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diff --git a/21292.txt b/21292.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e94915 --- /dev/null +++ b/21292.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2079 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and True, by George Manville Fenn + +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: Brave and True + Short stories for children by G. M. Fenn and Others + +Author: George Manville Fenn + +Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21292] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND TRUE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + + +Brave and True, +Short stories for children by G M Fenn and others. +________________________________________________________________________ + +Although Fenn's name appears on the cover, and on the title-page, he +does not appear to have written more than one of the stories, and the +story that gave its name to the book was not by him. There are several +stories that were not signed by an author's name, so we have a mystery +there. They were probably just using Fenn's name to sell the book. + +The target audience appears to be seven- or eight-year-olds; certainly +not the sixteen-year-olds that Fenn generally aimed for. There are +twelve items, three of which are rather trivial "poems". The nine short +stories all have the theme "Brave and True", and vary in their settings +from small boarding-schools in the Home Counties, to the Rocky +Mountains. + +We had originally intended to produce this book merely as a pdf (which +is of course still available), but with an effort of will we managed to +make an xhtml book of it, though this does not have all the delightful +little line drawings that appeared throughout the eighty pages of the +book. + +It is possible that the principal merit of this book is the way it +throws light on the lives of the younger boarding-school boys and girls +of the nineteenth century, particularly eight to thirteen year-old +boys. I can tell you that not a lot had changed by the time I was +at such a school, less than fifty years later. Even the Eton collar +and the bum-freezer jacket was familiar to me! +NH +________________________________________________________________________ + +BRAVE AND TRUE--SHORT STORIES FOR CHILDREN BY G M FENN AND OTHERS + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +BRAVE AND TRUE, BY E DAWSON. + +"But I say, Martin, tell us about it! My pater wrote to me that you'd +done no end of heroic things, and saved Bullace senior from being +killed. His pater told him, so I know it's all right. But wasn't it a +joke you two should be on the same ship?" + +Martin looked up at his old schoolfellow. He had suddenly become a +person of importance in the well-known old haunts where he had learned +and played only as one of the schoolboys. + +"It wasn't much of a joke sometimes," said he. "I thought at first that +I was glad to see a face I knew. But there were lots of times after +that when I _didn't_ think it." + +"Wasn't old Bullfrog amiable, then?" + +"He was never particularly partial to me, you know," answered Martin. +"The first term I was at school--before you came--I remember I caught +him out at a cricket match. He was always so sure of making top score! +He called me an impudent youngster in those days." + +"He never was too good to you, I remember. I was one of the chaps he +let alone." + +"Well, he went on calling me an impudent youngster," continued Martin, +"and all that sort of thing--and he tried to set the other fellows +against me. Oh, it isn't all jam in the Royal Navy! You haven't left +school when you go _there_, and the gunroom isn't always just exactly +paradise, you know! And if your seniors try to make it hot for you, +why--they can!" + +"So you and Bullfrog didn't exactly hit it off?" + +"Oh, well, he was sub-lieutenant this last voyage, and you can't stand +up to your senior officer as you can to your schoolfellows, don't you +see?" + +There was a minute's silence, broken by an eager request. "But tell us +about the battle. What did it feel like to be there? How was it old +Bullfrog let you go at all?" + +"He hadn't the ordering of _that_, thank goodness," said Martin +fervently. "And I was jolly glad he hadn't! We had some excitement +getting those big guns along, I can tell you! The roads weren't just +laid out for that game." + +"Well, go on," said another eager voice. "Then one day we came upon the +enemy, and there was a stand-up fight, you know. How did it feel? +Well, there wasn't much thinking about it. You just knew that you were +ready to blaze at them, and they were popping at you from their +entrenchments; and that you jolly well meant to give them the worst of +it." + +"Well, about Bullfrog?" + +"Oh, that was nothing," said Martin, reddening. "He must have got +excited or something, for he took a step forward, putting himself in +full view, and just then I saw what he didn't see--that there were some +of those Boer beggars just under our kopje, and that one of them had +raised his rifle to pick off Bullfrog. So I made a flying leap on to +his back and knocked him flat, and the bullet that was meant for him +just crossed the back of my coat and ripped it up. Didn't even scratch +me!" + +The little knot of listeners around Martin waited with bated breath for +more. + +"But he didn't escape scot-free after all," continued Martin. "Ten +minutes after that he got shot in the leg. The bone was fractured, and +he couldn't move. I saw him fall and I pulled him to a little hollow +under a stone where he'd be safe. And it was just as well, for the +cavalry came up over there when the chase began. We gave them the +licking they deserved that day. But you know all about that." + +"Wish I'd been you!" said Martin's old schoolfellow very enviously. +"But what about Bullfrog after that?" + +"He was taken in the ambulance-cart and put in hospital. I saw him +there and he was getting on all right." + +"And what did he say?" + +"He said I'd caught him out again and a lot more. But it was all +nonsense, you know." + +"I expect he was sorry he'd ever made it hot for you," said one of the +listeners. + +"You ought to have a VC or something for it, _I_ consider," said +another. + +"Rot!" answered Martin. "If a schoolfellow and a shipmate of yours +wanted a push out of danger, wouldn't you give it him? And you wouldn't +think yourself a hero either!" + +"Other people might, though," answered Martin's old schoolfellow. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +TWO ROUGH STONES, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + +It does not take long to make a kite, if you know how, have the right +things for the purpose, and Cook is in a good temper. But then, cooks +are not always amiable, and that's a puzzle; for disagreeable people are +generally yellow and stringy, while pleasant folk are pink-and-white and +plump, and Mrs Lester's Cook at "Lombardy" was extremely plump, so much +so that Ned Lester used to laugh at her and say she was fat, whereupon +Cook retorted by saying good-humouredly: "All right, Master Ned, so I +am; but you can't have too much of a good thing." + +There was doubt about the matter, though. Cook had a most fiery temper +when she was busy, and when that morning Ned went with Tizzy--so called +because she was christened Lizzie--and found Cook in her private +premises--the back kitchen--peeling onions, with a piece of bread stuck +at the end of the knife to keep the onion-juice from making her cry, and +asked her to make him a small basin of paste, her kitchen majesty +uttered a loud snort. + +"Which I just shan't," she cried; "and if your Mar was at home you +wouldn't dare to ask. I never did see such a tiresome, worriting boy as +you are, Master Ned. You're always wanting something when I'm busy; and +what your master's a-thinking about to give you such long holidays at +midsummer I don't know." + +"They aren't long," said Ned, indignant at the idea of holidays being +too long for a boy of eleven. + +"Don't you contradict, sir, or I'll just tell your Mar; and the sooner +you're out of my kitchen the better for you. Be off, both of you!" + +It was on Tizzy's little red lips to say: "Oh, please do make some +paste!" but she was not peeling onions, and had no knife with a piece of +bread-crumb at the end to keep the tears from coming. So come they did, +and sobs with them to stop the words. + +"Never mind, Tiz," cried Ned, lifting her on to a chair. "Here, get on +my back and I'll carry you. Cook's in a tantrum this morning." + +Tizzy placed her arms round her brother's neck and clung tightly while +he played the restive steed, and raised Cook's ire to red-hot point by +purposely kicking one of the Windsor chairs, making it scroop on the +beautifully-white floor of the front kitchen, and making the queen of +the domain rush out at him, looking red-eyed and ferocious, for the +onion-juice had affected her. + +"Now, just you look here, Master Ned." + +But Ned didn't stop to look; for, after the restive kick at the chair, +he had broken into a canter, dashed down the garden and through the gate +into the meadow, across which he now galloped straight for the new +haystack, for only a week before that meadow had been forbidden ground +and full of long, waving, flowery strands. + +The grasshoppers darted right and left from the brown patches where the +scythes had left their marks; the butterflies fled in their butterfly +fashion. + +So did a party of newly-fledged sparrowkins, and, still playing the +pony, Ned kept on, drawing his sister's attention to the various +objects, as he made for the long row of Lombardy poplars which grew so +tall and straight close to the deep river-side, and gave the name +"Lombardy" to the charming little home. + +But it was all in vain; nothing would pacify the sobbing child, not even +the long red-and-yellow monkey barge gliding along the river, steered by +a woman in a print hood, and drawn by a drowsy-looking grey horse at the +end of a