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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed37ccd --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53819 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53819) diff --git a/old/53819-8.txt b/old/53819-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 44958a7..0000000 --- a/old/53819-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16880 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coil of Carne, by John Oxenham - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Coil of Carne - -Author: John Oxenham - -Release Date: December 28, 2016 [EBook #53819] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COIL OF CARNE *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Alberta) - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - 1. Page scan source the Web Archive: - https://archive.org/details/cihm_75374 - (University of Alberta) - - - - - - -THE -COIL OF CARNE - - -BY -JOHN OXENHAM -AUTHOR OF "THE LONG ROAD" - - - - -TORONTO -THE COPP, CLARK CO. LIMITED -1911 - - - - - - -TO - -RODERIC DUNKERLEY, B.A., B.D. - - - - -"_And what are you eager for, Mr. Eager?_" - -"_Men, women, and children--bodies and souls_." - _Intra, page_ 53. - -"_By God's help we will make men of them, the rest we must trust to -Providence_." - _Intra, page_ 66. - -"_Catch them young!_" - _Intra, page_ 67. - -"_No man is past mending till he's dead, perhaps not then_." - _Intra, page_ 82. - - - - - - -CONTENTS - - - BOOK I - -CHAP. - - I. THE HOUSE OF CARNE - - II. THE STAR IN THE DUST - - III. THE FIRST OF THE COIL - - IV. THE COIL COMPLETE - - V. IN THE COIL - - - BOOK II - - VI. FREEMEN OF THE FLATS - - VII. EAGER HEART - - VIII. SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS - - IX. MORE OF SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS - - X. GROWING FREEMEN - - XI. THE LITTLE LADY - - XII. MANY MEANS - - XIII. MOUNTING - - XIV. WIDENING WAYS - - XV. DIVERGING LINES - - XVI. A CUT AT THE COIL - - XVII. ALMOST SOLVED - - XVIII. ALMOST SOLVED AGAIN - - XIX. WHERE'S JIM? - - XX. A NARROW SQUEAK - - XXI. A WARM WELCOME - - XXII. WHERE'S JACK? - - - BOOK III - - XXIII. BREAKING IN - - XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST - - XXV. REVELATION AND SPECULATION - - XXVI. JIM'S TIGHT PLACE - - XXVII. TWO TO ONE - - XXVIII. THE LINE OF CLEAVAGE - - XXIX. GRACIE'S DILEMMA - - XXX. NEVER THE SAME AGAIN - - XXXI. DESERET - - XXXII. THE LADY WITH THE FAN - - XXXIII. A STIRRING OF MUD - - XXXIV. THE BOYS IN THE MUD - - XXXV. EXPLANATIONS - - XXXVI. JIM'S WAY - - XXXVII. A HOPELESS QUEST - - XXXVIII. LORD DESERET HELPS - - XXXIX. OLD SETH GOES HOME - - XL. OUT OF THE NIGHT - - XLI. HORSE AND FOOT - - XLII. DUE EAST - - XLIII. JIM TO THE FORE - - XLIV. JIM'S LUCK - - XLV. MORE REVELATIONS - - XLVI. THE BLACK LANDING - - XLVII. ALMA - - XLVIII. JIM'S RIDE - - XLIX. AMONG THE BULL-PUPS - - L. RED-TAPE - - LI. THE VALLEY OF DEATH - - LII. PATCHING UP - - LIII. THE FIGHT IN THE FOG - - LIV. AN ALLY OF PROVIDENCE - - LV. RETRIBUTION - - LVI. DULL DAYS - - LVII. HOT OVENS - - LVIII. CHILL NEWS - - LIX. TOUCH AND GO FOR THE COIL - - LX. INSIDE THE FIERY RING - - LXI. WEARY WAITING - - LXII. FROM ONE TO MANY - - LXIII. EAGER ON THE SCENT - - LXIV. THE LONG SLOW SIEGE - - LXV. THE CUTTING OF THE COIL - - LXVI. PURGATORY - - LXVII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END - - LXVIII. HOME AGAIN - - LXIX. "THE RIGHT ONE" - - LXX. ALL'S WELL - - - - - - -THE COIL OF CARNE - - - - - -BOOK I - - - - -CHAPTER I -THE HOUSE OF CARNE - - -If by any chance you should ever sail on a low ebb-tide along a -certain western coast, you will, if you are of a receptive humour and -new to the district, receive a somewhat startling impression of the -dignity of the absolutely flat. - -Your ideas of militant and resistant grandeur may have been associated -hitherto with the iron frontlets and crashing thunders of Finisterre -or Sark, of Cornwall or the Western Isle. Here you are faced with a -repressive curbing of the waters, equal in every respect to theirs, -but so quietly displayed as to be somewhat awesome, as mighty power in -restraint must always be. - -As far as eye can reach--sand, nothing but sand, overpowering by -reason of its immensity, a very Sahara of the coast. Mighty levels -stretching landward and seaward--for you are only threading a -capricious channel among the banks which the equinoctials will twist -at their pleasure, and away to the west the great grim sea lies -growling in his sandy chains until his time comes. Then, indeed, he -will swell and boil and seethe in his channels till he is full ready, -and come creeping silently over his barriers, and then--up and away -over the flats with the speed of a racehorse, and death to the unwary. -You may see the humping back of him among the outer banks if you climb -a few feet up your mast. Then, if you turn towards the land, you will -see, far away across the brown ribbed flats, a long rim of yellow sand -backed by bewildering ranges of low white hummocks, and farther away -still a filmy blue line of distant hills. - -Here and there a fisherman's cottage accentuates the loneliness of it -all. At one point, as the sun dips in the west, a blaze of light -flashes out as though a hidden battery had suddenly unmasked itself; -and if you ask your skipper what it is, he will tell you that is -Carne. Then, if he is a wise man, he will upsail and away, to make -Wytham or Wynsloe before it is dark, for the shifting banks off Carne -are as hungry as Death, and as tricky as the devil. - -For over three hundred years the grim gray house of Carne has stood -there and watched the surface of all things round about it change with -the seasons and the years and yet remain in all essential things the -same. When the wild equinoctials swept the flats till they hummed like -a harp, the sand-hills stirred and changed their aspects as though the -sleeping giants below turned uneasily in their beds. For, under the -whip of the wind, grain by grain the sand-hills creep hither and -thither and accommodate themselves to circumstances in strange and -ghostly fashions. So that, after the fury of the night, the peace of -the morning looked in vain for the landmarks of the previous day. - -And the cold seabanks out beyond were twisted and tortured this way -and that by the winds and waves, and within them lay many an honest -seaman, and some maybe who might have found it difficult to prove -their right to so honourable a title. But the banks were always there, -silent and deadly even when they shimmered in the sunshine. - -And generations of Carrons had held Carne, and had even occupied it at -times, and had passed away and given place to others. But Carne was -always there, grim and gray, and mostly silent. - -The outward aspects of things might change, indeed, but at bottom they -remained very much the same, and human nature changed as little as the -rest, though its outward aspects varied with the times. What strange -twist of brain or heart set its owner to the building of Carne has -puzzled many a wayfarer coming upon it in its wide sandy solitudes for -the first time. And the answer to that question answers several -others, and accounts for much. - -It was Denzil Carron who built the house in the year Queen Mary died. -He was of the old faith, a Romanist of the Romanists, narrow in his -creed, fanatical in his exercise of it, at once hot- and cold-blooded -in pursuit of his aims. When Elizabeth came to the throne he looked to -be done by as he had done, and had very reasonable doubts as to the -quality of the mercy which might be strained towards him. So he -quietly withdrew from London, sold his houses and lands in other -counties, and sought out the remotest and quietest spot he could find -in the most Romanist county in England. And there he built the great -house of Carne, as a quiet harbourage for himself and such victims of -the coming persecutions as might need his assistance. - -But no retributive hand was stretched after him. He was Englishman -first and Romanist afterwards. Calais, and the other national -crumblings and disasters of Mary's short reign, had been bitter pills -to him, and he hated a Spaniard like the devil. He saw a brighter -outlook for his country, though possibly a darker one for his Church, -in Elizabeth's firm grip than any her opponents could offer. So he -shut his face stonily against the intriguers, who came from time to -time and endeavoured to wile him into schemes for the subversion of -the Crown and the advancement of the true Church, and would have none -of them. And so he was left in peace and quietness by the powers that -were, and found himself free to indulge to the full in those religious -exercises on the strict observance of which his future state depended. - -His wife died before the migration, leaving him one son, Denzil, to -bring up according to his own ideas. And a dismal time the lad had of -it. Surrounded by black jowls and gloomy-faced priests, tied hand and -foot by ordinances which his growing spirit loathed, all the -brightness and joy of life crushed out by the weight of a religion -which had neither time nor place for such things, he lived a narrow -monastic life till his father died. Then, being of age, and able at -last to speak for himself, he quietly informed his quondam governors -that he had had enough of religion to satisfy all reasonable -requirements of this life and the next, and that now he intended to -enjoy himself. Carne he would maintain as his father had maintained -it, for the benefit of those whom his father had loved, or at all -events had materially cared for. And so, good-bye, Black-Jowls! and Ho -for Life and the joy of it! - -He went up to London, bought an estate in Kent, ruffled it with the -best of them, married and had sons and daughters, kept his head out of -all political nooses, fought the Spaniards under Admiral John Hawkins -and Francis Drake, and died wholesomely in his bed in his house in -Kent, a very different man from what Carne would have made him. - -And that is how the grim gray house of Carne came to be planted in the -wilderness. - -Now and again, in the years that followed, the Carron of the day, if -he fell on dolorous times through extravagance of living--as -happened--or suffered sudden access of religious fervour--as also -happened, though less frequently--would take himself to Carne and -there mortify flesh and spirit till things, financial and spiritual, -came round again, either for himself or the next on the rota. And so -some kind of connection was always maintained between Carne and its -owners, though years might pass without their coming face to face. - -The Master of Carne in the year 1833 was that Denzil Carron who came -to notoriety in more ways than one during the Regency. His father had -been of the quieter strain, with a miserly twist in him which -commended the wide, sweet solitude and simple, inexpensive life of -Carne as exactly suited to his close humour. He could feel rich there -on very little; and after the death of his wife, who brought him a -very ample fortune, he devoted himself to the education of his boy and -the enjoyment, by accumulation, of his wealth. But a short annual -visit to London on business affairs afforded the boy a glimpse of what -he was missing, and his father's body was not twelve hours underground -before he had shaken off the sands of Carne and was posting to London -in a yellow chariot with four horses and two very elevated post-boys, -like a silly moth to its candle. - -There, in due course, by processes of rapid assimilation and lavish -dispersion, he climbed to high altitudes, and breathed the atmosphere -of royal rascality refined by the gracious presence of George, Prince -of Wales. For the replenishment of his depleted exchequer he married -Miss Betty Carmichael, only daughter and sole heiress of the great -Calcutta nabob. She died in child-birth, leaving him a boy whose -education his own diversions left him little time or disposition to -attend to. He won the esteem, such as it was, of the Prince Regent by -running through the heart the Duke of Astrolabe, who had, in his cups, -made certain remarks of a quite unnecessarily truthful character -concerning Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom he persisted in calling Madame -Bellois; and lost it for ever by the injudicious insertion of a slice -of skinned orange inside the royal neckcloth in a moment of undue -elevation, producing thereby so great a shock to the royal system and -dignity as to bring it within an ace of an apoplexy and the end of its -great and glorious career. - -Under the shadow of this exploit Carron found it judicious to retire -for a time to the wilderness, and carried his boy with him. He had had -a racketing time, and a period of rest and recuperation would be good -both for himself and his fortunes. - -He had hoped and believed that his trifling indiscretion would in time -be forgotten and forgiven by his royal comrade. But it never was. The -royal cuticle crinkled at the very mention of the name of Carron, and -Sir Denzil remained in retirement, embittered somewhat at the price he -had had to pay for so trivial a jest, and solacing himself as best he -could. - -Once only he emerged, and then solely on business bent. - -In the panic year, when thousands were rushing to ruin, he gathered -together his accumulated savings, girded his loins, and stepped -quietly and with wide-open eyes into the wild mêlée. He played a -cautious, far-sighted game, and emerged triumphant over the dry-sucked -bodies of the less wary, with overflowing coffers and many gray hairs. -He was prepared to greet the royal beck with showers of gold once -more. But the royal neck, though it now wore the ermine in its own -right, could not forget the clammy kiss of the orange, and Carron went -sulkily back to Carne. - -When the Sailor Prince stepped up from quarter-deck to throne, he -returned to London and took his place in society once more. But ten -years in the desert had placed him out of touch with things; and with -reluctance he had to admit to himself that if the star of Carron was -to blaze once more, it must be in the person of the next on the roll. - -And so, characteristically enough, he set himself to the dispersal of -the flimsy cloudlet of disgrace which attached to his name by seeking -to win for his boy what the royal disfavour had denied to himself. - -Now, indeed, that the royal sufferer was dead, the rising generation, -when they recalled it, rather enjoyed the crinkling of the royal skin. -They would even have welcomed the crinkler among them as a reminder of -the hilarities of former days. But the fashion of things had changed. -He did not feel at home with them as he had done with their fathers, -and he who had shone as a star, though he had indeed disappeared like -a rocket, had no mind to figure at their feasts as a lively old stick. - -Young Denzil's education had been of the most haphazard during the -years his father was starring it in London. On the retirement to -Carne, however, Sir Denzil took the boy in hand himself and inculcated -in him philosophies and views of life, based upon his own experiences, -which, while they might tend to the production of a gentleman, as then -considered, left much to be desired from some other points of view. - -He bought him a cornetcy in the Hussars, supplied him freely with -money, and required only that his acquaintance should be confined to -those circles of which he himself had once been so bright an ornament. - -The young man was a success. He was well-built and well-featured, and -his manners had been his father's care. He had all the family faults, -and succeeded admirably in veiling such virtues as he possessed, with -the exception of one or two which happened to be fashionable. He was -hot-headed, free-handed, jovial, heedless of consequences in pursuit -of his own satisfactions, incapable of petty meanness, but quite -capable of those graver lapses which the fashion of the times -condoned. With a different upbringing, and flung on his own resources, -Denzil Carron might have gone far and on a very much higher plane than -he chose. - -As it was, his career also ended somewhat abruptly. - -At eight-and-twenty he had his captaincy in the 8th Hussars, and was -in the exuberant enjoyment of health, wealth, and everything that -makes for happiness--except only those things through which alone -happiness may ever hope to be attained. He had been in and out of love -a score of times, with results depressing enough in several cases to -the objects of his ardent but short-lived affections. It was the -fashion of the times, and earned him no word of censure. He loved and -hated, gambled and fought, danced and drank, with the rest, and was no -whit better or worse than they. - -At Shole House, down in Hampshire, he met Lady Susan Sandys, sister of -the Earl of Quixande--fell in love with her through pity, maybe, at -the forlornness of her state, which might indeed have moved the heart -of a harder man. For Quixande was a warm man, even in a warm age, and -Shole was ante-room to Hades. Carron pitied her, liked her--she was -not lacking in good looks--persuaded himself, indeed, that he loved -her. For her sake he summarily cut himself free from his other current -feminine entanglements, carried her hotfoot to Gretna--a labour of -love surely, but quite unnecessary, since her brother was delighted to -be rid of her, and Sir Denzil had no fault to find either with the -lady or her portion--and returned to London a married, but very -doubtfully a wiser, man. - -Lady Susan did her best, no doubt. She was full of gratitude and -affection for the gallant warrior who had picked her out of the -shades, and set her life in the sunshine. But Denzil was no Bayard, -and it needed a stronger nature than Lady Susan's to lift him to the -higher level. - -For quite a month--for thirty whole days and nights, counting those -spent on the road to and from Gretna--Lady Susan kept her hold on her -husband. Then his regimental duties could no longer be neglected. They -grew more and more exigent as time passed, and the young wife was left -more and more to the society of her father-in-law. Sir Denzil accepted -the position with the grace of an old courtier, and did his duty by -her, palliated Captain Denzil's defections with cynical kindness, and -softened her lot as best he might. And the gallant captain, exhausted -somewhat with the strain of his thirty days' conservatism, resumed his -liberal progression through the more exhilarating circles of -fashionable folly, and went the pace the faster for his temporary -withdrawal. - -The end came abruptly, and eight months after that quite unnecessary -ride to Gretna Lady Susan was again speeding up the North Road, but -this time with her father-in-law, their destination Carne. Captain -Denzil was hiding for his life, with a man's blood on his hands; and -his father's hopes for the blazing star of Carron were in the dust. - - - - -CHAPTER II -THE STAR IN THE DUST - - -And the cause of it all?--Madame Damaris, of Covent Garden Theatre, -the most bewitching woman and the most exquisite dancer of her time. -Perhaps Captain Denzil's handsome face and gallant bearing carried him -farther into her good graces than the others. Perhaps their jealous -tongues wagged more freely than circumstances actually justified. -Anyway, the rumours which, as usual, came last of all to Lady Susan's -ears caused her very great distress. She was in that state of health -in which depression of spirits may have lasting and ulterior -consequences. There were rumours too of a return of the cholera, and -she was nervous about it; and Sir Denzil was already considering the -advisability of a quiet journey to that quietest of retreats: the -great house of Carne, when that happened which left him no time for -consideration, but sent him speeding thither with the forlorn young -wife as fast as horses could carry them. - -There was in London at this time a certain Count d'Aumont attached to -the French Embassy. He was a man of some note, and was understood to -be related in some roundabout way to that branch of the Orleans family -which force of circumstance had just succeeded in seating on the -precarious throne of France. He cut a considerable figure in society, -and had most remarkable luck at play. He possessed also a quick tongue -and a flexibility of wrist which so far had served to guard his -reputation from open assault. - -He had known Madame Damaris prior to her triumphant descent on London, -and was much piqued when he found himself ousted from her good graces -by men whom he could have run through with his left hand, but who -could squander on her caprices thousands to his hundreds. Head and -front of the offenders, by reason of the lady's partiality, was Denzil -Carron, and the two men hated one another like poison. - -Denzil was playing at Black's one night, when a vacancy was occasioned -in the party by the unexpected call to some official duty of one of -the players. D'Aumont was standing by, and to Denzil's disgust was -invited by one of the others to take the vacant chair. - -He had watched the Frenchman's play more than once, and had found it -extremely interesting. In fact, on one occasion he had been restrained -with difficulty from creating a disturbance which must inevitably have -led to an inquiry and endless unpleasantness. Then, too, but a short -time before, hearing of some remarks D'Aumont had made concerning -Madame Damaris and himself, Denzil, in his hot-headed way, had sworn -that he would break the Frenchman's neck the very first time they met. - -It is possible that these matters were within the recollection of -Captain O'Halloran when he boisterously invited D'Aumont to his -partnership at the whist-table that night. For O'Halloran delighted in -rows, and was ready for a "jule," either as principal or second, at -any hour of the day or night. He was also very friendly with D'Aumont, -and it is possible that the latter desired a collision with Carron as -a pretext for his summary dismissal at the point of the sword. However -it came about, the meeting ended in disaster. - -The play ran smoothly for a time, and the onlookers had begun to -believe the sitting would end without any explosion, when Carron rose -suddenly to his feet, saying: - -"At your old tricks, M. le Comte. You cheated!" - -"Liar!" said the Count. - -Then Carron laid hold of the card-table, swung it up in his powerful -arms, and brought it down with a crash on the Frenchman's head. The -remnants of it were hanging round his neck like a new kind of clown's -ruffle before the guineas had ceased spinning in the corners of the -room. - -"He knows where to find me," said Denzil, and marched out and went -thoughtfully home to his quarters to await the Frenchman's challenge, -which for most men had proved equivalent to a death-warrant. - -Instead, there came to him in the gray of the dawn one of his friends, -in haste, and with a face like the morning's. - -"Ha, Pole! I hardly expected you to carry for a damned Frenchman. -Where do we meet, and when?" said Carron brusquely, for he had been -waiting all night, and he hated waiting. - -"God knows," said young Pole, with a grim humour which none would have -looked to find in him. "He's gone to find out. He's dead!" - -"Dead!--Of a crack on the head!" - -"A splinter ran through his throat, and he bled out before they could -stop it. You had better get away, Carron. There'll be a deuce of a -row, because of his connections, you see." - -"I'll stay and see it through. I'd no intent to kill the man--not that -way, at any rate." - -"You'll see it through from the outside a sight easier than from the -inside," said young Pole. "You get away. We'll see to the rest. It's -easier to keep out of the jug than to get out of it." - -Carron pondered the question. - -"I'll see my father," he said, with an accession of wisdom. - -"That's right," said young Pole. "He'll know. Go at once. I'm off." - -It was a week since Denzil had been to the house in Grosvenor Square, -and when he got there he was surprised to find, early as it was, a -travelling-chariot at the door, with trunks strapped on, all ready for -the road. - -He met his father's man coming down the stairs with an armful of -shawls. - -"Sir Denzil, Kennet. At once, please." - -"Just in time, sir. Another ten minutes and we'd been gone. He's all -dressed, Mr. Denzil. Will you come up, sir?" - -"Ah, Denzil, you got my note," said Sir Denzil at sight of him. "We -settled it somewhat hurriedly. But Lady Susan is nervous over this -cholera business. What's wrong?" he asked quickly, as Kennet quitted -the room. - -Denzil quietly told him the whole matter, and his father took snuff -very gravely. He saw all his hopes ruined at a blow; but he gave no -sign, except the tightening of the bones under the clear white skin of -his face, and a deepening of the furrows in his brow and at the sides -of his mouth. - -"The man's death is a misfortune--as was his birth, I believe," he -said, as he snuffed gravely again. "Had you any quarrel with him -previously?" - -"I had threatened, in a general way, to break his head for wagging his -tongue about me." - -"They may twist that to your hurt," said his father, nodding gravely. -"In any case it means much unpleasantness. I am inclined to think you -would be better out of the way for a time." - -"I will do as you think best, sir. I am quite ready to wait and see it -through." - -"You never can tell how things may go," said his father thoughtfully. -"It all depends on the judge's humour at the time, and that is beyond -any man's calculation. . . . Yes, you will be more comfortable away, -and I will hasten back and see how things go here. . . . And if you -are to go, the sooner the better. . . . You can start with us. We will -drop you at St. Albans, and you will make your way across to Antwerp. -You had better take Kennet," he continued, with the first visible -twinge of regret, as his plans evolved bit by bit. "He is safe, and I -don't trust that man of yours--he has a foxy face. If they follow us -to Carne, you will be at Antwerp by that time. Send us your address, -and I will send you funds there. Here is enough for the time being. -Oblige me by ringing the bell. And, by the way, Denzil, say a kind -word or two to Susan. You have been neglecting her somewhat of late, -and she has felt it. . . . Kennet, tell Lady Susan I am ready, and -inform her ladyship that Mr. Denzil is here, and will accompany us." - -And ten minutes later the travelling-chariot was bowling away along -the Edgware Road; and the hope which had shone in Lady Susan's eyes at -sight of her husband was dying out with every beat of the horses' -hoofs and every word that passed between the two men. For the matter -had to be told, and the time was short. Sir Denzil had intended to -stop for a time at Carne. Now he must get back at the earliest -possible moment. And, though they made light of the matter, and -described Denzil's hurried journey as a simple measure of precaution, -and a means of escaping unnecessary annoyance, Lady Susan's jangled -nerves adopted gloomier views, and naturally went farther even than -the truth. - -Denzil did his best to follow his father's suggestion. His conscience -smote him at sight of his wife's pinched face and the shadows under -her eyes--shadows which told of days of sorrow and nights of lonely -weeping, shadows for which he knew he was as responsible as if his -fists had placed them there. - -"I am sorry, dear, to bring this trouble on you," he said, pressing -her hand. - -"Let me go with you, Denzil," she cried, with a catch of hope in her -voice. "Let me go with you, and the trouble will be as nothing." - -How she would have welcomed any trouble that drove him to her arms -again! But she knew, even as she said it, that it was not possible. -That lay before her, looming large in the vagueness of its mystery, -which sickened her, body and soul, with apprehension. But it was a -path which she must travel alone, and already, almost before they were -fairly started, she was longing for the end of the journey and for -rest. The jolting of the carriage was dreadful to her. The trees and -hedges tumbled over one another in a hazy rout which set her brain -whirling and made her eyes close wearily. She longed for the end of -the journey and for rest--peace and quiet and rest, and the end of -the journey. - -"We will hope the trouble will soon blow over," said Sir Denzil. "But -we lose nothing by taking precautions. I shall return to town at once -and keep an eye on matters, and as soon as things smooth down Denzil -will join you at Carne." At which Denzil's jaw tightened lugubriously. -He had his own reasons for not desiring to visit Carne. - -"Old Mrs. Lee," continued Sir Denzil--for the sake of making talk, -since it seemed to him that silence would surely lead to hysterics on -the part of Lady Susan--"will make you very comfortable. She is a -motherly old soul, though you may find her a trifle uncouth at first; -and Carne is very restful at this time of year. That woman of yours -always struck me as a fool, my dear. I think it is just as well she -decided not to come, but she might have had the grace to give you a -little longer warning. That class of person is compounded of -selfishness and duplicity. They are worse, I think, than the men, and -God knows the men are bad enough. Your man is another of the same -pattern, Denzil. They ought to marry. The result might be interesting, -but I should prefer not having any of it in my service." - -At St. Albans they parted company. Denzil pressed his wife's hand for -the last time in this world, hired a post-chaise, and started across -country in company with the discomfited Kennet, who regarded the -matter with extreme disfavour both on his own account and his -master's, and Sir Denzil and Lady Susan went bumping along on the way -to Carne. - - - - -CHAPTER III -THE FIRST OF THE COIL - - -A woman trudged heavily along the firm damp sand just below the -bristling tangle of high-water mark, in the direction of Carne. She -wore a long cloak, and bent her head and humped her shoulders over a -small bundle which she hugged tight to her breast. - -She had hoped to reach the big house before it was dark. But a -north-east gale was blowing, and it caught up the loose tops of the -sand-hills and carried them in streaming clouds along the flats and -made walking difficult. The drift rose no higher than her waist; but -if she stood for a moment to rest, the flying particles immediately -set to work to transform her into a pillar of sand. If she had -stumbled and been unable to rise, the sweeping sand would have covered -her out of sight in five minutes. - -The flats stretched out before her like an empty desert that had no -end. The black sky above seemed very close by reason of the wrack of -clouds boiling down into the west. Where the sun had set there was -still a wan gleam of yellow light. It seemed to the woman, when she -glanced round now and again through her narrowed lids to make sure of -her whereabouts, as if the sky was slowly closing down on her like the -lid of a great black box. On her right hand the sand-hills loomed -white and ghostly, and were filled with the whistle of the gale in the -wire-grass and the hiss of the flying sand. - -Far away on her left, the sea chafed and growled behind its banks. - -Her progress was very slow, but she bent doggedly to the gale, stopped -now and again and leaned bodily against it, then drew her feet out of -the clogs the sand had piled round them and pushed slowly on again. At -last she became aware, by instinct or by the instant's break in the -roar of the wind on her right, that she had reached her journey's end. -She turned up over the crackling tangle, crossed the ankle-deep dry -sand of the upper beach, and stopped for breath under the lee of the -great house of Carne. - -It was all as dark as the grave, but she knew her way, and after a -moment's rest she passed round the house to the back. Here in a room -on the ground floor a light shone through a window. The window had -neither curtain nor shutter, but was protected by stout iron bars. The -sill was piled high with drifted sand. - -The sight of the light dissipated a fear which had been in the woman's -heart, but which she had crushed resolutely out of sight. At the same -time it set her heart beating tumultuously, partly in the rebound from -its fear and partly in anticipation of the ungracious welcome she -looked for. She stood for a moment in the storm outside and looked at -the tranquil gleam. Then she slipped under a stone porch, which opened -towards the south-west, and knocked on the door. The door opened -cautiously on the chain at last, six inches or so, and a section of an -old woman's head appeared in the slit and asked gruffly: - -"Who's it?" - -"It's me, mother--Nance!" - -The door slammed suddenly to, as though to deny her admittance. But -she heard the trembling fingers inside fumbling with the chain. They -got it unsnecked at last, and the door swung open again. The woman -with the burden stepped inside and shut out the drifting sand. - -The room was a stone-flagged kitchen; but the light of the candle, -and the cheery glow of a coal fire, and the homeliness of the -white-scrubbed table and dresser, and the great oak linen-press, -mellowed its asperities. After the cold north-easter, and the sweeping -sand and the darkness, it was like heaven to the traveller, and she -sank down on a rush-bottomed chair with a sigh of relief. - -"So tha's come whoam at last," was the welcome that greeted her, in a -voice that was over-harsh lest it should tremble and break. The old -woman's eyes shone like black beads under her white mutch. She sniffed -angrily, and dashed her hand across her face as though to assist her -sight. She spoke the patois of the district. Beyond the understanding -of any but natives even now, it was still more difficult then. It -would be a sorry task to attempt to reproduce it. - -"Aye, I've come home." - -"And brought thy shame with thee!" - -"Shame?" said the other quickly. "What shame? He married me, and this -is his boy." And as she straightened up, the cloak fell apart and -disclosed the child. She spoke boldly, but her eyes and her face were -not so brave as her speech. - -"Married ye?" said the old woman, with a grim laugh that was half sob -and half anger. "I know better. The likes o' him doesna marry the -likes o' you." - -Holding the sleeping child in her one arm, the girl fumbled in her -bodice and plucked out a paper. - -"There's my lines," she said angrily. - -The old woman made no attempt to read it, but shook her head again, -and said bitterly: - -"The likes o' him doesna marry the likes o' you, my lass." - -"He married me as soon as we got to London." - -But the old woman only shook her head, and asked, in the tone of one -using an irrefutable argument: - -"Where is he?" - -At that the girl shook her head also; but she was saved further reply -by the baby yawning and stretching and opening his eyes, which -fastened vacantly on the old woman's as she bent over to look at him -in spite of herself. - -"You might ha' killed him and yoreself coming on so soon," she said -gruffly. - -"I wanted to get here before he came," said the girl, with a choke, -"but I couldna manage it. I were took at Runcorn, seven days ago." - -"An' yo' walked from there! It's a wonner yo're alive. Well, well, -it's a bad job, but I suppose we mun mak' best o' it. Yo're clemmed!" - -"Ay, I am, and so is he. I've not had much to give him, and he makes a -rare noise when he doesn't get what he wants." - -The baby screwed up his face and proved his powers. His mother rocked -him to and fro, and the old woman set herself to getting them food. -She set on the fire a pannikin of goats' milk diluted with water to -her own ideas, and placed bread and cheese and butter on the table. -The girl reached for the food and began to eat ravenously. The old -woman dipped her finger into the pannikin and put it into the child's -mouth. It sucked vigorously and stopped crying. She drew it out of the -girl's arms and began to feed it slowly with a spoon. - -"If he married yo', why did he leave yo' like this?" she asked -presently, as she dropped tiny drops of food into the baby's mouth and -watched it swallow and strain up after the spoon for more. - -"He was ordered away with his regiment. He left me money and said he'd -send more. But he never did. I made it last as long's I could, but it -runs away in London. I couldna bear the idea of--of it up there, an' I -got wild at him not coming. I tried to find him, and then I set off to -walk here. I got a lift on a wagon now and again. But when I got to -Runcorn I could go no further. There a a woman there was good to me. -Maybe I'd ha' died but for her. Maybe it'd ha' been best if I had. -But,"--she said doggedly--"he married me all the same." - -The old woman shook her head hopelessly, but said nothing. The baby -was falling asleep on her knee. Presently she carried him carefully -into the next room and left him on the bed there. - -"I nursed him on my knee," she said when she came back, "before you -came. If I'd known he'd take you from me I'd ha' choked him where he -lay." - -The girl felt and looked the better for her meal. She nodded her head -slowly, and said again, "All the same he married me." Her persistent -harping on that one string--which to her mother was a broken -string--angered the old woman. - -"Tchah!" she said, like the snapping of a dog, and was about to say a -great deal more when a peremptory knocking on the door choked the -words in her throat. Her startled eyes turned accusingly on the girl; -what faint touch of colour her face had held fled from it, and her -lips parted twice in questioning which found no voice. Her whole -attitude implied the fear that there was something more behind the -girl's story than had been told and that now it was upon them. - -The knocking continued, louder and still more peremptory. - -The girl strode to the door, loosed the chain and drew back the bolts, -and flung it open. A tall man, muffled in a travelling-cloak, strode -in with an imprecation, and dusted the sand out of his eyes with a -silk handkerchief. - -"Nice doings when a man cannot get into his own house," he began. -Then, as his blinking eyes fell on the girl's face, he stopped short -and said, "The deuce!" and pinched his chin between his thumb and -forefinger. He stood regarding her in momentary perplexity, and then -went on dusting himself, with his eyes still on her. - -He was a man past middle age, but straight and vigorous still. His -clean-shaven face, in spite of the stubble of three days' rapid -travel on it, and the deep lines of hard living, was undeniably -handsome--keen dark eyes, straight nose, level brows, firm hard mouth. -An upright furrow in the forehead, and a sloping groove at each corner -of the mouth, gave a look of rigid intensity to the face and the -impression that its owner was engaged in a business distasteful to -him. - -"Ah, Mrs. Lee," he said, as his eyes passed from the girl at last and -rested on the old woman. - -"Yes, Sir Denzil." And Mrs. Lee attempted a curtsey. - -"A word in your ear, mistress." And he spoke rapidly to her in low -tones, his eyes roving over to the girl now and again, and the old -woman's face stiffening as he spoke. - -"And now bustle, both of you," he concluded. "Fires first, then -something to eat, the other things afterwards. I will bring her -ladyship in." - -He went to the door, and the old woman turned to her daughter and said -grimly: - -"There's a lady with him. Yo' mun help wi' the fires." - -She closed the door leading to the bedroom where the baby lay sleeping -soundly, and then set doggedly about her duties. The two women had -left the room carrying armfuls of firing when Sir Denzil came back -leading Lady Susan by the hand, muffled like himself in a big -travelling-cloak. He drew a chair to the fire, and she sank into it. -He left her there and went out again, and as the door opened the -rattle of harness on chilling horses came through. - -Lady Susan bent shivering over the fire and spread her hands towards -it, groping for its cheer like a blind woman. Her face was white and -drawn. Her eyes were sunk in dark wells of hopelessness, her lips were -pinched in tight repression. Any beauty that might have been hers had -left her; only her misery and weariness remained. Her whole attitude -expressed extremest suffering both of mind and body. - -A piping cry came from the next room, and she straightened up suddenly -and looked about her like a startled deer. Then she rose quickly and -picked up the candle and answered the call. - -The child had cried out in his sleep, and as she stood over him, with -the candle uplifted, a strange softening came over her face. Her left -hand stole up to her side and pressed it as though to still a pain. A -spasmodic smile crumpled the little face as she watched. Then it -smoothed out and the child settled to sleep again. Lady Susan went -slowly back to her seat before the fire, and almost immediately Sir -Denzil came in again, dusting himself from the sand more vigorously -than ever. - -"How do you feel now, my dear?" he asked. - -"Sick to death," she said quietly. - -"You will feel better after a night's rest. The journey has been a -trying one. Old Mrs. Lee will make you comfortable here, and I will -return the moment I am sure of Denzil's safety. You agree with the -necessity for my going?" - -"Quite." - -"Every moment may be of importance. But the moment he is safe I will -hurry back to see to your welfare here. I shall lie at Warrington -to-night, and I will tell the doctor at Wynsloe to come over first -thing in the morning to see how you are going on. Ah, Mrs. Lee, you -are ready for us?" - -"Ay. The oak parlour is ready, sir. I'll get you what I con to eat, -but you'll have to put up wi' short farin' to-night, sin' you didna let -me know you were coming. To-morrow----" - -"What you can to-night as quickly as possible. Lady Susan is tired -out, and I return as soon as I have eaten. See that the post-boy gets -something too." - -"Yo're non stopping?" asked the old woman in surprise. - -"No, no, I told you so," he said, with the irritation of a tired man. -"Come, my dear!" and he offered his arm to Lady Susan, and led her -slowly away down the stone passage to a small room in the west front, -where the rush of the storm was barely heard. - -An hour later Sir Denzil was whirling back before the gale on his way -to London, as fast as two tired horses and a none too amiable post-boy -could carry him. His usual serene self-complacency was disturbed by -many anxieties, and he carried not a little bitterness, on his own -account, at the untowardness of the circumstances which had dragged -him from the ordered courses of his life and sent him posting down -into the wilderness, without even the assistance of his man, upon whom -he depended for the minutest details of his bodily comfort. - -"A most damnable misfortune!" he allowed himself, now that he was -alone, and he added some further unprofitable moments to an already -tolerably heavy account in cursing every separate person connected -with the matter, including a dead man and the man who killed him, and -an unborn babe and the mother who lay shivering at thought of its -coming. - - - - -CHAPTER IV -THE COIL COMPLETE - - -In the great house of Carne there was a stillness in strange contrast -with the roaring of the gale outside. But the stillness was big with -life's vitalities--love and hate and fear; and, compared with them, -the powers without were nothing more than whistling winds that played -with shifting sands, and senseless waves that sported with men's -lives. - -It was not till the new-comer was lying in her warm bed in the room -above the oak parlour, shivering spasmodically at times in spite of -blankets and warming-pans and a roaring fire, that she spoke to the -old woman who had assisted her in grim silence. - -The silence and the grimness had not troubled her. They suited her -state of mind and body better than speech would have done. Life had -lost its savour for her. Of what might lie beyond she knew little and -feared much at times, and at times cared naught, craving only rest -from all the ills of life and the poignant pains that racked her. - -It was only when Mrs. Lee had carefully straightened out her discarded -robes, and looked round to see what else was to be done, and came to -the bedside to ask tersely if there was anything more my lady wanted, -that my lady spoke. - -"You'll come back and sit with me?" she asked. - -"Ay--I'll come." - -"Whose baby is that downstairs?" - -"It's my girl's," said the old woman, startled somewhat at my lady's -knowledge. - -"Did she live through it?" - -"Ay, she lived." And there was that in her tone which implied that it -might have been better if she had not. But my lady's perceptions were -blunted by her own sufferings. - -"Is she here?" - -"Ay, she's here." - -"Would she come to me too?" - -But the old woman shook her head. - -"She's not over strong yet," she said grimly. "I'll come back and sit -wi' yo'." - -"How old is it?" - -"Seven days." - -"Seven days! Seven days!" She was wondering vaguely where she would be -in seven days. - -"It looked very happy," she said presently. "Its father was surely a -good man." - -"They're none too many," said the old woman, as she turned to go. -"I'll get my supper and come back t' yo'." - -"Who is she?" asked her daughter, with the vehemence of an aching -question, as she entered the kitchen. - -Mrs. Lee closed the passage door and looked at her steadily and said, -"She's Denzil Carron's wife." And the younger woman sprang to her feet -with blazing face and the clatter of a falling chair. - -"Denzil's wife! I am Denzil Carron's wife." - -"So's she. And I reckon she's the one they'll call his wife," said her -mother dourly. - -"I'll go to her. I'll tell her----" And she sprang to the door. - -"Nay, you wun't," said her mother, leaning back against it. "T' -blame's not hers, an' hoo's low enough already." - -"And where is he? Where is Denzil?" - -"He's in trouble of some kind, but what it is I dunnot know. Sir -Denzil's gone back to get him out of it, and he brought her here to be -out of it too." - -"And he'll come here?" - -"Mebbe. Sir Denzil didna say. He said he'd hold me responsible for -her. She's near her time, poor thing! An' I doubt if she comes through -it." - -"Near----!" And the girl blazed out again. - -"Ay. I shouldna be surprised if it killed her. There's the look o' it -in her face." - -"Kill her? Why should it kill her? It didn't kill me," said the girl -fiercely. - -"Mebbe it would but for yon woman you told me of. Think of your own -time, girl, and bate your anger. Fault's not hers if Denzil served you -badly." - -"He connot have two wives." - -"Worse for him if he has. One's enough for most men. But--well-a-day, -it's no good talking! I'll take a bite, and back to her. She begged me -come. Yo' can sleep i' my bed. There's more milk on th' hob there if -th' child's hungry." And carrying her bread-and-cheese she went off -down the passage, and the young mother sat bending over the fire with -her elbows on her knees. - -She had no thought of sleep. Her limbs were still weary from her long -tramp, but the food and rest had given her strength, and the coming of -this other woman, who called herself Denzil Carron's wife, had fired -her with a sense of revolt. - -The blood was boiling through her veins at thought of it all--at -thought of Denzil, at thought of the boy in the next room, and this -other woman upstairs. Her heart felt like molten lead kicking in a -cauldron. - -She got up and began to pace the floor with the savage grace born of a -life of unrestricted freedom. Once she stopped and flung up her hands -as though demanding--what?--a blessing--a curse--the righting of a -wrong? The quivering hands looked capable at the moment of righting -their own wrongs, or of wreaking vengeance on the wrongdoer if they -closed upon him. - -Then, as the movement of her body quieted in some measure the turmoil -of her brain, her pace grew slower, and she began to think -connectedly. And at last she dropped into the chair again, leaned her -elbows on her kneel and sat gazing into the fire. When it burned low -she piled on wood mechanically, and sat there thinking, thinking. -Outside, the storm raged furiously, and the flying sand hit the window -like hailstones. And inside, the woman sat gazing into the fire and -thinking. - -She sat long into the night, thinking, thinking--unconscious of the -passage of time;--thinking, thinking. Twice her child woke crying to -be fed, and each time she fed him from the pannikin as mechanically -almost as she had fed the fire with wood. For her thoughts were -strange long thoughts, and she could not see the end of them. - -They were all sent flying by the sudden entrance of her mother in a -state of extreme agitation, her face all crumpled, her hands shaking. - -"She's took," she said, with a break in her voice. "Yo' mun go for th' -doctor quick. I connot leave her. Nay!"--as the other sat bolt upright -and stared back at her--"yo' _mun_ go. We connot have her die on our -hands. Think o' yore own time, lass, and go quick for sake o' Heaven." - -"I'll go." And she snatched up her cloak. "See to the child." And she -was out in the night, drifting before the gale like an autumn leaf. - -The old woman went in to look at the child, filled the kettle and put -it on the fire, and hurried back to the chamber of sorrows. - - -The gale broke at sunrise, and the flats lay shimmering like sheets of -burnished gold, when Dr. Yool turned at last from the bedside and -looked out of the window upon the freshness of the morning. - -He was in a bitter humour. When Nance Lee thumped on his door at -midnight he was engaged in the congenial occupation of mixing a final -and unusually stiff glass of rum and water. It was in the nature of a -soporific--a nightcap. It was to be the very last glass for that -night, and he had compounded it with the tenderest care and the most -businesslike intention. - -"If that won't give me a night's rest," he said to himself, "nothing -will." - -But there was no rest for him that night. He had been on the go since -daybreak, and was fairly fagged out. He greeted Nance's imperative -knock with bad language. But when he heard her errand he swallowed his -nightcap without a wink, though it nearly made his hair curl, ran -round with her to the stable, harnessed his second cob to the little -black gig with the yellow wheels, threw Nance into it, and in less -than five minutes was wrestling with the north-easter once more, and -spitting out the sand as he had been doing off and on all day long. - -"There's one advantage in being an old bachelor, Miss Nancy," he had -growled, as he flung the harness on the disgusted little mare; "your -worries are your own. Take my advice and never you get married----" -And then he felt like biting his tongue off when he remembered the -rumours he had heard concerning the girl. She was too busy with her -own long thoughts to be troubled by his words, however, and once they -were on the road speech was impossible by reason of the gale. - -When they arrived at Carne she scrambled down and led the mare into -the great empty coach-house, where the post-horses had previously -found shelter that night. She flung the knee-rug over the shaking -beast, still snorting with disgust and eyeing her askance as the cause -of all the trouble. Then she followed the doctor into the house. He -was already upstairs, however, and, after a look at her sleeping boy, -she sat down in her chair before the fire again to await the event, -and fell again to her long, long thoughts. - -And once more her thoughts were sent flying by the entrance of her -mother. She carried a tiny bundle carefully wrapped in flannel and a -shawl, and on her sour old face there was an expression of relief and -exultation--the exultation of one who has won in a close fight with -death. - -"He were but just in time," she said, as she sat down before the fire. -"I'm all of a shake yet. But th' child's safe anyway." And she began -to unfold the bundle tenderly. "Git me t' basin and some warm water. -Now, my mannie, we'll soon have you comfortable. . . . So . . . Poor -little chap! . . . I doubt if she'll pull through. . . . T' doctor's -cursing high and low below his breath at state she's in . . . -travelling in that condition . . . 'nough to have killed a stronger -one than ever she was. . . . I knew as soon as ivver I set eyes on her -. . . A fine little lad!"--as she turned the new-comer carefully over -on her knee--"and nothing a-wanting 's far as I can see, though he's -come a month before he should." - -She rambled on in the rebound from her fears, but the girl uttered no -word in reply. She stood watching abstractedly, and handing whatever -the old woman called for. Her thoughts were in that other room, where -the grim fight was still waging. Her heart was sick to know how it was -going. Her thoughts were very shadowy still, but the sight of the boy -on the old woman's knee showed her her possible way, like a signpost -on a dark night. She would see things clearer when she knew how things -had gone upstairs. - -She must know. She could not wait. She turned towards the passage. - -"I will go and see," she said. - -"Ay, go," said the old woman. "But go soft." - -The doctor was sitting at the bedside. He raised his hand when she -entered the room, but did not turn. She stood and watched, and -suddenly all her weariness came on her and she felt like falling. She -leaned against the wall and waited. - -Once and again the doctor spoke to the woman on the bed. But there was -no answer. He sat with furrowed face watching her, and the girl leaned -against the wall and watched them both. - -And at last the one on the bed answered--not the doctor, but a greater -healer still. One long sigh, just as the sun began to touch the -rippled flats with gold, and it was over. The stormy night was over -and peace had come with the morning. - -The doctor gat up with something very like a scowl on his face and -went to the window. Even in the Presence he had to close his mouth -firmly lest the lava should break out. - -He hated to be beaten in the fight--the endless fight to which his -whole life was given, year in, year out. But this had been no fair -fight. The battle was lost before he came on the field, and his -resentment was hot against whoever was to blame. - -He opened the casement and leaned out to cool his head. The sweet -morning air was like a kiss. He drank in a big breath or two, and, -after another pained look at the white face on the pillow, he turned -and left the room. The girl had already gone, and as she went down the -passage there was a gleam in her eyes. - -Her mother saw it as soon as she entered the kitchen. "Well?" asked -the old woman. - -"She's gone." - -"And yo're glad of it. Shame on yo', girl! And yo' but just safe -through it yoreself!" - -The girl made no reply, and a moment later the doctor came in. - -"Now, Mrs. Lee, explain things to me. Whose infernal folly brought -that poor thing rattling over the country in that condition? And get -me a cup of coffee, will you? Child all right?" - -"He's all right, doctor. He's sleeping quiet there"--pointing to a -heap of shawls on the hearth. "It were Sir Denzil himself brought her -last night." - -"And why didn't he stop to see the result of his damned stupidity? -It's sheer murder, nothing less. Make it as strong as you -can,"--referring to the coffee--"my head's buzzing. I haven't had a -minute's rest for twenty-four hours. Where is Sir Denzil? He left word -at my house to come over here first thing this morning. I expected to -find him here." - -"He went back wi the carriage that brought 'em. There's trouble afoot -about Mr. Denzil as I understond. He said it were life and death, and -he were off again inside an hour." - -"Ah!" said the doctor, nodding his head knowingly. "That's it, is it? -And you don't know what the trouble was?" - -"'Life and death,' he said. That's all I know." - -"Well, if he bungles the other business as he has done this it'll not -need much telling which it'll be." And he blew on his coffee to cool -it. - -"I must send him word at once," he said presently, "and I'll tell him -what I think about it. I've got his town address. You can see to the -child all right, I suppose? Another piece of that bread, if you -please. Any more coffee there? This kind of thing makes me feel -empty." - -"I'll see to t' child aw reet." - -"Send me word if you need me, not otherwise. There's typhus down -Wyvveloe way, and I'm run off my legs. A dog's life, dame--little -thanks and less pay!" And he buttoned up his coat fiercely and strode -out to his gig. "I'll send John Braddle out," he called back over his -shoulder. "But I doubt if we can wait to hear from Sir Denzil. -However----" And he drove away, through the slanting morning sunshine. - -The white sand-hills smiled happily, the wide flats blazed like a -rippled mirror, the sky was brightest blue, and very far away the sea -slept quietly behind its banks of yellow sand. - - - - -CHAPTER V -IN THE COIL - - -The days passed and brought no word from Sir Denzil in reply to Dr. -Yool's post letter. And, having waited as long as they could, they -buried Lady Susan in the little green churchyard at Wyvveloe, where -half a dozen Carrons, who happened to have died at Carne, already -rested. Dr. Yool and Braddle had had to arrange everything between -them, and, as might have been expected under the circumstances, the -funeral was as simple as funeral well could be, and as regards -attendance--well, the doctor was the only mourner, and he still boiled -over when he thought of the useless way in which this poor life had -been sacrificed. - -Braddle was there with his men, of course, but the doctor only just -managed it between two visits, and his manner showed that he grudged -the time given to the dead which was all too short for the -requirements of the living. Yet it went against the grain to think of -that poor lady going to her last resting-place unattended, and he made -a point of being there. But his gig stood waiting outside the -churchyard gate, and he was whirling down the lane while the first -spadefuls were drumming on the coffin. - -He thought momentarily of the child as he drove along. But, since no -call for his services had come from Mrs. Lee, he supposed it was going -on all right, and he had enough sick people on his hands to leave him -little time for any who could get along without him. - -The days ran into weeks, and still no word from Sir Denzil. It looked -as though the little stranger at Carne might remain a stranger for the -rest of his days. And yet it was past thinking that those specially -interested should make no inquiry concerning the welfare of so -important a member of the family. - -"Summat's happened," was old Mrs. Lee's terse summing-up, with a -gloomy shake of the head whenever she and Nance discussed the matter, -which was many times a day. - -Other matters too they discussed, and to more purpose, since the -forwarding of them was entirely in their own hands. And when they -spoke of these other matters, sitting over the fire in the long -evenings, each with a child on her knee, hushing it or feeding it, -their talk was broken, interjectional even at times, and so low that -the very walls could have made little of it. - -It was fierce-eyed Nance who started that strain of talk, and at first -her mother received it open-mouthed. But by degrees, and as time -played for them, she came round to it, and ended by being the more -determined of the two. So they were of one mind on the matter, and the -matter was of moment, and all that happened afterwards grew out of it. - -Both the children throve exceedingly. No care was lacking them, and no -distinction was made between them. What one had the other had, and -Nance, with recovered strength, played foster-mother to them both. - -Just two months after Lady Susan's death the two women were sitting -talking over the fire one night, the children being asleep side by -side in the cot in the adjacent bedroom, when the sound of hoofs and -wheels outside brought them to their feet together. - -"It's him," said Mrs. Lee; and they looked for a moment into one -another's faces as though each sought sign of flinching in the other. -Then both their faces tightened, and they seemed to brace themselves -for the event. - -An impatient knock on the kitchen door, the old woman hastened to -answer it, and Sir Denzil limped in. He was thinner and whiter than -the last time he came. He leaned heavily on a stick and looked frail -and worn. - -"Well, Mrs. Lee," he said, as he came over to the fire and bent over -it and chafed his hands, "you'd given up all fears of ever seeing me -again, I suppose?" - -"Ay, a'most we had," said the old woman, as she lifted the kettle off -the bob and set it in the blaze. - -"Well, it wasn't far off it. I had a bad smash returning to London -that last time. That fool of a post-boy drove into a tree that had -fallen across the road, and killed himself and did his best to kill -me. Now light the biggest fire you can make in the oak room, and -another in my bedroom, and get me something to eat. Kennet"--as his -man came in dragging a travelling-trunk--"get out a bottle of brandy, -and, as soon as you've got the things in, brew me the stiffest glass -of grog you ever made. My bones are frozen." - -He dragged up a chair and sat down before the fire, thumping the coals -with his stick to quicken the blaze. The rest sped to his bidding. - -Kennet, when he had got in the trunks, brewed the grog in a big jug, -with the air of one who knew what he was about. - -"Shall I give the boy some, sir?" he asked, when Sir Denzil had -swallowed a glass and was wiping his eyes from the effects of it. - -"Yes, yes. Give him a glass, but tone it down, or he'll be breaking -his neck like the last one." - -So Kennet watered a glass to what he considered reasonable -encouragement for a frozen post-boy, and presently the jingling of -harness died away in the distance, and Kennet came in and fastened the -door. - -Sir Denzil had filled and emptied his glass twice more before Mrs. Lee -came to tell him the room was ready. Then he went slowly off down the -passage, steadying himself with his stick, for a superfluity of hot -grog on an empty stomach on a cold night is not unapt to mount to the -head of even a seasoned toper. - -Kennet, when he came back to the room, after seeing his master -comfortably installed before the fire, brewed a fresh supply of grog, -placed on one side what he considered would satisfy his own -requirements, and carried the rest to the oak room. - -It was when the girl Nance carried in the hastily prepared meal that -Sir Denzil, after peering heavily at her from under his bushy brows, -asked suddenly, "And the child? It's alive?" - -"Alive and well, sir." - -"Bring it to me in the morning." - -The girl looked at him once or twice as if she wanted to ask him a -question. - -He caught her at it, and asked abruptly, "What the devil are you -staring at, and what the deuce keeps you hanging round here?" Upon -which she quitted the room. - -There was much talk, intense and murmurous, between the two women that -night, when they had made up a bed for Kennet and induced him at last -to go to it. From Kennet and the grog, after Sir Denzil had retired -for the night, Nance learned all Kennet could tell her about Mr. -Denzil. - -According to that veracious historian it was only through Mr. Kennet's -supreme discretion and steadfastness of purpose that the young man got -safely across to Brussels, and, when he tired of Brussels, which he -very soon did, to Paris. - -"Ah!" said Mr. Kennet. "Now, that _is_ a place. Gay?--I believe you! -Lively?--I believe you! Heels in the air kind of place?--I believe -you! And Mr. Denzil he took to it like a duck to the water. London -ain't in it with Paris, I tell you." And so on and so on, until, -through close attention to the grog, his words began to tumble over -one another. Then he bade them good night, with solemn and insistent -emphasis, as though it was doubtful if they would ever meet again, and -cautiously followed Nance and his candle to his room. - -The flats were gleaming like silver under a frosty sun next morning, -and there was a crackling sharpness in the air, when Sir Denzil, -having breakfasted, stood at the window of the oak room awaiting his -grandson. - -"Tell Mrs. Lee to bring in the child," he had said to Kennet, and now -a tap on the door told him that the child was there. - -"Come in," he said sharply, and turned and stood amazed at sight of -the two women each with a child on her arm. "The deuce!" he said, and -fumbled for his snuff-box. - -He found it at last, a very elegant little gold box, bearing a -miniature set with diamonds--a present from his friend George, in the -days before the slice of orange, and most probably never paid for. He -slowly extracted a pinch without removing his eyes from the women and -children. He snuffed, still staring at them, and then said quietly, -"What the deuce is the meaning of this?" - -"Yo' asked to see t' child, sir," said Mrs. Lee. - -"Well?" - -"Here 'tis, sir." - -"Which?" - -"Both!" - -"Ah!"--with a pregnant nod. Then, with a wave of the hand. "Take them -away." And the women withdrew. - -Sir Denzil remained standing exactly as he was for many minutes. Then -he began to pace the room slowly with his stick, to and fro, to and -fro, with his eyes on the polished floor, and his thoughts hard at -work. - -He saw the game, and recognized at a glance that no cards had been -dealt him. The two women held the whole pack, and he was out of it. - -He thought keenly and savagely, but saw no way out. The more he -thought, the tighter seemed the cleft of the stick in which the women -held him. - -The law? The law was powerless in the matter. Not all the law in the -land could make a woman speak when all her interests bade her keep -silence, any more than it could make her keep silence if she wanted to -speak. - -Besides, even if these women swore till they were blue in the face as -to the identity of either child, he would never believe one word of -their swearing. Their own interests would guide them, and no other -earthly consideration. - -He could turn them out. To what purpose? One of those two children was -Denzil Carron of Carne. Which? - -The other--ah yes! The other was equally of his blood. He did not -doubt that for one moment. He had known of Denzil's entanglement with -Nance Lee, and it had not troubled him for a moment. But who, in the -name of Heaven, could have foreseen so perplexing a result? - -When he glanced out of the window, the crystalline morning, the white -sunshine, the clear blue sky, the hard yellow flats, the distant blue -sea with its crisp white fringe, all seemed to mock him with the -brightness of their beauty. - -How to solve the puzzle? Already, in his own mind, he doubted if it -ever would be solved. And he cursed the brightness of the morning, and -the women--which was more to the point, but equally futile,--and -Denzil, and poor Lady Susan, who lay past curses in Wyvveloe -churchyard. And his face, while that fit was on him, was not pleasant -to look upon. - -Presently, with a twitching of the corners of the mouth, like a dog -about to bare his fangs, he rang the bell very gently, and Kennet came -in. - -"Kennet," he said, as quietly as if he were ordering his boots, "put -on your hat and go for Dr. Yool. Bring him with you without fail. If -he is out, go after him. If he says he'll see me further first, say I -apologise, and I want him here at once. Tell him I've burst a -blood-vessel." - -He had had words with the doctor the night before. He had stopped his -post-chaise at his house and gone in for a minute to explain his long -absence, and the doctor, who feared no man, had rated him soundly for -the thoughtlessness which had caused Lady Susan's death. - -He did not for a moment believe that the doctor or any one else could -help him in this blind alley. But discuss the matter with some one he -must, or burst, and he did not care to discuss it with Kennet. Kennet -knew very much better than to disagree with his master on any subject -whatever, and discussion with him never advanced matters one iota. -Discussion of the matter with Dr. Yool would probably have the same -result, but it could do no harm, and it offered possibilities of a -disputation for which he felt a distinct craving. - -Whether doctors could reasonably be expected to identify infants at -whose births they had officiated, after a lapse of two months, he did -not know. But he was quite prepared to uphold that view of the case -with all the venom that was in him, and he awaited the doctor's -arrival with impatience. - -Dr. Yool drove up at last with Kennet beside him, and presently stood -in the room with Sir Denzil. - -"Hello!" cried the doctor, with disappointment in his face. "Where's -that blood-vessel?" - -"Listen to me, Yool. You were present at the birth of Lady Susan's -children----" - -"Eh? What? Lady Susan's child? Yes!" - -"Children!" - -"What the deuce! Children? A boy, sir--one!" - -"You'd know him again, I suppose?" - -"Well, in a general kind of way possibly. What's amiss with him?" - -"According to these women here, there are two of him now." - -"Good Lord, Sir Denzil! What do you mean? Two? How can there be two?" - -"Ah, now you have me. I thought that you, as a doctor--as the doctor, -in fact--could probably explain the matter." The doctor's red face -reddened still more. - -"Send for the women here--and the children," he said angrily. - -Sir Denzil rang the bell, gave his instructions to the impassive -Kennet, who had not yet fathomed the full intention of the matter, and -in a few minutes Mrs. Lee and Nance, each with a child on her arm, -stood before them. - -"Now then, what's the meaning of all this?" asked Dr. Yool. "Which of -these babies is Lady Susan's child?" - -"We don't know, sir," said Mrs. Lee, with a curtsey. - -"Don't know! Don't know! What the deuce do you mean by that, Mrs. Lee? -Whose is the other child?" - -"My daughter's, sir. It were born a day or two before the other, and -we got 'em mixed and don't know which is which." - -"Nonsense! Bring them both to me." - -He flung down some cushions in front of the fire, rapidly undressed -the children, and laid them wriggling and squirming in the blaze among -their wraps. He bent and examined them with minutest care. He turned -them over and over, noticed all their points with a keenly critical -eye, but could make nothing of it. They were as like as two peas. -Dark-haired, dark-eyed, plump, clear-skinned, healthy youngsters both. -The seven days between them, which in the very beginning might have -been apparent, was now, after the lapse of two months, absolutely -undiscoverable. - -Sir Denzil came across and looked down on the jerking little arms and -legs and twisting faces, and snuffed again as though he thought they -might be infectious. For all the expression that showed in his face, -they might have been a litter of pups. - -"Well, I am ----!" said Dr. Yool, at last, straightening up from the -inspection with his hands on his hips. "Now"--fixing the two women -with a blazing eye--"what's the meaning of it all? Who is the father -of this other child?" - -"Denzil Carron," said Nance boldly, speaking for the first time. "He -married me before he married her, and here are my lines," and she -plucked them out of her bosom. - -Dr. Yool's eyebrows went up half an inch. Sir Denzil took snuff very -deliberately. - -The doctor held out his hand for the paper, and after a moment's -hesitation Nance handed it to him. - -He read it carefully, and his good-humoured mouth twisted doubtfully. -The matter looked serious. - -"Dress the children and take them away," he said at last. When they -were dressed, however, Nance stood waiting for her lines. - -Dr. Yool understood. "I will be answerable for them," he said; and she -turned and went. - -"A troublesome business, Sir Denzil," he said, when they were alone. -"A troublesome business, whichever way you look at it. This"--and he -flicked Nance's cherished lines--"may, of course, be make-believe, -though it looks genuine enough on the face of it. That must be -carefully looked into. But as to the children--you are in these -women's hands absolutely and completely, and they know it." - -"It looks deucedly like it." - -"They know which is which well enough; but nothing on earth will make -them speak--except their own interests, and that," he said -thoughtfully, "won't be for another twenty years." - -"It's too late to make away with them both, I suppose," said Sir -Denzil cynically. - -"Tchutt! It's bad enough as it is, but there's no noose in it at -present. Besides, they are both undoubtedly your grandsons----" - -"And which succeeds?" asked the baronet grimly. - -"There's the rub. Deucedly awkward, if they both live--most deucedly -awkward! There's always the chance, of course, that one may die." - -"Not a chance," said Sir Denzil. "They'll both live to be a hundred. -They can toss for the title when the time comes. I'd sooner trust a -coin than those women's oaths." - -The doctor nodded. He felt the same. - -"What about this?" he asked, reading Nance's lines again. "Will you -look into it?" He pulled out a pencil and noted places and dates in -his pocket-book. - -"What good? It alters nothing." - -"As regards your son?" - -Sir Denzil shrugged lightly. - -"He has shown himself a fool, but he is hardly such a fool as that. If -he comes to the title, and she claims on him, he must fight his own -battle. As to the whelps----" Another shrug shelved them for future -consideration. - -Nevertheless, when Dr. Yool had driven away in the gig with the yellow -wheels, Sir Denzil paced his room by the hour in deep thought, and -none of it pleasant, if his face was anything to go by. - -He travelled along every possible avenue, and found each a blind -alley. - -He could send the girl about her business, and the old woman too. But -to what purpose? If they took one of the children with them, which -would it be? Most likely Lady Susan's. But he would never be certain -of it. That would be so obviously the thing to do that they would -probably do the opposite. If they left both children, he would have to -get some one else to attend to them, and no one in the world had the -interest in their welfare that these two had. - -If both children died, then Denzil might marry again, and have an heir -about whom there was no possible doubt. That is, if this other alleged -marriage of his was, as he suspected, only a sham one. He would have -to look into that matter, after all. - -If, by any mischance, the marriage, however intended, proved legal, -then that hope was barred, and it would be better to have the -children, or at all events one of them, live. Otherwise the succession -would vest in the Solway Carrons, whom he detested. Better even Nance -Lee's boy than a Solway Carron. - -The conclusion of the matter was, that he could not better matters at -the moment by lifting a finger. Not lightly nor readily did he bring -his mind to this. He spent bitter days and nights brooding over it -all, and at the end he found himself where he was at the beginning. -Time might possibly develop, in one or other of the boys, -characteristics which might tell their own tale. But that chance, he -recognised, was a small one. Both boys took after their father, and -were as like Denzil, when he was a baby, as they possibly could be. - -In the spring he would look into that marriage matter. Till then, -things must go on as they were. - -Not a word did he say to the women. Not the slightest interest did he -show in the children. He rarely saw them, and then only by chance. And -in the women's care the children throve and prospered, since it was -entirely to their interest that they should do so. - - - - - -BOOK II - - - - -CHAPTER VI -FREEMEN OF THE FLATS - - -Now we take ten years at a leap. - -So small a span of time has made no difference in the great house of -Carne, or in its surroundings. Many times have the sand-hills sifted -and shifted hither and thither. Many times have the great yellow banks -out beyond lazily uncoiled themselves like shining serpents, and -coiled themselves afresh into new entanglements for unwary mariners. -In the narrow channels the bones of the unwary roll to and fro, and -some have sunk down among the quicksands. Times without number have -the mighty flats gleamed and gloomed. And the great house has watched -it all stonily, and it all looks just the same. - -But ten years work mighty changes in men and women, and still greater -ones in small boys. - -A tall straight-limbed young man strode swiftly among the -sand-hummocks and came out on the flats, and stood gazing round him, -with a great light in his eyes, and a towel round his neck. - -He had a lean, clean-shaven face, to which the hair brushed back -behind his ears lent a pleasant eagerness. But the face was leaner and -whiter than it should have been, and the eyes seemed unnaturally deep -in their hollows. - -"Whew!" he whistled, as the wonder of the flats struck home. "A -change, changes, and half a change, and no mistake! And all very much -for the better--in most respects. The bishop said I'd find it rather -different from Whitechapel, and he was right! Very much so! Dear old -chap!" - -It was ten o'clock of a sweet spring morning. The brown ribbed flats -gleamed and sparkled and laughed back at the sun with a thousand -rippling lips. The cloudless blue sky was ringing with the songs of -many larks. - -The young man stood with his braces slipped off his shoulders, and -looked up at the larks. Then he characteristically, flung up a hand -towards them, and cried them a greeting in the famous words of that -rising young poet, Mr. Robert Browning, "God's in His heaven! All's -well with the world!--Well! Well! Ay--very, very well!" And then, with -a higher flight, in the words of the old sweet singer which had formed -part of the morning lesson--"Praise Him, all His host!" And then, as -his eye caught the gleam of the distant water, he resumed his peeling -in haste. - -"Ten thousand souls--and bodies, which are very much worse--to the -square mile there, and here it looks like ten thousand square miles to -this single fortunate body. . . . That sea must be a good mile -away. . . . The run alone will be worth coming for. . . ." - -He had girt himself with a towel by this time, and fastened it with a -scientific twist. . . . "Now for a dance on the Doctor's nose," and he -sped off on the long stretch to the water. - -The kiss of the salt air cleansed him of the travail of the slums as -no inland bathing had ever done. The sun which shone down on him, and -the myriad broken suns which flashed up at him from every furrow of -the rippled sand, sent new life chasing through his veins. He shouted -aloud in his gladness, and splashed the waters of the larger pools -into rainbows, and was on and away before they reached the ground. - -And so, to the sandy scum of the tide, and through it to deep water, -and a manful breasting of the slow calm heave of the great sea; with -restful pauses when he lay floating on his back gazing up into the -infinite blue; and deep sighs of content for this mighty gift of the -freedom of the shore and the waves. And a deeper sigh at thought of -the weary toilers among whom he had lived so long, to whom such things -were unknown, and must remain so. - -But there!--he had done his duty among them to the point almost of -final sacrifice. There was duty no less exigent here, though under -more God-given conditions. So--one more ploughing through deep waters, -arm over arm, side stroke with a great forward reach and answering -lunge. Then up and away, all rosy-red and beaded with diamonds, to the -clothing and duty of the work-a-day world. - -"Grim old place," he chittered as he ran, and his eye fell on Carne -for the first time. "Grand place to live . . . if she lived there -too. . . . Great saving in towels that run home. . . . Now where the -dickens . . . ?" - -He looked about perplexedly, then began casting round, hither and -thither, like a dog on a lost scent. - -"Hang it! I'm sure this was the place. . . . I remember that sand-hill -with its hair all a-bristle." - -He poked and searched. He scraped up the sand with his hands in case -they should have got buried, but not a rag of his clothes could he -find. - -Stay! Not a rag? What's that? Away down a gully between two hummocks, -as if it had attempted escape on its own account--a blue sock which he -recognised as his own. - -He pounced on it with a whoop, dusted one foot free of the dry, soft -sand, and put the sock on. - -"It's a beginning," he said, quaintly enough, "but----!" But obviously -more was necessary before he could return home. He searched carefully -all round, but could not find another thread. He climbed the sliding -side of the nearest sand-hill, and looked cautiously about him. But -the whole place was a honeycomb of gullies, and the clothing of a -thousand men might have hidden in them and never been seen again. - -He sat down in the warm sand and cogitated. He looked at his single -towel, and at the wire-grass bristling sparsely through the sand, and -wondered if it might be possible to construct a primitive raiment out -of such slight materials. But his deep-set eyes never ceased their -vigilant outlook. - -Something moved behind the rounded shoulder of a hill in front. It -might be only the loping brown body of a rabbit, but he was after it -like a shot. - -When he topped the hill he saw a naked white foot slipping out of -sight into a dark hole like a big burrow. He leaped down the hill, and -stretched a groping arm into the hole. It lighted on squirming flesh. -His hand gripped tightly that which it had caught, and a furious -assault of blows, scratches, bites, and the frantic tearings of small -fingers strove to loosen it. But he held tight, and inch by inch drew -his prisoner out--a small boy with dark hair thick with sand, and dark -eyes blazing furiously. - -He was stark naked, and held in his hand a small weapon consisting of -a round stone with a hole in the centre, into which a wooden handle -had been thrust and bound with string. With this, as he lay on his -back, now that he had space to use it, he proceeded to lash out -vigorously at his captor, who still held on to his ankle in spite of -the punishment his wrist and arm were receiving. - -"Well, I'll be hanged!" said the young man in the towel, dodging the -blows as well as he could. "What in Heaven's name are you? Ancient -Briton? Bit of the Stone Age?" - -"Le' me go or I'll kill you," howled the prisoner. - -"No, don't! You're strong: be merciful. Hello!" as a fresh attack took -him in the rear, and his bare back resounded to the blows of a weapon -similar to the one that was pounding his arm. "You young savages! Two -to one, and an unarmed man!" - -He loosed the ankle and made a quick dive at the brown thrashing arm, -and, having secured it, lifted the wriggling youngster and tucked him -under his arm like a parcel. Then, in spite of the struggles of his -prisoner, he turned on the new-comer and presently held him captive in -similar fashion. - -They bit and tore and wriggled like a pair of little tiger-cats, but -the arms that held them were strong ones if the face above was thin -and worn and gentle. - -"Stop it!" He knocked their heads together, and squeezed the slippery -little bodies under his arms till the breath was nearly out of them, -and took advantage of the moment of gasping quiescence to ask, "Will -you be quiet if I let you down?" - -They intimated in jerks that they would be quiet. - -"Drop those drumsticks, then." - -First one, then the other weapon dropped into the sand. He put his -foot on them and stood the boys on their feet. - -"Drumsticks!" snorted one, his sandy little nose all a-quiver. - -"Well, neither am I a drum," said their captor good-humouredly. "Now -what's the meaning of all this? Who are you? Or what are you?" - -They were fine sturdy little fellows, of ten or eleven, he judged, -their skins tanned brown and coated with dry sand, quick dark eyes and -dark flushed faces all aglow still with the light of battle. They -stood panting before him, no whit abashed either by their defeat or -their lack of clothing. He saw their eyes settle longingly on the -clubs under his feet. He stooped and picked them up, and the dark eyes -followed them anxiously. - -"Promise not to use them on me and I'll give them back to you." - -The brown hands reached out eagerly, and he handed the weapons over. - -"Now sit down and tell me all about it." And he sat down himself in -the sand. - -He saw them glance towards the mouth of their retreat, and shook his -head. - -"You can't manage it. I'd have you out before you were half way in. -You're prisoners of war on parole. Now then, who are you?" - -"Carr'ns." - -"Carr'ns, are you? Well, you look it, whatever it means. Do you live -in that hole?" - -"Sometimes." - -"Never wear any clothes?" - -"Sometimes." - -"I see. Much jollier without, isn't it? But, you see, I can't go home -like this. So perhaps you won't mind telling me why you stole my -things and where they are?" - -"Carr'ns don't steal," jerked one. - -"Carr'ns only take things," jerked the other. - -"I see. It's a fine point, but it comes to much the same thing unless -you return what you take. So perhaps you'll be so good as to turn up -my things. Where are they?" - -One of the boys nodded towards the burrow. - -"That's the stronghold, is it? Not much room to turn about in, I -should say." - -They declined to express an opinion. - -"May I go in and have a look?" - -But that was not in the terms of their parole, and they sprang -instantly to the defence of their hold. The young man of the towel was -beginning to wonder if another pitched battle would be necessary -before he could recover his missing property, when a diversion was -suddenly created by an innocent outsider. - -A foolish young rabbit hopped over the shoulder of a neighbouring -sand-hill to see what all the disturbance was about. In a moment the -round stone clubs flew and the sense was out of him before he had time -to twinkle an eye or form any opinion on the subject. With a whoop the -boys sprang at him and resolved themselves instantly into a -pyrotechnic whirl of arms and legs and red-hot faces and flying sand, -as they fought for their prey. - -"Little savages!" said the young man, and did his best to separate -them. - -But he might as well have attempted argument with a Catherine wheel in -the full tide of its short life. And so he took to indiscriminate -spanking wherever bare slabs of tumbling flesh gave him a chance, and -presently, under the influence of his gentle suasion the combatants -separated and stood panting and tingling. The _causus belli_ had -disappeared beneath the turmoil of the encounter, but suddenly it came -to light again under the workings of twenty restless little toes. They -both instantly dived for it, and the fight looked like beginning all -over again, when the long white arm shot in and secured it and held it -up above their reach. - -"I say! Are you boys or tiger-cats?" he asked, as he examined them -again curiously. - -"Carr'ns," panted one, while both gazed at the rabbit like hounds at -the kill. - -"Yes, you said that before, but I'm none the wiser. Where do you live -when you're clothed and in your right minds?--if you ever are," he -added doubtfully. - -One of them jerked his head sharply in the direction of the great gray -house away along the shore. - -"There?" - -Another curt nod. He had rarely met such unnatural reserve, even in -Whitechapel, where pointed questions from a stranger are received with -a very natural suspicion. Here, as there, it only made him the more -determined to get to the bottom of it. But Whitechapel had taught him, -among other things, that round-about is sometimes the only way home. - -"Why do you want to fight over a dead rabbit?" - -"I killed it." - -"Didn't. 'Twas me." - -"Well now, if you ask me, I should say you both killed it. How did you -become such capital shots?" - -But to tell that would have needed much talk, so they only stared up -at him. He saw he must go slowly. - -"Those are first-rate clubs. Did you make them?" - -Nods from both. - -"Do you know?"--he picked one up and examined it carefully--"these are -exactly what the wild men used to make when they lived here a couple -of thousand years ago and used to go about naked just as you do." They -listened eagerly, with wide unwinking eyes, which asked for more. -"They used to stain themselves all blue"--the idea so evidently -commended itself to them that he hastened to add--"but you'd better -not try that or you'll be killing yourselves. They used the juice of a -plant which you can't get and it did them no harm. Can you swim?" - -Both heads shook a reluctant negative. - -"Can't? Oh, you ought to swim. You can fight, I know, and you are -splendid shots--and good runners, I'll be bound. Why haven't you -learnt to swim?" - -"Won't let us." - -"Who won't let you?" - -"HIM." - -"Who's 'him'?" - -"Sir Denzil." - -"Is that your father?" - -"Gran'ther - -"I see. I wonder if he'd let me teach you. Every boy ought to learn to -swim. You'd like to?" - -The black heads left no possible doubt on that point. - -"Well, I'll call on him and ask his permission. Now, what are your -names?" - -"Denzil Carr'n." - -"And you?" - -"Denzil Carr'n." - -"But you can't both be Denzil Carr'n." - -"I'm Jack." - -"I'm Jim." - -"And how am I to tell who from which? You're as like as two peas." - -They looked at one another as if it had never struck them. - -"Stand up and let me see who's the biggest. No"--with a shake of the -head, as they stood side by side--"that doesn't help. You're both of a -tires Now, let me see. Jack's got a big bump on the forehead,"--at -which Jim grinned with reminiscent enjoyment. "That will identify him -for a few days, anyhow, and by that time I shall have got to know you. -Why hasn't your grandfather let you learn to swim?" - -"Devil of a coast," said Jack, loosing his tongue at last. - -"Damned quicksands," said Jim in emulation. "Suck and suck and never -let go." - -"We must be careful, then. You must tell me all about them. My name's -Eager--Charles Eager. I've come to take Mr. Smythe's place at -Wyvveloe. Do you two go to school?" - -Emphatically No from both shaggy heads, and undisguised aversion to -the very thought of such a thing. - -"But you can't go on like this, you know. What will you do when you -grow up?" - -"Go fighting," said Jack of the bumped forehead. - -"Quite so. But you don't want to go as privates, I suppose. And to be -officers you must learn many things." - -This was a new view of the matter. It seemed to make a somewhat -unfavourable impression. It provided food for thought to Eager himself -also, and he sat looking at them musingly with new and congenial -vistas opening before him. - -He had in him a great passion for humanity--for the uplifting and -upbuilding of his fellows. Here apparently was virgin soil ready to -his hand, and he wanted to set to work on it at once. - -"You know how to read and write, I suppose?" - -"We can read _Robinson Crusoe_--round the pictures." - -"Of course. Good old Robinson Crusoe! He's taught many a boy to read." - -"He's in there," said Jim, nodding vaguely in the direction of their -burrow. - -"That's a good ides. Let us have a look at him." And Jim started off -to fetch Robinson out. "And you might bring my things out too, Jim. My -back's getting raw with the sun." - -Jim grinned and crept into the hole, and reappeared presently with an -armful of clothing and a richly bound volume. - -Eager put on his other sock and his shirt and trousers, and then sat -down again and picked up the book. It was an unusually fine edition of -the old story, with large coloured plates, and had not been improved -by its sojourn in the land. - -"Does your grandfather know you have this out here?" - -Most decidedly not. - -"I should take it back if I were you, or keep it wrapped in paper. -It's spoiling with the sand and damp. It always hurts me to see a good -book spoiled. Are there many more like this at the house?" - -"Heaps,"--which opened out further pleasant prospects if the mine -proved workable. - -"Have you gone right through it?" - -"Only 'bout the pictures." - -"Well, if you're here to-morrow I'll begin reading it to you from the -beginning. There must be quite three-quarters of it that you know -nothing about. And as soon as I can, I'll call on your grandfather and -have a talk with him about, the swimming and the rest. Can you write?" - -"Not much," said Jack. - -"Sums?" - -Nothing of the kind and no slightest inclination that way. - -"Now I must get back to my work," said Eager, as he finished dressing. -"This is my first morning, and it's been holiday. I've been living for -the last five years in the East End of London, where the people are -all crowded into dirty rooms in dirty streets, and I came to have a -took at the sea and the sands. It's like a new life. Now, good-bye," -and he shook hands politely with each in turn. "I shall be on the -look-out for you to-morrow." - -He strode away through the sand-hills towards Wyvveloe, and the boys -stood watching till he disappeared. - -"My rabbit!" cried Jim, as his eye lighted on the old gage of battle -lying on the sand, and he dashed at it. - -"Mine!" and in a moment they were at it hammer and tongs. And the Rev. -Charles went on his way, not a little elated at thoughts of this new -field that lay open before him. - - - - -CHAPTER VII -EAGER HEART - - -"Mrs. Jex," said Eager, to the old woman in whose cottage he had taken -his predecessor's rooms, "who lives in yon big house on the shore?" - -Mrs. Jex straightened her big white cap nervously. She had hardly got -used yet to this new "passon," who was so very different from the -last, and who had already in half a day asked her more questions than -the last one did in a year. - -"Will it be Carne yo' mean, sir?" - -"That's it,--Carne. Who lives there, and what kind of folks are they?" - -"There's Sir Denzil an' there's Mr. Kennet----" - -"Who's Mr. Kennet?" - -"Sir Denzil's man, sir. An' there's the boys----' - -"Ah, then, it's the boys I met on the shore, running wild and free, -without a shirt between them." - -"Like enough, sir. They do say 'at----" - -"Yes?"---as she came to a sudden stop. - -"'Tain't for the likes o' me, sir, to talk about my betters," said Mrs. -Jex, with a doubtful shake of the head. - -"Oh, the parson hears everything, you know, and he never repeats what -he hears. What do they say about the boys? Are they twins? They're as -like as can be, and just of an age, as far as I could see." - -"Well, sir," said Mrs. Jex, with another shake, "there's more to that -than I can say, an' I'm not that sure but what it's more'n anybody can -say." - -"Why, what do you mean? That sounds odd." - -"Ay, 'tis odd. Carne's seen some queer things, and this is one of 'em, -so they do say." - -"I'd like to hear. I rather took to those boys. They seem to be -growing up perfect little savages, learning nothing and----" - -"Like enough, sir." - -"And I thought of calling on their grandfather and seeing if he'd let -me take them in hand." - -"Yo'd have yore hands full, from all accounts." - -"That's how I like them. They've been a bit overfull for a good many -years, but this offers the prospect of a change anyway." - -"Well, yo'd best see Dr. Yool. If yo' con get him talking he con tell -yo' more'n onybody else. He were there when they were born--one of 'em -onyway." - -"Worse and worse? You're a most mysterious old lady. What's it all -about?" - -"Yo'd better ask t' doctor. He knows. I only knows what folks say, and -that's mostly lies as often as not. Yore dinner's all ready. Yo' go -and see t' doctor after supper and ax him all about it." - -After dinner he took a ramble round his new parish. He had arrived a -couple of days sooner than expected and the head shepherd was away -from home, so he had had to find his way about alone and make the -acquaintance of his sheep as best he could. - -Mrs. Jex, who had also acted as landlady for the departed Smythe, had -already thanked God for the change. For Smythe, a lank, boneless -creature, who cloaked a woeful lack of zeal for humanity under cover -of an unwrinkling robe of high observance, had found the atmosphere of -Wyvveloe uncongenial. It lacked the feminine palliatives to which he -had been accustomed. He had grown fretful and irritable--"a perfec' -whimsy!" as Mrs. Jex put it. The sturdy fisher-farmer folk laughed him -and his ways to scorn, and the whole parish was beginning to run to -seed when, to the relief of all concerned, he succeeded in obtaining -his transfer to a sphere better suited to his peculiar requirements. - -Mrs. Jex had had experience of Mr. Eager for one night and half a day, -and she already breathed peacefully, and had thanked God for the -change. And it was the same in every cottage into which the Rev. -Charles put his lean, smiling face that day. - -Those simple folk, who looked death in the face as a necessary part of -their daily life, knew a man when they saw one, and there was that in -Charles Eager's face which would never be in Mr. Smythe's if he lived -to be a hundred--that keen hunger for the hearts and souls and lives -of men which makes one man a pastor, and the lack of which leaves -another but a priest. - -And if the cottagers instinctively recognised the difference, how much -more that bluff guardian--beyond their inclinations at times--of their -outer husks, Dr. Yool! - -When Jane Tod, his housekeeper, ushered the stranger into his room Dr. -Yool was mixing himself a stiff glass of grog and compounding new -fulminations, objurgative and expletive, tending towards the cleansing -of Wynsloe streets and backyards. - -Miss Tod was a woman in ten thousand, and had been specially created -for the post of housekeeper to Dr. Yool. She was blessed with an -imperturbable placidity which the irascible doctor had striven in vain -to ruffle for over twenty years. When he came in of a night, tired and -hungry and bursting with anger at the bovine stupidity of his -patients, she let him rave to his heart's relief without changing a -hair, and set food and drink before him, and agreed with all he said, -even when he grew personal, and she never talked back. When she showed -in Mr. Eager she simply opened the sitting-room door, said "New -passon," and closed it behind him. - -"Will you let me introduce myself, Dr. Yool, seeing that the vicar is -not here to do it? I am Charles Eager, vice Smythe, translated. You -aid I are partners, you see, so I thought the sooner we became -acquainted the better." - -"H'mph!" grunted Dr. Yool, eyeing his visitor keenly over the top of -the glass as he sipped his red-hot grog. - -"Charles Eager, eh? And what are you eager for, Mr. Eager?" - -"Men, women, children--bodies and souls." - -"You leave their bodies to me," growled Dr. Yool in his brusquest -manner. "Their souls '11 be quite as much as you can tackle." - -But Eager saw through his brusquerie. A very beautiful smile played -over the keen, earnest face as he said: - -"When you separate them it's too late for either of us to do them any -good." - -"Separate them! Takes me all my time to keep 'em together." - -"Exactly! So we'll make better headway if we work together and -overlap." - -"Right! We'll work together, Mr. Eager." And the doctor's big brown -hand met the other's in a friendly grip. "You've got more bone in you -than the late invertebrate. He was a sickener. Hand like a fish. Have -some grog? - -"I don't permit myself grog. It wouldn't do, you know. But I'll have a -pipe. I see you don't object to smoke." - -"Smoke and grog are the only things a man can look forward to with -certainty after a stiff day's work. The sooner you can get your flock -to cleanse out the sheepfolds the better, Mr. Shepherd. We had typhus -here ten years ago, and it gave them such a scare that for one year -the place was fairly sweet. Now it stinks as bad as ever, and I'll be -hanged if I can stir them." - -"I'll stir them, or I'll know the reason why!" - -Dr. Yool studied the deep-set eyes and firm mouth before him for a -good minute, and then said: - -"Gad! I believe you will if any man can." - -"Do you know East London?" - -"Not intimately. I've seen enough of it to strengthen my preference -for clean sand." - -"This is heaven compared with it. I'm going to open these people's -eyes to their advantages." - -"You'll be a godsend if you can." - -"I want you to tell me all you think fit about two naked boys I came -across on the shore this morning. Carr'ns, they called themselves. -Fine little lads, and next door to savages, as far as I could judge. I -tried to pump Mrs. Jex, and she referred me to you." - -Dr. Yool puffed contemplatively, and looked at him through the smoke. - -"That's the problem of Carne," he said slowly at last--"the insoluble -problem." - -"What's the problem? And why insoluble?" - -"One of them is heir to Caine; the other is baseborn. No man on earth -knows which is which." - -"Any woman?" - -"Ah--there you have it! Can you make a woman speak against her -will--and her interest?" he added, as a hopeful look shot through -Eager's eyes. - -"It's a strong combination against one. All the same, there is no -reason why those boys should grow up naked of mind as well as of body. -They are surely close in age? They're as like as two peas--splendid -little savages, both." - -"There may be a week between them, not more." He puffed thoughtfully -for several minutes again, and then said slowly: "If you can clothe -them, body and mind, it will be a good work and a tough one. It's -virgin soil and a big handful, and one of them's got a place in the -world. I'll tell you the story for your guidance. I can trust it in -your keeping. The old man would curse me, no doubt, but his time is -past and the boys' is only coming. They are of more consequence." - -And bit by bit he told him what he knew of the strange happenings -which had led to the problem of Carne. - -Eager followed him with keen interest. - -"And was that first marriage genuine?" he asked. - -"Very doubtful. I worried the old man till he went off to look into -it, but when he came back he would say nothing. It makes no -difference, however, for we don't know one boy from the other." - -"And the mother--the one who lived?" asked Eager, following out his -own line of thought. - -"She stayed on at Carne with her mother for about a year. Then she -disappeared, and, as far as I know, nothing has been heard of her -since. She could solve the problem doubtless, but if she swore to it -no one would believe her." - -"She believed in her own marriage, of course?" - -"Doubtless. And the time may come when she will put in her claim, if -she is alive." - -"That's what I was thinking. And the father of the boys?" - -"The man he killed--unintentionally, no doubt, still after -threats--had powerful friends. They would have exacted every penalty -the law permitted. Denzil no doubt considered he could enjoy life -better in other ways. If he is alive he is abroad. He has never shown -face here since." - -"A complicated matter," said Eager thoughtfully, "and likely to become -more so. Where would the old man's death land things?" - -"God knows. I've puzzled over it many a day and night." - -"And meanwhile Sir Denzil allows the youngsters to run to seed?" - -"Exactly. He takes absolutely no interest in them. If one of them died -it would be all right for the other. He would be Carron of Carne in -due course and no questions asked. But the complication of the two has -made him look askance at both." - -"And the old woman--Mrs. Lee?" - -"She lives on at Carne, biding her time. I have no doubt she knows -which is her grandson, but she won't speak till the time comes." - -"And how does Sir Denzil treat her?" - -"They say he has never spoken to her for the last ten years--never a -word since that day she and her daughter brought the two children in -to him and started the game. She tends the house and does the cooking, -and so on. Sir Denzil lives in his own rooms, and his man Kennet looks -after him. It's a very long time since I saw him. We never got on well -together. He killed that poor girl, dragging her here as he did, and I -told him so. And he chose to say that I ought to have been able to -recognise t'other baby from which. Much he knows about it," snorted -the doctor. - -"And what does he do with himself? Is he a student?" - -"Drinks, I imagine. I meet his man about now and again, and if it's -like master like man there's not much doubt about it." - -"Poor little fellows! I must get hold of them, doctor. I must have -them. Now, how shall I set about it?" - -"Better call on the old man and see what he says. His soul's in your -charge, you know. I have my own opinion as to its probable ultimate -destination, in spite of you. It'll be an experience, anyway." - -"For me or for him?" - -"Well, I was thinking of you at the moment." - -"And not an over-pleasant one, you suggest? - -"Oh, he's a gentleman, is the old man, if he is an old heathen. Gad! -I'd like to go along with you, only it would upset your apple-cart and -set you in the ditch." - -"I'll see him in the morning," said Eager. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII -SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS - - -The struggle between the boys, which began before Mr. Eager was well -out of sight, resulted in a bump on Jim's forehead similar to the one -which already decorated Jack's, in a few additional scratches and -bruises to both brown little bodies, and in Jim's temporary possession -of the rabbit. - -That point decided for the time being, they sat down in the hot sand -to recover their wind, Jim holding his prey tightly by the ears on his -off side, since a moment's lack of caution would result in its instant -transfer to another owner. - -"I'm going to learn to swim," said Jack. - -"HE won't let us," said Jim. - -Then, intent silence as a sand-piper came hopping along a ridge. It -stopped at sight of them, and fixed them first with one inquiring eye -and then with the other. Their hands felt for their little clubs. The -sand-piper decided against them, and flew away with a cheep of -derision. - -Jim had dropped the rabbit for his club. Jack leaned over behind him -and had it in a second. Jim hurled himself on him, and they were at it -again hammer and tongs, and presently they were sitting panting again, -and this time the rabbit was on Jack's off side, and, for additional -security, wedged half under his sandy leg. - -"We could tell him we'd asked HIM and HE said Yes," said Jim, resuming -the conversation as if there had been no break. - -"He'll go and ask HIM himself, and HE'LL say No," said Jack, with -perfect understanding, in spite of the mixture of third persons. - -"H'mph!" grunted Jim sulkily. "Wish HE was dead." - -"There'd be somebody else." - -From which remark you may gather that, where abstruse thinking met -with little encouragement, Master Jack was the more thoughtful of the -two. - -"We'll go in and watch him when he goes in to-morrow," suggested Jim -presently. - -"They'd see us." - -"Drat 'em! Let 'em. Who cares?" - -"Means lickings. . . . And that Kennet he lays on a sight harder than -he used to." - -"Ever since we caught him in the rat-trap. He remembers it whenever -he's licking us. . . . Soon as I'm a man I'm going to kill Kennet. -It's the very first thing I shall do." - -"I don't know," said Jack doubtfully. "He only licks us when HE tells -him to." - -"I should think so," snorted Jim, with scorn at the idea of anything -else. - -"HE always looks at us as if we were toads. Why does he?" - -"Damned if I know," said Jack quietly. It sounded odd from his -childish lips, but it had absolutely no meaning for him. It was simply -one of the accomplishments they had picked up from Mr. Kennet. - -An upward glance at the sun at the same moment suddenly accentuated a -growing want inside him. He sprang up with a whoop, swinging his -rabbit by the ears, and made for the hole in the sand-hill. Jim -followed close on his heels, and presently, clad only in short blue -knee-breeches of homely cut, and blue sailor jerseys, they were -trotting purposefully through the shallows towards Carne and dinner, -chattering brokenly as they went. - -A grim old man watched them from an upper window till they padded -silently round the corner out of sight. They ran in through the back -porch, and so into the comfortable kitchen with its red-tiled floor -and shining pans, and dark wood linen-presses round the walls. - -Old Mrs. Lee, grandmother to one of them, turned from the fire to -greet them. - -"Ready for yore dinner, lads? And which on yo' killed to-day?"--as she -caught sight of the rabbit. - -"I did," from Jack. - -"No--me," from Jim. - -"Well, both of us, then," said Jack. - -"Clivver lads! Now fall to." And they needed no bidding to the food -she set before them. They were always hungry, and never criticised her -provisioning. - -Ten years had made very little change in Mrs. Lee. Indeed, if there -was any change at all it was for the better. For, whereas in the -previous times she had had grievous troubles and anxieties, during -these last ten years she had had an object in life, not to say two, -and lively subjects both of them. - -The grim old man upstairs would have viewed the death of either of the -boys with more than equanimity. At the first sudden upspringing of the -trouble he had, indeed, fervently wished both out of the way. But -consideration of the subject and much snuff brought him to just that -much better a frame of mind that he ended by desiring short shrift for -only one of them, and which one he did not care a snap. Either would -be preferable to a Solway Carron, but the two together produced a -complication which time would only intensify, unless Death stepped in -and cut the knot. - -In the beginning he watched Nance's and Mrs. Lee's treatment of them -as closely as he could, without betraying his keen interest in the -matter. His man, Kennet, had instructions to surprise, entrap, or -coerce the secret out of the women in any way he could devise. - -But the women laughed to scorn their clumsy attempts at espionage, and -meted out equal justice and mercy to both boys alike. Never by one -single word or look of special favour bestowed on either did master or -man come one step nearer to the knowledge they sought. - -Mr. Kennet, indeed, undertook, for a consideration, to make Nance his -lawful, wedded wife, with a view to getting at the truth. But when he -deviously approached Nance herself he received so hot a repulse, which -was not by any means confined to mere verbal broadsides, that he beat -a hasty retreat, with marks of the encounter on his face which took -longer to heal than did his ardour to cool. - -She was a handsome, strapping girl, with a temper like hot lava, and -she honestly believed herself Denzil Carron's lawful wife, though her -mother still cast doubts upon it. - -"You!" Nance labelled Mr. Kennet after this episode, and concentrated -in that single word all the scorn of her outraged feelings; and -thereafter, till she took herself off to parts unknown, made Mr. -Kennet's life a burden to him, yet caused him to thank his stars that -the matter had gone no farther. - -And the grim old man upstairs? From the women's treatment of the -boys--and he spied upon them in ways, and at times, and by means, of -which they had no slightest idea--he had learned nothing. And so he -waited and waited, with infinite patience, and hoped that time might -bring some solution of the problem, even though it came by the hand of -Death. And then, as Death stood aloof, and the boys grew and waxed -strong, and developed budding personalities, he watched them still -more keenly, in the hope of finding in their dispositions and tempers -some indications which might help him in his quest. - -Plain living was the order of those days at Caine; and he who had -hobnobbed with princes, and had been notorious for his prodigality in -time when excess rioted through the land, lived now as simply as the -simplest yeoman of the shire. And that not of necessity, for his -income was large, and, since he spent nothing, the accumulations were -rollicking up into high figures. The candle had simply burnt itself -out. He had not a desire left in life, unless it was to get the better -of these women who had dusted his latter days with ashes. - -Of his son, the origin of this culminating and enduring trouble, he -had heard nothing for many years. He did not even know whether he was -alive or dead, and, save for the confusion which lack of definite -knowledge on that head might cause in the table of descent, he did not -much care. - -He had looked to the gallant captain to raise the house of Carne to -its old standing in the world--a poor enough ambition indeed, but -still all that was left him. By his hot-headed folly Captain Denzil -had struck himself out of the running, and by degrees, as this became -more and more certain, his father's interest in life transferred -itself from the impossible to the remotely possible, even though the -possibility was all of a tangle. - -For a time he supplied the prodigal freely with money, and the -prodigal dispensed it in riotous living. The fact that by rights he -ought to have been cooling his heels in prison gave a zest to his -enjoyments, and he denied himself none. - -His father buoyed his hopes, as long as hope was possible, on his -son's return in course of time to his native land, and to those -aristocratic circles of which he had previously been so bright an -ornament. But time passed and brought no amelioration of his -prospects. Louis Philippe still occupied the French throne. The death -of d'Aumont was not forgotten. Sir Denzil's quiet soundings of the -authorities were always met with the invariable, and perfectly -obvious, reply, that Captain Carron was at liberty to return at any -time--at his own risk; a reply which only strengthened Captain -Carron's determination to remain strictly where he was. - -He lived for a time, as Kennet told us, in Paris, under an assumed -name of course, but under the very noses of the men whose implacable -memories debarred him from returning home. It was added spice to his -already highly spiced life. But high living demands high paying, and -Captain Denzil's demands grew and grew till at last his father--who -would have withheld nothing for a definite object, but saw no sense in -aimless prodigality--flatly refused anything beyond a moderate -allowance. From that time communications ceased, and whether and how -his son lived Sir Denzil knew, not, and, from all appearance; cared -little. He had ceased to be a piece of value in the old man's game. - -Pending direction, from above or below or from the inside, Sir Denzil -left the boys to develop as they might. A magnanimous, even a -reasonably balanced nature would have assumed the burden and done its -best for both alike, and trusted to Time and Providence for a solution -of the problem. But no one ever miscalled Sir Denzil Carron to the -extent of imputing to him any faintest trace of magnanimity. Time he -had some hopes of. Providence he had no belief in. He was simply the -product of his age: an unmitigated old heathen, with but one aim in -life--the resuscitation of the house of Carne, and to that end ready -to sacrifice himself, or any other, body, soul, and spirit. - -That both boys were of his blood he was satisfied, but the unsolvable -doubt as to which was the rightful heir cancelled all his feelings for -them and set them both outside the pale of his doubtful favours. - -At times, in pursuance of his search for leading signs, he had sent -for the boys, talked to them, tried to get below the surface. But in -his presence they crept into their innermost shells and became dull -and dumb, and impervious even to his biting sarcasms on their -appearances, tastes, and habits. - -They feared and hated the grim old tyrant, with his peaked white face -and thin scornful lips and gold snuff-box. There was no kindliness for -them in the keen dark eyes, and they felt it without understanding -why. They would slink out of his presence like whipped puppies, but -once out of it he would hear their natural spirits rising as they -raced for the kitchen, and their merry shouts as they sped across the -flats to their own devices. - -When that was possible he watched them unawares, on the look-out -always for what he sought. But such chances were few, for natural -instinct caused the boys to remove themselves as far away from him as -possible, and the sand-hills offered an inviting field and unlimited -scope for their abilities. - - - - -CHAPTER IX -MORE OF SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS - - -All the next morning the boys lay in the wire-grass on top of their -special sand-hill, on the look-out for their new friend. But he did -not come. - -Instead, he walked over to Carne, and coming first on the back door, -rapped on it, and was confronted by Mrs. Lee. It seemed to him that -she eyed him with something more than native caution, and after what -he had heard from Dr. Yool he was not surprised at it. - -"Can I see Sir Denzil?" he asked cheerily. "I'm the new curate." - -The old woman's mouth wrinkled in a dry smile, as though the thought -of Sir Denzil and the curate compassed incongruity. - -"Yo' can try," she said. "Knock on front door and maybe Kennet'll hear -yo'." And Eager went round to the front. - -Continuous knocking at last produced some result. The great front door -looked as if it had not been opened for years. It opened at last, -however, and Mr. Kennet stood regarding him with disfavour and -surprise and a touch of relief on his hairless red face. Carne had few -callers, and Kennet's first idea, when summoned to that door, was that -Captain Denzil had come home, a return which could hardly make for -peace and happiness. - -"Can I see Sir Denzil?" asked Eager once more. "Tell him, please, that -Mr. Eager, the new curate, begs the favour of an interview with him." - -Kennet looked doubtful, but finally, remembering that he was a -gentleman's gentleman, asked him to step inside while he inquired if -Sir Denzil could see him. - -The hall was a large and desolate apartment, flagged with stone and -destitute of decoration or clothing of any kind, and was evidently -little used. There was a huge fireplace at one side, but the bare -hearth gave a chill even to the summer day. A wide oak staircase led -up to a gallery off which the upper rooms opened, and from which Sir -Denzil at times in the winter quietly overlooked the boys at their -play down below, and sought in them unconscious indications of -character. - -And presently, Kennet came silently down the staircase and intimated -that the visitor was to follow him. He ushered him into a room looking -out over the sea, and Sir Denzil turned from the window, snuff-box in -hand, to meet him. - -There was an intimation of surprised inquiry in the very way he held -his snuff-box. He bowed politely, however, and his eyebrows emphasised -his desire to learn the reasons for so unexpected a visit. - -"I trust you will pardon my introducing myself, Sir Denzil," said -Eager. "I am taking Mr. Smythe's place, and the vicar is away." - -"Ah!" said Sir Denzil, taking a pinch very elegantly, "I had not the -pleasure of Mr. Smythe's acquaintance,"--and his manner politely -intimated that he equally had not sought that of Mr. Smythe's -successor. - -"I have come with a very definite object," said Eager, cheerfully -oblivious to the old man's frostiness, and going straight to his mark, -as was his way. "I want you to let me take those two boys in hand. I -met them on the sands yesterday. In fact, they amused themselves by -hiding my clothes while I was in bathing, and I looked like having to -go home clad only in a towel." And he laughed again at the -recollection. - -"They shall be punished----" - -"My dear sir! You don't suppose I came for any such purpose as that! -It broke the ice between us. I got my things and made two friends. I -want to improve the acquaintance--with your sanction." - -"To what end?" - -"To the end of making men of them, Sir Denzil. There are great -possibilities there. You must not neglect them, or the responsibility -will be yours." - -"That, I presume, is my affair." - -"No--excuse me! In the natural course of things those boys will be -here when you and I are gone. As their feet are set now, so will they -walk then. If you leave them untrained the responsibility for their -deeds will be yours. It is no light matter." - -Sir Denzil extracted a pinch very deliberately and closed the box with -a tap on the First Gentleman's snub nose. - -"And suppose I prefer to let them run wild for the present?" - -"Then you are not doing your duty by them, and sooner or later it will -recoil upon your own head--or house." - -"Yes; but, as you say, I shall probably not be here, and so I shall -not suffer." - -"Your name--the name of your house will suffer----" Sir Denzil shedded -the prospect with a shrug. - -"Who set you on this business, Mr. Eager?" he asked, with a touch of -acidity. - -"God." - -"Ah!"--snuffing with extreme deliberation. "Now we approach debatable -ground." - -"No, sir. We stand on the only ground that offers sound footing." - -"Well, well! I suppose some people still believe such things." - -"Fortunately, yes. Now about the boys. May I take them in hand?" - -Sir Denzil regarded him thoughtfully while he shook his snuff box -gently and prepared another pinch. - -"On conditions, possibly yes," he said at last. - -"And the conditions?" - -"What have you heard about those boys, Mr. Eager?" - -"I think I may say everything." - -"Egad! Then you know more than I do. You have wasted no time. Who told -you the story?" - -"Perhaps you will not press that question, Sir Denzil. Having got -interested in the boys I naturally desired to learn what I could about -them. It was from no idle curiosity, I assure you." - -"So you went to Dr. Yool, I suppose. I felt sure he would be at the -root of the matter." - -"I assure you he is not. The root of the matter is simply my desire -for those boys. I would like to try my hand at making men of them." - -"Very welt. You shall try--on this condition. As you are aware, one of -them comes of high stock on both sides, the other of low stock on one -side. The signs may crop out, must crop out in time. You will have -opportunities, such as I have not, of observing them. What I ask of -you is to bring all your intelligence and acumen to bear on the -solution of my problem--which is which?" - -"I understand, and I will willingly do my best. But you must remember, -Sir Denzil, that there is no infallibility in such indications. The -crossing of blue blood with red sometimes produces a richer strain -than the blending of two thin blues." - -"That is so. Still I hope there may be indications we cannot mistake, -and then I shall know what to do. It is, as you can understand, a -matter that has caused me no little concern." - -"Naturally. By God's help we will make men of both of them. The rest -we must trust to Providence." - -Sir Denzil's pinch of snuff cast libellous doubts on Providence. - -"You design them for the army, I presume?" asked Eager. - -"Unless one should show an inclination for the Church," said the old -cynic suavely. "Which I should be inclined to look upon as a clear -indication of his origin." - -"I'm not so sure of that," said Eager, with a smile. "The Church has -its heroes no less than the army." - -"You will find them difficult to handle." - -"We shall soon be good friends. I'm going to begin by teaching them to -swim." - -Sir Denzil looked at him thoughtfully and said: - -"That might undoubtedly relieve the situation. It is a dangerous -coast. If you could drown one of them for me----" - -"I am going to make men of them. I can't make a man out of a drowned -boy. I will take every care of them, and some time you will be proud -of them." - -"Of one of them possibly. The question is, which?" - - - - -CHAPTER X -GROWING FREEMEN - - -The Rev. Charles was greatly uplifted as he tramped through the sand -to keep his appointment with the boys. He had succeeded beyond his -hopes, and a most congenial field of work and study lay open to his -hand. - -"Catch them young," had been hammered into his heart and brain by his -five years' work in East London. With heart and brain he had fought -against the stolid indifference and active evil-mindedness of the -grown-ups, till heart and brain grew sick at times. His greatest hopes -had settled on the children, and here were two, of a different caste -indeed, but as ignorant of the essentials as any he had met with--and -they were given into his hand for the moulding. By God's help he would -make men of them, high-born or baseborn. The side-issue was nothing -to him, but it would add zest to the work. - -When he got, as he believed, into the neighbourhood of his previous -day's adventure, he examined the ridge of sand-hills with care. But -they were all so much alike that he could not be sure. He had hoped to -find the boys on the look-out for him, but he saw no signs of them. - -He struggled up the yielding side of the nearest hill and looked -round. If he could find their hole he would probably find them inside -it or not far away. - -It was close on midday, baking hot, and the sand-hills seemed as -deserted as Sahara. The sea lay fast asleep behind its banks, which -reached to the horizon. When he looked back across the flats to Carne, -he rubbed his eyes at sight of its stout walls bending and bowing and -jigging spasmodically in an uncouth dance. The very wire-grass drooped -listlessly. The only sound was the cheerful creak of a cricket. - -The width, length, and height of it, the gracious spaciousness of it -all filled him with fresh delight. It was all so very different from -the heart-crushing straitness of the slums and alleys in which his -last years had been spent. He stood drinking it all in, and then, -seeing no signs of the boys, he turned his back to the shore and -strode inland. - -But within a few steps he caught sight of recent traces of them in -fresh-turned yellow sand which the sun had not had time to whiten. He -whistled shrilly, if perchance the sound might penetrate to their -hold. - -And then, to his astonishment, the ground in front of him cracked and -heaved, and first one and then another dark sanded head and laughing -face came out, and the boys sprang up from the shallow holes in which -they had buried themselves and stood before him. - -"You young rabbits," he laughed. "I had just about given you up. -Thought I wasn't coming, I suppose." - -Decisive nods from both black heads. - -"Well, we'll make a start on that. Remember that I never break a -promise, and I want you to do the same. The boy who makes up his mind -that he'll never break his word is half a brave man." - -They stared up at him with wide eyes, and whether they understood it -he did not know. But he knew better than to say more just then. - -"Now--why----?" And he looked from one to the other and then began to -laugh. "Which of you is Jack and which is Jim? I was to remember Jack -by a bump on the forehead, and now you've both got bumps. Been -fighting again?" - -Gleaming nods from both boys. - -"We must find you something better to do. I've been seeing your -grandfather, and he says I may teach you to swim." - -Squirms of anticipation in the active brown bodies, and glances past -him at the distant sea. - -"No, not to-day. It's too late now, but it was worth spending the -morning on. We'll make a start to-morrow. Can you be here at eight -o'clock?" - -Their energetic heads intimated that they could be there very much -before eight if desired. - -"Right! I'll be here. In the meantime you can be practising a bit on -dry land. Here's the stroke"--and he laid himself flat on a convenient -hummock and kicked out energetically, while the black eyes watched -intently. - -"Now try it. You first, Jack. That's right. Keep your hands a bit more -sloped, and your toes more down. Thrust back with the flat of your -feet as though you were trying to kick some one. First rate! Now, -Jim!" But Jim was already hard at work on his own account. "That's -right. Hands sloped, toes down. Draw your knees well up under your -body. You'll find it easier in the water. Oh, you'll do. You'll be -swimmers in no time. That'll do for just now. Now--Jack," he looked at -them both, but his eyes finally settled on Jim--"if you'll fetch -Robinson out well make a start on him." - -Jim turned to dive down the hill-side, and was instantly tripped by -Jack, who flung himself on top of him. They rolled down together, -fighting like cats, amid a cloud of flying sand. Eager sprang after -them, found it useless, as before, to attempt to separate them by any -ordinary means, so spanked them indiscriminately till they fell apart -and stood up panting. And the odd thing about it all was that no -slightest ill-will seemed born of their strife. The moment it was over -they were friends again. - -"He told me," panted Jack in self-justification. - -"He looked at me," panted Jim. - -"My fault, boys. I must tie a string round one of your arms till I get -to know you. Now trot along one of you--no, you "--grabbing one by the -shoulder as both started off again. "We haven't much time to-day. If -I'm not home by one Mrs. Jex will be eating all my dinner." - -So they sat in the soft sand, and he read, and explained what he read, -till Robinson Crusoe came alive and began to be as real to them as one -of themselves, and they knew him as they had never known him before. - -When Eager was dodging about his sheepfold that afternoon he came upon -Dr. Yool in the yellow-wheeled gig. "Well, I've got 'em," said the -curate. - -"Got what? Measles, jumps----?" - -"Those boys. I bearded the old man in his den this morning, and he has -given me a free hand with them." - -"You'll do," said Dr. Yool. "They'll keep you busy. Don't forget I -want your help with these stinks"--pointing with his whip to the heaps -of refuse lying about. - -"I'm tackling stinks now. Tiger-pups in the morning, stinks in the -afternoon, Dr. Yool in the evening. That's the order of service at -present." And they parted the better for the meeting. - -Eager had a chat with some of the wise men of Wynsloe, and got points -from them as to shifting sands, and the tucking sands, and the other -dangers of that treacherous coast, and in return incidentally dropped -into their minds some seeds of wisdom respecting stinks and their -consequences. - -Five minutes to eight next morning found him a-perch of the highest -sand-hill in the neighbourhood, on the look-out for his pupils. - -Five minutes past eight found him somewhat disappointed at their -non-appearance. They had seemed eager enough too, the day before. -Perhaps the old man had thought better of it. Then he remembered his -cynical hope that the swimming might prove of service in the solution -of his great problem. And then a couple of war-whoops at each of his -ears jerked him off his perch with so sudden a leap that the whoopers -squirmed in the sand with delight. - -"Thought we weren't coming?" grinned Jack. - -"Well, I began to fear you'd been stopped----" - -"We promised," grinned Jim; and Eager rejoiced to think that that seed -at all events had taken root. - -In two minutes they were trotting across the flats, and presently they -were in the tide-way, and the little savages were revelling in a fresh -acquirement and a new sense of motion. - -There was little teaching needed. Eager took them out, one after the -other, neck-deep, and turned their faces to the shore, and they swam -home like rats, and yelled hilariously from pure enjoyment as soon as -they found their breath. - -Then he carried them out of their depths, and loosed them, and they -paddled away back without a sign of fear. Fear, in fact, seemed -absolutely lacking in them. The only thing on earth of which they -stood in any fear, as far as he could make out, was the grim old man -in the upper room at Carne, and even in his case it seemed to be as -much distrust and dislike as actual fear. - -But even fearlessness has its dangers, and, mindful of his trust, -Eager exacted from each of them a solemn promise not to go into the -sea except when he was with them, for he had no mind to solve the old -man's riddle for him in the way he had so hopefully suggested. - -Those mornings on the sands and in the water proved the foundation on -which he slowly and surely built the boys' characters. - -A very few days of so close an intimacy stamped their individualities -on his mind. After the third day he never again mistook one for the -other. Time and again they tried to mislead him, but he saw deeper -than they knew and never failed to detect them. - -They were, at this time, remarkably alike in every way, and though, -later on, each developed marked characteristics of his own, there all -along remained between them resemblance enough to put strangers to -confusion, a matter in which they at all times found extreme -enjoyment. - -But even now, like as they were, in face and body and the wild -naturalness of their primeval ways, their respective personalities -began to disclose themselves, as Eager broke them, bit by bit, to the -harness of civilisation. And if their harnessing was no easy matter, -either for themselves or their teacher, they came to realise very -quickly that, though it might mean less of freedom in some ways, it -meant also an immensely wider reach and outlook. Whereas their life -had hitherto revolved in narrow grooves--with which indeed no man had -taken the trouble to meddle, now it ran in courses that were ordered, -but which also were spacious and lofty and filled with novelty and -enterprise. - -And as their natural characteristics began to develop in these more -reasonable ways, Eager watched and studied them with intensest -interest. - -But little savages they remained in certain respects for a -considerable time, and it was only by slow degrees that he managed to -lead them out of darkness into something approaching twilight. - -Jim, for instance, had a rooted detestation of every living thing he -came across on the shore, and promptly proceeded to squash it with his -bare foot or to pound it into jelly with his prehistoric club. From -tiny delicate crab to senseless jelly-fish or screaming gull, if Jim -came across it it must die if he could manage it. - -To counteract, if he might, this innate lust for slaughter Eager took -to explaining to them some of the more simple wonders and beauties of -seashore life. He brought down a small pocket microscope and showed -them things they had never dreamed of. - -This appealed to Jack immensely. He became a devoted slave of the -wonderful glasses, and never tired of poring over and peering into -things. Jim, however, drew a double satisfaction from them. He smashed -things first and then delighted in the examination of the pieces, and -many a pitched battle they fought over the destruction and defence of -flotsam and jetsam which formerly they would both have destroyed with -equal zest. - -It was all education, however, and Eager rejoiced in them greatly. He -found them, in varying degrees and with notable exceptions, fairly -easy to lead, but almost impossible to drive. He led them step by step -from darkness towards the light, and meanwhile studied them with as -microscopic a care as that with which he endeavoured to get them to -study the tiny things of the shore. - -Their wild free life about the sand-hills had trained their powers of -observation to an unusual degree. True, the observation had generally -tended to destruction, but the faculty was good, and the end and aim -of it was a matter to be slowly brought within control. - -They could tell him many strange things about the manners and customs -of rabbits, and gulls, and peewits, and sandpipers, and bull-frogs, -and tadpoles, and so on. They could forecast the weather from the look -of the sky and the smell of the wind, with the accuracy of a -barometer. They could run as fast and farther than he could, for they -had been breathing God's sweetest air all their lives, while he had -been travelling alley-ways, with tightened lips and compressed -nostrils. And they could fling their little stone clubs with an aim -that was deadly. Jim indeed vaunted himself on having once brought -down a seagull on the wing, but the actual fact rested on his sole -testimony and Jack cast doubts on it, and thereupon they fought each -time it was mentioned, but proved nothing thereby. - -Eager told them of the wonders of the black man's boomerang; and they -laboured long and practised much, but could not compass it. It was -their ideal weapon, a thing to dream of and strive after, but it -always lay beyond them. - -One day he brought home under his arm, from the shop in Wyvveloe, a -small parcel which he took up into his own room. He borrowed Mrs. -Jex's scissors, and spent a very much longer time planning and cutting -than the result seemed to warrant. Then he got Mrs. Jex, who would -have shaved her scanty locks to please him, to do some hemming and -stitching and to sew on some bits of tape, and next day he astonished -his little savages by attiring himself and them in bright-red -loin-cloths, before they started for their mile sprint to the water. - -The boys were inclined to resist this innovation as an unnecessary -cramping of their freedom. Jim averred that he couldn't stretch his -legs, and that his garment burnt him, though when it was on it looked -no bigger than his hand. Jack demanded reasons, and was told to wait -and he would see. However, the brilliancy of the little garments -somewhat condoned their offence, and once in the water they were soon -forgotten, and as they flashed back and forth across the sands the -startling effects they produced in the sunny pools by degrees -reconciled their wearers to their use. - -About a week after this, the boys were sitting one morning in the -hollow Mr. Eager used as a dressing-room, wondering why he was later -than usual, - -"Gone to see HIM, maybe, 'bout yon books we brought out," growled Jack -gloomily. - -"Hmph!" grunted Jim. "I don't care--'sides, he wouldn't." - -And then Eager strode in with a brighter face even than usual. - -"Afraid I wasn't coming, were you?" he laughed. - -"Thought maybe you'd gone to see HIM again," said Jack. - -"Your grandfather? No; I've been seeing some one very much nicer. Jim, -did you say your verse this morning?" - -This was a gigantic innovation, and still much of a mere ritual. But -it was a beginning, and the rest would follow. It was the first upward -step towards those higher things which Charles Eager kept ever -steadily in view. - -"Forgot," grunted Jim. - -This again was mighty gain. A month ago--if such a contingency had -been possible--he would never have owned up. To his grandfather it is -doubtful if he would have owned up even now. - -"Well, oblige me by going behind that sand-hill and saying it now, -and think what you're saying as well as you can. And you, Jack?" - -"Said um," said Jack dutifully. - -"Never saw you," said Jim, on his knees. Whereupon Jack dashed -at him and rolled him over prayer and all, and they had a regular -former-state set-to. - -The Rev. Charles, grave of face, but internally convulsed, got them -separated at last, and as soon as Jim had performed his devotions they -turned their faces towards the sea. Before the two boys could start -out, as they usually did, like bolts from a cross-bow, however, he -laid a detaining hand on each brown shoulder, and to their surprise -whistled shrilly across the hills. In reply, a tiny figure in -brilliant scarlet sped out from an adjacent nook, and shot, with -flowing hair, and little white feet going like drumsticks, across the -flats towards the sea. - -The boys caught their breath and gaped in amazement. - -"What is it?" gasped Jim. - -"Whow! Who?" from Jack. - -"My little sister. She only arrived last night. Now let's see if we -can catch her! Off you go!" And they tore away across the long ribbed -sands after the flying streak of scarlet in front. - -They caught her long before she reached the tide-lip, and her eyes -flashed merriment as they raced alongside. - -She had rare beauty even as a child--and no beauty of after-life ever -quite equals that of a lovely child--and the two boys had never in -their lives seen anything like her. They stumbled alongside, careless -of holes and lumps, with sidelong glances for nothing but that radiant -vision--scarlet-wrapped, streaming nut-brown hair, dancing blue eyes, -white skin flushed with the run like a hedge-rose, little teeth -gleaming pearls between panting, laughing lips, a little rainbow of -beauty. - -"Well run, Gracie! Keep it up, old girl!" panted Eager, almost pumped -himself. And then they were in the water. - -Grace, it appeared, could not swim yet. The boys fell to at once and -fought for the honour of helping her, though neither would have dared -to touch her. She screamed at sight of their brown bodies thrashing to -and fro in the foam, but was comforted at sight of her brother's -laughing face. - -"Come along, Gracie. Never mind the boys. They enjoy a fight more than -anything. Now kick away, and strike out as I showed you how on the -footstool. I'll hold your chin up. That's it! Bravo, little one! -You'll be a swimmer in a week." - - - - -CHAPTER XI -THE LITTLE LADY - - -And so another element entered into the tiger-cubs' education, and one -that, for so small a creature, exercised a mighty influence on them, -both then and thereafter. - -She was the Joy of Charles Eager's heart and the light of his eyes. -Other sisters and brothers there had been, but all were gone save this -little fairy, and they two were alone in the world. While he wrought -in the dark corners of the great city he had boarded her with some -maiden aunts in the suburbs, and the weekly sight of her, growing like -a flower, had helped to keep his heart fresh and sweet. Not the least -of the joys of his translation to this wide new sphere was the fact -that he could have her always with him. - -Mrs. Jex wept with joy at sight of her, vowed she was the very image -of her own little Sally, who died when she was eight, and proceeded to -squander on her the pent-up affections of thirty childless years. - -And the Little Lady, as Mrs. Jex styled her, lorded it over them all, -then and thereafter, and was a factor of no small consequence in all -their lives. - -Over the slowly regenerating tiger-cubs she exercised a peculiarly -softening and elevating influence. It was exactly what they needed, -and all unconsciously it wrought upon the simple savageries of their -boy-natures as powerfully as did the Rev. Charles's more direct and -strenuous endeavours. - -Both boys, in moments of excitement, which were many in the course of -each day, had a habit of expression, picked up from Sir Denzil and Mr. -Kennet, which was not a little startling on their juvenile lips. Eager -promptly suppressed these whenever they slipped out. He knew well -enough that they conveyed no special meaning to the boys beyond an -idea of extra forcefulness, but, besides being unseemly, they grated -horribly on his sensitive ear. - -As for the Little Lady, Master Jim Carron did not soon forget the -effect produced on her by one of his unconscious expletives. - -When Dan Fell of Wynsloe got to the end of his bottle of Hollands gin -sooner than he expected one dark night at the fishing, and hurled it -overboard with a curse, his only feeling was one of disgust at the -shortcomings of a friend in time of need. If any one had told him that -he was thereby assisting in the education of little Jim Carron of -Carne he would have cursed more volubly still, under the impression -that he was being made game of, which was a thing he could not stand. -The bottle floated ashore, tried conclusions with a log of Norway pine -thrown up by the last equinoctials, distributed itself in razor-like -spicules about the soft sand, and lay in wait for unwary feet. - -Jim, racing home one day from the bathing alongside the Little Lady, -and dazzled somewhat, perhaps, by the gleam of the little crimson robe -and the damp little mane of flowing hair, set incautious foot on one -of the razor spicules, jerked out an energetic and utterly unconscious -"Damn!" and bit the sand. - -The Little Lady heard the word, but missed the cause. - -"Oh!" cried she, in a shocked voice, and sped away to her own -apartment, and began to dress with trembling sodden pink fingers in -extreme haste, as though clothing might possibly afford a certain -amount of protection against the ill effects of flying curses. - -By the time she had got on her tiny pink petticoat, a peep round the -corner showed her her brother and Jack kneeling by the fallen utterer -of oaths and curses, and she began to fear something had happened. - -She had little doubt that punishment had promptly overtaken the -sinner. But she liked the sinner in spite of his sin, and she stole -back to see what was the matter. That it was something serious was -evident by Charles's knitted brows as he bent over the foot which Jim -held tightly between his hands. His lips were pinched very close, and -his brown face was mottled with putty colour, and the sand below was -red. The indurated little pad, hard as leather almost with much -running on the sands--for the boys scoffed at shoes--was badly sliced -and bleeding freely, but the worst of it was that the treacherous -spicule had broken off short and stopped inside and they had no means -of getting it out. - -"Rags, Gracie," said Eager, at sight of the tearful face and clasped -hands and pink petticoat, and she turned and sped, over sands that -rocked like waves beneath her feet, to her dressing-room, and back -with an armful of garments and a handkerchief the size of his hand. - -He folded the handkerchief into a square pad, and ripped something -white into strips and bound the foot tightly, issuing his orders as he -did so. - -"Jack, get into your things and run for Dr. Yool, and tell him to go -to the house. Tell him there's glass inside that must come out. -Gracie, put on your frock and sit here with Jim. I'll get some things -on, and then I'll carry him home!" - -And the Little Lady struggled mistily into her things behind Jim's -back, and then sat down alongside him without speaking. - -"Doesn't hurt a bit," said Jim, through clenched teeth and whitened -lips. - -The Little Lady sniffed and looked at the distant sea. - -"Tell you it doesn't hurt," said Jim again. - -The Little Lady made no response. - -And presently--"Whew!" said Jim, with a frightful twist of the face, -trying by instinct the other tack, "ah!--o-o-oh!"--but all to no -purpose. The Little Lady's soft heart might be wrung, but at present -she could not bring herself to speak to this dreadful sinner. - -"Now," said Eager, running up. "Stand up, Jim. Put your arms round my -neck. Now your feet up, so, and off we go. I must get old Bent to make -sandals for you youngsters. We can't have this kind of thing, you -know. It'll be ten days before you can use that foot, old man." - -"Damn!" - -"Jim!" - -And the Little Lady fell solemnly into the rear. - -She would not speak to him for two whole days, though she did not mind -sitting within sight of him in the side of a sand-hill, and she -silently allowed him to instruct her in the art of making sand -waterfalls. But the current of her usual merry chatter was frozen at -the fount, and the unconscious Jim could make nothing of it. - -On the third day, tiring of an abstinence that was quite as irksome to -herself as to her victim, she broke the ice by informing him of the -painful fact that he was doomed to everlasting punishment. She put it -very shortly and concisely. - -"Jim," she said, "you'll go to hell." - -"Um?" chirped Jim cheerfully, glad to hear her voice once more, even -at such a price. "An' why?" - -"'Cause you swear." - -"Ho! Very well! So will HE"--the emphatic use of the third person -singular in the boys' vernacular was always understood to stand for -Sir Denzil Carron of Carne--"and so will Kennet, and so will Dr. -Yool." - -"I don't care about any of them," said Grace impartially, "unless, -perhaps, Dr. Yool. I do rather like him. But it will be such a pity -for you." - -The prospect did not seem to trouble him greatly, perhaps because his -views on the subject were not nearly so clearly defined as hers. - -"Oh, well, I won't if you don't like," he answered cheerfully. - -"Thank you," said the Little Lady; and from that time, simply to -oblige her, and from no great fear of direr consequences, he really -did seem to do his best to avoid the use of any words which might -offend her. He even went so far as to assume an oversight of his -brother's rhetorical flights, and many a pitched battle they had in -consequence. - -These encounters were so much a part of their nature that Eager found -it impossible to stop them entirely. They had fought continually since -ever they could crawl within arm's length of one another. Where other -boys might have argued to ill-temper, these two simply closed without -wasting a word, and having settled the momentary dispute, _vi et -armis_, were as friendly as ever. They both possessed fiery tempers, -and had never seen or dreamt of the necessity of controlling them. But -on the other hand, they never bore malice, and the cause of dispute, -and the blows that settled it, were forgotten the moment the god of -battle had awarded the palm. They were very closely matched, and no -great bodily harm came of it, though to the spectators it looked -fearsome enough. - -Bit by bit, utilising and turning to best account their natural powers -and proclivities, Eager got hold of them, to the point at all events -of inducing their feet into more reasonable upward paths. But as to -coming one step nearer to the reading of Sir Denzil's puzzle, he had -to acknowledge completest failure. - -He studied the boys, from his own intense interest in them, as no -other had ever had the opportunity of studying them. And he discussed -his observation of them with Sir Denzil time and again. But, so far, -there were no ultra indications of disposition in either of them so -marked as to offer any reasonable basis for deduction. - -For men without a single common view of life, he and Sir Denzil had -become quite friendly. A verbal tussle with the old heathen, in which -each spoke his mind without reserve, always braced him up, just as the -boys' more primitive method of argument seemed to do them good. - -The old gentleman always greeted him, over a pinch of snuff, with an -expression of regret that he had not yet succeeded in settling the -matter out of hand by drowning one of his pupils. - -"Well, Mr. Eager," he would say, "no progress yet?" - -"Oh, plenty. We're improving every day." - -"H'mph If you'd only drown one of them for me----" - -"I've a better use for them than that." - -"I doubt it. Ill stock on either side, though I say it." - -"As the twig is bent----" - -"Break one off and I'd thank you. Here is possibly a further -complication,"--tapping with his snuff-box a small news-sheet he had -been reading when Eager came in. - -"What is that, sir?" - -"That fool Quixande has got into a mess in Paris--got a sword through -his ribs." - -"Quixande?" queried Eager, not perceiving the relevancy of the matter. - -"He has no issue--none that can inherit, that is. One of those whelps -is his only sister's son and so comes in for the title. Which?" - -"H'm, yes. It's mighty awkward. I suppose you couldn't make one of -them Earl of Quixande and the other Carron of Carne?" - -"It would be a solution. But which? Which? Such matters are not -settled by guesswork." - -"We can only wait and see." - -"If Quixande dies we cannot wait--the succession cannot." - -"For his own sake we'll hope he'll pull through. He may repent of his -sins." - -"Quixande?"--with raised brows, and a shake of the head. "You don't -know him." - -"If I did, I'd try to bring him to his senses." - -"Waste of time. With these cubs you may be able to do something, -though I doubt it. Quixande's past mending." - -"No man is past mending till he's dead. Perhaps not then----" - -"Ah!"--with a pinch of snuff and a wave of the hand, "A hopeful creed, -but with no more foundation than most others. It would, however, -undoubtedly commend itself to Quixande on his death-bed." - -"A hopeful creed is better than a hopeless one," said Eager, with -emphasis. - -"Undoubtedly, if you admit the necessity of such things." - -"Thank God, I do." - -"Well, well! However--what you are doing for those boys should benefit -one of them, though it's thrown away upon the other." - -"And if you never solve the puzzle?" - -"If one of them dies I accept the other in full. That's the solution." - -There were times when all Eager's knocking on the great front door was -productive of no result whatever. Then he would go round to the back -and interview Mrs. Lee, but never with any satisfaction. - -"Ay?" she would say to his statement, straightening up from her work, -arms akimbo, and gazing steadily at him with her dark eyes. "Maybe -they're out." - -But he had never met Sir Denzil out, nor had any of the villagers ever -encountered him, and Dr. Yool said brusquely that both the old -gentleman and his gentleman were probably lying dead drunk in the -upper rooms. - -Eager never mentioned these abortive visits to Sir Denzil, and there -was never anything in his appearance to justify Dr. Yool's assertions. - - - - -CHAPTER XII -MANY MEANS - - -Eager spread his nets very wide for the capture for higher things of -these two callow souls cast so carelessly into his hands. Carelessly, -that is, on the part of Sir Denzil. For his own part he believed -devoutly in the Higher Hand in the great game of life, and never for a -moment doubted that here was a work specially designed for him by -Providence. - -He put his whole heart into the matter, as he did into all matters. He -felt himself very much in the position of a missionary breaking up new -ground, except, indeed, that here were no old beliefs to get rid of. -It was absolutely virgin soil, and he felt and rejoiced in the -responsibility. - -Perfect little savages they were in many respects, and their training -had to begin at the very beginning. Manners they lacked entirely, and -their customs were simply such as they had evolved for themselves in -their free-and-easy life on the flats, Their beliefs were summed up in -a wholesome fear of Sir Denzil and his representative Mr. Kennet. -These two were to them as the gods of the heathen; powers of evil, to -be avoided if possible, and if not, then to be propitiated by the -assumption of graces--such as unobtrusiveness, and if observed, then -of meekness and conformability--which were no more than instantly -assumed little masks concealing the true natures within, which true -natures found their full vent and expression in the wilds of the -sand-hills and the untrammelled freedom of the shore. - -Old Mrs. Lee was a power of another kind, on the whole benevolent; -provident, at all events, and not given to such incomprehensible -outbreaks of anger and punishment as were the others at times. - -They had known no coddling, had run wild with as little on as -possible--and in their own haunts with nothing on at all--since the -day they could crawl out of the courtyard down to the ribbed sand -below. They were hard as nails, and feared nothing, except Sir Denzil -and Mr. Kennet. - -Eager's first and most difficult work was to break them off their evil -habits--their natural lust for slaughter and destruction, the -perpetual resort to fisticuffs for the settlement of the most trifling -dispute, the use of language which conveyed no meaning beyond that of -emphasis to their own minds, but which to other ears was terribly -revolting. - -Just as, if he had had a couple of wild colts to take to stable, he -would have found it better to lead them than to drive, so he strove to -win these two from the miry ways and pitfalls among which a shameful -lack of oversight had left them to stray. He forced no bits into their -mouths, laid no halters on their touchy heads. He just won their -confidence and liking, till they looked up to him, trusted him, -finally worshipped him, and followed, unquestioning, where he chose to -lead them. - -And--Providence or no Providence--they could not have fallen into -better hands. - -Charles Eager was one of the newer school, a muscular Christian if -ever there was one, rejoicing greatly in his muscularity, and as wise -as he was thorough in his Master's work. He had pulled stroke in his -boat at Cambridge, and when he went there had looked forward to the -sword as his oyster-opener. And so he had given much time to fitting -himself adequately for an army career. He would have backed himself to -ride, or box, or fence with any man of his time; and he had so -unmistakable a bent for mechanics, and was so skilful a hand with -lathe and tools, that there could not be a moment's doubt as to which -branch nature designed him for. - -And then, when he had perfected himself for the way he had chosen, a -better way opened suddenly before him. Without a sign of the cost, he -renounced all he had been looking forward to all his life, and -dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the greater work. - -All that he had acquired, however, with so different an end in view, -remained with him, and helped to make him the man he was; and it was -into such hands that, by the grace of God, these two wild Carron colts -had fallen. - -A missionary, when he sets out to turn his unruly flock from their old -savageries, must, if he understands human nature and his work, provide -other and less harmful outlets for the energies resulting from -generations of tumult and slaughter. Eager taught his young savages -boxing on the most scientific principles, and made the gloves himself. -He taught them fencing with basket-hilted sticks, constructed under -his own eyes by the old basket-weaver in the village. Prompt appeal to -arms was still permitted in settlement of their endless disputes; but -the business was regularised, and tended, all unconsciously on the -part of the combatants, to education. - -For their inexhaustible energies he found new and much-appreciated -vent in games on the sands. And if these were crude enough -performances, compared with their later developments familiar to -ourselves, they still had in them those elements of saving grace which -all such games teach in the playing--self-control, fair-play, honour -And these be mighty things to learn. - -In the summer they played cricket. The bat and ball Eager provided; -the stumps he made himself. - -He also instructed them in the mysteries of hare-and-hounds, which -chimed mightily with their humour, especially when he supplemented it -with a course of Fenimore Cooper. They became mighty hunters and -notable trackers, their natural instincts and previous training -standing them in excellent stead. - -In the winter the flats rang to their shouts at football and hockey, -crudely played, but mightily relished. - -And always, in and alongside their play and in between, but so deftly -administered that it seemed to them but a natural part of the whole, -their education proceeded by leaps and bounds. They drank in knowledge -unawares, and learned intuitively things that mere teaching is -powerless to teach. - -When he found them they were simply self-centred and selfish little -savages--each for himself, and heedless of anything outside his own -skin; and their manners and customs were such as naturally fitted -their state. - -As their minds opened to the larger things outside, and they began to -be drawn away from themselves, their natural proclivities came into -play. Like hardy wild-flowers, their rough outer sheaths began to open -to the sun, revealing glimpses of the better things within. - -And, all unconsciously to herself or to them, little Grace Eager was -the sun to whom, in the beginning, their expansion was due. - -Eager, watching them all with keenest interest, used to say to himself -that she was doing as much for them as he, if not more. - -She was so novel to them, so altogether sweet and charming. She -supplied something that had hitherto been a-wanting in their lives, -and of whose lack they had not even been aware, until she came into -them, and made them conscious of the want by filling it. - -Now and again at first, and presently almost as a matter of course, -the tiger-cubs were invited up to Mrs. Jex's cottage for a homely -meal, after some hotly contested game on the sands or some long chase -after the tricky two legged hare or astute and elusive Redskin. - -And, in the beginning, Indian brave who knew no fear, but knew almost -everything else that was to be known in his own special line, and -cunning hare and vociferous hound, and tireless champion of the bat -and hockey-stick, and valiant fighters on all possible occasions, -would sit mumchance and awkward, watching the Little Lady, with wide, -observant eyes, as she dispensed her simple hospitalities with a grace -and sweetness that set her above and apart from anything they had ever -known. - -And then she was so extraordinarily different indoors from what she -was on the sands. There, at cricket or hockey, or football, she danced -and shrieked with excitement, and was never still for a moment. Here, -at the table, she suddenly became many years older, knew just what to -do, and did it charmingly,--ordering even the Rev. Charles about, and -beaming condescendingly on them all, from the lofty heights of her -experience and knowledge of the world as learned from her aunts in -London. - -Painfully aware of deficiency, they began to strive to fit themselves -for such occasions, repressed themselves into still greater -awkwardness and silence, fought one another afterwards on account of -too obvious lapses from what they considered proper behaviour and -unkind brotherly comment thereupon, but all the time unconsciously -absorbed the new atmosphere and by degrees became able to enjoy it -without discomfort. - -"Jim, my dear boy," she would say, on occasion, "are you comfortable -on that chair?" - -A quick nod from the conscious and obviously uncomfortable Jim. - -"You shouldn't just nod your head, my dear. You should say, 'Yes, -thank you,' or 'Not entirely,'--as the case may be. It's rude just to -nod." - -"Not entirely, then," blurted Jim, with a very red face, and many -times less comfortable than before. - -"I'm sorry, but they're all the same, and if you sit on the sofa you -can't reach the table. And if you sit on the floor I can't see you." - -"I can do, thank you." - -"Who lives in that cottage we passed to-day, down along the shore by -the Mere?" asked Eager, by way of diversion. - -"Old Seth," from both boys at once, much relieved at being put into a -position to answer a question that had nothing to do with themselves. - -"Old Seth? I've not come across him yet. Old Seth what?" - -"Old Seth Rimmer. He's a Methody," said Jack. - -"It's a lonely place to live, away out there. Has he a wife,--any -children?" - -"Mrs. Rimmer's always in bed." - -"An invalid. I must call and see her, Methody or no Methody." - -"And there's young Seth and Kattie." - -"I saw the girl peeping out after you'd passed. She's a nice-looking -girl. I shall call and get to know her," said the Little Lady -decisively. - -"We'll go and make their acquaintance to-morrow," said her brother. -"What does Mr. Rimmer do? Fishing?" - -A nod from Jim. "Keeps his boat up in the river, two miles further -on." - -"And the Mere? Any fish there?" - -"Ducks in winter. We got one once." - -"Had to lie in the rushes all day," said Jack, with a reminiscent -shiver. - -"It was a good duck," said Jim. - -And the next afternoon the Rev. Charles set out for the cottage, with -Grace skipping about him in search of treasure-trove of beach and -sand-hill. - -It was a stoutly-built little wooden house, standing back in a hollow -of the sand-hummocks, and its solitariness was enhanced by reason of -the vast and lonely expanse of Wyn Mere, which lay just behind it. The -shore of the Mere was thick with reeds and rushes. The long unbroken -stretch of water silently mirroring the blue sky, with its margin of -rustling reeds, possessed a beauty all its own, but something of -sadness and solemnity too. - -Grace, standing on top of a sand-hill, with a high tide dancing -merrily up the flats on the one side and the long silent Mere on the -other, put it into words. - -"How unhappy it looks, Charlie! I like the sea best. It laughs." - -"It laughs just now, my dear, but sometimes it roars and thunders." - -"All the same, I like it best. This other looks as if it drowned -people." - -"I don't suppose it ever drowned as many people as the sea, Gracie." - -"Then it seems as if it thought more of those it has drowned. I -wouldn't live here for anything. I'd cut a hole through the sand-hills -and let the sea wash it all away." - -"Better see what Mr. Rimmer thinks of it before you do that." And he -laid a restraining hand on her arm as the door of the wooden house -opened quietly, and a man came out backwards and stood for a moment -with his head bent towards the door as if he were listening. His hair -was long and of scanty grizzled gray. He wore a blue jersey and high -sea-boots, and carried his sou'wester in his hand. Then he -straightened up, clapped on his hat, and strode away round the house -towards the Mere. Eager jumped down the sand-hill and ran after him, -and caught him before he reached a flat-bottomed skiff drawn up on to -the sedgy shore. - -"Is this Mr. Rimmer?" he asked. - -"Seth Rimmer, at yore service, sir." And there turned on them a fine -old gray face, laced and seamed with weather-lines that told of bitter -black nights on the sea, when the spume flew and the salt bit deep. -The blue eyes, very deep under the bushy gray brows, were shrewd and -kindly; the mouth, half hidden in gray moustache and beard, was set -very firmly. - -"He looked good but hard. But I liked him," was Gracie's comment -afterwards. - -"Yo' be the new curate," he said at once, taking in Eager in a large -comprehensive gaze. - -"Charles Eager, the new curate, Mr. Rimmer. How is your wife to-day? I -understand----" - -"Ay, hoo's bed-rid. We're Wesleyans, but hoo'll be glad to see yo' and -th' little lady." And he turned back to the house. - -"An' what's yore name?"--to Gracie. - -"Grace Eager." - -"Yore sister?" - -"All I have left. There have been many between, but we are the last, -and so we're very good friends." - -"An' so ye should. A fine name yon, Grace Eager. An' what are yore -graces, an' what are yo' eager for, missie?" - -"She's full of all graces and eager for all good, like her big -brother. Isn't that it, Gracie?" laughed Charles, to cover her -confusion at so pointed a questioning. - -She nodded and squeezed his hand and skipped by his side, and so they -came back to the house. - -"Someun to see yo', Kattrin," he said, as he opened the door and -ushered them in. - -It was but a small room and the furnishings were of the simplest, but -everything was spick-and-span in its ordered brightness. There was a -small fire with a kettle on the hob, and in one corner was a bed with -a sweet-faced woman in it, propped up with pillows so that she could -look out of the window. - -"Yo're welcome, whoever yo' are," she said. - -"It's new curate, Mr. Eager, an' 's li'll sister." - -"Ech, a'm glad to see yo', sir, though we don't trouble church much -here. Nivver set eyes on last curate, nivver once." - -"I apologise for him, Mrs. Rimmer; perhaps he found the long walk -through the sand too much for him." - -"Ay; he wasn't much of a man," said Rimmer quietly. "Yo're a different -breed, I'm thinking. Yo're tackling them Carron lads, an' that's a -good job. I seen yo' about the sands with 'em." - -"Yes; they're worth tackling, aren't they?" - -"Surely; and yo're the man for the job! Now I mun get along or I'll -miss tide. Yo'll excuse me, an' if yo'll talk a while with the missus -she'll be glad. She dunnot get too many visitors. Good-bye, wife!" And -he went out quietly and tramped sturdily away to his work. - -"He's a right good mon," said his wife fervently. "And he aye bids me -good-bye in case he nivver comes back, and he aye says a prayer for me -outside the door. It's a bad, bad coast this," she said, with a sigh. -"It took his feyther, an' his grandfeyther, and it's aye on his mind -that sometime it'll take him too. An' it may be onytime." - -"He's in better hands than his own, Mrs. Rimmer," said Eager. - -"Aye, I. know, and so was they, an' it's no good thinking o' death and -drownin's till you see 'em. But I seen so many it's not easy to get -away from 'em, lying here all alone." - -"Where's your little girl?" asked Gracie suddenly. - -"Kattie? She should be in by this. She stops chattin' wi' th' neebors -now an' then. It's lonesome here for childer, yo' see. I sometimes -wish we was nearer folk, but we've lived here all our lives an' I -wouldna like to move now." - -"And who are your nearest neighbours, Mrs. Rimmer?" asked Eager. - -"Oh, there's plenty across Mere--Bill o' Jack's, an' Tom o' Bob's o' -Jim's, an'----" She stopped and lay listening. "That's her now." And -presently a girl's voice lilting a song drew near from the direction -of the Mere. - -The door opened and she came in carrying a pail of milk. - -"'Ello!" she jerked in her astonishment, and then lapsed into silence. - -"Where's your manners, Kattie?" from her mother, as she stood staring -at the strangers, especially at Gracie. - -"How are you, Kattie?" said Eager. "I'm the new curate. This is my -sister, Gracie. She saw you the other day and wanted to see you -again." - -Kattie put out the tip of a red tongue and smiled in rich confusion. - -She was a remarkably pretty child, with large, dark-blue eyes, a mane -of brown hair tumbling over her shoulders, and the healthy red-brown -skin of the dwellers on the flats. - -Like the boys of Carne, she obviously wore only what she had to wear -of necessity. In her shy grace she was like a startled fawn, looking -her first on man, and ready to bound away at smallest sign of advance. - -"Where's yore manners, lass?" said her mother again; and Kattie drew -in the tip of her tongue and twisted her little red mouth and stared -at Gracie harder than ever. - -"Suppose you two run away out and make one another's acquaintance," -said Eager to Gracie, "and I'll have a chat with Mrs. Rimmer." And the -girls slipped out contentedly. - -"Ech, but you do wear a lot o' clothes!" jerked Kattie, the moment -they got outside. - -"It must be jolly to wear so few," said Gracie enviously. "When I've -lived here a bit perhaps I can too. You see I've always been used to -wearing a lot." - -"They're gey pratty, but I'd liever not carry 'em." - -"Is that your boat? Do you row it all by yourself?" - -"O' course! I'll show you." And she sped down to the long-prowed -shallop from which she had just landed, shoved it off, tumbled in, -regardless of wet feet and display of bare leg, and sent the little -craft bounding over the smooth dark mirror, her vivid little face -sparkling with delight at this opportunity for the display of superior -accomplishment. - -Grade meanwhile danced with desire on the sedgy shore. - -"Me too, Kattie! Come back and take me too! What a love of a little -boat! And you row like a man." - -"I can scull too," cried Kattie vauntingly, and drew in one oar and -slipped the other over the stern and came wobbling back with a manly -swing that seemed to Gracie to court disaster. - -"I like the rowing best," she gasped, as she crawled cautiously in -over the projecting prow. "Let me try one." - -And thereafter they were friends. - -"I like Kattie," said Grade exuberantly, as she danced along home -holding Charlie's hand. - -"She's a pretty little thing, but she seems very shy." - -"She's not a bit shy when you know her. And she can row and swim, and -once she shot a duck on the Mere. And she knows where they lay their -eggs, and . . ." - -And so, for better or worse, Kattie Rimmer came into the story. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII -MOUNTING - - -For the polishing of gems the dust of gems is necessary. And for the -training of boys other boys are essential. Eager cast about for other -boys against whom his colts might wear off some of their angles. - -Some men have a wonderful power of attracting and drawing out all that -is best in their fellows. Personal magnetism, we call it, and it is a -mighty gift of the gods. - -Charles Eager had that gift in a very remarkable degree, and with it -many others that appealed to the most difficult of all sections of the -community. Boys hate being made good. The man who can lift them to -higher planes without any unpleasant consciousness thereof on their -part is a genius, and more than a genius. We have, some of us, met -such in our lives, and we think of them with most affectionate -reverence and crown them with glory and honour, though, all too often, -the world passes them by with but scant acknowledgment. - -But diamond-dust alone will polish diamonds. Softer stuff is useless, -and the supply of boy-diamond-dust in that neighbourhood was small. So -he laid masterful hands on what there was. - -Just outside Wyvveloe, between that and Wynsloe, lay Knoyle, the -residence of Sir George Herapath, the great army contractor. He was a -man of sixty-five, tall, gray-bearded, genial, enjoying a well-earned -rest from a life of many activities. He had married late, and had one -son, George, aged fifteen, and one daughter, Margaret, a year younger. -His wife was dead. - -The firm of Herapath & Handyside, and its trade-mark of interlocked -H.'s, was as well known in army circles as the War Department's own -private mark. During the Napoleonic wars its business dealings were on -a gigantic scale. It fed and clothed and sheltered armies in many -lands, and carried out its every undertaking to the letter, cost what -it might. The first consideration with the firm of H. and H. was -perfect fulfilment of its obligations. None knew better how much -depended on its exertions--how helpless the most skilful commander was -unless he could count absolutely on his supplies. H. and H. never -failed in their duty, and the firm reaped its reward, both in honours -and in cash. But to both Herapath and his partner Handyside the honour -they cherished most of all was the fact that their name and mark stood -everywhere as a guarantee of reliability and fair dealing. - -Handyside died five years after his partner's baronetcy, and left the -bulk of his money to Herapath, having no near relatives of his own. -And Sir George, desirous of rest before he grew past the enjoyment of -it, took into partnership his right-hand man, Ralph Harben, who had -grown up with the firm, strung another H on to the bar of the first -big one, which represented himself--so that the mark of the firm came -to look something like a badly made hurdle--and left the direction of -affairs chiefly in his hands. - -Eager, in the course of his duties, had called at Knoyle and had met -with a congenial welcome. George and Margaret Herapath would be useful -to his cubs now that they were licking into shape. His thoughts turned -to them at once. - -There had been another boy with them at church the previous Sunday, he -noticed. The more the merrier. He would rope them all in, for games -good enough with four are many times as good with eight or more. - -"Yes, I heard you'd tackled the Carron colts," smiled Sir George. "Bit -of a handful, I should say, from all accounts." - -"I like bits of handfuls," said Eager. "I've got good material to work -on. I shall make men of those two." - -"You'll have done a good work. And how can Knoyle be of service to -you, Mr. Eager?" - -"In heaps of ways. I want your two in our games. Four are really not -enough for proper work. Who's the new youngster I saw with you on -Sunday?" - -"That's young Harben, my partner's son. His father is in Spain just -now, and his mother's dead, so I've taken him in for a time." - -"The more the merrier! I wish you had another half-dozen." - -"H'm! I don't. My two keep me quite lively enough." - -"I want you to let me break my two in on some of your horses, too. -You've got more than you can keep in proper condition, and the old -curmudgeon at Carrie flatly refuses to buy them ponies. I've done my -best with him, and riding's about due with my two. They can fence and -swim and box. They beat me at running. Boating's no good here, and -wouldn't be much use to them later, anyway. They're for the army, of -course. Your boy, too, I suppose?" - -"Yes, George is for the army, and young Harben too, I judge, from his -talk. Suppose you bring your two up, say, to-morrow, and they can have -a fling at the ponies, and----" - -"And you can form your own judgment of them," said Eager, with a quiet -chuckle. "That's all right. They're presentable, or I should not have -proposed it, and yours will help to polish them, and that's what I -want." - -"I see. To-morrow morning, then, and they can tumble off the ponies in -the paddock to their hearts' content." - -So--three very excited faces, and three pairs of very eager eyes, as -they pressed up the avenue to Knoyle next morning, and keen little -noses sniffing anxiously for ponies, for Gracie was not going to miss -such a chance, and as for the boys, wild mustangs of the prairies -would not have daunted them. - -Life--what with swimming and fencing and boxing and cricket and hockey -and football--had suddenly widened its bounds beyond belief almost, -and now, the crowning glory of horses loomed large in front. - -Picture them in their scanty blue knee-breeches and blue jerseys, no -hats, but fine crops of black hair, their eager, handsome faces the -colour of the sand, with the hot blood close under the tan, bare legs -and homely leather sandals, black eyes with sparks in them; Gracie in -a little blue jersey also and a short blue frock, bare-legged and in -sandals too, for life on the sands had proved altogether too -destructive of stockings; on her streaming hair, and generally hanging -by its strings, a sunbonnet originally blue, but now washing out -towards white. - -"There they are!" gasped Gracie, dancing with excitement as usual. "In -that field over there----" - -"And here are Sir George and the others. Remember to salute him, boys; -and look him straight in the eye when he speaks to you. He's a jolly -old boy." - -"And, for goodness' sake, don't fight if you can possibly help it!" -said Gracie impressively. - -"I congratulate you on your colts, Mr. Eager," said Sir George, as -they followed the youngsters to the paddock. "They're miles ahead of -what I expected. I had my misgivings, I confess, but now they are -gone. You've done wonders with them already." - -"Good material, Sir George. But there's plenty still to do. You can't -cure the neglect of years in a few months." - -"If any man could, you could. They're a well-set-up pair, and look as -fit as fiddles." - -"Their free life on the sands has done that for them at all events. If -they've missed much, they have also gained much, and, by God's help, -I'm going to supply the rest. There are the makings of two fine men -there." - -"You'll do it. Why! What are they up to now?" - -"Only fighting," laughed Eager. "They rarely dispute in words, always -_vi et armis_. Jack! Jim! Stop that! What's the matter now?" as the -boys got up off the ground with flushed faces and dancing eyes. "A -mighty good-looking pair!" thought Sir George to himself. "And which -is which and which is t'other, I couldn't tell to save my life." - -"I was going to help Gracie over, and he cut in," said Jack. - -"I wanted to help her over too," grinned Jim. - -"Sillies!" said Gracie. "I didn't need you. I got through. Oh, what -beauties!" as a bay pony and a grey came trotting up to their master -and mistress for customary gifts and caresses. - -"This is mine," said Margaret, kissing the soft dark muzzle. "Dear old -Graylock! Want a bit of sugar? There then, old wheedler!" And Graylock -tossed his head and savoured his morsel appreciatively, with a mouth -that watered visibly for more. - -"Lend me a bit, Meg," begged her brother. "I forgot the greedy little -beggars. You spoil 'em. Here you are, Whitefoot." - -"Bridles only, at present, Bob," said Sir George, to a stable-boy who -had come down laden with gear. "Let the youngsters begin at the -beginning. Now you, Jack and Jim--I don't know which of you's -which--have a go at them barebacked, and let's see what you're made -of." And the boys flung themselves over the ponies with such vehemence -that Jim came down headlong on the other side while Graylock danced -with dismay; and Jack hung over Whitefoot like a sack, but got his leg -over at last, with such a yell of triumph that his startled steed shot -from under him and left him in a heap on the grass. - -But they were both up in a moment and at it again. - -"Twist yer hand in his mane," instructed Bob, "an' hang on like the -divvle. There y'are! Now clip him tight wi' yer knees an' shins. -You're aw reet!" And Jim and Graylock went off down the paddock in a -series of wild leaps and bounds, while Bob ran after them -administering counsel. - -"Loose yer reins a bit! Don't tickle him wi' yer toes! . . . Stiddy -then! Go easy, my lad! Don't fret 'im!"--as Jack and Whitefoot bore -down upon him in like fashion. - -"They'll ride aw reet," he said, as he came back crab-fashion to the -lookers-on, with his eyes fixed on the riders. "Stick like cats, they -do. And them ponies is enjoying theirselves." - -"Promising, are they, Bob?" asked Sir George. - -"They're aw reet. They'll ride," said Bob emphatically. When the -horsemen wore round towards the group they were in boastful humour. - -"I was up first," from Jack. - -"I was off first," from Jim. - -"Ay--on ground!" - -"Nay, on pony! You were sitting on grass." - -"You fell over t'other side." - -"I'll fight you!" And in a moment they were off their steeds and -locked in fight, to the great scandal of Gracie. - -"Oh you dreadful boys!" And she danced wildly about them. "Didn't I -tell you----" - -"Stop it, boys!" And Eager laughingly shook them apart. - -"The old Adam will out," he said to Sir George, who was enjoying them -mightily. - -"They've no lack of pluck. Keep 'em on right lines, Mr. Eager, and -you'll make men of them. Now then, who's for next mount? Rafe, my lad, -what do you say to a bareback?" - -"Sooner have a saddle, sir," said young Harben, and sat tight on the -paling. - -"You, missie?" as Gracie danced imploringly before him. "Saddle up, -Bob. . . . Well, I'm----!" as the ponies went off down the field again -with the boys struggling up into position. "Oh, they'll do all right. -I like their spirit." - -When the ponies were captured, Gracie had her ride under Margaret's -care, and expressed herself very plainly on the subject of -side-saddles and the advantages of being a boy. And the boys took to -saddle and stirrups as they had to the swimming. - -"They'll ride," was Bob's final and emphatic verdict again. - -Sir George insisted on their waiting for midday dinner, an experience -which some of them enjoyed not at all and would gladly have escaped. - -Gracie sat between Jack and Jim, and got very little dinner because of -her maternal anxieties on their account. By incessant watchfulness on -both sides at once she managed to keep them from any very dreadful -exhibition of inexperience, but she got very red in the face over it, -and rather short in the temper, which perhaps was not to be wondered -at considering the state of her appetite and the many tempting dishes -she had no time to do justice to. - -The boys scuffled through somehow, with very wide eyes--to say nothing -of mouths--for hitherto untasted delicacies. Mrs. Lee's commissariat -tended to the solidly essential, and disdained luxuries for growing -lads. - -Muter Harben made the Little Lady's ears tingle more than once with an -Appreciative guffaw at her protégés' solecisms, and if quick indignant -glances could have pierced him he would have suffered sorely. As it -was, Margaret frowned him back to decency, and George intimated in -unmistakable gesture that punishment awaited him in the privacy of the -immediate future. - -But Jack and Jim, the prime causes of all this disturbance, ate on -imperturbably, and followed the directions, conveyed by their -monitress in brief fierce whispers and energetic side-kicks, to the -best of their powers, so long as these imposed no undue restraint on -the reduction of two healthy appetites. - -And more than once Eager caught Sir George's eye resting thoughtfully -on the pair, and knew what he was thinking. - -"I suppose you know them apart?" he asked quietly, one time when Eager -caught him watching them. - -"Oh yes, I know them, but it took me a few days." - -"A deuced troublesome business! No wonder the old man's gone sour over -it. I don't see what he can do." - -"He can do nothing but wait." - -"And it's bitter waiting when the sands are running out." - -On the way home the Little Lady blew away some of the froth of their -exultation at their own prowess, by her biting comments on their -shortcomings at table. But this new and grand addition to their -lengthening list of acquirements overtopped everything else, and they -exulted in spite of her. - -"We stuck on barebacked, anyway," said Jim; "and what does it matter -how you eat?" - -"It matters a great deal if you want to be gentlemen," said Gracie -vehemently. - -"We're going to be soldiers," said Jack. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV -WIDENING WAYS - - -Next day, when the Rev. Charles was putting all his skill into -underhand twisters for the overthrow of Jack, who, to Jim's great -exasperation, had got the hang of them and was driving them all over -the shore, and Gracie was dancing with wild exhortation to her brother -to get him out, as it was her innings next--she stopped suddenly with -a shout and started off towards the sand-hills. And the others, -turning to see what had taken her, found the Knoyle party threading -its way among the devious gullies, and presently they all came -cantering through the loose sand to the flats. - -"Morning, Mr. Eager; we've come for a game. Will you have us?" cried -Sir George exuberantly. - -"Rather! It's just what we wanted. You'll play, sir?" - -"That's what I came for. Renew my youth, and all that kind of thing! -See to the horses, Bob. Eh, what?"--at sight of the lad's eager -face--"Like to take a hand too? Well, see If you can tether 'em--away -from those bents. Bents won't do them any good. Now then, how shall we -play?" - -"Oh, Carne versus Knoyle," said Eager. "All to field, and Margaret -goes in for both sides." - -Knoyle beat Carne that time, thanks to George and Bob. Sir George -"renewed his youth, and all that kind of thing." And young Ralph -Harben entered vigorous protest every time he was put out, and argued -the points till George punched his head for him. - -After the game the boys were allowed to take the stiffness out of the -ponies' legs. And altogether--as the first of many similar ones--that -was a memorable day. - -Eager rejoiced greatly in the success of his planning, for the close -contact with these other bright and restless spirits had a wonderful -effect on his boys. They toned down and they toned up, and it seemed -to him that he could trace improvement in them each day. - -He had his doubts now and again of the effects of young Harben on his -own two. The lad was difficult and had evidently been much spoiled at -home. Eager quietly did his best to remedy his more visible defects, -and George Herapath seconded him with bodily chastisement whenever -occasion offered. - -Eager and Sir George were sitting resting in the side of a sand-hill -one day, and watching the younger folk at a game in which Ralph was -perpetually disputatious odd-man-out. It seemed impossible for him to -get through any game without some wrangle. - -Eager made some quiet comment on the matter and Sir George said: - -"Yes, he's difficult. He's the only child, and his mother spoiled him -sadly. When she died his father sent him to a second-rate school, and -this is the result. But I hope he'll pull round. We must do what we -can for him. Harben is in treaty for the Scarsdale place just beyond -Wynsloe, so you'll be able to keep an eye on the boy. Your two are -marvels. I never see them squabbling." - -"Oh, they never squabble. They just fight it out, and no temper in it. -They're really capital boxers, and they're coming on in their -fencing." - -"You'll make men of those two yet." - -"I'll do my best." - -"And if the old man dies? What will happen then?" - -"God knows. It's as hard a nut as I ever came across." - -"That infernal old woman up at Carrie could crack it if she would, I -suppose?" - -"I have no doubt; but she won't speak. And I'm afraid no one would -believe her if she did." - -"Deuced rough on the old man!" And Sir George lapsed into musing, and -watched the riddles of Carne as they sped to and fro, as active as -panthers and as careless as monkeys of the trouble they represented. - -One day when they were all hard at it, Gracie suddenly sped from her -post, as her manner was, heedless of the shouts of the rest, darted in -among the hummocks, and came back dragging the not very reluctant -Kettle Rimmer and insisted on her joining the game. And Kattie, -nothing loth, succeeded in cloaking her lack of knowledge with such -untiring energy that she proved a welcome recruit and was forthwith -pressed into the company. For where numbers are few and more are -needed, trifling distinctions of class lose their value. She was very -quick and bright, too, and soon picked up the rules of the games; and -when she was not flying after balls she was watching Margaret and -Gracie with worshipful observant eyes, and assimilating from them a -new code of manners for her own private use. - -Gracie's usual behaviour in games, indeed, was that of a pea on a hot -shovel. But Margaret, no whit behind her in her zeal for the business -on hand, bore herself with something more of the dignity and decorum -of a young lady in her fifteenth year--except just on occasion, when, -at a tight pinch, everything went overboard and she flung herself into -things with the abandon of Gracie and Kattie combined. - -Eager watched her with great appreciation. He could divine the coming -woman in the occasional sweet seriousness of the charming face, and -rejoiced in her as he did in all beautiful things. - -And George Herapath, with much of his father in him, was always a -tower of good-humoured common sense and abounding energy. He backed up -Eager's efforts in every direction, licked Harben or the tiger-cubs -conscientiously, as often as occasion arose, and brought to their play -the experience and tone of the public schoolboy up to date. He was at -Harrow, and his house was closed on account of an outbreak of scarlet -fever, which all except the higher powers counted mighty luck and all -to the good. - -They soon dropped into the way of all bathing together of a morning, -before starting their game--all except Sir George, whose sea-bathing -days were over, and who preferred cantering over the sands with them, -all racing alongside like a pack of many-coloured hounds, shouting -aloud in the wild glee of the moment, splashing through the shimmering -pools in rainbow showers, tumbling headlong into the tideway, and then -in dogged silence breasting fearlessly out to sea, while Sir George -rode his big bay into the water after them as far as his discretion -would permit. - -And at times they sped far afield over the countryside, when, if Jack -and Jim were hares, they were never caught, and if they were hounds -they picked up an almost invisible scent in a way that did credit to -their powers and to Mr. Fenimore Cooper. They might be beaten at -cricket or hockey, whose finer rules they were always transgressing, -but in this wider play none could come near them. - -It took the new-comers a very long time to distinguish between them; -and even when they thought they had got them fixed at last, they were -as often wrong as right, for the boys delighted to puzzle them, and -even went the length of refusing to answer to their right names and -assuming one another's with that sole end in view. - -"They beat me," laughed Sir George, more than once. "I never know -t'other from which, and when I'm quite sure of 'em I'm always wrong." - -"They do it on purpose," said Gracie. "They're little rascals, but -they're as different as different to me. I can't see any likeness in -them, except that they're both rather bad at times--but nothing to -what they used to be, I assure you, Sir George." - -"Well, well I Perhaps I'll get to know them in time, my dear; and -meanwhile you just wink at me when they're making game of the old -man." - -"I will," said Gracie solemnly. "But they don't really mean any harm, -you know. It's just their fun." - -From his upper windows in the house of Carne that other old man -watched them also, with scowling face and twisted heart. The sands -were running--running--running, and he was no nearer the solution of -his life's puzzle than he had been ten years ago. Farther away if -anything, for babies die more easily than lusty, tight-knit, -sun-tanned boys who never knew an ailment, and grew stronger every -day. - -But there were keener eyes still, sharpened by a vast craving love for -the wakening souls committed to his care, watching them all the time, -and eager for every sign of growth and development. Love blinds, they -say, and so it may to that which it does not wish to see. But Love is -a mighty revealer, too, and Doubt and Dislike attain no revelations -but the shadows of themselves. - -Charles Eager studied those boys with many times the eagerness and -acumen that he had ever brought to his books. Here was a living -enigma, and he found it fascinating. But the weeks grew into months, -and he found himself not one step nearer its solution. - -In all their moods and humours, in their outstanding virtues and their -no less prominent defects, they were one. They had grown up in the -equal practice of qualities drawn, on the one side at all events, from -the same source. - -Bodily fear seemed quite outside their ken. They lacked the -imagination which pictures possible consequences behind the deed. If -they wanted to do a thing, they did not stop to consider what might -come of it, but just did it. The consequences when they came were -accepted as matters of course. - -They were generous to a fault. They would, indeed, fight between -themselves for the most trifling possessions, but it was from sheer -love of fighting. They never kept for the mere sake of having, and -most of their belongings they held in common--jointly against the -world as they had known it. And this feeling of being two against -outsiders had undoubtedly fostered the communal feeling. As their -circle widened and others were admitted into it, the feeling extended -to them. They possessed little, but what they had all were welcome to. - -And they were by nature eminently truthful. To their grandfather or -Mr. Kennet they might on occasion assume masks which belied their -feelings, but that was in the nature of a ruse to mislead an enemy who -by gross injustice had forced them into unnatural ways. To them it was -no more acting a lie than is the broken fluttering of a bird which -thereby draws the trespasser from its nest. They were in a state of -perpetual war with the higher powers, and to them all things were -fair. - -Their faults were the natural complements of these better things. They -were headstrong, reckless, careless, hot-tempered--defects, after all, -which as a rule entail more trouble on their owners than on others, -and are therefore regarded by the world with a lenient eye. - -For many months Eager found no shade of difference in their -development. They had started level, and they progressed in equal -degree, and progressed marvellously. The virgin soil brought forth an -abundant harvest. But then, in spite of all, it was good soil, and -ready for the seed. - -The grim old man at Carne sent now and again for Eager, and received -him always, snuff-box in hand, with a cynical, "Well, Mr. Eager, no -progress?" - -"Progress, Sir Denzil? Heaps! We are advancing by leaps and bounds. We -are doing splendidly." - -"You've still got the two of them, I see,"--as though they were -puppies Eager was trying to dispose of. - -"Still got the two, sir, and I couldn't tell you which is the better -of them. There are the makings of fine men in both." - -"Then you're just where you were as to which is which?" - -"Just where you have been these ten years, sir." - -"You have seen more of them in ten weeks than I've seen in ten years." - -"They are developing every day, but so far they run neck to neck. But, -candidly, Sir Denzil, I scarcely know what signs one could take as any -decisive indication of their descent. Heredity is a ticklish thing to -draw any certain inference from. It plays odd tricks, as you know." - -"I had hoped somewhat from those swimming lessons----" and he snuffed -regretfully. - -Eager laughed joyously at his disappointment. - -"Why, they swam like ducks the very first day. You really have no idea -what fine lads they are, sir. They are lads to be proud of." - -"Ay--if there was but one." - -"It's a thousand pities we can't find the right way out of the muddle -without thinking of such things." - -"We cannot," said the old man grimly. - - - - -CHAPTER XV -DIVERGING LINES - - -As time went on, however, Eager's careful oversight of the boys began -to note slight points of divergence in the lines of their -characteristics, which had so far run absolutely side by side. - -Jack, for instance, began to develop a somewhat tentative kind of -self-control. His brain seemed to become more active. At times he even -attempted to subject Jim to discipline for lapses from his own view of -the right way of things. And Jim took him on right joyously; and the -pitched battles, which Eager had been striving to relegate to the -background, were renewed with vehemence, within the strict limits of -the new rules thereto ordained. - -Gracie was distressed at this falling away. But Eager bade her be of -good cheer, and watched developments with interest. Meanwhile, the -boys muscles and skill in self-defence grew mightily. - -There was no doubt about it, Jack was harvesting his grain the quicker -of the two--so far as could be seen, at all events. The difference -between them when instruction was to the fore was somewhat marked. -Jack gave his mind to it and took it in, evinced a desire to get to -the bottom of things, even asked questions at times on points that -were not clear to him. Jim, on the other hand, would sit gazing at the -fount of wisdom with wide black eyes which presently wandered off -after a seagull or a shadow, with a very visible inclination towards -such things--or towards anything actively alive--rather than towards -the passivity entailed by the pursuit of abstract knowledge. - -Then again, Jack succeeded at times in forcing himself to sit quite -still for whole minutes on end, while Jim, after a certain limited -number of seconds, was on the wriggle to be up and doing. And the -moment he was loosed, the quiescence of seconds had to be atoned for -by many minutes of joyous activity. - -They were, in fact, beginning to take the lines of the good scholar -and the bad. And yet Eager confessed to himself a very warm heart for -careless, happy-go-lucky Jim. - -"The other looks like making the deeper mark," he said to himself. -"But I can't help loving old Jim. He's all one could wish except in -the brain. Maybe it will come!" - -As to any deductions to be based upon these growing differences -between the boys, he could find no sound footing. - -"Jack seems undoubtedly the more able," he would reason it out, "but -what does that point to? Is it the high result of two blue-blooded -strains, or the enriching of a blue blood with a dash of stronger red? -Which would the stronger blend run to--activity of mind or activity of -body?" - -The latter, he was inclined to think, but found it impossible to -pronounce upon with anything like certainty, and realised that every -other indication would inevitably lead to the same result. The riddle -of Carne would never be read thus. Time and Providence might cut the -knot and give to Carne its rightful heir. Pure reason, or the -questionable affirmation of interested parties, never would. - -From that point of view he saw his commission from Sir Denzil doomed -to failure. But that, after all, he said to himself, with a bracing -shake, was, from his own point of view, of minor consequence. The -great thing was to make men of his boys and fit them for the battle of -life to the best of his powers and theirs. