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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/26627-h.zip b/26627-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe09e55 --- /dev/null +++ b/26627-h.zip diff --git a/26627-h/26627-h.htm b/26627-h/26627-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d40848 --- /dev/null +++ b/26627-h/26627-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3444 @@ +<!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 E-text of The Island House, by F. M. Holmes +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 20%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-top: 0% ; + margin-bottom: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: larger ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island House, by F. M. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Island House + A Tale for the Young Folks + +Author: F. M. Holmes + +Release Date: September 15, 2008 [EBook #26627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""I do believe there's Miss Edith at the window!" (p. 25)" BORDER="2" WIDTH="374" HEIGHT="537"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 374px"> +"I do believe there's Miss Edith at the window!" (p. 25) +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE ISLAND HOUSE +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A Tale for the Young Folks. +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +F. M. HOLMES, +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF "THE BELL BUOY;" "JACK MARSTON'S ANCHOR;"<BR> +"THE WHITE SLEDGE," ETC. +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Publishers +<BR> +S. W. Partridge & Co., Ltd. +<BR> +London +<BR> +1898 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>BOOKS IN THE SAME SERIES</I> +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"ROAST POTATOES!"<BR> +ONLY A GIRL!<BR> +DICK AND HIS DONKEY<BR> +RED DAVE<BR> +THE LITTLE WOODMAN<BR> +A LITTLE TOWN MOUSE<BR> +THE ISLAND HOUSE<BR> +THE CHILDREN OF THE MARSHES<BR> +A DOUBLE VICTORY<BR> +LEFT IN CHARGE<BR> +A SUNDAY TRIP<BR> +"IN A MINUTE!"<BR> +FARTHING DIPS<BR> +TIMFY SYKES<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON +<BR> +S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO, LTD. +<BR> +MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS. +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">OLD MANSY HEARS SOMETHING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">TO THE LABURNUM TREE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE YOUNG NAVIGATOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">"WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">WITH TIED WRISTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">AN UNWELCOME VISITOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"I do believe there's Miss Edith at the window!" <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-023"> +"Alfy and Mansy made quite an enjoyable meal." +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-033"> +"On floated the tub, leaving him alone in the tree!" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-049"> +"'I wonder if I could undo these knots with my teeth? I will try.'" +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE ISLAND HOUSE. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OLD MANSY HEARS SOMETHING. +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-capi.jpg" ALT="dropcap-I" BORDER="0" WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="123"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +think I'll get out here, young man." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, missus." +</P> + +<P> +The old carrier stopped his jolting cart—an easy thing to do, for the +wearied horse was glad of the chance of halting—and the passenger +leisurely descended. With her descended also a bulging umbrella and +numerous packages. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, young man!" she exclaimed. She thought this a very polite +way of addressing men whom she regarded as somewhat beneath her in +social station. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not answer. He was urging on his sleepy horse, and though +it was an easy matter to stop that interesting quadruped, yet it was a +very different thing to make him go on again. +</P> + +<P> +So she started off down a road leading out of the turnpike thoroughfare +on which the carrier was travelling. +</P> + +<P> +She was a tall, somewhat angular woman, with determination written on +her face. In one hand she carried a number of parcels mysteriously +tied together, and in the other hand her very bulgy umbrella, which she +used as a walking stick, and staffed her way with it solemnly along the +dim country road. +</P> + +<P> +It was a summer evening, and there had been a heavy storm during the +day. "Dear! dear! how dirty it be, sure<I>ly</I>," she said, as she +proceeded. "Bad enough to be dirty in winter, but in summer it's +disgraceful! Ha! how sweet that woodbine do smell! Now, if I could +get a piece for the children!" +</P> + +<P> +She stopped and began to poke about in the hedge with her bulging +umbrella. At last, after much reaching and pulling, she obtained a +small piece of the sweet-smelling honeysuckle, stuck it in her large, +old-fashioned bonnet, where it nodded like a plume, and pursued her way +in triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"Soon be home now," she said, to encourage herself. "Won't Master Alfy +be pleased with the woodbine!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she paused again. What was that noise? +</P> + +<P> +She was at the corner of a lane branching off from the road she had +been pursuing. Dimly in her ears sounded a low, sullen roar—a roar +something like the murmuring noise of a mighty city heard in a quiet +and distant suburb. +</P> + +<P> +But here was no mighty city. She was deep in the heart of the quiet +country. What was that noise? +</P> + +<P> +"I never heerd the like afore at this place," she muttered to herself. +"Anyhow, I'll get on home. I shan't be long now!" +</P> + +<P> +A few turns in the road brought her in sight of the house. But she +stood suddenly quite still, and stared in amazement and alarm. Was +that indeed the house she had left quite safely in the smiling sunlight +of yesterday morning? +</P> + +<P> +Now, she saw a turbid sheet of water surrounding it; and here and there +the tops of shrubs and trees and hedges, looking strange and melancholy +as they rose out of the flood. The dull roar she had heard previously +now sounded louder than before, but she did not think of that. The +children were her anxiety. "Where are the children?" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +The excitement and alarm wrought upon her feelings, and she screamed +aloud— +</P> + +<P> +"Children! children! Where are the children?" +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was the best thing she could have done. Anyhow, it had a +good effect. Lights quickly appeared at the windows, and she heard +shrill, childish voices sounding over the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Mansy! Mansy! is that you? Oh! we are glad you have come! Where +does all the water come from?" +</P> + +<P> +"Are you all safe?" she screamed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes; but we have scarcely anything to eat." +</P> + +<P> +"I have something in these parcels!" she shouted. "Oh, thank God the +children are all safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"How are you to get here, Mansy?" +</P> + +<P> +That was the difficulty; and Mansy, as she looked at the dull, sullen +water, felt she could not answer the question. First she thought of +boldly plunging in and wading up to the house door. But, strong-nerved +as she was, she shrank from this, and after carefully plumbing the +depth a little way with the bulging umbrella, she shrank from it still +more. It might be too dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +In the dim twilight of that cloudy summer evening she stood on the +water's brink and watched the flood go swaying past. She felt +stupefied and bewildered. Whence came the flood, and how? A more +unexpected thing had never happened to her. And now she knew that the +children were safe, the unexpectedness of it, the amazement of the +whole thing, seemed almost to benumb her senses. +</P> + +<P> +But she soon roused herself, when across the water sounded a shrill +boyish voice, which shouted—"I'll bring you over, Mansy. I'm coming +for you. Look out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless the boy! that's my Master Alfy. Whatever is he up to now?" +</P> + +<P> +And the good woman strained her eyes in the direction of the house to +see what her favourite boy was doing. +</P> + +<P> +She heard numerous childish exclamations, shouts, and laughter, and +noises as of something knocking against the walls of the house. Then a +splash! +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever is that boy doing?" cried Mansy. "Don't you get drownded!" +she screamed. "Do take care, Master Alfy! I'd rather stay here all +night than you should come to harm!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mansy dear," shouted the shrill voice of the boy. "I'm +coming, safe and sound, Mansy." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, what is he a-comin' in?" cried the good woman, gazing into the +dusk. She saw the dim outline of something which soon she recognised. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, bless the boy! he's in the big washing tub! My! and how clever +he do manage it!" +</P> + +<P> +Mansy was quite right. The plucky little lad had hit on this expedient +of ferrying the old nurse and housekeeper over the flood to the house! +He had obtained two large kitchen ladles, and with these he was +propelling and guiding the unwieldy round tub, which bobbed about +provokingly on the turbid water, and made but little progress. It +would have been still less, perhaps, but for the fact that the water +flowed from the direction of the house past the old nurse. +</P> + +<P> +But the difficulty the boy had soon to encounter was to guide the tub +to her, for it was in great danger of being carried past. The house +stood in a small valley or depression of ground, which rose to the lane +up which Mansy had been walking. She was now standing on the verge of +the water, which appeared to surround the house entirely, and +completely obliterated the lawn and garden, except for the trees and +shrubs, and the boundary hedge which stood above the turbid flood. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mansy, look out!" cried Alfy. And whirling through the air came +a thin rope, which, before she was aware, struck her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" she exclaimed, "what's that? What are you doing, Alfy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Catch tight hold of it—quick, Mansy!" +</P> + +<P> +Mansy's energy and common-sense were returning, and she was on the +alert in a moment. She caught the rope, and held it firmly. "The new +clothes line!" she exclaimed, "Bless the boy! what next?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pull, Mansy dear, pull!" he shouted. She pulled hard, and the tub +slowly floated towards her. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right; jolly!" exclaimed Alfy, as the tub, with its bright, +brave little burden, came close to Mansy and touched the ground before +her. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear boy," exclaimed the good old woman, "how did this water +happen? And I am so glad to find you all well." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, all right, Mansy. Now get in the tub, quick! Is it not fun?" +</P> + +<P> +"What! me get in the washing-tub?" she exclaimed. "Oh! I couldn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, Mansy dear; that's what I came for. You'll be all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it wouldn't bear me! We should go to the bottom." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! nonsense, Mansy! Why, don't you remember at the seaside regatta, +last year men had a race in tubs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! but I'm—I'm—heavier than them men," said Mansy thoughtfully, +looking down on her ample proportions. +</P> + +<P> +"The tub is big," exclaimed Alfy. "It is the biggest we have. We had +a work to get it out of the window; and it made such a splash! Come +on, dear Mansy!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't do it for nobody but you, Master Alfy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, do it for me then, Mansy. I'll take care of you; see if I +don't." +</P> + +<P> +"Anyhow, the parcels might go in. There's something there nice, +Alfy,—a tongue—a nice Paysandoo; and some jam—blackberry and apple +mixed, and some biscuits." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! jolly! treat! Come on, dear Mansy, let's be quick back." +</P> + +<P> +"Has not the butcher come?" asked the old nurse. +</P> + +<P> +"No; no tradesmen could cross over from the village, nor yet the +postman, and we expected a letter from mother and father. We are all +surrounded by water in the house, just like an island. 'The Island +House' Madge called it!" +</P> + +<P> +"And Miss Madge, and Miss Edie, and Jane are quite well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, quite, dear Mansy. Only do be quick, please." +</P> + +<P> +The old nurse bent over and put the packages into the tub. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she said, as it dipped, "see how that weighs it down." +</P> + +<P> +"Only a bob down when the parcels fell in," Alfy cried merrily. "See, +it is all right now. You can't get across any other way," he added +decidedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll try it," she said slowly; "but I very much doubt——" +</P> + +<P> +She did not finish the sentence, but carefully planting the bulging +umbrella in the water, she leaned on it, and then advanced one foot to +place in the tub. "Oh, I can't!" she cried, just as the foot was over +the side of the tub, and she hastily drew back. +</P> + +<P> +"You <I>could</I>, Mansy dear," exclaimed Alfy. "You were just doing it +beautifully!" +</P> + +<P> +"But didn't you see how the tub was going down, Master Alfy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, it wasn't; try again, there's a dear!" +</P> + +<P> +So Mansy, persuaded by Alfy, whom she loved like her own son, and +spurred on also by the desire to reach the house, tried again. She +leaned on the umbrella, and slowly advanced her right foot as before, +but this time she plumped it down into the tub. +</P> + +<P> +Down it bobbed, of course, under her weight. "Oh-h-h!" she cried. "I +shall drown you, Alfy!" and hastily she drew back again. "Me in a +tub!" she cried. "I can't!" +</P> + +<P> +"It really is all right," said Alfy again. "It will take us both. +Why, these flat-bottomed things float in ever such a little water. Try +once more, Mansy dear, and then I can give you a kiss." +</P> + +<P> +"I dessay you could, my bonnie baby, and I know you'd do anything to +help your old nurse. You're a real good boy; but go in that rockety +thing I couldn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Tisn't rickety, Mansy, when once you are inside. Look here," and he +jumped in it, and shook it from side to side. Of course his light +weight was nothing to speak of, and it sat like a cork on the water. +</P> + +<P> +"You take over the parcels to your sisters, Alfy dear, and then they'll +have something to eat." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not going without you, Mansy!" he exclaimed decidedly, pulling +the tub in again by the rope quite close. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless the boy! To think of my little Master Alfy taking his old nurse +in a tub! What would your parients say, on the Continong?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it must be, you see, Mansy dear, so please come on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if we do turn over, I'll save you, Master Alfy. So now I'll try +again." +</P> + +<P> +And once more leaning on the umbrella, she put one foot into the tub, +and not caring for its plumping down into the water, this time she +quickly brought the other foot after the first. +</P> + +<P> +"Capital! capital!" cried Alfy. "There, you see, we have not gone +over!" +</P> + +<P> +No, they had not gone over; but he soon found they were not going at +all! The tub was just aground, and would not move without being pushed +off. +</P> + +<P> +So Alfy endeavoured to edge off the clumsy craft with the ladles, and +called on Mansy to help with the indispensable bulgy umbrella. The +moon was now shining, and albeit it was with a wan and watery gleam, +yet it enabled them to see their course a little more clearly. +</P> + +<P> +After strenuous efforts, the large, round tub was gradually got off the +ground, and actually floated. "Hurrah!" shouted the brave little Alfy. +"Now for Island House!" +</P> + +<P> +But try as he would he could not make the heavily laden craft float +towards the house. His paddles were too small, or he had not power +enough to make the best use of them, and slowly the current bore him +away. +</P> + +<P> +Then he called on Mansy to help, but, good woman, she no more knew how +to paddle a tub properly than to fly to the moon! Their efforts +perhaps slightly retarded the progress of the strange craft, but could +not alter its course. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll try the rope," cried Alfy in desperation. "Madge! Jane!" he +shouted, "look out!" +</P> + +<P> +He threw the rope, but, of course, it fell far short of the house. A +moment's reflection would have shown him that it could not possibly +reach the window where stood his sisters and the servant maid. +</P> + +<P> +They saw the difficulty now, and screamed aloud, while Mansy +endeavoured to shout back reassuring answers. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no use," said Alfy, crouching down in the tub, "we are floating +away. We cannot get to the house. What shall we do now?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO THE LABURNUM TREE. +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-capw2.jpg" ALT="dropcap-W" BORDER="0" WIDTH="72" HEIGHT="126"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +hat shall we do now?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Mansy who echoed Alfy's cry. "Can't we stop it somehow, Master +Alfy?" she added. "Tie it with the rope to the top of some tree or +something. Look there, could we not catch the line on there?" and she +pointed to the shrubby top of a big bush or tree. Alfy could not +exactly see what it was, but he saw something jutting up above the +water. +</P> + +<P> +The boy hastily took up his ladles, and endeavoured to steer the +strange bark to the point indicated. It was a weary, troublesome task. +Then Mansy threw the line, trying to catch it in the branches, and +nearly overbalanced herself into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"The rockety thing!" she exclaimed, half in alarm and half in contempt. +"I feared it 'ud go over." +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Mansy, if you sit still," said Alfy; "but try and +paddle it with the umbrella to the tree." +</P> + +<P> +So they both endeavoured to float it in the desired direction, and at +length Alfy thought he might venture to throw the rope. He did so, and +with some good effect, for it fell over a branch, and, though it did +not wind tightly round and had no firm hold, he could just give the tub +a bias in that direction. +</P> + +<P> +After plying his paddles with fairly good result for a little time, he +drew in the rope, and again launched it forth at the tree top. Again +he was, to some extent, successful, and in a few minutes he was able to +float the tub in among the branches. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are!" he cried, "quite like the baby in the nursery +rhyme—'Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top,' you know, eh, Mansy dear? +Now we will tie the tub firmly to the branches, so that there will be +no fear of floating away!" +</P> + +<P> +"You have managed well, Master Alfy," said Mansy, admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but it was your idea; and look, we are not so very far from the +house!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish we were there!" sighed Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +"So do I," said Alfy, "but, Mansy dear, I really am very hungry, and +you said you had something to eat in those packages!" +</P> + +<P> +"And so I have," replied his old nurse. "Dear boy, you must be hungry. +I suppose the girls have something left?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh yes, quite enough for another meal, I should think! I wish we +could let them know we are safe, and not so very far away." +</P> + +<P> +"Burn a light; I have some matches and a little spirit lamp. I bought +it with some other things yesterday, thinking it might be handy in the +summer, when the kitchen fire was out, to boil a little water." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what fun!" cried Alfy. "We are just like wrecked sailors or +something, near a desert island! We'll burn some of the papers round +the parcels to make a great flare." +</P> + +<P> +So the lamp was lit, and the papers burned, and Alfy waved the flimsy, +flaming torch bravely for a minute or so, that the watchers in the +island house might just catch a glimpse of them and of their position. +</P> + +<P> +An answering light was soon flashed back by the girls, so they knew +that their own had been seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we will take some of this tongue," said Mansy, producing the tin +in which it was preserved, "Lucky I got the young man in the shop to +open it. But what about a knife to cut it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Won't this do?" asked Alfy, producing his pocket-knife. "At all +events, it is better than nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, bless the boy! so it is; but I am afraid it won't do very well. +Howsomdever, we'll make the best of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I can manage it better than you, Mansy," suggested Alfy. "I +am more used to it, you know; and really it is a splendid knife when +you know how to use it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I should think so, <I>when</I> you know how to use it, my dear, but I +cannot do very much with it in cutting nice slices!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, never mind the nice slices, if we can get some nice mouthfuls," +laughed the boy. And he proceeded to cut some small slips off the top +of the tongue with great facility, considering the unsuitability of the +small pocket-knife for the purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"Capital!" cried his nurse, as Alfy handed her a few of the small +slices, and then she produced some biscuits, and Alfy and Mansy made +quite an enjoyable meal. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-023"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-023.jpg" ALT=""ALFY AND MANSY MADE QUITE AN ENJOYABLE MEAL."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="373" HEIGHT="539"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 373px"> +"ALFY AND MANSY MADE QUITE AN ENJOYABLE MEAL." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"I wish this water was fit to drink," she said, "for I feel thirsty. +Now tell me where it comes from, if you can, and how the flood +happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was yesterday afternoon," replied Alfy. "About three o'clock we +suddenly heard a loud noise, and then the water came rushing all round +the house and into the lower rooms too! We were frightened and +surprised at first, I can tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I expect you were," replied Mansy sympathetically. "And all in the +lower rooms. Oh, mercy on us, what a to-do! Is the mill-dam broke, do +you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, Mansy. I'm not sure if it came that way. Have some +more tongue, Mansy dear? It's jolly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," exclaimed Mansy; "I don't mind if I do, Master Alfy. +Well," she continued, as she took out some more biscuits, "if anybody'd +told me this morning that I should have had my supper to-night in a +washin' tub on the water I'd 'a said they was cracked!" +</P> + +<P> +"And so should I," said Alfy. "Still, here we are, Mansy; and the next +question is how long shall we be obliged to stay?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed," she sighed; "that is the question, and one we can't +answer!" +</P> + +<P> +"We must make the best of it," he said bravely. "I think I could swim +to the house and drag the tub by the rope." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't hear of it for the world, Master Alfy," protested his +nurse; "you'd catch your death!" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I could walk in the water," he replied. "I don't believe it +is very deep. Try it, dear Mansy, with your umbrella, and see how deep +it is." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't let you, Master Alfy; I wouldn't indeed. You'd catch your +death, I tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +"But we can't stay here all night, Mansy." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't let you get into the water, Master Alfy. You don't know how +deep it is, nor how strong it's a-runnin'; and you'll catch your death!" +</P> + +<P> +"What dreadful disasters!" laughed Alfy. But he knew quite well that +his nurse could make up her mind firmly, and that it would be useless +to argue with her. Still he thought he might have tried to get the +boat nearer the house. +</P> + +<P> +The moon was now shining brightly, and a beautiful silvery path of +light lay on the water. Alfy sat on the side of the tub opposite his +nurse and watched the scene. It was a strange picture—the +unaccustomed flood, the dark mass of the house, and the tree tops +standing out of the water, the bright moonlight, which seemed to make +the scene almost more desolate, and the curious craft in which they +were sitting. The scene deeply impressed itself on Alfy's mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it is of no use to sit here doing nothing," said Mansy +presently. "If we cannot do anything else, I think we'll try and go to +sleep. I am so tired. Perhaps we can see better in the morning what +to do." +</P> + +<P> +"How funny to sleep in a tub on the water!" exclaimed Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and all through me," said Mansy; "I am sorry. If you had not +come for me you might have been in your own nice warm bed!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, never mind me, Mansy; I could not leave you there all night." +</P> + +<P> +"I might have walked to the village." +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, dear Mansy, I'm happy enough. Let us snuggle down and +get to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +And so after they had said their prayers, and thanked God for His +preserving care, they made themselves as comfortable as they could in +their strange, cramped quarters, and actually began to doze a little. +</P> + +<P> +But it was an uneasy slumber, and presently Alfy awoke and found the +moon shining full on his face. The light was also bright on the +hedgetop surrounding the garden of the house; and the idea darted into +his mind that if he could but get the tub beside the hedge he could +work it along toward the house by pushing the paddles against the +hedgetops or pulling at them one after the other. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner thought of than begun. He glanced at Mansy, but she, good +woman, greatly wearied by the events of the day, was still slumbering, +if her uneasy doze could be so described. So he commenced quietly to +cast off the rope from the branch. "If I can but manage it, how nice +it would be for Mansy to wake up and find herself at the house," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +So the plucky little fellow pushed the tub from the embrace of the +branches once more into the flow of the flood; but this time, instead +of attempting to stem the stream and struggle to the house, he sought +to guide the drifting of his clumsy little bark towards a hedge leading +up to the one surrounding the grounds of the house. +</P> + +<P> +It was a difficult task, but not so difficult or so hopeless as +endeavouring to reach the house by paddling direct up to it against the +flood. Presently he was near enough to throw the rope to the hedge. +Once! twice! thrice he threw it, before he was able to guide the tub at +all by its aid. Then progress was slow at first, but at length the +rope was twisted firmly round some branches, and he was able to pull +the tub along hand over hand quite quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Once beside the hedge, his task was comparatively easy. By pulling at +some of the branches, one after the other, he was able to urge his +strange craft along, and soon he had reached the point in the hedge +nearest the building. Then he paused to consider. Clearly it was of +no use to continue beside the hedge. That would only lead him round +the house, but not to the house itself. +</P> + +<P> +So he looked out for the nearest object to which he could throw the +rope. Now, on the little lawn grew a rather tall laburnum tree. "If," +thought Alfy, "I could fasten my rope round that, I could soon pull the +tub up to it." After considering a few minutes he took the tin in +which the tongue had been brought, and fastened it firmly to the end of +the rope. +</P> + +<P> +"This will make it easier to throw," he said, "and the tin will be more +likely to become entangled in the branches or twist round them." +</P> + +<P> +His plan was successful. After three or four ineffectual efforts the +tin was caught firmly in the branches, and he commenced to haul the tub +quite close to the tree. +</P> + +<P> +Then another difficulty presented itself. How should the tin be +disentangled? He soon found that it could not be done from his +position in the tub, for he could not reach it in any way; so he +whipped out his knife ready to cut the rope. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, bless the boy! where are we?" +</P> + +<P> +Mansy was wide awake now. In his efforts to reach the tin he had +shaken the tub a good deal and aroused her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mansy, I hoped you would have slept till I got you up to the +house!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Me asleep in a washin' tub! think of that! Well, I was that dead +tired I could have slep' anywheres, I do believe. But however did you +get here, Master Alfy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Worked along by the hedge, Mansy." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a brave, clever boy, Alfy! And I do believe there's Miss +Edith at the window with a light." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you there?" cried a bright, fresh, girlish voice. +</P> + +<P> +"At the laburnum tree," answered Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Do be quick," answered Edie. "We are so hungry. All the bread +and butter and things that were left are spoiled by the water. And we +have nothing to eat!" +</P> + +<P> +"And we have not much," said Mansy; "the sitiwation is really getting +serious!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE YOUNG NAVIGATOR. +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-capt.jpg" ALT="dropcap-T" BORDER="0" WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="125"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +he first thing is to get up to the house," said Alfy. "I shall have +to jump into the water and wade, after all, Mansy." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't permit it, Master Alfy, indeed I couldn't!" replied his +nurse decidedly. +</P> + +<P> +Alfy knew that when Mansy used that word "permit," her mind was very +much made up indeed. It was one of her rare words, used only on great +occasions and when much emphasis was intended. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how are we to get to the house?" he said. "Let us consider. +Oh, I know!" he exclaimed in a few moments. "Good idea! a jolly dodge!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you get my bow and arrows, Edie?" he shouted, "and my kite string?" +</P> + +<P> +"What for?" +</P> + +<P> +"To shoot the string to us," he replied. "Unwind it, and tie one end +to the arrow just above the feathers, and see if you can't shoot it to +us." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't hit us!" screamed Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +Then the girls with the candle-light disappeared from the window, and +the boy and the old nurse were left in the tub to await events. +</P> + +<P> +"What a long time the girls are!" he exclaimed presently. "I expect +they cannot find the things." The girls were not really so long as +appeared to the wearied watchers in the moonlight; but at length Edie +and her sister, with Jane, the servant-maid, showed themselves again at +the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! they've got the bow and arrows," said Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out," cried Madge, "I don't want to hurt you." And Alfy and +Mansy covered their faces and screwed themselves down in the tub as +well as they could, the irrepressible Alfy laughing meanwhile, and +saying he did not think they need take such great precautions. Mansy, +however, was rather fidgety about it. +</P> + +<P> +"If the arrow did get into your eyes, you know, Master Alfy, I should +never forgive myself!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"But I should like to peep and see how Madge does it, you know," argued +Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I'm going to shoot," screamed Madge. She shot; and the arrow +fell midway between the house and the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the boy outright "To think of making all that +fuss for nothing." Then he cried aloud, "Pull the arrow back quick, +Madge, and raise the bow higher when you shoot again; draw the +bowstring back as far as you can." +</P> + +<P> +"And tie some more string to the kite line if it is not long enough," +cried Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +So with much laughter from the girls they pulled the arrow back from +the water by the string attached to it and tried again. They were not +expert archers, and failed once more—failed indeed several times. But +at last the arrow fell quite near the tub, and Alfy called out to his +sisters not to draw it back as it floated closer, and then with the +help of the handle of Mansy's bulgy umbrella he pulled it in and of +course the kite string with it. +</P> + +<P> +This string was of great length. Alfy was fond of kite flying, and by +adding together long pieces of string he had acquired a tether of +considerable extent. To lengthen it still more, however, the girls had +managed to find some more string, and so it came about that +communication was established between the inhabitants of the house and +the watchers in the tub. +</P> + +<P> +"That thin string will never pull us along," said Mansy doubtfully. +"It'll break!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not if we help, I hope," exclaimed Alfy cheerfully. "We must paddle +our hardest, so the strain on the line won't be so great." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't pull yet," he cried; "not till I tell you, Edie." Then he cut +the tub free from the laburnum, and, pushing the umbrella hard against +the trunk of the tree, gave the tub a vigorous push in the direction of +the house; and while it was floating thither, he called out to the +girls to pull the string lightly, and commenced to paddle at the same +time. Mansy also endeavoured to help with her inseparable umbrella, +and so now all of them were endeavouring to persuade the heavily laden +and clumsy craft to float against the flood to the house. +</P> + +<P> +It was a tiresome task. The young navigator was obliged to go very +slowly, and to constantly ask his sisters not to pull hard, lest the +string should break. The vigorous push-off had given them a good +start, and they made a little progress. +</P> + +<P> +Once the string broke, but Alfy was able to fish up the line, for it +was near, and Mansy knotted the broken ends together again. He now +began to be more expert with his improvised paddles, and the string +just kept tight, but with scarcely any strain upon it, yet prevented +the tub from "wobbling"—steered it in fact to the house, and helped to +counteract the flow of the water. +</P> + +<P> +So gradually they progressed to the house. The moon was now declining, +and a dark hour before the early dawn was at hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How I'm going to get inside that house I don't know!" ejaculated Mansy +at last, after surveying the front for some little time. "I can't get +through the door—that would let the water in,—and climb to the upper +part of that winder, I couldn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll manage it, dear Mansy, somehow, never fear! We are getting +through our difficulties splendidly!" +</P> + +<P> +But when they did get the tub safe under the window—which was +accomplished at last—and Alfy had expressed his joy with a loud +hurrah, then the new difficulty presented itself in full force. They +were afraid to open the lower sash of the window, as the level of the +water was just above it. +</P> + +<P> +"How am I to scramble over the upper sash?" she exclaimed; "and how am +I to get down on the other side?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes! and the room is full of water," cried Edie from the window above. +</P> + +<P> +"Not full, Edie!" expostulated Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there is a great deal all over the floor, and in all the lower +rooms," explained his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! dear me! what a mess to clear up," exclaimed Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me get in and see," said Alfy sturdily. +</P> + +<P> +"Do take care, and don't cut yourself with the glass!" Mansy cried, as +she saw him clambering up over the top sash of the window. This he had +first pulled down as far as he could, and he also helped himself by the +sash lines. The breaking of the glass might of course prove very +dangerous, but he found another difficulty when, having climbed over +the sash, he stood a-tiptoe on the bottom of the window frame inside +the room, and clung for support to the top sash. How was he to +descend? Inside the room was dark, but he thought he saw the gleam of +water. He hesitated to jump at hazard, not knowing where he might +alight. +</P> + +<P> +"Lower a candle, Edie," he cried, "and then I can see my way better!" +</P> + +<P> +So presently down came a lighted candle, bobbing to and fro as the +little sister lowered it. Alfy caught it with one hand and held it +inside the room. "Oh! what a mess," he exclaimed, as he saw the water +all over the apartment, with teapot cosy, music, papers, wool-mats, and +all kinds of well-known pleasant household things floating despondingly +on its muddy surface. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do?" cried Mansy from the outside. "Oh! help me to get +indoors, so that I can clear up a bit!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see yet how I am to get down, Mansy. The table is too far off +for me to jump to it, and the water seems high!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! you mustn't get in the water, Master Alfy!" shrieked poor Mansy, +"Oh, I am so tired of this rockety old washin' tub! Can't you get me +out, Alfy dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get you out, Mansy, somehow, never fear," assented Alfy cheerily. +"Now, Edie dear, can you let down a chair and some hassocks for me to +stand on?" +</P> + +<P> +And the busy girls above tied string to the back of a chair and +carefully lowered it, and some hassocks followed. +</P> + +<P> +Alfy soon placed the chair in the room and piled the hassocks on it. +Then lightly stepping on to them, he was able to make his way to the +table, and also to the sideboard. Next, by means of chairs and +hassocks he made his way to the staircase, and, having hastily mounted +it, put his head out of the nearest upstairs window and shouted, +"Hullo, Mansy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! bless the boy!" exclaimed Mansy with a start. "You have got up +there, have you? I do wish I was safe up there, too, Alfy!" +</P> + +<P> +"You soon will be, Mansy," he replied cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! we are glad you've come," cried his sisters, as he met them and +kissed them. "But how are we to get Mansy up? She can never climb in +through the window!" +</P> + +<P> +"She'd fall in the water," remarked Jane, "and there would be a pretty +to-do!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we could pull the tub up with Mansy in it to the window?" +asked Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be very heavy," suggested Jane. +</P> + +<P> +"And Mansy might fall out," exclaimed the younger sister, with eager +face and wide-open eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"The distance is not very great," remarked Alfy, as he leaned out of +the window and looked down. "And it is less still, of course, up to +the top sash of the window, where I got in. Oh! I know," he added +joyfully; "we will push the table in the downstairs room close to the +window and put a chair on it, and then, if we can pull Mansy up to the +same level, she can creep in over the sashes of the window, on to the +chair." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! that will be delightful," said the girls. But, at first, Mansy +would not hear of it. Poor Mansy! her ideas of dignity had been sadly +disturbed this evening. "Me pulled up in a washin' tub?" she +exclaimed. "The idea! the very idea of such a thing! And I know you'd +let me fall!" +</P> + +<P> +"If we did, it wouldn't hurt you," said Alfy, "because the tub would +float, you know. Come on, Mansy, it's the only way I can see!" +</P> + +<P> +She suffered herself to be persuaded by Alfy, and to yield to the logic +of circumstances. So she fastened the piece of clothes-line that was +left in the tub firmly through its two handles, and Alfy, with the +girls, went downstairs, and, standing on chairs and hassocks, managed +to push the table close up to the window, through which they expected +Mansy to enter. Then a chair was placed upon it, so that she could +creep in with comparative ease. +</P> + +<P> +The next thing was more difficult. It was to haul up the tub a little +way with Mansy in it. By tying a piece of thin kite string to the end +of the rope, they were able easily to pull up the rope from Mansy, and +then they turned it round the bed-post, and all four pulled hard +together. Mansy herself helped very much by pushing the paddles +against the window ledge; and presently they felt that the tub was +slowly moving. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" cried Alfy, "we shall do it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! it's off the water, and swinging about; do be careful!" cried +Mansy. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady it against the wall," cried Alfy. "Pull away, Jane; pull, +Edie; now, all together!" +</P> + +<P> +And so with pulling and shouting, and with Mansy also doing her best to +help, for she was thoroughly determined to enter the house this time, +if possible, they raised the tub. +</P> + +<P> +But just as she was preparing to creep in the window—either the +children relaxed their efforts, or they were not aware of the necessity +of holding the rope very tight when not pulling—suddenly, down went +the tub, splash! +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! oh! oh!" cried Mansy, "I shall be drowned." +</P> + +<P> +The children rushed to the window terror-stricken. But they soon +found, to their great relief, that Mansy was more frightened than hurt, +and in fact was not hurt at all, though much splashed with water. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I thought the rockety thing was going down," she cried; "it went +down pretty far." +</P> + +<P> +"But it's all right, Mansy," said Alfy cheerfully; "and now, we'll try +again, and keep tight hold this time!" +</P> + +<P> +Mansy was very frightened, but eventually she did try, and all working +away for the same object, she did at last manage to clamber in on the +chair, and pick her way on chairs and hassocks over the water to the +stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Oh! what kissings and congratulations there were, when she found +herself safe and sound, once more, with all the children! +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Next morning the difficulty of providing food presented itself, as they +knew it would. They had barely enough for one good meal. And as they +scanned the watery scene around the house, there seemed no sign, and +but little likelihood of any person coming to them from the village. +</P> + +<P> +"I must go in the tub to the nearest land," said Alfy, "and then run to +the village. I shall not be long." +</P> + +<P> +"What! go in that rockety thing again, Alfy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, Mansy. You see it will be lighter with only one in it. And +I will take the line and rope. Oh! I shall manage." +</P> + +<P> +And so he pushed off. The flood was still flowing, and carried him +quickly away from the house. He guided the tub to the laburnum tree, +where a piece of the rope was still hanging. "I will get that rope," +said he, and twisting a piece of the line in the tub round the tree, he +climbed up. He found his task more difficult than he had supposed, but +when he had succeeded and was about to descend, behold! to his +amazement and chagrin the line had become loose, and the action of the +water was just floating the tub away out of his reach. +</P> + +<P> +He made a desperate endeavour to save it by trying to throw into it the +tin which was still attached to the rope in the tree. But it missed; +and on floated the tub, slowly, but provokingly, bobbing about in the +morning sunshine, leaving him alone in the tree! +</P> + +<A NAME="img-033"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-033.jpg" ALT=""ON FLOATED THE TUB, LEAVING HIM ALONE IN THE TREE!"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="325" HEIGHT="516"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 325px"> +"ON FLOATED THE TUB, LEAVING HIM ALONE IN THE TREE!" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?" +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-capw4.jpg" ALT="dropcap-W" BORDER="0" WIDTH="74" HEIGHT="124"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +hat was to be done now? +</P> + +<P> +"This is a greater bother than any of the others," said Alfy. "I +expect I shall have to wade or swim now, if I can. Then I must run to +the village in my wet things. But how shall I get back to the house? +Bother the tub, I say! However did it get loose?" +</P> + +<P> +The reason was that he had not fastened it very firmly; but then he did +not expect he would be so long in the tree, nor did he think the +current of the water would have such influence. +</P> + +<P> +But the tub had gone, and he must do the best he could without it. +From his perch in the tree he could obtain a clear view of the flood. +The muddy water glistened in the bright sunshine, as though trying to +look pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +The house was, as we have said, in a hollow, or depression of the +ground, and the flood, Alfy could see distinctly, came from some way +behind the house, and flowed round and past it; but whence it came, or +whither it went, he could not discover. +</P> + +<P> +"It can't come from the river," he said thoughtfully, "for that is in a +different direction. I cannot imagine what causes it." +</P> + +<P> +Sundry things he noticed were floating on its surface. +</P> + +<P> +Here was a quantity of hay, sailing slowly and solidly along in a +fairly compact mass; farther on a little yellow straw flashed in the +sunshine; not far off again pieces of wood floated; and then, curiously +enough, a little tin hand-bowl bobbing about quite pertly, as it was +borne along. That tin bowl gave him an idea. +</P> + +<P> +"I know!" he cried; "I will ask Mansy and Edie to send off the old tin +bath to me from the house." +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon he shouted loudly to attract their attention. +</P> + +<P> +At first they did not answer, and he could hear various sounds, +indicating that Mansy was endeavouring to repair some of the mischief +done by the flood. "They are busy," he said, and again he cried, +louder this time than before. +</P> + +<P> +His shouts attracted Edie's attention, and she hastened to the window, +where her exclamation of surprise soon brought the others. "Bless the +boy!" exclaimed Mansy, "however did he get there? Where's the tub?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you send me the old bath?" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +The girls disappeared hastily from the window, and Mansy cried again: +"You are never going to get into that bath, Master Alfy, sure<I>ly</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I can manage it," he replied briskly, "if you can send it down to +the tree. Tell them to put a pole or something in it, dear Mansy, for +me to paddle it with." +</P> + +<P> +"You must be quick, Alfy, and get us some provisions," urged Mansy, "or +I don't know what we shall do. We shall get starved!" +</P> + +<P> +Alfy laughed in the gaiety of his heart. He was a merry, cheerful, +plucky little lad, who could not talk religion, but strove to act it. +Nelson's grand words, "England expects every man to do his duty," was +his motto, unexpressed though it was. +</P> + +<P> +"Never fear, Mansy," he cried, "I'll be back in good time. You shall +have plenty to cook and eat to-day!" +</P> + +<P> +Then Mansy disappeared from the window, and Alfy soon heard sounds, as +though the bath were being brought along. It was a somewhat +high-backed sitz bath, which had seen some service in the family. +</P> + +<P> +Splash! +</P> + +<P> +Over it went from the window, and of course it fell bottom-upwards! +</P> + +<P> +"Ah-h-h!" he cried, "what a mull! Now I shall have to wait here a long +time till it is righted. Take care, please; don't let it float away!" +he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +He soon saw that quick-witted Edie had hastened below to the table, +which had remained as it was placed last evening, and stretching out of +the window with a broom, which was the handiest and most efficient +thing she could readily find, was holding the bath to the house. +</P> + +<P> +In answer to Alfy's cries, Mansy went down to help Edie, and then the +others following, they all endeavoured to turn the bath top upwards. +This task they at length accomplished, with the help of one or two more +brooms; and having fastened string round it to prevent its escape, it +was launched with a vigorous push in Alfy's direction. It floated +pretty buoyantly on the water, though its high back seemed to make it a +little top-heavy. +</P> + +<P> +Well was it that the strange craft had been tethered, or it might have +floated provokingly just out of Alfy's reach; but, with a little +pulling and guidance by means of the string, it was coaxed near enough +to Alfy, so that he could throw in his tin with the cord attached, and +persuade it to float right under the tree. +</P> + +<P> +In a very short time he had cautiously descended and dropped into his +novel boat. Yes, it floated still, though his weight caused it, of +course, to sink deeper in the water. Perhaps, however, it was less +liable to overturn, for its load ballasted it, and rendered it less +top-heavy. +</P> + +<P> +With a loud "Hurrah!" he pushed off smartly from the tree, and giving +one wave of the hand to those watching him from the house, turned his +attention to navigating his strange craft to the shore. +</P> + +<P> +Now, for a paddle Edie had put in a long broom-handle, and grasping +this in the middle, he plied it alternately one side and then the other. +</P> + +<P> +Strange use for a broom-handle; but the occupants of the Island House +never expected to be caught by a flood like this, so they had to do the +best they could. "Hullo! I must look out for that mass of hay!" said +Alfy. "That I shall call an iceberg; or, no, a whale I think. Out of +the way, whale!" he cried, pushing it off briskly with his +indispensable broom-handle. +</P> + +<P> +Hard though he worked, he made but slow progress, his craft was so +unwieldy and difficult to manage. "I wonder where the tub is!" he +cried. "Why, actually there, stranded against the hedge! The tub was +better than the bath. I've a good mind to go after that tub and bring +both to land." +</P> + +<P> +And this the plucky little fellow accomplished. He was becoming quite +expert in the use of the paddles, and, of course, as soon as he came to +the hedge-top, he was able to propel the bath along more quickly. He +fastened the tub and bath together, and then transferring himself to +the former, set to work to bring both to the bank. He found it a +difficult task, but he persevered, and in a short time was successful. +At last he leaped on dry land. With a triumphant shout, he attracted +the attention of Mansy and his sisters to his success, and then, after +firmly mooring his fleet—as he called the tub and the bath—he set off +quickly for the village. +</P> + +<P> +Now, his way led him soon beside a tall hedge. And, as he was +hastening along, he became aware of voices on the other side. At first +he paid little attention, but then a word or two about the flood struck +his ear. "If I could see them," he said, "I would ask how it was +caused." But—what was one voice saying? +</P> + +<P> +"If I told what I knew about your neglecting your duty, you would catch +it hot, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"But you won't tell, I'm sure," replied the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know so much about that." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to," whined the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't mean to! Of course you didn't. Still you did it. And this +here ter'ble flood is the result. You was in drink, you know you was; +and you was careless, and didn't do your dooty. You ought to have +watched, and given the alarm, and the banks might have been mended, and +the flood saved." +</P> + +<P> +Alfy heard every word distinctly. There was an opening in the hedge a +little farther on, and the voices seemed to be going towards it, even +as he was himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Who'd have thought," said the second man apologetically, "that that +stout wall would have burst." +</P> + +<P> +"You may be thankful it didn't burst the other side," answered the +first man, "and the water flooded Tarn'ick. It's bad enough as it is, +coming to the village; but it would have been very much worse then." +</P> + +<P> +So this was the cause of the flood. The reservoir which supplied the +populous town of Tarnwick had burst, and its contents had poured down +towards the village. And had the village suffered at all? Alfy was +anxious to know. And how had the man neglected his duty, and caused +the flood? +</P> + +<P> +The lad was now near the opening in the hedge, and he suddenly, but +distinctly, saw the two men whom he had heard talking. He did not +recognise either of them; but, at sight of him, they started in +surprise, and stopped at once, and looked at him strangely, as though +to ask what he had heard. +</P> + +<P> +Alfy walked straight on, past the opening in the hedge, as though the +men were not there, and on through the pleasant field. But the faces +of those men were impressed on his mind, and he felt he should know +them again. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly their conversation had given him something to think of, but +the chief thing now that he had to do was to purchase provisions, and +have them conveyed to the house. Should he find much damage done at +the village? +</P> + +<P> +That question was soon answered, for, on arriving there, he found that +the flood had passed it almost entirely by. Most of the houses were on +fairly high ground, and the river being near, much of the water had +flowed thither. Yet some of the cottages in the lower part had +suffered, and Alfy heard much of them, and of a farmhouse and its +buildings, which had also been flooded. He heard, too, of the +difficulties which had been experienced in saving some of the animals. +</P> + +<P> +He knew that farmhouse well. He and his sisters had played there with +the children who lived under its pleasant roof. The flood had come so +suddenly, and the house wherein Alfy lived was in such a retired spot, +that no one seemed to have thought of it and its inmates. He therefore +found himself listened to with eagerness and some surprise when he told +of their condition. +</P> + +<P> +"And how am I to send you these goods, then?" asked Mr. Daw, the +tradesman of whom Alfy had been ordering a supply of grocery. "I could +send them by cart, but I have not a boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know where I could borrow one?" asked Alfy anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +Well, Mr. Daw was not sure. There were a few boats on the river, but +how was one to be brought from thence to the flood near the house? +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, he thought of a few persons to whom Alfy could apply, and +the boy left him, after arranging that he would return later to point +out the spot where the goods were to be taken. +</P> + +<P> +Alfy bought a few more goods, a joint of meat among them, at some other +shops, directing them to be taken to Mr. Daw, who had promised to send +all together. The boy had then a troublesome task; it was to find a +boat or some means of conveying the provisions to the Island House. He +had not time to talk much to any of the acquaintances and friends he +met, though they were greatly interested in the condition of affairs at +his home, and various were the directions he received as to the best +means of getting a boat. +</P> + +<P> +The river was a small one. It was stony in parts, so that there was +not much boating. Still there were one or two kept at points along its +course, and Alfy found himself, at length, asking a jolly-looking old +gentleman, to whom he had been directed, but whom he did not know at +all, if he would lend his boat, and telling him why it was wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh! what! house all surrounded by water? Quite an island, eh? That's +what we used to learn at school—Island House, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is what we call it," laughed Alfy, somewhat reassured by the +jolly old gentleman's cheerfulness and geniality. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'll lend the boat," said the old gentleman. "That's what +we've got to do, help one another—and mind you think of that, my boy; +but the question is, how can you get it up to the house?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard that the flood was running into the river," replied Alfy, "so +I thought I could row up that way." +</P> + +<P> +"What! you row up against the flood!" exclaimed the jolly old +gentleman; "you can't do it." +</P> + +<P> +"I can try," said Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I might try and help you, but I am not much of a rower, and my +son—it is he, really, who uses the boat—he is away from home. I +question if I could pull my own weight. Most mysterious thing this +flood. Where does it come from? How did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +So Alfy told what he had heard beside the hedge. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh! what! eh! this is getting serious! One of the banks of Tarnwick +reservoir burst! One man saying it is because of another's +carelessness! This must be seen to. What sort of men were they? +Should you know them again?" +</P> + +<P> +And the jolly old gentleman who was now looking very serious, drew from +Alfy all he knew about the men he had heard talking by the hedge. +</P> + +<P> +"I must see to this quickly," said the old gentleman. "Send a +policeman after them. Take the boat, my lad, and keep her as long as +she is of any use to you. Good-bye, and good luck." And away he went. +</P> + +<P> +Knowing that speed was very necessary, Alfy decided to try and row up +the boat at once. At first, he thought he would seek help from some +friends in the village. Then he determined not to do so. The village +was some little distance from the jolly old gentleman's house, and some +time, he thought, would be wasted in going to and fro. So he jumped in +the boat, and cast off. +</P> + +<P> +This was a case, however, of "more haste, less speed." If he had +obtained assistance he would have made much better progress. The +stream was against him, and he found it hard work pulling against it. +But nothing seemed to daunt this boy's pluck. +</P> + +<P> +"Put your back into it," he remembered an old boatman said, when last +summer's holiday he and his sisters were rowing on a tidal river at a +seaside resort, and now indeed he strove hard to put his back into his +rowing. +</P> + +<P> +He was certainly making progress. To escape the force of the current +as far as possible he was creeping along by the shore. He was thinking +whether he would row as near as he could to the village, and then jump +out and tell Mr. Daw he had secured a boat, or whether he should row on +to where he had left the tub and bath. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to have as little distance to row the laden boat as I can," he +said; "and I cannot take anyone to the house unless they will stay +there, as we shall want the boat. What fun we will have to-morrow +rowing about, and going for milk and things! I will point out the spot +to Mr. Daw's man where they can be brought." +</P> + +<P> +He was just considering which course he should pursue when suddenly his +boat was stopped, and he heard some words which almost sent his heart +jumping to his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, youngster, what was it you heard me and my mate say this +morning?