long tow-rope, bearing a whistling boy seated sidewise on his +back and a dishcover-like pail hanging from his collar. + +"Oh, I say, don't cry, Tizzy," protested Ned, at last, as he felt the +hot tears trickling inside his white collar. + +"I can't help it, Teddy," she sobbed. "I did so want to see the kite +fly!" + +"Never mind, pussy," said her brother; "I'll get the butterfly-net." + +"No, no," she sobbed; "please don't." + +"The rod and line, then, and you shall fish. I'll put on the worms." + +"No, no, I don't want to," she said, with more tears. "Put me down, +please; you do joggle me so. You'll be going back to school soon, and, +now the grass is cut, I did so wa-wa-want to see the kite fly!" + +"So did I," said the boy ruefully. "But don't cry, Tiz dear. Tell me +what to do. It makes me so miserable to see you cry." + +"Does it, Teddy?" she said, looking up wistfully in her brother's face, +and then kissing him. "There, then: I won't cry any more." + +She had hardly spoken when the sunshine returned to her pretty little +face, for, though she did not know it, that sorrowful countenance had +quite softened Cook's heart, and she stood in the kitchen doorway, +calling the young people and waving a steaming white basin, which she +set down on the window-sill with a bang. + +"Here's your paste, Master Ned," she shouted; and then, muttering to +herself something about being such a "soft," she disappeared. + +Five minutes later the young folk were in the play-room and Ned was +covering the framework of his simply-made kite with white paper, Tizzy +helping and getting her little fingers pasty the while. Then a loop was +made on the centre lath; the wet kite was found to balance well; wings +were made, and a long string with a marble tied in the thumb of a glove +attached to the end for a tail; the ball of new string taken off the top +of the drawers, and the happy couple went off in high glee to fly the +kite. + +"It's half-dry already," said Ned. "Paste soon dries in hot weather." + +"Do let me carry the string, Teddy," cried Tiz; and the next minute she +was stepping along with it proudly, while Ned, with his arm through the +loop and the kite on his back, looked something like a Knight Crusader +with a white shield. + +The grasshoppers and butterflies scattered; the paper dried rapidly in +the hot sun, as the kite lay on the grass while the string was fastened, +Tizzy having the delightful task of rolling the ball along the grass to +unwind enough for the first flight; and then, after Ned had thrown a +stray goose-feather to make sure which way the wind blew, this being +towards the tall poplars, Tizzy was set to hold up the kite as high as +she could. + +"Mind and don't tread on its tail, Tiz," shouted Ned, as he ran off to +where the ball of spring lay on the grass. + +"No; it's stretched right out," she cried. + +"Ready?" shouted Ned. + +"Yes." + +"Higher then. Now, off!" + +The string tightened as the boy ran off facing the wind, and, as if glad +to be released, the kite seemed to pluck itself out of its holder's +hands and darted aloft, the little girl clapping her hands with glee. +For it was a good kite, Ned being a clever maker, of two summers' +experience. Away it went, higher and higher, till there was no need for +the holder to run, and consequently he began to walk back towards Tizzy, +unwinding more and more string till there was but little left, when the +string was placed in Tizzy's hands, and, breathless and flushed with +excitement, she held on, watching the soaring framework of paper, with +its wings fluttering and its tail invisible all but the round knob at +the end, sailing about in the air. + +But alas! how short-lived are some of our pleasures! That fine twine +was badly made, or one part was damaged, for, just when poor Tizzy's +little arm was being jerked by the kite in its efforts to escape and fly +higher, the string parted about half-way, and the kite learned that, +like many animated creatures, it could not fly alone, for it went off +before the wind, falling and falling most pitifully, with Ned going at +full speed after the flying string which trailed over the grass. He +caught up to it at last, but too late, for it was just as the kite +plunged into the top of one of the highest trees by the river, and there +it stuck. + +Tizzy came crying up, while Ned jerked and tugged at the string till he +knew that if he pulled harder the kite would be torn; but there it +stuck, and Tizzy wept. + +"Oh," she cried, "and such a beautiful kite as it was!" + +"Don't you cry," said Ned, caressing her. "I'll soon get it again." + +"Oh, but you can't, Teddy!" + +"Can't I?" he cried, setting his teeth. "I'll soon show you. Hold this +string." + +As his sister caught the string the boy dashed to the tree. + +"Oh, Teddy, don't; you'll fall--you'll fall!" cried Tizzy. + +"That I won't," he said stoutly. "I've climbed larger trees than this +at school." + +And, taking advantage of the rough places of the bark, the boy swarmed +up to where the branches made the climbing less laborious, and then he +went on up and up, higher and higher, till the tree began to quiver and +bend, and he shouted to his sister, breathlessly watching him, her +little heart beating fast the while. + +She was not the only watcher, for another barge was coming along the +river, and, as it drew nearer, the boy on the horse stopped his steed +and the man steering lay back to look up. And higher and higher went +Ned, till the tree began to bend with his weight, and he laughingly gave +it an impetus to make it swing him when he was about six feet from where +the kite hung upside down by its tangled tail, but happily untorn. +"Look out, Tiz!" shouted Ned. + +"Yes, yes, dear; but do take care." + +"All right," he cried. "I'm going to cut off his tail, and I shall say +when. Then you pull the string and it will come down. Wo-ho!" he +cried, as he tugged out his knife, for the tree bent and bent like a +fishing-rod, the spiny centre on which he was being now very thin. +Then, steadying himself, he climbed the last six feet and hung over +backwards, holding up his legs and one hand, as he used his knife and +divided the string tail. "Pull, Tiz, pull!" he shouted, "Run!" + +Tizzy obeyed and the kite followed her. + +"Hoo-ray," shouted Ned, taking off his cap to give it a wave, when, +crick! crack! the tree snapped twenty feet below him, and the next +moment poor Ned was describing a curve in the air, for the wood and bark +held the lower part like a huge hinge, while Ned clung tightly for some +moments before he was flung outwards, to fall with a tremendous splash. + +Poor Tizzy heard the sharp snap of the tree and turned, to gaze in +horror at her brother's fall, uttering a wild shriek as she saw him +disappear in the sparkling water; and then in her childlike dread she +closed her eyes tightly, stopped her ears, and ran blindly across the +meadow, shrieking with all her little might and keeping her eyes fast +closed, till she found herself caught up and a shower of questions were +put. + +They were in vain at first, for the poor child was utterly dazed, hardly +recognising the friendly arms which had caught her up, till those arms +gave her a good shake. + +"Master Ned!--why don't you speak, child?--where's your brother?" + +"Oh," shrieked Tizzy, "the water--the water! Tumbled in." + +"Oh, my poor darling bairn!" cried Cook, hugging Tizzy to her, as she +ran towards, the river. "I knew it--I knew it! I was always sure my +own dear boy would be drowned." + +There was no ill-temper now, for Cook was sobbing hysterically as she +ran, with the tears streaming down her cheeks, till she saw something +taking place on the river which seemed to take all the strength out of +her legs, for she dropped upon her knees now with her lips moving fast, +but not a sound was heard. + +The next minute she was hurrying again to the river-bank, towards which +a man was thrusting the stern of the long narrow barge which had been +passing with the heavy long boathook, which had been used to draw poor +Ned out of the water as soon as he had risen to the surface. + +Cook reached the bank with the child in her arms just at the same moment +as the man, who leaped off the barge, carrying Ned, whose eyes were +closed and head drooping over the man's shoulder. + +"Oh, my poor darling boy!" wailed Cook. "He's dead--he's dead!" + +"Not he, missus," cried the bargeman. "I hooked him out too sharp. +Here, hold up, young master. Don't you cry, little missy; he's on'y +swallowed more water than's good for him. Now then, perk up, my lad." + +Poor Ned's eyes opened at this, and he stared wildly at the man, then, +as if utterly bewildered, at Cook, and lastly at Tizzy, who clung +sobbing to him, where he had been laid on the grass, streaming with +water. + +"Tiz!" he cried faintly. + +"Teddy! Teddy!" she wailed. "Oh, don't die! What would poor Mamma +do?" + +"Die?" he said confusedly. "Why--what? Here," he cried, as +recollection came back with a rush, "oh, Tizzy, don't say you've lost +the kite!" + +"Lost the kite!" cried Cook, furiously now. "Oh, you wicked, wicked +boy! What will your Mar say?" + +"As she was precious glad I was a-comin' by," said the man, grinning. +"There: don't scold the youngster, missus. It was all an accident, +wasn't it, squire? But, I say, next time you climb a tree don't you +trust them poplars, for they're as brittle as sere-wood. There: you're +all right now, aren't you?" + +"Yes," said Ned. "Did you pull me out?" + +"To be sure I did." + +"Then there's a threepenny-piece for you," said Ned. "I haven't got any +more." + +"Then you put it back in your pocket, my lad, to buy something for your +little sis. I don't want to be paid for that." + +"You wait till his poor Mar comes home," cried Cook excitedly, "and I'm +sure she'll give you a bit of gold." + +"Nay," growled the man. "I've got bairns of my own. I don't want to be +paid. Yes, I do," he said quickly; "will you give me a kiss, little +one, for pulling brother out?" + +Tizzy's face lit up with smiles, as she held up her hands to be caught +up, and the next moment her little white face was pressed against a +brown one, her arms closing round the bargeman's neck, as she kissed him +again and again. + +"Thank you, thank you, sir," she babbled. "It was so good of you, and I +love you very, very much." + +"Hah!" sighed the man, as he set her down softly. "Now take brother's +hand and run home with him to get some dry clothes. Morning, missus. +He won't hurt." + +He turned away sharply and went back to his barge, from which he looked +at the little party running across the meadow, Cook sobbing and laughing +as she held the children's hands tightly in her own. + +"And such a great, big, ugly man, ma'am," Cook said to her mistress, +when she was telling all what had passed. + +The tears of thankfulness were standing in Mrs Lester's eyes, and +several of them dropped like pearls, oddly enough, just as she was +thinking that the outsides of diamonds are sometimes very rough. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +A GRATEFUL INDIAN, BY HELEN MARION BURNSIDE. + +Jem could not walk any farther; his ankle was badly hurt, there was no +doubt of that, and, brave little lad though he was, his heart sank +within him, for he knew all the consequences which might ensue from such +a disaster. It was not the pain that daunted him--Jem would have +scorned the imputation; neither did he fear to spend a night in the +forest--he could sleep under a tree as soundly as in his own bed under +the rafters of his Father's cabin. It was warm dry weather, and he had +a hunch of bread in his pocket; there was nothing therefore to be afraid +of except Indians, and his Father said there were none in the +neighbourhood at present. + +Jem's mind would have been quite easy on his own account, but he was on +his way through the forest to a village on the farther boundary to +obtain some medicine for his sick Mother, which the doctor had desired +she might have without fail that very night. Our hero, though but +eleven years old, had just finished a long day's work, and it was +already dusk, but he loved his Mother dearly, and gladly volunteered for +the ten-mile walk to fetch the medicine; he did not even wait to eat his +supper, but, putting it in his pocket to munch on the way, trotted off +on his errand. + +Jem's Father was a small farmer, who had built his own log cabin and +cleared his own fields, with no other assistance than that of his little +son; this was, however, by no means small, for frontier boys are, of +necessity, brought up to be helpful, hardy, and self-denying. Jem +therefore felt his life of incessant labour and deprivation no hardship: +he was as happy and merry as the day was long. But the misfortune that +had now fallen upon the brave little man was so severe and unexpected, +he did not know how to bear it. The thought of the dear, suffering +Mother waiting patiently for the medicine which would relieve her, and +of the anxious, careworn Father, who would look so vainly along the +forest track for his return, was too much for his affectionate little +heart; so, leaning his arms against a tree, he dropped his head upon +them and sobbed bitterly. Then, struggling up, he made another attempt +to walk, for he knew he had accomplished more than half the journey, but +the injured foot would not support him, and the attempt to stand caused +him the sharpest agony. + +"It is of no use--I _cannot_ stand," groaned Jem half-aloud, as, +resolving to make the best of circumstances, he sat down, settled his +back against a tree, and munched up his hunch of bread. Then he said +his prayers, with the addition of a special one that God would make his +dear Mother better without the medicine, and prepared to wait with what +patience he might till morning, when he knew that some fur traders or +hunters would surely be passing along the track, who would give him the +assistance he needed. One thing Jem was determined about: he would not +go to sleep. He set himself to count the stars which peeped through the +leaves above his head, and listened to the occasional stir of birds and +squirrels in their nests. + +He knew and loved them all, and they on their parts knew that Jem never +stole birds' eggs or merry baby squirrels, as the other boys did. + +"It is only Jem," they would say when they saw him coming, and they +never thought of hiding from him. + +But somehow Jem did not get very far in his counting of the stars--they +danced about too much, his head _would_ drop down, and his eyes would +_not_ keep open. It is not easy for a tired little boy of eleven years +old to keep awake at night, and so in a very few minutes Jem was fast +asleep. + +It seemed to him that he had scarcely closed his eyes when a slight +noise caused him to open them, and then he was wide awake in a moment, +for, with a thrill of horror, he became aware of two Indians standing +close beside him in the strange pale-green light of early dawn. As they +silently gazed down upon him his heart seemed to stand still, and his +next impulse was to cry out, but he had learned to keep his wits about +him, and remember that even an Indian has a certain respect for a manly +spirit. So he sat up and boldly returned the gaze of the fierce black +eyes--but at the same time he had heard too many tales of the cruelties +practised by Indians on their captives not to realise the danger he was +in. + +The younger of the red men was already fingering his hatchet, whilst he +muttered some hostile words which boded no good to our hero, but the +elder, who appeared to be a man of some importance, silenced his +companion with a gesture, and then, crossing his arms, said, in musical, +broken English: "My young brother is abroad early." + +"I was going across the forest to get medicine for my Mother," replied +Jem. + +"But the medicine-man of the palefaces does not live in the forest," +returned the Indian. "Where does the Mother of my brother live?" + +"In the clearing of the entrance to the west track. It was nearly dark +when I started and I fell and hurt my leg, so that I can go no farther." + +"Hu," exclaimed the Indian, kneeling down, and taking Jem's injured foot +gently in his hand. "Then my brother is the son of the good paleface +woman who tended Woodpecker when he was sick, and made him well again?" + +"Are you Woodpecker?" exclaimed Jem gladly. "My Mother has told me +about you." + +The Indian nodded, and, tearing a strip from his blanket, he dipped it +in a spring of water which was near at hand, and bound it firmly round +the boy's swollen ankle. "The Mother of my young brother is very sick?" +he inquired. + +"Yes," replied Jem, "and she is waiting for the medicine, and I cannot +fetch it." He winked bravely to keep back the tears which filled his +eyes at the thought. + +"Woodpecker will fetch the medicine. Woodpecker owes a big debt to his +paleface sister, and Indians have grateful hearts," said the red man +gravely. + +Jem eagerly held out to him a piece of paper, but Woodpecker shook his +head. + +"My brother shall speak himself to the medicine-man," he said, and, +raising the boy on his broad shoulders, he strode away quickly towards +the village. It was scarcely daylight and no one was yet stirring, or +the sight of an Indian carrying a white boy would have excited some +curiosity. + +The doctor's sleepy assistant, who hastily answered Woodpecker's loud +rap on the door, rubbed his eyes and stared, but he had a wholesome awe +of such a visitor, and, making up the medicine, delivered it to Jem with +unusual speed. + +The second Indian had disappeared on the way to the doctor's, and the +two strangely-matched companions immediately set out on their return +journey through the forest, which was rapidly traversed by Woodpecker, +and by four o'clock in the morning he set Jem down on the threshold of +his Father's door. + +"Will you not stay and see how Mother is? Father would like to thank +you," said Jem. + +"Not now," replied Woodpecker, taking with a grave and courteous smile +the small hand extended to him, "but say to my good white sister that +her Indian brother does not forget kindness and that Woodpecker will +return." + +And as the farmer, roused by the sound of voices, opened the door, the +tall figure of the red man disappeared into the forest. Jem was made +happy by finding his Mother better when, after having explained matters +to his Father, he was carried in and placed on the bed beside her. And +after they were both recovered he had many a grand day's hunting with +the friendly and grateful Indian, who had taken a great liking for the +brave little lad, whom he ever afterwards caused his tribe to respect as +his English brother Jem. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +IN THE COUNTRY, BY F GRAY SEVERNE. + + Ducklings big and ducklings small, + This is how we feed them all-- + Yellowbill and Featherbreast, + Speckletail, and all the rest:-- + + On sweet meal they dine and sup-- + Oh, how fast they eat it up! + 'Tis indeed a pretty sight-- + Soon the bucket's empty quite. + + "Quack!" when dinner is begun; + "Quack!" they say when it is done; + Though it wasn't known before, + "Quack's" a duckling's word for "more." + + Then the pretty feathered things + Tuck their heads beneath their wings, + Just as if for rest inclined, + Quacking: "How well we have dined!" + + Later on, at evening cool, + You will find them in the pool; + Yellowbill and Featherbreast, + Speckletail, and all the rest! + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +MY ENCOUNTER WITH A GRIZZLY, BY ARTHUR J DANIELS. + +The winter had set in early, and with unusual severity, when I reached +Logville, the appropriate name given to the little mining camp which hid +itself away in the vast wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. A roving +disposition, combined with a love of sport, and a desire to put on +canvas some record of the wonderful scenery of the locality, had guided +my steps to this out-of-the-world spot. + +One morning when the winter was beginning to break, and the snow to show +signs of disappearing--sure evidence that the severe weather was passing +away--I slung my cloak and a bag of provisions across my shoulders, +seized my rifle, and set forth on a solitary stroll. I had gone some +considerable distance from the camp when a sudden darkening of the sky +told me only too plainly of an approaching storm. Fearful of being +caught in the downpour, I began to retrace my steps. + +Scarcely had I commenced my homeward journey when a sudden cry caused me +to come to an abrupt standstill. A few moments of intense stillness +followed. I listened attentively, surveying the surrounding landscape +on all sides with the close scrutiny of an experienced hunter, who had +enjoyed many a lesson from the Indians. The piled-up rocks, scanty +herbage, leafless and motionless trees gave no sign of life. No sound +broke the intense solitude. Then, with startling suddenness, another +cry, louder and more agonising than the former, echoed across the waste, +and this was followed by a deep significant growl. + +I knew at once that the voice was that of a human being, and I knew +equally well that the growl proceeded from a bear. I had heard that a +big "grizzly" had been seen in the neighbourhood, and that a party had +been organised to track him to his lair, but had failed to come to close +quarters with the wily old fellow. + +As these thoughts shaped themselves in my mind there came a shrill and +piercing shriek which set every nerve in my body tingling. It was the +scream of a woman in mortal terror. + +I shouldered, my rifle and turned in the direction from which the sounds +proceeded. + +Descending a steep cliff, I found myself in a narrow canon through which +a mountain stream, swollen by the melting snow, rushed with considerable +rapidity. The first object that caught my eye was a woman carrying a +child and struggling through the foaming torrent. Then I observed, some +little distance to the rear, but following with incredible rapidity, an +enormous black bear. He measured at least nine feet from his nose to +the tip of his tail, and was broad in proportion. Though of enormous +size, he progressed at a speed which was surprising. Something had +evidently irritated the brute considerably, for his whole appearance was +characteristic of unrestrained ferocity. + +I dragged the panting fugitive from the water and, without asking any +questions, advanced to the bank of the stream and prepared to take aim. +Whether my gentleman had at some period of his life been so closely +associated with the barrel of a sporting-rifle that he understood the +significance of my movement, I know not; but certain it is that as soon +as I raised the weapon, the bear first of all reared himself on his hind +quarters, displaying his long narrow muzzle adorned with an assortment +of ugly fangs, and then uttering a loud noise, curiously resembling the +heavy breathing of a human being, he fell down on all-fours and +retreated behind a convenient boulder, over the top of which his little +eyes gleamed fiercely every now and again. + +The woman, who proved to be the wife of the innkeeper at whose "hotel" I +was sojourning, was shivering with the cold, and her wet garments were +rapidly congealing in the keen frosty air. Her little girl was crying +pitifully with the cold and fright. + +It was a question whether I should remain and finish off Bruin or hurry +my companions homeward at a fast trot. I decided to adopt the latter +course. + +"The bear can wait," I said, as I turned away; "I'll settle him another +day." + +We turned our steps in the direction of the camp, and for some distance +walked in silence. Then of a sudden a plaintive moan from the child +reminded me that the wee mite and her mother, soaked with wet, were, in +the cutting air, rapidly assuming the condition of living icicles. +Fortunately I had a flask with me, and, telling the exhausted and +shivering woman to sit down, I rested my rifle against a stump of a tree +and proceeded to prepare a dose of brandy, at the same time cheering her +with words of encouragement. + +"We are not far from home now," I said, "and--" + +I did not finish the sentence, for a movement behind caused me to turn +round. To my utter astonishment and horror I found myself face to face +with my old friend, or rather enemy. He had evidently followed with +stealthy steps, the snow acting as a carpet to deaden his heavy +footsteps. + +My first idea was to give the intruder a dose of cold lead, but that I +soon discovered was out of the question, for the bear had calmly +appropriated my rifle, which lay beneath his paws. + +It seemed to me indeed that his ugly face bore a look of triumph as he +crouched over the weapon, and, judging from the blinking of his eyes, he +seemed humanly conscious that, having become possessed of my trusty and +deadly friend, he had me completely in his power. To obtain possession +of the weapon was out of the question; it would have been fatal to +attempt it. + +Motioning the woman to seize the child and hurry forward without me, I +prepared to rout the enemy by some means other than powder and shot. +What means I intended to adopt I frankly admit I had not the remotest +idea. The incident, so unexpected, so strange, took me completely by +surprise, and it was some moments before I recovered my senses and +presence of mind. Then I remembered that grizzlies, despite their huge +bulk and ferocious tempers, are curiously alarmed by noise. + +I had even heard that they had been driven off, with their tails between +their legs, by the mere beating of a tin can. With this idea in my mind +I hastily produced the metal cup of my flask, and striking it furiously +with the hilt of my hunting-knife, I continued to produce a din which +ought to have taken effect upon my four-footed adversary. I am sorry to +say it did not, however. Uttering the curious sound peculiar to +grizzlies, the brute made as though it would approach still closer. + +The bear was somewhat lean after his long winter's sleep in some hole +scooped out of the earth, whither he had retired with a substantial +coating of fat upon him, as a protection against the chills of winter. + +The nap had gradually reduced the thickness of this protection and now +the hungry animal, weary of search for berries and roots, contemplated +me with a look which seemed to express that a morsel of something more +substantial would not be out of place. + +I commenced to retire cautiously, but I had not taken many steps when +there came a flash, followed by a sudden report, and I staggered and +fell on my knees--shot in the leg. + +The bear had accidentally pulled the trigger of my gun, and the bullet +intended for him had found instead a billet in poor me. I tried to +staunch the wound with my handkerchief, but the blood flowed freely, and +I soon began to feel exhausted. + +I felt my knees quivering and giving way beneath me, and a deadly +faintness crept over me. A mist came over my eyes, and I seemed to sink +into a deep sleep, the landscape slowly vanishing, and even the big bear +standing up before me disappearing in the darkness which enveloped +everything. + +The rescuing party sent in search discovered me, still breathing, the +thick snow into which I had fallen having congealed over my wound and +stopped the flow of blood. + +The bear had fled without touching me, the report of the rifle having +apparently proved too much for his nerves. He did not live long, +however, for the following day he was tracked to his underground home, +and there despatched. His skin is among my most cherished trophies, and +I never look at it without remembering my first and last encounter with +a grizzly. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +UP THE MOUNTAIN, BY FRANCES E CROMPTON. + +Little Kirl kept the goats on the mountain. Little Kirl was very +little, his legs were very short, his body was very round and chubby, +and he could certainly not have overtaken an active and badly-disposed +goat, whatever had been the consequences. So it was a fortunate thing +that they did not require much herding. He had only to drive them to +the pastures on the mountain in the morning, and home again in the +evening, and the young ones followed the old ones, round whose necks the +tinkling bells were hung. + +Little Kirl had only begun to keep the goats this summer, and he thought +when one has become a real live goat-herd one is in a fair way to become +a man. How all the other little boys in the village must envy him--poor +things, not yet promoted to manhood! And he had a crooked stick also, +and a little pipe on which he could really play several notes; and this +was the way he went up the mountain. + +First there were the goats to be driven out of the gate, and what a +thing it was to walk after them, playing those three notes with +variations, and trying not to look too proud of himself! It was not a +very large village, to be sure, the little cluster of brown chalets and +the tiny pink-washed church beside the pine-wood; but to Kirl it was a +whole world looking on and admiring. He blew his three notes louder +with a more and more cheerful trill all down the street. At the +cross-roads below the church the greatest caution had to be exercised to +keep the frisky kids from going the wrong way, but it was worth the +trouble. Only think how well it looked to drive them close together, +and to fence them off, first on one side and then on the other, with the +crooked stick, and then, with an air as if he thought nothing of it, +turn them all successfully into the narrow path, and strike up the three +notes more gaily than ever! It was the pride of Kirl's heart to count +the goats up in a business-like manner, and call them by name, and shout +"thou" to them, as if he were quite hard-hearted, instead of loving them +with all his might. + +There was one goat in particular that was the pride of Kirl's heart; she +was not more than a kid, and snowy white, with a beautiful