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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Chapter of Adventures, by G. A. Henty
+
+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: A Chapter of Adventures
+
+Author: G. A. Henty
+
+Release Date: February 25, 2009 [EBook #28190]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WAITING FOR HELP.]
+
+
+
+
+A Chapter
+
+of
+
+Adventures
+
+BY
+
+G. A. HENTY
+
+[Illustration: Emblem]
+
+          BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED
+          LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY
+
+
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
+
+
+George Alfred Henty was born near Cambridge in 1832, and educated at
+Westminster School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He
+volunteered for service in the Crimean War, and after some varied
+experiences adopted a journalistic career. He served as war
+correspondent of the _Standard_ during the Austro-Italian campaign of
+1866, and was afterwards a correspondent in the Abyssinian War, the
+Franco-German War, the Ashanti War, &c. His first book for boys was
+published in 1868, and was followed by a long and very successful
+series, including _The Young Franc-Tireurs_ (1872), _In Times of Peril_
+(1881), _Under Drake's Flag_ (1883), _With Clive in India_ (1884), _The
+Lion of the North_ (1886), _Orange and Green_ (1888), _The Lion of St.
+Mark_ (1889), _By Pike and Dyke_ (1890), _By Right of Conquest_ (1891),
+_With Moore at Corunna_ (1898), _With Kitchener in the Soudan_ (1903),
+and _With the Allies to Pekin_ (1904). He died in 1902.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAP.                                     Page
+
+      I. A FISHING VILLAGE                     5
+
+     II. CAUGHT BY THE TIDE                   15
+
+    III. A RUN FROM HARWICH                   27
+
+     IV. THE WRECK                            37
+
+      V. THE RESCUE                           46
+
+     VI. ALTERED PROSPECTS                    57
+
+    VII. ON BOARD THE _WILD WAVE_        69
+
+   VIII. ALEXANDRIA                           78
+
+     IX. THE RIOT IN ALEXANDRIA               89
+
+      X. PRISONERS                            99
+
+     XI. THE BOMBARDMENT                     110
+
+    XII. FREE                                120
+
+   XIII. AMONG FRIENDS                       131
+
+    XIV. A SET OF RASCALS                    143
+
+     XV. A THREATENING SKY                   153
+
+    XVI. OLD JOE'S YARN                      163
+
+   XVII. IN DANGEROUS SEAS                   180
+
+  XVIII. A CYCLONE                           191
+
+    XIX. CAST ASHORE                         201
+
+
+
+
+A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A FISHING VILLAGE
+
+
+OF the tens of thousands of excursionists who every summer travel down
+by rail to Southend, there are few indeed who stop at Leigh, or who,
+once at Southend, take the trouble to walk three miles along the shore
+to the fishing village. It may be doubted, indeed, whether along the
+whole stretch of coastline from Plymouth to Yarmouth there is a village
+that has been so completely overlooked by the world. Other places,
+without a tithe of its beauty of position, or the attraction afforded by
+its unrivalled view over the Thames, from Gravesend to Warden Point,
+ever alive with ships passing up and down, have grown from fishing
+hamlets to fashionable watering-places; while Leigh remains, or at any
+rate remained at the time this story opens, ten years ago, as unchanged
+and unaltered as if, instead of being but an hour's run from London, it
+lay far north in Scotland.
+
+Its hill rises steeply behind it; there is room only for the street
+between the railway and the wharves, and for a single row of houses
+between the line and the foot of the hill. To get into Leigh from the
+country round it is necessary to descend by a steep road that winds down
+from the church at the top of the hill; to get out again you must go by
+the same way. The population is composed solely of fishermen, their
+families, and the shopkeepers who supply their necessities. The men who
+stand in groups in the street and on the wharf are all clad in blue
+guernseys or duck smocks and trousers of pilot cloth or canvas.
+Broad-built sturdy men are they, for in point of physique there are few
+fishermen round the coast who can compare with those of Leigh.
+
+A stranger in the place would think that the male population had nothing
+to do but to stand in the street and talk, but night is for the most
+part their time for work; although many of the bawleys go out on the
+day-tide also, for at Leigh the tide is all-important. For five hours in
+the day it washes the foot of the wharves, for seven a wide expanse of
+mud stretches away to Canvey Island in front, and Southend Pier to the
+east.
+
+At the wells--for Leigh still depends for water on its wells--are,
+during the hours at which water is permitted to be drawn, lines of
+twenty women and girls with pails, each patiently waiting her turn.
+There are not many boys about, for boys require more sleep than men, and
+a considerable portion of their time on shore is spent in bed.
+
+It is ten o'clock in the day; the bawleys have returned from the fishing
+grounds, and scores of them have anchored in the Ray--a deep stretch of
+water lying between the spit of sand that extends from the end of Canvey
+Island close up to Southend Pier, and the mud-flats of Leigh. The flats
+are still uncovered, but the tide is rising fast in the winding channel
+leading up to the village. In a few minutes there will be water enough
+for the boats, and already these can be seen leaving the bawleys and
+making for the mouth of the channel. The wind is fair, and each boat
+hoists its sail, white or yellow or brown, and with the crew sitting up
+to windward comes flying along the shallow channel, making, as they
+always do, a race of it home.
+
+The boats are large and roomy, and are, as they need to be, good
+sea-boats; for they have at times to live in rough water that would
+swamp lighter craft like cockle-shells. Each boat carries two men and a
+boy, that being the regular crew of a bawley; although, perhaps, for
+rough winter work, they may sometimes take an extra hand. In the bow of
+the first boat that comes tearing along up to the wharf sits a
+good-looking lad, about fourteen years old. His face is bronzed with the
+sun and wind, his clothes are as rough and patched as those of the other
+fisher lads; but although as strong and sinewy as any of his companions
+of the same age, he is somewhat slighter in his build, more active in
+his movements, and has a more springy and elastic walk in spite of the
+heavy boots that he wears.
+
+He helps the others to land several baskets of shrimps, and carry them
+to the railway-station hard by. They are already boiled, for the bawleys
+carry coppers, into which the shrimps are baled straight from the nets,
+so that they are in readiness to send off to town as soon as they are
+landed. When the baskets are all piled on the platform he crosses the
+line, follows it along for some fifty yards, and then enters a neat
+cottage facing it.
+
+"Back again all safe, Jack?"
+
+"All right, mother! It's been a fine night, with just enough wind, and
+not too much. I ought to have been in half an hour ago, but tide is late
+this morning."
+
+"Lily brought word, just as she was starting for school, that the boats
+were coming up the creek, so your breakfast is all ready."
+
+"And so am I, mother; though I had a piece of bread and cheese when we
+dropped anchor. I will just wash my hands, and be ready in a jiffey."
+
+Mrs. Robson was a native of Leigh. Her father had been a fisherman, who
+had owned his own bawley; indeed, most of the boats at Leigh are the
+property of one of the men who work them.
+
+Bessy Tripper--not that her real name was Tripper, but Snow; but her
+father for some unknown reason got the nickname of Tripper, and his sons
+and daughters were also called by it, and would hardly have answered if
+addressed as Snow--was one of the prettiest girls in Leigh; so thought
+William Robson, a young artist, who came down to Leigh to spend the
+summer there, sketching the picturesque boats as they came in and out,
+or lay, with their heads pointing all round the compass, on the soft
+mud.
+
+He had taken lodgings at Tripper's house, and when not at work with his
+brush spent much of his time on board the _Enterprise_. Bessy Tripper
+was a conspicuous figure in the foreground of many of his sketches, and
+occupied as prominent a place in his thoughts. She was as sweet-tempered
+as she was pretty, and at last Will Robson made up his mind to marry her
+if she would take him. He was himself an orphan, and had no friends who
+had any right to object to his marrying according to his fancy, and he
+could therefore do as he pleased without question or comment. Bessy
+Tripper was quite ready to take him when he asked her, and they were
+married at the church at the top of the hill, and went to live at a
+little cottage near Dulwich.
+
+William Robson was no genius; he had the knack of painting pretty marine
+sketches in water-colours. These sold readily, but at low prices; and
+although he was always talking of doing a great picture in oils that was
+to make his fortune, the picture never was painted. He was always too
+busy at what he called pot-boilers, which had to be sold to dealers for
+a trifle, in order to enable him to meet the butcher's and baker's
+bills. He never repented his marriage; Bessy was an admirable housewife,
+and made a shilling go as far as many women would a half-crown. In the
+summer they generally went down for a couple of months to Leigh, for her
+to see her friends, for him to gather a fresh stock of new subjects.
+
+He died suddenly from the effects of a chill, and when his affairs were
+wound up Bessy found herself mistress of the five hundred pounds for
+which he had insured his life, and the furniture of the cottage. It was
+natural that she should return to Leigh. She had no friends elsewhere;
+and she knew that money went much further there than in most other
+places. Two hundred pounds were spent in purchasing the cottage in which
+she now lived, and another two hundred in buying a bawley. At Leigh, as
+at most other fishing places, the men work on shares--the boat takes a
+share, and each of the men a share--the owner of a boat supplying nets
+as well as the boat itself. The bawley, therefore, brought Mrs. Robson
+in a sum equal to that earned by a fisherman, with deductions, however,
+for damages to nets and spars.
+
+In good seasons the receipts sufficed to keep her and her boy and girl
+comfortably; in bad seasons they had to live very closely, and she was
+obliged in specially bad times to dip a little into her reserve of a
+hundred pounds. Upon the other hand, there was occasionally a windfall
+when the smack rendered assistance to a vessel on the sands, or helped
+to get up anchors or discharge cargoes.
+
+At the time of her husband's death Jack was ten years old and Lily
+eight. For two years the former attended the school on the hill, and
+then went as a boy on board a bawley belonging to one of his uncles.
+
+The lad's own predilections were entirely for the sea; his happiest
+times had been spent at Leigh, and his father's work had kept the
+longing alive at other times. He would have preferred going to sea in
+one of the ships of which there was always such a line passing up and
+down the river, but he was too young for that when he first began his
+work on board the bawley; and as the time went on, and he became
+accustomed to the life of a fisherman, his longings for a wider
+experience gradually faded away, for it is seldom indeed that a Leigh
+boy goes to sea--the Leigh men being as a race devoted to their homes,
+and regarding with grave disapproval any who strike out from the regular
+groove.
+
+"We did well this morning, mother," Jack said as he came downstairs in a
+clean guernsey and pilot trousers. "We had a fine haul off the lower
+Blyth, and not a bad one higher up. I fancy most of the boats did well.
+The _Hope_ was close to us, and I expect she must have done as well as
+we did."
+
+"That's good news, Jack. The catches have not been heavy lately, but now
+they have once begun I hope that we shall have a better time of it."
+
+The breakfast was fish, for fish is the chief article of diet at Leigh.
+
+"Are you going to bed, Jack?"
+
+"No, mother; I did not start until half-past one, and so I got a good
+six hours before I turned out. I am going to help Uncle Ben put a fresh
+coat of pitch on our boat. He is going to bring her in as soon as there
+is water enough. Tom stopped on board with him, but they let me come
+ashore in Atkins' boat; and of course I lent them a hand to get their
+fish up. We shall land our lot when the bawley comes up."
+
+"Then you won't go out again to-night, Jack?"
+
+"Oh, yes, we shall, mother. We shall go out with the tide as usual. We
+shall only do up to the water-line, and the pitch will be plenty dry
+enough by night. We are going to fish over by Warden Point, I think."
+
+"I am glad to hear it," his mother said. "I always feel more comfortable
+when you are on that ground, as you are out of the track of steamers
+there."
+
+"Uncle is talking of going down to Harwich next week."
+
+Mrs. Robson's face fell. She had expected the news, for every year a
+considerable number of the Leigh bawleys go down to Harwich and fish off
+that port for two or three months. The absence of Jack was always a
+great trial to her. When he was with her she felt that he was safe, for
+it is an almost unheard-of thing for a bawley to meet with an accident
+when fishing in the mouth of the Thames; but off Harwich the seas are
+heavy, and although even there accidents are rare--for the boats are
+safe and staunch and the fishermen handle them splendidly--still the
+risk is greater than when working at home.
+
+The Leigh men themselves attribute their freedom from accident in no
+slight degree to the fact that their boats never go out on Sunday. They
+are God-fearing men these fishermen, and however bad the times, and
+however hard the pinch, it is seldom indeed that a bawley puts out from
+Leigh on Sunday, save to the assistance of a vessel in distress.
+
+The excursionists who go down in summer weather to Margate and Ramsgate
+scarcely think that ships could be cast away and broken up upon the
+hidden sands beneath the sparkling waters. They know not that scarce one
+of these sands but at low water is dotted with low, black timbers, and
+that there are few more dangerous pieces of navigation in the world than
+the passage up the mouth of the Thames on a wild night when a fierce
+gale is blowing and the snow and sleet driving before it, obscuring the
+guiding lights that mark the channels between the sands.
+
+The _Bessy_--for so Ben Tripper had named his bawley, after his
+favourite sister--was lying on the mud just above Leigh. A fishy smell
+pervaded the air, for close by were the boiling-sheds, with their vast
+heaps of white cockle-shells. These were dug by the cocklers either
+from the sand at the end of the Canvey Island or on the Maplin Sands
+somewhere off Shoebury.
+
+The large boats often return deeply laden with them. On reaching Leigh
+the cockles are thrown out in great heaps by the side of the creek,
+where they are covered at each tide. Here they are left to clean
+themselves, and to get rid of the sand they have taken in when
+burrowing. Two or three days later they are carried up to the
+boiling-houses and thrown into great coppers of boiling water. They open
+at once, and the fish drop from the shells. The contents of the coppers
+are passed through large meshed sieves, to allow the fish to pass
+through and retain the shells, which go to add to the heaps outside.
+These heaps would in time rival in size the cinder tips of the Midlands
+were it not that there is a use for the shells. They make splendid lime,
+and are sometimes taken away in barge-loads and carried to town, where
+they are used instead of gravel in the parks, making, when crushed, the
+whitest and tidiest of paths.
+
+Before starting, Jack had put on a canvas jumper, leggings and high
+boots, and was soon at work with his uncle, ankle-deep in the mud. The
+bawleys are boats almost peculiar to Leigh, although a few hail from
+Gravesend and the Medway. They are from thirty to forty-five feet long,
+and are divided into three classes of from six to fifteen tons burden.
+They are very broad in comparison to their length, some of them having a
+beam of fifteen feet, and they carry their width almost to the stern,
+which is square. This gives the boats a dumpy appearance, as they look
+as if they had been cut short. They are half-decked, with a roomy
+fo'castle and a well, where the fish are kept alive. They carry one
+mast.
+
+The peculiarity of their rig is that they have no boom to their
+mainsail, which in shape somewhat resembles a barge-sail, and, like it,
+can in a moment be brailed completely up. They carry a lofty topmast and
+large topsails, and these they seldom lower, even when obliged to have
+two reefs in the mainsail. They are capital sea-boats, fast, and very
+handy; and it requires a good yacht to beat a bawley with a brisk wind
+blowing. The men are keen sailors, and when the trawls are taken up and
+their heads turned homewards it is always a race to be first back.
+
+Ten years ago all the bawleys were clinker-built--that is, with the
+streaks overlapping each other, as in boats; but the new bawleys are now
+all carvel-built, the planks being placed edge to edge, so as to give a
+smooth surface, as in yachts and large vessels. They now for the most
+part carry spinnakers, boomed out when running before the wind, and
+balloon foresails, thereby greatly adding to their speed in light winds.
+One peculiarity of the bawleys is that, when at anchor, the mainsail,
+instead of being stowed with its spars parallel to the deck, is made up
+on its gaff, which is then hoisted with the throat seven or eight feet
+up the mast, while the peak rests on the stern.
+
+This is done to give more room on deck, and enable the men to get more
+easily in and out of the fo'castle. It has, however, a curious
+appearance, and a fleet of bawleys at anchor resembles nothing so much
+as a flock of broken-backed ducks.
+
+Ben Tripper and his mate, Tom Hoskins, finished tarring the boat under
+her water-line soon after four o'clock in the afternoon, Jack's share of
+the work consisting in keeping the fire blazing under the pitch kettle.
+
+"What time shall we go out, uncle?"
+
+"Not going out at all, Jack. We will finish tarring her the first thing
+in the morning, and there are two or three odd jobs want doing."
+
+"Will you want me, uncle? because, if not, I shall go out early with
+Bill Corbett cockling. His father has hurt his leg, and is laid up, so
+he asked me to lend him a hand. I told him I didn't know whether you
+were going out again to-night or whether you could spare me in the
+morning, but that if you didn't want me I would go with him."
+
+"You can go, Jack; besides, you will be in early anyhow. We will do the
+tarring without you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+CAUGHT BY THE TIDE.
+
+
+JACK ran home.
+
+"I thought you would have been in by two o'clock, Jack," his mother said
+reproachfully, "so as to see Lily before she went off to school again."
+
+"So I should have done, mother, but I had to stick at the work until we
+had finished up to the water-line. Uncle Ben thought it was not worth
+while knocking off."
+
+Jack's meal of bread and bacon was soon finished, then he waited a
+little until Lily had returned from school.
+
+"Come on, Lil," he said, "I have been waiting to take you out with me."
+
+"Be in by six," Mrs. Robson said.
+
+"All right, mother! We are only just going down to the shore."
+
+Near the little coast-guard station they came upon Bill Corbett.
+
+"Can you come to-morrow, Jack?"
+
+"Yes; uncle has agreed to do without me. What time are you going to
+start?"
+
+"We will go out as late as we can, Jack. We can get down the creek till
+three anyhow, so at three o'clock you be ready down here."
+
+"Joe is going, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, yes, he does to carry the cockles to the boat while we scrape them
+out. That is a nice bawley, that new one there; she only came in this
+tide. That is the boat Tom Parker has had built at Brightlingsea. He
+expects she is going to beat the fleet. She will want to be a rare good
+one if she does, and I don't think Tom is the man to get the most out of
+her anyhow."
+
+"I don't reckon he is," Jack agreed. "He would never have bought that
+boat out of his own earnings, that is certain. It is lucky for him his
+uncle in town died and left him four hundred pounds. He is one of the
+lazy ones, he is. Half the times he never goes out at all. It is either
+too rough, or there ain't wind enough, or he don't think it is a likely
+day for fish. His mother will do a sight better now that he has got a
+boat of his own, and she will get someone else to work hers. I should
+not like to work on shares with him though he has got a new boat and
+gear."
+
+"Well, I must be going," Bill said. "Shall I knock at your door as I
+pass in the morning?"
+
+"You will find me there as the clock strikes three, Bill; but if I
+ain't, you knock."
+
+Bill Corbett, who was a lad some two years older than Jack, strolled
+away. Jack and Lily sat down on the sloping stage from which the
+coast-guardsmen launched their boats, and began to chat to the man
+standing with a telescope under his arm at the door of the boat-shed.
+Jack was very fond of talking to the coast-guardsmen. They had not, like
+the fishermen, spent all their lives between Gravesend and Harwich, but
+had sailed with big ships and been to foreign parts. One of them had
+been in the China War, another had fought in India with Peel's Naval
+Brigade, had helped batter down the palace fortresses of Lucknow, and
+when in the humour they had plenty of tales of stirring incident to
+relate.
+
+Jack was a favourite with the coast-guardsmen, for he possessed the
+virtue rare in boys of being able to sit still; and as his favourite
+place was the slip in front of the boat-house, and he would sit there
+cutting out toy boats by the hour, he generally came in for a good deal
+of talk with the men who happened to be on duty. This afternoon,
+however, the men were busy burnishing up their arms and getting
+everything into apple-pie order, as the inspecting officer was to come
+on his rounds the next morning; so Jack after a time strolled along the
+path between the railway and the track, Lily prattling by his side and
+stopping to gather wild convolvulus and grasses. The sea was out now,
+and the mud stretched away, glistening red and brown in the sunlight.
+Beyond in the Ray lay a long line of bawleys, while a score or more
+nearer at hand lay heeled over on the mud as they had been left by the
+receding tide.
+
+To a stranger the black hulks would have looked exactly like each other;
+but the Leigh men could tell every boat afloat or ashore, even without
+looking at the number painted on her bulwarks, just as a shepherd can
+pick out one sheep from a flock.
+
+"It is time to go back, Lily," Jack said at last. "Mother said we were
+to be in at six, and it cannot be far off that now. There is the
+Yarmouth steamer going up. It is about her time."
+
+"How do you know it is the Yarmouth steamer, Jack?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. I know her by her look. I know pretty near all of
+them--the Yarmouth, the Scotch, and the Dutch boats."
+
+"They all look to me alike."
+
+"Ah! that is because they are a long way oft, Lily. There is a lot of
+difference between them when you are close. We know them all, and which
+whistles if we are in the way, and which will give way for us, and which
+will come right on without minding whether they run us down or not. The
+colliers are the worst for that; they just go straight on, and expect
+you to get out of the way, and don't mind a rap about the rule of the
+road or anything else. I should like to see half a dozen of those
+captains hanged."
+
+"I do not think it is right to say that, Jack."
+
+"Well, I should like to see them get five dozen lashes anyhow," Jack
+said, "well laid on by some of our fishermen. They would give it 'em
+heartily, and it would do them a world of good, and save many a life
+afterwards. It is too bad the way those fellows go on; they don't care a
+bit about running down a small craft in the dark. In the first place,
+they know very well that they are not likely to be recognized, and so
+steam straight on, and leave men to drown; and in the next, if they are
+recognized, they are ready to swear that black is white all round, and
+will take their oaths you hadn't got your side-lights burning, or that
+you changed your course, and that they did all in their power to prevent
+a collision. I wish some of the people of the Board of Trade would come
+down the river sometimes in sailing-boats and see the way these coasters
+set the law at defiance, and fine them smartly. What is the use of
+making rules if they are never observed? Well, here we are home, and the
+church is just striking six, so we have hit off the time nicely."
+
+By eight o'clock Jack was in bed, and having acquired the fisherman's
+habit of waking at any hour he chose, he was at the door when Bill
+Corbett and his brother Joe came along. The day was already breaking
+faintly in the east, for the month was May.
+
+"Going to be fine, Bill?" Jack asked.
+
+"Dunno. Wind is blowing strong from the north, though we don't feel it
+here."
+
+The water was off the flats and had sunk some distance in the creek.
+
+"It is lower than I expected," Bill said. "Come on; come on."
+
+"Where is she, Bill?"
+
+"Close to the foot of the steps."
+
+The boat had already taken ground; but Bill, getting into the water with
+his high boots, shoved her off. The mast was stepped and sail hoisted,
+and she was soon running fast down the creek.
+
+"The boats were off an hour ago, I suppose?" Jack remarked.
+
+"Ay, more than that. Some of them turned out at half-past one. But those
+whose boats were down the channel didn't go for half an hour later.
+Father told me. I saw him before I started. He couldn't sleep with the
+pain in his leg."
+
+Twenty minutes' sailing took them down to the mouth of the creek and
+into the wider channel. They now turned the boat's head directly off
+shore, and jibed the sail, and bore off for the sands stretching away
+from the end of Canvey Island.
+
+"No other boats here this morning?" Jack asked as the boat ran ashore.
+
+"No; three or four of them went down to Shoebury last night. They say
+there are more cockles down there than there are here now. But father
+said we had best come here. I suppose he thought that Joe, you, and me,
+made but a poor cocklers' crew. Of course, with the wind blowing off
+shore, it is all right anyhow; but men never think us boys can do
+anything. Why, I would not mind a bit starting, us three, for Harwich. I
+reckon these boats are just as safe as the bawleys?"
+
+"I think so too; but they want more handling. However, I expect we could
+manage it."
+
+They had now got out their implements, consisting of a shovel, a large
+rake, and a couple of baskets, on shore, and fastening the boat with a
+grapnel, went to the place where experience had taught them it was best
+to dig, and were soon at work. The cockles were for the most part buried
+some five or six inches in the sand, and were found in great numbers;
+the two elder boys digging and raking while Joe picked them up, and
+threw them into the baskets. As these were filled Bill carried them down
+on his shoulder to the boat, put the baskets into the water, gave them a
+heave or two to wash some of the sand off the cockles, and then emptied
+them into the boat.
+
+It was a broad-beamed craft, of over twenty feet long, and would carry
+more than a ton of cockles if filled up.
+
+The sun had long been up, the clouds were flying fast across the sky,
+and the wind was working round to the east, knocking up a short choppy
+sea as it met the ebb, and covering the river with white horses.
+
+The boys worked away sturdily, ceasing occasionally from their labours
+to go down and shove the boat further off as the tide fell. At six it
+was dead low. They had each brought with them a bag with some bread and
+cheese, and a tin of cold tea, and now sat down on the gunwale of the
+boat for breakfast. Having finished that meal, they continued their work
+till nine o'clock, by which time they had got several bushels on board.
+
+"Look there!" Joe exclaimed suddenly; "there is a big steamer has run on
+to the Middle Ground."