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI -A CUT AT THE COIL - - -Twice, during the autumn, it seemed as though the riddle would be -solved, or at all events the knot cut. - -George Hempath and young Harben had gone off to school, but the -reduced company still took its fill of the freedom of the sands. Sir -George and Margaret rarely failed, and play and work progressed apace. - -Boating on that coast was all toil and little pleasure. With a tide -that ran out a full mile, the care of a boat, unless for strictly -business purposes, would have been a burden. Old Seth Rimmer and his -fellows kept their craft in the estuaries up Wytham way and at -Wynsloe, where, with knowledge of the ever-shifting banks and much -labour, it was possible to get out to sea in most states of the tide. - -But Eager, desirous of an all-round education for his cubs, managed to -teach them rowing in Kattie Rimmer's shallop on the Mere, to Kattie's -great delight, since there she shone at first alone. - -And it was there they made the acquaintance of Kattie's brother, young -Seth, a great loose-limbed giant of nineteen or so, who helped his -father at the fishing at times, and at times went ventures of his own -on less respectable lines. A good-humoured giant, however, who would -lie asprawl on a sand-hummock by the Mere-side, and laugh loud and -long at new-beginners' first clumsy attempts at rowing, and more than -once waded waist-deep into the water to set right-side-up some -unfortunate whose ill-applied vigour had capsized the crank little -craft. - -Some of young Seth's doings were a sore discomfort and mortification -to the older folk in the little wooden house. But he took his own way -outside with dogged nonchalance, bore himself well towards them except -on these sore points of his own private concerns, and worshipped -Kattie. - -Old Seth, you see, had always ordered his little household on the -strictest--not to say straitest--lines of right and wrong. Young Seth, -when he grew too big for bodily coercion, kicked over the lines and -took his own way, in spite of all his father and mother could do to -prevent him. And his way led at times through strange waters and in -strange company. - -He was away sometimes for days on end, and then, whether the little -house lay basking in the sunshine or shaking in the gale, his mother -would lie full of fears and prayers, and his father was quieter than -ever in the boat, and Kattie, but half-comprehending the matter, would -feel the gloom his absences cast and would question him volubly when -he returned, but never got anything for her pains. - -He would do anything for her or for any of them--except give up the -ways he had chosen. - -When the south-wester screamed over the flats for days at a time it -set the ribbed sands humming with its steady persistence. Games were -impossible then, and Eager's ready wit devised a means of turning the -screamer to account. - -He turned into Bob Ratchett's shed one day and said: - -"Bob, I want some wheels--two big ones four feet across, and two about -a foot smaller, and the tires of all must be a foot wide." - -"My gosh, them's wheels! What'n yo' want 'em for?" grinned Bob -admiringly. - -"I'm going to make a boat--" - -"Aw then, passon!--a boat now!" - -"To run on the sands." - -"Aw!" gasped Bob, and eyed "passon" doubtfully. - -"You can make them?" - -"Aw! I can mek 'em aw reet, but----" - -"All right, Bob. You set to work, and I'll see to the rest." - -"Passon's" boat became a great joke in the village. But bit by bit he -worked it out, got his materials into shape, and with his own hands -and the assistance, in their various degrees, of the boys and the -excited oversight of Gracie, fitted it together into a somewhat -nightmare resemblance to the skeleton of a boat. - -Jack stuck pretty steadily to the novel work. Jim and Gracie fluttered -about it, questioning, suggesting, doubting, went off for a game, came -back, danced about, hindering more than helping, but always convinced -in their own minds that but for them that boat would never have been -built. - -The two large wheels, rather wide apart, supported it abeam forward, -and between them he stepped a stout little mast carrying jib and -mainsail. The smaller wheels astern moved on a stout pin and acted as -rudder, actuated by a. long wooden tiller. A rough wooden frame abaft -the mast offered precarious accommodation for passengers. And when at -last, after many days, it was finished, the villagers crowded round -it, and joked and laughed themselves purple in the face over the -oddest and most unlikely craft that coast had ever seen. - -Then willing hands took the ropes, and dragged it out of the village -and through the gullies of the sand-hills with mighty labours, and so, -at last, to the edge of the flats not far from Carne. - -And there Eager climbed in by himself, with not a few fears that the -doubts and laughter of the village might find their justification in -him. - -There was a strong wind blowing with a steady hum right on to the -flats from the south-west. Eager hauled up his sails, lay down in the -meagre cockpit, tiller in hand, and the scoffers started him off with -a run. - -They looked for him to come to a stop when they did; but instead, to -their never-dying amazement, the wind gripped the sails, the -clumsy-looking boat sped on, faster and faster, bumping over the -hard-ribbed sands, rushing through the wind-rippled pools, and they -stood gaping. In less than five minutes it was at the bend of the -coast where it turns to the north-east, a good three miles away, and -then, marvel of marvels for such a craft, just as they expected it to -disappear round the corner, it ran up into the wind, came round on the -other tack with a fine sweep and without a pause, and was rushing back -towards them before their gaping mouths had closed. "Passon's" boat -was a huge success, it raised him mightily in their opinions and -inclined them to give ear even to his suggestions for the abolition of -stinks, and to the boys and the rest it gave a new zest to life. Day -after day, whenever the wind served, they were at it, and looked -forward to the gray windy days as they had never done before. - -Sir George had been away when the boat was launched, but he rode over -the first morning after he got home, and after watching it for a time -ventured on board himself, with Eager at the helm. - -"Man!" he said, as he tumbled out after the run--blown and breathless -and considerably shaken up--"that's wonderful! You ought to have been -an engineer." - -"So I am," laughed Eager, "and on a larger scale than most." - -From the windows of Carne, Sir Denzil watched the novel craft -careering wildly over the flats, and snuffed more hopefully. - -"A sufficiently dangerous-looking toy, Kennet. It seems to ate that it -might quite well kill one or more of them if it upset at that speed. -Let us hope for the best!" And he and Kennet watched the new goings-on -with interest. - -Incidentally, the sand-boat one day came very near to solving the -riddle of Carne on the lines of Sir Denzil's highest hopes. - -There was something in the wild headlong motion that appealed with -irresistible power to Jim's half-tamed nature. The mad bumping rush, -with now one huge wheel barely skimming the ground, now the other; the -hoarse dash through the pools, when, if the sun shone, you sat for a -moment in a whirling rainbow of flying drops the keen zest and -delicious risks of the turn; the novel sense of power in the lordship -of the helm; these things thrilled him through and through, and he -could not get too much of them. - -He made himself the devoted slave of the sand-boat--spent his spare -time in anointing its axles with all the fat he could coax, or -otherwise procure, from Mrs. Lee, till the great wheels almost ran of -their own accord, scraped the long tiller till it was as smooth as a -sceptre--handled the ropes till they were as flexible almost as silk. - -It was he who insisted on naming the boat _Gracie_--"because it jumped -about so," but in reality, of course, because the word Gracie -represented to him the brightest and best that life had yet brought -him. - -They had all tried their hands at names. Sir George--_The Flying -Dutchman_, because it certainly flew and was undoubtedly broad in the -beam; Margaret--_The Sylph_, because it was so tubby; Gracie--_The -Sand-fly_, because it flew over the sand; Jack, for abstruse reasons -of his own--_Chingachgook_; Eager was quite content to leave it to -them. But no matter what the others decided on, Jim always called it -_Gracie_--to the real Gracie's immense satisfaction; and as he talked -Gracie ten times as much as all the rest put together, _Gracie_ it -finally became. - -When wind and weather put the Gracie out of action she lay under the -walls of Carne, with folded wings and docked tail--for Jim always -carried away the tiller into the house, for love of the very feel of -it, and partly perhaps in token of proprietorship. It stood in a -corner where he could always see it, and slept by his bedside. - -No one, however, ever thought of meddling with the sand-boat. In the -first place, she belonged to Mr. Eager, and they held "passon" in -highest esteem. And, in the second place, Carne was a dangerous place -to wander round at night. Mr. Kennet had a gun, with which he was no -great shot, indeed, but even the wildest bullet may find unexpected -billet in the dark. - -It happened, one afternoon in the late autumn, that Eager was away on -the confines of his wide sheepfold, about his Master's business. It -had been wet and blusterous all day, and the boys were desultorily -employed on their books in a corner of the kitchen; Jim with the -_Gracie's_ polished tiller twisting fondly in his hand, as a devoted -lover toys with a ribbon from his mistress's dress; Jack somewhat -absorbed in the doings of Themistocles and Xerxes at Salamis, in a -great volume which he had abstracted from the library the day before. - -The polished tiller wriggled more and more restlessly in Jim's hand, -as though it longed to be up and doing. - -He got up at last and strolled out just to have a look at the rest of -the _Gracie_. Jack was too busy sinking Persian galleys in Salamis Bay -to pay any heed to anything nearer home. - -Jim found the wind blowing half a gale. It swept round the house with -a scream, and seemed to meet again full on the _Gracie_, who quivered -and throbbed as though longing to be off. - -The jib had been wrapped round the forestay, and the wind, working at -it as though of one mind with him, had loosened the clew, and it was -thrashing to and fro in desperate excitement. - -He climbed aboard, fitted the tiller, and sat in vast enjoyment. Why, -it would only need a pull at a rope here and there, and he believed -she would be off. The rain had hardened the soft sand, and there was a -good slope down to the ribbed flats below. He had always longed for a -run all by himself, and he knew the ropes and how to steer her as well -as Mr. Eager did. - -In sheer self-defence he captured the thrashing sheet and twisted it -round a cleat. The jib untoggled itself from the stay, bellied out -full, and the boat began to move slowly down the slope. - -The joy of it sent the blood up into Jim's head and set it spinning. -He would have a run--just a little run--all by himself, just to prove -to himself that he could do it. - -The boat went rocking down the slope. He hauled at the halyard in a -frenzy, and the mainsail went jumping up. He made it fast, grabbed his -beloved tiller, and the _Gracie_, with a roll and a shake, bounded -away up the flats. - -Faster and faster she went, the ribbed sands and the wind-whipped -pools seemed to sweep along to meet her and fly beneath her -all-devouring wheels, till Jim's head was spinning faster even than -they. He yelled and waved his arms above his head, till the tiller -banging him in the ribs nearly knocked him overboard and recalled him -to his duties. - -He was at the bend in the coast before he knew It. He threw his weight -on to the tiller to bring her round on the curve which would allow her -head to fall off on the other tack, but fooled it somehow, and instead -she flew off at a tangent straight for the sea. - -"Ecod!" said a watcher--for other purposes--in the sand-hills. "'Oo's -gooin' reet to stick-sands!"--and started at a run after the _Gracie_. - -Jim always stoutly maintained that if he had only had room enough he -would have got her round all right. But space and time were wanting. - -All in a moment the solid ground seemed to vanish from below the -whirling wheels. One wheel sank down into comparative space, the other -spun on horizontally; the _Gracie's_ nose went down out of sight into a -squirming mass of slimy sand, and Jim was flung head over heels into -the midst of it. - -He got his head up with his mouth full of watery sand which half -choked him. Before he had coughed it out, fear and the clammy sand -gripped him together. It clung to him like thick treacle. His feet and -legs were bound and weighted--he could not move them. And when his -arms got into it the deadly sand clasped them tightly. It was up to -his chest, like cold dead giant arms folding him tighter and tighter -in a last embrace, or the merciless coils of a boa-constrictor. - -Presently it would have him by the throat, and the stuff would run -into his mouth and choke him, and he would die and they would never -find him. - -He tried to shout, with little hope of any one hearing; but it was all -he could do. The clammy death was at his throat, and the pressure on -his chest was so great that his shout was of the feeblest. - -Another minute and the riddle of Carne would have been solved. But -feeble as was his shout, it was answered. The runner on the sands came -panting up, and the sight of his anxious face was to Jim as the face -of an angel out of heaven--and a great deal more, for Jim had never -troubled much about angels. - -"Help--Seth!"--he bubbled, through the sandy scum. - -"Ay, ay, sir!" panted young Seth, and jumped on to the half-submerged -_Gracie_, whipped out his knife from its sheath at his back, and -sliced the stays of the mast and had it out in a twinkling. - -"Lay holt!"--and he shoved it towards the disappearing Jim. "And hang -on tight, if it teks yore skin off! That's it. Twist rope round yo'!" -And he dug his heels deep into the firm sand beyond, and laid himself -almost flat as he hauled at his end of the mast. - -The sweat broke in beads on his forehead, and rolled down his red face -like tears, before the sands would let go their prey. But, inch by -inch, he gained on them, while Jim gave up his legs for lost, so -tightly did the sands hold on to them. - -Inch by inch he was drawn back to life, joints cracking, sinews -straining. It seemed impossible to him that he should come out whole. -But there--his neck was clear, his chest, his body, his knees, and -then, with a "swook" from the "stick-sands" that sounded like a -disappointed curse, the rest of him came out and he lay spent on the -solid earth beyond. - -He remembered no more of the matter, but learned afterwards how young -Seth, after thriftily staking the mast in the sand and lashing the -_Gracie_ to it with a length of rope to prevent her sinking out of -sight--had taken him over his shoulder, not quite sure whether he was -dead or alive, but face downwards, so that if he were alive some of -the sand and water might run out of him, and had set off with him so, -for Carne. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII -ALMOST SOLVED - - -Jack, when presently he had seen the little affair at Salamis to a -satisfactory conclusion, missed Jim and went out in search of him. He -poked about the courtyard without finding him, and only when he got -outside, and saw that the _Gracie_ was gone, did it occur to him that -Jim had gone with her. Then in the distance he saw young Seth Rimmer -coming heavily over the sands with something over his shoulder, and he -ran to meet him. - -From his windows Sir Denzil had watched the sand-boat go racing wildly -up the flats, and had wondered at its solitary occupant. He could see -by the size of him that it was one of the boys, but could not tell -which. - -No matter which: if the thing would only come to grief and make an end -of either of them, what an ending of trouble! What a mighty relief! -Then his way would be clear. - -And as he mused upon it, he saw the distant boat go over, and his -bitter old heart quickened a beat or two with grim hope. Then he saw -the runner on the sands, and knew that something serious was amiss, -and his hopes grew. And when, after what seemed a long, long time, one -came running heavily towards Carne, with a load upon his shoulder, he -believed his wish was realised. - -He went down the stairs and into the kitchen, and spoke to old Mrs. -Lee for the first time in ten years. - -"One of the boys is drowned. Young Rimmer is bringing home his body." -And he eyed the old woman like a hawk, with an evil light of hope in -his eye. - -"Naay!" said she, not to be trapped. - -"Old fool!" he said to himself, but kept an unmoved face and opened -his snuff-box. - -Young Seth came labouring into the courtyard, with Jim on his shoulder -and Jack at his heels. - -Sir Denzil never looked at them. He had eyes for nothing but old Mrs. -Lee's face, which was hard-set and the colour of gray stone. - -"What's happen't, Seth Rimmer?" she croaked as he came, peering -through half-closed eyes at him and his burden. - -"Sand-boat ran i' stick-sand. Nigh got 'im." - -"Is hoo gone?"--as Seth laid the limp body on the table. - -"Nay, I dunno' think hoo con be dead; but it wur sore wark getting' -'im out--nigh pooed 'im i' two--an' hoo swallowed a lot o' stuff." - -"Hoo'll do," she said, after a quick examination. "Yo' leave 'im to -me." And she "shooed" them all out of the kitchen and proceeded to -maltreat Jim tenderly back to life. - -"H'm!" said Sir Denzil disappointedly, as he climbed the stairs -again--"a good chance missed! D--d fools all! . . . I wonder if Lady -Susan's mother would have kept as quiet a face! . . . Well . . . The -deuce take one of them! . . . Which doesn't matter." - -Young Seth waited till the tide washed up over the quicksand, and then -with assistance from the village dragged the _Gracie_ back to life and -trundled her forlornly home. And Sir Denzil sent him out a guinea by -Mr. Kennet--not for saving Jim's life, but for bringing back the means -whereby one or other of his grandsons might still possibly come to a -sudden end. - -Jim, for the first time since he began to remember things, lay in bed -for three whole days, but, thanks to Mrs. Lee's anointings and -rubbings, suffered no further ill-effects from his adventure--except, -indeed, many a horrible nightmare, in which he was perpetually sinking -down into the clinging sands, with his hands and feet fast bound and -the scum running into his mouth; from which he would awake with a howl -which always woke Jack with a start, and the ensuing scrimmage had in -it all the joy of new life. - -Eager, when he hurried up to see Jim and hear all about it, exacted a -promise from them both never to sail the _Gracie_ single-handed again, -and was satisfied the promise would be kept. - -Sir Denzil, hearing he was there, sent for him, and received him as -usual. - -"Well, Mr. Eager, you came near to solving the puzzle for us." - -"I can't tell you how sorry I am, sir----" - -"Yes, 'twas a good chance missed. If that fool Rimmer had only let -Providence work out its own ends----" - -"Thank God, he was on the spot, or I'd never have forgiven myself. -Providence will see to the matter in its own time and in its own way, -Sir Denzil, and neither you nor I can help or thwart it." - -"I'm not so sure of that. If I had my way now----" - -"Providence always wins," said Eager, with a shake of the head and a -cheerful smile. "If we blind bats had our own way, what a muddle we -would make of things. You would surely regret it in the end, sir." - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII -ALMOST SOLVED AGAIN - - -During that winter two events happened, much alike in their general -features, apparently quite disconnected, and yet not at all improbably -resulting the one from the other. Either happening might well have -solved the problem of Carne. - -Jack, as we have seen, had developed a certain taste for information. -He could lose himself completely in the doings of Hannibal or -Alexander, and found the mighty realities of history--or what were -accounted as such--more to his taste than the most thrilling -imaginings of the story-tellers. Jim found them good also--as retailed -to him by Jack--and would sit by the hour, with open mouth and eyes -and ears, taking them all in at second-hand. But sit down to one of -the big books, and worry them all out for himself, he would not. - -And so it came that more than once when Jack was over head and ears in -some delightfully bloody action of long ago, Jim would ramble off by -himself in search of amusement more to his taste, until such time as -the sponge, having filled itself full, should be ready to be squeezed. - -That was how he came to be strolling along the beach one lowering -windy afternoon, seeking desultorily in the lip of the tide for -anything the waves might have thrown up. - -It was always an interesting pursuit, for you never knew what -you might light on. In former times Jack had been as keen a -treasure-hunter as himself, but now he was digging it out elsewhere -and otherwise. - -They had never found anything of value, though many a thing of mighty -interest was brought ashore by the waves. A girl's wooden doll, and a -boy's wooden horse, for instance, had nothing very remarkable about -them; but found within a dozen yards of each other on the beach after -a storm, they set even boys not used to very deep thinking, thinking -deeply. Coco-nuts and oranges, and a dead sheep, and an oar, and a -ship's grating--that was about as much as they ever came across, -except once, when it was the awful body of a dead black man, and then -they ran home, with their heads twisting fearfully over their -shoulders, as fast as their legs could carry them; and saw the hideous -thick white lips of him for many a night afterwards. - -But though you sought in vain for years, there was always the chance -of coming upon a casket of jewels sooner or later; and if you never -actually found it, the possibility of it was delightfully attractive. - -Jim ambled on, kicking asunder lumps of seaweed which might conceal -treasure, stooping now and again to pick up and examine some find more -closely, and so came to the bend in the coast out of sight of Carne. - -And there he stopped suddenly, like a pointing dog. - -Away along the shore, and as close in as the long shoal of the sands -would permit, was a large fishing-smack. Between her and the beach a -boat was plying, and when it grounded a string of men was rapidly -passing its contents up into the sand-hills. - -Jim guessed what that might mean. His ephemeral reading in books of -adventure told him these must be smugglers, and he had unconsciously -gathered from unknown sources the fact that out beyond there lay the -isle of Man, a place given up to freebooters and such-like gentry, -though he had never happened to come across any so near home before. A -matter therefore to be cautiously inquired into on the most approved -Fenimore Cooper lines. - -So he slipped in among the sand-hills and threaded a devious path -parallel with the sea, now and again crawling like a snake up a -hummock, and peering through the wire-grass to ascertain his position -and make sure that the boat had not gone off.. That was his only -anxiety, that she would get away before he had the chance of a nearer -view. - -He was delighted with his adventure. Here was treasure-trove better -than all the tantalising possibilities of the beach. Here was -something real and new to set against Jack's musty, but still -exciting, stories of old Greeks and Romans. He felt rich. - -The short day was drawing in. The gray of the dusk was in his favour. -He wriggled up a soft bank on his stomach, and found himself with a -fair view of what was going on. He sank flat among the wire-grass and -watched, and was Robinson Crusoe, and Deerslayer; and Chingachgook, -and many others, all in one. - -A growl of rough voices down below, the "slaithe" of spades in the -soft sand, and he saw little barrels and neat little corded packages -being rapidly buried, each in a little hole by itself, and evidently -according to some recognised plan. - -The boat had probably made another trip to the smack, for barrels and -packages came pouring in and were deftly put out of sight. The light -was so dim that he could not recognise any of the busy workers, and -their occasional growls gave him no clue. - -He was wondering vaguely who they might be, when a heavy hand -descended on the back of his neck and lifted him up like a kicking -rabbit. - -"Dom yo' I What d' yo' want a-spyin' here for?" - -His captor dragged him down into the centre of operations, and Jim -found himself inside a wall of scowling, hairy faces. "Now then, who -are yo', and what'n yo' want here?" - -The long rough fingers reached well round his throat, and he was -almost black in the face, and sparks and things were beginning to -dance before his eyes. He clutched at the big hand and tried to pull -it away. - -"I'm Jim Carron," he gasped. - -"Yo' wunnot be Jim Carron long, then. Dig a hole there big enow to -take him," he ordered--and Jim saw himself lying in it, alongside the -little barrels and packages. - -"I meant no harm. I only wanted to see," he urged sturdily. - -"Yo' seen too much. I' th' sand yo'll see nowt an' yo'll talk none." - -"I won't in any case. I promise you." - -"We'se see to that, my lad. Yo'll be safest i' th' sand, and so 'ill -we." And Jim, glancing scare-eyed up at the wall of rough face; would -have been mightily glad to be back in the warm kitchen at Carne with -Jack and his old Greeks and Romans. - -He looked very small and helpless among them. Some of them had little -lads at home, no doubt; but there was much at stake, and it would -never do to leave him free to talk. On the other hand, running goods -free of duty was one thing, and killing a boy was another, and there -arose a growling controversy among them as to what they should do with -him. - -It was ended suddenly by one wresting him masterfully from his -original captor, and dragging him by the scruff of the neck towards -the boat. It was emptied of its last load and ready to return for -another. His new keeper tossed him in, tumbled in after him with three -others, and pulled out to the smack. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX -WHERE'S JIM? - - -Jack, having lived through an unusually exciting time in the -neighbourhood of Carthage, came back to himself in the kitchen at -Carne and the first thought of Jim he had had for over an hour. - -"Hello! Where's old Jim?" he asked. - -"I d'n know. Yo'd better seek him or he'll be into some mischief. I -nivver did see sich lads." And Jack strolled out to look for Jim. - -He was in none of his usual places, and Jack stood gazing vaguely -along the shore, wondering where he could have got to. He might have -gone to Mr. Eager's. It was not usual with them of an afternoon, for -then Mr. Eager was busy with his parish affairs. But Gracie was always -an attraction--the warmest bit of colour in their lives--and she made -them welcome no matter when they came. - -As he turned to trot away inland, with a last look along the shore, a -fishing-smack beat out from behind the distant bend and went thrashing -out to sea with the waves flying white over her bows. - -"Glad I'm not there, anyway," said Jack, and galloped away among the -hummocks towards Wyvveloe. - -"Oh, Jack, I _am_ so glad to see you. I've got so tired of myself. -Mrs. Jex has been showing me how to make crumpets, and you shall have -one as soon as Charles comes in. If they're not very good you mustn't -say so, because they're the first I've made, you see. What? Jim? No, -he's not been here. What a troublesome boy he is!--always getting -himself drowned or lost. Dear, dear, dear! What with you two, and -Charles, and the vicar falling ill again--my hair will go quite white, -I expect! And there's that Margaret never been near me all day, and if -it hadn't been for Mrs. Jex and the crumpets I don't know what I would -have done. . . . Thank you, Mrs. Jex, I'll come at once; but we must -keep them hot for Charles, they do lie so heavy on your stomach when -they're cold. He can't be long, Jack. You sit down there and look at -that book." And the Little Lady went off to butter her crumpets, while -Jack, at the end of his tether as regards Jim and his possible -whereabouts, lay down contentedly on the hearthrug and lost himself in -the book. - -When Eager came in at last, tired with a long round among outlying -parishioners, he was surprised to find the boy there and still more -surprised to learn why he had come. - -"Jim's a jimsa! He's always getting himself lost," was Gracie's -contribution to the discussion, but it did not help much. - -"Where can he have got to, Jack?" asked Eager, with a touch of -anxiety. "When did you see him last?" - -"I was reading in the kitchen, and when I looked up he'd gone. I -looked in all the places I could think of, and then I came here." And -that did not help much, either. - -"Well, I must have a bite. I'm famished. And then we'll have another -look. Maybe he's at home by this time. He wouldn't be likely to go to -Knoyle, would he?" - -Jack shook his head very decidedly. - -"He wouldn't go alone." - -"Seth Rimmer's?" - -"I d'n know. He might." - -"We'll call at Carne and then go along to Rimmer's. Oh-ho! hot -buttered crumpets and coffee! And the crumpets made by a master-hand, -unless I'm very much mistaken!" For Gracie had dumped them down before -him herself with an air of triumphant achievement, and now stood -waiting his first bite with visible anxiety. - -"Excellent!" said the Rev. Charles, smacking his lips. "If there's one -thing Mrs. Jex does better than another, where all is well done, it's -hot buttered crumpets." - -"They're not at all a bit heavy?" - -"Heavy? Light as snowflakes--hot buttered snowflakes! That's what they -are. How do you find them, Jack?" - -"Fine!" - -"I _am_ glad. I was afraid they'd turn out a bit----" - -"You don't mean to tell me you made them!" - -"Yes, I did. All myself--with Mrs. Jex just looking on, you know!" - -"Well! Two more, please, just like the last! Best crumpets I ever -tasted in my life!" - -And so they were--because Gracie made them; and the Rev. Charles would -have pledged himself to that though they had choked him and given him -indigestion for life. He had a pretty bad night of it--but that might -have been the coffee,--but most likely it was Jim. - -For presently they all set off in the riotous wind, Gracie skipping -joyfully in the pride of accomplishment, and went first to Carne, -hopeful of finding Jim there. But Mrs. Lee greeted their inquiry with -a tart: - -"'Oo's none here. Havena set eyes on him sin'---- Didn' yo' go out -tegither?"--to Jack. - -"No, I d'n know when he went." - -"Where can th' lad ha' gotten to now? 'Oo's aye gett'n' i' mischief o' -some kind." - -"We'll go along to Seth Rimmer's, Mrs. Lee. He may have gone down -there," said Eager. - -"'Oo mowt," she admitted unhopefully. And they set off in the windy -darkness, with the roar of the sea and the long white gleam of the -surf on one side, and on the other the fantastic hummocks of the -sand-hills, which looked strangely desolate by night and capable of -holding any mystery or worse. - -Eager had wanted the children to wait at Carne till he returned, but -they would not hear of it. Gracie was enjoying the spice of adventure. -Jack wanted to find Jim. Eager himself was beginning to feel anxious, -though he would not let the others see it. - -"If he is not here--where?" he asked himself, as they ploughed through -the sand and the crackling seaweed. And he had to confess that he did -not know where to look next. The grim desolation of the sand-hills -made him shiver to think of. Suppose the boy had damaged himself in -some way and was lying there waiting for help. A thousand boys might -lie there unfound till help was useless. - -A glimmer in the distant darkness, and presently they were at Rimmer's -cottage. - -Kattie opened to them--both the door and her big blue eyes--and stood -staring. - -"Hello, Kattie! Is Jim here?" asked Eager cheerfully. - -"Jim? No, Mr. Eager." - -"Who's it, 'Kattie?" asked her mother anxiously, from her bed; for -over the lonely cottage hung the perpetual fear of ill-tidings. - -"It's only us, Mrs. Rimmer." And they stepped inside. - -"Ech! Mr. Eager, and the little lady, and----" - -"We're looking for Jim, and were hoping he might have come along -here." - -"Jim?" said Mrs. Rimmer, looking steadfastly at Jack. "I nivver con -tell one from t'other; but none o' them's been here to-day." - -"No? I wonder where the boy can have got to. Is Seth about? Maybe he -could help us." - -"Seth's away," said Mrs. Rimmer briefly; and Eager did not ask her -where. For "Seth's away" was an understood formula, and meant that -young Seth was off on one of his expeditions, and the less said about -it the better. - -"I don't quite know where to look next," said Eager anxiously. "Can -you suggest anything, Kattie?" - -But Kattie shook her mane of hair and stared back at them nonplussed, -and presently said: - -"Jim knows his way; he couldn' get lost." - -"I'm just afraid he may have got hurt somewhere--twisted his ankle, or -something of that kind, and be lying out in the sand-hills; and it's -as black as pitch outside, and going to be a bad night." - -"Puir lad, I hope not," said Mrs. Rimmer, with added concern in her -face. "'Twill be a bad night for them that's on th' sea." Her face, in -its setting of puckered white nightcap, looked very frail and anxious. -"But they're aw in His hands, passon." - -"And they couldn't be in better, Mrs. Rimmer," he said, more -cheerfully than he felt. - -"Ay, I know; but I wish my man were home. Whene'er th' wind howls like -that, I aye think of them that's gone and them that has yet to go." - -"Not one of them goes without His knowing. Your thoughts are prayers, -and the prayers of a good woman avail much." And he pressed the thin -white hand, and Gracie kissed her and Kattie, and they went out into -the night. - -The wind hummed across the flats till their heads hummed in unison. -More than once the drive of it carried them off their course, and -brought them up against the ghostly hummocks, where the long, thin -wire-grass swirled and swished with the sound of scythes. The grim -desolation beyond struck a chill to Eager's heart, as he imagined Jim -lying out there, calling in vain for help against the strident howl of -the gale. - -There was just the possibility that he had got home during their -absence, however; so, in anxious silence, they made for Carne. - -"No, I hanna seen nowt of him," said Mrs. Lee, and stood glowering at -them with set, pinched face. - -"I had better see Sir Denzil. Shall I go up? You wait here with Jack, -Gracie." And he went off along the stone-flagged passage, and climbed -the big staircase, and knocked on the door leading to Sir Denzil's -rooms. - -Mr. Kennet opened to him at last, with so much surprise that he was, -for the moment, unable to recognise the unexpected visitor, and stood -staring blankly at him. - -"I want to see Sir Denzil, Kennet--Mr. Eager. One of the boys is -missing----" - -"Eh?--Ah!--Missing?--Tell him. Will you wait a moment, sir?" And Eager -concluded from his manner that Mr. Kennet had been enjoying himself, -and hoped that it might not be, in this case, like man like master. - -Sir Denzil, however, received him with most formal politeness. - -"You bring me good news, Mr. Eager?" he asked, snuffing very -elegantly. "Who is it is a-missing?" - -"We can't find Jim, Sir Denzil." - -"Ah--Jim! Let me see--Jim! Now, which is Jim?" - -"Jim is the hero of the sand-boat----" - -"Ah--and is the boat gone again?" - -"No, sir. They both pledged themselves not to go out in her alone -again." - -"Ah--pity! Great pity! I rather counted upon that monstrosity to solve -our difficulty. However, Jim is missing!" And he tapped his snuff-box -thoughtfully. "And what do you infer from that, Mr. Eager?" - -"I'm afraid he may have gone off into the sand-hills and possibly got -hurt. We've been down to Seth Rimmer's----" - -"Ah--Rimmer! That was, if I remember rightly, the young dolt who -bungled the matter so sadly last time. Well?" - -"He has not been there. Jack was reading in the kitchen----" - -"Jack? Ah--yes. That's the other one." - -"And Jim was with him. Jim wandered out, and we cannot find any trace -of him." - -"Hm! . . . Ah! . . ." And the grim old head nodded thoughtfully over -another pinch of snuff. "Well, I don't really see what we can do -to-night, Mr. Eager. If, as you suggest, he is lying hurt somewhere in -the sand-hills, it would take an army to find him, even in the -daytime. We must wait and see. If we don't find him"--hopefully--"if -he is gone for good, I shall feel myself under deepest obligation to -him or to whoever is concerned in the matter. It leaves us only one -boy to deal with--the wrong one, of course--but still, only one." - -"Why the wrong one, sir?" - -"If the other has been purposely removed, as is possible, it is, of -course, in order to foist upon us the one who has no right to the -position. There could be no other reason. You follow me?" - -"I follow your reasoning, of course; but at present we have not the -slightest reason to suppose he has been purposely removed. He may be -lying in the sand-hills unable to get home." - -"In which case he will have a very bad night," said Sir Denzil, as a -fury of wind and rain broke against the windowpanes--"a very bad -night." - -"Is there nothing we can do?" - -"There's only one thing I can think of." - -"Yes?" - -"Keep an eye on that old witch's face downstairs. You may learn -something from it if you catch her unawares." - -Eager slept little that night for thinking of the missing boy. His -anxious mind travelled many roads, but never touched the right one. - -Soon after daybreak he was on his way to Knoyle, but returned -disappointed, and went on to Carne with a faint hope in him still that -Jim might have returned during the night. - -"Any news of him, Mrs. Lee?" he asked anxiously, through the kitchen -door. - -"Noa," said the old lady stolidly. "We none seen nowt on him." And her -face was as unmoved as a gargoyle, and the gleam of her little dark -eyes struck on his like the first touch of an opponent's foil. - -"What on earth can have taken the boy? I've been up to Knoyle, but -they know nothing of him there." - -"Ay!" - -"I'll turn out all the men I can get, and we'll rake over the -sand-hills." - -"Ay!" - -As he turned to go, Jack came trotting in. - -"I d'n know what's come of him," he said; "I've been everywhere I can -think of." - -"I'm going to get all the help I can, and we'll search through the -sand-hills, Jack." - -"I'll come too," said Jack. And they went away together. - - - - -CHAPTER XX -A NARROW SQUEAK - - -Once aboard the smack, Jim was shoved into a small black dog-hole of a -cabin forward and the door slid to and bolted. And there, all alone in -the dark, he presently passed a very evil time. - -In due course he heard the rest of the crew come aboard. Then the -anchor was pulled up, and then his head began to swim in sympathy with -the heaving boat. - -Like most boys he had at times had visions of a seafaring life, -swinging impartially between that and a military as the only two lives -worth living. But the night he spent on that smack cured him for ever -of the sea. - -It was a black night, with a stiff west wind working round into a -south-west gale. They had hoped to get under the lee of the Island -before the full of it caught them, but it meant strenuous beating -close-hauled, and progress was slow. Before they were half-way across, -about midnight, the gale was on them, and they turned tail and ran for -their lives, with the great seas roaring past them and like to come in -over the stern every moment. - -Jim knew nothing of it all. He was sick to death, and bruised almost -to a jelly with bumping to and fro in that dirty black hole. While -they beat up against the wind, the crashing of the seas against the -bows, with less than an inch of wood between him and them, deafened -and terrified him. It seemed impossible that any mere timber could -long withstand so terrific a pounding. Each moment he feared to see -the strakes rive open and let the ocean in. - -But very soon he was past caring what happened. He had never been so -utterly miserable in all his life. - -When they turned and ran, the crash of the waves against the outside -of his dog-hole lessened somewhat, but the up-and-down motion -increased so that the roof and the floor alternately seemed bent on -banging him to pieces. And at times they plunged down, down, down, -with the water bubbling and hissing all about them till he believed -they were going down for good, and felt no regret about it. - -How long he spent in that awful hole he did not know. Ages of -uttermost misery it seemed to him. But, of a sudden, there came an -end. - -The boat, racing over the great rollers with a scrap of foresail to -give her steerage way, brought up abruptly on a bank. The mast snapped -like a carrot, the roaring white waves leaped over her, dragged her -back, flung her up again, worried her as vicious dogs a wounded rat. - -The men in her clung for their lives against the thrashing of the -mighty waves, and then, not knowing at all where the storm had carried -them, but sure of land of some kind from the bumping of the boat, they -scrambled one by one over the bows and fought their way through the -tear of the surf to the shore. - -All but one. He hung tight to the stump of the mast till the others -had gone, each for himself and intent only on saving each his own -life. - -Then the last man, swinging by one arm from the stump of the mast, -caught at the bolt of the dog-hole and worked it back, and reached in -a groping arm and dragged out Jim, limp and senseless from his final -bruising when the boat struck. - -"My sakes! Be yo' dead, Mester Jim?" he asked hoarsely, holding the -lad firmly with one arm and the mast with the other. - -But the sharp flavour of the gale acted like a tonic. The limp body -stretched and wriggled and gripped the arm that held it. - -"Aw reet?" shouted the hoarse voice in his ear, and when Jim tried to -reply the gale drove the words back into his throat. - -The boat was still tumbling heavily in the surf. All about them was -howling darkness, faintly lightened by the rushing sheets of foam. Jim -felt himself dragged to the side, and then they were wrestling, waist -deep, with the terrible backward rush of the surf. His feet were swept -from under him, but an iron hand gripped his arm and anchored him till -he felt the sand again. Then a thundering wave swirled them on, and -they were able to crawl up a steep, hard bank of sand on their hands -and knees. - -They lay there panting, while the gale howled and the white waves -gnashed at them like wild beasts ravening for their prey. And Jim felt -cleaner and better than he had done since he boarded the smack. - -He turned to his rescuer and laid hold of his arm. - -"Who is it?" he shouted. - -"Me--Seth," came the hoarse reply into his ear, and he had never in -his life felt so glad of a friendly voice, though he would not have -known it was young Seth's voice if he had not said so. - -For their position was terrifying enough. It was still too dark to see -where they were, except that they were on a bank, with the roar and -shriek of the gale all about them. - -Young Seth stood up to see, if he could, what had become of the -others. But he was down flat again in a moment. - -"I connot see nowt," he shouted. - -"Are we safe here, Seth?"--as a vicious white arm came reaching up the -slope at them. - -"Tide's goin' down." - -So they lay and waited, and it was good for Jim that night that his -life on the flats had hardened him somewhat to the weather. - -He was soaked to the bones, and the spindrift stung like a whip. But -he was so utterly spent with his previous sickness that his heavy eyes -closed, and he dozed into horrible nightmares and woke each time with -a start and a sob. - -And then he found himself warmer, and thought the gale had slackened; -but it was young Seth's burly body lying between him and the wind, and -he was drawn up close into young Seth's arms, and there he went fast -asleep. - -He woke at last into a sober gray light and a great stillness. The -wind had dropped and the sea had fallen back behind its distant -barriers. When he stretched and sat up he could see nothing but -sand--endless stretches of brown sea-sand, with the dull gleam of -water here and there. - -He got on to his feet and felt his bones creak as if they wanted -oiling, and young Seth stood up too and kicked his legs and arms about -to take the kinks out. - -"Where are we, Seth?" asked Jim, with a gasp. - -"I dunnot know. We ran like the divvle last neet. Mebbe when th' sun -comes out we'll see." - -"Land's over yonder, anyway," he said presently. "But it's a divvle of -a way and mos'ly stick-sands, I reck'n." - -The clouded eastern sky thinned and lightened somewhat, the sands -began to glimmer, and the streaks of water gleamed like bands of -steel. - -"We mun go," said Seth. "Sun's sick yet wi' last neet's storm. Yo' -keep close to me." And they set off on the perilous journey. - -For a moment, as they crossed the ridge of their own sand-bank, which -stood higher than its neighbours, they caught distant glimpse of -yellow sand-hills very far away. Then they were threading cautiously -across a wide lower level, seamed with pools and runlets, and could -see nothing but the brown sea-sand. And Seth's eyes were everywhere on -the look-out for "stick-sands," of which he went in mortal terror. - -Where the banks humped up with long rounded limbs as though giants -were buried below, he would run at speed; but in the hollows between -their progress was slow, because "You nivver knows," said Seth, and -tried each foot before he trusted it. - -In one wide hollow they came on a mast sticking straight up out of the -sand--like a gravestone, Jim thought--and gave it wide berth. And -twice they came on swiftly flowing channels which rose to Jim's waist, -and it was in the neighbourhood of these that Seth exercised the -greatest caution. - -"They works under t' sand, here and there, you nivver knows where, an' -it's that makes the stick-sands," he said, and breathed freely only -when they got on to solid brown ridges again. - -So, step by step, they drew nearer to the yellow sand-hills, which -looked so like those he was accustomed to that Jim's spirits rose. - -"Is that home, Seth?" he asked. - -"Ech, lad, no. We're many a mile from home, but we'll git there -sometime." - -It was when that toilsome journey was over, and the sun had come out, -and they were lying spent in a hollow of the yellow sand-hills, that -Seth turned to Jim and said weightily: - -"Yo' mun promise me, Mester Jim, to forget aw that happened last neet. -I dun my best for yo'; an' yo' mun promise that." - -"I'm afraid I can't ever forget it, Seth," said Jim solemnly, "and -some of it I don't ever want to forget. But I'll promise you I'll -never tell about the little barrels and things, or about you, never, -as long as I live." - -"Well," said Seth, after ruminating on this. "That'll do if yo'll -stick to it." - -"I'll bite my tongue out before I'll say a word." - -"Aw reet. Yo' see, I wur on the boat when they brought yo' aboard, but -I couldn' ha' done owt with aw that lot about. 'Twere foolish to fall -into their honds." - -About midday they came on a fisherman's hut, back among the -sand-hills, and got some bread and fish, freely given when Seth -explained matters--so far as he deemed necessary; and they lay on a -pile of strong-smelling nets and slept longer than Seth had intended. -Then, with vague directions towards a distant high-road, they set out -again. - -"'Twere Morecambe Bay we ran aground in," said Seth, "an' they wouldn' -hardly believe as we'd come across th' flats. Reg'lar suckers, they -say, an' swallowed a moight o' men in their time." - -"And when shall we get home, Seth?" - -"It's a long road, but we'll git there's soon as we can," said Seth, -with the weight of the journey upon him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI -A WARM WELCOME - - -For two days Eager raked over the sand-hills, from morning till night, -with all the men he could press into the service, and all the ardour -he could rouse in them. - -In long, undulating lines, rising and falling over the hummocks like -the long sea-rollers, they scoured the wastes till they were satisfied -that no Jim was there. - -Each night Sir Denzil met him, when he came upstairs to report, with a -repressed eagerness which gave way to cynical satisfaction the moment -he saw his face. - -"So!" he would say, with a gratified nod, as he helped himself to -snuff with studied elegance. "No result, Mr. Eager. I really begin to -think we must give him up. You are simply wasting your time and that -of all your--er--friends." - -"Supposing, after all, the poor lad should be lying, unable to move, -in some hollow----" - -"Let us hope that his sufferings would be over long before this!" - -"It is too horrible to think of. I cannot sleep at night for the -thought of it." - -"Ah, I am sorry. You should cultivate a spirit of equanimity--as I do. -If he is found--well! If he is not found, I am bound to say--better! -The problem that has puzzled us these ten years is then solved--in a -way, of course, though, as I think I have explained myself to you -before, not in the right way. Still we have got only one boy to deal -with, and we must make the best of him. I have been considering the -idea of a public school. You would endorse that, I presume?" - -"Undoubtedly--for both of them, if we can only find Jim." - -"We are considering the one we have. Now, which school would you -advise--Rugby, Harrow, Eton? There's a new place just opened at -Marlborough. I see----" - -"Harrow," said Eager decisively. "They are both meant for the army, of -course?" - -"You will speak in the plural still," said Sir Denzil, with a smile. - -"I cannot bring myself to think of Jim as dead and gone." - -"Well, well! Let us hope you have more foundation for your higher -beliefs, Mr. Eager. Meanwhile, and to lose no time, I will write to my -lawyer in London to have this boy entered at Harrow. What delay will -it entail?" - -"None, I should say. The numbers are low there just now, but Vaughan -will soon pull things round, and meanwhile they will stand the better -chance." - -"They--they--they!" said Sir Denzil, eyeing him quizzically. "You -really still hope, then?" - -"I shall hope until it is impossible to hope any longer. Have you -considered the idea of his having been kidnapped, Sir Denzil?" - -"It has occurred to me, of course. But why should any one kidnap him?" - -"If it should be so--to leave the other in full possession, of course. -But we have no grounds to go upon. I have made inquiries as to all the -gipsies who have been within ten miles of us lately. They are all here -yet, and know nothing of the boy." - -"H'm!" said Sir Denzil thoughtfully. "If it should be that--as you -say, it would prove beyond doubt that the boy we have is the wrong -one. Gad!" he said presently, "I'm beginning to have a hankering after -the other. However----" - -Sir George Herapath had seconded all Eager's efforts to discover the -missing boy. He and Margaret had ridden with the other searchers each -day, and in addition had sought out every gipsy camp in the -neighbourhood and made rigorous inquisition as to its doings and -membership. Sir George was favourably known to the nomads as a strict -but clement justice of the peace so long as they kept within the law, -and they satisfied him that they had had no hand in this matter. - -He and Margaret were to and fro constantly between Knoyle and -Wyvveloe, eager for news, or downcastly bringing none, and when Eager -himself was not there it was a very crushed and sober little lady who -received them with a sadness greater even than their own. - -"It is quite beyond me, Sir George," you would have heard her say, -with a gloomy shake of the head. "What can have become of him I can't -think. And we do miss him so dreadfully. I always liked old Jim, but I -never liked him so much as I do now. It's just breaking Charles's -heart." - -"It's beyond me too, Gracie," said Sir George, with a worried pinch of -the brows. "Where _can_ the boy be? I'm really beginning to be afraid -we've seen the last of him." - -"Charles says we must go on hoping for the best," said the Little Lady -forlornly. "But it is not easy when you've nothing to go on." - -And to them, talking so, on the afternoon of the fourth day of the -search, came in Eager, very weary both of mind and body, and anything -but an embodiment of the hope he enjoined on others. - -"Nothing," he said dejectedly. "And I do not know what to do next. I'm -beginning----" - -And then the Little Lady's eyes, which had wandered past him from -sheer dread of looking on his hopelessness, opened wider than ever -they had done before. - -"Charles! Charles!" she shrieked, pointing past him down the path. -"Jim!" And she began to dance and scream in a very allowable fit of -hysterics. - -Eager thought it was that--that her overwrought feelings had broken -down, and it was to her that he sprang. - -But the others had turned at her words, and had run out of the -cottage, and now they came in dragging--as though having got him they -would never let him go again--a very lean and dirty and draggled, but -decidedly happy, Jim. - -Gracie broke from her brother and rushed at him with a whole-hearted -"Oh, Jim! Jim!" and flung her arms round his neck and kissed him many -times. And Jim, grinning joyously through his dirt, seemed to find it -good, but presently wiped off the kisses with the back of his grimy -hand. - -"Dear lad, where have you been?" cried Eager, all his weariness gone -in the joy of recovery. "We have been near breaking all our hearts -over you. Thank God, you are back again! . . . Now, tell us!" - -And Jim summed up his adventures in very few words. - -"I was on the shore. Some men carried me off in a ship. We were -wrecked at a place called Morecambe, and I've come home as quick as I -could." - -"Who were the men? Did you know them?" asked Sir George sternly. - -"I can't tell you, sir." And then, looking at Eager, as though he -would understand. "It was a promise, a very solemn promise"--and Eager -nodded. "You see I was locked up in a little cabin when the ship was -wrecked, and I should have been drowned in there----" - -"And they let you out on your promising not to tell on them," said -Eager. - -Jim nodded. - -"A promise extorted under such conditions is not binding," said Sir -George brusquely. "I want those men. Come, my boy, you must tell us -all you know." And Eager watched him anxiously. - -"I cannot tell, sir. I promised." - -And nothing would move him from this. Sir George, with much warmth, -explained to him that no one was safe if such things were permitted to -pass unpunished, said that it was his bounden duty to tell all he -knew. But to all he simply shook his head and said, "I promised, sir." - -And Eager, much as he would have liked to lay hands on the rascals, -could not but rejoice in the boy's staunchness. And Sir George gave it -up at last, and rode away with Margaret, baffled and outwardly very -angry. But as they rode up the avenue at Knoyle, he said: - -"Eager has done well with those boys. They'll turn out men." - -Jim was very hungry. They fed him, and then Eager went off with him to -break the news to Sir Denzil, and the villagers flocked out and -cheered them as they went. - -"Well, yo're back!" was Mrs. Lee's greeting when they came into the -kitchen at Carne. And Jim, in the joy of his return, ran up and kissed -her, but her face was like that of a graven image. - -Jack jumped up with a glad shout, and "Hello, Jim! Where you been?" -and circled round and round the wanderer with endless questions. - -Sir Denzil's reception of him was characteristic. - -"Well, I'm ----! So you've turned up again." And he eyed his grandson, -over a pinch of snuff, as though he were some new and offensive -reptile. "What is the meaning of this, sir?" And his hankering after -the boy whom, in his innermost mind, he had come to think of as his -legitimate heir, and his thwarted satisfaction at what he had hoped -was in any case the cutting of his Gordian knot, and a certain anxiety -in the matter, which he had very successfully concealed from every one -else--all these in combination resulted in an explosion. - -He listened blackly to such explanation as Jim vouchsafed, -peremptorily demanded more, and the boy refused. - -"You will tell me all you know," said the old man sternly--hoping -through fuller knowledge to arrive, perchance, at some clue to the -great problem behind. - -"I promised, sir!" said Jim. - -"Hang your promise, sir! I absolve you from any such promise. You will -tell me all you know." - -But Jim set his lips stolidly and would not say another word. - -"You won't? Then, by----, I'll teach you to do what you're told." And -laying hold of the boy by the neck of his blue guernsey, he caught up -his ebony stick and rained savage blows on the quivering little back -before Eager could attempt rescue. - -"Stop, sir! Stop!" cried Eager, in great distress at this outbreak, -and caught at the flailing arm. - -"---- you, sir! Keep off, or I'll thrash you too!" shouted the furious -old man, and turned and threatened the interrupter with the heavy -silver knob. - -"You are forgetting yourself, Sir Denzil," said Eager hotly. "The boy -has given his solemn promise in return for his life. Would you have -him break it?" And he caught the descending stick with a hand that -ached for days afterwards, twisted it deftly out of the trembling old -hand, and held it in safe keeping. - -"Kennet!" shouted Sir Denzil, "throw this ---- parson out!" And Kennet -came from an adjoining room and looked doubtfully at Eager. - -"Kennet will think several times before he tries it," said Eager -quietly, swinging the stick in his hand. - -And then Eager, eyeing the old man keenly, saw that the fit had passed -and reason had resumed her sway. - -"Your stick, sir!" and he handed it to him with a bow. - -"Your servant, sir!" and the stick was flung into a corner, and a -shaking hand dived down into a deep-flapped pocket after its necessary -snuff-box. "Kennet, leave us! You've been drinking. And you, -boy--damme, but you're a good plucked one! Of the right stock, surely. -Go down and get something to eat--and here's a guinea for you." And -Jim, who had never seen a guinea in his life, gripped it tight in his -dirty paw as a remarkable curiosity, and went out agape, with -squirming shoulders. - -The old white hand shook so much that the snuff went all awry, and -brown-powdered the waxen face in quite a humorous fashion. - -"Mr. Eager, I apologise--and that is not my habit. But you must -acknowledge that the provocation was great." - -"Not if you had considered the matter. Would you have a Carron break -his pledged word?" - -"Ay!" said the old man, following his own train of thought, "a true -Carron! Surely that is our man! . . . Well, what do you advise next?" - -"Send them both to Harrow, and trust the rest to Providence." - -And after a brooding silence, punctuated with more than one thoughtful -pinch, "We will try Harrow, anyway," said the oracle, and Eager shook -hands with him and went downstairs well satisfied. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII -WHERE'S JACK? - - -With all diffidence I mention a fact. Whether it had any bearing on a -later happening I do not know. Mr. Kennet, as we know, indulged -occasionally in strong waters. The result, as a rule, was only an -increased surliness of demeanour of which no one took much notice. - -On one such occasion, however, shortly after Jim's return, Kennet, -trespassing on Mrs. Lee's domain on some message of his master's, got -to words with the old lady, and, rankling perhaps under some sharper -reproof than usual from above, snarled at her like a toothless old -dog: - -"Old witch! foisting your ill-gotten brat on us by kidnapping -t'other!" At which Mrs. Lee snatched at her broom, and Mr. Kennet beat -a retreat more hasty than dignified. - -Mr. Eager did his utmost during these last months of the year to -prepare the boys for their approaching translation. - -"It's my old school, boys. See you do me credit there," he would urge -on them. "In the games you'll do all right. Just pick up their ways, -and never lose your tempers. You'll find the lessons tough at first, -but I shall trust to you to do your best. You'll miss the flats and -the sand-hills, of course, but you'll soon find compensations in the -playing-fields." - -They came to look forward with something like eagerness to the new -prospect. It would be a tremendous change in their lives, and the call -of the unknown works in the blood of the young like the spring. - -But they could only stand a certain amount of book-grinding; and the -flats and sand-hills, once the autumn gales were past, were full of -enticement, and they ranged them, in the company of Eager and Gracie, -with all the relish of approaching separation. - -When George Herapath and Ralph Harben came home for the holidays, -hare-and-hounds became the order of the day, and many a tough chase -they had, and went far afield. - -And so it came to pass that one fatal day, Jack, being the hare, led -them away through the sedgy lands round Wyn Mere, and played the game -so well that he disappeared completely. - -The course of events that followed was so similar to those in Jim's -case that repetition would be wearisome. - -Sir Denzil and Sir George Herapath were equally furious and disturbed, -but showed it in different ways. Eager, as before, was sadly upset and -strained himself to breaking-point in his efforts to discover the -missing one. - -Once more the sand-hills were scoured, and this time, since the boy -had gone in that direction, the Mere was dragged as far as it was -possible to do so, but its vast extent precluded any certainty as to -results. - -And the days passed, and Jack was gone as completely as if he had been -carried up into heaven. - -"Well, Mr. Eager, what do you make of it this time!" asked Sir Denzil, -one night when Eager called at Carne with the usual report. - -"I don't know what to make of it," said Eager dejectedly. "I have -thought about it till my head spins." - -"Your ideas would interest me." - -"When Jim was kidnapped you felt sure that that pointed to him as what -you call the 'right one.' Is it possible that has become known to -those interested, and this has been done to point you back to Jack?" - -"You mean that old witch downstairs. . . . She is capable of anything, -of course, and you don't need to look at her twice to see the gipsy -blood in her. . . . On the other hand, she may have been cunning -enough to anticipate the view you have just expressed. She may have -had this boy Jack carried off for the sole purpose of prejudicing the -other in our eyes. Do you follow me?" - -"You mean as I put it just now--that one would expect them to kidnap -our man to leave theirs in possession." - -"Go a step farther, Mr. Eager. Suppose they have in some way learned -that, in consequence of Jim's carrying-off, I am inclined to think him -the rightful heir. They may, as you say, have carried off the other -simply to point me away from Jim and so confuse the issue. But it is -just possible they are not so simple as all that, and have reasoned -thus--'When Jim disappeared Sir Denzil considered that as proof that -he was the rightful heir. If we now carry off Jack, that is just what -Sir Denzil would expect us to do, and he will probably stick the -tighter to Jim in consequence.' If that is their reasoning, then Jack -is our man and not Jim. You follow me?" - -"It's a terrible tangle," said Eager wearily, with his head in his -hands. "It seems to me you can argue any way from anything that -happens, and only make matters worse." - -"Exactly!" said Sir Denzil, over a pinch of snuff. - -"And so we come back to my point. You must treat both exactly alike -and leave the issue to Providence." - -"It looks like it," said Sir Denzil, and forbore to argue the matter -theologically. "If the other comes back we shall have two strings to -our bow, which is one too many for practical purposes. If he doesn't, -we'll stick to the one we have, right man or wrong, and be hanged to -them!" - -Seth Rimmer, and young Seth, who had only lately returned home after -an unusually long absence, were tireless in their search for the -missing boy in their own neighbourhood, in or about the Mere. - -After a day's hard work dragging the great hooks to and fro across the -bottom of the Mere, old Seth would shake his head gravely as he looked -back over the silent black water. - -"Naught less than draining it dry will ever tell us all it holds," he -would say. "From the look of it there's a moight of wickedness hid -down there." - -Katie too was indefatigable, and she and Jim and George Herapath and -Harben hunted high and low round the Mere, but found no smallest trace -of Jack. - -They had all been planning an unusually festive Christmas, but it -passed in anxiety and gloom, and the time came round for Jim to go -away to school. But going along with Jack was one thing, and going all -alone a very different thing indeed, and he jibbed at it strongly. - -Sir Denzil, however, having made up his mind, was not the man to stand -any nonsense. He prevailed on Eager, as being more conversant with -such matters, to see to the boy's outfit, and finally to take him up -to Harrow himself. - -And so, in due course, Jim, still very downcast at his parting with -Gracie and Mrs. Lee and Carne and the flats and sand-hills, found -himself sitting with wide, startled eyes and firmly shut mouth, -opposite Mr. Eager, in one of the new railway carriages, whirling -across incredible ranges of country at a Providence-tempting speed -which seemed to him like to end in catastrophe at any moment. - -They went from Liverpool to Birmingham, both of which towns paralysed -the little ranger of flats and sand-hills; from Birmingham to London, -the enormity of which crushed him completely: spent two days showing -him the greater sights, which his overburdened brain could in no wise -appreciate; and finally landed him, fairly stodged with wonders, in -his master's house at Harrow, which seemed to him, after his recent -experiences, a haven of peace and restfulness. - -Eager was an old school and college chum of the housemaster, and spent -a day of reminiscent enjoyment with him. He imparted to his friend -enough of the boy's curious history to secure his lasting interest in -him, and next day said good-bye to Jim and carried the memory of his -melancholy dazed black eyes all the way back to Wyvveloe with him. - -And Gracie's first words as she rushed at him and flung her arms round -his neck were, "Jack's back!" And the Rev. Charles sat down with a -gasp. - -"Really and truly, Gracie?" - -"Really and truly! Yesterday--all rags and bruises and as dirty as a -pig." - -"And wherever has he been all this time?" - -"Dear knows! He doesn't, except that it was with some -men--gipsies--who carried him away and beat him most of the time. He's -all black and blue, except his face, and that was dirty brown, and one -of his eyes was blackened; one of the men nearly knocked it out." - -"Well, well, well! It's an uncommonly strange world, child! - -"Yes. How's old Jim?" - -"He was all right when I left him, but anything may happen to those -boys, apparently, without the slightest warning. Now, if you'll give -me something to eat I'll go along and hear what Jack has got to say -for himself." - -Jack, however, had very little information to give that could be -turned to any account. It was at the far side of the Mere that he had -come upon a couple of men crouching under a sand-hill, as though they -were on the look out for somebody. They had collared him, tied a stick -in his mouth, and carried him away--where, he had no idea--a very long -way, till they came up with a party on the road. There he was placed -in one of the travelling caravans, fed from time to time, and not -allowed out for many days. He had tried to escape more than once and -been soundly thrashed for it. His back--well, there it was, and it -made Eager almost ill to think of what those terrible weals must have -meant to the boy. Then, after a long lime, another chance came, when -all the men were lying drunk one night and some of the women too. He -had crept out, and ran and ran straight on till his legs wouldn't -carry him another step. A farmer's wife had taken pity on him at sight -of his back and helped him on his road. And through her, others. He -knew where he wanted to get to, and so, bit by bit, mostly on his own -feet, but with an occasional lift in a friendly cart, he had reached -home. - -"And what do you say to all that, Mr. Eager?" asked Sir Denzil. - -"I say, first, that I am most devoutly thankful that he has come back -to us. What may be behind it all is altogether beyond me. If he is -their boy would they treat him so cruelly?" - -"To gain their ends they would stick at nothing. I see no daylight in -the matter." - -"You had no chance of seeing how the old woman received him, I -suppose, sir?" - -"All we know is that when Kennet went downstairs he found the boy -sitting in the kitchen, eating as though he had not seen food for a -week. Not a word beyond that and what he tells us. The problem is -precisely where it was when those damned women came in that first -morning each with a child on her arm." - - - - - -BOOK III - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII -BREAKING IN - - -Smaller matters must give way to greater. You have seen how that great -problem of Carne came about, and how it perpetuated itself in the -persons of Jack and Jim Carron, without any apparent likelihood of -satisfactory solution, unless by the final intervention of the Great -Solver of all doubts and difficulties. - -To arrive at the end of our story within anything like reasonable -limits, we must again take flying leaps across the years, and touch -with no more than the tip of a toe such outstanding points as call for -special notice. - -Harrow was the most tremendous change their lives had so far -experienced. Mr. Eager had indeed prepared them for it to the best of -his power. But the change, when they plunged into it--first Jim and -then Jack--went far beyond their widest imaginings. - -With their fellows they shook down, in time, into satisfactory -fellowship. But the rules of the school, written and unwritten, from -above and from below, were for a long time terribly irksome and almost -past bearing. They were something like tiger-cubs transferred suddenly -from their native freedom to the strict rounds of the circus-ring. -They were expected to understand and conform to matters which were so -taken for granted that explanations were deemed superfluous. And they -suffered many things that first term in stubborn silence, mask and -cloak for the shy pride which would sooner bite its tongue through -than ask the question which would make its ignorance manifest. - -The milling-ground between the school and the racquet-courts knew them -well, and drank of their blood, and proved the rough nursery of many a -lasting friendship. - -Jim used laughingly to say at home that he had seen the colour of the -blood of every fellow he cared a twopenny snap for, on that trampled -plot of grass by the old courts. If the colour was good, and the -manner of its display in accordance with his ideas, good feeling -invariably followed, and he soon had heaps of friends. That was -doubtless because he had nothing whatever of the swot in him. He -delivered himself over, heart and soul, to the active enjoyments of -life, and found no lack of like temper and much to his mind. - -Jack developed along somewhat wider and deeper lines. He had no great -craving for knowledge simply as knowledge. But concerning things that -interested him he was insatiable, and slogged away at them with as -great a gusto as Jim did at his games. - -Jack's ideas of a correct school curriculum, being based entirely on -his own leanings, necessarily clashed at times with those of the -higher powers, and both he and Jim passed under the birch of the -genial Vaughan with the utmost regularity and decorum. - -Neither, of course, ever uttered a word under these inflictions. Jack -went tingling back to his own private preoccupation of the moment; and -Jim went raging off to the playing-fields. - -"It's not what he does," he would fume to his chums, "but the way he -does it. If he'd get mad I wouldn't mind, but he's always as nice and -smooth as a hairdresser, and talks as if it was a favour he was doing -you." - -"Oily old beast!" would be the return comment, and then to the game -with extra vim to make up for time lost in the swishing. - -Jim's greatest fight was an epic in the school for many a year after -he had left. "Ah!" said the privileged ones--whether they had actually -been present in the body on that historic occasion or not--"but you -should have seen the slog between Carron and Chissleton! That _was_ a -fight!" - -It was the usual episode of the big bully, whom most public-schoolboys -run up against sooner or later, and Chissleton was three years older -and a good head taller than Jim. But Jim had the long years of the -flats, and all the benefit of Mr. Eager's scientific fisticuffs, -behind him. They fought ten rounds, each of which left Jim on the -grass, his face a jelly daubed with blood, and his eyes so nearly -closed up that it was only when the bulky Chissleton was clear against -the sky that he could see him at all. But bulk tells both ways, and -loses its wind chasing a small boy about even a circumscribed ring, -and knocking him flat ten times only to find him dancing about next -round, as gamely as ever, though somewhat dilapidated and unpleasant -to look upon. So Jim wore the big one down by degrees, and in the -eleventh round his time came. He hurled himself on the dim bulk -between him and the sky with such headlong fury that both went down -with a crash. But Jim was up in a moment daubing more blood over his -face with the backs of his fists, and the big one lay still till long -after the pæans of the small boys had died away into an interested -silence. - -"But didn't it hurt dreadfully, Jim?" asked Gracie, long afterwards, -with pitifully twisted face. - -"Sho! I d'n know. It was the very best fight I ever had." - -The Little Lady found the days without the boys long and slow, in -spite of her close friendship with Margaret Herapath. - -Meg was everything a girl could possibly be. She was sweet, she was -lovely, she was clever, she was a darling dear, she was splendid. She -was an angel, she was a duck. She was Lady Margaret, she was dear old -Meggums. And never a day passed but she was at the cottage or Gracie -was over at Knoyle. - -They rode and walked and bathed and read together. They slept together -at times, and talked half through the night because the days were not -long enough for the innumerable confidences that had to pass between -them. - -And Eager rejoiced in their close communion, for he had never met any -girl whose friendship he would have so desired for Gracie. And he went -about his duties, storming and persuading, fighting and tending, with -new fires in his heart which shone out of his eyes, and his people all -acknowledged that he was "a rare good un," even when he was scarifying -them about manure-heaps and stinks, which they suffered as tolerantly -as they did his vehemence, and as though such a thing as typhus had -never been known in the land. - -And what times they all had when the holidays came round! - -A little shyness, of course, at first, while the various parties took -stock of the changes in one another. For Gracie was growing so -tall--"quite the young lady," as Mrs. Jex said; and such a change from -the fellows at school, as Jack and Jim acknowledged to themselves. - -Girls--as girls--were somewhat looked down upon at school, you know. -But this was Gracie, and quite a different thing altogether. - -When the first shyness of these meetings wore off she was apt to be -somewhat overwhelmed by their effusive worship. They were her slaves, -hers most absolutely, and their only difficulty was to find adequate -means for the expression of their devotion. - -For their first home-coming, each of them, unknown to the other, had -saved from the wiles of the tuck-shop such meagre portion of -pocket-money as strength of will insisted on, and brought her a -present; Jack, a small volume of Plutarch's Lives, the reading of -which gave himself great satisfaction; and Jim, a pocket-handkerchief -with red and blue spots, which seemed to him the very height of -fashion, and almost too good for ordinary use by any one but a -princess--or Gracie. - -"You _dear_ boys!" said the Little Lady, and opened Plutarch and -sparkled--although for Plutarch, simply as Plutarch, she had no -overpowering admiration; and put the red and blue spots to her little -brown nose in the most delicate and ladylike manner imaginable. "But -you really shouldn't, you know!" And they both vowed internally that -they would do it again next time and every time, and each time still -better. - -And, so far, the fact that they were two, and that there was only one -Gracie, occasioned them no trouble whatever. - -Each time they came home Sir Denzil and Eager looked cautiously for -any new developments pointing to the solution of the puzzle, and found -none. Developments there were in plenty, but not one from which they -could deduce any inference of weight. Was Jim more dashing and -heedless and headstrong than ever?--all these came to him from his -father. Was Jack developing a taste for study, of a kind, and along -certain very definite lines of his own choosing?--could that be cast -up at him as an un-Carronlike weakness due to the Sandys strain, or -should it not rather be credited to the strengthening admixture of red -Lee blood? - -Those were the broader lines of divergence between the two, and the -most striking to the outward observer, but it must not be supposed -therefrom that Jack had foresworn his birthright of the active life. -He revelled in the freedom of the flats as fully as ever, rode and -bathed and ran, and held his own in cricket and hockey; but, at the -same time, the habit of thought had visibly grown upon him, and it -made him seem the older of the two. - -Time wrought its personal changes in them all, but brought no great -variation from these earlier characteristics. Gracie grew more -beautiful in every way each time the boys came home; Jack more -deliberative; Jim remained light-hearted and joyously careless as -ever, enjoying each day to its fullest, and troubling not at all about -the morrow. His devotion to the playing-fields gave him by degrees -somewhat of an advantage over Jack in the matter of physique and -general good looks. His healthy, browned face, sparkling black eyes, -and the fine supple grace of his strong and well-knit body were at all -times good to look upon. - -Charles Eager, who had a searchingly appreciative eye for the beauties -of God's handiwork in all its expressions, when he sped across the -sands behind the corded muscles playing so exquisitely beneath the -firm white flesh, or lay in the warm sand and watched the rise and -fall of the wide, deep chest on which the salt drops from the tumbled -mop of black hair rolled like diamonds, while up above the clean-cut -nostrils went in and out like those of a hunted stag, said to himself -that here was the making of en unusually fine man. - -He doubted if Jim's brain would carry him as far as Jack's, but all -the same he could not but rejoice in him exceedingly. - -"Here," he mused, "is heart and body. And there is heart and -brain,"--for at heart these two were very much alike still, -open-handed, generous, and, by nature and Eager's own good training, -clean and wholesome,--"which will go farthest?" - -And, following his train of thought to the point of speech, one day -when he and Jim were alone, he said: - -"God has blessed you with a wonderfully fine body, lad. Where is it -going to take you?" - -"Into the thick of the fighting, I hope, if ever there is any more -fighting," said Jim, with a hopeful laugh. - -"One fights with brains as well as with brawn"--with an intentional -touch of the spur to see what would come of it. - -"Oh, Jack's got the brains--and the brawn too," he added quickly, lest -he should seem to imply any pre-eminence on his own part in that -respect. "He'll die a general. I'll maybe kick out captain--if I'm not -a sergeant-major,"--with another merry laugh. "I'd sooner fight in the -front line any day than order them from the rear." - -"God save us from the horrors of another war," said Eager fervently. -"I can just remember Waterloo. Every friend we had was in mourning, -and sorrow was over the land." - -"And there is another Napoleon in the saddle," said Jim. - -"Ay; a menace to the world at large! An ambitious man, and somewhat -unscrupulous, I fear. To keep himself in the saddle he may set the -war-horse prancing." - -"I'm for the cavalry myself," said Jim, and Eager smiled at the -characteristic irrelevancy. "I shall try for Sandhurst. Jack's for -Woolwich." - -"Even Sandhurst will need some grinding up." - -"Oh, I'll grind when the time comes "--somewhat dolefully. "You can -get crammers who know the game and are up to all the twists and turns. -If I can only crawl through and get the chance of some fighting, I'll -show them!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV -AN UNEXPECTED GUEST - - -One afternoon, in one of their winter holidays, Gracie and the two -boys had been down along the shore to visit Mrs. Rimmer and Kattie, -especially Kattie. - -They were tramping home along the crackling causeway of dried seaweed -and the jetsam in which of old they had sought for treasure, and -chattering merrily as they went. - -"Kattie's getting as pretty as a--as a----" stumbled Jim after a -comparison equal to the subject. - -"Wild-rose," suggested Gracie. - -"Sweet-pea," said Jack. - -"I was thinking of something with wings," said Jim, "but I don't quite -know----" - -"Peacock," said Jack. - -"No, nor a seagull. Their eyes are cold, and Kattie's aren't." - -"You think she'll fly away?" laughed Gracie. "You think she looks -flighty? That was the red ribbons in her hair. She must have expected -you, Jim." - -"They were very pretty, but I liked her best with it all flying loose -as it used to be." - -"She's getting too big for that, but she certainly has a taste for -colours." - -"Well, why shouldn't she, if they make her look pretty?" - -"Oh, she can have all the ribbons she wants, as far as I am concerned. -I only hope----" - -And then they were aware suddenly of the rapid beat of horses' feet on -the firm brown sand below, and turned, supposing it might be Sir -George or Margaret Herapath. - -But it was a stranger, a tall and imposing figure of a man on a great -brown horse, and behind him rode another, evidently a servant, for he -carried a valise strapped on to the crupper of his saddle. Both wore -long military cloaks and foreign-looking caps. In the half-light of -the waning afternoon, and the rarity of strangers in that part of the -world, there was something of the sinister about the new-comer, -something which evoked a feeling of discomfort in the chatterers -and reduced them to silent staring, as the riders went by at a -hand-gallop. - -"Who can they be?" said Gracie, as they stood gazing after them. - -"Foreigners," said Jack decisively. "French, I should say, from the -cut of their jibs. A French officer and his servant." - -"What are they wanting here, I'd like to know," said Jim, still -staring absorbedly. "He's a fine-looking man anyway, and he knows how -to ride." - -"His eyes were like gimlets," said Gracie. "They went right through -me. I thought he was going to speak to us." - -"Wish he had," said Jim. "That's just the kind of man I'd like to have -a talk with." - -They were to drink tea with Gracie, and she had made a great provision -of special cakes for them with her own hands. So they turned off into -the sand-hills and made their way to Wyvveloe. - -Eager came out of a cottage as they passed down the street, and they -all went on together. - -"Oh, Charles," burst out the Little Lady, as she filled the cups, "we -saw two such curious men on the shore as we were coming home----" - -"Ah!"--for he always enjoyed her exuberance in the telling of her -news. "Two heads each?--or was it smugglers now, or real bold -buccaneers?" - -"Jack thinks, by the cut of their jibs, they were Frenchmen, one an -officer and the other his servant." - -"Oh?"--with a sudden startled interest. "Frenchmen, eh? And what made -you think they were Frenchmen, Jack, my boy?" - -"They looked like it to me. They had long soldiers' cloaks on, and -their caps were not English----" - -"And they had rattling good horses, both of them," struck in the -future cavalryman. - -"And where were they going?" - -"We didn't ask. We only stared, and they stared back. They were -galloping along the shore towards Carne," said Jack. - -"I We don't often see Frenchmen up this way nowadays." And thereafter -he was not quite so briskly merry as usual, as though the Frenchmen -were weighing on him. - -And truly an odd and discomforting idea had flashed unreasonably -across his mind as they spoke, and it stuck there and worried him. - -They were gathered round the fire, and Jim was gleefully picturing to -the shuddering Gracie, in fullest red detail, the great fight with -Chissleton. And Gracie had just gasped, "But didn't it hurt -dreadfully, Jim?" And Jim had just replied, with the carelessness of -the hardened warrior, "Sho! I din know. It was the very best fight I -ever had";--when a knock came on the cottage door, and Eager jumped -up, almost as though he had been expecting it, and went out. It was -Mr. Kennet stood there, and when the light of the lamp in the passage -fell on his face it seemed longer and more portentous even than usual. -It was Kennet whom Eager's foreboding thought had feared to see. And -his words occasioned him no surprise. - -"Sir Denzil wants the boys, Mr. Eager, and he says will you please to -come too." - -"Very well, Kennet." And if Mr. Kennet had expected to be questioned -on the matter he was disappointed. "Will you wait for us?" - -"I've a message into the village, sir. I'll come on as soon as I've -done it." And in the darkness beyond, a horse jerked its head and -rattled its gear. - -"Come along, boys. Your grandfather has sent for you. I'll go along -with you." And they were threading their way--with eyes a little less -capable than of old of seeing in the dark, by reason of disuse and -study--through the sand-hills towards Carne. - -The boys speculated briskly as to the reason for this unusual summons. -A couple of years earlier they would have been racking their brains as -to which of their numerous peccadilloes had come to light, and bracing -their hearts and backs to the punishment. But they were getting too -big now for anything of that kind--except of course at school, where -flogging was a part of the curriculum. - -Eager guessed what was toward, but offered them no light on the -subject. - -"Yo're to go up," said Mrs. Lee to the boys, as they entered the -kitchen. "Will yo' please stop here, sir till he wants yo'." And It -seemed to Eager that the grim old face was pinched tighter than ever -in repression of some overpowering emotion. - -The boys stumbled wonderingly upstairs, knocked on Sir Denzil's door, -and were bidden to enter. - -Their grandfather was sitting half turned away from the table, on -which were the remains of a meal and several bottles of wine. Before -the fire, with his back against the mantelpiece, stood a tall, dark -man in a very becoming undress uniform, his hands in his trousers' -pockets, a large cigar in his mouth. Sparks shot into his keen black -eyes as they leaped eagerly at the boys, devouring them wholesale in -one hungry gaze, then travelling rapidly back and forth in -assimilation of details. - -A foreigner without doubt, said the boys to themselves, as they stared -back with interest at the dark, handsome face with its sweeping black -moustache and pointed beard. - -Sir Denzil tapped his snuff-box and snuffed aloofly. - -"Gad, sir, but I think they do me credit!" said the stranger at last, -In a voice that sounded somewhat harsh and nasal to ears accustomed to -the soft, round tones of the north. - -"That's as it may be," said Sir Denzil drily. "Credit where credit is -due." - -"_Sang-d'-Dieu!_ you will allow me a finger in the pie, at all events, -sir!" - -"That much, perhaps!"--with a shrug. "That proverbial finger as a rule -points more to marring than to making." - -"And you've no idea which is which?" And he eyed the boys so keenly -that they grew uncomfortable. - -"Not the slightest! Have you?" - -"I like them both. I'm proud of them both. But it certainly -complicates matters having two of them. Suppose you keep one and I -take one? How would that do? I'll wager mine goes higher than yours." - -"Suppose you put it to them!" - -The boys had been following this curious discussion with certainly -more intelligence than might have been displayed by two puppies whose -future was in question, but with only a very dim idea of what some of -it might mean. - -They had at times, of late, come to discuss themselves and their -immediate concerns--as to which was the elder, and as to what their -father and mother had been like, when they had died, and so on. In the -earlier days they had never troubled their heads about such matters. -But the exigencies of school life had awakened a desire for more -definite information towards the settlement of vexed questions. - -And so their holidays had been punctuated with attempts at the -solution of these weighty problems, and the piercing of the cloud of -ignorance in which they had been perfectly happy. And the -unsatisfactory results of their inquiries had only served to quicken -their thirst for knowledge. - -Old Mrs. Lee gave them nothing for their pains, and her manner was -eminently discouraging. "Which was the elder? She'd have thought any -fool could tell they were twins! Their mother?--dead, years ago. Their -father?--dead too, she hoped, and best thing for him!" - -Their only other possible source of information was Mr. Eager. Sir -Denzil and Kennet were of course out of the question. And Mr. Eager -had so far only told them that of his own actual knowledge he knew as -little as they did, and advised them to wait and trouble themselves as -little as possible about the matter. He could not even say definitely -if their father was dead. He had lived abroad for many years, and had -not been heard of for a very long time. - -Eager, of course, foresaw that, sooner or later, the whole puzzling -matter would have to be explained to them, unless the solution came -otherwise, in which case it might never need to be explained at all. -But in the meantime no good could come of unprofitable discussion, and -there were parts of it best left alone. - -And so, when this handsome stranger dawned suddenly upon them, in such -familiar discussion of themselves with their grandfather, their first -"Who is it?" speedily gave place to "Can it be?" and then to "Is -it?"--on Jack's part, at all events, and he stared at the dark man in -the foreign uniform with keenest interest and a glimmering of -understanding. Jim stared quite as hard, but with smaller perception. - -"Well?" said the stranger, his white teeth gleaming through the heavy -black moustache. "What do you make of it? Who am I?" - -"Can you be our father?" jerked Jack; and Jim jumped at the -unaccustomed word. - -"Clever boy that knows his own father--or thinks he does--especially -when he's never set eyes on him! How would you like to come back to -France with me, youngster?" - -"To France?" gasped Jack. - -"Into the army. I have influence. I can push you on." - -"The French army?" And Jack shook his head doubtfully. "I don't -think--I--quite understand. Are you an Englishman, sir? - -"A Carron of Carne." - -"And in the French army?" - -"As it happens. You don't approve of that?" - -Jack shook his head. Jim, with his wide, excited eyes and parted lips, -was a study in emotions--amazement, excitement, puzzlement, admiration -mixed with disapproval--all these and more worked ingenuously in his -open boyish face and made it look younger than Jack's, which was -knitted thoughtfully. - -"If it came to that I should probably claim exemption from serving -against England, though, _mon Dieu!_ it's little enough I have to -thank her for, and it would be to my hurt. Sometime you will -understand it all. And you?" he asked Jim, so unexpectedly that he -jumped again. "You feel the same? A couple of years at St. Cyr, and -then say, a sub-lieutenancy in my own cuirassiers, and all my -influence behind you. As a personal friend of the Emperor, Colonel -Caron de Carne is not by any means powerless, I can assure you." - -But Jim wagged his head decisively. He did not understand how this -mysterious, but undoubtedly fine-looking father came to be apparently -both a Frenchman and an Englishman, but he himself was an Englishman, -and an Englishman he would remain. - -"So! Then I go back the richer than I came only in the knowledge of -you, but I would gladly have had one of you back with me." - -"Go now, boys," said Sir Denzil, "and tell Mr. Eager I would be glad -of a word with him." And wrenching their eyes from this phenomenal -father, whose advances evoked no slightest response within them, they -got out of the door somehow and ran down to the kitchen. - -"Sir Denzil wants you to go up, Mr. Eager," began Jack. - -"Our father's up there," broke in Jim. - -But Mr. Eager had already heard the strange news from Mrs. Lee, and -went up at once, full anxious on his own account to see what manner of -man this unexpectedly-returned father might be, and rigorously -endeavouring to preserve an open mind concerning him until he had -something more to go upon than Mrs. Lee's curt but emphatic, "He's a -divvle if ever there was one." - -"Ah, Mr. Eager, this is my son Denzil, father of your boys," said the -old man briefly, and helped himself to snuff and leaned back in his -chair and watched them. - -"I am glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Eager,"--and a strong brown -hand shot out to meet him. "Sir Denzil tells me that whatever good is -in those boys is of your implanting. I thank you. You have done a good -work there." - -"They are fine lads," said Eager quietly. "It would have been an -eternal pity if they had run to seed. We are making men of them." - -"I have been trying to induce one of them to go back to France with -me----" - -"Which one?" - -"Either. I don't know one from t'other yet. I could make much of -either, and it would solve the difficulty you are in here." - -"And they?" - -"They won't hear of it." - -"I should have been surprised if they had." - -"I suppose so. And yet I could promise one or both a very much greater -career than they are ever likely to realise here." - -Eager shook his head. "They have been brought up as English lads; you -could hardly expect them to change sides like that, even for -possibilities which I don't suppose they understand or appreciate." - -"It's a pity, all the same. There will be many opportunities over -there----" - -"The Empire is peace----" interjected Eager, with a smile. - -"The Empire"--with a shrug--"is my very good friend Louis Napoleon, -and peace just so long as it is to his interest to keep it. But"--with -a knowing nod--"he has studied his people and he knows how to handle -them. I'll wager you I'm a general inside five years--unless he or I -come to an end before that." - -"I would sooner they died English subalterns than lived to be French -generals." - -"It's throwing away a mighty chance for one of them." - -"Their own country will offer them all the chances they need." - -"How?" asked the Colonel quickly. "You think England will join us in -case of necessity?" - -"I know nothing about that. I mean simply that our boys will do their -duty whatever call is made upon them; and no man can do more than -that." - -"Peace offers few opportunities of advancement,"--with a regretful -shake of the head. "But your minds all seem made up. It is a great -chance thrown away, but I judge it is no use urging the matter----" - -"Not the very slightest. To put the matter plainly, Captain -Carron----" - -"Colonel, with your permission!" - -"You have forfeited all right to dictate as to those boys' future. -Legally, perhaps----" - -"_Merci!_ I shall not invoke the aid of the law, Mr. Eager." - -"It would clear the way here if you took one of them off our hands," -said Sir Denzil; "but I agree with Mr. Eager, one Frenchman in the -family is quite enough. You will have to go back empty-handed, -Denzil." - -"I am glad to have seen those boys, anyway. We may meet again, some -time, Mr. Eager. In the meantime, my grateful thanks for all you have -done for them!" - -And next morning he took leave of his sons, and galloped off along the -sands the way he had come, and the boys stood looking after him with -very mixed feelings, and when he was out of sight looked down at the -guineas he had left in their hands and thought kindly of him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV -REVELATION AND SPECULATION - - -Charles Eager pondered the matter deeply, and was ready for the boys -when they tackled him the next morning. - -He knew, as soon as he saw them, that they had been discussing matters -during the night and were intent on information. - -"Mr. Eager," said Jack, "Will you tell us about our father? Why is he -in the French army?" - -Eager told them briefly that part of the story. - -"And do you consider he did right to go away like that?" was the next -question. - -"Under the circumstances I should say he did. At all events it was Sir -Denzil's wish that he should go, and he could judge better then than -we can now." - -"And we two were born after he'd left?" - -"So I am told." - -"Well now, even in twins isn't one generally the older of the two. -Which of us is the elder?" - -"That I don't know. I believe there is some doubt about it, and so we -look upon you both as on exactly the same level." - -"Suppose Sir Denzil should die, and our father should die--we don't -want them to, you understand, but one can't help wondering--which of -us would be Sir Denzil?" - -"That is a matter that has exercised your grandfather's mind since -ever you were born, my boy, and I'm afraid we can arrive no nearer to -the answer. We can only wait." - -"It'll be jolly awkward," protested Jim. - -"Very awkward. Some arrangement will have to be come to, of course; -but exactly what, is not for me to say. Your grandfather can divide -his estate between you, and as to the title----" - -"We could take it turn about," suggested Jim. - -"Or you may both win such new honours for yourselves that it will be -of small account." - -"Yes, that's an idea," said Jack thoughtfully. And after a pause, "And -you can tell us nothing about our mother, Mr. Eager?" - -"No. You were ten years old, you know, when we met for the first time -and you stole all my clothes. What a couple of absolute little savages -you were!" - -"We had jolly good times----" - -"We've had better since," said Jack. "If you hadn't come to live here -we might have been savages all our lives." - -"You must do me all the credit you can. At one time I had hoped to -become a soldier myself." - -"Jolly good thing for us you didn't," said Jim. "But haven't you been -sorry for it ever since, Mr. Eager?" - -"There are higher things even than soldiering," smiled Eager. "If I -can help to make two good soldiers instead of one, then England is the -gainer." - -"We'll jolly well do our best," said Jim. - -And so they had arrived at a portion of the problem of their house, -and bore it lightly. - -And as to the grim remainder--"It would only uselessly darken both -their lives," said Eager to himself. "We must leave it to time, and -that is only another name for God's providence." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI -JIM'S TIGHT PLACE - - -Jack had set his heart on Woolwich. In due course he took the entrance -examinations without difficulty, and passed into the Royal Military -School with flying colours. Woolwich, however, was quite beyond Jim, -and, besides, his heart was set on horses. He would be a cavalryman or -nothing. But even for Sandhurst there was an examination to pass--an -examination of a kind, but quite enough to give him the tremors, and -sink his heart into his boots whenever he thought of it. Examinations -always had been abomination to Jim and always got the better of him. - -He argued eloquently that pluck, and a firm seat, and a long reach -would make a better cavalryman than all the decimal fractions and -French and Latin that could be rammed into him. But the authorities -had their own ideas on the subject. So to an army-tutor he went in due -course, a notable crammer in the Midlands, who knew every likely twist -and turn of the ordinary run of examiners, and had got more incapables -into the service than any man of his time, and charged accordingly. - -And there, for six solid months, Jim was fed up like a prize turkey, -on the absolutely necessary minimum of knowledge required for a pass, -and grew mentally dyspeptic with the indigestible chunks of learning -which he got off by heart, till his brain reeled and went on rolling -them ponderously over and over even in his sleep. - -Fortunately he started with a good constitution, and there was hunting -three days a week, or such a surfeit of knowledge might have proved -too much for him. - -There were half a dozen more in the same condition; and the sight of -those seven gallant hard-riders, poring with woebegone faces and -tangled brains over tasks which in these days any fifth-form -secondary-schoolboy would laugh at, tickled the soul of their tutor, -Mr. Dodsley, almost out of its usual expression of benign and earnest -sympathy at times. They represented, however, a very handsome living -with comparatively easy work, and he did his whole duty by them -according to his lights. - -The shadow of the coming death-struggle cast a gloom over the little -community for weeks before the fatal day, and all seven decided, in -case of the failure they anticipated, to enlist in the ranks, where -their brains could have well-merited rest. - -Jim never said very much about that exam., but he did disclose the -facts to Mr. Eager, and chuckled himself almost into convulsions; -whenever he thought over it and the awful months of preparation that -had preceded it. - -"There was a jolly decent-looking old cock of a colonel at the table -when I went in," he said. "And my throat was dry, and my knees were -knocking together so that I was afraid he'd see 'em. He looked at my -name on the paper and then at me. - -"'James Denzil Carron?' he said. 'Any relation of my old friend Denzil -Carron of--what-the-deuce-and-all was it now?' - -"'Carne," I chittered. - -"'That's it! Carron of Carne, of course. What are you to him, boy?' - -"'Son, sir.' - -"Denzil Carron's son! God bless my soul, you don't say so! And is your -father alive still?' - -"'Yes, sir.' - -"'You don't say so! God bless my soul! Denzil Carrell alive! Why, it -must be twenty years since I set eyes on him! Will you tell him, when -you see him, that his old friend, Jack Pole, was asking after him?' -And then," said Jim, "I suppose he saw me going white at prospect of -the exam., for he just said, 'Oh, hang the exam.! You can ride?' - -"'Anything, sir.' - -"'And fence?' - -"'Yes, sir. And box and swim, and I can run the mile in four minutes -and fifteen seconds.' - -"'God God bless my soul, I wish I could! You'll do, my boy! Pass on, -and prove yourself as brave a man as your father!' And I just wished -I'd known it was going to be like that. It would have saved me a good -few headaches and a mighty lot of trouble. However, perhaps it'll all -come in useful, some day--that is, if I remember any of it." - -Jack did well at Woolwich. He passed out third of his batch, and in -due course received his commission as second lieutenant in the Royal -Engineers. - -Jim made but a poor show in head-work, but showed himself such an -excellent comrade, and such a master of all the brawnier parts of the -profession, that it would have needed harder hearts than the ruling -powers possessed to set any undue stumbling-blocks in his way. To his -mighty satisfaction, he was gazetted cornet to the 8th Regiment of -Hussars, just a year after Jack got through. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII -TWO TO ONE - - -None of them ever forgot the last holiday they all spent together -before the great dispersal. Some of them looked back upon it in the -after-days with most poignant feelings--of longing and regret. For -nothing was ever to be again as it had been--and not with them only, -but throughout the land. - -It was as though all the circumstances and forces of life had been -quietly working up to a point through all these years--as though all -that had gone before had been but preparation for what was to come--as -though the time had come for the Higher Powers to say, as sensible -parents sooner or later say to their children, "We have done our best -for you--we have fitted you for the fight; now you are become men and -women, work out your own destinies!" - -It was amazing to Charles Eager--feeling himself as young as ever--to -find all his youngsters suddenly grown up, suddenly become, if not -capable of managing their own affairs, at all events filled with that -conviction, and fully intent on doing so. - -And, so far, the strange story of their actual relationship had not -been made known to the boys. Eager had discussed the matter with Sir -Denzil many times, but the old man, not unreasonably, maintained the -position that, unless and until events forced the disclosure, there -was no need to trouble their minds with it. And Eager, knowing them so -well, could not but agree that it would be a mighty upsetting for -them. - -While they were working hard, in their various degrees, for their -examinations, It was, of course, out of the question. And when the -matter was mooted again, Sir Denzil said quietly: - -"Let it lie, Eager. If it has to come out, it will come out; but if -anything should deprive us of one of them before it does come out, -there is no need for the other to carry a millstone round his neck all -his life." - -The old man had mellowed somewhat with the years. The problem as to -which was his legitimate heir, and the possibility of unconsciously -perpetuating the line through the bar sinister, still troubled him at -times; but the boys themselves, in their ripening and development, had -done more than anything else to alter his feelings towards them. - -Well-born or ill-born, they were fine bits of humanity. He had come to -tolerate them with a degree of appreciation, to regard them with -something almost akin to a form of affection, atrophied, indeed, by -long disuse, and disguised still behind a certain cynicism of speech -and manner and the very elegant handling of his jewelled snuff-box, -whenever they met. - -When they were at Carne for holidays, they had their own apartments, -and, for a sitting-room, the long, oak-panelled parlour, looking north -and west over the flats and the sea; and here they were at last -enabled to entertain their friends, and repay some of the -hospitalities of the earlier years. - -At times Sir Denzil would send for them to his own rooms, and they -came almost to enjoy his acid questionings and pungent comments on -life as they saw it. Behind his cynical aloofness they were not slow -to perceive a keen interest in the newer order of things, and they -talked freely of all and sundry--their friends, and their friends' -friends, and all the doings of the day. It was very many years since -the old man had been in London. He felt himself completely out of -things, and had no desire to return; but still he liked to hear about -them. - -And at times, by way of return, when the boys had their friends in, he -would, with the punctilious courtesy of his day, send Mr. Kennet to -request their permission to join them, and then march in, almost on -Kennet's heels, looking, in his wig and long-skirted coat and ruffles -and snuff-box, a veritable relic of past days. - -Jack, in the plenitude of his present-day knowledge, and the power it -gave him of affording interesting information to the recluse, -discoursed with him almost on terms of equality. - -Jim, on the other hand, though he could rattle along in the jolliest -and most amusing way imaginable with his chosen ones, still found the -old gentleman's rapier-like little speeches and veiled allusions -somewhat beyond him, and so, as a rule, left most of the talking to -him and Jack. - -But the first time the boys both came down in their uniforms, modestly -veiling their pride under a large assumption of nonchalance, but in -reality swelling internally like a pair of young peacocks, they -carried all before them. They looked so big, so grand, so masterful, -that it took some time even for the Little Lady to fit them into their -proper places in their own estimation and in hers. - -And as for their grandfather, it took an immense amount both of time -and snuff and sapient head-nodding before he could get accustomed to -them, and then he was quite as proud of them as they were of -themselves. - -"By gad, sir!" he said to Eager, in an unusual outburst of suppressed -vehemence, "you were right and I was wrong. We can't afford to lose -either of them, though what you're going to do about it all, when the -time comes, is beyond me. Jack, there, talks like a book, like all the -books that ever were, and knows everything there is to know in the -world"--Jack had been delivering himself of some of his newest ideas -on fortification--"but what can you make of that? It may only be the -higher product of a coarser strain. I'm not sure that the other isn't -more in the line. I'm inclined to think he'll make his mark if he gets -the chance that suits him." - -"They both will, sir. Take my word for it. We shall all, I hope, live -to be proud of them both. And as to the other matter, maybe they'll -cut so deep, and go so far, that after all it will become of secondary -importance." - -"That," said Sir Denzil, with a steady look at him over an elegantly -delayed pinch of snuff, "is quite impossible. They can attain to no -position comparable with the succession to Carne." - -And Gracie? With what feelings did she regard these -brilliantly-arrayed young warriors? - -She had for them a most wholesome, whole-hearted, and comprehensive -affection, and she bestowed it in absolutely equal measure upon them -both. - -She had grown up in closest companionship with them. She could not -imagine life without them or either of them: it would have been life -without its core and colour. And, so far, they stood together in her -heart, and no occasion had arisen for discrimination between them. - -When, indeed, Jim had disappeared for a time, and seemed lost to them, -life had seemed black and blank for lack of him, and Jack could not by -any means make up for him. But when Jack in turn disappeared life was -equally shadowed for her, and Jim was no comfort whatever. - -She, rejoicing in them equally, had no thought or wish but that things -should go on just as they were. But in the boys other feelings began -unconsciously to push up through the crumbling crust of youth. - -They were nearing manhood. The Little Lady was no longer a child. She -had grown--tall and wonderfully beautiful in face and figure. They had -met other girls, but never had either of them met any one to compare -with Grace Eager. And they met her afresh, each time they came home, -with new wonder and vague new hopes and wishes. - -It was the party which Sir George Herapath gave in the autumn that -brought matters to a head. - -Neither of the boys had seen Grace in evening dress before. Indeed, it -was her first, and the result of much deep consideration and planning -on the part of herself and Margaret Herapath. - -When it was finished and tried on in full for the first time, old Mrs. -Jex, admitted to a private view, clasped her hands and the tears ran -down her face as she murmured, "An angel from heaven! Never in all my -born days have I set eyes on anything half so pretty!"--though really -it was only white muslin with pale-blue ribbons here and there. But it -showed a good deal of her soft white arms and neck, and they dazzled -even Mrs. Jex. As for the boys--it was as though the most marvellous -bud the world had ever seen had suddenly burst its sheath and -blossomed into a splendid white flower. - -When she came into the big drawing-room at Knoyle that night, with -Eager close behind, his intent face all alight with pride in her, and -perhaps with anticipation for himself, she created quite a sensation, -and found it delightful. - -She came in like a lily and a rose and Eve's fairest daughter all in -one; and our boys gazed at her spell-bound, startled, electrified as -though by a galvanic shock. And deep down in the consciousness of each -was a strange, wonderful, peaceful joy, a sudden endowment, and an -almost overpowering yearning. In the self-same moment each knew that -in all the world there was no other woman for him than Grace Eager. -And, vaguely, behind that, was the fear that the other was feeling the -same. - -And she? She enjoyed to the full the novel sensation of the effect she -produced upon them, and was just the same Gracie as of old--almost. - -She sailed up to them and dropped a most becoming curtsey, and rose -from it all agleam and aglow with merry laughter at their visible -undoing. - -"Well, boys, what's the matter with you?" she rippled merrily. - -"You!" gasped Jim. - -"Me? What's the matter with me? I'm all right. Don't you like me like -this? Meg and I made it between us." - -Didn't they like her like that? Why----! - -"You see," said Jack, "we've never seen you like this before, and -you've taken us by surprise." - -"Oh, well, get over it as quickly as you can, and then you may ask me -to dance with you." - -"I don't think I'll ever get over it, but I'll ask you now," said Jim. -Which was not bad for him. - -And Jack felt the first little stab of jealousy he had ever -experienced towards Jim, at his having got in first. - -"I'd like every dance," laughed Jim happily, "but----" - -"Quite right, old Jim Crow! Mustn't be greedy! You first, because you -spoke first, then Jack----" - -"Then me again," persisted Jim. - -"We'll see. Is that Ralph Harben? How he's grown! His whiskers and -moustache make him look quite a man." And Jim decided instantly on the -speedy cultivation of facial adornments. "Oh, he's coming! And there's -Meg." And she flitted away to Margaret, who was talking to Charles -Eager, and so for the moment upset Master Harben's plans for her -capture. - -With no little distaste the boys had suffered instruction in the art -of dancing, as a necessary part of the education of a gentleman. Now -they fervently thanked God for it. To have to stand with their backs -to the wall while every Tom, Dick, or Ralph whirled past in the dance -with Gracie, would have been quite past the bearing. They felt new -sensations under their waistcoats even when George Herapath had her in -charge, though there was not a fellow on earth they liked better, or -had more confidence in, than old George, now a dashing lieutenant in -the Royal Dragoons, and quite a man of the world. As for Ralph -Harben--well, if either of them could have picked a reasonable quarrel -with him, and had it out in the garden, unbeknown to any but -themselves, Master Ralph would have undergone much tribulation. - -They danced with Gracie many times that night, and grew more and more -intoxicated with happiness such as neither had ever tasted before or -even dreamed of. And yet, below and behind it all, pushed down and -hustled into dark corners of the heart and mind, was that other new -feeling which, though it was foreign to them, they instinctively -strove to keep out of sight. - -Over the incidents of that party we need not linger. There were many -fair girls and fine boys there, but they do not come into our story. -They all enjoyed themselves immensely, and Sir George, beaming -genially, enjoyed them all as much as they enjoyed, themselves. - -Margaret moved among them like a queen lily, and the boys were -somewhat overpowered by her stately beauty. But Charles Eager seemed -to find his satisfaction in it, and his eyes followed her with vast -enjoyment whenever he was not dancing with her, for he danced as well -as he jumped or boxed. - -When Mr. Harben--Sir George's active partner in the business, and -Ralph's father--chaffed him jovially on the matter, he replied -cheerfully that David danced before the ark, and he didn't see why he -shouldn't do likewise. And when Harben would have tackled him further -as to the ark, he averred that arks were as various as the men who -danced before them, and had no limitations whatever in the matter of -size, shape, or material--that some men were arks of God and more -women--that when he came across such he bowed before them, or, as the -case might be, danced with them, and he sped off to claim Margaret for -the next round, leaving his adversary submerged under the avalanche of -his eloquence. - -That night was, for the younger folk, all enjoyment, tinged indeed -with those other vague feelings I have named, but quickened and -intensified, before they separated, by news from the outer world which -strung all their nerves as tight as fiddlestrings and swept them with -many emotions. - -For, coming upon Sir George and his partner conversing earnestly in a -quiet corner one time, Eager, with his eyes on Margaret and Ralph -Harben circling round the room, asked--casually, and by way of -exhibiting detachment from any special interest in that other -particular matter--"Well, Mr. Harben, what's the news from the East?" - -And the two older men stopped talking and looked at him. It was Sir -George who answered him, soberly: - -"Grave news, Mr. Eager. Harben was just telling me that the fleet is -to enter the Black Sea, and that at headquarters they entertain no -doubt as to the result." - -"You mean war?" asked Eager, with a start. - -"War without a doubt, Mr. Eager," said Harben, involuntarily rubbing -his hands together. For he was a contractor, you must remember; and -whatever of misery and loss war entails upon others, for contractors -it means business and profit. - -"We are to fight Russia on behalf of Turkey?" - -"Russian aggression must be checked," said Harben. "Her ambition knows -no bounds. We go hand-in-hand with France, of course." - -"H'm! My own feeling would be that it is more for the aggrandisement -of Louis Napoleon than for the checking of Russia that we are going to -fight." - -"Who's going to fight?" asked Lieutenant George, catching the word. - -And then of course it was out. For, once more, whatever of misery and -loss war entails upon others, to the fighting man in embryo it means -only glory and the chances of promotion. - -It was the following day that the disturbances nearer home began. - -Jack lay awake most of the morning after he got to bed, thinking -soberly, with rapturous intervals when Gracie's laughing face floated -in the smaller darkness of his tired eyes, and envying Jim, who slept -at intervals like a sheep-dog after a day on the hills. But at times -even Jim's heavy breathing stopped and he lay quite still, and then he -too was thinking--which was an unusual thing for him to do in the -night--though not perhaps so deeply as Jack. - -They both felt like boiled owls in the morning, and lay late. It was -close on midday when Jack, after several pipes and a splitting yawn, -said, "Let's go up along,"--which always meant north along the -flats--"my blood's thickening." And they went off together along the -hard-ribbed sand, with the sea and the sky like bars of lead on one -side and the stark corpses of the sand-hills, with the wire-grass -sticking up out of them like the quills of porcupines, on the other. - -They walked a good two miles without a word, both thinking the same -things and both fearing to start the ball rolling. - -"We've got to talk it out, Jim," said Jack at last. - -Jim grunted gloomily. - -"What are you thinking of it?" - -"Same as you, I s'pose." - -"It mustn't part us, old Jim." - -Jim snorted. Under extreme urgency he was at times slow of expression -in words. - -"Gracie has become a woman, the most beautiful woman in all the -world"--with rapture, as though the mere proclamation of the fact -afforded him mighty joy, which it did. - -"And we are men . . . and--and we've got to face it like men." - -And Jim grunted again. He was surging with emotions, but he couldn't -put them into words like Jack. - -"I would give my life for her," said Jack. - -"I'd give ten lives if I had 'em." - -"She can only have one of us, and only one of us can have her." Which -was obvious enough. - -"And it all lies with her. We only want what she wants." - -"I only want her," groaned Jim. - -"Of course. So do I. But we neither of us want her unless she wants -us," reasoned Jack. - -"I do. She's made me feel sillier than ever I felt in all my life -before. All I know is that I want her." - -Jack nodded. "I know. I've been thinking of it all night." - -"So've I," growled Jim. And Jack refrained from telling him how he had -envied him his powers of sleep. - -"It seems to me the best thing we can do is to write and tell her what -we're feeling." - -Jim snorted dissentingly. Letter-writing was not his strong point, and -Jack understood. - -"Well, you see, we can't very well go together and tell her. But if we -write she can have both our letters at the same time, and then she can -decide. I'm sure it's the only way to settle it. Can you think of -anything better?" - -But Jim had no suggestions to offer. All he knew was that his whole -nature craved Gracie, and he could not imagine life without her. - -In the earlier times, when, as generally happened, they both wanted a -thing which only one of them could have, they always fought for it, -and to the victor remained the spoils. - -But in those days the spoils were of no great account, and the -pleasure of the fight was all in all. - -This was a very different matter. The prize was life's highest crown -and happiness for one of them, and no personal strife could win it. It -was a matter beyond the power of either to influence now. It was -outside them. They could ask, but they could not take. Forcefulness -could do much in the bending and shaping of life, but here force was -powerless. - -And it was then, as he brooded over the whole matter, that one of -life's great lessons was borne in upon Jim Carron--that the dead hand -of the past still works in the moulding of the present and the future, -that what has gone is still a mighty factor in what is and what is to -come. - -He groaned in the spirit over his own deficiencies, the lost -opportunities, the times wasted, which, turned to fuller account, -might now have served him so well. If only he could have known that -all the past was making towards this mighty issue, how differently he -would have utilised it. - -For, submitting himself to most unusual self-examination, and -searching into things with eyes sharpened by unusual stress, he could -not but acknowledge that, compared with Jack, he made but a poor show. - -Jack was clever. He had a head and knew how to use it. He would go far -and make a great name for himself. Whereas he himself had nothing to -offer but a true heart and a lusty arm, and Jack had these also in -addition to his greater qualifications. - -How could any girl hesitate for a moment between them? His chances, he -feared, were small, and he felt very downcast and broken as he sat, -that same afternoon, chewing the end of his pen and thoughtfully -spitting out the bits, in an agonising effort after unusual expression -such as should be worthy of the occasion. - -His window gave on to the northern flats, and, as he savoured the -penholder, in his mind's eye he saw again the wonderful little figure -of Gracie in her scarlet bathing-gown, with her hair astream, and her -face agleam, and her little white feet going like drumsticks, as they -had seen her that very first morning long ago. And, since then, how -she had become a part of their very lives! - -And then his thoughts leaped on to the previous night, and his pulses -quickened at the marvel of her beauty: her face--little Gracie's face, -and yet so different; her lovely white neck and arms. He had seen them -so often before in little Gracie. But this was different, all quite -different. She was no longer a child, and he was no longer a boy. She -was a woman, a beautiful woman, _the_ woman, and he was a man, and -every good thing in him craved her as its very highest good. God! How -could he let any other man take her from him? Even Jack---- - -He spat out his penholder, and kicked over his chair, as he got up and -began to pace the room, with clenched hands and pinched face. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII -THE LINE OF CLEAVAGE - - -"Dearest Grace, - -"We two are in trouble, and you are the unconscious cause of it. We -have suddenly discovered that we have all grown up, and things can -never be quite the same between us all as they have been. Jim is -writing to you also, and you will get both our letters at the same -time. We both love you, Gracie, with our whole hearts. If you can care -enough for either of us it is for you to say which. For myself I -cannot begin to tell you all you are to me. You are everything to -me--everything. I cannot, dare not imagine life without you in it, -Gracie. Can you care enough for me to make me the happiest man in all -the world? - - "Ever yours devotedly, - - "John Denzil Carron." - - -"Gracie Dear, - -"It is horrid to have to ask if you care for me more than you do for -old Jack. But it has come to that, and we cannot help ourselves. I -want you more than I ever wanted anything in all my life. You are more -to me than life itself or anything it can ever give me. I know I am -not half good enough for you, and I wish I had made more of myself -now. But I do not think any one could ever care for you as I do. - -"God bless you, dear, whatever you decide. - -"Please excuse the writing, etc., and believe me, - - "Yours ever, - - "Jim," - - -When Mrs. Jex brought in these two letters, as they lingered lazily -over the tea-table, Grace laughed merrily. - -"What are those boys up to now? It must be some unusually good joke to -set old Jim writing letters." - -But her brother's face lacked its usual quick response. He had been -very thoughtful all day, sombre almost; and when Grace had chaffed him -lightly as to his exertions of the previous night, instead of tackling -her in kind, he had said quietly: - -"Yes, you see, we old people don't take things so lightly as you -youngsters." - -"You are thinking of this war?" - -"Yes--partly." - -"And----?" - -"Oh--lots of things." - -"Margaret?"--with a twinkle. - -"Oh, Margaret of course. I thought I had never seen her look more -charming." - -"She is always charming. Charlie, I wish----" and she hung fire lest -in the mere touching she might damage. - -"And what do you wish, child?" - -"I wish you'd marry her. She's the sweetest thing that ever was." - -"You have a most excellent taste, my child." - -"It's in the family. Meg's taste is equally good"--with a meaning -glance at him, but he was looking thoughtfully into his teacup. - -"And you really think we shall be dragged into war, Charlie?" - -"Mr. Harben seemed to think it certain." - -"I don't think I like Mr. Harben very much. I caught sight of his face -while you were all talking in the corner, and I thought he must have -heard some good news." - -"He was probably thinking at the moment only of his own particular -aspect of the matter. War means business for contractors, you know." - -"Sir George didn't look that way." - -"He hasn't very much to do with the firm now, I believe. Besides, one -would expect him to take wider views than Harben. He is a bigger man -in every way." - -Then Mrs. Jex came in with the letters, and Gracie wondered merrily -what joke the boys were up to. But Eager, who had not failed to notice -their unconcealed enthralment the night before, pursed his lips for a -moment as though he doubted if the contents of those letters would -prove altogether humorous. - -"I thought they'd have been round, but I expect they've been in bed -all day." And she ripped open Jim's letter, which happened to be -uppermost, with an anticipatory smile. - -Eager saw the smile fade, as the sunshine fails off the side of a hill -on an April day, and give place to a look of perplexity and a slight -knitting of the placid brow. - -She picked up Jack's letter, and tore it open, and read it quickly. -Then, with a catch in her breath and a startled look in her eyes, she -jerked: - -"Charlie--what do they mean? Are they in fun----" - -"Shall I read them, dear?" - -She threw the letters over to him, and sat, with parted lips and -wondering--and rather scared--face, looking into the fire, with her -hands clasped tightly in her lap. - -"This is not fun, Grace dear," her brother said gravely at last. It -had taken him a terrible long time to read those very short letters, -but he read so much more in them than was actually written. "It is -sober earnest, and a very grave matter." - -"But I don't want---- Oh!--I wish they hadn't"--with passionate -fervour. "Why can't they let things go on as they are? We have been -so happy----" - -"Yes. . . . But time works its changes. They are no longer boys----" - -A wriggle of dissent from Grace. - -"----Although they may seem so to us. And you are no longer a little -girl----" - -"Oh! I feel like a speck of dust, Charlie; and I don't, don't, don't -want----" - -"I know, dear; but it is too late. You may feel a little girl to-day. -Last night you were an exquisitely beautiful woman--and this is the -result." - -Grace put her hands up to her face and began to cry softly. For there, -in the dancing flames, she had seen in a flash what it all must -mean--severances, heart-aches, trouble generally. And they had all -been so happy. - -Eager wisely let her have her cry out. When, at last, she mopped up -her eyes, and sat looking pensively into the fire again, he said -quietly: - -"Let us face the matter, dear! They are dear, good lads, and they are -doing you the greatest honour in their power. There being two of them, -of course"--and it came home to him that here were he and Gracie up -against the problem of Carne also--"makes things very trying, both for -them and for you. You like them both, I know----" - -"I've always liked them both, and I don't like either of them one bit -better than the other." - -"Is there any one else you like as well as either of them?" - -"No, of course not. I've never cared for any one as I have for Jack -and Jim--except you, of course. Oh! what am I to do, Charlie?" - -"As far as I can see, there is only one thing to be done at present, -and that is--wait." - -"Can you make them wait? Oh, do! Some time, perhaps----" - -"If this war comes, they will have to go into it. They may neither of -them come back." - -"Oh, Charlie! . . . That is too terrible to think of----" - -"War is terrible without a doubt, dear. It cuts the knot of many a -life." - -"My poor boys! But how can I possibly tell them?" - -"I think, perhaps, you had better leave it all to me, dear. I will -just explain to each of them quietly how this has taken you by -surprise, and that you feel towards the one just as you do towards the -other, and that, for the time being, they must let matters rest -there." - -"Things will never be the same among us again." - -"Not quite the same, perhaps; but there is no reason why your -friendship should suffer." - -"If they will see it that way----" - -"They will have to see it that way. They ought, by rights, to have -spoken to me first. And if they had I could have saved you all this. I -must scold them well for that." - -"The dear boys!" - -And presently, since he could imagine from their letters the state of -the boys' feelings, and such were better got on to reasonable lines as -soon as possible, he set off in the chill twilight for Carne. And -Gracie sat looking into the fire, her mind ranging freely in these -new pastures--troubled not a little at this sudden break in the -brotherly-sisterly ties which had hitherto bound them, with quick -mental side-glances now and then at the strange new possibilities, and -not entirely without a touch of that exaltation with which every girl -learns that to one man she is the whole end and aim of life. - -The trouble was that here were two men holding her in that supreme -estimation, and that, so far, in her very heart of hearts, she found -it impossible to say that she loved one better than the other. And at -times the white brow knitted perplexedly at the absurdity of it, while -the sweet, mobile mouth below twisted to keep from actual smiles as -she thought of it all. - -But, naturally, the first result of the whole matter was that her mind -dwelt incessantly and penetratingly on her boyfriends who had suddenly -become her lovers, and she regarded them from quite new points of -view. And she knew that she was right, and that they never could be -all quite the same to one another as they had been hitherto. - -Long before Charles got back she was feeling quite aged and worn with -overmuch thinking. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX -GRACIE'S DILEMMA - - -"One on 'em's up in his room, but I dunnot know which," grunted old -Mrs. Lee, in answer to Eager's request for the boys, either or both, -and he went up at once. A tap on Jim's door received no answer. Jack's -opened to him at once. - -"Mr. Eager!" And there was a hungry look in the boy's eyes. - -"Hard at work, old chap?"--at sight of a number of books spread out on -the table. "I thought this was holidays with you." - -"I tried, but I couldn't get down to it." - -"Where's Jim?" - -"He's off down along--couldn't it still. Have you brought us any word -from Gracie?"--very anxiously. - -"Well, I've come to have a talk with you about that." And the Rev. -Charles pulled out his pipe and began to fill it. "You ought to have -spoken to me first, you know----" - -"Oh?--didn't know--not used to that kind of thing, you know." - -"I suppose not. Still, that is the proper way to go about it." - -"What does Gracie say?" asked Jack impatiently. - -"I've come to ask you both, Jack, to let the matter lie for a time." -And Jack's foot beat an impatient tattoo. "You see, Gracie had no idea -whatever of this, and it has knocked the wind out of her. You can't -imagine how upset she is. First, she thought you were joking. Then she -had a good cry, and now I've left her staring into the fire, fearing -you can never all be friends again as you always have been." - -"Why, of course we can!" - -"I told her so, but she says things can never be the same." - -"We don't want them the same." - -"No, I know. But you see, Jack, Gracie has not been thinking of you -two in that way; and in the way she has always thought of you, as her -dearest friends, she likes the one of you just as much as the other." - -Jack grunted. - -"After this it will be impossible for her to regard you simply as -friends. But you must give her time----" - -"Is there any one else?" growled Jack. - -"There is no one else. I asked her." - -"And--how--long----" - -"To name a time, I should say a year." - -"A great deal may happen in a year. We may all be dead." - -"The chances are that this will be a year of great happenings," said -Eager gravely. "The issues are in God's hands. May He grant us all a -safe deliverance!" - -"You really think it will be war?" asked the boy quickly. "I fear so!" - -Jack sat gazing steadily into the fire and limned coming glories in -the dancing flames. - -"A year's a terrible long time to wait when you feel like a starving -dog. But if there's a war . . . yes--that would make it pass quicker." - -"Have you said anything to your grandfather about this matter?" - -"How could we till we knew which----" - -Eager nodded. "Best leave it so at present. How soon will Jim be back? -I'd like to have a word with him too." - -"I don't know. He's a good deal worked up." - -"I'll go along and meet him." - -"I'll come too?" - -"No. Better let me see him by himself. You can talk it over together -afterwards. I hope this won't make any difference between you two, -Jack." - -"One of us has got to put up with disappointment some time," said Jack -steadily. "But we'll just have to stand it." - -Eager tramped away along the rim of the tidal sand, well pleased with -Jack's reasonable acceptance of the situation. Jim, he felt sure, -would be no less sensible, and matters would run on smoothly; and so -Time, the great Solver of Problems, would be given the opportunity of -working out this one also. - -Deeply pondering the whole matter, and letting his thoughts wander -back along the years, he tramped on almost forgetful of the actual -reason for his coming. It was not till a gleam of light amid the -sand-hills on his left told him he had got to Seth Rimmer's cottage, -that he knew how far he had come. Jim might have called there, so he -rapped on the door and went in. - -"Ech, Mr. Eager! It's good o' you to come and see an owd woman like -this," said Mrs. Rimmer from the bed. - -"It's always a pleasure to see you, Mrs. Rimmer. You're one of the -ones that it does one good to see." - -"It's very good o' yo'." - -"But I came really to look for Jim Carron. They told me he had come -down this way, and I thought he might have called in to see you." - -"No. I havena seen owt of him." - -"And you're all alone? Where's everybody?" - -"Th' mester's at his work--God keep him; it's a bad, black night!--and -Seth--he's away." - -"And where's my friend Kattie? She ought not to leave you all alone -like this." - -"Ech, I'm used to it. 'Oo's always slipping out. I dunnot know -who----" she began, with a quite unusual fretfulness, which showed him -she had been worrying over it. - -And then the door opened and Kattie came in, ruffled somewhat with the -south-west wind, which had whipped the colour into her face. With a -bit of cherry ribbon at her throat, and another bit in her hair, and -her eyes sparkling in the lamplight, she looked uncommonly pretty. - -"How they all grow up!" thought Eager to himself. "Here's another who -will set the village boys by the ears; and it seems no time since she -was a child running about with scarce a rag to her back!" - -"Mr. Eager?" said Kattie in surprise. - -"I came to find Jim Carron, Kattie. I suppose you haven't seen him -about anywhere?" - -"I saw some one walking up along," said Kattie, "but it was too dark -to see who it was." - -"Jim, I'll be bound. Good night, Mrs. Rimmer! Good night, Kattie! I'll -be in again in a day or two." And he set off in haste the way he had -come. - -A few minutes' quick walking showed him a dim figure strolling along -the higher causeway of dried seaweed and drift, and kicking it up -disconsolately at times, just as he used to do as a boy when seeking -treasure. - -"That you, Jim?" And the figure stopped. - -"Hello!--what--you, Mr. Eager?" - -"Just me. I came to look for you. Kattie told me you'd come on----" - -"Kattie?" - -"Well, she said she'd seen some one pass, and I guessed it was you. -I've been in having a talk with Jack, my boy, and I wanted to see you -too." And he linked arms and went on. - -"Yes?" - -"About your letter to Gracie." And Eager felt the boy's arm jump -inside his own. "It was a tremendous surprise to her, you know. She -had never thought of either of you in that way, and it knocked her all -of a heap. Now I want you all to let matters rest as they are for a -year, Jim----" - -"A year! Good Lord!" - -"I know how you feel, lad, but it is absolutely the only thing to be -done. You've been like brothers to her, you know. You are both very -dear to her; but when you ask her suddenly to choose between you, she -cannot. I couldn't myself. You are both dearer to me than any one in -the world . . . almost . . . after Gracie, . . . but if you put me in -a comer and bade me, at risk of my life, say which of you I liked -best--well, I couldn't do it. And that's just her position." - -"I'm afraid . . . I don't suppose I stand much chance . . . against -old Jack. . . . He's a much finer fellow. . . . But, oh, Mr. -Eager . . . I can't tell you how I feel about her. . . . If it could -make her happy I'd be ready to lie right down here and die this -minute." And Eager pressed the jerking arm inside his own -understandingly. - -"I believe you would, my boy. But it wouldn't make for Gracie's -happiness at all to have you lie down and die. You must both live to -do good work in the world and make us all proud of you. And the work -looks like coming, Jim, and quickly." - -"You mean this war they're talking about?" - -"Yes. I'm afraid there's no doubt it's coming, and war is a terrible -thing." - -"It'll give one the chance of showing what's in one, anyway." - -"Some one has to pay for such chances." - -"I suppose so . . . . unless one pays oneself. . . . I don't know that -I particularly want to kill any one, but I suppose one forgets all -that in the thick of it. . . . Anyway, if it comes to fighting I think -I can do that . . . if I haven't got much of a head for books and -things." - -"I believe you will do your duty, whatever it is, my boy, and no man -can do more." - -"Well?" asked Gracie eagerly, when Eager got home again. "Did you see -them? Quick, Charlie! Tell me!" - -"Yes, I saw them. Jack at home--trying to work. Jim down -along--couldn't sit still." - -"The poor boys!" - -"They are very much in earnest, but I have got them to see the -reasonableness of waiting--for a year at least." - -"I'm glad. I don't know how I can ever choose between them, Charlie." - -"Don't trouble about it, dear. Things have a way of working themselves -out if you leave them to themselves." - -"I wonder!" she said wearily. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX -NEVER THE SAME AGAIN - - -"Things can never be the same again," was the doleful refrain of all -Gracie's thoughts as she tossed and tumbled that night, very weary but -far too troubled to sleep. - -And at Carne there were two more in like case. - -"Seen Mr. Eager?" asked Jack when Jim came in. - -"Yes," nodded Jim, and nothing more passed between them on the -subject. - -But here too things could never be quite the same again, for, good -friends as ever though they might remain in all outward seeming, -neither could rid his mind of the fact that the other desired beyond -every other thing in life the prize on which his own heart was set. -And that ever-recurring thought tended, no matter how they might try -to withstand it, to division. Similarity of aim, when there is but one -prize, inevitably produces rivalry, and rivalry scission. - -They strove against it. - -"Jim, old boy, this mustn't divide us," said Jack next day, when both -were feeling somewhat mouldy. - -"Course not," growled Jim, but all the same the cloud was over them. - -Eager had asked them to come in to tea that afternoon, so that he -might be with them all at this first meeting and help to round awkward -corners. - -But they all three felt somewhat gauche and ill at ease at first, as -was only natural. For Gracie's face, swept by conscious blushes, was -lovelier than ever, and set both their hearts jumping the moment she -came into the room. And it is no easy matter for a girl to appear at -her ease in the company of two love-sick young men who know all about -each other's feelings and hers. - -They were both inclined to gaze furtively at her with melancholy in -their eyes, and for the time being the old gay camaraderie was gone; -and at times, when she caught them at it, it was all she could do to -keep from hysterical laughter, while all the time she felt like crying -to think that they would never all be the same again. - -But Eager exerted himself to the utmost to charm away the shadows, -gave them some of the humours of his sharp-witted parishioners, and -finally got them on to the outlook in the East, which set them talking -and left Grace in comparative comfort as a listener. - -Jack gave them eye-openers in the matter of new guns and projectiles. -Jim asserted with knowledge that if the cavalry got their chance they -would give a mighty good account of themselves. Eager expressed the -hope that the Government would awake to the fact that the whole matter -was obviously promoted by the French Emperor for his own personal -aggrandisement, and would not allow England to be made his willing -instrument. The boys knew little of the political aspect of the case, -but hoped, if it came to fighting, that they would be in it. - -And Grace sat quietly and listened, and wondered what the coming year -would hold for them all. - -So by degrees the stiffness of their new estate wore off, and before -the boys left they were all talking together almost as of old, but not -quite. Still she went to bed that night somewhat comforted, and slept -so soundly as almost to make up for the night before. - -"What's the matter with those boys?" asked Sir Denzil of Eager next -day, when they met for the discussion of certain arrangements -respecting the boys' allowances. "Are they sick? Any typhus about?" -And there was actually a touch of anxiety in his voice. - -"No, sir, they are not sick bodily. They're in love." - -"The deuce! With whom?" - -"Gracie." - -"What--both of them?"--suspending his pinch of snuff in mid-air to -gaze in astonishment at Eager. - -"Yes, both of them." - -"So!"--snuffing very deliberately, and then nodding thoughtfully. "So -the puzzle of Carne hits you too. And what does Miss Gracie say about -it?" - -"She is very much upset. They had all been such good friends, you see, -that she had never regarded them in that light." - -"And you?" - -"I have persuaded them to let matters remain on the old footing, as -far as that is possible, for at least a year. By that time----" - -"Yes, this next year may bring many changes," said the old gentleman -musingly; and presently, "Well, I'm glad they have shown so much -sense, Mr. Eager--and you too. I have the highest possible opinion of -Miss Gracie. Now as to the money. They cannot live on their pay, of -course. What do you suggest?" - -"Not too much. Jim will be at somewhat more expense than Jack, but it -would not do to discriminate. I should say a couple of hundred each in -addition to their pay. It won't leave them much of a margin for -frivolities, and that is just as well." - -"Very well. I will instruct my lawyers to that effect. Three hundred -and fifty or four hundred a year would not have gone far with us in my -day, but no doubt things have changed. Do your best to keep them from -high play. It generally ends one way, as you know." - -"I have no reason to believe they are, either of them, given to it. Of -course----" - -"They've not tasted their freedom yet. It's bound to be in their -blood. Put them on their guard, Mr. Eager. We don't want them -milksops, but put them on their guard. It will come with more weight -from you than from me." - -"There is no fear of them turning out milksops, Sir Denzil. They are -as fine a pair of lads as Carne has ever seen, I'll be bound, and -they'll do us all credit yet. I'll talk to them about the gaming. Jack -is too keen on his work, I think. Jim----" - -"Ay, Jim's a Carron, right side or wrong. You'll find he'll run to the -green cloth like a mole to the water." - -"I'll see that he goes with his eyes open, anyway. I don't think he'll -put us to shame. Jim's no great hand at his books, but he's got heaps -of common sense, and he's true as steel." - -"All that no doubt," said the old gentleman, with a dry smile. "But -you'll find that boys will be boys to the length of their tether. When -they've exhausted the possibilities of foolishness they become -men--sometimes," with a touch of the old bitterness. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI -DESERET - - -New men--and women--new manners and customs, to say nothing of -costumes. - -The accession of the young Queen cut a deep cleft between the old -times and the new. But human nature at the root is very much the same -in all ages, no matter what its outward appearance and behaviour. - -The wild excesses of the Regency days had given place to the ordered -decorum of a Maiden Court. The young Queen's happy choice of a consort -confirmed it in its new and healthy courses. But, placid to the point -of dullness though the surface of the stream appeared, down below -there were still the old rocks and shoals, and now and again resultant -eddies and bubbles reminded the older folk of the doings of other -days. - -Now--as at all times, but undoubtedly more so than during the two -preceding reigns--to those who believed in study and hard work as a -means of personal advancement, the way was open. And now still, as at -all times, but especially in those latter times, to those who craved -the pleasures of the table, whether covered with a white cloth or a -green, or simply bare mahogany, the way was no less open to those who -knew. - -Jack, down at Chatham, was much too busy with his books, and such -practical application of them as could be had there, to give a thought -to the more frivolous side of things. - -Jim, cast into what was to him the whirl of London--though his -grandfather would have viewed it scornfully over a depreciatory pinch -of snuff, with something of the feelings of an old lion turned out to -amuse himself in a kitchen garden--Jim found this new free life of the -metropolis very delightful and somewhat intoxicating. - -Harrow had been a vast enlargement on Carne. London was a mightier -enfranchisement than Harrow. - -But first of all he was a soldier, very proud of his particular branch -of the service, and bent on fitting himself for it to the best of his -limited powers. - -In the first flush of his boyish enthusiasm he worked hard. His -horsemanship was above the average; his swordsmanship, by dint of -application and constant practice, excellent; and he slogged away at -his drill and a knowledge of the handling of men as he had never -slogged at anything before. - -He bade fair to become a very efficient cavalryman, and meanwhile -found life good and enjoyed himself exceedingly. - -His wide-eyed appreciation of this expansive new life appealed to his -fellows as does the unbounded delight of a pretty country cousin to a -dweller in the metropolis. They found fresh flavour in things through -his enjoyment of them, and laid themselves out to open his eyes still -wider. - -His enthusiasm for their common profession was in itself a novelty. -They decided that all work and no play would, in his case, result in -but a dull boy, as it would have done in their own if they had given -it the chance; and so, whenever opportunity offered--and they made it -their business to see that it was not lacking--they carried him off -among the eddies and whirlpools of society and insisted on his -enjoying himself. - -But, indeed, no great insistence was necessary. Jim found life -supremely delightful, and savoured it with all the headlong vehemence -of his nature. - -He had never dreamed there were so many good fellows in the world, -such multitudes of pretty girls, such endless excitements of so many -different kinds. Life was good; and Jack, deep in his studies at -Chatham, And Charles Eager, busy among his simple folk up north, alike -wagged their heads doubtfully over the hasty scrawls which reached -them from time to time with exuberant but sketchy accounts of his -doings, always winding up with promises of fuller details which never -arrived. - -Gracie enjoyed his enjoyment of life to the full, and wept with -amusement over his attempts at description of the people he met, and -never suffered any slightest feeling of loss in him, for he wound up -every letter to her with the statement that, on his honour, he had not -yet met a girl who could hold a candle to her, and that he did not -believe there was one in the whole world, and that if there was he had -no wish to meet her, and so he remained--hers most devotedly, hers -most gratefully, hers only, hers till death, and so on, and so -on--Jim. - -As to Sir Denzil, who received a dutiful letter now and again and got -all Eager's news in addition, he only smiled over all these -carryings-on, and said the lad must have his fling, and it sounded all -very tame and flat compared with the doings of his young days. And If -the boy came a cropper in money matters he would be inclined to look -upon it as the clearest indication they had yet had as to his birth, -for there never had been a genuine Carron who had not made the money -fly when he got the chance. None of which subversive doctrine did -Eager transmit to the exuberant one in London, lest it should but -serve to grease the wheels and quicken the pace towards catastrophe; -and he earnestly begged, and solemnly warned, Sir Denzil to keep his -deplorable sentiments to himself, lest worse should come of it. - -And to Charles Eager, deeply as he detested the thought of war, it -seemed that, from the purely personal point of view, as regarded Jim -and his fellows in like case, a taste of the strenuous life of camp -and field would be more wholesome than this frivolous whirl of London. - -Jim, in his joyous flights, met many a strange adventure. - -He had gone one night with some of his fellows--Charlie Denham, second -lieutenant in his own regiment, and some others--to a house in St. -James's Street, where Chance still flourished vigorously in spite of -Act 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, and stood watching the play, with his eyes -nearly falling out of his head at the magnitude and apparent -recklessness of it all. - -It was a curious room--the walls hung with heavy draperies, no sign of -a window anywhere about it; and it had a feeling and atmosphere of its -own, one to which fresh air and sweetness and the light of day were -entirely foreign. It was furnished with many easy chairs and couches, -and softly illuminated by shaded gas pendants which threw a brilliant -light on to the tables, but left all beyond in tempered twilight. - -The entrance too had struck Jim as still more remarkable. A small, -mean door in a narrow side-street yielded silently to the Open Sesame -of certain signal-taps and revealed a very narrow circular staircase, -apparently in the wall of the house. At every fifteen or twenty steps -upwards was another stout door, which opened only to the prearranged -signal, and there were three such doors before they arrived at -first a cloak-room, then a richly appointed buffet, and finally the -gaming-room. - -If the descent to hell is proverbially easy, the ascent to this -particular antechamber was rendered as difficult as possible, to any -except the initiated, and he was presently to learn the reason why. - -There was a solid group round each of the tables, and some of the -players occasionally gave vent to their feelings in an exultant -exclamation--more frequently in a muttered objurgation; but for the -most part gain or loss was accepted with equal equanimity, and Jim -wondered vaguely as to the depths of the purses that could lose -hundreds of guineas on the chance of the moment, and could go on -losing, and still show no sign. - -His wonder and attention settled presently on the most prominent -player at the table, an outstanding figure by reason of his striking -personal appearance and the size and steady persistence of his stakes. - -He might have been any age from sixty to eighty; looking at him again, -Jim was not sure but what he might be a hundred. His hair was quite -white, but being trimmed rather short carried with it no impression of -venerableness. The face below was equally colourless, without seam or -wrinkle, perfectly shaped, like a beautiful white cameo and almost as -immobile. His eyes were dark and still keen. At the moment they were -intent upon the game and Jim watched him fascinated. - -He was playing evidently on some system of his own and following it -out with deepest interest, though nothing but his eyes betrayed it. - -His slim white hand quietly placed note after note on certain numbers, -and replaced them with ever-increasing amounts as time after time the -croupier raked them away. Now and again a few came fluttering back, -but for the most part they tumbled into the bank with the rest. But, -whether they came or went, not a muscle moved in the beautiful white -face, and the stakes went on increasing with mathematical precision. - -Many of the others had stopped their spasmodic punting in order to -give their whole attention to his play. Their occasional guineas had -come to savour of impudence alongside this formidable campaign. - -Jim watched breathlessly, with a tightening of the chest, though the -outcome was nothing to him, and wondered how long it could go on. The -man must be made of money. He knew too little of the game to follow it -with understanding, but he watched the calm white face with intensest -interest, and out of the corners of his eyes saw the slim white hand -quietly dropping small fortunes up and down the table and replacing -them with larger ones as they disappeared. - -Then a murmur from the onlookers told him of some change in the tun of -luck, but the white face showed no sign. And suddenly the group round -the table began to disintegrate. - -"What is it?" jerked Jim to his neighbour. - -"He's broken the bank. Wish I had half his nerve and luck and about a -quarter of his money." - -"Who is he?" - -"Don't you know? Lord Deseret. Gad, he must have taken ten thousand -pounds to-night!" - -"Come along, Carron," said one of his friends. "All the fun's over, -but it was jolly well worth seeing." - -And as Jim turned he found himself face to face with Lord Deseret, who -stood quietly tapping one hand with a bundle of bank-notes, folded -lengthwise as though they were so many pipe-spills. - -"Carron?" he said gently. "Which of you is Carron?" - -"I am Jim Carron, sir--at your service." And the keen kindly eyes -dwelt pleasantly on him and seemed to go right through him. - -"_Jim_ Carron?" said the old man, and tapped him on the arm with the -wedge of bank-notes, and indicated an adjacent sofa and his desire for -his company there. "And why not Denzil? It always has been Denzil, -hasn't it?" - -"Well, you see, there are two of us, sir, and we are both Denzil, so -we are also Jack and Jim to prevent mistakes." - -"Two of you, are there?"--with a slight knitting of the smooth white -brow, on which all the wildest fluctuations of the tables had not -produced the faintest ripple of emotion. "Two of you, eh? And which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy? Which is to be Carron of Carne when -the time comes?" - -"Ah, now! that is more that I can tell you, sir. We are a pair of -unfortunate twins, and no one knows which is the elder." - -"Twins, eh?" And even to Jim's unpractised eye there was a look of -surprise on the calm white face. "That is somewhat awkward for the -succession, isn't it? Which is the better man?" - -"Oh--Jack, miles away. He's got a head on him. He's at Chatham in the -Engineers. I'm in the Hussars." - -"There may be work even for the Hussars before long. There certainly -will be for the Engineers. You're all looking forward to it, I -suppose?" - -"Very much so, sir. You think there's no doubt about it?" - -"None, I fear, my boy. It will bring loss to many, gain to a few, but -the gain rarely equals the loss. Do you play?" he asked abruptly. - -"Very little. It's all quite new to me. I've hardly found my feet -yet." - -"This kind of thing," he said, flipping the bank-notes, "is all very -well if you can afford it. Take my advice and keep clear of it." - -Jim laughed, as much as to say, "Your example and your good fortune -belie your words, sir." - -"I can afford it, you see," said Lord Deseret, in reply to the boy's -unspoken thought. "When you are as old as I am, and if you have wasted -your life as I have," he said impressively, "you may come to play as -the only excitement left to you. But I hope you will have more sense -and make better use of your time. Will you come and see me?" - -"I would very much like to, sir, if I may." - -"You are occupied in the mornings, of course." And he pulled out a -gold pencil-case and scribbled an address on the back of the outermost -bank-note, and handed it to Jim. "Any afternoon about five, you will -find me at home." - -"But----" stammered Jim, much embarrassed by the bank-note. - -"Put it in your pocket, my boy. You will find some use for it, unless -things are very much changed since my young days. Your father's -son--and your grandfather's grandson for the matter of that--need feel -no compunction about accepting a trifling present from so old a friend -of theirs. You cannot in any case put it to a worse use than I would. -I shall look for you, then, within a day or two." And with a final -admonitory tap of the sheaf of notes and a kindly nod, he left Jim -standing in a vast amazement. - -Lord Deseret had gone out by the door leading to the buffet and -staircase. He was back on the instant with his hat and cloak on, just -as a sharp whistle from some concealed tube behind the hangings cleft -the air, and, in the sudden silence that befell, Jim heard the sound -of thunderous blows from the lower regions. - -Lord Deseret looked quickly round and beckoned to him. - -"The police," he said quietly. "Get your things and keep close to me. -It would never do for you to be caught here. There is plenty of time. -Those doors will keep them busy for a good quarter of an hour or more. -Now, Stepan!" And a burly man, who had suddenly appeared, pulled back -the heavy curtains from a corner and opened a narrow slit of a door, -and they passed through to another staircase, which led up and up -until, through a trap-door, they came out on to the roof. They passed -on over many roofs, with little ladders leading up and down over the -party-walls, and finally down through another trap, and so through a -public-house into a distant street. - -"A thing we are always subject to," said Lord Deseret gently, "and so -we provide for it. Don't forget to come and see me. Good night!" - -"You're in luck's way, old man," said his friend Denham. "Deseret is a -man worth knowing. Let's go and have something to eat." And they all -went over to Merlin's and had a tremendous supper, for which they -allowed Jim to pay because he was in luck's way and had made the -acquaintance of Lord Deseret. - -And many such supper-bills would have made but a very trifling hole in -Lord Deseret's bank-note. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII -THE LADY WITH THE FAN - - -Perhaps it was that heavy supper, and its concomitants, that tended to -fog Jim's recollection of something in his talk with Lord Deseret -which had struck a jarring note in his brain at the time, and had -suggested itself to him as odd and a thing to be most decidedly looked -into when opportunity offered. - -The feeling of it was with him next day, but he could not get back to -the fact or the words which had given rise to it. Something the old -man had said had caused him a momentary surprise and discomfort, and -then had come the abiding surprise, from which the momentary -discomfort had worn off, of that enormous bank-note, and after that -the hasty exit over the roofs and the tumultuous supper at Merlin's, -with much merriment and wine and smoke. It was not easy to get back -through all that fog to the actual words of a casual conversation. - -But there certainly was something. What, in Heaven's name, was it, -that it should haunt him in this fashion? - -And then, as he did his best for the tenth time, in his thick-headed, -blundering way, to cover the ground again step by step, it suddenly -flashed upon him. - -"And which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?" - -That was it! "Which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?" the old man -had asked quite casually, as though expecting a perfectly commonplace -answer. - -Were they not, then, both Lady Susan Sandys's boys? - -To be suddenly confronted with a question such as that--to come upon -even the suggestion of a flaw in the fundamental facts of one's life, -is a facer indeed. - -What _could_ the old boy mean? There was no sign of decrepitude about -him. That he was in fullest possession of very unusual powers of brain -and nerve, his prowess at the tables had shown. What could he mean? - -Twin brothers must surely have the same mother. And yet from Lord -Deseret's question, and the way he put it, and the searching look of -the kindly keen eyes, one might have supposed that he knew, and every -one else knew, something to the contrary. - -To one of Jim's simple nature, there was only one thing to be done, -and that was to go to Lord Deseret and ask him plainly what he meant. - -He had already written to Jack, conveying to him his half of the -unexpected windfall, before he had succeeded in getting back to the -root of the trouble. And he had simply told him how he had met Lord -Deseret, an old friend of their father's, and how he had broken the -bank at roulette and had insisted on making him a present, which was -obviously given to them both, and so he had the pleasure of enclosing -his half herewith; and Lord Deseret was an exceedingly jolly old cock, -and the finest-looking old boy he had ever seen, and the way he -followed up that bank till it broke was a sight, and he, Jim, was half -inclined to buy himself another horse, as the mare he had was a bit -shy and skittish in the traffic, though no doubt she would get used to -it in time. - -It was after five before he found out what he wanted to ask Lord -Deseret, and so the matter had to stand over till next day, rankling -meanwhile in his mind in most unaccustomed fashion, and exercising -that somewhat lethargic member much beyond its wont. - -That night Denham and the rest were bound for Covent Garden to see -Madame Beteta in her Spanish dances. - -Vittoria Beteta had burst upon the town a month or two before and -taken it by storm. She claimed to be Spanish, but her dances were -undoubtedly more so than her speech. - -She had a smattering of her alleged native language, and of French and -Italian, and, for a foreigner, a quite unusual command of the -difficult English tongue. - -Whatever her actual nationality, however, she danced superbly and was -extraordinarily good-looking, and knew how to make the most of herself -in every way. - -Her age was uncertain, like all the rest. She looked eighteen, but, as -she had been dancing for years in most of the capitals of Europe, she -was probably more. What was certain was that she had witching black -eyes, and raven black hair, and a superb figure, and danced divinely, -and drew all the world to watch her. - -Jim was charmed, like all the others. He had never seen anything so -exquisitely, so seductively graceful. - -He gazed, with wide eyes and parted lips, till the others smiled at -his absorption. - -"There's your new catch beckoning to you, Carron," said Denham -suddenly, but he had to dig him lustily in the ribs before he could -distract his attention from the dancer. - -"Here, I say! Stop it!" jerked Jim, unconsciously fending the assault -with his elbow, while he still hung on to the Beteta's twinkling feet -with all the zest that was in him. - -"There's Lord Deseret waving to you--in the stage-box, man." And Jim, -following his indication, saw Lord Deseret, in a box abutting right on -to the stage, waving his hand and beckoning to him. - -"You have the luck," sighed Denham. "He wants you in his box. Wonder -if he has room for two little ones." - -"Come on and try." And Jim jumped up. - -"Wait till the dance is over or you'll get howled at, man." And Denham -dragged him down again, until the outburst of applause announced the -end of the figure and they were able to get round to Lord Deseret's -box. - -He received them cordially, and as he had the box all to himself -Charlie had no reason to feel himself superfluous. - -"Yes, she is very 'harming and dances remarkably well," said Lord -Deseret. "It was I induced her to come over here. I saw her in Vienna -two years ago, and advised her then to add London to her laurels. -Would you like to meet her? We could go round after the next dance. -She will have a short rest then." - -"Oh, I would," jerked Jim. - -And so presently he found himself, with Lord Deseret and Charlie -Denham, who could hardly stand for inflation, in Mme Beteta's -dressing-room. - -She was lying on a couch, swathed in a crimson silk wrap and fanning -herself gently with a huge feather fan, over which the great black -eyes shone like lamps. - -"Señora," said Lord Deseret in Spanish, with the suspicion of a smile -in the corners of his eyes, "may I be allowed the pleasure of -introducing to you some young friends of mine?" And she struck at him -playfully with the plume of feathers, disclosing for a moment a -laughing mouth and a set of fine white teeth. And Jim thought she -looked hardly as young as her eyes and her feet would have led one to -suppose. - -"Do you understand Spanish?" she asked of Jim, in English. - -"No, I'm sorry to say----" - -"Then you see, milord, it is not _comme il faut_ to speak it where it -is not understood." And she laughed again. - -"I stand corrected, madame. We will not speak our native tongue. This -is my young friend, James Carron." - -And Jim, gazing with all his heart at the wonderful dancer, got a -vivid impression of a rich dark Southern face, and a pair of great -liquid black eyes glowing upon him through the tantalising undulations -of the great dusky fan, which wafted to and fro with the methodic -regularity of a metronome. - -"And this is Lord Charles Denham. Both gallant Hussars, and both -aching to show the colour of their blood against your friends of St. -Petersburg." - -"Ah, the horror!" she said gently. "But you do not look bloodthirsty, -Mr. Carron." And the great black eyes seemed to look Jim through and -through. - -"I don't think I am really, you know. But if there is to be fighting -one looks for chances, of course." - -"And the chance always of death," she said gravely. - -"One takes that, of course." - -"But it is always the next man who is going to be killed, madame," -struck in Charlie. "Oneself is always immune. Lord Deseret was at -Waterloo, yet here he is, very much alive and as sound as a bell." - -"He had the good fortune. May you both have as good!" - -"They were anxious to express to you their admiration of your dancing, -madame," said Lord Deseret. "But we seem to have fallen upon more -solemn subjects." - -"I have never seen anything like it," said Jim. - -"It is exquisite beyond words, a veritable dream," said the more -gifted Charlie. - -"Ah, well, it seems to please people, and so it is a pleasure to me -also. You are from--where, Mr. Carron?" - -"From the north--from Carne,--the Carrons of Carrie, you know." - -The dusky plume wafted noiselessly to and fro in front of her face, -and its pace did not vary by the fraction of a hair's breadth. Over -it, and through it, the great black eyes rested on his face in -curiously thoughtful inquisition. - -Suddenly, with an almost invisible jerk of the head, she beckoned him -to closer converse, and holding the fan as a screen invited him inside -it, so to speak. - -"Do you play?" she asked gently. - -"Very little," he said in surprise. "I have only my pay and an -allowance, you see." - -"That is right. He"--nodding towards Lord Deseret--"is not a good -example for young men in that respect." - -"He has been very kind to me. And he warns me strongly against it." - -"All the same he does not set a good example. Will you come and see -me?" - -"I would be delighted if I may." - -"Come and breakfast with me to-morrow at twelve. I shall be alone." - -She gave him an address in South Audley Street, and then dismissed -them all with, "Now you must go. Here is my dresser, and I have but -ten minutes more." And they made their adieux and bowed themselves -out. - -"Is Madame English?" asked Denham, as they seated themselves in the -box again. - -"Originally, I think so. But she has lived much abroad and has become -to some extent cosmopolitan. She certainly is not Spanish, or if she -is she has most unaccountably forgotten her native tongue," said Lord -Deseret, with his hovering smile. - -"She dances in Spanish, anyway," said Charlie exuberantly. - -"And that is all that concerns us at the moment." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII -A STIRRING OF MUD - - -It is an old saying, founded on very correct observation, that -long-continued calm breaks up in storm. And the same holds good of -life, individual and national. Too long a calm leads at times to -somewhat of deterioration--at all events to a laxing of the fibres and -an indolent reliance on the continuance of things as they are; and -that, in a world whose essence is growth and change, is not without -its dangers. And--proverbially again--a storm always clears the air. - -It seemed to Jim Carron that, of a sudden, the accumulated storms of -all the long quiet years burst upon him. - -He had intended seeing Lord Deseret at the first possible moment and -questioning him as to that very curious remark of his. But he could -not broach such a matter at the theatre and in company, and his -lordship had driven off to some other appointment the moment the -curtain fell. - -So, at twelve next day, having scrambled through his morning's duties -with a quite unusually preoccupied mind, he presented himself at Mme -Beteta's lodgings and was taken upstairs to her apartments. - -She welcomed him graciously, and they sat down at once to the table. - -He thought she looked decidedly older in the daylight, but it was only -in the texture of her face, devoid now of any artificial assistance, -and slightly lined in places. - -The two great plaits of black hair showed no silver threads. The -luminous black eyes were still bright. The sinewy form the dancer was -full of exquisite grace. - -"Now tell me about yourself," demanded madame, as they sipped their -final coffee, and the maid retired. - -"I don't think there's anything to tell," said Jim, with his open -boyish smile. - -"We have lived all our lives at Carne--Jack and I--until we went to -Harrow, and then he went to Woolwich and I came to London." - -"Jack is your brother?" - -"Yes; we're twins. He's the clever one. That's why he's at Chatham -now--in the Engineers. It was all I could do to scramble into the -Hussars." And he laughed reminiscently at the scramble, and then told -her about it. - -"And which of you is the elder? Even in twins one of you must come -first." - -"That's funny now. Lord Deseret was asking me that the first time we -met, and I couldn't tell him. We've really never troubled about it, -you see, or thought about it at all until a very short time ago. I -suppose it was the fellows at school wanting to know which was the -elder that set us thinking about it. We asked old Mrs. Lee--she keeps -house for us at Carne, you know--and Mr. Eager----" - -"Who is Mr. Eager?" - -"Oh, he's a splendid fellow. He's curate at Wyvveloe, and he's done -everything for us, he and Gracie "--and madame noted the softened -inflection as he said the word. - -"And who is Gracie?" - -"Mr. Eager's sister. They call her 'the Little Lady' in Wyvveloe." - -"Is she pretty?" - -"Oh, she's lovely, and as good and sweet as can be." - -"You're in love with her, I suppose." - -"Yes, I am," said Jim, colouring up, "and I'm not ashamed of it." - -"And what about Jack?" - -"He's in love with her, too." - -"That's rather awkward, isn't it? What does Miss Gracie say to it -all?" - -"Oh, she was terribly upset. You see she had never thought of us like -that. It was after the dance at Sir George Herapath's that we found it -out----" - -"She had a low dress on, I suppose--bare arms and shoulders, and you -had never seen her so before." - -"Yes," he said, surprised at such acumen, "I suppose that was it. We -all used to bathe together and run about the sands. But that night she -seemed to grow up all of a sudden--and so did we." - -"And what does her brother say to it--and your grandfather?" - -"We're to say nothing more about it for a year. You see, this war is -coming on and you never can tell----" - -"War is horror," she said, with a shudder. "I have seen fighting in -Spain and in the streets of Paris. It is terrible. You may neither of -you come back alive. If only one comes, then, I suppose----" - -"Yes, that would settle it all." - -"And you do not remember your mother?" she asked, after a pause. - -"We never knew her," he said thoughtfully, bethinking him suddenly of -Lord Deseret and that curious saying of his. "She died when we were -born, and nobody has told us about her. Old Mrs. Lee must remember -her, but she would never tell us, and Sir Denzil--well, you can't ask -him about anything--at least, not to get any good from it." - -"He has been good to you both?" - -"Oh yes, in his way. But if it hadn't been for Mr. Eager----. We were -growing up just little savages, running wild In the sand-hills, you -know. And then he came, and it has made all the difference in the -world to us." - -"You owe him much, then?" - -"Everything! Him and Gracie." - -In his boyish Impulsiveness, having been led on to talk about himself, -he was half tempted to consult her about the matter that was troubling -his mind in connection with Lord Deseret. But how should this -half-foreign woman know anything about such matters. It was not likely -that she had ever heard tell of Lady Susan Sandys. How should she? And -so he lapsed into a brown study, thinking over it all. - -He was aroused from it by another leading question from madame. - -"And your father? Is he alive? Can he not help to solve your -difficulty?" - -"Well--you must think us a queer lot--we never saw our father till a -short time ago. He has been living in France. We thought he was dead. -He killed a man in a gaming quarrel long ago and had to live abroad, -and he's been there ever since."? - -"Truly, as you say, you are an odd family. Will you bring your brother -to see me sometime?" - -"I'm sure he would like it, but he's not often in town. You see, he -has the brains and he's putting them to use. I'll bring him, though, -the first time he's up." - -It was not till afterwards that her interest in him and his struck him -as somewhat unusual, and then he had other things to think about. - -That same afternoon he went to Park Lane, and found Deseret House and -asked for Lord Deseret. - -"Now, this is good of you," was his lordship's greeting--"to look up -an old man when all the world is young and calling to you." - -"I wanted to ask you something, sir, if I may." - -"Say on, my boy. Anything I can tell you is very much at your -service." - -"When you were speaking about Jack and me the other night, you said -something which has been puzzling me ever since. You asked, 'Which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?'" - -"Yes--well?" asked the old man, with a glint of surprise in the keen -dark eyes, which rested on the boy's ingenuous face. - -"Was Lady Susan Sandys our mother, sir?" - -"Good heavens, boy, do you mean to say you don't know who your own -mother was?" - -"We don't know anything sir. That was the first time I had ever heard -her name." - -"Good God!" And there was no doubt about the vast surprise in the calm -white face now, as its owner stood for a moment staring at Jim and -then began to pace the room in very deep thought. - -"Your grandfather? Has he never discussed these things with you?" - -"Never, sir. We have never had very much to do with him, you see. -Until quite lately we supposed our father was dead too. Then, one day, -he came to Carne--from France, where he lives, and it was a great -surprise to us." - -"And you know nothing about your mother?" - -"Nothing whatever, sir. But since you said that, I have been thinking -of very little else. You said, 'Which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's -boy?' Does that mean that we are not both Lady Susan Sandys's boys? -That would mean that we had different mothers. But how could that be -when we are both the same age? I wish you would tell me what it all -means, for I've thought and thought till my brain is getting all -twisted up with thinking." - -Lord Deseret paced the long room with bent head and his thin white -hands clasped behind him. - -It seemed to him shameful that these boys should have been kept in -such ignorance of matters so vital. He was not aware, of course, of -their strange upbringing in the wilds of Carne. - -On the other hand, if their father and grandfather had not thought fit -to enlighten them it would hardly become him to do so. Moreover, as he -turned it all over in his mind, he perceived that there might be -something to be said on the other side. - -The boys had obviously been brought up in perfect equality. Any -revelation of the mystery of their births could only make for -upsetting--must introduce elements of doubt into their minds, might -work disastrously upon their fellowship. - -Quite unconsciously, supposing they knew all about it, he had stirred -up the muddy waters that had lain quiescent for twenty years. - -"This is a great surprise to me, my boy," he said quietly at -length--"a very great surprise. I should never have said what I did -had I not supposed you knew all about it. As matters lie . . . I'm -afraid you must absolve me from my promise. If your grandfather and -your father have deemed it wise to keep silence in regard to certain -family matters, it would hardly be seemly in me to discuss them -without their permission. You see that, don't you?" - -"I see it from your point of view, sir, but not at all from my own," -said Jim stubbornly. "There is something we do not know and we -certainly ought to know it. If you won't tell me I must go elsewhere. -I wish I had Jack's head. I think I'll go down to Chatham and talk it -over with him." - -The mischief was done. Lord Deseret saw that the only thing left to -him was to direct the boy's quite legitimate curiosity into right -channels. - -"If I were you I would go straight to Sir Denzil. Tell him just what -has happened, and that you will know no peace of mind till you -understand the whole matter." - -"Thank you, sir. I will do that, but I think I will see Jack first and -perhaps we could go down together. It's right he should know, and he's -got a better head than I have." - -"It concerns you both, of course. Perhaps it would be as well you -should go together," said Lord Deseret, and long after Jim had gone he -pondered the matter and wondered what would come of it, and yet took -no blame to himself. For who could have imagined that any boys could -have grown to such an age in such complete ignorance of their father -and mother and all their family concerns? - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV -THE BOYS IN THE MUD - - -Jim spent a troubled night, tossing to and fro and trying in vain to -make head or tail of the tangle. - -He was in Chatham soon after midday and made his way at once to Jack's -quarters. - -He found him hard at work at a table strewn with books and drawings. - -"Hello, Jim boy? Why, what's up? You look---- What is it, old boy? Not -money, when you sent me that gold-mine, day before yesterday. It was -mighty good of you, old chap. Now--what's wrong?" - -"I don't know. Everything, it seems to me. I told you about Lord -Deseret----" - -"Rather! Good old cock! His money comes easily, I should say." - -"When he was talking to me, asking about you and Carne and all the -rest, he said, quite as though I knew all about it---- 'And which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?'" - -"Who the deuce is Lady Susan Sandys?" - -"Your mother--or mine." - -Jack's knitted brows and concentrated gaze settled on Jim in vastest -amazement. - -"Your mother--or mine, Jim? What on earth do you mean?" - -"That's just it. I don't know what it means. There is something behind -that we don't understand, Jack." - -"And this Lord Deseret?" - -"I went to him and begged him to explain. He was very much surprised -that I didn't know all about it, whatever it is. But he said that -since our grandfather or our father had seen fit not to tell us, it -would hardly be right for him to do so." - -Jack nodded. - -"He advised me to go to Sir Denzil and tell him how the matter had -come up, and give him the chance to explain. And I suppose that's the -only thing to do, but I wanted your advice. We've always been together -in everything." - -Jack nodded again, and then shook his head over his own bewilderment. - -"I don't understand at all, Jim. Do you mean that we are not brothers, -you and I? That's nonsense, and d----d nonsense too, I should say." - -"I've thought and thought till I'm all in a muddle. But, if words mean -anything at all, it means that you and I are not children of the same -mother, and Lord Deseret knows all about it." - -"You're sure he won't speak?" - -"Certain. He's a splendid old fellow. He'll only do what he thinks -proper, and the fact that he was so much put out at having started the -matter, without understanding that we knew nothing about it, shows the -kind of man he is and what there is in it." - -"I can't imagine what it all means. Everybody knows we're twins, and -to come now and tell us--oh, it's all d----d nonsense!" - -"I know. I felt that way too. But all the same we've got to know all -about it now. How are you for leave? When can you come down to Carne?" - -"Leave's all right. Come now if you like," growled Jack, very much -upset in his mind and temper, as was natural enough. - -"Meet me at ten o'clock, at Euston, to-morrow morning and we'll go -down and get to the bottom of it all; unless you think it would be -better still to go across to Paris and see our father and ask him. I -have thought of that." - -"If the old man won't speak, we may have to do that," said Jack, in -gloomy consideration. "But if there's something queer behind it all, -he's the last man to tell us, for he must be mixed up in it, and it -can't be to his credit." - -"I wish we'd never heard anything about it," said Jim. - -"I don't know. If there's anything wrong it's sure to come out sooner -or later, and we ought to know. I'd like a proper foundation for my -life." - -"Seems to me to cut all the foundations away." - -"Feels like that. Any one who says we're not brothers is simply a -fool. Besides, why on earth should our grandfather bring us up as -brothers if we aren't? He's no fool, and he's not the man to play at -things all these years. I wonder if Mr. Eager knows." - -"I shouldn't think so. We were ten when he came." - -"Well, we'll see him first, at all events, and get his advice." And on -that understanding they parted, to meet at Euston the following -morning. - -Jack would have had Jim stop for a while to see round Chatham and make -the acquaintance of some of his friends, but he begged off. - -"I can think of nothing but this thing at present. It's turned me -upside down. I hope nothing will turn up to separate us, Jack." - -"We won't let it, Jim boy. That's in our hands at all events, and -we'll see to it." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV -EXPLANATIONS - - -It was after ten o'clock the next night when they drove into Wyvveloe -and knocked on Mrs. Jex's door. Mrs. Jex had gone to bed and so had -Gracie. Eager himself answered their knock, and jumped with surprise -at sight of them. - -"Why--Jack--Jim! What on earth----" - -"We'll tell you if you'll let us in," said Jack. - -"Now what mischief have you been getting into?" said Eager, as they -sat down before the fire, and he knocked the wood into life. - -"It's not us this time. We've come to ask you something, Mr. Eager; -and if you can't tell us we are going on to see Sir Denzil." And -Charles Eager knew, without more telling, that the boys had somehow -fallen on the mystery of their birth. - -"Go on," he nodded. - -"You know what we want to know?" - -"I think so; but if you'll tell me I shall be sure." - -And Jack, as the better speaker, laid the matter before him, and both -eyed him anxiously the while. - -"I am glad you came to me first," he said. "I can probably tell you -all you wish to know; and you must take it from me, boys, that if it -was never told to you before, it was for good reason. Better still if -it had never needed to be told at all. Best of all if there had been -nothing to tell. The trouble is none of our making. All we can do is -to face it like men, and that, I know, you will do." - -And he told them, as clearly and briefly as possible, all that he had -learned concerning their births. - -"To sum it all up," he said in conclusion, "you are sons of the same -father, and so are half-brothers. But which of you is the son of Lady -Susan and which the son of Mrs. Lee's daughter, no man on earth knows. -And again--whether your father was really married to Mrs. Lee's -daughter I doubt if any one but himself knows. And so you see the -tangle the whole matter is in, and you can understand why it was kept -from you. We could only present you with a puzzle of which we did not -know the solution. It could only have upset your lives as it has done -now. We have gained twenty years by keeping silence." - -"Old Mrs. Lee knows which of us is which, I suppose," said Jack. And -Jim jumped at the thought. - -"I have very little doubt that she does, Jack; but she has never shown -any indication of it whatever." - -"And is her daughter still alive?" - -"I doubt if even she knows that. She has not heard of her for a great -many years." - -"Does Gracie know anything about it all?" asked Jim. - -"Not a word; and I see no reason why she should. You two have given -her quite enough to think about without troubling her with this -matter." - -They quite agreed with that, and Jack, who had been pondering -gloomily, summed up with: - -"It's all an awful tangle, and I see no way out. It seems to me that -it doesn't matter in the least who is who; for even if we learned who -our mothers were, we don't know if they were legally married. I'm -afraid there is only one thing to be said--and that is, that the one -parent we are both certain about was a dishonourable rascal, and we -have got to suffer for his sins." - -"Morals were very much looser then than they are now," said Eager -gently. "He was the product of his age. We may at all events be -thankful that things have improved, and you two are the proofs -thereof." - -"We'd probably have been no better if you'd never come here," said -Jim, with very genuine feeling. "We owe everything to you--and -Gracie." - -"That is so," said Jack heartily; and wished he had said it first, but -he had been too fully occupied with the other aspect of the case. - -"One cannot help wondering," he said presently, "what is going to -happen if our father and our grandfather should die. What are we going -to do then, Mr. Eager?" - -"That is a question Sir Denzil and I have often debated, but we never -arrived at any conclusion. One of you must be Carron of Carne. There -is also another possibility. Lady Susan Sandys was the only sister of -the Earl of Quixande. He is unmarried, so far as the world knows, but -he also comes of the bad old times and--well, you know his reputation. -But if he leaves no legitimate heir the title comes to his sister's -son----" - -"If he should happen to be legitimate," growled Jack. - -"As you say, my boy--if he can be proved legitimate?" - -"In which case he is both Carron of Carne and Earl of Quixande." - -"And, having no need for the two titles, it might be possible to hand -one over to his half-brother." - -"Could he?" asked Jack doubtfully. - -"Under the circumstances it might possibly be sanctioned." - -"Failing that, who comes in?" - -"Some Solway Canons. I know nothing of them except that your -grandfather detests them. But there is still further possibility for -you both." - -"What?" And they eyed him anxiously. - -"That in your military careers you may both rise to such heights as to -cast even the title of Carron of Carne into the shade." - -Jack nodded. Jim did not seem to regard it as a very hopeful prospect. - -"Well," said Jack, as he got up, "we've got quite enough to think over -for one night. We're going to the inn. We told them to make up beds -for us there. They'll all have turned in at Carne. We'll go along and -see Sir Denzil in the morning." - -"Come in to breakfast, and I'll go with you. I shall have to explain -to him how it comes that I have had to disclose the whole matter to -you." - - -"The boys came down last night, Gracie," was the surprising news that -met the Little Lady when she came down next morning. - -"The boys? Whatever for, Charlie? There isn't anything wrong with -them, is there?" And the startled colour flooded her face and then -left it white. - -"Nothing of the kind, dear. They wanted to see Sir Denzil on some -family matters, and they arrived too late to go there last night, so -they went to the inn." - -"You're sure they haven't been getting into trouble?" - -"Quite sure. They're coming in to breakfast. You'd better go and talk -to Mrs. Jex about supplies. Hungry soldiers, you know." And Gracie -flew to the commissariat department. - -"You dear boys!" was her greeting, when they came striding in, very -tall and large in their undress uniforms. "What _have_ you been doing? -Over-studying?--softening of the brain?"--to Jack. "Gambling?--and -frivolling generally?"