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH TIED WRISTS. +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-capa.jpg" ALT="dropcap-A" BORDER="0" WIDTH="67" HEIGHT="128"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +lfy turned. Yes, one of the men he had heard talking beside the +hedge, that morning, was leaning from the bank, and had stopped the +boat. +</P> + +<P> +He looked lowering and threatening. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't budge an inch," growled he, "till you've told me what you +have been to Squire Watkins's for." +</P> + +<P> +"To borrow this boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Something else as well," said the man. "What did you hear me and my +mate saying this morning, and what have you told about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"What right have you to ask me?" replied Alfy sturdily. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll soon show you the right," exclaimed the man gruffly, at the same +time raising his hand. "Now, then, out with it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Out with what?" said Alfy doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +Bang! Alfy felt a heavy blow on his head, which made the fire flash +from his eyes, and nearly knocked him overboard; but, tingling with +pain and indignation, he swept round the oar he held in his right hand, +and struck the man sharply on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +His assailant seized the oar, and a smart struggle ensued, in which the +man's superior strength and position enabled him to be victorious. He +wrested the oars from Alfy, and then, after cuffing him soundly, and +calling him an "insolent young warmint," tied him tightly to the skiff +with the boat-rope—which is commonly called the painter. +</P> + +<P> +Alfy, smarting with the injustice of the attack, managed to administer +a few wholesome kicks to his assailant during the struggle. Then a +long, low whistle sounded, and the man hurried away, leaving the boy +bound and aching in the boat. +</P> + +<P> +The day was now fast wearing on, and the sun was beginning to sink in +the heavens. As Alfy lay back in the boat his mind was racked with +anxiety about the provisions, and his promises to take back food to the +Island House. His sisters and Mansy might starve if he could not get +the provisions to them. Then he shouted aloud to attract attention. +</P> + +<P> +No answer came. His voice seemed borne back upon him as from an empty +void. Again and again he called until he grew weary with shouting, and +sickened with suspense and anxiety and disappointment. He seemed as +far from his kind here as if he were alone in the deserts of Arabia. +</P> + +<P> +Then he bethought him once more of self-help. "I wonder if I could +free myself," he said. "I have got over several difficulties lately, +perhaps I can get over this one also." He struggled upwards to a +sitting position, and looked at his bonds. His wrists and ankles were +tied pretty firmly, and one end of the rope was of course fastened to +the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that rascal tied me up like this to give himself time to +escape," said Alfy thoughtfully, as he looked down at the rope. "He +thinks I know a lot about him, and will tell what I know, and he wants +to get a good start. I wonder if I could undo these knots with my +teeth? They crack nuts, why not untie knots? I will try." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-049"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-049.jpg" ALT=""'I WONDER IF I COULD UNDO THESE KNOTS WITH MY TEETH? I WILL TRY.'"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="327" HEIGHT="521"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 327px"> +"'I WONDER IF I COULD UNDO THESE KNOTS WITH MY TEETH? I WILL TRY.'" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Happily his teeth were strong and sharp—teeth which many an older +person would have envied. He was plucky and persevering also, and he +set to work with a will to gnaw, or unfasten, or "worry" open the tough +knots which bound him. +</P> + +<P> +It was a stiff job, and a tiring one too. But he kept on pluckily, and +would not give up. The sun sank lower in the heavens, and the +beautiful summer afternoon wore on. "Oh! how they will wonder what has +become of me at home!" he sighed. "I must be quick," and he redoubled +his efforts. +</P> + +<P> +But he found the task too difficult. The rope was hard and tough, and +time was fast passing. His teeth and jaws quite ached with the +unwonted use to which he was putting them. So after thinking over +another plan he changed his tactics entirely. +</P> + +<P> +Though his wrists were tied, his fingers were comparatively free; he +could, for instance, grasp firmly with them anything that was not very +large. He had noticed that the end of the rope tethering the boat had +been tied to the bough of a young willow near the water's edge. He +resolved to break that bough, and then slowly work the boat along by +pulling at the grass, reeds, or anything on the bank. In a short time +he carried out the first part of his programme. +</P> + +<P> +Compared with gnawing at the hard rope, the twisting of the supple +bough backwards and forwards, until he wrested it from the parent stem, +was but a light task. It was more difficult to work the boat along +against the stream. Yet by patience and pluck and perseverance—the +three "p's" that all young folks should seek to acquire—he managed to +succeed. +</P> + +<P> +"Should that man come back to trouble me," he said, "he will find me +gone; that will be something. Still I do not quite see how I am to get +the things for the house, tied as I am to this boat." +</P> + +<P> +Pluckily he pulled at the grass and reeds, and worked the boat along. +When he had gone some distance from the point where the man had +fastened the boat, he shouted again, and he continued to shout at +intervals. But no cry answered his own. There was no sound but the +lapping of the water against the boat or the murmur of the wind. +</P> + +<P> +So some time passed. Alfy was getting very weary and hungry. There +seemed no chance of help coming to him, and the situation was the more +vexing, as he felt that his knife in his pocket, if he could but have +got it, would soon have made short work of the knots. But in the +circumstances the knife might have been left at the house, for all the +good it was to him. +</P> + +<P> +At length he came to the place where the flood poured into the river. +"Hurrah!" he cried, "this does look like making progress. Now I will +try and get as near as I can to the house." +</P> + +<P> +It was at times more difficult to make progress on the flood than on +the stream, for there was no decided bank such as edged the river; but +he took advantage where he could of anything on the brink of the water, +such as a hurdle or a bush, a stile or a hedge, and pluckily kept at +his work. +</P> + +<P> +In the village, Mr. Daw was getting quite fidgety at Alfy's absence. +</P> + +<P> +"What can have happened to the lad?" said he. "The boy would surely +not be so long in finding a boat, and if he could not find one he would +have been here to say so. Jones, just you put all these things in the +pony cart and get as near as you can to Fairglen." Fairglen was the +right and proper name of the Island House. +</P> + +<P> +"He has evidently been to other shops," continued Mr. Daw. "Here's a +large sirloin of beef from Smithers, and quite a cargo of bread from +Deane's, and vegetables and fruit from Wilson's. Why, good gracious +me! one would think they were going to stand a siege up at Fairglen. +I 'spect it is as the lad says, they've got nothing at all to eat. +What can be keeping the boy I can't think." +</P> + +<P> +"Prap's he's tumbled into the water, please, sir, and got drownded," +drawled out Jones slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Get on quickly and put these things in the cart," said his master +sharply. Jones' slow ways and stupid remarks generally annoyed Mr. Daw. +</P> + +<P> +In quick time the goods for the Island House were packed in the +grocer's little cart, and the slow Jones seated himself in front. +"Drive as near to Fairglen as you can," said his master, "and shout +aloud to attract attention. Now, mind you deliver the goods quickly." +</P> + +<P> +"As quickly as I can," replied Jones, a grin slowly spreading over his +expansive face. +</P> + +<P> +Thus it came about in time that while Alfy was slowly working his way +along by the brink of the flood, the well-meaning but rather stupid +Jones was staring in profound astonishment at the tub and the tin bath +Alfy had left in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I never!" exclaimed Jones. "They be rum boats, they be!" +</P> + +<P> +He had driven the cart up the lane as far as he could, and after +tethering the horse, was now rambling beside the water. +</P> + +<P> +"But how I'm to carry the meat and taters and sugars over to the house +in them things I don't know!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he remembered his master's injunction to shout, and he shouted +accordingly. "I wish I knew where that young gent had got to!" +continued Jones, and again he raised his hoarse voice, and shouted. +"Why, what's that 'ere?" he exclaimed. "Is it an ecker, or is it the +young gent?" +</P> + +<P> +Again he shouted, as loud as he could this time, and then paused. Yes, +faint and clear came an answering shout. There was no mistake this +time! "Why, there he be!" exclaimed Jones in astonishment. "There he +be! there he be!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he began to move slowly in the direction of the shout, and called +aloud again. The answer was louder and more distinct this time. +</P> + +<P> +"I be getting nearer to him," chuckled Jones, "that I be!" +</P> + +<P> +But when presently he came close enough to see the young boatman +distinctly he stood still in complete amazement, with eyes and mouth +wide open. The sapient Jones had had other things to astonish him +considerably to-day, what with the flood and the tub and the bath, but +this beat all. Here was Alfy tied to the boat, and labouring with +bound wrists to work the skiff along. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't stand staring there!" cried Alfy. "Can't you give me a hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well I never!" exclaimed Jones. "Whatever did you tie yourself like +that for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tie myself!" replied Alfy impatiently; "I didn't tie myself. Come, +cut the rope quickly, and help me along." +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't got no knife!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, get mine out of my pocket, and do be quick, please." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I never did see anything like this afore!" spluttered Jones, as +he tumbled into the boat. "My stars! however did you get tied up like +this 'ere?" +</P> + +<P> +Alfy did not vouchsafe any explanation, but gave him directions as to +getting the knife quickly, and cutting the rope. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, how jolly!" he exclaimed, as he rose and stretched himself, when, +after several clumsy efforts on Jones' part, he was at last made free. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, can you row?" he continued briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"How fur do 'ee want to go?" +</P> + +<P> +"As far as a tub and a bath——" +</P> + +<P> +"I see 'em!" interrupted Jones gleefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I want to get there, and then to hurry to Mr. Daw for some +things," exclaimed Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Things for Fairglen!" asked Jones, "'cos I got 'em, meat and taters +and all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's right! Where are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the cart, not far off." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, can you row this boat, or shall we tow it along? Perhaps that +will be best." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I can pull with the rope," said Jones; "pull the boat and you too; +you look tired enough." +</P> + +<P> +So now, after his hard work, Alfy was able to lie back delightfully at +his ease in the boat, and feel he was being drawn quickly along. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached the two clumsy crafts Alfy had left in the morning he +found them quite high and dry. "The flood is subsiding," he said. +"Perhaps by to-morrow this time the water will all have gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"P'raps it will," was Jones' reply, "and p'raps it won't. But I +'spects reservore's pretty nigh empty now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you've heard it's the reservoir?" exclaimed Alfy. "Do you know +how the water came to flow out?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heerd as how the wall looking this way suddenly bust," answered +Jones, "and the water all rushed down here." +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you know how the wall came to burst?" persisted Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"No-o; I can't say as how I do," replied Jones slowly, rubbing his head +and knitting his brows as though deeply pondering the knotty point. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, we must hasten on," said Alfy. "Where are those things for +the house? Are they far?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are in the cart in the lane." +</P> + +<P> +"How can they be brought here?" asked Alfy. "Shall I help? Can't you +bring the pony and cart through that gate? Let us be quick!" +</P> + +<P> +"I think as how you and I must carry them here in lots," drawled +slow-witted Jones. "I don't think pony and cart could come." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, be sharp then!" urged Alfy, springing from the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I do believe Mansy can see us from the house." And he shouted, +and waved his handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, come on," cried he, "and show me where the things are." +</P> + +<P> +The transferring of the goods from Mr. Daw's cart took some time, and +made the youths very tired, for it was some little distance off. But +Alfy was determined to start for the house as quickly as possible, and +continued to urge on the slow-coach Jones; so that the task was +accomplished more speedily than he had thought would be the case. +</P> + +<P> +But then a new difficulty presented itself. Alfy wished to tie the tub +and bath to the boat and take them back to the house, but he found that +if he did so, wearied as he was, he could not row the laden boat +against the flood. So he was finally obliged to take Jones with him. +Even then the task was difficult, for Jones was not an expert oarsman. +</P> + +<P> +At length, however, the house was reached, and with joy and gladness, +shoutings and hearty congratulations, the goods were borne in through +the window, and on to the table as before. Mansy and Alfy's sisters +were rejoiced to see him. He had been so long away they feared some +accident had befallen him; but he did not tell what had happened until +Jones had gone. +</P> + +<P> +For Jones had to go back, and of course he went in the boat. This was +against Alfy's plan, but he could not help it. Jones could not leave +the pony all night, and he could not navigate Alfy's tub. So promising +to send some one with the boat in the morning, he departed. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, if Alfy had known what would happen with that boat in the night he +would have gone with Jones, and tired as he was, would have brought it +back. But he did not know; and after a hearty supper all the inmates +of the Island House retired to bed. +</P> + +<P> +They had hardly passed out of their beauty sleep—<I>i.e.</I>, the slumber +before midnight—when, as the clocks were striking twelve, and an early +chanticleer was crowing for the morn, Edie was awakened by some +mysterious sounds—sounds as of something bumping against the walls of +the house outside. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN UNWELCOME VISITOR. +</H3> + +<IMG CLASS="imgleft" SRC="images/img-caps.jpg" ALT="dropcap-S" BORDER="0" WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="124"> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +he listened. Yes, it was so. Distinctly she heard something knock +against the wall outside and underneath her window. +</P> + +<P> +Her first thought was to arouse her brother. "But he must be so +tired," she said; so she decided to awaken Mansy instead. +</P> + +<P> +The good woman was sleeping in the room next to Edie's, so that it +would not be very difficult for the little maiden to go to her. +</P> + +<P> +Edie sprang from her bed, her heart beating fast, and was creeping +along to Mansy's room, when, noticing the moon shining brightly, she +thought she would look out and see if she could discover what had +bumped against the wall. Just now everything was very quiet. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously, therefore, she peeped out of her window. No one was to be +seen, and the water in the moonlight looked very peaceful and still. +But just underneath was a boat—the very boat, as it seemed to her, +that Alfy had used that evening. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I expect that boy from Mr. Daw's brought it back," she said; "that +is all. How foolish of me to be frightened. I expect he got another +boat and rowed this one back, and has now returned. I hear no sound +down below. He must have gone. It was very kind of him to bring the +boat. I don't think I need wake Mansy now. Everything seems very +quiet." +</P> + +<P> +So the little maiden crept back to bed, and secure in the idea that she +had solved what had seemed to her something of a mystery, she was soon +sound asleep again. +</P> + +<P> +But in the early morning, when the busy-minded Mansy, anxious to get +forward with the work of the day, descended to the kitchen, what was +her amazement and horror, to discover a man lying at full length, and +fast asleep, on the table. +</P> + +<P> +Her first impulse was to seize the handy broom, and either sweep him +away in some mysterious manner into the water, or else challenge him to +mortal combat; but wiser counsels prevailed. Mansy thought of a little +plan; and her worthy face looked quite knowing as, chuckling to +herself, she hastily removed all the food from the room, and then +carefully locked the door from the outside. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, there is my gentleman safe and sound," she said. "If he gets out +of the window he falls into the water and is drownded; while o' course +we must see that he doesn't break the door down while Master Alfy is +fetching a policeman; so there he is. Horrid idjot! what did he want +to come here for; and how did he come?" +</P> + +<P> +A glance outside showed her the boat, and showed her also that the +water was certainly subsiding. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a mercy!" said Mansy; "but, oh! what a mess the garden and +everything will be in!" +</P> + +<P> +The interior of the house showed that Mansy had been busy, for it +presented a much more comfortable and tidy appearance than when she +returned. A quantity of the water had been bailed out through the +windows; and the cracks of the doors had been tightly plugged to +prevent water trickling in again. +</P> + +<P> +To-day Mansy wished to continue her tidying arrangements, and she also +wanted to cook a good dinner. "Bother the man!" she exclaimed. "What +a nuisance he is in the kitchen, when I wanted to have everything ready +there!" And she commenced to boil a little water for breakfast over +her spirit lamp. +</P> + +<P> +Just then the unwelcome visitor gave more evidence of being a nuisance. +He had awakened, and finding the door locked, and no means of egress +but into the water, he began knocking the panels of the portal to +attract attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Knock away, my gentleman, knock away!" said Mansy. "You won't get out +except into a policeman's arms, I can tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +The noise soon brought down the children, and Mansy speedily explained +the position of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Then it was somebody I heard in the night," exclaimed Edie. "I +thought of waking you, Mansy." And she told her experience during the +dark watches. +</P> + +<P> +"As things have turned out, it does not matter," said Mansy; "and I am +glad you did not wake me. Out he doesn't come 'cept into a policeman's +arms. Do you hear that, you wagabone?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll break the door down," he shouted, "if you don't open it." And he +continued to knock loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said Alfy, "that is like the voice of the man who treated me so +badly yesterday. I wonder if it is he! Yes, I do believe it is," he +added, as he heard the man shout again. "Oh, we must keep the door +fast. Let us put chairs and tables against it!" +</P> + +<P> +"It will be of no use for you to break the door," cried Alfy aloud, +"for we are going to put things against it! What did you come here +for?