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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26087-h.zip b/26087-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a31777e --- /dev/null +++ b/26087-h.zip diff --git a/26087-h/26087-h.htm b/26087-h/26087-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b393e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/26087-h/26087-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2609 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Paul the Courageous, by Mabel Quiller-Couch</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + font-size: medium; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + text-align:justify; } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; } + p {text-indent: 4%; } + p.noindent {text-indent: 0%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 40%; + text-align: center; } + blockquote.footnote { font-size: small; } + .caption { font-size: small; + font-weight: bold; } + .center { text-align: center; } + .ind1 {margin-left: 1em; } + .ind2 {margin-left: 2em; } + .ind3 {margin-left: 3em; } + .ind4 {margin-left: 4em; } + .ind5 {margin-left: 5em; } + .ind6 {margin-left: 6em; } + .ind7 {margin-left: 7em; } + .ind8 {margin-left: 8em; } + .ind9 {margin-left: 9em; } + .ind10 {margin-left: 10em; } + .ind11 {margin-left: 11em; } + .ind12 {margin-left: 12em; } + .ind13 {margin-left: 13em; } + .ind14 {margin-left: 14em; } + .ind15 {margin-left: 15em; } + .ind16 {margin-left: 16em; } + .ind17 {margin-left: 17em; } + .ind18 {margin-left: 18em; } + .ind19 {margin-left: 19em; } + .ind20 {margin-left: 20em; } + .large {font-size: large; } + table { font-size: medium; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Paul the Courageous, by Mabel Quiller-Couch</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Paul the Courageous</p> +<p>Author: Mabel Quiller-Couch</p> +<p>Release Date: July 19, 2008 [eBook #26087]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL THE COURAGEOUS***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Lionel Sear</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2>PAUL THE COURAGEOUS.</h2> + +<h4>By</h4> + +<h2>MABEL QUILLER-COUCH.</h2> +<br><br><br> +<h5>1901</h5> +<h5> This e-text was prepared from a reprint of a version published in 1901.</h5> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<center> +<p> </p> +<table cellpadding= "2"> +<tr><td align="center" valign="top">Chapter</td><td> </td></tr> + + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">I. </td><td><a href = "#1"> A DISAPPOINTMENT.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">II. </td><td><a href = "#2"> HOW PAUL BORE IT.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">III. </td><td><a href = "#3"> PAUL'S HOPES RISE.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">IV. </td><td><a href = "#4"> THE REWARD OF OVER-CONFIDENCE.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">V. </td><td><a href = "#5"> THE RESCUE.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">VI. </td><td><a href = "#6"> A SLOW LEARNER.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">VII. </td><td><a href = "#7"> A TROUBLESOME PAIR OF BOOTS.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">VIII. </td><td><a href = "#8"> A MIDNIGHT SEARCH.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">IX. </td><td><a href = "#9"> THE OPEN WINDOW.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">X. </td><td><a href = "#10"> RUMOUR AND APPREHENSION.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top">XI. </td><td><a href = "#11"> A TEST OF BRAVERY.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">XII. </td><td><a href = "#12"> STELLA'S ADVENTURE.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align= "right" valign= "top">XIII. </td><td><a href = "#13"> PAUL CONFESSES.</a></td></tr> + +</table> +</center> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "1"></a> </p> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<h3>A DISAPPOINTMENT.</h3> + + + + + +<p>Slewbury was a very fine town in its way; a little quiet and sleepy +perhaps, as country towns often are, but it was large and handsome, and +beautifully situated on the side of a steep hill. It had a grand +market-place, a large town-hall where concerts were often given, and some +well-kept public gardens, of all of which the Slewbury people were very +proud, and justly so.</p> + +<p>But then, as Paul Anketell and his friends often remarked, "What was there +for boys?" There was absolutely nothing. No river, no sea, no mountains, +or anything. All there was for them in the way of amusement was to go for +walks and pick flowers, and wander about a field or two. Certainly one +could climb a tree, and whittle sticks or make whistles, but one could not +be doing that all the time. No, Paul had long since come to the +conclusion that Slewbury was a miserable place in which to live; he hated +it; and he could not understand why his father had ever settled there.</p> + +<p>When he was a man, he declared over and over again to Stella and Michael, +he would have a house close to a river, a mountain, and the sea, then he +would have boats and rods, and a sailing boat, so that he would never be +hard up for something to do. To a great extent Paul was right; Slewbury +was a dull, sleepy and prim old town, but boys ought to be able to make +amusements for themselves anywhere; they should have resources within +themselves. Paul had loads of toys, and books, and tools, and a nice +large garden to play in when the weather was fine. But he was a restless +boy, full of longing for adventure and travel, and new sights, and sounds, +and experiences, and the happiest time of the whole year to him was the +summer holiday when all the family went away to the sea, or to some +beautiful spot amongst the mountains.</p> + +<p>True, the sea had always been the English sea—at least it had come to +them at an English seaside town—and the mountains had been either Welsh +or Scotch mountains, but the three little Anketells were true British +children and were quite sure there could be no more beautiful mountains or +coasts anywhere in the world.</p> + +<p>As soon as the Christmas holidays were over and school work had set in, +the children began to think of where they should go when the summer +holidays came, and what they would do, and many and many a discussion they +had as to their favourite spots, and whether they should go to an old +favourite, or try a new one. Plans were made, toys collected, and boxes +packed long before the happy day came, but it all added to the pleasure +and excitement and importance of the long-looked-forward-to event.</p> + +<p>But dearly as they loved their own country, they had no objection to going +further afield, and when one day Mr. Anketell suggested that that year +they should spend their holiday in Norway, their excitement knew no +bounds. All previous travels and expeditions seemed to sink into +insignificance beside this. To be actually going to live, and sleep, and +eat, on board a real steamer, and to cross the sea to another land seemed +to them a splendid outlook. Every book and picture that could tell them +anything about Norway was eagerly hunted up, all the Norwegian fairy tales +were read again and again, until Stella and Michael at last felt quite +sure that they would meet fairies, and dwarfs, and Vikings wherever they +went. They had no idea what a Viking was like, but they thought it must +be something between a giant and a knight, with all the good qualities of +both.</p> + +<p>There never could have been a greater inducement to learn geography and +history than this long-talked-of trip. All through the term Stella and +Mike studied the map of Norway until they very nearly knew it by heart, +and when Paul came home for the Easter holidays they met him brimful of +information on the subject. But Paul was not going to allow himself to be +taught anything by 'the children,' as he called them, and he soon had them +sufficiently awed by his superior knowledge and loftier understanding. +He cared nothing for fairies, and quickly dashed all Stella's hopes of +seeing any, but he could teach them a great deal about the sports, and the +shooting, and the other attractions to be found there—at least, he +thought he could—but his father and mother had often to smile to +themselves as they listened to the marvellous stories he told the +children, and sometimes they had to check him to set him right on various +points, a thing he objected to very much indeed. For Paul had read so +much, heard so much, and thought so much of the marvels of that northern +land, that nothing was too impossible and improbable for him to believe, +and one night, just as he was going to bed, a new idea came to him, an +idea so splendid that it prevented for a long time his going to sleep, and +even after he was asleep he dreamed the whole night through that he was +having a terrific fight with a huge bear, and when he awoke in the morning +and thought that his dream might very likely prove a reality, he hardly +knew how to contain himself until he had made sure.</p> + +<p>He tumbled into his bath and out again, and into his clothes in a shorter +time than it usually took him to make up his mind to get out of bed; and +rushing downstairs two or three steps at a time, burst like a tornado into +the dining-room, where his father and mother had assembled for prayers.</p> + +<p>"I say," he shouted, without a thought as to whether he was interrupting +any conversation—"oh, I say, father, mother, aren't there big white bears +in the Norwegian fjords, white Polar bears, I mean? And shall we see +them, and if there are, may we go hunting when we are there? It would be +simply splendid; I'd rather go bear-hunting than anything; it would be +grand to kill a bear."</p> + +<p>He had been so eager to get down and satisfy himself on this point that he +had not stayed to dress himself properly, and he burst into the room with +his collar unfastened, and his tie missing altogether. He was so eager, +too, that he did not notice the anxiety on his parents' faces, or in their +manner, and only wondered why they looked at him so sadly, and without +answering any of his burning questions.</p> + +<p>At last he grew impatient. "Father, do tell me, shall you take your guns +with you? and mayn't I have one?"</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush, dear, do not be so excitable! There are no bears to shoot +where we thought of going, nor wild animals of any kind, you may be quite +sure, or we should not have dreamed of taking Stella and Michael there for +their holidays."</p> + +<p>"But, mother, dear, they would be quite safe with father and me to take +care of them. Do let's go to a part where there are bears! I'd give +anything to bring home a fur rug with a great head on it, and say I'd shot +it myself."</p> + +<p>"Paul, do not talk any more now. Father is dreadfully worried, and has a +very great deal to think of. You understand, dear. Now fasten your +collar and go to your place, I hear the servants coming in to prayers." +And Mrs. Anketell stooped and kissed him. "Pray God to help dear father +in his troubles," she whispered, "and make us all brave to bear our +share."</p> + +<p>Paul went to his seat quietly, wondering very much what it all meant. +Surely his father had plenty of courage to face anything and everything, +and he knew that he himself had. As for his mother and Stella—well, +mother did not need to be brave with father to take care of her, and +Stella was only a girl, and no one would expect much of her; as for +Michael, he was only six, a mere baby. He sat in his chair puzzled, and +wondering, and coming no nearer a solution of his mother's meaning. But +Paul was soon to learn it, and he never forgot the hour which followed, +when the servants had left the room, and he and his father and mother were +seated alone at the table.</p> + +<p>The urn was hissing and singing, the sweet spring sunshine shone in on the +silver on the table, on the bright covers, and on the big bowl of yellow +daffodils on the old oak sideboard. A deep consciousness of all these +details, and of the beauty of the scene, was impressed on his mind then— +though at the time he was wholly unaware of the fact—and through all his +after life remained with him so vividly that he could recall every detail +of the scene, and the look of everything in the low, familiar room as it +was that morning. He could recall, too, the unusual gravity of his +parents, the anxious face of his mother, and how the tears sprang to her +eyes when his father looked up and noticed her anxiety and tried to cheer +her.</p> + +<p>"Darling, you must not take it so hardly," he said tenderly; "things might +be much worse. With some self-denial and economy we shall weather this +storm, as we did many when first we were married." Then they smiled at +each other, and Paul saw that they grew happier again at once.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell the boy about it now?" asked Mr. Anketell. "He must know +sooner or later."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Anketell looked at Paul for a moment with an expression on her face +that he could not read, but he thought she looked sorry about something, +and very, very sad; then she looked away at her husband and nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"Paul, my son," said his father, turning to him and laying his hand gently +on the boy's arm, "I want you to listen to me, and give me your whole +attention. You are old enough now to be our confidant in many things, and +of course you will understand that what we may confide in you we trust to +your honour to respect as a confidence, and to speak about to no one."</p> + +<p>Paul said, "Yes, father," in rather a frightened voice. He knew that it +was considered 'sneakish' to tell a secret, but he had never dreamed that +secrets could be such very solemn things.</p> + +<p>"Well, my boy, we have met with a very great misfortune, and have lost a +large sum of money, and from being a comparatively wealthy man, I have +suddenly become a comparatively poor one. If only I myself were concerned +I would not care, but for your mother's sake, and for the sake of you +children, I am very much troubled and grieved. I am afraid we shall all +have to give up many things, and do without many things, and save in every +way we can."</p> + +<p>Paul had grown very grave, and for a moment he sat thinking, wondering +what he could do; he was very anxious to help. "Father," he cried, at +last, "I know one way we can save a good bit of money every year: I can +leave school, and I could go out to work. I know Farmer Vinning would +give me a job; he said he wished he had a boy half as spry as I am, and— +and then I could bring home my wages every week to mother." And for the +moment Paul could not see what hardship people found in being economical. +But his father only shook his head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"It would be poor economy to take you away from school for a long time +yet, my son," he said. Then, seeing how Paul's face fell, he went on: +"The things we can do for the greatest advantage to others and ourselves, +too, are not always the things we would like best to do. To be a real +help and comfort to us, you must stick at your work as hard as you can, +and make the best use possible of the next few years. Then you will, I +hope, be able not only to help your mother, but to give them all a home if +they should need one."</p> + +<p>"But I want to help now," said Paul, dolefully. To work harder at school +seemed a very poor way of saving money.</p> + +<p>"You will be able to, dear, at once, too. We shall all have to give up +something, many of the things we care for most. You can help by giving up +cheerfully," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's nothing," said Paul, still doleful.</p> + +<p>"It means more than you can imagine now," she said, softly; "a trouble +bravely born and smiled over is lightened for everyone of half its +weight."</p> + +<p>"Can't I give up my music;" Paul burst in on his mother's speech, too +eager to notice what she was saying.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Anketell laughed in spite of her sadness. "We are very anxious to +give you all as good an education as is possible, and for the sake of the +future you must not give up any of it yet. No, what we shall have to give +up will be our pleasures. The horses must go, all but Nell for father, +and Jumbo for the hard work. Some of the servants will have to go, too, I +am afraid," she said, looking at her husband, and once more the anxious +look came back to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I can clean boots," said Paul, "and I can wash the dog-cart."</p> + +<p>"Very good," said Mr. Anketell, encouragingly. "You can learn to work in +the garden, too. A boy of your age can give a good deal of help there."</p> + +<p>Now, if there was one thing more than another that Paul hated, it was +gardening, and his response to this suggestion was not hearty. +Mrs. Anketell was silent for a few moments, then she said with, Paul +thought, but little concern, "We shall have to give up the Norwegian +cruise, of course, John; but that is only a trifle compared with other +things."</p> + +<p>Paul's heart seemed to leap right up into his throat, and then sank right +down, down, as, it seemed to him, no one's heart could ever have sunk +before. He could not believe but that there was some mistake, that his +ears were deceiving him. "What did you say, mother?" he cried. "Give up +the Norwegian cruise! Oh, no, no, we couldn't give that up! We <i>must</i> go +to Norway; we can save in other ways—I'll begin at once. I won't want +any new clothes for a year, and I'll go back to school without a hamper,— +but we <i>must</i> go to Norway."</p> + +<p>"I see you have already begun to save your neckties," said his father +mischievously; but Paul was far too much upset to laugh at anything.</p> + +<p>"Father, we <i>must</i> go!" he cried. "We have counted on it for weeks, and +had planned everything, and—"</p> + +<p>"So had we, Paul, and it will be a keen disappointment to us, keener than +you can understand; but it has to be, and we must put a brave face on it. +This is the first trial, my boy. It is very easy to talk of trials, and +how we will face them; but it is the actual facing them, not the talking, +that tries our courage and shows what we are made of. It requires no +courage to give up what we care little or nothing about. Be as brave as +you know how to be over this disappointment, my boy, and don't add to your +mother's troubles by grumbling and complaining. We feel terribly any pain +that this loss may bring to you children, and to know you are fretting and +grumbling will make it a hundred times harder for us."</p> + +<p>"Of course we will go somewhere for the summer holidays," said Mrs. +Anketell gently. "Stella and Michael will need a change before winter, +and father needs one too, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"Not as much as you do, dear," he said, tenderly, looking sadly at her +pale face.</p> + +<p>She shook her head and smiled. "I don't deny I shall be glad of one; in +fact we shall all be better for it," she said; "but it must be a much less +expensive one than the one we planned."</p> + +<p>Here was another grievance to add to his list. Paul's feelings were hurt +that he had been left out as not requiring a change, and altogether the +blow which he had had was too much for him to bear well at the first +shock; so that he felt a very unhappy and ill-used boy as he left the +table and made his way slowly up to the nursery.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "2"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>HOW PAUL BORE IT.</h3> + + +<p>Stella and Michael had finished their breakfast and were playing together. +Michael was standing up in the high window-seat, grasping a long pole with +a curtain hook at the end of it, with which he made frantic but futile +efforts to land Stella, who was dashing about in a perfectly break-neck +fashion in a box on the floor.</p> + +<p>"We are playing at being in Norway," he shouted, when he caught sight of +his elder brother. "Stella has been wrecked, and is trying to get to land +in a boat, but the waves are dashing it on the rocks so hard, she will be +wrecked before I can land her, if I don't take care."</p> + +<p>Here Stella banged her box against the wall, and rebounded again. +"I have got to catch her with the boat hook, and then I shall drag her +boat—" But Stella had caught sight of Paul's face, and abandoning her +boat to the mercy of the waves, she walked out of her apparently perilous +position and caught Paul's arm.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" she asked anxiously. "They haven't made the +holidays shorter, have they?" This was always one of her greatest fears.</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly!" snapped Paul crossly. "As if they could. Why, if they +were to try to I'd refuse to go."</p> + +<p>Stella looked awed, but anxious. "Do tell me, Paul, what is it! +Is father cross with you?"</p> + +<p>At these words a recollection of his father's gentleness and trouble came +over him, and he felt a little ashamed and sorry. "No, no," he said, +sinking into a chair by the table, and letting his head fall forward on +his arms, "I wouldn't mind that so much if—if, oh, it's awfully hard +lines, it—"</p> + +<p>Stella waited patiently. She was a sensible little woman, and not such a +baby as Paul chose to consider her. Because she had meals with Michael in +the nursery, that she might be a companion for him, Paul was in the habit +of looking on her as of Michael's age, and understanding. He forgot that +at her age he had considered himself old enough to quit the nursery meals +for the dining-room, and had done so too. Stella was four years older +than her younger brother, and there was a great deal of the little mother +in the way she cared for him. But Paul, boy-like, saw only that she +joined in Michael's games, and was apparently quite content, so he rather +despised her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Paul? Do tell me!" she pleaded at last. She longed to put +her arms about him, and try to comfort him; but since he had been at +school he had grown, as does many a boy, to object to endearments, and to +think them something to be ashamed of. Her heart grew heavy with a +nameless fear. Michael, too, ceased to complain of Stella's having left +her boat and her game, and looked with wondering eyes at his +grief-stricken elder brother. It was so unusual to see Paul cast down +like this.</p> + +<p>"We aren't going to Norway, after all," said Paul—he spoke gruffly to try +to conceal the sob in his throat,—"and I call it beastly hard lines. +It isn't as though it would cost so very much more than any other holiday, +and father knows we have never been so far before, and how we were looking +forward to it, and that I—"</p> + +<p>"Not going to Norway!" cried Stella, in an accent almost of relief. +"Oh, is that all? I was afraid something dreadful had happened." +She could not help the feeling, she had been so frightened by a nameless +fear she could scarcely have put into words. But when the first relief +was over the disappointment came home to her keenly. Paul had painted in +such glowing colours all the joys, and adventures, and wonderful things +which lay in store, that that trip was no ordinary one for them. +It was the great event of their lifetime. It was to have been one long +experience of travel by day and night, by sea and land, and of adventure +with strange and wild creatures—Vikings, wolves, reindeers, Valkyries, +giants, ice-mountains, and caves, fairies and fairies' homes. Stella had +never been able to make up her mind as to what Vikings and Valkyries would +be like, but they were all one delightful thrilling jumble of wild +animals, giants, and strange people, such as ordinary persons never set +eyes on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Paul, it can't be really true?" she cried, in great distress.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you don't care," snapped Paul, crossly, "so don't pretend. You can't +care, so don't put it on. You said 'Is that all?' as if it were nothing. +But of course one can't expect much from a girl. I believe you were +really frightened at going and are glad we are not."</p> + +<p>Stella's lip quivered. "I was <i>not</i> frightened," she said stoutly, +"and I am <i>not</i> glad; but I thought at first something dreadful had +happened to father or mother—I didn't know what, but something dreadful."</p> + +<p>Paul snorted contemptuously. "I wouldn't have minded anything else as +much as this," he said loftily, putting on a very superior air.</p> + +<p>"If you had your leg cut off you couldn't <i>never</i> go to fight wolves," +said Michael soberly. He had been standing, boat-hook in hand, listening +to the conversation. To him to have a leg cut off seemed the most +dreadful thing that could happen.</p> + +<p>"But, Paul, why can't we go?" asked Stella, her brother's injustice fading +at once from her mind. "Do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. Father told me all about it. He has lost a heap of money, +and we've got to get rid of most of the horses and the servants, and—" +He stopped suddenly in alarm; he was already abusing that confidence his +father had placed in him. Nurse was in the adjoining room and the door +between was open. Supposing she had heard, what should he do? He could +never undo his foolish speech! He peeped at her in a state of great +alarm. No, she was dusting under the bed, and could not have heard,—at +least he thought not. Stella and Michael must be bound over to secrecy. +"Don't you ever dare to tell any one what I have told you!" he said +sternly. "Promise, honour bright. Mind Mike, if you do, I'll—I'll— +well, you'll soon find out who comes after sneaks!"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, Paul. How dare you? You are not to frighten him like that," +cried Stella indignantly. "Mikey is not a sneak, and you ought not to +tell stories about bogies coming. You know there aren't any."</p> + +<p>"Frighten!" retorted Paul; "he <i>must</i> be a coward if that frightens him," +but he had the grace to look ashamed.</p> + +<p>"You meant to frighten him," said Stella stoutly; "you know you did, and +you are very mean."</p> + +<p>Paul tried to turn the conversation. He felt ashamed of himself, and did +not like the feeling at all. "Well, if you want to know why we are not +going to Norway, you had better go and ask mother. I mustn't tell you +what father told me, so it is no use to try to make me."</p> + +<p>"Is mother—is mother unhappy about it, Paul?"</p> + +<p>"I should just think she is, and father too."</p> + +<p>"Did daddy cry?" asked Michael, his big eyes growing bigger with awe.</p> + +<p>"Cry! Men don't cry; but mother did."</p> + +<p>At which Stella's little heart overflowed with love, and her eyes filled +with tears. "I'm going to see her," she said tearfully. "She mustn't be +sad. I'll tell her it doesn't matter a bit, we don't mind not going. +I don't want to go for a cruise. I'd quite as soon stay at home, and—I +can take care of Michael, or I can dust, or—or—" The rest of her +sentence was lost as she rushed out of the nursery and down to her +mother's room.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" she cried, flinging herself into her arms, and clasping her +round the neck. "Mummy, dear, I am so sorry; but we don't mind the least +little bit. We don't want to have any holiday at all this year, only +don't you cry any more, mummy darling," and she kissed her again and +again, striving all she knew to make up to her for the trouble which had +befallen them.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "3"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>PAUL'S HOPES RISE.</h3> + + +<p>A few days later Paul returned to school, and Stella and Michael settled +down to lessons at home with their governess. They missed their elder +brother very much, for though he domineered over them a good deal, they +looked up to him as a hero, and a very splendid fellow, and they felt sad +and lonely when he went back to school.</p> + +<p>At first Paul, too, felt very miserable, and out of spirits. When it came +to leaving his home he felt more real sorrow for the trouble they were in +than he had at all, and real shame for having behaved so crossly and +unkindly about his disappointment, and he became filled with a great +desire to work well, and make up in that way for his past behaviour. +So the weeks sped by; half term came and went, and early in July came a +letter from Stella. They were to go away for a summer holiday, after all, +she wrote excitedly, and evidently impressed with the idea that she was +conveying wonderful news. They were to go to Dartmoor. Father had taken +rooms in a big farmhouse on the moors, and it was lovely; there were +horses and wagons, and hay-fields and orchards, and big tors where they +could go for picnics.</p> + +<p>"Dartmoor!" exclaimed Paul, as he thrust the letter into his pocket. +"What a place! What is there for me to do? Just go for walks with the +kids, I s'pose; I'd quite as soon stay at home." And he sniffed +scornfully, and went about all day in a bad temper.</p> + +<p>"Dartmoor is a ripping fine place!" Paul had confided his woes to his +chum, Dennis Rogers, and that was the response he met with. "I only wish +I was going there this summer. We were there two years ago; oh, my, it +<i>was</i> jolly! I wonder what part you are going to, and if you'll be +anywhere near the convict prison."