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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1757-0.txt b/1757-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27c6f06 --- /dev/null +++ b/1757-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,861 @@ +Project Gutenberg’s The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cruise of the Dolphin + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Posting Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1757] +Release Date: May, 1999 +Last Updated: September 20, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Susan L. Farley + + + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN + +by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + + + + (An episode from The Story of a Bad Boy, the narrator being + Tom Bailey, the hero of the tale.) + + +Every Rivermouth boy looks upon the sea as being in some way mixed up +with his destiny. While he is yet a baby lying in his cradle, he hears +the dull, far-off boom of the breakers; when he is older, he wanders by +the sandy shore, watching the waves that come plunging up the beach +like white-maned sea-horses, as Thoreau calls them; his eye follows the +lessening sail as it fades into the blue horizon, and he burns for the +time when he shall stand on the quarter-deck of his own ship, and go +sailing proudly across that mysterious waste of waters. + +Then the town itself is full of hints and flavors of the sea. The gables +and roofs of the houses facing eastward are covered with red rust, like +the flukes of old anchors; a salty smell pervades the air, and dense +gray fogs, the very breath of Ocean, periodically creep up into the +quiet streets and envelop everything. The terrific storms that lash +the coast; the kelp and spars, and sometimes the bodies of drowned men, +tossed on shore by the scornful waves; the shipyards, the wharves, and +the tawny fleet of fishing-smacks yearly fitted out at Rivermouth--these +things, and a hundred other, feed the imagination and fill the brain of +every healthy boy with dreams of adventure. He learns to swim almost +as soon as he can walk; he draws in with his mother’s milk the art of +handling an oar: he is born a sailor, whatever he may turn out to be +afterwards. + +To own the whole or a portion of a rowboat is his earliest ambition. No +wonder that I, born to this life, and coming back to it with freshest +sympathies, should have caught the prevailing infection. No wonder I +longed to buy a part of the trim little sailboat Dolphin, which chanced +just then to be in the market. This was in the latter part of May. + +Three shares, at five or six dollars each, I forget which, had already +been taken by Phil Adams, Fred Langdon, and Binny Wallace. The fourth +and remaining share hung fire. Unless a purchaser could be found for +this, the bargain was to fall through. + +I am afraid I required but slight urging to join in the investment. +I had four dollars and fifty cents on hand, and the treasurer of the +Centipedes (a secret society, composed of twelve boys of the Temple +Grammar School, Rivermouth) advanced me the balance, receiving my silver +pencil-case as ample security. It was a proud moment when I stood on the +wharf with my partners, inspecting the Dolphin, moored at the foot of a +very slippery flight of steps. She was painted white with a green stripe +outside, and on the stern a yellow dolphin, with its scarlet mouth wide +open, stared with a surprised expression at its own reflection in the +water. The boat was a great bargain. + +I whirled my cap in the air, and ran to the stairs leading down from the +wharf, when a hand was laid gently on my shoulder. I turned, and faced +Captain Nutter (2 Tom Bailey’s grandfather.) I never saw such an old +sharp-eye as he was in those days. + +I knew he would not be angry with me for buying a rowboat; but I also +knew that the little bowsprit suggesting a jib and the tapering mast +ready for its few square feet of canvas were trifles not likely to meet +his approval. As far as rowing on the river, among the wharves, was +concerned, the Captain had long since withdrawn his decided objections, +having convinced himself, by going out with me several times, that I +could manage a pair of sculls as well as anybody. + +I was right in my surmises. He commanded me, in the most emphatic +terms, never to go out in the Dolphin without leaving the mast in the +boat-house. This curtailed my anticipated sport, but the pleasure of +having a pull whenever I wanted it remained. I never disobeyed the +Captain’s orders touching the sail, though I sometimes extended my row +beyond the points he has indicated. + +The river was dangerous for sailboats. Squalls, without the slightest +warning, were of frequent occurrence; scarcely a year passed that three +or four persons were not drowned under the very windows of the town, +and these, oddly enough, were generally sea-captains, who either did not +understand the river, or lacked the skill to handle a small craft. + +A knowledge of such disasters, one of which I witnessed, consoled me +somewhat when I saw Phil Adams skimming over the water in a spanking +breeze with every stitch of canvas set. There were few better yachtsmen +than Phil Adams. He usually went sailing alone, for both Langdon and +Binny Wallace were under the same restrictions I was. + +Not long after the purchase of the boat, we planned an excursion to +Sandpeep Island, the last of the islands in the harbor. We purposed to +start early in the morning, and return with the tide in the moonlight. +Our only difficulty was to obtain a whole day’s exemption from school, +the customary half-holiday not being long enough for our picnic. +Somehow, we could not work it; but fortune arranged it for us. I may +say here, that, whatever else I did, I never played truant (“hookey” we +called it) in my life. + +One afternoon the four owners of the Dolphin exchanged significant +glances when Mr. Grimshaw announced from the desk that there would be +no school the following day, he having just received intelligence of the +death of his uncle in Boston. I was sincerely attached to Mr. Grimshaw, +but I am afraid that the death of his uncle did not affect me as it +ought to have done. + +We were up before sunrise the next morning, in order to take advantage +of the flood-tide, which waits for no man. Our preparations for the +cruise were made the previous evening. In the way of eatables and +drinkables, we had stored in the stern of the Dolphin a generous bag +of hard-tack (for the chowder), a piece of pork to fry the cunners in, +three gigantic apple pies (bought at Pettingil’s), half a dozen lemons, +and a keg of spring water--the last-named articles were slung over the +side, to keep it cool, as soon as we got under way. The crockery and +the bricks for our camp-stove we placed in the bows with the groceries, +which included sugar, pepper, salt, and a bottle of pickles. Phil Adams +contributed to the outfit a small tent of unbleached cotton cloth, under +which we intended to take our nooning. + +We unshipped the mast, threw in an extra oar, and were ready to embark. +I do not believe that Christopher Columbus, when he started on his +rather successful voyage of discovery, felt half the responsibility +and importance that weighed upon me as I sat on the middle seat of the +Dolphin, with my oar resting in the rowlock. I wonder if Christopher +Columbus quietly slipped out of the house without letting his estimable +family know what he was up to? Charley Marden, whose father had promised +to cane him if he ever stepped foot on sail or row boat, came down to +the wharf in a sour-grape humor, to see us off. Nothing would tempt +him to go out on the river in such a crazy clam-shell of a boat. He +pretended that he did not expect to behold us alive again, and tried to +throw a wet blanket over the expedition. + +“Guess you’ll have a squally time of it,” said Charley, casting off +the painter. “I’ll drop in at old Newbury’s” (Newbury was the parish +undertaker) “and leave word, as I go along!” + +“Bosh!” muttered Phil Adams, sticking the boathook into the string-piece +of the wharf, and sending the Dolphin half a dozen yards toward the +current. + +How calm and lovely the river was! Not a ripple stirred on the glassy +surface, broken only by the sharp cutwater of our tiny craft. The sun, +as round and red as an August moon, was by this time peering above the +water-line. + +The town had drifted behind us, and we were entering among the group of +islands. Sometimes we could almost touch with our boat-hook the shelving +banks on either side. As we neared the mouth of the harbor, a little +breeze now and then wrinkled the blue water, shook the spangles from +the foliage, and gently lifted the spiral mist-wreaths that still clung +alongshore. The measured dip of our oars and the drowsy twitterings +of the birds seemed to mingle with, rather than break, the enchanted +silence that reigned about us. + +The scent of the new clover comes back to me now, as I recall that +delicious morning when we floated away in a fairy boat down a river like +a dream! + +The sun was well up when the nose of the Dolphin nestled against the +snow-white bosom of Sandpeep Island. This island, as I have said before, +was the last of the cluster, one side of it being washed by the sea. We +landed on the river-side, the sloping sands and quiet water affording us +a good place to moor the boat. + +It took us an hour or more to transport our stores to the spot selected +for the encampment. Having pitched our tent, using the five oars to +support the canvas, we got out our lines, and went down the rocks +seaward to fish. It was early for cunners, but we were lucky enough to +catch as nice a mess as ever you saw. A cod for the chowder was not so +easily secured. At last Binny Wallace hauled in a plump little fellow +clustered all over with flaky silver. + +To skin the fish, build our fireplace, and cook the chowder kept us busy +the next two hours. + +The fresh air and the exercise had given us the appetites of wolves, and +we were about famished by the time the savory mixture was ready for our +clam-shell saucers. + +I shall not insult the rising generation on the seaboard by telling them +how delectable is a chowder compounded and eaten in this Robinson Crusoe +fashion. As for the boys who live inland, and know not of such marine +feasts, my heart is full of pity for them. What wasted lives! Not to +know the delights of a clambake, not to love chowder, to be ignorant of +lobscouse! + +How happy we were, we four, sitting cross-legged in the crisp salt +grass, with the invigorating seabreeze blowing gratefully through our +hair! What a joyous thing was life, and how far off seemed death--death, +that lurks in all pleasant places, and was so near! + +The banquet finished, Phil Adams drew from his pocket a handful of +sweet-fern cigars; but as none of the party could indulge without +imminent risk of becoming ill, we all, on one pretext or another, +declined, and Phil smoked by himself. + +The wind had freshened by this, and we found it comfortable to put +on the jackets which had been thrown aside in the heat of the day. +We strolled along the beach and gathered large quantities of the +fairy-woven Iceland moss, which at certain seasons is washed to these +shores; then we played at ducks and drakes, and then, the sun being +sufficiently low, we went in bathing. + +Before our bath was ended a slight change had come over the sky and sea; +fleecy-white clouds scudded here and there, and a muffled moan from the +breakers caught our ears from time to time. While we were dressing, a +few hurried drops of rain came lisping down, and we adjourned to the +tent to wait the passing of the squall. + +“We’re all right, anyhow,” said Phil Adams. “It won’t be much of a blow, +and we’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug, here in the tent, particularly +if we have that lemonade which some of you fellows were going to make.” + +By an oversight, the lemons had been left in the boat. Binny Wallace +volunteered to go for them. + +“Put an extra stone on the painter, Binny,” said Adams, calling after +him; “it would be awkward to have the Dolphin give us the slip and +return to port minus her passengers.” + +“That it would,” answered Binny, scrambling down the rocks. + +Sandpeep Island is diamond-shaped--one point running out into the sea, +and the other looking towards the town. Our tent was on the river-side. +Though the Dolphin was also on the same side, she lay out of sight by +the beach at the farther extremity of the island. + +Binny Wallace had been absent five or six minutes when we heard him +calling our several names in tones that indicated distress or surprise, +we could