--to Jim. - -"Quite out," laughed Jack. "My brain was never better in its life, and -Jim's pocket never so full. Mayn't a pair of hungry men come all the -way from London to see you without being accused of such iniquities?" - -"It is nice to get such good reports from yourselves," laughed Gracie. -"I wonder how long you can keep it up." - -"It depends upon circumstances," said Jack. - -"And what are the circumstances?" asked Gracie incautiously. - -"You're one," said Jack boldly. - -"Here's breakfast. Charlie gave me to understand you had had nothing -to eat for a week." - -"Nothing half so good as this," said Jack, with an appreciative look -at the cottage loaves and golden butter, and the great dish of ham and -eggs Mrs. Jex had just brought in. - -"My! but yo' do look rare and big and bonny," said that estimable -woman. "I do think I'll cook ye some more eggs." - -"Yes, do, Mrs. Jex," said Eager. "They don't get eggs like these in -London." - -And so they got through breakfast; but Jim was the quietest of the -party, and Gracie got it into her head that he was in some dreadful -mess, in spite of what Charlie had said. And just before they started -for Carne she got hold of him for a minute, and asked: - -"Jim, what's the trouble? Is it anything very bad?" - -"It's nothing we've done, Grace," he said, with so frank a look in his -own anxious eyes that she could not doubt him. "Just some old family -matters that have cropped up." And though she could not doubt his -word, he was so unlike himself that she watched them go in a state of -extreme puzzlement as to what could have sapped Jim's spirits to such -an unusual extent. - -As a matter of fact, the strange disclosures of the previous night -were weighing heavily upon him. With a vague, dull discomfort he was -saying to himself that, as between himself and Jack, there could be no -possible doubt as to which was the better man; and therefore--as he -argued with himself--of the true stock. And, if that was so, he was -simply superfluous and in everybody's way. He was not much good in the -world, anyway. He felt as if he would be better out of it. If he were -gone, Jack would take his proper place--and marry Gracie---- All the -same, it was deucedly hard that one's life should be broken up like -this through absolutely no fault of one's own. And to surrender all -thought of Gracie---- Yes, that was the hardest thing of all. But she -would go to Jack by rights, along with all the rest. - -"Thank God for this war that is coming!" he said to himself. "There -will be my chance of getting out of the tangle and leaving the field -clear to them." - -So no wonder our poor old Jim was feeling in the dumps, and was quite -unable to keep them out of his face. - -"Hillo? What's brought yo' home?" asked old Mrs. Lee, as they came -into her kitchen. - -"Business," said Jack curtly, and she was surprised at the dourness of -them all. - -But Jack was saying to himself--"That old witch may be my -grandmother." - -And Jim--"She is most likely my grandmother." - -And Eager--"If the old wretch would only speak she could tell us all -we want to know." - -Under which conditions a certain lack of cordiality was really not -very surprising. - - -"Well, well! How much is it?" asked Sir Denzil, eyeing them -quizzically over his arrested pinch of snuff as they came into his -room. "And how did you manage to get here at this time of day?" - -"We slept at the Pig and Whistle, sir," said Jack. "We got to Wyvveloe -too late last night to come on here." - -"Most considerate, I'm sure. What have you been up to, to make you so -thoughtful of the old man? - -"They have run up against the Great Puzzle, sir, as we knew they must -sooner or later," said Eager. "They came in to me at ten o'clock last -night to ask if I could enlighten them, and I have told them all we -know." - -"So!" And he absorbed his snuff and stared intently at the -boys. . . . "And how do you feel about it?" - -"We feel bad, sir," said Jack. "But apparently there is no way out of -the tangle." - -"We've been trying to find one for the last twenty years," said the -old man grimly. "How did it come to you?" - -"Ah! I'm surprised at Deseret," he said, when he had heard the story. -"He's old enough to know how to hold his tongue." - -"How are things shaping? Have they made up their minds to fight?" he -asked. And Eager, at all events, knew how that great question bore -upon the smaller. - -"I think there is no doubt about it, sir," said Jack. "There is talk -of some of our men going out almost at once." - -"And you are both set on going?" - -"Yes, sir"--very heartily from both of them. - -"Well," said the old man weightily, "war is a great clearer of the -air. Don't trouble your heads any more about this matter till you come -home again. If you both come, we must consider what is best to be -done. If only one of you comes, it will need no discussion. If -neither,"--he snuffed very deliberately, looking at them as if he saw -them for the first, or was looking at them for the last, time--"then, -as far as you are concerned, the matter is ended. When do you return?" - -"To-morrow morning, sir. We could only get short leave." - -"Then perhaps you will favour me with your company at dinner to-night. -And Mr. Eager will perhaps bring Miss Gracie." - -They would very much have preferred the simpler hospitality of Mrs. -Jex's cottage, but could not well refuse. With Sir Denzil's words in -their minds they could not but recognise that, for some of them, it -might well be the last time they would all meet there. - -They picked up Gracie by arrangement, and all went off down along for -a quick walk round some of their old haunts. - -"How well I remember my first sight of these flats!" said Eager, -looking with great enjoyment at the tall, clean-made, upstanding -figures striding by his side. Jim, he noticed, was rather the taller -and certainly the more boyish-looking. Jack had a maturer air, which -doubtless came of study. But both looked eminently soldierly and -likely to give a good account of themselves. "You two were just little -naked savages, and you stole all my clothes but one sock, and I -thought I would have to go home clad only in a towel." - -"They were good old times," said Jack. "But I'm mightily glad you -came. What would we have grown up into if you hadn't?" - -"Wild sand-boys," suggested Gracie. - -"And what a sight you were, the first time we saw you!" laughed Jack: -"in your little red bathing things, with your hair all flying, and -your little arms and legs going like drumsticks--a perfect vision of -delight." - -"What a pity we can't always remain children!" - -"You can--in all good ways," said her brother. - -"One grows and one grows," she said, shaking her head knowingly, "and -things are never the same again." - -"They may be better," said Jack, valiantly doing his best to allow no -sinking of spirits. "It would be a pretty bad look out if one could -only look backwards." - -Jim was unusually sober. As a rule, on such an occasion, nonsense was -his vogue, and he and Gracie carried on like the children of those -earlier days. - -"If you ask _me_," said Gracie, venturing a flight towards olden -times, "I believe old Jim here has got himself into the most awful -scrape of his life, in spite of all your assertions to the contrary. -_I_ believe he's been and gone and lost one hundred thousand pounds at -cards, and grandpa has quietly cut him off with a shilling over the -usual pinch of snuff." - -"No, I haven't. I've lost hardly anything, and I've got heaps of -money, more than I ever had in my life before. I'll buy you a pony, -if you like." - -"All right! I don't mind. Sir George has a jolly one for sale; you -know--Meg's Paddy. She's got too big for him, and he's just up to my -feather-weight." - -"We'll go along and see about him when we've been to the Mere and seen -Mrs. Rimmer and Kattie. How's Kattie getting on?" - -"She's a wild thing and as pretty as a rose. I'm afraid her mother -worries about her. But it must be dreadfully lonely living here all -the year round. Just look how grim and gray it all is. How would you -like it yourself?" - -"I'd Like it better than London," said Jim stoutly. "If I hadn't -plenty to do I'd get sick of it all--streets and houses and houses and -streets, and no end to them." - -"But the people! You meet lots of nice people." - -"Some are nice, but there are too many of them for me. I can't -remember them all, and I get muddled and feel like a fool. I'd swap -them all for----" - -"For what?" - -"Oh--nothing!" - -"You flatter them. But you'll get used to it, Jim. It takes time, of -course." - -"Don't know that I particularly want to get used to it. However, this -war will make a change." - -"You are certain to go?" - -"If we don't, I'll exchange. I want to see some fighting, and to get -some." - -"Bloodthirsty wretch!" - -"No, I don't think I really am. But if there has to be fighting I -wouldn't miss it for the world. It's the only thing I'm good for. I'm -no good at books, like Jack. But I believe I can fight." - -Mrs. Rimmer gave them very hearty welcome, in her surprised spasmodic -fashion. - -"Ech, but it's good on yo' all to come an' see an old woman," she -said, gazing round at them from her bed, with bright restless eyes and -a curious anxious scrutiny. "Yo' grow so I connot hardly keep pace wi' -yo'. It seems nobbut a year or two sin' yo' lads were running naked on -the flats." - -"We were just recalling it all as we came along, Mrs. Rimmer, and -regretting that we couldn't remain children all our lives," said -Gracie. - -"Ah--yo' connot do that"--with a wistful shake of the head. - -"And how's Mr. Rimmer?" asked Eager. - -"Hoo's a' reet. Hoo's at his work." - -"And Seth?" - -"Seth's away." - -"And where's Kattie?" asked Jim. - -"Hoo went across to village, but hoo'd ought to be home by now. But -once the lasses git togither they mun clack, and they nivver know when -to stop." - -"Girls will be girls, Mrs. Rimmer," said Eager soothingly, "and -Kattie's a girl to be proud of. She's blossomed out like a rose." - -"A'm feart she's a bit flighty, an' who she gets it from I dunnot -know. Not fro' me, I'm sure, nor from her feyther neither." - -"Here she is," said Jim. "I hear the oars." And he jumped up and went -to the door, and in another minute Kattie came in, all rosy with her -exertions in the nipping air, and prettier than ever. - -They chatted together for a while, Kattie's sparkling eyes roving -appreciatively over the wonderful changes in her former playmates, and -a great wish in her heart that the girls up at Wyvveloe could see her -on such friendly terms with two such stalwart warriors. - -When they got up to go she went out with them, and offered to put them -across the Mere in the boat. - -"Yo're going back to London?" asked Kattie of Jim, as they threaded -their way through the sand-hills. - -"We go back to-morrow. They don't give us long holidays, you see." - -"London's a grand place, they say." - -"In some ways, Kattie, but in most ways I'd sooner live at Carne." - -"Ech, I'd give a moight to see London," she sighed. - -"You'd soon have enough of it and want to get home again." - -"It's main dull here, year in, year out. I'm sick o' sand and sea," -And then they were scrambling into the boat and trimming it to the -requirements of so large a party. - -They said good-bye to Kattie at the other side of the Mere; and when -they waved their hands to her for the last time, she was still -standing watching them and wishing for the wider life beyond the -sand-hills and the sea. - -Sir George and Margaret Herapath gave them the warmest of welcomes, -and Jim tackled the master at once on the subject of Paddy. - -"But, Grace, where on earth can you keep him?" remonstrated the Rev. -Charles. "I supposed it was all a joke when I heard you discussing it -before." - -"Paddy is no joke, as you will know when you've seen him in one of his -tantrums. I shall keep him in my bedroom. He will occupy the sofa," -said Miss Grace didactically. - -"Was ever inoffensive parson burdened with such a baggage before?" - -"You silly old dear, I'll find a dozen places to keep him in the -village, and a score of willing hands to rub him down whenever he -needs it." - -"Of course you will," echoed Jim. "And if you can't I'll come and do -it myself. Let's go and look at the dear old boy." And they sauntered -off to the stables. - -"See here, my boy," said Sir George, slipping his arm through Jim's, -"if I'd had the slightest idea Gracie would have taken him I'd have -offered him to her long since." - -"You'll spoil one of the greatest enjoyments of my life if you do -that, sir. Please don't!" - -"But----" - -"I've got heaps of money. If you've anything that would make a good -charger knocking about too, I'm your man." - -"Ah--you're sure of going, then?" - -"If any one goes, I'm going, sir--if I have to exchange for it." - -"You're all alike. George writes just in the same strain. God grant -some of you may come back!" - -"Some of us wouldn't be much missed if we didn't." And Sir George -wondered what was wrong now. - -They had no difficulty in coming to terms about Paddy, and Jim's -pocket did not suffer greatly, but Sir George would not part with any -of his horses to be food for powder. - -Jack, feeling just a trifle left out in the matter of Paddy, obtained -Gracie's permission to send her from London a new saddle and -accompanying gear, and vowed they should all be the very best he could -procure. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI -JIM'S WAY - - -THE boys were back in London the following night, and Jack expressed a -wish to go to Covent Garden to see Mme Beteta, whose fame as a dancer -had penetrated even to his den at Chatham, and of whose expressed -desire to see him Jim had told him, among the many other novel -experiences of his life in the metropolis. - -"Why on earth should she want to see _me?_" asked Jack. - -"No idea. She might not mean it, but she certainly said it. There's a -lot of humbug about." - -"I'd like to be able to say I've seen her dancing, anyway, though I -don't care overmuch for that kind of thing. But every one's talking -about her, and most of the fellows have been up to see her." - -So they went, and madame's keen eyes spied them out, for, during the -first interval, an attendant came round, and asking Jim, "Are you Mr. -Carron?" brought him a request from madame that he would pay her a -visit in her room and would bring his friend with him. - -"I knew it must be your brother," she said, as she greeted them. "Yes, -you are much alike." - -"We used to be," said Jack, "but we're growing out of it now." - -"To your friends perhaps, but a stranger could not mistake you for -anything but twin-brothers," she smiled through the dusky plumes of -her big fan. - -"You, also, are hoping to go to the war?" she asked Jack. - -"Oh, we're all hoping to go. It will be the greatest disappointment of -their lives to those who have to stop behind." - -"You are all terribly bloodthirsty. And yet there are very nice boys -among the Russians, too." - -"You have been in Russia, madame?" - -"Oh yes. I have even met the Tsar Nicholas and spoken with him; -though, truly, it was he did most of the talking." - -"What is he like?" asked Jack eagerly. - -"He is good-looking, very tall, very grand; but--well, that is about -all--though, indeed, he was good enough to approve of my dancing. -Stay--Manuela!"--to her old attendant--"give me the Russian bracelet -out of that little box. I am going out to supper to-night or it would -not be here. Yes, that is it. The Tsar gave me that himself, and he -tried to smile as he did it. But smiles do not become him. He is an -iceberg, and I think he is also a little bit mad. He is very strange -at times. Indeed, I was glad when he went away." - -"That is very interesting," said Jack; "and this is surely a very -valuable present." - -"An Imperial present. But I have many such, and some that I value -more, though they may not be so valuable." - -"You have travelled much, then, madame?" - -"I have been a wanderer most of my life----" - -Then there came a tap at the door, and an attendant brought in a card. -Madame glanced at it and said, "Certainly. Please ask Lord Deseret to -come round." And my lord followed his card so quickly that he could -not have been very far away. - -"Madame is kindness itself," he smiled, as he greeted her. "I saw my -young friend here answering a summons, and guessed where I should find -him. This"--to Jim--"must be your brother." - -"Yes, sir; this is Jack." And the keen dark eyes looked Jack all -through and over. - -"I am very glad to make your acquaintance, my boy," he said. "I knew -your father very well some twenty years ago. You have both of you a -good deal of him in you." - -"I have to thank you, sir," said Jack, "for my share in your kindness -to Jim." - -"Oh----?" And my lord looked mystified and awaited enlightenment. - -"He sent on to me the half of your very generous gift----" - -"Ah! he never told me that. Are you up on leave? You are at Chatham, I -think." - -"We got three days' leave, sir. We wanted to go down to Carne." - -"Ah! I hope you had a good journey. How is Sir Denzil?" - -"He is just exactly the same as ever. He has not changed a hair since -ever we can remember him." - -"I suppose he sticks to the old customs--shaves clean and wears a -wig." - -"I suppose that is it, sir. He certainly never seems to get any -older." - -Then madame's warning came, and Lord Deseret carried them off to his -box and afterwards to supper. - -And he and Jack had much interesting conversation concerning the -coming war, and armaments, and so on, to all of which Jim played the -part of interested listener, though in truth his mind was busy, in its -slow, heavy way, on quite other matters. - -"Clever boy, that," said Lord Deseret to himself, as he thought over -Jack while his man was putting him to bed that night. "He will -probably find his chances in this war and go far. But I'm not sure but -what--yes, Jim is a right good fellow. And to think of him sending -half that money to the other! I should say that was very like him, -though. Now I wonder which, after all, _is_ Lady Susan's boy, and how -it's all going to work out. If Jack's the man, I wouldn't at all mind -providing for Jim. In fact, I rather think I'd like to provide for -him. Not a patch on the other in the matter of brains, of course, but -something very taking about him. A look in his eyes, I think----" - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII -A HOPELESS QUEST - - -It was about a fortnight after their visit to Carne, and Jim, after -several hours' hard work outside, was bolting a hasty breakfast in his -quarters one morning, when his orderly came up to say that a man was -wanting to see him. - -"What kind of a man, Joyce?" - -"An elderly man, sir; looks to me like a sailor." - -"A sailor? And he wants me?" - -"Yes, sir; very important, he says, and private." - -"Oh well, bring him up, and, Joyce--see to my things, will you? We -have an inspection at twelve. The Duke's coming down to see if we're -all in order." - -"Right, sir!" And Joyce disappeared with a salute, and reappeared in a -moment with the fag end of it, as he ushered in--old Seth Rimmer. - -"Why--Mr. Rimmer!" And Jim jumped up with outstretched hand. "Whatever -brings you so far away from home? Nothing wrong, is there?"--for the -old man's face was very grim and gray and hard-set, and he did not -take Jim's hand, but stood holding his hat in both his own. - -"Yes, Mester Jim, there's wrong, great wrong, an' I cum to see if -yo'--if yo'--if---- Where's Kattie?" - -"Kattie?" echoed Jim in vast astonishment. - -"Ay--our Kattie! Where is she, I ask yo'. If yo'----" And he raised -one knotted, trembling hand in commination. - -"But--Seth--I don't understand. Sit down and tell me quietly. I know -nothing of Kattie. You don't mean that she's gone away? You can't mean -that. Kattie!" - -"Ay--gone away--day after you wur with her." - -"Good God! Kattie! And you have thought---- Oh, Seth! you couldn't -think that of me?" And he sprang up and stood fronting him. - -And the woeful soul, looking despairingly out of the weather-worn gray -eyes into the frank boyish face, saw the black eyes blur suddenly and -then blaze, and knew that its wild suspicions were unfounded. - -"Ah dunnot know what to think," said the old man wearily. "Hoo's gone -an' nivver a track of her. An' yo' wur there last, and yo' wur aye -fond of her. An' so----" - -"I would no more harm a hair of Kattie's head than I would Grace -Eager's, Seth. And you ought to have known that--you who have known us -all our lives." - -"Ay--ah know! But hoo's gone, an' ah connot get a word of her, -an'----" And the tired old arms dropped on to the table, and the weary -old head dropped into them, and he sobbed with great heaves that -seemed like to burst the sturdy old chest. - -Jim was terribly distressed. With the wisdom that comes of deepest -sympathy he rose quietly and left the old man to his grief. He found -Joyce down below, busily polishing and brushing, and sent him off to -procure some more breakfast, and, returning presently to his room, -found old Seth as he had left him, with his head in his arms, but -fallen fast asleep, and he knew that the outbreak and the rest would -do him good. - -He sat over against him for close on an hour, cudgelling his brains -for some ray of light in this new cloud of darkness. And then, as his -time was getting short, he went quietly out again, and Joyce togged -him up in all his war-paint, and made him fully fit to meet the -critical eyes of all the royal dukes under the sun. - -Old Seth was still sound asleep when he went into the room, but he -went quietly up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, and the old -man lifted his head and looked vaguely at the splendid apparition, and -then began to struggle to his feet. - -"It's only me, Seth. Listen now! I've got to go out for an inspection, -and it may take a couple of hours or more, You are to stop here till I -come back, and then we'll see what is best to be done. Here is food. -Eat all you can, and then lie down on that sofa. You're done up. And -don't go out of this room till I come back. You understand?" - -"Ay--yo're verra good. Ah con do wi' a rest, for ah walked aw the way -fro' Wynsloe." - -"You must be nearly dead. Help yourself now, and I'll be back as soon -as I can." And he went clanking down the stairs and swung on to his -horse and away, with a dull sick feeling at the heart at thought of -Kattie. - -Who could have done this thing? He remembered her expressed wish to -get to London, when they were walking down to the Mere that other day. -It was, perhaps, not quite so bad--as yet--as old Seth feared. - -The girl's longing for what seemed to her the wider, brighter life -might have led her to risk her poor little fortune in the metropolis. -Or it might be that she had not come to London at all, but had gone -away with some village lover. But--on the whole--he was inclined to -think London her more likely aim. And as to whether she had come alone -he had nothing whatever to go upon. - -It was long after midday before he got back to his quarters, but old -Seth had not found the time any too long, having been fast asleep ever -since he had eaten. - -Jim got out of his trappings and lit a pipe, which he had taken to of -late as at once a promoter of thought and a soother of undue exertion -in that direction. - -And after a time old Seth stretched himself and opened his eyes, and -then sat up. - -"Ah've slep'," he said quietly. "But yo' towd me to." - -"You'll feel all the better for it. Now, tell me all you can about -this matter, Seth, and we'll see if we can see through it. Where is -young Seth?" - -"Hoo's away." - -"And who have you left with Mrs. Rimmer?" - -"Hoo's dead and buried." And the strong old voice came near to -breaking again. - -"Dead!" - -"Ay! It killed her. She wur not strong, as yo' know, and thought of it -wur too much for her. Hoo just fretted and died." - -"Oh, Seth, I am sorry--sorrier than I can tell you. That's dreadful -for you." - -"Ah dun' know. Mebbe it's best she's gone. Hoo'll fret no more, and -hoo suffered much." - -"I am very, very sorry. What could have made you think I could do such -a thing, Seth? You know how we've always liked Kattie, all of us, and -how good Mrs. Rimmer always was to us. How could you think any of us -could do such a thing?" - -"One gets moithered wi' grief, yo' know. An' that night after yo'd -gone she were talking o' nowt but Lunnon, Lunnon, Lunnon, till I got -sick on't. An' I towd her to shut up, and what was it had started her -o' that tack? An' she said it was seet o' yo', an' yo'd bin talking o' -it to her." - -"As we went down to the boat she was saying how she would like to see -London, and I told her she was far better off where she was. I think -that was all I said, Seth." - -"Ah believe yo'. She wur flighty at times, an' she got stowed o' th' -sand-hills an' th' sea. It wur a dull life for a young thing, I know, -but ah couldna mend it, wi' th' missus bad like that." - -"It's a sad business, Seth," said Jim despondently. "And I don't know -what we can do about it. If she really did come to London you might -look for her here for the rest of your life and never find her." - -"Ay, it's a mortal big place. The clatter an' the bustle mazes me till -my head spins round. But I conna go whoam till I've looked for her." - -"I'll find you a room. My man Joyce is sure to know where to get one. -Have you enough money with you?" - -"Ah havena much, but it mun do. When it's done ah'll go whoam." - -"You must let me see to your board and lodging, at the very least, -Seth----" - -"Ah con pay my way--for a time. It doan't cost me much to live." - -"Whatever you say, I shall see to your board and lodging, Seth, so -don't make any trouble about it. I wonder now"--as a sudden idea -struck him. - -"Han yo' thowt o' something?"--with a gleam of hope. - -"There's an old friend of my father who has been very kind to me. I -was just wondering if he could help us at all." - -The hope died out of Seth's eyes. From all he had ever heard of -Captain Denzil he did not place much faith in any friend of his -rendering any very reliable help in such a matter. - -Nevertheless, it was a good thought on Jim's part. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII -LORD DESERET HELPS - - -Joyce solved the lodging difficulty off-hand, and old Seth, assured of -bed and board, gave himself up to the impossible task of finding a -lost girl who had no desire to be found. - -Jim made him promise to report himself each day, so that he could keep -some track of his doings. He wrote down his address on a card and put -it in his pocket, and watched him go forth the first day with many -misgivings. - -He saw him go out into the crowded street, bent as he had never been -before, peering intently into the bewildering maze of hurrying faces, -with a look of dogged perplexity as to where to go first on his own -sad gray face. The throng bumped into him, and jostled him to and fro, -and passed on, unheeding or vituperative, and at last he turned and -went slowly out of sight, and Jim wondered if he would ever see him -again. - -He was dining that night with Lord Deseret, and determined to ask his -advice on the matter. The very look of that calm white face gave one -the impression of incomprehensibly vast experience and unusual insight -into the depths of human nature. He might be able to suggest -something. - -My lord's immediate object, apart from his liking for the boy, was to -learn the result of their visit to Carne. He had blamed himself, but -not unduly, for the incautious words that had set the ball rolling. -But who on earth would ever have imagined boys of that age in such -ignorance of matters so vital? - -He chatted pleasantly throughout the dinner, drawing from the -ingenuous Jim many a little self-revelation, which all tended -to the confirmation of the good opinion he had formed of him. And he -found the modesty which acknowledged many lacks, and was not ashamed -to ask for explanations of things it did not understand, distinctly -refreshing in an age when self-assertion was much to the fore. He -noticed too a lessening of the previous boyish gaiety and -carelessness, and traces of the clouds which had suddenly obscured his -sun. - -"And how did you fare at Carne?" he asked, as soon as they were alone. -"I feel somewhat guilty in that matter, you see. From what I know of -it I can imagine you heard upsetting and discomforting things. Perhaps -now I can be of some assistance to you." - -"You are very kind to me, sir, and I wanted to ask your advice. But in -that matter"--he shook his head despondently--"I don't see how any one -can help. It's all a tangle, but in my own mind I'm sure Jack must be -Lady Susan Sandys's boy, and that means that I--that I am----" - -"You are yourself, my dear lad, and, unless I am very much mistaken, -you will render a very good account of yourself when your chance -comes." - -"I will do my best, sir, but that does not alter the fact that I am -out of it as far as Carne is concerned. And that means a great deal to -me. Not that I want it for itself, but--well, there are other -things----" And he stuck, with a choking in the throat. - -"Don't tell me anything you don't want to, but if I can help I would -very much like to." - -"It's this way, sir. Jack and I are both in love with Gracie----" - -"And who is Gracie, now?" - -"Grace Eager--she is the sister of Mr. Eager, our curate at Wynsloe. -It is he who has done everything for us----" - -"He's a very fine fellow, then, and has done good work." - -"Oh, he's the finest man in the world. We were growing up little -savages, running wild on the flats, when he came, and he has made us -into men--he and Gracie between them. And Gracie is wonderful and -lovely and all that is good. And now----" - -"Has she chosen Jack?" - -"We are to say nothing more about it for a year--just to wait and see. -You see we all grew up together, and she had never thought of us in -that way, and it upset everything----" - -"I think I understand. Now, my dear boy, will you take it from an old -man, who has seen more of the world than perhaps has been good for -him, that there is not the slightest ground for your feeling as you -do. I knew your father very intimately. We had many failings in -common. He behaved as we most of us behaved in those days--according -to our lights, or shadows, and in accord with the times in which we -lived. I cannot exonerate him any more than the rest of you. Still, do -not think too harshly of him! He was the product of his age. Now, what -valid grounds have you for believing your brother to be in any way -better circumstanced than yourself?" - -"He's so much the better man, sir. Jack's got a head on him and -will----" - -"If you applied that to the peerage generally, I'm afraid you would -bar many escutcheons," said the old man, with a smile. "Brains by no -means always follow the direct lines of descent. In fact, as you ought -to know, a cross strain frequently produces a finer result. From that -point of view you may set your mind at ease. As to how the matter is -to be settled eventually, that is beyond me. Time works out his own -strange solutions of difficulties. I'm afraid you'll have to leave it -to him. Then, again, you are both going into this war. If only one of -you should come back----" - -"Yes, that would settle it. I have been looking to that as the only -settlement," said Jim solemnly. - -"Meaning that Jack would most likely come back, and that you would -most likely not." - -"I think that would be the best settlement, sir. The better man should -get the prizes, and there can be no question which is the better of us -two." - -"Jim, my boy,"--and the long thin white hand came down gently on the -boy's strong brown one, and rested on it impressively--"there are -better things in this world even than brains. Clean hearts, clean -consciences, clean lives----" - -"Jack has all those, sir." - -"And so have you, and they are worth more than all the brains in the -world in some people's eyes. Did brains ever win a girl's heart?--or -any one else's?" - -"I'm afraid I don't know much about them; sir," said a touch of the -old Jim. - -"And as to the tangle," continued the old man, very well satisfied -with his work, "it may be considerably more involved than you imagine. -Supposing, for instance, that your father was actually married to the -other girl before he married Lady Susan! Where do you find yourselves -then? It is by no means impossible--such very strange things were done -in those times. I could tell you of infinitely stranger things than -that." - -"I have hardly thought of it in that light," said Jim. - -"Take my advice and think no more of your tangle. Just go ahead with -the work you have in hand, and when your chance comes, as it will, -make the most of it." - -"You have done me good, sir. May I ask you about another matter?" - -"Surely, my boy. Another tangle?" - -And Jim told him briefly about Kattie, and old Seth's visit and -impossible quest. - -"He's a fine old fellow, and young Seth saved my life twice. I'd like -to help him if I could, but I don't know what I can do. Besides, -Kattie was a nice girl. She used to play with us all on the sands, you -know." - -"You don't know, for certain, that she has come to London?" - -"Old Seth seems sure of it." - -"Who else was there when you all used to play together on the sands?" - -"Oh, Gracie, and Margaret and George Hempath, and Ralph Harben----" - -"Who is Ralph Harben?" - -"Son of Mr. Harben, Sir George's partner. They're the big army -contractors, you know." - -"And where is he now?" - -"Up here in London. He's in the Dragoons--lieutenant. So is George." - -"Any one else?" - -"Mr. Eager and Sir George, and Bob Lethem, their groom. They all used -to ride over, you see, and we needed all hands, so we used to press -Bob into the service." - -"And you don't think there is any entanglement there?" - -"What--Kattie and Bob? No, I'm sure there isn't. You see, Kattie got -rather large ideas, and she was certainly very pretty. She would never -have looked at Bob, I'm certain." - -"I will see if I can learn anything. There are ways if you know how to -use them." - -"Thank you, sir. I thought if any one could help us it would be you." - -"How are you mounted? You ought to have a second horse if you're going -out. They will allow you two, I suppose." - -"I believe so. I was thinking of buying one out of that money you gave -me." - -"Keep it, my boy. You may need it all. You never know what may happen -when you get abroad. If you'll take my advice you'll always carry a -good supply in a belt next your skin when you're campaigning. I'll -find you a horse up to all your requirements. You want height and bone -and muscle for a charger on campaign. Beauty Is a fifth consideration. -Your life may depend upon your horse." - -"There is no doubt about our going, then, sir?" asked the boy, with a -sparkle in his eyes. - -"No doubt, I'm afraid, my boy; but their plans are very undecided. I -was speaking with Clarendon only last night, and, as far as I can make -out, what our Government would like would be to coerce Russia by -making a demonstration in force, and the Tsar is much too pig-headed -for that--as they would know if they knew him as well as I do." - -"You know him, sir? - -"I was ambassador there for nearly ten years, and in ten years one -learns a man fairly well. He is an unusually strong-willed and -determined man, bigoted too, and believes absolutely in his -mission----" - -"What is that, sir?" - -"Oh--briefly--to conquer the world on the lines laid down by his -ancestor, Peter the Great. But the man who sets out to conquer the -world always finds his Waterloo sooner or later." - -And Jim went home that night feeling very much less under a cloud on -his own account, and not unhopeful on Seth's. For this new old friend -of his impressed him deeply as one who knew a great deal more than -most people, and as the kind of man who, if he took a matter up, would -not rest till he attained his end. - -But as for Kattie, if she had indeed come to London, he had nothing -but fears. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX -OLD SETH GOES HOME - - -Old Seth had a heart-breaking time of it. - -To all intents and purposes he found himself in a foreign country. He -wandered bewilderedly here and there, thinking that where the crowds -were thickest there would be most chance of finding her he sought. -But, to his amazement, the crowds seemed equally thick wherever he -went, and every single person seemed to him to be hurrying for his or -her life on business that did not admit of a moment's delay. - -He lost himself regularly every day. From the moment he loosed from -his quiet little harbour of refuge in the morning, till, by means of -the address on his card, he found himself eventually and miraculously -piloted back there by a 'series of top-hatted policemen, he was simply -tossing to and fro on the swirling waves of the mighty whirlpool, -without the slightest knowledge of where he was, except that he was in -London, and Kattie was somewhere in London too. - -He tried to talk to people, policemen and cabmen on the stands, who -were the only ones who seemed not to be spending themselves in aimless -rushings to and fro. But his uncouth speech was Hebrew to them. At -first they grinned and shook their heads. Then, catching what sounded -like a rough attempt at English, they tried to understand, but soon -gave it up in spite of his woeful face and evident distress, and it -was only when at last he wanted to get home, and produced his card, -that they were able to assist him. - -Fortunately the weather was cold and damp--conditions to which he was -accustomed. Hot summer days and the airless, evil-smelling streets -would have knocked him over in a week. - -It seemed to Jim that the sad old face grew grayer and gaunter each -day when he came in to give his monotonous report, which was -comprehended in a dismal shake of the head and the simple word, -"Nowt!" - -And Jim, hopeless himself of anything coming of the disheartening -quest, still did his best each day to cheer him. And Seth was glad of -the chance of speaking a word or two with some one who understood his -talk and sympathised with his woes. - -"A most 'mazing place," he said, one time, "an' thicker wi' folk than -ah could ha' believed. An' ah connot understand them an' they connot -understand me. Ah wish----" - -But the poor old fellow's wishes were never to be realised--not the -obvious ones at all events. He was neither to find Kattie, nor to find -himself safe home again in the spoiled cottage by the Mere. - -Perhaps it was best so. - -The inevitable happened--that which Jim had feared for him from the -time he saw him drift helplessly away into the crowd that first day. - -He had written all about the matter to Jack, and Jack's reply, while -it lacked nothing in sympathy for old Seth in his bereavement; yet -expressed in unmistakable language the writer's astonishment and -indignation that he could for one moment have thought any of them -guilty of such a deed. - -Jim had also waited hopefully on Lord Deseret, to see if his efforts -had met with any success. But, so far, they had not. - -"I confess I had certain ideas on the subject," said his lordship, -"and I have had them followed up, but quite without result. My people -are entirely at fault. Is it possible we are all on a false scent and -she is nearer home all the time? The indications pointing to her -having come to London are, after all, exceedingly slight and vague." - -"I've no idea," said Jim despondently. "I wish the old chap would go -home. He can do no good here and he's on my mind day and night. I'm -certain he'll get run over one of these days." - -And, sure enough, there came a day when no Seth put in an appearance, -and Jim's fears felt themselves justified. - -He sent Joyce round to his lodgings. The old man had never turned up -the night before. - -It came at a bad time too, for they were working might and main at -their preparations for the coming campaign. The Guards had left for -Southampton the day before. They themselves were down for service and -the call might come any day. War, indeed, had not yet been formally -declared, but that was a minor matter. There was no doubt about what -was going to happen. - -So Jim packed off Joyce in a hansom, with orders to make the round of -the hospitals and report at once if he got any news. - -He was back at midday. The old man was lying at Guy's, broken to -pieces and not expected to last the day out. - -Jim jumped into the cab with a very heavy heart. It was just what he -had feared, and it was terribly sad. And yet, as his cab wormed its -slow course through the traffic about London Bridge, there came to him -a dim apprehension that what seemed to them so sorrowful a happening -might, after all, in some inscrutable way, be the better way for old -Seth. For his life, if he had lived, must have been a sad and broken -affair, and now---- - -He found the old man lying quietly in his bed, with the screens -already drawn round it. He was only just in time. - -The gaunt gray face brightened at sight of him, as Jim took his hand -gently and sat down beside him. - -"Ah'm fain to see yo'," he said, with difficulty. "'Twur a -waggin . . . aw my fault. . . . Tell her. . . . Tell her . . ."--the -crushed chest laboured in agony,--"tell her to come whoam. . . ." - -And presently, without having spoken again, the dim light failed -suddenly in the weather-worn gray eyes, and the life faded out of the -gnarled brown hand, and Jim, boy still, put down his head and sobbed -at the grim sadness of it all. - -A nurse peeped round the screen and was surprised at the sight, for -the eagerness of the splendid young officer to get to the uncouth old -wreck, of whom, beyond his mortal injuries, they had been able to make -so little, had impressed them all. - -It was not till Jim had mopped himself up at last, and stood taking a -last sad look at the tired old face, that she came in again. - -"You knew the old man, sir?" she said sympathetically, behind which -lay considerable curiosity. - -"I've known him all my life. He's one of our people from Carne. It's -terribly sad, you know. His daughter left home, and he came up to look -for her. Think of it--to look for her in London! And I was afraid, all -the time, how it would end. And it has. Poor old Seth!" - -He told them all they wanted to know, and arranged with them to have -the old man decently buried, and gave them money for the purpose and -something for the hospital, and his own name and address. - -"Then you're going to the war," said the nurse, with an animated face. - -"Oh yes; we may go any day now." - -"You ought to take some of us with you. You'll need us, you'll see." - -He had promised to call on Mme Beteta that afternoon, and would have -put off the visit but that he knew she would be disappointed, and she -had shown herself so very kindly disposed towards him. - -So he went, but madame's shrewd eyes fathomed his state of mind at -once. - -"Now you have some trouble, and perhaps it is my chance to be of use," -she said, and bit by bit drew from him all the story of Kattie's -disappearance and old Seth's death. - -"If any one can find her, Lord Deseret will. He is a very, very clever -old man, and in some things very young. She is pretty, you say?" - -"We always thought her very pretty, even as a wild girl about the -sands, and she has grown prettier still." - -"London is a bad place for a pretty girl such as she. Even if you find -her----" And she broke off and looked at him musingly. "What could you -do if you did find her?" - -"Get her to go home." - -"And if she would not?" - -"Then--I don't know. It is horrible to think of Kattie running loose -in London." - -"When Lord Deseret finds her, bring her to me and I will see what I -can do," said madame thoughtfully; and there the matter rested. - - - - -CHAPTER XL -OUT OF THE NIGHT - - -Jim reaped--and duly passed along to Jack--the benefit of Lord -Deseret's long and wide experience of life under many conditions. As a -young man he had served with Wellington in the Peninsula, and he had -also been with him at Waterloo, where he had, as fellow aide-de-camp, -Fitzroy Somerset, now Lord Raglan, who was to command the present -expedition to the East. - -So Jim and my lord between them evolved, by process of continuous -elimination, a campaigning kit, which, if to Jim's inexperienced eyes -it lacked much, comprehended, according to his lordship, everything -that was absolutely necessary, and probably even yet some things which -he would hasten to throw away under pressure of circumstance. - -"How long it will last it is hard to say," said Lord Deseret. "If you -should by any chance be kept there till the winter I will send you out -all you will need." - -"Oh, surely we and the Frenchmen between us can clean it all up before -then," said innocent Jim. - -"We shall know better when we learn where you're bound for, and what -you've got to do. At present no one seems to know. They are all very -mysterious about it, which is all right if it's policy, but if it's -ignorance----" - -Jack was first to go, and Jim was mightily put out that engineers -should get ahead of cavalry. They had hoped to be able to run down to -Carne to say good-bye, but that was quite out of the question. The -army had been rusting, more or less, for forty years, and, now that -the call had come, every man on the roll was hard at work scraping the -accumulated deposit off his bit of the machine, and oiling the parts. -The days were all too short for what had to be done, and leave was out -of the question. - -Jim was here, there, and everywhere, helping to buy horses for the -coming wastage, for if he had no head for business he certainly knew -horses from tail to muzzle, from hoof to shoulder, and all in between. -He was kept hard at work till the call came for the cavalry, and then -every minute of every day was over-full, and his head spun with the -calls upon his forethought and ingenuity. - -He made long lists of the things he had to see to, on scraps of paper -with a pencil that was always blunt and often missing, and as each -item was attended to he duly scored it off, and so kept fairly -straight. - -His men had taken to him, and consulted him now as an oracle, and -within his capacity he enjoyed it all immensely. - -Lord Deseret's munificence knew no bounds. In addition to a great -brown charger, whose peculiar delights were military music and the -roar of artillery--the first of which enjoyments the campaign was -unfortunately to offer him few opportunities of indulging in, though -he had his fill of the other--his lordship presented Jim with a pair -of unusually fine silver mounted revolvers, of a calibre calculated to -make short work of the biggest Russian born, and one of these he was -to hand over to Jack as soon as they met out East. And for Jim -himself, as a very special mark of his goodwill, he bought a sword, -selected out of many and suiting his grip and reach as if it had been -made for him. - -"A most gentlemanly weapon," said the old man, as he poised it with -knowledge in his thin white hands. "May it help you to carve your way -to much honour! But war is not a gentlemanly business nowadays. That -other brutal little thing will probably serve you better." - - -And so we come to the very last night. The 8th were to leave at six -the next morning for Southampton, and Jim was making his way back to -his quarters, dead tired, but vaguely hopeful that he had failed in -none of the multifarious calls on these last short hours. - -His list had been an unusually long one that day. But he had ploughed -doggedly through it, and reduced it item by item, till it was cleared -off. After his actual military duties had come final letters to Gracie -and Mr. Eager and his grandfather--he might never see any of them -again. All the same he wrote in the best of spirits, though in -grievous regret at not being able to run down and say good-bye. - -Then he had made a round of farewell calls among the friends he had -made in London, and had even made time to drop in on Mme Beteta for a -cup of tea. He had finished up with a quiet dinner with Lord Deseret -in Park Lane, and now, in the spirit, England lay behind him, and his -compass pointed due east. - -Out of the depths of his very large experience, Lord Deseret had given -him many a useful hint and much wise advice over their cigars and -coffee, and had finally shaken his hand and bidden him "God-speed!" -with more emotion than Jim had believed it possible for that calm -white face to show. - -And Mme Beteta, too, had held his band as he said "Good-bye," and said, -with much feeling, "I would have been glad if you had got into some -mischief so that I might have had the pleasure of helping you. I will -hope all the time to see you come back alive and whole." - -"You are all too good to me," laughed Jim, overcome by the kindness he -was everywhere meeting with. "I feel as if I was getting more than my -proper share. If Jack had been here now, you'd have thought ever so -much more of him." - -"Perhaps!" smiled madame. "We will see when you both come back," - -He was hurrying back to his quarters, bent on getting a good night's -sleep if possible, since the coming nights on board ship might be less -conducive thereto, when, as he swung round a corner where a gas lamp -hung, deep in his own thoughts and with his head bent down, a timid -hand fell on his arm, and as he hastily shook it off, a soft voice -jerked: - -"Jim!" - -He whirled round in vast amazement, and got a shock. - -"Kattie! . . . oh, _Kattie!_" - -"I did so want to see you before you went. I only heard to-day----" - -She looked so pretty in the fluttering light of the lamp, so -touchingly soft and sweet, like some beautiful wild bird drawn to a -possibly hostile hand by stress of need and prepared for instant -flight. - -She was very nicely dressed too, better than he had ever seen her -before, in well-fitting dark clothes and a little fur pork-pie hat, -like the one Gracie used to wear in the winter. And under it her eyes -shone brightly and her face glowed and quivered with many emotions. - -The passers-by were beginning to notice and look back at them. He led -her into a quieter side-street where there was almost no traffic. - -"But what are you doing here, Kattie? We have been searching for you -for a month past, and now----" - -"I couldn't help it, Jim. I had to come----" - -"But why, Kattie? Why? Do you know what you've done by running away -like that?" And he could not keep the feeling out of his voice, as he -thought of poor old Seth, and her mother, and the broken home. "Your -mother is dead. It killed her." Kattie's hands were over her face and -she was sobbing. "And your father came to London to look for you, and -got run over. His hand was in mine as he died, and his last words were -for you, 'Tell her to come home!' he said, and then he died." - -The slender figure shook with sobs. Perhaps he had been too brutal to -blurt it out like that. He ought to have broken it to her by degrees. - -"Oh, why did you do it, Kattie?" he said, more gently. - -And Kattie, shaken out of herself by his news and his manner, sobbed -out her secret. - -"Jim, Jim, don't be so hard to me! It was for you, you, you----" - -"_Kattie_," he cried, aghast. - -"Yes," she choked on in a passion of surrender and self-revelation. -"It was you I wanted--you--always. And I thought if I could only get -to London where you were----" - -"Oh, Kattie!" And he could say no more for the feeling that was in -him, and Kattie hung on to his arm and he did not shake her off. - -"Kattie," he said at last, in a deep hoarse voice, "has it been my -fault? I did not know----" - -"No no, no! It was not your fault. But I could not help it." - -"I am very sorry, dear. If I had known--but I never dreamt of it. How -did you get here?" - -She hesitated, and then said, briefly: - -"I got some one to bring me." - -"Who?" - -"I cannot tell you." - -"It was an evil thing to do, whoever it was, and I hope some of the -sorrow will fall upon him," he said hotly. "But you must not stop -here, Kattie. You must go home." - -"Home!" she said wildly. "I have no home. I will wait here till you -come back from the war, Jim----" - -"Kattie! . . . For God's sake, don't talk like that! You don't know -what you are saying, child. I may never come back at all . . . And if -I do----" - -"Oh, Jim! _Jim!_" - -She hardly knew what she was saying. She only knew that for months she -had been longing for Jim, and now he was here, and he was going, and -she might never see him again. - -The pretty, quivering, wild-rose face was turned up to his. Her eager -arms stole round his neck. - -"_Jim!_" - -Now, thanks be to thee, Charles Eager, muscular Christian and -strenuous apostle of clean living and the higher things!--sitting by -your dying fire in Mrs. Jex's cottage at Wyvveloe, thinking much of -your boys and praying for them, perchance,--nay, of a certainty, for -thoughts such as yours are prayers and resolve themselves into -familiar phrases--"that they fall into no sin, neither run into any -kind of danger"--"from battle and murder and from sudden death,"--at -which the thinker by the fire fell into deeper musing. And thanks be -to all your teaching of the Christian virtues and truest manhood, both -by precept and example! - -For Jim Carron was only a man like other men, and young blood is hot. -And Kattie, in her fervour, was more than pretty. - -Jim's big chest rose and fell as if he had been running a race--say -with the devil, or as if he had been engaged in mortal combat. Perhaps -he had--both. - -He broke her hands apart with a firm, gentle grip. - -"Kattie dear! You don't know what you are saying. You know it can't -be. God help us! What am I to do with you?" - -And then he bethought him of Mme Beteta and saw his way. - -"Come with me!" he said, and drew her arm tightly through his and led -her down the street, and on and on till they came to a thoroughfare -where there were cabs. He hailed one, handed her in, gave the driver -the address, and sat down beside her. - -Kattie asked no questions. She was with Jim. That was enough. Her arm -stole inside his again and nestled and throbbed there. She would have -asked no more--not very much more--than to ride by his side like that -in the joggling cab for ever. - -The cab stopped at last before the house in South Audley Street. Jim -jumped out and rang the bell, paid the man, and led her up the steps. - -"Is madame in?" he asked of the maid who opened the door. - -"Just come in, sir." - -"Will you beg her to see me for a moment?" And she showed them into a -small sitting-room and went noiselessly away. - -"Will you please to come to madame's room, sir?" And they were ushered -into the cosy room where Mme Beteta had just sat down to supper before -a blazing fire. Her wraps lay on the sofa where she had flung them on -entering. - -She looked lazed and tired, all except her face, and her great dark -eyes opened wide at sight of Kattie. Jim had indeed told her that the -girl they were searching for was pretty, but this girl, with all that -was working in her still in her face and her eyes, was very much more -than pretty. - -"Mme Beteta, will you do something for me?" began Jim impulsively. - -"I have only been waiting the opportunity, my boy, as I told you this -afternoon. What is it now--and who is your friend? Won't you sit down, -my dear?" to Kattie. "You look very tired." - -Kattie sank into the proffered chair, and Jim stood behind it. - -"This is Kattie Rimmer, a friend of ours from Carne. She finds herself -suddenly alone in London. If you will take care of her I would be so -grateful to you." - -"Indeed I will, if she will stop with me for a time. You are much too -good-looking, my dear, to be alone in this big place. I shall be glad -to have something young and pretty about me. My dear old Manuela is -worth her weight in gold, but, truly, she is no beauty. And when I go -abroad, presently, you shall come with me there also, if you feel so -inclined." - -Madame understood--partly, at all events, and possibly guessed wrongly -at the rest. But there was no mistaking her kindliness. She saw that -the girl was under the influence of some overpowering emotion, and she -talked on for the sake of talking and to give her time. - -"Kattie dear, will you promise me to stop with madame?" asked Jim -anxiously. For it was one thing to have got her there--and a great -thing; but it might be quite another thing to get her to stop. - -"Must I, Jim?" And the great eyes, swimming with tears, snatched a -hasty glance at him. - -"Yea, Kattie, you must. And, madame, I cannot thank you enough. -Sometime, perhaps--if I come back alive----" - -And at that Kattie sprang up and flung her arms round his neck again, -crying, "Oh, Jim! Jim!" - -And he kissed her gently and put her away, and she sank down into the -chair, a convulsive heap of sobs. - -He mutely begged madame to follow him, and left the room. - -"It is terribly sad," he said to her, In the other room. "I met her -near my quarters to-night. She had been waiting for me, and she -says--she says"--he stumbled--"well, she says she came to London after -me. And, you know, I never had a thought of her--poor little Kattie! -And I didn't know what to do with her, and so I brought her to you." - -"You did quite right, my boy. For your sake--and, yes--for her own--I -will do my best for her. She is a pretty little thing--much too pretty -to go to waste in London." - -"You are very good, madame, and I am very grateful. Perhaps you would -consult Lord Deseret about her too, if you think well. He has been -very kind in the matter." - -"And you have no feeling for her at all?" - -"There is only one girl in all the world for me, and that is Gracie -Eager. You'll understand when you see her." - -Then he wrung her hand very warmly, and said a final good-bye, and -went away,--very tired, but with something of a load off his heart as -regarded Kattie at all events. - - - - -CHAPTER XLI -HORSE AND FOOT - - -The dullest pages in history are those which record the long, slow -years of peace and progress, when everything goes well and nothing -lively happens. - -Jack's term of service at Chatham had been such. His record was one of -simple hard work, considerable acquirement, and a methodic, level -life. - -His work appealed to him, and he gave himself up heart and soul, and -might have given his health as well if the authorities had not seen to -it. Brains in an officer were very acceptable, and the concentrated -application of them still more so--to say nothing of the comparative -rarity of the combination. But brains without body would obviously be -of small service to the country, and so Jack was kept fairly fit in -spite of himself. He won the golden opinions of his instructors and -examiners, and was looked upon as a reliable officer and a coming man. - -"Give us a good tough bit of siege work," he had said, with hot -enthusiasm, as they tramped the frozen sands at Carne that last time, -"and we'll show them what we are made of." - -"A good open country and plenty of room for cavalry to man[oe]uvre, -that's what _we_ want," said Jim, with relish, "and we'll show the -world what British squadrons can do." - -"Tough sieges somehow seem a bit out of date," said Mr. Eager. "I -should say Jim's horses are more likely to be in it." - -"I'd sooner have the siege," said Gracie; and they all clamoured to -know why, and Jim felt humpy. - -"Oh, just because you're all farther away from one another and not so -likely to get hurt," said she. "When you fight on horses you're bound -to get close to one another." - -"That's what we want," growled Jim. "The closer the better." - -"And then the poor horses!" said. Gracie, with a shiver. "To say -nothing of the poor men!" growled Jim once more. - -"It's all horrid and hateful and wicked. I don't mean you two," she -added hastily, "but the people who bring it about. If they all had to -fight themselves, instead of sending other people to do it for them, -they wouldn't be so ready to begin." - -"They'd make a pretty poor show, some of them," laughed Jack. "Think -of little Johnny Russell facing up to the Tsar." - -"David and Goliath," suggested the Rev. Charles. - -"Goliath got the stone in his eye--well, in his head, it's all the -same--and so he will this time," said Jim. - -"Artillery!" said Jack triumphantly. - -"David cut off his head," said Gracie. - -"Infantry assault after we--I mean the artillery--had made the -breach." - -Involved military operations, and especially the complicated strategy -of the siege, had fascinated Jack from the time he could read. He -absorbed the elements of his profession with keenest delight; and -driest details, which to some of his fellows were but dull drudgery, -were to him like the necessary part of a puzzle of which he held the -clue, and their essentiality was clear to him. - -What would be the course of the coming war none could tell, for the -simple reason that no one seemed to know exactly where they were going -or what they were going to do. All arms were to be represented, -however, and each separate branch hoped ardently that the tide would -run its way. - -Jack and Jim, at parting, had undertaken to correspond regularly. They -had also mutually pledged themselves to write not more than one letter -a week to Gracie. - -If Jim's scrawl had hitherto been the more interesting to their -recipients, it was certainly not by reason of their penmanship, or -their spelling, or their literary qualities, but simply that, living -in London and somewhat in the whirl of things, and with more time and -mind for outside matters than Jack had, he had always something to -tell about, and that, after all, is what people want. - -Very sympathetic--and certainly very charming--little smiles used to -lurk in the corners of Gracie's flexible little mouth as she read -Jim's epistles. And she would murmur, "The dear boy!" as she thought -of the time and labour he had given to their production. For to Jim -the sword was very much mightier than the pen and infinitely more to -his liking. - -He told Gracie, in his letters, most of what befell him in London, -much about Lord Deseret, and much about Mme Beteta, but concerning -Kattie and old Seth Rimmer, after much ponderous consideration, he had -thought it best to keep silence. - -Jack had waxed mightily indignant over old Seth's half-blown -suspicions, and on the whole it was perhaps just as well that the old -man fell into Jim's hands. - -Of the final episode Jim told none of them. In the first place, he -felt bound to keep Kattie's secret. In the second, he went straight -home to his bed that night as tired as a dog, and was _en route_ for -the East soon after six o'clock next morning. And in the third place, -as to telling Jack, Jack was on the high seas nearing Gallipoli, and -they did not see one another again for months to come. - - - - -CHAPTER XLII -DUE EAST - - -Jack, to his immense delight, found himself detailed for duty with a -large number of his men to assist General Canrobert in the -fortification of the long narrow peninsula on which, Gallipoli is -situated. - -No matter that the fortifications were little likely to be of any -actual benefit, it was active service and turning to practical account -the theoretical knowledge of which he was full. - -The men, who had left England ablaze with warlike fervour amid the -cheers of the populace, had found their long detention at Malta very -trying and relaxing. Warlike fervour cannot keep at boiling-point -unless it has something to expend itself upon. And so they welcomed -this diversion, and planned, and built earthen ramparts, and bastions, -and barbettes, and ravelins, and redoubts, to their hearts' content, -and felt very much better both in mind and body than when they were -kicking their heels and frizzling in the tawny dust of Malta. - -There were many discomforts, however, chiefly in regard to the -provisioning. Even at this very first stage in the proceedings the men -had little to eat and less to drink; and if curses could have assisted -the commissariat, or blighted it off the face of the earth, its -movements would have been mightily quickened. But forty years of peace -do not make for efficiency in the fighting machine. It had grown rusty -through disuse, as all machines will, and the ominous creakings which -began at Gallipoli never ceased till--too late for the hosts of -gallant souls who died of want before Sebastopol--England awoke at -last to the shame of her relapse, and set her house in order with a -roar of righteous, but belated, indignation. - -Jack and his men fared better than most, through their intimacy with -the Frenchmen, who had the knack of living in plenty where others -starved. Jack brushed up his French, and found welcome, and still more -welcome hospitality, among the officers, and his men learned how tasty -dinners could be made out of the scantiest of rations if only you knew -how to do it. - -But the slow weeks dragged on; there was no sign of an enemy, and the -fighting for which they had come out seemed as far off as ever. And -the little advance army growled and grizzled and cursed things in -general, and began to get a trifle mouldy. And meanwhile the Turks, -under Omar, were valiantly holding the Danube against the Russians, -and the allied generals were in communication with the allied -ambassadors at Constantinople, and the ambassadors were in -communication with the un-allied diplomatists at Vienna, and the -diplomatists were seeking instructions from London, Paris, Berlin, and -St. Petersburg, and futile talk blocked the way of warlike deeds. - -It was the middle of May before the welcome order came to move on, and -their spirits rose at the prospect. They had come out to fight, and -anything was better than moulting at Gallipoli. - -But the diplomats were still chopping words at Vienna, so they were -all dumped down again at Scutari, till the wise men should see which -way the cat was really going to jump. - -More weary weeks followed, though, since they gave Jack the chance of -seeing a great deal of Constantinople, he at all events had no cause -for complaint. The neat little steamer, which the Sultan had placed at -the disposal of the British officers, ran across in a quarter of an -hour and plied to and fro constantly; and having no duties to perform, -Jack missed none of his opportunities and saw all he could, and that -included many strange sights. - -He made many new acquaintances, and began to lose somewhat of the -studious concentration which had hitherto stood in the way of his -making any very close friendships even at Woolwich and Chatham. He had -given heart and brain to his work, and now only craved the opportunity -of applying his knowledge and climbing the ladder. While frivolous -Jim, with a modicum of the brains and still less of the application, -somehow possessed the knack of making friends wherever he went. And -having mastered his drill and won the hearts of his men, he also -considered his military education completed, and longed only to get -the chance of showing what was in him and them. - -Jim would have had a delightful time in Constantinople, and, with all -his desire for glory, would still have enjoyed himself thoroughly; but -Jack, with most of his fellows, felt keenly that all this was not what -they had come out for; and when, in June, orders came to embark for -Varna, up along the coast of the Black Sea towards the Danube, he was -heartily glad. For there had been heavy fighting on the Danube, and if -they could only get there in time there might still be a chance of -showing what they were made of. - -It was four months since they left England, and so far they had -practically done nothing more than mark time, and there is a certain -monotony about that necessary but fruitless operation which has a -depressing effect on spirits and bodies alike. - -However, they were getting on by degrees at last, though what their -ultimate objective really was no one seemed to know, unless, perhaps, -Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, and they kept their own counsel. - -Jack had been a fortnight at Varna, and was beginning to get sick of -it as he had of Malta and Gallipoli, when one day the stately -_Himalaya_ steamed quietly in among the mob of smaller craft which -crowded Varna Bay, and began to discharge the first of the cavalry -that had put in an appearance. This looked like business, and Jack -joined the crowd watching the disembarkation. - -"Hello, Jim, old boy!" - -"Hello, Jack! That you?" And the boys of Carne had met again. - -"Hardly knew you in those togs. Took you for a tramp," grinned Jim. - -"You loaf here for half a dozen weeks, my boy, and you'll come to it. -Have you any news? Are we going on? We're all sick to death of the -whole business." - -"_I_ dunno. We've come straight through. We began to be afraid we'd be -too late and miss all the fun." - -"You've not missed much so far. We've been frizzling and grizzling all -this time. Never seen the ghost of a Russian so far." - -"Waiting for us, I expect. Can't get on without cavalry." - -"If that's what we've been waiting for we're all mighty glad to see -you. All this hanging about is the hardest work I've ever done yet." - -"Where are you living?" - -"Up on the hill there. You'll be going on to Devna, I expect. That's -twenty miles further up." - -"I've got to look after the horses. They've done splendidly so far. -Not lost a leg. We'll have a talk when we knock off." And Jim turned -to the congenial work of seeing his equine friends safely ashore. - -When he had seen them all picketed on the stretch of turf near the -beach, and enjoyed for a time their rollings and stretchings and -kickings of cramped heels, he walked away up the shore, had his first -delicious swim in the Black Sea, and then made his way into the dirty -little town and struggled slowly through its narrow streets, packed -with such a heterogeneous assortment of nationalities as his wondering -eyes had never looked upon before. - -Guardsmen, Fusiliers, Riflemen, Highlanders, Dragoons, and Hussars, -Lancers, Chasseurs, Zouaves, Artillerymen, and Cantinières; Greeks, -Turks, Italians, Smyrniotes, Bashi-Bazouks, and nondescripts of all -shapes and sizes; dark, windowless little shops with streaming calico -signs in many languages, offering for sale every possible requirement -from pickles to saddlery, but especially drinks; a slow-moving, -chattering, chaffering, and occasionally quarrelling, mob of shakos, -turbans, fezes, Highland bonnets, _képis_, and wide-awakes, with -bearded faces under them in every possible shade of brown and -mud-colour,--no wonder it took Jim a long time to get through. - -But he got out into the open country at last, and breathed clean air -again, and climbed the hill and found his way to Jack's tent, and -demanded something to drink. - -"What a place!" he gasped. "Never saw such a sight in my life!" - -"Beastly hole!" growled Jack. "I wish to Heaven they'd get us on and -give us some work to do." - -"Why don't they?" - -"Ah--why don't they? Some one may know, but I'm beginning to doubt it. -When we came up here we had hopes again, but now they say the Russians -have had enough on the Danube and are bolting, so that's off. What's -the news from home? I've hardly had a letter since we left." - -Jim gave him of his latest, and handed him Lord Deseret's present, -which Jack found greatly to his taste. - -"No more news of Kattie?" he asked presently, when other subjects -seemed exhausted, and in a tone that anticipated a negative reply. - -"Yes. I found her--the very last night," said Jim quietly. - -"You did? How was it?" - -"I had been dining with Lord Deseret, and saying good-bye all round, -and was dead tired. We were to start at six next morning and I was -hurrying home to get some sleep, when suddenly Kattie stepped up and -spoke to me." - -"Good God! Did she know it was you?" - -"Oh yes. She hadn't got so low as all that. But it gave me a shock, I -can tell you, Jack, to meet her like that, though we had been doing -all we could to find her." - -"And how did she seem? And what had she to say for herself?" - -"She looked prettier than I'd ever seen her--better dressed, you know, -and all that." - -"And what did she say?" - -"She flatly refused to tell me who had brought her to London. -She had heard we were leaving in the morning and she wanted to say -good-bye--so she said." - -"Deuced odd! What did you do?" - -"Well--I was knocked all of a heap and didn't know what to do. Then I -suddenly bethought me of Mine Beteta. She had been very kind to me, -and only that afternoon, when I was saying good-bye, she had laughed -and said her only regret was that I hadn't got into any scrape that -she could help me out of. It was jolly nice of her, you know. So I -bundled Kattie into a cab, and took her straight to madame, and left -her with her." - -"Poor little Kattie! She was too good for that kind of thing. And you -got no hint as to who---- - -"Not a word. I asked her straight, and she said she would not tell." - -"I'd like to wring his neck for him, whoever he was." - -"She probably knew we would feel that way, and that's why she wouldn't -speak. And how have you been keeping, Jack? Seems to me you look -thinner. Perhaps it's the way you dress--or don't dress. I never saw -such a seedy, weedy-looking set. You'd certainly be taken for tramps -in England." - -"Just you wait, my boy. If you get four months of this infernal -loafing in dust and dirt and blazing sun, you'll come to it. And I may -well be thin. I'd hang every commissary in the service. They starve us -half the time and give us rubbish the rest." - -"That sounds bad. What's got them?" - -"Everything's at sixes and sevens. All the food and drink in one place -and all the hungry and thirsty souls in another, some hundreds of -miles away. If I was the Chief I'd hang a commissary every time the -men go short. And the amount of red-tape! Oh, Lord! But you'll know -all about it before you're through, my boy. Some of the fellows have -chucked it and gone home." - -"Rotters!" - -"I don't know. It's been almost beyond endurance at times, and all so -senseless, and nothing comes of it. Starving for a good cause is one -thing, but starving simply because the men who ought to feed you are -fools is quite another." - -"Overworked, I expect." - -"Underbrained, I should say. I'll ask you three months hence what you -think about it all." - -Jim was very busy the next few days getting his men and horses on to -Devna. His chiefs had found out that he could get more out of men and -horses than most, and that when he took a thing in hand he did it. So -work was heaped upon him and he was as happy as could be. - -He messed with Charlie Denham in a little tent on the shore, bathed -morning and night, and Joyce and Denham's man saw that their -masters--and incidentally themselves--were properly fed. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII -JIM TO THE FORE - - -Cavalry transports were coming in every day now; the Varna beach -looked like a country horse-fair, and to Jim was given the task of -superintending the debarkation of the horses and their dispatch to -their appointed places. - -One day, when the great raft on which the horses were floated to the -shore bumped up against the little pier, a nervous brown mare broke -loose and jumped overboard. There happened to be no small boats close -at hand, and the poor beast, white-eyed with terror at the shouts of -the onlookers, struck out valiantly for the open sea. - -To Jim, in the thinnest and oldest garments he possessed, and sweating -heartily from his labours, an extra bath was but an additional -enjoyment. He leaped aboard, ran nimbly along outside the horses, and -launched himself after the snorting evader. His long swift side-stroke -soon carried him alongside. - -He soothed her with comforting words, turned her head shorewards, and -presently rode her up the beach amid the bravos of the onlookers. It -was little things like that that won the hearts of his men. They knew -he would do as much and more for any one of them. - -As he slipped off, with a final pat to the trembling beast, a hearty -hand clapped his wet shoulder. - -"Well done, old Jim! It was Carne taught you that, old man." And the -voice of the gigantic dragoon, whose clap was still tingling in his -shoulder, was the voice of George Herapath, though Jim had to look -twice at his face to make sure of him. - -"Why, you hairy man, I'd never have known you. Just got here?" - -"This minute, my boy, and glad to see you old stagers still alive and -kicking. Here's Harben. I say, Ralph, this dirty wet boy is our old -Jim." - -"Hanged if I'd have jumped into the sea after an old troop-horse," -said Harben, looking somewhat distastefully at the dishevelled Jim. - -"A horse is always a horse," said Jim, "and an extra bath's neither -here nor there. Can't have too many this weather, if you work as I've -been doing lately." - -"Deucedly dirty work, it seems to me. Why don't you let your men do -it? That's what they're here for." - -"They are doing it," said Jim, waving a benedictory wet hand towards -the horse-fair along the beach. "I'm only keeping an eye on them." - -And before they could say more, a very splendidly accoutred horseman -rode down to them, with a still more gorgeous one behind him. - -"Very smartly done, my boy," said the first in English, though he wore -the uniform of a colonel of Cuirassiers. "An officer that looks after -his horses will certainly look after his men." - -"Hello, sir!" jerked Jim. "Glad to see you again! Sorry I'm so dirty." - -"It's the men who get dirty who do the work." And then he turned to -the magnificent personage behind, who sat looking on with a suave -smile on his clean-shaven face, and said in French, "This is one of my -cubs, Your Highness, though I'll be crucified if I know which." And -turning to Jim--"me see, now you're----" - -"I'm Jim, sir. Jack's in the Engineers." - -"Ah, yes--Jim. It was the Prince who bade me come down and thank you -for saving that mare, and it was only when I heard your friend mention -Carne that I recognised you. Monsieur----?" to the Prince, who -addressed some remark to him in French, to which he laughingly -replied, and then turned again to Jim. - -"His Highness says he would like to see you cleaned up, and invites -you to his table to-night--both of you, if you can come. I suppose you -can fig out all right?" - -Jim saluted Prince Napoleon and bowed. - -"It is a great honour," he said. "I'll find Jack, sir, and we'll fig -out all right." - -"Eight o'clock, then. We're camped over there for the night. Any one -will show you the Prince's quarters." And the two horsemen saluted -generally and galloped away. - -"You're in luck, old boy," said George. "Dining with princes and -big-pots. Who's the other? He talks uncommonly good English for a -Frenchman." - -"My father," said Jim quietly. - -"Your---- Good Lord! Well, I---- Yes, of course, now I remember." - -"All the same," said Jim, "princes are not much in my line, and I'd -just as soon he hadn't asked me." - -"Man alive!" said Ralph, with exuberance. "Why, I'd give my little -finger for the chance." - -"And where's old Jack?" asked George. - -"Up on the hill there behind the town." - -"And where do we go?" - -"You stop the night here and get on to Devna to-morrow. It's about -twenty miles up-country." - -Jack was mightily astonished when Jim gave him his news, and showed no -modest reluctance in accepting the invitation. - -"It's always interesting to meet people like that," he said. "Is he -like the Emperor?" - -"He's not like his pictures. More like the first Emperor, I should -say. But he seemed pleasant enough." - -"And our paternal?" - -"He was all right. They seemed on very good terms with one another." - -"And he really is as big a man as he led us to believe that night?" - -"Why, yes, he seemed so. Did you doubt it?" - -And so, all in their best, they duly presented themselves at the -Prince's quarters a few minutes before eight, Jack, in his modest -Engineer uniform, feeling somewhat overshadowed by Jim's gorgeous -Hussar trappings. - -"By Jove! but don't they know how to make themselves at home!" said -Jack, as they came in sight of the handsome tent, with a great green -bower made of leafy branches in front and an enclosure of the same all -round it. - -The sentries passed them in at once, and their father came out from -the tent and met them with cordial, outstretched hands. He held both -their hands for a moment, and looked from one to the other. - -"Jack is the Engineer, and Jim is the Hussar, and both of you very -creditable Carrons. We must get to know one another better, my boys. -The coming campaign should afford us plenty of opportunities." - -"Is there to be a campaign, then, sir?" asked Jack. "We'd about given -up all hopes of it." - -"Oh, we're not through yet by any means," smiled the Colonel. - -"I don't know how it is with your men, sir, but all this dawdling -about is doing ours no good." - -"It is good for nobody, my boy, but we've got to obey orders, and -those who pull the strings are far away. However, you need have no -fear. The Tsar is far too stiff-necked to give way till he's had a -good thrashing, and we have not only to fight him, but distance and -climate to boot. Here is His Highness." - -And when he introduced them, the Prince, with a smile at Jim, and a -pat on the shoulder, told him he would certainly have had difficulty -in recognising him again, and he was a "brave boy," which set the -brave boy blushing furiously under his tan. - -"They are grumbling at getting no fighting, Your Highness," said the -Colonel. - -"Young blood! Young blood!" said the Prince, with a smile. "Let us -hope they will have plenty left when the fighting is over." - -A number of other bravely dressed officers came in, and in the long -green bower they sat down to a dinner such as they had not tasted for -months, and of which they many times thought enviously in the lean -months that followed. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV -JIM'S LUCK - - -Jim, by force of circumstance, acquired a very wholesome reputation as -the best-mounted man in the Light Brigade, as a tireless rider, and as -an officer who doggedly carried out his instructions. The result was -much hard work, which he enjoyed, and much commendation, which he -thoroughly deserved. - -When the Russians retired from the Danube and disappeared into the -wilds of Wallachia, Lord Cardigan was ordered to follow them with a -party of gallopers and learn what route they had taken. - -The first man picked for his troop was Jim Carron, and Jim was wild -with delight. Here, at last, was something out of the common to be -done, something with more than a spice of danger in it, and altogether -to his liking. - -They were away for seventeen days, camping as best they could without -tents, and they rode through three hundred miles of the wildest and -most desolate country Jim had ever set eyes on. For one hundred miles -at a stretch they never saw a human being, but finally got on the -track of the Russians and found they had gone by way of Babadagh. Then -they rode up the Danube to Silistria and returned to camp by way of -Shumla, somewhat way-worn as to the horses, but the men fit and hard -as nails. - -But they were the fortunate ones, and their satisfaction with their -lot could not leaven the seething mass of growling discontent -represented by the remaining fifty thousand would-be warriors, who had -come out all aflame with martial ardour, but had so far never set eyes -on an enemy, who were ready to die cheerfully for a cause which not -one in a hundred properly understood, but found themselves like to -moulder with ennui and lack of proper provisioning. - -Their hopes had been constantly raised only to be dashed. They were to -go up to the Danube to help the Turks against the Russians. They were -aching to go. But fifty thousand men need feeding, and the -commissariat was in a state of confusion, and transport non-existent -and unprocurable. So they stayed where they were, and mouldered and -cursed, and began to look askance at the whole business and to doubt -the good faith of every one concerned. - -Many officers fell sick, some threw up their commissions in disgust -and went home. The men would have liked to follow. - -In July came the inevitable consequences of ill-feeding, ill-temper, -enforced idleness, and mismanagement--the men became as sick in body -as they had long been at heart. The heats and rains of August turned -the camps into steaming stew-pans, and the men, who would have faced -death by shot and steel with cheers, died miserably of cholera and -typhus, and dying, struck a chill to the hearts of those who were -left. - -The officers did their best--got up games for them and races. But the -more intimate companionship between officers and men which obtained in -the French army was lacking in the British, and could not be called -into spasmodic existence on the spur of the moment. - -The races alone excited a certain amount of enthusiasm, and whenever -Jim happened to be in camp he carried all before him. - -With quite mistaken grandmotherly solicitude, too, the bands were all -silenced, lest their lively music should jar on the ears of the SICK -and dying. The men tried sing-songs of their own, but sorely missed -their music, and those near any of the French camps would walk any -distance to share with them the cheery strains they could not get at -home. - -The camps were moved from place to place in vain attempt at dodging -death. But death went with them and the men died in hundreds. And -those who were sent to the hospitals at Varna wished they had died -before they got there. - -Through all that dreadful time, when the doctors were next to -powerless and burying-parties the order of the day, our two boys kept -wonderfully well. And for that they were not a little indebted to Lord -Deseret, to a certain amount of fatherly oversight on the part of -Colonel Carron, and perhaps most of all to the fact that they were -kept busy. - -Jack and his fellows beat the country-sides for game until they had -swept them bare. - -Jim, still in luck, was sent out to buy horses, and travelled far and -wide, and still farther and wider as the nearer provinces became -depleted. And when Jack's game was finished he got permission to go -with him, and in those long, venturesome rides they two renewed their -youth together, and rejoiced in one another, and found life good. - -Many a lively adventure they had as they scoured the long Bulgarian -plains in search of their four-legged prizes, for which they paid a -trifle over a pound a leg in cash, whereby they beat their French -opponents, who only paid in paper which had to be cashed at French -Head-quarters, one hundred or more miles away. - -To the boys it was all a delightful game; and getting the horses home, -when they had found and bought them, was by no means the least -exciting part of it. But the chief thing was that it took them out of -the deadly camps, kept them fully occupied, and in soundest health -when so many sickened and died. - -The risks of the road were comparatively small, and they always went -well armed and with an escort. - -Danger, indeed, lurked nearer home. For the twenty miles of road -between Varna and the camps at Aladyn and Devna began to be infested -with the baser spirits from among the great gathering of the -off-scourings of the Levant which had flocked after the army. - -Outrages were of daily occurrence, and every man who went that way -alone rode warily, with his hand on his revolver and his eyes on the -look out. - -One day Jack had ridden up to the plateau by the sea, where the -Dragoons were, to visit George Herapath and Harben, who were both down -with dysentery, and Jim had been delayed at the commissary's office by -the only part of the business in which he took no delight--the -settlement of his accounts, which never by any chance came out right. - -They were cantering home in the cool of the evening, when cries of -distress at a short distance from the road turned their horses' -heads that way, and galloping up in haste they came on a band of -Bashi-Bazouks--cut-throat ruffians whom General Yusuf was trying to -lick into shape--dragging away a young country girl, whose terrified -eyes had caught sight of the British uniforms. Already that uniform -carried with it greater guarantee of right and justice than any of the -many others with which the country was overrun. So as soon as she saw -them she shrieked for help, and they answered. - -"Let her go, you beasts!" shouted Jack, as he dragged out his sword. - -And then, as dirty hands fumbled in waist-shawls full of pistols, -Jim's revolver cracked out, and two of the rascals went down. Curses -and bullets flew promiscuously for a second or two, and then the -remaining Bashis bolted, leaving four on the ground and the girl on -their hands. - -"What the deuce are we to do with her?" said Jack, as the spoils of -war clung tearfully to his leg. - -"Where?" asked Jim, in one of the few native words he had picked up in -the course of business. - -"Pravadi," panted the girl. - -"That's over yonder, past Aladyn," said Jim. "We'd better take her -home, or those brutes will get her again. I'll take her up--my horse -is fresher than yours. Come along, my beauty!" And he stuck out his -boot for a foot-rest, and held out his hand to the girl. - -The uniform was her sufficient guarantee, and she climbed up and -straddled the horse, and locked her arms tightly round Jim's waist. - -"All right?" he asked. And they turned to the road. - -Two minutes later they fell in with a Turkish patrol galloping up at -sound of the firing, and had some difficulty in making them understand -that they were not carrying off the girl on their own account. They -were only convinced by being led back to the place where the wounded -Bashis lay. Then they offered to take care of the girl and see her -safely home. But she knew them too well and would have none of them. -She clung like a leech to Jim, and at last they were permitted to go -on their way. - -They had many little adventures of the kind, and they tended to keep -their blood in circulation, and the blues, which afflicted their -fellows, at a distance. - -Lord Deseret had laid down the law for Jim as regards eating and -drinking. - -"I have lived in Turkey," he said. "Drink no water unless it has been -boiled, and then dash it with rum. Tea or coffee are better still. And -eat as little fruit as possible; it's tempting, but dangerous." - -And Jim used to get wildly angry with his men, when he saw them -devouring cucumbers by the half-dozen, and apricots and plums by the -basketful, under the impression that these things were good for their -health. They laughed at his remonstrances at first, but remembered -them later; and those who did not die foreswore cucumbers for the rest -of their lives. - - - - -CHAPTER XLV -MORE REVELATIONS - - -Colonel Carron was constantly looking the boys up, and carrying them -off to the best meals they ever got in that country. His Chief, Prince -Napoleon, had gone down to Therapia with a touch of fever, and the -Colonel was in charge of his quarters and saw to it that His -Highness's cooks did not get rusty in his absence. - -Over these delightful dinners in the leafy arbours which always marked -the Prince's quarters, they all came to know one another very much -better than they might have done under any ordinary circumstances. - -And the burden of the Colonel's talk was chiefly regret that one or -both of them had not taken his offer and joined him in the French -service. - -"Sorry I am to say it," he said one night, as they sat sipping coffee -such as they got nowhere else, and smoking cigars such as their own -pockets did not run to, "but your army is only a fancy toy--in the way -it's run, I mean. Your men are the finest in the world, what there are -of them; but England is not a soldierly nation, say what you like -about it." - -"What about the Peninsula, sir?--to say nothing of Waterloo!" murmured -Jack, after a discreet took round. - -"Oh, you can fight and win battles, just as you can do pretty nearly -anything else you make up your minds to do--regardless of cost. But -with us the army is a science--an exact science almost--and every -single detail is worked out on the most scientific lines. You only -need to look round you to see the difference. England is never ready -because she is not by nature a fighting nation. Her army rusts along, -and then when the sudden call comes you have got to brace up and win -through--or muddle through--at any cost, and the cost is generally -frightful. The men and money you have wasted--absolutely wasted--in -your wars do not bear thinking of." - -"I'm afraid it's true, sir. And we don't seem to learn much by -experience. I suppose it comes from having sea-frontiers instead of -land. You have to _be_ ready. We always have to _get_ ready." - -"And how about the horses, Jim?" he asked. "I'm told you manage to get -more than we do. That's one for you, my boy." - -"We pay cash, sir. You pay in paper promises, and a man a hundred -miles away will sooner part for gold than for paper." - -"Truly; I would myself. Do you lose many _en route?_" - -"Not two per cent, sir. Some of them are pretty wild, and they make a -bolt at times, but it adds to the fun, and we nearly always get them -back. Did you see Nolan's Arabs?" - -"I saw them--beauties. The Prince wanted to buy two or three, but I -dissuaded him. They're too delicate for a winter campaign. That big -brown of yours, that Deseret gave you, is worth four of them--as far -as work is concerned." - -"You think we're in for a winter campaign, sir?" asked Jack eagerly. - -"No doubt about it, I think. We've got to do something before we go -home--some of us. Our coming up here has cleared the Russians off the -Danube, but our dawdling here has given them every chance of -strengthening themselves in the Crimea. The biggest thing they have -there is Sebastopol, on which they have squandered money. Therefore I -think it will be Sebastopol, and anything but an easy job." - -"We shall get our chance, then," sparkled Jack. "We did a bit at -Gallipoli, but a real big siege would be grand." - -"I hope your commissariat will play up better then, or we shall have -to feed you," said the Colonel, with a smile. - -He liked to draw them out and get their views on men and things, and -watched them keenly the while, but all his watching brought him not -one whit nearer a solution of the problem of Carne than had Charles -Eager's and Sir Denzil's. - -In the course of one such talk, however, they made a discovery and -received a shock which knocked the wind out of them. - -Their father was delightfully open and frank with them as regards the -past, and it drew their liking. - -"I have behaved shamefully to you both," he said one time, "and still -worse to one of you. And I have nothing to plead in extenuation except -that I did as my fellows in those days did--which is a very poor -excuse, I confess. I must make such compensation as I can. One of you -will have to become Carron of Carrie, and the other M. le Compte de -Carne--maybe M. le Duc by that time. There's no knowing." - -"There's the Quixande matter too," said Jack thoughtfully. - -"An empty title, I fear, by this time. And the Carrons were of note -ages before the Quixandes were heard of. You seem to have got on very -good terms with Deseret"--to Jim. - -"He was very good to me, sir. I don't know why, unless it was because -of his old friendship with you. He always spoke very handsomely of -you." - -"He was always a good fellow, but a terrible gambler. And yet I don't -think he suffered on the whole. He was so confoundedly rich that it -made no difference to him in any way. I have seen him win and lose -£10,000 in a night at Crockford's, without turning a hair." - -"I saw him win somewhere about that at a house in St. James's Street -and----" - -"And how much did you lose?" - -"Nothing, sir; I was only looking on. Charlie Denham took me -there--just to see it, you know. When Lord Deseret heard my name he -came up and spoke to me. He asked me to call on him, and scribbled his -address on the back of a bank-note, and gave it to me, and insisted on -my keeping it." - -"Just like him!" - -"Then the police came and we had to get out over the roofs----" - -"I would dearly have liked to see Deseret getting out over the roofs," -laughed the Colonel. - -"He seemed quite used to it, sir." - -"I haven't a doubt of it. And he never suggested you should play?" - -"On the contrary, he never ceased to warn me against it. So did Mme -Beteta----" - -"Mme Beteta!" And the Colonel's cigar hung fire in midair, and he sat -staring at Jim as if he had called up a ghost. - -"The dancer, you know. She has been awfully kind to me. Did you know -her too, sir?" asked innocent Jim. - -"How did you come to make _her_ acquaintance?" asked his father, with -quite a change of tone, and an intentness that struck even Jim. - -"We had gone to see her dance----" - -"Both of you?" - -"Charlie Denham and I. And Lord Deseret saw us and sent for us to his -box, and at the interval he offered to take us round." - -"Deseret?" And he said something under his breath in French which they -did not catch. "Well--and how did she receive you?" - -"She was very pleasant. She asked me to call and see her, and I've -been several times." - -The Colonel resumed his cigar and smoked in silence for some time, -with his eyes fixed meditatively on a distant corner. Then, he seemed -to make up his mind. He blew out a great cloud of smoke and said very -deliberately: - -"In view of what is coming it is perhaps as well you should know, -though it will not help you to a solution of your puzzle--at least--I -don't know. . . . It might--yes--probably it might, if one could be -sure of her telling the truth for its own sake and apart from all -other considerations. Mme Beteta is your mother"--and he nodded at -Jim, who jumped in his chair; "or yours"--and he nodded at Jack, who -sat staring fixedly at him. "She may know which of you is her own boy. -I cannot tell. But she will only tell what she chooses--if I know -anything of women." - -"Yes," he said presently, while the boys still sat speechless, "Beteta -is old Mrs. Lee's daughter. The old woman knows also, I expect, but -she certainly will only tell what suits her, and you could put very -little reliance on anything she said. Has madame met you both?" - -"Yes, sir. She asked me to bring Jack to see her the first chance I -got, and I did so." - -"Well?" - -"She was just the same to him, as nice as could be, anxious we should -get into some scrape so that she could be of some use to us, and that -kind of thing--very nice." - -"Ay--well! It is just possible--it is very probable," he said -weightily, "that some of us three may never get home again. We don't -know for certain what we're going to attempt, so it is impossible to -forecast the chances. But, in view of what may be, it is only right -that you should know. Is there anything else you wish to ask? I have -had great cause to regret many things in my life, but nothing, -perhaps, more than this. Though, _mon Dieu!_" he said very heartily, -"even this has its compensations in you two boys. However, I have no -desire to refer to it again. So, if there is anything more----" And he -waited for their questioning. - -"There is one thing, sir," said Jack, unwillingly enough, and yet it -seemed to him necessary. "You will pardon me, I hope, but it might be -of importance. Did you--were you--was your marriage with madame all in -order?" - -The Colonel nodded as though he had been expecting the question. - -"In justice to her, I must say that she believed so at the time, but -there were irregularities in it which would probably invalidate it if -brought to the test, and I think she is now aware of it." - -"You have met her since?" - -"Oh yes. We have been on friendly terms for some years past." - -"And you believe she could solve the question that is troubling us -all, if she would?" - -"I think it likely, but--you must see," and he addressed himself more -particularly to Jack--"that most women, in such a case, would lie -through thick and thin to establish their own cause." - -"I don't know," said Jack doubtfully. "I suppose it is possible." - -"It is certain. However, the solution to the puzzle may come -otherwise,"--they knew what he meant--"so now we will drop the matter, -and you must think of me as little unkindly as you can. Jean-Marie," -to an orderly outside, "bring us fresh coffee and more cognac." - -"Do you know that Canrobert lost three thousand of his men up in the -Dobrudscha?" - -"Three thousand!" gasped Jim. - -"They got into some swamp full of rotting horses and dead Russians and -consequent pestilence, and the men died like flies." - -"It is hard to go like that," said Jim. "I'd sooner die ten times over -in fair fight than of the cholera. That's what's knocking the heart -out of the men, that and having nothing to do but watch the other -fellows die." - -"Ay--well, we'll give them something to do at last. Every Tom, Dick, -and François is to set to work making fascines and gabions." - -"That means a siege, then," said Jack, with delight. "And our time's -coming after all." - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI -THE BLACK LANDING - - -From that time on there was no lack of work. The spirits of the me, -went up fifty per cent, and the general health improved in like ratio. -Hard work proved the best of tonics. - -And, of a truth, a tonic was needed. It took the Guards--the flower of -the British army--two days march from Aladyn to the sea at Varna, a -distance of ten miles. So reduced were they by sickness, that five -miles a day was all they could manage, and even then their packs were -carried for them. - -For those in charge there was no rest, by day or Light, until the -embarkation was complete. When Jim Carron followed his last horse on -board the _Himalaya_, he tumbled into a bath and then into a bunk, and -slept for twenty-four hours without moving a finger. - -But he had ample time, when he woke up, fresh and hungry, to admire -that most wonderful sight of close on seven hundred ships, of all -shapes and sizes--from the stately _Agamemnon_, flying the Admiral's -flag, to the steam-tug _Pigmy_, wrestling valiantly with a transport -twenty times her size--as they crept slowly across the Black Sea, with -80,000 men on board for the chastisement of the Russian Bear. A sight -for a lifetime, indeed, but one which no man who remembers or thinks -of would ever wish to set eyes on again. - -Jim and his fellows, however, rejoiced in it, for without doubt it -meant business at last, and they had almost begun to despair. - -So, in due time, they came in sight of the tented mountains and the -coast; and after what seemed to the ardent ones still more vacillation -and delays, the launches and flat-boats got to work, and the long -strip of shingle which lay between the sea and a great lake behind -became black with men. - -All was eagerness and anticipation. The voyage had had a good effect -on bodies sorely weakened by disease, and the prospect of active -employment at last a still better effect on hearts that had grown -heavy with disappointment. - -But ten days of life-giving sea cannot entirely undo the mischief of -the sickly months ashore. Numbers died on the voyage. Of those who -landed, few indeed were the men they had been when they left England -six months before, but hearts ran high if bodies were worn and weak. - -That was the busiest day those regions had seen since time began. To -the few bewildered inhabitants it seemed as though the whole unknown -world was emptying itself on their shores. - -Before sunset over 60,000 men were landed, and still there were more -to come. All that coast, from Eupatoria to Old Fort, was like an -ant-hill dropped suddenly on to a strange place, over which its tiny -occupants swarmed tumultuously in the endeavour to accommodate -themselves to the new conditions. - -The weather, which had held up during the day, broke towards evening. -The surf reared viciously up the shingle beach, and the rain came down -in torrents. The tents were still aboard ship; men and officers alike -sat and soaked throughout the dreary night in extremest misery. Jack -among them. He had been sent on in advance of his corps to make -observations and dispositions for the accommodation of the ordnance, -and carried--according to instructions--nothing but his great-coat -rolled up lengthwise and slung over his shoulder, a canteen of water, -and three days' provision of cooked salt meat and biscuit in a -haversack. The men had their blankets in addition, and their rifles -and bayonets and ammunition. - -When the deluge broke on them, and the spray came flying up the beach -in sheets, drenching them alike above and below, the men huddled -together and tried to improvise shelters with their great-coats and -blankets. But Nature was pitiless and seemed to bend her direst -energies to the task of damping their spirits. With their bodies she -had her will, but their spirits were beyond her, for they were on -Russian territory at last, and that meant business. - -Jack sat on the wet shingle, back to back with one of his fellows, and -the rain soaked through him, till his very marrow felt cold. - -Some of the men near him, crouching under their sopping blankets, -started singing, and "God save the Queen" and "Rule Britannia" rolled -brokenly along the lines for a time. But by degrees the singing died -away, the wet blankets exerted their proverbial influence, and silent -misery prevailed. - -The weather had broken before the cavalry got ashore, so Jim spent -that night very gratefully in the comfort of his bunk on the -_Himalaya_, and wondered how they were faring on land. - -He was up before sunrise, however, and hard at work, though the waves -were still high, and landing horses would be no easy matter. - -And worse [end of line is blank] - -He came on Jack prowling anxiously among the black masses just -wakening into life again. - -"Hello, Jim!" he said hoarsely. "Where were you? Did you get damp?" - -"We're not landed yet. Too rough for the horses." - -"Lucky beggars! I never had such a night in my life. It was ghastly. -Why the deuce couldn't they let us have some tents? Those French -beggars had theirs, and the beastly Turks too. We're the worst-managed -lot I ever heard of." - -"What's this?" asked Jim, staring open-mouthed at a muffled figure at -his feet--stiff and stark, though all around were stirring. "Why -doesn't he get up?" - -"He's got up," said Jack through his teeth. "He's dead, and there's a -score or more like him. Dead of the cold and want of everything. Hang -it! why aren't we Frenchmen or Turks!" A sore speech, born of great -bitterness. - -And Jim felt it almost an insult be so warm and hearty and well-fed, -with that dumb witness of the dreadful misery of the night lying -silent at his feet. - -And the thought of it all bore sorely on him and brought the lump into -his throat. To pull through the bad times at Varna; to come all that -way across the sea, indomitable spirit overcoming all the weaknesses -of the flesh; to land at last in the high flush of hope,--and then to -die like dogs of cold and misery, on the wet shingle, before their -hope had smallest chance of realisation! Oh, it was hard! It was -bitter hard! - -When he reported on board it was decided to make for Eupatoria, where -there was a pier, but before they got under way the weather showed -signs of improvement, and presently the landing began, and for the -next two days both the boys had so much on their hands that they had -no time to think of anything but the contrarinesses of horses and -guns, and the disconcerting effects of high seas on things unused to -them. - -In spite of all they lacked, however, the men's spirits rose as soon -as the sun shone out and warmed them. They were on Russian soil at -last, and that made up for everything. All they wanted now was -Russians to come to grips with--Russians in quantity and of a fighting -stomach. - -Sebastopol was thirty miles to the south, and between them and it lay -rivers, and almost certainly armies; and on the third day they set off -resolutely to find them. And that day Jim had his first trying -experience of playing target to a distant enemy in deadly sober -earnest. - -He had wondered much what it would feel like, and how his inner man -would take it. As for the outer, he had promised himself that that -should show no sign, no matter what happened. - -The Hussars were feeling the way in advance, when a bunch of Cossacks -appeared on the hills in front, and representatives of Britain and -Russia took eager stock of one another. They were rough-looking -fellows on sturdy horses, and carried long lances. They rode down the -hill as though to offer battle, and the Englishmen were keen to try -conclusions with them. But behind them, in the hollows, were -discovered dense masses of cavalry waiting for the game to walk into -the net. And when the wary game declined, the cavalry opened out and -disclosed hidden guns, and the game of long bowls began. - -The first shots went wide, and Jim watched them go hopping along the -plain with much curiosity. Then came the vicious spurt of white smoke -again, and the man and horse alongside him collapsed in a heap; the -horse with a most dolorous groan, the man--Saxelby, a fine young -fellow of his own troop--with a gasping cry, his leg shorn clean off -at the knee. - -Jim's heart went right down into his stomach for a moment as the blood -spirted over him, and he felt deadly sick. - -His first impulse was to jump down and help poor Saxelby, but he -feared for himself if he did so--feared he would fall in a heap -alongside him and perhaps not be able to get up, for he felt as weak -as water. - -He clenched his teeth till they ached. He dropped his bridle hand on -to his holster to keep it from shaking, and clasped his horse so -tightly with his knees that he resented it and began to fret and -curvet. Jim bent over and patted him on the neck, and two troopers got -down and carried Saxelby away. The horse stopped jerking its legs and -lay still, with its eyes wide and white, and its nostrils all bloody, -and its teeth clenched and its lips drawn back in a horrid grin. - -The guns had found their range and were spitting venomously now. Half -a dozen more of his men were down. He was quite sure he would be next. -He thought in a whirl for a moment,--of Gracie; she would marry Jack, -and all that matter would be smoothed out;--and of Mr. Eager, the dear -fellow!--and his father, and he wished they had seen more of one -another;--and Sir Denzil, he was not such a bad old chap after -all. He thought they would be sorry for him. And Mme Beteta, he -wondered---- Well, maybe he would know all about it in a minute or -two. - -Then his heart rose suddenly right up into his head, and he was filled -with a vast blazing anger at this being shot at with never a chance of -a stroke in reply. If they would only let them go for those d----d -Russians he would not feel so bad about it! But to be shot down like -pheasants! It was not business! It was all d----d nonsense! He began -to get very angry indeed. - -His quickened ear had caught the rattle of artillery coming up behind. -But it had stopped. Why the deuce had it stopped? Why couldn't someone -do something before they were all bowled over? - -Then at last there came a roar on their flank, and some of the newer -horses kicked and danced, and Jim, staring hard at the Russians, saw a -lane cleft through them where the shot had gone. - -He clenched his teeth now to keep in a wild hurrah. It was an odd -feeling. He knew nothing about those fellows under the hill, but he -hated them like sin and rejoiced in their destruction. He would have -liked to slaughter every man of them with his own hand. If he had been -able to get at them he would have hacked and slashed till there wasn't -one left. - -No more balls came their way now. The guns turned on one another, and -presently the Russians limbered up and retired--and it was over, and -he was still alive. And then he was thankful. - -Jim went off in search of Saxelby and the other half-dozen wounded -men, as soon as he came in, and found them trimmed up and bandaged, -just starting in litters for the ships, and all very angry at being -knocked out before they had had a chance. - -Then they crossed the Bulganak and bivouacked for the night, in -grievous discomfort still from lack of tents and shortage of -provisions, but strung to cheerfulness by the fact that they were -really in touch with the enemy at last--triumph surely of mind over -matter. Notwithstanding which, the morning disclosed another pitiful -tale of deaths from cold and exposure--brave fellows who would not -knock under in spite of pains and weakness, and had dragged themselves -along lest they should be "out of the fun," and died silently where -they lay for lack of the simple necessities of life. - -Rightly or wrongly the blame fell on the commissaries, and the dead -men's comrades flung them curses hot enough to fire a ship. For -meeting the Russians in fair fight was one thing, and altogether to -their liking; but this lack of foresight and provision took them below -the belt in every sense of the word, and was like an unexpected blow -from the fist of one's backer. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII -ALMA - - -At noon next day they came to a shallow river winding between red clay -banks, a somewhat undignified stream whose name they were to blazon in -letters of blood on the rolls of fame--the Alma. - -The Russians were strongly entrenched on the hills on the other side -and in great force, and every man knew that here was a giant struggle -and glory galore for the winners. - -It was a great fight, but it was mostly rifle and bayonet and the grim -reaction from those deadly slow months at Varna. And the Engineers had -little to do but watch the others, as they dashed through the muddy -stream, and climbed the roaring heights in the face of death, and -captured the great redoubt at dreadful cost. And the cavalry were -miles away on the left, covering the attack on that side from five -times their own weight of Russian cavalry, who never came on, and so -they had nothing to do and were disgusted at being out of it. - -So neither Jack nor Jim were in that fight, but afterwards they -climbed the hill with separate searching parties and met by chance in -the redoubt on top, and looked on sights unforgettable, which made a -deep and grim impression on them both. - -It was the first battlefield they had ever set eyes on, and they spoke -very little. - -"God! Isn't it awful?" said Jack through his teeth, as they stood -looking down the hill towards the river flowing unconcernedly to the -sea, just as it had done when they came to it at noon, just as it had -done all through the dreadful uproar when men were falling in their -thousands. The ground between was strewn and heaped and piled with -dead bodies. - -But Jim had no words for it. He could only shake his head. - -While they were still gazing awe-stricken at the ghastly piles of -broken men, among which the litter-men were prowling in anxious search -for wounded, a group of brilliantly clad officers came up from the -French camp, where the rows of comfortable white tents set English -teeth grinding with envy and chagrin. And among them they saw Prince -Napoleon and Colonel Carron. - -Their father saw them in the redoubt and came up at once. "Glad to see -you still alive, boys," he said cheerfully. "Hot work, wasn't it?" - -"Awful, sir. Were you in it?" asked Jack. - -"Oh yes. We came across there"--pointing to a burnt-out village on the -river-bank--"and then up here. Here's where we got the guns up to -relieve Bosquet. We've paid pretty heavily, but it's shown them what -we're made of. You weren't in it, I suppose, Jim?" - -"No sir; we were waiting over yonder for some cavalry to come on, but -they wouldn't. Worse luck!" - -"Your chances will come, my boy. And you, Jack?" - -"We had very little to do, sir. We were away in the rear there." - -"Your men did splendidly. Canrobert was just saying that he doubted if -our men would have managed that frontal business as yours did." - -"They paid," said Jim. - -"And are still paying," said the Colonel, as they stood watching the -French ambulances, with their trim little mules, trotting off towards -the coast, carrying a dozen wounded men in quick comfort, while the -English litter-men crept slowly along on their jogging four-mile -tramp, which proved the death of many a sorely wounded man and -purgatory to the rest. - -"Truly, your arrangements are not up to the mark." said Colonel -Carron. "How have you stood the nights? Somebody was saying you had no -tents." - -"Last night was the first time we've had any, and they've all been -sent on board again," said Jack gloomily. - -"That's too bad. It's hard on the men." - -"We lose a number every night with the cold." - -"Bad management---- The Prince is off. I must go. Good luck to you, -boys! I shall come over and look you up from time to time. Keep out of -mischief!" And he waved a cheery hand and was gone, and the boys went -down among the ghastly piles to do what they could. - -But it was heart-breaking work; the total of misery was so immense, -and the means of alleviation so feeble in comparison. - -The French wounded were safe on board ship within an hour after they -were picked up. It was two days before all the English were disposed -of, though every man who could be spared set his hand to the work. - -In the afternoon of the second day after the fight, Jim was going -wearily down the hill, after such a time among the dead and wounded as -had made him almost physically sick. - -All the French, and he thought almost all the English, wounded had -been seen to. The Russians had necessarily been left to the last. - -As he passed a grisly pile he thought he caught a faint groan from -inside it, and set to work at once hauling the dead men apart, with -tightened face and repressed breath. The job was neither pleasant nor -wholesome, but there was no one else near at hand and he must see to -it. - -Right at the bottom of the pile, soaked with the blood of those who -had fallen on top of him, he came upon a young fellow, an officer, -just about his own age. And as he dragged the last body off him, he -opened his eyes wearily and groaned. - -Jim put his pocket-flask to the white lips, and the other sucked -eagerly and a touch of colour came into his face. He lay looking up -into the face bending over him, and then his chest filled and he -sighed. - -"Where are you hurt?" asked Jim, expecting no answer, but full of -sympathy. - -"Leg and side," said the wounded one, in English with an accent. - -"I'll fetch a litter." - -"Stay moment. Only dead men--two days. Good to see a live -one. . . . Did you win?" - -"Yes, we won, but at very heavy cost." - -"Glad you won." - -"That doesn't sound good," said honest Jim, with disfavour. - -"You would feel same. Hate Russians. . . . Pole." - -"I see," said Jim, whose history was nebulous, but equal to the -occasion. - -"Forced to fight," said the wounded man. "Done with it now." - -"Take some more rum--it'll warm you up; and I'll find a litter for -you." - -"Have you bread? I starve. . . ." - -"I'll see if I can get you something." - -"Open his roll." And the wounded man turned his eyes hungrily on the -nearest dead body. And Jim, opening the linen roll which each Russian -carried, found a lump of hard black bread and placed it in his hand. - -"I thank. You will come again?" asked the young Pole anxiously. - -"I'll come back all right, as soon as I've found a litter." And he -left the wounded man feebly gnawing his chunk of black bread like a -starving dog. - -He found a litter in time, and the weary eyes brightened a trifle at -sight of him. - -"You are good," he murmured. "You save me." - -And Jim, thinking what he would like himself in similar case, went -along by his side till they found a doctor resting for a moment, and -begged him to examine the new-comer. - -"His leg must go. The body wound will heal," said the medico. "Seems -to have had a bad time. Where did you find him?" - -"I found him under fifteen dead men." - -"Then he owes you his life." - -"Yes, yes," said the wounded one "I am grateful. Take the leg off." - -"He's a Pole, forced to fight against his will," said Jim, at the -doctor's astonishment. - -"I see"--as he screwed a tourniquet on the shattered limb. "We're -sending all their wounded to Odessa." - -At which the young man groaned. - -"Hold his hand," said the doctor. "He's pretty low." And Jim held the -twitching hand while the knife and the saw did their work, and was not -sure whether it was his hand that jumped so or the other's. - -The other hand suddenly lay limp in his, and he thought the man was -dead. - -"Fainted," said the doctor. "He's been bleeding away for two days." - -He came round, however, and tried to smile when he saw Jim still -there. And presently he murmured: - -"I thank." And then he looked down at his hand all caked with blood, -and tried feebly to get a ring off his finger. - -"Take!" he said. But Jim shook his head. - -"Yes, yes." And he wrestled feebly again with the ring. - -"Better humour him," said the doctor. "It'll do him more good than to -refuse." - -So Jim worked the ring off for him, and slipped it on his own finger, -and the wounded man said "I thank!" and lay back satisfied. - -Jim saw him carried down to the boat and wished him luck, and then -strode away to his own quarters, which consisted of a seat on the side -of a dry ditch--dry at present, but which would be soaking with dew -before morning--with his brown horse picketed alongside, as hungry and -low-spirited as his master. - -Jim looked at his ring and thought of its late owner, and hoped he -would get over it, and wondered how soon his own turn would come. For -the thing that amazed him was that any single man could come alive out -of a fight like that at the Alma. - -His horse nuzzled hungrily at him, and he suddenly bethought him of -the black bread in the Russians' linen rolls. He jumped up, tired as -he was, and trode away to the battlefield again, and came back with -chunks of hard tack and black bread enough to make his brown and some -of his neighbours happy for the night. - -Marshal St. Arnaud, sore sick as he was, was eager to press on at once -after the discomfited Russians. But "an army marches on its stomach," -and it was two full days before Lord Raglan could make a move. Those -two lost days might have changed the whole course of the campaign, and -saved many thousands of lives. The defective organisation of the -British transport and commissariat slew more than all the Russian -bullets. - -On the third morning, as the sun rose all the trumpets, bugles, and -drums in the French army pealed out from the summit of the captured -hill, and presently the allied armies were _en route_ again for -Sebastopol. - -The next day, however, saw a sudden change of plans and a most -remarkable happening. The allied chiefs gave up the idea of attacking -the town from the north, on which side all preparations had been made -for their reception, and decided, instead, to march right round and -take it on its undefended south side. And so began that famous flank -march to Balaclava which was to turn all the defences of the fortress. - -And on that selfsame day the Russian chief, Menchikoff, decided to -march out of Sebastopol into the open, and so turn the flank of the -allies. And the two lines of march crossed at Mackenzie's farm. - -The Russians had got out first, however, and it was only their -rear-guard upon whom the English chanced, and immediately fell, and -put to rout. They chased them for several miles and took their -military chest and great booty of baggage which, being left to the men -as lawful prize, cheered them greatly. - -When Jim got back from the chase the new owners were offering for sale -dazzling uniforms, and decorations, and handsome fur coats, at -remarkable prices. He had no yearning for Russian uniforms or -decorations, but as he suffered much from the cold of a night he -bought two of the wonderful coats for five pounds each, and, when they -halted, he sought out Jack and made him happy with one of them. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII -JIM'S RIDE - - -Next day the allied forces crossed the Tchernaya by the Traktir Bridge -and marched on Balaclava. - -And here Jim's threefold reputation as a hard rider, the best-mounted -man in his regiment, and a man who did, brought him a chance of fresh -distinction. - -In abandoning the coast and marching inland, the army had cut itself -off from its base of supply--the fleet. It was urgently necessary that -word should be sent to the admirals to move on round the coast past -Sebastopol and meet the army in its new quarters. - -Just as they were crowding over Traktir Bridge a rider came galloping -up with dispatches for Lord Raglan--Lieutenant Maxse of the -_Agamemnon_. He had left Katcha Bay that morning, and offered at once -to ride back with orders for the fleet to move on. A brave offer, for -the country was all wild forest and lonely plain and valley, infested -with prowling bands of Cossacks, and the night was falling. - -An hour later Maxse, on a fresh horse, was galloping back to the -coast. - -"If anything should happen to him," said the Chief, "we shall be in a -hole." And he sent for Lord Lucan. - -"I want your best horseman and your best horse, Lucan, and a man who -will put a thing through." - -"That's young Carron of the Hussars, sir." - -And Jim, paraded for inspection on his big brown horse--quite filled -out and frolicsome with its load of black bread the day but one -before--seemed likely in the Chief's eyes. - -"Mr. Carron," he said. "I have a dangerous task for you. I am told you -are the man for it. Lieutenant Maxse left here an hour ago for the -ships. They must get round at once and meet us at Balaclava. Here is a -copy of the order. If Maxse has not got through you will deliver it to -Admiral Dundas in Katcha Bay. Don't lose a moment. The welfare of the -army depends on you." - -Jim saluted. - -"How will you go?" - -"Mackenzie's farm and the post-road, sir." - -"You are armed? You may meet Cossacks." - -"Sword and revolver. I shall manage all right." - -"Come round with the ships and report to me at Balaclava." - -Jim saluted once more, and spurred away. - -The distance was only some twenty miles, an easy two hours' ride. The -dangers lay in the hostile country and the prowling Cossacks, for in -the long defile from the farm to the Belbec, and then again in the -broken country between the Belbec and the Katcha, there were a -thousand places where a rider might be picked off from the hill-sides -and never catch a glimpse of his adversary. - -However, it was no good thinking of all that, and Jim was not one to -cross bridges before he came to them, or to meet trouble half-way. His -big brown had a long, easy stride which was almost restful to his -rider, and Jim had a seat that gave his horse the least possible -inconvenience, and between them was completest sympathy and -friendship. - -And as to the dark, unless he absolutely ran into Cossacks he reckoned -it all in his favour. It kept down his pace indeed, but at the same -time it hid him from the watchful eyes on the hill-sides and the -leaden messages they might have sent him. - -He received warm commendation for that night's ride, but, as simple -matter of fact, he enjoyed it greatly, and had no difficulties beyond -keeping the road in the dark and making sure it was the right one. -Plain common-sense, however, bade him always trend to the left when -cross-roads offered alternatives, and after leaving Mackenzie's he -never set eyes on a soul till he found the Belbec an hour before -midnight, and rode up through the wreathing mists of the river-bed to -the highlands beyond. - -The dew was drenching wet and the night cold, but he got into his big -fur coat, which had been rolled up behind his saddle, and suffered not -at all. - -His thoughts ran leisurely back to them all at home,--Gracie, and Mr. -Eager, and his grandfather, and Lord Deseret, and Mme Beteta, and his -father's amazing revelation concerning her. He wondered whether they -would ever learn the truth, and if not, how the tangle would be -straightened out. He thought dimly, but with no great fear now, that -they would probably both be killed if there was much fighting such as -that at the Alma, so there was no need to trouble about the future. - -Charlie Denham, indeed, never ceased to philosophise that it was -always the other fellow who was going to be killed; but if every one -thought that, it was evident, even to Jim's unphilosophic mind, that -there must be a flaw somewhere. - -Anyway, when a man's time came he died, and there was no good worrying -oneself into the blues beforehand. - -A hoarse challenge broke suddenly on his musings, and a darker blur on -the road just in front resolved itself into half a dozen horsemen. -They had heard his horse's hoofs, and waited in silence to see who -came. - -He had pulled the hood of his fur coat right up over his busby, and -the heavy folds covered him almost down to the feet. He decided in a -moment that safety lay in silence, so he rode straight on, waved a -hand to the doubtful Cossacks, and was past Telegraph Hill before they -had done discussing him. - -He wondered if Maxse had met them and how he had fared. - -An hour later he forded the Katcha and turned down the valley towards -the sea. Boats were still plying between the sandy beach and the -ships. The Jacks eyed him for a moment with suspicion, but gave him -jovial welcome when they found that only his outer covering was -Russian. - -Lieutenant Maxse had just been put aboard the _Agamemnon_, he found, -and a minute or two later he was following him. So Jim had the -pleasure of steaming past the sea-front of Sebastopol to Balaclava -Bay, where they found the ancient little fort on the heights -bombarding the British army with for tiny guns. - -They brought it to reason with half a dozen round shot, and presently -steamed cautiously in round the awkward corners, and dropped anchor -opposite the house where Lord Raglan had taken up his quarters. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX -AMONG THE BULL-PUPS - - -And now force of circumstances left the cavalry stranded high and dry, -with nothing to do but range the valley now and again in quest of -enemies who never showed face, and growl continually at the -untowardness of their lot. - -They had indeed had little enough to do so far, but always in front of -them had been the hope of active employment and its concomitant -rewards. But what use could cavalry be in a siege? And had they lived -through all those hideous months at Varna, and come across the sea -only to repeat them outside Sebastopol? They grizzled and growled, and -expressed their opinions on things in general with cavalier vehemence. - -And the worst of it was that the other more actively employed arms -were inclined to twit them with their--so far--showy uselessness. - -What had they done since they landed, except prance about and look -pretty? Why hadn't they been out all over the country bringing in -supplies? Where were they at the Alma, when hard knocks were the order -of the day?--asked these others. - -And, indeed, among themselves they asked bitterly why they had been -chained up like that and allowed to do nothing. They had held all the -Russian cavalry in check, it is true; but that was but a negative kind -of thing, and what they thirsted for was an active campaign and glory. - -But now it was Jack's turn, and the Engineers were in their element. -Not a man among them but devoutly hoped the place would hold out to -the utmost and give them their chance. - -It was almost too good to be true--an actual siege on the latest and -most approved principles! And they tackled it with gusto, and were -planning lines and trenches in their minds' eyes before their tents -were up. - -As a matter of fact, tents were still things to be looked forward to -with such small faith in commissaries and transport as still lingered -in their sorely tried bodies, for it had long since left their hearts; -food was so scarce that for a couple of days one whole division of the -army had tasted no meat; and every morning the first sorrowful duty of -the living was to gather up those who had died in the night of cold -and cholera, with bitter commination of those whom they considered to -blame. - -However, all things come in time to those who live long enough, and -the tents came up from the ships at last, and rations began to be -served out with something like regularity. The busy Engineers traced -their lines, and, as soon as it was dark each night, the digging -parties went out and set to work on the trenches, and the siege was -fairly begun, and Jack and his fellows were as busy and happy as bees. - -But Jim, if officially relegated a comparative inaction, found no lack -of employment. - -He was intensely interested in all that was going on. He rode here and -there with messages to this chief and that. For when he reported -himself to Lord Raglan at Balaclava, according to instructions, his -lordship was pleased to compliment him in his quiet way. - -"You did well, Mr. Carron," he said. "I am glad you both got through -safely. Much depended on you. By the way, you know my old friend -Deseret, I think." - -"Lord Deseret was very kind to me in London, sir." - -"I remembered, after you left last night, that he had spoken to me of -you. And surely," said his lordship musingly, "I must have known your -father. Is he still alive?" - -Jim hesitated for half a second, and then said simply: "Yes, sir; he -is on the staff of Prince Napoleon." - -"With Prince Napoleon?" said his lordship, and stared at him in -surprise. And then the old story came back to his mind. "Ah, yes! I -remember. Well, well! . . . And I suppose you're growling like the -rest at having nothing to do?" - -"We would be glad to have more, sir." - -"I'm afraid it won't be a very lively time for the cavalry. But you -seem to like knocking about. I must see what I can do to keep you from -getting rusty." - -"I shall be very grateful, sir." - -And thereafter many an odd job came his way, for the allied lines, -from the extreme French left at Kamiesch Bay in the west, to the -British right above the Inkerman Aqueduct on the north-east, covered -close upon twenty miles, and within that space there was enough going -on to keep a man busy in simply acting as travelling eye to the -Commander-in-Chief--in carrying his orders and bringing him reports. - -And this was business that suited Jim to the full. He saw everything -and was constantly meeting everybody he knew, and many besides. - -He was galloping home from the French lines one evening, through the -sailors' camp by Kadikoi, just above the gorge that runs down to -Balaclava. The jolly jacks were revelling in their lark ashore, and -showed it in the labelling of their tents with fanciful names. Jim had -already seen "Albion's Pets," "Rule Britannia," and "Windsor Castle," -and every time he passed he looked for the latest ebullitions of -sailorly humour. This time, to his great joy, he found "Britain's -Bull-Pups," and "The Bear-Baiters," and "The Bully Cockytoos." - -The Bull-Pups and the Bear-Baiters and the Bully Cockytoos, and all -the rest, fifty in a line, were hauling along a Lancaster gun, with a -fiddler on top fiddling away for dear life, and they all bellowing a -chantie that made him draw rein to listen to it. The bands in the -French camp were playing merrily as he left it, but in the British -lines there was not so much as a bugle or a drum, and the men were -feeling it keenly. - -So the rough chorus struck him pleasantly, and he stopped to hear it -out. - -When the gun was up to their camp, the men cast loose and began to -foot it merrily to the music, just to show what a trifle a Lancaster -gun was to British sailormen. And Jim, as he sat laughing at their -antics and enjoying them hugely, suddenly caught sight of a familiar -face. Not one of the dancers, but one who stood looking on soberly--it -might even he sombrely, Jim could not be sure. - -He jumped off his horse and led him round. - -"Why, Seth, old man!" he said, clapping the broad shoulder in friendly -delight. "What brings you here?" - -And young Seth turned and faced him, and had to look twice before he -knew him. - -"Ech--why, it's Mester Jim!" he said slowly. - -"Of course it is. And but for you he wouldn't be here, and he never -forgets it. But how do you come to be here, Seth?" - -"I come with the rest to fight the Roosians, Mester Jim." - -"I wish they'd give us a chance, but it's going to be all long bowls, -I'm afraid." - -But there was that to be said between them which was not for other -ears. - -The tars had watched the meeting with much favour, for greetings so -friendly between officer and man were not often seen among them in -those days, though more possible between sailormen than in the army. -When they saw Jim slip his arm through Seth's and draw him along with -him, they started a lusty cheer. "Three cheers for young Fuzzy-cap! -Hip--hip!" And Jim grinned jovially and waved his hand in reply. And -Seth Rimmer, in spite of the taciturnity which they could not -understand, was a man of note among them from that day. - -"Did you hear all about your poor old dad, Seth?" asked Jim quietly. - -"Yes, Mester Jim. Th' passon told me all about it." - -"It was a grievous thing. But I don't think I was to blame, Seth. He -would go out and ramble about. I did all I could for him." - -"I know. I know." - -"And Kattie, Seth! _You_ surely never thought I had anything to do -with that matter?" - -"No, Mester Jim. I knowed it wasn't you." - -"Do you know who it was, Seth? I would hold him to account if ever I -got the chance. But she would not tell me." - -"You found her?" asked Seth, with a start that brought them both to a -stand. - -"She came to me in the street the very last night before we left----" - -Seth gave out something mixed up of groan and curse. - -"She said she had heard we were going in the morning, and she wanted -to say good-bye." - -"Th' poor little wench! . . . What did you say to her Mester Jim?" - -"I was knocked all of a heap at meeting her like that, Seth. But when -I got my wits back I did the only thing I could. I took her to a lady -friend who had been very kind to me, and she promised to look after -her. And I am quite sure she will. If Kattie only stops with her I -think she may be very comfortable there." - -"It were good o' yo'. . . ." And then, reverting to Jim's former -question, "I know him," he said hoarsely, "an' when th' chance -comes----" And the big brown hands clenched as though a man's throat -were between them. And Jim thought he would not like to be that man. - -"I'm afraid I feel like that too, Seth, though I suppose--I don't -know. Poor little Kattie!" - -And presently he wrung the big brown hands, that were meant for better -work than wringing evil throats, and swung up on to his horse. - -"I must get along, Seth. But I'm often through here, and we'll be -meeting again. We're about two miles out over yonder, you know. -Good-bye!" And he galloped off to his quarters. - -He frequently rode across of a night for a chat with Jack, but Jack -was a mighty busy man these days, and nights too. He had an inordinate -craving for trenches and gabions and facines and parallels and -approaches, and could talk of little else, and confessed that he -dreamed of them too. And if he could have accomplished as much by day -as he did by night, when he was fast asleep--though as a matter of -fact it ought to be the other way, for most of the actual work had to -be done under cover of darkness and he slept when he could--Sebastopol -would have been taken in a week. - -As the trenches began to develop, he would take Jim through them for a -treat, and explain all that was going on with the greatest gusto. And -at times Jim found it no easy matter to conceal the fact that it was -all exceedingly raw and dirty, though he supposed it was the only way -of getting at them. - -And at times shot and shell would come plunging in over the sand-bags -and gabions, and then every man would fling himself on his face in the -dirt till the flying splinters had gone, and Jim would go home and try -to brush himself clean--for Joyce had died of cholera two days out -from Varna--and would thank his stars that he belonged to a cleaner -branch of the service. - -Still, it was fine to watch the shells come curving out from the town -with a flash like summer lightning, and hear them singing through the -darkness, and see the fainter glare of their explosion; and when he -had nothing else on hand he went along to the trenches almost every -night to watch the fireworks. - - - - -CHAPTER L -RED-TAPE - - -The siege of Sebastopol was quite out of the ordinary run, and about -as curious a business as ever was. For one usually thinks of a -besieged town as surrounded by the enemy and cut off from the rest of -the world. And, that was never the case with Sebastopol. - -The allied forces drew a ring round the south and east sides of the -town, and the sea guarded it on the west, but by way of the north and -north-east the Russians had free passage at all times, and could -introduce fresh troops and provisions and all the material of war at -will, and so the defence was in a state of continuous renewal, and -fresh blood was always pouring in to replace the terrible waste -inside. - -By those open ways also they sent out army after army to creep round -behind the besiegers, to harry and annoy them, and this it was that -led to some of the fiercest battles of the campaign. The knowledge -also that great bodies of Russians were at large in their rear, and -only waiting, opportunity to attack them, kept the Allies perpetually -on the strain, and hurried musters in the dark to repel, at times -imaginary, assaults were of almost nightly occurrence. - -Failing complete investment--when starvation, added to perpetual -and irretrievable wastage, must in time have brought about a -surrender--the Allies could only pound away with their big guns, and -hope to wear down the heart and pride of Russia by the sheer dogged -determination to pound away till there was nothing left to pound at. - -The later attempts to breach and storm, to which all these gigantic -efforts were directed, were but a part of the same policy. Russia was -to be crushed by the combined weight of England and France and Turkey, -and, later on, Sardinia. It was very British, very bull-doggy, but it -was also terribly wasteful and costly all round. - -The Russians had expected the attack on the north side, and had made -it almost impregnable. When, by their flank march, the Allies came -round to the south, the town was absolutely open and unprotected, the -streets running up into the open country. Before the Allies could gird -up their loins for a spring, earthworks and forts had sprung up in -front of them as though by magic, and the only means of approach was -by the slow, hard way of parallels, trenches, and zigzags. And all -this it was that made up the Crimean War. - -But our boys were busy, and so kept happy in spite of discomforts -without end. - -Every single thing the army heeded, either for fighting or for sheer -and simplest living, had to be brought to it by sea, and the one door -of entrance was tiny Balaclava Bay--with the natural consequence that -Balaclava Bay became inextricably blocked with shipping discharging on -to its narrow shores, and its shores became inextricably piled with -masses of war material and stores, with no means of transport to the -camps six and eight and ten miles away. And so confusion became ten -times confounded, and brave men languished and died for want of the -stores that lay rotting down below. Add to this the fact that every -British official's hands were bound round and round, and knotted and -thrice knotted, with coils of stiffest red tape, and no man dared to -lift a finger unless a dozen superiors in a dozen different -departments had authorised him to do so, in writing, on official -forms, with every "t" crossed and every "i" carefully dotted, and you -have the simple explanation of the horrors of the Crimea. - -Our own red-tape and sheer stupidity wrought far more evil on our men -than all the efforts of Menchikoff and Gortschakoff with all the might -of Russia at their backs. - -The trenches wormed their zigzags slowly down the slope, towards the -Russian lines, and never was there more zealous zigzager than Jack. -The Russians poured shot and shell on him and his fellow moles; but -they dug on, mounted their heavy guns, and dosed him with pointed -Lancaster shells, which were new to him, and impressed him most -unpleasantly. - -And Jim galloped to and fro and worried more over his horse's feeding -than his own, and kept very fit and well. - -He went over now and again to the Heavies, to see how George Herapath -and Ralph Ruben were standing it, and found them generally on the -growl at having so little to do and none too much to eat, and they all -condoled with one another, and expressed themselves freely on such -congenial subjects as the Transport and Commissariat Departments, and -felt the better for getting it out. - -Letters from home came with fair regularity now, and they swapped -their news and had time to write long letters back--except Jack, whose -whole soul was in his trenches, and who was too tired and dirty for -correspondence when he came out of them. - -So upon Jim devolved the duty of keeping Carne and Wyvveloe posted as -to the course of the war, and his painfully produced scrawls were -valued beyond their apparent merits by the anxious ones at home, and -treasured as things of price. - -For Gracie, at all events, said to herself, when each one came, "It -may be the last we shall ever get from him"; and, "They may both be -lying dead at this moment. This horrible, horrible war!" - -But she wrote continually to both of them; and if the dreadful feeling -that she might only too possibly be writing to dead men was with her -as she wrote, she took good care that no sign of It appeared in her -letters. They were brave and cheery letters, telling of the little -happenings of the neighbourhood, and always full of the hope of seeing -them again soon. And if she cried a bit at times, as she wrote and -thought of it all, be sure no tear-spots were allowed to show. They -had quite enough to stand without being worried with her fears. - -And she prayed for them every night and every morning with the utmost -devotion, though, indeed, at times she remained long on her knees, -pondering vaguely. For she knew that what must be, must be, and that -her most fervent prayers could not turn Russian bullets from their -destined billets--that if God saw it well to take her boys, they would -go, in spite of all her asking. And so she came to commending them -simply to God's good care, and to asking for herself the strength to -bear whatever might come to her. - -When the Alma lists came out, she and the Rev. Charles scanned them -with feverish anxiety, and with eyes that got the names all blurred -and mixed, and hearts that beat muffled dead marches, and only let -them breathe freely again when they had got through without finding -what they had feared. - -And both of them, grateful at their own escape, thought pitifully of -those whose trembling fingers, stopping suddenly on beloved names, had -been the signal for broken hearts and shattered hopes and desolated -lives. - -And, any day, that might be their own lot too; and so, like many -others in those times, they went heavily, and feared what each new day -might bring. - -Margaret Herapath spent much of her time with them, and Sir George was -able to bring them news in advance of the ordinary channels. - -And the grim old man up at Carne read the news-sheets and the lists, -which smelt of snuff when he had done with them, and was vastly polite -and unconcerned about it all when Gracie and Eager went to visit him; -but Kennet led somewhat of a dog's life at this time, and had to find -consolation for a ruffled spirit where he could. - - - - -CHAPTER LI -THE VALLEY OF DEATH - - -The Cavalry, Light and Heavy, but more especially the Light, were, as -we have seen, rankling bitterly under quite uncalled-for imputation of -showy uselessness, and chafing sorely at their enforced inaction -during the siege operations. The campaign, so far, had offered them no -opening, nor did it seem likely to do so. Moreover, forage was scarce, -their horses were on short rations, and before long, unless those -infernal transport people woke up, they would be padding it afoot like -the toilers on the heights, who were having all the fun--such as it -was--and would reap all the glory. - -But Fortune was kind, and sore, on them. - -For some days past they had, from time to time, caught the sound of -distant bugles among the hills to the north and east of the valley in -which their camp lay, and their hopes had been briefly stirred. - -It might mean nothing more, however, than the passage of -reinforcements into Sebastopol, for those northern ways by Inkerman -gorge were always open and impossible of closing. - -In front of them on the plain was a line of small redoubts occupied by -Turks. Behind them on the way to Balaclava lay the 93rd Highlanders -under Sir Colin Campbell. - -Jim Carron was awakened from a very sound sleep one morning by a lusty -kick from Charlie Denham, and the information that "Lucan wanted him." - -Five minutes later he was pressing his horse to its utmost, with the -word to Head-quarters that the Russians were pouring down the valley -towards Balaclava, that they had already captured Redoubt No. 1, that -the Turks could not possibly hold the others against them, and that -unless our base at Balaclava was to go, the sooner the army turned out -to stop them the better. - -Lord Raglan sped Jim on at once to French Head-quarters with the news; -and as he galloped back in headlong haste lest they should be starting -without him, all the camps were a-bristle and troops hurrying from all -quarters to the scene of action. - -As he came over the hill leading down to the Balaclava road, he could -see the vast bodies of, Russians pouring out of the hills, the Turks -from the redoubts were running across the plain towards the long thin -line of Highlanders, and the Cossacks and Lancers were in among them -cutting them down as fast as they could chop. - -All this he saw at a glance, as he sped on to join his own men, drawn -up on the left of the Heavies. And as he took his place, panting, both -he and his big brown, like steam-engines, he heard the roll of the -Highlanders' Miniés on the right as they broke the rush of the Russian -cavalry. - -The next minute a great body of horsemen, brilliant in light blue and -silver, topped the slope in front of the Heavies, and looked down on -their Insignificant numbers as Goliath did on David. - -He saw old Scarlett haranguing his men, and then with a roar--he knew -just how they felt!--like starving tigers loosed at last on -long-desired prey--the Greys and Enniskillens dashed at them and -through them, and wheeled, and through again, first line, second line, -and out at the rear. And then, as the broken first line gathered -itself again to swallow the tigers, the rest of the Heavies, the -Royals, and Dragoons shot out like a bolt and scattered them to the -winds. - -And Jim and all about him yelled and cheered in a frenzy--but down -below it all was a bitter sense of regret at being out of it. Truly it -seemed as though malignant fate had the Light Brigade on her black -books and was bent on defrauding them of their rightful chances. - -By this time the allied troops were coming up from their distant -camps, and the rout of the Russian horse enabled them to take up their -positions in the valley. - -It looked like being a pitched battle. All hearts beat high, and none -higher than those of the Hussars and Light Dragoons. Their chance -might come after all. They twitched in their saddles. Give them only -half a chance and they would show the world what was in them. - -And it came. - -Messengers sped in haste to and from the Chief, on the heights above, -to the various commanders down below. And then came young Nolan of the -15th, Lord Raglan's own aide, his horse in a white sweat, himself -aflame. - -He spoke hurriedly to Lord Lucan, and Jim saw his lordship's eyebrows -lift in astonishment. He seemed to question the order given. - -Nolan waved a vehement arm towards the Russians. Lord Lucan spoke to -Lord Cardigan, and his brows too went up. Every tense soul among them, -whose eyes could see what was passing, watched as if his life depended -on the outcome. - -Then in a moment the word rang out, and they were off. - -Where? He had not the remotest idea nor the slightest care. Enough for -him that they were off and that they meant business. - -And away in front of them, where he had no earthly right to be, since -he did not belong to them and had only brought a message, went young -Nolan, waving them on with insistent arm. - -They swept along at a gallop in two long lines, and the rush and the -rattle got into Jim's blood, and the blood boiled up into his head, -and he thought of nothing--nothing, but the fact that their chance had -come at last--least of all of fear for himself. - -Fear? There were Russians ahead there!----them all!--and every faculty -in him, every nerve and muscle, every drop of boiling blood, every -desire of his mind and heart and soul rushed on ahead to meet them. He -wanted at them, he wanted to hew and thrust and kill. He wanted blood. - -Head down, forward a bit, sword-hilt fitting itself to his hand as it -had never done before, knees so lightly tight to the saddle that he -could feel the great brown shoulders working like machinery inside -them, a glance forward from under his busby and an impression of a -vast multitude of men--and the roar and crash of numberless guns in -front and on both flanks--a scream just ahead, and young Nolan's horse -came galloping round at the side, with young Nolan still in the -saddle--but dead--his chest ripped open by a shell. - -Men were falling all round now, men and horses hurling forward and -down in rattling lumbering heaps. - -Jim's face was cast-iron, his jaw a vice. Not the Jim we have -known--this! His dæmon--nay, his demon, for he had but one thought, -and that was to kill. No man who knew him would have known him. - -Belching guns in front. Shot and bullets coming like hail. Men falling -fast. Lines all shattered and anyhow. But the thick white smoke and -the venomous yellow-red spits of flame were close now, and so far it -had not struck him as wonderful that he still rode while so many had -gone down. - -He had felt hot whips across his face, something had tipped his busby -to the back of his head, several other somethings had plugged through -the flying jacket which covered his bridle arm. Then he had to swerve -suddenly from the smoking black muzzle of a gun, and he was among -flat-caps and gray-coats, and his sword was going in hot quick blows, -and every blow bit home. - -A big gunner struck heavily at him with a smoking mop. He had an -honest brown hairy face and blue eyes. The sweep of Jim's sword took -him in the neck, and . . . . - -An infantryman behind had his gun-stock at his chest to fire. Jim -drove the big brown at him, the man went down in a heap, arms up, and -the gun went off as he fell. - -Then it was all wild fury and confusion. Deseret's sword was -wonderful, as light as a lath and as sure as death. He was through the -smoke, fighting the myriads behind--singlehanded it seemed to him. - ---!--!--!--!--he could not tackle the whole Russian army! He whirled -the big brown round and plunged back through the smoke, saw the others -riding home, and bent and dashed away after them. - -He was almost the last. A thunder of hoofs on his flank, and a vicious -lance-head came thrusting in between his right arm and his body. His -sword swept round backwards--and the Lancer's empty horse raced -neck-and-neck with his own, its ears flat to its head, its eyes white -with fear. - -Then the guns behind opened on them again, and bullets came raining in -on each side as well--on Russian Lancers and British Hussars and -Dragoons alike. - -Jim was swaying in his saddle, he did not know why, But dashing at -those guns was one thing, and retiring was another, and the hell-fire -had burnt out of him and left him spent. - -He saw the long unbroken lines of the Heavies sweeping up to meet and -cover them, and wondered dizzily if he could hold on till they came. - -There were Lancers ahead of him, thrusting at his men as they rode. A -whole bunch of them went down in a heap just in front of him, riddled -by the murderous fire of their comrades behind, and he lifted the -brown horse over them as if they had been a quick-set. - -The Heavies parted to let them through, and the splendid fellow on the -thundering big horse at the side there, who stood high in his stirrups -cheering on his men, was good old George. There was no mistaking him, -he was such a size and weight. - -A couple of Lancers, who had been making for Jim, swerved to face the -new attack and made for George instead, bold in the advantage of their -longer reach. And Jim would have been after them to equalise matters -but that it was all he could do to keep his seat. - -He saw George rise in his saddle, with his great sabre swinging to the -blow. Then a whirling blast of canister shore them all down, and they -lay in a heap, men and horses riddled like colanders. And Jim, with a -sob, clung to the pommel of his saddle and let the brown horse carry -him home. - -Jack had just got up to camp from night duty in the trenches when the -alarm sounded in the valley, and he made his way with the rest to the -edge of the plateau to see what was going on. - -When he saw the cavalry drawn up for action he hurried down the hill -as fast as he could go, hung spell-bound halfway at the terrible and -amazing sight below, and then tumbled on with a lump in his throat to -learn the worst, as the broken riders came reeling back in twos and -threes. - -It was he lifted Jim out of his saddle, and found it all sticky -with blood from the lance-thrust in his side. His face was streaming -from a graze along the scalp, and he had a bullet through the left -shoulder--small things indeed considering where he had been. - -The miracle of that awful ride was, not that so many fell, but that -any single man came back alive. - - - - -CHAPTER LII -PATCHING UP - - -As soon as matters settled down, Colonel Carron rode over at once for -news of his boy, He knew he must have been in that brilliant madness, -about which every tongue in the camps was wagging, and he feared he -had seen the last of him. - -He had some difficulty in finding what was left of the Light Brigade, -for the Russians still held the lowlands in force. They had, in fact, -drawn a cordon round the allied forces and were, to an extent, -besieging the besiegers, and the cavalry camps had to be moved up on -to the plateau. - -But he came at last on the handful of laxed and weary men, lying about -their new quarter's, some fast asleep with their faces in their arms, -while willing hands did all their necessary work for them, and every -man of them still bore in him the very visible effects of that most -dreadful experience. - -He almost feared to ask for Jim, lest it should kill his last spark of -hope. - -"You had a terrible time," he said, to one on his knees by a big brown -horse, which stood there with an occasional shiver as he applied -healing ointment to its many wounds. "The whole world will ring with -it." - -"Alt blamed foolishness, sir," growled the man--who had lost his own -horse and most of his chums in the foolishness, and so was in a mighty -bad humour--and lifted a casual sticky finger in recognition of the -Colonel's brilliant uniform. - -"I'm afraid it was, but you did it nobly. Can you tell me anything of -Cornet Carron? Was he in it?" - -"In it and out of it, sir, thanks be! He's too good a sort to lose. -He's inside there. This is his horse I'm patching up, 'cos he wouldn't -lie quiet till I done it." And the Colonel dived into the tent with a -grateful heart, and found Jim fast asleep on a hastily made couch. His -wounds had been bound up, and there were even mottled white streaks on -his face where a hasty sponge had made an attempt to clean it. But he -was sleeping soundly, and it was the very best medicine he could have. - -The Colonel went quietly out again to wait. He gave the horse-mender a -very fine cigar, and lit it for him along with his own. - -"Bully!" said the man. "Best thing I've tasted since I left Chelsea." - -"Your losses must be very heavy." - -"Under two hundred at roll-call, sir, and we went in over six." - -"Awful!" - -"Set of ---- fools we were, sir; but we showed 'em what was in us, an' -now mebbe they won't talk about us any more as they have bin doen." - -"They'll talk about you to the end of time," said the Colonel -heartily. - -"That's all right, sir. That's a different kind of talk." - -"We knowed it was all a mistake," he went on, with his head on one -side, as he laid on artistic patches of ointment; "but we'd bin aching -for a slap at the beggars, just to put a stopper on the mouth-wagglers -nearer home. And we _did_ slap 'em too, by----!"--and he lost himself -for a moment in admiring contemplation of their prowess. "But they're -vermin, them Roosians! Shot down their own men when we got all mixed -up with 'em coming home, so they say." - -"Yes, they did that. We saw it all from the heights." - -"Well, that's not what I call right, sir." - -"It was barbarous and damnable. No civilised nation would do such a -thing." - -"That's it, sir--barbarous and damnable and no civilised nation would -do such a thing." And he said it over and over to himself, and gained -considerable éclat by the use of it in discussion with his fellows -later on. - -"Jackson!" said a drowsy voice inside the tent. "How's Bob? And what -the deuce are you preaching about?" And the brown horse gave a whuffle -at sound of the voice. - -"That's it. Thinks more of his hoss than he does of himself," said -Jackson, with a wink at the Colonel. "Bob's patching up fine, sir. -He's a good bit ripped up, but no balls gone in, s'far as I can see. -He'll be ready for you, sir, by time you're ready for him, I should -say. Gentleman called to see you, sir." - -"My dear lad," said the Colonel, sitting down by his side on a -stained-red saddle. "I am grateful for the sight of you. We doubted if -one of you would come back alive." - -"I don't know that we expected to, sir. But we hadn't time to think -about it." - -"Whose mistake was it? Lucan's?" - -"I don't think so, sir," he said thoughtfully, as he strove to recall -it all. "I remember the look that came on his face when Nolan brought -him the order. . . . I think both he and Cardigan knew there was -something wrong. But Nolan was hot to have us go----" - -"Is it true that he and Lucan were not on good terms?" - -"I don't know anything about that, sir. There's so much talk. He's -dead, anyway. His horse came galloping back with him still in the -saddle and all his chest ripped open. It was horrid." - -"He had no earthly right to go with you. There was some strong -talk about it up there. A brave fellow, from all accounts, but -hot-headed. . . . I'm going to take you to my quarters, my boy. We -want you on your legs again as soon as possible." - -"All right, sir. I don't think it's much. A rip or two here and there -and some bullet-grazes. And the doctor's patched me up nicely." - -"It's a wonder there's anything left to patch." - -"You'll bring old Bob along too?" - -"Oh yes, we'll take you both together. I'm glad it's in life you're -not to be divided, not in death." - -"He went like a bird," said Jim. And then, as the recollection of it -all came back on him--the belching guns, the hairy brown gunner, the -venomous Lancers, George Herapath,--"My God!" he said softly; "I -wonder we ever got back at all." - -CHAPTER LIII -THE FIGHT IN THE FOG - - -In the comparative luxury of Colonel Carron's quarters, which were far -beyond anything he could have got in the English camps, Jim pulled -round rapidly. He was in the best of health, his wounds showed every -intention of healing readily, and the Colonel saw to it that he lacked -nothing. - -He found himself, somewhat to his confusion, something of a lion -there, and never lacked company anxious to discuss with him the -details of that mad ride up the Valley of Death and back again. - -His French visitors were unanimous in their grave disapproval and -admiration; and Jack, whenever he could get away from his trenches for -a chat with the invalid, reported the same feeling everywhere. - -Jack himself had had a hand in the tussle with the enemy, the day -after Jim's affair. But he came out of it untouched, and made light of -it. - -He reported Harben severely wounded, in the second charge when George -Herapath was killed, and the body of the latter had been recovered and -buried. - -It was sad to think of old George gone right out like that. He had -died bravely, hastening to the rescue of his fellows, and the boys -hardly dared to think of the bitter sorrow at Knoyle and Wyvveloe when -the news should get there. It would, they knew, bring right home to -them all the dreadful possibilities of the war, as nothing else could -have done. George gone, Ralph sorely wounded. Who would be the next to -go? - -Here, in the camps, with sudden death hurtling through the air night -and day, and sickness still claiming more victims than all the -whistling shells, they were getting somewhat case-hardened, and -accustomed to sudden disappearances and vacant places. But, to the -anxious scanners of the lists at home, each death in each small circle -made all the other deaths seem more imminent, and weighted every heart -with fresh fears. - -The zigzags and trenches in which Jack held a proprietary interest -were creeping nearer and nearer to the town, and he was well satisfied -with the progress made. But on one other point he and his fellow -Engineers were anything but content. - -The right flank of their position, opposite the Inkerman cliffs and -caves and very close to the road by which the Russian forces got in -and out of the town, seemed to their experienced eyes but ill-defended -and not incapable of assault from the lower ground. And such assault, -if successful, must of necessity entail the most serious consequences -on the Allies. - -They spoke of the matter, harped on it, but nothing was done, save the -erection of a small sand-bag battery on the slope of the hill, and no -guns were mounted on it lest the sight of them should tempt the -Russians to come up and take them; and so--that grim and deadly -hand-to-hand struggle in the early morning fog, known as the Battle of -Inkerman--which, for all who were in it, for ever stripped the fifth -of November of its traditional glamour, and left in its place a blind, -black horror--a nightmare struggle against overwhelming odds, which -seemed as if it would never come to an end. - -Oh, we won; we won of course--but, as we do win, at most dreadful cost -which foresight might have saved. - -Jack was in the midst of it. He had just come up from the front, -soaked with rain and caked with mud, and was making a forlorn attempt -at cold breakfast before lying down, when heavy firing, in the very -place where they had all feared sooner or later to hear it, took him -that way in haste to see what was up. - -He could see nothing for the fog and rain, but a hail of shot and -shell was coming from the heights across the valley and he bent and -ran for the shelter of the sand-bag battery. And for many hours--and -every hour an age--the sandbag battery was "absolute hell," as he told -Jim that night, with a very sober face and no enthusiasm. - -Endless hosts of gray-coats came surging up out of the fog, yelling -like demons, and fighting with their bayonets as they had never fought -before. They were slaughtered in heaps, but there always seemed just -as many coming on, yelling and stabbing, and our men yelled and -stabbed, and the piles of dead grew high. - -But Jack saw very little. It was all a wild pandemonium of clashing -steel and yells and groans and curses, with streaming rain above, -swirling fog all round, and what felt like a ploughed field heaped -with dead bodies below. He picked up a rifle and bayonet, and jabbed -and smashed at the gray-coats with the rest. - -Through the fog he could hear the same deadly sounds all round, but -whether they were winning or losing, or indeed what was going on, he -had not the slightest idea. All he knew was that hosts of Russians -kept on coming up in front out of the fog, that they had to be stopped -at any cost, and that, from the time it was lasting, the cost must be -awful. - -He stumbled inside the battery one time, after a bang on the head from -a clubbed musket which made him sick and dizzy; and as he sat panting -in a corner for a moment till his wits came back, he told Jim -afterwards that he remembered wondering if he had died and this was -hell; He had a flask in his pocket somewhere, and he tried to get it -out, and found his left arm would not act, though he had felt nothing -wrong with it till he sat down. - -He was drenched with rain and sweat--and blood, though he did not know -it at the time. He got out his flask with his right hand at last, and -took a long pull at it and felt better. Blood out, and brandy in, made -his bruised head feel light and airy. He picked up his heavy rifle and -bayonet and staggered out to join the wild mêlée again--one hand was -better than none where every hand was needed. - -But he tumbled blindly down the slope and fell, and men trampled to -and fro over his body till he felt all one big bruise. Then the grim -dim struggle swayed off to one side for a moment, and he tried to -crawl away. - -A tall Russian--an officer by his sword--lunged down at him as he -leaped past in the fog, but the point struck on his flask and the blow -only rolled him over again, and the other had not time to repeat it. - -And presently he crawled away up the hill, and got out of it all, and -down the other side towards his own camp. - -It was there his father found him, late in the afternoon, spent and -bruised, and weak from loss of blood, and he went off at once and got -a litter, and took him away to his own tent and set him down beside -Jim. For the English doctors had their hands very much more than full, -and Colonel Carron, rightly or wrongly, had much greater faith in the -nursing arrangements of his adopted service than in those of the -British camps and field hospitals. - -When he came in at night, Jack was all bandaged up and as comfortable -as could be expected, with bayonet wounds in his arm and shoulder, a -badly bruised head, and a bodyful of contusions. - -"I was just thanking my stars and you, sir, that I was here, and not -shivering to pieces over yonder," he said gratefully. - -And with reason. For the Colonel's tent was as cosy a little -habitation as even the French camps could show. He had taken advantage -of a slight hollow, and had had it deepened and the earth piled high -like a rampart all round it, so that only its top showed above -ground-level, and the keen night winds whistled over it with small -effect. And inside was a cheerful little stove, and Tartar rugs, of -small value perhaps, and of crude and glaring colour and design -without doubt, but very homely to look at to boys who had grown -accustomed to bare trodden earth. And for couches, instead of -waterproof cloth and a couple of blankets spread on the ground, they -had clever little bedsteads, consisting of a springy network of -string inside an oblong wooden frame which rested on folding legs like -a campstool. - -"We certainly know how to do for ourselves better than you do. Have -you had anything to eat?" asked the Colonel. - -"Just had the best dinner we've had since--well, since we dined with -you last, sir," said Jim, with great satisfaction. "I don't know what -it was, but it was uncommonly good." - -And Jack asked anxiously: "Have you any news for us, sir? We heard -they were driven back. Are any of our people left?" - -"A few; but your loss is very heavy. Ours also; but you bore the brunt -of it over there where the work was hottest. They came up out of the -town at us, just below here, while you were busy there, and they made -a feint also just above Balaclava. It has been a hot day all round. I -hope they'll give us time to breathe now." - -"I wonder what lies that fellow Menchikoff will stuff into the Tsar -this time," said Jim. - -"He can hardly claim a victory, anyway," said his father, with a -smile. - -"I bet he will, sir." - -"Did you hear anything as to casualties, sir?" asked Jack, whose mind -could not get far away from that grim struggle in the fog. - -"Only outstanding ones. Your loss in big men is terrible. Cathcart is -dead, and Strangways----" - -"Poor old Strangways!" - -"A dear old chap!" echoed Jim. - -----"and Goldie,--all killed. George Brown and Codrington and Bentinck -wounded, and I believe Torrens and Buller and Adams also. Some of your -regiments are almost without officers. Our most serious loss is de -Lourmel, down in front here, repulsing the sortie. They estimate -15,000 Russians killed and wounded----" - -"There seemed millions of them lying round that battery," said Jack. - -"They reckon there were 8,000 English and 6,000 of our men in the -fight, and between 50,000 and 60,000 Russians. So that every one of -our men put at least one of theirs _hors de combat_--a remarkable -performance indeed." - -"I've been thinking, Jim," he said presently, "that a few days on the -sea would set you up again quicker than anything else. What do you -say?" - -"I'd like it immensely, sir, if it could be managed. It's awfully good -of you." - -"You're creditable boys, you see, and I'm anxious not to lose either -of you. I wonder how soon the medico would let you go, too, Jack?" And -he looked at him with a practised eye. "Not for a week anyway, I -expect." - -"I feel as if I could sleep for a week, sir. It's so mighty -comfortable here," he said drowsily. - -"They've had such a stomachful to-day that I think they'll keep quiet -for a time now. It was a great scheme and they did their best. It'll -take them a little time to work up a new one. Well, we'll see about it -to-morrow. You think you'll be able to sleep, Jack?" - -"Sure, sir, when I get the chance. Jim's been talking ever since the -doctor went." - - - - -CHAPTER LIV -AN ALLY OF PROVIDENCE - - -The Colonel was away on business soon after sunrise, long before the -boys were awake. The Russians had had enough for the moment and gave -them a quiet night. - -He came in while they were breakfasting, with a satisfied look on his -face. - -"Well, Jack, how goes it? You were both sleeping like tops when I left -you." - -"I feel like a jelly-fish on Carne beach, sir," said Jack. "I have a -very great disinclination to move." - -"Cuts twingy?" - -"When I think of them, sir. At present I can think of nothing but this -coffee. They give us ours green, you know, and nothing to roast or -grind it with." - -"So I heard. I would like to see what would happen if they sent ours -like that; but, _mon Dieu!_ I wouldn't like to be in their shoes! The -good old fashion of hanging a commissary whenever anything went wrong -was certainly effective. Jim, my boy, I've got your matter arranged -all right. You are to get away to-morrow with a fortnight's leave. -That should pull you round." - -"It's awfully good of you, sir. It's just what I'm needing." - -"Talking of hanging commissaries," said the Colonel, with a whimsical -smile on his dark face, "it was all I could do to keep my hands off -one of your pig-heads down at Balaclava yonder." And he switched his -long mud-caked riding-boot with his whip as if it were the gentleman -in question. - -"I called on Lord Raglan to ask his permission to my plan, and at -first he was a bit stiff and stand-offish. But he came round and spoke -very nicely of you, my boy. He wouldn't discuss that foolish charge of -yours, and I did not press It. He granted you leave at once, and gave -me a written order for your passage to and from Constantinople by -first ship that was leaving." - -"But that's only the beginning of the story," he said, as Jim's mouth -opened with thanks again. "I thought I'd make sure of the whole -business, so I waded down to Balaclava. _Mon Dieu!_ what a travesty of -a road! My poor beast was up to his knees in the filth at times. And -the place itself when I got there! The harbour is a cesspool, an -inferno of evil smells and pestilence, And I think the evil vapours -have got into the heads of your people there, I never saw such -disorder and confusion in all my life. I found the harbour master at -last, and asked him for information as to sailings. But he was only -the Inner Harbour Master, it seems, and he referred me to the Head of -the Transport. The transport people referred me to the Naval -Authorities, and a naval officer, whom I caught on the wing, told me I -would have to apply to the Outer Harbour Master, who was somewhere -outside among the fleet. I was consigning them all to warmer quarters -than Balaclava, when I spied a man I knew--Captain Jolly of the -_Carnbrea_, who had brought some of our troops over to Kamiesch Bay. -He was bursting with complaints and nearly mad, said he'd like to tie -the heads of all the departments in one big bag and sink them in the -cesspool. He said he was sailing to-morrow with a load of sick and -wounded, and he'd been up trying to get a few stoves from the official -who had charge of them, as the sick men were dying of the cold. 'He'd -got hundreds of them lying there,' said old Jolly, almost black in the -face, 'and he wouldn't let me have one. Said I must get a requisition -and fill it up and get it signed at Head-quarters. I told him the men -were dying meanwhile. He could do nothing without a requisition -signed at Head-quarters. I asked him to lend me some stoves. He -couldn't. I asked him to sell me some. He wouldn't. I told him those -men's deaths would lie at his door. He said if I would get a -requisition, etc., etc. So then I--well, I told him what I thought of -him and all the rest, in good hot sailor-talk, and came away.'" - -"I asked him if he could find room for one more on his ship, and told -him about you, and, like a good fellow, he said, 'Send 'em both along -and I'll make room for 'em.' So you're all right, Jim, and Jolly will -make you comfortable, I know." - -"It's awfully good of you, sir," said Jim once more. "I'm sorry we're -such a bother to you." - -"It's not every man can boast of two such young warriors, you see. On -the whole I'm inclined to think Providence served us well in making me -an ally, eh?" - -"Your people are very much better off than ours, sir," said Jack. "Our -camp is like London on a foggy day." - -"And ours is like Paris," laughed the Colonel. "You see we understand -the art of war better than you do, and, candidly, I think your -officers are much to blame for the little interest they take in their -men. Here we are all _bons camarades_, whereas your men are left -entirely to themselves." - -"We mix in the trenches," said Jack in defence. - -"Of necessity, I suppose, since the space is limited. But even there -you don't mix as we do." - -"Your music alone is worth coming for," said Jim. "It did me as much -good as the doctor almost." - -"Yes; I notice a lot of your men come across to hear it whenever they -get the chance. Great mistake shutting up your bands. The men always -like music, and expect it." - -"You don't think I'll miss anything by going, sir?" asked Jim -anxiously. - -"You'll gain a great deal more than you'll miss, my boy. I shouldn't -wonder if we have a fairly quiet time here now." - -"And you'll see to my horse?" - -"He shall have every attention, I promise you." - - - - -CHAPTER LV -RETRIBUTION - - -The following day saw Jim joggling down the miry way to Balaclava -Harbour on a French mule-cacolet. He had said good-bye to the others -in camp, and begged his father not to venture down into the inferno -again. So the Colonel sent his own servant in charge of him, with full -instructions where to find the boat Captain Jolly had promised to have -waiting. - -The hopeless confusion in the little harbour appalled Jim, and the -dank misery of the rows of wounded men awaiting shipment, with -ill-bound wounds, cold blue faces, and heavy hopeless eyes, chilled -him to the heart. - -And suddenly a familiar face caught his eye, and he stopped the mule -and sat up. - -"Why, Seth, old chap! I'm sorry to see you like this"--for Seth's -left leg was gone, and the roughly bandaged stump stuck out forlornly -along the ground. - -"My fightin's done, Mester Jim. 'Twere a shell took it off in the -battery." - -"When are you going over?" - -"God knows, We bin waiting over a week." - -"An' dyin' as quick as we could, just to save 'em trouble," said his -neighbour. - -"I wish I could take you all," said Jim, and the bleached leather -faces turned wistfully on him. "But I can take one, and I must take -you, Seth. You understand, boys: he's from my own part, and twice he's -saved my life." - -"That's right, sir. You take 'im home, and God bless you! Wish there -was more like you! We'll die off as quick as we can, just to save 'em -trouble," said the jocular one, who had lost both an arm and a leg. -"If they ask where 'e is we'll tell 'em 'e's gone on in front to -engage us quarters." - -"Lift him in," said Jim, and with the assistance of the bystanders -Seth was lifted into the other side of the cacolet. - -An official came hurrying up with a brusque, "Now then, what's all -this?" - -"Oh, go and hang yourself!" said Jim, sinking back wearily. "Can't you -see I'm saving you trouble by taking him off your hands?" - -"Yes--but----" - -"Go ahead!" said Jim, and left the other staring after them. - -Captain jolly's boat was waiting for them, and presently they were -swung up on to the deck of the _Carnbrea_. - -"So you've both come, after all?" said the hearty old fellow to Jim, -who came up first. - -Jim explained, and the captain said he had done quite right, and they -would find a corner for Seth between decks, though they were pretty -full already; and then he helped him across to a seat by the wheel, -and the _Carnbrea_ crept away out of the noisome harbour at once, and -Jim counted no less than six dead horses, washing about in the water -or cast up on the rocks, before the sweet salt air outside gave him -something better to think about. - -They passed the warships, and a multitude of vessels hanging about -outside, and the monastery perched up on the cliff, and the white -lighthouse at the point, and presently, through a rift in the dull -November sky, the sun shone red on Sebastopol, and set it all aglow. -Here and there, on its outer edge, there were little cotton-woolly -puffs of white smoke, and the plateau behind was dotted with similar -ones. - -Captain Jolly was as good as his name and Colonel Carron's opinion of -him. He made Jim very much at home, got him to tell him all he could -about the great charge, and in return gave his own free and -unrestrained opinions on men and things in general, with a special -excursus on harbour masters and transport officials. - -"Too many head cooks--that's what's the matter, and not a man below -'em dare lift his little finger unless he's got permission in writing. -Why, sirs, there's things rotting there in that harbour that'd be -worth their weight in gold up above, but it's nobody's business to -send 'em up, and there they stop. It's a crying shame and--and an -infernal sin! What do you say to it all, doctor?" - -This was a grave, thin-faced young fellow who had joined them in the -cabin for a cup of tea, and Captain Jolly had simply introduced him -with a wink as Dr. Subrosa. - -"It's heartbreaking," he said, with deepest feeling. "We have lost -thousands of good men from sheer want of the simplest necessaries, and -almost every one of them might have been saved. For weeks I had not a -single drug except alum! Think of it! And to see those poor fellows in -torture, and dying like flies, when you knew you could save them if -you could only lay your hands on the proper remedies!" - -"I'll be bound there's piles of all you wanted stowed away in -Balaclava somewhere," said the captain. - -"I fear so. I came down, day after day--and it was no easy matter, I -can assure you--and begged them to give me any mortal thing they had -for my fevers and rheumatisms and diarrh[oe]as; and the reply was -always just a parrot-like 'Haven't any--Haven't any--Haven't -any,'--till I would willingly have poisoned every man who said it. -They're getting calloused to it all, and, as Captain Jolly says, not a -man among them dare lift his finger without a written order." - -"Take my own case," he said, turning to Jim. "The continuous wear and -tear, and the constant sight of nothing but sickness and death and -broken men, were beginning to tell on me----"' - -"My God, I don't wonder!" jerked Jim. - -"My chief on the medical staff told me I must get away for -fourteen days or so or I'd break down, and he signed me the proper -form for the purpose. I found it had to be countersigned by the -quartermaster-general, then by the colonel of the regiment to which I -was attached, then by the general of the division, and finally by the -adjutant-general. It is probably still going round among them, if it -hasn't got lost. I waited six days and could get no word of it, and my -chief advised me to take French leave and bring back some drugs if -they're to be had. I'm told there is a _Times_ man come out with -money, to help make good some of the shortcomings in the official -providence, and I'm hoping he'll help me. I'm actually a deserter, you -see. That's why this dear old chap calls me Subrosa. My name is -McLean, and I'm attached to the 63rd." - -"And a rare good sort he is," said Captain Jolly. "Did I tell you -about my load of boots?" - -"No; what was it about the boots?" - -"Last voyage I came out with nothing but boots--more boots than you -ever dreamt of, thousands and thousands of pairs. The whole ship stank -of 'em--smelt like a tannery. Well, when they let us into Balaclava -Harbour at last, and we were hoping to get rid of the boots----" - -"They're going barefoot yet, many of them," said McLean. - -"I know. Well, before we could begin to break cargo there came a -couple of dandy fine gentlemen, with a peremptory order to take them -to Constantinople as fast as we could go, and we were hustled away -before you could say 'boots.' We were less than a day's sail from -Constantinople, when one of the dandy men mentioned in confidence to -me that the men up there were barefoot and they were going to buy -boots for them." - -"What did you say?" asked Jim expectantly. - -"Well, I said more'n I should perhaps. Dandy men or no dandy men, I -said, 'Why, you ---- fool, I'm loaded to the hatches with boots and -nothing but boots! Why in thunder couldn't you open your mouth -sooner?' 