</p> + +<p>Paul pricked up his ears.</p> + +<p>"The convict prison," he cried eagerly. "I'd forgotten that that was down +there. Oh, I do hope we go quite close to it. I'd like awfully to see +the convicts. Did you ever see any of them? Were you near them?"</p> + +<p>"See them! I should just think so. I saw a convict's funeral once, too; +the coffin was carried by the convicts all in their prison clothes, with +whacking great broad arrows over them."</p> + +<p>"What were they like? Did they look like murderers? Did you see any of +those that are in Madame Tussard's?" asked Paul, full of curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Some of them were pretty bad-looking, but the rest were just like +ordinary people. You'd never think from their faces, that they were +murderers, and burglars, and forgers, and all that sort of thing. +I felt awfully sorry for them, but my mater hurried me away, and wouldn't +let me have a good look at them. I know one thing, I would have helped +them to escape if they had tried to."</p> + +<p>"I do hope we shall be in that part," said Paul, excitedly. "I'd give +anything to see the prisoners and the prison. I say, did any escape while +you were there?"</p> + +<p>"No, 'twas hard luck. One got away in the winter after we left, and +wasn't caught for a day or two; it was foggy, and that helped him, of +course. Then there is otter-hunting in some of the rivers," went on +Dennis, tiring of the subject of the convicts. "Oh, it's an awfully fine +place! There are wild cattle on the moor too, and they are no end of +excitement; they go for you like anything if you rile them. You <i>are</i> in +luck's way, old chap. I wish I was going too, instead of to some silly +place in Norway where there's nothing to do when you get there but walk. +I hate being shut up in a stuffy steamer too. I'm ill all the time—so +are most of the people—and I don't see where the fun comes in. +But my people are set on it, so I suppose I've got to go. I don't want +to, a bit."</p> + +<p>"Don't you!" said Paul sarcastically, all his old disappointment +returning. "I wish we could change places then. I think Dartmoor is +awfully tame compared with Norway."</p> + +<p>And then a hot discussion followed, each boy sticking up, of course, for +his own favourite place.</p> + +<p>But when, three weeks later, Paul travelled homewards, his disappointment +was quite forgotten, and he was in the best of spirits, for it is beyond +the power of any ordinary boy to feel morose and sulky the day his school +breaks up and he goes home for his summer holiday; and when the family +joined him at Slewbury station,—all except his father, who was to follow +later,—and they journeyed on together, he was the life of the whole merry +party.</p> + +<p>"Mother," he exclaimed with sudden recollection, after the home news had +been listened to and school news told, "what is the name of the place we +are going to? Shall we be near the convict prison?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not," cried Stella, her pretty blue eyes becoming round with +dismay, "I should hate to be near convicts, I should be afraid of them. +Supposing any of them run away, and come to Moor Farm, whatever shall we +do?"</p> + +<p>"We are not any very great distance from the prison, I am afraid," +Mrs. Anketell answered, "though it is further than either of us could +walk. But you know, dear, the poor creatures are well guarded and we +shall be well guarded; and I want you to feel nothing but pity for them, +my Stella. You must be a brave little woman. Many of the poor creatures +there are quiet and harmless, and would not hurt a little child."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> am jolly glad we are so near," said Paul delightedly; and he talked +so much about it that Stella soon began to share his excitement, and lose +much of her nervousness, while Michael sat very still and quiet, listening +to all that was being said. But presently they grew tired of that +subject, and turned their attention to the country through which they were +hurrying, and the quaint little stations at which they stopped, where the +one porter shouted such odd names in so funny a voice that they could not +help laughing; then on they went again through rich yellow cornfields, +past streams where men were fishing, and then they saw the high hills in +the distance, standing so solitary on the great browny-grey moor.</p> + +<p>It was hard to picture a big, gloomy prison anywhere near such a lovely +land, or hundreds of sinful, unhappy men shut in behind high grey walls, +seeing nothing of the beauty about them.</p> + +<p>"Mother, mother, there's Row Tor, and there's Brown Willy, and there—"</p> + +<p>"And here is our station," said Mrs. Anketell, smiling, getting up to +collect baskets and parcels, "and there is Farmer Minards himself with his +car and a cart for the luggage." Then out they got, the only passengers +for that little station, while the people in the train stared at them, +enviously the children thought, and the people on the platform looked with +curiosity and interest at them, and their big pile of luggage. +Then Stella and Michael and Mrs. Anketell were shown in to the funny +little car, which was called the 'pill-box,' but Paul asked if he might +ride up in the front of the cart on which the luggage was piled, and was +allowed to, and a few minutes later they started off in procession down +the road on their way to Moor Farm.</p> + +<p>The boy who drove the cart was shy at first, and sat very stolid and stiff +beside Paul apparently absorbed in guiding his horse, but Paul was not +troubled with shyness, or anything else but curiosity, and after he had +looked at the horse and cart, and everything about him, his tongue refused +to be silent any longer, and a stream of questions was poured into the shy +boy's ears. As they were nearly all questions he could answer he did not +mind, and replied very patiently, and soon grew more at ease, especially +as some of Paul's questions made him laugh too, and feel how much more he +knew than 'the young master,' which is always a comfortable feeling.</p> + +<p>"And that is Cawsand Beacon, isn't it?" said Paul at last, pointing to a +big, big hill, in the near distance. He spoke in an off-hand casual sort +of way, and was rather proud of his knowledge until the boy laughed.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, that there is Crockern Tor. Cawsan' Baycon be right 'way +'tother side of Dartymoor, right 'long up in the narth, Oke'ampton way."</p> + +<p>"Is Crockern Tor as high as Cawsand Beacon?" asked Paul, more humbly.</p> + +<p>"I reckon not, not by a brave bit," said the boy, "but it's a purty place +to go to."</p> + +<p>They were driving now along a rough road across the moor itself; the +'pill-box' had outstripped them and was out of sight. "Let's drive on the +grass," said Paul suddenly, "t'would be ever so much jollier than jolting +along like this. Why don't you drive across there to the farm," pointing +to a stretch of smooth, green turf, "instead of going all around by this +road?"</p> + +<p>The boy laughed again. "I reckon 'twouldn't be no quicker by time us had +hauled the 'orse and cart out. That there green is'n' no turf 't'all, +'tis a bog."</p> + +<p>Paul's attention was riveted in a moment. "That isn't one of the bogs +that suck people right down, and kill them, is it?" he asked excitedly.</p> + +<p>"That's one on 'em," answered the boy; "that isn't so bad as some. +Anybody small and light might get across by keeping right 'way out to the +very edge if they was quick, but a horse and cart wouldn't stand no +chance. Don't you never go trying of it, sur, you'd be swallowed up in no +time. Gee, wug, Lion," he called to the lazy horse. "Would 'ee like to +drive a bit, sur?"</p> + +<p>But Paul's thoughts were far away. "Anybody light and small might get +across," he was repeating to himself, and he made up his mind that +somebody light and small would try. After all, Dartmoor wasn't such a bad +place, he admitted already. He would have something, anyhow, to tell the +boys when he got back. Something worth telling too. He thought there +would be few with a better story than his to tell.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "4"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>THE REWARD OF OVER CONFIDENCE.</h3> + + +<p>For a day or two their new surroundings kept the children fully +occupied in and about the farmyard, and the barns and orchards. +Everything was new to them and delightful, from the pump in the yard, +and the chickens, to the horses and wagons, the lofts with their smell of +hay, the sweet-smelling wood-ricks, the cool dairy, the 'pound' where the +cider was made. Then there were sheep-shearing, rat-hunting and countless +other joys. But before very long the desire to wander further in search +of adventure grew strong in Paul's breast. The children were left +wonderfully free in those days, for, owing to their straitened means, Mrs. +Anketell had determined to do without a nurse, and she was necessarily +obliged to leave them much to themselves, and trust them not to get into +any serious mischief.</p> + +<p>But in the holidays no boy is quite as wise as he should be. +Certainly Paul was not, when he determined to go and find out for himself +if that morass was really as dangerous as Muggridge had said. +Muggridge was the boy who had driven the cart, and Paul had begun to have +a galling feeling that Muggridge had bean treating him as though he were a +baby, which of course was a thing not to be tolerated for a moment. +He must show him that he was a public-school boy, and had already seen +more of the world than Muggridge was ever likely to.</p> + +<p>It was Saturday morning, and every one in the house, excepting the +children, seemed to be unusually busy and occupied. Stella and Michael +sauntered out into the yard, and hung on the gate, swinging. +Paul strolled out presently and joined them, but the amusement was not to +his liking, so he went outside and stood in the road, and looked at the +country.</p> + +<p>"Let's go for a walk on the moor," he said presently; "there is nothing to +do here, and it's looking jolly out there."</p> + +<p>Stella and Michael, only too glad to be invited by their elder brother to +join him, followed at once with a shout of joy. Paul looked back several +times to make sure no one was watching them, but there were no windows at +that end of the house, and everyone was busy. When they had gone a little +distance they got off the road on to the soft turf at the side, and began +running about here, there, and everywhere. "You had better see where you +are going," said Paul; "they say there are morasses here that suck one in +until one is gone right down, head and all."</p> + +<p>Stella looked about her with wondering eyes, and seized Michael's hands. +"What do they look like, Paul? Are they pools?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Paul, "I should think so."</p> + +<p>"There aren't any here, then," she said eagerly, and with a sigh of +relief, letting Mike go again. "I don't see any, do you, Paul?"</p> + +<p>"Muggridge said there were, and that is why they go round by that silly +old road; but I don't believe him, and I'm going to find out for myself. +Perhaps he thinks I will swallow everything he chooses to tell me, and is +trying to see how much he can take me in."</p> + +<p>"Did he tell you not to go there?" asked Stella, nervously.</p> + +<p>"No, he did not tell me any such thing. Why should he? I should like to +see him dare to order me about. He just said that I had better not; but +that was nothing. I'm sure he was only trying to gull me. He said +anybody light could get across if they kept to the edge, and nobody could +be much lighter than I am."</p> + +<p>"But, Paul, you won't go?" pleaded Stella, anxiously. "Don't go, Paul! +<i>Please</i> don't! you might be killed."</p> + +<p>"Killed!" with terrific scorn. "You girls are such babies you are afraid +of your lives to do anything for fear you will be killed, or hurt."</p> + +<p>"I am not," said Stella proudly. "You would be frightened though if you +got into one of those marshes, and were sucked down."</p> + +<p>Paul grew more and more nettled, and defiant. "Anyhow, I am going right +away at once to look for one, and that'll show if I am afraid or not. +You <i>babies</i> can stay where you are." And he walked boldly forward.</p> + +<p>Stella bore the taunt bravely, though her feelings were cruelly hurt, too +deeply hurt to allow her to follow her brother and appear to be thrusting +her society on him. So she remained where he had left her, tightly +grasping Mike's hand as though to make sure that he at any rate came to no +harm. For nearly half-an-hour Paul wandered about without finding himself +on the dangerous spot, and the more he searched the more convinced he +became that Muggridge had been laughing at him.</p> + +<p>"Won't Farmer Minards be pleased when Paul tells him," said Michael after +a long and anxious silence, and Paul had wandered about in all directions +in safety. But before he had finished his sentence they saw Paul stagger +as though he had stepped on something which had given way beneath his +feet, try to recover himself, and stagger again. Stella jumped up +instinctively and ran to him; even then she did not dream of the real +danger he was in, until, as she flew towards him, his cry of "Help, help!" +reached her. "Keep back'" he shrieked, as she came close. "It's the bog! +My feet are stuck, I can't free them, Stella; what can I do? Help, help, +help!"</p> + +<p>Stella's heart stood still with fright. Paul was in the mud; it would +suck him down till it closed over his head, unless some one saved him, and +there was no time to be lost. What could she do, without a single +creature there to help her? "Mike," she called, "run home as fast as ever +you can, and tell them to come at once. Paul is in the bog, and it is +sucking him down." The tears were trickling fast down her face, and at +sight of them Michael began to cry too.</p> + +<p>"Help, help!" called Paul again, then suddenly burst into tears. The mud +was half-way up his legs now, and his attempts to free himself seemed only +to hasten his fate. Inspiration came to Stella; in another moment she had +torn off her big over-all apron. It was strong and wide. If Paul could +reach it she might be able to pull him out by it. She threw it towards +him, but, in her anxiety, threw it to one side; she tried again, but the +breeze carried it away. The third time it reached him, and he caught it +by the tips of his fingers, but the effort to reach it dragged him +forward, and swaying, staggering, in his endeavours to steady himself he +dragged poor Stella beyond her powers of resistance, and in another moment +she was in the morass too, and, losing her balance, fell forward on her +hands and knees. Their condition now was truly appalling. Paul grew +frantic with alarm. "Pick yourself up, Stella, or crawl to the edge; you +are quite close."</p> + +<p>"I can't," she said in an awe-stricken whisper. She was too frightened to +cry now; the fearfulness of the fate which seemed to await them partially +numbed her senses. "I can't, Paul," she said in laboured tones; "the more +I try the worse it is. I think we had better keep as still as we can. +Poor mummie," she added presently, and at the thought of her mother's +grief her tears did flow, but she kept quite still, though she saw that +her hands had disappeared entirely, and her arms were fast being sucked +down.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "5"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>THE RESCUE.</h3> + + +<p>Paul and Stella never forgot, to the end of their lives, that awful time +of waiting, when they were face to face with death, their hearts filled +with agony at the sight of each other in the clutches of that fearful +morass, and at the thought of their parents' grief.</p> + +<p>All around them stretched the great brown moor, weird and lonely looking, +except for where, less than a mile away, Paul could see the chimneys of +Moor Farm smoking, and the sunlight shining on the windows. Stella had +fallen with her back to the house, and all she could see was the moor, and +the hills in the distance. She could not see even if any one was coming +to their assistance. "Mike must have lost himself," she thought, "they +are so long—"</p> + +<p>But at that moment Paul broke in on her thought. "They are coming," he +shouted. "Help! help! help!" and he waved his handkerchief excitedly. +Stella bowed her head and prayed, she hardly knew then in what words, but +to ask God's help, and to thank Him; she knew He would understand.</p> + +<p>Three or four persons came running towards them with ropes and planks, +while behind came another and larger group with their mother amongst them. +Stella could only hear their voices, and do as they bade her.</p> + +<p>"How be 'ee going to get the little maid, now?" said a voice she +recognised as Farmer Minards'; "'er's the awkwardest of the two to get +'old on, by a long way. Hold up yer 'ead, missie dear, don't let yer face +touch the mud."</p> + +<p>Stella raised her head as high as she could, but she was so exhausted that +it fell forward again, and she lost consciousness altogether.</p> + +<p>"I can save the boy," said a voice, "if you'll give me a rope." +In a moment more a deftly thrown lasso quivered in the air, and falling +over Paul encircled his waist; then, by the aid of planks thrown across +the margin, long, strong arms soon dragged him into safety, and he lay +trembling, but safe, on solid ground, with his mother's arms around him, +and nothing but words of sympathy, and love, and kindness greeting him +instead of the sound scolding he so richly deserved. But she saw he was +in no state to be scolded then.</p> + +<p>A few moments later another shout went up. Stella was safe. Paul raised +himself, and called to her as they carried her towards him, but no answer +to his joyful cry came from the limp and senseless little form lying in +Farmer Minards' arms. Her face was as white as the clouds above, her eyes +were closed. Paul gave a great cry of fear. "Stella, Stella," he called +in agony. "Stella, speak! She tried to save me, and—and it is all my +fault, and I've killed her." And he burst into an agony of tears, for he +really thought his sister was dead.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Anketell, who had run to her little daughter, quickly came back to +him. "She is not dead," she said soothingly, great tears of thankfulness +in her own eyes. "Thank God, Paul. You cannot thank Him enough for +having spared you both. She has fainted, that is all, dear. Act like a +man now, and be ready to comfort her when she recovers. This is bound to +be a terrible shock to her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Anketell was herself faint and trembling from the shock and the +anxiety; her hands shook visibly as she laid them on Paul's hot brow, and +her head swam so she feared she would have fainted too, but for the sake +of others she made a great effort to control herself, and succeeded.</p> + +<p>They laid the little maid on the grass, and loosened her clothes. +The sight of her little hands hanging so helplessly, with the brown mud +dripping off them, and her little white feet, for her shoes and stockings +had come off in the mud, and her dead-white face, brought tears to many an +eye there, and Paul himself turned over on the grass and wept bitterly, +without shame, before them all.</p> + +<p>"Better let him have his cry out," said the gentleman who had thrown the +lasso, and who proved to be a doctor; "it will relieve him and do him +good. Now, you men, some of you carry him carefully home, he is not fit +to walk; and I will carry her, if you will allow me," he said, stooping +over Stella. "I think they had better be got to bed as quickly as +possible. And you, can you walk, do you think?" he added, kindly, to Mrs. +Anketell. She nodded in reply; she was too much agitated to speak. +"Take my arm, please, if it would be any support to you." His quick eye +noted the strain she was enduring, and he quietly did all he could to +cheer and distract her thoughts from the contemplation of the awful +tragedy which might have befallen two of her children.</p> + +<p>So the sad little procession wended its way across the sunny moor again, +and Paul, all the way, was saying over and over again to himself he would +never, never again try to do what he had been told not to. He would be +good, obedient, and humble, he would take care of Stella, and his mother, +and Mike. And that night when his mother came to see him the last thing +before going to bed herself, he told her the whole story from beginning to +end. "Stella is awfully plucky, for a girl," he added at the conclusion +of his tale. "She was afraid for me to try to cross, but she didn't seem +frightened when she was being sucked down by the mud, she never screamed +at all."</p> + +<p>"Stella has far more courage than you think," said his mother gravely, +"and I hope you will never again jibe at the cowardice of girls; it only +shows that you do not know what real courage is. Good muscles do not +always mean true courage. You must learn that it is often far more brave +to stand by and not do a thing, knowing all the time you will be called a +coward for it, than it is to be daring and defiant, as you were to-day. +Obedience in all things, pleasant or unpleasant, is true courage, and that +is what you lacked to-day, and so brought misery and pain to many, none of +whom you consider as wise or brave as yourself."</p> + +<p>Paul certainly felt the greatest shame as he realised how foolish he must +seem in the eyes of everybody, and he certainly suffered the keenest +remorse when he saw how ill Stella was; it was Stella who suffered most +from his wrong-doing. For many days she was very, very ill, and it was +some time before she was quite her old merry self again.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "6"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>A SLOW LEARNER.</h3> + + +<p>A few days later Mr. Anketell arrived for a fortnight's holiday, and all +the sad story had to be told to him. He was terribly grieved and upset— +grieved to see his bright, happy Stella so wan and quiet, and troubled +sorely to think Paul had so far forgotten himself and his duty to the +younger ones as to place their lives in danger.</p> + +<p>"You cannot expect Michael to look up to you," said his father sternly. +"And you are setting him a very bad example. I shall have to send for one +of the maids to come and look after you all, for we cannot have such +things happening! I will not have your mother so worried and frightened, +and the children's lives jeopardised by your disobedience and +foolhardiness."</p> + +<p>And the maid would have been sent for had not Paul given his word to be +more careful and better behaved in future.</p> + +<p>Another person with whom Mr. Anketell was very irate was Farmer Minards; +he blamed him greatly for leaving so dangerous a spot unguarded in any +way, and he spoke so plainly about it that that very same day a man went +out with a cartload of white hurdles to place around the margin of the +morass. To every one else they were a comfort and a safeguard, but to +Paul they were a shame and a constant reminder of his foolishness.</p> + +<p>"Us'd have the moor speckled all over with white hurdles if we had you +living here for long, sur." They were driving slowly along the road, +Paul sitting beside Muggridge in the cart, when Muggridge pointed with his +whip at the hurdles and laughed. A hot blush rushed over Paul's face, and +a sudden furious anger against his companion surged up in his heart. +How dare he laugh at him, a gentleman, and a visitor?</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> told me anybody light could get across," he said sulkily, and he +looked away across the moor that Muggridge might not see the tears of +anger and mortification which would well up in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"So he could."</p> + +<p>"Well you couldn't find anyone much lighter than I am, and I went in," and +he shuddered at the recollection.</p> + +<p>"Of course you did, and so would any one who hadn't the sense not to go +right slap in the middle as you did. I meant right 'long out the edge, +where Jim has put the hurdles."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed contemptuously. "Why, any stupid could do that!" he said +loftily. "Farmer Minards himself could walk there!"</p> + +<p>"That just shows how much you know," said Muggridge, with an air of great +knowingness. "It wouldn't bear me, and I ain't what you would call +heavy."</p> + +<p>"You are afraid, that's all," said Paul rudely.</p> + +<p>For a moment Muggridge looked angry too. "I ain't feared," he said after +a pause, "but I've got too much sense. I can't afford to spoil a pair of +boots, and I doubt if any one would take the trouble to haul me out; but +if they did—why, maister'd give me the sack before the mud had stopped +running off me."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed derisively. "It's easy enough to make excuses," he said, +beginning to scramble down from the cart. "You are afraid, that's what it +is, but I'll just show you I am not," and, paying no heed to Muggridge's +call, he ran lightly round outside the hurdles. To his surprise the +ground was almost hard. The man had placed the hurdles further out than +Muggridge had thought, but Paul did not let him know that. The very +spirit of bravado and mischief seemed to fill him as he mocked at his +companion, and then, with a sudden mad impulse, he climbed over and +attempted to run around inside. But here matters were different; the +ground was soft and slimy, his feet stuck and began to sink; he tried to +run lightly, but 'twas no good, and he clung to the hurdles in real fear. +Muggridge, too, was alarmed. He realised suddenly that he was responsible +for the young master's safety, that he had taunted him into his foolhardy +action, and that the episode would not make a pleasant story for either of +them to tell.</p> + +<p>Springing out of the cart he ran to Paul's help, and had him out of the +morass and in safety in less time than it takes to tell it. Both were so +alarmed now that all thought of their quarrel had vanished from their +minds. They were grateful that they were safe and the episode had ended +as easily as it had; but their joy was short lived, for at the sight of +Paul's boots they looked at each other with grave faces and frightened +eyes. What was to be done? The state of them was bound to be noticed, +for the weather was fine and dry, Muggridge scraped off what he could with +bits of stick, and tufts of grass, but his efforts were not very +successful, for the mud was thick and clinging, and Paul clambered back +into the cart with a very, very heavy heart. He did not gloss over to +himself the wrongfulness of his behaviour, or the seriousness of the +situation. He was bound to be found out, and then he would perhaps be +sent back to school, or one of the maids would be sent for to take charge +of him, and a flush of shame mounted his forehead at the thought.</p> + +<p>Then to avoid all the trouble he knew he would get into, Paul made the +grave mistake people often make when once they have done wrong. To cover +the first fault they commit another, and so start on what is often a long +road of sin and misery, rather than courageously face at once the blame +and punishment they deserve. The rest of the drive he did not enjoy at +all, though it was one of the pleasures he loved most, as a rule; but his +mind was fully occupied in trying to plan how he should escape detection +and punishment.</p> + +<p>Muggridge at first promised to clean the boots for him before anybody +could see them, but the delay Paul had caused made them so late in getting +home that he had to go at once to put the horse in his stable, and then +hurry off to his own dinner. Besides, the mud was too wet as yet to be +cleaned off. Paul was terribly upset at that. What <i>would</i> become of +him, he wondered, and how could he manage? By that time all thought of +confessing at once had gone from his mind; it seemed to him impossible to +do it; he could think of nothing but concealment. But, luckily he +thought, when they got back to the house there was no one about. +It was close to the hour for the mid-day dinner. Mrs. Minards and the +maids were busy in the kitchen, Mrs. Anketell and Stella were upstairs in +their rooms. Paul could hardly believe his good fortune when he got past +the windows, into the house, without meeting any one, and as he stood at +the foot of the stairs listening, to try to discover where everyone was, +and could hear no voices or footsteps near, his spirits rose. He crept +upstairs swiftly and stealthily, almost without a sound, except for the +creaking of a board in the passage outside his mother's door. She heard +it, and called out, "Who is that? Is that Paul?" But he went on without +answering, though he felt very mean for doing so, and soon gained his own +room. He was scarcely a moment taking off his muddy boots and hiding them +in the bottom of his play-box; then he put on his slippers, dabbed over +the front of his head with a wet hair brush, smeared a little water over +his face and hands, wiped the dirt off on the towel, and crept downstairs +again in a few moments, as softly as he had crept up.