+
+The boys had just thrown down their spade and rake, and had agreed to
+knock off, and they now ran across to the outside of the strip of sand,
+which had by this time narrowed very considerably.
+
+"She will get off easy enough as the tide rises," Joe said; "but they
+won't be able to back her off now."
+
+"No; she does not move in the least," Jack agreed. "Her screw is working
+hard astern now. Look how high her head is. She has run a long way up
+with wind and tide and steam. She must have gone on it hard."
+
+"She had best get a couple of anchors out astern," Bill said, "before
+she gets broadside on."
+
+This was evidently also the view of the captain, as two boats were
+lowered and anchors got into them. But it is no easy matter to row a
+boat with a heavy weight in it against wind and tide; and before they
+had got fairly away from the vessel she had already swung round a
+considerable distance, and was heeling over a good deal from the force
+of the wind and tide. It was nearly half an hour before the boats were
+far enough off to get the anchors over with any effect.
+
+"They won't dare to haul on them now," Joe said. "They would only come
+home. Those anchors ain't heavy enough to work her stern round. I expect
+when a tug comes along they will get them to help, else she will keep on
+driving higher and higher."
+
+"Hallo!" The exclamation came from Jack, who now happened to look round
+towards the boat. They had accidentally taken their stand on the highest
+point of the sand-bank, and in watching the steamer had forgotten all
+about the tide, which, under the influence of a north-east wind, had
+risen with great rapidity. The patch of dry sand was scarcely fifteen
+yards wide, and would be entirely covered in a very few minutes.
+
+"Look, Bill, the boat has gone!"
+
+It was true. The grapnel, a very light one, with a short length of rope,
+had been thrown carelessly down on the sand when they last hauled the
+boat up, and as the full strength of the tide had caught the boat, it
+had dragged a considerable distance, and was drifting away up the Ray.
+
+"What is to be done?" Joe exclaimed.
+
+"Do you think we could wade along to the island, Bill?" Jack asked.
+
+Bill shook his head. "No; there are deep channels where it would be over
+our heads. I can't swim a stroke, no more can Joe."
+
+"Shall I swim to the boat, Bill, and try and get her back?"
+
+Joe shook his head. "She is in deep water now, Jack, and the grapnel
+ain't holding her a bit; she will drift as fast as you can swim. But of
+course you can try if you like, it don't make any difference to us, for
+you could never beat back against this wind and tide. What fools we have
+been, to be sure!"
+
+"The boats will soon be coming back now," Jack said hopefully. "There
+are some of them this side of the Chapman now."
+
+Bill shook his head. "It will take them three quarters of an hour to
+beat up, Jack."
+
+Jack turned and looked the other way. "Here are three of them coming in
+from the Nore, Bill. They will not be very long before they are up."
+
+"They will be here before the others, Jack; but I doubt if they will be
+in time. Water will be breast-high before they get up, and they may
+drop anchor down at the mouth of the Ray, and not see us. Our best
+chance is the shore."
+
+He shaded his eyes and looked steadily across at Leigh. "There is a man
+running from the coast-guard station," he said. "There! there are two or
+three others running to meet him. Now they are going back together."
+
+The boys stood looking fixedly at the station.
+
+"Hooray!" Jack said after a minute; "there comes the boat out of the
+house. Do you see they are getting her down the slip; now she is in the
+water." Another minute passed, and then a white sail appeared. "She is
+heading straight off to us, Bill. With this wind she will be here in a
+quarter of an hour."
+
+But the tide was already half-way up to their knees, and the waves
+beginning to splash against them.
+
+"Will they be here in time, do you think, Bill?" Joe asked.
+
+"I hope so, Joe," Bill said cheerily. "They would be in plenty of time
+if it were not for the force of the tide. Still, I think it is all
+right."
+
+The minutes passed rapidly; higher and higher rose the water, and the
+waves increased fast in size. It was as much as the boys could do to
+stand against the sweep of the stream.
+
+"Bill, you had better take Joe on your shoulders," Jack said. "I have
+read that one man can carry another across a stream that he couldn't get
+over alone."
+
+"Jump up, young un," Bill said; "and you, Jack, get off your sea-boots.
+You stand just behind me and hold on, I feel much steadier now that I
+have got Joe on my shoulders. If you feel that you are going, leave go
+of me, you will only pull me backward holding on; and as you can swim
+you are all right. You have only got to keep yourself afloat, the tide
+will drift you up to the island in no time."
+
+"I don't mean to go if I can help it," Jack said. "Of course I could not
+swim with you two, but if you would lie on your back quiet I might
+manage to keep you up for a bit anyhow."
+
+The boat, heeling far over to the breeze, was dashing along at a great
+pace towards them. It was a question of minutes. Jack found it extremely
+difficult to keep his feet, the sand seemed to be scooped out from under
+them by the force of the tide. The wind, which was blowing in violent
+gusts, added to the difficulty of withstanding the force of the current
+and waves.
+
+"Don't pull, Jack," Bill said, "or you will have us over."
+
+"I can't hold on without, Bill. Which shall I do? Swim off alone, or
+hold on by you till we all go together?"
+
+"Go off by yourself, Jack; the boat will be here in five minutes now. I
+think I can hold on until then; anyhow, it is the best chance."
+
+They were now waist-deep; for, little by little, as the sand gave way
+under their feet, they had been driven backwards towards deeper water.
+
+"There is one other thing, Bill. Do you think you can shift Joe so as to
+sit on one shoulder? If I get on your other it will add to your weight."
+
+"I will try it," Bill said; "I was nearly off my feet then. Get on to
+my left shoulder, Joe. Now Jack, you climb up. Yes, I think that is
+better. I should be all right if the sand would not slide away so much
+from under my feet."
+
+Several times Jack felt Bill totter and sway; he was fast being swept
+back into the deeper water.
+
+"If you do go, Bill, do you and Joe throw yourselves on your backs, and
+I will try and hold you up. The boat will be here in no time now."
+
+She was indeed less than a hundred yards away when Bill exclaimed, "I am
+going!"
+
+"Keep on your back, Bill!" Jack shouted as he went backwards under
+water.
+
+The three came up close together. Jack seized the others by the hair,
+and throwing himself on his back, and striking out with his legs, tried
+to keep them in a similar position with their faces above water. Bill
+lay quietly enough; but Joe struggled to raise his head, and turning,
+grasped Jack round the body, and in a moment the three were under water.
+
+Jack kept his presence of mind; he knew that the boat was close at hand,
+and strove, not to loosen the grasp of his companions, which was
+impossible, but to come to the surface occasionally for an instant.
+
+Two or three times he managed this, and obtained a breath of air before
+he went under again. The last time, he saw the boat close at hand, and a
+rope fell across his face; but he could not free his hands to grasp it,
+and went under immediately. His senses were leaving him, when he felt
+something grasp him, and then knew no more till he opened his eyes, and
+found himself in the bottom of the boat with his two companions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A RUN FROM HARWICH.
+
+
+ONE of the sailors, dripping wet, knelt beside him. "That is all right,
+lad; you will be yourself again directly."
+
+Jack was already sufficiently recovered to sit up some time before
+either Bill or Joe showed signs of life; for, unable to swim or to take
+advantage of their momentary intervals of coming to the surface, they
+had become insensible some time before he had done so himself. The
+sailors rubbed their chests and hands, and at last both showed signs of
+returning animation.
+
+"That was a close shave, Jack," the coast-guardsman who was at the helm
+said. "It was lucky I made you out with my glass when I did. It was
+touch and go; I saw you trying to get them on their backs. If they had
+kept quiet you would have managed it; but drowning people never will
+keep quiet."
+
+They were now running up the Ray in pursuit of the boat, which had
+drifted into shallower water near the end of the island, and here the
+grapnel had brought it up. When they got up to it, the grapnel was
+raised and brought into the stern of the boat, and the coast-guard boat
+laid her course close-hauled for Leigh, towing the other behind her.
+
+Before they arrived at the slip the other two boys were both able to sit
+up. They would have taken their boat up beyond the village, but one of
+the fishermen said, "You go home and change; you have done quite enough
+for to-day. Tom and I will take the boat up for you."
+
+"That has been a lesson to me I shall not forget," Bill said as they
+walked along. "You saved our lives, Jack, there is not much doubt about
+that."
+
+"Oh, I expect we should all have been fished out anyhow!" Jack replied.
+
+"No, we should not, Jack. Anyhow, not alive. I thought just at first you
+were going to keep us up pretty easy, and then young Joe twisted round
+and got hold of you, and we all went down together. But I could feel
+then that somehow you were keeping us up, and I tried not to catch hold
+of your legs."
+
+"You did not, Bill. I was able to use them just at first, and then,
+somehow, Joe got hold of them. However, we all kept together, that was a
+good thing. If we had separated, I don't suppose they would have got us
+all."
+
+Fortunately the news of the danger Jack had run had not reached his
+mother, for she had been engaged in the back-room washing, and Lily had
+gone up to school.
+
+At the first alarm many people had run down to the shore; the officer of
+the coast-guard with his glass had reported what was going on, and up to
+the last moment it had been believed that the boat would get to them in
+time, and there had been a gasp of dismay as he suddenly exclaimed,
+"They are down! The boat is only a few lengths away," he went on; "I
+expect they will get them. One of the men is standing up in the bow
+ready to jump."
+
+A half-minute later he exclaimed, "There he goes! There, they are
+hoisting them into the boat!"
+
+"Have they got them all, sir?"
+
+"That I can't see; but I expect they have, for you see they have lowered
+the sail. Yes! they must have got them all, for none of them are
+standing up looking about, as they would be if one was missing."
+
+Five minutes later the sail was hoisted again. The officer watched for a
+minute or two, and then closed his glass.
+
+"They are going up the Ray," he said, "I expect they are going to tow
+the boat in here; she is under the island. They would not trouble about
+that unless those they have picked up were all right, but would be
+making straight back again to see what could be done for them."
+
+The little crowd, now feeling that nothing worse than a ducking had
+happened to those on the sand, broke up and scattered to their houses.
+No one had known at first what boat it was whose occupants had got into
+trouble, and it was not till it was half-way back that it was made out
+to be Corbett's.
+
+"Why, I thought he was ill in bed?" one said.
+
+"So he is, but I expect his boys went out with it. It was not likely
+there was a man on board. No one but boys would be fools enough to get
+caught like that, and I should have thought Bill Corbett had too much
+sense."
+
+"Why, Jack, what has happened?" Mrs. Robson asked as her son entered the
+house.
+
+"Nothing much, mother; but we have had a ducking. There was a steamer
+aground on the Middle Ground, and watching her we forgot all about the
+tide, and the boat drifted away and we got caught. Of course I could
+swim, so there was no danger for me; but it would have gone hard with
+the two Corbetts if the sailor at the coast-guard station had not made
+us out, and their boat put off and picked us up."
+
+"Well, go and change your clothes at once, Jack; it has taken all the
+colour out of your face. I will get a cup of hot tea ready for you by
+the time you come down."
+
+It was not until some of her neighbours came in, and talked to her about
+the narrow escape her son had had, that Mrs. Robson realized that Jack's
+life had been in considerable danger, and it was well that she had him
+before her enjoying his tea before she learnt the truth.
+
+"It is no use getting into a fuss about it, mother," Jack said
+cheerfully; "it is not going to happen again, you know. It has been a
+good lesson to me to keep my eyes open; and when I go cockling again I
+won't lose sight of the boat, not if there were twenty vessels ashore."
+
+A few days later Jack started with his uncle in the _Bessy_ for Harwich.
+For himself he liked the life there better than at Leigh. At home men
+could not be said to live on board their boats. They went only for short
+trips, taking a meal before starting, and another on their return; but
+doing no cooking on board. Here they were out for longer hours, and the
+boat was always their home. They were more independent of the tide; and
+unless it and the wind were both dead against them, could at all times
+run out to their fishing ground, ten miles away, near the Cork
+lightship.
+
+The fishing was various. Soles, whiting, and haddock were the principal
+fish brought up in the trawls; but there was occasionally a big skate or
+two in the net, and these had to be handled with considerable
+circumspection, as they could take off a finger or two with the greatest
+ease with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth. These fish were always
+hung up in the air for a day or two before eating, as the flesh improves
+by keeping; the eatable portions were then cut out, and the rest was
+thrown overboard. These fish were for the most part eaten by the crew;
+the small soles, dabs, and flounders were hawked in the town, and the
+rest of the take sent up to London.
+
+There was an excitement, too, in the fishing itself, apart from that
+connected with hauling up the trawl and examining its contents, for the
+sands off this coast are dangerous, and the wrecks, that have at one
+time or another taken place there, innumerable. Occasionally a net would
+catch in one of the timbers that had perhaps been lying there a hundred
+years or more, and then it either came up torn into fragments, or if it
+obtained a really firm hold, there was nothing for it but to cut the
+trawl-rope and lose it altogether. In fine weather, however, this step
+would not be taken except as a last resource. After trying in vain to
+get the net and trawl up the rope would be buoyed, and the next day
+another attempt would be made to raise the net, the boat being assisted
+by three or four others. The loss of a net was a serious one, as it
+took ten pounds or more to replace it and the trawl-beam and its
+belongings.
+
+Sometimes a storm would blow up suddenly, and then the nets had to be
+got on board with all speed, and the topsails lowered and mainsails
+reefed, and the fleet of perhaps a hundred vessels would go racing back
+into Harwich, there to anchor just above the Guard, or under shelter of
+the Shotley Spit, or a short way up the Orwell, according to the
+direction of the wind.
+
+The hardest part of a Leigh fisherman's life Jack had not yet
+encountered, for boys are seldom taken stow-boating. Stow-boating is
+really sprat catching, and no one can exactly explain the meaning of the
+term. It is carried on in winter at the edge of the sands, far down at
+the mouth of the river. Boats are out for many days together, frequently
+in terrible seas, when the boat is more under than above the water. The
+work of getting up the net is heavy and exhausting, and for all this
+hardship and labour the reward is often exceedingly slight. Sometimes
+the sprats are abundant, and good pay is made; sometimes, when the
+winter accounts are balanced up, the crew find that their share will
+barely suffice to pay for their keep on board, and not a farthing is
+left for the support of their wives and children.
+
+Londoners who purchase sprats at an almost nominal price know but little
+of the hard struggle those who have caught them have to make ends meet.
+
+After fishing for a month, Ben Tripper said one Friday evening, "We will
+run up to Leigh to-morrow and spend Sunday at home. I don't think we
+shall lose much, for the weather looks bad, and I don't think there
+will be any fishing to-morrow."
+
+"I am pretty sure there won't, Ben," his mate said. "I think that it is
+going to blow really hard, and that we shall get wet jackets as we go
+up."
+
+"We are accustomed to that," Tripper said carelessly. "Anyhow, if it
+comes to blow too hard for us we can make for shelter into the Crouch or
+Black Water."
+
+"Oh, we are all right as to that, Ben! It is not a question of wet
+jackets or sea that I am thinking of, only whether we are likely to drop
+anchor in the Ray to-morrow night. If I were sure of that I should not
+mind a dusting; but I would rather lie here quiet than have a regular
+day's heavy knocking about, and then have to run in to Burnham after
+all."
+
+"So would I," Ben assented. "If the wind comes from anywhere to the west
+of south it is no use thinking about it. It has been chopping and
+changing about to-day, and there is no saying which way it will come
+when it fairly makes up its mind about it; but I think from the look of
+the sky this evening that it is as likely to come from the north-east as
+not, and in that case I allow we shall make a good passage of it."
+
+"Ay, that is right enough," Tom Hoskins assented. "They say the run from
+Harwich Pier to Leigh has never been done yet by a Leigh bawley under
+six hours, though it has been pretty close several times. We have got
+the springs on now, and with the wind from the north-east we should run
+the six hours very close, if we didn't beat it. There are two or three
+of them can go faster than the _Bessy_ close-hauled, but running free I
+doubt if there is one can touch her."
+
+"We will make a start at seven," Ben said. "We shall take the last of
+the ebb down to Walton, and then catch the flood and have it at its full
+strength by the time we are opposite Clacton."
+
+Jack was delighted at the thought of spending a Sunday at home with his
+mother; but though it was not for him to give an opinion, he agreed with
+Tom Hoskins that they were likely to have a dusting on the way up. The
+sun had gone down angry and threatening; the stars could be only seen
+occasionally through driving masses of cloud, and even at her snug
+anchorage the _Bessy_ was rolling heavily.
+
+Jack was out soon after dawn. There was a haze over sea and sky, and the
+wind was blowing strongly; it was from the north-west now, but Jack
+thought that it was likely to draw round to the quarter his uncle had
+predicted. "There must be a heavy sea on now all the way from the Swin
+Middle to the Nore with the wind meeting a lee tide," he said to
+himself; "but of course when the ebb is done it will smooth down a bit,
+and will be all right if the weather does not come on too thick. A fog
+is bad enough and a gale is bad enough, but when you get the two
+together I would rather be at home and in bed by a long way than on
+board the _Bessy_."
+
+"Well, Jack, what do you make out of the weather?" Ben Tripper asked, as
+he came out from the fo'castle.
+
+"It looks rather wild, uncle; but I think the wind is working round to
+the north of east, just as you thought it would last night."
+
+"Yes; I think it is," Ben said, surveying the sky. "Well, get the fire
+alight at once, Jack, and get breakfast ready; we will have our meal
+before we start. We shall have enough to do when we are once under way.
+I will run down to the Naze anyhow, and then we shall see what it is
+like outside. If we don't like its looks we can pop back anyhow; and
+shall have lost nothing, for there is no shooting nets to-day, that is
+quite certain."
+
+The topmast was lowered, small jib and foresail got up, and two reefs
+put in the mainsail; then they began to get up the anchor.
+
+"What! are you going up home, Tripper?" shouted a man from the next
+boat.
+
+"Ay, ay, lad!"
+
+"You will get your decks washed before you get to the Mouse!"
+
+"Do them good and save us trouble!" Tripper shouted back.
+
+"Tell the missis if you see her she may expect to see me next Saturday
+if the wind is right." Tripper threw up his arm to show he understood,
+and then lent his aid in getting up the anchor.
+
+"Put up the helm, Jack; the anchor is free. That is enough. Keep her jib
+just full and no more till we have stowed all away here." When the chain
+was stowed below, and the anchor securely fastened, Tripper went aft and
+hauled in the main-sheet. "Up with the foresail, Tom. That is it. You
+keep the tiller, Jack." The two men now proceeded to coil down all the
+ropes, and get everything ship-shape and tidy. By the time they had
+finished, Harwich was fairly behind them, and they were laying their
+course a point or two outside the Naze, throwing the spray high each
+time the boat plunged into the short choppy sea.
+
+"Nice place this, Jack," his uncle said. "There is always a sea on the
+shallows if the wind is anywhere against tide. No wonder they call it
+the Rolling Ground. There, I will take the helm now. You had best get
+the compass up; I can't make out the point sometimes through the mist."
+
+An hour and a quarter from the time of getting up the anchor the _Bessy_
+was off the point. As soon as the ugly ledge of rocks running far out
+under water was weathered, Tripper put down the helm.
+
+"Haul in the sheet, Tom. That is right; now the sail is over. Slack
+out--slack out all it will go; the wind is nearly dead aft. Ease off the
+jib-sheet, Jack. That is it. Now she is walking along."
+
+The motion was smooth and easy now. The waves were much higher than in
+the shelter of the bay, but they were running easily and regularly, in
+nearly the same line the boat was following. Coming up threateningly
+behind her, they lifted the stern high into the air, passing gently
+under her, hurrying her along as she was on the crest, and then passing
+on ahead and dropping her gently down into the hollow.
+
+"I think she would stand a reef shaken out, uncle," Jack said.
+
+"She has got quite enough on her, Jack, and is walking along at a grand
+pace. Always leave well alone, lad. The squalls come up very strong
+sometimes, and I would not carry as much sail as we have got if she were
+a cutter with a heavy boom. As it is, we can brail it up at any moment
+if need be. We sha'n't be long getting down off Clacton. Then you must
+keep a sharp look-out for the Spitway Buoy. It comes on very thick at
+times, and it is difficult to judge how far we are out. However, I think
+I know pretty well the direction it lies in, and can hit it to within a
+cable's length or so. I have found it many a time on a dark night, and
+am not likely to miss it now. It will take us an hour and a half or so
+from the time we pass Walton till we are up to the buoy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE WRECK.
+
+
+"I CAN see the buoy, uncle, over there on the weatherbow."
+
+"That is right, Jack. I am always glad when we get that buoy; it is the
+hardest to find of any of them. We shall have to jibe going round it.
+You stand by to brail the sail up when I give the word; we might carry
+away the gaff at the jaws if we let the sail go over all standing now."
+As soon as they neared the buoy Tom Hoskins got in the oar with which
+the mainsail was boomed out. "Now, Jack, brail up the sail as she comes
+round. Haul in the sheet as fast as you can, Tom, and pay it out again
+handsomely as it comes over. That is the way. Now fasten the sheet and
+throw off the main-tack and trice the sail up pretty near to the throat.
+
+"That will do. Slack the brail off, Jack. Now haul in the sheet a bit.
+You had better let the foresail down, Tom; the wind is heavy, and there
+is too much sea on here to drive her through it too fast."
+
+The sea would have been far heavier than it now was in another two
+hours' time, but the water was still very shallow on the sands, and this
+broke the force of the waves. The boat was now running along the narrow
+channel of deep water leading between the Spitway Buoy and the Bell
+Buoy, and almost at right angles to the course they had before been
+following. The wind was almost on their beam, and even under the reduced
+canvas the _Bessy_ was lying far over, the water covering three planks
+of her deck on the starboard side. They could see the buoy, and
+presently could hear its deep tolling as the hammers struck the bell
+with every motion of the buoy.
+
+"Ah! here is another heavy rain squall coming down. I am glad we are
+round the Bell Buoy before it came up. Jack, you may as well put the
+tea-kettle on. A cup of tea will be a comfort."
+
+All three were wrapped up in oil-skins; but in spite of this they had a
+general sensation of dampness, for it had been raining more or less ever
+since they started. Jack was below, when he heard a far louder roar of
+the wind than before, and heard his uncle shout, "Brail up the main as
+far as you can, Tom--the jib is about all we want now!"
+
+Jack looked out from the fo'castle. The wind was blowing tremendously,
+sweeping the heads off the waves and driving them into sheets of spray;
+then great drops of rain struck the deck almost with the force of
+bullets, and a minute later it came down almost in bucketfuls.
+
+"Do you want me, uncle?" he shouted. His voice did not reach Ben's ears,
+but he guessed what he had said and waved his hand to him to remain in
+the fo'castle. Jack took off his sou'-wester and shook the water from
+his oil-skin, and then opening the locker where the coke was kept
+replenished the fire. It settled down so dark when the squall struck the
+boat that he could scarce see across the little cabin. Regardless of the
+howling of the wind and the motion of the vessel, he sat on the floor
+putting in stick after stick to hasten up the fire. As soon as the
+kettle boiled he put in a handful of tea and some sugar and took the
+kettle off the fire, then he got a couple of large mugs and half-filled
+them with tea, and sat balancing them until the fluid was sufficiently
+cool to be drunk. Then tying on his sou'-wester again he made his way
+out and gave a mug to each of the others.
+
+"Go down below again, Jack!" his uncle shouted at the top of his voice,
+and although Jack was within two or three feet of him, he scarcely heard
+him. "There is nothing to be done at present here, and it is no use
+looking out for the Swin Middle at present."
+
+Jack took a look round before he went below. Away at some distance on
+either hand were white masses of foam where the sea was breaking on the
+sands. He went up to the bow and looked ahead through the darkness, then
+he went back to his uncle. "I caught sight of a light right over the
+bowsprit."
+
+"Ah! they have lit up then," Tripper said. "I thought they would, for
+it is almost as dark as night. You had best get the side-lights ready
+and the flareup. I don't suppose we shall want them, for if we see a
+steamer coming down we will give her a clear berth. They won't be able
+to look far ahead in the face of this wind and rain." Jack went forward
+again and lay down on the lockers. He thought little of the storm. It
+was a severe one, no doubt, but with the wind nearly due aft, and a
+weather tide, it was nothing to the _Bessy_, whose great beam in
+comparison to her length enabled her to run easily before the wind, when
+a long narrow craft would have been burying herself.
+
+Presently he thought he heard his uncle shout, and getting up looked
+aft. Tom Hoskins was now at the helm. Tripper was standing beside him,
+and pointing at something broad away on the beam. Jack at once made his
+way aft.
+
+"What is it, uncle?"
+
+"I saw the flash of a gun. Ah! there it is again. There is a ship ashore
+on the Middle Sunk." Jack gazed in the direction in which his uncle was
+pointing. In a minute there was another flash.
+
+"It is all over with her," Ben Tripper said solemnly. "The strongest
+ship that ever was built could not hold together long on that sand with
+such a sea on as there will be there now."
+
+"Cannot we do something?"