'Our instructions,' says he, 'were to buy boots, captain, not -to go talking about it, and I'll thank you not to use language -unbecoming a gentleman when talking to me.' And he walked away to talk -to the other, who was sick in his bunk." - -"And what did you do?" asked Jim. - -"I shut off steam," said the captain, with a meaning wink, "and -presently he came up again and said they'd decided we'd better turn -back again and take the boots to the feet that were waiting for them. -And I've no doubt they're rotting on Balaclava Quay now with all the -other things. Why, if my owners did their business as the Government -does its they'd be bankrupt in a year." - -After his cup of tea Jim went below to see that Seth was comfortably -stowed. - -He found him, with a couple of hundred others, lying in long rows in -the 'tween decks, which had been adapted to their use as far as it was -possible to do so. They lay pretty close, and each man had a couple of -blankets to soften the wood and keep out the cold. - -At one end were half a dozen wounded officers. Between them and the -men had been left a space of a few feet, and that was the only -distinction between them. To make room for Seth this space had been -encroached upon, and he lay next the officers. - -As Jim rose from his knees after a short chat with him, in which he -had done his best to put a little heart into the poor fellow, by -assuring him that he should be properly provided for when he got home -to Carne, he heard his name called weakly from the officers' quarters, -and, bidding Seth good night, and promising to see him first thing in -the morning, he turned that way. - -"Why, Harben!" he said. "I'm sorry to see you here. What is it?" - -"Nothing. I'm sick--very sick. Who is that they've put there?" asked -Ralph, in a low eager whisper. - -"That? Why, it's Seth Rimmer--young Seth, you know, from down along." - -"He's a dangerous man that, Jim. Put him somewhere else! Take him -away!" - -"Nonsense, old man. Seth's as true as they make 'em. Besides, he's -lost a leg. And anyway I couldn't ask them to move him now. There's no -room anywhere else." - -"He's dangerous, I tell you," said Harben, with a shiver. "He -thinks . . . he thinks . . . but I haven't, Jim. I swear I haven't. -I'd nothing to do with it. I swear I hadn't." - -"Don't you worry, old man," said Jim soothingly, for it all sounded to -him like the ravings of a disturbed brain. "Can I get you anything, or -make you more comfortable?" - -"Only take him away," whispered the other insistently. - -But that Jim could not do. He and Seth were only there on sufferance, -as it were, and he wanted to give as little trouble as possible. - -Captain Jolly had insisted on giving up his own bunk to him, but had -only prevailed on him to take it by asserting that he would be on deck -most of the night. And the clean cold sheets were so delightful, after -the threadbare amenities of the camp, that he felt as if he could -sleep on for a week. - -Very early next morning Jim was wakened by a hand on his shoulder. He -jumped up so vehemently--forgetful of the narrowness of his quarters, -and with a mazy impression that the Russians were upon them--that his -head was sore for days after it. - -"Mr. Carron," said a grave quiet voice, "there is trouble on board." -And he saw that it was Dr. McLean. - -"Trouble? What trouble, doctor?" - -"We want you to explain it if you can. Slip on some things and come -along." And Jim tumbled wonderingly into his jacket and trousers and -followed the doctor--to the 'tween decks--to the officers' quarters. - -And there lay the end of a tragedy. - -Seth's pallet was empty. Seth himself--what had been Seth--lay partly -on the body of Ralph Harben. His rough brown fingers still gripped -Harben's throat, with a grip that had started the dead man's eyes -almost out of his head and had prevented him uttering a sound. - -And Seth lay in a pool of his own blood, for his vehemence had burst -his hastily bandaged amputation, and he had bled to death in the act -of wreaking his vengeance. - -"Good God!" gasped Jim, and felt sick and ill at the sight. - -"Are they dead?" he whispered, as though he feared to wake them. - -"Both quite dead. Been dead several hours," said McLean, and led him -back to the captain's cabin, where the steward brought them hot -coffee. - -"DO you know what it all means, Mr. Carron?" asked the captain. - -"I'm afraid I do, captain, but I'd no idea of it, and it's a terrible -shock to me." And he briefly explained as far as was necessary. - -"Ay, ay," said the old man soberly; "I can see it all. He came out on -purpose to find the other, to pay him out for the wrong he'd done him, -and when his chance came he took it . . . I don't hold with murder -myself, but . . . well, I'm bound to say I can feel for this poor -lad." - -There were eight others who had died in the night, and they buried -them all at the same time, and Captain Jolly read the service over -them, and entered in his log the simple fact that ten died and were -buried. - -And Jim said no word of it in his letters home, and only told Jack -about it when he got back to camp. - - - - -CHAPTER LVI -DULL DAYS - - -The ten days' voyage there and back, in Captain Jolly's bunk and -cheerful company, did Jim a world of good. They lay off Scutari six -days, and were back in the Cesspool, as Jolly persisted in calling -Balaclava Bay, on the twenty-second of November, having just missed -the great gale, which tore the camps to pieces and piled the wild -Crimean coast with the wreckage of over forty ships and millions of -pounds' worth of the goods that were so badly needed on shore. - -Nearly every ship they passed, as they drew in, was dismasted and -looked half a wreck, and Jim, when he had said good-Lye to the genial -Jolly, and had waded through the muddy gorge and climbed the heights, -found everything and everybody in the camps in very similar condition. - -In spite of his own fitness, and the healthy frame of mind induced by -sixteen days of clean salt air and the companionship of Captain Jolly, -his spirits sank with every step he took. It was like climbing through -a charnel-house--dead horses and mules stuck up out of the mud on -every side, just as they had fallen under their loads and been left to -die; and Jim's love for every dumb thing that went on four legs was -sorely bruised before he got to the plateau. - -And when he did get there the sights were more painful still--mud -everywhere, and dirty pools and trickling streams, sodden tents, and -gaunt, hungry-looking men in rags, trudging to and fro, with bare feet -or with boots that only added to the dilapidated looks of their -wearers. Truly, he thought, though not perhaps in so many words, this -was the seamy side of war, and the glory and glamour were remarkable -only by their absence. - -He reported himself at Head-quarters, but saw only an aide-de-camp, -who was the only clean and wholesome and fairly-fed person he had met -since he landed. He learned that his chief, Lord Cardigan, was sick, -and that his brigade was to go down to Balaclava as soon as possible, -as the horses could not stand the miseries of the heights. - -Then he went across to the French camps, and found things in very much -better condition there, and Jack getting on famously and eager for all -his experiences. - -Jim told him of Seth and Ralph Harben, and he was profoundly surprised -and saddened by it all. - -"And you really think it was Ralph took Kattie away, Jim?" he asked, -after a long stare of amazement. - -"Seth wouldn't have done a thing like that unless he had good reason," -said Jim simply. - -"I can't imagine Kattie caring for a fellow like Ralph, you know," -said Jack thoughtfully. "He was always such a--well, he's dead, so -it's no good saying it, but you know yourself what he was. . . . But -it's horrible to think of--four lives gone by reason of it." - -And Jim said no more, except that he had thought it best to say -nothing about it in his letters home. - -There were two letters from Gracie to read, one to himself and one to -Jack, both so bright and cheerful and full of hope that they could not -by any possibility have imagined what it cost her to write like that, -when her heart was so full of fears for them. She told Jim of Paddy's -admirable behaviour, and of long delightful rides with Meg and Sir -George on the flats. And she told Jack of visits to Sir Denzil, and -how the Rimmer cottage was still shut up and empty. But from neither -letter could the most discriminating judge have drawn any clue as to -the writer's heart tending more to the one of them than to the other. - -There were also letters from Charles Eager, with comments on the -course of the war and the feeling at home, and fervent hopes for their -safety and that of George Herapath--who lay out there in the cemetery -on the cold hill-side. And there was also one from Lord Deseret to -Jim, which contained, among other things, the somewhat surprising news -that Mme Beteta had gone to St. Petersburg to fill an engagement -there. - -Then Colonel Carron came in and gave him hearty welcome, and wanted -all his experiences over again. - -"And how's my horse?" asked Jim, as soon as he got the chance. "I was -thinking of him all the way up from the harbour. The road is thick -with the poor beasts who have died there." - -"He's first-rate. I've been riding him myself to keep him in -condition, I shall be quite sorry to part with him. Deseret knew what -he was about, my boy, when he chose him for you." - -He was very pleased with Jim's eulogiums on Captain Jolly, and -forthwith decided that Jack must make the next trip with him. - -So they had a very pleasant time in the banked-up tent, in spite of -the dreariness of things outside. But all too soon it came to an end, -and Jim had to go off to his own Spartan quarters, where the -heartiness of his greeting almost made up for the lack of everything -else. - -He settled down into the rut of camp life again, but found it all very -slow and dull and dirty. - -There was little doing. It was as much as they could do simply to -live. - -The dull routine of the trenches went on. The batteries spat shot and -shell at the town at intervals, and Russian shot and shell came -singing back in reply, and sometimes did a little damage. - -And at times the camps would be wakened by furious fusillades in the -advanced French lines, when the Russians enlivened matters with a -sortie. But these alarms were spared the English, on account of the -bad ground in their front, which did not lend itself to such matters. - -More than once, too, they all turned out _en masse_ in the middle of -the night--and always on the bitterest nights--to repel attacks in the -rear which never came off. - -And every day there went down to Balaclava the long slow procession of -sick men, and to the cemetery another procession of those who had died -in the night. - -Jack duly got his leave and went away with Captain Jolly, and Jim -busied himself, as well as the authorities would let him, in providing -for the reception of the men and horses of the Light Brigade on the -hill-side above Balaclava Bay. - -A slow, dull time, wearing on body, mind, and spirit--and yet, not the -worst time possible. - - - - -CHAPTER LVII -HOT OVENS - - -Jack was back, in the best of health and spirits. - -"I'm almost sorry I didn't join the navy," he said, as he trudged with -Jim through the mud to the Picket House, to see how things had gone on -in his absence. "They do keep things clean, anyway." - -"That's the only place where they have any fun nowadays," he said, as -they stood looking down on the lines and zigzags, creeping nearer and -nearer to the town, and pointed to a deep gully which ran up from the -head of the Admiralty Harbour and separated the British position from -the French. - -"The Ovens," said Jim. "Couldn't we go down some night and see some of -it?" - -"Any night you like when I'm not on duty." - -"Why not to-night? You won't start work till to-morrow, I suppose." - -"All right! To-night! The 50th are down there, and there are some -capital fellows among them." - -And that was how it happened that, for the sake of a little fun, or, -in other, words, the chance of a brush with the enemy, the boys found -themselves that night stumbling along the deep trench which zigzaged -down from Chapman's Battery towards the Green Hills and so into the -deep gully which ran up into the plateau from the head of Admiralty -Harbour in Sebastopol. The sides of the gully contained numerous caves -formed by the decay of the softer strata in the rocks, and these caves -had for some time past been the stakes for which small parties on each -side played sharp little war-games, and paid at times with their -lives. - -First they were Russian, then they were British, then again Russian, -till the 50th had ousted them and remained in possession. - -It was a bitterly cold night, but the boys, In the great fur coats Jim -had bought out of the loot at Mackenzie's Farm, had nothing to -complain of. - -They found a strong picket of the 50th making themselves very much at -home in the Ovens, and received a warm welcome from the officers in -charge. - -"Any chance of any fun to-night?" asked Jack. - -"We can never tell what's going to happen. Keeps us on the jig the -whole time, but it's better than doing nothing upstairs." - -"And it comes off sometimes," said another. - -"And when it does, the Ovens get hot," laughed a third, and they -squatted on the floor and discussed zigzags and such matters. - -"Almost took you for Russians in those big coats," said one enviously. -"Did you steal 'em?" - -"Somebody else 'stole 'em," laughed Jack. "We're only receivers. Jim -bought them that day at Mackenzie's, when Menchikoff bolted and left -us his baggage." - -"Talking of spies," said another, sliding off on an inference, "did -you hear of the one who walked about our lines for half a day as cool -as a cucumber? He was dressed in full French uniform, asked heaps of -questions in very bad English, and said we were doing wonders, and -made himself quite pleasant all round. And then he caught sight of -some more Frenchmen, coming down with the Colonel towards the battery -to have a look at the Lancasters. As soon as he saw them he began to -edge off down the hill, and when he saw his chance he just made a -clean bolt of it, with our men blazing away at him as hard as they -could, but he got clear away under the Redan there. And now we're a -bit suspicious' of men in big fur coats. If you'll take my advice -you'll leave 'em behind you here. Save you a heap of trouble maybe." - -"Any sentry would be justified in shooting any man he saw in a coat -like that," said another. - -"All right, my boys! We'll keep our coats and take our chances. What's -that?" And they all pricked up their ears to listen. - -An order in French came to them from the opposite side of the gully. - -"Their sentries and pickets are just over there. This is Tommy -Tiddler's Ground, between England, France, and----" - -A hoarse shout outside, and shots and yells, and they were all out in -a moment and found the gully packed with Russians, and their own men, -taken by surprise, falling back in some confusion. - -"Brace up there, men!" shouted the officer in charge. "They're only a -handful and only Russians." - -It was very dark, except where the fires inside the caves sent out a -dull glow here and there on the bare space between the combatants. -Then the whole place blazed with a Russian volley, and again with the -reply to it. - -"Bayonets, men! And down with them!" And with a yell the Englishmen -plunged down past the dull-glowing Ovens, and Jack and Jim raced with -them, revolver in hand, blazing away into the darkness in front as -they ran. - -But the Russian plans for that night had been well laid. It was a -miniature Balaclava charge over again. - -A ripping volley met them, not from the front, but from both sides, -and then masses of men closed in behind them and swallowed them up, -and every man was fighting for his life against unnumbered odds. - -Jim, elbow to elbow with Jack, and yelling with excitement, felt him -suddenly trip and fall. He stooped to help him up again. But Jack lay -still. - -He straddled across him to keep him from being trampled on, and men -lunged into him and tumbled over Jack, and he hurled them aside. -Hand-to-hand fights were going on all round, and the place was full of -the clash of steel on steel and pantings and groanings and hearty -British curses. - -But they were outnumbered twenty to one, and the last dozen were borne -to the ground by sheer weight of Russians on their backs. The Ovens -changed tenants and were occupied in force, and their late occupants -were dragged away down the sloping valley towards the Harbour. - -Jim found himself the centre of a raging mob. He had snatched up a -rifle, and, swinging it by the muzzle, kept a rough circle clear of -Jack's body. But vicious bayonets were jabbing at him all round, and -a bullet went singing past his head. - -"Cowards Murderers! Do you call this fighting fair?" he shouted -savagely. - -And of a sudden the mob parted, and an officer was belabouring his men -with the flat of his sword and strong words. - -"Vous vous rendez?" he cried to Jim. - -"Suppose I must," he growled. - -"All right!" said the Russian. "Go there! Allez!" and pushed him -towards the gorge. - -Jim stooped and endeavoured to lift Jack. - -"Quoi donc? What?" - -"My brother. I must take him." - -"Dead?" - -"My God!" gasped Jim at the word, as all that would mean to them all -flashed upon him. "No, no! I hope not--only wounded." - -"We cannot take him," - -"We must." - -The Russian used language, then called to one of his men, who sulkily -took Jack's limp legs while Jim took him under the arms, and they -stumbled away downhill, leaving a strong force in possession of the -Ovens. - -Skirting a dark sheet of water, they came on a road where some rough -carts were waiting. The wounded were bundled into them, and a place -found for Jack, and Jim trudged behind with his hand on the tail of -the cart, and his heart full of bitterness. Their fun had become, of a -sudden, grimmest earnest. - -They turned to the right over a bridge, where many lights gleamed on -the water in front, and so came at last to a great building which -proved to be the hospital. - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII -CHILL NEWS - - -The first news of trouble reached Carne in a brief letter from Colonel -Carron to Sir Denzil. - -Gracie and the Rev. Charles were sitting over their tea one afternoon -in the quiet, hopeful despondency--if the expression may be -permitted--which had become the natural state of all who had dear ones -at the war. They were full of fears; they cherished hope; they waited -with quiet resignation what each day might bring forth. - -When Kennet rapped on the door of the cottage, Gracie's heart jumped -and sank, and Eager incongruously thought of the old Latin Grammar -tag: _Mors æquo pede_ . . . ("Death with equal foot knocks at the door -of rich and poor"). - -"Sir Denzil begs you will come and see him at once, sir." - -"Bad news, Kennet?" asked Eager, as he reached down his hat. - -"He didn't say, sir; but he's in a bad-enough humour. Not that that's -much to go by, though, these days "--from which one gathers that even -Sir Denzil's equanimity was not entirely unaffected by the -disturbances of the times. - -Gracie had slipped on her cloak and little fur turban. He looked at -her doubtfully. But she shook her head with decision. - -"I could not possibly wait here, fearing everything," she said; and -they went along together. - -Sir Denzil expressed no surprise at sight of her. - -"I have just received a letter from my son, Colonel Carron," he said, -in a voice perhaps a trifle too unnaturally even and unmoved. "The -boys, I am sorry to say, have met with a misfortune." Gracie's heart -sank, and braced itself as best it could for the worst. "It is not, -however, as bad as it might be." Her heart gave a hopeful kick. "They -are both prisoners in the hands of the Russians, and one of them is -wounded again; but, so far, he has not been able to ascertain which. -That is all; but I thought it better to let you know the full extent -of the matter. The newspaper accounts are so garbled at times that one -is apt to get wrong impressions. When you come across their names -among the missing, you will understand. It does not necessarily mean -anything more than I have told you. In fact"--with an appreciative -pinch of snuff--"it may well be that they are safer inside Sebastopol -than outside." - -"Prisoners!" jerked Gracie. "Will they be well treated?" - -"Oh yes; I should say so. The rank and file of the Russian -army are doubtless somewhat boorish, but their officers are -civilised--gentlemanly, indeed, I believe, if you don't go too far -down. I do not think you need fear any ill-treatment for them, Miss -Gracie. It is annoying, of course, not to know which of them is -wounded, and to what extent. But the authorities will, no doubt, do -their best to ascertain, and we may hear shortly." - -"I am inclined to think with you, sir, that they will probably be -safer inside than outside," said Eager thoughtfully. "From all -accounts, the state of things in the camps is awful." - -"Extremely British," said Sir Denzil. "Matters will improve in time. -When the Many-headed One awakes to the fact that all this waste and -misery are quite unnecessary, it will roar loud enough, I warrant you. -Then our men will be properly looked after--that is, if there are any -of them left to look after, which seems somewhat doubtful." - -"It is shameful!" broke out Gracie, with vehemence. "I wish I could -have gone with Miss Nightingale to help them." - -"You would have died of atrophy and paralysis, my dear, if you had -come in contact with the red-tape of the services. If Miss Nightingale -succeeds in her mission she will be the one woman in ten million, and -will deserve well of her country." - -And so they were left in doubt and much distress of mind as to the -welfare of the boys. - -Margaret Herapath, in her deep mourning and her own bitter sorrow, -came over to share their anxiety and distress. Her father had suddenly -become an old and broken man. Charles Eager was much with him, and he -was the only person, outside his own household, whom Sir George cared -to see. And Eager, with the wisdom of deepest love and sympathy, let -the old man's grief run its course, and then strove to build him up -anew by diverting his grief from the one to the many. - -Bitter sad times were those in the happy homes of England. Sorrow lay -on the land like a chill black frost; but below it were simmering all -those forces of passionate indignation which presently rose into that -inextinguishable roar which swept men from their high positions, and -in time carried somewhat of relief to the remnant of the army before -Sebastopol. - - - - -CHAPTER LIX -TOUCH AND GO FOR THE COIL - - -Jim followed Jack's body with the single-minded persistency of a -faithful dog whose master has come to grief. - -His original captor would have taken him elsewhere, but he flatly -declined to go anywhere but where Jack went. He thrust aside all -interfering hands, and to all attempts at coercion in any other -direction simply pointed to Jack and himself and said, "My -brother!"--but with so grim and determined and dejected a face that at -last the other gave way and followed them into the hospital. - -It was very full--crammed with broken and dying men--but Jim had no -thought save for Jack. Whether he was alive or dead he did not know, -but he must stick to him and do what he could. - -There was difficulty in finding room for him. A harassed surgeon, to -whom the officer spoke, shook red hands at them and poured out a spate -of hot words, but, arrested by something the other said, looked -worriedly round and at last pointed to a corner; and Jim's captor -explained to him, in his peculiar English, that the man who lay there -would be dead in a minute or two, and then they could put Jack in his -place. - -And presently the attendants came along and carried the dead man away, -and Jim and the officer lifted Jack on to the pallet, and the worried -surgeon came round and knelt down and opened up his things, and -examined him with quick, practised hands and a keen eye for causes and -effects. - -Jim's heart ran slow at sight of a bullet-hole in the white breast, -and he watched the surgeon hypnotically as he carefully turned the -body over and pointed to the place where it had come out at the back, -just under the shoulder, and then spoke hurriedly to the officer. - -"He says," said the other, in his broken English, helped out with very -good French--which it would be but a hindrance to attempt to reproduce -in detail--"he cannot tell. It has gone right through. He may live, he -may die. It will take time to tell. Now you come." - -"May I come again to see him?" - -"I will try. You will give your parole?" - -"Yes," said Jim; for Jack was more to him than all the chances of -escape. - -"Then we will see. Now come!" - -"Beg him to do everything he can for him. Couldn't we take him -somewhere else?" - -"He is better here, for the present. Later we will see. Now come!" And -since he could do no more at the moment, Jim went with him. - -"For to-night you will come to the guard-room. To-morrow you will go -to Head-quarters and be properly paroled, Then we will see." - -And Jim spent the rest of the night on three chairs in the guard-room, -brooding gloomily most of the time on the disastrous results of -"seeing the fun" of the Ovens, and full of fears as to the end of it -all. - -In the morning his keeper came for him, and Jim, for the first time, -took the opportunity of looking at him. He had been too busy with -other matters the night before. - -He was a young fellow of about his own age, dark-haired, and of a thin -sallow face, bright-eyed, pleasant-looking. Under other circumstances -Jim thought they might have become friendly. He had certainly, treated -him well. - -"How is my brother?" asked Jim anxiously. - -"We will see as we go. Have you eaten? No?" And he took him away to a -mess-room just alongside, where a number of officers were drinking -coffee from bowls, and smoking and talking. - -They saluted Jim politely, and stared at him without restraint while -he ate a chunk of very good white bread and drank his coffee, which -was excellent, and meanwhile they plied his friend with questions. - -And one, after much observation of Jim's uniform, suddenly made some -remark which carried all eyes to him and made him extremely -uncomfortable at so much observation. - -"He is saying that your regiment was in that mad charge outside -Balaclava," said his particular officer. - -"Yes; I was in it," said Jim quietly. - -And at that, to his immense surprise, every man in the room sprang to -his feet and gravely saluted him again. - -"And you got through whole?" was the next question. - -"No. I had a lance wound and three bullets into me, but I've been a -voyage to Constantinople since then, to brace up, you know." - -And they crowded round him, and pressed cigars on him, and showed -themselves right good fellows. - -Then his new friend took him along to the hospital, and they learned -that Jack had come to himself and was sleeping, and so they went on -across the bridge of boats, and through the public gardens, and past -the cathedral, to Head-quarters. - -After waiting some time, they were conducted down many long passages -to a room where a tall fair man, of high face and autocratic bearing, -sat at a table piled with papers and plans. Another stood looking out -of the window, with his back turned to them, and a white English -terrier, standing by his side on its hind legs, was trying hard to -make out what he was looking at. - -Jim's keeper saluted deferentially and made his statement to the tall -man at the table. - -"I understand you are prepared to give your parole not to attempt to -escape, or to hold any communication with the outside?" said he, -somewhat brusquely, first in French and then in understandable -English. - -"I am," bowed Jim. And at the sound of his voice the white dog came -dancing across to him as though he were an old friend, and accepted -his caresses with delight. - -"And your brother is also a prisoner, in hospital, and you wish to -attend on him." - -"I do." - -"What is your name and standing?" - -"James Denzil Carron--cornet, 8th Hussars!" And at that the man at the -window turned suddenly and looked at him, and came and stood by the -table. - -"You were, then, in the mad charge at Balaclava, perhaps?" - -"I was." - -"It was a foolish business." - -"It was." - -"Ah--you agree? How was it?" - -"Some mistake. But no one quite knows." - -"What are your total forces up there now?" - -At which Jim's lip curled in a smile. - -"You can hardly expect me to tell you that," he said quietly. - -The tall young man who had been standing by the window said a word or -two to the other, who seemed surprised, and turning to Jim, said: -"Very well, Monsieur Carron. I accept your parole, and Lieutenant -Greski will be personally answerable for you." - -The lieutenant bowed, and plucked Jim backward by the sleeve, and Jim -bowed, and gave the white dog's ear a final friendly pull, and they -went out. - -"Who is he?" he asked, as soon as they were in the corridor. - -"Menchikoff, the one at the table. The other is the Grand Duke -Michael. How does he know you?" And he looked at Jim with new -curiosity. - -"Who--Menchikoff? - -"No--the Grand Duke." - -"Know me?" jerked Jim. "Some mistake. I never set eyes on him before." - -"He told Menchikoff to do what you wanted, and said he knew you, or -something about you, or something of the kind. He dropped his voice so -that I couldn't catch it all." - -"That's odd. I certainly know nothing of him." - -"He thinks he knows you, anyway, and so much the better for you. You -shall come with me and stop at my house. It is not far." - -"You are very good. I shall have a better opinion of Russians in -future." - -"Russians! I am no Russian. I am a Pole. I hate the Russians, and -would love the English if I might." - -"I see. But why do you fight for them, then?" - -"Because I didn't my kin in Poland would have to pay for it." - -"That's jolly hard, to have to risk your life, and maybe give it, for -people you hate." - -"There are many more like me. But what can we do? If we go against -them they visit it on the innocent ones at home. If I could destroy -the whole of Russia, Tsar and Grand Dukes and all, at one blow, I -would strike it so"--and he dashed his fist into the palm of his other -hand--"and then I would die with a glad heart. . . . But one does not -talk of these things, you understand, except among one's friends." - -He stopped at a house which stood about midway down the slope -overlooking the harbour, and led Jim into a room on the ground floor. -From the window he could see Fort Constantine, shining white in the -sun on the other side of the water, and the bristling line of the -masts of the sunken ships, and the harbour itself dotted all over with -plying boats. - -"One moment," said Greski, and left him there, but came back in an -instant with a very beautiful white-haired old lady, whom he must have -met in the passage. Her dark eyes were shining like stars at the joy -of seeing her boy again. - -"My mother," said Greski, and explained matters to her in a torrent of -Polish. - -She assented without any demur to all her son's proposals, and shook -hands very heartily with Jim, giving him what was evidently warm -welcome, in a tongue he did not understand. - -Then the door opened again, and a girl rushed in and flung her arms -round the lieutenant's neck, and kissed him, between broken -ejaculations of joy, as one come back from the dead, while two long -plaits of black hair gyrated wildly at her back. - -When the tails had settled down, Greski laughingly swung her round -facing Jim, and introduced her as his sister Tatia, and Tatia blushed -charmingly, and said, in very passable English: "You must excuse us, -sir. You see, when he goes out we are never quite certain that we -shall ever see him again. And when he does return our hearts are -joyful. Those terrible pointed shells you send us--ah, _mon Dieu!_ one -came through the side of the cathedral this morning when I was there -praying for Louis, and we all ran and ran." - -"They are not supposed to fire at the cathedral," said Jim. - -"Ah, when one plays with monsters you never know what may happen." - -Then they all three spoke together for a minute or two in Polish, -since madame knew no tongue but that and Russian, and a little French, -and then the ladies went off on household duties. - -"I hope I shall not put you to any trouble," said Jim, "and--and"--he -stumbled--"you will please let me pay my way. I have heaps of -money----" - -"We can discuss that later. We shall be glad to be of service to you. -Our hearts go out to Englishmen." - -But it was a little later, when they sat down to breakfast, that a new -and very surprising development took place. - -Madame Greski's eye suddenly lighted on Jim's ring--the one pressed -upon him by the young officer whose life he had saved on the heights -of Alma. She stared hard at it, and then said a quick word to the -others, and, to Jim's surprise, Greski caught hold of his hand, held -it for the others to see, and they all stood up in great excitement, -and all spoke at once as they stared down at the ring. - -"Where did you get it?" asked Greski quickly. - -"It was given me by a Russian officer at the Alma. He was wounded and -I gave him a hand, and he made me take this in return." - -And madame came round and put her trembling white hands on his -shoulders and kissed him on both cheeks, and her eyes were full of -tears. Tatia looked as if she would have liked to do the same, and Jim -would not have minded very much if she had. - -"It was my brother John," said Greski. "He wrote to us from Odessa -telling us all about it. You saved his life." - -"I am very glad I was able to be of service to him." - -"And now we will repay you as far as we can," said Tatia joyously. -"Oh, I am glad! But the marvel that you should fall into Louis's -hands!" - -Madame spoke quickly to her son, and he translated. - -"My mother says your brother must come here too and they will nurse -him." - -"I am very grateful. Can we go and see him after breakfast? Are you on -duty?" - -"Not again all this week, _Dieu merci!_ There are many more of us than -are needed for the batteries, you see. If there were any signs of a -general assault we should all be called, of course. But that is not -likely yet." - -So Jim had fallen more than comfortably, and, for Jack's sake -especially, he was glad. For if the hospitals inside were anything -like those outside, it might make all the difference between life and -death to a sick man, to be in such good hands. - -They set off at once for the hospital. It was a cold raw day, and up -on the hillsides, as they crossed the bridge of boats, the dull boom of -the guns sounded now and again at long intervals. In that quarter, -however, there were but few results of the bombardment visible, and -when Jim remarked on it, Greski said, - -"So far you are kind to us: you keep your fire for the forts and -batteries and Government buildings. But in time you will lose -patience, and then we shall suffer. Why didn't you come straight in -when you landed? After Alma you might have done it, I think." - -"I don't know why," said Jim. "But I wish we had. It would have saved -much loss on both sides. You must have suffered terribly in the last -fight--Inkerman." - -"Horribly, horribly!" said Greski, with an expressive gesture. - -At the hospital they found Jack looking very white and washed out, and -visibly in great pain. - -His face brightened at sight of Jim, but a bad spasm twisted it as he -tried to smile, and the smile faded like a winter sunbeam and left his -face hard and set. - -"Dear old boy," said Jim, kneeling down by his side and holding his -hand, "I've got good news for you. We've found friends, and you're to -come to their house and get the best of nursing and attention." - -Jack brightened again at the prospect, and Jim told him how it all -came about, and introduced Greski, who nodded and smiled -encouragingly. - -When the doctor came round he made no difficulty about Jack's removal. -He was only too glad to get another bed. - -He talked with Greski for a few seconds, and then hurried away to his -work. - -"I will get an ambulance," said Greski, "and we will take him at once. -He will be happier there." And Jim had no chance to ask him what the -doctor had said, until they were walking slowly behind the litter, -which, on second thoughts, Greski had brought as entailing less -discomfort. - -"He says it is a very bad wound. The bullet went right through the -lungs, but we will do everything that is possible for him." And Jim -went heavily, and his heart was full fears. - -"But you must not look like that," said Tetia reprovingly to him, when -they had got Jack stowed away in bed, in such outward comfort as soft -clean sheets and a warm pleasant room could afford. "That is not the -face of a good nurse, no indeed! I shall not let you in to see him -till you look more cheerful." But Jim found a cheerful face no easy -matter. - -They had, however, still another surprise during the afternoon, which -raised his spirits somewhat if it did not at the moment kindle his -hopes. - -The special doctor attached to the Grand Duke Michael came in, and -informed them that the Grand Duke himself had ordered him to take the -English officer in hand. He had been to the hospital and had been sent -on to Mme Greski's house. So, between them all, no possible chance for -Jack would be missed. - -He examined his patient most carefully, and when Jim followed him -anxiously out of the room he told him plainly, and in excellent -English, that the hospital doctor was right--it was a very serious -case, and they could only do their best and trust in Providence. If he -did pull through it would probably leave him weakly all his days; -but ---- and the great man pursed his lips and shook his head -doubtfully. - - - - -CHAPTER LX -INSIDE THE FIERY RING - - -Nothing could exceed the kindness of their new friends to the -strangers cast so curiously on their care. - -Brother John's ring had been an Open Sesame to their hearts, and they -vied with one another in the repayment in kind for all that the absent -one had received at Jim's hands. - -Madame Greski and Tatia devoted themselves to Jack as if he had been -brother John himself. No single thing that could make for his comfort -and well-being was lacking on their part. Never was wounded man tended -with more loving and unremitting attention. - -And when Jim thought of the bleak miseries of the camps up there on -the hill-sides, and the long-drawn horrors of the passages on the -hospital ships, he thanked God in his heart that Jack was where he -was. - -For himself, although the rôle of prisoner of war was little to his -taste, it was still mighty interesting to be inside Sebastopol after -gazing at it so long from the outside. There was so little doing -outside that it seemed to him that he was not missing much; in due -course they would probably be exchanged; and meanwhile the difference -between the mud-and-canvas life of the camps and this warm and -cheerful home in the town was somewhat in the ratio of hell and -heaven. - -In view of the abounding comforts with which they were surrounded, it -was indeed difficult at times to realise the actual and astounding -fact that they were undergoing a siege that would rank as one of the -great sieges of the world's history; that this comfortable town was an -almost impregnable fortress; and that England and France, outside -there, were bending all their energies to its reduction. - -For they lacked nothing. Supplies were abundant. They were warm and -well-fed, and, beyond the dull boom of the distant guns, they heard -nothing of the siege. Through that unclosable northern door, by night -and by day, long strings of carts brought in to them everything that -was necessary, and much besides. Contrary to custom, it was the -besiegers who suffered, not the besieged. - -And Jim, when Tatia drove him away from Jack's bedside, to seek -exercise and fresh air lest she should have another patient on their -hands, quietly observing everything--the rude strength of the -defences, the unlimited, even wastefully profuse stores of guns and -ammunition, the teeming barracks full of men, and that ever-open door -though which the limitless supplies could still be drawn upon--said to -himself that the siege might go on for ever. - -Jack, however, was in most distressing condition. The slightest -exertion, any movement almost, brought on painful fits of coughing -which seemed to shake his wounded chest to pieces. Speaking was out of -the question, for even breathing was difficult to him; and all Jim -could do, to show him what he felt about it all, was to sit by his -bedside, holding his hand at times, and at times forcing himself to -unnaturally cheerful talk lest the dreadful silence should bring him -to foolishness in other ways. For he felt certain, from Jack's -appearance and the doctor's manner, that his case was hopeless and the -end not far off, and the thought of it was terrible to him. - -Of the consequences--of the results to himself, at Carne and -Wyvveloe--not one thought. The fluttering of the shadowy wings put all -other considerations to rout. This that lay so still on the bed was -dear old Jack, and the fear that he was going filled all his heart and -mind. - -But Tatia, pretty as she was, and of a most vivacious disposition, -possessed so much common-sense. - -Again and again she insisted on Jim quitting the room and the house, -and threatened him with penalties if he came back under a couple of -hours. And when her brother was available she would send them off -together, begging them only to beware above all things of pointed -shells and to turn up again in due course whole and undamaged. - -"I would nurse you with enjoyment," she said, her soft dark eyes -dwelling appreciatively on Jim's sorrowful long face, in which they -seemed to find something that appealed to her strongly. "But, for -yourself, you will be better to keep well. If you come back in less -than two hours you shall have only half a dinner. Louis, you will see -to it." - -And Greski would march him away to the harbour front where walking was -safe, since the shells rarely topped the hill, and they would discuss -matters from both sides as they went. - -On that side of the town there was little sign of the siege beyond the -activities of the quays, and an occasional roar from the man-of-war -moored under Fort Nicholas. But when they strolled along the front, -and came round the hill, and up by St. Michael's church and the tower -whose clock bore on its face the name of "Barraud, London," then all -the grim actualities met them full face. - -Up there, across the Admiralty Harbour--whose head ran up into the -gorge wherein lay the fatal Ovens out of which they had come into -captivity--beyond the great barracks and the hospital, up there on the -hill-side lay the huge works which Jim knew as the Malakof and the -Redan, but which Greski spoke of as the Korniloff and No. 3--very -different in the rear from what they were in front, grim and -forbidding, but crude and rough and unfinished-looking. And those -little zigzag piles of earth just beyond them were the British -trenches, and up on the plateau beyond were the tents, which shone so -white in the morning sun, but were so horribly thin and cold of a -night, and so dirty when you got close to them. - -He could see the Picket House, and knew just what the usual crowd -about it would look like; and he could see the gunners moving about -the platforms inside the Russian works, and now and again white clouds -of smoke rolled over them and the angry roar came bellowing across the -quiet waters of the harbour, and the mole-heaps on the hill-side -spurtled out in reply. - -Now and again a shell came hurtling into the town from the Lancasters -or the French batteries, but did little damage on that side, since -there was little damage left to be done. - -Up there to the right, as they went on past the Admiralty buildings -and the cathedral, the houses were mostly in ruins, the streets were -already barricaded in anticipation of assault, and the whole scene was -one of dismal desolation. - -And at times they would meet stretchers carrying broken men, and -again, strings of carts carrying rough red coffins up to the cemetery. - -But Jim deemed it wise, from every point of view, to keep, as a rule, -away from the actual scene of operations. It was slow work watching at -a distance the very leisurely operations, and it gave him little to -report. But he had an idea that if he showed too great an interest in -their concerns the authorities might perhaps tighten his tether, and -that might mean separation from Jack. Now and again, however, the -desire to see for himself how things were going on got the better of -him, and he would creep into some deserted corner of the hot side of -the town and endeavour to estimate the possibilities. - -And from such observations he always came away downcast and -disheartened, for, as far as he could see, the besiegers made no -progress whatever, while the besieged toiled unremittingly at the -strengthening of their defences, and blocked every possibility of -entrance with their mighty earthworks. Up that side of the town went -an unceasing stream of men and carts carrying fascines and gabions and -shot and shell, and strings of straining horses dragging big guns from -the arsenal; and new works, fully equipped, sprang up like mushrooms -in a night. - -But there were dark days also, when Greski was on duty in the -bastions, or nominated for a sortie. And then madame and Tatia went -about very quietly and nervously, and started at any unusual sound, -and showed their fears in their faces. - -But he was very fortunate, and came home each time to their joyful -welcome with his tale of catastrophe to others whom they knew, but -himself escaped unhurt, and they all breathed freely till his turn -came round again. - -Christmas slipped by almost unnoticed. When he did, by accident, awake -to the fact that it really was Christmas Day, the difference between -this and other Christmas Days gave Jim an unusual fit of the blues. - -He thought of them all at Wyvveloe, and wondered if Gracie had decked -the church with holly. He knew they would all be thinking about them, -probably in great distress of mind. What news concerning them had -reached home he could not tell. After much discussion with Greski, who -assured him it would be useless, he had requested permission from the -authorities to write home, subject to their inspection. But his -request was returned to him with a brief inscription in Russian, which -Greski translated as "out of the question." - -So he could only hope that Colonel Carron would have been able to make -inquiries under one of the occasional flags of truce, and had sent -word home. But operations were slow at the moment; there had been -neither assaults nor sorties of any consequence, and so flags of truce -and opportunities of communication were of rare occurrence. - -Yes, he knew it must be a bitter, sad Christmas for them all at -home--for the many who had already got their fatal news, and for the -more who awaited theirs in fear and trembling. And he knew too well -what a shockingly thin and sore one it must be for the gaunt, -shoeless, half-starved and ill-clad men in the thin white tents on the -heights over there. - -And when, through the weight of their colouring, his dismal thoughts -plumbed deeper depths than was his wont, the grim irony of this most -unchristian Christmas sat heavily on him. Christmas!--bristling with -raw yellow earthworks, shattered with bursting shells, ghastly with -crawling processions of broken men and more peaceful red coffins! -Christmas!--peace on earth and goodwill----! And yet, after eighteen -hundred years, here were so-called Christian nations at one another's -throats, tearing and rending the image of God into raw red fragments, -and with no thought but for destruction. - -They were, many of them, very good fellows, these Russians. They would -stop him in the street--those whom he had met that first morning, -those who were left--and greet him cordially, and ask after his -brother, and express their regrets, and he had no more desire to kill -them than he had to kill Lord Raglan himself. And yet, set him on the -hill-side up there, and all his thought would be towards their -destruction. - -Truly it was a queer world, and there must be something wrong -somewhere! But it was all beyond him, and he could only brood and -wonder. - -Their New Year was ushered in on the night of the twelfth with great -illuminations, much ringing of church bells, and a solemn service in -the cathedral--by a terrific bombardment of their fellow Christians on -the hill-side, and two furious sorties, which effected nothing beyond -an increase in the tally of broken men and in the cart-loads of red -coffins creaking away to the cemetery. - -"Absolutely useless," acknowledged Greski, when his mother and Tatia -released him from their warm embraces on his return. "But the Chief -thinks it does the men good to go out occasionally after all their -dirty work on the new bastions." - - - - -CHAPTER LXI -WEARY WAITING - - -"Nothing yet," said Sir Denzil to Eager, on his twentieth anxious call -after further news of the boys. "I am surprised Denzil has not -written. But so many things may happen out there. His letter may have -gone astray. There may be difficulty in communicating with Sebastopol. -He may be wounded himself. He may be dead. We can do nothing but wait. -I will send you word the moment I have any news. Miss Gracie well?" - -"Quite well, sir, but sorely troubled about the boys." - -"Ay, ay! That is the woman's part--to sit at home and nurse her -fears." - -"No news, Charlie?" asked the Little Lady hopelessly, from her chair -by the fire. - -"No news yet, dear. Sir Denzil promises to send round the moment he -gets anything." - -"I'm beginning to fear they're all lying dead in that horrible Crimea. -This waiting, waiting, waiting, is terrible." - -"Yes, it's hard work, the hardest work in the world. But we can only -wait and hope, dear. Whatever is is best, and we cannot alter it." - -It was a weary time for all of them, and all over Britain and France -and Russia the same black cloud lay heavily. The only ones who were -happy were those whose warriors had come home maimed, so long as the -maiming was not absolute and irretrievable. For such were at all -events safe from further harm. - -So the slow dark days dragged on until at length one night, when Eager -had just got in from his rounds and the usual fruitless call at Carne, -there came the long-expected knock on the door, and Gracie ran to -answer it. - -"Is it you, Kennet?" - -"Me, miss. Sir Denzil would like to see Mr. Eager." - -"He has got some news at last?" - -"Ay, some papers just come in. But I don't know what it is. Bad, I -should say, from the looks of him--he was so mortal quiet." - -"We will come at once. Let me go alone, Charlie. You're tired out." - -"Not a bit of it, my dear. I feel like a hound on the scent at the -word 'news.' Don't you think you'd better wait here till I bring you -word?" - -"I can't wait," she said breathlessly. And they went along together. - -Sir Denzil met them with ominous impassivity. - -"I trust Kennet did not raise your hopes," he said, with the corners -of his mouth drawn down somewhat more even than usual, and a glance -that never wavered for a moment. "This arrived just after you left, -Mr. Eager. It explains, of course, to some extent----" - -It was a letter from General Canrobert, informing Sir Denzil, with -many complimentary phrases as palliatives to the blow, that Colonel -Carron had met his death while gallantly repelling a sortie on the -night of the 12th January. He had left instructions, in case of need, -for word to be sent to Sir Denzil and it was in pursuance thereat etc. -etc. - -"That, of course, explains why he has been unable to pursue his -inquiries after the boys," said Sir Denzil, in an absolutely unmoved -voice. - -"I need not say our deepest sympathies are yours, sir----" - -"It is the boys I am concerned for," said Sir Denzil, with an -impatient double wave of the hand, whose finger and thumb held his -pinch of snuff. "Denzil put himself out of the running twenty -years ago. This is only an incident. But"--and he snuffed very -deliberately--"it may not be without its consequences in the other -matter. There is no one out there now who has any special interest in -them, you see. And, under present circumstances, they may quite easily -be overlooked and lost track of. Personally, I should not be in the -least surprised to learn that they are both dead. This war seems to me -to be carried on in quite unusually wasteful fashion." - -Gracie never said a word. The callousness of the old heathen chilled -her heart, though it was boiling with many emotions. If she opened her -mouth she feared it' would all come out in a torrent that would -astonish him for the rest of his life. - -"We can only go on hoping for the best," said Eager quietly. "Sir -George is making inquiries for us----" - -"He is quite outside things," said Sir Denzil brusquely, and gazed at -Eager with thoughtful intensity for a moment, as though on the point -of offering some other suggestion. "However," he said abruptly, at -last, "at the moment, as you say, we can only wait, and see what comes -of it all. If I hear anything I will send you word at once." And they -left him and went soberly home, feeling death still a little nearer -their dear ones in this new loss. - -"What a terrible old man he is!" said Gracie. "I think he must have -been born without a heart." - -"It is mostly assumed, I think. Inside, I have no doubt he is feeling -his loss bitterly, but he prides himself on not letting it be seen. It -is the old fashion. Thank God, we have come to recognise the fact that -a man may be a strong man and yet have a heart! It makes for a better -world." - -And as the slow weeks dragged on, and still brought them no news of -the missing ones, their hearts were heavy with fears. - - - - -CHAPTER LXII -FROM ONE TO MANY - - -The great heart of the nation at home had been wrung with pity and -indignation at the altogether unnecessary sufferings of the men who -had gone out to fight her battles in the East, and who, through -miscalculation, muddle, and incapacity, had died like flies, of -sickness and want. - -The roar of anger with which the news was greeted shook the mighty in -their seats and hurled Ministers and Cabinets into the dust. Still -more to the purpose, the sympathy aroused set itself promptly to the -cure of official abuses by the administration of private charity; -which word is used in its high apostolic sense, for private -munificence and public subscription provided the miserable, gallant -remnant of our army only with those things which were theirs by right, -and of which they had been defrauded by sheerest stupidity and the -inexorcisabie demon of Red-tape. - -The _Times_ fund was a mighty help; Florence Nightingale a still -mightier, in that noblest attribute of personal service and sacrifice -which touches all hearts to higher things. - -But there were also many private benefactors, who set to work at once -on their own account to do what they could, and among them was Sir -George Herapath. - -When the dreadful disclosures of the camps and hospitals came home, he -was still bending, almost broken, under the weight of his own loss. -His son's death had beaten him to the ground and shortened his span by -years. - -But the thought of the miseries of those other brave fellows, out on -the bleak hill-sides above Sebastopol, stirred him out of the depths -of his sorrow. He sent for Charles Eager. - -"Eager," he said, "I can't get any sleep for thinking of it all." - -"He died as a gallant man should die, Sir George." - -"It's the others I'm thinking of--the poor fellows who are mouldering -away out there for want of everything that has been forgotten or sent -astray." - -And a spark came into Eager's eye, for here was sign of grace and hope -after his own mind--a sorely stricken heart rising superior to its own -loss in helpful thought for others. - -"Yes, they're having dreadful times. What were you thinking of?" - -"Helping, if you'll take a hand." - -"I'm your man, sir, and God be thanked for your good thought! I'll -thank you in my own way." - -"Help me to make a list of the most necessary things, and I'll charter -a ship to take them straight out. Will you go with her and see to it -all?" - -"Will I?" blazed Eager. "Will I not? It's almost too good to be true. -I want to find out what's become of those boys too." - -"I wouldn't like it all to go astray like the rest, you see." - -"I'll see to that. It may be the saving of hundreds. God bless you, -sir! George's death will be a blessing to many through you. It is just -what he would have done himself." - -Sir George shook his head sadly. The wound was too raw yet. "Let's get -to work!" he said; for in work, and especially in such work, there was -something of healing. - -So they formed themselves into a committee of four, and Sir George -insisted on Eager and Gracie coming to stay with them at Knoyle so -that the work might go on without interruption. - -He went down to Liverpool, and with difficulty secured a -steamship--the _Bakclutha_, 1,000 tons burden, James Leale, master, at -a very high price, for Government charters had made a tight market. - -He went over all their lists carefully, knew just where to lay his -hand on everything, and the work went forward rapidly. - -Eager had secured a locum and was keen to be off, for every day's -delay meant so many wasted lives. Gracie was to stay on at Knoyle with -Margaret. And so the very last night came, and found them sitting -round the fire in Sir George's study after dinner. - -"You must all give an eye to my people while I'm away," said Eager. -"Breton is a good sort, I think, but it'll take some time for him to -get to know them; and the vicar----" - -"The vicar is resigning as soon as you come back," said Sir George -quietly. "The South of France is the only place where he can live, -Yool says. I want you to take it when you get home." - -"That is very good of you, sir. I want you to give me something else -too"--and he slipped his hand inside Margaret's arm. - -"I know," said Sir George. "Meg has told me, and I could not wish her -better." - -Gracie flung her arms round Margaret and kissed her heartily. - -"Oh, I am so glad!" she cried. "That is what I have been wanting all -the time." - -"So have I," laughed Eager. And then more soberly, as he lifted -Margaret's hand to his lips--"And truly I am grateful. My cup is -full--almost to the brim----" - -"I wish I could go with you," said Margaret. - -"So do I," said Gracie eagerly. - -"Yes, I know, but----" - -And they knew too that the "but" must keep them at home. - -"You'll find out all about the boys, Charlie," ordered Gracie. - -"I'll do my best, dear, you may be sure. It all depends on what there -is to find out and what an outsider can do. The possibilities are so -tremendous. All we can do is to hope for the best and keep our hearts -up. I have letters from Lord Deseret to Lord Raglan and several -others, and I have no doubt they will give me all the help they can." - -And next day he sailed, very happy in his mission, happier still in -what lay behind and before him; troubled only on account of the boys -who had disappeared into the smoke-cloud, and of whom for many weeks -they had been able to obtain no tidings whatever. - -The master, the supercargo, and the crew of the _Balclutha_ were all -of one mind in the matter, and so she made a record passage, was -through the Straits fourteen days after she hauled out of the Mersey, -and two days later lay off Balaclava Bay awaiting official permit to -enter. - -The Bay was crowded, but a corner was found at last, and Eager's -wondering eyes travelled over the amazing activities and manifold -nastinesses of that historic port, though these last were nothing now -to what they had been. - -He landed at once, introduced himself and his business to Admiral -Boxer and Captain Powell, found favour in their sight, and made -arrangements for the unloading and forwarding of his cargo. - -Sir George had furnished him with ample funds and the best of advice. -He organised his own transport, saw to it himself; with the hearty -assistance of Leale and his two mates and some picked men of the -crew, and drove things forward at such astonishing speed that the -harbour-master broke out one time. - -"Man! Was it a parson you said you were, Mr. Eager? It's head of the -Transport you ought to have been. You get more out of those lazy -scamps than any man we've had here yet." - -It was the same wherever he went. His strenuous cheerfulness, his -masterful energy, his unfailing good-humour--in a word, his Eagerness -infused itself into all with whom he came in contact and carried him -royally through all difficulties. He was an object-lesson in what -might be done when Officialism and Red-tape had no fingers in the pie. - -To tell all he did, and saw, and thought, during those days, would -take a volume. He cheered and comforted, and lifted from misery and -death many a stricken soul, both in the hospitals and in the camps. - -He came across old Harrow and Oxford friends, who welcomed him with -open arms and tendered him advice enough to sink a ship. And when he -had finished his distributions, and so eased the ways of all the needy -ones within the range of his powers, he turned with keen anxiety to -that other quest which lay so near his heart. - -He paid a visit to British Head-quarters, in the low white houses on -the road leading from Balaclava to Sebastopol, delivered Lord -Deseret's letter to an aide-de-camp, and intimated his intention of -waiting there till he could see Lord Raglan in person. - -When at last he was admitted, he found the Chief sitting at a huge -table heaped with papers, and two secretaries writing for dear life at -tables alongside. - -Lord Raglan had already seen him about the camps and hospitals, and -had heard of his good works, and received him with courteous kindness. -Eager was struck with his thin, worn face--the face of a brave man -wrestling with unwonted problems and innumerable difficulties. - -"I don't know what we can do to help you in your quest, Mr. Eager," -said his lordship, with Lord Deseret's letter in his hand, "but -anything we can do we will. I am sure you will understand that it has -been through no intentional neglect that these young friends of yours -have slipped out of our sight. The demands upon one's time from the -people at home"--with an expressive glance at the mountainous heaps of -forms and papers before him--"have afforded one small chance of -attending to individual cases. The last we know was that they were -prisoners in Sebastopol." - -"I thank your lordship, and I am very loth to trouble you," said -Eager; "but there is so much dependent on these two boys that I must -do all I possibly can to learn what has become of them. One could not -ask by letter, I suppose?" - -"Did I not write to Menchikoff, Calverly, soon after they were taken? -I seem to remember----" - -"You did, sir," replied one of the overwrought secretaries, without -stopping his work for a moment. "And we got no answer." - -"Would it be possible for me to get in under a flag of truce?" asked -Eager. - -"Quite possible," said his lordship, with a faint smile; "but -decidedly risky, and you certainly would not come out again." - -"There are occasional truces for picking up the wounded, are there -not?" - -"We have never asked for one, As a rule the Russians request it after -one of their big sorties. If you wait a while--one never knows what -night they will come out. What was your idea?" - -"Simply to inquire among the Russian officers. There could be no -objection to that, I presume?" - -"Not the slightest. You might learn something. It is just a chance." - -"Then I will wait for that chance, with your lordship's permission." - -"By all means, Mr. Eager, and I wish you all success; also please -convey to Sir George Herapath our thanks for all he has done for the -men here, and accept the same yourself. They have suffered grievously. -His son's death was a great loss to us. He was a fine young fellow." - -And Eager bowed himself out. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII -EAGER ON THE SCENT - - -Eager's lean and lively face became well known in the camps and -trenches. He was keen to see all he could, and was everywhere welcomed -with acclaim, but perhaps the greetings he most enjoyed were the rough -grateful words of men whom he had helped and heartened in the field -hospitals, and who had recovered sufficiently to get back to their -work. These would do anything for him, and from morning till night he -was all over the place, seeing everything, mightily interested in it -all, and leaving, wherever he went, a trail of uplifting cheerfulness -which was a moral tonic. - -He watched the perpetual fierce little fights over the rifle-pits, and -went down into them and tended the wounded when chance offered. He -mingled with the frequenters of the Picket House, and watched the -effect of the somewhat desultory pounding of the batteries by the big -guns. He crept cautiously through untold miles of muddy trenches, both -French and British, and viewed with wonder the gigantic tasks which -prepared the way for the second bombardment. And in the hospitals he -soothed many a sufferer's passage to more peaceful quarters, and put -fresh heart into those whose lot it was to go back to the front. - -In the officers' tents and huts he was hail-fellow-well-met -everywhere, and the only fault found with him was that he could not be -in many places at the same time. - -He heard matters discussed there with an outspoken freedom which would -have set ears tingling at home; and when he asked how soon it was -going to end, was told, "Never, my boy. It's going on for ever and -ever." And an irreverent one added, "As it was in the beginning, is -now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen!" - -"End, my dear fellow? Why should it end?" said still another, waving -an old briar at him, with the smoke curling like a flag of truce from -the stem. "They've got unlimited supplies to draw upon, and an open -road to get 'em in. As fast as we kill 'em they bring in fresh ones. -As fast as we knock down their earthworks they build 'em up again----" - -"Faster!" growled another. - -"Yes, faster. I don't see why it should not go on till the year -2000--going on as we are. It's not a siege; it's a discipline--a -chastisement for our sins: I only wish----" - -"Hear, hear!" grunted another, who had heard that wish many times -before. - -"What do you wish?" asked Eager. - -"I wish all the Red-tape and Routine people at home could be driven -into the trenches here and kept there for a month. They'd learn a -thing or two." - -"Die . . . never learn," growled the other. - -"If we'd gone right in when first we got here, it would have been a -most enormous saving, even if the cost had been heavy. For some reason -we lost the chance, and it's never going to come back. We're like a -prize-fighter pummelling away at the other fellow's leg and hoping to -break him in time that way. We may tire him out, of course, but its a -deuced slow business." - -"Do they never exchange prisoners?" asked Eager. - -"We never take any worth exchanging. It's only the ruck we get, and -they're mostly dead." - -"Their boots are the best part of 'em," said the other. "Our men are -always better shod after a sortie. Gad! sir, it would have made you -blaze to see our fellows--Guardsmen and all--tramping about in mud and -snow with no soles to their rotten boots! I hope the man who made 'em -will spend his eternity in a snowy hell with raw bare feet!" - -But one night they were all out in haste, at the sound of heavy and -continuous musketry down in the trenches on the left attack; and -Eager, tumbling out and rushing on with the rest, found himself where -a noncombatant had no right to be. - -He had gone plunging downwards with the others, in order to see all he -could, till he fell bodily into a trench. He picked himself up and -joined the stream of men hastening towards the firing, and found -himself suddenly in the thick of things--bullets humming venomously -past his head, men falling with groans and curses by his side, and a -big man, standing just above him on the rough parapet of the trench, -shouting to his men to "give it 'em hot with the steel," and meanwhile -picking up the biggest stones he could find and hurling them at the -oncoming Russians in front. - -The men clambered up and swept away into the darkness with shouts and -cheers and clash of steel, and Eager was left alone in the trench with -the fallen ones. Up from below rose an awful turmoil, lit now and -again by receding flashes, then a final British cheer, and one more -sortie was repulsed. - -It was only next morning that he learned the size of it. - -"They say there were about fifteen thousand of them out last night," -said one of his friends. "One lot went for the French over by the -Mamelon, and the rest came up here." - -"Gordon's men say he was on top of the trench chucking stones at the -beggars as they came up----" - -"I saw him," said Eager. "He was standing just above me, shouting to -his men and flinging stones as hard as he could. Then they fixed -bayonets and went downhill like an avalanche." - -"You'd no right to be there, my boy." - -"I suppose not. I went to see what was up, and fell into a trench, and -ran on with the rest. Was the Colonel hit?" - -"Couple of bullets in him, but not deadly." - -"It's amazing to me that any one comes through alive." - -"Yes, it feels like that at first, but you get used to it." - -"Did we lose many?" - -"Pretty heavy; but there are four or five Russkis to each of ours. -Ground's thick with 'em. They'll want an armistice to clean up, I -expect--generally do." - -And, sure enough, the Russians presently requested a truce to pick up -their men; and before long the white flags were flying on the -batteries, and the men of both sides streamed out into the open, -picked up their dead and wounded, and took stock of one another. - -This was the chance Eager had been waiting for, and he went down to -the debatable ground between the lines with the rest. - -It was a horrible enough sight--a couple of thousand dead and wounded -men strewn thick in that narrow space; but the stretchers were busily -at work, and he had his own inquiries to make. - -A number of Russian officers were strolling about, dressed in their -best and smoking their best cigars, and quite ready for a talk. - -He approached one, lifted his hat, and asked in French: - -"I wonder if monsieur could afford me some information?" - -At which the Russian smiled, and his blue eyes twinkled. - -"With pleasure, monsieur. We have at this moment one hundred thousand -men in there and five thousand guns, and provisions for fifteen years, -and when they are used up we have five times as many more to come." - -"If you could give me a satisfactory word about two young officers, -prisoners in your hands, you would ease some very sore hearts at home, -monsieur. That is all I ask. I have come all the way from England to -get news of them." - -"If I can, monsieur. What are their names?" - -"Carron; two brothers--one in the Engineers, the other in the -Hussars." - -"_Tiens!_ Yes--Carron! I know them. Some of our guns have the same -name. They are well, monsieur. I saw them only yesterday." - -"Thank God for that! And I thank you, monsieur, most gratefully." - -"It is nothing. One of them was sorely wounded, but the Grand Duke -sent his own doctor, and he is recovered. They were walking together -yesterday, and we spoke. I shall tell them of your inquiry. What name, -monsieur?" - -"Eager--Charles Eager. Will you tell them all are well at home and -very desirous of seeing them. If only this terrible war would come to -an end!" - -"Yes, indeed; _le Malheur!_ But I assure you, monsieur, we will stop -fighting at once if only you will all go home." - -"I wish I could make them," said Eager. "It is terrible work." And he -looked round at the broken men lying so thickly all about. - -"It is rough play. Whether the omelets are worth all the broken eggs, -I cannot say. Have you any idea what we're fighting about, monsieur?" - -"General principles, I suppose." - -"Ah, he is a costly leader, this General Principles," said the other, -with a twinkle. "Permit me to offer you a cigar." - -"We will exchange," said Eager, producing some of Sir George's extra -specials. "Let us smoke to a speedy peace." - -"With all my heart." And they parted friends, and both went their ways -wondering why such things must be. And if the Russian never delivered -Eager's message it was not his fault, for he was killed by a shell -that same afternoon in Bastion No. 4. - -The ground was cleared at last. There was a moment's pause. Then the -white flags came fluttering down, and a gun from the Redan sent a shot -hurling up the trenches, to show that playtime was over. - -Eager was much comforted in mind by his interview with the Russian. He -had seemed a good fellow, and could have no object in deceiving him. -He wrote long letters home, and resolved to wait on and see if the -great bombardment, to which all efforts were now directed, would bring -the end any nearer. - -And so it came about that he stood with the rest on Cathcart's Hill, -in the misty drizzle of that bleak Easter Monday morning, and watched -the opening of the second bombardment of Sebastopol. - -They could hear enough up there. All round the vast semicircle more -guns were crashing than had ever roared in concert before. But they -could see very little. The gunners themselves could not see. They knew -Sebastopol lay over there and they were bound to hit something. - -And Eager strained his eyes into the chill white mist to see all he -could, and felt sick at heart at thought of the destruction any one of -those wildly flying shot and shell might wreak. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIV -THE LONG SLOW SIEGE - - -It was the most trying time Jim had ever spent. He had had no -experience whatever of sick-beds, beyond his own short spell after -Balaclava, and even that was as different from this deadly monotony as -well could be. But he stuck to it valiantly, and was only saved from -physical and mental collapse himself by Tatia's arbitrary oversight. - -If there had been anything going on outside he might have found the -change from the sick-room bracing, but both besieged and besiegers -were too busy girding their loins for another struggle to waste time -or powder on useless display. - -The Allies had found the nut too hard to crack, and were working hard -on preparation for the next blow; and those inside, fully informed of -everything that went on in the camps, were straining every nerve to -resist it. - -So big guns and mortars went toiling up to the heights from Balaclava -Bay, and mountains of gabions and fascines and more big guns went -toiling up the heights inside to face them, and for days hardly a shot -would be fired on either side. - -It was towards the end of February that Greski said to Jim, one day -when Tatia had turned them out-of-doors--"Come, and I will show you -something new." And they went round to the eastern slope, looking out -towards the Karabelnaia suburb and the Malakoff and Redan--all of -which Jim knew by heart. - -And at the first glance Jim saw a change in the look of things. - -A new fort had sprung up in the night between the Malakoff, which till -now had been the foremost Russian work on that side, and the French -trenches--a fort of size too, all a-bristle with gabions and fascines -round the crown of the flat hill. The thousands of men still working -at it made it look like a great ant-heap. - -"French!" said Jim, after his first quick glance, with a feeling of -exultation, for the new work must seriously menace, if not command, -the Malakoff. - -"French?--no, my friend!--Russian! Truly your people are not very -wideawake. Todleben has been expecting them to seize that hill ever -since they crept so close, and it would have been bad for the -Korniloff Bastion, you see. So, as they did not, and it seemed a pity -no one should use it, he occupied it last night, and ten thousand men -have been busy on it ever since." - -"Hang it! What fools we were to let it slip!" - -"Undoubtedly! And without doubt you will now try to recover it, and it -will cost you many men, and us also, and so the game goes on." - -And that very same night, when Jack had at last fallen asleep, Greski -said to Jim, as though he were inviting him to a theatre party: - -"At midnight we will take a little walk, and you will see your friends -attempt to recover the new fort, the Mamelon. - -"You seem to know all about it," said Jim incredulously. - -"Of course. That again is where we beat you. We know all your plans. -We have plans of every trench you cut with every gun you place in it." - -"Not from any of our men," said Jim, with heat, for underhand work -such as that struck him offensively. - -"Oh no. But your men talk too much among themselves, and our spies are -through your camps night and day. They all speak French, you see, and -uniforms are easy to get, whereas none of your people speak Russian -well enough to pass muster for a moment. I can even tell you that the -attack will be all French--Zouaves, Marines, and Chasseurs, under -three thousand in all, and the General Monet will be in command. They -will walk right up into the trap and will all be killed or captured." - -"It is sheer murder." - -"What would you? It is war; and after all, though I hate Russia, one -cannot help remembering that she did not invite you to come here. We -will wait here. It is not yet time." - -"Why aren't you up there yourself?" - -"I was in the last sortie and it is not my turn, _Dieu merci!_ for it -will be hot up there to-night. There are plenty of us, you see, and we -take fair turns." - -All was dark and still up along the distant hill-side, so void of -offence that Jim began to wonder if Greski had not made a mistake. But -after several impatient glances at his watch by the glow of his cigar, -he said at last: - -"Now--it is time! Watch!--over there!" - -But the minutes passed--long, long minutes, almost the longest Jim had -ever lived through. - -"Doesn't seem coming off," he jerked. - -"Wait!" jerked Greski, at tension also. "They were to start at -midnight. They have a quarter-mile to cover, and they will go -cautiously because the ground behind there is bad. We are to let them -come right up and--ah--_voilà!_" as the darkness behind the new fort -blazed and roared and became an inferno of deadly strife; terrific -volleys of musketry and the hoarse shouting of men--no big guns, and -presently even the firing became desultory, but the turmoil waxed -louder and louder. - -Greski danced with excitement. - -"_Mon Dieu!_ but they are fighting!--hand to hand! They are devils to -fight, those Zouaves. I wish--I wish--but it is not safe here to -wish." - -The turmoil came rolling round this side of the hill; the Russians -were falling back. Then flaming volleys broke out on each side of the -turmoil. - -"Ah--ah--ah! Supports from Korniloff," jerked Greski. - -And then suddenly the Malakoff and Redan big guns blazed out, and -poured an avalanche of shot and shell and rockets on the gallant -attack, and it withered and melted away. - -"Two--three thousand men in pieces, and as you were!" was Greski's -summing up. - -"Infernal butchery," growled Jim, much worked up. - -"What would you, my friend? It is war." And they went soberly home, -thinking of the horrors of the red hill-side and all the broken men -who lay there, while all the church bells in the town clashed pæans of -victory overhead as they went. - -The one bright ray to Jim, in this time of gloom, was the fact that -Jack was without doubt slowly improving, to the great satisfaction and -greater surprise of his wearied but unwearying nurses and the Grand -Duke's doctor. - -"He has no right to live," said the latter, "and yet he lives, and may -live. It is marvellous." But then he had not known how the open-air -life on the flats prepared a man for contingencies such as this. - -It was long before Jack could speak above a whisper without suffering, -and then at last he was able to sit propped up with pillows and to -take an interest in things in general, But the gardens were full of -hyacinths and crocuses, and there were even patches of them on the -troubled hill-sides, among the white tents and muddy trenches, before -he tasted fresh air again. - -Then Jim would lead him on his strong arm, very slowly and with many a -rest, to a sheltered place whence he could see what was going on, and -so keen was his interest that it was no easy matter to get him home -again. And the officers they met on the road would stop them, and -politely inquire after Jack's health, and express their pleasure at -his recovery, and discuss matters with them, and gallantly express -their conviction that the siege would go on for ever, but admit all -the same that if it could honourably end they would not be sorry. - -They had another ray of hope when the news came of the death of the -Tsar. Would it mean an end of the terrible struggle, and release, and -home? Their hearts--and not theirs only--beat high with hope, and fell -the lower when the word came that the fight was to go on to the bitter -end. - - - - -CHAPTER LXV -THE CUTTING OF THE COIL - - -With the better weather things quickened somewhat--the things of -Nature, to life; the things of Man, to death. Man strove with all his -might to end his fellow man, and drenched the earth with blood: and -the spring flowers pushed valiantly through the blood-soaked sods and -seemed to wonder what it was all about. - -The boys learned from Greski that the chief bones of contention now -were the rifle-pits. - -The lines and burrows of attack and defence had by this time run so -close to one another that in places you could almost throw a stone -from one to the other. No smallest chance of harassing the enemy was -lost on either side. Both sides had learnt by experience what damage -and annoyance to the working parties could be effected by small bodies -of picked marksmen hidden in sunken pits in advance of the lines, and -the struggles over and round and in these tiny strongholds were -endless, and furious beyond description. - -He told them how sixty Russians had held their pits near what he -called the Korniloff Bastion, but which Jack and Jim knew more -familiarly as the Malakoff, against five thousand Frenchmen, until -reserves came up and the Frenchmen had to retire. And how some crack -shot in one of the English pits was potting their men even in the -streets of the town, twelve hundred yards away, so that passage that -way was no longer permitted. - -He told them that the Allies were mounting more and more big guns, and -prophesied hot work again before long, and feared that this time -"he"--by which simple comprehensive pronoun the Russian soldiers -always referred to the hundred thousand men out there on the -hill-side--the enemy--just as Jack and Jim had always used the term to -designate Sir Denzil in their early days--Greski feared that "he," out -of patience with the long delay and the sufferings it had entailed, -would no longer confine his efforts to battering the forts, but would -probably try to make an end of the town itself. - -"In which case," he said, "we may have to move over to the other side -of the water. He can knock down the bastions to his heart's content; -we can build them again faster than he can knock them down. But the -town--that would be another matter." - -All the streets leading in from the hill-sides were barricaded, and a -new line of huge entrenchments sprang up among the houses inside the -town, half-way up the slope on which it was built. - -From their chosen look-out on that eastward slope the boy watched all -that went on, inside and outside, with hungry anxious eyes. They noted -the immense activities on both sides, and it seemed to them, as it had -done before to Jim that things might go on like this for ever. - -"If we are really going to try another bombardment," said Jack -slowly--he always spoke slowly and quietly now, a way he had got into -through fear of straining his chest--"and if they keep it to the -earthworks, it is all wasted time. The only way to end it is to smash -the town and rush it over the pieces. It is doubtful kindness to spare -it. Far better end the matter for all concerned. Then we could all go -home and become human beings again. I've no fight left in me, Jim." - -"A couple of months on the flats will make you as sound as a bell," -said Jim cheerfully. "The air here is full of gunpowder and dead men. -What you want is Carne." - -"I've thought a good deal about it all while I lay there and couldn't -talk," said Jack. "You'll have to take it all on, Jim. I shall be a -broken man all my life--I feel it inside me; and Carron of Carne must -be a whole man. You must take it on, Jim." - -"Don't let's talk about it, old man. We're not home yet. Time enough -to go into all that when we get there. I wish to goodness Raglan would -come right in and make an end of it." - -"It would be an awful business. But I don't see how we're going to end -it any other way. And truly I wish it were ended, for I long to get -home. All I want is to get home." - -Their friend Greski had so far escaped the dangers of his unpalatable -duties in a manner little short of marvellous. He shirked nothing, and -took his fair turns with the rest. And, though he hated Russia with -all his heart, he laughingly confessed that when he was in the thick -of things he forgot it all in his eagerness to win the fight. - -But such phenomenal luck was too good to last. He went out one night -to join in a sortie, and the morning came without him, and found his -mother and Tatia in woeful depths, certain he was dead. - -Jim went off at once for news, and found him at last in the hospital, -with a bullet in the thigh and a bayonet wound in the shoulder. - -"It is nothing, it is nothing," said the hurrying surgeon. At which -Greski made a grimace at Jim, and said: - -"All the same, if it was only himself now! And the way he hacked that -bullet out! We are getting callous to other folk's sufferings." - -"Why, you hardly felt it," said the surgeon. "You said so." - -"When one's helpless under another man's knife one says what he wants. -It hurt like the deuce." - -"When can I take him home?" asked Jim, in stumbling French. - -"After two days, if he behaves and goes on well." - -So Jim went home and comforted madame and Tatia; and two days later -they were happier in their minds than they had been since the siege -began, in that they had him there all the time and safe from further -harm. - -He grizzled somewhat at being shelved "just when the fun was going to -begin," for he felt assured in his own mind that "he," outside, was -preparing for a general assault, and he would have liked to see it. -And so the boys did their best to keep him posted in all that went on. - -They were wakened at daybreak one morning by an uproar altogether out -of the common--one vast, unbroken, terrific roll of thunder, so deep, -so ominous, so far beyond anything they had ever heard in their lives -before that it sounded as though the whole of heaven's artillery had -been mounted on the hill-sides, and brought to bear on the devoted -town, and was bent on battering it to pieces. - -Greski called them from his room, and they went in. - -"Hurry, hurry, or you'll miss it all! We knew it must be soon, but -could not learn the day. They will come in on top of this, I think. -Keep under cover, and come back and tell me all about it. Oh, ---- this -leg!" - -It was a bad morning for any conscious possessor of a chest--heavy -with mist and thick with drizzling rain; a black funereal day, sobbing -gustily, and drenching the earth with showers of bitter tears. The -chill discomfort of it told even on Jim. - -"Jack, old man, I wish you'd go back," he said, before they had gone a -hundred yards. "I'll bring you word as soon as I can. They're not -likely to come in at once, and you'll have plenty of time to see all -that's going on. They'll probably hang away at the forts for the whole -day. Do go back." - -"Get on!--get on!" coughed Jack. "I want to see." And they pushed on -through the gloomy twilight. - -The streets were alive with all the others who wanted to see, and long -compact lines of gray-coats were pressing stolidly towards the front, -to strengthen the lines against the expected onslaught. - -Jim was doubtful how far they should venture, but Jack was intent on -seeing. This was history. This was the consummation of all the hopes, -and the weary days and nights, that had gone into those mighty zigzags -up on the hill there. This was his own arm striking as it had never -struck before since time began, and he must see it at its best. - -But, though they could hear enough, they could not see much, because -of the mist and the rain and the dense clouds of smoke rolling down -the hill-sides. - -The Russian batteries were only beginning to reply, by the time the -boys reached their usual look-out on the eastern slope near the -cathedral, and then the uproar doubled, and the very ground beneath -them seemed to shudder under it. - -Jim helped his brother to his usual seat in a niche in the broken wall -of a garden, and tucked his cloak carefully about him, for between his -boiling excitement and the rawness of the morning, he was all ashake -and his teeth were chattering. - -"Every gun we have," gasped Jack . . . "hard at it!" - -"If they can't see more than we can, they're going it blind," growled -Jim, as he strode about to get warm. - -And then, like a bolt from the sky, without an instant's warning, out -of the chill white mist in front came a great round black ball, which -dropped with a thud into the ground almost at Jack's feet. It lay -there, hissing and spitting like a venomous devil gloating over its -anticipated villainy, and Jim rushed at it with an unaccustomed oath -of dismay. It was sheer instinct. He had no time for thought. The -devilish thing was close to Jack, and Jack could not move. - -He got his right hand under it to hurl it down the slope. His feet -slipped from under him as he heaved. Then with a splintering crash the -thing burst. . . . - -And the Coil of Carne, cut by a stray British shell, lay shattered -about the eastern slope of Sebastopol. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVI -PURGATORY - - -Jim came to himself in purgatory. It seemed to him that he came slowly -out of a dead black sleep into a horrible wakening dream. - -He was in a vast room, low-roofed, with massive arches which -obstructed his view and lay like weights on his brain. Small, heavy -windows let in a murky light. All about him were dismal groanings, and -mutterings, and curses, and a most evil atmosphere, which turned his -stomach. - -He tried to move, and was seized with grinding pains up his right side -and arm and shoulder. - -He tried to grope back into the meaning of it all, and suddenly he -remembered the shell. - -It must have burst and wounded him. His right hand shot suddenly with -burning pangs. - -He wondered how Jack had fared. He could not remember whether he had -succeeded in pitching it down the slope or not. He had done his best; -but he remembered that the fuse was very short. . . . - -Was he really alive? . . . or was he dead, and this hell? . . . The -groans and curses . . . that awful smell of blood and dead men! . . . - -He came to himself again, and it was all black about him--thick, -heavy, chill darkness, full of groans and curses and the smell of -blood and dead men. - -The heavy little windows came slowly out of the black void first, then -the massive pillars, and after a long, long time he saw dim figures -moving slowly about in the twilight. - -One passed close to him, and he wanted to call to him to ask him about -Jack, but when he tried to speak he found he could not. - -Then two more men came and dragged away the bodies of the two who lay -in the straw on each side of him. Their clothes rubbed his as they -went. He had not thought about them because they had lain so quiet. - -The men came back with another man, who groaned as they laid him down, -and then with another on the other side who groaned also, and Jim -wished they had left him the quieter ones. - -It was a very long time before a surgeon came round to look at the -new-comers, and Jim had had plenty of time to think as well as he was -able to. - -If he lay there much longer he would die. He must get them to take him -away. How? - -His dulled wits, roaming for possibilities, came on thought of the -Grand Duke's doctor who had pulled Jack through. If he could get them -to send for him. . . . Though why he should come was quite beyond -him. . . . Still it was a chance. - -The surgeon took off his right-hand neighbour's leg where he lay, by -the light of a lamp. The man gave a sudden gasp and a choke, the -surgeon said "Ach!" and they carried the body away. - -He took off the left-hand man's arm and strapped it up. - -Jim with a mighty effort said, "Monsieur!" And the rumpled surgeon -looked down at him and wiped his fingers on a piece of dirty rag. - -"I beg you," said Jim, and the surgeon bent down to him. - -"Well?" he said brusquely, for loads of broken men lay waiting for -him, and he had cut and carved till his hands and arms were tired and -his back stiff with bending. - -"I want . . . the Grand Duke's doctor," murmured Jim. - -"The deuce you do? Anything else?" And he was going. - -"The Grand Duke's own orders. . . He will tell you." And then he went -out into the darkness again. - -But the feeble words had caused the surgeon to look more closely, and -then to make inquiries, and when Jim came back to life he was in bed -at Mme Greski's, and Tatia was sitting by the bedside. And to Jim it -was like a sudden leap from hell to heaven. - -Tatia nodded cheerfully to him. - -"Where's Jack?" he asked in a whisper. - -"They've not found him yet. They're searching for him," said Tatia, -after a moment's hesitation. "You're not to talk, or to think, or do -anything but what I tell you. Drink this." And he drank, and fell -asleep again. - -It was not until many days afterwards, when he had grown accustomed to -the fact that he would have to go through life with one sleeve looped -up to a button--though he still complained at times of pains in that -hand--that Tatia gently broke the news to him that Jack was gone. The -shell had killed him on the spot, had literally blown him to pieces. - -And she broke down at sight of his face; and when he turned it over to -the pillow and sobbed silently, she crept quietly out of the room and -left him to his sorrow. - -Jack gone! _Jack!_ He felt stupid and newly broken. Dear old -Jack! . . . smashed by that cursed shell! A British shell, too, unless -he was very much mistaken. That was hard lines, after coming through -so much. Hard lines! Hard lines! - -He was very weak yet, and the tears welled out again and again, as he -lay thinking dreamily of all the old times on the flats, and how close -they had been to one another all through their lives. And Jack was -gone . . . killed by a British shell! And he was so much the better -man of the two. And now, if he himself lived, he would have to go -home--some time--if this wretched war ever came to an end--and break -all their hearts with the news. In his weakness and sorrow he wished -that cursed shell had made an end of them both. - -It was early summer before he was about again, for the bursting shell -had ripped open his side and shoulder, in addition to shattering his -arm beyond repair, and had given a shock to his system from which it -recovered but slowly. - -And still the siege dragged on. Early in June came the third -bombardment. All the southern portion of the town had long been a heap -of grass-grown ruins. Now, even the northern slopes became almost -untenable. - -The theatre was shattered out of all knowledge; in every barricaded -street the roadway was furrowed like a ploughed field by the shot and -shell which came raining in, and these were collected each day and -piled into pyramids ten feet high. Not a house but was damaged, many -were in ruins; the vertical shells from the mortars came down like -bolts from heaven and spread destruction where they fell. - -It was death to walk the streets, and no safer to stop indoors. Many -crossed the harbour to the northern heights. The Greskis and Jim -fitted up their cellars and lived there as in a bomb-proof. - -Greski himself had made but a slow recovery. The bullet-wound in his -thigh took long to heal, and left him limping still and quite unfit -for service--at which nis mother and Tatia rejoiced greatly, and he -did not greatly repine. - -"As a soldier," he said, "I would shirk nothing; but all the same -Russia is not my country, but my oppressor, and it makes a difference. -For Poland I would die ten deaths. For Russia I grudge a finger." - -When the bombardment slackened again, he limped out on Jim's sound arm -to gather news, and managed to keep a portentously long face as his -fellows in the café told them of the taking of the Mamelon and Sapoune -by the French, and the closing of the harbour road leading out to -Inkerman. - -But alone with Jim and his own people, he let his feelings have play. - -"Now we're getting on a bit. I mean you are. The Mamelon is one of the -keys to the door. I see the end in sight But your people are -strangely, dilatory or overcareful. From what they were saying down -there you could have got in more than once if you'd only come on." - -"I wish they had come on," said Jim heartily. "Maybe there are too -many cooks at the pie." - -Ten days later came the fourth bombardment, and in the comparative -safety of their cellars they heard the neighbours' houses crumbling -and falling, and the upper part of their own came down with a crash -which blanched the women's faces, till the ruins settled into position -and left them still alive. - -Then one day, in an appalling cessation of the thunders to which their -ears were accustomed, Jim and Greski, stealing out to the south slope, -heard on the hill-side the solemn wail of the Dead March, and -presently a great salute of unshotted guns, and learned later that -Lord Raglan was dead, and, according to Greski, was succeeded by one -Sampson, whom Jim failed to recognise under so large a name. - -Sebastopol was becoming one great hospital, one might almost say -charnel-house, for the wounded were beyond their capacity for tending, -and the dead lay for days in the streets unburied. And over it all the -summer sun shone brightly, and flowers bloomed gaily among the -shattered columns and fallen walls of houses which had once made this -one of the fairest cities of the East. - -The siege lapsed again into dullness, in spite of Greski's prophecy. -The thinned ranks behind the bastions were replenished from the -northern camps. All day long the harbour was alive with the boats that -brought them across. And the bastions themselves grew stronger and -stronger, with the myriads of men working on them and the tons of shot -rained into them from the outside. - -Working parties streamed up to the front all day long, carrying great -stakes and poles for the abattis, and fascines and gabions for the -ramparts, and in this work every English and French prisoner they had -taken was employed. - -Jim found it refreshing to hear the hearty British oaths which rattled -about such fatigue parties, and he generally hailed the speakers and -got a hearty word in reply. - -"God bless you, sir, but this ain't no work for British sailormen, an' -it does one a sight o' good to cuss 'em high an' low, even if they -doesn't understand it." - -"Perhaps just as well," said Jim. "Can you use any money?" - -"Try me, sor! God bless your honour! This night I'll be as drunk as a -lord, an' so will all me mates. 'Twill lighten the day an' the weight -of these ---- stakes. ----- ----- all Rooshians! They don't know how -to treat a sailorman." - - - - -CHAPTER LXVII -THE BEGINNING OF THE END - - -And so, at last, we come to the end of that titanic struggle in the -East--so far, that is, as we are directly concerned in it. - -It was in the first days of September, just twelve months after the -Modern Armada sailed from Varna in hopes of settling matters out of -hand, that the great bombardment opened; the earth shook and the -heavens shuddered, and men grown used to the sound of big guns were -amazed at the hideous uproar. Fifteen hundred of the heaviest guns in -existence thundered back and forth in concert, and the hot hail of -more than half of them rained ceaselessly on the stricken town. The -sky was hidden by the smoke, and through the smoke, along with the -bursting shells, shot flights of fiery rockets to add to the inferno -inside. - -Within that fiery pale no soul ventured forth. Jim and Greski paced -their gloomy quarters like restless animals--hopeful of the end, -doubtful what it might entail. The women sat in corners in momentary -expectation of death. - -All who could go had crossed the harbour to the safety of the northern -heights. Greski, as the result of many discussions with Jim, had -resolved to stay where he was and trust to luck and the Allies. - -For four days and nights the doomed city suffered that most awful -scourging, and then there came a lull, and the taut-strung men in the -cellar looked meaningly at one another. And presently they crept -cautiously out into the sulphurous upper air, just as day was -breaking. - -"It is ended," said Greski, for the low thick clouds of smoke rolling -over the town were all aglow with the flames of burning buildings. -Wherever they turned, fresh fires were bursting out. And as they stood -looking, a mighty explosion shook the earth and half a dozen shattered -houses near at hand came crashing into the street. - -Another tremendous explosion, and another and another. - -"It is all over," said Greski quietly again. "They are blowing up the -bastions and burning the town. That, I know, was decided on long -since, if it came to the point. Moscow over again." - -From where they were they could not see the explosions and they did -not dare to venture far. But presently all the harbour was red with -the blaze of burning ships, and they could see the new bridge of -boats, leading across to the north side, black with crowds of hurrying -fugitives. Then Fort Nicholas below them burst into flame, and the -smoke from Fort Paul, just across from it, rolled along the roadstead. -It was a most amazing scene, beyond description, almost beyond -imagination. - -The firing had ceased with the blowing up of the bastions. Up on the -heights the besiegers clustered thick as bees, watching with awe the -results of their long and arduous labours. Below them a thin trickle -of creeping looters was already making its way through the ruined -suburbs into the burning city. - -Jim and Greski returned to their cellar; Jim to fig himself out in the -remains of his uniform, Greski to collect such of the family valuables -as could be easily carried; and then, with madame and Tatia on their -arms, they set off, by devious ways which avoided burning and -tottering buildings, crossed the black desolation of the southern -suburbs, and came out on this side of the Quarantine Ravine, nearly -opposite the cemetery. - -The looters, mostly red-trousered Zouaves, looked askant at Jim's -uniform and slipped past quietly. All they wanted was plunder, and -they feared to be stopped. How this young English Hussar officer had -managed to get in so quickly puzzled them, but he had evidently got -all he wanted. So--_allons, mes enfants!_ and let us lay hands on all -we can, before the rest of our brave allies arrive! - -Jim knew his way as soon as they had been passed through the lower -trenches, and made straight for his father's tent. The camps were -almost empty. Everyone was down at the front staring at the burning -town. Outside the well-known tent in the hollow, however, an orderly -was hard at work scraping the mud off his master's overcoat. - -"Where is Colonel Carron?" asked Jim expectantly. - -But the man looked back at him stolidly and said, "I do not know, -monsieur." - -"But this is his tent." - -"Monsieur is mistaken. This is the tent of M. the Colonel Gerome--if -he is still alive, _man Dieu!_ He went into Malakoff yesterday and we -have not seen him since." - -"And where is Colonel Carron, then?" - -"I do not know, monsieur. It is only three months since I came out. Is -it all over, as they say?" - -"We have Sebastopol," said Jim, "or part of it." And he quickly pushed -on along the road to French Head-quarters. - -A squadron of lancers came down the road at a fast trot, gleaming in -the sun and jingling bravely. Their leader looked curiously at the odd -little company, for ladies were refreshingly rare in camp. Then he -suddenly drew rein and saluted, and Jim knew him. They had met many -times in the tent in the hollow. - -"You, M. Carron? Why, we gave you up for dead long ago!" - -"Where is my father, du Bourg? I've been to his tent----" - -"_Mon Dieu!_--and you have not heard? I am sorry to have to tell it, -but you would have to hear. Colonel Carron was killed six months ago, -repulsing a sortie." And, as he saw Jim's face fall, he added: "If you -have had no news for six months, _mon ami_, be prepared for the worst. -You will find very few of your friends left. Where have you been?" - -"Prisoner inside since December." - -"_Mon Dieu!_ you've had hard luck! Weil, I must get on or our lively -red-legs won't leave a stick in Sebastopol. We've been doing all we -could to get in, and now my orders are to let no one in on any -account. Adieu!" And they went off at a clanking gallop to make up for -lost time. - -Jim set off again in gloomy spirits for British Head-quarters on the -other side of the Balaclava road. - -Jack gone! His father gone! George Herapath and Ralph Harben gone. His -little world seemed devastated. He wondered if any of the home folk -were left. - -Gracie--Good God!--suppose Gracie were dead! And Charles Eager, and -Sir Denzil! In six months anything might have happened to any or all -of them. - -Tatia was the only fairly cheerful member of the party. To her it was -like heaven to be out of that dreadful prison-house below. She had -grown so used to the smell of gunpowder that the keen sweet air -intoxicated her with delight. Her mother was very weary with the long -walk; and as for Greski, his thigh was giving him pain, and the only -thing he wanted now was to sit down and rest it. - -Except for the sentries and a few underlings, British Head-quarters -was deserted like the rest of the camp. All the world was down at the -front, watching the end of Sebastopol. So they sat on a bench in the -sunshine, and waited for some one to turn up. - -The first to come was McLean, the young doctor with whom Jim had -crossed to Constantinople on the _Carnbrea_. He was looking older, but -well and cheerful. - -"Hello!" he cried, as soon as his eyes lighted on Jim. "It's good to -set eyes on some one alive that one knew six months ago. Where have -you been all this time? I see you've suffered too"--with a glance at -the empty sleeve. - -"Been in Sebastopol for last nine months. Glad to get out." - -"About as glad as we are to get in. Going home, I suppose?" - -"Just as quick as I can. Come to report myself, but there's no one to -report to." - -"All at the front, I suppose. It's a great day this. We're shipping -off loads of sick men as fast as we can fit them for the voyage. Our -old friend Jolly's in Balaclava Bay. He'd be delighted to take you, I -know, if you can fix matters up quickly here." - -"Things any better than they used to be?" - -"Oh, we're all learning by experience. Even the red-tape isn't as red -as it used to be; it's not much more than pink now. We've got -everything we need for the sick, anyway, and that's something. By the -way, there was a man here inquiring for you a short time ago--came out -on purpose, I believe, and brought a shipload of just the things we -were needing most." - -"Oh? Who was that?" - -"A lean-faced chap--a parson, and better than most. What was his name -now?--Earnest--Eager? that was it--Charles Eager." - -"Eager? The dear old chap! Just like him! How long since?" - -"Oh, months--four or five at least. Here's the Chief!"--as a thin, -quiet-looking man with a tired face rode up with a couple of aides, -saluted the little party, and went inside. - -"Sick men first," said Jim; and McLean nodded, and went in. - -He was back again in five minutes. "Come down to me at Balaclava as -soon as you're ready," he said, "and I'll help you on. I'll have a -word with Jolly too." And he sped away. - -General Simpson greeted Jim, when at last he was admitted, with simple -kindliness but evident preoccupation. His hands and mind were very -full at the moment, and Jim's only desire was to get on towards home. -All his requests were granted without hesitation, the necessary papers -were promised him before night, and they set off again, first to the -cavalry camp, whose location he had learned from one of the aides, and -then to the railway which lay a little beyond. - -At the camp he came across his own orderly, who greeted him with a -mixture of jovial delight at meeting again an openhanded friend and -master, and of deferential awe at encountering one returned from the -dead. - -"Quite thought you was dead, sir," said he, with a big shy smile. - -"I've been next door to it once or twice, Jones. Where's my horse?" - -"Ah, then! Dear knows, sir! The French gentleman took him to's own -quarters an' I never set eyes on him since." - -"Ah! Anybody left here that I know? Denham?" - -"Lord Charles Denham, he died six, seven months ago the fever, sir." - -"Mr. Kingsnorth? - -"Invalided home in the winter, sir." - -"Captain Warren?" - -"Killed in the rifle-pits while he was potting the Russians. There's -hardly anybody left that was here when you was here sir, 'cept some of -us men. You going home, sir?" - -"As quick as I can, Jones. Here's a guinea for old times' sake. -Good-bye!" And he went soberly on, feeling himself a stranger in a -strange place and as one risen from the dead. - -They got a lift on the railway, and Jim hardly knew Balaclava, so -little of the old was left--just as in the camp up above. But he -tumbled up against Captain Jolly almost at once, and then his -difficulties were over. - -"Take you?" cried the jovial master. "Take you all the way home if you -like. My charter's up and I'm to get back as quick as the weather'll -let me. Taking a cargo of broken pieces to Scutari, and then straight -for Liverpool. Right! We'll find room for you all if we have to sleep -in the bilge. Your servant, madam, and yours, miss! Glad to get away -from all the noise and nastiness, I'll be bound. Come on board any -time you like, Mr. Carron. Shipboard's a sight cleaner and more -comfortable than any place you'll find ashore." And Jim felt happier -than he had done for very many months back. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVIII -HOME AGAIN - - -D. McLean snatched half an hour to say good-bye as they were weighing -anchor. And among other things he happened to ask Jim: - -"Have you sent word home that you're coming? I don't believe in -surprises." - -"No, I haven't. I'm only learning to write, you see." - -"Tell me what you want to say and I'll telegraph it from here." - -"Can you?" said Jim, with a look of surprise, for this too was all new -since he went into captivity. "I wish you would. Just say 'Coming -home--Jim,' and send it to Sir Denzil Carron, Carne, Sandshire." - -"Right! I'll see to it." - -And he duly saw to it, but in the mighty pressure on the wires, -consequent on the great events of those latter days, the private -dispatch got mislaid, or was lost on the road--somewhere under the -Black Sea, maybe, or in the wilds of Turkey; anyway, it never reached -its destination. - -And so it came about that Jim, satisfied that they knew of his coming, -walked up to the door of Mrs. Jex's cottage, three weeks later, and -found it occupied by young John Braddle, the carpenter's son, and his -newly married wife. - -"My gosh!" said young John at sight of him. "But yo' did give me a -turn, Mester Jim! An' yo've lost an arm! Was that i' th' big charge?" - -"No; I left it inside Sebastopol, John. But where's everybody? Mr. -Eager and----" - -"They're all up at Vicarage, Mester Jim. He's vicar now, and Mrs. Jex -she keeps house for him. An' so Molly and me----" - -But Jim was off, with a wave of the workable arm. He had not come home -to hear about John and Molly Braddle. - -Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eager had just got back from their honeymoon. -Mrs. Jex had been in residence for a month past, getting things into -shape for them, with Gracie's very active assistance. And--"Bless her -'art! She couldn' do no more if 'twas her own house she was a-fittin' -up. And may I live to see that day!" said Mrs. Jex with fervour. - -Gracie had been living at Knoyle, for the comfort and consolation of -Sir George, who found his great house very lonely, and talked of -selling it and coming to live with them at the cosy old ivy-covered -Vicarage. - -They were all sitting round the dinner-table still; Meg--Mrs. -Charles--and Gracie cracking a surreptitious walnut now and again, Sir -George sipping his own excellent port, and smoking one of his own -extra-specials with a relish he had not experienced for months past; -while the Rev. Charles--the vicar, if you please--recalled some of the -delightful humours of their travel. For never since the world began -had there been a month so packed with wonder and delight. - -The drift-logs on the hearth crackled and spurted, and the -many-coloured flames laughed merrily at their own reflections in the -Jex-polished mahogany and old walnut panelling. And Rosa, the little -maid, had tapped three times on the door and peeped in, and gone back -to Mrs. Jex with word that he was a-talking and a-talking as if he'd -go on all night, and they all looked so happy that she hadn't the -heart to disturb them. To which Mrs. Jex had replied, "All the same, -my gel, we've got to wash up, and so we'll begin on these." - -"I'm so glad," said Gracie, during a brief pause, and she knitted her -fingers in front of her on the table and gazed happily on them all. -"You two make me happy just to look at you----" - -"Then is the object of our wedding attained," said Charles, with a -smile and a bow. - -"Almost quite happy," continued the Little Lady. "If only the boys -were here, now----" - -"We ought to hear something soon," said Sir George. "I was hoping the -dispatches might bring some news of them. You don't suppose the -Russians would carry them across with them?" - -"I wouldn't like to say what the Russians might or might not do," said -Eager thoughtfully. "They're a queer lot, from all accounts. I didn't -tell you we called on Lord Deseret as we came through London. He was -very friendly and as nice as could be. Among other things he told us -that, as the result of all his inquiries, he learned from St. -Petersburg that the boys were being kept in Sebastopol of set -purpose." - -"That's odd! Why?" asked Sir George. - -"For the still odder reason, as it was reported to him, that they were -safer inside than outside." - -"And who was it was playing Providence to them like that?" - -"He could only surmise, but I am not at all sure that he told us all -he knew. He is an old diplomat, you know." - -"And to whom did his surmises point?" - -"I gathered it was towards Mme Beteta, the Spanish dancer. You -remember she made something of a furore in London when she was over -here." - -"But what on earth has she got to do with our boys?" asked Gracie, -kindling. - -"She seemed to take a fancy to them. You remember how Jim used to -write about her." - -"But how could a woman such as that exercise any influence in such a -matter?" asked Sir George. - -"Ah!----" - -Then there came a knock on the front door, and they heard Rosa trip -along to answer it. - -And the next moment Rosa's white face appeared at the dining-room -door, and Rosa's pale lips gasped: - -"Oh mum, miss, 't's 'is ghost--Master Jim!" - -And Jim pushed past her into the room, and they all sprang up to meet -him. - -Gracie was nearest, and she just flung her arms round his neck crying, -"Oh Jim! _Jim!_"; And he put his left arm round her and kissed her, -and put her back into her chair. - -It was many minutes before they could settle to rational talk, for -Mrs. Jex must come hurrying in, and Jim kissed her too, and seemed -inclined to go round the whole company. But then they came to -soberness with the inevitable question: - -"And Jack?" - -And an expressive gesture of Jim's left hand prepared them for the -worst. - -"The shell that took this," he said, glancing down at his empty -sleeve, "took Jack too. I did my best"--and he looked anxiously at -Gracie and Eager--"I tried to fling it away, but it burst, and--and-- -that was the end. It was days before I knew." - -By degrees he told them all the story; and saddened as they were by -the loss of one, they could not but soberly rejoice that one at all -events had been spared to them. - -He told them of the Greskis and all their kindnesses, and how he had -brought them hone with him, since Greski was set on ending his -servitude with Russia, and now it would be supposed that they had -perished in the bombardment, and so no consequences could be visited -on their friends in Poland because of his desertion. He had settled -them for the time being in a quiet hotel in Liverpool, and later on -they would decide further as to their future. - -Eager had been very thoughtful while Jim talked. Now he said: - -"Do you feel able to come along with me to Caine, my boy? Mrs. -Jex was telling me that old Mrs. Lee is lying at the point of death. -It is just possible--But I don't know," he said musingly, with a -tumult of thoughts behind his fixed gaze at Jim "It does not matter -now. . . . Still, I imagine your grandfather. . . . Yes, I think we -must go." - -"I'm ready," said Jim, and they two set off at once for Carne, and the -others gathered round the fire and talked by snatches of it all, and -Gracie mopped her eyes at thought of all those two boys had suffered, -and of Jack, and of Jim's poor arm--and everything. - -"He has become a very fine man," said Sir George. "A man to be proud -of, my dear." - -And Meg kissed her warmly and whispered, "Make him happy, dear!" - - - - -CHAPTER LXIX -"THE RIGHT ONE" - - -A woman from the village opened the door, and stared at Eager and Jim -in vast surprise. "How is Mrs. Lee to-night, Mrs. Kenyon?" asked -Eager. - -"'Oo's varry low. 'Oo just lies an' nivver spakes a word." - -"Well now"--very emphatically--"I want you not to go in, or speak to -her, till we come down again. You understand?" - -"I understand, and I dunnot want to spake to her." - -They went quietly along the stone passage, past the door of the room -where the sick woman lay, and tapped on the door of Sir Denzil's -apartments. - -Kennet opened it with a wide stare, and they went in. - -Sir Denzil was lingering over his dinner. - -"So you've got home, Mr. Eager----" he lifted his glass of wine to his -health. Then catching sight of Jim behind--"Ah, Jim, my boy, so you've -come home at last!" - -"All that's left of me, sir." - -"Ah--I see. Well, well! Better half a loaf than no bread." And he -stood up and got out his snuff-box, tapped it into good order inside, -and extracted a pinch. "I've been expecting you ever since we got news -of the fall of Sebastopol. And Jack----? - -"Jack is dead, sir." - -"So!" And the grizzled brows went up in inquiry for more. - -"He was killed by the same shell that took my arm. Why it did not take -us both I do not know." - -"Dear, dear! The ways of Providence are past our finding out. Let us -accept her gifts without questioning. I am delighted to see you, my -dear boy--delighted. Now that we have got you safe home we must make -the most of you." And for the first time in his life Eager got glimpse -of a Sir Denzil he had never known before, and could hardly have -imagined, had it not been his custom to credit every man with more -possibilities of grace than outside appearances might seem to warrant. - -"And now," continued Sir Denzil, with anxious warmth, "I hope you've -had enough of war, and are ready to settle down here and make the most -of what is left to you." - -"It has been a trying time, sir. I shall be glad of a rest." - -But Sir Denzil was gazing at him with something of the fixity of -Charles Eager's look before they left the Rectory. He took a -thoughtful pinch of snuff, with a sudden relapse into his old manner. -Then he nodded his head slowly several times, and said, "No . . . I -think not . . . No need--now. . . ." And he looked across at Eager and -said: "It occurred to me that if he went down and saw that old -woman . . . but it is not necessary now. Nothing she could say----" - -"I would like to see her, by your leave, sir," said Jim. "After all, -she was good to us boys, in her own way, you know." - -"Very well," said Sir Denzil, after a moment's hesitation, as though -he shrunk from subjecting his new-found satisfaction to any test -whatever. "Only--remember! Her whole life has been a lie, and we -cannot trust a word she says." And they went downstairs, and along the -stone passage, to the side-room in which Nance Lee's baby had slept -his first sleep at Carne, that black night one-and-twenty years -before. - -"Yon other woman will have told her," said Sir Denzil, stopping short -of the door as the thought struck him. - -"No; I told her not to," said Eager. - -"Ah!"--with a quick look at him--"then you had the same idea." And -they went quietly in. - -Mrs. Lee was lying motionless on her back, and her thin gray face in -its frilled white nightcap looked so set and rigid that at first they -thought her dead. - -Sir Denzil nodded to Eager to speak to her, and stepped back out of -sight. - -"Mrs. Lee," said Eager, bending over her, "here is one of our boys -come back from death. He wished to see you." - -The dim old eyes opened and stared wildly at them all for a moment, -then settled on Jim in a long, thin, piercing gaze. "Don't you know -me, Mrs. Lee?" he asked. - -"Ay--shore! . . . Yo're----" and she struggled up to her bony elbow to -look closer, and caught a glimpse of Sir Denzil behind--"yo're Jack!" -and fell back on to her pillow. - -They thought she was gone; but she suddenly opened her eyes again and -laughed a thin, shrill little laugh, and said: - -"So t'reet un's come back, after aw!" - -And then her meagre body straightened itself in the bed, and she lay -still. - -"I knew we'd get nothing out of her," said Sir Denzil, when they had -got back to his room. "But whatever she said would have made no -difference. You are Carron of Caine, my boy; and, thanks to our friend -here, Carne will have a better master than it has had for many a day." - - - - -CHAPTER LXX -ALL'S WELL! - - -"Gracie, dear!" said Jim, "will you make me the happiest man in all -the world? I've hungered and thirsted for you all these months, and I -believe old Jack would wish it so if he knew." - -"Oh, Jim"--and she put up her arms and drew down his head, and kissed -him with a little sob--"if you had both come back, it would have -killed me to part you; but truly, truly, my love, I love you with all -my heart." - -"God bless you, dear! I will do my best to make you happy." - -"I'm as happy as I can be, Jim; but perhaps if you gave me another -kiss----" - -So that great matter settled itself in the great settlement, an there -is little more to tell. - -Sir George insisted on the Greskis coming out to Knoyle for a time, -until he should find some suitable opening for Louis. Nothing was too -good for such friends-in-need [t?] their recovered Jim, and they all -delighted in Mme Greski's fine foreign manners and the lively Tatia's -exuberant joy after their deliverance from Russia. - -Lord Deseret came down from London to the wedding, and brought with -him two magnificent presents--diamonds from himself, which must have -represented an unusually good night's winnings at the green board, and -a wonderful rope of pearls from Mme Beteta, at which Gracie was -inclined at first to look askance, though her eyes could not help -shining at sight of them. - -"You may take them without any qualms, my dear," said Lord Deseret. -"It is possible that you owe your husband to madame"--and he may have -added, to himself, "in more senses than one." - -"Why? How is that?" asked Gracie quickly. - -"Madame is now the morganatic wife of one of the Russian Grand Dukes, -and I have every reason to believe that it was due to urgent -representations on her part, some time before she consented to marry -him, that our two boys were not allowed out of Sebastopol. She thought -they would be safer inside, and I have no doubt she was right. The -chance inside were about ten to one in their favour, I should say." - -"Then, indeed, I thank her," said Gracie heartily; "though old Jim -does look so glum at having been cotton-woolled like that. But I don't -quite understand why the lady put herself about so much on their -account." - -And that was one of the things she never did understand. - -Lord Deseret waived the question lightly with: - -"Woman's whims are past all understanding, my dear. Perhaps she fell -in love with Jim, as the rest of us did." - -"Why, she was old enough to be his mother," said Gracie, with little -idea how near she may have come to the truth. - -"You understand, I suppose?" he said to Jim that night, as they sat -smoking together. - -And Jim nodded soberly. - -"When did she marry?" he asked presently. - -"Last March. Your father was kilted in January." - -"And Kattie is still with her?" - -"Still with her, and going to make as fine a dancer as she is pretty a -girl. You did well for her when you placed her in the Beteta's hands, -my boy." - -"Poor little Kattie!" said Jim. "I'm glad she came to me that night." - -And here this chronicle may end. The more one ponders this strange and -complex coil of life, with its broken hopes and unexplained mysteries, -its short-cut strands and long-spun ropes, the more one draws to -simple hope and trust in the Higher Powers. The knots and tangles -twisted by man's ill doing defy at times all human efforts at their -straightening. In face of such, the utmost that a man may do is to -bear himself bravely, to do his duty to God and his neighbour, and -leave the issue in the hands of a higher understanding than his own. - - - - -PRINTED BY -HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., -LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coil of Carne, by John Oxenham - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COIL OF CARNE *** - -***** This file should be named 53819-8.txt or 53819-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/1/53819/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Alberta) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/53819-8.zip b/old/53819-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0448018..0000000 --- a/old/53819-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/53819-h.zip b/old/53819-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 725ff27..0000000 --- a/old/53819-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/53819-h/53819-h.htm b/old/53819-h/53819-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index e3758f6..0000000 --- a/old/53819-h/53819-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17023 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> -<html> -<head> -<title>The Coil of Carne.</title> -<meta name="Author" content="John Oxenham"> - -<meta name="Publisher" content="The Copp, Clark Co. Limited"> -<meta name="Date" content="1911"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> -<style type="text/css"> -body {margin-left:10%; - margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} - - -p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} - -p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} - -p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} - -h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} - -span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:110%;} -span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} - -hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt} - -hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} - -hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} -hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} - -p.hang1 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em;} -p.hang2 {margin-left:3em; text-indent:0em;} - -</style> - -</head> - -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coil of Carne, by John Oxenham - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Coil of Carne - -Author: John Oxenham - -Release Date: December 28, 2016 [EBook #53819] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COIL OF CARNE *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Alberta) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> -1. Page scan source:the Web Archive:<br> -https://archive.org/details/cihm_75374<br> -(University of Alberta)</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>THE<br> -COIL OF CARNE</h3> -<br> -<br> -<h5>BY</h5> -<h4>JOHN OXENHAM</h4> -<h5>AUTHOR OF "THE LONG ROAD"</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><span style="font-size:smaller">TORONTO</span><br> -THE COPP, CLARK CO. LIMITED<br> -<span style="font-size:smaller">1911</span></h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h5>TO</h5> - -<h4>RODERIC DUNKERLEY, B.A., B.D.</h4> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<div style="margin-left:10%"> -<p>"<i>And what are you eager for, Mr. Eager?</i>"</p> -<p>"<i>Men, women, and children--bodies and souls</i>."</p> -<p style="text-indent:50%"><i>Intra, page</i> 53.</p> -<br> -<p>"<i>By God's help we will make men of them, the rest we must trust to -Providence</i>."</p> -<p style="text-indent:50%"><i>Intra, page</i> 66.</p> -<br> -<p>"<i>Catch them young!</i>"</p> -<p style="text-indent:50%"><i>Intra, page</i> 67.</p> -<br> -<p>"<i>No man is past mending till he's dead, perhaps not then</i>."</p> -<p style="text-indent:50%"><i>Intra, page</i> 82.</p> -</div> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%; font-weight:bold"> -<colgroup><col style="width:25%; vertical-align:top; text-align:right"><col style="width:75%; vertical-align:top; text-align:left"></colgroup> -<tr> -<td colspan="2"><h3>CONTENTS</h3></td> -</tr><tr> - -<td colspan="2"><h4><a name="div1Ref_1.00" href="#div1_1.00">BOOK I</a></h4></td> -</tr><tr> -<td>CHAPTER</td> -<td> </td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_1.01" href="#div1_1.01">I</a>.</td> -<td>THE HOUSE OF CARNE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_1.02" href="#div1_1.02">II</a>.</td> -<td>THE STAR IN THE DUST</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_1.03" href="#div1_1.03">III</a>.</td> -<td>THE FIRST OF THE COIL</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_1.04" href="#div1_1.04">IV</a>.</td> -<td>THE COIL COMPLETE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_1.05" href="#div1_1.05">V</a>.</td> -<td>IN THE COIL</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="2"><h4><a name="div1Ref_2.00" href="#div1_2.00">BOOK II</a></h4></td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.06" href="#div1_2.06">VI</a>.</td> -<td>FREEMEN OF THE FLATS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.07" href="#div1_2.07">VII</a>.</td> -<td>EAGER HEART</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.08" href="#div1_2.08">VIII</a>.</td> -<td>SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.09" href="#div1_2.09">IX</a>.</td> -<td>MORE OF SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.10" href="#div1_2.10">X</a>.</td> -<td>GROWING FREEMEN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.11" href="#div1_2.11">XI</a>.</td> -<td>THE LITTLE LADY</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.12" href="#div1_2.12">XII</a>.</td> -<td>MANY MEANS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.13" href="#div1_2.13">XIII</a>.</td> -<td>MOUNTING</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.14" href="#div1_2.14">XIV</a>.</td> -<td>WIDENING WAYS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.15" href="#div1_2.15">XV</a>.</td> -<td>DIVERGING LINES</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.16" href="#div1_2.16">XVI</a>.</td> -<td>A CUT AT THE COIL</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.17" href="#div1_2.17">XVII</a>.</td> -<td>ALMOST SOLVED</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.18" href="#div1_2.18">XVIII</a>.</td> -<td>ALMOST SOLVED AGAIN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.19" href="#div1_2.19">XIX</a>.</td> -<td>WHERE'S JIM?</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.20" href="#div1_2.20">XX</a>.</td> -<td>A NARROW SQUEAK</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.21" href="#div1_2.21">XXI</a>.</td> -<td>A WARM WELCOME</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_2.22" href="#div1_2.22">XXII</a>.</td> -<td>WHERE'S JACK?</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="2"><h4><a name="div1Ref_3.00" href="#div1_3.00">BOOK III</a></h4></td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.23" href="#div1_3.23">XXIII</a>.</td> -<td>BREAKING IN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.24" href="#div1_3.24">XXIV</a>.</td> -<td>AN UNEXPECTED GUEST</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.25" href="#div1_3.25">XXV</a>.</td> -<td>REVELATION AND SPECULATION</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.26" href="#div1_3.26">XXVI</a>.</td> -<td>JIM'S TIGHT PLACE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.27" href="#div1_3.27">XXVII</a>.</td> -<td>TWO TO ONE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.28" href="#div1_3.28">XXVIII</a>.</td> -<td>THE LINE OF CLEAVAGE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.29" href="#div1_3.29">XXIX</a>.</td> -<td>GRACIE'S DILEMMA</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.30" href="#div1_3.30">XXX</a>.</td> -<td>NEVER THE SAME AGAIN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.31" href="#div1_3.31">XXXI</a>.</td> -<td>DESERET</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.32" href="#div1_3.32">XXXII</a>.</td> -<td>THE LADY WITH THE FAN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.33" href="#div1_3.33">XXXIII</a>.</td> -<td>A STIRRING OF MUD</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.34" href="#div1_3.34">XXXIV</a>.</td> -<td>THE BOYS IN THE MUD</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.35" href="#div1_3.35">XXXV</a>.</td> -<td>EXPLANATIONS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.36" href="#div1_3.36">XXXVI</a>.</td> -<td>JIM'S WAY</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.37" href="#div1_3.37">XXXVII</a>.</td> -<td>A HOPELESS QUEST</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.38" href="#div1_3.38">XXXVIII</a>.</td> -<td>LORD DESERET HELPS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.39" href="#div1_3.39">XXXIX</a>.</td> -<td>OLD SETH GOES HOME</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.40" href="#div1_3.40">XL</a>.</td> -<td>OUT OF THE NIGHT</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.41" href="#div1_3.41">XLI</a>.</td> -<td>HORSE AND FOOT</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.42" href="#div1_3.42">XLII</a>.</td> -<td>DUE EAST</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.43" href="#div1_3.43">XLIII</a>.</td> -<td>JIM TO THE FORE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.44" href="#div1_3.44">XLIV</a>.</td> -<td>JIM'S LUCK</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.45" href="#div1_3.45">XLV</a>.</td> -<td>MORE REVELATIONS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.46" href="#div1_3.46">XLVI</a>.</td> -<td>THE BLACK LANDING</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.47" href="#div1_3.47">XLVII</a>.</td> -<td>ALMA</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.48" href="#div1_3.48">XLVIII</a>.</td> -<td>JIM'S RIDE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.49" href="#div1_3.49">XLIX</a>.</td> -<td>AMONG THE BULL-PUPS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.50" href="#div1_3.50">L</a>.</td> -<td>RED-TAPE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.51" href="#div1_3.51">LI</a>.</td> -<td>THE VALLEY OF DEATH</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.52" href="#div1_3.52">LII</a>.</td> -<td>PATCHING UP</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.53" href="#div1_3.53">LIII</a>.</td> -<td>THE FIGHT IN THE FOG</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.54" href="#div1_3.54">LIV</a>.</td> -<td>AN ALLY OF PROVIDENCE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.55" href="#div1_3.55">LV</a>.</td> -<td>RETRIBUTION</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.56" href="#div1_3.56">LVI</a>.</td> -<td>DULL DAYS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.57" href="#div1_3.57">LVII</a>.</td> -<td>HOT OVENS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.58" href="#div1_3.58">LVIII</a>.</td> -<td>CHILL NEWS</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.59" href="#div1_3.59">LIX</a>.</td> -<td>TOUCH AND GO FOR THE COIL</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.60" href="#div1_3.60">LX</a>.</td> -<td>INSIDE THE FIERY RING</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.61" href="#div1_3.61">LXI</a>.</td> -<td>WEARY WAITING</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.62" href="#div1_3.62">LXII</a>.</td> -<td>FROM ONE TO MANY</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.63" href="#div1_3.63">LXIII</a>.</td> -<td>EAGER ON THE SCENT</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.64" href="#div1_3.64">LXIV</a>.</td> -<td>THE LONG SLOW SIEGE</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.65" href="#div1_3.65">LXV</a>.</td> -<td>THE CUTTING OF THE COIL</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.66" href="#div1_3.66">LXVI</a>.</td> -<td>PURGATORY</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.67" href="#div1_3.67">LXVII</a>.</td> -<td>THE BEGINNING OF THE END</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.68" href="#div1_3.68">LXVIII</a>.</td> -<td>HOME AGAIN</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.69" href="#div1_3.69">LXIX</a>.</td> -<td>"THE RIGHT ONE"</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a name="div1Ref_3.70" href="#div1_3.70">LXX</a>.</td> -<td>ALL'S WELL</td> -</tr></table> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3>THE COIL OF CARNE</h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3><a name="div1_1.00" href="#div1Ref_1.00">BOOK I</a></h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_1.01" href="#div1Ref_1.01">CHAPTER I</a></h4> -<h5>THE HOUSE OF CARNE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">If by any chance you should ever sail on a low ebb-tide along a -certain western coast, you will, if you are of a receptive humour and -new to the district, receive a somewhat startling impression of the -dignity of the absolutely flat.</p> - -<p class="normal">Your ideas of militant and resistant grandeur may have been associated -hitherto with the iron frontlets and crashing thunders of Finisterre -or Sark, of Cornwall or the Western Isle. Here you are faced with a -repressive curbing of the waters, equal in every respect to theirs, -but so quietly displayed as to be somewhat awesome, as mighty power in -restraint must always be.</p> - -<p class="normal">As far as eye can reach--sand, nothing but sand, overpowering by -reason of its immensity, a very Sahara of the coast. Mighty levels -stretching landward and seaward--for you are only threading a -capricious channel among the banks which the equinoctials will twist -at their pleasure, and away to the west the great grim sea lies -growling in his sandy chains until his time comes. Then, indeed, he -will swell and boil and seethe in his channels till he is full ready, -and come creeping silently over his barriers, and then--up and away -over the flats with the speed of a racehorse, and death to the unwary. -You may see the humping back of him among the outer banks if you climb -a few feet up your mast. Then, if you turn towards the land, you will -see, far away across the brown ribbed flats, a long rim of yellow sand -backed by bewildering ranges of low white hummocks, and farther away -still a filmy blue line of distant hills.</p> - -<p class="normal">Here and there a fisherman's cottage accentuates the loneliness of it -all. At one point, as the sun dips in the west, a blaze of light -flashes out as though a hidden battery had suddenly unmasked itself; -and if you ask your skipper what it is, he will tell you that is -Carne. Then, if he is a wise man, he will upsail and away, to make -Wytham or Wynsloe before it is dark, for the shifting banks off Carne -are as hungry as Death, and as tricky as the devil.</p> - -<p class="normal">For over three hundred years the grim gray house of Carne has stood -there and watched the surface of all things round about it change with -the seasons and the years and yet remain in all essential things the -same. When the wild equinoctials swept the flats till they hummed like -a harp, the sand-hills stirred and changed their aspects as though the -sleeping giants below turned uneasily in their beds. For, under the -whip of the wind, grain by grain the sand-hills creep hither and -thither and accommodate themselves to circumstances in strange and -ghostly fashions. So that, after the fury of the night, the peace of -the morning looked in vain for the landmarks of the previous day.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the cold seabanks out beyond were twisted and tortured this way -and that by the winds and waves, and within them lay many an honest -seaman, and some maybe who might have found it difficult to prove -their right to so honourable a title. But the banks were always there, -silent and deadly even when they shimmered in the sunshine.</p> - -<p class="normal">And generations of Carrons had held Carne, and had even occupied it at -times, and had passed away and given place to others. But Carne was -always there, grim and gray, and mostly silent.</p> - -<p class="normal">The outward aspects of things might change, indeed, but at bottom they -remained very much the same, and human nature changed as little as the -rest, though its outward aspects varied with the times. What strange -twist of brain or heart set its owner to the building of Carne has -puzzled many a wayfarer coming upon it in its wide sandy solitudes for -the first time. And the answer to that question answers several -others, and accounts for much.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was Denzil Carron who built the house in the year Queen Mary died. -He was of the old faith, a Romanist of the Romanists, narrow in his -creed, fanatical in his exercise of it, at once hot- and cold-blooded -in pursuit of his aims. When Elizabeth came to the throne he looked to -be done by as he had done, and had very reasonable doubts as to the -quality of the mercy which might be strained towards him. So he -quietly withdrew from London, sold his houses and lands in other -counties, and sought out the remotest and quietest spot he could find -in the most Romanist county in England. And there he built the great -house of Carne, as a quiet harbourage for himself and such victims of -the coming persecutions as might need his assistance.</p> - -<p class="normal">But no retributive hand was stretched after him. He was Englishman -first and Romanist afterwards. Calais, and the other national -crumblings and disasters of Mary's short reign, had been bitter pills -to him, and he hated a Spaniard like the devil. He saw a brighter -outlook for his country, though possibly a darker one for his Church, -in Elizabeth's firm grip than any her opponents could offer. So he -shut his face stonily against the intriguers, who came from time to -time and endeavoured to wile him into schemes for the subversion of -the Crown and the advancement of the true Church, and would have none -of them. And so he was left in peace and quietness by the powers that -were, and found himself free to indulge to the full in those religious -exercises on the strict observance of which his future state depended.</p> - -<p class="normal">His wife died before the migration, leaving him one son, Denzil, to -bring up according to his own ideas. And a dismal time the lad had of -it. Surrounded by black jowls and gloomy-faced priests, tied hand and -foot by ordinances which his growing spirit loathed, all the -brightness and joy of life crushed out by the weight of a religion -which had neither time nor place for such things, he lived a narrow -monastic life till his father died. Then, being of age, and able at -last to speak for himself, he quietly informed his quondam governors -that he had had enough of religion to satisfy all reasonable -requirements of this life and the next, and that now he intended to -enjoy himself. Carne he would maintain as his father had maintained -it, for the benefit of those whom his father had loved, or at all -events had materially cared for. And so, good-bye, Black-Jowls! and Ho -for Life and the joy of it!</p> - -<p class="normal">He went up to London, bought an estate in Kent, ruffled it with the -best of them, married and had sons and daughters, kept his head out of -all political nooses, fought the Spaniards under Admiral John Hawkins -and Francis Drake, and died wholesomely in his bed in his house in -Kent, a very different man from what Carne would have made him.</p> - -<p class="normal">And that is how the grim gray house of Carne came to be planted in the -wilderness.</p> - -<p class="normal">Now and again, in the years that followed, the Carron of the day, if -he fell on dolorous times through extravagance of living--as -happened--or suffered sudden access of religious fervour--as also -happened, though less frequently--would take himself to Carne and -there mortify flesh and spirit till things, financial and spiritual, -came round again, either for himself or the next on the rota. And so -some kind of connection was always maintained between Carne and its -owners, though years might pass without their coming face to face.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Master of Carne in the year 1833 was that Denzil Carron who came -to notoriety in more ways than one during the Regency. His father had -been of the quieter strain, with a miserly twist in him which -commended the wide, sweet solitude and simple, inexpensive life of -Carne as exactly suited to his close humour. He could feel rich there -on very little; and after the death of his wife, who brought him a -very ample fortune, he devoted himself to the education of his boy and -the enjoyment, by accumulation, of his wealth. But a short annual -visit to London on business affairs afforded the boy a glimpse of what -he was missing, and his father's body was not twelve hours underground -before he had shaken off the sands of Carne and was posting to London -in a yellow chariot with four horses and two very elevated post-boys, -like a silly moth to its candle.</p> - -<p class="normal">There, in due course, by processes of rapid assimilation and lavish -dispersion, he climbed to high altitudes, and breathed the atmosphere -of royal rascality refined by the gracious presence of George, Prince -of Wales. For the replenishment of his depleted exchequer he married -Miss Betty Carmichael, only daughter and sole heiress of the great -Calcutta nabob. She died in child-birth, leaving him a boy whose -education his own diversions left him little time or disposition to -attend to. He won the esteem, such as it was, of the Prince Regent by -running through the heart the Duke of Astrolabe, who had, in his cups, -made certain remarks of a quite unnecessarily truthful character -concerning Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom he persisted in calling Madame -Bellois; and lost it for ever by the injudicious insertion of a slice -of skinned orange inside the royal neckcloth in a moment of undue -elevation, producing thereby so great a shock to the royal system and -dignity as to bring it within an ace of an apoplexy and the end of its -great and glorious career.</p> - -<p class="normal">Under the shadow of this exploit Carron found it judicious to retire -for a time to the wilderness, and carried his boy with him. He had had -a racketing time, and a period of rest and recuperation would be good -both for himself and his fortunes.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had hoped and believed that his trifling indiscretion would in time -be forgotten and forgiven by his royal comrade. But it never was. The -royal cuticle crinkled at the very mention of the name of Carron, and -Sir Denzil remained in retirement, embittered somewhat at the price he -had had to pay for so trivial a jest, and solacing himself as best he -could.</p> - -<p class="normal">Once only he emerged, and then solely on business bent.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the panic year, when thousands were rushing to ruin, he gathered -together his accumulated savings, girded his loins, and stepped -quietly and with wide-open eyes into the wild mêlée. He played a -cautious, far-sighted game, and emerged triumphant over the dry-sucked -bodies of the less wary, with overflowing coffers and many gray hairs. -He was prepared to greet the royal beck with showers of gold once -more. But the royal neck, though it now wore the ermine in its own -right, could not forget the clammy kiss of the orange, and Carron went -sulkily back to Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the Sailor Prince stepped up from quarter-deck to throne, he -returned to London and took his place in society once more. But ten -years in the desert had placed him out of touch with things; and with -reluctance he had to admit to himself that if the star of Carron was -to blaze once more, it must be in the person of the next on the roll.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, characteristically enough, he set himself to the dispersal of -the flimsy cloudlet of disgrace which attached to his name by seeking -to win for his boy what the royal disfavour had denied to himself.</p> - -<p class="normal">Now, indeed, that the royal sufferer was dead, the rising generation, -when they recalled it, rather enjoyed the crinkling of the royal skin. -They would even have welcomed the crinkler among them as a reminder of -the hilarities of former days. But the fashion of things had changed. -He did not feel at home with them as he had done with their fathers, -and he who had shone as a star, though he had indeed disappeared like -a rocket, had no mind to figure at their feasts as a lively old stick.</p> - -<p class="normal">Young Denzil's education had been of the most haphazard during the -years his father was starring it in London. On the retirement to -Carne, however, Sir Denzil took the boy in hand himself and inculcated -in him philosophies and views of life, based upon his own experiences, -which, while they might tend to the production of a gentleman, as then -considered, left much to be desired from some other points of view.</p> - -<p class="normal">He bought him a cornetcy in the Hussars, supplied him freely with -money, and required only that his acquaintance should be confined to -those circles of which he himself had once been so bright an ornament.</p> - -<p class="normal">The young man was a success. He was well-built and well-featured, and -his manners had been his father's care. He had all the family faults, -and succeeded admirably in veiling such virtues as he possessed, with -the exception of one or two which happened to be fashionable. He was -hot-headed, free-handed, jovial, heedless of consequences in pursuit -of his own satisfactions, incapable of petty meanness, but quite -capable of those graver lapses which the fashion of the times -condoned. With a different upbringing, and flung on his own resources, -Denzil Carron might have gone far and on a very much higher plane than -he chose.</p> - -<p class="normal">As it was, his career also ended somewhat abruptly.</p> - -<p class="normal">At eight-and-twenty he had his captaincy in the 8th Hussars, and was -in the exuberant enjoyment of health, wealth, and everything that -makes for happiness--except only those things through which alone -happiness may ever hope to be attained. He had been in and out of love -a score of times, with results depressing enough in several cases to -the objects of his ardent but short-lived affections. It was the -fashion of the times, and earned him no word of censure. He loved and -hated, gambled and fought, danced and drank, with the rest, and was no -whit better or worse than they.</p> - -<p class="normal">At Shole House, down in Hampshire, he met Lady Susan Sandys, sister of -the Earl of Quixande--fell in love with her through pity, maybe, at -the forlornness of her state, which might indeed have moved the heart -of a harder man. For Quixande was a warm man, even in a warm age, and -Shole was ante-room to Hades. Carron pitied her, liked her--she was -not lacking in good looks--persuaded himself, indeed, that he loved -her. For her sake he summarily cut himself free from his other current -feminine entanglements, carried her hotfoot to Gretna--a labour of -love surely, but quite unnecessary, since her brother was delighted to -be rid of her, and Sir Denzil had no fault to find either with the -lady or her portion--and returned to London a married, but very -doubtfully a wiser, man.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lady Susan did her best, no doubt. She was full of gratitude and -affection for the gallant warrior who had picked her out of the -shades, and set her life in the sunshine. But Denzil was no Bayard, -and it needed a stronger nature than Lady Susan's to lift him to the -higher level.</p> - -<p class="normal">For quite a month--for thirty whole days and nights, counting those -spent on the road to and from Gretna--Lady Susan kept her hold on her -husband. Then his regimental duties could no longer be neglected. They -grew more and more exigent as time passed, and the young wife was left -more and more to the society of her father-in-law. Sir Denzil accepted -the position with the grace of an old courtier, and did his duty by -her, palliated Captain Denzil's defections with cynical kindness, and -softened her lot as best he might. And the gallant captain, exhausted -somewhat with the strain of his thirty days' conservatism, resumed his -liberal progression through the more exhilarating circles of -fashionable folly, and went the pace the faster for his temporary -withdrawal.</p> - -<p class="normal">The end came abruptly, and eight months after that quite unnecessary -ride to Gretna Lady Susan was again speeding up the North Road, but -this time with her father-in-law, their destination Carne. Captain -Denzil was hiding for his life, with a man's blood on his hands; and -his father's hopes for the blazing star of Carron were in the dust.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_1.02" href="#div1Ref_1.02">CHAPTER II</a></h4> -<h5>THE STAR IN THE DUST</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And the cause of it all?--Madame Damaris, of Covent Garden Theatre, -the most bewitching woman and the most exquisite dancer of her time. -Perhaps Captain Denzil's handsome face and gallant bearing carried him -farther into her good graces than the others. Perhaps their jealous -tongues wagged more freely than circumstances actually justified. -Anyway, the rumours which, as usual, came last of all to Lady Susan's -ears caused her very great distress. She was in that state of health -in which depression of spirits may have lasting and ulterior -consequences. There were rumours too of a return of the cholera, and -she was nervous about it; and Sir Denzil was already considering the -advisability of a quiet journey to that quietest of retreats: the -great house of Carne, when that happened which left him no time for -consideration, but sent him speeding thither with the forlorn young -wife as fast as horses could carry them.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was in London at this time a certain Count d'Aumont attached to -the French Embassy. He was a man of some note, and was understood to -be related in some roundabout way to that branch of the Orleans family -which force of circumstance had just succeeded in seating on the -precarious throne of France. He cut a considerable figure in society, -and had most remarkable luck at play. He possessed also a quick tongue -and a flexibility of wrist which so far had served to guard his -reputation from open assault.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had known Madame Damaris prior to her triumphant descent on London, -and was much piqued when he found himself ousted from her good graces -by men whom he could have run through with his left hand, but who -could squander on her caprices thousands to his hundreds. Head and -front of the offenders, by reason of the lady's partiality, was Denzil -Carron, and the two men hated one another like poison.</p> - -<p class="normal">Denzil was playing at Black's one night, when a vacancy was occasioned -in the party by the unexpected call to some official duty of one of -the players. D'Aumont was standing by, and to Denzil's disgust was -invited by one of the others to take the vacant chair.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had watched the Frenchman's play more than once, and had found it -extremely interesting. In fact, on one occasion he had been restrained -with difficulty from creating a disturbance which must inevitably have -led to an inquiry and endless unpleasantness. Then, too, but a short -time before, hearing of some remarks D'Aumont had made concerning -Madame Damaris and himself, Denzil, in his hot-headed way, had sworn -that he would break the Frenchman's neck the very first time they met.</p> - -<p class="normal">It is possible that these matters were within the recollection of -Captain O'Halloran when he boisterously invited D'Aumont to his -partnership at the whist-table that night. For O'Halloran delighted in -rows, and was ready for a "jule," either as principal or second, at -any hour of the day or night. He was also very friendly with D'Aumont, -and it is possible that the latter desired a collision with Carron as -a pretext for his summary dismissal at the point of the sword. However -it came about, the meeting ended in disaster.</p> - -<p class="normal">The play ran smoothly for a time, and the onlookers had begun to -believe the sitting would end without any explosion, when Carron rose -suddenly to his feet, saying:</p> - -<p class="normal">"At your old tricks, M. le Comte. You cheated!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Liar!" said the Count.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then Carron laid hold of the card-table, swung it up in his powerful -arms, and brought it down with a crash on the Frenchman's head. The -remnants of it were hanging round his neck like a new kind of clown's -ruffle before the guineas had ceased spinning in the corners of the -room.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He knows where to find me," said Denzil, and marched out and went -thoughtfully home to his quarters to await the Frenchman's challenge, -which for most men had proved equivalent to a death-warrant.</p> - -<p class="normal">Instead, there came to him in the gray of the dawn one of his friends, -in haste, and with a face like the morning's.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ha, Pole! I hardly expected you to carry for a damned Frenchman. -Where do we meet, and when?" said Carron brusquely, for he had been -waiting all night, and he hated waiting.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God knows," said young Pole, with a grim humour which none would have -looked to find in him. "He's gone to find out. He's dead!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dead!--Of a crack on the head!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A splinter ran through his throat, and he bled out before they could -stop it. You had better get away, Carron. There'll be a deuce of a -row, because of his connections, you see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll stay and see it through. I'd no intent to kill the man--not that -way, at any rate."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll see it through from the outside a sight easier than from the -inside," said young Pole. "You get away. We'll see to the rest. It's -easier to keep out of the jug than to get out of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Carron pondered the question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see my father," he said, with an accession of wisdom.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's right," said young Pole. "He'll know. Go at once. I'm off."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a week since Denzil had been to the house in Grosvenor Square, -and when he got there he was surprised to find, early as it was, a -travelling-chariot at the door, with trunks strapped on, all ready for -the road.</p> - -<p class="normal">He met his father's man coming down the stairs with an armful of -shawls.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil, Kennet. At once, please."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just in time, sir. Another ten minutes and we'd been gone. He's all -dressed, Mr. Denzil. Will you come up, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Denzil, you got my note," said Sir Denzil at sight of him. "We -settled it somewhat hurriedly. But Lady Susan is nervous over this -cholera business. What's wrong?" he asked quickly, as Kennet quitted -the room.</p> - -<p class="normal">Denzil quietly told him the whole matter, and his father took snuff -very gravely. He saw all his hopes ruined at a blow; but he gave no -sign, except the tightening of the bones under the clear white skin of -his face, and a deepening of the furrows in his brow and at the sides -of his mouth.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The man's death is a misfortune--as was his birth, I believe," he -said, as he snuffed gravely again. "Had you any quarrel with him -previously?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had threatened, in a general way, to break his head for wagging his -tongue about me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They may twist that to your hurt," said his father, nodding gravely. -"In any case it means much unpleasantness. I am inclined to think you -would be better out of the way for a time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will do as you think best, sir. I am quite ready to wait and see it -through."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You never can tell how things may go," said his father thoughtfully. -"It all depends on the judge's humour at the time, and that is beyond -any man's calculation. . . . Yes, you will be more comfortable away, -and I will hasten back and see how things go here. . . . And if you -are to go, the sooner the better. . . . You can start with us. We will -drop you at St. Albans, and you will make your way across to Antwerp. -You had better take Kennet," he continued, with the first visible -twinge of regret, as his plans evolved bit by bit. "He is safe, and I -don't trust that man of yours--he has a foxy face. If they follow us -to Carne, you will be at Antwerp by that time. Send us your address, -and I will send you funds there. Here is enough for the time being. -Oblige me by ringing the bell. And, by the way, Denzil, say a kind -word or two to Susan. You have been neglecting her somewhat of late, -and she has felt it. . . . Kennet, tell Lady Susan I am ready, and -inform her ladyship that Mr. Denzil is here, and will accompany us."</p> - -<p class="normal">And ten minutes later the travelling-chariot was bowling away along -the Edgware Road; and the hope which had shone in Lady Susan's eyes at -sight of her husband was dying out with every beat of the horses' -hoofs and every word that passed between the two men. For the matter -had to be told, and the time was short. Sir Denzil had intended to -stop for a time at Carne. Now he must get back at the earliest -possible moment. And, though they made light of the matter, and -described Denzil's hurried journey as a simple measure of precaution, -and a means of escaping unnecessary annoyance, Lady Susan's jangled -nerves adopted gloomier views, and naturally went farther even than -the truth.</p> - -<p class="normal">Denzil did his best to follow his father's suggestion. His conscience -smote him at sight of his wife's pinched face and the shadows under -her eyes--shadows which told of days of sorrow and nights of lonely -weeping, shadows for which he knew he was as responsible as if his -fists had placed them there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am sorry, dear, to bring this trouble on you," he said, pressing -her hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let me go with you, Denzil," she cried, with a catch of hope in her -voice. "Let me go with you, and the trouble will be as nothing."</p> - -<p class="normal">How she would have welcomed any trouble that drove him to her arms -again! But she knew, even as she said it, that it was not possible. -That lay before her, looming large in the vagueness of its mystery, -which sickened her, body and soul, with apprehension. But it was a -path which she must travel alone, and already, almost before they were -fairly started, she was longing for the end of the journey and for -rest. The jolting of the carriage was dreadful to her. The trees and -hedges tumbled over one another in a hazy rout which set her brain -whirling and made her eyes close wearily. She longed for the end of -the journey and for rest--peace and quiet and rest, and the end of -the journey.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We will hope the trouble will soon blow over," said Sir Denzil. "But -we lose nothing by taking precautions. I shall return to town at once -and keep an eye on matters, and as soon as things smooth down Denzil -will join you at Carne." At which Denzil's jaw tightened lugubriously. -He had his own reasons for not desiring to visit Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Mrs. Lee," continued Sir Denzil--for the sake of making talk, -since it seemed to him that silence would surely lead to hysterics on -the part of Lady Susan--"will make you very comfortable. She is a -motherly old soul, though you may find her a trifle uncouth at first; -and Carne is very restful at this time of year. That woman of yours -always struck me as a fool, my dear. I think it is just as well she -decided not to come, but she might have had the grace to give you a -little longer warning. That class of person is compounded of -selfishness and duplicity. They are worse, I think, than the men, and -God knows the men are bad enough. Your man is another of the same -pattern, Denzil. They ought to marry. The result might be interesting, -but I should prefer not having any of it in my service."</p> - -<p class="normal">At St. Albans they parted company. Denzil pressed his wife's hand for -the last time in this world, hired a post-chaise, and started across -country in company with the discomfited Kennet, who regarded the -matter with extreme disfavour both on his own account and his -master's, and Sir Denzil and Lady Susan went bumping along on the way -to Carne.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_1.03" href="#div1Ref_1.03">CHAPTER III</a></h4> -<h5>THE FIRST OF THE COIL</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">A woman trudged heavily along the firm damp sand just below the -bristling tangle of high-water mark, in the direction of Carne. She -wore a long cloak, and bent her head and humped her shoulders over a -small bundle which she hugged tight to her breast.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had hoped to reach the big house before it was dark. But a -north-east gale was blowing, and it caught up the loose tops of the -sand-hills and carried them in streaming clouds along the flats and -made walking difficult. The drift rose no higher than her waist; but -if she stood for a moment to rest, the flying particles immediately -set to work to transform her into a pillar of sand. If she had -stumbled and been unable to rise, the sweeping sand would have covered -her out of sight in five minutes.</p> - -<p class="normal">The flats stretched out before her like an empty desert that had no -end. The black sky above seemed very close by reason of the wrack of -clouds boiling down into the west. Where the sun had set there was -still a wan gleam of yellow light. It seemed to the woman, when she -glanced round now and again through her narrowed lids to make sure of -her whereabouts, as if the sky was slowly closing down on her like the -lid of a great black box. On her right hand the sand-hills loomed -white and ghostly, and were filled with the whistle of the gale in the -wire-grass and the hiss of the flying sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">Far away on her left, the sea chafed and growled behind its banks.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her progress was very slow, but she bent doggedly to the gale, stopped -now and again and leaned bodily against it, then drew her feet out of -the clogs the sand had piled round them and pushed slowly on again. At -last she became aware, by instinct or by the instant's break in the -roar of the wind on her right, that she had reached her journey's end. -She turned up over the crackling tangle, crossed the ankle-deep dry -sand of the upper beach, and stopped for breath under the lee of the -great house of Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was all as dark as the grave, but she knew her way, and after a -moment's rest she passed round the house to the back. Here in a room -on the ground floor a light shone through a window. The window had -neither curtain nor shutter, but was protected by stout iron bars. The -sill was piled high with drifted sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">The sight of the light dissipated a fear which had been in the woman's -heart, but which she had crushed resolutely out of sight. At the same -time it set her heart beating tumultuously, partly in the rebound from -its fear and partly in anticipation of the ungracious welcome she -looked for. She stood for a moment in the storm outside and looked at -the tranquil gleam. Then she slipped under a stone porch, which opened -towards the south-west, and knocked on the door. The door opened -cautiously on the chain at last, six inches or so, and a section of an -old woman's head appeared in the slit and asked gruffly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who's it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's me, mother--Nance!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The door slammed suddenly to, as though to deny her admittance. But -she heard the trembling fingers inside fumbling with the chain. They -got it unsnecked at last, and the door swung open again. The woman -with the burden stepped inside and shut out the drifting sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">The room was a stone-flagged kitchen; but the light of the candle, -and the cheery glow of a coal fire, and the homeliness of the -white-scrubbed table and dresser, and the great oak linen-press, -mellowed its asperities. After the cold north-easter, and the sweeping -sand and the darkness, it was like heaven to the traveller, and she -sank down on a rush-bottomed chair with a sigh of relief.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So tha's come whoam at last," was the welcome that greeted her, in a -voice that was over-harsh lest it should tremble and break. The old -woman's eyes shone like black beads under her white mutch. She sniffed -angrily, and dashed her hand across her face as though to assist her -sight. She spoke the patois of the district. Beyond the understanding -of any but natives even now, it was still more difficult then. It -would be a sorry task to attempt to reproduce it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aye, I've come home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And brought thy shame with thee!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Shame?" said the other quickly. "What shame? He married me, and this -is his boy." And as she straightened up, the cloak fell apart and -disclosed the child. She spoke boldly, but her eyes and her face were -not so brave as her speech.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Married ye?" said the old woman, with a grim laugh that was half sob -and half anger. "I know better. The likes o' him doesna marry the -likes o' you."</p> - -<p class="normal">Holding the sleeping child in her one arm, the girl fumbled in her -bodice and plucked out a paper.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's my lines," she said angrily.</p> - -<p class="normal">The old woman made no attempt to read it, but shook her head again, -and said bitterly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"The likes o' him doesna marry the likes o' you, my lass."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He married me as soon as we got to London."</p> - -<p class="normal">But the old woman only shook her head, and asked, in the tone of one -using an irrefutable argument:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where is he?"</p> - -<p class="normal">At that the girl shook her head also; but she was saved further reply -by the baby yawning and stretching and opening his eyes, which -fastened vacantly on the old woman's as she bent over to look at him -in spite of herself.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You might ha' killed him and yoreself coming on so soon," she said -gruffly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wanted to get here before he came," said the girl, with a choke, -"but I couldna manage it. I were took at Runcorn, seven days ago."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An' yo' walked from there! It's a wonner yo're alive. Well, well, -it's a bad job, but I suppose we mun mak' best o' it. Yo're clemmed!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, I am, and so is he. I've not had much to give him, and he makes a -rare noise when he doesn't get what he wants."</p> - -<p class="normal">The baby screwed up his face and proved his powers. His mother rocked -him to and fro, and the old woman set herself to getting them food. -She set on the fire a pannikin of goats' milk diluted with water to -her own ideas, and placed bread and cheese and butter on the table. -The girl reached for the food and began to eat ravenously. The old -woman dipped her finger into the pannikin and put it into the child's -mouth. It sucked vigorously and stopped crying. She drew it out of the -girl's arms and began to feed it slowly with a spoon.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If he married yo', why did he leave yo' like this?" she asked -presently, as she dropped tiny drops of food into the baby's mouth and -watched it swallow and strain up after the spoon for more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was ordered away with his regiment. He left me money and said he'd -send more. But he never did. I made it last as long's I could, but it -runs away in London. I couldna bear the idea of--of it up there, an' I -got wild at him not coming. I tried to find him, and then I set off to -walk here. I got a lift on a wagon now and again. But when I got to -Runcorn I could go no further. There a a woman there was good to me. -Maybe I'd ha' died but for her. Maybe it'd ha' been best if I had. -But,"--she said doggedly--"he married me all the same."</p> - -<p class="normal">The old woman shook her head hopelessly, but said nothing. The baby -was falling asleep on her knee. Presently she carried him carefully -into the next room and left him on the bed there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I nursed him on my knee," she said when she came back, "before you -came. If I'd known he'd take you from me I'd ha' choked him where he -lay."</p> - -<p class="normal">The girl felt and looked the better for her meal. She nodded her head -slowly, and said again, "All the same he married me." Her persistent -harping on that one string--which to her mother was a broken -string--angered the old woman.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tchah!" she said, like the snapping of a dog, and was about to say a -great deal more when a peremptory knocking on the door choked the -words in her throat. Her startled eyes turned accusingly on the girl; -what faint touch of colour her face had held fled from it, and her -lips parted twice in questioning which found no voice. Her whole -attitude implied the fear that there was something more behind the -girl's story than had been told and that now it was upon them.</p> - -<p class="normal">The knocking continued, louder and still more peremptory.</p> - -<p class="normal">The girl strode to the door, loosed the chain and drew back the bolts, -and flung it open. A tall man, muffled in a travelling-cloak, strode -in with an imprecation, and dusted the sand out of his eyes with a -silk handkerchief.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nice doings when a man cannot get into his own house," he began. -Then, as his blinking eyes fell on the girl's face, he stopped short -and said, "The deuce!" and pinched his chin between his thumb and -forefinger. He stood regarding her in momentary perplexity, and then -went on dusting himself, with his eyes still on her.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was a man past middle age, but straight and vigorous still. His -clean-shaven face, in spite of the stubble of three days' rapid -travel on it, and the deep lines of hard living, was undeniably -handsome--keen dark eyes, straight nose, level brows, firm hard mouth. -An upright furrow in the forehead, and a sloping groove at each corner -of the mouth, gave a look of rigid intensity to the face and the -impression that its owner was engaged in a business distasteful to -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Mrs. Lee," he said, as his eyes passed from the girl at last and -rested on the old woman.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Sir Denzil." And Mrs. Lee attempted a curtsey.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A word in your ear, mistress." And he spoke rapidly to her in low -tones, his eyes roving over to the girl now and again, and the old -woman's face stiffening as he spoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And now bustle, both of you," he concluded. "Fires first, then -something to eat, the other things afterwards. I will bring her -ladyship in."</p> - -<p class="normal">He went to the door, and the old woman turned to her daughter and said -grimly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's a lady with him. Yo' mun help wi' the fires."</p> - -<p class="normal">She closed the door leading to the bedroom where the baby lay sleeping -soundly, and then set doggedly about her duties. The two women had -left the room carrying armfuls of firing when Sir Denzil came back -leading Lady Susan by the hand, muffled like himself in a big -travelling-cloak. He drew a chair to the fire, and she sank into it. -He left her there and went out again, and as the door opened the -rattle of harness on chilling horses came through.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lady Susan bent shivering over the fire and spread her hands towards -it, groping for its cheer like a blind woman. Her face was white and -drawn. Her eyes were sunk in dark wells of hopelessness, her lips were -pinched in tight repression. Any beauty that might have been hers had -left her; only her misery and weariness remained. Her whole attitude -expressed extremest suffering both of mind and body.</p> - -<p class="normal">A piping cry came from the next room, and she straightened up suddenly -and looked about her like a startled deer. Then she rose quickly and -picked up the candle and answered the call.</p> - -<p class="normal">The child had cried out in his sleep, and as she stood over him, with -the candle uplifted, a strange softening came over her face. Her left -hand stole up to her side and pressed it as though to still a pain. A -spasmodic smile crumpled the little face as she watched. Then it -smoothed out and the child settled to sleep again. Lady Susan went -slowly back to her seat before the fire, and almost immediately Sir -Denzil came in again, dusting himself from the sand more vigorously -than ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How do you feel now, my dear?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sick to death," she said quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will feel better after a night's rest. The journey has been a -trying one. Old Mrs. Lee will make you comfortable here, and I will -return the moment I am sure of Denzil's safety. You agree with the -necessity for my going?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Every moment may be of importance. But the moment he is safe I will -hurry back to see to your welfare here. I shall lie at Warrington -to-night, and I will tell the doctor at Wynsloe to come over first -thing in the morning to see how you are going on. Ah, Mrs. Lee, you -are ready for us?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay. The oak parlour is ready, sir. I'll get you what I con to eat, -but you'll have to put up wi' short farin' to-night, sin' you didna let -me know you were coming. To-morrow----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What you can to-night as quickly as possible. Lady Susan is tired -out, and I return as soon as I have eaten. See that the post-boy gets -something too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo're non stopping?" asked the old woman in surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, no, I told you so," he said, with the irritation of a tired man. -"Come, my dear!" and he offered his arm to Lady Susan, and led her -slowly away down the stone passage to a small room in the west front, -where the rush of the storm was barely heard.</p> - -<p class="normal">An hour later Sir Denzil was whirling back before the gale on his way -to London, as fast as two tired horses and a none too amiable post-boy -could carry him. His usual serene self-complacency was disturbed by -many anxieties, and he carried not a little bitterness, on his own -account, at the untowardness of the circumstances which had dragged -him from the ordered courses of his life and sent him posting down -into the wilderness, without even the assistance of his man, upon whom -he depended for the minutest details of his bodily comfort.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A most damnable misfortune!" he allowed himself, now that he was -alone, and he added some further unprofitable moments to an already -tolerably heavy account in cursing every separate person connected -with the matter, including a dead man and the man who killed him, and -an unborn babe and the mother who lay shivering at thought of its -coming.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_1.04" href="#div1Ref_1.04">CHAPTER IV</a></h4> -<h5>THE COIL COMPLETE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In the great house of Carne there was a stillness in strange contrast -with the roaring of the gale outside. But the stillness was big with -life's vitalities--love and hate and fear; and, compared with them, -the powers without were nothing more than whistling winds that played -with shifting sands, and senseless waves that sported with men's -lives.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not till the new-comer was lying in her warm bed in the room -above the oak parlour, shivering spasmodically at times in spite of -blankets and warming-pans and a roaring fire, that she spoke to the -old woman who had assisted her in grim silence.</p> - -<p class="normal">The silence and the grimness had not troubled her. They suited her -state of mind and body better than speech would have done. Life had -lost its savour for her. Of what might lie beyond she knew little and -feared much at times, and at times cared naught, craving only rest -from all the ills of life and the poignant pains that racked her.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was only when Mrs. Lee had carefully straightened out her discarded -robes, and looked round to see what else was to be done, and came to -the bedside to ask tersely if there was anything more my lady wanted, -that my lady spoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll come back and sit with me?" she asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--I'll come."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whose baby is that downstairs?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's my girl's," said the old woman, startled somewhat at my lady's -knowledge.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did she live through it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, she lived." And there was that in her tone which implied that it -might have been better if she had not. But my lady's perceptions were -blunted by her own sufferings.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is she here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, she's here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would she come to me too?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But the old woman shook her head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's not over strong yet," she said grimly. "I'll come back and sit -wi' yo'."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How old is it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seven days."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seven days! Seven days!" She was wondering vaguely where she would be -in seven days.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It looked very happy," she said presently. "Its father was surely a -good man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're none too many," said the old woman, as she turned to go. -"I'll get my supper and come back t' yo'."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is she?" asked her daughter, with the vehemence of an aching -question, as she entered the kitchen.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Lee closed the passage door and looked at her steadily and said, -"She's Denzil Carron's wife." And the younger woman sprang to her feet -with blazing face and the clatter of a falling chair.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Denzil's wife! I am Denzil Carron's wife."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So's she. And I reckon she's the one they'll call his wife," said her -mother dourly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll go to her. I'll tell her----" And she sprang to the door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, you wun't," said her mother, leaning back against it. "T' -blame's not hers, an' hoo's low enough already."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where is he? Where is Denzil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's in trouble of some kind, but what it is I dunnot know. Sir -Denzil's gone back to get him out of it, and he brought her here to be -out of it too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And he'll come here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mebbe. Sir Denzil didna say. He said he'd hold me responsible for -her. She's near her time, poor thing! An' I doubt if she comes through -it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Near----!" And the girl blazed out again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay. I shouldna be surprised if it killed her. There's the look o' it -in her face."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kill her? Why should it kill her? It didn't kill me," said the girl -fiercely.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mebbe it would but for yon woman you told me of. Think of your own -time, girl, and bate your anger. Fault's not hers if Denzil served you -badly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He connot have two wives."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Worse for him if he has. One's enough for most men. But--well-a-day, -it's no good talking! I'll take a bite, and back to her. She begged me -come. Yo' can sleep i' my bed. There's more milk on th' hob there if -th' child's hungry." And carrying her bread-and-cheese she went off -down the passage, and the young mother sat bending over the fire with -her elbows on her knees.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had no thought of sleep. Her limbs were still weary from her long -tramp, but the food and rest had given her strength, and the coming of -this other woman, who called herself Denzil Carron's wife, had fired -her with a sense of revolt.</p> - -<p class="normal">The blood was boiling through her veins at thought of it all--at -thought of Denzil, at thought of the boy in the next room, and this -other woman upstairs. Her heart felt like molten lead kicking in a -cauldron.</p> - -<p class="normal">She got up and began to pace the floor with the savage grace born of a -life of unrestricted freedom. Once she stopped and flung up her hands -as though demanding--what?--a blessing--a curse--the righting of a -wrong? The quivering hands looked capable at the moment of righting -their own wrongs, or of wreaking vengeance on the wrongdoer if they -closed upon him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then, as the movement of her body quieted in some measure the turmoil -of her brain, her pace grew slower, and she began to think -connectedly. And at last she dropped into the chair again, leaned her -elbows on her kneel and sat gazing into the fire. When it burned low -she piled on wood mechanically, and sat there thinking, thinking. -Outside, the storm raged furiously, and the flying sand hit the window -like hailstones. And inside, the woman sat gazing into the fire and -thinking.</p> - -<p class="normal">She sat long into the night, thinking, thinking--unconscious of the -passage of time;--thinking, thinking. Twice her child woke crying to -be fed, and each time she fed him from the pannikin as mechanically -almost as she had fed the fire with wood. For her thoughts were -strange long thoughts, and she could not see the end of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were all sent flying by the sudden entrance of her mother in a -state of extreme agitation, her face all crumpled, her hands shaking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's took," she said, with a break in her voice. "Yo' mun go for th' -doctor quick. I connot leave her. Nay!"--as the other sat bolt upright -and stared back at her--"yo' <i>mun</i> go. We connot have her die on our -hands. Think o' yore own time, lass, and go quick for sake o' Heaven."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll go." And she snatched up her cloak. "See to the child." And she -was out in the night, drifting before the gale like an autumn leaf.</p> - -<p class="normal">The old woman went in to look at the child, filled the kettle and put -it on the fire, and hurried back to the chamber of sorrows.</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The gale broke at sunrise, and the flats lay shimmering like sheets of -burnished gold, when Dr. Yool turned at last from the bedside and -looked out of the window upon the freshness of the morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was in a bitter humour. When Nance Lee thumped on his door at -midnight he was engaged in the congenial occupation of mixing a final -and unusually stiff glass of rum and water. It was in the nature of a -soporific--a nightcap. It was to be the very last glass for that -night, and he had compounded it with the tenderest care and the most -businesslike intention.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If that won't give me a night's rest," he said to himself, "nothing -will."</p> - -<p class="normal">But there was no rest for him that night. He had been on the go since -daybreak, and was fairly fagged out. He greeted Nance's imperative -knock with bad language. But when he heard her errand he swallowed his -nightcap without a wink, though it nearly made his hair curl, ran -round with her to the stable, harnessed his second cob to the little -black gig with the yellow wheels, threw Nance into it, and in less -than five minutes was wrestling with the north-easter once more, and -spitting out the sand as he had been doing off and on all day long.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's one advantage in being an old bachelor, Miss Nancy," he had -growled, as he flung the harness on the disgusted little mare; "your -worries are your own. Take my advice and never you get married----" -And then he felt like biting his tongue off when he remembered the -rumours he had heard concerning the girl. She was too busy with her -own long thoughts to be troubled by his words, however, and once they -were on the road speech was impossible by reason of the gale.</p> - -<p class="normal">When they arrived at Carne she scrambled down and led the mare into -the great empty coach-house, where the post-horses had previously -found shelter that night. She flung the knee-rug over the shaking -beast, still snorting with disgust and eyeing her askance as the cause -of all the trouble. Then she followed the doctor into the house. He -was already upstairs, however, and, after a look at her sleeping boy, -she sat down in her chair before the fire again to await the event, -and fell again to her long, long thoughts.</p> - -<p class="normal">And once more her thoughts were sent flying by the entrance of her -mother. She carried a tiny bundle carefully wrapped in flannel and a -shawl, and on her sour old face there was an expression of relief and -exultation--the exultation of one who has won in a close fight with -death.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He were but just in time," she said, as she sat down before the fire. -"I'm all of a shake yet. But th' child's safe anyway." And she began -to unfold the bundle tenderly. "Git me t' basin and some warm water. -Now, my mannie, we'll soon have you comfortable. . . . So . . . Poor -little chap! . . . I doubt if she'll pull through. . . . T' doctor's -cursing high and low below his breath at state she's in . . . -travelling in that condition . . . 'nough to have killed a stronger -one than ever she was. . . . I knew as soon as ivver I set eyes on her -. . . A fine little lad!"--as she turned the new-comer carefully over -on her knee--"and nothing a-wanting 's far as I can see, though he's -come a month before he should."</p> - -<p class="normal">She rambled on in the rebound from her fears, but the girl uttered no -word in reply. She stood watching abstractedly, and handing whatever -the old woman called for. Her thoughts were in that other room, where -the grim fight was still waging. Her heart was sick to know how it was -going. Her thoughts were very shadowy still, but the sight of the boy -on the old woman's knee showed her her possible way, like a signpost -on a dark night. She would see things clearer when she knew how things -had gone upstairs.</p> - -<p class="normal">She must know. She could not wait. She turned towards the passage.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will go and see," she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, go," said the old woman. "But go soft."</p> - -<p class="normal">The doctor was sitting at the bedside. He raised his hand when she -entered the room, but did not turn. She stood and watched, and -suddenly all her weariness came on her and she felt like falling. She -leaned against the wall and waited.</p> - -<p class="normal">Once and again the doctor spoke to the woman on the bed. But there was -no answer. He sat with furrowed face watching her, and the girl leaned -against the wall and watched them both.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at last the one on the bed answered--not the doctor, but a greater -healer still. One long sigh, just as the sun began to touch the -rippled flats with gold, and it was over. The stormy night was over -and peace had come with the morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">The doctor gat up with something very like a scowl on his face and -went to the window. Even in the Presence he had to close his mouth -firmly lest the lava should break out.</p> - -<p class="normal">He hated to be beaten in the fight--the endless fight to which his -whole life was given, year in, year out. But this had been no fair -fight. The battle was lost before he came on the field, and his -resentment was hot against whoever was to blame.</p> - -<p class="normal">He opened the casement and leaned out to cool his head. The sweet -morning air was like a kiss. He drank in a big breath or two, and, -after another pained look at the white face on the pillow, he turned -and left the room. The girl had already gone, and as she went down the -passage there was a gleam in her eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her mother saw it as soon as she entered the kitchen. "Well?" asked -the old woman.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And yo're glad of it. Shame on yo', girl! And yo' but just safe -through it yoreself!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The girl made no reply, and a moment later the doctor came in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now, Mrs. Lee, explain things to me. Whose infernal folly brought -that poor thing rattling over the country in that condition? And get -me a cup of coffee, will you? Child all right?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's all right, doctor. He's sleeping quiet there"--pointing to a -heap of shawls on the hearth. "It were Sir Denzil himself brought her -last night."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And why didn't he stop to see the result of his damned stupidity? -It's sheer murder, nothing less. Make it as strong as you -can,"--referring to the coffee--"my head's buzzing. I haven't had a -minute's rest for twenty-four hours. Where is Sir Denzil? He left word -at my house to come over here first thing this morning. I expected to -find him here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He went back wi the carriage that brought 'em. There's trouble afoot -about Mr. Denzil as I understond. He said it were life and death, and -he were off again inside an hour."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!" said the doctor, nodding his head knowingly. "That's it, is it? -And you don't know what the trouble was?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Life and death,' he said. That's all I know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, if he bungles the other business as he has done this it'll not -need much telling which it'll be." And he blew on his coffee to cool -it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must send him word at once," he said presently, "and I'll tell him -what I think about it. I've got his town address. You can see to the -child all right, I suppose? Another piece of that bread, if you -please. Any more coffee there? This kind of thing makes me feel -empty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see to t' child aw reet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Send me word if you need me, not otherwise. There's typhus down -Wyvveloe way, and I'm run off my legs. A dog's life, dame--little -thanks and less pay!" And he buttoned up his coat fiercely and strode -out to his gig. "I'll send John Braddle out," he called back over his -shoulder. "But I doubt if we can wait to hear from Sir Denzil. -However----" And he drove away, through the slanting morning sunshine. </p> - -<p class="normal">The white sand-hills smiled happily, the wide flats blazed like a -rippled mirror, the sky was brightest blue, and very far away the sea -slept quietly behind its banks of yellow sand.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_1.05" href="#div1Ref_1.05">CHAPTER V</a></h4> -<h5>IN THE COIL</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The days passed and brought no word from Sir Denzil in reply to Dr. -Yool's post letter. And, having waited as long as they could, they -buried Lady Susan in the little green churchyard at Wyvveloe, where -half a dozen Carrons, who happened to have died at Carne, already -rested. Dr. Yool and Braddle had had to arrange everything between -them, and, as might have been expected under the circumstances, the -funeral was as simple as funeral well could be, and as regards -attendance--well, the doctor was the only mourner, and he still boiled -over when he thought of the useless way in which this poor life had -been sacrificed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Braddle was there with his men, of course, but the doctor only just -managed it between two visits, and his manner showed that he grudged -the time given to the dead which was all too short for the -requirements of the living. Yet it went against the grain to think of -that poor lady going to her last resting-place unattended, and he made -a point of being there. But his gig stood waiting outside the -churchyard gate, and he was whirling down the lane while the first -spadefuls were drumming on the coffin.</p> - -<p class="normal">He thought momentarily of the child as he drove along. But, since no -call for his services had come from Mrs. Lee, he supposed it was going -on all right, and he had enough sick people on his hands to leave him -little time for any who could get along without him.</p> - -<p class="normal">The days ran into weeks, and still no word from Sir Denzil. It looked -as though the little stranger at Carne might remain a stranger for the -rest of his days. And yet it was past thinking that those specially -interested should make no inquiry concerning the welfare of so -important a member of the family.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Summat's happened," was old Mrs. Lee's terse summing-up, with a -gloomy shake of the head whenever she and Nance discussed the matter, -which was many times a day.</p> - -<p class="normal">Other matters too they discussed, and to more purpose, since the -forwarding of them was entirely in their own hands. And when they -spoke of these other matters, sitting over the fire in the long -evenings, each with a child on her knee, hushing it or feeding it, -their talk was broken, interjectional even at times, and so low that -the very walls could have made little of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was fierce-eyed Nance who started that strain of talk, and at first -her mother received it open-mouthed. But by degrees, and as time -played for them, she came round to it, and ended by being the more -determined of the two. So they were of one mind on the matter, and the -matter was of moment, and all that happened afterwards grew out of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Both the children throve exceedingly. No care was lacking them, and no -distinction was made between them. What one had the other had, and -Nance, with recovered strength, played foster-mother to them both.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just two months after Lady Susan's death the two women were sitting -talking over the fire one night, the children being asleep side by -side in the cot in the adjacent bedroom, when the sound of hoofs and -wheels outside brought them to their feet together.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's him," said Mrs. Lee; and they looked for a moment into one -another's faces as though each sought sign of flinching in the other. -Then both their faces tightened, and they seemed to brace themselves -for the event.</p> - -<p class="normal">An impatient knock on the kitchen door, the old woman hastened to -answer it, and Sir Denzil limped in. He was thinner and whiter than -the last time he came. He leaned heavily on a stick and looked frail -and worn.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Mrs. Lee," he said, as he came over to the fire and bent over -it and chafed his hands, "you'd given up all fears of ever seeing me -again, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, a'most we had," said the old woman, as she lifted the kettle off -the bob and set it in the blaze.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, it wasn't far off it. I had a bad smash returning to London -that last time. That fool of a post-boy drove into a tree that had -fallen across the road, and killed himself and did his best to kill -me. Now light the biggest fire you can make in the oak room, and -another in my bedroom, and get me something to eat. Kennet"--as his -man came in dragging a travelling-trunk--"get out a bottle of brandy, -and, as soon as you've got the things in, brew me the stiffest glass -of grog you ever made. My bones are frozen."</p> - -<p class="normal">He dragged up a chair and sat down before the fire, thumping the coals -with his stick to quicken the blaze. The rest sped to his bidding.</p> - -<p class="normal">Kennet, when he had got in the trunks, brewed the grog in a big jug, -with the air of one who knew what he was about.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Shall I give the boy some, sir?" he asked, when Sir Denzil had -swallowed a glass and was wiping his eyes from the effects of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, yes. Give him a glass, but tone it down, or he'll be breaking -his neck like the last one."</p> - -<p class="normal">So Kennet watered a glass to what he considered reasonable -encouragement for a frozen post-boy, and presently the jingling of -harness died away in the distance, and Kennet came in and fastened the -door.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil had filled and emptied his glass twice more before Mrs. Lee -came to tell him the room was ready. Then he went slowly off down the -passage, steadying himself with his stick, for a superfluity of hot -grog on an empty stomach on a cold night is not unapt to mount to the -head of even a seasoned toper.</p> - -<p class="normal">Kennet, when he came back to the room, after seeing his master -comfortably installed before the fire, brewed a fresh supply of grog, -placed on one side what he considered would satisfy his own -requirements, and carried the rest to the oak room.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was when the girl Nance carried in the hastily prepared meal that -Sir Denzil, after peering heavily at her from under his bushy brows, -asked suddenly, "And the child? It's alive?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alive and well, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bring it to me in the morning."</p> - -<p class="normal">The girl looked at him once or twice as if she wanted to ask him a -question.</p> - -<p class="normal">He caught her at it, and asked abruptly, "What the devil are you -staring at, and what the deuce keeps you hanging round here?" Upon -which she quitted the room.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was much talk, intense and murmurous, between the two women that -night, when they had made up a bed for Kennet and induced him at last -to go to it. From Kennet and the grog, after Sir Denzil had retired -for the night, Nance learned all Kennet could tell her about Mr. -Denzil.</p> - -<p class="normal">According to that veracious historian it was only through Mr. Kennet's -supreme discretion and steadfastness of purpose that the young man got -safely across to Brussels, and, when he tired of Brussels, which he -very soon did, to Paris.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!" said Mr. Kennet. "Now, that <i>is</i> a place. Gay?--I believe you! -Lively?