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diff --git a/old/dlphn10.txt b/old/dlphn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d9d322 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/dlphn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,784 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Aldrich +#3 in our series by Thomas Bailey Aldrich + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 |