+
+Tripper was silent for half a minute. "What do you think, Tom? We might
+get there through the swashway. There is plenty of water for us, and we
+could lay our course there. It is a risky business, you know, and we may
+not be able to get near her when we get there; but that we cannot tell
+till we see how she is fixed. Still, if we could get there before she
+goes to pieces we might perhaps save some of them."
+
+"I don't mind, Ben, if you don't," the other said. "I have neither wife
+nor child, and if you like to take the risk, I am ready."
+
+Ben Tripper looked at Jack. "I would not mind if it wasn't for the boy,"
+he said.
+
+"Don't mind me, uncle," Jack burst out. "I would not have you hang back
+because of me, not for anything in the world. Do try it, uncle. It would
+be awful to think of afterwards, when we hear of her being lost with all
+hands, that we might have saved some of them perhaps if we had tried."
+
+Ben still hesitated, when another bright flash was seen. It was an
+appeal for aid he could not resist. "Put down the helm, Tom," he said.
+"Now, Jack, help me to rouse in the sheet. That will do. Now then for a
+pull on the jib-sheet. Now we will put the last reef in the foresail and
+hoist it, slack the brail and haul down the main-tack a bit. We must
+keep good way on her crossing the tide." Now that they were nearly
+close-hauled instead of running before the wind, Jack recognized much
+more strongly than before how heavy was the sea and how great the force
+of the wind. Lively as the boat was, great masses of water poured over
+her bow and swept aft as each wave struck her. Her lee bulwarks were
+completely buried.
+
+"Give me the helm, Tom," Tripper said; "and get those hatchways up and
+cover the well, and lash the tarpaulin over it. It is bad enough here,
+it will be worse when we get into broken water near the wreck." Most of
+the bawleys are provided with hatches for closing the long narrow place
+known as the 'well,' but it is only under quite exceptional
+circumstances that they are ever used. Jack and the man got them up and
+managed to fit them in their places, but getting the tarpaulin over them
+was beyond their power.
+
+"I will throw her up into the wind," Ben said. "Haul on the weather
+fore-sheet as I do, and belay it with the foot of the sail just to
+windward of the mast. Now rouse in the main-sheet. That is right."
+
+Quitting the tiller as the boat lay-to to the wind, Ben lent his aid to
+the other two, and in three or four minutes the tarpaulin was securely
+lashed over the hatches, and the boat completely battened down.
+
+"Now, Jack, you had best lash yourself to something or you will be swept
+overboard; we shall have it a lot worse than this presently. Now, Tom,
+before we get well away again get the last reef in the mainsail, then we
+can haul the tack down taut again; the sail will stand much better so,
+and we shall want to keep her all to windward if she is to go through
+the swashway."
+
+When all was ready the fore weather-sheet was let go, and the lee-sheet
+hauled taut. The main-sheet was slacked off a little and the _Bessy_
+proceeded on her way. It was a terrible half-hour; fortunately the dense
+heavy clouds had broken a little, and it was lighter than it had been,
+but this only rendered the danger more distinct. Once in the swashway,
+which is the name given to a narrow channel between the sands, the waves
+were less high. But on either hand they were breaking wildly, for there
+were still but four or five feet of water over the sands. The sea was
+nearly abeam now, and several times Jack almost held his breath as the
+waves lifted the _Bessy_ bodily to leeward and threatened to cast her
+into the breaking waters but a few fathoms away. But the skipper knew
+his boat well and humoured her through the waves, taking advantage of
+every squall to eat up a little to windward, but always keeping her
+sails full and plenty of way on her. At last they were through the
+swashway; and though the sea was again heavier, and the waves frequently
+swept over the decks, Jack gave a sigh of relief. They could make out
+the hull of the vessel now looming up black over the white surf that
+surrounded it. She had ceased firing, either from the powder being
+wetted or her guns disabled.
+
+"Which way had we better get at her, Tom?" Ben Tripper asked. "She is
+pretty near on the top of the sand."
+
+"The only way we have a chance of helping her is by laying-to, or
+anchoring on the edge of the sand to leeward of her. They may be able to
+drift a line down to us. I do not see any other way. Our anchors
+wouldn't hold to windward of her."
+
+"No; I suppose that is the best way, Tom. We must make the best
+allowance we can for the wind and the set of tide, otherwise they will
+never drift a line down to us. She won't hold together long. Her stern
+is gone as far as the mizzen, so we must be quick about it."
+
+The wreck was evidently a sailing vessel. Her masts were all gone, her
+bulwarks carried away, and she lay far heeled over. A group of people
+could be seen huddled up in the bow as they neared her. Tom Hoskins and
+Jack had for the last ten minutes been busy getting the spare anchor up
+on deck and fastening to it the wrap of the trawl-net, which was by far
+the strongest rope they had on board.
+
+"What water is there on the sand, Ben?"
+
+"Six or seven feet on the edge, but less further on. We do not draw over
+five feet, so we will keep on till we touch. The moment we do so let the
+two anchors go. Wind and tide will take her off again quick enough. Pay
+out ten or twelve fathoms of chain, and directly she holds up drop the
+lead-line overboard to see if she drags; if she does, give her some more
+rope and chain."
+
+The anchors were both got overboard and in readiness to let go at a
+moment's notice, the instant the _Bessy_ took ground.
+
+The foresail was lowered and the mainsail partly brailed up, so that she
+had only way on her sufficient to stem the tide. As they entered the
+broken water Jack was obliged to take a step back and hold on to the
+mast. Her motion had before been violent, but to a certain extent
+regular; now she was tossed in all directions so sharply and violently
+that he expected every moment that the mast would go. Tom looked round
+at Ben. The latter pointed to the sail and waved his hand. Tom
+understood him, and going to the mast loosened the brail a little to
+give her more sail, for the waves completely knocked the way out of her.
+When she forged ahead again, Tom returned to his post.
+
+Jack held his breath every time the boat pitched, but she kept on
+without touching until within some eighty yards of the wreck; then as
+she pitched forward down a wave there was a shock that nearly threw Jack
+off his feet, prepared for it though he was. In a moment he steadied
+himself, and crept forward and cut the lashing of the hawser just as Tom
+severed that of the chain. The latter rattled out for a moment. There
+was another shock, but less violent than the first, and then the renewed
+rattle of the chain showed that she was drifting astern. Ben now left
+the tiller and sprang forward. The jib was run in by the traveller and
+got down, the foresail had been cast off and had run down the forestay
+the moment she struck, and the three now set to work to lower the
+mainsail.
+
+"She is dragging," Tom said, examining the lead-line, "but not fast."
+
+"Give her another five or six fathoms of chain," Ben said, himself
+attending to the veering out of the hawser.
+
+This done they again watched the lead-line. It hung straight down by the
+side of the vessel.
+
+"They have got her!" Ben said. "Now then for the ship."
+
+For the first time since they entered the broken water they had leisure
+to look about them. Those on board the ship had lost no time, and had
+already launched a light spar with a line tied to it into the water.
+
+"It will miss us," Ben said, after watching the spar for a minute. "You
+see, I allowed for wind and tide, and the wind does not affect the spar,
+and the tide will sweep it down thirty or forty yards on our port bow."
+
+It turned out so. Those on board payed out the line until the spar
+floated abreast of the smack, but at a distance of some thirty yards
+away.
+
+"What is to be done?" Ben asked. "If we were to try to get up sail again
+we should drift away so far to leeward we should never be able to beat
+back."
+
+"Look here," Jack said; "if you signal to them to veer out some more
+rope I could soon do it. I could not swim across the tide now, but if it
+were twenty fathom further astern I could manage it."
+
+"You could never swim in that sea, Jack."
+
+"Well, I could try, uncle. Of course you would fasten a line round me,
+and if I cannot get there you will haul me in again. There cannot be any
+danger about that."
+
+So saying Jack at once proceeded to throw off his oil-skins and
+sea-boots, while Ben went to the bow of the boat and waved to those on
+the wreck to slack out more line. They soon understood him, and the spar
+was presently floating twenty yards further astern. Jack had by this
+time stripped. A strong line was now fastened round his body under his
+arms, and going up to the bow of the boat, so as to give himself as long
+a distance as possible to drift, he prepared for the swim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE RESCUE.
+
+
+JACK was a good swimmer, but he had never swum in a sea like this.
+
+"If I raise my arms, uncle, pull in at once. If I see I cannot reach the
+spar I sha'n't exhaust myself by going on, but shall come back and take
+a fresh start. Let me have plenty of rope."
+
+"All right, Jack! we won't check you."
+
+Jack took a header, and swimming hard under water came up some distance
+from the boat.
+
+"He will do it," Tom shouted in Ben's ear. "He is nigh half-way between
+this and the rope already."
+
+It was, however, a more difficult task than it looked. Had the water
+been smooth it would have been easy for Jack to swim across the tide to
+the spar before he was swept below it, but he found at once that it was
+impossible to swim fast, so buffeted and tossed was he by the sea, while
+he was almost smothered by the spray carried by the wind to the top of
+the waves. He trod water for a moment with his back to the wind, took a
+deep breath, and then dived again. When he came up he was delighted to
+see that he was as near as possible in the line of the spar, which was
+towing but a few yards from him. He ceased swimming, and a moment later
+the tide swept him down upon it.
+
+He had before starting fastened a piece of lashing three feet long to
+the loop round his chest, and the moment he reached the spar he lashed
+this firmly round the rope, and passing one arm round the spar lifted
+the other above his head. In a moment he felt the strain of the rope
+round his chest, and this soon tightened above the water. But Jack felt
+that the strain of pulling not only him but the spar through the water
+might be too much for it, and rather than run the risk he again waved
+his hand, and as soon as the line slacked he fastened it to the rope
+from the wreck, loosened the hitches round the spar and allowed the
+latter to float away. He was half drowned by the time he reached the
+side of the bawley, for he had been dragged in the teeth of the wind and
+tide, and each wave had swept clean over his head.
+
+[Illustration: THE RESCUE OF THE PASSENGERS FROM THE WRECK]
+
+At first those on board pulled but slowly, in order to enable him to
+swim over the top of the waves. But the force of the spray in his face
+was so great that he could not breathe, and he waved to them that they
+must draw him in at once. As soon as they understood him they pulled in
+the rope with a will, and more under than above the water he was brought
+to the side of the smack and lifted on board, the wind bringing down the
+sound of a cheer from those on board the wreck as he was got out of the
+water. Ben undid the line round his body, carried him downstairs,
+wrapped a couple of blankets round him and laid him down on the lockers,
+and then ran upstairs to assist Tom, who had carried the line forward
+and was already hauling it in.
+
+"That is right, Tom. They have got a good strong hawser on it, I see,
+and there is a light line coming with it to carry the slings."
+
+As soon as the end of the hawser came on board it was fastened to the
+mast. The line by which it had been hauled in was unfastened and tied to
+that looped round the hawser, and payed out as those on the deck hauled
+on it. A minute later two sailors got over the bulwarks, and a woman was
+lifted over to them and placed in the strong sling beneath the
+hawser. A lashing was put round her, and then they waved their hands and
+the fishermen hauled on the line. In two minutes the woman was on the
+deck of the smack; the lashing was unfastened and knotted on to the
+sling ready for the next passenger, then at Ben's signal that all was
+ready those on board the wreck hauled the sling back again.
+
+Jack remained between the blankets for a minute or two. He had not lost
+consciousness; and as soon as his breath came he jumped up, gave himself
+a rub with the blanket, slipped into some dry clothes, and was on deck
+just as the woman arrived. She was all but insensible, and directly the
+sling had started on its return journey Ben carried her on into the
+fo'castle.
+
+"Jack! set to work and make a lot of cocoa. There are no spirits on
+board; but cocoa is better, after all. Put the other kettle on and chuck
+plenty of wood upon the fire, and as soon as the one that is boiling now
+is empty, fill that up again. I should say there are twenty or thirty of
+them, and a pint apiece will not be too much. Take a drink yourself,
+lad, as soon as you have made it. You want it as much as they do."
+
+Fast the shipwrecked people came along the line. There was not a moment
+to lose, for the wreck was breaking up fast, and every sea brought
+floating timbers past the bawley.
+
+"It is a good job now, Tom, that we anchored where we did, instead of in
+the direct line of the tide, for one of those timbers would stave a hole
+in her bow as if she were a bandbox."
+
+"Aye, that it would, Ben. I thought we had made rather a mess of it at
+first; but it is well that, as you say, we ain't in the line of the
+drift."
+
+Nineteen persons were brought on board--the captain being the last to
+come along the line. The first four were women, or rather, the first two
+were women; the third a girl of ten years old, and the fourth a woman.
+Then came a middle-aged man, evidently a passenger. Then came ten
+sailors, a steward, two mates, and the captain.
+
+"Is that all?" Ben asked as the captain stepped from the slings.
+
+"I am the last," the captain said. "Thank God all are saved who were
+left on board when you came in sight. We all owe our lives to you and
+your men. I had little hope that one of us would live to see the night
+when we made you out coming towards us. But there is no time to talk.
+The ship cannot hold together many minutes longer, and when she breaks
+up in earnest some of the timbers will be sure to come this way."
+
+"I have got the buoy with a length of rope on the chain ready to slip,"
+Ben said, "and a spar lashed to the hawser. Now, Tom, let the chain out;
+I will jump below and knock out the shackle. Now, captain, if one or two
+of your men will lend us a hand to get up some canvas, we shall be out
+of it all the sooner. And please get them all except the women out of
+the cabin, and put them aft. We want her head well up for running before
+this sea."
+
+"Now, lads, tumble out and lend a hand," the captain said. "I see you
+have got some cocoa here. Well, all who have had a mug come out at once,
+and let the others get aft as soon as they have had their share. The
+ladies are all right, I hope?"
+
+"Quite right, captain," one of the men answered, "and begin to feel warm
+already; which is natural enough, for this cabin is like an oven after
+the deck of the _Petrel_."
+
+"Now, skipper, do you give the orders," the captain said as Ben took the
+tiller.
+
+"Run up the foresail and haul in the starboard-sheet. That will bring
+her head round."
+
+"Now let go the cable and hawser." There was a sharp rattle of chains,
+and the cry "All free!"
+
+"Slack off that weather-sheet and haul down on the lee-sheet," was
+Tripper's next order. "Not too much. Have you got the jib hooked on to
+the traveller? Out with it, then. Now, up with her. Now man the throat
+and peak halliards. Up with her. Slack out the main-sheet well, and boom
+the sail out with an oar. Trice the main-tack up as far as it will go."
+
+The _Bessy_ was now running almost before the wind. Every moment the
+great waves loomed up high behind her stern, and looked as if they would
+dash down upon her deck, but she slipped easily away. The clouds had
+broken up much now, but the wind had in no way abated. A gleam or two of
+sunlight made its way through the rifts of the clouds, and threw light
+green patches upon the gray and angry sea.
+
+"She is a splendid sea-boat this of yours," the captain said. "I would
+hardly have believed such a small craft would have made such good
+weather in such a sea."
+
+"There are few boats will beat a bawley," Ben said. "Well handled, they
+will live through pretty near anything."
+
+"I can quite believe that. Which of you was it who sprang overboard to
+get our line?"
+
+"It was not either of us," Ben said. "Neither Tom nor I can swim a
+stroke. It was my nephew Jack--that lad who has just come out of the
+fo'castle."
+
+"It was a gallant action," the captain said. "I should have thought it
+well-nigh impossible to swim in such broken water. I was astonished when
+I saw him leap overboard."
+
+"He saw that the spar had drifted with the tide to windward of you and
+there was no other way of getting at it."
+
+"I was in hopes of seeing you throw the lead-line over our line. You
+might have hauled it in that way."
+
+"So we might," Ben agreed, "if we had thought of it, though I doubt
+whether we could have cast it so far. Still we ought to have tried. That
+was a stupid trick, to be sure. I allow I should have thought of it any
+other time; but we had had such a dusting in getting up to you that our
+brains must have gone wool-gathering."
+
+"One cannot think of everything," the captain said. "You had your hands
+full as it was. Is there anything else I can do at present? If not, I
+will just go below for a minute and see how my wife and the passengers
+are getting on, and have a cup of that cocoa, if there is any left."
+
+They were now in the Knob Channel, and the sea, although still heavy,
+was more regular. As they passed the Mouse Light-ship there were
+several large steamers at anchor there, but it was now a straight run
+down to the Nore and they held on.
+
+Ben Tripper had already asked the captain where he would like to be
+landed. "I can put you either into Sheerness, Southend, or Leigh," he
+said. "Tide is high now, and you can land at any of them without
+difficulty. But you would get more quickly up to town from Southend or
+Leigh; and I should recommend our side, because tide will be running out
+from the Medway pretty strong before we get there, and when that is the
+case there is a nasty sea at the mouth."
+
+"I think we cannot do better than Leigh," the captain said. "Of course I
+am anxious to get on shore as soon as I can to get the women into dry
+clothes."
+
+"It will not make more than twenty minutes' difference whether you land
+at Leigh or Southend; and it is much handier for landing at Leigh, and
+no distance to the inn, where they can get between blankets while their
+things are being dried."
+
+"Then Leigh let it be. A few minutes will make no difference one way or
+the other, and if they have not caught cold already they will not do so
+in that warm cabin."
+
+The wind was blowing far too strongly to admit of conversation, except
+in shouted sentences. Fortunately there was a good supply of tobacco on
+board, and the rescued sailors, who had almost all a pipe in their
+pockets, had, after the smack was once clear of the broken water,
+enjoyed the consolation of a smoke.
+
+Accustomed to look down on the water from the high deck of a large
+ship, they had at first felt some doubt as to the ability of the low
+bawley to struggle safely through the towering waves; but as soon as
+they saw how well she behaved, and how little water she took over the
+sides, they felt that all danger was over, and became disposed to look
+at things more cheerfully.
+
+The steward had, as soon as he came on board, relieved Jack of his
+duties at the galley, and had kept the kettles going; he now served out
+a second supply of cocoa all round, and hung up as many of the ladies'
+things as they could dispense with round the fire to dry.
+
+The passenger had remained below with the ladies. He was suffering from
+a broken leg, having been knocked down and swept along by the sea soon
+after the vessel struck. Six of the sailors and two of the mates had
+either been washed overboard or crushed to death when the masts went
+over the side.
+
+As they passed the Nore a perfect fleet of steamers and sailing-vessels
+were at anchor there. Tide had turned strongly now, and there was a
+nasty heavy choppy sea until the _Bessy_ passed the end of Southend
+Pier, when she entered comparatively smooth water. In less than half an
+hour the sails were lowered, and she anchored some fifty yards from the
+coast-guard station.
+
+The look-out there had already observed the number of people on her
+deck, and had guessed at once that she had taken the crew off a wreck of
+some kind, and as soon as the anchor was dropped their boat came
+alongside.
+
+The captain had as they neared the shore asked Tripper about inns, and
+at once sent the crew ashore in charge of the mate, with orders to go to
+the "Bell," and to see that they had everything they required, saying
+that he would himself, as soon as the ladies were on shore, go to one of
+the shops and order a supply of clothes to be sent up for them.
+
+The ladies were next taken ashore, and then the injured man carried up
+and placed in a boat, a stretcher being sent off for him to be laid on.
+A messenger had been already sent up to the doctor on the top of the
+hill to come down to the Ship Inn, where the party now went. The ladies
+had become so thoroughly warmed by the heat in the little cabin that
+they declined to go to bed, and having been supplied with dry garments
+by the landlady, they were soon comfortable.
+
+The surgeon on his arrival pronounced the fracture of the passenger's
+leg, which was a few inches above the ankle, to be a simple one, and not
+likely to be attended with any serious consequences whatever. After
+setting it he bandaged it in splints, and said that although he should
+recommend a few days' perfect quiet, there was no actual reason why the
+patient should not be taken up to London if he particularly wished it.
+
+Ben Tripper had gone with the captain, and a pile of flannel shirts,
+stockings, guernseys, trousers, and shoes had at once been sent up to
+the "Bell." Furious as was the gale, it was possible to speak so as to
+be heard in the street of Leigh, and Ben now learned for the first time
+some particulars about the wreck.
+
+"The _Petrel_ was a seven hundred ton ship," the captain said, "and on
+her way home from Australia. She belongs to James Godstone & Son. There
+is no James Godstone now. The son is the passenger you saved; he is the
+owner of a dozen vessels all about the same size as the _Petrel_. His
+wife and daughter are two of the ladies saved. They went out with us to
+Australia. The girl was not strong, and had been recommended a sea
+voyage.
+
+"I had been married when I was at home last time, and was taking my wife
+out with me; so Mr. Godstone arranged that his wife and daughter should
+go with me. We carried no other passengers; the other woman saved is the
+stewardess. Mr. Godstone himself did not go out with us, but went across
+by Suez and joined us there for the homeward voyage. We made a fine run
+home; and took our pilot on board off Deal. The gale was blowing up
+then; but as it looked as if it was coming from the north-east we did
+not care about riding it out in the Downs, or going back so as to be
+under shelter of the South Foreland.
+
+"It did not come on really heavy till we were nearly off Margate, and
+then we got it with a vengeance. Still, as the wind was free, we kept
+on. Then, as you know, it came on almost pitch dark, and I think the
+pilot lost his head. Anyhow, as he was one of those who were drowned, we
+need not say whether he was to blame or not. I thought we were getting
+too close to the broken water, and told him so, but he said we were all
+right. He didn't make allowance enough, I think, for the leeway she was
+making, and a minute later she struck, and you can guess the rest. Her
+back broke in a few minutes, and her mizzen went over the side,
+carrying with it the pilot, my first mate, and six sailors.
+
+"She soon after began to break up at the stern. I cut away the other two
+masts to relieve her, but the sea made a clear breach over her. I got
+the ladies and Mr. Godstone, who had been on deck when she struck and
+got his leg broken by the first sea which pooped her, forward as soon as
+I could, and managed to fire one of her guns three times. I had no hope
+of rescue coming from shore, but there was a chance of some ship coming
+up helping us; though how she was to do it I could not see. However,
+nothing came near until I saw your sail. I expect that any steamers
+coming up from the south brought up under the Foreland, while those from
+the north would of course take the Swin. Anyhow, it would have been all
+over with us had you not come to our rescue. Even when I saw you making
+over towards us I had not much hope, for I did not see how you could get
+close enough to us to aid us, and I was quite sure that no open boat
+could have lived in that broken water."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ALTERED PROSPECTS.
+
+
+AS soon as the shipwrecked crew were on shore, Jack Robson landed and
+made his way homeward. At the railway-crossing he met his mother
+hurrying down, for the news that the _Bessy_ had arrived with a number
+of shipwrecked people had spread rapidly through the place.
+
+"Well, Jack, so I hear the _Bessy_ has been helping a wreck. I had no
+idea that you would be home to-day. What in the world induced your uncle
+to make the run in such weather as this?"
+
+"It was nothing like so bad when we started, mother, and as we had both
+wind and tide with us there was nothing to fear for the _Bessy_. We are
+accustomed to wet jackets, and should have got nothing worse if it had
+not been for our hearing guns and making for the wreck. Then we
+certainly had a tremendous sea, the heaviest I have ever been out in.
+However, we were under storm-sails and did very well. It was nasty work
+when we anchored in broken water near the wreck, and she jumped about so
+I thought the mast would have gone. However, everything held, and we
+managed to save nineteen people from the wreck. That is a pleasant
+thought, mother, and I would go through it again twenty times to do it."
+By this time they had reached the door of the house.
+
+"There, run upstairs and change, Jack. I will get you some tea ready by
+the time you come down."
+
+"I have had some hot cocoa, mother, and am as right as possible. Still,
+I shall not object to a cup of tea and something to eat with it. We had
+breakfast before we started at eight, and it is seven now. We thought
+when we hoisted sail we should be down here under the six hours, but of
+course going off to the wreck made all the difference. And, anyhow, we
+could not have driven her fast in such a sea."
+
+By the time Jack had had his tea a comfortable glow had come over him.
+Now that it was all over he felt bruised and stiff from the buffeting he
+had gone through, and after half an hour's chat with his mother and
+sister, in which he told them more fully the events of the wreck, he
+turned into bed and slept soundly till the morning. Captain Murchison,
+for that was his name, came round half an hour after Jack had gone up to
+bed to ask him to go round to the inn, as the ladies wished to see him
+and thank him for his share in rescuing them, but on hearing that he had
+gone up to bed asked his mother to request him to come round in the
+morning at ten o'clock.
+
+"You have reason to be proud of your son, Mrs. Robson," he said. "His
+leaping over in such a sea as that to get hold of the line from our ship
+was a most gallant action."
+
+"He told me the line was tied round him, sir, so that there was no
+danger in it at all."
+
+"There is always danger in such a business as that, Mrs. Robson. The
+force of the waves in shallow water is tremendous, and will beat a man
+to death if they do not drown him. Then there is the difficulty of his
+getting on board again when a vessel is rolling and pitching so
+tremendously, and the danger of his being struck by a piece of
+drift-wood from the wreck. I can assure you that it was a very grand
+action, whatever your son may have told you about it."