not tell which. Our first thought was, “The boat has broken +adrift!” + +We sprung to our feet and hastened down to the beach. On turning the +bluff which hid the mooring-place from our view, we found the conjecture +correct. Not only was the Dolphin afloat, but poor little Binny Wallace +was standing in the bows with his arms stretched helplessly towards +us--drifting out to sea! + +“Head the boat inshore!” shouted Phil Adams. + +Wallace ran to the tiller; but the slight cockle-shell merely swung +round and drifted broadside on. Oh, if we had but left a single scull in +the Dolphin! + +“Can you swim it?” cried Adams desperately, using his hand as a +speaking-trumpet, for the distance between the boat and the island +widened momently. + +Binny Wallace looked down at the sea, which was covered with white caps, +and made a despairing gesture. He knew, and we knew, that the stoutest +swimmer could not live forty seconds in those angry waters. + +A wild, insane light came into Phil Adam’s eyes, as he stood knee-deep +in the boiling surf, and for an instant I think he meditated plunging +into the ocean after the receding boat. + +The sky darkened, and an ugly look stole rapidly over the broken surface +of the sea. + +Binny Wallace half rose from his seat in the stern, and waved his hand +to us in token of farewell. In spite of the distance, increasing every +moment, we could see his face plainly. The anxious expression it wore +at first had passed. It was pale and meek now, and I love to think there +was a kind of halo about it, like that which painters place around the +forehead of a saint. So he drifted away. + +The sky grew darker and darker. It was only by straining our eyes +through the unnatural twilight that we could keep the Dolphin in sight. +The figure of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the boat itself +had dwindled to a mere white dot on the black water. Now we lost it, and +our hearts stopped throbbing; and now the speck appeared again, for an +instant, on the crest of a high wave. + +Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we gazed +at one another, and dared not speak. + +Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely noticed +the huddled inky clouds that sagged heavily all around us. From these +threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale lightning, there now +burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the ground under our feet. A +sudden squall struck the sea, ploughing deep white furrows into it, and +at the same instant a single piercing shriek rose above the tempest--the +frightened cry of a gull swooping over the island. How it startled us! + +It was impossible any longer to keep our footing on the beach. The wind +and the breakers would have swept us into the ocean if we had not clung +to one another with the desperation of drowning men. Taking advantage of +a momentary lull, we crawled up the sands on our hands and knees, and, +pausing in the lee of the granite ledge to gain breath, returned to the +camp, where we found that the gale had snapped all the fastenings of +the tent but one. Held by this, the puffed-out canvas swayed in the wind +like a balloon. It was a task of some difficulty to secure it, which we +did by beating down the canvas with the oars. + +After several trials, we succeeded in setting up the tent on the leeward +side of the ledge. Blinded by the vivid flashes of lightning, and +drenched by the rain, which fell in torrents, we crept, half dead with +fear and anguish, under our flimsy shelter. Neither the anguish nor the +fear was on our own account, for we were comparatively safe, but for +poor little Binny Wallace, driven out to sea in the merciless gale. We +shuddered to think of him in that frail shell, drifting on and on to his +grave, the sky rent with lightning over his head, and the green abysses +yawning beneath him. We suddenly fell to crying, and cried I know not +how long. + +Meanwhile the storm raged with augmented fury. We were obliged to hold +on to the ropes of the tent to prevent it blowing away. The spray +from the river leaped several yards up the rocks and clutched at us +malignantly. The very island trembled with the concussions of the sea +beating upon it, and at times I fancied that it had broken loose from +its foundation and was floating off with us. The breakers, streaked with +angry phosphorus, were fearful to look at. + +The wind rose higher and higher, cutting long slits in the tent, through +which the rain poured incessantly. To complete the sum of our miseries, +the night was at hand. It came down abruptly, at last, like a curtain, +shutting in Sandpeep Island from all the world. + +It was a dirty night, as the sailors say. The darkness was something +that could be felt as well as seen--it pressed down upon one with a +cold, clammy touch. Gazing into the hollow blackness, all sorts of +imaginable shapes seemed to start forth from vacancy--brilliant colors, +stars, prisms, and dancing lights. What boy, lying awake at night, has +not amused or terrified himself by peopling the spaces around his bed +with these phenomena of his own eyes? + +“I say,” whispered Fred Langdon, at last, clutching my hand, “don’t you +see things--out there--in the dark?” + +“Yes, yes--Binny Wallace’s face!” + +I added to my own nervousness by making this avowal; though for the +last ten minutes I had seen little besides that star-pale face with +its angelic hair and brows. First a slim yellow circle, like the nimbus +round the dark moon, took shape and grew sharp against the darkness; +then this faded gradually, and there was the Face, wearing the same sad, +sweet look it wore when he waved his hand to us across the awful water. +This optical illusion kept repeating itself. + +“And I too,” said Adams.” I see it every now and then, outside there. +What wouldn’t I give if it really was poor little Wallace looking in at +us! O boys, how shall we dare to go back to the town without him? I’ve +wished a hundred times, since we’ve been sitting here, that I was in his +place, alive or dead!” + +We dreaded the approach of morning as much as we longed for it. The +morning would tell us all. Was it possible for the Dolphin to outride +such a storm? There was a lighthouse on Mackerel Reef, which lay +directly in the course the boat had taken when it disappeared. If the +Dolphin had caught on this reef, perhaps Binny Wallace was safe. Perhaps +his cries had been heard by the keeper of the light. The man owned a +life-boat, and had rescued several persons. Who could tell? + +Such were the questions we asked ourselves again and again, as we lay +huddled together waiting for daybreak. What an endless night it was! I +have known months that did not seem so long. + +Our position was irksome rather than perilous; for the day was certain +to bring us relief from the town, where our prolonged absence, together +with the storm, had no doubt excited the liveliest alarm for our safety. +But the cold, the darkness, and the suspense were hard to bear. + +Our soaked jackets had chilled us to the bone. In order to keep warm we +lay so closely that we could hear our hearts beat above the tumult of +sea and sky. + +After a while we grew very hungry, not having broken our fast since +early in the day. The rain had turned the hard-tack into a sort of +dough; but it was better than nothing. + +We used to laugh at Fred Langdon for always carrying in his pocket a +small vial of essence of peppermint or sassafras, a few drops of which, +sprinkled on a lump of loaf-sugar, he seemed to consider a great luxury. +I do not know what would have become of us at this crisis if it had not +been for that omnipresent bottle of hot stuff. We poured the stinging +liquid over our sugar, which had kept dry in a sardine-box, and warmed +ourselves with frequent doses. + +After four or five hours the rain ceased, the wind died away to a moan, +and the sea--no longer raging like a maniac--sobbed and sobbed with a +piteous human voice all along the coast. And well it might, after that +night’s work. Twelve sail of the Gloucester fishing fleet had gone down +with every soul on board, just outside of Whale’s-Back Light. Think of +the wide grief that follows in the wake of one wreck; then think of the +despairing women who wrung their hands and wept, the next morning, in +the streets of Gloucester, Marblehead, and Newcastle! + +Though our strength was nearly spent, we were too cold to sleep. Once +I sunk into a troubled doze, when I seemed to hear Charley Marden’s +parting words, only it was the Sea that said them. After that I threw +off the drowsiness whenever it threatened to overcome me. + +Fred Langdon was the earliest to discover a filmy, luminous streak in +the sky, the first glimmering of sunrise. + +“Look, it is nearly daybreak!” + +While we were following the direction of his finger, a sound of distant +oars fell upon our ears. + +We listened breathlessly; and as the dip of the blades became more +audible, we discerned two foggy lights, like will-o’-the-wisps, floating +on the river. + +Running down to the water’s edge, we hailed the boats with all +our might. The call was heard, for the oars rested a moment in the +row-locks, and then pulled in towards the island. + +It was two boats from the town, in the foremost of which we could now +make out the figures of Captain Nutter and Binny Wallace’s father. We +shrunk back on seeing him. + +“Thank God!” cried Mr. Wallace fervently, as he leaped from the wherry +without waiting for the bow to touch the beach. + +But when he saw only three boys standing on the sands, his eye wandered +restlessly about in quest of the fourth; then a deadly pallor overspread +his features. + +Our story was soon told. A solemn silence fell upon the crowd of rough +boatmen gathered round, interrupted only by a stifled sob form one poor +old man who stood apart from the rest. + +The sea was still running too high for any small boat to venture out; so +it was arranged that the wherry should take us back to town, leaving the +yawl, with a picked crew, to hug the island until daybreak, and then set +forth in search of the Dolphin. + +Though it was barely sunrise when we reached town, there were a great +many persons assembled at the landing eager for intelligence from +missing boats. Two picnic parties had started down river the day before, +just previous to the gale, and nothing had been heard of them. It turned +out that the pleasure-seekers saw their danger in time, and ran ashore +on one of the least exposed islands, where they passed the night. +Shortly after our own arrival they appeared off Rivermouth, much to the +joy of their friends, in two shattered, dismasted boats. + +The excitement over, I was in a forlorn state, physically and mentally. +Captain Nutter put me to bed between hot blankets, and sent Kitty +Collins for the doctor. I was wandering in my mind, and fancied myself +still on Sandpeep Island: now we were building our brick stove to cook +the chowder, and, in my delirium, I laughed aloud and shouted to my +comrades; now the sky darkened, and the squall struck the island; now I +gave orders to Wallace how to manage the boat, and now I cried because +the rain was pouring in on me through the holes in the tent. Towards +evening a high fever set in, and it was many days before my grandfather +deemed it prudent to tell me that the Dolphin had been found, floating +keel upwards, four miles southeast of Mackerel Reef. + +Poor little Binny Wallace! How strange it seemed, when I went to +school again, to see that empty seat in the fifth row! How gloomy the +playground was, lacking the sunshine of his gentle, sensitive face! One +day a folded sheet slipped from my algebra: it was the last note he ever +wrote me. I could not read it for the tears. + +What a pang shot across my heart the afternoon it was whispered through +the town that a body had been washed ashore at Grave Point--the place +where we bathed! We bathed there no more! How well I remember the +funeral, and what a piteous sight it was afterwards to see his familiar +name on a small headstone in the Old South Burying-Ground! + +Poor little Binny Wallace! Always the same to me. The rest of us have +grown up into hard, worldly men, fighting the fight of life; but you +are forever young, and gentle, and pure; a part of my own childhood +that time cannot wither; always a little boy, always poor little Binny +Wallace! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + +***** This file should be named 1757-0.txt or 1757-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/1757/ + +Produced by Susan L. Farley + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: + + http://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/1757-0.zip b/1757-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f512a89 --- /dev/null +++ b/1757-0.zip diff --git a/1757-h.zip b/1757-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4610d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/1757-h.zip diff --git a/1757-h/1757-h.htm b/1757-h/1757-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e1087a --- /dev/null +++ b/1757-h/1757-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,993 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cruise of the Dolphin + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Release Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1757] +Last Updated: September 20, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Susan L. Farley, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (An episode from The Story of a Bad Boy, the narrator being + Tom Bailey, the hero of the tale.) + </pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Every Rivermouth boy looks upon the sea as being in some way mixed up with + his destiny. While he is yet a baby lying in his cradle, he hears the + dull, far-off boom of the breakers; when he is older, he wanders by the + sandy shore, watching the waves that come plunging up the beach like + white-maned sea-horses, as Thoreau calls them; his eye follows the + lessening sail as it fades into the blue horizon, and he burns for the + time when he shall stand on the quarter-deck of his own ship, and go + sailing proudly across that mysterious waste of waters. + </p> + <p> + Then the town itself is full of hints and flavors of the sea. The gables + and roofs of the houses facing eastward are covered with red rust, like + the flukes of old anchors; a salty smell pervades the air, and dense gray + fogs, the very breath of Ocean, periodically creep up into the quiet + streets and envelop everything. The terrific storms that lash the coast; + the kelp and spars, and sometimes the bodies of drowned men, tossed on + shore by the scornful waves; the shipyards, the wharves, and the tawny + fleet of fishing-smacks yearly fitted out at Rivermouth—these + things, and a hundred other, feed the imagination and fill the brain of + every healthy boy with dreams of adventure. He learns to swim almost as + soon as he can walk; he draws in with his mother’s milk the art of + handling an oar: he is born a sailor, whatever he may turn out to be + afterwards. + </p> + <p> + To own the whole or a portion of a rowboat is his earliest ambition. No + wonder that I, born to this life, and coming back to it with freshest + sympathies, should have caught the prevailing infection. No wonder I + longed to buy a part of the trim little sailboat Dolphin, which chanced + just then to be in the market. This was in the latter part of May. + </p> + <p> + Three shares, at five or six dollars each, I forget which, had already + been taken by Phil Adams, Fred Langdon, and Binny Wallace. The fourth and + remaining share hung fire. Unless a purchaser could be found for this, the + bargain was to fall through. + </p> + <p> + I am afraid I required but slight urging to join in the investment. I had + four dollars and fifty cents on hand, and the treasurer of the Centipedes + (a secret society, composed of twelve boys of the Temple Grammar School, + Rivermouth) advanced me the balance, receiving my silver pencil-case as + ample security. It was a proud moment when I stood on the wharf with my + partners, inspecting the Dolphin, moored at the foot of a very slippery + flight of steps. She was painted white with a green stripe outside, and on + the stern a yellow dolphin, with its scarlet mouth wide open, stared with + a surprised expression at its own reflection in the water. The boat was a + great bargain. + </p> + <p> + I whirled my cap in the air, and ran to the stairs leading down from the + wharf, when a hand was laid gently on my shoulder. I turned, and faced + Captain Nutter (2 Tom Bailey’s grandfather.) I never saw such an old + sharp-eye as he was in those days. + </p> + <p> + I knew he would not be angry with me for buying a rowboat; but I also knew + that the little bowsprit suggesting a jib and the tapering mast ready for + its few square feet of canvas were trifles not likely to meet his + approval. As far as rowing on the river, among the wharves, was concerned, + the Captain had long since withdrawn his decided objections, having + convinced himself, by going out with me several times, that I could manage + a pair of sculls as well as anybody. + </p> + <p> + I was right in my surmises. He commanded me, in the most emphatic terms, + never to go out in the Dolphin without leaving the mast in the boat-house. + This curtailed my anticipated sport, but the pleasure of having a pull + whenever I wanted it remained. I never disobeyed the Captain’s orders + touching the sail, though I sometimes extended my row beyond the points he + has indicated. + </p> + <p> + The river was dangerous for sailboats. Squalls, without the slightest + warning, were of frequent occurrence; scarcely a year passed that three or + four persons were not drowned under the very windows of the town, and + these, oddly enough, were generally sea-captains, who either did not + understand the river, or lacked the skill to handle a small craft. + </p> + <p> + A knowledge of such disasters, one of which I witnessed, consoled me + somewhat when I saw Phil Adams skimming over the water in a spanking + breeze with every stitch of canvas set. There were few better yachtsmen + than Phil Adams. He usually went sailing alone, for both Langdon and Binny + Wallace were under the same restrictions I was. + </p> + <p> + Not long after the purchase of the boat, we planned an excursion to + Sandpeep Island, the last of the islands in the harbor. We purposed to + start early in the morning, and return with the tide in the moonlight. Our + only difficulty was to obtain a whole day’s exemption from school, the + customary half-holiday not being long enough for our picnic. Somehow, we + could not work it; but fortune arranged it for us. I may say here, that, + whatever else I did, I never played truant (“hookey” we called it) in my + life. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon the four owners of the Dolphin exchanged significant glances + when Mr. Grimshaw announced from the desk that there would be no school + the following day, he having just received intelligence of the death of + his uncle in Boston. I was sincerely attached to Mr. Grimshaw, but I am + afraid that the death of his uncle did not affect me as it ought to have + done. + </p> + <p> + We were up before sunrise the next morning, in order to take advantage of + the flood-tide, which waits for no man. Our preparations for the cruise + were made the previous evening. In the way of eatables and drinkables, we + had stored in the stern of the Dolphin a generous bag of hard-tack (for + the chowder), a piece of pork to fry the cunners in, three gigantic apple + pies (bought at Pettingil’s), half a dozen lemons, and a keg of spring + water—the last-named articles were slung over the side, to keep it + cool, as soon as we got under way. The crockery and the bricks for our + camp-stove we placed in the bows with the groceries, which included sugar, + pepper, salt, and a bottle of pickles. Phil Adams contributed to the + outfit a small tent of unbleached cotton cloth, under which we intended to + take our nooning. + </p> + <p> + We unshipped the mast, threw in an extra oar, and were ready to embark. I + do not believe that Christopher Columbus, when he started on his rather + successful voyage of discovery, felt half the responsibility and + importance that weighed upon me as I sat on the middle seat of the + Dolphin, with my oar resting in the rowlock. I wonder if Christopher + Columbus quietly slipped out of the house without letting his estimable + family know what he was up to? Charley Marden, whose father had promised + to cane him if he ever stepped foot on sail or row boat, came down to the + wharf in a sour-grape humor, to see us off. Nothing would tempt him to go + out on the river in such a crazy clam-shell of a boat. He pretended that + he did not expect to behold us alive again, and tried to throw a wet + blanket over the expedition. + </p> + <p> + “Guess you’ll have a squally time of it,” said Charley, casting off the + painter. “I’ll drop in at old Newbury’s” (Newbury was the parish + undertaker) “and leave word, as I go along!” + </p> + <p> + “Bosh!” muttered Phil Adams, sticking the boathook into the string-piece + of the wharf, and sending the Dolphin half a dozen yards toward the + current. + </p> + <p> + How calm and lovely the river was! Not a ripple stirred on the glassy + surface, broken only by the sharp cutwater of our tiny craft. The sun, as + round and red as an August moon, was by this time peering above the + water-line. + </p> + <p> + The town had drifted behind us, and we were entering among the group of + islands. Sometimes we could almost touch with our boat-hook the shelving + banks on either side. As we neared the mouth of the harbor, a little + breeze now and then wrinkled the blue water, shook the spangles from the + foliage, and gently lifted the spiral mist-wreaths that still clung + alongshore. The measured dip of our oars and the drowsy twitterings of the + birds seemed to mingle with, rather than break, the enchanted silence that + reigned about us. + </p> + <p> + The scent of the new clover comes back to me now, as I recall that + delicious morning when we floated away in a fairy boat down a river like a + dream! + </p> + <p> + The sun was well up when the nose of the Dolphin nestled against the + snow-white bosom of Sandpeep Island. This island, as I have said before, + was the last of the cluster, one side of it being washed by the sea. We + landed on the river-side, the sloping sands and quiet water affording us a + good place to moor the boat. + </p> + <p> + It took us an hour or more to transport our stores to the spot selected + for the encampment. Having pitched our tent, using the five oars to + support the canvas, we got out our lines, and went down the rocks seaward + to fish. It was early for cunners, but we were lucky enough to catch as + nice a mess as ever you saw. A cod for the chowder was not so easily + secured. At last Binny Wallace hauled in a plump little fellow clustered + all over with flaky silver. + </p> + <p> + To skin the fish, build our fireplace, and cook the chowder kept us busy + the next two hours. + </p> + <p> + The fresh air and the exercise had given us the appetites of wolves, and + we were about famished by the time the savory mixture was ready for our + clam-shell saucers. + </p> + <p> + I shall not insult the rising generation on the seaboard by telling them + how delectable is a chowder compounded and eaten in this Robinson Crusoe + fashion. As for the boys who live inland, and know not of such marine + feasts, my heart is full of pity for them. What wasted lives! Not to know + the delights of a clambake, not to love chowder, to be ignorant of + lobscouse! + </p> + <p> + How happy we were, we four, sitting cross-legged in the crisp salt grass, + with the invigorating seabreeze blowing gratefully through our hair! What + a joyous thing was life, and how far off seemed death—death, that + lurks in all pleasant places, and was so near! + </p> + <p> + The banquet finished, Phil Adams drew from his pocket a handful of + sweet-fern cigars; but as none of the party could indulge without imminent + risk of becoming ill, we all, on one pretext or another, declined, and + Phil smoked by himself. + </p> + <p> + The wind had freshened by this, and we found it comfortable to put on the + jackets which had been thrown aside in the heat of the day. We strolled + along the beach and gathered large quantities of the fairy-woven Iceland + moss, which at certain seasons is washed to these shores; then we played + at ducks and drakes, and then, the sun being sufficiently low, we went in + bathing. + </p> + <p> + Before our bath was ended a slight change had come over the sky and sea; + fleecy-white clouds scudded here and there, and a muffled moan from the + breakers caught our ears from time to time. While we were dressing, a few + hurried drops of rain came lisping down, and we adjourned to the tent to + wait the passing of the squall. + </p> + <p> + “We’re all right, anyhow,” said Phil Adams. “It won’t be much of a blow, + and we’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug, here in the tent, particularly if + we have that lemonade which some of you fellows were going to make.” + </p> + <p> + By an oversight, the lemons had been left in the boat. Binny Wallace + volunteered to go for them. + </p> + <p> + “Put an extra stone on the painter, Binny,” said