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean no harm," grumbled the man. "I haven't took nothing. I +only come for a sleep." Then after a pause he commenced to knock the +door more heavily than before. +</P> + +<P> +"Be quick, Master Alfy; oh, do be quick, and get a policeman! We can +pile up things against the door," and Mansy commenced at once to drag a +table towards it. "I have put some breakfast ready for you in the +dining-room. Take something to eat as you go along." +</P> + +<P> +So in a very short time Alfy found himself sculling the boat along to +the shore. He noticed that the flood had much subsided during the +night. Indeed, but for the fact that the house lay in a hollow, the +water might perhaps have gone down before. +</P> + +<P> +He found the village policeman more easily than some of the blue-coated +brethren are said to be found. He was at his house, rather tired after +his perambulations during the night. Alfy quickly told his errand, and +described the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I b'lieves it's the very cove as I'm in search of!" exclaimed the +policeman. "Looked for him all night, I have; I 'spects he thought +your house was empty in the flood, and he should be safe there for the +night. But he's reg'lar caught hisself in a trap, ain't he?" +</P> + +<P> +And policeman 451 Z. of the Blankshire constabulary chuckled. Then he +took out a pair of handcuffs, looked at them, turned them round, +clinked them together, and slipped them back into his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"If," said he, "it is as how my man don't go quiet they may come in +handy." +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't we better hurry on?" asked Alfy. "He may break the door down +and overturn the things." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think he will," said the policeman, shaking his head. +"Howsomdever, we will go." And taking a long drink of cold tea, he put +some bread and cheese in his pocket, and exclaimed, "Now I'm ready." +</P> + +<P> +The two sallied forth, and before very long they had reached the house. +As the policeman had anticipated, the man had not beaten the door down, +and when it was opened he walked almost literally into the policeman's +arms, as Mansy had said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go quiet," said the man, who in fact looked tired and hungry. +"You needn't put on them things," glancing at the shining steel +handcuffs. "I s'pose, missus," he said, looking at Mansy, "you +couldn't give a half-starved creetur a crust o' bread, could ye? I'm +dead beat!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well! did you ever!" exclaimed Mansy. "After breaking into one's +house, then axin' for bread! The imperence!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now then, come on!" said the policeman; "you'll have some food at the +lock-up. Get into that boat, smart!" +</P> + +<P> +Airy had looked closely at the man. Yes, it was the same who had tied +him in the boat yesterday. Should he give him something to eat? The +boy hesitated. The man looked very worn and weary. Then the lad +thought of the words,—"If thine enemy hunger, feed him." He hesitated +no longer. He slipped into the dining-room, took a large slice of +bread, and pressed it into the man's hand just as the policeman hustled +him off. Then he hurried away, scarcely hearing the man's thanks, +though seeing his look of surprise. +</P> + +<P> +That day was a busy one for the inhabitants of the Island House. Mansy +was very anxious that as far as possible every sign of the damage done +by the water should be repaired and cleared away. So she kept the +young people well employed. But the Island House, however, was rapidly +becoming an Island House no longer, for the flood continued to subside +on every hand. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +When the man was examined before the magistrates, of course Alfy had to +be present to testify what he knew about the matter, and the causes of +the flood were thoroughly investigated. To do him justice, the man +himself did not attempt to conceal anything. His fault was chiefly +that of gross carelessness and neglect of duty. The wall of the +reservoir had showed signs of weakness which he had failed to report to +his superior officers. In fact, he had seen but little of those signs, +for, instead of keeping to his work, he had wasted his time in +drinking; and on the afternoon when the wall burst he was loitering in +a public-house some distance off. He hid in the Island House for the +night, not knowing anyone was still there. +</P> + +<P> +The heavy rains of an exceptionally wet July had increased the volume +of water in the reservoir to a great extent, and placed a much greater +strain on the weakened wall. Hence it came to pass that when the +increased pressure came, the wall not being repaired and strengthened, +gave way with a crash. As the man had entered the Island House, he was +committed for trial at the next assizes, and Alfy was complimented on +his bravery and cleverness. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning, when the children came down, they were quite astonished +to find that the water had all disappeared, and the garden and grounds +looked very strange and muddy after their long and unusual bath. +</P> + +<P> +"Why! where has the flood gone to?" exclaimed Edie. "It has quite +vanished away in the night." +</P> + +<P> +"It was subsiding quickly yesterday," said Alfy. +</P> + +<P> +"Now that we have done up the damage in the house, we must see what we +can do for the garden," urged Mansy. "Why here is the postman coming +up the path, just as if nothing had happened!" +</P> + +<P> +"A letter from Auntie Rose!" cried Edie, taking the packet from the +postman. "Perhaps she asks us all to the seaside." +</P> + +<P> +That was exactly what Auntie Rose did ask, as they found when they read +the letter. She was staying with their cousins in Devonshire, and +thought they might come at once, as she knew of suitable apartments for +them. Their parents, too, who were on the Continent, might perhaps +join them there soon. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be jolly!" cried the children. +</P> + +<P> +"And when we come back," said Alfy, "I expect all signs of the flood +will have gone. It has not been a bad time, though, has it, Mansy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not so very bad, Master Alfy," said Mansy, laughing; "only I +could not abear that rockety tub. Now let us tidy the garden." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island House, by F. M. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 26627-h.htm or 26627-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/2/26627/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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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M. Holmes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Island House + A Tale for the Young Folks + +Author: F. M. Holmes + +Release Date: September 15, 2008 [EBook #26627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "I do believe there's Miss Edith at the window!" (p. 25)] + + + + + + +THE ISLAND HOUSE + +A Tale for the Young Folks. + + +BY + +F. M. HOLMES, + + + + + +AUTHOR OF "THE BELL BUOY;" "JACK MARSTON'S ANCHOR;" "THE WHITE SLEDGE," +ETC. + + + + +Publishers + +S. W. Partridge & Co., Ltd. + +London + +1898 + + + + +_BOOKS IN THE SAME SERIES_ + + "ROAST POTATOES!" + ONLY A GIRL! + DICK AND HIS DONKEY + RED DAVE + THE LITTLE WOODMAN + A LITTLE TOWN MOUSE + THE ISLAND HOUSE + THE CHILDREN OF THE MARSHES + A DOUBLE VICTORY + LEFT IN CHARGE + A SUNDAY TRIP + "IN A MINUTE!" + FARTHING DIPS + TIMFY SYKES + + +LONDON + +S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO, LTD. + +MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. OLD MANSY HEARS SOMETHING + II. TO THE LABURNUM TREE + III. THE YOUNG NAVIGATOR + IV. "WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?" + V. WITH TIED WRISTS + VI. AN UNWELCOME VISITOR + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"I do believe there's Miss Edith at the window!" . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"Alfy and Mansy made quite an enjoyable meal." + +"On floated the tub, leaving him alone in the tree!" + +"'I wonder if I could undo these knots with my teeth? I will try.'" + + + + +THE ISLAND HOUSE. + + +CHAPTER I. + +OLD MANSY HEARS SOMETHING. + +"I think I'll get out here, young man." + +"All right, missus." + +The old carrier stopped his jolting cart--an easy thing to do, for the +wearied horse was glad of the chance of halting--and the passenger +leisurely descended. With her descended also a bulging umbrella and +numerous packages. + +"Good night, young man!" she exclaimed. She thought this a very polite +way of addressing men whom she regarded as somewhat beneath her in +social station. + +But he did not answer. He was urging on his sleepy horse, and though +it was an easy matter to stop that interesting quadruped, yet it was a +very different thing to make him go on again. + +So she started off down a road leading out of the turnpike thoroughfare +on which the carrier was travelling. + +She was a tall, somewhat angular woman, with determination written on +her face. In one hand she carried a number of parcels mysteriously +tied together, and in the other hand her very bulgy umbrella, which she +used as a walking stick, and staffed her way with it solemnly along the +dim country road. + +It was a summer evening, and there had been a heavy storm during the +day. "Dear! dear! how dirty it be, sure_ly_," she said, as she +proceeded. "Bad enough to be dirty in winter, but in summer it's +disgraceful! Ha! how sweet that woodbine do smell! Now, if I could +get a piece for the children!" + +She stopped and began to poke about in the hedge with her bulging +umbrella. At last, after much reaching and pulling, she obtained a +small piece of the sweet-smelling honeysuckle, stuck it in her large, +old-fashioned bonnet, where it nodded like a plume, and pursued her way +in triumph. + +"Soon be home now," she said, to encourage herself. "Won't Master Alfy +be pleased with the woodbine!" + +Suddenly she paused again. What was that noise? + +She was at the corner of a lane branching off from the road she had +been pursuing. Dimly in her ears sounded a low, sullen roar--a roar +something like the murmuring noise of a mighty city heard in a quiet +and distant suburb. + +But here was no mighty city. She was deep in the heart of the quiet +country. What was that noise? + +"I never heerd the like afore at this place," she muttered to herself. +"Anyhow, I'll get on home. I shan't be long now!" + +A few turns in the road brought her in sight of the house. But she +stood suddenly quite still, and stared in amazement and alarm. Was +that indeed the house she had left quite safely in the smiling sunlight +of yesterday morning? + +Now, she saw a turbid sheet of water surrounding it; and here and there +the tops of shrubs and trees and hedges, looking strange and melancholy +as they rose out of the flood. The dull roar she had heard previously +now sounded louder than before, but she did not think of that. The +children were her anxiety. "Where are the children?" she cried. + +The excitement and alarm wrought upon her feelings, and she screamed +aloud-- + +"Children! children! Where are the children?" + +Perhaps it was the best thing she could have done. Anyhow, it had a +good effect. Lights quickly appeared at the windows, and she heard +shrill, childish voices sounding over the water. + +"Mansy! Mansy! is that you? Oh! we are glad you have come! Where +does all the water come from?" + +"Are you all safe?" she screamed. + +"Yes, yes; but we have scarcely anything to eat." + +"I have something in these parcels!" she shouted. "Oh, thank God the +children are all safe!" + +"How are you to get here, Mansy?" + +That was the difficulty; and Mansy, as she looked at the dull, sullen +water, felt she could not answer the question. First she thought of +boldly plunging in and wading up to the house door. But, strong-nerved +as she was, she shrank from this, and after carefully plumbing the +depth a little way with the bulging umbrella, she shrank from it still +more. It might be too dangerous. + +In the dim twilight of that cloudy summer evening she stood on the +water's brink and watched the flood go swaying past. She felt +stupefied and bewildered. Whence came the flood, and how? A more +unexpected thing had never happened to her. And now she knew that the +children were safe, the unexpectedness of it, the amazement of the +whole thing, seemed almost to benumb her senses. + +But she soon roused herself, when across the water sounded a shrill +boyish voice, which shouted--"I'll bring you over, Mansy. I'm coming +for you. Look out!" + +"Bless the boy! that's my Master Alfy. Whatever is he up to now?" + +And the good woman strained her eyes in the direction of the house to +see what her favourite boy was doing. + +She heard numerous childish exclamations, shouts, and laughter, and +noises as of something knocking against the walls of the house. Then a +splash! + +"Whatever is that boy doing?" cried Mansy. "Don't you get drownded!" +she screamed. "Do take care, Master Alfy! I'd rather stay here all +night than you should come to harm!" + +"All right, Mansy dear," shouted the shrill voice of the boy. "I'm +coming, safe and sound, Mansy." + +"Now, what is he a-comin' in?" cried the good woman, gazing into the +dusk. She saw the dim outline of something which soon she recognised. + +"Why, bless the boy! he's in the big washing tub! My! and how clever +he do manage it!" + +Mansy was quite right. The plucky little lad had hit on this expedient +of ferrying the old nurse and housekeeper over the flood to the house! +He had obtained two large kitchen ladles, and with these he was +propelling and guiding the unwieldy round tub, which bobbed about +provokingly on the turbid water, and made but little progress. It +would have been still less, perhaps, but for the fact that the water +flowed from the direction of the house past the old nurse. + +But the difficulty the boy had soon to encounter was to guide the tub +to her, for it was in great danger of being carried past. The house +stood in a small valley or depression of ground, which rose to the lane +up which Mansy had been walking. She was now standing on the verge of +the water, which appeared to surround the house entirely, and +completely obliterated the lawn and garden, except for the trees and +shrubs, and the boundary hedge which stood above the turbid flood. + +"Now, Mansy, look out!" cried Alfy. And whirling through the air came +a thin rope, which, before she was aware, struck her shoulder. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, "what's that? What are you doing, Alfy?" + +"Catch tight hold of it--quick, Mansy!" + +Mansy's energy and common-sense were returning, and she was on the +alert in a moment. She caught the rope, and held it firmly. "The new +clothes line!" she exclaimed, "Bless the boy! what next?" + +"Pull, Mansy dear, pull!" he shouted. She pulled hard, and the tub +slowly floated towards her. + +"That's right; jolly!" exclaimed Alfy, as the tub, with its bright, +brave little burden, came close to Mansy and touched the ground before +her. + +"My dear boy," exclaimed the good old woman, "how did this water +happen? And I am so glad to find you all well." + +"Yes, all right, Mansy. Now get in the tub, quick! Is it not fun?" + +"What! me get in the washing-tub?" she exclaimed. "Oh! I couldn't!" + +"Why, yes, Mansy dear; that's what I came for. You'll be all right." + +"Why, it wouldn't bear me! We should go to the bottom." + +"Oh! nonsense, Mansy! Why, don't you remember at the seaside regatta, +last year men had a race in tubs?" + +"Ah! but I'm--I'm--heavier than them men," said Mansy thoughtfully, +looking down on her ample proportions. + +"The tub is big," exclaimed Alfy. "It is the biggest we have. We had +a work to get it out of the window; and it made such a splash! Come +on, dear Mansy!" + +"I wouldn't do it for nobody but you, Master Alfy!" + +"Well, do it for me then, Mansy. I'll take care of you; see if I +don't." + +"Anyhow, the parcels might go in. There's something there nice, +Alfy,--a tongue--a nice Paysandoo; and some jam--blackberry and apple +mixed, and some biscuits." + +"Oh! jolly! treat! Come on, dear Mansy, let's be quick back." + +"Has not the butcher come?" asked the old nurse. + +"No; no tradesmen could cross over from the village, nor yet the +postman, and we expected a letter from mother and father. We are all +surrounded by water in the house, just like an island. 'The Island +House' Madge called it!" + +"And Miss Madge, and Miss Edie, and Jane are quite well?" + +"Yes, quite, dear Mansy. Only do be quick, please." + +The old nurse bent over and put the packages into the tub. + +"There!" she said, as it dipped, "see how that weighs it down." + +"Only a bob down when the parcels fell in," Alfy cried merrily. "See, +it is all right now. You can't get across any other way," he added +decidedly. + +"Well, I'll try it," she said slowly; "but I very much doubt----" + +She did not finish the sentence, but carefully planting the bulging +umbrella in the water, she leaned on it, and then advanced one foot to +place in the tub. "Oh, I can't!" she cried, just as the foot was over +the side of the tub, and she hastily drew back. + +"You _could_, Mansy dear," exclaimed Alfy. "You were just doing it +beautifully!" + +"But didn't you see how the tub was going down, Master Alfy?" + +"Oh, no, it wasn't; try again, there's a dear!" + +So Mansy, persuaded by Alfy, whom she loved like her own son, and +spurred on also by the desire to reach the house, tried again. She +leaned on the umbrella, and slowly advanced her right foot as before, +but this time she plumped it down into the tub. + +Down it bobbed, of course, under her weight. "Oh-h-h!" she cried. "I +shall drown you, Alfy!" and hastily she drew back again. "Me in a +tub!" she cried. "I can't!" + +"It really is all right," said Alfy again. "It will take us both. +Why, these flat-bottomed things float in ever such a little water. Try +once more, Mansy dear, and then I can give you a kiss." + +"I dessay you could, my bonnie baby, and I know you'd do anything to +help your old nurse. You're a real good boy; but go in that rockety +thing I couldn't!" + +"Tisn't rickety, Mansy, when once you are inside. Look here," and he +jumped in it, and shook it from side to side. Of course his light +weight was nothing to speak of, and it sat like a cork on the water. + +"You take over the parcels to your sisters, Alfy dear, and then they'll +have something to eat." + +"No, I'm not going without you, Mansy!" he exclaimed decidedly, pulling +the tub in again by the rope quite close. + +"Bless the boy! To think of my little Master Alfy taking his old nurse +in a tub! What would your parients say, on the Continong?" + +"Well, it must be, you see, Mansy dear, so please come on!" + +"Well, if we do turn over, I'll save you, Master Alfy. So now I'll try +again." + +And once more leaning on the umbrella, she put one foot into the tub, +and not caring for its plumping down into the water, this time she +quickly brought the other foot after the first. + +"Capital! capital!" cried Alfy. "There, you see, we have not gone +over!" + +No, they had not gone over; but he soon found they were not going at +all! The tub was just aground, and would not move without being pushed +off. + +So Alfy endeavoured to edge off the clumsy craft with the ladles, and +called on Mansy to help with the indispensable bulgy umbrella. The +moon was now shining, and albeit it was with a wan and watery gleam, +yet it enabled them to see their course a little more clearly. + +After strenuous efforts, the large, round tub was gradually got off the +ground, and actually floated. "Hurrah!" shouted the brave little Alfy. +"Now for Island House!" + +But try as he would he could not make the heavily laden craft float +towards the house. His paddles were too small, or he had not power +enough to make the best use of them, and slowly the current bore him +away. + +Then he called on Mansy to help, but, good woman, she no more knew how +to paddle a tub properly than to fly to the moon! Their efforts +perhaps slightly retarded the progress of the strange craft, but could +not alter its course. + +"I'll try the rope," cried Alfy in desperation. "Madge! Jane!" he +shouted, "look out!" + +He threw the rope, but, of course, it fell far short of the house. A +moment's reflection would have shown him that it could not possibly +reach the window where stood his sisters and the servant maid. + +They saw the difficulty now, and screamed aloud, while Mansy +endeavoured to shout back reassuring answers. + +"It's no use," said Alfy, crouching down in the tub, "we are floating +away. We cannot get to the house. What shall we do now?" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TO THE LABURNUM TREE. + +"What shall we do now?" + +It was Mansy who echoed Alfy's cry. "Can't we stop it somehow, Master +Alfy?" she added. "Tie it with the rope to the top of some tree or +something. Look there, could we not catch the line on there?" and she +pointed to the shrubby top of a big bush or tree. Alfy could not +exactly see what it was, but he saw something jutting up above the +water. + +The boy hastily took up his ladles, and endeavoured to steer the +strange bark to the point indicated. It was a weary, troublesome task. +Then Mansy threw the line, trying to catch it in the branches, and +nearly overbalanced herself into the water. + +"The rockety thing!" she exclaimed, half in alarm and half in contempt. +"I feared it 'ud go over." + +"It's all right, Mansy, if you sit still," said Alfy; "but try and +paddle it with the umbrella to the tree." + +So they both endeavoured to float it in the desired direction, and at +length Alfy thought he might venture to throw the rope. He did so, and +with some good effect, for it fell over a branch, and, though it did +not wind tightly round and had no firm hold, he could just give the tub +a bias in that direction. + +After plying his paddles with fairly good result for a little time, he +drew in the rope, and again launched it forth at the tree top. Again +he was, to some extent, successful, and in a few minutes he was able to +float the tub in among the branches. + +"Here we are!" he cried, "quite like the baby in the nursery +rhyme--'Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top,' you know, eh, Mansy dear? +Now we will tie the tub firmly to the branches, so that there will be +no fear of floating away!" + +"You have managed well, Master Alfy," said Mansy, admiringly. + +"Oh, but it was your idea; and look, we are not so very far from the +house!" + +"I wish we were there!" sighed Mansy. + +"So do I," said Alfy, "but, Mansy dear, I really am very hungry, and +you said you had something to eat in those packages!" + +"And so I have," replied his old nurse. "Dear boy, you must be hungry. +I suppose the girls have something left?" + +"Oh yes, quite enough for another meal, I should think! I wish we +could let them know we are safe, and not so very far away." + +"Burn a light; I have some matches and a little spirit lamp. I bought +it with some other things yesterday, thinking it might be handy in the +summer, when the kitchen fire was out, to boil a little water." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Alfy. "We are just like wrecked sailors or +something, near a desert island! We'll burn some of the papers round +the parcels to make a great flare." + +So the lamp was lit, and the papers burned, and Alfy waved the flimsy, +flaming torch bravely for a minute or so, that the watchers in the +island house might just catch a glimpse of them and of their position. + +An answering light was soon flashed back by the girls, so they knew +that their own had been seen. + +"Now we will take some of this tongue," said Mansy, producing the tin +in which it was preserved, "Lucky I got the young man in the shop to +open it. But what about a knife to cut it?" + +"Won't this do?" asked Alfy, producing his pocket-knife. "At all +events, it is better than nothing." + +"Why, bless the boy! so it is; but I am afraid it won't do very well. +Howsomdever, we'll make the best of it!" + +"Perhaps I can manage it better than you, Mansy," suggested Alfy. "I +am more used to it, you know; and really it is a splendid knife when +you know how to use it." + +"Yes, I should think so, _when_ you know how to use it, my dear, but I +cannot do very much with it in cutting nice slices!" + +"Oh, never mind the nice slices, if we can get some nice mouthfuls," +laughed the boy. And he proceeded to cut some small slips off the top +of the tongue with great facility, considering the unsuitability of the +small pocket-knife for the purpose. + +"Capital!" cried his nurse, as Alfy handed her a few of the small +slices, and then she produced some biscuits, and Alfy and Mansy made +quite an enjoyable meal. + +[Illustration: "ALFY AND MANSY MADE QUITE AN ENJOYABLE MEAL."] + +"I wish this water was fit to drink," she said, "for I feel thirsty. +Now tell me where it comes from, if you can, and how the flood +happened?" + +"It was yesterday afternoon," replied Alfy. "About three o'clock we +suddenly heard a loud noise, and then the water came rushing all round +the house and into the lower rooms too! We were frightened and +surprised at first, I can tell you!" + +"I expect you were," replied Mansy sympathetically. "And all in the +lower rooms. Oh, mercy on us, what a to-do! Is the mill-dam broke, do +you think?" + +"I don't know, Mansy. I'm not sure if it came that way. Have some +more tongue, Mansy dear? It's jolly!" + +"Thank you," exclaimed Mansy; "I don't mind if I do, Master Alfy. +Well," she continued, as she took out some more biscuits, "if anybody'd +told me this morning that I should have had my supper to-night in a +washin' tub on the water I'd 'a said they was cracked!" + +"And so should I," said Alfy. "Still, here we are, Mansy; and the next +question is how long shall we be obliged to stay?" + +"Yes, indeed," she sighed; "that is the question, and one we can't +answer!" + +"We must make the best of it," he said bravely. "I think I could swim +to the house and drag the tub by the rope." + +"I wouldn't hear of it for the world, Master Alfy," protested his +nurse; "you'd catch your death!" + +"Perhaps I could walk in the water," he replied. "I don't believe it +is very deep. Try it, dear Mansy, with your umbrella, and see how deep +it is." + +"I wouldn't let you, Master Alfy; I wouldn't indeed. You'd catch your +death, I tell you!" + +"But we can't stay here all night, Mansy." + +"I can't let you get into the water, Master Alfy. You don't know how +deep it is, nor how strong it's a-runnin'; and you'll catch your death!" + +"What dreadful disasters!" laughed Alfy. But he knew quite well that +his nurse could make up her mind firmly, and that it would be useless +to argue with her. Still he thought he might have tried to get the +boat nearer the house. + +The moon was now shining brightly, and a beautiful silvery path of +light lay on the water. Alfy sat on the side of the tub opposite his +nurse and watched the scene. It was a strange picture--the +unaccustomed flood, the dark mass of the house, and the tree tops +standing out of the water, the bright moonlight, which seemed to make +the scene almost more desolate, and the curious craft in which they +were sitting. The scene deeply impressed itself on Alfy's mind. + +"Well, it is of no use to sit here doing nothing," said Mansy +presently. "If we cannot do anything else, I think we'll try and go to +sleep. I am so tired. Perhaps we can see better in the morning what +to do." + +"How funny to sleep in a tub on the water!" exclaimed Alfy. + +"Yes, and all through me," said Mansy; "I am sorry. If you had not +come for me you might have been in your own nice warm bed!" + +"Oh, never mind me, Mansy; I could not leave you there all night." + +"I might have walked to the village." + +"It's all right, dear Mansy, I'm happy enough. Let us snuggle down and +get to sleep." + +And so after they had said their prayers, and thanked God for His +preserving care, they made themselves as comfortable as they could in +their strange, cramped quarters, and actually began to doze a little. + +But it was an uneasy slumber, and presently Alfy awoke and found the +moon shining full on his face. The light was also bright on the +hedgetop surrounding the garden of the house; and the idea darted into +his mind that if he could but get the tub beside the hedge he could +work it along toward the house by pushing the paddles against the +hedgetops or pulling at them one after the other. + +No sooner thought of than begun. He glanced at Mansy, but she, good +woman, greatly wearied by the events of the day, was still slumbering, +if her uneasy doze could be so described. So he commenced quietly to +cast off the rope from the branch. "If I can but manage it, how nice +it would be for Mansy to wake up and find herself at the house," he +said. + +So the plucky little fellow pushed the tub from the embrace of the +branches once more into the flow of the flood; but this time, instead +of attempting to stem the stream and struggle to the house, he sought +to guide the drifting of his clumsy little bark towards a hedge leading +up to the one surrounding the grounds of the house. + +It was a difficult task, but not so difficult or so hopeless as +endeavouring to reach the house by paddling direct up to it against the +flood. Presently he was near enough to throw the rope to the hedge. +Once! twice! thrice he threw it, before he was able to guide the tub at +all by its aid. Then progress was slow at first, but at length the +rope was twisted firmly round some branches, and he was able to pull +the tub along hand over hand quite quickly. + +Once beside the hedge, his task was comparatively easy. By pulling at +some of the branches, one after the other, he was able to urge his +strange craft along, and soon he had reached the point in the hedge +nearest the building. Then he paused to consider. Clearly it was of +no use to continue beside the hedge. That would only lead him round +the house, but not to the house itself. + +So he looked out for the nearest object to which he could throw the +rope. Now, on the little lawn grew a rather tall laburnum tree. "If," +thought Alfy, "I could fasten my rope round that, I could soon pull the +tub up to it." After considering a few minutes he took the tin in +which the tongue had been brought, and fastened it firmly to the end of +the rope. + +"This will make it easier to throw," he said, "and the tin will be more +likely to become entangled in the branches or twist round them." + +His plan was successful. After three or four ineffectual efforts the +tin was caught firmly in the branches, and he commenced to haul the tub +quite close to the tree. + +Then another difficulty presented itself. How should the tin be +disentangled? He soon found that it could not be done from his +position in the tub, for he could not reach it in any way; so he +whipped out his knife ready to cut the rope. + +"Why, bless the boy! where are we?" + +Mansy was wide awake now. In his efforts to reach the tin he had +shaken the tub a good deal and aroused her. + +"Oh, Mansy, I hoped you would have slept till I got you up to the +house!" he said. + +"Me asleep in a washin' tub! think of that! Well, I was that dead +tired I could have slep' anywheres, I do believe. But however did you +get here, Master Alfy?" + +"Worked along by the hedge, Mansy." + +"You are a brave, clever boy, Alfy! And I do believe there's Miss +Edith at the window with a light." + +"Are you there?" cried a bright, fresh, girlish voice. + +"At the laburnum tree," answered Alfy. + +"Oh! Do be quick," answered Edie. "We are so hungry. All the bread +and butter and things that were left are spoiled by the water. And we +have nothing to eat!" + +"And we have not much," said Mansy; "the sitiwation is really getting +serious!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE YOUNG NAVIGATOR. + +"The first thing is to get up to the house," said Alfy. "I shall have +to jump into the water and wade, after all, Mansy." + +"I couldn't permit it, Master Alfy, indeed I couldn't!" replied his +nurse decidedly. + +Alfy knew that when Mansy used that word "permit," her mind was very +much made up indeed. It was one of her rare words, used only on great +occasions and when much emphasis was intended. + +"Well, how are we to get to the house?" he said. "Let us consider. +Oh, I know!" he exclaimed in a few moments. "Good idea! a jolly dodge!" + +"Can you get my bow and arrows, Edie?" he shouted, "and my kite string?" + +"What for?" + +"To shoot the string to us," he replied. "Unwind it, and tie one end +to the arrow just above the feathers, and see if you can't shoot it to +us." + +"Don't hit us!" screamed Mansy. + +Then the girls with the candle-light disappeared from the window, and +the boy and the old nurse were left in the tub to await events. + +"What a long time the girls are!" he exclaimed presently. "I expect +they cannot find the things." The girls were not really so long as +appeared to the wearied watchers in the moonlight; but at length Edie +and her sister, with Jane, the servant-maid, showed themselves again at +the window. + +"Ah! they've got the bow and arrows," said Mansy. + +"Look out," cried Madge, "I don't want to hurt you." And Alfy and +Mansy covered their faces and screwed themselves down in the tub as +well as they could, the irrepressible Alfy laughing meanwhile, and +saying he did not think they need take such great precautions. Mansy, +however, was rather fidgety about it. + +"If the arrow did get into your eyes, you know, Master Alfy, I should +never forgive myself!" she said. + +"But I should like to peep and see how Madge does it, you know," argued +Alfy. + +"Now, I'm going to shoot," screamed Madge. She shot; and the arrow +fell midway between the house and the boat. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the boy outright "To think of making all that +fuss for nothing." Then he cried aloud, "Pull the arrow back quick, +Madge, and raise the bow higher when you shoot again; draw the +bowstring back as far as you can." + +"And tie some more string to the kite line if it is not long enough," +cried Mansy. + +So with much laughter from the girls they pulled the arrow back from +the water by the string attached to it and tried again. They were not +expert archers, and failed once more--failed indeed several times. But +at last the arrow fell quite near the tub, and Alfy called out to his +sisters not to draw it back as it floated closer, and then with the +help of the handle of Mansy's bulgy umbrella he pulled it in and of +course the kite string with it. + +This string was of great length. Alfy was fond of kite flying, and by +adding together long pieces of string he had acquired a tether of +considerable extent. To lengthen it still more, however, the girls had +managed to find some more string, and so it came about that +communication was established between the inhabitants of the house and +the watchers in the tub. + +"That thin string will never pull us along," said Mansy doubtfully. +"It'll break!" + +"Not if we help, I hope," exclaimed Alfy cheerfully. "We must paddle +our hardest, so the strain on the line won't be so great." + +"Don't pull yet," he cried; "not till I tell you, Edie." Then he cut +the tub free from the laburnum, and, pushing the umbrella hard against +the trunk of the tree, gave the tub a vigorous push in the direction of +the house; and while it was floating thither, he called out to the +girls to pull the string lightly, and commenced to paddle at the same +time. Mansy also endeavoured to help with her inseparable umbrella, +and so now all of them were endeavouring to persuade the heavily laden +and clumsy craft to float against the flood to the house. + +It was a tiresome task. The young navigator was obliged to go very +slowly, and to constantly ask his sisters not to pull hard, lest the +string should break. The vigorous push-off had given them a good +start, and they made a little progress. + +Once the string broke, but Alfy was able to fish up the line, for it +was near, and Mansy knotted the broken ends together again. He now +began to be more expert with his improvised paddles, and the string +just kept tight, but with scarcely any strain upon it, yet prevented +the tub from "wobbling"--steered it in fact to the house, and helped to +counteract the flow of the water. + +So gradually they progressed to the house. The moon was now declining, +and a dark hour before the early dawn was at hand. + +"How I'm going to get inside that house I don't know!" ejaculated Mansy +at last, after surveying the front for some little time. "I can't get +through the door--that would let the water in,--and climb to the upper +part of that winder, I couldn't!" + +"Oh, we'll manage it, dear Mansy, somehow, never fear! We are getting +through our difficulties splendidly!" + +But when they did get the tub safe under the window--which was +accomplished at last--and Alfy had expressed his joy with a loud +hurrah, then the new difficulty presented itself in full force. They +were afraid to open the lower sash of the window, as the level of the +water was just above it. + +"How am I to scramble over the upper sash?" she exclaimed; "and how am +I to get down on the other side?" + +"Yes! and the room is full of water," cried Edie from the window above. + +"Not full, Edie!" expostulated Alfy. + +"Well, there is a great deal all over the floor, and in all the lower +rooms," explained his sister. + +"Oh! dear me! what a mess to clear up," exclaimed Mansy. + +"Let me get in and see," said Alfy sturdily. + +"Do take care, and don't cut yourself with the glass!" Mansy cried, as +she saw him clambering up over the top sash of the window. This he had +first pulled down as far as he could, and he also helped himself by the +sash lines. The breaking of the glass might of course prove very +dangerous, but he found another difficulty when, having climbed over +the sash, he stood a-tiptoe on the bottom of the window frame inside +the room, and clung for support to the top sash. How was he to +descend? Inside the room was dark, but he thought he saw the gleam of +water. He hesitated to jump at hazard, not knowing where he might +alight. + +"Lower a candle, Edie," he cried, "and then I can see my way better!" + +So presently down came a lighted candle, bobbing to and fro as the +little sister lowered it. Alfy caught it with one hand and held it +inside the room. "Oh! what a mess," he exclaimed, as he saw the water +all over the apartment, with teapot cosy, music, papers, wool-mats, and +all kinds of well-known pleasant household things floating despondingly +on its muddy surface. + +"What shall we do?" cried Mansy from the outside. "Oh! help me to get +indoors, so that I can clear up a bit!" + +"I don't see yet how I am to get down, Mansy. The table is too far off +for me to jump to it, and the water seems high!" + +"Oh! you mustn't get in the water, Master Alfy!" shrieked poor Mansy, +"Oh, I am so tired of this rockety old washin' tub! Can't you get me +out, Alfy dear?" + +"I'll get you out, Mansy, somehow, never fear," assented Alfy cheerily. +"Now, Edie dear, can you let down a chair and some hassocks for me to +stand on?" + +And the busy girls above tied string to the back of a chair and +carefully lowered it, and some hassocks followed. + +Alfy soon placed the chair in the room and piled the hassocks on it. +Then lightly stepping on to them, he was able to make his way to the +table, and also to the sideboard. Next, by means of chairs and +hassocks he made his way to the staircase, and, having hastily mounted +it, put his head out of the nearest upstairs window and shouted, +"Hullo, Mansy!" + +"Oh! bless the boy!" exclaimed Mansy with a start. "You have got up +there, have you? I do wish I was safe up there, too, Alfy!" + +"You soon will be, Mansy," he replied cheerily. + +"Oh! we are glad you've come," cried his sisters, as he met them and +kissed them. "But how are we to get Mansy up? She can never climb in +through the window!" + +"She'd fall in the water," remarked Jane, "and there would be a pretty +to-do!" + +"Do you think we could pull the tub up with Mansy in it to the window?" +asked Alfy. + +"It would be very heavy," suggested Jane. + +"And Mansy might fall out," exclaimed the younger sister, with eager +face and wide-open eyes. + +"The distance is not very great," remarked Alfy, as he leaned out of +the window and looked down. "And it is less still, of course, up to +the top sash of the window, where I got in. Oh! I know," he added +joyfully; "we will push the table in the downstairs room close to the +window and put a chair on it, and then, if we can pull Mansy up to the +same level, she can creep in over the sashes of the window, on to the +chair." + +"Oh! that will be delightful," said the girls. But, at first, Mansy +would not hear of it. Poor Mansy! her ideas of dignity had been sadly +disturbed this evening. "Me pulled up in a washin' tub?" she +exclaimed. "The idea! the very idea of such a thing! And I know you'd +let me fall!" + +"If we did, it wouldn't hurt you," said Alfy, "because the tub would +float, you know. Come on, Mansy, it's the only way I can see!" + +She suffered herself to be persuaded by Alfy, and to yield to the logic +of circumstances. So she fastened the piece of clothes-line that was +left in the tub firmly through its two handles, and Alfy, with the +girls, went downstairs, and, standing on chairs and hassocks, managed +to push the table close up to the window, through which they expected +Mansy to enter. Then a chair was placed upon it, so that she could +creep in with comparative