+
+The next morning the gale was still blowing fiercely, although with less
+strength than on the previous day. Jack had heard from his mother of his
+appointment to go to the "Ship" with much discontent, and had at first
+positively refused to go.
+
+"I hate going up to see strange people, mother, anyhow; and I am sure
+that I do not want to be thanked. I am glad enough to have had a share
+in saving all their lives, but of course it was all Uncle Ben and Tom's
+handling the boat that did it; I had nothing to do with it whatever,
+except that little swim with the rope tied safely round me. Why, it was
+nothing to that affair that I had with Bill and Joe Corbett."
+
+"But you must go, Jack; the ladies naturally wish to thank you for what
+you did for them, and whether you like it or not you must go. It would
+be very rude and uncivil not to do so. They would be sure to send round
+here if you did not come, and what should I say except that you were so
+unmannerly that you would not go."
+
+Jack twisted himself on his chair uncomfortably.
+
+"I don't see why they shouldn't thank Uncle Ben for the lot and have
+done with it," he grumbled. "It is his boat and he was the skipper, and
+he did it all; besides, I expect the _Bessy_ will have to be overhauled
+before she goes out again. She came down with a tremendous crash on her
+forefoot, and the water was just coming up through the boards in the
+fo'castle when we came in. Of course it may have come in from above, but
+I expect she sprang a leak somewhere forward. I thought she was very low
+in the water when she came in, and I expect that she must have been half
+full aft, for she was very much down by the stern.
+
+"We had the pump going all the time, and it was always clear water. I
+did not think of it at the time. We had had such a lot of water over us
+it was likely it might have got in through the hatches; but I feel sure
+now that it was a leak. Well, I suppose if I must go, I must, mother;
+but I hate it for all that."
+
+However, just before Jack was about to start there was a knock at the
+door, and Mrs. Robson opening it saw two ladies and a girl. Immediately
+on their arrival the evening before, Mrs. Godstone had telegraphed home
+for a servant to come down in the morning by the first train, with
+clothes for herself and daughter, and she had arrived with them an hour
+before. Mrs. Godstone had therefore been enabled to resume her usual
+attire, and to lend an outfit to Mrs. Murchison. Jack did not in the
+least recognize in the three ladies the soaked and draggled women, of
+whose faces he had caught but a slight glimpse on the previous day.
+
+"We have come round, Mrs. Robson," Mrs. Godstone began, "to thank your
+son for his share in saving our lives yesterday. We thought that it
+would be more pleasant to him than coming round to us at the inn."
+
+"Thank you, madam," Mrs. Robson replied. "It was kind of you to think of
+it. I have had a good deal of trouble in persuading Jack to go round. He
+was just starting; but it was very much against the grain, I can assure
+you. Come in, please."
+
+Mrs. Godstone was surprised at the tone in which this fisher lad's
+mother spoke, for during her thirteen years of married life Bessy Robson
+had lost the Essex dialect, and acquired the manners of her husband's
+friends. She was still more surprised at the pretty furniture of the
+room, which was tastefully decorated, and the walls hung with pictures
+of marine subjects, for Bessy had brought down bodily her belongings
+from Dulwich. Mrs. Godstone at once walked up to Jack with outstretched
+hand.
+
+"I hope you are none the worse for your exertions of yesterday," she
+said. "My daughter and I have come round to thank you for the very great
+service you rendered us."
+
+Mrs. Murchison and Mildred Godstone also shook hands with Jack. The
+former added her thanks to Mrs. Godstone's.
+
+Jack coloured up hotly and said, "It is my uncle you have to thank,
+ma'am. It was his bawley, and he and Tom sailed it, and I had nothing to
+do with it one way or the other."
+
+"Except when you swam out for the line," Mrs. Godstone said smiling.
+
+"I had one tied round me, and was all right," Jack protested.
+
+"My husband does not think it was nothing, as you seem to consider,"
+Mrs. Murchison said; "and as he has been a sailor all his life he ought
+to know. He says that it was a very gallant action in such a sea as
+that, and, you see, we are bound to believe him."
+
+The ladies had now taken seats. Mrs. Godstone felt a little at a loss.
+Had Jack's home and Jack's mother been what they had expected to find
+them the matter would have been simple enough, but she felt at once that
+any talk of reward for the service Jack had rendered them would be at
+present impossible.
+
+"What a pretty room you have got, Mrs. Robson, and what charming
+pictures!"
+
+"They are my husband's painting," Mrs. Robson said quietly. "He was an
+artist."
+
+"Oh! I know the name," Mrs. Godstone said. "I have four of Mr. Robson's
+pictures in my drawing-room. I am very fond of marine subjects."
+
+This served as an introduction, and for half an hour the conversation
+proceeded briskly. Then Mrs. Godstone rose.
+
+"My husband's leg is very painful this morning," she said, "and I fear
+that he will have to keep his bed for the next two or three days. When
+he is well enough to lie down on the sofa I will come down and fetch
+your son, for Mr. Godstone is of course anxious to see him, and I am
+afraid that if I do not come round myself we shall not get Jack to the
+inn."
+
+"Well, that was not so very bad, was it, Jack?" Mrs. Robson asked after
+her visitors had left.
+
+"No, mother, it wasn't. You see, it was ever so much better their coming
+here than it would have been if I had gone to the inn, because there was
+you for them to talk to, so that really there was not much said to me.
+If it had been at the inn there would have been nothing to talk about at
+all, except about the wreck. Well, now that is over I will go down and
+see how the bawley is; but I had best change my things first. Uncle was
+going to get her up as high as he could at the top of the tide, so as to
+be able to look at her keel."
+
+Jack found that his uncle and Tom had turned out at three o'clock in the
+morning, and had got the _Bessy_ as high up as possible on the sloping
+shore, just beyond the houses. They were standing beside her now, while
+Benting, the local boat-builder, was examining her bottom.
+
+"Well, Jack, you have taken it out in sleep this morning," his uncle
+said.
+
+"That I have, uncle. I never woke until eight o'clock, so I had just
+twelve hours' sleep."
+
+"Nothing like a good sleep, Jack, when you have had a hard day's work;
+and yesterday was enough to take it out of anyone."
+
+"Is she damaged at all?" Jack asked.
+
+"Yes, her forefoot is sprung just where it joins the keel; she came down
+just on the joint."
+
+"That will be a rather nasty job to get right, won't it?"
+
+"Yes, Jack, Benting says she must have a new stem altogether. He does
+not think the keel is damaged, but the stem is cracked right through."
+
+"That will cost a lot, won't it?" Jack said.
+
+"Yes, it is a nasty job, Jack; because, of course, she will want a lot
+of fresh planks in her. In fact, she will want pretty well rebuilding
+forward of the mast."
+
+"It will cost about twenty pounds to make a good job of it," Benting
+said as he joined them. "I shouldn't like to take the job for less, not
+on contract. If I did day-work it might come to a little less or a
+little more, I cannot say."
+
+Jack looked anxiously up into his uncle's face, for he knew that twenty
+pounds was a serious matter.
+
+"It won't be at my expense, Jack," Ben replied to his look. "Captain
+Murchison came down at seven o'clock this morning and had a look at her
+with me. I told him yesterday that I was afraid she had damaged herself
+on the sand, as she had made a lot of water on her way up. He said that
+I was to have her examined at once and get an estimate for repairing her
+thoroughly, and that he would undertake it should be paid. He asked what
+her age was. Of course I told him she was only four years old, and that
+I had only finished paying off the money I borrowed when I had her
+built, last year. He said that as she was only four years old she was
+worth spending the money on; but if she had been an old boat, it would
+not have been worth while throwing money away on her. But Benting says
+he can make her as good as new again."
+
+"Every bit," the carpenter said. "She will be just as strong as she was
+on the day she was turned out."
+
+"How long will you be about it?"
+
+"I would get her done in three weeks. I will go over to Southend by the
+twelve o'clock train and order the timber, and you can arrange this
+evening whether you will have her done by contract or day-work."
+
+Captain Murchison that evening when he returned from town, where he had
+gone up to report to Lloyd's the loss of the ship, had a talk with
+Benting, and being assured by him that the _Bessy_ would after the
+execution of the repairs be in all respects as stout a craft as before,
+arranged with him to do it for the sum he named, and to set to work
+immediately.
+
+Three days later Mr. Godstone was able to be brought out on to the sofa
+in the sitting-room. Captain and Mrs. Murchison had gone home two days
+before, but the former came down again to Leigh on the morning Mr.
+Godstone got up. After a talk together Captain Murchison went out and
+fetched Ben Tripper in, and Mr. Godstone presented him with a cheque for
+a hundred pounds for himself and fifty for Tom Hoskins.
+
+"We owe you our lives," he said, "and we shall never forget the service
+you have rendered us. Captain Murchison tells me that your boat will be
+as good as before after she is repaired; but if she should not be so,
+sell her at once for what you can get for her and order a new one, I
+will pay the difference. In any case I consider I owe you a boat.
+Whether it is five years hence or ten or fifteen, if I am alive and you
+want another boat I give you authority to order one of the best that can
+be built, and to tell them to send the bill in to me. I have not given
+you anything for your nephew, for I have been talking to my wife, and
+maybe we can serve him better in some other way."
+
+Mrs. Godstone had indeed been in for a chat each day with Jack's mother,
+and had told her husband that she felt sure neither Mrs. Robson nor Jack
+would like an offer of money.
+
+"The lad is very intelligent," she said, "and he and his mother are of
+quite a different class to the fisher people here. His father was a
+gentleman, and she has the manners of a lady. I should like for us to do
+the boy some permanent good, William."
+
+"Well, we will see about it, my dear," her husband had said. "As soon as
+I am well enough to talk to him I will find out what his own wishes in
+the matter are."
+
+Jack was therefore sent for after his uncle had left the inn.
+
+"Well, my lad," Mr. Godstone said as he entered, "I am glad to see you
+at last and to thank you for what you did for us the other day. My wife
+tells me that you do not like being thanked, and as deeds are better
+than words we won't say much more about it. So I hear you have only been
+living here about two years?"
+
+"That is all, sir; we lived at Dulwich before."
+
+"So I hear. And your father was an artist? Have you any taste that way?"
+
+Jack shook his head. "No, sir; I never thought of being an artist. I
+always wanted to go to sea."
+
+"To go to sea--eh?" Mr. Godstone repeated, "Well, then, you have got
+your wish."
+
+"Oh, I do not call this going to sea," Jack said contemptuously. "I
+mean, I wanted to be a sailor--not a fisherman."
+
+"And why didn't you go then, lad?"
+
+"Well, sir, in the first place mother did not know anyone who had to do
+with ships; and then her friends were all here, and she knew the place
+and its ways, and she thought that by buying a bawley, as she has done,
+in time I should come to sail her and earn my living as my uncle does.
+And then I don't think she would ever have agreed to my going to sea
+right away from her; but I do not know about that."
+
+"Well, lad, you see the case is changed now. I have to do with ships,
+and Captain Murchison here commands one. At least he doesn't at the
+present moment, but he will do so as soon as I can buy another to
+supply the place of the _Petrel_. And as he saw one yesterday that he
+thinks highly of, I shall probably buy her as soon as she has been
+surveyed. So you see that difficulty is at an end. As to your mother, no
+doubt she would have objected to your going as a ship's-boy, but perhaps
+she wouldn't if you were going as an apprentice. We call them midshipmen
+on board our ships; I like the name better than apprentice, though the
+thing is about the same. Captain Murchison will, I am sure, be glad to
+have you with him, and will do his best to make a good sailor of you.
+And you may be sure that I shall push you on if you deserve it as fast
+as possible; and it may be that in another ten years you will be in
+command of one of my ships. Well, what do you say to that?"
+
+"Oh! thank you, sir," Jack exclaimed. "I should like that better than
+anything in the world, if mother will let me."
+
+"I don't think that your mother will stand in the way of your good," Mr.
+Godstone said. "And she must see that the prospect is a far better one
+than any you can have here; for after all, the profits of a bawley are
+not large, and the life is an infinitely harder one than that of a
+sailor. You had better not say anything to your mother about it until my
+wife has had a chat with her."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ON BOARD THE "WILD WAVE."
+
+
+MRS. GODSTONE found no difficulty whatever in persuading Jack's mother
+to allow him to take advantage of her husband's offer. Mrs. Robson had
+at her husband's death decided at once that, with the small sum of money
+at her disposal, the only method she could see of making ends meet was
+to go down to Leigh and invest it in a bawley. She had never told Jack
+that she had even thought of allowing him to carry out his wish to go to
+sea; but she had thought it over, and had only decided on making a
+fisherman of him after much deliberation. The desire to keep him with
+her had of course weighed with her, but this was a secondary
+consideration. She had so decided, because it was evident that had he
+gone to sea it must have been as a ship's-boy. In such a rough life he
+would have had no time whatever to continue his studies, and would
+speedily have forgotten most that he had learned, and he might have
+remained many years before the mast before he could pass as a third
+mate. She thought therefore that he would do better by remaining at
+Leigh and becoming in time master of a bawley.
+
+In the two years that had passed she had come to have doubts as to
+whether she had decided wisely. The profits of fishing were exceedingly
+small, and the prospects were but poor. She knew well that her husband
+had hoped that his son would follow some line that would maintain him in
+his own rank of life, and she fretted at the thought that Jack would
+settle down for life as a Leigh fisherman, and that Lily would probably
+in time become a fisherman's wife. When therefore Mrs. Godstone told her
+that her husband was ready to place Jack on board one of his ships as
+midshipman, and that he would take care he had every chance of making
+his way up, Mrs. Robson thankfully accepted the offer.
+
+"The boy has always wished for a life at sea," she said; "and I am
+thankful indeed that he should have such a chance of getting on. I am
+most grateful to Mr. Godstone for his offer, and most gladly accept it."
+
+"It is the least my husband can do, Mrs. Robson, considering the share
+your son took in saving his life. But you must not consider that this
+discharges the debt that I owe for myself and Mildred. That is another
+matter altogether. Now, in the first place, I am sure you must wish
+sometimes that your little girl could have an education of a different
+kind to that which she can obtain here. Now, I should like to send her
+to a good school where she would be well educated. We need not look
+farther forward than that at present. She is only ten years old now, and
+in another seven or eight her brother may be a second mate, and, with
+the prospect of becoming a captain in another three or four, would like
+his sister to be educated as a lady."
+
+"You are very kind, Mrs. Godstone," Mrs. Robson said with tears in her
+eyes. "But in the first place, I don't think I could bring myself to
+part with her, and in the second, I do not like to take advantage of
+your kindness."
+
+"The second reason is absurd," Mrs. Godstone said decidedly. "Suppose
+instead of saving all our lives your son had helped to get out anchors
+and had got the ship off, he would have had his share of the salvage,
+which might have come to many hundreds of pounds; and it is nonsense
+because he saved lives instead of goods there should be no reward for
+the service. As to your first reason, I can quite enter into it; and I
+know that I should not have liked to be parted from Mildred. Therefore I
+do not propose to send her away from you, but to do it in another way.
+To send your girl to a really good school will not cost less than a
+hundred a year, and that sum I shall be very glad to pay until she is of
+an age to leave school.
+
+"Now, I understand that your principal reason in coming to Leigh was
+that your son should in time be able to sail your boat. That reason does
+not exist any longer, and you might therefore be as well anywhere else
+as here. Your brother can look after your interests in your boat, and
+you will get the same share of its profits as if you were living here. I
+think for your son's sake as well as your daughter's, it would be
+pleasanter and better that you were away from here.
+
+"Now I am going to pay a hundred a year for your girl to be educated,
+but it makes no difference to me how that hundred is spent, providing
+she gets the education. It seems to me, therefore, that it would be
+better if you were to move again, say to Dulwich, where no doubt you
+have still friends, having lived there for so long. Then you could send
+her as a day-boarder in a good school for some thirty or forty pounds a
+year. You could still keep her with you, and have a nice home for Jack
+whenever he comes back from sea.
+
+"Well, think this over. It seems to me and to Mr. Godstone to be by far
+the best plan for all parties. And it will be much the most pleasant to
+us; as I should then hope to see you often, and to see for myself how
+your child is getting on. Do not give an answer to me now: it will be
+another week before my husband can be moved up to town, so there will be
+plenty of time for you to look at it in all lights before you decide. I
+know that it will be a sacrifice for you to leave Leigh where you have
+so many relations and friends; but I am sure this will not weigh with
+you as against the interest of your children."
+
+So saying the ship-owner's wife shook hands with Mrs. Robson and at once
+went out. Half-way down the street she met Jack.
+
+"It is all settled, Jack," she said, in answer to his look. "Your mother
+has agreed to your going."
+
+"Has she?" Jack exclaimed in delight. "Hurrah! Thank you so much,
+ma'am," and throwing his cap in the air he caught it again, and then
+started home at a run at the top of his speed. Bursting in at the door
+he was sobered instantly by seeing his mother in tears.
+
+"My dear mother!" he exclaimed, "don't cry over it. Of course I should
+like to go to sea and always wanted it, still I would not think of doing
+it if it makes you unhappy. Although you did tell Mrs. Godstone that you
+consented, I will go off at once and tell them that I have changed my
+mind, and that on thinking it over I have concluded to stay here with
+you."
+
+"No, no, Jack," his mother said, as he turned to carry his offer into
+effect. "It is not that at all. I am quite willing that you should go,
+my boy. Of course I shall miss you; but other women have to see their
+sons go to sea or abroad, and I shall be no worse off than they are. I
+am very pleased, indeed, that you should have the life you wish for open
+to you. There is now a far better prospect of your getting on and doing
+well than there was when your father consented that you should go to sea
+some day. I am not crying about that at all, Jack, but from pleasure,
+with perhaps a little pain in it, at the kind offer Mrs. Godstone has
+just made me with regard to Lily and myself."
+
+And she then told Jack the proposal that had been made to her.
+
+"And are you going to accept it, mother? Oh, I do hope you will. I have
+never cared for myself, but I have sometimes been so sorry when I
+thought that Lily would grow up so different from what my father would
+have wished her."
+
+"And so have I, Jack. Boys are boys, and can to some extent make
+themselves what they like. Poor men's sons can, if they are steady and
+industrious and clever, rise in the world; rich men's sons can come down
+to beggary. But it is different with girls. And it always has been a
+great grief to me too when I have thought of Lily's future. For myself,
+I do not like taking the money--that you can well believe,--but for her
+sake I should be very wrong to refuse the offer. I shall be sorry to
+leave Leigh; and yet, you see, after living for thirteen years such a
+different life, I do not see things as I did when I was a girl, and
+have blamed myself often because I have felt the difference. But I have
+felt it, and therefore the idea of going back to Dulwich again is not so
+painful to me as I think it ought to be."
+
+"Of course it is quite natural, mother," Jack said; "and it would be
+curious if you did not feel so after living there so long and mixing
+with people so different in their ways. And won't it be splendid having
+a nice little home like that to come back to, and Lily being educated as
+a lady, and I making my way on. It will be grand, mother!"
+
+"I shall have a talk with my father and Ben," Mrs. Robson said. "My own
+mind is quite made up; still I should like to speak to them before I see
+Mrs. Godstone again."
+
+Tripper senior and Ben quite agreed with Mrs. Robson that she ought to
+accept the offer.
+
+"We shall be always glad to see you down here, Bessy, you know, whenever
+you like to come; but it is certainly best for you and the young ones
+for you to accept the offer. It is a grand thing for Lily; and though we
+shall be very sorry to lose you, it would be awfully foolish to say no
+to such a proposal as that."
+
+At heart, perhaps Tripper senior and his son were not altogether so very
+sorry that Bessy should go to London. They felt that she was now not one
+of themselves; and Tripper senior, who was much more fond of his glass
+than was good for him, felt her presence in Leigh as a sort of restraint
+upon himself, and had often informed Ben confidentially that Bessy had
+grown altogether too nice for him. When, therefore, Mrs. Godstone called
+again at the end of the week, Bessy thankfully accepted her offer, and
+it was settled that she should move up to London as soon as she could
+find a house. She would, she knew, have no difficulty in obtaining a
+tenant for her present residence; for houses were scarce at Leigh, and
+one so conveniently situated would find many eager for it as soon as it
+was generally known that it was to let.
+
+Accordingly, two days after Mr. Godstone and his wife had left Leigh,
+Mrs. Robson went up to town with Jack, and going down to Dulwich had no
+difficulty in finding a little cottage that would suit them well, and to
+this a fortnight later they moved up with their belongings. The very day
+after they moved in, Jack received a letter from Captain Murchison
+telling him to come down on the following morning to St. Katharine
+Docks, as the _Wild Wave_ had now been purchased by Mr. Godstone, and
+would at once be fitted out for sea.
+
+At eight o'clock next morning Jack found himself alongside the _Wild
+Wave_, a fine barque-rigged ship of about eight hundred and fifty tons.
+A number of riggers were at work on board, and Captain Murchison was on
+the poop talking to an officer, whom Jack at once guessed to be the
+first mate.
+
+"That's right, Jack," the captain said as the lad mounted to the poop;
+"nothing like getting into harness in good time. We only took possession
+of the barque yesterday, and have put the hands to work this morning. I
+thought you had better come to work at once, because there is nothing
+like learning things from the beginning; and if you keep your eyes open
+you will learn as much as to the way things should be done as you would
+do in six months afloat. Mr. Timmins, this is Jack Robson, who sails
+with us as a midshipman. He is the lad I told you of who aided in saving
+all our lives on board the _Petrel_. If it had not been for him and the
+two men with him the house of Godstone & Son would have lost its head.
+As the owner as well as myself owe so much to him, I am sure you will do
+all you can to help him to learn his work. He is not like a new hand
+altogether, having already had two years' experience in a fore-and-aft
+craft. Of course the work is very different here; still it is a capital
+apprenticeship, and men who can manage a bawley in such a sea as was on
+when the _Petrel_ was wrecked are fine sailors, and would soon be at
+home on any craft that ever floated."
+
+"I will do the best I can for him, Captain Murchison, and will make a
+sailor out of him--never fear. There is nothing for you to do on board
+yet, my boy, except to keep your eyes open. Watch all that is going on.
+This is a rigger's job; but it is well to learn how everything is done,
+because you may be called upon to do it any moment. Do not be afraid of
+asking me questions about anything you do not understand, and do not
+mind if I answer you sharp if I happen to be busy when you ask me--that
+is my way; and I daresay the riggers, when they see that you really want
+to learn, will be willing enough to give you a hint or two."
+
+"I am going ashore with him now for a couple of hours, Mr. Timmins.
+After that he will be at your disposal."
+
+Jack followed the captain across the gangway on to the wharf. "I am
+going with you to order your outfit," the captain said. "I had intended
+to have done it on my own account, but Mr. Godstone would not hear of
+it; so I must obey orders. Your own things will do well enough until we
+get the riggers out of the ship and the painting done. Till then Mr.
+Timmins will be the only officer on board; the others will not join till
+she begins to take in her cargo. The second and third mates of the
+Petrel will sail with me again, and so will all the men who were
+rescued. Naturally they like a run ashore as long as they can; and there
+is nothing for them to do till the ship is out of the painter's hands."
+
+Captain Murchison took Jack to an outfitter's in Fenchurch Street, and
+ordered him a complete midshipman's outfit. Then Jack went back to the
+docks, and for the rest of the day watched the operations of the
+riggers. With many of the processes he was already familiar, but he
+observed several differences in the methods pursued on board a large
+ship. As soon as he had come on board he had asked the first mate if
+there was any objection to his lending a hand if the riggers would allow
+him.
+
+"None at all, my lad. An officer ought to be able to show his men how to
+do everything, and he can never do that if he is afraid of dirtying his
+hands. Of course you do know a good deal already about the serving and
+parcelling of ropes and stays, but likely enough they are done in a
+different fashion here to what they are on board a smack. I will speak
+to the head-rigger myself, and tell him you want to learn your business,
+and are ready to do anything that he likes to set you to; and as you
+have been already two years at the work he will not find you a lubber."
+
+The rigger at once placed Jack at work with one of the gangs, and he
+worked steadily until four bells sounded, and the men knocked off.
+
+"You need not get here till eight in the morning," Mr. Timmins said to
+him as he was about to leave. "The captain said you were living at
+Dulwich, and that it would take you an hour to get here; so as at
+present you are a sort of volunteer, it will be quite time enough if you
+are here by eight. I am glad to see that you are handy at your work; but
+that I expected. There is no better training for a sailor than a couple
+of years on board a smack. You learn to turn your hand to everything
+there very much better than you can on a large craft."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ALEXANDRIA.
+
+
+TEN days' hard work and the _Wild Wave's_ equipment was nearly complete.
+The riggers were to put the finishing touch to their work that evening,
+and the carpenters to finish all below, and were to begin in the morning
+scraping and cleaning the decks, and there then remained only the
+painting to be done. The captain's usual hour for coming on board was
+eleven o'clock, but the men were just knocking off for dinner when he
+arrived.
