this stone. Seems a long time falling, don't it? Now, there, +where you see the splash, and that's just in front of the cave, that +runs further in than we've ever found a man to penetrate as yet--for +it's always got water for a floor, and a boat can only go in for about +thirty yards when it grows narrow, and any one would have to swim as I +did that night, swimming on and on as the tide bore me, and that was +right into the black mouth of the cave, while I was too weak to struggle +against it--all I could do being to keep afloat. + +"Now I was floating in; then, as the waves receded, I was drawn back, +shivering and shuddering, as I felt the long brown slimy strands of the +seaweed twining about my body like some horrible sea monster. Now I +tried to hold by the rocky wall; but it was slippery, and glided by my +fingers. But the cold shock of the water had done something to renew my +energy, and instead of growing more helpless, I found that I could swim +with more vigour after a few seconds; and once, as I floated over it, I +managed to get a resting-place upon a smooth piece of rock about a foot +under water. But the next minute it was three feet from the surface, as +a wave came rolling in with the rising tide; and I was lifted off and +borne many yards farther into the darkness of the cave. + +"The moonlight penetrated for some distance; but beyond that all looked +black and horrible, except where now and then I could see a wave break +over a rock, and then there was a flash of light, and the water sparkled +with the pale phosphorescent light--foul water, as the fishermen here +call it. It was a horrible-looking place for an unnerved man to swim +into; but in my weak state I dare not try to face the rough water at the +mouth; so, as every wave came and bore me farther in, I swam on into the +darkness, with the fear upon me that some dreadful monster would lace +its arms round me and drag me under. More than once I shrieked out, for +the seaweeds were thick here, and my feet were entangled; but I swam on, +till after many trials I found a piece of rock upon which I could climb, +and sit with the water washing round me and nearly hearing me off. + +"And now I drooped, helpless and miserable; my remaining strength seemed +to go away, and I hung down my head, and cried like a child. But that +fit went off, and rousing up a little I looked about me; but only to see +the moonlit, beautifully solemn mouth of the cave, with the silvery +water rushing in. It looked beautiful and solemn to me, even then; +while the hollow, deep, echoing, musical roar of the waves at the mouth, +and in the lulls, the strange tinkling, mournful splash of the water +dripping from the roof, farther in, where it was all dark, sounded +dreadful to me. + +"But the tide was rising, and I soon found that I must leave the rock I +was on, and swim or wade farther in; while now the horrible thought +came--would the tide fill the cavern, and should I be drowned at last? +The thought was so horrible, that I was very nearly jumping off and +trying to swim to the mouth, where, in my weak state, I must have lost +my life; for a strong man could not battle with the waves as the tide +rises. I had often heard tell of this `Hugo,' as they call it here, but +no one had ever explored it that I know of; for it is only in the +calmest of weather that a boat could come near. However, I sat still +for a few more moments, trying to pierce the darkness, and find a +resting-place higher up. I dared not lower myself into the water again, +for thought after thought kept coming of the strange sea creatures that +might make the cave their home; but my indecision was put an end to by a +heavy wave that came rolling in, and I was lifted from my seat and borne +in again for some distance, and dashed against a stone, to whose slimy +sides I clung as the water rushed back. Then I tried to find the bottom +with my feet, but all in vain; and striking out, I swam on farther and +farther into the darkness, helped on by a wave now and then, and +clinging to some projection to keep from being sucked back--for once +down again in the water, the dread seemed to some extent to leave me. + +"On reaching a rock that I could climb upon, to my great joy I found +that I could get beyond the reach of the water; but I had to feel my +way, for by a bend of the cave I could now see no moonlit mouth, only a +shining reflection upon one of the wet walls of the place; while all +around me was a horrible black darkness, made ten times more dreadful by +the strange echoing wash and drip of the water in the far recesses. + +"Perhaps a bolder man would have felt his nerves creep, as it were, +sitting, dripping and trembling, upon a slimy piece of stone in that +dreadful darkness, conjuring up horrors of a kind that at more calm +moments he could not describe; but knowing all the while, by merely +stretching out a foot now and then, that the tide was rising higher and +higher to sweep him off. Now my feet were under water, then my knees, +and soon it rose so high that at every ninth wave--`the death wave,' as +we call it down here on the coast--I could feel myself lifted a little; +and at last, just as it was before, I was swept off, and swimming again +in the darkness to find another rock on which I could creep. More than +once I touched something, with hand or foot, and snatched it +shudderingly back; while at such times the waves bore me backwards and +forwards as they ebbed and flowed. As far as I could tell, the bottom +was quite beyond my reach, for I let down my feet again and again. But +the cave grew much narrower; for now I struck my head against one side, +and then against the other, as I laboriously swam along farther and +farther, as it were, into the depths of the earth, till once more I came +against a part of the rock which I could climb up--this time, by feeling +carefully about, till I struck my head against the roof; and then +crouched once more shiveringly down, waiting in a half-dazed, swoon-like +state for the next time when I should have to make a struggle for life. +I felt dull and listless, my senses seemed to be numbed, and it was +almost in a dream that I half sat, half lay upon the wet rock, listening +to the wash of the waves, and the dull roar echoing from the cave mouth; +while close by me there seemed to be strange whispering sounds mingling +with the dripping from the roof, which fell always with a little +melodious plash. + +"Sometimes I seemed to doze--a sort of stuporlike sleep from +exhaustion--and then I started with a cry, expecting that I was hanging +once more to the rock outside, or being swept away by a wave from the +rock upon which I was resting; and at last, far in as I was, there came +what to me was like hope of life--for at first very faint and pale, but +by degrees stronger, the light of day came down into the thick blackness +of that awful hole, cutting it like arrows, and striking upon the waters +before it became broken and spread around. + +"As far as I could see, it came down from the roof eight or ten yards +from where I sat, but it was a long time before I could summon courage +to lower myself into the water, and swim along till I came beneath the +bright rays, when I found that they beamed through a rift in the roof +some ten feet above me; though, as I again drew myself out of the water +on to the rugged side, and then clambered into the rough, long rift, I +was so stiff and weak that every movement made me groan with pain. + +"Now, come here again to where the rift is, and _you_ can look down, and +listen to the roar and bubbling of the water. A strange, wild place, +but I made my way up to light and life once more; though I have never +found any man here yet with courage to go down, while how much farther +the hole penetrates into the bowels of the earth no one knows. There +are plenty of such caves along the coast here, made by the water +gradually eating out a soft vein of stone from one that is harder; while +as to my leaving my bed like that, and climbing to where I had been the +day before, it must have been from over-excitement, I suppose. But +there, such cases are common, and as a boy I often walked in my sleep, +and went by night to places where I could not have gone had I been +awake." + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +MY PATIENTS THE FISHERMEN. + +I dreamed about that cave night after night, and it was a long time +before I could get its weird echoes out of my mind. I had only to go +down to the shore and listen to the wash of the waves to have my mason +friend's narrative come back in full force, till I felt quite a morbid +pleasure in listening to the fancied beating and echoing of the tide in +the hollow place. + +I used to meet a good many of the fishermen down about the little pier, +and after a little bit of a case that I managed with one poor fellow who +had been for years leading a weary existence, I found that I might have +commanded the services of every fisherman there and had their boats at +pleasure. There was always a pleasant smile for me when I went down, +and whenever a boat came in if I was seen upon the pier there was sure +to be a rough sunburnt face looking into mine as a great string of fish +was offered to me. + +"They're fresh as daisies, doctor," the giver would say: a man, perhaps, +that I had hardly seen before, while the slightest hint at payment was +looked upon as an offence. + +"And there's no knowing, doctor," said one man who presented me with a +delicious hake, "I may be down at any time and want your help and +advice. Didn't you cure Sam Treporta? Lookye here doctor, don't you go +away again, you stop and practice down here. We'll be ill as often as +we can, and you shan't never want for a bit of fish so long as the +weather keeps fine." + +It was one afternoon down on the little rugged granite pier that I heard +the story of Tom Trecarn and the bailiffs, and being rather a peculiar +adventure I give it as it was told to me. + +"`Is that you, Tom?' + +"`Iss, my son,' replied Tom, a great swarthy, black-whiskered, +fierce-looking, copper-coloured Cornish giant, in tarry canvas trousers, +and a blue worsted guernsey shirt--a tremendous fellow in his way--but +with a heart as soft and tender as that of his wife, whom he had just +addressed in the popular fashion of his part as `my son.' Tom had just +come home from mackerel fishing off the Scilly Isles. The take had only +been poor, for the wind had been unfavourable; but the few hundred fish +his lugger had brought in were sold, and with a few hake in his hand for +private consumption, Tom Trecarn had come home for a good night's rest. + +"`Oh, Tom,' burst out his wife, throwing down that popular wind +instrument without which upon a grand scale no fisherman's granite +cottage is complete--`Oh, Tom,' said Mrs Trecarn, throwing down the +bellows, there known as the `Cornish organ'--`Oh, Tom, you're a ruined +man.' + +"`Not yet, my son,' replied Tom, stoically; `but if things don't mend, +fishing won't be worth the salt for a score of pilchards.' + +"`But Dan Pengelly's broken, Tom,' sobbed Mrs Trecarn. + +"`Then we'll get him mended, my son,' said Tom, kissing her. + +"`How many fish had ye?' sang a voice outside the cottage, in the +peculiar pleasant intonation common amongst the Cornish peasantry. + +"`Thousand an' half,' sang back Tom to the inquiring neighbour. + +"`Where did you shoot, lad?' sang the voice again. + +"`West of Scilly, Eddard. Bad times: wind heavy, and there's four +boats' fish.' + +"`Pengelly's got the bailiffs in, Thomas,' sang the neighbour, now +thrusting his head in at the door. + +"`Sorry for him,' sang Tom, preparing for a wash. + +"`And I'm sorry for you, Thomas,' sang the neighbour. + +"`What for?' said Tom, stoically. + +"`Why, aint all your craft in his store, Tom?' inquired the neighbour. + +"`Oh, yes--every net,' sobbed Mrs Trecarn; `and we're ruined. +Eighty-four pounds fifteen and seven-pence, too, those nets cost.' + +"`But't aint nothing to us,' said Tom, turning a different colour, as an +ordinary man would have turned pale. + +"`Why, your craft's seized too, lad; and ye'll lose it all,' cried the +neighbour, singing it right into the great fellow's ear. + +"Down went the pitcher of water upon the stone floor in a wreck of +potsherds and splash, and crash went the staggering neighbour against +the side table set out with Mrs Trecarn's ornaments, as Tom rushed out +of the house, and up the street to Daniel Pengelly's store. + +"Dan Pengelly's store was a well-known building in Carolyn, being a +long, low, granite-built and shale-roofed shed, where many of the +fishermen warehoused their herring and pilchard nets during the mackerel +season--the mackerel nets taking their turn to rest when dried, on +account of the pilchards making their appearance off the shores of +Mount's Bay. For, as in patriarchal days men's wealth was in flocks and +herds, so here in these primitive Cornish fishing villages it is the +ambition of most men to become the owner of the red-sailed, fast-tacking +luggers which, from some hitherto unexplained phenomenon, sail like the +boats of every other fishing station--faster than any vessel that +ploughs the waves. Failing to become the owner of a boat, the next +point is to be able to boast of having so many nets, many a +rough-looking, hard-handed fisherman being perhaps possessor of a couple +or three hundred pounds' worth, bought or bred (netted) by his wife and +daughters. + +"To Dan Pengelly's store went Tom Trecarn, to find there a short, +fresh-coloured, pudgy man leaning against one of the doorposts, holding +the long clay pipe he smoked with one hand, and rubbing his nose with +the key he held in the other. + +"`I want my nets out,' said Tom, coming up furious as a bull. `I've got +eighty pound worth of craft in here as don't belong to the Pengellys.' + +"`So have I,' and `So have I,' growled a couple of the group of men +lolling about and looking on in the idle way peculiar to fishermen when +winds are unfavourable. + +"`Can't help that,' said the man, ceasing to rub his nose, and buttoning +up the key in his pocket. `I'm in possession, and nothing can't come +out of here. The goods are seized for debt.' + +"`But I ain't nothing to do with Pengelly's debts,' said Tom. `My nets +ain't going to pay for what he owes. I earned my craft with the sweat +of my brow, and they're only stored here like those of other lads.' + +"`Iss, my son--'tis so--'tis so,' said one or two of the bystanders, +nodding their heads approvingly. + +"`I've got nothing to do with that,' said the man in possession; `the +goods are seized, and whatever's in Daniel Pengelly's store will be sold +if he don't pay up; and that's the law.' + +"`Do you mean to tell me that the law says you're to sell one man's +goods to pay another man's debts?' said Tom. + +"`Yes, if they're on the debtor's premises,' said the man, coolly. + +"`Then I'm blest if I believe it,' cried Tom, furiously; `and if you +don't give up what belongs to me--' + +"Here he strode so furiously up to the bailiff that a couple of +brother-fishermen rushed in, and between them hustled Trecarn off, and +back to his cottage, where the poor fellow sat down beside his weeping +wife, while the two ponderous fellows who had brought him home leaned +one on either side of the door, silent and foil of unspoken condolence. + +"`Eighty-four pound!' groaned Tom. + +"`Fifteen and seven-pence!' sobbed his wife. + +"`Eight bran-new herring nets of mine,' said one of his friends. + +"`And fifteen pound worth of my craft,' muttered the other. + +"`And this is the law of the land, is it?' growled Tom. + +"`They took Sam Kelynack's little mare same way as was grazing on +Tressillian's paddock,' said friend number one; and then they all joined +in a groan of sympathy. + +"Now, in most places the men would have adjourned to a public-house to +talk over their troubles; but here in the Cornish fishing villages a +large percentage of the men are total abstainers; and Mrs Trecarn +having brewed a good cup of tea, and fried half-a-dozen split mackerel, +they all sat down and made a hearty meal; while during the discussion +that followed, some comfort seemed to come to the troubled spirits of +the men, so that about eight o'clock that night they went arm-in-arm +down the ill-paved street, singing a glee in good time, tune, and the +harmony so well preserved, that a musician would have paused in wonder +to find such an accomplishment amongst rough fishermen--an +accomplishment as common as brass bands amongst the Lancashire and +Yorkshire artisans. + +"`Not another drop, I thanky,' said the bailiff to one of Tom's friends, +who stood by him tumbler in hand, stirring a stiff glass of grog. + +"It was a fine night though it had been raining, and the water lay in +pools around, one of the largest being in front of the door stone of +Pengelly's store, beside which the bailiff stood; for though carefully +locked up, the man felt a disinclination to leave it, and he equally +disliked shutting himself inside and sleeping upon a heap of nets; so he +had treated the advances made by the man who had protected him from +Trecarn with pleasure, and between them they had finished one strong +tumbler of rum and water, and were well on with the second. + +"`Not another drop! thanky,' said the bailiff; so Nicholas Harris again +broke his pledge, taking a moderate sip, and passed the glass once more +to the bailiff, who took it, sipped long and well, and then sighed; +while it was observable that the last draught had so paved the way for +more, that he made no further objections even when the glass was filled +for the third and fourth time--each time the liquor being made more +potent. + +"At the filling of the fifth glass at eleven o'clock, when nearly the +whole village was asleep, Nicholas Harris, who seemed wonderfully sober, +considering, stopped and whispered to a couple of men in one of the +corners behind the store; and in another half-hour, the said two shadowy +figures came up to find the bailiff sitting in the pool of water in +front of the store, and shaking his head in a melancholy way at his +companion. + +"`I don't feel well,' said Harris, `and I'm going home. P'r'aps you'll +help that gentleman up to the King's Arms.' + +"Neither of the new-comers spoke; but each seized the bailiff by an arm, +and tried to lift him to his feet. But he did not wish to be lifted to +his feet, and sat him down down again in the wettest spot of the road, +making the water fly from beneath him, while every fresh attempt to get +him away was fiercely resisted. + +"`Have you got it?' whispered one of the new-comers. + +"`Ay, lad!' said the other, `it's all right.' + +"`Then fetch a barrow.' + +"The man spoken to came back in a few minutes with a wheelbarrow, by +which time the bailiff seemed in a state of hopeless collapse, and +remained so when he was lifted into the barrow. + +"`Don't laugh,' whispered one man, as the other held his sides, and +stamped about with mirth to see his companion's efforts to get the man +in position; for he could not sit down, nor lie down, nor be placed +side-wise, nor cross-wise. Once he was in a sitting posture and, +seizing the handles, the man started the barrow; but the bailiff slowly +slid down till his head rested upon the barrow wheel, and ground against +it. + +"`P'raps you'll wheel him yourself next time,' he grumbled to his +laughing companion, who stepped up, seized the collapsed bailiff round +the waist and carried him in his arms as easily as a girl would a baby, +till he reached the village public-house, where he deposited his burden +beneath a cart-shed, while the peace of that end of the village was +disturbed no more until morning. + +"The next day there was an application to the magistrates respecting the +nets that had been stolen from Pengelly's store--nets of the value of +over one handled pounds having been removed no one knew whither Nicholas +Harris was taken to task as having been seen with the bailiff drinking; +but he swore truthfully that he had gone home directly he quitted him, +and had lain in bed all the next day with a fearful headache. His nets +were amongst those taken. Pengelly proved that the other nets taken +were Trecarn's and Pollard's, but upon their places being searched only +some old nets were found, while the men themselves had put off for sea +early that morning. However upon the magistrate learning from Pengelly +that every article belonging to him was safe upon his premises, he +turned round and whispered for some little time to his clerk, and it was +arranged that the case should be adjourned. + +"That case was adjourned, and, as the sequel proved _sine die_, for no +further notice was taken. Daniel Pengelly got into difficulties, and +his goods were sold--Tom Trecarn purchasing some of his nets; whilst it +was observable on all sides that both Tom and his friends were in +excellent spirits, though that might have been owing to the large take +of mackerel they brought in. As to the proceedings of that night, the +morality is very questionable; but still, by way of excuse, it does seem +hard that under the present state of the law, even though a man can +substantially prove that goods upon a defaulter's premises are his own, +he must still lose them, as many a poor fellow has found to his cost. +However, the above narrative is a fact, and one's sympathies cannot fail +of tending towards the annexation of the nets." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +MY PATIENT THE PORTER. + +My acquaintance with the engine-driver led on to one with a very broad +porter. He was about the stoutest and tightest looking man I ever saw +to be active, and active he really was, bobbing about like a fat cork +float, and doing a great deal of work with very little effort, smiling +pleasantly the while. + +Dick Masson was quite a philosopher in his way, but his philosophy did +not let him bear his fat with patience. Like Hamlet, he used to say, +metaphorically of course, "Oh, that this too solid flesh would melt," +for he several times came to me to see if I could not give him something +to make him thin. + +"Really I can only recommend change of diet, Masson," I said. + +"Why I should have thought, sir," he said, staring round the surgery, +"that you'd got doctor's stuff in some of them bottles as would have put +me right in no time." + +I had to mix him a bottle of medicine to satisfy him: but it was the +change in his diet and an increase of work that recalled him somewhat. + +I used to know Dick at a little station on the Far Eastern line when I +was staying in the neighbourhood, and on leaving there I lost sight of +him for five years, when one day in London I happened upon a cab driven +by an exceedingly stout man, and to my utter astonishment I found that +it was my old friend Dick. + +"Why Masson," I exclaimed, "is that you?" + +"Yes, doctor," he said with an unctuous chuckle, "half as much again of +me now as there used to be. I were obliged to put up portering and take +to something easier. This life suits me exactly. It's hard on the +horse, certainly, but I was obliged to take to something lighter." + +"Better have kept to a porter's life, Masson," I said; "You were much +lighter then." + +"So I was doctor, so I was," he said, "but I were awful heavy then, and +when you've got to carry somebody's trunk or portemanty, and your +precious heavy self too, it's more than a man can stand." + +"Yes, sir," said Dick to me one day in conversation, for he begged for +my address, and came and asked for a prescription just to ease off a +little of the taut, as he called it; "yes sir," he said, "I'm a working +man though I do drive a cab. One o' them strange individuals that +everybody's been going into fits about lately as to what they should do +with us and for us, and a deal--a great deal more, how to legislate us +and represent us. We don't want legislating an' representing. I tell +you what we want, sir--we want letting alone. Some people runs away +with the idea that your working man's a sort of native furrin wild +animal that wants keepers and bars an' all sorts to keep him in order-- +that he's something different to your swell that holds up a 'sumtive +umbrelly at me when he wants a keb, and tells me, `Aw--to--aw, dwive to +the Gweat Westawn or Chawing Cwoss.' Well, and p'r'aps they're right to +some extent; for your working man, air, is a different sort of thing. +Supposing we take your human being, sir, as a precious stone; well, set +down your working man as the rough pebble, whilst your swell's the thing +cut and polished. + +"Fine thing that cutting and polishing, makes the stone shine and +twinkle and glitter like anything; but I have heard say that it takes a +little off the vally of the original stone; while, if it's badly cut, +it's old gooseberry. Now, you know, sir, I have seen cases where I've +said to myself, `That stone's badly cut, Dick;' and at other times I've +set down a fare at a club or private house, or what not, and I've been +ready to ask myself what he was ever made for. Ornament, p'r'aps. +Well, it might be for that; but, same time, it seems hardly likely that +Natur' had time to make things without their having any use. You may +say flowers are only ornamental, but I don't quite see that sir; for it +always seemed to me as the smallest thing that grew had its purpose, +beginning with the little things, and then going on right up to the big +things, till you get to horses, whose proper use is, of course, to draw +kebs. + +"I've been most everything in my day, sir, before I took to kebs, but of +all lines of life there isn't one where you get so much knowledge of +life, or see so much, as you do on a box; while of all places in the +world, there's no place like London. I've never been out of it lately, +not farther than 'Ampton Court, or Ascot, or Epsom--stop; yes, I did +once have eight hours at the sea-side with the missis, and enough too. +What's the good of going all they miles when you can smell the sea air +any morning early on London Bridge, if the tide's coming in; or, easier +still, at any stall where they sell mussels or oysters? + +"Talk about furrin abroad, give me London. Why, where else d'yer see +such dirt--friendly dirt? Sticks to you, and won't leave go. Where +else is there such a breed of boys as ours, though they do always want +cutting down behind? Where such pleecemen, though they are so precious +fond of interfering, and can't let a man stand five minutes without +moving him on? No, sir, London's the place for me, even if it does pour +down rain, and plash up mud, till you tie a red cotton soaker round the +brims of your hat to keep the rain water from trickling through and down +your neck, for you see, it's soft enough for anything. + +"London's the place, sir, for me; better than being a porter at +Gravelwick though you mightn't think it. + +"Gentleman in uniform in those days. Short corduroy jacket, trousis, +and weskit; red patch on the collar with F.E.R., in white letters, on +it, and a cap with the same letters in brass on the front. Sort of +combination of the useful and ornamental, I were, in those days. + +"Nice life, porter's, down at a small station with a level crossing. +Lively, too, opening gates, and shotting on 'em; trimming lamps, +lightin' 'em, and then going up a hiron ladder to the top of a pole to +stick 'em up for signals, with blue and red spectacles to put before +their bulls' eyes, so that they could see the trains a-coming, and tell +the driver in the distance whether it was all right. + +"Day-time I used to help do that, too, by standing up like a himage +holding a flag till the train fizzed by; for it wasn't often as one +stopped there. Sitting on a cab's lonely on a wet day; but talk about a +lonely life--porter's at a little station's 'nough to give you the +horrors. I should have tried to commit sooicide myself, as others did, +if it hadn't been for my taters. + +"Yes--my taters. I had leave to garden a bit of the slope of the +cutting, and it used to be my aim to grow bigger taters than Jem +Tattley, at Slowcombe, twenty mile down the line; and we used to send +the fruit backwards and forrards by one of the guards to compare 'em. I +beat him reg'lar, though, every year, 'cause I watered mine more in the +dry times; and proud I was of it. Ah, it's a werry elewating kind o' +pursuit, is growing taters; and kep' up my spirits often when I used to +get low in the dark, soft, autumn times, and get afraid of being cut up +by one of the fast trains. + +"Terribly dangerous they are to a man at a little station, for he gets +so used to the noise that he don't notice them coming, and then--There, +it would be nasty to tell you what comes to a pore porter who is not on +the look-out. + +"I had a fair lot to do, but not enough; and my brightest days used to +be when, after sitting drowsing there on a barrow, some gent would come +by a stopping train--fishing p'r'aps, and want his traps carried to the +inn, two miles off; or down to the river, when our young station-master +would let me off, and I stopped with the gent fishing. + +"Sometimes I give out the tickets--when they were wanted; but a deal of +my time was take up watching the big daisies growing on the gravelly +bank, along with the yaller ragwort; or counting how many poppies there +was, or watching the birds chirping in the furze-bushes. I got to be +wonderful good friends with the birds. + +"We had a siding there for goods; but, save a little corn now and then, +and one truck of coals belonging to an agent, there was nothing much +there. There was no call for anything, for there would have been no +station there only that, when the line was made, the big gent as owned +the land all about wouldn't give way about the line going through his +property unless the company agreed to make a station, and arrange that +he could stop fast trains by signal whenever he wanted to go up to +London, or come down, or to have his friends; for, of course, he +wouldn't go by the penny-a-miler parliamentary that used to crawl down +and stop at Gravelwick. + +"We had a very cheerful time of it in the early days there afore you +know'd the place, me and the station-masters--young fellows they used to +be--half-fledged, and I saw out six of them; for they used only to be +down there for a short time before they got a change. I used to long to +be promoted, and tried two or three times; but they wouldn't hear of it; +and the smooth travelling inspector who used to come down would humbug +me by telling me that I was too vallerble a servant to the company to be +changed, for I acted as a sort of ballast to the young station-masters. + +"This being the case, I got thinking I ought to get better pay, and I +told him so; and he said I was right, and promised to report the case; +but whether he did so or didn't, and, if he did, whether he made a load +enough report, I don't know; 'tall events, I never got no rise, but had +eighteen shillings a week when I went on the line, and eighteen +shillings a week when I came off, five years after. + +"Me and the station-master used to chum it, the station being so +lonesome. When the young chaps need first to come down, they used to +come the big bug, and keep me at a distance, and expect me to say `sir.' +But, lor' bless you, that soon went off, and they used to get me to +come and sit with them, to keep off the horrors--for we used to get 'em +bad down there--and then we'd play dominoes, or draughts, or cribbage, +when we didn't smoke. + +"It was a awful lonesome place, and somehow people got to know it, and +they'd come from miles away to Gravelwick. + +"`What for?' says you. + +"There, you'd never guess, so I'll tell you--to commit suicide. + +"It was too bad on 'em, because it made the place horrible. I wasn't +afraid of ghosts; but after having one or two fellows come and put +themselves before the fast trains, and having inquests on 'em, for the +life of you you couldn't help fancying all sorts of horrors on the dark +nights. + +"Why, that made several of our young station-masters go. One of 'em +applied to be removed, and because they didn't move him he ran off-- +threw up his place, he did--but I had to stay. + +"Things got so bad at last that the station-master and me used to look +at every passenger as alighted at our station suspicious like if he was +a stranger; and we found out several this way, bless you; and if we +couldn't persuade 'em to go away to some other station to do what they +wanted, or contrive to bring 'em to a better turn of mind, we used to +lock 'em up in the lamp-room and telegraph to Tenderby for a policeman +to fetch 'em away. + +"Oh, it was fine games, I can tell you, only it used to give you the +creeps; for some of these parties used to be wild and mad, though others +was only melancholy and stupid. + +"Some on 'em was humbugs--chaps in love, and that sorter way--as never +meant to do it, only to make a fuss and be saved, so as their young +ladies could hear as they meant to die for their sake, and so on; but +others was in real earnest; for the fact of one doing it there seemed +like a 'traction to 'em, and they'd come for miles and miles right away +from London. + +"It was a lively time being at a sooicidal station; and though the +station-masters and I kept the strictest of lookouts, we got done more'n +once; for a fellow would get out right smart, go off, and then, +artful-like, dodge back to the line a mile or so away, and the fust we'd +hear of it would be from an engine-driver who had gone over him. + +"Well, it happens one day that I was alone at the station, when a quiet, +gentlemanly sort of a fellow gets out, smiles, asks me some questions +about the place, and chats pleasantly for a bit, says he means to have a +'tanical ramble--as he calls it--and finishes off by giving me +arf-crown. + +"Now, if I'd been as wide-awake as I should have been, I might have +known as there was a screw loose. What should a strange gent give me +arf a crown for if there wasn't? But, bless you, clever and cunning as +I thought myself, I was that innercent that I pockets the coin, grins to +myself, and took no farther notice till, about arf an hour after, I +happens to look along the up line, when I turns sick as could be; for I +sees my gentleman walking between the rails, and the up express just +within a few minutes of being due. + +"Even then he'd so thrown me off my guard that I never thought no Wrong, +only that he was looking on the railway banks for rhodum siduses, and +plants of that kind. + +"So I shouts to him-- + +"`Get off that 'ere!' and waves my hands. + +"But he takes no notice; and then, all at once, just as the wind brought +the sound of the coming express, if he didn't go down flat, and lay his +neck right on the off up-rail, ready for the engine-wheels to cut it +off. + +"It was like pouring cold water down my back, but I was man enough to +act; and, running as hard as I could, I got up to where he lay--about +three hundred yards from the station. + +"I makes no more ado, but seizes his legs, and tries to drag him away; +but he'd got tight hold of the rail with both hands--for it was where +the ballast was dear away from it, to let the rain run off--and I +couldn't move him; 'sides which, he began to kick at me fierce, roaring +at me to get away. + +"Finding as I couldn't move him, and the train coming nearer, and being +afraid that I should get in danger myself if I got struggling with him, +I thought I'd try persuasion. + +"`What are you going to do?' I says. + +"`Tired of life--tired of life--tired of life,' he kept on saying, in a +curious, despairing way. + +"`Get up--get up.' + +"For the train was coming on. I could hear it roaring in the distance; +and I knew it would spin round the curve into sight, and then dash along +the straight to where we were. + +"`Go away,' he cried, hoarsely; `tired of life.' + +"`There was another fellow cut all to pieces there,' I says, to frighten +him. + +"`I know--I know,' he said; `three hundred yards north of the station.' + +"He must have read that in a noosepaper, and saved it up, you know. + +"What to do I couldn't tell. I wasn't able to move him, for he clung to +the rails as if he grew there, and the train was coming. + +"All I could see to do was to run on and try to stop it; but that +wouldn't have done, for the engine would have been over the poor wretch +before the breaks would have acted; and at last, with the roar coming on +I stood there in the six foot, and I says, savage like-- + +"`It's too bad; see what a mess you'll make.' + +"`What?' he says, lifting up his head, and staring at me a horribly +stiff, hard look, as of one half-dead. + +"`See what a mess you'll make,' I says, `and I shall have to clean it +up.' + +"`Mess?' he says, raising himself, and kneeling there in the six-foot on +the ballast. + +"`Yes, mess,' I says,--`tatters, rags of clothes, and something so +horrid all over the line, that it's enough to make a strong man sick.' + +"`I never thought of that,' he says, putting his hands to his head. + +"And as he did so there was a shriek, a rush, a great wind, which sent +the dust and sticks flying, and the express thundered by, with that poor +chap staring hard. + +"As it passed, he looked at it with a sort of shudder. + +"`You don't know what a mess it makes,' I said, as he got slowly up. + +"`No,' he says, in a curious way--`no, I never thought of that.' And he +began to brush the dirt and dust off his clothes. `But I thought it +would not hurt.' + +"`Not you, perhaps,' I said, trying to keep his attention; `but how +about me?' + +"`Yes, yes,' he muttered, `I never thought of that.' + +"He stooped down, touched the rail with his finger, looked at it, +shuddered, and then looked up the line. + +"`I tell you it's horrid,' I said; `and it's cowardly of a fellow to +come here for that. Now, then, you'd best come on to the station.' + +"`Yes,' he said again, `I never thought of that.' And he let me brush +him down, and followed me like a lamb to the station, where, unbeknown +to him, I telegraphed to the town, and a constable came and took him by +the next train, with all the spirit regularly took out of him by my +words. + +"I'd about forgotten that poor chap till about six months after, when he +came down by the stopping train, and shook hands with me, and gave me a +five pound note. + +"I was afraid he was going to try it on again, but no, bless you. He +thanked me with tears in his eyes, for saving his life, telling me he +was half-mad at the time, and determined--something polling him like--to +end his life. He had felt no fear, and was glad the train was coming, +when my words sounded so queer and strange to him that they seemed, as +he said, to take all the romance out of the thing, and show it to him +in, to use his words, `its filthy, contemptible, cowardly shape. If men +could see,' he said, `they would never commit such an act.' + +"I saw him off again in the train, and was very glad when he was gone. + +"That affair about settled me. I was sick of it; and as soon as I +could--close upon a year arter, though--I came up to London and took to +cabbing, for I'd had quite enough of our old station." + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +MY PATIENT THE CARPENTER. + +"Bring him in," I said; and four stout fellows carried the insensible +figure of a well built young man into the surgery and laid him on the +couch. + +"How was this?" I exclaimed. "There, shut the door, we don't want a +crowd in here." + +"It was Harry Linney got teasing him, sir, and betting him he couldn't +climb up the outside of the church tower." + +"And he climbed up and fell, eh?" I said, going on with my examination. + +"Yes; that's it," said one of the men, staring. + +"How stupid!" I exclaimed. "Men like you to be always like a pack of +boys." + +"Is he killed, doctor?" said another in awestruck tones. + +"Killed? no;" I replied, "but he has broken his left arm, and yes--no-- +yes--his collar-bone as well." + +"Poor old chap," said a chorus of sympathising voices, and after +bandaging and splinting the injuries I sent the man home. + +He was too healthy and active a man to be ill long, and he rapidly +improved, and in the course of my attendance I used to smile to myself +and wonder whether Darwin was not right about our descent from the +monkeys; for certainly the climbing propensity was very strong in Fred +Fincher, who used to laugh when I talked to him about the folly of men +to climb. + +"Well, I dunno, sir," he said, "climbing's very useful sometimes. I'm a +carpenter, and I have to climb a good deal about housetops in my trade, +and nobody says it's foolish then." + +"That's a necessity," I replied. "Yours was only a bit of foolish +bravado." + +"Well, suppose it was, doctor," he said smiling. "Anyhow I was not +killed. It was nothing like getting up to oil the weathercock after +all." + +"Oil what weathercock?" I said. + +"Our weathercock, sir." + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"I mean at the old place, sir. You see this is how it was:-- + +"We'd got a weathercock a-top of our church spire at High Beechy; and it +was a cock in real earnest, just like the great Dorking in Farmer +Granger's yard; only the one on the spire was gilt, and shone in the sun +quite beautiful. + +"There was another difference, though. Farmer Granger's Dorking used to +crow in the morn, and sometimes on a moonlight night; but the gilt one +a-top of the steeple, after going on swinging round and round, to show +quietly which way the wind blew, took it into its head to stick fast in +calm weather, while in a rough wind--oh, lor' a' mercy! the way it would +screech and groan was enough to alarm the neighbourhood, and alarm the +neighbourhood it did. + +"I wouldn't believe as it was the weathercock at first, but quite took +to old Mother Bonnett's notion as it was signs of the times, and a kind +of warning to High Beechy of something terrible to come to pass. + +"But there, when you stood and saw it turning slowly round in the broad +daylight, and heard it squeal, why, you couldn't help yourself, but were +bound to believe. + +"Just about that time a chap as called himself Steeple Jack--not the +real Steeple Jack, you know, but an impostor sort of fellow, who, we +heard afterwards, had been going about and getting sovereigns to climb +the spires, and oil the weathercocks, and do a bit of repairs, and then +going off without doing anything at all--well, this fellow came to High +Beechy, saw the Rector, and offered to go up, clean and scrape the +weathercock, oil it and all, without scaffolding, for a five pound note. + +"Parson said it was too much, and consulted churchwarden Round, who said +`ditto;' and so Steeple Jack did not get the job even when he came down +to three pound, and then to a sovereign; for, bless you, we were too +sharp for him at High Beechy, and suspected that all he wanted was the +money, when, you know, we couldn't have made him go up, it being a risky +job. + +"The weathercock went on squeaking then awfully, till one afternoon, +when we were out on the green with the cricketing tackle for practice, +the Rector being with me, for we were going to play Ramboro' Town next +week, and the Rector was our best bowler. + +"He was a thorough gentleman was our Rector, and he used to say he loved +a game at cricket as much as ever, and as to making one of our eleven, +he used to do that, he said, because he was then sure that no one would +swear, or take more than was good for him. + +"Speaking for our lot, I'm sure it made us all respect him the more; and +I tell you one thing it did besides, it seemed to make him our friend to +go to in all kind of trouble, and what's more, it fetched all our lot in +the cricket club to church when I'm afraid if it hadn't been out of +respect to the parson we should have stopped away. + +"Why, I've known him on a hot evening at practice between the overs +suddenly cry `Hold hard!' with the ball in his hands, and say-- + +"`Tell you what, my lads, I think a glass of Tompkins's home-brewed +wouldn't be amiss just now. Smith, my man, will you step across and +tell them to send me a gallon?' + +"Then when it was brought all cool and foaming from out of the cellar, +and he took the first glass as a matter of course, he'd got a knack of +saying something sensible to a man in a way as did more good than the +preaching in a month of Sundays. + +"`That!' he'd say, with a smack of the lips when he'd finished the cool +draught, `That's good, refreshing, invigorating, and hearty. What a +pity it is some men will be such fools as to take more than is good for +them. Come, my lads, another glass round, and then to work.' + +"Why, you may laugh