Adams, calling after him; + “it would be awkward to have the Dolphin give us the slip and return to + port minus her passengers.” + </p> + <p> + “That it would,” answered Binny, scrambling down the rocks. + </p> + <p> + Sandpeep Island is diamond-shaped—one point running out into the + sea, and the other looking towards the town. Our tent was on the + river-side. Though the Dolphin was also on the same side, she lay out of + sight by the beach at the farther extremity of the island. + </p> + <p> + Binny Wallace had been absent five or six minutes when we heard him + calling our several names in tones that indicated distress or surprise, we + could not tell which. Our first thought was, “The boat has broken adrift!” + </p> + <p> + We sprung to our feet and hastened down to the beach. On turning the bluff + which hid the mooring-place from our view, we found the conjecture + correct. Not only was the Dolphin afloat, but poor little Binny Wallace + was standing in the bows with his arms stretched helplessly towards us—drifting + out to sea! + </p> + <p> + “Head the boat inshore!” shouted Phil Adams. + </p> + <p> + Wallace ran to the tiller; but the slight cockle-shell merely swung round + and drifted broadside on. Oh, if we had but left a single scull in the + Dolphin! + </p> + <p> + “Can you swim it?” cried Adams desperately, using his hand as a + speaking-trumpet, for the distance between the boat and the island widened + momently. + </p> + <p> + Binny Wallace looked down at the sea, which was covered with white caps, + and made a despairing gesture. He knew, and we knew, that the stoutest + swimmer could not live forty seconds in those angry waters. + </p> + <p> + A wild, insane light came into Phil Adam’s eyes, as he stood knee-deep in + the boiling surf, and for an instant I think he meditated plunging into + the ocean after the receding boat. + </p> + <p> + The sky darkened, and an ugly look stole rapidly over the broken surface + of the sea. + </p> + <p> + Binny Wallace half rose from his seat in the stern, and waved his hand to + us in token of farewell. In spite of the distance, increasing every + moment, we could see his face plainly. The anxious expression it wore at + first had passed. It was pale and meek now, and I love to think there was + a kind of halo about it, like that which painters place around the + forehead of a saint. So he drifted away. + </p> + <p> + The sky grew darker and darker. It was only by straining our eyes through + the unnatural twilight that we could keep the Dolphin in sight. The figure + of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the boat itself had dwindled + to a mere white dot on the black water. Now we lost it, and our hearts + stopped throbbing; and now the speck appeared again, for an instant, on + the crest of a high wave. + </p> + <p> + Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we gazed at + one another, and dared not speak. + </p> + <p> + Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely noticed the + huddled inky clouds that sagged heavily all around us. From these + threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale lightning, there now + burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the ground under our feet. A + sudden squall struck the sea, ploughing deep white furrows into it, and at + the same instant a single piercing shriek rose above the tempest—the + frightened cry of a gull swooping over the island. How it startled us! + </p> + <p> + It was impossible any longer to keep our footing on the beach. The wind + and the breakers would have swept us into the ocean if we had not clung to + one another with the desperation of drowning men. Taking advantage of a + momentary lull, we crawled up the sands on our hands and knees, and, + pausing in the lee of the granite ledge to gain breath, returned to the + camp, where we found that the gale had snapped all the fastenings of the + tent but one. Held by this, the puffed-out canvas swayed in the wind like + a balloon. It was a task of some difficulty to secure it, which we did by + beating down the canvas with the oars. + </p> + <p> + After several trials, we succeeded in setting up the tent on the leeward + side of the ledge. Blinded by the vivid flashes of lightning, and drenched + by the rain, which fell in torrents, we crept, half dead with fear and + anguish, under our flimsy shelter. Neither the anguish nor the fear was on + our own account, for we were comparatively safe, but for poor little Binny + Wallace, driven out to sea in the merciless gale. We shuddered to think of + him in that frail shell, drifting on and on to his grave, the sky rent + with lightning over his head, and the green abysses yawning beneath him. + We suddenly fell to crying, and cried I know not how long. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the storm raged with augmented fury. We were obliged to hold on + to the ropes of the tent to prevent it blowing away. The spray from the + river leaped several yards up the rocks and clutched at us malignantly. + The very island trembled with the concussions of the sea beating upon it, + and at times I fancied that it had broken loose from its foundation and + was floating off with us. The breakers, streaked with angry phosphorus, + were fearful to look at. + </p> + <p> + The wind rose higher and higher, cutting long slits in the tent, through + which the rain poured incessantly. To complete the sum of our miseries, + the night was at hand. It came down abruptly, at last, like a curtain, + shutting in Sandpeep Island from all the world. + </p> + <p> + It was a dirty night, as the sailors say. The darkness was something that + could be felt as well as seen—it pressed down upon one with a cold, + clammy touch. Gazing into the hollow blackness, all sorts of imaginable + shapes seemed to start forth from vacancy—brilliant colors, stars, + prisms, and dancing lights. What boy, lying awake at night, has not amused + or terrified himself by peopling the spaces around his bed with these + phenomena of his own eyes? + </p> + <p> + “I say,” whispered Fred Langdon, at last, clutching my hand, “don’t you + see things—out there—in the dark?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes—Binny Wallace’s face!” + </p> + <p> + I added to my own nervousness by making this avowal; though for the last + ten minutes I had seen little besides that star-pale face with its angelic + hair and brows. First a slim yellow circle, like the nimbus round the dark + moon, took shape and grew sharp against the darkness; then this faded + gradually, and there was the Face, wearing the same sad, sweet look it + wore when he waved his hand to us across the awful water. This optical + illusion kept repeating itself. + </p> + <p> + “And I too,” said Adams.” I see it every now and then, outside there. What + wouldn’t I give if it really was poor little Wallace looking in at us! O + boys, how shall we dare to go back to the town without him? I’ve wished a + hundred times, since we’ve been sitting here, that I was in his place, + alive or dead!” + </p> + <p> + We dreaded the approach of morning as much as we longed for it. The + morning would tell us all. Was it possible for the Dolphin to outride such + a storm? There was a lighthouse on Mackerel Reef, which lay directly in + the course the boat had taken when it disappeared. If the Dolphin had + caught on this reef, perhaps Binny Wallace was safe. Perhaps his cries had + been heard by the keeper of the light. The man owned a life-boat, and had + rescued several persons. Who could tell? + </p> + <p> + Such were the questions we asked ourselves again and again, as we lay + huddled together waiting for daybreak. What an endless night it was! I + have known months that did not seem so long. + </p> + <p> + Our position was irksome rather than perilous; for the day was certain to + bring us relief from the town, where our prolonged absence, together with + the storm, had no doubt excited the liveliest alarm for our safety. But + the cold, the darkness, and the suspense were hard to bear. + </p> + <p> + Our soaked jackets had chilled us to the bone. In order to keep warm we + lay so closely that we could hear our hearts beat above the tumult of sea + and sky. + </p> + <p> + After a while we grew very hungry, not having broken our fast since early + in the day. The rain had turned the hard-tack into a sort of dough; but it + was better than nothing. + </p> + <p> + We used to laugh at Fred Langdon for always carrying in his pocket a small + vial of essence of peppermint or sassafras, a few drops of which, + sprinkled on a lump of loaf-sugar, he seemed to consider a great luxury. I + do not know what would have become of us at this crisis if it had not been + for that omnipresent bottle of hot stuff. We poured the stinging liquid + over our sugar, which had kept dry in a sardine-box, and warmed ourselves + with frequent doses. + </p> + <p> + After four or five hours the rain ceased, the wind died away to a moan, + and the sea—no longer raging like a maniac—sobbed and sobbed + with a piteous human voice all along the coast. And well it might, after + that night’s work. Twelve sail of the Gloucester fishing fleet had gone + down with every soul on board, just outside of Whale’s-Back Light. Think + of the wide grief that follows in the wake of one wreck; then think of the + despairing women who wrung their hands and wept, the next morning, in the + streets of Gloucester, Marblehead, and Newcastle! + </p> + <p> + Though our strength was nearly spent, we were too cold to sleep. Once I + sunk into a troubled doze, when I seemed to hear Charley Marden’s parting + words, only it was the Sea that said them. After that I threw off the + drowsiness whenever it threatened to overcome me. + </p> + <p> + Fred Langdon was the earliest to discover a filmy, luminous streak in the + sky, the first glimmering of sunrise. + </p> + <p> + “Look, it is nearly daybreak!” + </p> + <p> + While we were following the direction of his finger, a sound of distant + oars fell upon our ears. + </p> + <p> + We listened breathlessly; and as the dip of the blades became more + audible, we discerned two foggy lights, like will-o’-the-wisps, floating + on the river. + </p> + <p> + Running down to the water’s edge, we hailed the boats with all our might. + The call was heard, for the oars rested a moment in the row-locks, and + then pulled in towards the island. + </p> + <p> + It was two boats from the town, in the foremost of which we could now make + out the figures of Captain Nutter and Binny Wallace’s father. We shrunk + back on seeing him. + </p> + <p> + “Thank God!” cried Mr. Wallace fervently, as he leaped from the wherry + without waiting for the bow to touch the beach. + </p> + <p> + But when he saw only three boys standing on the sands, his eye wandered + restlessly about in quest of the fourth; then a deadly pallor overspread + his features. + </p> + <p> + Our story was soon told. A solemn silence fell upon the crowd of rough + boatmen gathered round, interrupted only by a stifled sob form one poor + old man who stood apart from the rest. + </p> + <p> + The sea was still running too high for any small boat to venture out; so + it was arranged that the wherry should take us back to town, leaving the + yawl, with a picked crew, to hug the island until daybreak, and then set + forth in search of the Dolphin. + </p> + <p> + Though it was barely sunrise when we reached town, there were a great many + persons assembled at the landing eager for intelligence from missing + boats. Two picnic parties had started down river the day before, just + previous to the gale, and nothing had been heard of them. It turned out + that the pleasure-seekers saw their danger in time, and ran ashore on one + of the least exposed islands, where they passed the night. Shortly after + our own arrival they appeared off Rivermouth, much to the joy of their + friends, in two shattered, dismasted boats. + </p> + <p> + The excitement over, I was in a forlorn state, physically and mentally. + Captain Nutter put me to bed between hot blankets, and sent Kitty Collins + for the doctor. I was wandering in my mind, and fancied myself still on + Sandpeep Island: now we were building our brick stove to cook the chowder, + and, in my delirium, I laughed aloud and shouted to my comrades; now the + sky darkened, and the squall struck the island; now I gave orders to + Wallace how to manage the boat, and now I cried because the rain was + pouring in on me through the holes in the tent. Towards evening a high + fever set in, and it was many days before my grandfather deemed it prudent + to tell me that the Dolphin had been found, floating keel upwards, four + miles southeast of Mackerel Reef. + </p> + <p> + Poor little Binny Wallace! How strange it seemed, when I went to school + again, to see that empty seat in the fifth row! How gloomy the playground + was, lacking the sunshine of his gentle, sensitive face! One day a folded + sheet slipped from my algebra: it was the last note he ever wrote me. I + could not read it for the tears. + </p> + <p> + What a pang shot across my heart the afternoon it was whispered through + the town that a body had been washed ashore at Grave Point—the place + where we bathed! We bathed there no more! How well I remember the funeral, + and what a piteous sight it was afterwards to see his familiar name on a + small headstone in the Old South Burying-Ground! + </p> + <p> + Poor little Binny Wallace! Always the same to me. The rest of us have + grown up into hard, worldly men, fighting the fight of life; but you are + forever young, and gentle, and pure; a part of my own childhood that time + cannot wither; always a little boy, always poor little Binny Wallace! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + +***** This file should be named 1757-h.htm or 1757-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/1757/ + +Produced by Susan L. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cruise of the Dolphin + +Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +Posting Date: October 1, 2008 [EBook #1757] +Release Date: May, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Susan L. Farley + + + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN + +by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + + + + (An episode from The Story of a Bad Boy, the narrator being + Tom Bailey, the hero of the tale.) + + +Every Rivermouth boy looks upon the sea as being in some way mixed up +with his destiny. While he is yet a baby lying in his cradle, he hears +the dull, far-off boom of the breakers; when he is older, he wanders by +the sandy shore, watching the waves that come plunging up the beach +like white-maned sea-horses, as Thoreau calls them; his eye follows the +lessening sail as it fades into the blue horizon, and he burns for the +time when he shall stand on the quarter-deck of his own ship, and go +sailing proudly across that mysterious waste of waters. + +Then the town itself is full of hints and flavors of the sea. The gables +and roofs of the houses facing eastward are covered with red rust, like +the flukes of old anchors; a salty smell pervades the air, and dense +gray fogs, the very breath of Ocean, periodically creep up into the +quiet streets and envelop everything. The terrific storms that lash +the coast; the kelp and spars, and sometimes the bodies of drowned men, +tossed on shore by the scornful waves; the shipyards, the wharves, and +the tawny fleet of fishing-smacks yearly fitted out at Rivermouth--these +things, and a hundred other, feed the imagination and fill the brain of +every healthy boy with dreams of adventure. He learns to swim almost +as soon as he can walk; he draws in with his mother's milk the art of +handling an oar: he is born a sailor, whatever he may turn out to be +afterwards. + +To own the whole or a portion of a rowboat is his earliest ambition. No +wonder that I, born to this life, and coming back to it with freshest +sympathies, should have caught the prevailing infection. No wonder I +longed to buy a part of the trim little sailboat Dolphin, which chanced +just then to be in the market. This was in the latter part of May. + +Three shares, at five or six dollars each, I forget which, had already +been taken by Phil Adams, Fred Langdon, and Binny Wallace. The fourth +and remaining share hung fire. Unless a purchaser could be found for +this, the bargain was to fall through. + +I am afraid I required but slight urging to join in the investment. +I had four dollars and fifty cents on hand, and the treasurer of the +Centipedes (a secret society, composed of twelve boys of the Temple +Grammar School, Rivermouth) advanced me the balance, receiving my silver +pencil-case as ample security. It was a proud moment when I stood on the +wharf with my partners, inspecting the Dolphin, moored at the foot of a +very slippery flight of steps. She was painted white with a green stripe +outside, and on the stern a yellow dolphin, with its scarlet mouth wide +open, stared with a surprised expression at its own reflection in the +water. The boat was a great bargain. + +I whirled my cap in the air, and ran to the stairs leading down from the +wharf, when a hand was laid gently on my shoulder. I turned, and faced +Captain Nutter (2 Tom Bailey's grandfather.) I never saw such an old +sharp-eye as he was in those days. + +I knew he would not be angry with me for buying a rowboat; but I also +knew that the little bowsprit suggesting a jib and the tapering mast +ready for its few square feet of canvas were trifles not likely to meet +his approval. As far as rowing on the river, among the wharves, was +concerned, the Captain had long since withdrawn his decided objections, +having convinced himself, by going out with me several times, that I +could manage a pair of sculls as well as anybody. + +I was right in my surmises. He commanded me, in the most emphatic +terms, never to go out in the Dolphin without leaving the mast in the +boat-house. This curtailed my anticipated sport, but the pleasure of +having a pull whenever I wanted it remained. I never disobeyed the +Captain's orders touching the sail, though I sometimes extended my row +beyond the points he has indicated. + +The river was dangerous for sailboats. Squalls, without the slightest +warning, were of frequent occurrence; scarcely a year passed that three +or four persons were not drowned under the very windows of the town, +and these, oddly enough, were generally sea-captains, who either did not +understand the river, or lacked the skill to handle a small craft. + +A knowledge of such disasters, one of which I witnessed, consoled me +somewhat when I saw Phil Adams skimming over the water in a spanking +breeze with every stitch of canvas set. There were few better yachtsmen +than Phil Adams. He usually went sailing alone, for both Langdon and +Binny Wallace were under the same restrictions I was. + +Not long after the purchase of the boat, we planned an excursion to +Sandpeep Island, the last of the islands in the harbor. We purposed to +start early in the morning, and return with the tide in the moonlight. +Our only difficulty was to obtain a whole day's exemption from school, +the customary half-holiday not being long enough for our picnic. +Somehow, we could not work it; but fortune arranged it for us. I may +say here, that, whatever else I did, I never played truant ("hookey" we +called it) in my life. + +One afternoon the four owners of the Dolphin exchanged significant +glances when Mr. Grimshaw announced from the desk that there would be +no school the following day, he having just received intelligence of the +death of his uncle in Boston. I was sincerely attached to Mr. Grimshaw, +but I am afraid that the death of his uncle did not affect me as it +ought to have done. + +We were up before sunrise the next morning, in order to take advantage +of the flood-tide, which waits for no man. Our preparations for the +cruise were made the previous evening. In the way of eatables and +drinkables, we had stored in the stern of the Dolphin a generous bag +of hard-tack (for the chowder), a piece of pork to fry the cunners in, +three gigantic apple pies (bought at Pettingil's), half a dozen lemons, +and a keg of spring water--the last-named articles were slung over the +side, to keep it cool, as soon as we got under way. The crockery and +the bricks for our camp-stove we placed in the bows with the groceries, +which included sugar, pepper, salt, and a bottle of pickles. Phil Adams +contributed to the outfit a small tent of unbleached cotton cloth, under +which we intended to take our nooning. + +We unshipped the mast, threw in an extra oar, and were ready to embark. +I do not believe that Christopher Columbus, when he started on his +rather successful voyage of discovery, felt half the responsibility +and importance that weighed upon me as I sat on the middle seat of the +Dolphin, with my oar resting in the rowlock. I wonder if Christopher +Columbus quietly slipped out of the house without letting his estimable +family know what he was up to? Charley Marden, whose father had promised +to cane him if he ever stepped foot on sail or row boat, came down to +the wharf in a sour-grape humor, to see us off. Nothing would tempt +him to go out on the river in such a crazy clam-shell of a boat. He +pretended that he did not expect to behold us alive again, and tried to +throw a wet blanket over the expedition. + +"Guess you'll have a squally time of it," said Charley, casting off +the painter. "I'll drop in at old Newbury's" (Newbury was the parish +undertaker) "and leave word, as I go along!" + +"Bosh!" muttered Phil Adams, sticking the boathook into the string-piece +of the wharf, and sending the Dolphin half a dozen yards toward the +current. + +How calm and lovely the river was! Not a ripple stirred on the glassy +surface, broken only by the sharp cutwater of our tiny craft. The sun, +as round and red as an August moon, was by this time peering above the +water-line. + +The town had drifted behind us, and we were entering among the group of +islands. Sometimes we could almost touch with our boat-hook the shelving +banks on either side. As we neared the mouth of the harbor, a little +breeze now and then wrinkled the blue water, shook the spangles from +the foliage, and gently lifted the spiral mist-wreaths that still clung +alongshore. The measured dip of our oars and the drowsy twitterings +of the birds seemed to mingle with, rather than break, the enchanted +silence that reigned about us. + +The scent of the new clover comes back to me now, as I recall that +delicious morning when we floated away in a fairy boat down a river like +a dream! + +The sun was well up when the nose of the Dolphin nestled against the +snow-white bosom of Sandpeep Island. This island, as I have said before, +was the last of the cluster, one side of it being washed by the sea. We +landed on the river-side, the sloping sands and quiet water affording us +a good place to moor the boat. + +It took us an hour or more to transport our stores to the spot selected +for the encampment. Having pitched our tent, using the five oars to +support the canvas, we got out our lines, and went down the rocks +seaward to fish. It was early for cunners, but we were lucky enough to +catch as nice a mess as ever you saw. A cod for the chowder was not so +easily secured. At last Binny Wallace hauled in a plump little fellow +clustered all over with flaky silver. + +To skin the fish, build our fireplace, and cook the chowder kept us busy +the next two hours. + +The fresh air and the exercise had given us the appetites of wolves, and +we were about famished by the time the savory mixture was ready for our +clam-shell saucers. + +I shall not insult the rising generation on the seaboard by telling them +how delectable is a chowder compounded and eaten in this Robinson Crusoe +fashion. As for the boys who live inland, and know not of such marine +feasts, my heart is full of pity for them. What wasted lives! Not to +know the delights of a clambake, not to love chowder, to be ignorant of +lobscouse! + +How happy we were, we four, sitting cross-legged in the crisp salt +grass, with the invigorating seabreeze blowing gratefully through our +hair! What a joyous thing was life, and how far off seemed death--death, +that lurks in all pleasant places, and was so near! + +The banquet finished, Phil Adams drew from his pocket a handful of +sweet-fern cigars; but as none of the party could indulge without +imminent risk of becoming ill, we all, on one pretext or another, +declined, and Phil smoked by himself. + +The wind had freshened by this, and we found it comfortable to put +on the jackets which had been thrown aside in the heat of the day. +We strolled along the beach and gathered large quantities of the +fairy-woven Iceland moss, which at certain seasons is washed to these +shores; then we played at ducks and drakes, and then, the sun being +sufficiently low, we went in bathing. + +Before our bath was ended a slight change had come over the sky and sea; +fleecy-white clouds scudded here and there, and a muffled moan from the +breakers caught our ears from time to time. While we were dressing, a +few hurried drops of rain came lisping down, and we adjourned to the +tent to wait the passing of the squall. + +"We're all right, anyhow," said Phil Adams. "It won't be much of a blow, +and we'll be as snug as a bug in a rug, here in the tent, particularly +if we have that lemonade