+
+"Well, Mr. Timmins, when do you think we can be ready to take cargo on
+board?"
+
+"Well, sir, it will take them three days to get the decks planed. They
+are in a beastly state, you see. She must have had a dirty lot on board
+her on her last voyage, and she has picked up six months' dirt in the
+docks. Nothing short of planing will get them fit to be seen. Then the
+painters will take another four days, I should say, perhaps five, as the
+bulwarks and all the paint on deck must be done."
+
+"That makes eight days' work, Mr. Timmins. I suppose we cannot set the
+painters at work until the carpenters are done?"
+
+The mate shook his head. "Decidedly not, if the paint is to be worth
+looking at, sir. It would be throwing money and time away to begin to
+paint as long as the chips and dust are flying about."
+
+"If we were to get the painting on deck done directly the carpenters
+knock off we might do the outside while we are taking the cargo in?"
+
+"Yes, we might do that," the mate assented; "though even then if it is
+anything like a dusty cargo the paint wouldn't show up as smooth and
+clean as one would like to see it."
+
+"Well, we can't help that," the captain said. "I have just come from the
+office, and they have had an offer for a freight, part to Alexandria and
+part to Smyrna; but they wanted to begin to load at once. I said that
+was out of the question, but that I thought I could begin to take it on
+board next Monday."
+
+"Well, it will be quick work, sir. However, if you can get them to put a
+good strong gang of carpenters on board they might get the deck finished
+off by Wednesday evening. Anyhow, we might have the painters on board
+on Thursday morning, and if they are sharp they should finish by the
+time they knock off on Saturday."
+
+[Illustration: "WE ARE DESPERATE MEN AND WELL ARMED"]
+
+"Yes. Two coats will be sufficient," the captain said; "at any rate in
+most places. They might send a man or two to-morrow to put a coat at
+once on at the gangways and other places where it is worst."
+
+"Do you know what the cargo is, captain?"
+
+"Mixed cargo; some railway iron for Egypt, the rest hardware and dry
+goods of one sort and another, but beyond that I did not hear any
+particulars."
+
+"Well, captain, I think we can say that we shall be ready to take it on
+board on Monday. Will you get them at the office to write to the two
+mates to tell them to be here the first thing in the morning?
+
+"I think you are in luck, youngster," Mr. Timmins went on as the captain
+left the ship to see that a strong gang of carpenters were set to work.
+"A trip up the Mediterranean will be a capital breaking in for you. You
+will hardly be out of sight of land all the way, and Alexandria and
+Smyrna are two ports well worth seeing. We don't very often get a jaunt
+up the Mediterranean now; those rascally steamers get all the work."
+
+When the riggers had once left the ship Jack had nothing more to do, and
+Mr. Timmins told him that it would be no use his coming again until
+Monday morning.
+
+"You will be useful then," he said, "helping to check off the cargo as
+it comes on board. You had better bring your chest down and take up your
+quarters here. I shall get the cook in on Monday, and I expect we shall
+all stop on board. Of course when work is over you can always go back
+home when you are disposed."
+
+To Mrs. Robson's delight, therefore, Jack was able to spend the next few
+days at home, and also to assure her that his first voyage was to be a
+short one only.
+
+All was in readiness on Monday morning. The second and third mates came
+on board early; the crew were not to join until the evening before
+sailing, as the work of loading was done by stevedores. The second and
+third mates were both young men. They had spoken to Jack on board the
+bawley, and had shaken hands with him when they left Leigh with warm
+expressions of gratitude, and they both greeted him most cordially as
+soon as they met him on the deck of the _Wild Wave_. Jack therefore
+commenced his career as a sailor under altogether exceptionally pleasant
+conditions. The captain and two of the mates were under very deep
+obligations to him, and Mr. Timmins had already conceived a very
+favourable opinion of him from his willingness to turn his hand to
+anything, and from his quickness and handiness.
+
+For the next three days work went on from morning until night. Jack was
+stationed at one of the hatchways with the second mate checking off
+every box, bale, and package as it went down. The boatswain and crew
+came on board on the Tuesday, as there was the work of bending the sails
+and getting all in readiness for the start to be got through. Jack had
+not returned home on Monday or Tuesday night, but on Wednesday he went
+home to say good-bye, for the vessel was to go out of dock at noon on
+Thursday.
+
+Before leaving home he donned for the first time his neat uniform, which
+had only come a few days before. Lily was delighted with his appearance,
+and his mother felt no little pride as she looked at him, and, sad as
+she was at the prospect of his long absence, was thoroughly convinced
+that the choice he had made was a wise one. Mrs. Godstone and her
+daughter had been down twice to call upon Mrs. Robson since her arrival
+at Dulwich, and on the previous Saturday Jack and his mother had gone
+there to dine, Captain and Mrs. Murchison being the only other guests.
+
+After a tearful good-bye Jack started from home. On his arrival on board
+he found two other lads, one a year older than himself and one as much
+younger. Jim Tucker, the elder, had already made two or three voyages in
+Mr. Godstone's ships. Arthur Hill was going to sea for the first time.
+Jack knew that two other midshipmen were sailing in the _Wild Wave_, and
+found them arranging their things in the little cabin, with three bunks,
+allotted to them.
+
+"Hallo! You are Robson, I suppose?" Jim Tucker began as he entered. "You
+have got a lot of gear here in the cabin, and you must stow it away in a
+smaller space than it takes up at present or we shall never fit in."
+
+"I have not begun to stow it away yet," Jack said. "I was waiting to see
+how much you had both got, and which berth you were going to choose,
+before I began to settle at all."
+
+"Yes, that is all right enough," Tucker answered. "Well, as I am the
+senior, I will take this berth under the port."
+
+"I suppose I am next," Jack said. "I will take the top one opposite."
+
+This being settled the lads proceeded to put things straight and stow
+away their portmanteaus.
+
+As soon as they had done this they went on deck. The vessel was already
+warping out of the dock, and as soon as she was through the gates a
+steam-tug seized her and took her down the river. It was eight o'clock,
+and the sun was just setting, when the hawser attached to the tug was
+thrown off. Some of the sails had already been hoisted, for the wind was
+northerly. The rest were now shaken out and sheeted home, and under a
+cloud of white canvas--for the _Wild Wave_ had been fitted with an
+entirely new suit of sails--the vessel proceeded on her way. The
+officers were divided into two watches. The first and third mates and
+Arthur Hill were in one watch, the second mate and the other two lads in
+the other.
+
+After the constant work on board the smack Jack found it strange as he
+came down the river to be walking up and down the deck with nothing to
+do. The _Wild Wave_ passed through a fleet of bawleys trawling off Hole
+Haven; he knew every one of them by sight, but the _Bessy_ was not among
+them.
+
+Meals had been irregular that day with the officers, for there was much
+to be seen after in coiling down ropes, washing the decks, and in
+getting everything neatly in ship-shape. As they passed the Middle Sunk
+the second mate touched Jack on the shoulder.
+
+"That's her," he said; "at least all that remains of her," and he
+pointed to some black timbers just appearing above the surface of the
+water.
+
+"Yes; that's her," Jack said. "I heard from my uncle that they blew her
+up three weeks ago."
+
+"Rather a different scene from what it was that day," the mate, whose
+name was Hoare, said. "I thought it was all up with us, and even when we
+saw you coming we hardly believed that you could get near enough to take
+us off; and now it is as smooth as glass."
+
+"It was a lucky day for me, sir, that was," Jack said. "I had then
+nothing to look forward to, beyond sailing a bawley; now I have got the
+life I always wanted to follow, and every prospect of getting on."
+
+"That you have, my lad," Hoare agreed. "It was a rare bit of luck for
+you that you made us out, no doubt, and a rare bit of luck for us too."
+
+The voyage began well. The wind continued light and in the right quarter
+all the first week. Jack and his companions were not idle, and always
+went aloft with the watch when there was occasion to make any change
+with the sails. This was at first a trial for Arthur Hill; but Jim
+Tucker was an old hand at it, and Jack, who had often had to make his
+way up the _Bessy's_ mast when she was rolling heavily, was soon quite
+at home on the yards of the _Wild Wave_. For two hours every morning the
+three boys worked at navigation, Mr. Hoare acting as instructor.
+
+So smooth was the sea and so slight the motion that Jack could hardly
+believe that he was sailing down through the Bay of Biscay, of which he
+had heard so much; and he was quite surprised when, on the fifth day
+after sailing, Mr. Hoare pointed to land on the port bow, and told him
+that was Portugal.
+
+"We have had capital luck, so far," the officer said. "If the wind does
+but hold till we once get fairly round Cape St. Vincent, it may change
+as soon as it likes into any quarter except the east, and we are not
+very likely to get that at this time of the year."
+
+"I should not mind a change of wind a bit, sir," Jack said; "it would
+bring us something to do."
+
+"Ah, yes; after being accustomed to go about every five minutes or so on
+the Thames, I understand you finding this monotonous, Jack. When you
+have had a little more of the sea, you won't mind how much you get of
+fine weather and favouring winds. As for storms, I don't care if I never
+see another. They are very grand to read of in books, and when you have
+got a stout ship and plenty of sea room there is no need to be afraid;
+but when you are wet through for a week at a spell, and the galley-fires
+can't be kept going, there is very little comfort in it."
+
+The wind changed next day to the west, and by evening was blowing hard.
+A good deal of the canvas was taken off, and the ship edged further away
+from land; but after blowing strongly the wind abated again, and the
+next day the _Wild Wave_ passed Cape St. Vincent and headed for the
+Straits of Gibraltar. As the wind still held from the west they made a
+rapid run, and in ten days after passing St. Vincent dropped anchor in
+the harbour of Alexandria.
+
+The next day the captain said to Jim Tucker, "You three lads can go
+ashore after dinner to-day. There is nothing particular for you to do on
+board, and it is well to get a view of these foreign towns while you
+can. When you once get to be mates you will not have much chance to do
+so, for then you will have to be looking after the loading and unloading
+of the cargo. Come off before gun-fire. There are about as cut-throat a
+lot of thieves in Alexandria as in any port on the Mediterranean, and
+that is saying a good deal."
+
+"It is quite possible that there will be trouble here before long," Mr.
+Hoare remarked at dinner.
+
+"I saw something in the paper about it," Mr. Alston, the third mate,
+said; "but I did not trouble to read through the accounts. What is it
+all about?"
+
+"There has been a sort of peaceable revolution," Mr. Hoare said. "The
+colonels of the regiments in Cairo, headed by a general named Arabi
+Pasha, mutinied, and the viceroy had to give way to them."
+
+"What did they mutiny about?" the third mate asked.
+
+"Well, in the first place they wanted privileges for the army, and in
+the second place they wanted a lot of Europeans who hold berths to be
+dismissed, and the government to be entirely in the hands of natives. It
+is a sort of national movement, with the army at the head of it; and the
+viceroy, although still nominally the ruler of Egypt, is in fact little
+more than a cipher in the hands of Arabi and the colonels. They say the
+French are at the bottom of it, and it is likely enough. They have
+always been jealous of our influence in Egypt. However, I do not
+suppose we shall interfere in the matter, unless they break regularly
+out and ill-treat Europeans, and threaten to seize the canal or
+something of that sort."
+
+After dinner the three boys landed together in a boat. Half a dozen
+natives pressed round them directly they stepped ashore, and offered to
+act as guides; but these offers they refused, for, as Jim Tucker said,
+"We have only got to walk about, and we are certain to find ourselves
+somewhere. It will be time enough talking about taking a guide when it
+is time for us to make down to the port again. This is a long street,
+let us follow it. It must lead somewhere."
+
+Staring into the funny little shops, and at the varying crowds, composed
+of people of all the nationalities of the Mediterranean, mingled with a
+swarm of scantily-clad natives, and women wrapped up in dark blue cotton
+cloths, the lads made their way along.
+
+"What an awful place for flies!" Arthur Hill said, after brushing two or
+three off his cheek. "Just look at that child! Why, there are a dozen
+round its eyes, and it doesn't seem to mind them in the least; and there
+is another just the same!"
+
+"I expect the coating of dirt is so thick that they do not feel it," Jim
+Tucker said. "Poor little beggars, most of them look as if they had not
+had a wash for the last month. The women are ugly enough, what you can
+see of them, and that is not much. What a rascally set the Europeans
+look! The Egyptians are gentlemen by the side of them. I fancy from what
+I have heard they are the sweepings of the European ports--Greeks,
+Italians, Maltese, and French. When a fellow makes it too hot at home
+for the place to hold him, he comes over here--
+
+"Ah! this is more like a town," he broke off as they entered the great
+square. "My goodness! how hot the sun does blaze down here. I say, here
+is a refreshment place. Sorbette--Ices. It is lucky that they put the
+English. Come on, you fellows, an ice would be just the thing now."
+
+As they came out they were accosted by an Egyptian driver. "Take a
+carriage, gentlemen? Drive to Sweet-water Canal. See the gardens."
+
+"What do you say, Jack?" Tucker asked. "I suppose we may as well go
+there as anywhere else."
+
+"Well, we will go there later, Tucker. One does get shade in the narrow
+streets; but there would be no fun in driving with this sun blazing down
+on us. By five o'clock, when the sun gets a bit lower, it will be
+pleasant enough. I vote we go into the narrow streets, where we shall
+get shade, and see the natives in their own quarters."
+
+The others agreed, and turning out of the square they were soon in the
+lanes.
+
+"This is not half as amusing as the Indian towns," Tucker said. "Last
+voyage I went to Calcutta, and it is jolly in the natives' town there,
+seeing the natives squatting in their little shops, tinkering and
+tailoring, and all sorts of things. And such a crowd of them in the
+streets! This is a poor place in comparison, and most of the shops you
+see have European names over them. However, one gets the shade; that is
+something."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE RIOT IN ALEXANDRIA.
+
+
+FOR half an hour the lads sauntered on, interested in the people rather
+than the shops. They bought a few things. Jack invested in half a pound
+of Egyptian tobacco and a gaily-decorated pipe for his Uncle Ben, two
+little filigree brooches, and a couple of very large silk handkerchiefs
+of many colours, with knotted fringes, for his mother and sister.
+
+"I do not know what they will do with them," he said; "but they will do
+to put on the back of a sofa or something of that sort."
+
+The others also made some purchases, both expending a good deal more
+than Jack did; but the latter said that he would keep his money for
+Smyrna, where probably he would get all sorts of pretty things.
+
+They were walking quietly along, when they saw a commotion in front of
+them. A number of men were shouting and gesticulating angrily, and blows
+were exchanged.
+
+"Let us get out of this," Jack said. "It is no good running the risk of
+getting our heads broken."
+
+People were now running from the shops, while from side streets the
+natives poured down.
+
+"This is a regular row!" Jim Tucker exclaimed. "Look! those fellows are
+all armed with big sticks. Listen! there are pistols going off somewhere
+else."
+
+A moment later the natives fell suddenly upon some Europeans standing
+close to the boys. These drew knives and pistols, and a fierce combat at
+once raged.
+
+"Come out of this!" Jim exclaimed, running into a shop close by. "We
+must make a bolt for it somewhere."
+
+At that moment an Italian, armed with a pistol, rushed in from behind
+the shop.
+
+On seeing the three lads he exclaimed in broken English, "Shut the door,
+they mean to kill us all!"
+
+The boys closed the door, and the owner piled some boxes and other goods
+against it; but there was no fastening up the window, for the fastenings
+were outside.
+
+"Come upstairs," the man said, and the lads followed him to the floor
+above.
+
+The battle was still raging in the street. Groups of Greeks and Italians
+stood together, defending themselves with their knives from the heavy
+sticks of their assailants, but were being fast beaten down. The shrieks
+of women rose loud above the shouting of the combatants, while from the
+upper windows the cracks of revolvers sounded out as the Greek, Maltese,
+and Italian shopkeepers who had not sallied out into the streets tried
+to aid their comrades below.
+
+"Now, have you got any arms you can give us?" Tucker asked. "This looks
+like a regular rising of the natives. They would never all have their
+sticks handy if they hadn't prepared for it."
+
+"There are some long knives in that cupboard," the man said, "and there
+is another pistol my brother Antonio has got. He is sick in bed."
+
+Just at this moment the door opened and another Italian came in in
+trousers and shirt.
+
+"What is it, Joseph?"
+
+"The natives have risen and are massacring all the Europeans."
+
+The sick man made his way to the window.
+
+"I am not surprised," he said, as he discharged his pistol and brought
+down a native who was in the act of battering in the head of a fallen
+man. "You said only yesterday, you thought there was mischief
+brewing--that the natives were surly and insolent; but I did not think
+they would dare to do this."
+
+"Well, brother, we will sell our lives as dearly as we can."
+
+The conflict was now pretty nearly over, and the two men withdrew from
+the window and closed the jalousies.
+
+"Most of them are making off," Antonio said, peeping cautiously out
+through the lattice-work. "I suppose they are going to attack somewhere
+else. What are the police doing? They ought to be here soon."
+
+But the time went on, and there were no signs of the police. The natives
+now began to break open the shops and plunder the contents. The two men
+placed themselves at the top of the stairs. It was not long before they
+heard a crashing of glass and a breaking of wood, then a number of men
+rushed into the shop.
+
+"Don't fire, Joseph," Antonio said, "so long as they do not try to come
+up here. They may take away the soap and candles and other things if
+they choose, if they will but leave us alone."
+
+The stairs were straight and narrow, and led direct from the shop itself
+to the floor above. After plundering the shop the natives departed
+laden with their spoil, without attempting to ascend the stairs.
+
+"We are in an awful fix here," Jim Tucker said. "What do you think we
+had better do? Shall we get out at the back of the house and try and
+make a bolt of it?"
+
+"I do not think that is any good," Jack replied. "I was at the back
+window just now, and could hear shouts and the report of firearms all
+over the place. No; if we go out into the streets we are safe to be
+murdered, if we stop here they may not search the house. Anyhow, at the
+worst we can make a better fight here than in the streets."
+
+Two hours passed. At times large bodies of natives rushed along the
+streets, brandishing their sticks and shouting triumphantly. Some few of
+them had firearms, and these they discharged at the windows as they
+passed along.
+
+"We ought to have had some troops here long before this," Antonio said
+to his brother.
+
+The latter, who was sitting on a chair evidently exhausted by his
+exertions, shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"They were more likely to help the mob than to interfere with them. The
+troops are at the bottom of the whole trouble."
+
+A clock on the mantel-piece struck five, just as a fresh body of natives
+came down the street. They were evidently bent upon pillage, as they
+broke up and turned into the shops. Shouts and pistol-shots were again
+heard.
+
+"They are sacking the houses this time, Joseph. Now the hour has come."
+
+The two brothers knelt together before the figure of a saint in a
+little niche in the wall. The boys glanced at each other, and each,
+following the example of the Italians, knelt down by a chair and prayed
+for a minute or two. As they rose to their feet there was a sudden din
+below. Pistol in hand, the brothers rushed out on the landing.
+
+"Do not try to come up!" Antonio shouted in Egyptian. "You are welcome
+to what you can find below, but you shall not come up here. We are
+desperate men, and well armed."
+
+The natives, who were just about to ascend the stairs, drew back at the
+sight of the brothers standing pistol in hand at the top, with the three
+lads behind them. The stairs were only wide enough for one to advance at
+a time, and the natives, eager as they were for blood and plunder,
+shrank from making the attempt. Some of those who were farthest back
+began to slink out of the shop, and the others followed their example.
+There was a loud talking outside for some time, then several of them
+again entered. Some of them began to pull out the drawers, as if in the
+hopes of finding something that former searchers had overlooked, others
+passed on into an inner room.
+
+"What are they up to now, I wonder?" Arthur Hill said.
+
+"No good, I will be bound," Jim Tucker replied. "There! They seem to be
+going out again now."
+
+Just as the last man passed out Antonio exclaimed in Italian, "I smell
+smoke, Joseph; they have fired the house! They have set fire to the room
+below," he translated to the lads; but even before he spoke the boys
+understood what had taken place, for a light smoke poured out from the
+inner room, and a smell of burning wood came to their nostrils.
+
+"The beggars have done us," Jim Tucker said bitterly. "We could have
+held these stairs against them for an hour, but this fire will turn us
+out in no time."
+
+The smoke rose thicker and thicker, and they could hear the crackling of
+wood.
+
+"Let us get out of the back window, we may get off that way."
+
+Touching Antonio's arm he beckoned him in that direction. The Italian
+nodded, and the party went into the back room. Antonio drew the sheets
+from the beds and knotted them. Jim went to the window and looked out.
+As he did so there was a yell of derision from below. A score of the
+natives had made their way through the adjoining houses, and taken up
+their station from behind to cut off their retreat. It needed no words
+to tell those in the room what had taken place. Antonio threw down the
+sheets and said to his brother, "Let us sally out, Joseph; the sooner it
+is over the better. See, the smoke is coming up through the floor
+already. Let us go out before we are suffocated."
+
+"I am ready," the other replied.
+
+Followed by the boys the brothers left the room and descended the
+stairs. The flames were already rushing out of the back room. There was
+a shout from without as the defenders were seen to descend the ladder.
+The boys grasped each other's hands as a final farewell, and then with
+set lips and knives firmly grasped followed the two Italians and dashed
+into the street. Sharp cracks of the revolvers sounded out, and then in
+an instant the mob closed round the little party. Keeping close
+together, cutting and thrusting with their knives, the boys tried to
+make their way through. The crowd was so thick, that mixed up as they
+were in it, the natives could not use their sticks, but drawing their
+knives grappled with the boys. Jack felt a sharp pain in several places;
+he fell, struggled to his feet again, was again struck down. He seemed
+to hear a voice raised above the din, then he knew nothing more.
+
+When he recovered his senses he found that a native was stooping over
+him and pressing a cloth to his forehead. He lay still for a minute or
+two, wondering faintly what had become of him. Looking round he could
+see he was in a small room. An Egyptian of the better class, in
+buttoned-up frock-coat and light trousers, and with a scarlet fez on his
+head, was standing looking down at him, and was apparently giving
+instructions to the native, who was endeavouring to staunch one of his
+wounds. As soon as he took this in, the thought of his comrades flashed
+across his mind, and pushing the man's hand back from his forehead he
+struggled into a sitting position.
+
+"Hurrah, Jack! I was afraid that they had done for you," a voice said,
+and he saw Tucker and Hill sitting propped up against a wall.
+
+Two of the natives now took hold of him, dragged him along the floor,
+and placed him by the side of the others. Then the Egyptian said, "You
+keep quiet, I save your lives. If you move or make noise we kill you at
+once."
+
+The lads were all faint from loss of blood, and half stupefied from the
+heavy blows they had received; and after a word or two of thankfulness
+at finding themselves all together and alive, they lay quiet. There were
+two or three natives in the room, and from time to time one went out or
+came in with news as to what was passing in the streets. Each time there
+was much talk among their guards, and it was evident that they were
+dissatisfied with the result. The outbreak, indeed, had not been, as the
+boys supposed, universal; had it been, the whole European population
+would probably have been destroyed. It was confined to a portion only of
+the lower part of the town. Whether it was planned or not beforehand is
+a disputed point.
+
+It began in a quarrel between some Maltese and natives; but this quarrel
+seemed to be accepted by the latter as a signal for a general attack,
+and they rushed from their houses armed with heavy sticks and knives and
+attacked the Europeans. Rumours had for some time been current among
+them that the Christians intended to conquer Egypt and to put down the
+Mahomedan religion, and in their excited state a spark caused an
+explosion. It was perhaps fortunate that it came when it did, and was
+confined to a comparatively small part of the town; for had it spread
+over the whole city the loss of life would have been great indeed, for
+the natives had entirely their own way from three o'clock in the
+afternoon until seven in the evening.
+
+The police made no attempt whatever to put down the riot. The English
+and Italian consuls, immediately they heard what was going on, drove
+together to the governor's to call upon him to send for the troops, and
+to take vigorous steps to restore order. They were attacked upon the way
+and both wounded, but they succeeded in reaching the governor's palace.
+By means of the strongest representations, and by telling him that he
+would be held personally responsible by the Powers they represented for
+the consequences of the disturbance, they at last induced him to act,
+and at seven o'clock the troops arrived and were marched through the
+streets, when the natives at once dispersed to their homes.
+
+Some seventy Europeans, including ten or twelve women, were killed, and
+all the shops in the quarter where the riot took place, pillaged. No
+damage was done in the business part of the town. There the Europeans at
+once armed themselves as soon as the news of the riot reached them, and
+formed up in the square. Strong parties were landed from the ships of
+war, and were prepared to give so hot a reception to the mob should they
+come that way, that the rioters confined their work to the quarter in
+which it began. The Egyptians are timid people, and the population of
+Alexandria were not sure that the army would go to any great length
+against the Europeans, or that the country in general would be with
+them. The outbreak was therefore rather the result of the hatred
+existing among the lower class against the riffraff of the various
+nationalities gathered in Alexandria, whose conduct frequently gave good
+grounds indeed for the feeling entertained against them, than of
+deliberate intention.