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Anketell came down ten minutes later, saying, "I wish Paul had +come, he will be late for dinner," she found him coiled up in the big +arm-chair with a book on his knee, and apparently absorbed in the story. +He was so deeply absorbed in fact that he did not look up when she spoke, +not, indeed, until she exclaimed, "Oh, Paul, dear, then you are back. +Have you been here long? I did not know you were in the house, and I was +quite anxious about you."</p> + +<p>Then he looked up at her with an abstracted air, as though his mind was +still so deep in the story that it was closed to everything, and he could +hardly hear or take in what she was saying. "No-o not very long," he +answered vaguely, and to hide his eyes, which could not meet his mother's, +he dropped them on to the pages again.</p> + +<p>"Did you hurry back to go on with your book?" asked his mother, standing +by him, and looking over his shoulder. "I am glad you find it so +interesting. Father was afraid you did not care for it, as you never +looked at it. But why do you hold it upside down, dear?"</p> + +<p>Paul coloured hotly, and held his head lower to hide it. "To—to—the +picture looks so funny this way," he said lamely, and then, to his great +relief, the maid said dinner was ready, and he escaped any further +embarrassment for the moment. But only for the moment.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "7"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>A TROUBLESOME PAIR OF BOOTS.</h3> + + +<p>Muggridge had told him to bring his boots out to the boot-house, when he +could manage to get them there without any one seeing him, that he might +clean them for him, and nobody be the wiser. So Paul waited anxiously for +the opportunity. He knew it must be done soon, as his mother would miss +the boots and make inquiries about them, for he had only the one pair of +strong everyday boots now besides his best ones, as the others had been +almost spoilt by his first adventure in the morass, and had been sent away +to the shoemaker's.</p> + +<p>As soon as dinner was finished his troubles began again.</p> + +<p>"I am going to walk to Four Bridges this afternoon," said Mr. Anketell; +"who will go with me? We will have tea there, and walk home in the +evening."</p> + +<p>Stella and Michael jumped with delight. They enjoyed this sort of +excursion more than anything that could be offered them; and, as a rule, +Paul enjoyed it even more than they. But to-day he did not express his +usual pleasure, and sat looking red and embarrassed when his father looked +questioningly at him.</p> + +<p>"Well, Paul, what do you say?" he asked, wondering at the boy's silence.</p> + +<p>"I—I should like to go very much," stammered Paul awkwardly, "but I've +hurt my foot. I hurt it jumping out of the cart."</p> + +<p>This, to a certain extent, was true, but under ordinary circumstances Paul +would have been the last to allow such a trifle to keep him from anything +he desired. A series of questions followed, which he found very difficult +to answer, and finally Paul had to submit to having his ankle bound with a +wet cloth, while Mrs. Anketell decided to give up the afternoon's +excursion and stay at home with him. "And we will have tea in the +orchard," she said consolingly, "to make up for the loss of our tea at +Four Bridges; that will be pleasanter than having it indoors." +The kinder they were to him the more unhappy and uncomfortable Paul felt, +and the less chance he saw of carrying out his plan; but his lowness of +spirits stood him in good stead here, for his mother and father put it +down to the pain he was suffering, and no one questioned the truth of his +story about the injured foot.</p> + +<p>But his impatience and his anxiety were such as he never forgot. +It seemed to him ages before the little party started off on their +expedition; first there was one hindrance and then another, until he could +have screamed with impatience and anxiety, and even when they were gone he +could not get away, for his mother sat with him and read to him, and he +watched with dread the hands of the clock go round, as the afternoon wore +quickly away. The boots must be cleaned before to-morrow morning, or the +traces of his escapade would betray him.</p> + +<p>At last, however, Mrs. Anketell stopped reading, and said she must write a +letter. And Paul, without a moment's delay, seized the opportunity to +limp from the room. He really had to limp now, for the bandage was so +tight about his ankle that he could not bend it. Mrs. Anketell, +hearing his uneven steps, called to him not to use his foot too much. +"All right," he called back willingly, for he was only too thankful that +she did not prohibit him from using it altogether. Then he stumbled out +to the stairs, and clambering up them a good deal faster than he usually +moved, reached his room without further interruption. His heart was +beating furiously with excitement and fear, but he could not pause a +moment to steady himself, for he felt he had not a second to lose. +Dragging his play-box softly out from under the bed, he plunged his hand +to the bottom and soon drew out his troublesome boots; then tucking them +under his coat, which barely served to cover them, he slid down the +banisters to save all noise, and tore out into the yard, and around the +corner to the boot-house, as though a pack of wolves was after him. +But, in turning the corner, he came face to face with something he had not +expected, and that was the burly form of Farmer Minards himself. +Paul's heart sunk like lead, and he went cold all over with apprehension.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, young gentleman," said the old man, "I thought you was laid by +the heels?"</p> + +<p>Paul tried to smile. "I hurt my foot, and couldn't walk to Four Bridges, +but it isn't much."</p> + +<p>"Where be 'ee off now?" asked the farmer, looking anxiously at the +funny-shaped protuberances under Paul's arms. "Be 'ee going for a stroll +by yerself? Can't keep in, I s'pose, but must be out in the fresh air."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I—I ain't going far," stammered Paul. "I am only just having a look +round."</p> + +<p>"Would 'ee care to come and see 'em cutting the hay in the Little Meadow? +It wouldn't be far for 'ee to walk; we've got the new machine, and 'tis a +real beauty. All the men are out there looking at un."</p> + +<p>It did seem to Paul altogether too cruel that so many things he would have +given anything to see and do should happen that afternoon, and that he +should have to refuse them. "Oh, I—I—" and then he stopped. He could +not go all out there with his boots under his arms, nor could he get rid +of them while Farmer Minards stood looking at him; he had to keep up the +pretence, too, about his foot. "I've strained my ankle, rather," he said +lamely. "I'm afraid I could not walk so far. Mother has bandaged it, and +I've only got my slippers on. I'm awfully sorry," he added with genuine +regret.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, sir, you can come another time. I'm sorry you're so bad, but +when I saw you cutting along so spry I thought perhaps you was all right +again; but we shall be using un again next week, and you can come then, +perhaps," and Farmer Minards at last moved away, to Paul's intense relief, +for he had been terrified all the time lest someone else should come along +and catch him.</p> + +<p>He ran on to the boot-house, but with little hope of finding Muggridge +there now, for he would probably be out in the hay-field with the rest of +the men. A thought had come to him, however, that he himself might manage +to clean the mud off the boots, if he was quick. When he reached the +boot-house it was as he feared, no Muggridge was there; but to his horror +someone else was—no other than Mrs. Minards herself, and at sight of her +Paul turned and fled in dismay. Too much scared to know what he was doing +he ran swiftly through the yard, and into the kitchen-garden. At that +moment a clock struck five and he knew that his mother would be expecting +him down to tea now. What could he do? He could not get back to the +house again; he peeped out and saw people moving about in the yard and at +the doorway; it was impossible to get past unobserved. But those boots +must be got rid of somehow. He looked about the garden eagerly for a spot +in which to hide them, but a high stone wall surrounded the place, and the +garden itself was so neat and tidy there was no chance of hiding anything +there without the risk of being found out. And Mrs. Minards, he +remembered, was always pottering about in her garden.</p> + +<p>There was no time to spare either, and at the thought that in a moment his +mother or some one would be searching for him, he fled out of the garden +into the open country beyond. Outside the walls lay the moor, the big +brown old moor. Surely here he could find a hiding-place for his +unfortunate boots, and could tell Muggridge where to look for them. +It was a splendid idea, he thought; there could not be a better +hiding-place, and running as fast as his feet could carry him to a clump +of furze, he pushed his boots far in under the bush, took one glance to +see that all was safe, and fled back again to the garden-door.</p> + +<p>"Paul, Pau—aul." He heard his own name being called, and ran on with a +new fear in his heart. What would they think of him and his tale of his +sprained foot if he reached them breathless and hot? So he slackened his +pace, and when he came to the door leading from the garden into the yard +he sauntered through in the most easy, casual manner he knew how to +assume. When he came in sight of the house he saw his mother standing at +the door. As soon as she saw him she beckoned him to hurry.</p> + +<p>"Why, Paul dear, where have you been? Tea has been ready a long time, and +I have searched for you all over the house. How hot and flushed and tired +you look. Is your foot paining you? You should not have gone out, you +know."</p> + +<p>He was afraid to speak lest his breathlessness should betray him. +"It is not so very bad now, thank you. I think it is getting better." +He spoke so oddly and looked so unlike himself that his mother wondered +what was the matter with him.</p> + +<p>"Have you been out in the sun long?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No—o," he answered. "I've only been strolling about a little."</p> + +<p>"It is hard to keep at home on such a lovely afternoon, but I think you +would have done wisely to have rested," said Mrs. Anketell, +sympathetically; and putting her arm about his shoulders they went to the +orchard, where a glorious tea was spread for them. At any other time +Paul's delight would have been boundless, but to-night he was so listless +and distracted that Mrs. Anketell grew quite anxious about him, and his +depression depressed her.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything troubling you, dear?" she asked. "Can't you tell me +what it is and trust me?"</p> + +<p>There were tears in her eyes at the thought that her boy could keep aloof +from her in his troubles. Her tender glance, her loving voice, touched +Paul's heart. The whole confession trembled on his lips, and would have +been poured forth, but at that moment the maid came up to say the +clergyman had called, and Mrs. Anketell had to go away to see him, leaving +Paul with his confession unmade.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "8"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>A MIDNIGHT SEARCH.</h3> + + +<p>All the evening Paul watched in a fever of anxiety for Muggridge. +He could not rest. He knew that the boots must be cleaned from all traces +of his folly of the morning, and must be in their place by breakfast time +the next day, or searching inquiries would begin. And matters were a +hundred times worse now that the poor things were hidden away so +suspiciously than if they had been found in his room.</p> + +<p>But night came on without bringing any sign of Muggridge, and Paul could +not shake off his depression, which deepened until every one wondered what +was the matter with him. When the others came home, full of all they had +done and seen, the children's pleasure was greatly spoiled by his gloomy +indifference.</p> + +<p>After they had all gone to bed Mr. and Mrs. Anketell sat for a long time +discussing the change in their boy, and wondering with pain what it was +that was troubling him, and why he would not confide in them.</p> + +<p>Paul, lying awake in his own little room, heard his father and mother come +up to bed. He could not sleep, his mind was in such a turmoil, and he +felt himself in such a terrible situation. It seemed to him now that it +would have been but a little thing to have taken the chance of his muddy +boots being found, and of having to own up, compared with what he had to +face now, unless—</p> + +<p>He sprang up in his bed as a sudden inspiration came to him. +Here was a way out of his troubles, if he could but carry it through. +Everything could be set right, and nothing need ever be known. +And if, he told himself, he got off this time, he would be a good boy for +ever after. If he could only get his boots now from their hiding-place +and put them where Muggridge would be sure to find them in the morning, +all would be right. No sooner had the idea entered his head than he felt +he <i>must</i> carry it out. It was his one and only chance—but there were +difficulties. He got out of bed and crept to the window. The moon was +giving a fair light, and would be brighter later. He thought if he could +only get free of the house he could make his way to the clump of furze +though, of course, it would be difficult, for he would not be able to get +out of the garden as he had before, the door being always locked at night, +and the walls too high to climb. And to try to find one particular furze +bush unless one approached it from the same point would be no easy task. +He determined, however, to make the attempt, and began at once to drag on +some garments. Then he bethought him that he must not make the attempt +just yet, for the household might not have fallen asleep, and he lay down +again to wait with what patience he could. But at last he thought he +might venture, and raising the latch of his door softly, he popped out his +head, first an inch or two, then further and further, and listened for any +sound of voices from his father's and mother's room. They were talking, +and they went on doing so for what seemed to Paul an endless time—he +little guessed that it was his behaviour which was keeping them awake and +sleepless—but at last, to his great relief, other sounds reached him; he +heard his father snoring gently, and determined to put his fortunes at +once to the test.</p> + +<p>His depression had gone now, and for the moment he felt only the +excitement of the adventure. Stuffing a piece of candle and a box of +matches into his pocket, he crept downstairs more quietly than he had ever +moved in his life before, and through the stone passage to the kitchen, +for the front door, when opened, grated on the stone floor, and made a +noise which could not fail to rouse the whole household. Everything, +looked strange and uncanny in the dim light, but Paul was too anxious and +eager to feel fear, and of ordinary pluck and spirit he had plenty; it was +moral courage, which is, after all, the true courage, that he lacked. +His spirit was dashed, though, when he reached the back door and saw the +huge bolts by which it was secured. It was locked too, and the key taken +away. "I must try a window," he thought, rallying from his +disappointment. Shutters were fastened over the kitchen window, and he +had had to light his candle to see anything. But the shutters were easily +unfastened, and the window opened, and with very little trouble Paul +clambered through and reached the ground. His stockinged feet made no +sound on the paved yard, and all was easy now for him if he could but find +the right bush. But when he got away from the house, and found himself, +to all appearances, alone on the great empty moor with its hushed, +mysterious noises, its strange shadows, its rises and dips, here and there +a gleaming pool, and here and there a strangely shaped form, all looking +to him odd and uncanny in the dim, weird light, a great awe fell on him. +He thought of the wild animals wandering about there, the treacherous +ground, the people who had been lost there, and never heard of again, and +it seemed to him that a white mysterious light moved about over some of +the hollows. His heart beat fast and heavily, his throat felt dry and +stiff, but he did not dare hesitate. He felt only one great longing to +have his errand done, and be safely back in the house again. How snug, +and safe, and comfortable his little bedroom seemed now! How he envied +those who were able to lie in their beds with clean consciences, and no +unconfessed sins to haunt them! How silly, and worse than silly—how bad +had been the act which had brought all this trouble on him! And he felt +no pride in himself now.</p> + +<p>It seemed to him he would never reach the spot he wanted; the distance +around the house to it seemed far, far greater than he had thought, and +all looked so different and strange, approached from this point. He began +to fear he would never find the particular bush he sought; it seemed such +a hopeless task to embark on in the dark, and alone. In order to make it +more easy, he made his way to the door in the wall, and tried to retrace +his steps of yesterday, as nearly as possible, but even that was more +difficult than he had imagined. He thought the bush was straight ahead, +and not very far off, but when he acted on this idea he found himself on +the edge of a pool, into which he nearly fell. He did not know that when +one walks in the dark, one instinctively bears away to the left all the +time, and that, consequently, he was going straight away from the poor +boots.</p> + +<p>Then a cloud came over the moon, and Paul almost despaired. He was +shaking with excitement and cold, for the wind blew fresh across that spot +all the year round, and Paul was very slightly dressed. At last he lit +his candle, after a great deal of trouble, and holding it carefully in the +hollow of his hands, managed to keep it alight; and finally, more by good +luck than anything else, found himself close to the very bush he was +looking for. In another moment he was on his knees, and diving his arm +cautiously under it. Joy! there were his boots, his poor old boots, the +source of all his trouble. He grabbed them delightedly, and rose. +At the same instant his candle went out, and his heart almost stood still +with terror, for, close by him he heard the sound of stealthy footsteps, +and the clank of a chain.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "9"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<h3>THE OPEN WINDOW.</h3> + + +<p>"A convict escaped!" was the thought which flashed into his brain, +paralysing his limbs with fear. For the moment he was too frightened to +move, and as for looking around,—he could not have made himself do it at +that moment for all the wealth the world could offer. Then, fearing he +knew not what, he turned with a sudden swift impulse, and rushed madly, as +though the furies were after him and any moment might lay a hand on him, +back to where he could just see the white road gleaming in the distance. +His heart thumped so he thought it would choke him, his head swam, a +numbness seemed to be gripping his limbs, blackness creeping over his +sight. Before he reached the road he staggered, stumbled, fell—and for a +few moments lay, a small unconscious heap, on the damp grass.</p> + +<p>When his senses returned to him he sat up, wondering vaguely at first what +had happened, and where he was. He only knew he was trembling, aching, +and feeling miserably ill. Then memory returned, and a sickening fear +mingled with his shame of his own terror. In his shame he made himself +look all about him, he made himself stay quietly where he was and try to +fathom the mystery. And as soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the +strange light, he could distinguish a mysterious form moving stealthily +from bush to bush.</p> + +<p>In another second Paul was on his feet and flying as though for his life +along the road towards home. His first idea and aim was to get back +through the window again, and bar himself in from all danger, but the +banging of his boots as he ran, reminded him that he had not yet fulfilled +his object, and another terror was added to his burthen. When at last he +got back out of sight of the lonely moor, and within the shelter of the +farm, some of his courage returned, and greatly though he dreaded it, he +made his way to the boot-house instead of scuttling into the house, and +into safety at once. Strangely enough the window of the boot-house was +open and he had soon dropped his boots inside, in the hope that they would +appear in the morning with the others, all black, shiny, and innocent +looking; and crept away back to the open window whence he had escaped. +It was not as easy to get back as it had been to get out; the window was +higher from the ground on the outside, and Paul barked both his knees +badly before he succeeded. Then, gently dropping to the floor, he crept +softly upstairs and into his bed. The sight of the cosy room, the safety, +warmth, and comfort of it all, helped him to forget all his woes, his +smarting knees, the thorns in his feet, and his shivering, aching body.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't mind a bit," he thought, "if I'd only got something to eat; +but what a tale it'll be to tell the other fellows when I get back to +school." And so comforting himself he fell asleep.</p> + +<p>When he awoke it was with a feeling that he had overslept himself, and +that the morning was well advanced. This feeling grew stronger, too, +when, on turning and stretching, he heard his mother's voice: +"Paul, Paul, awake at last? Why, what a sleepy boy you are! Have you had +a disturbed night, dear?"</p> + +<p>He opened his eyes with a puzzled stare. "Is it late, mother? Have you +had breakfast? What's the time?"</p> + +<p>"Eleven o'clock. Yes, we had breakfast hours ago, but when we found we +could not rouse you, we let you sleep on. Were you disturbed in the +night, dear?"</p> + +<p>He opened his still drowsy eyes again. "Disturbed!" he said stupidly. +He really did not remember at once all that had happened. "No, I don't +think so. Why?"</p> + +<p>"We think someone broke into the house last night. At least, one of the +kitchen windows and the shutter were found open, and there were footmarks +on the window-sill, and about the floor. The strange thing is that +nothing has been moved or taken away, but Mrs. Minards is greatly +frightened, so are the maids; the foolish girls seem to have lost their +heads entirely."</p> + +<p>Long before she had finished speaking, Paul had remembered that he had +left the window and the shutters open, and that he must have left +footmarks where he trod. He felt thoroughly despicable as he lay there, +listening to his mother's story, knowing that he could explain all, and so +save every one much alarm and trouble. "I should not have told Stella and +Michael," she went on, "lest they should be nervous another time, but they +had heard it all from the maids before I could prevent it."</p> + +<p>But Paul did not hear what she was saying; he had suddenly thought of his +clothes, those he wore last night, and his tell-tale stockings. If his +mother noticed them now, the whole affair would be shown up. And at that +moment Mrs. Anketell did catch sight of the stockings, lying inside out +and rolled up anyhow, on the floor, and instinctively she picked one up +and began to straighten it, while Paul watched her actions with feelings +such as an animal must suffer when caught in a trap.</p> + +<p>"Why, Paul," she exclaimed, as she thrust her hand into the foot of it, +"your stockings are quite wet, and—oh, look, my dear child, what have you +done to them?" She held up the foot on her hand for him to see. +The bottom of it was riddled with holes!</p> + +<p>He had never thought of their wearing out like that, and he leaned up, +gazing at the stocking in sheer astonishment. His mother mistook the look +on his face for another kind of surprise. "How can they have got into +such a state? They were quite sound when I bandaged your ankle. +Were they sound when you took them off last night?"</p> + +<p>"They were all right when I came to bed," stammered Paul.</p> + +<p>"But they have thorns and bits of grass stuck in them," she cried, +examining them closely. "Some one must have walked about in them on +grass, and wet grass too." She put down the stocking, and picked up the +knickerbockers which were lying on a chair. "My dear child, these are all +muddy too!" And as she held them up Paul saw on them the clear marks of +his fall, and his attempts to scale the window.</p> + +<p>"Can't you tell me anything about it, dear?" she asked, puzzled and +amazed; "can't you give me any explanation?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Paul faintly. And his mother, never for a moment suspecting +that he could wilfully deceive her, or that such a thing as had really +happened could be possible, began to look elsewhere for the explanation.</p> + +<p>"Do you know if any of you walk in your sleep?" she asked, with a sudden +thought.</p> + +<p>"I never saw the others do it," said Paul quickly, delighted at the +possibility of a new way out of his dilemma, "and of course I shouldn't +know if I did myself, should I?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, unless something happened to wake you. But don't worry, or +frighten yourself. Of course no one is to blame if it is a case of +sleep-walking,—only it will be a great anxiety for the future. +You had better get up now and dress. I will take these things down; they +may help to explain what is such a puzzle to us all, and to relieve their +minds."</p> + +<p>As soon as his mother had gone, Paul quickly began to bestir himself; he +was not particularly anxious to face people and all the questions which +would probably be levelled at him, but never could he lie still and think +of the deception he had practised on his mother. When he came to move, +the stiffness and pain in his scraped knees almost made him cry out, and +when he put his feet on the floor, he quickly sat back on the bed again, +for the bottoms of his feet were full of tiny prickles, and the pain, when +he pressed on them, was almost unbearable.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "10"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<h3>RUMOUR AND APPREHENSION.</h3> + + +<p>In the excitement and talk which the events of the night called forth, +Paul's boots escaped notice, and Paul himself many times wished he could +have done the same. But he was the most interesting person in the house +just then, and was questioned, cross-questioned, pitied, talked at, until +he was heartily sick of everything, and longed to run away, back to +school, or anywhere, to escape it all; for he could not answer a question +without involving himself in deeper deceit, and he did honestly long to be +able to throw it off, and stand with a clear conscience again.</p> + +<p>Another part of his punishment was the attention he came in for. He was +cossetted for a cold they felt sure he must have caught, his knees were +bandaged with ointment, his feet were prodded and poulticed to get out the +prickles; and, worst of all, there was talk of putting him to sleep in his +father's dressing-room, which opened out of his parents' bedroom, that he +might be heard and checked if he attempted again to take any more midnight +strolls. For the matter assumed a very serious aspect as the day wore on, +and they began to think less lightly of Master Paul's habit of undoing +bolts and windows, and leaving the house open to any one all the night +through.</p> + +<p>Farmer Minards came home to tea looking grave and troubled. "Here's a +pretty business!" he exclaimed as he came in. "Two convicts got away from +the prison yesterday morning early, and haven't been caught yet. One of +'em broke into Perry's farm last night, and stole a whole 'eap of Farmer +Perry's clothes; 'tother one they've lost sight of altogether, but 'tis +thought he made for this direction. And they say they are two of the most +desperate villains they've ever had within the walls."</p> + +<p>Paul's heart almost ceased beating with the sudden fear that filled it.</p> + +<p>"It be'oves us to keep the place well barred up," went on the old man, +"and not be leaving windows open all night," nodding knowingly at Paul. +"They're not nice chaps to meet, they there convicts, and they don't stop +at much when they're trying to get off."</p> + +<p>Every vestige of colour had left Paul's face as he realised what his +danger had been the night before. That must have been the convict he had +heard. He longed to tell the farmer how close the danger was, that he +might take extra precautions to guard the house.</p> + +<p>"Do they—haven't they got on handcuffs, and—and chains on their ankles?" +he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but they pretty soon gets rid of they, you may be sure," answered +the old man. "Why, what do you know about 'em, young sur?"</p> + +<p>It seemed to Paul that he was looking at him almost suspiciously. +"Oh, nothing—only—I've—I've been told—I know a fellow who stayed near +Princetown once, and he told me a heap about them," he stammered, and +Farmer Minards seemed satisfied and rose to go back to his work.</p> + +<p>"Don't you young folk wander far for a few days," he said, turning round +as he was going out at the door; "they're nasty chaps to meet on a lonely +spot. There's one thing, <i>you</i> won't be able to go out and get into any +mischief for a day or two, I reckon. 