which some of you fellows were going to make." + +By an oversight, the lemons had been left in the boat. Binny Wallace +volunteered to go for them. + +"Put an extra stone on the painter, Binny," said Adams, calling after +him; "it would be awkward to have the Dolphin give us the slip and +return to port minus her passengers." + +"That it would," answered Binny, scrambling down the rocks. + +Sandpeep Island is diamond-shaped--one point running out into the sea, +and the other looking towards the town. Our tent was on the river-side. +Though the Dolphin was also on the same side, she lay out of sight by +the beach at the farther extremity of the island. + +Binny Wallace had been absent five or six minutes when we heard him +calling our several names in tones that indicated distress or surprise, +we could not tell which. Our first thought was, "The boat has broken +adrift!" + +We sprung to our feet and hastened down to the beach. On turning the +bluff which hid the mooring-place from our view, we found the conjecture +correct. Not only was the Dolphin afloat, but poor little Binny Wallace +was standing in the bows with his arms stretched helplessly towards +us--drifting out to sea! + +"Head the boat inshore!" shouted Phil Adams. + +Wallace ran to the tiller; but the slight cockle-shell merely swung +round and drifted broadside on. Oh, if we had but left a single scull in +the Dolphin! + +"Can you swim it?" cried Adams desperately, using his hand as a +speaking-trumpet, for the distance between the boat and the island +widened momently. + +Binny Wallace looked down at the sea, which was covered with white caps, +and made a despairing gesture. He knew, and we knew, that the stoutest +swimmer could not live forty seconds in those angry waters. + +A wild, insane light came into Phil Adam's eyes, as he stood knee-deep +in the boiling surf, and for an instant I think he meditated plunging +into the ocean after the receding boat. + +The sky darkened, and an ugly look stole rapidly over the broken surface +of the sea. + +Binny Wallace half rose from his seat in the stern, and waved his hand +to us in token of farewell. In spite of the distance, increasing every +moment, we could see his face plainly. The anxious expression it wore +at first had passed. It was pale and meek now, and I love to think there +was a kind of halo about it, like that which painters place around the +forehead of a saint. So he drifted away. + +The sky grew darker and darker. It was only by straining our eyes +through the unnatural twilight that we could keep the Dolphin in sight. +The figure of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the boat itself +had dwindled to a mere white dot on the black water. Now we lost it, and +our hearts stopped throbbing; and now the speck appeared again, for an +instant, on the crest of a high wave. + +Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we gazed +at one another, and dared not speak. + +Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely noticed +the huddled inky clouds that sagged heavily all around us. From these +threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale lightning, there now +burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the ground under our feet. A +sudden squall struck the sea, ploughing deep white furrows into it, and +at the same instant a single piercing shriek rose above the tempest--the +frightened cry of a gull swooping over the island. How it startled us! + +It was impossible any longer to keep our footing on the beach. The wind +and the breakers would have swept us into the ocean if we had not clung +to one another with the desperation of drowning men. Taking advantage of +a momentary lull, we crawled up the sands on our hands and knees, and, +pausing in the lee of the granite ledge to gain breath, returned to the +camp, where we found that the gale had snapped all the fastenings of +the tent but one. Held by this, the puffed-out canvas swayed in the wind +like a balloon. It was a task of some difficulty to secure it, which we +did by beating down the canvas with the oars. + +After several trials, we succeeded in setting up the tent on the leeward +side of the ledge. Blinded by the vivid flashes of lightning, and +drenched by the rain, which fell in torrents, we crept, half dead with +fear and anguish, under our flimsy shelter. Neither the anguish nor the +fear was on our own account, for we were comparatively safe, but for +poor little Binny Wallace, driven out to sea in the merciless gale. We +shuddered to think of him in that frail shell, drifting on and on to his +grave, the sky rent with lightning over his head, and the green abysses +yawning beneath him. We suddenly fell to crying, and cried I know not +how long. + +Meanwhile the storm raged with augmented fury. We were obliged to hold +on to the ropes of the tent to prevent it blowing away. The spray +from the river leaped several yards up the rocks and clutched at us +malignantly. The very island trembled with the concussions of the sea +beating upon it, and at times I fancied that it had broken loose from +its foundation and was floating off with us. The breakers, streaked with +angry phosphorus, were fearful to look at. + +The wind rose higher and higher, cutting long slits in the tent, through +which the rain poured incessantly. To complete the sum of our miseries, +the night was at hand. It came down abruptly, at last, like a curtain, +shutting in Sandpeep Island from all the world. + +It was a dirty night, as the sailors say. The darkness was something +that could be felt as well as seen--it pressed down upon one with a +cold, clammy touch. Gazing into the hollow blackness, all sorts of +imaginable shapes seemed to start forth from vacancy--brilliant colors, +stars, prisms, and dancing lights. What boy, lying awake at night, has +not amused or terrified himself by peopling the spaces around his bed +with these phenomena of his own eyes? + +"I say," whispered Fred Langdon, at last, clutching my hand, "don't you +see things--out there--in the dark?" + +"Yes, yes--Binny Wallace's face!" + +I added to my own nervousness by making this avowal; though for the +last ten minutes I had seen little besides that star-pale face with +its angelic hair and brows. First a slim yellow circle, like the nimbus +round the dark moon, took shape and grew sharp against the darkness; +then this faded gradually, and there was the Face, wearing the same sad, +sweet look it wore when he waved his hand to us across the awful water. +This optical illusion kept repeating itself. + +"And I too," said Adams." I see it every now and then, outside there. +What wouldn't I give if it really was poor little Wallace looking in at +us! O boys, how shall we dare to go back to the town without him? I've +wished a hundred times, since we've been sitting here, that I was in his +place, alive or dead!" + +We dreaded the approach of morning as much as we longed for it. The +morning would tell us all. Was it possible for the Dolphin to outride +such a storm? There was a lighthouse on Mackerel Reef, which lay +directly in the course the boat had taken when it disappeared. If the +Dolphin had caught on this reef, perhaps Binny Wallace was safe. Perhaps +his cries had been heard by the keeper of the light. The man owned a +life-boat, and had rescued several persons. Who could tell? + +Such were the questions we asked ourselves again and again, as we lay +huddled together waiting for daybreak. What an endless night it was! I +have known months that did not seem so long. + +Our position was irksome rather than perilous; for the day was certain +to bring us relief from the town, where our prolonged absence, together +with the storm, had no doubt excited the liveliest alarm for our safety. +But the cold, the darkness, and the suspense were hard to bear. + +Our soaked jackets had chilled us to the bone. In order to keep warm we +lay so closely that we could hear our hearts beat above the tumult of +sea and sky. + +After a while we grew very hungry, not having broken our fast since +early in the day. The rain had turned the hard-tack into a sort of +dough; but it was better than nothing. + +We used to laugh at Fred Langdon for always carrying in his pocket a +small vial of essence of peppermint or sassafras, a few drops of which, +sprinkled on a lump of loaf-sugar, he seemed to consider a great luxury. +I do not know what would have become of us at this crisis if it had not +been for that omnipresent bottle of hot stuff. We poured the stinging +liquid over our sugar, which had kept dry in a sardine-box, and warmed +ourselves with frequent doses. + +After four or five hours the rain ceased, the wind died away to a moan, +and the sea--no longer raging like a maniac--sobbed and sobbed with a +piteous human voice all along the coast. And well it might, after that +night's work. Twelve sail of the Gloucester fishing fleet had gone down +with every soul on board, just outside of Whale's-Back Light. Think of +the wide grief that follows in the wake of one wreck; then think of the +despairing women who wrung their hands and wept, the next morning, in +the streets of Gloucester, Marblehead, and Newcastle! + +Though our strength was nearly spent, we were too cold to sleep. Once +I sunk into a troubled doze, when I seemed to hear Charley Marden's +parting words, only it was the Sea that said them. After that I threw +off the drowsiness whenever it threatened to overcome me. + +Fred Langdon was the earliest to discover a filmy, luminous streak in +the sky, the first glimmering of sunrise. + +"Look, it is nearly daybreak!" + +While we were following the direction of his finger, a sound of distant +oars fell upon our ears. + +We listened breathlessly; and as the dip of the blades became more +audible, we discerned two foggy lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, floating +on the river. + +Running down to the water's edge, we hailed the boats with all +our might. The call was heard, for the oars rested a moment in the +row-locks, and then pulled in towards the island. + +It was two boats from the town, in the foremost of which we could now +make out the figures of Captain Nutter and Binny Wallace's father. We +shrunk back on seeing him. + +"Thank God!" cried Mr. Wallace fervently, as he leaped from the wherry +without waiting for the bow to touch the beach. + +But when he saw only three boys standing on the sands, his eye wandered +restlessly about in quest of the fourth; then a deadly pallor overspread +his features. + +Our story was soon told. A solemn silence fell upon the crowd of rough +boatmen gathered round, interrupted only by a stifled sob form one poor +old man who stood apart from the rest. + +The sea was still running too high for any small boat to venture out; so +it was arranged that the wherry should take us back to town, leaving the +yawl, with a picked crew, to hug the island until daybreak, and then set +forth in search of the Dolphin. + +Though it was barely sunrise when we reached town, there were a great +many persons assembled at the landing eager for intelligence from +missing boats. Two picnic parties had started down river the day before, +just previous to the gale, and nothing had been heard of them. It turned +out that the pleasure-seekers saw their danger in time, and ran ashore +on one of the least exposed islands, where they passed the night. +Shortly after our own arrival they appeared off Rivermouth, much to the +joy of their friends, in two shattered, dismasted boats. + +The excitement over, I was in a forlorn state, physically and mentally. +Captain Nutter put me to bed between hot blankets, and sent Kitty +Collins for the doctor. I was wandering in my mind, and fancied myself +still on Sandpeep Island: now we were building our brick stove to cook +the chowder, and, in my delirium, I laughed aloud and shouted to my +comrades; now the sky darkened, and the squall struck the island; now I +gave orders to Wallace how to manage the boat, and now I cried because +the rain was pouring in on me through the holes in the tent. Towards +evening a high fever set in, and it was many days before my grandfather +deemed it prudent to tell me that the Dolphin had been found, floating +keel upwards, four miles southeast of Mackerel Reef. + +Poor little Binny Wallace! How strange it seemed, when I went to +school again, to see that empty seat in the fifth row! How gloomy the +playground was, lacking the sunshine of his gentle, sensitive face! One +day a folded sheet slipped from my algebra: it was the last note he ever +wrote me. I could not read it for the tears. + +What a pang shot across my heart the afternoon it was whispered through +the town that a body had been washed ashore at Grave Point--the place +where we bathed! We bathed there no more! How well I remember the +funeral, and what a piteous sight it was afterwards to see his familiar +name on a small headstone in the Old South Burying-Ground! + +Poor little Binny Wallace! Always the same to me. The rest of us have +grown up into hard, worldly men, fighting the fight of life; but you +are forever young, and gentle, and pure; a part of my own childhood +that time cannot wither; always a little boy, always poor little Binny +Wallace! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE DOLPHIN *** + +***** This file should be named 1757.txt or 1757.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/1757/ + +Produced by Susan L. Farley + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Farley. + + + + + +The Cruise of the Dolphin + +by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + + + +(1 An episode from The Story of a Bad Boy, the narrator being Tom +Bailey, the hero of the tale.) + + +Every Rivermouth boy looks upon the sea as being in some way mixed +up with his destiny. While he is yet a baby lying in his cradle, he +hears the dull, far-off boom of the breakers; when he is older, he +wanders by the sandy shore, watching the waves that come plunging +up the beach like white-maned sea-horses, as Thoreau calls them; +his eye follows the lessening sail as it fades into the blue +horizon, and he burns for the time when he shall stand on the +quarter-deck of his own ship, and go sailing proudly across that +mysterious waste of waters. + +Then the town itself is full of hints and flavors of the sea. The +gables and roofs of the houses facing eastward are covered with red +rust, like the flukes of old anchors; a salty smell pervades the +air, and dense gray fogs, the very breath of Ocean, periodically +creep up into the quiet streets and envelop everything. The +terrific storms that lash the coast; the kelp and spars, and +sometimes the bodies of drowned men, tossed on shore by the +scornful waves; the shipyards, the wharves, and the tawny fleet of +fishing-smacks yearly fitted out at Rivermouth--these things, and a +hundred other, feed the imagination and fill the brain of every +healthy boy with dreams of adventure. He learns to swim almost as +soon as he can walk; he draws in with his mother's milk the art of +handling an oar: he is born a sailor, whatever he may turn out to +be afterwards. + +To own the whole or a portion of a rowboat is his earliest +ambition. No wonder that I, born to this life, and coming back to +it with freshest sympathies, should have caught the prevailing +infection. No wonder I longed to buy a part of the trim little +sailboat Dolphin, which chanced just then to be in the market. This +was in the latter part of May. + +Three shares, at five or six dollars each, I forget which, had +already been taken by Phil Adams, Fred Langdon, and Binny Wallace. +The fourth and remaining share hung fire. Unless a purchaser could +be found for this, the bargain was to fall through. + +I am afraid I required but slight urging to join in the investment. +I had four dollars and fifty cents on hand, and the treasurer of +the Centipedes (1 A secret society, composed of twelve boys of the +Temple Grammar School, Rivermouth.) advanced me the balance, +receiving my silver pencil-case as ample security. It was a proud +moment when I stood on the wharf with my partners, inspecting the +Dolphin, moored at the foot of a very slippery flight of steps. She +was painted white with a green stripe outside, and on the stern a +yellow dolphin, with its scarlet mouth wide open, stared with a +surprised expression at its own reflection in the water. The boat +was a great bargain. + +I whirled my cap in the air, and ran to the stairs leading down +from the wharf, when a hand was laid gently on my shoulder. I +turned, and faced Captain Nutter (2 Tom Bailey's grandfather.) I +never saw such an old sharp-eye as he was in those days. + +I knew he would not be angry with me for buying a rowboat; but I +also knew that the little bowsprit suggesting a jib and the +tapering mast ready for its few square feet of canvas were trifles +not likely to meet his approval. As far as rowing on the river, +among the wharves, was concerned, the Captain had long since +withdrawn his decided objections, having convinced himself, by +going out with me several times, that I could manage a pair of +sculls as well as anybody. + +I was right in my surmises. He commanded me, in the most emphatic +terms, never to go out in the Dolphin without leaving the mast in +the boat-house. This curtailed my anticipated sport, but the +pleasure of having a pull whenever I wanted it remained. I never +disobeyed the Captain's orders touching the sail, though I +sometimes extended my row beyond the points he has indicated. + +The river was dangerous for sailboats. Squalls, without the +slightest warning, were of frequent occurrence; scarcely a year +passed that three or four persons were not drowned under the very +windows of the town, and these, oddly enough, were generally +seacaptains, who either did not understand the river, or lacked the +skill to handle a small craft. + +A knowledge of such disasters, one of which I witnessed, consoled +me somewhat when I saw Phil Adams skimming over the water in a +spanking breeze with every stitch of canvas set. There were few +better yachtsmen than Phil Adams. He usually went sailing alone, +for both Langdon and Binny Wallace were under the same restrictions +I was. + +Not long after the purchase of the boat, we planned an excursion to +Sandpeep Island, the last of the islands in the harbor. We purposed +to start early in the morning, and return with the tide in the +moonlight. Our only difficulty was to obtain a whole day's +exemption from school, the customary half-holiday not being long +enough for our picnic. Somehow, we could not work it; but fortune +arranged it for us. I may say here, that, whatever else I did, I +never played truant ("hookey" we called it) in my life. + +One afternoon the four owners of the Dolphin exchanged significant +glances when Mr. Grimshaw announced from the desk that there would +be no school the following day, he having just received +intelligence of the death of his uncle in Boston. I was sincerely +attached to Mr. Grimshaw, but I am afraid that the death of his +uncle did not affect me as it ought to have done. + +We were up before sunrise the next morning, in order to take +advantage of the flood-tide, which waits for no man. Our +preparations for the cruise were made the previous evening. In the +way of eatables and drinkables, we had stored in the stern of the +Dolphin a generous bag of hard-tack (for the chowder), a piece of +pork to fry the cunners in, three gigantic apple pies (bought at +Pettingil's), half a dozen lemons, and a keg of spring water--the +last-named articles were slung over the side, to keep it cool, as +soon as we got under way. The crockery and the bricks for our camp- +stove we placed in the bows with the groceries, which included +sugar, pepper, salt, and a bottle of pickles. Phil Adams +contributed to the outfit a small tent of unbleached cotton cloth, +under which we intended to take our nooning. + +We unshipped the mast, threw in an extra oar, and were ready to +embark. I do not believe that Christopher Columbus, when he started +on his rather successful voyage of discovery, felt half the +responsibility and importance that weighed upon me as I sat on the +middle seat of the Dolphin, with my oar resting in the rowlock. I +wonder if Christopher Columbus quietly slipped out of the house +without letting his estimable family know what he was up to? +Charley Marden, whose father had promised to cane him if he ever +stepped foot on sail or row boat, came down to the wharf in a sour- +grape humor, to see us off. Nothing would tempt him to go out on +the river in such a crazy clam-shell of a boat. He pretended that +he did not expect to behold us alive again, and tried to throw a +wet blanket over the expedition. + +"Guess you'll have a squally time of it," said Charley, casting off +the painter. "I'll drop in at old Newbury's" (Newbury was the +parish undertaker) "and leave word, as I go along!" + +"Bosh!" muttered Phil Adams, sticking the boathook into the +string-piece of the wharf, and sending the Dolphin half a dozen +yards toward the current. + +How calm and lovely the river was! Not a ripple stirred on the +glassy surface, broken only by the sharp cutwater of our tiny +craft. The sun, as round and red as an August moon, was by this +time peering above the water-line. + +The town had drifted behind us, and we were entering among the +group of islands. Sometimes we could almost touch with our boat- +hook the shelving banks on either side. As we neared the mouth of +the harbor, a little breeze now and then wrinkled the blue water, +shook the spangles from the foliage, and gently lifted the spiral +mist-wreaths that still clung alongshore. The measured dip of our +oars and the drowsy twitterings of the birds seemed to mingle with, +rather than break, the enchanted silence that reigned about us. + +The scent of the new clover comes back to me now, as I recall that +delicious morning when we floated away in a fairy boat down a river +like a dream! + +The sun was well up when the nose of the Dolphin nestled against +the snow-white bosom of Sandpeep Island. This island, as I have +said before, was the last of the cluster, one side of it being +washed by the sea. We landed on the river-side, the sloping sands +and quiet water affording us a good place to moor the boat. + +It took us an hour or more to transport our stores to the spot +selected for the encampment. Having pitched our tent, using the +five oars to support the canvas, we got out our lines, and went +down the rocks seaward to fish. It was early for cunners, but we +were lucky enough to catch as nice a mess as ever you saw. A cod +for the chowder was not so easily secured. At last Binny Wallace +hauled in a plump little fellow clustered all over with flaky +silver. + +To skin the fish, build our fireplace, and cook the chowder kept us +busy the next two hours. + +The fresh air and the exercise had given us the appetites of +wolves, and we were about famished by the time the savory mixture +was ready for our clam-shell saucers. + +I shall not insult the rising generation on the seaboard by telling +them how delectable is a chowder compounded and eaten in this +Robinson Crusoe fashion. As for the boys who live inland, and know +not of such marine feasts, my heart is full of pity for them. What +wasted lives! Not to know the delights of a clambake, not to love +chowder, to be ignorant of lobscouse! + +How happy we were, we four, sitting cross-legged in the crisp salt +grass, with the invigorating seabreeze blowing gratefully through +our hair! What a joyous thing was life, and how far off seemed +death--death, that lurks in all pleasant places, and was so near! + +The banquet finished, Phil Adams drew from his pocket a handful of +sweet-fern cigars; but as none of the party could indulge without +imminent risk of becoming ill, we all, on one pretext or another, +declined, and Phil smoked by himself. + +The wind had freshened by this, and we found it comfortable to put +on the jackets which had been thrown aside in the heat of the day. +We strolled along the beach and gathered large quantities of the +fairy-woven Iceland moss, which at certain seasons is washed to +these shores; then we played at ducks and drakes, and then, the sun +being sufficiently low, we went in bathing. + +Before our bath was ended a slight change had come over the sky and +sea; fleecy-white clouds scudded here and there, and a muffled moan +from the breakers caught our ears from time to time. While we were +dressing, a few hurried drops of rain came lisping down, and we +adjourned to the tent to wait the passing of the squall. + +"We're all right, anyhow," said Phil Adams. "It won't be much of a +blow, and we'll be as snug as a bug in a rug, here in the tent, +particularly if we have that lemonade which some of you fellows +were going to make. + +By an oversight, the lemons had been left in the boat. Binny +Wallace volunteered to go for them. + +"Put an extra stone on the painter, Binny," said Adams, calling +after him; "it would be awkward to have the Dolphin give us the +slip and return to port minus her passengers." + +"That it would," answered Binny, scrambling down the rocks. + +Sandpeep Island is diamond-shaped--one point running out into the +sea, and the other looking towards the town. Our tent was on the +river-side. Though the Dolphin was also on the same side, she lay +out of sight by the beach at the farther extremity of the island. + +Binny Wallace had been absent five or