little head +and a bright eye, a credit to any man's herd. How little Kirl loved +her! He called her Liesl, as if she had been his sister. The path led +upwards first through the pine-woods, with moss a foot deep on either +side, where the wood was damp with the dividing arms of the stream, and +the moss on the trees hung in solemn grey clusters, like banners +swinging from the branches. And then the path grew steeper and runnels +of water dripped down the rocks, all covered with ferns and saxifrage. +Down below on one side lay the rushing stream and the valley where the +village was, and up above on the other side rose the great mountains, +dark with pine-woods about their feet and glittering with snow upon +their heads. + +Little Kirl loved the mountains. He had been born under their shadow, +and perhaps it was this that made him wander up them as far as he dared +go, for they seemed to draw him to them. Some day--it was such a +tremendous thought that little Kirl kept it quite to himself, deep down +in his mind--but some day, when he had got beyond even herding the +goats, he meant to become a guide. + +The way up the mountain hitherto for little Kirl ended in the grassy +pasture where the goats stayed. Here was a pleasant slope thick with +globe-flowers and narcissus at the lower end, and fragrant with wild +thyme at the upper ridge, where the precipice began. + +And now this is the story of little Kirl and the goats. For it was at +this place one hot day in July, when little Kirl sat clasping his knees +and looking up at the mountain-tops, that he was suddenly wakened from +his dream by seeing Liesl perched on the extreme edge of the precipice. +It was a spot to which the goats were not allowed to go, for, +sure-footed though they were, it was crumbling and unsafe. And there +stood Liesl, the flower of the flock, her pretty snowy figure against +the dark-blue sky. Even as little Kirl leaped up and called her, she +threw up her graceful head as if in pride. + +And then there came the most dreadful thing that had ever happened in +little Kirl's life. Exactly how it was he could not afterwards +remember, but all in a moment Liesl, who could perch herself, as it +seemed, on nothing at all, pretty, sure-footed Liesl was over the edge! +Little Kirl threw himself down on his face in an agony, and peered over +the edge, calling and screaming wildly in his despair, for there was no +hope of saving poor Liesl. But yes, there was! Down there she had got +her fore-foot on a ledge below the brink, and was fighting and +scrambling to regain her foothold. The loose stones were slipping away +under the pretty tufts of "student roses" that grew amongst the shale, +and poor Liesl was slipping away too, down and down. + +She was staring up at him with imploring eyes, with a look that seemed +to call aloud for help. But little Kirl had got her. It was not for +nothing that little Kirl's eyes were so steady when they looked in your +face and his face was so square about the chin, however much he smiled. +Those stout little arms were clinging to neck and leg as if the owner of +them would be dragged over the ledge himself before he would leave poor +Liesl to her fate. Let her go? No! _That_ was not the way little Kirl +kept his charge; _that_ was not the way of men on the mountains. + +But Liesl was not light, and Kirl was only little, and his breath came +and went, and his eyes saw nothing, and the world was whirling round, +and a great sob burst from him. And then a big, big voice said: "Thou +little thing! Thou little, good thing!" And two big, big arms came +downwards and caught little Kirl and Liesl up together into--oh, such +blissful safety! And little Kirl stood clinging to somebody; and what +happened next he did not know. Careless, ungrateful Liesl only shook +herself and frisked off, with a little squeal of relief, to join the +older and wiser goats. + +But little Kirl, when he next knew what he was doing, found that he was +crying and sobbing uncontrollably, and big Kirl, the tallest, handsomest +man in the village, was patting his shoulders, and soothing and +consoling and praising him. And yet more--big Kirl, one of the best +guides in the canton, whose fame had gone far abroad, by whom it was an +honour to be noticed at all, said, and little Kirl heard it with his own +ears: "Na, if I had not seen it, I would not have believed it! But yes, +I saw it, and I saw also in days to come the little man will make such a +guide of mountains as Switzerland may be proud of!" + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A NEW SET. + + An old Crocodile + Once lived near the Nile, + Whose teeth began useless to get, oh! + But he cried with delight: + "I shall dine well to-night + Now of teeth I have got a new set, oh!" + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +GRANDFATHER'S HERO, BY ANON. + +"Harry Moore's a milksop," said Bob decidedly. + +"Why?" asked his sister. "I thought you liked him." + +"So I did," answered Bob, "but I hadn't found out what a stupid he was." + +"And how did you find it out?" asked Maud. + +"Well, I'll tell you," said Bob. "Last Saturday, you know, we had a +paper-chase, and the track was over the bog meadows down by the river. +Harry Moore and I were last, and all of a sudden he stopped and said: `I +can't go over these fields.' I asked him why not, and he said they were +_too wet_." Bob uttered the last words very contemptuously. + +"Well?" questioned Maud. + +"Well, I told him he was a little milksop and had better go home, and he +went, and I haven't spoken to him since, although I met him and his +little sister and brother with their go-cart this morning. I don't care +about being friends with milksops," Bob added frankly. + +"Of course not," Maud agreed. + +"Oh, bother this rain," said Bob impatiently. "It's going to be wet +this afternoon. What shall we do?" + +"Come here, children," said their Grandfather, from his chair by the +fireside. "I will tell you a little story to while away the time." + +The old man had been sitting with his eyes closed, and the children +thought he was asleep. But he had heard Bob's anecdote. + +Grandfather's stories were always interesting, and the children were +glad to forget the weather in listening to one of them. + +"I was thinking just now," said their Grandfather presently, "of a great +and good man, who is now one of the greatest officers in the army. I +want to tell you a little incident that happened when we were schoolboys +together. We were three years together, then he left, and I have never +seen him again, for his life has been spent in foreign lands. He was +some years older than I, and I daresay he soon forgot the little fellow +who used secretly to look up to him and worship him. But now I must +tell you why he became my hero. One day a party of boys had arranged to +walk to a place four miles distant, where there was to be a meet of the +hounds. I wanted very much to go; I joined the party as they set out on +their expedition. There were six boys, all older than myself, one of +them being the handsome, clever fellow whom even then I thought superior +to all the rest. Well, it was a good long walk, over fields and hedges +and ditches. I had some trouble to keep up with the others, for you +must remember I was a very small boy then, and once, in jumping a ditch, +I gave my ankle a little twist which made it still more difficult to go +along fast. However, no one noticed me, and I was determined not to be +beaten. + +"At last we came to a large field, where some cattle were grazing which +we had to cross. + +"`There's a mad bull in this field,' said one of the boys; `he chased +Farmer Jones the other day.' + +"`We can run for it,' said another coolly, `if he comes after us.' + +"Now, I knew I could not run with my sore ankle, and the idea of the +bull terrified me. `Can't we go another way?' I asked. + +"Fear must have been written on my face, for some of the boys burst out +laughing. + +"`Little Morrin's afraid,' said one mockingly. `Sit down under the +hedge, dear: then the bull won't see you.' + +"`Go on,' said another; `never mind the little milksop.' + +"But my hero, the biggest and strongest of all, looked at me kindly and +said: `Is anything the matter, little Morrin?' + +"And, reassured by his kind tones, I told him I had hurt my foot a +little, and did not think I could run. + +"`Get up on my back then,' said he, and, before I could say a word, he +stooped down and lifted me up with his strong arms, then strode on as +before. + +"The others began to taunt and mock me. + +"`Let him alone, you fellows,' said my champion. `He's a plucky little +chap to come at all with such pleasant companions as we've been.' + +"We got through the field without attracting the attention of the bull. +The place of the meet was just beyond, and we were in good time to see +the gay scene. We went back by a different road, and my hero made them +all march slowly so that I might be able to keep pace with them. + +"It was a little thing, was it not, Bob? I say: a little thing. +Perhaps you will hardly believe that one little act of kindness altered +my whole life. It taught me lessons which I might never have learned +otherwise. It showed me how we can help one another by the simplest +kindness and sympathy. All through my life his influence has helped and +encouraged me--though, as I tell you, I never saw him again." + +"Is that all, Grandpa?" asked Maud. + +But Bob did not speak. He was thinking of what he had said about Harry +Moore. + +"I think," he said to Maud that evening, "I'll just ask Moore why he was +afraid of the wet fields. Perhaps he's delicate, or perhaps he'd +promised not to go." + +"Grandfather's hero wouldn't have called him a milksop," said Maud +thoughtfully. + +"No," answered Bob, "and I wish I hadn't; but then, you know, I hadn't +heard about Grandfather's hero." + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +BERNARD'S EXPERIMENT, BY ANON. + +When the Headmaster sent for Gray Minor, on receipt of a telegram