'Tisn't a bad thing to have 'ee tied +by the leg for a bit, it'll give your mother a bit of peace of mind," he +said to Paul, and he laughed in a way which made Paul flush with +mortification.</p> + +<p>But he was mistaken as to the length of time Master Paul would be tied by +the leg. No schoolboy of fourteen would consent to spend a second +perfect summer day in the house, for the sake of a pair of scarred knees, +if he could possibly manage to use them.</p> + +<p>Paul found it almost unbearable to be in as long as he was, and especially +to be the object of as much notice as he was, so the second day he +declared himself quite fit to go out and stroll around, and Mrs. Anketell +was glad for him to be out in the sunshine and air again, he was so pale, +and his spirits seemed so low.</p> + +<p>On one point Mrs. Anketell had been most imperative—not a word as +to the escaped convicts was to be mentioned before Stella and Michael. +They had had so much to excite and alarm them lately, she was most anxious +to keep this last terror from them. Mike, she knew, had a childish dread +of the prison and its occupants, and Stella, who was not strong yet after +her illness, had also been nervous of being in the near neighbourhood of +the prison. So the two younger ones ran out and played about with light +hearts, full of pleasure that Paul was with them again, and anxious only +to make him laugh and romp about, and tease them as he used to do. +But Paul, though he was out in the sunshine once more, and though he had +escaped the detection of his wickedness, could not laugh, or joke, or take +any interest in the others' amusement, for a great weight lay on his heart +and his conscience, and he wondered if he should ever be a happy, +light-hearted boy again.</p> + +<p>It was such a lovely day, that first day he was out, so warm, and bright, +and perfect, that Mrs. Anketell promised them they should have all their +meals in the orchard, for there she felt they would be safe from harm, +and Farmer Minards sent out for one of the shepherd's dogs to be with them +too. So they had their mid-day dinner under the apple-trees, and played +there contentedly enough, the children unconscious of any danger, their +mother feeling for the time safe, and trying to put all fear from her, +Paul in constant dread of he scarcely knew what.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon Mr. Anketell had to leave them, as a telegram had come +calling him to London at once. He was very vexed about it, for he felt +peculiarly loath to leave them just then, he too being filled with a +foreboding of fear, for which he could not account except by telling +himself that Paul's extraordinary night adventure, and the narrow escape +from the morass, had upset his nerves, and made him unusually fearful. +When the car came round to take him to the station, he called Paul aside, +and spoke to him very gravely.</p> + +<p>"Paul, my son," he said kindly, "I have to leave you all, though I am more +than unwilling to do so, but I am going to leave your mother and the +children in your charge. Keep the little ones in your sight, guard them +all carefully. Cease to be a thoughtless child for the time, and try to +be a man, with a man's grave sense of responsibility. Take care of them +and of yourself, and remember a great trust rests on you."</p> + +<p>"I will, father," said Paul earnestly, and his lips quivered as his father +leaned affectionately on his shoulder. Confession trembled on his lips, +but there was no time for it, though he felt that here was a chance to +expiate his wickedness and deceit of the past. But if he could not +confess, he could at any rate live down that past and wipe it out by his +future conduct, and he would, he vowed he would. "I will take care of +them, father, I promise you," he repeated earnestly.</p> + +<p>The spirits of all flagged a good deal after Mr. Anketell's departure, and +it was quite a sober little party that gathered round the tea-table in the +orchard, and after tea they were quite content to sit and read instead of +indulging in their old lively games.</p> + +<p>At seven o'clock Mrs. Anketell rose and went in with Mike to give him his +glass of milk before putting him to bed. "I think you had all better come +in now," she said. "Can you bring in the rugs and things between you?"</p> + +<p>The elder ones followed her in a few moments with their first load, and +laid the things down in the passage. Mrs. Anketell was outside calling to +the maids, "I can't think where they are," she said anxiously, as the +children passed her on their way out. "Mrs. Minards, I know, has gone out +in the car which took father; she had some shopping to do, but she left +Laura and Ann in charge. It is very wrong of them to leave the house like +this."</p> + +<p>Paul went outside and shouted the girls' names at the top of his voice, +but he and Stella were bringing their last load before he saw them coming +in at the yard gate. They had been down to the hind's cottage, gossiping +with his wife.</p> + +<p>About nine o'clock Mrs. Minards came back in the car, driven by her +husband, and soon after all the household retired to bed.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "11"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<h3>A TEST OF BRAVERY.</h3> + + +<p>It must have been three or four hours later that Paul heard what he +thought were mysterious noises and stealthy footsteps downstairs. +He had been lying restless and wakeful, haunted by a dread of he knew not +what, his mind continually dwelling on the runaway convicts out on the +moor, the clank of the iron as he had heard it that night sounding plainly +in his ears. He remembered, too, how deserted the house had been when his +mother and Mike had come into it, and how easily any one could have +walked in, had he or she been so inclined.</p> + +<p>Then in on his thoughts broke those sounds. A dreadful certainty of harm +to come came to him, but he had plenty of pluck, and the memory of his +promise to his father was strong in his mind. He got out of bed softly +and opened his door; then he crept to his mother's door and listened; no +sound came from there, and he hoped she was fast asleep, and Michael, too, +whose cot had been moved in there for the time. Paul felt sincerely +thankful. But though it was plain that the sounds had not come from +there, he was certain they came from somewhere within the house. +He crept softly along the passage and stood at the head of the stairs +listening. At first all was quiet, but just as he was thinking of +creeping back to his bed again, telling himself he had made a mistake, +there came from below a faint sound of scraping, and of stealthy +movements. At the sounds, so unmistakably those of a person bent on +concealment, his heart thumped madly, a cold sweat broke out on his brow; +his heart indeed thumped so loudly he was afraid it would be heard by the +person below, but he went bravely down a few steps further and listened +again. Yes, there was no doubt there was someone down there.</p> + +<p>What could he, a small boy, do against a desperate man? Farmer Minards +slept on the other side of the house, and his room could only be reached +by a flight of stairs running up from the kitchen. To get at him Paul +must go right down, and through the house, close to, if not actually +passing by the burglar, or whoever it might be who was acting so +stealthily. But Farmer Minards must be roused somehow. This was the one +thing Paul was certain of. Without making a sound he crept down another +stair or two. Whoever it was down below, he had a light, for Paul could +see a faint glimmer, and it came, he imagined, from the little room the +farmer called his 'office.'</p> + +<p>Scarcely knowing to what his thoughts led, Paul thought he might possibly +creep down and pass the office unnoticed, then fly softly through the +kitchen and up to the farmer's room. All chance of success would depend, +though, on the man not being near the office door, or facing that way. +But before his thoughts were really formed Paul had put them into action. +He was too much alarmed and too full of the responsibility of his position +to dawdle. Suppose any harm should come to his mother or the children! +He grew sick with terror at the thought, and flew on faster.</p> + +<p>There was only a faint swish in the air to indicate that anyone had moved, +a sound so faint that the thief in the office did not hear it. He was +busily engaged on the lock of the farmer's safe.</p> + +<p>The kitchen reached, Paul flew up the back stairs, and burst like a +hurricane into the first room he came to. Luckily it was the right one. +It took him some time to rouse the old farmer and to make him understand +what was happening, and when that was accomplished nothing would satisfy +him but that he must dress as fully as on every other morning, and then +rouse the household in that part of the house.</p> + +<p>Paul quivered with impatience. "Quick! quick!" he groaned. "He may go up +and murder mother or Stella while we are here." But the farmer had never +been quick in his life, and did not know the meaning of the word.</p> + +<p>"Plenty of time," he said, and Paul groaned with anguish. "Plenty of +time, sir. That there lock'll keep un quiet for a brave bit, and I ain't +going to trust myself in that place without plenty to back me up."</p> + +<p>"I must go back alone, then," said Paul at last, in an agony of +impatience; "I promised father I'd take care of them." And he began to +descend the stairs, hoping by his departure to accelerate the movements of +the others. But his hope was a forlorn one, and he went back by himself, +in spite of the farmer's repeated injunctions to "wait a bit."</p> + +<p>He hoped by being equally swift and silent to escape the notice of the +thief again, but the man was no longer in the office. Whether he had +succeeded in robbing the safe or not Paul did not know, but he soon +gathered that he had gone upstairs; in fact, as Paul himself reached the +landing, he heard him raise the latch of Stella's door and creep into the +room.</p> + +<p>"Who are you—what do you want?" gasped Paul. He was rendered well-nigh +speechless at coming suddenly face to face with the burglar.</p> + +<p>The man turned on him like a hunted animal at bay. "If you make a sound +I'll shoot you!" he snarled, and with the same he whipped a revolver from +his pocket. "If you'll hold your tongue and say nothing no harm'll come +to anybody, but if you give the alarm I'll—"</p> + +<p>But he did not complete his sentence, for their voices had wakened Stella, +and at the sight of the stranger she started up in bed with a scream.</p> + +<p>Frantic and desperate, the man turned from Paul to her. "Stop that noise, +will you?" he hissed, "or I'll—" But at that moment Paul rushed past +him, sprang on the bed, and placed his own body in front of his sister's. +"No, you don't," he half sobbed, half screamed, "you—you coward, you'll +hit me first!"</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if the man would have fired at little Stella; probably he +meant only to frighten the children, but at that instant he heard the +sound of footsteps on the stairs, and with a frenzied look around him for +a means of escape, he saw the doorway filled by the burly form of Farmer +Minards.</p> + +<p>Now Farmer Minards was not accustomed to the capturing of desperate men. +A better man with a kicking horse, or a savage bull, could not perhaps, be +found on Dartmoor, and if the convict had stood and allowed himself to be +pinioned with only a moderate amount of struggling and kicking, the +farmer's presence of mind would have been sufficient, but, as it was, when +the man made one bold rush, with pistol cocked, for the very spot where he +stood, he gave way before the rush; but for an instant there was a +struggle and a fight, for Muggridge and the man who slept at the farm were +close behind the farmer, little expecting their master to give way so +soon, and leave them to grapple with their visitor, and it may have been +that he intended to shoot down one of them, or that in the struggle the +pistol accidentally went off, but in another second a bullet whistled +through the air, and, passing clean through the fleshy part of Paul's arm, +became embedded in the wall behind.</p> + +<p>Certain it is that if Paul had not dragged his sister flat down behind him +on the bed poor Stella's life would have been ended then and there. +But Paul had expiated his sin nobly, and he had nearly laid down his life +for hers. Stella really thought he had laid it down in very truth when he +fell forward on his face with blood pouring from him, and, overcome with +grief and horror, she fainted dead away beside him.</p> + +<p>Farmer Minards saw the children fall, and he, too, thought Paul was +killed. In fact, for the moment he thought they both were, and with the +horror of it, forgetting the convict and everything else, he rushed to the +bedside, leaving Muggridge and Davey to manage as best they could. +But the convict had the best of it, and the two had never a chance to +close with him. By the force and unexpectedness with which he came he +burst through them, and dealing Davey a blow on the head with his pistol, +and Muggridge one in the face with his fist, which left them both stunned +and bleeding, he flew down the stairs and out of the house by the very +window through which he had entered.</p> + +<p>When Stella and Paul at last awoke again to life, and to a recollection of +what had taken place, it seemed to be everybody's aim to banish from their +minds the painful past, and the memory of that terrible night, and to fill +their lives with everything that could brighten and cheer them and help +them to forget. Paul was quite a hero in all their eyes; to Stella he +seemed the very ideal of all that was splendid and brave, and to Paul's +credit it must be said that the opinion he had of himself was far lower +and more contemptuous than he deserved, and he would not listen to one +word of praise.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "12"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<h3>STELLA'S ADVENTURE.</h3> + + +<p>Naturally, one of the first inquiries of the children on recovering was as +to whether their assailant had been captured, and Mrs. Anketell was +greatly troubled, fearing it would make them nervous of the place if they +knew he was still at large, and she longed to be able to assure them that +the man was safely under lock and key again. Another thing she feared was +that the children would be too terrified to stay in the neighbourhood, +and would wish to be taken home. But when by-and-by an immediate return +home was suggested to them they pleaded so hard—to her great relief—to +be allowed to stay, that she gladly fell in with their wishes, being +anxious to leave with a happier impression of the place than that given by +the fright, almost tragedy, they had just sustained.</p> + +<p>So they stayed on. Stella soon grew bright and rosy again when she saw +that Paul was not dangerously hurt, and with the happy knack which +healthy, plucky children, have, she soon threw off any dread she might +have of going out and about, and with 'Watch' (the dog Farmer Minards gave +the children to be their own special protector) at their heels, she and +Michael wandered about, within reach of home, as happily as if no such +person as a convict existed.</p> + +<p>Paul, of course, did not recover so quickly; he had to be quiet until his +wound had healed, and Stella and Michael missed him very much in all their +games and walks, so much so indeed that Mr. Anketell, who had been sent +for at once, took to planning little excursions to various picturesque +spots in the neighbourhood, where they would have tea in a cottage, or in +a cottage garden, and drive home in the cool of the evening.</p> + +<p>One day, soon after the accident, while Paul was still too weak to get +about, Mr. Anketell suggested that they should drive that afternoon to a +village called Windycross, walk on a mile to the little town which was +their nearest shopping-place, and come back to Windycross to tea. +Stella was delighted. For days she had been longing to buy a little +present for Paul, but did not know how to manage it; here was her +opportunity, and with her purse in her pocket, and heart full of +delightful importance, she clambered up into the carriage and drove off.</p> + +<p>It was a lovely day, and the children were in the highest spirits, +only saddened every now and again by the sight of the searchers still +scouring the country for the escaped man, and the fear that the poor +fellow might at any moment be caught, for, strange though it may seem, +all the children's sympathies were with him, and they longed to hear that +the search had been abandoned.</p> + +<p>The drive to Windycross was a long one, but they reached there in good +time, and Michael and Stella stood looking about them full of interest at +the funny little low white cottages, while their father went into one and +ordered tea. Then they strolled slowly on to the town, and Stella laid +out two of the five shillings she possessed on a book she knew Paul was +longing to possess. Her pleasure and excitement over her purchase were +immense; she could not allow anyone else to carry it, and every now and +again she was filled with a longing to untie the string and look at her +treasure, to turn over the crisp new leaves, and glance at the pictures. +At last, when they reached the village, she could restrain herself no +longer. They had got back earlier than they thought they would, and the +tea was not ready, so Mr. Anketell, who wanted to call on a friend near +by, thought he would go and do that while they were waiting, and take the +children with him.</p> + +<p>But Stella wanted so much to undo her precious parcel and look at her book +that she pleaded to be left behind, and Mr. Anketell and Michael left her +at the cottage. But she soon found that that did not suit her; there were +too many people about, and she was shy under the glances of so many eyes; +so she strolled into the garden, but that was close to the village street, +and a girl who was working there dropped her work to stare at the +stranger.</p> + +<p>Stella began to feel quite cross, and she looked around to see if there +was no secluded spot in all that place. Then her eye fell on the little +church hidden away amongst trees at the bottom of the village, and her +heart leaped. She turned to the girl who was picking fruit and watching +her at the same time. "I am going down to the churchyard to sit in the +shade," she said. "I will be back again by the time tea is ready," and +before the girl could reply she had hurried away.</p> + +<p>The top of the village seemed to be the favourite spot at Windycross for +the villagers to congregate; most of the houses were up there, too, while +the lower end where the church stood was as deserted as the other end was +sought after; to Stella's great joy she did not see a single person, and +as she clambered over the stone stile which led into it, and wandered +along the overgrown paths, she felt as though she was as safe from +intrusion as though she had been in the middle of the moor. The fact was, +the yard had long ceased to be used as a burying-ground, and the church +itself was as nearly deserted by the present generation of villagers, for +a clergyman came only once a month to hold service there, and while the +old building gradually became a ruin, a flourishing chapel sprang up to +satisfy the needs of the neglected people.</p> + +<p>But Stella knew and thought nothing of this; she was only bent on finding +a comfortable, secluded seat, where she sat and unwrapped her parcel. +She thought of Paul's surprise, and how pleased he would be, she dipped +into the pages here and there and read a few lines, admired the covers, +and enjoyed the delightful smell new books so often have, and at last, +half reluctantly, she wrapped her treasure up in its paper again, trying +to make it look as neat as when the shopman had handed it to her. +That done she got up to explore further. It was a weird, neglected spot +she had got into. Numbers of tombstones lay about as they had fallen, +others were leaning over looking as though another gale would lay them +flat too. The shrubs which had been planted on the graves had grown to be +great, unkempt bushes, spreading over many other graves than the one they +had been planted on; tiny saplings had become big trees, forcing out +tombstones and curbs, and everywhere the rank grass grew high up into the +bushes. But greatest of all dilapidations was that of the church itself; +many of the windows had been broken, and were left unrepaired; here and +there a great piece of stonework had fallen away; the outer gates of the +porch hung loose on one hinge. Stella entered the porch and sat for a +moment on one of the stone benches.</p> + +<p>Then, scarcely knowing why she did it, she raised the latch of the church +door. To her great surprise the door opened, and without a thought she +entered. She had never been in so tumbledown and neglected a place in her +life; the pew-doors were either hanging or gone altogether, some of the +pews were too rotten to use, the plaster and paint hung off in scales, and +a large hole in the roof showed that the risk of attending service there +was no slight one.</p> + +<p>But Stella did not heed the danger; she was too much charmed to find +herself alone and exploring. A sense of importance filled her, and a good +deal of curiosity. She looked at the names in some of the mouldy hymn +books lying in the pews, and mounted the pulpit to see how the church +looked from there. Then she went into the vestry, and coming out of it +she found herself at the entrance to a low dark place which she thought +must be a family vault. It was so low and dark she could at first see +nothing within, and instinctively she drew herself up sharply on the +threshold, doubtful, but of what she did not know. But, somehow, she did +not like to enter, a sudden nervousness came over her, a desire to get +away from the place and be out in the open again.</p> + +<p>And then, with a terrified scream, she saw close to her, gleaming out of +the darkness, a wild looking, savage face; two eyes full of desperation, +and hunger, and despair, were fixed on hers; and in another moment she +recognised the hiding convict. The fear in his face lightened when he +found that the footsteps he had listened to for what seemed so long were +only those of a little girl.</p> + +<p>"Are you alone?" he asked, in a low, gruff voice.</p> + +<p>With the shock, and the fright, and her fear of the man, a sudden panic +seized Stella; she could not answer, and with another terrified cry she +turned and ran. But she did not know her way, and in her hurry she +tripped over a step, and before she could recover herself the man was at +her side. But instead of killing her, as she really thought he would, he +lifted her up, not roughly, and put her on her feet, then picked up her +parcel and after carefully feeling it, handed it to her, though he kept a +tight grip of her hand.</p> + +<p>"Missy," he said in a low voice, so hoarse she could hardly make out what +he said—"Missy, I ain't goin' to hurt you. I give 'ee my word I won't +harm you if you'll only promise not to breathe a word about my being +here."</p> + +<p>A sound outside, probably only a bird fluttering in the ivy, made him +start nervously, and Stella saw that he shook, and that the perspiration +stood out on his face. He drew her quickly back to the entrance to the +vault. "Swear you won't ever breathe a word to anybody that you have seen +me. Swear it! Do you hear?"</p> + +<p>He looked so ferocious, that Stella began to cry. "I won't tell, of +course not," she said, earnestly. "I am not a sneak, and we wanted you to +escape; we all hoped you were far away by this time. Paul and I thought +you must be."</p> + +<p>He gave a sort of snarl. "There's no getting away from this place, unless +anybody's got friends outside to help 'em. They are too sharp, and there +are too many of 'em. But I've gone free longer than any before me, and +that's something. Who is Paul?" he asked suddenly. "And where do you +live?"</p> + +<p>"We live at Moor Farm. Paul is my brother, the one you shot."</p> + +<p>The man looked at her sharply, "Did I—did I hurt him much?"</p> + +<p>"The bullet went through his arm. He didn't die."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," said the man, and he spoke as though he really meant +it. "I'm starving," he said a second later. "I haven't had a mouthful +since the day before yesterday, and I can't hold out much longer. +Have you got any food about you?"</p> + +<p>Stella shook her head. "No, I haven't. I am so sorry," she said +wistfully, and the man's hard face grew soft as her blue eyes looked +pityingly up at him. "I <i>wish</i> I could help you," she said earnestly; +then with sudden recollection, "I have three shillings, if that would be +of any use to you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Missy, it might be," he said gratefully; "but I wish you'd got +a bit of bread."</p> + +<p>She took out her little purse, and counted out the money into his rough +hand. "Thank you, Missy," he said again. "I shall never forget you, if I +gets away, or if I'm took I shall always be humbly grateful to you, and +think of you as one of the pluckiest little ladies that ever lived."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said politely, "but I think I must be going now, or +someone may come to look for me."</p> + +<p>The man's face again was filled with a desperate fear, and he shrank back +further into the gloom of the vault, "Before you go you must swear you +won't give me away. Swear!—do you hear, on your solemn oath!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know how to swear," said Stella simply, "but I promise solemnly +not to tell anyone who would do you any harm."</p> + +<p>"That won't do. You must not tell anyone at all, unless you hear I'm— +took—or killed," with a bitter laugh.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Stella. "I don't like keeping it from mother, but I +<i>will</i> keep the secret, for your sake. I hope you will soon get some +food. Good-bye," and she held out her hand to shake hands with him.</p> + +<p>The man took it, but did not speak, and Stella, drawing her hand away, ran +down the aisle and through the church as fast as she could. Not until she +was outside did she realise how her limbs were trembling, and she wondered +how she should ever get back to the cottage and escape notice and +questioning. But in her great desire to shield the man she made such +efforts to laugh and talk and be like her usual self, and Michael had so +much to say too, that nothing unusual was observed in her look or manner. +And if, during the next few days, any of them thought her unusually quiet +and thoughtful, it was all put down to the shock the burglar had given her +that night, no one dreaming that she had had a long and solitary interview +with that same desperate creature, and had come out of it unhurt.</p> + +<p>But only for a week did her silence last, for at the end of that time the +poor, wretched convict was captured, miles from Windycross, just as he was +making his way to a train which would have borne him, probably, to safety. +As usual, all sympathy was with the captured man, but to Stella his arrest +was a real and lasting grief, and when amidst many bitter tears she told +the story of her adventure at Windycross, her one hope was that he did not +think she was in any way concerned in his capture.</p> + +<br><br> +<p><a name = "13"></a> </p> +<br><br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<h3>PAUL CONFESSES.</h3> + + +<p>But though Stella recovered so well, and so much more quickly than they +had dared to hope, from the shock she had received that night, Paul +remained ill and low in spirits and in strength. Of course at first he +was very weak from loss of blood and shock, and no one wondered; but, as +time went on, and in spite of all that was done for him, he did not pick +op health as they expected him to. They fed him, and physicked him, and +tried to cheer him, but nothing seemed to do him any good, until at last +the doctor, the same who had pulled him out of the morass, and carried +Stella home, began to be puzzled about him. "Has he anything on his mind +that can be troubling him?" he asked Mr. Anketell, one day. "Something is +keeping him back; he is spiritless and depressed. It must be his mind; +his body is sound enough, and the wound is healing nicely. I wonder if he +has been up to any other escapade, and is uneasy about it? It is probably +quite a trifling thing, but I feel sure something is preying on the boy's +mind."</p> + +<p>After the doctor had gone, Mr. Anketell wandered about the moor, thinking +deeply. The doctor's words had impressed him very much, and even while he +had been speaking the memory of the sleep-walking night, and Paul's odd +behaviour of the day previous to that, came back to him. Could Paul have +deceived them all as to the events of that night? Had something happened +then which he had not liked to confess?</p> + +<p>He went slowly back to the farm, his heart heavy, his face stern. +But before he sought his son, he went to his own room, and prayed to God +to help him in his guidance of this boy of his.