at me, but we all of us loved our parson, and he +could turn us all this way or that way with his little finger. + +"Well, we were out on the green, as I said, and the talk turned about +oiling the weathercock, and about how we'd heard as Steeple Jack, as he +called himself, had undertaken to do Upperthorpe steeple, as is thirty +feet lower than ours, and had got the money and gone off. + +"`I thought he was a rogue,' said Billy Johnson. `He looked like it; +drinking sort of fellow. Tell you what, I'm game to do it any time you +like.' + +"`Not you,' says Joey Rance. `It ain't in you.' + +"`Ain't it,' says Billy, tightening his belt, and then-- + +"`My good man,' says the Rector, `I couldn't think of allowing it.' + +"You see, ours was a splendid spire, standing altogether a hundred and +seventy feet six inches high; and as it says in the old history, was a +landmark and a beacon to the country for miles round. There was a +square tower seventy feet high, and out of this sprang the spire, +tapering up a hundred feet, and certainly one of the finest in the +county. + +"`Oh, I'd let him go, sir,' says Joey: `he can climb like a squirrel.' + +"`Or a tom-cat,' says another. + +"`More like a monkey,' says Sam Rowley, our wicket-keeper. + +"`Never mind what I can climb like,' says Billy. `I'm game to do it; so +here goes.' + +"`But if you do get up,' said the Rector, `you will want tools to take +off and oil the weathercock, and you can't carry them.' + +"Just then a message came from the house that the Rector was wanted, and +he went away in a hurry: and no sooner had he gone than there was no end +of chaff about Billy, which ended in his pulling up his belt another +hole, and saying-- + +"`I'm going.' + +"`And what are you going to do when you get up there?' + +"`Nothing,' he says, `but tie the rope up to the top of the spire, and +leave it for some of you clever chaps to do the work.' + +"`What rope shall you use?' I said. + +"`The new well rope,' says Billy. `It's over two hundred feet long.' + +"Cricketing was set aside for that day, for Joey Rance went off and got +the rope, coming back with it coiled over his arm, and throwing it down +before Billy in a defiant sort of way, as much as to say-- + +"`There, now let's see you do it.' + +"Without a word, Billy picked up the coil of rope and went in at the +belfry door, to come out soon after on the top of the tower, and then, +with one end of the rope made into a loop and thrown over his shoulders, +he went to one edge of the eight-sided spire and began to climb up from +crocket to crocket, which were about a yard apart, and looking like so +many ornamental knobs sticking out from the sides. + +"We gave him a cheer as he began to go up, and then sat on the grass +wondering like to see how active and clever the fellow was as he went up +yard after yard climbing rapidly, and seeming as if he'd soon be at the +top. + +"The whole of the village turned out in a state of excitement, and we +had hard work to keep two brave fellows from going up to try at other +corners of the spire. + +"`He'll do it--he'll do it!' was the cry over and over again. + +"And it seemed as if he would, for he went on rapidly till he was within +some thirty feet of the top; when all of a sudden he seemed to lose his +hold, and came sliding rapidly down between two rows of crockets, faster +and faster, till he disappeared behind the parapet of the tower. + +"We held our breath, one and all, as we saw him fall, and a cold chill +of horror came upon us. It was not until he had reached the top of the +tower that we roused ourselves to run to the belfry door, and began to +go up the newel staircase to get to the poor fellow, whom we expected to +find half-dead. + +"`Hallo!' cried Billy's voice, as we got half-way up the corkscrew, `I'm +coming down.' + +"`Aint you hurt, then?' cried Joey Rance. + +"`No, not much,' said Billy, as we reached him by one of the loopholes +in the stone wall. `Got some skin off, and a bit bruised.' + +"`Why, we thought you were half killed,' we said. + +"`Not I,' he replied, gruffly; `the rope caught over one of the +crockets, and that broke my fall a bit.' + +"`Going to try again?' said Joey, with a sneer. + +"`No, I aint going to try again, neither,' said Billy gruffly. `I left +the rope up at the top there, thinking you were so clever you'd like to +go.' + +"`Oh, I could do it if I liked,' said Joey. + +"`Only you daren't,' said Bill, rubbing his elbows, and putting his lips +to his bleeding knuckles. + +"`Daren't I?' said Joey. + +"Without another word he pushed by Billy, and went on steadily up +towards the top of the tower. + +"`I hope he'll like it,' said Billy, chuckling. `It aint so easy as he +thinks. Let's go down. I'm a good bit shook, and want a drop of +brandy.' + +"Poor fellow, he looked rather white when we got down; and to our +surprise on looking up, on hearing a cheer, there was Joey hard at work, +with the rope over his shoulder, climbing away, the lads cheering him +again and again as he climbed higher and higher, till he at last reached +the great copper support of the weathercock, and then, drawing himself +up a bit higher, he clung there motionless for a few minutes, and we +began to think that he had lost his nerve and was afraid to move. + +"But that wasn't it--he was only gathering breath; and we gave him a +cheer, in which Billy Johnson heartily joined, as, up there looking as +small as a crow the plucky fellow gave the weathercock a spin round, +afterwards holding on by his legs, clasped round the copper support, +while he took the rope from his shoulders, undid the loop, and then tied +it securely to the great, strong copper rod. + +"All this time he had had his straw hat on; and now, taking it off, he +gave it a skim away from him; and away it went right out into space, to +fall at last far from the foot of the tower. + +"Joey now began to descend very slowly and carefully, as if the coming +down was worse than the going up, and more than once he slipped; but he +had tight hold of the rope with one hand, and that saved him, so that he +only rested, and then continued his task. + +"You see, the spire sloped so that he did not hang away from it, but +against the stone sides; and so we went on watching him till he was +about half-way down, when he stopped to rest, and, pulling up the rope a +bit as he stood with one foot on a crocket, he tied in it a big loop, +slipped one leg right through, and sat in it, swinging to and fro as he +held on to the rope so as to rest his legs. + +"We gave him another cheer, and so did the Rector, who just then came +up, when Joey waved his hand. + +"As he did this, something occurred which took away my breath; for, poor +fellow, he seemed to slip, and, before we could utter a cry, he turned +over and hung head downwards, falling, with his leg slipping through the +loop, till his foot caught; and he hung by it, fighting hard for a few +moments to get back, but all in vain; and, as we watched him, his +struggles got weaker, so that he did not turn himself up so far when +trying to reach the loop where his ankle was caught; and at last he hung +there, swinging gently to and fro, only moving his hands. + +"By this time the Rector, I and two more had got to the belfry door, and +we ran panting up the dark staircase till we got out upon the leads. + +"`Hold on, Joey,' I shouted. `I'm coming.' + +"`Make haste,' he cried faintly, `I'm about done.' + +"By this time I was about ten feet up, and climbing as hard as I could, +forgetting all the danger in the excitement; for I don't think I should +have dared to go up on another occasion. + +"It was very hard work, and as I climbed the wind seemed to blow +terribly; but I got up and up, panting as I did so, till at last I was +clinging there with one foot resting on a crocket, wondering what I +should do. + +"`Look sharp, lad,' said poor Joey, `It seems as if all my blood was +rushing into my head.' + +"I leaned over and got hold of the rope close to his ankle, but do +anything more I could not. I had all the will in the world to help the +poor fellow, but it took all my strength to keep myself with one hand +from falling; and as to raising my old companion, I neither had the +strength nor the idea as to how it could be done. + +"The only way out of the difficulty seemed to be to take out my knife +and cut the rope, and then the poor fellow would be killed. + +"`Come down,' cried a voice below me. + +"Looking towards the leads, there was the Rector stripped to his shirt +and trousers, and with a coil of rope over his shoulder--for the new +well rope had proved to be long enough to let him cut off some five and +thirty feet. + +"`Don't leave me,' groaned Joey, who was half fainting. `I feel as if I +should fall any moment. I say, lad, this is very awful!' + +"`Here's the parson coming up,' I said. + +"And so it was; for he went to the row of crockets on the other side of +Joey, who now hung, looking blue in the face, and with his eyes closed. + +"`He must make haste--make haste,' he moaned, softly. + +"I stopped, holding on, while the Rector climbed up quicker than either +of us had done it, drawing himself up by his arms in a wonderful way +till he was abreast of we two--me holding on, and Joey hanging on by one +foot. + +"As soon as the Rector reached us, he said a few words of encouragement +to Joey, who did not speak a word, and then climbing higher, tied the +short rope he carried to the long rope just above the loop-knot which +held Joey's ankle. Then coming down a little, he tied his rope tightly +round Joey, just under the armpits. + +"`That will bear you, my lad,' he said. `But catch fast hold of it with +your hands, while I cut your foot free.' + +"Climbing up higher once more, he pulled out his knife, opened it with +his teeth, and then began to saw through the strands of the loop that +held Joey's ankle, till there was a snap, a jerk, and a heavy swinging +to and fro; for the poor fellow had fallen two or three feet, and was +now hanging by the rope round his breast right way upwards. + +"He did not make any effort for a few minutes, and as cheer after cheer +came to us from below, he swung there, with us holding on for dear life. + +"`Can you climb down now, Rance,' said the Rector, `if I cut you free?' + +"`No, sir,' he said hoarsely, `I've no use in my arms or legs--they're +all pins and needles.' + +"`Then we must lower you down,' said the Rector, calmly. And getting +hold of the long piece of rope, he climbed up once more, as coolly as if +he was on an apple tree in his own orchard, and saw that the knots were +fast; then coming down, he passed his long rope through the one round +Joey's breast, and tied it again round him. + +"`Now,' he said, `Fincher and I will hold on by this rope, and you can +let yourself slide through the other loop--one arm first, and then the +other, steadily.' + +"The poor fellow had hard work to do it; but the loop was loose enough +to let him work it over his head, and then with the Rector striding +across from the crocket at one angle to that on the other, and me +holding on to the rope as well, we let him down, sliding with his back +to the stone, till his feet touched the leads, when he fell down all of +a heap. + +"`Untie the rope,' said the Rector, `and get him down.' + +"He spoke very hoarsely, shouting to them below; and a cheer came up. + +"`Now, Fincher,' said the Rector, `we've got to get down.' + +"As he spoke, he made a running noose in the rope with the end he held +in his hand, let it run up to the the big noose, and pulled it tight. + +"Then he made an effort to get his legs together on one angle; but the +distance he had been striding was too great, and he couldn't recover +himself, but swung away by his hands. + +"`I can't help it, Fincher--I must go first,' he cried. And he was +already sliding down the rope as he spoke; but I was so unnerved and +giddy now, that I dared not look down. + +"I believe I quite lost my head then for a few moments; for I was +clinging there for life a hundred and twenty feet above the ground, and +the wind seemed to be trying to push me from my hold. + +"I was brought to myself, though, just as the landscape about me seemed +to be spinning round, by feeling the rope touch my side; and I clasped +it convulsively with both hands, and then, winding my legs round it, +slid rapidly down, the rope seeming to turn to fire as it passed through +my hands. + +"A few moments later, and I was safe on the tower leads, trying like the +rest to smile at the danger we had passed through; but it was a faint +sickly kind of smile and we were all very glad to get down to the green, +and cared nothing for the cheers of the people. + +"The rope was left hanging there, and stayed till it rotted away; but +somehow before a week was out, that weathercock stopped squeaking, as if +some one had been up to oil it, and, though nothing was said about it, +I've always felt as sure as sure that the Rector went up by himself and +did it early one morning before any one was up. + +"He was cool-headed enough to do it, for he certainly saved Joe Rance's +life, and I know no one in the village would have done it without +bragging after. At all events, the weathercock was oiled, and as I said +over and over again to Joey, `if Parson didn't oil that weathercock, who +did?' + +"That all goes to prove what I say," I replied when he had finished. +"You were all guilty of foolhardiness just to gratify a little vanity." + +"Well, you see, doctor, no man likes for his mates to think him a +coward." + +"Let them think, so long as you know you are not." + +"That's what Parson said," replied Fincher, "when he talked about it +next day." + +"Then _Parson_, as you so politely call him, was quite right." + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +MY PATIENT THE WAREHOUSEMAN. + +"I don't grudge a man a glass of beer or anything of the sort," I said +to a patient of mine whom I was attending, and who it was said look more +than was good for him; "beer is very well in its way, but I'm certain of +one thing, and that is that a man is better without either beer or +spirits." + +"What! in moderation, doctor?" he said. + +"Yes, even in moderation; men existed and were well and strong and +happy, depend upon it, long before beer or mead was invented." + +"Ah, doctor, I see you're a teetotaller," he said. + +"Not I, my man, unless one who seldom takes wine, spirits, or beer be a +teetotaller. When you get as old as I am, you will probably begin to +think that it is as well to take as much care as possible of the machine +in which you live. Suppose you had some clean, pretty mechanism--your +watch, say, or a musical box, you would be very careful not to injure +it." + +"Of course, doctor." + +"Then, why take anything that is likely to destroy so wonderful a piece +of work as the human body?" + +"But, does drinking beer destroy the body, doctor?" + +"That depends," I said. "If you have your half-pint or pint of beer for +dinner and supper, I believe, honestly, you would be better without it, +speaking as a doctor; but I don't believe that indulgence would keep you +from living in fair health to seventy, eighty, or ninety." + +"Then where's the harm, doctor." + +"The harm is drinking when you don't want it, and causing in yourself an +unnatural thirst or desire for strong drink that can never more be +quenched. Look around among your fellow workmen, and see how many you +know who must have their half-pint before going to work, and their +half-pint at eleven o'clock, and at four o'clock, and after leaving off; +and at last get so that their machine won't go without oiling, and they +can't pass a public-house without wanting more and more." + +"That's a true word, doctor." + +"And what does it mean," I said; "in the more moderate cases decided +dejection; unnatural features; bloated face; injured intellect and +general discomfort; and in the worst cases delirium tremens, and death." + +"Ah, but you are speaking of the worst cases, doctor, the regular +drunkards." + +"No," I said, "I was speaking of the regular drinkers, the men who +rarely get drunk, for they are inured to the liquor they consume." + +"I suppose you are right, doctor," he said; "Jacob Wood went regularly +mad with drink." + +"I don't know Jacob Wood," I said; "but you may depend upon it if he did +go regularly mad, as you call it, he had drunk until his internal organs +were all in a state of disease that affected the brain; and if you'll +take my advice, my man--" + +"You'd turn teetotaller?" + +"No, I don't put so heavy a tie upon you," I replied, "you have been +used to your beer; well, if you feel to want it make a stringent rule +that you will never take any except with your meals; you'll be a better +man in a month, and will not need to come to me." + +"Pity poor old Jacob Wood didn't come to you, doctor." + +"It's a pity he did not," I said. "Let me see, you are a warehouseman, +are you not?" + +"Yee, sir, I work up in one of the great Tooley Street warehouses, seven +stories above the ground, and everywhere around me wool--bales upon +bales of wool which we crane up from waggons or lighters and in at an +open door, where, if a fellow had had a little drop too much and +slipped--well, seven stories would be an awful fall. + +"Ours is a place worth going over, sir. There's floors upon floors +beneath, stored with jute and dye-woods, teas, coffees, spices, +tobaccos, and lowest of all on the ground floor and in the cellarage, +tallows in great hogsheads. Ah, it's a busy place, and the stores there +is worth some money, and no mistake. + +"I remember Jacob Wood doctor," he said, drawing in a long breath as if +of pain, "and no wonder; but it's strange, how very little people see +danger when it's coming to them. + +"I was at our warehouse one day, and had been down for half-a-pint, +when, `What's the matter with Jacob Wood this afternoon?' says one of +the men. + +"But, excepting that he looked a little wild about the eyes, I didn't +see anything more about him than might often be seen in men who will +drink heavily at times; and so I said. But at last, towards evening, +when I was longing to get away home to spend my evening comfortably, I +was left alone upon that floor with him, and felt a bit startled to see +him go all at once to the open door where the crane landed the bales, +and cut some strange capers, like a man going to dive off a board into +the sea. + +"Putting down my work, which was getting ready two or three burst bales +for the hydraulic press, so that they might be tied up again, I slipped +quietly up behind him, and laid my hand upon his shoulder, when, with a +yell, he shrieked out. + +"And the next moment, by the light of the gas on that foggy winter's +afternoon, we two were wrestling and fighting together, within a few +feet of the door, out of which we should have fallen clear a hundred +feet upon the stones of the wharf below. + +"I should have shouted, but all power of speech seemed taken away, as +locked together we wrestled here and there, while his hot breath hissed +against my cheek, and I could look close into his wild, glowering eyes +as, flushing with rage, he bore me nearer and nearer to the doorway. + +"Used as I was at all times to standing close to the edge and receiving +bales and packages, I could lean over usually without a shudder; but +now, with this madman slowly forcing me back towards the certain death, +I could feel the cold sweat standing upon my face, and trembled so with +dread that my resistance became feebler and feebler; till as a last +resource I managed to get my leg between my opponent's, and tripped him, +when we fell heavily. + +"Fortunately for me my enemy was undermost, and the force with which his +head came against the warehouse floor partly stunned him, so that I +shook myself free, and turned and fled towards the stairs. But the next +moment I thought of the open doorway, and the state the poor fellow was +in, so turned back to lock it, to ensure that he did not come by his +death by falling out before I could get assistance. + +"My hand was on the door, but I could not close it, for Wood lay in the +way; and shuddering at how near he lay to the gulf, I stooped to draw +him on one side, when he started up and seized me again. + +"To beat up his hands, and turn, and ran down between the piled-up bales +didn't take long, while roaring with rage I could hear him tearing after +me. + +"The stairs were pretty close, but as I ran round the end of the bales I +found the door closed, and had to dart past to avoid being caught; when +I turned down another opening between the packages, and ran panting on. + +"Big as the floor was, there was passage after passage between the wool, +which was piled-up eight or nine feet high, and I tore on in the hope o' +getting ahead so that I could dart through the stairs door, fasten it +after me, and so escape or summon assistance. On and on I ran, now +getting ahead, and now with the panting breath close to my shoulder, so +that I expected every moment to feel a savage hand laid upon me to drag +me down. At last he got so near that his hand brushed me; but, with a +yell of horror, I leaped forward again, dodged round a corner, ran down +a short passage, and again on, past pillars and piles, when turning +round I found that I was alone; and hurrying to about the centre of the +narrow passage, between the high walls of wool, I leaned against the +side panting and breathless. + +"`Now, if I could but reach the door while he was at the other end,' I +thought, `I should be safe;' and I kept on nervously watching the two +ends of the passage lest I should be taken by surprise; when, to my +horror, I saw by the gas shining upon it a savage head peer round from +the end nearest the way of escape, watch me for a moment, and then +disappear. It was now quite dim and twilight in all the passages, and +my first idea was to dart off in the opposite direction; but a little +thought told me that perhaps the wretch did not see me, and therefore I +had better stay where I was; and so I stood minute after minute +expecting to see him come round one end or the other, and dash down upon +me. + +"I knew that about half-past five the watchman would come round, and +then I could give the alarm; but it wanted nearly an hour of that time, +and how I was to hold out till then I could not tell; for the very +thought unnerved me; and, overcome with fear, I could feel my knees +tremble and seem ready to give way beneath my weight. + +"Five minutes passed--ten minutes--and still no sign. My spirits rose a +little, and I began to hope that escape was yet possible, but abated +nothing of my watchfulness. Another five minutes, and I had almost +determined upon trying to steal down towards the door, where the +reflection from the gaslight made the end of the passage quite bright, +while where I stood was in a fast-deepening shadow. I took two steps +forward noiselessly, and then stopped; stole on again and stopped with a +dead silence all around, through which I could hear the singing of the +gas and the loud `throb, throb' of my heart. I had somewhat recovered +my breath, and kept slinking silently on, every now and then looking +back to see that there was no pursuit. What I should have liked, and +which would have been in accordance with my feelings at the moment, +would have been to dash forward; but I kept down the desire, and crept +slowly on between the two huge walls of wool bales piled some eight or +nine feet high. + +"Only another three yards, and here I stopped, trembling in dread lest +Wood might be watching for me; but calling myself fool, coward, and cur, +I stepped on again; and at last, with the light shining full upon me, +leaned forward to peer cautiously round the edge of the bales. Slowly +and quietly, nearer and nearer, till I looked round; and then, with a +horrible fascination upon me, I stopped still--for, in precisely the +same position, Wood was craning his neck forward to peep round at me; +and with eyes looking into eyes, and only three or four inches apart, we +stood what seemed minutes immovable. Move I could not, speak I could +not, for my throat felt dry and hot; while my eyes, fixed and staring, +looked into those glaring, wild-beastlike orbs, which seemed to hold me +fixed to the earth as if some horrible nightmare was upon me. I felt +that if I closed my eyes but for a moment he would spring at me; and at +last, clutching the wool firmly with one hand, I drew myself slowly +back, fixing his eyes the whole while, and then, as my strength seemed +to come back, I leapt round and fled down the passage once more, as I +heard a hideous yell, and saw Wood dash into the entrance. + +"But there was silence again directly, and looking back as I reached the +middle, I could see that I was not pursued; when, fearing that with all +a madman's cunning he had gone round to try and trap me at the other +end, I stopped once more where I was, mentally praying for aid, as I +strained eyes and ears to catch sight of or hear my enemy. + +"A quarter of an hour must have passed without a sound meeting my ears, +and I was hopefully calculating upon aid soon coming, when a slight +rustling noise seemed to have been made close by me, and I started and +looked eagerly towards the dark and then towards the light end of the +narrow passage I was in. + +"Nothing to be seen; and the minutes again passed slowly on, when all at +once came the most horribly unearthly yell I ever heard from just above +my head, and then, overcome with terror as I shrank to the floor, I +looked up and knew that Wood had climbed over the top of the wool; and +as the thought flashed through my mind, he bounded down upon me and had +me by the throat. + +"I struggled for a few moments, and then lights seemed dancing before my +eyes, blood rushing to my head; and, in a half-insensible state, I have +some recollection of being dragged along the floor into the gaslight, +and then pulled and thrust about for a few moments, when there came the +regular thud-thud of the little pump close by, and I could feel myself +moving upwards. But all seemed so calm, and such a desire for sleep was +upon me, that it was not till there was a fearful sense of oppression +and tightness that I awoke to the consciousness that the wretch had +forced me on to the traveller of the hydraulic press, and was now +forcing in the water beneath the ram, so that in a few more seconds my +life would be crushed out. + +"Thud-thud, thud-thud went the pump, and the pressure was awful; while +at the same time, as I vainly writhed and tried to press down the heavy +plate that was crushing me, I was conscious of a great light which shone +around, and which I thought was caused by the flushing sensation in my +eyes; but no, for directly there came the noise of shouting, louder +every moment; and then I made out, ringing up from the yard, those +horrid words, `Fire! fire!' and then I knew that Wood must have fired +the warehouse. + +"Shouts, cries, and the noise of hurrying feet; and Wood stood in the +glare of light, looking first one way and then the other, as if +confused, for he had quitted the pump on the first noise of shouting. +All at once he darted away; and half fainting and suffocated with the +pressure, I could do nothing but groan feebly, after struggling a +little, to find every effort vain; and then with sharpened senses gaze +at the flames licking the roof of the floor I was on, and escaping up +the sides of wool bales, and the more inflammable goods that were in the +warehouse. The smoke soon became blinding and the heat stifling; and +for me there seemed no hope, since I was sure no one would be able to +penetrate to where I was; when again I gave a struggle, and stretched +down my hand backwards to try and reach the tap, which would let off the +water and set me at liberty, or at least place me in a position to try +and escape the horrible death that seemed my fate. + +"But no, the handle was far out of my reach; and I groaned and wept at +my helpless condition. The press held me by the chest with awful power, +but my hands and arms were at liberty; while my head hanging down +backwards enabled me to see the flames creeping along faster and faster, +as I saw them reversed, and began to calculate how long it would be +before they would reach me and end my misery. + +"All at once, when nearly fainting, my hand came in contact with the +iron bar used to lengthen the handle of the pump, to force in the water +with more ease when greater power was required; and then my heart gave a +leap as I thought I might be able to strike the handle of the tap and +let out the water. + +"I grasped the bar, and then I began swinging it about slowly, to try +and strike the tap; but in vain, for I could do nothing with it from +only being able to swing it at random, for I could not see. Nearer came +the flames, louder rose the shouts; and as I looked along the warehouse +I could see that all escape was out off by the stairs, even if I had +been at liberty; and now, completely overcome by the pressure and the +horror of my position, I groaned heavily, and the bar fell from my +grasp. + +"`The last hope gone,' I thought; when at the same moment a familiar +sound struck my ear, for in falling the bar had struck upon the tap, +when there came the fierce gush of the compressed water, and the ram +began slowly to descend till I could crawl out, to fall fainting upon +the floor. + +"But I was up again directly, for there was a fierce glow in the place; +and now I could see Wood busily at work tearing out wool to feed the +flames, and dashing everything else he could lay his hands upon into the +fire, which seemed at times to singe him. + +"I looked round, for he took no notice of me; and I had before seen +there was no escape by the door, so, running to the open door by the +crane, I caught hold of the rope, and began lowering it down as fast as +possible, with the light shining full upon me, and the people below +either groaning with horror or cheering me on as I tore at the stout +rope, and sent the crane handle spinning round and round. + +"Could I but get enough rope out before Wood's attention was taken, I +felt safe, for I knew that I could slide down easily enough; but, as I +dreaded, he caught sight of me, and leaving his fiery task, he rushed +towards the door; when, with a yell of terror, I leaped from the +flooring, clinging tightly to the rope, which began to run swiftly out +as I swung to and fro till it was all out, when the jerk nearly dashed +me off. But, after sliding down some little way, I recovered myself, +and letting the rope glide slowly through my hands, I went lower and +lower, with my eyes fixed on the blazing floor above. + +"All at once I felt the rope jerked and swung about, and I could see the +figure of Wood at it; and then again I was being drawn up, and I knew he +must be busy at the crane handle; but the next minute he must have +loosened his hold. + +"There was a yell from the crowd, something dark dashed by me with a +rushing noise, and as I clung trembling to the rope I heard a horrible +dull thud, and slipping swiftly down the rope for the remainder of the +distance, I suppose I fell fainting by the side of Wood's mutilated +form. + +"The fire was got under when our floor was burned out, though much +damage was done by water; but with the exception of a strange, nervous +timidity that I fancy I shall never get the better of, I was not much +the worse." + +"And was Jacob Wood killed?" + +"No, sir," he said; "he fell upon some bales of wool; but he was +dreadfully hurt, and never man enough to take his turn in the warehouse +again, and very glad we all were." + +"And yet you men rather need an example." + +"Well, yes, sir, we do," he said, thoughtfully; "but I'm going to turn +over a new leaf." + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +MY PATIENT IN THE RIVER POLICE. + +"Don't you find it very dreary at night upon the river?" I said to one +of my regular patients--a river policeman--who preferred my services to +those of the divisional surgeon for a long bout of sciatica. + +"Just like the old woman's eels, sir, and the skinning: one gets used to +it. It's lonesome like of a night upwards; but there you have the +lights on the bridges and there's gas here and gas there; and a faint +roar comes over the housetops from out of the streets. It's when you're +below bridge that it seems dull; where the big vessels are moored in the +black muddy stream, that goes hurrying by them with a low, rushing +noise--creeping and leaping at their slimy sides, covering their anchor +chains, or the buoy to which they swing, with all sorts of muddy refuse; +and sometimes of a night there'll be a body get hanging on somehow, +ready for us to find and take ashore. + +"Now, if I give you a bit of tight chain going from a ship's bows to an +anchor down in the mud, on one side; and if I give you a dead body +floating along on the other side, you'd think directly as there'd be no +chance of the one stopping by the other--you'd think as one would float +down all slimy and horrible, touch against t'other, and then rising, it +would ride far enough out to sea. But, Lor' bless you, that's where +you're wrong; for how it is I can't tell you, but it always seems to me, +and has seemed ever since I was in the river police, that dead bodies +lash and hang themselves somehow against mooring chains, on purpose that +they might be found, and get a decent burial. Else how could they stop +as they do, over and over again? I can't tell, nor you can't tell, nor +nobody can't tell; it's a nat'ral mystery, and mysteries is things as +gets over all of us. + +"Since I was nearly being found myself, hitched on to a mooring chain-- +for I'll lay any money that if I had been bested I should have gone +quite naturally all the same to where I'd seen so many before--I've got +to take a little more than a business interest in such things. It's +very awful, you know; and though I'm an ignorant man, it often sets me +thinking on the dark nights when our galley's going slowly with the +stream, floating along the black, rushing river--yes, it often sets me +thinking about the state of affairs in our great city, and wondering +whether all our great civilisation's so good after all, when it brings +down stream to-night a decently-dressed body with the pockets inside +out, and marks as of blows on the swollen face; to-morrow night a +well-dressed body with no marks, and money and watch and all there; next +night the body of a young woman with an oldish face, but on that face a +weary, despairing look, that seems to say there was no rest anywhere but +in the river, and into the river she had come; next night, again, +perhaps another well-dressed body, most likely with a bit of paper and a +half washed-out address pinned inside the torn dress bosom--and this +one, perhaps, would be young, and fair, and pale, and sometimes not at +all horrible to look at. + +"There, I've seen great, strong, rough men, used to all sorts of things, +stand with their hats off by such sights, and speak in even choky +voices, as if they could hardly keep back something that they would be +ashamed for others to see, down by some river stairs, where the muddy +tide has gone `lap, lap,' at one, two, or three o'clock in the morning. +Why, at such times I've often felt creepy myself; for people may say +what they like, but you never do get used to death, and whenever you +meet it you feel a strange sense of quietness stealing over you; and one +of the first things generally done when we land a body is, old or young, +to cover it with sheet or sack; and even then there's a horrible sort of +drawing of you in it; and I've sat before now watching, and unable to +get away from the uncouth covered thing, with the stream of water +trickling slowly away to get back to the river. + +"But, there, I think you've had enough about what goes floating down the +river and floating up the the river, backwards and forwards, with the +tide grinding it against wharf, and pier, and buttress, till there's no +telling who or what it was. I dare say you've had enough; but it's a +thing I could go on talking about for hours--beginning with me, or one +of my mates, or a River Jack finding of them, and then going on, through +the giving notice, and the inquest, and all the rest of it; and it's all +going on day after day, month after month, year after year. Talk of the +River Jacks, though, what a singular thing it is: they never by any +chance find a body with any valuables about it; but always, when they +come across it, watch, money, pins, brooches, they're all gone; and +when, quite serious-like, I've asked them how they can account for it, +I've always got the same answer--a knowing wink of the left eye. + +"Ours is a strange sort of life, and lots hardly know of our existence; +but, bless you, there'd soon be some rum goings-on if our little row +galleys were not always busy at work up and down the river. You take +plenty of precautions on shore, don't you, where there's wealth? Well, +don't you think there's as much need afloat, where there's millions of +pounds' worth of stuff almost at the mercy of the thief? For though +sailors are pretty good at keeping watch out at sea, get 'em in port, +and watching with them means choosing the softest plank under the +bulwarks, and having a good caulk. So that's where we come in useful-- +working along with the Custom House officers to keep down the plundering +and smuggling that, but for us, would be carried on to an awful extent. +For, you see, there are gangs who make it a practice to work with +lightermen and with sailors; and sometimes by night, sometimes in open +day--they carry off prizes that are pretty valuable. + +"River pirates you may call them, though they've got half a score of +cant names, and tea chests, bags of rice or sugar, kegs of spirits, +rolls of tobacco, all's fish that comes to their net; and if they can't +get things of that sort, why they'll go in for bits of sails, ropes and +chains, or blocks, anything even to a sheet of copper or a seaman's +kit--once they get their claws into it, there's not much chance of its +being seen again. + +"It used to be ten times worse than it is now, and in those days there +was a fellow whom I'll call River Jack, who was about the most daring +and successful rascal that ever breathed. We knew his games, but we +could never catch him in the fact; and at last of all I got so riled at +the fault found with us, as robbery after robbery took place, that one +night, after a row about a ship's bell stolen off the deck of a large +Swedish corn barque, I made up my mind that I'd never let things rest +till I'd caught Mr River Jack at some one or other of his games, and +had him sent out of the country. + +"Now, talking was one thing and doing another, and just at that time I'd +been making arrangements for putting a stop to my activity by hanging a +weight round my neck. I needn't mention any names, but there was a +young lady there--my wife now--that I used to go and see, and as soon as +ever it came to my time for going off to duty there used to be a scene, +for she got it into her head that I should be sure to meet with some +terrible accident on the river; and at last, from being rather soft +after her, what with the talk and tears, I used to be in anything but a +good trim for my spell. + +"`There, don't be such a chicken,' I used to say, when she'd laid her +little head on my shoulder, and been talking a whole lot of unreasonable +nonsense; but it was of no use to talk, she would be a chicken; and one +night I went away, feeling as if I had caught the infection, for I never +felt more chicken-hearted in my life. + +"An hour after I was on the river, with three more, pulling very gently +along in and out amongst the shadows of the great ships. But whether we +were in the shadow or out, it did not make much difference, for a darker +night I never saw, and one and all we came to the conclusion that if we +were lucky, there must be something for us to do; for that some of River +Jack's gang would be at work we were one and all sure. You see, it was +just the sort of night they would like; for looking out was no use, +since we could see nothing four yards ahead; all we could do was to wait +in the hope that our friends might come near us--and come they did. + +"We had been paddling gently about for a couple of hours, and at last +had pulled under the stern of a great vessel that had come up the river +that evening, but had been too late to get into dock. She was fresh +over from the East Indies; and besides saltpetre, and tea, and +cochineal, she had on board a large freight of odds and ends-- +curiosities and such-like. Of course we did not know this then; but a +big vessel like she was seemed very likely to prove a bait to the river +pirates, and there we lay holding on to the rudder chains. + +"`I wish I was a-bed,' says Jack Murray, one of the men under me that +night. + +"`I wish I was over a pipe and a glass of grog,' says Tom Grey, who was +another. + +"And then we sat still again, knowing that we should be sure to hear of +something wrong in the morning, and knowing, too, that even if there was +some game carried on within a dozen yards of us we should not hear it. + +"We were in luck, though, this night, for a minute after there was a +soft plash heard above the rushing of the river, something dark passed +over where a miserable glim of a lamp was shining. Then there was a +faint low whistle from over our heads, another from out of the black +darkness where we heard the plash, and then a boat brushed close by us; +there was the sound as of something being lowered down, and before you +could say `Jack Robinson' we'd grappled that boat, and the man in it; +slipped on the handcuffs, and got him fast, with a bale of silk +handkerchiefs in his boat; and in a few minutes we'd got a couple of the +sailors as well. + +"You may guess my surprise and delight when I took a look at our +prisoner with a lantern, to find that it was River Jack himself; and, to +make a long story short, he was convicted and sentenced to ten years' +transportation. + +"`But I'll be back before that, Tom Johnson,' he shouts to me as soon as +he had got his sentence; `and when I do come--look out.' + +"He was hurried out of court before he could say any more; but those +words somehow, for a time, sunk into my memory, and worried me a deal, +till I got married, and then I forgot them. + +"Well, my married life was just the same as any other man's married +life, except that my wife always had such a dislike to my way of +business. Twenty times over she would have had me leave it for +something else; but, as I said to her, `a bird in the hand's worth two +in the bush, 'specially if the one's bread and cheese and the other +ain't.' For, you know, what was the good of me giving up the certain +sure for the certain chance? + +"`But I do have such horrible dreams about you,' she says. + +"`Dreams never come true,' says I. + +"`Oh, yes, they do,' she says. `My aunt once dreamt that they were +going to have the bailiffs in; only a month after, in they came.' + +"`Well, I don't mind believing that,' says I, `for it's a very likely +thing to happen to any of us.' + +"`But I'm always dreaming you're being drowned,' she says. + +"`Well, then don't dream so any more,' I says huffishly, for I was in a +hurry to be off. + +"And I ask you, just as a fair question, is it pleasant, if your duty +takes you on the water all day or all night, as the case may be, to have +the wife of your bosom always dreaming that you are brought home +drowned? + +"I got to be obstinate at last, for it was all nonsense to think of +giving up a decent position on chance; so the more my wife dreamed about +me being drowned, the more I came home at regular times, sound as a +roach, and dry as a bone, except in wet weather. Matters went on as +usual; chaps were caught stealing or smuggling, and they were imprisoned +or fined; and all this time I'd forgotten about River Jack, till one +evening, when, from information I'd received, I had myself rowed, as +soon as it was dark, on to one of half a score of lighters moored off +the Surrey shore, and loaded with the freight they had been taking out +of a full-rigged ship, just about a hundred yards ahead. For, you see, +some owners won't go to the expense of having their vessel in dock, but +have it unladen where she lies. I had had a hint or two that there was +likely to be something on the way; but as it was a light night, I knew +very well that if our boat lay anywhere on the watch, the consequence +would be that the plundering party would never come near. + +"Well, I had myself rowed