+
+How many of the natives were killed in the fight was never known; the
+bodies were hastily carried away and buried by their friends as soon as
+the rumour spread of the arrival of the troops, and only some eight or
+ten of their dead were found lying in the streets. The rescue of the
+boys was due to the presence in the mob of a wealthy bey, who lived a
+short distance out of the town. This man was a brother of one of the
+leaders of the military insurrection at Cairo, and was in close
+communication with Arabi and the colonels.
+
+He had been actively preparing for a general rising against the
+Europeans by the propagation of stories hostile to the latter, and by
+exciting the greed of the lowest classes of the town by pointing out how
+great was the wealth they could obtain by looting the well-filled shops
+and warehouses. Some of his agents had assisted to bring about the riot.
+But he had not intended it to go so far, and had only wished to add to
+the excitement and ill-feeling that prevailed, by a tumult attended with
+loss of life upon both sides.
+
+He was well satisfied when he saw how eagerly the natives rushed to
+arms, but as soon as the conflict fairly began he had sent his men among
+the rioters urging them not to proceed further until the army was at
+hand to support them. He knew that the plunder they had obtained from
+the small shops would only excite their desire to appropriate the
+contents of the rich stores in the Europeans' quarters, and was
+therefore well contented with what had been done. He had happened to be
+passing when the little party rushed from the burning house into the
+crowd. As they did so he caught sight of the naval uniform of the boys,
+and imagined that they belonged to one of the ships of war.
+
+He saw at once that their lives might be valuable to him. If his party
+triumphed he could hand them over and take credit for their capture; if
+the great insurrection that was already planned failed, he could use
+them as a means of obtaining favourable terms for himself. He therefore
+called together two or three of his men who were in the crowd, and made
+his way to the scene of conflict just as the lads succumbed to their
+foes. With great difficulty he succeeded in rescuing them from their
+assailants, and then had them carried into a house hard by.
+
+As soon as it was dark the boys were wrapped up in dark cloths and
+carried away through the streets. As many dead bodies were being
+similarly taken off by the natives no questions were asked, nor did the
+soldiers now scattered about interfere with their bearers. The motion
+started the boys' wounds into bleeding again. They had difficulty in
+breathing through the cloths bound round them, and when they were at
+last thrown heavily down upon the ground their consciousness had almost
+entirely left them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PRISONERS.
+
+
+FOR two or three minutes after the door was shut and bolted not a word
+was spoken by the three boys. All were sorely bruised, and bleeding from
+many cuts and wounds, and breathless and exhausted by the way in which
+they had been carried along and the force with which they had been
+thrown down. Jack was the first to speak.
+
+"I say, how are you both--are either of you badly hurt?"
+
+"I don't know yet," Tucker replied. "It seems to me there is nothing
+left of me. I am sore and smarting all over. How are you, Arthur?"
+
+"I don't know," Arthur said. "I wonder that I am alive at all, but I
+don't know that I am really much hurt."
+
+"Well, let us try and see," Jack said.
+
+"See!" Jim repeated scornfully. "Why, I can't see my own hand."
+
+"Well, I mean let us find out if we can stand up and move about. We
+shall find out, anyhow, whether any of our bones are broken."
+
+With some difficulty and with many exclamations of pain the lads rose to
+their feet.
+
+"Are both you fellows up?" Jim asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, then, we can't be very bad, anyhow. My arms are very stiff, and
+it seems to me that my jacket is soaked with blood, but where it comes
+from I do not know. I feel as if my head and face were one mass of cuts
+and bruises."
+
+"That is just how I feel, Jim," Arthur replied, and Jack agreed.
+
+"Well, this is the rummest affair!" Jim said more cheerfully, now it
+seemed that none of them had sustained any very serious injury. "There
+were we a few hours ago eating ices and enjoying ourselves stunningly;
+then this frightful row took place (what it was all about I have not the
+least idea), and just as it seemed all up with us the fellow this place
+belongs to (at least I suppose it belongs to him) steps in and saves us,
+and then we are dragged up here and chucked into this hole."
+
+"It seems like a dream," Arthur said.
+
+"It is a good deal too real to be a dream, it is a mighty unpleasant
+reality. Well, I wish there was a little daylight so that we could see
+what has happened to us and tie ourselves up a bit; as it is, there is
+nothing to do but to lie down again and try to get off to sleep. I say,
+won't there be a row after this, when they get to know at home what has
+taken place. I wonder what they are going to do with us in the morning?
+Do you think they mean to kill us, Jack?"
+
+"No, I should not think there was a chance of that. This fellow would
+not have taken us out of the hands of the mob just for the pleasure of
+cutting our throats privately. Still the rough way we were carried along
+and thrown down here does not look as if he did it from any feeling of
+kindness," Jack remarked.
+
+"No, I do not suppose he did it from kindness, Jack; anyhow, it does not
+look like it. Well there is no use halloing about that now, let us try
+and get a sleep. My head feels as if it was swollen up as big as a
+four-gallon keg."
+
+Accustomed not unfrequently to get a nap when on watch under the lee of
+the bulwark, the hardness of the ground did not trouble the boys, and
+before many minutes they were all asleep.--Jack and Tucker were awakened
+by a shout from Arthur.
+
+"Watch on deck!"
+
+They started into a sitting position and looked round. A ray of sunlight
+was streaming in through an opening some six inches square, high up on
+the wall.
+
+"Well, we are objects!" Jim said, looking at his two companions. They
+were indeed; their faces were bruised and stained with blood, their hair
+matted together. Arthur's right eye was completely closed, and there was
+a huge swelling from a jagged bruise over the eyebrow. Jack had received
+a clear cut almost across the forehead, from which the blood was still
+oozing. Jim's face was swollen and bruised all over, and one of his ears
+was cut nearly off. He was inclined to bear his injuries philosophically
+until Jack told him that half of his ear was gone. This put him into a
+furious rage, and he vowed vengeance against the whole of the Egyptian
+race.
+
+"Fancy going about all one's life with half an ear. Why, every boy in
+the street will point at it, and one will be a regular laughing-stock.
+You fellows' wounds are nothing to that."
+
+"You will have to wear your hair long, Jim; it won't be noticed much if
+you do."
+
+"Don't tell me," Jim replied. "I tell you I shall be a regular sight
+wherever I go. I shall have fellows asking me what has happened to me.
+Now, had it been an arm, chaps would have been sorry for me; but who is
+going to pity a man for losing half an ear?"
+
+"I don't think I would mind giving half an ear just at present for a
+good drink and a bucket of water to wash in."
+
+"Nor would I," Arthur agreed.
+
+"That is all very well," Jim grumbled. "I have lost half an ear and
+haven't got any water to drink."
+
+"Well," Jack said, "I suppose they do not mean to starve us anyhow, so
+no doubt they will bring us something before long."
+
+Little more was said. Their tongues were swollen, their mouths parched,
+they still felt dizzy and stupid from the blows they had received; so
+they sat down and waited. The room they were in was apparently an
+underground cellar, generally used as a store-room. It was about twelve
+feet square, and the only light was that obtained through the little
+opening in the wall. Jack thought as he looked at it that if one of them
+stood on another's shoulders he could look out and see where they were.
+But as that mattered nothing at present, and they were not in the mood
+for any exertion, he held his tongue.
+
+In about an hour a footstep was heard descending some stairs, then bolts
+were undone, and two Egyptians with swords and pistols in their girdles
+entered. They brought with them some bread and a jar of water. Jack
+jumped up.
+
+"Look here," he said, "that is all right enough to eat and drink, but we
+want some water to wash with. Wash, you understand?" he went on as the
+men looked at him evidently without comprehending. "Wash, you see,--like
+this;" and he went through a pantomime of washing his hands and slushing
+his head and face. The Egyptians grinned and nodded; they said a word to
+each other and then retired.
+
+"I believe it is all right," Jack said, "and that they are going to
+bring some."
+
+A long draught of water from the jar did them an immense deal of good,
+but none had at present any inclination to eat. Presently the steps were
+heard coming down the stairs again, and the men entered, bringing in a
+large pan made of red earthenware, and containing three or four gallons
+of water.
+
+"Good men!" Jim exclaimed enthusiastically; "I will spare your lives for
+this when I slay the rest of your countrymen," and he shook the
+Egyptians warmly by the hand. "I have nothing to give you," he went on,
+"for they turned our pockets inside out; but I owe you one, and will pay
+you if I ever get a chance. Now, lads, this is glorious!"
+
+For half an hour the three boys knelt round the pan, bathing their faces
+and heads. Then they stripped to the waist, and after a general wash
+tore strips off their shirts and bandaged the various cuts they had
+received on the head, shoulders, and arms. In no case were these
+serious, although they were deep enough to be painful.
+
+"It's nothing short of a miracle," Jack said, "that we have got off so
+easily. If the beggars had not been in such a hurry to get at us that
+they got into each other's way they would have done for us to a
+certainty; but they were all slashing away together, and not one could
+get a fair drive at us. Well, I feel about five hundred per cent. better
+now. Let us get on our things again and have breakfast. I feel as if I
+could tuck into that bread now."
+
+Just as they had got on their clothes the door again opened, and a
+gigantic negro entered. He carried with him a wooden box of the shape of
+a bandbox. He opened this and took out a melon and three large bunches
+of grapes, laid them down on the ground without a word, nodded, and
+went out again.
+
+"My eye, this is first-rate," Jim said in delight. "Well, you see, it is
+not going to be so bad after all. That chap who brought us up here is
+evidently friendly, though why he should have sent us the fruit by
+itself instead of with the bread and water I do not know. However, never
+mind that now; let us set to."
+
+The boys enjoyed their breakfast immensely. They first ate the grapes;
+when these were finished they looked longingly at the melon, which was a
+very large one.
+
+"How on earth are we to tackle that?" Jim asked. "Our knives have gone
+with our other things."
+
+"Perhaps we can find something to cut it up," Jack said, getting up and
+turning over the litter on the floor with his foot. For two or three
+minutes he searched about. "Hurrah!" he exclaimed at last, "here is a
+bit of old hoop-iron that will do first-rate. It is not stiff enough to
+cut with, but I think we can saw with it, if one takes hold of each
+end."
+
+Without much difficulty the melon was cut into three parts, and devoured
+to the rind. Breakfast over they had time to consider their situation
+again.
+
+"I expect," Jack said, "this pasha or whatever he is who has got us here
+is waiting to see how things go. If the Egyptians get the best of it he
+will hand us over to Arabi, or whoever comes to be their chief. If we
+get the best of it he will give us up, and say that he has saved our
+lives. That would account, you see, for this breakfast business. He only
+sent us bread and water by his Egyptian fellows, and he sent us the
+fruit privately by that black slave of his, whom he can rely upon to
+hold his tongue."
+
+"I should not be surprised if that was it, Jack. That makes it look
+hopeful for us, for there is no doubt in the world who will get the best
+of it in the end. We may not thrash the beggars for a time. Alexandria
+is a big place, and there are a lot of troops here, and they can bring
+any number more down from Cairo by rail. The crews of the ships of war
+here are nothing like strong enough to land and do the whole business at
+once; besides, they have no end of forts and batteries. I expect it will
+be some time before they can bring ships and troops from England to
+capture this place."
+
+"But there are the Italians and French," Arthur said. "They are just as
+much interested in the matter as we are, for I expect there were a good
+many more Italians and French killed yesterday than there were English."
+
+"Ten to one, I should think," Jim agreed. "I don't think there are many
+English here, except the big merchants and bankers and that sort of
+thing, while all the small shops seem to have either French, Italian, or
+Greek names over the door. Well, if it is going on like this, we can
+afford to wait for a bit."
+
+"Look here, Arthur," Jack said, "I will stand under that opening, and
+you get on my shoulders and look out. I don't suppose you will see much,
+but one likes to know where one is and which way one is looking. We know
+we are somewhere on the high ground beside the town. We must be looking
+somewhere north-east by the way that gleam of sunlight comes in. Very
+likely you can get a glimpse of the sea." Jack placed himself against
+the wall, and Jim helped Arthur on to his shoulders.
+
+"Yes, I can see the sea," Arthur said as soon as his head reached the
+level of the loop-hole. "I can see the outer harbour, and several ships
+lying there and boats rowing about."
+
+"Well, that is something anyhow," Jim said as Arthur leapt down again.
+"We shall be able to see any men-of-war that come in, and form some idea
+as to what is going on. How thick is the wall?" Jim went on.
+
+"I should say quite a couple of feet thick. I could only see a small
+patch of the water through it."
+
+"Then I am afraid there is no chance of our working our way out," Jim
+said. "The only way of escape I can see would be to spring on those two
+fellows who bring our food. We are stronger than they are, I am sure,
+and we might master them."
+
+"I don't expect we could do it without noise," Jack said. "Besides, they
+have got pistols, and we certainly could not master them without their
+being able to shout. We might manage one easy enough, if one sprang on
+him and held his arms and prevented him getting his pistol, and another
+clapped his hands over his mouth; but the three of us could not manage
+two silently. Besides, I should not like to hurt them after their
+bringing us that water to wash in."
+
+"No; we certainly couldn't do that," the other boys agreed.
+
+"Besides," Jack went on, "we do not know where this staircase leads. But
+no doubt it goes up into the house, and when we got to the top someone
+would see us at once; and even if we broke through there would be such a
+chase we should never get away, and anyhow could not pass through the
+town down to the port and steal a boat. No, Jim, I don't think it is the
+least use in the world trying to escape that way. If we could dig
+through the wall and make our way out at night, and get quietly down
+among the sand-hills by the shore, we might manage to get hold of a boat
+and row out to the ships; but I do not see that there is any chance of
+our being able to do that when we haven't got as much as a knife among
+us."
+
+Jim examined the walls. "There would not be much difficulty in working
+through them if we had a couple of good knives, they are made of
+sun-dried bricks. However, we will hunt about among this rubbish and see
+if we can find some more bits of iron. Anyhow, we can wait a day or two
+before we make up our minds about it and see what comes of it. I vote we
+clear up this litter a bit, and chuck it out through the opening. There
+is a close, musty smell in the place. The opening will be very handy for
+chucking everything out and keeping the place as clean as we can."
+
+"Yes, Jim; but the rubbish will be very useful to us if we decide to try
+to cut our way out, as we can put a lot of brick-dust and stuff under
+it. It would not do to throw that out of the window, for it would be
+seen at once by anyone passing."
+
+"Yes; you are right there, Jack. Well then, we have nothing to do but to
+take it as easy as we can."
+
+The closest search through the rubbish did not bring to light any other
+piece of iron, and the bit they had used as a knife was so thin and
+rusted as to be altogether useless for the purpose for which they
+required it.
+
+The days passed slowly. The two Egyptians brought bread and water
+regularly, and the Nubian as regularly additions to their
+meal--sometimes fruit, sometimes a dish of meat. Three bundles of maize
+straw were brought down the first evening to serve as beds for them, and
+on the following morning three or four men came down and swept up all
+the rubbish from the floor. Once every two days they were taken out
+under a guard of three men with swords and muskets, and allowed to sit
+down in the sun, with their backs against the wall, for an hour or two.
+The shipping still lay in the harbour, over which they commanded a good
+view; and after a few days they saw that several more vessels of war had
+entered it.
+
+"I can see that the boats are going backwards and forwards to the
+shore," Jim said, "so there is no regular war begun yet."
+
+"Look, Jim, over there to the right," Jack said. "There is a swarm of
+men at work. I believe they must be getting up a fresh battery there.
+That looks as if the Egyptians had made up their minds to fight."
+
+"So much the worse, Jack. I don't mind how much they fight when we are
+out of their hands (we know what will come of that when it begins), but
+if they fight while we are here it may turn out bad for us, whichever
+way it goes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BOMBARDMENT.
+
+
+WHILE the riot had been going on, a considerable proportion of the
+European community of Alexandria had taken refuge on board the ships in
+the harbour, the men who remained behind to protect their property
+sending off their wives and children. Many returned on shore as soon as
+it was known that the troops had arrived, but the alarm was by no means
+abated when it was seen next day by the manner of the soldiers that they
+sympathized entirely with the rioters. In two or three days a large
+proportion of the garrison of Cairo arrived, and Arabi himself came to
+Alexandria. No steps were taken to punish those concerned in the riot,
+although many were known to the Europeans who had escaped.
+
+The khedive was evidently powerless. The remonstrances of the European
+consuls were received by Arabi's council with contempt, and it was too
+evident to all that the riot had been but the beginning of a very much
+more serious affair. The women and children remained on board the ships;
+but the Europeans reopened their shops and continued business as usual,
+encouraged by the fact that not a day passed without vessels of war of
+one European power or another arriving in port. These had been
+despatched in all haste upon the news being received of the riot in
+Alexandria, and of the threatening aspect of affairs there.
+
+In ten days after the outbreak there were in port English, French,
+Italian, Spanish, and German ships of war, and the European community
+now regained confidence, believing that with so powerful a fleet close
+at hand the Egyptians would not venture upon any fresh act of
+aggression.
+
+Captain Murchison had been engaged in business connected with the cargo
+at the office of one of the principal merchants, when one of the clerks
+ran in with the news that there was a serious riot in the native part of
+the town, and it was said that the Europeans had been massacred. The
+office was at once closed, and the strong shutters put up. The clerks
+and employés were armed and placed in readiness to defend the place
+against an attack, and then Mr. Spratt and Captain Murchison went out to
+the great square to see what was going on. The greatest confusion
+reigned there. Numbers of women and children, the families of the
+Italian and Greek shopkeepers, were hurrying past on their way down to
+the port.
+
+The shops and offices had been hastily closed and barricaded. The clerks
+of the great mercantile houses and banks were turning out rifle in hand.
+The wildest rumours prevailed as to the extent of the riot, and it was
+not until two hours after the commencement of the disturbance that the
+consuls, finding that they could obtain no aid from the governor, took
+upon themselves to summon aid from the two ships of war that happened to
+be lying in the port. The appearance of two hundred sailors fully armed
+and ready for action at once restored confidence among the Europeans,
+and prevented the riot from extending.
+
+Upon his return to his ship after the arrival of the Egyptian troops and
+the termination of the riot, Captain Murchison was astonished and
+alarmed to hear that the three boys had not returned. He at once went on
+shore again, and remained for some hours making inquiries for them, but
+without obtaining any information whatever. The next morning he renewed
+the search. Matters had now settled down a little, and the shops were
+reopened. Going to the various restaurants in the great square he
+learned that three young officers had come in and eaten ices at one of
+them between two and three o'clock the day before, but he could learn
+nothing further.
+
+He went to the English consul. The latter sent a dragoman with him to
+the head of the police, who promised to have inquiries made. The first
+and second mates also went on shore and joined in the search. They
+agreed the best way would be that they should take various streets
+leading from the square and inquire at every European shop if three lads
+in European uniform had been noticed. For some time no success attended
+them; but at last they met with a Maltese at whose shop Jack had
+purchased two little filigree brooches. He said he had noticed that
+after they left his shop they walked down the street which led directly
+to the spot where the riot had began, and where the greater proportion
+of Europeans had lost their lives. The two officers went down to the
+scene of the riot, but could obtain no further information respecting
+the missing lads.
+
+The Europeans who had remained shut up in their houses while the riot
+was going on had all left immediately order was restored. The whole of
+the shops were wrecked and plundered, two or three houses had been
+burned down, and dark stains in the roadway showed where men had fallen
+and died.
+
+"I fear there is no doubt whatever," Captain Murchison said, when the
+two mates reported to him the result of their inquiries, "that the lads
+must have been just at the spot where the riot broke out; the time at
+which they passed exactly answered to it. But in that case what could
+have become of them? Mr. Cookson has shown me the official list of the
+killed as far as it is known at present. Their bodies have all been
+found; but neither in that list, nor in the list of the wounded, is
+there any mention of three young English lads. If they had been killed
+their bodies would have been found with the others, and indeed their
+uniforms would have at once attracted attention."
+
+"What in the world can have become of them? Could they have been in one
+of the houses that are burned?" Mr. Hoare suggested.
+
+"I should hardly think that possible," the captain said. "Their remains
+would have been found, and would have been returned in the list as three
+persons unrecognized; but all the bodies seem to have been identified."
+
+"Perhaps they have been carried off, and are prisoners somewhere," Mr.
+Timmins suggested.
+
+"That is more likely, Mr. Timmins. They may have been taken for
+midshipmen belonging to one of the ships of war, and have been seized by
+someone in the hope of getting a handsome ransom for them. Anyhow, I
+cannot believe that they are dead; or, at any rate, if they have been
+killed, it has not been in a fight in the street, or their bodies must
+have been found. I am most anxious about them, but I cannot believe that
+the worst has happened to them."
+
+Captain Murchison had bills printed in English, French, Italian, and
+Egyptian and distributed through the town, offering a reward for any
+information that would lead to the discovery, either dead or alive, of
+the missing lads. The bills met with no response. The Egyptians engaged
+in the attack upon the shops, who alone could have furnished information
+regarding the boys, were afraid to come forward, as they could not have
+done so without admitting their share in the massacre. As he could do
+nothing more, Captain Murchison left the matter in the hands of Mr.
+Cookson, the English consul, and a week after the riot the _Wild Wave_
+sailed for Smyrna, Captain Murchison saying that he should look in at
+Alexandria on his way back, and that the boys if found were to await his
+return there. He did not write home to announce their disappearance; his
+belief that they must be still alive was strong, and he was unwilling to
+plunge their friends into anxiety and grief until a further time had
+been allowed to elapse.
+
+For a long time negotiations went on between Admiral Seymour, who
+commanded the British fleet now at the port of Alexandria, and the
+government of the khedive. The ministers were really nothing more than
+the nominees of Arabi and the army, and the demands of the English
+admiral for satisfaction for the outrages, compensation to the
+sufferers, and the punishment of the guilty, were met with evasive
+answers. So threatening and insolent was the bearing of the Egyptian
+troops, that the greater part of the European population again left
+their houses and took refuge on board the ships in the harbour.
+
+More and more peremptory became the demands of the English admiral, but
+still no results were obtained. Egyptian troops now commenced throwing
+up fortifications at points commanding the position of the British ships
+in the harbour. The admiral sent ashore and insisted that these works
+should be at once discontinued. No attention was paid to the demand. A
+message was then sent through the consuls warning all Europeans in the
+town to embark at once, and an ultimatum was despatched to the Egyptian
+ministry, saying that unless the works were stopped and a satisfactory
+answer to the demands returned before nightfall the ships would open
+fire the next day; in the afternoon, as no reply had been received, the
+men-of-war steamed out of the harbour and took up their position off the
+town.
+
+The warships of the other nationalities also left the harbour; but as
+their governments refused to support actively the action of the English,
+they either steamed away or anchored at a distance as spectators of the
+approaching event. The various merchant-ships in harbour also sailed
+out, all of them crowded with fugitives from the town. The English fleet
+consisted of the _Invincible_, _Monarch_, _Penelope_, _Sultan_,
+_Alexandria_, _Superb_, _Inflexible_, and _Temeraire_, with the
+gun-boats _Signet_, _Condor_, _Bittern_, _Beacon_, and _Decoy_.
+
+Nearly a month had passed since the lads had been taken prisoners. They
+were in absolute ignorance as to what was going on in the town, except
+that they had been told by one of their guards, who spoke a few words of
+English, that Arabi and his troops were masters of Alexandria, and that
+every European in Egypt would be destroyed.
+
+"They may be masters of Alexandria at present," Jim Tucker said to his
+comrades as they talked the matter over, "but they won't be masters
+long. It is possible enough that they may cut the throats of all the
+Europeans in Egypt, but they will have to pay dearly for it if they do.
+I do not believe they will keep Alexandria long. Just look at all those
+men-of-war in the harbour. Why, there are white ensigns flying over a
+dozen of them! I suppose they are wasting time palavering at present,
+but when the time for action comes you see they will astonish these
+Egyptians."
+
+"That fellow said this morning that there were twenty thousand troops in
+the town," Jack said.
+
+"If there were a hundred thousand it would make no odds, Jack."
+
+"It would make no odds about our blowing the place up, Jim, but it would
+make a lot of odds if it came to landing. I do not suppose they could
+land more than a couple of thousand sailors from the fleet, if they did
+as much, and though I have no doubt they could lick about five times
+their own number in the field, it would be an awkward business if they
+had to fight their way through the narrow streets of the town."
+
+"Well, I suppose there will be some ships along with troops soon," Jim
+said. "It would take them a fortnight or three weeks to get ready, and
+another fortnight to get out here. Perhaps they waited a week or so to
+see whether the Egyptians were going to cave in before they began to get
+ready; but at any rate there ought to be troops here in another
+fortnight."
+
+The next morning early four of their guards came down and motioned them
+to follow them. They were evidently in high glee. Among them was the one
+who spoke English.