</p> + +<p>Paul was alone, lying on a couch in his own room, to which he had been +carried after he had been shot. The sun had set, and a soft twilight was +filling the room, but the light which still came in at the window fell +full on Paul. Mr. Anketell, entering softly, saw the expression on the +boy's face, the look in his eyes, and his heart ached, and all his +sternness vanished. "My boy," he said, oh, so tenderly, "tell me what it +is that is troubling you; tell me all about it, I know there is something. +Can't you bring yourself to trust me not to be hard on you?"</p> + +<p>No one knew what transpired at that meeting. No one but Mrs. Anketell in +fact ever knew it had taken place. It was to remain for ever a confidence +between them, and it was a confidence which bound father and son more +closely together all their lives after. They had a long, long talk; much +was confessed, much help given, much strength and courage. Paul never +forgot that evening and that talk in the twilight, or his first +realisation of the greatness of his father's love for him. No shyness, no +self-consciousness was left, no fear of meeting his father's eyes, no more +secrets lay between them. To Paul, though he but dimly realised it then, +and could not have explained it, that hour was a turning-point in his +life, and in all his after-life he thanked God for that one evening's +talk. But after the confession and the forgiveness was over, and all had +been told, they sat so long talking that presently the supper-bell rang, +and then came a light, slow step upon the stair. It was Stella's, they +knew. "Will you tell her?" whispered Paul, and though his heart was sore +with shame he did not falter.</p> + +<p>"No," whispered back his father. "I shall tell no one. I want the +children to feel nothing but affection and respect for you, to look up to +you. Nothing must smirch Stella's beautiful love for you, Paul. +It is something you cannot prize too highly, and will some day know the +true value of."</p> + +<p>"I will try not to let anything," said Paul gravely, and there came a tap +at the door. "Is daddy here?" asked Stella's voice, and then, opening the +door, "Oh, you are in the dark. Poor Paul, weren't you frightened?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Paul simply, "father is here."</p> + +<p>And then a happy little procession went down the stairs to supper—Paul in +his father's arms, Stella running in front to open doors. Exclamations of +joy greeted them as they appeared, for this was Paul's first appearance +below stairs. And his mother, who at the first glance saw that it was her +old, happy Paul who had come back to them, and that all the shadow which +had come between them had been cleared away, felt happier than she had for +many a long day. For one wilful mischievous boy can not only make himself +thoroughly unhappy, but everyone about him becomes unhappy too.</p> + +<p>A week or two later they left Moor Farm for home, their holiday ended.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Anketell, drawing a deep breath as he took his seat +beside them in the train, "it seems to me we lost nothing in the way of +excitement by not going to Norway. Dartmoor was able to give us as much +as we could manage with."</p> + +<p>"I have never regretted the change," said Mrs. Anketell heartily, +"have you children?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," cried Michael, excitedly. "We had adventures all the time, and +shooting, and everything."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul, laughing ruefully, "and I provided most of them."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL THE COURAGEOUS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 26087-h.txt or 26087-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/0/8/26087">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/8/26087</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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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: Paul the Courageous + + +Author: Mabel Quiller-Couch + + + +Release Date: July 19, 2008 [eBook #26087] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL THE COURAGEOUS*** + + +E-text prepared by Lionel Sear + + + +PAUL THE COURAGEOUS. + +by + +MABEL QUILLER-COUCH + + + + + + + +1901 +This e-text was prepared from a reprint of a version published in 1901. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Chap. + + I. A DISAPPOINTMENT. + + II. HOW PAUL BORE IT. + + III. PAUL'S HOPES RISE. + + IV. THE REWARD OF OVER-CONFIDENCE. + + V. THE RESCUE. + + VI. A SLOW LEARNER. + + VII. A TROUBLESOME PAIR OF BOOTS. + + VIII. A MIDNIGHT SEARCH. + + IX. THE OPEN WINDOW. + + X. RUMOUR AND APPREHENSION. + + XI. A TEST OF BRAVERY. + + XII. STELLA'S ADVENTURE. + + XIII. PAUL CONFESSES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +A DISAPPOINTMENT. + +Slewbury was a very fine town in its way; a little quiet and sleepy +perhaps, as country towns often are, but it was large and handsome, and +beautifully situated on the side of a steep hill. It had a grand +market-place, a large town-hall where concerts were often given, and some +well-kept public gardens, of all of which the Slewbury people were very +proud, and justly so. + +But then, as Paul Anketell and his friends often remarked, "What was there +for boys?" There was absolutely nothing. No river, no sea, no mountains, +or anything. All there was for them in the way of amusement was to go for +walks and pick flowers, and wander about a field or two. Certainly one +could climb a tree, and whittle sticks or make whistles, but one could not +be doing that all the time. No, Paul had long since come to the +conclusion that Slewbury was a miserable place in which to live; he hated +it; and he could not understand why his father had ever settled there. + +When he was a man, he declared over and over again to Stella and Michael, +he would have a house close to a river, a mountain, and the sea, then he +would have boats and rods, and a sailing boat, so that he would never be +hard up for something to do. To a great extent Paul was right; Slewbury +was a dull, sleepy and prim old town, but boys ought to be able to make +amusements for themselves anywhere; they should have resources within +themselves. Paul had loads of toys, and books, and tools, and a nice +large garden to play in when the weather was fine. But he was a restless +boy, full of longing for adventure and travel, and new sights, and sounds, +and experiences, and the happiest time of the whole year to him was the +summer holiday when all the family went away to the sea, or to some +beautiful spot amongst the mountains. + +True, the sea had always been the English sea--at least it had come to +them at an English seaside town--and the mountains had been either Welsh +or Scotch mountains, but the three little Anketells were true British +children and were quite sure there could be no more beautiful mountains or +coasts anywhere in the world. + +As soon as the Christmas holidays were over and school work had set in, +the children began to think of where they should go when the summer +holidays came, and what they would do, and many and many a discussion they +had as to their favourite spots, and whether they should go to an old +favourite, or try a new one. Plans were made, toys collected, and boxes +packed long before the happy day came, but it all added to the pleasure +and excitement and importance of the long-looked-forward-to event. + +But dearly as they loved their own country, they had no objection to going +further afield, and when one day Mr. Anketell suggested that that year +they should spend their holiday in Norway, their excitement knew no +bounds. All previous travels and expeditions seemed to sink into +insignificance beside this. To be actually going to live, and sleep, and +eat, on board a real steamer, and to cross the sea to another land seemed +to them a splendid outlook. Every book and picture that could tell them +anything about Norway was eagerly hunted up, all the Norwegian fairy tales +were read again and again, until Stella and Michael at last felt quite +sure that they would meet fairies, and dwarfs, and Vikings wherever they +went. They had no idea what a Viking was like, but they thought it must +be something between a giant and a knight, with all the good qualities of +both. + +There never could have been a greater inducement to learn geography and +history than this long-talked-of trip. All through the term Stella and +Mike studied the map of Norway until they very nearly knew it by heart, +and when Paul came home for the Easter holidays they met him brimful of +information on the subject. But Paul was not going to allow himself to be +taught anything by 'the children,' as he called them, and he soon had them +sufficiently awed by his superior knowledge and loftier understanding. +He cared nothing for fairies, and quickly dashed all Stella's hopes of +seeing any, but he could teach them a great deal about the sports, and the +shooting, and the other attractions to be found there--at least, he +thought he could--but his father and mother had often to smile to +themselves as they listened to the marvellous stories he told the +children, and sometimes they had to check him to set him right on various +points, a thing he objected to very much indeed. For Paul had read so +much, heard so much, and thought so much of the marvels of that northern +land, that nothing was too impossible and improbable for him to believe, +and one night, just as he was going to bed, a new idea came to him, an +idea so splendid that it prevented for a long time his going to sleep, and +even after he was asleep he dreamed the whole night through that he was +having a terrific fight with a huge bear, and when he awoke in the morning +and thought that his dream might very likely prove a reality, he hardly +knew how to contain himself until he had made sure. + +He tumbled into his bath and out again, and into his clothes in a shorter +time than it usually took him to make up his mind to get out of bed; and +rushing downstairs two or three steps at a time, burst like a tornado into +the dining-room, where his father and mother had assembled for prayers. + +"I say," he shouted, without a thought as to whether he was interrupting +any conversation--"oh, I say, father, mother, aren't there big white bears +in the Norwegian fjords, white Polar bears, I mean? And shall we see +them, and if there are, may we go hunting when we are there? It would be +simply splendid; I'd rather go bear-hunting than anything; it would be +grand to kill a bear." + +He had been so eager to get down and satisfy himself on this point that he +had not stayed to dress himself properly, and he burst into the room with +his collar unfastened, and his tie missing altogether. He was so eager, +too, that he did not notice the anxiety on his parents' faces, or in their +manner, and only wondered why they looked at him so sadly, and without +answering any of his burning questions. + +At last he grew impatient. "Father, do tell me, shall you take your guns +with you? and mayn't I have one?" + +"Hush, hush, dear, do not be so excitable! There are no bears to shoot +where we thought of going, nor wild animals of any kind, you may be quite +sure, or we should not have dreamed of taking Stella and Michael there for +their holidays." + +"But, mother, dear, they would be quite safe with father and me to take +care of them. Do let's go to a part where there are bears! I'd give +anything to bring home a fur rug with a great head on it, and say I'd shot +it myself." + +"Paul, do not talk any more now. Father is dreadfully worried, and has a +very great deal to think of. You understand, dear. Now fasten your +collar and go to your place, I hear the servants coming in to prayers." +And Mrs. Anketell stooped and kissed him. "Pray God to help dear father +in his troubles," she whispered, "and make us all brave to bear our +share." + +Paul went to his seat quietly, wondering very much what it all meant. +Surely his father had plenty of courage to face anything and everything, +and he knew that he himself had. As for his mother and Stella--well, +mother did not need to be brave with father to take care of her, and +Stella was only a girl, and no one would expect much of her; as for +Michael, he was only six, a mere baby. He sat in his chair puzzled, and +wondering, and coming no nearer a solution of his mother's meaning. But +Paul was soon to learn it, and he never forgot the hour which followed, +when the servants had left the room, and he and his father and mother were +seated alone at the table. + +The urn was hissing and singing, the sweet spring sunshine shone in on the +silver on the table, on the bright covers, and on the big bowl of yellow +daffodils on the old oak sideboard. A deep consciousness of all these +details, and of the beauty of the scene, was impressed on his mind then-- +though at the time he was wholly unaware of the fact--and through all his +after life remained with him so vividly that he could recall every detail +of the scene, and the look of everything in the low, familiar room as it +was that morning. He could recall, too, the unusual gravity of his +parents, the anxious face of his mother, and how the tears sprang to her +eyes when his father looked up and noticed her anxiety and tried to cheer +her. + +"Darling, you must not take it so hardly," he said tenderly; "things might +be much worse. With some self-denial and economy we shall weather this +storm, as we did many when first we were married." Then they smiled at +each other, and Paul saw that they grew happier again at once. + +"Shall I tell the boy about it now?" asked Mr. Anketell. "He must know +sooner or later." + +Mrs. Anketell looked at Paul for a moment with an expression on her face +that he could not read, but he thought she looked sorry about something, +and very, very sad; then she looked away at her husband and nodded assent. + +"Paul, my son," said his father, turning to him and laying his hand gently +on the boy's arm, "I want you to listen to me, and give me your whole +attention. You are old enough now to be our confidant in many things, and +of course you will understand that what we may confide in you we trust to +your honour to respect as a confidence, and to speak about to no one." + +Paul said, "Yes, father," in rather a frightened voice. He knew that it +was considered 'sneakish' to tell a secret, but he had never dreamed that +secrets could be such very solemn things. + +"Well, my boy, we have met with a very great misfortune, and have lost a +large sum of money, and from being a comparatively wealthy man, I have +suddenly become a comparatively poor one. If only I myself were concerned +I would not care, but for your mother's sake, and for the sake of you +children, I am very much troubled and grieved. I am afraid we shall all +have to give up many things, and do without many things, and save in every +way we can." + +Paul had grown very grave, and for a moment he sat thinking, wondering +what he could do; he was very anxious to help. "Father," he cried, at +last, "I know one way we can save a good bit of money every year: I can +leave school, and I could go out to work. I know Farmer Vinning would +give me a job; he said he wished he had a boy half as spry as I am, and-- +and then I could bring home my wages every week to mother." And for the +moment Paul could not see what hardship people found in being economical. +But his father only shook his head and laughed. + +"It would be poor economy to take you away from school for a long time +yet, my son," he said. Then, seeing how Paul's face fell, he went on: +"The things we can do for the greatest advantage to others and ourselves, +too, are not always the things we would like best to do. To be a real +help and comfort to us, you must stick at your work as hard as you can, +and make the best use possible of the next few years. Then you will, I +hope, be able not only to help your mother, but to give them all a home if +they should need one." + +"But I want to help now," said Paul, dolefully. To work harder at school +seemed a very poor way of saving money. + +"You will be able to, dear, at once, too. We shall all have to give up +something, many of the things we care for most. You can help by giving up +cheerfully," said his mother. + +"Oh, that's nothing," said Paul, still doleful. + +"It means more than you can imagine now," she said, softly; "a trouble +bravely born and smiled over is lightened for everyone of half its +weight." + +"Can't I give up my music;" Paul burst in on his mother's speech, too +eager to notice what she was saying. + +Mrs. Anketell laughed in spite of her sadness. "We are very anxious to +give you all as good an education as is possible, and for the sake of the +future you must not give up any of it yet. No, what we shall have to give +up will be our pleasures. The horses must go, all but Nell for father, +and Jumbo for the hard work. Some of the servants will have to go, too, I +am afraid," she said, looking at her husband, and once more the anxious +look came back to her eyes. + +"I can clean boots," said Paul, "and I can wash the dog-cart." + +"Very good," said Mr. Anketell, encouragingly. "You can learn to work in +the garden, too. A boy of your age can give a good deal of help there." + +Now, if there was one thing more than another that Paul hated, it was +gardening, and his response to this suggestion was not hearty. +Mrs. Anketell was silent for a few moments, then she said with, Paul +thought, but little concern, "We shall have to give up the Norwegian +cruise, of course, John; but that is only a trifle compared with other +things." + +Paul's heart seemed to leap right up into his throat, and then sank right +down, down, as, it seemed to him, no one's heart could ever have sunk +before. He could not believe but that there was some mistake, that his +ears were deceiving him. "What did you say, mother?" he cried. "Give up +the Norwegian cruise! Oh, no, no, we couldn't give that up! We _must_ go +to Norway; we can save in other ways--I'll begin at once. I won't want +any new clothes for a year, and I'll go back to school without a hamper,-- +but we _must_ go to Norway." + +"I see you have already begun to save your neckties," said his father +mischievously; but Paul was far too much upset to laugh at anything. + +"Father, we _must_ go!" he cried. "We have counted on it for weeks, and +had planned everything, and--" + +"So had we, Paul, and it will be a keen disappointment to us, keener than +you can understand; but it has to be, and we must put a brave face on it. +This is the first trial, my boy. It is very easy to talk of trials, and +how we will face them; but it is the actual facing them, not the talking, +that tries our courage and shows what we are made of. It requires no +courage to give up what we care little or nothing about. Be as brave as +you know how to be over this disappointment, my boy, and don't add to your +mother's troubles by grumbling and complaining. We feel terribly any pain +that this loss may bring to you children, and to know you are fretting and +grumbling will make it a hundred times harder for us." + +"Of course we will go somewhere for the summer holidays," said Mrs. +Anketell gently. "Stella and Michael will need a change before winter, +and father needs one too, I am sure." + +"Not as much as you do, dear," he said, tenderly, looking sadly at her +pale face. + +She shook her head and smiled. "I don't deny I shall be glad of one; in +fact we shall all be better for it," she said; "but it must be a much less +expensive one than the one we planned." + +Here was another grievance to add to his list. Paul's feelings were hurt +that he had been left out as not requiring a change, and altogether the +blow which he had had was too much for him to bear well at the first +shock; so that he felt a very unhappy and ill-used boy as he left the +table and made his way slowly up to the nursery. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +HOW PAUL BORE IT. + +Stella and Michael had finished their breakfast and were playing together. +Michael was standing up in the high window-seat, grasping a long pole with +a curtain hook at the end of it, with which he made frantic but futile +efforts to land Stella, who was dashing about in a perfectly break-neck +fashion in a box on the floor. + +"We are playing at being in Norway," he shouted, when he caught sight of +his elder brother. "Stella has been wrecked, and is trying to get to land +in a boat, but the waves are dashing it on the rocks so hard, she will be +wrecked before I can land her, if I don't take care." + +Here Stella banged her box against the wall, and rebounded again. +"I have got to catch her with the boat hook, and then I shall drag her +boat--" But Stella had caught sight of Paul's face, and abandoning her +boat to the mercy of the waves, she walked out of her apparently perilous +position and caught Paul's arm. + +"What is the matter?" she asked anxiously. "They haven't made the +holidays shorter, have they?" This was always one of her greatest fears. + +"Don't be silly!" snapped Paul crossly. "As if they could. Why, if they +were to try to I'd refuse to go." + +Stella looked awed, but anxious. "Do tell me, Paul, what is it! +Is father cross with you?" + +At these words a recollection of his father's gentleness and trouble came +over him, and he felt a little ashamed and sorry. "No, no," he said, +sinking into a chair by the table, and letting his head fall forward on +his arms, "I wouldn't mind that so much if--if, oh, it's awfully hard +lines, it--" + +Stella waited patiently. She was a sensible little woman, and not such a +baby as Paul chose to consider her. Because she had meals with Michael in +the nursery, that she might be a companion for him, Paul was in the habit +of looking on her as of Michael's age, and understanding. He forgot that +at her age he had considered himself old enough to quit the nursery meals +for the dining-room, and had done so too. Stella was four years older +than her younger brother, and there was a great deal of the little mother +in the way she cared for him. But Paul, boy-like, saw only that she +joined in Michael's games, and was apparently quite content, so he rather +despised her. + +"What is it, Paul? Do tell me!" she pleaded at last. She longed to put +her arms about him, and try to comfort him; but since he had been at +school he had grown, as does many a boy, to object to endearments, and to +think them something to be ashamed of. Her heart grew heavy with a +nameless fear. Michael, too, ceased to complain of Stella's having left +her boat and her game, and looked with wondering eyes at his +grief-stricken elder brother. It was so unusual to see Paul cast down +like this. + +"We aren't going to Norway, after all," said Paul--he spoke gruffly to try +to conceal the sob in his throat,--"and I call it beastly hard lines. +It isn't as though it would cost so very much more than any other holiday, +and father knows we have never been so far before, and how we were looking +forward to it, and that I--" + +"Not going to Norway!" cried Stella, in an accent almost of relief. +"Oh, is that all? I was afraid something dreadful had happened." +She could not help the feeling, she had been so frightened by a nameless +fear she could scarcely have put into words. But when the first relief +was over the disappointment came home to her keenly. Paul had painted in +such glowing colours all the joys, and adventures, and wonderful things +which lay in store, that that trip was no ordinary one for them. +It was the great event of their lifetime. It was to have been one long +experience of travel by day and night, by sea and land, and of adventure +with strange and wild creatures--Vikings, wolves, reindeers, Valkyries, +giants, ice-mountains, and caves, fairies and fairies' homes. Stella had +never been able to make up her mind as to what Vikings and Valkyries would +be like, but they were all one delightful thrilling jumble of wild +animals, giants, and strange people, such as ordinary persons never set +eyes on. + +"Oh, Paul, it can't be really true?" she cried, in great distress. + +"Oh, you don't care," snapped Paul, crossly, "so don't pretend. You can't +care, so don't put it on. You said 'Is that all?' as if it were nothing. +But of course one can't expect much from a girl. I believe you were +really frightened at going and are glad we are not." + +Stella's lip quivered. "I was _not_ frightened," she said stoutly, +"and I am _not_ glad; but I thought at first something dreadful had +happened to father or mother--I didn't know what, but something dreadful." + +Paul snorted contemptuously. "I wouldn't have minded anything else as +much as this," he said loftily, putting on a very superior air. + +"If you had your leg cut off you couldn't _never_ go to fight wolves," +said Michael soberly. He had been standing, boat-hook in hand, listening +to the conversation. To him to have a leg cut off seemed the most +dreadful thing that could happen. + +"But, Paul, why can't we go?" asked Stella, her brother's injustice fading +at once from her mind. "Do you know?" + +"Yes, I know. Father told me all about it. He has lost a heap of money, +and we've got to get rid of most of the horses and the servants, and--" +He stopped suddenly in alarm; he was already abusing that confidence his +father had placed in him. Nurse was in the adjoining room and the door +between was open. Supposing she had heard, what should he do? He could +never undo his foolish speech! He peeped at her in a state of great +alarm. No, she was dusting under the bed, and could not have heard,--at +least he thought not. Stella and Michael must be bound over to secrecy. +"Don't you ever dare to tell any one what I have told you!" he said +sternly. "Promise, honour bright. Mind Mike, if you do, I'll--I'll-- +well, you'll soon find out who comes after sneaks!" + +"Be quiet, Paul. How dare you? You are not to frighten him like that," +cried Stella indignantly. "Mikey is not a sneak, and you ought not to +tell stories about bogies coming. You know there aren't any." + +"Frighten!" retorted Paul; "he _must_ be a coward if that frightens him," +but he had the grace to look ashamed. + +"You meant to frighten him," said Stella stoutly; "you know you did, and +you are very mean." + +Paul tried to turn the conversation. He felt ashamed of himself, and did +not like the feeling at all. "Well, if you want to know why we are not +going to Norway, you had better go and ask mother. I mustn't tell you +what father told me, so it is no use to try to make me." + +"Is mother--is mother unhappy about it, Paul?" + +"I should just think she is, and father too." + +"Did daddy cry?" asked Michael, his big eyes growing bigger with awe. + +"Cry! Men don't cry; but mother did." + +At which Stella's little heart overflowed with love, and her eyes filled +with tears. "I'm going to see her," she said tearfully. "She mustn't be +sad. I'll tell her it doesn't matter a bit, we don't mind not going. +I don't want to go for a cruise. I'd quite as soon stay at home, and--I +can take care of Michael, or I can dust, or--or--" The rest of her +sentence was lost as she rushed out of the nursery and down to her +mother's room. + +"Mother!" she cried, flinging herself into her arms, and clasping her +round the neck. "Mummy, dear, I am so sorry; but we don't mind the least +little bit. We don't want to have any holiday at all this year, only +don't you cry any more, mummy darling," and she kissed her again and +again, striving all she knew to make up to her for the trouble which had +befallen them. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +PAUL'S HOPES RISE. + +A few days later Paul returned to school, and Stella and Michael settled +down to lessons at home with their governess. They missed their elder +brother very much, for though he domineered over them a good deal, they +looked up to him as a hero, and a very splendid fellow, and they felt sad +and lonely when he went back to school. + +At first Paul, too, felt very miserable, and out of spirits. When it came +to leaving his home he felt more real sorrow for the trouble they were in +than he had at all, and real shame for having behaved so crossly and +unkindly about his disappointment, and he became filled with a great +desire to work well, and make up in that way for his past behaviour. +So the weeks sped by; half term came and went, and early in July came a +letter from Stella. They were to go away for a summer holiday, after all, +she wrote excitedly, and evidently impressed with the idea that she was +conveying wonderful news. They were to go to Dartmoor. Father had taken +rooms in a big farmhouse on the moors, and it was lovely; there were +horses and wagons, and hay-fields and orchards, and big tors where they +could go for picnics. + +"Dartmoor!" exclaimed Paul, as he thrust the letter into his pocket. +"What a place! What is there for me to do? Just go for walks with the +kids, I s'pose; I'd quite as soon stay at home." And he sniffed +scornfully, and went about all day in a bad temper. + +"Dartmoor is a ripping fine place!" Paul had confided his woes to his +chum, Dennis Rogers, and that was the response he met with. "I only wish +I was going there this summer. We were there two years ago; oh, my, it +_was_ jolly! I wonder what part you are going to, and if you'll be +anywhere near the convict prison." + +Paul pricked up his ears. + +"The convict prison," he cried eagerly. "I'd forgotten that that was down +there. Oh, I do hope we go quite close to it. I'd like awfully to see +the convicts. Did you ever see any of them? Were you near them?" + +"See them! I should just think so. I saw a convict's funeral once, too; +the coffin was carried by the convicts all in their prison clothes, with +whacking great broad arrows over them." + +"What were they like? Did they look like murderers? Did you see any of +those that are in Madame Tussard's?" asked Paul, full of curiosity. + +"Some of them were pretty bad-looking, but the rest were just like +ordinary people. You'd never think from their faces, that they were +murderers, and burglars, and forgers, and all that sort of thing. +I felt awfully sorry for them, but my mater hurried me away, and wouldn't +let me have a good look at them. I know one thing, I would have helped +them to escape if they had tried to." + +"I do hope we shall be in that part," said Paul, excitedly. "I'd give +anything to see the prisoners and the prison. I say, did any escape while +you were there?" + +"No, 'twas hard luck. One got away in the winter after we left, and +wasn't caught for a day or two; it was foggy, and that helped him, of +course. Then there is otter-hunting in some of the rivers," went on +Dennis, tiring of the subject of the convicts. "Oh, it's an awfully fine +place! There are wild cattle on the moor too, and they are no end of +excitement; they go for you like anything if you rile them. You _are_ in +luck's way, old chap. I wish I was going too, instead of to some silly +place in Norway where there's nothing to do when you get there but walk. +I hate being shut up in a stuffy steamer too. I'm ill all the time--so +are most of the people--and I don't see where the fun comes in. +But my people are set on it, so I suppose I've got to go. I don't want +to, a bit." + +"Don't you!" said Paul sarcastically, all his old disappointment +returning. "I wish we could change places then. I think Dartmoor is +awfully tame compared with Norway." + +And then a hot discussion followed, each boy sticking up, of course, for +his own favourite place. + +But when, three weeks later, Paul travelled homewards, his disappointment +was quite forgotten, and he was in the best of spirits, for it is beyond +the power of any ordinary boy to feel morose and sulky the day his school +breaks up and he goes home for his summer holiday; and when the family +joined him at Slewbury station,--all except his father, who was to follow +later,--and they journeyed on together, he was the life of the whole merry +party. + +"Mother," he exclaimed with sudden recollection, after the home news had +been listened to and school news told, "what is the name of the place we +are going to? Shall we be near the convict prison?" + +"Oh, I hope not," cried Stella, her pretty blue eyes becoming round with +dismay, "I should hate to be near convicts, I should be afraid of them. +Supposing any of them run away, and come to Moor Farm, whatever shall we +do?" + +"We are not any very great distance from the prison, I am afraid," +Mrs. Anketell answered, "though it is further than either of us could +walk. But you know, dear, the poor creatures are well guarded and we +shall be well guarded; and I want you to feel nothing but pity for them, +my Stella. You must be a brave little woman. Many of the poor creatures +there are quiet and harmless, and would not hurt a little child." + +"_I_ am jolly glad we are so near," said Paul delightedly; and he talked +so much about it that Stella soon began to share his excitement, and lose +much of her nervousness, while Michael sat very still and quiet, listening +to all that was being said. But presently they grew tired of that +subject, and turned their attention to the country through which they were +hurrying, and the quaint little stations at which they stopped, where the +one porter shouted such odd names in so funny a voice that they could not +help laughing; then on they went again through rich yellow cornfields, +past streams where men were fishing, and then they saw the high hills in +the distance, standing so solitary on the great browny-grey moor. + +It was hard to picture a big, gloomy prison anywhere near such a lovely +land, or hundreds of sinful, unhappy men shut in behind high grey walls, +seeing nothing of the beauty about them. + +"Mother, mother, there's Row Tor, and there's Brown Willy, and there--" + +"And here is our station," said Mrs. Anketell, smiling, getting up to +collect baskets and parcels, "and there is Farmer Minards himself with his +car and a cart for the luggage." Then out they got, the only passengers +for that little station, while the people in the train stared at them, +enviously the children thought, and the people on the platform looked with +curiosity and interest at them, and their big pile of luggage. +Then Stella and Michael and Mrs. Anketell were shown in to the funny +little car, which was called the 'pill-box,' but Paul asked if he might +ride up in the front of the cart on which the luggage was piled, and was +allowed to, and a few minutes later they started off in procession down +the road on their way to Moor Farm. + +The boy who drove the cart was shy at first, and sat very stolid and stiff +beside Paul apparently absorbed in guiding his horse, but Paul was not +troubled with shyness, or anything else but curiosity, and after he had +looked at the horse and cart, and everything about him, his tongue refused +to be silent any longer, and a stream of questions was poured into the shy +boy's ears. As they were nearly all questions he could answer he did not +mind, and replied very patiently, and soon grew more at ease, especially +as some of Paul's questions made him laugh too, and feel how much more he +knew than 'the young master,' which is always a comfortable feeling. + +"And that is Cawsand Beacon, isn't it?" said Paul at last, pointing to a +big, big hill, in the near distance. He spoke in an off-hand casual sort +of way, and was rather proud of his knowledge until the boy laughed. + +"No, sir, that there is Crockern Tor. Cawsan' Baycon be right 'way +'tother side of Dartymoor, right 'long up in the narth, Oke'ampton way." + +"Is Crockern Tor as high as Cawsand Beacon?" asked Paul, more humbly. + +"I reckon not, not by a brave bit," said the boy, "but it's a purty place +to go to." + +They were driving now along a rough road across the moor itself; the +'pill-box' had outstripped them and was out of sight. "Let's drive on the +grass," said Paul suddenly, "t'would be ever so much jollier than jolting +along like this. Why don't you drive across there to the farm," pointing +to a stretch of smooth, green turf, "instead of going all around by this +road?" + +The boy laughed again. "I reckon 'twouldn't be no quicker by time us had +hauled the 'orse and cart out. That there green is'n' no turf 't'all, +'tis a bog." + +Paul's attention was riveted in a moment. "That isn't one of the bogs +that suck people right down, and kill them, is it?" he asked excitedly. + +"That's one on 'em," answered the boy; "that isn't so bad as some. +Anybody small and light might get across by keeping right 'way out to the +very edge if they was quick, but a horse and cart wouldn't stand no +chance. Don't you never go trying of it, sur, you'd be swallowed up in no +time. Gee, wug, Lion," he called to the lazy horse. "Would 'ee like to +drive a bit, sur?" + +But Paul's thoughts were far away. "Anybody light and small might get +across," he was repeating to himself, and he made up his mind that +somebody light and small would try. After all, Dartmoor wasn't such a bad +place, he admitted already. He would have something, anyhow, to tell the +boys when he got back. Something worth telling too. He thought there +would be few with a better story than his to tell. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE REWARD OF OVER CONFIDENCE. + +For a day or two their new surroundings kept the children fully +occupied in and about the farmyard, and the barns and orchards. +Everything was new to them and delightful, from the pump in the yard, +and the chickens, to the horses and wagons, the lofts with their smell of +hay, the sweet-smelling wood-ricks, the cool dairy, the 'pound' where the +cider was made. Then there were sheep-shearing, rat-hunting and countless +other joys. But before very long the desire to wander further in search +of adventure grew strong in Paul's breast. The children were left +wonderfully free in those days, for, owing to their straitened means, Mrs. +Anketell had determined to do without a nurse, and she was necessarily +obliged to leave them much to themselves, and trust them not to get into +any serious mischief. + +But in the holidays no boy is quite as wise as he should be. +Certainly Paul was not, when he determined to go and find out for himself +if that morass was really as dangerous as Muggridge had said. +Muggridge was the boy who had driven the cart, and Paul had begun to have +a galling feeling that Muggridge had bean treating him as though he were a +baby, which of course was a thing not to be tolerated for a moment. +He must show him that he was a public-school boy, and had already seen +more of the world than Muggridge was ever likely to. + +It was Saturday morning, and every one in the house, excepting the +children, seemed to be unusually busy and occupied. Stella and Michael +sauntered out into the yard, and hung on the gate, swinging. +Paul strolled out presently and joined them, but the amusement was not to +his liking, so he went outside and stood in the road, and looked at the +country. + +"Let's go for a walk on the moor," he said presently; "there is nothing to +do here, and it's looking jolly out there." + +Stella and Michael, only too glad to be invited by their elder brother to +join him, followed at once with a shout of joy. Paul looked back several +times to make sure no one was watching them, but there were no windows at +that end of the house, and everyone was busy. When they had gone a little +distance they got off the road on to the soft turf at the side, and began +running about here, there, and everywhere. "You had better see where you +are going," said Paul; "they say there are morasses here that suck one in +until one is gone right down, head and all." + +Stella looked about her with wondering eyes, and seized Michael's hands. +"What do they look like, Paul? Are they pools?" + +"I don't know," said Paul, "I should think so." + +"There aren't any here, then," she said eagerly, and with a sigh of +relief, letting Mike go again. "I don't see any, do you, Paul?" + +"Muggridge said there were, and that is why they go round by that silly +old road; but I don't believe him, and I'm going to find out for myself. +Perhaps he thinks I will swallow everything he chooses to tell me, and is +trying to see how much he can take me in." + +"Did he tell you not to go there?" asked Stella, nervously. + +"No, he did not tell me any such thing. Why should he? I should like to +see him dare to order me about. He just said that I had better not; but +that was nothing. I'm sure he was only trying to gull me. He said +anybody light could get across if they kept to the edge, and nobody could +be much lighter than I am." + +"But, Paul, you won't go?" pleaded Stella, anxiously. "Don't go, Paul! +_Please_ don't! you might be killed." + +"Killed!" with terrific scorn. "You girls are such babies you are afraid +of your lives to do anything for fear you will be killed, or hurt." + +"I am not," said Stella proudly. "You would be frightened though if you +got into one of those marshes, and were sucked down." + +Paul grew more and more nettled, and defiant. "Anyhow, I am going right +away at once to look for one, and that'll show if I am afraid or not. +You _babies_ can stay where you are." And he walked boldly forward. + +Stella bore the taunt bravely, though her feelings were cruelly hurt, too +deeply hurt to allow her to follow her brother and appear to be thrusting +her society on him. So she remained where he had left her, tightly +grasping Mike's hand as though to make sure that he at any rate came to no +harm. For nearly half-an-hour Paul wandered about without finding himself +on the dangerous spot, and the more he searched the more convinced he +became that Muggridge had been laughing at him. + +"Won't Farmer Minards be pleased when Paul tells him," said Michael after +a long and anxious silence, and Paul had wandered about in all directions +in safety. But before he had finished his sentence they saw Paul stagger +as though he had stepped on something which had given way beneath his +feet, try to recover himself, and stagger again. Stella jumped up +instinctively and ran to him; even then she did not dream of the real +danger he was in, until, as she flew towards him, his cry of "Help, help!" +reached her. "Keep back'" he shrieked, as she came close. "It's the bog! +My feet are stuck, I can't free them, Stella; what can I do? Help, help, +help!" + +Stella's heart stood still with fright. Paul was in the mud; it would +suck him down till it closed over his head, unless some one saved him, and +there was no time to be lost. What could she do, without a single +creature there to help her? "Mike," she called, "run home as fast as ever +you can, and tell them to come at once. Paul is in the bog, and it is +sucking him down." The tears were trickling fast down her face, and at +sight of them Michael began to cry too. + +"Help, help!" called Paul again, then suddenly burst into tears. The mud +was half-way up his legs now, and his attempts to free himself seemed only +to hasten his fate. Inspiration came to Stella; in another moment she had +torn off her big over-all apron. It was strong and wide. If Paul could +reach it she might be able to pull him out by it. She threw it towards +him, but, in her anxiety, threw it to one side; she tried again, but the +breeze carried it away. The third time it reached him, and he caught it +by the tips of his fingers, but the effort to reach it dragged him +forward, and swaying, staggering, in his endeavours to steady himself he +dragged poor Stella beyond her powers of resistance, and in another moment +she was in the morass too, and, losing her balance, fell forward on her +hands and knees. Their condition now was truly appalling. Paul grew +frantic with alarm. "Pick yourself up, Stella, or crawl to the edge; you +are quite close." + +"I can't," she said in an awe-stricken whisper. She was too frightened to +cry now; the fearfulness of the fate which seemed to await them partially +numbed her senses. "I can't, Paul," she said in laboured tones; "the more +I try the worse it is. I think we had better keep as still as we can. +Poor mummie," she added presently, and at the thought of her mother's +grief her tears did flow, but she kept quite still, though she saw that +her hands had disappeared entirely, and her arms were fast being sucked +down. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +THE RESCUE. + +Paul and Stella never forgot, to the end of their lives, that awful time +of waiting, when they were face to face with death, their hearts filled +with agony at the sight of each other in the clutches of that fearful +morass, and at the thought of their parents' grief. + +All around them stretched the great brown moor, weird and lonely looking, +except for where, less than a mile away, Paul could see the chimneys of +Moor Farm smoking, and the sunlight shining on the windows. Stella had +fallen with her back to the house, and all she could see was the moor, and +the hills in the distance. She could not see even if any one was coming +to their assistance. "Mike must have lost himself," she thought, "they +are so long--" + +But at that moment Paul broke in on her thought. "They are coming," he +shouted. "Help! help! help!" and he waved his handkerchief excitedly. +Stella bowed her head and prayed, she hardly knew then in what words, but +to ask God's help, and to thank Him; she knew He would understand. + +Three or four persons came running towards them with ropes and planks, +while behind came another and larger group with their mother amongst them. +Stella could only hear their voices, and do as they bade her. + +"How be 'ee going to get the little maid, now?" said a voice she +recognised as Farmer Minards'; "'er's the awkwardest of the two to get +'old on, by a long way. Hold up yer 'ead, missie dear, don't let yer face +touch the mud." + +Stella raised her head as high as she could, but she was so exhausted that +it fell forward again, and she lost consciousness altogether. + +"I can save the boy," said a voice, "if you'll give me a rope." +In a moment more a deftly thrown lasso quivered in the air, and falling +over Paul encircled his waist; then, by the aid of planks thrown across +the margin, long, strong arms soon dragged him into safety, and he lay +trembling, but safe, on solid ground, with his mother's arms around him, +and nothing but words of sympathy, and love, and kindness greeting him +instead of the sound scolding he so richly deserved. But she saw he was +in no state to be scolded then. + +A few moments later another shout went up. Stella was safe. Paul raised +himself, and called to her as they carried her towards him, but no answer +to his joyful cry came from the limp and senseless little form lying in +Farmer Minards' arms. Her face was as white as the clouds above, her eyes +were closed. Paul gave a great cry of fear. "Stella, Stella," he called +in agony. "Stella, speak! She tried to save me, and--and it is all my +fault, and I've killed her." And he burst into an agony of tears, for he +really thought his sister was dead. + +Mrs. Anketell, who had run to her little daughter, quickly came back to +him. "She is not dead," she said soothingly, great tears of thankfulness +in her own eyes. "Thank God, Paul. You cannot thank Him enough for +having spared you both. She has fainted, that is all, dear. Act like a +man now, and be ready to comfort her when she recovers. This is bound to +be a terrible shock to her." + +Mrs. Anketell was herself faint and trembling from the shock and the +anxiety; her hands shook visibly as she laid them on Paul's hot brow, and +her head swam so she feared she would have fainted too, but for the sake +of others she made a great effort to control herself, and succeeded. + +They laid the little maid on the grass, and loosened her clothes. +The sight of her little hands hanging so helplessly, with the brown mud +dripping off them, and her little white feet, for her shoes and stockings +had come off in the mud, and her dead-white face, brought tears to many an +eye there, and Paul himself turned over on the grass and wept bitterly, +without shame, before them all. + +"Better let him have his cry out," said the gentleman who had thrown the +lasso, and who proved to be a doctor; "it will relieve him and do him +good. Now, you men, some of you carry him carefully home, he is not fit +to walk; and I will carry her, if you will allow me," he said, stooping +over Stella. "I think they had better be got to bed as quickly as +possible. And you, can you walk, do you think?" he added, kindly, to Mrs. +Anketell. She nodded in reply; she was too much agitated to speak. +"Take my arm, please, if it would be any support to you." His quick eye +noted the strain she was enduring, and he quietly did all he could to +cheer and distract her thoughts from the contemplation of the awful +tragedy which might have befallen two of her children. + +So the sad little procession wended its way across the sunny moor again, +and Paul, all the way, was saying over and over again to himself he would +never, never again try to do what he had been told not to. He would be +good, obedient, and humble, he would take care of Stella, and his mother, +and Mike. And that night when his mother came to see him the last thing +before going to bed herself, he told her the whole story from beginning to +end. "Stella is awfully plucky, for a girl," he added at the conclusion +of his tale. "She was afraid for me to try to cross, but she didn't seem +frightened when she was being sucked down by the mud, she never screamed +at all." + +"Stella has far more courage than you think," said his mother gravely, +"and I hope you will never again jibe at the cowardice of girls; it only +shows that you do not know what real courage is. Good muscles do not +always mean true courage. You must learn that it is often far more brave +to stand by and not do a thing, knowing all the time you will be called a +coward for it, than it is to be daring and defiant, as you were to-day. +Obedience in all things, pleasant or unpleasant, is true courage, and that +is what you lacked to-day, and so brought misery and pain to many, none of +whom you consider as wise or brave as yourself." + +Paul certainly felt the greatest shame as he realised how foolish he must +seem in the eyes of everybody, and he certainly suffered the keenest +remorse when he saw how ill Stella was; it was Stella who suffered most +from his wrong-doing. For many days she was very, very ill, and it was +some time before she was quite her old merry self again. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +A SLOW LEARNER. + +A few days later Mr. Anketell arrived for a fortnight's holiday, and all +the sad story had to be told to him. He was terribly grieved and upset-- +grieved to see his bright, happy Stella so wan and quiet, and troubled +sorely to think Paul had so far forgotten himself and his duty to the +younger ones as to place their lives in danger. + +"You cannot expect Michael to look up to you," said his father sternly. +"And you are setting him a very bad example. I shall have to send for one +of the maids to come and look after you all, for we cannot have such +things happening! I will not have your mother so worried and frightened, +and the children's lives jeopardised by your disobedience and +foolhardiness." + +And the maid would have been sent for had not Paul given his word to be +more careful and better behaved in future. + +Another person with whom Mr. Anketell was very irate was Farmer Minards; +he blamed him greatly for leaving so dangerous a spot unguarded in any +way, and he spoke so plainly about it that that very same day a man went +out with a cartload of white hurdles to place around the margin of the +morass. To every one else they were a comfort and a safeguard, but to +Paul they were a shame and a constant reminder of his foolishness. + +"Us'd have the moor speckled all over with white hurdles if we had you +living here for long, sur." They were driving slowly along the road, +Paul sitting beside Muggridge in the cart, when Muggridge pointed with his +whip at the hurdles and laughed. A hot blush rushed over Paul's face, and +a sudden furious anger against his companion surged up in his heart. +How dare he laugh at him, a gentleman, and a visitor? + +"_You_ told me anybody light could get across," he said sulkily, and he +looked away across the moor that Muggridge might not see the tears of +anger and mortification which would well up in his eyes. + +"So he could." + +"Well you couldn't find anyone much lighter than I am, and I went in," and +he shuddered at the recollection. + +"Of course you did, and so would any one who hadn't the sense not to go +right slap in the middle as you did. I meant right 'long out the edge, +where Jim has put the hurdles." + +Paul laughed contemptuously. "Why, any stupid could do that!" he said +loftily. "Farmer Minards himself could walk there!" + +"That just shows how much you know," said Muggridge, with an air of great +knowingness. "It wouldn't bear me, and I ain't what you would call +heavy." + +"You are afraid, that's all," said Paul rudely. + +For a moment Muggridge looked angry too. "I ain't feared," he said after +a pause, "but I've got too much sense. I can't afford to spoil a pair of +boots, and I doubt if any one would take the trouble to haul me out; but +if they did--why, maister'd give me the sack before the mud had stopped +running off me." + +Paul laughed derisively. "It's easy enough to make excuses," he said, +beginning to scramble down from the cart. "You are afraid, that's what it +is, but I'll just show you I am not," and, paying no heed to Muggridge's +call, he ran lightly round outside the hurdles. To his surprise the +ground was almost hard. The man had placed the hurdles further out than +Muggridge had thought, but Paul did not let him know that. The very +spirit of bravado and mischief seemed to fill him as he mocked at his +companion, and then, with a sudden mad impulse, he climbed over and +attempted to run around inside. But here matters were different; the +ground was soft and slimy, his feet stuck and began to sink; he tried to +run lightly, but 'twas no good, and he clung to the hurdles in real fear. +Muggridge, too, was alarmed. He realised suddenly that he was responsible +for the young master's safety, that he had taunted him into his foolhardy +action, and that the episode would not make a pleasant story for either of +them to tell. + +Springing out of the cart he ran to Paul's help, and had him out of the +morass and in safety in less time than it takes to tell it. Both were so +alarmed now that all thought of their quarrel had vanished from their +minds. They were grateful that they were safe and the episode had ended +as easily as it had; but their joy was short lived, for at the sight of +Paul's boots they looked at each other with grave faces and frightened +eyes. What was to be done? The state of them was bound to be noticed, +for the weather was fine and dry, Muggridge scraped off what he could with +bits of stick, and tufts of grass, but his efforts were not very +successful, for the mud was thick and clinging, and Paul clambered back +into the cart with a very, very heavy heart. He did not gloss over to +himself the wrongfulness of his behaviour, or the seriousness of the +situation. He was bound to be found out, and then he would perhaps be +sent back to school, or one of the maids would be sent for to take charge +of him, and a flush of shame mounted his forehead at the thought. + +Then to avoid all the trouble he knew he would get into, Paul made the +grave mistake people often make when once they have done wrong. To cover +the first fault they commit another, and so start on what is often a long +road of sin and misery, rather than courageously face at once the blame +and punishment they deserve. The rest of the drive he did not enjoy at +all, though it was one of the pleasures he loved most, as a rule; but his +mind was fully occupied in trying to plan how he should escape detection +and punishment. + +Muggridge at first promised to clean the boots for him before anybody +could see them, but the delay Paul had caused made them so late in getting +home that he had to go at once to put the horse in his stable, and then +hurry off to his own dinner. Besides, the mud was too wet as yet to be +cleaned off. Paul was terribly upset at that. What _would_ become of +him, he wondered, and how could he manage? By that time all thought of +confessing at once had gone from his mind; it seemed to him impossible to +do it; he could think of nothing but concealment. But, luckily he +thought, when they got back to the house there was no one about. +It was close to the hour for the mid-day dinner. Mrs. Minards and the +maids were busy in the kitchen, Mrs. Anketell and Stella were upstairs in +their rooms. Paul could hardly believe his good fortune when he got past +the windows, into the house, without meeting any one, and as he stood at +the foot of the stairs listening, to try to discover where everyone was, +and could hear no voices or footsteps near, his spirits rose. He crept +upstairs swiftly and stealthily, almost without a sound, except for the +creaking of a board in the passage outside his mother's door. She heard +it, and called out, "Who is that? Is that Paul?" But he went on without +answering, though he felt very mean for doing so, and soon gained his own +room. He was scarcely a moment taking off his muddy boots and hiding them +in the bottom of his play-box; then he put on his slippers, dabbed over +the front of his head with a wet hair brush, smeared a little water over +his face and hands, wiped the dirt off on the towel, and crept downstairs +again in a few moments, as softly as he had crept up. + +When Mrs. Anketell came down ten minutes later, saying, "I wish Paul had +come, he will be late for dinner," she found him coiled up in the big +arm-chair with a book on his knee, and apparently absorbed in the story. +He was so deeply absorbed in fact that he did not look up when she spoke, +not, indeed, until she exclaimed, "Oh, Paul, dear, then you are back. +Have you been here long? I did not know you were in the house, and I was +quite anxious about you." + +Then he looked up at her with an abstracted air, as though his mind was +still so deep in the story that it was closed to everything, and he could +hardly hear or take in what she was saying. "No-o not very long," he +answered vaguely, and to hide his eyes, which could not meet his mother's, +he dropped them on to the pages again. + +"Did you hurry back to go on with your book?" asked his mother, standing +by him, and looking over his shoulder. "I am glad you find it so +interesting. Father was afraid you did not care for it, as you never +looked at it. But why do you hold it upside down, dear?" + +Paul coloured hotly, and held his head lower to hide it. "To--to--the +picture looks so funny this way," he said lamely, and then, to his great +relief, the maid said dinner was ready, and he escaped any further +embarrassment for the moment. But only for the moment. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +A TROUBLESOME PAIR OF BOOTS. + +Muggridge had told him to bring his boots out to the boot-house, when he +could manage to get them there without any one seeing him, that he might +clean them for him, and nobody be the wiser. So Paul waited anxiously for +the opportunity. He knew it must be done soon, as his mother would miss +the boots and make inquiries about them, for he had only the one pair of +strong everyday boots now besides his best ones, as the others had been +almost spoilt by his first adventure in the morass, and had been sent away +to the shoemaker's. + +As soon as dinner was finished his troubles began again. + +"I am going to walk to Four Bridges this afternoon," said Mr. Anketell; +"who will go with me? We will have tea there, and walk home in the +evening." + +Stella and Michael jumped with delight. They enjoyed this sort of +excursion more than anything that could be offered them; and, as a rule, +Paul enjoyed it even more than they. But to-day he did not express his +usual pleasure, and sat looking red and embarrassed when his father looked +questioningly at him. + +"Well, Paul, what do you say?" he asked, wondering at the boy's silence. + +"I--I should like to go very much," stammered Paul awkwardly, "but I've +hurt my foot. I hurt it jumping out of the cart." + +This, to a certain extent, was true, but under ordinary circumstances Paul +would have been the last to allow such a trifle to keep him from anything +he desired. A series of questions followed, which he found very difficult +to answer, and finally Paul had to submit to having his ankle bound with a +wet cloth, while Mrs. Anketell decided to give up the afternoon's +excursion and stay at home with him. "And we will have tea in the +orchard," she said consolingly, "to make up for the loss of our tea at +Four Bridges; that will be pleasanter than having it indoors." +The kinder they were to him the more unhappy and uncomfortable Paul felt, +and the less chance he saw of carrying out his plan; but his lowness of +spirits stood him in good stead here, for his mother and father put it +down to the pain he was suffering, and no one questioned the truth of his +story about the injured foot. + +But his impatience and his anxiety were such as he never forgot. +It seemed to him ages before the little party started off on their +expedition; first there was one hindrance and then another, until he could +have screamed with impatience and anxiety, and even when they were gone he +could not get away, for his mother sat with him and read to him, and he +watched with dread the hands of the clock go round, as the afternoon wore +quickly away. The boots must be cleaned before to-morrow morning, or the +traces of his escapade would betray him. + +At last, however, Mrs. Anketell stopped reading, and said she must write a +letter. And Paul, without a moment's delay, seized the opportunity to +limp from the room. He really had to limp now, for the bandage was so +tight about his ankle that he could not bend it. Mrs. Anketell, +hearing his uneven steps, called to him not to use his foot too much. +"All right," he called back willingly, for he was only too thankful that +she did not prohibit him from using it altogether. Then he stumbled out +to the stairs, and clambering up them a good deal faster than he usually +moved, reached his room without further interruption. His heart was +beating furiously with excitement and fear, but he could not pause a +moment to steady himself, for he felt he had not a second to lose. +Dragging his play-box softly out from under the bed, he plunged his hand +to the bottom and soon drew out his troublesome boots; then tucking them +under his coat, which barely served to cover them, he slid down the +banisters to save all noise, and tore out into the yard, and around the +corner to the boot-house, as though a pack of wolves was after him. +But, in turning the corner, he came face to face with something he had not +expected, and that was the burly form of Farmer Minards himself. +Paul's heart sunk like lead, and he went cold all over with apprehension. + +"Hullo, young gentleman," said the old man, "I thought you was laid by +the heels?" + +Paul tried to smile. "I hurt my foot, and couldn't walk to Four Bridges, +but it isn't much." + +"Where be 'ee off now?" asked the farmer, looking anxiously at the +funny-shaped protuberances under Paul's arms. "Be 'ee going for a stroll +by yerself? Can't keep in, I s'pose, but must be out in the fresh air." + +"Oh, I--I ain't going far," stammered Paul. "I am only just having a look +round." + +"Would 'ee care to come and see 'em cutting the hay in the Little Meadow? +It wouldn't be far for 'ee to walk; we've got the new machine, and 'tis a +real beauty. All the men are out there looking at un." + +It did seem to Paul altogether too cruel that so many things he would have +given anything to see and do should happen that afternoon, and that he +should have to refuse them. "Oh, I--I--" and then he stopped. He could +not go all out there with his boots under his arms, nor could he get rid +of them while Farmer Minards stood looking at him; he had to keep up the +pretence, too, about his foot. "I've strained my ankle, rather," he said +lamely. "I'm afraid I could not walk so far. Mother has bandaged it, and +I've only got my slippers on. I'm awfully sorry," he added with genuine +regret. + +"Never mind, sir, you can come another time. I'm sorry you're so bad, but +when I saw you cutting along so spry I thought perhaps you was all right +again; but we shall be using un again next week, and you can come then, +perhaps," and Farmer Minards at last moved away, to Paul's intense relief, +for he had been terrified all the time lest someone else should come along +and catch him. + +He ran on to the boot-house, but with little hope of finding Muggridge +there now, for he would probably be out in the hay-field with the rest of +the men. A thought had come to him, however, that he himself might manage +to clean the mud off the boots, if he was quick. When he reached the +boot-house it was as he feared, no Muggridge was there; but to his horror +someone else was--no other than Mrs. Minards herself, and at sight of her +Paul turned and fled in dismay. Too much scared to know what he was doing +he ran swiftly through the yard, and into the kitchen-garden. At that +moment a clock struck five and he knew that his mother would be expecting +him down to tea now. What could he do? He could not get back to the +house again; he peeped out and saw people moving about in the yard and at +the doorway; it was impossible to get past unobserved. But those boots +must be got rid of somehow. He looked about the garden eagerly for a spot +in which to hide them, but a high stone wall surrounded the place, and the +garden itself was so neat and tidy there was no chance of hiding anything +there without the risk of being found out. And Mrs. Minards, he +remembered, was always pottering about in her garden. + +There was no time to spare either, and at the thought that in a moment his +mother or some one would be searching for him, he fled out of the garden +into the open country beyond. Outside the walls lay the moor, the big +brown old moor. Surely here he could find a hiding-place for his +unfortunate boots, and could tell Muggridge where to look for them. +It was a splendid idea, he thought; there could not be a better +hiding-place, and running as fast as his feet could carry him to a clump +of furze, he pushed his boots far in under the bush, took one glance to +see that all was safe, and fled back again to the garden-door. + +"Paul, Pau--aul." He heard his own name being called, and ran on with a +new fear in his heart. What would they think of him and his tale of his +sprained foot if he reached them breathless and hot? So he slackened his +pace, and when he came to the door leading from the garden into the yard +he sauntered through in the most easy, casual manner he knew how to +assume. When he came in sight of the house he saw his mother standing at +the door. As soon as she saw him she beckoned him to hurry. + +"Why, Paul dear, where have you been? Tea has been ready a long time, and +I have searched for you all over the house. How hot and flushed and tired +you look. Is your foot paining you? You should not have gone out, you +know." + +He was afraid to speak lest his breathlessness should betray him. +"It is not so very bad now, thank you. I think it is getting better." +He spoke so oddly and looked so unlike himself that his mother wondered +what was the matter with him. + +"Have you been out in the sun long?" she asked anxiously. + +"No--o," he answered. "I've only been strolling about a little." + +"It is hard to keep at home on such a lovely afternoon, but I think you +would have done wisely to have rested," said Mrs. Anketell, +sympathetically; and putting her arm about his shoulders they went to the +orchard, where a glorious tea was spread for them. At any other time +Paul's delight would have been boundless, but to-night he was so listless +and distracted that Mrs. Anketell grew quite anxious about him, and his +depression depressed her. + +"Is there anything troubling you, dear?" she asked. "Can't you tell me +what it is and trust me?" + +There were tears in her eyes at the thought that her boy could keep aloof +from her in his troubles. Her tender glance, her loving voice, touched +Paul's heart. The whole confession trembled on his lips, and would have +been poured forth, but at that moment the maid came up to say the +clergyman had called, and Mrs. Anketell had to go away to see him, leaving +Paul with his confession unmade. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A MIDNIGHT SEARCH. + +All the evening Paul watched in a fever of anxiety for Muggridge. +He could not rest. He knew that the boots must be cleaned from all traces +of his folly of the morning, and must be in their place by breakfast time +the next day, or searching inquiries would begin. And matters were a +hundred times worse now that the poor things were hidden away so +suspiciously than if they had been found in his room. + +But night came on without bringing any sign of Muggridge, and Paul could +not shake off his depression, which deepened until every one wondered what +was the matter with him. When the others came home, full of all they had +done and seen, the children's pleasure was greatly spoiled by his gloomy +indifference. + +After they had all gone to bed Mr. and Mrs. Anketell sat for a long time +discussing the change in their boy, and wondering with pain what it was +that was troubling him, and why he would not confide in them. + +Paul, lying awake in his own little room, heard his father and mother come +up to bed. He could not sleep, his mind was in such a turmoil, and he +felt himself in such a terrible situation. It seemed to him now that it +would have been but a little thing to have taken the chance of his muddy +boots being found, and of having to own up, compared with what he had to +face now, unless-- + +He sprang up in his bed as a sudden inspiration came to him. +Here was a way out of his troubles, if he could but carry it through. +Everything could be set right, and nothing need ever be known. +And if, he told himself, he got off this time, he would be a good boy for +ever after. If he could only get his boots now from their hiding-place +and put them where Muggridge would be sure to find them in the morning, +all would be right. No sooner had the idea entered his head than he felt +he _must_ carry it out. It was his one and only chance--but there were +difficulties. He got out of bed and crept to the window. The moon was +giving a fair light, and would be brighter later. He thought if he could +only get free of the house he could make his way to the clump of furze +though, of course, it would be difficult, for he would not be able to get +out of the garden as he had before, the door being always locked at night, +and the walls too high to climb. And to try to find one particular furze +bush unless one approached it from the same point would be no easy task. +He determined, however, to make the attempt, and began at once to drag on +some garments. Then he bethought him that he must not make the attempt +just yet, for the household might not have fallen asleep, and he lay down +again to wait with what patience he could. But at last he thought he +might venture, and raising the latch of his door softly, he popped out his +head, first an inch or two, then further and further, and listened for any +sound of voices from his father's and mother's room. They were talking, +and they went on doing so for what seemed to Paul an endless time--he +little guessed that it was his behaviour which was keeping them awake and +sleepless--but at last, to his great relief, other sounds reached him; he +heard his father snoring gently, and determined to put his fortunes at +once to the test. + +His depression had gone now, and for the moment he felt only the +excitement of the adventure. Stuffing a piece of candle and a box of +matches into his pocket, he crept downstairs more quietly than he had ever +moved in his life before, and through the stone passage to the kitchen, +for the front door, when opened, grated on the stone floor, and made a +noise which could not fail to rouse the whole household. Everything, +looked strange and uncanny in the dim light, but Paul was too anxious and +eager to feel fear, and of ordinary pluck and spirit he had plenty; it was +moral courage, which is, after all, the true courage, that he lacked. +His spirit was dashed, though, when he reached the back door and saw the +huge bolts by which it was secured. It was locked too, and the key taken +away. "I must try a window," he thought, rallying from his +disappointment. Shutters were fastened over the kitchen window, and he +had had to light his candle to see anything. But the shutters were easily +unfastened, and the window opened, and with very little trouble Paul +clambered through and reached the ground. His stockinged feet made no +sound on the paved yard, and all was easy now for him if he could but find +the right bush. But when he got away from the house, and found himself, +to all appearances, alone on the great empty moor with its hushed, +mysterious noises, its strange shadows, its rises and dips, here and there +a gleaming pool, and here and there a strangely shaped form, all looking +to him odd and uncanny in the dim, weird light, a great awe fell on him. +He thought of the wild animals wandering about there, the treacherous +ground, the people who had been lost there, and never heard of again, and +it seemed to him that a white mysterious light moved about over some of +the hollows. His heart beat fast and heavily, his throat felt dry and +stiff, but he did not dare hesitate. He felt only one great longing to +have his errand done, and be safely back in the house again. How snug, +and safe, and comfortable his little bedroom seemed now! How he envied +those who were able to lie in their beds with clean consciences, and no +unconfessed sins to haunt them! How silly, and worse than silly--how bad +had been the act which had brought all this trouble on him! And he felt +no pride in himself now. + +It seemed to him he would never reach the spot he wanted; the distance +around the house to it seemed far, far greater than he had thought, and +all looked so different and strange, approached from this point. He began +to fear he would never find the particular bush he sought; it seemed such +a hopeless task to embark on in the dark, and alone. In order to make it +more easy, he made his way to the door in the wall, and tried to retrace +his steps of yesterday, as nearly as possible, but even that was more +difficult than he had imagined. He thought the bush was straight ahead, +and not very far off, but when he acted on this idea he found himself on +the edge of a pool, into which he nearly fell. He did not know that when +one walks in the dark, one instinctively bears away to the left all the +time, and that, consequently, he was going straight away from the poor +boots. + +Then a cloud came over the moon, and Paul almost despaired. He was +shaking with excitement and cold, for the wind blew fresh across that spot +all the year round, and Paul was very slightly dressed. At last he lit +his candle, after a great deal of trouble, and holding it carefully in the +hollow of his hands, managed to keep it alight; and finally, more by good +luck than anything else, found himself close to the very bush he was +looking for. In another moment he was on his knees, and diving his arm +cautiously under it. Joy! there were his boots, his poor old boots, the +source of all his trouble. He grabbed them delightedly, and rose. +At the same instant his candle went out, and his heart almost stood still +with terror, for, close by him he heard the sound of stealthy footsteps, +and the clank of a chain. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +THE OPEN WINDOW. + +"A convict escaped!" was the thought which flashed into his brain, +paralysing his limbs with fear. For the moment he was too frightened to +move, and as for looking around,--he could not have made himself do it at +that moment for all the wealth the world could offer. Then, fearing he +knew not what, he turned with a sudden swift impulse, and rushed madly, as +though the furies were after him and any moment might lay a hand on him, +back to where he could just see the white road gleaming in the distance. +His heart thumped so he thought it would choke him, his head swam, a +numbness seemed to be gripping his limbs, blackness creeping over his +sight. Before he reached the road he staggered, stumbled, fell--and for a +few moments lay, a small unconscious heap, on the damp grass. + +When his senses returned to him he sat up, wondering vaguely at first what +had happened, and where he was. He only knew he was trembling, aching, +and feeling miserably ill. Then memory returned, and a sickening fear +mingled with his shame of his own terror. In his shame he made himself +look all about him, he made himself stay quietly where he was and try to +fathom the mystery. And as soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the +strange light, he could distinguish a mysterious form moving stealthily +from bush to bush. + +In another second Paul was on his feet and flying as though for his life +along the road towards home. His first idea and aim was to get back +through the window again, and bar himself in from all danger, but the +banging of his boots as he ran, reminded him that he had not yet fulfilled +his object, and another terror was added to his burthen. When at last he +got back out of sight of the lonely moor, and within the shelter of the +farm, some of his courage returned, and greatly though he dreaded it, he +made his way to the boot-house instead of scuttling into the house, and +into safety at once. Strangely enough the window of the boot-house was +open and he had soon dropped his boots inside, in the hope that they would +appear in the morning with the others, all black, shiny, and innocent +looking; and crept away back to the open window whence he had escaped. +It was not as easy to get back as it had been to get out; the window was +higher from the ground on the outside, and Paul barked both his knees +badly before he succeeded. Then, gently dropping to the floor, he crept +softly upstairs and into his bed. The sight of the cosy room, the safety, +warmth, and comfort of it all, helped him to forget all his woes, his +smarting knees, the thorns in his feet, and his shivering, aching body. + +"I wouldn't mind a bit," he thought, "if I'd only got something to eat; +but what a tale it'll be to tell the other fellows when I get back to +school." And so comforting himself he fell asleep. + +When he awoke it was with a feeling that he had overslept himself, and +that the morning was well advanced. This feeling grew stronger, too, +when, on turning and stretching, he heard his mother's voice: +"Paul, Paul, awake at last? Why, what a sleepy boy you are! Have you had +a disturbed night, dear?" + +He opened his eyes with a puzzled stare. "Is it late, mother? Have you +had breakfast? What's the time?" + +"Eleven o'clock. Yes, we had breakfast hours ago, but when we found we +could not rouse you, we let you sleep on. Were you disturbed in the +night, dear?" + +He opened his still drowsy eyes again. "Disturbed!" he said stupidly. +He really did not remember at once all that had happened. "No, I don't +think so. Why?" + +"We think someone broke into the house last night. At least, one of the +kitchen windows and the shutter were found open, and there were footmarks +on the window-sill, and about the floor. The strange thing is that +nothing has been moved or taken away, but Mrs. Minards is greatly +frightened, so are the maids; the foolish girls seem to have lost their +heads entirely." + +Long before she had finished speaking, Paul had remembered that he had +left the window and the shutters open, and that he must have left +footmarks where he trod. He felt thoroughly despicable as he lay there, +listening to his mother's story, knowing that he could explain all, and so +save every one much alarm and trouble. "I should not have told Stella and +Michael," she went on, "lest they should be nervous another time, but they +had heard it all from the maids before I could prevent it." + +But Paul did not hear what she was saying; he had suddenly thought of his +clothes, those he wore last night, and his tell-tale stockings. If his +mother noticed them now, the whole affair would be shown up. And at that +moment Mrs. Anketell did catch sight of the stockings, lying inside out +and rolled up anyhow, on the floor, and instinctively she picked one up +and began to straighten it, while Paul watched her actions with feelings +such as an animal must suffer when caught in a trap. + +"Why, Paul," she exclaimed, as she thrust her hand into the foot of it, +"your stockings are quite wet, and--oh, look, my dear child, what have you +done to them?" She held up the foot on her hand for him to see. +The bottom of it was riddled with holes! + +He had never thought of their wearing out like that, and he leaned up, +gazing at the stocking in sheer astonishment. His mother mistook the look +on his face for another kind of surprise. "How can they have got into +such a state? They were quite sound when I bandaged your ankle. +Were they sound when you took them off last night?" + +"They were all right when I came to bed," stammered Paul. + +"But they have thorns and bits of grass stuck in them," she cried, +examining them closely. "Some one must have walked about in them on +grass, and wet grass too." She put down the stocking, and picked up the +knickerbockers which were lying on a chair. "My dear child, these are all +muddy too!" And as she held them up Paul saw on them the clear marks of +his fall, and his attempts to scale the window. + +"Can't you tell me anything about it, dear?" she asked, puzzled and +amazed; "can't you give me any explanation?" + +"No," said Paul faintly. And his mother, never for a moment suspecting +that he could wilfully deceive her, or that such a thing as had really +happened could be possible, began to look elsewhere for the explanation. + +"Do you know if any of you walk in your sleep?" she asked, with a sudden +thought. + +"I never saw the others do it," said Paul quickly, delighted at the +possibility of a new way out of his dilemma, "and of course I shouldn't +know if I did myself, should I?" + +"Perhaps not, unless something happened to wake you. But don't worry, or +frighten yourself. Of course no one is to blame if it is a case of +sleep-walking,--only it will be a great anxiety for the future. +You had better get up now and dress. I will take these things down; they +may help to explain what is such a puzzle to us all, and to relieve their +minds." + +As soon as his mother had gone, Paul quickly began to bestir himself; he +was not particularly anxious to face people and all the questions which +would probably be levelled at him, but never could he lie still and think +of the deception he had practised on his mother. When he came to move, +the stiffness and pain in his scraped knees almost made him cry out, and +when he put his feet on the floor, he quickly sat back on the bed again, +for the bottoms of his feet were full of tiny prickles, and the pain, when +he pressed on them, was almost unbearable. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +RUMOUR AND APPREHENSION. + +In the excitement and talk which the events of the night called forth, +Paul's boots escaped notice, and Paul himself many times wished he could +have done the same. But he was the most interesting person in the house +just then, and was questioned, cross-questioned, pitied, talked at, until +he was heartily sick of everything, and longed to run away, back to +school, or anywhere, to escape it all; for he could not answer a question +without involving himself in deeper deceit, and he did honestly long to be +able to throw it off, and stand with a clear conscience again. + +Another part of his punishment was the attention he came in for. He was +cossetted for a cold they felt sure he must have caught, his knees were +bandaged with ointment, his feet were prodded and poulticed to get out the +prickles; and, worst of all, there was talk of putting him to sleep in his +father's dressing-room, which opened out of his parents' bedroom, that he +might be heard and checked if he attempted again to take any more midnight +strolls. For the matter assumed a very serious aspect as the day wore on, +and they began to think less lightly of Master Paul's habit of undoing +bolts and windows, and leaving the house open to any one all the night +through. + +Farmer Minards came home to tea looking grave and troubled. "Here's a +pretty business!" he exclaimed as he came in. "Two convicts got away from +the prison yesterday morning early, and haven't been caught yet. One of +'em broke into Perry's farm last night, and stole a whole 'eap of Farmer +Perry's clothes; 'tother one they've lost sight of altogether, but 'tis +thought he made for this direction. And they say they are two of the most +desperate villains they've ever had within the walls." + +Paul's heart almost ceased beating with the sudden fear that filled it. + +"It be'oves us to keep the place well barred up," went on the old man, +"and not be leaving windows open all night," nodding knowingly at Paul. +"They're not nice chaps to meet, they there convicts, and they don't stop +at much when they're trying to get off." + +Every vestige of colour had left Paul's face as he realised what his +danger had been the night before. That must have been the convict he had +heard. He longed to tell the farmer how close the danger was, that he +might take extra precautions to guard the house. + +"Do they--haven't they got on handcuffs, and--and chains on their ankles?" +he asked. + +"Yes, but they pretty soon gets rid of they, you may be sure," answered +the old man. "Why, what do you know about 'em, young sur?" + +It seemed to Paul that he was looking at him almost suspiciously. +"Oh, nothing--only--I've--I've been told--I know a fellow who stayed near +Princetown once, and he told me a heap about them," he stammered, and +Farmer Minards seemed satisfied and rose to go back to his work. + +"Don't you young folk wander far for a few days," he said, turning round +as he was going out at the door; "they're nasty chaps to meet on a lonely +spot. There's one thing, _you_ won't be able to go out and get into any +mischief for a day or two, I reckon. 'Tisn't a bad thing to have 'ee tied +by the leg for a bit, it'll give your mother a bit of peace of mind," he +said to Paul, and he laughed in a way which made Paul flush with +mortification. + +But he was mistaken as to the length of time Master Paul would be tied by +the leg. No schoolboy of fourteen would consent to spend a second +perfect summer day in the house, for the sake of a pair of scarred knees, +if he could possibly manage to use them. + +Paul found it almost unbearable to be in as long as he was, and especially +to be the object of as much notice as he was, so the second day he +declared himself quite fit to go out and stroll around, and Mrs. Anketell +was glad for him to be out in the sunshine and air again, he was so pale, +and his spirits seemed so low. + +On one point Mrs. Anketell had been most imperative--not a word as +to the escaped convicts was to be mentioned before Stella and Michael. +They had had so much to excite and alarm them lately, she was most anxious +to keep this last terror from them. Mike, she knew, had a childish dread +of the prison and its occupants, and Stella, who was not strong yet after +her illness, had also been nervous of being in the near neighbourhood of +the prison. So the two younger ones ran out and played about with light +hearts, full of pleasure that Paul was with them again, and anxious only +to make him laugh and romp about, and tease them as he used to do. +But Paul, though he was out in the sunshine once more, and though he had +escaped the detection of his wickedness, could not laugh, or joke, or take +any interest in the others' amusement, for a great weight lay on his heart +and his conscience, and he wondered if he should ever be a happy, +light-hearted boy again. + +It was such a lovely day, that first day he was out, so warm, and bright, +and perfect, that Mrs. Anketell promised them they should have all their +meals in the orchard, for there she felt they would be safe from harm, +and Farmer Minards sent out for one of the shepherd's dogs to be with them +too. So they had their mid-day dinner under the apple-trees, and played +there contentedly enough, the children unconscious of any danger, their +mother feeling for the time safe, and trying to put all fear from her, +Paul in constant dread of he scarcely knew what. + +In the afternoon Mr. Anketell had to leave them, as a telegram had come +calling him to London at once. He was very vexed about it, for he felt +peculiarly loath to leave them just then, he too being filled with a +foreboding of fear, for which he could not account except by telling +himself that Paul's extraordinary night adventure, and the narrow escape +from the morass, had upset his nerves, and made him unusually fearful. +When the car came round to take him to the station, he called Paul aside, +and spoke to him very gravely. + +"Paul, my son," he said kindly, "I have to leave you all, though I am more +than unwilling to do so, but I am going to leave your mother and the +children in your charge. Keep the little ones in your sight, guard them +all carefully. Cease to be a thoughtless child for the time, and try to +be a man, with a man's grave sense of responsibility. Take care of them +and of yourself, and remember a great trust rests on you." + +"I will, father," said Paul earnestly, and his lips quivered as his father +leaned affectionately on his shoulder. Confession trembled on his lips, +but there was no time for it, though he felt that here was a chance to +expiate his wickedness and deceit of the past. But if he could not +confess, he could at any rate live down that past and wipe it out by his +future conduct, and he would, he vowed he would. "I will take care of +them, father, I promise you," he repeated earnestly. + +The spirits of all flagged a good deal after Mr. Anketell's departure, and +it was quite a sober little party that gathered round the tea-table in the +orchard, and after tea they were quite content to sit and read instead of +indulging in their old lively games. + +At seven o'clock Mrs. Anketell rose and went in with Mike to give him his +glass of milk before putting him to bed. "I think you had all better come +in now," she said. "Can you bring in the rugs and things between you?" + +The elder ones followed her in a few moments with their first load, and +laid the things down in the passage. Mrs. Anketell was outside calling to +the maids, "I can't think where they are," she said anxiously, as the +children passed her on their way out. "Mrs. Minards, I know, has gone out +in the car which took father; she had some shopping to do, but she left +Laura and Ann in charge. It is very wrong of them to leave the house like +this." + +Paul went outside and shouted the girls' names at the top of his voice, +but he and Stella were bringing their last load before he saw them coming +in at the yard gate. They had been down to the hind's cottage, gossiping +with his wife. + +About nine o'clock Mrs. Minards came back in the car, driven by her +husband, and soon after all the household retired to bed. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +A TEST OF BRAVERY. + +It must have been three or four hours later that Paul heard what he +thought were mysterious noises and stealthy footsteps downstairs. +He had been lying restless and wakeful, haunted by a dread of he knew not +what, his mind continually dwelling on the runaway convicts out on the +moor, the clank of the iron as he had heard it that night sounding plainly +in his ears. He remembered, too, how deserted the house had been when his +mother and Mike had come into it, and how easily any one could have +walked in, had he or she been so inclined. + +Then in on his thoughts broke those sounds. A dreadful certainty of harm +to come came to him, but he had plenty of pluck, and the memory of his +promise to his father was strong in his mind. He got out of bed softly +and opened his door; then he crept to his mother's door and listened; no +sound came from there, and he hoped she was fast asleep, and Michael, too, +whose cot had been moved in there for the time. Paul felt sincerely +thankful. But though it was plain that the sounds had not come from +there, he was certain they came from somewhere within the house. +He crept softly along the passage and stood at the head of the stairs +listening. At first all was quiet, but just as he was thinking of +creeping back to his bed again, telling himself he had made a mistake, +there came from below a faint sound of scraping, and of stealthy +movements. At the sounds, so unmistakably those of a person bent on +concealment, his heart thumped madly, a cold sweat broke out on his brow; +his heart indeed thumped so loudly he was afraid it would be heard by the +person below, but he went bravely down a few steps further and listened +again. Yes, there was no doubt there was someone down there. + +What could he, a small boy, do against a desperate man? Farmer Minards +slept on the other side of the house, and his room could only be reached +by a flight of stairs running up from the kitchen. To get at him Paul +must go right down, and through the house, close to, if not actually +passing by the burglar, or whoever it might be who was acting so +stealthily. But Farmer Minards must be roused somehow. This was the one +thing Paul was certain of. Without making a sound he crept down another +stair or two. Whoever it was down below, he had a light, for Paul could +see a faint glimmer, and it came, he imagined, from the little room the +farmer called his 'office.' + +Scarcely knowing to what his thoughts led, Paul thought he might possibly +creep down and pass the office unnoticed, then fly softly through the +kitchen and up to the farmer's room. All chance of success would depend, +though, on the man not being near the office door, or facing that way. +But before his thoughts were really formed Paul had put them into action. +He was too much alarmed and too full of the responsibility of his position +to dawdle. Suppose any harm should come to his mother or the children! +He grew sick with terror at the thought, and flew on faster. + +There was only a faint swish in the air to indicate that anyone had moved, +a sound so faint that the thief in the office did not hear it. He was +busily engaged on the lock of the farmer's safe. + +The kitchen reached, Paul flew up the back stairs, and burst like a +hurricane into the first room he came to. Luckily it was the right one. +It took him some time to rouse the old farmer and to make him understand +what was happening, and when that was accomplished nothing would satisfy +him but that he must dress as fully as on every other morning, and then +rouse the household in that part of the house. + +Paul quivered with impatience. "Quick! quick!" he groaned. "He may go up +and murder mother or Stella while we are here." But the farmer had never +been quick in his life, and did not know the meaning of the word. + +"Plenty of time," he said, and Paul groaned with anguish. "Plenty of +time, sir. That there lock'll keep un quiet for a brave bit, and I ain't +going to trust myself in that place without plenty to back me up." + +"I must go back alone, then," said Paul at last, in an agony of +impatience; "I promised father I'd take care of them." And he began to +descend the stairs, hoping by his departure to accelerate the movements of +the others. But his hope was a forlorn one, and he went back by himself, +in spite of the farmer's repeated injunctions to "wait a bit." + +He hoped by being equally swift and silent to escape the notice of the +thief again, but the man was no longer in the office. Whether he had +succeeded in robbing the safe or not Paul did not know, but he soon +gathered that he had gone upstairs; in fact, as Paul himself reached the +landing, he heard him raise the latch of Stella's door and creep into the +room. + +"Who are you--what do you want?" gasped Paul. He was rendered well-nigh +speechless at coming suddenly face to face with the burglar. + +The man turned on him like a hunted animal at bay. "If you make a sound +I'll shoot you!" he snarled, and with the same he whipped a revolver from +his pocket. "If you'll hold your tongue and say nothing no harm'll come +to anybody, but if you give the alarm I'll--" + +But he did not complete his sentence, for their voices had wakened Stella, +and at the sight of the stranger she started up in bed with a scream. + +Frantic and desperate, the man turned from Paul to her. "Stop that noise, +will you?" he hissed, "or I'll--" But at that moment Paul rushed past +him, sprang on the bed, and placed his own body in front of his sister's. +"No, you don't," he half sobbed, half screamed, "you--you coward, you'll +hit me first!" + +It is doubtful if the man would have fired at little Stella; probably he +meant only to frighten the children, but at that instant he heard the +sound of footsteps on the stairs, and with a frenzied look around him for +a means of escape, he saw the doorway filled by the burly form of Farmer +Minards. + +Now Farmer Minards was not accustomed to the capturing of desperate men. +A better man with a kicking horse, or a savage bull, could not perhaps, be +found on Dartmoor, and if the convict had stood and allowed himself to be +pinioned with only a moderate amount of struggling and kicking, the +farmer's presence of mind would have been sufficient, but, as it was, when +the man made one bold rush, with pistol cocked, for the very spot where he +stood, he gave way before the rush; but for an instant there was a +struggle and a fight, for Muggridge and the man who slept at the farm were +close behind the farmer, little expecting their master to give way so +soon, and leave them to grapple with their visitor, and it may have been +that he intended to shoot down one of them, or that in the struggle the +pistol accidentally went off, but in another second a bullet whistled +through the air, and, passing clean through the fleshy part of Paul's arm, +became embedded in the wall behind. + +Certain it is that if Paul had not dragged his sister flat down behind him +on the bed poor Stella's life would have been ended then and there. +But Paul had expiated his sin nobly, and he had nearly laid down his life +for hers. Stella really thought he had laid it down in very truth when he +fell forward on his face with blood pouring from him, and, overcome with +grief and horror, she fainted dead away beside him. + +Farmer Minards saw the children fall, and he, too, thought Paul was +killed. In fact, for the moment he thought they both were, and with the +horror of it, forgetting the convict and everything else, he rushed to the +bedside, leaving Muggridge and Davey to manage as best they could. +But the convict had the best of it, and the two had never a chance to +close with him. By the force and unexpectedness with which he came he +burst through them, and dealing Davey a blow on the head with his pistol, +and Muggridge one in the face with his fist, which left them both stunned +and bleeding, he flew down the stairs and out of the house by the very +window through which he had entered. + +When Stella and Paul at last awoke again to life, and to a recollection of +what had taken place, it seemed to be everybody's aim to banish from their +minds the painful past, and the memory of that terrible night, and to fill +their lives with everything that could brighten and cheer them and help +them to forget. Paul was quite a hero in all their eyes; to Stella he +seemed the very ideal of all that was splendid and brave, and to Paul's +credit it must be said that the opinion he had of himself was far lower +and more contemptuous than he deserved, and he would not listen to one +word of praise. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +STELLA'S ADVENTURE. + +Naturally, one of the first inquiries of the children on recovering was as +to whether their assailant had been captured, and Mrs. Anketell was +greatly troubled, fearing it would make them nervous of the place if they +knew he was still at large, and she longed to be able to assure them that +the man was safely under lock and key again. Another thing she feared was +that the children would be too terrified to stay in the neighbourhood, +and would wish to be taken home. But when by-and-by an immediate return +home was suggested to them they pleaded so hard--to her great relief--to +be allowed to stay, that she gladly fell in with their wishes, being +anxious to leave with a happier impression of the place than that given by +the fright, almost tragedy, they had just sustained. + +So they stayed on. Stella soon grew bright and rosy again when she saw +that Paul was not dangerously hurt, and with the happy knack which +healthy, plucky children, have, she soon threw off any dread she might +have of going out and about, and with 'Watch' (the dog Farmer Minards gave +the children to be their own special protector) at their heels, she and +Michael wandered about, within reach of home, as happily as if no such +person as a convict existed. + +Paul, of course, did not recover so quickly; he had to be quiet until his +wound had healed, and Stella and Michael missed him very much in all their +games and walks, so much so indeed that Mr. Anketell, who had been sent +for at once, took to planning little excursions to various picturesque +spots in the neighbourhood, where they would have tea in a cottage, or in +a cottage garden, and drive home in the cool of the evening. + +One day, soon after the accident, while Paul was still too weak to get +about, Mr. Anketell suggested that they should drive that afternoon to a +village called Windycross, walk on a mile to the little town which was +their nearest shopping-place, and come back to Windycross to tea. +Stella was delighted. For days she had been longing to buy a little +present for Paul, but did not know how to manage it; here was her +opportunity, and with her purse in her pocket, and heart full of +delightful importance, she clambered up into the carriage and drove off. + +It was a lovely day, and the children were in the highest spirits, +only saddened every now and again by the sight of the searchers still +scouring the country for the escaped man, and the fear that the poor +fellow might at any moment be caught, for, strange though it may seem, +all the children's sympathies were with him, and they longed to hear that +the search had been abandoned. + +The drive to Windycross was a long one, but they reached there in good +time, and Michael and Stella stood looking about them full of interest at +the funny little low white cottages, while their father went into one and +ordered tea. Then they strolled slowly on to the town, and Stella laid +out two of the five shillings she possessed on a book she knew Paul was +longing to possess. Her pleasure and excitement over her purchase were +immense; she could not allow anyone else to carry it, and every now and +again she was filled with a longing to untie the string and look at her +treasure, to turn over the crisp new leaves, and glance at the pictures. +At last, when they reached the village, she could restrain herself no +longer. They had got back earlier than they thought they would, and the +tea was not ready, so Mr. Anketell, who wanted to call on a friend near +by, thought he would go and do that while they were waiting, and take the +children with him. + +But Stella wanted so much to undo her precious parcel and look at her book +that she pleaded to be left behind, and Mr. Anketell and Michael left her +at the cottage. But she soon found that that did not suit her; there were +too many people about, and she was shy under the glances of so many eyes; +so she strolled into the garden, but that was close to the village street, +and a girl who was working there dropped her work to stare at the +stranger. + +Stella began to feel quite cross, and she looked around to see if there +was no secluded spot in all that place. Then her eye fell on the little +church hidden away amongst trees at the bottom of the village, and her +heart leaped. She turned to the girl who was picking fruit and watching +her at the same time. "I am going down to the churchyard to sit in the +shade," she said. "I will be back again by the time tea is ready," and +before the girl could reply she had hurried away. + +The top of the village seemed to be the favourite spot at Windycross for +the villagers to congregate; most of the houses were up there, too, while +the lower end where the church stood was as deserted as the other end was +sought after; to Stella's great joy she did not see a single person, and +as she clambered over the stone stile which led into it, and wandered +along the overgrown paths, she felt as though she was as safe from +intrusion as though she had been in the middle of the moor. The fact was, +the yard had long ceased to be used as a burying-ground, and the church +itself was as nearly deserted by the present generation of villagers, for +a clergyman came only once a month to hold service there, and while the +old building gradually became a ruin, a flourishing chapel sprang up to +satisfy the needs of the neglected people. + +But Stella knew and thought nothing of this; she was only bent on finding +a comfortable, secluded seat, where she sat and unwrapped her parcel. +She thought of Paul's surprise, and how pleased he would be, she dipped +into the pages here and there and read a few lines, admired the covers, +and enjoyed the delightful smell new books so often have, and at last, +half reluctantly, she wrapped her treasure up in its paper again, trying +to make it look as neat as when the shopman had handed it to her. +That done she got up to explore further. It was a weird, neglected spot +she had got into. Numbers of tombstones lay about as they had fallen, +others were leaning over looking as though another gale would lay them +flat too. The shrubs which had been planted on the graves had grown to be +great, unkempt bushes, spreading over many other graves than the one they +had been planted on; tiny saplings had become big trees, forcing out +tombstones and curbs, and everywhere the rank grass grew high up into the +bushes. But greatest of all dilapidations was that of the church itself; +many of the windows had been broken, and were left unrepaired; here and +there a great piece of stonework had fallen away; the outer gates of the +porch hung loose on one hinge. Stella entered the porch and sat for a +moment on one of the stone benches. + +Then, scarcely knowing why she did it, she raised the latch of the church +door. To her great surprise the door opened, and without a thought she +entered. She had never been in so tumbledown and neglected a place in her +life; the pew-doors were either hanging or gone altogether, some of the +pews were too rotten to use, the plaster and paint hung off in scales, and +a large hole in the roof showed that the risk of attending service there +was no slight one. + +But Stella did not heed the danger; she was too much charmed to find +herself alone and exploring. A sense of importance filled her, and a good +deal of curiosity. She looked at the names in some of the mouldy hymn +books lying in the pews, and mounted the pulpit to see how the church +looked from there. Then she went into the vestry, and coming out of it +she found herself at the entrance to a low dark place which she thought +must be a family vault. It was so low and dark she could at first see +nothing within, and instinctively she drew herself up sharply on the +threshold, doubtful, but of what she did not know. But, somehow, she did +not like to enter, a sudden nervousness came over her, a desire to get +away from the place and be out in the open again. + +And then, with a terrified scream, she saw close to her, gleaming out of +the darkness, a wild looking, savage face; two eyes full of desperation, +and hunger, and despair, were fixed on hers; and in another moment she +recognised the hiding convict. The fear in his face lightened when he +found that the footsteps he had listened to for what seemed so long were +only those of a little girl. + +"Are you alone?" he asked, in a low, gruff voice. + +With the shock, and the fright, and her fear of the man, a sudden panic +seized Stella; she could not answer, and with another terrified cry she +turned and ran. But she did not know her way, and in her hurry she +tripped over a step, and before she could recover herself the man was at +her side. But instead of killing her, as she really thought he would, he +lifted her up, not roughly, and put her on her feet, then picked up her +parcel and after carefully feeling it, handed it to her, though he kept a +tight grip of her hand. + +"Missy," he said in a low voice, so hoarse she could hardly make out what +he said--"Missy, I ain't goin' to hurt you. I give 'ee my word I won't +harm you if you'll only promise not to breathe a word about my being +here." + +A sound outside, probably only a bird fluttering in the ivy, made him +start nervously, and Stella saw that he shook, and that the perspiration +stood out on his face. He drew her quickly back to the entrance to the +vault. "Swear you won't ever breathe a word to anybody that you have seen +me. Swear it! Do you hear?" + +He looked so ferocious, that Stella began to cry. "I won't tell, of +course not," she said, earnestly. "I am not a sneak, and we wanted you to +escape; we all hoped you were far away by this time. Paul and I thought +you must be." + +He gave a sort of snarl. "There's no getting away from this place, unless +anybody's got friends outside to help 'em. They are too sharp, and there +are too many of 'em. But I've gone free longer than any before me, and +that's something. Who is Paul?" he asked suddenly. "And where do you +live?" + +"We live at Moor Farm. Paul is my brother, the one you shot." + +The man looked at her sharply, "Did I--did I hurt him much?" + +"The bullet went through his arm. He didn't die." + +"I'm glad of that," said the man, and he spoke as though he really meant +it. "I'm starving," he said a second later. "I haven't had a mouthful +since the day before yesterday, and I can't hold out much longer. +Have you got any food about you?" + +Stella shook her head. "No, I haven't. I am so sorry," she said +wistfully, and the man's hard face grew soft as her blue eyes looked +pityingly up at him. "I _wish_ I could help you," she said earnestly; +then with sudden recollection, "I have three shillings, if that would be +of any use to you." + +"Thank you, Missy, it might be," he said gratefully; "but I wish you'd got +a bit of bread." + +She took out her little purse, and counted out the money into his rough +hand. "Thank you, Missy," he said again. "I shall never forget you, if I +gets away, or if I'm took I shall always be humbly grateful to you, and +think of you as one of the pluckiest little ladies that ever lived." + +"Thank you," she said politely, "but I think I must be going now, or +someone may come to look for me." + +The man's face again was filled with a desperate fear, and he shrank back +further into the gloom of the vault, "Before you go you must swear you +won't give me away. Swear!--do you hear, on your solemn oath!" + +"I don't know how to swear," said Stella simply, "but I promise solemnly +not to tell anyone who would do you any harm." + +"That won't do. You must not tell anyone at all, unless you hear I'm-- +took--or killed," with a bitter laugh. + +"Very well," said Stella. "I don't like keeping it from mother, but I +_will_ keep the secret, for your sake. I hope you will soon get some +food. Good-bye," and she held out her hand to shake hands with him. + +The man took it, but did not speak, and Stella, drawing her hand away, ran +down the aisle and through the church as fast as she could. Not until she +was outside did she realise how her limbs were trembling, and she wondered +how she should ever get back to the cottage and escape notice and +questioning. But in her great desire to shield the man she made such +efforts to laugh and talk and be like her usual self, and Michael had so +much to say too, that nothing unusual was observed in her look or manner. +And if, during the next few days, any of them thought her unusually quiet +and thoughtful, it was all put down to the shock the burglar had given her +that night, no one dreaming that she had had a long and solitary interview +with that same desperate creature, and had come out of it unhurt. + +But only for a week did her silence last, for at the end of that time the +poor, wretched convict was captured, miles from Windycross, just as he was +making his way to a train which would have borne him, probably, to safety. +As usual, all sympathy was with the captured man, but to Stella his arrest +was a real and lasting grief, and when amidst many bitter tears she told +the story of her adventure at Windycross, her one hope was that he did not +think she was in any way concerned in his capture. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +PAUL CONFESSES. + +But though Stella recovered so well, and so much more quickly than they +had dared to hope, from the shock she had received that night, Paul +remained ill and low in spirits and in strength. Of course at first he +was very weak from loss of blood and shock, and no one wondered; but, as +time went on, and in spite of all that was done for him, he did not pick +op health as they expected him to. They fed him, and physicked him, and +tried to cheer him, but nothing seemed to do him any good, until at last +the doctor, the same who had pulled him out of the morass, and carried +Stella home, began to be puzzled about him. "Has he anything on his mind +that can be troubling him?" he asked Mr. Anketell, one day. "Something is +keeping him back; he is spiritless and depressed. It must be his mind; +his body is sound enough, and the wound is healing nicely. I wonder if he +has been up to any other escapade, and is uneasy about it? It is probably +quite a trifling thing, but I feel sure something is preying on the boy's +mind." + +After the doctor had gone, Mr. Anketell wandered about the moor, thinking +deeply. The doctor's words had impressed him very much, and even while he +had been speaking the memory of the sleep-walking night, and Paul's odd +behaviour of the day previous to that, came back to him. Could Paul have +deceived them all as to the events of that night? Had something happened +then which he had not liked to confess? + +He went slowly back to the farm, his heart heavy, his face stern. +But before he sought his son, he went to his own room, and prayed to God +to help him in his guidance of this boy of his. + +Paul was alone, lying on a couch in his own room, to which he had been +carried after he had been shot. The sun had set, and a soft twilight was +filling the room, but the light which still came in at the window fell +full on Paul. Mr. Anketell, entering softly, saw the expression on the +boy's face, the look in his eyes, and his heart ached, and all his +sternness vanished. "My boy," he said, oh, so tenderly, "tell me what it +is that is troubling you; tell me all about it, I know there is something. +Can't you bring yourself to trust me not to be hard on you?" + +No one knew what transpired at that meeting. No one but Mrs. Anketell in +fact ever knew it had taken place. It was to remain for ever a confidence +between them, and it was a confidence which bound father and son more +closely together all their lives after. They had a long, long talk; much +was confessed, much help given, much strength and courage. Paul never +forgot that evening and that talk in the twilight, or his first +realisation of the greatness of his father's love for him. No shyness, no +self-consciousness was left, no fear of meeting his father's eyes, no more +secrets lay between them. To Paul, though he but dimly realised it then, +and could not have explained it, that hour was a turning-point in his +life, and in all his after-life he thanked God for that one evening's +talk. But after the confession and the forgiveness was over, and all had +been told, they sat so long talking that presently the supper-bell rang, +and then came a light, slow step upon the stair. It was Stella's, they +knew. "Will you tell her?" whispered Paul, and though his heart was sore +with shame he did not falter. + +"No," whispered back his father. "I shall tell no one. I want the +children to feel nothing but affection and respect for you, to look up to +you. Nothing must smirch Stella's beautiful love for you, Paul. +It is something you cannot prize too highly, and will some day know the +true value of." + +"I will try not to let anything," said Paul gravely, and there came a tap +at the door. "Is daddy here?" asked Stella's voice, and then, opening the +door, "Oh, you are in the dark. Poor Paul, weren't you frightened?" + +"Oh, no," said Paul simply, "father is here." + +And then a happy little procession went down the stairs to supper--Paul in +his father's arms, Stella running in front to open doors. Exclamations of +joy greeted them as they appeared, for this was Paul's first appearance +below stairs. And his mother, who at the first glance saw that it was her +old, happy Paul who had come back to them, and that all the shadow which +had come between them had been cleared away, felt happier than she had for +many a long day. For one wilful mischievous boy can not only make himself +thoroughly unhappy, but everyone about him becomes unhappy too. + +A week or two later they left Moor Farm for home, their holiday ended. + +"Well," said Mr. Anketell, drawing a deep breath as he took his seat +beside them in the train, "it seems to me we lost nothing in the way of +excitement by not going to Norway. Dartmoor was able to give us as much +as we could manage with." + +"I have never regretted the change," said Mrs. Anketell heartily, +"have you children?" + +"Oh, no," cried Michael, excitedly. "We had adventures all the time, and +shooting, and everything." + +"Yes," said Paul, laughing ruefully, "and I provided most of them." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL THE COURAGEOUS*** + + +******* This file should be named 26087.txt or 26087.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/0/8/26087 + + + +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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