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diff --git a/21106.txt b/21106.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cd6203 --- /dev/null +++ b/21106.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10447 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Bob Strong's Holidays, by John Conroy Hutcheson + +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: Bob Strong's Holidays + Adrift in the Channel + +Author: John Conroy Hutcheson + +Illustrator: John B. Greene + +Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21106] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOB STRONG'S HOLIDAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + + +Bob Strong's Holiday; or, Adrift in the Channel + +by John Conroy Hutcheson +________________________________________________________________ +Bob Strong and his sister Nellie are the children of a busy +barrister, too busy to take them on holiday, and they are sent +by train down to Portsmouth to spend the summer holidays with +their aunt. The dog Rover travels in the guard's van, and in +the same compartment of the train there is an elderly gentleman +who turns out to be a retired sea-captain. + +The train is moving out of Guildford when a grubby boy's face +appears at the window. They let the boy in, and the Captain +decides to pay the fare for the boy, who is a runaway from a +dreadfully cruel stepfather. They all spend the holiday +together, doing various things with boats, fish, seaweed, and +visiting various interesting places, some of which they find to +be a con! They travel to the Isle of Wight, just a few miles +across the Solent, and even visit Seaview where I, the reviewer, +was brought up. Many of the interesting things they did were +what we as boys fifty years later also did. + +They get involved in a couple of disasters, including the wreck +of a brand-new excursion steamer. As in my day, the engines of +these ships were most interesting, being triple expansion +horizontal steam engines driving paddle-wheels, and, like Bob, I +used to spend the journeys to and from the Isle of Wight +hovering at the engine-room door, admiring these amazingly +beautiful artefacts. + +But the other disaster I will not tell you about save only to +say that Alderney and the Casquets Rock, over fifty miles from +the Isle of Wight, are mentioned, and these too are places with +which I am very familiar. + +You may wonder what happened to the runaway boy, Dick, and here +again a very suitable arrangement was made for him, for he was +accepted for training as a boy seaman. N.H. +_______________________________________________________________ + +BOB STRONG'S HOLIDAYS; OR, ADRIFT IN THE CHANNEL + +BY JOHN CONROY HUTCHESON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +DOWN THE LINE. + +"Bob!" + +The noise of the train, however, drowned Nellie's voice; besides which +Master Bob was further prevented from hearing this appeal to him by +reason of his head and shoulders being at that precise instant projected +out of the window of the railway-carriage, in utter defiance of the +Company's bye-laws to the contrary and of his sister's solicitous +entreaties to the same effect--poor Nellie, fearing, in her feminine +anxiety, that the door would fly open unexpectedly, from the pressure of +Bob's person, and precipitate her brother as suddenly out on the line. + +"Bob!" she therefore repeated on finding her first summons disregarded, +speaking in a louder key and giving a tug to his jacket the better to +attract his attention--"I say, Bob!" + +"Hullo! What's the row?" shouted back the delinquent, hearing her at +last, and wriggling himself in from the window like a snail withdrawing +itself into its shell, turning round the while his face, slightly +flushed with the exertion, to hers--"Anything wrong, eh?" + +Little Miss Nellie had not expected her timid and tentative +conversational advances to be taken up in this downright fashion. +Really she was only anxious for some one to sympathise with her and talk +about the various objects of interest which came across her notice as +they went along; so, Bob's abrupt address, coupled with his gruff tone +of voice, fell on her enthusiasm like a wet blanket! + +"Nothing's the matter," she replied timidly. "I only wanted to say how +nice it is travelling like this." + +"You don't mean to say you only called me in to tell me that?" said Bob, +almost angrily. "I do think girls are the greatest geese in the world!" + +With this dogmatic assertion, Master Bob shoved himself head and +shoulders out of the window again, utterly ignoring poor Nellie's +existence, much to her chagrin and dismay. + +He was very rude, it must be confessed; but, some allowance should be +made for him, all things considered. + +In the first place, he was a boy just fresh from the rougher +associations of school life; and, secondly, his inquiring mind was +intently occupied in endeavouring to solve a series of mathematical +problems that set all Euclid's laws at defiance, as the train whizzed on +its way with a `piff-paff! pant-pant!' of the great Juggernaut engine, +the carriages rattling and jolting as they were dragged along at the +tail of the mighty steam demon, swaying to and fro with a rhythmical +movement of the wheels, in measured cadence of spondees and dactyls, as +if singing to themselves the song of "the Iron Road." + +Strange to say, this was a song of which, Bob noticed, the involuntary +musicians never completed the second bar. + +They re-commenced all over again from the beginning, when they reached +some particularly crucial point, where the `click' or the `clack' of the +ever-echoing `click-clacking' chorus proved too much for their +overworked axles! + +Bob, though, was not thinking of this music of the rail, or paying any +attention to it, albeit it was distinct and plain to him; as, indeed, it +is to all with ears attuned in harmony with this mystery of motion, and +who choose to listen to it, just as there are `sermons in stones,' for +those who care to read them! + +No, all his energies were bent on finding out how it was that the +straight hedgerows and square fields became round, while curving +outlines grow straight in a moment, as if ruled with a measure, at the +instant of their speeding by them; and, it occurred to him, or probably +would have done so if he had given himself time for reflection, that the +question of squaring the circle, which has perplexed the philosophers of +all ages, was not so very difficult of solution after all--looking at +the matter out of the window of a railway-carriage, that is! + +Yes, so it really appeared; for, everything seemed `at sixes and +sevens,' the landscape having its middle distances and foreground +irretrievably mixed up and its perspective gone mad, the country through +which they passed resembling in this respect the land of topsy-turvey- +dom! + +Bob's surprise, and wonder and delight, at all he saw became presently +too great for him to remain silent any longer or to keep his thoughts to +himself; so, affably forgetting his previous `snub' to his sister when +_she_ had wished to express her feelings, he jerked in his head as +suddenly as he had popped it out the moment before. + +"I say, Nell, isn't it jolly?" he exclaimed in eager accents. "Just +look out with me and see how funny everything seems!" + +"Why, that was what I wanted to speak of a little while ago, only you +wouldn't listen to me," replied Nellie, more good-humouredly than Bob +would have answered under the circumstances. "It is nice, though, I +must say!" + +"`Nice' indeed!" replied he indignantly. "It is just like a girl to say +that. I call it `jolly,' nothing more nor less. There's no other word +to express what a fellow feels; and I do wonder, Nell, at your putting +it so tamely!" + +The girl laughed out merrily at this; and her smiling face, wreathed in +dimples, expressed as much animation as her brother could have wished. + +"Do forgive me, Bob," she cried. "You are quite right. It is `jolly,' +the fields flying by, the trees all jumping up when you least expect +them, the hills coming close, and--everything! I have noticed them all; +for, I've been looking out, too, Master Observer, and have eyes like +you, old chappie!" + +"Ah, but you haven't seen all that I have," said Bob, mollified by +Nellie's sympathetic accord. "Look at those little woolly lambs, there, +frisking about, with their sedate old mothers standing by, watching the +train with wondering eyes--" + +"Yes, I see, I see," said she, interrupting him. "What great big eyes +they have, to be sure! I declare, too, I can hear them `baa' above all +the noise of the railway!" + +Just at that moment, the engine gave a shriek of its steam-whistle, +which startled the sheep and lambkins, sending them scuttling over to +the other end of the field, in company with a number of skittish heifers +and young colts, which kicked up their heels in such a funny way that +Bob and Nellie both burst out laughing together in concert, in one burst +as it were. + +"Hullo, Nellie, look!" presently exclaimed Bob, who was the first to +recover himself. "All the horses have not run away. There is one old +fellow there, close to the line, who hasn't budged an inch." + +"Perhaps he's the veteran of the field?" said Miss Nellie, rather +poetically. "He's an old war-horse, maybe, who has heard too many +clanging trumpet-calls and guns fired to be upset by the mere noise of +an engine, which is only a bugbear to the ignorant." + +"Bosh!" cried Bob, who did not believe much in sentiment, `flummery' he +termed it. "Much more likely he's an old cart-horse, and is as well +accustomed to the row of the railroad as he is to the plough, and that's +the reason he took no notice of us as we dashed by. See, he's only a +little dot in the distance now." + +They were running along at such a rate that every object which in turn +presented itself, first ahead of the train, then alongside and then +behind, became speedily but `a dot in the distance,' to use Bob's words +over again; the snugly secluded seats of the county gentry, the +scattered villages and sparse red-roofed farmhouses, with their outposts +of hayricks and herds of cattle and other stock, that one moment +appeared and the next disappeared from view behind masses of foliage, +all dancing a wild Sir Roger de Coverley sort of country dance, `down +the valleys and over the hills,' until poor Nellie's eyes became quite +dazed in watching them. + +"Come over to the other window, Bob," she cried at length, turning round +and getting up from her seat, suiting the action to the words, or at +least trying to do so. "Let us cross over, Bob." + +But, here a difficulty arose. + +An old gentleman, who was the only other occupant of the carriage +besides themselves, had dropped asleep over the newspaper which he had +been reading, letting this slide down on his knees while he stretched +out his legs right across the compartment, thus preventing Nellie from +carrying out her intention. + +"I can't get by," she whispered to Bob, who had also turned round from +his window, and now giggled, grasping the situation. "I can't get by!" + +"What, what?" ejaculated the old gentleman, suddenly waking up and +clutching hold of his paper, as if afraid that some one was going to +take it from him. "What, what did you say?" + +Strangely enough, although Bob and his sister had been talking quite +loudly before, nothing that they had said had roused their fellow- +passenger until now, when, probably, Nellie's hushed voice led to this +very undesirable result--just in the same way as a miller is said to +sleep soundly amid all the clatter of the grinding wheels of his mill, +his repose being only disturbed when the motion of the machinery stops. +Poor Nellie hardly knew what to say now on the old gentleman, all at +once, sitting bolt upright and addressing her so unexpectedly. + +"I was only speaking to my brother," she managed to stammer out, after a +little hesitating pause; "I am sorry to have awakened you, sir." + +"Awakened me, eh?" snorted the old gentleman in a snappish tone. "Pooh, +pooh, nonsense, girl! I wasn't a bit asleep. Heard every word you +said. What was it you said, eh--what, what?" + +Bob and Nellie exchanged a smile at this; for, the old gentleman had not +merely nodded previously to their having determined to change windows, +but his gold-rimmed spectacles had almost tumbled from his nose, the +latter organ also having given audible vent to certain stentorian sounds +uncommonly like snoring! + +The old gentleman, however, did not appear conscious of all this +evidence against his fancied wakefulness; and he blinked out so queerly +from a pair of little black beady eyes, half-hidden under a fringe of +bushy white eyebrows, which made them look all the blacker from +contrast, as he glared over his spectacles at the brother and sister, +that Bob's giggle expanded into a fit of irrepressible merriment, +although he endeavoured vainly to conceal his want of manners by burying +his face in his pocket-handkerchief. + +Bob some time afterwards told Nellie in confidence that, just then, the +old gentleman so comically resembled `Blinkie,' a dissipated old tame +jackdaw they had at home, in the way he cocked his head on one side, +with his ruffled hair and all, that he couldn't have helped laughing, if +he had died for it! + +"Well?" said the old gentleman inquiringly, after a bit, tired +apparently of waiting for an answer to his original question as to what +Nellie had said as he woke up, gazing still fixedly at her, his beady +black eyes twinkling and his bushy eyebrows bristling up like the +whiskers of a cat when it is angry. "What did he say, eh?" + +"He--he was only speaking to me, sir," stammered poor Nellie, now +trembling with fright. "He was only speaking to me, that's all." + +"What, what?" jerked out her unappeased questioner. "Who is `he'?" + +"My brother--Bob, sir," said she, still trembling and nervous; "my +brother here, sir." + +"Bob what?" + +"Strong, sir," replied Nellie, a little less timidly, now that she saw +the old gentleman was not going to eat her up quite--"Robert Dugald +Strong, sir." + +"Humph!" he grunted out in reply to this. "He may be Strong by name and +he looks strong by nature; but, really, he seems unusually weak in +mind--he's a lunatic, I should think!" + +But, there was a quaint, good-humoured expression on his face that +somewhat belied his abrupt manner and harsh, peremptory voice, which +sounded like that of a bullying old barrister, cross-examining a +hesitating witness in court; so Nellie, therefore, gathered increased +confidence as she caught his glance, to proceed with her explanation +anent Master Bob. + +"You're mistaken, sir,--he isn't silly," she said. "He only wanted me +to cross over to the other side of the carriage; and I told him I +couldn't pass by you, sir. That was all, sir." + +"Oh, indeed! Then I'm sure I beg your pardon," said the old gentleman +very politely, drawing in his legs, so as to leave the road clear. "I +don't see, though, what the young rascal has got to laugh at in that +way, like a regular young yahoo." + +"Please, sir, pray excuse him," pleaded Nellie on behalf of Bob. "It is +only a way he has got. He cannot help laughing for the life of him when +the fit is on. He really does not mean to be rude, sir, I assure you." + +"Doesn't he?" repeated the old gentleman, smiling in a knowing fashion +as if he knew all about it. "Then, he's very unlike all the boys I have +come across in my time; and they've been a goodish few, missy! But, +there, get along with you both, and look out of the window to your +heart's content. Take care, though, that neither you nor that young +jackanapes don't manage to tumble out on the line, for I can't pick you +up from here!" + +Bob and Nellie took advantage at once of the permission granted them; +but, soon, becoming tired of the monotonous sameness of the ever- +whirling landscape, turned back within the railway-carriage, and, +sitting down like ordinary and regular travellers accustomed by this +time to all the sights and scenes of the road, the pair were presently +engaged in earnest and confidential conversation with the now extremely +affable, old gentleman. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, breaking the ice on seeing the pair at last quiet. +"So, your name is Strong, eh?" + +"Yes, sir," answered Bob, acting as spokesman. "Father is a barrister, +and he cannot get away from London yet for his holiday like us; and, of +course, sir, my mother couldn't leave him alone, you know--" + +"No, of course not," agreed the old gentleman, "of course not." + +"So, then," continued Bob, "they sent us on first; and we're going to +the seaside, where we've never been before! Isn't it jolly?" + +"Very jolly," responded the old gentleman smiling. "I wish I were as +young as you are to enjoy it all over again, in spite of my having seen +enough of the sea in my time." + +"Are you a sailor, sir?" asked Nellie, chiming in. "I mean a sailor +officer, sir, you know?" + +"Yes, an old one, put on the shelf after fighting the battles of my +country for many a long year!" said the old gentleman, with a deep sigh +that almost made the carriage shake. He then extracted a silver snuff- +box from his waistcoat-pocket; and taking a pinch, which seemed to +relieve his feelings, added, as if to change the subject, "But, my young +friends, you haven't told me where you are going." + +"Why, to Portsmouth, to be sure, sir," said Bob promptly. "I thought +you knew it; and--" + +"And we are to stop at aunt Polly's till papa and mamma come down," +again interposed Miss Nellie, who had lost all her timidity and wanted +to have her share in the talk. "Dear aunt Polly, how glad I shall be to +see her again!" + +"Oh, indeed! But, who is aunt Polly?" + +Really, he was a most inquisitive old gentleman! + +The children, however, did not seem to notice this; and went on to tell +how their aunt Polly was the dearest aunt they believed any one ever +had, and the nicest. + +They informed the old gentleman, likewise, that this loved aunt of +theirs came up to town every year regularly at Christmas-time to pay +them a visit; although they, on their part, had never been able to go +down to see her until now, something or other having always happened to +prevent their proceeding to the sea. + +"Well, better late than never," said their fellow-traveller, whom Bob +and Nellie began to look upon now quite as an old acquaintance--"I've no +doubt you'll enjoy yourselves. But, my dears, you haven't mentioned +your aunt's name--her surname, I mean. Perhaps I might know her, for +I'm an old resident of Portsmouth, or rather Southsea, which is just +outside the lines and where all the best people live now." + +"Mrs Gilmour, sir," replied Nellie. "That's aunt Polly's name." + +"What, Polly Gilmour, the widow of my old shipmate Ted Gilmour, who +commanded the _Bucephalus_ on the West Coast for two commissions and +died of fever in the Bight of Benin? Bless my soul, who'd have thought +it!" + +"Yes, sir, Uncle Gilmour was in the Navy," put in Bob as if to +corroborate the surmise of the old gentleman. "He was Captain Gilmour, +sir." + +His questioner, though, appeared for the moment lost in thought, his +mind evidently occupied with a flood of old memories connected with his +lost friend and their life afloat together. + +"Dear, dear, who'd have thought it!" he repeated, as if speaking to +himself. Then, presently, recovering his composure with an effort, +aided by another pinch of snuff, he said aloud--"And so, you two +children are poor Ted Gilmour's niece and nephew, eh?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Bob and Nellie in one breath, answering the +question. "You just ask auntie and see what she says, sir." + +"I'm very glad to hear it," said the old gentleman, hastily pulling +Nellie towards him and giving her a kiss, much to her astonishment, the +action was so sudden; while he next proceeded to shake Bob by the hand +until his arm ached. "I am very glad, very glad indeed to meet you; +and, if it be any satisfaction to know, I may tell you that I go round +to your aunt Polly's every evening to have a game of cribbage, summer +and winter alike, except those three weeks when she goes to London to +stop with your father, whose name, of course, I recollect now, although +I did not think of that when you told it me awhile ago--" + +"Then, you're Captain Dresser?" interrupted Bob at this point, anxious +to show that he had heard the old gentleman's name before and recognised +it. "I'm sure you're Captain Dresser, sir." + +"Yes, I'm Captain Dresser," replied that individual, smiling all over +his face, his queer little beady black eyes twinkling more than ever +with excitement, and his bushy eyebrows moving up and down. "Yes, I'm +Captain Dresser--Jack Dresser, as your uncle and all my old shipmates in +the service used to call me, much at _your_ service, ha, ha, ha!" + +Bob and Nellie could not help joining in with the old gentleman's laugh +at his little joke, the Captain's "Ha, ha, ha!" was so cheery and +catching. + +It was a regular jolly "Ha, ha, ha!" + +The trio, thereupon, got very confidential together, Bob telling how +they had got their dog Rover with them, only he was travelling in the +guard's van, being too big to be put in the box under the carriage, as +he would have been if he'd been a little dog instead of a fine big black +retriever, which he, Bob, was very glad to say he was, and "not a mere +lady's pet like a pug or a toy terrier," while Nellie, in her turn, +intimated her intention of making a collection of shells and seaweed +when she got to the shore, which, she said, she longed to reach so as to +`see the sea,' that being the dearest wish of her heart. + +The Captain, on his part, reciprocated these friendly advances in the +heartiest way, expressing the strongest desire to make the acquaintance +of Rover, as well as to take his fellow-travellers out in his yacht for +a sail whenever the weather was fine enough; that is, if they promised +to behave themselves properly, and always `did what they were told and +obeyed orders,' Captain Dresser saying, with an expressive wink that +made him look more jackdaw-like than ever, that he invariably insisted, +even in the presence of their "dear aunt Polly," on being "captain of +his own ship." + +They were in the midst of all these mutual confidences, the Captain +chattering away like an old hen clucking round a pair of new-found +chicks, and Bob and Nellie full of glee and exuberant anticipations of +all the coming fun they were going to have afloat and ashore; when, +suddenly, the light of the further window of the railway-carriage, +opposite that near to which the trio were grouped in close confab, was +obscured by a dark body pressing against it from without, as if some one +was trying to gain admittance. + +"Hallo!" cried the Captain. "What's that--who's there?" + +But, before the old gentleman could rise from his seat, or + +Bob and Nellie do anything save gape with astonishment, the window-sash +was violently forced down; and, without a `by your leave' or any word of +warning, a strange uncouth figure, so it seemed to their startled gaze, +came squeezing through the opening and fell on the floor of the carriage +at their feet in a clumsy sprawl. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +A RUNAWAY. + +Nellie half sprang from her seat at this unexpected addition to their +little party, uttering a scream of terror the while, as genuine as it +was shrill and ear-piercing. + +She was a slight, delicate-looking girl of twelve, with a shower of +curls of the colour of light gold that rippled over her forehead and +shoulders and down her back, reaching well-nigh to her waist; and it +seemed almost impossible that such a fairy-like little creature could +have uttered such a volume of sound. + +However, she did it; and then, satisfied apparently with having exerted +herself so far for the protection of all, Miss Nellie crouched down in +the corner of the carriage behind Bob, who, two years her elder and a +stoutly-built boy for his age, with short-cropped hair of a tawnier +tinge, stood up sturdily in front of his trembling little sister to +defend her, if need be, as manfully as he could. + +But, the gallant old Captain was first in the field, jumping forward +with an agility of which neither Bob nor Nellie thought him capable; +and, in an instant, he had clutched hold of the intruder. + +"Who the dickens are you?" he cried, shaking him as a terrier would a +rat. "What the dickens do you want here, confound you!" + +"Please don't, ma-aster," gasped out a half-suffocated voice. "I be +a'most shook to pieces!" + +"Humph! `when taken to be well shaken,' that's what doctors advise, eh?" +said the Captain, somewhat sternly, although with a sly chuckle at his +witty illustration of the phrase, as, with a strong muscular effort, he +raised up the struggling figure he had clutched hold of and proceeded to +inspect his capture--a lanky woebegone lad, whose rugged garments and +general appearance was by no means improved by the rough handling he had +received in the grip of the old sailor, who, as he now put him on his +feet and released him, repeated his original imperative inquiry, "Who +the dickens are you and what do you want here?" + +"Please, sir, I ain't a-doing nothink," snivelled the lad, screwing his +knuckles into his eyes, as if preparing to cry, each word being +sandwiched between a sob and a sniff. "I--ain't--a-doing--nothink!" + +"Doing nothing?" echoed the Captain indignantly, overcome apparently by +the enormity of the culprit's offence. "Why, you young scoundrel, here +you have been and gone and committed a burglary, breaking into a +railway-carriage like this, besides nearly frightening the occupants to +death; and, you call that nothing! Do you know, if I were on the Bench, +I could sentence you to penal servitude?" + +"Oh, pray don't, Captain Dresser, please!" cried out Bob and Nellie +together, impressed with the terrible powers of the law as thus +presented to their view and the extent of the Captain's authority. "He +really did not mean any harm, poor fellow, I am sure he didn't!" + +"Then what did he do it for?" asked the old gentleman snappishly, though +both could see, from the merry twinkle in his eyes, that he was not in +such a bad temper as he pretended to be. "What did he do it for? +That's what I'd like to know!" + +But, even the stranger lad, who had so unceremoniously intruded into the +carriage, seemed to become aware as he confronted him that the Captain's +`bark was worse than his bite'; for, dropping his snivel and looking his +questioner manfully in the face, he at once went on to tell who he was +and explain the reasons for his unexpected appearance on the scene--his +earnest accents and honest outspokenness testifying to the truth of his +statement in the opinion, not only of Bob and Nellie, but of the whilom +grumpy old Captain as well. + +The lad said that his name was Dick Allsop and that he belonged to +Guildford, the last station the train had passed, and the only one at +which it had stopped since leaving Waterloo. His father had died some +years before, but his mother had lately got married again to a regular +brute of a man, who behaved very badly to her and treated Dick, he +averred, so cruelly, that he could not stand it any longer. That very +morning, Dick stated; he had beaten him so unmercifully that he had +suddenly determined to run away to sea; and this was the reason why he +wanted to get to Portsmouth. + +"But, you might have entered the carriage like a Christian!" interposed +the Captain at this point of the lad's story. "The train stopped long +enough at Guildford for you to get in through the doorway, like any +ordinary passenger, surely?" + +"No, sir, I couldn't," answered the other. "I couldn't a-done it." + +"But why not?" + +"Because, sir," snivelled the lad, "I didn't have no money, sir." + +"Humph! you had no money, eh?" + +"No, sir; nothing but thrippence-a'penny, which mother gave me afore I +started, when she wished me good-bye. She was sorry as how she could +give me nothing more; and so I couldn't pay the fare, and had no +ticket." + +"So, my joker, you got on the train without one at all!" said the +Captain, interrupting him. "Do you know that was really cheating the +railway company?" + +"I knows it, sir," replied Dick Allsop, who had better now be called by +his own proper name, looking down as if ashamed of what he had done. "I +knows it's wrong; but, sir, I couldn't help it, as there was no other +way I seed of getting to Porchmouth." + +"But, why didn't you jump into the carriage like a Christian, as I said +just now?" observed the Captain. "Eh?" + +Dick seemed amused by this question. + +"Does yer think, sir, the porters would ha' let me if they'd seed me a- +trying it on?" said he, with a radiant grin that lit up his face, quite +changing its expression. "Not if they, knowed it!" + +"Perhaps not," agreed the Captain, nonplussed by the lad's logic and +knowledge of human nature. "No, I don't think they would." + +"No, sir; that they wouldn't," exclaimed the runaway triumphantly, as if +he knew all about that matter at any rate. "So, sir, I waits down by +the side o' the line, where I lays hid, sir, without nobody a-seeing me; +and then, jist as the train was started and quite clear o' the station, +a-going into the tunnel as ain't fur off, as yer know, sir--?" + +"Yes, I know the line, my lad," said Captain Dresser. "I ought to!" + +"Well, sir, there I climbs on by the buffers and coupling-chain of the +guard's van to the step of the end carriage, and works myself along till +I reaches this; when, drawing myself up and looking in through the +windy, I thought I would get in here, not seeing nobody but young ma- +aster and little missis in the corner--" + +"You didn't see me, eh?" questioned the Captain, with one of his +quizzical chuckles. "You didn't see me, I'll wager." + +"No, sir, or I wouldn't have tried it on," confessed Dick, with the most +open candour. "I would a-been afeard like." + +"Lucky for you that you did, though," said Captain Dresser, his little +black beady eyes blinking away furiously. "If you had got in anywhere +and not come across such a good-natured old donkey as myself, you would +have had the signal-bell rung to summon the guard, who would have +stopped the train and given you in custody at the next station for +travelling without a ticket! But what are you going to do now, eh?" + +"Please, sir, I dunno," replied Dick, looking puzzled. + +"Humph, that's a pretty state of things for an independent young +gentleman running away to sea!" said the Captain in a quizzing tone. +"Do you know you're not half out of the scrape yet? You have got into +the train all right; but, how are you going to get out of it, eh--tell +me that, my lad?" + +"I dunno, sir," again answered Dick laconically, still seeming unmoved +by the critical nature of his position--"I dunno, sir." + +"Drat the boy!" exclaimed the Captain impatiently, stamping his foot. +"There you are again with your `dunno!' Why, when we arrive at +Portsmouth, the collector will be asking for your ticket; what will you +say then, eh?" + +"I thought, sir, of jumping out afore the train got there, sir," said +Dick, scratching his head reflectively. "Aye, I did." + +"Broke your neck, probably!" growled the old Captain. "The best thing +that could have happened to you, my lad." + +Bob and Nellie meanwhile had been whispering together and comparing +notes apparently as to the state of their respective funds; for, Nellie +had extracted a little leather purse from some hidden receptacle in her +dress, while Bob was feeling in his pockets. Before either could speak, +however, Captain Dresser anticipated their evident intention. + +"Suppose now I paid your fare for you?" he went on, addressing Dick. +"What would you say to that, eh?" + +"Lor', sir, I'd be orful grateful, that I'd be, sir--I would indeed, +sir," eagerly replied the lad in an outburst of thankfulness; "and if, +sir, I could work it out in any way so as to repay the money, I'd be +that glad yer wouldn't know me." + +"Humph!" grunted the Captain again. "We'll see about that." + +Bob and Nellie, both of whom had been listening with intense interest to +Dick's cross-examination, were quite carried away with enthusiasm at +this happy termination of the animated discussion that had gone on. + +"Oh, you dear Captain," cried Nellie, hugging the old sailor +rapturously. "You've just done what Bob and I wished." + +"Have I?" said he smiling. "I don't see it, I'm sure." + +"Yes, you have, you have," she replied impulsively. "Bob and I were +just going to offer the same thing when you took the words out of our +mouth." + +"And the money out of my pocket, eh?" slyly added the Captain with a +chuckle--"eh, missy?" + +"But we'd like to pay too," said Bob. "Let us go shares, sir." + +"Not a bit of it," retorted the other, blinking away as he always +appeared to do when excited. "That was only my joke. I will pay his +fare for him when we get to Portsmouth; for, I like the pluck of the lad +in climbing on to the train like that, and not being daunted by +obstacles in carrying out a planned purpose. Can't say much for his +looks though. He seems to me half-starved." + +The latter observation was uttered in an undertone, the Captain having +too much delicacy to comment on Dick's appearance in his hearing. Miss +Nellie, however, acted instantly on the suggestion, which gave it a +practical turn. + +"Are you hungry, poor boy," she asked Dick--"very hungry?" + +"No, miss," he answered humbly; "not pertick'ler, I be." + +"But you could eat a sandwich, perhaps?" said she, opening a parcel +which their mother had put up for the refreshment of Bob and herself +during their journey. "Don't you think you could?" + +Dick's eyes glistened. + +"I'll try, miss," said he, trying to speak calmly; although they could +see that he was really almost ravenous at the sight of the food. "I +thinks as how I could eat a mou'ful." + +"Give him the lot, poor chap," cried the old Captain; but Nellie did not +need this admonition, being in the very act of handing over the parcel +of sandwiches to Dick even while the old sailor spoke. "There's no good +in his making two bites of a cherry, as the saying goes." + +"Eat these, my poor boy," cried Nellie. "Bob and I had buns at Waterloo +before the train started, and we shan't want anything till we get to +auntie's house." + +"Fire away, old chap!" chimed in Bob, noticing that the lad hesitated a +moment in accepting the proffered gift. "You needn't be afraid. Nellie +and I are not hungry like you." + +Bob's friendly tone, coupled with the sight of the tempting viands, at +once removed any of Dick's lingering scruples; and, in another minute, +he was gobbling up the sandwiches like a famished wolf--his fellow- +travellers looking on with the utmost complacency and satisfaction at +the rapidity with which he got rid of them, bolting the little squares +of bread and meat one by one. + +All this time, the engine was puffing and snorting away as if it had a +bad attack of asthma, giving a fierce pull every now and then to the +dragging carriages behind it; while, when the stalwart iron horse +occasionally loitered in his paces or slackened speed in going round a +sharp curve on the line, the coupling-chains would rattle as they lost +their tension and the buffers of the carriages behind, going faster for +the moment than the engine, would come together with a bang that +vibrated through the marrow-bones of all! + +The scenery altered, too, every instant along the route; the wooded +heights around Guildford and Godalming and Haslemere, which the poet +Tennyson loved and where he lived and died, being succeeded by a stretch +of level landscape, and this again by the steep bare hills encircling +sleepy Petersfield. + +Presently, a range of downs came in sight, curving away in horse-shoe +fashion from right to left, on which were a series of red-brick, +detached structures, placed along the topmost ridge at equal intervals +apparently, until they were lost in the distance. + +As they approached these nearer, Miss Nellie's sharp eyes noticed that +on the landward side these brick piles were covered with a slant of +smoothly-shaven green turf that contrasted conspicuously with the chalky +surface of the sloping ridge. + +"What funny things those are!" said she, pointing these out to Bob. +"Are they houses, or tombs, or what?" + +"Where, what do you mean?" asked the Captain, turning round from his +contemplation of Dick, who, having finished the packet of sandwiches, +was now carefully searching the piece of newspaper in which they had +been wrapped up on the chance of there being a few stray crumbs left. +"Why, hullo, here we are close to our destination! Those `funny +things,' as you style them, missy, are the Portsdown forts--you are not +far out though, in your estimate of their appearance, for they're called +`Palmerston's Follies' by the political wags here." + +"Are we near Portsmouth then?" said Nellie, peering out anxiously. "I +don't see anything!" + +"Oh yes, missy, quite near," replied the Captain, also looking out of +the window. "There's Havant just in front. Don't you smell the sea?" + +"Yes, Captain, yes, I do! Yes, I do!" cried Bob and Nellie together, +clapping their hands. "Isn't it nice! Isn't it jolly!"--Bob, it may be +taken for granted, using the latter term of approbation; Nellie adding +on her own private account another, "Ah, how nice!" + +"Well, that's a matter of opinion," said Captain Dresser dryly, his +experiences of the fickle element not having, perhaps, always been +pleasant ones; but, before he could explain this, the train, with a +piercing shriek of warning from the steam-whistle of the engine, glided +into the station. + +"Hav-'nt! Hav-'nt!" shouted the porters with lungs of brass and voices +of leather or gutta-percha. "Hav-'nt! Hav-'nt!" + +"That's just what this boy will say when the guard asks him presently +for his ticket, or the money for his fare," said the Captain, with his +comical chuckle and merry twinkle of his bird-like eyes, pointing to +Dick as the ticket-collector banged open the door of the carriage as if +trying to wrench it off its hinges and held out his hand. "He haven't +got his ticket. Hav-n't, you see, my dears! Ha--ha--ha!" + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +ROVER DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF. + +The ticket-collector appeared puzzled for the moment, especially on +noticing a poor, ragged fellow like Dick travelling in a first-class +compartment "in company with gentlefolks," as he thought to himself; +but, at the instant this reflection passed through his mind, he +recognised the Captain as an old and regular passenger on the line, +besides being one from whom he had received many a `tip,' so he at once +touched his cap, responding with a grin of sympathy to the Captain's +cheery laugh, as if he thoroughly entered into the joke. + +"Oh, haven't he, sir?" said he, the ungrammatical phrase dropping more +naturally from his rustic tongue; "then he'll have to get 'un sharp, or +pay the fare, sir." + +"Never mind about that, my man, I'll pay for his ticket, for he's +travelling with me," replied the old sailor as he fumbled in his +pockets, shoving his hand first in one and then in the other; producing, +at last, a number of gold and silver coins, mixed up with coppers, a +bunch of keys, a clasp-knife, and his snuff-box, which somehow or other +he had put back in the wrong place. "How much is it?" + +"Where from, sir?" inquired the man, reaching out his hand for Bob and +Nellie's tickets. "Far up the line, sir?" + +"No, only from Guildford," replied the Captain. "That's only half-way +from London; but there's half-a-sovereign, and you may keep the change +for yourself." + +"Thank you, sir," said the collector, touching his cap again and taking +the coin. He still lingered, however, as if wanting something more but +hesitated to ask for it. + +"Well?" ejaculated the Captain impatiently. "What is it, my man?" + +"Your ticket, sir," said the man deferentially. "You forgot to give it +me, sir." + +"Zounds!" cried the other, blinking away furiously and moving his +eyebrows up and down as he searched vainly in all his pockets, finally +discovering that he held the missing ticket in his fist all the while! +"I declare I forgot all about it. You see I was ready for you, though, +eh?" + +"All right, sir, good-day," said the man, receiving the ticket and +shutting the carriage-door gently, with a bow and a smile and another +touch of his cap; and, the next moment, with another sharp unearthly +shriek of the steam-whistle similar to that which had heralded its +entrance into Havant station, the train, giving a joggle and a jerk as +it got under way, was speeding along again, across the rattling bridges +that spanned the moats of the fortifications and through the Portsea +lines, to the terminus beyond at Landport. + +"Here we are, children," exclaimed the Captain, on its pulling up at the +journey's end. "Here we are at last!" + +"And is this Portsmouth?" inquired Nellie. But, she need not have asked +the question; for, as she looked down the platform she cried out +excitedly in the same breath--"Why, there's aunt Polly! There's aunt +Polly!" + +"Let me look, let me look," said Bob, trying to squeeze in between +Nellie and the Captain, who was fumbling at the handle of the door, +endeavouring to open it. "I can't see her, Nell! Where is she?" + +"Hold on, can't you!" grumbled the old sailor, angry with the door for +not yielding at once to his efforts. "If you wait a moment you'll be +able to see your `aunt Polly' and everybody else to your heart's +content; that is, as soon as we can get out on to the platform. Bother +take the door, how it sticks!" With this exclamation, muttered in a +hoarse, stifled voice, by reason of his half-stooping position, the +Captain put his knee against the obnoxious door; and this, giving way to +his shove, unexpectedly, nearly precipitated him into the arms of Mrs +Gilmour, the aunt of our hero and heroine, who had recognised little +Nellie's face at the window and advanced to the side of the carriage, +without his perceiving her approach. + +"Dear me, Captain Dresser!" she cried with a laugh, just catching him +from falling on his face. "I've no doubt you are very glad to say me +again, but you needn't be quite so demonstrative in public." + +The Captain rose up, looking very red and confused. "I'm sure I beg +your pardon, ma'am," said he, bowing and laughing, too, as he recovered +himself; "but those porters slam and jam the doors so, that they never +will open properly when you want to get out quickly!" + +His further excuses, however, were cut short by Nellie springing out of +the carriage before he could utter another word. + +"Oh, aunt Polly!" she exclaimed, hugging the smiling lady, who was a +plump merry-looking little body, with dark wavy hair and large, +lustrous, almond-shaped eyes, which, strange to say, were of an intense +violet blue, presenting a curious contrast. "You dear auntie Polly! +How glad I am to see you again!" + +"So am I, me dearie, to say you," replied the other, with the slightest +wee bit of a brogue, aunt Polly having been born in the North of +Ireland, where blue eyes with black hair and brogues are common; "an' +Bob, too, the darlint! How are you, me boy!" + +"All right, auntie, right as a jiffy," said he brightly, greeting her +with like effusion to his sister. "Really, I don't know when I was so +glad as I am to come down here to the sea and see you. Hullo, though, +I'm forgetting about Rover!" + +With these words, Master Bob darted down the platform to the guard's van +at the end of the train, with Miss Nellie cantering after him; both +leaving their newly-met aunt as unceremoniously as the Captain had +tumbled against her on emerging from the carriage the moment before! + +However, Mrs Gilmour did not appear to mind this, only exchanging a +smile with the old sailor, who of course remained beside her; while +Dick, as if anxious to make some return for the kindness shown him, had +started taking the children's traps out of the train without waiting for +any one's orders. + +As for the Captain, he had no luggage beyond the queer-looking malacca +walking-stick called a `Penang lawyer' which he held in his hand, never +troubling himself with `stray dunnage,' as he said, when travelling by +railway. + +Bob and Nellie were presently seen in the distance, in close colloquy +with the guard, who, after a bit, lugged out from his van, with much +deliberation of movement and `gingerliness' of manner, a huge black +retriever, who apparently did not wish just then to issue forth from his +retreat. + +No sooner, however, had the imprisoned animal once more touched the firm +ground of the platform with his four paws, than, carried away with +delight at being able to stand again on something that wasn't moving, he +suddenly wrenched himself free from the guard and began plunging about +in a mad gambol around. + +"Come here, Rover!" cried Bob. "Come here, Rover!" echoed Nellie, alike +in vain; for, although Rover approached and jumped up on each in turn in +expression of his pleasure at seeing them, he would dart away the next +instant out of reach, evidently afraid lest the chain should be taken +hold of, and he be boxed up again in purgatory. He would not attend to +any, "Come here, sir!" + +"He's too artful to be caught, sir," said the guard, laughing at the +dog's antics. "He's too knowing by half." + +"Oh, he'll come along fast enough after me," answered Bob with some +reserve of manner, thinking it rather beneath his dignity, as well as +unjust to Rover, to bandy words about the latter's disobedience of +orders; and so, he walked on up the platform, whistling as he went and +followed by Nellie, towards where aunt Polly and the Captain were +chatting, the old sailor explaining to Mrs Gilmour how Dick's +acquaintance had been made, she having been much impressed by his civil +and attentive demeanour, if not by his appearance. + +"Come on!" shouted Bob between his whistles, as he got nearer; Nellie, +close behind him, likewise whistling and repeating his cry, "Come on, +Rover!" + +Rover came on; but, not altogether in the way his young master and +mistress wished. + +Galloping now in front, now in rear of the two, and then prancing +towards them sideways, but always out of reach, he whirled his heavy +chain about like a lasso, to the danger of everybody around; many of the +passengers being still on the platform looking after their belongings or +waiting for cabs, most of the vehicles that had been drawn up on the +cab-rank having already driven off loaded. + +"Do catch hold of him, Bob!" cried poor Nellie in accents of alarm. +"He'll trip up somebody." + +Rover seemed to hear and understand what she said; and, as if anxious to +oblige her, at once twirled his clattering chain round the legs of a fat +old lady, who, with her arms full of a number of parcels, was waiting +for one of the porters to extract yet more from the carriage in which +she had come down. + +"Look out, ma'am!" said the Captain, seeing what was coming. "Keep +clear of the dog, ma'am, or he'll foul your hawse!" + +But, he was too late for the warning to be of any use; for, at the same +instant, the old lady was whirled violently round and round like a +teetotum and fell to the ground, uttering the while a series of wild +shrieks, coupled with the smothered exclamation--"My good gracious!" + +"I thought so!" ejaculated the old sailor as he hastened up to her +rescue, and, with the aid of the porter, succeeded in placing her on her +feet again; while Nellie and Bob set to work collecting her parcels +which were scattered in every direction. "I hope you are not hurt, +madam," Captain Dresser added when the lady was, as he expressed it, +`all a-taunto' once more. "I hope you are not hurt!" + +However, she did not pay any attention to the polite inquiry, displaying +more solicitude for her portable property than her person. + +"Who's to pay for my eggs, I'd like to know?" was all she said. "I +s'pose they be all bruck to pieces!" + +She evidently alluded to the largest of her parcels, which still lay +close to her on the platform, neither Bob nor Nellie having yet reached +this to pick it up; for, a thick yellow fluid was oozing out from the +wrappings, plainly betokening the nature of its fragile contents and +their fate. + +"Oh, never mind your eggs, ma'am," cried the Captain impatiently. +"We'll reimburse you for their loss, as the dog has caused the mischief. +I was thinking of your bones!" + +"Drat my bones and the dog, too!" said the old lady with equal heat. +"One doesn't get noo laid eggs every day, I'd 'ave yer to know, sir, and +I was a-taking these a puppose for my darter, which I brought all the +way now from Gi'ford only to 'ave 'em bruck at last!" + +"Never mind, never mind," replied the Captain soothingly; and on Mrs +Gilmour at the same time telling her that she kept fowls and would send +her some more fresh eggs the very next morning, to replace those broken, +if she would give her address, the old lady was finally pacified. + +She went off presently, with all her remaining parcels, in a cab, which +the Captain insisted on paying for; the good dame beaming with +satisfaction and looking as if she thought she had made rather a good +thing than not by the mishap! + +Meanwhile, Bob and Nellie had to interrupt their task of parcel- +collecting to go after the truant Rover, who, not satisfied with the +damage he had already done, was in active pursuit of the traffic +manager's favourite cat, right through the station. + +The roving delinquent ultimately `treed' his prey in one of the waiting- +rooms, where poor pussy sought refuge on the mantelpiece, knocking down +a glass water-bottle and tumbler in jumping thither out of the reach of +the frantic Rover, who scared half to death the occupants of the room as +he dashed in, all in full cry! + +Then a most delightful concerted duet ensued. + +"Mia-ow, phoo, phit, phiz!" screamed pussy with all the varied +expression of which the cat language is capable, running up the gamut +into the treble and dying off in a wailing demi-semi-quaver. "Mia-o-w!" + +"Bow, wow, wuff!" chanted Rover, singing his portion of the refrain in +deep bass notes that produced a hollow echo through the waiting-room, +making the noise seem to proceed from twenty dogs instead of one. +"Wough!" + +Nor was Rover long content merely to take part in a musical performance +only. + +Bent on more active hostilities, he jumped up at the angry cat in her +retreat on the mantelpiece--standing up on his hind legs for the +purpose; and then, being only able to sniff near enough for puss to slap +his face energetically with her paws right and left with a sharp `smick +smack,' Rover uttering an agonised howl that came in at the end of the +chorus and must have been heard all over the station. + +A catastrophe was avoided, just in time, by Bob and Nellie appearing on +the scene of action; when, catching hold of the end of Rover's chain, +they bore him away captive again to where their aunt and the Captain +were waiting and wondering at their long delay. + +Nemesis followed behind the trio in the shape of one of the railway +police. + +He came in the ostensible interests of the hunted cat and damaged +property belonging to the waiting-room; but the elders of the party +regarded him to be more intent on obtaining `hush-money,' wherewith to +blot out Rover's misdeeds and line his own pockets at the same time. + +"Here's a pretty to-do, children," cried the Captain, taking this view +of the matter and slipping a shilling into the man's hand to avoid any +unnecessary explanations. "That dog of yours is like a wild elephant in +an Indian jungle!" + +"He's a fine dorg," observed the railway policeman parenthetically, +pacified by the coin he had received and willing on the strength of it +to forget alike the onslaught on pussy and the broken glass. "Finest +dorg I ever seed for a retriever, sir." + +"Ah, handsome is as handsome does!" replied the Captain sententiously. +"Dogs, like children, ought to be taught to behave themselves." + +Nellie, however, did not like this sort of slur on Rover's character. + +"Oh! Captain Dresser," she exclaimed. "It was only his playfulness on +getting out of confinement." + +"Humph!" ejaculated the old sailor--"playfulness, eh? A playful dog +like that once bit me playfully in the calf of the leg, stopping all my +play for a fortnight!" + +"Oh, Rover wouldn't do that," said Bob--"No, not he!" + +"Wouldn't he? I'd be sorry to give him the chance," answered the other +with a laugh, as he assisted Mrs Gilmour into an open fly, into which +the children's luggage had been already put by the attentive Dick. +"There'd be precious little of me left, I'm afraid, if he once tackled +me!" + +Nellie and Bob then got into the fly, the Captain following them on +their aunt's pressing invitation to escort them all down to her house on +the south parade; while Dick, after having, with the help of the cabman, +lifted Rover, who behaved like a lamb during the operation, on to the +box-seat, where he was wedged in securely between the trunks and the +driver's legs, climbed up himself and away they all started--`packed as +tightly as herrings in a barrel,' to use the Captain's expression. + +In the evening, after dinner, the whole party went down to the shore, +where Bob and Nellie made their first acquaintance with the sea; a +distant view of which they had a glimpse of previously from the balcony +of their aunt's house on the parade. + +Both were in ecstasies of delight as they gazed out on the undulating +expanse of blue water, with the tiny little wavelets rippling up to +their feet caressingly, as if inviting them to wade in over the +glittering pebbles of the beach that glistened like jewels where wetted +by the tide. + +"Jolly, isn't it?" cried Bob enthusiastically. "Don't it make a noise +though!" + +"Not a noise," said Nellie, shocked at his unromantic description. "The +waves seem to say `Hush!' and speak to me, as softly as if they wanted +to send me to sleep!" + +"Bravo, young lady!" put in the Captain, overhearing her remark. +"`Rocked in the cradle of the deep,' as the old song runs, eh? Though +I've almost forgotten all my Greek knocking about the world, or rather +had it knocked out of me in a midshipmen's mess, if I recollect aright, +old Homer describes the noise of the waves nearly in your own words, my +dear. His term for it is _polyploisboio thalasses_--the `murmuring of +the many-voiced sea!' Grand, isn't it; grand, eh? But, let us walk +round the castle, and then you will see and hear it better." + +They accompanied him, accordingly, around the sloping rampart; Mrs +Gilmour walking by the side of the old sailor, while Bob and Nellie +lingered behind with Dick. + +On their way round the castle, Master Bob occasionally pitched in a +piece of stick for Rover to fetch out of the sea, which the energetic +dog did with the utmost gusto; barking with glee as he dashed into the +water and coming out sedately with his coat all dripping, to deposit the +stick at his master's feet, with a shake that sent a shower of drops +like rain all over them, making them laugh in glee as great as his. + +The stragglers presently came up with the seniors of the party who had +seated themselves on a little ledge of the wall on the highest point of +the glacis at the back of the old fortification, from whence away to the +west the sun could be seen setting in a glory of crimson and gold behind +the dockyard, with the masts of the ships standing out in red relief, as +if on fire. + +In front were the purple hills of the Isle of Wight, with the white- +terraced Ryde lying in between, its houses lit up likewise by the rays +of the sunset, and their windows all aflame; and, under their feet, +stretching away to where it met the hills opposite and to the harbour's +mouth and Haslar breakwater on the right, with the now twinkling Nab +light on the extreme left, was the dancing, murmuring, restless sea, its +hue varying every instant, from the rich crimson and gold it reflected +from the western horizon to the darker shades of evening that came +creeping up steadily from the eastward, blotting out by degrees its +previous bright tones. + +Two or three merchant ships were anchored at Spithead; but there was not +a single sail moving in sight. + +All was still; and, as if in harmony with the scene, the Captain and +Mrs Gilmour sat in silent contemplation of the sight before them, +neither uttering a word. + +The children, however, were not quiet long. + +"Hi, Rover, fetch it, good dog!" cried out Bob presently, pitching the +stick into the water that laved the base of the sloping rampart. "Fetch +it out, sir; fetch it." + +Rover raced, slipping and sliding, down the slope, plunging in with an +impetus that sent him souse in head and ears under the surface; but, he +soon re-appeared to view and, swimming out to where the stick floated, +gripped it valiantly and made his way back to the shore, holding it in +his mouth crosswise. + +Now, however, poor Rover experienced more trouble in climbing out than +he had probably anticipated; for, it being deep water at the foot of the +ramparts and the stones being slippery, as the animal got his fore-paws +on the stonework and tried to raise his hind legs, back he would slip +again into the sea. + +"Poor fellow!" said Bob. "Why, he can't get up. I will go and help +him." + +So saying, he began to clamber down the slope. + +"Stop, boy, stop!" cried the Captain excitedly. "You will fall in!" + +"Come back, Bob, come back!" screamed Nellie and her aunt together. +"Come back!" + +But, hardly able to keep his footing, it was out of Bob's power either +to arrest his rapid descent of the downward slope or to retrace his +steps. + +The very cries of warning, indeed, of those above brought about the +result they sought to prevent; for, looking up and waving his hand to +reassure them, Bob all at once lost his footing, rolling over and +plunging into the water right on top of Rover, his yell of dismay being +echoed by a howl of pain from the dog. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +DICK TO THE RESCUE. + +"Gracious heavens! The boy will be drowned!