+
+"Come along, you English boys," he said. "Big fight going to begin. You
+see the forts sink all you ships in no time."
+
+"Well, we shall see about that," Tucker muttered as they followed their
+guard. "Perhaps you are crowing too early, my fine fellow."
+
+"At any rate," Arthur Hill said, "we may thank them for giving us a view
+of it."
+
+The guards led them to a spot where six or seven other men, all like
+themselves armed with muskets, were standing or sitting on a bank which
+commanded a view of the port and the sea beyond it. The boys threw
+themselves on the ground and looked at the panorama stretched away
+before them. They could see the two great ports, known as the Old and
+New Ports, with the peninsula jutting out between them, on which stood
+the khedive's palace, named Ras-el-tin, and other important buildings.
+Beyond stretched a long spit of land parallel with the shore, and
+sheltering the two ports.
+
+This spit was studded with forts, which formed the principal defences
+of Alexandria, although there were several forts, among them Forts Mex
+and Marabout, on the mainland near the mouths of the harbour. Most of
+these forts had been erected under the superintendence of French
+engineers, and were considered capable of defending the town against any
+naval force that could be brought against it. They were armed with heavy
+artillery of the best modern construction.
+
+The ports were entirely clear of shipping, but ranged along facing the
+forts lay the eight British ironclads. Four of them faced the forts at
+Ras-el-tin and the mouth of the harbour, three lay off the Mex
+Batteries, and one off a fort commanding what was known as the Boghaz
+Channel, while the little group of gun-boats lay out beyond the line of
+battleships.
+
+Further away to the east could be seen a great number of sailing-boats
+and steamers. Just at seven o'clock a great puff of white smoke broke
+out from the black side of the _Invincible_, which was carrying the
+admiral's flag, and even before the sound reached the ears of the little
+party on the hill similar bursts of smoke spurted out from the other
+vessels. Then came the deep roar of heavy artillery, mingled with the
+rushing sound of their huge missiles through the air. Almost immediately
+an answering fire broke out from all the batteries fringing the sea.
+
+In a minute or two the hulls and lower masts of the men-of-war were
+entirely hidden in clouds of white smoke. The very ground seemed to
+shake with the thunder of heavy guns, mingled with which came the
+sharper sound of some of the smaller artillery in the forts and the
+long rattle of the machine-guns in the tops of the men-of-war. So
+terrible was the din that the Egyptians ceased their chatter and sat in
+awed silence. The shell from the Egyptian guns could be seen bursting
+over the vessels, while jets of water spurting out far to seaward in all
+directions marked the course of the round shot.
+
+"It is downright awful, isn't it?" Arthur Hill said in a hushed voice.
+"I've often thought I should like to see a sea-fight, but I never
+thought it would be as terrible as this."
+
+"No more did I, Arthur," Jack agreed. "I feel just as I have done when I
+have been out in the bawley and a big thunder-storm has burst overhead.
+If it feels like this here, what must it be on board a ship?"
+
+"I don't believe it is half so bad there," Jim Tucker said. "They are
+all hard at work there at those big guns, and haven't got much time to
+think about it. I wish we could see what harm the shot are doing them.
+They have got some tremendous guns in some of the forts--pretty well as
+big as they are on board."
+
+For an hour there was no change whatever in the state of things, then
+the little gun-boats were seen to be in motion. Steaming away to the
+west, they engaged the Marabout Fort, which had hitherto taken its part
+in the fray without any return on the part of the assailants.
+
+"I believe the fire of the forts is slackening," Jack said. "Look at
+that fort at the entrance to the harbour, its outline is all ragged and
+uneven. I wish the wind would freshen up a bit, to let us see a little
+more of what is going on."
+
+Another hour and it was evident to them all that the fire of the forts
+was nothing like as heavy as it had been at first, while the guns of the
+fleet continued to thunder as steadily as when they first commenced. At
+twelve o'clock several of the forts had ceased to fire altogether. At
+one, the gun-boats having silenced the Marabout Fort, joined the three
+men-of-war in the bombardment of the Mex Batteries, and the _Temeraire_,
+having silenced the fort at the entrance of the Boghaz Channel, joined
+in the attack on the Ras-el-tin and Pharos Forts.
+
+At three o'clock there was a tremendous explosion in the Pharos Fort,
+and now only an occasional gun answered the fire of the assailants. This
+soon ceased, and at four some signal flags were seen to run up to the
+masthead of the _Invincible_, and instantly the fire from the British
+ships ceased, and a dead silence succeeded the din of battle that had
+continued almost unbroken for nine hours.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+FREE.
+
+
+FOR two or three hours before the cessation of bombardment flames had
+been bursting out from several buildings in the neighbourhood of the
+palace of Ras-el-tin. These being in the line of fire, had doubtless
+been struck by shell from the ships passing over the forts in front.
+
+When the fire ceased the Egyptians rose and motioned the boys to return
+to their prison.
+
+"Well, you see, my friend," Jack said to the man who spoke English, "you
+have not sunk the English vessels in a few minutes, as you talked about.
+Not even one of the little gun-boats; and as far as I can see from here
+you have not even damaged them."
+
+The man made no reply. To him and his comrades the escape of the British
+ships was a mystery. That they were made of iron they understood, but
+had no idea of the enormous thickness of their sides; and could not even
+imagine that ships could be built sufficiently strong to keep out the
+missiles discharged by the immense cannons in the forts. That not even a
+mast should have been knocked away seemed to them almost miraculous. In
+point of fact the ships had been struck but once or twice with the
+shells from these massive cannon. The Egyptian gunners were unaccustomed
+to the use of the huge pieces, and had consequently aimed too high, and
+the shell had passed either between the masts or far overhead.
+
+Upon the other hand the smaller guns had been worked with accuracy, but
+their missiles had dropped harmless from the iron plates of the ships.
+The fire of the men-of-war had, in the first place, been directed mainly
+against these great cannon. The machine-guns in the top had created
+terrible havoc among the men who were carrying on the laborious and to
+them difficult operation of loading them, while the huge shell from the
+great guns had carried wholesale destruction among them. Thus the
+powerful guns upon which the Egyptians had relied to beat off any
+attack from the sea, had been fired but seldom, and one by one had been
+dismounted or rendered unserviceable by the fire from the ships.
+
+The gallantry with which the Egyptian gunners stuck to their work was
+the object of surprise and admiration to the British sailors. It seemed
+scarce possible that men could work under so tremendous a fire as that
+to which they were exposed. The forts were literally torn to pieces, and
+at the end of the day were little better than heaps of ruins scattered
+thickly with the corpses of the Egyptian artillerymen.
+
+"Well, what do you suppose they will be up to next, Jim?" Arthur Hill
+asked when the door had again closed upon them.
+
+"I suppose they will begin again to-morrow if these fellows have not had
+enough of it. You see, they hardly fired a gun for the last three hours,
+and as far as we could see the forts were pretty well knocked to pieces;
+the one at the mouth of the harbour blew up, and there were several
+other explosions. They held out a lot better than I thought they would
+do, I must say, but I cannot believe they will be fools enough to go on
+to-morrow."
+
+They chatted for some time as to the chances of surrender or of
+resistance to the last, and as to what was likely to befall themselves;
+then, wearied with the excitement of the day their voices became more
+and more drowsy and they dosed off upon their heaps of straw. Jack was
+the first to wake. He sat up and looked round, puzzled for a time.
+
+"I say, wake up, you fellows!" he exclaimed suddenly. "There is a
+tremendous fire somewhere."
+
+The others sat up at once. They had been asleep for some hours and
+night had fallen, but there was a red glow of light in the cell.
+
+"Here, Arthur, you jump up on my shoulders," Jim said, standing under
+the opening in the wall.
+
+Arthur climbed up, and uttered an exclamation as his eyes became level
+with the opening. "I cannot see the town, but I think it must be all on
+fire; it is almost as light as day outside, the whole air is full of
+sparks and red clouds of smoke. It is tremendous!"
+
+"Jump down and let us have a look," Jim said impatiently, and he and
+Jack had by turns a view of the scene. A quarter of an hour later the
+door opened suddenly and four of their guards ran in.
+
+"Come, quick!" one of them said, and seizing the boys by their wrists
+they hurried them up the stairs. The house was in confusion. Men were
+packing up bundles and the bey giving directions in an angry voice. As
+soon as his eye fell on the boys he gave an order in Egyptian.
+
+"Take off your clothes, quick!" The guard translated the order.
+
+It was evidently no time for hesitation. The boys took off their
+waistcoats, jackets, and trousers, then the guard picked up from a
+bundle lying beside him three women's dresses, and wound them round
+them, bringing an end as usual over the head and falling down to the
+eyes. Then he put on the thick blue veil, extending across the face just
+under the eyes and falling down to the waist. The disguise was thus
+completed, and the three boys were transformed into Egyptian peasant
+women, of whom only the eyes were visible.
+
+Another five minutes all were ready, and the bey with ten or twelve men
+and the boys started out from the house. Most of the men carried
+muskets, all had large bundles upon their shoulders. As they issued from
+the house the boys obtained a full sight of the city, and uttered a
+simultaneous exclamation as they did so. Half the city appeared to be in
+flames. A sea of fire extended from the port over the European quarter,
+including the great square, while in many other parts separate
+conflagrations were raging.
+
+There was, however, no time to pause to examine the scene. The party
+hurried along until they came down upon the road leading across the
+narrow strip of land running between the two inland lakes. It was
+crowded with fugitives: mixed up pell-mell together were Egyptian
+soldiers in great numbers, and the population of the town--men, women,
+and children. For four hours they walked along. Then the throng along
+the road thinned; the Egyptian drums were sounding, and the soldiers
+turned off and lay down in the fields, ready to form into regiments
+again in the morning.
+
+The rest of the fugitives, feeling that they were now beyond danger of
+pursuit, soon followed their example. The party to which the boys
+belonged kept on for a short distance further and then turned off. They
+followed a by-road for a quarter of a mile, and then stopped at a farm
+building. On their knocking at the door a peasant came out, but at a
+word from the bey he at once drew aside for the party to enter. The bey
+took possession of the cottage, and the men leaving their bundles inside
+threw themselves down on the ground without and were soon fast asleep.
+The idea that their captives might escape did not even occur to them.
+
+The boys had thrown themselves down a little apart from the rest.
+
+"This is a nice go," Jim said. "I suppose this chap is taking us off as
+hostages, and we may be dragged about like this for any time; for until
+an army is got together and conquers the whole country, I do not see how
+we are going to be released."
+
+"I don't see what there is to prevent us going straight back again,"
+Jack said; "we have got splendid disguises and might go anywhere."
+
+"That is not a bad idea, Jack; but how are we to do it? Every one is
+coming the other way."
+
+"Yes, I don't think we can go back by that road," Jack agreed; "but we
+might get round the other side of the lake, I should think."
+
+"But how are we to do that, Jack? We do not know anything about the
+country."
+
+"No, we do not know much about it, Jim; but I remember the day before we
+landed, when we were looking at that book Mr. Hoare lent us so as to get
+up something about Alexandria before we landed, there was a map of the
+town. I remember that the lake behind it, called Mareotis or some such
+name, extended some eight or ten miles to the west of the town, and is
+only separated from the sea by the high beach on which the Mex Forts
+stand. I do not see why we should not work round there, and get down on
+to the beach and make our way on to the town. Our fellows are sure to
+land to-morrow morning and take possession of it. We have passed across
+the isthmus between the two lakes, so the one we want to get round must
+lie somewhere to the north-west. Anyhow, the fire will be a guide to us.
+If we keep rather to the left of that we must strike the lake, and have
+only got to follow that to keep right."
+
+"I am with you," Jim said. "What do you say, Arthur?"
+
+"I am game," Arthur replied, "but let us be off at once. What time do
+you think it is?"
+
+"I have no idea. I don't know how long we slept, but it was quite dark
+except for the fire, so it must certainly have been past eight o'clock.
+We set out half an hour later. I should say that it must be between
+twelve and one now, if not later. It will begin to get light again soon
+after four, so we have no time to lose."
+
+"Well, let us crawl away as quietly as we can," Jack said. "I think
+those chaps are all asleep, but we cannot be too careful until we get a
+bit away from them."
+
+The boys found it very difficult to crawl in their female garments, but
+kept on as noiselessly as possible until some distance from the cottage,
+then they stood up. They followed the lane until they came to the road,
+crossed the line of railway beyond it and swam the fresh-water canal,
+and then, guided by the glare of light over Alexandria, made their way
+across the fields. After half an hour's walking they found themselves on
+the shore of the lake. It was low and swampy, and they had to keep some
+distance from its edge. The reflection of the light on its smooth
+surface enabled them to follow its direction as well as if they had been
+walking close to it. They kept on until morning broke, by which time
+the glare of light above Alexandria lay due north of them.
+
+"We had better lie up here," Jim said. "There is sure to be a village
+near the lake, and the first person who came across us and questioned us
+would find us out."
+
+"I shall not be sorry to stop at all," Jack said, "for these loose
+yellow slipper things are horrid for walking in. I have tried going
+barefoot for a bit, but there are prickly things in the grass and I soon
+had to give that up."
+
+There was no difficulty in finding shelter, for in many places belts of
+high rushes bordered the lake. Entering one of these for some little
+distance, and pressing down a lot of the rushes to make a dry bed on the
+damp earth, the lads lay down and were soon fast asleep. The sun was
+blazing high overhead when they awoke.
+
+"My eye, isn't it hot!" was Jim Tucker's first exclamation. "It is
+enough to roast a fellow alive."
+
+"It is hot," Jack agreed; "and the worst of it is there isn't anything
+to eat."
+
+"No, and there is not likely to be," Jack replied, "till we get to
+Alexandria. There are the guns of the fleet still at it. It is evident
+that the forts have not surrendered. I don't see how we can possibly get
+along past those forts on the beach to the west as long as they hold
+out, besides it is not likely that there has been a landing from the
+ships yet, and the rabble of Alexandria will be plundering and killing.
+We shall be safer anywhere than there."
+
+"So we should," Jack agreed. "But there is one thing quite certain, we
+cannot stop here without food or water. We might perhaps do without
+grub for a day or two, but certainly not without water. There is maize
+and grain ripe in the fields, so we shall do well enough for eating."
+
+"I suppose they must have wells. People must drink here, Jack."
+
+"I suppose there must be wells," Jack said doubtfully. "But, you see,
+the water in this lake is salt, and I should say they get no fresh water
+anywhere near, because the ground is so sandy. I rather expect they get
+it in small channels from the fresh-water canal."
+
+"Well, anyhow, we can get water there," Arthur Hill said. "I vote we go
+back there again. Not of course anywhere near where the Egyptians are;
+though I do not know whether that would make much difference, for we
+should be on one side of the canal and they on the other. Still, we had
+better go beyond them; then we can, as you say, keep ourselves going by
+picking maize or corn or whatever we can find for a day or two, till we
+hear the firing cease."
+
+"There are sure to be some boats somewhere on this lake," Jack said,
+"and we might get hold of one and go across to Alexandria some night,
+and reconnoitre. If we find there are no sailors or troops there, we can
+take to our boat and pull back again. I think it would be better to do
+that than to try to work round by the sea-shore, for I believe they have
+fortifications running across from the sea to the lake, so as to prevent
+the place from being attacked by a force landing beyond the forts."
+
+"Well, I vote we set out at once," Jim Tucker said. "I am frightfully
+thirsty. There are very few houses as far as I can see; if we keep a
+sharp look-out we ought to be able to manage so as not to meet anyone.
+If any peasant does run against us and ask questions, so much the worse
+for him."
+
+The others agreed, and they at once started across the country, which
+was only cultivated here and there. They laid their course so as to
+strike the canal at a point some miles higher up than that at which they
+had left it. They only saw a few peasants in the fields, and made
+detours so as not to come near any of these. On the way they picked a
+dozen heads of maize, but were too thirsty to attempt to eat them. After
+three hours' walking the vegetation became brighter and greener, the
+cultivated fields thicker, and in another half hour they stood on the
+bank of the canal. They went down to the edge, knelt down and took a
+long drink.
+
+"Shouldn't I like a dip!" Arthur Hill said.
+
+"We will have one, Arthur, when it gets dark; it would never do to bathe
+now. I do not see a soul about, but still someone might come up on the
+further bank at any moment, and our white skins would betray us at once.
+Now we have had a good drink we can hold on. We will go back again now,
+and sit down among the bushes and eat our corn."
+
+When they had finished their meal the boys agreed that maize eaten raw
+was not by any means desirable food; however, it satisfied their hunger,
+and they sat discussing their plans until evening. They agreed that
+Arthur Hill's plan was certainly the best.
+
+"We will give them one more day," Jim Tucker said. "I vote we stop here
+to-night, then have a good drink in the morning and then start back
+again, keeping along the canal here until we are close to the lake; then
+we will have another good drink and start out and walk along the lake
+until we find a boat, then we will hide away somewhere near it and cross
+after it gets dark."
+
+It was agreed that this plan should be carried out, and after a good
+night's rest they started again next morning. They kept down by the foot
+of the bank of the canal, and followed it until they saw the lake
+stretching away on the left, then they went up and had another drink.
+
+"Hurrah!" Arthur Hill exclaimed, as he picked up a broken earthenware
+pot, which had apparently been thrown out by some passing boat; "this
+will hold a quart of water. That will give us a drink each to-night."
+
+As they walked they had heard the heavy guns still booming over the sea,
+and felt by no means certain that the troops had yet landed. However,
+they determined not to put off their expedition across the lake if they
+could find a boat. Carrying their jar of water carefully with them, they
+struck across to the lake and followed it as before, keeping a careful
+look-out for boats. They had proceeded about two miles along its edge,
+when they saw the stern of a boat projecting beyond the rushes that
+fringed the water's edge, and pushing more rapidly forward they came
+upon a beaten path through the reeds, and following this came upon a low
+flat boat, very roughly constructed.
+
+"It is not much of a craft," Jim Tucker said; "but it will do for us
+capitally. Now, we have only to lie down and take things quietly until
+dark. I fancy it is about three o'clock in the afternoon now by the
+sun."
+
+They lay down among a clump of bushes a short distance from the lake,
+and as soon as the sun had set went back to the boat again. They had
+already made another meal, and had finished their maize and water. They
+stood by the boat waiting until it should become perfectly dark, and
+looking across the tranquil sheet of water at the distant town, over
+which the smoke still hung heavily, and as the sky darkened flashes of
+fire could be seen. They were at last just going to get on board when
+they heard an exclamation of surprise behind them. Looking round they
+saw two natives, who had evidently come down with the intention of going
+out in their boat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+AMONG FRIENDS.
+
+
+THE astonishment of the two natives at seeing, as they supposed, three
+women standing with their boat, was no less than that of the boys at
+being thus suddenly surprised. Suspecting no harm, however, they at once
+moved forward, asking in Egyptian, "What are you doing here with our
+boat?"
+
+"Down with them, boys?" Jim Tucker exclaimed, and at once threw himself
+upon one of the boatmen, while Jack and Arthur instantly sprang upon the
+other.
+
+Wholly unprepared for the attack, the men were thrown down almost
+without resistance.
+
+"Get some rope from the boat, Arthur!" Jim Tucker exclaimed.
+
+Leaving Jack to hold the prostrate man, Arthur Hill jumped on board the
+boat, and in a minute returned with two pieces of rope. With these the
+arms and legs of the natives were soon firmly tied.
+
+"Now, what are we going to do next?" Jim Tucker asked.
+
+"It would not do to leave them here," Jack said. "If they managed to
+untie each other they would give the alarm, and if we had to come back
+we should be caught. If they could not manage to untie each other they
+might lie here and die. I think we had better take them with us."
+
+"I suppose that will be the best plan," Jim agreed. "I do not know that
+it will make much difference in the end, for they must be left tied
+somewhere; still, it would certainly make it safer for us."
+
+Accordingly the men were lifted into the boat and laid down in the
+bottom. Then the boys threw off the female garments, and taking the long
+poles punted the boat out into the lake. The water was so shallow, that
+it was not until they had gone more than a mile from shore that they
+laid in the poles and took to the clumsy oars. An hour's rowing, and the
+shore began to rise high in front of them. As they approached it they
+stopped rowing, and listened attentively.
+
+"Now, before we go any nearer we had better gag these fellows," Jack
+said. "If they were to set-to to shout as soon as we had landed, our
+chance of getting back again would be at an end."
+
+They tore off two strips from the cloths, rolled them up, and put them
+in the prisoners' mouths, putting some lashings across so that they
+could not get them out; then they put the men so far apart in the boat
+that they could not touch each other, and lashed them in these
+positions. This done they again wrapped themselves in their women's
+garments, and quietly rowed to the shore. They had but little fear of
+finding anyone here. The natives, if no landing had been effected from
+the ships, would be all engaged in the work of plundering; while if the
+English had taken possession of the town they would probably be keeping
+in their houses. No one was near when they landed, and fastening the
+head-rope of the boat to a stone they pushed her gently off again.
+
+"If anyone should come along," Jim said, "it is too dark for them to see
+those fellows lying in the boat. Now, we must take our bearings
+accurately as we go along, so as to be able to find the boat again if
+things go wrong with us."
+
+They had landed half a mile beyond the town, and now made their way
+towards it. As they came to the houses a few people were about, but no
+one paid any attention to the three veiled figures. The glare of light
+was a sufficient indication to them of the direction they should follow,
+for they had agreed that if a landing had been made the sailors would be
+certain to be at work trying to put a stop to the spread of the flames.
+
+Presently they came to the edge of the district swept by the fire. The
+walls for the most part were standing, although in many cases they had
+fallen across the road. The heaps of rubbish inside still glowed, and
+now and then little tongues of fire leapt up. On they went, making their
+way very cautiously until they reached a wide open space surrounded by
+ruins.
+
+"This is the great square," Jack said. "Look, there is the fountain
+still playing in the middle. There are some fires there too, and a lot
+of people round them."
+
+"Let us wait a bit. If they are Egyptians we shall be in a nice mess."
+
+They stood for some time, afraid to approach closer, then they heard a
+burst of laughter.
+
+"That must be English," Jack said. "I don't believe Egyptians ever laugh
+like that."
+
+"I don't think so either. Let us move a bit closer; but mind, we must be
+ready for a bolt if we find we are wrong."
+
+They went quietly forward, and again stood irresolute. Presently they
+heard a voice call "Tom Jones!" and heard the reply "Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+"It is all right!" Jim exclaimed joyfully, and they at once hurried
+forward. They soon arrived at the fire, round which three or four naval
+officers were sitting. The boys tore the veils from their faces and
+threw back the cotton cloth from over their heads, and a general
+exclamation of surprise broke from the officers as they saw the heads of
+three European boys.
+
+"Hallo!" one of them exclaimed. "Who are you, and where do you spring
+from?"
+
+"We were wounded and carried off last month, on the day of the rising,"
+Jim said, "and have been kept prisoners ever since, sir. We got away the
+night after the bombardment, and have just arrived. We belong to the
+barque _Wild Wave_; we are midshipmen on board her."
+
+"Well, I am glad you have got out of their hands," the officer said;
+"but I cannot do anything for you now. These rascals keep on setting the
+town on fire in fresh places, and we are just starting to put one out
+that began half an hour ago."
+
+"What is this?" an officer asked, hurrying up to the spot.
+
+"Three lads, Lord Charles, who have been kept prisoners by the Egyptians
+for the last month, and have just escaped. They belong to a merchant
+vessel, and were captured at the rising."
+
+"Please to march off your men at once, sir; I will overtake you in a
+minute or two. Well, lads, what can I do for you?"
+
+"Well, sir, you might give us something to eat, perhaps," Jim suggested.
+"We have had next to nothing for the last three days."
+
+"Come along with me," Lord Charles Beresford said, and he hurried with
+them to another party of sailors at the further end of the square.
+
+"Give those lads something to eat and drink," he said. "You had better
+stop here until I come back, lads, then I will see what can be done for
+you."
+
+A kettle was boiling over a fire, and before many minutes the lads were
+supplied with a basin each of cocoa and a lump of bread, and felt as
+they ate their supper that their troubles were at an end. It required,
+however, more than one bowl of cocoa and a considerable quantity of
+bread before their appetites were appeased.
+
+While taking their supper the boys gave to the officers gathered round
+them a sketch of the adventures they had gone through.
+
+"Now that you have done your supper," one of the officers said, "I
+suppose the next thing you want is some clothes. The question is how to
+get them."
+
+"Yes, sir; it is awful going about like this."
+
+"Well, you are rather objects," the officer agreed with a laugh; "but I
+do not see what is to be done for you at present. You see, all this part
+of the town is burned down, and the shops in the other parts are all
+locked up and deserted, and most of them have already been broken into
+and robbed. We have no time to see about that sort of thing at present;
+our time is entirely occupied in fighting the fire, and in preventing
+these scoundrels from lighting fresh ones. There were seven or eight
+fresh outbreaks to-day. However, you must stop here for the present.