--I believe you! Heels in the air kind of place?--I believe -you! And Mr. Denzil he took to it like a duck to the water. London -ain't in it with Paris, I tell you." And so on and so on, until, -through close attention to the grog, his words began to tumble over -one another. Then he bade them good night, with solemn and insistent -emphasis, as though it was doubtful if they would ever meet again, and -cautiously followed Nance and his candle to his room.</p> - -<p class="normal">The flats were gleaming like silver under a frosty sun next morning, -and there was a crackling sharpness in the air, when Sir Denzil, -having breakfasted, stood at the window of the oak room awaiting his -grandson.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tell Mrs. Lee to bring in the child," he had said to Kennet, and now -a tap on the door told him that the child was there.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come in," he said sharply, and turned and stood amazed at sight of -the two women each with a child on her arm. "The deuce!" he said, and -fumbled for his snuff-box.</p> - -<p class="normal">He found it at last, a very elegant little gold box, bearing a -miniature set with diamonds--a present from his friend George, in the -days before the slice of orange, and most probably never paid for. He -slowly extracted a pinch without removing his eyes from the women and -children. He snuffed, still staring at them, and then said quietly, -"What the deuce is the meaning of this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' asked to see t' child, sir," said Mrs. Lee.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here 'tis, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Which?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Both!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!"--with a pregnant nod. Then, with a wave of the hand. "Take them -away." And the women withdrew.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil remained standing exactly as he was for many minutes. Then -he began to pace the room slowly with his stick, to and fro, to and -fro, with his eyes on the polished floor, and his thoughts hard at -work.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw the game, and recognized at a glance that no cards had been -dealt him. The two women held the whole pack, and he was out of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">He thought keenly and savagely, but saw no way out. The more he -thought, the tighter seemed the cleft of the stick in which the women -held him.</p> - -<p class="normal">The law? The law was powerless in the matter. Not all the law in the -land could make a woman speak when all her interests bade her keep -silence, any more than it could make her keep silence if she wanted to -speak.</p> - -<p class="normal">Besides, even if these women swore till they were blue in the face as -to the identity of either child, he would never believe one word of -their swearing. Their own interests would guide them, and no other -earthly consideration.</p> - -<p class="normal">He could turn them out. To what purpose? One of those two children was -Denzil Carron of Carne. Which?</p> - -<p class="normal">The other--ah yes! The other was equally of his blood. He did not -doubt that for one moment. He had known of Denzil's entanglement with -Nance Lee, and it had not troubled him for a moment. But who, in the -name of Heaven, could have foreseen so perplexing a result?</p> - -<p class="normal">When he glanced out of the window, the crystalline morning, the white -sunshine, the clear blue sky, the hard yellow flats, the distant blue -sea with its crisp white fringe, all seemed to mock him with the -brightness of their beauty.</p> - -<p class="normal">How to solve the puzzle? Already, in his own mind, he doubted if it -ever would be solved. And he cursed the brightness of the morning, and -the women--which was more to the point, but equally futile,--and -Denzil, and poor Lady Susan, who lay past curses in Wyvveloe -churchyard. And his face, while that fit was on him, was not pleasant -to look upon.</p> - -<p class="normal">Presently, with a twitching of the corners of the mouth, like a dog -about to bare his fangs, he rang the bell very gently, and Kennet came -in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kennet," he said, as quietly as if he were ordering his boots, "put -on your hat and go for Dr. Yool. Bring him with you without fail. If -he is out, go after him. If he says he'll see me further first, say I -apologise, and I want him here at once. Tell him I've burst a -blood-vessel."</p> - -<p class="normal">He had had words with the doctor the night before. He had stopped his -post-chaise at his house and gone in for a minute to explain his long -absence, and the doctor, who feared no man, had rated him soundly for -the thoughtlessness which had caused Lady Susan's death.</p> - -<p class="normal">He did not for a moment believe that the doctor or any one else could -help him in this blind alley. But discuss the matter with some one he -must, or burst, and he did not care to discuss it with Kennet. Kennet -knew very much better than to disagree with his master on any subject -whatever, and discussion with him never advanced matters one iota. -Discussion of the matter with Dr. Yool would probably have the same -result, but it could do no harm, and it offered possibilities of a -disputation for which he felt a distinct craving.</p> - -<p class="normal">Whether doctors could reasonably be expected to identify infants at -whose births they had officiated, after a lapse of two months, he did -not know. But he was quite prepared to uphold that view of the case -with all the venom that was in him, and he awaited the doctor's -arrival with impatience.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dr. Yool drove up at last with Kennet beside him, and presently stood -in the room with Sir Denzil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello!" cried the doctor, with disappointment in his face. "Where's -that blood-vessel?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Listen to me, Yool. You were present at the birth of Lady Susan's -children----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eh? What? Lady Susan's child? Yes!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Children!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the deuce! Children? A boy, sir--one!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'd know him again, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, in a general kind of way possibly. What's amiss with him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"According to these women here, there are two of him now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good Lord, Sir Denzil! What do you mean? Two? How can there be two?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, now you have me. I thought that you, as a doctor--as the doctor, -in fact--could probably explain the matter." The doctor's red face -reddened still more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Send for the women here--and the children," he said angrily.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil rang the bell, gave his instructions to the impassive -Kennet, who had not yet fathomed the full intention of the matter, and -in a few minutes Mrs. Lee and Nance, each with a child on her arm, -stood before them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now then, what's the meaning of all this?" asked Dr. Yool. "Which of -these babies is Lady Susan's child?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We don't know, sir," said Mrs. Lee, with a curtsey.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't know! Don't know! What the deuce do you mean by that, Mrs. Lee? -Whose is the other child?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My daughter's, sir. It were born a day or two before the other, and -we got 'em mixed and don't know which is which."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nonsense! Bring them both to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">He flung down some cushions in front of the fire, rapidly undressed -the children, and laid them wriggling and squirming in the blaze among -their wraps. He bent and examined them with minutest care. He turned -them over and over, noticed all their points with a keenly critical -eye, but could make nothing of it. They were as like as two peas. -Dark-haired, dark-eyed, plump, clear-skinned, healthy youngsters both. -The seven days between them, which in the very beginning might have -been apparent, was now, after the lapse of two months, absolutely -undiscoverable.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil came across and looked down on the jerking little arms and -legs and twisting faces, and snuffed again as though he thought they -might be infectious. For all the expression that showed in his face, -they might have been a litter of pups.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I am ----!" said Dr. Yool, at last, straightening up from the -inspection with his hands on his hips. "Now"--fixing the two women -with a blazing eye--"what's the meaning of it all? Who is the father -of this other child?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Denzil Carron," said Nance boldly, speaking for the first time. "He -married me before he married her, and here are my lines," and she -plucked them out of her bosom.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dr. Yool's eyebrows went up half an inch. Sir Denzil took snuff very -deliberately.</p> - -<p class="normal">The doctor held out his hand for the paper, and after a moment's -hesitation Nance handed it to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He read it carefully, and his good-humoured mouth twisted doubtfully. -The matter looked serious.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dress the children and take them away," he said at last. When they -were dressed, however, Nance stood waiting for her lines.</p> - -<p class="normal">Dr. Yool understood. "I will be answerable for them," he said; and she -turned and went.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A troublesome business, Sir Denzil," he said, when they were alone. -"A troublesome business, whichever way you look at it. This"--and he -flicked Nance's cherished lines--"may, of course, be make-believe, -though it looks genuine enough on the face of it. That must be -carefully looked into. But as to the children--you are in these -women's hands absolutely and completely, and they know it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It looks deucedly like it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They know which is which well enough; but nothing on earth will make -them speak--except their own interests, and that," he said -thoughtfully, "won't be for another twenty years."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's too late to make away with them both, I suppose," said Sir -Denzil cynically.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tchutt! It's bad enough as it is, but there's no noose in it at -present. Besides, they are both undoubtedly your grandsons----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And which succeeds?" asked the baronet grimly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's the rub. Deucedly awkward, if they both live--most deucedly -awkward! There's always the chance, of course, that one may die."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not a chance," said Sir Denzil. "They'll both live to be a hundred. -They can toss for the title when the time comes. I'd sooner trust a -coin than those women's oaths."</p> - -<p class="normal">The doctor nodded. He felt the same.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What about this?" he asked, reading Nance's lines again. "Will you -look into it?" He pulled out a pencil and noted places and dates in -his pocket-book.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What good? It alters nothing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As regards your son?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil shrugged lightly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has shown himself a fool, but he is hardly such a fool as that. If -he comes to the title, and she claims on him, he must fight his own -battle. As to the whelps----" Another shrug shelved them for future -consideration.</p> - -<p class="normal">Nevertheless, when Dr. Yool had driven away in the gig with the yellow -wheels, Sir Denzil paced his room by the hour in deep thought, and -none of it pleasant, if his face was anything to go by.</p> - -<p class="normal">He travelled along every possible avenue, and found each a blind -alley.</p> - -<p class="normal">He could send the girl about her business, and the old woman too. But -to what purpose? If they took one of the children with them, which -would it be? Most likely Lady Susan's. But he would never be certain -of it. That would be so obviously the thing to do that they would -probably do the opposite. If they left both children, he would have to -get some one else to attend to them, and no one in the world had the -interest in their welfare that these two had.</p> - -<p class="normal">If both children died, then Denzil might marry again, and have an heir -about whom there was no possible doubt. That is, if this other alleged -marriage of his was, as he suspected, only a sham one. He would have -to look into that matter, after all.</p> - -<p class="normal">If, by any mischance, the marriage, however intended, proved legal, -then that hope was barred, and it would be better to have the -children, or at all events one of them, live. Otherwise the succession -would vest in the Solway Carrons, whom he detested. Better even Nance -Lee's boy than a Solway Carron.</p> - -<p class="normal">The conclusion of the matter was, that he could not better matters at -the moment by lifting a finger. Not lightly nor readily did he bring -his mind to this. He spent bitter days and nights brooding over it -all, and at the end he found himself where he was at the beginning. -Time might possibly develop, in one or other of the boys, -characteristics which might tell their own tale. But that chance, he -recognised, was a small one. Both boys took after their father, and -were as like Denzil, when he was a baby, as they possibly could be.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the spring he would look into that marriage matter. Till then, -things must go on as they were.</p> - -<p class="normal">Not a word did he say to the women. Not the slightest interest did he -show in the children. He rarely saw them, and then only by chance. And -in the women's care the children throve and prospered, since it was -entirely to their interest that they should do so.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3><a name="div1_2.00" href="#div1Ref_2.00">BOOK II</a></h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.06" href="#div1Ref_2.06">CHAPTER VI</a></h4> -<h5>FREEMEN OF THE FLATS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Now we take ten years at a leap.</p> - -<p class="normal">So small a span of time has made no difference in the great house of -Carne, or in its surroundings. Many times have the sand-hills sifted -and shifted hither and thither. Many times have the great yellow banks -out beyond lazily uncoiled themselves like shining serpents, and -coiled themselves afresh into new entanglements for unwary mariners. -In the narrow channels the bones of the unwary roll to and fro, and -some have sunk down among the quicksands. Times without number have -the mighty flats gleamed and gloomed. And the great house has watched -it all stonily, and it all looks just the same.</p> - -<p class="normal">But ten years work mighty changes in men and women, and still greater -ones in small boys.</p> - -<p class="normal">A tall straight-limbed young man strode swiftly among the -sand-hummocks and came out on the flats, and stood gazing round him, -with a great light in his eyes, and a towel round his neck.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had a lean, clean-shaven face, to which the hair brushed back -behind his ears lent a pleasant eagerness. But the face was leaner and -whiter than it should have been, and the eyes seemed unnaturally deep -in their hollows.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whew!" he whistled, as the wonder of the flats struck home. "A -change, changes, and half a change, and no mistake! And all very much -for the better--in most respects. The bishop said I'd find it rather -different from Whitechapel, and he was right! Very much so! Dear old -chap!"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was ten o'clock of a sweet spring morning. The brown ribbed flats -gleamed and sparkled and laughed back at the sun with a thousand -rippling lips. The cloudless blue sky was ringing with the songs of -many larks.</p> - -<p class="normal">The young man stood with his braces slipped off his shoulders, and -looked up at the larks. Then he characteristically, flung up a hand -towards them, and cried them a greeting in the famous words of that -rising young poet, Mr. Robert Browning, "God's in His heaven! All's -well with the world!--Well! Well! Ay--very, very well!" And then, with -a higher flight, in the words of the old sweet singer which had formed -part of the morning lesson--"Praise Him, all His host!" And then, as -his eye caught the gleam of the distant water, he resumed his peeling -in haste.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ten thousand souls--and bodies, which are very much worse--to the -square mile there, and here it looks like ten thousand square miles to -this single fortunate body. . . . That sea must be a good mile -away. . . . The run alone will be worth coming for. . . ."</p> - -<p class="normal">He had girt himself with a towel by this time, and fastened it with a -scientific twist. . . . "Now for a dance on the Doctor's nose," and he -sped off on the long stretch to the water.</p> - -<p class="normal">The kiss of the salt air cleansed him of the travail of the slums as -no inland bathing had ever done. The sun which shone down on him, and -the myriad broken suns which flashed up at him from every furrow of -the rippled sand, sent new life chasing through his veins. He shouted -aloud in his gladness, and splashed the waters of the larger pools -into rainbows, and was on and away before they reached the ground.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, to the sandy scum of the tide, and through it to deep water, -and a manful breasting of the slow calm heave of the great sea; with -restful pauses when he lay floating on his back gazing up into the -infinite blue; and deep sighs of content for this mighty gift of the -freedom of the shore and the waves. And a deeper sigh at thought of -the weary toilers among whom he had lived so long, to whom such things -were unknown, and must remain so.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there!--he had done his duty among them to the point almost of -final sacrifice. There was duty no less exigent here, though under -more God-given conditions. So--one more ploughing through deep waters, -arm over arm, side stroke with a great forward reach and answering -lunge. Then up and away, all rosy-red and beaded with diamonds, to the -clothing and duty of the work-a-day world.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Grim old place," he chittered as he ran, and his eye fell on Carne -for the first time. "Grand place to live . . . if she lived there -too. . . . Great saving in towels that run home. . . . Now where the -dickens . . . ?"</p> - -<p class="normal">He looked about perplexedly, then began casting round, hither and -thither, like a dog on a lost scent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hang it! I'm sure this was the place. . . . I remember that sand-hill -with its hair all a-bristle."</p> - -<p class="normal">He poked and searched. He scraped up the sand with his hands in case -they should have got buried, but not a rag of his clothes could he -find.</p> - -<p class="normal">Stay! Not a rag? What's that? Away down a gully between two hummocks, -as if it had attempted escape on its own account--a blue sock which he -recognised as his own.</p> - -<p class="normal">He pounced on it with a whoop, dusted one foot free of the dry, soft -sand, and put the sock on.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a beginning," he said, quaintly enough, "but----!" But obviously -more was necessary before he could return home. He searched carefully -all round, but could not find another thread. He climbed the sliding -side of the nearest sand-hill, and looked cautiously about him. But -the whole place was a honeycomb of gullies, and the clothing of a -thousand men might have hidden in them and never been seen again.</p> - -<p class="normal">He sat down in the warm sand and cogitated. He looked at his single -towel, and at the wire-grass bristling sparsely through the sand, and -wondered if it might be possible to construct a primitive raiment out -of such slight materials. But his deep-set eyes never ceased their -vigilant outlook.</p> - -<p class="normal">Something moved behind the rounded shoulder of a hill in front. It -might be only the loping brown body of a rabbit, but he was after it -like a shot.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he topped the hill he saw a naked white foot slipping out of -sight into a dark hole like a big burrow. He leaped down the hill, and -stretched a groping arm into the hole. It lighted on squirming flesh. -His hand gripped tightly that which it had caught, and a furious -assault of blows, scratches, bites, and the frantic tearings of small -fingers strove to loosen it. But he held tight, and inch by inch drew -his prisoner out--a small boy with dark hair thick with sand, and dark -eyes blazing furiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was stark naked, and held in his hand a small weapon consisting of -a round stone with a hole in the centre, into which a wooden handle -had been thrust and bound with string. With this, as he lay on his -back, now that he had space to use it, he proceeded to lash out -vigorously at his captor, who still held on to his ankle in spite of -the punishment his wrist and arm were receiving.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I'll be hanged!" said the young man in the towel, dodging the -blows as well as he could. "What in Heaven's name are you? Ancient -Briton? Bit of the Stone Age?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Le' me go or I'll kill you," howled the prisoner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, don't! You're strong: be merciful. Hello!" as a fresh attack took -him in the rear, and his bare back resounded to the blows of a weapon -similar to the one that was pounding his arm. "You young savages! Two -to one, and an unarmed man!"</p> - -<p class="normal">He loosed the ankle and made a quick dive at the brown thrashing arm, -and, having secured it, lifted the wriggling youngster and tucked him -under his arm like a parcel. Then, in spite of the struggles of his -prisoner, he turned on the new-comer and presently held him captive in -similar fashion.</p> - -<p class="normal">They bit and tore and wriggled like a pair of little tiger-cats, but -the arms that held them were strong ones if the face above was thin -and worn and gentle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop it!" He knocked their heads together, and squeezed the slippery -little bodies under his arms till the breath was nearly out of them, -and took advantage of the moment of gasping quiescence to ask, "Will -you be quiet if I let you down?"</p> - -<p class="normal">They intimated in jerks that they would be quiet.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drop those drumsticks, then."</p> - -<p class="normal">First one, then the other weapon dropped into the sand. He put his -foot on them and stood the boys on their feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drumsticks!" snorted one, his sandy little nose all a-quiver.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, neither am I a drum," said their captor good-humouredly. "Now -what's the meaning of all this? Who are you? Or what are you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">They were fine sturdy little fellows, of ten or eleven, he judged, -their skins tanned brown and coated with dry sand, quick dark eyes and -dark flushed faces all aglow still with the light of battle. They -stood panting before him, no whit abashed either by their defeat or -their lack of clothing. He saw their eyes settle longingly on the -clubs under his feet. He stooped and picked them up, and the dark eyes -followed them anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Promise not to use them on me and I'll give them back to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">The brown hands reached out eagerly, and he handed the weapons over.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now sit down and tell me all about it." And he sat down himself in -the sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw them glance towards the mouth of their retreat, and shook his -head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can't manage it. I'd have you out before you were half way in. -You're prisoners of war on parole. Now then, who are you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carr'ns."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carr'ns, are you? Well, you look it, whatever it means. Do you live -in that hole?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sometimes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never wear any clothes?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sometimes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see. Much jollier without, isn't it? But, you see, I can't go home -like this. So perhaps you won't mind telling me why you stole my -things and where they are?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carr'ns don't steal," jerked one.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carr'ns only take things," jerked the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see. It's a fine point, but it comes to much the same thing unless -you return what you take. So perhaps you'll be so good as to turn up -my things. Where are they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">One of the boys nodded towards the burrow.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's the stronghold, is it? Not much room to turn about in, I -should say."</p> - -<p class="normal">They declined to express an opinion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I go in and have a look?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But that was not in the terms of their parole, and they sprang -instantly to the defence of their hold. The young man of the towel was -beginning to wonder if another pitched battle would be necessary -before he could recover his missing property, when a diversion was -suddenly created by an innocent outsider.</p> - -<p class="normal">A foolish young rabbit hopped over the shoulder of a neighbouring -sand-hill to see what all the disturbance was about. In a moment the -round stone clubs flew and the sense was out of him before he had time -to twinkle an eye or form any opinion on the subject. With a whoop the -boys sprang at him and resolved themselves instantly into a -pyrotechnic whirl of arms and legs and red-hot faces and flying sand, -as they fought for their prey.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Little savages!" said the young man, and did his best to separate -them.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he might as well have attempted argument with a Catherine wheel in -the full tide of its short life. And so he took to indiscriminate -spanking wherever bare slabs of tumbling flesh gave him a chance, and -presently, under the influence of his gentle suasion the combatants -separated and stood panting and tingling. The <i>causus belli</i> had -disappeared beneath the turmoil of the encounter, but suddenly it came -to light again under the workings of twenty restless little toes. They -both instantly dived for it, and the fight looked like beginning all -over again, when the long white arm shot in and secured it and held it -up above their reach.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I say! Are you boys or tiger-cats?" he asked, as he examined them -again curiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carr'ns," panted one, while both gazed at the rabbit like hounds at -the kill.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, you said that before, but I'm none the wiser. Where do you live -when you're clothed and in your right minds?--if you ever are," he -added doubtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">One of them jerked his head sharply in the direction of the great gray -house away along the shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Another curt nod. He had rarely met such unnatural reserve, even in -Whitechapel, where pointed questions from a stranger are received with -a very natural suspicion. Here, as there, it only made him the more -determined to get to the bottom of it. But Whitechapel had taught him, -among other things, that round-about is sometimes the only way home.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why do you want to fight over a dead rabbit?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I killed it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Didn't. 'Twas me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well now, if you ask me, I should say you both killed it. How did you -become such capital shots?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But to tell that would have needed much talk, so they only stared up -at him. He saw he must go slowly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Those are first-rate clubs. Did you make them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Nods from both.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know?"--he picked one up and examined it carefully--"these are -exactly what the wild men used to make when they lived here a couple -of thousand years ago and used to go about naked just as you do." They -listened eagerly, with wide unwinking eyes, which asked for more. -"They used to stain themselves all blue"--the idea so evidently -commended itself to them that he hastened to add--"but you'd better -not try that or you'll be killing yourselves. They used the juice of a -plant which you can't get and it did them no harm. Can you swim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Both heads shook a reluctant negative.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can't? Oh, you ought to swim. You can fight, I know, and you are -splendid shots--and good runners, I'll be bound. Why haven't you -learnt to swim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Won't let us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who won't let you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"HIM."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who's 'him'?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is that your father?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gran'ther</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see. I wonder if he'd let me teach you. Every boy ought to learn to -swim. You'd like to?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The black heads left no possible doubt on that point.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I'll call on him and ask his permission. Now, what are your -names?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Denzil Carr'n."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Denzil Carr'n."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you can't both be Denzil Carr'n."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm Jack."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how am I to tell who from which? You're as like as two peas."</p> - -<p class="normal">They looked at one another as if it had never struck them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stand up and let me see who's the biggest. No"--with a shake of the -head, as they stood side by side--"that doesn't help. You're both of a -tires Now, let me see. Jack's got a big bump on the forehead,"--at -which Jim grinned with reminiscent enjoyment. "That will identify him -for a few days, anyhow, and by that time I shall have got to know you. -Why hasn't your grandfather let you learn to swim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Devil of a coast," said Jack, loosing his tongue at last.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Damned quicksands," said Jim in emulation. "Suck and suck and never -let go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We must be careful, then. You must tell me all about them. My name's -Eager--Charles Eager. I've come to take Mr. Smythe's place at -Wyvveloe. Do you two go to school?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Emphatically No from both shaggy heads, and undisguised aversion to -the very thought of such a thing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you can't go on like this, you know. What will you do when you -grow up?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Go fighting," said Jack of the bumped forehead.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite so. But you don't want to go as privates, I suppose. And to be -officers you must learn many things."</p> - -<p class="normal">This was a new view of the matter. It seemed to make a somewhat -unfavourable impression. It provided food for thought to Eager himself -also, and he sat looking at them musingly with new and congenial -vistas opening before him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had in him a great passion for humanity--for the uplifting and -upbuilding of his fellows. Here apparently was virgin soil ready to -his hand, and he wanted to set to work on it at once.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know how to read and write, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can read <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>--round the pictures."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course. Good old Robinson Crusoe! He's taught many a boy to read."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's in there," said Jim, nodding vaguely in the direction of their -burrow.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's a good ides. Let us have a look at him." And Jim started off -to fetch Robinson out. "And you might bring my things out too, Jim. My -back's getting raw with the sun."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim grinned and crept into the hole, and reappeared presently with an -armful of clothing and a richly bound volume.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager put on his other sock and his shirt and trousers, and then sat -down again and picked up the book. It was an unusually fine edition of -the old story, with large coloured plates, and had not been improved -by its sojourn in the land.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Does your grandfather know you have this out here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Most decidedly not.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should take it back if I were you, or keep it wrapped in paper. -It's spoiling with the sand and damp. It always hurts me to see a good -book spoiled. Are there many more like this at the house?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heaps,"--which opened out further pleasant prospects if the mine -proved workable.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you gone right through it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only 'bout the pictures."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, if you're here to-morrow I'll begin reading it to you from the -beginning. There must be quite three-quarters of it that you know -nothing about. And as soon as I can, I'll call on your grandfather and -have a talk with him about, the swimming and the rest. Can you write?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not much," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sums?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Nothing of the kind and no slightest inclination that way.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now I must get back to my work," said Eager, as he finished dressing. -"This is my first morning, and it's been holiday. I've been living for -the last five years in the East End of London, where the people are -all crowded into dirty rooms in dirty streets, and I came to have a -took at the sea and the sands. It's like a new life. Now, good-bye," -and he shook hands politely with each in turn. "I shall be on the -look-out for you to-morrow."</p> - -<p class="normal">He strode away through the sand-hills towards Wyvveloe, and the boys -stood watching till he disappeared.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My rabbit!" cried Jim, as his eye lighted on the old gage of battle -lying on the sand, and he dashed at it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mine!" and in a moment they were at it hammer and tongs. And the Rev. -Charles went on his way, not a little elated at thoughts of this new -field that lay open before him.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.07" href="#div1Ref_2.07">CHAPTER VII</a></h4> -<h5>EAGER HEART</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Mrs. Jex," said Eager, to the old woman in whose cottage he had taken -his predecessor's rooms, "who lives in yon big house on the shore?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Jex straightened her big white cap nervously. She had hardly got -used yet to this new "passon," who was so very different from the -last, and who had already in half a day asked her more questions than -the last one did in a year.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will it be Carne yo' mean, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's it,--Carne. Who lives there, and what kind of folks are they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's Sir Denzil an' there's Mr. Kennet----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who's Mr. Kennet?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil's man, sir. An' there's the boys----'</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, then, it's the boys I met on the shore, running wild and free, -without a shirt between them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Like enough, sir. They do say 'at----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes?"---as she came to a sudden stop.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Tain't for the likes o' me, sir, to talk about my betters," said Mrs. -Jex, with a doubtful shake of the head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, the parson hears everything, you know, and he never repeats what -he hears. What do they say about the boys? Are they twins? They're as -like as can be, and just of an age, as far as I could see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, sir," said Mrs. Jex, with another shake, "there's more to that -than I can say, an' I'm not that sure but what it's more'n anybody can -say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, what do you mean? That sounds odd."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, 'tis odd. Carne's seen some queer things, and this is one of 'em, -so they do say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd like to hear. I rather took to those boys. They seem to be -growing up perfect little savages, learning nothing and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Like enough, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And I thought of calling on their grandfather and seeing if he'd let -me take them in hand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo'd have yore hands full, from all accounts."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's how I like them. They've been a bit overfull for a good many -years, but this offers the prospect of a change anyway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, yo'd best see Dr. Yool. If yo' con get him talking he con tell -yo' more'n onybody else. He were there when they were born--one of 'em -onyway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Worse and worse? You're a most mysterious old lady. What's it all -about?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo'd better ask t' doctor. He knows. I only knows what folks say, and -that's mostly lies as often as not. Yore dinner's all ready. Yo' go -and see t' doctor after supper and ax him all about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">After dinner he took a ramble round his new parish. He had arrived a -couple of days sooner than expected and the head shepherd was away -from home, so he had had to find his way about alone and make the -acquaintance of his sheep as best he could.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Jex, who had also acted as landlady for the departed Smythe, had -already thanked God for the change. For Smythe, a lank, boneless -creature, who cloaked a woeful lack of zeal for humanity under cover -of an unwrinkling robe of high observance, had found the atmosphere of -Wyvveloe uncongenial. It lacked the feminine palliatives to which he -had been accustomed. He had grown fretful and irritable--"a perfec' -whimsy!" as Mrs. Jex put it. The sturdy fisher-farmer folk laughed him -and his ways to scorn, and the whole parish was beginning to run to -seed when, to the relief of all concerned, he succeeded in obtaining -his transfer to a sphere better suited to his peculiar requirements.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Jex had had experience of Mr. Eager for one night and half a day, -and she already breathed peacefully, and had thanked God for the -change. And it was the same in every cottage into which the Rev. -Charles put his lean, smiling face that day.</p> - -<p class="normal">Those simple folk, who looked death in the face as a necessary part of -their daily life, knew a man when they saw one, and there was that in -Charles Eager's face which would never be in Mr. Smythe's if he lived -to be a hundred--that keen hunger for the hearts and souls and lives -of men which makes one man a pastor, and the lack of which leaves -another but a priest.</p> - -<p class="normal">And if the cottagers instinctively recognised the difference, how much -more that bluff guardian--beyond their inclinations at times--of their -outer husks, Dr. Yool!</p> - -<p class="normal">When Jane Tod, his housekeeper, ushered the stranger into his room Dr. -Yool was mixing himself a stiff glass of grog and compounding new -fulminations, objurgative and expletive, tending towards the cleansing -of Wynsloe streets and backyards.</p> - -<p class="normal">Miss Tod was a woman in ten thousand, and had been specially created -for the post of housekeeper to Dr. Yool. She was blessed with an -imperturbable placidity which the irascible doctor had striven in vain -to ruffle for over twenty years. When he came in of a night, tired and -hungry and bursting with anger at the bovine stupidity of his -patients, she let him rave to his heart's relief without changing a -hair, and set food and drink before him, and agreed with all he said, -even when he grew personal, and she never talked back. When she showed -in Mr. Eager she simply opened the sitting-room door, said "New -passon," and closed it behind him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you let me introduce myself, Dr. Yool, seeing that the vicar is -not here to do it? I am Charles Eager, vice Smythe, translated. You -aid I are partners, you see, so I thought the sooner we became -acquainted the better."</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'mph!" grunted Dr. Yool, eyeing his visitor keenly over the top of -the glass as he sipped his red-hot grog.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charles Eager, eh? And what are you eager for, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Men, women, children--bodies and souls."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You leave their bodies to me," growled Dr. Yool in his brusquest -manner. "Their souls '11 be quite as much as you can tackle."</p> - -<p class="normal">But Eager saw through his brusquerie. A very beautiful smile played -over the keen, earnest face as he said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"When you separate them it's too late for either of us to do them any -good."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Separate them! Takes me all my time to keep 'em together."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly! So we'll make better headway if we work together and -overlap."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Right! We'll work together, Mr. Eager." And the doctor's big brown -hand met the other's in a friendly grip. "You've got more bone in you -than the late invertebrate. He was a sickener. Hand like a fish. Have -some grog?</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't permit myself grog. It wouldn't do, you know. But I'll have a -pipe. I see you don't object to smoke."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Smoke and grog are the only things a man can look forward to with -certainty after a stiff day's work. The sooner you can get your flock -to cleanse out the sheepfolds the better, Mr. Shepherd. We had typhus -here ten years ago, and it gave them such a scare that for one year -the place was fairly sweet. Now it stinks as bad as ever, and I'll be -hanged if I can stir them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll stir them, or I'll know the reason why!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Dr. Yool studied the deep-set eyes and firm mouth before him for a -good minute, and then said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gad! I believe you will if any man can."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know East London?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not intimately. I've seen enough of it to strengthen my preference -for clean sand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is heaven compared with it. I'm going to open these people's -eyes to their advantages."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll be a godsend if you can."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want you to tell me all you think fit about two naked boys I came -across on the shore this morning. Carr'ns, they called themselves. -Fine little lads, and next door to savages, as far as I could judge. I -tried to pump Mrs. Jex, and she referred me to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">Dr. Yool puffed contemplatively, and looked at him through the smoke.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's the problem of Carne," he said slowly at last--"the insoluble -problem."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What's the problem? And why insoluble?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"One of them is heir to Caine; the other is baseborn. No man on earth -knows which is which."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any woman?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--there you have it! Can you make a woman speak against her -will--and her interest?" he added, as a hopeful look shot through -Eager's eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a strong combination against one. All the same, there is no -reason why those boys should grow up naked of mind as well as of body. -They are surely close in age? They're as like as two peas--splendid -little savages, both."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There may be a week between them, not more." He puffed thoughtfully -for several minutes again, and then said slowly: "If you can clothe -them, body and mind, it will be a good work and a tough one. It's -virgin soil and a big handful, and one of them's got a place in the -world. I'll tell you the story for your guidance. I can trust it in -your keeping. The old man would curse me, no doubt, but his time is -past and the boys' is only coming. They are of more consequence."</p> - -<p class="normal">And bit by bit he told him what he knew of the strange happenings -which had led to the problem of Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager followed him with keen interest.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And was that first marriage genuine?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very doubtful. I worried the old man till he went off to look into -it, but when he came back he would say nothing. It makes no -difference, however, for we don't know one boy from the other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the mother--the one who lived?" asked Eager, following out his -own line of thought.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She stayed on at Carne with her mother for about a year. Then she -disappeared, and, as far as I know, nothing has been heard of her -since. She could solve the problem doubtless, but if she swore to it -no one would believe her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She believed in her own marriage, of course?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Doubtless. And the time may come when she will put in her claim, if -she is alive."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's what I was thinking. And the father of the boys?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The man he killed--unintentionally, no doubt, still after -threats--had powerful friends. They would have exacted every penalty -the law permitted. Denzil no doubt considered he could enjoy life -better in other ways. If he is alive he is abroad. He has never shown -face here since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A complicated matter," said Eager thoughtfully, "and likely to become -more so. Where would the old man's death land things?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"God knows. I've puzzled over it many a day and night."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And meanwhile Sir Denzil allows the youngsters to run to seed?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly. He takes absolutely no interest in them. If one of them died -it would be all right for the other. He would be Carron of Carne in -due course and no questions asked. But the complication of the two has -made him look askance at both."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the old woman--Mrs. Lee?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She lives on at Carne, biding her time. I have no doubt she knows -which is her grandson, but she won't speak till the time comes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how does Sir Denzil treat her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They say he has never spoken to her for the last ten years--never a -word since that day she and her daughter brought the two children in -to him and started the game. She tends the house and does the cooking, -and so on. Sir Denzil lives in his own rooms, and his man Kennet looks -after him. It's a very long time since I saw him. We never got on well -together. He killed that poor girl, dragging her here as he did, and I -told him so. And he chose to say that I ought to have been able to -recognise t'other baby from which. Much he knows about it," snorted -the doctor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what does he do with himself? Is he a student?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drinks, I imagine. I meet his man about now and again, and if it's -like master like man there's not much doubt about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor little fellows! I must get hold of them, doctor. I must have -them. Now, how shall I set about it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Better call on the old man and see what he says. His soul's in your -charge, you know. I have my own opinion as to its probable ultimate -destination, in spite of you. It'll be an experience, anyway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For me or for him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I was thinking of you at the moment."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And not an over-pleasant one, you suggest?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, he's a gentleman, is the old man, if he is an old heathen. Gad! -I'd like to go along with you, only it would upset your apple-cart and -set you in the ditch."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see him in the morning," said Eager.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.08" href="#div1Ref_2.08">CHAPTER VIII</a></h4> -<h5>SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The struggle between the boys, which began before Mr. Eager was well -out of sight, resulted in a bump on Jim's forehead similar to the one -which already decorated Jack's, in a few additional scratches and -bruises to both brown little bodies, and in Jim's temporary possession -of the rabbit.</p> - -<p class="normal">That point decided for the time being, they sat down in the hot sand -to recover their wind, Jim holding his prey tightly by the ears on his -off side, since a moment's lack of caution would result in its instant -transfer to another owner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm going to learn to swim," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"HE won't let us," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then, intent silence as a sand-piper came hopping along a ridge. It -stopped at sight of them, and fixed them first with one inquiring eye -and then with the other. Their hands felt for their little clubs. The -sand-piper decided against them, and flew away with a cheep of -derision.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim had dropped the rabbit for his club. Jack leaned over behind him -and had it in a second. Jim hurled himself on him, and they were at it -again hammer and tongs, and presently they were sitting panting again, -and this time the rabbit was on Jack's off side, and, for additional -security, wedged half under his sandy leg.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We could tell him we'd asked HIM and HE said Yes," said Jim, resuming -the conversation as if there had been no break.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He'll go and ask HIM himself, and HE'LL say No," said Jack, with -perfect understanding, in spite of the mixture of third persons.</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'mph!" grunted Jim sulkily. "Wish HE was dead."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There'd be somebody else."</p> - -<p class="normal">From which remark you may gather that, where abstruse thinking met -with little encouragement, Master Jack was the more thoughtful of the -two.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll go in and watch him when he goes in to-morrow," suggested Jim -presently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They'd see us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Drat 'em! Let 'em. Who cares?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Means lickings. . . . And that Kennet he lays on a sight harder than -he used to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ever since we caught him in the rat-trap. He remembers it whenever -he's licking us. . . . Soon as I'm a man I'm going to kill Kennet. -It's the very first thing I shall do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know," said Jack doubtfully. "He only licks us when HE tells -him to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should think so," snorted Jim, with scorn at the idea of anything -else.</p> - -<p class="normal">"HE always looks at us as if we were toads. Why does he?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Damned if I know," said Jack quietly. It sounded odd from his -childish lips, but it had absolutely no meaning for him. It was simply -one of the accomplishments they had picked up from Mr. Kennet.</p> - -<p class="normal">An upward glance at the sun at the same moment suddenly accentuated a -growing want inside him. He sprang up with a whoop, swinging his -rabbit by the ears, and made for the hole in the sand-hill. Jim -followed close on his heels, and presently, clad only in short blue -knee-breeches of homely cut, and blue sailor jerseys, they were -trotting purposefully through the shallows towards Carne and dinner, -chattering brokenly as they went.</p> - -<p class="normal">A grim old man watched them from an upper window till they padded -silently round the corner out of sight. They ran in through the back -porch, and so into the comfortable kitchen with its red-tiled floor -and shining pans, and dark wood linen-presses round the walls.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Mrs. Lee, grandmother to one of them, turned from the fire to -greet them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ready for yore dinner, lads? And which on yo' killed to-day?"--as she -caught sight of the rabbit.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did," from Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No--me," from Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, both of us, then," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Clivver lads! Now fall to." And they needed no bidding to the food -she set before them. They were always hungry, and never criticised her -provisioning.</p> - -<p class="normal">Ten years had made very little change in Mrs. Lee. Indeed, if there -was any change at all it was for the better. For, whereas in the -previous times she had had grievous troubles and anxieties, during -these last ten years she had had an object in life, not to say two, -and lively subjects both of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">The grim old man upstairs would have viewed the death of either of the -boys with more than equanimity. At the first sudden upspringing of the -trouble he had, indeed, fervently wished both out of the way. But -consideration of the subject and much snuff brought him to just that -much better a frame of mind that he ended by desiring short shrift for -only one of them, and which one he did not care a snap. Either would -be preferable to a Solway Carron, but the two together produced a -complication which time would only intensify, unless Death stepped in -and cut the knot.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the beginning he watched Nance's and Mrs. Lee's treatment of them -as closely as he could, without betraying his keen interest in the -matter. His man, Kennet, had instructions to surprise, entrap, or -coerce the secret out of the women in any way he could devise.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the women laughed to scorn their clumsy attempts at espionage, and -meted out equal justice and mercy to both boys alike. Never by one -single word or look of special favour bestowed on either did master or -man come one step nearer to the knowledge they sought.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mr. Kennet, indeed, undertook, for a consideration, to make Nance his -lawful, wedded wife, with a view to getting at the truth. But when he -deviously approached Nance herself he received so hot a repulse, which -was not by any means confined to mere verbal broadsides, that he beat -a hasty retreat, with marks of the encounter on his face which took -longer to heal than did his ardour to cool.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was a handsome, strapping girl, with a temper like hot lava, and -she honestly believed herself Denzil Carron's lawful wife, though her -mother still cast doubts upon it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You!" Nance labelled Mr. Kennet after this episode, and concentrated -in that single word all the scorn of her outraged feelings; and -thereafter, till she took herself off to parts unknown, made Mr. -Kennet's life a burden to him, yet caused him to thank his stars that -the matter had gone no farther.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the grim old man upstairs? From the women's treatment of the -boys--and he spied upon them in ways, and at times, and by means, of -which they had no slightest idea--he had learned nothing. And so he -waited and waited, with infinite patience, and hoped that time might -bring some solution of the problem, even though it came by the hand of -Death. And then, as Death stood aloof, and the boys grew and waxed -strong, and developed budding personalities, he watched them still -more keenly, in the hope of finding in their dispositions and tempers -some indications which might help him in his quest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Plain living was the order of those days at Caine; and he who had -hobnobbed with princes, and had been notorious for his prodigality in -time when excess rioted through the land, lived now as simply as the -simplest yeoman of the shire. And that not of necessity, for his -income was large, and, since he spent nothing, the accumulations were -rollicking up into high figures. The candle had simply burnt itself -out. He had not a desire left in life, unless it was to get the better -of these women who had dusted his latter days with ashes.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of his son, the origin of this culminating and enduring trouble, he -had heard nothing for many years. He did not even know whether he was -alive or dead, and, save for the confusion which lack of definite -knowledge on that head might cause in the table of descent, he did not -much care.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had looked to the gallant captain to raise the house of Carne to -its old standing in the world--a poor enough ambition indeed, but -still all that was left him. By his hot-headed folly Captain Denzil -had struck himself out of the running, and by degrees, as this became -more and more certain, his father's interest in life transferred -itself from the impossible to the remotely possible, even though the -possibility was all of a tangle.</p> - -<p class="normal">For a time he supplied the prodigal freely with money, and the -prodigal dispensed it in riotous living. The fact that by rights he -ought to have been cooling his heels in prison gave a zest to his -enjoyments, and he denied himself none.</p> - -<p class="normal">His father buoyed his hopes, as long as hope was possible, on his -son's return in course of time to his native land, and to those -aristocratic circles of which he had previously been so bright an -ornament. But time passed and brought no amelioration of his -prospects. Louis Philippe still occupied the French throne. The death -of d'Aumont was not forgotten. Sir Denzil's quiet soundings of the -authorities were always met with the invariable, and perfectly -obvious, reply, that Captain Carron was at liberty to return at any -time--at his own risk; a reply which only strengthened Captain -Carron's determination to remain strictly where he was.</p> - -<p class="normal">He lived for a time, as Kennet told us, in Paris, under an assumed -name of course, but under the very noses of the men whose implacable -memories debarred him from returning home. It was added spice to his -already highly spiced life. But high living demands high paying, and -Captain Denzil's demands grew and grew till at last his father--who -would have withheld nothing for a definite object, but saw no sense in -aimless prodigality--flatly refused anything beyond a moderate -allowance. From that time communications ceased, and whether and how -his son lived Sir Denzil knew, not, and, from all appearance; cared -little. He had ceased to be a piece of value in the old man's game.</p> - -<p class="normal">Pending direction, from above or below or from the inside, Sir Denzil -left the boys to develop as they might. A magnanimous, even a -reasonably balanced nature would have assumed the burden and done its -best for both alike, and trusted to Time and Providence for a solution -of the problem. But no one ever miscalled Sir Denzil Carron to the -extent of imputing to him any faintest trace of magnanimity. Time he -had some hopes of. Providence he had no belief in. He was simply the -product of his age: an unmitigated old heathen, with but one aim in -life--the resuscitation of the house of Carne, and to that end ready -to sacrifice himself, or any other, body, soul, and spirit.</p> - -<p class="normal">That both boys were of his blood he was satisfied, but the unsolvable -doubt as to which was the rightful heir cancelled all his feelings for -them and set them both outside the pale of his doubtful favours.</p> - -<p class="normal">At times, in pursuance of his search for leading signs, he had sent -for the boys, talked to them, tried to get below the surface. But in -his presence they crept into their innermost shells and became dull -and dumb, and impervious even to his biting sarcasms on their -appearances, tastes, and habits.</p> - -<p class="normal">They feared and hated the grim old tyrant, with his peaked white face -and thin scornful lips and gold snuff-box. There was no kindliness for -them in the keen dark eyes, and they felt it without understanding -why. They would slink out of his presence like whipped puppies, but -once out of it he would hear their natural spirits rising as they -raced for the kitchen, and their merry shouts as they sped across the -flats to their own devices.</p> - -<p class="normal">When that was possible he watched them unawares, on the look-out -always for what he sought. But such chances were few, for natural -instinct caused the boys to remove themselves as far away from him as -possible, and the sand-hills offered an inviting field and unlimited -scope for their abilities.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.09" href="#div1Ref_2.09">CHAPTER IX</a></h4> -<h5>MORE OF SIR DENZIL'S VIEWS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">All the next morning the boys lay in the wire-grass on top of their -special sand-hill, on the look-out for their new friend. But he did -not come.</p> - -<p class="normal">Instead, he walked over to Carne, and coming first on the back door, -rapped on it, and was confronted by Mrs. Lee. It seemed to him that -she eyed him with something more than native caution, and after what -he had heard from Dr. Yool he was not surprised at it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can I see Sir Denzil?" he asked cheerily. "I'm the new curate."</p> - -<p class="normal">The old woman's mouth wrinkled in a dry smile, as though the thought -of Sir Denzil and the curate compassed incongruity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' can try," she said. "Knock on front door and maybe Kennet'll hear -yo'." And Eager went round to the front.</p> - -<p class="normal">Continuous knocking at last produced some result. The great front door -looked as if it had not been opened for years. It opened at last, -however, and Mr. Kennet stood regarding him with disfavour and -surprise and a touch of relief on his hairless red face. Carne had few -callers, and Kennet's first idea, when summoned to that door, was that -Captain Denzil had come home, a return which could hardly make for -peace and happiness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can I see Sir Denzil?" asked Eager once more. "Tell him, please, that -Mr. Eager, the new curate, begs the favour of an interview with him."</p> - -<p class="normal">Kennet looked doubtful, but finally, remembering that he was a -gentleman's gentleman, asked him to step inside while he inquired if -Sir Denzil could see him.</p> - -<p class="normal">The hall was a large and desolate apartment, flagged with stone and -destitute of decoration or clothing of any kind, and was evidently -little used. There was a huge fireplace at one side, but the bare -hearth gave a chill even to the summer day. A wide oak staircase led -up to a gallery off which the upper rooms opened, and from which Sir -Denzil at times in the winter quietly overlooked the boys at their -play down below, and sought in them unconscious indications of -character.</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently, Kennet came silently down the staircase and intimated -that the visitor was to follow him. He ushered him into a room looking -out over the sea, and Sir Denzil turned from the window, snuff-box in -hand, to meet him.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was an intimation of surprised inquiry in the very way he held -his snuff-box. He bowed politely, however, and his eyebrows emphasised -his desire to learn the reasons for so unexpected a visit.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I trust you will pardon my introducing myself, Sir Denzil," said -Eager. "I am taking Mr. Smythe's place, and the vicar is away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!" said Sir Denzil, taking a pinch very elegantly, "I had not the -pleasure of Mr. Smythe's acquaintance,"--and his manner politely -intimated that he equally had not sought that of Mr. Smythe's -successor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have come with a very definite object," said Eager, cheerfully -oblivious to the old man's frostiness, and going straight to his mark, -as was his way. "I want you to let me take those two boys in hand. I -met them on the sands yesterday. In fact, they amused themselves by -hiding my clothes while I was in bathing, and I looked like having to -go home clad only in a towel." And he laughed again at the -recollection.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They shall be punished----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My dear sir! You don't suppose I came for any such purpose as that! -It broke the ice between us. I got my things and made two friends. I -want to improve the acquaintance--with your sanction."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To what end?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To the end of making men of them, Sir Denzil. There are great -possibilities there. You must not neglect them, or the responsibility -will be yours."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That, I presume, is my affair."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No--excuse me! In the natural course of things those boys will be -here when you and I are gone. As their feet are set now, so will they -walk then. If you leave them untrained the responsibility for their -deeds will be yours. It is no light matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil extracted a pinch very deliberately and closed the box with -a tap on the First Gentleman's snub nose.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And suppose I prefer to let them run wild for the present?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you are not doing your duty by them, and sooner or later it will -recoil upon your own head--or house."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; but, as you say, I shall probably not be here, and so I shall -not suffer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your name--the name of your house will suffer----" Sir Denzil shedded -the prospect with a shrug.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who set you on this business, Mr. Eager?" he asked, with a touch of -acidity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!"--snuffing with extreme deliberation. "Now we approach debatable -ground."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, sir. We stand on the only ground that offers sound footing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well! I suppose some people still believe such things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fortunately, yes. Now about the boys. May I take them in hand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil regarded him thoughtfully while he shook his snuff box -gently and prepared another pinch.</p> - -<p class="normal">"On conditions, possibly yes," he said at last.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the conditions?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What have you heard about those boys, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think I may say everything."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Egad! Then you know more than I do. You have wasted no time. Who told -you the story?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps you will not press that question, Sir Denzil. Having got -interested in the boys I naturally desired to learn what I could about -them. It was from no idle curiosity, I assure you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you went to Dr. Yool, I suppose. I felt sure he would be at the -root of the matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I assure you he is not. The root of the matter is simply my desire -for those boys. I would like to try my hand at making men of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very welt. You shall try--on this condition. As you are aware, one of -them comes of high stock on both sides, the other of low stock on one -side. The signs may crop out, must crop out in time. You will have -opportunities, such as I have not, of observing them. What I ask of -you is to bring all your intelligence and acumen to bear on the -solution of my problem--which is which?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I understand, and I will willingly do my best. But you must remember, -Sir Denzil, that there is no infallibility in such indications. The -crossing of blue blood with red sometimes produces a richer strain -than the blending of two thin blues."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is so. Still I hope there may be indications we cannot mistake, -and then I shall know what to do. It is, as you can understand, a -matter that has caused me no little concern."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Naturally. By God's help we will make men of both of them. The rest -we must trust to Providence."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil's pinch of snuff cast libellous doubts on Providence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You design them for the army, I presume?" asked Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Unless one should show an inclination for the Church," said the old -cynic suavely. "Which I should be inclined to look upon as a clear -indication of his origin."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm not so sure of that," said Eager, with a smile. "The Church has -its heroes no less than the army."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will find them difficult to handle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall soon be good friends. I'm going to begin by teaching them to -swim."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil looked at him thoughtfully and said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"That might undoubtedly relieve the situation. It is a dangerous -coast. If you could drown one of them for me----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am going to make men of them. I can't make a man out of a drowned -boy. I will take every care of them, and some time you will be proud -of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of one of them possibly. The question is, which?"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.10" href="#div1Ref_2.10">CHAPTER X</a></h4> -<h5>GROWING FREEMEN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The Rev. Charles was greatly uplifted as he tramped through the sand -to keep his appointment with the boys. He had succeeded beyond his -hopes, and a most congenial field of work and study lay open to his -hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Catch them young," had been hammered into his heart and brain by his -five years' work in East London. With heart and brain he had fought -against the stolid indifference and active evil-mindedness of the -grown-ups, till heart and brain grew sick at times. His greatest hopes -had settled on the children, and here were two, of a different caste -indeed, but as ignorant of the essentials as any he had met with--and -they were given into his hand for the moulding. By God's help he would -make men of them, high-born or baseborn. The side-issue was nothing -to him, but it would add zest to the work.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he got, as he believed, into the neighbourhood of his previous -day's adventure, he examined the ridge of sand-hills with care. But -they were all so much alike that he could not be sure. He had hoped to -find the boys on the look-out for him, but he saw no signs of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">He struggled up the yielding side of the nearest hill and looked -round. If he could find their hole he would probably find them inside -it or not far away.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was close on midday, baking hot, and the sand-hills seemed as -deserted as Sahara. The sea lay fast asleep behind its banks, which -reached to the horizon. When he looked back across the flats to Carne, -he rubbed his eyes at sight of its stout walls bending and bowing and -jigging spasmodically in an uncouth dance. The very wire-grass drooped -listlessly. The only sound was the cheerful creak of a cricket.</p> - -<p class="normal">The width, length, and height of it, the gracious spaciousness of it -all filled him with fresh delight. It was all so very different from -the heart-crushing straitness of the slums and alleys in which his -last years had been spent. He stood drinking it all in, and then, -seeing no signs of the boys, he turned his back to the shore and -strode inland.</p> - -<p class="normal">But within a few steps he caught sight of recent traces of them in -fresh-turned yellow sand which the sun had not had time to whiten. He -whistled shrilly, if perchance the sound might penetrate to their -hold.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then, to his astonishment, the ground in front of him cracked and -heaved, and first one and then another dark sanded head and laughing -face came out, and the boys sprang up from the shallow holes in which -they had buried themselves and stood before him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You young rabbits," he laughed. "I had just about given you up. -Thought I wasn't coming, I suppose."</p> - -<p class="normal">Decisive nods from both black heads.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, we'll make a start on that. Remember that I never break a -promise, and I want you to do the same. The boy who makes up his mind -that he'll never break his word is half a brave man."</p> - -<p class="normal">They stared up at him with wide eyes, and whether they understood it -he did not know. But he knew better than to say more just then.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now--why----?" And he looked from one to the other and then began to -laugh. "Which of you is Jack and which is Jim? I was to remember Jack -by a bump on the forehead, and now you've both got bumps. Been -fighting again?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Gleaming nods from both boys.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We must find you something better to do. I've been seeing your -grandfather, and he says I may teach you to swim."</p> - -<p class="normal">Squirms of anticipation in the active brown bodies, and glances past -him at the distant sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, not to-day. It's too late now, but it was worth spending the -morning on. We'll make a start to-morrow. Can you be here at eight -o'clock?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Their energetic heads intimated that they could be there very much -before eight if desired.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Right! I'll be here. In the meantime you can be practising a bit on -dry land. Here's the stroke"--and he laid himself flat on a convenient -hummock and kicked out energetically, while the black eyes watched -intently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now try it. You first, Jack. That's right. Keep your hands a bit more -sloped, and your toes more down. Thrust back with the flat of your -feet as though you were trying to kick some one. First rate! Now, -Jim!" But Jim was already hard at work on his own account. "That's -right. Hands sloped, toes down. Draw your knees well up under your -body. You'll find it easier in the water. Oh, you'll do. You'll be -swimmers in no time. That'll do for just now. Now--Jack," he looked at -them both, but his eyes finally settled on Jim--"if you'll fetch -Robinson out well make a start on him."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim turned to dive down the hill-side, and was instantly tripped by -Jack, who flung himself on top of him. They rolled down together, -fighting like cats, amid a cloud of flying sand. Eager sprang after -them, found it useless, as before, to attempt to separate them by any -ordinary means, so spanked them indiscriminately till they fell apart -and stood up panting. And the odd thing about it all was that no -slightest ill-will seemed born of their strife. The moment it was over -they were friends again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He told me," panted Jack in self-justification.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He looked at me," panted Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My fault, boys. I must tie a string round one of your arms till I get -to know you. Now trot along one of you--no, you "--grabbing one by the -shoulder as both started off again. "We haven't much time to-day. If -I'm not home by one Mrs. Jex will be eating all my dinner."</p> - -<p class="normal">So they sat in the soft sand, and he read, and explained what he read, -till Robinson Crusoe came alive and began to be as real to them as one -of themselves, and they knew him as they had never known him before.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Eager was dodging about his sheepfold that afternoon he came upon -Dr. Yool in the yellow-wheeled gig. "Well, I've got 'em," said the -curate.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Got what? Measles, jumps----?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Those boys. I bearded the old man in his den this morning, and he has -given me a free hand with them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll do," said Dr. Yool. "They'll keep you busy. Don't forget I -want your help with these stinks"--pointing with his whip to the heaps -of refuse lying about.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm tackling stinks now. Tiger-pups in the morning, stinks in the -afternoon, Dr. Yool in the evening. That's the order of service at -present." And they parted the better for the meeting.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager had a chat with some of the wise men of Wynsloe, and got points -from them as to shifting sands, and the tucking sands, and the other -dangers of that treacherous coast, and in return incidentally dropped -into their minds some seeds of wisdom respecting stinks and their -consequences.</p> - -<p class="normal">Five minutes to eight next morning found him a-perch of the highest -sand-hill in the neighbourhood, on the look-out for his pupils.</p> - -<p class="normal">Five minutes past eight found him somewhat disappointed at their -non-appearance. They had seemed eager enough too, the day before. -Perhaps the old man had thought better of it. Then he remembered his -cynical hope that the swimming might prove of service in the solution -of his great problem. And then a couple of war-whoops at each of his -ears jerked him off his perch with so sudden a leap that the whoopers -squirmed in the sand with delight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thought we weren't coming?" grinned Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I began to fear you'd been stopped----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We promised," grinned Jim; and Eager rejoiced to think that that seed -at all events had taken root.</p> - -<p class="normal">In two minutes they were trotting across the flats, and presently they -were in the tide-way, and the little savages were revelling in a fresh -acquirement and a new sense of motion.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was little teaching needed. Eager took them out, one after the -other, neck-deep, and turned their faces to the shore, and they swam -home like rats, and yelled hilariously from pure enjoyment as soon as -they found their breath.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then he carried them out of their depths, and loosed them, and they -paddled away back without a sign of fear. Fear, in fact, seemed -absolutely lacking in them. The only thing on earth of which they -stood in any fear, as far as he could make out, was the grim old man -in the upper room at Carne, and even in his case it seemed to be as -much distrust and dislike as actual fear.</p> - -<p class="normal">But even fearlessness has its dangers, and, mindful of his trust, -Eager exacted from each of them a solemn promise not to go into the -sea except when he was with them, for he had no mind to solve the old -man's riddle for him in the way he had so hopefully suggested.</p> - -<p class="normal">Those mornings on the sands and in the water proved the foundation on -which he slowly and surely built the boys' characters.</p> - -<p class="normal">A very few days of so close an intimacy stamped their individualities -on his mind. After the third day he never again mistook one for the -other. Time and again they tried to mislead him, but he saw deeper -than they knew and never failed to detect them.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were, at this time, remarkably alike in every way, and though, -later on, each developed marked characteristics of his own, there all -along remained between them resemblance enough to put strangers to -confusion, a matter in which they at all times found extreme -enjoyment.</p> - -<p class="normal">But even now, like as they were, in face and body and the wild -naturalness of their primeval ways, their respective personalities -began to disclose themselves, as Eager broke them, bit by bit, to the -harness of civilisation. And if their harnessing was no easy matter, -either for themselves or their teacher, they came to realise very -quickly that, though it might mean less of freedom in some ways, it -meant also an immensely wider reach and outlook. Whereas their life -had hitherto revolved in narrow grooves--with which indeed no man had -taken the trouble to meddle, now it ran in courses that were ordered, -but which also were spacious and lofty and filled with novelty and -enterprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">And as their natural characteristics began to develop in these more -reasonable ways, Eager watched and studied them with intensest -interest.</p> - -<p class="normal">But little savages they remained in certain respects for a -considerable time, and it was only by slow degrees that he managed to -lead them out of darkness into something approaching twilight.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, for instance, had a rooted detestation of every living thing he -came across on the shore, and promptly proceeded to squash it with his -bare foot or to pound it into jelly with his prehistoric club. From -tiny delicate crab to senseless jelly-fish or screaming gull, if Jim -came across it it must die if he could manage it.</p> - -<p class="normal">To counteract, if he might, this innate lust for slaughter Eager took -to explaining to them some of the more simple wonders and beauties of -seashore life. He brought down a small pocket microscope and showed -them things they had never dreamed of.</p> - -<p class="normal">This appealed to Jack immensely. He became a devoted slave of the -wonderful glasses, and never tired of poring over and peering into -things. Jim, however, drew a double satisfaction from them. He smashed -things first and then delighted in the examination of the pieces, and -many a pitched battle they fought over the destruction and defence of -flotsam and jetsam which formerly they would both have destroyed with -equal zest.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was all education, however, and Eager rejoiced in them greatly. He -found them, in varying degrees and with notable exceptions, fairly -easy to lead, but almost impossible to drive. He led them step by step -from darkness towards the light, and meanwhile studied them with as -microscopic a care as that with which he endeavoured to get them to -study the tiny things of the shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their wild free life about the sand-hills had trained their powers of -observation to an unusual degree. True, the observation had generally -tended to destruction, but the faculty was good, and the end and aim -of it was a matter to be slowly brought within control.</p> - -<p class="normal">They could tell him many strange things about the manners and customs -of rabbits, and gulls, and peewits, and sandpipers, and bull-frogs, -and tadpoles, and so on. They could forecast the weather from the look -of the sky and the smell of the wind, with the accuracy of a -barometer. They could run as fast and farther than he could, for they -had been breathing God's sweetest air all their lives, while he had -been travelling alley-ways, with tightened lips and compressed -nostrils. And they could fling their little stone clubs with an aim -that was deadly. Jim indeed vaunted himself on having once brought -down a seagull on the wing, but the actual fact rested on his sole -testimony and Jack cast doubts on it, and thereupon they fought each -time it was mentioned, but proved nothing thereby.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager told them of the wonders of the black man's boomerang; and they -laboured long and practised much, but could not compass it. It was -their ideal weapon, a thing to dream of and strive after, but it -always lay beyond them.</p> - -<p class="normal">One day he brought home under his arm, from the shop in Wyvveloe, a -small parcel which he took up into his own room. He borrowed Mrs. -Jex's scissors, and spent a very much longer time planning and cutting -than the result seemed to warrant. Then he got Mrs. Jex, who would -have shaved her scanty locks to please him, to do some hemming and -stitching and to sew on some bits of tape, and next day he astonished -his little savages by attiring himself and them in bright-red -loin-cloths, before they started for their mile sprint to the water.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys were inclined to resist this innovation as an unnecessary -cramping of their freedom. Jim averred that he couldn't stretch his -legs, and that his garment burnt him, though when it was on it looked -no bigger than his hand. Jack demanded reasons, and was told to wait -and he would see. However, the brilliancy of the little garments -somewhat condoned their offence, and once in the water they were soon -forgotten, and as they flashed back and forth across the sands the -startling effects they produced in the sunny pools by degrees -reconciled their wearers to their use.</p> - -<p class="normal">About a week after this, the boys were sitting one morning in the -hollow Mr. Eager used as a dressing-room, wondering why he was later -than usual,</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gone to see HIM, maybe, 'bout yon books we brought out," growled Jack -gloomily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hmph!" grunted Jim. "I don't care--'sides, he wouldn't."</p> - -<p class="normal">And then Eager strode in with a brighter face even than usual.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Afraid I wasn't coming, were you?" he laughed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thought maybe you'd gone to see HIM again," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your grandfather? No; I've been seeing some one very much nicer. Jim, -did you say your verse this morning?"</p> - -<p class="normal">This was a gigantic innovation, and still much of a mere ritual. But -it was a beginning, and the rest would follow. It was the first upward -step towards those higher things which Charles Eager kept ever -steadily in view.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Forgot," grunted Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">This again was mighty gain. A month ago--if such a contingency had -been possible--he would never have owned up. To his grandfather it is -doubtful if he would have owned up even now.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, oblige me by going behind that sand-hill and saying it now, -and think what you're saying as well as you can. And you, Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Said um," said Jack dutifully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never saw you," said Jim, on his knees. Whereupon Jack dashed -at him and rolled him over prayer and all, and they had a regular -former-state set-to.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Rev. Charles, grave of face, but internally convulsed, got them -separated at last, and as soon as Jim had performed his devotions they -turned their faces towards the sea. Before the two boys could start -out, as they usually did, like bolts from a cross-bow, however, he -laid a detaining hand on each brown shoulder, and to their surprise -whistled shrilly across the hills. In reply, a tiny figure in -brilliant scarlet sped out from an adjacent nook, and shot, with -flowing hair, and little white feet going like drumsticks, across the -flats towards the sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys caught their breath and gaped in amazement.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is it?" gasped Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whow! Who?" from Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My little sister. She only arrived last night. Now let's see if we -can catch her! Off you go!" And they tore away across the long ribbed -sands after the flying streak of scarlet in front.</p> - -<p class="normal">They caught her long before she reached the tide-lip, and her eyes -flashed merriment as they raced alongside.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had rare beauty even as a child--and no beauty of after-life ever -quite equals that of a lovely child--and the two boys had never in -their lives seen anything like her. They stumbled alongside, careless -of holes and lumps, with sidelong glances for nothing but that radiant -vision--scarlet-wrapped, streaming nut-brown hair, dancing blue eyes, -white skin flushed with the run like a hedge-rose, little teeth -gleaming pearls between panting, laughing lips, a little rainbow of -beauty.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well run, Gracie! Keep it up, old girl!" panted Eager, almost pumped -himself. And then they were in the water.</p> - -<p class="normal">Grace, it appeared, could not swim yet. The boys fell to at once and -fought for the honour of helping her, though neither would have dared -to touch her. She screamed at sight of their brown bodies thrashing to -and fro in the foam, but was comforted at sight of her brother's -laughing face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come along, Gracie. Never mind the boys. They enjoy a fight more than -anything. Now kick away, and strike out as I showed you how on the -footstool. I'll hold your chin up. That's it! Bravo, little one! -You'll be a swimmer in a week."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.11" href="#div1Ref_2.11">CHAPTER XI</a></h4> -<h5>THE LITTLE LADY</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And so another element entered into the tiger-cubs' education, and one -that, for so small a creature, exercised a mighty influence on them, -both then and thereafter.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was the Joy of Charles Eager's heart and the light of his eyes. -Other sisters and brothers there had been, but all were gone save this -little fairy, and they two were alone in the world. While he wrought -in the dark corners of the great city he had boarded her with some -maiden aunts in the suburbs, and the weekly sight of her, growing like -a flower, had helped to keep his heart fresh and sweet. Not the least -of the joys of his translation to this wide new sphere was the fact -that he could have her always with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Jex wept with joy at sight of her, vowed she was the very image -of her own little Sally, who died when she was eight, and proceeded to -squander on her the pent-up affections of thirty childless years.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the Little Lady, as Mrs. Jex styled her, lorded it over them all, -then and thereafter, and was a factor of no small consequence in all -their lives.</p> - -<p class="normal">Over the slowly regenerating tiger-cubs she exercised a peculiarly -softening and elevating influence. It was exactly what they needed, -and all unconsciously it wrought upon the simple savageries of their -boy-natures as powerfully as did the Rev. Charles's more direct and -strenuous endeavours.</p> - -<p class="normal">Both boys, in moments of excitement, which were many in the course of -each day, had a habit of expression, picked up from Sir Denzil and Mr. -Kennet, which was not a little startling on their juvenile lips. Eager -promptly suppressed these whenever they slipped out. He knew well -enough that they conveyed no special meaning to the boys beyond an -idea of extra forcefulness, but, besides being unseemly, they grated -horribly on his sensitive ear.</p> - -<p class="normal">As for the Little Lady, Master Jim Carron did not soon forget the -effect produced on her by one of his unconscious expletives.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Dan Fell of Wynsloe got to the end of his bottle of Hollands gin -sooner than he expected one dark night at the fishing, and hurled it -overboard with a curse, his only feeling was one of disgust at the -shortcomings of a friend in time of need. If any one had told him that -he was thereby assisting in the education of little Jim Carron of -Carne he would have cursed more volubly still, under the impression -that he was being made game of, which was a thing he could not stand. -The bottle floated ashore, tried conclusions with a log of Norway pine -thrown up by the last equinoctials, distributed itself in razor-like -spicules about the soft sand, and lay in wait for unwary feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, racing home one day from the bathing alongside the Little Lady, -and dazzled somewhat, perhaps, by the gleam of the little crimson robe -and the damp little mane of flowing hair, set incautious foot on one -of the razor spicules, jerked out an energetic and utterly unconscious -"Damn!" and bit the sand.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Little Lady heard the word, but missed the cause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh!" cried she, in a shocked voice, and sped away to her own -apartment, and began to dress with trembling sodden pink fingers in -extreme haste, as though clothing might possibly afford a certain -amount of protection against the ill effects of flying curses.</p> - -<p class="normal">By the time she had got on her tiny pink petticoat, a peep round the -corner showed her her brother and Jack kneeling by the fallen utterer -of oaths and curses, and she began to fear something had happened.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had little doubt that punishment had promptly overtaken the -sinner. But she liked the sinner in spite of his sin, and she stole -back to see what was the matter. That it was something serious was -evident by Charles's knitted brows as he bent over the foot which Jim -held tightly between his hands. His lips were pinched very close, and -his brown face was mottled with putty colour, and the sand below was -red. The indurated little pad, hard as leather almost with much -running on the sands--for the boys scoffed at shoes--was badly sliced -and bleeding freely, but the worst of it was that the treacherous -spicule had broken off short and stopped inside and they had no means -of getting it out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rags, Gracie," said Eager, at sight of the tearful face and clasped -hands and pink petticoat, and she turned and sped, over sands that -rocked like waves beneath her feet, to her dressing-room, and back -with an armful of garments and a handkerchief the size of his hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">He folded the handkerchief into a square pad, and ripped something -white into strips and bound the foot tightly, issuing his orders as he -did so.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack, get into your things and run for Dr. Yool, and tell him to go -to the house. Tell him there's glass inside that must come out. -Gracie, put on your frock and sit here with Jim. I'll get some things -on, and then I'll carry him home!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And the Little Lady struggled mistily into her things behind Jim's -back, and then sat down alongside him without speaking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Doesn't hurt a bit," said Jim, through clenched teeth and whitened -lips.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Little Lady sniffed and looked at the distant sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tell you it doesn't hurt," said Jim again.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Little Lady made no response.</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently--"Whew!" said Jim, with a frightful twist of the face, -trying by instinct the other tack, "ah!--o-o-oh!"--but all to no -purpose. The Little Lady's soft heart might be wrung, but at present -she could not bring herself to speak to this dreadful sinner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now," said Eager, running up. "Stand up, Jim. Put your arms round my -neck. Now your feet up, so, and off we go. I must get old Bent to make -sandals for you youngsters. We can't have this kind of thing, you -know. It'll be ten days before you can use that foot, old man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Damn!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And the Little Lady fell solemnly into the rear.</p> - -<p class="normal">She would not speak to him for two whole days, though she did not mind -sitting within sight of him in the side of a sand-hill, and she -silently allowed him to instruct her in the art of making sand -waterfalls. But the current of her usual merry chatter was frozen at -the fount, and the unconscious Jim could make nothing of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the third day, tiring of an abstinence that was quite as irksome to -herself as to her victim, she broke the ice by informing him of the -painful fact that he was doomed to everlasting punishment. She put it -very shortly and concisely.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim," she said, "you'll go to hell."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Um?" chirped Jim cheerfully, glad to hear her voice once more, even -at such a price. "An' why?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Cause you swear."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ho! Very well! So will HE"--the emphatic use of the third person -singular in the boys' vernacular was always understood to stand for -Sir Denzil Carron of Carne--"and so will Kennet, and so will Dr. -Yool."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't care about any of them," said Grace impartially, "unless, -perhaps, Dr. Yool. I do rather like him. But it will be such a pity -for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">The prospect did not seem to trouble him greatly, perhaps because his -views on the subject were not nearly so clearly defined as hers.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, well, I won't if you don't like," he answered cheerfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank you," said the Little Lady; and from that time, simply to -oblige her, and from no great fear of direr consequences, he really -did seem to do his best to avoid the use of any words which might -offend her. He even went so far as to assume an oversight of his -brother's rhetorical flights, and many a pitched battle they had in -consequence.</p> - -<p class="normal">These encounters were so much a part of their nature that Eager found -it impossible to stop them entirely. They had fought continually since -ever they could crawl within arm's length of one another. Where other -boys might have argued to ill-temper, these two simply closed without -wasting a word, and having settled the momentary dispute, <i>vi et -armis</i>, were as friendly as ever. They both possessed fiery tempers, -and had never seen or dreamt of the necessity of controlling them. But -on the other hand, they never bore malice, and the cause of dispute, -and the blows that settled it, were forgotten the moment the god of -battle had awarded the palm. They were very closely matched, and no -great bodily harm came of it, though to the spectators it looked -fearsome enough.</p> - -<p class="normal">Bit by bit, utilising and turning to best account their natural powers -and proclivities, Eager got hold of them, to the point at all events -of inducing their feet into more reasonable upward paths. But as to -coming one step nearer to the reading of Sir Denzil's puzzle, he had -to acknowledge completest failure.</p> - -<p class="normal">He studied the boys, from his own intense interest in them, as no -other had ever had the opportunity of studying them. And he discussed -his observation of them with Sir Denzil time and again. But, so far, -there were no ultra indications of disposition in either of them so -marked as to offer any reasonable basis for deduction.</p> - -<p class="normal">For men without a single common view of life, he and Sir Denzil had -become quite friendly. A verbal tussle with the old heathen, in which -each spoke his mind without reserve, always braced him up, just as the -boys' more primitive method of argument seemed to do them good.</p> - -<p class="normal">The old gentleman always greeted him, over a pinch of snuff, with an -expression of regret that he had not yet succeeded in settling the -matter out of hand by drowning one of his pupils.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Mr. Eager," he would say, "no progress yet?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, plenty. We're improving every day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'mph If you'd only drown one of them for me----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've a better use for them than that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I doubt it. Ill stock on either side, though I say it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As the twig is bent----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Break one off and I'd thank you. Here is possibly a further -complication,"--tapping with his snuff-box a small news-sheet he had -been reading when Eager came in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is that, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That fool Quixande has got into a mess in Paris--got a sword through -his ribs."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quixande?" queried Eager, not perceiving the relevancy of the matter.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has no issue--none that can inherit, that is. One of those whelps -is his only sister's son and so comes in for the title. Which?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'm, yes. It's mighty awkward. I suppose you couldn't make one of -them Earl of Quixande and the other Carron of Carne?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It would be a solution. But which? Which? Such matters are not -settled by guesswork."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can only wait and see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If Quixande dies we cannot wait--the succession cannot."</p> - -<p class="normal">"For his own sake we'll hope he'll pull through. He may repent of his -sins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quixande?"--with raised brows, and a shake of the head. "You don't -know him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I did, I'd try to bring him to his senses."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Waste of time. With these cubs you may be able to do something, -though I doubt it. Quixande's past mending."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No man is past mending till he's dead. Perhaps not then----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!"--with a pinch of snuff and a wave of the hand, "A hopeful creed, -but with no more foundation than most others. It would, however, -undoubtedly commend itself to Quixande on his death-bed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A hopeful creed is better than a hopeless one," said Eager, with -emphasis.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Undoubtedly, if you admit the necessity of such things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God, I do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well! However--what you are doing for those boys should benefit -one of them, though it's thrown away upon the other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And if you never solve the puzzle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If one of them dies I accept the other in full. That's the solution."</p> - -<p class="normal">There were times when all Eager's knocking on the great front door was -productive of no result whatever. Then he would go round to the back -and interview Mrs. Lee, but never with any satisfaction.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay?" she would say to his statement, straightening up from her work, -arms akimbo, and gazing steadily at him with her dark eyes. "Maybe -they're out."</p> - -<p class="normal">But he had never met Sir Denzil out, nor had any of the villagers ever -encountered him, and Dr. Yool said brusquely that both the old -gentleman and his gentleman were probably lying dead drunk in the -upper rooms.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager never mentioned these abortive visits to Sir Denzil, and there -was never anything in his appearance to justify Dr. Yool's assertions.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.12" href="#div1Ref_2.12">CHAPTER XII</a></h4> -<h5>MANY MEANS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Eager spread his nets very wide for the capture for higher things of -these two callow souls cast so carelessly into his hands. Carelessly, -that is, on the part of Sir Denzil. For his own part he believed -devoutly in the Higher Hand in the great game of life, and never for a -moment doubted that here was a work specially designed for him by -Providence.</p> - -<p class="normal">He put his whole heart into the matter, as he did into all matters. He -felt himself very much in the position of a missionary breaking up new -ground, except, indeed, that here were no old beliefs to get rid of. -It was absolutely virgin soil, and he felt and rejoiced in the -responsibility.</p> - -<p class="normal">Perfect little savages they were in many respects, and their training -had to begin at the very beginning. Manners they lacked entirely, and -their customs were simply such as they had evolved for themselves in -their free-and-easy life on the flats, Their beliefs were summed up in -a wholesome fear of Sir Denzil and his representative Mr. Kennet. -These two were to them as the gods of the heathen; powers of evil, to -be avoided if possible, and if not, then to be propitiated by the -assumption of graces--such as unobtrusiveness, and if observed, then -of meekness and conformability--which were no more than instantly -assumed little masks concealing the true natures within, which true -natures found their full vent and expression in the wilds of the -sand-hills and the untrammelled freedom of the shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Mrs. Lee was a power of another kind, on the whole benevolent; -provident, at all events, and not given to such incomprehensible -outbreaks of anger and punishment as were the others at times.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had known no coddling, had run wild with as little on as -possible--and in their own haunts with nothing on at all--since the -day they could crawl out of the courtyard down to the ribbed sand -below. They were hard as nails, and feared nothing, except Sir Denzil -and Mr. Kennet.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager's first and most difficult work was to break them off their evil -habits--their natural lust for slaughter and destruction, the -perpetual resort to fisticuffs for the settlement of the most trifling -dispute, the use of language which conveyed no meaning beyond that of -emphasis to their own minds, but which to other ears was terribly -revolting.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just as, if he had had a couple of wild colts to take to stable, he -would have found it better to lead them than to drive, so he strove to -win these two from the miry ways and pitfalls among which a shameful -lack of oversight had left them to stray. He forced no bits into their -mouths, laid no halters on their touchy heads. He just won their -confidence and liking, till they looked up to him, trusted him, -finally worshipped him, and followed, unquestioning, where he chose to -lead them.</p> - -<p class="normal">And--Providence or no Providence--they could not have fallen into -better hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">Charles Eager was one of the newer school, a muscular Christian if -ever there was one, rejoicing greatly in his muscularity, and as wise -as he was thorough in his Master's work. He had pulled stroke in his -boat at Cambridge, and when he went there had looked forward to the -sword as his oyster-opener. And so he had given much time to fitting -himself adequately for an army career. He would have backed himself to -ride, or box, or fence with any man of his time; and he had so -unmistakable a bent for mechanics, and was so skilful a hand with -lathe and tools, that there could not be a moment's doubt as to which -branch nature designed him for.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then, when he had perfected himself for the way he had chosen, a -better way opened suddenly before him. Without a sign of the cost, he -renounced all he had been looking forward to all his life, and -dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the greater work.</p> - -<p class="normal">All that he had acquired, however, with so different an end in view, -remained with him, and helped to make him the man he was; and it was -into such hands that, by the grace of God, these two wild Carron colts -had fallen.</p> - -<p class="normal">A missionary, when he sets out to turn his unruly flock from their old -savageries, must, if he understands human nature and his work, provide -other and less harmful outlets for the energies resulting from -generations of tumult and slaughter. Eager taught his young savages -boxing on the most scientific principles, and made the gloves himself. -He taught them fencing with basket-hilted sticks, constructed under -his own eyes by the old basket-weaver in the village. Prompt appeal to -arms was still permitted in settlement of their endless disputes; but -the business was regularised, and tended, all unconsciously on the -part of the combatants, to education.</p> - -<p class="normal">For their inexhaustible energies he found new and much-appreciated -vent in games on the sands. And if these were crude enough -performances, compared with their later developments familiar to -ourselves, they still had in them those elements of saving grace which -all such games teach in the playing--self-control, fair-play, honour -And these be mighty things to learn.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the summer they played cricket. The bat and ball Eager provided; -the stumps he made himself.</p> - -<p class="normal">He also instructed them in the mysteries of hare-and-hounds, which -chimed mightily with their humour, especially when he supplemented it -with a course of Fenimore Cooper. They became mighty hunters and -notable trackers, their natural instincts and previous training -standing them in excellent stead.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the winter the flats rang to their shouts at football and hockey, -crudely played, but mightily relished.</p> - -<p class="normal">And always, in and alongside their play and in between, but so deftly -administered that it seemed to them but a natural part of the whole, -their education proceeded by leaps and bounds. They drank in knowledge -unawares, and learned intuitively things that mere teaching is -powerless to teach.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he found them they were simply self-centred and selfish little -savages--each for himself, and heedless of anything outside his own -skin; and their manners and customs were such as naturally fitted -their state.</p> - -<p class="normal">As their minds opened to the larger things outside, and they began to -be drawn away from themselves, their natural proclivities came into -play. Like hardy wild-flowers, their rough outer sheaths began to open -to the sun, revealing glimpses of the better things within.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, all unconsciously to herself or to them, little Grace Eager was -the sun to whom, in the beginning, their expansion was due.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager, watching them all with keenest interest, used to say to himself -that she was doing as much for them as he, if not more.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was so novel to them, so altogether sweet and charming. She -supplied something that had hitherto been a-wanting in their lives, -and of whose lack they had not even been aware, until she came into -them, and made them conscious of the want by filling it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Now and again at first, and presently almost as a matter of course, -the tiger-cubs were invited up to Mrs. Jex's cottage for a homely -meal, after some hotly contested game on the sands or some long chase -after the tricky two legged hare or astute and elusive Redskin.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, in the beginning, Indian brave who knew no fear, but knew almost -everything else that was to be known in his own special line, and -cunning hare and vociferous hound, and tireless champion of the bat -and hockey-stick, and valiant fighters on all possible occasions, -would sit mumchance and awkward, watching the Little Lady, with wide, -observant eyes, as she dispensed her simple hospitalities with a grace -and sweetness that set her above and apart from anything they had ever -known.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then she was so extraordinarily different indoors from what she -was on the sands. There, at cricket or hockey, or football, she danced -and shrieked with excitement, and was never still for a moment. Here, -at the table, she suddenly became many years older, knew just what to -do, and did it charmingly,--ordering even the Rev. Charles about, and -beaming condescendingly on them all, from the lofty heights of her -experience and knowledge of the world as learned from her aunts in -London.</p> - -<p class="normal">Painfully aware of deficiency, they began to strive to fit themselves -for such occasions, repressed themselves into still greater -awkwardness and silence, fought one another afterwards on account of -too obvious lapses from what they considered proper behaviour and -unkind brotherly comment thereupon, but all the time unconsciously -absorbed the new atmosphere and by degrees became able to enjoy it -without discomfort.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, my dear boy," she would say, on occasion, "are you comfortable -on that chair?"</p> - -<p class="normal">A quick nod from the conscious and obviously uncomfortable Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You shouldn't just nod your head, my dear. You should say, 'Yes, -thank you,' or 'Not entirely,'--as the case may be. It's rude just to -nod."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not entirely, then," blurted Jim, with a very red face, and many -times less comfortable than before.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm sorry, but they're all the same, and if you sit on the sofa you -can't reach the table. And if you sit on the floor I can't see you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can do, thank you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who lives in that cottage we passed to-day, down along the shore by -the Mere?" asked Eager, by way of diversion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Seth," from both boys at once, much relieved at being put into a -position to answer a question that had nothing to do with themselves.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Seth? I've not come across him yet. Old Seth what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Seth Rimmer. He's a Methody," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a lonely place to live, away out there. Has he a wife,--any -children?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mrs. Rimmer's always in bed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An invalid. I must call and see her, Methody or no Methody."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And there's young Seth and Kattie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw the girl peeping out after you'd passed. She's a nice-looking -girl. I shall call and get to know her," said the Little Lady -decisively.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll go and make their acquaintance to-morrow," said her brother. -"What does Mr. Rimmer do? Fishing?"</p> - -<p class="normal">A nod from Jim. "Keeps his boat up in the river, two miles further -on."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the Mere? Any fish there?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ducks in winter. We got one once."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Had to lie in the rushes all day," said Jack, with a reminiscent -shiver.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was a good duck," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the next afternoon the Rev. Charles set out for the cottage, with -Grace skipping about him in search of treasure-trove of beach and -sand-hill.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a stoutly-built little wooden house, standing back in a hollow -of the sand-hummocks, and its solitariness was enhanced by reason of -the vast and lonely expanse of Wyn Mere, which lay just behind it. The -shore of the Mere was thick with reeds and rushes. The long unbroken -stretch of water silently mirroring the blue sky, with its margin of -rustling reeds, possessed a beauty all its own, but something of -sadness and solemnity too.</p> - -<p class="normal">Grace, standing on top of a sand-hill, with a high tide dancing -merrily up the flats on the one side and the long silent Mere on the -other, put it into words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How unhappy it looks, Charlie! I like the sea best. It laughs."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It laughs just now, my dear, but sometimes it roars and thunders."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All the same, I like it best. This other looks as if it drowned -people."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't suppose it ever drowned as many people as the sea, Gracie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then it seems as if it thought more of those it has drowned. I -wouldn't live here for anything. I'd cut a hole through the sand-hills -and let the sea wash it all away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Better see what Mr. Rimmer thinks of it before you do that." And he -laid a restraining hand on her arm as the door of the wooden house -opened quietly, and a man came out backwards and stood for a moment -with his head bent towards the door as if he were listening. His hair -was long and of scanty grizzled gray. He wore a blue jersey and high -sea-boots, and carried his sou'wester in his hand. Then he -straightened up, clapped on his hat, and strode away round the house -towards the Mere. Eager jumped down the sand-hill and ran after him, -and caught him before he reached a flat-bottomed skiff drawn up on to -the sedgy shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is this Mr. Rimmer?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seth Rimmer, at yore service, sir." And there turned on them a fine -old gray face, laced and seamed with weather-lines that told of bitter -black nights on the sea, when the spume flew and the salt bit deep. -The blue eyes, very deep under the bushy gray brows, were shrewd and -kindly; the mouth, half hidden in gray moustache and beard, was set -very firmly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He looked good but hard. But I liked him," was Gracie's comment -afterwards.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' be the new curate," he said at once, taking in Eager in a large -comprehensive gaze.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charles Eager, the new curate, Mr. Rimmer. How is your wife to-day? I -understand----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, hoo's bed-rid. We're Wesleyans, but hoo'll be glad to see yo' and -th' little lady." And he turned back to the house.</p> - -<p class="normal">"An' what's yore name?"--to Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Grace Eager."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yore sister?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All I have left. There have been many between, but we are the last, -and so we're very good friends."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An' so ye should. A fine name yon, Grace Eager. An' what are yore -graces, an' what are yo' eager for, missie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's full of all graces and eager for all good, like her big -brother. Isn't that it, Gracie?" laughed Charles, to cover her -confusion at so pointed a questioning.</p> - -<p class="normal">She nodded and squeezed his hand and skipped by his side, and so they -came back to the house.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Someun to see yo', Kattrin," he said, as he opened the door and -ushered them in.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was but a small room and the furnishings were of the simplest, but -everything was spick-and-span in its ordered brightness. There was a -small fire with a kettle on the hob, and in one corner was a bed with -a sweet-faced woman in it, propped up with pillows so that she could -look out of the window.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo're welcome, whoever yo' are," she said.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's new curate, Mr. Eager, an' 's li'll sister."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, a'm glad to see yo', sir, though we don't trouble church much -here. Nivver set eyes on last curate, nivver once."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I apologise for him, Mrs. Rimmer; perhaps he found the long walk -through the sand too much for him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay; he wasn't much of a man," said Rimmer quietly. "Yo're a different -breed, I'm thinking. Yo're tackling them Carron lads, an' that's a -good job. I seen yo' about the sands with 'em."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; they're worth tackling, aren't they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Surely; and yo're the man for the job! Now I mun get along or I'll -miss tide. Yo'll excuse me, an' if yo'll talk a while with the missus -she'll be glad. She dunnot get too many visitors. Good-bye, wife!" And -he went out quietly and tramped sturdily away to his work.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's a right good mon," said his wife fervently. "And he aye bids me -good-bye in case he nivver comes back, and he aye says a prayer for me -outside the door. It's a bad, bad coast this," she said, with a sigh. -"It took his feyther, an' his grandfeyther, and it's aye on his mind -that sometime it'll take him too. An' it may be onytime."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's in better hands than his own, Mrs. Rimmer," said Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aye, I. know, and so was they, an' it's no good thinking o' death and -drownin's till you see 'em. But I seen so many it's not easy to get -away from 'em, lying here all alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where's your little girl?" asked Gracie suddenly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie? She should be in by this. She stops chattin' wi' th' neebors -now an' then. It's lonesome here for childer, yo' see. I sometimes -wish we was nearer folk, but we've lived here all our lives an' I -wouldna like to move now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who are your nearest neighbours, Mrs. Rimmer?" asked Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, there's plenty across Mere--Bill o' Jack's, an' Tom o' Bob's o' -Jim's, an'----" She stopped and lay listening. "That's her now." And -presently a girl's voice lilting a song drew near from the direction -of the Mere.</p> - -<p class="normal">The door opened and she came in carrying a pail of milk.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Ello!" she jerked in her astonishment, and then lapsed into silence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where's your manners, Kattie?" from her mother, as she stood staring -at the strangers, especially at Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How are you, Kattie?" said Eager. "I'm the new curate. This is my -sister, Gracie. She saw you the other day and wanted to see you -again."</p> - -<p class="normal">Kattie put out the tip of a red tongue and smiled in rich confusion.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was a remarkably pretty child, with large, dark-blue eyes, a mane -of brown hair tumbling over her shoulders, and the healthy red-brown -skin of the dwellers on the flats.</p> - -<p class="normal">Like the boys of Carne, she obviously wore only what she had to wear -of necessity. In her shy grace she was like a startled fawn, looking -her first on man, and ready to bound away at smallest sign of advance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where's yore manners, lass?" said her mother again; and Kattie drew -in the tip of her tongue and twisted her little red mouth and stared -at Gracie harder than ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Suppose you two run away out and make one another's acquaintance," -said Eager to Gracie, "and I'll have a chat with Mrs. Rimmer." And the -girls slipped out contentedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, but you do wear a lot o' clothes!" jerked Kattie, the moment -they got outside.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It must be jolly to wear so few," said Gracie enviously. "When I've -lived here a bit perhaps I can too. You see I've always been used to -wearing a lot."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're gey pratty, but I'd liever not carry 'em."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is that your boat? Do you row it all by yourself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"O' course! I'll show you." And she sped down to the long-prowed -shallop from which she had just landed, shoved it off, tumbled in, -regardless of wet feet and display of bare leg, and sent the little -craft bounding over the smooth dark mirror, her vivid little face -sparkling with delight at this opportunity for the display of superior -accomplishment.</p> - -<p class="normal">Grade meanwhile danced with desire on the sedgy shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Me too, Kattie! Come back and take me too! What a love of a little -boat! And you row like a man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can scull too," cried Kattie vauntingly, and drew in one oar and -slipped the other over the stern and came wobbling back with a manly -swing that seemed to Gracie to court disaster.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I like the rowing best," she gasped, as she crawled cautiously in -over the projecting prow. "Let me try one."</p> - -<p class="normal">And thereafter they were friends.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I like Kattie," said Grade exuberantly, as she danced along home -holding Charlie's hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's a pretty little thing, but she seems very shy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's not a bit shy when you know her. And she can row and swim, and -once she shot a duck on the Mere. And she knows where they lay their -eggs, and . . ."</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, for better or worse, Kattie Rimmer came into the story.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.13" href="#div1Ref_2.13">CHAPTER XIII</a></h4> -<h5>MOUNTING</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">For the polishing of gems the dust of gems is necessary. And for the -training of boys other boys are essential. Eager cast about for other -boys against whom his colts might wear off some of their angles.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some men have a wonderful power of attracting and drawing out all that -is best in their fellows. Personal magnetism, we call it, and it is a -mighty gift of the gods.</p> - -<p class="normal">Charles Eager had that gift in a very remarkable degree, and with it -many others that appealed to the most difficult of all sections of the -community. Boys hate being made good. The man who can lift them to -higher planes without any unpleasant consciousness thereof on their -part is a genius, and more than a genius. We have, some of us, met -such in our lives, and we think of them with most affectionate -reverence and crown them with glory and honour, though, all too often, -the world passes them by with but scant acknowledgment.</p> - -<p class="normal">But diamond-dust alone will polish diamonds. Softer stuff is useless, -and the supply of boy-diamond-dust in that neighbourhood was small. So -he laid masterful hands on what there was.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just outside Wyvveloe, between that and Wynsloe, lay Knoyle, the -residence of Sir George Herapath, the great army contractor. He was a -man of sixty-five, tall, gray-bearded, genial, enjoying a well-earned -rest from a life of many activities. He had married late, and had one -son, George, aged fifteen, and one daughter, Margaret, a year younger. -His wife was dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">The firm of Herapath & Handyside, and its trade-mark of interlocked -H.'s, was as well known in army circles as the War Department's own -private mark. During the Napoleonic wars its business dealings were on -a gigantic scale. It fed and clothed and sheltered armies in many -lands, and carried out its every undertaking to the letter, cost what -it might. The first consideration with the firm of H. and H. was -perfect fulfilment of its obligations. None knew better how much -depended on its exertions--how helpless the most skilful commander was -unless he could count absolutely on his supplies. H. and H. never -failed in their duty, and the firm reaped its reward, both in honours -and in cash. But to both Herapath and his partner Handyside the honour -they cherished most of all was the fact that their name and mark stood -everywhere as a guarantee of reliability and fair dealing.</p> - -<p class="normal">Handyside died five years after his partner's baronetcy, and left the -bulk of his money to Herapath, having no near relatives of his own. -And Sir George, desirous of rest before he grew past the enjoyment of -it, took into partnership his right-hand man, Ralph Harben, who had -grown up with the firm, strung another H on to the bar of the first -big one, which represented himself--so that the mark of the firm came -to look something like a badly made hurdle--and left the direction of -affairs chiefly in his hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager, in the course of his duties, had called at Knoyle and had met -with a congenial welcome. George and Margaret Herapath would be useful -to his cubs now that they were licking into shape. His thoughts turned -to them at once.</p> - -<p class="normal">There had been another boy with them at church the previous Sunday, he -noticed. The more the merrier. He would rope them all in, for games -good enough with four are many times as good with eight or more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I heard you'd tackled the Carron colts," smiled Sir George. "Bit -of a handful, I should say, from all accounts."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I like bits of handfuls," said Eager. "I've got good material to work -on. I shall make men of those two."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll have done a good work. And how can Knoyle be of service to -you, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In heaps of ways. I want your two in our games. Four are really not -enough for proper work. Who's the new youngster I saw with you on -Sunday?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's young Harben, my partner's son. His father is in Spain just -now, and his mother's dead, so I've taken him in for a time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The more the merrier! I wish you had another half-dozen."</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'm! I don't. My two keep me quite lively enough."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want you to let me break my two in on some of your horses, too. -You've got more than you can keep in proper condition, and the old -curmudgeon at Carrie flatly refuses to buy them ponies. I've done my -best with him, and riding's about due with my two. They can fence and -swim and box. They beat me at running. Boating's no good here, and -wouldn't be much use to them later, anyway. They're for the army, of -course. Your boy, too, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, George is for the army, and young Harben too, I judge, from his -talk. Suppose you bring your two up, say, to-morrow, and they can have -a fling at the ponies, and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you can form your own judgment of them," said Eager, with a quiet -chuckle. "That's all right. They're presentable, or I should not have -proposed it, and yours will help to polish them, and that's what I -want."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see. To-morrow morning, then, and they can tumble off the ponies in -the paddock to their hearts' content."</p> - -<p class="normal">So--three very excited faces, and three pairs of very eager eyes, as -they pressed up the avenue to Knoyle next morning, and keen little -noses sniffing anxiously for ponies, for Gracie was not going to miss -such a chance, and as for the boys, wild mustangs of the prairies -would not have daunted them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Life--what with swimming and fencing and boxing and cricket and hockey -and football--had suddenly widened its bounds beyond belief almost, -and now, the crowning glory of horses loomed large in front.</p> - -<p class="normal">Picture them in their scanty blue knee-breeches and blue jerseys, no -hats, but fine crops of black hair, their eager, handsome faces the -colour of the sand, with the hot blood close under the tan, bare legs -and homely leather sandals, black eyes with sparks in them; Gracie in -a little blue jersey also and a short blue frock, bare-legged and in -sandals too, for life on the sands had proved altogether too -destructive of stockings; on her streaming hair, and generally hanging -by its strings, a sunbonnet originally blue, but now washing out -towards white.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There they are!" gasped Gracie, dancing with excitement as usual. "In -that field over there----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And here are Sir George and the others. Remember to salute him, boys; -and look him straight in the eye when he speaks to you. He's a jolly -old boy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And, for goodness' sake, don't fight if you can possibly help it!" -said Gracie impressively.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I congratulate you on your colts, Mr. Eager," said Sir George, as -they followed the youngsters to the paddock. "They're miles ahead of -what I expected. I had my misgivings, I confess, but now they are -gone. You've done wonders with them already."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good material, Sir George. But there's plenty still to do. You can't -cure the neglect of years in a few months."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If any man could, you could. They're a well-set-up pair, and look as -fit as fiddles."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their free life on the sands has done that for them at all events. If -they've missed much, they have also gained much, and, by God's help, -I'm going to supply the rest. There are the makings of two fine men -there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll do it. Why! What are they up to now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only fighting," laughed Eager. "They rarely dispute in words, always -<i>vi et armis</i>. Jack! Jim! Stop that! What's the matter now?" as the -boys got up off the ground with flushed faces and dancing eyes. "A -mighty good-looking pair!" thought Sir George to himself. "And which -is which and which is t'other, I couldn't tell to save my life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was going to help Gracie over, and he cut in," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wanted to help her over too," grinned Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sillies!" said Gracie. "I didn't need you. I got through. Oh, what -beauties!" as a bay pony and a grey came trotting up to their master -and mistress for customary gifts and caresses.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is mine," said Margaret, kissing the soft dark muzzle. "Dear old -Graylock! Want a bit of sugar? There then, old wheedler!" And Graylock -tossed his head and savoured his morsel appreciatively, with a mouth -that watered visibly for more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lend me a bit, Meg," begged her brother. "I forgot the greedy little -beggars. You spoil 'em. Here you are, Whitefoot."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bridles only, at present, Bob," said Sir George, to a stable-boy who -had come down laden with gear. "Let the youngsters begin at the -beginning. Now you, Jack and Jim--I don't know which of you's -which--have a go at them barebacked, and let's see what you're made -of." And the boys flung themselves over the ponies with such vehemence -that Jim came down headlong on the other side while Graylock danced -with dismay; and Jack hung over Whitefoot like a sack, but got his leg -over at last, with such a yell of triumph that his startled steed shot -from under him and left him in a heap on the grass.</p> - -<p class="normal">But they were both up in a moment and at it again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Twist yer hand in his mane," instructed Bob, "an' hang on like the -divvle. There y'are! Now clip him tight wi' yer knees an' shins. -You're aw reet!" And Jim and Graylock went off down the paddock in a -series of wild leaps and bounds, while Bob ran after them -administering counsel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Loose yer reins a bit! Don't tickle him wi' yer toes! . . . Stiddy -then! Go easy, my lad! Don't fret 'im!"--as Jack and Whitefoot bore -down upon him in like fashion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They'll ride aw reet," he said, as he came back crab-fashion to the -lookers-on, with his eyes fixed on the riders. "Stick like cats, they -do. And them ponies is enjoying theirselves."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Promising, are they, Bob?" asked Sir George.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're aw reet. They'll ride," said Bob emphatically. When the -horsemen wore round towards the group they were in boastful humour.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was up first," from Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was off first," from Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--on ground!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, on pony! You were sitting on grass."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You fell over t'other side."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll fight you!" And in a moment they were off their steeds and -locked in fight, to the great scandal of Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh you dreadful boys!" And she danced wildly about them. "Didn't I -tell you----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop it, boys!" And Eager laughingly shook them apart.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The old Adam will out," he said to Sir George, who was enjoying them -mightily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They've no lack of pluck. Keep 'em on right lines, Mr. Eager, and -you'll make men of them. Now then, who's for next mount? Rafe, my lad, -what do you say to a bareback?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sooner have a saddle, sir," said young Harben, and sat tight on the -paling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, missie?" as Gracie danced imploringly before him. "Saddle up, -Bob. . . . Well, I'm----!" as the ponies went off down the field again -with the boys struggling up into position. "Oh, they'll do all right. -I like their spirit."</p> - -<p class="normal">When the ponies were captured, Gracie had her ride under Margaret's -care, and expressed herself very plainly on the subject of -side-saddles and the advantages of being a boy. And the boys took to -saddle and stirrups as they had to the swimming.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They'll ride," was Bob's final and emphatic verdict again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George insisted on their waiting for midday dinner, an experience -which some of them enjoyed not at all and would gladly have escaped.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie sat between Jack and Jim, and got very little dinner because of -her maternal anxieties on their account. By incessant watchfulness on -both sides at once she managed to keep them from any very dreadful -exhibition of inexperience, but she got very red in the face over it, -and rather short in the temper, which perhaps was not to be wondered -at considering the state of her appetite and the many tempting dishes -she had no time to do justice to.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys scuffled through somehow, with very wide eyes--to say nothing -of mouths--for hitherto untasted delicacies. Mrs. Lee's commissariat -tended to the solidly essential, and disdained luxuries for growing -lads.</p> - -<p class="normal">Muter Harben made the Little Lady's ears tingle more than once with an -Appreciative guffaw at her protégés' solecisms, and if quick indignant -glances could have pierced him he would have suffered sorely. As it -was, Margaret frowned him back to decency, and George intimated in -unmistakable gesture that punishment awaited him in the privacy of the -immediate future.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jack and Jim, the prime causes of all this disturbance, ate on -imperturbably, and followed the directions, conveyed by their -monitress in brief fierce whispers and energetic side-kicks, to the -best of their powers, so long as these imposed no undue restraint on -the reduction of two healthy appetites.</p> - -<p class="normal">And more than once Eager caught Sir George's eye resting thoughtfully -on the pair, and knew what he was thinking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose you know them apart?" he asked quietly, one time when Eager -caught him watching them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes, I know them, but it took me a few days."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A deuced troublesome business! No wonder the old man's gone sour over -it. I don't see what he can do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He can do nothing but wait."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And it's bitter waiting when the sands are running out."</p> - -<p class="normal">On the way home the Little Lady blew away some of the froth of their -exultation at their own prowess, by her biting comments on their -shortcomings at table. But this new and grand addition to their -lengthening list of acquirements overtopped everything else, and they -exulted in spite of her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We stuck on barebacked, anyway," said Jim; "and what does it matter -how you eat?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It matters a great deal if you want to be gentlemen," said Gracie -vehemently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We're going to be soldiers," said Jack.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.14" href="#div1Ref_2.14">CHAPTER XIV</a></h4> -<h5>WIDENING WAYS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Next day, when the Rev. Charles was putting all his skill into -underhand twisters for the overthrow of Jack, who, to Jim's great -exasperation, had got the hang of them and was driving them all over -the shore, and Gracie was dancing with wild exhortation to her brother -to get him out, as it was her innings next--she stopped suddenly with -a shout and started off towards the sand-hills. And the others, -turning to see what had taken her, found the Knoyle party threading -its way among the devious gullies, and presently they all came -cantering through the loose sand to the flats.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Morning, Mr. Eager; we've come for a game. Will you have us?" cried -Sir George exuberantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rather! It's just what we wanted. You'll play, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's what I came for. Renew my youth, and all that kind of thing! -See to the horses, Bob. Eh, what?"--at sight of the lad's eager -face--"Like to take a hand too? Well, see If you can tether 'em--away -from those bents. Bents won't do them any good. Now then, how shall we -play?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Carne versus Knoyle," said Eager. "All to field, and Margaret -goes in for both sides."</p> - -<p class="normal">Knoyle beat Carne that time, thanks to George and Bob. Sir George -"renewed his youth, and all that kind of thing." And young Ralph -Harben entered vigorous protest every time he was put out, and argued -the points till George punched his head for him.</p> - -<p class="normal">After the game the boys were allowed to take the stiffness out of the -ponies' legs. And altogether--as the first of many similar ones--that -was a memorable day.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager rejoiced greatly in the success of his planning, for the close -contact with these other bright and restless spirits had a wonderful -effect on his boys. They toned down and they toned up, and it seemed -to him that he could trace improvement in them each day.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had his doubts now and again of the effects of young Harben on his -own two. The lad was difficult and had evidently been much spoiled at -home. Eager quietly did his best to remedy his more visible defects, -and George Herapath seconded him with bodily chastisement whenever -occasion offered.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager and Sir George were sitting resting in the side of a sand-hill -one day, and watching the younger folk at a game in which Ralph was -perpetually disputatious odd-man-out. It seemed impossible for him to -get through any game without some wrangle.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager made some quiet comment on the matter and Sir George said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, he's difficult. He's the only child, and his mother spoiled him -sadly. When she died his father sent him to a second-rate school, and -this is the result. But I hope he'll pull round. We must do what we -can for him. Harben is in treaty for the Scarsdale place just beyond -Wynsloe, so you'll be able to keep an eye on the boy. Your two are -marvels. I never see them squabbling."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, they never squabble. They just fight it out, and no temper in it. -They're really capital boxers, and they're coming on in their -fencing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll make men of those two yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll do my best."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And if the old man dies? What will happen then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"God knows. It's as hard a nut as I ever came across."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That infernal old woman up at Carrie could crack it if she would, I -suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have no doubt; but she won't speak. And I'm afraid no one would -believe her if she did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deuced rough on the old man!" And Sir George lapsed into musing, and -watched the riddles of Carne as they sped to and fro, as active as -panthers and as careless as monkeys of the trouble they represented.</p> - -<p class="normal">One day when they were all hard at it, Gracie suddenly sped from her -post, as her manner was, heedless of the shouts of the rest, darted in -among the hummocks, and came back dragging the not very reluctant -Kettle Rimmer and insisted on her joining the game. And Kattie, -nothing loth, succeeded in cloaking her lack of knowledge with such -untiring energy that she proved a welcome recruit and was forthwith -pressed into the company. For where numbers are few and more are -needed, trifling distinctions of class lose their value. She was very -quick and bright, too, and soon picked up the rules of the games; and -when she was not flying after balls she was watching Margaret and -Gracie with worshipful observant eyes, and assimilating from them a -new code of manners for her own private use.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie's usual behaviour in games, indeed, was that of a pea on a hot -shovel. But Margaret, no whit behind her in her zeal for the business -on hand, bore herself with something more of the dignity and decorum -of a young lady in her fifteenth year--except just on occasion, when, -at a tight pinch, everything went overboard and she flung herself into -things with the abandon of Gracie and Kattie combined.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager watched her with great appreciation. He could divine the coming -woman in the occasional sweet seriousness of the charming face, and -rejoiced in her as he did in all beautiful things.</p> - -<p class="normal">And George Herapath, with much of his father in him, was always a -tower of good-humoured common sense and abounding energy. He backed up -Eager's efforts in every direction, licked Harben or the tiger-cubs -conscientiously, as often as occasion arose, and brought to their play -the experience and tone of the public schoolboy up to date. He was at -Harrow, and his house was closed on account of an outbreak of scarlet -fever, which all except the higher powers counted mighty luck and all -to the good.</p> - -<p class="normal">They soon dropped into the way of all bathing together of a morning, -before starting their game--all except Sir George, whose sea-bathing -days were over, and who preferred cantering over the sands with them, -all racing alongside like a pack of many-coloured hounds, shouting -aloud in the wild glee of the moment, splashing through the shimmering -pools in rainbow showers, tumbling headlong into the tideway, and then -in dogged silence breasting fearlessly out to sea, while Sir George -rode his big bay into the water after them as far as his discretion -would permit.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at times they sped far afield over the countryside, when, if Jack -and Jim were hares, they were never caught, and if they were hounds -they picked up an almost invisible scent in a way that did credit to -their powers and to Mr. Fenimore Cooper. They might be beaten at -cricket or hockey, whose finer rules they were always transgressing, -but in this wider play none could come near them.</p> - -<p class="normal">It took the new-comers a very long time to distinguish between them; -and even when they thought they had got them fixed at last, they were -as often wrong as right, for the boys delighted to puzzle them, and -even went the length of refusing to answer to their right names and -assuming one another's with that sole end in view.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They beat me," laughed Sir George, more than once. "I never know -t'other from which, and when I'm quite sure of 'em I'm always wrong."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They do it on purpose," said Gracie. "They're little rascals, but -they're as different as different to me. I can't see any likeness in -them, except that they're both rather bad at times--but nothing to -what they used to be, I assure you, Sir George."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well I Perhaps I'll get to know them in time, my dear; and -meanwhile you just wink at me when they're making game of the old -man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will," said Gracie solemnly. "But they don't really mean any harm, -you know. It's just their fun."</p> - -<p class="normal">From his upper windows in the house of Carne that other old man -watched them also, with scowling face and twisted heart. The sands -were running--running--running, and he was no nearer the solution of -his life's puzzle than he had been ten years ago. Farther away if -anything, for babies die more easily than lusty, tight-knit, -sun-tanned boys who never knew an ailment, and grew stronger every -day.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there were keener eyes still, sharpened by a vast craving love for -the wakening souls committed to his care, watching them all the time, -and eager for every sign of growth and development. Love blinds, they -say, and so it may to that which it does not wish to see. But Love is -a mighty revealer, too, and Doubt and Dislike attain no revelations -but the shadows of themselves.</p> - -<p class="normal">Charles Eager studied those boys with many times the eagerness and -acumen that he had ever brought to his books. Here was a living -enigma, and he found it fascinating. But the weeks grew into months, -and he found himself not one step nearer its solution.</p> - -<p class="normal">In all their moods and humours, in their outstanding virtues and their -no less prominent defects, they were one. They had grown up in the -equal practice of qualities drawn, on the one side at all events, from -the same source.</p> - -<p class="normal">Bodily fear seemed quite outside their ken. They lacked the -imagination which pictures possible consequences behind the deed. If -they wanted to do a thing, they did not stop to consider what might -come of it, but just did it. The consequences when they came were -accepted as matters of course.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were generous to a fault. They would, indeed, fight between -themselves for the most trifling possessions, but it was from sheer -love of fighting. They never kept for the mere sake of having, and -most of their belongings they held in common--jointly against the -world as they had known it. And this feeling of being two against -outsiders had undoubtedly fostered the communal feeling. As their -circle widened and others were admitted into it, the feeling extended -to them. They possessed little, but what they had all were welcome to.</p> - -<p class="normal">And they were by nature eminently truthful. To their grandfather or -Mr. Kennet they might on occasion assume masks which belied their -feelings, but that was in the nature of a ruse to mislead an enemy who -by gross injustice had forced them into unnatural ways. To them it was -no more acting a lie than is the broken fluttering of a bird which -thereby draws the trespasser from its nest. They were in a state of -perpetual war with the higher powers, and to them all things were -fair.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their faults were the natural complements of these better things. They -were headstrong, reckless, careless, hot-tempered--defects, after all, -which as a rule entail more trouble on their owners than on others, -and are therefore regarded by the world with a lenient eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">For many months Eager found no shade of difference in their -development. They had started level, and they progressed in equal -degree, and progressed marvellously. The virgin soil brought forth an -abundant harvest. But then, in spite of all, it was good soil, and -ready for the seed.</p> - -<p class="normal">The grim old man at Carne sent now and again for Eager, and received -him always, snuff-box in hand, with a cynical, "Well, Mr. Eager, no -progress?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Progress, Sir Denzil? Heaps! We are advancing by leaps and bounds. We -are doing splendidly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You've still got the two of them, I see,"--as though they were -puppies Eager was trying to dispose of.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Still got the two, sir, and I couldn't tell you which is the better -of them. There are the makings of fine men in both."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you're just where you were as to which is which?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just where you have been these ten years, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have seen more of them in ten weeks than I've seen in ten years."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are developing every day, but so far they run neck to neck. But, -candidly, Sir Denzil, I scarcely know what signs one could take as any -decisive indication of their descent. Heredity is a ticklish thing to -draw any certain inference from. It plays odd tricks, as you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had hoped somewhat from those swimming lessons----" and he snuffed -regretfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager laughed joyously at his disappointment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, they swam like ducks the very first day. You really have no idea -what fine lads they are, sir. They are lads to be proud of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--if there was but one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a thousand pities we can't find the right way out of the muddle -without thinking of such things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We cannot," said the old man grimly.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.15" href="#div1Ref_2.15">CHAPTER XV</a></h4> -<h5>DIVERGING LINES</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">As time went on, however, Eager's careful oversight of the boys began -to note slight points of divergence in the lines of their -characteristics, which had so far run absolutely side by side.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, for instance, began to develop a somewhat tentative kind of -self-control. His brain seemed to become more active. At times he even -attempted to subject Jim to discipline for lapses from his own view of -the right way of things. And Jim took him on right joyously; and the -pitched battles, which Eager had been striving to relegate to the -background, were renewed with vehemence, within the strict limits of -the new rules thereto ordained.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie was distressed at this falling away. But Eager bade her be of -good cheer, and watched developments with interest. Meanwhile, the -boys muscles and skill in self-defence grew mightily.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was no doubt about it, Jack was harvesting his grain the quicker -of the two--so far as could be seen, at all events. The difference -between them when instruction was to the fore was somewhat marked. -Jack gave his mind to it and took it in, evinced a desire to get to -the bottom of things, even asked questions at times on points that -were not clear to him. Jim, on the other hand, would sit gazing at the -fount of wisdom with wide black eyes which presently wandered off -after a seagull or a shadow, with a very visible inclination towards -such things--or towards anything actively alive--rather than towards -the passivity entailed by the pursuit of abstract knowledge.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then again, Jack succeeded at times in forcing himself to sit quite -still for whole minutes on end, while Jim, after a certain limited -number of seconds, was on the wriggle to be up and doing. And the -moment he was loosed, the quiescence of seconds had to be atoned for -by many minutes of joyous activity.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were, in fact, beginning to take the lines of the good scholar -and the bad. And yet Eager confessed to himself a very warm heart for -careless, happy-go-lucky Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The other looks like making the deeper mark," he said to himself. -"But I can't help loving old Jim. He's all one could wish except in -the brain. Maybe it will come!"</p> - -<p class="normal">As to any deductions to be based upon these growing differences -between the boys, he could find no sound footing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack seems undoubtedly the more able," he would reason it out, "but -what does that point to? Is it the high result of two blue-blooded -strains, or the enriching of a blue blood with a dash of stronger red? -Which would the stronger blend run to--activity of mind or activity of -body?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The latter, he was inclined to think, but found it impossible to -pronounce upon with anything like certainty, and realised that every -other indication would inevitably lead to the same result. The riddle -of Carne would never be read thus. Time and Providence might cut the -knot and give to Carne its rightful heir. Pure reason, or the -questionable affirmation of interested parties, never would.</p> - -<p class="normal">From that point of view he saw his commission from Sir Denzil doomed -to failure. But that, after all, he said to himself, with a bracing -shake, was, from his own point of view, of minor consequence. The -great thing was to make men of his boys and fit them for the battle of -life to the best of his powers and theirs.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.16" href="#div1Ref_2.16">CHAPTER XVI</a></h4> -<h5>A CUT AT THE COIL</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Twice, during the autumn, it seemed as though the riddle would be -solved, or at all events the knot cut.</p> - -<p class="normal">George Hempath and young Harben had gone off to school, but the -reduced company still took its fill of the freedom of the sands. Sir -George and Margaret rarely failed, and play and work progressed apace.</p> - -<p class="normal">Boating on that coast was all toil and little pleasure. With a tide -that ran out a full mile, the care of a boat, unless for strictly -business purposes, would have been a burden. Old Seth Rimmer and his -fellows kept their craft in the estuaries up Wytham way and at -Wynsloe, where, with knowledge of the ever-shifting banks and much -labour, it was possible to get out to sea in most states of the tide.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Eager, desirous of an all-round education for his cubs, managed to -teach them rowing in Kattie Rimmer's shallop on the Mere, to Kattie's -great delight, since there she shone at first alone.</p> - -<p class="normal">And it was there they made the acquaintance of Kattie's brother, young -Seth, a great loose-limbed giant of nineteen or so, who helped his -father at the fishing at times, and at times went ventures of his own -on less respectable lines. A good-humoured giant, however, who would -lie asprawl on a sand-hummock by the Mere-side, and laugh loud and -long at new-beginners' first clumsy attempts at rowing, and more than -once waded waist-deep into the water to set right-side-up some -unfortunate whose ill-applied vigour had capsized the crank little -craft.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some of young Seth's doings were a sore discomfort and mortification -to the older folk in the little wooden house. But he took his own way -outside with dogged nonchalance, bore himself well towards them except -on these sore points of his own private concerns, and worshipped -Kattie.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Seth, you see, had always ordered his little household on the -strictest--not to say straitest--lines of right and wrong. Young Seth, -when he grew too big for bodily coercion, kicked over the lines and -took his own way, in spite of all his father and mother could do to -prevent him. And his way led at times through strange waters and in -strange company.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was away sometimes for days on end, and then, whether the little -house lay basking in the sunshine or shaking in the gale, his mother -would lie full of fears and prayers, and his father was quieter than -ever in the boat, and Kattie, but half-comprehending the matter, would -feel the gloom his absences cast and would question him volubly when -he returned, but never got anything for her pains.</p> - -<p class="normal">He would do anything for her or for any of them--except give up the -ways he had chosen.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the south-wester screamed over the flats for days at a time it -set the ribbed sands humming with its steady persistence. Games were -impossible then, and Eager's ready wit devised a means of turning the -screamer to account.</p> - -<p class="normal">He turned into Bob Ratchett's shed one day and said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bob, I want some wheels--two big ones four feet across, and two about -a foot smaller, and the tires of all must be a foot wide."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My gosh, them's wheels! What'n yo' want 'em for?" grinned Bob -admiringly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm going to make a boat--"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aw then, passon!--a boat now!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To run on the sands."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aw!" gasped Bob, and eyed "passon" doubtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can make them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aw! I can mek 'em aw reet, but----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, Bob. You set to work, and I'll see to the rest."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Passon's" boat became a great joke in the village. But bit by bit he -worked it out, got his materials into shape, and with his own hands -and the assistance, in their various degrees, of the boys and the -excited oversight of Gracie, fitted it together into a somewhat -nightmare resemblance to the skeleton of a boat.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack stuck pretty steadily to the novel work. Jim and Gracie fluttered -about it, questioning, suggesting, doubting, went off for a game, came -back, danced about, hindering more than helping, but always convinced -in their own minds that but for them that boat would never have been -built.</p> - -<p class="normal">The two large wheels, rather wide apart, supported it abeam forward, -and between them he stepped a stout little mast carrying jib and -mainsail. The smaller wheels astern moved on a stout pin and acted as -rudder, actuated by a. long wooden tiller. A rough wooden frame abaft -the mast offered precarious accommodation for passengers. And when at -last, after many days, it was finished, the villagers crowded round -it, and joked and laughed themselves purple in the face over the -oddest and most unlikely craft that coast had ever seen.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then willing hands took the ropes, and dragged it out of the village -and through the gullies of the sand-hills with mighty labours, and so, -at last, to the edge of the flats not far from Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">And there Eager climbed in by himself, with not a few fears that the -doubts and laughter of the village might find their justification in -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was a strong wind blowing with a steady hum right on to the -flats from the south-west. Eager hauled up his sails, lay down in the -meagre cockpit, tiller in hand, and the scoffers started him off with -a run.</p> - -<p class="normal">They looked for him to come to a stop when they did; but instead, to -their never-dying amazement, the wind gripped the sails, the -clumsy-looking boat sped on, faster and faster, bumping over the -hard-ribbed sands, rushing through the wind-rippled pools, and they -stood gaping. In less than five minutes it was at the bend of the -coast where it turns to the north-east, a good three miles away, and -then, marvel of marvels for such a craft, just as they expected it to -disappear round the corner, it ran up into the wind, came round on the -other tack with a fine sweep and without a pause, and was rushing back -towards them before their gaping mouths had closed. "Passon's" boat -was a huge success, it raised him mightily in their opinions and -inclined them to give ear even to his suggestions for the abolition of -stinks, and to the boys and the rest it gave a new zest to life. Day -after day, whenever the wind served, they were at it, and looked -forward to the gray windy days as they had never done before.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George had been away when the boat was launched, but he rode over -the first morning after he got home, and after watching it for a time -ventured on board himself, with Eager at the helm.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Man!" he said, as he tumbled out after the run--blown and breathless -and considerably shaken up--"that's wonderful! You ought to have been -an engineer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So I am," laughed Eager, "and on a larger scale than most."</p> - -<p class="normal">From the windows of Carne, Sir Denzil watched the novel craft -careering wildly over the flats, and snuffed more hopefully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A sufficiently dangerous-looking toy, Kennet. It seems to ate that it -might quite well kill one or more of them if it upset at that speed. -Let us hope for the best!" And he and Kennet watched the new goings-on -with interest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Incidentally, the sand-boat one day came very near to solving the -riddle of Carne on the lines of Sir Denzil's highest hopes.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was something in the wild headlong motion that appealed with -irresistible power to Jim's half-tamed nature. The mad bumping rush, -with now one huge wheel barely skimming the ground, now the other; the -hoarse dash through the pools, when, if the sun shone, you sat for a -moment in a whirling rainbow of flying drops the keen zest and -delicious risks of the turn; the novel sense of power in the lordship -of the helm; these things thrilled him through and through, and he -could not get too much of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">He made himself the devoted slave of the sand-boat--spent his spare -time in anointing its axles with all the fat he could coax, or -otherwise procure, from Mrs. Lee, till the great wheels almost ran of -their own accord, scraped the long tiller till it was as smooth as a -sceptre--handled the ropes till they were as flexible almost as silk.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was he who insisted on naming the boat <i>Gracie</i>--"because it jumped -about so," but in reality, of course, because the word Gracie -represented to him the brightest and best that life had yet brought -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had all tried their hands at names. Sir George--<i>The Flying -Dutchman</i>, because it certainly flew and was undoubtedly broad in the -beam; Margaret--<i>The Sylph</i>, because it was so tubby; Gracie--<i>The -Sand-fly</i>, because it flew over the sand; Jack, for abstruse reasons -of his own--<i>Chingachgook</i>; Eager was quite content to leave it to -them. But no matter what the others decided on, Jim always called it -<i>Gracie</i>--to the real Gracie's immense satisfaction; and as he talked -Gracie ten times as much as all the rest put together, <i>Gracie</i> it -finally became.</p> - -<p class="normal">When wind and weather put the Gracie out of action she lay under the -walls of Carne, with folded wings and docked tail--for Jim always -carried away the tiller into the house, for love of the very feel of -it, and partly perhaps in token of proprietorship. It stood in a -corner where he could always see it, and slept by his bedside.</p> - -<p class="normal">No one, however, ever thought of meddling with the sand-boat. In the -first place, she belonged to Mr. Eager, and they held "passon" in -highest esteem. And, in the second place, Carne was a dangerous place -to wander round at night. Mr. Kennet had a gun, with which he was no -great shot, indeed, but even the wildest bullet may find unexpected -billet in the dark.</p> - -<p class="normal">It happened, one afternoon in the late autumn, that Eager was away on -the confines of his wide sheepfold, about his Master's business. It -had been wet and blusterous all day, and the boys were desultorily -employed on their books in a corner of the kitchen; Jim with the -<i>Gracie's</i> polished tiller twisting fondly in his hand, as a devoted -lover toys with a ribbon from his mistress's dress; Jack somewhat -absorbed in the doings of Themistocles and Xerxes at Salamis, in a -great volume which he had abstracted from the library the day before.</p> - -<p class="normal">The polished tiller wriggled more and more restlessly in Jim's hand, -as though it longed to be up and doing.</p> - -<p class="normal">He got up at last and strolled out just to have a look at the rest of -the <i>Gracie</i>. Jack was too busy sinking Persian galleys in Salamis Bay -to pay any heed to anything nearer home.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim found the wind blowing half a gale. It swept round the house with -a scream, and seemed to meet again full on the <i>Gracie</i>, who quivered -and throbbed as though longing to be off.</p> - -<p class="normal">The jib had been wrapped round the forestay, and the wind, working at -it as though of one mind with him, had loosened the clew, and it was -thrashing to and fro in desperate excitement.</p> - -<p class="normal">He climbed aboard, fitted the tiller, and sat in vast enjoyment. Why, -it would only need a pull at a rope here and there, and he believed -she would be off. The rain had hardened the soft sand, and there was a -good slope down to the ribbed flats below. He had always longed for a -run all by himself, and he knew the ropes and how to steer her as well -as Mr. Eager did.</p> - -<p class="normal">In sheer self-defence he captured the thrashing sheet and twisted it -round a cleat. The jib untoggled itself from the stay, bellied out -full, and the boat began to move slowly down the slope.</p> - -<p class="normal">The joy of it sent the blood up into Jim's head and set it spinning. -He would have a run--just a little run--all by himself, just to prove -to himself that he could do it.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boat went rocking down the slope. He hauled at the halyard in a -frenzy, and the mainsail went jumping up. He made it fast, grabbed his -beloved tiller, and the <i>Gracie</i>, with a roll and a shake, bounded -away up the flats.</p> - -<p class="normal">Faster and faster she went, the ribbed sands and the wind-whipped -pools seemed to sweep along to meet her and fly beneath her -all-devouring wheels, till Jim's head was spinning faster even than -they. He yelled and waved his arms above his head, till the tiller -banging him in the ribs nearly knocked him overboard and recalled him -to his duties.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was at the bend in the coast before he knew It. He threw his weight -on to the tiller to bring her round on the curve which would allow her -head to fall off on the other tack, but fooled it somehow, and instead -she flew off at a tangent straight for the sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ecod!" said a watcher--for other purposes--in the sand-hills. "'Oo's -gooin' reet to stick-sands!"--and started at a run after the <i>Gracie</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim always stoutly maintained that if he had only had room enough he -would have got her round all right. But space and time were wanting.</p> - -<p class="normal">All in a moment the solid ground seemed to vanish from below the -whirling wheels. One wheel sank down into comparative space, the other -spun on horizontally; the <i>Gracie's</i> nose went down out of sight into a -squirming mass of slimy sand, and Jim was flung head over heels into -the midst of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">He got his head up with his mouth full of watery sand which half -choked him. Before he had coughed it out, fear and the clammy sand -gripped him together. It clung to him like thick treacle. His feet and -legs were bound and weighted--he could not move them. And when his -arms got into it the deadly sand clasped them tightly. It was up to -his chest, like cold dead giant arms folding him tighter and tighter -in a last embrace, or the merciless coils of a boa-constrictor.</p> - -<p class="normal">Presently it would have him by the throat, and the stuff would run -into his mouth and choke him, and he would die and they would never -find him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He tried to shout, with little hope of any one hearing; but it was all -he could do. The clammy death was at his throat, and the pressure on -his chest was so great that his shout was of the feeblest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Another minute and the riddle of Carne would have been solved. But -feeble as was his shout, it was answered. The runner on the sands came -panting up, and the sight of his anxious face was to Jim as the face -of an angel out of heaven--and a great deal more, for Jim had never -troubled much about angels.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Help--Seth!"--he bubbled, through the sandy scum.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, sir!" panted young Seth, and jumped on to the half-submerged -<i>Gracie</i>, whipped out his knife from its sheath at his back, and -sliced the stays of the mast and had it out in a twinkling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lay holt!"--and he shoved it towards the disappearing Jim. "And hang -on tight, if it teks yore skin off! That's it. Twist rope round yo'!" -And he dug his heels deep into the firm sand beyond, and laid himself -almost flat as he hauled at his end of the mast.</p> - -<p class="normal">The sweat broke in beads on his forehead, and rolled down his red face -like tears, before the sands would let go their prey. But, inch by -inch, he gained on them, while Jim gave up his legs for lost, so -tightly did the sands hold on to them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Inch by inch he was drawn back to life, joints cracking, sinews -straining. It seemed impossible to him that he should come out whole. -But there--his neck was clear, his chest, his body, his knees, and -then, with a "swook" from the "stick-sands" that sounded like a -disappointed curse, the rest of him came out and he lay spent on the -solid earth beyond.</p> - -<p class="normal">He remembered no more of the matter, but learned afterwards how young -Seth, after thriftily staking the mast in the sand and lashing the -<i>Gracie</i> to it with a length of rope to prevent her sinking out of -sight--had taken him over his shoulder, not quite sure whether he was -dead or alive, but face downwards, so that if he were alive some of -the sand and water might run out of him, and had set off with him so, -for Carne.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.17" href="#div1Ref_2.17">CHAPTER XVII</a></h4> -<h5>ALMOST SOLVED</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jack, when presently he had seen the little affair at Salamis to a -satisfactory conclusion, missed Jim and went out in search of him. He -poked about the courtyard without finding him, and only when he got -outside, and saw that the <i>Gracie</i> was gone, did it occur to him that -Jim had gone with her. Then in the distance he saw young Seth Rimmer -coming heavily over the sands with something over his shoulder, and he -ran to meet him.</p> - -<p class="normal">From his windows Sir Denzil had watched the sand-boat go racing wildly -up the flats, and had wondered at its solitary occupant. He could see -by the size of him that it was one of the boys, but could not tell -which.</p> - -<p class="normal">No matter which: if the thing would only come to grief and make an end -of either of them, what an ending of trouble! What a mighty relief! -Then his way would be clear.</p> - -<p class="normal">And as he mused upon it, he saw the distant boat go over, and his -bitter old heart quickened a beat or two with grim hope. Then he saw -the runner on the sands, and knew that something serious was amiss, -and his hopes grew. And when, after what seemed a long, long time, one -came running heavily towards Carne, with a load upon his shoulder, he -believed his wish was realised.</p> - -<p class="normal">He went down the stairs and into the kitchen, and spoke to old Mrs. -Lee for the first time in ten years.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One of the boys is drowned. Young Rimmer is bringing home his body." -And he eyed the old woman like a hawk, with an evil light of hope in -his eye.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Naay!" said she, not to be trapped.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old fool!" he said to himself, but kept an unmoved face and opened -his snuff-box.</p> - -<p class="normal">Young Seth came labouring into the courtyard, with Jim on his shoulder -and Jack at his heels.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil never looked at them. He had eyes for nothing but old Mrs. -Lee's face, which was hard-set and the colour of gray stone.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What's happen't, Seth Rimmer?" she croaked as he came, peering -through half-closed eyes at him and his burden.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sand-boat ran i' stick-sand. Nigh got 'im."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is hoo gone?"--as Seth laid the limp body on the table.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nay, I dunno' think hoo con be dead; but it wur sore wark getting' -'im out--nigh pooed 'im i' two--an' hoo swallowed a lot o' stuff."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hoo'll do," she said, after a quick examination. "Yo' leave 'im to -me." And she "shooed" them all out of the kitchen and proceeded to -maltreat Jim tenderly back to life.</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'm!" said Sir Denzil disappointedly, as he climbed the stairs -again--"a good chance missed! D--d fools all! . . . I wonder if Lady -Susan's mother would have kept as quiet a face! . . . Well . . . The -deuce take one of them! . . . Which doesn't matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">Young Seth waited till the tide washed up over the quicksand, and then -with assistance from the village dragged the <i>Gracie</i> back to life and -trundled her forlornly home. And Sir Denzil sent him out a guinea by -Mr. Kennet--not for saving Jim's life, but for bringing back the means -whereby one or other of his grandsons might still possibly come to a -sudden end.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, for the first time since he began to remember things, lay in bed -for three whole days, but, thanks to Mrs. Lee's anointings and -rubbings, suffered no further ill-effects from his adventure--except, -indeed, many a horrible nightmare, in which he was perpetually sinking -down into the clinging sands, with his hands and feet fast bound and -the scum running into his mouth; from which he would awake with a howl -which always woke Jack with a start, and the ensuing scrimmage had in -it all the joy of new life.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager, when he hurried up to see Jim and hear all about it, exacted a -promise from them both never to sail the <i>Gracie</i> single-handed again, -and was satisfied the promise would be kept.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil, hearing he was there, sent for him, and received him as -usual.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Mr. Eager, you came near to solving the puzzle for us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can't tell you how sorry I am, sir----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, 'twas a good chance missed. If that fool Rimmer had only let -Providence work out its own ends----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God, he was on the spot, or I'd never have forgiven myself. -Providence will see to the matter in its own time and in its own way, -Sir Denzil, and neither you nor I can help or thwart it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm not so sure of that. If I had my way now----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Providence always wins," said Eager, with a shake of the head and a -cheerful smile. "If we blind bats had our own way, what a muddle we -would make of things. You would surely regret it in the end, sir."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.18" href="#div1Ref_2.18">CHAPTER XVIII</a></h4> -<h5>ALMOST SOLVED AGAIN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">During that winter two events happened, much alike in their general -features, apparently quite disconnected, and yet not at all improbably -resulting the one from the other. Either happening might well have -solved the problem of Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, as we have seen, had developed a certain taste for information. -He could lose himself completely in the doings of Hannibal or -Alexander, and found the mighty realities of history--or what were -accounted as such--more to his taste than the most thrilling -imaginings of the story-tellers. Jim found them good also--as retailed -to him by Jack--and would sit by the hour, with open mouth and eyes -and ears, taking them all in at second-hand. But sit down to one of -the big books, and worry them all out for himself, he would not.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so it came that more than once when Jack was over head and ears in -some delightfully bloody action of long ago, Jim would ramble off by -himself in search of amusement more to his taste, until such time as -the sponge, having filled itself full, should be ready to be squeezed.</p> - -<p class="normal">That was how he came to be strolling along the beach one lowering -windy afternoon, seeking desultorily in the lip of the tide for -anything the waves might have thrown up.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was always an interesting pursuit, for you never knew what -you might light on. In former times Jack had been as keen a -treasure-hunter as himself, but now he was digging it out elsewhere -and otherwise.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had never found anything of value, though many a thing of mighty -interest was brought ashore by the waves. A girl's wooden doll, and a -boy's wooden horse, for instance, had nothing very remarkable about -them; but found within a dozen yards of each other on the beach after -a storm, they set even boys not used to very deep thinking, thinking -deeply. Coco-nuts and oranges, and a dead sheep, and an oar, and a -ship's grating--that was about as much as they ever came across, -except once, when it was the awful body of a dead black man, and then -they ran home, with their heads twisting fearfully over their -shoulders, as fast as their legs could carry them; and saw the hideous -thick white lips of him for many a night afterwards.</p> - -<p class="normal">But though you sought in vain for years, there was always the chance -of coming upon a casket of jewels sooner or later; and if you never -actually found it, the possibility of it was delightfully attractive.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim ambled on, kicking asunder lumps of seaweed which might conceal -treasure, stooping now and again to pick up and examine some find more -closely, and so came to the bend in the coast out of sight of Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">And there he stopped suddenly, like a pointing dog.</p> - -<p class="normal">Away along the shore, and as close in as the long shoal of the sands -would permit, was a large fishing-smack. Between her and the beach a -boat was plying, and when it grounded a string of men was rapidly -passing its contents up into the sand-hills.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim guessed what that might mean. His ephemeral reading in books of -adventure told him these must be smugglers, and he had unconsciously -gathered from unknown sources the fact that out beyond there lay the -isle of Man, a place given up to freebooters and such-like gentry, -though he had never happened to come across any so near home before. A -matter therefore to be cautiously inquired into on the most approved -Fenimore Cooper lines.</p> - -<p class="normal">So he slipped in among the sand-hills and threaded a devious path -parallel with the sea, now and again crawling like a snake up a -hummock, and peering through the wire-grass to ascertain his position -and make sure that the boat had not gone off.. That was his only -anxiety, that she would get away before he had the chance of a nearer -view.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was delighted with his adventure. Here was treasure-trove better -than all the tantalising possibilities of the beach. Here was -something real and new to set against Jack's musty, but still -exciting, stories of old Greeks and Romans. He felt rich.</p> - -<p class="normal">The short day was drawing in. The gray of the dusk was in his favour. -He wriggled up a soft bank on his stomach, and found himself with a -fair view of what was going on. He sank flat among the wire-grass and -watched, and was Robinson Crusoe, and Deerslayer; and Chingachgook, -and many others, all in one.</p> - -<p class="normal">A growl of rough voices down below, the "slaithe" of spades in the -soft sand, and he saw little barrels and neat little corded packages -being rapidly buried, each in a little hole by itself, and evidently -according to some recognised plan.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boat had probably made another trip to the smack, for barrels and -packages came pouring in and were deftly put out of sight. The light -was so dim that he could not recognise any of the busy workers, and -their occasional growls gave him no clue.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was wondering vaguely who they might be, when a heavy hand -descended on the back of his neck and lifted him up like a kicking -rabbit.