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, +wringing her hands frantically and rushing forward at once; while +Nellie, equally excited, burst into tears, clinging to her aunt's side. +"Oh, what shall I say to his mother? He's lost; he's lost!" + +"No, he isn't--not a bit of it; no more drowned than I am," cried the +Captain, laying his hand on Mrs Gilmour's arm, and putting both her and +Nellie back, to prevent any rash impulse on their part. "You just keep +as cool as the young rascal must be now! I'll fish him out in another +minute, if you'll leave me alone; and, he'll be none the worse, barring +a wetting." + +With these words, the spry old gentleman, who was more active than many +a younger man, began making his way cautiously down the treacherous +slope of the rampart, aided by his trusty malacca cane, poking his stick +between the niches of the stonework to act as a stay, and so prevent his +slipping on too fast. + +But, quick as he was in his movements, hardly had he made a dozen +sliding steps down the decline, the action of the whole scene being +almost instantaneous, when he felt, rather than saw, some one else glide +swiftly past him still more expeditiously; and then, there was another +heavy plunge in the water below, where Bob and Rover were struggling for +dear life. + +"Bless my soul!" ejaculated the Captain, halting abruptly with the +assistance of his sheet anchor, the malacca cane, as he half turned +round. "The woman's never such a fool!" + +He thought it was Mrs Gilmour. + +But, he was mistaken. + +Dick had anticipated them both. + +Bob's unlucky slip and cry of alarm as he fell into the sea, his aunt's +exclamation of terror, the Captain's movement to the rescue, and the +grateful Dick's perilous jump, for it was almost a leap from the top of +the castle wall, were all, as has been already pointed out, the work of +a moment; the chain of incidents taking much longer to describe than to +happen. + +So, there, before you could cry `Jack Robinson,' as the Captain +afterwards said, two boys, instead of one, were struggling with the dog +in the water; and of all these three, to heighten the excitement of the +scene, Rover alone was able to swim! + +Bob, of course, had plunged in unwittingly, while Dick's only thought +was to help one from whom he had received such unexpected kindness; the +lad not having reflected for an instant on the danger of the task he was +undertaking. + +Now, therefore, although on reaching the water the grateful boy +succeeded in carrying out his object of catching hold of Bob, both +immediately sank under the surface. + +They came up the next moment locked together, spluttering and +splattering for breath and holding up their hands for aid, an action +which naturally sent them down again; the tide meanwhile sweeping them +away from the shore. + +Rover was master of the situation--that is, he and the Captain, who by +this time had scrambled down to the last ledge of the rampart, and took +in the position of affairs at a glance. + +"Hi, Rover, good dog, fetch them out!" cried the old sailor, at the same +moment throwing off his coat and preparing to go into the sea, too, if +need be. "Fetch 'em out!" + +But, there was no necessity for this appeal to Rover, who did not +require any orders or directions as to his duty. + +The dog, like the Captain, was quite aware of the perilous position of +his young master, and had already determined in his own mind what was +best to be done under such circumstances. + +Master Bob having come down flop on top of him as he was trying to +clamber out, had in the first instance somewhat obscured his faculties; +and the subsequent appearance of Dick on the scene, as he was just +recovering from this douche, did not tend to make matters clearer to the +retriever, whose eyes and ears were full of water, besides being +moreover tired out by his previous exertions. + +Any hesitation poor Rover might have felt, though, barely lasted an +instant; for, the sight of two figures battling for life in the sea +there under his very nose, and the knowledge that one of these was his +young master, brought in an instant all his sagacious instincts into +play. + +He did not need the Captain or anybody else to tell him what to do. Not +he! + +Giving his head a quick shake to clear his eyes and uttering a short, +sharp bark, as if to say, `Hold on, my boys, I'm coming to help you!' +the dog appeared to scramble through the water by a series of leaps, +rather than to swim, towards the spot where the two unfortunates were +struggling. + +Reaching the pair, he at once gripped Bob's collar in his powerful teeth +and proceeded to tow him to land, Dick hanging on behind; and Rover's +muzzle was already turned shorewards, dragging his double burthen astern +ere the Captain's cry of encouragement came to his ears, although on +hearing it the noble animal redoubled his efforts. + +It was, however, a terrible ordeal; nay, almost a hopeless one! + +Had the boys been conscious, Rover would have had comparatively easy +work of it, as then one of them might have held on to his collar and the +other to his tail, and he could have pulled them both out without much +trouble; as it was, now, they clung so frantically to each other and to +him that they retarded in lieu of assisting his gallant attempt to save +them. + +But, help was at hand. + +Just as the Captain called out, a couple of coastguardsmen were coming +round the corner of the castle on their beat towards the east pier; and, +hearing his shout to Rover, they stopped. + +"Hullo!" cried one of the men, observing that Mrs Gilmour was in a +state of great agitation, with Nellie sobbing beside her and the Captain +at the bottom of the sloping rampart in the act of taking off his +coat--"Anything wrong, mum?" + +Mrs Gilmour's heart was so full that she could not speak at once, and +the man who addressed her jumped to a wrong conclusion from the absence +of any explanation at the moment. + +"Oh, I see, mum, he's a-going to commit sooacide? We'll soon spoil his +little game, mum. Bear a hand, Bill, will ye?" + +So saying, the speaker and his comrade, with a catlike ease that came +naturally to them from their practice at sea, where they had a rolling +deck beneath their feet much more difficult to traverse than the +slippery slope they were now on, had reached the spot where the coatless +old sailor stood almost as these words were uttered, leaping down the +steep descent in a sort of `hop-skip-and-jump' fashion. + +"None o' that!" exclaimed the elder of the two men who had previously +spoken, grasping hold of one of the Captain's arms while his mate, or +`Bill,' caught hold of the other. "A-going to make away with yourself, +eh? Not if we knows it, sir!" + +At the same instant, however, Captain Dresser turned round with a face +on which the animated expression produced by his determination to try +and rescue the boys was mingled with a puzzled look of astonishment at +being tackled in this unceremonious manner when on the very point of +action. + +His black eyes twinkled and his bushy eyebrows moved up and down at a +fine rate as he looked up indignantly to see who had dared to lay hand +on him. + +"My stars!" ejaculated the coastguardsman Bill, dropping hold of the +Captain's arm as if it had been a hot poker, "I'm blest if it ain't the +old cap'en!" + +The other man also recognised him at the same time, releasing the old +man equally hurriedly. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "Didn't know it wer' you, sir!" + +But the Captain made no reply to this apology. + +He only pointed to the water just below where they were standing, and +where the head of Rover could be dimly seen in the gathering dusk of the +evening, now rapidly closing in, splashing his way to the shore. + +"Boys--save--quick--drown!" he stammered out brokenly. "Quick, quick!" + +The men did not require any further explanation or incentive. + +Without stopping to doff a garment, in they both plunged, boots and all; +and, before the Captain knew that they were gone from his side, they had +reached poor Rover, now quite exhausted, gallant dog though he was! + +Then, one of the men grasping hold of Bob and the other catching hold of +Dick, they swam with the two boys between them, still locked together, +to the end of the rampart wall that jutted out over the water. + +Here the Captain was ready and waiting to lean over and lend them a +hand, keeping the while a steady purchase to his feet by the aid of his +malacca stick, which possibly had never been of such service before; +and, presently, the coastguardsmen, the boys, and Rover, who would not +let go his young master's collar and was lifted out along with him, were +all once more again on firm ground. + +By this time, a small crowd of spectators had collected on the spot, +composed principally of persons who had come out for a walk round the +castle and had their attention arrested by the scene passing in the +water below. + +The majority of these now, in company with Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, +hurried to the lower part of the rampart, which, on the side nearer the +harbour, did not shelve down there so abruptly, broadening out by +degrees to a wide flat surface where it joined the esplanade bordering +the beach. + +At this spot, the coastguardsmen laid down the rescued boys, who were +quite insensible from their long immersion; when Rover, at length +satisfied that his young master was ashore and in safe hands, was +persuaded to loose his grip of Bob's collar, contenting himself by +venting his joy in a series of bounds and barks around his inanimate +form and licking his apparently lifeless face. + +Both Mrs Gilmour and the weeping Nellie thought they were dead. + +"Poor boys!" sobbed the former, her tears falling in sympathy with those +of the little girl, who was too stunned to speak. "But, what shall I +say to Bob's mother? How can I tell her he is drowned?" + +"Drowned? Not a bit of it--no more drowned than you are!" repeated the +Captain, somewhat snappishly, his anxiety and excitement preventing him +from speaking calmly, as he turned and bent over the inanimate bodies. +"Help me, men, to rouse them back to life." + +The coastguardsmen bent down, too, and lifting the boys up were +proceeding to lay them down again on their faces, when the Captain +stopped them. + +"You idiots!" he exclaimed. "What are you going to do, eh?" + +"Why, to let the water run out of 'em, sir," replied the elder of the +two, looking up in his face and touching his forelock with his finger in +proper nautical salute. "Ain't that right, sir?" + +"Hullo! that you, Hellyer?" cried the old gentleman, recollecting him as +a former coxswain. "Glad to see you again. By Jove, you came just now +in the very nick of time to save these youngsters! Excuse me though; +but, you've got hold of the same foolish idea a lot of other people +have, that turning a poor half-drowned body upside down to empty him, as +if he were a rum-cask, is the best way to recover him!" + +"What should we do, sir?" asked the man with a grin. "I allers thought +it were the right thing, sir?" + +"Why, turn the poor fellows slightly a one side and then rub them +smartly to restore the circulation," said the Captain promptly, suiting +the action to the word; and, the next instant, he and the men were +busily shampooing the boys till their arms ached. "Rub away, Hellyer; +rub away!" + +Rover growled at first on their touching Bob, apparently thinking the +operation to mean an attack on his young master--he didn't mind what +they did to Dick. But, presently he altered his opinion on the subject, +helping so far as he could by means of barking and licking Bob's face +and feet alternately to bring him back to consciousness. + +In a short space, although to the anxious onlookers it seemed hours, the +efforts of the Captain and coastguardsmen were rewarded by Bob drawing a +deep breath, which, it must be confessed, was sadly impregnated with the +odour of tobacco from the air which Hellyer had puffed into his lungs to +induce respiration! + +This tobacco made poor Bob cough, but it likewise caused him to get rid +of the greater portion of the sea-water he had swallowed; and after +that, he opened first one eye and then the other and, finally, his +mouth, exclaiming, much to the delight of Rover, who was just then in +the act of licking his face, "Good dog!" + +"Bravo!" cried the Captain, stopping his shampooing process on Bob's +body and rubbing his own hands instead, in great glee. "Now we'll do!" + +As for Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, they expressed their delight by almost +hugging the little newly-recovered life out of Bob and giving way to +fresh tears, only this time they cried for joy and not from grief; while +Rover could not contain himself, whining in a sort of hysterical fashion +between his loud yelps, and jumping up on every one around as if to say, +"Oh, I am so glad, my young master's all right again!" + +Aye, Bob was soon all right, getting on his feet and being able to stand +without assistance, the only effect of his ducking being that he looked +pale, as far as could be seen in the twilight. + +He was, besides, most unmistakably, as wet as a drowned rat! + +Dick took a little longer time to recover; but, shortly afterwards, he, +too, was himself once more. + +When things had arrived at this happy stage, the Captain, who had been +put in a fidget by the crowd clustering round--`a pack of star-gazing +fools' as he whispered pretty audibly to Mrs Gilmour--thought it was +time to make a move. + +"Hellyer, you and your shipmate had better call round at my house in the +morning," he said to his old coxswain, the elder of the two +coastguardsmen. "You know my house, eh, the same old place?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the man, saluting as before. "We knows it well +enough!" + +"Then, good-night to you, and thank you both for your timely +assistance," said the Captain, turning away with a touch to the brim of +his hat in acknowledgment of their salute. "Come on, boys, you'll have +to hurry home fast to prevent catching cold after your swim." + +So saying and offering his arm to Mrs Gilmour, who was feeling faint +after all the anxiety she had gone through, the brisk old gentleman led +the way round the castle. + +He insisted that Bob and Dick should run races across the common on +their way towards the south parade, in which gymnastic display Miss +Nellie and Rover both joined, for company sake as well as to set a good +example; the big black retriever going over more ground than either of +the competitors ere they reached `The Moorings,' as Mrs Gilmour's house +was christened. + +"Won't you come in?" said Mrs Gilmour on their getting to the door, +when the Captain raised his hat in token of adieu. "Do come in and have +a rest, me dear Captain?" + +"No, thanks, not up to cribbage to-night," he replied, shaking his head +and chuckling. "Feel my old bones too sore from sliding down that +confounded rampart. I mustn't keep you chattering here, however, for +you've got to see about those youngsters. You are sure you don't mind +the trouble of putting up my foundling Dick for the night, eh?" + +"I should think not, especially after his jumping into the sea so nobly +after Bob; and the poor boy, sure, not able to swim either!" said she +warmly. "Dick shall not only stop in my house to-night, but as long as +you please to let him, I tell you; and sure it's always grateful I'll be +to him." + +"Well, then," cried the Captain, "there's no use my stopping yarning +here like an old woman now that point is settled. You'd better go and +see after the boys at once." + +"Oh, I'll say after them," she answered, laughing at his impatience, as +he almost pushed her within the doorway and rushed down the steps +towards the gate--"I'll say after them, never fear!" + +"Mind you put them between the blankets, and give them each something +hot to drink when they turn in," he shouted back over the railings. +"I'll come round in the morning and give them a lecture to wake 'em up!" + +With these last words, off he went; his malacca cane coming down with a +thump on the pavement at every third step he took, until the sound died +away in the distance--"Stump, Stump, Thump!--Stump, stump, Thump!-- +Stump, stump, Thump!" + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +BOTH "SUITED." + +Dick was now "in clover!" + +Running away from a poor home and the tyranny of a cruel step-father, he +had, in the first instance, providentially succeeded in getting `a free +passage,' as the Captain expressed it, to Portsmouth, the goal of his +fondest ambition. + +Then, after thus successfully overcoming the obstacles that lay in the +way of his going to sea, so far as this initial stage to that ultimate +end was concerned, the lucky fellow, in addition to gaining the +Captain's favour and making the acquaintance of Bob and Nellie, put the +finishing-touch to his good fortune by winning over Mrs Gilmour to his +side--a lady who, as a friend, was worth perhaps all the rest, she being +true as steel and thoughtful and considerate in every way. + +For the Captain's sake alone, she would willingly have given the poor +homeless lad house-room; but, beyond that, she had taken a strong fancy +to Dick from noticing his willing manner and anxiety to oblige those who +had been kind to him at the station, an impression that was more than +confirmed subsequently when she witnessed his gallant conduct in +plunging into the water to try and save the impulsive Bob. + +So, Dick was in clover! + +Like Master Bob, he had his wet clothes stripped off as soon as he got +within doors, and wrapped in warm blankets was put into an equally cosy +little bed; a hot treacle posset being afterwards given to each boy when +comfortably tucked in by Mrs Gilmour herself, which drink even Bob, +accustomed as he was to good things, said was `not so bad, you know,' +while to poor Lazarus-like Dick it tasted as nectar! + +Nor was this the end of our runaway's good fortune. + +In the morning, after a sound sleep which effectually banished all the +ill effects of their impromptu ducking from both Bob and himself, Dick +awoke, or rather was awakened by his hostess in person, to be told that +the Captain was waiting and wanted to see him particularly. + +"I think too, my boy, it really is time for you to get up," added the +lady kindly. "Do you know it's past ten o'clock?" + +"Law, mum!" exclaimed Dick, ashamed of his laziness, having been +accustomed at Guildford to turn out at sunrise, that is if he went to +bed at all; for his unkind step-father often locked him out of a night +when in an especially angry mood. "Law, mum, whatever be I a-doing of +a-lying here in broad daylight! I humbly asks yer parding, mum." + +"Oh, never mind that, you're not so very late, my poor boy, considering +all you went through yesterday and last night," said Mrs Gilmour +smiling. "But, come now, you mustn't keep the Captain waiting, or we'll +have him trotting upstairs after you himself. Dress as quickly as you +can; I have had your things dried at the kitchen fire, and here they are +in this chair near the door." + +So saying, Mrs Gilmour left the room, and Dick hopped out of bed +immediately afterwards, proceeding to put on his clothes; thinking, poor +fellow, as he did so, how shabby and ragged they were, and that they and +he were altogether sadly out of place in an apartment which, to his +rustic eyes, used only to the surroundings of his village home, appeared +a palace. + +As soon as he was dressed and opened the door of the room, he found, +waiting on the landing, a maidservant, who, first taking him downstairs +to the kitchen, where she gave him a good breakfast, afterwards showed +him the way to the parlour. + +Here Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie, were all +assembled, apparently ready to go out, the ladies having their walking +things on. + +"A pretty time of day for a youngster like you to be getting up," cried +the old sailor jocularly as he entered. "I wonder the bright sun hasn't +scorched your eyes out long before this, sir!" + +Dick was commencing an abject apology, but Mrs Gilmour stopped him. + +"Oh, never mind the Captain," she said laughing at the poor lad's look +of contrition. "He's only `taking a rise' out of you, as he would call +it." + +"Humph! is he?" growled the Captain, blinking away and pretending to be +very serious. "But, come now, we must be off. I want you to go along +with me into Portsmouth; so, get your cap and we'll start at once." + +"Mayn't we come too?" shouted Bob and Nellie in one breath together. +"Do say yes, Captain Dresser!" + +"Well, I don't know about you, Miss Nellie, for I may have to go into +places where little girls may be in the way; besides which, I don't +think you would like to leave your aunt all alone, eh?" + +"Of course not, dear Captain, I forgot that," said Nellie, accepting +this quiet suggestion of the old sailor as a final settlement of the +question, without betraying a particle of ill-temper or dissatisfaction. +"I will stop with auntie." + +"Ah, you shan't lose anything by doing it, me darlint," smilingly said +Mrs Gilmour, giving her an approving little pat on the cheek by way of +caress. "You and I, Nell, may have a little expedition of our own, +perhaps." + +"But I may go with you and Dick," interposed Bob, by no means content to +be left behind. "Mayn't I, Captain?" + +"Oh yes, you may go or come, just as you please to call it," replied the +Captain, making a move towards the door, with an energetic thump of his +malacca cane on the floor. "Look sharp, though, or it will be midday +before we're out of the house!" + +This contingency, however, did not happen, for within a minute or so he +and the two boys were out on the parade; the party being further +increased by the presence of Rover, who had been lurking in the passage +and followed them out unobserved. Not a bark or a gambol betrayed that +he was after them, until the Captain on turning round suddenly saw him +in their rear, close up to Bob's heels. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed; "I can't have that dog with us. Rover is a very +fine fellow and a brave animal too; but, he's somewhat skittish as +yesterday's proceedings at the railway-station showed me. I don't want +to get into any more scrapes with him, such as knocking down harmless +old women--she was a tartar, though, by Jove! Besides, I may have to go +into the dockyard, and they do not allow dogs in there." + +"Don't they?" asked Bob, catching hold of Rover's collar and preparing +to take him back to the house. "Not even if they're well-behaved?" + +"No, my boy, they draw the line at puppies! I mean those jackanapes of +midshipmen and sub-lieutenants, as they call mates now, with their +dandified airs. In my time, the reefers weren't half so conceited and +didn't try to turn themselves into land swabs as they do now-a-days," +said the Captain grimly, he being, like most sailors of the old school, +a thorough believer in the times gone by. "But, go back now, and take +that rascal of a dog in. Dick and I will wait for you at the corner." + +Rover did not like this arrangement at all, but he had to submit to the +force of circumstances; so, Bob disposing of him within doors and +closing the outside gate as well for additional precaution, all +presently made a fresh start for their destination. + +While crossing Southsea Common, the boys were delighted with the sight +of the soldiers of the garrison mustered for brigade drill, the troops +marching and wheeling and countermarching to the music of the bands, +which played such inspiriting airs that even the old Captain could not +help keeping step, his trusty malacca coming down with a thump on the +springy turf, in time with the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums. + +Bob had seen a regiment or two before in London, at parades in front of +the Horse Guards, or when reviewed on a small scale in Hyde Park; but, +never previously, had he witnessed so many battalions marshalled +together in all the pomp of war as now--the men formed up in double +columns of companies, with the sunlight glinting on the bayonets of +their sloped rifles and their legs looking like those of gigantic +centipedes as they stepped forward in changing ground to the left, first +the red stripe showing on one trouser-leg and then only the dark cloth +of the other. + +"How funny they look!" exclaimed Bob, lost in admiration as he took note +of these little details, not a thing escaping him, the hoarse commands +of the officers, the galloping to and fro of mounted _aides-de-camp_ and +`orderlies,' the tooting bugle-calls, each in turn attracting his +attention. "All move as if they were one man!" + +"Aye, they march well, my boy," replied the Captain, taking advantage of +the opportunity to point a moral lesson. "But, recollect it's all owing +to discipline and obedience to orders!" + +Beyond the troops, the blue sea could be seen reflecting the hue of the +cloudless sky overhead, its surface dotted here and there with the white +sail of some yacht or other, passing between Cowes and Spithead, or +beating out into the Channel in the distance; while, in the more +immediate foreground, anchored abreast of one of the harbour forts, was +a modern ironclad man-of-war. + +"What is that?" inquired Bob, pointing in the direction where the vessel +lay, looking like some marine monster asleep on the water. + +"Humph! you may well ask the question," growled the Captain, jobbing his +stick down with an extra thump. "That is what they call a `ship' now-a- +days! She's an `armour-clad' of the latest type, with all the +improvements, though very different to the craft I and your Uncle Ted +were accustomed to see in the good old times when ships were ships!" + +"Why, Captain Dresser," said Bob sympathetically, "she's just like the +roof of a house!" + +"You're not far out, my boy. They all resemble floating barns more than +anything else," grumbled the old sailor, bewailing the gallant frigates +and three-deckers of the past. "But, come on now, let us get to the +dockyard, and I will show you one or two vessels of the right sort that +we still have got left, thank God, to remind us of what England's navy +once was!" + +With these words, he dragged the boys, much against their will, away +from the busy scene on the common and past the last remaining bastion of +the old fortifications that once encircled Portsmouth; and, finally +getting into the town he dived through all sorts of queer little streets +and alleys, and then along the new road running by the side of the +Gunwharf until they reached the Hard. + +Here, stopping outside an outfitter's shop not far from the dockyard, +the Captain seized hold of Dick and pulled him forwards towards the +door. + +"Do you know what I'm going to do with you, eh, you young rascal?" he +asked him, with a chuckle which took all the sternness out of his +threatening tones. "Can you guess?" + +"No, sir," replied the lad; but, evidently did not anticipate anything +very dreadful, for he grinned all over his face. "I carn't!" + +"I'm going to give you a new rig-out," went on the other. "Do you know +what that is, eh?" + +"No, sir," again answered Dick, thinking though that the Captain perhaps +meant something to eat. "I dunno." + +"Well, come in here and you shall see." + +So saying, the old sailor led the way into the shop, where on his giving +a few short, sharp, and curt directions to an attendant, Dick was taken +in hand and twisted this way and that and measured; the whilom ragged +runaway being in the end apparelled in a bran-new suit of navy serge +that made him look like a smart young reefer, very different indeed to +the ragged runaway who had forced his way into the railway-carriage +frightening Bob and Nellie during their journey Portsmouth-wards from +Guildford twenty-four hours before. + +"There, what do you think of yourself now?" asked the Captain, wheeling +him round in front of a cheval glass so that he could see his reflection +in the mirror. "Eh, you rascal?" + +Dick did not say anything; but, the look, of mingled wonder, self- +satisfaction and gratitude, that overspread his speaking face more than +rewarded the good-hearted sailor for his thoughtful generosity. + +"He only wants his 'air cut and a pair o' decent boots, sir, and then +he'll be a reg'ler tiptopper," suggested the shopman. "I wouldn't know +him now for the same chap ag'in, sir!" + +"Thank you, my friend, for the hint," said the Captain politely. "You +can fit him with some boots, and we'll see about the `'air' when we get +outside!" + +Bob, of course, went into convulsions of laughter when the Captain thus +mimicked the man's disregard of his aspirates. + +The shopman's failing in this respect was all the more amusing from the +fact that the poor fellow was quite unaware of his `little weakness'; +and, one boy's merriment affecting the other, while the Captain joined +in from sympathy, they all went out of the shop in the highest of +spirits, the old sailor before leaving directing the attendant to send +home another suit of clothes with a complete sailor's kit, so that Dick +might have what he called "a regular rig-out." + +Subsequently, Dick had his hair cut, after which the Captain took him +into the dockyard, with the intention of his being entered for service +in the Navy, the boy having expressed so strong a desire to go to sea. + +However, as he was not broad enough in his chest measurements, although +sufficiently tall for his age, his joining a training ship had to be +postponed until our runaway had, as the old warrant officer at the depot +said, "Stowed a lot more beef and bread in his skid." + +But, even beyond this material point, Captain Dresser was reminded by +this courteous veteran of something he had entirely forgotten; namely, +that Dick would have to produce a certificate of birth to show his +proper age, and also a paper containing the written consent to his going +to sea of his parents, or guardians in the case of his being an orphan-- +which he was nearly if not quite--before Dick would be permitted to join +"Her Majesty's Service." + +These documents, it may be mentioned here, slightly anticipating +matters, Captain Dresser subsequently obtained through the clergyman of +Dick's parish at Guildford, to whom he wrote, and who gave the young +runaway the best of characters. + +This gentleman stated that the lad was not only honest and truthful, but +the steadiest scholar he had in his Sunday school; and he added that the +good news which he had been able to tell Dick's mother after hearing +from the Captain, of his having fallen into such friendly hands, had +made up in some way for her sorrow at being forced to part with her dear +son. + +"Well, what shall we do with you now?" said the Captain to Dick on their +leaving the dockyard, where, in addition to going on board the training +ship attached to the port, the boys had seen most that was to be seen-- +going over the smithery; the building-sheds, in which ponderous +leviathans of iron, that would anon plough the deep, were being welded +together; the mast and rigging houses; the sail-loft; they had gone over +everything in fact! "You see they won't have you yet in the Navy, my +lad; so, what is to be done with you, eh?" + +"Dunno, sir," answered Dick, scratching his newly-shorn head +reflectively and staring in the face of the old sailor, who had stopped +abruptly just outside the dockyard-gates to ask him the question. "I'll +leave it to yer for to settle anythink yer likes." + +"Humph! I tell you what, we'll wait a bit and then try again for the +training ship three months hence, or so; when, perhaps, you'll have +better luck," decided the Captain, who it need hardly be told had +already made up his mind on the subject. "But, in the meantime, my lad, +you shall stop with me and see if you can make yourself of use." + +"Oh, sir," said Dick with tears in his eyes and his voice broken with +emotion. "I can never thank yer, sir, for all as ye've done for me! +I'll work day and night, sir, and do anythink as yer tells me!" + +"We'll see, my lad," replied the Captain, walking on again, the watermen +along the Hard touching their hats to him. "I shall probably take you +on board my yacht by and by, when the racing season begins. You will, +thus, learn something of your future profession; and be able to pull a +rope and box the compass before the time comes for you to join the +training ship." + +"O-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob, the vista of delight thus presented being +almost too great for words; for the sight of the sea, now that he had +seen it and been actually on board a ship, had made him long for a sail, +his involuntary dip of the previous night not having any deterrent +influence. "Won't that be jolly, Dick?" + +Dick grinned a sympathetic grin, his own peculiar way of showing how +pleased he was. + +"I only hopes as how I'll suit the Capting," said he earnestly. "I'll +try to--that I will!" + +"Suit me, eh?" cried that worthy with a chuckle, and his little black +eyes twinkling away. "That will be `changey for changey, black dog for +white monkey,' as the niggers say. You will have to suit me in return +for my having _suit-ed_ you, my lad, eh? Ho--ho--ho!" + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +ON THE BEACH. + +"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Bob presently, stopping on their way +homewards at a nice-looking pastry-cook's shop hard by the dockyard- +gates, whose wide green windows framed an appetising display of cakes +and buns which appealed strangely to his gastronomic feelings; while a +fragrant odour, as of hot mutton-pies, the speciality of the +establishment, a renowned one in its way amongst middies and such like +small fry who frequented the neighbourhood, oozed out from its +hospitably-open door, perfuming lusciously the air around--"I am _so_ +hungry!" + +"By Jove, my boy, so am I, too, now I think of it," said the Captain, +likewise coming to a halt and proceeding to enter the shop, followed by +his eager companions. "Let us pipe down to lunch at once. This is a +famous place for pies; and you may rely on having mutton in 'em and not +puppies!" + +The old Captain `stood treat,' of course, and the boys had such a +glorious `tuck out' that they were behind time when they got back to +Mrs Gilmour's house on the south parade. + +"Aunt Polly" and Nellie were both ready and waiting for them outside, +dressed in walking attire; while Rover was frisking round the ladies, +though he darted up to his young master the moment he caught sight of +him, forgetting, with all a good dog's magnanimity, the ill-treatment he +had received in not being allowed to accompany him to the dockyard. + +"Sure, you're very late, Captain dear," began Mrs Gilmour when the old +sailor came near, with Dick following in his wake; but, suddenly +noticing the latter's wonderful transformation of appearance, she +stopped her laughing reproaches anent the Captain's dilatoriness, +exclaiming in admiring tones--"My good gracious! Dear me! Who is this +young gentleman?" + +Bob was in ecstasies. + +"We were sure you wouldn't know him, auntie!" he cried, as little Miss +Nellie joined him in a gleesome dance of triumph round the blushing, +new-fledged Dick, and Rover gambolled behind the pair, barking loudly, +in sympathetic accord. "We were sure you wouldn't know him!" + +"Sure, you're right, me dears, I wouldn't really have recognised him for +the same boy at all, at all!" cheerfully agreed Mrs Gilmour, as she +turned towards the ex-runaway and scrutinising his altered guise in +detail, critically but kindly. "Are ye, really, Dick, now?" + +"Yes, mum, I bees the same b'y, surely," replied Dick, with a broad grin +that spread over his face from ear to ear. "It's the Cap'en, God bless +him, mum, as made me for to look so foine that my own mother wouldn't +know me, leastways nobody else--thanks be to the Cap'en, mum." + +"Pooh, pooh, there's nothing to make a fuss about," interposed the old +sailor, anxious to let these personalities be dropped, being very shy of +any of his good actions being noticed. "The boy's all right. He has +only changed his rig, that's all, the same as you put on a new dress on +going out walking, ma'am." + +"That's a nice thing to say of an economical person like me, sir!" said +Mrs Gilmour, shaking her parasol at him in jocular anger. "One would +think I was one of those fine ladies who have a new dress every day in +the week, and milliners' bills as long as your old malacca cane." + +"Well, well, I apologise, ma'am, for I know better than that, as you are +far too sensible a woman to spend all your money on finery," said the +Captain, with a low bow. "But where are we going to now, for I see you +are dressed for walking?" + +"Down to the sea, of course," she replied. "Nell and I went up to +Landport this morning, while you and Bob were `transmogrifying' that +boy, as my old father used to say. We paid a visit to the old lady +whose eggs were broken yesterday by Master Rover's gambols. You may +remember, Captain, I promised her some from my own fowls in place of +those she lost. Don't you recollect how anxious the poor creature was +about them?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember," said the old sailor, his face beaming with good- +humour. "You're always kind and thoughtful." + +"Whish!" cried Mrs Gilmour playfully. "None of your blarney!" + +"Oh, Bob!" exclaimed Nellie, interposing at this juncture, while they +still all stood talking together in front of the house, neither Mrs +Gilmour nor the `old commodore' having yet given the signal for sailing, +"she has got such a dear little place of her own." + +"Who's `she'--the cat's mother, Nell?" + +Nellie laughed. + +"I mean the old lady who had the broken eggs." + +"Aye," put in the Captain, "and who nearly had broken legs likewise!" + +This made Nellie laugh again. + +"Oh, you know who I mean very well, Bob," said she, when she had ceased +to giggle. "She has got the dearest little cottage, you ever saw. It +is fitted up just like the cabin of a ship inside; her husband, who was +a ship's carpenter, having done it all. Why, the walls are covered with +Chinese pictures and shells and curios which he picked up in all sorts +of outlandish places, bringing them home after his various voyages. Oh, +Bob, you never saw such funny things." + +"Didn't the woman say something of having an invalid daughter?" inquired +the Captain. "I think I heard her speak of one yesterday at the +station." + +"Yes, poor thing," said Mrs Gilmour. "She's got spinal complaint, and +we saw her lying on the sofa in the queer little parlour crammed with +curiosities that Nell took such a fancy to. She seems a very nice girl, +so happy and contented although in such a helpless state! Her old +mother, whom I know you thought fussy and selfish, is quite devoted to +her." + +"Humph!" ejaculated the Captain, taking no notice of Mrs Gilmour's +allusions to his original impression of the stout personage with whom +Rover had, so to speak, entangled them into an acquaintance. "Perhaps +some of that old port wine of mine would do the girl good, eh, ma'am?" + +"Not a doubt of it, she looks so pale and delicate," replied Mrs +Gilmour. "But there will be plenty of time to think about that to- +morrow. Let us go on now to the beach, or it will be too late for us to +do so before dinner." + +"Come on then, I'm yours obediently," said the Captain with his usual +chirpy chuckle. "By Jove, though, I think I've had pretty nearly +walking enough for one day for an old fellow turned sixty." + +This time they steered clear of the castle, the exciting memories of the +previous evening being too vivid in Mrs Gilmour's mind to allow the +boys to go near the treacherous footing of the rampart again. + +Instead of going thither, they turned their footsteps rather to the +eastern portion of the shore; where a shelving, shingly beach sloped +gradually down to the water, and thus no danger to be feared of Master +Bob or any one else plunging in suddenly without warning, as happened +unfortunately before. + +Here, everything was new to the young people; the wet pebbles glistening +like jewels after a last polish from the receding tide; the masses of +many-hued seaweed; the quaint shells; and the rippling waves, laughing +in the sunshine, and sportively throwing up in their joyous play little +balls of foam or spindrift, which the buoyant south-westerly breeze, +equally inclined for fun and frolic, tossed about here and there high in +the air, until they were lost to sight in the distance beyond the +esplanade. + +One or two silver-grey gulls, with white waistcoats on, as if going to +some nautical dinner-party, were hovering above and occasionally making +dashes down in their swooping curvilinear flight to pick up stray tit- +bits from the tideway, to assuage their hunger until the grander repast +to which they were invited was ready; while a whole colony of their +kindred, the black, brown, and dusky-coloured gulls, not so fortunate in +being asked out to the festive banquet, were anon floating about in +groups on the water close inshore, anon suddenly taking wing and flying +off, only to settle down again on the surface further out. + +Even more impressive, however, than all these evidences of moving life +around, there was the sea, that touched their feet almost, and yet +stretched out in its illimitable expanse away and away--to where? + +It was Nellie to whom these thoughts occurred; as for Bob, he was +engaged in chasing little green crabs as they scuttled over the shingle, +busily collecting as many as he could get hold of in a little pond he +had scooped in the sand. + +This pond would now be filled as some venturesome wavelet broke over its +brink; and then be drained as the tide fell back, leaving the poor +little crabs left high and dry ashore to repeat their scrambling +attempts at escape, only to tumble over on top of each other as they +tried to climb the precipitous sides of Bob's reservoir. + +"Isn't it jolly!" cried that young gentleman, looking up at the Captain, +who, leaning on his stick, stood near, watching his futile endeavours to +restrain the vivacious, side-walking, unwieldy little animals that +seemed gifted with such indomitable energy, and equal perseverance to +that of Bruce's spider. "Isn't it jolly, sir?" + +"Not very jolly for the crabs, though," observed the old sailor smiling. +"I don't think they would say so if you asked them the question!" + +"I'm not hurting them," said Bob in excuse. "I only want to see them +closely." + +"I suppose you think they are all alike and belong to the same species, +eh?" asked the Captain. "Don't you?" + +"Well, I don't see much difference in them," replied Bob hesitatingly. +"Do you, Captain Dresser?" + +"Humph! yes. I can see in that little pond of yours, now under my eyes, +no less than three distinct varieties of the crab family." + +"Never!" exclaimed Bob incredulously. "Why, they all look to me the +same queer little green-backed things, with legs all over them that they +do not know how to use properly." + +"While you think, no doubt, that you could teach them better, eh?" said +the Captain chuckling; but, the next moment, raising his hat and a +graver expression stealing over his face as he looked upward towards the +blue vault overhead, he added earnestly--"Ah, my boy, remember they have +a wiser teacher than you or I! However, you're wrong about their being +all similar. The majority of those you've caught are certainly of the +ordinary species of green crab and uneatable, if even they had been of +any tolerable size; but, that little fellow there is a young `velvet +fiddler' or `swimming crab.' If you notice, his hind legs are +flattened, so as to serve him for oars, with which he can propel himself +at a very good rate through the water if you give him a chance. Look +now!" + +"I see," cried Bob eagerly. "He's quite different to this other chap +here with the long legs." + +"Oh that is a `spider crab.' He is of very similar proclivities to his +cousin though he lives ashore. The cunning fellow uses his sprawling +long limbs in lieu of a web, and will lie in wait in some hole between +the rocks, artfully poking his claws out to catch unwary animals--often +those of his own or kindred species--as they pass by his den." + +"What is this queer little chap?" asked Nellie, pointing to another, +which was partly concealed in an old whelk-shell. "He seems to want to +get out and can't." + +"Why, my dear, that is the `hermit crab.' He does not want, though, to +leave that comfortable lodging he has secured for himself, as you think. +He's an `old soldier,' and knows when he's well off! He belongs to +what is called the `soft-tailed' family, and being defenceless astern he +has to seek an artificial protection against his enemies, in place of +natural armour." + +"How funny!" said Nellie, watching the little animal more closely. +"What a queer fellow!" + +"Yes," continued the Captain, "and, that is the reason why he goes +prowling about for empty shells. Often, too, really he's such a +pugnacious fellow, he will turn the rightful tenant out, taking forcible +possession. Just look at his tail and see how it is provided with a +pair of pincers at the end. He is enabled by this means to hold on +firmly to any shell, no matter how badly it may fit him, which he +chooses for his temporary habitation." + +As he spoke, the Captain extracted with some little difficulty the +buccaneer crab from the whelk-shell, showing its peculiar formation, +quite unlike that of the others. A young shrimp who had lost his +latitude was also found in Bob's pond, and the discovery led the old +sailor to speak of these animals that form such a pleasant relish to +bread-and-butter; and he told them that one of the best fishing-grounds +for them was off the Woolsner Shoal, some four miles further along the +beach to the eastwards, while another good place was Selsea Bill, more +eastward still. + +While the Captain was giving this little lecture about the crabs and +their congeners, Rover was prancing around and barking for some one to +pitch in a stick or something for him to fetch out of the sea. + +Presently, in bringing back a piece of wood which Bob had thrown into +the water, Rover dragged ashore a mass of seaweed, a portion of which +was shaped somewhat like a lettuce and coloured a greenish purple. + +The Captain pounced on this at once. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed--"why, it is laver." + +"Isn't that good to eat?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "I fancy I've heard +people speak of it in London, or somewhere." + +"I should rather think it was!" he replied. "It is, too, one of the +best sorts, the purple laver, a variety of some value, I believe, in the +London market." + +"I can't say I should like to eat it," said Nellie, squeezing up her +nose like a rabbit and making a wry face. "It looks too nasty!" + +"Wouldn't you?" retorted the Captain. "I can tell you, missy, it is +very good when well boiled, with the addition of a little lemon-juice. +It tastes then better than spinach." + +"Do all these sorts of seaweed grow in the sea, Captain Dresser?" asked +Bob. "I mean in the same way as plants do in a garden?" + +"No, my boy," replied the other. "They attach themselves to the rocks +at the bottom of the sea, not to draw their sustenance from them in the +same way as plants ashore derive their nourishment from the earth +through their roots; but, simply to anchor themselves in a secure haven +out of reach of the waves, getting all their nutriment from the water, +which is the atmosphere of the sea in the same way as air is that of the +land. Of course, some of these weeds of the ocean drift from their +moorings, like that bladder wrack there with the berries." + +"Don't they pop jolly!" observed Master Bob, popping away as he +delivered himself of this opinion. "Pop! There goes one!" + +"You are not the only boy who has found that out, or girl either," said +the Captain with a smile to Nellie, who was industriously following her +brother's example. "But, look here, children, I can now see something +stranger than anything we've noticed yet." + +"What?" exclaimed Bob and Nellie together, stooping down to where the +Captain was poking about with the end of his malacca cane in the sandy +shingle. "What is it, sir?" + +"A pholas," he answered. "It is one of the most curious burrowing +animals known, and has been a puzzle to naturalists for years, until +Gosse discovered its secret, as to how it succeeded with its soft and +tender shell in penetrating into the hardest rocks, within whose +substance it is frequently found completely buried, so that, like the +`Fly in Amber,' one wonders how it ever got there!" + +"What did you say it was?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "A `fowl,' sure? Faith +it's a quare-looken' bird, Cap'en dear!" + +The Captain smiled, but he was not to be tempted away from his hobby. + +"The pholas, I said, ma'am," he replied. "The `pholas dactylus,' as +scientific people call it, which, until Gosse, as I said, discovered its +mode of action, was quite a puzzle to every one; although, now that the +mystery is out, all wonder it was not cleared up before! If you look at +the head of the shell, you'll see it is provided with a regular series +of little pointed spines at the end of the upper portion. These spines +are of a much harder material than the main part of the shell, and are +fixed into it, as you could notice better with a microscope, just in the +same way as the steel points for the notes of any air are attached to +the barrel of a common musical-box, projecting like so many teeth." + +"Yes, I can see them," observed Bob, who was listening attentively. +"Look, Nell!" + +"Well, then," the Captain went on, "besides this toothed head of his, +the animal is provided with a sucker at his mouth, by which he can hold +on to any wooden pile or stonework he may wish to perforate so as to +make his nest inside; and, gripping this firmly with his sucker and +working the head of his shell slowly backwards and forwards with a sort +of circular rocking motion, he gradually bores his way into the object +of his affections, getting rid of the refuse he excavates by the aid of +a natural siphon that runs through his body, and by means of which he +blows all his waste borings away--curious, isn't it?" + +"Very," said Mrs Gilmour; while the children, equally interested, +wanted to learn not only all the Captain could tell them of this +peculiar little animal, but also everything he knew of the other wonders +of the shore. "Sure I wish I knew all you do, Captain!" + +But, if the Captain was learned and good-natured, the children taxed his +patience, Miss Nellie especially. + +She had not lost any time in setting about making that collection of +shells which she had mentioned to him in confidence when coming down in +the train it was her intention to begin as soon as she got to the sea; +and, all the time he had been speaking of the little crabs and other +things, she had been busily gathering together all sorts of razor +shells, pieces of cuttle-fish bone, cast-off lobsters' claws, and bits +of seaweed, which she now proudly drew his attention to, expecting the +old sailor's admiration. + +He was, on the contrary, however, extremely ungallant. + +"All rubbish!" he exclaimed on her asking him if he did not think her +pile of curiosities nice. "But, those corallines, young lady, are good. +They were long supposed to belong to the animal world, like the +zoophytes; instead of which they are plants the same as any other +seaweed. When that little branch you have there is dry, if you put the +end of it to a lighted candle, it will burn with an intense white flame, +similar to the lime-light, or that produced by electricity." + +"We'll try it to-night!" said Bob emphatically. "We'll try it to- +night!" + +"But, the Captain says it must be quite dry," interposed his sister, +somewhat appeased by the praise bestowed on her corallines for the +wholesale condemnation her collection had received. "Isn't that so, +Captain?" + +"Right you are, my deary," said he. "They would not burn unless they're +just like tinder." + +Dick, who had meanwhile been listening to all that was being said, +without intruding on the conversation, busying himself in picking up +shells for Miss Nell, and, occasionally, diverting Rover's attention by +throwing a stick for him into the sea, happened to come across, just at +this juncture, a queer-looking dark-coloured object that resembled an +india-rubber tobacco-pouch more than anything else. + +"What be this, sir?" said he, holding up the article for inspection. +"Be he good for aught, sir?" + +"Why, it's only a piece of seaweed, of course!" declared Master Bob, +settling the question in his own way. "Any one can see that." + +"You're wrong," said the Captain. "You're quite wrong, Master Sharp!" + +"It's a fairy's pillow-case," cried Nellie. "Isn't it?" + +"Your guess is the nearer of the two, missy," decided Captain Dresser, +thumping his malacca cane down to give greater effect to his words. +"Strange to say, you've almost hit upon the very name; for, the fisher- +folk hereabouts and down the coast call the things `mermaids' purses.' +They once contained the egg of some young skate or shark, who, when he +was old enough, hatched himself, leaving his shell behind; and this +being elastic, like gutta-percha, closed up again, so that it cannot be +told how he got out." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "I've often wondered what those +things were, and never knew before." + +"It's never too late, ma'am, to learn," said the Captain. "I myself +only took up natural history, gathering the little knowledge I possess, +after I was put on half-pay. Indeed, it was all owing to poor Ted, your +husband and my old shipmate, that I ever thought of reading at all. He +said it would be something for me to fall back upon for occupation when +the Admiralty shoved me on the shelf; and, by Jove, he was right!" + +"Poor Ted!" sighed Mrs Gilmour somewhat sadly. "Poor old Ted!" + +"Not `poor,' ma'am," said the Captain reverently, taking off his hat and +looking upwards as he had done before when calling the children's +attention to Him who taught the insects. "He's `rich' Ted, now; and +better off in his snug moorings aloft than you and I here below!" + +"Yes, I know that, but it is hard to be content," replied the other, +appearing lost in thought for some moments; until presently, recovering +herself, she looked at her watch, when, seeing what time it was, she +said they must start back for home at once. "Come along, children, +time's up!" + +"O-o-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob and Nellie in great consternation. "Why, +we've only just come!" + +"O-o-o-oh!" mimicked their aunt, amused at their woebegone faces. "Do +you know that we've been down here nearly four hours! If we stop much +longer, you'll be `oh-ing' for your dinner, when it will be too late to +get any, and how would you like that?" + +"Humph! I thought I was feeling a bit peckish," said the Captain, +wheeling about and preparing to head the return procession home, +accepting Mrs Gilmour's remarks as a command. "Come on, children, +we've got our sailing directions; so let us up anchor at once, for +you'll have plenty of the beach before you see the last of it. I tell +you what, though, I'll do for you if you are good." + +"What, Captain?" cried Bob and Nellie, hanging on to his coat-tails as +he stumped over the shingle by the side of their aunt, the faces of all +now set homeward. "What?" + +"Ah, you must wait till to-morrow!" was all that they could get out of +him, however, in spite of their wheedlings and coaxings as they crossed +the Common, with Dick and Rover following behind; the latter being too +hungry even to bark, and only able to give a faint wag of his tail now +and then when especially addressed by name. "Wait till to-morrow!" + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A SOUTH-EASTERLY GALE. + +"Oh, Nell!" cried Bob to his sister the same evening, some time after +dinner, which, through their explorations on the beach, was somewhat +later than usual--"I do wonder what that mysterious `something' is the +Captain keeps promising us for `to-morrow.' Can he be thinking of +taking us for a trip on the sea in his yacht, or what?" + +"I wonder," was all Nellie could say in reply to her brother's remark, +echoing, so to speak, his own words--"I do wonder--what he is going to +do, Bob?" + +Their anxious curiosity, however, availed them naught; the old sailor +keeping provokingly silent and being as mute as the Sphinx on the +subject, in spite of their wistful looks and watchfulness. + +Throughout the evening the Captain only opened his lips to say to Mrs +Gilmour, with whom he was playing one of those post-prandial games of +cribbage which it had been his wont to indulge in before the advent of +Bob and Nellie on the scene to interrupt their regular routine, "Fifteen +four and two for his heels," or "I'll take three for a flush, ma'am," as +the case might be. He only made use of such-like technical phraseology +common to cribbage players, limiting his conversation to the game alone; +without leaving a loophole for either of the impatient listeners in the +comer, who were turning over picture-books and otherwise diverting +themselves, equally silently, till bedtime, to get in a word edgeways. + +It was positively exasperating to Bob; especially as, the moment the old +sailor chanced to notice one or other of the children eyeing him more +attentively than usual on his looking up from the cards before him, he +would smile knowingly and nod his head in the most waggish fashion. + +"I don't think he means anything in particular at all," said the +restless Master Bob a little later on to Nellie again. "See how funny +he looks! He's only `taking a rise' out of us, as he calls it." + +"No, Bob," said Nellie, catching another quizzical look from the Captain +just at that moment, "I don't think that. I'm sure he means something +from that way he winked at us. Besides, Bob, he promised, and you know +that Captain Dresser never breaks his word!" + +Presently the report of the nine o'clock gun rolled through the night +air, its echoes reverberating fainter and fainter until lost in the +distance to seaward. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed the Captain, throwing his cards on the table and +rising from his seat,--"It's time for me to say good-night, or I shan't +get any beauty sleep!" + +"It's not so very late," said Mrs Gilmour, rising and going towards the +open window looking over the Common. "What a lovely night it is!" + +"Aye," replied the old sailor, following her, "the sky is bright and +clear enough, certainly." + +"Yes, what myriads of stars are out! I can see the `milky way' quite +plain, can't you, children?" + +"Where, auntie?" asked Nellie behind her, while Bob stepped out on to +the balcony the better to see. "I don't see it." + +Mrs Gilmour showed them the forked pathway leading up from the south +and east to the zenith, looking as if powdered with the dust of stars +which `Charles's wain,' as country people term the constellation, had +crushed in its lumbering progress through the heavens. + +Away beyond this golden `wake' of starlets the more majestic planets +shone in stately grandeur; while the evening star twinkled in the +immensity of space, still further away to the westwards. + +"But the more you look at them, the further away they appear to go," put +in Nellie. "Though, strangely enough, they don't seem to get any +smaller." + +"Aye, aye," acquiesced the Captain. "It _is_ awful to think of the +millions of miles they are separated from our globe, and that yet their +light reaches us! Why, it is wonderful for us to reflect on this!" + +"Hark! I hear a church bell ringing," cried Bob suddenly at this point. +"It sounds as if it came from the sea out yonder." + +"So it does, my boy," answered the Captain; "but not from any church. +It is the bell on the Spit buoy that you hear ringing away to the +southward. It is a bad sign for to-morrow, denoting as it does a change +of wind to a rainy quarter?" + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Bob, in such lugubrious tones that even Nellie +laughed, although sharing his feelings about the prospect of a wet day, +with the more than probable contingency of their being confined to the +house. "What shall we do?" + +"Cheer up, my lad, it may not be so bad after all," cried the Captain +heartily. "But, really, I must be going now; for, it is close on ten +o'clock and I shall lose all my beauty sleep, as I said before. Where +is young Dick?" + +"Down in the kitchen with Sarah," replied Mrs Gilmour to this question, +ringing the bell as she spoke. "He'll soon be ready if you insist on +taking him away with you." + +"Humph!" ejaculated the other, "as he's going to be my valet or factotum +by the agreement we made to-day, I don't think we'll be able to tell +whether we suit each other, ha-ha! if he remains in one house and I in +another, eh?" + +"Perhaps not," said Mrs Gilmour, smiling in response with the chuckle +he indulged in at the recollection of his old joke on his way home from +the dockyard; and Dick entering the room at the same moment, with a +broad grin on his face as if he knew what they were talking about, she +added--"Sure, here he is to spake for himself! Are you ready to go home +with the Captain, Dick?" + +"Yes, mum," answered the lad promptly. "Sarah told me as how the good +gentleman allers went away sharp at nine o'clock, and so I comes up as +the bell rung." + +"That's right, sharp's the word and quick's the motion; so we'd better +be off," said the old sailor, taking his hat and stick which the +housemaid, Sarah aforesaid, brought in from the hall. "Good-night, +ma'am,--good-night, chickabiddies!" + +"Good-night!" replied Mrs Gilmour, Nellie echoing her aunt's adieu with +a parting injunction of her own. "Pray be sure and bring back Dick to- +morrow morning, Captain!" + +"Perhaps, too, you'll tell us then what you are going to do if we are +good?" said Bob entreatingly, "though you would not to-night." + +"We'll see how the cat jumps!" replied the Captain with his cheery +chuckling laugh as he marched out of the hall and down the steps with +Dick after him; their retreating footsteps gradually dying away until +they rounded the corner of the parade, the last sound heard being that +of the ferrule of the Captain's malacca cane as it rang on the pavement, +keeping time to the rhythm of his tread, and his voice repeating in the +distance his quizzing rejoinder, "we'll see how the cat jumps!" + +The `cat' evidently did not `jump' properly the next day, or, if it +jumped at all, it executed that movement most decidedly in the wrong +direction; for, when morning broke, much to Bob and Miss Nell's disgust, +they found that a stormy south-easterly gale had set in, accompanied by +smart showers of rain, which very unpleasant change in the aspect of the +weather put all ideas of their going out entirely out of the question. + +During the night, the wind, which had veered more to the eastwardly, +rose considerably, drowning the clanging knell of the Spit buoy bell and +rattling the windows and doors, like some desperate burglar on thoughts +of plunder bent trying to effect a forcible entry. + +Not satisfied with this alone, `Rude Boreas' sent one of his imps down +the chimney to frighten poor Nellie, who lay trembling in bed, by +flapping up and down the register of the grate; while another would +every now and then boldly rush up and grip hold of the house, shaking it +viciously and causing it to rock from roof to basement--the rebuffed +rascal then sailing away with a shriek of disappointed spite and rage, +moaning and groaning like a creature in pain as it went off to vent its +malice elsewhere! + +Ere long the sea, unable to keep its temper under the bad treatment it +received from the wind, which blew in its face most insultingly and kept +continually `pitting and patting it,' baker-man fashion, in a very +aggravating way, began to boil up in anger, lashing itself into a +passion and roaring with fury; while the noise Neptune made by and by +deadened the roar of his assailant as he flung himself aloft in his +struggles to grapple his nimble foe, and, missing his aim, rolled onward +his boiling waves until they broke on the beach with the shock of an +earthquake, amid a hurricane of foam! + +The awesome sound of wave and sea combined kept Bob awake nearly all +night, the same as it did poor Nellie; the noise being so strange to +their London ears, although, in some respects, somewhat similar to that +of the street traffic of the metropolis. + +Not only did it keep him awake, but the battle of the elements made +Master Bob get up much earlier than usual; for he came down to the +drawing-room before Sarah had time to finish dusting the furniture. + +Here he was soon afterwards joined by Nellie, who was equally `spry' in +her movements; and the pair amused themselves till breakfast was ready +in looking out of the windows at the busy scene which the offing +presented, so different to that of the previous evening, when all was +quiet and calm, with Neptune gone to sleep and Boreas speaking but in a +whisper! + +The whilom glassy surface of the deep was now, however, a mass of short +choppy waves, the sea king's `white horses' leaping up friskily in every +direction and chasing each other as they rolled in landward, throwing +aloft clouds of feathery spray in their sport, as if champing it from +their bits. Such was the scene far as the eye could span away to the +eastward, where the sky was lit up by a stray gleam or two from the +long-since risen sun, who, though trying to hide himself behind a bank +of blue-black clouds, was not quite able to conceal his whereabouts. + +Out at sea opposite, facing south and almost on the horizon line, a lot +of vessels could be seen scudding down Channel, under short canvas but +outward bound, just coming in sight beyond Saint Helen's to make sure of +their landfall and then disappearing the next moment behind the Isle of +Wight, which shut them out from view; while, to the left, snugly +sheltered under the lee of the Ryde hills, several others had run in and +anchored off the Motherbank, waiting for a change of wind before +proceeding on their voyage up, along the coast, to the river--`the +river' of the world, the Thames! + +As Bob and Nellie gazed out, taking in all these varied details of the +scene by degrees, they could not help being pleased, everything was so +novel; but, they saw something else beyond the prospect which cast `a +damper' over their spirits, theoretically as well as practically. + +This was the rain, which came in squalls, the smart showers hurtling +down in pattering intensity, momentarily shutting out the sea and its +surroundings from sight; while the swollen raindrops dashed against the +window-panes like hail, trying, like the whirling storm-blast, to force +a passage into every nook and cranny that lay open to attack. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Bob dismally, his nose pressed like a piece of putty +against the glass. "It's awful rain, Nell; I don't think it will ever +stop!" + +"Oh dear!" sighed Nellie, in responsive echo; but, just then their aunt +bustled into the room, her face the picture of good-humour, in marked +contrast to theirs, and she caught the mournful exclamation--"Oh dear!" + +"Why, what's the matter?" asked Mrs Gilmour, in a cheerful tone, on +their turning round as she entered. "To look at you both, one would +think that something dreadful had happened!" + +"It's raining," said Bob, in a melancholy tone. "It's raining, auntie!" + +"So I can see," retorted Mrs Gilmour. "Haven't I got eyes of my own, +sure, me dear?" + +"But we shan't be able to go out, auntie," cried Nellie, in the most +broken-hearted way. "We shan't be able to go out!" + +"You need not be so disconsolate about that, dearie," said the other +smiling. "It may not rain all day; and, if so, you'll be able to get +out between the breaks when it holds up. But, there's Sarah ringing the +bell, so, children, let us go downstairs now to the parlour; perhaps by +the time we have finished breakfast it will have cleared up and be quite +fine." + +These cheery words, combined possibly with a savoury odour of frizzled +bacon and hot coffee that came up appetisingly from below, had the +effect, for a while at least, of banishing Bob and Nellie's gloom, and +without further ado they accompanied their aunt to the breakfast-room +downstairs. + +Here, stretched on the hearthrug before the grate, in which a bright +cosy little fire was blazing and looking uncommonly cheery, although it +was now summer, lay Rover. + +Without rising, he lazily greeted them by flopping his heavy tail, +albeit he lifted his nose in the air and sniffed, as if in anticipation +of sharing the coming meal with the welcome guests who so opportunely +appeared. + +"Well, I declare!" cried Mrs Gilmour, "I hope you make yourself at +home, sir?" + +Rover only flopped his tail the more furiously at this, his appealing +brown eyes saying, as plainly as dog could speak, that he was hungry, +and that if she meant to be kind he would prefer actions to words. + +After breakfast, as the rain still continued, Bob got grumpy again and +Nellie mopey from not being able to go out on the beach as both longed +to do. + +In this emergency, their aunt suggested that the unhappy children should +occupy themselves in sorting and arranging in an old album, which she +gave them, some of the best bits of seaweed they had collected the +previous afternoon, the good lady advising them first to soak the +specimens in a bowl of fresh-water, so as to get rid of the salt and +sand and other impurities, besides enabling the specimens to be laid +flatter in the book for subsequent pressing. + +By this means, the time passed so pleasantly that Master Bob and Miss +Nell were much surprised when Mrs Gilmour, who had meanwhile been +busying herself about household matters, came to tell them, anon, that +they must clear their things off the parlour-table on account of Sarah +wanting to lay luncheon. + +"Why, auntie," cried Bob, looking up from the basin in which he was busy +washing the last lot of seaweed, "we've hardly begun yet!" + +"You've been a long time beginning then, sir," replied Mrs Gilmour. +"Do you know that it is past one o'clock; so that you've been more than +three hours at your task? See, too, my dears, the rain has cleared off, +and it looks as if it were going to be fine for a bit." + +"How nice, aunt Polly!" said Nellie, the neat-handed, carefully lifting +up the album out of Sarah's way so that she might spread the cloth. "I +declare I never thought once of looking out of the window to see if it +were still wet. Did you, Bob?" + +"No," he answered, "I was too busy helping you, Nell." + +"Ah, my dearies," interposed Mrs Gilmour, taking advantage of the +opportunity to point a moral, "you see what it is not to be idle and +having something to do! If you had not both been so engrossed with your +task, you, Master Bob, would have been `Oh-ing' all over the house and +going to each window in turn to see if the rain had stopped, looking +like a bear with a sore head; while you, Miss Nell, would probably have +shed as many tears as would have floated a jolly-boat, as Captain +Dresser would say in his sailor language!" + +"Oh, auntie!" exclaimed Bob impetuously, "I never say `Oh' like that, do +I?" + +"Sure you've answered the question yourself!" replied Mrs Gilmour, +speaking in her racy brogue. "That's just what I should have had to +listen to all the morning but for my thinking of that album, which I'm +glad has amused you both, my dears, so well. Ah, children, children, +there's nothing like having something to do. I'll tell you something +one of the poets, Cowper I think, has written about this in his homely +verse:-- + + "`An idler is a watch that wants both hands; + As useless as it goes as when it stands!' + +"What d'you think of that, me dears, for an illustration of a person +without occupation for mind or body--does the cap fit anybody here, eh?" + +Bob was silent; but Nellie took the lesson to heart. + +"Yes, auntie, I know it's true enough," she replied. "I like those +lines; papa taught them to me when I was a tiny little girl. I wonder +if he learnt them first from you?" + +"No, dearie," said Mrs Gilmour, drawing her towards her with an +affectionate caress. "Our father, your grandpapa that was, taught that +little verse to us years ago, when your papa and I were of the same age +as Bob and yourself; and I have never forgotten them, as you see, +dearie. But, sit down now and have your luncheon. Bob, come to the +table; Bob! What on earth are you staring so out of the window now for, +I wonder? Bob, I say!" + +This repetition of his name in a louder key made the delinquent jump; +and he turned round in a hurry. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +"TO-MORROW COME NEVER!" + +"I really beg your pardon, Aunt Polly, for my inattention!" cried Bob, +in a state of great excitement. "It's the Captain!" + +"Sure, you don't mean that, my dear," said Mrs Gilmour, equally +flurried, rising at once from the seat she had just taken at the head of +the table. "Is it him, really?" + +"Oh, yes, auntie," replied Bob, returning to his post of observation in +the corner of the window. "There he is coming along the terrace, with +Dick at his heels." + +"Indeed, now?" said Mrs Gilmour, who had come up to Bob's side. "Let +me look for meself. Sure and you're right. It's him and none other, +and he's coming along at a grand pace, too!" + +"Hurrah!" shouted Bob. "Isn't it jolly, auntie?" + +"Very jolly," agreed Mrs Gilmour, more sedately, laughing at Bob's +ecstasies, the boy, like most youngsters, being all extremes. "I call +it very nice of him, Nell, don't you?" + +"Delightful!" chimed in Nellie, catching hold of Rover's fore-paws and +making him dance round the room with her in high glee, Rover barking to +express his sympathy with her excitement. "How good he is--I mean +Captain Dresser; not you, Master Doggy!" + +"It is well we know what you do mean," said her aunt smiling, as Nell +and Bob, with Rover dashing madly after their heels rushed into the hall +to open the door. "Ah, the young flibberty-gibbets!" + +In company with the Captain and Dick, as it still continued fine, all +presently sallied down to the sea, where the young holiday-makers were +much surprised at the size of the waves, which seemed much bigger on +nearer view than they had appeared from the drawing-room windows in the +morning. + +Now they were so close to the waves that the spray splashed over the +little party; and, it being high-water, the incoming tide, aided by the +stiff south-easterly wind, which was still blowing half a gale, rolled +the billows in upon the shore, dashing them against the sea-wall and +rampart at the back of the castle with a mighty din, and breaking them +into sheets of foam that flew over the moats and fortifications, +reaching to the Common beyond--the spent water, driven back by the rocky +embankment, sullenly retiring, a seething sea of soapsuds, as if Davy +Jones were having a grand "washing-day." + +Much as this sight pleased them, strange and wonderful to their +unaccustomed eyes, they were not allowed long to enjoy it; for, the +Captain declaring that another squall was coming, presently made them +hurry back to the house, laden, however, with sea-wrack and spindrift. + +It was the same on the following day and the day after, the gale lasting +until the close of the third; when it completed its course and died away +as suddenly as it began, winding up with a grand thunderstorm, in which +the lightning flashed and the thunder pealed through the heavens in a +manner whose like, the Captain affirmed, he had never seen on that coast +before. + +"No, never, ma'am," cried he, emphasising the assertion with a thump of +his malacca cane that almost made a hole in Mrs Gilmour's best drawing- +room carpet. "Not since I first joined the service at Portsmouth here, +forty years ago, or more!" + +Satisfied apparently with the `blow' it thus had, the weather +subsequently was all that could be desired; setting in bright and fine, +while it was warm enough to be almost tropical. + +Thenceforth, therefore, there was no more confinement to the house for +the young people. + +Bob started off early every morning across the common to the beach, +where, under the superintendence of the Captain, he and Dick were taught +how to swim, the boys, it may be mentioned, learning the art all the +more quickly from the fact of the old sailor's telling them that "until +they were able to keep afloat," to use his own words, "he'd think twice +before he would take 'em afloat!" + +So, as both were anxious to go out rowing and sailing, this threat acted +as a spur to their efforts. + +Nellie, too, had a bathe each day; and, much she liked bobbing up and +down in the usual girl-fashion from the end of the rope of the machine. +By and by, also, when she had gained a little courage, she learnt to +swim like Bob, whose boastings on the point had put her on her mettle; +and the bathing-woman informed Mrs Gilmour one fine morning, when she +accompanied Nellie to the beach and entered into conversation with her +teacher, that she was "the smartest young leddy to learn as ever was." + +This fact Miss Nell at once proved by swimming there and then some forty +yards, more than double the distance Master Bob could accomplish, in +spite of all his `tall talk,' after a similar period of tuition. + +"You ladies can always beat us if you only try," said the Captain +gallantly, when he heard this. "I believe a woman can do anything she +likes." + +"You're too complimentary, I'm afraid," remarked Mrs Gilmour. "You +don't mean all you say." + +"Don't I, by Jove!" replied he. "Lucky for us men you do not set your +mind to it; for, if you did, no poor fellow would ever have a chance of +commanding his own ship!" + +"That's a base slander," cried Mrs Gilmour, laughing. "I thought you +were paying us rather a doubtful compliment." + +The old sailor chuckled. + +"I had you there, ma'am, I think, eh?" said he, blinking away with much +delight. "By Jove, I had!" + +"But, when are you going to take us on the water?" asked Bob at this +point, before his aunt could give the Captain `a Roland for his Oliver' +in reply to his aspersion on her sex. "You said you would, you know, +when I and Dick knew how to swim." + +"And I know how to, as well," put in Nellie. "Don't I, auntie?" + +"Don't bother me, children," growled the Captain, pretending to get in a +rage. "I must be off now. I have an appointment in the Dockyard this +afternoon." + +"You shan't go! you shan't go!" cried the two together, hanging on to +him on either side. "You promised to take us somewhere or do something +if we were good, and that was to be to-morrow." + +"To-morrow comes never!" ejaculated the old sailor, chuckling and +blinking away. "`Hodie mihi, cras tibi.' What is that, Master Bob?" + +"Eh, sir?" said Bob, making a wry face. "Why, it's Latin." + +"Thank you for nothing, you young shaver!" retorted the Captain drily. +"What I want to know is, what does it mean?" + +Bob hesitated a bit, as if puzzled to translate the phrase; but in a +moment memory came to his aid. + +"Ah yes, I recollect now," he said in an assured voice. "It means, I +think, `to-day it is my turn; to-morrow it will be yours.'" + +"Very good, my boy," said the Captain with a chuckle. "That's my answer +to your question just now." + +"But you promised us, Captain," cried Nellie, taking up the cudgels now +that poor Bob was routed so ignominiously. "You know you did, sir-- +didn't he, auntie? And the `to-morrow' you meant was a long time back, +before the storm and everything!" + +"Then I'm afraid, Miss Nellie," he replied, making for the door, so as +to secure his retreat, "it must be a very stale one; a sort of `to- +morrow' I wouldn't have, if I were you, at any price!" + +Nellie was not to be beaten so easily, so she followed him out into the +hall as he was leaving the house. + +"Do tell me, dear Captain," she pleaded earnestly. "Do tell me what +this wonderful something is that you have in store for us." + +"I will, my dear," replied the old sailor, succeeding by a dexterous +twist in releasing the lapel of his coat from her restraining hand. "I +will, my dear. I'll whisper it to you--I will tell you to-morrow!" + +With this he skipped down the steps as nimbly as a two-year-old, +slamming the gate behind him to secure his retreat; and Nellie could +hear his hearty "Ho-ho!" as he went along the parade towards Portsmouth. + +"What a tiresome man the Captain is!" she exclaimed petulantly, on +returning to the drawing-room, where Mrs Gilmour had remained with Bob. +"It is always `to-morrow,' and `to-morrow,' and `to-morrow'; and when +the `to-morrow' comes, he never tells us anything!" + +"Fie, Nellie, you must not be impatient, my dear," said her aunt, on +hearing this outburst. "Recollect how kind and good-natured Captain +Dresser has always shown himself, who ever since you two came down here +for your holiday, putting himself out in every way to suit your +convenience, and never regarding anything as a trouble which could +conduce to your pleasure. I confess I am surprised at my little niece +Nell speaking in such a way of so good a man. If the Captain keeps you +in suspense, depend upon it his purpose is to make you enjoy the treat +he has in his mind ten times more than if you knew all about it +beforehand." + +"But I hate being kept in suspense, auntie!" cried Miss Nellie rather +naughtily, tossing her head indignantly, and throwing back her golden +curls as if she were metaphorically pitching them at the offending old +sailor. "I like to know the best or worst at once. I say, Dick, has +the Captain told you anything about the treat he has for us?" + +Poor Dick, who had been thoughtfully left behind by the old sailor, on +account of Mrs Gilmour having expressed her intention of going down to +the beach with the young people in the afternoon, hardly knew how to +answer the question. + +He did not like to tell an untruth by saying that he had no knowledge of +the Captain's plans, nor did he wish to disoblige Miss Nell, so his +answer was of the non-committal order--a sort of `I don't recollect' in +its way. + +"I can't tell, miss," was all he said, but, fortunately enough for him, +it sufficed to throw Nellie off the scent and prevent her trying any +further to worm the secret out of him; although, there is no doubt, she +would have succeeded had she persevered, and Dick was on thorns until +she went upstairs to get ready for going out, the little lady having an +insinuating manner of her own that was well-nigh irresistible. + +By the time she came below again, equipped for walking, Nellie's passing +fit of ill-temper had disappeared, and she was not only her bright +cheerful little self once more, but full of a project for adding to her +collection a specimen of the `sea cucumber,' which the Captain had told +her she might find if she only hunted diligently enough. + +These strange marine animals belong to a species of `Triple Alliance' of +their own, being connected in a greater or less degree with the +anemones, the ringworms, and the `sea urchins'; albeit, the sea +cucumbers possess one very great advantage over these cousins of theirs, +in being able, when they so please, to turn themselves inside out and +dispense with their stomachs, as well as what would be considered other +equally necessary portions of their corporate frames. + +When in this transformed, or `turn-coat' stage of his existence, the +animal consists only of an empty bag, or pocket, that has at the +broadest end an apparently useless mouth, but which he still continues +to make use of for feeding purposes; and, by and by, when my gentleman +feels disposed to return to his original state, seemingly by the mere +effort of will, his tentacles sprout out one by one, the mouth-end of +his bag becomes surmounted by a sort of mushroom head, his interior +person gets filled up, and the sea cucumber is himself again, "all a- +taunto!" + +The Captain had advised Nellie to search amongst the old wooden piles of +the pier, as a likely situation to find these animals, and others he +named quite as curious, such as the `beroe' and the `balanus,' which +while looking as if inanimate yet are `all alive,' and, if not +`kicking,' certainly may be seen fishing, either with natural lines of +their own or with a sort of trawl-net, very similar to which we human +bipeds use. + +But, although Miss Nellie, with Dick acting under her directions and +Bob, too, assisting in a desultory way when the superior attractions of +crab-hunting on his own account did not beguile him from the pursuit, +all hunted everywhere, finding every variety of young whelks, cockles, +and other shell-fish ova on the pier-piles, which they were able to +examine at their pleasure, it being low tide, no sea cucumbers to be +seen anywhere. + +Nellie was in despair at her failure and felt almost inclined to cry; +but, Dick at the last moment, when the search was just about to be given +up, raked out a perfect specimen from a hole in the rock-work beneath +one of the buttresses that was nearly awash with the water--a darksome +dungeon, isolated from the vulgar herd of barnacles, and common but +kindred anemones with which the stuck-up sea cucumber was too proud to +associate. + +Naturally enough, Miss Nellie was delighted with her capture, and, she +tenderly bore him home in triumph to be added to her extensive marine +collection, which had now increased so considerably, that her aunt +declared laughingly that she would have to build a room especially to +contain it presently, her house not being big enough for the purpose. + +"Rubbish!" the Captain had called her first attempt at collecting, but, +since then, she had learnt something under the instruction of the old +sailor and displayed greater discrimination in the objects of her zeal; +although still, perhaps, inclined to err in the matter of quantity over +quality, leaning fondly, as most enthusiasts do, to common things. + +Not only was the album which her aunt had given her pasted as full as it +could hold of different sorts of seaweed, known and unknown alike to Bob +and herself; but she had a pile of shells big enough to build a rockery. + +In addition to these, her accumulation of pet specialities included a +seven-fingered starfish, which is supposed by the ignorant to be +peculiarly inimical to the adventurous cat that swalloweth it; and a +ring-horned pandalus or `Aesop prawn,' which queer creature Master Bob +appropriately christened `The Prawnee Chief,' much to the annoyance of +Miss Nell, who had become quite grand now in her language, becoming +`puffed up,' as Bob said, with her newly-acquired `knowledge'--a +`little' of which, as the proverb tells us, is "a dangerous thing." + +The Aesop prawn, by the way, gained the prefix to his name from having a +hump on his back like the Phrygian slave, the fabulist. He is, also, +distinguished by the most exquisite little rings or bands of scarlet, +which seem to encircle his body; but the picturesque effect is really +produced by his antennae, which the pandalus has the happy knack of +arranging round his little person in the most graceful fashion. + +Beyond these rarities, precious above price, Nellie had gathered a +quantity of cuttle-fish `bone,' as it is erroneously called, sufficient +to have supplied Bob and herself for a lifetime with ink-erasers--a +purpose for which it is generally employed. + +The substance, however, is not really `bone,' but is composed of thin +layers of the purest white chalk, which, when the cuttle-fish is living, +is embedded in the body of the animal, running through its entire +length. + +The cuttle-fish in which this so-called bone is generally met with, is +the same species from whence the well-known colour sepia used in +painting is usually obtained. + +To make a long story short, the rest of Miss Nellie's collection +consisted of most of the various members of the crustacean family found +along the south coast, which she, with the help of Bob and Dick, had +picked up promiscuously. + +"A good deal of rubbish still, my dear," was the Captain's comment when +he came round in the evening and Nellie showed him the latest additions +to her store; "but, you've got one or two good things. I'll tell you +what you want, though." + +"What?" she asked excitedly. "What do we want, Captain? Hush, Bob!" + +"An aquarium," said he. "You see, my dear--" + +"Why, we've got one. We've got one already, Captain!" she cried out +triumphantly, clapping her hands as she interrupted him. "Aunt Polly +bought one this very morning for us." + +"That was very good of her, more than you young torments deserve," said +the Captain, with his customary chuckle. "However, now you've got an +aquarium, you must have something to put in it. Something living, I +mean. These dead and gone dried-up old chaps here are of no use; +although I wouldn't be surprised if that starfish there could still tell +the number of his mess if placed in water. I'm sure he's yet alive, my +dear." + +"Why!" exclaimed Nellie, astonished at this, "we've had him hanging up +like that for a week!" + +"Never mind that," replied the Captain. "Those funny, fat, seven- +fingered gentlemen have a nasty habit of `shamming Abraham,' or +pretending to have `kicked the bucket' when they are all alive and +hearty!" + +"How funny!" said Nellie, laughing. "But, what shall we get to put into +the aquarium besides, Captain dear, crabs and little fish, like those we +see swimming about in the sea below the castle?" + +"Crabs and little grandmothers!" ejaculated the Captain in great +disgust. "A nice aquarium you would make of it, missy, if you hadn't +some one to look after you! Why, the crabs would eat your little fish +before a week was out and then turn round and eat you!" + +"Dear me, that would be dreadful!" cried Nellie laughing still more, the +Captain did look so comical. "But, what may we have for our aquarium, +if we must not have these?" + +"Get? Well, let me see," said he, blinking away furiously and moving +his bushy eyebrows up and down for a moment, as if deliberating. "We'll +have some sea-anemones, to commence with. No proper aquarium is +complete without them; and, when you once see them expand, showing their +red and purple hues, and watch their wonderful way of moving about, you +will soon be convinced that they are really animals and not vegetables, +which, as I believe I told you before, many wise people for a long time +supposed them to be! You just wait, missy, and you will find this out +for yourself and learn more about them, too, than I can tell you." + +"Oh, yes," interposed Bob. "I saw one this morning when I was swimming, +and it looked just like a big dahlia." + +"Lucky for you it wasn't a jelly-fish, or you'd have felt it as well as +seen it!" rejoined the Captain grimly--"Avast there, though, we were +talking about sea-anemones and other similar fry; and I was thinking +that the best place for us to go to get them would be--why, by Jove, +it's the very thing!" + +"What's the matter now?" said Mrs Gilmour, who had been reading a +letter she had just received by the post, looking up at his sudden +exclamation. "Dear me, Captain, is anything wrong?" + +"Nothing, ma'am, nothing," he replied, turning round to her--"only I've +this moment thought of a way of `killing two birds with one stone.' I +promised these youngsters, you know, if they were good--" + +"I know, I know what's coming now," cried Miss Nell, again interrupting +him. Really she was a very rude little lady sometimes. "You're going +to tell us at last!" + +"What, missy?" said the Captain chuckling, as she and Bob executed a +triumphal dance round him, while Dick stood grinning in the background, +his face, which had filled out considerably in the last week or two, +making him look very different to the lantern-jawed lad they had +encountered in the train, all one smile. "What, missy?" + +"You're going to take us out somewhere," Bob and Nellie cried in +concert. "You promised, you know you did!" + +"But, that was if you were good," he answered, enjoying their antics. +"That was the proviso, young people." + +"We _are_ good," they shouted together. "Auntie says so." + +The Captain put his hands to his ears to shut out their voices. + +"Are they good?" he asked Mrs Gilmour. "Eh, ma'am?" + +"Well, yes, I think so," said she, smiling. "Good enough as far as such +children can be, I suppose! I suppose I must not tell tales out of +school, sure, about what a little girl said the other day when somebody, +whom I won't name, went away?" + +"What, what?" inquired the old sailor, looking from one to the other. +"Tell me what she said!" + +Nellie put her hand over Mrs Gilmour's mouth. + +"Hush auntie," she cried appealingly. "You mustn't say anything; I +didn't mean it!" + +"I dare say you called me a sour old curmudgeon?" hinted the Captain, +pretending to be very much grieved. "Didn't you?" + +"No, I didn't," said Nellie, jumping up and throwing her arms round his +neck to kiss him. "I think you are the dearest and kindest old Captain +that ever was!" + +"Humph!" he ejaculated in a smothered voice, addressing her aunt. +"There's no doubt, ma'am, where she gets the `blarney' from. It runs in +the family!" + +"Sure an' small blame to her either," retorted the other defiantly. +"It's fortunate for us women that we have something wherewith to get the +better of you hard men sometimes." + +"Sometimes, eh? always, I think," growled the Captain, looking very +knowing and laughing the while. "But, I won't argue the point with you, +ma'am--sure to get the worst of it if I do. Tell you what I'll do, that +is if it is agreeable to you. What say you to all of us crossing over +to-morrow to the Island, eh?" + +"Oh, auntie, how nice!" cried Nellie, hugging her and the Captain +alternately. + +Bob contented himself with uttering only the single word "jolly!" + +But, the ejaculation spoke volumes, Bob's highest appreciation being +ever expressed by that expressive but slangy term "jolly!" + +"Will it do, d'ye think?" said the Captain to Mrs Gilmour; there was no +need of his asking either of the children, their faces giving an +unhesitating assent at once, as did Dick's. "Eh, ma'am?" + +"Certainly," she replied, "if it suits you." + +"Then, that's settled," he decided. "There's a new steamer, called the +_Bembridge Belle_, I've seen advertised to run on an excursion to +Seaview pier; and I think she will do very well for us; especially as +she will go partly round the Island afterwards." + +"I can't say I like excursion steamers," observed Mrs Gilmour +hesitatingly; "but if you think, as an experienced sailor, that she will +be safe, of course I can have no objection. You know--I'm speaking more +for the children's sake than my own, being responsible to their parents +for them." + +"Safe, ma'am, eh? Safe as houses!" replied the Captain, with much +energy, stamping his foot on the floor as he spoke to give point to his +assertion, his malacca cane not being within reach at the moment. +"Otherwise, ma'am, I wouldn't let you or the chickabiddies go in her for +worlds!" + +"You're quite sure, Captain?" + +"Faith, I'll take my `davy,' ma'am, she's as staunch and sound as the +old _Bucephalus_." + +"Say no more, Captain," said Mrs Gilmour. "If she's as safe as my poor +Ted's ship, she must be safe indeed, I know." + +"She is that, I believe, ma'am, on my honour." + +"All right then, Captain," replied Mrs Gilmour to this. "We'll +consider the trip arranged, then, for to-morrow, eh?" + +"Very good, ma'am, there's my hand on it," cried the Captain, rising to +take his leave. "I must say `good-night' now; for, it's getting late, +and I ought to turn in early if you expect me to turn out to-morrow. +Good-night, Miss Nell; good-night, Bob; come along, Dick!" + +With which parting words, away he sailed homeward, not thinking that he +had forgotten his game of cribbage with his fair hostess. + +Strange to say, the old sailor never once recollected his customary +diversion throughout the evening! + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A RIVAL COLLECTOR. + +Nothing could have been better than the appearances of wind and weather +next morning--that long-wished-for "to-morrow," which had at last come, +in spite of the Captain's perpetual procrastination. + +The bright sun was glowing in a clear blue sky overhead, that was +unflecked by a single cloud, while a fresh breeze blowing from the +westwards to prevent the air from becoming stagnant; and the barometer, +at "set Fair," made all prophets of evil, if such there were about, keep +their lips tightly closed and say nothing to damp the spirits of the +expectant voyagers. + +"Hullo, Nell!" shouted Bob, drumming on the balustrade of the staircase +outside his bedroom to attract her attention and rouse her up. "Are you +awake yet?" + +Nellie's answer to this question was a "staggerer" to Master Bob, as he +termed it in his choice phraseology. + +She appeared in the passage that passed her door fully dressed. + +"I got up when Sarah rose, and have been ready to go downstairs for the +last hour," she said calmly, with a conscious pride. "You'd better look +sharp with your dressing, Bob, for it is past six o'clock. Unless you +start off soon to the beach, too, for your bathe, you'll never be back +in time for breakfast, which is going to be earlier this morning so that +we may catch the steamer comfortably." + +"My good gracious!" exclaimed Bob, jamming his right foot into his left +boot in his hurry and wasting a minute or more in wriggling it out +again. "I thought I was ever so early, and up before any one!" + +"Ah, me dear," cried out Mrs Gilmour from below; "you'll have to catch +a weasel asleep, sure, before you can hope, sir, to get ahead of us in +this house. I called Sarah long ere either of you were stirring!" + +This was a climax; and so, without making any reply to aunt Polly's +pertinent statement of fact, save a stifled laugh at the expense of Miss +Nell, who had prided herself on having, as she thought, got the start of +them all, Bob expediting his dressing in the most summary fashion, +hurried off as speedily as possible across the common for his matutinal +dip. + +He was accompanied, as a matter of course, by Rover, who was ready and +waiting for him on the terrace outside, barking and bounding about like +a demented dog who had parted company with his usual stock of common- +sense. + +"Down, Rover!" cried Bob, when the faithful fellow, in the exuberance of +his joy on seeing his young master come out of the house, leaped up and +licked his face, preventing him from closing the door properly as he was +about to do. "Behave yourself, sir!" + +Rover, however, thought there were different ways of "behaving himself," +the chief in his estimation being to show his affection to those who +were kind to him, whom he loved with all the intensity of his great +canine heart; and so, ranking obedience to orders as only second to this +potent law of his life, he frisked and jumped and playfully tousled Bob +until he finally made him start at a swinging trot for the beach, the +frolicsome retriever galloping in advance one moment, the next stopping +in his mad career onward to give out a loud bark and wag his tail in +encouragement to his master to try and catch him up, if he could! + +Bob bent his steps towards the coastguard-station on the eastern side of +the sea-wall, near the new pier, which was the regular meeting-place for +him and Dick every morning for their bathe; and here, punctually at "six +Bells," or seven o'clock, he found on the present occasion his fellow- +swimmer along with the Captain. + +The latter, he could hear as he approached, was having an animated +discussion with Hellyer, the chief boatman, on the subject of torpedoes, +which Hellyer believed in, but which the Captain utterly pooh-poohed, +saying that in his opinion they were of little, if any, use in naval +warfare. + +He was laying down the law with great unction when Bob came up to them. + +"Don't tell me," he cried, "of your `whitehead' going twenty knots an +hour and exploding its charge of gun-cotton under a ship's bottom; for, +where and what would those on board the ship be doing all the time-- +standing still, I suppose, to be shot at and doing nothing in their own +defence?" + +"Aye, that's true, sir," said Hellyer; "but--" + +"Remember, too," continued the Captain, "the torpedo, even of the most +improved type, can only keep up this speed of twenty knots for a +distance of five hundred yards, within which range the boat discharging +it would have to approach before sending it off at the vessel attacked, +which of course would be fool enough to let it come to such close +quarters without riddling it? Oh, yes, you tell that to the marines!" +Hellyer laughed. + +"You carry too many guns for me, sir," said he good-humouredly. "I +can't stand up against you, Captain, once you tackle me fairly!" + +"Too strong, eh?" rejoined the Captain, triumphant at getting the better +of his opponent. "Of course I am! Your argument, Hellyer, won't hold +water. Besides, should one of those spiteful little inventions succeed +in getting near an ironclad without being seen and sunk, the torpedo +nets of the ship would prevent the infernal machine, as these new- +fashioned fallals were called in the old days, from exploding against +her hull. I, for my part, would be quite content to stand the brunt of +a torpedo attack on board a ship fitted with protecting nets and quick- +firing guns. By Jove, I'd guarantee that Jack Dresser wouldn't be the +one that was licked!" + +"I'd bet that same, sir," agreed Hellyer heartily, but seeing Bob he +added, "Ah, here's the young ge'man I fished out of the sea t'other +night. He doesn't look any the worse for being nigh drownded. He warn' +hurt, sir, much, were he?" + +"Not he," said the Captain. "He's learnt to swim, though, since then, +and the other boy, too; so, if they choose to tumble in again off the +ramparts and get into deep water, there won't be so much bother in +hauling them out; eh, Bob?" + +"No, Captain," replied Bob, who was busy undressing; and, within a few +moments he had plunged into the sea, and was swimming out with a brave +firm stroke in a way that fully justified the Captain's praise of his +natatory powers, shouting out at intervals his customary war- +cry--"Jolly!" + +Nor was Dick far behind, although perhaps not quite so plucky in +venturing beyond his depth, now that he had no especial motive as on +that memorable evening already alluded to by Hellyer the coastguardsman, +for running the risk; while, as for Rover, he fairly revelled in the +water, paddling round and round Bob and Dick, thereby executing a series +of concentric circles never dreamt of by the Egyptian mathematician +whose problems have been the torment of the boys of all ages. + +The sea was so warm and pleasant that they stopped in such an +unconscionable time as to necessitate the Captain's hailing them three +times to come out before they obeyed the order, and even then did so +lothfully, making the old sailor sing out to them the more +imperatively-- + +"Come out, come out of that, you young rascals!" he cried, shaking his +stick menacingly. "If you are not out and dressed in five minutes, by +Jove I'll start without you; for, I can't keep the ladies waiting. By +Jove, I will!" + +This threat had the desired result of quickening the boys' movements; +Dick, if the slowest in the water, being the sharper of the two in +getting into his clothes. Rover was even speedier still, having only to +give himself one good shake, administering in the action a shower-bath +of drops to the Captain, when, there he was all ready, with a smart new +curly black coat, glistening from his dip, as if he had just been to the +hairdresser's and had a brush up for the occasion! + +On the way back to Mrs Gilmour's house to breakfast, the Captain and +Dick being specially invited this morning, so that they might leave +together immediately afterwards for the steamer without losing any time, +the boys had great fun with Rover and the towels. + +These the retriever was always in the habit of carrying home, though Bob +would not let him have them at once, right out, to take in his mouth as +he left the beach. + +He would first show them to Rover, with a "Look here, good dog!" + +Then Bob would put the bundle of towels in a hole in the shingle, or +under some big boulder, which did not improve them, by the way; Rover +observing everything his young master did with the keenest attention, +barking the while, and with every hair of his mane bristling with +excitement. + +After thus hiding the towels, if it could be called hiding where every +detail of the operation was watched by the dog, Bob would, as he did on +the present occasion, set out on his return across the common; Master +Rover prancing in front of him, and anxiously keeping his speaking brown +eyes fixed on his face, awaiting the order which he knew to be impending +for him to go back and fetch the bundle left behind. + +It was always a struggle for Bob to keep his countenance steady, the +slightest suspicion of a smile being interpreted by Rover as an +intimation that he was at liberty to "go and fetch," without a word +being uttered; and, this morning, the struggle was intensified by the +presence of the Captain, who was in a joking mood, and tried all he +could to draw off Rover's attention from Bob. + +However, in spite of these difficulties, the latter succeeded in +repressing any signs of emotion in his face until they got to the +landmark in the middle of the common, when, opening his mouth at last, +Bob said, almost in a whisper, the magic words, "Go and fetch!" + +Low as was the tone in which the command was given, Rover heard it; and +then, in an instant, off he flew, like an arrow from the bow, with his +bushy tail stretched out straight behind, bottle-brush fashion, making +him resemble a dark-coloured fox in the distance, with the hounds in +full cry after him. + +The last they saw of him was the end of his tufted tail disappearing +over the sea-wall at the place where Bob had secreted the towels, so on +they went in the expectation of Rover presently overtaking the party +with the towels, which he seldom failed to do before the roadway +skirting the other side of the common was reached, the retriever being +generally very rapid in his movements. + +On this occasion, however, the Captain with the boys not only got as, +far as the terrace, but arrived at the gate of Mrs Gilmour's house, +without there being any appearance of Rover's return. + +He and the towels were alike "conspicuous by their absence." + +What could have happened? + +Listening attentively, they could hear presently the sound of a dog +barking in the direction of the sea, and to Bob's mind, at least, there +was no doubt that the bark was the bark of Rover. + +"He cannot get the towels from under the stone," cried Bob, turning +back. "It is either that, or somebody has stolen them, or something. I +must go and see what's the matter." + +"We'll all come," said the Captain. "I should like to see the affair +out." + +So saying, he wheeled round too, and with Dick started off in pursuit of +Bob, who, going at the run, was already some distance ahead, on his +return journey to the beach. + +The Captain stepped out well, however, and he and Dick got up just in +time to settle a little dispute, in which Bob, Rover, and an ugly- +looking man, very like a gipsy and evidently a tramp, were the parties +interested. + +The man had one end of the bundle of towels grasped in both his hands, +while Rover was holding on like grim death to the other; the dog +growling, and tugging away so violently between each growl, that the +tramp had hard work to keep hold of his prize. + +Bob, on his part, had caught up a piece of broken timber, and was +advancing to the faithful dog's aid. + +But a boy like Bob, even with the help of such a valiant protector as +the retriever, could do little or nothing against a burly, ruffianly +giant, six feet high, and broad in proportion. + +The arrival of the Captain on the scene with Dick, however, altered the +aspect of affairs considerably. + +The gipsy tramp, who had sworn to Bob, and at him too, that the bundle +was his own, and that he was walking quietly along the shore in search +of work, when he was assailed by "that savage dog o' yourn there," now +said, on the Captain's telling him curtly to drop the towels, or he +would have him locked up, that he had "only picked 'em up on the beach, +and didn't mean no harm by it to nobody, that he didn't." + +"Then the sooner you are off out of this, the better for you, my +friend," said the Captain, on the man's letting go the bundle of towels, +which Rover at once carried off in triumph and laid at Bob's feet. "Be +off with you, you rascal, at once!" The man took his advice, and +slouched away round the castle, soon disappearing from their sight; +when, much excited by the unexpected little incident that they now would +have to detail to Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, besides being full of Rover's +bravery and sagacity, they took their way home again, for the second +time, across the common, the clock of old Saint Thomas's church in the +distance striking as they turned their faces homeward--"One--two-- +three--four--five--six--seven--eight--*Nine*!" + +"Look sharp, lads, or we'll be late for the steamer!" cried the old +sailor, as they hurried along, setting the example by hastening onwards +as fast as his little legs, aided by his ever-present malacca cane, +could carry him. "I'm told that the _Bembridge Belle_ will leave the +pier at ten o'clock without fail, wind and weather permitting, and it +has just struck nine--all through your loitering and skylarking in the +water, Master Bob and you Dick, and that long palaver we had afterwards +with your friend the towel-thief." + +On reaching the house, where breakfast was all ready awaiting their +arrival, the old Captain, while hurrying through the meal, found time to +chaff Nellie about this "rival collector," as he called the prowling +tramp when narrating all about the adventure that had detained them; +telling her she would have to look to her laurels, and gather up all the +odds and ends she could find, on the beach, or else this gentleman, who +had displayed such zeal that morning in trying to add to his collection, +would certainly outvie hers. + +"Now, children," said Mrs Gilmour, when breakfast and chaff had both +come to an end, repeating the Captain's favourite word of command, "Look +sharp!" + +Her preparations had all been made beforehand; and without losing +another moment, she and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie behind them, +started off, Dick, who had been taken care of meanwhile by Sarah in the +kitchen, bringing up the rear with a substantial-looking hamper on his +shoulder. + +Almost breathless, alike from excitement and their rapid pace, they made +their way seawards, to where the _Bembridge Belle_ was blowing off her +steam alongside the pier, sounding her whistle to tell belated +passengers like themselves that they had better put their best foot +foremost if they wished to reach her in time. + +"All aboard?" inquired the captain of the steamer from his post on the +port paddle-box, hailing the porter of the pier ashore, when they, the +very last of the late-comers, had scrambled across the gangway; and the +porter having signified that no one now was in sight, the blue-capped +gentleman standing on the paddle-box touched the engine-room telegraph, +and gave the signal to "Go ahead!" + +In another minute, the fore and aft hawsers that had previously made her +fast to the pier were cast-off, and her paddles began to revolve with a +heavy splashing sound, like that of flails in a farmyard threshing out +the grain. + +"Starboard!" sang out her skipper, now mounting from the paddle-box to +the bridge above. "Hard over, my man!" + +"Starboard it is, sir," replied the helmsman, rapidly twirling the +spokes of the wheel as he spoke. "It's right over, sir." + +"Steady!" now sang out the skipper, meaning that the vessel's head had +been sufficiently turned in the direction he desired. "Steady; keep her +so." + +"Steady it is, sir," repeated the man at the wheel like a parrot, to +show that the order had been understood and acted upon. "Steady it is." + +"Port a trifle now." + +"Aye, aye, sir," returned the helmsman, reversing the wheel. "Port it +is, sir; two points over." + +"Steady." + +"Steady it is." + +Whereupon, a straight course being now laid for the little port to which +they were bound on the Isle of Wight opposite, the _Bembridge Belle_ +steamed ahead, splashing and dashing through the water, that rippled +over with laughter in the bright sunshine, lightening up its translucent +depths, and leaving a broad silvery wake of dancing eddies behind her. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +AFLOAT--AND ASHORE. + +"Sure, I'm almost dead entirely, with all that hurrying and scurrying!" +exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, when she was at length got safely on board the +little steamer and comfortably placed on a cosy seat aft, near the +wheel, to which Captain Dresser had gallantly escorted her. "Really, +now, I couldn't have run another yard, if it had been to save me life!" + +She panted out the words with such a racy admixture of her Irish +"brogue," which always became more "pronounced" with her when she was at +all excited in any way, that the Captain, even while showing every +sympathy for her distressed condition, could not help chuckling as he +imitated her tone of voice and accent--much to the amusement of Master +Bob and Miss Nellie, you may be sure! + +"Sure, an' there's no knowin' what ye can do, now, till ye thry, ma'am!" +said he. "Is there, me darlint?" + +"None of your nonsense," she replied laughing; "I won't have you making +fun of my country like that. I'm sure you're just as much an Irishman +as I am!" + +This slip delighted the Captain. + +"There, ma'am," he exclaimed exultingly, "you've been and gone and put +your foot in it now in all conscience." + +"Oh, auntie!" cried Nellie, "an _Irishman_!" + +This made Mrs Gilmour see her blunder, and she cheerfully joined in the +laugh against herself. + +Bob, meanwhile, had stationed himself by the engine-room hatchway, and +was contemplating with rapt attention the almost human-like movements of +the machinery below. + +How wonderful it all was, he thought--the up and down stroke of the +piston in and out of the cylinder, which oscillated from side to side +guided by the eccentric; with the steady systematic revolution of the +shaft, borne round by the crank attached to the piston-head, all working +so smoothly, and yet with such resistless force! + +The whole was a marvel to him, as indeed it is to many of us to whom a +marine engine is no novelty. + +"Well, my young philosopher," said the Captain, tapping him on the +shoulder and making him take off his gaze for a moment from the sight, +"do you think you understand the engines by this time, eh?" + +Bob only needed the hint to speak; and out he came with a whole volley +of questions. + +"What is that thing there?" he asked, "the thing that goes round, I +mean." + +"The paddle-shaft," replied the Captain; "it turns the wheels." + +"And that other thing that goes up and down?" + +"The piston-rod," said the old sailor. "It is this which turns the +shaft." + +"Then, I want to know how the piston makes the shaft turn round, when it +only goes up and down itself?" + +"The `eccentric' manages to do that, although it was a puzzle for a long +time to engineers to solve the problem--not until, I believe, Fulton +thought of this plan," said the Captain; and, he then went on to explain +how, in the old beam-engine of Watt, as well as in the earlier +contrivances for utilising steam-power, a fly-wheel was the means +adopted for changing the perpendicular action of the piston into a +circular motion. "Of course, though," he added, "this fly-wheel was +only available in stationary engines for pumping and so on; but, when +the principle of the eccentric was discovered later in the day, the +previously uneducated young giant, `Steam,' was then broken to harness, +so to speak, being thenceforth made serviceable for dragging railway- +carriages on our iron roads, and propelling ships without the aid of +sails, and against the wind even, if need be!" + +"But what is steam?" was Bob's next query. "That's what I want to +know." + +This fairly bothered the Captain. + +"Steam?" he repeated, "steam, eh? humph! steam is, well let me see, +steam is--steam!" + +Bob exploded at this, his merriment being shared by Nellie and Mrs +Gilmour, the latter not sorry for the old sailor's "putting his foot in +it" by a very similar blunder to that for which he had laughed at her +shortly before; while, as for Dick, the struggles he made to hide the +broad grin which would show on his face were quite comical and even +painful to witness. + +The Captain pretended to get into a great rage; although his twinkling +eyes and suppressed chuckle testified that it was only pretence all the +time, though his passion was well simulated. + +"I don't see anything to laugh at, you young rascal," he said to Bob. +"I'm sure I've given you quite as good a definition as you would find in +any of those `catechisms of common things'--catechisms of conundrums, I +call them--which boys and girls are made to learn by rote, like parrots, +without really acquiring any sensible knowledge of the subjects they are +supposed to teach! I might tell you, as these works do, that `steam was +an elastic fluid generated by water when in a boiling state'; but, would +you be any the wiser for that piece of information, eh?" + +"No, Captain," answered Bob, still giggling, "I don't understand." + +"Or, I might tell you `steam: is only a synonym for heat, the cause of +all motion'--do you understand that?" + +Bob still shook his head, trying vainly to keep from laughing. + +"Of course not," cried the Captain triumphantly, "nor would I, either, +unless I knew something more about it; and to tell you that would take +me all the day nearly." + +"Oh spare us," said Mrs Gilmour plaintively. "Pray spare us that!" + +"I will, ma'am," he replied. "I assure you I wasn't going to do it. +Some time or other, though, this young shaver shall come along with me +when one of the new ships goes out from the dockyard for her steam +trials; and then, perhaps, he will be able to have everything explained +to him properly, without boring you or bothering me." + +"How jolly!" ejaculated Bob. "I should like that." + +"You mustn't count your chickens before they're hatched," growled the +other, turning round on him abruptly; "and, if ever I catch you +sniggering again when I'm talking I'll--I'll--" + +What the Captain's terrible threat was must ever remain a mystery; for, +just at that moment, Nell, who had been looking over the side of the +steamer, watching the creamy foam churned-up by her paddles and rolling +with heavy undulations into the long white wake astern marking her +progress through the water, suddenly uttered an exclamation. + +"Look, look, aunt Polly!" she cried excitedly. "Oh, look!" + +"What, dearie?" inquired Mrs Gilmour, bending towards her, thinking she +had dropped her glove or something into the sea. "What is it?" + +"There, there!" said Nellie, pointing out some dark objects that could +be seen tumbling about in the tideway some distance off the starboard +quarter. "See those big fishes, auntie! Are they whales?" + +It was the Captain's turn to laugh now. + +"Whales, eh? By Jove, you'll be the death of me, missy, by Jove, you +will, ho-ho-ho!" he chuckled, leaning on his stick for support. "What +does Shakespeare say, eh? `very like a whale,' eh? Ho-ho-ho!" + +Miss Nell did not like this at all, though she did not object to +laughing at others. + +"Well, what are they?" she asked indignantly. "What are they?" + +"Pigs;" replied the Captain with a grave face, but there was a sly +twinkle of his left eye approaching to a wink. "Those are pigs, missy." + +"I don't believe it," cried the young lady in a pet, putting up her +shoulders in high disdain. "You're only making fun of me!" + +"Hush, dearie, you mustn't be rude," said Mrs Gilmour reprovingly; "but +sure, Captain, you shouldn't make game of the child." + +"I assure you, I'm not doing so, ma'am," he protested, chuckling though +still with much enjoyment. "I've only told her the simple truth. They +_are_ pigs, sea-pigs if you like, commonly called porpoises. But, +whales, by Jove, that's a good joke, ho-ho-ho!" + +This time Nellie laughed too, the old sailor seemed to enjoy her mistake +with such gusto; and, harmony being thus restored, they all turned to +watch the graceful motions of the animals that had caused the +discussion, which, swimming abreast of the vessel, were ever and anon +darting across her bows and playing round her, describing the most +beautiful curves as they dived under each other, apparently indulging in +a game of leap-frog. + +The _Bembridge Belle_ was now just about midway between Southsea and +Seaview, and close upon the buoy marking the spot where the old _Marie +Rose_, the first big ship of our embryo navy, sank in the reign of bluff +King Hal, in an action she had with a French squadron that attempted +entering the Solent with the idea of capturing the Isle of Wight. The +`mounseers,' as the Captain explained to Bob, were beaten off in the +battle and most of their vessels captured, a result owing largely to the +part played by the gallant _Marie Rose_; though, sad be it to relate, +while resisting all the efforts made by the enemy to carry her by the +board, being somewhat top-heavy, "she `turned the turtle' at the very +moment when her guns were brought to bear a-starboard, to give a final +broadside to the French admiral and settle the action, the poor thing +then incontinently sinking to the bottom, where her bones yet lie." + +"Not far-off either," continued the Captain, "the _Royal George_ also +foundered in the last century, with over nine hundred hands, there being +a lot of shore folk in the ship beside her crew. Her Admiral, +Kempenfeldt, was also on board, and--" + +"Yes," said Mrs Gilmour, interrupting him; "and, sure, there's a pretty +little poem my favourite Cowper wrote about it which I recollect I +learnt by heart when I was a little girl, much smaller than you, Nell. +The lines began thus-- `Toll for the brave, the brave that are no +more,'--don't you remember them; I'm sure you must, Captain?" + +"Can't say I do, ma'am," he replied--"poetry isn't in my line. But, as +I was saying, the _Royal George_ heeled over pretty nearly in the same +way as the other one did that I just now told you about; and, I