from +his home, the boys were in great consternation, because they all +regarded him as a "ripping good fellow." + +"I wonder what's up," said one, and this speech expressed the feeling of +every boy. Then Gray Minor appeared, white, but determined, and told +them that, his widowed Mother being suddenly ruined, he would have to +leave the school at once. + +"I say, Gray, you're such a chap for experiment, perhaps you'll see your +way out of this fix; but, all the same, it's jolly hard lines on you," +said his greatest chum, wringing Gray's hand. The boys expressed their +grief in different ways, but each was equally sincere, and Gray Minor +departed, universally regretted. + +Mrs Gray sat by the fire of the little cottage parlour, a black-edged +letter lying idly between her fingers. Very pale, she had the +appearance of one who had passed many sleepless nights. Outside, the +November sky was overcast, the rain was coming down in torrents, and +sad-looking people picked their way down the muddy lane under streaming +umbrellas to the railway-station. + +Suddenly, a quick, firm footstep sounded on the little garden path, and +a boy's round face smiled in at the diamond-paned window like a ray of +bright sunshine. Mrs Gray almost ran to the door. "Bernard, you must +be drenched!" she cried. + +"No, Mother, not a bit of it," he laughed, taking off his streaming +mackintosh. + +"It is such a dreadful day," she said, but her face had brightened +astonishingly at the sight of her brave boy. + +"Yes, but it has put a scheme--a grand scheme in my head! Wait until I +get my wet togs off and I'll tell you." + +"An _experiment_?--already! oh, Bernard!" Mrs Gray laughed with actual +joy: her faith in her only son was so unquestioning. + +As Bernard came downstairs, the faithful old servant was carrying in a +substantial tea for her young master. "Hullo, Dolly," he cried; "I +haven't stayed up the remainder of the term, you see." + +"Ah, Mr Bernard, it's well you take it so lightly--but it's black ruin +this time and no mistake. My poor mistress has been fretting night and +day over it. Whatever is she to do?" + +"Trust herself to me," said Bernard valiantly. + +Dolly laughed. "Why, you ain't sixteen, Mr Bernard, and not done with +your schooling. But, as parson said, so strange-like, on Sunday, for +his text--`the only son of his mother and she was a widow'--you're all +she has left." + +When Mrs Gray and her son were alone she told Bernard the whole history +of their misfortunes. An unfortunate speculation on the part of their +trustee had left them almost penniless. "There is nothing left to us," +she said, "but this little cottage and seventeen pounds in the cash-box. +But, Bernard," she added, "I grieve over nothing but your school. You +had such a brilliant future, and so many friends." + +"Oh, but there were to be so many new fellows next term--nearly all my +chums were to leave, so don't grieve over that," answered Bernard, +ignoring her words about his future. Then he explained his +"experiment." + +"I have decided," he said, "to sweep a crossing." + +"Sweep a crossing! Ah, that is what so many people say, but they would +never do it when it came to the point." + +"It's what I mean to do," said Bernard quietly. "It's an inspiration, +Mother, I assure you. You say this cottage is freehold, is it not, and +worth--how much?" + +"I have been offered one hundred pounds for it, but it is too near the +railway, and too much out of repair to be valuable." + +"We shall do better than that. Do you know how many people go down this +road daily to the station since all those new villas were built?" + +Mrs Gray shook her head. + +"Five hundred, and the place is growing like--well, like old boots. +Now, Mother, this is my scheme. You know how bad the approach to the +station is. You know, also, that the new asphalt path from the new +blocks of houses comes to our very garden gate. Well, people can come +so far without muddying their boots. Now, our garden abuts almost on +the railway-platform, so I propose sweeping a path straight across from +the road, putting up a gate at each end, and saving people five hundred +yards of quagmire, and a good five minutes in time, and a lot of +swear-words, and my charge for all these improvements will be one +penny!" + +The next morning, at half-past seven, the new path of forty yards was +swept from end to end, some of the palings were pulled down near the +railway-bank, and another small path swept up to the platform. + +An old door was placed lengthwise over the front gate and painted white, +and on it, in somewhat clumsy printing, was the announcement:--"Quickest +way to Endwell Railway-Station. Dry all the way. Admission, one +penny." + +About eight o'clock the business men came hurrying along under their +umbrellas, for it was still drizzling. They looked at Bernard in a +curious way and then at the signboard, but they scarcely grasped the +situation, and plunged heroically into the five hundred yards of mud. + +At nine o'clock a wealthy stockbroker came panting along, late for his +train; so Bernard shouted to him: "Come my way, Mr Blunt; it will save +you five hundred yards and all that horrid mud!" + +"Hullo, Gray; back from school?" he gasped. "What's the idea, eh?" + +So Bernard told him his scheme in as few words as possible. + +"Then I'll be your first patron, my boy," and Mr Blunt held out a +shilling. "There's your first capital." + +"Only a penny," laughed Bernard, pushing back the kind hand, and +pointing to his signboard. + +"Oh, we are proud," said Mr Blunt. "Well, I wish you luck! Through +you I shall catch my train, and it means a little matter to me to the +tune of three hundred pounds." + +A week after this, scores of people went through Bernard's garden +morning and evening, and the whole place rang with his plucky +experiment. "Four pounds, five and sixpence for the first week, Mother; +but we will do better yet," said Bernard. + +Many people came through the gates from sheer curiosity, and nearly +everyone preferred paying him the penny toll, instead of walking the +five hundred yards of uneven road, even on dry days! In the following +spring, Endwell suddenly grew into such an important place that the +railway company was compelled to enlarge the station, and a director +being informed of Bernard's experiment, and the distinct value of a +shorter approach, came to see Mrs Gray about her little property, but +she would not be "talked over" by the smart director. Then an +enterprising builder came, and made a very tempting offer. Still she +resisted. At last, however, the railway people offered a price which it +would have been folly to refuse, so Bernard was forced to give up his +"scheme." + +Mrs Gray now lives in a pretty flat in South Kensington with her +faithful old Dolly, surrounded by many of her former luxuries, but she +is happiest in the possession of such a brave and noble son. Bernard's +future is assured, for he showed all the qualities that command success +in his last _experiment_. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +TOBY THE CLOWN, BY ANON. + + Toby's the most famous clown, + In the country or the town; + Never was a laugh so ringing, + When the children hear him singing! + + See, he stands upon two legs, + With his hat for coppers begs; + Do you think that you, if you + Were a dog, as much could do? + + Little maid and little man, + Throw him all the pence you can! + When perhaps he'll show you how + He says "Thank you," Bow! wow! wow! + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +A CHRISTMAS PARTY, BY JOHN STRANGE WINTER. + +It was getting very near Christmas-time, and all the boys at Miss Ware's +school were talking excitedly about going home for the holidays, of the +fun they would have, the presents they would receive on Christmas +morning, the tips from Grannies, Uncles, and Aunts, of the pantomimes, +the parties, the never-ending joys and pleasures which would be theirs. + +"I shall go to Madame Tussaud's and to the Drury Lane pantomime," said +young Fellowes, "and my Mother will give a party, and Aunt Adelaide will +give another, and Johnny Sanderson and Mary Greville, and ever so many +others. I shall have a splendid time at home. Oh, Jim, I wish it were +all holidays, like it is when one's grown up." + +"My Uncle Bob is going to give me a pair of skates--clippers," remarked +Harry Wadham. + +"My Father's going to give me a bike," put in George Alderson. + +"Will you bring it back to school with you?" asked Harry. + +"Oh, yes, I should think so, if Miss Ware doesn't say no." + +"I say, Shivers," cried Fellowes, "where are you going to spend your +holidays?" + +"I'm going to stop here," answered the boy called Shivers, in a very +forlorn tone. + +"Here--with old Ware?