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dom yo' I What d' yo' want a-spyin' here for?"</p> - -<p class="normal">His captor dragged him down into the centre of operations, and Jim -found himself inside a wall of scowling, hairy faces. "Now then, who -are yo', and what'n yo' want here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The long rough fingers reached well round his throat, and he was -almost black in the face, and sparks and things were beginning to -dance before his eyes. He clutched at the big hand and tried to pull -it away.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm Jim Carron," he gasped.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' wunnot be Jim Carron long, then. Dig a hole there big enow to -take him," he ordered--and Jim saw himself lying in it, alongside the -little barrels and packages.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I meant no harm. I only wanted to see," he urged sturdily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' seen too much. I' th' sand yo'll see nowt an' yo'll talk none."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I won't in any case. I promise you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'se see to that, my lad. Yo'll be safest i' th' sand, and so 'ill -we." And Jim, glancing scare-eyed up at the wall of rough face; would -have been mightily glad to be back in the warm kitchen at Carne with -Jack and his old Greeks and Romans.</p> - -<p class="normal">He looked very small and helpless among them. Some of them had little -lads at home, no doubt; but there was much at stake, and it would -never do to leave him free to talk. On the other hand, running goods -free of duty was one thing, and killing a boy was another, and there -arose a growling controversy among them as to what they should do with -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was ended suddenly by one wresting him masterfully from his -original captor, and dragging him by the scruff of the neck towards -the boat. It was emptied of its last load and ready to return for -another. His new keeper tossed him in, tumbled in after him with three -others, and pulled out to the smack.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.19" href="#div1Ref_2.19">CHAPTER XIX</a></h4> -<h5>WHERE'S JIM?</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jack, having lived through an unusually exciting time in the -neighbourhood of Carthage, came back to himself in the kitchen at -Carne and the first thought of Jim he had had for over an hour.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello! Where's old Jim?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I d'n know. Yo'd better seek him or he'll be into some mischief. I -nivver did see sich lads." And Jack strolled out to look for Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was in none of his usual places, and Jack stood gazing vaguely -along the shore, wondering where he could have got to. He might have -gone to Mr. Eager's. It was not usual with them of an afternoon, for -then Mr. Eager was busy with his parish affairs. But Gracie was always -an attraction--the warmest bit of colour in their lives--and she made -them welcome no matter when they came.</p> - -<p class="normal">As he turned to trot away inland, with a last look along the shore, a -fishing-smack beat out from behind the distant bend and went thrashing -out to sea with the waves flying white over her bows.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glad I'm not there, anyway," said Jack, and galloped away among the -hummocks towards Wyvveloe.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Jack, I <i>am</i> so glad to see you. I've got so tired of myself. -Mrs. Jex has been showing me how to make crumpets, and you shall have -one as soon as Charles comes in. If they're not very good you mustn't -say so, because they're the first I've made, you see. What? Jim? No, -he's not been here. What a troublesome boy he is!--always getting -himself drowned or lost. Dear, dear, dear! What with you two, and -Charles, and the vicar falling ill again--my hair will go quite white, -I expect! And there's that Margaret never been near me all day, and if -it hadn't been for Mrs. Jex and the crumpets I don't know what I would -have done. . . . Thank you, Mrs. Jex, I'll come at once; but we must -keep them hot for Charles, they do lie so heavy on your stomach when -they're cold. He can't be long, Jack. You sit down there and look at -that book." And the Little Lady went off to butter her crumpets, while -Jack, at the end of his tether as regards Jim and his possible -whereabouts, lay down contentedly on the hearthrug and lost himself in -the book.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Eager came in at last, tired with a long round among outlying -parishioners, he was surprised to find the boy there and still more -surprised to learn why he had come.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim's a jimsa! He's always getting himself lost," was Gracie's -contribution to the discussion, but it did not help much.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where can he have got to, Jack?" asked Eager, with a touch of -anxiety. "When did you see him last?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was reading in the kitchen, and when I looked up he'd gone. I -looked in all the places I could think of, and then I came here." And -that did not help much, either.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I must have a bite. I'm famished. And then we'll have another -look. Maybe he's at home by this time. He wouldn't be likely to go to -Knoyle, would he?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack shook his head very decidedly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He wouldn't go alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seth Rimmer's?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I d'n know. He might."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll call at Carne and then go along to Rimmer's. Oh-ho! hot -buttered crumpets and coffee! And the crumpets made by a master-hand, -unless I'm very much mistaken!" For Gracie had dumped them down before -him herself with an air of triumphant achievement, and now stood -waiting his first bite with visible anxiety.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Excellent!" said the Rev. Charles, smacking his lips. "If there's one -thing Mrs. Jex does better than another, where all is well done, it's -hot buttered crumpets."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're not at all a bit heavy?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Heavy? Light as snowflakes--hot buttered snowflakes! That's what they -are. How do you find them, Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fine!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I <i>am</i> glad. I was afraid they'd turn out a bit----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You don't mean to tell me you made them!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I did. All myself--with Mrs. Jex just looking on, you know!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well! Two more, please, just like the last! Best crumpets I ever -tasted in my life!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And so they were--because Gracie made them; and the Rev. Charles would -have pledged himself to that though they had choked him and given him -indigestion for life. He had a pretty bad night of it--but that might -have been the coffee,--but most likely it was Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">For presently they all set off in the riotous wind, Gracie skipping -joyfully in the pride of accomplishment, and went first to Carne, -hopeful of finding Jim there. But Mrs. Lee greeted their inquiry with -a tart:</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Oo's none here. Havena set eyes on him sin'---- Didn' yo' go out -tegither?"--to Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I d'n know when he went."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where can th' lad ha' gotten to now? 'Oo's aye gett'n' i' mischief o' -some kind."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll go along to Seth Rimmer's, Mrs. Lee. He may have gone down -there," said Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Oo mowt," she admitted unhopefully. And they set off in the windy -darkness, with the roar of the sea and the long white gleam of the -surf on one side, and on the other the fantastic hummocks of the -sand-hills, which looked strangely desolate by night and capable of -holding any mystery or worse.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager had wanted the children to wait at Carne till he returned, but -they would not hear of it. Gracie was enjoying the spice of adventure. -Jack wanted to find Jim. Eager himself was beginning to feel anxious, -though he would not let the others see it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If he is not here--where?" he asked himself, as they ploughed through -the sand and the crackling seaweed. And he had to confess that he did -not know where to look next. The grim desolation of the sand-hills -made him shiver to think of. Suppose the boy had damaged himself in -some way and was lying there waiting for help. A thousand boys might -lie there unfound till help was useless.</p> - -<p class="normal">A glimmer in the distant darkness, and presently they were at Rimmer's -cottage.</p> - -<p class="normal">Kattie opened to them--both the door and her big blue eyes--and stood -staring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, Kattie! Is Jim here?" asked Eager cheerfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim? No, Mr. Eager."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who's it, 'Kattie?" asked her mother anxiously, from her bed; for -over the lonely cottage hung the perpetual fear of ill-tidings.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's only us, Mrs. Rimmer." And they stepped inside.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech! Mr. Eager, and the little lady, and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We're looking for Jim, and were hoping he might have come along -here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim?" said Mrs. Rimmer, looking steadfastly at Jack. "I nivver con -tell one from t'other; but none o' them's been here to-day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No? I wonder where the boy can have got to. Is Seth about? Maybe he -could help us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seth's away," said Mrs. Rimmer briefly; and Eager did not ask her -where. For "Seth's away" was an understood formula, and meant that -young Seth was off on one of his expeditions, and the less said about -it the better.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't quite know where to look next," said Eager anxiously. "Can -you suggest anything, Kattie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But Kattie shook her mane of hair and stared back at them nonplussed, -and presently said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim knows his way; he couldn' get lost."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm just afraid he may have got hurt somewhere--twisted his ankle, or -something of that kind, and be lying out in the sand-hills; and it's -as black as pitch outside, and going to be a bad night."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Puir lad, I hope not," said Mrs. Rimmer, with added concern in her -face. "'Twill be a bad night for them that's on th' sea." Her face, in -its setting of puckered white nightcap, looked very frail and anxious. -"But they're aw in His hands, passon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And they couldn't be in better, Mrs. Rimmer," he said, more -cheerfully than he felt.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, I know; but I wish my man were home. Whene'er th' wind howls like -that, I aye think of them that's gone and them that has yet to go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not one of them goes without His knowing. Your thoughts are prayers, -and the prayers of a good woman avail much." And he pressed the thin -white hand, and Gracie kissed her and Kattie, and they went out into -the night.</p> - -<p class="normal">The wind hummed across the flats till their heads hummed in unison. -More than once the drive of it carried them off their course, and -brought them up against the ghostly hummocks, where the long, thin -wire-grass swirled and swished with the sound of scythes. The grim -desolation beyond struck a chill to Eager's heart, as he imagined Jim -lying out there, calling in vain for help against the strident howl of -the gale.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was just the possibility that he had got home during their -absence, however; so, in anxious silence, they made for Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I hanna seen nowt of him," said Mrs. Lee, and stood glowering at -them with set, pinched face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had better see Sir Denzil. Shall I go up? You wait here with Jack, -Gracie." And he went off along the stone-flagged passage, and climbed -the big staircase, and knocked on the door leading to Sir Denzil's -rooms.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mr. Kennet opened to him at last, with so much surprise that he was, -for the moment, unable to recognise the unexpected visitor, and stood -staring blankly at him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want to see Sir Denzil, Kennet--Mr. Eager. One of the boys is -missing----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eh?--Ah!--Missing?--Tell him. Will you wait a moment, sir?" And Eager -concluded from his manner that Mr. Kennet had been enjoying himself, -and hoped that it might not be, in this case, like man like master.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil, however, received him with most formal politeness.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You bring me good news, Mr. Eager?" he asked, snuffing very -elegantly. "Who is it is a-missing?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can't find Jim, Sir Denzil."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--Jim! Let me see--Jim! Now, which is Jim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim is the hero of the sand-boat----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--and is the boat gone again?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, sir. They both pledged themselves not to go out in her alone -again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--pity! Great pity! I rather counted upon that monstrosity to solve -our difficulty. However, Jim is missing!" And he tapped his snuff-box -thoughtfully. "And what do you infer from that, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid he may have gone off into the sand-hills and possibly got -hurt. We've been down to Seth Rimmer's----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--Rimmer! That was, if I remember rightly, the young dolt who -bungled the matter so sadly last time. Well?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has not been there. Jack was reading in the kitchen----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack? Ah--yes. That's the other one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Jim was with him. Jim wandered out, and we cannot find any trace -of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hm! . . . Ah! . . ." And the grim old head nodded thoughtfully over -another pinch of snuff. "Well, I don't really see what we can do -to-night, Mr. Eager. If, as you suggest, he is lying hurt somewhere in -the sand-hills, it would take an army to find him, even in the -daytime. We must wait and see. If we don't find him"--hopefully--"if -he is gone for good, I shall feel myself under deepest obligation to -him or to whoever is concerned in the matter. It leaves us only one -boy to deal with--the wrong one, of course--but still, only one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why the wrong one, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If the other has been purposely removed, as is possible, it is, of -course, in order to foist upon us the one who has no right to the -position. There could be no other reason. You follow me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I follow your reasoning, of course; but at present we have not the -slightest reason to suppose he has been purposely removed. He may be -lying in the sand-hills unable to get home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In which case he will have a very bad night," said Sir Denzil, as a -fury of wind and rain broke against the windowpanes--"a very bad -night."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is there nothing we can do?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's only one thing I can think of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Keep an eye on that old witch's face downstairs. You may learn -something from it if you catch her unawares."</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager slept little that night for thinking of the missing boy. His -anxious mind travelled many roads, but never touched the right one.</p> - -<p class="normal">Soon after daybreak he was on his way to Knoyle, but returned -disappointed, and went on to Carne with a faint hope in him still that -Jim might have returned during the night.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any news of him, Mrs. Lee?" he asked anxiously, through the kitchen -door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Noa," said the old lady stolidly. "We none seen nowt on him." And her -face was as unmoved as a gargoyle, and the gleam of her little dark -eyes struck on his like the first touch of an opponent's foil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What on earth can have taken the boy? I've been up to Knoyle, but -they know nothing of him there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll turn out all the men I can get, and we'll rake over the -sand-hills."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay!"</p> - -<p class="normal">As he turned to go, Jack came trotting in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I d'n know what's come of him," he said; "I've been everywhere I can -think of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm going to get all the help I can, and we'll search through the -sand-hills, Jack."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll come too," said Jack. And they went away together.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.20" href="#div1Ref_2.20">CHAPTER XX</a></h4> -<h5>A NARROW SQUEAK</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Once aboard the smack, Jim was shoved into a small black dog-hole of a -cabin forward and the door slid to and bolted. And there, all alone in -the dark, he presently passed a very evil time.</p> - -<p class="normal">In due course he heard the rest of the crew come aboard. Then the -anchor was pulled up, and then his head began to swim in sympathy with -the heaving boat.</p> - -<p class="normal">Like most boys he had at times had visions of a seafaring life, -swinging impartially between that and a military as the only two lives -worth living. But the night he spent on that smack cured him for ever -of the sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a black night, with a stiff west wind working round into a -south-west gale. They had hoped to get under the lee of the Island -before the full of it caught them, but it meant strenuous beating -close-hauled, and progress was slow. Before they were half-way across, -about midnight, the gale was on them, and they turned tail and ran for -their lives, with the great seas roaring past them and like to come in -over the stern every moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim knew nothing of it all. He was sick to death, and bruised almost -to a jelly with bumping to and fro in that dirty black hole. While -they beat up against the wind, the crashing of the seas against the -bows, with less than an inch of wood between him and them, deafened -and terrified him. It seemed impossible that any mere timber could -long withstand so terrific a pounding. Each moment he feared to see -the strakes rive open and let the ocean in.</p> - -<p class="normal">But very soon he was past caring what happened. He had never been so -utterly miserable in all his life.</p> - -<p class="normal">When they turned and ran, the crash of the waves against the outside -of his dog-hole lessened somewhat, but the up-and-down motion -increased so that the roof and the floor alternately seemed bent on -banging him to pieces. And at times they plunged down, down, down, -with the water bubbling and hissing all about them till he believed -they were going down for good, and felt no regret about it.</p> - -<p class="normal">How long he spent in that awful hole he did not know. Ages of -uttermost misery it seemed to him. But, of a sudden, there came an -end.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boat, racing over the great rollers with a scrap of foresail to -give her steerage way, brought up abruptly on a bank. The mast snapped -like a carrot, the roaring white waves leaped over her, dragged her -back, flung her up again, worried her as vicious dogs a wounded rat.</p> - -<p class="normal">The men in her clung for their lives against the thrashing of the -mighty waves, and then, not knowing at all where the storm had carried -them, but sure of land of some kind from the bumping of the boat, they -scrambled one by one over the bows and fought their way through the -tear of the surf to the shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">All but one. He hung tight to the stump of the mast till the others -had gone, each for himself and intent only on saving each his own -life.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then the last man, swinging by one arm from the stump of the mast, -caught at the bolt of the dog-hole and worked it back, and reached in -a groping arm and dragged out Jim, limp and senseless from his final -bruising when the boat struck.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My sakes! Be yo' dead, Mester Jim?" he asked hoarsely, holding the -lad firmly with one arm and the mast with the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the sharp flavour of the gale acted like a tonic. The limp body -stretched and wriggled and gripped the arm that held it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aw reet?" shouted the hoarse voice in his ear, and when Jim tried to -reply the gale drove the words back into his throat.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boat was still tumbling heavily in the surf. All about them was -howling darkness, faintly lightened by the rushing sheets of foam. Jim -felt himself dragged to the side, and then they were wrestling, waist -deep, with the terrible backward rush of the surf. His feet were swept -from under him, but an iron hand gripped his arm and anchored him till -he felt the sand again. Then a thundering wave swirled them on, and -they were able to crawl up a steep, hard bank of sand on their hands -and knees.</p> - -<p class="normal">They lay there panting, while the gale howled and the white waves -gnashed at them like wild beasts ravening for their prey. And Jim felt -cleaner and better than he had done since he boarded the smack.</p> - -<p class="normal">He turned to his rescuer and laid hold of his arm.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is it?" he shouted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Me--Seth," came the hoarse reply into his ear, and he had never in -his life felt so glad of a friendly voice, though he would not have -known it was young Seth's voice if he had not said so.</p> - -<p class="normal">For their position was terrifying enough. It was still too dark to see -where they were, except that they were on a bank, with the roar and -shriek of the gale all about them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Young Seth stood up to see, if he could, what had become of the -others. But he was down flat again in a moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I connot see nowt," he shouted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are we safe here, Seth?"--as a vicious white arm came reaching up the -slope at them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tide's goin' down."</p> - -<p class="normal">So they lay and waited, and it was good for Jim that night that his -life on the flats had hardened him somewhat to the weather.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was soaked to the bones, and the spindrift stung like a whip. But -he was so utterly spent with his previous sickness that his heavy eyes -closed, and he dozed into horrible nightmares and woke each time with -a start and a sob.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then he found himself warmer, and thought the gale had slackened; -but it was young Seth's burly body lying between him and the wind, and -he was drawn up close into young Seth's arms, and there he went fast -asleep.</p> - -<p class="normal">He woke at last into a sober gray light and a great stillness. The -wind had dropped and the sea had fallen back behind its distant -barriers. When he stretched and sat up he could see nothing but -sand--endless stretches of brown sea-sand, with the dull gleam of -water here and there.</p> - -<p class="normal">He got on to his feet and felt his bones creak as if they wanted -oiling, and young Seth stood up too and kicked his legs and arms about -to take the kinks out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where are we, Seth?" asked Jim, with a gasp.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I dunnot know. We ran like the divvle last neet. Mebbe when th' sun -comes out we'll see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Land's over yonder, anyway," he said presently. "But it's a divvle of -a way and mos'ly stick-sands, I reck'n."</p> - -<p class="normal">The clouded eastern sky thinned and lightened somewhat, the sands -began to glimmer, and the streaks of water gleamed like bands of -steel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We mun go," said Seth. "Sun's sick yet wi' last neet's storm. Yo' -keep close to me." And they set off on the perilous journey.</p> - -<p class="normal">For a moment, as they crossed the ridge of their own sand-bank, which -stood higher than its neighbours, they caught distant glimpse of -yellow sand-hills very far away. Then they were threading cautiously -across a wide lower level, seamed with pools and runlets, and could -see nothing but the brown sea-sand. And Seth's eyes were everywhere on -the look-out for "stick-sands," of which he went in mortal terror.</p> - -<p class="normal">Where the banks humped up with long rounded limbs as though giants -were buried below, he would run at speed; but in the hollows between -their progress was slow, because "You nivver knows," said Seth, and -tried each foot before he trusted it.</p> - -<p class="normal">In one wide hollow they came on a mast sticking straight up out of the -sand--like a gravestone, Jim thought--and gave it wide berth. And -twice they came on swiftly flowing channels which rose to Jim's waist, -and it was in the neighbourhood of these that Seth exercised the -greatest caution.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They works under t' sand, here and there, you nivver knows where, an' -it's that makes the stick-sands," he said, and breathed freely only -when they got on to solid brown ridges again.</p> - -<p class="normal">So, step by step, they drew nearer to the yellow sand-hills, which -looked so like those he was accustomed to that Jim's spirits rose.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is that home, Seth?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, lad, no. We're many a mile from home, but we'll git there -sometime."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was when that toilsome journey was over, and the sun had come out, -and they were lying spent in a hollow of the yellow sand-hills, that -Seth turned to Jim and said weightily:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo' mun promise me, Mester Jim, to forget aw that happened last neet. -I dun my best for yo'; an' yo' mun promise that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid I can't ever forget it, Seth," said Jim solemnly, "and -some of it I don't ever want to forget. But I'll promise you I'll -never tell about the little barrels and things, or about you, never, -as long as I live."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well," said Seth, after ruminating on this. "That'll do if yo'll -stick to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll bite my tongue out before I'll say a word."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Aw reet. Yo' see, I wur on the boat when they brought yo' aboard, but -I couldn' ha' done owt with aw that lot about. 'Twere foolish to fall -into their honds."</p> - -<p class="normal">About midday they came on a fisherman's hut, back among the -sand-hills, and got some bread and fish, freely given when Seth -explained matters--so far as he deemed necessary; and they lay on a -pile of strong-smelling nets and slept longer than Seth had intended. -Then, with vague directions towards a distant high-road, they set out -again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Twere Morecambe Bay we ran aground in," said Seth, "an' they wouldn' -hardly believe as we'd come across th' flats. Reg'lar suckers, they -say, an' swallowed a moight o' men in their time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And when shall we get home, Seth?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a long road, but we'll git there's soon as we can," said Seth, -with the weight of the journey upon him.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.21" href="#div1Ref_2.21">CHAPTER XXI</a></h4> -<h5>A WARM WELCOME</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">For two days Eager raked over the sand-hills, from morning till night, -with all the men he could press into the service, and all the ardour -he could rouse in them.</p> - -<p class="normal">In long, undulating lines, rising and falling over the hummocks like -the long sea-rollers, they scoured the wastes till they were satisfied -that no Jim was there.</p> - -<p class="normal">Each night Sir Denzil met him, when he came upstairs to report, with a -repressed eagerness which gave way to cynical satisfaction the moment -he saw his face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So!" he would say, with a gratified nod, as he helped himself to -snuff with studied elegance. "No result, Mr. Eager. I really begin to -think we must give him up. You are simply wasting your time and that -of all your--er--friends."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Supposing, after all, the poor lad should be lying, unable to move, -in some hollow----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let us hope that his sufferings would be over long before this!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is too horrible to think of. I cannot sleep at night for the -thought of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, I am sorry. You should cultivate a spirit of equanimity--as I do. -If he is found--well! If he is not found, I am bound to say--better! -The problem that has puzzled us these ten years is then solved--in a -way, of course, though, as I think I have explained myself to you -before, not in the right way. Still we have got only one boy to deal -with, and we must make the best of him. I have been considering the -idea of a public school. You would endorse that, I presume?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Undoubtedly--for both of them, if we can only find Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are considering the one we have. Now, which school would you -advise--Rugby, Harrow, Eton? There's a new place just opened at -Marlborough. I see----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Harrow," said Eager decisively. "They are both meant for the army, of -course?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will speak in the plural still," said Sir Denzil, with a smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot bring myself to think of Jim as dead and gone."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well! Let us hope you have more foundation for your higher -beliefs, Mr. Eager. Meanwhile, and to lose no time, I will write to my -lawyer in London to have this boy entered at Harrow. What delay will -it entail?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"None, I should say. The numbers are low there just now, but Vaughan -will soon pull things round, and meanwhile they will stand the better -chance."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They--they--they!" said Sir Denzil, eyeing him quizzically. "You -really still hope, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall hope until it is impossible to hope any longer. Have you -considered the idea of his having been kidnapped, Sir Denzil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It has occurred to me, of course. But why should any one kidnap him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If it should be so--to leave the other in full possession, of course. -But we have no grounds to go upon. I have made inquiries as to all the -gipsies who have been within ten miles of us lately. They are all here -yet, and know nothing of the boy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'm!" said Sir Denzil thoughtfully. "If it should be that--as you -say, it would prove beyond doubt that the boy we have is the wrong -one. Gad!" he said presently, "I'm beginning to have a hankering after -the other. However----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George Herapath had seconded all Eager's efforts to discover the -missing boy. He and Margaret had ridden with the other searchers each -day, and in addition had sought out every gipsy camp in the -neighbourhood and made rigorous inquisition as to its doings and -membership. Sir George was favourably known to the nomads as a strict -but clement justice of the peace so long as they kept within the law, -and they satisfied him that they had had no hand in this matter.</p> - -<p class="normal">He and Margaret were to and fro constantly between Knoyle and -Wyvveloe, eager for news, or downcastly bringing none, and when Eager -himself was not there it was a very crushed and sober little lady who -received them with a sadness greater even than their own.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is quite beyond me, Sir George," you would have heard her say, -with a gloomy shake of the head. "What can have become of him I can't -think. And we do miss him so dreadfully. I always liked old Jim, but I -never liked him so much as I do now. It's just breaking Charles's -heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's beyond me too, Gracie," said Sir George, with a worried pinch of -the brows. "Where <i>can</i> the boy be? I'm really beginning to be afraid -we've seen the last of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charles says we must go on hoping for the best," said the Little Lady -forlornly. "But it is not easy when you've nothing to go on."</p> - -<p class="normal">And to them, talking so, on the afternoon of the fourth day of the -search, came in Eager, very weary both of mind and body, and anything -but an embodiment of the hope he enjoined on others.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing," he said dejectedly. "And I do not know what to do next. I'm -beginning----"</p> - -<p class="normal">And then the Little Lady's eyes, which had wandered past him from -sheer dread of looking on his hopelessness, opened wider than ever -they had done before.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charles! Charles!" she shrieked, pointing past him down the path. -"Jim!" And she began to dance and scream in a very allowable fit of -hysterics.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager thought it was that--that her overwrought feelings had broken -down, and it was to her that he sprang.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the others had turned at her words, and had run out of the -cottage, and now they came in dragging--as though having got him they -would never let him go again--a very lean and dirty and draggled, but -decidedly happy, Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie broke from her brother and rushed at him with a whole-hearted -"Oh, Jim! Jim!" and flung her arms round his neck and kissed him many -times. And Jim, grinning joyously through his dirt, seemed to find it -good, but presently wiped off the kisses with the back of his grimy -hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear lad, where have you been?" cried Eager, all his weariness gone -in the joy of recovery. "We have been near breaking all our hearts -over you. Thank God, you are back again! . . . Now, tell us!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim summed up his adventures in very few words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was on the shore. Some men carried me off in a ship. We were -wrecked at a place called Morecambe, and I've come home as quick as I -could."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who were the men? Did you know them?" asked Sir George sternly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can't tell you, sir." And then, looking at Eager, as though he -would understand. "It was a promise, a very solemn promise"--and Eager -nodded. "You see I was locked up in a little cabin when the ship was -wrecked, and I should have been drowned in there----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And they let you out on your promising not to tell on them," said -Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim nodded.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A promise extorted under such conditions is not binding," said Sir -George brusquely. "I want those men. Come, my boy, you must tell us -all you know." And Eager watched him anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot tell, sir. I promised."</p> - -<p class="normal">And nothing would move him from this. Sir George, with much warmth, -explained to him that no one was safe if such things were permitted to -pass unpunished, said that it was his bounden duty to tell all he -knew. But to all he simply shook his head and said, "I promised, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Eager, much as he would have liked to lay hands on the rascals, -could not but rejoice in the boy's staunchness. And Sir George gave it -up at last, and rode away with Margaret, baffled and outwardly very -angry. But as they rode up the avenue at Knoyle, he said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eager has done well with those boys. They'll turn out men."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was very hungry. They fed him, and then Eager went off with him to -break the news to Sir Denzil, and the villagers flocked out and -cheered them as they went.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, yo're back!" was Mrs. Lee's greeting when they came into the -kitchen at Carne. And Jim, in the joy of his return, ran up and kissed -her, but her face was like that of a graven image.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack jumped up with a glad shout, and "Hello, Jim! Where you been?" -and circled round and round the wanderer with endless questions.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil's reception of him was characteristic.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I'm ----! So you've turned up again." And he eyed his grandson, -over a pinch of snuff, as though he were some new and offensive -reptile. "What is the meaning of this, sir?" And his hankering after -the boy whom, in his innermost mind, he had come to think of as his -legitimate heir, and his thwarted satisfaction at what he had hoped -was in any case the cutting of his Gordian knot, and a certain anxiety -in the matter, which he had very successfully concealed from every one -else--all these in combination resulted in an explosion.</p> - -<p class="normal">He listened blackly to such explanation as Jim vouchsafed, -peremptorily demanded more, and the boy refused.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You will tell me all you know," said the old man sternly--hoping -through fuller knowledge to arrive, perchance, at some clue to the -great problem behind.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I promised, sir!" said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hang your promise, sir! I absolve you from any such promise. You will -tell me all you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim set his lips stolidly and would not say another word.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You won't? Then, by----, I'll teach you to do what you're told." And -laying hold of the boy by the neck of his blue guernsey, he caught up -his ebony stick and rained savage blows on the quivering little back -before Eager could attempt rescue.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stop, sir! Stop!" cried Eager, in great distress at this outbreak, -and caught at the flailing arm.</p> - -<p class="normal">"---- you, sir! Keep off, or I'll thrash you too!" shouted the furious -old man, and turned and threatened the interrupter with the heavy -silver knob.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are forgetting yourself, Sir Denzil," said Eager hotly. "The boy -has given his solemn promise in return for his life. Would you have -him break it?" And he caught the descending stick with a hand that -ached for days afterwards, twisted it deftly out of the trembling old -hand, and held it in safe keeping.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kennet!" shouted Sir Denzil, "throw this ---- parson out!" And Kennet -came from an adjoining room and looked doubtfully at Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kennet will think several times before he tries it," said Eager -quietly, swinging the stick in his hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then Eager, eyeing the old man keenly, saw that the fit had passed -and reason had resumed her sway.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your stick, sir!" and he handed it to him with a bow.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your servant, sir!" and the stick was flung into a corner, and a -shaking hand dived down into a deep-flapped pocket after its necessary -snuff-box. "Kennet, leave us! You've been drinking. And you, -boy--damme, but you're a good plucked one! Of the right stock, surely. -Go down and get something to eat--and here's a guinea for you." And -Jim, who had never seen a guinea in his life, gripped it tight in his -dirty paw as a remarkable curiosity, and went out agape, with -squirming shoulders.</p> - -<p class="normal">The old white hand shook so much that the snuff went all awry, and -brown-powdered the waxen face in quite a humorous fashion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager, I apologise--and that is not my habit. But you must -acknowledge that the provocation was great."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not if you had considered the matter. Would you have a Carron break -his pledged word?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay!" said the old man, following his own train of thought, "a true -Carron! Surely that is our man! . . . Well, what do you advise next?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Send them both to Harrow, and trust the rest to Providence."</p> - -<p class="normal">And after a brooding silence, punctuated with more than one thoughtful -pinch, "We will try Harrow, anyway," said the oracle, and Eager shook -hands with him and went downstairs well satisfied.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_2.22" href="#div1Ref_2.22">CHAPTER XXII</a></h4> -<h5>WHERE'S JACK?</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">With all diffidence I mention a fact. Whether it had any bearing on a -later happening I do not know. Mr. Kennet, as we know, indulged -occasionally in strong waters. The result, as a rule, was only an -increased surliness of demeanour of which no one took much notice.</p> - -<p class="normal">On one such occasion, however, shortly after Jim's return, Kennet, -trespassing on Mrs. Lee's domain on some message of his master's, got -to words with the old lady, and, rankling perhaps under some sharper -reproof than usual from above, snarled at her like a toothless old -dog:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old witch! foisting your ill-gotten brat on us by kidnapping -t'other!" At which Mrs. Lee snatched at her broom, and Mr. Kennet beat -a retreat more hasty than dignified.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mr. Eager did his utmost during these last months of the year to -prepare the boys for their approaching translation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's my old school, boys. See you do me credit there," he would urge -on them. "In the games you'll do all right. Just pick up their ways, -and never lose your tempers. You'll find the lessons tough at first, -but I shall trust to you to do your best. You'll miss the flats and -the sand-hills, of course, but you'll soon find compensations in the -playing-fields."</p> - -<p class="normal">They came to look forward with something like eagerness to the new -prospect. It would be a tremendous change in their lives, and the call -of the unknown works in the blood of the young like the spring.</p> - -<p class="normal">But they could only stand a certain amount of book-grinding; and the -flats and sand-hills, once the autumn gales were past, were full of -enticement, and they ranged them, in the company of Eager and Gracie, -with all the relish of approaching separation.</p> - -<p class="normal">When George Herapath and Ralph Harben came home for the holidays, -hare-and-hounds became the order of the day, and many a tough chase -they had, and went far afield.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so it came to pass that one fatal day, Jack, being the hare, led -them away through the sedgy lands round Wyn Mere, and played the game -so well that he disappeared completely.</p> - -<p class="normal">The course of events that followed was so similar to those in Jim's -case that repetition would be wearisome.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil and Sir George Herapath were equally furious and disturbed, -but showed it in different ways. Eager, as before, was sadly upset and -strained himself to breaking-point in his efforts to discover the -missing one.</p> - -<p class="normal">Once more the sand-hills were scoured, and this time, since the boy -had gone in that direction, the Mere was dragged as far as it was -possible to do so, but its vast extent precluded any certainty as to -results.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the days passed, and Jack was gone as completely as if he had been -carried up into heaven.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Mr. Eager, what do you make of it this time!" asked Sir Denzil, -one night when Eager called at Carne with the usual report.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know what to make of it," said Eager dejectedly. "I have -thought about it till my head spins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your ideas would interest me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When Jim was kidnapped you felt sure that that pointed to him as what -you call the 'right one.' Is it possible that has become known to -those interested, and this has been done to point you back to Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You mean that old witch downstairs. . . . She is capable of anything, -of course, and you don't need to look at her twice to see the gipsy -blood in her. . . . On the other hand, she may have been cunning -enough to anticipate the view you have just expressed. She may have -had this boy Jack carried off for the sole purpose of prejudicing the -other in our eyes. Do you follow me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You mean as I put it just now--that one would expect them to kidnap -our man to leave theirs in possession."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Go a step farther, Mr. Eager. Suppose they have in some way learned -that, in consequence of Jim's carrying-off, I am inclined to think him -the rightful heir. They may, as you say, have carried off the other -simply to point me away from Jim and so confuse the issue. But it is -just possible they are not so simple as all that, and have reasoned -thus--'When Jim disappeared Sir Denzil considered that as proof that -he was the rightful heir. If we now carry off Jack, that is just what -Sir Denzil would expect us to do, and he will probably stick the -tighter to Jim in consequence.' If that is their reasoning, then Jack -is our man and not Jim. You follow me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a terrible tangle," said Eager wearily, with his head in his -hands. "It seems to me you can argue any way from anything that -happens, and only make matters worse."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Exactly!" said Sir Denzil, over a pinch of snuff.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so we come back to my point. You must treat both exactly alike -and leave the issue to Providence."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It looks like it," said Sir Denzil, and forbore to argue the matter -theologically. "If the other comes back we shall have two strings to -our bow, which is one too many for practical purposes. If he doesn't, -we'll stick to the one we have, right man or wrong, and be hanged to -them!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Seth Rimmer, and young Seth, who had only lately returned home after -an unusually long absence, were tireless in their search for the -missing boy in their own neighbourhood, in or about the Mere.</p> - -<p class="normal">After a day's hard work dragging the great hooks to and fro across the -bottom of the Mere, old Seth would shake his head gravely as he looked -back over the silent black water.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Naught less than draining it dry will ever tell us all it holds," he -would say. "From the look of it there's a moight of wickedness hid -down there."</p> - -<p class="normal">Katie too was indefatigable, and she and Jim and George Herapath and -Harben hunted high and low round the Mere, but found no smallest trace -of Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had all been planning an unusually festive Christmas, but it -passed in anxiety and gloom, and the time came round for Jim to go -away to school. But going along with Jack was one thing, and going all -alone a very different thing indeed, and he jibbed at it strongly.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil, however, having made up his mind, was not the man to stand -any nonsense. He prevailed on Eager, as being more conversant with -such matters, to see to the boy's outfit, and finally to take him up -to Harrow himself.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, in due course, Jim, still very downcast at his parting with -Gracie and Mrs. Lee and Carne and the flats and sand-hills, found -himself sitting with wide, startled eyes and firmly shut mouth, -opposite Mr. Eager, in one of the new railway carriages, whirling -across incredible ranges of country at a Providence-tempting speed -which seemed to him like to end in catastrophe at any moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">They went from Liverpool to Birmingham, both of which towns paralysed -the little ranger of flats and sand-hills; from Birmingham to London, -the enormity of which crushed him completely: spent two days showing -him the greater sights, which his overburdened brain could in no wise -appreciate; and finally landed him, fairly stodged with wonders, in -his master's house at Harrow, which seemed to him, after his recent -experiences, a haven of peace and restfulness.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager was an old school and college chum of the housemaster, and spent -a day of reminiscent enjoyment with him. He imparted to his friend -enough of the boy's curious history to secure his lasting interest in -him, and next day said good-bye to Jim and carried the memory of his -melancholy dazed black eyes all the way back to Wyvveloe with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Gracie's first words as she rushed at him and flung her arms round -his neck were, "Jack's back!" And the Rev. Charles sat down with a -gasp.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Really and truly, Gracie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Really and truly! Yesterday--all rags and bruises and as dirty as a -pig."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And wherever has he been all this time?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear knows! He doesn't, except that it was with some -men--gipsies--who carried him away and beat him most of the time. He's -all black and blue, except his face, and that was dirty brown, and one -of his eyes was blackened; one of the men nearly knocked it out."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well, well! It's an uncommonly strange world, child!</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. How's old Jim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was all right when I left him, but anything may happen to those -boys, apparently, without the slightest warning. Now, if you'll give -me something to eat I'll go along and hear what Jack has got to say -for himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, however, had very little information to give that could be -turned to any account. It was at the far side of the Mere that he had -come upon a couple of men crouching under a sand-hill, as though they -were on the look out for somebody. They had collared him, tied a stick -in his mouth, and carried him away--where, he had no idea--a very long -way, till they came up with a party on the road. There he was placed -in one of the travelling caravans, fed from time to time, and not -allowed out for many days. He had tried to escape more than once and -been soundly thrashed for it. His back--well, there it was, and it -made Eager almost ill to think of what those terrible weals must have -meant to the boy. Then, after a long lime, another chance came, when -all the men were lying drunk one night and some of the women too. He -had crept out, and ran and ran straight on till his legs wouldn't -carry him another step. A farmer's wife had taken pity on him at sight -of his back and helped him on his road. And through her, others. He -knew where he wanted to get to, and so, bit by bit, mostly on his own -feet, but with an occasional lift in a friendly cart, he had reached -home.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what do you say to all that, Mr. Eager?" asked Sir Denzil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I say, first, that I am most devoutly thankful that he has come back -to us. What may be behind it all is altogether beyond me. If he is -their boy would they treat him so cruelly?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To gain their ends they would stick at nothing. I see no daylight in -the matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You had no chance of seeing how the old woman received him, I -suppose, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All we know is that when Kennet went downstairs he found the boy -sitting in the kitchen, eating as though he had not seen food for a -week. Not a word beyond that and what he tells us. The problem is -precisely where it was when those damned women came in that first -morning each with a child on her arm."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h3><a name="div1_3.00" href="#div1Ref_3.00">BOOK III</a></h3> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.23" href="#div1Ref_3.23">CHAPTER XXIII</a></h4> -<h5>BREAKING IN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Smaller matters must give way to greater. You have seen how that great -problem of Carne came about, and how it perpetuated itself in the -persons of Jack and Jim Carron, without any apparent likelihood of -satisfactory solution, unless by the final intervention of the Great -Solver of all doubts and difficulties.</p> - -<p class="normal">To arrive at the end of our story within anything like reasonable -limits, we must again take flying leaps across the years, and touch -with no more than the tip of a toe such outstanding points as call for -special notice.</p> - -<p class="normal">Harrow was the most tremendous change their lives had so far -experienced. Mr. Eager had indeed prepared them for it to the best of -his power. But the change, when they plunged into it--first Jim and -then Jack--went far beyond their widest imaginings.</p> - -<p class="normal">With their fellows they shook down, in time, into satisfactory -fellowship. But the rules of the school, written and unwritten, from -above and from below, were for a long time terribly irksome and almost -past bearing. They were something like tiger-cubs transferred suddenly -from their native freedom to the strict rounds of the circus-ring. -They were expected to understand and conform to matters which were so -taken for granted that explanations were deemed superfluous. And they -suffered many things that first term in stubborn silence, mask and -cloak for the shy pride which would sooner bite its tongue through -than ask the question which would make its ignorance manifest.</p> - -<p class="normal">The milling-ground between the school and the racquet-courts knew them -well, and drank of their blood, and proved the rough nursery of many a -lasting friendship.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim used laughingly to say at home that he had seen the colour of the -blood of every fellow he cared a twopenny snap for, on that trampled -plot of grass by the old courts. If the colour was good, and the -manner of its display in accordance with his ideas, good feeling -invariably followed, and he soon had heaps of friends. That was -doubtless because he had nothing whatever of the swot in him. He -delivered himself over, heart and soul, to the active enjoyments of -life, and found no lack of like temper and much to his mind.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack developed along somewhat wider and deeper lines. He had no great -craving for knowledge simply as knowledge. But concerning things that -interested him he was insatiable, and slogged away at them with as -great a gusto as Jim did at his games.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack's ideas of a correct school curriculum, being based entirely on -his own leanings, necessarily clashed at times with those of the -higher powers, and both he and Jim passed under the birch of the -genial Vaughan with the utmost regularity and decorum.</p> - -<p class="normal">Neither, of course, ever uttered a word under these inflictions. Jack -went tingling back to his own private preoccupation of the moment; and -Jim went raging off to the playing-fields.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's not what he does," he would fume to his chums, "but the way he -does it. If he'd get mad I wouldn't mind, but he's always as nice and -smooth as a hairdresser, and talks as if it was a favour he was doing -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oily old beast!" would be the return comment, and then to the game -with extra vim to make up for time lost in the swishing.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's greatest fight was an epic in the school for many a year after -he had left. "Ah!" said the privileged ones--whether they had actually -been present in the body on that historic occasion or not--"but you -should have seen the slog between Carron and Chissleton! That <i>was</i> a -fight!"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the usual episode of the big bully, whom most public-schoolboys -run up against sooner or later, and Chissleton was three years older -and a good head taller than Jim. But Jim had the long years of the -flats, and all the benefit of Mr. Eager's scientific fisticuffs, -behind him. They fought ten rounds, each of which left Jim on the -grass, his face a jelly daubed with blood, and his eyes so nearly -closed up that it was only when the bulky Chissleton was clear against -the sky that he could see him at all. But bulk tells both ways, and -loses its wind chasing a small boy about even a circumscribed ring, -and knocking him flat ten times only to find him dancing about next -round, as gamely as ever, though somewhat dilapidated and unpleasant -to look upon. So Jim wore the big one down by degrees, and in the -eleventh round his time came. He hurled himself on the dim bulk -between him and the sky with such headlong fury that both went down -with a crash. But Jim was up in a moment daubing more blood over his -face with the backs of his fists, and the big one lay still till long -after the pæans of the small boys had died away into an interested -silence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But didn't it hurt dreadfully, Jim?" asked Gracie, long afterwards, -with pitifully twisted face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sho! I d'n know. It was the very best fight I ever had."</p> - -<p class="normal">The Little Lady found the days without the boys long and slow, in -spite of her close friendship with Margaret Herapath.</p> - -<p class="normal">Meg was everything a girl could possibly be. She was sweet, she was -lovely, she was clever, she was a darling dear, she was splendid. She -was an angel, she was a duck. She was Lady Margaret, she was dear old -Meggums. And never a day passed but she was at the cottage or Gracie -was over at Knoyle.</p> - -<p class="normal">They rode and walked and bathed and read together. They slept together -at times, and talked half through the night because the days were not -long enough for the innumerable confidences that had to pass between -them.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Eager rejoiced in their close communion, for he had never met any -girl whose friendship he would have so desired for Gracie. And he went -about his duties, storming and persuading, fighting and tending, with -new fires in his heart which shone out of his eyes, and his people all -acknowledged that he was "a rare good un," even when he was scarifying -them about manure-heaps and stinks, which they suffered as tolerantly -as they did his vehemence, and as though such a thing as typhus had -never been known in the land.</p> - -<p class="normal">And what times they all had when the holidays came round!</p> - -<p class="normal">A little shyness, of course, at first, while the various parties took -stock of the changes in one another. For Gracie was growing so -tall--"quite the young lady," as Mrs. Jex said; and such a change from -the fellows at school, as Jack and Jim acknowledged to themselves.</p> - -<p class="normal">Girls--as girls--were somewhat looked down upon at school, you know. -But this was Gracie, and quite a different thing altogether.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the first shyness of these meetings wore off she was apt to be -somewhat overwhelmed by their effusive worship. They were her slaves, -hers most absolutely, and their only difficulty was to find adequate -means for the expression of their devotion.</p> - -<p class="normal">For their first home-coming, each of them, unknown to the other, had -saved from the wiles of the tuck-shop such meagre portion of -pocket-money as strength of will insisted on, and brought her a -present; Jack, a small volume of Plutarch's Lives, the reading of -which gave himself great satisfaction; and Jim, a pocket-handkerchief -with red and blue spots, which seemed to him the very height of -fashion, and almost too good for ordinary use by any one but a -princess--or Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You <i>dear</i> boys!" said the Little Lady, and opened Plutarch and -sparkled--although for Plutarch, simply as Plutarch, she had no -overpowering admiration; and put the red and blue spots to her little -brown nose in the most delicate and ladylike manner imaginable. "But -you really shouldn't, you know!" And they both vowed internally that -they would do it again next time and every time, and each time still -better.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, so far, the fact that they were two, and that there was only one -Gracie, occasioned them no trouble whatever.</p> - -<p class="normal">Each time they came home Sir Denzil and Eager looked cautiously for -any new developments pointing to the solution of the puzzle, and found -none. Developments there were in plenty, but not one from which they -could deduce any inference of weight. Was Jim more dashing and -heedless and headstrong than ever?--all these came to him from his -father. Was Jack developing a taste for study, of a kind, and along -certain very definite lines of his own choosing?--could that be cast -up at him as an un-Carronlike weakness due to the Sandys strain, or -should it not rather be credited to the strengthening admixture of red -Lee blood?</p> - -<p class="normal">Those were the broader lines of divergence between the two, and the -most striking to the outward observer, but it must not be supposed -therefrom that Jack had foresworn his birthright of the active life. -He revelled in the freedom of the flats as fully as ever, rode and -bathed and ran, and held his own in cricket and hockey; but, at the -same time, the habit of thought had visibly grown upon him, and it -made him seem the older of the two.</p> - -<p class="normal">Time wrought its personal changes in them all, but brought no great -variation from these earlier characteristics. Gracie grew more -beautiful in every way each time the boys came home; Jack more -deliberative; Jim remained light-hearted and joyously careless as -ever, enjoying each day to its fullest, and troubling not at all about -the morrow. His devotion to the playing-fields gave him by degrees -somewhat of an advantage over Jack in the matter of physique and -general good looks. His healthy, browned face, sparkling black eyes, -and the fine supple grace of his strong and well-knit body were at all -times good to look upon.</p> - -<p class="normal">Charles Eager, who had a searchingly appreciative eye for the beauties -of God's handiwork in all its expressions, when he sped across the -sands behind the corded muscles playing so exquisitely beneath the -firm white flesh, or lay in the warm sand and watched the rise and -fall of the wide, deep chest on which the salt drops from the tumbled -mop of black hair rolled like diamonds, while up above the clean-cut -nostrils went in and out like those of a hunted stag, said to himself -that here was the making of en unusually fine man.</p> - -<p class="normal">He doubted if Jim's brain would carry him as far as Jack's, but all -the same he could not but rejoice in him exceedingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here," he mused, "is heart and body. And there is heart and -brain,"--for at heart these two were very much alike still, -open-handed, generous, and, by nature and Eager's own good training, -clean and wholesome,--"which will go farthest?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And, following his train of thought to the point of speech, one day -when he and Jim were alone, he said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"God has blessed you with a wonderfully fine body, lad. Where is it -going to take you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Into the thick of the fighting, I hope, if ever there is any more -fighting," said Jim, with a hopeful laugh.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One fights with brains as well as with brawn"--with an intentional -touch of the spur to see what would come of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Jack's got the brains--and the brawn too," he added quickly, lest -he should seem to imply any pre-eminence on his own part in that -respect. "He'll die a general. I'll maybe kick out captain--if I'm not -a sergeant-major,"--with another merry laugh. "I'd sooner fight in the -front line any day than order them from the rear."</p> - -<p class="normal">"God save us from the horrors of another war," said Eager fervently. -"I can just remember Waterloo. Every friend we had was in mourning, -and sorrow was over the land."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And there is another Napoleon in the saddle," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay; a menace to the world at large! An ambitious man, and somewhat -unscrupulous, I fear. To keep himself in the saddle he may set the -war-horse prancing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm for the cavalry myself," said Jim, and Eager smiled at the -characteristic irrelevancy. "I shall try for Sandhurst. Jack's for -Woolwich."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Even Sandhurst will need some grinding up."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, I'll grind when the time comes "--somewhat dolefully. "You can -get crammers who know the game and are up to all the twists and turns. -If I can only crawl through and get the chance of some fighting, I'll -show them!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> - -<h4><a name="div1_3.24" href="#div1Ref_3.24">CHAPTER XXIV</a></h4> -<h5>AN UNEXPECTED GUEST</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">One afternoon, in one of their winter holidays, Gracie and the two -boys had been down along the shore to visit Mrs. Rimmer and Kattie, -especially Kattie.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were tramping home along the crackling causeway of dried seaweed -and the jetsam in which of old they had sought for treasure, and -chattering merrily as they went.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie's getting as pretty as a--as a----" stumbled Jim after a -comparison equal to the subject.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wild-rose," suggested Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sweet-pea," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was thinking of something with wings," said Jim, "but I don't quite -know----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Peacock," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, nor a seagull. Their eyes are cold, and Kattie's aren't."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You think she'll fly away?" laughed Gracie. "You think she looks -flighty? That was the red ribbons in her hair. She must have expected -you, Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They were very pretty, but I liked her best with it all flying loose -as it used to be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's getting too big for that, but she certainly has a taste for -colours."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, why shouldn't she, if they make her look pretty?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, she can have all the ribbons she wants, as far as I am concerned. -I only hope----"</p> - -<p class="normal">And then they were aware suddenly of the rapid beat of horses' feet on -the firm brown sand below, and turned, supposing it might be Sir -George or Margaret Herapath.</p> - -<p class="normal">But it was a stranger, a tall and imposing figure of a man on a great -brown horse, and behind him rode another, evidently a servant, for he -carried a valise strapped on to the crupper of his saddle. Both wore -long military cloaks and foreign-looking caps. In the half-light of -the waning afternoon, and the rarity of strangers in that part of the -world, there was something of the sinister about the new-comer, -something which evoked a feeling of discomfort in the chatterers -and reduced them to silent staring, as the riders went by at a -hand-gallop.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who can they be?" said Gracie, as they stood gazing after them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Foreigners," said Jack decisively. "French, I should say, from the -cut of their jibs. A French officer and his servant."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What are they wanting here, I'd like to know," said Jim, still -staring absorbedly. "He's a fine-looking man anyway, and he knows how -to ride."</p> - -<p class="normal">"His eyes were like gimlets," said Gracie. "They went right through -me. I thought he was going to speak to us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wish he had," said Jim. "That's just the kind of man I'd like to have -a talk with."</p> - -<p class="normal">They were to drink tea with Gracie, and she had made a great provision -of special cakes for them with her own hands. So they turned off into -the sand-hills and made their way to Wyvveloe.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager came out of a cottage as they passed down the street, and they -all went on together.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Charles," burst out the Little Lady, as she filled the cups, "we -saw two such curious men on the shore as we were coming home----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!"--for he always enjoyed her exuberance in the telling of her -news. "Two heads each?--or was it smugglers now, or real bold -buccaneers?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack thinks, by the cut of their jibs, they were Frenchmen, one an -officer and the other his servant."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh?"--with a sudden startled interest. "Frenchmen, eh? And what made -you think they were Frenchmen, Jack, my boy?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They looked like it to me. They had long soldiers' cloaks on, and -their caps were not English----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And they had rattling good horses, both of them," struck in the -future cavalryman.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where were they going?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We didn't ask. We only stared, and they stared back. They were -galloping along the shore towards Carne," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I We don't often see Frenchmen up this way nowadays." And thereafter -he was not quite so briskly merry as usual, as though the Frenchmen -were weighing on him.</p> - -<p class="normal">And truly an odd and discomforting idea had flashed unreasonably -across his mind as they spoke, and it stuck there and worried him.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were gathered round the fire, and Jim was gleefully picturing to -the shuddering Gracie, in fullest red detail, the great fight with -Chissleton. And Gracie had just gasped, "But didn't it hurt -dreadfully, Jim?" And Jim had just replied, with the carelessness of -the hardened warrior, "Sho! I din know. It was the very best fight I -ever had";--when a knock came on the cottage door, and Eager jumped -up, almost as though he had been expecting it, and went out. It was -Mr. Kennet stood there, and when the light of the lamp in the passage -fell on his face it seemed longer and more portentous even than usual. -It was Kennet whom Eager's foreboding thought had feared to see. And -his words occasioned him no surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil wants the boys, Mr. Eager, and he says will you please to -come too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very well, Kennet." And if Mr. Kennet had expected to be questioned -on the matter he was disappointed. "Will you wait for us?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've a message into the village, sir. I'll come on as soon as I've -done it." And in the darkness beyond, a horse jerked its head and -rattled its gear.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come along, boys. Your grandfather has sent for you. I'll go along -with you." And they were threading their way--with eyes a little less -capable than of old of seeing in the dark, by reason of disuse and -study--through the sand-hills towards Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys speculated briskly as to the reason for this unusual summons. -A couple of years earlier they would have been racking their brains as -to which of their numerous peccadilloes had come to light, and bracing -their hearts and backs to the punishment. But they were getting too -big now for anything of that kind--except of course at school, where -flogging was a part of the curriculum.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager guessed what was toward, but offered them no light on the -subject.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo're to go up," said Mrs. Lee to the boys, as they entered the -kitchen. "Will yo' please stop here, sir till he wants yo'." And It -seemed to Eager that the grim old face was pinched tighter than ever -in repression of some overpowering emotion.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys stumbled wonderingly upstairs, knocked on Sir Denzil's door, -and were bidden to enter.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their grandfather was sitting half turned away from the table, on -which were the remains of a meal and several bottles of wine. Before -the fire, with his back against the mantelpiece, stood a tall, dark -man in a very becoming undress uniform, his hands in his trousers' -pockets, a large cigar in his mouth. Sparks shot into his keen black -eyes as they leaped eagerly at the boys, devouring them wholesale in -one hungry gaze, then travelling rapidly back and forth in -assimilation of details.</p> - -<p class="normal">A foreigner without doubt, said the boys to themselves, as they stared -back with interest at the dark, handsome face with its sweeping black -moustache and pointed beard.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil tapped his snuff-box and snuffed aloofly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gad, sir, but I think they do me credit!" said the stranger at last, -In a voice that sounded somewhat harsh and nasal to ears accustomed to -the soft, round tones of the north.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's as it may be," said Sir Denzil drily. "Credit where credit is -due."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Sang-d'-Dieu!</i> you will allow me a finger in the pie, at all events, -sir!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That much, perhaps!"--with a shrug. "That proverbial finger as a rule -points more to marring than to making."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you've no idea which is which?" And he eyed the boys so keenly -that they grew uncomfortable.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not the slightest! Have you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I like them both. I'm proud of them both. But it certainly -complicates matters having two of them. Suppose you keep one and I -take one? How would that do? I'll wager mine goes higher than yours."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Suppose you put it to them!"</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys had been following this curious discussion with certainly -more intelligence than might have been displayed by two puppies whose -future was in question, but with only a very dim idea of what some of -it might mean.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had at times, of late, come to discuss themselves and their -immediate concerns--as to which was the elder, and as to what their -father and mother had been like, when they had died, and so on. In the -earlier days they had never troubled their heads about such matters. -But the exigencies of school life had awakened a desire for more -definite information towards the settlement of vexed questions.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so their holidays had been punctuated with attempts at the -solution of these weighty problems, and the piercing of the cloud of -ignorance in which they had been perfectly happy. And the -unsatisfactory results of their inquiries had only served to quicken -their thirst for knowledge.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Mrs. Lee gave them nothing for their pains, and her manner was -eminently discouraging. "Which was the elder? She'd have thought any -fool could tell they were twins! Their mother?--dead, years ago. Their -father?--dead too, she hoped, and best thing for him!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Their only other possible source of information was Mr. Eager. Sir -Denzil and Kennet were of course out of the question. And Mr. Eager -had so far only told them that of his own actual knowledge he knew as -little as they did, and advised them to wait and trouble themselves as -little as possible about the matter. He could not even say definitely -if their father was dead. He had lived abroad for many years, and had -not been heard of for a very long time.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager, of course, foresaw that, sooner or later, the whole puzzling -matter would have to be explained to them, unless the solution came -otherwise, in which case it might never need to be explained at all. -But in the meantime no good could come of unprofitable discussion, and -there were parts of it best left alone.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, when this handsome stranger dawned suddenly upon them, in such -familiar discussion of themselves with their grandfather, their first -"Who is it?" speedily gave place to "Can it be?" and then to "Is -it?"--on Jack's part, at all events, and he stared at the dark man in -the foreign uniform with keenest interest and a glimmering of -understanding. Jim stared quite as hard, but with smaller perception.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well?" said the stranger, his white teeth gleaming through the heavy -black moustache. "What do you make of it? Who am I?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you be our father?" jerked Jack; and Jim jumped at the -unaccustomed word.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Clever boy that knows his own father--or thinks he does--especially -when he's never set eyes on him! How would you like to come back to -France with me, youngster?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To France?" gasped Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Into the army. I have influence. I can push you on."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The French army?" And Jack shook his head doubtfully. "I don't -think--I--quite understand. Are you an Englishman, sir?</p> - -<p class="normal">"A Carron of Carne."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And in the French army?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As it happens. You don't approve of that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack shook his head. Jim, with his wide, excited eyes and parted lips, -was a study in emotions--amazement, excitement, puzzlement, admiration -mixed with disapproval--all these and more worked ingenuously in his -open boyish face and made it look younger than Jack's, which was -knitted thoughtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If it came to that I should probably claim exemption from serving -against England, though, <i>mon Dieu!</i> it's little enough I have to -thank her for, and it would be to my hurt. Sometime you will -understand it all. And you?" he asked Jim, so unexpectedly that he -jumped again. "You feel the same? A couple of years at St. Cyr, and -then say, a sub-lieutenancy in my own cuirassiers, and all my -influence behind you. As a personal friend of the Emperor, Colonel -Caron de Carne is not by any means powerless, I can assure you."</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim wagged his head decisively. He did not understand how this -mysterious, but undoubtedly fine-looking father came to be apparently -both a Frenchman and an Englishman, but he himself was an Englishman, -and an Englishman he would remain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So! Then I go back the richer than I came only in the knowledge of -you, but I would gladly have had one of you back with me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Go now, boys," said Sir Denzil, "and tell Mr. Eager I would be glad -of a word with him." And wrenching their eyes from this phenomenal -father, whose advances evoked no slightest response within them, they -got out of the door somehow and ran down to the kitchen.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil wants you to go up, Mr. Eager," began Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Our father's up there," broke in Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Mr. Eager had already heard the strange news from Mrs. Lee, and -went up at once, full anxious on his own account to see what manner of -man this unexpectedly-returned father might be, and rigorously -endeavouring to preserve an open mind concerning him until he had -something more to go upon than Mrs. Lee's curt but emphatic, "He's a -divvle if ever there was one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, Mr. Eager, this is my son Denzil, father of your boys," said the -old man briefly, and helped himself to snuff and leaned back in his -chair and watched them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Eager,"--and a strong brown -hand shot out to meet him. "Sir Denzil tells me that whatever good is -in those boys is of your implanting. I thank you. You have done a good -work there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are fine lads," said Eager quietly. "It would have been an -eternal pity if they had run to seed. We are making men of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have been trying to induce one of them to go back to France with -me----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Which one?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Either. I don't know one from t'other yet. I could make much of -either, and it would solve the difficulty you are in here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They won't hear of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I should have been surprised if they had."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose so. And yet I could promise one or both a very much greater -career than they are ever likely to realise here."</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager shook his head. "They have been brought up as English lads; you -could hardly expect them to change sides like that, even for -possibilities which I don't suppose they understand or appreciate."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a pity, all the same. There will be many opportunities over -there----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Empire is peace----" interjected Eager, with a smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Empire"--with a shrug--"is my very good friend Louis Napoleon, -and peace just so long as it is to his interest to keep it. But"--with -a knowing nod--"he has studied his people and he knows how to handle -them. I'll wager you I'm a general inside five years--unless he or I -come to an end before that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would sooner they died English subalterns than lived to be French -generals."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's throwing away a mighty chance for one of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their own country will offer them all the chances they need."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How?" asked the Colonel quickly. "You think England will join us in -case of necessity?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know nothing about that. I mean simply that our boys will do their -duty whatever call is made upon them; and no man can do more than -that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Peace offers few opportunities of advancement,"--with a regretful -shake of the head. "But your minds all seem made up. It is a great -chance thrown away, but I judge it is no use urging the matter----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not the very slightest. To put the matter plainly, Captain -Carron----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Colonel, with your permission!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have forfeited all right to dictate as to those boys' future. -Legally, perhaps----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Merci!</i> I shall not invoke the aid of the law, Mr. Eager."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It would clear the way here if you took one of them off our hands," -said Sir Denzil; "but I agree with Mr. Eager, one Frenchman in the -family is quite enough. You will have to go back empty-handed, -Denzil."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am glad to have seen those boys, anyway. We may meet again, some -time, Mr. Eager. In the meantime, my grateful thanks for all you have -done for them!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And next morning he took leave of his sons, and galloped off along the -sands the way he had come, and the boys stood looking after him with -very mixed feelings, and when he was out of sight looked down at the -guineas he had left in their hands and thought kindly of him.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.25" href="#div1Ref_3.25">CHAPTER XXV</a></h4> -<h5>REVELATION AND SPECULATION</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Charles Eager pondered the matter deeply, and was ready for the boys -when they tackled him the next morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">He knew, as soon as he saw them, that they had been discussing matters -during the night and were intent on information.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager," said Jack, "Will you tell us about our father? Why is he -in the French army?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager told them briefly that part of the story.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And do you consider he did right to go away like that?" was the next -question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Under the circumstances I should say he did. At all events it was Sir -Denzil's wish that he should go, and he could judge better then than -we can now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And we two were born after he'd left?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"So I am told."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well now, even in twins isn't one generally the older of the two. -Which of us is the elder?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That I don't know. I believe there is some doubt about it, and so we -look upon you both as on exactly the same level."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Suppose Sir Denzil should die, and our father should die--we don't -want them to, you understand, but one can't help wondering--which of -us would be Sir Denzil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is a matter that has exercised your grandfather's mind since -ever you were born, my boy, and I'm afraid we can arrive no nearer to -the answer. We can only wait."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It'll be jolly awkward," protested Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very awkward. Some arrangement will have to be come to, of course; -but exactly what, is not for me to say. Your grandfather can divide -his estate between you, and as to the title----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We could take it turn about," suggested Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Or you may both win such new honours for yourselves that it will be -of small account."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, that's an idea," said Jack thoughtfully. And after a pause, "And -you can tell us nothing about our mother, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No. You were ten years old, you know, when we met for the first time -and you stole all my clothes. What a couple of absolute little savages -you were!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We had jolly good times----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We've had better since," said Jack. "If you hadn't come to live here -we might have been savages all our lives."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must do me all the credit you can. At one time I had hoped to -become a soldier myself."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jolly good thing for us you didn't," said Jim. "But haven't you been -sorry for it ever since, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are higher things even than soldiering," smiled Eager. "If I -can help to make two good soldiers instead of one, then England is the -gainer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll jolly well do our best," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so they had arrived at a portion of the problem of their house, -and bore it lightly.</p> - -<p class="normal">And as to the grim remainder--"It would only uselessly darken both -their lives," said Eager to himself. "We must leave it to time, and -that is only another name for God's providence."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.26" href="#div1Ref_3.26">CHAPTER XXVI</a></h4> -<h5>JIM'S TIGHT PLACE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jack had set his heart on Woolwich. In due course he took the entrance -examinations without difficulty, and passed into the Royal Military -School with flying colours. Woolwich, however, was quite beyond Jim, -and, besides, his heart was set on horses. He would be a cavalryman or -nothing. But even for Sandhurst there was an examination to pass--an -examination of a kind, but quite enough to give him the tremors, and -sink his heart into his boots whenever he thought of it. Examinations -always had been abomination to Jim and always got the better of him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He argued eloquently that pluck, and a firm seat, and a long reach -would make a better cavalryman than all the decimal fractions and -French and Latin that could be rammed into him. But the authorities -had their own ideas on the subject. So to an army-tutor he went in due -course, a notable crammer in the Midlands, who knew every likely twist -and turn of the ordinary run of examiners, and had got more incapables -into the service than any man of his time, and charged accordingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">And there, for six solid months, Jim was fed up like a prize turkey, -on the absolutely necessary minimum of knowledge required for a pass, -and grew mentally dyspeptic with the indigestible chunks of learning -which he got off by heart, till his brain reeled and went on rolling -them ponderously over and over even in his sleep.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fortunately he started with a good constitution, and there was hunting -three days a week, or such a surfeit of knowledge might have proved -too much for him.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were half a dozen more in the same condition; and the sight of -those seven gallant hard-riders, poring with woebegone faces and -tangled brains over tasks which in these days any fifth-form -secondary-schoolboy would laugh at, tickled the soul of their tutor, -Mr. Dodsley, almost out of its usual expression of benign and earnest -sympathy at times. They represented, however, a very handsome living -with comparatively easy work, and he did his whole duty by them -according to his lights.</p> - -<p class="normal">The shadow of the coming death-struggle cast a gloom over the little -community for weeks before the fatal day, and all seven decided, in -case of the failure they anticipated, to enlist in the ranks, where -their brains could have well-merited rest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim never said very much about that exam., but he did disclose the -facts to Mr. Eager, and chuckled himself almost into convulsions; -whenever he thought over it and the awful months of preparation that -had preceded it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There was a jolly decent-looking old cock of a colonel at the table -when I went in," he said. "And my throat was dry, and my knees were -knocking together so that I was afraid he'd see 'em. He looked at my -name on the paper and then at me.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'James Denzil Carron?' he said. 'Any relation of my old friend Denzil -Carron of--what-the-deuce-and-all was it now?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Carne," I chittered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'That's it! Carron of Carne, of course. What are you to him, boy?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Son, sir.'</p> - -<p class="normal">"Denzil Carron's son! God bless my soul, you don't say so! And is your -father alive still?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'You don't say so! God bless my soul! Denzil Carrell alive! Why, it -must be twenty years since I set eyes on him! Will you tell him, when -you see him, that his old friend, Jack Pole, was asking after him?' -And then," said Jim, "I suppose he saw me going white at prospect of -the exam., for he just said, 'Oh, hang the exam.! You can ride?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Anything, sir.'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'And fence?'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Yes, sir. And box and swim, and I can run the mile in four minutes -and fifteen seconds.'</p> - -<p class="normal">"'God God bless my soul, I wish I could! You'll do, my boy! Pass on, -and prove yourself as brave a man as your father!' And I just wished -I'd known it was going to be like that. It would have saved me a good -few headaches and a mighty lot of trouble. However, perhaps it'll all -come in useful, some day--that is, if I remember any of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack did well at Woolwich. He passed out third of his batch, and in -due course received his commission as second lieutenant in the Royal -Engineers.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim made but a poor show in head-work, but showed himself such an -excellent comrade, and such a master of all the brawnier parts of the -profession, that it would have needed harder hearts than the ruling -powers possessed to set any undue stumbling-blocks in his way. To his -mighty satisfaction, he was gazetted cornet to the 8th Regiment of -Hussars, just a year after Jack got through.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.27" href="#div1Ref_3.27">CHAPTER XXVII</a></h4> -<h5>TWO TO ONE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">None of them ever forgot the last holiday they all spent together -before the great dispersal. Some of them looked back upon it in the -after-days with most poignant feelings--of longing and regret. For -nothing was ever to be again as it had been--and not with them only, -but throughout the land.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was as though all the circumstances and forces of life had been -quietly working up to a point through all these years--as though all -that had gone before had been but preparation for what was to come--as -though the time had come for the Higher Powers to say, as sensible -parents sooner or later say to their children, "We have done our best -for you--we have fitted you for the fight; now you are become men and -women, work out your own destinies!"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was amazing to Charles Eager--feeling himself as young as ever--to -find all his youngsters suddenly grown up, suddenly become, if not -capable of managing their own affairs, at all events filled with that -conviction, and fully intent on doing so.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, so far, the strange story of their actual relationship had not -been made known to the boys. Eager had discussed the matter with Sir -Denzil many times, but the old man, not unreasonably, maintained the -position that, unless and until events forced the disclosure, there -was no need to trouble their minds with it. And Eager, knowing them so -well, could not but agree that it would be a mighty upsetting for -them.</p> - -<p class="normal">While they were working hard, in their various degrees, for their -examinations, It was, of course, out of the question. And when the -matter was mooted again, Sir Denzil said quietly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let it lie, Eager. If it has to come out, it will come out; but if -anything should deprive us of one of them before it does come out, -there is no need for the other to carry a millstone round his neck all -his life."</p> - -<p class="normal">The old man had mellowed somewhat with the years. The problem as to -which was his legitimate heir, and the possibility of unconsciously -perpetuating the line through the bar sinister, still troubled him at -times; but the boys themselves, in their ripening and development, had -done more than anything else to alter his feelings towards them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Well-born or ill-born, they were fine bits of humanity. He had come to -tolerate them with a degree of appreciation, to regard them with -something almost akin to a form of affection, atrophied, indeed, by -long disuse, and disguised still behind a certain cynicism of speech -and manner and the very elegant handling of his jewelled snuff-box, -whenever they met.</p> - -<p class="normal">When they were at Carne for holidays, they had their own apartments, -and, for a sitting-room, the long, oak-panelled parlour, looking north -and west over the flats and the sea; and here they were at last -enabled to entertain their friends, and repay some of the -hospitalities of the earlier years.</p> - -<p class="normal">At times Sir Denzil would send for them to his own rooms, and they -came almost to enjoy his acid questionings and pungent comments on -life as they saw it. Behind his cynical aloofness they were not slow -to perceive a keen interest in the newer order of things, and they -talked freely of all and sundry--their friends, and their friends' -friends, and all the doings of the day. It was very many years since -the old man had been in London. He felt himself completely out of -things, and had no desire to return; but still he liked to hear about -them.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at times, by way of return, when the boys had their friends in, he -would, with the punctilious courtesy of his day, send Mr. Kennet to -request their permission to join them, and then march in, almost on -Kennet's heels, looking, in his wig and long-skirted coat and ruffles -and snuff-box, a veritable relic of past days.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, in the plenitude of his present-day knowledge, and the power it -gave him of affording interesting information to the recluse, -discoursed with him almost on terms of equality.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, on the other hand, though he could rattle along in the jolliest -and most amusing way imaginable with his chosen ones, still found the -old gentleman's rapier-like little speeches and veiled allusions -somewhat beyond him, and so, as a rule, left most of the talking to -him and Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the first time the boys both came down in their uniforms, modestly -veiling their pride under a large assumption of nonchalance, but in -reality swelling internally like a pair of young peacocks, they -carried all before them. They looked so big, so grand, so masterful, -that it took some time even for the Little Lady to fit them into their -proper places in their own estimation and in hers.</p> - -<p class="normal">And as for their grandfather, it took an immense amount both of time -and snuff and sapient head-nodding before he could get accustomed to -them, and then he was quite as proud of them as they were of -themselves.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By gad, sir!" he said to Eager, in an unusual outburst of suppressed -vehemence, "you were right and I was wrong. We can't afford to lose -either of them, though what you're going to do about it all, when the -time comes, is beyond me. Jack, there, talks like a book, like all the -books that ever were, and knows everything there is to know in the -world"--Jack had been delivering himself of some of his newest ideas -on fortification--"but what can you make of that? It may only be the -higher product of a coarser strain. I'm not sure that the other isn't -more in the line. I'm inclined to think he'll make his mark if he gets -the chance that suits him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They both will, sir. Take my word for it. We shall all, I hope, live -to be proud of them both. And as to the other matter, maybe they'll -cut so deep, and go so far, that after all it will become of secondary -importance."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That," said Sir Denzil, with a steady look at him over an elegantly -delayed pinch of snuff, "is quite impossible. They can attain to no -position comparable with the succession to Carne."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Gracie? With what feelings did she regard these -brilliantly-arrayed young warriors?</p> - -<p class="normal">She had for them a most wholesome, whole-hearted, and comprehensive -affection, and she bestowed it in absolutely equal measure upon them -both.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had grown up in closest companionship with them. She could not -imagine life without them or either of them: it would have been life -without its core and colour. And, so far, they stood together in her -heart, and no occasion had arisen for discrimination between them.</p> - -<p class="normal">When, indeed, Jim had disappeared for a time, and seemed lost to them, -life had seemed black and blank for lack of him, and Jack could not by -any means make up for him. But when Jack in turn disappeared life was -equally shadowed for her, and Jim was no comfort whatever.</p> - -<p class="normal">She, rejoicing in them equally, had no thought or wish but that things -should go on just as they were. But in the boys other feelings began -unconsciously to push up through the crumbling crust of youth.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were nearing manhood. The Little Lady was no longer a child. She -had grown--tall and wonderfully beautiful in face and figure. They had -met other girls, but never had either of them met any one to compare -with Grace Eager. And they met her afresh, each time they came home, -with new wonder and vague new hopes and wishes.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the party which Sir George Herapath gave in the autumn that -brought matters to a head.</p> - -<p class="normal">Neither of the boys had seen Grace in evening dress before. Indeed, it -was her first, and the result of much deep consideration and planning -on the part of herself and Margaret Herapath.</p> - -<p class="normal">When it was finished and tried on in full for the first time, old Mrs. -Jex, admitted to a private view, clasped her hands and the tears ran -down her face as she murmured, "An angel from heaven! Never in all my -born days have I set eyes on anything half so pretty!"--though really -it was only white muslin with pale-blue ribbons here and there. But it -showed a good deal of her soft white arms and neck, and they dazzled -even Mrs. Jex. As for the boys--it was as though the most marvellous -bud the world had ever seen had suddenly burst its sheath and -blossomed into a splendid white flower.</p> - -<p class="normal">When she came into the big drawing-room at Knoyle that night, with -Eager close behind, his intent face all alight with pride in her, and -perhaps with anticipation for himself, she created quite a sensation, -and found it delightful.</p> - -<p class="normal">She came in like a lily and a rose and Eve's fairest daughter all in -one; and our boys gazed at her spell-bound, startled, electrified as -though by a galvanic shock. And deep down in the consciousness of each -was a strange, wonderful, peaceful joy, a sudden endowment, and an -almost overpowering yearning. In the self-same moment each knew that -in all the world there was no other woman for him than Grace Eager. -And, vaguely, behind that, was the fear that the other was feeling the -same.</p> - -<p class="normal">And she? She enjoyed to the full the novel sensation of the effect she -produced upon them, and was just the same Gracie as of old--almost.</p> - -<p class="normal">She sailed up to them and dropped a most becoming curtsey, and rose -from it all agleam and aglow with merry laughter at their visible -undoing.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, boys, what's the matter with you?" she rippled merrily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You!" gasped Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Me? What's the matter with me? I'm all right. Don't you like me like -this? Meg and I made it between us."</p> - -<p class="normal">Didn't they like her like that? Why----!</p> - -<p class="normal">"You see," said Jack, "we've never seen you like this before, and -you've taken us by surprise."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, well, get over it as quickly as you can, and then you may ask me -to dance with you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think I'll ever get over it, but I'll ask you now," said Jim. -Which was not bad for him.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jack felt the first little stab of jealousy he had ever -experienced towards Jim, at his having got in first.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd like every dance," laughed Jim happily, "but----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite right, old Jim Crow! Mustn't be greedy! You first, because you -spoke first, then Jack----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then me again," persisted Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll see. Is that Ralph Harben? How he's grown! His whiskers and -moustache make him look quite a man." And Jim decided instantly on the -speedy cultivation of facial adornments. "Oh, he's coming! And there's -Meg." And she flitted away to Margaret, who was talking to Charles -Eager, and so for the moment upset Master Harben's plans for her -capture.</p> - -<p class="normal">With no little distaste the boys had suffered instruction in the art -of dancing, as a necessary part of the education of a gentleman. Now -they fervently thanked God for it. To have to stand with their backs -to the wall while every Tom, Dick, or Ralph whirled past in the dance -with Gracie, would have been quite past the bearing. They felt new -sensations under their waistcoats even when George Herapath had her in -charge, though there was not a fellow on earth they liked better, or -had more confidence in, than old George, now a dashing lieutenant in -the Royal Dragoons, and quite a man of the world. As for Ralph -Harben--well, if either of them could have picked a reasonable quarrel -with him, and had it out in the garden, unbeknown to any but -themselves, Master Ralph would have undergone much tribulation.</p> - -<p class="normal">They danced with Gracie many times that night, and grew more and more -intoxicated with happiness such as neither had ever tasted before or -even dreamed of. And yet, below and behind it all, pushed down and -hustled into dark corners of the heart and mind, was that other new -feeling which, though it was foreign to them, they instinctively -strove to keep out of sight.</p> - -<p class="normal">Over the incidents of that party we need not linger. There were many -fair girls and fine boys there, but they do not come into our story. -They all enjoyed themselves immensely, and Sir George, beaming -genially, enjoyed them all as much as they enjoyed, themselves.</p> - -<p class="normal">Margaret moved among them like a queen lily, and the boys were -somewhat overpowered by her stately beauty. But Charles Eager seemed -to find his satisfaction in it, and his eyes followed her with vast -enjoyment whenever he was not dancing with her, for he danced as well -as he jumped or boxed.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Mr. Harben--Sir George's active partner in the business, and -Ralph's father--chaffed him jovially on the matter, he replied -cheerfully that David danced before the ark, and he didn't see why he -shouldn't do likewise. And when Harben would have tackled him further -as to the ark, he averred that arks were as various as the men who -danced before them, and had no limitations whatever in the matter of -size, shape, or material--that some men were arks of God and more -women--that when he came across such he bowed before them, or, as the -case might be, danced with them, and he sped off to claim Margaret for -the next round, leaving his adversary submerged under the avalanche of -his eloquence.</p> - -<p class="normal">That night was, for the younger folk, all enjoyment, tinged indeed -with those other vague feelings I have named, but quickened and -intensified, before they separated, by news from the outer world which -strung all their nerves as tight as fiddlestrings and swept them with -many emotions.</p> - -<p class="normal">For, coming upon Sir George and his partner conversing earnestly in a -quiet corner one time, Eager, with his eyes on Margaret and Ralph -Harben circling round the room, asked--casually, and by way of -exhibiting detachment from any special interest in that other -particular matter--"Well, Mr. Harben, what's the news from the East?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And the two older men stopped talking and looked at him. It was Sir -George who answered him, soberly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Grave news, Mr. Eager. Harben was just telling me that the fleet is -to enter the Black Sea, and that at headquarters they entertain no -doubt as to the result."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You mean war?" asked Eager, with a start.</p> - -<p class="normal">"War without a doubt, Mr. Eager," said Harben, involuntarily rubbing -his hands together. For he was a contractor, you must remember; and -whatever of misery and loss war entails upon others, for contractors -it means business and profit.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are to fight Russia on behalf of Turkey?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Russian aggression must be checked," said Harben. "Her ambition knows -no bounds. We go hand-in-hand with France, of course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"H'm! My own feeling would be that it is more for the aggrandisement -of Louis Napoleon than for the checking of Russia that we are going to -fight."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who's going to fight?" asked Lieutenant George, catching the word.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then of course it was out. For, once more, whatever of misery and -loss war entails upon others, to the fighting man in embryo it means -only glory and the chances of promotion.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the following day that the disturbances nearer home began.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack lay awake most of the morning after he got to bed, thinking -soberly, with rapturous intervals when Gracie's laughing face floated -in the smaller darkness of his tired eyes, and envying Jim, who slept -at intervals like a sheep-dog after a day on the hills. But at times -even Jim's heavy breathing stopped and he lay quite still, and then he -too was thinking--which was an unusual thing for him to do in the -night--though not perhaps so deeply as Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">They both felt like boiled owls in the morning, and lay late. It was -close on midday when Jack, after several pipes and a splitting yawn, -said, "Let's go up along,"--which always meant north along the -flats--"my blood's thickening." And they went off together along the -hard-ribbed sand, with the sea and the sky like bars of lead on one -side and the stark corpses of the sand-hills, with the wire-grass -sticking up out of them like the quills of porcupines, on the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">They walked a good two miles without a word, both thinking the same -things and both fearing to start the ball rolling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We've got to talk it out, Jim," said Jack at last.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim grunted gloomily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What are you thinking of it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Same as you, I s'pose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It mustn't part us, old Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim snorted. Under extreme urgency he was at times slow of expression -in words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gracie has become a woman, the most beautiful woman in all the -world"--with rapture, as though the mere proclamation of the fact -afforded him mighty joy, which it did.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And we are men . . . and--and we've got to face it like men."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim grunted again. He was surging with emotions, but he couldn't -put them into words like Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would give my life for her," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd give ten lives if I had 'em."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She can only have one of us, and only one of us can have her." Which -was obvious enough.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And it all lies with her. We only want what she wants."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I only want her," groaned Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course. So do I. But we neither of us want her unless she wants -us," reasoned Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do. She's made me feel sillier than ever I felt in all my life -before. All I know is that I want her."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack nodded. "I know. I've been thinking of it all night."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So've I," growled Jim. And Jack refrained from telling him how he had -envied him his powers of sleep.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It seems to me the best thing we can do is to write and tell her what -we're feeling."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim snorted dissentingly. Letter-writing was not his strong point, and -Jack understood.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, you see, we can't very well go together and tell her. But if we -write she can have both our letters at the same time, and then she can -decide. I'm sure it's the only way to settle it. Can you think of -anything better?"</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim had no suggestions to offer. All he knew was that his whole -nature craved Gracie, and he could not imagine life without her.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the earlier times, when, as generally happened, they both wanted a -thing which only one of them could have, they always fought for it, -and to the victor remained the spoils.</p> - -<p class="normal">But in those days the spoils were of no great account, and the -pleasure of the fight was all in all.</p> - -<p class="normal">This was a very different matter. The prize was life's highest crown -and happiness for one of them, and no personal strife could win it. It -was a matter beyond the power of either to influence now. It was -outside them. They could ask, but they could not take. Forcefulness -could do much in the bending and shaping of life, but here force was -powerless.</p> - -<p class="normal">And it was then, as he brooded over the whole matter, that one of -life's great lessons was borne in upon Jim Carron--that the dead hand -of the past still works in the moulding of the present and the future, -that what has gone is still a mighty factor in what is and what is to -come.</p> - -<p class="normal">He groaned in the spirit over his own deficiencies, the lost -opportunities, the times wasted, which, turned to fuller account, -might now have served him so well. If only he could have known that -all the past was making towards this mighty issue, how differently he -would have utilised it.</p> - -<p class="normal">For, submitting himself to most unusual self-examination, and -searching into things with eyes sharpened by unusual stress, he could -not but acknowledge that, compared with Jack, he made but a poor show.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack was clever. He had a head and knew how to use it. He would go far -and make a great name for himself. Whereas he himself had nothing to -offer but a true heart and a lusty arm, and Jack had these also in -addition to his greater qualifications.</p> - -<p class="normal">How could any girl hesitate for a moment between them? His chances, he -feared, were small, and he felt very downcast and broken as he sat, -that same afternoon, chewing the end of his pen and thoughtfully -spitting out the bits, in an agonising effort after unusual expression -such as should be worthy of the occasion.</p> - -<p class="normal">His window gave on to the northern flats, and, as he savoured the -penholder, in his mind's eye he saw again the wonderful little figure -of Gracie in her scarlet bathing-gown, with her hair astream, and her -face agleam, and her little white feet going like drumsticks, as they -had seen her that very first morning long ago. And, since then, how -she had become a part of their very lives!</p> - -<p class="normal">And then his thoughts leaped on to the previous night, and his pulses -quickened at the marvel of her beauty: her face--little Gracie's face, -and yet so different; her lovely white neck and arms. He had seen them -so often before in little Gracie. But this was different, all quite -different. She was no longer a child, and he was no longer a boy. She -was a woman, a beautiful woman, <i>the</i> woman, and he was a man, and -every good thing in him craved her as its very highest good. God! How -could he let any other man take her from him? Even Jack----</p> - -<p class="normal">He spat out his penholder, and kicked over his chair, as he got up and -began to pace the room, with clenched hands and pinched face.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.28" href="#div1Ref_3.28">CHAPTER XXVIII</a></h4> -<h5>THE LINE OF CLEAVAGE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Dearest Grace,</p> - -<p class="normal">"We two are in trouble, and you are the unconscious cause of it. We -have suddenly discovered that we have all grown up, and things can -never be quite the same between us all as they have been. Jim is -writing to you also, and you will get both our letters at the same -time. We both love you, Gracie, with our whole hearts. If you can care -enough for either of us it is for you to say which. For myself I -cannot begin to tell you all you are to me. You are everything to -me--everything. I cannot, dare not imagine life without you in it, -Gracie. Can you care enough for me to make me the happiest man in all -the world?</p> - -<p style="text-indent:50%">"Ever yours devotedly,</p> - -<p style="text-indent:60%"><span class="sc">"John Denzil Carron.</span>"</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"<span class="sc">Gracie Dear</span>,</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is horrid to have to ask if you care for me more than you do for -old Jack. But it has come to that, and we cannot help ourselves. I -want you more than I ever wanted anything in all my life. You are more -to me than life itself or anything it can ever give me. I know I am -not half good enough for you, and I wish I had made more of myself -now. But I do not think any one could ever care for you as I do.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless you, dear, whatever you decide.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Please excuse the writing, etc., and believe me,</p> - -<p style="text-indent:50%">"Yours ever,</p> - -<p style="text-indent:60%">"<span class="sc">Jim</span>,"</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">When Mrs. Jex brought in these two letters, as they lingered lazily -over the tea-table, Grace laughed merrily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What are those boys up to now? It must be some unusually good joke to -set old Jim writing letters."</p> - -<p class="normal">But her brother's face lacked its usual quick response. He had been -very thoughtful all day, sombre almost; and when Grace had chaffed him -lightly as to his exertions of the previous night, instead of tackling -her in kind, he had said quietly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, you see, we old people don't take things so lightly as you -youngsters."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are thinking of this war?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--partly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And----?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh--lots of things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Margaret?"--with a twinkle.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Margaret of course. I thought I had never seen her look more -charming."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is always charming. Charlie, I wish----" and she hung fire lest -in the mere touching she might damage.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what do you wish, child?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish you'd marry her. She's the sweetest thing that ever was."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have a most excellent taste, my child."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's in the family. Meg's taste is equally good"--with a meaning -glance at him, but he was looking thoughtfully into his teacup.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you really think we shall be dragged into war, Charlie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Harben seemed to think it certain."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think I like Mr. Harben very much. I caught sight of his face -while you were all talking in the corner, and I thought he must have -heard some good news."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was probably thinking at the moment only of his own particular -aspect of the matter. War means business for contractors, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir George didn't look that way."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He hasn't very much to do with the firm now, I believe. Besides, one -would expect him to take wider views than Harben. He is a bigger man -in every way."</p> - -<p class="normal">Then Mrs. Jex came in with the letters, and Gracie wondered merrily -what joke the boys were up to. But Eager, who had not failed to notice -their unconcealed enthralment the night before, pursed his lips for a -moment as though he doubted if the contents of those letters would -prove altogether humorous.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thought they'd have been round, but I expect they've been in bed -all day." And she ripped open Jim's letter, which happened to be -uppermost, with an anticipatory smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager saw the smile fade, as the sunshine fails off the side of a hill -on an April day, and give place to a look of perplexity and a slight -knitting of the placid brow.</p> - -<p class="normal">She picked up Jack's letter, and tore it open, and read it quickly. -Then, with a catch in her breath and a startled look in her eyes, she -jerked:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charlie--what do they mean? Are they in fun----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Shall I read them, dear?"</p> - -<p class="normal">She threw the letters over to him, and sat, with parted lips and -wondering--and rather scared--face, looking into the fire, with her -hands clasped tightly in her lap.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is not fun, Grace dear," her brother said gravely at last. It -had taken him a terrible long time to read those very short letters, -but he read so much more in them than was actually written. "It is -sober earnest, and a very grave matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I don't want---- Oh!--I wish they hadn't"--with passionate -fervour. "Why can't they let things go on as they are? We have been -so happy----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. . . . But time works its changes. They are no longer boys----"</p> - -<p class="normal">A wriggle of dissent from Grace.</p> - -<p class="normal">"----Although they may seem so to us. And you are no longer a little -girl----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh! I feel like a speck of dust, Charlie; and I don't, don't, don't -want----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know, dear; but it is too late. You may feel a little girl to-day. -Last night you were an exquisitely beautiful woman--and this is the -result."</p> - -<p class="normal">Grace put her hands up to her face and began to cry softly. For there, -in the dancing flames, she had seen in a flash what it all must -mean--severances, heart-aches, trouble generally. And they had all -been so happy.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager wisely let her have her cry out. When, at last, she mopped up -her eyes, and sat looking pensively into the fire again, he said -quietly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let us face the matter, dear! They are dear, good lads, and they are -doing you the greatest honour in their power. There being two of them, -of course"--and it came home to him that here were he and Gracie up -against the problem of Carne also--"makes things very trying, both for -them and for you. You like them both, I know----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've always liked them both, and I don't like either of them one bit -better than the other."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is there any one else you like as well as either of them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, of course not. I've never cared for any one as I have for Jack -and Jim--except you, of course. Oh! what am I to do, Charlie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As far as I can see, there is only one thing to be done at present, -and that is--wait."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you make them wait? Oh, do! Some time, perhaps----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If this war comes, they will have to go into it. They may neither of -them come back."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Charlie! . . . That is too terrible to think of----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"War is terrible without a doubt, dear. It cuts the knot of many a -life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My poor boys! But how can I possibly tell them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think, perhaps, you had better leave it all to me, dear. I will -just explain to each of them quietly how this has taken you by -surprise, and that you feel towards the one just as you do towards the -other, and that, for the time being, they must let matters rest -there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Things will never be the same among us again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not quite the same, perhaps; but there is no reason why your -friendship should suffer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If they will see it that way----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They will have to see it that way. They ought, by rights, to have -spoken to me first. And if they had I could have saved you all this. I -must scold them well for that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The dear boys!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently, since he could imagine from their letters the state of -the boys' feelings, and such were better got on to reasonable lines as -soon as possible, he set off in the chill twilight for Carne. And -Gracie sat looking into the fire, her mind ranging freely in these -new pastures--troubled not a little at this sudden break in the -brotherly-sisterly ties which had hitherto bound them, with quick -mental side-glances now and then at the strange new possibilities, and -not entirely without a touch of that exaltation with which every girl -learns that to one man she is the whole end and aim of life.</p> - -<p class="normal">The trouble was that here were two men holding her in that supreme -estimation, and that, so far, in her very heart of hearts, she found -it impossible to say that she loved one better than the other. And at -times the white brow knitted perplexedly at the absurdity of it, while -the sweet, mobile mouth below twisted to keep from actual smiles as -she thought of it all.</p> - -<p class="normal">But, naturally, the first result of the whole matter was that her mind -dwelt incessantly and penetratingly on her boyfriends who had suddenly -become her lovers, and she regarded them from quite new points of -view. And she knew that she was right, and that they never could be -all quite the same to one another as they had been hitherto.</p> - -<p class="normal">Long before Charles got back she was feeling quite aged and worn with -overmuch thinking.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.29" href="#div1Ref_3.29">CHAPTER XXIX</a></h4> -<h5>GRACIE'S DILEMMA</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"One on 'em's up in his room, but I dunnot know which," grunted old -Mrs. Lee, in answer to Eager's request for the boys, either or both, -and he went up at once. A tap on Jim's door received no answer. Jack's -opened to him at once.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager!" And there was a hungry look in the boy's eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hard at work, old chap?"--at sight of a number of books spread out on -the table. "I thought this was holidays with you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I tried, but I couldn't get down to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where's Jim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's off down along--couldn't it still. Have you brought us any word -from Gracie?"--very anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I've come to have a talk with you about that." And the Rev. -Charles pulled out his pipe and began to fill it. "You ought to have -spoken to me first, you know----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh?--didn't know--not used to that kind of thing, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose not. Still, that is the proper way to go about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What does Gracie say?" asked Jack impatiently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've come to ask you both, Jack, to let the matter lie for a time." -And Jack's foot beat an impatient tattoo. "You see, Gracie had no idea -whatever of this, and it has knocked the wind out of her. You can't -imagine how upset she is. First, she thought you were joking. Then she -had a good cry, and now I've left her staring into the fire, fearing -you can never all be friends again as you always have been."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, of course we can!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I told her so, but she says things can never be the same."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We don't want them the same."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I know. But you see, Jack, Gracie has not been thinking of you -two in that way; and in the way she has always thought of you, as her -dearest friends, she likes the one of you just as much as the other."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack grunted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"After this it will be impossible for her to regard you simply as -friends. But you must give her time----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is there any one else?" growled Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no one else. I asked her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And--how--long----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To name a time, I should say a year."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A great deal may happen in a year. We may all be dead."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The chances are that this will be a year of great happenings," said -Eager gravely. "The issues are in God's hands. May He grant us all a -safe deliverance!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You really think it will be war?" asked the boy quickly. "I fear so!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack sat gazing steadily into the fire and limned coming glories in -the dancing flames.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A year's a terrible long time to wait when you feel like a starving -dog. But if there's a war . . . yes--that would make it pass quicker."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you said anything to your grandfather about this matter?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"How could we till we knew which----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager nodded. "Best leave it so at present. How soon will Jim be back? -I'd like to have a word with him too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know. He's a good deal worked up."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll go along and meet him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll come too?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No. Better let me see him by himself. You can talk it over together -afterwards. I hope this won't make any difference between you two, -Jack."</p> - -<p class="normal">"One of us has got to put up with disappointment some time," said Jack -steadily. "But we'll just have to stand it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager tramped away along the rim of the tidal sand, well pleased with -Jack's reasonable acceptance of the situation. Jim, he felt sure, -would be no less sensible, and matters would run on smoothly; and so -Time, the great Solver of Problems, would be given the opportunity of -working out this one also.</p> - -<p class="normal">Deeply pondering the whole matter, and letting his thoughts wander -back along the years, he tramped on almost forgetful of the actual -reason for his coming. It was not till a gleam of light amid the -sand-hills on his left told him he had got to Seth Rimmer's cottage, -that he knew how far he had come. Jim might have called there, so he -rapped on the door and went in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, Mr. Eager! It's good o' you to come and see an owd woman like -this," said Mrs. Rimmer from the bed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's always a pleasure to see you, Mrs. Rimmer. You're one of the -ones that it does one good to see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's very good o' yo'."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But I came really to look for Jim Carron. They told me he had come -down this way, and I thought he might have called in to see you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No. I havena seen owt of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you're all alone? Where's everybody?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Th' mester's at his work--God keep him; it's a bad, black night!--and -Seth--he's away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where's my friend Kattie? She ought not to leave you all alone -like this."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, I'm used to it. 'Oo's always slipping out. I dunnot know -who----" she began, with a quite unusual fretfulness, which showed him -she had been worrying over it.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then the door opened and Kattie came in, ruffled somewhat with the -south-west wind, which had whipped the colour into her face. With a -bit of cherry ribbon at her throat, and another bit in her hair, and -her eyes sparkling in the lamplight, she looked uncommonly pretty.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How they all grow up!" thought Eager to himself. "Here's another who -will set the village boys by the ears; and it seems no time since she -was a child running about with scarce a rag to her back!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager?" said Kattie in surprise.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I came to find Jim Carron, Kattie. I suppose you haven't seen him -about anywhere?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw some one walking up along," said Kattie, "but it was too dark -to see who it was."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, I'll be bound. Good night, Mrs. Rimmer! Good night, Kattie! I'll -be in again in a day or two." And he set off in haste the way he had -come.</p> - -<p class="normal">A few minutes' quick walking showed him a dim figure strolling along -the higher causeway of dried seaweed and drift, and kicking it up -disconsolately at times, just as he used to do as a boy when seeking -treasure.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That you, Jim?" And the figure stopped.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello!--what--you, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just me. I came to look for you. Kattie told me you'd come on----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, she said she'd seen some one pass, and I guessed it was you. -I've been in having a talk with Jack, my boy, and I wanted to see you -too." And he linked arms and went on.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"About your letter to Gracie." And Eager felt the boy's arm jump -inside his own. "It was a tremendous surprise to her, you know. She -had never thought of either of you in that way, and it knocked her all -of a heap. Now I want you all to let matters rest as they are for a -year, Jim----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A year! Good Lord!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know how you feel, lad, but it is absolutely the only thing to be -done. You've been like brothers to her, you know. You are both very -dear to her; but when you ask her suddenly to choose between you, she -cannot. I couldn't myself. You are both dearer to me than any one in -the world . . . almost . . . after Gracie, . . . but if you put me in -a comer and bade me, at risk of my life, say which of you I liked -best--well, I couldn't do it. And that's just her position."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid . . . I don't suppose I stand much chance . . . against -old Jack. . . . He's a much finer fellow. . . . But, oh, Mr. -Eager . . . I can't tell you how I feel about her. . . . If it could -make her happy I'd be ready to lie right down here and die this -minute." And Eager pressed the jerking arm inside his own -understandingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I believe you would, my boy. But it wouldn't make for Gracie's -happiness at all to have you lie down and die. You must both live to -do good work in the world and make us all proud of you. And the work -looks like coming, Jim, and quickly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You mean this war they're talking about?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. I'm afraid there's no doubt it's coming, and war is a terrible -thing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It'll give one the chance of showing what's in one, anyway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some one has to pay for such chances."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose so . . . . unless one pays oneself. . . . I don't know that -I particularly want to kill any one, but I suppose one forgets all -that in the thick of it. . . . Anyway, if it comes to fighting I think -I can do that . . . if I haven't got much of a head for books and -things."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I believe you will do your duty, whatever it is, my boy, and no man -can do more."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well?" asked Gracie eagerly, when Eager got home again. "Did you see -them? Quick, Charlie! Tell me!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I saw them. Jack at home--trying to work. Jim down -along--couldn't sit still."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The poor boys!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are very much in earnest, but I have got them to see the -reasonableness of waiting--for a year at least."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm glad. I don't know how I can ever choose between them, Charlie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't trouble about it, dear. Things have a way of working themselves -out if you leave them to themselves."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wonder!" she said wearily.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.30" href="#div1Ref_3.30">CHAPTER XXX</a></h4> -<h5>NEVER THE SAME AGAIN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Things can never be the same again," was the doleful refrain of all -Gracie's thoughts as she tossed and tumbled that night, very weary but -far too troubled to sleep.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at Carne there were two more in like case.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seen Mr. Eager?" asked Jack when Jim came in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," nodded Jim, and nothing more passed between them on the -subject.</p> - -<p class="normal">But here too things could never be quite the same again, for, good -friends as ever though they might remain in all outward seeming, -neither could rid his mind of the fact that the other desired beyond -every other thing in life the prize on which his own heart was set. -And that ever-recurring thought tended, no matter how they might try -to withstand it, to division. Similarity of aim, when there is but one -prize, inevitably produces rivalry, and rivalry scission.</p> - -<p class="normal">They strove against it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, old boy, this mustn't divide us," said Jack next day, when both -were feeling somewhat mouldy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Course not," growled Jim, but all the same the cloud was over them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager had asked them to come in to tea that afternoon, so that he -might be with them all at this first meeting and help to round awkward -corners.</p> - -<p class="normal">But they all three felt somewhat gauche and ill at ease at first, as -was only natural. For Gracie's face, swept by conscious blushes, was -lovelier than ever, and set both their hearts jumping the moment she -came into the room. And it is no easy matter for a girl to appear at -her ease in the company of two love-sick young men who know all about -each other's feelings and hers.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were both inclined to gaze furtively at her with melancholy in -their eyes, and for the time being the old gay camaraderie was gone; -and at times, when she caught them at it, it was all she could do to -keep from hysterical laughter, while all the time she felt like crying -to think that they would never all be the same again.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Eager exerted himself to the utmost to charm away the shadows, -gave them some of the humours of his sharp-witted parishioners, and -finally got them on to the outlook in the East, which set them talking -and left Grace in comparative comfort as a listener.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack gave them eye-openers in the matter of new guns and projectiles. -Jim asserted with knowledge that if the cavalry got their chance they -would give a mighty good account of themselves. Eager expressed the -hope that the Government would awake to the fact that the whole matter -was obviously promoted by the French Emperor for his own personal -aggrandisement, and would not allow England to be made his willing -instrument. The boys knew little of the political aspect of the case, -but hoped, if it came to fighting, that they would be in it.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Grace sat quietly and listened, and wondered what the coming year -would hold for them all.</p> - -<p class="normal">So by degrees the stiffness of their new estate wore off, and before -the boys left they were all talking together almost as of old, but not -quite. Still she went to bed that night somewhat comforted, and slept -so soundly as almost to make up for the night before.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What's the matter with those boys?" asked Sir Denzil of Eager next -day, when they met for the discussion of certain arrangements -respecting the boys' allowances. "Are they sick? Any typhus about?" -And there was actually a touch of anxiety in his voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, sir, they are not sick bodily. They're in love."</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce! With whom?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gracie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What--both of them?"--suspending his pinch of snuff in mid-air to -gaze in astonishment at Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, both of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So!"--snuffing very deliberately, and then nodding thoughtfully. "So -the puzzle of Carne hits you too. And what does Miss Gracie say about -it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She is very much upset. They had all been such good friends, you see, -that she had never regarded them in that light."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have persuaded them to let matters remain on the old footing, as -far as that is possible, for at least a year. By that time----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, this next year may bring many changes," said the old gentleman -musingly; and presently, "Well, I'm glad they have shown so much -sense, Mr. Eager--and you too. I have the highest possible opinion of -Miss Gracie. Now as to the money. They cannot live on their pay, of -course. What do you suggest?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not too much. Jim will be at somewhat more expense than Jack, but it -would not do to discriminate. I should say a couple of hundred each in -addition to their pay. It won't leave them much of a margin for -frivolities, and that is just as well."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very well. I will instruct my lawyers to that effect. Three hundred -and fifty or four hundred a year would not have gone far with us in my -day, but no doubt things have changed. Do your best to keep them from -high play. It generally ends one way, as you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have no reason to believe they are, either of them, given to it. Of -course----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They've not tasted their freedom yet. It's bound to be in their -blood. Put them on their guard, Mr. Eager. We don't want them -milksops, but put them on their guard. It will come with more weight -from you than from me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no fear of them turning out milksops, Sir Denzil. They are -as fine a pair of lads as Carne has ever seen, I'll be bound, and -they'll do us all credit yet. I'll talk to them about the gaming. Jack -is too keen on his work, I think. Jim----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, Jim's a Carron, right side or wrong. You'll find he'll run to the -green cloth like a mole to the water."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see that he goes with his eyes open, anyway. I don't think he'll -put us to shame. Jim's no great hand at his books, but he's got heaps -of common sense, and he's true as steel."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All that no doubt," said the old gentleman, with a dry smile. "But -you'll find that boys will be boys to the length of their tether. When -they've exhausted the possibilities of foolishness they become -men--sometimes," with a touch of the old bitterness.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.31" href="#div1Ref_3.31">CHAPTER XXXI</a></h4> -<h5>DESERET</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">New men--and women--new manners and customs, to say nothing of -costumes.</p> - -<p class="normal">The accession of the young Queen cut a deep cleft between the old -times and the new. But human nature at the root is very much the same -in all ages, no matter what its outward appearance and behaviour.</p> - -<p class="normal">The wild excesses of the Regency days had given place to the ordered -decorum of a Maiden Court. The young Queen's happy choice of a consort -confirmed it in its new and healthy courses. But, placid to the point -of dullness though the surface of the stream appeared, down below -there were still the old rocks and shoals, and now and again resultant -eddies and bubbles reminded the older folk of the doings of other -days.</p> - -<p class="normal">Now--as at all times, but undoubtedly more so than during the two -preceding reigns--to those who believed in study and hard work as a -means of personal advancement, the way was open. And now still, as at -all times, but especially in those latter times, to those who craved -the pleasures of the table, whether covered with a white cloth or a -green, or simply bare mahogany, the way was no less open to those who -knew.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, down at Chatham, was much too busy with his books, and such -practical application of them as could be had there, to give a thought -to the more frivolous side of things.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, cast into what was to him the whirl of London--though his -grandfather would have viewed it scornfully over a depreciatory pinch -of snuff, with something of the feelings of an old lion turned out to -amuse himself in a kitchen garden--Jim found this new free life of the -metropolis very delightful and somewhat intoxicating.</p> - -<p class="normal">Harrow had been a vast enlargement on Carne. London was a mightier -enfranchisement than Harrow.</p> - -<p class="normal">But first of all he was a soldier, very proud of his particular branch -of the service, and bent on fitting himself for it to the best of his -limited powers.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the first flush of his boyish enthusiasm he worked hard. His -horsemanship was above the average; his swordsmanship, by dint of -application and constant practice, excellent; and he slogged away at -his drill and a knowledge of the handling of men as he had never -slogged at anything before.</p> - -<p class="normal">He bade fair to become a very efficient cavalryman, and meanwhile -found life good and enjoyed himself exceedingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">His wide-eyed appreciation of this expansive new life appealed to his -fellows as does the unbounded delight of a pretty country cousin to a -dweller in the metropolis. They found fresh flavour in things through -his enjoyment of them, and laid themselves out to open his eyes still -wider.</p> - -<p class="normal">His enthusiasm for their common profession was in itself a novelty. -They decided that all work and no play would, in his case, result in -but a dull boy, as it would have done in their own if they had given -it the chance; and so, whenever opportunity offered--and they made it -their business to see that it was not lacking--they carried him off -among the eddies and whirlpools of society and insisted on his -enjoying himself.</p> - -<p class="normal">But, indeed, no great insistence was necessary. Jim found life -supremely delightful, and savoured it with all the headlong vehemence -of his nature.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had never dreamed there were so many good fellows in the world, -such multitudes of pretty girls, such endless excitements of so many -different kinds. Life was good; and Jack, deep in his studies at -Chatham, And Charles Eager, busy among his simple folk up north, alike -wagged their heads doubtfully over the hasty scrawls which reached -them from time to time with exuberant but sketchy accounts of his -doings, always winding up with promises of fuller details which never -arrived.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie enjoyed his enjoyment of life to the full, and wept with -amusement over his attempts at description of the people he met, and -never suffered any slightest feeling of loss in him, for he wound up -every letter to her with the statement that, on his honour, he had not -yet met a girl who could hold a candle to her, and that he did not -believe there was one in the whole world, and that if there was he had -no wish to meet her, and so he remained--hers most devotedly, hers -most gratefully, hers only, hers till death, and so on, and so -on--Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">As to Sir Denzil, who received a dutiful letter now and again and got -all Eager's news in addition, he only smiled over all these -carryings-on, and said the lad must have his fling, and it sounded all -very tame and flat compared with the doings of his young days. And If -the boy came a cropper in money matters he would be inclined to look -upon it as the clearest indication they had yet had as to his birth, -for there never had been a genuine Carron who had not made the money -fly when he got the chance. None of which subversive doctrine did -Eager transmit to the exuberant one in London, lest it should but -serve to grease the wheels and quicken the pace towards catastrophe; -and he earnestly begged, and solemnly warned, Sir Denzil to keep his -deplorable sentiments to himself, lest worse should come of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">And to Charles Eager, deeply as he detested the thought of war, it -seemed that, from the purely personal point of view, as regarded Jim -and his fellows in like case, a taste of the strenuous life of camp -and field would be more wholesome than this frivolous whirl of London.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, in his joyous flights, met many a strange adventure.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had gone one night with some of his fellows--Charlie Denham, second -lieutenant in his own regiment, and some others--to a house in St. -James's Street, where Chance still flourished vigorously in spite of -Act 8 & 9 Vict. c. 109, and stood watching the play, with his eyes -nearly falling out of his head at the magnitude and apparent -recklessness of it all.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a curious room--the walls hung with heavy draperies, no sign of -a window anywhere about it; and it had a feeling and atmosphere of its -own, one to which fresh air and sweetness and the light of day were -entirely foreign. It was furnished with many easy chairs and couches, -and softly illuminated by shaded gas pendants which threw a brilliant -light on to the tables, but left all beyond in tempered twilight.</p> - -<p class="normal">The entrance too had struck Jim as still more remarkable. A small, -mean door in a narrow side-street yielded silently to the Open Sesame -of certain signal-taps and revealed a very narrow circular staircase, -apparently in the wall of the house. At every fifteen or twenty steps -upwards was another stout door, which opened only to the prearranged -signal, and there were three such doors before they arrived at -first a cloak-room, then a richly appointed buffet, and finally the -gaming-room.</p> - -<p class="normal">If the descent to hell is proverbially easy, the ascent to this -particular antechamber was rendered as difficult as possible, to any -except the initiated, and he was presently to learn the reason why.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was a solid group round each of the tables, and some of the -players occasionally gave vent to their feelings in an exultant -exclamation--more frequently in a muttered objurgation; but for the -most part gain or loss was accepted with equal equanimity, and Jim -wondered vaguely as to the depths of the purses that could lose -hundreds of guineas on the chance of the moment, and could go on -losing, and still show no sign.</p> - -<p class="normal">His wonder and attention settled presently on the most prominent -player at the table, an outstanding figure by reason of his striking -personal appearance and the size and steady persistence of his stakes.</p> - -<p class="normal">He might have been any age from sixty to eighty; looking at him again, -Jim was not sure but what he might be a hundred. His hair was quite -white, but being trimmed rather short carried with it no impression of -venerableness. The face below was equally colourless, without seam or -wrinkle, perfectly shaped, like a beautiful white cameo and almost as -immobile. His eyes were dark and still keen. At the moment they were -intent upon the game and Jim watched him fascinated.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was playing evidently on some system of his own and following it -out with deepest interest, though nothing but his eyes betrayed it.</p> - -<p class="normal">His slim white hand quietly placed note after note on certain numbers, -and replaced them with ever-increasing amounts as time after time the -croupier raked them away. Now and again a few came fluttering back, -but for the most part they tumbled into the bank with the rest. But, -whether they came or went, not a muscle moved in the beautiful white -face, and the stakes went on increasing with mathematical precision.</p> - -<p class="normal">Many of the others had stopped their spasmodic punting in order to -give their whole attention to his play. Their occasional guineas had -come to savour of impudence alongside this formidable campaign.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim watched breathlessly, with a tightening of the chest, though the -outcome was nothing to him, and wondered how long it could go on. The -man must be made of money. He knew too little of the game to follow it -with understanding, but he watched the calm white face with intensest -interest, and out of the corners of his eyes saw the slim white hand -quietly dropping small fortunes up and down the table and replacing -them with larger ones as they disappeared.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then a murmur from the onlookers told him of some change in the tun of -luck, but the white face showed no sign. And suddenly the group round -the table began to disintegrate.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is it?" jerked Jim to his neighbour.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's broken the bank. Wish I had half his nerve and luck and about a -quarter of his money."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is he?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't you know? Lord Deseret. Gad, he must have taken ten thousand -pounds to-night!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come along, Carron," said one of his friends. "All the fun's over, -but it was jolly well worth seeing."</p> - -<p class="normal">And as Jim turned he found himself face to face with Lord Deseret, who -stood quietly tapping one hand with a bundle of bank-notes, folded -lengthwise as though they were so many pipe-spills.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carron?" he said gently. "Which of you is Carron?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am Jim Carron, sir--at your service." And the keen kindly eyes -dwelt pleasantly on him and seemed to go right through him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Jim</i> Carron?" said the old man, and tapped him on the arm with the -wedge of bank-notes, and indicated an adjacent sofa and his desire for -his company there. "And why not Denzil? It always has been Denzil, -hasn't it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, you see, there are two of us, sir, and we are both Denzil, so -we are also Jack and Jim to prevent mistakes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Two of you, are there?"--with a slight knitting of the smooth white -brow, on which all the wildest fluctuations of the tables had not -produced the faintest ripple of emotion. "Two of you, eh? And which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy? Which is to be Carron of Carne when -the time comes?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, now! that is more that I can tell you, sir. We are a pair of -unfortunate twins, and no one knows which is the elder."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Twins, eh?" And even to Jim's unpractised eye there was a look of -surprise on the calm white face. "That is somewhat awkward for the -succession, isn't it? Which is the better man?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh--Jack, miles away. He's got a head on him. He's at Chatham in the -Engineers. I'm in the Hussars."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There may be work even for the Hussars before long. There certainly -will be for the Engineers. You're all looking forward to it, I -suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very much so, sir. You think there's no doubt about it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"None, I fear, my boy. It will bring loss to many, gain to a few, but -the gain rarely equals the loss. Do you play?" he asked abruptly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very little. It's all quite new to me. I've hardly found my feet -yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"This kind of thing," he said, flipping the bank-notes, "is all very -well if you can afford it. Take my advice and keep clear of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim laughed, as much as to say, "Your example and your good fortune -belie your words, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can afford it, you see," said Lord Deseret, in reply to the boy's -unspoken thought. "When you are as old as I am, and if you have wasted -your life as I have," he said impressively, "you may come to play as -the only excitement left to you. But I hope you will have more sense -and make better use of your time. Will you come and see me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would very much like to, sir, if I may."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are occupied in the mornings, of course." And he pulled out a -gold pencil-case and scribbled an address on the back of the outermost -bank-note, and handed it to Jim. "Any afternoon about five, you will -find me at home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But----" stammered Jim, much embarrassed by the bank-note.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Put it in your pocket, my boy. You will find some use for it, unless -things are very much changed since my young days. Your father's -son--and your grandfather's grandson for the matter of that--need feel -no compunction about accepting a trifling present from so old a friend -of theirs. You cannot in any case put it to a worse use than I would. -I shall look for you, then, within a day or two." And with a final -admonitory tap of the sheaf of notes and a kindly nod, he left Jim -standing in a vast amazement.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret had gone out by the door leading to the buffet and -staircase. He was back on the instant with his hat and cloak on, just -as a sharp whistle from some concealed tube behind the hangings cleft -the air, and, in the sudden silence that befell, Jim heard the sound -of thunderous blows from the lower regions.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret looked quickly round and beckoned to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The police," he said quietly. "Get your things and keep close to me. -It would never do for you to be caught here. There is plenty of time. -Those doors will keep them busy for a good quarter of an hour or more. -Now, Stepan!" And a burly man, who had suddenly appeared, pulled back -the heavy curtains from a corner and opened a narrow slit of a door, -and they passed through to another staircase, which led up and up -until, through a trap-door, they came out on to the roof. They passed -on over many roofs, with little ladders leading up and down over the -party-walls, and finally down through another trap, and so through a -public-house into a distant street.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A thing we are always subject to," said Lord Deseret gently, "and so -we provide for it. Don't forget to come and see me. Good night!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're in luck's way, old man," said his friend Denham. "Deseret is a -man worth knowing. Let's go and have something to eat." And they all -went over to Merlin's and had a tremendous supper, for which they -allowed Jim to pay because he was in luck's way and had made the -acquaintance of Lord Deseret.</p> - -<p class="normal">And many such supper-bills would have made but a very trifling hole in -Lord Deseret's bank-note.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.32" href="#div1Ref_3.32">CHAPTER XXXII</a></h4> -<h5>THE LADY WITH THE FAN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Perhaps it was that heavy supper, and its concomitants, that tended to -fog Jim's recollection of something in his talk with Lord Deseret -which had struck a jarring note in his brain at the time, and had -suggested itself to him as odd and a thing to be most decidedly looked -into when opportunity offered.</p> - -<p class="normal">The feeling of it was with him next day, but he could not get back to -the fact or the words which had given rise to it. Something the old -man had said had caused him a momentary surprise and discomfort, and -then had come the abiding surprise, from which the momentary -discomfort had worn off, of that enormous bank-note, and after that -the hasty exit over the roofs and the tumultuous supper at Merlin's, -with much merriment and wine and smoke. It was not easy to get back -through all that fog to the actual words of a casual conversation.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there certainly was something. What, in Heaven's name, was it, -that it should haunt him in this fashion?</p> - -<p class="normal">And then, as he did his best for the tenth time, in his thick-headed, -blundering way, to cover the ground again step by step, it suddenly -flashed upon him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?"</p> - -<p class="normal">That was it! "Which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?" the old man -had asked quite casually, as though expecting a perfectly commonplace -answer.</p> - -<p class="normal">Were they not, then, both Lady Susan Sandys's boys?</p> - -<p class="normal">To be suddenly confronted with a question such as that--to come upon -even the suggestion of a flaw in the fundamental facts of one's life, -is a facer indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">What <i>could</i> the old boy mean? There was no sign of decrepitude about -him. That he was in fullest possession of very unusual powers of brain -and nerve, his prowess at the tables had shown. What could he mean?</p> - -<p class="normal">Twin brothers must surely have the same mother. And yet from Lord -Deseret's question, and the way he put it, and the searching look of -the kindly keen eyes, one might have supposed that he knew, and every -one else knew, something to the contrary.</p> - -<p class="normal">To one of Jim's simple nature, there was only one thing to be done, -and that was to go to Lord Deseret and ask him plainly what he meant.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had already written to Jack, conveying to him his half of the -unexpected windfall, before he had succeeded in getting back to the -root of the trouble. And he had simply told him how he had met Lord -Deseret, an old friend of their father's, and how he had broken the -bank at roulette and had insisted on making him a present, which was -obviously given to them both, and so he had the pleasure of enclosing -his half herewith; and Lord Deseret was an exceedingly jolly old cock, -and the finest-looking old boy he had ever seen, and the way he -followed up that bank till it broke was a sight, and he, Jim, was half -inclined to buy himself another horse, as the mare he had was a bit -shy and skittish in the traffic, though no doubt she would get used to -it in time.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was after five before he found out what he wanted to ask Lord -Deseret, and so the matter had to stand over till next day, rankling -meanwhile in his mind in most unaccustomed fashion, and exercising -that somewhat lethargic member much beyond its wont.</p> - -<p class="normal">That night Denham and the rest were bound for Covent Garden to see -Madame Beteta in her Spanish dances.</p> - -<p class="normal">Vittoria Beteta had burst upon the town a month or two before and -taken it by storm. She claimed to be Spanish, but her dances were -undoubtedly more so than her speech.</p> - -<p class="normal">She had a smattering of her alleged native language, and of French and -Italian, and, for a foreigner, a quite unusual command of the -difficult English tongue.</p> - -<p class="normal">Whatever her actual nationality, however, she danced superbly and was -extraordinarily good-looking, and knew how to make the most of herself -in every way.</p> - -<p class="normal">Her age was uncertain, like all the rest. She looked eighteen, but, as -she had been dancing for years in most of the capitals of Europe, she -was probably more. What was certain was that she had witching black -eyes, and raven black hair, and a superb figure, and danced divinely, -and drew all the world to watch her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was charmed, like all the others. He had never seen anything so -exquisitely, so seductively graceful.</p> - -<p class="normal">He gazed, with wide eyes and parted lips, till the others smiled at -his absorption.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's your new catch beckoning to you, Carron," said Denham -suddenly, but he had to dig him lustily in the ribs before he could -distract his attention from the dancer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here, I say! Stop it!" jerked Jim, unconsciously fending the assault -with his elbow, while he still hung on to the Beteta's twinkling feet -with all the zest that was in him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's Lord Deseret waving to you--in the stage-box, man." And Jim, -following his indication, saw Lord Deseret, in a box abutting right on -to the stage, waving his hand and beckoning to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have the luck," sighed Denham. "He wants you in his box. Wonder -if he has room for two little ones."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come on and try." And Jim jumped up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wait till the dance is over or you'll get howled at, man." And Denham -dragged him down again, until the outburst of applause announced the -end of the figure and they were able to get round to Lord Deseret's -box.</p> - -<p class="normal">He received them cordially, and as he had the box all to himself -Charlie had no reason to feel himself superfluous.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, she is very 'harming and dances remarkably well," said Lord -Deseret. "It was I induced her to come over here. I saw her in Vienna -two years ago, and advised her then to add London to her laurels. -Would you like to meet her? We could go round after the next dance. -She will have a short rest then."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, I would," jerked Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so presently he found himself, with Lord Deseret and Charlie -Denham, who could hardly stand for inflation, in Mme Beteta's -dressing-room.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was lying on a couch, swathed in a crimson silk wrap and fanning -herself gently with a huge feather fan, over which the great black -eyes shone like lamps.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Señora," said Lord Deseret in Spanish, with the suspicion of a smile -in the corners of his eyes, "may I be allowed the pleasure of -introducing to you some young friends of mine?" And she struck at him -playfully with the plume of feathers, disclosing for a moment a -laughing mouth and a set of fine white teeth. And Jim thought she -looked hardly as young as her eyes and her feet would have led one to -suppose.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you understand Spanish?" she asked of Jim, in English.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I'm sorry to say----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you see, milord, it is not <i>comme il faut</i> to speak it where it -is not understood." And she laughed again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I stand corrected, madame. We will not speak our native tongue. This -is my young friend, James Carron."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim, gazing with all his heart at the wonderful dancer, got a -vivid impression of a rich dark Southern face, and a pair of great -liquid black eyes glowing upon him through the tantalising undulations -of the great dusky fan, which wafted to and fro with the methodic -regularity of a metronome.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And this is Lord Charles Denham. Both gallant Hussars, and both -aching to show the colour of their blood against your friends of St. -Petersburg."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, the horror!" she said gently. "But you do not look bloodthirsty, -Mr. Carron." And the great black eyes seemed to look Jim through and -through.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think I am really, you know. But if there is to be fighting -one looks for chances, of course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And the chance always of death," she said gravely.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One takes that, of course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But it is always the next man who is going to be killed, madame," -struck in Charlie. "Oneself is always immune. Lord Deseret was at -Waterloo, yet here he is, very much alive and as sound as a bell."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He had the good fortune. May you both have as good!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They were anxious to express to you their admiration of your dancing, -madame," said Lord Deseret. "But we seem to have fallen upon more -solemn subjects."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have never seen anything like it," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is exquisite beyond words, a veritable dream," said the more -gifted Charlie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, well, it seems to please people, and so it is a pleasure to me -also. You are from--where, Mr. Carron?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"From the north--from Carne,--the Carrons of Carrie, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">The dusky plume wafted noiselessly to and fro in front of her face, -and its pace did not vary by the fraction of a hair's breadth. Over -it, and through it, the great black eyes rested on his face in -curiously thoughtful inquisition.</p> - -<p class="normal">Suddenly, with an almost invisible jerk of the head, she beckoned him -to closer converse, and holding the fan as a screen invited him inside -it, so to speak.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you play?" she asked gently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very little," he said in surprise. "I have only my pay and an -allowance, you see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is right. He"--nodding towards Lord Deseret--"is not a good -example for young men in that respect."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has been very kind to me. And he warns me strongly against it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All the same he does not set a good example. Will you come and see -me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would be delighted if I may."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come and breakfast with me to-morrow at twelve. I shall be alone."</p> - -<p class="normal">She gave him an address in South Audley Street, and then dismissed -them all with, "Now you must go. Here is my dresser, and I have but -ten minutes more." And they made their adieux and bowed themselves -out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is Madame English?" asked Denham, as they seated themselves in the -box again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Originally, I think so. But she has lived much abroad and has become -to some extent cosmopolitan. She certainly is not Spanish, or if she -is she has most unaccountably forgotten her native tongue," said Lord -Deseret, with his hovering smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She dances in Spanish, anyway," said Charlie exuberantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And that is all that concerns us at the moment."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.33" href="#div1Ref_3.33">CHAPTER XXXIII</a></h4> -<h5>A STIRRING OF MUD</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It is an old saying, founded on very correct observation, that -long-continued calm breaks up in storm. And the same holds good of -life, individual and national. Too long a calm leads at times to -somewhat of deterioration--at all events to a laxing of the fibres and -an indolent reliance on the continuance of things as they are; and -that, in a world whose essence is growth and change, is not without -its dangers. And--proverbially again--a storm always clears the air.</p> - -<p class="normal">It seemed to Jim Carron that, of a sudden, the accumulated storms of -all the long quiet years burst upon him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had intended seeing Lord Deseret at the first possible moment and -questioning him as to that very curious remark of his. But he could -not broach such a matter at the theatre and in company, and his -lordship had driven off to some other appointment the moment the -curtain fell.</p> - -<p class="normal">So, at twelve next day, having scrambled through his morning's duties -with a quite unusually preoccupied mind, he presented himself at Mme -Beteta's lodgings and was taken upstairs to her apartments.</p> - -<p class="normal">She welcomed him graciously, and they sat down at once to the table.</p> - -<p class="normal">He thought she looked decidedly older in the daylight, but it was only -in the texture of her face, devoid now of any artificial assistance, -and slightly lined in places.</p> - -<p class="normal">The two great plaits of black hair showed no silver threads. The -luminous black eyes were still bright. The sinewy form the dancer was -full of exquisite grace.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now tell me about yourself," demanded madame, as they sipped their -final coffee, and the maid retired.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think there's anything to tell," said Jim, with his open -boyish smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have lived all our lives at Carne--Jack and I--until we went to -Harrow, and then he went to Woolwich and I came to London."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack is your brother?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; we're twins. He's the clever one. That's why he's at Chatham -now--in the Engineers. It was all I could do to scramble into the -Hussars." And he laughed reminiscently at the scramble, and then told -her about it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And which of you is the elder? Even in twins one of you must come -first."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's funny now. Lord Deseret was asking me that the first time we -met, and I couldn't tell him. We've really never troubled about it, -you see, or thought about it at all until a very short time ago. I -suppose it was the fellows at school wanting to know which was the -elder that set us thinking about it. We asked old Mrs. Lee--she keeps -house for us at Carne, you know--and Mr. Eager----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, he's a splendid fellow. He's curate at Wyvveloe, and he's done -everything for us, he and Gracie "--and madame noted the softened -inflection as he said the word.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who is Gracie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager's sister. They call her 'the Little Lady' in Wyvveloe."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is she pretty?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, she's lovely, and as good and sweet as can be."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're in love with her, I suppose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I am," said Jim, colouring up, "and I'm not ashamed of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what about Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's in love with her, too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's rather awkward, isn't it? What does Miss Gracie say to it -all?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, she was terribly upset. You see she had never thought of us like -that. It was after the dance at Sir George Herapath's that we found it -out----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She had a low dress on, I suppose--bare arms and shoulders, and you -had never seen her so before."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," he said, surprised at such acumen, "I suppose that was it. We -all used to bathe together and run about the sands. But that night she -seemed to grow up all of a sudden--and so did we."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what does her brother say to it--and your grandfather?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We're to say nothing more about it for a year. You see, this war is -coming on and you never can tell----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"War is horror," she said, with a shudder. "I have seen fighting in -Spain and in the streets of Paris. It is terrible. You may neither of -you come back alive. If only one comes, then, I suppose----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, that would settle it all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you do not remember your mother?" she asked, after a pause.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We never knew her," he said thoughtfully, bethinking him suddenly of -Lord Deseret and that curious saying of his. "She died when we were -born, and nobody has told us about her. Old Mrs. Lee must remember -her, but she would never tell us, and Sir Denzil--well, you can't ask -him about anything--at least, not to get any good from it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has been good to you both?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes, in his way. But if it hadn't been for Mr. Eager----. We were -growing up just little savages, running wild In the sand-hills, you -know. And then he came, and it has made all the difference in the -world to us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You owe him much, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Everything! Him and Gracie."</p> - -<p class="normal">In his boyish Impulsiveness, having been led on to talk about himself, -he was half tempted to consult her about the matter that was troubling -his mind in connection with Lord Deseret. But how should this -half-foreign woman know anything about such matters. It was not likely -that she had ever heard tell of Lady Susan Sandys. How should she? And -so he lapsed into a brown study, thinking over it all.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was aroused from it by another leading question from madame.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And your father? Is he alive? Can he not help to solve your -difficulty?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well--you must think us a queer lot--we never saw our father till a -short time ago. He has been living in France. We thought he was dead. -He killed a man in a gaming quarrel long ago and had to live abroad, -and he's been there ever since."?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truly, as you say, you are an odd family. Will you bring your brother -to see me sometime?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm sure he would like it, but he's not often in town. You see, he -has the brains and he's putting them to use. I'll bring him, though, -the first time he's up."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not till afterwards that her interest in him and his struck him -as somewhat unusual, and then he had other things to think about.</p> - -<p class="normal">That same afternoon he went to Park Lane, and found Deseret House and -asked for Lord Deseret.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now, this is good of you," was his lordship's greeting--"to look up -an old man when all the world is young and calling to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wanted to ask you something, sir, if I may."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Say on, my boy. Anything I can tell you is very much at your -service."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When you were speaking about Jack and me the other night, you said -something which has been puzzling me ever since. You asked, 'Which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--well?" asked the old man, with a glint of surprise in the keen -dark eyes, which rested on the boy's ingenuous face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Was Lady Susan Sandys our mother, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good heavens, boy, do you mean to say you don't know who your own -mother was?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We don't know anything sir. That was the first time I had ever heard -her name."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good God!" And there was no doubt about the vast surprise in the calm -white face now, as its owner stood for a moment staring at Jim and -then began to pace the room in very deep thought.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your grandfather? Has he never discussed these things with you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Never, sir. We have never had very much to do with him, you see. -Until quite lately we supposed our father was dead too. Then, one day, -he came to Carne--from France, where he lives, and it was a great -surprise to us."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you know nothing about your mother?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing whatever, sir. But since you said that, I have been thinking -of very little else. You said, 'Which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's -boy?' Does that mean that we are not both Lady Susan Sandys's boys? -That would mean that we had different mothers. But how could that be -when we are both the same age? I wish you would tell me what it all -means, for I've thought and thought till my brain is getting all -twisted up with thinking."</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret paced the long room with bent head and his thin white -hands clasped behind him.</p> - -<p class="normal">It seemed to him shameful that these boys should have been kept in -such ignorance of matters so vital. He was not aware, of course, of -their strange upbringing in the wilds of Carne.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the other hand, if their father and grandfather had not thought fit -to enlighten them it would hardly become him to do so. Moreover, as he -turned it all over in his mind, he perceived that there might be -something to be said on the other side.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys had obviously been brought up in perfect equality. Any -revelation of the mystery of their births could only make for -upsetting--must introduce elements of doubt into their minds, might -work disastrously upon their fellowship.</p> - -<p class="normal">Quite unconsciously, supposing they knew all about it, he had stirred -up the muddy waters that had lain quiescent for twenty years.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is a great surprise to me, my boy," he said quietly at -length--"a very great surprise. I should never have said what I did -had I not supposed you knew all about it. As matters lie . . . I'm -afraid you must absolve me from my promise. If your grandfather and -your father have deemed it wise to keep silence in regard to certain -family matters, it would hardly be seemly in me to discuss them -without their permission. You see that, don't you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see it from your point of view, sir, but not at all from my own," -said Jim stubbornly. "There is something we do not know and we -certainly ought to know it. If you won't tell me I must go elsewhere. -I wish I had Jack's head. I think I'll go down to Chatham and talk it -over with him."</p> - -<p class="normal">The mischief was done. Lord Deseret saw that the only thing left to -him was to direct the boy's quite legitimate curiosity into right -channels.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I were you I would go straight to Sir Denzil. Tell him just what -has happened, and that you will know no peace of mind till you -understand the whole matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank you, sir. I will do that, but I think I will see Jack first and -perhaps we could go down together. It's right he should know, and he's -got a better head than I have."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It concerns you both, of course. Perhaps it would be as well you -should go together," said Lord Deseret, and long after Jim had gone he -pondered the matter and wondered what would come of it, and yet took -no blame to himself. For who could have imagined that any boys could -have grown to such an age in such complete ignorance of their father -and mother and all their family concerns?</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.34" href="#div1Ref_3.34">CHAPTER XXXIV</a></h4> -<h5>THE BOYS IN THE MUD</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jim spent a troubled night, tossing to and fro and trying in vain to -make head or tail of the tangle.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was in Chatham soon after midday and made his way at once to Jack's -quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">He found him hard at work at a table strewn with books and drawings.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, Jim boy? Why, what's up? You look---- What is it, old boy? Not -money, when you sent me that gold-mine, day before yesterday. It was -mighty good of you, old chap. Now--what's wrong?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know. Everything, it seems to me. I told you about Lord -Deseret----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rather! Good old cock! His money comes easily, I should say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When he was talking to me, asking about you and Carne and all the -rest, he said, quite as though I knew all about it---- 'And which of -you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy?'