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diff --git a/37588.txt b/37588.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9400d39 --- /dev/null +++ b/37588.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10302 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island of Gold, by Gordon Stables + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Island of Gold + A Sailor's Yarn + +Author: Gordon Stables + +Illustrator: Allan Stewart + +Release Date: October 1, 2011 [EBook #37588] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND OF GOLD *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Island of Gold +A Sailor's Yarn +By Gordon Stables +Illustrations by Allan Stewart +Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, London, Edinburgh and New York. + +The Island of Gold, by Gordon Stables. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE ISLAND OF GOLD, BY GORDON STABLES. + +Book 1--CHAPTER ONE. + +TWO MITHERLESS BAIRNS. + +Ransey Tansey was up much earlier than usual on this particular morning, +because father was coming home, and there was a good deal to do. + +As he crawled out of his bed--a kind of big box arrangement at the +farther end of the one-roomed cottage--he gave a glance towards the +corner where Babs slept in an elongated kind of basket, which by +courtesy might have been called a bassinette. + +Yes, Babs was sound and fast, and that was something Ransey Tansey had +to be thankful for. He bent over her for a few seconds, listening as if +to make sure she was alive; for this wee three-year-old was usually +awake long before this, her eyes as big as saucers, and carrying on an +animated conversation with herself in lieu of any other listener. + +The boy gave a kind of satisfied sigh, and drew the coverlet over her +bare arm. Then he proceeded to dress; while Bob, a beautiful, tailless +English sheep-dog, lay near the low hearth watching his every movement, +with his shaggy head cocked a trifle to one side, as if he had his +considering cap on. + +In summer time--and it was early summer now--dressing did not take +Ransey long. + +When he opened the door at last to fetch some sticks to light the fire, +and stood for a moment shading his brow with his hand against the red +light of the newly-risen sun, and gazing eastwards over a landscape of +fields and woods, he looked a strange little figure. Moreover, one +could understand now why he had taken such a short few minutes to dress. + +The fact is, Ransey Tansey hadn't very much to wear just then. Barely +eight years of age was Tansey, though, as far as experience of the world +went, he might have been called three times as old as that; for, alas, +the world had not been over-gentle with the boy. + +Ransey wore no cap, just a head of towy hair, which was thick enough, +however, to protect him against summer's sun or winter's cold. The +upper part of his body was arrayed in a blue serge shirt, very much open +at the neck; while below his waist, and extending to within nine inches +of his bare feet, where they ended in ragged capes and promontories like +a map of Norway, he wore a pair of pants. It would have been difficult, +indeed, to have guessed at the original colour of these pants, but they +were now a kind of tawny brindle, and that is the nearest I can get to +it. They were suspended by one brace, a bright red one, so broad that +it must have belonged to his father. I think the boy was rather proud +than otherwise of this suspender, although it had a disagreeable trick +of sliding down over his shoulder and causing some momentary +disarrangement of his attire. But Ransey just hooked it back into its +place again with his thumb, and all was right, till the next time. + +A rough little tyke you might have called Ransey Tansey, with his +sun-burnt face, neck, and bosom. Yet there was something that was +rather pleasing than otherwise in his clear eyes and open countenance; +and when his red and rather thin lips parted in a smile, which they very +often did, he showed a set of teeth as clean and white as those of a +six-months-old Saint Bernard puppy, and you cannot better that. + +Had this little lad been a town boy, hands and face and feet would have +been far from clean; but Ransey lived away down in the cool, green +country, in a midland district of Merrie England, and being as often in +the water as a duck, he was just as clean as one. + +Away went Ransey Tansey now, and opened a rough old door in a rock which +formed part of the hill by the side of which the humble cottage stood. +The door opened into a kind of cave, which was a storehouse for all +kinds of things. + +He was soon back again, and in five minutes' time had lit the fire, +swept the hearth as tidily as a girl could have done it, and hung the +kettle on a hook and chain. By this time another member of this small +family came in, a very large and handsome tabby cat, with a white chest +and vandyked face. + +Murrams, as he was called, was holding his head very high indeed. In +fact he had to, else the nice young leveret he carried would have +trailed on the ground. Bob jumped up to meet him, with joy in his brown +eyes. + +Had Bob possessed a tail of any consequence, he would have wagged it. +Bob's tail, however, was a mere stump, and it was quite buried in the +rough, shaggy coat that hung over his rump. But though honest Bob had +only the fag-end of a tail, so to speak, he agitated this considerably +when pleased. + +He did so when he saw that leveret. + +"Oh, you clever old Murrams!" Bob seemed to say. "What a nice drop of +soup that'll make, and all the bones for me!" + +Murrams walked gingerly past him, and throwing the leveret on the +hearth, proceeded to wash his face and warm his nose at the blaze. + +Ransey put away the young hare, patted pussy on his broad, sleek +forehead, then took down a long tin can to go for the morning's milk. +He left the door open, because he knew that if Babs should awake and +scramble out of her cot, she would toddle right out to clutch at wild +flowers, beetles, and other things, instead of going towards the fire. + +Ransey Tansey happened to look round when he was about thirty yards from +the cottage. Why, here was Bob coming softly up behind. Murrams +himself couldn't have walked more silently. + +His ears disappeared backwards when he was found out, and he looked very +guilty indeed. + +Ransey Tansey shook his finger at him. + +"Back ye goes--back ye goes to look after Babs." + +Bob lay down to plead. + +"It ain't no go, Bob, I tell ye," continued Ransey Tansey, still shaking +his finger. "Back to Babs, Bob--back to Babs. We can't both on us +leave the house at the same time." + +This latter argument was quite convincing, and back marched Bob, with +drooping head and with that fag-end of a tail of his drooping earthwards +also. + +There grew on the top of the bank a solitary brown-stemmed pine-tree. +Very, very tall it was, with not a branch all the way up save a very +strong horizontal limb, which was used to hang people from in the happy +days of old. The top of this tree was peculiar. It spread straight out +on all sides, forming a kind of flat table of darkest green needled +foliage. Had you been sketching this tree, then, after doing the stem, +you could easily have rubbed in the top of it by dipping your little +finger in ink and smudging the paper crosswise. + +When not far from this gibbet-tree, as it was generally called, Ransey +looked up and hailed,-- + +"Ship ahoy! Are ye on board, Admiral?" + +And now a somewhat strange thing happened. No sooner had the boy hailed +than down from a mass of central foliage there suddenly hung what, at +first sight, one might have taken for a snake. + +It was really a bird's long neck. + +"Craik--craik--crik--cr--cr--cray!" + +"All right," cried Ransey, as if he understood every word. "Ye mebbe +don't see nuthin' o' father, do ye?" + +"Tok--tok--tok--cr--cray--ay!" + +"Well, ye needn't flop down, Admiral. I'll come up myself." + +No lamplighter ever ran quicker up a ladder than did Ransey Tansey swarm +up that pine-tree. In little over two minutes he was right out on the +green roof, and beside him one of the most graceful and beautiful cranes +it is possible to imagine. The boy's father had bought the bird from a +sailor somewhere down the country; and, except on very stormy nights, it +preferred to roost in this tree. The neck was a greyish blue, as was +also the back; the wings were dark, the legs jet black, the tail purple. +Around the eyes was a broad patch of crimson; and the bill was as long +as a penholder, more or less slender, and slightly curved downwards at +the end. [A species of what is popularly known an the dancing crane.] + +The Admiral did all he could to express the pleasure he felt at seeing +the boy, by a series of movements that I find it difficult to describe. +The wings were half extended and quivering with delight, the neck +forming a series of beautiful curves, the head at times high in air, and +next moment down under Ransey's chin. Then he twisted his neck right +round the boy's neck, from left to right, then from right to left, the +head being laid lovingly each time against his little master's cheek. + +"Now then, Admiral, when ye're quite done cuddlin' of me, we'll have a +look for father's barge." + +From his elevated coign of vantage, Ransey Tansey could see for many +miles all around him. On this bright, sunny summer morn, it was a +landscape of infinite beauty; on undulating, well-wooded, cultivated +country, green and beautiful everywhere, except in the west, where a +village sheltered itself near the horizon, nestling in a cloudland of +trees, from which the grey flat tower of a church looked up. + +To the left yonder, and near to the church, was a long strip of silver-- +the canal. High on a wooded hill stood the lord of the manor's house, +solid, brown, and old, with the blue smoke therefrom trailing lazily +along across the tree-tops. + +But the house nearest to Ransey's was some distance across the fields +yonder--an old-fashioned brick farm-building with a steading behind it, +every bit of it green with age. + +"So ye can't see no signs o' father, or the barge, eh? Look again, +Admiral; your neck's a bit longer'n mine." + +"Tok--tok--tok--cray!" + +"Well, I'm off down. There's the milk to fetch yet; and if I don't +hurry up, Bob and Babs are sure to make a mess on't afore I gets back. +Mornin' to ye, Admiral." + +And Ransey Tansey slid down that tree far more quickly even than he had +swarmed up it. + +Scattering the dew from the grass and the milk-white clover with his +naked feet, the lad went trotting on, and very quickly reached the farm. +He had to stop once or twice by the way, however. First, Towsey, the +short-horned bull, put his great head over a five-barred gate, and +Ransey had to pause to scratch it. Then he met the peacock, who +insisted on instant recognition, and walked back with him till the two +were met by Snap, the curly-coated retriever. + +"I don't like Snap," said the peacock. "I won't go a bit further. The +ugly brute threatened to snap my head off; that's the sort of Snap he +is." + +The farmer's wife was fat and jolly looking. + +"Well, how's all the family?" + +"Oh, they're all right, ye know; especially Babs, 'cause she's asleep. +And we kind of expect father to-day. But even the Admiral can't see +'im, with _his_ long neck." + +She filled his can, and took the penny. That was only business; but the +kindly soul had slyly slipped two turkey's eggs into the can before she +poured in the milk. + +When he got back to his home, the first thing he saw was that crane, +half hopping, half flying round and round the gibbet-tree. The fact of +the matter is this: the bird did not wish to go far away from the house +just yet, as he generally followed his little master to the brook or +stream; but, nevertheless, on this particularly fine morning he found +himself possessed of an amount of energy that must be expended somehow, +so he went hopping round the tree, dangling his head and long neck in +the drollest and most ridiculous kind of way imaginable. Ransey Tansey +had to place his milk-can on the ground in order to laugh with greater +freedom. The most curious part of the business was this: crane though +he was, wheeling madly round like this made him dizzy, so every now and +then he stopped and danced round the other way. + +The Admiral caught flies wherever he saw them; but flies, though all +very well in their way, were mere tit-bits. Presently he would have a +few frogs for breakfast, and the bird was just as fond of frogs as a +Frenchman is. + +Ransey Tansey opened the door of the little cottage very quietly, and +peeped in. Bob was there by the bassinette. He agitated that fag-end +of a tail of his, and looked happy. + +Murrams paused in the act of washing his ears, with one paw held aloft. +He began to sing, because he knew right well there was milk in that can, +and that he would have a share of it. + +Babs's blue eyes had been on the smoke-grimed ceiling, but she lowered +them now. + +"Oh," she said, "you's tome back, has 'oo?" + +"And Babs has been so good, hasn't she?" said Ransey. + +"Babs is dood, and Bob is dood, and Murrams is dooder. 'Ift [lift] me +up twick, 'Ansey." + +Two plump little arms were extended towards her brother, and presently +he was seated near the fire dressing her, as if he had been to the +manner born. + +There was a little face to wash presently, as well as two tiny hands and +arms; but that could be done after they had all had breakfast. + +"Oh, my!" cried Ransey Tansey; "look, Babs! Two turkey's eggs in the +bottom of the can!" + +"Oh, my! 'Ansey," echoed the child. "One tu'key's egg fo' me, and one +fo' 'oo." + +The door had been left half ajar, and presently about a yard of long +neck was thrust round the edge, and the Admiral looked lovingly at the +eggs, first with one roguish eye, then with the other. + +This droll crane had a weakness for eggs--strange, perhaps, but true. +When he found one, he tossed it high in air, and in descending caught it +cleverly. Next second there was an empty egg-shell on the ground, and +some kind of a lump sliding slowly down the Admiral's extended gullet. +When it was fairly landed, the bird expressed his delight by dancing a +double-triple fandango, which was partly jig, partly hornpipe, and all +the rest a Highland schottische. + +"Get out, Admiral!--get out, I tell ye!" cried the boy. "W'y, ye +stoopid, if the door slams, off goes yer head." + +The bird seemed to fully appreciate the danger, and at once withdrew. + +Ransey placed the two turkey's eggs on a shelf near the little gable +window. One pane of glass was broken, and was stuffed with hay. + +Well, the Admiral had been watching the boy, and as soon as his back was +turned, it didn't take the bird long to pull out that hay. + +"O 'Ansey, 'ook! 'ook!" cried Babs. + +It was too late, however, for looking to do any good. For the same yard +of neck that had, a few minutes before, appeared round the edge of the +doorway, was now thrust through the broken pane, and only one turkey's +egg was left. + +Babs looked very sad. She considered for a bit, then said solemnly,-- + +"'Oo mus' have the odel [other] tu'key's _egg_. You is dooder nor me." + +But Ransey didn't have it. He contented himself with bread and milk. + +And so the two mitherless bairns had breakfast. + +Book 1--CHAPTER TWO. + +LIFE IN THE WOODS. + +I trust that, from what he has already seen and heard of Ransey Tansey, +the reader will not imagine I desire this little hero of mine to pose as +a real saint. Boys should be boys while they have the chance. Alas, +they shall grow up into men far too soon, and then they needn't go long +journeys to seek for sorrow; they will find it near home. + +And now I think, reader, you and I understand each other, to some extent +at all events. Though I believe he was always manly and never mean, +yet, as his biographer, I am bound to confess that there was just as +much monkey-mischief to the square inch about Ransey Tansey, as about +any boy to whom I have ever had the honour of being introduced. + +It was said of the immortal George Washington that when a boy at school +he climbed out of a bedroom window and robbed a wall fruit tree, because +the other boys were cowards and afraid to do so. But George refused to +eat even a bite of one of these apples himself. I think that Ransey +Tansey could have surpassed young Washington; for not only would he have +taken the apples, but eaten his own share of them afterwards. + +To do him justice, however, I must state that on occasions when his +father went in the barge to a distant town on business, as he had been +now for over a week, Ransey being left in charge of his tiny sister and +the whole establishment, the sense of his great responsibility kept him +entirely free from mischief. + +Now a very extraordinary thing happened on this particular morning-- +Ransey Tansey received a letter. + +The postman was sulky, to say the least of it. + +"Pretty thing," he said, as he flung the letter with scant ceremony in +through the open doorway; "pretty thing as I should have to come +three-quarters of a mile round to fetch a letter to the likes o' you!" + +"Now, look 'ee here," said Ransey, "if ye're good and brings my letters +every day, and hangs yer stockin' out at Christmas-time, I may put +somethin' in it." + +"Gur long, ye ragged young nipper!" + +Ransey was dandling Babs upon his knee, but he now put her gently down +beside the cat. Then he jumped up. + +"I'se got to teach you a lesson," he said to the boorish postman, "on +the hadvantages o' civeelity. I ain't agoin' to waste a good pertater +on such a sconce as yours, don't be afeard; but 'ere's an old turmut +[turnip] as'll meet the requirements o' the occasion." + +It was indeed an old turnip, and well aimed too, for it caught the +postman on the back of the neck and covered him with slush from head to +toe. + +The lout yelled with rage, and flew at Ransey stick in hand. Next +moment, and before he could deal the boy a blow, he was lying flat on +the grass, with Bob standing triumphantly over him growling like a wild +wolf. + +"Call off yer dog, and I won't say no more about it." + +"Oh, ye won't, won't ye? I calls that wery considerate. But look 'ee +here, I ain't agoin' to call Bob off, until ye begs my parding in a +spirit o' humility, as t'old parson says. If ye don't, I'll hiss Bob on +to ye, and ye'll be a raggeder nipper nor me afore Bob's finished the +job to his own satisfaction." + +Well, discretion is the better part of valour, and after grumbling out +an apology, the postman was allowed to sneak off with a whole skin. + +Then Ransey kissed Bob's shaggy head, and opened his letter. + + "Dear Sonnie,--Can't get home before four days. Look after Babs. + Your Loving Father." + +That was all. The writing certainly left something to be desired, but +it being the first letter the boy had ever received, he read it twice +over to himself and twice over to Babs; then he put it away inside his +New Testament. + +"Hurrah, Babs!" he cried, picking the child up again, and swinging her +to and fro till she laughed and kicked and crowed with delight--"hurrah, +Babs! we'll all away to the woods. Murrams shall keep house, and we'll +take our dinner with us." + +It was a droll procession. First walked Bob, looking extremely solemn +and wise, and carrying Ransey's fishing-rod. Close behind him came the +tall and graceful crane, not quite so solemn as Bob; for he was catching +flies, and his head and neck were in constant motion, and every now and +then he would hop, first on one leg, and then on the other. Ransey +Tansey himself brought up the rear, with a small bag slung in front of +him, and Babs in a shawl on his back. + +Away to the woods? Yes; and there was a grand little stream there, and +the boy knew precisely where the biggest fish lay, and meant to have +some for supper. The leveret could hang for a few days. + +Arrived at his fishing-ground, where the stream swept slowly through the +darkling wood, Ransey lowered his back-burden gently on the moss, and +lay down on his face in front of her to talk Babs into the best of +tempers. + +This was not difficult to do, for she was really a good-natured child; +so he gave her his big clasp-knife and his whistle, and proceeded to get +his rod in order and make a cast. Bob lay down beside the tiny mite to +guard her. She could whistle herself, but couldn't get Bob to do the +same, although she rammed the whistle halfway down his throat, and +afterwards showed him how she did it. + +Well, there are a few accomplishments that dogs cannot attain to, and I +believe whistling is one of them. + +The fish were very kind to-day, and Ransey was making a very good bag. +Whenever he had finished fishing in about forty yards of stream, he +threw down his rod and trotted off back for Babs, and placed her down +about twenty yards ahead of him, fished another forty yards and changed +her position again, Bob always following close at the boy's heels and +lying down beside his charge, and permitting himself to be pulled about, +and teased, and cuddled, and kissed one moment, and hammered over the +nose with that tin whistle the next. Even when Babs tried to gouge his +eye out with a morsel of twig, he only lifted his head and licked her +face till, half-blinded, she had to drop the stick and tumble on her +back. + +"You's a funny dog, Bob," she said; "'oor tisses is so lough [rough]." + +Of course they were. He meant them to be, for Bob couldn't afford to +lose an eye. + +I think the Admiral enjoyed himself quite as much as any one. He chose +a bit of the stream for himself where the bank was soft, and there he +waded and fished for goodness only knows what--beetles, minnows, tiny +frogs, anything alive and easy to swallow. + +I don't think, however, that the Admiral was a very good Judge of his +swallowing capabilities. That neck of his was so very, very long, and +though distensible enough on the whole, sometimes he encountered +difficulties that it was almost impossible to surmount. Tadpoles slid +down easily enough, so did flies and other tiny insects; but a too-big +frog, if invited to go down head-foremost, often had a disagreeable way +of throwing his hind-legs out at right angles to the entrance of the +Admiral's gullet. This placed the Admiral in a somewhat awkward +predicament. No bird can look his best with its beak held forcibly +agape, and the two legs of a disorderly frog sticking out one at each +side. + +The crane would hold his head in the air and consider for a bit, then +lower his face against the bank and rub one leg in, then change cheeks +and rub the other in; but lo! while doing so, leg number one would be +kicked out again, and by the time that was replaced out shot leg number +two. + +It was very annoying and ridiculous. So the Admiral would step +cautiously on to the green bank, and stride very humbly down the stream +to Ransey Tansey, with his neck extended and his head on a level with +his shoulders. + +"You see the confounded fix I'm in," he would say, looking up at his +master with one wonderfully wise eye. + +Then Ransey would pull out the frog, and the little rascal would hop +away, laughing to himself apparently. + +"Crok--crok--cray--ay!" the Admiral would cry, and go joyfully back to +his fishing-ground. + +But sometimes Mr Crane would swallow a big water-beetle, and if this +specimen had a will of its own, as beetles generally have, it would +catch hold of the side of the gullet and hang on halfway down. + +"I ain't going another step," the beetle would say; "it isn't good +enough. The road is too long and too dark." + +So this disobliging beetle would just stop there, making a kind of a +mump in the poor Admiral's neck. + +When Ransey saw his droll pet stride out of the pool and walk solemnly +towards a tree and lean his head against it, and close his eyes, the lad +knew pretty well what was the matter. + +There is nothing like patience and plenty of it, and presently the +beetle would go to sleep, relax its hold, and slip quietly down to +regions unknown. There would be no more mump now, and the crane would +suddenly take leave of his senses with joy. + +"Kaik--kaik--kay--ay?" he would scream, and go madly hopping and dancing +round the tree, a most weird and uncanny-looking object, raising one leg +at a time as high as he could, and swinging his head and neck fore and +aft, low and aloft, from starboard to port, in such a droll way that +Ransey Tansey felt impelled to throw himself on his back, so as to laugh +without bursting that much-prized solitary suspender of his, while Bob +sat up to bark, and Babs clapped her tiny hands and crowed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Ransey got tired of fishing at last, and made up his rod. There was +some sort of silent joy or happiness away down at the bottom of the +boy's heart, and for a moment he couldn't make out what was causing it. +The big haul of fish he had caught? Oh, no; that was a common exploit. +Having smashed the postman with a mushy turnip? That was capital, of +course, but that wasn't it. Ah! now he has remembered--father was +coming home in four days. Hurrah! he must have some fun on the head of +it. Ransey loved to have a good time. + +But, duty first. Babs was a good little girl--or a "dood 'ittle dirl," +as she phrased it--but even good girls get hungry sometimes. Babs must +be fed. She held her arms straight out towards him. + +"Babs is detting tired," she lisped. + +So he took her up, kissed her, and made much of her for a minute, then +set her against a tree where the moss was green and soft. With a bit of +string and a burdock leaf he made her a beautiful bib; for though Ransey +himself was scantily attired, the child was really prettily dressed. + +And now the boy produced a pickle bottle from the luncheon bag, likewise +a small horn spoon. The pickle bottle contained a pap of bread and +milk; and with this he proceeded to feed Babs somewhat after the manner +of cramming turkeys, until she shook her head at last, and declared she +would _never_ eat any more--"Never, never, _never_!" + +There was a turnip-field not far off. Now Bob was as fond of raw +turnips as his master. He knew where the field was, too. + +"Off ye go for a turmut, Bob; and mind ye bring a big 'un. I'll look +after Babs till ye comes back." + +Bob wasn't long gone. He had obeyed his master's instructions to the +very letter--in fact, he had pulled more than six turnips before he +found one to please him. [It is easy to teach a dog this trick, only +stupid farmer folks sometimes don't see the fun of it. Farmer folks are +obtuse.--G.S.] That "turmut" made Bob and Ransey an excellent luncheon, +and Babs had a slice to amuse herself with. + +The day was delightfully warm, and the wind soft and balmy. The +sunshine filtered down through a great beech-tree, and wherever it fell +the grass was a brighter green or the dead leaves a lighter brown. Now +and then a May beetle would go droning past; there were flies of all +sorts and sizes, from the gnats that danced in thousands over the bushes +to the great rainbow-like dragonfly that darted hither and thither +across the stream; grasshoppers green and brown that alighted on a leaf +one moment, gave a click the next, and hurled themselves into space; a +blackbird making wild melody not far off; the bold lilt of a chaffinch; +the insolent mocking notes of a thrush; and the coo-cooing of +wood-pigeons sounding mournfully from a thicket beyond the stream. + +High up in that beech-tree myriads of bees were humming, though they +could not be seen. No wonder that under such sweet drowsy influences +Babs began to wink and wink, and blink and blink, till finally her wee +head fell forward on her green-bough bib. + +Babs was sound asleep. + +Book 1--CHAPTER THREE. + +"O EEDIE, I'VE FOUND A CHILD." + +Ransey Tansey took his tiny sister tenderly up and spread her, as it +were, on the soft moss. + +"She's in for a regular forenooner, Bob," said the boy, "and I'm not +sure I don't like Babs just as well when she is asleep. Seems so +innercent-like, you know." + +Bob looked as if he really did understand, and tried by means of his +brown eyes and that fag-end of a tail to let his master know that he too +liked Babs best asleep, because then no attempts were made to gouge his +eyes out with pieces of stick, or to ram the business end of a tin +whistle halfway down his throat. + +"Bob!" said Ransey. + +"Yes, master," said Bob, raising his ears. + +"Babs is a sailor's darter, ye know." + +Bob assented. + +"Well, she ought'er sleep in a hammock." + +"To be sure. I hadn't thought of that," said Bob. + +"I can make one in a brace o' shakes, and that's sailor langwidge. Now +just keep your eyes on me, Bob." + +Ransey Tansey was busy enough for the next five minutes. He took that +shepherd-tartan shawl, and by means of some pieces of string, which he +never went abroad without, soon fashioned it into a neat little hammock. +Two saplings grew near, and by bending a branch downward from each, he +slung that hammock so prettily that he was obliged to stand back for a +little while to smile and admire it. + +When he lifted Babs and put her in it, and fastened the two sides of the +hammock across her chest with some more string and a horse-shoe nail, so +that she could not fall out, the whole affair was complete. + + "Hush-a-bye, baby, upon the tree-top, + When the wind blown the cradle will rock." + +Well, the wind did blow, but ever so softly, and the little hammock +swayed gently to and fro. And the blackbird's voice seemed to sound +more melodiously now; the thrush went farther away; only the wild +pigeons continued to coo, coo, and the bees to hum, high, high up in the +green beech-tree. + +No wonder that the baby slept. + +"Come along now, Bob. We've a whole hour at least." + +The boy placed his rod and bag on the branches of a tree. + +"A whole hour, Bob, to do as we likes. No good me askin' that idiot of +an Admiral to watch Babs. He'd only begin scray-scrayin' and hopping +around the hammock, and Babs would wake. I'm goin' to run wild for a +bit, are you?" + +And off he bounded, with Bob at his heels. + +The Admiral, whose feet were getting cold now, hopped out of the stream, +stretched out his three-foot neck, and looked after them. + +"They think they're going to leave me behind, do they? Tok--tok-- +tok,"--which in craneish language means "No--no--no." + +So away _he_ went next, with his head and his long neck about a yard in +front of him, and his wings expanded. It would have puzzled any one to +have told whether the Admiral was running or flying. + +If Ransey Tansey climbed one tree he climbed a dozen. Ransey walked +through the wood with upturned face, and whenever he saw a nest, whether +it belonged to magpie, hawk, or hooded crow, skywards he went to have a +look at it. + +He liked to look at the eggs best, and sometimes he brought just one +down in his mouth if four were left behind, because, he thought, one +wouldn't be missed. But even this was sinful; for although birds are +not very good arithmeticians, every one of them can count as far as the +number of its eggs--even a partridge or a wren can. + +Sometimes the Admiral wanted to investigate the nests, but Ransey +sternly forbade him. He might dance round the tree as much as he liked, +but he must not fly up. + +Bob used to bark at his master as he climbed up and up. Indeed, when +perched on the very, _very_ top of a tall larch-tree Ransey himself +didn't look much bigger than a rook. + +Yet I think the ever-abiding sorrow with Bob was not that he had not a +tail worth talking about, but that he could not climb a tree. + +Different birds behaved in different ways when Ransey visited their +nests. Thus: a linnet or a robin, flying from its sweet, cosy little +home in a bush of orange-scented furze, would sit and sing at no great +distance in a half-hysterical kind of way, as if it really didn't know +what it was about. A blackbird from a tall thorn-tree or baby spruce, +would go scurrying off, and make the woods resound with her cries of +"beet, beet, beet," till other birds, crouching low on their nests, +trembled with fear lest their turn might come next. A hooded crow would +fly off some distance and perch on a tree, but say nothing: hooded crows +are philosophers. A magpie went but a little distance away, and sat +nodding and chickering in great distress. A hawk would course round and +round in great circles in the air, uttering every now and then a most +distressful scream. + +But one day, I must tell you, a large hawk played the lad a very +mischievous trick. Ransey was high up near the top of a tall, +stone-pine-tree, and had hold of a sturdy branch above, being just about +to swing himself in through the needled foliage, when, lo! the stump on +which one foot was resting gave way, leaving him suspended betwixt +heaven and earth, like Mohammed's coffin--and kicking too, because he +could not for some time swing himself into the tree. + +Now that hawk needn't have been so precious nasty about it. But he saw +his chance, and went for Ransey straight; and the more the boy shouted +at the hawk, and cried "Hoosh-oo!" at him, the more that hawk wouldn't +leave off. He tore the boy's shirt and back, and cut his suspender +right through, so that with the kicking and struggling his poor little +pants came off and fluttered down to the ground. + +Ransey Tansey was only second best that day, and when--a sadder and a +wiser boy--he reached the foot of the tree, he found that Bob had been +engaged in funeral rites--obsequies--for some time. In fact, he had +scraped a hole beneath a furze bush and buried Ransey's pants. + +Whether Bob had thought this was all that remained of his master or not, +I cannot say. I only state facts. + +But to hark back: after Ransey Tansey had seen all the nests he wanted +to see, he and his two companions rushed off to a portion of the wood +where, near the bank of the stream, he kept his toy ship under a +moss-covered boulder. + +He had built this ship, fashioning her out of a pine-log with his knife, +and rigged her all complete as well as his somewhat limited nautical +knowledge permitted him to do. In Ransey's eyes she was a beauty-- +without paint. + +Before he launched her to-day he looked down at Bob and across at the +Admiral, who was quite as tall as the boy. + +"We're going on a long and dangerous voyage, Bob," he said. "There's no +sayin' wot may happen. We may run among rocks and get smashed; we may +get caught-aback-like and flounder,"--he meant founder--"or go down wi' +all han's in the Bay o' Biscay--O." + +Bob tried to appear as solemn and sad as the occasion demanded, and let +his fag-end drop groundwards. + +But the crane only said "Tok," which on this occasion meant "All +humbug!" for he knew well enough that Ransey Tansey was seldom to be +taken seriously. + +Never mind, the barque was launched on the fathomless deep, the summer +breeze filled her sails--which, by the way, had been made out of a piece +of an old shirt of the boy's father's--and she breasted the billows like +a thing of life. + +Then as those three young inseparables rushed madly and delightedly +along the bank to keep abreast of the ship, never surely was such +whooping and barking and scray-scraying heard in the woods before. + +But disaster followed in the wake of that bonnie barque on this voyage. +I suppose the helmsman forgot to put his helm up at an ugly bend of the +river, so the wind caught her dead aback. She flew stern-foremost +through the water at a furious rate, then her bows rose high in air, she +struggled but for a moment ere down she sank to rise no more, and all on +board must have perished! + +When I say she sank to rise no more I am hardly in alignment with the +truth. + +The fact is, that although Ransey Tansey could easily have made another +ship with that knife of his, he was afraid he could not requisition some +more shirt for sails. + +"Oh, I ain't agoin' to lose her like that, Bob," said Ransey. + +Bob was understood to say that _he_ wouldn't either. + +"Admiral, ye're considerabul longer nor me in the legs and neck; +couldn't ye wade out and make a dive for her?" + +The crane only said, "Tok!" + +By this time Ransey was undressed. + +"Hoop!" he cried, "here goes," and in he dived. + +"Wowff!" cried Bob, "here's for after," and in _he_ sprang next. + +"Kaik--kaik!" shrieked the crane, and followed his leader, but he +speedily got out again. The water was deep, and as a swimmer the +Admiral was somewhat of a failure. + +But the barque was raised all and whole, and after a good swim Ransey +and Bob returned to the bank. Bob shook himself, making little rainbows +all round him, and the boy rolled in the moss till he was dry, but +stained rather green. + +Then he dressed himself, and looked at his watch--that is, he looked at +the sun. + +"Why, Bob," he cried, "it is time to go back to Babs." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was such a lovely forenoon that day that the elderly Miss Scragley +thought a walk in the woods and wilds--as she phrased it--would do her +good. So she took her little six-year-old niece Eedie with her, and +started. + +The butler wanted to know if he would send a groom with her. But she +declined the service. + +"It is ever so much better," she told Eedie, "going all alone and +enjoying things, than having a dressed-up doll of a flunkey dawdling +behind you carrying wraps." + +I think Miss Scragley was right. + +The Scragleys were a very old family, and that was their mansion I have +already mentioned as standing high up on the hill in a cloudland of +glorious trees. But excepting Miss Scragley herself, and this little +niece, Miss Eedie Moore, the rest of the Scragleys were all dead and +away. + +Though the family estates were intact and financially secure, +afflictions of all sorts had decimated the Scragleys. No less than two +had died on the hunting-field; one, a soldier, had fallen on the field +of fame in far Afghanistan; another, a captain in the royal navy, had +succumbed to fever at sea; and still another had sailed away in a ship +that never returned. + +Others had died in peace and at home. So Miss Scragley was indeed a +relic of the past, but she was lord of the manor for the time being. +Her heart was bound up in little Eedie; and the girl would have to +change her name when of age, as she would then be heir to all the +Scragley estates. Even if she married, her husband must become a +Scragley. It would never do to let the glorious name of Scragley die +out. + +But Miss Scragley was somewhat antiquated though not very old; somewhat +set up and starchy in manner too. She preferred to import good people +from London to mixing with the residents around, with the exception of +the kindly-faced, white-haired old rector, Captain Weathereye, R.N., and +Dr Fairincks. + +In bygone ages it was currently believed that this rough old sea-dog of +a captain, Weathereye would lead the then graceful Miss Scragley to the +altar, and the lady herself still believed that the happy event would +yet come off. + +And she was quite gay when she thought of it. At Christmas-time, when +she imported more good people from London than usual, and turned on the +family ghost for the occasion, when she had the special brand of port +decanted that old Weathereye so dearly loved, and when Scragley Hall +resounded with mirth and laughter, and was lighted up from basement to +attics, Miss Scragley nursed the fond hope that the captain was almost +sure to pop the question. + +Old Captain Weathereye praised the port. But--well, he loved to hear +corks popping, only he wouldn't pop himself. + +Poor Miss Scragley! + +"I wonder will he _ever_?" she used to remark to herself, when she +had finished saying her prayers and was preparing to +undress--"ever--_ever_?" + +"Never--never," old Weathereye would have unfeelingly replied had he +heard her. + +On this particular occasion Miss Scragley extended her walk far into the +very wood--forest, she romantically called it--where Ransey Tansey and +his pets were enjoying themselves. + +She and her niece wandered on and on by the banks of the stream, till +they came to the place where little Babs lay, still sound asleep in her +hammock, and this was swaying gently to and fro in the summer wind. + +"O Eedie!" cried Miss Scragley, "why, I've found a child!" + +"Oh, the wee darling!" exclaimed Eedie; "mayn't I kiss it, auntie?" + +"If you kissed it," said the lady, as if she knew all about babies and +could write a book about them--"if you kissed it, dear, it would awake, +and the creature's yells would resound through the dark depths of the +forest." + +"But there is no one near," she continued; "it must be deserted by its +unfeeling parents, and left here to perish." + +She went a little nearer now and looked down on the sleeping child's +face. + +A very pretty face it was, the rosy lips parted, the flush of sleep upon +her face; and one wee chubby hand and arm was lying bare on the shawl. + +"Oh dear!" cried Miss Scragley, "I feel strangely agitated. I cannot +let the tiny angel perish in the silvan gloom. I must--_you_ must, +Eedie--well, _we_ must, dear, carry it home with us." + +"Oh, will ye, though?" The voice was close behind her. "Just you leave +Babs alone, and attend to yer own bizness, else Bob will have somethin' +till say to ye." + +Miss Scragley started, as well she might. + +"Oh," she cried, looking round now, "an absurd little gipsy boy!" + +"_Yes_," said Ransey Tansey, touching his forelock, "and I'm sorry for +bein' so absurd. And ashamed all-so. If a rabbit's hole was handy, I'd +soon pop in. But, bless yer beautiful ladyship, if I'd known I was to +'ave the perleasure o' meetin' quality, I'd 'ave put on my dress soot, +and carried my crush hat under my arm. + +"Don't be afeard, mum," he continued, as the crane came hopping out of +the bush. "That's only just the Admiral; and this is Bob, as would die +for me or Babs." + +"And who is Babs, you droll boy?" + +"Babs is my baby, and no one else's 'cept Bob's. And Bob and I would +make it warm for anybody as tried to take Babs away. Wouldn't us, Bob?" + +Just then his little sister awoke, all smiles and dimples as usual. + +Ransey Tansey went to talk to her, and for a time the boy forgot all the +world except Babs. + +Book 1--CHAPTER FOUR. + +"RANSEY, FETCH JIM; WE'RE GOIN' ON." + +"I'se glad 'oo's tome back, 'Ansey. Has I been afeep [asleep], 'Ansey?" + +"Oh, yes; and now I'm goin' to feed Babs, and Babs'll lie and look at +the trees till I cook dinner for Bob and me." + +"That wady [lady] won't take Babs away, 'Ansey?" + +"No, Babs, no." + +Ransey Tansey fed Babs once more from the pickle bottle with the horn +spoon, much to Miss Scragley's and little Eedie's astonishment and +delight. + +Then he commenced to build a fire at a little distance, and laid out +some fish all ready to cook as soon as the blazing wood should die down +to red embers. + +"You're a very interesting boy," said Miss Scragley politely. "May I +look on while you cook?" + +"Oh, yes, mum. Sorry I ain't got a chair to offer ye." + +"And oh, please, interesting boy," begged Eedie, "may I talk to Babs?" + +"Cer--tain--lee, pretty missie.--Babsie, sweet," he added, "talk to this +beautiful young lady." + +"There's no charge for sittin' on the grass, mum," said Ransey the next +minute. + +And down sat Miss Scragley smiling. + +The boy proceeded with the preparation of the meal in real gipsy +fashion. He cooked fish, and he roasted potatoes. He hadn't forgotten +the salt either, nor a modicum of butter in a piece of paper, nor bread; +and as he and Bob made a hearty dinner, he gave every now and then the +sweetest of tit-bits to Babs. + +Eedie and the child got on beautifully together. + +"May I ask you a question or two, you most interesting boy?" said Miss +Scragley. + +"Oh, yes, if ye're quite sure ye ain't the gamekeeper's wife. The +keeper turned me out of the wood once. Bob warn't there that day." + +"Well, I'm sure I'm not the gamekeeper's wife. I am Miss Scragley of +Scragley Hall." + +The boy was wiping his fingers and his knife with some moss. + +"I wish I had a cap on," he said. + +"Why, dear?" + +"So as I could take her off and make a bow," he explained. + +"And what is your name, curious boy?" + +"Ransey; that's my front name." + +"But your family name?" + +"Ain't got ne'er a family, 'cepting Babs." + +"But you have a surname--another name, you know." + +"Ransey Tansey all complete. There." + +"And where do you live, my lad?" + +"Me and Babs and Bob and Murrams all lives, when we're to home, at +Hangman's Hall; and father lives there, too, when 'ee's to home; and the +Admiral, yonder, he roosts in the gibbet-tree." + +"And what does father do?" + +"Oh, father's a capting." + +"A captain, dear boy?" + +"No, he's not a boy, but a man, and capting of the _Merry Maiden_, a +canal barge, mum. An' we all goes to sea sometimes together, 'cepting +Murrams, our pussy, and the Admiral. We have such fun; and I ride Jim +the canal hoss, and Babs laughs nearly all the time." + +"So you're very happy all of you, and always were?" + +"Oh, yes--'cepting when father sometimes took too much rum; but that's a +hundred years ago, more or less, mum." + +"Poor lad! Have you a mother?" + +"Oh, yes, we has a mother, but only she's gone dead. The parson said +she'd gone to heaven; but I don't know, you know. Wish she'd come back, +though," he added with a sigh. + +"I'm so sorry," said Miss Scragley, patting his hand. + +"Oh, don't ye do that, mum, and don't talk kind to me, else I'll cry. I +feels the tears a-comin' now. Nobody ever, ever talks kindly to me and +Babs when at home, 'cepting father, in course, 'cause we're on'y common +canal folks and outcasts from serciety." + +Ransey Tansey was very earnest. Miss Scragley had really a kind heart +of her own, only she couldn't help smiling at the boy's language. + +"Who told you so?" + +"W'y, the man as opens the pews." + +"Oh, you've been to church, then?" + +"Oh, yes; went the other Sunday. Had nuthin' better to do, and thought +I'd give Babs a treat." + +"And did you go in those--clothes?" + +"Well, mum, I couldn't go with nuthin' on--could I, now? An' the +pew-man just turned us both out. But Babs was so good, and didn't cry a +bit till she got out. Then I took her away through the woods to hear +the birds sing; and mebbe God was there too, 'cause mother said He was +everywhere." + +"Yes, boy, God is everywhere. And where does your mother sleep, +Ransey?" + +"Sleep? Oh, in heaven. Leastways I s'pose so." + +"I mean, where was your gentle mother buried?" + +"Oh, at sea, mum. Sailor's grave, ye know." + +Ransey looked very sad just then. + +"You don't mean in the canal, surely?" + +"Yes, mum. Father wouldn't have it no other way. I can't forget; +'tain't much more'n a year ago, though it looks like ten. Father, ye +know, 'ad been a long time in furrin parts afore he was capting o' the +_Merry Maiden_." + +The lad had thrown himself down on the grass at a respectable distance +from Miss Scragley, and his big blue, eyes grew bigger and sadder as he +continued his story. + +"'Twere jest like this, mum. Mother'd been bad for weeks and so quiet +like, and father _so_ kind, 'cause he didn't never touch no rum when +mother was sick. We was canal-ing most o' the time; and one night we +stopped at the `Bargee's Chorus'--only a little public-house, mum, as +perhaps you wouldn't hardly care to be seen drinkin' at. We stopped +here 'cause mother was wuss, and old dad sent for a doctor; and I put +Jim into the meadow. Soon's the doctor saw poor mother, he sez, sez he, +`Ye'd better get the parson. No,' he sez, `I won't charge ye nuthin' +for attendance; it's on'y jest her soul as wants seein' to now.' + +"Well, mum, the parson came. He'd a nice, kind face like you has, mum, +and he told mother lots, and made her happy like. Then he said a +prayer. I was kind o' dazed, I dussay; but when mother called us to +her, and kissed me and Babs, and told us she was goin' on to a happier +land, I broke out and cried awful. And Babs cried too, and said, `An' +me too, ma. Oh, take Babs.' + +"Father led us away to the inn, and I jest hear him say to the parson, +`No, no, sir, no. No parish burial for me. She's a sailor's wife; +she'll rest in a sailor's grave!' + +"I don't know, mum, what happened that night and next day, for me and +Babs didn't go on board again. + +"Only, the evenin' arter, when the moon and stars was ashinin' over the +woods and deep down in the watur, father comes to me. + +"`Ransey,' sez father, `fetch Jim; we're goin' on.' And I goes and +fetches Jim, and yokes him to and mounts; and father he put Babs up +aside me, 'cause Jim's good and never needs a whip. + +"`Go on, Ransey,' sez he, an' steps quietly on board and takes the +tiller. + +"Away we went--through the meadows and trees, and then through a long, +quiet moor. + +"Father kep' the barge well out, and she looked sailin' among the +stars--which it wasn't the stars, on'y their 'flection, mum. Well, we +was halfway through the moor, and Babs was gone sound asleep 'cross my +arm, when I gives Jim his head and looks back. + +"An', oh, mum, there was old dad standin' holdin' the tiller wi' one +hand. The moon was shinin' on his face and on his hair, which is grey +kind, and he kep' lookin' up and sayin' somethin'. + +"Then there was a plash. Oh, I knew then it was dead mother; and--and-- +I jest let Jim go on--and--and--" + +But Ransey's story stopped right here. He was pursing up his lips and +trying to swallow the lump in his throat; and Miss Scragley herself +turned her head away to hide the moisture in her eyes. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Grief does not stay long at a time in the hearts of children. It comes +there all the same, nevertheless, and is quite as poignant while it does +last as it is in the breasts of older folks. Children are like the +traditional April day--sunshine and showers. + +"I think, mum," said Ransey after a while, "it is time for us to bundle +and go." + +Miss Scragley watched the lad with considerable interest while he struck +his little camp. First he scattered the remains of his fire and ashes +carefully, so that there should be no danger to the wood. Then he +prepared to hide his ship. + +"Did you make that pretty ship?" said Eedie. + +"Oh, yes; I can make beautiful ships and boats, 'cause I seed lots on +'em w'en father took me to Southampton. Oh, that seems millions and +millions o' years ago. And ye see, miss," he added, "I'm goin' to be a +sailor anyhow, and sail all over the wide world, like father did, and +by-and-by I'll be rich enough to have a real ship of my own." + +"Oh, how nice! And will Babs go with you?" + +"As long as Babs is quite little," he answered, "I can't go to sea at +all, 'cause Babs would die like dead mother if I went away." + +He had Babs in his arms by this time, and it was evident enough that the +affection between these two little canal people was very strong indeed. + +Seated on his left shoulder, and hugging Ransey's head towards her, Babs +evidently thought she was in a position to give a harangue. + +She accordingly addressed herself to Eedie:-- + +"My bloder 'Ansey is doin' to drow a big, big man. As big as dad. My +bloder 'Ansey is doin' to be a sailor in s'ips, and Babs is doin'. 'Oo +_mufn't_ [mustn't] take my bloder away from Babs. 'Oor mudder mufn't, +and noboddy mufn't." + +Meanwhile her brother was nearly strangled by the vehemence of her +affection. But he gently disengaged the little arm and set her on the +moss once more. He speedily enveloped her in the shawl, and then +hoisted her on his back. + +Next he hung his bag in front, and handed the fishing-rod to Bob. + +"We must all go now, lady." + +"Oh, yes, and we too must go. We have to thank you for a very +interesting half-hour." + +Ransey wasn't used to such politeness as this little speech indicated. +What to say in reply did not readily occur to him. + +"Wish," he said awkwardly and shyly, "I could talk as nice like as you +and t'other young lady." + +Miss Scragley smiled. She rather liked being thought a young lady even +by a little canal boy like Ransey. + +"Oh, you will some day. Can you read?" + +"Ye-es. Mother taught me to read, and by-and-by I'll teach Babs like +one o'clock. I can read `Nick o' the Woods' and the `Rev'lations o' +Saint John;' but Babs likes `Jack the Giant Killer' better'n the Bible. +An' oh," he added, somewhat proudly, "I got a letter to-day, and I could +read that; and it was to say as how father was comin' home in four days. +And the postman cheeked us, and shook his head, threat'nin' like, and I +threw a big turmut and broke it." + +"What! broke his head?" + +"Oh, no, mum, only jest the turmut. An' Bob went after him, and down +went postie. Ye would have larfed, mum." + +"I'm afraid you're a bad boy sometimes." + +"Yes, I feels all over bad--sometimes." + +"I like bad boys best," said Eedie boldly, "they're such fun." + +"Babs," said Ransey, "you'll hang me dead if you hold so tight." + +"Well, dears, I'm going to come and see you to-morrow, perhaps, or next +day, and bring Babs a pretty toy." + +"Babs," said the child defiantly, "has dot a dolly-bone, all dlessed and +boo'ful." This was simply a ham-bone, on the ball of which Ransey had +scratched eyes and a mouth and a nose, and dressed it in green moss and +rags. And Babs thought nothing could beat that. + +As she rode off triumphantly on Ransey's back, Babs looked back, held +one bare arm on high, and shouted, "Hullay!" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"What strange children!" said Miss Scragley to her niece. "They're not +at all like our little knights of the gutter down in the village where +we visit. This opens up life to me in quite a new phase. I'm sure +Captain Weathereye would be much interested. There is good, in those +poor canal children, dear, only it wants developing. I wonder how we +could befriend them without appearing officious or obtrusive. Consult +the captain, did you say?" + +"I did not speak at all, aunt." + +"Didn't you? However, that _would_ be best, as you suggested." + +Miss Scragley did not call at Hangman's Hall next day--it looked +showery; but about twelve o'clock, while Ransey Tansey was stewing that +leveret with potatoes and a morsel of bacon, and Babs was nursing her +dolly-bone in the bassinette, where Ransey had placed her to be out of +the way, some one knocked sharply and loudly at the door. + +The Admiral, swaying aloft in the gibbet-tree, sounded his tocsin, and +Bob barked furiously. + +"Down, Bob!" cried Ransey, running to the door. He half expected the +postman. + +He was mistaken, however, for there stood a smart but pale-faced flunkey +in a brown coat with gilt buttons. + +Now Ransey could never thoroughly appreciate "gentlemen's gentlemen" any +more than he could gamekeepers. + +The flunkey had a large parcel under his arm, which he appeared to be +rather ashamed of. + +"Aw!" he began haughtily, "am I right in my conjecture that this is +'Angman's 'All?" + +"Your conjecture," replied Ransey, mimicking the flunkey's tone and +manner, "is about as neah wight as conjectures gener'ly aw. What may be +the naychure of your business?" + +"Aw! An' may I enquiah if you are the--the--the waggamuffin who saw +Miss Scwagley in the wood yestah-day?" + +"I'm the young _gentleman_" said Ransey, hitching up his suspender, "who +had the honah of 'alf an hour's convehsation with the lady. I am Ransey +Tansey, Esq., eldest and only son of Captain Tansey of the _Mewwy +Maiden_. And," he added emphatically, "this is my dog _Bob_." + +Bob uttered a low, ominous growl, and walked round behind the flunkey on +a tour of inspection. + +The only comfort the flunkey had at that moment arose from the fact that +his calves were stuffed with hay. + +"Aw! Beautiful animal, to be shuah. May I ask if this is the doag that +neahly killed the postman fellah?" + +"That's the doag," replied Ransey, "who _would_ have killed the postman +fellah dead out, if I had tipped him the wink." + +"Aw! Well, my business is vewy bwief. Heah is a pawcel from Miss +Scwagley, of which she begs your acceptance." + +"Ah, thank you. Dee--lighted. Pray walk in. Sorry my butler is out at +pwesent. But what will you dwink--sherry, port, champagne--wum? Can +highly wecommend the wum." + +"Oh, thanks. Then I'll have just a spot of wum." + +Ransey brought out his father's bottle--a bottle that had lain untouched +for a long time indeed--and his father's glass, and the flunkey drank +his "spot," and really seemed to enjoy it. + +Ransey opened the door for him. + +"Convey my best thanks to Miss Scwagley," he said, "and inform her that +we will be ree--joiced to receive her, and that Miss Tansey and myself +will not fail to return the call at a future day. Good mo'ning." + +"Good mawning, I'm shuah." + +And the elegant flunkey lifted his hat and bowed. + +Ransey ran in, gave the leveret stew just a couple of stirs to keep it +from burning, then threw himself into his father's chair, stretched out +his legs, and laughed till the very rafters rang. + +Book 1--CHAPTER FIVE. + +"OH, NO! I'LL NEVER LEAVE 'ANSEY TILL WE IS BOF DEADED." + +The day had looked showery, but the sun was now shining very brightly, +and so Ransey Tansey laid dinner out of doors on the grass. + +As far as curiosity went, Babs was quite on an equality with her sex, +and the meal finished, and the bones eaten by Bob, she wanted to know at +once what the man with the pretty buttons had brought. + +Ransey's eyes, as well as his sister's, were very large, but they grew +bigger when that big parcel was opened. + +There was a note from Miss Scragley herself right on the top, and this +was worded as delicately, and with apparently as much fear of giving +offence, as if Ransey had been the son of a real captain, instead of a +canal bargee. + +Why, here was a complete outfit: two suits of nice brown serge for +Ransey himself, stockings and light shoes, to say nothing of real Baltic +shirts, a neck-tie, and sailor's cap. + +"She's oceans too good to live, that lady is!" exclaimed Ransey, +rapturously. + +"Me see!--me see! Babs wants pletty tlothes." + +"Yes, dear Babs, look! There's pretty clothes." + +That crimson frock would match Babs's rosy cheeks and yellow curly hair +"all to little bits," as Ransey expressed it. + +After all the things had been admired over and over again, they were +refolded and put carefully away in father's strong locker. + +I think that the Admiral knew there was gladness in the children's eyes, +for he suddenly hopped high up the hill, and did a dance that would have +delighted the heart of a Pawnee Indian. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"No," said Miss Scragley that same day after dinner, as she and her +friends sat out in the great veranda, "one doesn't exactly know, Mr +Davies, how to benefit children like these." + +The parson placed the tips of his fingers together meditatively, and +looked down at Miss Scragley's beautiful setter. + +"Of course," he said, slowly and meditatively, "teaching is essential to +their bodily as well as to their spiritual welfare." + +"Very prettily put, Mr Davies," said Miss Scragley; "don't _you_ think +so, Dr Fairincks?" + +"Certainly, Miss Scragley, certainly; and I was just wondering if they +had been vaccinated. I'd get the little one into a home, and the boy +sent to a Board school. And the father--drinks rum, eh?--get him into +the house. Let him end his days there. What should you propose, +Weathereye?" + +"Eh? Humph! Do what you like with the little one. Send the boy to +school--a school for a year or two where he'll be flogged twice a day. +Hardens 'em. So much for the bodily welfare, parson. As to the +spiritual, why, send him to sea. Too young, Miss Scragley? +Fiddlesticks! Look at me. Ran away to sea at ten. In at the +hawse-hole, in a manner o' speaking. Just fed the dogs and the ship's +cat at first, and emptied the cook's slush-bucket. Got buffeted about a +bit, I can tell you. When I went aft, steward's mate kicked me for'ard; +when I got for'ard, cook's mate kicked me aft. No place of quiet and +comfort for me except swinging in the foretop with the purser's monkey. +But--it made a man of me. Look at me now, Miss Scragley." + +Miss Scragley looked. + +"Staff-commander of the Royal Navy. Three stripes. Present arms from +the sentries, and all that sort of thing. Ahem!" + +And the bold mariner helped himself to another glass of Miss Scragley's +port. + +"But you won't go to the wars again, Captain Weathereye?" ventured Miss +Scragley. + +The Captain rounded on her at once--put his helm hard up, so to speak, +till he was bows on to his charming hostess. + +His face was like a full moon rising red over the city's haze. + +"How do _you_ know, madam? Not so very old, am I? War, indeed! +Humph!--I'll be sorry when that's done," he added. + +"What! the war, Captain Weathereye?" said the lady. + +"Fiddlesticks! No, madam, the _port_--if you will have it." + +"As for the father of these children," he continued, after looking down +a little, "if he's been a sailor, as you say, the house won't hold him. +As well expect an eagle to live with the hens. Rum? Bah! I've drunk +as much myself as would float the _Majestic_." + +"But I say, you know," he presently remarked as he took Eedie on his +knee; "Little Sweetheart here and I will run over to see the children +to-morrow forenoon, and we'll take the setter with us. Anything for a +little excitement, when one can't hunt or shoot. And we'll take you as +well, madam." + +Miss Scragley said she would be delighted; at the same time she could +not help thinking the gallant captain's sentences might have been better +worded. He might have put _her_ before the setter, to say the least. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Next morning was a very busy one at Hangman's Hall. + +Ransey Tansey was up betimes, but he allowed Babs to sleep on until he +had lit the fire, hung on the kettle, and run for the milk. + +Ransey was only a boy, and boys will be boys, so he could not help +telling kind Mrs Farrow, the farmer's wife, of his luck, and how he +expected real society people to visit himself and Babs that day, so he +must run quickly home to dress. + +"Certainly, dear," said Mrs Farrow; "and here are some lovely new-laid +eggs. You brought me fish, you know; and really I have so many eggs I +don't know what to do with them all. Good-bye, Ransey. Of course +you'll run across and tell me all about it to-night, and bring Babs on +your back." + +Babs was a "dooder dirl" than usual that morning, if that were possible. + +Ransey was so glad that the sun was shining; he was sure now that the +visit would be paid. But he had Babs to wash and dress, and himself as +well. When he had washed Babs and combed her hair, he set her high up +on the bank to dry, as he phrased it, and gave her the new doll to play +with. Very pretty she looked, too, in that red frock of hers. + +Well, away went Ransey to the stream, carrying his bundle. Bob was left +to mind Babs. + +Ransey was gone quite a long time, and the child grew weary and sighed. + +"Bob!" said Babs. + +"Yes, Babs," said Bob, or seemed to say. + +"Tiss my new dolly." + +Bob licked the doll's face. Then he licked Babs's hand. "Master'll +soon be back," he tried to tell her. + +She was quiet for a time, singing low to her doll. + +"Bob!" she said, solemnly now; "does 'oo fink [think] 'Ansey 'as fallen +in and dlowned hisself?" + +"Oh, look, look, Bob," she cried the next moment, "a stlange man toming +here!" + +Bob started up and barked most savagely. He was quite prepared to lay +down his life for his little charge. But as he rushed forward he +quickly changed his tune. + +It was Ransey Tansey right enough, but so transformed that it was no +wonder that Babs and Bob took him for a stranger. + +Even the Admiral must fly down from the gibbet-tree and dance wildly +round him. Murrams, the great tom-cat, came out and purred aloud; and +Babs clapped her tiny hands and screamed with delight. + +"'Oo's a zentleman now," she cried; "and I'se a lady. Hullay!" + +Ransey didn't feel quite comfortable after all, especially with shoes +on. To go racing through the woods in such a rig as this would be quite +out of the question. The only occupation that suggested itself at +present was culling wild flowers, and stringing them to put round Bob's +neck. + +But even gathering wild flowers grew irksome at last, so Ransey got his +New Testament, and turning to Revelation, read lots of nice sensational +bits therefrom. + +Babs was not so well pleased as she might and ought to have been; but +when her brother pulled out "Jack the Giant Killer," she set herself to +listen at once, and there were many parts she made Ransey read over and +over again, frequently interrupting with such questions as,-- + +"So Jack killed the big ziant, did he? 'Oo's _twite_ sure o' zat?" + +"And ze axe was all tovered wi' blood and ziant's hair? My! how nice!" + +"Six 'oung ladies, all stlung up by ze hair o' zer heads? Boo'ful! +'Oo's _twite_ sure zer was six?" + +"An' the big ziant was doin' to kill zem all? My! how nice!" + +Ransey was just describing a tragedy more ghastly than any he had yet +read, when from the foot of the slope came a stentorian hail:-- + +"Hangman's Hall, ahoy! Turn out the guard!" The guard would have +turned out in deadly earnest--Bob, to wit--if Ransey hadn't ordered him +to lie down. Then, picking up Babs, he ran down the hill, heels first, +lest he should fall, to welcome his visitors. + +Miss Scragley was charmed at the change in the lad's personal +appearance, and Eedie frankly declared him to be the prettiest boy she +had ever seen. + +Captain Weathereye hoisted Babs and called her a beautiful little rogue. +Then all sat down on the side of the hill to talk, Babs being perfectly +content, for the time being, to sit on the captain's knee and play with +his watch and chain. + +"And now, my lad," said bold Weathereye, "stand up and let us have a +look at you. Attention! That's right. So, what would you like to be? +Because the lady here has a heart just brimful of goodness, and if you +were made of the right stuff she would help you to get on. A sailor? +That's right. The sea would make a man of you, lad. And if you were in +a heavy sea-way, with your masts gone by the board, bothered if old Jack +Weathereye wouldn't pay out a hawser and give you a helping hand +himself. For I like the looks of you. Glad you paid the postman out. +Just what I'd have done myself. Ahem!" + +Ransey felt rather shy, though, to be thus displayed as it were. It was +all owing to the new clothes, I think, and especially to the shoes. + +"Now, would you like to go to school?" + +"What! and leave Babs? No, capting, no. I'd hate school anyhow; I'd +fight the small boys, and bite the big uns, and they'd soon turn me +adrift." + +"Bravo, boy! I never could endure school myself.--What I say is this, +Miss Scragley, teach a youngster to read and write, with a trifle of +'rithmetick, and as he gets older he'll choose all the knowledge +himself, and tackle on to it too, that's needed to guide his barque +across the great ocean of life. There's no good in schools, Miss +Scragley, that I know of, except that the flogging hardens them.--Well, +lad, you won't go to school? There! And if you'll get your father to +allow you to come up to the Grange, just close by the village and +rectory, I'll give you a lesson myself, three times a week." + +"Oh, thank you, sir! I'm sure father'll be pleased to let me come when +I'm at home and not at sea." + +"Eh? at sea? Oh, yes, I know; you mean on the barge, ha, ha, ha! Well, +you'll live to face stormier seas yet." + +"An' father's comin' to-morrow, sir, and then we're goin' on." + +"Going on?" + +"He means along the canal," said Miss Scragley. + +"To be sure, to be sure. What an old fool I am! And now, lad, let me +think what I was going to say. Oh, yes. Don't those shoes pinch a +bit?" + +"Never wears shoes and stockin's 'cept in winter, sir. I keeps 'em in +dad's locker till snow time." + +"Now, in you go to your house or hut and take them off." + +"Ha!" said Weathereye, when Ransey returned with bare feet and ankles, +"that's ship-shape and Bristol fashion. Now, lad, listen. If Miss +Scragley here asks you to come and see her--and I'm sure she will, for +she's an elderly lady, and likes to be amused,"--Miss Scragley winced a +little, but Weathereye held on--"when you're invited to the ancestral +home of the Scragleys, then you can wear them togs and your shoes; but +when you come to the Grange, it'll be in canvas bags, bare feet, a straw +hat, and a blue sweater--and my own village tailor shall rig you out. +Ahem!" + +Captain Weathereye glanced at Miss Scragley as if he owed her a grudge. +The look might have been interpreted thus: "There are other people who +can afford to be as generous as you, and have a far better notion of a +boy's requirements." + +"And now, Babs," he continued, kissing the child's little brown hand, +"I've got very fond of you all at once. Will you come and live with +me?" + +"Tome wiz 'oo and live! Oh, no," she replied, shaking her yellow curls, +"I'll never leave 'Ansey till we is bof deaded. Never!" + +And she slid off the captain's knee and flew to Ransey with outstretched +arms. + +The boy knelt on one knee that she might reach his neck. Then he lifted +her up, and she looked defiantly back at the captain, with her cheek +pressed close to Ransey's. + +Weathereye glanced towards Miss Scragley once again, and his voice was a +trifle husky when he spoke. + +"Miss Scragley," he said, "old people like _you_ and me are apt to be +faddy. We will both do something for these poor children, but, bless +them, there's a bond of union betwixt their little hearts that we dare +not sever. The bairns must not be parted." + +Book 1--CHAPTER SIX. + +CHEE-TOW, THE RED CHIEF OF THE SLIT-NOSED INDIANS. + +During the time the memorable visit lasted no one took much notice of +Ransey Tansey's pets. Yet each one of the three of them was interested, +and each showed his interest in his own peculiar way. + +The Admiral had flown gracefully down from the gibbet-tree, and alighted +on the ground not more than a dozen yards from the group. + +"Craik--a-raik--a--r-r-r--a--cray--ay!" he said to himself, which being +interpreted seemed to signify, "What do _they_ want here, anyhow? +That's about the same gang I saw in the woods. Curr-r-r! Well, they +haven't guns anyhow, like the beastly biped called a keeper, who tried +to shoot my hind-legs off because I was a strange bird. I was only +tasting some partridge's eggs, nothing else. Shouldn't I have liked +just to have gouged out his ugly eyes, thrown 'em one by one into the +air, caught 'em coming down, and swallowed 'em like eggs." + +All the time the talking was going on the Admiral stood twisting his +body about, sometimes crouching low to the ground, his neck stretched +straight out towards them, the head on one side and listening, the next +moment erect as a bear pole, and seeming to look surprised and angry at +what he heard them saying. + +Bob had rushed to see about the setter. He lay down at some distance +off, with his nose between his paws, and the setter _set_, and finally +_sat_. + +"Not a yard nearer, Mr Sportsman, if _you_ please," said Bob; "I'm a +rough 'un to look at, and a tough 'un to tackle. I suppose you call +yourself a gentleman's dog; you live in marble halls, sleep on skins, +and drink from a silver saucer. I'm only a poor man's doggie; I sleep +where I can, eat what I can get, and drink from bucket or brook. But I +love my master maybe more than you love yours. Yonder is my home, and +yonder is our cat in the door of it; but my humble home is my master's +castle. Just try to come a yard or two nearer, if you're tired of your +silly life." + +But Dash preferred to stay where he was. + +Murrams the cat behaved with the utmost dignity and indifference. He +sat in the doorway washing his face, with dreamy, half-shut eyes. To +have seen him you would have said that butter wouldn't melt in his +mouth, so cool was he; yet if Mr Dash had come round that way, Murrams +would have mounted his back and never ceased clawing the dog till he had +ridden him half a mile at least from Hangman's Hall. + +It wasn't, however, until the visitors had taken their departure that +the grand jubilee commenced. + +"_They're_ gone!" said Bob, running up and licking the pussy's ear. +"That's a jolly good job!" + +"_They're_ gone!" said pussy in reply, as he rubbed shoulders with Bob. + +"_They're_ gone!" cried the crane, hopping madly round the pair of them. + +And as she nestled closer in her brother's arms, Babs sighed and said +just the same thing. + +"Hurrah!" cried Ransey Tansey; "let's run off to the woods." + +"Let's wun off to ze woods at wance," echoed Babs. + +Had little Eedie seen Ransey five minutes after this, I question whether +she would have pronounced him the prettiest boy she had ever known. + +Ransey was himself again, old shirt, ragged pants, and all. + +I think that the children and Bob, not to mention the gallant Admiral, +enjoyed themselves that afternoon in the woods as much as ever they had +done in their young lives. + +Babs insisted on taking her ragged old dolly-bone with her, and leaving +the new one at home upside down in a corner. + +Well, Ransey fished for just an hour, but had glorious luck and a good +string to take to Mrs Farrow. This was enough, so he put away his rod, +and read some more horrors to Babs from "Nick o' the Woods." The +torture scenes and the scalping took her fancy more than anything else. + +So Ransey Tansey invented a play on the spot that would have brought +down the house in a twopenny theatre if properly put on the stage. + +He, Ransey Tansey, was to be a wild Indian, Babs would be the white man, +Bob the bear, and the Admiral the spirit of the wild woods and ghost of +the haunted canon. + +The play passed off without a hitch. Only Ransey Tansey himself +required to dress for his part. This he did to perfection. He retired +to a secluded spot by the river's bank for the purpose. He divested +himself of his pants and his solitary suspender. These were but the +evidences of an effete civilisation. What could such things as these +have to do with the red man of the wild West, the solitary scalp-hunter +of the boundless prairie? But a spear and a tomahawk he must have, and +these were quickly and easily fashioned from the boughs of the +neighbouring trees. He tied a piece of cord around his waist, and in +this he stuck his knife, open and ready for every emergency. He fuzzed +up his rebellious hair, and stuck rooks' feathers in it; he thrust his +feet into the darkest and grimiest of mud to represent moccasins, and +streaked his face with the same. + +When enveloped in his blanket (the big shawl) he stalked into the open +in all the ghastliness of his wur-paint, and said "Ugh!" He was Ransey +Tansey no longer, but Chee-tow, the Red Chief of the Slit-nosed Indians. + +On beholding the warrior, Babs's first impulse was to scream in terror; +her next--and this she carried out--was to roll on her back, her two +legs pointing skywards, and scream with laughter. + +"Oh," she cried delightedly, "'oo _is_ such a boo'ful wallio! +[warrior]; be twick and tell somefing." + +For the time being Babs was only the audience. When she became an actor +in this great forest drama she would have to behave differently. + +And now the red chief went prowling around, and presently out from a +bush darted a grizzly bear. + +The bear was Bob. + +Chee-tow uttered his wildest war-cry, and rushed onwards to the charge. + +The grizzly held his ground and scorned to fly. + + "Then began the deadly conflict, + Hand to hand among the mountains; + From his eerie screamed the eagle [the crane] + ...the great war-eagle, + Sat upon the crags around them, + Wheeling, flapped his wings above them. + * * * * *. + + "Till the earth shook with the tumult + And confusion of the battle. + And the air was full of shoutings, + And the thunder of the mountains + Starting, answered `Baim-wa-wa.'" + +This fierce fight with the terrible grizzly was so realistic that the +audience sat silent and enthralled, with its thumb in its mouth. + +But it ended at last in the victory of the red chief. The bear lay +dead, and the first Act came to a close. + +In Act Two an Indian maiden has been stolen, and borne away by a white +man across the boundless prairie to his wigwam in the golden East. The +red chief squats down on the moss with drooping head to bewail the loss +of his daughter, during which outburst of grief his streaks of war-paint +get rather mixed; but that can't be helped. Then the spirit of the wild +woods appears to him--the ghost of the haunted canon (that is, between +you and me, the Admiral comes hopping up with his neck stretched out, +wondering what it is all about)--and whispers to him, and speaks in his +ear, and says:-- + + "Listen to me, brave Chee-tow-wa, + Lie not there upon the meadow; + Stoop not down among the lilies, + Lest the west wind come and harm you. + Follow me across the prairie, + Follow me across the mountains, + I will find the maiden for you, + The maid with hair like sunshine, + Who has vanished from your sight." + +So Chee-tow gets up, seizes his arms, and follows the spirit, who goes +hopping on in front of him in a very weird-like manner indeed. + +Meanwhile Babs, knowing her part, has hidden herself in a bush, and in +due time is led back in triumph as the white man who stole the maiden. +He is tied to a tree, scalped, and tortured. Then a fire is lit, and +thither the white man is dragged towards it to be burned alive. + +But another bear (Bob again) rushes in to his assistance and enables him +to escape. + +The same fire built to burn the white man (Babs) is being utilised to +roast potatoes for supper; only this is a mere detail. + +And the play ends by the spirit of the wild woods bringing the maiden +back (Babs again) to the camp fire in the forest, and--and by a supper +of baked potatoes with salt. + +All's well that ends well. And shortly after the denouement there may +be seen, wending its way in the calm summer gloaming up the little +footpath that leads through the green corn, the following procession. +First, Bob solemnly carrying the fishing-rod; then Ransey Tansey with a +string of red-finned fish in front of him, and Babs on his back, wrapped +in the Indian's blanket; and last, but not least, the Admiral himself, +nodding his head not unlike a camel, and lifting his legs very high +indeed, because the dew was beginning to fall. + +Babs had gone soundly to sleep by the time they reached the farm, but +she was lively enough a few minutes after this. + +And Mrs Farrow made them stay to supper, every one of them, including +even the Admiral, although he said "Tok--tok--tok" several times, out of +politeness, perhaps when first invited in. + +The kitchen at the farm was in reality a sitting-room, and a very jolly, +cosy one it was; nor did the fire seem a bit out of place to-night. + +It took Ransey quite a long time to tell all his adventures, and dilate +upon the kindness of his visitors, especially rough but kindly Captain +Weathereye. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was almost dark before they got to the little cot at the foot of the +hill that they called their home; and here a fresh surprise awaited +them, for a light was shining through the little window, and through the +half-open door as well. + +Babs herself was the first, I believe, to notice this. + +"O 'Ansey," she cried, struggling with excitement on the boy's back, "O +'Ansey, look! fazer [father] has tomed! Be twick, 'Ansey, be twick." + +And Ransey quickened his pace now, while Bob ran on in front. + +"Wowff, wowff," he barked, "wowff--wowff--wow!" But it was in a +half-hysterical kind of way, as if there were a tear of joy mixed up +with it, joy at the hope of seeing a kind old master again. + +Even the crane felt it his bounden duty to indulge in an extra hop or +two, and to shout, "Scray--scray--scray--ay--ay!" + +It was the Admiral's voice that caused honest Tom Tandy to get up from +his chair, lay down his pipe, and hurry to the door. + +"Hill--ll--o!" he shouted. "Here we all are, Ransey Tansey, Babs, and +Bob, and all. Why, this _is_ a merry meeting. Come, Babs. Hoist away, +Ransey. Hee--hoy--ip! and there she is safely landed in harbour. So +you missed your old father, little lass, did you? Bless it. But we're +all going on to-morrow, and the _Merry Maiden_ has got a new coat o' +paint, and new furniture for the cuddy, and it's no end of a jolly time +we'll all have." + +Yes, it _was_ a merry meeting, and a right happy one. I only wish that +both Miss Scragley and Captain Weathereye had seen it. + +"Why," the former would have said to herself, "this good fellow could +surely never have been a slave to the bottle!" + +Mr Tandy had never really been a constant imbiber of that soul-killing +curse of our country--drink; but some years gone by, like many another +old sailor, he was liable to slide into an occasional "bout," as it is +called, and it was with sorrow he thought of this now. But Miss +Scragley and many others have yet to learn that it is often the +best-hearted and the brightest that fall most easily into temptation. + +As for Weathereye, had he been a witness of this little reunion, he too +would have given his opinion about the sturdy old sailor. + +"Why!" he would have cried frankly to Mr Tandy, [pronounced Tansey only +by the children] "why, my good fellow, Miss Scragley, who is faddy and +elderly, and myself, old fool that I am at the best, were considering +what best we could do for your children. We were to do all kinds of +pretty things. The boy was going to a school, the child to a home, and +you--ha, ha, ha--you, with your bold face and your sturdy frame, a man +of barely forty, were going to be sent to the house. Ha, ha, no wonder +I laugh. But tip us your flipper, Tandy, you're a man every inch--a man +and a sailor." + +That is what Weathereye would have said had he seen Tandy sitting there +now. + +They are right in saying that those whom animals and children love are +possessed of right good hearts of their own. + +And here was this old sailor--the word "old" being simply a term of +endearment, for none but the sickly are old at forty, and they've been +old all the time--sitting erect in his chair, Babs on one knee, the +great cat on the other; Ransey on the hearth looking smilingly up at +father's bronzed face, silver-sprinkled hair and beard; the Admiral +standing on one leg behind the chair; and poor Bob asleep before the +fire, with his chin reposing on his old master's boot. + +It was a pretty picture. + +"Children," says Tandy at last, "it is getting late, and--just kneel +down. I think we'll say a bit of a prayer to-night." + +Book 1--CHAPTER SEVEN. + +ON SILENT HIGHWAYS. + +It was early next morning when Ransey Tansey ran off through the fields +for a double allowance of milk. + +"Double allowance to-day, Mrs Farrow," he shouted. "Oh, yes, father's +come; and we're goin' on to-day. Isn't it just too awfully jolly for +anything?" + +"Well, I'm sorry to lose you and Babs." + +"Back in a month, Mrs Farrow. It'll soon pass, ye know. But I--I am a +kind o' sorry to leave you too, for ye've been so good to Babs and Bob +and me." + +There was a tear in Ransey's eye as he took the milk-can and prepared to +depart. + +"The Admiral can take care o' his little self," he said, "but there's +Murrams." + +"Yes, dear boy, and our nipper shall go over every morning, and put +Murrams's bowl of milk in through the broken pane." + +"Oh, now I'm happy, just downright happy." + +"Well, off you run. Mind never to forget to say your prayers." + +"No; and I'll pray for Murrams, for the Admiral, for you, and all." + +He waved his hand now, and quickly disappeared. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The world wasn't a very wide one just yet to these poor children, Ransey +and Babs. It was chiefly made up of that little cottage which went by +the uncanny name of Hangman's Hall, and of the carrying barge or +canal-boat yclept _Ye Merry Maiden_. But when at home, at the hut, they +had all the sweet, green, flowery fields around them, the stream, and +the wild woods. These formed the grand seminary in which Ransey studied +nature, and moreover, studied it without knowing he was studying +anything. To him every creature, whether clad in fur or in feather, was +a friend. He knew all their little secrets, and they _knew_ that he +knew them. Not a bird that sang was there that he did not know by its +eggs, its nest, or its notes; not a rabbit, hare, vole, or field-mouse +that he could not have told you the life-story of. His was a-- + + "Knowledge never learned at schools, + Of the wild bee's morning chase. + Of the wild flowers' time and place; + Flight of fowl, and habitude + Of the tenants of the wood; + How the tortoise bears his shell; + How the woodchuck digs his cell, + And the ground mole makes his well; + How the robin feeds her young; + How the oriel's nest is hung; + Of the black wasp's cunning way, + Mason of his walls of clay; + And the architectural plans + Of grey hornet artisans." + +It is true enough that this family was poor in the eyes of the world. I +am sure they were not ashamed of it, however. + +The poverty that goes hand in hand with honesty may hold up its head +before the Queen. + + "Is there, for honest poverty, + That hangs his head, and a' that? + The coward slave, we pass him by; + We dare be poor for a' that! + For a' that, and a' that, + Our toils obscure, and a' that; + The rank is but the guinea stamp, + The man's the gowd for a' that?" + +So sang the immortal Robert Burns. + +But could any boy, or girl either, be really poor who had so many +friends in field and forest, and by the winding stream? No; and such a +one as this, who has been in touch with nature in his or her early days, +may grow up, grow old, but never forget the days of youth, and never, +never lose faith in Heaven and a happy Beyond. + +The cottage and the surrounding country, however, did not constitute all +the children's world. There was the ship--as I have said--the barge +that went to sea, and in which they so often sailed. + +For to them as yet the barge was a brig, and the canal the ocean wide +and wild. Well, I might on second thoughts withdraw those "wee +wordies," _wide_ and _wild_. The canal was not a very wide one, nor was +it ever very wild, in summer time at all events. + +Never mind, to the imagination of Ransey, Babs, and Bob, the _Merry +Maiden_ was-- + + "A gallant ship, with a crew as brave + As ever sailed the ocean wave." + +The crew of the _Merry Maiden_, I may tell you at once, was a very small +one indeed, and consisted--all told, that is--of the captain himself, +who was likewise cook, boatswain, and bedmaker all combined; one sturdy, +great boy of sixteen, strong enough to lift almost any weight, Sammy by +name, who was first lieutenant, supercargo, and chief engineer, and who +often took his trick at the wheel--that is, he took the tiller and +relieved his captain, or mounted Jim and relieved Ransey; Ransey +himself, who was second engineer--Jim, the stout old bay nag, being the +engine itself, the moving power when no fair wind was blowing; and Bob, +whose station was at the bows, and his duty to keep a good look-out and +hail those aft if any other ship hove in sight or danger was near. + +The _Merry Maiden_ rejoiced in one mast, which had to be cleverly +lowered when a bridge had to be negotiated. The sail was a fore-and-aft +one, though very full at times. Picturesquely reddish-brown it was, and +looked so pretty sometimes against the green of the trees that, as the +craft sailed slowly on in the sunshine, dreamy artists, seated smoking +at their out-door easels, often made the _Merry Maiden_ part and parcel +of the landscape they were painting. + +I think that Tandy himself liked being on board. The barge was his own, +and carrying light wares or parcels from village to village, or town to +town, his trade. + +Things had gone backwards with Tandy as long as he looked upon the rum +when it was red; he had got into debt. But now he was comfortable, +jolly once more, because his keel was clear, as he phrased it; and as he +reclined to-day on the top of the cuddy, or poop, with the tiller in his +hand, Babs nestling near him, with the greenery of the woods, the +fields, and little round knolls floating dreamily past him in the +silvery haze of the sunshine, he looked a picture of health, happiness, +and contentment. + +Ransey and Babs took their canal life very easily. They never knew or +cared where they were going to, nor thought of what they might see. +Even the boy's knowledge of the geography of his own country was very +limited indeed. + +He had some notion that his father's canal--he grandly termed it so +occasionally--was somewhere away down in the midlands. And he was +right. He hadn't learned to box the compass, however; and even had he +possessed the knowledge, there wasn't a compass on board the _Merry +Maiden_ to box or be boxed. Besides, the ship's head was seldom a whole +hour in any one particular direction. The canal was a very winding one, +its chief desire seeming to be to visit all the villages it could reach +without being bothered with locks. These last were few and far between, +because the country was rather a level one on the whole. + +Nevertheless the fact of their not knowing exactly where they were going +to, or what they would see next, lent an additional charm to the +children's canal life. It was like the game children play on moonlight +nights in Scotland. This is a very simple one, but has a great +fascination for tiny dwellers in the country, and, besides, it gives +excellent scope for the imagination. One child blindfolds another, and +leads him here, there, and everywhere, without going far away from +home--round the stackyards, over the fields by the edge of the woods, or +across bridges, the blindfolded wondering all the time where he is, but +feeling as if he were in fairyland, till at last his eyes are free, and +he finds himself--well, in the very last place he could have dreamt of +being. + +There is no reason why canal life in England should not be most +pleasant, and canal people just as happy as was the crew, all told, on +board the _Merry Maiden_. + +The saloon of the _Maiden_, as Tandy grandly called it, was by no means +very large. It was simply a dear little morsel of a doll's-house, but +the taste of the owner was shown in many different ways. By day the +beds were folded up and were prettily draped with bright curtains. +There were a lounge, an easy-chair, a swing-lamp, a beautiful brass +stove, and racks above and at both sides of it for plates and mugs and +clear, clean tin cooking utensils; there were tiny cupboards and +brackets and mirrors, and in almost every corner stood vases of wild +flowers, culled by Babs and Ransey whenever they had a chance. And this +was often enough, for really Jim was so wise a horse that he never +required any urging to do his duty. He was never known to make either +break or stumble. But when sail was on the ship, Jim had nothing to do +except to walk after her and look about him. Sometimes the oats or the +wheat grew close to the path, and then, although a very honest horse, +Jim never failed to treat himself to a pluck. So he was as sleek and +fat as any nag need be. + +The weather was not always fine, of course, but on wet days Babs could +be sent below, with Bob to mind her, to play with her picture-books, her +lady doll, and her dolly-bone. + +Ransey's father had made him discard now, for ever and ay, his ragged +garments, although the boy had not done so without a sigh of regret-- +they were so free and easy. + +His best clothes, presented by Miss Scragley, were stowed away for high +days and holidays, and the suit his father bought him and brought him +was simply neat and somewhat nautical. + +Let us take a little cruise in the _Merry Maiden_. Shall we, reader? + +It will be a cruise in imagination certainly, but very real for all +that, because it is from the life. + +It is very early, then, in the joyous month of June, and the _Merry +Maiden_ is lying alongside a green bank. There is no pier here. It is +a country place. Yonder on the right is a pretty little canal-side inn, +the "Jolly Tapsters." You can read its name on the sign that is +swinging to and fro beneath a wide-spreading elm-tree. Under this tree +is a seat, and a table also; and on fine evenings, after their day's +work is done, honest labourers, dressed in smocks, who have been +haymaking all day, come here to smoke long clays, to talk to their +neighbours, and now and then beat the table with their pewters to ask +for "another pint, landlord, if _you_ please." + +Tandy lay in here last night and left a whole lot of parcels and things +at that cosy hostelry; for the country all about is an agricultural one, +beautifully wooded with rolling hills, with many a smiling mansion +peeping grey or red above the trees, and many a well-tilled farm. The +parcels will all be called for in due time. + +The barge-master is up before even Ransey is stirring. He has lit the +fire and made ready for breakfast. Before going on shore by the little +gangway, he stirs Sammy up. Sammy, the sixteen-year-old boy, has been +sleeping among the cargo with a morsel of tarpaulin for a blanket. He +rubs his eyes, and in a few seconds pulls himself up, and begins, lazily +enough, to sort and arrange the parcels and make notes for the next stop +in a small black book, with a very thick pencil that he sticks in his +mouth about once every three seconds to make it write more easily. + +"What a lovely morning!" thinks Tandy, and Bob, who has come bounding +after him, thinks so too. The sun is already up, however. From every +copse and plantation comes the melody of birds. Flocks of rooks are +flying heavily and silently away to the distant river, where among the +reeds they will find plenty to eat. Swimming about in the canal yonder +are half a score of beautiful ducks. No, not wild; wild birds seldom +build on a busy canal side. They are the innkeeper's Rouens, and that +splendid drake is very proud indeed. He lifts himself high out of the +water and claps his wings in defiance as Bob passes. + +Yonder is a lark lilting loudly and sweetly high above the green corn. +There are linnets and greenfinches in the hedges, and warblers among the +snow-white blossoms of the may. + +There is a wealth of wild flowers everywhere--blue-eyed speedwells, the +yellow celandine, the crimson of clover, the ragged robin, and ox-eye +daisies weeping dew. + +So balmy is the air and fresh that the barge-master has wandered further +than he had intended. Hunger warns him to beat a retreat. Canal +people, like caravan folks, have excellent appetites. + +But here he is on board again. Ransey has already cooked and laid the +breakfast, dressed Babs, and folded up the beds. With the ports all +open the tiny saloon is sweet and clean. + +"For what we are about to receive," the father begins, and little +Ransey's head is bent and Babs's hands are clasped till grace is said. + +Those eggs are fresh. The fish was caught but yesterday. Butter and +beautiful bread are always to be had cheap all along the canal. + +Sammy's breakfast and Bob's are duly handed up the companion-way, and in +half an hour after this the horse is yoked, the landlord has wished them +all good luck, and they have gone on. + +But the wind, though slight, is dead ahead for miles, and Jim has a +heavy drag. Jim doesn't mind that a bit. He jingles his light harness, +strains nobly to his work, and jogs right merrily on. + +Gradually the country wakens up to newness of life. Smoke comes curling +up from many a humble cottage; cocks are crowing here and there; and +busy workman-like dogs are hurrying to and fro as they drive cattle or +sheep to distant pasture lands. + +There are houses dotted about everywhere, some very close to the canal +side, from the doors of which half-dressed children rush out to wave +naked arms and "hooray" as the barge goes slowly floating past. To +these Babs must needs wave her wee hands and give back cheer for cheer. + +Many of those cots, humble though they be, have the neatest of gardens, +with flowers already blooming in beds and borders, in tubs and in boxes; +neat little walks all sanded and yellow; and strings along the walls, up +which, when summer is further advanced, climbers will find their way and +trail in their loveliness over porch and windows. + +There are orchards behind many of these, the gnarled trees snowed over +with bloom, many clad in pink or crimson. All this brings to one's mind +snatches from Mrs Hemans:-- + + "The cottage homes of England, + By thousands on her plains, + They are smiling o'er the silvery brooks, + And round the hamlet-fanes. + Through glowing orchards forth they peep, + Each from its nook of leaves, + And fearless there the lowly sleep + As the bird beneath their eaves." + +The sun climbs higher and higher, and the mists have disappeared from +the far-off hills, and now you can tell it is school time. + +Well-dressed children, in groups, are wending their way all in one +direction. But they find time to cull wild flowers for teacher; and +see, a bold, bright-faced lad comes near to the edge of the canal. +Perhaps he is charmed by the innocent beauty of little Babs. Who can +tell? One thing we _are_ sure of--he has learned a little French, and +is proud to air it. + +"_Bon voyage_," he shouts. + +And next moment a bonnie bunch of flowers falls right into the child's +lap. + +"Kiss your hand to him, dear," says father. + +Babs smilingly does as she is told. No actress could do so more +naturally. + +Then the boy runs off, looking happy, and the barge floats on. + +Book 1--CHAPTER EIGHT. + +"POOR MARY! SHE HAS GONE ON." + +The barge floats on, and soon the village appears in sight. Yes, +thoroughly English, and therefore pretty: the old grey houses only half +seen in the midst of the foliage; the wreaths of blue smoke; the broad, +squat steeple; wooded hills behind, and amongst these latter here and +there a tall Elizabethan house sheltering itself in a hollow, for wildly +in winter do the winds sweep through the leafless oaks and elms now clad +in all the glory of summer's green. + +The canal makes a sweep just before it comes up to the village, as if it +had entertained some thoughts of going past without calling. But it +hasn't the heart to do so, and presently the barge is close alongside a +kind of wooden platform which is dignified by the name of wharf. + +Ransey dismounts to water his horse and slip on the nose-bag. Then, +while Sammy is busy with his note-book, handing out cargo and taking +fresh orders, he takes delighted Babs and Bob on shore to look at the +shops. These visits to villages are much appreciated by her tiny +ladyship, but if the streets are steep Ransey Tansey must take her on +his back, and thus the two go on. + +No fear of the "ship" leaving without them; and why, here is father +himself, his hands deep in the pockets of his pilot jacket, and smoking. + +A penny to Ransey and a halfpenny to Babs secure them additional +happiness; but in less than an hour the anchor is weighed, and the +_Merry Maiden_ is once more going on. + +The wind changes, or the canal, or something; anyhow sail can now be +set, and Jim thinks himself about the happiest horse in all creation. + +On and on through the quiet country, by the most silent of all +thoroughfares, goes the barge. Babs is getting drowsy; father makes her +a bed with a bundle of sacks, shading her face from the sun; and soon +she is in the land of forgetfulness. + +Were it not for the breeze that blows freshly over the meadows, the day +would be a warm and drowsy one. No fear of Sammy falling asleep, +however, for as the canal winds in and out he has to tighten or loosen +the sheet according to the shift. + +Just at present the sounds that are wafted towards the barge are all +lulling and dreamy: the far-off singing of birds; the sound of the +woodman's axe in the distant wood; the rattle of a cart or carriage on a +road that is nowhere visible; the jangle of church bells from a village +that may be in the sky for anything any one can tell; and now the merry +laughter of young men and maidens making hay, and these last come in +sight just round the next green bend. + +It suddenly occurs to Jim that a dance wouldn't be at all a bad idea. +Ransey is some distance behind his horse, when he sees him lower his +head and fling his heels high in air. This is merely preparatory; next +minute he is off at a gallop, making straight for that meadow of +fragrant hay, the wind catching mane and tail and blowing it straight +out fore and aft. + +When tired of galloping round the field, Jim bears right down upon the +haymakers themselves. + +"That stuff," he says, with distended nostrils, "smells uncommonly nice. +Give us a tuft." + +He is fed handsomely by both lads and lasses gay. But they get gayer +than ever when Jim throws himself down on his back, regardless of the +confused entanglement of bridle and traces. But Jim knows better than +to roll on the bare ground. He has thrown down a hay-cock for himself, +and it is as good as a play to witness the girls bury him up till there +is nothing to be seen of him except his four legs kicking skywards. + +He gets up at last, and looks very sober and solemn. One girl kisses +him on the muzzle; another is busy doing something that Ransey cannot +make out, but a minute or two after this, when Jim comes thundering +back, there is a huge collar of hay around his neck. Ransey mounts him +bareback, and, waving his hand to the haymakers, goes galloping off to +overtake the barge, and throw the hay on board. A nice little snack it +will make for Jim some time later on! + +To-day Mr Tandy has bought a newspaper. He had meant to read it, but +he is too fond of country sights and sounds to bother about it now. In +the evening, perhaps, over a pipe. + +On, ever on. There are locks to get through now, several of them, and +lockmen are seldom, if ever, more than half awake; but everybody knows +Tandy, and has a kindly word to say to Ransey Tansey, and perhaps a kiss +to blow to Babs, who has just awakened, with eyes that shine, and lips +and cheeks as red as the dog-roses that trail so sweetly over a hedge +near by. + +The country here is higher--a bit of Wales in the midlands, one might +almost say. And so it continues for some time. + +Sammy takes his trick at the wheel, and prefers to steer by lying on his +back and touching the tiller with one bare foot. Sammy is always +original and funny, and now tells Babs wonderful stories about fairies +and water-babies that he met with a long time ago when he used to dwell +deep down beneath the sea. + +Babs has never seen the real sea, except in pictures, and is rather hazy +about it. Nevertheless, Sammy's stories are very wonderful, and +doubtless very graphic. The sail is lowered at last, and the saucy +_Merry Maiden_ moored to a green bank. + +The dinner is served, and all hands, including Jim, do justice to it. + +I said the barge was "moored" here. Literal enough, for a wide, wild +moor stretches all around. Sheep are feeding not far off, and some +droll-looking ponies that Jim would like to engage in conversation. +There are patches of heath also, and stunted but prettily-feathered +larch-trees now hung with points of crimson. Great patches of golden +gorse hug the ground and scent the air for yards around. Linnets are +singing there, and now and then the eye is gladdened by the sight of a +wood-lark. Sometimes he runs along the ground, singing more sweetly +even than his brother musician who loves to soar as high as the clouds. + +Here is a cock-robin, looking very independent and lilting defiance at +everybody. Robins do not always live close to civilisation. This robin +comes close enough to pick up the crumbs which Ransey throws towards +him. He wants Ransey to believe that all the country for miles and +miles around belongs to him--Cock-Robin--and that no bird save him has +any real business here. + +There are pine-trees waving on the hills yonder, and down below, a town +much bigger than any they yet have arrived at. + +But see, there is a storm coming up astern, so, speedily now, the _Merry +Maiden_ is once more under way. + +Babs is bundled down below, and Bob goes with her. + +Presently the air is chilly enough to make one shiver. A puff of high +wind, a squall we may call it, brings up an army of clouds and darkness. +Thunder rolls, and the swift lightning flashes--red, bright, intense-- +then down come the rain and the big white hailstones. These rattle so +loudly on the poop deck, and on the great tarpaulin that covers the +cargo, that for a time the thunder itself can scarcely be heard. + +But in twenty minutes' time the sun is once more shining, the clouds +have rolled far to leeward, the deck is dry, and but for the pools of +water that lie in the hollows of the hard tarpaulin, no evidence is left +that a summer storm had been raging. + +But away with the storm has gone the wind itself, and Jim is once more +called into requisition. Then onwards floats the barge. + +Through many a bridge and lock, past many a hamlet, past woodlands and +orchards, and fields of waving wheat, stopping only now and then at a +village, till at last, and just as the sun is westering, the distant +town is reached. + +Oh, a most unsavoury sort of a place, a most objectionable kind of a +wharf, at which to pass a night. + +Tandy sends Babs and Bob below again; for a language is spoken here he +does not wish the child to listen to, sights may be seen he would not +that her eyes should dwell upon. Yonder is an ugly public-house with +broken windows in it, and a bloated-faced, bare-armed woman, the +landlady, standing with arms akimbo defiantly in the doorway. Ah! there +was a time when Tandy used to spend hours in that very house. He +shudders to think of it now. + +There is one dead tree at the gable of this inn, which--half a century +ago, perhaps--may have been a country hostelry surrounded by meadows and +hedges. That tree would then be green, the air fresh and sweet around +it, the mavis singing in its leafy shade. Now the sky is lurid, the air +is tainted, and there is smoke everywhere. Not even the bark is left on +the ghastly tree. It looks as if it had died of leprosy. + +But the work is hurried through, and in a comparatively short time the +_Merry Maiden_ is away out in the green quiet country. + +What a blessed change from the awful town they have just left! + +The sun has already gone down in such a glory of crimson, bronze, and +orange, as we in this country seldom see. + +This soon fades away, however, as everything that is beautiful to behold +must fade. + +The stars come out now in the east, and just as gloaming is merging into +night the boat draws near to a little canal-side inn, and Jim, the +horse, who is wiser far than many a professed Christian, stops of his +own accord. + +For Ransey had gone to sleep--oh, he often rode thus and never fell. He +awakes now, however, with a start, and gazes wonderingly around him. +His eyes fall upon the sign. And there, in large white letters, the boy +can read easily enough though the light is fading--the "Bargee's +Chorus." + +And not only could he read, but he could remember: it was here they lay +that sad, sad night--what a long time ago it seemed--when mother died. + +Here was the landlord himself with his big apron on, a burly fellow with +a kindly face, and as Tandy stepped on shore he was welcomed with a +hearty handshake. + +"Ah: Cap'en Tandy, and 'ow's you. And here is Ransey Tansey, bright and +bobbish, and little Babs, and Bob, and everybody. How nice you all +look! But la!" he added, "it do seem such a long, long time since you +were here before." + +"I've not had the heart to come much this way, Mr Shirley. I've been +trading at the southern end o' the canal." + +"And ye've never been here once since you put up the bit of marble slab +to mark the spot where _she_ lies?" + +Ransey knew his mother was referred to, and turned aside to hide the +tears. + +"Never since," says Tandy. + +"Ah, cap'en, many's the one as asks me about that slab. And the old +squire himself stopped here one day and got all the story from me. And +when I'd finished, never a word he said. He just heaved a biggish sort +of a sigh, and went trotting on. + +"But come in, Ransey, Babs, and Bob, and all. The night's going to be +chilly, and an air of the fire will do the children good. + +"Sammy, just take the horse round to the stable. We'll have a bit o' +frost to-night, I thinks." + +Ransey runs on board for a few minutes to touch up the fire, put on the +guard, and make down the beds; then he joins the group around the cosy +parlour fire. + +The kindly landlady, as plump and rosy as her husband, makes very much +of the children, and the supper she places before them is a right hearty +one, nor is Bob himself forgotten. + +A very quiet and pleasant evening is spent, then good-nights are said, +and the seafaring folks, as they humorously call themselves, go on board +to bed. + +Sammy is already sound asleep beneath the tarpaulin, and Ransey takes +his little sister below to bed at once. + +But father stops on deck a little while, to think and muse. + +How still the night is! Not a breath of wind now; not a sound save the +distant melancholy hooting of an owl as he flies low across the fields, +the champ-champing of the horse in the stable, and an occasional plash +in the canal as some great frog leaps off the bank. + +Nothing more. + +But high above shine God's holy stars. There may be melancholy in the +old sailor's heart as he gazes skywards, but there is hope as well, for +these little points of dazzling light bear his thoughts away to better +worlds than this. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It is early morning again, and soon the barge is well on its way. + +But when it is stopped in the middle of a somewhat lonesome moor, and +Tandy takes his children on shore, the boy knows right well where they +are going, though innocent little Babs doesn't. + +"Father," he says presently, as they are near to a clump of tall trees, +"isn't it just _here_ where mother was laid?" + +The rough weather-beaten old sailor uncovers his head. + +He points to a spot of the canal that is gleaming bright in the rays of +the morning sun. + +"Just down there, dear boy," he says. "The coffin was leaded; it could +never rise." + +The last words are spoken apparently to himself, as he turns sadly away +towards the trees. + +Still holding Ransey's hand, and with Babs in his arms, he points to the +tallest, strongest tree of all. It is a beautiful beech. + +And there, about eight feet from the ground, and evidently let deeply +into the tree, is a small and lettered slab of marble. + +The bark has begun to curl in a rough lip over its edge all round as if +to hold it more firmly in its place. + + POOR MARY. + She has gone on. + _Feby. 19th--82_. + +The letters were not over-well formed. Perhaps they were cut by Tandy's +own hand. What mattered it? The little tablet was meant but for _his_ +eyes. Simplicity is best. + +"Poor Mary! She has gone on." + +And the words are written not only there upon the marble, but upon the +honest sailor's heart. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +End of Book One. + +Book 2--CHAPTER ONE. + +"JUST THREE YEARS SINCE RANSEY WENT TO SEA." + +"O father," said Babs one autumn evening, "aren't _you_ frightened at +the roaring of the sea?" + +Tandy and his child were sitting together, that autumn evening, in the +best parlour. They were waiting for the postman to come round the +corner; and as the waves were making a clean breach over the black, +smooth rocks down yonder, and the spray was dashing high over the road +and rattling like hail upon the panes of glass in the little cottage +window, the postman would be wearing his waterproof cape to-night to +keep the letters dry. + +Babs had been watching for a man in a glittering oilskin, very +anxiously, too, with her little face close to the glass, when a bigger +wave than any she had yet seen rolled green and spumy and swiftly across +the boulders, till meeting the resistance offered by the cliff it rose +into the air for twenty feet at least, then broke like a waterfall on +the asphalt path which was dignified by the name of esplanade. + +No wonder she rushed back from the window, and now stood trembling by +her father's side. + +He took her gently on his knee. + +Though five years have elapsed since the night they had visited mother's +tree, and she is now eight years of age, she is but a little thing. Ay, +and fragile. + +As she sits there, with one arm about his neck, he looks at her, and +talks to her tenderly. She has her mother's eyes. + +But how lonely he would be, he cannot help thinking, if anything +happened to his little Nelda--to Babs. The thought causes him to shiver +as he sits there in his easy-chair by the fire, for chill is the breeze +that blows from off the sea to-night. + +"Daddy!" + +"Yes, dear." + +"To-morrow, when it comes, will make it just three years since Ransey +went to sea." + +"Three years? Yes, Babs, so it will. Oh, how quickly the time has +flown! And how good your memory is, darling!" + +"Flown quickly, father? Oh, I think every one of those years has been +much, much longer than the other. And I think," she added, "lazy postie +will never come to-night. But I dreamt, daddy, we would have a letter +from Ransey, and it is sure to come." + +Three years. Yes, and years do fly fast away when men or women get +elderly. + +Those years though--ay, and the whole five--had been very busy ones with +Ransey Tansey, very eventful, I might almost say. + +Old Captain Weathereye had proved a right good friend to Ransey. Nor +did he take the least degree of credit to himself for being so. + +"The boy has got the grit in him," he told Miss Scragley, "and just a +spice of the devil; and without that, I can assure you, madam, no boy is +going to get well on in this world." + +Miss Scragley didn't care to swallow this doctrine quite; but Eedie, +whom Ransey looked upon as a kind of fairy, or goddess, immeasurably +better than himself, took the captain's view of the matter. + +"Oh, yes," she astonished Miss Scragley by exclaiming, "the devil is +everywhere, auntie. Mr Smith himself said so in the church. He is in +roaring lions and in lambs when they lie down together, and in little +boys, and then they are best and funniest." + +Miss Scragley sighed. + +"It is a world of sin and sorrow," she murmured. + +"A world of fiddlesticks, madam!" cried Weathereye. "I tell you, it is +a splendid world, a grand old world; but you've got to learn how to take +your own part in it. Take my word for it, Miss Scragley, the world +wasn't made for fools. Fools have got to take a back seat, and just +look on, while men of grit do the work and enjoy the reward. Ahem!" + +"I've got to make a man of that lad," he went on, "and, what's more, I'm +doing it. He needs holy-stoning--I'm holy-stoning him. He may want a +little polishing after, but rubbing against the world will do that." + +"You're very good, Captain Weathereye; you will be rewarded, if not in +this world, in the next--" + +"Tut--tut--tut," cried the old sailor impatiently, and it must be +admitted somewhat brusquely, "women folks will talk, especially when +they don't know what to say; but pray keep such sentiments and +platitudes as these for your next Dorcas meeting, madam. Reward, +indeed! Next world, forsooth! I tell you that I'm having it in _this_. +I live my own early days over again in the boy's youth. It is moral +meat and drink for the old--well, the middle-aged, like myself, ahem!-- +to mingle with the young and get interested, not so much in their +pursuits, because one's joints are too stiff for that, but in their +hopes and aspirations for the future which is all before them. Ever +hear these lines, Miss Scragley? + + "`In the lexicon of youth + That fate reserves for a bright manhood, + There is no such word as fail.' + +"I'd have them printed on the front page of every copybook laid before a +child in school, and I'd have him to learn them as soon as he can lisp." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Well, right happy years these had been for Ransey Tansey, and little +Babs as well, to say nothing of gentle Eedie. As the world began to +smile upon Tandy himself, he tried to do all he could for his children's +comfort. Even the little cottage at the foot of the hill was made more +ship-shape, and furnished with many a comfort it had previously lacked. + +Tandy was a man of a speculative turn of mind, and moreover inventive. +His speculations, however, did not succeed so well as he could have +wished. I am never sorry for the downfall of speculators; for, after +all, what is speculation but a species of gambling--gambling for high +stakes? And supposing that a man wins, which once in a way he may; +supposing even that he is strong enough in pocket to establish a +"corner," as it is called in Yankee-land, to buy up the whole of some +great commodity, and shut it up until the people are starving for it and +glad to pay for it at three times the original value, well, the corner +knight becomes a millionaire. Yes; and very often a miser, and +miserable at that. Can a millionaire enjoy sport or play any better +than you or I, reader? No, nor so much. + +Has he a better appetite from the fact that he can afford to coax it +with every costly dainty that cash can purchase? More likely a worse. + +Is he more healthy? That were impossible. + +Is he more happy? Ah, here we come to the test question. Well, he can +have a larger and a finer house than most people, and it may be +furnished like a palace. Pictures of the old masters may adorn its +walls; musical instruments of rare value, works of art and vertu, may +meet the eye at every turn; the gardens, and rose lawns, and +conservatories may be more gorgeous than the dream of an Eastern prince. +But can he live in more than one room at a time, or enjoy anything +around him a bit better than the friends do whom he invites to his home +that they may admire everything and envy _him_? + +But even the millionaire tires of home. He is satiated with the good +things his gold has brought him; and if he travels abroad he will not +find half the enjoyment in those beauties of nature--which even the +millionaire's gold cannot deprive the poorest man of--that the poet or +the naturalist does. + +I think there is one thing that most of us have to be thankful for-- +namely, that we are not over-ambitious, and have no desire to become +millionaires. + +Yes, but Tandy's ambition was not a morbid one; it was not selfish. He +felt that he could die contentedly enough, could he make as sure as any +one can be sure that his boy and girl would not become waifs and strays +on the great highway of life. + +How to make sure? That had been the question he had tried to answer +many and many a time as he lay on the poop of his little craft and +sailed slowly through the meadows and moors. + +I have said he was inventive. His inventive faculties, however, took +him far too high at first, like a badly ballasted balloon. He thought +of ministering to governments of nations--of putting into their hands +instruments for the destruction of his fellow mortals that should render +war impossible, and many other equally airy speculations. + +He failed, and had to come down a piece. There is no use in soaring too +high above the clouds if one would be a useful inventor and a benefactor +to mankind. Darning-needles are of more service to the general public +than dynamite guns, and they are more easily manufactured. So Tandy +failed in all his big things. That balloon of his was still soaring too +high. + +"I guess," he said to himself, "I'll have to come a little lower still +before I find out just what the world wants, and what _all_ the world +wants." + +Food? Physic? Fire? + +Ha! he had it. Fire, of course. How many a poor wretch starves to +death in a garret just because coals are too dear to purchase. "And +why?" he asked himself; and the answer came fast enough, "Because coals +are wasted by the rich." + +Then Tandy set his brains on to simmer, and invented one of the simplest +contrivances in the world for saving waste. + +Yes, he had it at last, and in two years' time he began to gain a +competence, which was gradually increasing. + +This little cottage down by the sad, sad sea, as sentimental old maids +call it, was his own. He and Babs--or little Nelda, as we may now call +her--had only been here for six months. The place was by no means a +fashionable one, although many people came here in summer to seek for +health on the glorious sands and rocks, and among the fields and woods +that stretched northwards into the interior. + +As for Ransey Tansey, Captain Weathereye had really done his best to +secure the welfare of this half-wild lad, just as Miss Scragley tried to +assist his wee sister. + +Impressionable children learn very quickly, and in a year's time Ransey +was so much improved in manners that Miss Scragley rather encouraged his +visits to the Hall than otherwise, especially when the Admiral and Bob +came along with him. + +Grand old lawns and shrubberies surrounded the Hall, and these ended in +woods. There were artificial lakes and islands in them too. These +islands were the especial property of many beautiful ducks; but one was +so large, and surrounded by such a big stretch of water, that the only +thing to make it perfect--so Ransey thought--was a boat or skiff. Eedie +was of the same opinion; so was Babs and Bob. + +"Isn't it possible to build one?" thought Ransey. He felt sure it was; +so did Eedie. + +Before two months had passed, that skiff, with the assistance of +Weathereye, was a _fait accompli_; and the old captain was just as proud +of it as the children themselves. + +The ducks didn't have it all their own way now on the island. For here +a wigwam was built, and almost every fine day--that is, when Ransey was +not at his lessons--the children played at Crusoes and wild Indians, and +I don't know what all. + +There was no end to Tansey's imagination, no end to his daring, no end +to his tricks, and in these last, I fear, Eedie encouraged him. + +She was but two years younger than Ransey, but she was four years older +as far as worldly wisdom was concerned; and with her assistance the +dramas, or theatrical performances, carried out on the island were at +times startling in the extreme. + +When Eedie brought children friends of hers to see these plays, Ransey +would have felt very shy indeed had he not had, figuratively speaking, +Eedie's wing to shelter under. Encouraged by her, he soon found out +that real talent can make its own way, and be appreciated, however +humble its possessor may be. + +When Tandy first met Captain Weathereye, he wanted to be profuse in his +thanks to this kindly staff-commander. But the latter would have none +of this. + +"Tandy," he said, "I know by your every action that you are a true +sailor, like--ahem!--myself. Perhaps what you call kindness to your boy +is only a fad of mine, and therefore selfishness after all." + +"No, no." + +"But I can say `Yo, yo,' to your `No, no.' Besides, we are all of us +sailing over the sea of life for goodness knows where, and we are in +duty bound to help even little boats we may sight, if we see they're in +distress." + +Tandy and Weathereye had soon became good friends, and smoked many a +pipe together; nor did Tandy hesitate to tell the navy sailor about all +his inventions and little speculations, to which account the latter +listened delightedly enough. + +"I say," he said to Tandy one day, "your lad is now over ten, and we +should send him right away to sea. I tell you straight, Tandy, I'd get +him into the Royal Navy if it were worth while. But he'd never be a +sailor, never learn seamanship." + +"Confound their old tin-kettles," he added, bringing his fist down on +the table with a force that made the glasses jingle, "there isn't a +sailor on board one of them; only gunners and greasers. [Greaser, a +disparaging name for an engineer in the Royal Navy.] Let Ransey rough +it, Mr Tandy, and you'll make a man of him." + +An apprenticeship in a Dundee trader, owned in Belfast, and sailing from +Cardiff, this was secured; though what use a lad not yet eleven might be +put to on board such a craft, I confess I hardly know. But this I _do_ +know, that the sooner a boy who is to be a British sailor goes to sea +the better. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Babs ventured back to the window at last, and glanced once more out into +the now gathering gloom. Far away beyond Selsea Bill the sun had set +behind lurid coppery clouds, that boded little good for ships that were +toiling up the Channel. + +"O daddy, here is postie at long, long last, and he's all, all dressed +in oilskins! He is coming to the door! Oh!" + +She could not say another word for a few moments, but flew toward her +father. + +"It is--it is--O daddy! _it's Ransey_!" + +Book 2--CHAPTER TWO. + +"SHIP-SHAPE AND SEAMAN-FASHION." + +There wasn't a doubt about that, and no lad surely ever got a happier +welcome home. + +Bob and Murrams knew him, and the Admiral too, who danced for joy in the +back-garden when Ransey Tansey went to see him. + +Everybody, with the exception of the father, seemed to walk on air that +night. Mr Tandy was simply quietly happy. + +Ransey was quite a man, Babs told him, and she felt sure he would soon +have a moustache. Indeed, she brought a small magnifying-glass to +strengthen her convictions on this point. + +What a lot lads have to tell when they return from sea for the first +time! and their friends cannot give them greater pleasure than by +listening to all their adventures and "hairbreadth scapes;" sympathising +with them in sorrows past and gone, and dangers encountered, and +thanking Providence that they have been spared to come safely home from +off the stormy ocean. + +Ransey had gone to the old cottage first, not knowing anything about the +change. He had found strangers there, and his heart had sunk to zero. + +"Perhaps," he thought, "they are dead and gone." + +No Bob to meet him! no Babs! no dancing crane! + +He hadn't had the heart to go in; he just ran right away to Captain +Weathereye's, and he told him all. + +Ransey had had to sling his hammock here the first night, and visit Miss +Scragley's next day. + +And Eedie was now ten years of age, and shy, but welcomed Ransey with a +soft handshake and a bonnie blush, and in her little secret morsel of a +heart admired him. + +"Didn't I tell you I'd make a man of him, Miss Scragley? See how tall +he is. Look at those bold blue eyes of his, and the sea-tan on his +cheeks," said the captain. + +No wonder that it was Ransey's turn to blush. + +"Tell your father, dear boy, that in four or five days I'm coming down +to B--to see him. A breath of the briny will do an old barnacle like me +a power of good." + +"That I will," the boy had replied. + +Then, after saying good-bye, Ransey went off to see Mrs Farrow; and +that good lady was indeed pleased, for she had always had an idea that +those who went to sea hardly ever returned. + +She had to put the corner of her apron to her eyes now; but, if she did +shed a tear, it was one of joy and nothing else. + +Well, it would have done your heart good to have witnessed the happiness +of Ransey and Babs, as they wandered hand in hand along the golden +sands. Bob, too, was so elated that he hardly knew what to do with +himself at first. This joy, however, settled down into a watchful kind +of care and love for his young master; and he used to walk steadily +behind him on the beach as if afraid that, if he once let him out of +sight, he might be spirited away and never be seen again. + +The Admiral was quite a seafarer now, and wonderful and sweet were the +morsels he found or dug up for himself on the wet stretches of sand. +The sea-gulls at first had taken him for something uncanny; but they now +took him for granted, and walked about quite close to him, although at +times, when this marvellous bird took it into his long head that a dance +would do him good and increase his circulation, they were scared indeed, +and flew screaming seawards. + +But the Admiral didn't mind that a bit; he just kept dancing away till +there really didn't seem to be a bit more dance left in him. Then he +desisted, and went in for serious eating once more. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +One beautiful day, while the dancing crane was holding a levee of +sea-gulls, with a sprinkling of rooks, far seawards on the wet sands, +while Mr Tandy was seated, smoking as usual, on a bench with his +children near him, Bob uttered a defiant kind of a growl, and stood up +with his hair on end from ears to rump. A gentleman dressed in blue, +with sailor's cap on his head, and reading a newspaper, was approaching +the seat, on which there was plenty of room for one more. + +But it was not at him that Bob was growling. No, but at a beautiful +Scottish collie which was walking by his side. + +Bob rushed forward at once, and the two met face to face and heads up. + +Scottie carried his tail defiantly high. + +Young England would have done the same with his, had he had anything to +show. + +The conversation seemed to be somewhat as follows:-- + +"You and I are about the same size, aren't we?" said Bob. + +"There isn't much to figure on between us, I think," replied Scottie. + +"Lower your flag, then, or I'll shake you out of your skin." + +"Scotland never lowered flag to a foreigner yet. Why don't you raise +your standard? Why, because you haven't got one to raise. Ha, ha! what +a fright you are! I only wonder your master lets you go about like +that." + +"Yah--ah--r-r--r-r--r-r!" + +"Waugh--r-r--r-r--r-r--r!" + +And there _was_ war next second. + +Tandy rushed to the scene of action. + +"I'm very sorry, sir," he said. "Which dog, do you think, began the +fight?" + +"I think they both began it," said the newcomer, laughing. + +Scotland and England were having a terrible tulzie, as Scotland and +England have often had in days long, long gone by. + +They were rolling over each other, sometimes Bob above, sometimes Bob +below, and the yellow sands were soon stained with blood. + +Little Nelda was in tears, and the Admiral scray-scraying and dancing +with joy. + +"I think," said the stranger, "they've both had enough of it, and my +proposal is this--I'll pull my dog off by the tail, and you do the same +by yours." + +"I'd gladly do so," said Tandy, laughing, "but, my dear sir, the fact is +that my dog is like Tam o' Shanter's mare after she escaped from the +witches-- + + "`The ne'er a tail has he to shake.'" + +Dogs are just like men, however, and these two, seemingly satisfied that +neither could kill the other, soon made it up, and presently they went +galloping off together to the sea to wash the sand out of their shaggy +jackets. + +Down sat the stranger between Ransey and his father. He rolled up his +paper and lit his pipe, and soon the two were engaged in a very animated +conversation. + +Sailors all three. No wonder that the acquaintance thus brought about +by their honest dogs ripened into friendship in a few days. + +Captain Halcott--for so this new friend was named--had, some months +before this, reached England after a very long and strangely adventurous +cruise. + +"Are you like me, I wonder?" he said to Tandy, as they sat smoking the +calumet of peace together on a breezy cliff-top, while Ransey and his +sister were fishing for curios in the pools of water left among the +rocks by the receding tide. "Are you like me, I wonder? for I am no +sooner safely arrived in Merrie England than I begin once more to long +for life on the heaving billows." + +"You're a free man, Captain Halcott; I've got a little family; and +you're a somewhat younger man, as well." + +"Yes, yes; granted. But, before going further, tell me what is your +Christian name?" + +"Dick." + +"Well, and mine's Charlie. We're both seafarers; don't let us `Mr' +each other, or `captain' each other either. You're Tandy or you're +Dick, I'm Halcott or I'm Charlie, just as, for the time being, the +humour may suit us. Is that right?" + +"That's right--ship-shape and seaman-fashion." Two brown fists met and +were shaken--no mincing landlubber's shake, but a firm and hearty grip +and wholesome pressure; a grip that seemed to speak and to say,--"Thine, +lad, thine! Thine in peace or war; in calm or tempest, thine!" + +How is it that sailors so often resemble one another? I cannot answer +the question. But it is none the less true. + +Tandy and Halcott appeared to have been cast in the same mould; the same +open, bronzed, and weather-beaten faces, the same eyes--eyes that could +twinkle with merriment one moment and be filled with pity the next. + +Even Captain Weathereye himself, although older than either, and +somewhat lighter in complexion, might easily have passed as brother to +both. + +"Well," said Halcott, "I daresay you have a story to tell." + +"I've had strange experiences in life, and some were sad enough. For +the sake of that dear boy and girl, I thank God I am no longer in the +grip of poverty; but, my friend, I've seen worse days." + +"Tell us, Tandy." + +Tandy told him, sitting there, all the reader already knows and much +more, receiving silent but heartfelt sympathy. + +"So you've sold the _Merry Maiden_!" + +"Yes; although some of the happiest years of my life were spent on board +of her, and in the little cottage. Heigho! I wish I could bring back +the past; but if I live to be able to afford it, I shall build a house +where the old cot stands, and will just end my days there, you know. +And now for your story." + +"Oh, that is a strange and a sad one; but as your friend is coming down +to-morrow, I propose postponing it. This Captain Weathereye must, from +all you say, be a real jolly fellow." + +This was agreed to; and next morning Tandy met bluff old Weathereye at +the little railway station. + +"I'll stay a week, Tandy, a whole week. Yes, my hearty, I'll gladly +make your house my home, and shall rejoice to see your friend, and hear +the yarn he has got to spin." + +Book 2--CHAPTER THREE. + +A QUARTERDECK DREAM. + +"Once a sailor, gentlemen," began Halcott, as he filled his pipe, gazing +thoughtfully over the sea, "always a sailor. + +"That's a truism, I believe. Why, the very sight of the waves out +yonder, with the evening sunlight dancing and playing on their surface, +makes me even at this moment long to tread the deck again. + +"And there are, perhaps, few seafarers who have more inducements to stay +at home than I, Charlie Halcott, have. + +"I have a beautiful house of my own, and some day soon, I hope, you will +both come and see it, and judge for yourselves. + +"My house has a tower to it. Many a night, while walking the +quarterdeck keeping my watch, with no companions save the silver-shining +stars, I have said to myself--`Charlie Halcott,' I have said, `if ever +you leave off ploughing the ocean wave, and settle down on shore, you +must have a house with a tower to it.' + +"And now I've got it. + +"A large, square, old-fashioned tower it is, with a mullioned window on +each side of it; and up the walls the dense green ivy climbs, with just +enough Virginia creeper to cast a glamour of crimson over it in autumn, +like the last red rays of the setting sun. + +"One window looks up the valley of the Thames, where not far off is a +little Niagara, a snow-white weir: I can hear the drowsy monotone of its +foaming waters by night and by day, and its song is ever the same. +Another window looks away down the valley, and the river here goes +winding in and out among the meadows and the green and daisied leas, +till, finally, it takes the appearance of a silver string, and loses +itself, or is lost to me, amidst the distant trees. A third window, +from which I dearly like to look early on a summer's morning, while the +blackbirds are yet in fullest, softest song, shows an English landscape +that to me is the sweetest of the sweet. As far as eye can reach, till +bounded by the grey horizon's haze, are woods and wilds and meadows +green, with the red gables or the roofs of many a stately farm peeping +up through the rolling cloudland of foliage; and many a streamlet too, +seen here and there in the sunbeams, as it goes speeding on towards the +silent river. + +"But though this house of mine has a tower to it, it is not a castle by +any means, apart from the fact that every Englishman's house is his +castle. I have a tower, but no donjon keep. My castle is a villa--`a +handsome modern-built villa,' the agent described it when I commenced +correspondence with a view to its purchase. It is indeed a beautiful +villa, and it is situated high up on the brow of a hill, all among the +dreamy woods. + +"Though I have been but a short spell on shore, my town friends already +call me the `Sailor hermit,' because I stick to my castle and its woods +and gardens. Not for a single day can they prevail upon me to exchange +it for the bustle and din of hideous London. But I retaliated on my +city friends by bringing them down to my `castle' in spring time, when +the early flowers were opening their petals in the warm sunshine, and +the very tulips seemed panting in the heat, and when there was such a +gush of bird-melody coming from grove and copse and hedgerow that every +leaf seemed to hide a feathered songster. And I rejoiced to see those +friends of mine struck dumb by the wealth of beauty they beheld around +them. For Philomel was making day melodious with a strange, unearthly +music. + +"All through the darkness the bird sang to his mate, and all through the +day as well. No bolder birds than our nightingales live. They sing at +our side, at our feet; they sing as they fly, sing as they alight, sing +_to_ us, ay and _at_ us defiantly. No wonder we all love this sweet +bird, this sweet spirit of the spring. + +"So my quarterdeck dream has become a dear reality. + +"Strange to say, it is always at night that I think most of the ocean. +And on nights of storm--then it is that I lie awake listening to the +wind roaring through the stately elms, with a sound like the sough of +gale-tossed waves. It is then I long to tread once more the deck of my +own bonnie barque, and feel her move beneath me like a veritable thing +of life and reason. My house with the ivied tower is well away among +the midlands; and yet on nights of tempest, sea-birds--the gull, and the +tern, and the light-winged kittywake--often fly around the house and the +trees. I can hear their voices rising shrill and high above the roar of +the wind. + +"`Kaye--kay--ay--ay,' they scream. `Come away--come away--ay,' they +seem to cry. `Why have you left us? why have you left the seas? We +miss you. Come away--come away--ay--ay.' + +"Never into my quarterdeck dreams, gentlemen, had there come, strange to +say, a companion fair of womankind. My house with the tower to it +should be just as it is to-day, just what--following out my dreams--I +have made it. Its gardens all should bloom surpassing fair, my woods +and trees be green; the rose lawns should look like velvet; my ribboned +flower-beds like curves of coloured light; the nightingales in spring +should bathe in the spray of my fountains,--there should be joy and +loveliness and bird-song everywhere, but a wife?--well, I had somehow +never dreamt of that. If any of the officers--for I was captain and +part owner of the good barque _Sea Flower_--had been bold enough to +suggest such a thing--I mean such a _person_, I should have laughed at +him where he stood. `Who,' I should have said, `would many a simple +sailor like me, over thirty, brown-red in face, and hard in hands. Who +indeed?' + +"But into my quarterdeck dreams companions had come. Should I not have +jolly farmers and solid-looking red-faced squires to dine with me, and +to smoke with me out of doors in the cool of midsummer evenings, or in +the cosy red parlour around the fire in the long forenights of winter, +and listen to my yarns of the dark blue sea, or talk to me of the +delights of rural life? Well, it was a pretty dream, it must be +admitted. + +"But it never struck me then, as it does now, that all the joys of life +are tame indeed, unless shared by some one you love more than all things +bright and fair. + +"A pretty dream--and a beautiful dream. A piece of ice itself is +beautiful at times; but perhaps, as we stand and admire it, the sunshine +may steal down and melt it. Then we find that we love the sunshine even +more than we loved the ice. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"It is not every sailor who has the luck to be captain, or, to speak +more correctly, master, of so fine a sailing craft as the _Sea Flower_, +at the age of twenty-six. But such had been my fortune; and I had +sailed the seas in her for six long years, and, with the exception of +the few accidents inseparable from a life at sea, I had never had a +serious mishap. Many a wild gale had we weathered in her, my mate and +I; many a dark and tempestuous night had we staggered along under bare +poles; more than once had we sprung a leak, and twice had we been on +fire. + +"But all ended well, and during our brief spells on shore, either in +England or in some foreign port, though James and I always managed to +enjoy ourselves in our own quiet way, yet neither he nor I was sorry +when we got back home again to our bonnie barque, and were once more +afloat on the heaving sea. + +"James was perhaps more of a sailor than I. Well, he was some years my +senior, and he was browner and harder by far, and every inch a man. And +though a very shy one, as far as female society is concerned, he was a +very bold one nevertheless. But for his courageous example on the night +of our last fire, the _Sea Flower_ would have helped to swell the list +of those ships that go to sea and are heard of no more. + +"When we were taken aback in a white squall in the Indian Ocean, and it +verily seemed that we had but a few minutes to float, James was here, +there, and everywhere, his manly voice, calm and collected, ringing high +above the roaring of the wind and the surging of the terrible seas. The +very fire of his bravery on that occasion affected the men, and they +worked as only bold men can work in face of death and danger, till our +craft was once more righted and tearing along before the wind. + +"And just as brave on shore as afloat was sturdy James Malone. + +"When our steward was attacked by fifty spear-armed savages on shore at +the Looboo Island, my mate seized a club that a gorilla could hardly +have wielded, and fought his way through the black and vengeful crowd, +till he reached and saved our faithful steward. + +"And, that day, it was not until he had almost reached the ship that he +told me, with that half-shy and quiet smile of his, that he believed he +was slightly wounded. Then he fainted dead away. + +"I nursed poor James back to health. Yes, but more than once, both +before and after that event, he nursed me, and I doubt if even a brother +could have been half so kind as my mate James. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"For many a long year, then, James and I had sailed the salt seas +together. Without James sitting opposite me at the table at breakfast +or at dinner, the neatly painted and varnished saloon, with all its +glittering odds and ends, wouldn't have seemed the same. Without James +sitting near me on the quarterdeck on black-dark evenings in the +tropics, I should have felt very strange and lonesome indeed. + +"But James and I didn't agree on every subject on which we conversed. +Had we done so, conversation would have lost its special charm. No, he +aired his opinions and I shook out mine. There were times when I +convinced James; there were times when James convinced me; there were +times when neither convinced the other, and then we agreed to differ. + +"`Very well, sir,' James would say, `you has your 'pinions, and I has +mine. You keeps to your 'pinions, and I sticks to mine.' + +"It will be noted that James's ordinary English would scarcely have +passed muster in the first families of Europe. But, like many of his +class, James could talk correctly enough when he set himself the task. +But there was no better sailor afloat for all that, and on the stormiest +night or squalliest day I always felt safe when my first mate trod the +planks. + +"James could tell a good story too, and I used to keep him at it of an +evening--any evening save Sunday. On Sunday, James did nothing in the +intervals of duty except read the Bible--the `Good Book,' as he called +it. This New Testament was one of those large type editions which very +old people use. + +"His mother--dead and gone--had left him that Book, and also her +gold-rimmed specs, and it was interesting, on a Sunday afternoon, to see +James sitting solemnly down to the Book, and shipping those specs +athwart his nose. + +"`What on earth,' I said once to him, `do you use the specs for, my +friend?' + +"When James looked up at me, half-upbraidingly, those eyes of his, seen +through the powerful lenses, looked as big and wild and round as a +catamount's. It was unearthly. + +"`My mother bade me. Would you disobey your mother?' + +"This was a bombshell, and I said no more. + +"But there was one subject on which James and I never disagreed--namely, +`the ladies,' as he called women folks. `They are deceitful above all +things, and desperately wicked,' James would say, `and I means to steer +clear on 'em.' And James always did. + +"There was one pleasure James and I had in common--namely, witnessing a +good tragedy on the boards of Liverpool theatre. You see this was our +port of destination on our return from the far, far south. Mind, we +wouldn't go to see a drama, because there might be too much nonsensical +love business in it, and too many of `the frivolous antics of women'-- +James's own words. But in a tragedy the women often came to grief, +which James thought was only natural. + +"So we chose tragedy. + +"Now, one night at this same theatre, I had one of the strangest +experiences of my life; and never yet have I found any one who could +explain it. + +"James and I had gone early that evening, because there was something +specially tragic on, and we desired to secure good seats. We sat in the +front row, and at the left end of the row, because we wished to leave +the theatre between each act to enjoy a few whiffs of tobacco. + +"The play was well begun, and my eyes were riveted on the stage. There +was a momentary silence, and during this time I was sensible, from a +slight rustling noise, that the private box behind and above me was +being occupied. + +"Did you ever hear psychologists mention the term or feeling `ecstasy'? +That was what stole over me now. For a few minutes I saw nothing on the +stage; only a feeling of intense happiness, such as I have seldom +experienced since that night, stole over me, occupying, bathing, I may +say, my whole soul and mind. + +"I turned at last, and my eyes met those of a young lady in that private +box. Never before had I seen such radiant beauty. Never had I been +impressed with beauty of any kind before. My heart almost stood still. +It was really an awful moment--that is, if intense happiness can ever be +awful. + +"Well, if it is possible for a sailor, with a face as brown as the back +of a fiddle, to blush, I blushed. She, too, I think, coloured just a +little. + +"What was it? What could it mean? + +"I know not how I sat out the act. When I rose with James to go out, I +dared one other glance towards the box. The lady had gone, and a +feeling of coldness crept round my heart. I felt as depressed now as I +had recently felt happy. + +"`James,' I said, `take me home, I--I believe I'm ill.' + +"`Why,' said James, `you look as though you had seen a ghost.' + +"I got home. Something, I knew not what, was going to happen; but all +that night dream after dream haunted my pillow, and of every dream, the +sweet young face I had seen in the private box was the only thing I +could remember when daylight broke athwart the eastern sky." + +Book 2--CHAPTER FOUR. + +"DEAR, UNSELFISH, BUT SOMEWHAT SILLY FELLOW." + +"I never had a secret from James Malone; no, not so much as one. Had I +known what was the matter with me on the evening before, I should have +told James manfully and in a moment. + +"But when he came to my rooms in the morning, to share my humble +breakfast, and consult about the duties of the day, we being just then +fitting out for sea,-- + +"`James,' I began-- + +"And then--well, then I told him all the story, even down to my strange +dreams and the sweet young face that had haunted them. + +"`Why, James,' I concluded, `I have only to close my eyes now to see her +once again, and I can neither read nor write without thinking of her.' + +"James sat silently beholding me for fully a minute. His face was +clouded, and pity and anxiety were in every lineament of his manly +features. + +"`I'm taken aback,' he stammered at last. `White squalls is nothin' to +it. Charlie Halcott, you're _in love_. It's an awful, fearful thing. +No surgical operation can do anything for you. It's worse by far than I +thought. A mild touch of the cholera would be mere moonshine to this. +A brush wi' Yellow Jack wouldn't be a circumstance to it. O Halcott, +Halcott! O Charlie! what _am_ I to do with you?' + +"`James,' I interrupted, `light your pipe. Did _you_ see the beautiful +vision--the lovely child?' + +"`I followed your eyes.' + +"`And what saw you, James?' I asked, leaning eagerly towards him. + +"`I saw what appeared to be--a woman. Nothin' more and nothin' less.' + +"`James, did you not notice her blue and heavenly eyes, that seemed to +swim in ether; her delicately pencilled eyebrows; the long lashes that +swept the rounded rosy cheeks; her golden hair like sunset's glow; her +little mouth; her lips like the blossom of the blueberry, and the +delicate play of her mobile countenance?' + +"`Delicate play of a mobile marling-spike!' cried James, jumping up. He +rammed a piece of paper into his pipe and thrust it into his pocket. + +"`Charles Halcott, I'm off,' he cried. + +"`Off, James?' + +"`Yes, off. Every man Jack shall be on board the _Sea Flower_ to-day, +bag and baggage. We'll drop down stream to-morrow morning early, ship a +pilot, and get away to sea without more ado.' + +"He was at the door by the time he had finished but he stopped a moment +with a look of wondrous pity on his handsome face, then came straight +back and clasped my hand in brotherly affection, and so, without another +word, walked out and away. + +"Now, I was master of the _Sea Flower_, but in the matter of sailing +next day--three or four whole days before I had intended--I should no +more have thought of gainsaying honest James Malone than of disobeying +my father had he been alive. James was acting towards me with true +brotherly affection, quite disinterestedly in my behalf, and--_quien +sabe_?--probably saving me from a lifetime's misery. + +"I would be advised by James. + +"So after he had left, and I had smoked in solitary sadness for about an +hour, I rose with a sigh, and commenced throwing my things together in +the great mahogany sea-chest that while afloat stood in my state-room, +and which on shore I never travelled without. + +"For the whole of that forenoon I wandered about the streets of +Liverpool, looking chiefly at the photographers' windows. I was +bewitched, and possessed some faint hope of seeing a photograph of her +who had bewitched me. I even entered the shops under pretence of +bargaining for a likeness of my sailor-self, and looked over their books +of specimens. + +"Had I come across her picture, the temptation to purchase it would, I +fear, have proved irresistible. + +"Suddenly I pulled myself taut up with a round turn, and planked myself, +so to speak, on my mental quarterdeck before Commander Conscience. + +"`What are you doing, or trying to do, Charles Halcott?' said Commander +Conscience. + +"`Only trying,' replied Charles Halcott, `to procure a photograph of the +loveliest young lady on earth, whose eyes shine like stars in beauty's +night.' + +"`Don't be a fool, Charles Halcott. Are you not wise enough to know +that, even if you procure this photograph, you will have to keep it a +secret from honest James Malone? His friendship is better far than love +of womankind. Besides,' added Commander Conscience, `you need no +photograph. Is not the image of the lady who has bewitched you +indelibly photographed upon your soul? Charles Halcott, I am ashamed of +you!' + +"I stood at a window for a few minutes, looking sheepish enough; then I +threw temptation to the winds, put about, and sailed right away back to +my chambers, studding-sails set low and aloft. + +"I finished packing, saw my owners in the afternoon, and when James came +off to the ship he found me quietly smoking my biggest pipe in the +saloon of the _Sea Flower_. + +"He smiled now. + +"`Better already,' he said; `His name be praised!' + +"James was a strange man in some ways. This was one: he thanked Heaven +for every comfort, even the slightest, and did nothing without, in a +word or two, asking a blessing thereon. + +"In three days' time we were staggering southwards, and away across +Biscay's blue bay, with every inch of canvas set. And a pretty sight we +were--our white sails flowing in the sunshine--the sea as blue as the +sky, and the waves sparkling around us as if every drop of water +contained a diamond. + +"All the way to the Cape, and farther, James treated me as tenderly and +compassionately as if I had been an invalid brother. He never +contradicted me even once. He used to keep me talking and yarning on +the quarterdeck, when he wasn't on watch, for whole hours at a stretch; +and in the evenings, when tired spinning me yarns, he would take his +banjo and sing to me old sea-songs in his bold and thrilling voice. And +James could sing too; there were the brine, and the breeze, and the +billows' roll in every bar of the grand old songs he sang, and indeed I +was never tired of listening to them. Sometimes I closed my eyes as I +sat in my easy-chair; then James's banjo notes grew softer and softer, +and ever so much farther away like, till at last it was ghostly music, +and I was in the land of dreams. + +"When I awoke, perhaps it would be four bells or even six, and there +would be James, with his specs athwart his great jibboom of a nose, +poring earnestly over his mother's Bible. + +"`You've had a nice little nap,' he would say cheerfully. `Now you'll +toddle off to your bunk, and when you're safe between the sheets I'll +bring you a tiny little drop of rum and treacle.' + +"Poor James! Rum and treacle was his panacea for every ill; and yet I +don't believe any one in the wide world ever saw James the worse of even +rum and treacle. + +"When we got as far as to Madeira, he proposed we should anchor here for +a few days and dispose of some of our notions. Notions formed our +cargo; and notions must be understood to mean, Captain Weathereye, all +kinds of jewellery and knick-knacks, including table-knives and forks, +watches, strings of bright beads, cotton cloths, parasols, and guns. +Now I knew very well that we could easily dispose of all our cargo at +the Cape and other parts; but I also knew very well that James's main +object in stopping at Madeira was to give me a few delightful days on +shore. + +"This was part of the cure, and I had to submit with the best grace I +could. + +"We had, at that time, as handy and good a second mate as any one could +wish on the weather side of a quarterdeck. So it was easy enough for +myself and James to leave the ship both at the same time, though this +had very seldom been our custom, except when in dock or in harbour. + +"To put it in plain language, James did not seem to know how good to be +to me, nor how much to amuse me. The honest, simple soul kept talking +and yarning to me all the while, and pointing out this, that, and the +other strange thing to me, until I was obliged to laugh in his face. +But James was not offended; not he. He was working according to some +plan he had formulated in his own mind, and nothing was going to turn +him aside from his purpose. + +"About midday we entered the veranda of a cool and delightful hotel, and +seating ourselves at a little marble table, James called for cigars and +iced drinks. Then he proposed we should luncheon. No, he would pay, he +said; it was not often he had the honour or pleasure of lunching with +his captain, in a marble palace like this. So he pulled out an old sock +tied round with a morsel of blue ribbon, and thrusting his big brown paw +into it, brought forth money in abundance. + +"`Never been here before?' he asked me quietly. + +"`No,' I said; `strange to say I've touched at nearly every port in the +world except this place.' + +"`Well, I have,' said James, `and I'm going to put you up to the ropes.' + +"`Now,' he continued, when we stood once more under the greenery of the +trees that bordered the broad pavement, `will you have a hammock or a +horse?' + +"Not knowing quite what he meant, I replied that I would leave it to +him. + +"`Well,' he said, `this must be considered a kind of picnic, them's my +notions, and as you're far from well yet, I'll have a horse and you a +hammock.' + +"Both horse and hammock were soon brought round to the door. The +hammock was borne by two perspiring half-caste Portuguese, and was +attached to a pole, and on board I swung, while James got on board the +horse. The saddle was a hard and horrid contrivance of leather and +wood, the stirrups a pair of old slippers, and the horse himself--well, +he was a beautiful study in equine osteology, and I really did not know +which to pity most, James or his Rosinante. But in my hammock I felt +comfortably, dreamily happy. + +"We passed through the quaint old town of Funchal, then upwards, and +away towards the mountains. The day was warm and delightful--hot indeed +James must have found it, for he soon divested himself of coat and +waistcoat, and even then he had to pause at times to wipe his streaming +brow. The peeps at the beautiful gardens I caught while being carried +along were charming in the extreme; the verandaed and trellised villas, +canopied with flowers of every hue and shape, the bright green lawns +where fairy-like children played, and the flowering trees--the whole +forming ever-changing scenes of enchantment--I shall never forget. Then +the soft and balmy air was laden with perfume. + +"`How nice,' I thought, `to be an invalid! How kind of James to treat +me as one! And he jogging along there on that bony horse's back, with +the boy holding fast by the tail! Dear, unselfish, but somewhat silly +fellow!' + +"Upwards still, steeper and steeper the hill. And now we seemed to have +mounted into the very sky itself, and were far away from the tropics and +tropical flora. + +"We came at last to a table-land. For the life of me I could not help +thinking of the story of `Jack and the Bean-stalk.' Here gorgeous +heaths and heather bloomed and grew; here birds of sweet song flitted +hither and thither among the scented and the yellow-tasselled broom; and +here solemn weird-like pine-trees waved dark against the far-off ocean's +blue. + +"Under some of these trees, and close to the cliff, we disembarked to +rest. We were fully half a mile above the level of the sea. Yet not a +stone's throw from where we sat was the edge of the awful cliff that led +downwards without a break to that white line far beneath where the waves +frothed and fumed against the rocks. + +"But far as the eye could reach, till lost in distance and merged into +the blue of the sky, lay the azure sea, with here and there a sail, the +largest of which looked no bigger than a white butterfly with folded +wings. + +"A delicious sense of happiness stole over me, and for the first time, +perhaps, since leaving England I forgot the sweet young face that had so +completely bewitched me. + +"I think I must have fallen asleep, for the next thing I was sensible of +was James tuning a broad guitar. + +"Then his voice was raised in song, and I closed my eyes again, the +better to listen. + +"Poor James, he played and sang for over an hour; no wild, wailing +sea-songs this time, however, but verses sweet and plaintive, and far +more in harmony with the notes of the sad guitar. The romance of our +situation, the stillness of our surroundings, unbroken save in the +intervals of song by the flitting of a wild bird among the broom, and +the low whisper of the wind through the pine-trees overhead, with the +balmy ozonic air from the blue ocean, continued to instil into my soul a +feeling of calm and perfect joy to which I had hitherto been a stranger. + +"Just as the sun was sinking like a great blood orange through a purple +haze that lay along the western horizon, James laughingly handed the +guitar to the boy who had carried it. Then laughing still--he was so +strange and good this James of mine--he pulled out a silver-mounted +flask and poured me out a portion of its contents. + +"It was a little rum and treacle. + +"`The dews of night isn't going to harm you after that,' said James. + +"Lights were glimmering here and there on the hills like glow-worms, and +far beneath us in the town, long before we reached the streets of +Funchal. + +"We went straight to the hotel and discharged both horse and hammock. + +"Then we dined. + +"I thought I should be allowed to go on board after this. Not that +there was the slightest hurry. + +"However, I was mistaken for once. James had not yet done with me for +the night. I had still another prescription of his to use; and as I +knew it was part and parcel of James's love cure, I could not demur. He +had given me so much pleasure on that day already, that when he asked me +to get up and follow him I did so as obediently as the little lamb +followed Mary. + +"But that he, James Malone, who feared womankind, if he did not +positively hate them, should lead me to a Portuguese ballroom of all +places in the world, surprised me more than anything. + +"I could hear the tinkling of guitars, the shuffling of feet, and the +music of merry, laughing voices, long before we came near the door. + +"I stopped short. + +"`James,' I said, `haven't you made some mistake?' + +"His only answer was a roguish laugh. + +"I repeated the question. + +"`Not a bit of it,' he answered gaily. + +"`Charlie Halcott,' he added, `if you were simply suffering from Yellow +Jack I'd hand you over to a doctor, but, Charles Halcott, it takes a +_man_ to cure love. And you've been sorely hit.' + +"This had been a day of surprises, but when I entered that ballroom +there came the greatest surprise of all. Those here assembled were not +so-called gentle-folks. They were the sons and daughters of the +ordinary working classes; but the taste displayed, the banks of flowers +around the orchestra, the gay bouquets and coloured lights along the +walls, the polished and not overcrowded floor, the romantic dresses of +the gallants that transported one back to the middle ages, the +snow-white costumes of the ladies, and, above all, their innocent, +ravishing beauty, formed a scene that reminded me strongly of stories I +had read in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. + +"I was almost ashamed of my humble attire, but the courtesy of the +master of ceremonies was charming. Would the strangers dance? Surely +the stranger sailors would dance? He would get us, as partners, the +loveliest senoritas in all the room. + +"So he did. + +"I forgot everything in that soft, dreamy waltz--everything save the +thrilling music and the sylph-like form of my dark-eyed partner, who +floated with me through the perfumed air, for surely our feet never +touched the floor. + +"But the drollest thing of all was this--James was dancing too. James +with his--well, I must not say aversion to, but fear and shyness of +womankind, was dancing; and I knew he was only doing so to encourage me. +A handsome fellow he looked, too, almost head and shoulders taller than +any man there, and broad and well-knit in proportion. The master of +ceremonies had got him a partner `for to match,' as he expressed it; +certainly a beautiful girl, with a wealth of raven hair that I had never +seen equalled, far less surpassed. I daresay she could dance lightly; +but James's waltzing was of a very solid brand indeed, and he swung his +pretty partner round the room in a way that seemed to indicate business +rather than pleasure. Several couples cannoned off James and went +ricochetting to the farther end of the room, and one went down. James +swung past me a moment after, apparently under a heavy press of canvas, +and as he did so I heard him say to his partner, referring to the couple +he had brought to deck,-- + +"`They should keep out o' the way, then, when people are dancing.' + +"The hours sped quickly by, as they always do in a ballroom, and by the +time James and I got on board the _Sea Flower_ four bells in the +middle-watch were ringing out through the still, dark night. But all +was safe and quiet on board. + +"I took a turn on deck to enjoy a cigar before going below, just by way +of cooling my brow. When I went down at last, why, there was James +seated at the table, his mother's Bible before him, and, as usual, the +awful specs across his nose. + +"Poor James, he was a strange man, but a sincere friend, as the sequel +will show." + +Book 2--CHAPTER FIVE. + +"TILL THE SEA GIVES UP ITS DEAD." + +From Madeira, where we stayed for many days, going on shore every +forenoon to sell some of our cargo to the shopkeepers, and every +afternoon for a long ride--horse and hammock--over some part or other of +this island of enchantment, sometimes finishing up with a dance--from +all this pleasure and delight, I say, we sailed away at last. + +"South and away we sailed, and in due time we reached and anchored off +Saint James's Town, Saint Helena. + +"Now, Saint Helena had not figured in our programme when we left Merry +England. But here we were, and a most delightful place I found it. +Hills and dells, mountains and glens; wild flowers everywhere; and the +blue eternal sea dotted with many a snow-white sail, engirdling all. +This, then, was the `lonely sterile rock in the midst of the wild +tempestuous ocean,' to which Napoleon had been banished. + +"James had been here before, although I had not, so everything was of +interest to me, and everything new. And my good mate determined to make +it as pleasant for me as possible. He seemed to know every one, and +every one appeared delighted to see him. Such remarks as the following +fell upon our ears at every corner:-- + +"`Well, you've got back again, James?' + +"`What! here you are once more, James, and welcome.' + +"`Dee--lighted to see you, certain--lee!' + +"`Ah! Jeames,'--this from a very aged crone, who was seated on a stone +dais near her door, basking in the warm, white sunshine--`ah! Jeames, +and sure the Lord is good to me. And my old eyes are blessed once more +wi' a sight o' your kindly face!' + +"`Glad to see you alive, Frilda. And look, I have got a pound of tea +for you. And I'll come to-night and read a bit out of my mother's Good +Book to you.' + +"`Bless you, Jeames--bless you, my boy.' + +"We went rambling all over the island that day. We visited the fort, +where James had many friends; then we went up a beautiful glen, and on +reaching the top we struck straight off at right angles, and a walk of +about half a mile took us to one of the most pleasantly situated farms I +have ever seen. It was owned by the farmer, a Scotsman of the name of +MacDonald. Nothing flimsy about this fine house. The walls were built +of sturdy stone, and must have been some feet thick, so that indoors in +the cheerful parlour it was cool and delightful, especially so with the +odour of orange blossom blowing through the open window and pervading +the whole room. + +"`Man, James, I'm so pleased. Here! Hi! Mrs Mac, where are you? +Here's James Malone, the honest, simple sumph come back again. Jamie, +man, ye must stop all night and give us a song.' + +"`We--ll--I--' + +"`No _wells_ nor _I's_ about it. And your friend here too.' + +"Mrs Mac was a very little body, with rosy cheeks, a merry voice, and +blue eyes that looked you through and through. + +"A little girl and boy came running in, and James soon had one on each +knee; and while I and MacDonald talked in the window recess, he was deep +in the mysteries of a mermaid story, his tiny audience listening with +wondering eyes and rosy lips apart. + +"Mrs Mac had gone bustling away to send in a dram of hollands, +cunningly flavoured with seeds and fruit rind. She disappeared +immediately again, to send orders down to James's Town for fish and +fowl. + +"Of course we would stay all night? + +"`Well,' I said, `the ship is safe, unless a tornado blows.' + +"`There will be no tornado, sir,' said Farmer Mac. + +"`I'll send off, then, and tell the second mate.' + +"`My henchman is at your service, Captain Halcott.' + +"`And look, see,' cried James, `just tell your henchman to bring my Good +Book and specs. I haven't the heart to disappoint old Mother Banks.' + +"`And the guitar,' I added. + +"`Well--well, yes.' + +"The children clapped their hands with glee, and Maggie, the girl, +pulled James's face towards her by the whiskers and kissed him. + +"We started next for Longwood and Napoleon's tomb. Maggie and Jack--ten +and nine years old respectively--came with us, and a right pleasant day +we spent. There were bright-winged birds flitting hither and thither in +the dazzling sunshine, and singing sweet and low in trees of darkest +green; but the happy voices of the children made sweeter music far to my +ears, and I'm sure to James's too. + +"All along the roadsides at some parts grew the tall cacti; they were +one mass of gorgeous crimson bloom, and here and there between, the +ground was carpeted with trailing blossoms white and blue; yet, in my +opinion, the laughing rosebud lips of Maggie and Jack's saucy eyes of +blue were prettier far than the flowers. + +"And here, on the top of the dingle or glen, and overlooking the sea, +were Napoleon's house and garden. + +"`Why, James,' I cried, `this isn't a dungeon any more than Saint Helena +is a rock. It strikes me--a simple sailor--that Nap must have had fine +times of it.' + +"`No, sir, no,' said James, shaking his head. `Plenty to eat and drink, +plenty o' good clothes to wear, but ah! Charles Halcott, he wasn't +free, and there burned inside him an unquenchable fire. When in action, +on the field, or on the march, he had little time to think; but here, in +this solitude, the seared conscience regained its softness, and in his +thoughts by day and in his dreams at the dead hours o' night, Charles +Halcott, rose visions of the terrible misery he brought on Europe, and +the black and awful deeds he did in Egypt. O sir, if you want to punish +a man, leave him alone to his conscience!' + +"James Malone was in fine form that evening at Farmer Mac's. He sang +and he yarned time about--the songs for the children, the yarns for us. +Parodying Tam o' Shanter, I might say:-- + + "`The nicht drave on wi' sangs and clatter, + Wi' childish glee, wi' bairnies' patter; + The sailor tauld his queerest stories, + The farmer's laugh was ready chorus; + Till, hark! the clock strikes in the hall + The wee short oor ayont the twal.' + +"Before dinner that evening simple James had gone to see old Mother +Banks, and he spent a whole hour with her. + +"`Good-bye, dear laddie,' she said, when he rose to leave; `I'll pray +for ye on the ragin' sea, but I know the Lord will never let me behold +ye again.' + +"And simple James's eyes were wet with tears as he held her skinny hand +for a moment, then dropped it and bore away up the street, never once +looking back, so full was his heart. + +"When the clock struck one, James shyly proposed a few moments' +devotion. Then he mounted the awful specs and opened the Good Book. + +"Half an hour after this, all in the great house were asleep, and not a +sound could I hear--for I lay long awake thinking--save the sighing of +the wind in the trees above my open jalousies, to me a very sweet and +soothing sound. + +"`Heigho!' I murmured to myself. `Will I _ever_ have a home on the +green earth, I wonder, or shall I die on the blue sea?' + +"Then I began to doze, and mingling with my waking thoughts came dreams +which proved that poor James's prescriptions had not yet been entirely +successful. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Just three weeks after this we were far away in the centre of the South +Atlantic Ocean, and bearing up for Rio de Janeiro. The sea around us +was of the darkest blue, but sparkling in the sunshine, and there was +just sufficient wind to gladden the heart of a sailor. + +"What induced James and me to change our plans and sail west instead of +south and east, I never could tell, though I have often thought about +it. A friend of mine says it was Fate, and that Fate often rules the +destinies of men, despite all that can be done to alter her plans and +intentions. This line of reasoning may be right; my friend is so often +right that I daresay it must be. + +"But one thing now occurred to me that at times rendered me rather +uneasy, and which, when I tried to describe it to James, caused that +honest sailor some anxiety also. I have spoken of it more than once to +so-called psychologists and even to so-called mediums; but their +attempted explanations, although seemingly satisfactory enough to +themselves, sounded to me like a mere chaos of words, the meaning of +which as a whole I never could fathom. But the mystery with me was +this: I seemed at times to be possessed of a second self, or rather, a +second soul. + +"I struggled against the feeling all I could, but in vain. James read +his mother's Bible to me, and otherwise, not in a spiritual way, he did +all he could to cheer me up, as he phrased it. But--and here comes in +the most curious part of it--I did not feel that I wanted any cheering +up. I was happy enough in the companionship of my second self. This +was not always present. Sometimes absent for days indeed, and never as +yet did it talk to me in my dreams. At other times it came, and would +be with me for hours; and it spoke to my mind as it were, I being +compelled to carry on a conversation, in thought, of course, but never +once did I have any notion beforehand as to what the remarks made were +to be. They were simple in the extreme, and usually had reference to +the working or guidance of the ship, the setting or shortening of sail, +and making the good barque snug for the night. + +"We called at Rio. The harbour here could contain all the war fleets in +the world; grand old hills; a city as romantic as Edinburgh--that is, +when seen from the sea--quaintness of streets, a wealth and beauty of +vegetation, of treescape and flowerscape, that I have never seen +equalled anywhere, and a quaintly dressed, quiet, and indolent people. + +"We landed much stores here and filled up with others. On the whole, +James and I were not sorry we had come, we drove such excellent +bargains. + +"Again, at Buenos Ayres, with its fine streets and public buildings, and +its miles upon miles of shallow sea all in front, we did trade enough to +please us. + +"`When I retire from sailing the salt seas, sir,' said James, `it's 'ere +and nowhere else I'm goin' to make my 'ome; and I only wish the old lady +were livin', for then I'd retire after the very next voyage.' + +"Shortly after resuming our voyage southwards towards the stormy Cape +Horn, we encountered gale after gale of wind that taxed all the strength +of our brave barque, as well as the skill of the officers and seamen. +Again and again had we to lie to for long dark days and nights; and when +we ventured to run before the storm, we had literally to stagger along +under bare poles. + +"But when we reached the Cape at last, and stood away to the west around +the bleak and inhospitable shores of Tierra del Fuego, or the Land of +Fire, never before in all the years I had been to sea had I encountered +weather so fearful or waves so high and dangerous. So stormy, indeed, +did it continue, that hardly did either James or I dare to hope we +should ever double the Cape. But we both had a sailor's aversion to +turning back, and so struggled on and on. + +"The danger seemed to culminate and the crisis come in earnest, when one +weird moonlight midnight we suddenly found ourselves bows on to a huge +iceberg, or rather one vast island of ice that appeared to have no +horizon either towards the north or towards the south. The barrier +presented seemed impassable. We could only try, so we put about on the +port tack, the wind blowing there with great violence from the west and +north. + +"This course took us well off the great ice island. It took us +southwards, moreover. + +"`But why not steer northwards?' said James. `We'd have to tack a bit, +it is true, only we'd be lessening our danger; leastways that's my +opinion. This berg may be twenty or thirty miles long, and every mile +brings us closer to great bergs that, down yonder, float in dozens. +Before now, Charles Halcott, I've seen a ship sunk in the twinkling of a +marling-spike by a--' + +"`By striking against a berg, James?' I interrupted. `So have I.' + +"`No, sir, no; you're on the wrong tack. Wherever big bergs are there +are small ones too--little, hard, green lumps of ice, not bigger than +the wheel-house, that to hit bows on would scarcely spill your tea. +But, friend, it is different where there are mountain seas on. These +little green bergs are caught by a wave-top and hurled against the +ship's side with the strength of a thousand Titans. And--the ship goes +down.' + +"There was something almost solemn in the manner James brought out the +last four words. It kept me silent for minutes; and shading my eyes +with my hand, I kept peering southwards into the weird-like moonshine, +the ice away on the right, a strange white haze to leeward, and far +ahead the foam-tipped waves, wild-maned horses of the ocean, careering +along on their awful course. + +"`James,' I said at last, `danger or not danger, southwards I steer. +Something tells me to do so; everything bids me. "Steer south--steer +south," chimes the bell when it strikes; "steer south," ticks the clock. +James Malone, my very heart's pulse repeats the words; and I hear them +mournfully sung by the very waves themselves, and by the wind that goes +moaning through the rigging. And--I'm going to obey.' + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"For nights I had hardly slept a wink, but now I felt as if slumber +would soon visit my pillow if I but threw myself on the bed. The moon, +a full round one, was already declining in the west when I went below +and turned in all standing, and in three minutes' time I had sunk into a +deep and dreamless sleep. + +"James told me afterwards that it had taken him one long minute of solid +shaking and shouting to arouse me, but he succeeded at last. + +"`Anything wrong, James?' I said anxiously, as I sat up in my cot. + +"`Can't say as there's anything radically wrong, sir,' he replied +slowly. `Leastways, our ship's all right. Wind and sea have both gone +down. We've doubled the berg at last, and a good forty mile she was, +and now we're nearing another. But the strange thing is this, sir. +There is men on it, a-waving their coats and things, and makin' signs. +I can just raise 'em with our Mons Meg glass.' + +"`Some natives of Tierra del Fuego, perhaps,' I said. `Anyhow, James,' +I added, `keep bearing up towards them.' + +"`Ay, ay, sir.' + +"In ten minutes' time I was on deck, glass in hand. + +"It was a grey uncertain morning, the sun just rising astern of us, and +tingeing the wave-tops with a yellow glare. + +"I could see the people on the ice with the naked eye. But I steadied +Mons Meg on the bulwark, and had a look through that. + +"`Mercy on us, James!' I cried, `these are no savages, but our own +countrymen or Americans. I can count five alive, and oh, James, three +lie at some little distance stretched out dark and stiff. Shake another +reef out--those people want us. A sad story will be theirs to tell.' + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"We got them all on board at last, though with difficulty, for the surf +was beating high above the snow-clad ice, and twice our boat was dashed +against the hard, green edge of the monster berg, her timbers cracking +ominously. We brought off the dead too, and buried them in a Christian +way, James himself reading over them the beautiful service of the +English Church. Though they were strangers to us, yet, as their bodies +dropped down into the darkling sea, many a tear was shed that our +fellows scarce took pains to hide. + +"`And there they'll sleep,' said a voice behind me, `till the sea gives +up its dead.' + +"I turned slowly round, and the eyes of the speaker met mine. Hitherto +I had paid most attention to the lifeless, and scarce had noticed the +living. + +"But now a strange thrill went through me as this man, who was the +skipper of the lost ship, advanced with a sad kind of smile on his face +and held out his hand. + +"`We have met before,' he said. + +"`We seem to have met before,' I answered falteringly, `but where I +cannot tell. Perhaps you--' + +"`Yes, I can; I have seen you in a dream. We must both have dreamt.' + +"I staggered as if shot, and pressed my hand to my brow. + +"`You seem puzzled,' he continued, `yet I am not. I am a man who has +studied science somewhat. I am often called a visionary on account of +my theories, yet I am convinced that there are times when, in answer to +prayer, the mind during sleep may be permitted to leave the body. You, +sir, have saved the few poor fellows of my ship's crew who have escaped +death, and I thank you. Think nothing strange, sir, in this world +simply because you do not understand it. But you have an errand of +mercy yet to perform. Heaven grant you may be as successful in that as +you have been in taking our poor helpless men from off the ice.' + +"`Come below,' I said, `Captain--a--' + +"`Smithson,' he put in. + +"`Come below, Captain Smithson, and tell your story. James, will you +bear us company?' + +"I and James sat on one side of the table, our guest, with his thin, +worn face and dark eyes that seemed to pierce us with their very +earnestness, on the other. He told his story rapidly--ran over it, as +it were, as a school-boy does something he has learned by heart. + +"`It is but little more than five weeks since the good yacht _Windward_ +cleared away from San Francisco--' + +"`James,' I said, interrupting him, `how long have we been at sea?' + +"`Wellnigh four months, sir.' + +"`How the time has flown! Pray, sir, proceed.' + +"`I have never known a quicker passage than we had. The wind was fair +all the way, and our little craft appeared to fly with it. But it fell +dead calm about the latitude of 20 degrees south of the line. My only +passengers--in fact, it was they who had chartered the _Windward_ to +take them to Monte Video--a lady and her daughter, began to be very +uneasy now. They had heard so much about the fleetness of the +_Windward_ that they never expected a hitch. No wonder they were +uneasy. Their business in Monte Video was a matter of life or death. +The doctor there had assured them that if they were not out by a certain +time, the husband and father would never again be seen by them alive. + +"`But the calm was not of long duration. Worse was to come--a tornado +burst upon us with awful fury, and all but sunk us. We were carried far +to the west out of our course. Fierce gales succeeded the tempest; and +when the wind once more sank to rest we found ourselves surrounded by a +group of islands that, although I have sailed the South Pacific for many +a long year, I had never seen before. + +"`That the natives of the largest and most beautiful of these islands +are savages and man-hunters I have not the slightest doubt. The king +himself came off, evincing not the slightest fear of us; but both he and +his people remained so strangely pacific that it excited our suspicions +for a time. We were glad, however, to be able here to repair damages +and to take on board fresh water; and the kindness of the natives was so +marked that our suspicions were entirely lulled, and for days we lived +almost among them, even going on shore unarmed in the most friendly way. + +"`I must tell you, sir, that, owing to the heat and closeness of the +atmosphere, a screen-berth or tent had been rigged for the ladies close +to the bulwark on the port side, and almost abreast of the main-mast. +The first part of the night of the tenth was exceedingly dark, and it +was also hot and sultry. The ladies had retired early, for a +thunderstorm that had been threatening about sunset broke over us with +tropical fury about ten by the clock, or four bells--the first watch. + +"`And now, sir, comes the mystery. The moon rose at twelve and silvered +all the sea, shedding its earth light upon the green-wooded hills of the +mainland till everything looked ethereal. Not a sound was to be heard, +except now and then the plaintive cry of a sea bird, and the dull, low +moan of the breakers on the coral sand. + +"`As was her custom just before turning in, the ladies' maid drew aside +their curtain to see if they wanted anything, and to say good-night. + +"`I was walking the quarterdeck smoking, when pale and scared she rushed +toward me. + +"`Oh!' she almost screamed, `they are gone! The ladies have gone!' + +"`No one thought of turning in that dreadful night; and when in the +morning the sun, red and flaming, leapt out of the sea, arming a boat as +well as I could, I rowed on shore and demanded audience of the king. + +"`But we were not allowed to land. The savages had assumed a very +different attitude now, and a shower of spears was our welcome. One +poor fellow was killed outright, another died of his wounds only an hour +afterwards. In fact, we were beaten off; and in an hour's time, +observing a whole fleet of boats coming off to attack our vessel, we +were forced to hoist sail and fly. + +"`That is my story, and a sad one it is. I was on my way to the nearest +town to seek assistance, when our vessel was crushed in the ice and sank +in less than twenty minutes, with all on board except those you have +seen.' + +"Smithson was silent now. With his chin resting on his hand he sat +there looking downwards at the deck, but apparently seeing nothing. For +many minutes not a word was spoken by any one. The vessel rose and fell +on the long, rolling seas; there was the creak of the rudder chains; +there was occasionally the flapping of a sail; all else was still. + +"James Malone was the first to speak. + +"`Charles Halcott,' he said--and I think I hear the earnest, manly tones +of his voice at this moment--`Charles Halcott, we have a duty to +perform, and it leads us to the northward and west.' + +"I stood up now, and our hands met and clasped. + +"`James Malone,' I replied, `Heaven helping us, we will perform that +duty faithfully and well.' + +"`Amen, sir! Amen!'" + +Book 2--CHAPTER SIX. + +"O MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER," I CRY. + +"That same forenoon," continued Halcott, "the wind went veering round to +the southward and east. The sea was darkly, intensely blue all day. +The sky was intensely blue at night, and the stars so big and bright and +near they seemed almost to touch the topmasts. But here and there in +the darkness, on every side of us, loomed white icebergs like sheeted +ghosts, and every now and then there rolled along our beam--thudding +against the timbers as they swept aft--the smaller bergs or `bilts' we +could not avoid. + +"James was on deck, and determined to remain there till morning, in +order, as he said, to give me the quiet and rest my health so much +required. + +"In two days' time we had weathered the stormy Cape, bidden farewell to +the ice, and, with every stitch of canvas set which it was possible to +carry safely, were sailing westward and north, away towards the distant +islands of the South Pacific. + +"In a few days we got into higher latitudes, and the weather became +delightfully warm and pleasant. The sky was more than Italian in its +clear and cloudless azure; the rippling waves were all a-sparkle with +light; they kissed the bows of our bonnie barque, and came lapping and +laughing aft along our counter, their merry voices seeming to talk to us +and bid us welcome to these sunny seas. + +"Birds, too, came wheeling around our ship--strange, swift gulls, the +lonesome frigate-bird, and the wondrous albatross, king of storms, great +eagle of the ocean wave. + +"Had we not been upon the strange mission on which we were now bound, +and the outcome of which we could not even guess, both James and I would +have enjoyed this delightful cruise; for, like myself, he was every inch +a sailor, and loved his ship as a landsman may love his bride. + +"`In five days' time,' said Captain Smithson to me one forenoon, `if it +holds like this, we ought to reach the Unfortunate Islands.' + +"`Is that what you call them, captain?' I said, smiling; `well, my +first mate and I mean to change their name.' + +"`Heaven grant you may,' he answered. `O sir, the loss of this yacht, +clipper though she was, and a beauty to boot, is nothing to mourn for-- +she was well insured; even the death of my poor men is but an accident +that we sailors are liable to at any moment; but the fate of those two +innocent ladies--the mother so good and gentle, the daughter so +childlike and beautiful--is one that, if it is to remain a mystery, will +cloud my whole life. Think of it, sir. The savages must have crept on +board in the midst of the thick darkness and the storm, crept on board +like wet and slimy snakes, gagged their poor victims, and borne them +silently away--to what?' + +"`It is all very terrible,' I said. + +"`Well, now,' said James, `it strikes me talkin' about it isn't goin' to +help us. Charles Halcott, I served on board a man-o'-war for seven +years.' + +"`Yes, James.' + +"`Well, sir, I know what they'd do now in a case like this.' + +"`Yes, James.' + +"`They'd muster their forces, and prepare for 'ventualities.' + +"`You see, gentlemen,' he added, `we may have a bit o' good, solid +fightin' to do. Heaven knows that, if it would do any good, I'd gird up +my loins and go all unarmed, save with the Word o' God--my mother's +Bible--among those poor, benighted heathens, and try to bring 'em to +their senses. But I fear that would do but little good. When we go +among the more humble and simple savages of lonely islands in the sea, +or on the mainland of Africa itself, our work o' conversion is easy, +because the creatures have no form o' religion to place against the +gospel. But these head-hunters--and I know them of old--have their own +ghastly, blood-stained rites and sacrifices--I cannot call it religion, +sir--and these they set up as an awful barrier against the glad tidings +we fain would bring to their doors, to their lives. + +"`No, gentlemen, we may have to crack skulls before we get the Word in. +But to save those helpless ladies Is a duty, a sacred duty we owe to our +own white race, as well as to our own consciences, for we'd ne'er be +happy if we didn't try.' + +"`Heaven grant,' I said, `they may still be alive!' + +"`That we must find out,' said James. `Now, sir, shall we call all +hands, and see to rifles and ammunition?' + +"James's suggestion was at once acted upon. + +"The _Sea Flower_ was a very large barque, and once had been a +full-rigged ship. And our hands were more numerous than are generally +carried, for many were working their voyage out, and might have been +called passengers. + +"So now forty bold fellows, including two strong and sturdy black men, +and the negro boy we called the cook's mate, put in an appearance, and +drew shyly aft. There were, in addition to these, Captain Smithson and +his four men. + +"But these latter we determined the savages must not see, else their +suspicions would at once be raised, and, instead of our being able to +act peacefully and by strategy, we should have at once to declare +red-eyed war. + +"`Will you speak first?' I said to Captain Smithson. + +"Without a word he strode forward, and, when he held up his hand, the +men came crowding round him. + +"`Men of the _Sea Flower_!' he began, `I am going to tell you a story. +It is short and simple, but also a very sad one. Maybe you know most of +the outs and ins and particulars of it already. My men must have told +you all about our voyage and our lady passengers.' + +"`Repeat, repeat!' cried the men; `we would have it all again from your +own lips, sir.' + +"Briefly and pathetically Smithson did so, relating to them all the +particulars we already know. + +"`Men,' he continued, `you are Christians, and you are Englishmen. It +is on this latter fact I rely chiefly, in case we have to fight with the +savages of those Unfortunate Islands. The elder of the two ladies we +are going to try to save is English, though she married an American, +though her home was on the Pacific slope, and her innocent and beautiful +daughter was born in San Francisco. They are your country-people, then, +as much as ours. But, apart from that, when I say they are women in +bondage and distress, I have said enough, I know, to appeal to the brave +heart of every Englishman who now stands before me.' + +"A wild, heroic shout was the only reply. + +"`Thank you,' said Smithson, `for that expression of feeling! and I will +only add that these ladies, especially the younger, were, all the way +out, the light and life of our poor, lost yacht, and that, by their +winning ways, they made themselves beloved both fore and aft.' + +"`Now, lads,' cried James, and as he spoke he seemed a head taller than +I had ever seen him, `if we've got to fight, why, then, we'll fight. +But against these terrible savages we can't fight with porridge-sticks. +Luckily, in our cargo we have a hundred good rifles, and that is two for +each of us; and we have revolvers, too, and plenty of ammunition. All +good, mind you; for I chose the whole cargo myself. So now, bo's'n, +pipe up the guns; and this afternoon, men, and every day till we touch +at the Unfortunate Islands, I'll put you through your drill--which, +bein' an old navy man, I fancy I'm capable of doing. Are you all +willing?' + +"The cheer that shook the ship from stem to stern was a truly British +one. It was their only answer, and the only answer needed or required. + +"So the drilling was commenced, and entered into with great spirit. +After all, this drill was merely preparation for `possible +'ventualities,' as honest James called it, for fighting would be our +very last resort, and we earnestly prayed that we might not be driven to +it. + +"At last, and early one morning, just as the sun was beginning to pencil +the feathery clouds with gold and green and crimson, land was discovered +on the lee bow. + +"I brought the big telescope which James had named Mons Meg to bear upon +it. Then I handed Meg to Smithson. He looked at the land long and +earnestly, and glanced up at me with beaming face. + +"`That's the principal island, Captain Halcott,' he said; `the king's +own. How well we have hit it!' + +"That same forenoon we cast anchor in Treachery Bay, close to the spot +where the yacht had lain not many weeks before. + +"Our sails were furled in quite a business-like way. We wanted to show +the savages that we were not one whit afraid of them, that we had come +to stay for a short spell, and hadn't the remotest intention of running +away. + +"That you may better understand the shape or configuration of this +strange island, gentlemen, here I show you a rough sketch-map. This +will enable you also to follow more easily our subsequent adventures in +the fastnesses of these terrible savages. + +"Rude and simple though this plan is, a word or two will suffice to +explain it. The island trends west and east, and is not more than +sixteen miles long by about ten to twelve in width. It is divided into +two almost equal parts by a very rapid and dark-rolling river, which +rushes through rocky gorges with inconceivable speed, forming many a +thundering cataract as it fights its way to the sea. It is fed from the +waters that flow from the mountains, and, probably, by subterranean +springs. The whole western portion of the island, with the exception of +some green woods around the bay, is pretty low, but covered throughout +with the remains of a black and burned forest. This forest is supposed +by the natives to be inhabited by fearsome demons and witches, and is +never visited, except for the purpose of sorcery by the medicine-men of +the tribe, and to bury the dead. In the centre of the eastern portion +of the island, which is beautifully clad with woodlands, and rugged and +wild in the extreme, is a lake with one small, lonely isle; and around +this the mountains tower their highest, but are clad to their very +summits with forest trees, many of them bearing the most luscious of +fruits, and all draped with wild flowers, and sweetly haunted by bird +and bee. + +"The only things else in the map I wish to draw your attention to, +gentlemen, are the parallel lines. These mark the spot where was the +only bridge leading into the fastnesses of these savages, and the only +mode of communication with the lower land and bay, without walking round +by the head of the river, or following its course to the sea and +crossing in a boat. + +"This bridge was primitive in the extreme, consisting merely of three +straight tree stems, and a rude life-line composed of the twisted withes +of a kind of willow. + +"I have sad reason to remember that bridge, and shall not forget it +while life lasts. + +"I have said nothing in my story yet about Lord Augustus Fitzmantle. +But it is time to do so. Lord Augustus was our cook's mate. It is well +to give a nigger boy a high-sounding name, and, if possible, a title. +He always tries to act up to it. Lord Augustus was very, very black. +The other niggers were black enough certainly, but they looked brown +beside his merry, laughing little lordship. Yes, always laughing, +always showing those white teeth of his and rolling his expressive eyes, +and good-tempered all day long. Even a kick from the cook only made him +rub a little and laugh the more. Lord Augustus wore a string of +sky-blue beads about his neck, and on warm days he wore very little +else. But if Lord Augustus was black, he was also bright. The sunshine +glittered and glanced on his rounded arms and cheeks, and he had +sunshine in his heart as well. It goes without saying he was the pet of +the _Sea Flower_ and everybody's friend, and though all hands teased as +well as petted him, he took it all in good part. + +"So long as Lord Fitzmantle kept his mouth shut, and didn't show those +flashing teeth of his, he was as invisible as Jack the Giant Killer on a +dark night. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Seeing our independence, the savages for hours held aloof. At last a +white-headed, fearful-looking old man paddled alongside in a dug-out. +From the fact that he had a huge snake coiled around his chest and neck, +I took him to be the medicine-man, or sorcerer, of the tribe, and I was +not mistaken. + +"He was certainly no beauty as he sat there grinning in his dark +dug-out. His face was covered with scars in circles and figures, so, +too, was his chest; his eyes were the colour of brass; his teeth +crimson, and filed into the form of triangles. But he climbed boldly on +board when beckoned to, and we loaded him with gifts of pretty beads, +and engirdled his loins with red cloth, then sent him grinning away. + +"This treatment had the desired effect, and in half an hour's time the +bay was alive with the boats and canoes of the head-hunters. Each of +their tall, gondola-like prows bore a grinning skull, the cheek bones +daubed with a kind of crimson clay, and the sockets filled with awful +clay eyes--not a pretty sight. + +"Presently the king himself came off, and we received him with great +ceremony, and gave him many gifts. To show our strength, James drew up +his men in battle array, and to the terror of all in the boats, they +fired their guns, taking aim at some brown and ugly kites that flew +around. When several of these fell dead, the alarm of the king knew no +bounds. But he soon recovered; and when, a little later on, I with a +dozen of my best men went on shore, the king placed a poor slave girl on +the beach and made signs for us to shoot. I would sooner have shot the +king himself. + +"Lord Augustus came with us, and we soon found that he understood much +that the king said, and could therefore act as our interpreter. + +"It is needless to say that the men of the lost yacht were kept out of +sight. + +"Our walk that day was but a brief one. The king did not seem to want +us ever to cross the bridge. On climbing a hill, however, I could see +all over the wild and beautiful country. I pointed to the lake and +little island, and was given to understand that the medicine-men dwelt +there. But from the shiftiness of the savage's eyes, I concluded at +once that, if they were alive, that was the prison isle of the unhappy +ladies. The king dined with us next day, and we considered it policy to +let him have a modicum of fire-water. His heart warmed, and not only +did he permit our party to cross the bridge, but to visit his palace. +The sights of horror around it I will not dare to depict, but, much to +my joy, I noticed from the king's veranda the flutter of white dresses +on the little prison isle. + +"My mind was made up, and that night I dispatched Lord Augustus on shore +with a note. It was a most hazardous expedition, and none save the boy +could have undertaken it with any hope of success. In my letter I had +told the ladies to be of good cheer; there would be a glimmer of +moonlight in a week's time, and that then we should attempt their +rescue; anyhow they were to be prepared. + +"Three whole days elapsed, and yet no Lord Augustus appeared, but on the +night of the fourth, when we had given him up for lost, he swam off to +the ship. Poor boy, he had hardly eaten food, save fruit, since he had +left, and his adventure had been a thrilling one. Yet he was laughing +all over just the same. + +"Yes, he had managed to give the note, and had brought back a message. +The ladies had not, strange to say, been subjected to either insult or +injury by the king. They were well fed on fruit and milk and cooked +fowls, but were guarded day and night by priests. + +"The most startling portion of the message, however, was this: in a +fortnight's time a great feast and sacrifice were to take place, and +during that they knew not what might occur. They begged that the boy +might be sent again, and with him a sleeping-powder, which they might +administer to the priests on the night of the attempted rescue. I +confess my heart beat high with anxiety when the boy told us all this, +for not one word of his message had he forgotten. + +"I consulted now with James and Smithson. Would it not be as well, I +advanced, to attempt to rescue the ladies by force? + +"This was at once vetoed. Both James and the captain of the yacht knew +more of savage nature than I did, and they most strongly affirmed that +any show of force would assuredly result in the putting to death of the +two unhappy ladies we had come to rescue. + +"So it was finally agreed that stratagem, not force, must be resorted +to, in the first place, at all events. So a night was chosen, and on +the previous evening faithful Lord Fitzmantle was dispatched once more, +taking with him a powder for the medicine-men, or priests. + +"To our great joy and relief, the messenger returned before daylight +with the news that all would be ready, and that they, the ladies, would +be found at midnight in a cave by the banks of the lake, if they were +successful in escaping in a canoe from the island. + +"`And you know this cave, Fitz?' I asked. + +"Fitz's eyes snapped and twinkled right merrily. + +"`I done know him, him foh true, sah!' he said, which signified that he +had a perfect knowledge of the position of the cave. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"As I speak to you even now, gentlemen, a portion of the anxiety I felt +on that terrible night when, with muffled oars, our boat left the ship, +comes stealing over my senses. I could not tell then why my feelings +should be worked up to so high a pitch, for I'd been in many a danger +and difficulty before. But so it was. + +"The king had dined with us, and we sent home with him a supply of +fire-water, which has worked such ruin among many savage races. But +surely on this occasion we were partially justified in doing so. We +knew, therefore, that the king and some of his principal officers were +safe enough for one night. + +"The largest boat was cautiously lowered about an hour before midnight, +when everything was still as the grave on the island; a long and +plaintive howl, however, being borne on the gentle breeze towards us +every now and then, telling us that sentries were here and there in the +woods. + +"We were fifteen men in all, including James and myself, and excluding +our little black guide, Lord Fitzmantle. During the nights of terror he +had spent in hill and forest he had surveyed the country well, and so we +could safely trust to him. + +"We rowed with muffled oars to the beach near the haunted forest, and +drew up our boat under some banana-trees; then, silent as the red men of +the North American forests, we made our way towards the bridge. + +"The moon was about five days old, and served to give us all the light +we desired. We took advantage of every bush and thicket, and finally, +when within seventy yards of the river--the hustling and roaring of +which we could distinctly hear--we dispatched little Fitz to +reconnoitre. + +"He returned in a few minutes and reported all safe, and no one on watch +upon the bridge. + +"We marched now in Indian file, taking care not even to snap a twig, +lest we should arouse the slumbering foe. I do not know how long we +took to reach the cave. To me, in my terror and anxiety, it seemed a +year. They were there, and safe. + +"We waited not a moment to speak. I lifted the young lady in my arms. +How light she was! James escorted the elder, sometimes carrying her, +sometimes permitting her to walk. + +"Then the journey back was commenced. + +"But in the open a glimmer of moonlight fell on the face of the +beautiful burden I bore. She had fainted. That I could see at a +glance. + +"But something more I saw, and, seeing, tottered and nearly fell; for +hers was the same lovely and childlike face I had seen that evening, +which now appeared so long ago, in the Liverpool theatre. + +"I felt now as if walking in the air. But I cannot describe or express +my feelings, being only a sailor, and so must not attempt to. + +"We might have still been a hundred yards from the bridge and river, +when suddenly there rang out behind and on each side of us the most +awful yells I had ever listened to, while the beating of tom-toms, or +war-drums, sounded all over the eastern part of the island. + +"`On, men, on to the bridge!' shouted brave James. No need for +concealment now. + +"It was a short but fearful race, but now we are on it, on the bridge! + +"On and over! + +"All but James! + +"Where is he? The moon escapes from behind a cloud and shines full upon +his sturdy form, still on the other side, and at the same time we can +hear the sharp ring of his revolver. Then, oh! we see him tearing up +the planks of the bridge, and dropping them one by one into the gulf +beneath. We pour in a volley to keep the savages back. + +"`Fly for your lives!' shouts brave James. `Save the ladies; I'll +swim.' + +"Next minute he dives into the chasm! For one brief moment we see his +face and form in the pale moonlight. Then he disappears. He is gone. + +"`O my friend, my brother!' I cry, stretching out my arms as if I would +plunge madly into the pool that lies far beneath yonder, part in shade +and part in shine. + +"But they dragged me away by main force. They led me to the boat. The +savages could not follow. But I seemed to see nothing now, to know +nothing, to feel nothing, except that I had lost the dearest friend on +earth. He had sacrificed himself to save us!" + +Book 2--CHAPTER SEVEN. + +"I THINK YOU'RE GOING ON A WILD-GOOSE CHASE." + +Halcott paused, and gazed seawards over the great stretch of wet beach. + +So wet was it that the sun's parting rays lit it up in great stripes of +crimson chequered with gold. + +And yonder are the children coming slowly home across these painted +sands. + +A strange group, most certainly, but united in one bond of union--oh, +would that all the world were so!--the bond of love. + +The brother's arm is placed gently around his sister's waist; the +Admiral is stepping drolly by Ransey's side, with his head and neck +thrust through the lad's arm. + +Something seems to tell the bird that fate, which took away his master +before, might take him once again. + +Bob brings up the rear. His head is low towards the sands, but he feels +very happy and satisfied with his afternoon's outing. + +Halcott once more lit his pipe. + +The two others were silent, and Mr Tandy nodded when Halcott smiled and +looked towards him. + +"Yes," he said, "there is a little more of my story yet untold; there is +a portion of it still in the future, I trust. With this, however, +destiny alone has to do. Suffice it to say, that as far as Doris and +myself--my simple sailor-self--are concerned, we shall be married when I +return from my next cruise, if all goes well, and, like two vessels +leaving the harbour on just such a beautiful night as this, sail away to +begin our voyage of life on just such a beautiful sea. + +"You must both know Doris before I start. But where, think you, do I +mean to sail to next? No, do not answer till I tell you one thing. +Neither Doris nor her mother received, while in that little lake island, +the slightest injury or insult." + +"Then there is some good in the breast of even the wildest savage," put +in Weathereye. "I always thought so; bother me if I didn't. Ahem!" + +"Ah, wait, Captain Weathereye, wait! I fear my experience is different +from yours. Those fiendish savages on that Isle of Misfortune were +reserving my dear Doris and her mother for a fate far more terrible than +anything ever described in books of imagination. + +"We rescued them, by God's mercy, just in time. They were then under +the protection of the awful priests, or medicine-men, and were being fed +on fruits and on the petals of rare and beautiful flowers. Their hut +itself was composed of flowers and foliage. + +"The king, no, not even he, could come near them, until the medicine-men +had propitiated the demons that live, according to their belief, in +every wood and in every ravine and gully in the island. + +"Then, at the full of the moon, on that tiny islet I have marked on the +map, the king and his warriors would assemble at midnight, and the awful +orgies would commence. + +"I shudder even now when I think of it. I happily cannot describe to +you the tortures these poor ladies would have been put to before the +final, fearful act. But the king would drink `white blood.' He would +then be invulnerable. No foe could any more prevail against him. + +"While the blood was still flowing, the stake-fires would-be lit, and-- + +"But I'll say no more; a cannibal feast would have concluded the +ceremonies." + +"You mean to say," cried Weathereye, bringing his fist, and a good-sized +one it was, down with a bang on the sill of the open window by which he +sat--"do you mean to tell me that these devils incarnate would have +burned the poor dear ladies alive, then? Oh, horrible!" + +"I said that they meant to; but look at this!" + +He handed Weathereye a small yellow dagger. + +"What a strange little knife! But why, I say, Halcott, Tandy, this +knife is made of gold--solid, hammered gold!" + +"Yes," said Halcott; "and it is this dagger of hammered gold that would +have saved my poor Doris and her mother from the torture and the stake. + +"But," he added, "not this dagger only, but every implement in the cave +of those fearsome priests was fashioned from the purest gold." + +"This is indeed a strange story," said Tandy. + +"And now, gentlemen," added Halcott, "can you guess to what seas my +barque shall sail next?" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Tandy rose from his seat and took two or three turns up and down the +floor. + +He was a man who made up his mind quickly enough, and it is such men as +these, and only such, who get well on in the world. + +Weathereye and Halcott both kept silence. They were watching Tandy. + +"Halcott," said the latter, approaching the captain of the _Sea +Flower_--"Halcott, have you kept your secret?" + +"Secret?" + +"Yes. I mean, do many save yourself know of the existence of gold on +that island of blood?" + +"None save me. No one has even seen the knife but myself and you." + +"Good. You love the _Sea Flower_?" + +"I love the _Sea Flower_ as every sailor loves, or ought to love, his +ship. I wish I could afford to buy her out and out." + +"The other shares are in the market then?" + +Tandy was seated now cross-legged on a chair, and leaning over the back +of it, bending towards Halcott with an earnest light, in his eyes, such +as few had ever seen therein. + +"The other shares _are_ for sale," said Halcott. + +It was just at this moment that Ransey Tansey and little Nelda came, or +rather burst into the room. Both were breathless, both were rosy; and +Bob, who came in behind them, was panting, with half a yard of tongue-- +well, perhaps, not _quite_ so much--hanging red over his alabaster +teeth. + +"O daddy," cried Babs, as father still called her, "we've had such fun! +And the 'Ral," (a pet name that the crane had somehow obtained +possession of) "dug up plenty of pretty things for us, and he wanted Bob +to eat a big white worm, only Bob wouldn't." + +One of his children stood on each side of him, and he had placed one arm +round each. + +Thus Tandy faced Halcott once more, smiling, perhaps, a little sadly +now. + +"_I_ can buy those shares, Halcott. Do not think me ambitious. A +money-grabber I never was. But, you see these little tots. Ransey here +can make his way in the world.--Can't you, Ransey?" + +"Rather, father," said Ransey. + +"But, Halcott, though I am not in the flower of my youth, I'm in the +prime of my manhood, and I'd do everything I know to build up a shelter +for my little Babs against the cold winds of adversity before I--But I +must not speak of anything sad before the child." + +"You have a long life before you, I trust," said Weathereye. + +Tandy seemed to hear him not. + +"I'd go as your mate." + +The two sailors shook hands. + +"You'll go as my friend, and keep watch if you choose." + +"Agreed!" + +"Bravo!" cried Weathereye. "Shiver my jib, as sailors say in books, if +I wouldn't like to go along with both of you!" + +"Why not, Captain Weathereye?" + +The staff-commander laughed. "Not this cruise, lads, though I'm not +afraid for my life, or the little that may be left of it, and you must +take care of yours. I think myself you are going on a kind of +wild-goose chase, and that the goose--that is, the gold--will have the +best of it, by keeping out of your way. Well, anyhow, I'll come and see +you both over the bar. Where do you sail from?" + +"Southampton." + +"Good! and the last person you'll see as you drop out to sea will be old +Weathereye in a boat waving his red bandana to wish you luck. +Good-night! + +"Good-night, little Babs! How provokingly pretty she is, Tandy! better +leave her at Scragley Hall, and the crane too. She'll be well looked +after, you may figure upon that. Come and give the old man a kiss, +dear." + +But Nelda hung her head. + +"Not if you say that, Captain Weathereye. Wherever _ever_ daddy goes, I +go with him. I'm _not_ going to let my brother run away to sea and +leave me again." + +"And you won't give me Bob?" said Weathereye. + +"Oh, _no_!" + +"Nor the Admiral?" + +Nelda looked up in the old captain's face now. + +"I'm just real sorry for you," she said; "but the Hal's going and +all--_you_ may figure on that." + +Weathereye laughed heartily. + +Then he drew the child gently towards him and kissed her little +sun-browned hand. + +"May God be with you, darling, where'er on earth you roam! And with you +all. Good-night again." + +And away went honest Captain Weathereye. + +Book 2--CHAPTER EIGHT. + +AT SEA--MERMAIDS AND MERMEN. + +So long as the wind blew free, even though it did not always blow fair, +there was joy, and jollity, too, in every heart that beat on board the +saucy _Sea Flower_, fore as well as aft. + +She looked a bonnie barque now, in every sense of the word. + +Tandy and Halcott had spared neither expense nor pains in rigging her +well out. Had not her timbers been stanch and sound they certainly +would not have done so. + +She had new sails, a new jibboom, and several new spars; and before she +got clear and away out of the English Channel the crew of many a +homeward-bound ship manned their riggings and gave her a hearty cheer. + +Halcott had left the whole rig-out of the _Sea Flower_ to Mr Tandy, and +had not come near her for six long weeks. + +He was better employed, perhaps, and more happy on shore. But pleased +enough he was on his return. + +"Why, Tandy, my dear fellow, this isn't a ship any more; it's a yacht?" + +"A pot of paint and a bucket of tar go a long way," Tandy replied +smiling. + +"Ah! there's a good deal more than tar here; but how you've managed to +get her decks and spars so white and beautiful, bother me if I can tell. +And her ebony is ebony no longer, it is polished jet, while her brass +work is gold." + +Down below the two had now gone together. + +Tandy could not have made the cabin a bit bigger if he had tried, but he +had removed every morsel of her lumbering old lockers and tables, and +refurnished it with all he could think of that was graceful and +beautiful. + +Mirrors, too, were everywhere along the bulk-heads, and these made the +saloon look larger. The only wonder is that, in a lit of +absent-mindedness, some one did not walk right through a mirror. + +Hanging tables, beautiful crystal, brackets, and artificial flowers gave +a look that was both lightsome and gay. + +On the port side, when you touched a knob, a mirrored door opened into +the captain's cabin--small but pretty, and lighted by an airy port that +could be carried open in good weather, and all along in the trades. + +The other state-room was larger. This Halcott had insisted upon Tandy +taking; and it contained not only his own bunk, but a lower one for +Nelda, and was better decorated and furnished than even the captain's. + +"Oh, gaily goes the ship when the wind blows free." + +And right gaily she had gone too, as yet. + +Halcott was a splendid sailor and navigator. It might have been +thought, however, that Tandy, from his long residence on shore, had +turned a little rusty in his seamanship. + +If he had, the rust had not taken long to rub off; and as he trod the +ivory-white quarterdeck in his duck trousers, neat cap, and jacket of +navy blue, he really looked ten years younger than in the days when he +sailed the _Merry Maiden_ up and down the canal. + +The crew were well-dressed, and looked happy and jolly enough for +anything. + +I need hardly say that Nelda was the pet of the _Sea Flower_, fore and +aft. There was no keeping the child to any one part of the ship. In +fine weather--and, with the exception of a "howther" in the Bay, it had +up till now been mostly fine--she was here, there, and everywhere: in +the men's quarters; down below in the forecastle; at the forecastle-head +itself, when the men leaned over the bows there, smoking, yarning, and +laughing; and in the cook's galley, helping to make the soup. But she +ventured even further than this, and more than once her father started +to find her in the foretop, and standing beside her that tall, +imperturbable Admiral. + +The bird was pet number two; but Bob made an equal second. + +At first the 'Ral was inclined to mope. Perhaps he was sea-sick. It is +a well-known fact that if a Cape pigeon, as a certain gull is called, is +taken on board, it can fly no more, but walks slowly and stupidly round +the deck. + +Sea-sickness had not troubled Bob in the slightest. When he saw the +'Ral standing in the lee-scuppers, with his neck hitched right round +till the head lay right on the top of his tail, Bob looked at him +comically with _his_ head cocked funnily to one side. + +Then he seemed to laugh right away down both sides, so to speak. Bob +was a droll dog. + +"My eyes, Admiral," he said, "what a ridiculous figure you do cut, to be +sure! Why, at first I couldn't tell which was the one end of you and +which was the other." + +"I don't care what becomes of me," the Admiral replied, talking over his +tail. "It is a very ordinary world. I'll never dance again." + +But, nevertheless, in three days' time the Hal did dance, and so droll +and comical were his capers on the heaving deck that the crew lay aft in +a body and laughed till they nearly burst their belts. The Admiral took +kindly to his meal-worms after that, and didn't despise potted salmon +and morsels of mutton. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Now it must not be supposed that the _Sea Flower_ was going out in +ballast, on the mere chance of filling up with gold. They might never +see the Isle of Misfortune, and all their dreams of gold might yet turn +out as dreams so often do. + +Halcott and Tandy were good sailors, and but little likely to trust +overmuch to blind chance. They took out with them, therefore, a +good-paying cargo of knick-knacks and notions to barter with the natives +along the coast of Africa. Having made a good voyage--and they knew +they should--and having filled up with copal, nutmegs, arrowroot, +spices, ivory, and perhaps even gold-dust and ostrich feathers from the +far interior, they would stretch away out and over the broad Atlantic, +and rounding the Horn, make search for the Isle of Misfortune, which +they hoped to find an island of gold. + +If unsuccessful, they should then bear up for the northern Pacific +Islands, taking their chance of doing something with pearls or +mother-of-pearl, and so on and away to San Francisco, where they were +sure of a market, even if they wished to sell the _Sea Flower_ herself. + +But the best of sailors get disheartened far sooner in calms than even +in tempests. + +In the latter, one has all the excitement of a battle with the elements; +in the former, one can but wait and think and long for the winds to +blow. + + "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, + The furrow followed free." + +Yes; but although in the region of calms some ships seem to have luck, +the _Sea Flower_ had none. + + "Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, + 'Twas sad as sad could be; + And they did speak only to break + The silence of the sea." + +A week, a fortnight, nearly three weary weeks went past like this. + +There was no singing now forward among the men. Even little Fitz the +nigger, who generally _was_ trolling a song, at times high over the roar +of the wind, was silent now. So, too, was Ransey Tansey. He and Nelda +had been before the life of the good ship. It seemed as if they should +never be so again. Bob took to lying beside the man at the wheel. As +far as the latter was concerned, there might just as well have been no +man there at all. The sea all round was a sea of heaving oil. The +waves were houses high--not long rollers, but a series of hills and +valleys, in which the _Sea Flower_ wallowed and tumbled; while the +fierce heat of the sun caused the pitch to melt and bubble where the +decks were not protected by an awning. + +The motion of the good ship was far indeed from agreeable. Any seaman +can walk easily even when half a gale of wind is roaring through the +rigging. There is a method in the motion of a ship in such a sea-way. +There is no method in the motion of a vessel in the doldrums; and when +one puts one's foot down on the quarterdeck, or, rather, where it seemed +to be a second before, it finds but empty space. The body lurches +forward, and the deck swings up to receive it. A grasp at a stay or +sheet alone can avert a fall. + +In such a sea-way there is no longer any leeward or windward. The sails +go flapping to and fro, however: they are making wind for themselves as +the vessel rolls and tumbles; and if this wind carries her forward a few +yards one minute, it hurls her back again the next. + +No wonder Nelda often asked her father if the wind would never, never +blow again, or whether it would be always, always like this. + +No birds either, save now and then a migrant gull that floated lazily on +a wave to rest, or perched on the fin of a basking shark. + +So day after day passed wearily on, and you could not have told one day +from the other. But when, at six o'clock, the sun hurriedly capped the +great heaving waves with crimson, leaving the hollows in deepest purple +shade, and soon after sank, then, in the gloaming that for a brief spell +hung over the ocean, the stars came out; and very brightly did they +shine, so that night was even more pleasant than day. + +Banks of clouds sometimes lay along the horizon. By day they appeared +like far-off, snow-capped, serrated mountains; at night they were dark, +but lit up every few moments by flashes of lightning, which spread out +behind them and revealed their form and shape. + +No thunder ever followed this lightning; it brought no wind; nor did the +clouds ever rise or bring a drop of rain. + +Phantom lightning; phantom clouds! + +There were times on nights like these when Ransey took his sister on +deck to look at the sky, and wonder at the lightning and that strange +mountain-range of clouds. + +She was not afraid when Ransey was with her. But she would not have +gone "upstairs," as she called it, with even the stewardess herself. + +Ransey, I may mention, lived in the saloon with his father and the +captain, the second and third mates having comfortable quarters in the +midship decks. + +A stewardess only was carried on the _Sea Flower_, and she acted in +another capacity--that of maid to Nelda. A black girl she was, but +clean, smart, and tidy and trim, full of merriment and good-nature. Her +assistant was Fitz, and with him alone she deemed it her duty to be a +little harsh now and then. Because Fitz wouldn't keep his place, so she +said. + +Poor Janeira, she always forgot she was a nigger herself, seeing so many +white faces all around her. But when she looked into the little mirror +that hung in her pantry, she used to go into fits of laughter at her +face therein displayed. She was a funny girl. + +Ransey used to take Nelda up on these nights, and hoist her on to the +grating abaft the quarterdeck, and she would cling to his arm, while he +held on to the bulwark. + +Thus they would stand, silent and awed, for long minutes at a time. + +Was there nothing to break the dread stillness? There was occasionally +the flap of a sail, or a footstep forward; but no song from the men, no +loud talking--they hardly cared to speak above a whisper. But more than +once a plash was heard, and a great dark head would appear from the side +of a billow, seen distinctly enough in the gleam of the starlight, then +sink and disappear. + +"Oh, the awful beast, 'Ansey! Can it climb up and swallow us?" + +"No, dear silly, no." + +But older people than Nelda have been frightened by such dread spectres +appearing close to a ship at night while in the doldrums, and wiser +heads than hers have been puzzled to account for them. + +Are they sharks? No, no. Five times as large are they as any shark +ever seen. Whales? No, again. A whale lives not under the water but +on it. + +In the ocean wild and wide, reader, we sailors find many a strange +mystery, see many a fearsome sight at night we can neither describe nor +explain. And if we talk of these when we come on shore, you landsmen +look incredulous. + +But after a time the child became accustomed to scenes like these. +Indeed the sea by night appeared to have a kind of fascination for her. + +In beholding it, she appeared to be looking through it into some strange +land, the abode of the fairies and elves and mermaids with which her +imagination had peopled it. + +"Deep, deep down among the rocks," she would say to Ransey, "who lives +there? Tell us, tell us." + +Ransey had therefore to become the story-teller whether he would or not. + +He spoke to her then of mermaid-land deep down below the dark, heaving +ocean. + +"Deep, deep, _deep_ down, 'Ansey?" + +"Very, very deep. You see only a glimmer of light below you as you sink +and sink; and this light is greenish and clear, and the farther down you +get the brighter and more beautiful does it become." + +"And you're not drowned?" + +"No! oh, no! not if you're good. Well, then you come to--oh, ever so +beautiful a country! The trees are all of sea-weed, and underneath them +is the yellow, yellow sand; but here and there are beautiful rockeries, +and beds of such bright and lovely flowers that they would dazzle your +eyes to look upon. And the strange thing about these flowers is this, +Babs, they are all alive." + +"All alive? My! and can they talk to you?" + +"Yes, and sing too. A sailor man who had been there told me. And he +said their voices were so low and sweet that you had to put your ear +quite close down before you could hear and understand; for at a little +distance, he said, it was just like the tinkling of tiny silver bells. +The danger is in stopping too long, and being enchanted or slain." + +"Enchanted? Whatever is that, 'Ansey?" + +"Oh, you stay so long listening that you feel like in a dream, and +before you know what has happened you are a flower yourself; and then, +though you can see and hear everything that goes on around you, you +cannot move away from the rock you are growing on, and you never get +back again out of the water." + +"Never, never, 'Ansey?" + +"Never, never, Babs." + +"But in the deep, dark, beautiful woods that you come to and enter there +is many a terrible monster living--horned, shelly, warty monsters. And +they are all waiting to catch you." + +"Terrible, 'Ansey!" + +"Are you afraid, dear?" + +"Oh, no, 'Ansey! Be terrible some more." + +"Well, there is danger all around you now, for some of these monsters +are quite hidden among the sand, with only one eye protruding, and this +looks like a flower because it grows on a stalk. But when you go to +look at it, suddenly the sandy ground gives way under you. You are +caught and killed, and know no more. + +"Some of these monsters, Nelda, live in caves, and if you go too near +the entrance a great, long, skinny arm is thrust out, and you are +dragged into the dark and devoured." + +"But I would turn quickly away out of that terrible wood, 'Ansey," said +Nelda. + +"Yes, that is just what the sailor did." + +"And then he was saved?" + +"Not yet. He came to a lovely wide patch of clear, hard sand, and he +was looking down to admire it. He had taken up some to examine, and was +pouring it from one hand into the other--for the sand was pure gold +mixed with pearls and rubies--when all at once it began to get dark, and +looking up he saw a creature that was nearly all one horrible, cruel, +grinning head, with eight long arms round it. It stopped high up, just +hovering, Nelda, like a hawk over a field. The sailor man was +spell-bound. He could only stare up at it with starting eyes and utter +a long, low, frightened moan. But from the creature above a tent was +lowered, just like a huge bell, and he knew it would soon fall over him +and he would be sucked up to the sea-demon's body and slowly eaten +alive. + +"But at that very moment, sissie, the creature uttered a terribly wild +and mournful cry, and darted off through the water, which was all just +like ink now." + +"And the sailor was dead?" + +"No; a voice that sounded like the sweetest music ever he had heard in +his life was heard, and a hand grasped his. + +"`Quick, quick,' she cried, for it was a mermaid, `I will lead you into +safety. Stay but another moment here and you are doomed.' + +"`I'll follow you to the end of the world, miss,' said the gallant +sailor. + +"It did seem queer to call a mermaid miss, but Jack Reid couldn't help +it. + +"`You won't have to follow so far,' she said, with a sweet smile that +put Jack's heart all in a flutter. + +"And in five minutes' time they were out of danger, and there was Jack +with his hat in his hand, which he had taken off for politeness' sake, +being led along by the most charming young lady he had ever clapped eyes +on. + +"`Her beauty,' he said to me, `was radiant, and her long yellow hair +floated behind her in the water till I was ravished; on'y the wust of it +was, that all below the waist wasn't lady at all, but ling or some other +kind of fish.' + +"But Jack wouldn't look at the ling part at all, only just at the +mermaid's face and hair and hands. + +"However dark it might have been, you could have seen to read by the +light of the diamonds around her brow and neck. + +"They soon came to a rock of quartz and porphyry, and next minute Jack +found himself in a hall of such dazzling delight that he had to rub his +eyes and pinch himself hard to make sure he was not in a dream. This +was the mermaids' and sea-fairies' great ballroom. + +"Tier upon tier of galleries rose up towards the beautiful, star-studded +ceiling, and every gallery was filled with beautiful ladies. Jack knew +that they all ended in ling, but the tails could not be seen. + +"There was light and loveliness everywhere, and flowers everywhere--" + +"Go on, 'Ansey. Your story is better than the Revelations, better even +than `Jack the Giant Killer.'" + +"I must stop, siss, because even _I_ don't know much more, only that the +music was so ravishing that Jack himself danced till he couldn't dance a +bit more." + +"And did he sit down?" + +"No; he thought he would like a smoke, so he floated away down to the +entrance to a cave at the far, far end. + +"`That must be the smoking-room,' he thought to himself, so he pushed +aside the curtain and floated boldly in. + +"But lo and behold, this inner cave was filled with little shrivelled-up +old men, uglier far in the face than toads. + +"These, sissie, were the mermen, and they were all sitting on rough +blocks of coral, which must have hurt them dreadful, nursing their +tails. These mermen sat there swaying their yellow, wrinkled bodies +back and fore, to and fro, but taking not the slightest notice of Jack. +The sailor stood staring at them; and well he might, for whatever motion +one made the others all made the same. If one lifted a skeleton hand to +rub its bald head, every hand was raised, every bald head was rubbed; +whichever way one swayed all the rest swayed; sometimes every blear eye +was directed to the ceiling, or lowered towards their tails, as the case +might be; and when one gaped and yawned they all gaped and yawned, and +Jack told me that he had never seen such a set of ugly, toothless mouths +in his life before. + +"But as _they_ wouldn't speak, Jack Reid himself--and he was a very +brave sailor, sissie--did speak. + +"`Ahoy, maties!' he cried, `ye don't seem an over-lively lot here, I +must say, but has e'er a one o' ye got sich a thing as a bit o' baccy?' + +"Jack told me, Babs, that when he made this speech he got a fearful +fright. Every merman stood up straight on its stool, its skinny arms +and claw-like hands held straight above its head, and a yell rang +through the hall that Jack says is ringing in his ears till this day. + +"`Oh!' he cried, `if that's your little game, here's for off.' + +"Jack must have been glad enough to get back to the ballroom, but this +was now deserted. No one was there at all except the lovely mermaid who +had saved him from being devoured by the terrible devil-fish. + +"She smiled upon him as sweetly as ever. + +"`I'm going to guide you,' she said, `to the nursery grotto; it is time +that all sailor boys went to by-by.' + +"`Go on, missie,' Jack said, `go on, yer woice is sweeter far than the +song of--of a Mother Carey's chicken. Wot a lovely lady ye'd be, miss, +if ye didn't end in ling!' + +"She smiled, and combed her hair with her long white fairy fingers as +she glided on. + +"`Going to by-by am I? Well, the mum did used to call it that like, +miss, but we grown-up sailor lads calls it a bunk or an 'ammock. Ain't +got ne'er a bit o' baccy about ye, has ye, miss?' + +"But the fairy mermaid only smiled. + +"So soft and downy was the bed that Jack fell asleep singing low to +himself-- + + "`All in the downs the fleet was moored.' + +"And that is the end of the story, siss." + +"Oh, no! What did he see when he woke up again?" + +"Well, when he awoke in the morning, much to his amazement, he found +himself in his own bed in his mother's little cottage at home. + +"He rubbed his eyes twice before he spoke. + +"`What! mother?' he cried. + +"`Yes, it is your own old mother, dearie, and I've been sittin' up with +you, and sich nonsense you has been a-talkin', surely.' + +"`I'm not a merman, or anything, am I, mother? I don't end in ling, do +I, mother?' + +"`No, Jack Reid, you end in two good strong legs; but strong as they +are, my boy, they weren't strong enough to keep you from tumbling down +last night. O Jack, Jack!'" + +Book 2--CHAPTER NINE. + +WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF THE DANCING CRANE. + +Hardly had Ransey finished his story ere a bright flash of lightning lit +up the ship from stem to stern--a flash that seemed to strike the top of +every rolling wave and hiss in the hollows between; a flash that left +the barque in Cimmerian though only momentary darkness, for hardly had +the thunder that followed--deep, loud, and awful--commenced, ere flash +succeeded flash, and the sea all around seemed an ocean of fire. + +For a time little Nelda could not be prevailed upon to go below. She +was indeed a child of the wilds, and a thunderstorm was one of her chief +delights. + +Ah! but this was going to be somewhat more than a thunderstorm. + +"Hands, shorten sail! All hands on deck!" It was Tandy's voice +sounding through the speaking trumpet--ringing through it, I might say, +and yet it scarce could be heard above the incessant crashing of the +thunder. + +The men came tumbling up, looking scared and frightened in the blue +glare of the lightning. + +"Away aloft! Bear a hand, my hearties! Get her snug, and we'll splice +the main-brace. Hurrah, lads! Nimbly does it!" + +Swaying high up on the top-gallant yards they looked no bigger than +rooks, and with every uncertain lurch and roll the yard-ends seemed +almost to touch the water. + +It was at this moment that the stewardess came staggering aft. + +"Don't go, 'Ansey--don't go," cried Nelda. + +"Duty's duty, dear, and it's `all hands' now." + +He saw her safely down the companion-way, and next minute he was +swarming up the ratlines to his station. But he had to pause every few +seconds and hang on to the rigging, with his back right over the water-- +hang on for dear life. + +The sails were reefed, and some were got in, and not till the men had +got down from aloft did the rain come on. For higher and higher had the +clouds on the northern horizon banked up, till they covered all the sky. + +So awful was the rain, and so blinding, that it was impossible to see +ten yards ahead, or even to guess from which direction the storm would +actually come. + +The wind was already whirling in little eddies from end to end of the +deck, but hardly yet did it affect the motion of the ship, or give her +way in any one direction. + +The men were ordered below in batches, to get into their oilskins, for +right well Tandy knew that a fearful night had to be faced. + +The men received their grog now, and well did they deserve it. + +Another hand was put to the wheel (two men in all), and near them stood +the bold mate Tandy, ready to give orders by signal or even by touch, +should they fail to hear his voice. All around the deck the men were +clinging to bulwark or stay. + +Waiting for the inevitable! + +Ah! now it came. The rain had ceased for a time. So heavy had it been +that the waves themselves were levelled, and Tandy could now see a long +line of white coming steadily up astern. + +He thanked the God who rules on sea as well as on dry land that the +squall was coming from that direction. Had it taken the good ship +suddenly aback she might have gone down stern-foremost, even with the +now limited spread of canvas that was on her. + +As it was, the first mountain wave that hit the good barque sent her +flying through the sea as if she had been but an empty match-box. That +wave burst on board, however--pooped her, in fact--and went roaring +forward, a sea of solid foaming water. + +The good vessel shivered from stem to stern like a creature in the +throes of death. For a few minutes only. Next minute she had shaken +herself free, and was dashing through the water at a pace that only a +yacht could have beaten. + +The thunder now went rolling down to leeward, and the rain ceased, but +the gale increased in force, and in a short time she had to be eased +again, and now she was scudding along almost under bare poles. It would +be hours before mate Tandy could get below; but Ransey's watch was now +off deck, so he went down to ask Janeira, the stewardess, if Nelda was +in bed. + +She was in bed most certainly, but through the half-open doorway she +could hear Ransey's voice, and shouted to him. + +"I fink, sah," Janeira said, "she am just one leetle bit afraid." + +There was no doubt about that, and the questions with which she plied +her brother, when he took a seat by her bunk to comfort her, were +peculiar, to say the least. + +"Daddy won't be down for a long, long time?"--that was one. + +"The poor men, though, how many is drownded?"--another. + +"The ship did go to the bottom though, didn't it, 'cause I heard the +water all rush down?"--a third. + +"You are quite, quite sure father isn't drownded? And you are sure no +awful beasts have come up with long arms? Well, tell us some stories." + +_Nolens volens_, Ransey had to. But Babs got drowsy at last, the white +eyelids drooped and drooped till they finally closed; then Ransey went +quietly away and turned into his hammock. + +Young though he was, the heaviest sea-way could not frighten him, nor +the stormiest wind that could blow. The sound of the wind as it went +roaring through the rigging could only make him drowsy, and the ship +herself would rock him to sleep. The barque was snug, too, and it was +happiness itself to hear his father's footsteps, as he walked the +quarterdeck, pausing now and then to give an order to the men at the +wheel. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Behaved like an angel all through, Halcott!" That was what Tandy told +the skipper next morning at breakfast. + +"I knew she would, Tandy. I'm proud of our _Sea Flower_, and, my +friend, I'm just as proud of you. I'd have stopped on deck to lend a +hand, but that wouldn't have done any good. + +"Jane," he cried. Jane was the contraction for "Janeira." + +"Iss, sah; I'se not fah off." + +"Is there no toast this morning?" + +"No, sah; Lord Fitzmantle he done go hab one incident dis mawnin'. He +blingin' de toast along, w'en all same one big wave struckee he and down +he tumble, smash de plate, and lose all de toast foh true." + +"Oh, the naughty boy!" said Nelda, who was hurrying through her +breakfast to go on deck to "see the sea," as she expressed it. + +"No, leetle Meess Tandy, Lord Fitzmantle he good boy neahly all de time. +It was poorly an incident, meesie, for de big sea cut his legs clean +off, and down he come." + +"Well, I'm sorry for Fitz," said Nelda with a sigh; "I suppose it was +only his sea-legs though. And I'm going to have mine to-day. I asked +the carpenter, and he said he would make me some soon, and it wouldn't +be a bit sore putting them on." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +With varying fortunes the good ship _Sea Flower_ sailed south and away, +till at last the Cape of Good Hope was reached and rounded. + +Here they experienced very heavy weather indeed, with terrible storms of +thunder and lightning, and bigger seas than Tandy himself had ever seen +before. + +But by this time little Nelda was quite a sailor, and a greater +favourite fore and aft than ever. + +Sea-legs had, figuratively speaking, been served out to all the green +hands. Nelda had a capital pair, and could use them well. Fitz had to +make his old ones do another time; but Bob had received two pairs from +Neptune, when he came aboard that starry still night when crossing the +line. As for the Hal, it must be confessed that there wasn't a pair in +Neptune's boat long enough to fit him. However, in ordinary weather he +managed to run along the deck pretty easily, his jibboom, as the sailors +called his neck, held straight out in front of him, and helping himself +along with his wings. + +Sometimes on the quarterdeck it would suddenly occur to the 'Ral that a +step or two of a Highland schottische would help to make time pass more +quickly and pleasantly. The 'Ral wasn't a bird to spoil a good +intention, so, with just one or two preliminary "scray--scrays" he would +start. + +Bother the deck though, and bother the heaving sea, for do what he would +the bird could no longer dance with ease and grace; so he would soon +give it up, and go and lean his chin wearily over the lee bulwark, and +thus, with his drooping wings, he did cut rather a ridiculous figure as +seen from behind. He looked for all the world like some scraggy-legged +little old man, who had got up in the morning and put nothing on except +a ragged swallow-tailed coat. + +The men liked the 'Ral though. He made them laugh, and was better than +an extra glass of rum to them. So, as the bird seemed always rather +wretched in dirty weather, the carpenter was solicited to make him some +sort of shelter. + +The carpenter consulted the sailmaker. The carpenter and sailmaker put +their heads together. Something was sure to come of that. + +"He's sich an awkward shape, ye see," said old Canvas. + +"That's true," said Chips; "and he won't truss hisself, as ye might call +it." + +"No; if he'd on'y jest double up his legs, Chips, and close reef that +jibboom o' his, we might manage some'ow." + +"A kind o' sentry-box would just be _the_ thing, old Can." + +"Humph! yes. I wonder why the skipper didn't bring a grandfather's +clock with 'im; that would suit the 'Ral all to pieces." + +But a sort of sentry-box, with a tarpaulin in front of it, was finally +rigged up for the 'Ral, and placed just abaft the main-mast, to which it +was lashed. + +The 'Ral didn't take to it quite kindly at first, but after studying it +fore and aft he finally thought it would fit him nicely. + +It would be protection from the sun on hot days, and when it blew a bit +the men would draw down the tarpaulin, and he would be snug enough. + +But in sunny weather it must be confessed that, solemnly standing there +in his sentry-box, the Admiral did look a droll sight. + +The 'Ral was a very early riser. He always turned out in time to go +splashing about while the hands were washing decks, and although they +often turned the hose on him he didn't mind it a bit. + +One very hot day, the poor 'Ral was observed standing pensively up +against the capstan. His head was out of sight, thrust into one of the +holes. + +This was unusual, but the bird did so many droll things that, for an +hour or more, nobody took much notice; but Ransey came round at last, +carrying Babs, who was riding on his shoulders. + +"Hillo!" cried Babs, "here's the 'Ral with his head buried in a hole." + +"Which he stowed hisself away there, missie, more'n an hour ago," said a +seaman. "Afraid o' gettin' sunstroke, that's my opinion." + +"Poor Hallie," cried Babs, sympathisingly, "does your headie ache?" + +The Admiral drew out his head, and looked at the child very mournfully +indeed. + +"He's got some silent sorrow hevidently, I should say," remarked another +of the crew. + +There was quite a little circle now around the capstan. + +"Cheer up," cried Ransey Tansey. "Come along and have a dance, +'Rallie." + +"I don't feel like dancing to-day," the crane replied, or appeared to +reply. "Fact is, I don't feel like moving at all." + +No wonder, poor bird; the truth is, he was glued to the deck with melted +pitch. + +What a job it was getting him clear too--or "easing him off," as Chips +called it. + +But with the help of putty knives the 'Ral got free at last, though it +took a deal of orange-peel to clean his poor feet. Then they were found +to be so red and swollen that a hammock was slung for him forthwith +atween decks, and the Admiral was laid at full length in it--his head on +a pillow at one end, his feet away down at the other, his body covered +with the carpenter's lightest jacket. + +Very funny he did appear stretched like that, but he himself +appreciated, not the joke, but the comfort. He lay there for days, only +getting up a little in the cool of the evening, if there was any cool in +it. + +Ransey fed him, and attended to his feet twice a day, so he was soon on +deck again, as right as a trivet. + +But the Admiral had learned a lesson, and ever after this, on hot days, +to have seen the bird coming along the deck, you would have sworn he was +playing at hop-Scotch, so careful was he to hop over the seams where the +pitch was soft, his long neck bent down, and one eye curiously examining +the planks. + +Yes, the 'Ral was a caution, as old Canvas said. + +But one of the bird's drollest adventures occurred one day when the ship +was lying becalmed in the Indian Ocean, or rather in the Mozambique +Channel. + +The _Sea Flower_ was within a measurable distance of land; for though +none was in sight, birds of the gull species flew around the ship, tack +and half-tack, or floated lazily on the smooth surface of the sea. + +The 'Ral slowly left his sentry-box, stretched his wings a bit, uttered +a mild scray--scray--ay or two, then did a hop-Scotch till he got +abreast of the man at the wheel. This particular sailor was somewhat of +a dandy, and had a morsel of red silk handkerchief peeping prettily out +from his jacket pocket. + +The 'Ral eyed it curiously for a moment, then cleverly plucked it out +and jumped away with it. He dropped it on a portion of the quarterdeck +where the pitch was oozing, kicked it about with his feet to spread it +out, as a man does with a handful of straw, and stood upon it. + +"Well, I do call that cheek! My best silk handkerchief, too," cried the +man at the wheel. + +The crane only looked at him wonderingly with one eye. + +"You've no idea," he told this man, "how soft and nice it feels. I--I-- +yes, I verily believe I shall dance. Craik--craik--cray--ay--y!" + +And dance he did, Nelda and half the crew at least clapping their hands +and cheering with delight. + +The 'Ral was just in the very midst of his merriment, when the man, +after giving the wheel an angry turn or two to port, made a dart to +recover his favourite bandana. With such a rush did he come that the +'Ral took fright, and flew to the top of the bulwark. There was some +oiled canvas here, and this was so hot that the bird had to keep lifting +one foot and putting down the other all the time, just like a hen on a +hot griddle. + +"How delightfully sweet it must be up there," he said to himself, gazing +at the gulls that were screaming with joy as they swept round and round +in the blue sky. "I think I'll have a fly myself. Scray--ay!" + +And greatly to every one's astonishment away he flew high into the air. + +Alarmed at first, the gulls soon regained courage, and made a daring +attack on the 'Ral. But he speedily vanquished the foe, and one or two +fell bleeding into the water. + +A gull was perched on the back fin of a shark. The 'Ral flew down. + +"It's nice and snug _you_ look," said the 'Ral. "Get off at once, the +king's come. Get off, I say, or I'll dig both your impudent eyes out." + +And next moment the Admiral was perched there, as coolly as if he had +been used to riding on sharks ever since his babyhood. + +But Nelda was in tears. She would never see the 'Ral again, and the +awful beast would eat him, sea-legs and all. So a boat was called away +to save him. + +None too soon either. For the 'Ral had commenced to investigate that +fin with his long beak. No respectable basking shark could be expected +to stand that, so down he dived, leaving the bird screaming and swaying +and scrambling on the top of the water. "Scray--scray--craik--craik-- +cray!" + +But for the timely aid of the boat, the Admiral would have met with a +terrible fate, for his screaming and struggling brought around him three +sharks at least, all eager to find out what a long-legged bird like this +tasted like. + +Every fine day the crane now indulged himself in the pleasure of flight, +but he never evinced the slightest inclination to perch again on the +back of a basking shark. It wasn't good enough, he would have told you, +had you asked him. "As regards the backs of basking sharks," he might +have said, "I'm going to be a total abstainer." + +Up the east coast of Africa went the bonnie barque _Sea Flower_. + +Tandy knew almost every yard of the ground he was now covering, and +could pilot the vessel into creeks and over sand-banks or bars with very +little danger indeed. + +But still the coast here is so treacherous, and the sands and bottom +change so frequently, that, night and day, men had to be in the chains +heaving the lead. + +The natives, also, across the line in Somaliland, are as treacherous as +the coral rocks that guard their clay-built towns, and more treacherous +than either are the semi-white, slave-dealing Arabs. + +Book 2--CHAPTER TEN. + +A BRUSH WITH THE SOMALIS--THE DERELICT. + +All along the Somali coast was Tandy's "chief market ground," as he +called it. Here he knew he could drive precisely the kind of bargains +he wished to make; and as for the Somalis, with their shields, spears, +ugly broad knives, and grinning sinister faces, this bold seaman did not +care anything. Nor for the Arabs either. He soon gave both to +understand that he was a man of the wide, wide world, and was not afraid +of any one. + +He had come to trade and barter, he told the Arabs, and not to study +their slave-hunting habits; so if they would deal, they had only to trot +out their wares--_he_ was ready. And if they didn't want to deal, there +was no harm done. He even took Ransey with him sometimes, and once he +took Nelda as well. + +The savages just here were a bad, bloodthirsty lot, and he knew it, but +he had with him five trusty men. Not armed--that is, not visibly so. + +But on this particular day there was blood in those natives' eyes. +Tall, lithe, and black-brown were they, their skins oiled and shining in +the sun. But smiling. Oh, yes, these fiends will smile while they cut +a white man's throat. + +Every eye was fixed hungrily on the beautiful child. What a present she +would be for a great chief who dwelt far away in the interior and high +among the mountains! + +The bartering went on as usual, but Tandy kept his weather eye lifting. + +Leopards' skins, lions' skins and heads, ostrich feathers, gum-copal, +ivory tusks, and gold-dust. The boat was already well filled, Nelda was +on board, so was Tandy himself, and his crew, all save one man, who was +just shoving her off when the rush was made. The prow of the boat was +instantly seized, and the man thrown down. + +Pop--pop--pop--pop--rang Tandy's revolver, and the yelling crowd grew +thinner, and finally fled. + +A spear or two was thrown, but these went wide of the mark. + +Human blood looks ghastly on white coral sands, but was Tandy to blame? + +Nelda was safe, and in his arms. + +"O daddy," she cried, kissing his weather-beaten face, "are we safe?" + +"Yes, darling; but I mustn't land here again." + +Salook was the village king here, a big, burly brute of an Arab, with a +white, gilded turban and a yellow, greasy face beneath it. Tandy had +known some of his tricks and manners in days gone by. + +At sunset that very same evening Salook was surrounded by his warriors. + +"Everything yonder," he said in Swahili, as he pointed to the _Sea +Flower_, "is yours. The little maiden shall be my slave. Get ready +your boats, and sharpen your spears. Even were the ship a British +man-of-war I'd board her." + +At sunset that evening Tandy was surrounded by _his_ men, and pistols +and cutlasses were served out to all. + +"We'll have trouble to-night, men," he said, "as soon as the moon rises. +If there was a breath of wind off-shore I'd slip. We can't slip--but +we'll fight." + +A cheer rose from the seamen, which Tandy quickly suppressed. + +"Hush! Let us make them believe we suspect no treachery. But get up +steam in the donkey engine, and connect the pipes." + +This is a plan of defence that acts splendidly and effectively against +all kinds and conditions of savages. + +Boiling water on bare skins causes squirming, so Tandy felt safe. + +The ship carried but one big gun, and this was now loaded with grape. + +There wasn't a sound of life to be heard on board the barque, when about +seven bells that night a flood of moonlight, shining softly o'er the +sea, revealed the dark boats of the Somalis speeding out to the attack. + +But every man on board was at his station. + +This was to be a fight to the very death, and all hands knew it. + +Nearer and nearer they come--those demon boats. The biggest boat of all +is leading, and, sword in hand, Salook stands in the prow. It is +crowded with savages, their spear-heads glittering in the moonbeams. On +this boat the gun is trained. + +The rocks re-echo the crash five seconds after, but the echo is mingled +with the yelling of the wounded and the drowning. + +Ah! a right merry feast for the sharks, and Salook goes down with the +bottomless boat. + +The fight does not end with this advantage. Those Somalis are like +fiends incarnate. Not even the rifles and revolvers can repel their +attack. See, they swarm on the bulwarks round the bows, for the ship +has swung head on to the shore with the out-flowing tide. + +"Give it to them. The water now, boys. Warm them well!" + +Oh, horror! The shrieking is too terrible to be described. + +In their boats the unwounded try to reach the shore; but the rifles play +on these, and they are quickly abandoned, for the Somalis can swim like +eels. + +"Now for loot, lads," cries Tandy. "They began the row. Man and arm +the boats." + +When the _Sea Flower's_ men landed on the white sands, led on by Tandy +and Ransey, the conquest was easy. A few volleys secured victory, and +the savages were driven to their crags and hills. + +"Let us spoil the Egyptians," said Tandy, "then we shall return and +splice the main-brace." + +The loot obtained was far more valuable than the cargoes they had +obtained by barter, and I need hardly say that the main-brace _was_ +spliced. + +Towards morning the wind came puffing off the land. It ought to have +died away at sunrise, but did not. So the _Sea Flower_ soon made good +her offing, and before long the land lay like a long blue cloud far away +on the weather-beam. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The ship was reprovisioned at Zanzibar, and one or two sick hands were +allowed to land to be attended to at the French hospital. + +In less than a fortnight she once more set sail, and in two months' +time, everything having gone well and cheerily, despite a storm or two, +the _Sea Flower_ was very far at sea indeed, steering south-west, and +away towards the wild and stormy Cape Horn. + +On going on deck one morning, Halcott found Tandy forward, glass in +hand, steadying himself against the foremast, while he swept the sea +ahead. + +"Hallo! Tandy. Land, eh?" + +"No, it isn't land, Halcott. A precious small island it would be. But +we're a long way to the west'ard of the Tristan da Cunha, and won't see +land again till we hail the Falklands. Have a squint, sir." + +"What do you make of her, sir?" asked Tandy. + +"Why, a ship; but she's a hulk, Tandy, a mere hulk or derelict." + +"There might be some poor soul alive there notwithstanding." + +"I agree with you. Suppose we overhaul her," said Halcott, "and set her +on fire. She's a danger to commerce, anyhow, and I'll go myself, I +think." + +So the whaler was called away, and in a few minutes the boat was +speeding over the water towards the dismantled ship, while the _Sea +Flower_, with her foreyard aback, lay floating idly on the heaving sea. + +It was early summer just than, in these regions--that is, December was +well advanced, and the crew were looking forward to having a real good +time of it when Christmas came. + +Alas! little did they know what was before them, or how sad and terrible +their Christmas would be. + +"Pull easy for a bit, men," cried Halcott; "she is a floating horror! +Easy, starboard! give way, port! We'll get the weather gauge on her, +for she doesn't smell sweet." + +Not a living creature was there to answer the hail given by Halcott. +Abandoned she evidently had been by the survivors of her crew, for the +starboard boats still hung from her davits, while the ports were gone, +and at this side a rope ladder depended. + +The boat-hook caught on; with strange misgivings Halcott scrambled on +board followed by two men. + +He staggered and almost fell against the bulwark, and no wonder, for the +sight that met his eyes was indeed a fearful one. + +On the lower deck was a great pile of wood, and near it stood a big can +of petroleum. It was evident that the crew had intended firing the ship +before leaving her, but had for some reason or other abandoned the idea. + +Halcott, however, felt that he had a duty to perform, so he gave orders +for the paraffin to be emptied over the pile and over the deck. As soon +as this was done lighted matches were thrown down, and hardly had they +time to regain the boat and push off, ere columns of dark smoke came +spewing up the hatchways, followed high into the air by tongues and +streams of fire. + +Before noon the derelict sank spluttering into the summer sea, and only +a few blackened timbers were left to mark the spot where she had gone +down. + +A few days after this the wind fell and fell, until it was a dead calm. + +Once more the sea was like molten lead, and its surface glazed and +glassy, but never a bird was to be seen, and for more than a week not a +cloud was in the sky as big as a man's hand. Nor was the motion of the +ship appreciable. By day the sun shone warm enough, but at night the +stars far in the southern sky shone green and yellow through a strange, +dry haze. + +On Saturday night Tandy as usual gave orders to splice the main-brace. +He, and Halcott also, loved the real old Saturday nights at sea, of the +poet Dibdin's days. And hitherto, in fair weather or in foul, these had +been kept up with truly British mirth and glee. + +There was no rejoicing, however, on this particular evening, for two of +the hands lay prostrate on deck. Halcott himself ministered to them, +sailor fashion. First he got them placed in hammocks swung under a +screen-berth on deck. This was for the sake of the fresh air, and +herein he showed his wisdom. + +Then he took a camp-stool and sat down near them to consider their +symptoms. But these puzzled him; for while one complained of fierce +heat, with headache, and his eyes were glazed and sparkling, the other +was shivering and blue with cold. He had no pain except cramps in his +legs and back, which caused him an agony so acute that he screamed aloud +every time they came on. + +Halcott went aft to study. He studied best when walking on his +quarterdeck. Hardly knowing what he did, he picked up a bone that +honest Bob had been dining off, and threw it into the sea. There was +still light enough to see, and the man at the wheel looked languidly +astern. When three monster sharks dived, nose on, towards the bone, he +looked up into the captain's face. + +"Seen them before?" said Halcott, who was himself superstitious. + +"Bless ye, yes, sir. It's just four days since they began to keep +watch, and there they be again. Ah, sir! it ain't ham-bones they's +a-lookin' arter. They'll soon get the kind o' meat they likes best." + +"What mean you, Durdley?" + +"I means the chaps you 'as in the 'ammocks. Listen, sir. There's no +deceivin' Jim Durdley. We've got the plague aboard! I've been shipmate +with she afore to-day." + +Halcott staggered as if shot. + +"Heaven forbid!" he exclaimed. + +No one on board cared much for this man Durdley. Nor is this to be +wondered at. In his own mess he was quarrelsome to a degree. Poor +little Fitz fled when he came near him, and many a brutal blow he +received, which at times caused fierce fights, for every one fore and +aft loved the nigger boy. + +Durdley was almost always boding ill. His only friends were the +foreigners of the crew, men that to make a complement of five-and-twenty +Tandy had hired in a hurry. + +Mostly Finns they were, and bad at that, and if there was ever any +grumbling to be done on board the _Sea Flower_ these were the fellows to +begin it. + +Halcott recovered himself quickly, gave just one glance at Durdley's +dark, forbidding countenance--the man was really ugly enough to stop a +church clock--and went below. + +He met Tandy at the saloon door, and told him his worst fears. + +Alas! these fears were fated to be realised all too soon. + +The men now stricken down were those who had boarded the derelict with +Halcott. One died next evening, and was lashed in his hammock and +dropped over the bows a few hours afterwards. + +No doubt, seeing his fellow taken away, the other, who was one of the +best of the crew, lost heart. + +"I'm dying, sir," he told Halcott. "No use swallowing physic, the +others'll want it soon." + +By-and-by he began to rave. He was on board ship no longer, but walking +through the meadows and fields far away in England with his sister by +his side. + +"I'll help you over the old-fashioned stile," Fitz, who was nursing him, +heard him say--"yes, the old-fashioned stile, Lizzie. Oh, don't I love +it! And we'll walk up and away through the corn-field, by the little, +winding path, to the churchyard where mother sleeps. Look, look at the +crimson poppies, dear siss. How bonnie they are among the green. +Ah-h!" + +That was a scream which frightened poor Fitz. + +"Go not there, sister. See, see, the monster has killed her! Ah, me!" + +Fitz rushed aft to seek for assistance, for the captain had told him to +call him if Corrie got worse. + +Alas! when the two returned together, Corrie's hammock was empty. + +No one had heard even a plash, so gently had he lowered himself over the +side, and sunk to rise no more. + +Book 2--CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +MUTINY ON BOARD--FAR TO THE SOUTH'ARD. + +"Nothing certain at sea except the unexpected." The truth of this was +sadly exemplified by the terrible calamity which had befallen the _Sea +Flower_--and befallen her so suddenly, too! + +Only one week ago she was sailing over a rippling sea on the wings of a +favouring breeze, every wavelet dancing joyously in the sunlight. On +board, whether fore or aft, there was nothing but hope, happiness, and +contentment. Till-- + + "The angel of death spread his wings on the blast." + +Now all is terror and gloom--a gloom and a terror that have struck deep +into the heart of every one who knows what death and sorrow mean. + +A breeze has sprung up at last, and both Halcott and Tandy have +reluctantly come to the conclusion that it will be better to steer for +colder weather. So southward the _Sea Flower_ flies, under every stitch +of canvas, with studding-sails low and aloft. Shall the plague be +stayed? Heaven alone can tell! + +As it is, the depression hangs like a dark, foreboding cloud over the +ship. + +No one cares to talk much by day or by night. The men sit silently at +their meals, with lowered brows and frightened looks. They eye each +other askance; they know not who may be the next. They even avoid each +other as much as possible while walking the decks. Hardly will a man +volunteer to nurse the sick. The hammocks containing these hang on the +lee side, and the crew keep far away indeed. + +But they smoke from morn till night. + +Halcott himself and little Fitz are the only nurses, and both are worn +out for want of rest. With their own hands they sew up the hammock of +the dead, unhook it, lift the gruesome burden on to the top of the +bulwark, and, while the captain with uncovered head raises his eyes to +heaven and utters a prayer, the body is committed to the deep, to be +torn in pieces next minute by the tigers of the sea. + +Poor little Nelda! She is as merry as ever, playing with Bob or the +'Ral on the quarterdeck, and it is strange, in this ship of death, to +hear her musical voice raised in song or laughter in the midst of +silence and gloom! + +No wonder that, hearing this, the delirious or the dying fancy +themselves back once more in their village homes in England. + +Nelda wonders why the captain, who used to romp and play with her, tries +all he can now to avoid her; and why little Fitz, the curious, +round-faced, laughing, black boy, with the two rows of alabaster teeth, +never comes aft. + +Halcott himself never goes below either. He insists upon taking his +meals on deck. Nor will he permit Tandy or Ransey to come forward. If +_he_ can, he means to confine the awful plague to the fore part of the +ship. + +They say that in a case of this kind it is always the good who go first. +In this instance the adage spoke truly. + +Terrible to say, in less than a fortnight no less than thirteen fell +victims to the scourge. But still more, more awful, the crew now became +mutinous. + +Luckily, all arms, and ammunition as well, were safely stored aft. + +Durdley was chief mutineer--chief scoundrel! Out of the fourteen men +left alive, only four were true to the captain, the others were ready to +follow Durdley. + +This fellow became a demon now--a demon in command of demons; for they +had found some grog which had been in charge of the second mate--who was +dead--and excited themselves into fury with it. + +Durdley, the dark and ugly man, rushed to the screen-berth where Halcott +was trying to ease the sufferings of a poor dying man. + +He was as white as a ghost; even his lips were pale. + +Beware of men, reader, who get white when angry. They are dangerous! + +"Here, Halcott," cried Durdley, "drop your confounded mummery, and +listen to _me_. Lay aft here, my merry men, lay aft." + +Nine men, chiefly Finns and other foreigners, armed with ugly knives and +iron marline-spikes, quickly stationed themselves behind him. + +"Now, Halcott, your game's up. You brought this plague into the ship +yourself. By rights you should die. But I depose you. I am captain +now, and my brave boys will obey me, and me alone. + +"You _hear_?" he shouted, for Halcott stood a few paces from him, calmly +looking him in the face. + +"I _hear_." + +"Then, cusses on you, why don't ye speak? You'll be allowed to live, I +say, both you and Tandy, on one condition." + +"And that is--?" + +"That you alter your course, and steer straight away to the nearest +land--the Falkland Isles--at once." + +"I refuse. Back, you mutinous dog! back! I say. Would you dare to +stab your captain? Your blood be,"--here the captain's revolver rang +sharp and clear, and Durdley fell to the deck--"on your own cowardly +head." + +There was a wild yell and a rush now, and though the captain fired again +and again, he was speedily overpowered. + +The revolver was snatched from his hand, and he was borne down by force +of numbers. + +But assistance was at hand. + +"Now, lads, give it to them! Hurrah!" + +It was Tandy himself, with the four good men and true, who had run aft +between decks to inform the mate of the mutiny. + +All were armed with rifles, but these they only clubbed. So fiercely +did they fight, that the mutineers speedily dropped their knives and +iron marline-spikes, and were driven below, yelling for mercy like the +cowards they were. + +The captain, though bruised, was otherwise intact. Nor was Durdley +dead, though he had lost much blood from a wound--the revolver bullet +having crashed through the arm above the elbow, and through the outside +of the chest as well. But two Finns lay stark and stiff beside the +winch. + +Even to tragedy there is always a ridiculous side or aspect, and on the +present occasion this was afforded by the strange behaviour of Bob and +the Admiral during the terrible _melee_. It is not to be supposed that +Bob would be far away from his master when danger threatened him. + +Seeing Ransey Tansey, rifle in hand, follow his father to join in +repelling the mutineers, it occurred to him at once that two might be of +some assistance. It did not take the faithful tyke a moment to make up +his mind, but he thought he might be of more use behind the mutineers +than in front of them. So he outflanked the whole fighting party, and +the attack he made upon the rear of Durdley's following was very +effective. + +The 'Ral could not fight, it is true, but his excitement during the +battle was extreme. Round and round the deck he ran or flew, with his +head and neck straight out in front of him, and his screams of terror +and anger added considerably to the clamour and din going on forward. +The poor bird really seemed to know that men were being killed, and +seeing his master engaged, he would fain have helped him had he been +able. + +Of the ten men then who had mutinied three were wounded, including the +ringleader, two were dead, and the remaining five were now taken on deck +and roped securely alongside the winch to await their sentence. The +deck was quickly cleared of the dead, and all evidences of the recent +struggle were removed. + +Durdley resembled nothing more nearly than a captured bird of prey. He +was stern, silent, grim, and vindictive. Had he not been utterly +prostrate and powerless, he would have sprung like a catamount at the +throats of the very men who were dressing his wounds, and these were +Tandy and Halcott himself. + +Yet it was evident that he was not receiving the treatment he had +expected, nor that which he would have dealt out to Halcott had he +fallen into his hands. + +"Why don't you throw me overboard?" he growled at last, with a fearful +oath. "Sharks are the best surgeons; their work is soon over. I'd have +served you so, if my lily-livered scoundrels had only fought a trifle +better, hang them! + +"Ay, and you too, Mr Tandy, with your solemn face, if you hadn't +consented to take us straight to land!" + +"Keep your mind easy," said Halcott, quietly. "I'll get rid of you as +soon as possible, you may be well sure." + +"Do your worst--I defy you. But if that worst isn't death, I'll bide my +time. I'd rather die three times over than lie here like a half-stuck +pig." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +During the fight little Nelda was in terrible distress, and, but for +Janeira, she would doubtless have rushed forward, as she wanted to do, +in order to "help daddy and 'Ansey." + +Bob was the first to bring her tidings of the victory. + +He came aft at full gallop, almost threw himself down the companion-way, +and next moment was licking the child's tear-bedewed cheeks. + +She could see joy in the poor dog's face. He was full of it, and trying +as much as ever dog did try to talk. Perhaps he never fully realised +till now how awkward it is for a doggie to want a tail. But he did what +he could, nevertheless, with the morsel of fag-end he had. + +"Don't cry, little mistress," he was trying hard to say, "don't cry. +It's all right now. And it was such fun to see them fighting, and I +fought too. Oh, didn't I bite and tear the rascals just." + +Even the 'Ral seemed to know that the danger was past and gone for a +time, and nothing would suffice to allay his feelings save executing a +kind of wild jig right on the top of the skylight--a thing he had never +done before. + +But although quieted now, Nelda was not quite content, till down rushed +Ransey Tansey himself. With a joyful cry she flew to his arms, and he +did all he could to reassure her; so successfully, too, that presently +she was her happy little self once more, playing with Bob on the +quarterdeck, as if nothing had happened. Blissful childhood. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The condition of affairs, after the ship had penetrated into the regions +of ice and snow, was not an enviable one, although there was now a rent +in the dark cloud that hovered over the _Sea Flower_--a lull in the +terrible storm. + +Durdley was progressing favourably, and making so rapid a recovery that, +in case he might cause more mischief, he was put in irons. But the +other wounded men, probably owing to their weak condition, had died. + +The five others were allowed to go on duty. Halcott refused to accept +their offered promise to behave leal and true. What is a promise, even +on oath, from such bloodthirsty villains as these? + +"I do not wish either promise or apology," he told them plainly. "Your +conduct from this date will in some measure determine what your future +punishment may be. Remember this, we do not trust you. The four good +Englishmen, who fought for myself and mate, are all armed, and have +orders to shoot you down without one moment's grace if they observe a +suspicious movement on your part, or hear one single mutinous word. +There! go." + +The ship's course was altered now, and all sail made to round Cape Horn. + +No doubt the cold had been the means of eradicating the dreadful plague. +Yet Halcott was a man whom no half-measures would satisfy. + +There was plenty of clothing on board, so a new suit was served out to +every seaman, the old being thrown overboard. Then the bedding and +hammocks were scoured, and when dry fumigated. Sulphur was burned +between decks, and hatches battened down for a whole day. Every portion +of the woodwork was afterwards scrubbed, and even the masts were +scraped. This work was given to the mutineers, and a cold job it was. +The men sat each one in the bight of a rope, and were lowered up or down +when they gave the signal. + +Halcott was very far indeed from being vindictive, but long experience +had taught him that mutinous intentions are seldom carried out if active +occupation be found for body and mind. + +"I breathe more freely now," said the captain, as Tandy and he walked +briskly up and down the quarterdeck. + +"Heigho!" said Tandy, "we no doubt have sinned--we certainly have +suffered. But," he added, "I thank God, Halcott, from my inmost soul, +first that you are spared, and secondly, that my little innocent child +here and my brave boy Ransey Tansey are still alive and happy." + +"Amen! And now, Tandy, we've got to pray for fine weather. We are +rather underhanded--those wretched Finns may break out again at any +moment. They will, too, if not carefully watched." + +"You have a kinder heart than I have, Halcott, else you'd have made that +scoundrel Durdley walk the plank, and hanged the rest at the yardarm, +one by one." + +"The worst use you can put a man to is to hang him," said Halcott, +laughing. + +"But will you care to land on the island we are in search of, with these +fellows?" asked Tandy. "Mind," he added, before Halcott could answer, +"I take no small blame to myself for having engaged such scoundrels. +Want of time was no excuse for me. Better to have sacrificed a month +than sail as shipmates with such demons as these." + +"Keep your mind easy, my dear friend; I'll get rid of them, by hook or +by crook, before we reach our island." + +"It relieves me to hear you say so, but indeed, Halcott, 'twixt hook and +crook, if I had my way, I should choose the crook. I'd give the beggars +a bag of biscuit and a barrel of pork, and maroon them on the first +desert island we come in sight of." + +I do not know that Halcott paid much attention to the latter part of +Tandy's speech. He was at this moment looking uneasily at a bank of +dark, rock-like clouds that was rising slowly up to the north and east. + +"Have you noticed the glass lately, Tandy?" he said quietly. + +"I'll jump down and see it now." + +"Why," he said, on returning, "it is going tumbling down. I'll shorten +sail at once. We're going to have it out of that quarter." + +There was little time to lose, for the wind was already blowing over the +cold, dark sea in little uncertain puffs and squalls. Between each +there was a lull; yet each, when it did come, lasted longer and blew +stronger than those that had preceded it. + +The barque was snug at last. Very little sail indeed was left on her; +only just enough to steer by and a bit over, lest a sail or two should +be carried away. + +Of the four trustworthy men, one was Chips the carpenter, the other old +Canvas the sailmaker. The latter kept a watch, the former had been +placed in Tandy's. + +It was hard times now with all. Watch and watch is bad enough in +temperate zones, but here, with the temperature far below +freezing-point, and dropping lower and lower every hour, with darkness +and storm coming down upon them, and the dangers of the ice to be +encountered, it was doubly, trebly hard. + +It takes a deal to damp the courage of a true British sailor, however, +and strange as it may seem, that very courage seems to rise to the +occasion, be that occasion what it may. But now, to quote the wondrous +words of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner--" + + ... "The storm-blast came, and he + Was tyrannous and strong; + He struck with his o'ertaking wings, + And chased us south along. + + "With sloping masts and dipping prow. + As who pursued with yell and blow + Still treads the shadow of his foe, + And forward bends his head. + The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, + And southward ay we fled. + + "And now there came both mist and snow, + And it grew wondrous cold; + And ice, mast-high, came floating by, + As green as emerald. + + "And through the drifts the snowy clifts + Did send a dismal sheen: + * * * * *. + + "The ice was here, the ice was there, + The ice was all around: + It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, + Like noises in a swound!" + +Yes, the good barque _Sea Flower_ was driven far, far to the southward, +far, far from her course; but happily, before they reached the icy +barrier, the wind had gone down, so that the terrible noises in the main +pack which the poet so graphically describes had few terrors for them. + +The wind fell, and went veering round, till it blew fair from the east. +A very gentle wind, however, and hardly did the barque make five knots +an hour on her backward track. + +Others might be impatient, but there was no such thing as impatience +about Nelda, and little about Ransey Tansey either. Everything they saw +or passed was as fresh and new to them as if they were sailing through a +sea of enchantment. + +The cold affected neither. They were dressed to withstand it. The +keen, frosty air was bracing rather than otherwise, and warm blood +circulated more quickly through every vein as they trod the decks +together. How strange, how weird-like at times were the snow-clad +icebergs they often saw, their sides glittering and gleaming in the +sunshine with every colour of the rainbow, and how black was the sea +that lay between! + +The smaller pieces through which the ship had often to steer were of +every shape and size, all white, and some of them acting as rafts for +seals asleep thereon--seals that were drifting, drifting away they knew +not, cared not whither. + +Sometimes a great sea-elephant would raise his noble head and gaze +curiously at the passing barque, then dive and be seen no more. Shoals +of whales of a small species afforded our little seafarers great delight +to watch. But these went slowly on their way, dipping and ploughing, +and looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. The porpoises +were still more interesting, for they seemed to live but to romp and +play and chase each other, sometimes jumping right out of the water, so +that it is no wonder Nelda imagined they were playing at leap-frog. +Nelda, when told that these were schools of porpoises, said,-- + +"Oh, well, and school is just let out, I suppose; no wonder they are +happy. And the big whales are their mothers! They are not happy +because they are all going to church, quiet and 'spectable like." + +The myriads of birds seen everywhere it would be impossible here to +describe. Suffice it to say that they afforded Nelda great delight. + +Bob was as merry as ever; but when one day the 'Ral walked solemnly aft +wearing a pair of canvas stockings right up as far as his thighs, both +Tandy and Halcott joined with the youngsters in a roar of hearty +laughter. There was no more dance in that droll bird, and wouldn't be +for many a long day. "A sail in sight, sah! A steamer, sah!" It was +little Fritz who reported it from the mast-head one morning, some time +after the _Sea Flower_ had regained her course, had doubled the Cape, +and was steering north-west by west. + +The stranger lay to on observing a flag of distress hoisted, and soon a +boat was seen coming rapidly on towards the _Sea Flower_. + +The steamer was the _Dun Avon_, homeward-bound from San Francisco, with +passengers and cargo. + +The captain himself boarded her with one of his men, and to him was +related the whole sad story as we know it. "We have a clean bill of +health now though," added Halcott; "but we are short-handed--one man in +irons, and five more that we cannot trust." + +"Well," said the steamer captain, "I cannot relieve you of your black +hats, but I'll tell you what I can do: I shall let you have four good +hands if they'll volunteer, and if you'll pay them well. And I should +advise you to set your mutineers on shore at the entrance to the Strait +of Magellan, and let them take their chance. You're not compelled to +voyage with mutineers, and risk the safety of yourselves and your ship. +Now write your letters home, for my time is rather short." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The four new hands were four hearties, as hard as a mainstay, as brown +as bricks, and with merry faces that did one's heart good to behold. + +Was it marooning, I wonder? Well, it doesn't matter a great deal, but +just ten days after this the mutineers were landed, bag and baggage, on +the north cape of Desolation Island, not far from the route through the +far-famed strait. With them were left provisions for six weeks, guns, +ammunition, and tools. + +I never heard what became of them. If they were picked up by some +passing ship, it was more than they deserved. + +"At last," said Halcott, when the boat returned--"at last, friend Tandy, +an incubus is lifted off my mind, and now let us make-- + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"All Sail for the Island of Gold." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +End of Book Two. + +Book 3--CHAPTER ONE. + +"A SIGHT I SHALL REMEMBER TILL MY DYING DAY." + +Captain Halcott sat on the skylight, and near him sat Tandy his mate, +while between them--tacked down with pins to the painted canvas, so that +the wind might not catch it--lay a chart of a portion of the South +Pacific Ocean. + +At one particular spot was a blue cross. + +"I marked it myself," said Halcott; "and here, on this piece of +cardboard, is the island, which I've shown you before--every creek and +bay, every river and hill, so far as I know them, distinctly depicted." + +"The exact longitude and latitude?" said Tandy. + +"As near as I could make them, my friend." + +"And yet we don't seem to be able to discover this island. Strange +things happen in these seas, Halcott; islands shift and islands sink, +but one so large as this could do neither. Come, Halcott, we'll work +out the reckoning again. It will be twelve o'clock in ten minutes." + +"Everything correct," said Halcott, when they had finished, "as written +down by me. Here we are on the very spot where the Island of Misfortune +should be, and--the island is gone!" + +There was a gentle breeze blowing, and the sky was clear, save here and +there a few fleecy clouds lying low on a hazy horizon. + +Nothing in sight! nor had there been for days and days; for the isle +they were in search of lies far out of the track of outward or +homeward-bound ships. + +"Below there!" + +It was a shout from one of the new hands, who was stationed at the +fore-topgallant cross-trees. + +"Hallo, Wilson!" cried Tandy running forward. "Here we are!" + +"Something I can't make out on the lee bow, sir." + +"Well, shall I come up and bring a bigger glass?" + +"One minute, sir!" + +"It's a steamer, I believe," he hailed now; "but I can't just raise her +hull, only just the long trail of smoke along the horizon." + +Tandy was beside the man in a few minutes' time. "This will raise it," +he said, "if I can focus aright. Why!" he cried next minute, "that is +no steamer, Tom Wilson, but the smoke from a volcanic mountain or hill." + +Down went Tandy quickly now. + +"Had your island of gold a chimney to it?" he said, laughing. He could +afford to laugh, for he felt convinced this was _the_ island and none +other. "There wasn't a coal mine or a factory of any kind on it, was +there? If not, we will soon be in sight of the land of gold. Volcanic, +Halcott--volcanic!" + +"Keep her away a point or two," he said to the man at the wheel. + +"There were hills on the Island of Misfortune, but no signs of a +volcano." + +"Not then; but in this mystery of an ocean, Halcott, we know not what a +day or an hour may bring forth. + +"Let me see," he continued, glancing at the cardboard map; "we are on +the east side of the island, or we will be soon. Why, we ought soon to +reach your Treachery Bay. Ominous name, though, Halcott; we must change +it." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Nearer and nearer to the land sailed the _Sea Flower_. The hills came +in sight; then dark, wild cliffs o'ertopped with green, with a few +waving palm-trees and a fringe of banana here and there; and all between +as blue a sea as ever sun shone on. + +"It is strangely like my island," said Halcott; "but that hill, far to +the west yonder, from which the smoke is rising, I cannot recognise." + +"It may not have been there before." + +"True," said Halcott. But still he looked puzzled. + +Then, after bearing round to the north side of the island, past the +mouth of a dark gully, and past a rocky promontory, the land all at once +began to recede. In other words, they had opened out the bay. + +"But all the land in yonder used to be burned forest, Tandy." + +Tandy quietly handed him the glass. + +The forest he now looked upon was not composed of living trees, but of +skeletons, their weird shapes now covered entirely by a wealth of +trailing parasites and flowery climbing plants. + +"I am satisfied now, and I think we may drop nearer shore, and let go +the anchor." + +In an hour's time the _Sea Flower_ lay within two hundred yards of the +beach. + +This position was by no means a safe one were a heavy storm to blow from +either the north or the west. There would be nothing for it then but to +get up anchor and put out to sea, or probably lie to under the shelter +of rocks and cliffs to the southward of the island. + +The bay itself was a somewhat curious one. The dark blue which was its +colour showed that it was deep, and the depth continued till within +seventy yards of the shore, when it rapidly shoaled, ending in a +snow-white semicircle of coral sands. Then at the head of the bay, only +on the east side, stretching seawards to that bold promontory, was a +line of high, black, beetling cliffs, the home of those wheeling +sea-birds. These cliffs were of solid rock of an igneous formation +chiefly, but marked here and there with veins of what appeared to be +quartz. They were, moreover, indented with many a cave: some of these, +it was found out afterwards, were floored with stalagmites, while huge +icicle-like stalactites depended from their roofs. + +Rising to the height of at least eight hundred feet above these cliffs +was one solitary conical hill, green-wooded almost to its summit. + +The western side of the bay, and, indeed, all this end of the island, +was low, and fringed with green to the water's edge; but southwards, if +one turned his eye, a range of high hills was to be seen, adding +materially to the beauty of the landscape. + +The whole island--which was probably not more than sixteen miles in +length, by from eight to nine in width--was divided by the river +mentioned in Captain Halcott's narrative into highlands and lowlands. + +The day was far advanced when the _Sea Flower_ dropped anchor in this +lovely bay, and it was determined therefore not to attempt a landing +that night. Halcott considered it rather an ominous sign that no +savages were visible, and that not a single outrigger boat was drawn up +on the beach. + +Experience teaches fools, and it teaches savages also. Just a little +inland from the head of the bay the cover was very dense indeed; and +though, even with the aid of their glasses, neither Halcott nor Tandy +could discover a sign of human life, still, for all they could tell to +the contrary, that green entanglement of bush might be peopled by wild +men who knew the _Sea Flower_ all too well, and would not dare to +venture forth. + +The wind went down with the sun, and for a time scarce a sound was to be +heard. The stars were very bright, and seemed very near, the Southern +Cross sparkling like a diamond pendant in the sky. + +By-and-by a yellow glare shone above the shoulder of the adjacent hill, +and a great round moon uprose and sailed up the firmament as clear and +bright as a pearl. + +It was just after this that strange noises began to be heard coming from +the woods apparently. They were intermittent, however. There would be +a chorus of plaintive cries and shrieks, dying away into a low, +murmuring moan, which caused Nelda, who was on deck, to shiver with fear +and cling close to her brother's arm. + +"What on earth can it be?" said Tandy. "Can the place be haunted?" + +"Haunted by birds of prey, doubtless. These are not the cries that +savages utter, even during an orgie. But, strangely enough--whatever +your experience may be, Tandy--I have seldom found birds of prey on the +inhabited islands of the South Pacific." + +"Nor I," said Tandy. "Look yonder!" he added, pointing to a +balloon-shaped cloud of smoke that hovered over a distant hill-top, lit +up every now and then by just such gleams of light as one sees at night +penetrating the smoke from some village blacksmith's forge. But yonder +was Vulcan's forge, and Jupiter was his chief employer. + +"Yes, Tandy, that is the volcano. But I can assure you there was no +such fire-mountain, as savages say, when I was here last." + +"To-morrow," said the mate, "will, I trust, make every thing more plain +to us." + +"To-morrow? Yes, I trust so, too," said Halcott, musingly. "Shall we +go below and talk a little?" + +"I confess, my friend," Halcott continued, after he had lit his pipe and +smoked some time in silence--"I confess, Tandy, that I don't quite like +the look of that hill. Have you ever experienced the effects of a +volcanic eruption in any of these islands?" + +"I have not had that pleasure, if pleasure it be," replied the mate. + +"Pleasure, Tandy! I do not know of anything more hideous, more awful, +in this world. + +"When I say `any of these islands,' I refer to any one of the whole vast +colony of them that stud the South Pacific, and hundreds of these have +never yet been visited by white men. + +"Years ago," he continued, "I was first mate of the _Sky-Raker_, as +bonnie a brig as you could have clapped eyes upon. It afterwards +foundered with all hands in a gale off the coast of Australia. When I +trod her decks, second in command, I was a bold young fellow of twenty, +or thereabouts; and I may tell you at once we were engaged in the +Queensland black labour trade. And black, indeed, and bloody, too, it +might often be called. + +"We used to go cruising to the nor'ard and east, visiting islands here +and islands there, to engage hands for working in the far interior. We +arranged to pay every man well who would volunteer to go with us, and to +land them again back home on their own islands, if they _did_ wish to +return. + +"On these expeditions we invariably employed `call-crows.'" + +"What may a `call-crow' be, Halcott?" + +"Well, you know what gamblers mean on shore by a `call-bird' or +`decoy-duck.' Your `call-crow' is the same, only he is a black who has +lived and laboured in Queensland, who can talk `island,' who can spin a +good yarn in an off-hand way, and tell as many lies as a +recruiting-sergeant. + +"These are the lures. + +"No matter how unfriendly the blackamoors among whom we may land may be, +our `call-rooks' nearly always make peace. Then bartering begins, and +after a few days we get volunteers enough." + +"But they do attack you at times, these natives?" + +"That's so, Tandy; and I believe I was a braver man in those days than I +am now, else I'd hardly have cared to make myself a target for poisoned +arrows, or poisoned spears, so coolly as I used to do then." + +Nelda, who had come quietly down the companion-way with her brother, +seated herself as closely to Captain Halcott as she could. She dearly +loved a story, especially one of thrilling adventure. + +"Go on, cap'n," she said, eagerly. "Never mind me. `Poisoned +spears,'--that is the prompt-word." + +"These black fellows were not of great height, Tandy," resumed Halcott. + +"Savages," said Nelda. "Please say savages." + +"Well, dear, savages I suppose I must call them. They were almost +naked, and many of the elder warriors were tattooed on cheeks, chest, +and arms. All had bushy heads of hair, and were armed with bows and +arrows, spears and clubs, and tomahawks. + +"But," he added, "it was generally with the natives of those islands +from which we had already obtained volunteers that we had the greatest +trouble. The ship I used to sail in, Tandy, was as honest as it is +possible for such a ship to be, and I never saw natives ill-treated by +any of our crew, though more than once we had to fight in self-defence. +The reason was this. Many ships that had agreed to bring the blacks +back home, broke their promise, which, perhaps, they had never intended +to keep. When they returned to the islands, therefore, to obtain more +recruits, bloodshed was almost certain to ensue. If one white man was +killed, then the revenge taken was fearful. At a safe distance the +whites would bring their rifles and guns to bear upon the poor savages, +and the slaughter would be too dreadful to contemplate. If the unhappy +wretches took shelter in their woods or jungles, these would be set on +fire, till at last a hundred or more of them would fling their arms +away, hold up the palms of their hands in token of submission, or as on +appeal for mercy, and huddle together in a corner like fowls, and just +as helpless. The whites could then pick and choose volunteers as they +pleased, and it is needless to tell you there was nothing given in +exchange. + +"Our trouble took place when we returned to an island, having found it +impossible to bring the natives we had taken off back with us. This +they looked upon as cheating, and they would rush to arms, compelling us +to fire upon them in self-defence. + +"Well, we were constantly on the search for new islands. The natives on +these might threaten us for a time, but the `call-crows' soon pacified +them. The beads and presents we distributed, coupled with the glowing +accounts of life in Queensland which the `crows' gave these poor +heathen, did all the rest, and we soon had a cargo." + +"And this species of trade was, or is, called black-birding, I think," +said Tandy. + +"It was, and _is_ now, _sub rosa_. + +"But I was going to tell you of a volcanic eruption. Before I do so, +however, I propose that we order the main-brace to be spliced. For this +is an auspicious night, you know, and I have not heard a jovial song on +board the _Sea Flower_ for many and many a day. + +"Janeira!" + +"Yes, sah. I'se not fah away, sah." + +And Janeira entered, smiling as usual, and as daintily dressed as a +stage waiting-maid. + +"Pass the word for Fitz, Janeira, like a good girl." + +"Oh, he's neah too, sah. At you' service, sah!" + +Fitz had been in the pantry eating plum-duff, or whatever else came +handy. The pantry was a favourite resort with Lord Fitzmantle, and +Janeira never failed to put after-dinner tit-bits away in a corner for +his especial delectation. + +"Now, Jane, you shall draw some rum, and, Fitz, you must take it +for'ard. Here is the key, Jane; and, Fitz, just tell them for'ard to +drink the healths of those aft, and sing as much as they choose +to-night." + +"Far away then, Tandy and Nelda," said Halcott, resuming his narrative, +"to the west of this island, farther away almost than the imagination +can grasp, so solitary and wide is this great ocean, there used to be a +small island called Saint Queeba. Who first found it out, or named it, +I cannot tell you, Tandy, but I believe our own brig was the first that +ever visited it in a black-birding expedition. + +"The population seemed to be about three thousand, and of these we took +away at least one hundred and fifty. The poor creatures appeared to +have no fear of white men, and so we concealed our revolvers and entered +into friendly intercourse with them. + +"The island was a long way from any other, and this probably accounted +for its never having been black-birded before. + +"We returned from Australia almost immediately again after landing our +recruits, and I for one felt sure the natives would welcome us. + +"So we brought extra-showy cloth and the brightest beads we could +procure. + +"They did welcome us, and we soon had about half a cargo of real +volunteers. + +"We were only waiting for others to come from the interior; for the wind +was fair just then, and we were all anxious to proceed to sea. + +"The very evening before the arrival of the blacks, however, the wind +went suddenly down, although, strangely enough, at a great altitude we +could see scores of small black clouds scurrying across the sky. +Finally, some of these circled round and round, and combined to form a +dark blue canopy that gradually lowered itself towards the island. + +"Soon the sun went down, a blood-red ball in the west, and darkness +quickly followed. It was just then that we observed a fitful gleam +arise from the one and only mountain the island possessed. Over this a +ball of cloud had hung all day long, but we had taken little notice of +it. + +"`I've never seen the like of that before, mate,' said the skipper to +me, pointing at the slowly descending pall of cumulus. + +"`Nor I either, captain,' I replied. + +"I couldn't keep my eyes off it, do what I would, for dark though the +night was that strange cloud was darker. It seemed now to be sending +downwards from its centre a whirling tail, or pillar, which the gleams +that began to rise higher and higher from the developing volcano lit up, +and tongues of fire appeared to touch. + +"`It's going to be a storm of some kind, Halcott,' said my skipper. +`Oh, for a puff of wind, for, Heaven help us, lad! we are far too near +the shore.' + +"`I have it,' he cried next minute. `Lower the boats and heave up the +anchor.' + +"I never saw men work more willingly in my life before. Even the blacks +we had on board lent a hand, and no sooner was the anchor apeak than +away went the boats, and the ship moved slowly out to sea. + +"We had got about three knots off-shore, when, happening to look back, I +saw a sight which I shall remember to my dying day. + +"The black and awful whirling cloud had burst. If one ton of water came +down like an avalanche, a million must have fallen, with a deafening +roar like a thousand thunders. + +"It seemed as if heaven and earth had gone to war and the first terrific +shot had been fired. + +"For a time the mountain was entirely enveloped in darkness; then up +through this blackness rose high, high into the air a huge pillar of +steam. This continued to rise for over an hour, with incessant thunder +and lightning around the base of the hill. Rain, almost boiling hot, +fell on our decks, and hissed and spluttered on the still water around +the ship, compelling us to fly below or seek the shelter of tarpaulins. + +"This ceased at last, and now we could see that the volcanic fire had +gained the mastery; for the flames, with huge pieces of stones and +rocks, were hurled five hundred feet at least into the starry sky. + +"For many hours the thunderings and the lightnings over that devoted +island and around the hill were such, Tandy, as I pray God I may never +see or hear again. There were earthquakes, too; that was evident enough +from the strange commotion in the water around us, and this was +communicated to the ship. The best sailors on our brig could scarcely +stand, far less walk. Towards morning it had partially cleared, +although the lightning still continued to play, fork and sheet, above +the base of the volcanic hill. We could now see streams of molten lava +pouring down the mountain's side, green, crimson, and violet. + +"Very lovely indeed they were. But ah! then I knew the fate of those +unhappy inhabitants was to be a terrible one. It would be a choice of +deaths, for in less than half an hour the isle was one vast +conflagration. We saw but little more of it even next day, for the lava +was now pouring into the sea and a cloud of steam enveloped the scene of +tragedy. + +"Our decks were covered with dust and scoriae, and this fell steadily +all that day. + +"We had managed by means of the boats to work off and away fully fifteen +miles. This was undoubtedly our salvation; for presently we were struck +by a terrible tornado, and it required all our skill to keep out of the +vortex. + +"While it was still raging around us, an explosion away on our port +quarter, where the island would be just then, seemed to rend the whole +earth in pieces. Many of our crew were struck deaf, and remained so for +days. Our ship shook, Tandy, fore and aft, quivering like a dying rat. +She seemed to have no more stability in her then than an old orange box. + +"An immense wave, such as I had never seen before, rose in the sea and +swept on towards us. The marvel is that it did not swamp us. + +"As it was we were carried sky-high, and our masts cracked as if they +were about to go by the board. Smaller waves followed, and the gale +that brought up the rear drove us far away from the scene of the +terrible tragedy before the sun rose, redder than ever I had seen it +before, for it was shining through the dust and debris of that broken up +island. + +"I left the trade soon after this, Tandy. I was tired and sick of +black-birding. + +"But in my own ship, two years after this, I visited the spot. The +island was gone; but for more than a mile in circumference the sea was +strangely rippled, and gases were constantly escaping that we were glad +enough to work to windward of. + +"But listen! our good little crew is singing. Well, there is something +like hope in that--and in the sweet notes of Tom Wilson's violin. He's +a good man that, Tandy, but he has a history, else I'm a Hottentot. + +"Well, just one look at the sky, and then I'll turn in, my friend. We +don't know what may be in store for us to-morrow." + +And away up the companion-way went Captain Halcott. + +Book 3--CHAPTER TWO. + +"I SEE A BEACH OF CORAL SAND, DARK FIGURES MOVING TO AND FRO." + +Next morning broke bright and fair. Not a cloud in all the heaven's +blue; not a ripple on the water, just a gentle swell that broke in long +lines of snow-white foam on the crescent shore--a gentle swell with +sea-birds afloat on it. Ah! what would the ocean be to a sailor were +there no birds. The sea-gulls are the last to leave him, long after all +other friends are gone, and the land, like a pale blue cloud far away on +the horizon, is fading from his view. + +"Adieu! adieu! away! away?" they shriek or sing, and as the shades of +evening are merging into darkness they disappear. But these same birds +are the first to welcome the mariner back, and even should there be no +land in sight, or should clouds envelop it, the sight of a single gull +flying tack and half-tack around the ship sends a thrill of hope and joy +to the sailor's heart. On the deep, lone sea, too, Jack has ay a +friend, should it be but in the stormy petrel, the frigate-bird, or that +marvellous eagle of the ocean, the albatross itself. + +Those birds floating here around the _Sea Flower_ so quietly on the +swell of the sea looked as happy as they were pure and lovely. No +whiteness, hardly even snow itself, could rival the whiteness of their +chests, while under them their pink legs and feet looked like little +twigs of coral. + +The morning was warm, the sun was bright; they were moving gently with +the tide, careless, happy. As he stood there gazing seawards and +astern--for the ship had swung to the outgoing tide--Halcott could not +help envying them. + +"Ah!" he said half aloud, "you are at home, sweet birds; never a care to +look forward to, contentment in your breasts, beauty all around you." + +Then his thoughts went somehow wandering homewards to his beautiful +house, his house with a tower to it, and his lovely gardens. They would +not be neglected though. It was autumn here. It would be spring time +in England, with its buds, its tender green leaves, its early flowers, +and its music of birds. Then he thought of his dog. Fain would he have +brought him to sea. The honest collie had placed his muzzle in his +master's hand on that last sad evening of parting, and glanced with +loving, pleading eyes up into his face. + +"Take me," he seemed to say, "and take _her_." + +_Her_ was Doris. His--Halcott's--own Doris; the lovely girl for whom he +had risked so much, for whom he would lay down his life; the girl that +would be his own fair bride, he told himself, if ever he returned. Ah! +those weary "ifs!" + +But he had looked into the dog's bonnie brown eyes. + +"Friend," he had said, "you will stay with Doris. You will never leave +her side till I come back. You will watch her for me." + +And he remembered now how Doris had at that moment thrown herself into +his arms, and strained him to her breast in a fit of convulsive weeping. + +And this had been the parting. + +"What, Halcott," cried Tandy's cheerful voice, "up already! and--and-- +why, Halcott, old man, there is moisture in your eyes!" + +"I--I was thinking of home, and--well, I was thinking of my dog." + +"And your Doris. Heigho! I have no Doris, no beautiful face to welcome +me home. But look yonder," he added, taking Halcott's arm. + +Little Nelda stood at the top of the companion-way, the sunlight playing +on her yellow hair, one hand held up to screen her face, delicate, pink, +yet so shyly sweet, and her blue eyes brimful of happiness. + +Just one look she gave, then, with arms outstretched, rushed gleefully +towards her father. Next moment she was poised upon his shoulder, and +Tandy had forgotten that there was any such thing as danger or sorrow in +the world. + +The two men walked and talked together now for quite an hour. Indeed, +there was very much to talk about, for although they had made the island +at last, they had no idea as yet how they should set about looking for +the gold which they were certain existed there. + +They had not made up their minds as to what they should do, when Janeira +rang the bell for breakfast, and with Fitz was seen staggering aft with +the covered dish. + +"Jane, you look happier than ever this morning. What is the matter? +Has some beautiful bird brought you a letter from home?" + +"De bootiful bird, sah, is Lawd Fitzmantle, and see, sah, dat is de +letter from home." + +She lifted the dish cover as she spoke. Beautiful broiled fish caught +only that morning over the stern, but oh, the delicious odour would have +revived the heart of a dying epicure! + +"Babs is going to be very good to-day," said Tandy to his little +daughter after breakfast. + +"Better than ever, daddy?" + +"Yes, much, because I'm going on shore with Captain Halcott here and two +men." + +"And _me_?" + +"No, not to-day, dear. We're going to climb that high hill and look all +round us, and perhaps put up a flag; and Ransey will let you look +through a spyglass to see us, and we'll wave our hands to you. Now will +you be better than usual?" + +"Ye-es, I think I'll try. And oh, I'll make the Admiral look through +the spyglass too, and when you see him looking through, you must wave +your hand and fire your gun. Then we'll all--all be happy and nicer +than anything in the whole world." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was not without a feeling of misgiving that Halcott and Tandy left +the boat that had taken them on shore, and took their way cautiously +towards the bush. There was hard work before them and the two sturdy +fellows, Chips and Tom Wilson, whom they had brought with them--hard +work to penetrate through the jungle and to effect an ascent of the hill +they had already named the Observatory--hard work and danger combined. + +The crew of the boat stood gun in hand until they saw the party safe +into the bush, then, more easy in their minds now, rowed slowly back to +the ship. For if savages had been hiding under cover, the attack would +have been made just as the party was stepping on shore. + +The exploring party kept to the extreme edge of the bush after +penetrating and searching hither and thither for a time, but neither +track nor trail of savages could they find. But they came across +several little pathways that led here and there through the jungle, and +at first they could not make out what these were. They learned before +long, however; for Bob, who had gone on ahead a little way, came +suddenly and excitedly rushing out from a thicket. In his mouth he held +something that Tandy imagined was a rat, but the shrieking and yelling +behind the dog soon undeceived him, and, lo! there now rushed into the +open a beautiful little boar and a sow. The former flashed his tusks in +the sunlight. He wanted the baby back. It was his, _his_, he said, and +his wife's. He felt full of fight, and big enough to wage war against +the whole world for that baby. + +Tandy made Bob drop it, which he did, and it ran squealing back to its +mother. The boar, or king pig, said he accepted the apology, and would +now withdraw his forces. And he accordingly did so by scuttling off +again into the bush. These wild dwarf-pigs and a species of rock-rabbit +were, they found afterwards, about the only animals of any size the +island contained. + +After this trifling adventure they fought their way through a terrible +entanglement of bush, till they reached the foot of the hill. + +The men had brought saws and axes with them, and were thus enabled by +cutting here and whacking there to make a tolerably good road. When +they reached the hill they found themselves in a woodland of beautiful +trees. Walking was now easy enough, and in about an hour's time they +reached the summit of the hill and sat down to luncheon. + +Eager eyes were watching their progress from the ship, for the upper +part of this mount was covered only with stunted grass and beautiful +heaths, among which they noticed many a charmingly-coloured lizard-- +green with crimson markings, or pale blue and orange--but they saw no +snakes. + +Tandy turned his glass now upon the barque, and there sure enough was +Nelda with the Admiral by her side. He waved his coat, and twice he +fired his gun. From the hill on which they stood the view was lovely +beyond compare. They could see well into the highland part of the +island, with its rolling woods, on which the fingers of autumn had +already traced beauty tints; its bosky glens; its rugged rocks and +hills; its streaks of silvery streams; the lake lying down yonder in the +hollow, with something like a floating garden in its centre; and afar +off the vast expanse of ocean. + +Look which way they would, that sea was all before them, only dotted +here and there far to the northward with islands much smaller than the +one on which they stood. + +High up on the top of the volcanic hill a white cloud was resting, and +its dark sides were seamed with many a waving line, the channels down +which lava must have run during some recent eruption. + +"Ha!" said Halcott presently, "now I can understand the mystery of the +burned forest. At first, when we landed here, we believed that the +black-birders had been ahead of us; but no, Tandy, no, it was nothing +but the lava that fired the forest." + +But strangely enough, however, not a sign of human life was anywhere +visible. + +Was there any way of accounting for this? "What is your theory, +Halcott?" said Tandy. Halcott was lying on the green turf, fanning +himself with his broad hat. + +But he now lit his pipe. Like most sailors, he was capable of calmer +and more concentrated thought when smoking. + +"Tandy," he said slowly, after a few whiffs of the too seductive +weed--"Tandy, we have luck on our side. Those blackamoors have fled +helter-skelter at the first signs of the eruption. Nothing in the world +strikes greater terror to the mind of the ordinary savage--and precious +ordinary most of them are--than a sudden convulsion of nature." + +Another whiff or two. + +"What think you, men," he said, looking round him, "came up with the +fire and the smoke from the throat of that volcanic hill?" + +"Stones and ashes," ventured Chips. + +"Stones and ashes? Yes, no doubt, but demons as well--so the dusky +rascals who inhabited this island would believe--demons with fire-fierce +eyes, tusks for teeth, and blood-red lolling tongues; only the kind of +demons that at home nurses try to frighten children with, but more +dreadful to those natives than either falling stones or boiling rain. + +"That is it, Tandy; they have fled. Heaven grant they may not come +back. But if they do, we must try to give them a warm reception, unless +they are extra civil. Meanwhile, I think that old Vulcan, at his forge +in yonder hill, has not let out his fires. They are merely banked, and +he is ready to get up steam at a moment's notice. + +"Why, Tandy, what see you?" + +The mate of the _Sea Flower_ was lying flat on the green hill-top, with +his telescope resting on Bob's back. + +"I see--I--see," he said, without taking his eye from the glass, "a +little island far away, a level island it is." + +"Yes. Go on." + +"I see a beach of coral sand, dark canoes like tree-trunks are lying +here and there, and I see dark figures moving to and fro, and many more +around a fire. The beach is banked behind by waving plantain or +banana-trees, and cocoa palms are nodding in the air." + +"Then," said Halcott, "I was right, and those savages you see, Tandy, +are the natives of this Island of Gold--for we shall call it the Isle of +Misfortune never again--the very natives, Tandy, who fled from this +place when Vulcan's thunders began to shake the earth." + +Slowly homewards now they took their way, and just as the sun was +westering stood once more upon the coral beach. The boat was speedily +sent for them, and they were not sorry to find themselves once more on +board. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Fine weather continued, with scarcely ever a breath of wind, for a whole +week. But this could not always be so. The ocean that stretches from +the shores of South America far across to New Zealand and Australia is +Pacific by name, but not always pacific by nature, and terrible indeed +are the gales and circular storms that sometimes sweep over its surface. + +So, knowing this, Halcott and Tandy determined to seek, if possible, a +safer anchorage or harbour. + +It was with this view that they extended their explorations, and made +little boat excursions round the rocky coast. These last Nelda, much to +her joy, was permitted to join. Looking over the boat's gunwale, far +down into the depths of the clear, transparent water, she could see +marine gardens more lovely than any she had ever dreamt of. + +"Oh," she cried, "look, daddy, look! That is fairyland. Oh, I _should_ +like to go down and see a mermaids' ball." + +After rounding the promontory, with its bold, bluff cliffs frowning +darkly over the deep, they came to the entrance to the river. + +This river was fed by springs that rose far inland, and so wide was it +at its mouth that the mariners hoped it would make a most excellent +shelter and harbour for the _Sea Flower_. Alas, greatly to their +disappointment, they found it barred across. + +And no other spot could be found around the island coast. + +By paying out the anchors; however, which, getting a firm hold of the +coralline bottom, were almost bound to hold, Halcott believed the _Sea +Flower_ could weather almost any storm. + +In this he was sadly mistaken, as the sequel will show. + +It was determined now to penetrate into the highland part of the isle +itself, and make their first grand plunge for gold. If this could be +found in sufficient quantities, their stay on the island need be but +very brief. + +Book 3--CHAPTER THREE. + +"WE SHALL ALWAYS BE BROTHERS NOW--ALWAYS, ALWAYS." + +"Just there, Tandy," said Halcott, as the two stood together a day or +two after on the brink of a rocky chasm, at the bottom of which the +river swept slowly along, dark and deep, because confined by the wet and +perpendicular rocks--"just there it was where my friend, my almost +brother, plunged over. He had torn up the bridge, as I told you, to +save us from the black men's axes, and so doing sacrificed his life. +Ah, James! poor James! + +"See," he added, "the bridge has never yet been repaired." + +Then they went slowly and sadly away, for Tandy felt sorry indeed to +witness the grief of his companion. + +"How he must have loved him!" he thought. But he remained silent. +Grief is sometimes far too deep for sympathy. + +They saw many little pigs to-day and rabbits also, as well as a species +of pole-cat. But having still plenty of provisions on board they did +not hamper themselves by making a bag. + +Higher up the stream now they went, and after a time found a place that +could be easily forded, the river meandering through a green and +pleasant valley, studded here and there with fragrant shrubs and +carpeted with wild flowers. + +Monster butterflies darted from bloom to bloom--as big as painted fans +they were, and radiantly beautiful; but still more beautiful were the +many birds seen here and there, especially the kingfishers. So tame +were these that they scarce moved even when the travellers came within a +yard of them. Asleep you might have believed them to be till one after +another, with a half-suppressed scream of excitement, they left their +perches to dive into a pool, so quickly too that they looked like tiny +strips of rainbow. + +Dinner was partaken of by the side of the stream, and after a time they +crossed the ford. + +The country was rough and rolling and well-wooded, though few of the +birds that flitted from bough to bough had any song; they made love in +silence. + +The beauty of the colours is doubtless granted them for sake of the +preservation of species, for there are lizards large enough here to prey +upon them, did the birds not resemble the flowers. Their want of song, +too, is a provision of nature for the same purpose. + +They found the country through which they passed on their way to the +lake so covered with jungle, here and there, that they had to climb +hills to save themselves from being lost, having brought no compass with +them. + +"Ha! yonder is the lake," cried Halcott; "and now we shall see the place +where my dear girl and her mother were imprisoned; and, Tandy," he +added, "we may find gold." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Close here, by the green banks of the little lake, and in a grove, much +to their astonishment, they found a canoe. + +To all appearance it had been recently used, for there were the marks of +feet on the grass, and in the canoe--a black dug-out--were a native +tomahawk, a kind of spear or trident, and fishing-hooks of bone, most +curiously formed, and evidently only recently used. + +"Look to your guns now, lads," said Halcott, "and keep out of sight; +that island is inhabited." + +Just at that moment, as if in proof of what he said, a slight wreath of +smoke came curling up through the foliage of a large-leaved banana grove +on the tiny island. + +A council of war was immediately held. The question to be debated was: +should two of their number enter the canoe and row boldly off to the +grass hut, the top of which could be seen peeping grey over the green of +the trees? + +This had been Tom Wilson's proposition. He and Chips, he said, would +run the risk. There could not be many savages on the island. With +revolvers in their hands they need not fear to advance under cover of +the rifles of Captain Halcott and Mr Tandy. + +"Poisoned arrows," said Halcott, shaking his head, "speed swiftly from a +bush. Spears, too, fly fast, and the touch of either means death! + +"No, my good fellows, we must think of some other plan. I cannot afford +to have you slain. If one or two savages would but appear, we could +make signs of peace, or hold them up with our rifles." + +From his position at this moment Halcott alone commanded a view of the +islet, which was barely seventy yards away. The three others were +sitting on the edge of the canoe. + +"Oh!" + +This was a sudden exclamation of half-frightened surprise, and when +Tandy looked up, behold! there stood Halcott in a position which seemed +to indicate a sudden attack of catalepsy. Halcott's shoulders were +shrugged, his clenched fists held somewhat in advance, his head bent +forward, eyes staring, brows lowered, and lips parted. + +Halcott was a brave man, and Tandy right well knew it. The sight of a +score of spear-armed savages could not have affected him thus; he might +be face to face with a tiger or a python, yet feel no fear. + +Thinking his friend was about to fall, Tandy sprang up and seized his +arm. + +Halcott recovered almost at once, and a smile stole over his bold, +handsome, sailor face. + +But he spoke not. He could not just then. He only pointed over the +bush towards the island, and Tandy looked in the same direction. + +Slowly from out the plantain thicket tottered, rather than walked, the +tall figure of a white man. His long hair flowed unkempt over his +shoulders; he was clothed in rags, and leaned upon a long, strong spear. + +He stood there for a moment on a patch of greensward, and, shading his +eyes from the sunlight, gazed across the lake, and as if listening. + +Then he knelt just there, with his right hand still clutching the spear, +as if engaged in prayer. + +And Tandy knew then without being told that the man kneeling yonder on +the patch of greensward was the long-lost James Malone himself. But no +one moved, no one spoke, until at last the Crusoe staggered to his feet. +This he did with difficulty, moving as one does who has aged before his +time with illness or sorrow, or with both combined. + +James had turned to go, when, with a happy cry, Halcott sprang out from +his hiding-place, dragging with him the small canoe and her paddles. + +"Ship ahoy! James! James!" he shouted, "your prayers are heard. I'm +here--your old shipmate, Halcott. You are saved!" + +The captain sprang into the canoe as he spoke, and soon shoved her off. + +They could see now, in a bright glint of sunshine, that James's hair was +long and had a silvery sheen. He gazed once more across, but shook his +head. It was evident he would not credit his senses. Then he turned +round and moved slowly and painfully back into the bush. + +Tandy had not attempted to go with Halcott, though the canoe could +easily have held two. + +"That meeting," he said to himself, "will be a sacred one. I shall not +dare to intrude." + +It was quite a long time after he reached the island and disappeared in +the grove before anything more was seen of Halcott. + +Tandy had thrown himself on the beach in a careless attitude, just as he +used to lounge on summer days on the poop of the _Merry Maiden_ while +slowly moving along the canal, and smoking now as he used to smoke +then--smoking and thinking. + +But see, Halcott is coming at last. He is leading James by the hand and +helping him towards the boat, and in a few minutes' time both are over +and standing on the bank of the lake. + +"Tandy, this is James. But you know the strange story, and this is the +strangest part of all." + +Tandy took the hand that was offered to him. How cold and thin it felt! + +"God sent you here," said James slowly, and speaking apparently with +some difficulty. "_His_ name be praised. It was for this happy meeting +I was kept living on and on, though I did not know it. It has been a +weary, terrible time. It is ended now, I trust." Here a happy smile +spread over his sadly-worn face, and once more he extended his hand to +Halcott. "Heaven bless you, friend--nay, _brother_!" + +"Yes, James, and we shall always be brothers now--always, always." + +Book 3--CHAPTER FOUR. + +PRISONER AMONG SAVAGES--SHIPWRECK. + +Not a word about gold was spoken that night. To Halcott had been +restored that which is better far than much fine gold--the friendship of +a true and honest heart. + +For many days James Malone was far too weak to talk much, and he told +them his story only by slow degrees as he reclined on the couch in the +_Sea Flower's_ cabin, as often as not with little Nelda seated on a +camp-stool beside him, her little hand in his. She had quite taken to +James, and the child's gentle voice and winning manners appeared to +soothe him. + +His story was one of suffering, it is true, but of suffering nobly +borne. + +Hope had flown away at last, however. He found himself too ill to find +his own living. At the very time Halcott spied him, he had come forth +expecting to look his last at sun and sky, just to pray, and then creep +back into the cooler gloom of his hut to die. + +How he had been saved from the savages, in the first instance, is soon +told. He had leaped, after he had seen every one safely over the +bridge, into the deep pool with the intention of swimming down stream, +hoping thus to avoid the natives, and, gaining the beach, make his way +along the coast or across the promontory to join his friends on the +other side. + +He had got almost a mile on, and was feeling somewhat exhausted, when +the river suddenly narrowed again, and before he could do anything to +help himself, he was caught in the rapids and hurried along at a fearful +rate. + +Sick and giddy, at last, and stunned by repeated blows received by +contact with stones or boulders, he suddenly lost consciousness. + +"Darkness, dearie," he said, as if addressing Nelda only, "darkness came +over me all at once, and many and many a day after that I lived to +wonder why it had not been the darkness of death. + +"When I recovered consciousness--when I got a little better, I mean, +dearie--and opened my eyes, I found myself lying in a clearing of the +forest, pained, and bruised, and bleeding. + +"Pained I well might be, for feet and hands were tightly bound with a +species of willow. But I was alone. I thanked God for that. I had no +idea how long I had lain there, but it was night, and the stars that +brightly shone above me were, for a time, my only companions. They gave +me hope--oh, not for this world, but for the next. I felt my time would +soon come, and that, baulked in their designs on the ladies, the savages +would torture and sacrifice me. In spite of my sores and sufferings, +some influence seemed to steal down from those holy stars to calm me, +and I fell fast asleep once more. It could not have been for long, +though. I had a rude awakening. All around me, but some distance off, +was a circle of dusky warriors, spear-armed. I could see their eyes and +teeth gleaming white in the starlight, as they danced exultingly round +and round me, brandishing their weapons and uttering their wild yells, +their savage battle-cries. + +"But every now and then the circle would be suddenly narrowed, as a +dozen or more of the fiercest and most demon-like rushed upon me with +levelled spears, and it was then I thought my time had come. But the +bitterness of death was past, and now, as if mad myself, I defied them, +laughed at them, spat at them. My voice sounded far-off. I could +hardly believe it was my own. + +"But, as if by magic, suddenly every warrior disappeared, and into the +clearing stalked a savage taller than any I had yet seen. His spear was +like a weaver's beam, as says the Bible. With hair adorned with +feathers, with face, chest, and arms disfigured by tattooing--the scars +in many places hardly yet healed--with awful mouth, and gleaming, +vindictive eyes, he looked indeed a fearsome figure. + +"At each side of him marched three men carrying torches, and close +behind two savages bearing a litter, or rude hammock, of branches. On +to this I was roughly lifted, and borne away through the dark woods. + +"But whither? I hardly dared guess at the answer to that question. To +death, I felt certain--death by torture and the stake. The chief would +yet, he doubtless believed, have `white blood' to drink, and that blood +should be mine. + +"It was to the small lake island, however, on which you found me, that I +was carried, more dead than alive, and here I was to be kept a prisoner +until the full of another moon. + +"I need not tell you how I gradually ingratiated myself into favour, +first with the medicine-man, and afterwards with the king himself, whom +I taught much that was of use to him in the arts of peace, till he came +to consider me far more useful alive than dead. Nor am I willing to +speak before this dear child of the awful rites, the mummeries, and +fearful human sacrifices that my eyes have witnessed. The wonder is, +that instead of living on as I did--though life has been in reality but +a living death--I did not become insane, and wander raving through the +woods and forests. + +"But the savages have been driven from the island at last, terrorised by +the demons of the burning mountain, and I do not think that they are +likely to return during the few weeks we shall be here. + +"They fled in their canoes precipitately on the first signs of eruption. +The boats were terribly overcrowded, and although they lightened them +by throwing women and children overboard to the sharks, at least three +great war-canoes were sunk before my eyes. + +"It was a fearful sight! May no one here ever live to have such +experiences as I have passed through." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +As soon as he could bear to listen to it, Halcott told James all his own +story and that of the _Sea Flower_ since she left the shores of England. + +"Like myself," said James, "you have been mercifully preserved. + +"As to gold," he continued, "I am fully aware that the medicine-man had +many utensils of the purest beaten gold. They were used for sacrificial +purposes; and, at one time, when the king and his warriors returned from +utterly wiping out the inhabitants of an island to the nor'ard of this, +and brought with them a crowd of prisoners, these golden utensils were +filled over and over again with the blood of the victims, and drunk by +the excited warriors. After this I never troubled myself about gold in +any shape or form; but just before the exodus, I believe these vessels +were hurriedly buried on the little island. If not, they have been +thrown into the lake." + +"Is it in your power to tell us, James, where these vessels of gold were +made, or where the gold was obtained?" + +"They were fashioned, dear brother, by the spear-makers, with chisels +and hammers of hard wood and stone. + +"Even the medicine-man himself knew nothing of the value of the metal. +It was easy to work, that was all, else iron itself would have been +preferred. You ask me whence the gold was obtained. I can only inform +you that the secret lay and lies with the magician himself, and that the +mine is a cave at the foot of the burning mountain, probably now +entirely filled up with lava. Once, and once only, was I permitted to +accompany this awful wretch to the grove near which this cave is +situated. I was not allowed to go further. Here I waited for a whole +hour, during which time I now and then heard muffled shrieks and yells +of pain and agony that made me shudder." + +"What could these have been, think you, James?" + +"Can you not guess? At least, you may, when I tell you that a poor boy +was forced to enter the cave with the medicine-man, but never again saw +the light of day. + +"I had learned by this time to talk the language of these savages, and +all the information I received, when I questioned the monster, was that +the demons of the fiery hill had to be propitiated. + +"But he brought back with him two huge nuggets that I could see were +gold. + +"This was the price, he told me, that he had been paid for the +_kee-waaee_. [youth]. + +"I never saw those nuggets again, but believe they were fashioned into +spear-heads for the king." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +While Halcott and James were talking quietly down below, Tandy was +walking the deck with considerable uneasiness. There was a strange +appearance far away in the north that he did not like. No banks of +clouds were rising, only just a curious black, or rather purple, haze. +It had been so very clear all round up till an hour ago, that danger +would have been the last thing Tandy would have thought about. + +He looked towards the distant island through his glass at three o'clock, +and it was then visible; but now, though the dog-watch had only just +begun, it was wiped out, swallowed up in the mysterious haze. + +But when a bigger wave than usual rolled in, and others and others +followed, and when the surface became wrinkled here and there with +cat's-paws, he hesitated no longer. + +"All hands on deck!" he shouted, stamping loudly on the planks to arouse +those below. "Hands loosen sail! Man the winch, lads! It must be up +anchors, and off!" + +There was wind enough shortly to work to windward till they were quite +clear of the bay, then they kept the barque away on the starboard tack, +until well clear of the island. + +They now worked northwards as far as possible, till the wind got too +strong, when they were obliged to lie to, almost under bare poles. + +Neither Tandy, Halcott, nor James could remember having encountered so +terrible a storm before. No one thought of turning in that night, for, +being so short-handed, every man was needed on deck. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +About midnight this fearful gale was evidently at its worst. The sea +was then making a clean breach over the ship from fore to aft. The +darkness was intense; hardly any light was there at all from the sky, +save now and then a bright gleam of lightning that lit up mast, rigging, +and shrouds, and the pale faces of the men as they clung in desperation +to bulwark or stay. + +Each lightning flash was followed by a peal of thunder that sounded high +above even the incessant roaring of the wind. + +Surely it was every one for himself now, and God for all who put their +trust in Him. + +It was probably about five bells in the middle-watch, the hatches being +firmly battened down, when Ransey Tansey crept under the tarpaulin that +covered the after companion, and lowered himself down as well as the +terrible motion of the ship permitted him. He staggered into the +saloon. + +A light was burning in his father's state-room, the light of a candle +hung in gimbals. + +Towards the door he groped his way, hoping against hope that he would +find his little sister asleep and well. + +"O Jane, are you here?" he said; "so glad." + +Janeira rose as he entered, clinging to the edge of the upper bunk in +the endeavour to steady herself. + +"Iss, I'se heah, sah. Been praying heah all de night to de good Lawd to +deliber us. Been one big night ob feah, sah. But de sweet child, she +go to sleep at last." + +"Did she cry much?" + +"No; she much too flighten'd to weep." + +Ransey bent low over his sister, and felt relieved when certain that she +was breathing and alive, for she slept almost like one in a trance. + +Ransey had long since become "sea-fast," as sailors call it. No waves, +however rough, could affect him, no ship's motion however erratic. + +But just at that moment his head suddenly swam; he felt, as he +afterwards expressed it, that he was being lifted into the clouds; next +moment a crash came that extinguished the light and hurled him to the +deck. + +For a moment he felt stunned and unable to move; and now, high above the +shrieking of the storm-wind, came the sound of falling and breaking +timber, and Ransey knew the ship was doomed. + +Book 3--CHAPTER FIVE. + +FORTIFYING THE ENCAMPMENT. + +The sound was that of falling masts. A sailor of less experience than +Ransey could have told that. + +The barque had been dashed stern-foremost upon the rocks. She had been +lifted by one of those mighty waves, or "bores," that during a storm +like this sometimes rise to the height of fifty feet or more, and +hurrying onwards sweep over islands, and pass, leaving in their wake +only death and destruction. + +After the masts had gone clean by the board, there were loud grating +noises for a short time, then the motion of the ship ceased--and ceased +for ever and ay. + +Nelda's voice, calling for her father, brought the boy to himself. + +"I'm here, dear," he sang out. "It is all right; I'll go and get a +light; lie still." + +"Oh, don't leave me. Tell me, tell me," wept the wee lass, "is the ship +at the bottom? And are we all drowned?" + +Luckily, Janeira now managed to strike a light, and poor Nelda's mind +was calm once more. + +Bob had slept on the sofa cushions all throughout this dreadful night; +but Ransey was now very much astonished, indeed, to see the stately 'Ral +walk solemnly in at the door, and gently lower his head and long neck +over Nelda, that she might scratch his chin. + +"Oh, you dear, droll 'Rallie," cried the child, smiling through her +tears, "and so you're not drowned?" + +But no one could tell where the 'Ral had spent the night. + +Under the influence of great terror, the Admiral was in the habit of +"trussing" himself, as the sailors called it--that is, he close-reefed +his long neck till his head was on a level with his wings, and his long +bill lying downwards along his crop. Then he drew up his thighs, and +lowered himself down over his legs. He was a comical sight thus +trussed, and seemed sitting on his tail, and no taller than a barn-door +fowl. It was convenient for him, however, for he could thus stow +himself away into any corner, and be in nobody's way. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Daylight came at last, and it was now found that the _Sea Flower_ had +been lifted by the mighty wave, and after being dashed into a gully in +the barrier of rocks that stretched along the eastern side of Treachery +Bay, had been left there high and dry. + +The marvel is that, although several of the hands had been more or less +shaken and bruised, no one was killed. + +The position of the wrecked barque was indeed a strange one. Luckily +for her the sea had risen when the tide was highest, so that she now lay +on an even keel upon the shelf of rocks, twenty feet above the bay at +low water. + +The monster wave seemed to have made a clean breach of the lowland part +of the island, and gone surging in through the dead forest, smashing +thousands of the blackened trees to the ground, and quite denuding all +that were left of their beautiful drapery of foliage, climbing flowers, +and floral parasites. + +At each side of the gully the black rocks towered like walls above the +hulk, but landwards, a green bank, of easy ascent, sloped up to the +well-wooded table-land above. + +As speedily as possible the main part of the wreckage was cleared away. +This consisted of a terrible entanglement of ropes and rigging. But the +spars were sawn up into lengths that could be easily moved, and so, in a +few hours' time, the unfortunate _Sea Flower_ was simply a dismantled +hulk. + +When the work was finally accomplished, the men were permitted to go +below, to cook breakfast, and sleep if they had a mind to. + +But not till prayers were said, and thanks, fervent and heartfelt, +offered up to the God who, although He had seen fit to wreck the ship, +had so mercifully spared the lives of all. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Strange, indeed, was now the position of these shipwrecked mariners, and +it was difficult for Halcott, Tandy, and James Malone to review it with +even forced calmness. + +The three men walked up together to the table-land to hold a council, +taking no one with them. + +The storm had gone down almost as quickly as it had arisen, and sea and +sky were blue and beautiful once again. + +Said James, as they all sat smoking there,-- + +"Brother Halcott, my first words are these--and I'm an older man than +either of you--We must not despair!" + +"We must not despair!" repeated both his shipmates. + +But they did not smile, and their voices sounded almost hollow, or as if +they came up out of a phonograph. + +James laid his hand on his friend's knee. + +"Our prospects are bad, I allow," he said, "the future looks dark and +drear. We are far, far beyond the ordinary track of ships; ships +seldom, if ever, come this way, unless driven out of their course by +stress of weather. I think, then, brother, that we may dismiss from our +minds, as useless, all hope from that direction. But dangers loom ahead +that we must not, dare not, try to minimise. We are here with but +limited supplies of food and ammunition, and these can hardly last for +ever. The nearest land is hundreds and hundreds of miles away, the +wild, inhospitable shores of Northern Patagonia. We are but eleven all +told, excluding the boys Ransey and Fitz, the dear child, and Janeira-- +eleven working hands. Could we expect or dare, as a last resource, to +reach the far-off land in two open boats? Did we attempt this, we +should have to reckon, at the outset, upon opposition from the wild +natives of that north island; then on the dangers of the elements during +this long, forlorn cruise. Worst of all, if not an-hungered, we might +perish from thirst. Tandy, you would go mad were you to see the +anxious, fevered face and dry, parched lips of your child upturned to +the sky, weak and weary, and praying for the drop of water you could not +find to give her." + +"Hush, James, hush!" cried Tandy; "sooner far we should all die where we +are." + +"I do not mention these matters to worry you, men, but that, knowing our +dangers, we may be prepared to face them. + +"Then," he continued, "there is the king of this island and his warriors +to be thought about. Fools, indeed, were we did we not reckon on these, +for they constitute the danger that presses most, now that we are +wrecked--the danger, probably, first to be faced." + +"You think, then, they will return?" + +James Malone pointed to the far-off volcanic hill, which was once more +belching forth smoke. + +"They will return," he said, "when yonder cloud rests no longer on the +mountain top. + +"Yes, brother, it might be possible to make friends of them. But I +doubt it. Treachery is written on every lineament of their black and +fearsome faces. I should never, never trust them. + +"And now, men," he continued, after a thoughtful pause, "I have painted +our situation in its darkest colours. Let us see, then, where the light +comes in. The light and the hope." + +As he spoke he took from his bosom a little Bible and those big horn +"specs" that Halcott mentioned in his story. These last he mounted on +his nose, and turning over the leaves read solemnly as follows:-- + +"`God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. + +"`Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though +the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. + +"`The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered his voice, the +earth melted. + +"`The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Amen!' + +"In these words," said James closing the book, "and in many such +promises, do I place my hope and confidence. God heard _my_ prayers +before, gentlemen. He will hear _ours_ now. I think our deliverance +will come about in some strange way. Just let us trust." + +But James Malone's religion was of a very practical kind. "Trust in +God, and keep your powder dry," are words that have been attributed to +Cromwell. They are to the point. + +"_Fortuna favet fortibus_," (fortune favours the brave), you know, +reader; and it is wrong to expect God to help us to do that which He has +given us the power to do for ourselves. + +"And now, gentlemen," said James, rising to his feet, "let us work." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"The first thing to be considered, then," said Halcott, "is, I think you +will agree with me, James, our defence." + +"That is so," said James quietly. "The savages will come sooner or +later, I fear, and it is but little likely they will come prepared to +shake us by the hand and make friends with us. Even if they did, I +should be prepared to fight them, for you never know what might happen." + +"Right, James, right. We may be thankful anyhow that as yet we are all +spared and well. Now, you just have the hands lay aft, and tell them, +brother, in your convincing way, how matters stand. Speak to them as +you spoke to us." + +James answered never a word, but went straight down the green declivity +and boarded the vessel. He did not ask the men to come to the +quarterdeck--James was non-demonstrative in all his methods. He would +have no "laying aft" business. This was too much man-of-war fashion for +him, so he simply went forward to the forecastle and beckoned the few +hands around him. + +A minute or two after this Halcott and Tandy, still lying at ease on the +brow of the embankment, heard a lusty cheer. From their position they +could command a view of the deck, and now, on looking down, behold! the +brave little crew were taking off their jackets and tightening their +waist-belts, and a mere tyro could have told that that meant business. + +Halcott got up now; he plucked a pinch of moss, and after plugging his +pipe therewith he placed it carefully away in his jacket pocket. + +That meant business also. + +"Come, Tandy," he said, and both descended. + +The position, it must be admitted, was one which it would be rather +difficult for so small a garrison to defend successfully. + +The vessel, as I have already said, had been dashed stern on to the +rocks and into the gully, and the jibboom hung over a black, slippery +precipice that descended sheer down into the sea. This cliff, however, +was not so slippery but that it might afford foothold for naked savages. +It must be included, therefore, in the plan of defence. + +But from the cliffs that rose on each side of the ship an enemy could +attack her, and the deck below would then be quite at the mercy of their +poisoned spears and their clouds of arrows, while the bank astern which +sloped upwards to the table-land could easily be rushed by a determined +foe. + +An outer line of defence was therefore imperative; in fact this would be +of as much service to these Crusoes as the Channel Fleet is to the +British Islands. + +This part of the work was therefore the first to be commenced, and +merrily indeed the men set to work. They began by clearing away the +bush all round the gully where the _Sea Flower_ lay, to the extent of +forty yards, being determined to leave not a single shrub behind which a +savage might conceal himself. Everything cut down was hauled to the top +of the cliff and trundled into the sea. To have lit a fire and burned +it would have invited the attention of the natives on that far-off +island, and a visit of curiosity on their part would have ended +disastrously for the shipwrecked party. + +It took days to clear the bush away, and not only the men but the +officers as well bore a hand and slaved away right cheerfully. + +No one was left on board except Ransey Tansey himself, the nigger boy, +and Janeira. Nelda insisted on going on shore with the working party, +the marvellous crane flew down from the hulk, and Bob was always lowered +gently over the side. These three were the superintendents, as Halcott +called them; they had nothing to do but play about, it is true, but +their very happiness inspired the men and made the work more easy. The +other three--those left on board--had work to do, for on them devolved +the duty of preparing the meals for all hands; and in this duty they +never failed. + +Well, the jungle was cleared at last, and this clearance, it was +determined, should be extended and made double the width at least. + +And now began the hard labour and toil of erecting the stockade, and in +this strength was of very great importance. But it was not everything. +The wooden wall must be built on scientific principles, so that a volley +could be fired on an enemy attacking from any direction. + +The building of this fortification, with its strong-barred gate, took +our Crusoes quite a month. No one can marvel at this, if they bear in +mind that the trees had to be cut down in the woods, and dragged all the +way to the cliff before they could be fashioned and put into place; that +the rain sometimes put a stop to work entirely, so heavy and incessant +was it; and, moreover, that the men suffered a good deal from the bites +of poisonous and loathsome insects, such as centipedes and scorpions. +The wounds made by either of these had to be cauterised at once, else +serious results would have followed. + +At last the palisade and gate were finished, loopholed, and plentifully +studded with sharp nails and spikes outside. + +After this the little garrison breathed more freely. There was much to +be done yet, however, before they could sleep in security. + +Book 3--CHAPTER SIX. + +AN AWFUL SECRET OF THE SEA. + +Having finished the first line of defence, attention was turned to the +inner works. + +How best could the Crusoes repel boarders if the palisade were carried, +and a rush made down the embankment with the view of attacking the ship? + +It was some time before this question could be answered with any degree +of satisfaction. + +I think that the plan finally adopted was the best under the +circumstances. + +During such an attack, not only would the defenders have to do all they +could to stop a rush down the sloping bank, but protect themselves also +from the spears that would be hurled at them from the cliffs above. + +An inner palisade was therefore erected, not so strong as the other; and +right over the after part of the quarterdeck, and round a portion of its +bulwarks, a shed was erected, under which the men could work their +rifles and the great gun with comparative safety. + +If the outer line should be broken through, the savages would no doubt +attack in their fullest force, and a gun loaded with grape-shot would +play awful havoc in their ranks; and boiling water from the donkey +engine would in all probability suggest to the enemy the advisability of +a quick retreat. + +Nevertheless, the outlook, even should they be thus repelled, would be a +black one, and a state of siege could only have one sad ending. + +But let me not be "too previous," as humourists say. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +So quickly does time slip away when a person is busy that when, one +morning at breakfast, James Malone said quietly, "Men, we have been here +for just two months to-day," Halcott could scarcely credit it. + +But a reference to the log, which was still most carefully kept, +revealed the truth of what James had said. + +Two months! Yes; and as yet the weather and the work had prevented them +from penetrating inland in search of nature's hidden treasures. + +But the rain ceased at last; and though clouds still hung around, and +mists often obscured the sea for days at a time, the glorious spring +time had come again, and the island was soon a veritable land of +flowers. + +The first visit inland was made to the Lake of the Lonely Isle, as it +was called. But a bridge had to be built over the chasm, to replace +that torn up by the hands of brave James Malone. This was easily formed +of trees, with a rail at each side, and this bridge shortened the +distance to the little lake by several miles. + +The working party carried picks and spades and axes, for it was +determined to thoroughly overhaul the island in search of the utensils +used by the priests during their awful human sacrifices. + +The isle was a very small one, but, nevertheless, it took three whole +days to thoroughly search it. And every evening they returned to the +ship unsuccessful, but certainly not disheartened. + +Halcott told his brave fellows that if more gold were found than simply +enough to pay the expenses of the voyage, not including the loss of the +ship, for that was insured, they would have a good percentage thereof, +and something handsome to take home to wives and sweethearts. So, +although they knew in their hearts that they might never live to get +home, they worked as willingly and as merrily as British sailors ever +did "for England, home, and beauty," as the dear old song has it. + +I may as well mention here, and be done with it, that Lord Fitzmantle, +the nigger boy, very much to his delight, was appointed +signalman-in-chief to the forces. Observatory Hill was not a difficult +climb for Fitz, and here a flag-staff had been erected. An ensign +hoisted on this point could be seen not only over all the island but +over a considerable portion of the sea as well. But Fitz received +strict orders not to hoist it unless he saw a passing ship. + +Bob was allowed to accompany the boy every day. Dinner was therefore +carried for two, and Fitz, who could read well, never went without a +book. + +One day, while James and Halcott were wandering, somewhat aimlessly it +must be confessed, in a wood not far from the lake, they came upon a +clearing, in the midst of which stood a solitary, strange, weird-looking +dead tree. It was a tree of considerable dimensions, and one side of it +was much charred by fire. + +"It was just here," said James quietly, pointing to the spot, "where I +should have been burned, had not Providence mercifully intervened to +save my somewhat worthless life." + +Both walked slowly toward that tree, and acting like a man in deep +thought, Halcott carelessly kicked it. + +It may sound like a sentence read out of a fairy book when I say that a +little door in that part of the tree suddenly flew open inwards; but it +is nevertheless true. + +"The treasure must be hidden here!" said Halcott. He was just about to +plunge his hand into the hole when James restrained him. + +"Stay, for Heaven's sake, stay!" he cried excitedly. "The treasure, +brother, may be there. I never thought of this before; but," he added, +"if the treasure is there, something else is there also, and we have +that to deal with first." + +As he spoke, he took from his pocket a small piece of flint and some +touch-paper. Then he gathered a handful of withered grass, struck fire +with the back of his knife against the flint--James was very +old-fashioned--placed the smoking paper in the grass, shook it, and soon +had it in fire. + +Then he thrust this into the hole, and ran quickly back a few yards. + +"Keep well away," he cried to his companion. + +Next minute the head and neck of a huge crimson snake was protruded-- +hissing. + +James fired at once. + +It was an ugly sight to see that headless serpent wriggling and leaping +on the clearing. + +"That," said James, as he seized it by the tail and flung it far into +the bush, "was the chief medicine-man's familiar. There are no snakes +on the island, so where he procured it was always a mystery to me. But +its possession gave the man great power over even the king himself, all +believing it to be an evil spirit. And no wonder, for this `red devil,' +as the natives called it, although the medicine-man could handle it +safely enough, was often permitted to bite a boy or a girl in the king's +presence, and the child invariably died in convulsions." + +"Horrible!" said Halcott. "Was there only one?" + +"There was only one, and--it will never bite again." + +They walked back now towards the lake, and soon returned in company with +Chips and Wilson armed with axes. + +It was hard work, and an hour of it, too, cutting through that tree; but +it fell with a crash at last--"carried away close by the board," as +Halcott phrased it. + +"Now, men," said James, "search among the debris in the hollow stump and +see what you can find." + +James and Halcott stood quietly by leaning on their rifles. + +But they laughed with very joy as the men pulled out bowl after bowl of +beaten gold, to the number of seven in all. These were far from +artistic, but they were large and heavy. + +Inside they were black with blood. + +Chips stood up and wiped the perspiration from his brow. + +"My eye and Betty Martin! Captain Halcott, here's a go. Why, we'll be +all as rich as water-cresses." + +And he joyfully tossed his hat in the air, and kicked it up again as it +descended. + +Chips was a queer chap. + +But having now relieved his feelings, the search was proceeded with. + +And when it was all over, and nothing further to be found, the inventory +of the treasure now exposed to view, every article of purest gold, was +as follows:-- + +A. Seven bowls, weighing about twelve pounds each. + +B. Thirty-five spear-heads, solid and very heavy. + +C. Fifteen gold daggers, similar to that brought away from the island +by Doris herself. + +D. Fifteen larger and curiously shaped knives. + +E. One hundred or more fish-hooks. + +F. Nineteen nuggets of gold of various sizes--one immense nugget +weighed 149 pounds! + +[The largest nugget ever found weighed over 180 pounds. It was dug up, +I believe, at Ballarat.--G.S.] + +No wonder these two men were excited. + +"I say, sir," said Chips, "I guess you'll splice the main-brace +to-night." + +"That we will with pleasure," replied Halcott. + +"And," cried Tom Wilson, "I'll fiddle as I've never fiddled before. +I'll make all hands laugh one minute, and I'll have them all crying the +next." + +Poor Wilson! It was noted that this man never touched rum himself, but +invariably gave his share to another. + +The main-brace _was_ spliced that night, and that, too, twice over. It +happened to be Saturday night. + +It could not be called Saturday-night-at-sea, but it was Saturday night +on board a ship; and despite the fact that the vessel was but a wreck +and a hulk, it was spent in the good old fashion. + +An awning was always kept spread over the fore part of the ship, and it +was under this that the crew smoked and yarned in the evenings. + +To-night the officers had gone forward to hear Tom Wilson play. + +He did make them laugh. I do not know that his pathetic pieces caused +many tears to flow, beautifully executed though they were, but late in +the evening--and ten o'clock was considered late on board the hulk--when +Halcott asked for a favourite air of his, Tom hesitated for a moment, +then took up the violin. + +There was a beauty of expression and sadness about Tom's interpretation +of this beautiful melody that held everybody spell-bound; but when at +last the poor fellow laid his instrument on the table, and with bent +head burst into tears, the astonishment of every one there was great +indeed. + +Jack, however, is ever in sympathy with sorrow, and Chips, rough old +Chips, got up and went round behind Tom Wilson. + +"Come, matie," he said, patting him gently on the shoulder. "What is +it, old heart? Music been too much for you? Eh? Come, come, don't +give way." + +Tom Wilson threw back his head and lifted his face now. + +"Thank you, Chips; thank you, lad, and bless you. Nay, nay, I will not +tell you to-night the reason of my stupid tears. I'm not the man to +sadden a Saturday night. Come, lads, clear the decks. I'll play you +the grandest hornpipe you ever listened to." + +And play he did. Every note, every tone was thrilling. A dance was +soon got up, and never before, not even in a man-of-war, did men foot +the deck more merrily than those shipwrecked Crusoes did now. + +But the queerest group there was just amidships, where Janeira herself +and Fitz--all white eyes and flashing teeth--were madly tripping it on +the light fantastic toe; while little Nelda and that droll old crane +danced a fandango, that caused all hands, including even Tom himself, to +shout with laughter when they beheld it. + +The very solemnity of the crane as he curved his neck, hopped, and +pirouetted, was the funniest part of the performance. + +But next day all hands knew Tom's pathetic story. + +"That air I played," he told them, "was my little daughter Fanny's +favourite. Fanny is dead. Georgie too. He was my boy. I was rich +once, but drink ruined me, and--oh, may God forgive me!--led indirectly +to the graveyard gate, where wife and children all lie buried!" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two long months more had gone by, during which the exploring party had +been busy enough almost every day at the distant hill, prospecting, +excavating here and there, and searching in every likely nook for the +cave of gold. + +But all in vain. + +During all the time they had now been on the island--more than six +months--never a ship had been seen, nor had any boat or canoe ventured +near the place. + +"Surely, surely," they thought, "some day some ship will find us out and +rescue us." + +One day as they were returning earlier in the afternoon than usual, for +it was very hot, and they were all somewhat weary and disheartened, they +went suddenly almost delirious with joy to see, on looking towards the +hill-top, that the ensign was hoisted upside down on the pole, and +little Fitz dancing wildly round it, and pointing seaward. + +Tired though they all were, there was no talk now of returning to the +wreck. But straight to the hill they went instead. + +To their infinite joy, when they reached the top at last, they could see +a brig, with all available sail set, standing in for the island. + +I say all available sail, for her fore-topmast was gone, she was cruelly +punished about the bulwarks, and had evidently been blown out of her +course during the gale that had raged with considerable violence a few +days before. + +Every heart beat high now with hope and joy, and as the vessel drew +nearer and nearer, they shook hands with each other, and with tears in +their eyes some even talked of their far-off cottage homes in England. + +Nearer and nearer! + +A flag was flying at her stern, but to what country she belonged could +not yet be made out. But they could now, by aid of the glass, see the +hands moving about the deck, and some leaning over the bows pointing +towards the island. + +But, "Oh, cruel! cruel!" cried the poor men, and grief took the place of +joy, when the vessel altered its course and went slowly away on the +other tack. + +So great was the revulsion of feeling now that some of the Crusoes threw +themselves on the ground in an agony of grief and disappointment. + +They watched the ship sail away and away, hoping against hope that she +might even yet return. + +They watched until the stars shone out and darkness brooded over the +deep, and then a strange thing happened: a great gleam of light was seen +on the distant horizon, and above it clouds of rolling smoke through +which tongues and jets of flame were flashing. + +The brig was on fire and burning fiercely! + +Her very masts and rigging were seen for a time, darkling through the +blaze. + +No one thought of leaving the hill now; they would see the last of that +mysterious ship. + +Yes, and the last came within an hour. + +An immense fountain of fire rose high into the air, lighting the sea up +in one broad crimson bar from horizon to shore--then darkness. + +Nothing more. + +Nor were any signs of that unfortunate brig seen next day. No boat +floated towards the island, nor was a single spar ever picked up along +the beach. + +It would be impossible to describe the feelings of the Crusoes as they +went slowly homeward through the jungle, guided by Fitz and Bob. + +"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." That was all the remark +that James Malone made. + +And the mystery of that unhappy brig none can ever unravel. + +To the end of time it must remain one of the awful secrets of the sea. + +Book 3--CHAPTER SEVEN. + +STRANGE ADVENTURES IN A CRYSTALLINE CAVE. + +Ten months more, and not another ship was seen. + +It was now two years and over since the beautiful barque _Sea Flower_ +had sailed away from Southampton. Not a very long time, it may be said. +No; and yet it seemed a century to look back upon, so many strange +events and adventures had been crowded into those four-and-twenty +months, and so much sorrow and suffering too. + +"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." + +Ah! the hearts of all were sad and sick enough by this time. + +"Some day, some day a ship will come!" + +Every one fore and aft was weary with repeating these words. + +They went not now so often to the foot of Fire Hill, as the volcano had +come to be called, in search of the buried cave. + +A buried cave it doubtless was, covered entirely by the flow of lava +from the crater, and lost, it would seem, for ever. + +But whole days would be spent in rambling about in search of the only +kind of game the lonely island afforded, those small black pigs and the +rock-rabbits, or in fishing by stream or at sea. + +When I say "at sea," it must not be imagined that they fished in +Treachery Bay. No; for to have done so would doubtless have invited the +attention of the savages, and they might have paid the island a visit +that would have been very little relished. Natives of those South +Pacific islands have keen eyesight. + +But the dinghy boat had been hauled right across the island and launched +in a little bay there. A cave was found, and this formed a capital +boat-house, for it rose so high behind that the tide could not reach it. + +The time had come when fishing was very necessary indeed, for well +"found" though the _Sea Flower_ had been, especially with all kinds of +tinned provisions and biscuits, these had been nearly all consumed, and +for some months back the Crusoes had depended for their support almost +entirely on rod and gun. I say _almost_ advisedly; for many kinds of +vegetables and roots grew wild in this lonely island, not to mention +fruits, the most wholesome and delicious that any one could desire. + +Ah, reader, do not imagine that because you have eaten bananas, or even +guavas, which you have purchased in this country, that you can form a +perfect idea of the flavour and lusciousness of those fruits when +gathered from the trees in their native wilds. Moreover, there are +fruits in the woods of the Pacific islands so tender that they could not +be carried by sea, nor kept for even a day in the tropics; and these are +the best of all. So that on Misfortune Island there was no danger of +starvation, unless indeed the Crusoes should have the misfortune to be +surrounded by the savages and placed in a state of siege. + +It was against such an eventuality that the last of the tinned meats was +so carefully reserved: and the last of the coals too, because these +latter would be needed for the donkey engine, to make steam to be +condensed and used as drinking water. + +Three times a week, at least in good weather, did a little band set out +for the fishing cove, and this consisted of Ransey Tansey himself, +Nelda, and little Fitz, to say nothing of Bob. + +Now the cove was quite six miles away. Six miles going and six coming +back would have been too long a journey for Nelda; but as the child +liked to accompany the boys, and they were delighted to have her +company, the two lads consulted together and concluded they must carry +her at least half the way. + +This was a capital plan for Nelda, and quite romantic, for the _modus +portandi_ was a grass hammock suspended from a long bamboo pole, one end +resting on Ransey's shoulder, the other on Fitz's. + +Nelda would be talking or singing all the way. But on the return +journey she got down more often, because she never went back without a +basket well filled with fruit and flowers. + +Bob used to trot on in front always. This he deemed it his duty to do. +Was he not a guard? + +On rare occasions the Admiral also formed part of the expedition, but he +preferred not going to sea in that wobbly boat. + +When invited to embark, he would simply look at Babs or Ransey with one +wise red eye, and say, "No, thank you, dear. A sea life doesn't quite +suit my constitution; and if it is all the same to you, I'll just hop +about the beach here until you all return." + +It did not take a very long time for the children, as I may still call +them, to find all the fish they could conveniently carry. Then they +returned to the beach, entered the cave, and cooked their dinner. + +They invariably started to go back two or three hours before sunset. + +About this cave there was a kind of mystery to the imaginative mind of +little Nelda, and she peopled the gloom and darkness far beyond with all +sorts of strange beings. + +But when one day Ransey Tansey proposed exploring it, she evinced very +much reluctance to going herself. + +"I'm afraid," she said; "the giants might catch me and kill me." + +Fitz laughed, and Ransey assured her that the cave was not inhabited by +even a single giant. It was all imagination. + +"There might be snakes," she persisted, "or awful alligators." + +Fitz laughed again, and Nelda felt more assured. + +"You see me go, sah!" he said; "Is'e not afraid. Ha, ha! it take one +much big giant and plenty big 'gator to flighten dis chile." + +He ran out of the cave now, but soon came back carrying a heap of +withered grass and foliage. + +Then he snatched up a burning brand. + +"Now!" he cried, "dis chile done go to 'vestigate." + +Fitz was fond of exploiting a big word, although he never succeeded in +pronouncing much more than three-quarters of it. + +Presently the brave little lad disappeared, for the darkness had +swallowed him up. + +The cave at its other end turned to the right and then to the left, so +that although Fitz lit his fire it could not be seen by those left +behind. + +Ransey and Nelda were becoming quite uneasy about him, when suddenly his +voice was heard in the dark distance, coming nearer and nearer every +moment, till he once more stood in the broad glare of day at the main +entrance to the cave. + +"So glad you've come back, Fitz," cried Ransey, "for we had almost given +you up; we thought the 'gators had swallowed you." + +Nelda, too, was glad, and so was honest Bob. He ran round and round +him, barking. + +The echo of the far interior took up the sound and gave back "wowff" for +"wowff," much to the dog's astonishment. He made quite sure that +another dog was hiding away in the darkness somewhere, and promised +himself the infinite pleasure of shaking him out of his skin some day. + +But the story of exploration that Fitz had to tell was indeed a +wonderful one. + +He had found an interior cave, and when he lit his fire, the sight of +it, he declared to Ransey, was far more beautiful than Paradise. All +around him, he said, was a mass of icicles, but all of crystal, and on +the floor were hundreds and hundreds of great crystal candles. + +"I not can splain [explain] propah," he said. "Too much foh one leetle +niggah boy to splain, but all about me dat cave sparkle and shine wid +diamonds, rubies, and rainbows." + +So before they got home that night they made up their minds to explore +the marvellous cave in company. + +Nothing was said to any one else about their intention; only when they +set out some days after this to go to the cave as usual, Ransey Tansey +took with him several blue, red, and white lights. He determined in his +own mind that this stalactite cave should be turned into a kind of fairy +palace for once in a way. + +He also carried a small bull's-eye lantern, so that when lights went out +they should not be plunged into darkness altogether. + +They had been rather longer than usual in starting on this particular +morning, and as the day was very beautiful, and the trees and flowers, +butterflies and birds, all looking bright and gay, they must have +lingered long on the road. At all events, it was quite one o'clock +before they arrived at the cove, reached the cave, and launched their +boat. + +The fish, moreover, seemed to-day anxious to be caught, and excellent +sport was enjoyed. + +It only wanted two hours to sunset when they regained the mouth of the +cave. + +There would be moonlight to guide them home, however, even if they +should be half an hour late. + +Yes, and it was a full moon too. Mark this, reader, for with each full +moon comes a spring tide! + +I have no words to convey to any one the glorious sight they beheld when +they at last entered the stalactite cave and lit their fire of wood and +grass. Fitz had described it well--crystal icicles all around hanging +from the vaulted roof, and raised high above the snow-white floor; walls +of crystal, and strange, weird statues of a kind of marble. + +They sat there in silent admiration until the fire began to burn low; +then Ransey Tansey lit up the cave, first with a dazzling white light, +then with blue, and finally with crimson. + +And this ended the show, but it was one that Nelda would dream about for +weeks to come. + +How long they had stayed in this wondrous cave they could not tell, but, +lo! to their dismay, when they reached the place where they had drawn up +the boat, it was gone, and the waves were lapping up far inside. The +dinghy had been floated away, and they were thus imprisoned for the +night. + +The moon, too, had gone down, for in these seas it neither rises nor +sets at the same time it does in Britain. + +Little Nelda was afraid to spend the night near to the dark water. Some +awful beast, she said, might come out and drag her in, so back they went +to the crystal cave. Alas! it had lost its charm now. + +What a lonesome, weary time it was, and they dared not leave before +daylight! + +The fearless boy Fitz, after many, many hours had passed, went away, +like a bird from the ark, to see if the waters were yet assuaged. He +brought back word that the sun was rising, but that the water was still +high. + +The truth is, they had all slept without knowing it, and during this +time the tide had gone back and once more risen, or, in other words, it +had ebbed and flowed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The anxiety of Tandy and the others on board the hulk may be better +imagined than described when night fell and the wanderers did not +return. For a time they expected them every minute, for the moon was +still shining bright and clear in the west and tipping the waves with +silver. + +Tandy set out by himself at last, hoping to meet the little party. He +walked for fully two miles along the track by which they most often +came. Again and again he shouted and listened, but no answering shout +came back to his, though he could hear now and then the dreary cry of a +night-bird as it flew low over the woods in the gauzy glamour that the +moon was shedding over everything. + +But the moon itself would shortly sink, and so, uncertain what to do +next, he returned, hoping against hope that the children might have +reached the hulk before him. + +What a long, dreary night it was! No one slept much. Of this I am +sure, for the lost ones were friends both fore and aft. + +But the greatest sorrow was to come, for, lo! when next morning at +daybreak they reached the cave, the first thing that caught their eyes +was the dinghy--beached, but bottom uppermost. Fishing gear and the +oars were also picked up; but, of course, there was no sign of the +children. + +With grief, poor Tandy almost took leave of his senses, and it was +indeed a pitiable sight to see him wandering aimlessly to and fro upon +the coral beach, casting many a hopeless glance seawards. + +Good, indeed, would it have been for him had tears come to his relief. +But these were denied him. Even the consolations that honest James +Malone poured into his ears were unheeded; perhaps they were hardly even +heard. + +"Death comes to all sooner or later. We do wrong to repine. Ah, my +dear Tandy, God Himself knows what is best for us, and our sorrows here +will all be joys in the land where you and I must be ere long." + +Well-meant platitudes, doubtless, but they brought no comfort to the +anguished heart of the poor father. + +It was noticed by one of the men that the strange bird Admiral, who had +accompanied the search party, seemed plunged in grief himself. He +walked about the beach, but ate nothing. He perched upon the keel of +the upset boat, and over and over again he turned his long neck +downwards, and wonderingly gazed upon the fishing gear and oars. + +Then he disappeared. + +We must now return to the cave where we left our smaller heroes. + +Ransey Tansey's greatest grief was in thinking about his father. It +would be quite a long time yet before the tide ebbed sufficiently to +permit them to leave the cave and scramble along the beach to the top of +the cove. Well, there was nothing for it but to wait. But this waiting +had a curious ending. + +They had returned to the stalactite cave, and Ransey had once more lit +his lamp, when suddenly, far at the other end, they heard something that +made poor Nelda quake with fear and cling to her brother's arm. + +"Oh, it is a ghost!" she cried--"an old woman's ghost!" + +I cannot otherwise describe the sound than as a weary kind of half sigh, +half moan, on a loud falsetto key. + +No wonder Nelda thought it emanated from some old lady's ghost; though +what an old lady's ghost could possibly be doing down here, it would +have been difficult indeed to guess. + +Bob took another view of the matter. He barked loudly and lustily, and +rushed forward. It was no angry bark, however. + +Next minute he came running back, and when Ransey Tansey turned the +light on him he could see by the commotion among the long, rough hair +which covered his rump that the fag-end of a tail he possessed was being +violently but joyfully agitated. + +"Come on," he seemed to say; "follow me. You will be surprised!" + +Without fear now, the children followed the dog, and, lo! not far off, +standing solemnly in a kind of crystalline pulpit, was the Admiral +himself. No wonder they were all astonished, or that the bird himself +seemed pleased. But off the crane hopped now, the dog and the children +too following, and there, not thirty yards from the place where they had +been all night, was a landward opening into the cave. + +It was surrounded with bush, and how the Admiral had found it must ever +remain a mystery. + +Ten minutes after this poor Tandy was clasping his children to his +breast. + +Innocent wee Babs was patting his cheek, and saying, "Never mind, +daddy--never mind, dear daddy." Childish consolation certainly, but, +oh, so sweet! No wonder his pent-up feelings were relieved by tears at +last. + +The crane allayed _his_ feelings by dancing a _pas de joie_ on the coral +sand. Bob gave vent to his by rushing about and barking at everything +and everybody, but especially at the boat, which he seemed to regard as +the innocent cause of all the trouble. + +"Wowff--wowff--wow! Why did it run away anyhow?" + +That is what Bob wanted to know. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +But the tide had ebbed sufficiently to permit of a visit to the cave of +delight, as Ransey called it. + +James and Tandy, with Ransey and Fitz, embarked, the others remaining on +shore. + +Both men were as much delighted and astonished at what they saw as the +children themselves had been. A large quantity of withered branches and +foliage had been taken in the boat, to make a fire in the crystalline +cave. + +"But oh, father," said Ransey, "you should have seen it last night when +we lit it up with crimson light!" + +"We'll come again, lad," replied his father. + +They then made their way to the outer opening, and back once more to the +inner, where they had left the boat. + +It was noticed that James Malone was somewhat silent all the way back to +the wreck. And so he continued during breakfast. After this he slowly +arose. "Brother," he said, laying his hand on Halcott's shoulder, "I +have something strange to tell you. Come to the cliff-top, and you too, +Tandy, and bring your pipes." + +Book 3--CHAPTER EIGHT. + +ENTOMBED ALIVE. + +It was a very lovely day now. The sea all round towards the eastern +side of the island was deep and blue; but the waters to the west were +here and there more shallow, so that the ocean here was patched with +splendid colouring--tints of opal, tender green, and crimson were set +off by the deep dark-brown of a rocky bottom, whereon masses of sea-weed +waved with the ebb or the flow of the tide. + +There was not a breath of wind to-day, not a whisper in the woodlands; +scarce a sound was to be heard, save the drowsy hum of the waves as they +broke far below on the beach of snow-white sand, or the occasional +screaming of the sea-birds sailing round and round the beetling crags +where their nests were. + +In very joy they seemed to scream to-day. Happy birds! There was no +one to molest them on this far-off beautiful isle of the ocean. No gun +was ever levelled at them, not a pebble ever thrown even by Fitz; and so +tame were they that they often ran about the cliff-top, or even alighted +on the ship itself. + +But slowly indeed to-day does James Malone walk towards the cliff. Out +through the inner, out through the great outer gate; for he will not +feel comfortable until he is clear of the encampment, and seated near to +the very brink of that great wall of rocks. + +"Gentlemen," he said, when at last he had filled and lit his pipe with +all the coolness of a North American Indian--"gentlemen, hitherto all +our efforts to find the gold mine have been in vain, but mere chance has +revealed to us the secret that has been hidden from us so long--" + +"James," said Tandy, excitedly, "you don't mean to say--" + +"But," interrupted James, "I do mean to say it, Tandy. Halcott there +knows that I seldom make an assertion till I have well-considered the +matter on all sides." + +"You never do, brother." + +"That cave, gentlemen, which in so strange a way the children have +found, is a gold mine--_the_ gold mine! + +"The land entrance I can now remember, although it is somewhat changed. +Show me the map of the island, brother." + +Halcott spread it out before him. + +He pointed out Fire Hill, then drew his finger along until it rested on +the spot where the cave was. + +"The fault has been all mine, gentlemen; I alone led you astray, for +appearances deceived me. But it is not yet too late. + +"And so you see, Tandy, that, after all, Providence has changed our +mourning into joy. I do not now despair of anything. God moves in a +mysterious way, brothers, and you may rest assured we shall yet return +in peace to enjoy the fruits of our labours in the land of our birth." + +Halcott was silent; so too was Tandy for a time. + +Need I tell you what they were thinking about? If they could but return +with enough gold to give them an independence, how pleasant would be +their prospects for the future! + +Well, this world is not all sorrow, and it is only right we should enjoy +it. I think I can honestly go further, reader, and say it is a sin not +to make the best of the beautiful world we live in, a sin to look always +at the darkest side when clouds surround us. Let us not believe in the +pessimism of Burns when he wrote his dirge "Man was made to mourn," a +verse or two of which run as follows:-- + + "Look not alone on youthful prime, + Or manhood's active might; + Man then is useful to his kind, + Supported is his right: + But see him on the edge of life, + With cares and sorrows worn; + Then age and want--oh! ill-matched pair!-- + Show man was made to mourn. + + "A few seem favourites of fate, + In pleasure's lap carest; + Yet think not all the rich and great + Are likewise truly blest. + But, oh! what crowds in every land + Are wretched and forlorn! + Through weary life this lesson learn-- + that man was made to mourn." + +Tandy had risen to his feet, and was looking somewhat anxiously towards +Observatory Hill. + +The seaman who took day and day about with Fitz in watching was at this +moment signalling. + +"He wants us to come up," said Tandy. + +"Who knows," said James, with far more cheerfulness in his voice than +usual--"who knows but that our deliverance is already at hand? The man +may have seen a ship!" + +Halcott and Tandy, about an hour after this, stood beside the man on the +brow of the hill, with their glasses turned towards the far-off island. + +They could see the beach with far greater clearness than usual to-day. + +It was crowded with savages running to and fro, into the bush and out of +it, in a state apparently of great excitement. + +At this distance they resembled nothing more than a hive of bees about +to swarm. + +Independent of innumerable dug-outs drawn up here and there were no less +than five huge war-canoes. + +Tandy turned away with a slight sigh. + +"Just as the cup of joy," he said, "was being held to our lips, +ill-fortune seems to have snatched it away." + +"Heigho!" sighed Halcott, "how I envy honest James for the hopefulness +that he never appears to lose, even in the very darkest hours, the hours +of what we should call despair. + +"But look," he continued, pointing towards Fire Hill. "Not a cloud to +be seen!" + +"The volcano is dead!" said Tandy, with knitted brows; "and now, indeed, +we shall have to fight." + +Halcott took Tandy's hand, while he looked calmly into his face. + +"My friend," he said, "we have come through many and many a danger side +by side, and here we are alive and well to tell it. If fighting it must +be with these savages, neither you nor I shall be afraid to face them. +But we may succeed in making peace." + +"Ah, Halcott, I fear their friendship even more than their enmity. But +for my dear boy and my little girl, I should care for neither." + +And now all haste back to the camp was made. + +All hands were summoned, and the case laid plainly before them. + +The story of the cave was told to them also, and it did Halcott's heart +good to hear the ringing cheer with which their words were received. + +The next thing Halcott ordered was a survey of stores. Alas! this did +not take long; and afterwards the defences were most carefully +inspected. + +On the whole, the outlook was a hopeful one, even if the savages did +come in force and place the strange little encampment in a state of +siege. Their provisions and even their ammunition would last for three +weeks at least. + +And--and then? + +Ah! no one thought of an answer to that question. They meant to do +their best, and trust in Providence for everything else. + +But the expected arrival of these warlike natives was not going to +prevent them from finding gold, if gold there were in the Medicine-man's +Cave, as it was now named. + +So early next morning the discovery party had reached the landward +opening. They were provided with lamps to light and hang, with tools, +and with provisions for the day. + +At the mouth of the cave Fitz was stationed with glass in hand, to watch +for a signal to be given from Observatory Hill, in case the boats should +start from the distant island. + +The lamps were lit at the entrance to the cave, which was gloomy enough +in all conscience. + +"Surely," cried Tom Wilson, when they reached the interior and saw the +great stalactites, the candles and icicles of glass, and the walls all +shining with "rubies and rainbows,"--"surely this is the cave of +Aladdin. Ah, it is diamonds as well as gold we ought to be able to +collect here, maties!" + +And now hours were spent in a fruitless search for the mine. Even the +floor of the seaward cave was dug up and its walls tapped, but all in +vain. + +It was not until they were preparing to leave, that, chancing to hear +Bob whining and scraping not ten yards from the outer entrance, Halcott +turned his attention in that direction. + +A ghastly sight met their gaze! For here lay a pile of human bones half +covered with dust, and half buried in the debris that had fallen from +the roof. + +And near this awful heap, but above it, was a hole about five feet high, +and wide enough to admit two men at a time. + +The excitement now was intense, but for a time all stood spell-bound +with horror. + +"Here," said James, slowly, "is the spot where that fiend, the +medicine-man, murdered the boys as an offering to the great fire-fiend. +Now we shall find the gold. Come, follow me, men!" + +He took a lamp from Tom Wilson's hand as he spoke, and boldly entered +the cave. + +It was far from an inviting place where they now stood. + +What did that signify to those determined gold-seekers? For hardly had +they dug two feet down ere they were rewarded by finding one large, +rough nugget of pure gold and several small ones. + +They forgot all about the savages now, and nothing could exceed the +eagerness with which the men laboured. But fatigue, at last, overcame +them, and they were obliged to retire, carrying with them more of the +precious ore than many an Australian digger has found during a whole +lifetime. + +It was very dark as they made their way through the bush; but Fitz was +an excellent guide, so they got back in time for supper. + +A very happy evening this was, fore and aft, and Tom Wilson seemed the +gayest of the gay. The poor fellow had sinned and fallen, it is true, +but surely God had already forgiven him. Tom believed so, and it was +this belief, he told James more than once, that made him forget his +sorrow. + +"I'll meet my wife and children on the other shore," he said once, with +a sad smile, "and they'll forgive me too." + +In a week's time the gold fever was at its height. And no wonder, for +in whatever direction they dug nuggets were found in this marvellous +cave. + +The fortune of every man there was made. + +But would the gold be of any use to them? + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +One day, about a fortnight after the wonderful discovery, something very +startling occurred. Almost every hour while digging they had heard +strange sounds, like the rumbling of heavy artillery along a rough road, +with now and then a loud but muffled report, as of a great gun fired in +the distance. + +No wonder James had remarked that the heathen minds of the savages +believed that a great fire-fiend dwelt deep down here, and must be +propitiated with human sacrifice. + +But on this particular day, after a terrible report, the earth shook and +quivered, great masses of soil fell crashing down here and there, and +the lamps were all extinguished. + +The noise died away like the muttering of a thunderstorm in the far +distance. + +"Keep quiet and cool, men; we are all right. We can relight the lamps." +It was Halcott who spoke. + +Yes, and so they quickly did; but judge of their horror when, on making +their way to what had been the entrance to the cave, they found no exit +there! + +Then the terrible truth revealed itself to them--they were entombed +alive! + +At first the horror of the situation rendered them speechless. + +Was it the heat of internal fires, or was it terror--I know not which-- +that made the perspiration stand in great beads on their now pale faces? + +"What is to be done?" cried one of the men. + +"Never despair, lad!"--and Halcott's manly voice was heard once +more--"never despair!" + +His voice sounded hollow, however--hollow, and far away. + +Book 3--CHAPTER NINE. + +"ON SWEPT THE WAR-CANOES TOWARDS THE CORAL BEACH." + +"It was just here, was it not," said Halcott, "where the entrance was? +Keep up your hearts, boys, we shall soon dig ourselves clear." + +Cheered by his voice, every one set himself bravely to the task before +him. + +But a whole hour went by, and they were now nearly exhausted. + +One or more had thrown themselves on the ground panting. + +The heat increased every minute, and the atmosphere became stifling. +The thirst, too, was almost unendurable. + +Even James himself was yielding at last to despair, and already the +lights were burning more dimly. + +But hark! the sound of the dog barking. His voice seemed ever so far +away, but every heart was cheered by it. + +Again, lads, again! Up with your spades; one more effort. + +The men sprang up from the floor of the cave and went to work now with a +will. + +Nearer and nearer the dog's anxious barking sounded every minute. + +At last, with a joyous cry, Bob burst through, and with him came a +welcome rush of pure air. + +They were saved! + +Is it any wonder that when they found themselves once more out in the +jungle, with flowers and foliage all around them and the breath of +heaven fanning their faces, James Malone proposed a prayer of +thankfulness? + +They rose from their knees at last. + +"We have been taught a lesson," said this honest fellow; "our ambition +was far too overweening. Our lust for gold all but found us a grave." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They had arrived early at camp, so Tandy and Halcott determined to make +another visit to Observatory Hill, for the man had once more signalled. + +Extra activity was apparent among the savages in the northern island. +It was evident enough now that they would not long delay their coming. + +The sun set, and soon afterwards darkness fell, but still the man +lingered on the hill-top. + +And now they could see a great fire spring up, just a little way from +the water's edge, and soon the savages were observed dancing wildly +around it in three or four great circles. + +It was evident that some horrible orgie was taking place, and they might +easily presume that the medicine-man was busy enough, and that a human +sacrifice was being offered up to appease the fiends of war, in which +those benighted beings so firmly believed. + +Next day, and just after breakfast, on looking towards the hill-top, +behold the red British ensign afloat on the flag-pole! + +Shortly after this the signalman himself ran in. + +"They are coming!" he cried; "they are coming!" + +"And their strength?" asked Halcott calmly. + +"Five great war-canoes, and each one of them contains at least thirty +armed warriors." + +"And there may be more to follow. Humph! Well, we shall have to reckon +with between two and three hundred at least. What about making +overtures of peace to them, brother James?" + +Now brother James, as has already been said, was a very practical kind +of a Christian. + +"Well," he said, slowly and thoughtfully, "I think, Charlie Halcott, +that in this case our duty lies straight and clear before us, and we've +got to go for it. We shall just be content to make war first, and leave +the peace to follow." + +Every man heard him, and the hearty British cheer they gave was +re-echoed even from the hill itself. + +It was agreed by all, however, that to fight these savages in the open +would be but to court death and destruction to all hands. + +Other tactics must be adopted. The enemy would no doubt land on the +beach, and so the big gun was dragged towards the cliff-top. Here they +would make their first stand, and, if possible, sink some of the +war-canoes before they had a chance to land. + +In savage warfare cover is considered of very great importance. It was +determined, therefore, to deprive the invaders of this at any cost, so +heaps of withered branches and foliage were collected and placed here +and there all around the bay and close to the edge of the wood; and not +only there, but on the table-land itself, between the encampment and +Observatory Hill. + +One of the most active young men was told off to fire those heaps, +beginning at the farther side of the bay. His signal to do so would be +a rifle, not the gun, fired from the top of the cliff. + +In less than three hours' time the great war-canoes were quite in view, +slowly approaching the land. They were still ten miles away, however, +and it was evident to every one that they meant to time themselves so as +to land on the beach at Treachery Bay about an hour after sunset. + +Another hour went slowly by. Through the glasses now a good view could +be had of the cannibal warriors. One and all were painted in a manner +that was as hideous as it was grotesque. In the first boat, standing +erect in the bows, with a huge spear in his hand, the head of which was +evidently of gold, for it glittered yellow in the sun's rays, was a +stalwart savage, whom James Malone at once pronounced to be the king. +Beside him squatted two deformed and horrible-looking savages, and they +also were far too well-known to James. They were the king's chief +medicine-men. + +At the bow of each war-canoe, stuck on a pole, was a ghastly human head, +no doubt those of prisoners taken in battles fought with tribes living +on other islands. There was no doubt, therefore, that their intentions +in visiting the Crusoes were evil and not good, and that James Malone's +advice to fight first and make peace afterwards was wise, and the only +one to be pursued. + +At sunset they were within two miles of the land, and lying-to, ready to +make a dash as soon as darkness fell. + +The gun belonging to the _Sea Flower_ was a small breechloader of good +pattern, and could carry a shell quite as far as the boats. + +It was trained upon them, and great was the terror of the king when in +the air, right above his head, the shell burst with a terrible roar. + +They put about and rowed further off at once. + +And now, after a short twilight, the night descended quickly over land +and sea. + +It was very still and starry, and in a very short time the thumping and +noise of the oars told those on watch that the boats were rapidly +approaching. And now the rifle was fired. + +Sackbut, the young sailor, had been provided with a can of petroleum and +matches, and hardly had the sound of the rifle ceased to reverberate +from the rocks ere those on the cliff saw the first fire lighted. +Running from heap to heap he quickly set fire to them one by one. Up on +to the table-land he came next, and so in less than twenty minutes the +whole of this part of the island presented a barrier of rolling fire +towards the sea. + +The fire lit up the whole bay until it was as bright almost as if the +sun were shining on it. But the savages were not to be deterred or +denied, and so on swept the great war-canoes towards the coral beach. + +Yet, although they succeeded at last in effecting a landing, they had +paid dear for their daring. + +Seven rifles played incessantly on them, and the howls and yells that +rose every now and then on the night air told that the firing was not in +vain. + +Only a few shots were fired from the gun, there being no time, but a +shell crashed into the very midst of one of the war-canoes, and the +destruction must have been terrible. She sank at once, and probably not +more than ten out of the thirty succeeded in swimming ashore. + +The sharks had scented the battle from afar, and were soon on the field +enjoying a horrid feast. + +With that bursting shell the war might be said to have commenced in +earnest, and it was to be a war _a outrance_, knife to knife, and to the +death. + +The yelling of the savages now, and their frantic gestures as they +rushed in mass to the shelter of the rocks, mingling with the crackling +and roaring of the flames and the frightened screams of myriads of +sea-gulls, was fearful--a noise and din that it would be difficult +indeed to describe. + +All haste was now made to get the gun inside the first line of defence, +load it with canister, and place it where it would be most handy. + +And nothing more could be done now until the savages should once more +put in an appearance. So Tandy hurried on board, a sadly anxious man +indeed. His anxiety was, of course, centred in his little daughter. + +Janeira was the first to meet him. + +"Miss Nelda?" he said quickly; "where is she, and how is she, Jane?" + +"Oh," replied Jane, "she cry plenty at fuss, sah, cry and dance, but now +she done go to bed, sah; come, sah, come." + +And down below she ran. + +Poor Nelda! There she lay in her bunk, pale and frightened-looking. + +No tears now though; only smiles and caresses for her father. She had +one arm round Bob, who was stretched out beside the child, as if to +guard her from threatened danger. + +But strange and earnest were the questions she had to ask. + +Were the savages all killed, and shot, and drowned? Would they come +back again? Would Ransey, and Bob, and the 'Rallie, and poor daddie be +killed and roasted if the awful men came with their spears and knives, +and their bows and arrows? + +Tandy did all he could to assure her, and if in doing so he had to +equivocate a little, surely he would be forgiven. + +As they were still talking, in at the door stalked the Admiral himself. +He looked more solemn than any one had ever seen him before. Poor +fellow! he too had received a terrible fright, and I suppose he felt +that he would never, never care to dance again. + +The child called to him, and he came to the bunk-side at once, and +lowering his long, beautiful neck, laid his beak across her neck. This +was 'Rallie's way of showing affection. + +Then he went slowly and sadly away to the other end of the cabin, and +"trussed" himself in a corner. + +Tandy stopped for two whole hours with Nelda. She promised to be very +good, and not to cry, even if the bad men did come back again. + +Then she fell soundly asleep, holding her father's finger. + +He kissed her now and quietly left the cabin, and Janeira herself +slipped in and took the camp-stool Tandy had just vacated. + +The fire was by this time a long distance away, only the trees that had +not been destroyed stood at one moment like black spectres in the +starlight, but like rugged pillars of crimson and gold when a puff of +wind swept through the woods. + +Waiting and watching! Ah, what a weary thing it is! Hours and hours +passed by, and if the men of this little garrison slept at all, it was +on the bare ground, and with only their elbows for pillows. + +But not until far on in the morning watch did the enemy show signs of +activity, or give a single token of their presence. + +The fire was now too far back for the crackling of the flames to be +heard, though its red glare and the cloud of rolling smoke that obscured +the sky told that it was still blazing fiercely. The sea-birds had gone +to rest once more in the rocks, and everything around the encampment was +as silent as the grave. A dread silence--a stillness like that which +precedes the outbreaking of some fearful storm! + +And all too soon the storm burst. + +Book 3--CHAPTER TEN. + +"AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH." + +With a yell that once more scared the sea-birds, and sent them screaming +in terror across the waves, a yell that seemed to awaken the echoes in +every rock and hill from end to end of the island, the savages sprang to +their feet, and rushing towards the palisade, made their first fearful +onset. + +Not twenty yards away were they when they had given voice. So quickly, +too, did they rush across the intervening ground, that scarce was there +time to fire a rifle volley, far less to train the gun upon the +spear-armed mass, before it was close alongside and had surrounded the +stockade. + +In their hundreds, these fearsome savages attempted to scale it; but +their bodies were frightfully torn with the spikes, and cries of pain +now mingled with those of anger. The defenders ran from one part of the +stockade to another, firing from the loopholes; and so densely massed +together was the foe that every bullet must have found a billet. In +spite of all this, several managed to get over, but were immediately +shot down with revolvers, or cut down with sword or cutlass. + +Small though the loopholes were, spears were several times thrust +through, and as each of them was poisoned, a single scratch would have +resulted in the agonised death of the receiver. + +Dark enough it was, and with nothing now but the stars to direct their +aim, yet the little band fought well and determinedly, and at last the +foe retired, leaving scores of their dead behind--drew off, dragging the +wounded away. + +At that black mass, just as it was nearing the woods, and while the +rifles still played upon it, the breechloader, grape-loaded, was trained +and fired. + +So close together were the natives that the carnage must have been +terrible. + +But twice again ere morning they attacked the fort, receiving the same +treatment, and being obliged at last to withdraw. + +When morning broke, the defenders were completely wearied out, and so +the little garrison, after two sentries were set, lay down to snatch a +few hours' much needed rest. There was no fear of the attack being +renewed before sunset, for darkness seemed best to suit the tactics of +these sable warriors. + +In the afternoon of this first day of siege a sally was made from the +great gate, and seven men stood ready with their rifles, while four +began to remove the dead. Each was dragged to the edge of the cliff and +thrown over into the sea. When all were cleared away the gate was once +more shut and barred. But though the burial must have been witnessed, +no rush was made by the savages to attack them. The afternoon was spent +in taking pot-shots at every figure that could be seen in the burned +bush. + +The next attack was made at midnight, and in a manner quite as +determined as the first. + +One of the _Sea Flower's_ men was killed by a spear. It had been thrust +with tremendous force through a loophole, and pierced the poor fellow's +brain. + +Tandy himself had a narrow escape. He was about to fire, but, +stumbling, fell, and next moment a poisoned arrow whizzed past and over +him. There was surely a Providence in this, for only fools believe in +blind chance. + +With the exception of the death of poor Ross, who was an able seaman, +there was no other casualty that night. + +The savages withdrew, but when, next day, the men of the _Sea Flower_ +sallied forth to remove the enemy's dead, which they succeeded in doing, +it was noticed that many of the spike-nails had, during the fight, been +removed. These, however, were easily replaced by others, and many more +were added. + +There was no attack this evening. The savages had determined to +endeavour once more to propitiate their "fiend of war," and an immense +fire could be seen burning at midnight in the centre of their camp, not +more than half a mile from the stockade. The big gun was trained upon +this, and a shell planted right in the centre of the dusky mob seemed to +work great destruction, and quickly put an end to the orgie. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The terrible siege was kept up for three whole weeks, and, harassed +beyond measure with the constant night attacks, affairs were becoming +very desperate indeed, and the little garrison was already almost worn +out. Day after day it was becoming more apparent to all that utter +annihilation was merely a question of time. + +A council of war was held now, at which every man was present, and +various proposals were made, but few indeed were feasible. + +The number of the defenders was so small, compared to the hundreds of +armed savages opposed to them, that a "sally in force," as Tom Wilson +who proposed this called it, was out of the question. + +To attempt to make peace would only be to give themselves away. The +savage king would be ready enough to promise anything, but in a few +weeks afterwards not one of the poor Crusoes would be left alive. + +Should they get the largest boat ready, provision her, and put to sea? +Surely the ocean itself would be less cruel at its very wildest than +those bloodthirsty savages. + +The question had been put by Tandy himself. He was hoping against hope; +he was like a drowning man clutching at straws. For himself he had no +thought. He was brave almost to a fault, and, like any other brave man, +was willing to die, sword in hand, fighting the foe. + + "And where can man die better, + Than in facing fearful odds?" + +But his children, especially innocent wee Nelda--ah! that was what +softened that heart of his. + +"My dear Tandy," said Halcott, "the idea of being once more away out on +yonder beautiful and peaceful ocean, even if only in an open boat, is +one that commends itself to us all, but, alas, it would in this case be +but a choice of death. Even if we should succeed in eluding the savages +and escaping, which I believe would be almost impossible, we could never +reach the mainland." + +So the council ended, and the little garrison remained precisely as +before. + +It was evident to all, however, that the end could not be far distant, +for not only provisions, but ammunition itself, would soon give out. +All hands saving Nelda were therefore put on short allowance. Coals +were carefully saved, no more being used than was necessary to make +steam to be condensed and used as drinking water; and not an unnecessary +shot was to be fired. + +But now there came a lull which lasted for three whole days and nights. +Two things were evident enough: first, that the enemy were making some +change in their mode of warfare; secondly, that the final struggle would +soon take place--and indeed, as regards that, many of the men within the +little encampment would have preferred to rush forth, cutlass in hand, +and finish the fighting at once. + +Most of the country was devastated by the fire that had been kindled, +with the exception of a patch away south and east at the foot of +Observatory Hill, on which the proud ensign was still floating, as if to +give the besieged some hope and comfort. + +But one day this patch of jungle, like the famous Birnam Wood, seemed to +be slowly advancing towards the camp. + +Tandy was gazing at it, and looking somewhat puzzled, when Halcott came +up. + +"That is more of their fiendish tactics," he said; "and the scheme, I +fear, will be only too successful. You see," he added, "they are piling +up heaps of branches; these will defy our rifle bullets, and +unfortunately we have no shells left to fire them. Gradually these +heaps will be advanced, and under cover of them they will make their +next and, I fear, final attack, and it will be made by day." + +Halcott was right, and in a few days' time the savages were within a +hundred yards of the palisade. They no doubt meant to advance as near +to it as possible during the hours of darkness, and with might and main +attack at sunrise. + +It was midnight when the movement on the part of the besiegers began, +and the cover was then slowly advanced. A gentle breeze had begun to +blow away from the camp, and the night was moonless and dark. + +Presently a hand was laid on Halcott's shoulder. He had been lying near +the outer stockade quietly talking with James; while Tandy was in the +ship's state-room keeping his little girl company. The poor child was +sadly uneasy to-night, and the father was trying his best to comfort +her. + +"What! you here, Lord Fitzmantle?" said Halcott. + +"I'se heah, sah." + +It was probably well he said so, for excepting his flashing teeth and +rolling eyes, there wasn't much else of him to be seen. + +"And you're pretty nearly naked, aren't you?" + +"I'se neahly altogedder naked, sah. I'se got noddings much on, sah, but +my skin. I go on one 'spedition [expedition] all same's Dabid of old go +out to meet de giant Goliah. Dabid hab sling and stone though; Fitz hab +no sling, on'y one box ob matches. You open dat gate, sah, and I go +crawl, crawl, all same's one snake, and soon makee one big fire to wahm +de hides ob dose black niggahs." + +"Brave and generous little fellow!" cried Halcott, shaking the boy's +hand. "But I fear to risk your life." + +"You no feah foh me, sah, all I do. I jes' done gone do foh de sake ob +dat pooh deah chile Babs. + +"Good-night, ge'men. You soon see big fire, and you heah de niggahs +fizz. Suppose dey killee me, dey no can kill de soul. Dis chile findee +his way to Hebben all the same, plenty quick." + +They let the little lad out. + +Whether the acute ears of the savages had heard the bolts drawn or not +will never be known. Certain it is, however, that Fitz was discovered +and wounded. But wounded as he was, he had the determination to light +the pile. + +The savages threw themselves at it, and tore at the burning branches, +but this only helped to scatter the flames about. + +Fitz crawled back, just in time to die inside the stockade. + +"I go to Hebben now," he said faintly to James, who was kneeling beside +him holding his hand. "I'se dun my duty I fink--heah below. I see my +pooh old mudder to-night--she--she--" + +He said no more, and never spoke again. The noble little fellow had +indeed done his duty, and doubtless would receive his reward. + +James Malone was like a wild man now. + +"Brother Halcott," he cried, "summon all hands to arras, and let us +sally forth and give these fiends a lesson. They have done to death +this noble little fellow. Come, Halcott, come. An eye for an eye, and +a tooth for a tooth!" + +He waved his sword aloft as he spoke. + +So sudden and determined was the sally now made by ten resolute men +that, taken thus unexpectedly, the savages became at once unmanned and +demoralised. + +The men of the _Sea Flower_ advanced in a semicircle, and well spread +out. After the first volley, the blacks threw a few spears wildly into +the darkness, for the terrible conflagration blinded their eyes; but, +huddled together as they were, they made an excellent target for the +riflemen. + +Volley after volley was poured into their midst with terrible effect, +increasing their confusion every minute. + +"Lay aft here now, lads!" shouted James. "Down with your guns! Charge +with cutlass and revolver. Hurrah!" + +High above the demoniacal shrieks of the savages and the roaring of the +flames rose that wild British cheer. Next moment the revolvers poured +upon the foe a rain of death. + +Again a cheer. Sword and cutlass flashed in the firelight. Right and +left, left and right, the men struck out, and blood flowed like water. + +Towering above all was James himself, with flashing eyes and red-stained +blade, his long hair streaming behind in the breeze that fanned the +flames. + +Short but fearful was that onslaught. In the eyes of the +terror-stricken savages every man must have seemed a multitude. And no +wonder. It was death or victory for the poor Crusoes; and never before +did soldier on battlefield, or sailor on slippery battle-deck, fight +with greater fury than they did now. + +But, lo! James has seen the king himself, with his golden-headed spear, +which he tries in vain to poise, so crushed and crowded is he in the +midst of his mob of warriors. + +"It is I," shouts James, in the native tongue, "I, whose blood you would +have drunk. Drink it now if you dare!" + +Nothing can withstand him, and soon he has fought his way towards the +chief, and next moment the savage throws up his arms and falls dead +where he stands. + +As if moved now but by a single thought, the enemy, with a howl of +terror, go rushing away and disappear in the darkness. The victors are +left alone with the dead! + +But, alas! the victory has cost them more than one precious life. + +Here, stark and stiff, lies the brave young fellow Sackbut, who had +fired the bush on the first landing of the savages. + +And not far off poor Tom Wilson himself. + +At first they can hardly believe that Tom is dead. He is raised partly +on his elbow, and his eyes are fixed on a portrait he has taken from his +bosom. Tandy, who found him, had seen that picture before. It was that +of his wife. + +Ah, well, he had sinned, he had suffered, but his sorrows were all past +now. + +Another man is wounded--honest Chips himself. + +Is this all? Ah, no, for James himself, as he turns to leave the scene +of carnage, leans suddenly on his sword, his face looks ghastly pale in +the firelight, and Halcott springs forward only in time to prevent him +from falling. + +Book 3--CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +DEATH OF JAMES. + +The morning of the victory was a sad enough one in the camp of the +Crusoes. + +The enemy was routed, the king was slain. For a time, at least, there +would be a cessation of strife. For how long no one troubled himself to +consider; sorrow seemed everywhere, on board and in the camp around. + +Poor James lay on a mattress on deck. Perhaps he was the only man that +smiled or seemed happy. _He_ knew, and Halcott knew too, that he could +not last for many days, so grievously was he wounded. + +Halcott, I need not say, was constant in his attendance on him, and so +too was little Nelda. + +The girl would sit for hours beside him, sometimes reading childish +stories to him, which she felt certain, in her own mind, would help to +make him better. Or she would gently pat his weather-beaten face, +saying, as she did so, "Poor uncle James! poor dear uncle! Never mind! +never mind!" + +The dead were tenderly wrapped in hammocks which were heavily loaded. +Theirs would be a sailor's grave. Halcott himself read the beautiful +words of the English Church service, the few that were now left of the +brave crew of the _Sea Flower_ kneeling bareheaded beside the bodies of +their late comrades; more than one was weeping. + + "We commit their bodies to the deep, + And their souls to Him who gave them." + +Their shipmates just patted the hammocks, before they let them slide, in +a way that was very pathetic; then down, one by one, over the cliff they +dropped-- + + "To lie where pearls lie deep." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When Halcott returned one day from the cliff-top, some time after this +sad funeral, there was a shade of greater uneasiness than usual on his +face. + +James was quick to note it. + +"They are coming again?" he said quietly. + +"You have guessed aright," said Halcott. "And they are using the same +tactics--coming up under cover of brushwood. There is no Fitz now to +fire the heap, and our strength is terribly reduced." + +"Be of good cheer, Halcott--be of good cheer; it is God Himself who +giveth the victory. But death cometh sooner or later to all." + +"Amen!" said Halcott; "and oh, James, I for one am almost tired of +life." + +"Say not so, brother, say not so, 'tis sinful." + +How terrible is war, reader! The accounts that we read of this scourge, +in papers or in books, seldom show it up in its true colours. We are +told only of its glory--its tinsel show of glory. But that glory is but +the gilded shell that hides the hideous kernel, consisting of sorrow, +misery, murder, and rapine. + +I am not poor Tandy's judge, and shall not pretend to say whether the +resolve he now made was right or wrong. + +Just under the saloon was the magazine, and when the worst should come +to the worst, and the savage foe burst through the outer barrier with +yells and howls of victory, his child, he determined, should not be torn +from his grasp, to suffer cruelty unspeakable at the hands of the foe. +_He would fire the magazine_! + +"My friends," said Halcott, a morning or two after this, as he stood +talking to his garrison of five, "the enemy is advancing in even greater +force than on any previous occasion. I have but little more to say to +you. Let us bid each other `good-bye' just before the fight begins, and +die with our swords in our hands-- + + "`Like true-born British sailors.'" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The time came at last--and the enemy too. + +It was one of the brightest days the Crusoes had ever witnessed on this +Isle of Misfortune. Even from the cliff-top, or over the barricade, the +distant islands could be seen, like emeralds afloat between sea and sky. +The volcanic mountain--so clear was the air--appeared almost within +gunshot of the camp. + +For hours and hours there had not been a sound heard anywhere. The +monster pile of brushwood, behind which those dusky, fiendish warriors +hid, had been advanced to within seventy yards of the palisade, but all +was silence there. Even the sea-birds had ceased their screaming. All +nature was ominously hushed; the bare and blackened country around the +camp lay sweltering in the noon-day heat; and the ensign on Observatory +Hill had drooped, till it appeared only as a thin, red line against the +upper end of the pole. + +No one spoke save in a whisper. + +But with a little more excitement than usual, Halcott advanced to the +place where Tandy stood, rifle in hand, his pistols in his belt, waiting +like the others for the inevitable. + +Halcott did not even speak. He simply took his friend by the arm and +pointed westward. + +A cloud lay like a dark pall on the very summit of Fire Hill. + +Tandy knew the meaning of it. He only shook his head, however. "Too +late, I fear!" That was all he said. But hardly had the last word been +spoken, before a stranger thing than that cloud on the mountain +attracted attention. + +A huge, smooth, house-high billow was seen gradually approaching the bay +from seaward. It gathered strength, and speed too, as it came onwards, +and finally it broke on the beach in one long line of curling foam, and +with a sound as loud as distant thunder. + +Wave after wave succeeded it, though they were neither so high nor so +swift; then silence once more prevailed, and the sea was as quiet and +still as before. + +Not for long though. + +For a few minutes' time every man's senses seemed to reel, and a giddy, +sickly feeling passed through the brain, such as only those who have +visited countries like Japan or South America have ever experienced. + +It was the first shock of an earthquake! + +Peal after peal of strange subterranean thunder accompanied it, and a +kind of hot wave spread suddenly over the island, like a breeze blowing +over a burning prairie. + +The effect of these manifestations on the enemy was marvellous. For a +few moments they were dumb and silent with terror; then yells of fear +arose, and they fled indiscriminately away towards the sea beach, +throwing away bows, arrows, and spears, and even their scanty articles +of apparel, in their headlong, hurried flight. + +"The fire-fiend! He comes! he comes!" + +That was their cry now, and their only cry. + +In a marvellously short time they were seen swarming on the beach, and +in all haste dragging down and launching their great war-canoes; and in +less than twenty minutes' time they were, to the immense relief of the +little garrison, afloat on the now heaving bosom of the deep. + +When Halcott ran on board the hulk, I do not think he knew quite what he +was doing or saying. He seemed beside himself with joy. + +"Oh, live, brother James! live! Do not die and leave us now that our +safety is assured. The savages have fled, they will never return. +Live, brother, live?" + +"Oh, live, poor uncle! live!" cried Nelda; "live for _my_ sake, dear +uncle!" + +Tandy was the next to rush on board, and his first act was to catch his +little daughter up, cover her face with kisses, and press her to his +breast. + +"And now, Halcott," he cried at last, "there is just one more shot in +the big gun. Come, let us drag her to the cliff. If I can sink but a +single boat, I shall be satisfied." + +But the dying man lifted his hand, and Halcott and Tandy both drew near. + +"No, brothers, no," he murmured. "Fire not the gun--the battle is the +Lord's. He alone--hath given us the victory." + +And the men knelt there, with bent heads, as if ashamed of the deed they +had been about to commit. + +Ah! but the tears were flowing fast from their eyes. Poor James was +dead! + +Book 3--CHAPTER TWELVE. + +LEAVES FROM FIRST MATE TANDY'S LOG. + +Like all the other dead, poor James Malone received the honours of a +sailor's burial on the very next day. + +But, unlike the rest, he was not slipped over the cliff. + +On the contrary, Halcott determined he should rest far out in the blue, +lone sea, where nothing might disturb his rest until "the crack of +doom." The last words were those of Halcott himself. + +So the lightest boat was dragged all the way to the beach, and there, +with the body sewn up in a hammock and covered with a red flag, it was +launched. + +There had been no return of the earthquake, but all the previous night +flames and smoke had issued from Fire Hill, and no one doubted that an +eruption on a vast scale was imminent. There was, however, no danger in +leaving little Nelda and her brother alone in the hulk with Janeira and +Chips--who was already able to walk--for the savages were far away, +indeed, by this time. So Tandy accompanied Halcott, and with them went +the others--only five in all. + +Not a word was spoken until the boat was beyond the bay and in very deep +water. + +"Way enough!" cried Halcott. "In oars!" + +All sat there with bent, uncovered heads while the captain read the +service; but his voice was choked with emotion, and when the shotted +hammock took the water with a melancholy boom and disappeared, he closed +the book. He could say no more for a time. + +As a rule seafarers are not orators, though what they do say is +generally to the point. + +Halcott sat for fully a minute like one in a trance, gazing silently and +reverently at the spot where the body had disappeared. + +The bubbles had soon ceased to rise, and there was nothing now to mark +the sailor's cemetery. Though-- + + "He was the loved of all, + Yet none on his low grave might weep." + +"My friends," said Halcott, "there in peace rests the body of my dearest +friend, my adopted brother. I never had a brother save him. How much I +loved him none can ever know. The world and the ship will be a deal +more lonesome to me now that James has gone. For many and many a long +year we sailed the seas together, and weathered many a gale and storm. +Sound, sound may he sleep, while wind and waves shall sing his dirge. +Unselfish was he to the end, and every inch a sailor. His last word was +`Victory;' and well may we now add, `O death, where is thy sting? O +grave, where is thy victory?' + +"Out oars, men! Give way with a will!" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They reached the shore in safety, and drew up the boat high and dry. +But none too soon; for, before they got on board once more, a terrible +thunderstorm had come on, with lightning more vivid than any one on the +hulk ever remembered. + +I have Tandy's log before me as I write, and I do not think I can do +better than make a few extracts therefrom. + +"_The lost Barque, Sea Flower_.--On the rocks, in Treachery Bay, Isle of +Misfortune, latitude --, longitude --, August 5, 18--. Buried poor +James Malone to-day. Halcott terribly cut up. Doesn't seem to be the +same man. But we all miss James; he was so gentle, so kind, and true. +We miss Fitz also. His merry ways and laughing face made him a +favourite with us all. And honest Tom Wilson; we shall never again hear +his sweet music. Thank Heaven that, though the thunder is now rolling, +the lightning flashing, and a rain that looks like mud falling, I have +my darlings both beside me! In the darkest hours I have ever spent in +life, I've always had something to comfort me. Yes, God is good. + +"The sun is setting. I never saw a sun look so lurid and red before. +The thunder continues, but the rain has ceased. There are frequent +smart shocks of earthquake. + +"_August 8_.--Two awful days and nights have passed, and still we are +all alive. The days have been days of darkness; the ashes and scoriae +have been falling constantly, and now lie an inch at least in depth upon +our deck. Nights lit up by the flames that spout cloud-high from the +volcano, carrying with them rocks and stones and steam. There is a +terribly mephitic vapour over everything. How long this may last Heaven +alone can tell." + +"_August 12_.--Four more fearful days. The eruption continues with +unabated horror--the thunderings, the lightnings, the showers of stones +and ashes, and the rolling clouds of dust through which, even at midday, +the sun glares like a ball of crimson fire. + +"Poor Chips is dead; we buried him yesterday. More of us are ill. +Halcott himself is depressed, and my wee Nelda cares for nothing save +lying languidly on the sofa all day long. The thought that she may die +haunts me night and day." + +"_August 13_.--Almost at the last of our provisions. The biscuit is +finished; the very dust has been scraped up and eaten. Not more than a +score of tins of _soupe en bouille_ left in the ship, and about one +gallon of rum. Served out to-day what remained of the salmon, and gave +double allowance of rum to-night. + +"Not a green thing seems to be left on the island." + +"_August 15_.--Feel languid and weary. Went to prayers to-day. All our +hopes must now centre in the life to come; we have none for this." + +"_August 18_.--The strange crane lies trussed in a corner of the saloon. +We force him to eat a little, and Bob sits near him and licks his face. + +"To-day Bob went off by himself. He was away for hours, and we thought +we should never see him again; but in the afternoon he returned, driving +before him five little black pigs. Thin and miserable are they, but a +godsend nevertheless. + +"Lava pouring down the hill-side all night long, shimmering green, red, +and orange through the sulphurous haze." + +"_August 20_.--Men more cheerful to-day. The clouds have cleared away, +and we can see the sea, and the sun is less red. + +"Halcott and I climbed Observatory Hill. What a scene! The once +beautiful island is burnt as it were to a cinder. Trees are scorched; +all, all is dead. We could not bear to look at it. But we cut down the +flag-pole, and brought away the ensign. They are useless now. + +"Who will be the next to die? `O Father,' I cry in my agony, `spare my +life while my little one lives, that I may minister to her till the +last! Then take my boy and me!'" + +"_August 22_.--Four bells in the middle-watch. I awoke an hour ago with +a start. Halcott, too, had rushed into the saloon. + +"`Did you hear it?' he cried wildly. + +"Yes, I had heard. + +"The unusual sound awoke us all--the sound of a ship blowing off steam +in the bay yonder, far beneath us. The sound of anchor chains rattling +out, the sound of voices--the voices of brave British sailors! + +"`Halcott! Halcott!' I cried; `we are saved!' + +"I'm sure I have been weeping. Nelda is on my knee at this moment while +I write, her cheek pressed close to mine. Oh, how good God has been to +me! We have fired off guns, and raised our voices in a feeble cheer, +and the people have replied. + +"It is no dream then. + +"Surely I am not mad! + +"Oh, will the morning never come? and will the sun never shine again? +I--" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The log breaks off abruptly just here, and all that I have further to +say was gleaned from Halcott and Tandy themselves. + +The steamer, then, that had arrived so opportunely to save the few +unhappy survivors of the lost _Sea Flower_ was the trader _Borneo_. The +very first to welcome them when they went on board at early dawn was +honest Weathereye himself. He had a hand for Halcott and a hand for +Tandy--a heart for both. + +"God bless you!" he hastened to say. "Ah! do not tell me your sad story +now--no, never a bit of it. The _Dun Avon_ brought your letters, and I +could not rest till I came out. + +"But run below, Halcott; some one else wants to welcome you. You'll be +surprised--" + +Halcott never knew rightly whether he had descended to the saloon on +wings or on his feet, or whether he had jumped right down through the +skylight. + +A minute afterwards, however, Doris was weeping in his arms--ah! such +glad, glad tears--and Doris's mother arose from a couch with a happy +smile. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +That same day, after taking all that was valuable out of the dear old +_Sea Flower_--and that _all_ included a fortune in gold--the hull was +set on fire. + +In the evening the steamer left the island, but not before Tandy and +Halcott had taken the bearings of the hidden mine. + +In that cave lies an immense fortune for some one some day. + +Some hard work and digging will be required, however, before the fortune +is finally brought to bank, and those who go to seek it must go fully +prepared to fight as fiendish a tribe of man-eating savages as ever yet +has been faced in the South Pacific Ocean. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Ideal voyages by sea are still to be made, although not in torpedo-boats +or in _Majesties_, and this was one of them. + +The Crusoes of the Island of Gold, once fairly afloat on the briny +ocean, soon waxed healthy and strong again, and all hands on board the +saucy _Borneo_ were just as happy as happy could be. + +I must admit, however, that "saucy _Borneo_" is simply a figure of +speech. There wasn't, really, a trace of sauciness about the dear, old +rumble-tumble of a ship. The skipper was about as rough as they make +them; so was his mate--and so were all hands, for that matter. _But_ if +they were rough, they were _right_, and just as Dibdin describes a +seaman:-- + + "Though careless and headstrong if danger should press, + And ranked 'mongst the free list of rovers, + He'll melt into tears at a tale of distress, + And prove the most constant of lovers. + + "To rancour unknown, to no passion a slave, + Nor unmanly, nor mean, nor a railer, + He's gentle as mercy, as fortitude brave-- + And this is a true British sailor." + +As before, Bob and Nelda were the pets of the ship; and 'Rallie, who now +did the drollest antics any bird ever attempted, kept all hands laughing +from binnacle to bowsprit. + +Happiness is catching. I gather this from the fact that, after watching +Halcott and Doris walking arm-in-arm up and down the quarterdeck one +lovely day, with pleasure and love beaming in the eyes of each, bold +Captain Weathereye said to himself,-- + +"How jolly they look! He makes _her_ happy, and she makes _him_. Blame +me if I don't make somebody happy myself as soon's I get to port. I'm +not so old yet, and neither is Miss Scragley. Ahem!" + +Well, the reader can guess how it turned out. Many years have passed +since the voyage home of the old _Borneo_. Doris is Mrs Halcott now. +A pleasant home they have, and Tandy often visits there. + +Tandy built himself a beautiful house on the very spot where the humble +cottage stood; but it isn't called Hangman's Hall. Bob is there, and +Murrams is there--good Mrs Farrow kept him while our heroes were at +sea; and little Nelda--not so little now--is there, too; while, high and +dry, in the gibbet-tree still roosts the droll old Admiral. + +Ransey Tansey is a man now, and walks his own quarterdeck; but I did +hear, only yesterday, that he will soon marry Eedie. There is no Miss +Scragley any longer, however. But there is a Mrs Weathereye. Ahem! + +Yes; and Weathereye and Tandy are almost inseparables, and many a yarn +they spin together over their pipes. + +As the canal yonder, with the sunlight glinting on its breast, goes +calmly meandering through the woods and meadows green, so gently pass +their lives along. + +Good-bye, lads! Please, may I come again? + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island of Gold, by Gordon Stables + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND OF GOLD *** + +***** This file should be named 37588.txt or 37588.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/5/8/37588/ + +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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