there, crept on to one lighter quietly, +loosened an end of a tarpaulin, got underneath, and made myself snug as +possible, giving my men orders to lay off behind a brig two hundred +yards away, ready to come up to my help when they heard me whistle. +Then, in a moment or two, I heard the oars dip, growing fainter and +fainter each moment, till all was still but the sighing of the wind, and +the lapping, rushing noise of the tide running down hard. + +"What an easy thing it is to plan out anything on paper, or in your own +head, and what a different affair it turns out when you work it out in +practice! Here was I lying snug in hiding, and all I'd got to do was to +wait patiently till anybody came to plunder the lighters, then jump up, +staff or pistol in hand, and arrest the lot; whistle, when our galley +would come up; the men be transferred into the boat; taken to the +station; and praise and promotion for me would most likely follow. + +"That's how it was on paper; this is how it turned out in practice. + +"I'd lain there for quite half an hour, in not the most comfortable of +positions, when, growing tired, I took a glance out through a hole I +slit with my knife in the tarpaulin; but all was still--nothing to be +heard but the rushing of the river past the great barge, and I lay back +once more, wondering whether the enemy would come, and, if they did +come, how long they would be first. + +"I don't think I'm more of a coward than most men, but somehow just +about then I began to wish that I had made a couple of our fellows stay +with me; then I wished that it was morning; and then, as I turned cold +and shivering, I began to think about that dream of my wife's; and from +being cold I now grew hot and wet with perspiration, so that I was +thinking of lifting the tarpaulin a little, when I stopped the idea, for +I heard all at once a sharp, scratching noise. + +"`Bats,' I said to myself; and I began to think of the amount of +mischief the little wretches do on shipboard, getting carried out, too, +in the bales to the lighters, and from them into warehouse and bonded +store. + +"Then came the scratching again, and a slight rustling; and I uttered a +loud, sharp hiss to drive them away; for, shut up as I was, I did not +much like the idea of being nibbled by rats. + +"That hiss did it; for it was all that some one wanted to know. My +whereabouts was nearly guessed at: that showed it exactly. + +"The rats seemed to have gone, and I was peering about in the darkness, +when there came another faint rustling noise, and then--_crash_--it was +as though half a dozen bales of cotton had been thrown upon me. I was +nearly suffocated; but I had sense enough to know that several men had +thrown themselves upon the tarpaulin; that my enemies had been too much +for me, and had been lying in hiding beneath the coverings when I came, +and had now taken me at a disadvantage. + +"The thoughts ran rapidly through my brain, and I struggled hard to get +myself sufficiently at liberty to blow my whistle, when a voice that I +seemed to know whispered-- + +"`Lie still, or we'll drive a knife through to you.' + +"Struggling was, I knew, useless then; so I prepared myself for an +effort when opportunity offered. But they were too much for me. As the +tarpaulin was raised, three men crept under; a lot of oakum was thrust +into my mouth; my whistle taken away; the handcuffs in my pocket, ready +unlocked, thrust upon my own wrists; and, with many a warning growl, I +was rolled off the lighter side into a boat that I had supposed to +belong to one of the barges. + +"`Now, Jack, you and Dick take him off,' was whispered; and I thought I +caught the word `Erith.' + +"`They'll lay me in one of the reed-beds, bound hand and foot,' I +thought; `and the others will help clear this lighter the while.' + +"I was so excited that I made a bit of a struggle, but only to have the +end of an oar brought down heavily across my forehead; and the next +moment some one leaned over me, and for a few seconds the glaring light +of a bull's-eye rested upon my face. + +"The next minute my blood ran cold; for there was a low laugh at my ear, +and a voice I seemed to know said-- + +"`Every dog has its day, my lad. It's my turn now!' + +"I wanted no telling--I could understand all plainly enough. River Jack +had come back, and he meant to have his revenge. + +"But what would he do? He would not mur-- + +"Pooh! nonsense! his companions would interfere. But there was only one +here, and they were softly but swiftly rowing me down with the tide. If +they would land me at Erith! They said so; but then this scoundrel had +not known me, and now that we had openly recognised one another, he +could not afford to have me as a witness to his having returned before +his time. + +"Was my wife's dream coming true? I shuddered from head to foot as I +heard the washing of the water beneath the boat's keel; and then I +thought of the bodies I had seen brought out, and the mooring chains; +and then it seemed to me that I was to be as I had seen others, and a +horrible sweat of terror broke out on me. But just then my attention +was taken up by a low muttering between the men, and Hope whispered that +one of them was opposing the other's plans. Whatever was said, though, +silence followed, and they rowed on swiftly for what must have been a +quarter of an hour, though to me it seemed an age, when, before I could +do more than utter an inarticulate roar of despair, I was lifted quickly +to the boat's gunwale, and in another moment I was beneath the cold, +rushing water. + +"A struggle or two brought me to the surface again, and I made an effort +with my fastened hands to reach the boat; but, with brutal indifference, +Jack placed the blade of his scull against my chest, and thrust me +under; and when I again rose, it was out of sight of those who had +thrown me in. + +"Even in that time of agony, with the water burning and strangling in my +nostrils, and thundering in my ears, I could think of the plunder the +scoundrels would get; of how my men would stay waiting for my whistle; +of my wife's dream; and lastly, of the finding of my handcuffed body, +floating up and down with the tide. The papers would call it a +mysterious murder, for I was sure to be found; but that River Jack would +have it brought home to him was not likely. + +"I could do but little; every struggle seemed to send me lower; I tried +to float, but in vain; and the water whirled me round and round, drove +me against vessel sides that I could not clutch, past lights that I +could not hail, and I was fast lapsing into insensibility, when I struck +something hard, raised my arms over it, and clung there with my nostrils +above water--learning the secret of how bodies could hang to a mooring +chain. + +"At the end of a fortnight's fever, I learned how that I had been found +soon after by another of our galleys, clinging to the mooring chain of a +great vessel; but it was for some time a question of doubt whether our +men had found a body with or without life. + +"That's many years ago now, and such deeds have happily grown rare; +though you don't know of all that goes on down the river. I'm in the +force still, and mean to stay; for River Jack was taken, and report says +he was shot by a sentry while attempting to escape, out in one of the +penal settlements." + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +MY PATIENT THE EMIGRANT. + +Talking of penal settlements naturally suggests settlements that are not +penal, where our most enterprising unsuccessful men go to seek the home +and prosperity that they have not been able to discover here. One such +man as this was Samson Harris, who, after twenty years of Australian +life, returned home with a comfortable competency for a man of his +class. He was no millionaire, but he had made enough to live upon to +the end of his days, and then leave enough for his children. + +I attended his family, the little that they needed of medical aid, and +finding him a thoroughly well-informed man, full of general knowledge, a +certain amount of intimacy ensued, and he at various times told me so +much of his life out at the Antipodes, that I was pretty well able to +picture it from beginning to end. + +He gave me one very vivid account of an incident in his career which I +have endeavoured to reproduce. + +From his description of his home, it might have been in one of the +midland counties, the scene was so calm and peaceful. The roughly-built +cottage, with its familiar English objects here and there--the +loudly-ticking clock, the cleanly-scrubbed three-legged table; the big +old family Bible; the cage of white wicker, with its ragged-tailed +thrush hopping from perch to perch; and I picture to myself Samson +Harris seated there upon a stool in the midst of the humble room, before +a tin bucket of water, Englishman written boldly in the lines of his +rugged, ruddy, sun-tanned face, as he bent to his task of washing out +the barrel of his rifle--a necessity for protection in those early +settling days--making the water play up like a fountain from the nipple, +to the great delight of two rosy children who were looking on. + +It might have been here, in one of the midland counties, but there was +something about the brightness of the afternoon sun which streamed in at +the open door, the blueness of the sky, the clearness of the atmosphere, +and the scenery around, that was not English. The flowers that +clustered about the door and nodded round the rough window-frame, and +the objects that peeped here and there from some corner, too, told of a +foreign land; while the huge pines that shot up arrow-like towards the +sky were such as could be seen nowhere but in Australia. + +"The poor brutes have been calling you, lass, for the last half-hour," +said he, looking up as a tall, fair-haired girl entered the room where +he was busy, milking-pail in hand, and stood to watch the task with as +much interest as the children. + +"They shan't wait any longer, father," said the girl; and she passed +slowly through the door, humming a cheery old country ditty, and was +gone. + +The barrel was taken from the water, and wiped out; and then Harris set +to work oiling the lock. + +"Hallo, what are you back for?" he exclaimed as a roughly-dressed, +heavy-faced man came up to the hut-door at a trot, his forehead +streaming with perspiration, which had marked its course in lighter +lines through his dust-grimed face. Directly behind him came, at an +easy, loping swing, a tall, thin, fleshless-looking native, whose black +skin shone as he came into the hut after his companion. + +"Blacks out," panted the heavy-faced man, seizing the door as if to shut +it, at the same time examining the cap upon the rifle he +carried--"Blacks out, master." + +"Blacks out, Tom?" said Samson; "blacks out? 'Pon my word, I never saw +such a coward in my life. Now what in the world were you lagged for +that your conscience must make you see a nigger in his paint behind +every tree, or peeping up above the scrub? Blacks! Poor, inoffensive +beggars. Why, you had your rifle, hadn't you, ready to scare off a +hundred? This makes six times you've run home to cry wolf. And you've +left those sheep to take care of themselves," he continued, forcing the +ramrod into its place as he rose as if to leave the hut. + +"'Tain't wolf this time, master; 'tain't, indeed," cried the man +earnestly; and then, seeing Harris's smile of incredulity, he relapsed +into a look of sullen injury, and stood leaning upon his rifle-barrel. + +"Here, come along," said Samson. + +"Load up first, master," said Tom. "'Tis true, indeed," he exclaimed, +once more seeking to obtain credence for his story. "I saw scores. Ask +Teddy here." + +Now Teddy--or, as he was known in his tribe, Bidgeebidgee--stood spear +in hand, showing his white teeth, and apparently listening intently, +from the way in which his nostrils expanded and twitched. That +something was amiss was evident, for, leaning his spear against the +wall, he now took off the ragged blue shirt he wore, unfastened his +girdle, and set free a formidable-looking waddy, or club, before +throwing himself flat upon the ground to listen. + +Samson paused, startled, and though uncharged, he involuntarily cocked +his piece as Teddy, the black shepherd, leaped up and exclaimed-- + +"Black fellows all a-coming--one--two--ten hundred." + +The next instant he threw himself into an attitude of attack, poising +his spear for hurling at the first who should cross the threshold. + +"Get out," exclaimed Samson, recovering himself; "here have I lived now +two years and only seen a party or two of the poor wretches begging, +and--" + +"But they burned Riley's hut, and butchered his wife and children," said +Tom, earnestly. + +"Don't believe it," said Samson, sturdily, "only a bugbear made up by +some of them pioneering chaps to frighten new-comers from going up +country and taking claims, so that they may have best choice +themselves." + +"Wallace's boy's head was battered in," said Tom. + +"Gammon," said Samson, who, however, could not help looking uneasily +towards the black. + +"Then there was Ellis's poor gal; you know how they served her." + +"Hold your tongue, will you?" growled Samson; "do you want to frighten +the women to death?" and as he spoke he clapped his hand over his +convict servant's mouth, and glanced uneasily towards the door which led +into the interior of the hut--one that was unusually large, for during +Samson's pleasant sojourn in this smiling wilderness, matters had +prospered with him, and bit by bit he had added to his dwelling, and +found himself compelled to make fresh arrangements for his flocks and +ever-multiplying herds. + +"Did you call?" said a pleasant voice, and then the door opened, and +Samson's comely wife made her appearance. + +"No," said Samson, "I didn't call, but--" + +"Here a come," said Teddy, and all present heard the rapid beat of feet, +audible to the black's keen sense some time before. Tom cocked and +raised his rifle; Samson snatched down a revolver from a hook over the +fireplace, knocking down and breaking a little china group of the +children in the wood, an ornament brought from the far-off English home. + +But the next moment arms were lowered, and Teddy's spear was not thrown, +for two men, whose faces were known to all present, dashed panting into +the hut. + +"Look out," one of them gasped, "the blacks are out." + +"Now then, master!" cried Tom triumphantly. + +"Don't see nothing blacker about than your face, neighbour," said Samson +dryly, as he turned to one of his visitors. "Ain't neither of you +killed, are you?" + +The man did not answer, but turning up the sleeve of his woollen shirt +to the elbow, showed a long, jagged but superficial scratch from the +upper joint to the wrist, with here the blood drying fast, there still +standing in beads upon the lips of the wound. + +"I might have been," said the new-comer grimly, "if the fellow who threw +the spear that made that long scratch had been truer in his aim. The +blacks are out strong, well armed, and in their war-paint; and if you +don't want them in here, Samson Harris, you'd better shut that door." + +Half-grudgingly, the squatter made two steps towards the door; then he +stopped for he caught sight of his wife, standing with blanched and +drawn face, holding tightly her two children. She did not speak; but, +as their eyes met, her lips parted to form one word which the father +read in an instant. Thought after thought rushed lightning-like through +his brain; all the old colonists' tales and their horrors seemed to +force themselves upon him; the burning of Riley's hut, and the cruel +butchery of wife and children, and the other barbarities said to have +been committed; the child of a squatter named Wallace beaten to death +with clubs; the death of the blooming daughter of one Ellis. A mist +seemed to swim before his eyes for an instant; but the next he had +shouted, "Come on, such of you as are men;" for he had again encountered +the agonised face of his wife--again interpreted that one word her lips +had parted to form, and he dashed to the hut-door; but only to be +grasped tightly by his convict servant, Tom. + +"Let me go!" he shouted, "are you mad?" and he dealt the man a heavy +blow in the chest, and sent him staggering back, shouting--"Hold him, +hold him!" + +"Let me go, Anderson--Jones!" cried Samson, again struggling to reach +the door, but held back by the new-comers. "Are you mad, are you men, +when poor Mary is out there in the scrub?" + +The wounded man gave more of a yell than a cry, as Samson Harris uttered +those words, and, loosing his hold of the father, he made for the door +himself, but only to fall heavily, tripped up by the waddy the black +shepherd had cunningly placed between his legs. + +The fall was heavy; but as he went down two spears darted through the +open door, and stuck quivering one in the floor, the other in the table. +The next moment the door was dashed to by Teddy, and its rough wooden +bar laid across. + +"Better there, than through you, Master Anderson," said Tom, dragging +the quivering spear out of the table, and passing it to Teddy. + +The young man did not speak; but his eyes glared, and the curls of his +black beard seemed to move and writhe as his features worked. Then, +grasping the rifle he held in his hand, he turned to Samson Harris, +saying in a husky voice-- + +"Are you ready?" + +Samson forced a bullet down upon the powder of the rifle he was now +engaged in charging, and nodded his head by way of reply. + +There was no opposition made now, and as Samson and Anderson prepared to +make a dash out to reach the scrub, Tom the convict, Anderson's +companion, and the black made as if to accompany them. + +"No," said Samson hoarsely, "stay and protect them," and he pointed to +his wife and the two astonished children. "Now open the door." + +At his words, Teddy threw the door widely open, but before any one could +pass through, he dashed it to again, while as he did so, Samson groaned, +for, "thud--thud--thud" came the sound of three spears as they stuck in +the stout woodwork, one passing right through; and he knew that had they +stood in the doorway, it would have been to their death. + +"Frank Anderson," said Samson in a low voice, holding out his hand, "I +always set my face against your coming here, for I didn't think you were +in earnest, my boy; and now--now--if it's to come to that--" and he +pointed to the spears, his voice shaking a little the while, "I should +like to make friends first, though I have gone on against you. Frank +Anderson, I beg your pardon!" + +The young man groaned, as he took the proffered hand, and then in the +same low voice he whispered-- + +"But Mary, when did she go? Which way?" + +"Heaven forgive me," exclaimed the wretched father, "and I'd forgotten +her till _she_ showed me my duty," and he nodded towards his trembling +wife. "She took the pail and went to the cows, half--three-quarters of +an hour ago." + +"But we must go to her," whispered the young man. + +"Then you'll have to go with your skin as full of spears as a +porkypine's back, master," said Tom, who had crept closer to them. +"There; hark at that!" he exclaimed, as a burst of yells arose. +"There's a good two hundred of the black devils dancing about." + +"It would be madness to go," said Samson, "and like sacrificing three +more lives; but she may have hid herself, and escaped." + +The young man shuddered, and then raised his rifle, for a spear came +crashing through the window, but happily without striking any one. + +"Here," said Samson, rousing up, "lend a hand?" and with the help of +those present, he half carried his wife and two children up a short +ladder to a roughly-formed loft, full of wool fleeces, and formed in the +low-pitched roof. + +"There, creep under them," he cried, "and first pull up the ladder. Now +hide yourselves there, you'll be safe for the present." + +"Look out," shouted Tom, as Mrs Harris dragged up the ladder, and its +last rounds were beyond reach, while at the warning cry, Teddy the black +and Anderson discharged spear and rifle at a couple of blacks who +appeared at the inner door, having climbed in by one of the windows. +Then ensued a sharp struggle, in which desperate blows were given on +either side, and the inner room was cleared; but not before three of the +savage assailants lay writhing upon the floor, their life-blood staining +the white boards of the plain bed-chamber. + +It was a dangerous task, and more than one spear flew through the window +as the bodies were hoisted up and thrown through: then the opening was +barricaded as well as those of the other little front windows of the +hut, and one or two stood at each, ready to meet the next assault. + +The thin blue smoke of the discharged pieces floated slowly upwards, and +seemed to wreathe about over the trampled blood-stains, when a cry came +from Tom the convict, and almost at the same instant the report of his +piece, summoned help to the back half-kitchen, half wash-house, whose +little window was the only opening in the rear of the house. + +The help was needed, for about a score of the blacks had dashed up to +the opening, and were trying to force their way in; but a well kept up +fire from rifle and revolver drove them back, with several of their +number bleeding, upon the ground. + +"It's of no use to be merciful," exclaimed Anderson. "They must be shot +down, or we shall be all butchered. Take a steady aim, sir, for your +wife and children's sake; but I'd keep two or three shots left in my +revolver for the last." + +Samson Harris turned and glared at the wild countenance of the young man +by his side, as if to ask what he meant, but the look was unnoticed, +for, as if thirsting for blood, Anderson kept on loading and firing +whenever one of their enemies offered his body as a fair mark. + +At every shot that took effect, there was a wild yelling, above which +might be heard the shrieking and wailing of the gins as some famous +warrior of the tribe slackened his muscles, let fall spear, waddy, +shield, or boomerang, that he should hurl no more; but, in spite of +their losses, the attack was kept up now on one side, now on the other, +spear after spear flying through the little windows, or sticking in the +bedding with which they were barricaded, to