--oh, my! Why can't you go home?" + +"I can't go home to India," answered Shivers. His real name, by the +bye, was Egerton--Tom Egerton. + +"No--who said you could? But haven't you any relations anywhere?" + +Shivers shook his head. "Only in India," he said miserably. + +"Poor old chap; that's rough luck for you. Oh, I'll tell you what it +is, you fellows: if I couldn't go home for the holidays--especially +Christmas--I think I'd just sit down and die." + +"Oh, no, you wouldn't," said Shivers; "you'd hate it and you'd get ever +so homesick and miserable, but you wouldn't die over it. You'd just get +through somehow, and hope something would happen before next year, or +that some kind fairy or other would--" + +"Bosh! there are no fairies nowadays," said Fellowes. "See here, +Shivers: I'll write home and ask my Mother if she won't invite you to +come back with me for the holidays." + +"Will you really?" + +"Yes, I will: and if she says yes, we shall have such a splendid time, +because, you know, we live in London, and go to everything, and have +heaps of tips and parties and fun." + +"Perhaps she will say no," suggested poor little Shivers, who had +steeled himself to the idea that there would be no Christmas holidays +for him, excepting that he would have no lessons for so many weeks. + +"My Mother isn't at all the kind of woman who says no," Fellowes +declared loudly. + +In a few days' time, however, a letter arrived from his Mother which he +opened eagerly. + +"My own darling boy," it said, "I am so very sorry to have to tell you +that dear little Aggie is down with scarlet fever, and so you cannot +come home for your holidays, nor yet bring your young friend with you, +as I would have loved you to do if all had been well here. Your Aunt +Adelaide would have had you there, but her two girls have both got +scarlatina--and I believe Aggie got hers there, though, of course, poor +Aunt Adelaide could not help it. I did think about your going to Cousin +Rachel's. She most kindly offered to invite you, but, dear boy, she is +an old lady, and so particular, and not used to boys, and she lives so +far from anything which is going on that you would be able to go to +nothing; so your Father and I came to the conclusion that the very best +thing that you could do under the circumstances is for you to stay at +Miss Ware's and for us to send your Christmas to you as well as we can. +It won't be like being at home, darling boy, but you will try and be +happy--won't you, and make me feel that you are helping me in this +dreadful time. + +"Dear little Aggie is very ill, very ill indeed. We have two nurses. +Nora and Connie are shut away in the morning-room and to the back stairs +and their own rooms with Miss Ellis, and have not seen us since the dear +child was first taken ill. Tell your young friend that I am sending you +a hamper from Buzzard's, with double of everything, and I am writing to +Miss Ware to ask her to take you both to anything that may be going on +in Cross Hampton. And tell him that it makes me so much happier to +think that you won't be alone. + +"Your Own Mother. + +"This letter will smell queer, darling: it will be fumigated before +posting." + +It must be owned that when Bertie Fellowes received this letter, which +was neither more nor less than a shattering of all his Christmas hopes +and joys, that he fairly broke down, and, hiding his face upon his arms +as they rested on his desk, sobbed aloud. + +The forlorn boy from India, who sat next to him, tried every boyish +means of consolation that he could think of. He patted his shoulder, +whispered many pitying words, and, at last, flung his arm across him and +hugged him tightly, as, poor little chap, he himself many times since +his arrival in England had wished someone would do to him. At last +Bertie Fellowes thrust his Mother's letter into his friend's hand. + +"Read it," he sobbed. + +So Shivers made himself master of Mrs Fellowes' letter and understood +the cause of the boy's outburst of grief. + +"Old fellow," he said at last, "don't fret over it. It might be worse. +Why, you might be like me, with your Father and Mother thousands of +miles away. When Aggie is better, you'll be able to go home--and it'll +help your Mother if she thinks you are almost as happy as if you were at +home. It must be worse for her--she has cried ever so over this +letter--see, it's all tear-blots." + +The troubles and disappointments of youth are bitter while they last, +but they soon pass, and the sun shines again. By the time Miss Ware, +who was a kind-hearted, sensible, pleasant woman, came to tell Fellowes +how sorry she was for him and his disappointment, the worst had gone by, +and the boy was resigned to what could not be helped. + +"Well, after all, one man's meat is another man's poison," she said, +smiling down on the two boys; "poor Tom has been looking forward to +spending his holidays all alone with us, and now he will have a friend +with him. Try to look on the bright side, Bertie, and to remember how +much worse it would have been if there had been no boy to stay with +you." + +"I can't help being disappointed, Miss Ware," said Bertie, his eyes +filling afresh and his lips quivering. + +"No, dear boy; you would be anything but a nice boy if you were not. +But I want you to try and think of your poor Mother, who is full of +trouble and anxiety, and to write to her as brightly as you can, and +tell her not to worry about you more than she can help." + +"Yes," said Bertie; but he turned his head away, and it was evident to +the school-mistress that his heart was too full to let him say more. + +Still, he was a good boy, Bertie Fellowes, and when he wrote home to his +Mother it was quite a bright every-day letter, telling her how sorry he +was about Aggie, and detailing a few of the ways in which he and Shivers +meant to spend their holidays. His letter ended thus:-- + +"Shivers got a letter from his Mother yesterday with three pounds in it: +if you happen to see Uncle Dick, will you tell him I want a `Waterbury' +dreadfully?" + +The last day of the term came, and one by one, or two by two, the +various boys went away, until at last only Bertie Fellowes and Shivers +were left in the great house. It had never appeared so large to either +of them before. The schoolroom seemed to have grown to about the size +of a church; the dining-room, set now with only one table, instead of +three, was not like the same; while the dormitory, which had never +before had any room to spare, was like a wilderness. To Bertie Fellowes +it was all dreary and wretched--to the boy from India, who knew no other +house in England, no other thought came than that it was a blessing that +he had one companion left. + +"It is miserable," groaned poor Bertie, as they strolled into the great +echoing schoolroom after a lonely tea, set at one corner of the smallest +of the three dining-tables; "just think if we had been on our way home +now--how different!" + +"Just think if I had been left here by myself," said Shivers, and he +gave a shudder which fully justified his name. + +"Yes--but--" began Bertie, then shamefacedly and with a blush, added: +"you know, when one wants to go home ever so badly, one never thinks +that some chaps haven't got a home to go to." + +The evening went by; discipline was relaxed entirely, and the two boys +went to bed in the top empty dormitory, and told stories to each other +for a long time before they went to sleep. That night Bertie Fellowes +dreamt of Madame Tussaud's and the great pantomime at Drury Lane, and +poor Shivers of a long creeper-covered bungalow far away in the shining +East, and they both cried a little under the bed-clothes. Yet each put +a brave face on their desolate circumstances to each other, and so +another day began. + +This was the day before Christmas Eve, that delightful day of +preparation for the greatest festival in all the year--the day when in +most households there are many little mysteries afoot, when parcels come +and go, and are smothered away so as to be ready when Santa Claus comes +his rounds; when some are busy decking the rooms with holly and +mistletoe; when the cook is busiest of all, and savoury smells rise from +the kitchen, telling of good things to be eaten on the morrow. + +There were some preparations on foot at Minchin House, though there was +not the same bustle and noise as is to be found in a large family. And +quite early in the morning came the great hamper which Mrs Fellowes had +spoken of in her letter to Bertie. Then just as the early dinner had +come to an end, and Miss Ware was telling the two boys that she would +take them round the town to look at the shops, there was a tremendous +peal at the bell of the front door, and a voice was heard asking for +Master Egerton. In a trice Shivers had sprung to his feet, his face +quite white, his hands trembling, and the next moment the door was +thrown open, and a tall, handsome lady came in, to whom he flew with a +sobbing cry of: "Aunt Laura! Aunt Laura!" + +Aunt Laura explained in less time than it takes me to write this, that +her husband, Colonel Desmond, had had left to him a large fortune, and +that they had come as soon as possible to England, having, in fact, only +arrived in London the previous day. + +"I was so afraid, Tom darling," she said, in ending, "that we should not +get here till Christmas Day was over, and I was so afraid you might be +disappointed, that I would not let Mother tell you that we were on our +way home. I have brought a letter from Mother to Miss Ware--and you +must get your things packed up at once and come back with me by the +six-o'clock train to town. Then Uncle Jack and I will take you +everywhere, and give you a splendid time, you dear little chap, here all +by yourself." + +For a minute or two Shivers' face was radiant; then he caught sight of +Bertie's down-drooped mouth, and turned to his Aunt. + +"Dear Aunt Laura," he said, holding her hand very fast with his own, +"I'm awfully sorry, but I can't go." + +"Can't go? and why not?" + +"Because I can't go and leave Fellowes here all alone," he said stoutly, +though he could scarcely keep a suspicious quaver out of his voice. +"When I was going to be alone, Fellowes wrote and asked his Mother to +let me go home with him, and she couldn't, because his sister has got +scarlet fever, and they daren't have either of us; and he's got to stay +here--and he's never been away at Christmas before--and--and--I can't go +away and leave him by himself, Aunt Laura--and--" + +For the space of a moment or so, Mrs Desmond stared at the boy as if +she could not believe her ears; then she caught hold of him and half +smothered him with kisses. + +"Bless you, you dear little chap, you shall not leave him; you shall +bring him along and we'll all enjoy ourselves together. What's his +name?--Bertie Fellowes. Bertie, my man, you are not very old yet, so +I'm going to teach you a lesson as well as ever I can--it is that +kindness is never wasted in this world. I'll go out now and telegraph +to your Mother--I don't suppose she will refuse to let you come with +us." + +A couple of hours later she returned in triumph, waving a telegram to +the two excited boys. + +"God bless you, yes, with all our hearts," it ran; "you have taken a +load off our minds." + +And so Bertie Fellowes and Shivers found that there was such a thing as +a fairy after all. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +HAGGART'S LIE, BY GERALDINE GLASGOW. + +Crawley Major was talking very impressively in the great class-room of +Felton College. Even the few slow boys who were still mumbling over +their Latin grammar for next day had one ear pricked up to hear what he +was saying. "I'll tell you what it is," said Crawley Major, addressing +them generally: "the Doctor is in a furious wax, and he will be pretty +free with his canings and impositions to-morrow. I just happened to be +taking a message to Barclay, when he comes fussing in, not seeing me, +and just _swells_ up to Barclay, _purple_ with rage. `Somebody has had +the boat out on the river again, Mr Barclay,' he says, `notwithstanding +my orders and all the fines and punishments I have imposed, and I'm +determined to find out who it is.' Then he saw me and turned purple +again. `Now, Crawley, you have heard what I said, and you can just +return to the class-room and tell your companions that I shall come down +in half an hour, and I intend to have the truth about that boat if I +have to keep every boy in the school under punishment for the next +month;' so here I am." + +"Oh, stop that, Crawley," said a bright, handsome lad, who was standing +on the table so as to get a better view of the proceedings. "The +Doctor's not often in a wax, and it's no joke when he is. I didn't +think there was a fellow in the school would have touched the boat after +what he said last time." + +All the boys hurled themselves at the table from which Haggart had been +giving out his opinions, and there was a general shout of: "No!" + +"It _must_ be all right," said Haggart again. He was looking carelessly +round, and he suddenly caught sight of a frightened face a long way +beneath him. "Don't be in such a funk, Harry," he said good-humouredly. +"It will all come right in the end! The Doctor's awfully hard +sometimes, but he's always just--eh, Crawley?" + +"He canes you first, and he's just afterwards," said Crawley grimly. + +The little boy shivered, and, when he tried to speak, his teeth +chattered. "Does--does he cane very hard?" + +"Oh, dear, yes," said Crawley mischievously; "you don't forget it for +some days, I can tell you! Just look at little Parker," he went on, +pointing to the child's terrified face: "wouldn't any unprejudiced +person think he had done it himself?" + +"Oh, no, no," cried the boy angrily, "how dare you say so? How could I? +What would I want with a boat?" + +"Reserve your defence for the Doctor, sir," said Crawley impressively. + +Something in the boy's piteous eagerness had attracted Haggart's +attention, and he turned and looked at him sharply. His eyes were wide +open and had a terrified look, and his thin lips were trembling, his +small childish hand was fidgeting with the buttons of his coat. + +First, a breath of suspicion came to Haggart, and a great rush of pity +and contempt; then, as the child's eyes seemed to rise unwillingly to +his, the secret leaped from one heart to the other, and he knew. His +lips curled disdainfully, and he jumped off the table, hustling his +little band of followers out of the way. + +"There's the Doctor," he said; "let me pass." + +All the boys stood up as the master majestically moved over to the +fireplace and kicked the logs into a blaze. Then he faced round +suddenly, and spoke in his peculiarly clear, decisive tones. "There has +been an act of great disobedience perpetrated here during the last +twenty-four hours," he said. "Crawley overheard me speaking on the +subject to Mr Barclay, and has probably told you what it is. I had, as +you all know, given strict orders that the boat was not to be taken on +the river by any of the boys, and this morning it was found outside the +boathouse tied to a stake. There is no doubt that one of my boys did +this, and the only reparation he can make is to own his fault at once, +and take the punishment!" + +There was dead silence. + +One heart in the room was beating like a sledge-hammer against the Eton +jacket that enclosed it, but no one spoke. Only Haggart turned his +head, and looked again at the fourth-form boys, and as if they were +under a spell, the grey eyes, full of terrified entreaty, were lifted to +his. He tried to forget the look. He wished he could make that foolish +chap understand that a caning was nothing, after all! All fellows worth +their salt got caned at school. Well, after all, he had to take his +chance with the others, but he wished he would not keep looking across +at _him_ in that beastly way, as if _he_ had the keeping of his +conscience! + +"Well?" said the Doctor. + +But no one spoke. + +"I am sorry," said the Doctor more quietly, "that the boy who did it has +not had the courage to own up, but I will give him another chance. I +will take every boy's separate answer, and, after that, the whole school +will be kept in the playground until the end of the term, unless the +guilty boy will take the punishment on himself." + +Haggart's face was very anxious as he, too, leant forth to see the +fourth-form fellows, but all he could catch a sight of was a smooth, +fair head that had drooped very low. + +The Doctor, with a disappointed face, turned to the senior class. "It +seems hardly necessary to go through the form," he said. "I think I can +count on my senior boys. You, Crawley? You, Brown? You, Haggart?" + +"I did it," said Haggart, in a clear, loud voice, and the Doctor's +outstretched finger fell. + +"You, Haggart--_you_?" he said, in an incredulous voice. "Impossible! +You?" said the Doctor again. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then there is nothing more to be said--_now_. Only, I am surprised, +and--disappointed. You can go now; you will sleep to-night in the small +spare room, and I will see you to-morrow. Go!" + +Haggart moved slowly to the door, and as he turned the handle, he heard +a noise, and then the Doctor's voice, speaking sharply: "What is that? +What are they doing on the fourth form?" + +"Harry Parker has a fit, or he's dead, or something," said a scared +voice. + +"No, he has only fainted," said Mr Barclay. "Take him to Miss Simpson, +Barclay," said the Doctor. "He is a delicate little fellow." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Wasn't there a fellow called something Curtius, who saved a city once?" +said a first-form boy, in a whisper. + +"Yes; he leaped into a gulf." + +"Well, that's what Haggart's done," said the boy. + +"Rot!" said the other boy, still whispering. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Nothing seemed very clear to Haggart's mind as he slowly undressed in +the cold, unused room. His brain was worried and confused. He wished +he could have had the light of the Doctor's clear mind upon it, but, of +course, that was impossible. + +"If he _is_ waxy, he's always just," he found himself saying out loud; +and then, just before he went to sleep, "but, at any rate, I can bear it +better." + +There is no need to dwell upon the weeks that followed. Haggart took +his punishment bravely enough, but that time was always, in after-life, +a hideous memory to him. To be unloved, untrusted, solitary, and +despised, to be coldly disbelieved or contemptuously contradicted, was +so very hard to bear! But, with a strange and sickening sense of dread, +he found himself longing, most of all, to hear of Harry--to know if he +were sorry, or remorseful, or only thankful to be spared! Then, at +last, in some roundabout way the news came to him. + +Harry had been taken ill with brain fever the very day after the +tragedy, and had been sent home; and it gave Haggart his first moment of +conscious happiness to realise that he had perhaps saved the poor, weak, +little, trembling creature from one night of fear and anguish. + +The boys were always kind to him in their peculiar way. There seemed to +be a bewildered feeling in their minds of cruelty and injustice, and +they were glad that he had not stuck out to the last and included the +whole school in the punishment; so sticks of liquorice, and jam-tarts, +and even white mice, were secretly conveyed to his desk as tokens of +friendship; but, although Haggart was grateful for the attentions, he +could never quite shake off the longing to make a clean breast of it to +the Doctor, and get his troubled mind set straight. + +But one morning before the holidays a thrill went through the whole +school when the Doctor stood silently for a minute after prayers and +then in his peculiarly quiet voice called to Haggart to come forward. + +"Boys," he said, "I have had a letter this morning from Harry Parker's +Mother, and she says that he has told her the truth about the boat. He +has been very ill, poor child, and, in his delirium, it haunted him that +Haggart had suffered for his sake. Let him be cleared before you all +from the unjust suspicion. But, Haggart," and he laid his hand very +kindly on the boy's shoulder, "you must remember that the injustice came +from _you_--no one would have doubted you if you had not first accused +yourself! I had my doubts always, but I did not know enough to +understand. You told a lie; nothing can palliate or do away with that! +No _motives_ can make a lie anything but a lie, and a lie is always a +cowardly thing, whether we try to shield ourselves with it or others. + +"But the kindness which prompted it, the courage that bore the +punishment so bravely, the silence that has made a false heroism out of +it--these are fine qualities, Haggart, and I hope you will carry them +with you through life." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and True, by George Manville Fenn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND TRUE *** + +***** This file should be named 21292.txt or 21292.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/9/21292/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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