six minutes when we heard him +calling our several names in tones that indicated distress or +surprise, we could not tell which. Our first thought was, "The boat +has broken adrift!" + +We sprung to our feet and hastened down to the beach. On turning +the bluff which hid the mooring-place from our view, we found the +conjecture correct. Not only was the Dolphin afloat, but poor +little Binny Wallace was standing in the bows with his arms +stretched helplessly towards us--drifting out to sea! + +"Head the boat inshore!" shouted Phil Adams. + +Wallace ran to the tiller; but the slight cockle-shell merely swung +round and drifted broadside on. Oh, if we had but left a single +scull in the Dolphin! + +"Can you swim it?" cried Adams desperately, using his hand as a +speaking-trumpet, for the distance between the boat and the island +widened momently. + +Binny Wallace looked down at the sea, which was covered with white +caps, and made a despairing gesture. He knew, and we knew, that the +stoutest swimmer could not live forty seconds in those angry +waters. + +A wild, insane light came into Phil Adam's eyes, as he stood knee- +deep in the boiling surf, and for an instant I think he meditated +plunging into the ocean after the receding boat. + +The sky darkened, and an ugly look stole rapidly over the broken +surface of the sea. + +Binny Wallace half rose from his seat in the stern, and waved his +hand to us in token of farewell. In spite of the distance, +increasing every moment, we could see his face plainly. The anxious +expression it wore at first had passed. It was pale and meek now, +and I love to think there was a kind of halo about it, like that +which painters place around the forehead of a saint. So he drifted +away. + +The sky grew darker and darker. It was only by straining our eyes +through the unnatural twilight that we could keep the Dolphin in +sight. The figure of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the +boat itself had dwindled to a mere white dot on the black water. +Now we lost it, and our hearts stopped throbbing; and now the speck +appeared again, for an instant, on the crest of a high wave. + +Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we +gazed at one another, and dared not speak. + +Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely +noticed the huddled inky clouds that sagged heavily all around us. +From these threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale +lightning, there now burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the +ground under our feet. A sudden squall struck the sea, ploughing +deep white furrows into it, and at the same instant a single +piercing shriek rose above the tempest--the frightened cry of a +gull swooping over the island. How it startled us! + +It was impossible any longer to keep our footing on the beach. The +wind and the breakers would have swept us into the ocean if we had +not clung to one another with the desperation of drowning men. +Taking advantage of a momentary lull, we crawled up the sands on +our hands and knees, and, pausing in the lee of the granite ledge +to gain breath, returned to the camp, where we found that the gale +had snapped all the fastenings of the tent but one. Held by this, +the puffed-out canvas swayed in the wind like a balloon. It was a +task of some difficulty to secure it, which we did by beating down +the canvas with the oars. + +After several trials, we succeeded in setting up the tent on the +leeward side of the ledge. Blinded by the vivid flashes of +lightning, and drenched by the rain, which fell in torrents, we +crept, half dead with fear and anguish, under our flimsy shelter. +Neither the anguish nor the fear was on our own account, for we +were comparatively safe, but for poor little Binny Wallace, driven +out to sea in the merciless gale. We shuddered to think of him in +that frail shell, drifting on and on to his grave, the sky rent +with lightning over his head, and the green abysses yawning beneath +him. We suddenly fell to crying, and cried I know not how long. + +Meanwhile the storm raged with augmented fury. We were obliged to +hold on to the ropes of the tent to prevent it blowing away. The +spray from the river leaped several yards up the rocks and clutched +at us malignantly. The very island trembled with the concussions of +the sea beating upon it, and at times I fancied that it had broken +loose from its foundation and was floating off with us. The +breakers, streaked with angry phosphorus, were fearful to look at. + +The wind rose higher and higher, cutting long slits in the tent, +through which the rain poured incessantly. To complete the sum of +our miseries, the night was at hand. It came down abruptly, at +last, like a curtain, shutting in Sandpeep Island from all the +world. + +It was a dirty night, as the sailors say. The darkness was +something that could be felt as well as seen--it pressed down upon +one with a cold, clammy touch. Gazing into the hollow blackness, +all sorts of imaginable shapes seemed to start forth from vacancy-- +brilliant colors, stars, prisms, and dancing lights. What boy, +lying awake at night, has not amused or terrified himself by +peopling the spaces around his bed with these phenomena of his own +eyes? + +"I say," whispered Fred Langdon, at last, clutching my hand, "don't +you see things--out there--in the dark?" + +"Yes, yes--Binny Wallace's face!" + +I added to my own nervousness by making this avowal; though for the +last ten minutes I had seen little besides that star-pale face with +its angelic hair and brows. First a slim yellow circle, like the +nimbus round the dark moon, took shape and grew sharp against the +darkness; then this faded gradually, and there was the Face, +wearing the same sad, sweet look it wore when he waved his hand to +us across the awful water. This optical illusion kept repeating +itself. + +"And I too," said Adams." I see it every now and then, outside +there. What wouldn't I give if it really was poor little Wallace +looking in at us! O boys, how shall we dare to go back to the town +without him? I've wished a hundred times, since we've been sitting +here, that I was in his place, alive or dead!" + +We dreaded the approach of morning as much as we longed for it. The +morning would tell us all. Was it possible for the Dolphin to +outride such a storm? There was a lighthouse on Mackerel Reef, +which lay directly in the course the boat had taken when it +disappeared. If the Dolphin had caught on this reef, perhaps Binny +Wallace was safe. Perhaps his cries had been heard by the keeper of +the light. The man owned a life-boat, and had rescued several +persons. Who could tell? + +Such were the questions we asked ourselves again and again, as we +lay huddled together waiting for daybreak. What an endless night it +was! I have known months that did not seem so long. + +Our position was irksome rather than perilous; for the day was +certain to bring us relief from the town, where our prolonged +absence, together with the storm, had no doubt excited the +liveliest alarm for our safety. But the cold, the darkness, and the +suspense were hard to bear. + +Our soaked jackets had chilled us to the bone. In order to keep +warm we lay so closely that we could hear our hearts beat above the +tumult of sea and sky. + +After a while we grew very hungry, not having broken our fast since +early in the day. The rain had turned the hard-tack into a sort of +dough; but it was better than nothing. + +We used to laugh at Fred Langdon for always carrying in his pocket +a small vial of essence of peppermint or sassafras, a few drops of +which, sprinkled on a lump of loaf-sugar, he seemed to consider a +great luxury. I do not know what would have become of us at this +crisis if it had not been for that omnipresent bottle of hot stuff. +We poured the stinging liquid over our sugar, which had kept dry in +a sardine-box, and warmed ourselves with frequent doses. + +After four or five hours the rain ceased, the wind died away to a +moan, and the sea--no longer raging like a maniac--sobbed and +sobbed with a piteous human voice all along the coast. And well it +might, after that night's work. Twelve sail of the Gloucester +fishing fleet had gone down with every soul on board, just outside +of Whale's-Back Light. Think of the wide grief that follows in the +wake of one wreck; then think of the despairing women who wrung +their hands and wept, the next morning, in the streets of +Gloucester, Marblehead, and Newcastle! + +Though our strength was nearly spent, we were too cold to sleep. +Once I sunk into a troubled doze, when I seemed to hear Charley +Marden's parting words, only it was the Sea that said them. After +that I threw off the drowsiness whenever it threatened to overcome +me. + +Fred Langdon was the earliest to discover a filmy, luminous streak +in the sky, the first glimmering of sunrise. + +"Look, it is nearly daybreak!" + +While we were following the direction of his finger, a sound of +distant oars fell upon our ears. + +We listened breathlessly; and as the dip of the blades became more +audible, we discerned two foggy lights, like will-o'-the-wisps, +floating on the river. + +Running down to the water's edge, we hailed the boats with all our +might. The call was heard, for the oars rested a moment in the +row-locks, and then pulled in towards the island. + +It was two boats from the town, in the foremost of which we could +now make out the figures of Captain Nutter and Binny Wallace's +father. We shrunk back on seeing him. + +"Thank God!" cried Mr. Wallace fervently, as he leaped from the +wherry without waiting for the bow to touch the beach. + +But when he saw only three boys standing on the sands, his eye +wandered restlessly about in quest of the fourth; then a deadly +pallor overspread his features. + +Our story was soon told. A solemn silence fell upon the crowd of +rough boatmen gathered round, interrupted only by a stifled sob +form one poor old man who stood apart from the rest. + +The sea was still running too high for any small boat to venture +out; so it was arranged that the wherry should take us back to +town, leaving the yawl, with a picked crew, to hug the island until +daybreak, and then set forth in search of the Dolphin. + +Though it was barely sunrise when we reached town, there were a +great many persons assembled at the landing eager for intelligence +from missing boats. Two picnic parties had started down river the +day before, just previous to the gale, and nothing had been heard +of them. It turned out that the pleasure-seekers saw their danger +in time, and ran ashore on one of the least exposed islands, where +they passed the night. Shortly after our own arrival they appeared +off Rivermouth, much to the joy of their friends, in two shattered, +dismasted boats. + +The excitement over, I was in a forlorn state, physically and +mentally. Captain Nutter put me to bed between hot blankets, and +sent Kitty Collins for the doctor. I was wandering in my mind, and +fancied myself still on Sandpeep Island: now we were building our +brick stove to cook the chowder, and, in my delirium, I laughed +aloud and shouted to my comrades; now the sky darkened, and the +squall struck the island; now I gave orders to Wallace how to +manage the boat, and now I cried because the rain was pouring in on +me through the holes in the tent. Towards evening a high fever set +in, and it was many days before my grandfather deemed it prudent +to tell me that the Dolphin had been found, floating keel upwards, +four miles southeast of Mackerel Reef. + +Poor little Binny Wallace! How strange it seemed, when I went to +school again, to see that empty seat in the fifth row! How gloomy +the playground was, lacking the sunshine of his gentle, sensitive +face! One day a folded sheet slipped from my algebra: it was the +last note he ever wrote me. I could not read it for the tears. + +What a pang shot across my heart the afternoon it was whispered +through the town that a body had been washed ashore at Grave +Point--the place where we bathed! We bathed there no more! How well +I remember the funeral, and what a piteous sight it was afterwards +to see his familiar name on a small headstone in the Old South +Burying-Ground! + +Poor little Binny Wallace! Always the same to me. The rest of us +have grown up into hard, worldly men, fighting the fight of life; +but you are forever young, and gentle, and pure; a part of my own +childhood that time cannot wither; always a little boy, always poor +little Binny Wallace! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Aldrich + diff --git a/old/dlphn10.zip b/old/dlphn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c69ab5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dlphn10.zip |