be dragged out and sent +flying back by Teddy the black, who in his excitement had reduced his +costume still farther, only wanting a little yellow, red, and white +paint to emulate the warrior uniform of his enemies. + +But at last the evening had set in, for the short twilight was past, and +the stars were looking down calmly upon the scene of the afternoon's +bloodshed. Though but shortly before, dusky figure after dusky figure +might have been seen gliding from tree to tree, or darting across some +open spot, yelling and brandishing spear or club, now all was silent, +save at times the distant lowing of some of Samson's cattle or the +bleating of sheep. Now and again, too, would come the barking and +howling of the dogs that had been driven away by the fierce native +onslaught--one of those raids made upon the settlers, whom they looked +upon as usurping their land. + +Samson Harris seemed utterly prostrated by his agony of soul, for again +and again--almost incessantly--he kept picturing to himself the child he +accused himself of neglecting, struggling in the hands of the blacks. +He would have gone to seek her now, mad as the act would have been, in +the darkness of the night, surrounded as they were by enemies, but for +the prayers of his wife; and their only hope seemed to be that poor Mary +had taken the alarm and sought for refuge in the scrub, which extended +for some, distance in one direction. This, he knew, would be but an act +of folly if she had been seen, for they would have tracked her footsteps +to the place of refuge with the greatest of ease; their prayer was that +she might have taken the alarm in time. Anderson and his companion had +had a very narrow escape at the station they occupied some few miles +from Samson's home; but a bold front and a daring charge had enabled +them to combine their forces, so, as Anderson had hoped, to be of some +protection to Mary Harris, for whom he had, in spite of her father's +opposition, long entertained a warm feeling of admiration. + +There was a chance that, under cover of the darkness, Mary might thread +her way amongst the blacks and reach the hut; and in this hope Anderson +stood at the open door watching the night through hour after hour, his +senses on the stretch. More than once, too, with Teddy for companion, +he walked for some little distance round the hut; but stumbling over the +body of one of their enemies, he fell amongst the bushes with so loud a +crash that he was glad to retreat, and stand watching once more at his +post. + +An inspection after the afternoon's struggle had proved that, beyond a +few scratches, the defenders of the hut had escaped unharmed; and but +for the fearful anxiety which oppressed all present, they would +hopefully have looked for the morning, ready to meet their enemy again +with renewed courage. Provisions they had in plenty to sustain them, if +needs were, for weeks. Ammunition, too, showed no sign of running +short, till Samson opened a little keg, to find that the powder it +should have contained was powder no more, but one hard mass, into which +it had been turned by the dripping from the roof. The bad news was +conveyed from one to the other, and in grim silence the men examined +their powder-flasks, to find that he who was most wealthy possessed but +two charges beyond the one in his rifle. + +"Will they attack again to-morrow?" was the oft-repeated question. One +thought they would for revenge, and never rest content until all within +the hut were destroyed; another was of opinion that they would be too +demoralised, and that the morning light would find them all miles away; +but this last supposition was too fall of hope to be believed in. +Anderson and Harris rarely spoke, but while the others, fearless in the +knowledge that the natives never attack by night, slept heavily, they +watched on, repeating to themselves, as they pictured the solemn silence +of the vast woods around, the camp of the natives, and their savage +cruelties, the same words over and over again-- + +"Where was Mary?" + +Watching the long night through, with straining eyes constantly directed +at every spot that seemed never so little darker than the night itself. +Bush, tree, farming implement, all in their turn were magnified into +enemies, performing the same duty as the inmates of the hut, and waiting +to spy out their weakness and the best place for the morrow's assault. +But as the night wore on, and the watchful stars still shed their +peaceful light, a change came over the wakeful ones, and objects that +had before been looked upon as enemies, were taken for the figure of her +whose absence had created such a void in more than one heart. But +though Anderson started hopefully again and again, and roused the +sleeping black by his side, there was no rustling, gliding step, no +eager light form of the young girl, who, with beating heart, had +threaded her way amidst her sleeping enemies, and now bounded towards +the hut for shelter. + +Anderson groaned, and could have torn his hair, as, disappointed, +feverish, and restless, he once more walked round the hut, listening +attentively for some sound where all was still in the vast region +around, even to solemnity. But in vain; and could he have done so, he +might have sought in sleep that rest and refreshing his jaded body +needed. + +Morning at last: first, the pale pearly grey; then the far-up faint pink +tinge; then the blushing, glowing clouds; then the gorgeous golden +arrows darting to the zenith; and lastly, as if with a bound, came the +glorious sun himself, to beam upon the earth with smiles, as though all +were peace, and sorrow a thing unknown. But there was neither rest nor +peace, for with a series of frantic yells the blacks again showed +themselves, crying, leaping, dancing, shouting, partly to alarm their +enemies, partly to work themselves up to the fighting pitch. Their +faces were streaked with a kind of red ochre and pipe-clay, while upon +the bark shields they carried, grotesquely-hideous human faces were +depicted, to intimidate those whom they attacked. Nude, save for the +opossum-skin strip knotted loosely round their loins, they once more +came boldly up to their attack upon the hut, hurling spear and +boomerang--that singular weapon, which, failing to strike the object +aimed at, returns to the thrower's hand. + +There was nothing for it, so far as the inmates were concerned, but to +fire till the last bullet and grain of powder should be expended, and +then trust to such weapons as they could muster for close quarters, +giving up being a question never once mooted; and now, as shot after +shot was fired, it was pitiful to see the effect in the bright red spot +or long gash in the flesh, where a bullet had struck obliquely. But +when fighting in defence of life, men have but little compunction for +those who would rob them of the gift, and it was with a grim feeling of +satisfaction that savage after savage was seen to fall, till a tall, +daring fellow, who had dashed up to the hut, clapped his hand to his +chest, leaped in the air, and fell motionless, when Anderson threw down +his rifle, saying, "That's the last charge." + +A gloomy silence ensued. Men gazed from one to the other; then fixed +long and anxious looks upon those who had been their leaders in the +fight, as if expecting them to hit upon some plan of escape from the +death that seemed imminent. Now they swept the approaches to the hut, +in hopes that some strong party of settlers might be on the way to them, +either bound for a new station, or, knowing that they were attacked, +with a mission for their rescue. But in a place where a fresh face was +not seen once in three months, they knew well that such succour was next +to impossible. + +Mrs Harris, patient, and calmer than any one present, still lay with +her little ones hidden in the wool-loft; but as from time to time, when +she came to the edge, her eye met that of Anderson, there was a mutual +reading of the agony each suffered, hidden though it was beneath the +semblance of stoicism. + +The stillness that had followed upon the excitement of the fight seemed +at length to have grown unbearable: men felt that treachery was at work +somewhere, and momentarily expected an attack from some unguarded part. +They grew distrustful, and more than once Anderson caught himself going +from window to window, to see that a proper watch was kept where he +anticipated danger. + +At length, half-maddened by the mental pain he suffered, Anderson cast +himself despairingly upon the floor of the hut, turning his face from +those around, that they might not see its workings. + +The young man's action was not without its effect; for his companion, +the friend who had escaped with him from the blacks' assault upon the +previous day, now broke the silence, saying, in utter forgetfulness of +the woman and children-- + +"It's all over, my lads: we may as well shake hands all round, and make +a rush of it, right into the black mob, as stop here and be burnt out +like squirrels in a tree. I can't hear this standing still any longer." + +But though he looked from face to face, no man answered him, but on the +whole avoided his gaze, and watched on at the dusky figures of the +savages as they moved incessantly to and fro. When, seeing that his +words were of none effect, he coolly laid aside his rifle, rolled up his +shirt sleeve, and opening a large knife, began to rub and sharpen it +upon the hearthstone. + +The mental anxiety was frightful; for, let alone the thoughts of poor +Mary's fate, it was as though death were about to descend upon the +watchers from moment to moment, while they were debarred from making a +single struggle for life. + +The morning fled, and noon came; and still there was no further attack, +and wounded figures had been seen to struggle and gradually stiffen into +the rigidity of death within their sight; others to crawl by slow +degrees into the shelter of the bushes, unheeded by their savage +companions. But still no further attack was made, it seeming evident +that the blacks were holding a consultation amongst themselves in the +shelter of the trees and bushes but a short distance off. + +Now a black figure would glide into sight, and look menacingly towards +the hut before darting out of sight once more. Then there was a long +interval before another was seen; and then eyes were strained amongst +the trees in vain for a sight of their enemies. + +The heat had been excessive, and the small supply of water within the +hut being exhausted, the men began to suffer terribly, what little they +had having been nobly given up to Mrs Harris and the children. All at +once, though, Teddy seized a pail, and, lolling out his tongue like a +thirsty dog, began to pant and to make signs that he should be let out +to fetch water--signs that were quite unnecessary, for he had no +difficulty in making himself understood in his master's language. + +But Harris was immovable, and ordered him back. The black's fidelity +had been too often tried, and Samson felt that he could not afford to +risk the loss of one faithful servant at a time like this. So Teddy put +down the pail upon seeing his master's mood, seized again waddy and +spear, and, panting and tongue-lolling, took his place at one of the +windows to watch again for his enemies. + +His face was a study as he stood there watching: his eyes half closed, +mouth twitching, and nostrils working. He was evidently perplexed, and +more than once made a movement as if to climb out of the window; but at +length his face changed into a fixed immobility, and he seemed waiting +till his master should command. + +Hour after hour passed by, and all was still silent. From watching, +Samson took to examining the powder-keg once more. But it all seemed +turned to a solid mass, till with a hatchet he knocked off hoop after +hoop, cleared away the little staves, and struck the block heavily with +the hatchet, to find, when the shell was broken, that within were some +pounds of uninjured powder, at the sight of whose grimy grains men's +hearts rose, and rifles were loaded, and flasks eagerly filled. + +In readiness once more, they waited the next attack; but the sun had +long begun to descend, and for hours they had neither heard a yell nor +seen a single figure gliding from amongst the trees. + +"Um all gone," cried the black shepherd suddenly; "here Juno." + +And in effect, frisking and playing about in front of the hut, one of +Samson's dogs had made its appearance, whining and howling till it was +admitted; but fearing that the blacks might still be within reach, +Samson kept his companions within doors, only yielding to the appeal of +Teddy that he might go out and see. + +Teddy glided like a great snake out of the back window, and was soon +lost to sight; but before long a horse or two, some sheep, and the cows +came bleating and lowing about the hut, affording abundant proof that +the savages, of whom they had a wholesome dread--fleeing rapidly at the +sight of their spears--had departed. + +And now began the search for Mary, all present knowing that sooner or +later they must find her, living or dead; though almost all felt, as +they set about their search with heavy hearts, that the wailing mother's +fears were not without cause. + +In case of a surprise, they all kept together, fearing to shout, but +encouraging the dog to hunt around, when suddenly Anderson's rifle rose +to his shoulder, and he was about to fire, but perceived just in time +that the black figure rapidly approaching was that of Teddy the +shepherd. + +"All gone right 'way," he said, nodding his head sagaciously as he +pointed out the faintly-marked trail made by the departing savages, +while he was loud in his declarations that they were "too much fright, +come back never--ever." When asked what he thought about the missing +girl, he only shook his head, and would not answer till pressed, when +his reply was, "No know--try find;" and bending down, he began to scan +every footprint in the direction she would have been likely to take, +till darkness put a stop to the search, and all save Samson and Anderson +returned to the hut. + +No one saw the agony of those two men, as now, slowly working their way +through the bushes, stumbling with utter weariness, they strode on till +nature would hold out no longer, and they sank down, worn out, to sleep +for an hour or two beneath the watching stars; but only to leap up, +reproaching themselves for their relaxed efforts, as they went back to +the hut to try and hear some tidings of the lost girl. + +The haggard, drawn countenance of Samson Harris's wife saluted them as +they hurried up to the door of the hut, and in that encounter, where +each sought for news or hope, it was plain enough to read the bitter +tidings written in each anxious face. Anderson turned away with a +groan, and was proceeding towards the dense scrub, when Samson called to +him to halt, as he kicked at the black shepherd to rouse him from his +heavy sleep. + +Ten minutes after, with Teddy leading the way, they were examining the +ground, step by step, in the hope of finding the track by which Mary had +entered the scrub; but the grass was so trampled in every direction that +the task seemed hopeless. Footprints and trails there were lacing and +interlacing, one destroying the identity of the other; but though +seeking, as it were, entirely in the dark, they pressed on hour after +hour. Ever and again, either the father or Anderson shuddered when they +came upon some spot where blood sullied the fair green herbage with its +crimson stains; and when such a place occurred, they traced the +blood-spots tremblingly, and in dread lest they should stumble in their +next step upon the body of her they sought. + +But no such harrowing sight met their gaze; and still to and fro they +searched, shouting at intervals, till night again put a stop to their +efforts. + +Day after day passed of indefatigable search, and the thought occurred +again and again to Samson that the blacks must have dragged the poor +girl off with them in their retreat; but Teddy would not hear of it, +saying, "Wait a bit--find um soon; black feller no take white girl +away." Anderson, too, seemed of opinion that Mary was still near at +hand, and with torn and bleeding hands and face he still kept up the +weary search, till long after it was certain that if the poor girl were +found in the scrub, life would be there no more. + +Dense--impenetrable almost--the scrub extended mile after mile, mile +after mile, to an indefinite distance, presenting ever the same +features; so that if the poor girl had been alarmed by the savages and +hurried for safety into the wilderness, guide there was none; and, like +many another, she might toil on till she fell exhausted, to perish of +inanition. To a dweller in England the idea of being lost in the bush +seems absurd; but out in the great Australian wilds, where everything is +on so grand--so apparently illimitable--a scale, strong and ardent men +have been before now known to wander from the beaten track to where +pathway there was none, and to wander on and on till death put an end to +their sufferings. + +But had Mary wandered away in dread, fleeing for safety through the +thorny waste? They could not answer the question; and, in spite of +making an ever-widening circle to try and discover the trail, all seemed +vain. Samson would have pushed off by the track taken by the savages, +but for the persuasions of Anderson; and though so far disappointment +had attended his efforts, Teddy seemed pleased at the trust reposed in +him, and often, down upon hands and knees, he examined every blade of +grass and leaf. + +The traces left by the marauding party extended right round the hut, and +for some distance back into the wild in every direction; and it was +beyond that circle that the principal efforts of the seekers were +directed; but days wore on without any success, the difficulty growing +greater each hour, in a land where vegetation is rapid and grass would +soon spring up where the foot had pressed, as was very apparent; for on +the eighth morning, when they again started upon their apparently +hopeless task, the tracks of the savages were in many places hardly to +be seen. All dread of their enemies' return seemed lost in this great +trouble, and they wandered on, heedless of danger, till on this last day +they were at a spot many miles from home, where there was an opening in +the dense scrub--the rough head of rock and huge boulder being thrust +here and there through the soil to form a desolate wilderness, far as +eye could reach--mile after mile of rugged stony undulation, upon which +the sun beat down with a heat that was all but unbearable. + +For days past Teddy had been taciturn and moody, hunting on still, and +apparently examining every inch of ground; but he hardly answered when +spoken to, apparently under the impression that Samson and Anderson were +disappointed in his tracking abilities, of which he was very proud, and +had before now often proved to be of no mean order. + +Evening was fast approaching, when it seemed to Anderson that the black +had made some discovery, for he was pressing on in one particular +direction, though, when shouted to, he took no heed. Tired and worn, +however, sick at heart with many disappointments, father and lover sat +down to rest, when at the end of about an hour they heard the well-known +"cooey" of the black, reiterated again and again. So, desponding, they +rose and proceeded in the direction of the sound, to meet the black at +last, looking eager and yet startled--apparently afraid to communicate +his intelligence to Samson--and turning in his track to retrace his +steps for a couple of miles, when, just as night was falling, he halted, +stepped aside, and pointed onwards to where there was a little eminence +visible in front. + +"For Heaven's sake push on," cried Anderson, huskily; but Samson grasped +at his arm, and would have stayed him had he not thrust him aside and +dashed forward, to be out of sight in a few moments amongst the bushes +which here grew thickly. + +Five minutes passed and he did not return, when, staggering like a +drunken man, Samson followed in his steps, with eyes bent upon the +ground, and brain apparently stunned, feeling that some dread horror was +about to be revealed to him, but only in a numb, helpless way. The +black came close behind, watching him intently, till, parting the +bushes, he came in sight of Anderson, kneeling by the figure they had so +long sought; for, lying as if peacefully sleeping, beneath the scanty +shadow of a stunted bush, through whose thin sharp leaves the evening +breeze sighed mournfully, was the sleeping girl, whose torn garments, +lacerated feet, and arm bent beneath her head, showed that she had +indeed fled from the approach of the savages, and wandered on and on +hopelessly till she had lain down, as she imagined, to sleep her last, +long sleep. The hand which Anderson grasped was tightly clenched; but +in spite of its coldness, the thin blue lips, sunken eyes, and the +unnatural pallor of her face, it was evident that she lived. The +father, though, knew it not, neither did Anderson; for, weeping like +children, they knelt on either side, dreading to move her, for she +seemed now doubly sacred in their eyes. + +"Better than that we should never have found her," said Samson, in a +broken voice. + +"Teddy sure a find her some day. Now fetch a water, and give her +drink," exclaimed the black; and taking up what neither of the others +had noticed--the milking-pail that the poor girl must have carried from +day to day in her many wanderings--he went off and soon returned with +water. + +"Keep back, fool!" exclaimed Anderson, as the black pushed up to Mary's +head, and scooping up some water in the hollow of his hand, he made as +if to pour it upon her lips. + +"No dead," exclaimed Teddy; "give her drink. Dah!" he ejaculated; for +at that moment Anderson gave a cry of joy on seeing a slight quivering +in one eyelid, while the thin blue lips parted to emit a sigh, faint as +that of the wind above their heads. + +They had reached the poor girl in time; but so near had she been to her +last breath, that weeks elapsed, during which she lay almost insensible +upon the borders of that unknown land to which she had so nearly +travelled, before she could be said to be out of danger. + +Hers was a simple story--one that she often told in after years to +Anderson's children, as, a happy wife, she sat beneath his prosperous +roof--a story of how she had finished milking one cow, and was carrying +her pail to the next, when the gliding form of a black in his war-paint +attracted her attention. Her first idea was to flee to the hut; but +that she soon saw was utterly impossible, for figure after figure +appeared between her and safety, and all she could do was to back +quietly into the scrub, and then, with the pail she carried catching in +the bushes, so that the white milk splashed out from time to time, she +fled on hastily--always with the impression that she was being tracked. + +How it was she clung to the pail always seemed to her a mystery; but it +was her salvation, for, utterly worn out at last, she had fallen on her +knees in the dense wood as darkness came on, dreading to move, and now +for the first time she remembered the milk, and drank eagerly of the +remaining but sadly-diminished supply. The next day she wandered on and +on, helplessly lost, ever changing her course, and fleeing in dread from +the blacks she felt assured were on her trail. The sour milk gave her +life and strength that day and the next, and the next, as she husbanded +and eked out the failing drops with water, till the time came when all +seemed a feverish dream, wherein she was struggling on through thorny +wastes, with the hot sun pouring its fervid beams upon her head. + +She knew no more, for her next recollection was of waking in her own old +bed at the hut, as from a long and troubled dream, till a glance at her +wasted hands, and an attempt to rise, told her that the dream was true. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +MY EMIGRANT PATIENT'S FRIEND. + +A friend of Samson Harris, whom I met at the old settler's house, gave +me the following account of his experience in Australia. He had been a +neighbour of the old settler, had prospered as well, and had returned to +England about the same time. + +I was rather amused at his idea of being a neighbour; for, on asking a +question or two, I found that they had lived a hundred miles apart, and +only met about once a year, at the station of a settler about midway +between them. + +The conversation had turned upon the dangers to be encountered in the +new country, and among others snakes were mentioned. + +"Ah, I can tell you something about snakes, doctor," he said. "We had a +singular adventure. It was soon after we had settled out in the up +country, and there was only another hut here and there in those days; +but, after years of knocking about at home, trying hard to get an honest +living and never succeeding, we had made up our minds to try Australia, +and here we were, living in the log hut I had knocked up for myself, +shepherding, and doing what little I could in the shape of gardening; +for, that being my right trade, with all the beautiful rich soil lying +fallow, it did seem a sin to me not to have a turn at it; so, getting +what seeds I could from Sydney, and adding to the few I had brought in +my chest, I managed to make quite a little Eden of the bit of land I +broke up round our hut. We were not saving money--not to any extent-- +but there was a roof over our heads, and no rent to pay, plenty of +vegetables of my own growing, and them costing nothing, plenty of work +to do, and, one sort and another, always plenty to eat; so that, after +what we had gone through in England, you may be sure we were willing +enough to try and put up with such inconveniences as fell to our share, +and, as a matter of course, there were things to encounter out in what +some people would call the wilderness, though it was a wilderness that +blossomed like the rose. There were times, for instance, when, like +Harris, we were in dread of the blacks, who had done some very queer +things here and there about; then the place was terribly lonely, and out +of the way if you wanted a doctor; and Mary used to joke me because I +could never get half a pint of beer, but I found I could get on just as +well without it; and, my word, what a capital cup of tea we always did +have! + +"Well, Mary came out to me one day looking that horribly ghastly that, +being naturally rather too fast at fancying troubles in advance, I saw +directly half a score of blacks coming to spear as, and some of them +knocking out the children's brains with their clubs--and not the first +time neither. `Harry!' she gasped, in a strange, harsh, cracked voice; +and, as I started and looked up from my work, there was my wife coming +towards me, with her arms stretched out, her eyes fixed, and a look upon +her white face, that made me drop my spade and run to meet her. I +caught her just as she was falling, when her eyes closed, and she gave a +shiver that seemed to shake her whole body; but in a few moments the +poor girl opened her eyes, and began to stare about her. There were no +blacks to be seen. Little Joe was sitting in the path playing, and, +though I looked along the edge of the scrub behind the house, I could +see no signs of danger; so I began to think she must have been taken +ill, and turned over in my own mind how I could get any help for her. + +"Just then her face grew contracted again as her thoughts seemed to come +back, and gasping out once more, `Harry, Harry,' she gave a shudder and +said, `The baby--a snake!' + +"I couldn't see myself, but I know I turned white, all the blood seeming +to rush to my heart, for if there is anything of which I am afraid it is +a snake, even going so far as to dislike eels, of which there was +abundance in the river close at hand. + +"I don't know how we got there, but the next thing I remember is +standing at the hut window with Mary holding little Joe tight in her +arms, and me looking through at the cradle where our little thing of +nine months old was lying; and my heart seemed to be turning to ice as I +saw nestled in the foot of the cradle, partly hidden in the blanket, but +with some of its horrible coils full in sight, and its head resting upon +them, the largest snake I had seen since I had been in the country. The +feeling was something awful, and I stood there for a few moments leaning +upon the rough handle of the hoe I had caught up, not able to move, for +my eyes were fixed upon the head of that hideous beast, and I expected +every moment that the baby would wake and make some movement sufficient +to irritate the snake, and then, whether poisonous or not, I felt that +the little thing must die. + +"What should I do? I asked myself, as the horrible feeling of +helplessness wore off. If I crept in and reached the cradle-side +unheard, I dared not chop at the beast for fear of injuring the child, +for I could see that some of the folds lay right across it. I dared not +make a noise, lest the next moment the child should awake as well as the +reptile, for I knew the rapidity with which the horrible creatures could +wreathe fold after fold round the object they attacked; while, if of a +poisonous nature, they struck in an instant. Thoughts came swiftly +enough, but they were unavailing, for to wait till the baby woke, or to +go in and attack the snake, seemed equally dangerous. Even if I made a +slight noise the danger seemed as great, since, though the snake might +wake first and glide off, the probabilities were just as great that the +child might wake at the same time. + +"And so I turned over the chances again and again, my eyes all the while +fixed upon the two sleeping occupants of the cradle, whose pleasant +warmth had evidently attracted the reptile. + +"`I went in and saw it there,' whispered my wife, and then, without +taking my eyes for an instant from the snake, I whispered the one word +`Gun,' and she glided from my side. + +"I did not know then, but she told me afterwards, how she had carried +the little boy to a distance and given him some flowers to play with, +while she crept back to the hut, and, reaching in at the kitchen window, +brought me my gun, for I had not stirred. And now, as I grasped the +piece in my hand, knowing though I did that it was loaded, it seemed of +no use, for I dared not fire; but, with trembling hands, I felt in my +pockets to see if there was a bullet in them, and then, softly pulling +out the ramrod, I unscrewed the cover of the worm and drew the wadding, +reversed the piece, and let the shot fall pattering out, when I softly +forced down the bullet upon the powder, examined the cap, and stood +ready waiting for a chance; for I thought that the shot might have +scattered, and, if ever so little, I might have injured the child in +place of its enemy. + +"And there we stood for quite half an hour, watching intently that +horrible beast comfortably nestled in the blanket, expecting momentarily +that the baby would wake, while my hand trembled so that I could not +hold the gun steady. One minute I was thinking that I had done wrong in +changing the charge, the next minute that I was right; then I fancied +that the gun might miss fire, or that I might slay my own child. A +hundred horrible thoughts entered my mind before little Joe began to cry +out to his mother, and she glided away, while I muttered to myself +`Thank Heaven!' for she was spared from seeing what followed. + +"As if at one and the same moment, the child and the snake woke up. I +saw the baby's hand move, and its little arms thrown out, while from the +motion beneath the blanket I knew that it must have kicked a little. +Then there was a rapid movement in the cradle, and as I glanced along +the gun-barrel taking aim, there was the whole of the horrible reptile +exposed to view, coil gliding over coil as it seemed to fill the foot of +the cradle; and now, had my gun been charged with shot, I should have +fired, so as to have disabled some part of the creature's body; but with +only a single bullet I felt that the head must be the part attacked when +opportunity served. + +"Glide, glide, glide, one coil over the other quickly and easily, as if +it were untying its knotted body, while now the head slowly rose from +where it had lain, and crept nearer and nearer to the child's face, the +forked tongue darting in and out, and playing rapidly about the hideous +mouth. I could see the glance of the snake's eyes, and expected every +moment to hear the child shriek out with terror, as the lowered head now +rested over its breast. But no, the child lay perfectly still for a few +moments, and then I stood trembling in every limb as I saw the snake's +head drawn back, and then begin to sway to and fro, and from side to +side, the glistening neck of the beast gently undulating, whilst the +tongue still darted in and out of the tight, dreadful-looking mouth. + +"Now was the time when I should have fired, but I was too unnerved; and +laying down my gun, I seized the hoe, meaning to attack the beast with +the stout handle; but my hand fell paralysed to my side as I saw the +little innocent in the cradle smile and then laugh at the gently +undulating head of the snake; while, as the agony grew to be greater +than I could bear, in seeing the little white hands try to catch at it +as it swayed to and fro, my power seemed to come back. I snatched up +the gun, and as the snake's head was drawn back preparatory to striking, +I pulled the trigger, when the sharp crack of the percussion cap alone +followed--perhaps providentially, for in my trembling state I might have +injured the child. Then I saw a rapid writhing of the coils in the +cradle, and as the tail of the snake glided over the side, everything +around me seemed to swim, and I tried to catch at the wall of the hut to +save myself from falling. + +"But that soon went off; and then, gazing in at the window, I tried to +make out the whereabouts of my enemy, as I re-capped and tapped the gun, +so that the powder might run up the nipple. The snake was nowhere to be +seen, and darting in I seized the child, and carried it out to its +mother, when, now feeling relieved of one horrible anxiety, I obtained +my shot-pouch from the kitchen, rammed down a charge upon the bullet, +and cautiously went in search of the reptile. + +"I knew that he must still be in the part of the hut we used for a +sleeping-place, and, after cautiously peering about, I came upon the +hole where it had taken refuge--an opening between the roughly-sawn +planks laid loosely down to form a floor. Unless there was an outlet +beneath the woodwork, I felt that the beast must be there; and, to make +it more probable, there was our cat, that we had bought a kitten in +Sydney, gazing with staring eyes down at the hole. + +"Just then I heard a soft rustling beneath my feet, and as I looked +down, I could see between two boards the scaly body gliding along. The +next moment there came the load report of the gun, the place was fall of +smoke, there was a tremendous scuffling noise, and as I looked down +between the boards where the charge had forced a passage through, there +was no sign of the snake. + +"`Harry! Harry!' shrieked my wife just then; and on rushing out, there +was the beast writhing about in the path, evidently badly wounded, while +some crushed-down flowers by the hut wall showed plainly the hole of +communication. I never saw snake writhe and twist as that creature did, +but I was too excited then to feel afraid, and a few blows from the +butt-end of the gun laid it so that there was only a little movement +left in its body, which did not stop for an hour or two after I had cut +off his head with the axe. + +"I should have liked to skin the beast, but I could not master my +horror. I measured it, though: fourteen feet three inches long it was, +and as thick as my arm; while, as to its weight, I saw the cradle rock +to and fro heavily as it glided over the side. + +"Snakes are scarce now in that part; for there isn't a man in Queensland +who does not wage war against them, and where there was one settler +then, there are now scores. But all the same, if I had my time to come +over again, knowing what I do, I should not hesitate for a moment if I +were not doing well here. Snakes are bad, doctor, and the blacks are +worse; but it was a free and healthy life out there, and one always felt +as if one was getting on." + +"And not only felt," said Harris smiling, "one was getting on. Yes, I +agree with Harry Maine, I'd go out again to-morrow without a murmur; +though, in my time, there weren't any of your sort, doctor, within a +hundred miles." + +"How did you manage, then, if you were ill?" + +"We never were ill, doctor; and few as the medical men were, they seemed +to be enough." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +MY PATIENT THE PRISON WARDER. + +"To tell you the truth, doctor," said a grey old patient of mine, "I +don't think I was ever fit to be a prison warder: I'm too soft. All the +same, though, I've been at it for twenty-five years; and I'm head warder +now, and could retire when I like upon a pension. I don't know how I +drifted into it, but I did. A dozen times over I've wanted to get into +something else, but it has always seemed as if I was forced to stay on +for the rest of my days. It's been worse for me because I've always +lived in the prison. It's a dull life, perhaps; not that I feel it, +for, according to my way of thinking, it is not the occupation, but the +man's heart which makes him dull. Depend upon it, hands and a +thoughtful mind were not given us for nothing, and the more I think, the +nearer I come to the conclusion that the busy life is the happy one +after all. Now here I am, with plenty to take up my time in my duties, +and plenty of studies of character within reach shut up all ready for me +in the different cells. + +"Gloomy place this, you'll say, barred and bolted to keep any friends +from getting in unasked; but I'm contented enough, and too busy +generally to find fault. + +"Yes, you may depend upon it your busy man is the happiest, for I've +seen it again and again. The greatest punishment you can inflict upon a +man is to shut him up with nothing to do, nothing to employ his time +with, nothing to hinder the constant drag, drag of his thoughts, pulling +him towards the past. + +"Not always borrow and contrition, but recollections of drinking-bouts +and successful robberies and their profits, debaucheries, and then +longings for liberty once more. Of course, now and then we do get a +really repentant fellow--not one of your cringing, fawning rascals, who +turn up their eyes and feel so much better for the chaplain's words, and +so carefully learn all his texts; but honest rogues--men who have been +sent here for their term of imprisonment, and who feel the bitterness +and shame of their position--men who shudder as the barber's scissors +crop their hair, and who soon show in their appearance how their +punishment is telling upon them. They don't get fat and sleek, and jump +up to make bows when you enter their cell, but hide all their troubles +in their hearts, and go about their duties silently and doggedly. + +"We had such a man here not long back now--Amos Ridding, in for +poaching--and how that poor fellow beat against his cage bars! Poor +fellow! I believe he was not a bad one at heart, but he had got himself +mixed up with a poaching gang, and a keeper having been half killed, +Amos was taken, and rightly or wrongly sent here for two years. + +"We can soon pick out what I call the canters, and act accordingly; +while where we see a poor fellow taking his confinement to heart, why, +knowing how it tells on his mind, I do all I can for him to brighten him +up--setting him at odd jobs about the place, gardening, and so on; while +if he knows a trade, one that can be worked at in here, speaking to the +governor, we set him to do something in that way, never letting him +stand still for tools or material. + +"But this poor fellow was unmanageable; he would work as hard as I +liked, and as long as I liked, but the moment he was by himself he was +pining again, fretting for his wife and children, and wearing himself +away to skin and bone. I did not know what to do with him, and grew +quite troubled at last, for I began to be afraid of having a summons +from one of the under-warders, telling me that in a fit of that weary, +despairing madness which comes upon men, poor Ridding had made away with +himself. + +"The summons came at last, but in a different form; for one morning I +was roused at five o'clock to be told that the bird had beaten down the +wires, and had escaped, and I had to go and tell the governor. + +"`Why, how did he manage it?' I exclaimed angrily. + +"`Come and see,' said the warder, and I went to the cell where the +prisoner had been locked in the night before at eight o'clock, and then +apparently he must have gone to work at once with an old nail at the +setting of one of the iron bars in the window till he picked it slowly +out, and then wrenched out first one and then another, leaving a passage +big enough to allow his body to pass. The blankets and rug were gone, +while a piece of the former yet hung to one of the bars, evidently +having been used to let the prisoner down into the yard below. + +"We were not long in reaching the lesser yard, which was about twenty +feet beneath his window, and surrounded on all sides by high buildings. +Here it was evident that he had made his way into the long passage +between the workshops, a place covered in for the whole length with iron +bars. But about half-way down we found where he had leaped up and +caught the bars, and evidently, by placing his feet against them and +forcing while he held on with his hands, strained till the iron gave way +sufficiently for him to force his body through, when he would be able to +lower himself into the large yard, where the high wall is, whose top is +covered with loose heavy bricks, which are sure to fall if an attempt at +escape is made. + +"Not a brick was out of place, though, as far as I could see, till one +of the men pointed out where three had fallen, and then, feeling +satisfied in my own mind that the prisoner had escaped, I returned with +the governor to his office, and sent out notices to the police. + +"All at once one of the men ran in. `Found him, sir,' he said. + +"`How? where?' I said. `Is he in a cell?' + +"`No, sir,' said the warder, `he's a-top of the prison.' + +"I jumped up, and hurried into the yard, to find men at watch, for some +people had caught sight of the poor fellow's head from a neighbouring +house, and given notice to the gatekeeper. + +"It was now plain enough that the prisoner had reached the top of the +high wall, and then, probably from its being daylight, been afraid to +descend, so he had climbed from thence, by means of a water-pipe, right +on to the top of the prison, and was now lying concealed in one of the +gutters. + +"I sent up three men to the top of the prison, and then went up one of +the buildings to see the capture made. I did not have to wait long +before first one head and then another appeared above the trap-door, +till the three men were upon the roof, which is rather extensive, +consisting of high slated ridges, separated by wide lead gutters. + +"The noise they made must have aroused the prisoner, for I saw him start +up all at once, as if from sleep, and stand facing his pursuers. + +"`Of course he'll give up, poor fellow,' I muttered to myself; but I was +mistaken, for the next moment I saw him scramble up one side of a ridge +and slide down the other, in a way which showed that submission was far +from his intention. + +"Not to be outdone, the three men separated, and as one followed in the +prisoner's steps, the others tried to cut him off right and left. + +"But for duty, I felt so much sympathy for the poor fellow, that I +should have said, `Let him go.' But all I could do was to gaze +horror-stricken at the scene going on about thirty feet from where I +stood. Once a warder was near enough to touch the prisoner, but he +eluded the grasp, and led his pursuers right to the end of the building, +each man, in the excitement of the chase, running fearlessly along the +coping of the parapet, or dashing up and down the ridges in a way that +chilled me with horror, as I thought of a fall full fifty feet into the +stone-yard below. + +"`Thank God!' I ejaculated at last, for at the second race round the +building I saw one of the men drop behind a projection in hiding, and +then, as the prisoner came round, the warder leaped up, caught him by +the throat, and I thought all was over. But directly after I shuddered +as I saw a deadly struggle going on within a foot of the parapet, and +felt that the next moment must see the pair falling headlong to the +ground. It was almost a relief to see them go down heavily into the +gutter, and the prisoner leap up and continue his flight, pursued by the +other two men, who had lagged behind to cut off their quarry. + +"But a new plan was now being adopted by the pursuers, who crawled on +hands and knees between the ridges, one going one way, the other another +way, while to my astonishment I saw the prisoner stop at the corner +where the brick-burdened wall touched the building, and let down a rope +of knotted blanket, hitherto hidden in the lead gutter, to which it was +somehow secured. The next instant the poor fellow was over the side, +swinging backwards and forwards, and turning round and round as he +lowered himself quickly, staring upwards at the men, who now came up and +looked over at him. + +"In that moment of peril I could do nothing but look on, for I felt, I +may say, that something was going to happen. My hands were wet, the big +drops stood upon my brow, while, when Ridding swung round, and I saw his +dilated eyes, I shuddered again, just as the weak-knotted rope parted, +and he fell with his back striking the wall, and dislodging some of the +loose bricks, when I turned away from the window to run down; but not +quickly enough to avoid hearing the sickening crash of the poor fellow's +fall upon the hard flags in the yard. + +"The doctor was standing over Ridding when I went into his cell, and +then, answering my inquiring look with a slight raising of the eyelids +and a shake of the head, he went out and left me with the poor fellow, +who smiled as I leant over his bed. + +"`Are you in much pain?' I said. + +"`Only in one place,' he whispered, touching his breast; and then no +more was said for a minute or two, when I spoke a few encouraging words. + +"`No use, sir, no use,' he murmured. `Don't be cross with me. I +couldn't bear it any longer. I wanted to be with the wife and little +ones once more. Tell 'em how it was.' + +"The next morning the poor fellow was free--free from prison bonds-- +earthly bonds--all; and I was so upset with that affair that I sent in +my resignation. It was returned to me with a note begging that I would +reconsider my determination: and I did. But we have some most +heart-rending cases at times." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +MY PATIENT THE SAILOR. + +"Why, how can you expect to be free from a few pains, old fellow?" I +said to a regular ancient sea-dog, whom I used to attend. "Here you've +been knocking about all over the world for best part of a hundred years, +I suppose, and you can't expect to be fresh and well now." + +"Well, you see, doctor," said the old fellow, "that's what troubles me. +I'm--let's see--eighty-four, or five, or six--I'm blest if I know +exactly; and I've hardly known ache or pain, and it does seem hard, +after having a clean bill of health so long, to be having my crew on the +sick list now." + +"Why, you ungrateful old rascal!" I said, as I saw the mirthful twinkle +in the old fellow's eyes. "There, I'll see what I can do for you;" and +I did manage to allay the old fellow's rheumatic pains, which in spite +of his grumbling he had borne like a martyr. + +"I shall begin to think that a sailor's life is the healthiest career in +the world," I said one day as I looked at the fine vigorous old fellow, +who had all his faculties as perfect as a man of five-and-forty. +"You've had your share of adventures, though, I suppose?" + +"Ay, ay, sir, I have indeed," he said, combing his thin hair with the +waxy end of his pipe. + +"Never in the Royal Navy, were you?" + +"Oh, yes, doctor, I was not always in the merchant service. They tried +to get me more than once." + +"What--made you good offers?" + +"Good offers, doctor? No, they tried to press me, as they used in those +days." + +"To be sure; yes," I said. "You lived in the days of the press-gangs?" + +"That I did, doctor, bad luck to 'em! Why, let me see, it's as near as +can be sixty year ago since we came slowly up the Thames with the tide, +and after a deal of hauling, yoho-ing, and dodging, we got the old ship +into London Docks, after being at sea two year, and a-going a'most round +the world. Sick of it I was, and longing to get ashore, for there was +more than one as I was wishing to see and get a word with--folks, too, +as were as anxious to get a sight of me; and though a quietish, +steadyish sort of a fellow, I felt as if I should have gone wild with +the bit of work I had to do, while my mate, Harry Willis, was most as +bad. Poor chap! he's been dead and gone now this many a long year: had +his number called and gone aloft. A good fellow was Harry, and the rest +of that day him and I was knocking about in the ship, coiling down and +doing all sorts of little jobs, such as are wanted after a long voyage, +when there's a great cargo aboard. + +"One day passed, then another, and another, and mighty savage we were at +being kept so long before we could get off; but the time came at last, +and only just taking a few things each in a handkerchief, we slipped +over the ship's side, dropped on to the wharf, and were off. + +"Well, being reg'lar old shipmates, you see, it was only natural that we +should drop into a little public-house that was down Wapping way, to +take a glass or two by way of a treat, and see about a night's lodging +where we could be together, as it was quite evening, and we'd some way +to go into the country both of us, and meant to leave it till morning. +A nice little place it was, close aside a wharf, where the tide came up, +and ship after ship--colliers I think they were--lay in tiers, moored +head and stern; in short, just such a place as a sailor would choose for +a quiet glass and a night's lodging, being snug and cosy-looking. But +there, for the matter of that, after a poor fellow's had years at sea, +knocking about in the close forks'll of a ship, everything looks snug +and cosy ashore. + +"It didn't take us long bargaining about our beds, and then, leaving our +kits with the landlady, we strolled out and had a walk here, and a walk +there, till close upon eleven, when I says to Harry, `I'm for hammocks, +lad. What do you say?' `Same as you do,' he says; and we turned back +meaning to have one more glass o' grog apiece, and then to turn in. It +wasn't far to the house, and soon as we got in sight we began to dawdle +slowly along, looking at the ships here and there, just seen as they +were by moonlight, while plenty of 'em showed a lantern out in the +stream. + +"`What's those fellows hanging about our place for?' says Harry; for +just then we come in sight of a good score of chaps waiting about the +outside of the public, while another peep at 'em showed as they were +king's men, and most of 'em had got cutlasses. + +"`Thought ours was a quiet house,' I says; `I hope they ain't going to +stop about long.' + +"`Not they,' says Harry; `come on.' + +"So we went up to the house, and, being first, I was going in, when a +tall chap lays a hand on my shoulder, with a `Come along, my lad, we've +been waiting for you.' + +"`What?' I says, starting; for just then, for the first time, something +shot through me, as it were, and in that short moment I saw all that it +meant, and that was, that after years of service in a merchantman we +were to be seized by force and dragged aboard a tender to serve the +king, whether we would or no; for this party we had come across was a +press-gang. But I had no more time to think. Half a dozen fellows had +tight hold of me directly, and if I had wanted to struggle, it would +have been no use. Harry wasn't so quiet, though. Like me, he had seen +it all in a moment, and as one of the gang laid a hand upon him, he +dashed it off, cried to me to help him, and the next moment there was a +sharp struggle going on--one which roused me to fight; for it was such a +struggle as any man would engage in for his liberty in those good old +times, when a sailor was not safe if he walked the streets of a +seafaring town. + +"Harry was a strong fellow, and fought hard; one man went heavily down, +then three went down together. Poor Harry was one of them, while a head +struck the stones a most awful blow, such as seemed enough to kill any +fellow; but it was not Harry's, for the next moment he was up, and +before a soul could stop him, he gave a shout, and leaped clean off the +wharf where we were, right into the water. Then there was a splash, and +you could see the stream all dancing like broken lights where the lamps +and moon shone, and then all was still for a few moments, till the +officer of the gang called to his men to run down the steps and bring +round the boat. `Hold tight by that one,' he shouted, and the next +minute, with some of his gang, he was paddling about on the look-out for +Harry, who had never, as far as we could see, come up again to the +surface. + +"I did not want to run then, but stood still, with the men as held me, +looking anxiously out for my poor mate; for it seemed to me then that +after all the dangers we two had been through from storms out in the +wide ocean, the poor fellow was to lose his life in such a way as this-- +fighting for his liberty when he was about to be treated like a slave. +It's fine language that writers use about Britannia ruling the waves, +and our gallant tars and noble seamen, and the deeds they have done, but +they never stop to think of the cruelty with which those brave fellows +were treated, dragged off to serve the king in a quarrel that they knew +nothing about, while after being forced into the service it was death +for mutiny if a poor fellow refused to obey. + +"Things of the past, these, and times are altered for the better now in +the navy; but in them good old times there were black doings, and no +wonder there were plenty of mutinies. Here were we, two hardworking +sailors fresh home from sea, seized for all the world like blacks, and +to be made slaves of for years to come, whilst people were always +boasting of the land of the free. Thank goodness, some of those things +are better now, and it was time that they should be, for I saw enough of +a ship of war in days to come. + +"But it was not to be then; for when, after a minute or so, there was no +sign of poor Harry, the blood seemed to rise up in my eyes, and in a +savage fit of passion I wrested myself from the two men who held me +tightly; for I had been standing quiet, and they were taken up with the +doings of their mates, and did not expect that I should make a struggle +for it now. So I twisted myself free, hit out right and left, and +tumbled one fellow off the wharf into the water, and then, before +anybody could stay me, I dashed off. + +"But I was not free yet, I had to pass the steps, from which two of the +gang ran to stop me; but I had good way on then, and as one of them made +a blow at me with a cudgel, I came down upon him like a ram, tumbled him +over too, and then was racing along the street with half a dozen of the +gang shouting and running after me like mad. + +"It was a hard run that, up one lane and down another, hard as I could +tear, with the hot breath panting out of my chest, and a burning feeling +strong on me, as if I'd swallowed live coals. But it was for liberty, +and the thought of what would follow if I was caught made me dash on +faster every time I felt ready to sink and give in. Whenever I looked +over my shoulder I could see one or two of the gang after me, but at +last there was only one, and him it seemed as if I couldn't tire out, +for there he always was just about the same distance behind, taking step +for step with me. We were neither of us going fast now for want of +breath, and the perspiration ran down my face; but every time I tried to +shake him off it seemed of no use, and every time I turned round to +look, there he was still hunting me down like a dog. I tried doubling +down a court, but he was close after me; turned down one street and up +another, but there he was still; and the more I tried the closer he +seemed to get to me. + +"Well, this seemed to make me savage, and my teeth got gritting +together, and as I knew that he was only one now, having outrun all his +mates, and must be as tired out as I was, I said to myself, `If he takes +me, he'll have to fight for it.' Then I ran down another court which +turned off to the right again directly after, and then came a horrible +disappointed feeling, for I saw that I was in a trap, and when I +remembered the cudgel the press-gang man had, it seemed as if my chance +was gone, for there was no way out at the bottom of the court. + +"People think quickly at a time like this, and in a moment I was hid +behind a corner, and listening to the patter of the sailor's feet as he +came down the court. Next moment I put all the strength I had left in +the blow I fetched him aside his head; down he went with his head upon +the stones, and, jumping over him, I ran out into the street and felt +that I was free. + +"I was sorry for the press-gang chap as soon as I had hit him; but, duty +or no duty, the men then were a deal too fond of getting other poor +fellows into the same scrape as themselves, and as I felt I was free, my +breath seemed to come easier, and I went along the streets at a gentle +trot, till I knew that I must be safe. + +"I wasn't going to stop in London any more, so I made my way, late as it +was, to the Great North Road, and daybreak found me trudging wearily +along between the pleasant hedgerows, thinking very sadly about poor +Harry, who came from the next village to mine in Hertfordshire, and +turning it over in my mind how I should tell his poor old folks about +their lad being drowned at home here when trying to get clear of the +press-gang. It seemed so hard, and I'm afraid I said more than one +queer thing against the king and all his sarvice as I trudged along +homewards; but, in spite of all, the morning was so bright and cheery, +the country looked so green and sweet, and the birds sang so, that I +couldn't feel down-hearted long; while, having no kit to carry, I got +fast over the ground, only stopping once to have a good hearty breakfast +at a roadside public-house, and early that afternoon I was at home. + +"I'm not going to keep you long now, while as to the fuss made over a +sailor at home after a long voyage, that's a matter of course. Next day +I started off to walk six miles to Harry's friends, to tell them the sad +news; and a hard job that seemed, for they were nice old people, and of +a better class--the old man doing a bit of farming in his way--and, as +he afterwards told me, there was plenty for Harry to do at home, only he +would go to sea. `Poor old chap,' I thought, `it does seem hard,' and +twenty times over I was ready to turn back, for I felt that I couldn't +tell the old folks the bitter news. + +"Last of all I stood resting on a stile, thinking it over, and going +through the whole scene--even seeming to hear the poor fellow's cry as +he leaped right into the water. It was only after a hard fight I could +wind myself up to the right pitch, when, for fear that my heart should +fail again, I ran hard right up to the little place, and walked into the +kitchen where the old folks were sitting at dinner. + +"`News of Harry?' they both cried, jumping up; and then they read it all +in my blank face, and the poor old woman was down on her knees sobbing, +with her apron over her head, and the old man trying to comfort her. +They didn't ask no questions, and the words all seemed to stick in my +throat as I tried to speak, and say that, after all, it might not be so +bad as I felt sure it was. Last of all, with a regular wail, the old +lady burst out-- + +"`Dead--dead--dead! Oh, my poor--poor boy!' + +"`Not this time, mother,' shouted a cheery voice, and I got such a slap +on the back as nearly sent me on to my nose, and I says, says I-- + +"`Well, if that's Harry's ghost he's a reg'lar down-right hard hitter.' + +"`How did I manage it?' says Harry just half an hour after, as we were +all sitting at dinner, except the old lady, who would wait on us, so as +she could get behind Hal now and then, and have a stroke at his curly +hair--`how did I manage it? why, I jumped right slap off the wharf.' + +"`Well, I saw that,' I says. + +"`And then I dived till I felt about choked, when I thought I'd rise, +and I came up against what I'm sure was the keel of a brig, but I kicked +out again and came up t'other side.' + +"`What, dived right under the brig?' I says. `I ain't a marine, +Harry.' + +"`True as you sit there,' he says; and then, as I could hear the gang +shouting, I let myself float with the tide down through the shipping; +and I got nearly jammed between two schooners. But after a bit I worked +myself through, and now swimming, and now easing myself along by the +anchor chains, I got to where there was a landing-place between two +great warehouses, and crept up the slippery stone steps dripping like a +rat; and then, to tell the truth, I forgot all about you till I'd +tramped half-way where I stopped and went to bed while my things were +dried for me; when I went fast asleep and slept for hours till too late +to go on home. And this morning, so as not to be a bad shipmate, I came +through Southton village, and told you know who that you was took, for I +couldn't face your old people. + +"`You told Lucy as I was taken?' I says, jumping up. + +"`Yes,' he says, `I did.' + +"But I didn't wait to hear no more, for I ran out of the house like mad +to go and prove that I was not taken, for somehow or another I'd felt +too bashful to go to Southton, though I meant to have gone that day; +while when I got there Lucy had gone three miles to comfort, as she +thought, my old folks. But I needn't tell you any more about that. + +"It was a narrow escape, though, for I met several fellows after who +were pressed that very night, and it was five years before they got +their liberty again." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +MY PATIENT WHO NEVER PAYS--MYSELF. + +I finish the transcription of my notes with something of regret, for the +task has taken me back through many pleasant chapters of my own life, +and to days when I too had my adventures and fights with the dark shadow +casting his own shadow--the shadow of a shade across those whom he was +marking for his own. It has brought up those stern struggles where it +has been an uphill fight for days and days, striving hard, and rejoicing +over every inch that has been gained--inches perhaps lost the next hour, +when one has seen, in spite of every effort and the aid of all that +could be brought to bear from the well-earned knowledge of others, a +patient gradually slipping from one's grasp, and stood gazing helplessly +and wondering what to do. + +This has often been my fate, and with a feeling of being humbled, I have +thought how little we know even now of the secrets of nature, and how +powerless a doctor is at times. But even then, when a case has seemed +hopeless, a sudden flash or flicker of the expiring flame has renewed +hope, and cautiously, and with endless care lest the effort to relieve +should result in extinguishing the faint dying light, one has tried +again to feed the lamp with oil, the tiniest portion at a time, perhaps +feeling a kind of awe as the result has been watched for, and the faint +spark has seemed to have been driven forth. Then the flickering has +begun once more, grown stronger, sunk, risen, sunk lower--lower, +darkness has fallen in the room, and one's heart has sunk in unison with +the dying flame--dying? No: that next flash has been more lasting. It +was brighter, too. There can be no doubt now. Pour in more oil with +tender hand; feed the flickering flame; watch it night and day; no care +can be too great; for the enemy is ever on the watch, and a moment's +want of attention may result in the undoing of all that has been done. +And when at last the lamp of life burns more strongly and the dark shade +has fled--vanquished, driven away, there is a triumph, a joy +indescribable, which rewards surgeons, or the learned in medicine, alone +more than pecuniary recompense or notoriety can compass. + +Nothing can be more sad than the feelings engendered when, in spite of +all, one's efforts have been in vain; but nothing, on the other hand, +can be more purely delightful than the looks of satisfaction and relief +in the eyes of wives, parents, children--all by whom the invalid is held +dear. If ever gratitude is shown it is then; and the doctor goes away +feeling that he has not lived quite in vain. + +A hundred pleasant recollections--ay, and a hundred sad ones--have been +evoked during the writing out of those notes; while, in turn, my old +patients have stood before me, and I have felt the strong, earnest grip +of their hands with that heart-felt earnest "Thank you, doctor!" which +has meant so much. As I said at the commencement of these pages, I +believe in, and esteem the sturdy working man, and for a patient I would +wish for none better, on account of his genuine trust and faith in him +who is working for his cure. I said, too, that I had once felt a strong +desire to become an army surgeon, for the sake of the experience it +would give me; but I think I have shown that amongst the privates of the +vast army of work-a-day toilers, there is practice sufficient to satisfy +the most exacting; and though the surgeon may not have to deal with +sword-cut, bayonet, and bullet wound, there is enough work for busy hand +and brain at home in his noble profession, whose mission it is to +relieve the sick and wounded in the great battle of life. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventures of Working Men, by George Manville Fenn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURES OF WORKING MEN *** + +***** This file should be named 36624.txt or 36624.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/2/36624/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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