remember +when I was studying at the Naval College in the Dockyard ever so many +years ago, when I was a youngster not much older than you, Master Bob, +being out at Spithead when the wreck of the vessel was blown up, to +clear the fairway for navigation. I've got a ruler and a paper-knife +now at home that were carved out of pieces of her timber which I picked +up at the time." + +"How nice!" observed Mrs Gilmour. "A charming recollection, I call +it!" + +"Well, I don't know about that," replied the Captain, who seemed a +little bit grumpy, and was fumbling in his pockets without apparently +being able to find the object of which he was in search--"my +recollection is not so good as I would like it!" + +On Mrs Gilmour looking at him inquiringly, noticing the tone in which +he spoke, the truth came out. + +"The fact is, ma'am, I've lost my snuff-box," he said apologetically to +excuse his snappy answers. "I must have left it in my other coat at +home." + +He did not give up the quest, however, but continued to dive his hands +on the right and left alternately into pocket after pocket; until, +suddenly, the cross expression vanished from his face, being succeeded +by a beaming smile, followed by his customary good-humoured chuckle. + +"I've found it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, producing the missing box +from the usual pocket in which he kept it, where it had lain all the +time; and, taking a pinch, the Captain was himself again. "By Jove, I +thought my memory was gone!" + +The porpoises all this while continued their gambols about the steamer, +now ahead, now astern, now swimming abreast, one after the other, +rolling, diving, and jumping out of the water sometimes in their sport. + +They seemed to be having a regular holiday of it; and, tired of leap- +frog, had taken to "follow my leader" or some other game. At any rate, +they did not think much of the _Bembridge Belle_, passing and repassing +and going round her at intervals, as if to show their contempt of a +speed they could so readily eclipse. + +"Do you often see them here playing like this?" asked Nellie of the +Captain, who was also looking over the side. "Is that the way they +always swim?" + +"No, missy," said he, with all his old geniality, "not often, though +they pay us a visit now and then in summer when so inclined. Their +coming now through Spithead is a sign that there's going to be a change +of wind." + +"Oh!" cried Nell wonderingly. "How strange!" + +"Yes, my dear," went on the old sailor, smiling as he looked down in her +puzzled face upturned to his, "I'm not joking, missy, as you think. +Those fellows are regular barometers in their way; and, if you note the +direction towards which they are seen swimming when they pass a ship at +sea, from that very point wind, frequently a gale, may be shortly +expected." + +"I hope we're not going to have another storm," said Nellie, thinking of +their late experience. "I don't like those gales." + +"No, no, not so bad as that now, I think," he replied, chuckling away. +"There probably will be only a slight shift of wind from the western +quarter, whence it is now blowing, to the eastward, whither the +porpoises are now making off for, as you can see for yourself." + +So it subsequently turned out. + +The "sea-pigs," as the Captain had at first jocularly termed them, bade +good-bye to the steamer and its passengers when they had got a little +way beyond No Man's fort, and were approaching shoal water, with an +impudent flick of their flukey tails in the air as they went off, +shaping a straight course out towards the Nab light-ship, as if bound up +Channel. + +They had all been so occupied watching the porpoises that they had not +noticed the rapid progress the steamer had been making towards her first +port of call on the other side of the Solent; and so, almost at the same +moment that the Captain called Nellie's attention to the last movements +of the queer fish as they vanished in the distance, she shut off her +steam and sidled up to Seaview pier. + +"Who's for the shore?" cried out the skipper from his post on the +paddle-box, as soon as the vessel had made fast, and the "brow," or +gangway, was shoved ashore for the passengers to land, without any +unnecessary delay. "Any ladies or gents for Seaview?" + +The majority of those on board at once quitted the steamer, amongst them +being our quintet. + +As they were stepping on to the pier, however, a slight difficulty arose +in connection with one of their number. + +It was about Rover. + +"Is that your dog?" asked the collector of tickets of the + +Captain, as the retriever darted ahead in a great hurry. "That your +dog, sir?" + +"No," replied the old sailor, "not exactly--why?" + +"Because, if he is, he'll have to have a ticket the same as the rest," +said the man. "Dogs is half-price, like children." + +"Oh, I didn't know," cried the Captain apologetically, as he put his +hand in his pocket and paid Rover's fare, adding in a low voice to Mrs +Gilmour, while they were ascending the steps from the landing-stage to +the pier above, "I do believe that rascal thought I meant to cheat him +and smuggle the dog through without paying, the fellow looked at me so +suspiciously." + +"Perhaps he did," replied she laughing. "You know you are a very +suspicious-looking gentleman." + +"Humph!" he chuckled. "I think Rover intended to do him, though. He +squeezed himself past my legs very artfully!" + +"He did, the naughty dog," said Nellie, who, with Bob, had been much +amused by the little incident. "He's always doing it in London at the +railway-stations whenever we go by the underground line; and papa says +he wants to cheat the company. He comes after us sometimes, and jumps +into the railway-carriage where we are, when we think him miles away and +safe at home! Did you ever hear of such a thing, aunt Polly?" + +"No, dearie," she answered as they all stepped out briskly along the +rather shaky suspension bridge connecting the pier with the shore, which +oscillated under their feet in a way that made Mrs Gilmour anxious to +get off it as quickly as she could to firm ground. "Rover is a clever +fellow, sure!" + +"He's a very artful dog!" observed the Captain, whereat Rover wagged his +tail, as if he understood what he said and appreciated the +compliment--"a very artful dog!" + +Arrived on shore, presently, the children were in ecstasies at all they +saw; for, by only crossing the roadway opposite the land end of the +shaky bridge, they at once found themselves within the outlying +shrubbery and brushwood of Priory Park, which the kindly proprietor +freely threw open for years to the public, without post or paling +interfering with their enjoyment, until the vandalism and vulgarity of +some cockney excursionists, who wrought untold destruction to the +property, led to the rescinding of this privilege! + +Although touching the sea, the waters of which lapped its turf at high +tide, when once within the park, it seemed to Bob and Nellie as if they +were miles away already in the heart of the country; so that, accustomed +as they had been only to town life, it may be imagined how great the +change was to them in every way. + +As for runaway Dick from Guildford, who had been familiarised to rustic +scenes from his earliest infancy, he could see no beauty in the various +objects that each instant delighted the little Londoners' eyes and ears; +for, like the hero of Wordsworth's verse, "the primrose by the river's +brim" was but a primrose and nothing more to him! + +To Bob and Nellie, however, the scene around, with its salient features, +disclosed a new world. + +There were great, nodding, ox-eyed daisies that popped up pertly on +either side, staring at them from amidst wastes of wild hyacinths and +forget-me-nots that were bluer than Nellie's witching eyes. + +Pink and white convolvulus hung in festoons across the bracken-bordered +little winding pathways that led here and there through mazes of +shrubbery and undergrowth, under the arched wilderness of greenery +above. + +Rippling rivulets trickling down from nowhere and wandering whither +their erratic wills directed, their soft, murmuring voices chiming in +with the gayer carols of the birds. + +Amongst these could be distinguished the harmonious notes of some not +altogether unknown to them, the trill of the lark on high, the whistle +of the blackbird in the hidden covert, the "pretty Dick" of the thrush, +and the "chink, chink!" of the robin and coo of the dove, mingled with +the sweet but subdued song of the yellow-hammer and sharp staccato +accompaniment of the untiring chaffinch; while, all the time, a colony +of asthmatic old rooks in the taller trees of the park cawed their part +in the concert in a deep bass key at regular intervals, "Caw, caw, caw!" + +Bob and Nellie were so delighted and unsparing of their admiration of +everything they saw and heard, that Dick fell to wondering at the +pleasure they took in things which he held of little account. + +If unappreciative, however, Dick was of some service in telling Nellie +the names of the principal wild-flowers; while he rose high in Bob's +estimation by his lore in the matter of birds' nests, of which the ex- +runaway from the country, naturally, could speak as an expert. + +Touching the feathered tribe generally, he was able to tell them off at +a glance, with the habits and characteristics of each, as readily as Bob +could repeat the Multiplication Table--more so, indeed, if the strict +truth be insisted on, without stretching a point! + +"That be a throosh," he would say; and, "t'other, over there's, a +chaffy. He ain't up to much now; but wait till he be moulted and he'll +coom out foine! I've heard tell folks in furrin' parts vallies 'em +greatly, though we in Guildford think nowt of they. I'd rayther a lark +mysen, Master Bob." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Nellie, who had previously been shocked by Dick's lack +of sentiment, much pleased now at this expression of a better +taste--"you do like their singing then!" + +"Lawks no, miss," replied the unprincipled boy. "Larks is foine +roasted!" + +Nellie was horrified. + +"You don't mean to say, Dick," she cried, "that--that you actually eat +them?" + +"Aye, miss," he replied, without an atom of shame, "we doos. They be +rare tasty birds!" + +She gave him up after this, going along by herself in silence. + +"This is jolly!" exclaimed Bob presently, when, after getting a little +way within the park and ascending the rise leading up from the shore to +an open plateau above, he saw a sort of fairy dell below, at the foot of +a grassy slope, the green surface of which was speckled over with +daisies and buttercups. "Come along, Nell!" + +Down the tempting incline he at once raced, with Nellie and Rover at his +heels; and, diving beneath a jungle of blackberry-bushes at the bottom, +matted together with ropes of ivy that had fallen from a withered oak, +whose dry and sapless gnarled old trunk still stood proudly erect in the +midst of the mass of luxuriant vegetation with which it was surrounded, +Nellie heard him after a bit call out from the leafy enclosure in which +he had quickly found himself--"Oh, I say, I see such a pretty fern!" + +There was silence then for a moment or so, as if Bob was trying to +secure the object that had taken his fancy, the quietude being broken by +his giving vent to a prolonged "O-o-oh!" + +"What's the matter?" cried Nellie, who had stopped without the briary +tangle into which her brother had plunged, noticing that his accents of +delight suddenly changed to those of pain. "Are you hurt?" + +"I've scratched my face," he said ruefully, emerging from the +blackberry-brake with streaks of blood across his forehead and his nose +looking as if it had been in the wars. "Some beastly thorns did it." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Nellie, in sympathy and surprise; "I'm so sorry!" + +"It is `oh,' and it hurts too!" retorted he, dabbing his face tenderly +with his pocket-handkerchief. "However, I shall get that fern I was +after, though, in spite of all the prickles and thorns in the world!" + +So saying, in he dashed again, stooping under the thorny network, and +came out ere long with a beautiful specimen of the shuttlecock fern, +which elicited as expressive an "Oh" from Nellie as the sight of his +scratched face had just previously done--an "Oh" of admiration and +delight. But, as with Bob, her joyful exclamation was quickly followed +by an expression of woe. + +As she stepped forward to inspect the fern more closely, she put her +foot on a rotten branch of the oak-tree, which had become broken off +from its parent stem and lay stretched across the dell, forming a sort +of frail bridge over the prickly chasm below up to the higher ground on +which she stood. + +Alas! the decayed wood gave way under her weight, slight as that was, +and Nellie, uttering a wild shriek of terror, disappeared from Bob's +astonished gaze. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +IN A SAD PLIGHT! + +The Captain, who had remained on the plateau above, in company with Mrs +Gilmour and Dick--the latter still in charge of the precious hamper-- +pricked up his ears at the sound of poor Nellie's scream and Bob's +expressive cry of alarm. + +"Hullo!" he sang out in his sailor fashion-- "I wonder what's the row +now? By Jove, I thought it wouldn't be long before those two young +persons got into mischief when we left them alone together." + +"I hope to goodness they haven't come to any harm," said Mrs Gilmour +dolefully. "Sure and will you go and say what's happened?" + +"Sure an' I'm just a-going, ma'am," replied the Captain, keeping up his +good-humoured mimicry of her accent so as to reassure her; adding, as he +scrambled down the slope cautiously with the aid of his trusty malacca +cane-- "You needn't be alarmed, ma'am, `at all at all,' for I don't +believe anything very serious has occurred, as children's calls for +assistance generally mean nothing in the end. They are like, as your +countryman said when he shaved his pig, `all cry and little wool!'" + +He chuckled to himself as he went on down the declivity, turning round +first, however, to see whether Mrs Gilmour appreciated the allusion to +"poor Pat"; while Dick, leaving the hamper behind, followed, in case his +assistance might also be needed in the emergency. + +Arrived at the bottom of the dell the old sailor found it impossible at +first to tell what had happened; for, Bob was trying to force his way +through the brushwood brake, and Rover barking madly. Nellie was +nowhere to be seen, although her voice could be heard proceeding from +somewhere near at hand, calling for help still, but in a weaker voice. + +"Where are you?" shouted the Captain. "Sing out, can't you!" + +"Here," came the reply in the girl's faint treble; "I'm here!" + +"Where's `here'?" said he, puzzled. "I can't see anything of you!" + +"I've tumbled into a pit," cried Nellie piteously, in muffled tones that +sounded as if coming from underground. "Do take me out, please! +There's a lot of wild animals here, and they're biting my legs--oh!" + +A series of piercing shrieks followed, showing that the poor child was +terribly alarmed, if not seriously hurt; and the Captain saw that no +time was to be lost. + +"Can you reach her, Bob?" he sang out; "or see her, eh?" + +"No, I can't get through these prickly bushes, they're just like a +wall!" replied Bob, fighting manfully through to get down to his +sister's relief. "I can't see her a bit, either!" + +"Humph!" + +The Captain thought a moment, rather shirking going amongst the thorns. + +"Ha, the very thing!" he exclaimed. "Hi, Rover!" + +The dog, who had been barking and running here and there aimlessly, at +once cocked his ears and came up to the Captain, scanning his face with +eager attention. + +"Fetch her out, good dog!" he cried, pointing to the spot where the +broken branch of the oak-tree had given way, adding in a louder voice, +"Call him, Nellie--call the dog to you, missy." + +A cry, "Here, Rover!" came from underneath the tangled mass of +brushwood, borne down and partly torn away by Nellie in her fall to the +depths below. "Come here, sir!" + +No sooner did he hear this summons, faint though it was, from his young +mistress, than any uncertainty which may have obscured his mind as to +what the Captain meant by telling him to "fetch her out," at once +disappeared; and Rover, uttering a short, sharp, expressive bark, to +show that he now understood what was expected of him, boldly plunged +into the thicket with a bound. + +"Chuck, chuck, chuck! Whir-r-r-ur," and a blackbird flew out, dashing +in the Captain's face; while, at the same time, another piercing screech +came from Nellie-- "Ah-h-ah! Help!" + +The old sailor was so startled that he jumped back, his hat tumbling off +into a bramble-bush. + +"Zounds!" he exclaimed. "What the dickens is that?" + +In a moment, however, he recovered himself. + +"Pooh, what a fool I am!" he said, ashamed of the slight weakness he had +displayed, and hoping neither of the boys had noticed it; and then, to +show how cool and collected he was, he whistled up the retriever. +"Whee-ee-up, Rover, fetch her out, good dog!" + +Rover did not need this adjuration, not he. + +Even as the Captain spoke, there was a rustling and tramping in the +thicket, accompanied by the snapping of twigs; and, almost at the same +instant, the dog dashed out from amidst the brushwood with Nellie +holding on to his tail. + +"Oh my!" ejaculated Dick, rushing to her side; and, with the assistance +of Bob, who also emerged from the prickly cavern at the same time, she +was got on her feet-- "Poor Nell!" + +She presented a sorry spectacle. + +Never was such a piteous plight seen! + +Her face was scratched by the thorns, her clothes torn, and her hat had +fallen off like that of the Captain, who had, by the way, in the flurry +forgotten to replace his on his head, the venerable article remaining in +a sadly battered condition where it had fallen. + +On being released, however, from her predicament, Nellie treated the +matter much more lightly than might have been expected. + +She was a very courageous little girl now that she knew she was in +safety. + +But she was also, it should be said, blest, too, with great amiability. + +"Oh, never mind the scratches," she replied, in answer to the Captain's +inquiries. "I'm not at all hurt, thank you." + +"How about those wild animals?" asked the old sailor smiling, "eh, +missy?" + +Nellie coloured up, but could not help laughing at the Captain's +quizzical face, as he took up his hat gingerly and put it on. + +"I--I made a mistake," she stammered. "I was frightened!" + +At that moment, however, very opportunely, Master Rover, who had darted +back into the thicket after reclaiming his young mistress, saved her all +further explanation as to the unknown beasts that had caused her such +alarm by appearing now in full pursuit of an unfortunate rabbit which, +putting forth its best speed, escaped him in the very nick of time by +diving into a hole on the other side of the knoll, contemptuously +kicking up its heels as it did so, almost into his open mouth. + +The mystery of Nellie's disappearance was thus satisfactorily solved. + +She had fallen into an old rabbit-burrow. + +The harmless little creatures, whom she had imagined to be making +desperate assaults on her legs and about to eat her up, too, were +probably even more frightened than she was! + +"Oh--oh, that's one of those ferocious wild animals, little missy, eh?" +chuckled the Captain. "I see, young lady." + +"Yes, but they frightened me," pleaded poor Nell. "They moved about +under my feet, jumping up at me, I thought; and it was so dark down +there that I didn't know what they might be. You would have been +frightened too, I think, sir!" + +She added this little retort to her explanation with some considerable +spirit, a bit nettled by the Captain's chaff. + +"Well, well, my dear, perhaps you are right," he replied good- +humouredly. "I also have a confession to make, missy. Just before +Rover cantered up, with you holding on to his tail like Mazeppa lashed +to the back of the fiery untamed steed of the desert, a blackbird flew +out of your blackberry thicket, brushing past my face, and do you know +it startled me so that I jumped back, losing my hat. So, you see, I got +a fright too!" + +"I see'd yer, sir," said Dick, the Captain looking round as if awaiting +comment on his action. "I see'd yer done it!" + +"And so did I," cried Bob, the appearance of whose face had not been +improved by his struggles with the thorny bushes as he tried to force +his way through them to Nellie's rescue. "I saw you too!" + +"You young rascals!" exclaimed the Captain, shaking his stick at them. +"I thought you were looking at me! I suppose you'll be going and +telling everybody you saw the old sailor in a terrible funk, and that I +was going to faint?" + +"Sure and that's what I feel like doing!" cried Mrs Gilmour in a very +woebegone voice, she having only just succeeded in arriving at the scene +of action, scrambling down with some difficulty from the top of the +slope, the pathway being blocked at intervals by the struggling creepers +which twined and interlaced themselves with the undergrowth, trailing +down from the branches of the trees above, and making it puzzling to +know which way to go. "I couldn't crawl a step further. What with +scurrying to catch that dreadful steamboat, and then my fright of +hearing the children scream, and now having to clamber down this +mountain, I'm ready to drop!" + +"Don't, ma'am, please," said the Captain imploringly; "you'll be sorry +for it if you do. The ground is full of rabbit-burrows, and there are a +lot of nettles about." + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed, looking round her in the greatest alarm, +and drawing in the skirts of her dress. "Whatever made you bring me +here then, Captain Dresser?" + +"Well, ma'am," began the Captain; but Mrs Gilmour, who at that moment +first caught sight of Nellie's face, interrupted him before he could get +in a word further than, "you see--" + +"Oh, my dearie!" cried she, in a higher key, forgetting at once all her +own troubles; and, rushing up to Nell with the utmost solicitude, she +hugged her first and then inspected her carefully, "what have you done +to your poor dear face?" + +"Oh, it's not much, auntie," said Nellie, just then busy arranging her +dress. "I have only got a scratch or two." + +"And your clothes too," continued Mrs Gilmour, her consternation +increasing at the sight of the damage done. "Why, your frock is torn to +shreds!" + +"Not so bad as that, auntie," laughed the girl, but with a look of +dismay on her face the while. "It is rather bad though." + +"Bad," repeated her aunt, "sure, it's scandalous! And, say your +brother, now--whatever have you both been about? His poor face is all +bleeding, too!" + +"Now, don't you make matters worse than they are," interposed the +Captain. "A little water will soon set them both right." + +"And where shall we get water here?" she asked. "Tell me that!" + +His answer came quick enough, the Captain being seldom "taken aback." + +"You forget, ma'am, the little rivulet we passed on our way. Dick," he +added, "run and fetch some for us, like a good lad." + +Nell had brought with her from home a little tin bucket, which she +usually took down to the shore for collecting sea-anemones and other +specimens for her aquarium; so, catching hold of this, Dick started off +in the direction of the tiny brook they had crossed some little time +before, returning anon with the bucket brimming full. + +Miss Nell and Bob thereupon set to work in high glee at their extempore +ablutions; and, when they had subsequently dried their faces in their +pocket-handkerchiefs, both presented a much improved appearance. + +With the exception of a few scratches, they bore little traces of the +fray, the blood-stains, which looked at first sight so very dreadful, +having vanished on the application of the cold water, as the Captain had +prophesied. + +"There, ma'am," cried he now exultingly; pointing this out to Mrs +Gilmour, "I told you so, didn't I? `all cry and little wool,' eh, ho, +ho, ho!" + +"That may be," retorted she; "but, water won't mend Nellie's dress." + +"Well then, ma'am, I will," replied the Captain. "You'll always find a +sailor something of a tailor, if he's worth his salt!" + +He laughed when he said this, and his imperturbable good-humour banished +the last vestige of Mrs Gilmour's vexation at the children's plight. + +"Sure, and you shan't do anything of the sort," she said smiling. "I'll +run up Nell's tatters meesilf!" As she spoke she produced from her +pocket--a handy little "housewife," containing needles and thread, as +well as a thimble, which useful articles the good lady seldom stirred +out without; and, sitting down on a shawl which the Captain spread over +a bit of turf that he assured her was free from nettles, and ten yards +at least from the nearest rabbit-burrow, she proceeded to sew away at a +brisk rate on the torn frock of Miss Nellie, who sat herself demurely +beside her aunt. + +"Will you be long?" inquired the old sailor, after watching her busy +fingers some little time, getting slightly fidgety. "Eh, ma'am?" + +"I should think it will be quite an hour before I shall be able to make +the child decent," she replied. "Why do you ask?" + +"Humph!" ejaculated the Captain, as he always did when cogitating some +knotty point, "I'll tell you, ma'am. If it's agreeable to you, ma'am, +the boys and I might go on to Brading and see the remains of that Roman +villa I was talking about yesterday. That is, unless you would like us +to wait till you've done your patchwork there, and all of us go +together, eh?" + +"No, I wouldn't hear of such a thing," answered Mrs Gilmour, looking up +but not pausing for an instant in her task. "I wouldn't walk a mile to +see Julius Caesar himself, instead of his old villa, or whatever you +call it." + +The Captain appeared greatly amused at this. + +"I'm not certain that the place ever belonged to that distinguished +gentleman," he said. "It is supposed, I believe, to have been the +residence of a certain Vespasian, who was governor of the Isle of Wight +some period after its conquest by the Romans; but how far this is true, +ma'am, I can't vouch for personally, never having as yet, indeed, seen +the spot." + +"But, I assure you, I've no curiosity to go. I feel much too tired, and +would rather sit comfortably here. Would you like, Nell, to go with the +Captain and Bob?" + +"No, auntie, I'd prefer stopping with you. I want to get some ferns and +lots of things after you've mended my dress for me," replied Alice. "I +like flowers better than old ruins." + +She said this quite cheerfully, as if she didn't mind a bit not going +with the boys. + +This surprised the Captain somewhat, for he thought she would not like +being left behind, and would have looked at all events a trifle cross. + +But, seeing how she took the matter, the old sailor's mind was immensely +relieved. + +"Well then," he cried smiling, with his eyes blinking and winking away, +"the sooner we're off, why the sooner we'll be back. Hullo, though, +I've forgotten the hamper! Run up, Dick, and fetch it down here." + +Off scampered the lad, coming back quickly with the hamper, which he +placed carefully by Mrs Gilmour's side. + +"There ma'am," said Captain Dresser, "you can look after the luncheon +while we're away. Come along, boys--hi, Rover!" + +"Oh, please leave him behind," implored Nellie. "We want him." + +"What, who?" asked the Captain. "Dick or the dog?" + +"Rover," replied Nellie promptly. "He'll protect us in your absence in +case anything happens." + +"What's that, eh!" quizzed the old sailor. "I suppose you're thinking +again of those ferocious wild animals you encountered awhile ago, eh, +missy?" + +"It's a shame, auntie, for the Captain to tease me so!" exclaimed +Nellie, as the chaffy old gentleman went off chuckling, followed by +Master Bob and Dick, the three soon disappearing amidst the greenery. +"Never mind, though, I have got you, my good doggie; and I shan't forget +how you came to my help, nor how glad I was to catch hold of your poor +tail, you dear Rover, when you dragged me out of that horrid hole!" + +"Be aisy, me dearie," remonstrated Mrs Gilmour, as Nell reached over to +hug Rover in a sudden caress of affection, and caused by the sudden +movement a breakage of the thread, thus interrupting her aunt's +handiwork. "Sure, if you go wriggling about like an eel with that dog, +I shall never get your frock mended!" + +"All right, auntie, I beg your pardon. I'll be very good now, and +promise not to move again till you tell me to." + +So saying, Miss Nell resumed her former position, and, making Rover lie +down at her feet, remained "as quiet as a mouse," as her aunt +acknowledged, until the latter had completed her task of gathering up +the rents in the damaged garment that the envious blackberry-thorns had +made. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"THE DEVIL'S BIT." + +"Now, me dearie," said Mrs Gilmour, replacing her needle and thimble, +with the reel of thread, in her little "housewife," and putting that +carefully back into her pocket, "sure, we'll have a jollification on our +own account as our gentlemen have left us. We'll show them that we can +do without them, sure, when we like." + +"How nice, auntie!" cried Miss Nellie, agreeing thoroughly in the +sentiment her aunt had expressed, the desertion of the Captain and Bob, +in addition to the fact of Dick having been also taken away, having +affected the young lady more than she had acknowledged. "What shall we +do first to be `jolly,' as Bob says?" + +"I'll soon show you, me dearie," replied Mrs Gilmour. "Sure, you'll +say in a minute, Nell. Come now, me darlint, and help me." + +Then ensued a pleasant task, one in which Rover especially evinced the +keenest interest, the sagacious retriever watching their every movement +with an attention that never faltered. + +Needless almost to say, the agreeable occupation in question was that of +unpacking the hamper containing all the good things which Sarah had +packed and Dick had brought from the house for their picnic in the +woods. + +Aye, it was in the woods; and under the woods, too! + +Encircled by a hedge of green shrubbery and thicket undergrowth, amidst +which the wild-flowers of the forest stood out here and there, their +brightest tints gleaming with a wealth of colouring which nature's gems +alone display, Mrs Gilmour selected a nice smooth stretch of velvety +turf for their table. + +On this, she proceeded to lay a damask cloth, whose snowy whiteness +contrasted vividly with its surroundings; for, a clump of silver birches +joined in hand-clasp with a straggling oak overhead, sheltering the +grass-plot with their welcome shade from the heat of the noonday sun, +while, over all, a lofty spreading elm extended its sturdy branches, +like outstretched arms, above its lesser brethren below, as if saying +paternally, "Bless you, my children!" + +Having daintily arranged the contends of the hamper to the best +advantage on the open-air banqueting-table, an enormous veal-and-ham +pie, their chief dish, in the centre, Mrs Gilmour and Nellie surveyed +their handiwork with much complacency. + +"Sure, and I don't think a single thing has been forgotten," observed +the former with pardonable pride, after a critical inspection of the +various viands. "At most of the picnics I have participated in, either +the salt, or the mustard, or something else has been left behind; but, +to-day, I believe Sarah has remembered everything!" + +"Yes, I'm sure she has, auntie dear!" cried Miss Nellie with equal +enthusiasm. "Here's the kettle for us to boil; and the teapot, and +teacups, too, all ready for our tea, auntie, after lunch." + +"She is a good girl, Sarah, and I will reward her for this," said Mrs +Gilmour, giving a final pat to the table-cloth after smoothing it down +and pulling the corners straight. "I'm afraid, though, dearie, we'll +have to wait a precious long time before Captain Dresser and the boys +come back; and, laying the table has made me feel quite hungry, I +declare." + +"So am I, auntie," laughed Nell. "The sight of all the nice things is +too much. Let us go away and pick some wild-flowers till the others +come back, eh, auntie?" + +"But, how can we leave the things here?" questioned the other. "Suppose +some stranger, passing by, should take a fancy to our nice luncheon? +What a terrible thing it would be to come back and find it gone! Again, +too, just think, your friends the rabbits, dearie, might take it into +their comical little heads to play at hide-and-seek amongst the dishes, +besides nibbling what they liked. How would you like that, eh?" + +"Oh, auntie, how funny you are!" cried Nell, quite overcome at the idea +of the bunnies making a playground of their well-arranged table-cloth. +"But you can trust Rover to guard everything safely if we go away." + +"Are you sure, dearie?" inquired her aunt. "Quite sure?" + +"Certain, auntie, dear, nobody would dare to come near the spot while +he's here, for he'd pretty soon bark, and bite, too! And, as for the +poor rabbits, one sniff of his would send them all scuttling back into +their burrows. Hi, Rover!" Nell called out, after giving this +testimony on his behalf. "Lie down there, good dog, and watch!" + +Rover at once cocked an eye and looked in his young mistress's face. +Next, he took note of her pointed finger, which she waved in a sort of +comprehensive curve embracing the table-cloth with its appetising +display of eatables; and then, as if he had made a mental list of all +left in his charge, he laid down in a couchant position at the head of +the table, if such it could be called, with his nose between his paws, +along which his eyes were ready to take aim at any intruder, saying, in +their fixed basilisk stare, "Now, you just touch anything, if you dare, +my friend. I should like to see you attempt it!" + +"We can safely leave now, auntie," said Nellie; whereupon she and Mrs +Gilmour strayed off through the bracken, hunting here and there for +flowers on their way. + +Almost the first thing to catch their sight, before indeed they had left +the little turfy dell where their paraphernalia was spread out with +Rover in charge, was the pretty rose-coloured blossom of the "ragged +Robin," rising out of the grass. A little further off was a cluster of +the lilac field madder, named after Sherard the eminent botanist, whose +herbarium is still preserved at Oxford. This plant is one of a large +family, numbering over two thousand varieties, from which the well-known +dye, madder, is obtained, though, of late years, aniline colouring +matter has somewhat depreciated its commercial value. + +Mrs Gilmour presently picked up something better than either of these, +at least in appearance. This was a little blue flower resembling the +violet, with glossy green leaves that were its especial charm. + +"I declare I've found a periwinkle!" she cried--"such a fine one too." + +"Oh, let me look, auntie!" said Nell, peeping into her hand. "Dear me, +do you call that a periwinkle?" + +"Yes, dearie. Pretty, isn't it? It blooms all the year; and I've seen +it down in Devonshire covering a space of nearly half an acre with its +leaves and blossoms. One of the poets, not Cowper my favourite, though +one equally fond of the world of nature, describes the flower very +nicely. `See,' he says-- + + "`Where the sky-blue Periwinkle climbs + E'en to the cottage eaves, and hides the wall + And dairy lattice, with a thousand eyes!'" + +"What pretty lines, auntie, so very like the flower!" cried Nell when +Mrs Gilmour finished the quotation. "But, do you know, auntie, I +thought when you said you'd found a periwinkle, you meant one to eat, +like those periwinkles I've got in the aquarium you gave me." + +"Did you really, though, dearie?" said her aunt, smiling at her very +natural mistake. "It is because you feel hungry, I suppose. You may +eat this one if you like!" + +"No, no, auntie," laughed Nellie, "I'm not quite so hungry as that! +But, oh, auntie, here are some of those lovely big daisies we saw when +we first came in the park." + +"Those are the daisies that are called the `ox-eye' or moon daisy, my +dear," explained Mrs Gilmour. "You might call them the first cousins-- +though only, mind you, a sort of poor relation--of the choice marguerite +daisy that gardeners cultivate and think so highly of. Here, too, +dearie, I see another old friend of mine, whose petals fall just like +snow-flakes on the grass." + +"It is almost like the honeysuckle," cried Nellie. "How sweet it +smells!" + +"Like its name, dearie," replied the other. "It is called the `meadow- +sweet'; and a delicious perfume can be extracted from it by infusion in +boiling water. The roots of the plant are long tubers, which, when +ground to powder and dried, may be used as a substitute for flour, +should you have any scarcity of that article!" + +"I'd rather have the real sort of flour, though, auntie." + +"So would I, too, dearie," agreed Mrs Gilmour. "I only told you in +case you may be thrown on a desert island some day, when the information +might be of use in the event of your being without bread." + +"But, supposing there was no meadow-sweet there either, auntie?" + +"Sure that would be a bad look-out," said Mrs Gilmour, joining in +Nell's laugh. "I think we'd better wait till you get to the desert +island!" + +Wandering along, they plucked at their will masses of the wild +convolvulus, or "great bindweed," whose white blossoms, while they +lasted, added much to the general effect of the bouquet Nellie was +making up with her busy fingers from the spoils of coppice and sward. + +These, in addition to the flowers they had just picked, now comprised +many other natives of the wood and hedgerow, such as the purple bugloss, +the yellow iris, the star thistle, the common mallow; and, a convolvulus +which was brilliantly pink, in contrast to his white brother before- +mentioned. Besides these, Nellie had also gathered some sprays of the +"toad flax" and "blue succory," a relative of the "endive" tribe, which +produces the chicory-root so much consumed in England, as in France, as +a "substitute" for coffee. A splendid sprig of yellow broom and dear +little bunch of hare-bells, the "blue Bells of Scotland," with two or +three scarlet poppies, a wreath of the aromatic ground ivy and some +fern-leaves for foliage, completed her floral collection. + +Stopping beneath a group of trees further on, to listen to the song of a +thrush, which was so full of melody that they approached him quite close +without his noticing them, Nell and her aunt were amused by seeing two +rooks quarrelling over a worm which they had both got hold of at the +same time, one at either end gripping the unfortunate creature; and +gobbling, and tugging, and cawing, at once! + +One of these rooks had a white head, which he seemed to cock on one side +in a strangely familiar way to Nell. + +"He's just like the Captain!" she exclaimed, tittering at the fancied +resemblance. "Look, auntie, why he actually seems to wink!" + +"I declare I'll tell him!" said Mrs Gilmour, enjoying the joke none the +less at the fancied resemblance. "Sure he'd be hoighly delighted." + +Then, as they wound round back to the dell through the dense shrubbery, +they re-crossed the little rivulet which they had twice passed over +before. + +On the banks of this, although it was too small almost to have "banks," +properly speaking, Mrs Gilmour pointed out to Nell the "great water +plantain," with its sprigs of little lilac blossoms and beautiful green +leaves, like those of the lily of the valley somewhat. The plant is +said to be used in Russia as a cure for hydrophobia, the good lady +explained; though she added that she could not vouch personally for its +virtues. + +Not far from this, too, they found another very curious plant, called in +some places the "cuckoo pint," and in others the "wake robin," or, more +commonly, "lords and ladies." The leaves of this are of a glossy dark- +green and the flower very like the leaf; only, more curved and tinted +inside, with a hue of pale buff that becomes pinkish at the extremities, +the centre pistil being of the same colour. It belongs to the arum +family. + +Following the course of the brook, Nellie, a little way on, spied out a +regular bed of the forget-me-not; when Mrs Gilmour told her the old +legend connected with the flower. + +How a knight and a lady were sitting by the side of a river; and, on the +lady expressing a desire to have some of the bright blue blossoms "to +braid in her bonny brown hair," the gallant knight at once dashed in the +stream to gratify her wishes. He secured a bunch of the flowers; but, +on turning to regain the shore, the current overcame him; and, as the +old song goes-- + + "Then the blossoms blue to the bank he threw, + Ere he sunk in the eddying tide; + And `Lady, I'm gone, thine own love true, + Forget-me-not,' he cried. + + "The farewell pledge the lady caught; + And hence, as legends say, + The flower's a sign to awaken thoughts + Of friends who are far away!" + +"How nice!" cried Nellie-- "How very nice!" + +"Not for the poor knight, though," said her aunt. "However, here, +dearie, is another plant not quite so romantic, the old brown scabious, +or `turf-weed.' It is a great favourite with bees, while its roots are +supposed to have valuable medicinal properties, which the country people +well know and estimate at their right worth. In some places they call +it the `Devil's bit'!" + +"How funny!" interposed Nellie. "Why do they give it such a strange +name?" + +"Yes, it is rather a strange title; but I read once somewhere that the +story about it is, that the Spirit of Evil, envying the good which this +herb might do to mankind, bit away part of it and thence came its name, +`Devil's bit.'" + +"Really, auntie," said Nell. "Does it look as if it had been bitten?" + +"Yes, the root does," she replied. "But, come, dearie, we must get back +now as fast as we can, or Captain Dresser and the boys will be there +before us and eat up all the luncheon!" + +Without stopping to look at any more flowers or curious plants, they +retraced their steps towards the dell, Nellie humming the last line of +the song of the forget-me-not, which she was trying to learn by heart-- +"Of friends who are far away! Of friends who are far away"--when, +suddenly, they heard Rover's bark ringing through the woods, its echoes +loud and resonant, like the sound of a deep-toned bell. + +"Come on, dearie," called out Mrs Gilmour, who was in advance, +quickening her pace as she spoke, "come on quick, dearie! There's some +one making off with our lunch; and, just think how hungry we are!" + +"Don't fear, auntie," said Nell reassuringly behind her; "Rover will not +let any one touch it, you may be certain!" + +Nevertheless, she hurried after Mrs Gilmour; and both arrived together, +well-nigh breathless, at the spot where they had left their feast so +nicely laid out. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +A PICNIC UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + +They need not have been alarmed. + +Indeed, had she but given herself time for reflection, Nellie must have +known this without any further assurance than the faithful Rover's bark, +which would have been of quite a different tone had any stranger or +suspicious person invaded the spot he was left to guard. + +In such case, the good dog would have growled in the most unmistakable +manner, besides giving warning of there being danger ahead by a +different intonation of his expressive voice. + +He did not growl now, however, although he who had invaded the sacred +picnic ground where their provender was so lavishly displayed was, in +one sense, a stranger, being not one of the original members of the +festive party who had set out from "The Moorings." + +The reason for this was that the new-comer, really, was not a real +"stranger" in the sense of the word. The intruder was, in fact, +Hellyer, the coastguardsman, whom Rover had seen only so recently as +that very morning, when of course master doggie had accompanied Bob to +the beach for his bathe; and so, naturally, there was every reason for +his receiving Hellyer in a friendly manner. Hence, his bark, alarming +though it might have sounded at the first go off to Nell and her aunt, +was found now to have been a bark of recognition and joy and not one of +warning. + +Mrs Gilmour felt such a sensation of relief at the sight of Hellyer +that her feelings prevented her from speaking. As she told Nell +afterwards, she "couldn't have uttered a word to save her life"; and +there she remained, "staring at the poor man," to use her own +expression, and one that savoured thoroughly of her country, "as if he +were a stuck pig!" + +Hellyer, however, did not remain dumb. + +"Beg pardon, mum," said he respectfully, doffing his sailor hat and +touching his forehead with his forefinger in nautical salute; "but, 'ave +you seen the Cap'en anywheres about here, mum?" + +"You mean Captain Dresser, I suppose?" replied Mrs Gilmour, recovering +her loss of speech at the sound of his voice, at least so it seemed; the +good lady answering the coastguardsman's question in her usual way, by +asking him another!--"Eh, what, my man?" + +"Yes, mum. I've a message for him from our commander, mum; and they +told me at the house as how he were over at Seaview, so, mum, I comes +across by the next boat." + +"Well, he isn't very far-off, Hellyer," said Mrs Gilmour smiling; "I +didn't recognise you at first, sure, I was in such a terrible fright on +hearing the dog bark, least somebody was making off with our luncheon. +I'm really glad it's only you." + +"And I'm glad, too, mum." + +"So glad you're glad I'm glad!" whispered Nellie to her aunt, quoting +something she had seen in an old volume of _Punch_, and going into fits +of laughter. "Eh, auntie?" + +"Hush, my dear," said Mrs Gilmour reprovingly, but obliged to laugh too +in spite of herself, although she tried to hide it for fear Hellyer +would think they were making fun of him; and she turned to him to say, +"We expect the Captain, Hellyer, every minute. Why, here he is!" + +There he was, most decidedly; and he soon made his presence known. + +"Hullo, you good people!" he shouted, while yet some little distance +off, as he made his way down the slope followed by Bob and Dick, "I hope +you've got something for us to eat, for we're all as hungry as hunters." + +"Come on," answered Mrs Gilmour, "everything is ready, and Nell and I +are only waiting for you loiterers to begin." + +"Loiterers, indeed!" retorted the Captain good-humouredly, as he hobbled +along with some difficulty by the aid of his stick down the uneven path, +"you would loiter too if you had my poor legs to walk with! Never mind, +though, here we are at last; and, I tell you what, ma'am, that table- +cloth there and the good things you've got on it is the prettiest sight +I've seen to-day." + +"What!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "Prettier than the Roman villa?" + +"Hang the Roman villa! I beg your pardon, ma'am, but the word slipped +out unawares." + +After this apology for his somewhat strong expression, the old sailor +was proceeding to give the reason for his condemnation of the +archaeological remains he and the boys had been to see, when he noticed +Hellyer standing by in an attitude of attention. + +"Why, man," he cried, "what brings you here?" + +"I've got a letter for you, sir," replied Hellyer, handing an envelope +over to him, and saluting him in the same way as he had done Mrs +Gilmour just before. "Here it is, sir!" + +"Humph!" ejaculated Captain. Dresser, opening the missive and running +his eyes over the contents. "Here's some good news for you, Master +Bob." + +"Oh?" said the latter expectantly. "Good news, Captain?" + +"Yes," went on the old sailor, "my friend, Commander Sponson, of the +Coastguard, writes to me to say that one of the new ironclads is going +out of harbour next week on her trial trip; and, if you like, you shall +have a chance of seeing what sort of vessel a modern ship of war is." + +"Oh thank you, Captain Dresser, that will be jolly!" said Bob, his face +colouring up with pleasure. "But, will she fire her guns and all?" + +"Certainly," answered the other, "big guns, little guns, torpedo-tubes, +and the whole of her armoury! Besides, my boy, you'll be able to see +her machinery at work, as she will try her speed on the measured mile; +and then you can ask one of the engineers all those puzzling questions +you bothered my old brains with when we were on board the steamer this +morning." + +"That will be jolly," repeated Bob; "and--" + +"There, there," cried the Captain, interrupting him, "I won't say +another word now, I'm much too famished to talk. Mrs Gilmour, what +have you got for a poor hungry creature to eat, eh, ma'am?" + +"Anything you like," she responded with a smile. "Pray sit down and +begin." + +"I will," said he, seating himself with alacrity; and turning to the +coastguardsman, he added-- "I suppose, Hellyer, you could pick a bit +too, eh?" + +"Yes, sir, saving your presence. But, only after you and the ladies, +sir," was Hellyer's respectful reply; and then, with all the training of +an experienced servant, knowledge he had gained in the exercise of his +manifold duties during several years' service as the Captain's coxswain, +he proceeded to assist Dick in waiting, with an "If you'll allow me, +sir." + +"Some bread, please," called out the Captain presently. "Any your side, +Hellyer?" + +Hellyer and Dick both looked about the table, seeking in vain for the +required article. + +"I can't see none, sit," said the ex-coxswain deprecatingly, giving up +the quest after a bit in despair. He seemed, from the way in which he +spoke, as if he thought it was his fault that the bread was missing. +"There ain't any this side, sir." + +Dick's search too was equally fruitless. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, all anxiety. "Look in the hamper +again. Sure, we must have forgotten to take it out." + +But there also, alas! no bread was to be found. + +The Captain could not help laughing at Mrs Gilmour's face of dismay; +while Nellie clapped her hands in high glee. + +"Oh, auntie," she cried, "I thought you said just now when we were +spreading the cloth that nothing had been forgotten, and how good Sarah +was to think of everything. Oh, auntie!" + +"Oh, auntie!" chorussed Bob, joining in the general laugh. "Fancy +forgetting the bread!" + +"Aye, to leave out the staff of life, of all things!" put in the +Captain, having his say. "I hope `the good Sarah' has not remimbered to +forgit anything more importint, sure!" + +"I won't have you mimicking me," expostulated Mrs Gilmour, although she +took their joking in very good part. "Sure, mistakes will happen +sometimes, and there are biscuits if you can't have bread." + +"All right, all right," said the Captain soothingly, "I dare say we'll +get along very well as we are. Don't worry any more about the matter, +ma'am. We've got your excellent piecrust, at any rate, and that's quite +good enough for me." + +He chuckled still, though, for some time; and he chuckled more +presently, when something else, quite as important as the bread, was +discovered also to be missing. + +The discovery came about in this wise. Before sitting down with the +others, Bob had rigged up in gipsy fashion, on three forked sticks, a +little brass kettle, which he had specially asked his aunt to have put +with the other picnic things, in order to carry out thoroughly the idea +of "camping out" as he had read about it in books; and, besides slinging +the kettle artistically in the way described, he also filled it with +water from a stone jar which they had brought with them, as a precaution +in the event of their not being able to get any of drinkable quality +where they intended making a halt, Mrs Gilmour expressing some little +repugnance to his taking any out of the brook, although they had been +glad enough previously to use it for washing their scratched faces. She +said it had too many dead leaves and live creatures in it for her taste. + +Under the filled kettle, too, Bob had lit a fire, for which Nell and +Dick collected the sticks; and, long before luncheon was done, this was +blazing up quite briskly, and the kettle singing away at a fine rate. + +By and by, when the Captain declared he couldn't eat another morsel, and +Bob and Nellie also had had enough, Mrs Gilmour heaped up a couple of +plates with the remains of the veal-and-ham pie for Hellyer and Dick, +who had all this time been busily employed ministering to their various +wants, and now retired some little distance off to enjoy their well- +earned meal. + +Then came Bob's turn for action. + +"The kettle is boiling, auntie," he cried out, poking fresh sticks in +the fire, which crackled and spitted out as the sap in pieces of the +greener wood caught the heat, the smoke ascending in a column of spiral +wreaths, and making Bob's eyes smart on his getting to leeward of the +blazing pile. "Shall we have tea now?" + +"Yes, my dear boy," said she in a very pathetic voice. "Do, please, +make it as quick as you can, I feel quite faint for want of some, as it +is long past the time for my usual afternoon cup." + +"All right, auntie," replied Bob, bustling about with great zeal, "I +will get it ready in a jiffy. But, where's the tea?" + +"It's in the teapot, I suppose, my dear; and you'll find that in the +hamper with the teacups. Nellie and I thought we wouldn't unpack them +until they were wanted." + +Nell, who had been sitting between her aunt and the Captain, on hearing +her name introduced, at once got up to help Bob; but in spite of every +search, neither of them could find the tea. + +As in the case of the bread, the "good Sarah" had forgotten it; for, +neither in teapot, teacups or elsewhere could the tea be seen! + +"Well, ma'am!" exclaimed the Captain on hearing the painful news. "That +bates Banagher, as one of your countrymen would say." + +"I'm sure nobody could be more sorry than I am," pleaded poor Mrs +Gilmour, whom this second mishap completely overwhelmed, "I did so long +for a cup of tea!" + +"Well, well," said the Captain when he was able to speak, after a series +of chuckles that made him almost choke, "the next time that a picnic's +in the wind I'd take care, if I were you, to overhaul your hamper before +starting, to see that nothing is forgotten." + +"It's all `that good Sarah,' auntie," cried Bob slily; and, then, they +all had another laugh, the misfortunes of the day being provocative, +somehow or other, of the greatest fun. "Oh that `good Sarah'!" + +It appeared as if Mrs Gilmour would be the only sufferer in having to +go without her tea: but, at this critical point, Hellyer came to the +rescue. + +"Beg pardon, mum," said he, stepping up to her with a deferential touch +of his forelock; "but I knows the woman in the keeper's lodge where you +comed in, and I thinks as how I could borrow a bit o' tea from her, if +you likes." + +"Thank you very much, if it's no trouble," replied Mrs Gilmour, hailing +the offer with joy, "I certainly would like it." + +Hardly waiting to hear the termination of her reply, the thoughtful +follow darted off along the winding path through the shrubbery by which +they had gained the pleasant little dell; returning before they thought +he could have reached the keeper's lodge with a little packet of tea. +This Miss Nell took from Hellyer and at once emptied into the teapot, +while Bob attended to the kettle and poured the boiling water in; so +that Mrs Gilmour was soon provided with the wished-for cup of her +favourite beverage. + +The good lady's equanimity being now restored, she proceeded to question +the Captain about the Roman villa at Brading. + +"But, what did you see after all?" she asked; "you haven't told us a +word yet." + +"Oh, don't speak about it, ma'am," he replied grumpily. "It's a regular +swindle." + +"But, what did you see?" she repeated, knowing his manner, and that he +was not put out with her, at all events. "I want to know." + +"See?" echoed the Captain, snorting out the word somehow with suppressed +indignation. "Well, ma'am, to tell you the truth, we saw nothing but +some fragments of old pottery--" + +"Just like broken pieces of flower-pots, auntie," interrupted Master Bob +in his eagerness. "The same as you have at the bottom of the garden." + +"Yes," continued the old sailor, "that's exactly what these much +exaggerated `remains' resembled more than anything else, I assure you, +ma'am. Of course, all these bits of earthenware were arranged in order +and labelled and all that; but I couldn't make head or tail of them." + +"Perhaps you do not understand archaeology?" suggested Mrs Gilmour, +smiling at his description. "That's the rayson they didn't interest +you, sure!" + +"P'r'aps not, ma'am," he replied with the utmost good temper. "I fancy +I know something of seamanship and a little about natural history, but +of most of the other 'ologies I confess my ignorance; and, for the life +of me, I can't see how some people can find anything to enjoy in the old +pots and pans of our great-great-grandfathers!" + +"You forget the light which these relics throw on the manners and +customs of the ancients," argued the other. "There's a good deal of +information to be gleaned from their mute testimony sure, me dear +Captain." + +"Information?" growled the Captain. "Fiddlesticks! And as for the +manners and customs of our ancestors; why, if all I have read be true, +they were uncommonly similar to the account given by a middy of the +natives of the Andaman Isles, as jotted down in his diary, `manners, +none--customs, beastly!'" + +"That's shocking," exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, laughing. "But the criticism +will not apply to the Romans, who were almost as civilised and refined +as ourselves." + +"And that's not saying much!" said the Captain with one of his sly +chuckles. "Faith we haven't any to boast of!" + +"Speak for yourself," she retorted, "sure that's a very poor compliment +you're paying me." + +"Present company always excepted," he replied, with an old-fashioned bow +like that of a courtier. "You know I didn't allude to you." + +"I accept your apology, sir," said she with equally elaborate +politeness. "I would make you a curtsy if I were standing up, but you +wouldn't wish me to rise for the purpose. Did you not see, though, +anything at all like the ruins of a Roman villa or house at Brading?" + +The Captain took a pinch of snuff, as if to digest the matter before +answering her question. + +"Well, ma'am," he began, after a long pause of cogitation, "we were +shown some bits of brickwork, marked out in divisions like the +foundations of a house: and a place with a hole in the floor which, they +said, was a bath-room. We also saw a piece or two of tesselated +pavement, with a lot of other gimcracks; but I certainly had to exercise +a good deal of fancy to imagine a villa out of all these scattered +details, like the Marchioness in Dickens' _Old Curiosity Shop_, which I +was reading the other day, `made believe' about her orange-peel wine!" + +"Then we didn't lose much by not accompanying you?" she remarked. "I +was rather sorry afterwards I was unable to go." + +"Lose anything?" he repeated with emphasis, "I should think not, indeed! +If my poor legs could speak, they would tell you that you've gained +`pretty considerably,' as a Yankee would say, by remaining comfortably +here. Hullo, missy, what a splendid posy you've got there!" + +"Yes, are they not nice?" replied Nellie, on the Captain thus turning +the conversation to her collection of wild-flowers, some of which she +had arranged tastefully in a big bunch and placed them in her tin bucket +filled with water to keep them fresh. "Aunt Polly helped me to gather +them." + +"I dare say she told you their names and all about them at the same +time, my dear." + +"Oh yes, Captain Dresser," said Nellie. "She told me lots." + +"Ah!" ejaculated the Captain, heaving a deep sigh of regret. "If I only +knew as much as your auntie does of botany, missy, what a clever old +chap I should be!" + +"Don't you believe him, Nell!" cried Mrs Gilmour deprecating the +compliment. "Captain Dresser knows quite as much as I do about plants +and flowers, and a good deal more, too. I only wish he had been here to +tell you the story of the `Devil's bit,' for he would have narrated it +in a much better fashion than I did, I'm sure." + +"The divvle a bit of it, ma'am!" exclaimed the old sailor, bursting into +a jovial laugh at his joke, wherein even the staid Hellyer joined. +"But, a truce to your blarney, ma'am; or, you'll make me blush. Allow +me to inform you that time is getting on; and, unless we make a start +for the pier soon, we'll never catch the steamer and reach home to- +night!" + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +WRECKED. + +"How's that, sure?