ease. + +The next thing was more difficult. It was to haul up the tub a little +way with Mansy in it. By tying a piece of thin kite string to the end +of the rope, they were able easily to pull up the rope from Mansy, and +then they turned it round the bed-post, and all four pulled hard +together. Mansy herself helped very much by pushing the paddles +against the window ledge; and presently they felt that the tub was +slowly moving. + +"Hurrah!" cried Alfy, "we shall do it!" + +"Oh! it's off the water, and swinging about; do be careful!" cried +Mansy. + +"Steady it against the wall," cried Alfy. "Pull away, Jane; pull, +Edie; now, all together!" + +And so with pulling and shouting, and with Mansy also doing her best to +help, for she was thoroughly determined to enter the house this time, +if possible, they raised the tub. + +But just as she was preparing to creep in the window--either the +children relaxed their efforts, or they were not aware of the necessity +of holding the rope very tight when not pulling--suddenly, down went +the tub, splash! + +"Oh! oh! oh!" cried Mansy, "I shall be drowned." + +The children rushed to the window terror-stricken. But they soon +found, to their great relief, that Mansy was more frightened than hurt, +and in fact was not hurt at all, though much splashed with water. + +"Oh, I thought the rockety thing was going down," she cried; "it went +down pretty far." + +"But it's all right, Mansy," said Alfy cheerfully; "and now, we'll try +again, and keep tight hold this time!" + +Mansy was very frightened, but eventually she did try, and all working +away for the same object, she did at last manage to clamber in on the +chair, and pick her way on chairs and hassocks over the water to the +stairs. + +Oh! what kissings and congratulations there were, when she found +herself safe and sound, once more, with all the children! + + * * * * * + +Next morning the difficulty of providing food presented itself, as they +knew it would. They had barely enough for one good meal. And as they +scanned the watery scene around the house, there seemed no sign, and +but little likelihood of any person coming to them from the village. + +"I must go in the tub to the nearest land," said Alfy, "and then run to +the village. I shall not be long." + +"What! go in that rockety thing again, Alfy?" + +"Why, yes, Mansy. You see it will be lighter with only one in it. And +I will take the line and rope. Oh! I shall manage." + +And so he pushed off. The flood was still flowing, and carried him +quickly away from the house. He guided the tub to the laburnum tree, +where a piece of the rope was still hanging. "I will get that rope," +said he, and twisting a piece of the line in the tub round the tree, he +climbed up. He found his task more difficult than he had supposed, but +when he had succeeded and was about to descend, behold! to his +amazement and chagrin the line had become loose, and the action of the +water was just floating the tub away out of his reach. + +He made a desperate endeavour to save it by trying to throw into it the +tin which was still attached to the rope in the tree. But it missed; +and on floated the tub, slowly, but provokingly, bobbing about in the +morning sunshine, leaving him alone in the tree! + +[Illustration: "ON FLOATED THE TUB, LEAVING HIM ALONE IN THE TREE!"] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?" + +What was to be done now? + +"This is a greater bother than any of the others," said Alfy. "I +expect I shall have to wade or swim now, if I can. Then I must run to +the village in my wet things. But how shall I get back to the house? +Bother the tub, I say! However did it get loose?" + +The reason was that he had not fastened it very firmly; but then he did +not expect he would be so long in the tree, nor did he think the +current of the water would have such influence. + +But the tub had gone, and he must do the best he could without it. +From his perch in the tree he could obtain a clear view of the flood. +The muddy water glistened in the bright sunshine, as though trying to +look pleasant. + +The house was, as we have said, in a hollow, or depression of the +ground, and the flood, Alfy could see distinctly, came from some way +behind the house, and flowed round and past it; but whence it came, or +whither it went, he could not discover. + +"It can't come from the river," he said thoughtfully, "for that is in a +different direction. I cannot imagine what causes it." + +Sundry things he noticed were floating on its surface. + +Here was a quantity of hay, sailing slowly and solidly along in a +fairly compact mass; farther on a little yellow straw flashed in the +sunshine; not far off again pieces of wood floated; and then, curiously +enough, a little tin hand-bowl bobbing about quite pertly, as it was +borne along. That tin bowl gave him an idea. + +"I know!" he cried; "I will ask Mansy and Edie to send off the old tin +bath to me from the house." + +Thereupon he shouted loudly to attract their attention. + +At first they did not answer, and he could hear various sounds, +indicating that Mansy was endeavouring to repair some of the mischief +done by the flood. "They are busy," he said, and again he cried, +louder this time than before. + +His shouts attracted Edie's attention, and she hastened to the window, +where her exclamation of surprise soon brought the others. "Bless the +boy!" exclaimed Mansy, "however did he get there? Where's the tub?" + +"Can you send me the old bath?" he cried. + +The girls disappeared hastily from the window, and Mansy cried again: +"You are never going to get into that bath, Master Alfy, sure_ly_!" + +"Oh! I can manage it," he replied briskly, "if you can send it down to +the tree. Tell them to put a pole or something in it, dear Mansy, for +me to paddle it with." + +"You must be quick, Alfy, and get us some provisions," urged Mansy, "or +I don't know what we shall do. We shall get starved!" + +Alfy laughed in the gaiety of his heart. He was a merry, cheerful, +plucky little lad, who could not talk religion, but strove to act it. +Nelson's grand words, "England expects every man to do his duty," was +his motto, unexpressed though it was. + +"Never fear, Mansy," he cried, "I'll be back in good time. You shall +have plenty to cook and eat to-day!" + +Then Mansy disappeared from the window, and Alfy soon heard sounds, as +though the bath were being brought along. It was a somewhat +high-backed sitz bath, which had seen some service in the family. + +Splash! + +Over it went from the window, and of course it fell bottom-upwards! + +"Ah-h-h!" he cried, "what a mull! Now I shall have to wait here a long +time till it is righted. Take care, please; don't let it float away!" +he shouted. + +He soon saw that quick-witted Edie had hastened below to the table, +which had remained as it was placed last evening, and stretching out of +the window with a broom, which was the handiest and most efficient +thing she could readily find, was holding the bath to the house. + +In answer to Alfy's cries, Mansy went down to help Edie, and then the +others following, they all endeavoured to turn the bath top upwards. +This task they at length accomplished, with the help of one or two more +brooms; and having fastened string round it to prevent its escape, it +was launched with a vigorous push in Alfy's direction. It floated +pretty buoyantly on the water, though its high back seemed to make it a +little top-heavy. + +Well was it that the strange craft had been tethered, or it might have +floated provokingly just out of Alfy's reach; but, with a little +pulling and guidance by means of the string, it was coaxed near enough +to Alfy, so that he could throw in his tin with the cord attached, and +persuade it to float right under the tree. + +In a very short time he had cautiously descended and dropped into his +novel boat. Yes, it floated still, though his weight caused it, of +course, to sink deeper in the water. Perhaps, however, it was less +liable to overturn, for its load ballasted it, and rendered it less +top-heavy. + +With a loud "Hurrah!" he pushed off smartly from the tree, and giving +one wave of the hand to those watching him from the house, turned his +attention to navigating his strange craft to the shore. + +Now, for a paddle Edie had put in a long broom-handle, and grasping +this in the middle, he plied it alternately one side and then the other. + +Strange use for a broom-handle; but the occupants of the Island House +never expected to be caught by a flood like this, so they had to do the +best they could. "Hullo! I must look out for that mass of hay!" said +Alfy. "That I shall call an iceberg; or, no, a whale I think. Out of +the way, whale!" he cried, pushing it off briskly with his +indispensable broom-handle. + +Hard though he worked, he made but slow progress, his craft was so +unwieldy and difficult to manage. "I wonder where the tub is!" he +cried. "Why, actually there, stranded against the hedge! The tub was +better than the bath. I've a good mind to go after that tub and bring +both to land." + +And this the plucky little fellow accomplished. He was becoming quite +expert in the use of the paddles, and, of course, as soon as he came to +the hedge-top, he was able to propel the bath along more quickly. He +fastened the tub and bath together, and then transferring himself to +the former, set to work to bring both to the bank. He found it a +difficult task, but he persevered, and in a short time was successful. +At last he leaped on dry land. With a triumphant shout, he attracted +the attention of Mansy and his sisters to his success, and then, after +firmly mooring his fleet--as he called the tub and the bath--he set off +quickly for the village. + +Now, his way led him soon beside a tall hedge. And, as he was +hastening along, he became aware of voices on the other side. At first +he paid little attention, but then a word or two about the flood struck +his ear. "If I could see them," he said, "I would ask how it was +caused." But--what was one voice saying? + +"If I told what I knew about your neglecting your duty, you would catch +it hot, I can tell you." + +"But you won't tell, I'm sure," replied the other. + +"I don't know so much about that." + +"I didn't mean to," whined the other. + +"Didn't mean to! Of course you didn't. Still you did it. And this +here ter'ble flood is the result. You was in drink, you know you was; +and you was careless, and didn't do your dooty. You ought to have +watched, and given the alarm, and the banks might have been mended, and +the flood saved." + +Alfy heard every word distinctly. There was an opening in the hedge a +little farther on, and the voices seemed to be going towards it, even +as he was himself. + +"Who'd have thought," said the second man apologetically, "that that +stout wall would have burst." + +"You may be thankful it didn't burst the other side," answered the +first man, "and the water flooded Tarn'ick. It's bad enough as it is, +coming to the village; but it would have been very much worse then." + +So this was the cause of the flood. The reservoir which supplied the +populous town of Tarnwick had burst, and its contents had poured down +towards the village. And had the village suffered at all? Alfy was +anxious to know. And how had the man neglected his duty, and caused +the flood? + +The lad was now near the opening in the hedge, and he suddenly, but +distinctly, saw the two men whom he had heard talking. He did not +recognise either of them; but, at sight of him, they started in +surprise, and stopped at once, and looked at him strangely, as though +to ask what he had heard. + +Alfy walked straight on, past the opening in the hedge, as though the +men were not there, and on through the pleasant field. But the faces +of those men were impressed on his mind, and he felt he should know +them again. + +Certainly their conversation had given him something to think of, but +the chief thing now that he had to do was to purchase provisions, and +have them conveyed to the house. Should he find much damage done at +the village? + +That question was soon answered, for, on arriving there, he found that +the flood had passed it almost entirely by. Most of the houses were on +fairly high ground, and the river being near, much of the water had +flowed thither. Yet some of the cottages in the lower part had +suffered, and Alfy heard much of them, and of a farmhouse and its +buildings, which had also been flooded. He heard, too, of the +difficulties which had been experienced in saving some of the animals. + +He knew that farmhouse well. He and his sisters had played there with +the children who lived under its pleasant roof. The flood had come so +suddenly, and the house wherein Alfy lived was in such a retired spot, +that no one seemed to have thought of it and its inmates. He therefore +found himself listened to with eagerness and some surprise when he told +of their condition. + +"And how am I to send you these goods, then?" asked Mr. Daw, the +tradesman of whom Alfy had been ordering a supply of grocery. "I could +send them by cart, but I have not a boat." + +"Do you know where I could borrow one?" asked Alfy anxiously. + +Well, Mr. Daw was not sure. There were a few boats on the river, but +how was one to be brought from thence to the flood near the house? + +Nevertheless, he thought of a few persons to whom Alfy could apply, and +the boy left him, after arranging that he would return later to point +out the spot where the goods were to be taken. + +Alfy bought a few more goods, a joint of meat among them, at some other +shops, directing them to be taken to Mr. Daw, who had promised to send +all together. The boy had then a troublesome task; it was to find a +boat or some means of conveying the provisions to the Island House. He +had not time to talk much to any of the acquaintances and friends he +met, though they were greatly interested in the condition of affairs at +his home, and various were the directions he received as to the best +means of getting a boat. + +The river was a small one. It was stony in parts, so that there was +not much boating. Still there were one or two kept at points along its +course, and Alfy found himself, at length, asking a jolly-looking old +gentleman, to whom he had been directed, but whom he did not know at +all, if he would lend his boat, and telling him why it was wanted. + +"Eh! what! house all surrounded by water? Quite an island, eh? That's +what we used to learn at school--Island House, eh?" + +"Yes, that is what we call it," laughed Alfy, somewhat reassured by the +jolly old gentleman's cheerfulness and geniality. + +"Of course I'll lend the boat," said the old gentleman. "That's what +we've got to do, help one another--and mind you think of that, my boy; +but the question is, how can you get it up to the house?" + +"I heard that the flood was running into the river," replied Alfy, "so +I thought I could row up that way." + +"What! you row up against the flood!" exclaimed the jolly old +gentleman; "you can't do it." + +"I can try," said Alfy. + +"Well, I might try and help you, but I am not much of a rower, and my +son--it is he, really, who uses the boat--he is away from home. I +question if I could pull my own weight. Most mysterious thing this +flood. Where does it come from? How did it happen?" + +So Alfy told what he had heard beside the hedge. + +"Eh! what! eh! this is getting serious! One of the banks of Tarnwick +reservoir burst! One man saying it is because of another's +carelessness! This must be seen to. What sort of men were they? +Should you know them again?" + +And the jolly old gentleman who was now looking very serious, drew from +Alfy all he knew about the men he had heard talking by the hedge. + +"I must see to this quickly," said the old gentleman. "Send a +policeman after them. Take the boat, my lad, and keep her as long as +she is of any use to you. Good-bye, and good luck." And away he went. + +Knowing that speed was very necessary, Alfy decided to try and row up +the boat at once. At first, he thought he would seek help from some +friends in the village. Then he determined not to do so. The village +was some little distance from the jolly old gentleman's house, and some +time, he thought, would be wasted in going to and fro. So he jumped in +the boat, and cast off. + +This was a case, however, of "more haste, less speed." If he had +obtained assistance he would have made much better progress. The +stream was against him, and he found it hard work pulling against it. +But nothing seemed to daunt this boy's pluck. + +"Put your back into it," he remembered an old boatman said, when last +summer's holiday he and his sisters were rowing on a tidal river at a +seaside resort, and now indeed he strove hard to put his back into his +rowing. + +He was certainly making progress. To escape the force of the current +as far as possible he was creeping along by the shore. He was thinking +whether he would row as near as he could to the village, and then jump +out and tell Mr. Daw he had secured a boat, or whether he should row on +to where he had left the tub and bath. + +"I want to have as little distance to row the laden boat as I can," he +said; "and I cannot take anyone to the house unless they will stay +there, as we shall want the boat. What fun we will have to-morrow +rowing about, and going for milk and things! I will point out the spot +to Mr. Daw's man where they can be brought." + +He was just considering which course he should pursue when suddenly his +boat was stopped, and he heard some words which almost sent his heart +jumping to his mouth. + +"I say, youngster, what was it you heard me and my mate say this +morning?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WITH TIED WRISTS. + +Alfy turned. Yes, one of the men he had heard talking beside the +hedge, that morning, was leaning from the bank, and had stopped the +boat. + +He looked lowering and threatening. + +"You don't budge an inch," growled he, "till you've told me what you +have been to Squire Watkins's for." + +"To borrow this boat." + +"Something else as well," said the man. "What did you hear me and my +mate saying this morning, and what have you told about it?" + +"What right have you to ask me?" replied Alfy sturdily. + +"I'll soon show you the right," exclaimed the man gruffly, at the same +time raising his hand. "Now, then, out with it!" + +"Out with what?" said Alfy doggedly. + +Bang! Alfy felt a heavy blow on his head, which made the fire flash +from his eyes, and nearly knocked him overboard; but, tingling with +pain and indignation, he swept round the oar he held in his right hand, +and struck the man sharply on the shoulder. + +His assailant seized the oar, and a smart struggle ensued, in which the +man's superior strength and position enabled him to be victorious. He +wrested the oars from Alfy, and then, after cuffing him soundly, and +calling him an "insolent young warmint," tied him tightly to the skiff +with the boat-rope--which is commonly called the painter. + +Alfy, smarting with the injustice of the attack, managed to administer +a few wholesome kicks to his assailant during the struggle. Then a +long, low whistle sounded, and the man hurried away, leaving the boy +bound and aching in the boat. + +The day was now fast wearing on, and the sun was beginning to sink in +the heavens. As Alfy lay back in the boat his mind was racked with +anxiety about the provisions, and his promises to take back food to the +Island House. His sisters and Mansy might starve if he could not get +the provisions to them. Then he shouted aloud to attract attention. + +No answer came. His voice seemed borne back upon him as from an empty +void. Again and again he called until he grew weary with shouting, and +sickened with suspense and anxiety and disappointment. He seemed as +far from his kind here as if he were alone in the deserts of Arabia. + +Then he bethought him once more of self-help. "I wonder if I could +free myself," he said. "I have got over several difficulties lately, +perhaps I can get over this one also." He struggled upwards to a +sitting position, and looked at his bonds. His wrists and ankles were +tied pretty firmly, and one end of the rope was of course fastened to +the boat. + +"I suppose that rascal tied me up like this to give himself time to +escape," said Alfy thoughtfully, as he looked down at the rope. "He +thinks I know a lot about him, and will tell what I know, and he wants +to get a good start. I wonder if I could undo these knots with my +teeth? They crack nuts, why not untie knots? I will try." + +[Illustration: "'I WONDER IF I COULD UNDO THESE KNOTS WITH MY TEETH? I +WILL TRY.'"] + +Happily his teeth were strong and sharp--teeth which many an older +person would have envied. He was plucky and persevering also, and he +set to work with a will to gnaw, or unfasten, or "worry" open the tough +knots which bound him. + +It was a stiff job, and a tiring one too. But he kept on pluckily, and +would not give up. The sun sank lower in the heavens, and the +beautiful summer afternoon wore on. "Oh! how they will wonder what has +become of me