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who the deuce is Lady Susan Sandys?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your mother--or mine."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack's knitted brows and concentrated gaze settled on Jim in vastest -amazement.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your mother--or mine, Jim? What on earth do you mean?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's just it. I don't know what it means. There is something behind -that we don't understand, Jack."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And this Lord Deseret?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I went to him and begged him to explain. He was very much surprised -that I didn't know all about it, whatever it is. But he said that -since our grandfather or our father had seen fit not to tell us, it -would hardly be right for him to do so."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack nodded.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He advised me to go to Sir Denzil and tell him how the matter had -come up, and give him the chance to explain. And I suppose that's the -only thing to do, but I wanted your advice. We've always been together -in everything."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack nodded again, and then shook his head over his own bewilderment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't understand at all, Jim. Do you mean that we are not brothers, -you and I? That's nonsense, and d----d nonsense too, I should say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've thought and thought till I'm all in a muddle. But, if words mean -anything at all, it means that you and I are not children of the same -mother, and Lord Deseret knows all about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're sure he won't speak?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Certain. He's a splendid old fellow. He'll only do what he thinks -proper, and the fact that he was so much put out at having started the -matter, without understanding that we knew nothing about it, shows the -kind of man he is and what there is in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can't imagine what it all means. Everybody knows we're twins, and -to come now and tell us--oh, it's all d----d nonsense!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know. I felt that way too. But all the same we've got to know all -about it now. How are you for leave? When can you come down to Carne?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Leave's all right. Come now if you like," growled Jack, very much -upset in his mind and temper, as was natural enough.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Meet me at ten o'clock, at Euston, to-morrow morning and we'll go -down and get to the bottom of it all; unless you think it would be -better still to go across to Paris and see our father and ask him. I -have thought of that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If the old man won't speak, we may have to do that," said Jack, in -gloomy consideration. "But if there's something queer behind it all, -he's the last man to tell us, for he must be mixed up in it, and it -can't be to his credit."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish we'd never heard anything about it," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know. If there's anything wrong it's sure to come out sooner -or later, and we ought to know. I'd like a proper foundation for my -life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seems to me to cut all the foundations away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Feels like that. Any one who says we're not brothers is simply a -fool. Besides, why on earth should our grandfather bring us up as -brothers if we aren't? He's no fool, and he's not the man to play at -things all these years. I wonder if Mr. Eager knows."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shouldn't think so. We were ten when he came."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, we'll see him first, at all events, and get his advice." And on -that understanding they parted, to meet at Euston the following -morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack would have had Jim stop for a while to see round Chatham and make -the acquaintance of some of his friends, but he begged off.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can think of nothing but this thing at present. It's turned me -upside down. I hope nothing will turn up to separate us, Jack."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We won't let it, Jim boy. That's in our hands at all events, and -we'll see to it."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.35" href="#div1Ref_3.35">CHAPTER XXXV</a></h4> -<h5>EXPLANATIONS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was after ten o'clock the next night when they drove into Wyvveloe -and knocked on Mrs. Jex's door. Mrs. Jex had gone to bed and so had -Gracie. Eager himself answered their knock, and jumped with surprise -at sight of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why--Jack--Jim! What on earth----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll tell you if you'll let us in," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now what mischief have you been getting into?" said Eager, as they -sat down before the fire, and he knocked the wood into life.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's not us this time. We've come to ask you something, Mr. Eager; -and if you can't tell us we are going on to see Sir Denzil." And -Charles Eager knew, without more telling, that the boys had somehow -fallen on the mystery of their birth.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Go on," he nodded.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know what we want to know?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think so; but if you'll tell me I shall be sure."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jack, as the better speaker, laid the matter before him, and both -eyed him anxiously the while.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am glad you came to me first," he said. "I can probably tell you -all you wish to know; and you must take it from me, boys, that if it -was never told to you before, it was for good reason. Better still if -it had never needed to be told at all. Best of all if there had been -nothing to tell. The trouble is none of our making. All we can do is -to face it like men, and that, I know, you will do."</p> - -<p class="normal">And he told them, as clearly and briefly as possible, all that he had -learned concerning their births.</p> - -<p class="normal">"To sum it all up," he said in conclusion, "you are sons of the same -father, and so are half-brothers. But which of you is the son of Lady -Susan and which the son of Mrs. Lee's daughter, no man on earth knows. -And again--whether your father was really married to Mrs. Lee's -daughter I doubt if any one but himself knows. And so you see the -tangle the whole matter is in, and you can understand why it was kept -from you. We could only present you with a puzzle of which we did not -know the solution. It could only have upset your lives as it has done -now. We have gained twenty years by keeping silence."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Mrs. Lee knows which of us is which, I suppose," said Jack. And -Jim jumped at the thought.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have very little doubt that she does, Jack; but she has never shown -any indication of it whatever."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And is her daughter still alive?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I doubt if even she knows that. She has not heard of her for a great -many years."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Does Gracie know anything about it all?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not a word; and I see no reason why she should. You two have given -her quite enough to think about without troubling her with this -matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">They quite agreed with that, and Jack, who had been pondering -gloomily, summed up with:</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's all an awful tangle, and I see no way out. It seems to me that -it doesn't matter in the least who is who; for even if we learned who -our mothers were, we don't know if they were legally married. I'm -afraid there is only one thing to be said--and that is, that the one -parent we are both certain about was a dishonourable rascal, and we -have got to suffer for his sins."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Morals were very much looser then than they are now," said Eager -gently. "He was the product of his age. We may at all events be -thankful that things have improved, and you two are the proofs -thereof."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'd probably have been no better if you'd never come here," said -Jim, with very genuine feeling. "We owe everything to you--and -Gracie."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is so," said Jack heartily; and wished he had said it first, but -he had been too fully occupied with the other aspect of the case.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One cannot help wondering," he said presently, "what is going to -happen if our father and our grandfather should die. What are we going -to do then, Mr. Eager?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is a question Sir Denzil and I have often debated, but we never -arrived at any conclusion. One of you must be Carron of Carne. There -is also another possibility. Lady Susan Sandys was the only sister of -the Earl of Quixande. He is unmarried, so far as the world knows, but -he also comes of the bad old times and--well, you know his reputation. -But if he leaves no legitimate heir the title comes to his sister's -son----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If he should happen to be legitimate," growled Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As you say, my boy--if he can be proved legitimate?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In which case he is both Carron of Carne and Earl of Quixande."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And, having no need for the two titles, it might be possible to hand -one over to his half-brother."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Could he?" asked Jack doubtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Under the circumstances it might possibly be sanctioned."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Failing that, who comes in?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some Solway Canons. I know nothing of them except that your -grandfather detests them. But there is still further possibility for -you both."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What?" And they eyed him anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That in your military careers you may both rise to such heights as to -cast even the title of Carron of Carne into the shade."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack nodded. Jim did not seem to regard it as a very hopeful prospect.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well," said Jack, as he got up, "we've got quite enough to think over -for one night. We're going to the inn. We told them to make up beds -for us there. They'll all have turned in at Carne. We'll go along and -see Sir Denzil in the morning."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come in to breakfast, and I'll go with you. I shall have to explain -to him how it comes that I have had to disclose the whole matter to -you."</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"The boys came down last night, Gracie," was the surprising news that -met the Little Lady when she came down next morning.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The boys? Whatever for, Charlie? There isn't anything wrong with -them, is there?" And the startled colour flooded her face and then -left it white.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing of the kind, dear. They wanted to see Sir Denzil on some -family matters, and they arrived too late to go there last night, so -they went to the inn."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're sure they haven't been getting into trouble?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite sure. They're coming in to breakfast. You'd better go and talk -to Mrs. Jex about supplies. Hungry soldiers, you know." And Gracie -flew to the commissariat department.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You dear boys!" was her greeting, when they came striding in, very -tall and large in their undress uniforms. "What <i>have</i> you been doing? -Over-studying?--softening of the brain?"--to Jack. "Gambling?--and -frivolling generally?"--to Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite out," laughed Jack. "My brain was never better in its life, and -Jim's pocket never so full. Mayn't a pair of hungry men come all the -way from London to see you without being accused of such iniquities?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is nice to get such good reports from yourselves," laughed Gracie. -"I wonder how long you can keep it up."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It depends upon circumstances," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what are the circumstances?" asked Gracie incautiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're one," said Jack boldly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here's breakfast. Charlie gave me to understand you had had nothing -to eat for a week."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing half so good as this," said Jack, with an appreciative look -at the cottage loaves and golden butter, and the great dish of ham and -eggs Mrs. Jex had just brought in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My! but yo' do look rare and big and bonny," said that estimable -woman. "I do think I'll cook ye some more eggs."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, do, Mrs. Jex," said Eager. "They don't get eggs like these in -London."</p> - -<p class="normal">And so they got through breakfast; but Jim was the quietest of the -party, and Gracie got it into her head that he was in some dreadful -mess, in spite of what Charlie had said. And just before they started -for Carne she got hold of him for a minute, and asked:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, what's the trouble? Is it anything very bad?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's nothing we've done, Grace," he said, with so frank a look in his -own anxious eyes that she could not doubt him. "Just some old family -matters that have cropped up." And though she could not doubt his -word, he was so unlike himself that she watched them go in a state of -extreme puzzlement as to what could have sapped Jim's spirits to such -an unusual extent.</p> - -<p class="normal">As a matter of fact, the strange disclosures of the previous night -were weighing heavily upon him. With a vague, dull discomfort he was -saying to himself that, as between himself and Jack, there could be no -possible doubt as to which was the better man; and therefore--as he -argued with himself--of the true stock. And, if that was so, he was -simply superfluous and in everybody's way. He was not much good in the -world, anyway. He felt as if he would be better out of it. If he were -gone, Jack would take his proper place--and marry Gracie---- All the -same, it was deucedly hard that one's life should be broken up like -this through absolutely no fault of one's own. And to surrender all -thought of Gracie---- Yes, that was the hardest thing of all. But she -would go to Jack by rights, along with all the rest.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God for this war that is coming!" he said to himself. "There -will be my chance of getting out of the tangle and leaving the field -clear to them."</p> - -<p class="normal">So no wonder our poor old Jim was feeling in the dumps, and was quite -unable to keep them out of his face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hillo? What's brought yo' home?" asked old Mrs. Lee, as they came -into her kitchen.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Business," said Jack curtly, and she was surprised at the dourness of -them all.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jack was saying to himself--"That old witch may be my -grandmother."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim--"She is most likely my grandmother."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Eager--"If the old wretch would only speak she could tell us all -we want to know."</p> - -<p class="normal">Under which conditions a certain lack of cordiality was really not -very surprising.</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Well, well! How much is it?" asked Sir Denzil, eyeing them -quizzically over his arrested pinch of snuff as they came into his -room. "And how did you manage to get here at this time of day?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We slept at the Pig and Whistle, sir," said Jack. "We got to Wyvveloe -too late last night to come on here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Most considerate, I'm sure. What have you been up to, to make you so -thoughtful of the old man?</p> - -<p class="normal">"They have run up against the Great Puzzle, sir, as we knew they must -sooner or later," said Eager. "They came in to me at ten o'clock last -night to ask if I could enlighten them, and I have told them all we -know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So!" And he absorbed his snuff and stared intently at the -boys. . . . "And how do you feel about it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We feel bad, sir," said Jack. "But apparently there is no way out of -the tangle."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We've been trying to find one for the last twenty years," said the -old man grimly. "How did it come to you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah! I'm surprised at Deseret," he said, when he had heard the story. -"He's old enough to know how to hold his tongue."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How are things shaping? Have they made up their minds to fight?" he -asked. And Eager, at all events, knew how that great question bore -upon the smaller.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think there is no doubt about it, sir," said Jack. "There is talk -of some of our men going out almost at once."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you are both set on going?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, sir"--very heartily from both of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well," said the old man weightily, "war is a great clearer of the -air. Don't trouble your heads any more about this matter till you come -home again. If you both come, we must consider what is best to be -done. If only one of you comes, it will need no discussion. If -neither,"--he snuffed very deliberately, looking at them as if he saw -them for the first, or was looking at them for the last, time--"then, -as far as you are concerned, the matter is ended. When do you return?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"To-morrow morning, sir. We could only get short leave."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then perhaps you will favour me with your company at dinner to-night. -And Mr. Eager will perhaps bring Miss Gracie."</p> - -<p class="normal">They would very much have preferred the simpler hospitality of Mrs. -Jex's cottage, but could not well refuse. With Sir Denzil's words in -their minds they could not but recognise that, for some of them, it -might well be the last time they would all meet there.</p> - -<p class="normal">They picked up Gracie by arrangement, and all went off down along for -a quick walk round some of their old haunts.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How well I remember my first sight of these flats!" said Eager, -looking with great enjoyment at the tall, clean-made, upstanding -figures striding by his side. Jim, he noticed, was rather the taller -and certainly the more boyish-looking. Jack had a maturer air, which -doubtless came of study. But both looked eminently soldierly and -likely to give a good account of themselves. "You two were just little -naked savages, and you stole all my clothes but one sock, and I -thought I would have to go home clad only in a towel."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They were good old times," said Jack. "But I'm mightily glad you -came. What would we have grown up into if you hadn't?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wild sand-boys," suggested Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what a sight you were, the first time we saw you!" laughed Jack: -"in your little red bathing things, with your hair all flying, and -your little arms and legs going like drumsticks--a perfect vision of -delight."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What a pity we can't always remain children!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can--in all good ways," said her brother.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One grows and one grows," she said, shaking her head knowingly, "and -things are never the same again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They may be better," said Jack, valiantly doing his best to allow no -sinking of spirits. "It would be a pretty bad look out if one could -only look backwards."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was unusually sober. As a rule, on such an occasion, nonsense was -his vogue, and he and Gracie carried on like the children of those -earlier days.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you ask <i>me</i>," said Gracie, venturing a flight towards olden -times, "I believe old Jim here has got himself into the most awful -scrape of his life, in spite of all your assertions to the contrary. -<i>I</i> believe he's been and gone and lost one hundred thousand pounds at -cards, and grandpa has quietly cut him off with a shilling over the -usual pinch of snuff."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I haven't. I've lost hardly anything, and I've got heaps of -money, more than I ever had in my life before. I'll buy you a pony, -if you like."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right! I don't mind. Sir George has a jolly one for sale; you -know--Meg's Paddy. She's got too big for him, and he's just up to my -feather-weight."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We'll go along and see about him when we've been to the Mere and seen -Mrs. Rimmer and Kattie. How's Kattie getting on?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She's a wild thing and as pretty as a rose. I'm afraid her mother -worries about her. But it must be dreadfully lonely living here all -the year round. Just look how grim and gray it all is. How would you -like it yourself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd Like it better than London," said Jim stoutly. "If I hadn't -plenty to do I'd get sick of it all--streets and houses and houses and -streets, and no end to them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But the people! You meet lots of nice people."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some are nice, but there are too many of them for me. I can't -remember them all, and I get muddled and feel like a fool. I'd swap -them all for----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"For what?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh--nothing!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You flatter them. But you'll get used to it, Jim. It takes time, of -course."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't know that I particularly want to get used to it. However, this -war will make a change."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are certain to go?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If we don't, I'll exchange. I want to see some fighting, and to get -some."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bloodthirsty wretch!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I don't think I really am. But if there has to be fighting I -wouldn't miss it for the world. It's the only thing I'm good for. I'm -no good at books, like Jack. But I believe I can fight."</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Rimmer gave them very hearty welcome, in her surprised spasmodic -fashion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, but it's good on yo' all to come an' see an old woman," she -said, gazing round at them from her bed, with bright restless eyes and -a curious anxious scrutiny. "Yo' grow so I connot hardly keep pace wi' -yo'. It seems nobbut a year or two sin' yo' lads were running naked on -the flats."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We were just recalling it all as we came along, Mrs. Rimmer, and -regretting that we couldn't remain children all our lives," said -Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--yo' connot do that"--with a wistful shake of the head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how's Mr. Rimmer?" asked Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hoo's a' reet. Hoo's at his work."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Seth?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seth's away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where's Kattie?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hoo went across to village, but hoo'd ought to be home by now. But -once the lasses git togither they mun clack, and they nivver know when -to stop."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Girls will be girls, Mrs. Rimmer," said Eager soothingly, "and -Kattie's a girl to be proud of. She's blossomed out like a rose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A'm feart she's a bit flighty, an' who she gets it from I dunnot -know. Not fro' me, I'm sure, nor from her feyther neither."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Here she is," said Jim. "I hear the oars." And he jumped up and went -to the door, and in another minute Kattie came in, all rosy with her -exertions in the nipping air, and prettier than ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">They chatted together for a while, Kattie's sparkling eyes roving -appreciatively over the wonderful changes in her former playmates, and -a great wish in her heart that the girls up at Wyvveloe could see her -on such friendly terms with two such stalwart warriors.</p> - -<p class="normal">When they got up to go she went out with them, and offered to put them -across the Mere in the boat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yo're going back to London?" asked Kattie of Jim, as they threaded -their way through the sand-hills.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We go back to-morrow. They don't give us long holidays, you see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"London's a grand place, they say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"In some ways, Kattie, but in most ways I'd sooner live at Carne."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech, I'd give a moight to see London," she sighed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'd soon have enough of it and want to get home again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's main dull here, year in, year out. I'm sick o' sand and sea," -And then they were scrambling into the boat and trimming it to the -requirements of so large a party.</p> - -<p class="normal">They said good-bye to Kattie at the other side of the Mere; and when -they waved their hands to her for the last time, she was still -standing watching them and wishing for the wider life beyond the -sand-hills and the sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George and Margaret Herapath gave them the warmest of welcomes, -and Jim tackled the master at once on the subject of Paddy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But, Grace, where on earth can you keep him?" remonstrated the Rev. -Charles. "I supposed it was all a joke when I heard you discussing it -before."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Paddy is no joke, as you will know when you've seen him in one of his -tantrums. I shall keep him in my bedroom. He will occupy the sofa," -said Miss Grace didactically.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Was ever inoffensive parson burdened with such a baggage before?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You silly old dear, I'll find a dozen places to keep him in the -village, and a score of willing hands to rub him down whenever he -needs it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course you will," echoed Jim. "And if you can't I'll come and do -it myself. Let's go and look at the dear old boy." And they sauntered -off to the stables.</p> - -<p class="normal">"See here, my boy," said Sir George, slipping his arm through Jim's, -"if I'd had the slightest idea Gracie would have taken him I'd have -offered him to her long since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll spoil one of the greatest enjoyments of my life if you do -that, sir. Please don't!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've got heaps of money. If you've anything that would make a good -charger knocking about too, I'm your man."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--you're sure of going, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If any one goes, I'm going, sir--if I have to exchange for it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're all alike. George writes just in the same strain. God grant -some of you may come back!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some of us wouldn't be much missed if we didn't." And Sir George -wondered what was wrong now.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had no difficulty in coming to terms about Paddy, and Jim's -pocket did not suffer greatly, but Sir George would not part with any -of his horses to be food for powder.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, feeling just a trifle left out in the matter of Paddy, obtained -Gracie's permission to send her from London a new saddle and -accompanying gear, and vowed they should all be the very best he could -procure.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.36" href="#div1Ref_3.36">CHAPTER XXXVI</a></h4> -<h5>JIM'S WAY</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">THE boys were back in London the following night, and Jack expressed a -wish to go to Covent Garden to see Mme Beteta, whose fame as a dancer -had penetrated even to his den at Chatham, and of whose expressed -desire to see him Jim had told him, among the many other novel -experiences of his life in the metropolis.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why on earth should she want to see <i>me?</i>" asked Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No idea. She might not mean it, but she certainly said it. There's a -lot of humbug about."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd like to be able to say I've seen her dancing, anyway, though I -don't care overmuch for that kind of thing. But every one's talking -about her, and most of the fellows have been up to see her."</p> - -<p class="normal">So they went, and madame's keen eyes spied them out, for, during the -first interval, an attendant came round, and asking Jim, "Are you Mr. -Carron?" brought him a request from madame that he would pay her a -visit in her room and would bring his friend with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I knew it must be your brother," she said, as she greeted them. "Yes, -you are much alike."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We used to be," said Jack, "but we're growing out of it now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"To your friends perhaps, but a stranger could not mistake you for -anything but twin-brothers," she smiled through the dusky plumes of -her big fan.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, also, are hoping to go to the war?" she asked Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, we're all hoping to go. It will be the greatest disappointment of -their lives to those who have to stop behind."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are all terribly bloodthirsty. And yet there are very nice boys -among the Russians, too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have been in Russia, madame?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes. I have even met the Tsar Nicholas and spoken with him; -though, truly, it was he did most of the talking."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is he like?" asked Jack eagerly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is good-looking, very tall, very grand; but--well, that is about -all--though, indeed, he was good enough to approve of my dancing. -Stay--Manuela!"--to her old attendant--"give me the Russian bracelet -out of that little box. I am going out to supper to-night or it would -not be here. Yes, that is it. The Tsar gave me that himself, and he -tried to smile as he did it. But smiles do not become him. He is an -iceberg, and I think he is also a little bit mad. He is very strange -at times. Indeed, I was glad when he went away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is very interesting," said Jack; "and this is surely a very -valuable present."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An Imperial present. But I have many such, and some that I value -more, though they may not be so valuable."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have travelled much, then, madame?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have been a wanderer most of my life----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Then there came a tap at the door, and an attendant brought in a card. -Madame glanced at it and said, "Certainly. Please ask Lord Deseret to -come round." And my lord followed his card so quickly that he could -not have been very far away.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Madame is kindness itself," he smiled, as he greeted her. "I saw my -young friend here answering a summons, and guessed where I should find -him. This"--to Jim--"must be your brother."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, sir; this is Jack." And the keen dark eyes looked Jack all -through and over.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very glad to make your acquaintance, my boy," he said. "I knew -your father very well some twenty years ago. You have both of you a -good deal of him in you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have to thank you, sir," said Jack, "for my share in your kindness -to Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh----?" And my lord looked mystified and awaited enlightenment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He sent on to me the half of your very generous gift----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah! he never told me that. Are you up on leave? You are at Chatham, I -think."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We got three days' leave, sir. We wanted to go down to Carne."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah! I hope you had a good journey. How is Sir Denzil?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is just exactly the same as ever. He has not changed a hair since -ever we can remember him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose he sticks to the old customs--shaves clean and wears a -wig."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose that is it, sir. He certainly never seems to get any -older."</p> - -<p class="normal">Then madame's warning came, and Lord Deseret carried them off to his -box and afterwards to supper.</p> - -<p class="normal">And he and Jack had much interesting conversation concerning the -coming war, and armaments, and so on, to all of which Jim played the -part of interested listener, though in truth his mind was busy, in its -slow, heavy way, on quite other matters.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Clever boy, that," said Lord Deseret to himself, as he thought over -Jack while his man was putting him to bed that night. "He will -probably find his chances in this war and go far. But I'm not sure but -what--yes, Jim is a right good fellow. And to think of him sending -half that money to the other! I should say that was very like him, -though. Now I wonder which, after all, <i>is</i> Lady Susan's boy, and how -it's all going to work out. If Jack's the man, I wouldn't at all mind -providing for Jim. In fact, I rather think I'd like to provide for -him. Not a patch on the other in the matter of brains, of course, but -something very taking about him. A look in his eyes, I think----"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.37" href="#div1Ref_3.37">CHAPTER XXXVII</a></h4> -<h5>A HOPELESS QUEST</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was about a fortnight after their visit to Carne, and Jim, after -several hours' hard work outside, was bolting a hasty breakfast in his -quarters one morning, when his orderly came up to say that a man was -wanting to see him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What kind of a man, Joyce?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"An elderly man, sir; looks to me like a sailor."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A sailor? And he wants me?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, sir; very important, he says, and private."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh well, bring him up, and, Joyce--see to my things, will you? We -have an inspection at twelve. The Duke's coming down to see if we're -all in order."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Right, sir!" And Joyce disappeared with a salute, and reappeared in a -moment with the fag end of it, as he ushered in--old Seth Rimmer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why--Mr. Rimmer!" And Jim jumped up with outstretched hand. "Whatever -brings you so far away from home? Nothing wrong, is there?"--for the -old man's face was very grim and gray and hard-set, and he did not -take Jim's hand, but stood holding his hat in both his own.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Mester Jim, there's wrong, great wrong, an' I cum to see if -yo'--if yo'--if---- Where's Kattie?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie?" echoed Jim in vast astonishment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--our Kattie! Where is she, I ask yo'. If yo'----" And he raised -one knotted, trembling hand in commination.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But--Seth--I don't understand. Sit down and tell me quietly. I know -nothing of Kattie. You don't mean that she's gone away? You can't mean -that. Kattie!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--gone away--day after you wur with her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good God! Kattie! And you have thought---- Oh, Seth! you couldn't -think that of me?" And he sprang up and stood fronting him.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the woeful soul, looking despairingly out of the weather-worn gray -eyes into the frank boyish face, saw the black eyes blur suddenly and -then blaze, and knew that its wild suspicions were unfounded.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah dunnot know what to think," said the old man wearily. "Hoo's gone -an' nivver a track of her. An' yo' wur there last, and yo' wur aye -fond of her. An' so----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would no more harm a hair of Kattie's head than I would Grace -Eager's, Seth. And you ought to have known that--you who have known us -all our lives."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--ah know! But hoo's gone, an' ah connot get a word of her, -an'----" And the tired old arms dropped on to the table, and the weary -old head dropped into them, and he sobbed with great heaves that -seemed like to burst the sturdy old chest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was terribly distressed. With the wisdom that comes of deepest -sympathy he rose quietly and left the old man to his grief. He found -Joyce down below, busily polishing and brushing, and sent him off to -procure some more breakfast, and, returning presently to his room, -found old Seth as he had left him, with his head in his arms, but -fallen fast asleep, and he knew that the outbreak and the rest would -do him good.</p> - -<p class="normal">He sat over against him for close on an hour, cudgelling his brains -for some ray of light in this new cloud of darkness. And then, as his -time was getting short, he went quietly out again, and Joyce togged -him up in all his war-paint, and made him fully fit to meet the -critical eyes of all the royal dukes under the sun.</p> - -<p class="normal">Old Seth was still sound asleep when he went into the room, but he -went quietly up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, and the old -man lifted his head and looked vaguely at the splendid apparition, and -then began to struggle to his feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's only me, Seth. Listen now! I've got to go out for an inspection, -and it may take a couple of hours or more, You are to stop here till I -come back, and then we'll see what is best to be done. Here is food. -Eat all you can, and then lie down on that sofa. You're done up. And -don't go out of this room till I come back. You understand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--yo're verra good. Ah con do wi' a rest, for ah walked aw the way -fro' Wynsloe."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must be nearly dead. Help yourself now, and I'll be back as soon -as I can." And he went clanking down the stairs and swung on to his -horse and away, with a dull sick feeling at the heart at thought of -Kattie.</p> - -<p class="normal">Who could have done this thing? He remembered her expressed wish to -get to London, when they were walking down to the Mere that other day. -It was, perhaps, not quite so bad--as yet--as old Seth feared.</p> - -<p class="normal">The girl's longing for what seemed to her the wider, brighter life -might have led her to risk her poor little fortune in the metropolis. -Or it might be that she had not come to London at all, but had gone -away with some village lover. But--on the whole--he was inclined to -think London her more likely aim. And as to whether she had come alone -he had nothing whatever to go upon.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was long after midday before he got back to his quarters, but old -Seth had not found the time any too long, having been fast asleep ever -since he had eaten.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim got out of his trappings and lit a pipe, which he had taken to of -late as at once a promoter of thought and a soother of undue exertion -in that direction.</p> - -<p class="normal">And after a time old Seth stretched himself and opened his eyes, and -then sat up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah've slep'," he said quietly. "But yo' towd me to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll feel all the better for it. Now, tell me all you can about -this matter, Seth, and we'll see if we can see through it. Where is -young Seth?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hoo's away."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who have you left with Mrs. Rimmer?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hoo's dead and buried." And the strong old voice came near to -breaking again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dead!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay! It killed her. She wur not strong, as yo' know, and thought of it -wur too much for her. Hoo just fretted and died."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Seth, I am sorry--sorrier than I can tell you. That's dreadful -for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah dun' know. Mebbe it's best she's gone. Hoo'll fret no more, and -hoo suffered much."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very, very sorry. What could have made you think I could do such -a thing, Seth? You know how we've always liked Kattie, all of us, and -how good Mrs. Rimmer always was to us. How could you think any of us -could do such a thing?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"One gets moithered wi' grief, yo' know. An' that night after yo'd -gone she were talking o' nowt but Lunnon, Lunnon, Lunnon, till I got -sick on't. An' I towd her to shut up, and what was it had started her -o' that tack? An' she said it was seet o' yo', an' yo'd bin talking o' -it to her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"As we went down to the boat she was saying how she would like to see -London, and I told her she was far better off where she was. I think -that was all I said, Seth."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah believe yo'. She wur flighty at times, an' she got stowed o' th' -sand-hills an' th' sea. It wur a dull life for a young thing, I know, -but ah couldna mend it, wi' th' missus bad like that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a sad business, Seth," said Jim despondently. "And I don't know -what we can do about it. If she really did come to London you might -look for her here for the rest of your life and never find her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, it's a mortal big place. The clatter an' the bustle mazes me till -my head spins round. But I conna go whoam till I've looked for her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll find you a room. My man Joyce is sure to know where to get one. -Have you enough money with you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah havena much, but it mun do. When it's done ah'll go whoam."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must let me see to your board and lodging, at the very least, -Seth----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah con pay my way--for a time. It doan't cost me much to live."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whatever you say, I shall see to your board and lodging, Seth, so -don't make any trouble about it. I wonder now"--as a sudden idea -struck him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Han yo' thowt o' something?"--with a gleam of hope.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's an old friend of my father who has been very kind to me. I -was just wondering if he could help us at all."</p> - -<p class="normal">The hope died out of Seth's eyes. From all he had ever heard of -Captain Denzil he did not place much faith in any friend of his -rendering any very reliable help in such a matter.</p> - -<p class="normal">Nevertheless, it was a good thought on Jim's part.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.38" href="#div1Ref_3.38">CHAPTER XXXVIII</a></h4> -<h5>LORD DESERET HELPS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Joyce solved the lodging difficulty off-hand, and old Seth, assured of -bed and board, gave himself up to the impossible task of finding a -lost girl who had no desire to be found.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim made him promise to report himself each day, so that he could keep -some track of his doings. He wrote down his address on a card and put -it in his pocket, and watched him go forth the first day with many -misgivings.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw him go out into the crowded street, bent as he had never been -before, peering intently into the bewildering maze of hurrying faces, -with a look of dogged perplexity as to where to go first on his own -sad gray face. The throng bumped into him, and jostled him to and fro, -and passed on, unheeding or vituperative, and at last he turned and -went slowly out of sight, and Jim wondered if he would ever see him -again.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was dining that night with Lord Deseret, and determined to ask his -advice on the matter. The very look of that calm white face gave one -the impression of incomprehensibly vast experience and unusual insight -into the depths of human nature. He might be able to suggest -something.</p> - -<p class="normal">My lord's immediate object, apart from his liking for the boy, was to -learn the result of their visit to Carne. He had blamed himself, but -not unduly, for the incautious words that had set the ball rolling. -But who on earth would ever have imagined boys of that age in such -ignorance of matters so vital?</p> - -<p class="normal">He chatted pleasantly throughout the dinner, drawing from the -ingenuous Jim many a little self-revelation, which all tended -to the confirmation of the good opinion he had formed of him. And he -found the modesty which acknowledged many lacks, and was not ashamed -to ask for explanations of things it did not understand, distinctly -refreshing in an age when self-assertion was much to the fore. He -noticed too a lessening of the previous boyish gaiety and -carelessness, and traces of the clouds which had suddenly obscured his -sun.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how did you fare at Carne?" he asked, as soon as they were alone. -"I feel somewhat guilty in that matter, you see. From what I know of -it I can imagine you heard upsetting and discomforting things. Perhaps -now I can be of some assistance to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are very kind to me, sir, and I wanted to ask your advice. But in -that matter"--he shook his head despondently--"I don't see how any one -can help. It's all a tangle, but in my own mind I'm sure Jack must be -Lady Susan Sandys's boy, and that means that I--that I am----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are yourself, my dear lad, and, unless I am very much mistaken, -you will render a very good account of yourself when your chance -comes."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will do my best, sir, but that does not alter the fact that I am -out of it as far as Carne is concerned. And that means a great deal to -me. Not that I want it for itself, but--well, there are other -things----" And he stuck, with a choking in the throat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't tell me anything you don't want to, but if I can help I would -very much like to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's this way, sir. Jack and I are both in love with Gracie----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who is Gracie, now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Grace Eager--she is the sister of Mr. Eager, our curate at Wynsloe. -It is he who has done everything for us----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's a very fine fellow, then, and has done good work."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, he's the finest man in the world. We were growing up little -savages, running wild on the flats, when he came, and he has made us -into men--he and Gracie between them. And Gracie is wonderful and -lovely and all that is good. And now----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Has she chosen Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We are to say nothing more about it for a year--just to wait and see. -You see we all grew up together, and she had never thought of us in -that way, and it upset everything----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think I understand. Now, my dear boy, will you take it from an old -man, who has seen more of the world than perhaps has been good for -him, that there is not the slightest ground for your feeling as you -do. I knew your father very intimately. We had many failings in -common. He behaved as we most of us behaved in those days--according -to our lights, or shadows, and in accord with the times in which we -lived. I cannot exonerate him any more than the rest of you. Still, do -not think too harshly of him! He was the product of his age. Now, what -valid grounds have you for believing your brother to be in any way -better circumstanced than yourself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's so much the better man, sir. Jack's got a head on him and -will----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you applied that to the peerage generally, I'm afraid you would -bar many escutcheons," said the old man, with a smile. "Brains by no -means always follow the direct lines of descent. In fact, as you ought -to know, a cross strain frequently produces a finer result. From that -point of view you may set your mind at ease. As to how the matter is -to be settled eventually, that is beyond me. Time works out his own -strange solutions of difficulties. I'm afraid you'll have to leave it -to him. Then, again, you are both going into this war. If only one of -you should come back----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, that would settle it. I have been looking to that as the only -settlement," said Jim solemnly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Meaning that Jack would most likely come back, and that you would -most likely not."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think that would be the best settlement, sir. The better man should -get the prizes, and there can be no question which is the better of us -two."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, my boy,"--and the long thin white hand came down gently on the -boy's strong brown one, and rested on it impressively--"there are -better things in this world even than brains. Clean hearts, clean -consciences, clean lives----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack has all those, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And so have you, and they are worth more than all the brains in the -world in some people's eyes. Did brains ever win a girl's heart?--or -any one else's?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid I don't know much about them; sir," said a touch of the -old Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And as to the tangle," continued the old man, very well satisfied -with his work, "it may be considerably more involved than you imagine. -Supposing, for instance, that your father was actually married to the -other girl before he married Lady Susan! Where do you find yourselves -then? It is by no means impossible--such very strange things were done -in those times. I could tell you of infinitely stranger things than -that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have hardly thought of it in that light," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take my advice and think no more of your tangle. Just go ahead with -the work you have in hand, and when your chance comes, as it will, -make the most of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have done me good, sir. May I ask you about another matter?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Surely, my boy. Another tangle?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim told him briefly about Kattie, and old Seth's visit and -impossible quest.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's a fine old fellow, and young Seth saved my life twice. I'd like -to help him if I could, but I don't know what I can do. Besides, -Kattie was a nice girl. She used to play with us all on the sands, you -know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You don't know, for certain, that she has come to London?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Old Seth seems sure of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who else was there when you all used to play together on the sands?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Gracie, and Margaret and George Hempath, and Ralph Harben----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is Ralph Harben?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Son of Mr. Harben, Sir George's partner. They're the big army -contractors, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where is he now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Up here in London. He's in the Dragoons--lieutenant. So is George."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any one else?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Eager and Sir George, and Bob Lethem, their groom. They all used -to ride over, you see, and we needed all hands, so we used to press -Bob into the service."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you don't think there is any entanglement there?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What--Kattie and Bob? No, I'm sure there isn't. You see, Kattie got -rather large ideas, and she was certainly very pretty. She would never -have looked at Bob, I'm certain."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will see if I can learn anything. There are ways if you know how to -use them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank you, sir. I thought if any one could help us it would be you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"How are you mounted? You ought to have a second horse if you're going -out. They will allow you two, I suppose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I believe so. I was thinking of buying one out of that money you gave -me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Keep it, my boy. You may need it all. You never know what may happen -when you get abroad. If you'll take my advice you'll always carry a -good supply in a belt next your skin when you're campaigning. I'll -find you a horse up to all your requirements. You want height and bone -and muscle for a charger on campaign. Beauty Is a fifth consideration. -Your life may depend upon your horse."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is no doubt about our going, then, sir?" asked the boy, with a -sparkle in his eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No doubt, I'm afraid, my boy; but their plans are very undecided. I -was speaking with Clarendon only last night, and, as far as I can make -out, what our Government would like would be to coerce Russia by -making a demonstration in force, and the Tsar is much too pig-headed -for that--as they would know if they knew him as well as I do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You know him, sir?</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was ambassador there for nearly ten years, and in ten years one -learns a man fairly well. He is an unusually strong-willed and -determined man, bigoted too, and believes absolutely in his -mission----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is that, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh--briefly--to conquer the world on the lines laid down by his -ancestor, Peter the Great. But the man who sets out to conquer the -world always finds his Waterloo sooner or later."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim went home that night feeling very much less under a cloud on -his own account, and not unhopeful on Seth's. For this new old friend -of his impressed him deeply as one who knew a great deal more than -most people, and as the kind of man who, if he took a matter up, would -not rest till he attained his end.</p> - -<p class="normal">But as for Kattie, if she had indeed come to London, he had nothing -but fears.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.39" href="#div1Ref_3.39">CHAPTER XXXIX</a></h4> -<h5>OLD SETH GOES HOME</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Old Seth had a heart-breaking time of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">To all intents and purposes he found himself in a foreign country. He -wandered bewilderedly here and there, thinking that where the crowds -were thickest there would be most chance of finding her he sought. -But, to his amazement, the crowds seemed equally thick wherever he -went, and every single person seemed to him to be hurrying for his or -her life on business that did not admit of a moment's delay.</p> - -<p class="normal">He lost himself regularly every day. From the moment he loosed from -his quiet little harbour of refuge in the morning, till, by means of -the address on his card, he found himself eventually and miraculously -piloted back there by a 'series of top-hatted policemen, he was simply -tossing to and fro on the swirling waves of the mighty whirlpool, -without the slightest knowledge of where he was, except that he was in -London, and Kattie was somewhere in London too.</p> - -<p class="normal">He tried to talk to people, policemen and cabmen on the stands, who -were the only ones who seemed not to be spending themselves in aimless -rushings to and fro. But his uncouth speech was Hebrew to them. At -first they grinned and shook their heads. Then, catching what sounded -like a rough attempt at English, they tried to understand, but soon -gave it up in spite of his woeful face and evident distress, and it -was only when at last he wanted to get home, and produced his card, -that they were able to assist him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fortunately the weather was cold and damp--conditions to which he was -accustomed. Hot summer days and the airless, evil-smelling streets -would have knocked him over in a week.</p> - -<p class="normal">It seemed to Jim that the sad old face grew grayer and gaunter each -day when he came in to give his monotonous report, which was -comprehended in a dismal shake of the head and the simple word, -"Nowt!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim, hopeless himself of anything coming of the disheartening -quest, still did his best each day to cheer him. And Seth was glad of -the chance of speaking a word or two with some one who understood his -talk and sympathised with his woes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A most 'mazing place," he said, one time, "an' thicker wi' folk than -ah could ha' believed. An' ah connot understand them an' they connot -understand me. Ah wish----"</p> - -<p class="normal">But the poor old fellow's wishes were never to be realised--not the -obvious ones at all events. He was neither to find Kattie, nor to find -himself safe home again in the spoiled cottage by the Mere.</p> - -<p class="normal">Perhaps it was best so.</p> - -<p class="normal">The inevitable happened--that which Jim had feared for him from the -time he saw him drift helplessly away into the crowd that first day.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had written all about the matter to Jack, and Jack's reply, while -it lacked nothing in sympathy for old Seth in his bereavement; yet -expressed in unmistakable language the writer's astonishment and -indignation that he could for one moment have thought any of them -guilty of such a deed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim had also waited hopefully on Lord Deseret, to see if his efforts -had met with any success. But, so far, they had not.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I confess I had certain ideas on the subject," said his lordship, -"and I have had them followed up, but quite without result. My people -are entirely at fault. Is it possible we are all on a false scent and -she is nearer home all the time? The indications pointing to her -having come to London are, after all, exceedingly slight and vague."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've no idea," said Jim despondently. "I wish the old chap would go -home. He can do no good here and he's on my mind day and night. I'm -certain he'll get run over one of these days."</p> - -<p class="normal">And, sure enough, there came a day when no Seth put in an appearance, -and Jim's fears felt themselves justified.</p> - -<p class="normal">He sent Joyce round to his lodgings. The old man had never turned up -the night before.</p> - -<p class="normal">It came at a bad time too, for they were working might and main at -their preparations for the coming campaign. The Guards had left for -Southampton the day before. They themselves were down for service and -the call might come any day. War, indeed, had not yet been formally -declared, but that was a minor matter. There was no doubt about what -was going to happen.</p> - -<p class="normal">So Jim packed off Joyce in a hansom, with orders to make the round of -the hospitals and report at once if he got any news.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was back at midday. The old man was lying at Guy's, broken to -pieces and not expected to last the day out.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim jumped into the cab with a very heavy heart. It was just what he -had feared, and it was terribly sad. And yet, as his cab wormed its -slow course through the traffic about London Bridge, there came to him -a dim apprehension that what seemed to them so sorrowful a happening -might, after all, in some inscrutable way, be the better way for old -Seth. For his life, if he had lived, must have been a sad and broken -affair, and now----</p> - -<p class="normal">He found the old man lying quietly in his bed, with the screens -already drawn round it. He was only just in time.</p> - -<p class="normal">The gaunt gray face brightened at sight of him, as Jim took his hand -gently and sat down beside him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah'm fain to see yo'," he said, with difficulty. "'Twur a -waggin . . . aw my fault. . . . Tell her. . . . Tell her . . ."--the -crushed chest laboured in agony,--"tell her to come whoam. . . ."</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently, without having spoken again, the dim light failed -suddenly in the weather-worn gray eyes, and the life faded out of the -gnarled brown hand, and Jim, boy still, put down his head and sobbed -at the grim sadness of it all.</p> - -<p class="normal">A nurse peeped round the screen and was surprised at the sight, for -the eagerness of the splendid young officer to get to the uncouth old -wreck, of whom, beyond his mortal injuries, they had been able to make -so little, had impressed them all.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not till Jim had mopped himself up at last, and stood taking a -last sad look at the tired old face, that she came in again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You knew the old man, sir?" she said sympathetically, behind which -lay considerable curiosity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've known him all my life. He's one of our people from Carne. It's -terribly sad, you know. His daughter left home, and he came up to look -for her. Think of it--to look for her in London! And I was afraid, all -the time, how it would end. And it has. Poor old Seth!"</p> - -<p class="normal">He told them all they wanted to know, and arranged with them to have -the old man decently buried, and gave them money for the purpose and -something for the hospital, and his own name and address.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then you're going to the war," said the nurse, with an animated face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes; we may go any day now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You ought to take some of us with you. You'll need us, you'll see."</p> - -<p class="normal">He had promised to call on Mme Beteta that afternoon, and would have -put off the visit but that he knew she would be disappointed, and she -had shown herself so very kindly disposed towards him.</p> - -<p class="normal">So he went, but madame's shrewd eyes fathomed his state of mind at -once.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now you have some trouble, and perhaps it is my chance to be of use," -she said, and bit by bit drew from him all the story of Kattie's -disappearance and old Seth's death.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If any one can find her, Lord Deseret will. He is a very, very clever -old man, and in some things very young. She is pretty, you say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We always thought her very pretty, even as a wild girl about the -sands, and she has grown prettier still."</p> - -<p class="normal">"London is a bad place for a pretty girl such as she. Even if you find -her----" And she broke off and looked at him musingly. "What could you -do if you did find her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Get her to go home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And if she would not?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then--I don't know. It is horrible to think of Kattie running loose -in London."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When Lord Deseret finds her, bring her to me and I will see what I -can do," said madame thoughtfully; and there the matter rested.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.40" href="#div1Ref_3.40">CHAPTER XL</a></h4> -<h5>OUT OF THE NIGHT</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jim reaped--and duly passed along to Jack--the benefit of Lord -Deseret's long and wide experience of life under many conditions. As a -young man he had served with Wellington in the Peninsula, and he had -also been with him at Waterloo, where he had, as fellow aide-de-camp, -Fitzroy Somerset, now Lord Raglan, who was to command the present -expedition to the East.</p> - -<p class="normal">So Jim and my lord between them evolved, by process of continuous -elimination, a campaigning kit, which, if to Jim's inexperienced eyes -it lacked much, comprehended, according to his lordship, everything -that was absolutely necessary, and probably even yet some things which -he would hasten to throw away under pressure of circumstance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How long it will last it is hard to say," said Lord Deseret. "If you -should by any chance be kept there till the winter I will send you out -all you will need."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, surely we and the Frenchmen between us can clean it all up before -then," said innocent Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall know better when we learn where you're bound for, and what -you've got to do. At present no one seems to know. They are all very -mysterious about it, which is all right if it's policy, but if it's -ignorance----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack was first to go, and Jim was mightily put out that engineers -should get ahead of cavalry. They had hoped to be able to run down to -Carne to say good-bye, but that was quite out of the question. The -army had been rusting, more or less, for forty years, and, now that -the call had come, every man on the roll was hard at work scraping the -accumulated deposit off his bit of the machine, and oiling the parts. -The days were all too short for what had to be done, and leave was out -of the question.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was here, there, and everywhere, helping to buy horses for the -coming wastage, for if he had no head for business he certainly knew -horses from tail to muzzle, from hoof to shoulder, and all in between. -He was kept hard at work till the call came for the cavalry, and then -every minute of every day was over-full, and his head spun with the -calls upon his forethought and ingenuity.</p> - -<p class="normal">He made long lists of the things he had to see to, on scraps of paper -with a pencil that was always blunt and often missing, and as each -item was attended to he duly scored it off, and so kept fairly -straight.</p> - -<p class="normal">His men had taken to him, and consulted him now as an oracle, and -within his capacity he enjoyed it all immensely.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret's munificence knew no bounds. In addition to a great -brown charger, whose peculiar delights were military music and the -roar of artillery--the first of which enjoyments the campaign was -unfortunately to offer him few opportunities of indulging in, though -he had his fill of the other--his lordship presented Jim with a pair -of unusually fine silver mounted revolvers, of a calibre calculated to -make short work of the biggest Russian born, and one of these he was -to hand over to Jack as soon as they met out East. And for Jim -himself, as a very special mark of his goodwill, he bought a sword, -selected out of many and suiting his grip and reach as if it had been -made for him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A most gentlemanly weapon," said the old man, as he poised it with -knowledge in his thin white hands. "May it help you to carve your way -to much honour! But war is not a gentlemanly business nowadays. That -other brutal little thing will probably serve you better."</p> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And so we come to the very last night. The 8th were to leave at six -the next morning for Southampton, and Jim was making his way back to -his quarters, dead tired, but vaguely hopeful that he had failed in -none of the multifarious calls on these last short hours.</p> - -<p class="normal">His list had been an unusually long one that day. But he had ploughed -doggedly through it, and reduced it item by item, till it was cleared -off. After his actual military duties had come final letters to Gracie -and Mr. Eager and his grandfather--he might never see any of them -again. All the same he wrote in the best of spirits, though in -grievous regret at not being able to run down and say good-bye.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then he had made a round of farewell calls among the friends he had -made in London, and had even made time to drop in on Mme Beteta for a -cup of tea. He had finished up with a quiet dinner with Lord Deseret -in Park Lane, and now, in the spirit, England lay behind him, and his -compass pointed due east.</p> - -<p class="normal">Out of the depths of his very large experience, Lord Deseret had given -him many a useful hint and much wise advice over their cigars and -coffee, and had finally shaken his hand and bidden him "God-speed!" -with more emotion than Jim had believed it possible for that calm -white face to show.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Mme Beteta, too, had held his band as he said "Good-bye," and said, -with much feeling, "I would have been glad if you had got into some -mischief so that I might have had the pleasure of helping you. I will -hope all the time to see you come back alive and whole."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are all too good to me," laughed Jim, overcome by the kindness he -was everywhere meeting with. "I feel as if I was getting more than my -proper share. If Jack had been here now, you'd have thought ever so -much more of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps!" smiled madame. "We will see when you both come back,"</p> - -<p class="normal">He was hurrying back to his quarters, bent on getting a good night's -sleep if possible, since the coming nights on board ship might be less -conducive thereto, when, as he swung round a corner where a gas lamp -hung, deep in his own thoughts and with his head bent down, a timid -hand fell on his arm, and as he hastily shook it off, a soft voice -jerked:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim!"</p> - -<p class="normal">He whirled round in vast amazement, and got a shock.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie! . . . oh, <i>Kattie!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I did so want to see you before you went. I only heard to-day----"</p> - -<p class="normal">She looked so pretty in the fluttering light of the lamp, so -touchingly soft and sweet, like some beautiful wild bird drawn to a -possibly hostile hand by stress of need and prepared for instant -flight.</p> - -<p class="normal">She was very nicely dressed too, better than he had ever seen her -before, in well-fitting dark clothes and a little fur pork-pie hat, -like the one Gracie used to wear in the winter. And under it her eyes -shone brightly and her face glowed and quivered with many emotions.</p> - -<p class="normal">The passers-by were beginning to notice and look back at them. He led -her into a quieter side-street where there was almost no traffic.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what are you doing here, Kattie? We have been searching for you -for a month past, and now----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I couldn't help it, Jim. I had to come----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"But why, Kattie? Why? Do you know what you've done by running away -like that?" And he could not keep the feeling out of his voice, as he -thought of poor old Seth, and her mother, and the broken home. "Your -mother is dead. It killed her." Kattie's hands were over her face and -she was sobbing. "And your father came to London to look for you, and -got run over. His hand was in mine as he died, and his last words were -for you, 'Tell her to come home!' he said, and then he died."</p> - -<p class="normal">The slender figure shook with sobs. Perhaps he had been too brutal to -blurt it out like that. He ought to have broken it to her by degrees.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, why did you do it, Kattie?" he said, more gently.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Kattie, shaken out of herself by his news and his manner, sobbed -out her secret.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jim, Jim, don't be so hard to me! It was for you, you, you----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Kattie</i>," he cried, aghast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," she choked on in a passion of surrender and self-revelation. -"It was you I wanted--you--always. And I thought if I could only get -to London where you were----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Kattie!" And he could say no more for the feeling that was in -him, and Kattie hung on to his arm and he did not shake her off.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie," he said at last, in a deep hoarse voice, "has it been my -fault? I did not know----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No no, no! It was not your fault. But I could not help it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very sorry, dear. If I had known--but I never dreamt of it. How -did you get here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">She hesitated, and then said, briefly:</p> - -<p class="normal">"I got some one to bring me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I cannot tell you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was an evil thing to do, whoever it was, and I hope some of the -sorrow will fall upon him," he said hotly. "But you must not stop -here, Kattie. You must go home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Home!" she said wildly. "I have no home. I will wait here till you -come back from the war, Jim----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie! . . . For God's sake, don't talk like that! You don't know -what you are saying, child. I may never come back at all . . . And if -I do----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Jim! <i>Jim!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">She hardly knew what she was saying. She only knew that for months she -had been longing for Jim, and now he was here, and he was going, and -she might never see him again.</p> - -<p class="normal">The pretty, quivering, wild-rose face was turned up to his. Her eager -arms stole round his neck.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Jim!</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">Now, thanks be to thee, Charles Eager, muscular Christian and -strenuous apostle of clean living and the higher things!--sitting by -your dying fire in Mrs. Jex's cottage at Wyvveloe, thinking much of -your boys and praying for them, perchance,--nay, of a certainty, for -thoughts such as yours are prayers and resolve themselves into -familiar phrases--"that they fall into no sin, neither run into any -kind of danger"--"from battle and murder and from sudden death,"--at -which the thinker by the fire fell into deeper musing. And thanks be -to all your teaching of the Christian virtues and truest manhood, both -by precept and example!</p> - -<p class="normal">For Jim Carron was only a man like other men, and young blood is hot. -And Kattie, in her fervour, was more than pretty.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's big chest rose and fell as if he had been running a race--say -with the devil, or as if he had been engaged in mortal combat. Perhaps -he had--both.</p> - -<p class="normal">He broke her hands apart with a firm, gentle grip.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie dear! You don't know what you are saying. You know it can't -be. God help us! What am I to do with you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And then he bethought him of Mme Beteta and saw his way.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come with me!" he said, and drew her arm tightly through his and led -her down the street, and on and on till they came to a thoroughfare -where there were cabs. He hailed one, handed her in, gave the driver -the address, and sat down beside her.</p> - -<p class="normal">Kattie asked no questions. She was with Jim. That was enough. Her arm -stole inside his again and nestled and throbbed there. She would have -asked no more--not very much more--than to ride by his side like that -in the joggling cab for ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">The cab stopped at last before the house in South Audley Street. Jim -jumped out and rang the bell, paid the man, and led her up the steps.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is madame in?" he asked of the maid who opened the door.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just come in, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you beg her to see me for a moment?" And she showed them into a -small sitting-room and went noiselessly away.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will you please to come to madame's room, sir?" And they were ushered -into the cosy room where Mme Beteta had just sat down to supper before -a blazing fire. Her wraps lay on the sofa where she had flung them on -entering.</p> - -<p class="normal">She looked lazed and tired, all except her face, and her great dark -eyes opened wide at sight of Kattie. Jim had indeed told her that the -girl they were searching for was pretty, but this girl, with all that -was working in her still in her face and her eyes, was very much more -than pretty.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mme Beteta, will you do something for me?" began Jim impulsively.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have only been waiting the opportunity, my boy, as I told you this -afternoon. What is it now--and who is your friend? Won't you sit down, -my dear?" to Kattie. "You look very tired."</p> - -<p class="normal">Kattie sank into the proffered chair, and Jim stood behind it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"This is Kattie Rimmer, a friend of ours from Carne. She finds herself -suddenly alone in London. If you will take care of her I would be so -grateful to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Indeed I will, if she will stop with me for a time. You are much too -good-looking, my dear, to be alone in this big place. I shall be glad -to have something young and pretty about me. My dear old Manuela is -worth her weight in gold, but, truly, she is no beauty. And when I go -abroad, presently, you shall come with me there also, if you feel so -inclined."</p> - -<p class="normal">Madame understood--partly, at all events, and possibly guessed wrongly -at the rest. But there was no mistaking her kindliness. She saw that -the girl was under the influence of some overpowering emotion, and she -talked on for the sake of talking and to give her time.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Kattie dear, will you promise me to stop with madame?" asked Jim -anxiously. For it was one thing to have got her there--and a great -thing; but it might be quite another thing to get her to stop.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Must I, Jim?" And the great eyes, swimming with tears, snatched a -hasty glance at him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yea, Kattie, you must. And, madame, I cannot thank you enough. -Sometime, perhaps--if I come back alive----"</p> - -<p class="normal">And at that Kattie sprang up and flung her arms round his neck again, -crying, "Oh, Jim! Jim!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And he kissed her gently and put her away, and she sank down into the -chair, a convulsive heap of sobs.</p> - -<p class="normal">He mutely begged madame to follow him, and left the room.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is terribly sad," he said to her, In the other room. "I met her -near my quarters to-night. She had been waiting for me, and she -says--she says"--he stumbled--"well, she says she came to London after -me. And, you know, I never had a thought of her--poor little Kattie! -And I didn't know what to do with her, and so I brought her to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You did quite right, my boy. For your sake--and, yes--for her own--I -will do my best for her. She is a pretty little thing--much too pretty -to go to waste in London."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are very good, madame, and I am very grateful. Perhaps you would -consult Lord Deseret about her too, if you think well. He has been -very kind in the matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you have no feeling for her at all?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is only one girl in all the world for me, and that is Gracie -Eager. You'll understand when you see her."</p> - -<p class="normal">Then he wrung her hand very warmly, and said a final good-bye, and -went away,--very tired, but with something of a load off his heart as -regarded Kattie at all events.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.41" href="#div1Ref_3.41">CHAPTER XLI</a></h4> -<h5>HORSE AND FOOT</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The dullest pages in history are those which record the long, slow -years of peace and progress, when everything goes well and nothing -lively happens.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack's term of service at Chatham had been such. His record was one of -simple hard work, considerable acquirement, and a methodic, level -life.</p> - -<p class="normal">His work appealed to him, and he gave himself up heart and soul, and -might have given his health as well if the authorities had not seen to -it. Brains in an officer were very acceptable, and the concentrated -application of them still more so--to say nothing of the comparative -rarity of the combination. But brains without body would obviously be -of small service to the country, and so Jack was kept fairly fit in -spite of himself. He won the golden opinions of his instructors and -examiners, and was looked upon as a reliable officer and a coming man.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Give us a good tough bit of siege work," he had said, with hot -enthusiasm, as they tramped the frozen sands at Carne that last time, -"and we'll show them what we are made of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A good open country and plenty of room for cavalry to manœuvre, -that's what <i>we</i> want," said Jim, with relish, "and we'll show the -world what British squadrons can do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tough sieges somehow seem a bit out of date," said Mr. Eager. "I -should say Jim's horses are more likely to be in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd sooner have the siege," said Gracie; and they all clamoured to -know why, and Jim felt humpy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, just because you're all farther away from one another and not so -likely to get hurt," said she. "When you fight on horses you're bound -to get close to one another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's what we want," growled Jim. "The closer the better."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And then the poor horses!" said. Gracie, with a shiver. "To say -nothing of the poor men!" growled Jim once more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's all horrid and hateful and wicked. I don't mean you two," she -added hastily, "but the people who bring it about. If they all had to -fight themselves, instead of sending other people to do it for them, -they wouldn't be so ready to begin."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They'd make a pretty poor show, some of them," laughed Jack. "Think -of little Johnny Russell facing up to the Tsar."</p> - -<p class="normal">"David and Goliath," suggested the Rev. Charles.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Goliath got the stone in his eye--well, in his head, it's all the -same--and so he will this time," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Artillery!" said Jack triumphantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"David cut off his head," said Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Infantry assault after we--I mean the artillery--had made the -breach."</p> - -<p class="normal">Involved military operations, and especially the complicated strategy -of the siege, had fascinated Jack from the time he could read. He -absorbed the elements of his profession with keenest delight; and -driest details, which to some of his fellows were but dull drudgery, -were to him like the necessary part of a puzzle of which he held the -clue, and their essentiality was clear to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">What would be the course of the coming war none could tell, for the -simple reason that no one seemed to know exactly where they were going -or what they were going to do. All arms were to be represented, -however, and each separate branch hoped ardently that the tide would -run its way.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack and Jim, at parting, had undertaken to correspond regularly. They -had also mutually pledged themselves to write not more than one letter -a week to Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">If Jim's scrawl had hitherto been the more interesting to their -recipients, it was certainly not by reason of their penmanship, or -their spelling, or their literary qualities, but simply that, living -in London and somewhat in the whirl of things, and with more time and -mind for outside matters than Jack had, he had always something to -tell about, and that, after all, is what people want.</p> - -<p class="normal">Very sympathetic--and certainly very charming--little smiles used to -lurk in the corners of Gracie's flexible little mouth as she read -Jim's epistles. And she would murmur, "The dear boy!" as she thought -of the time and labour he had given to their production. For to Jim -the sword was very much mightier than the pen and infinitely more to -his liking.</p> - -<p class="normal">He told Gracie, in his letters, most of what befell him in London, -much about Lord Deseret, and much about Mme Beteta, but concerning -Kattie and old Seth Rimmer, after much ponderous consideration, he had -thought it best to keep silence.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack had waxed mightily indignant over old Seth's half-blown -suspicions, and on the whole it was perhaps just as well that the old -man fell into Jim's hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of the final episode Jim told none of them. In the first place, he -felt bound to keep Kattie's secret. In the second, he went straight -home to his bed that night as tired as a dog, and was <i>en route</i> for -the East soon after six o'clock next morning. And in the third place, -as to telling Jack, Jack was on the high seas nearing Gallipoli, and -they did not see one another again for months to come.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.42" href="#div1Ref_3.42">CHAPTER XLII</a></h4> -<h5>DUE EAST</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jack, to his immense delight, found himself detailed for duty with a -large number of his men to assist General Canrobert in the -fortification of the long narrow peninsula on which, Gallipoli is -situated.</p> - -<p class="normal">No matter that the fortifications were little likely to be of any -actual benefit, it was active service and turning to practical account -the theoretical knowledge of which he was full.</p> - -<p class="normal">The men, who had left England ablaze with warlike fervour amid the -cheers of the populace, had found their long detention at Malta very -trying and relaxing. Warlike fervour cannot keep at boiling-point -unless it has something to expend itself upon. And so they welcomed -this diversion, and planned, and built earthen ramparts, and bastions, -and barbettes, and ravelins, and redoubts, to their hearts' content, -and felt very much better both in mind and body than when they were -kicking their heels and frizzling in the tawny dust of Malta.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were many discomforts, however, chiefly in regard to the -provisioning. Even at this very first stage in the proceedings the men -had little to eat and less to drink; and if curses could have assisted -the commissariat, or blighted it off the face of the earth, its -movements would have been mightily quickened. But forty years of peace -do not make for efficiency in the fighting machine. It had grown rusty -through disuse, as all machines will, and the ominous creakings which -began at Gallipoli never ceased till--too late for the hosts of -gallant souls who died of want before Sebastopol--England awoke at -last to the shame of her relapse, and set her house in order with a -roar of righteous, but belated, indignation.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack and his men fared better than most, through their intimacy with -the Frenchmen, who had the knack of living in plenty where others -starved. Jack brushed up his French, and found welcome, and still more -welcome hospitality, among the officers, and his men learned how tasty -dinners could be made out of the scantiest of rations if only you knew -how to do it.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the slow weeks dragged on; there was no sign of an enemy, and the -fighting for which they had come out seemed as far off as ever. And -the little advance army growled and grizzled and cursed things in -general, and began to get a trifle mouldy. And meanwhile the Turks, -under Omar, were valiantly holding the Danube against the Russians, -and the allied generals were in communication with the allied -ambassadors at Constantinople, and the ambassadors were in -communication with the un-allied diplomatists at Vienna, and the -diplomatists were seeking instructions from London, Paris, Berlin, and -St. Petersburg, and futile talk blocked the way of warlike deeds.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the middle of May before the welcome order came to move on, and -their spirits rose at the prospect. They had come out to fight, and -anything was better than moulting at Gallipoli.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the diplomats were still chopping words at Vienna, so they were -all dumped down again at Scutari, till the wise men should see which -way the cat was really going to jump.</p> - -<p class="normal">More weary weeks followed, though, since they gave Jack the chance of -seeing a great deal of Constantinople, he at all events had no cause -for complaint. The neat little steamer, which the Sultan had placed at -the disposal of the British officers, ran across in a quarter of an -hour and plied to and fro constantly; and having no duties to perform, -Jack missed none of his opportunities and saw all he could, and that -included many strange sights.</p> - -<p class="normal">He made many new acquaintances, and began to lose somewhat of the -studious concentration which had hitherto stood in the way of his -making any very close friendships even at Woolwich and Chatham. He had -given heart and brain to his work, and now only craved the opportunity -of applying his knowledge and climbing the ladder. While frivolous -Jim, with a modicum of the brains and still less of the application, -somehow possessed the knack of making friends wherever he went. And -having mastered his drill and won the hearts of his men, he also -considered his military education completed, and longed only to get -the chance of showing what was in him and them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim would have had a delightful time in Constantinople, and, with all -his desire for glory, would still have enjoyed himself thoroughly; but -Jack, with most of his fellows, felt keenly that all this was not what -they had come out for; and when, in June, orders came to embark for -Varna, up along the coast of the Black Sea towards the Danube, he was -heartily glad. For there had been heavy fighting on the Danube, and if -they could only get there in time there might still be a chance of -showing what they were made of.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was four months since they left England, and so far they had -practically done nothing more than mark time, and there is a certain -monotony about that necessary but fruitless operation which has a -depressing effect on spirits and bodies alike.</p> - -<p class="normal">However, they were getting on by degrees at last, though what their -ultimate objective really was no one seemed to know, unless, perhaps, -Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, and they kept their own counsel.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack had been a fortnight at Varna, and was beginning to get sick of -it as he had of Malta and Gallipoli, when one day the stately -<i>Himalaya</i> steamed quietly in among the mob of smaller craft which -crowded Varna Bay, and began to discharge the first of the cavalry -that had put in an appearance. This looked like business, and Jack -joined the crowd watching the disembarkation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, Jim, old boy!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, Jack! That you?" And the boys of Carne had met again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hardly knew you in those togs. Took you for a tramp," grinned Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You loaf here for half a dozen weeks, my boy, and you'll come to it. -Have you any news? Are we going on? We're all sick to death of the -whole business."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>I</i> dunno. We've come straight through. We began to be afraid we'd be -too late and miss all the fun."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You've not missed much so far. We've been frizzling and grizzling all -this time. Never seen the ghost of a Russian so far."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Waiting for us, I expect. Can't get on without cavalry."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If that's what we've been waiting for we're all mighty glad to see -you. All this hanging about is the hardest work I've ever done yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where are you living?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Up on the hill there. You'll be going on to Devna, I expect. That's -twenty miles further up."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've got to look after the horses. They've done splendidly so far. -Not lost a leg. We'll have a talk when we knock off." And Jim turned -to the congenial work of seeing his equine friends safely ashore.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he had seen them all picketed on the stretch of turf near the -beach, and enjoyed for a time their rollings and stretchings and -kickings of cramped heels, he walked away up the shore, had his first -delicious swim in the Black Sea, and then made his way into the dirty -little town and struggled slowly through its narrow streets, packed -with such a heterogeneous assortment of nationalities as his wondering -eyes had never looked upon before.</p> - -<p class="normal">Guardsmen, Fusiliers, Riflemen, Highlanders, Dragoons, and Hussars, -Lancers, Chasseurs, Zouaves, Artillerymen, and Cantinières; Greeks, -Turks, Italians, Smyrniotes, Bashi-Bazouks, and nondescripts of all -shapes and sizes; dark, windowless little shops with streaming calico -signs in many languages, offering for sale every possible requirement -from pickles to saddlery, but especially drinks; a slow-moving, -chattering, chaffering, and occasionally quarrelling, mob of shakos, -turbans, fezes, Highland bonnets, <i>képis</i>, and wide-awakes, with -bearded faces under them in every possible shade of brown and -mud-colour,--no wonder it took Jim a long time to get through.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he got out into the open country at last, and breathed clean air -again, and climbed the hill and found his way to Jack's tent, and -demanded something to drink.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What a place!" he gasped. "Never saw such a sight in my life!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Beastly hole!" growled Jack. "I wish to Heaven they'd get us on and -give us some work to do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why don't they?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--why don't they? Some one may know, but I'm beginning to doubt it. -When we came up here we had hopes again, but now they say the Russians -have had enough on the Danube and are bolting, so that's off. What's -the news from home? I've hardly had a letter since we left."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim gave him of his latest, and handed him Lord Deseret's present, -which Jack found greatly to his taste.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No more news of Kattie?" he asked presently, when other subjects -seemed exhausted, and in a tone that anticipated a negative reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes. I found her--the very last night," said Jim quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You did? How was it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I had been dining with Lord Deseret, and saying good-bye all round, -and was dead tired. We were to start at six next morning and I was -hurrying home to get some sleep, when suddenly Kattie stepped up and -spoke to me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good God! Did she know it was you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes. She hadn't got so low as all that. But it gave me a shock, I -can tell you, Jack, to meet her like that, though we had been doing -all we could to find her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how did she seem? And what had she to say for herself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She looked prettier than I'd ever seen her--better dressed, you know, -and all that."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what did she say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She flatly refused to tell me who had brought her to London. -She had heard we were leaving in the morning and she wanted to say -good-bye--so she said."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deuced odd! What did you do?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well--I was knocked all of a heap and didn't know what to do. Then I -suddenly bethought me of Mine Beteta. She had been very kind to me, -and only that afternoon, when I was saying good-bye, she had laughed -and said her only regret was that I hadn't got into any scrape that -she could help me out of. It was jolly nice of her, you know. So I -bundled Kattie into a cab, and took her straight to madame, and left -her with her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor little Kattie! She was too good for that kind of thing. And you -got no hint as to who----</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not a word. I asked her straight, and she said she would not tell."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd like to wring his neck for him, whoever he was."</p> - -<p class="normal">"She probably knew we would feel that way, and that's why she wouldn't -speak. And how have you been keeping, Jack? Seems to me you look -thinner. Perhaps it's the way you dress--or don't dress. I never saw -such a seedy, weedy-looking set. You'd certainly be taken for tramps -in England."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just you wait, my boy. If you get four months of this infernal -loafing in dust and dirt and blazing sun, you'll come to it. And I may -well be thin. I'd hang every commissary in the service. They starve us -half the time and give us rubbish the rest."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That sounds bad. What's got them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Everything's at sixes and sevens. All the food and drink in one place -and all the hungry and thirsty souls in another, some hundreds of -miles away. If I was the Chief I'd hang a commissary every time the -men go short. And the amount of red-tape! Oh, Lord! But you'll know -all about it before you're through, my boy. Some of the fellows have -chucked it and gone home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Rotters!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know. It's been almost beyond endurance at times, and all so -senseless, and nothing comes of it. Starving for a good cause is one -thing, but starving simply because the men who ought to feed you are -fools is quite another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Overworked, I expect."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Underbrained, I should say. I'll ask you three months hence what you -think about it all."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was very busy the next few days getting his men and horses on to -Devna. His chiefs had found out that he could get more out of men and -horses than most, and that when he took a thing in hand he did it. So -work was heaped upon him and he was as happy as could be.</p> - -<p class="normal">He messed with Charlie Denham in a little tent on the shore, bathed -morning and night, and Joyce and Denham's man saw that their -masters--and incidentally themselves--were properly fed.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.43" href="#div1Ref_3.43">CHAPTER XLIII</a></h4> -<h5>JIM TO THE FORE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Cavalry transports were coming in every day now; the Varna beach -looked like a country horse-fair, and to Jim was given the task of -superintending the debarkation of the horses and their dispatch to -their appointed places.</p> - -<p class="normal">One day, when the great raft on which the horses were floated to the -shore bumped up against the little pier, a nervous brown mare broke -loose and jumped overboard. There happened to be no small boats close -at hand, and the poor beast, white-eyed with terror at the shouts of -the onlookers, struck out valiantly for the open sea.</p> - -<p class="normal">To Jim, in the thinnest and oldest garments he possessed, and sweating -heartily from his labours, an extra bath was but an additional -enjoyment. He leaped aboard, ran nimbly along outside the horses, and -launched himself after the snorting evader. His long swift side-stroke -soon carried him alongside.</p> - -<p class="normal">He soothed her with comforting words, turned her head shorewards, and -presently rode her up the beach amid the bravos of the onlookers. It -was little things like that that won the hearts of his men. They knew -he would do as much and more for any one of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">As he slipped off, with a final pat to the trembling beast, a hearty -hand clapped his wet shoulder.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well done, old Jim! It was Carne taught you that, old man." And the -voice of the gigantic dragoon, whose clap was still tingling in his -shoulder, was the voice of George Herapath, though Jim had to look -twice at his face to make sure of him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, you hairy man, I'd never have known you. Just got here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"This minute, my boy, and glad to see you old stagers still alive and -kicking. Here's Harben. I say, Ralph, this dirty wet boy is our old -Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hanged if I'd have jumped into the sea after an old troop-horse," -said Harben, looking somewhat distastefully at the dishevelled Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"A horse is always a horse," said Jim, "and an extra bath's neither -here nor there. Can't have too many this weather, if you work as I've -been doing lately."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deucedly dirty work, it seems to me. Why don't you let your men do -it? That's what they're here for."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are doing it," said Jim, waving a benedictory wet hand towards -the horse-fair along the beach. "I'm only keeping an eye on them."</p> - -<p class="normal">And before they could say more, a very splendidly accoutred horseman -rode down to them, with a still more gorgeous one behind him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very smartly done, my boy," said the first in English, though he wore -the uniform of a colonel of Cuirassiers. "An officer that looks after -his horses will certainly look after his men."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, sir!" jerked Jim. "Glad to see you again! Sorry I'm so dirty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's the men who get dirty who do the work." And then he turned to -the magnificent personage behind, who sat looking on with a suave -smile on his clean-shaven face, and said in French, "This is one of my -cubs, Your Highness, though I'll be crucified if I know which." And -turning to Jim--"me see, now you're----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm Jim, sir. Jack's in the Engineers."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, yes--Jim. It was the Prince who bade me come down and thank you -for saving that mare, and it was only when I heard your friend mention -Carne that I recognised you. Monsieur----?" to the Prince, who -addressed some remark to him in French, to which he laughingly -replied, and then turned again to Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"His Highness says he would like to see you cleaned up, and invites -you to his table to-night--both of you, if you can come. I suppose you -can fig out all right?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim saluted Prince Napoleon and bowed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is a great honour," he said. "I'll find Jack, sir, and we'll fig -out all right."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eight o'clock, then. We're camped over there for the night. Any one -will show you the Prince's quarters." And the two horsemen saluted -generally and galloped away.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're in luck, old boy," said George. "Dining with princes and -big-pots. Who's the other? He talks uncommonly good English for a -Frenchman."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My father," said Jim quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your---- Good Lord! Well, I---- Yes, of course, now I remember."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All the same," said Jim, "princes are not much in my line, and I'd -just as soon he hadn't asked me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Man alive!" said Ralph, with exuberance. "Why, I'd give my little -finger for the chance."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where's old Jack?" asked George.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Up on the hill there behind the town."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where do we go?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You stop the night here and get on to Devna to-morrow. It's about -twenty miles up-country."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack was mightily astonished when Jim gave him his news, and showed no -modest reluctance in accepting the invitation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's always interesting to meet people like that," he said. "Is he -like the Emperor?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's not like his pictures. More like the first Emperor, I should -say. But he seemed pleasant enough."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And our paternal?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was all right. They seemed on very good terms with one another."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And he really is as big a man as he led us to believe that night?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, yes, he seemed so. Did you doubt it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And so, all in their best, they duly presented themselves at the -Prince's quarters a few minutes before eight, Jack, in his modest -Engineer uniform, feeling somewhat overshadowed by Jim's gorgeous -Hussar trappings.</p> - -<p class="normal">"By Jove! but don't they know how to make themselves at home!" said -Jack, as they came in sight of the handsome tent, with a great green -bower made of leafy branches in front and an enclosure of the same all -round it.</p> - -<p class="normal">The sentries passed them in at once, and their father came out from -the tent and met them with cordial, outstretched hands. He held both -their hands for a moment, and looked from one to the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack is the Engineer, and Jim is the Hussar, and both of you very -creditable Carrons. We must get to know one another better, my boys. -The coming campaign should afford us plenty of opportunities."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is there to be a campaign, then, sir?" asked Jack. "We'd about given -up all hopes of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, we're not through yet by any means," smiled the Colonel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know how it is with your men, sir, but all this dawdling -about is doing ours no good."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is good for nobody, my boy, but we've got to obey orders, and -those who pull the strings are far away. However, you need have no -fear. The Tsar is far too stiff-necked to give way till he's had a -good thrashing, and we have not only to fight him, but distance and -climate to boot. Here is His Highness."</p> - -<p class="normal">And when he introduced them, the Prince, with a smile at Jim, and a -pat on the shoulder, told him he would certainly have had difficulty -in recognising him again, and he was a "brave boy," which set the -brave boy blushing furiously under his tan.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are grumbling at getting no fighting, Your Highness," said the -Colonel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Young blood! Young blood!" said the Prince, with a smile. "Let us -hope they will have plenty left when the fighting is over."</p> - -<p class="normal">A number of other bravely dressed officers came in, and in the long -green bower they sat down to a dinner such as they had not tasted for -months, and of which they many times thought enviously in the lean -months that followed.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.44" href="#div1Ref_3.44">CHAPTER XLIV</a></h4> -<h5>JIM'S LUCK</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jim, by force of circumstance, acquired a very wholesome reputation as -the best-mounted man in the Light Brigade, as a tireless rider, and as -an officer who doggedly carried out his instructions. The result was -much hard work, which he enjoyed, and much commendation, which he -thoroughly deserved.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the Russians retired from the Danube and disappeared into the -wilds of Wallachia, Lord Cardigan was ordered to follow them with a -party of gallopers and learn what route they had taken.</p> - -<p class="normal">The first man picked for his troop was Jim Carron, and Jim was wild -with delight. Here, at last, was something out of the common to be -done, something with more than a spice of danger in it, and altogether -to his liking.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were away for seventeen days, camping as best they could without -tents, and they rode through three hundred miles of the wildest and -most desolate country Jim had ever set eyes on. For one hundred miles -at a stretch they never saw a human being, but finally got on the -track of the Russians and found they had gone by way of Babadagh. Then -they rode up the Danube to Silistria and returned to camp by way of -Shumla, somewhat way-worn as to the horses, but the men fit and hard -as nails.</p> - -<p class="normal">But they were the fortunate ones, and their satisfaction with their -lot could not leaven the seething mass of growling discontent -represented by the remaining fifty thousand would-be warriors, who had -come out all aflame with martial ardour, but had so far never set eyes -on an enemy, who were ready to die cheerfully for a cause which not -one in a hundred properly understood, but found themselves like to -moulder with ennui and lack of proper provisioning.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their hopes had been constantly raised only to be dashed. They were to -go up to the Danube to help the Turks against the Russians. They were -aching to go. But fifty thousand men need feeding, and the -commissariat was in a state of confusion, and transport non-existent -and unprocurable. So they stayed where they were, and mouldered and -cursed, and began to look askance at the whole business and to doubt -the good faith of every one concerned.</p> - -<p class="normal">Many officers fell sick, some threw up their commissions in disgust -and went home. The men would have liked to follow.</p> - -<p class="normal">In July came the inevitable consequences of ill-feeding, ill-temper, -enforced idleness, and mismanagement--the men became as sick in body -as they had long been at heart. The heats and rains of August turned -the camps into steaming stew-pans, and the men, who would have faced -death by shot and steel with cheers, died miserably of cholera and -typhus, and dying, struck a chill to the hearts of those who were -left.</p> - -<p class="normal">The officers did their best--got up games for them and races. But the -more intimate companionship between officers and men which obtained in -the French army was lacking in the British, and could not be called -into spasmodic existence on the spur of the moment.</p> - -<p class="normal">The races alone excited a certain amount of enthusiasm, and whenever -Jim happened to be in camp he carried all before him.</p> - -<p class="normal">With quite mistaken grandmotherly solicitude, too, the bands were all -silenced, lest their lively music should jar on the ears of the SICK -and dying. The men tried sing-songs of their own, but sorely missed -their music, and those near any of the French camps would walk any -distance to share with them the cheery strains they could not get at -home.</p> - -<p class="normal">The camps were moved from place to place in vain attempt at dodging -death. But death went with them and the men died in hundreds. And -those who were sent to the hospitals at Varna wished they had died -before they got there.</p> - -<p class="normal">Through all that dreadful time, when the doctors were next to -powerless and burying-parties the order of the day, our two boys kept -wonderfully well. And for that they were not a little indebted to Lord -Deseret, to a certain amount of fatherly oversight on the part of -Colonel Carron, and perhaps most of all to the fact that they were -kept busy.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack and his fellows beat the country-sides for game until they had -swept them bare.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, still in luck, was sent out to buy horses, and travelled far and -wide, and still farther and wider as the nearer provinces became -depleted. And when Jack's game was finished he got permission to go -with him, and in those long, venturesome rides they two renewed their -youth together, and rejoiced in one another, and found life good.</p> - -<p class="normal">Many a lively adventure they had as they scoured the long Bulgarian -plains in search of their four-legged prizes, for which they paid a -trifle over a pound a leg in cash, whereby they beat their French -opponents, who only paid in paper which had to be cashed at French -Head-quarters, one hundred or more miles away.</p> - -<p class="normal">To the boys it was all a delightful game; and getting the horses home, -when they had found and bought them, was by no means the least -exciting part of it. But the chief thing was that it took them out of -the deadly camps, kept them fully occupied, and in soundest health -when so many sickened and died.</p> - -<p class="normal">The risks of the road were comparatively small, and they always went -well armed and with an escort.</p> - -<p class="normal">Danger, indeed, lurked nearer home. For the twenty miles of road -between Varna and the camps at Aladyn and Devna began to be infested -with the baser spirits from among the great gathering of the -off-scourings of the Levant which had flocked after the army.</p> - -<p class="normal">Outrages were of daily occurrence, and every man who went that way -alone rode warily, with his hand on his revolver and his eyes on the -look out.</p> - -<p class="normal">One day Jack had ridden up to the plateau by the sea, where the -Dragoons were, to visit George Herapath and Harben, who were both down -with dysentery, and Jim had been delayed at the commissary's office by -the only part of the business in which he took no delight--the -settlement of his accounts, which never by any chance came out right.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were cantering home in the cool of the evening, when cries of -distress at a short distance from the road turned their horses' -heads that way, and galloping up in haste they came on a band of -Bashi-Bazouks--cut-throat ruffians whom General Yusuf was trying to -lick into shape--dragging away a young country girl, whose terrified -eyes had caught sight of the British uniforms. Already that uniform -carried with it greater guarantee of right and justice than any of the -many others with which the country was overrun. So as soon as she saw -them she shrieked for help, and they answered.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Let her go, you beasts!" shouted Jack, as he dragged out his sword.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then, as dirty hands fumbled in waist-shawls full of pistols, -Jim's revolver cracked out, and two of the rascals went down. Curses -and bullets flew promiscuously for a second or two, and then the -remaining Bashis bolted, leaving four on the ground and the girl on -their hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What the deuce are we to do with her?" said Jack, as the spoils of -war clung tearfully to his leg.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where?" asked Jim, in one of the few native words he had picked up in -the course of business.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pravadi," panted the girl.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's over yonder, past Aladyn," said Jim. "We'd better take her -home, or those brutes will get her again. I'll take her up--my horse -is fresher than yours. Come along, my beauty!" And he stuck out his -boot for a foot-rest, and held out his hand to the girl.</p> - -<p class="normal">The uniform was her sufficient guarantee, and she climbed up and -straddled the horse, and locked her arms tightly round Jim's waist.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right?" he asked. And they turned to the road.</p> - -<p class="normal">Two minutes later they fell in with a Turkish patrol galloping up at -sound of the firing, and had some difficulty in making them understand -that they were not carrying off the girl on their own account. They -were only convinced by being led back to the place where the wounded -Bashis lay. Then they offered to take care of the girl and see her -safely home. But she knew them too well and would have none of them. -She clung like a leech to Jim, and at last they were permitted to go -on their way.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had many little adventures of the kind, and they tended to keep -their blood in circulation, and the blues, which afflicted their -fellows, at a distance.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret had laid down the law for Jim as regards eating and -drinking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have lived in Turkey," he said. "Drink no water unless it has been -boiled, and then dash it with rum. Tea or coffee are better still. And -eat as little fruit as possible; it's tempting, but dangerous."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim used to get wildly angry with his men, when he saw them -devouring cucumbers by the half-dozen, and apricots and plums by the -basketful, under the impression that these things were good for their -health. They laughed at his remonstrances at first, but remembered -them later; and those who did not die foreswore cucumbers for the rest -of their lives.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.45" href="#div1Ref_3.45">CHAPTER XLV</a></h4> -<h5>MORE REVELATIONS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Colonel Carron was constantly looking the boys up, and carrying them -off to the best meals they ever got in that country. His Chief, Prince -Napoleon, had gone down to Therapia with a touch of fever, and the -Colonel was in charge of his quarters and saw to it that His -Highness's cooks did not get rusty in his absence.</p> - -<p class="normal">Over these delightful dinners in the leafy arbours which always marked -the Prince's quarters, they all came to know one another very much -better than they might have done under any ordinary circumstances.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the burden of the Colonel's talk was chiefly regret that one or -both of them had not taken his offer and joined him in the French -service.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sorry I am to say it," he said one night, as they sat sipping coffee -such as they got nowhere else, and smoking cigars such as their own -pockets did not run to, "but your army is only a fancy toy--in the way -it's run, I mean. Your men are the finest in the world, what there are -of them; but England is not a soldierly nation, say what you like -about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What about the Peninsula, sir?--to say nothing of Waterloo!" murmured -Jack, after a discreet took round.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, you can fight and win battles, just as you can do pretty nearly -anything else you make up your minds to do--regardless of cost. But -with us the army is a science--an exact science almost--and every -single detail is worked out on the most scientific lines. You only -need to look round you to see the difference. England is never ready -because she is not by nature a fighting nation. Her army rusts along, -and then when the sudden call comes you have got to brace up and win -through--or muddle through--at any cost, and the cost is generally -frightful. The men and money you have wasted--absolutely wasted--in -your wars do not bear thinking of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid it's true, sir. And we don't seem to learn much by -experience. I suppose it comes from having sea-frontiers instead of -land. You have to <i>be</i> ready. We always have to <i>get</i> ready."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how about the horses, Jim?" he asked. "I'm told you manage to get -more than we do. That's one for you, my boy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We pay cash, sir. You pay in paper promises, and a man a hundred -miles away will sooner part for gold than for paper."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truly; I would myself. Do you lose many <i>en route?</i>"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not two per cent, sir. Some of them are pretty wild, and they make a -bolt at times, but it adds to the fun, and we nearly always get them -back. Did you see Nolan's Arabs?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw them--beauties. The Prince wanted to buy two or three, but I -dissuaded him. They're too delicate for a winter campaign. That big -brown of yours, that Deseret gave you, is worth four of them--as far -as work is concerned."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You think we're in for a winter campaign, sir?" asked Jack eagerly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No doubt about it, I think. We've got to do something before we go -home--some of us. Our coming up here has cleared the Russians off the -Danube, but our dawdling here has given them every chance of -strengthening themselves in the Crimea. The biggest thing they have -there is Sebastopol, on which they have squandered money. Therefore I -think it will be Sebastopol, and anything but an easy job."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We shall get our chance, then," sparkled Jack. "We did a bit at -Gallipoli, but a real big siege would be grand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope your commissariat will play up better then, or we shall have -to feed you," said the Colonel, with a smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">He liked to draw them out and get their views on men and things, and -watched them keenly the while, but all his watching brought him not -one whit nearer a solution of the problem of Carne than had Charles -Eager's and Sir Denzil's.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the course of one such talk, however, they made a discovery and -received a shock which knocked the wind out of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their father was delightfully open and frank with them as regards the -past, and it drew their liking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have behaved shamefully to you both," he said one time, "and still -worse to one of you. And I have nothing to plead in extenuation except -that I did as my fellows in those days did--which is a very poor -excuse, I confess. I must make such compensation as I can. One of you -will have to become Carron of Carrie, and the other M. le Compte de -Carne--maybe M. le Duc by that time. There's no knowing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There's the Quixande matter too," said Jack thoughtfully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"An empty title, I fear, by this time. And the Carrons were of note -ages before the Quixandes were heard of. You seem to have got on very -good terms with Deseret"--to Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was very good to me, sir. I don't know why, unless it was because -of his old friendship with you. He always spoke very handsomely of -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was always a good fellow, but a terrible gambler. And yet I don't -think he suffered on the whole. He was so confoundedly rich that it -made no difference to him in any way. I have seen him win and lose -£10,000 in a night at Crockford's, without turning a hair."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw him win somewhere about that at a house in St. James's Street -and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how much did you lose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing, sir; I was only looking on. Charlie Denham took me -there--just to see it, you know. When Lord Deseret heard my name he -came up and spoke to me. He asked me to call on him, and scribbled his -address on the back of a bank-note, and gave it to me, and insisted on -my keeping it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just like him!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then the police came and we had to get out over the roofs----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would dearly have liked to see Deseret getting out over the roofs," -laughed the Colonel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He seemed quite used to it, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I haven't a doubt of it. And he never suggested you should play?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"On the contrary, he never ceased to warn me against it. So did Mme -Beteta----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mme Beteta!" And the Colonel's cigar hung fire in midair, and he sat -staring at Jim as if he had called up a ghost.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The dancer, you know. She has been awfully kind to me. Did you know -her too, sir?" asked innocent Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How did you come to make <i>her</i> acquaintance?" asked his father, with -quite a change of tone, and an intentness that struck even Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We had gone to see her dance----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Both of you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Charlie Denham and I. And Lord Deseret saw us and sent for us to his -box, and at the interval he offered to take us round."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Deseret?" And he said something under his breath in French which they -did not catch. "Well--and how did she receive you?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She was very pleasant. She asked me to call and see her, and I've -been several times."</p> - -<p class="normal">The Colonel resumed his cigar and smoked in silence for some time, -with his eyes fixed meditatively on a distant corner. Then, he seemed -to make up his mind. He blew out a great cloud of smoke and said very -deliberately:</p> - -<p class="normal">"In view of what is coming it is perhaps as well you should know, -though it will not help you to a solution of your puzzle--at least--I -don't know. . . . It might--yes--probably it might, if one could be -sure of her telling the truth for its own sake and apart from all -other considerations. Mme Beteta is your mother"--and he nodded at -Jim, who jumped in his chair; "or yours"--and he nodded at Jack, who -sat staring fixedly at him. "She may know which of you is her own boy. -I cannot tell. But she will only tell what she chooses--if I know -anything of women."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," he said presently, while the boys still sat speechless, "Beteta -is old Mrs. Lee's daughter. The old woman knows also, I expect, but -she certainly will only tell what suits her, and you could put very -little reliance on anything she said. Has madame met you both?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, sir. She asked me to bring Jack to see her the first chance I -got, and I did so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"She was just the same to him, as nice as could be, anxious we should -get into some scrape so that she could be of some use to us, and that -kind of thing--very nice."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--well! It is just possible--it is very probable," he said -weightily, "that some of us three may never get home again. We don't -know for certain what we're going to attempt, so it is impossible to -forecast the chances. But, in view of what may be, it is only right -that you should know. Is there anything else you wish to ask? I have -had great cause to regret many things in my life, but nothing, -perhaps, more than this. Though, <i>mon Dieu!</i>" he said very heartily, -"even this has its compensations in you two boys. However, I have no -desire to refer to it again. So, if there is anything more----" And he -waited for their questioning.</p> - -<p class="normal">"There is one thing, sir," said Jack, unwillingly enough, and yet it -seemed to him necessary. "You will pardon me, I hope, but it might be -of importance. Did you--were you--was your marriage with madame all in -order?"</p> - -<p class="normal">The Colonel nodded as though he had been expecting the question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"In justice to her, I must say that she believed so at the time, but -there were irregularities in it which would probably invalidate it if -brought to the test, and I think she is now aware of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You have met her since?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes. We have been on friendly terms for some years past."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you believe she could solve the question that is troubling us -all, if she would?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I think it likely, but--you must see," and he addressed himself more -particularly to Jack--"that most women, in such a case, would lie -through thick and thin to establish their own cause."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know," said Jack doubtfully. "I suppose it is possible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is certain. However, the solution to the puzzle may come -otherwise,"--they knew what he meant--"so now we will drop the matter, -and you must think of me as little unkindly as you can. Jean-Marie," -to an orderly outside, "bring us fresh coffee and more cognac."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know that Canrobert lost three thousand of his men up in the -Dobrudscha?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Three thousand!" gasped Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They got into some swamp full of rotting horses and dead Russians and -consequent pestilence, and the men died like flies."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is hard to go like that," said Jim. "I'd sooner die ten times over -in fair fight than of the cholera. That's what's knocking the heart -out of the men, that and having nothing to do but watch the other -fellows die."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--well, we'll give them something to do at last. Every Tom, Dick, -and François is to set to work making fascines and gabions."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That means a siege, then," said Jack, with delight. "And our time's -coming after all."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.46" href="#div1Ref_3.46">CHAPTER XLVI</a></h4> -<h5>THE BLACK LANDING</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">From that time on there was no lack of work. The spirits of the me, -went up fifty per cent, and the general health improved in like ratio. -Hard work proved the best of tonics.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, of a truth, a tonic was needed. It took the Guards--the flower of -the British army--two days march from Aladyn to the sea at Varna, a -distance of ten miles. So reduced were they by sickness, that five -miles a day was all they could manage, and even then their packs were -carried for them.</p> - -<p class="normal">For those in charge there was no rest, by day or Light, until the -embarkation was complete. When Jim Carron followed his last horse on -board the <i>Himalaya</i>, he tumbled into a bath and then into a bunk, and -slept for twenty-four hours without moving a finger.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he had ample time, when he woke up, fresh and hungry, to admire -that most wonderful sight of close on seven hundred ships, of all -shapes and sizes--from the stately <i>Agamemnon</i>, flying the Admiral's -flag, to the steam-tug <i>Pigmy</i>, wrestling valiantly with a transport -twenty times her size--as they crept slowly across the Black Sea, with -80,000 men on board for the chastisement of the Russian Bear. A sight -for a lifetime, indeed, but one which no man who remembers or thinks -of would ever wish to set eyes on again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim and his fellows, however, rejoiced in it, for without doubt it -meant business at last, and they had almost begun to despair.</p> - -<p class="normal">So, in due time, they came in sight of the tented mountains and the -coast; and after what seemed to the ardent ones still more vacillation -and delays, the launches and flat-boats got to work, and the long -strip of shingle which lay between the sea and a great lake behind -became black with men.</p> - -<p class="normal">All was eagerness and anticipation. The voyage had had a good effect -on bodies sorely weakened by disease, and the prospect of active -employment at last a still better effect on hearts that had grown -heavy with disappointment.</p> - -<p class="normal">But ten days of life-giving sea cannot entirely undo the mischief of -the sickly months ashore. Numbers died on the voyage. Of those who -landed, few indeed were the men they had been when they left England -six months before, but hearts ran high if bodies were worn and weak.</p> - -<p class="normal">That was the busiest day those regions had seen since time began. To -the few bewildered inhabitants it seemed as though the whole unknown -world was emptying itself on their shores.</p> - -<p class="normal">Before sunset over 60,000 men were landed, and still there were more -to come. All that coast, from Eupatoria to Old Fort, was like an -ant-hill dropped suddenly on to a strange place, over which its tiny -occupants swarmed tumultuously in the endeavour to accommodate -themselves to the new conditions.</p> - -<p class="normal">The weather, which had held up during the day, broke towards evening. -The surf reared viciously up the shingle beach, and the rain came down -in torrents. The tents were still aboard ship; men and officers alike -sat and soaked throughout the dreary night in extremest misery. Jack -among them. He had been sent on in advance of his corps to make -observations and dispositions for the accommodation of the ordnance, -and carried--according to instructions--nothing but his great-coat -rolled up lengthwise and slung over his shoulder, a canteen of water, -and three days' provision of cooked salt meat and biscuit in a -haversack. The men had their blankets in addition, and their rifles -and bayonets and ammunition.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the deluge broke on them, and the spray came flying up the beach -in sheets, drenching them alike above and below, the men huddled -together and tried to improvise shelters with their great-coats and -blankets. But Nature was pitiless and seemed to bend her direst -energies to the task of damping their spirits. With their bodies she -had her will, but their spirits were beyond her, for they were on -Russian territory at last, and that meant business.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack sat on the wet shingle, back to back with one of his fellows, and -the rain soaked through him, till his very marrow felt cold.</p> - -<p class="normal">Some of the men near him, crouching under their sopping blankets, -started singing, and "God save the Queen" and "Rule Britannia" rolled -brokenly along the lines for a time. But by degrees the singing died -away, the wet blankets exerted their proverbial influence, and silent -misery prevailed.</p> - -<p class="normal">The weather had broken before the cavalry got ashore, so Jim spent -that night very gratefully in the comfort of his bunk on the -<i>Himalaya</i>, and wondered how they were faring on land.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was up before sunrise, however, and hard at work, though the waves -were still high, and landing horses would be no easy matter.</p> - -<p class="normal">And worse [end of line is blank]</p> - -<p class="normal">He came on Jack prowling anxiously among the black masses just -wakening into life again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello, Jim!" he said hoarsely. "Where were you? Did you get damp?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We're not landed yet. Too rough for the horses."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lucky beggars! I never had such a night in my life. It was ghastly. -Why the deuce couldn't they let us have some tents? Those French -beggars had theirs, and the beastly Turks too. We're the worst-managed -lot I ever heard of."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What's this?" asked Jim, staring open-mouthed at a muffled figure at -his feet--stiff and stark, though all around were stirring. "Why -doesn't he get up?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's got up," said Jack through his teeth. "He's dead, and there's a -score or more like him. Dead of the cold and want of everything. Hang -it! why aren't we Frenchmen or Turks!" A sore speech, born of great -bitterness.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim felt it almost an insult be so warm and hearty and well-fed, -with that dumb witness of the dreadful misery of the night lying -silent at his feet.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the thought of it all bore sorely on him and brought the lump into -his throat. To pull through the bad times at Varna; to come all that -way across the sea, indomitable spirit overcoming all the weaknesses -of the flesh; to land at last in the high flush of hope,--and then to -die like dogs of cold and misery, on the wet shingle, before their -hope had smallest chance of realisation! Oh, it was hard! It was -bitter hard!</p> - -<p class="normal">When he reported on board it was decided to make for Eupatoria, where -there was a pier, but before they got under way the weather showed -signs of improvement, and presently the landing began, and for the -next two days both the boys had so much on their hands that they had -no time to think of anything but the contrarinesses of horses and -guns, and the disconcerting effects of high seas on things unused to -them.</p> - -<p class="normal">In spite of all they lacked, however, the men's spirits rose as soon -as the sun shone out and warmed them. They were on Russian soil at -last, and that made up for everything. All they wanted now was -Russians to come to grips with--Russians in quantity and of a fighting -stomach.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sebastopol was thirty miles to the south, and between them and it lay -rivers, and almost certainly armies; and on the third day they set off -resolutely to find them. And that day Jim had his first trying -experience of playing target to a distant enemy in deadly sober -earnest.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had wondered much what it would feel like, and how his inner man -would take it. As for the outer, he had promised himself that that -should show no sign, no matter what happened.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Hussars were feeling the way in advance, when a bunch of Cossacks -appeared on the hills in front, and representatives of Britain and -Russia took eager stock of one another. They were rough-looking -fellows on sturdy horses, and carried long lances. They rode down the -hill as though to offer battle, and the Englishmen were keen to try -conclusions with them. But behind them, in the hollows, were -discovered dense masses of cavalry waiting for the game to walk into -the net. And when the wary game declined, the cavalry opened out and -disclosed hidden guns, and the game of long bowls began.</p> - -<p class="normal">The first shots went wide, and Jim watched them go hopping along the -plain with much curiosity. Then came the vicious spurt of white smoke -again, and the man and horse alongside him collapsed in a heap; the -horse with a most dolorous groan, the man--Saxelby, a fine young -fellow of his own troop--with a gasping cry, his leg shorn clean off -at the knee.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's heart went right down into his stomach for a moment as the blood -spirted over him, and he felt deadly sick.</p> - -<p class="normal">His first impulse was to jump down and help poor Saxelby, but he -feared for himself if he did so--feared he would fall in a heap -alongside him and perhaps not be able to get up, for he felt as weak -as water.</p> - -<p class="normal">He clenched his teeth till they ached. He dropped his bridle hand on -to his holster to keep it from shaking, and clasped his horse so -tightly with his knees that he resented it and began to fret and -curvet. Jim bent over and patted him on the neck, and two troopers got -down and carried Saxelby away. The horse stopped jerking its legs and -lay still, with its eyes wide and white, and its nostrils all bloody, -and its teeth clenched and its lips drawn back in a horrid grin.</p> - -<p class="normal">The guns had found their range and were spitting venomously now. Half -a dozen more of his men were down. He was quite sure he would be next. -He thought in a whirl for a moment,--of Gracie; she would marry Jack, -and all that matter would be smoothed out;--and of Mr. Eager, the dear -fellow!--and his father, and he wished they had seen more of one -another;--and Sir Denzil, he was not such a bad old chap after -all. He thought they would be sorry for him. And Mme Beteta, he -wondered---- Well, maybe he would know all about it in a minute or -two.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then his heart rose suddenly right up into his head, and he was filled -with a vast blazing anger at this being shot at with never a chance of -a stroke in reply. If they would only let them go for those d----d -Russians he would not feel so bad about it! But to be shot down like -pheasants! It was not business! It was all d----d nonsense! He began -to get very angry indeed.</p> - -<p class="normal">His quickened ear had caught the rattle of artillery coming up behind. -But it had stopped. Why the deuce had it stopped? Why couldn't someone -do something before they were all bowled over?</p> - -<p class="normal">Then at last there came a roar on their flank, and some of the newer -horses kicked and danced, and Jim, staring hard at the Russians, saw a -lane cleft through them where the shot had gone.</p> - -<p class="normal">He clenched his teeth now to keep in a wild hurrah. It was an odd -feeling. He knew nothing about those fellows under the hill, but he -hated them like sin and rejoiced in their destruction. He would have -liked to slaughter every man of them with his own hand. If he had been -able to get at them he would have hacked and slashed till there wasn't -one left.</p> - -<p class="normal">No more balls came their way now. The guns turned on one another, and -presently the Russians limbered up and retired--and it was over, and -he was still alive. And then he was thankful.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim went off in search of Saxelby and the other half-dozen wounded -men, as soon as he came in, and found them trimmed up and bandaged, -just starting in litters for the ships, and all very angry at being -knocked out before they had had a chance.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then they crossed the Bulganak and bivouacked for the night, in -grievous discomfort still from lack of tents and shortage of -provisions, but strung to cheerfulness by the fact that they were -really in touch with the enemy at last--triumph surely of mind over -matter. Notwithstanding which, the morning disclosed another pitiful -tale of deaths from cold and exposure--brave fellows who would not -knock under in spite of pains and weakness, and had dragged themselves -along lest they should be "out of the fun," and died silently where -they lay for lack of the simple necessities of life.</p> - -<p class="normal">Rightly or wrongly the blame fell on the commissaries, and the dead -men's comrades flung them curses hot enough to fire a ship. For -meeting the Russians in fair fight was one thing, and altogether to -their liking; but this lack of foresight and provision took them below -the belt in every sense of the word, and was like an unexpected blow -from the fist of one's backer.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.47" href="#div1Ref_3.47">CHAPTER XLVII</a></h4> -<h5>ALMA</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">At noon next day they came to a shallow river winding between red clay -banks, a somewhat undignified stream whose name they were to blazon in -letters of blood on the rolls of fame--the Alma.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russians were strongly entrenched on the hills on the other side -and in great force, and every man knew that here was a giant struggle -and glory galore for the winners.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a great fight, but it was mostly rifle and bayonet and the grim -reaction from those deadly slow months at Varna. And the Engineers had -little to do but watch the others, as they dashed through the muddy -stream, and climbed the roaring heights in the face of death, and -captured the great redoubt at dreadful cost. And the cavalry were -miles away on the left, covering the attack on that side from five -times their own weight of Russian cavalry, who never came on, and so -they had nothing to do and were disgusted at being out of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">So neither Jack nor Jim were in that fight, but afterwards they -climbed the hill with separate searching parties and met by chance in -the redoubt on top, and looked on sights unforgettable, which made a -deep and grim impression on them both.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the first battlefield they had ever set eyes on, and they spoke -very little.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God! Isn't it awful?" said Jack through his teeth, as they stood -looking down the hill towards the river flowing unconcernedly to the -sea, just as it had done when they came to it at noon, just as it had -done all through the dreadful uproar when men were falling in their -thousands. The ground between was strewn and heaped and piled with -dead bodies.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim had no words for it. He could only shake his head.</p> - -<p class="normal">While they were still gazing awe-stricken at the ghastly piles of -broken men, among which the litter-men were prowling in anxious search -for wounded, a group of brilliantly clad officers came up from the -French camp, where the rows of comfortable white tents set English -teeth grinding with envy and chagrin. And among them they saw Prince -Napoleon and Colonel Carron.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their father saw them in the redoubt and came up at once. "Glad to see -you still alive, boys," he said cheerfully. "Hot work, wasn't it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Awful, sir. Were you in it?" asked Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes. We came across there"--pointing to a burnt-out village on the -river-bank--"and then up here. Here's where we got the guns up to -relieve Bosquet. We've paid pretty heavily, but it's shown them what -we're made of. You weren't in it, I suppose, Jim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No sir; we were waiting over yonder for some cavalry to come on, but -they wouldn't. Worse luck!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your chances will come, my boy. And you, Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We had very little to do, sir. We were away in the rear there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your men did splendidly. Canrobert was just saying that he doubted if -our men would have managed that frontal business as yours did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They paid," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And are still paying," said the Colonel, as they stood watching the -French ambulances, with their trim little mules, trotting off towards -the coast, carrying a dozen wounded men in quick comfort, while the -English litter-men crept slowly along on their jogging four-mile -tramp, which proved the death of many a sorely wounded man and -purgatory to the rest.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Truly, your arrangements are not up to the mark." said Colonel -Carron. "How have you stood the nights? Somebody was saying you had no -tents."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Last night was the first time we've had any, and they've all been -sent on board again," said Jack gloomily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's too bad. It's hard on the men."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We lose a number every night with the cold."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bad management---- The Prince is off. I must go. Good luck to you, -boys! I shall come over and look you up from time to time. Keep out of -mischief!" And he waved a cheery hand and was gone, and the boys went -down among the ghastly piles to do what they could.</p> - -<p class="normal">But it was heart-breaking work; the total of misery was so immense, -and the means of alleviation so feeble in comparison.</p> - -<p class="normal">The French wounded were safe on board ship within an hour after they -were picked up. It was two days before all the English were disposed -of, though every man who could be spared set his hand to the work.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the afternoon of the second day after the fight, Jim was going -wearily down the hill, after such a time among the dead and wounded as -had made him almost physically sick.</p> - -<p class="normal">All the French, and he thought almost all the English, wounded had -been seen to. The Russians had necessarily been left to the last.</p> - -<p class="normal">As he passed a grisly pile he thought he caught a faint groan from -inside it, and set to work at once hauling the dead men apart, with -tightened face and repressed breath. The job was neither pleasant nor -wholesome, but there was no one else near at hand and he must see to -it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Right at the bottom of the pile, soaked with the blood of those who -had fallen on top of him, he came upon a young fellow, an officer, -just about his own age. And as he dragged the last body off him, he -opened his eyes wearily and groaned.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim put his pocket-flask to the white lips, and the other sucked -eagerly and a touch of colour came into his face. He lay looking up -into the face bending over him, and then his chest filled and he -sighed.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where are you hurt?" asked Jim, expecting no answer, but full of -sympathy.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Leg and side," said the wounded one, in English with an accent.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll fetch a litter."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Stay moment. Only dead men--two days. Good to see a live -one. . . . Did you win?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, we won, but at very heavy cost."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Glad you won."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That doesn't sound good," said honest Jim, with disfavour.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You would feel same. Hate Russians. . . . Pole."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see," said Jim, whose history was nebulous, but equal to the -occasion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Forced to fight," said the wounded man. "Done with it now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take some more rum--it'll warm you up; and I'll find a litter for -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you bread? I starve. . . ."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see if I can get you something."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Open his roll." And the wounded man turned his eyes hungrily on the -nearest dead body. And Jim, opening the linen roll which each Russian -carried, found a lump of hard black bread and placed it in his hand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank. You will come again?" asked the young Pole anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll come back all right, as soon as I've found a litter." And he -left the wounded man feebly gnawing his chunk of black bread like a -starving dog.</p> - -<p class="normal">He found a litter in time, and the weary eyes brightened a trifle at -sight of him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are good," he murmured. "You save me."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim, thinking what he would like himself in similar case, went -along by his side till they found a doctor resting for a moment, and -begged him to examine the new-comer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"His leg must go. The body wound will heal," said the medico. "Seems -to have had a bad time. Where did you find him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I found him under fifteen dead men."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then he owes you his life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said the wounded one "I am grateful. Take the leg off."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's a Pole, forced to fight against his will," said Jim, at the -doctor's astonishment.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see"--as he screwed a tourniquet on the shattered limb. "We're -sending all their wounded to Odessa."</p> - -<p class="normal">At which the young man groaned.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hold his hand," said the doctor. "He's pretty low." And Jim held the -twitching hand while the knife and the saw did their work, and was not -sure whether it was his hand that jumped so or the other's.</p> - -<p class="normal">The other hand suddenly lay limp in his, and he thought the man was -dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Fainted," said the doctor. "He's been bleeding away for two days."</p> - -<p class="normal">He came round, however, and tried to smile when he saw Jim still -there. And presently he murmured:</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank." And then he looked down at his hand all caked with blood, -and tried feebly to get a ring off his finger.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take!" he said. But Jim shook his head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, yes." And he wrestled feebly again with the ring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Better humour him," said the doctor. "It'll do him more good than to -refuse."</p> - -<p class="normal">So Jim worked the ring off for him, and slipped it on his own finger, -and the wounded man said "I thank!" and lay back satisfied.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim saw him carried down to the boat and wished him luck, and then -strode away to his own quarters, which consisted of a seat on the side -of a dry ditch--dry at present, but which would be soaking with dew -before morning--with his brown horse picketed alongside, as hungry and -low-spirited as his master.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim looked at his ring and thought of its late owner, and hoped he -would get over it, and wondered how soon his own turn would come. For -the thing that amazed him was that any single man could come alive out -of a fight like that at the Alma.</p> - -<p class="normal">His horse nuzzled hungrily at him, and he suddenly bethought him of -the black bread in the Russians' linen rolls. He jumped up, tired as -he was, and trode away to the battlefield again, and came back with -chunks of hard tack and black bread enough to make his brown and some -of his neighbours happy for the night.</p> - -<p class="normal">Marshal St. Arnaud, sore sick as he was, was eager to press on at once -after the discomfited Russians. But "an army marches on its stomach," -and it was two full days before Lord Raglan could make a move. Those -two lost days might have changed the whole course of the campaign, and -saved many thousands of lives. The defective organisation of the -British transport and commissariat slew more than all the Russian -bullets.</p> - -<p class="normal">On the third morning, as the sun rose all the trumpets, bugles, and -drums in the French army pealed out from the summit of the captured -hill, and presently the allied armies were <i>en route</i> again for -Sebastopol.</p> - -<p class="normal">The next day, however, saw a sudden change of plans and a most -remarkable happening. The allied chiefs gave up the idea of attacking -the town from the north, on which side all preparations had been made -for their reception, and decided, instead, to march right round and -take it on its undefended south side. And so began that famous flank -march to Balaclava which was to turn all the defences of the fortress.</p> - -<p class="normal">And on that selfsame day the Russian chief, Menchikoff, decided to -march out of Sebastopol into the open, and so turn the flank of the -allies. And the two lines of march crossed at Mackenzie's farm.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russians had got out first, however, and it was only their -rear-guard upon whom the English chanced, and immediately fell, and -put to rout. They chased them for several miles and took their -military chest and great booty of baggage which, being left to the men -as lawful prize, cheered them greatly.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Jim got back from the chase the new owners were offering for sale -dazzling uniforms, and decorations, and handsome fur coats, at -remarkable prices. He had no yearning for Russian uniforms or -decorations, but as he suffered much from the cold of a night he -bought two of the wonderful coats for five pounds each, and, when they -halted, he sought out Jack and made him happy with one of them.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.48" href="#div1Ref_3.48">CHAPTER XLVIII</a></h4> -<h5>JIM'S RIDE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Next day the allied forces crossed the Tchernaya by the Traktir Bridge -and marched on Balaclava.</p> - -<p class="normal">And here Jim's threefold reputation as a hard rider, the best-mounted -man in his regiment, and a man who did, brought him a chance of fresh -distinction.</p> - -<p class="normal">In abandoning the coast and marching inland, the army had cut itself -off from its base of supply--the fleet. It was urgently necessary that -word should be sent to the admirals to move on round the coast past -Sebastopol and meet the army in its new quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">Just as they were crowding over Traktir Bridge a rider came galloping -up with dispatches for Lord Raglan--Lieutenant Maxse of the -<i>Agamemnon</i>. He had left Katcha Bay that morning, and offered at once -to ride back with orders for the fleet to move on. A brave offer, for -the country was all wild forest and lonely plain and valley, infested -with prowling bands of Cossacks, and the night was falling.</p> - -<p class="normal">An hour later Maxse, on a fresh horse, was galloping back to the -coast.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If anything should happen to him," said the Chief, "we shall be in a -hole." And he sent for Lord Lucan.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want your best horseman and your best horse, Lucan, and a man who -will put a thing through."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's young Carron of the Hussars, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim, paraded for inspection on his big brown horse--quite filled -out and frolicsome with its load of black bread the day but one -before--seemed likely in the Chief's eyes.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Carron," he said. "I have a dangerous task for you. I am told you -are the man for it. Lieutenant Maxse left here an hour ago for the -ships. They must get round at once and meet us at Balaclava. Here is a -copy of the order. If Maxse has not got through you will deliver it to -Admiral Dundas in Katcha Bay. Don't lose a moment. The welfare of the -army depends on you."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim saluted.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How will you go?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mackenzie's farm and the post-road, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are armed? You may meet Cossacks."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sword and revolver. I shall manage all right."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Come round with the ships and report to me at Balaclava."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim saluted once more, and spurred away.</p> - -<p class="normal">The distance was only some twenty miles, an easy two hours' ride. The -dangers lay in the hostile country and the prowling Cossacks, for in -the long defile from the farm to the Belbec, and then again in the -broken country between the Belbec and the Katcha, there were a -thousand places where a rider might be picked off from the hill-sides -and never catch a glimpse of his adversary.</p> - -<p class="normal">However, it was no good thinking of all that, and Jim was not one to -cross bridges before he came to them, or to meet trouble half-way. His -big brown had a long, easy stride which was almost restful to his -rider, and Jim had a seat that gave his horse the least possible -inconvenience, and between them was completest sympathy and -friendship.</p> - -<p class="normal">And as to the dark, unless he absolutely ran into Cossacks he reckoned -it all in his favour. It kept down his pace indeed, but at the same -time it hid him from the watchful eyes on the hill-sides and the -leaden messages they might have sent him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He received warm commendation for that night's ride, but, as simple -matter of fact, he enjoyed it greatly, and had no difficulties beyond -keeping the road in the dark and making sure it was the right one. -Plain common-sense, however, bade him always trend to the left when -cross-roads offered alternatives, and after leaving Mackenzie's he -never set eyes on a soul till he found the Belbec an hour before -midnight, and rode up through the wreathing mists of the river-bed to -the highlands beyond.</p> - -<p class="normal">The dew was drenching wet and the night cold, but he got into his big -fur coat, which had been rolled up behind his saddle, and suffered not -at all.</p> - -<p class="normal">His thoughts ran leisurely back to them all at home,--Gracie, and Mr. -Eager, and his grandfather, and Lord Deseret, and Mme Beteta, and his -father's amazing revelation concerning her. He wondered whether they -would ever learn the truth, and if not, how the tangle would be -straightened out. He thought dimly, but with no great fear now, that -they would probably both be killed if there was much fighting such as -that at the Alma, so there was no need to trouble about the future.</p> - -<p class="normal">Charlie Denham, indeed, never ceased to philosophise that it was -always the other fellow who was going to be killed; but if every one -thought that, it was evident, even to Jim's unphilosophic mind, that -there must be a flaw somewhere.</p> - -<p class="normal">Anyway, when a man's time came he died, and there was no good worrying -oneself into the blues beforehand.</p> - -<p class="normal">A hoarse challenge broke suddenly on his musings, and a darker blur on -the road just in front resolved itself into half a dozen horsemen. -They had heard his horse's hoofs, and waited in silence to see who -came.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had pulled the hood of his fur coat right up over his busby, and -the heavy folds covered him almost down to the feet. He decided in a -moment that safety lay in silence, so he rode straight on, waved a -hand to the doubtful Cossacks, and was past Telegraph Hill before they -had done discussing him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He wondered if Maxse had met them and how he had fared.</p> - -<p class="normal">An hour later he forded the Katcha and turned down the valley towards -the sea. Boats were still plying between the sandy beach and the -ships. The Jacks eyed him for a moment with suspicion, but gave him -jovial welcome when they found that only his outer covering was -Russian.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lieutenant Maxse had just been put aboard the <i>Agamemnon</i>, he found, -and a minute or two later he was following him. So Jim had the -pleasure of steaming past the sea-front of Sebastopol to Balaclava -Bay, where they found the ancient little fort on the heights -bombarding the British army with for tiny guns.</p> - -<p class="normal">They brought it to reason with half a dozen round shot, and presently -steamed cautiously in round the awkward corners, and dropped anchor -opposite the house where Lord Raglan had taken up his quarters.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.49" href="#div1Ref_3.49">CHAPTER XLIX</a></h4> -<h5>AMONG THE BULL-PUPS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And now force of circumstances left the cavalry stranded high and dry, -with nothing to do but range the valley now and again in quest of -enemies who never showed face, and growl continually at the -untowardness of their lot.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had indeed had little enough to do so far, but always in front of -them had been the hope of active employment and its concomitant -rewards. But what use could cavalry be in a siege? And had they lived -through all those hideous months at Varna, and come across the sea -only to repeat them outside Sebastopol? They grizzled and growled, and -expressed their opinions on things in general with cavalier vehemence.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the worst of it was that the other more actively employed arms -were inclined to twit them with their--so far--showy uselessness.</p> - -<p class="normal">What had they done since they landed, except prance about and look -pretty? Why hadn't they been out all over the country bringing in -supplies? Where were they at the Alma, when hard knocks were the order -of the day?--asked these others.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, indeed, among themselves they asked bitterly why they had been -chained up like that and allowed to do nothing. They had held all the -Russian cavalry in check, it is true; but that was but a negative kind -of thing, and what they thirsted for was an active campaign and glory.</p> - -<p class="normal">But now it was Jack's turn, and the Engineers were in their element. -Not a man among them but devoutly hoped the place would hold out to -the utmost and give them their chance.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was almost too good to be true--an actual siege on the latest and -most approved principles! And they tackled it with gusto, and were -planning lines and trenches in their minds' eyes before their tents -were up.</p> - -<p class="normal">As a matter of fact, tents were still things to be looked forward to -with such small faith in commissaries and transport as still lingered -in their sorely tried bodies, for it had long since left their hearts; -food was so scarce that for a couple of days one whole division of the -army had tasted no meat; and every morning the first sorrowful duty of -the living was to gather up those who had died in the night of cold -and cholera, with bitter commination of those whom they considered to -blame.</p> - -<p class="normal">However, all things come in time to those who live long enough, and -the tents came up from the ships at last, and rations began to be -served out with something like regularity. The busy Engineers traced -their lines, and, as soon as it was dark each night, the digging -parties went out and set to work on the trenches, and the siege was -fairly begun, and Jack and his fellows were as busy and happy as bees.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim, if officially relegated a comparative inaction, found no lack -of employment.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was intensely interested in all that was going on. He rode here and -there with messages to this chief and that. For when he reported -himself to Lord Raglan at Balaclava, according to instructions, his -lordship was pleased to compliment him in his quiet way.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You did well, Mr. Carron," he said. "I am glad you both got through -safely. Much depended on you. By the way, you know my old friend -Deseret, I think."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lord Deseret was very kind to me in London, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I remembered, after you left last night, that he had spoken to me of -you. And surely," said his lordship musingly, "I must have known your -father. Is he still alive?"</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim hesitated for half a second, and then said simply: "Yes, sir; he -is on the staff of Prince Napoleon."</p> - -<p class="normal">"With Prince Napoleon?" said his lordship, and stared at him in -surprise. And then the old story came back to his mind. "Ah, yes! I -remember. Well, well! . . . And I suppose you're growling like the -rest at having nothing to do?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We would be glad to have more, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid it won't be a very lively time for the cavalry. But you -seem to like knocking about. I must see what I can do to keep you from -getting rusty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shall be very grateful, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">And thereafter many an odd job came his way, for the allied lines, -from the extreme French left at Kamiesch Bay in the west, to the -British right above the Inkerman Aqueduct on the north-east, covered -close upon twenty miles, and within that space there was enough going -on to keep a man busy in simply acting as travelling eye to the -Commander-in-Chief--in carrying his orders and bringing him reports.</p> - -<p class="normal">And this was business that suited Jim to the full. He saw everything -and was constantly meeting everybody he knew, and many besides.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was galloping home from the French lines one evening, through the -sailors' camp by Kadikoi, just above the gorge that runs down to -Balaclava. The jolly jacks were revelling in their lark ashore, and -showed it in the labelling of their tents with fanciful names. Jim had -already seen "Albion's Pets," "Rule Britannia," and "Windsor Castle," -and every time he passed he looked for the latest ebullitions of -sailorly humour. This time, to his great joy, he found "Britain's -Bull-Pups," and "The Bear-Baiters," and "The Bully Cockytoos."</p> - -<p class="normal">The Bull-Pups and the Bear-Baiters and the Bully Cockytoos, and all -the rest, fifty in a line, were hauling along a Lancaster gun, with a -fiddler on top fiddling away for dear life, and they all bellowing a -chantie that made him draw rein to listen to it. The bands in the -French camp were playing merrily as he left it, but in the British -lines there was not so much as a bugle or a drum, and the men were -feeling it keenly.</p> - -<p class="normal">So the rough chorus struck him pleasantly, and he stopped to hear it -out.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the gun was up to their camp, the men cast loose and began to -foot it merrily to the music, just to show what a trifle a Lancaster -gun was to British sailormen. And Jim, as he sat laughing at their -antics and enjoying them hugely, suddenly caught sight of a familiar -face. Not one of the dancers, but one who stood looking on soberly--it -might even he sombrely, Jim could not be sure.</p> - -<p class="normal">He jumped off his horse and led him round.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, Seth, old man!" he said, clapping the broad shoulder in friendly -delight. "What brings you here?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And young Seth turned and faced him, and had to look twice before he -knew him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ech--why, it's Mester Jim!" he said slowly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course it is. And but for you he wouldn't be here, and he never -forgets it. But how do you come to be here, Seth?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I come with the rest to fight the Roosians, Mester Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish they'd give us a chance, but it's going to be all long bowls, -I'm afraid."</p> - -<p class="normal">But there was that to be said between them which was not for other -ears.</p> - -<p class="normal">The tars had watched the meeting with much favour, for greetings so -friendly between officer and man were not often seen among them in -those days, though more possible between sailormen than in the army. -When they saw Jim slip his arm through Seth's and draw him along with -him, they started a lusty cheer. "Three cheers for young Fuzzy-cap! -Hip--hip!" And Jim grinned jovially and waved his hand in reply. And -Seth Rimmer, in spite of the taciturnity which they could not -understand, was a man of note among them from that day.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you hear all about your poor old dad, Seth?" asked Jim quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, Mester Jim. Th' passon told me all about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was a grievous thing. But I don't think I was to blame, Seth. He -would go out and ramble about. I did all I could for him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know. I know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Kattie, Seth! <i>You</i> surely never thought I had anything to do -with that matter?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, Mester Jim. I knowed it wasn't you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you know who it was, Seth? I would hold him to account if ever I -got the chance. But she would not tell me."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You found her?" asked Seth, with a start that brought them both to a -stand.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She came to me in the street the very last night before we left----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Seth gave out something mixed up of groan and curse.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She said she had heard we were going in the morning, and she wanted -to say good-bye."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Th' poor little wench! . . . What did you say to her Mester Jim?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was knocked all of a heap at meeting her like that, Seth. But when -I got my wits back I did the only thing I could. I took her to a lady -friend who had been very kind to me, and she promised to look after -her. And I am quite sure she will. If Kattie only stops with her I -think she may be very comfortable there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It were good o' yo'. . . ." And then, reverting to Jim's former -question, "I know him," he said hoarsely, "an' when th' chance -comes----" And the big brown hands clenched as though a man's throat -were between them. And Jim thought he would not like to be that man.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid I feel like that too, Seth, though I suppose--I don't -know. Poor little Kattie!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently he wrung the big brown hands, that were meant for better -work than wringing evil throats, and swung up on to his horse.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I must get along, Seth. But I'm often through here, and we'll be -meeting again. We're about two miles out over yonder, you know. -Good-bye!" And he galloped off to his quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">He frequently rode across of a night for a chat with Jack, but Jack -was a mighty busy man these days, and nights too. He had an inordinate -craving for trenches and gabions and facines and parallels and -approaches, and could talk of little else, and confessed that he -dreamed of them too. And if he could have accomplished as much by day -as he did by night, when he was fast asleep--though as a matter of -fact it ought to be the other way, for most of the actual work had to -be done under cover of darkness and he slept when he could--Sebastopol -would have been taken in a week.</p> - -<p class="normal">As the trenches began to develop, he would take Jim through them for a -treat, and explain all that was going on with the greatest gusto. And -at times Jim found it no easy matter to conceal the fact that it was -all exceedingly raw and dirty, though he supposed it was the only way -of getting at them.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at times shot and shell would come plunging in over the sand-bags -and gabions, and then every man would fling himself on his face in the -dirt till the flying splinters had gone, and Jim would go home and try -to brush himself clean--for Joyce had died of cholera two days out -from Varna--and would thank his stars that he belonged to a cleaner -branch of the service.</p> - -<p class="normal">Still, it was fine to watch the shells come curving out from the town -with a flash like summer lightning, and hear them singing through the -darkness, and see the fainter glare of their explosion; and when he -had nothing else on hand he went along to the trenches almost every -night to watch the fireworks.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.50" href="#div1Ref_3.50">CHAPTER L</a></h4> -<h5>RED-TAPE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The siege of Sebastopol was quite out of the ordinary run, and about -as curious a business as ever was. For one usually thinks of a -besieged town as surrounded by the enemy and cut off from the rest of -the world. And, that was never the case with Sebastopol.</p> - -<p class="normal">The allied forces drew a ring round the south and east sides of the -town, and the sea guarded it on the west, but by way of the north and -north-east the Russians had free passage at all times, and could -introduce fresh troops and provisions and all the material of war at -will, and so the defence was in a state of continuous renewal, and -fresh blood was always pouring in to replace the terrible waste -inside.</p> - -<p class="normal">By those open ways also they sent out army after army to creep round -behind the besiegers, to harry and annoy them, and this it was that -led to some of the fiercest battles of the campaign. The knowledge -also that great bodies of Russians were at large in their rear, and -only waiting, opportunity to attack them, kept the Allies perpetually -on the strain, and hurried musters in the dark to repel, at times -imaginary, assaults were of almost nightly occurrence.</p> - -<p class="normal">Failing complete investment--when starvation, added to perpetual -and irretrievable wastage, must in time have brought about a -surrender--the Allies could only pound away with their big guns, and -hope to wear down the heart and pride of Russia by the sheer dogged -determination to pound away till there was nothing left to pound at.</p> - -<p class="normal">The later attempts to breach and storm, to which all these gigantic -efforts were directed, were but a part of the same policy. Russia was -to be crushed by the combined weight of England and France and Turkey, -and, later on, Sardinia. It was very British, very bull-doggy, but it -was also terribly wasteful and costly all round.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russians had expected the attack on the north side, and had made -it almost impregnable. When, by their flank march, the Allies came -round to the south, the town was absolutely open and unprotected, the -streets running up into the open country. Before the Allies could gird -up their loins for a spring, earthworks and forts had sprung up in -front of them as though by magic, and the only means of approach was -by the slow, hard way of parallels, trenches, and zigzags. And all -this it was that made up the Crimean War.</p> - -<p class="normal">But our boys were busy, and so kept happy in spite of discomforts -without end.</p> - -<p class="normal">Every single thing the army heeded, either for fighting or for sheer -and simplest living, had to be brought to it by sea, and the one door -of entrance was tiny Balaclava Bay--with the natural consequence that -Balaclava Bay became inextricably blocked with shipping discharging on -to its narrow shores, and its shores became inextricably piled with -masses of war material and stores, with no means of transport to the -camps six and eight and ten miles away. And so confusion became ten -times confounded, and brave men languished and died for want of the -stores that lay rotting down below. Add to this the fact that every -British official's hands were bound round and round, and knotted and -thrice knotted, with coils of stiffest red tape, and no man dared to -lift a finger unless a dozen superiors in a dozen different -departments had authorised him to do so, in writing, on official -forms, with every "t" crossed and every "i" carefully dotted, and you -have the simple explanation of the horrors of the Crimea.</p> - -<p class="normal">Our own red-tape and sheer stupidity wrought far more evil on our men -than all the efforts of Menchikoff and Gortschakoff with all the might -of Russia at their backs.</p> - -<p class="normal">The trenches wormed their zigzags slowly down the slope, towards the -Russian lines, and never was there more zealous zigzager than Jack. -The Russians poured shot and shell on him and his fellow moles; but -they dug on, mounted their heavy guns, and dosed him with pointed -Lancaster shells, which were new to him, and impressed him most -unpleasantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim galloped to and fro and worried more over his horse's feeding -than his own, and kept very fit and well.</p> - -<p class="normal">He went over now and again to the Heavies, to see how George Herapath -and Ralph Ruben were standing it, and found them generally on the -growl at having so little to do and none too much to eat, and they all -condoled with one another, and expressed themselves freely on such -congenial subjects as the Transport and Commissariat Departments, and -felt the better for getting it out.</p> - -<p class="normal">Letters from home came with fair regularity now, and they swapped -their news and had time to write long letters back--except Jack, whose -whole soul was in his trenches, and who was too tired and dirty for -correspondence when he came out of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">So upon Jim devolved the duty of keeping Carne and Wyvveloe posted as -to the course of the war, and his painfully produced scrawls were -valued beyond their apparent merits by the anxious ones at home, and -treasured as things of price.</p> - -<p class="normal">For Gracie, at all events, said to herself, when each one came, "It -may be the last we shall ever get from him"; and, "They may both be -lying dead at this moment. This horrible, horrible war!"</p> - -<p class="normal">But she wrote continually to both of them; and if the dreadful feeling -that she might only too possibly be writing to dead men was with her -as she wrote, she took good care that no sign of It appeared in her -letters. They were brave and cheery letters, telling of the little -happenings of the neighbourhood, and always full of the hope of seeing -them again soon. And if she cried a bit at times, as she wrote and -thought of it all, be sure no tear-spots were allowed to show. They -had quite enough to stand without being worried with her fears.</p> - -<p class="normal">And she prayed for them every night and every morning with the utmost -devotion, though, indeed, at times she remained long on her knees, -pondering vaguely. For she knew that what must be, must be, and that -her most fervent prayers could not turn Russian bullets from their -destined billets--that if God saw it well to take her boys, they would -go, in spite of all her asking. And so she came to commending them -simply to God's good care, and to asking for herself the strength to -bear whatever might come to her.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the Alma lists came out, she and the Rev. Charles scanned them -with feverish anxiety, and with eyes that got the names all blurred -and mixed, and hearts that beat muffled dead marches, and only let -them breathe freely again when they had got through without finding -what they had feared.</p> - -<p class="normal">And both of them, grateful at their own escape, thought pitifully of -those whose trembling fingers, stopping suddenly on beloved names, had -been the signal for broken hearts and shattered hopes and desolated -lives.</p> - -<p class="normal">And, any day, that might be their own lot too; and so, like many -others in those times, they went heavily, and feared what each new day -might bring.</p> - -<p class="normal">Margaret Herapath spent much of her time with them, and Sir George was -able to bring them news in advance of the ordinary channels.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the grim old man up at Carne read the news-sheets and the lists, -which smelt of snuff when he had done with them, and was vastly polite -and unconcerned about it all when Gracie and Eager went to visit him; -but Kennet led somewhat of a dog's life at this time, and had to find -consolation for a ruffled spirit where he could.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.51" href="#div1Ref_3.51">CHAPTER LI</a></h4> -<h5>THE VALLEY OF DEATH</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The Cavalry, Light and Heavy, but more especially the Light, were, as -we have seen, rankling bitterly under quite uncalled-for imputation of -showy uselessness, and chafing sorely at their enforced inaction -during the siege operations. The campaign, so far, had offered them no -opening, nor did it seem likely to do so. Moreover, forage was scarce, -their horses were on short rations, and before long, unless those -infernal transport people woke up, they would be padding it afoot like -the toilers on the heights, who were having all the fun--such as it -was--and would reap all the glory.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Fortune was kind, and sore, on them.</p> - -<p class="normal">For some days past they had, from time to time, caught the sound of -distant bugles among the hills to the north and east of the valley in -which their camp lay, and their hopes had been briefly stirred.</p> - -<p class="normal">It might mean nothing more, however, than the passage of -reinforcements into Sebastopol, for those northern ways by Inkerman -gorge were always open and impossible of closing.</p> - -<p class="normal">In front of them on the plain was a line of small redoubts occupied by -Turks. Behind them on the way to Balaclava lay the 93rd Highlanders -under Sir Colin Campbell.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim Carron was awakened from a very sound sleep one morning by a lusty -kick from Charlie Denham, and the information that "Lucan wanted him."</p> - -<p class="normal">Five minutes later he was pressing his horse to its utmost, with the -word to Head-quarters that the Russians were pouring down the valley -towards Balaclava, that they had already captured Redoubt No. 1, that -the Turks could not possibly hold the others against them, and that -unless our base at Balaclava was to go, the sooner the army turned out -to stop them the better.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Raglan sped Jim on at once to French Head-quarters with the news; -and as he galloped back in headlong haste lest they should be starting -without him, all the camps were a-bristle and troops hurrying from all -quarters to the scene of action.</p> - -<p class="normal">As he came over the hill leading down to the Balaclava road, he could -see the vast bodies of, Russians pouring out of the hills, the Turks -from the redoubts were running across the plain towards the long thin -line of Highlanders, and the Cossacks and Lancers were in among them -cutting them down as fast as they could chop.