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "It's early yet, for the sun's +still overhead." + +"You forget, ma'am, our old friend up there is rather a late bird at +this time of year," replied the Captain. "He hasn't crossed the line +yet, you know." + +"Well, then," argued the good lady, who was sitting at her ease on a +pile of shawls and wraps, enjoying a second cup of tea which Nell had +just poured out for her, "where's the hurry?" + +"Oh, pray take your time, ma'am, I wouldn't like to hasten your +movements for worlds, you look so comfortable!" said the old sailor +satirically. "Perhaps you'd allow me to mention, however, just in a +friendly way, that it is now half-past five o'clock, and the steamer +starts at six!" + +This made Mrs Gilmour jump up so suddenly that she spilt her tea, which +made them laugh; and all set to work in a merry mood to collect their +traps for the return journey, the good lady saying she would "never +forgive the Captain" for not telling her the time before. + +The coastguardsman had to shoulder the hamper when packed, as well as +carry the empty water-jar; for, both Bob and Dick, whose respective +burdens these had previously been, had rushed off soon after luncheon +and when all interest in making a fire and boiling the kettle had +ceased, down to the shore, where presently the truants were discovered. + +They were wading in the sea, without their shoes and stockings, in high +glee, and hunting amongst the rocks for anemones and corallines for the +aquarium, having already nearly filled with specimens Nellie's useful +little tin bucket, from which her poor nosegay had been ruthlessly +removed. + +"Hullo, you boys!" sang out the Captain on catching sight of them, after +consulting his watch; "you'll have to come out of that at once. Time's +up, for the steamer will be due in another five minutes. Look sharp!" + +"Do stop a moment," answered Bob, just then busy at the base of a rock +close by the pier, which was nearly awash with the incoming tide, "I've +found such a jolly sea-anemone here. Come and see it, please, Captain." + +"Are you sure it's not a weed?" called back the old sailor a trifle +impatiently. "We can't waste any time on rubbish!" + +"Of course not; I should think I ought to know an anemone by now, sir!" +cried Bob, rather indignant at being supposed capable of making such a +mistake, albeit his knowledge on the subject, it must be confessed, was +but slight and only lately acquired. "It is coloured beautifully, and +looks like a purple chrysanthemum." + +"By Jove!" exclaimed the Captain, forgetting the steamer and his fatigue +alike as he hurried towards the spot where Bob was paddling in the water +and Dick standing close by, bucket in hand. "Why, it's the very thing +I've been hunting for, missy, to set off your aquarium." + +"Mind you don't get your feet wet!" called out Mrs Gilmour, in great +solicitude, as he went off in keen ardour to assist the boys in securing +the prize, the good lady adding, as Nellie scampered after him, she +contenting herself with remaining higher up on the shore: "Take care, my +dearie! I don't want to have you laid up, with your father and mother +coming down in a few days, when I want you to look your best." + +"Never fear, I'll take care of her and myself too!" sang out the +Captain, who by this time, hopping from rock to rock, in which operation +he was closely followed and imitated by the giggling Nellie behind him, +had reached the boulder where Bob was. "Keep close to me, missy." + +"Don't touch it for a little while, my boy, I want your sister to see it +expanded, and it will close up if you go poking it about. Look, Miss +Nell!" he continued, pointing it out to her with the end of his malacca +cane, "The sun is just shining on it through the water, and you can sea +its colours of pink, purple, and orange. This is one of the actinea, or +`anthozoa,' so-called from two Greek words meaning `living flowers.' A +pretty name, missy, isn't it?" + +"Yes," said Nellie. "It reminds me of a fairy tale aunt Polly told me +of the different flowers in the garden having a party and talking +together." + +"Precisely, my dear; only the anthozoa can't talk!" + +"But, oh, how pretty this sea-anemone is!" cried she in ecstasies, not +noticing his little bit of satire. "It is wonderful!" + +"It is, my dear," replied the Captain; "although it's one of the +commonest forms of the actinea family. As Bob said just now, it is very +like a chrysanthemum; and, if anything, more beautiful, which you can +see for yourself before we try to shift its lodging. It is called by a +fearfully long scientific name, which to my mind does a positive injury +to the poor beast. What do you think of such a jaw-breaker as +`mesembryanthemum,' eh?" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Nell, "what an awful word! I'm sure I shall never be +able to remember it." + +"You must, missy, if you want to describe properly the inmates of your +aquarium, where this gentleman is now going to make a move for. Now, +Bob," went on the Captain, turning round to the boys, who were anxiously +waiting, all eagerness to commence proceedings, "put that knife of +yours, that you have been brandishing all this time, carefully under the +base of the poor beggar, and try to peel him off, as I see the rock is +too smooth for us to break away. Mind you don't touch the animal with +the sharp point, though; for the slightest scratch will kill him." + +Nellie watched Bob with eager attention from the top of the boulder; +while Dick held the little tin bucket below the sea-anemone, so as to +catch it as soon as it had been separated from the rock. At the first +touch of Bob's knife, the anemone shrunk in, showing nothing but a row +of blue turquoise-like beads around its top or mouth; the rest of the +animal appearing to be but a dull lump of jelly, all its vivid colours +and iridescent hues having vanished on the instant of its being assailed +by Bob with that formidable weapon of his. + +"It's wounded!" cried Nellie impulsively. "Don't hurt it, Bob, poor +thing!" + +"It's all right, missy," said the Captain, consolingly. "It always +shrinks like that when any one interferes with it. But, look sharp, +Bob, there's your aunt waving her handkerchief like mad from the pier- +head to say that the steamer's coming in; and, by Jove, there she is, +rounding the point!" + +They did look sharp; the boys, after the anemone was secured, scampering +ashore in extra high spirits on account of the old sailor telling them +that they had no time to put their shoes and stockings on, and would +have to go on board the _Bembridge Belle_ without them, like a pair of +mudlarks. + +The Captain hurried, too, jumping from rock to rock and boulder to +boulder, a precaution now even more necessary than before, from the tide +having risen considerably even during their short delay and being now +nearly at the flood. + +Sure-footed himself as an old sailor, though holding Nellie's hand to +prevent her slipping, he found time, in spite of his hurry, to point out +to her, growing on the beach under the low cliff, beyond where the +keeper's lodge stood, a solitary specimen of the "sea cabbage," whose +bright yellow flowers and fleshy green leaves, he suggested, would be an +addition to the general effect of her bouquet, which, by the way, Mrs +Gilmour had taken charge of while she went anemone-gathering, after this +had been discarded from the bucket. + +"It isn't bad eating, either, when on a pinch for green stuff," added +the old sailor; "and I've seen boys hawking the plant about for sale at +Dover. But, let us push ahead, missy--run, boys, run, the steamer's +alongside!" + +With their shoes and stockings slung over their shoulders, Bob and Dick +pattered along the shaky suspension bridge to the pier in advance, +making good way in their bare feet; but, old as he was, the Captain was +not far behind, going at a jog-trot that made Miss Nell step out to keep +pace with him. + +However, they were not sorry when they reached the pier-head, for, all +the while they were running, the steam-whistle of the _Bembridge Belle_ +was screeching away, as if telling them they would be too late, and +threatening to start off without them if they did not hurry. + +"Just did it!" gasped the Captain, setting foot on the gangway and +jumping on board, dragging poor Nellie almost in as breathless a state +after him, Bob and Dick having already preceded them. "By Jove, it was +a near squeak, though!" + +"Sure, it's your own fault you're not cool and comfortable like mesilf," +said Mrs Gilmour, whom Hellyer had escorted to the pier. He had, +likewise, secured a good seat for her in the stern-sheets of the boat, +as the Captain had previously done; and here she was now snugly +ensconced when the late-comers arrived-- "How hot you do look, to be +sure!" + +"Humph!" growled the Captain, not making any further reply to her rather +exasperating remark until he had finished mopping his flushed face with +a bright bandana handkerchief of the same red hue; when he added grimly, +as if somewhat out of temper, "If I'm hot, ma'am, you're _cool_, that's +all I can say!" + +Mrs Gilmour, however, was used to his ways and knew how to humour him. + +"Now, don't you go pretending you're angry," she said, laughing merrily. +"You needn't, sure, for I know better!" + +"As you please, ma'am, as you please, ma'am," he replied, adding with +his usual chuckle-- "I know you are bound to have your own way, ma'am, +whether I like it or not!" + +They both laughed at this, these little tiffs between them being of +frequent occurrence, especially of an evening over the cribbage-board; +and, matters being again on a comfortable footing, they turned to the +children, who were looking out, as before, over the side at the various +objects that presented themselves as the _Bembridge Belle_ ploughed her +way back to Southsea. + +The steamer passed quite close to one of the harbour forts in the sea, +guarding the approaches to Spithead; and, of course, Bob, who with Dick +had now again donned his shoes and stockings, wanted to know all about +the imposing structure with its frowning guns, by the side of which the +boat they were in seemed a veritable cockleshell, although a fairly +good-size; vessel. + +Equally, of course, the Captain had to tell him what he knew--how the +fort was built of solid masonry, sixteen feet thick, with two feet of +armour-plating outside that; and how the little fortress, as it +undoubtedly was, had a well dug deep down into the sands below the sea, +to supply its garrison with fresh-water in the event of communication +being cut off with the mainland. To provide against which contingency +it was also provisioned and furnished with every requisite to stand a +siege. + +He was explaining all this, when a large screw-steamer, high in the bows +and low in the stern, crossed the _Bembridge Belle_ making for +Portsmouth. + +"Hullo, ma'am!" cried the Captain, glad to have the opportunity of a sly +dig at Mrs Gilmour in remembrance of her previous amusement at his +expense, "there's your pig-boat!" + +"What!" said she innocently. "I don't understand you." + +"The Irish pig-boat, ma'am," he repeated, his beady black eyes twinkling +and his bushy eyebrows moving up and down, as they always did when he +said anything funny. "It brings your fellow-countrymen over here twice +a week." + +"You're very complimentary, sir," said she. "Very complimentary, I +declare!" + +"Not a bit of it, ma'am," he replied, delighted at the idea of her +taking his remark seriously. "Don't you, in your `swate little island' +call poor piggy `the jintleman who pays the rint,' eh?" + +"Sure," she retorted with a smile, taking up the cudgels on behalf of +her country, "there are more pigs in England than what come over from +Ireland!" + +"I cry a truce!" exclaimed the old sailor laughing heartily, Bob and +Nell, too, as well as Dick, appreciating the joke hugely; "you had me +there, ma'am, you had me there!" + +The _Bembridge Belle_ was now well across the waterway, rapidly nearing +the pier from which they had originally started in the morning, and Mrs +Gilmour was just saying what a very enjoyable day they had passed, in +spite of all mishaps, while Nellie was priding herself on the grand +collection of wild-flowers she had made with her aunt's help, and Bob +and Dick busy over the bucket, showing Hellyer the various treasures +they had picked up amongst the rocks on the shore; when, all at once, +the bows of the steamer struck against something in the channel, with a +concussion that threw nearly everybody off their feet--the shock being +succeeded by a harsh grating sound as if her hull was gradually being +ripped open. + +"Good gracious me!" cried out Mrs Gilmour, "what on earth is that?" + +Nobody, however, for the moment, attended to her: nobody, indeed, even +heard the question; for the scene of quiet enjoyment which the deck had +presented the moment before was changed to one of utter confusion, the +shrieks of frightened women and hoarse cries of some of the men mingling +with the screams of children and the noise of escaping steam, roaring up +the funnel. + +Captain Dresser had hastened forwards to the forecastle of the ill-fated +vessel to see with his own eyes what had happened as soon as the steamer +struck, being immediately followed by Dick and Bob, who left Nellie +clinging to her aunt in great consternation. + +As for the skipper of the poor steamer, he seemed to have lost his head +completely, for he was shouting out orders one moment from the bridge +and contradicting them the next: while the crew were rushing about the +decks aimlessly, one going here and another there, without apparent end +or purpose, every one looking bewildered from the want of proper +leadership. + +"Keep calm, ladies!" the skipper sang out at intervals between his +orders to the seamen and firemen, whom the incessant sounding of the +engine-room gong had brought up from below. "Keep cool; there's no +danger, I tell you!" + +He himself, however, appeared so perturbed, that his assurances +increased, instead of lessened, the panic amongst the passengers, who +huddled together in groups like startled sheep; and Nell clasped her +aunt's hand tightly, the two awaiting in great anxiety Captain Dresser's +return from his inspection of the vessel forwards. + +They were not long kept in suspense. + +After a brief interview, which seemed an eternity, the old sailor re- +appeared aft. + +His face looked very grave. + +"I'm sorry for the old _Bembridge Belle_" he said in a low tone to Mrs +Gilmour, so as not to be overheard by the other passengers standing +near. "The poor thing has a large hole knocked through her fore +compartment, and is filling with water fast!" + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +THE "GOOD SARAH'S" FORGET-ME-NOTS. + +"Tell me, is there any danger?" asked Mrs Gilmour, speaking quite +calmly, in spite of her fears; for, although of a somewhat hasty +disposition and apt to be put out at trifles, she was possessed of a +strong, natural courage, which, as is the case with most of the so- +called "tender sex," only displayed itself in great emergencies. "You +may disclose the worst. I can bear it!" + +"Pooh!" grunted the Captain off-hand, rather impolitely. "There's no +`worst' to tell, ma'am. All on board are quite safe, and will be put +ashore securely as soon as the boats come off. My fears are for the +unfortunate vessel, the loss of which will be a sad blow to her skipper, +poor fellow, as he has staked his all in her!" + +"But, Captain," she rejoined, "why do you look so serious?" + +"Serious?" he repeated after her, the hard lines in his face at once +relaxing--"so would you, too, look serious, ma'am, if you thought of the +matter in the same light. You see, I can't help looking upon a ship as +a sort of living creature; and to think of a fine boat like this coming +to grief in such a lubberly fashion is enough almost to make one cry!" + +His eyes blinked furiously as he said this, the bushy eyebrows above +moving up and down; and, taking out his bright bandana handkerchief, he +blew his nose with vigour, as if to give vent to his emotion, + +Nellie, whose pale face had gained a little more colour since the +Captain's reassuring words to her aunt, now sidled up to him, catching +hold of his hand affectionately. + +"But will the poor steamer really be lost?" she inquired timidly; +"wrecked, as sailors call it?" + +"Yes, I'm afraid so with the pack of nincompoops we've got on board," he +growled. "They're talking of beaching her; and if so, with the wind +chopping round to the eastwards, as those porpoises you saw this morning +told us it will do by and by, for they're unfailing weather prophets +always, why, the unfortunate craft will lay her bones on the shingle. +She will, at all events, if any sort of a sea get up, or call me no +sailor!" + +Bob, who on his return from the fore-part of the vessel in company with +Captain Dresser had stationed himself again by the engine-room hatchway, +here gave a shout. + +"They're moving," he cried; "I see the piston going up and down, and the +shaft turning round!" + +The rapid beat of the paddle-wheels on the water alongside gave +testimony to the truth of Bob's statement; but to Nell's surprise, no +churned-up foam came drifting by astern as before, and she couldn't make +it out. + +The paradox, however, was made plain to her by Hellyer, who did not seem +to trouble himself much about the mishap, remaining seated on the +hamper, which he had placed by the after sponsing of the starboard +paddle-box. The coastguardsman, indeed, appeared as unconcerned +throughout all the fuss as if he were safe ashore in his own little +cabin on the beach; while Rover kept close beside him, as he had done +since Hellyer took charge of the hamper which he had brought on board-- +the dog evidently considering himself still responsible for all the +picnic goods and chattels that his young mistress had told him to watch. + +"The paddles is backin' astern," replied Hellyer; "and so, miss, their +wake drifts for'ard instead of aft. That's the reason, miss, you sees +nothing washing by." + +But this movement did not long continue, two strokes of the gong in the +engine-room being heard as the captain of the steamer moved the brass +handle of the mechanical telegraph on the bridge; whereupon, the +machinery was suddenly stopped. + +Then the gong sounded twice again, the signal being followed by the +quick "splash--splash--splash!" of the paddles once more in the water; +when Nellie was delighted by seeing the creamy foam tossing up alongside +where she and her aunt were now standing again, they having vacated +their seats on the first alarm, like others of the passengers. + +"By Jove!" muttered the Captain, half aloud. "The fool of a fellow is +actually going ahead again!" + +"What!" cried Mrs Gilmour-- "any new danger?" + +"Oh, nothing," he snapped out, evidently very grumpy at things not being +done in the way he thought best. "I was only uttering my thoughts +aloud, ma'am. If you must know, I think it very risky of our friend the +skipper trying to drive the boat ahead when she's down by the bows. +Poor chap, I'm afraid he has lost his head, the same as the vessel has +hers! Never mind, though, she cannot go very far in this shoal water, +or I'm a Dutchman!" + +Nor did she. + +In less than a minute there was another heavy bump that shook the deck +fore and aft, making all the passengers tumble about like ninepins. Bob +nearly took a dive through the hatchway of the engine-room, into which +he was still peering, and Nellie fell on poor Rover, causing him to +utter a plaintive howl; while, as for Mrs Gilmour, she lurched against +the Captain as if she were going to embrace him with open arms, treading +at the same time on his worst foot, whereon flourished a pet corn that +gave the old sailor infinite trouble, which he ever guarded as the apple +of his eye. + +"O-o-o-o-oh!" he groaned, hopping about the deck on one leg and holding +up the injured foot with both his hands, "I knew some further mischief +would come from what that idiot of a skipper was doing!" + +Meanwhile, the steamboat people on the pier, off which they had grounded +only some three or four hundred yards away, seeing the predicament of +the vessel, set to work sending off boats to land the passengers. + +The first of these reached the little vessel just as she struck the +sandbank she had run foul of for the second time; then coming to a dead +stop as if she meant now to remain there for good and all. + +"Are we to go ashore in one of those?" asked Bob, pointing out the fleet +of small boats making for the steamer, besides the two that had already +come up to her; some being launched by the watermen on the beach in +addition to those sent off from the pier. "What fun to have a boat all +to ourselves, as I suppose we shall!" + +"Yes, I suppose so, if we are to get to land at all," replied the +Captain, who had become a little more amiable, his natural good-humour +asserting itself as the pain in his foot somewhat subsided; "I don't see +how we can otherwise, unless we swim for it; the vessel is now stuck +quite fast with no chance of her moving until she is lightened of her +cargo of passengers." + +"That will be jolly!" cried Bob. "Why it's just like a regular +shipwreck!" + +"Ah, my boy," said the old sailor, shaking his head, "if you ever +experienced the realities of one, you would not speak so lightly. A +shipwreck, let me tell you, is no laughing matter." + +"I didn't mean that," explained Bob, "I was only thinking how jolly it +would be for us all to have a row, instead of landing at the pier +quietly, as we would have done if nothing had happened." + +"Sure, and I don't see where your `jollity' comes in, Master Bob!" +observed his aunt, not by any means relishing the prospect. "It may be +all very well for you; but I can't say I like the idea of scrambling +down the side of the vessel into one of these cockleshells and running +the risk of getting drowned." + +"Oh, no, you won't, ma'am," rejoined the Captain chuckling again, her +comical consternation soothing the last acerbities of his temper. "You +shan't drown yourself if I can prevent you, ma'am!" + +There was no necessity, however, for the Captain to exert himself +especially on her behalf; for, the boats being hauled up in turn +alongside and only a proper number being allowed to get into each, no +casualty occurred such as Mrs Gilmour dreaded. Thus, in a very short +space of time, all the passengers were safely transferred from the +stranded steamer to the shore, where a large crowd of sympathising +bystanders had now assembled. + +"There!" exclaimed the Captain, as he jumped out of the wherry in which +their little party had taken passage, "catch me going in one of those +excursion craft again! Of all the clumsy lubbers I have ever had the +misfortune to be shipmate with, that skipper is about the biggest and +most lubberly. You can take the word of an old sailor for that!" + +"Why, sure, what could the poor man have done, when the steamer was +sinking?" said Mrs Gilmour, as he assisted her also carefully to land. +"It's none of his fault that I can see." + +"What could he have done, eh?" retorted the Captain warmly. "Why, +anything else but what he did do. When he saw his fore compartment was +full of water, he should have backed the vessel; and then he could have +taken her stern-end foremost up to the pier, and landed us comfortably +without any bother half an hour ago. Instead of that, what does he do +but go backing and filling, first with his engines full speed ahead, and +then ditto astern, ending by sticking hard and fast at the same spot +where he first struck. While now, to clench the matter, he's going to +run the steamer ashore and beach her, he tells me, as soon as the tide +floats her; the upshot of which will be that she'll break her back and +probably become a total wreck." + +"Why didn't you advise him?" she asked. "Eh, my old friend?" + +"The foolish fellow! I pitied him at first, but I can't say I do so any +longer. He wouldn't listen to me. He's just like the intelligent Isle +of Wight farmer I've heard of, one of whose calves having got its head +entangled in a wooden fence, in lieu of cutting the palings, thought the +only way to release the calf was by cutting its head off!" + +"Sure, nobody could have been so stupid!" cried Mrs Gilmour laughing. +"What, cut off the poor thing's head in order to extricate it?" + +"Sure an' they did, ma'am," said he, mimicking her; "and, I'm sorry to +say, our friend the skipper is one of the same kidney!" + +While the two were thus talking, Bob and Nell remained down on the +beach, awaiting the arrival of Dick and Hellyer, who through want of +room in their wherry had to come ashore in another boat. + +Rover, such was his strict sense of duty, strange to say, instead of +accompanying his young master and mistress, was still intent on keeping +in sight of the hamper. + +Accordingly, he stopped on board the steamer till Hellyer, the hamper's +custodian, left her; when after seeing him and Dick embarked along with +the hamper, the retriever jumped over the side of the stranded vessel +and swam ashore in company with the boat containing his friends, +apparently mistrusting the frail craft, and preferring to rely upon his +own powers in the water. + +Nor was he far behind, getting to land almost at the same moment that +the wherry's keel grated on the beach; when, after shaking himself +decorously as he had been taught, so as to avoid wetting his friends by +his excessive moisture, Rover barked and pranced round Hellyer and the +hamper, and then round Bob and Nellie, as if to say in his dog +language-- "There, my dear young master and mistress, I have discharged +my trust faithfully," scurrying off then to the higher part of the +shore, where Mrs Gilmour and the Captain were standing, to tell them +the same tale, with a loud "Bow wow!" + +"Come now," cried Mrs Gilmour, on the little party being reunited +again, "we must be off home at once; for, it is getting late, and Sarah +will be wondering where we all are." + +"Well, we mustn't keep `the good Sarah' waiting," said the Captain +slily, with a wink to Nellie that set her off laughing so that she +dropped the bunch of wild-flowers which her aunt was just handing her at +the moment, and was obliged to stop to pick them up. "By Jove! though, +ma'am, she may have forgotten _us_ as she did the other things." + +"You're too bad entirely!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour a little pettishly. +"I suppose I shall never hear the last about that, nor poor Sarah +either. Come on now, dearie; we must hasten home whether or no." + +So saying, she made the Captain wheel round from taking a last lingering +look at the _Bembridge Belle_, whose skipper, now that she was a bit +lightened aft by all the people having cleared out of her, had backed +again into deep water; and then putting on full steam ahead, was trying +to run her up high and dry ashore. + +After this parting glance at the poor vessel, our party proceeded on +their way across the common back to The Moorings, Miss Nell, as +aforesaid, carrying the bouquet of wild-flowers, and Bob the tin bucket +of sea-anemones, their "spoil" of the day, in sporting parlance; while +Hellyer and Dick brought up the rear of the procession with the hamper +and empty water-jar, representing the relics of their picnic feast. + +Rover on this occasion, it may be added, acted anon as pioneer of the +column when he caracoled for awhile in front of them all; anon as +baggage-guard, when he followed at the heels of Hellyer, sniffing the +empty hamper. + +Poor Sarah, "that good Sarah" whom Mrs Gilmour had so unhappily +praised, her penance was yet to come! + +Bob was the first to assail her as she opened the door on their arrival +home. + +"Who forgot the bread?" he shouted out, so loudly that, starting back +with fright, she almost tumbled. "Who forgot the bread?" + +"Who forgot the tea?" cried Nellie, immediately behind him, following up +her brother's attack and making Sarah jump afresh. "Who forgot the +tea?" + +"And who forgot her head?" said the Captain from the rear, pressing the +charge home; whereupon, they all, Mrs Gilmour included, halted on the +doorstep and roared with laughter. "Aye, who forgot her head?" + +This was too much for the girl. + +"Oh my, me!" she exclaimed, staring at them in hopeless stupefaction. +"Oh my, me!" + +"Dear me!" observed Mrs Gilmour, her laugh subsiding into a broad +smile. "Why, you are quite a poet, Sarah." + +"Me, mum?" ejaculated the other, more astonished than ever. "Whatever +have I gone and done now?" + +"Yes," continued her mistress, "you've just supplied `the missing link' +in our rhyme; and people who make poetry, of course, are poets." + +"Oh, auntie, I see, I see!" called out Nellie excitedly, in great glee. +"I see it--don't you, Bob?" + +"No, what is it?" asked that young gentleman. "See what?" + +"Oh dear! and you began it, too," cried Nell. "You really are a very +stupid boy. Why, it's a regular verse of poetry-- + + "Who forgot the bread? + Who forgot the tea? + And who forgot her head? + Oh, my--me! + +"Don't you see it now?" + +"Oh, yes," replied Bob, adding his usual expression when praising +anything--"it's jolly!" + +"I confess I did not see it either at first; so, I suppose, you'll call +me a stupid too, Miss Nellie, eh?" chuckled Captain Dresser. "However, +now you've made it all clear to us, I will, if you like, christen your +short but sweet poem for you. What say you to `Sarah's forget-me-nots'? +Do you think that will do, eh?" + +"Splendidly!" said Nell; an opinion which they all seemed to share, +excepting poor Sarah, into whose ears the verselet was dinned so +incessantly, both by Bob and Nellie, and even by the pert Dick, too, +that its repetition, or any specific allusion to any one of the articles +she had omitted in making up the historic hamper, would invariably make +the unfortunate damsel wince; while if the simple name of the innocent +flower which the Captain had adopted were but mentioned, even without +any malice prepense, the poor girl would leave the room at once. + +"Where are the forget-me-nots?" said Mrs Gilmour incautiously, for +instance, to Nellie, while arranging the wild-flowers in vases shortly +before going to bed. "I can't see them at all anywhere. Can you, +Sarah?" + +There was no answer from her, however. + +Sarah was off like a shot! + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +"BROKEN UP!" + +Early next morning, after their usual matutinal swim, Bob and Dick +accompanied the Captain for a stroll along the beach to the coastguard- +station on the eastern side of the Castle, near to which the ill-fated +_Bembridge Belle_ had been run ashore. + +Of course, Rover formed one of the party; carrying, equally as a matter +of course, his young master's towels in his mouth and wagging his fine +bushy tail with even more energy than he generally evinced when +performing that function, in order to express his proud exultation at +the trust reposed in him. + +At the coastguard-station they found Hellyer standing by the flagstaff, +with his telescope under his left arm and evidently on duty. + +"Not much damage done to her hull yet, sir," said he, touching his hat, +as he thus anticipated the Captain's inquiry. "She were all awash, +though, sir, at high-water this morning!" + +"Indeed!" cried Captain Dresser. "Then, that forward bulkhead must have +started when the fore compartment got full." + +"No doubt o' that, sir," agreed Hellyer. "Why, the tide covered her +after-deck at Six Bells; and the cushions of the settees and a lot o' +dunnage were floating about in the saloon below and washing through the +ports astern." + +"Her fo'c's'le, however, keeps high and dry." + +"Aye, now it do, sir," replied Hellyer. "But, not for long!" + +"You're right, my man," said the Captain, after having a good squint at +the object of their commiseration. "She has been working already on the +shingle, and her frame has been a good deal knocked about since last +night." + +The coastguardsman gave a shrug to his shoulders. + +"I expect a tide or two'll settle her hash, sir," he observed, after +thus relieving his pent-up feelings. "With the water making a clean +sweep through her fore and aft every time it rises, the poor thing can't +last long, sir!" + +"Aye," said the Captain. "She's bound to go to pieces, now, fast +enough." + +"So I've reported to the commander, sir, this very morning," continued +Hellyer; "and, he's sent down word as I'm to keep men stationed along +the shore so as to pick up any wreckage that mebbe washed out on her." + +"Quite right," was the Captain's comment on this. "There are a lot of +light-fingered gentry about here, whom it is just as well to be on guard +against. When will it be flood-tide to-night, Hellyer, eh?" + +"Nigh upon nine o'clock, sir," answered he. "Just afore the moon +rises." + +"Humph!" muttered Captain Dresser, as if cogitating the matter and +speaking his thoughts aloud. "I think I'll come down then. The sea +seems inclined to get up a bit?" + +He raised his voice when uttering the last words, as if asking a +question; so, the coastguardsman answered it at once. + +"That it do, sir," he said with decision; "and, if the wind freshen +more, as is more'n likely, considerin' it's been backin' all the +mornin', I 'spects it'll be pretty rough by night-time!" + +"Ah, well, so I think, too, Hellyer. Good-day to you, my man; I will +come down again this evening when the tide makes. I fancy she'll break +up then. Come on, boys!" sang out the old sailor in a higher key to Bob +and Dick, who had been amusing themselves by trying to walk round the +hull of the stranded steamer, now nearly high and dry on the beach; +although the venturesome fellows had to clamber over all sorts of +obstacles in the way of chain-cables and hawsers and other gear, besides +wading through various pools of water to seaward, before they could +congratulate themselves on effecting their object. "Come on now, my +boys! There's nothing more to see at present; and I've promised Miss +Nell to help her put those actinea we got yesterday at Seaview into her +new aquarium." + +"But, you will come down again with us to see the wreck, won't you?" +eagerly asked Bob, running after the Captain, who on giving this +explanation of his desire of not wasting any more time on the beach just +then, had started off already on his way back to the south parade, and +was hobbling off at a fine rate across the common. "I do so want to see +the poor vessel once more before they take her away, Captain!" + +"Humph!" grunted out the old sailor as he puffed and panted onward like +a steam-engine, turning the services of his trusty old malacca cane to +good account. "I don't think, my boy, you need have any fear on that +score. The only shape in which she's likely to be taken away from her +present berth will be--in pieces!" + +"By Jove, ma'am!" he exclaimed later on, when Mrs Gilmour and Nell met +him at the gate of "the Moorings," "I might just as well board with you +at once. Dined with you on Monday, to lunch Tuesday; at breakfast +yesterday, and again this morning. Why, I'll eat you out of house and +home!" + +"Never fear, Captain," said Mrs Gilmour smiling. "Sure, I'll take the +risk of that." + +"But your servants, ma'am," he argued, as Nell took away his hat and +cane. "I'm afraid I give them a lot of trouble, and they'll be +springing a mutiny on you." + +"I don't know what poor Sarah'll do, sure; you've taised her so!" +replied Mrs Gilmour jokingly. "But, Molly the cook's your friend, I +know. She says you're the only one in the house that properly +appreciates her curries." + +"Faith and she turns them out well, ma'am; and you can tell her so, with +my compliments," said the old sailor with much heartiness as he winked +to Nellie. "As for `that good Sarah,' ma'am, I shall have to make my +peace with her by and by, with your permission." + +After breakfast, the Captain and Nellie, with the assistance of Bob and +Dick, even "the good Sarah," too, being pressed into the service, set +about preparing the sea-anemones and other specimens they had collected +the previous day for their new home in the aquarium which Mrs Gilmour +had bought for the purpose shortly before. + +This aquarium was in appearance somewhat like an inverted dish-cover of +glass--one of the best shapes to be had. This sort being free from +those leaky joints that are the invariable accompaniment of all-square +cisterns; while globular ones have not got sufficient space at the +bottom for rock-work, or those little hiding-places that delight the +hearts of the denizens of the deep when they are free agents and in +their own waters. + +Presently, under the active superintendence of the old sailor, the +whilom empty glass receptacle began to assume a more picturesque aspect. + +To commence with, a groundwork was constructed of fine white sand and +shells, each of the latter being washed in repeated baths of clear and +fresh sea-water, which had been brought up from the beach in the +morning, before being introduced into the aquarium; where, if success be +desired, cleanliness is as essential to the well-being of its little +tenants as it is deemed to be amongst human beings. + +The Captain said something to this effect while making Nellie wash the +different shells, which he then arranged along the sandy bottom, which +was made to slope from the back of the structure down to the centre, +forming a sort of hollow there; and then rising again in front. + +"So far, so good," said the Captain, placing some bits of rock in the +background, which, leaning against each other, formed so many small +caverns. "These will do for those crabs, which Master Bob insists on +having, to retreat to when some of the other fry pay them too much +attention." + +On the right and left of the aquarium the old sailor dexterously built +up larger pieces of rock-work, intermixed with bits of red seaweed that +grows in the form of a feathery plume, called by naturalists the +"bryopsis plumosa," than which no more graceful marine plant can be +found. + +Close to this and serving as a contrast, the Captain placed the green +laver he had made Nell pick up at the last moment when they were leaving +Seaview and running to catch the steamer. + +"This chap, styled the `ulva latissima' by the scientific gentlemen who +manufacture such titles, is a capital thermometer," said the Captain on +putting in the laver. "You'll find he'll always rise to the surface +when the weather is bright and sunny; while he sinks back to the bottom, +as I've put him now, on its being damp and overcast." + +In the more immediate foreground, a number of little starfish squatted +about on the miniature strand that shelved down from the rocks, arranged +with much care to the general spectacular effect by Nellie, who was most +painstaking in the matter. + +To be introduced into this very select marine retreat, the anemones had +to go through similar ablutions to the sand and the shells, as well as +other things, all of them being at the outset cleansed with the greatest +care. When, however, this was done and the actinea put into their +future home, the aquarium blossomed out into a garden of live flowers, +whose tentacles of various colours resembled so many chrysanthemums, +dahlias, and daisies, of the most gorgeous hues ever seen on Nature's +palette! + +Of course, the actinea did not make themselves at home in their new +lodgings and disclose their beauties all at once; but, in a few days, +none of them having been hurt by Bob's knife, they seemed to have become +acclimatised, putting out the petals of their flower-like bodies as +freely as when in their native pools at Seaview. So, too, did a +beautiful rose and white dianthus, which Dick had picked up adhering to +an ugly old oyster-shell; and, the even rarer anthea, whose long hanging +filaments were never altogether withdrawn into its body when disturbed, +as was the case with the other sea-anemones, and which were thus a +constant source of alarm to Bob's little crabs; for, it was ever +listlessly waving perilously near these nervous creatures, making them +hurry out of their way in such frantic haste as their lateral +conformation permitted. + +It was a long job arranging the aquarium, engrossing the attention of +all engaged and taking up the entire morning; aye, and all midday, too! + +"Good gracious me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, coming into the room when +they had just completed the task. "What a long time you've been at it, +to be sure! I believe I could have made an aquarium by now, let alone +fit it up." + +"Ah, ma'am, `more haste, worse speed,'" retorted the old sailor. "`Rome +wasn't built in a day,' you know." + +"I thought you had enough of the Romans yesterday," said Mrs Gilmour, +giving him this little cut in return for his brace of proverbs. "But, +come, Sarah, you must see about getting luncheon now. I want it ready +as soon as possible. You'll stop, Captain Dresser, I suppose?" + +"Oh yes, ma'am, if you'll allow me," he replied with a chuckle. "I know +when I'm well off. You recollect, ma'am, you said just now the cook was +my friend." + +"Do you know why I wanted to have lunch especially early to-day?" she +asked him anon, when they were seated at the table. "Can you guess?" + +"No, by Jove, I can't!" he snorted out indignantly. "I'm not a +clairvoyant, or whatever else you call those people who pretend to read +other people's thoughts." + +"Sure, then, I'll tell you," she said, laughing at his quaint manner, +"I'm going to see Mrs Craddock." + +"I'm just as much in the dark as ever," he retorted. "Who the dickens +is the woman, eh?" + +Nell saved her aunt the trouble of answering. + +"Why, don't you remember the old lady at the station whom Rover tumbled +down and broke her eggs?" she cried out eagerly. "You must recollect, +for you sent her some port wine for her poor daughter, which auntie and +I took the second time we went to see her.--You must remember her!" + +"Ah, yes, I remember now," said the Captain, scratching his head +reflectively. "So that's her name, eh--Craddock, Craddock. Where have +I heard it before? By Jove, I've got it now! Why, ma'am, there was a +Craddock who was boatswain of the old _Bucephalus_ on the West Coast." + +"What!" cried Mrs Gilmour. "My poor dear Ted's ship?" + +"The same, ma'am," he answered. "I recollect the man very well now. He +was a tall, spare, intellectual-looking chap, more like a longshore man +than a sailor. He was delicate, too, suffering from a weak chest; and, +Ted told me, now I come to think of it, that he volunteered for a second +term of service on the African station in order to be in a warm climate. +It didn't do him much good, though, for he died on the commission." + +"How strange!" said Mrs Gilmour pensively. "I don't remember poor Ted +writing me anything about it, but I've no doubt the man was our Mrs +Craddock's husband, and, if so, that will make me take an additional +interest in her. Run upstairs, Nell, and get ready at once, my dear. +As soon as you come down we'll start, for I have only got to put on my +bonnet." + +"Do you want me to come, too?" faltered the Captain, who, unless +visiting a sick-bed on an errand of mercy, dreaded going to see any one +whom he had been kind to, the old sailor doing all his good deeds, and +they were many, by stealth. Indeed, the very idea of being thanked made +him always inclined to run away, a thing he had never done from an +enemy. + +"Well, if you'd rather not, or if you've somewhere else to go, I won't +insist." + +"Why, I did promise to go down to the Club," he replied, still speaking +in a half-hesitating way. "I--I--I--" + +"I know," said Mrs Gilmour, interrupting him, and looking very +knowing--"you don't want to go to Mrs Craddock's, because you sent her +poor daughter some port wine, and are afraid of being thanked for it-- +that's the reason, I know." The Captain blushed. + +"I assure you, ma'am," he began timidly to remonstrate against her +conclusion, when suddenly some little recollection gave him renewed +courage. "By Jove, I declare I nearly forgot all about it! I've got to +meet Sponson at the Club to see when that ship is going out for her +trials; I mean the one which I'm going to take Bob on board of." + +"Well, be off with you to your Club," she rejoined laughing, giving him +a little push in joke. "Away with you at once!" + +"You see, she turns me out," he said humorously to Bob, in a sort of +stage aside. "That's what you might call Irish hospitality." + +He hurried out after his insulting remark, but popped in his head again +at the door to make a parting request. + +"May I come back to dinner, please?" he asked, with his hands clasped in +mute entreaty also. "I have breakfasted and lunched with you, so I may +just as well make a day of it, and come to dinner." + +"Yes, if you're good," she replied. "But why so particularly this +evening? I'm afraid it's a Banian day, and Molly will not have anything +nice for you." + +"Never mind that, ma'am. I want to take you all down to see the wreck +at high-water," said he. "It will probably be the last of the old +ship." + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Bob, pitching his hat in the air, and catching it +dexterously again. "Won't that be jolly?" + +On Nell now coming downstairs, they proceeded on their respective ways; +the Captain into Portsmouth, and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nellie, +accompanied by Dick carrying a basket, to Mrs Craddock's old-fashioned +cottage, at Fratton--almost in the opposite direction. + +Here Mrs Gilmour, after one or two inquiries, discovered, much to her +satisfaction, that the widow and her daughter were the wife and child of +her husband's boatswain, whence ensued much talk between herself and the +old lady, who declared the invalid to be "the very image of poor dear +Craddock!" + +While their elders were conversing, Nellie was also having a chat with +the bedridden girl, who, she was glad to see, looked decidedly better +than at the time of her last visit; an improvement doubtless due to the +Captain's old port; and other nourishing things Mrs Gilmour had taken +her. + +Bob meanwhile had been overhauling the various curios in the little +parlour, where the invalid was lying, this being the first time he had +been there. + +"Oh, auntie," he called out presently, "do look at this Chinese idol +here! It's just like one I saw at the South Kensington Museum, only it +has such funny wooden shoes on." + +Mrs Gilmour came across the room to look at the monster figure +squatting down in the corner; but, on Bob's showing her the shoes, she +laughed. + +"Those are not Chinese, my boy," she exclaimed, "they are a pair of +wooden sabots from France, such as are worn by the peasants of Brittany +and Normandy." + +"You're quite right, my lady," said the widow Craddock, approaching +them. "My son, who was a sailor like his father, found them on board a +French vessel he helped that was in distress in the Channel; so, he +brought them home and stuck them on that there h'image in fun. Lawk, +mum, if them wooden shoes could talk, it's a queer tale they'd tell ye, +fur they was the means, or leastways it wer' through his boarding the +vessel where he found 'em, that my son Jim, which was his name, my lady, +come to give up the sea; although, mind you, he's summat to do with it +still, being a fisherman fur that matter. However, the end of it was +that he marries the French gal as took his fancy when he comed across +them shoes, and went to live at Saint Mailer, as they calls it." + +"Saint Malo, I suppose," corrected Mrs Gilmour. "Eh?" + +"Yes, my lady, I sed Saint Mailer, didn't I?" replied the old dame, not +perceiving where the delicate distinction lay; and then she went on to +relate in a very roundabout fashion all the incidents connected with her +son's marriage--as well as talking of everything else under the sun, so +it seemed to Bob, who thought it an interminably long story, and was +heartily glad when old Mrs Craddock got to the end of it. + +But, little did he think in how short a space of time he would be +brought in contact with that son of hers, Jim Craddock, in the very +strangest manner, and under circumstances that would never have entered +his wildest dreams! + +However, he did not know this; and, while the old dame was spinning her +yarn, Bob employed the time by looking at the model of a ship over the +mantelpiece, which brought back to his mind all about the _Bembridge +Belle_, making him feel on tenter-hooks lest they should be late for +dinner, and so be unable to go down afterwards and see the wreck, as the +Captain had arranged. + +He need not have been so fidgety, though. + +Everything comes to an end in time, as did the old lady's talk; and +then, they were able to start home again, Rover coming in for much +praise from his waiting so patiently for such a lengthy period outside +Mrs Craddock's cottage, without bark or whine betraying his presence +there. + +The dinner was not late, much to Bob's joy; and, the Captain being also +punctuality itself, they set out for the beach, just when the dim +shadows of the fading twilight were mingling with those of night. + +There was a stiff breeze blowing from the southward and eastward, almost +half a gale, as a sailor would express it, the wind causing the incoming +tide to break on the shore with a low, dull roar, as if the spirit of +the deep felt half inclined to be angry, and yet had not quite made up +his mind! + +It was almost dark by the time the little party from "the Moorings" +reached the wreck, and things were beginning to get indistinct a little +distance off; but, soon after their arrival on the spot, the silvery +moon rising at the full, passing through occasional strata of dark cloud +that veiled her light at intervals, illumined the sky with her weird +beams, making it bright as day, but with a ghostly radiance that lent a +mystic spectral effect to all the surroundings. + +What a difference the vessel presented to her appearance of the morning! + +Then she was high and dry on the shingle, with the retreating tide going +out to sea to flood coasts elsewhere, only indicating that it had not +quite gone yet by a faint splash and ripple on the shore; and, deserted +by the element that should have supported her and did when she moved and +had her being, gliding through the waters "like a thing of life," the +wretched steamer stood up so gaunt and grim that she seemed more than +twice her natural size. + +That was in the morning, barely twelve hours ago! But, now, where was +she? The tell-tale light of the moon explained all, without a word +being wanted. + +At first no doubt, the breakers!--how aptly named!--had begun their +attack against the poor crippled thing's hull by degrees, little billows +leading the assault that could only leap half-way up the side of the +stranded steamer, falling back with impotent mutterings in a passion of +spray; then, as the tide rose, these were succeeded by bigger waves +rolling in from the eastwards, which, swollen with pride and brimming +with destruction, beat and blustered all about the vessel from cutwater +to sternpost, seeking ingress through the timbers that they might fall +upon her and devour her. + +Through it all the poor _Bembridge Belle_ battled bravely, holding her +own as long as she could keep her head above the boisterous billows; +but, when the tide rose yet higher, and the waters flowed through her +fore and aft, her upper deck became submerged, the sea made a clean +breach over her, the waves took her in their rough hands and shook her +so that she trembled, her hull working to and fro in the shingle, the +blustering billows dashed against her, and she began to break up. The +loose upper or hurricane-deck parted. Then the contents of the main +saloon below, of which this deck formed the roof, commenced washing +adrift, the broken water round the deck pitching and tossing about +cushions and chairs, flaps of tables, and all sorts of pieces of +furniture, some of which were cast up ashore near by, and others carried +out by the tide to goodness knows where! + +The Captain and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nell, and Dick and Rover, +too, watched this sad ending of the steamer's career with almost as +heavy hearts as if they were her owners. Rover, indeed, took such a +very deep interest in her that he assisted Hellyer and the other +coastguardsmen on duty at the spot by helping them bravely in dragging +out of the clutches of the waves everything that floated near enough +inshore for him to jump at and seize. + +"We'd better go home now," said the Captain, when the vessel separated +amidships, her funnel and masts falling over into the water. "There's +nothing more to see now, poor old ship!" + +He spoke quite sadly, as if he had lost a friend; and the others, too, +seemed equally affected by the scene, even Bob turning his back on the +beach without a murmur at their going indoors so early, as he would +otherwise have done; this being the young gentleman's usual plaint. +But, if depressed for the moment, on reaching "the Moorings" the +thermometer of their spirits jumped suddenly to fever-heat. + +Sarah, "the good Sarah," opened the door, as she usually did; but she +appeared to perform the task on the present occasion with even more than +her usual alacrity, while her face wore a pleased expression that had +not visited it since the composition of that celebrated poem in honour +of her memory! She actually beamed with delight and looked "bursting, +aye, bursting with good news!" as the Captain said afterwards. + +"Why, whatever is the matter, Sarah?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "Speak, my +good girl!" + +She paid no attention, however, to her mistress. + +"Oh, Master Bob--oh, Miss Nell!" she exclaimed. "Who do you think have +come, and is now in the house?" + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +ON BOARD THE OLD "VICTORY." + +Bob and Nellie both stared at Sarah in surprise. + +They thought, for the moment, the poor girl had lost her wits! + +An inkling of the truth, however, flashed across their minds the next +instant; and, pushing past the almost incoherent Sarah, who said +something which neither of them caught the sense of, the two rushed into +the lighted hall in a flurry of excitement. + +Here the sight of several corded trunks and other luggage, which had not +been there when they went out of the house earlier in the evening, at +once confirmed their joyous anticipations. + +"Hurrah!" cried Bob, giving vent to his feelings first. "Dad and mother +are here at last!" + +Nell, though, got ahead of him in greeting the new-comers. + +"Oh, mamma!" she said, dashing towards the door of the dining-room which +opened into the hall and meeting half-way a stately lady who was +advancing with open arms. "My own dear mamma!" + +The Captain and Mrs Gilmour had now come into the hall, following more +sedately the harum-scarum youngsters; and while the former hung back, +waiting to be introduced as soon as the first greetings were over, the +good lady of the house advanced eagerly to welcome a tall and bearded +gentleman, with a right good pair of broad shoulders of his own, who +came forward to meet her, with Bob clinging to one of his arms while the +other was round his neck. + +"Why, me dear Dugald, it's never you!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour as her +brother let go Bob and caught both her outstretched hands in his, giving +them a fraternal grip. "Sure, is it yoursilf, or somebody ilse?" + +"Mesilf, Polly, sure enough," replied he in a deep baritone voice, that +resembled Bob's, but had a very slight suspicion of the Irish brogue in +it like her own. "Right glad am I to say ye again, too, mavourneen! +Ye're a sight good for sore eyes, sure!" + +He laughed as he said this, a racy, genial laugh in keeping with his +looks; and the Captain instantly took a liking to him for his own sake, +apart from his likeness to his sister, Mrs Gilmour, who now introduced +him, having already prepossessed the old sailor in his favour. + +"Me brother--Captain Dresser," she said smiling. "I'm sure you ought to +know each other by this time, if you don't already!" + +"Glad to meet you, sir, glad to meet you," cried the Captain in his +bluff hearty way. "I've often heard of you, especially since Master Bob +here has been down at Southsea." + +"Ah! I have to thank you for the kind way in which you've made their +stay here pleasant for him and my little girl," rejoined the other +warmly as the two shook hands. "But, there was little need, Captain +Dresser, for my sister to introduce you. She's told me so much about +you, that I seem to have known you already for years!" + +"Oh, yes," said the Captain; "your sister is one of my oldest friends." + +"What's that you're saying about my being an old friend?" exclaimed Mrs +Gilmour, pretending to be indignant. "You speak as if I were an aged +person; but, I'd have you to know, that, although I'm not quite a +chicken, sure, I'm not as old as old Methuselah yet!" + +"No, no, I didn't mean that," chuckled the Captain; and turning to her +brother he remarked on the likeness between him and Mrs Gilmour. "It +is absolutely striking, by Jove!" + +"We're almost twins," replied he innocently; "only, I'm ten years +older!" + +The Captain burst into a regular roar of laughter at this; his sides +shaking and his face getting so red that it seemed as if he were going +to have a fit of apoplexy. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "you ought to be twins!" + +It was only then that the other perceived the slip he had made, as did +his sister, and the two joined in the Captain's mirth; while Master Bob +also lent his help, although witless of what the general merriment was +about, the deep ho-ho-ho! of his father being even more contagious than +the catching laugh of his old friend the Captain. + +"Sure, Dugald, you're the same careless fellow still," cried Mrs +Gilmour, as soon as she was able to get out a word. "As me poor dear +Ted used to say, you're an Irishman to the backbone. Sure you never +open your mouth but you put your foot in it!" + +"That is what I'm always telling him, too," said her sister-in-law, whom +the laughter in the hall, renewed with such force when Mrs Gilmour, in +trying to set matters straight, made another Irish bull as big as her +brother's, had brought out of the parlour, accompanied by Nellie. +"Dugald is really incorrigible!" + +"That's just what Mrs Gilmour says I am," observed the Captain, bowing +between his chuckles. "You must let me introduce myself. I don't need +anybody to introduce you, ma'am; for I'm sure from your sweet soft voice +alone that you are little missy's mother. She and I, you know, are +sworn friends!" + +Mrs Strong smiled; and, if the Captain had called her voice a sweet +one, he could find no words in which to describe the light that stole +into her eyes, irradiating the face now. + +"I see you can pay compliments, Captain Dresser, although you are not an +Irishman," she said pleasantly, caressing Nell, who in the joy of seeing +her mother again had never left her side. "I suppose that's the reason +this young lady has lost her heart to you?" + +"You'd better be wary of him, Edith," interposed Mrs Gilmour jokingly. +"He's a terrible old flirt with all the ladies, young and old alike! +But, wouldn't you like to go upstairs and take your things off?" + +"No, thanks, not till it's time for bed; and, it must be very near that +now." + +"Oh, the day's yet young!" cried her hospitable hostess, leading the way +back into the parlour. "We didn't expect you before to-morrow, or next +day at the earliest; and Nell, indeed, stopped in all the morning to +finish her letter in time, so that you could get it to-night in London, +as she thought. Still, my dear, I dare say we'll be able to find you +something to eat, and your rooms shall be got ready for you as soon as +possible." + +"Please, mum," said Sarah, who was still waiting in the hall, at hand +for whatever the guests might need, "they are quite ready, mum!" + +"Ready!" repeated Mrs Gilmour surprised. "The spare rooms?" + +"Yes, mum," replied Sarah, dropping a curtsey, with the proud +consciousness of having done well in her mistress's sight. "Me and +Molly went up to the rooms and did what you told me I'd have to do to- +morrow, as soon as ever Mr and Mrs Strong came, mum; so now they're +quite ready. Molly, too, went back afterwards to her kitchen, and is +warming up the curry, in case you should like it hot for supper." + +"You've done quite right, Sarah, and just as I would have directed if +I'd been at home. Tell Molly from me, that there is nothing my brother +is fonder of than curry; and that she may send up supper as soon as +she's got it ready." + +Sarah hurried off to quicken the preparations of her fellow-servant +below, her movements somewhat accelerated by Bob shouting out the cruel +refrain of the "forget-me-not poem!" + +"Ah, but," put in the Captain, "the `good Sarah' did not forget her head +this time, at any rate! You'll have to alter your poem, Master Bob!" + +Then, of course, ensued a lot of explanations, which led up to an +account of the picnic, the elaborate description of which Nellie had +taken such pains to write in her letter home to her mother. + +All of which pains, alas! were thrown away; for here was her mother by +her side, while her graphic letter was lying uselessly in the box at the +post-office! + +A series of questions and answers then followed rapidly in reference to +Bob and Miss Nell's doings since they had been down by the sea; +interspersed with sundry inquiries after Blinkie, the old dissipated +jackdaw left behind at home, and Snuffles, the black cat, who was a +martyr to chronic influenza, whence his very appropriate name! + +Rover, who was wild with delight on seeing his old master and mistress +when he came in damp and dripping from his experiences of the wreck, was +not altogether forgotten, you may be sure, just because London friends +were thought of! On the contrary, he received many pats and caresses +besides getting an unexpected supper; a thing not generally in Rover's +line, but which, none the less, did not seem to come amiss to him on the +present occasion. + +By this time, it was very late, the "tattoo" having sounded long since, +summoning all truant soldiers into barracks; so, the Captain, declaring +that his landlady would "haul him over the coals" for stopping out so +late, stumped away chuckling down the parade with his malacca cane. + +The exhausted household at "the Moorings" then went to bed in peace, +tired out with their day's doings--tired even of talk--Bob and Nell +composing in their dreams a fresh version, as the old sailor had +humorously suggested, of Sarah's celebrated picnic poem; in which, +instead of their original quatrain, "bed" now rhymed with "head," in +lieu of the unfortunately forgotten "bread," and "curry" with "hurry!" + +The next day, both Mr and Mrs Dugald Strong said that they were too +fatigued to do anything else save lie in the sun and bask on the beach; +but the following morning, the Captain, insisting on their seeing the +sights of the place, took them all down to the harbour, when they went +on board the _Victory_, Nelson's old flagship, which Mrs Gilmour said +she had been over "at laste a hundred times before," although she +accompanied them now "for company's sake, sure!" + +If a hackneyed theme to her, this visit to the historic vessel was, +however, replete with interest to the others; being full of floating +memories of the past, in which the grand figure of the hero of Trafalgar +stood out in relief with that wonderfully blood-stirring last signal of +his, like a laurel wreath encircling his brows-- "England expects every +man this day to do his duty!" + +To Bob and Nellie it was especially delightful to see the real ship in +which Nelson had fought so gallantly that battle of which they had read, +knowing, by heart almost, the principal incidents of the glorious day, +when the British fleet "crumpled up the combined squadrons of France and +Spain"; and, with the able assistance of the Captain, who made an +admirable cicerone, they could, standing there on board the _Victory_, +imagine themselves in the thick of the celebrated sea-fight. Aye, +boarding the _Santissima Trinidada_, with the guns banging about them +and the sulphurous gunpowder-smoke filling the air around, hiding +everything beyond the ponderous hulls of the enemy's three-deckers +between which, yard-arm to yard-arm, the old _Victory_ lay! + +"Here it was," said the Captain, pointing out the spot on the quarter- +deck below the poop, close to a hatchway, and marked by a copper plate +let into the planking, bearing a short inscription commemorating the +fact, "that Nelson was standing when that villainous marksman in the +_Redoutable's_ mizzen-top hit him, catching sight of the medals on his +breast; for, he would stick 'em on, in spite of the advice of Hardy, who +was his flag-captain, you know." + +"That was very foolish of him," interposed Mrs Gilmour. "I suppose he +did it to show off, like most of you men; for you're a consayted lot! +The same as you punish your malacca cane, Captain!" + +"Not a bit of it!" retorted the old sailor indignantly, up in arms at +once at the slightest aspersion on his hero's fame. "He wore his medals +because, ma'am, in the first place, he wasn't a bit ashamed of them; +and, secondly, to encourage his men--there, ma'am!" + +"That's a settler for you, Polly!" said her brother quizzingly; but, he +didn't laugh, the Captain appeared so very much in earnest in speaking +of Nelson, whom he regarded with the deepest veneration. "I don't +think, my dear, though, it's a subject for joking!" + +"I'm very sorry I spoke, sure," pleaded she in extenuation of her +offence, "I didn't mean any harm!" + +"Well, well, let it pass," replied the Captain, dismissing the painful +point in dispute with a wave of his arm and continuing his description +of the tragic end of the conqueror of Trafalgar, which Mrs Gilmour's +interruption had somewhat confused in his mind. "We were just where he +was shot, eh?" + +"Yes," replied Bob, who had been hanging on his words and was all +attention and had not lost a word of the narrative. "The French +marksman saw his medals." + +"Humph!" ejaculated the old sailor, "making sail again with a fair +wind," as he expressed it in his nautical way. "Well, then, the fellow +who shot him was potted immediately afterwards, you'll be glad to hear, +by one of our `jollies'--marines, you know--on the poop, who saw the +chap aiming at Nelson, but fired too late to prevent the fatal leaden +messenger doing its deadly work! The poor Admiral sank down here, just +by that hatchway, and there used to be the stain of his blood, as they +said, on the old timbers of the deck; but those have been removed, and, +indeed, they've restored the ship so often that there's hardly one of +her old planks left in her save this with the memorial plate here." + +"But, what was done after Nelson was wounded?" inquired Nellie, who had +been listening as intently as Bob. "Didn't they do anything to help +him?" + +"Why, they took him down to the cock-pit, as they called the +midshipmen's berth on the lower deck, where we're going now," replied +the Captain, leading the way down the companion and an interminable +series of other ladders afterwards, as if they were descending to the +kelson, the space getting all the narrower and darker as they went down. +"They took him below--to die!" + +Here, in a small, confined apartment, which Bob's father said looked +"like the condemned cell at Newgate," and whose sole apparent advantage, +as the Captain explained, was in its being below the water-line, and +therefore the only safe place in a ship before the days of torpedoes and +submarine warfare, he went on to tell the children, the hero breathed +his last; his dying moments eased by the knowledge that he had done his +duty to his country and cheered by the news that the foe was vanquished, +Hardy making him smile by saying how many ships of the line had struck +their colours already or been destroyed. Nell shivered. + +"Let us go upstairs," she said, in a very depressed tone, in keeping +with the melancholy associations of the place. "Let us go upstairs!" + +The Captain laughed out at this. + +"You'd make a sailor faint, if he heard you ever use that expression!" +he cried. "The idea of speaking about `upstairs' on board a ship, and +your uncle a sailor, too, missy!" + +"What should I say?" she asked, looking into his face as well as the dim +light would permit. "What should I say instead?" + +"Why, `on deck,' of course," he replied. "We've got no stairs on board +ship. They're either `companion-ways' or `ladders,' up one of which +we'll go now, if you like!" + +So saying, he led the way on deck as he had down below, taking them all +into the ward-room under the poop, where they now saw various relics of +the hero, besides letters and orders in his writing, which were framed +and hung round the cabin like pictures. + +Bob, whose calligraphy was none of the clearest or most legible, had the +benefit of a little moral lesson here from his father, who seemed to +take a mean advantage of the fact of Nelson writing so well with his +left hand after he lost his right; but Master Bob evaded the issue very +well by saying that "when he was similarly circumstanced," he would try +and write as well, too! + +"Bravo!" cried the Captain, as they left the ship, going down the +"accommodation-ladder," which, as he was careful to tell Nellie, was not +a staircase either, although outside the ship. Then, turning to her +father he added, chuckling-- "That boy of yours, Strong, is a regular +chip of the old block, and a credit to your country!" + +They had a laugh at this, of course; and, then, on Mrs Gilmour +suggesting their taking advantage of the high tide to visit Porchester +Castle, as the harbour looked its best, the watermen in charge of their +wherry were directed to row up stream towards the creek on the northern +side, where the old fortress, embowered in trees, nestled under the +shelter of the Portsdown hills, a monolith of past grandeur and present +decay! + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +A STEAM TRIAL, AND A GUN-BURST. + +On their way up the harbour, the Captain pointed out the long line of +old hulks moored on either side of the stream that had once, when in +their prime, been esteemed the pride of the Navy. + +With towering masts and gallant rig they had flown the flag that has +borne the battle and the breeze for many a long year. + +But, within the last decade, their glory has departed, alas, like the +glories of "Rotten Row," as this anchorage of broken-down ships is +called; many of the old historic vessels having been sold out of the +service and their places know them no more! + +"Ah, these are something like `Roman remains'!" exclaimed Captain +Dresser, when their wherry ultimately glided up to the ruins of +Porchester Castle, the base of whose swelling walls was laved by the +rippling tide. "That `villa' at Brading was a regular take-in, and I +shall always regret that half-crown in hard cash, out of which I was +swindled!" + +"Sure, I don't think you'll ever forget that day," cried Mrs Gilmour, +laughing as she explained the matter more lucidly to her brother and +sister-in-law. "Just as Queen Mary said that Calais would be found +engraved on her heart after she was dead, the Roman villa at Brading +will be found graven on yours, Captain, sure!" + +"I don't mind," said he resignedly, "I like something for my money; and, +here, there is something to see and nothing to pay for it either!" + +The boatmen rowed the boat close inshore in order to allow them to +inspect the place nearer, as they did not have sufficient time to land +and examine it properly. Mrs Gilmour, while they laid off making thus +a cursory inspection of the ruins, became the castle's historian-- +telling how the Romans originally built the fortress on their invasion +of England over eighteen hundred years ago, styling it "Portus Magnus," +or "the great port," it being situated on a tongue of land commanding +the approaches to their encampments in the interior of the country--the +harbour being then more open to the sea than it now is. + +"Aye," corroborated the Captain. "It has silted up considerably, even +in my time, in spite of continual dredging." + +"The Saxons afterwards called the place Portceaster, whence its present +name `Porchester,'" continued the narrator; "and, subsequently, the +stronghold has played an important part in history, from the days of +Canute up to the reign of Queen Elizabeth." + +"That's something at any rate!" interposed the Captain. "More than you +can say for the Brading villa!" + +"You mustn't interrupt, sure," said Mrs Gilmour, tapping him with her +parasol as her brother laughed, exchanging winks with the old sailor. +"After the time of good Queen Bess, however, the castle is not memorable +for much in its history till we come to the early part of the present +century; when it was used as a depot for the prisoners taken in the +French war, some eight or ten thousand being incarcerated within its +walls at one time!" + +"What a lot!" cried Bob. "It must have cost a heap of money to keep +them in food, auntie?" + +"It did, `a lot,' my dear," replied his aunt, adopting his favourite +word. "Several men with names distinguished in the Revolution were +confined here, among them being the Irish general Tate, who led that +ridiculous invasion of this country planned by Buonaparte, which was +routed by a body of Welsh women at Fishguard." + +"Hurrah for the sex!" interrupted the Captain again, Mr Strong joining +in his cheer, while the boatmen grinned. "More power to their +petticoats!" + +Mrs Gilmour only smiled at this, not venturing to explain that the +invaders mistook the red-cloaked, tall-hatted women of the Principality, +who were ranged along the crests of their native mountains, for British +regiments on the march to annihilate them; and so, capitulated to avoid +capture! + +"One of the most comical characters imprisoned in the castle," she went +on, "was a seaman named Francois Dufresne, who was a regular Jack +Sheppard in the way of breaking out of confinement." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Bob, pricking up his ears at the mention of the noted +celebrity of the Newgate Calendar. "That's jolly! What did he do, +auntie?" + +"Why, he would, for a mere frolic or for a trifling wager, seals the +walls of the castle under the very eye; of the sentries, making his way +into the woodlands on the north of Portsdown Hill, where he would ramble +at large, stealing all the eggs and fowls he could lay his hands on. He +had, as he explained, a great weakness for poultry." + +"By Jove, I can quite excuse him," said the Captain in his funny way. +"I'm partial to a chicken, myself!" + +"So am I, too," remarked Mrs Strong. "It was only what might be called +`an amiable weakness' on his part, considering that probably the poor +prisoners were not too well fed." + +"They were not, my dear Edith," replied her sister-in-law, "if all +accounts be true; for the French Government complained of their being +half-starved! However, be that as it may, Dufresne used to plunder away +amongst the cottagers, until their anger at losing their stock led to +his recapture and remission to durance vile. Once he actually made his +way to London; when, calling at the house of the `French Commissioner' +there, who was the agent for all the prisoners of the war, he procured a +decent dress and a passport, with which he presented himself again at +Porchester and made a triumphant return to his prison!" + +"The governor must have been surprised," said Bob. "Wasn't he, auntie?" + +"He was," assented his aunt. "Very much surprised, my dear." + +"Did they punish him for escaping?" asked Nell. "I don't think they +ought to have, as he came back." + +"No, I don't think they did," replied Mrs Gilmour. "But, my dear, I +think I've told you enough now of the castle and all belonging to it, +and must really stop, for it's time for us to be going back." + +"Indeed we must, ma'am," said the Captain, "that is, if we're going over +the Victualling Yard." + +"What, more sight-seeing!" exclaimed Mrs Strong in a voice of despair. +"Can't you let us off doing any more to-day?" + +"Well, ma'am," pleaded the Captain apologetically, "only just one place +more and you will then have `killed all the lions'; that is, all save +the Dockyard, which Master Bob will have to tell you about." + +"Do let us go, mamma! I do so want to see them making the biscuits. +They do it all by machinery, just fancy!" said Nellie coaxingly. "Do, +let us go, please, won't you?" + +"Do, please," also pleaded Bob, "it will be so very jolly!" + +"I suppose I must give in," sighed his mother. "Oh, Captain Dresser, +Captain Dresser, you have a good deal to answer for!" + +The old sailor only chuckled in response; and, giving the necessary +orders to the boatmen, the wherry, which had come down rapidly from +Porchester, the tide having turned and being now on the ebb, was pulled +in to the Gosport shore, its passengers landing at Clarence Yard, the +great food depot of the Navy. + +Here they saw all that was to be seen, gazing with wonder at the vast +stores of things eatable accumulated for the service of the fleet--Bob +and Miss Nell being particularly interested in the bread-factory and +bakery, where the attendant who showed them over the place completed +their satisfaction by filling their respective pockets with the curious +hexagonal-shaped biscuits there made, "thus provisioning them," as the +Captain said, "for the remainder of their stay." + +They crossed back from Gosport to Portsmouth by the floating bridge, +which, of course, Bob wanted to know all about, the Captain explaining +to him how it was fixed on two chains passing through the vessel and +moored on either shore, so as to prevent the "bridge" from being swayed +by the action of the tide, which runs very strongly in and out of the +harbour at the point of its passage. + +"But how does the bridge move?" asked the inquiring Bob, full of +questions as usual. "I can't see how it can, if it be chained up like +Rover!" + +"There is a steam-engine in the centre of the vessel, as you can see for +yourself, there," replied the Captain, pointing to the funnels that bore +out his statement. "This engine works a pair of vertical wheels inside +that casing between the two divisions of the boat; and these wheels, +which are each some eight feet in diameter and cogged, wind in the +chains at one end, paying them out at the other." + +"I see," said Bob; and the floating bridge having by this time reached +its terminus at the Portsmouth side of the water, they all stepped +ashore and made their way home, Mrs Strong declaring that she had had +"enough of going about, for one day at least!" + +In spite of her exertions, however, she was none the worse for them +after dinner; being able, indeed, to accompany the others down to the +beach, Rover now forming one of the party, and magnanimously forgiving +his young master for leaving him behind all day in the house while he +went gallivanting about sight-seeing, albeit Dick's company and Sarah's +kindness in the way of tit-bits somewhat made amends to the poor dog for +the neglect of the truant Bob. + +"By the way," said the Captain to the latter, on taking his leave in the +evening after escorting them back to "the Moorings," "you mustn't forget +the trial of the _Archimedes_ to-morrow, my boy. Captain Sponson told +me the other day at the Club that she'd go out of harbour at nine +o'clock sharp in the morning!" + +"Oh, I'll remember," replied Bob. "Where will she start from, Captain?" + +"Why, from Coaling Point, at the further end of the Dockyard; so we'll +have to be under weigh half-an-hour earlier," cried the old sailor from +the doorstep. "You had better call at my place, as it is on the way. +Mind you're not later than 8:30 sharp, or she'll be off without you!" + +"I'll be there in time, never fear," was Bob's response as the Captain +bade him "Good-night!" and stumped off homeward. "I'll be in time!" + +Poor Rover! + +He was doomed to another day of desertion; for, much to his surprise, +his young master, instead of taking him down to the sea as usual in the +morning, started off alone, and without his towels, too, which puzzled +Rover more than anything else. + +Dogs have their feelings, similarly to other people; and so, his brown +eyes filled with tears as he watched Bob rushing out of the house, in a +terrible hurry lest he might keep the Captain waiting, or even, indeed, +be too late altogether--with never a word for him save a peremptory, +"Lie down, Rover; I can't take you with me; lie down, sir!" + +It was really too bad of Bob! + +In consequence of this unhandsome treatment, it may be likewise added, +Rover's tail, which he generally carried in a jaunty fashion, with the +trifle of a twist to one side, as became a dog of his degree and one +moving in the best canine society, now drooped down between his legs--of +a verity it almost touched the ground! + +This made the deserted animal look such a picture of misery that, on +Nell's drawing her aunt's attention to him, the good lady of the house +not only spoke sympathising words unto him, to which the sad dog replied +by ever so feeble a wag of his drooping tail; but Mrs Gilmour also, +sanctioned, nay, even directed, his being entertained with a basin of +hot bread-and-milk served up on the best dining-room carpet, an event +unparalleled in the annals of "the Moorings!" + +Bob meanwhile, with never a thought of Rover, was proceeding across the +Dockyard with the Captain, who hobbled painfully over the knobbly +paving-stones with which that national institution is ornamented, +anathematising at every step he took the rulers of the "Queen's Navee," +who put him thus to unnecessary pain. + +"I can't think how, in a Christian land, people's poor feet should be so +mercilessly disregarded!" he exclaimed, on giving his favourite corn an +extra pinch between two projecting boulders--"I'd like to make `my +Lords' of the Admiralty do the goose-step regularly here for four hours +a day; and then, perhaps, there'd be a chance of a poor creature being +enabled to walk about the place in comfort!" + +Notwithstanding the instruments of torture in the shape of paving-stones +of which the Captain complained, and justly, he and Bob just managed to +reach the _Archimedes_ before she cast-off from the jetty alongside of +which she had been coaling, the two only having time to jump on board as +the gangway connecting her with the shore was withdrawn. Another moment +and they would have been too late; for "time and tide," and ships going +out on trial, wait for no man, or boy either. + +However, there they were, "better late than never," Bob thought, and he +thought further, too, as he gazed round the deck of the ironclad, which +was somewhat begrimed with coal-dust, and about the ugliest and most +mis-shapen monster imaginable, "Can I really be on board a ship?" + +He was, though; and, presently, the sound of the escape steam, that had +previously been roaring up through the rattling funnels, ceased; while +the fan-blades of the screw-propeller began to revolve, surging up the +water of the open dock in which the vessel lay into a mass of foam, and +creating, so to speak, a sort of "tempest in a teapot." + +Then, a couple of attendant tugs sent their tow-ropes aboard, so as to +check and guide the unwieldy leviathan in her progress through the +deeper channels of the harbour which ships of heavy draught have to take +to get out to sea; and "going easy," little by little, with an +occasional stop, as some impertinent craft or other got into the +fairway, they finally reached Spithead. + +"What is that funny red vessel coming down to us for?" inquired Bob, +pointing out a dandy-rigged yawl that just then rounded-up under the +stern of the _Archimedes_, laying-to a little way off. "She's coming +alongside, I think." + +"That's the powder-hoy," replied the Captain. "She's brought the +ammunition for our big guns here." + +"And why is she painted red?" asked Bob again--"eh?" + +"Just for the same reason that danger-signals on railways and warning +flags are always red," said the other. "I suppose because the colour is +more glaring and likely to be taken notice of; and no doubt, too, that's +why our soldiers are clothed in scarlet so that they can be all the more +readily potted by the enemy?" + +"You are pretty right there, Captain Dresser!" said, laughingly, a young +naval officer standing near, who kindly took all further trouble off the +Captain's hands in the way of answering Bob's questions and showing him +round the ship, the machinery of which especially charmed him, being so +much more imposing and complicated than that of the poor _Bembridge +Belle_, which had interested him only yesterday, so to speak, though now +washed to pieces by the relentless sea! + +The movements of the eccentric aroused Bob's chief wonder, the two +piston-rods connected with it and guiding the motion appearing in their +working like the crooked limbs of a bandy-legged giant "jumping up and +down," as he expressed it, "in a hoppety-kickety dance." + +Bob was called up from the engine-room by an extraordinary sound that +proceeded apparently from the deck above. + +This, as he ascended, grew louder and louder; until it became to him +really awesome. + +"What is that?" he asked the young lieutenant, who had accompanied him +below and now followed him up, keeping close to his side. "Has anything +happened, sir?" + +"No, nothing's happened," replied the young officer, who was a bit of a +wag. "That is our steam siren." + +"What is that, sir?" said Bob again--"I don't understand you." + +"It's the siren," explained the other, "a thing like the steam-whistle, +for signalling to passing ships." + +"It makes an awful row," cried Bob. "Don't you think so, sir?" + +"It does," said the lieutenant laughing. "A great row!" + +"Why do they call it a siren, though?" inquired the insatiable Bob. +"The `sirens' I've read of in my lessons at school used to be mermaids +that sang so sweetly and made such beautiful music, as they played on +their harps or lyres, that they lured poor mariners to destruction!" + +"But doesn't our siren make beautiful music?" asked the lieutenant in a +joking way. "It is loud, it is true; but don't you think it sweet?" + +"No," answered Bob, most emphatically. "It isn't! It is more like a +thousand wild bulls all with the toothache and roaring with pain!" + +"That's not a bad description," said the other, laughing heartily again. +"Hullo, though, they are going to fire now! Don't you see they've just +run up a red flag on that spar we have forward as an apology for a +mast?" + +"I see," replied Bob, concentrating his attention on the preparations +being made around for testing the machine-guns and larger weapons with +which the vessel was armed, long cylindrical shot, ribbed with brass +bands, being piled by the side of the various batteries, and nicely-made +cases of cartridges placed ready for the hoppers of the Nordenfeldts and +Gatlings. "How awfully jolly!" + +The _Archimedes_, after taking her ammunition on board, had steamed out +seaward so as to get a good offing where she might fire her guns without +the risk of hitting any passing craft; and, by the time Bob had come on +deck again from inspecting the machinery, she was well beyond the Nab +light and far out into the waters of the Channel. + +On the order being presently given to fire, the machine-guns went +popping away, to test how many shots they can fire off in a minute--the +report of some of them sounding like an asthmatic old gentleman with a +very bad cough. + +"What a funny noise!" cried Bob--"Rover barks just the same when he's +asleep and dreaming!" + +"Indeed!" said the young lieutenant, more intent, however, on watching a +party of blue-jackets getting ready a big gun for firing in the bows +than paying much attention to Bob. "Look out there, youngster!" + +"What are they going to do, eh?" asked Bob--"all those sailors there!" + +"Why, fire one of our forty-three ton guns; so you'd better look out for +squalls. Have you got any cotton-wool about you?" + +"No," answered Bob. "What for?" + +"To put in your ears, so as to deaden the noise of the report," said the +lieutenant. "I've got some, though, so it doesn't matter. Here's a bit +to stick in your ears--you'd better take my advice, it'll save your +tympanum!" + +Bob did not know what he meant; but he put the cotton-wool in his ears, +as desired, on seeing Captain Dresser and some other officers standing +near doing the same, and that the lieutenant was not "taking a rise out +of him," as at first he was inclined to think. + +The enormous gun, carrying a charge of two hundred and eighty pounds of +powder, with a shot weighing nearly a quarter of a ton, was now loaded; +when the officer directing the operation ordered all persons to move +away from the vicinity of the weapon, which was about to be fired for +the first time--at least on board the _Archimedes_. + +Everybody retreated behind the armoured screen bulkhead that formed a +sort of "shelter trench" across the deck; for, if an accident should +happen in the way of an unexpected explosion, refuge might be had there +from any flying fragments. + +Everybody, as has been said, at once, on the order being given, sought +this retreat--everybody, that is, but Bob, who, instead of stepping back +like the others, stepped forwards. + +At the same moment the signal was given, "Fire!" + +A terrific report followed, as if the ship and all its contents were +blown up, there being none of the reverberating sound, like that usually +heard when heavy guns are fired, as of an express train rushing at speed +through the air; but a dull, hollow, sullen, sharp roar, succeeded by +the heavy swish of some body, or something, falling into the water +alongside, while a thick smoke hung over the deck like a pall. + +"By Jingo!" exclaimed the Captain, "the gun has burst!" + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +BOB GETS "BLOWN UP." + +The unexpected explosion, though, caused no confusion, nor indeed any +apparent excitement such as would have at once occurred had the accident +happened on shore; for, thanks to the admirable discipline always +observed on board a man-of-war that flies the glorious old Union Jack, +not a man stirred from his station. + +It was only through the unusual stillness that prevailed for a moment or +two afterwards, that those not on deck became aware that something out +of the common had occurred. + +"Anybody hurt?" sang out, presently, the officer commanding the ship +from the bridge, near the conning tower, where he had been directing her +steering--"Anybody hurt there, forrud?" + +"No, sir," promptly replied the gunnery lieutenant in charge of the +firing-party, who was standing close by the exploded gun. "Not a soul, +sir!" + +"Thank God!" said the other in a tone of deep feeling, the anxious +expression clearing from his face. "It's a wonderful escape!" + +It was--and more. It was a merciful interposition of Providence! + +There were three flag-officers, four post-captains, and several others +of lesser rank, in addition to a number of blue-jackets in the immediate +neighbourhood of the exploded gun when it burst; but, strange to say, +although the muzzle of the weapon had been blown off completely from the +chase at the trunnions, and some hundred-weight of the fragments +scattered in all directions, many of them piercing the deck and screen +bulkhead, every one fortunately escaped injury. + +While exchanging congratulations with the other officers, all at once +Captain Dresser looked about him for Bob. + +But, nowhere was he to be seen in sight. + +"By Jove, he must have been blown overboard, and that was the splash in +the water I heard!" he exclaimed in alarm; and, turning to his friend +the young lieutenant, as they now advanced further forward to have a +nearer view of the still smoking gun, he said, "Where, Neville, did you +last see the boy?" + +"There!" replied the young officer, pointing to the ledge outside the +bulkhead, just over the iron ladder-way that led down to the fo'c's'le, +the scene of the accident. "He cannot well have fallen overboard from +there!" + +"No," assented the Captain, doubtfully; still at a loss to account for +Bob's mysterious disappearance. "Where can the boy be, though?" + +They were just about instituting an organised search through the ship, +both in great anxiety; when, who should crawl up from below but the +missing young gentleman! + +Rover's look of dejection on being left behind at home in the morning +was nothing to that of his young master now; the latter appearing, from +his blackened face and rumpled collar, not to speak of his soiled suit +of flannels, so beautifully white and clean the moment before, to have +"been in the wars" with a vengeance! + +"Why, what have you been doing with yourself?" exclaimed the Captain, in +blank dismay. "Where have you been?" + +Albeit dilapidated in his general exterior, Bob had not lost his voice; +his powers of speech being happily still unimpaired. + +"I'm all right," he answered with an attempt at a grin. "I'm all +right!" + +"But where have you been?" repeated the Captain, whom this off-hand +statement did not quite satisfy. "Where have you been?" + +"Oh, I got blown up," explained Bob. "When the gun fired I felt an +awful pain in my ears, as if somebody was running a red-hot needle +through them going right down to my boots!" + +"You must have long ears, youngster," remarked the young lieutenant +slily here. "Very long to reach so far!" + +"I didn't mean that my ears went down to my boots," replied Bob, rather +nettled at the insinuation; and he then continued the account of his +experiences of the explosion. "But, as I was saying, I first felt this +pain; and then I seemed to be lifted off my feet, tumbling down this +ladder here, and after that through a hole in the deck, amongst a lot of +coal-dust and oil-cans, that messed my clothes a bit." + +"A bit?" queried the Captain, chuckling now with much satisfaction at +seeing him unhurt--"I should say a good deal, judging by appearances, +Master Bob!" + +"Really?" said he surveying himself ruefully, turning and twisting so as +to get a view of his back. "Well, I certainly am dirty, but I didn't +look half so bad before I came up." + +"Ah, it's the light that does it," observed the lieutenant, chaffing +him. "However, if you will go rolling in the coal-bunkers and making +love to the engineer's oil-cans, you must take the consequences!" + +"I didn't," replied Bob indignantly. "You don't think I tumbled down +there on purpose, do you?" + +"Perhaps not," said the other, smiling. "But, pray remember, you were +told to keep away from the gun; and, if you had obeyed orders, you +wouldn't have got into any mischief." + +"Well, let us be thankful it is no worse," observed the Captain +cheerily. "I hope you are not hurt, Bob, by your roll dawn the +hatchway?" + +"No, Captain," he answered, brightening up again after the snub of the +lieutenant anent his disobedience, "I fell on the coal-sacks quite +softly and haven't got a scratch." + +"That's all right then," echoed Captain Dresser in his joking way; +adding to the young officer on his other side, "I wonder if all the +`cocked hats' have done examining the gun, and whether there's a chance +now for an old retired fogey like myself having a look at the damage?" + +"I should think so, sir," replied the young officer. "The Admiral, I +see, has gone away, and the fellows also from the Ordnance department; +so, you'd better come and have a glance round while the coast is clear." + +"I will," was the response of the old sailor, as, in company with the +lieutenant and Bob, he made his way through one of the watertight doors +in the forward bulkhead on to the fo'c's'le; the trio then grouping +themselves round the broken breech of the exploded weapon, all that was +left now of the whilom big forty-three ton gun! + +"Ah! I can see how it happened," said the old sailor, after a cursory +inspection of the fractured portion. "The gun was strong enough at the +breech, but went at the muzzle. It has given way, of course, at its +weakest point." + +"Yes," agreed the young lieutenant. "It has parted just here, where the +last protecting coil of steel has been shrunk on; the tube of the gun +has burst at this unprotected portion of it, right in front of the +chase." + +"What's the reason, sir," asked Bob, "of its bursting there like that?" + +"I suppose because the metal was unable to withstand the strain of the +powder charge," said the Captain. "So, Bob, it went!" + +"Pardon me, but I don't think you've got it quite right, sir," observed +the lieutenant apologetically. "The gun was strong enough for the old +`pebble powder' it was originally intended to be fired with, the force +of whose explosion would have been expended in the breech, which you +can't say is weak?" + +"No," asserted the other, "the gun seems strong enough there." + +"Well, that being the case," continued the young officer, "the gun might +have been fired as many times as you please with the heaviest charges of +that powder without its sustaining the slightest injury. Our wise +Ordnance people, however, having taken a fancy to a `slow combustion +powder,' whose force, instead of being expended in the breech, is +sustained throughout the whole length of the gun, as the particles of +powder ignite and expand, bethought themselves they would, for +cheapness' sake, use this `cocoa powder,' as it is called, without going +to the expense of building additional coils round their heavy guns to +enable them to resist the extra strain!" + +"So this is the result," said the old Captain. "It's just like putting +new wine into old bottles!" + +"Precisely," replied the lieutenant, joining in his laugh. "But, don't +you feel hungry, Captain Dresser?" + +"I do," he promptly rejoined. "This sea air give; one the very deuce of +an appetite; and I confess to feeling slightly peckish." + +"So am I," said the other, leading the way to the nearest hatchway. +"Let us go down below and see what they've got for luncheon. Mind how +you step, it's all dark here, as they haven't fitted her up yet." + +"That's plain enough as I can feel!" muttered the Captain in reply as he +stumbled against the projecting ledge of one of the watertight +bulkheads, knocking his shin. "These new-fashioned ships are all at +odds and ends, it seems to me, in their accommodation below. Give me +one of the old sort, where everything was really plain sailing and one +hadn't to dive down here and climb up there to get for'ard or aft!" + +"Ah," rejoined the lieutenant, holding out a hand to guide him, "you'd +get used to it in time." + +"Just as the eels do to skinning!" growled the Captain, rubbing his sore +shins. "I'd rather be excused the practice, though, on my part." + +Bob sniggered at this; and, passing along a narrow dark passage, its +obscurity rather increased than diminished by the solitary illuminating +power of a single "dip" in a ship's lantern hung up against the side, +the lieutenant stopped the Captain from any further grumbling by +introducing him into the ward-room, which, being well lit up with little +electric lamps, offered a marked contrast to the other parts of the +vessel they had traversed. + +To the Captain, indeed, it was like passing from purgatory to fairyland, +as he said; the more so from the fact of his seeing a well-spread table +before him, and there being a savoury smell permeating the atmosphere. + +So, he took his seat with alacrity, prepared to do ample justice to +whatever viands were brought forward. + +Bob, who came in a little later, his curiosity being attracted by the +sight of the open torpedo-room adjacent, with its stores of Whitehead +tubes, gave the witty young surgeon, who was facing the door, an +opportunity of cracking a joke at the expense of his smutty face, which +he had been unable to wash since his tumble amongst the coals. + +"Hullo, Pompey!" cried out this worthy, who by the way had been +previously chaffed by his brother officers, such is the levity of +sailors in imminent peril, about the gun accident not having provided +him with any patients. "Hullo, Pompey, you've forgotten your banjo and +bones!" + +Bob did not see the point of the joke at first, although there was a +general titter round the lower part of the table where the young surgeon +was seated; when Master Bob did, however, he blushed pretty red, looking +uncommonly sheepish. + +But the lieutenant came to his rescue. + +"He has left his bones behind advisedly, Phillips," said he to the young +surgeon, who was smiling still at his own witticism, "because he knew, +if he brought them, you would only carve and saw them about as you +served those fossils at the hospital." + +This turned the laugh against the other, enabling Bob to sit down in +peace and enjoy his luncheon, during which he was much amused at the fun +going on amongst the junior officers at their end of the festive board +about the splendid chances offered for promotion and "unfortunately +missed" by the bursting cannon. + +"Just fancy!" observed one of those, speaking in an undertone, so that +those of superior rank at the upper end of the table could not hear him. +"Three `flags,' four `posts,' half-a-dozen commanders, and two `first +luffs,' all within range of that blessed muzzle that carried away; and +not one vacancy on the list!" + +"It's positively awful," chimed in another, in cordial agreement with +his brother sub, "we may never have such a chance again!" + +The Captain subsequently explained to Bob that they meant that had the +several admirals and other officers of rank who stood behind the forty- +three ton gun been killed or materially injured when it burst, these +thoughtless juniors believed they would have "received a step" on the +list, or in other words, would have been probably promoted--which Bob +thought extremely wicked and reprehensible on their part. + +After the explosion, of course, there was no more gun-practice, the +_Archimedes_ slowly making her way back to Spithead, and then into +harbour; the broken breech of the unfortunate weapon that had come to +grief being carefully covered over with a piece of tarpaulin, so that +those on board an Austrian frigate lying in the roadstead, which the +ironclad had to go by, should know nothing of the burst, at least from +passing observation. We do not like to show our failures to our +friends--only our successes! + +The Captain and Bob, naturally, got back all the sooner from the trial +trip of the _Archimedes_ being thus cut short, reaching "the Moorings," +indeed, just as Mrs Gilmour and her guests were going out for a stroll +before dinner; when, Rover pranced up to his young master, all affection +and oblivious of any "hard feelings" he might have entertained by being +left behind in the morning, repeating his magnanimous conduct on a +previous occasion! + +"By Jove!" cried the Captain jocularly, addressing Bob's father. "That +son of yours is bound to turn out something great." + +"Really, what's he been doing now?" + +"Why," replied the old sailor with his customary chuckle, thumping the +pavement with his malacca cane to give greater emphasis to his words, +"he was half-drowned almost the first evening he came down here; was +wrecked in the poor _Bembridge Belle_ the other afternoon; and now, to +complete the category, has been blown up to-day." + +"Boys are like cats," said the barrister smiling. "They all seem +endowed with the same proverbial number of lives." + +"How funny, Bob," observed Nellie here. "Papa says you're like a cat; +so, you must be like Snuffles!" + +Bob, however, did not appear to see the joke of this; though it afforded +his sister much amusement, which was increased anon by the Captain +asking her a question. + +"I say, Miss Nell," he cried out in his jocular way, chuckling the +while, "what colour is this celebrated cat of yours, Snuffles?" + +"He's black all over, Captain," replied Nellie as distinctly as her +giggles would permit. "Only, he has four white paws, just as if he had +lamb's-wool socks on, like those mamma makes Bob wear in winter." + +"Humph!" snorted out the old sailor, his beady eyes twinkling with fire +and his bushy eyebrows moving rapidly up and down. "If you had seen +Master Bob when he first emerged from the fore-peak of the _Archimedes_ +after his tumble through the fo'c's'le and roll amongst the coal-sacks, +you would have thought him, missy, more like Snuffles than ever. The +only drawback to the likeness was that Bob had but two paws instead of +four, and that they were as black as his face!" + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Nellie, shrieking with laughter. "Do you hear that, +mamma?" + +"Aye, my dear, I'm not joking," went on the Captain, his face now as +grave as a judge. "Do you know he was so black, that they mistook him +for one of the Christy minstrels when he came into the ward-room +afterwards!" + +This finished poor Nell; even Bob, too, joining in the laugh against +himself. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +TRAWLING OFF THE NAB. + +The same evening, while they were all on the pier, listening to the +band, and chatting pleasantly together in the pauses between the music, +Mrs Gilmour turned the conversation upon a matter of extreme interest +to Master Bob, and one concerning which he had been in much doubt of +mind for some time past; although his native diffidence had prevented +him from personally broaching the subject in his own right. + +Sitting there within hail of the sea, the soft arpeggio of whose faint +ripple on the shore seemed to harmonise with the louder instrumentation +of the orchestra, which was just then playing a selection from Weber's +"Oberon," the talk naturally drifted into a nautical channel; the old +sailor dilating, to the delight of his listeners, on the charms of a +life afloat and the divine beauty of the ocean, whether in storm or at +rest. + +"Aye, there's no life like it," said he. "A life on the ocean wave!" + +"It sounds nice in poetry," observed the Irish barrister, who although +full of sentiment, like most of his countrymen, always tried to hide it +under a mask of comedy. "But, I think it must be a very up and down +sort of existence. Too uncertain for me, at all events!" + +"Oh, Dugald!" remonstrated his wife. "Why, this morning you were +rhapsodising over the sea, and wishing you were able to spend your brief +life afloat." + +"My brief life, indeed!" exclaimed Mr Strong. "It's precious few +briefs I get, or it would be more pleasant. I wish more of 'em would +come in, my dear, to pay for those children's shoes. They've worn out +half-a-dozen pairs apiece, I believe, since they've been down here!" + +"Better a shoemaker's bill," said Mrs Gilmour, "than a doctor's, sure, +me dear Dugald." + +"Aye, by Jove!" put in the Captain with a chuckle. "There's nothing +like leather, you know." + +"By the way, talking of that, though I don't mean to say it's made like +the old Britons' coracles," observed Mrs Gilmour silly, "when is that +yacht of yours going to be ready, Captain?" + +This unexpected inquiry made the old sailor blush a rosy red, for his +face was turned westwards towards the setting sun, and all could see it +plainly; albeit, he tried to conceal his perturbation by drawing out his +brilliant bandana handkerchief and blowing his nose vigorously--an old +trick of his. + +"I--I--I'm having her done up," he at length stammered out. "She wanted +a lot of repair." + +"So I should think," rejoined his persecutor, turning round to the +others. "You must know, good people, that I've been hearing of nothing +but this yacht for the last two years; and, would you believe it, I've +never seen her yet!" + +"I assure you--," began the Captain; but, alas! his enemy, in addition +to being a host in herself, had allies of whom he little dreamt; and so +he was interrupted ere he could get at a second stammering "I assure +you!" + +"Why, you promised, Captain," said Nell mischievously, "the very first +time we saw you in the train, to take us out for a `sail in your yacht'; +and I have been longing so much for it ever since. We thought that was +what you meant when you said you were going to take us somewhere or do +something that `to-morrow come never' as you called it!" + +"You wicked man, to deceive the poor children so!" cried + +Mrs Gilmour, shaking her finger at him. "Oh, you bad man!" + +But, before he could answer a word, Bob, who had been waiting anxiously +for an opening, likewise assailed him. + +"Ah! Don't you remember, Captain, that day when you took Dick down to +the Dockyard to get him entered as a sailor boy on board the _Saint +Vincent_, and they wouldn't take him because he was too thin, you said +it didn't matter, for you would employ him on board your yacht when the +racing season began? Why, Dick and I have been looking out for a sail +ever since. Don't you remember?" + +"Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself, sure?" said Mrs Gilmour, +following up Bob's flank attack; his father and mother enjoying the +discussion immensely, coupled as it was with the old sailor's comical +embarrassment. "Tell me, now, aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + +Taking off his hat and shoving his hands through his hair until he +raised it up on the top of his head in a high ridge, he looked at his +tormentors appealingly; although, the merry twinkle in his bird-like +eyes took off somewhat from his contrition. + +"Do forgive me!" implored he in accents that had a very suspicious +chuckle about them. "I confess my sins!" + +"You must clear yourself completely, sir, before you can hope to obtain +absolution for your sins of omission," insisted Mrs Gilmour, pretending +to be very stern indeed. "Now, prisoner at the bar, answer truly, have +you or have you not got a yacht?" + +"I have," he replied solemnly, entering into her humour. "By Jove, I +have, ma'am!" + +"Well, I'm glad to hear that at all events," retorted his questioner in +rather an injudicial way. "Sure, I didn't think you had one at all, not +having seen it after all your talking about it. What sort of a yacht is +it, now?" + +"Only a half-decked little cutter of about two or three tons," answered +the Captain abjectly, trying to minimise his offence. "A very little +one, ma'am, I assure you." + +Mrs Gilmour burst into a fit of laughter, in which they all joined +heartily; the barrister's jovial roar being heard above the music of the +band. + +"Ah, no wonder you didn't like my seeing it!" she cried with pleasant +irony, which, however, made the old sailor wince, this "yacht" of his +being a subject on which he was wont to enlarge amongst his friends. +"Why, from what you said, I thought she was a big schooner like the one +that took the cup at Cowes last year when we all went over with those +horrid Tomkinses to see the regatta! Call that a yacht, a boat of such +a size? I call it a cockleshell!" + +This nettled the Captain very considerably, it must be confessed. + +"Well, ma'am, you may call it what you please," he replied shortly, with +some little heat, putting on his hat again and jamming it down on his +head firmly, using a good deal of force as if expending in that way his +latent caloric. "But, cockleshell or no cockleshell, she's big enough +for me!" + +"But, Captain dear, isn't there room enough for me, too?" asked Nell +coaxingly, seeing that he was vexed, and sliding her little hand into +his, as if to show that she at all events was not joining in the fun +against him. "Won't you take Bob and me?" + +Her touch somehow or, other banished his pettishness, enabling him to +see that Mrs Gilmour was only joking, and that he had but played into +her hands, as he said to himself, by losing his temper over it. + +"I tell you what," he now exclaimed, without a single trace of ill- +humour. "You shall see that I'm not ashamed of my little craft, for +I'll have the _Zephyr_ brought over from Gosport to-morrow. What is +more, too, the whole lot of you shall go out for a sail in her--by +Jove!" + +The Captain was as good as his word, the yacht being towed across the +following afternoon from Haslar Creek, where she had been lying, ever +since the last yachting season, on the mud flats that there exist. + +The little craft, which was a dapper cutter with an oyster-knife sort of +bow and a clean run aft, as if she could race well when heeling over and +show a good deal of her copper sheathing, did not exceed the tonnage +mentioned by the Captain. + +But, in spite of her smallness of size, she appeared to have the making +of a good sea boat in her, and gained many admirers amongst the Southsea +watermen as they surveyed her at her new moorings; the little craft +being anchored off the coastguard-station and placed now under the +charge of Hellyer, when the Captain was not immediately looking after +her himself. + +Mrs Gilmour, however, remained obdurate; for, though satisfied now that +the "yacht" really was an actual fact instead of merely a creation of +her old friend's fancy, being somewhat averse to adventuring her life on +the deep save in large vessels, and even of these she confessed feeling +rather shy since the wreck of the _Bembridge Belle_, she, very +aggravatingly, declined going out in the cutter--a want of taste on her +part shared by her sister-in-law, whose weak nerves supplied a more +reasonable pretext for not accepting the Captain's usual invitation to +make the little vessel's better acquaintance. + +Bob's father, however, exhibited no such reluctance; and, as for Bob +himself, he and Nellie and Dick were all in the seventh heaven of +delight when, a morning or two afterwards, there being a nice nor'- +westerly breeze blowing, which was good both for working out to sea and +running home again, the Captain took them for a sail, managing single- +handed the smart cutter as only a sailor, such as he was, could. + +Thenceforward, Bob's holidays were all halcyon days. + +He had certainly enjoyed himself before; in his rambles on the beach, in +his daily dip and new experiences of the delights of swimming; in the +various little trips he and Nellie had taken; aye, and in the +pleasurable occupation of collecting all those strange wonders of the +shore, with which they had been so recently made familiar. + +But, never had he enjoyed himself to the extent he did now! + +There was nothing, on his once having tasted the joy of sailing, that +could compare with it for a moment in his mind; and, if his own tastes +had been consulted, he would have been content to have spent morning, +noon, and night on board the _Zephyr_. + +It was the same with Dick; and, under the Captain's able tuition, both +the boys soon acquired sufficient knowledge of tacking and wearing, +sailing close-hauled and going free with the helm amidships, besides +other nice points of seamanship, as to be able almost to handle the +cutter as well as their instructor. + +Nellie, naturally, could not enter so fully into these details as Bob +and Dick; but, still, she took quite as much pleasure as they did in +skimming over the undulating surface of the water and hearing the +gurgling ripple made by the boat's keel. + +She felt a little alarm sometimes, perhaps, when, with her mainsail +sharply braced up, the _Zephyr_ would heel over to leeward, burying her +gunwale in the foam ploughed up by her keen-edged bow, as it raced past, +boiling and eddying, astern. + +On one occasion the Captain took them out trawling between the Nab and +Warner light-ships; where a bank of sand stretches out to sea, forming +the favourite fishing-ground of the Portsmouth watermen hailing from +Point and the Camber at the mouth of the harbour. + +"What is trawling?" asked Master Bob, of course, when the matter was +mooted by the owner of the cutter. + +"What is trawling, eh?" repeated the old sailor, humming and cogitating +for a minute or so. "Let me see; ah, yes, you let down a trawl and +catch your fish in it, instead of using a line or drag-net." + +"Sure, Captain," cried Mrs Gilmour, laughing at this, "that's as good +as your definition of steam the other day! You'll have Bob asking you +now what is a trawl, the same as I've got to do; please tell us, won't +you?" + +"Sure and I will," returned he, imitating her accent and making her +brother and herself laugh, Mrs Strong only smiling faintly, as she had +a marked dislike to any allusion to the Irish brogue. "The trawl, +ma'am, is a very simple contrivance when it is understood; and, by your +leave, I'll try and make it plain to you. It consists of an ordinary +net, like a seine, which you've seen, of course?" + +"Yes," replied his questioner, "I have seen them dragging the seine, as +it is called, down on the beach often." + +"Oh, auntie, Nell and I saw them, too, the day after that storm we had +when we first came," said Bob eagerly. "I know, because I asked the men +what they were doing, and they told me." + +"There's nothing like asking for information," observed the Captain +approvingly. "It's lucky, though, those men told you at once, or you'd +have worried their lives out!" + +"Sure and you may well say that," put in Mrs Gilmour. "You have to +suffer frequently from some little people's thirst for knowledge." + +"I don't mind," chuckled the Captain, beaming with good-humour. "But, +to go on with my description of the trawl. You must imagine, as I have +said, an ordinary seine net, which must be a small one, and that looped +up at the corners, too, somewhat in the shape of a funnel, or rather in +the form of a cone sliced in two. The mouth of this apparatus is kept +open on its flat side by means of a pole some ten or twelve feet long, +termed the `trawl-beam,' which floats uppermost when the net is down; +while the lower side is weighted with a thick heavy piece of hawser +styled the `ground-rope,' around which the meshes of the net are woven. +A bridle or `martingale' unites the two ends of the trawl-beam." + +"Yes, I see," said Bob, who was all attention, and taking the greatest +interest in the Captain's explanation. "I see." + +"Well," continued the old sailor, "to this bridle there is attached a +double-sheaved block, through which runs a hundred-and-fifty fathom +rope, capable of bearing a heavy strain. But, in hauling this in, great +nicety must be observed, for, the slightest hitch or deflection will +cause the beam to turn the wrong way; when, if the net `gets on her +back,' as the fisher-folk say, all your catch is simply turned out into +`the vasty deep,' and your toil results in a case of `Love's labour +lost!'" + +"But, what do you do with the net and beam, when it's all ready?" asked +Bob. "You haven't told us that, yet." + +"Why, drop it over the side as soon as you get out to the fishing- +ground," replied the Captain laconically; "and now, I hope, you +understand all about it?" + +"Oh yes," responded his listeners with alacrity; all, that is, but Mrs +Gilmour, who assented somewhat dubiously, as if she could not quite +grasp the idea, requiring the whole thing to be explained to her over +again, when she declared herself still "all in a fog!" + +Her brother, however, the barrister, comprehended it at once. + +"I should think it was great fun," he observed; "so I would like to come +with you." + +"Do," said the Captain, with much heartiness. "You'll be amply repaid +for the trouble. It is intensely exciting waiting and watching for what +the trawl will bring up. It's just like dipping your hands in the +`lucky bag,' Miss Nellie, at Christmas-time." + +"Do you ever find any very curious things, Captain?" she inquired on +being thus appealed to. "I mean really curious things!" + +"Oh yes, my dear," replied the old sailor. "I was once out trawling +with a fisherman off Saint Helens, when we dragged up a donkey-cart!" + +"O-oh!" exclaimed Nellie, opening her blue eyes wide with wonder. "Did +you catch the donkey as well?" + +"Well, no," answered the Captain, smiling at her amazement, her eyes +being so big and her face such a study. "The poor man's donkey, missy, +had been eaten by the crabs, but the cart was there, shafts, wheels, and +all; and, a nice mess the lot made of the trawl-net, tearing it all to +pieces!" + +"That clenches it then. I'll come with you by all means!" cried Mr +Dugald Strong, a pleased smile creeping over his face as he rubbed his +hands with expectant glee. "If you find such strange fish as that, it +must be worth going out." + +"All right, I shall be glad of your company," replied the Captain; +"only, mind, you'll have to work your passage, and help hauling in the +trawl." + +"I agree to that," said the other; and, the matter being thus settled, +it was arranged that they should proceed the following day on their +expedition, if the weather were favourable and nothing occurred to alter +their plans. Nellie was specially granted permission to accompany the +party, much against the wish of her mother, who declared that she would +spoil all her things to a certainty; saying besides, that, from what she +had gathered of the conversation, she did not believe trawling was a +very ladylike pursuit, "for little girls, at all events." + +However, all the same, Miss Nellie was up betimes the next morning, and +sallied out with Bob and his father, whose pet she was, just as the +early milkman was coming his rounds; the trio getting down to the beach +punctually at seven o'clock, the hour fixed by the Captain for their +start. + +Here they found the old sailor and Dick, ready and waiting for them; +when, going off in the little dinghy belonging to the _Zephyr_, although +the boat had to make a couple of passages to and fro, being only capable +of accommodating two passengers besides proud Dick the sculler, they +were soon all on board. + +The cutter, then, having her jib and mainsail already set, had only to +slip her moorings, and was off and away, bowling out seaward before the +breeze, which was blowing from the land. + +The morning was bright and balmy; and the sun having risen some hours +earlier even than the very early risers of the party, its beams by this +time warmed the heavens and lit up the landscape, the rose-tints of dawn +being succeeded by a golden glow all over the sky, the sea dancing in +sympathy and sparkling in the sunlight--being altogether too merry to +look blue. + +It did not take the little craft long, running before the wind with a +slack sheet, to reach the Horse Shingle shoal, beyond the outlying fort, +and near the Warner light-ship, where lay the fishing-ground, or "bank," +which the Captain had described as being especially favourable for their +sport. + +"Now," said the old sailor, "the time for action has at last arrived. +We must get ready to `shoot' the trawl." + +"You are not going to fire?" cried Nell in alarm, hearing him use the +technical term he had employed. "I'm so afraid of guns." + +"No, my dear," he answered chuckling, "I meant pitching the trawl over +the side, just in the same way as you say `shooting' coals or rubbish. +Are you ready at your end, Strong?" + +"Yes, I'm all right," replied the barrister, who had been ably helping +the Captain in arranging the meshes of the net along the starboard- +gunwale, out of the way of the swing of the boom, and getting the trawl- +beam across the stern-sheets of the cutter; while Bob and Dick attended +to the sheets and tiller. "Fire away, Captain Dresser!" + +"Well, then, let us heave over," sang out the Captain, in his quarter-- +deck voice, as he called it. "One--two--three--off she goes!" + +So, with a dull plunge, the trawl was "shot," the old sailor and Mr +Strong quickly pitching over the side, after it, the bunchy folds of the +net; when the guy-rope fastened to the bridle of the beam was secured to +the bowsprit-bitts and then again to a thole-pin aft, so as to prevent +its getting under the keel. + +The boat was then allowed to fill her jib and drift out with the ebbing +tide, keeping a straight course for the Nab, and steering herself by +means of the dragging net astern; neither the services of Bob nor of +Dick being required any further at the helm under the circumstances. + +"You can light your pipe now, if you like," said Captain Dresser to Mr +Strong, when this was satisfactorily accomplished. "We shall have +nothing to do for the next hour or two; for we must have the net down +long enough to let something have a chance of getting into the pocket of +it." + +"I suppose the smell of tobacco won't frighten the fish?" observed the +barrister, gladly taking advantage of the permission and striking a +vesuvian, his pipe being already loaded and ready. "Fresh-water anglers +are rather particular on the point." + +"Bless you, no!" replied the old sailor laughing, "our fish at sea know +what's good for them and like it!" + +Miss Nell, who seemed anxious about something, presently hazarded a +question when her father had lit his pipe and was smoking comfortably on +the forecastle. + +"Are we not going to have any breakfast?" said she, in a very grave way, +as befitted a matter of such deep importance. "I feel very hungry." + +"Dear me, I was almost forgetting breakfast!" cried the Captain, +throwing away the end of the cigar the barrister had offered him, which +he was smoking rather against the grain, preferring his tobacco in the +form of snuff. "Dick, did you bring the things all right as I told +you?