at home!" he sighed. "I must be quick," and he redoubled +his efforts. + +But he found the task too difficult. The rope was hard and tough, and +time was fast passing. His teeth and jaws quite ached with the +unwonted use to which he was putting them. So after thinking over +another plan he changed his tactics entirely. + +Though his wrists were tied, his fingers were comparatively free; he +could, for instance, grasp firmly with them anything that was not very +large. He had noticed that the end of the rope tethering the boat had +been tied to the bough of a young willow near the water's edge. He +resolved to break that bough, and then slowly work the boat along by +pulling at the grass, reeds, or anything on the bank. In a short time +he carried out the first part of his programme. + +Compared with gnawing at the hard rope, the twisting of the supple +bough backwards and forwards, until he wrested it from the parent stem, +was but a light task. It was more difficult to work the boat along +against the stream. Yet by patience and pluck and perseverance--the +three "p's" that all young folks should seek to acquire--he managed to +succeed. + +"Should that man come back to trouble me," he said, "he will find me +gone; that will be something. Still I do not quite see how I am to get +the things for the house, tied as I am to this boat." + +Pluckily he pulled at the grass and reeds, and worked the boat along. +When he had gone some distance from the point where the man had +fastened the boat, he shouted again, and he continued to shout at +intervals. But no cry answered his own. There was no sound but the +lapping of the water against the boat or the murmur of the wind. + +So some time passed. Alfy was getting very weary and hungry. There +seemed no chance of help coming to him, and the situation was the more +vexing, as he felt that his knife in his pocket, if he could but have +got it, would soon have made short work of the knots. But in the +circumstances the knife might have been left at the house, for all the +good it was to him. + +At length he came to the place where the flood poured into the river. +"Hurrah!" he cried, "this does look like making progress. Now I will +try and get as near as I can to the house." + +It was at times more difficult to make progress on the flood than on +the stream, for there was no decided bank such as edged the river; but +he took advantage where he could of anything on the brink of the water, +such as a hurdle or a bush, a stile or a hedge, and pluckily kept at +his work. + +In the village, Mr. Daw was getting quite fidgety at Alfy's absence. + +"What can have happened to the lad?" said he. "The boy would surely +not be so long in finding a boat, and if he could not find one he would +have been here to say so. Jones, just you put all these things in the +pony cart and get as near as you can to Fairglen." Fairglen was the +right and proper name of the Island House. + +"He has evidently been to other shops," continued Mr. Daw. "Here's a +large sirloin of beef from Smithers, and quite a cargo of bread from +Deane's, and vegetables and fruit from Wilson's. Why, good gracious +me! one would think they were going to stand a siege up at Fairglen. +I 'spect it is as the lad says, they've got nothing at all to eat. +What can be keeping the boy I can't think." + +"Prap's he's tumbled into the water, please, sir, and got drownded," +drawled out Jones slowly. + +"Get on quickly and put these things in the cart," said his master +sharply. Jones' slow ways and stupid remarks generally annoyed Mr. Daw. + +In quick time the goods for the Island House were packed in the +grocer's little cart, and the slow Jones seated himself in front. +"Drive as near to Fairglen as you can," said his master, "and shout +aloud to attract attention. Now, mind you deliver the goods quickly." + +"As quickly as I can," replied Jones, a grin slowly spreading over his +expansive face. + +Thus it came about in time that while Alfy was slowly working his way +along by the brink of the flood, the well-meaning but rather stupid +Jones was staring in profound astonishment at the tub and the tin bath +Alfy had left in the morning. + +"Well, I never!" exclaimed Jones. "They be rum boats, they be!" + +He had driven the cart up the lane as far as he could, and after +tethering the horse, was now rambling beside the water. + +"But how I'm to carry the meat and taters and sugars over to the house +in them things I don't know!" + +Then he remembered his master's injunction to shout, and he shouted +accordingly. "I wish I knew where that young gent had got to!" +continued Jones, and again he raised his hoarse voice, and shouted. +"Why, what's that 'ere?" he exclaimed. "Is it an ecker, or is it the +young gent?" + +Again he shouted, as loud as he could this time, and then paused. Yes, +faint and clear came an answering shout. There was no mistake this +time! "Why, there he be!" exclaimed Jones in astonishment. "There he +be! there he be!" + +Then he began to move slowly in the direction of the shout, and called +aloud again. The answer was louder and more distinct this time. + +"I be getting nearer to him," chuckled Jones, "that I be!" + +But when presently he came close enough to see the young boatman +distinctly he stood still in complete amazement, with eyes and mouth +wide open. The sapient Jones had had other things to astonish him +considerably to-day, what with the flood and the tub and the bath, but +this beat all. Here was Alfy tied to the boat, and labouring with +bound wrists to work the skiff along. + +"Don't stand staring there!" cried Alfy. "Can't you give me a hand?" + +"Well I never!" exclaimed Jones. "Whatever did you tie yourself like +that for?" + +"Tie myself!" replied Alfy impatiently; "I didn't tie myself. Come, +cut the rope quickly, and help me along." + +"I ain't got no knife!" + +"Oh, get mine out of my pocket, and do be quick, please." + +"Well, I never did see anything like this afore!" spluttered Jones, as +he tumbled into the boat. "My stars! however did you get tied up like +this 'ere?" + +Alfy did not vouchsafe any explanation, but gave him directions as to +getting the knife quickly, and cutting the rope. + +"Oh, how jolly!" he exclaimed, as he rose and stretched himself, when, +after several clumsy efforts on Jones' part, he was at last made free. + +"Now, can you row?" he continued briskly. + +"How fur do 'ee want to go?" + +"As far as a tub and a bath----" + +"I see 'em!" interrupted Jones gleefully. + +"Well, I want to get there, and then to hurry to Mr. Daw for some +things," exclaimed Alfy. + +"Things for Fairglen!" asked Jones, "'cos I got 'em, meat and taters +and all!" + +"Oh, that's right! Where are they?" + +"In the cart, not far off." + +"Well, can you row this boat, or shall we tow it along? Perhaps that +will be best." + +"Oh, I can pull with the rope," said Jones; "pull the boat and you too; +you look tired enough." + +So now, after his hard work, Alfy was able to lie back delightfully at +his ease in the boat, and feel he was being drawn quickly along. + +When they reached the two clumsy crafts Alfy had left in the morning he +found them quite high and dry. "The flood is subsiding," he said. +"Perhaps by to-morrow this time the water will all have gone!" + +"P'raps it will," was Jones' reply, "and p'raps it won't. But I +'spects reservore's pretty nigh empty now." + +"Oh, you've heard it's the reservoir?" exclaimed Alfy. "Do you know +how the water came to flow out?" + +"I heerd as how the wall looking this way suddenly bust," answered +Jones, "and the water all rushed down here." + +"But don't you know how the wall came to burst?" persisted Alfy. + +"No-o; I can't say as how I do," replied Jones slowly, rubbing his head +and knitting his brows as though deeply pondering the knotty point. + +"Well, now, we must hasten on," said Alfy. "Where are those things for +the house? Are they far?" + +"They are in the cart in the lane." + +"How can they be brought here?" asked Alfy. "Shall I help? Can't you +bring the pony and cart through that gate? Let us be quick!" + +"I think as how you and I must carry them here in lots," drawled +slow-witted Jones. "I don't think pony and cart could come." + +"Well, be sharp then!" urged Alfy, springing from the boat. + +"Why, I do believe Mansy can see us from the house." And he shouted, +and waved his handkerchief. + +"Now, come on," cried he, "and show me where the things are." + +The transferring of the goods from Mr. Daw's cart took some time, and +made the youths very tired, for it was some little distance off. But +Alfy was determined to start for the house as quickly as possible, and +continued to urge on the slow-coach Jones; so that the task was +accomplished more speedily than he had thought would be the case. + +But then a new difficulty presented itself. Alfy wished to tie the tub +and bath to the boat and take them back to the house, but he found that +if he did so, wearied as he was, he could not row the laden boat +against the flood. So he was finally obliged to take Jones with him. +Even then the task was difficult, for Jones was not an expert oarsman. + +At length, however, the house was reached, and with joy and gladness, +shoutings and hearty congratulations, the goods were borne in through +the window, and on to the table as before. Mansy and Alfy's sisters +were rejoiced to see him. He had been so long away they feared some +accident had befallen him; but he did not tell what had happened until +Jones had gone. + +For Jones had to go back, and of course he went in the boat. This was +against Alfy's plan, but he could not help it. Jones could not leave +the pony all night, and he could not navigate Alfy's tub. So promising +to send some one with the boat in the morning, he departed. + +Yet, if Alfy had known what would happen with that boat in the night he +would have gone with Jones, and tired as he was, would have brought it +back. But he did not know; and after a hearty supper all the inmates +of the Island House retired to bed. + +They had hardly passed out of their beauty sleep--_i.e._, the slumber +before midnight--when, as the clocks were striking twelve, and an early +chanticleer was crowing for the morn, Edie was awakened by some +mysterious sounds--sounds as of something bumping against the walls of +the house outside. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN UNWELCOME VISITOR. + +She listened. Yes, it was so. Distinctly she heard something knock +against the wall outside and underneath her window. + +Her first thought was to arouse her brother. "But he must be so +tired," she said; so she decided to awaken Mansy instead. + +The good woman was sleeping in the room next to Edie's, so that it +would not be very difficult for the little maiden to go to her. + +Edie sprang from her bed, her heart beating fast, and was creeping +along to Mansy's room, when, noticing the moon shining brightly, she +thought she would look out and see if she could discover what had +bumped against the wall. Just now everything was very quiet. + +Cautiously, therefore, she peeped out of her window. No one was to be +seen, and the water in the moonlight looked very peaceful and still. +But just underneath was a boat--the very boat, as it seemed to her, +that Alfy had used that evening. + +"Oh, I expect that boy from Mr. Daw's brought it back," she said; "that +is all. How foolish of me to be frightened. I expect he got another +boat and rowed this one back, and has now returned. I hear no sound +down below. He must have gone. It was very kind of him to bring the +boat. I don't think I need wake Mansy now. Everything seems very +quiet." + +So the little maiden crept back to bed, and secure in the idea that she +had solved what had seemed to her something of a mystery, she was soon +sound asleep again. + +But in the early morning, when the busy-minded Mansy, anxious to get +forward with the work of the day, descended to the kitchen, what was +her amazement and horror, to discover a man lying at full length, and +fast asleep, on the table. + +Her first impulse was to seize the handy broom, and either sweep him +away in some mysterious manner into the water, or else challenge him to +mortal combat; but wiser counsels prevailed. Mansy thought of a little +plan; and her worthy face looked quite knowing as, chuckling to +herself, she hastily removed all the food from the room, and then +carefully locked the door from the outside. + +"Now, there is my gentleman safe and sound," she said. "If he gets out +of the window he falls into the water and is drownded; while o' course +we must see that he doesn't break the door down while Master Alfy is +fetching a policeman; so there he is. Horrid idjot! what did he want +to come here for; and how did he come?" + +A glance outside showed her the boat, and showed her also that the +water was certainly subsiding. + +"That's a mercy!" said Mansy; "but, oh! what a mess the garden and +everything will be in!" + +The interior of the house showed that Mansy had been busy, for it +presented a much more comfortable and tidy appearance than when she +returned. A quantity of the water had been bailed out through the +windows; and the cracks of the doors had been tightly plugged to +prevent water trickling in again. + +To-day Mansy wished to continue her tidying arrangements, and she also +wanted to cook a good dinner. "Bother the man!" she exclaimed. "What +a nuisance he is in the kitchen, when I wanted to have everything ready +there!" And she commenced to boil a little water for breakfast over +her spirit lamp. + +Just then the unwelcome visitor gave more evidence of being a nuisance. +He had awakened, and finding the door locked, and no means of egress +but into the water, he began knocking the panels of the portal to +attract attention. + +"Knock away, my gentleman, knock away!" said Mansy. "You won't get out +except into a policeman's arms, I can tell you!" + +The noise soon brought down the children, and Mansy speedily explained +the position of affairs. + +"Then it was somebody I heard in the night," exclaimed Edie. "I +thought of waking you, Mansy." And she told her experience during the +dark watches. + +"As things have turned out, it does not matter," said Mansy; "and I am +glad you did not wake me. Out he doesn't come 'cept into a policeman's +arms. Do you hear that, you wagabone?" + +"I'll break the door down," he shouted, "if you don't open it." And he +continued to knock loudly. + +"Why," said Alfy, "that is like the voice of the man who treated me so +badly yesterday. I wonder if it is he! Yes, I do believe it is," he +added, as he heard the man shout again. "Oh, we must keep the door +fast. Let us put chairs and tables against it!" + +"It will be of no use for you to break the door," cried Alfy aloud, +"for we are going to put things against it! What did you come here +for?" + +"I didn't mean no harm," grumbled the man. "I haven't took nothing. I +only come for a sleep." Then after a pause he commenced to knock the +door more heavily than before. + +"Be quick, Master Alfy; oh, do be quick, and get a policeman! We can +pile up things against the door," and Mansy commenced at once to drag a +table towards it. "I have put some breakfast ready for you in the +dining-room. Take something to eat as you go along." + +So in a very short time Alfy found himself sculling the boat along to +the shore. He noticed that the flood had much subsided during the +night. Indeed, but for the fact that the house lay in a hollow, the +water might perhaps have gone down before. + +He found the village policeman more easily than some of the blue-coated +brethren are said to be found. He was at his house, rather tired after +his perambulations during the night. Alfy quickly told his errand, and +described the man. + +"Why, I b'lieves it's the very cove as I'm in search of!" exclaimed the +policeman. "Looked for him all night, I have; I 'spects he thought +your house was empty in the flood, and he should be safe there for the +night. But he's reg'lar caught hisself in a trap, ain't he?" + +And policeman 451 Z. of the Blankshire constabulary chuckled. Then he +took out a pair of handcuffs, looked at them, turned them round, +clinked them together, and slipped them back into his pocket. + +"If," said he, "it is as how my man don't go quiet they may come in +handy." + +"Hadn't we better hurry on?" asked Alfy. "He may break the door down +and overturn the things." + +"I don't think he will," said the policeman, shaking his head. +"Howsomdever, we will go." And taking a long drink of cold tea, he put +some bread and cheese in his pocket, and exclaimed, "Now I'm ready." + +The two sallied forth, and before very long they had reached the house. +As the policeman had anticipated, the man had not beaten the door down, +and when it was opened he walked almost literally into the policeman's +arms, as Mansy had said. + +"I'll go quiet," said the man, who in fact looked tired and hungry. +"You needn't put on them things," glancing at the shining steel +handcuffs. "I s'pose, missus," he said, looking at Mansy, "you +couldn't give a half-starved creetur a crust o' bread, could ye? I'm +dead beat!" + +"Well! did you ever!" exclaimed Mansy. "After breaking into one's +house, then axin' for bread! The imperence!" + +"Now then, come on!" said the policeman; "you'll have some food at the +lock-up. Get into that boat, smart!" + +Airy had looked closely at the man. Yes, it was the same who had tied +him in the boat yesterday. Should he give him something to eat? The +boy hesitated. The man looked very worn and weary. Then the lad +thought of the words,--"If thine enemy hunger, feed him." He hesitated +no longer. He slipped into the dining-room, took a large slice of +bread, and pressed it into the man's hand just as the policeman hustled +him off. Then he hurried away, scarcely hearing the man's thanks, +though seeing his look of surprise. + +That day was a busy one for the inhabitants of the Island House. Mansy +was very anxious that as far as possible every sign of the damage done +by the water should be repaired and cleared away. So she kept the +young people well employed. But the Island House, however, was rapidly +becoming an Island House no longer, for the flood continued to subside +on every hand. + + +When the man was examined before the magistrates, of course Alfy had to +be present to testify what he knew about the matter, and the causes of +the flood were thoroughly investigated. To do him justice, the man +himself did not attempt to conceal anything. His fault was chiefly +that of gross carelessness and neglect of duty. The wall of the +reservoir had showed signs of weakness which he had failed to report to +his superior officers. In fact, he had seen but little of those signs, +for, instead of keeping to his work, he had wasted his time in +drinking; and on the afternoon when the wall burst he was loitering in +a public-house some distance off. He hid in the Island House for the +night, not knowing anyone was still there. + +The heavy rains of an exceptionally wet July had increased the volume +of water in the reservoir to a great extent, and placed a much greater +strain on the weakened wall. Hence it came to pass that when the +increased pressure came, the wall not being repaired and strengthened, +gave way with a crash. As the man had entered the Island House, he was +committed for trial at the next assizes, and Alfy was complimented on +his bravery and cleverness. + +Next morning, when the children came down, they were quite astonished +to find that the water had all disappeared, and the garden and grounds +looked very strange and muddy after their long and unusual bath. + +"Why! where has the flood gone to?" exclaimed Edie. "It has quite +vanished away in the night." + +"It was subsiding quickly yesterday," said Alfy. + +"Now that we have done up the damage in the house, we must see what we +can do for the garden," urged Mansy. "Why here is the postman coming +up the path, just as if nothing had happened!" + +"A letter from Auntie Rose!" cried Edie, taking the packet from the +postman. "Perhaps she asks us all to the seaside." + +That was exactly what Auntie Rose did ask, as they found when they read +the letter. She was staying with their cousins in Devonshire, and +thought they might come at once, as she knew of suitable apartments for +them. Their parents, too, who were on the Continent, might perhaps +join them there soon. + +"Oh, that will be jolly!" cried the children. + +"And when we come back," said Alfy, "I expect all signs of the flood +will have gone. It has not been a bad time, though, has it, Mansy?" + +"Perhaps not so very bad, Master Alfy," said Mansy, laughing; "only I +could not abear that rockety tub. Now let us tidy the garden." + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island House, by F. M. Holmes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 26627.txt or 26627.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/2/26627/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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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