</p> - -<p class="normal">All this he saw at a glance, as he sped on to join his own men, drawn -up on the left of the Heavies. And as he took his place, panting, both -he and his big brown, like steam-engines, he heard the roll of the -Highlanders' Miniés on the right as they broke the rush of the Russian -cavalry.</p> - -<p class="normal">The next minute a great body of horsemen, brilliant in light blue and -silver, topped the slope in front of the Heavies, and looked down on -their Insignificant numbers as Goliath did on David.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw old Scarlett haranguing his men, and then with a roar--he knew -just how they felt!--like starving tigers loosed at last on -long-desired prey--the Greys and Enniskillens dashed at them and -through them, and wheeled, and through again, first line, second line, -and out at the rear. And then, as the broken first line gathered -itself again to swallow the tigers, the rest of the Heavies, the -Royals, and Dragoons shot out like a bolt and scattered them to the -winds.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim and all about him yelled and cheered in a frenzy--but down -below it all was a bitter sense of regret at being out of it. Truly it -seemed as though malignant fate had the Light Brigade on her black -books and was bent on defrauding them of their rightful chances.</p> - -<p class="normal">By this time the allied troops were coming up from their distant -camps, and the rout of the Russian horse enabled them to take up their -positions in the valley.</p> - -<p class="normal">It looked like being a pitched battle. All hearts beat high, and none -higher than those of the Hussars and Light Dragoons. Their chance -might come after all. They twitched in their saddles. Give them only -half a chance and they would show the world what was in them.</p> - -<p class="normal">And it came.</p> - -<p class="normal">Messengers sped in haste to and from the Chief, on the heights above, -to the various commanders down below. And then came young Nolan of the -15th, Lord Raglan's own aide, his horse in a white sweat, himself -aflame.</p> - -<p class="normal">He spoke hurriedly to Lord Lucan, and Jim saw his lordship's eyebrows -lift in astonishment. He seemed to question the order given.</p> - -<p class="normal">Nolan waved a vehement arm towards the Russians. Lord Lucan spoke to -Lord Cardigan, and his brows too went up. Every tense soul among them, -whose eyes could see what was passing, watched as if his life depended -on the outcome.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then in a moment the word rang out, and they were off.</p> - -<p class="normal">Where? He had not the remotest idea nor the slightest care. Enough for -him that they were off and that they meant business.</p> - -<p class="normal">And away in front of them, where he had no earthly right to be, since -he did not belong to them and had only brought a message, went young -Nolan, waving them on with insistent arm.</p> - -<p class="normal">They swept along at a gallop in two long lines, and the rush and the -rattle got into Jim's blood, and the blood boiled up into his head, -and he thought of nothing--nothing, but the fact that their chance had -come at last--least of all of fear for himself.</p> - -<p class="normal">Fear? There were Russians ahead there!----them all!--and every faculty -in him, every nerve and muscle, every drop of boiling blood, every -desire of his mind and heart and soul rushed on ahead to meet them. He -wanted at them, he wanted to hew and thrust and kill. He wanted blood.</p> - -<p class="normal">Head down, forward a bit, sword-hilt fitting itself to his hand as it -had never done before, knees so lightly tight to the saddle that he -could feel the great brown shoulders working like machinery inside -them, a glance forward from under his busby and an impression of a -vast multitude of men--and the roar and crash of numberless guns in -front and on both flanks--a scream just ahead, and young Nolan's horse -came galloping round at the side, with young Nolan still in the -saddle--but dead--his chest ripped open by a shell.</p> - -<p class="normal">Men were falling all round now, men and horses hurling forward and -down in rattling lumbering heaps.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's face was cast-iron, his jaw a vice. Not the Jim we have -known--this! His dæmon--nay, his demon, for he had but one thought, -and that was to kill. No man who knew him would have known him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Belching guns in front. Shot and bullets coming like hail. Men falling -fast. Lines all shattered and anyhow. But the thick white smoke and -the venomous yellow-red spits of flame were close now, and so far it -had not struck him as wonderful that he still rode while so many had -gone down.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had felt hot whips across his face, something had tipped his busby -to the back of his head, several other somethings had plugged through -the flying jacket which covered his bridle arm. Then he had to swerve -suddenly from the smoking black muzzle of a gun, and he was among -flat-caps and gray-coats, and his sword was going in hot quick blows, -and every blow bit home.</p> - -<p class="normal">A big gunner struck heavily at him with a smoking mop. He had an -honest brown hairy face and blue eyes. The sweep of Jim's sword took -him in the neck, and . . . .</p> - -<p class="normal">An infantryman behind had his gun-stock at his chest to fire. Jim -drove the big brown at him, the man went down in a heap, arms up, and -the gun went off as he fell.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then it was all wild fury and confusion. Deseret's sword was -wonderful, as light as a lath and as sure as death. He was through the -smoke, fighting the myriads behind--singlehanded it seemed to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">--!--!--!--!--he could not tackle the whole Russian army! He whirled -the big brown round and plunged back through the smoke, saw the others -riding home, and bent and dashed away after them.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was almost the last. A thunder of hoofs on his flank, and a vicious -lance-head came thrusting in between his right arm and his body. His -sword swept round backwards--and the Lancer's empty horse raced -neck-and-neck with his own, its ears flat to its head, its eyes white -with fear.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then the guns behind opened on them again, and bullets came raining in -on each side as well--on Russian Lancers and British Hussars and -Dragoons alike.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was swaying in his saddle, he did not know why, But dashing at -those guns was one thing, and retiring was another, and the hell-fire -had burnt out of him and left him spent.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw the long unbroken lines of the Heavies sweeping up to meet and -cover them, and wondered dizzily if he could hold on till they came.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were Lancers ahead of him, thrusting at his men as they rode. A -whole bunch of them went down in a heap just in front of him, riddled -by the murderous fire of their comrades behind, and he lifted the -brown horse over them as if they had been a quick-set.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Heavies parted to let them through, and the splendid fellow on the -thundering big horse at the side there, who stood high in his stirrups -cheering on his men, was good old George. There was no mistaking him, -he was such a size and weight.</p> - -<p class="normal">A couple of Lancers, who had been making for Jim, swerved to face the -new attack and made for George instead, bold in the advantage of their -longer reach. And Jim would have been after them to equalise matters -but that it was all he could do to keep his seat.</p> - -<p class="normal">He saw George rise in his saddle, with his great sabre swinging to the -blow. Then a whirling blast of canister shore them all down, and they -lay in a heap, men and horses riddled like colanders. And Jim, with a -sob, clung to the pommel of his saddle and let the brown horse carry -him home.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack had just got up to camp from night duty in the trenches when the -alarm sounded in the valley, and he made his way with the rest to the -edge of the plateau to see what was going on.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he saw the cavalry drawn up for action he hurried down the hill -as fast as he could go, hung spell-bound halfway at the terrible and -amazing sight below, and then tumbled on with a lump in his throat to -learn the worst, as the broken riders came reeling back in twos and -threes.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was he lifted Jim out of his saddle, and found it all sticky -with blood from the lance-thrust in his side. His face was streaming -from a graze along the scalp, and he had a bullet through the left -shoulder--small things indeed considering where he had been.</p> - -<p class="normal">The miracle of that awful ride was, not that so many fell, but that -any single man came back alive.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.52" href="#div1Ref_3.52">CHAPTER LII</a></h4> -<h5>PATCHING UP</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">As soon as matters settled down, Colonel Carron rode over at once for -news of his boy, He knew he must have been in that brilliant madness, -about which every tongue in the camps was wagging, and he feared he -had seen the last of him.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had some difficulty in finding what was left of the Light Brigade, -for the Russians still held the lowlands in force. They had, in fact, -drawn a cordon round the allied forces and were, to an extent, -besieging the besiegers, and the cavalry camps had to be moved up on -to the plateau.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he came at last on the handful of laxed and weary men, lying about -their new quarter's, some fast asleep with their faces in their arms, -while willing hands did all their necessary work for them, and every -man of them still bore in him the very visible effects of that most -dreadful experience.</p> - -<p class="normal">He almost feared to ask for Jim, lest it should kill his last spark of -hope.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You had a terrible time," he said, to one on his knees by a big brown -horse, which stood there with an occasional shiver as he applied -healing ointment to its many wounds. "The whole world will ring with -it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Alt blamed foolishness, sir," growled the man--who had lost his own -horse and most of his chums in the foolishness, and so was in a mighty -bad humour--and lifted a casual sticky finger in recognition of the -Colonel's brilliant uniform.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid it was, but you did it nobly. Can you tell me anything of -Cornet Carron? Was he in it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"In it and out of it, sir, thanks be! He's too good a sort to lose. -He's inside there. This is his horse I'm patching up, 'cos he wouldn't -lie quiet till I done it." And the Colonel dived into the tent with a -grateful heart, and found Jim fast asleep on a hastily made couch. His -wounds had been bound up, and there were even mottled white streaks on -his face where a hasty sponge had made an attempt to clean it. But he -was sleeping soundly, and it was the very best medicine he could have.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Colonel went quietly out again to wait. He gave the horse-mender a -very fine cigar, and lit it for him along with his own.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bully!" said the man. "Best thing I've tasted since I left Chelsea."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your losses must be very heavy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Under two hundred at roll-call, sir, and we went in over six."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Awful!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Set of ---- fools we were, sir; but we showed 'em what was in us, an' -now mebbe they won't talk about us any more as they have bin doen."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They'll talk about you to the end of time," said the Colonel -heartily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's all right, sir. That's a different kind of talk."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We knowed it was all a mistake," he went on, with his head on one -side, as he laid on artistic patches of ointment; "but we'd bin aching -for a slap at the beggars, just to put a stopper on the mouth-wagglers -nearer home. And we <i>did</i> slap 'em too, by----!"--and he lost himself -for a moment in admiring contemplation of their prowess. "But they're -vermin, them Roosians! Shot down their own men when we got all mixed -up with 'em coming home, so they say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, they did that. We saw it all from the heights."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, that's not what I call right, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was barbarous and damnable. No civilised nation would do such a -thing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's it, sir--barbarous and damnable and no civilised nation would -do such a thing." And he said it over and over to himself, and gained -considerable éclat by the use of it in discussion with his fellows -later on.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jackson!" said a drowsy voice inside the tent. "How's Bob? And what -the deuce are you preaching about?" And the brown horse gave a whuffle -at sound of the voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's it. Thinks more of his hoss than he does of himself," said -Jackson, with a wink at the Colonel. "Bob's patching up fine, sir. -He's a good bit ripped up, but no balls gone in, s'far as I can see. -He'll be ready for you, sir, by time you're ready for him, I should -say. Gentleman called to see you, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"My dear lad," said the Colonel, sitting down by his side on a -stained-red saddle. "I am grateful for the sight of you. We doubted if -one of you would come back alive."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know that we expected to, sir. But we hadn't time to think -about it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Whose mistake was it? Lucan's?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't think so, sir," he said thoughtfully, as he strove to recall -it all. "I remember the look that came on his face when Nolan brought -him the order. . . . I think both he and Cardigan knew there was -something wrong. But Nolan was hot to have us go----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it true that he and Lucan were not on good terms?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know anything about that, sir. There's so much talk. He's -dead, anyway. His horse came galloping back with him still in the -saddle and all his chest ripped open. It was horrid."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He had no earthly right to go with you. There was some strong -talk about it up there. A brave fellow, from all accounts, but -hot-headed. . . . I'm going to take you to my quarters, my boy. We -want you on your legs again as soon as possible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, sir. I don't think it's much. A rip or two here and there -and some bullet-grazes. And the doctor's patched me up nicely."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's a wonder there's anything left to patch."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll bring old Bob along too?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes, we'll take you both together. I'm glad it's in life you're -not to be divided, not in death."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He went like a bird," said Jim. And then, as the recollection of it -all came back on him--the belching guns, the hairy brown gunner, the -venomous Lancers, George Herapath,--"My God!" he said softly; "I -wonder we ever got back at all."</p> - -<h4><a name="div1_3.53" href="#div1Ref_3.53">CHAPTER LIII</a></h4> -<h5>THE FIGHT IN THE FOG</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">In the comparative luxury of Colonel Carron's quarters, which were far -beyond anything he could have got in the English camps, Jim pulled -round rapidly. He was in the best of health, his wounds showed every -intention of healing readily, and the Colonel saw to it that he lacked -nothing.</p> - -<p class="normal">He found himself, somewhat to his confusion, something of a lion -there, and never lacked company anxious to discuss with him the -details of that mad ride up the Valley of Death and back again.</p> - -<p class="normal">His French visitors were unanimous in their grave disapproval and -admiration; and Jack, whenever he could get away from his trenches for -a chat with the invalid, reported the same feeling everywhere.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack himself had had a hand in the tussle with the enemy, the day -after Jim's affair. But he came out of it untouched, and made light of -it.</p> - -<p class="normal">He reported Harben severely wounded, in the second charge when George -Herapath was killed, and the body of the latter had been recovered and -buried.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was sad to think of old George gone right out like that. He had -died bravely, hastening to the rescue of his fellows, and the boys -hardly dared to think of the bitter sorrow at Knoyle and Wyvveloe when -the news should get there. It would, they knew, bring right home to -them all the dreadful possibilities of the war, as nothing else could -have done. George gone, Ralph sorely wounded. Who would be the next to -go?</p> - -<p class="normal">Here, in the camps, with sudden death hurtling through the air night -and day, and sickness still claiming more victims than all the -whistling shells, they were getting somewhat case-hardened, and -accustomed to sudden disappearances and vacant places. But, to the -anxious scanners of the lists at home, each death in each small circle -made all the other deaths seem more imminent, and weighted every heart -with fresh fears.</p> - -<p class="normal">The zigzags and trenches in which Jack held a proprietary interest -were creeping nearer and nearer to the town, and he was well satisfied -with the progress made. But on one other point he and his fellow -Engineers were anything but content.</p> - -<p class="normal">The right flank of their position, opposite the Inkerman cliffs and -caves and very close to the road by which the Russian forces got in -and out of the town, seemed to their experienced eyes but ill-defended -and not incapable of assault from the lower ground. And such assault, -if successful, must of necessity entail the most serious consequences -on the Allies.</p> - -<p class="normal">They spoke of the matter, harped on it, but nothing was done, save the -erection of a small sand-bag battery on the slope of the hill, and no -guns were mounted on it lest the sight of them should tempt the -Russians to come up and take them; and so--that grim and deadly -hand-to-hand struggle in the early morning fog, known as the Battle of -Inkerman--which, for all who were in it, for ever stripped the fifth -of November of its traditional glamour, and left in its place a blind, -black horror--a nightmare struggle against overwhelming odds, which -seemed as if it would never come to an end.</p> - -<p class="normal">Oh, we won; we won of course--but, as we do win, at most dreadful cost -which foresight might have saved.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack was in the midst of it. He had just come up from the front, -soaked with rain and caked with mud, and was making a forlorn attempt -at cold breakfast before lying down, when heavy firing, in the very -place where they had all feared sooner or later to hear it, took him -that way in haste to see what was up.</p> - -<p class="normal">He could see nothing for the fog and rain, but a hail of shot and -shell was coming from the heights across the valley and he bent and -ran for the shelter of the sand-bag battery. And for many hours--and -every hour an age--the sandbag battery was "absolute hell," as he told -Jim that night, with a very sober face and no enthusiasm.</p> - -<p class="normal">Endless hosts of gray-coats came surging up out of the fog, yelling -like demons, and fighting with their bayonets as they had never fought -before. They were slaughtered in heaps, but there always seemed just -as many coming on, yelling and stabbing, and our men yelled and -stabbed, and the piles of dead grew high.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jack saw very little. It was all a wild pandemonium of clashing -steel and yells and groans and curses, with streaming rain above, -swirling fog all round, and what felt like a ploughed field heaped -with dead bodies below. He picked up a rifle and bayonet, and jabbed -and smashed at the gray-coats with the rest.</p> - -<p class="normal">Through the fog he could hear the same deadly sounds all round, but -whether they were winning or losing, or indeed what was going on, he -had not the slightest idea. All he knew was that hosts of Russians -kept on coming up in front out of the fog, that they had to be stopped -at any cost, and that, from the time it was lasting, the cost must be -awful.</p> - -<p class="normal">He stumbled inside the battery one time, after a bang on the head from -a clubbed musket which made him sick and dizzy; and as he sat panting -in a corner for a moment till his wits came back, he told Jim -afterwards that he remembered wondering if he had died and this was -hell; He had a flask in his pocket somewhere, and he tried to get it -out, and found his left arm would not act, though he had felt nothing -wrong with it till he sat down.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was drenched with rain and sweat--and blood, though he did not know -it at the time. He got out his flask with his right hand at last, and -took a long pull at it and felt better. Blood out, and brandy in, made -his bruised head feel light and airy. He picked up his heavy rifle and -bayonet and staggered out to join the wild mêlée again--one hand was -better than none where every hand was needed.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he tumbled blindly down the slope and fell, and men trampled to -and fro over his body till he felt all one big bruise. Then the grim -dim struggle swayed off to one side for a moment, and he tried to -crawl away.</p> - -<p class="normal">A tall Russian--an officer by his sword--lunged down at him as he -leaped past in the fog, but the point struck on his flask and the blow -only rolled him over again, and the other had not time to repeat it.</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently he crawled away up the hill, and got out of it all, and -down the other side towards his own camp.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was there his father found him, late in the afternoon, spent and -bruised, and weak from loss of blood, and he went off at once and got -a litter, and took him away to his own tent and set him down beside -Jim. For the English doctors had their hands very much more than full, -and Colonel Carron, rightly or wrongly, had much greater faith in the -nursing arrangements of his adopted service than in those of the -British camps and field hospitals.</p> - -<p class="normal">When he came in at night, Jack was all bandaged up and as comfortable -as could be expected, with bayonet wounds in his arm and shoulder, a -badly bruised head, and a bodyful of contusions.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was just thanking my stars and you, sir, that I was here, and not -shivering to pieces over yonder," he said gratefully.</p> - -<p class="normal">And with reason. For the Colonel's tent was as cosy a little -habitation as even the French camps could show. He had taken advantage -of a slight hollow, and had had it deepened and the earth piled high -like a rampart all round it, so that only its top showed above -ground-level, and the keen night winds whistled over it with small -effect. And inside was a cheerful little stove, and Tartar rugs, of -small value perhaps, and of crude and glaring colour and design -without doubt, but very homely to look at to boys who had grown -accustomed to bare trodden earth. And for couches, instead of -waterproof cloth and a couple of blankets spread on the ground, they -had clever little bedsteads, consisting of a springy network of -string inside an oblong wooden frame which rested on folding legs like -a campstool.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We certainly know how to do for ourselves better than you do. Have -you had anything to eat?" asked the Colonel.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just had the best dinner we've had since--well, since we dined with -you last, sir," said Jim, with great satisfaction. "I don't know what -it was, but it was uncommonly good."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jack asked anxiously: "Have you any news for us, sir? We heard -they were driven back. Are any of our people left?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A few; but your loss is very heavy. Ours also; but you bore the brunt -of it over there where the work was hottest. They came up out of the -town at us, just below here, while you were busy there, and they made -a feint also just above Balaclava. It has been a hot day all round. I -hope they'll give us time to breathe now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wonder what lies that fellow Menchikoff will stuff into the Tsar -this time," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He can hardly claim a victory, anyway," said his father, with a -smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I bet he will, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did you hear anything as to casualties, sir?" asked Jack, whose mind -could not get far away from that grim struggle in the fog.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only outstanding ones. Your loss in big men is terrible. Cathcart is -dead, and Strangways----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor old Strangways!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A dear old chap!" echoed Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">----"and Goldie,--all killed. George Brown and Codrington and Bentinck -wounded, and I believe Torrens and Buller and Adams also. Some of your -regiments are almost without officers. Our most serious loss is de -Lourmel, down in front here, repulsing the sortie. They estimate -15,000 Russians killed and wounded----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"There seemed millions of them lying round that battery," said Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They reckon there were 8,000 English and 6,000 of our men in the -fight, and between 50,000 and 60,000 Russians. So that every one of -our men put at least one of theirs <i>hors de combat</i>--a remarkable -performance indeed."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've been thinking, Jim," he said presently, "that a few days on the -sea would set you up again quicker than anything else. What do you -say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'd like it immensely, sir, if it could be managed. It's awfully good -of you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You're creditable boys, you see, and I'm anxious not to lose either -of you. I wonder how soon the medico would let you go, too, Jack?" And -he looked at him with a practised eye. "Not for a week anyway, I -expect."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I feel as if I could sleep for a week, sir. It's so mighty -comfortable here," he said drowsily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They've had such a stomachful to-day that I think they'll keep quiet -for a time now. It was a great scheme and they did their best. It'll -take them a little time to work up a new one. Well, we'll see about it -to-morrow. You think you'll be able to sleep, Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sure, sir, when I get the chance. Jim's been talking ever since the -doctor went."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.54" href="#div1Ref_3.54">CHAPTER LIV</a></h4> -<h5>AN ALLY OF PROVIDENCE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The Colonel was away on business soon after sunrise, long before the -boys were awake. The Russians had had enough for the moment and gave -them a quiet night.</p> - -<p class="normal">He came in while they were breakfasting, with a satisfied look on his -face.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, Jack, how goes it? You were both sleeping like tops when I left -you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I feel like a jelly-fish on Carne beach, sir," said Jack. "I have a -very great disinclination to move."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Cuts twingy?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"When I think of them, sir. At present I can think of nothing but this -coffee. They give us ours green, you know, and nothing to roast or -grind it with."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So I heard. I would like to see what would happen if they sent ours -like that; but, <i>mon Dieu!</i> I wouldn't like to be in their shoes! The -good old fashion of hanging a commissary whenever anything went wrong -was certainly effective. Jim, my boy, I've got your matter arranged -all right. You are to get away to-morrow with a fortnight's leave. -That should pull you round."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's awfully good of you, sir. It's just what I'm needing."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Talking of hanging commissaries," said the Colonel, with a whimsical -smile on his dark face, "it was all I could do to keep my hands off -one of your pig-heads down at Balaclava yonder." And he switched his -long mud-caked riding-boot with his whip as if it were the gentleman -in question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I called on Lord Raglan to ask his permission to my plan, and at -first he was a bit stiff and stand-offish. But he came round and spoke -very nicely of you, my boy. He wouldn't discuss that foolish charge of -yours, and I did not press It. He granted you leave at once, and gave -me a written order for your passage to and from Constantinople by -first ship that was leaving."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But that's only the beginning of the story," he said, as Jim's mouth -opened with thanks again. "I thought I'd make sure of the whole -business, so I waded down to Balaclava. <i>Mon Dieu!</i> what a travesty of -a road! My poor beast was up to his knees in the filth at times. And -the place itself when I got there! The harbour is a cesspool, an -inferno of evil smells and pestilence, And I think the evil vapours -have got into the heads of your people there, I never saw such -disorder and confusion in all my life. I found the harbour master at -last, and asked him for information as to sailings. But he was only -the Inner Harbour Master, it seems, and he referred me to the Head of -the Transport. The transport people referred me to the Naval -Authorities, and a naval officer, whom I caught on the wing, told me I -would have to apply to the Outer Harbour Master, who was somewhere -outside among the fleet. I was consigning them all to warmer quarters -than Balaclava, when I spied a man I knew--Captain Jolly of the -<i>Carnbrea</i>, who had brought some of our troops over to Kamiesch Bay. -He was bursting with complaints and nearly mad, said he'd like to tie -the heads of all the departments in one big bag and sink them in the -cesspool. He said he was sailing to-morrow with a load of sick and -wounded, and he'd been up trying to get a few stoves from the official -who had charge of them, as the sick men were dying of the cold. 'He'd -got hundreds of them lying there,' said old Jolly, almost black in the -face, 'and he wouldn't let me have one. Said I must get a requisition -and fill it up and get it signed at Head-quarters. I told him the men -were dying meanwhile. He could do nothing without a requisition -signed at Head-quarters. I asked him to lend me some stoves. He -couldn't. I asked him to sell me some. He wouldn't. I told him those -men's deaths would lie at his door. He said if I would get a -requisition, etc., etc. So then I--well, I told him what I thought of -him and all the rest, in good hot sailor-talk, and came away.'"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I asked him if he could find room for one more on his ship, and told -him about you, and, like a good fellow, he said, 'Send 'em both along -and I'll make room for 'em.' So you're all right, Jim, and Jolly will -make you comfortable, I know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's awfully good of you, sir," said Jim once more. "I'm sorry we're -such a bother to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's not every man can boast of two such young warriors, you see. On -the whole I'm inclined to think Providence served us well in making me -an ally, eh?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your people are very much better off than ours, sir," said Jack. "Our -camp is like London on a foggy day."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And ours is like Paris," laughed the Colonel. "You see we understand -the art of war better than you do, and, candidly, I think your -officers are much to blame for the little interest they take in their -men. Here we are all <i>bons camarades</i>, whereas your men are left -entirely to themselves."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We mix in the trenches," said Jack in defence.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of necessity, I suppose, since the space is limited. But even there -you don't mix as we do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Your music alone is worth coming for," said Jim. "It did me as much -good as the doctor almost."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; I notice a lot of your men come across to hear it whenever they -get the chance. Great mistake shutting up your bands. The men always -like music, and expect it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You don't think I'll miss anything by going, sir?" asked Jim -anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll gain a great deal more than you'll miss, my boy. I shouldn't -wonder if we have a fairly quiet time here now."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you'll see to my horse?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He shall have every attention, I promise you."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.55" href="#div1Ref_3.55">CHAPTER LV</a></h4> -<h5>RETRIBUTION</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The following day saw Jim joggling down the miry way to Balaclava -Harbour on a French mule-cacolet. He had said good-bye to the others -in camp, and begged his father not to venture down into the inferno -again. So the Colonel sent his own servant in charge of him, with full -instructions where to find the boat Captain Jolly had promised to have -waiting.</p> - -<p class="normal">The hopeless confusion in the little harbour appalled Jim, and the -dank misery of the rows of wounded men awaiting shipment, with -ill-bound wounds, cold blue faces, and heavy hopeless eyes, chilled -him to the heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">And suddenly a familiar face caught his eye, and he stopped the mule -and sat up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, Seth, old chap! I'm sorry to see you like this"--for Seth's -left leg was gone, and the roughly bandaged stump stuck out forlornly -along the ground.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My fightin's done, Mester Jim. 'Twere a shell took it off in the -battery."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When are you going over?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"God knows, We bin waiting over a week."</p> - -<p class="normal">"An' dyin' as quick as we could, just to save 'em trouble," said his -neighbour.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish I could take you all," said Jim, and the bleached leather -faces turned wistfully on him. "But I can take one, and I must take -you, Seth. You understand, boys: he's from my own part, and twice he's -saved my life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's right, sir. You take 'im home, and God bless you! Wish there -was more like you! We'll die off as quick as we can, just to save 'em -trouble," said the jocular one, who had lost both an arm and a leg. -"If they ask where 'e is we'll tell 'em 'e's gone on in front to -engage us quarters."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lift him in," said Jim, and with the assistance of the bystanders -Seth was lifted into the other side of the cacolet.</p> - -<p class="normal">An official came hurrying up with a brusque, "Now then, what's all -this?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, go and hang yourself!" said Jim, sinking back wearily. "Can't you -see I'm saving you trouble by taking him off your hands?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes--but----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Go ahead!" said Jim, and left the other staring after them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Captain jolly's boat was waiting for them, and presently they were -swung up on to the deck of the <i>Carnbrea</i>.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you've both come, after all?" said the hearty old fellow to Jim, -who came up first.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim explained, and the captain said he had done quite right, and they -would find a corner for Seth between decks, though they were pretty -full already; and then he helped him across to a seat by the wheel, -and the <i>Carnbrea</i> crept away out of the noisome harbour at once, and -Jim counted no less than six dead horses, washing about in the water -or cast up on the rocks, before the sweet salt air outside gave him -something better to think about.</p> - -<p class="normal">They passed the warships, and a multitude of vessels hanging about -outside, and the monastery perched up on the cliff, and the white -lighthouse at the point, and presently, through a rift in the dull -November sky, the sun shone red on Sebastopol, and set it all aglow. -Here and there, on its outer edge, there were little cotton-woolly -puffs of white smoke, and the plateau behind was dotted with similar -ones.</p> - -<p class="normal">Captain Jolly was as good as his name and Colonel Carron's opinion of -him. He made Jim very much at home, got him to tell him all he could -about the great charge, and in return gave his own free and -unrestrained opinions on men and things in general, with a special -excursus on harbour masters and transport officials.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Too many head cooks--that's what's the matter, and not a man below -'em dare lift his little finger unless he's got permission in writing. -Why, sirs, there's things rotting there in that harbour that'd be -worth their weight in gold up above, but it's nobody's business to -send 'em up, and there they stop. It's a crying shame and--and an -infernal sin! What do you say to it all, doctor?"</p> - -<p class="normal">This was a grave, thin-faced young fellow who had joined them in the -cabin for a cup of tea, and Captain Jolly had simply introduced him -with a wink as Dr. Subrosa.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's heartbreaking," he said, with deepest feeling. "We have lost -thousands of good men from sheer want of the simplest necessaries, and -almost every one of them might have been saved. For weeks I had not a -single drug except alum! Think of it! And to see those poor fellows in -torture, and dying like flies, when you knew you could save them if -you could only lay your hands on the proper remedies!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll be bound there's piles of all you wanted stowed away in -Balaclava somewhere," said the captain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I fear so. I came down, day after day--and it was no easy matter, I -can assure you--and begged them to give me any mortal thing they had -for my fevers and rheumatisms and diarrhœas; and the reply was -always just a parrot-like 'Haven't any--Haven't any--Haven't -any,'--till I would willingly have poisoned every man who said it. -They're getting calloused to it all, and, as Captain Jolly says, not a -man among them dare lift his finger without a written order."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take my own case," he said, turning to Jim. "The continuous wear and -tear, and the constant sight of nothing but sickness and death and -broken men, were beginning to tell on me----"'</p> - -<p class="normal">"My God, I don't wonder!" jerked Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My chief on the medical staff told me I must get away for -fourteen days or so or I'd break down, and he signed me the proper -form for the purpose. I found it had to be countersigned by the -quartermaster-general, then by the colonel of the regiment to which I -was attached, then by the general of the division, and finally by the -adjutant-general. It is probably still going round among them, if it -hasn't got lost. I waited six days and could get no word of it, and my -chief advised me to take French leave and bring back some drugs if -they're to be had. I'm told there is a <i>Times</i> man come out with -money, to help make good some of the shortcomings in the official -providence, and I'm hoping he'll help me. I'm actually a deserter, you -see. That's why this dear old chap calls me Subrosa. My name is -McLean, and I'm attached to the 63rd."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And a rare good sort he is," said Captain Jolly. "Did I tell you -about my load of boots?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; what was it about the boots?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Last voyage I came out with nothing but boots--more boots than you -ever dreamt of, thousands and thousands of pairs. The whole ship stank -of 'em--smelt like a tannery. Well, when they let us into Balaclava -Harbour at last, and we were hoping to get rid of the boots----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're going barefoot yet, many of them," said McLean.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know. Well, before we could begin to break cargo there came a -couple of dandy fine gentlemen, with a peremptory order to take them -to Constantinople as fast as we could go, and we were hustled away -before you could say 'boots.' We were less than a day's sail from -Constantinople, when one of the dandy men mentioned in confidence to -me that the men up there were barefoot and they were going to buy -boots for them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What did you say?" asked Jim expectantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well, I said more'n I should perhaps. Dandy men or no dandy men, I -said, 'Why, you ---- fool, I'm loaded to the hatches with boots and -nothing but boots! Why in thunder couldn't you open your mouth -sooner?' 'Our instructions,' says he, 'were to buy boots, captain, not -to go talking about it, and I'll thank you not to use language -unbecoming a gentleman when talking to me.' And he walked away to talk -to the other, who was sick in his bunk."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And what did you do?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I shut off steam," said the captain, with a meaning wink, "and -presently he came up again and said they'd decided we'd better turn -back again and take the boots to the feet that were waiting for them. -And I've no doubt they're rotting on Balaclava Quay now with all the -other things. Why, if my owners did their business as the Government -does its they'd be bankrupt in a year."</p> - -<p class="normal">After his cup of tea Jim went below to see that Seth was comfortably -stowed.</p> - -<p class="normal">He found him, with a couple of hundred others, lying in long rows in -the 'tween decks, which had been adapted to their use as far as it was -possible to do so. They lay pretty close, and each man had a couple of -blankets to soften the wood and keep out the cold.</p> - -<p class="normal">At one end were half a dozen wounded officers. Between them and the -men had been left a space of a few feet, and that was the only -distinction between them. To make room for Seth this space had been -encroached upon, and he lay next the officers.</p> - -<p class="normal">As Jim rose from his knees after a short chat with him, in which he -had done his best to put a little heart into the poor fellow, by -assuring him that he should be properly provided for when he got home -to Carne, he heard his name called weakly from the officers' quarters, -and, bidding Seth good night, and promising to see him first thing in -the morning, he turned that way.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, Harben!" he said. "I'm sorry to see you here. What is it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing. I'm sick--very sick. Who is that they've put there?" asked -Ralph, in a low eager whisper.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That? Why, it's Seth Rimmer--young Seth, you know, from down along."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's a dangerous man that, Jim. Put him somewhere else! Take him -away!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Nonsense, old man. Seth's as true as they make 'em. Besides, he's -lost a leg. And anyway I couldn't ask them to move him now. There's no -room anywhere else."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's dangerous, I tell you," said Harben, with a shiver. "He -thinks . . . he thinks . . . but I haven't, Jim. I swear I haven't. -I'd nothing to do with it. I swear I hadn't."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't you worry, old man," said Jim soothingly, for it all sounded to -him like the ravings of a disturbed brain. "Can I get you anything, or -make you more comfortable?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Only take him away," whispered the other insistently.</p> - -<p class="normal">But that Jim could not do. He and Seth were only there on sufferance, -as it were, and he wanted to give as little trouble as possible.</p> - -<p class="normal">Captain Jolly had insisted on giving up his own bunk to him, but had -only prevailed on him to take it by asserting that he would be on deck -most of the night. And the clean cold sheets were so delightful, after -the threadbare amenities of the camp, that he felt as if he could -sleep on for a week.</p> - -<p class="normal">Very early next morning Jim was wakened by a hand on his shoulder. He -jumped up so vehemently--forgetful of the narrowness of his quarters, -and with a mazy impression that the Russians were upon them--that his -head was sore for days after it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Carron," said a grave quiet voice, "there is trouble on board." -And he saw that it was Dr. McLean.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Trouble? What trouble, doctor?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We want you to explain it if you can. Slip on some things and come -along." And Jim tumbled wonderingly into his jacket and trousers and -followed the doctor--to the 'tween decks--to the officers' quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">And there lay the end of a tragedy.</p> - -<p class="normal">Seth's pallet was empty. Seth himself--what had been Seth--lay partly -on the body of Ralph Harben. His rough brown fingers still gripped -Harben's throat, with a grip that had started the dead man's eyes -almost out of his head and had prevented him uttering a sound.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Seth lay in a pool of his own blood, for his vehemence had burst -his hastily bandaged amputation, and he had bled to death in the act -of wreaking his vengeance.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Good God!" gasped Jim, and felt sick and ill at the sight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Are they dead?" he whispered, as though he feared to wake them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Both quite dead. Been dead several hours," said McLean, and led him -back to the captain's cabin, where the steward brought them hot -coffee.</p> - -<p class="normal">"DO you know what it all means, Mr. Carron?" asked the captain.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm afraid I do, captain, but I'd no idea of it, and it's a terrible -shock to me." And he briefly explained as far as was necessary.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, ay," said the old man soberly; "I can see it all. He came out on -purpose to find the other, to pay him out for the wrong he'd done him, -and when his chance came he took it . . . I don't hold with murder -myself, but . . . well, I'm bound to say I can feel for this poor -lad."</p> - -<p class="normal">There were eight others who had died in the night, and they buried -them all at the same time, and Captain Jolly read the service over -them, and entered in his log the simple fact that ten died and were -buried.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim said no word of it in his letters home, and only told Jack -about it when he got back to camp.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.56" href="#div1Ref_3.56">CHAPTER LVI</a></h4> -<h5>DULL DAYS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The ten days' voyage there and back, in Captain Jolly's bunk and -cheerful company, did Jim a world of good. They lay off Scutari six -days, and were back in the Cesspool, as Jolly persisted in calling -Balaclava Bay, on the twenty-second of November, having just missed -the great gale, which tore the camps to pieces and piled the wild -Crimean coast with the wreckage of over forty ships and millions of -pounds' worth of the goods that were so badly needed on shore.</p> - -<p class="normal">Nearly every ship they passed, as they drew in, was dismasted and -looked half a wreck, and Jim, when he had said good-Lye to the genial -Jolly, and had waded through the muddy gorge and climbed the heights, -found everything and everybody in the camps in very similar condition.</p> - -<p class="normal">In spite of his own fitness, and the healthy frame of mind induced by -sixteen days of clean salt air and the companionship of Captain Jolly, -his spirits sank with every step he took. It was like climbing through -a charnel-house--dead horses and mules stuck up out of the mud on -every side, just as they had fallen under their loads and been left to -die; and Jim's love for every dumb thing that went on four legs was -sorely bruised before he got to the plateau.</p> - -<p class="normal">And when he did get there the sights were more painful still--mud -everywhere, and dirty pools and trickling streams, sodden tents, and -gaunt, hungry-looking men in rags, trudging to and fro, with bare feet -or with boots that only added to the dilapidated looks of their -wearers. Truly, he thought, though not perhaps in so many words, this -was the seamy side of war, and the glory and glamour were remarkable -only by their absence.</p> - -<p class="normal">He reported himself at Head-quarters, but saw only an aide-de-camp, -who was the only clean and wholesome and fairly-fed person he had met -since he landed. He learned that his chief, Lord Cardigan, was sick, -and that his brigade was to go down to Balaclava as soon as possible, -as the horses could not stand the miseries of the heights.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then he went across to the French camps, and found things in very much -better condition there, and Jack getting on famously and eager for all -his experiences.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim told him of Seth and Ralph Harben, and he was profoundly surprised -and saddened by it all.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you really think it was Ralph took Kattie away, Jim?" he asked, -after a long stare of amazement.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Seth wouldn't have done a thing like that unless he had good reason," -said Jim simply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can't imagine Kattie caring for a fellow like Ralph, you know," -said Jack thoughtfully. "He was always such a--well, he's dead, so -it's no good saying it, but you know yourself what he was. . . . But -it's horrible to think of--four lives gone by reason of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim said no more, except that he had thought it best to say -nothing about it in his letters home.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were two letters from Gracie to read, one to himself and one to -Jack, both so bright and cheerful and full of hope that they could not -by any possibility have imagined what it cost her to write like that, -when her heart was so full of fears for them. She told Jim of Paddy's -admirable behaviour, and of long delightful rides with Meg and Sir -George on the flats. And she told Jack of visits to Sir Denzil, and -how the Rimmer cottage was still shut up and empty. But from neither -letter could the most discriminating judge have drawn any clue as to -the writer's heart tending more to the one of them than to the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">There were also letters from Charles Eager, with comments on the -course of the war and the feeling at home, and fervent hopes for their -safety and that of George Herapath--who lay out there in the cemetery -on the cold hill-side. And there was also one from Lord Deseret to -Jim, which contained, among other things, the somewhat surprising news -that Mme Beteta had gone to St. Petersburg to fill an engagement -there.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then Colonel Carron came in and gave him hearty welcome, and wanted -all his experiences over again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And how's my horse?" asked Jim, as soon as he got the chance. "I was -thinking of him all the way up from the harbour. The road is thick -with the poor beasts who have died there."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He's first-rate. I've been riding him myself to keep him in -condition, I shall be quite sorry to part with him. Deseret knew what -he was about, my boy, when he chose him for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">He was very pleased with Jim's eulogiums on Captain Jolly, and -forthwith decided that Jack must make the next trip with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">So they had a very pleasant time in the banked-up tent, in spite of -the dreariness of things outside. But all too soon it came to an end, -and Jim had to go off to his own Spartan quarters, where the -heartiness of his greeting almost made up for the lack of everything -else.</p> - -<p class="normal">He settled down into the rut of camp life again, but found it all very -slow and dull and dirty.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was little doing. It was as much as they could do simply to -live.</p> - -<p class="normal">The dull routine of the trenches went on. The batteries spat shot and -shell at the town at intervals, and Russian shot and shell came -singing back in reply, and sometimes did a little damage.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at times the camps would be wakened by furious fusillades in the -advanced French lines, when the Russians enlivened matters with a -sortie. But these alarms were spared the English, on account of the -bad ground in their front, which did not lend itself to such matters.</p> - -<p class="normal">More than once, too, they all turned out <i>en masse</i> in the middle of -the night--and always on the bitterest nights--to repel attacks in the -rear which never came off.</p> - -<p class="normal">And every day there went down to Balaclava the long slow procession of -sick men, and to the cemetery another procession of those who had died -in the night.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack duly got his leave and went away with Captain Jolly, and Jim -busied himself, as well as the authorities would let him, in providing -for the reception of the men and horses of the Light Brigade on the -hill-side above Balaclava Bay.</p> - -<p class="normal">A slow, dull time, wearing on body, mind, and spirit--and yet, not the -worst time possible.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.57" href="#div1Ref_3.57">CHAPTER LVII</a></h4> -<h5>HOT OVENS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jack was back, in the best of health and spirits.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm almost sorry I didn't join the navy," he said, as he trudged with -Jim through the mud to the Picket House, to see how things had gone on -in his absence. "They do keep things clean, anyway."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's the only place where they have any fun nowadays," he said, as -they stood looking down on the lines and zigzags, creeping nearer and -nearer to the town, and pointed to a deep gully which ran up from the -head of the Admiralty Harbour and separated the British position from -the French.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Ovens," said Jim. "Couldn't we go down some night and see some of -it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any night you like when I'm not on duty."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why not to-night? You won't start work till to-morrow, I suppose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right! To-night! The 50th are down there, and there are some -capital fellows among them."</p> - -<p class="normal">And that was how it happened that, for the sake of a little fun, or, -in other, words, the chance of a brush with the enemy, the boys found -themselves that night stumbling along the deep trench which zigzaged -down from Chapman's Battery towards the Green Hills and so into the -deep gully which ran up into the plateau from the head of Admiralty -Harbour in Sebastopol. The sides of the gully contained numerous caves -formed by the decay of the softer strata in the rocks, and these caves -had for some time past been the stakes for which small parties on each -side played sharp little war-games, and paid at times with their -lives.</p> - -<p class="normal">First they were Russian, then they were British, then again Russian, -till the 50th had ousted them and remained in possession.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a bitterly cold night, but the boys, In the great fur coats Jim -had bought out of the loot at Mackenzie's Farm, had nothing to -complain of.</p> - -<p class="normal">They found a strong picket of the 50th making themselves very much at -home in the Ovens, and received a warm welcome from the officers in -charge.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any chance of any fun to-night?" asked Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can never tell what's going to happen. Keeps us on the jig the -whole time, but it's better than doing nothing upstairs."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And it comes off sometimes," said another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And when it does, the Ovens get hot," laughed a third, and they -squatted on the floor and discussed zigzags and such matters.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Almost took you for Russians in those big coats," said one enviously. -"Did you steal 'em?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Somebody else 'stole 'em," laughed Jack. "We're only receivers. Jim -bought them that day at Mackenzie's, when Menchikoff bolted and left -us his baggage."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Talking of spies," said another, sliding off on an inference, "did -you hear of the one who walked about our lines for half a day as cool -as a cucumber? He was dressed in full French uniform, asked heaps of -questions in very bad English, and said we were doing wonders, and -made himself quite pleasant all round. And then he caught sight of -some more Frenchmen, coming down with the Colonel towards the battery -to have a look at the Lancasters. As soon as he saw them he began to -edge off down the hill, and when he saw his chance he just made a -clean bolt of it, with our men blazing away at him as hard as they -could, but he got clear away under the Redan there. And now we're a -bit suspicious' of men in big fur coats. If you'll take my advice -you'll leave 'em behind you here. Save you a heap of trouble maybe."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Any sentry would be justified in shooting any man he saw in a coat -like that," said another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right, my boys! We'll keep our coats and take our chances. What's -that?" And they all pricked up their ears to listen.</p> - -<p class="normal">An order in French came to them from the opposite side of the gully.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their sentries and pickets are just over there. This is Tommy -Tiddler's Ground, between England, France, and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">A hoarse shout outside, and shots and yells, and they were all out in -a moment and found the gully packed with Russians, and their own men, -taken by surprise, falling back in some confusion.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Brace up there, men!" shouted the officer in charge. "They're only a -handful and only Russians."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was very dark, except where the fires inside the caves sent out a -dull glow here and there on the bare space between the combatants. -Then the whole place blazed with a Russian volley, and again with the -reply to it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bayonets, men! And down with them!" And with a yell the Englishmen -plunged down past the dull-glowing Ovens, and Jack and Jim raced with -them, revolver in hand, blazing away into the darkness in front as -they ran.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the Russian plans for that night had been well laid. It was a -miniature Balaclava charge over again.</p> - -<p class="normal">A ripping volley met them, not from the front, but from both sides, -and then masses of men closed in behind them and swallowed them up, -and every man was fighting for his life against unnumbered odds.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim, elbow to elbow with Jack, and yelling with excitement, felt him -suddenly trip and fall. He stooped to help him up again. But Jack lay -still.</p> - -<p class="normal">He straddled across him to keep him from being trampled on, and men -lunged into him and tumbled over Jack, and he hurled them aside. -Hand-to-hand fights were going on all round, and the place was full of -the clash of steel on steel and pantings and groanings and hearty -British curses.</p> - -<p class="normal">But they were outnumbered twenty to one, and the last dozen were borne -to the ground by sheer weight of Russians on their backs. The Ovens -changed tenants and were occupied in force, and their late occupants -were dragged away down the sloping valley towards the Harbour.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim found himself the centre of a raging mob. He had snatched up a -rifle, and, swinging it by the muzzle, kept a rough circle clear of -Jack's body. But vicious bayonets were jabbing at him all round, and -a bullet went singing past his head.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Cowards Murderers! Do you call this fighting fair?" he shouted -savagely.</p> - -<p class="normal">And of a sudden the mob parted, and an officer was belabouring his men -with the flat of his sword and strong words.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Vous vous rendez?" he cried to Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Suppose I must," he growled.</p> - -<p class="normal">"All right!" said the Russian. "Go there! Allez!" and pushed him -towards the gorge.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim stooped and endeavoured to lift Jack.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quoi donc? What?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My brother. I must take him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dead?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"My God!" gasped Jim at the word, as all that would mean to them all -flashed upon him. "No, no! I hope not--only wounded."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We cannot take him,"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We must."</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russian used language, then called to one of his men, who sulkily -took Jack's limp legs while Jim took him under the arms, and they -stumbled away downhill, leaving a strong force in possession of the -Ovens.</p> - -<p class="normal">Skirting a dark sheet of water, they came on a road where some rough -carts were waiting. The wounded were bundled into them, and a place -found for Jack, and Jim trudged behind with his hand on the tail of -the cart, and his heart full of bitterness. Their fun had become, of a -sudden, grimmest earnest.</p> - -<p class="normal">They turned to the right over a bridge, where many lights gleamed on -the water in front, and so came at last to a great building which -proved to be the hospital.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.58" href="#div1Ref_3.58">CHAPTER LVIII</a></h4> -<h5>CHILL NEWS</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The first news of trouble reached Carne in a brief letter from Colonel -Carron to Sir Denzil.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie and the Rev. Charles were sitting over their tea one afternoon -in the quiet, hopeful despondency--if the expression may be -permitted--which had become the natural state of all who had dear ones -at the war. They were full of fears; they cherished hope; they waited -with quiet resignation what each day might bring forth.</p> - -<p class="normal">When Kennet rapped on the door of the cottage, Gracie's heart jumped -and sank, and Eager incongruously thought of the old Latin Grammar -tag: <i>Mors æquo pede</i> . . . ("Death with equal foot knocks at the door -of rich and poor").</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sir Denzil begs you will come and see him at once, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Bad news, Kennet?" asked Eager, as he reached down his hat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He didn't say, sir; but he's in a bad-enough humour. Not that that's -much to go by, though, these days "--from which one gathers that even -Sir Denzil's equanimity was not entirely unaffected by the -disturbances of the times.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie had slipped on her cloak and little fur turban. He looked at -her doubtfully. But she shook her head with decision.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I could not possibly wait here, fearing everything," she said; and -they went along together.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil expressed no surprise at sight of her.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I have just received a letter from my son, Colonel Carron," he said, -in a voice perhaps a trifle too unnaturally even and unmoved. "The -boys, I am sorry to say, have met with a misfortune." Gracie's heart -sank, and braced itself as best it could for the worst. "It is not, -however, as bad as it might be." Her heart gave a hopeful kick. "They -are both prisoners in the hands of the Russians, and one of them is -wounded again; but, so far, he has not been able to ascertain which. -That is all; but I thought it better to let you know the full extent -of the matter. The newspaper accounts are so garbled at times that one -is apt to get wrong impressions. When you come across their names -among the missing, you will understand. It does not necessarily mean -anything more than I have told you. In fact"--with an appreciative -pinch of snuff--"it may well be that they are safer inside Sebastopol -than outside."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Prisoners!" jerked Gracie. "Will they be well treated?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh yes; I should say so. The rank and file of the Russian -army are doubtless somewhat boorish, but their officers are -civilised--gentlemanly, indeed, I believe, if you don't go too far -down. I do not think you need fear any ill-treatment for them, Miss -Gracie. It is annoying, of course, not to know which of them is -wounded, and to what extent. But the authorities will, no doubt, do -their best to ascertain, and we may hear shortly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am inclined to think with you, sir, that they will probably be -safer inside than outside," said Eager thoughtfully. "From all -accounts, the state of things in the camps is awful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Extremely British," said Sir Denzil. "Matters will improve in time. -When the Many-headed One awakes to the fact that all this waste and -misery are quite unnecessary, it will roar loud enough, I warrant you. -Then our men will be properly looked after--that is, if there are any -of them left to look after, which seems somewhat doubtful."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is shameful!" broke out Gracie, with vehemence. "I wish I could -have gone with Miss Nightingale to help them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You would have died of atrophy and paralysis, my dear, if you had -come in contact with the red-tape of the services. If Miss Nightingale -succeeds in her mission she will be the one woman in ten million, and -will deserve well of her country."</p> - -<p class="normal">And so they were left in doubt and much distress of mind as to the -welfare of the boys.</p> - -<p class="normal">Margaret Herapath, in her deep mourning and her own bitter sorrow, -came over to share their anxiety and distress. Her father had suddenly -become an old and broken man. Charles Eager was much with him, and he -was the only person, outside his own household, whom Sir George cared -to see. And Eager, with the wisdom of deepest love and sympathy, let -the old man's grief run its course, and then strove to build him up -anew by diverting his grief from the one to the many.</p> - -<p class="normal">Bitter sad times were those in the happy homes of England. Sorrow lay -on the land like a chill black frost; but below it were simmering all -those forces of passionate indignation which presently rose into that -inextinguishable roar which swept men from their high positions, and -in time carried somewhat of relief to the remnant of the army before -Sebastopol.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.59" href="#div1Ref_3.59">CHAPTER LIX</a></h4> -<h5>TOUCH AND GO FOR THE COIL</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jim followed Jack's body with the single-minded persistency of a -faithful dog whose master has come to grief.</p> - -<p class="normal">His original captor would have taken him elsewhere, but he flatly -declined to go anywhere but where Jack went. He thrust aside all -interfering hands, and to all attempts at coercion in any other -direction simply pointed to Jack and himself and said, "My -brother!"--but with so grim and determined and dejected a face that at -last the other gave way and followed them into the hospital.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was very full--crammed with broken and dying men--but Jim had no -thought save for Jack. Whether he was alive or dead he did not know, -but he must stick to him and do what he could.</p> - -<p class="normal">There was difficulty in finding room for him. A harassed surgeon, to -whom the officer spoke, shook red hands at them and poured out a spate -of hot words, but, arrested by something the other said, looked -worriedly round and at last pointed to a corner; and Jim's captor -explained to him, in his peculiar English, that the man who lay there -would be dead in a minute or two, and then they could put Jack in his -place.</p> - -<p class="normal">And presently the attendants came along and carried the dead man away, -and Jim and the officer lifted Jack on to the pallet, and the worried -surgeon came round and knelt down and opened up his things, and -examined him with quick, practised hands and a keen eye for causes and -effects.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's heart ran slow at sight of a bullet-hole in the white breast, -and he watched the surgeon hypnotically as he carefully turned the -body over and pointed to the place where it had come out at the back, -just under the shoulder, and then spoke hurriedly to the officer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He says," said the other, in his broken English, helped out with very -good French--which it would be but a hindrance to attempt to reproduce -in detail--"he cannot tell. It has gone right through. He may live, he -may die. It will take time to tell. Now you come."</p> - -<p class="normal">"May I come again to see him?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will try. You will give your parole?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jim; for Jack was more to him than all the chances of -escape.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then we will see. Now come!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Beg him to do everything he can for him. Couldn't we take him -somewhere else?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is better here, for the present. Later we will see. Now come!" And -since he could do no more at the moment, Jim went with him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For to-night you will come to the guard-room. To-morrow you will go -to Head-quarters and be properly paroled, Then we will see."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim spent the rest of the night on three chairs in the guard-room, -brooding gloomily most of the time on the disastrous results of -"seeing the fun" of the Ovens, and full of fears as to the end of it -all.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the morning his keeper came for him, and Jim, for the first time, -took the opportunity of looking at him. He had been too busy with -other matters the night before.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was a young fellow of about his own age, dark-haired, and of a thin -sallow face, bright-eyed, pleasant-looking. Under other circumstances -Jim thought they might have become friendly. He had certainly, treated -him well.</p> - -<p class="normal">"How is my brother?" asked Jim anxiously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We will see as we go. Have you eaten? No?" And he took him away to a -mess-room just alongside, where a number of officers were drinking -coffee from bowls, and smoking and talking.</p> - -<p class="normal">They saluted Jim politely, and stared at him without restraint while -he ate a chunk of very good white bread and drank his coffee, which -was excellent, and meanwhile they plied his friend with questions.</p> - -<p class="normal">And one, after much observation of Jim's uniform, suddenly made some -remark which carried all eyes to him and made him extremely -uncomfortable at so much observation.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is saying that your regiment was in that mad charge outside -Balaclava," said his particular officer.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes; I was in it," said Jim quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at that, to his immense surprise, every man in the room sprang to -his feet and gravely saluted him again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And you got through whole?" was the next question.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No. I had a lance wound and three bullets into me, but I've been a -voyage to Constantinople since then, to brace up, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">And they crowded round him, and pressed cigars on him, and showed -themselves right good fellows.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then his new friend took him along to the hospital, and they learned -that Jack had come to himself and was sleeping, and so they went on -across the bridge of boats, and through the public gardens, and past -the cathedral, to Head-quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">After waiting some time, they were conducted down many long passages -to a room where a tall fair man, of high face and autocratic bearing, -sat at a table piled with papers and plans. Another stood looking out -of the window, with his back turned to them, and a white English -terrier, standing by his side on its hind legs, was trying hard to -make out what he was looking at.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim's keeper saluted deferentially and made his statement to the tall -man at the table.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I understand you are prepared to give your parole not to attempt to -escape, or to hold any communication with the outside?" said he, -somewhat brusquely, first in French and then in understandable -English.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am," bowed Jim. And at the sound of his voice the white dog came -dancing across to him as though he were an old friend, and accepted -his caresses with delight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And your brother is also a prisoner, in hospital, and you wish to -attend on him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What is your name and standing?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"James Denzil Carron--cornet, 8th Hussars!" And at that the man at the -window turned suddenly and looked at him, and came and stood by the -table.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You were, then, in the mad charge at Balaclava, perhaps?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was a foolish business."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--you agree? How was it?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Some mistake. But no one quite knows."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What are your total forces up there now?"</p> - -<p class="normal">At which Jim's lip curled in a smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You can hardly expect me to tell you that," he said quietly.</p> - -<p class="normal">The tall young man who had been standing by the window said a word or -two to the other, who seemed surprised, and turning to Jim, said: -"Very well, Monsieur Carron. I accept your parole, and Lieutenant -Greski will be personally answerable for you."</p> - -<p class="normal">The lieutenant bowed, and plucked Jim backward by the sleeve, and Jim -bowed, and gave the white dog's ear a final friendly pull, and they -went out.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who is he?" he asked, as soon as they were in the corridor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Menchikoff, the one at the table. The other is the Grand Duke -Michael. How does he know you?" And he looked at Jim with new -curiosity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Who--Menchikoff?</p> - -<p class="normal">"No--the Grand Duke."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Know me?" jerked Jim. "Some mistake. I never set eyes on him before."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He told Menchikoff to do what you wanted, and said he knew you, or -something about you, or something of the kind. He dropped his voice so -that I couldn't catch it all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's odd. I certainly know nothing of him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He thinks he knows you, anyway, and so much the better for you. You -shall come with me and stop at my house. It is not far."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You are very good. I shall have a better opinion of Russians in -future."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Russians! I am no Russian. I am a Pole. I hate the Russians, and -would love the English if I might."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I see. But why do you fight for them, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Because I didn't my kin in Poland would have to pay for it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's jolly hard, to have to risk your life, and maybe give it, for -people you hate."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are many more like me. But what can we do? If we go against -them they visit it on the innocent ones at home. If I could destroy -the whole of Russia, Tsar and Grand Dukes and all, at one blow, I -would strike it so"--and he dashed his fist into the palm of his other -hand--"and then I would die with a glad heart. . . . But one does not -talk of these things, you understand, except among one's friends."</p> - -<p class="normal">He stopped at a house which stood about midway down the slope -overlooking the harbour, and led Jim into a room on the ground floor. -From the window he could see Fort Constantine, shining white in the -sun on the other side of the water, and the bristling line of the -masts of the sunken ships, and the harbour itself dotted all over with -plying boats.</p> - -<p class="normal">"One moment," said Greski, and left him there, but came back in an -instant with a very beautiful white-haired old lady, whom he must have -met in the passage. Her dark eyes were shining like stars at the joy -of seeing her boy again.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My mother," said Greski, and explained matters to her in a torrent of -Polish.</p> - -<p class="normal">She assented without any demur to all her son's proposals, and shook -hands very heartily with Jim, giving him what was evidently warm -welcome, in a tongue he did not understand.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then the door opened again, and a girl rushed in and flung her arms -round the lieutenant's neck, and kissed him, between broken -ejaculations of joy, as one come back from the dead, while two long -plaits of black hair gyrated wildly at her back.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the tails had settled down, Greski laughingly swung her round -facing Jim, and introduced her as his sister Tatia, and Tatia blushed -charmingly, and said, in very passable English: "You must excuse us, -sir. You see, when he goes out we are never quite certain that we -shall ever see him again. And when he does return our hearts are -joyful. Those terrible pointed shells you send us--ah, <i>mon Dieu!</i> one -came through the side of the cathedral this morning when I was there -praying for Louis, and we all ran and ran."</p> - -<p class="normal">"They are not supposed to fire at the cathedral," said Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, when one plays with monsters you never know what may happen."</p> - -<p class="normal">Then they all three spoke together for a minute or two in Polish, -since madame knew no tongue but that and Russian, and a little French, -and then the ladies went off on household duties.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I hope I shall not put you to any trouble," said Jim, "and--and"--he -stumbled--"you will please let me pay my way. I have heaps of -money----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can discuss that later. We shall be glad to be of service to you. -Our hearts go out to Englishmen."</p> - -<p class="normal">But it was a little later, when they sat down to breakfast, that a new -and very surprising development took place.</p> - -<p class="normal">Madame Greski's eye suddenly lighted on Jim's ring--the one pressed -upon him by the young officer whose life he had saved on the heights -of Alma. She stared hard at it, and then said a quick word to the -others, and, to Jim's surprise, Greski caught hold of his hand, held -it for the others to see, and they all stood up in great excitement, -and all spoke at once as they stared down at the ring.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where did you get it?" asked Greski quickly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was given me by a Russian officer at the Alma. He was wounded and -I gave him a hand, and he made me take this in return."</p> - -<p class="normal">And madame came round and put her trembling white hands on his -shoulders and kissed him on both cheeks, and her eyes were full of -tears. Tatia looked as if she would have liked to do the same, and Jim -would not have minded very much if she had.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It was my brother John," said Greski. "He wrote to us from Odessa -telling us all about it. You saved his life."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very glad I was able to be of service to him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And now we will repay you as far as we can," said Tatia joyously. -"Oh, I am glad! But the marvel that you should fall into Louis's -hands!"</p> - -<p class="normal">Madame spoke quickly to her son, and he translated.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My mother says your brother must come here too and they will nurse -him."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I am very grateful. Can we go and see him after breakfast? Are you on -duty?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not again all this week, <i>Dieu merci!</i> There are many more of us than -are needed for the batteries, you see. If there were any signs of a -general assault we should all be called, of course. But that is not -likely yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">So Jim had fallen more than comfortably, and, for Jack's sake -especially, he was glad. For if the hospitals inside were anything -like those outside, it might make all the difference between life and -death to a sick man, to be in such good hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">They set off at once for the hospital. It was a cold raw day, and up -on the hillsides, as they crossed the bridge of boats, the dull boom of -the guns sounded now and again at long intervals. In that quarter, -however, there were but few results of the bombardment visible, and -when Jim remarked on it, Greski said,</p> - -<p class="normal">"So far you are kind to us: you keep your fire for the forts and -batteries and Government buildings. But in time you will lose -patience, and then we shall suffer. Why didn't you come straight in -when you landed? After Alma you might have done it, I think."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know why," said Jim. "But I wish we had. It would have saved -much loss on both sides. You must have suffered terribly in the last -fight--Inkerman."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Horribly, horribly!" said Greski, with an expressive gesture.</p> - -<p class="normal">At the hospital they found Jack looking very white and washed out, and -visibly in great pain.</p> - -<p class="normal">His face brightened at sight of Jim, but a bad spasm twisted it as he -tried to smile, and the smile faded like a winter sunbeam and left his -face hard and set.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear old boy," said Jim, kneeling down by his side and holding his -hand, "I've got good news for you. We've found friends, and you're to -come to their house and get the best of nursing and attention."</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack brightened again at the prospect, and Jim told him how it all -came about, and introduced Greski, who nodded and smiled -encouragingly.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the doctor came round he made no difficulty about Jack's removal. -He was only too glad to get another bed.</p> - -<p class="normal">He talked with Greski for a few seconds, and then hurried away to his -work.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I will get an ambulance," said Greski, "and we will take him at once. -He will be happier there." And Jim had no chance to ask him what the -doctor had said, until they were walking slowly behind the litter, -which, on second thoughts, Greski had brought as entailing less -discomfort.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He says it is a very bad wound. The bullet went right through the -lungs, but we will do everything that is possible for him." And Jim -went heavily, and his heart was full fears.</p> - -<p class="normal">"But you must not look like that," said Tetia reprovingly to him, when -they had got Jack stowed away in bed, in such outward comfort as soft -clean sheets and a warm pleasant room could afford. "That is not the -face of a good nurse, no indeed! I shall not let you in to see him -till you look more cheerful." But Jim found a cheerful face no easy -matter.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had, however, still another surprise during the afternoon, which -raised his spirits somewhat if it did not at the moment kindle his -hopes.</p> - -<p class="normal">The special doctor attached to the Grand Duke Michael came in, and -informed them that the Grand Duke himself had ordered him to take the -English officer in hand. He had been to the hospital and had been sent -on to Mme Greski's house. So, between them all, no possible chance for -Jack would be missed.</p> - -<p class="normal">He examined his patient most carefully, and when Jim followed him -anxiously out of the room he told him plainly, and in excellent -English, that the hospital doctor was right--it was a very serious -case, and they could only do their best and trust in Providence. If he -did pull through it would probably leave him weakly all his days; -but ---- and the great man pursed his lips and shook his head -doubtfully.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.60" href="#div1Ref_3.60">CHAPTER LX</a></h4> -<h5>INSIDE THE FIERY RING</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Nothing could exceed the kindness of their new friends to the -strangers cast so curiously on their care.</p> - -<p class="normal">Brother John's ring had been an Open Sesame to their hearts, and they -vied with one another in the repayment in kind for all that the absent -one had received at Jim's hands.</p> - -<p class="normal">Madame Greski and Tatia devoted themselves to Jack as if he had been -brother John himself. No single thing that could make for his comfort -and well-being was lacking on their part. Never was wounded man tended -with more loving and unremitting attention.</p> - -<p class="normal">And when Jim thought of the bleak miseries of the camps up there on -the hill-sides, and the long-drawn horrors of the passages on the -hospital ships, he thanked God in his heart that Jack was where he -was.</p> - -<p class="normal">For himself, although the rôle of prisoner of war was little to his -taste, it was still mighty interesting to be inside Sebastopol after -gazing at it so long from the outside. There was so little doing -outside that it seemed to him that he was not missing much; in due -course they would probably be exchanged; and meanwhile the difference -between the mud-and-canvas life of the camps and this warm and -cheerful home in the town was somewhat in the ratio of hell and -heaven.</p> - -<p class="normal">In view of the abounding comforts with which they were surrounded, it -was indeed difficult at times to realise the actual and astounding -fact that they were undergoing a siege that would rank as one of the -great sieges of the world's history; that this comfortable town was an -almost impregnable fortress; and that England and France, outside -there, were bending all their energies to its reduction.</p> - -<p class="normal">For they lacked nothing. Supplies were abundant. They were warm and -well-fed, and, beyond the dull boom of the distant guns, they heard -nothing of the siege. Through that unclosable northern door, by night -and by day, long strings of carts brought in to them everything that -was necessary, and much besides. Contrary to custom, it was the -besiegers who suffered, not the besieged.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim, when Tatia drove him away from Jack's bedside, to seek -exercise and fresh air lest she should have another patient on their -hands, quietly observing everything--the rude strength of the -defences, the unlimited, even wastefully profuse stores of guns and -ammunition, the teeming barracks full of men, and that ever-open door -though which the limitless supplies could still be drawn upon--said to -himself that the siege might go on for ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack, however, was in most distressing condition. The slightest -exertion, any movement almost, brought on painful fits of coughing -which seemed to shake his wounded chest to pieces. Speaking was out of -the question, for even breathing was difficult to him; and all Jim -could do, to show him what he felt about it all, was to sit by his -bedside, holding his hand at times, and at times forcing himself to -unnaturally cheerful talk lest the dreadful silence should bring him -to foolishness in other ways. For he felt certain, from Jack's -appearance and the doctor's manner, that his case was hopeless and the -end not far off, and the thought of it was terrible to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Of the consequences--of the results to himself, at Carne and -Wyvveloe--not one thought. The fluttering of the shadowy wings put all -other considerations to rout. This that lay so still on the bed was -dear old Jack, and the fear that he was going filled all his heart and -mind.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Tatia, pretty as she was, and of a most vivacious disposition, -possessed so much common-sense.</p> - -<p class="normal">Again and again she insisted on Jim quitting the room and the house, -and threatened him with penalties if he came back under a couple of -hours. And when her brother was available she would send them off -together, begging them only to beware above all things of pointed -shells and to turn up again in due course whole and undamaged.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would nurse you with enjoyment," she said, her soft dark eyes -dwelling appreciatively on Jim's sorrowful long face, in which they -seemed to find something that appealed to her strongly. "But, for -yourself, you will be better to keep well. If you come back in less -than two hours you shall have only half a dinner. Louis, you will see -to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Greski would march him away to the harbour front where walking was -safe, since the shells rarely topped the hill, and they would discuss -matters from both sides as they went.</p> - -<p class="normal">On that side of the town there was little sign of the siege beyond the -activities of the quays, and an occasional roar from the man-of-war -moored under Fort Nicholas. But when they strolled along the front, -and came round the hill, and up by St. Michael's church and the tower -whose clock bore on its face the name of "Barraud, London," then all -the grim actualities met them full face.</p> - -<p class="normal">Up there, across the Admiralty Harbour--whose head ran up into the -gorge wherein lay the fatal Ovens out of which they had come into -captivity--beyond the great barracks and the hospital, up there on the -hill-side lay the huge works which Jim knew as the Malakof and the -Redan, but which Greski spoke of as the Korniloff and No. 3--very -different in the rear from what they were in front, grim and -forbidding, but crude and rough and unfinished-looking. And those -little zigzag piles of earth just beyond them were the British -trenches, and up on the plateau beyond were the tents, which shone so -white in the morning sun, but were so horribly thin and cold of a -night, and so dirty when you got close to them.</p> - -<p class="normal">He could see the Picket House, and knew just what the usual crowd -about it would look like; and he could see the gunners moving about -the platforms inside the Russian works, and now and again white clouds -of smoke rolled over them and the angry roar came bellowing across the -quiet waters of the harbour, and the mole-heaps on the hill-side -spurtled out in reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">Now and again a shell came hurtling into the town from the Lancasters -or the French batteries, but did little damage on that side, since -there was little damage left to be done.</p> - -<p class="normal">Up there to the right, as they went on past the Admiralty buildings -and the cathedral, the houses were mostly in ruins, the streets were -already barricaded in anticipation of assault, and the whole scene was -one of dismal desolation.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at times they would meet stretchers carrying broken men, and -again, strings of carts carrying rough red coffins up to the cemetery.</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim deemed it wise, from every point of view, to keep, as a rule, -away from the actual scene of operations. It was slow work watching at -a distance the very leisurely operations, and it gave him little to -report. But he had an idea that if he showed too great an interest in -their concerns the authorities might perhaps tighten his tether, and -that might mean separation from Jack. Now and again, however, the -desire to see for himself how things were going on got the better of -him, and he would creep into some deserted corner of the hot side of -the town and endeavour to estimate the possibilities.</p> - -<p class="normal">And from such observations he always came away downcast and -disheartened, for, as far as he could see, the besiegers made no -progress whatever, while the besieged toiled unremittingly at the -strengthening of their defences, and blocked every possibility of -entrance with their mighty earthworks. Up that side of the town went -an unceasing stream of men and carts carrying fascines and gabions and -shot and shell, and strings of straining horses dragging big guns from -the arsenal; and new works, fully equipped, sprang up like mushrooms -in a night.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there were dark days also, when Greski was on duty in the -bastions, or nominated for a sortie. And then madame and Tatia went -about very quietly and nervously, and started at any unusual sound, -and showed their fears in their faces.</p> - -<p class="normal">But he was very fortunate, and came home each time to their joyful -welcome with his tale of catastrophe to others whom they knew, but -himself escaped unhurt, and they all breathed freely till his turn -came round again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Christmas slipped by almost unnoticed. When he did, by accident, awake -to the fact that it really was Christmas Day, the difference between -this and other Christmas Days gave Jim an unusual fit of the blues.</p> - -<p class="normal">He thought of them all at Wyvveloe, and wondered if Gracie had decked -the church with holly. He knew they would all be thinking about them, -probably in great distress of mind. What news concerning them had -reached home he could not tell. After much discussion with Greski, who -assured him it would be useless, he had requested permission from the -authorities to write home, subject to their inspection. But his -request was returned to him with a brief inscription in Russian, which -Greski translated as "out of the question."</p> - -<p class="normal">So he could only hope that Colonel Carron would have been able to make -inquiries under one of the occasional flags of truce, and had sent -word home. But operations were slow at the moment; there had been -neither assaults nor sorties of any consequence, and so flags of truce -and opportunities of communication were of rare occurrence.</p> - -<p class="normal">Yes, he knew it must be a bitter, sad Christmas for them all at -home--for the many who had already got their fatal news, and for the -more who awaited theirs in fear and trembling. And he knew too well -what a shockingly thin and sore one it must be for the gaunt, -shoeless, half-starved and ill-clad men in the thin white tents on the -heights over there.</p> - -<p class="normal">And when, through the weight of their colouring, his dismal thoughts -plumbed deeper depths than was his wont, the grim irony of this most -unchristian Christmas sat heavily on him. Christmas!--bristling with -raw yellow earthworks, shattered with bursting shells, ghastly with -crawling processions of broken men and more peaceful red coffins! -Christmas!--peace on earth and goodwill----! And yet, after eighteen -hundred years, here were so-called Christian nations at one another's -throats, tearing and rending the image of God into raw red fragments, -and with no thought but for destruction.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were, many of them, very good fellows, these Russians. They would -stop him in the street--those whom he had met that first morning, -those who were left--and greet him cordially, and ask after his -brother, and express their regrets, and he had no more desire to kill -them than he had to kill Lord Raglan himself. And yet, set him on the -hill-side up there, and all his thought would be towards their -destruction.</p> - -<p class="normal">Truly it was a queer world, and there must be something wrong -somewhere! But it was all beyond him, and he could only brood and -wonder.</p> - -<p class="normal">Their New Year was ushered in on the night of the twelfth with great -illuminations, much ringing of church bells, and a solemn service in -the cathedral--by a terrific bombardment of their fellow Christians on -the hill-side, and two furious sorties, which effected nothing beyond -an increase in the tally of broken men and in the cart-loads of red -coffins creaking away to the cemetery.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Absolutely useless," acknowledged Greski, when his mother and Tatia -released him from their warm embraces on his return. "But the Chief -thinks it does the men good to go out occasionally after all their -dirty work on the new bastions."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.61" href="#div1Ref_3.61">CHAPTER LXI</a></h4> -<h5>WEARY WAITING</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Nothing yet," said Sir Denzil to Eager, on his twentieth anxious call -after further news of the boys. "I am surprised Denzil has not -written. But so many things may happen out there. His letter may have -gone astray. There may be difficulty in communicating with Sebastopol. -He may be wounded himself. He may be dead. We can do nothing but wait. -I will send you word the moment I have any news. Miss Gracie well?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite well, sir, but sorely troubled about the boys."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, ay! That is the woman's part--to sit at home and nurse her -fears."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No news, Charlie?" asked the Little Lady hopelessly, from her chair -by the fire.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No news yet, dear. Sir Denzil promises to send round the moment he -gets anything."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm beginning to fear they're all lying dead in that horrible Crimea. -This waiting, waiting, waiting, is terrible."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, it's hard work, the hardest work in the world. But we can only -wait and hope, dear. Whatever is is best, and we cannot alter it."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a weary time for all of them, and all over Britain and France -and Russia the same black cloud lay heavily. The only ones who were -happy were those whose warriors had come home maimed, so long as the -maiming was not absolute and irretrievable. For such were at all -events safe from further harm.</p> - -<p class="normal">So the slow dark days dragged on until at length one night, when Eager -had just got in from his rounds and the usual fruitless call at Carne, -there came the long-expected knock on the door, and Gracie ran to -answer it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Is it you, Kennet?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Me, miss. Sir Denzil would like to see Mr. Eager."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has got some news at last?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay, some papers just come in. But I don't know what it is. Bad, I -should say, from the looks of him--he was so mortal quiet."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We will come at once. Let me go alone, Charlie. You're tired out."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not a bit of it, my dear. I feel like a hound on the scent at the -word 'news.' Don't you think you'd better wait here till I bring you -word?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I can't wait," she said breathlessly. And they went along together.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil met them with ominous impassivity.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I trust Kennet did not raise your hopes," he said, with the corners -of his mouth drawn down somewhat more even than usual, and a glance -that never wavered for a moment. "This arrived just after you left, -Mr. Eager. It explains, of course, to some extent----"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a letter from General Canrobert, informing Sir Denzil, with -many complimentary phrases as palliatives to the blow, that Colonel -Carron had met his death while gallantly repelling a sortie on the -night of the 12th January. He had left instructions, in case of need, -for word to be sent to Sir Denzil and it was in pursuance thereat etc. -etc.</p> - -<p class="normal">"That, of course, explains why he has been unable to pursue his -inquiries after the boys," said Sir Denzil, in an absolutely unmoved -voice.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I need not say our deepest sympathies are yours, sir----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is the boys I am concerned for," said Sir Denzil, with an -impatient double wave of the hand, whose finger and thumb held his -pinch of snuff. "Denzil put himself out of the running twenty -years ago. This is only an incident. But"--and he snuffed very -deliberately--"it may not be without its consequences in the other -matter. There is no one out there now who has any special interest in -them, you see. And, under present circumstances, they may quite easily -be overlooked and lost track of. Personally, I should not be in the -least surprised to learn that they are both dead. This war seems to me -to be carried on in quite unusually wasteful fashion."</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie never said a word. The callousness of the old heathen chilled -her heart, though it was boiling with many emotions. If she opened her -mouth she feared it' would all come out in a torrent that would -astonish him for the rest of his life.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We can only go on hoping for the best," said Eager quietly. "Sir -George is making inquiries for us----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He is quite outside things," said Sir Denzil brusquely, and gazed at -Eager with thoughtful intensity for a moment, as though on the point -of offering some other suggestion. "However," he said abruptly, at -last, "at the moment, as you say, we can only wait, and see what comes -of it all. If I hear anything I will send you word at once." And they -left him and went soberly home, feeling death still a little nearer -their dear ones in this new loss.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What a terrible old man he is!" said Gracie. "I think he must have -been born without a heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is mostly assumed, I think. Inside, I have no doubt he is feeling -his loss bitterly, but he prides himself on not letting it be seen. It -is the old fashion. Thank God, we have come to recognise the fact that -a man may be a strong man and yet have a heart! It makes for a better -world."</p> - -<p class="normal">And as the slow weeks dragged on, and still brought them no news of -the missing ones, their hearts were heavy with fears.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.62" href="#div1Ref_3.62">CHAPTER LXII</a></h4> -<h5>FROM ONE TO MANY</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">The great heart of the nation at home had been wrung with pity and -indignation at the altogether unnecessary sufferings of the men who -had gone out to fight her battles in the East, and who, through -miscalculation, muddle, and incapacity, had died like flies, of -sickness and want.</p> - -<p class="normal">The roar of anger with which the news was greeted shook the mighty in -their seats and hurled Ministers and Cabinets into the dust. Still -more to the purpose, the sympathy aroused set itself promptly to the -cure of official abuses by the administration of private charity; -which word is used in its high apostolic sense, for private -munificence and public subscription provided the miserable, gallant -remnant of our army only with those things which were theirs by right, -and of which they had been defrauded by sheerest stupidity and the -inexorcisabie demon of Red-tape.</p> - -<p class="normal">The <i>Times</i> fund was a mighty help; Florence Nightingale a still -mightier, in that noblest attribute of personal service and sacrifice -which touches all hearts to higher things.</p> - -<p class="normal">But there were also many private benefactors, who set to work at once -on their own account to do what they could, and among them was Sir -George Herapath.</p> - -<p class="normal">When the dreadful disclosures of the camps and hospitals came home, he -was still bending, almost broken, under the weight of his own loss. -His son's death had beaten him to the ground and shortened his span by -years.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the thought of the miseries of those other brave fellows, out on -the bleak hill-sides above Sebastopol, stirred him out of the depths -of his sorrow. He sent for Charles Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eager," he said, "I can't get any sleep for thinking of it all."</p> - -<p class="normal">"He died as a gallant man should die, Sir George."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's the others I'm thinking of--the poor fellows who are mouldering -away out there for want of everything that has been forgotten or sent -astray."</p> - -<p class="normal">And a spark came into Eager's eye, for here was sign of grace and hope -after his own mind--a sorely stricken heart rising superior to its own -loss in helpful thought for others.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, they're having dreadful times. What were you thinking of?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Helping, if you'll take a hand."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm your man, sir, and God be thanked for your good thought! I'll -thank you in my own way."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Help me to make a list of the most necessary things, and I'll charter -a ship to take them straight out. Will you go with her and see to it -all?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Will I?" blazed Eager. "Will I not? It's almost too good to be true. -I want to find out what's become of those boys too."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wouldn't like it all to go astray like the rest, you see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll see to that. It may be the saving of hundreds. God bless you, -sir! George's death will be a blessing to many through you. It is just -what he would have done himself."</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George shook his head sadly. The wound was too raw yet. "Let's get -to work!" he said; for in work, and especially in such work, there was -something of healing.</p> - -<p class="normal">So they formed themselves into a committee of four, and Sir George -insisted on Eager and Gracie coming to stay with them at Knoyle so -that the work might go on without interruption.</p> - -<p class="normal">He went down to Liverpool, and with difficulty secured a -steamship--the <i>Bakclutha</i>, 1,000 tons burden, James Leale, master, at -a very high price, for Government charters had made a tight market.</p> - -<p class="normal">He went over all their lists carefully, knew just where to lay his -hand on everything, and the work went forward rapidly.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager had secured a locum and was keen to be off, for every day's -delay meant so many wasted lives. Gracie was to stay on at Knoyle with -Margaret. And so the very last night came, and found them sitting -round the fire in Sir George's study after dinner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You must all give an eye to my people while I'm away," said Eager. -"Breton is a good sort, I think, but it'll take some time for him to -get to know them; and the vicar----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"The vicar is resigning as soon as you come back," said Sir George -quietly. "The South of France is the only place where he can live, -Yool says. I want you to take it when you get home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That is very good of you, sir. I want you to give me something else -too"--and he slipped his hand inside Margaret's arm.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I know," said Sir George. "Meg has told me, and I could not wish her -better."</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie flung her arms round Margaret and kissed her heartily.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, I am so glad!" she cried. "That is what I have been wanting all -the time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So have I," laughed Eager. And then more soberly, as he lifted -Margaret's hand to his lips--"And truly I am grateful. My cup is -full--almost to the brim----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish I could go with you," said Margaret.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So do I," said Gracie eagerly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, I know, but----"</p> - -<p class="normal">And they knew too that the "but" must keep them at home.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'll find out all about the boys, Charlie," ordered Gracie.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'll do my best, dear, you may be sure. It all depends on what there -is to find out and what an outsider can do. The possibilities are so -tremendous. All we can do is to hope for the best and keep our hearts -up. I have letters from Lord Deseret to Lord Raglan and several -others, and I have no doubt they will give me all the help they can."</p> - -<p class="normal">And next day he sailed, very happy in his mission, happier still in -what lay behind and before him; troubled only on account of the boys -who had disappeared into the smoke-cloud, and of whom for many weeks -they had been able to obtain no tidings whatever.</p> - -<p class="normal">The master, the supercargo, and the crew of the <i>Balclutha</i> were all -of one mind in the matter, and so she made a record passage, was -through the Straits fourteen days after she hauled out of the Mersey, -and two days later lay off Balaclava Bay awaiting official permit to -enter.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Bay was crowded, but a corner was found at last, and Eager's -wondering eyes travelled over the amazing activities and manifold -nastinesses of that historic port, though these last were nothing now -to what they had been.</p> - -<p class="normal">He landed at once, introduced himself and his business to Admiral -Boxer and Captain Powell, found favour in their sight, and made -arrangements for the unloading and forwarding of his cargo.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George had furnished him with ample funds and the best of advice. -He organised his own transport, saw to it himself; with the hearty -assistance of Leale and his two mates and some picked men of the -crew, and drove things forward at such astonishing speed that the -harbour-master broke out one time.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Man! Was it a parson you said you were, Mr. Eager? It's head of the -Transport you ought to have been. You get more out of those lazy -scamps than any man we've had here yet."</p> - -<p class="normal">It was the same wherever he went. His strenuous cheerfulness, his -masterful energy, his unfailing good-humour--in a word, his Eagerness -infused itself into all with whom he came in contact and carried him -royally through all difficulties. He was an object-lesson in what -might be done when Officialism and Red-tape had no fingers in the pie.</p> - -<p class="normal">To tell all he did, and saw, and thought, during those days, would -take a volume. He cheered and comforted, and lifted from misery and -death many a stricken soul, both in the hospitals and in the camps.</p> - -<p class="normal">He came across old Harrow and Oxford friends, who welcomed him with -open arms and tendered him advice enough to sink a ship. And when he -had finished his distributions, and so eased the ways of all the needy -ones within the range of his powers, he turned with keen anxiety to -that other quest which lay so near his heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">He paid a visit to British Head-quarters, in the low white houses on -the road leading from Balaclava to Sebastopol, delivered Lord -Deseret's letter to an aide-de-camp, and intimated his intention of -waiting there till he could see Lord Raglan in person.</p> - -<p class="normal">When at last he was admitted, he found the Chief sitting at a huge -table heaped with papers, and two secretaries writing for dear life at -tables alongside.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Raglan had already seen him about the camps and hospitals, and -had heard of his good works, and received him with courteous kindness. -Eager was struck with his thin, worn face--the face of a brave man -wrestling with unwonted problems and innumerable difficulties.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I don't know what we can do to help you in your quest, Mr. Eager," -said his lordship, with Lord Deseret's letter in his hand, "but -anything we can do we will. I am sure you will understand that it has -been through no intentional neglect that these young friends of yours -have slipped out of our sight. The demands upon one's time from the -people at home"--with an expressive glance at the mountainous heaps of -forms and papers before him--"have afforded one small chance of -attending to individual cases. The last we know was that they were -prisoners in Sebastopol."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I thank your lordship, and I am very loth to trouble you," said -Eager; "but there is so much dependent on these two boys that I must -do all I possibly can to learn what has become of them. One could not -ask by letter, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did I not write to Menchikoff, Calverly, soon after they were taken? -I seem to remember----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"You did, sir," replied one of the overwrought secretaries, without -stopping his work for a moment. "And we got no answer."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Would it be possible for me to get in under a flag of truce?" asked -Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite possible," said his lordship, with a faint smile; "but -decidedly risky, and you certainly would not come out again."</p> - -<p class="normal">"There are occasional truces for picking up the wounded, are there -not?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have never asked for one, As a rule the Russians request it after -one of their big sorties. If you wait a while--one never knows what -night they will come out. What was your idea?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Simply to inquire among the Russian officers. There could be no -objection to that, I presume?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not the slightest. You might learn something. It is just a chance."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then I will wait for that chance, with your lordship's permission."</p> - -<p class="normal">"By all means, Mr. Eager, and I wish you all success; also please -convey to Sir George Herapath our thanks for all he has done for the -men here, and accept the same yourself. They have suffered grievously. -His son's death was a great loss to us. He was a fine young fellow."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Eager bowed himself out.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.63" href="#div1Ref_3.63">CHAPTER LXIII</a></h4> -<h5>EAGER ON THE SCENT</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Eager's lean and lively face became well known in the camps and -trenches. He was keen to see all he could, and was everywhere welcomed -with acclaim, but perhaps the greetings he most enjoyed were the rough -grateful words of men whom he had helped and heartened in the field -hospitals, and who had recovered sufficiently to get back to their -work. These would do anything for him, and from morning till night he -was all over the place, seeing everything, mightily interested in it -all, and leaving, wherever he went, a trail of uplifting cheerfulness -which was a moral tonic.</p> - -<p class="normal">He watched the perpetual fierce little fights over the rifle-pits, and -went down into them and tended the wounded when chance offered. He -mingled with the frequenters of the Picket House, and watched the -effect of the somewhat desultory pounding of the batteries by the big -guns. He crept cautiously through untold miles of muddy trenches, both -French and British, and viewed with wonder the gigantic tasks which -prepared the way for the second bombardment. And in the hospitals he -soothed many a sufferer's passage to more peaceful quarters, and put -fresh heart into those whose lot it was to go back to the front.</p> - -<p class="normal">In the officers' tents and huts he was hail-fellow-well-met -everywhere, and the only fault found with him was that he could not be -in many places at the same time.</p> - -<p class="normal">He heard matters discussed there with an outspoken freedom which would -have set ears tingling at home; and when he asked how soon it was -going to end, was told, "Never, my boy. It's going on for ever and -ever." And an irreverent one added, "As it was in the beginning, is -now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"End, my dear fellow? Why should it end?" said still another, waving -an old briar at him, with the smoke curling like a flag of truce from -the stem. "They've got unlimited supplies to draw upon, and an open -road to get 'em in. As fast as we kill 'em they bring in fresh ones. -As fast as we knock down their earthworks they build 'em up again----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Faster!" growled another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, faster. I don't see why it should not go on till the year -2000--going on as we are. It's not a siege; it's a discipline--a -chastisement for our sins: I only wish----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hear, hear!" grunted another, who had heard that wish many times -before.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What do you wish?" asked Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish all the Red-tape and Routine people at home could be driven -into the trenches here and kept there for a month. They'd learn a -thing or two."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Die . . . never learn," growled the other.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If we'd gone right in when first we got here, it would have been a -most enormous saving, even if the cost had been heavy. For some reason -we lost the chance, and it's never going to come back. We're like a -prize-fighter pummelling away at the other fellow's leg and hoping to -break him in time that way. We may tire him out, of course, but its a -deuced slow business."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do they never exchange prisoners?" asked Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"We never take any worth exchanging. It's only the ruck we get, and -they're mostly dead."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Their boots are the best part of 'em," said the other. "Our men are -always better shod after a sortie. Gad! sir, it would have made you -blaze to see our fellows--Guardsmen and all--tramping about in mud and -snow with no soles to their rotten boots! I hope the man who made 'em -will spend his eternity in a snowy hell with raw bare feet!"</p> - -<p class="normal">But one night they were all out in haste, at the sound of heavy and -continuous musketry down in the trenches on the left attack; and -Eager, tumbling out and rushing on with the rest, found himself where -a noncombatant had no right to be.</p> - -<p class="normal">He had gone plunging downwards with the others, in order to see all he -could, till he fell bodily into a trench. He picked himself up and -joined the stream of men hastening towards the firing, and found -himself suddenly in the thick of things--bullets humming venomously -past his head, men falling with groans and curses by his side, and a -big man, standing just above him on the rough parapet of the trench, -shouting to his men to "give it 'em hot with the steel," and meanwhile -picking up the biggest stones he could find and hurling them at the -oncoming Russians in front.</p> - -<p class="normal">The men clambered up and swept away into the darkness with shouts and -cheers and clash of steel, and Eager was left alone in the trench with -the fallen ones. Up from below rose an awful turmoil, lit now and -again by receding flashes, then a final British cheer, and one more -sortie was repulsed.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was only next morning that he learned the size of it.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They say there were about fifteen thousand of them out last night," -said one of his friends. "One lot went for the French over by the -Mamelon, and the rest came up here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Gordon's men say he was on top of the trench chucking stones at the -beggars as they came up----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I saw him," said Eager. "He was standing just above me, shouting to -his men and flinging stones as hard as he could. Then they fixed -bayonets and went downhill like an avalanche."</p> - -<p class="normal">"You'd no right to be there, my boy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I suppose not. I went to see what was up, and fell into a trench, and -ran on with the rest. Was the Colonel hit?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Couple of bullets in him, but not deadly."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It's amazing to me that any one comes through alive."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, it feels like that at first, but you get used to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Did we lose many?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Pretty heavy; but there are four or five Russkis to each of ours. -Ground's thick with 'em. They'll want an armistice to clean up, I -expect--generally do."</p> - -<p class="normal">And, sure enough, the Russians presently requested a truce to pick up -their men; and before long the white flags were flying on the -batteries, and the men of both sides streamed out into the open, -picked up their dead and wounded, and took stock of one another.</p> - -<p class="normal">This was the chance Eager had been waiting for, and he went down to -the debatable ground between the lines with the rest.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a horrible enough sight--a couple of thousand dead and wounded -men strewn thick in that narrow space; but the stretchers were busily -at work, and he had his own inquiries to make.</p> - -<p class="normal">A number of Russian officers were strolling about, dressed in their -best and smoking their best cigars, and quite ready for a talk.</p> - -<p class="normal">He approached one, lifted his hat, and asked in French:</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wonder if monsieur could afford me some information?"</p> - -<p class="normal">At which the Russian smiled, and his blue eyes twinkled.</p> - -<p class="normal">"With pleasure, monsieur. We have at this moment one hundred thousand -men in there and five thousand guns, and provisions for fifteen years, -and when they are used up we have five times as many more to come."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If you could give me a satisfactory word about two young officers, -prisoners in your hands, you would ease some very sore hearts at home, -monsieur. That is all I ask. I have come all the way from England to -get news of them."</p> - -<p class="normal">"If I can, monsieur. What are their names?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Carron; two brothers--one in the Engineers, the other in the -Hussars."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Tiens!</i> Yes--Carron! I know them. Some of our guns have the same -name. They are well, monsieur. I saw them only yesterday."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Thank God for that! And I thank you, monsieur, most gratefully."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is nothing. One of them was sorely wounded, but the Grand Duke -sent his own doctor, and he is recovered. They were walking together -yesterday, and we spoke. I shall tell them of your inquiry. What name, -monsieur?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eager--Charles Eager. Will you tell them all are well at home and -very desirous of seeing them. If only this terrible war would come to -an end!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed; <i>le Malheur!</i> But I assure you, monsieur, we will stop -fighting at once if only you will all go home."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish I could make them," said Eager. "It is terrible work." And he -looked round at the broken men lying so thickly all about.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is rough play. Whether the omelets are worth all the broken eggs, -I cannot say. Have you any idea what we're fighting about, monsieur?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"General principles, I suppose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, he is a costly leader, this General Principles," said the other, -with a twinkle. "Permit me to offer you a cigar."</p> - -<p class="normal">"We will exchange," said Eager, producing some of Sir George's extra -specials. "Let us smoke to a speedy peace."</p> - -<p class="normal">"With all my heart." And they parted friends, and both went their ways -wondering why such things must be. And if the Russian never delivered -Eager's message it was not his fault, for he was killed by a shell -that same afternoon in Bastion No. 4.</p> - -<p class="normal">The ground was cleared at last. There was a moment's pause. Then the -white flags came fluttering down, and a gun from the Redan sent a shot -hurling up the trenches, to show that playtime was over.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager was much comforted in mind by his interview with the Russian. He -had seemed a good fellow, and could have no object in deceiving him. -He wrote long letters home, and resolved to wait on and see if the -great bombardment, to which all efforts were now directed, would bring -the end any nearer.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so it came about that he stood with the rest on Cathcart's Hill, -in the misty drizzle of that bleak Easter Monday morning, and watched -the opening of the second bombardment of Sebastopol.</p> - -<p class="normal">They could hear enough up there. All round the vast semicircle more -guns were crashing than had ever roared in concert before. But they -could see very little. The gunners themselves could not see. They knew -Sebastopol lay over there and they were bound to hit something.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Eager strained his eyes into the chill white mist to see all he -could, and felt sick at heart at thought of the destruction any one of -those wildly flying shot and shell might wreak.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.64" href="#div1Ref_3.64">CHAPTER LXIV</a></h4> -<h5>THE LONG SLOW SIEGE</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">It was the most trying time Jim had ever spent. He had had no -experience whatever of sick-beds, beyond his own short spell after -Balaclava, and even that was as different from this deadly monotony as -well could be. But he stuck to it valiantly, and was only saved from -physical and mental collapse himself by Tatia's arbitrary oversight.</p> - -<p class="normal">If there had been anything going on outside he might have found the -change from the sick-room bracing, but both besieged and besiegers -were too busy girding their loins for another struggle to waste time -or powder on useless display.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Allies had found the nut too hard to crack, and were working hard -on preparation for the next blow; and those inside, fully informed of -everything that went on in the camps, were straining every nerve to -resist it.</p> - -<p class="normal">So big guns and mortars went toiling up to the heights from Balaclava -Bay, and mountains of gabions and fascines and more big guns went -toiling up the heights inside to face them, and for days hardly a shot -would be fired on either side.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was towards the end of February that Greski said to Jim, one day -when Tatia had turned them out-of-doors--"Come, and I will show you -something new." And they went round to the eastern slope, looking out -towards the Karabelnaia suburb and the Malakoff and Redan--all of -which Jim knew by heart.</p> - -<p class="normal">And at the first glance Jim saw a change in the look of things.</p> - -<p class="normal">A new fort had sprung up in the night between the Malakoff, which till -now had been the foremost Russian work on that side, and the French -trenches--a fort of size too, all a-bristle with gabions and fascines -round the crown of the flat hill. The thousands of men still working -at it made it look like a great ant-heap.</p> - -<p class="normal">"French!" said Jim, after his first quick glance, with a feeling of -exultation, for the new work must seriously menace, if not command, -the Malakoff.</p> - -<p class="normal">"French?--no, my friend!--Russian! Truly your people are not very -wideawake. Todleben has been expecting them to seize that hill ever -since they crept so close, and it would have been bad for the -Korniloff Bastion, you see. So, as they did not, and it seemed a pity -no one should use it, he occupied it last night, and ten thousand men -have been busy on it ever since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hang it! What fools we were to let it slip!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Undoubtedly! And without doubt you will now try to recover it, and it -will cost you many men, and us also, and so the game goes on."</p> - -<p class="normal">And that very same night, when Jack had at last fallen asleep, Greski -said to Jim, as though he were inviting him to a theatre party:</p> - -<p class="normal">"At midnight we will take a little walk, and you will see your friends -attempt to recover the new fort, the Mamelon.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You seem to know all about it," said Jim incredulously.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Of course. That again is where we beat you. We know all your plans. -We have plans of every trench you cut with every gun you place in it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Not from any of our men," said Jim, with heat, for underhand work -such as that struck him offensively.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh no. But your men talk too much among themselves, and our spies are -through your camps night and day. They all speak French, you see, and -uniforms are easy to get, whereas none of your people speak Russian -well enough to pass muster for a moment. I can even tell you that the -attack will be all French--Zouaves, Marines, and Chasseurs, under -three thousand in all, and the General Monet will be in command. They -will walk right up into the trap and will all be killed or captured."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is sheer murder."</p> - -<p class="normal">"What would you? It is war; and after all, though I hate Russia, one -cannot help remembering that she did not invite you to come here. We -will wait here. It is not yet time."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why aren't you up there yourself?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I was in the last sortie and it is not my turn, <i>Dieu merci!</i> for it -will be hot up there to-night. There are plenty of us, you see, and we -take fair turns."</p> - -<p class="normal">All was dark and still up along the distant hill-side, so void of -offence that Jim began to wonder if Greski had not made a mistake. But -after several impatient glances at his watch by the glow of his cigar, -he said at last:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now--it is time! Watch!--over there!"</p> - -<p class="normal">But the minutes passed--long, long minutes, almost the longest Jim had -ever lived through.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Doesn't seem coming off," he jerked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Wait!" jerked Greski, at tension also. "They were to start at -midnight. They have a quarter-mile to cover, and they will go -cautiously because the ground behind there is bad. We are to let them -come right up and--ah--<i>voilà!</i>" as the darkness behind the new fort -blazed and roared and became an inferno of deadly strife; terrific -volleys of musketry and the hoarse shouting of men--no big guns, and -presently even the firing became desultory, but the turmoil waxed -louder and louder.</p> - -<p class="normal">Greski danced with excitement.</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Mon Dieu!</i> but they are fighting!--hand to hand! They are devils to -fight, those Zouaves. I wish--I wish--but it is not safe here to -wish."</p> - -<p class="normal">The turmoil came rolling round this side of the hill; the Russians -were falling back. Then flaming volleys broke out on each side of the -turmoil.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--ah--ah! Supports from Korniloff," jerked Greski.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then suddenly the Malakoff and Redan big guns blazed out, and -poured an avalanche of shot and shell and rockets on the gallant -attack, and it withered and melted away.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Two--three thousand men in pieces, and as you were!" was Greski's -summing up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Infernal butchery," growled Jim, much worked up.</p> - -<p class="normal">"What would you, my friend? It is war." And they went soberly home, -thinking of the horrors of the red hill-side and all the broken men -who lay there, while all the church bells in the town clashed pæans of -victory overhead as they went.</p> - -<p class="normal">The one bright ray to Jim, in this time of gloom, was the fact that -Jack was without doubt slowly improving, to the great satisfaction and -greater surprise of his wearied but unwearying nurses and the Grand -Duke's doctor.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has no right to live," said the latter, "and yet he lives, and may -live. It is marvellous." But then he had not known how the open-air -life on the flats prepared a man for contingencies such as this.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was long before Jack could speak above a whisper without suffering, -and then at last he was able to sit propped up with pillows and to -take an interest in things in general, But the gardens were full of -hyacinths and crocuses, and there were even patches of them on the -troubled hill-sides, among the white tents and muddy trenches, before -he tasted fresh air again.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then Jim would lead him on his strong arm, very slowly and with many a -rest, to a sheltered place whence he could see what was going on, and -so keen was his interest that it was no easy matter to get him home -again. And the officers they met on the road would stop them, and -politely inquire after Jack's health, and express their pleasure at -his recovery, and discuss matters with them, and gallantly express -their conviction that the siege would go on for ever, but admit all -the same that if it could honourably end they would not be sorry.</p> - -<p class="normal">They had another ray of hope when the news came of the death of the -Tsar. Would it mean an end of the terrible struggle, and release, and -home? Their hearts--and not theirs only--beat high with hope, and fell -the lower when the word came that the fight was to go on to the bitter -end.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.65" href="#div1Ref_3.65">CHAPTER LXV</a></h4> -<h5>THE CUTTING OF THE COIL</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">With the better weather things quickened somewhat--the things of -Nature, to life; the things of Man, to death. Man strove with all his -might to end his fellow man, and drenched the earth with blood: and -the spring flowers pushed valiantly through the blood-soaked sods and -seemed to wonder what it was all about.</p> - -<p class="normal">The boys learned from Greski that the chief bones of contention now -were the rifle-pits.</p> - -<p class="normal">The lines and burrows of attack and defence had by this time run so -close to one another that in places you could almost throw a stone -from one to the other. No smallest chance of harassing the enemy was -lost on either side. Both sides had learnt by experience what damage -and annoyance to the working parties could be effected by small bodies -of picked marksmen hidden in sunken pits in advance of the lines, and -the struggles over and round and in these tiny strongholds were -endless, and furious beyond description.</p> - -<p class="normal">He told them how sixty Russians had held their pits near what he -called the Korniloff Bastion, but which Jack and Jim knew more -familiarly as the Malakoff, against five thousand Frenchmen, until -reserves came up and the Frenchmen had to retire. And how some crack -shot in one of the English pits was potting their men even in the -streets of the town, twelve hundred yards away, so that passage that -way was no longer permitted.</p> - -<p class="normal">He told them that the Allies were mounting more and more big guns, and -prophesied hot work again before long, and feared that this time -"he"--by which simple comprehensive pronoun the Russian soldiers -always referred to the hundred thousand men out there on the -hill-side--the enemy--just as Jack and Jim had always used the term to -designate Sir Denzil in their early days--Greski feared that "he," out -of patience with the long delay and the sufferings it had entailed, -would no longer confine his efforts to battering the forts, but would -probably try to make an end of the town itself.</p> - -<p class="normal">"In which case," he said, "we may have to move over to the other side -of the water. He can knock down the bastions to his heart's content; -we can build them again faster than he can knock them down. But the -town--that would be another matter."</p> - -<p class="normal">All the streets leading in from the hill-sides were barricaded, and a -new line of huge entrenchments sprang up among the houses inside the -town, half-way up the slope on which it was built.</p> - -<p class="normal">From their chosen look-out on that eastward slope the boy watched all -that went on, inside and outside, with hungry anxious eyes. They noted -the immense activities on both sides, and it seemed to them, as it had -done before to Jim that things might go on like this for ever.</p> - -<p class="normal">"If we are really going to try another bombardment," said Jack -slowly--he always spoke slowly and quietly now, a way he had got into -through fear of straining his chest--"and if they keep it to the -earthworks, it is all wasted time. The only way to end it is to smash -the town and rush it over the pieces. It is doubtful kindness to spare -it. Far better end the matter for all concerned. Then we could all go -home and become human beings again. I've no fight left in me, Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"A couple of months on the flats will make you as sound as a bell," -said Jim cheerfully. "The air here is full of gunpowder and dead men. -What you want is Carne."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've thought a good deal about it all while I lay there and couldn't -talk," said Jack. "You'll have to take it all on, Jim. I shall be a -broken man all my life--I feel it inside me; and Carron of Carne must -be a whole man. You must take it on, Jim."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Don't let's talk about it, old man. We're not home yet. Time enough -to go into all that when we get there. I wish to goodness Raglan would -come right in and make an end of it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It would be an awful business. But I don't see how we're going to end -it any other way. And truly I wish it were ended, for I long to get -home. All I want is to get home."</p> - -<p class="normal">Their friend Greski had so far escaped the dangers of his unpalatable -duties in a manner little short of marvellous. He shirked nothing, and -took his fair turns with the rest. And, though he hated Russia with -all his heart, he laughingly confessed that when he was in the thick -of things he forgot it all in his eagerness to win the fight.</p> - -<p class="normal">But such phenomenal luck was too good to last. He went out one night -to join in a sortie, and the morning came without him, and found his -mother and Tatia in woeful depths, certain he was dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim went off at once for news, and found him at last in the hospital, -with a bullet in the thigh and a bayonet wound in the shoulder.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is nothing, it is nothing," said the hurrying surgeon. At which -Greski made a grimace at Jim, and said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"All the same, if it was only himself now! And the way he hacked that -bullet out! We are getting callous to other folk's sufferings."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, you hardly felt it," said the surgeon. "You said so."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When one's helpless under another man's knife one says what he wants. -It hurt like the deuce."</p> - -<p class="normal">"When can I take him home?" asked Jim, in stumbling French.</p> - -<p class="normal">"After two days, if he behaves and goes on well."</p> - -<p class="normal">So Jim went home and comforted madame and Tatia; and two days later -they were happier in their minds than they had been since the siege -began, in that they had him there all the time and safe from further -harm.</p> - -<p class="normal">He grizzled somewhat at being shelved "just when the fun was going to -begin," for he felt assured in his own mind that "he," outside, was -preparing for a general assault, and he would have liked to see it. -And so the boys did their best to keep him posted in all that went on.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were wakened at daybreak one morning by an uproar altogether out -of the common--one vast, unbroken, terrific roll of thunder, so deep, -so ominous, so far beyond anything they had ever heard in their lives -before that it sounded as though the whole of heaven's artillery had -been mounted on the hill-sides, and brought to bear on the devoted -town, and was bent on battering it to pieces.</p> - -<p class="normal">Greski called them from his room, and they went in.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hurry, hurry, or you'll miss it all! We knew it must be soon, but -could not learn the day. They will come in on top of this, I think. -Keep under cover, and come back and tell me all about it. Oh, ---- this -leg!"</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a bad morning for any conscious possessor of a chest--heavy -with mist and thick with drizzling rain; a black funereal day, sobbing -gustily, and drenching the earth with showers of bitter tears. The -chill discomfort of it told even on Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack, old man, I wish you'd go back," he said, before they had gone a -hundred yards. "I'll bring you word as soon as I can. They're not -likely to come in at once, and you'll have plenty of time to see all -that's going on. They'll probably hang away at the forts for the whole -day. Do go back."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Get on!--get on!" coughed Jack. "I want to see." And they pushed on -through the gloomy twilight.</p> - -<p class="normal">The streets were alive with all the others who wanted to see, and long -compact lines of gray-coats were pressing stolidly towards the front, -to strengthen the lines against the expected onslaught.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim was doubtful how far they should venture, but Jack was intent on -seeing. This was history. This was the consummation of all the hopes, -and the weary days and nights, that had gone into those mighty zigzags -up on the hill there. This was his own arm striking as it had never -struck before since time began, and he must see it at its best.</p> - -<p class="normal">But, though they could hear enough, they could not see much, because -of the mist and the rain and the dense clouds of smoke rolling down -the hill-sides.</p> - -<p class="normal">The Russian batteries were only beginning to reply, by the time the -boys reached their usual look-out on the eastern slope near the -cathedral, and then the uproar doubled, and the very ground beneath -them seemed to shudder under it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim helped his brother to his usual seat in a niche in the broken wall -of a garden, and tucked his cloak carefully about him, for between his -boiling excitement and the rawness of the morning, he was all ashake -and his teeth were chattering.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Every gun we have," gasped Jack . . . "hard at it!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"If they can't see more than we can, they're going it blind," growled -Jim, as he strode about to get warm.</p> - -<p class="normal">And then, like a bolt from the sky, without an instant's warning, out -of the chill white mist in front came a great round black ball, which -dropped with a thud into the ground almost at Jack's feet. It lay -there, hissing and spitting like a venomous devil gloating over its -anticipated villainy, and Jim rushed at it with an unaccustomed oath -of dismay. It was sheer instinct. He had no time for thought. The -devilish thing was close to Jack, and Jack could not move.</p> - -<p class="normal">He got his right hand under it to hurl it down the slope. His feet -slipped from under him as he heaved. Then with a splintering crash the -thing burst. . . .</p> - -<p class="normal">And the Coil of Carne, cut by a stray British shell, lay shattered -about the eastern slope of Sebastopol.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.66" href="#div1Ref_3.66">CHAPTER LXVI</a></h4> -<h5>PURGATORY</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">Jim came to himself in purgatory. It seemed to him that he came slowly -out of a dead black sleep into a horrible wakening dream.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was in a vast room, low-roofed, with massive arches which -obstructed his view and lay like weights on his brain. Small, heavy -windows let in a murky light. All about him were dismal groanings, and -mutterings, and curses, and a most evil atmosphere, which turned his -stomach.</p> - -<p class="normal">He tried to move, and was seized with grinding pains up his right side -and arm and shoulder.</p> - -<p class="normal">He tried to grope back into the meaning of it all, and suddenly he -remembered the shell.</p> - -<p class="normal">It must have burst and wounded him. His right hand shot suddenly with -burning pangs.</p> - -<p class="normal">He wondered how Jack had fared. He could not remember whether he had -succeeded in pitching it down the slope or not. He had done his best; -but he remembered that the fuse was very short. . . .</p> - -<p class="normal">Was he really alive? . . . or was he dead, and this hell? . . . The -groans and curses . . . that awful smell of blood and dead men! . . .</p> - -<p class="normal">He came to himself again, and it was all black about him--thick, -heavy, chill darkness, full of groans and curses and the smell of -blood and dead men.</p> - -<p class="normal">The heavy little windows came slowly out of the black void first, then -the massive pillars, and after a long, long time he saw dim figures -moving slowly about in the twilight.</p> - -<p class="normal">One passed close to him, and he wanted to call to him to ask him about -Jack, but when he tried to speak he found he could not.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then two more men came and dragged away the bodies of the two who lay -in the straw on each side of him. Their clothes rubbed his as they -went. He had not thought about them because they had lain so quiet.</p> - -<p class="normal">The men came back with another man, who groaned as they laid him down, -and then with another on the other side who groaned also, and Jim -wished they had left him the quieter ones.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was a very long time before a surgeon came round to look at the -new-comers, and Jim had had plenty of time to think as well as he was -able to.</p> - -<p class="normal">If he lay there much longer he would die. He must get them to take him -away. How?</p> - -<p class="normal">His dulled wits, roaming for possibilities, came on thought of the -Grand Duke's doctor who had pulled Jack through. If he could get them -to send for him. . . . Though why he should come was quite beyond -him. . . . Still it was a chance.</p> - -<p class="normal">The surgeon took off his right-hand neighbour's leg where he lay, by -the light of a lamp. The man gave a sudden gasp and a choke, the -surgeon said "Ach!" and they carried the body away.</p> - -<p class="normal">He took off the left-hand man's arm and strapped it up.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim with a mighty effort said, "Monsieur!" And the rumpled surgeon -looked down at him and wiped his fingers on a piece of dirty rag.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I beg you," said Jim, and the surgeon bent down to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well?" he said brusquely, for loads of broken men lay waiting for -him, and he had cut and carved till his hands and arms were tired and -his back stiff with bending.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I want . . . the Grand Duke's doctor," murmured Jim.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The deuce you do? Anything else?" And he was going.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The Grand Duke's own orders. . . He will tell you." And then he went -out into the darkness again.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the feeble words had caused the surgeon to look more closely, and -then to make inquiries, and when Jim came back to life he was in bed -at Mme Greski's, and Tatia was sitting by the bedside. And to Jim it -was like a sudden leap from hell to heaven.</p> - -<p class="normal">Tatia nodded cheerfully to him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where's Jack?" he asked in a whisper.</p> - -<p class="normal">"They've not found him yet. They're searching for him," said Tatia, -after a moment's hesitation. "You're not to talk, or to think, or do -anything but what I tell you. Drink this." And he drank, and fell -asleep again.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was not until many days afterwards, when he had grown accustomed to -the fact that he would have to go through life with one sleeve looped -up to a button--though he still complained at times of pains in that -hand--that Tatia gently broke the news to him that Jack was gone. The -shell had killed him on the spot, had literally blown him to pieces.</p> - -<p class="normal">And she broke down at sight of his face; and when he turned it over to -the pillow and sobbed silently, she crept quietly out of the room and -left him to his sorrow.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack gone! <i>Jack!</i> He felt stupid and newly broken. Dear old -Jack! . . . smashed by that cursed shell! A British shell, too, unless -he was very much mistaken. That was hard lines, after coming through -so much. Hard lines! Hard lines!</p> - -<p class="normal">He was very weak yet, and the tears welled out again and again, as he -lay thinking dreamily of all the old times on the flats, and how close -they had been to one another all through their lives. And Jack was -gone . . . killed by a British shell! And he was so much the better -man of the two. And now, if he himself lived, he would have to go -home--some time--if this wretched war ever came to an end--and break -all their hearts with the news. In his weakness and sorrow he wished -that cursed shell had made an end of them both.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was early summer before he was about again, for the bursting shell -had ripped open his side and shoulder, in addition to shattering his -arm beyond repair, and had given a shock to his system from which it -recovered but slowly.</p> - -<p class="normal">And still the siege dragged on. Early in June came the third -bombardment. All the southern portion of the town had long been a heap -of grass-grown ruins. Now, even the northern slopes became almost -untenable.</p> - -<p class="normal">The theatre was shattered out of all knowledge; in every barricaded -street the roadway was furrowed like a ploughed field by the shot and -shell which came raining in, and these were collected each day and -piled into pyramids ten feet high. Not a house but was damaged, many -were in ruins; the vertical shells from the mortars came down like -bolts from heaven and spread destruction where they fell.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was death to walk the streets, and no safer to stop indoors. Many -crossed the harbour to the northern heights. The Greskis and Jim -fitted up their cellars and lived there as in a bomb-proof.</p> - -<p class="normal">Greski himself had made but a slow recovery. The bullet-wound in his -thigh took long to heal, and left him limping still and quite unfit -for service--at which nis mother and Tatia rejoiced greatly, and he -did not greatly repine.</p> - -<p class="normal">"As a soldier," he said, "I would shirk nothing; but all the same -Russia is not my country, but my oppressor, and it makes a difference. -For Poland I would die ten deaths. For Russia I grudge a finger."</p> - -<p class="normal">When the bombardment slackened again, he limped out on Jim's sound arm -to gather news, and managed to keep a portentously long face as his -fellows in the café told them of the taking of the Mamelon and Sapoune -by the French, and the closing of the harbour road leading out to -Inkerman.</p> - -<p class="normal">But alone with Jim and his own people, he let his feelings have play.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Now we're getting on a bit. I mean you are. The Mamelon is one of the -keys to the door. I see the end in sight But your people are -strangely, dilatory or overcareful. From what they were saying down -there you could have got in more than once if you'd only come on."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wish they had come on," said Jim heartily. "Maybe there are too -many cooks at the pie."</p> - -<p class="normal">Ten days later came the fourth bombardment, and in the comparative -safety of their cellars they heard the neighbours' houses crumbling -and falling, and the upper part of their own came down with a crash -which blanched the women's faces, till the ruins settled into position -and left them still alive.</p> - -<p class="normal">Then one day, in an appalling cessation of the thunders to which their -ears were accustomed, Jim and Greski, stealing out to the south slope, -heard on the hill-side the solemn wail of the Dead March, and -presently a great salute of unshotted guns, and learned later that -Lord Raglan was dead, and, according to Greski, was succeeded by one -Sampson, whom Jim failed to recognise under so large a name.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sebastopol was becoming one great hospital, one might almost say -charnel-house, for the wounded were beyond their capacity for tending, -and the dead lay for days in the streets unburied. And over it all the -summer sun shone brightly, and flowers bloomed gaily among the -shattered columns and fallen walls of houses which had once made this -one of the fairest cities of the East.</p> - -<p class="normal">The siege lapsed again into dullness, in spite of Greski's prophecy. -The thinned ranks behind the bastions were replenished from the -northern camps. All day long the harbour was alive with the boats that -brought them across. And the bastions themselves grew stronger and -stronger, with the myriads of men working on them and the tons of shot -rained into them from the outside.</p> - -<p class="normal">Working parties streamed up to the front all day long, carrying great -stakes and poles for the abattis, and fascines and gabions for the -ramparts, and in this work every English and French prisoner they had -taken was employed.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim found it refreshing to hear the hearty British oaths which rattled -about such fatigue parties, and he generally hailed the speakers and -got a hearty word in reply.</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless you, sir, but this ain't no work for British sailormen, an' -it does one a sight o' good to cuss 'em high an' low, even if they -doesn't understand it."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Perhaps just as well," said Jim. "Can you use any money?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Try me, sor! God bless your honour! This night I'll be as drunk as a -lord, an' so will all me mates. 'Twill lighten the day an' the weight -of these ---- stakes. ----- ----- all Rooshians! They don't know how -to treat a sailorman."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.67" href="#div1Ref_3.67">CHAPTER LXVII</a></h4> -<h5>THE BEGINNING OF THE END</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">And so, at last, we come to the end of that titanic struggle in the -East--so far, that is, as we are directly concerned in it.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was in the first days of September, just twelve months after the -Modern Armada sailed from Varna in hopes of settling matters out of -hand, that the great bombardment opened; the earth shook and the -heavens shuddered, and men grown used to the sound of big guns were -amazed at the hideous uproar. Fifteen hundred of the heaviest guns in -existence thundered back and forth in concert, and the hot hail of -more than half of them rained ceaselessly on the stricken town. The -sky was hidden by the smoke, and through the smoke, along with the -bursting shells, shot flights of fiery rockets to add to the inferno -inside.</p> - -<p class="normal">Within that fiery pale no soul ventured forth. Jim and Greski paced -their gloomy quarters like restless animals--hopeful of the end, -doubtful what it might entail. The women sat in corners in momentary -expectation of death.</p> - -<p class="normal">All who could go had crossed the harbour to the safety of the northern -heights. Greski, as the result of many discussions with Jim, had -resolved to stay where he was and trust to luck and the Allies.</p> - -<p class="normal">For four days and nights the doomed city suffered that most awful -scourging, and then there came a lull, and the taut-strung men in the -cellar looked meaningly at one another. And presently they crept -cautiously out into the sulphurous upper air, just as day was -breaking.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is ended," said Greski, for the low thick clouds of smoke rolling -over the town were all aglow with the flames of burning buildings. -Wherever they turned, fresh fires were bursting out. And as they stood -looking, a mighty explosion shook the earth and half a dozen shattered -houses near at hand came crashing into the street.</p> - -<p class="normal">Another tremendous explosion, and another and another.</p> - -<p class="normal">"It is all over," said Greski quietly again. "They are blowing up the -bastions and burning the town. That, I know, was decided on long -since, if it came to the point. Moscow over again."</p> - -<p class="normal">From where they were they could not see the explosions and they did -not dare to venture far. But presently all the harbour was red with -the blaze of burning ships, and they could see the new bridge of -boats, leading across to the north side, black with crowds of hurrying -fugitives. Then Fort Nicholas below them burst into flame, and the -smoke from Fort Paul, just across from it, rolled along the roadstead. -It was a most amazing scene, beyond description, almost beyond -imagination.</p> - -<p class="normal">The firing had ceased with the blowing up of the bastions. Up on the -heights the besiegers clustered thick as bees, watching with awe the -results of their long and arduous labours. Below them a thin trickle -of creeping looters was already making its way through the ruined -suburbs into the burning city.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim and Greski returned to their cellar; Jim to fig himself out in the -remains of his uniform, Greski to collect such of the family valuables -as could be easily carried; and then, with madame and Tatia on their -arms, they set off, by devious ways which avoided burning and -tottering buildings, crossed the black desolation of the southern -suburbs, and came out on this side of the Quarantine Ravine, nearly -opposite the cemetery.</p> - -<p class="normal">The looters, mostly red-trousered Zouaves, looked askant at Jim's -uniform and slipped past quietly. All they wanted was plunder, and -they feared to be stopped. How this young English Hussar officer had -managed to get in so quickly puzzled them, but he had evidently got -all he wanted. So--<i>allons, mes enfants!</i> and let us lay hands on all -we can, before the rest of our brave allies arrive!</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim knew his way as soon as they had been passed through the lower -trenches, and made straight for his father's tent. The camps were -almost empty. Everyone was down at the front staring at the burning -town. Outside the well-known tent in the hollow, however, an orderly -was hard at work scraping the mud off his master's overcoat.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where is Colonel Carron?" asked Jim expectantly.</p> - -<p class="normal">But the man looked back at him stolidly and said, "I do not know, -monsieur."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But this is his tent."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Monsieur is mistaken. This is the tent of M. the Colonel Gerome--if -he is still alive, <i>man Dieu!</i> He went into Malakoff yesterday and we -have not seen him since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And where is Colonel Carron, then?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I do not know, monsieur. It is only three months since I came out. Is -it all over, as they say?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We have Sebastopol," said Jim, "or part of it." And he quickly pushed -on along the road to French Head-quarters.</p> - -<p class="normal">A squadron of lancers came down the road at a fast trot, gleaming in -the sun and jingling bravely. Their leader looked curiously at the odd -little company, for ladies were refreshingly rare in camp. Then he -suddenly drew rein and saluted, and Jim knew him. They had met many -times in the tent in the hollow.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You, M. Carron? Why, we gave you up for dead long ago!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Where is my father, du Bourg? I've been to his tent----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Mon Dieu!</i>--and you have not heard? I am sorry to have to tell it, -but you would have to hear. Colonel Carron was killed six months ago, -repulsing a sortie." And, as he saw Jim's face fall, he added: "If you -have had no news for six months, <i>mon ami</i>, be prepared for the worst. -You will find very few of your friends left. Where have you been?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Prisoner inside since December."</p> - -<p class="normal">"<i>Mon Dieu!</i> you've had hard luck! Weil, I must get on or our lively -red-legs won't leave a stick in Sebastopol. We've been doing all we -could to get in, and now my orders are to let no one in on any -account. Adieu!" And they went off at a clanking gallop to make up for -lost time.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jim set off again in gloomy spirits for British Head-quarters on the -other side of the Balaclava road.</p> - -<p class="normal">Jack gone! His father gone! George Herapath and Ralph Harben gone. His -little world seemed devastated. He wondered if any of the home folk -were left.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie--Good God!--suppose Gracie were dead! And Charles Eager, and -Sir Denzil! In six months anything might have happened to any or all -of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">Tatia was the only fairly cheerful member of the party. To her it was -like heaven to be out of that dreadful prison-house below. She had -grown so used to the smell of gunpowder that the keen sweet air -intoxicated her with delight. Her mother was very weary with the long -walk; and as for Greski, his thigh was giving him pain, and the only -thing he wanted now was to sit down and rest it.</p> - -<p class="normal">Except for the sentries and a few underlings, British Head-quarters -was deserted like the rest of the camp. All the world was down at the -front, watching the end of Sebastopol. So they sat on a bench in the -sunshine, and waited for some one to turn up.</p> - -<p class="normal">The first to come was McLean, the young doctor with whom Jim had -crossed to Constantinople on the <i>Carnbrea</i>. He was looking older, but -well and cheerful.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Hello!" he cried, as soon as his eyes lighted on Jim. "It's good to -set eyes on some one alive that one knew six months ago. Where have -you been all this time? I see you've suffered too"--with a glance at -the empty sleeve.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Been in Sebastopol for last nine months. Glad to get out."</p> - -<p class="normal">"About as glad as we are to get in. Going home, I suppose?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Just as quick as I can. Come to report myself, but there's no one to -report to."</p> - -<p class="normal">"All at the front, I suppose. It's a great day this. We're shipping -off loads of sick men as fast as we can fit them for the voyage. Our -old friend Jolly's in Balaclava Bay. He'd be delighted to take you, I -know, if you can fix matters up quickly here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Things any better than they used to be?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, we're all learning by experience. Even the red-tape isn't as red -as it used to be; it's not much more than pink now. We've got -everything we need for the sick, anyway, and that's something. By the -way, there was a man here inquiring for you a short time ago--came out -on purpose, I believe, and brought a shipload of just the things we -were needing most."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh? Who was that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"A lean-faced chap--a parson, and better than most. What was his name -now?--Earnest--Eager? that was it--Charles Eager."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Eager? The dear old chap! Just like him! How long since?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, months--four or five at least. Here's the Chief!"--as a thin, -quiet-looking man with a tired face rode up with a couple of aides, -saluted the little party, and went inside.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Sick men first," said Jim; and McLean nodded, and went in.</p> - -<p class="normal">He was back again in five minutes. "Come down to me at Balaclava as -soon as you're ready," he said, "and I'll help you on. I'll have a -word with Jolly too." And he sped away.</p> - -<p class="normal">General Simpson greeted Jim, when at last he was admitted, with simple -kindliness but evident preoccupation. His hands and mind were very -full at the moment, and Jim's only desire was to get on towards home. -All his requests were granted without hesitation, the necessary papers -were promised him before night, and they set off again, first to the -cavalry camp, whose location he had learned from one of the aides, and -then to the railway which lay a little beyond.</p> - -<p class="normal">At the camp he came across his own orderly, who greeted him with a -mixture of jovial delight at meeting again an openhanded friend and -master, and of deferential awe at encountering one returned from the -dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Quite thought you was dead, sir," said he, with a big shy smile.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I've been next door to it once or twice, Jones. Where's my horse?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah, then! Dear knows, sir! The French gentleman took him to's own -quarters an' I never set eyes on him since."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah! Anybody left here that I know? Denham?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Lord Charles Denham, he died six, seven months ago the fever, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mr. Kingsnorth?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Invalided home in the winter, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Captain Warren?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Killed in the rifle-pits while he was potting the Russians. There's -hardly anybody left that was here when you was here sir, 'cept some of -us men. You going home, sir?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"As quick as I can, Jones. Here's a guinea for old times' sake. -Good-bye!" And he went soberly on, feeling himself a stranger in a -strange place and as one risen from the dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">They got a lift on the railway, and Jim hardly knew Balaclava, so -little of the old was left--just as in the camp up above. But he -tumbled up against Captain Jolly almost at once, and then his -difficulties were over.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Take you?" cried the jovial master. "Take you all the way home if you -like. My charter's up and I'm to get back as quick as the weather'll -let me. Taking a cargo of broken pieces to Scutari, and then straight -for Liverpool. Right! We'll find room for you all if we have to sleep -in the bilge. Your servant, madam, and yours, miss! Glad to get away -from all the noise and nastiness, I'll be bound. Come on board any -time you like, Mr. Carron. Shipboard's a sight cleaner and more -comfortable than any place you'll find ashore." And Jim felt happier -than he had done for very many months back.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.68" href="#div1Ref_3.68">CHAPTER LXVIII</a></h4> -<h5>HOME AGAIN</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">D. McLean snatched half an hour to say good-bye as they were weighing -anchor. And among other things he happened to ask Jim:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Have you sent word home that you're coming? I don't believe in -surprises."</p> - -<p class="normal">"No, I haven't. I'm only learning to write, you see."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Tell me what you want to say and I'll telegraph it from here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Can you?" said Jim, with a look of surprise, for this too was all new -since he went into captivity. "I wish you would. Just say 'Coming -home--Jim,' and send it to Sir Denzil Carron, Carne, Sandshire."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Right! I'll see to it."</p> - -<p class="normal">And he duly saw to it, but in the mighty pressure on the wires, -consequent on the great events of those latter days, the private -dispatch got mislaid, or was lost on the road--somewhere under the -Black Sea, maybe, or in the wilds of Turkey; anyway, it never reached -its destination.</p> - -<p class="normal">And so it came about that Jim, satisfied that they knew of his coming, -walked up to the door of Mrs. Jex's cottage, three weeks later, and -found it occupied by young John Braddle, the carpenter's son, and his -newly married wife.</p> - -<p class="normal">"My gosh!" said young John at sight of him. "But yo' did give me a -turn, Mester Jim! An' yo've lost an arm! Was that i' th' big charge?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I left it inside Sebastopol, John. But where's everybody? Mr. -Eager and----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"They're all up at Vicarage, Mester Jim. He's vicar now, and Mrs. Jex -she keeps house for him. An' so Molly and me----"</p> - -<p class="normal">But Jim was off, with a wave of the workable arm. He had not come home -to hear about John and Molly Braddle.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eager had just got back from their honeymoon. -Mrs. Jex had been in residence for a month past, getting things into -shape for them, with Gracie's very active assistance. And--"Bless her -'art! She couldn' do no more if 'twas her own house she was a-fittin' -up. And may I live to see that day!" said Mrs. Jex with fervour.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie had been living at Knoyle, for the comfort and consolation of -Sir George, who found his great house very lonely, and talked of -selling it and coming to live with them at the cosy old ivy-covered -Vicarage.</p> - -<p class="normal">They were all sitting round the dinner-table still; Meg--Mrs. -Charles--and Gracie cracking a surreptitious walnut now and again, Sir -George sipping his own excellent port, and smoking one of his own -extra-specials with a relish he had not experienced for months past; -while the Rev. Charles--the vicar, if you please--recalled some of the -delightful humours of their travel. For never since the world began -had there been a month so packed with wonder and delight.</p> - -<p class="normal">The drift-logs on the hearth crackled and spurted, and the -many-coloured flames laughed merrily at their own reflections in the -Jex-polished mahogany and old walnut panelling. And Rosa, the little -maid, had tapped three times on the door and peeped in, and gone back -to Mrs. Jex with word that he was a-talking and a-talking as if he'd -go on all night, and they all looked so happy that she hadn't the -heart to disturb them. To which Mrs. Jex had replied, "All the same, -my gel, we've got to wash up, and so we'll begin on these."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm so glad," said Gracie, during a brief pause, and she knitted her -fingers in front of her on the table and gazed happily on them all. -"You two make me happy just to look at you----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then is the object of our wedding attained," said Charles, with a -smile and a bow.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Almost quite happy," continued the Little Lady. "If only the boys -were here, now----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"We ought to hear something soon," said Sir George. "I was hoping the -dispatches might bring some news of them. You don't suppose the -Russians would carry them across with them?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I wouldn't like to say what the Russians might or might not do," said -Eager thoughtfully. "They're a queer lot, from all accounts. I didn't -tell you we called on Lord Deseret as we came through London. He was -very friendly and as nice as could be. Among other things he told us -that, as the result of all his inquiries, he learned from St. -Petersburg that the boys were being kept in Sebastopol of set -purpose."</p> - -<p class="normal">"That's odd! Why?" asked Sir George.</p> - -<p class="normal">"For the still odder reason, as it was reported to him, that they were -safer inside than outside."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And who was it was playing Providence to them like that?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"He could only surmise, but I am not at all sure that he told us all -he knew. He is an old diplomat, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And to whom did his surmises point?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I gathered it was towards Mme Beteta, the Spanish dancer. You -remember she made something of a furore in London when she was over -here."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But what on earth has she got to do with our boys?" asked Gracie, -kindling.</p> - -<p class="normal">"She seemed to take a fancy to them. You remember how Jim used to -write about her."</p> - -<p class="normal">"But how could a woman such as that exercise any influence in such a -matter?" asked Sir George.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!----"</p> - -<p class="normal">Then there came a knock on the front door, and they heard Rosa trip -along to answer it.</p> - -<p class="normal">And the next moment Rosa's white face appeared at the dining-room -door, and Rosa's pale lips gasped:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh mum, miss, 't's 'is ghost--Master Jim!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim pushed past her into the room, and they all sprang up to meet -him.</p> - -<p class="normal">Gracie was nearest, and she just flung her arms round his neck crying, -"Oh Jim! <i>Jim!</i>"; And he put his left arm round her and kissed her, -and put her back into her chair.</p> - -<p class="normal">It was many minutes before they could settle to rational talk, for -Mrs. Jex must come hurrying in, and Jim kissed her too, and seemed -inclined to go round the whole company. But then they came to -soberness with the inevitable question:</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Jack?"</p> - -<p class="normal">And an expressive gesture of Jim's left hand prepared them for the -worst.</p> - -<p class="normal">"The shell that took this," he said, glancing down at his empty -sleeve, "took Jack too. I did my best"--and he looked anxiously at -Gracie and Eager--"I tried to fling it away, but it burst, and--and-- -that was the end. It was days before I knew."</p> - -<p class="normal">By degrees he told them all the story; and saddened as they were by -the loss of one, they could not but soberly rejoice that one at all -events had been spared to them.</p> - -<p class="normal">He told them of the Greskis and all their kindnesses, and how he had -brought them hone with him, since Greski was set on ending his -servitude with Russia, and now it would be supposed that they had -perished in the bombardment, and so no consequences could be visited -on their friends in Poland because of his desertion. He had settled -them for the time being in a quiet hotel in Liverpool, and later on -they would decide further as to their future.</p> - -<p class="normal">Eager had been very thoughtful while Jim talked. Now he said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Do you feel able to come along with me to Caine, my boy? Mrs. -Jex was telling me that old Mrs. Lee is lying at the point of death. -It is just possible--But I don't know," he said musingly, with a -tumult of thoughts behind his fixed gaze at Jim "It does not matter -now. . . . Still, I imagine your grandfather. . . . Yes, I think we -must go."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm ready," said Jim, and they two set off at once for Carne, and the -others gathered round the fire and talked by snatches of it all, and -Gracie mopped her eyes at thought of all those two boys had suffered, -and of Jack, and of Jim's poor arm--and everything.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He has become a very fine man," said Sir George. "A man to be proud -of, my dear."</p> - -<p class="normal">And Meg kissed her warmly and whispered, "Make him happy, dear!"</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.69" href="#div1Ref_3.69">CHAPTER LXIX</a></h4> -<h5>"THE RIGHT ONE"</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">A woman from the village opened the door, and stared at Eager and Jim -in vast surprise. "How is Mrs. Lee to-night, Mrs. Kenyon?" asked -Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"'Oo's varry low. 'Oo just lies an' nivver spakes a word."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Well now"--very emphatically--"I want you not to go in, or speak to -her, till we come down again. You understand?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I understand, and I dunnot want to spake to her."</p> - -<p class="normal">They went quietly along the stone passage, past the door of the room -where the sick woman lay, and tapped on the door of Sir Denzil's -apartments.</p> - -<p class="normal">Kennet opened it with a wide stare, and they went in.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil was lingering over his dinner.</p> - -<p class="normal">"So you've got home, Mr. Eager----" he lifted his glass of wine to his -health. Then catching sight of Jim behind--"Ah, Jim, my boy, so you've -come home at last!"</p> - -<p class="normal">"All that's left of me, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah--I see. Well, well! Better half a loaf than no bread." And he -stood up and got out his snuff-box, tapped it into good order inside, -and extracted a pinch. "I've been expecting you ever since we got news -of the fall of Sebastopol. And Jack----?</p> - -<p class="normal">"Jack is dead, sir."</p> - -<p class="normal">"So!" And the grizzled brows went up in inquiry for more.</p> - -<p class="normal">"He was killed by the same shell that took my arm. Why it did not take -us both I do not know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Dear, dear! The ways of Providence are past our finding out. Let us -accept her gifts without questioning. I am delighted to see you, my -dear boy--delighted. Now that we have got you safe home we must make -the most of you." And for the first time in his life Eager got glimpse -of a Sir Denzil he had never known before, and could hardly have -imagined, had it not been his custom to credit every man with more -possibilities of grace than outside appearances might seem to warrant.</p> - -<p class="normal">"And now," continued Sir Denzil, with anxious warmth, "I hope you've -had enough of war, and are ready to settle down here and make the most -of what is left to you."</p> - -<p class="normal">"It has been a trying time, sir. I shall be glad of a rest."</p> - -<p class="normal">But Sir Denzil was gazing at him with something of the fixity of -Charles Eager's look before they left the Rectory. He took a -thoughtful pinch of snuff, with a sudden relapse into his old manner. -Then he nodded his head slowly several times, and said, "No . . . I -think not . . . No need--now. . . ." And he looked across at Eager and -said: "It occurred to me that if he went down and saw that old -woman . . . but it is not necessary now. Nothing she could say----"</p> - -<p class="normal">"I would like to see her, by your leave, sir," said Jim. "After all, -she was good to us boys, in her own way, you know."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Very well," said Sir Denzil, after a moment's hesitation, as though -he shrunk from subjecting his new-found satisfaction to any test -whatever. "Only--remember! Her whole life has been a lie, and we -cannot trust a word she says." And they went downstairs, and along the -stone passage, to the side-room in which Nance Lee's baby had slept -his first sleep at Carne, that black night one-and-twenty years -before.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Yon other woman will have told her," said Sir Denzil, stopping short -of the door as the thought struck him.</p> - -<p class="normal">"No; I told her not to," said Eager.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ah!"--with a quick look at him--"then you had the same idea." And -they went quietly in.</p> - -<p class="normal">Mrs. Lee was lying motionless on her back, and her thin gray face in -its frilled white nightcap looked so set and rigid that at first they -thought her dead.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir Denzil nodded to Eager to speak to her, and stepped back out of -sight.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Mrs. Lee," said Eager, bending over her, "here is one of our boys -come back from death. He wished to see you."</p> - -<p class="normal">The dim old eyes opened and stared wildly at them all for a moment, -then settled on Jim in a long, thin, piercing gaze. "Don't you know -me, Mrs. Lee?" he asked.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Ay--shore! . . . Yo're----" and she struggled up to her bony elbow to -look closer, and caught a glimpse of Sir Denzil behind--"yo're Jack!" -and fell back on to her pillow.</p> - -<p class="normal">They thought she was gone; but she suddenly opened her eyes again and -laughed a thin, shrill little laugh, and said:</p> - -<p class="normal">"So t'reet un's come back, after aw!"</p> - -<p class="normal">And then her meagre body straightened itself in the bed, and she lay -still.</p> - -<p class="normal">"I knew we'd get nothing out of her," said Sir Denzil, when they had -got back to his room. "But whatever she said would have made no -difference. You are Carron of Caine, my boy; and, thanks to our friend -here, Carne will have a better master than it has had for many a day."</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h4><a name="div1_3.70" href="#div1Ref_3.70">CHAPTER LXX</a></h4> -<h5>ALL'S WELL!</h5> -<br> - -<p class="normal">"Gracie, dear!" said Jim, "will you make me the happiest man in all -the world? I've hungered and thirsted for you all these months, and I -believe old Jack would wish it so if he knew."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Oh, Jim"--and she put up her arms and drew down his head, and kissed -him with a little sob--"if you had both come back, it would have -killed me to part you; but truly, truly, my love, I love you with all -my heart."</p> - -<p class="normal">"God bless you, dear! I will do my best to make you happy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"I'm as happy as I can be, Jim; but perhaps if you gave me another -kiss----"</p> - -<p class="normal">So that great matter settled itself in the great settlement, an there -is little more to tell.</p> - -<p class="normal">Sir George insisted on the Greskis coming out to Knoyle for a time, -until he should find some suitable opening for Louis. Nothing was too -good for such friends-in-need [t?] their recovered Jim, and they all -delighted in Mme Greski's fine foreign manners and the lively Tatia's -exuberant joy after their deliverance from Russia.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret came down from London to the wedding, and brought with -him two magnificent presents--diamonds from himself, which must have -represented an unusually good night's winnings at the green board, and -a wonderful rope of pearls from Mme Beteta, at which Gracie was -inclined at first to look askance, though her eyes could not help -shining at sight of them.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You may take them without any qualms, my dear," said Lord Deseret. -"It is possible that you owe your husband to madame"--and he may have -added, to himself, "in more senses than one."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why? How is that?" asked Gracie quickly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Madame is now the morganatic wife of one of the Russian Grand Dukes, -and I have every reason to believe that it was due to urgent -representations on her part, some time before she consented to marry -him, that our two boys were not allowed out of Sebastopol. She thought -they would be safer inside, and I have no doubt she was right. The -chance inside were about ten to one in their favour, I should say."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Then, indeed, I thank her," said Gracie heartily; "though old Jim -does look so glum at having been cotton-woolled like that. But I don't -quite understand why the lady put herself about so much on their -account."</p> - -<p class="normal">And that was one of the things she never did understand.</p> - -<p class="normal">Lord Deseret waived the question lightly with:</p> - -<p class="normal">"Woman's whims are past all understanding, my dear. Perhaps she fell -in love with Jim, as the rest of us did."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Why, she was old enough to be his mother," said Gracie, with little -idea how near she may have come to the truth.</p> - -<p class="normal">"You understand, I suppose?" he said to Jim that night, as they sat -smoking together.</p> - -<p class="normal">And Jim nodded soberly.</p> - -<p class="normal">"When did she marry?" he asked presently.</p> - -<p class="normal">"Last March. Your father was kilted in January."</p> - -<p class="normal">"And Kattie is still with her?"</p> - -<p class="normal">"Still with her, and going to make as fine a dancer as she is pretty a -girl. You did well for her when you placed her in the Beteta's hands, -my boy."</p> - -<p class="normal">"Poor little Kattie!" said Jim. "I'm glad she came to me that night."</p> - -<p class="normal">And here this chronicle may end. The more one ponders this strange and -complex coil of life, with its broken hopes and unexplained mysteries, -its short-cut strands and long-spun ropes, the more one draws to -simple hope and trust in the Higher Powers. The knots and tangles -twisted by man's ill doing defy at times all human efforts at their -straightening. In face of such, the utmost that a man may do is to -bear himself bravely, to do his duty to God and his neighbour, and -leave the issue in the hands of a higher understanding than his own.</p> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<h5>PRINTED BY<br> -HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,<br> -LONDON AND AYLESBURY.</h5> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> -<br> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coil of Carne, by John Oxenham - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COIL OF CARNE *** - -***** This file should be named 53819-h.htm or 53819-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/8/1/53819/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Alberta) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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