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Dick. "They be in the fo'c's'le, sir." + +"Is the coffee on the stove?" + +"Yes, sir, and biling." + +"That's right," said the Captain, who continued, turning to Nellie, +"Now, missy, you can preside over our breakfast-table if you like. +You'll find all the traps ready in the little cabin for'ard under the +half-deck." + +Thereupon, Miss Nellie, with much dignity, busied herself in pouring out +the coffee, which had been kept hot all the while on "such a dear little +stove," as she called out to Bob the moment she caught sight of it in +the fore-cabin; the pair constituting themselves steward and stewardess +instanter, and serving out, with Dick's help, their rations to the rest +of the company. + +They were in the midst of breakfast, the trawl having been dragging +along the bottom of the sea for not quite an hour, when, all at once, +the rope holding it attached to the bowsprit-bitts began to jerk +violently. + +"Hallo!" cried the Captain, starting up from his seat on one of the +bunks in the little cabin, which, even with stooping, he and Mr Strong +found it a hard matter to squeeze themselves into. "We've caught +something big this time!" + +"Do you think it's a whale?" said Nell, jumping up also, abandoning in +her hurry her post as mistress of the ceremonies. "It must be awfully +big to make that great rope shake so!" + +The old sailor chuckled till his sides shook. + +"You seem wonderfully fond of whales, missy!" he exclaimed, turning +round as soon as he had managed to wriggle himself out of the fo'c's'le +and was able to stand erect again. "Don't you remember, you mistook +those grampuses we came across the other day when going to Seaview for +whales?" + +"Yes; and I remember, too, Captain, your making fun of me then, the same +as now," replied Nell, smiling as she went on. "I don't mind it though, +for I like being here with you and dad!" + +"That's right, my dear," replied the old sailor. "There's nothing like +keeping your temper. But, we must now see about hauling in the trawl; +for the chap who has got into the net is a big fellow, whoever he is, +and, if we don't pull him in pretty sharp, he'll knock our net to +pieces!" + +So saying, the Captain brought the end of the tackle to the little +windlass placed amidships; when he and Mr Dugald Strong, who did not +find the task, by the way, as easy as he imagined, began reeling in the +trawl rope fathom by fathom, until, anon, the end of the beam was seen +peering above the water alongside. + +The jerking of the tackle, which had continued all the time they were +hauling in, appeared to increase as the trawl was raised to the surface, +the net now that it was within view swaying from side to side; and, when +Captain Dresser and the barrister leant over the gunwale to lift in the +beam with its pocket attached, there was a hoarse barking sound heard +proceeding from the folds of the net, like that of a dog in the +distance. + +"Oh!" cried Nellie, in alarm, climbing up on the thwarts and getting as +far away as she could--"what is it?" + +"What is it?" echoed Bob in the same breath. "What is it?" + +The Captain, however, did not immediately satisfy their curiosity. + +"I've got my suspicions," he commenced in a leisurely way as he bent a +little more over the side to get a better hold of the net; but, what he +saw, as the trawl lifted out of the sea, made him quicken his speech, +and he exclaimed in a much louder tone-- "Take care, missy, and look +out, you boys! There's a shark in the trawl-net, and a pretty venomous +beast, too!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE SPOILS OF THE SEA. + +"A shark!" yelled out Mister Bob, evincing much greater fright than his +sister Nell, although he was very fond of referring to her +contemptuously as "being only a girl," when manly exploits happened to +be the topic of conversation and she chanced to hazard an opinion; and, +at the same instant, he jumped madly from the gunwale of the little +cutter on to the top of her half-deck forwards, climbing from thence +into the lee rigging, where he evidently thought he would be safer. "A +shark! Won't it bite?" + +"Aye, by Jove, it will!" said the Captain ironically. "I'd swarm up to +the masthead, if I were you, so as to be out of harm's way. You needn't +mind your sister or any of us down here. We can take care of +ourselves!" + +This made Bob a bit ashamed, and he began to climb down again from the +rigging, looking gingerly the while over the side, as if expecting every +minute that the terrible monster of the deep which his imagination had +pictured would spring up and seize him. + +"I--I--was afraid," he faltered. "I--I--thought it best to get out of +the way." + +"So it seems," said the old sailor grimly. "It's lucky, though, that +every one was not of the same mind; or where would we all be! Dick, +where's that hatchet I gave you this morning to put into the boat?" + +"It's in the after locker, sir." + +"Look smart, then," cried the Captain excitedly. "Bear a hand and get +it at once." + +At this order, Dick, who, like Bob, had thought "discretion the better +part of valour," and got behind the windlass, in order to have some +substantial obstacle between himself and the trawl-net which the +Captain, with Mr Dugald Strong's aid, had partly dragged into the well +of the cutter, now crawled out from his retreat; and keeping over well +to leeward on the other side of the boom, proceeded to the locker in the +stern-sheets, from whence he took out a small axe and handed it to +Captain Dresser. + +"Ha!" ejaculated the old sailor, as he gripped the weapon tightly and +belaboured with the back of it, using all the vigour of his still +nervous right arm, the bag, or "pocket" of the net, in which the body of +some big fish was seen to be entangled; although neither its form nor +appearance could be distinctly distinguished, the folds and meshes being +so tightly wrapped round it. "I'll soon settle him!" + +"Hold hard!" shouted out Bob's father, at about the second blow with the +head of the axe over the gunwale. "You very nearly cut my arm off then! +Lucky for me you were not using the edge of your hatchet." + +"Beg your pardon, I'm sure," apologised the Captain. "But these brutes +are uncommonly tough." + +"More than my arm is," said Mr Strong ruefully, rubbing this member +tenderly. "What sort of beast is it--not a real shark, surely? I +always imagined those beggars to be very much bigger." + +"No," replied the other, satisfied from the net being now still that he +had "settled" his victim. "It is what is called a `fox-shark,' or dog- +fish." + +"Ah," exclaimed Bob, climbing down from the rigging now that he saw all +danger was over, "I thought I heard it bark just like a dog when you and +dad hauled up the trawl." + +"So did I," chimed in Nellie, likewise coming to the stern again from +her place of refuge. "It sounded just like Rover's bark when he's +sometimes shut up for being naughty." + +"You are both right," said the Captain, who, with the assistance of +their father, had now lifted the beam and net over the side into the +well of the boat and was busy unfolding the meshes of the net. "The +brute not only barks, but bites, too, if he gets a chance." + +"Oh!" cried Bob and Nell together; and they, with Dick, waited anxiously +to see the monster disclosed--a deep-drawn "O-o-oh!" + +"There!" ejaculated the Captain a moment after, when he had extracted +the dead body of the dog-fish, nearly five feet long, from the net and +turned it over with his foot so that they should see its wide shark- +mouth and rows of little teeth set on edge, looking like so many small- +tooth combs arranged parallel to each other. "What do you say to that +for a nibble, eh?" + +"Is it any good?" asked the barrister, thinking that the dog-fish had a +sort of resemblance to a good-sized pike, with the exception of course +of its head, which, however, the old sailor had so battered about with +his hatchet that the animal would not have been recognised by its +nearest relative. "Not up to much, I should think!" + +"Well, I have heard of sailors eating shark on a pinch, but I've got no +stomach for it myself; and all it's fit for is to be chucked overboard," +replied the Captain, carrying out his suggestion without further delay, +grumbling as he added-- "The brute has spoilt our haul, too, confound +it, and damaged our net!" + +It was as the Captain said, there being nothing found in the pocket of +the trawl, beyond the carcase he had just consigned to its native +element, save some mud and a few oyster-shells. + +Fortunately, though, the dog-fish had not done quite so much harm as he +might; and, after mending a few rents by tying them together with pieces +of sennet, which the old sailor had taken the precaution of having ready +for such purpose beforehand, the trawl-net was as good as ever, allowing +them to "shoot" it again for another dredge. + +This time it remained down till the tide turned, a good three hours at +least; and the hopes of all were high in expectation when they commenced +hauling it in. + +"What do you think we'll catch now?" asked Nell. "Eh, Captain?" + +"Well, not a whale, missy," said the Captain, with his customary +chuckle, which to him formed almost a part of his speech. "Still, I +fancy we ought to pick up something this time better than a dog-fish." + +These doubts were solved anon; for after a terrible long interval of +heaving round the windlass, at which Mr Strong groaned greatly, +declaring that his back felt broken from having to stoop nearly double +so as to keep out of the way of the swinging boom of the cutter, which +swayed to and fro as she rolled about in the tideway, the end of the +trawl-beam once more hove in sight alongside, bobbing up endwise out of +the water. + +"Belay!" sang out the Captain on seeing it, taking a turn with a coil of +the rope round the windlass-head to secure it, lest it might whirl round +and let the trawl go to the bottom again before they could hoist it +inboard. "That will do now, Strong; if you'll bear a hand we'll get our +spoil in." + +Thereupon he and the barrister leant over the side of the boat as +before; and, catching hold of either end of the trawl-beam, they lifted +it over the gunwale. + +The Captain then swished the folds of the net vigorously, so as to shake +what fish might have become entangled in the meshes into the pocket at +the end, Bob and Nellie, and likewise Dick, watching the operations with +the keenest interest. "Now," cried the sailor, "we shall see what we +shall see!" So saying, he and Mr Strong raised up the net pocket, +which was a goodish big bundle and seemed, from its heavy weight, to +contain a large number of fish, for it throbbed and pulsated with their +struggles; when, cutting with his clasp-knife the stout piece of cord +with which the small end of the pocket was tied, the Captain shook out +its living contents on the bottom boards in the well--Nell giving a +shriek and springing up on one of the thwarts as a slimy sole floundered +across her foot, thinking perhaps it was a fellow sole! + +She was not frightened, however, only alarmed; and, the next moment, she +was inspecting with as much curiosity as the others the motley +collection that had been brought up from the sea. + +"Not a bad lot, eh?" observed the Captain critically, poking the fish +about with the end of his stick, which he took off the seat for the +purpose. "I see we've got some good soles, besides that little chap +that took a fancy to you, missy." + +"I didn't mind it," said Miss Nell courageously, now that she knew that +there was nothing much to be frightened of. "It was cold and wet, poor +thing; but I knew it would not hurt me." + +"Ah, but you screamed though!" retorted the sailor waggishly, as he +turned to her father. "Say, Strong, do you know what to do with a sole, +eh?" + +"Why, eat it, I suppose," replied the other laughing. "I don't think +you can better that, eh?" + +"Yes, that's all right, no doubt," said the Captain, a little bit grumpy +at being caught up in that way. "I mean how to cook it properly?" + +"Boil it," suggested the barrister, at a loss how to answer the question +satisfactorily. "I should think that the simplest plan." + +"Boil it?" repeated the Captain in a voice of horror; "boil your +grandmother!" + +"Well, you must really excuse me," said the barrister, as well as he +could speak from laughing; while Bob and Nell went into fits at the idea +of their poor old "Gran" being cooked in so summary a fashion. "I'm +good at a knife and fork, but really I don't know anything of cooking." + +"I see you don't," replied the old sailor triumphantly, his good-humour +restored at being able to put the other "up to a wrinkle," as he said; +"but I'll tell you. The best way, Strong, to do a sole is to grill him +as quickly as you can over a clear fire. About five minutes is enough +for the transaction; and then, with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of +cayenne, you've got a dish fit for a king! No bread-crumbs or butter or +any of that French fiddlery, mind, or you'll spoil him!" + +"I'll remember your recipe should I ever chance to turn cook," said Mr +Strong. "I should think it ought to taste uncommonly good." + +"By Jove, you shall try it, this very afternoon!" cried the old sailor +energetically. "Dick, see that the gridiron is clean, for we'll want it +by and by. Hullo, though, I'm forgetting about the rest of our catch. +Let us see what we've got." + +While the Captain had been talking to their father, Bob and Nellie had +been rummaging in the bottom of the boat, trying to make out the +different fish; but, from the fact of all being coated with mud, of +which the trawl's pocket was pretty well filled, in addition to its live +occupants, these latter seemed all so similar at first glance as to +resemble those two negro gentlemen, Pompey and Caesar, described by a +sable brother as being "berry much alike, 'specially Pompey!" + +However, the old sailor soon sorted them out. + +"Half-a-dozen pair of good soles, eh? That will be a treat for your +aunt Polly," he said to Miss Nell, pitching the fish as he picked them +out carelessly on one side. "Some odd flounders, too, I see. They're +nearly as good as our soles; and, I see also a lot of plaice and dabs, +which are not bad, fried, when you can't get anything better in the same +line, and--hullo, by jingo, don't touch that!" + +"Why, Captain?" inquired Bob, who had just taken up in his hands a soft, +jelly-like, flabby thing that appeared as if it were a little white owl, +some ten or twelve inches high, without any particular head or wings to +speak of, although it had a short black beak, resembling a parrot's, +projecting from out of its livid-hued fleshy body. "What is it?" + +"It's a cuttle-fish," cried the old sailor. "Drop it, my boy, at once! +or--" + +He spoke too late; for at the same moment, the cuttle-fish deluged Bob +with the inky fluid which nature has provided it with as a means of +hiding its whereabouts in the water from its enemies, and from which the +Romans obtained their celebrated "Tyrian dye." + +Nell, also, came in for a share of this over her dress, which did not by +any means improve its appearance. + +"Never mind, though;" said the Captain to them both, by way of +consolation. "What's done can't be helped!" + +"Ah!" remarked their father slily, "if you had been looking after the +net, instead of instructing me in cookery, this wouldn't have happened." + +"You're quite right, Strong," replied the other, with an air of great +contrition; albeit his eyes twinkled with fun and his manner was not +quite that of a repentant sinner. "I've neglected my duties +shamefully." + +With these words he set to work anew, disinterring a large skate +weighing over twelve pounds from amidst the mud and refuse brought up by +the trawl. + +The gills of this fish, in the centre of its globular body, had the most +extraordinary likeness to a human face; and as the queer-looking +creature puffed out these gills, it appeared, as Mr Strong pointed out, +just like a fat old gentleman taking a glass of some rare and highly- +recommended wine and "washing his mouth out" so as to taste it properly. + +"Oh, papa, how funny!" exclaimed Nell. "It is just like that, too! But +look, Captain, there's a `soldier crab,' isn't it?" + +"Yes, my dear, and we'll keep him for your aquarium; as well as some new +sea-anemones and another zoophyte I see here, too. This chap is +christened the `alcyonium' by learned naturalists, but is called `dead +man's fingers' by the fisher-folk along shore." + +"What a horrid name!" interposed Nellie, shuddering--"a horrid name!" + +"It is so named," continued the Captain, "because the creature has the +advantage of having several bodies instead of one, all radiating from a +single stem, like fingers or toes. But now, I think, there's nothing +much of any good left of our shoot, save a few oysters. Those will come +in handy presently, eh, Strong?" + +"Yes, I shan't mind," replied the barrister. "I'm beginning to have an +appetite, I think." + +"We'll have luncheon at once then," said the old sailor with alacrity, +as if this would be a labour of love. "I'm not beginning to have an +appetite, because I've got one already, and a precious good one, too! +Do you think you can pick a bit if you try, eh, young people?" + +"Yes, please," replied Nell. Master Bob's response was a shout of +"Rather," fully indicative of his feelings; while Dick grinned so much +that his face was a study as he said "Y-es, sir, sure-ly!" + +Taking all these evidences as proof of the unanimity of the company on +the subject, the Captain, all helping, at once set about the +preparations for the coming feast. He first, however, tied up the +pocket of the trawl again, preparatory to heaving it overboard; so that +they could "kill two birds with one stone," as he said, and be fishing +and eating at the same time. + +Each had something to do after this important operation. + +Dick began by scraping some soles which the Captain selected from the +number he had put aside for Mrs Gilmour. Next, Master Bob washed these +in a bucket of water he had procured from over the side of the cutter in +sailor fashion; and then handing them to the Captain, who officiated as +"master of the kitchen," over the gridiron in the "fo'c's'le,"--the old +sailor cooked away quite cheerfully, in spite of having to bend himself +almost in two in the little cabin in order to attend to his task +properly, his zeal preventing him for the moment from feeling any +inconvenience from stooping so much. + +Nell, who had been debarred from any share in preparing the fish or +looking after its grilling, which, certainly, she would infinitely have +preferred, contented herself with arranging the four small plates which +were all that the cutter's locker contained in the way of crockery-ware, +besides a similar number of cups of various hues and shapes. + +All of these articles the young lady set out systematically on a board +which the Captain fixed across the thwarts to serve as a table; while, +as for Mr Strong, all he did in the way of assistance was to set +himself down on the most comfortable seat he could find in the stern- +sheets, where, lighting his pipe, he beguiled the weary moments until +lunch should be ready as best he could, smoking and thinking! + +He had not to wait long; for presently, with much dignity the Captain +served up his first instalment of soles, which were declared by the +barrister to be so good that another cooking was necessary; aye, and +another too after that, until there was not a single sole left. + +"Poor aunt Polly!" exclaimed Nellie, laughing merrily when they were all +consumed, and the bones of the fish chucked overboard to feed their +brethren below. "All her soles are gone! What shall we tell her?" + +"Why, that we ate them," said the Captain, starting the laugh, and all +joining in. + +Dick, who was at the moment devouring the last crust of bread left, +after finishing his portion of the fish, nearly choked himself by +bursting into a guffaw while in the act of swallowing; so, this +necessitated the Captain's administering to him a cup of sea-water +wherewith to wash down the morsel sticking in his throat, which did not +taste nice after grilled sole, though the Captain said it was "as good +as grog." + +They did not have much sport after luncheon, the next cast of the net +bringing up nothing but boulders and mud, besides an old bottle that +must have been dropped into the sea years before and, mayhap, went down +with Kempenfeldt in the _Royal George_; for it was encrusted with +seaweed and barnacles of almost a century's growth. + +After a bit, seeing that nothing further was to be gained by stopping +out at sea, drifting with the tide alternately between the Nab and +Warner light-ships, like Mahomet's coffin between heaven and earth, the +Captain hauled up the trawl and bore away back homeward as well as he +could with a foul wind, having to make several tacks before fetching the +cutter's moorings off the coastguard-station. + +In spite of this, however, they reached "the Moorings" in time for +dinner; when, notwithstanding their hearty luncheon, no deficiency of +appetite could be observed in any of the party. + +Bob and Nellie were, of course, delighted with their experiences of the +day; for, in addition to the joys of trawling and festive picnic on the +water, which they thought even better than their previous one on land, +they brought home a splendid "soldier crab," who caused much subsequent +amusement when admitted to the aquarium, two new specimens of sea- +anemones, and the "dead man's fingers," whose name made their aunt Polly +shiver, the good lady declaring it "quite uncanny, sure." + +Their mother, however, was not quite so well-pleased with the result of +the expedition. + +"There, I told you so!" she exclaimed, on catching sight of them, with +the stains of the cuttle-fish plainly visible on their clothes. "You +will never wish to wear this suit again, Bob; and, dear, dear, look at +your dress, Nellie!" + +"It's not so bad, mamma," pleaded she. "I only got a little of it." + +"A little of what?" + +"The Tyrian dye, Captain Dresser called it, from the cuttle-fish," +explained Bob, who seemed to treat the matter more lightly than the +spoiling of his shirt-front and jacket deserved in Mrs Strong's +opinion. "It's quite classical, mother--so the Captain said when I got +squelched with it." + +"Really, I wish Captain Dresser would not make experiments with his dyes +when you two are near him," said she, very plaintively. "He hasn't to +look after your clothes, as I have." + +Nell smiled at her mother's mistake, while Master Bob fairly screeched +with laughter. + +"Why, it wasn't the Captain who did it," he shouted out gleefully. "It +was the cuttle-fish that squirted over us." + +Then, on the whole story being told her, Mrs Strong exonerated the +Captain. + +But not so Mrs Gilmour, when she learnt the history of the soles, which +had been specially set aside for her and afterwards eaten. + +"Oh, you cormorants!" she cried, pretending to be in a great rage. +"Fancy eating my soles! Did you ever hear of such a thing? Captain +Dresser, I'll never forgive you!" + +"Don't be so hard-hearted," said he imploringly. "If you only knew how +hungry we were, I'm sure you would forgive us with your usual good- +nature." + +"I'm not so certain of that," replied she. "'Deed, and I won't." + +"Besides, we enjoyed them so, do you know," continued the old sailor, +chuckling away at a fine rate. "Sure they were mighty fine, ma'am. The +best soles I ivver ate, sure." + +"That makes the matter worse, you robber!" she retorted, smiling good- +naturedly at his broad mimicry of her Irish pronunciation. "Why, ye're +adding insult now to injury, sure." + +"Never mind, Polly," interposed her brother, acting as peacemaker +between the two. "The Captain will show you how to cook soles properly +the next time he catches any." + +"Yes," said Mrs Gilmour drily, "if he doesn't ate them first." + +"By Jove, I promise not to do that, ma'am, for I don't like 'em raw," +replied the offender, keeping up the fun, and not one whit abashed by +these comments on his behaviour. "Really, though, ma'am, I think you +ought to forgive me now, and banish your hard feelings, as you've given +me a wigging. Besides, if we did eat all the soles, I've brought you +home a fine big skate, and lots of plaice, instead." + +"Sure, I'll consider about it," said his hostess, showing signs of +relenting. "But don't you think, now, skates are rather out of place in +this warm weather, eh, Captain?" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +MISSING! + +"Humph! that makes the rubber," cried the Captain late one evening, some +little time after the events recorded in the last chapter, when they +were winding up the day with a game of whist, which had succeeded the +nightly battle of cribbage wherewith Mrs Gilmour and the old sailor +used to amuse their leisure before the advent of the barrister and Mrs +Strong on the scene. "What say all you good people to a trip to +Southampton to-morrow? There will be an excursion steamer running there +in the morning, starting from the old pier at ten o'clock sharp, I +think." + +"All right; now you've beaten us, I suppose you want to appear generous, +and divert our attention from our defeat," said Mrs Dugald Strong, with +a fine touch of sarcasm, as the Captain chuckled over the odd trick, and +collected the spoils of war, in the shape of sundry little fish- +counters, which he and his partner, aunt Polly, had won, through the old +sailor's successful manipulation of the cards. "I believe we've seen +all that is to be seen in the isle of Wight." + +"Indade you have," corroborated Mrs Gilmour. "We've been everywhere in +the sweet little place--no wonder it's called the `garden of England'! +Sure we've seen everything, from the broken grating of the window which +poor Charles the First was unable to squaze himself through at +Carisbrook Castle, being too fat, poor man, down to the hawthorn-bush at +Faringford over against Beacon Down atop of the Needles, where Tennyson +used to hide his long clay pipes after smoking them, before going out +for his walk on the cliff. Sure, and I don't think, Dugald, there's +anything more for ye to see there at all, at all!" + +"Oh, auntie, you have forgotten `little Jane's' grave in the pretty old +churchyard at Brading, and the cottage in which the good `dairyman's +daughter' lived at Arreton," chimed in Nellie, who was more romantic. +"Yes, and those dear little Swiss villas too, at Totland Bay, aunt +Polly, peeping out from the fir-trees and bracken, with the fuchsias +like big trees in their front gardens, and the scarlet geraniums growing +wild in the hedgerows!" + +"Ah," said Master Bob, "I liked the smugglers' cave at Ventnor. I wish +they hadn't boarded it up, so that a fellow can't see where they used to +hide the cargoes of silk and lace and kegs of brandy the French luggers +brought across from Saint Malo--wasn't that where they ran them from, +Captain?" + +"Aye," replied the old sailor. "They don't now, though, my boy. Our +coastguardsmen are too sharp for that, and the mounseers have to find +another market for their goods! But are you all agreed about our paying +a visit to Southampton to-morrow, my friends?" + +"It's a long voyage," observed Mrs Gilmour, who, although she had +forsworn her resolve anent excursion steamers in her desire not to +interpose any selfish obstacle, such as her own wishes, to the enjoyment +of the others during their holiday by the sea in proper seafaring +fashion, yet could not forget the _Bembridge Belle_ catastrophe. "Are +you sure the vessel is safe?" + +"Oh yes," answered the Captain. "She's one of the regular boats, and is +as safe as a man-of-war." + +"Then we may consider the expedition arranged," said Mrs Strong, who, +being anxious to see the city of the great Saint Bevis, had no objection +to the trip up Southampton Water; for, having been already across the +Solent, and even voyaged round the Isle of Wight, so to speak, without +feeling sea-sick or qualmish, she was confident of being a `born +sailor,' as the saying goes, and thus only too pleased to have an +opportunity of testing her new experiences further. "If you say it is +safe, Captain Dresser, neither Polly nor any of us need be alarmed, I am +sure." + +The next morning, as the steamer was advertised to start punctually at +the hour fixed, Bob was warned of his not having much time to spare when +setting out for his bathe before breakfast with the good dog Rover. + +"Oh, I'll be back in plenty of time," was his boastful reply. "I'll +take some bread-and-butter with me for breakfast, and get a cup of milk +from the apple-woman on the beach; and shall be at the pier waiting for +you before you leave the house." + +"Take care, my boy; we're rather late this morning, and you are running +it pretty close," said his father, looking at his watch, as the young +gentleman was scampering through the hall. "You won't have half-an-hour +altogether to spare." + +But, Bob was obstinate, and away he went across the common, with Rover +at his heels. + +"I know he will be late," sighed Mrs Strong, looking after him. "I +know he will be late." + +"Well, if he is, he will be left behind, that's all I can say," said his +father, with decision. "I'm afraid Master Bob has too much of his own +way; and, it is just as well he should be taught a lesson sometimes." + +Thus giving his fiat, Mr Strong, apparently dismissing Bob for the +present from his mind, hurried the preparations of the others, so that +they, at least, should be in good time; and, some twenty minutes after +the truant had left, he and Mrs Strong and his sister, with Nellie, +started for the pier, arriving there just as the Captain came up in a +great hurry, stepping along as briskly as he and his malacca cane could +get over the ground. + +"Where's Bob?" he at once asked, missing the absentee. "Where's Bob?" + +"He's gone to bathe," replied poor Nell, very disconsolately. "He said +he'd get here as soon as we did, but he hasn't come yet, and I'm afraid +he'll be too late." + +"That he will," said the Captain, looking equally distressed. "I hear +the steamer's bell ringing--in fact, I heard it before, and that made me +quicken my movements. The stupid fellow!--Why did you let him go?" + +"Wilful would have his way," answered Mr Strong, shrugging his +shoulders. "It is his own fault, and he must suffer the consequences. +Come on, you people; I don't see why we should sacrifice our trip, at +any rate." + +Mrs Gilmour and his wife tried in vain to combat the barrister's +resolution, suggesting that the excursion might be postponed; but he +would not consent to this for a moment. + +"No," he said determinedly, "this is the only day we could go; for, when +the boat next leaves for Southampton, we'll most probably be back in +town." + +So saying, he pushed them all through the turnstile before him, and +taking their tickets, including one for Bob, in case he still contrived +to turn up in time, led the way to the steamer, which was blowing off +her steam alongside the pier, as if in the greatest haste to start. + +They were none too soon; for, hardly had they got on board, ere the +engine-gong sounded and the steamer's paddles began to move, the vessel +gliding out into the stream as her hawsers were cast-off. + +All looked out eagerly, Nellie especially, almost in tears, hoping to +the last that Bob would come scurrying up; but, much to the general +disappointment, no Bob came, nor did they even have the poor +satisfaction of seeing him appear in the distance after the steamer had +left the pier. + +"Poor Bob!" bewailed Nell, for whom all the fun of the expedition had +departed with his absence. "I knew he would be too late." + +"Never mind, missy," said the Captain to cheer her up, although he, too, +felt sorry at the party being thus lessened in numbers; "you'll see him +when we return this evening, and will then be able to tell him of all +the fine sights he lost by not going with us." + +But Nell would not be consoled; for, in addition to Bob's not being with +them, Rover was likewise an absentee, while the Captain had left Dick +behind to give the cutter a good clean out, as well as perform other +duties. He thought that, perhaps, Mrs Strong might not like the boy +being brought with them and treated on an equality with her own +children; being taken, apparently, everywhere they went, as he had been +before. It need hardly be said, though, that such an idea never +occurred to Bob's mother, who knew well how Dick had risked his life to +save her son's; the thought, really, was entirely due to the old +sailor's ultra conscientiousness! + +Under these circumstances, therefore, Nellie did not by any means enjoy +the trip; nor did the elders of the party, either, seem happy, all +appearing to be equally well-pleased after they had seen Southampton, +where there was not very much to see after all, and the boat started +back for home. + +Soon after the steamer passed Calshott Castle and got into the waters of +the Solent, late in the afternoon, the comfort of those on board was not +increased by their getting into a thick white woolly sea-fog, which had +crept over the Isle of Wight from the Channel. + +On their reaching the pier at Southsea again, they found the fog had got +there before them; and, crossing the common, they could hardly see each +other at a couple of yards distance. + +Neither the barrister nor Mrs Strong liked the appearance of things, +thinking that this mist of the sea resembled one of their own "London +particulars," and betokened a spell of bad weather. + +The Captain, however, made light of it. + +"Pooh, pooh!" cried he, "it's only brought up by the south-easterly wind +and will be cleared off by the morning, when you'll probably have a +hotter day than ever." + +This allayed Mrs Strong's forebodings in reference to the weather, and +she began to wonder what had become of Bob during their absence. + +"He must have found the day very long, poor boy!" she said. "I wonder +what he has been doing?" + +"Oh, I've no doubt he's been amusing himself," replied the Captain +cheerfully. "I don't think Bob would remain dull very long if even left +alone." + +The same thoughts were passing through the minds both of Nellie and her +aunt, although they said nothing; and all were looking forward to their +conjectures being solved as to how Bob had passed the time when they +should arrive at "the Moorings." + +However, on coming to the house, who should greet them but Rover, who +got up languidly from the doorstep, his coat all dripping with wet. + +"Poor doggie!" exclaimed Nell, patting him. "Why, you're all damp with +the fog! Your master shouldn't have been so cruel as to leave you +outside. Where's Bob?" + +Usually on being asked this question, Rover's invariable answer would be +a short, sharp, joyous bark; but now, in place of this, the retriever +put up his head and uttered a plaintive whine that was almost a howl. + +It struck dismay into all their hearts; and on Sarah's opening the door +at the same moment, Nell's question to the dog was now put to her. + +"Where's Master Bob?" + +The girl started back in astonishment. + +"Law, mum!" said she, addressing her mistress, Mrs Gilmour. "Ain't he +with you, mum?" + +"No," she replied, much frightened at Sarah's answer, or rather counter- +question; while Mrs Strong grew as pale as death and Nellie clung to +her convulsively, Rover's demeanour having roused their worst fears. +"You don't mean to say you haven't seen him?" + +"No, mum, I thought he was with you," repeated the housemaid, beginning +to cry as if accused of some fault. "I've never set eyes on Master Bob +since he went out to bathe before you did, mum, this morning!" + +"I wonder where the young rascal is?" sang out the Captain in a jovial +sort of way, to allay the alarm of the others and hide his own +uneasiness. "You'd better get inside out of the damp all of you while I +go off to the coastguard-station. I wouldn't mind betting a brass +farthing I'll find Master Bob there hobnobbing with Hellyer and Dick. +He's very fond of going there to listen to my old coxswain's yarns when +he has got a chance." + +"I'll come with you," said Mr Strong, not liking to let him go alone, +besides also beginning to feel anxious, adding to his wife-- "Go in, +Edith! you need not be uneasy. We'll soon bring back our young truant!" + +So saying, he and the Captain, followed by Rover with drooping tail, +started for the coastguard-station on the beach. + +However, on getting there, their fears, instead of being dispelled, +were, on the contrary, alarmingly heightened! + +Hellyer told them that he had not come on duty until a late hour in the +day; and had then not seen anything of either Bob or Dick. + +"The man as I relieved," continued the coastguardsman, "told me as how +he seed two boys in the Cap'en's boat about midday; and, all at once, +arter his dinner, for which he goes into the cabin, you know, he misses +the boat and the boys too. But, he doesn't think anythink o' this, he +says, believin' they has took her into the harbour." + +"Confound him!" cried the Captain excitedly. "Who was the man? He +ought to have known something was wrong when he saw the two lads alone +in her like that." + +"He would be a stranger to you, sir," said Hellyer. "He wer' a man from +the Hayling beat as just come on fresh to jine this station here to-day, +sir. He's a man, sir, of the name of Jones, and rayther soft, like!" + +"How unfortunate!" muttered the Captain, while Mr Strong groaned and +upbraided himself for his seeming harshness to Bob in the morning. "How +very unlucky!" + +"Of course," went on the coastguardsman earnestly, in deep sympathy with +both--"the moment the man tells me of this, I knows what happens, seeing +that blessed sea-fog a creeping up and the wind falling; and so I goes +off to the commander and tells him what I thinks--as how Master Bob and +that young Dick o' yourn, Cap'en, were most likely all adrift and +couldn't fetch in to the land. I--" + +"But what did your commander do?" cried the old sailor, interrupting. +"Tell me that!" + +"Why, sir, he sent word round to all our stations and down to the +Dockyard, and he's telegraphed likewise to the h'island so as how +there'll be a strict look-out kep' all round the coast for the poor +lads." + +"I am very much obliged to you, Hellyer, and to the commander as well," +said the Captain as he and Mr Strong turned away mournfully, retracing +their steps back to "the Moorings." "I'm afraid we can do nothing more +now." + +No, nothing more could be done then. + +The morning brought no news to gladden their hearts or brighten their +hopes. + +Matters, indeed, looked worse than had been expected. + +For, as the day wore on, reports reached the Dockyard from the different +coastguard-stations along the eastern and western coast of the mainland +and from the Isle of Wight, whence a strict look-out had been kept on +the approaches to Spithead and the adjacent waters of the Channel. + +These reports were all to the same effect. + +Not a trace had been seen of the missing boat; nor anything heard of Bob +and Dick. + +It was the same the following day, nothing likewise being then reported; +although the search had been redoubled and one of the Government tugs +sent out from the harbour to scour the offing. + +Hope now gave way to despair before the certainty that stared them in +the face, putting possibility beyond doubt. + +Everybody believed the boat had been swamped, or run down in the fog, +and that Bob and Dick were drowned! + +Poor boys! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +A SEA-FOG. + +"Now," said Bob to himself, when he got down to the beach after a sharp +run across the common, "I must be as spry as possible with my swim, or +else I shall be too late for the boat, as dad said I would be, for I +really haven't got much time to spare!" + +Unfortunately, however, at the very outset, poor Bob met with obstacles +that prevented this praiseworthy intention being effectively carried +out. In the first place, Dick, with whom he had always bathed in +company since their first involuntary dip together off the castle +rampart on the first evening of their arrival at Southsea, was not at +their usual trysting-place. Not only that, he was nowhere to be seen in +the neighbourhood of the shore. + +"I wonder where he can be?" said Bob, continuing his soliloquy in a very +disjointed frame of mind, after looking in every direction fruitlessly, +and calling out Dick's name in vain. "I wonder where he can be? The +Captain did not say he wasn't to come with us this morning!" + +At last, after wasting some precious minutes thus waiting, he began +undressing very slowly, instead of in the usual brisk manner in which he +was in the habit of peeling off his clothes, running a race with Dick to +see who would get into the water first. + +Then, at length, he plunged in to take his swim in a very half-hearted +fashion, going in reluctantly and coming out in the same undecided way; +while, to make matters worse and further protract his loitering, just as +he was beginning to dress again, a nasty spiteful bloodhound, which was +prowling by the shore, made a most unprovoked attack on Rover, +necessitating his going to his rescue with a big stone--Master Bob +hopping up to the scene of action "with one shoe off and one shoe on," +like the celebrated "John" the hero of the nursery rhyme! + +Rover was not quite a match for the brute that assailed him; but with +Bob's help, not omitting the big stone, the two "routed the enemy with +great slaughter," the bloodhound fleeing away ignominiously with his +tail between his legs, and Rover raising a paean of victory in the shape +of a defiant bark as he retreated. + +Still, the episode consumed a few more minutes of valuable time; so when +Bob had hopped back again to where he had left his clothes to complete +his toilet, and then raced down to the pier, it was not only past the +hour fixed for the Southampton steamer to start, but she was already +well on her way. + +In fact, she was just then rounding Gillkicker Point, which juts out +from Stokes Bay, bearing away on board her, his father and mother and +Nell, besides the Captain and Mrs Gilmour; and not only that, leaving +him behind! + +Bob did not know how to contain himself. + +He was too manly to cry; although he felt a big lump in his throat which +made him take several short swallows without gulping anything down; +while, strangely enough, something seemed to get in his eyes, for a +moment preventing him from seeing anything seaward but assort of hazy +mist as he stood listlessly by the head of the pier, trying vainly to +discern the excursion-boat, now fast disappearing in the distance! + +Presently, however, after remaining there awhile, staring at nothing, +the Captain's favourite maxim occurred to his mind-- "What's done can't +be helped"; and coming to the conclusion that there was no use in his +stopping on the pier any longer, since the steamer had left, and there +was no possibility of his being able to join the others, he determined +to bend his steps in the direction of the coastguard-station, with the +hope of finding Hellyer there to cheer his drooping spirits. + +Bob's fates, though, appeared singularly unpropitious for him this +morning; for on his arriving anon at the little cabin beyond the castle, +which was the Captain's regular trysting-place, lo, and behold, a +strange man was there, who told him that Hellyer was "off duty," and it +would not be his turn "on" again until late in the afternoon. Here was +another misfortune! + +But there was "balm in Gilead" in store for Bob; for, hardly had the +long face that he pulled on learning the unwelcome news of Hellyer's +absence merged again into the ordinary round contour with which his +friends were familiar, than, whom should he see coming along the beach, +only a little way off, but--who should you think? Why, Dick! + +Yes, he had been into Portsmouth, he explained, to take a letter to the +Dockyard for the Captain; and now, also in pursuance of the old sailor's +orders, he was about going off to the cutter, which lay at her moorings +abreast of the coastguard-station, and only about a cable's length out, +so as to be within easy reach, so that they could haul her up on the +shingle in the event of any sudden shifting wind rendering her anchorage +unsafe. + +Bob at once flew to him with open arms, so to speak; and so did Rover +too, the sagacious animal always reflecting his young master's moods, +and having turned as woebegone as a naturally cheerful dog could be +since he noticed Bob's being mopey, he had now resumed his proper tone +of bark and mien, wagging his tail at the sight of Dick and thus +reciprocating Bob's feelings. + +"Hullo, Dick!" said the latter, when the young yachtsman had approached +near enough for them to speak without getting to each other. "What are +you going to do aboard?" + +"To clean out the yacht ready for another trip, Master Bob. The Cap'en +told me to get her done afore he come back." + +"That's jolly!" exclaimed Bob, brightening up at the prospect of some +sort or any sort of expedition in lieu of the one he had missed. "May I +come with you?" + +"Ees, sure-ly, Master Bob," returned Dick. "But how comes it you bain't +a-gone wi' the Cap'en and t'others?" + +Bob did not like any allusion to this delicate subject. + +"I was too late," he said abruptly, changing the conversation at once. +"How are you going off to the cutter, I see she has got the dinghy +towing behind, eh?" + +"P'r'aps I'm a-going to swim out to her," replied Dick, with a grin. +"What say you to that, Master Bob, hey?" + +"If you do, I will too," retorted Bob; "although I've had my dip +already, and very lonesome it was. Why didn't you come down this +morning?" + +"I sang out to you jist now, sir, as how I had to take a letter for the +Cap'en, who told me as he didn't think you'd have time to bathe afore +starting for the steamer." + +"I thought I had--and missed it!" said Bob ruefully. "But you're not +going really to swim out to the cutter now, Dick, eh?" + +"No, no, Master Bob," cried Dick, his grin expanding into a laugh. "I +were only a-joking. There's a waterman just shoving down his wherry as +will put us off to her. Hi, ahoy, there!" + +"Hi, hullo!" also shouted out Bob; but the two only succeeded in +ultimately attracting the attention of old Barney the boatman, who was +rather deaf, and required a deal of hallooing before noticing any one, +by setting on Rover with a "Hi, catch him, sir!" + +This rather exasperated old Barney at first. However, after some +violent explanations they were grudgingly given a passage out to the +anchored yacht, Barney grumbling at doing it for nothing! + +Rover was not included in the bargain; for, he disdained adventuring his +valuable person in a small row-boat, no inducement being ever strong +enough to persuade him so to do. He was quite satisfied to swim out +after the boys had started off in the wherry, being lugged subsequently +on board the cutter by his legs and tail as soon as they fetched +alongside. + +For some little time after Bob and Dick got on board, both were very +busy, Bob dipping overboard a bucket that had a "becket" of rope for a +handle, and a longer rope bent on to this with which he proceeded to +haul the bucket up again, full of sea-water, wherewith he sluiced the +decks fore and aft thoroughly; while Dick, on his part, scrubbed the +planks with a piece of "holystone," then adroitly drying them with a +mop, which he could twirl now, after a little experience, with all the +dexterity of an old salt! + +When the little cutter was thus presently made "a-taunto" by their +mutual exertions, they sat down to rest for awhile, Dick sharing his +luncheon of bread-and-cheese with Bob, who, of course, had long since +consumed the slices of bread-and-butter he had brought out with him for +his breakfast. + +By and by, on a gentle breeze springing up from the southward and +westward, Master Bob, boylike, suggested their slipping the _Zephyr's_ +moorings and going for a little sail out into the offing. + +"We needn't run very far," he said. "Say, only to the fort there and +back again, you know." + +But Dick would not hear of the proposal. + +"No, Master Bob, not lest the Cap'en gived orders," he remonstrated. +"Why, he'd turn me off if I did it; and, he's that kind to me as I +wouldn't like to vex him, no not for nothing!" + +"He wouldn't mind me though," argued Bob. "Didn't he say the other +day--why, you heard him tell Hellyer yourself--that he'd back you and me +to manage a boat against any two boys in Portsmouth, aye, or any port on +the south coast?" + +"Ees, I heerd him," reluctantly assented the other; "but that didn't +mean fur us to go out in the boat alone." + +"Well, Dick, I didn't think you were a coward!" said Bob with great +contempt, angry at being thwarted. "I really didn't." + +This cut the other to the heart. + +"You doesn't mean that, Master Bob," he exclaimed reproachfully, +hesitating to utter his scathing reply. "Ah, you didn't say as I wer' a +coward that time as I jumped into the water arter you behind the +castle." + +"Forgive me, Dick," cried Bob impulsively, "I was a beast to say such a +thing! Of course, I know you are not a coward; but, really, I'm sure +the Captain would not mind a bit our going for a sail--especially if he +knew, and he does know, about my being left behind all alone while they +all have gone off to Southampton in the steamer enjoying themselves!" + +This last appeal made Dick hesitate; and, in hesitating thus, he lost +his firmness of resolution. + +"Well, Master Bob, if we only goes a little ways and you promises fur to +come back afore the tide turns, I don't mind unmooring for a bit; +though, mind, Master Bob, you'll bear all the blame if the Cap'en says +anythink about it!" + +"Of course I will, Dick, if he does; but I know he won't say anything. +You may make your mind easy on that score!" With these words, Bob +sprang forward on the fo'c's'le and began loosening the jib from its +fastenings; while Dick, now that his scruples were overcome, set to work +casting off the gaskets of the mainsail, the two boys then manning the +halliards with a will, and hoisting the throat of the sail well up. + +The jib was then set, its sheet being slackened until Dick slipped the +buoy marking the yacht's moorings overboard; when, the tack being hauled +aft, and the mainsail peaked, the bows of the cutter paid off and she +walked away close-hauled, standing out towards "No Man's Fort," on the +starboard tack. + +It was now past midday and the tide was making into the harbour; so +that, as the wind from the south-west had got rather slight, veering +round to the southwards, the cutter did not gain much of an offing, +losing in leeway nearly all she got in beating out to windward. + +"I vote we let her run off a little towards the Nab," said Bob, seeing +what little progress they made towards the fort; and he, being the +steersman, put the helm up, easing off at the same time the sheet of the +mainsail; Dick, who was in the bows, attending to the jib. "It's awful +poor fun drifting like this!" + +"Mind you turns back agen when the tide begins to run out!" premised +Dick. "You promised as we wasn't to go fur!" + +"All right," replied Bob, "I won't forget." + +But, now, a strange thing happened. + +No sooner had the cutter's bows been turned to the eastwards, than +Rover, who had previously been looking very uneasy, standing up with his +hind legs on one of the thwarts and his fore-paws on the taffrail +astern, gazing anxiously behind at the land they were leaving, all at +once gave vent to a loud unearthly howl and sprang overboard. + +"Hi, Rover, come back, sir!" yelled out Bob, at the pitch of his +voice--"Rover, come back!" + +But, the dog, although hitherto always obedient to his young master's +call, paid no attention to it now, turning a deaf ear to all his +whistles and shouts and swimming steadily towards the shore. + +"Poor Rover, he'll be drownded, sure-ly!" said Dick. "Don't 'ee think +we'd better go arter he, poor chap?" + +"Not a bit of it!" replied Bob, angry at the dog's desertion, as he +thought it, putting down Rover's behaviour to some strange dislike on +his part to being in the yacht, at all events when she was moving +briskly through the water. "He has swum twice as far in the river in +London, and I won't go after him!" + +Bob, however, brought the little yacht up to the wind again, watching +until Rover was seen to emerge from the sea and crawl up on the beach +again; when the cutter's head was allowed to pay off again, and within a +couple of hours or so, although neither of the boys took any note of how +the time was going, they had not only passed the Nab but were now +nearing the Ower's light-ship. + +Not till then did Dick become aware how far they had reached out, +Portsmouth having long since disappeared and even the forts beginning to +show hazy to windward; while Selsea Bill loomed up on their port hand. + +"Master Bob, Master Bob!" he cried in consternation, never having been +so far out before, even with the Captain. "Do 'ee know where we be +now?" + +"Why, out at sea, to be sure!" said Bob, his face all aglow with delight +at gliding thus like Byron's corsair-- "O'er the glad waters of the deep +blue sea." + +For his soul certainly was, for the moment, quite as "boundless" and his +"thoughts as free," from all consideration, save of the present--"Isn't +it jolly?" + +"Well, I doesn't know about that," replied Dick, looking very glum. +"I'm a-thinking of the gitting back; which, wi' the tide a-setting out +from the harbour, won't be so easy, I knows!" + +"Nonsense, Dick!" said Bob in his usual off-hand way, though bringing +the cutter up to the wind, so as to go about on the other tack. "You're +frightening yourself really, my boy, about nothing! The wind has got +round more to the south; so we'll be able to run back to Portsmouth in +no time. The cutter is a very good boat, so the Captain says, on a +wind!" + +However, "Man proposes and God disposes." + +The wind suddenly dropped, just as the tide turned, the ebb setting out +from Spithead towards the east, dead against them; when, instead of +running in homewards "in no time," the cutter, after a time, became +becalmed first, and then gradually began to drift out into the open +Channel again. + +Dick was the first to notice this. + +"Look, Master Bob!" he cried. "We aren't making no headway at all! I +don't see we're getting any the nearer to the Nab!" + +"We will, soon," replied Bob, all hopeful. "It's only because the +breeze has dropped a bit. Before long, we'll pick it up again! I +think, Dick, we'd better slacken off the sheets and let her bear away +more!" + +This was done; but, still the _Zephyr_ would not move. + +She had net way enough, indeed, to answer her helm; for, her bows +pointed west, and south, and east, alternately, as the tidal eddies +swayed her in this direction and that. + +"I knewed we was doin' wrong," remarked Dick presently, after a long +silence in which neither of the boys spoke a word. "It's a judgment on +us!" + +"A fiddlestick!" retorted Bob. "We'll only drift about like this for a +short time; and, when the tide turns again, it will sweep us back to +Spithead like one o'clock!" + +"I doesn't believe that, Master Bob," said Dick disconsolately, sitting +down on a thwart, and looking longingly at a faint speck in the distance +which he thought was Southsea; although they were almost out of sight of +land now, the swift current carrying the boat along nearly four knots an +hour. "We should ha' tuk warnin', Master Bob, by Rover. He knowed what +wer' a-coming and so he swum ashore in time, he did!" + +"Rover is a faithless creature!" cried Bob hotly. "I'll give him a good +licking when we reach the land again, you see!" + +"When'll that be, Master Bob?" + +"Oh, some time or other before night," replied he defiantly, but Dick +could easily tell from his tone of voice that he did not speak quite so +buoyantly as before; and his already long face grew longer as the day +wore on without the breeze springing up again or any change of +circumstances. + +They did not pass a single ship near, notwithstanding that they saw +several with all their sails set, their loftier canvas catching a few +lingering puffs of air that did not descend low enough to affect the +cutter. The sight of these vessels moving, however, raised their +drooping spirits, Bob and Dick thinking that the wind by and by would +affect them, too. + +But no breeze came; and all the while they were being carried further +and further out to sea. + +"Hallo, there's a steamer!" sang out Bob after another protracted +silence between the pair. "I see her smoke easily. She's steering +right for us!" + +"Where?" asked Dick. "I doesn't see no steamer, Master Bob." + +"There!" said the other, pointing to a long white line on the horizon. +"There she is, blowing off her steam, or her funnel smoking, quite +plain!" + +"Lor', Master Bob!" ejaculated the other, after peering fixedly for a +moment where his companion directed him to look. "That arn't no steam +or smoke as ever I seed. It be a cloud, or fog, I knows; or summut o' +that sort, sure-ly, Master Bob!" + +Bob, however, would not be persuaded of this, persisting that he was +right and Dick wrong. + +"I don't know where your eyes can be!" he said scornfully. "I'll bet +anything it's a steamer; or, I never saw one!" + +But ere another hour had passed over their heads, Dick was proved to be +the true prophet; he, the false! + +The low-lying bank of vapour, which originally resembled the trail of +smoke from some passing steam-vessel on her way down Channel, gradually +spread itself out along the horizon. + +It then rose up, like a curtain, from the sea; and, stretching up its +clammy heads towards the zenith, widened over the heavens until it shut +out the western sun from their gaze, making the still early afternoon +seem as night. + +Creeping over the surface of the sullen water with ghostly footsteps, +the mist soon shrouded the boat in its pall-like folds; impregnating the +surrounding atmosphere with moisture and making the boys believe it was +raining, though never a drop fell. + +It was only a sea-fog, that was all. + +But it was accompanied by a dampness that seemed like the hand of Death! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +"SHIP, AHOY!" + +"It is the last straw," says the proverb, "that breaks the camel's +back!" + +Bob's courage had been on the wane long before the white, woolly fog +environed them; although, up to now he had endeavoured to brave it out +in the presence of Dick, the very consciousness that he was the main +cause of their being in such a perilous predicament preventing him from +betraying the fears he felt. + +But, when this octopus of the air clutched them in its corpse-like grip, +breathing its wet vapoury breath into their faces, soddening their +clothes with heavy moisture and slackening their energies as it had +already damped their hopes of a steam-vessel coming to the rescue, Bob, +whose nerves were strained to their utmost tension, at last broke down. + +"Oh, Dick!" he cried, bursting into a passion of tears, all the more +vehement now from his ever having been a manly boy and in the habit of +stifling all such displays of emotion, even when severely hurt, as had +happened on more than one occasion in a football scrimmage at school, +whence he got the name of Stoic amongst his mates. "Oh, Dick, poor +Dick! I'm sorry I made you come with me to your death! I wonder what +my mother and dad will say, and Nell too, when they come to learn that +we are lost?" + +"Don't 'ee now, Master Bob, give way like that!" said + +Dick, the brave lad, forgetting his own sad plight on seeing his unhappy +comrade's alarm and grief. "Cheer up, Master Bob, like a good sort! We +bean't lost yet, ye knows!" + +"I'm afraid we are, Dick! I'm afraid we are!" sobbed Bob, as the pair +of unfortunates got gradually wetter and more miserable, if that were +possible; the density of the atmosphere around them increasing so that +it seemed as if they were enveloped in a drenching cloud, this mist of +the sea being the offspring of the waters, and consequently taking after +its humid parent. "Why, we're miles and miles away from land, and +drifting further and further off every moment! Oh, Dick, we're lost-- +we're lost!" + +"Now, don't 'ee, Master Bob, don't 'ee!" cried Dick, folding one of his +arms, like a mother, round the other's neck and drawing him towards him +to comfort him. "We ain't a bit lost yet, I tell 'ee, sure-ly. Why, we +ain't at sea as you says at all. We be ounly in the h'offin' +hereabouts." + +This woke up Bob to argument. + +"Only the offing, you say, Dick?" he replied, with some of his old +dogmatism as they drifted on and on, the ebb-tide that was bearing them +away on its bosom lapping against the sides of the boat with a +melancholy sound, though almost deadened by the oppressiveness of the +damp sea-fog. "Do you know how wide the Channel is `hereabouts,' as you +say?" + +"No, Master Bob," said the other lad humbly. "I doesn't. I ain't no +scholard, as you knows." + +"Then, I'll tell you," rejoined Bob triumphantly. "It must be nearly a +hundred miles wide here between the French and English coasts!" + +Dick, however, was not abashed by this broad statement. + +"That mebbe, Master Bob," he replied modestly, scratching the back of +his neck where one of his damp locks of hair tickled him at the moment. +"But, I heard the Cap'en say ounly t'other day as how there was so many +ships a-passing up and down as a boat adrift wer' bound to be sighted!" + +"But, suppose a hundred ships passed us," said Bob, who would not be +comforted, in spite of all Dick's efforts. "Why, old chap, they +couldn't see us! The fog would prevent them!" + +"Lor', so her would!" assented Dick, unable to gainsay this argument. +"I forgets that, I did, sure-ly!" + +After a time, Bob's sobs ceased and he began to think of something else; +something that affected him, for the moment, even more strongly than his +fears. + +"I'm awfully hungry, Dick," he said. "Have you got any more bread-and- +cheese left?" + +"No, not a scrap," was the melancholy answer. "I giv' yer half, share +and share alike; and I've ate every crumb o' mine!" + +"Isn't there anything in the locker?" + +"Nothing, but the Cap'en's hatchet! Don't you bear in mind as how I +scrubbed her out afore we started?" + +"Yes, so you did, I recollect," replied Bob moodily, his appetite being +well-nigh unbearable from its insatiable gnawing. "How do you feel, +Dick?" + +"I feels as if I could eat the h'elephant we seed in the circus." + +This made Bob laugh hysterically. + +"I think I could, too," he said, between his paroxysms of laughter and +sobs. "I never felt so hungry in my life before!" + +Another interval of silence followed this confession. + +"I'll tell 'ee what, Master Bob," observed Dick, on their comparing +notes again presently, when both acknowledged to being cold and wet and +miserable. "Let us crawl into the cabin and lie down, hey? It'll be +warmer than here, sure-ly!" + +"So it will," cried Bob, getting up and stretching his limbs, which were +stiff with cramp from sitting so long in the damp air; the fog around +them appearing to get all the thicker as the time passed. "I wonder +neither of us thought of that before?" + +The two then crept in under the half-deck; and, covering themselves up +with the cutter's gaff-topsail, which had been placed within the cabin +along with some spare canvas, dropped off into a sound slumber, +forgetting their sad plight and their hunger alike, in sleep, the yacht +meanwhile still floating along, down Channel, in a west-by-north +direction with the ebb. + +Their rest did not last long. + +Bob was suddenly awakened from a dream of a wonderful banquet, which he +was enjoying, by a sort of rushing gurgling sound; while the boat rocked +to and fro at the same time uneasily. + +Rubbing his eyes, he started up and listened for a moment. + +Then, he shook Dick to arouse him. + +"Hullo! Wake up!" he cried. "The wind has sprung up again; and, I +think, we're moving through the water!" + +"I'll soon find out," said Dick, going outside and putting his hand over +the gunwale, calling out the instant afterwards, "You're right, Master +Bob! We be moving, right enough. Aye, so we be, sure-ly!" + +"I wonder where Portsmouth is?" remarked Bob, as the two cogitated what +was best to be done, their hopes rising with the welcome breeze; +although this was only very feeble as yet, not being sufficient, indeed, +to blow away the fog that still hung over the sea. + +"If we only knew whereabouts we was we'd know where to steer; but we've +turned about sich a lot, that I'd be puzzled to tell." + +"So would I," agreed Bob. "But, I tell you what I think. Let us run +before the wind. It'll be sure to bring us somewhere, at all events, in +the end!" + +"Aye, that it would, sure-ly, Master Bob," cried Dick, surprised at the +other's cleverness. "I declare I never as much as thought o' that!" + +Thereupon, they wore the little cutter round, she having been previously +going like a crab sideways, which fully accounted for the lively motion +that had aroused them; and, Bob having stationed himself at the helm, +which he had put hard over, Dick mounted up on the fo'c's'le to act as +look-out, in case they should run against anything in the semi-darkness +around them, or, more happily still, come in sight of land. + +They had not long occupied their respective positions, when Bob's +attention was attracted by a cry of alarm from his companion in the +bows. + +"Lawks a mussy!" yelled out Dick in accents of unfeigned terror. "I +sees a white ghostess a-flying down on us, with big wings like a +h'angel!" + +"Nonsense, Dick!" cried Bob from aft, trying to peer ahead under the +belly of the sail as he was sitting to leeward. "There are no such +things as ghosts; and, besides, I don't see anything at all but the fog +and the water!" + +"Oh, lawks, Master Bob!" screamed the frightened Dick in answer to this. +"Look t'other side and then you'll p'r'aps believe me. Look t'other +side! Look t'other side! I bees afeered! I bees afeered!" + +Bob shifted his seat to windward, so as to get a better view forwards +and see what had alarmed Dick. + +"Why, Dick, it's a ship!" he exclaimed in an ecstasy of delight the next +instant. "What you thought are angel's wings are the vessel's sails, +though they are angel's wings to us!" + +"Be her a real ship, Master Bob?" asked Dick, having another peep at the +suspicious object and still not quite convinced as yet. "Sure-ly?" + +"Of course she is, I tell you," cried Bob. "Look out now and let go the +jib-sheet as I luff up. I'm going to lay-to, for the ship is coming up +with us rapidly and will run us down if we don't take care!" + +She was diminishing the distance between them quickly enough. + +A big ship she looked, too, appearing all the larger from the +intervening veil of mist, which magnified her proportions wonderfully, +in similar fashion to the "Fata Morgana" seen sometimes in Italian +waters. + +Like as in the same spectral phenomenon, too, this vessel seemed to be +gliding towards them without sound or apparent motion. + +She was a veritable phantom of the deep! + +There were no lights visible on her, nor did it look as if any one was +on the watch. + +So far as the boys could judge from the ocular evidence before them, +there might really not have been a single soul on board. + +But, whether that was the case or no, on she came steadily towards them +bow on, emerging bigger and bigger from the ghostly mist, each movement +sensibly affecting her and increasing her size; so that, presently, she +became a monster ship. + +She came too near to be pleasant, however, without sheering either to +right or aft. + +It looked as if she were going to run them down! + +Bob and Dick's hopes of a rescue paled before the imminent dread of a +collision that now stared them in the face--nay, was close at hand. + +"Shout, Dick! Shout out with me as loud as you can so as to wake them +up on board and make them see us!" cried Bob, letting go the tiller and +standing up on top of the stern locker. "Now, all together, Dick! +Ship, ahoy! Ship, ahoy!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +DRIFTING. + +"Help, ahoy, look out!" sang out Bob and Dick in chorus, well-nigh +paralysed with fright. "Ahoy there, look out ahead!" + +But, in spite of their cries, the phantom ship, whose proportions became +all the more magnified the nearer she approached, rose upon them +steadily out of the mist, growing into a gruesome reality each second, +her hull towering over the little cutter as she bore down upon her, like +a giant above a pigmy! + +"Help, ahoy, look out there!" they once more shouted frantically. +"Help--ahoy!" + +It was all in vain, though, their shouts and cries being unnoticed. + +The next moment the on-coming vessel struck them, fortunately not end-on +or amidships, but in a slanting fashion, her cutwater sliding by the +gunwale of the cutter, from bow to stern, with a harsh, grating sound +and a rasping movement that shook their very vitals--the little yacht +heeling over the while until she was almost on her beam-ends. + +Had the vessel caught her midships, she would have at once crushed her +like an eggshell; as it was, the fluke of one of her anchors, which was +hanging from her bows ready for letting go in case of emergency, the +barque being not yet clear of soundings, got foul of the cutter's +rigging, sweeping her mast and boom away, the stays snapping under the +strain as if they were packthread. + +Poor little cutter! She was left a complete wreck and nearly full of +water; still rocking to and fro from the violence of the collision, even +after the craft that had done all the mischief had again, seemingly, re- +transformed herself into a phantom ship and faded away in the mist that +hung over the sea, like the creation of a dream! + +It was a very bad dream, though; and Bob and Dick gave themselves up for +lost altogether. + +Their fate, drifting helplessly about, an hour or so before, hungry and +miserable, had seemed desperate enough; but their slight sleep, with the +subsequent awakening to the knowledge that the wind had sprung up again +and was bearing them once more in some certain direction, had restored +their courage and revived their hopes. + +This courage, too, had became more courageous, this hope more hopeful on +the approach of the barque; for, they believed she would take them on +board and restore them by and by to their friends, advancing so +gallantly as she did towards them, like an angel, so Dick thought. + +But, now! + +What were the calamities which they so recently bewailed in comparison +with the present? + +Then, the yacht might have been at the mercy of the mist and tide; but +she was still staunch and sound, capable when a breeze blew once more of +wafting them home--whereas, now, the little cutter was dismasted and +water-logged, nay, even sinking for all they knew! + +Thus, their present position was a thousandfold more terrible than the +one before. + +But, still, only boys though they were, hope did not yet quite desert +them. + +The indomitable courage of youth triumphed over disaster. + +For a few seconds neither could speak. + +However, when the ship had disappeared, going away as silently as she +had approached them, they bestirred themselves to see what damage the +cutter had sustained. + +Bob was the first to recall his scattered wits. + +"Well, they haven't sunk us, as I was afraid they would, Dick!" said he. +"I wonder if any of the planks are really started?" + +"How can we see, Master Bob?" asked Dick anxiously. "So as to know if +she be all right?" + +"Why, by baling her out," he answered. "If we lessen the water in her, +then we'll know she's all right." + +"But if the water don't go down?" + +"Then, _we_ will!" replied Bob rather curtly. "Have you got anything to +bale her out with?" + +"Well, Master Bob," observed Dick, grinning, "fur a young gen'leman as +is so sharp, you've got a orful bad mem'ry! Don't 'ee recollect the +booket as ye helped me fur to wash down the decks wi' this very +marnin'?" + +"Dear me, Dick, I declare I quite forgot that!" said Bob, with a laugh, +seeing Dick's grin; for, it was not so dark now in their immediate +vicinity, the breeze having lifted the fog slightly from the surface of +the water. "Where is the bucket stored?" + +"In the locker, joost by 'ee," was Dick's response, as he waded through +the water and came up to his companion. "Stop, I'll get 'im for 'ee! +I'll have to make a dive fur he, though!" + +"Have you got it?" inquired Bob, after Dick had groped about for some +time, popping his head under water and coming up at intervals for +breath. "Have you got it?" + +"'Ees," said he at length, lugging out the bucket, "I've got 'im!" + +Then, they set to work, each using it alternately. + +The exertion did them both good, too, standing up as they were to their +middles in water; for, it prevented them shivering with cold as they had +before done. + +Bucketful after bucketful they emptied over the side; and, still they +did not appear to decrease the quantity the cutter contained to any +appreciable extent, bale they, as they baled, their hardest! + +Gradually, however, the after-thwart became clear. + +"Hooray!" exclaimed Bob. "We're gaining on it." + +This inspired them with renewed strength; and, after nearly an hour's +hard work, they had so lessened the water that only a small portion now +remained washing about under the bottom boards of the boat, which, +recovering all her old buoyancy, floated again with a high freeboard, +light as a cork, above the surface of the sea, instead of being level +with it as before. + +"That's a good job done!" said Dick. "I wish that theer murderin' shep +hadn't a-bruk our mast; fur, we'd soon been all right!" + +"While you're about it, Dick," said Bob, "you might, just as well, wish +she hadn't carried the mast and boom away with her. I don't believe +they've left us anything!" + +No, the colliding ship had made a "clean sweep" of all their spars and +rigging and everything; hardly a rope's-end remaining attached to the +cutter, beyond a part of the mainsheet and a bit of the forestay, which +latter was hanging down from the bowsprit, the only spar the yacht had +left. + +Not a single thing of all her deck-fittings, either, had the little +vessel to the good; even her tiller had been wrenched off and the rudder +smashed. + +Nor were there any oars left in the little craft; though, even if there +had been, the yacht was too heavy for boys like Bob and Dick to have +made her move at the most infinitesimal rate of speed. + +It is true, there was the old gaff-topsail still in the fore-peak, as +well as a spare jib; but they had nothing to spread them out to the wind +with, or affix them to. + +They were, in fact, oar-less, sail-less, helpless! + +"I don't see what we can do," said Bob, when they had looked over all +the boat, in case something perchance might have escaped their notice. +"We can only hope and pray!" + +"Aye, do 'ee pray, Master Bob," replied Dick eagerly. "P'r'aps God'll +hear us and send us help!" + +So, then and there the two boys knelt down together side by side in the +battered boat, that drifted about at the mercy of the wind and sea, +imploring the aid of Him who heeds those who call upon Him for succour, +in no wise refusing them or turning a deaf ear to their prayers! + +By and by, as if in answer to their earnest supplications, the day +dawned; when, the mist, which yet lingered over the water, hanging about +here and there in little patches, like so many floating islands, was +either swallowed up by the sea or absorbed into the air, as if by magic. + +Bob and Dick now got some idea as to the points of the compass, even if +they were not able to tell precisely where they were; for, as the day +advanced, a rosy tinge crept upwards over a far-off quarter of the +horizon which they knew instinctively to be the east, the birthplace of +all light! + +This tint, almost like a blush, spread quickly over the sky, reaching +away to the north and again south, coming full in both their faces and +making them glow. + +The bright hue then gradually melted into a ruddier tone, which first +darkened into purple and red and then rapidly changed to a greenish sort +of neutral tone that, after an interval, finally became merged into the +pure ultramarine of the zenith; for, the heavens were now as clear as a +bell, no mist or fog or cloud obscuring the expanse of the empyrean. + +A sort of golden vapour then, all of a sudden, flooded the east, which +in another second gave place to the red rays of the crimson sun; though +the latter did not seem so much to rise, but rather appeared to Bob, who +was watching intently the various changes that occurred, to jump in an +instant above the sea, glorifying it far and near with its presence and +warming it into life, + +This warmth soon cheered the boys, as the light banished the despondent +feelings inseparable, as a rule, from darkness and, beyond that, the +death-like stillness around, which had previously added to their fears, +was banished by the new stir and movement observable in everything. + +Previously, the sea had risen and fallen tumidly, as if Father Neptune +had been asleep and its monotonous pulsation was caused by his deep, +long-drawn breathing; but, now, it crisped and sparkled in the sunshine, +whilst its surface was broken by innumerable little wavelets, like +curls, that grew into swell-crested billows anon, and, later on still, +into great rolling waves as the wind got up--this blowing steadily from +the eastwards first and then veering round south, following the course +of the orb whose heat gave it being. + +Nor was inanimate nature only stirring. + +Grey and silver sea-gulls hovered over the little cutter, all sweeping +down curiously every now and then to see what the boys were doing there +in that mastless and oar-less boat out on the wide waters; and, +presently, a shoal of mackerel rose round about them, so thickly that +Dick thought he could scoop up some in the buckets, only the fish were +too wary and dived down below the surface the moment he stretched his +arm out over the side beyond his reach. + +A couple of porpoises, too, swam by, playing leap-frog again; and, after +these, a much larger monster, which might possibly have been a grampus, +though Bob could tell nothing about it, not knowing what it was. The +movements of all these, with the constantly-changing appearance of the +sea, now blue, now green, now brown, as some cloud shadow passed over +it, made up a varied panorama such as neither of the two lads ever saw +or thought of before! + +Ships, also, hove in sight and disappeared on the horizon, their white +sails gleaming out in the far-off distance; one moment high in the air +as if bound skywards, the next sinking into the curving depths of the +sea. + +Now and again, too, the smoke-wreath of some passing steamer, coasting +along more speedily than the sailing craft, would sacrilegiously blot +the blue of the heavens! + +But, all the while, though the distant ships might sail along to their +haven, and the steamers shape shorter courses to their port independent +of wind and tide alike, the poor dismasted, dismantled little yacht was +the sport of all alike; first setting down Channel with the ebb, as if +going out on a cruise into the wide Atlantic, and then again up Channel +with the flood towards Dover. + +The boat was ever drifting and tossed about ever, like a battered +shuttlecock, by the battledore currents, some four of which contend for +the mastery throughout the livelong day in that wonderful waterway, the +English Channel; two always setting east, relieving each other in turn, +and two west, with a cross-tide coming atop of them, twice in every +twenty-four hours, trying fruitlessly to soothe the differences of the +quarrelsome quartette! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +DESPAIR! + +"How hot it be, Master Bob!" said Dick, when the sun had climbed so high +that he seemed right overhead, sending down his rays vertically and +making it so warm that the boys began to perspire, while they were +tormented with thirst. "I be parched wi' drout and could swaller a +gallon o' spring wutter if I hed the chance!" + +"I say, let us have a swim," suggested Bob. "I've heard it will relieve +a person suffering from thirst; and, besides, I believe it will do us +both good and freshen us up." + +"All right, Master Bob," said Dick somewhat hesitatingly, in reply to +this proposition. "But, ain't it deep here?" + +"Deep! What does that matter?" replied Bob lightly. "Why, Dick, you +silly fellow, you forget we always used to swim out every morning into +deep water. Ah, I forget, I forget! Oh,--mother, my mother!" + +The poor boy broke down utterly again at this point, it having suddenly +flashed across his memory that his former swims from the beach were +things of the past; and that he might never see his mother or any of the +home folk again. + +No, never, ah, never again! + +Dick, however, once more comforted him, ceasing to dwell on his own +pangs of thirst; although the lad's tongue had swollen to such a size +that it seemed too big for his mouth, and his lips were all parched and +cracked. + +A little later, when Bob had become more composed again, his idea of a +battle was carried out, the boys making use of their solitary rope, the +end of the broken forestay that was hanging from the bowsprit, to climb +back into the boat after they had had a dip alongside. + +They were not able to swim far, being incapable of much exertion; but +the plunge alone and the immersion in the water while holding to the +rope's-end refreshed them greatly, making them feel stronger, in +addition to allaying their burning thirst. + +Still, when this great longing was quenched, they were tortured with +hunger, Dick actually tearing off one of the soles of his boots and +setting to work gnawing it. + +Bob kept up his spirits so far as to make fun of this, chaffing his +companion and saying that he preferred the way in which the Captain +served up his soles to Dick's! + +"Ah," said the other in reply, "I wonder what the good Cap'en 'ud think +if he seed us now?" + +"Why, that we were two unfortunate fellows!" replied Bob, becoming grave +again in an instant. "I'm sure he would pity us from the bottom of his +heart!" + +Thus the long day wore on; although, it seemed as if it would never end! + +However, when night came round again, they wished they had yet the day; +it was so dark, so dreary, so eerie, pitching and rolling about there, +carried hither and thither as the tide listed, with never a vista of the +wished-for land, with never a sound but the sobbing sea. + +Yet, it was wonderful how the boys encouraged each other to bear up and +be hopeful, in spite of everything. + +Whenever, in the early morning previously and during the day in their +respective sufferings, one or the other grew despondent Dick cheered Bob +and Bob cheered Dick, as the case might be. + +Then, somehow or other, the principal portion of the cheering-up work +was borne by Dick; the very brightness and look of everything, even +while he noticed them, seeming to have the effect of depressing Bob's +spirits by some unknown association or connection with those at home. + +At night, however, it was Bob's turn to sustain the drooping courage of +Dick, who, like most country-bred lads, was intensely superstitious, +fancying the darkness to swarm with ghosts and goblins, who were on the +watch to devour him; the boy, while bearing up bravely against palpable +privations and open dangers, staring them in the face, from which grown +men would have quailed, was now affected by silly fears which a baby +would have blushed to own! + +All through the wearisome hours of the dragging night, whose minutes +were as iron and hours like lead, he was constantly starting up in +nervous terror; the moan of the sea, the cry of some belated sea-gull, +the plunge of a fish in the water, nay even the creaking of the boat's +own timbers, with each and all of which Dick was perfectly familiar, +alike arousing his frenzied alarm. + +It was, "Lawks, Master Bob! what be this now?" throughout the terrible +interval that elapsed between the fading of the twilight on the one day +and sunrise on the next. "Lor', what's that?" + +And, that next day! + +The boys were weaker then, for very nearly eight-and-forty hours had +elapsed since they had been on board the cutter; forty-eight hours +without food, without any regular sleep, without any real rest even, as +their attention was always kept on the alert, while, all the time, the +peril they were in was sufficient alone to have crushed their every +energy! + +Hope, undying hope that had kept them up so long, now left them at last. +Who could hope against such continual disappointment, with ships all +around them sometimes and yet never a one to come near where they +floated and drifted and gave way to their despair? + +Towards the evening of this day Dick got very weak. + +Strange to say, although brought up in the country and accustomed, +probably, all his early life, at any rate, to exposure and hard living, +Dick was not able to bear up against their present sufferings by any +means so well as Bob, who, on this third night of their being adrift, +was yet full of vitality! + +It was in vain for him, though, to try and reanimate Dick, who, +hopeless, and almost helpless, lay down in the bottom of the boat, only +asking to be left alone to die. + +"I'm a-dying, Master Bob," he gasped out faintly, when Bob tried to +raise him up. "Let me be; let me be!" + +"Dying, nonsense," repeated Bob, pretending to joke about it; though, +truth to say, he felt in little joking mood then, being almost as weak +as his companion. "You are worth twenty dead men yet, as the old +Captain would say!" + +But, in spite of all his encouraging words, Dick grew gradually weaker +and weaker; until, towards midnight, his breathing became so very faint +that Bob could hardly feel it, though kneeling down close beside him and +with his face touching that of poor Dick. + +"I'm a-dying--Master Bob," he whispered, in such low accents that Bob +had to bend down his ear close to his mouth to hear what he said. "I +bees--a-dying--Mas-ter--Bob. I knows--I--be! I--hears--the--h'angels-- +a-flapping on their wings! I knows they be a-coming--for--me! God-- +bless--'ee, Mas-ter--Bob! Ah, if--'ee--ever--get--'shore--'gain--tell-- +Cap'--I--didn't--mean--no--'arm!" + +Soon after faltering out these broken words, Dick fell back insensible +in the bottom of the boat. + +"Oh, Dick, poor Dick, good Dick!" sobbed out Bob, throwing himself down +beside him on the floor of the boat's little cabin and bursting into an +agony of tears. "It is I who have killed you. But for me, you would +never have been here at all! Poor, brave Dick, you saved my life, and +in return I've killed you!" + +The torture of mind in which he now was on seeing, as he thought, Dick +dead before him, coupled with all he had already gone through, but of +which he had taken little heed while he had his comrade to console, now +coming together affected Bob's mind. + +He began to wander in delirium, imagining himself not only safe ashore, +but in his London home, amid all the surroundings to which he had been +accustomed before coming to Southsea and to this sad extremity. + +He thought it was Sunday and that he was going to church with his mother +and Nell; and that he was late, as usual, and they were calling him to +hurry. + +"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he screamed out in such a shrill voice, +attenuated by famine, as hardly to be recognised as human, so shrill +that it startled the sea-gulls hovering over the boat. "I'm coming! +There's lots of time, the bells are ringing still! The bells are +ringing, I hear them!--Ring--ring--ring--I--hear--I hear--I--" + +Then he, too, lost consciousness and fell, like a log, insensible, +across the body of poor Dick; the far-off bell which he had fancied to +be ringing miles and miles distant from where the boat was floating in +the Channel, being the last echo that sounded in his ears as he fainted +away. + +But, there was reason in his madness. + +A bell was ringing; and ringing too realistically not to be real! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +ON THE CASQUETTES. + +Bob's hearing was not at fault, this sense of his remaining perfect +though his mind was wandering; and so, the unwonted sound that fell upon +his ear had got woven amongst his delirious fancies. + +It was, without doubt, a real bell, which if it might not summon pious +folk to prayer, yet fulfilled almost as sacred a duty, warning, as it +did, poor mariners of impending peril and so answering the petition oft +put up "for those travelling by sea." + +This ball belonged to the lighthouse-tower erected on the highest peak +of the Casquettes, a terrible group of rocks jutting out into the +Channel, just off the French coast hard by Alderney, some six miles to +the north-west of which island they lie. Rocks that are cruel and +relentless as the surges that sweep over them in stormy weather, and +which are so quaintly named from their helmet, or "casque"-like +resemblance--rocks, concerning which the poet Swinburne has sung in his +eloquent verse, that breathes the very spirit of the sea in depicting +the strife of the elements: + + "From the depths of the waters that lighten and darken, + With change everlasting of life and of death, + Where hardly by morn if the lulled ear hearken + It hears the sea's as a tired child's breath, + Where hardly by night, if an eye dare scan it, + The storm lets shipwreck be seen or heard, + As the reefs to the waves and the foam to the granite + Respond one merciless word. + + "Sheer seen and far, in the sea's life heaven, + A sea-mew's flight from the wild sweet land, + White plumed with foam, if the wind wake, seven + Black helms, as of warriors that stir, not stand, + From the depths that abide and the waves that environ + Seven rocks rear heads that the midnight masks; + And the strokes of the swords of the storm are as iron + On the steel of the wave-worn casques. + + "Be night's dark word as the word of a wizard, + Be the word of dawn as a god's glad word, + Like heads of the spirits of darkness visored + That see not for ever, nor ever have heard, + These basnets, plumed as for fight or plumeless, + Crowned by the storm and by storm discrowned, + Keep word of the lists where the dead lie tombless + And the tale of them is not found!" + +Hither the boat had drifted in the course of the three days that had +elapsed since she had been first becalmed off Spithead, or rather +between the Nab and Warner lights; for, it was then that the wind had +dropped, leaving her at the mercy of the stream, going whither the +current willed. + +She had pursued a most erratic course, however, to reach this point. + +To commence with, she had floated on the ebb-tide, which for two hours +after high-water runs south by west, out into the Channel past the Isle +of Wight; the wind, slight as it was, that subsequently sprung up from +the eastward, to which point it had veered after the sea-fog had risen, +combined with the westward action of the tideway, making the little +vessel take almost a straight course across the stream of the current +towards the French coast. + +When about midway, however, she got into a second channel current, which +swept her nearer and nearer to Cape La Hogue. + +Then, again, when still some miles out from the land, yet another +current took charge of her, bringing her within the influence of the +strong indraught which runs into the Gulf of Saint Malo; by which, +finally, she was wafted, in a circular way, up to "the Caskets," or +"Casquettes," to adopt the proper French version. + +Here she had arrived at the time of Bob's delirium, drifting in closer +and closer to the rocks, on which the cutter would probably have been +dashed to pieces and her fragments possibly picked up anon on the +opposite side of the Atlantic, had not fate intervened. + +It was in this wise. + +The little cutter drifted in near the rocks while it was still early +morning; and the reason for the bell on the lighthouse ringing was +because some of the mist, or fog, that had been blown across the +Channel, yet lingered in the vicinity, as if loth to leave altogether +the waters over which it loved to brood. + +When, however, the rays of the bright morning sun sent this nightmare of +a mist to the right-about, a small French fishing lugger might have been +seen working out towards the offing from Saint Malo, giving the +"Casquettes" a pretty wide berth you may be sure; those who have to do +with seafaring matters across Channel knowing full well of the dangerous +race that runs by the fatal rocks, ever seeking in its malice to engulph +passing crafts and bear them away to destruction! + +Two men were in the lugger; one, as usual, attending to the helm, the +other minding the sheets and sitting midway between the bows and stern +of the vessel, so as to be handy when required and thus save unnecessary +locomotion. + +Sailors, it may here be mentioned in confidence, especially those +hailing from la belle France, never give themselves more trouble than +they can help; which philosophic way of going through life might be +studied to advantage, perhaps, by some shore folk! + +These mariners, consequently, were taking it very easy, the one forward +sitting on the break of the "fo'c's'le" and smoking a pipe, there not +being much to do in the rope-hauling or letting go, as the lugger was +only creeping lazily along through the almost still water with the aid +of the light breeze then blowing. + +Presently, this latter gentleman, casting a casual eye around, spied the +poor mastless, derelict-looking little yacht, rolling about in the heavy +tide-race that was taking her on to the rocks. + +Instantly, sailor-like, he became all animation; taking his pipe out of +his mouth and shouting out to his fellow-voyager astern with much +gesticulation. + +"Tiens, Jacques!" he cried, "voila un bateau qui courre sur les +brisants!" + +"Quoi?" carelessly asked the other. "Vous moquez vous!" + +But the one who had first spoken repeated what he'd said, to the effect +that there was "a boat drifting on the rocks, and likely to be wrecked." +"Jacques," however, as his comrade had called him, did not seem much +interested in the matter, merely shrugging his shoulders, implying that +it was "none of his concern." + +"C'est bien," said he. "Pas mon affaire." + +The other, though, seemed more taken with the little craft, climbing up +a couple of steps into the rigging in order to have a better look at +her. + +He had not gazed a moment when his excitement became intensified. + +"Mon Dieu, Jacques!" he sang out. "Il-y-a quelqu'un a bord! Deux +personnes, et des garcons je crois; mais, ils sont morts!" + +"Pas possible," cried the helmsman, showing a little more interest. +"Really?" + +"Parbleu, c'est vrai! Vire que nous nous en approchions." + +"C'est fait," exclaimed Jacques, now quite as much excited--as the +other, and eager to rescue any one in peril or distress, as every sailor +of every nationality always is--that is, a true sailor. "Starboard it +is!" + +"Babord!" cried out Antoine, as the helmsman called him, telling the +latter he was to put the tiller over. "Port." + +Jacques replied by a counter order. + +"Toi, Antoine," shouted he, "lache la grande voile!" meaning him to +"slacken off the mainsheets," whereupon the lugger was brought alongside +the wreck of the cutter. + +Our friend Antoine, without wasting a moment, at once stepped on board, +exclaiming, "Tenez bon dessus--Hold on." + +The man was shocked at what he saw, the dead bodies, as he thought, of +Bob and Dick lying across each other on the floor of the little cabin, +half in and half out of which the boys were exposed to his view at the +first glance. + +"Pauvres garcons!" he cried in a husky voice, wiping away a tear that +sprang unbidden to his eye, with the characteristic ready emotional +sympathy of his countrymen. "Pauvres garcons." + +Jacques, who was a little longer in coming to inspect the derelict, +hearing what his companion said, called out for further information. + +"De quel pays sont-ils?" he asked. "Can you tell their nationality?" + +"Anglais, sans doute!" was his reply. "Je le crois par leur air." + +This made Jacques prick up his ears. + +"Comment?" said he; and, without waiting to hear anything else he, too, +jumped down into the boat. "Anglais? Mon Dieu!" + +Jacques was a man of common-sense; so, instead of contenting himself +with staring at the apparently lifeless boys, as Antoine did, he bent +down to see whether they yet breathed. + +"Bete! Quant aux enfants, ils ne sont pas plus morts que toi ou moi!" +he sang out indignantly. "You fool! The boys are no more dead than you +or me." + +But Jacques was a kind-hearted man as well as one possessed of common- +sense. + +So, under his directions, he and Antoine between them transshipped the +apparently lifeless but still animate forms of Bob and Dick from the +wrecked cutter into the fo'c's'le of the lugger, where a charcoal, fire +was smouldering in a small stove on which simmered a saucepan containing +something savoury, judging by its smell. + +Here Jacques proceeded to rub the bodies of the boys alternately with a +piece of flannel dipped in spirit, which he first held in front of the +stove to warm; Maitre Antoine, meanwhile, attending to the navigation of +the lugger and guarding lest she should run upon the Casquettes, or get +led astray out of her course by Alderney Race, a current of these +regions which, like the Saint Malo stream, is not to be played with when +the wind's on shore! + +Not content with merely rubbing them down with the spirit, Jacques +presently varied his external application of some brandy, a remedy with +him for most complaints to which flesh is heir, by administering to each +boy in turn a few drops internally of the spirit, forcing it dexterously +between their lips as soon as respiration was restored and they began to +breathe with some regularity; Bob, however, progressing much more +rapidly than Dick, whose pulse obstinately remained feeble and barely +perceptible, while the author of all the mischief was nearly all right. + +Bob opened his eyes almost as soon as he tasted the brandy. + +"Where am I?" he stammered out, gazing round the little fo'c's'le of the +lugger in wonder. "Where am I?" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +JIM CRADDOCK. + +"Ah, le petit bon homme vit encore!" cried Antoine, hearing the voice +and bending over from his seat on the after-thwart, being anxious as to +the condition of the patients to whom Jacques was ministering. "Donnez +lui encore d'eau de vie, mon ami!" + +Jacques thereupon repeated the dose of brandy to Bob, who closed his +eyes again and leant back, the spirit and the sound of the strange +language, with the queer surroundings that had met his gaze on looking +round the fo'c's'le of the lugger, making him believe he was still in a +dream. + +"Where am I?" he presently repeated, rousing up again. "Where am I?" + +"In France," replied Jacques in English as good as his own, smiling as +he spoke. "At least, you're aboard a French vessel; and, that's as good +as being in France!" + +"But, you are English," replied Bob freely. "You are English, eh?" + +"Yes, I'm English," answered the other. "But, you had better not talk +now. Wait till after you've taken some nice soup which I've got cooking +here that will put new strength into you, and then we'll tell each other +all about ourselves." + +He then left Bob to attend to Dick, whom it took considerably longer to +bring round; although by administering a few drops of brandy at +intervals, varied by an occasional spoonful every now and then of the +savoury soup from the saucepan on the fire, which was really a regular +French stew, Dick became ultimately, as Bob already was through the same +regimen, much better--the poor boy now recovering his consciousness and +being able to speak. + +The two invalids were then put to bed comfortably in a couple of bunks +on either side of the fo'c's'le; while the lugger, whose name, by the +way, was the _Jeanne d'Arc_, reached over towards the English coast, to +see what fishing she could get in those prohibited waters. + +Late in the afternoon, Bob and Dick both woke up refreshed; when, each +had another jorum of the savoury soup, which Bob said subsequently was +the nicest thing, he believed, he had ever tasted in his life! The +boys, then, feeling quite well, so to speak, went on to tell the kind +sailors all about their adventures, Bob, of course, being the principal +spokesman. + +"Ah!" observed Jacques. "You are living at Portsmouth, then?" + +"No, I've only been stopping there for the season," replied Bob. "But, +I like it very much!" + +"It's my native place, sir. I was born there!" cried Jacques. "My +father was in the English navy; and my old mother, who is yet alive, has +a house of her own in the town! It's only through my having married a +French wife that has took me over here along with the Parlyvoos!" + +"How strange!" exclaimed Bob. "Why, we went to see only the other day a +Mrs Craddock, who has a daughter who's very ill, that my aunt Polly +goes to see; and she told us she had a son married to a French girl and +he was living at Saint Malo!" + +"Why, that's me!" cried Jacques; although "Jacques" no longer to us. +"I'm Jim Craddock, and the old lady that you saw is my mother! My word! +this is a rum start!" + +After the curious coincidence of Bob and Dick being rescued by the son +of "the old egg-woman," as they always called her, between whom and +themselves Rover had in the original instance scraped an acquaintance, +nothing would content Jim Craddock but that he must bear up at once for +Portsmouth, and restore Bob and Dick to those who bewailed them as lost, +as well as return the battered little yacht, which the lugger had in tow +astern, to her proper owner. + +The meeting between Bob and his parents is too sacred a matter to touch +upon here; but, it is easy enough to imagine the delight of those +welcoming one coming back to them as it were from the dead; Dick, too, +being received like another son. + +As for Nellie, her joy was so great at beholding again her brother Bob, +whom she loved so dearly, that she laughed till she cried and then +fainted; while, on her recovery, she laughed and cried again, though she +did not faint a second time! + +But, you should only have seen Rover when he saw his young master. + +Sarah, "the good Sarah," said that she would never forget "the way in +which that there dog went on as long as she lived!" + +Of course, it can be well understood that there were no ill-feelings +between Bob and the retriever anent the desertion of the latter from the +cutter on the day of the boys' terribly punished escapade; though, the +mystery of the dog's swimming ashore so strangely on that memorable +occasion, it may be mentioned here, was never cleared up! + +The Captain, it must be said, behaved much more unconcernedly than +Rover. + +"By Jove! I told you they'd turn up all right!" said he, chuckling away +at such a rate that he could hardly stop to get out the next words. "I +always told you so, didn't I ma'am--now, didn't I?" + +"My gracious goodness, Cap'en Dresser, why you were the first to give +them up!" cried Mrs Gilmour laughing. "Sure, I never did see such a +man!" + +At this the Captain chuckled still more; and he then told Dick, whom +every one was as glad almost to see amongst them again as they were to +see Bob, that he intended, when he got strong enough, to send him into +the navy so as to prevent him from going to sea again! + +After a few days' rest, in order to recuperate from the effects of the +strain on all their nerves, Bob's father said they must all go back to +town, their holiday limit being at length reached. + +Bob and Nellie, on this intimation, began a round of leave-taking which +would well-nigh have consumed another long holiday, to have been carried +out in accordance with their intention; for they wanted to say "good- +bye!" to all their favourite haunts and many acquaintances of the +animate and inanimate world in turn. + +Yes, they must see once more the halcyon spot where they caught the +Pandalus, that gem of their aquarium; they had to bid adieu to Mrs +Craddock's cottage, and the old lady herself and daughter; and again +inspect the place where the unfortunate _Bembridge Belle_ was wrecked. + +They had to give a handshake, too, to their friend Hellyer--and all his +fellow-coastguardsmen; besides having to go over the Captain's yacht, +which had been sparred and rigged anew, the little _Zephyr_ looking now +"as fresh as paint again" after her eventful vicissitudes adrift in the +Channel. + +Aye, they paid farewell visits to every one and everything, and then +wanted to begin over again, it was so hard to part with them all! + +At last, however, the ordeal was accomplished; and all their goods and +chattels and new acquisitions, especially the aquarium and its various +occupants, that terrible Mesembryanthemum included, being properly +packed up and labelled, behold the party one fine morning at the +railway-station on their way to London as soon as the train should +start! + +Here Rover, despite his frantic howls on escaping his former prison, was +snugly incarcerated in the guard's van; when the others, after +exchanging last words with Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, entered a +saloon-carriage which had been reserved for them for the journey, Bob +and Nell, it may be taken for granted, being the last to get in, loth to +leave "aunt Polly" and "that dear old sailor" who had won their hearts, +as well as say "good-bye" to Dick, the whilom uninvited guest of their +first eventful journey "Down the line," and subsequent faithful +companion of Bob in his wonderful adventures by sea and land. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +A LAST WORD. + +There was a warning shriek from the engine's steam-whistle, as if it +were impatient to be off, and angrily wanting to know why it was kept +thus unnecessarily waiting. + +Following up the scream of the whistle came the last cling! clang! of +the railway-porter's bell, telling belated passengers that "time" was +"up." + +Next ensued the scrambling and scurrying of the aforesaid belated +passengers, who always appear to put off making up their minds as to +whether they shall start or not until the last moment of grace has +expired. + +Then, finally, after much clanging of doors upon the backs of those thus +nearly left behind, with a snort of indignation and defiance of things +in general, and late passengers in particular, the panting, puffing, +fuming iron horse metaphorically and practically "put his shoulder to +the wheel," lugging the rolling, rumbling, heavy train out of the +station Londonwards, with a "puff-puff, pant-pant!" from his hoarse +throat, answered by the groans and creaks of sympathy from the laden +carriages and the clinking rattle of the coupling-chains, as they drew +taut from the tension, lending a sort of cymbal-like accompaniment to +the noisy chorus. + +Bob and Nellie watched their aunt and the Captain standing on the +platform, waving their handkerchiefs from the window of their +compartment, which they found it a hard matter to shove their heads +through two at a time, until a bend in the line swept aunt Pollys +Captain Dresser, platform and all out of sight. + +Then, sitting down disconsolately in their seats, Bob, who, of course, +thought it unmanly to cry, screwed himself up in a corner in default of +that alleviation of his misery, looking the very picture of woe; while +poor Nell, being a girl and freed from such Spartan obligations, sought +refuge from her sorrow in silent tears. + +"Now, Nellie dear," said her mother reprovingly, "you mustn't be so +foolish! Of course, I can make allowance for your sorrow at leaving +Southsea, where you have been so happy; but these partings, dearie, will +come some time or other, and, besides, you know, both aunt Polly and +Captain Dresser have promised to come up to us at Christmas, so you'll +see them again soon." + +This made poor Nell try to compose herself; and presently she smiled +through her tears, exchanging reminiscences of the past few weeks of +their enjoyment by the sea with Bob, who also, after a time, shook off +his grumpiness--the feeling that they were going "home" again, by and by +overcoming their depression at leaving, perhaps for ever, the scene of +so many delights and such a terrible ordeal at the last! + +"I wonder how old Blinkie will look?" said Bob, trying to picture the +jackdaw as he would appear when conscious of his owner's return; and +then, deciding in his own mind that the only tribute of affection which +he might expect would, most probably, be a sharp peck from Blinkie's +beak, he added, "I dare say he won't remember me at all!" + +Nellie's thoughts were directed to Snuffles the asthmatic cat, her great +pet; and she believed that highly-trained animal would not only know her +again after her long absence, but would certainly express her +satisfaction in a much more endearing manner, if not quite so touching +or pointed! + +Thus the two beguiled the tedium of their journey; and, such was their +joy on the train's arrival in town at last, that no one would have +believed them to be the same Bob and Nell who had given way so greatly +to their grief on leaving the seaside! + +Naturally, Rover's pleasure at being released from his temporary +imprisonment in the guard's van could be easily accounted for; but, the +way in which, when he got back to his old home, he walked deliberately +to the bottom of the garden in perfect remembrance of the spot where he +had buried his last bone before going away, showed that he, at least, +did not forget so easily. + +The dog's memory, too, was equally green concerning his old friends +Snuffles and Blinkie, as that of his young master and mistress; for he +so sniffed and snuffed Snuffles in his exuberance at seeing her again, +that he seriously disarranged her fur, while he allowed the jackdaw to +peck at his legs and even his nose, without the slightest attempt at +retaliation! + +Not long after their getting back, Bob and Nell had a great joke all to +themselves. + +Their father and mother were sending down an invalid chair for Mrs +Craddock's daughter, one in which she could be taken out into the open- +air--it was a thing for which the poor girl had always been longing, as +aunt Polly managed to find out for them when they were thinking of what +sort of return they could make for the kind way in which the old lady's +son had rescued Bob, Jim himself refusing any recompense whatever, +despite all the barrister's and Captain Dresser's efforts. + +So, this parcel being about to be dispatched "Down the line," Master Bob +and Miss Nell bethought them that they would send a present too; not +only to Dick, who was always in their minds, but one also for--whom do +you think? + +Why, for Sarah, "the good Sarah!" + +And, what do you think the present was, eh? + +You would never guess. + +Well, a nice little loaf of bread and an ounce packet of the best black +tea, both packed up in a very pretty box that also contained a +remarkably smart cap, with ribbons of a colour such as the soul of Sarah +loved. + +Nor was this all, + +On the lid of the box was an elaborate device in hieroglyphic +characters, which could be readily understood when properly explained by +the young designers, detailing the leading incidents of a celebrated +picnic in the woods which once occurred; although, possibly the +uninitiated might experience some little difficulty at first in +discriminating between what were meant for the figures of the principal +personages of the story and the objects of still life depicted in the +drawing, though otherwise it was an admirable work of art. + +Regarding the copy of verses also pinned on to the box, which the device +in question was intended to illustrate, there could be no mistake; the +verses, indeed, being a replica of an original poem, preserved in the +Bobo-Nellonian archives and entitled, "Sarah's forget-me-nots," +wherewith the reader has been already made acquainted. + +The parcel was duly dispatched down to Southsea; but, though Nellie +subsequently wrote a nice little letter to the Captain in her own nice +handwriting, large and legible, such as the old sailor could read +comfortably without spectacles, wherein she mentioned all the latest +news of her aquarium tenants, telling how the hermit crab had distrained +for his rent on a young lobster who had cast-off his shell, and that a +small skate objected to the ice, she could learn nothing of how "the +good Sarah" received her present. + +Nor could Bob gain any information on the subject from aunt Polly, to +whom he sent a long epistle bearing on the same momentous theme. + +Both had to wait to have their curiosity satisfied until their aunt +Polly and Captain Dresser came up to London at Christmastide; when at +length the two of them managed to worm the secret out of the Captain. + +The old sailor had been giving them all the news about those they had +known down at Southsea; how Dick had at last been accepted for the navy +and entered as a second-class boy on board the _Saint Vincent_, being +bound to make a full able-bodied sailor in time; and how Hellyer had got +a little pension in addition to his pay, as he was now "chief officer" +of the coastguard; after which, the Captain at last referred to Sarah, +"the good Sarah!" + +"By Jove!" said he, "I shall never forget that night your box came! I +was playing cribbage with your aunt Polly--and she cheated me, too, by +the same token, in the fuss that occurred on opening the parcel, by +scoring `two for his heels,' when it only should have been `one for his +nob.' You never saw such a disgraceful thing done in your life, really +a most barefaced piece of cheating!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "Sure, I'm listening to all those stories +you are telling! Won't I pay you out, too, by and by, when you come +round to `the Moorings' again. You just wait and see!" + +"I assure you, ma'am, it's a fact," persisted the Captain unblushingly, +his little eyes blinking with fun under his bushy eyebrows, which were +going up and down at a fine rate, I can tell you. "I saw you move the +pegs, ma'am, when you thought I wasn't looking!" + +"But, what did Sarah say?" asked Nellie, clinging to the old sailor and +trying to attract his attention to the point at issue, from which he +seemed sadly inclined to stray. "What did the good Sarah say?" + +"Eh?" said he, cocking his head on one side in his most bird-like +fashion and pretending not to understand his questioner. "Eh?" + +"Oh, do tell us!" cried Bob, catching hold of him by the other arm. +"How did `the good Sarah' look?" + +"Why," chuckled the Captain, bringing down his old malacca cane with a +thump on the floor. "Jolly, my boy, jolly!" + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Bob Strong's Holidays, by John Conroy Hutcheson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOB STRONG'S HOLIDAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 21106.txt or 21106.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/0/21106/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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