+Lord Charles Beresford will not be long before he is back, I daresay."
+
+In another half hour the party of sailors returned, having pulled down
+two or three houses, and prevented the flames from spreading. Their
+commander at once came up to the boys, followed by a sailor bringing a
+large bundle.
+
+"I have not forgotten you, youngsters. One of the houses we pulled down
+was a clothier's, which had by some good luck or other escaped being
+looted, so I told the men to pick out half a dozen suits and as many
+caps, and bring them on. They would only have been taken by the natives
+directly our backs were turned. No doubt you will find something there
+to fit you."
+
+With great joy the boys seized the bundle, and going a little distance
+off examined its contents. After a good deal of trying on they each
+found things that fitted them fairly. Feeling vastly more comfortable in
+their new attire, they rejoined the sailors.
+
+"I expect your ship has left long ago," Lord Charles said. "Your best
+plan will be to go round in the morning to the consul, Mr. Cookson. He
+has established himself in a temporary office just beyond the range of
+the fire. One of my men will show you the way. Most likely your captain
+will have left some message with him in case you turned up again. After
+you have seen him you can, if you like, come back here; I daresay I
+shall be able to find something for you to do. Or if you like you can be
+sent off to one of the steamers, where the refugees are on board."
+
+"We would much rather stay here, sir, if we may," Jim Tucker said. "We
+will do anything that you like to set us to."
+
+As they sat by the fire talking with the officers the boys learned what
+had happened in the town. As soon as it became evident that the fire of
+the ships of war was mastering that of the forts the troops and the
+populace began the work of plunder. The European stores were all broken
+into; everything portable was carried away and the furniture broken and
+smashed.
+
+Fire was applied in scores of places. A considerable number of the
+poorer classes of Europeans had remained in their houses, being afraid
+to desert their possessions, and many of these houses were broken into
+by the mob and the inmates massacred.
+
+It was calculated that upwards of five hundred were killed. The clerks
+at the Anglo-Egyptian Bank had determined to stay and defend it, and as
+soon as the work of plunder and massacre began a number of Europeans
+made for this point, and the little garrison was swelled until it
+numbered nearly a hundred men. The place had been attacked by the mob
+and soldiers; but had held out gallantly and beaten off the assailants,
+who had before long scattered to points where plunder could be more
+easily obtained.
+
+At night a steam-launch from the fleet entered the harbour. Two or three
+men had landed, and making their way through the burning streets
+returned and reported the town was empty.
+
+The next morning at daylight a force had landed and driven the
+plunderers from the European part of the town, while the ships had
+battered the forts that still held out. The following day a strong force
+of marines came ashore and patrolled the streets. At the sight of the
+British uniforms many doors were opened, and the wretched inmates, who
+had for forty-eight hours being trembling for their lives, made their
+way down to the water-side and went off to the ships. In the evening, a
+short time before the boys arrived, four hundred and fifty men had been
+landed from the British ships, and one hundred and twenty-five from an
+American man-of-war, and these at once set about the work of
+re-establishing order.
+
+In the morning a sailor conducted the boys to the house where Mr.
+Cookson had established himself. As soon as they gave an account of
+themselves to him he shook them heartily by the hand.
+
+"I am glad to see you back in safety, lads. Your captain was in a great
+way about your loss, and hunted high and low for you. He traced you to
+the spot where the riot began, but could learn nothing more; and as none
+of your bodies could be found, we had hopes that you had not been
+killed. Of course he could not delay his vessel here, and went on to
+Smyrna. He was going to look in here again on his way back; but as he
+has not done so, he probably got a freight and had to sail straight
+home. He asked me if you did turn up to let you have any money you
+required, and to do all I could for you. I can let you have the money,
+but I cannot do much else beyond sending you on board one of the ships
+outside to wait there until there is a chance of sending you home."
+
+"Thank you very much, sir," Jim said. "We shall be glad of some money,
+but we do not want to go on board ship. Lord Beresford said he would
+give us something to do here."
+
+"Oh, if Lord Charles said that, I need not trouble about you," the
+consul said. "He will find you plenty of work. How much shall I give you
+each?"
+
+"I think two pounds apiece, sir, would be plenty," Jim said. "One does
+not like having no money; but I do not see how we are going to spend
+it."
+
+The lads now went back to the square, and there waited for some hours,
+Lord Charles Beresford being away at work. He returned at mid-day, by
+which time the party in the square had cooked the dinners for their
+comrades. There were now two thousand sailors and marines on shore,
+posted in various open places, the grand square serving as
+head-quarters. Sailors and officers were alike blackened with ashes and
+dust, having been engaged in the work of pulling down houses and
+checking the progress of the flames.
+
+Lord Charles called the lads to him and made them sit down and join the
+officers and himself at dinner, and while the meal was going on he
+obtained from them an account of their adventures. When they had
+finished he said to one of the marine officers: "Captain Archer, you are
+to take command of that gang of fellows over there," pointing to some
+two hundred natives who were gathered a short distance away, "I hope we
+shall have a thousand at work to-morrow morning. You can take these
+young gentlemen with you; they will remain under your command for the
+present, and you will put them on rations. It will be a great thing
+getting these gangs of natives at work. I shall have time now to put a
+stop to the looting and incendiarism. Besides, they say the Egyptian
+troops are approaching the town again. I only hope they will try to come
+in."
+
+There was a murmur of agreement among the circle of officers. The moment
+the meal was over the party rose, for there was no time to waste.
+Captain Archer, followed by the three boys and six marines, went over to
+the group of natives, by whom one of the dragomans of the consulate was
+standing.
+
+"These are all I could hire to-day, sir," the man said. "They are too
+much frightened to come out of their houses. To-morrow we shall get
+plenty of men. The consul told me to go with you as interpreter."
+
+"Thank goodness for that," the captain said. "I was wondering how I was
+going to get them to understand me. Tell them to fall-in two and two and
+follow."
+
+Through the streets, where the heat from the houses was so intense that
+they hurried through with their hands shading their faces, clambering
+over masses of fallen stonework, broken furniture, and goods of all
+sorts scattered about, the party made their way to the edge of the fire.
+Here the flames were ascending, and the conflagration was still
+spreading, although fortunately but slowly, for there was scarce any
+wind.
+
+"Now, lads," the captain said, "set to work and get down four houses on
+each side of the way."
+
+The marines set the example by entering the houses, and, running
+upstairs, soon managed to break their way through the tiles and emerge
+upon the roofs.
+
+"Come on, darkies!" they shouted. "Don't be afraid of blacking your
+hands!" They at once began to throw off the tiles, and were soon joined
+by a score of the most active natives.
+
+"That is right, down with them!" the captain shouted, and in a very few
+minutes the last tiles had fallen. As soon as the shower had ceased the
+whole of the contents of the houses were carried into the streets. Then
+the marines began with the axes and crowbars with which they were
+provided to tear up the floor-boards and break down the rafters and
+beams. Then grapnels fastened to long ropes were fixed on the top of the
+brickwork, a score of hands caught hold, and the lightly-built wall
+readily yielded to the strain, coming down in great masses. As soon as
+the walls had fallen the natives were set to work carrying away the
+beams and woodwork, and in a little more than half an hour from the time
+the operations commenced two heaps of brickwork and rubbish alone marked
+the spot where the eight houses had stood.
+
+As soon as the work was finished the party moved on into the next
+street, there to repeat the operations. As parties of sailors were at
+work at a score of other places the operations proceeded rapidly, and by
+nightfall the workers had the satisfaction of knowing that the fire was
+completely cut off, and that there was no chance of its spreading
+farther. Four other outbreaks had occurred in the course of the day. In
+two cases the sailors arrived upon the spot before the incendiaries had
+made their escape. One man was shot, and four taken before the Egyptian
+magistrate who had been appointed to try cases, and they were, after
+their guilt had been fully proved, sentenced to death and summarily
+hanged.
+
+The following evening, on their going round to the consulate as usual to
+hear if he had received any news of the _Wild Wave_, Mr. Cookson said,
+"I had a telegram an hour since, lads, saying that your ship arrived in
+the Thames yesterday, and asking if I had any news of you. I have sent
+off my answer, 'All here safe and well, making themselves useful and
+waiting instructions.' I am sure to get an answer some time to-morrow."
+
+The next day the answer came, "Delighted at news. Tell boys remain
+Alexandria. Ship coming out with cargo coal."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A SET OF RASCALS.
+
+
+THE work of pacification had gone on steadily. It was on Thursday
+evening, the 13th of July, the boys had returned to the town. On the
+15th Captain Fisher, who was in command of the naval party on shore,
+marched through the streets disarming the Egyptian soldiers, of whom
+there were large numbers still in the place, and had a skirmish with a
+strong party of them at the Rosetta gate. Lord Charles Beresford was in
+charge of the police arrangements, and with a force of marines and three
+hundred disarmed Egyptian soldiers was occupied in stamping out the
+fires and in arresting marauders. A large number of Arabs were also
+enlisted in the service.
+
+The population now began to return to the city. Many of the lower class
+of Greeks and Italians landed from the vessels, and were a source of
+continual trouble, as they at once took to plundering what the natives
+had left.
+
+On Monday morning the 38th Regiment and the third battalion of the 60th
+Rifles arrived in the harbour, and were at once landed. General Sir
+Archibald Alison also arrived and assumed the command on shore, and the
+following day a body of troops marched along the line of railway to
+Ramleh, six miles distant. Ramleh stands at the point where a narrow
+neck of land connects the peninsula on which Alexandria stands with the
+mainland. Along this narrow isthmus run the road, the railway, and the
+Sweet-water Canal, and here there is a pumping-station, by which water
+is raised to a higher level for the supply of Alexandria.
+
+The khedive has a summer palace at Ramleh, and here are a large number
+of pretty villas, the summer abodes of the merchants of Alexandria. It
+was an important position, for here any advance upon the city from the
+east could be readily checked.
+
+Thursday was a busy day for the police and troops in Alexandria, for a
+high wind got up and fanned the masses of embers into flames again, and
+serious fires broke out in several places. The boys were busily engaged
+all day. They acted now as aides-de-camp to Lord Charles Beresford,
+carrying his orders to the various working parties, and making
+themselves generally useful.
+
+Lord Charles had established himself with his officers in an empty
+house, and the three boys had a room assigned to them here. The party
+all messed together. In the evening Lord Charles said to the officers,
+"I hear that the khedive's people have got news that Arabi is damming up
+the Sweet-water Canal. We shall have a deal of trouble if he does. There
+is very bad news, too, from the country. They say that everywhere
+except at Cairo the natives have risen and massacred the Europeans.
+Arabi has ordered all the able-bodied men in the country to join the
+army."
+
+"I don't call the last part bad news," Captain Archer said. "We shall
+have ten thousand men here in a short time, and the more of these
+scoundrels that are gathered together the better, so that we can end it
+at one blow. If Arabi does but stand there is no doubt as to the result.
+The thing that would puzzle us would be for him and his troops to march
+away into Upper Egypt and lead us a long dance there. In this tremendous
+heat our fellows would not be able to march far, and it would be like a
+tortoise trying to catch a hare, hunting them all over the country. The
+more men Arabi gets together the more likely he is to make a stand and
+fight it out."
+
+"There is no doubt that is the case," Lord Charles agreed. "We shall
+make short work of them directly Lord Wolseley and the troops arrive.
+However, I hope we sha'n't be idle in the meantime. There are two more
+regiments expected to-morrow or next day, and I expect we shall see some
+fighting then. The soldiers are furious at the frightful destruction
+that has taken place, and they will make it hot for these fellows if
+they get a chance of going at them. They say that they are throwing up
+tremendous fortifications across the isthmus."
+
+On Sunday night the 46th Regiment arrived. The water in the canal was
+now sinking fast. A dam had been erected at its mouth to keep in what
+water it contained. Order had now been restored in the town, and the
+plundering had been almost put a stop to. The next morning a wing of the
+60th and a squadron of mounted infantry went out beyond Ramleh. The
+enemy's cavalry were driven off, and there was an exchange of artillery
+fire between some heavy guns that had been sent out by rail and placed
+into position there, and Arabi's battery.
+
+The next week was a quiet one, but on Friday the 28th a reconnaissance
+was made by a railway train, which Captain Fisher of the navy had plated
+with iron. It was manned by sailors, and carried a heavy gun and several
+Gatlings. The enemy on seeing it approaching came out in force, but were
+driven back by the guns of the train and those in the batteries at
+Ramleh. The reconnaissance showed that the Egyptians had erected a
+number of strong works across the end of the isthmus.
+
+As the work of the bands of hired natives was now only clearing up
+rubbish and litter, the boys agreed that as there was no more fun to be
+had in the way of putting out fires, they might as well give up what
+they called slave-driving, and enjoy themselves until the _Wild Wave_
+arrived. They had only undertaken the work as an alternative to going on
+board one of the crowded ships in the harbour, and as the population
+were now returning and the shops opening again there was no occasion for
+their further stay as overlookers of the scavengers. Several temporary
+inns had been opened by enterprising Italians for the benefit of those
+who on landing from the ships found their houses burned, sacked, or
+uninhabitable.
+
+"I vote," Jack said the first morning that they were free to do exactly
+as they liked, "that we go up and have a look at our prison."
+
+"A bright idea!" Jim Tucker said. "But that is an out-of-the-way part,
+Jack, and there may be some of those skulking thieves hanging about
+there."
+
+"They won't catch us napping this time, Jim."
+
+The boys had, in fact, armed themselves from the store of weapons that
+had been taken from the natives or found scattered about in the streets
+and houses. These weapons had been piled up in a shed, and as they had
+no owners the boys concluded that it would be as well to pick some out
+for themselves, having previously asked their officer to allow them to
+do so, as they were entirely without arms. He at once gave them
+permission to take what they liked, and each had taken two revolvers--a
+full-sized one which they wore openly in their belts, and a small one in
+their jacket-pockets. The precaution was by no means a useless one, as
+on carrying messages for their commander from one part of the town to
+the other they had often to pass through narrow streets. So armed the
+boys had no fear of being attacked when together, and after breakfast
+they started on their trip of exploration.
+
+As they knew nothing of the road by which they had been taken to the
+house, and had again left it after nightfall, they were by no means sure
+as to its exact position, the only indication being the view they had
+obtained of the sea from its garden. When once beyond the town they
+found almost all the houses entirely deserted; for bands of plunderers
+were still pillaging everywhere beyond the range of the parties of
+British troops, and even after Ramleh was occupied they made their way
+along the shore from the direction of the Aboukir Forts, and broke into
+the houses and carried away their contents.
+
+"I think this must be just about the position," Jim said at last. "I
+should say from the other side of that house there must be just the same
+view we had."
+
+The gate was locked and closed, but the boys soon found a place where
+they could enter the grounds. Upon going round to the north side of the
+house they found that they had judged correctly, for they at once
+recognized the appearance of the building and the various objects in the
+garden.
+
+"Here is the bank from which we watched the bombardment," Arthur Hill
+said. "Well, we have got better out of it than seemed likely then."
+
+"That we have," Jack agreed. "Now, Jim, I suppose we may as well get
+into the house and have a look at it. I should like to get something to
+carry away. I don't want anything valuable, but something as a sort of
+memento of our prison."
+
+"It would serve the beggar right," Jim said, "if we were to set fire to
+his place and burn it down."
+
+"It might serve him right if someone else were to do it," Jack said;
+"but not for us, Jim. He saved our lives, you see. If it had not been
+for him we should never have come alive out of that street."
+
+"That is so," Jim agreed; "but you know when we talked it over we were
+all of opinion that he carried us off only to act as hostages for
+himself."
+
+"Well, I know we agreed that that was it, Jim; but after all we cannot
+be sure about it. It may have been that, but on the other hand he may
+really have wanted to save our lives. He would not dare treat us
+kindly, and was obliged to keep us imprisoned because of the fellows
+round him. For you know he really did treat us well. We may be sure that
+black fellow of his did not bring us down fruit and other things each
+meal without his knowledge."
+
+"It may have been that," Jim assented, "though I doubt it. I am
+convinced he only carried us off and treated us well in order to get
+good terms for himself if things went wrong."
+
+"Perhaps so, Jim; but whatever the reason he did save our lives, and he
+did treat us well, and I feel obliged to him. Now, let us look at the
+house. I wonder whether it is empty?"
+
+"Oh, of course it is empty. Why, we saw all his fellows coming away with
+us."
+
+"Yes, but that is no reason why it should be empty, Jim. There are lots
+of these plundering fellows about. We know they do not come back into
+the town because we have got guards at the gates, and I expect they hide
+up during the day in some of these deserted houses. Anyhow we may as
+well keep our eyes open till we know the place is clear."
+
+Jim agreed to the prudence of the suggestion, and they went up to the
+house. The door opening into the garden was fastened, but the wooden
+shutters outside one of the windows about four feet from the ground were
+unfastened, and swung open as they touched them. The window inside was
+closed.
+
+"Just give me a back, Arthur," Jack said. "I have no doubt I can open
+the fastenings."
+
+Standing on Arthur's shoulders Jack took out his knife, and had no
+difficulty in inserting the blade between the frames of the window,
+which opened inwards, and in pushing back the slight and simple
+fastening. He pushed the window open, and had his foot on the sill ready
+to enter when he paused.
+
+"What is it, Jack?" Jim asked impatiently.
+
+"There is somebody in the house," Jack said in a low voice. "I can hear
+talking." He stepped very quietly down into the room, and a minute later
+the others stood beside him.
+
+It was as Jack had said, there was a loud sound of talking somewhere in
+the house.
+
+"What shall we do, Jim?" Jack whispered.
+
+"We will go and have a look at them," Jim replied. "We have got two
+revolvers apiece, and are a match for a dozen Egyptians anyway; and
+besides, if they haven't seen us, and I don't suppose they have, as we
+came round at the back of the house, they will think we are officers and
+have got a lot of men behind us."
+
+With their pistols drawn and cocked the boys moved quietly across the
+room and into a passage. The voices came from a room in the front of the
+house. The door was open. They crept up to it and then suddenly rushed
+in.
+
+"Surrender," Jim shouted, "or we fire!"
+
+The lads were astonished at the sight that met their eyes. They had
+expected to see a group of natives; instead of that they saw a party of
+eight or ten Greeks and Italians sitting on the ground playing cards.
+The room was piled with goods of all sorts--silk curtains, females'
+dresses, clocks, rich ornaments, choice carpets, and other articles. The
+fellows uttered a shout of astonishment and dismay at seeing, as they
+believed, three English officers suddenly appear before them; for by
+this time the boys had been able to rig themselves out in naval costume
+again. Their appearance and that of the six levelled revolvers
+completely paralyzed the party at cards.
+
+"Throw down all your weapons in the centre," Jack said peremptorily.
+"Not a moment's delay, or we will call our men in and string you up!"
+
+Two or three of the party understood English, and at once threw their
+pistols and knives into the centre of the circle; the others
+understanding the order from their action did the same.
+
+"Just collect them, Arthur, and take them into the next room," Jim
+Tucker said, "before they have time to think about it."
+
+Arthur stepped forward, gathered up the weapons, and carried them into
+the next room.
+
+"We are all right now," Jim said in a low tone.
+
+"Now, Arthur, you run down to the town as hard as you can and tell the
+first officer you meet we have got a gang of plunderers here, and ask
+him to bring up a guard and capture them; we will stand sentry till you
+come back."
+
+Arthur without question obeyed Jim's orders: went to the front door,
+opened it, and ran off at the top of his speed. The prisoners now began
+to recover from the first panic, and to guess the true state of the
+case. Angry oaths were uttered, and they began to talk to each other in
+rapid tones.
+
+"You had better sit still!" Jim shouted. "The first man that makes a
+move I will blow his brains out. Jack, you stand on one side of the
+circle and I will stand on the other. The first man who moves in the
+slightest, shoot him."
+
+Jack moved round to the other side of the circle. The marauders, with a
+foe behind and another in front armed with revolvers, and themselves
+without weapons, did not dare to move, knowing that they would be shot
+down before they could gain their feet. Half an hour passed and then
+there was a tramp of feet heard outside, and a moment later a naval
+officer accompanied by Arthur and followed by a party of ten
+blue-jackets entered the room. In a couple of minutes the men's hands
+were all tied behind them, and they were led outside the house.
+
+"You have made a fine haul, young gentlemen," the officer said as he
+walked from room to room. Everywhere articles of value were piled up,
+and it was evident that the gang must for the last fortnight have been
+engaged in looting all the villas and houses along the road to Ramleh.
+"I expect we have got the whole gang, but I will leave four men here in
+charge with orders to make prisoners of anyone that enters. We will
+lodge these scoundrels in jail, and then make our report. There is an
+immense lot of valuable property here, and I should think it had better
+be taken down into the town and kept there until claimed by its rightful
+owners."
+
+Leaving the four sailors on guard, the party with the prisoners in their
+midst marched down again to the town, and the latter were speedily
+lodged in jail. On the affair being reported to Lord Charles Beresford
+a party of marines and natives with hand-carts were sent up to the
+house, and the whole of its contents brought down to an empty house in
+the town. Here the articles were inspected by many merchants and other
+owners of villas at Ramleh and near the town, and many of the articles
+were at once identified by them. The next day the band of plunderers
+were brought up before the court, presided over by one of the khedive's
+judges; and the boys having given their evidence, and the owners of many
+of the plundered villas swearing to their property, the whole band were
+sentenced to receive three dozen lashes apiece and to be imprisoned for
+two years.
+
+The lads gained much credit by the capture, and were each presented with
+a handsome gold watch and chain, subscribed for by those whose property
+they had been the means of recovering.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A THREATENING SKY.
+
+
+AT the end of July so large a number of troops had arrived that the
+services of the sailors on shore were no longer required, and with the
+exception of those serving with the iron-clad train they returned on
+board, the marines, however, still remaining in the town. On the 4th of
+August the lads heard that a reconnaissance would take place next day,
+and that there would probably be a fight. Accordingly in the evening
+they walked up to Ramleh, and slept for the night in one of the
+deserted houses. The trains soon began to arrive loaded with troops, and
+the boys took up their position near one of the batteries on the
+sand-hills, where they could obtain an excellent view over the isthmus
+between the lakes Mareotis and Aboukir.
+
+The advance soon began; it was composed of six companies of the 60th
+Rifles, four companies of the 38th, and four of the 46th. These were to
+march by the canal, while seven companies of the marines moved along the
+railway embankment in company with the iron-clad train. The two parties
+were to join at the point where the canal and the railway approach
+closely to each other. The ground between the two embankments consisted
+of fields and marshy swamps.
+
+The boys watched the 60th Rifles extending in skirmishing order, and as
+soon as they began to advance a movement was visible in the enemy's
+lines, and the Egyptians took up their position in a deep ditch across
+the line of advance and opened a heavy fire upon the Rifles.
+
+The Egyptians were altogether invisible, their position being only
+marked by a light line of smoke rising in front of a thick jungle.
+Fortunately they fired high, and the boys could see that the Rifles
+continued advancing without much loss. When they neared the Egyptian
+position the supports came up to the skirmishing line, and the whole
+went forward at a rush. The instant they did so the Egyptians sprang
+from their ditch and rushed into the jungle behind.
+
+The column was intended to advance to a white house on the canal, at
+the point where the railway came close to it; but its commander
+misunderstanding his orders stopped at a white house before he came to
+it. Thus the marines advancing along the embankment were left
+unsupported. They had been met with a hot fire from the enemy, who were
+posted in a large house surrounded by entrenchments, on which some guns
+had been mounted. The guns on the train kept up a steady fire on this
+position, and the marines pushing forward were soon hotly engaged by the
+enemy's infantry, who were massing in great numbers on both of their
+flanks.
+
+As the marines were now far in advance of the other column, the order
+was given them to fall back. To cover this movement, Major Donald with
+fifty men advanced boldly close to the Egyptian position, and kept up so
+hot a fire that the enemy's advance was checked, while the main bodies
+of the marines retired steadily across the fields to the embankment,
+keeping perfect order in spite of the tremendous fire that was poured
+into them, and bringing off every wounded man as he fell. Major Donald's
+party then fell back rapidly and joined them.
+
+The enemy had now brought up several batteries of artillery, which
+opened upon the marines, while the infantry pressed forward in heavy
+masses. The marines, however, aided by the musketry fire of the sailors
+in the train, as well as by their machine-guns and heavy pieces of
+artillery, kept them at bay as they fell back along the embankment, and
+as soon as the Egyptians came within range, the guns at Ramleh opened
+upon them, and they fell back to their camps, while the British columns
+returned to Ramleh.
+
+The object of the reconnaissance had been served by the discovery of the
+strength and position of the enemy's batteries, and it was evident that
+it would need a large force to carry the formidable positions which
+guarded the isthmus.
+
+A week later the lads, on paying their usual morning visit to the
+consulate, heard to their delight that the _Wild Wave_ had just been
+signalled approaching the harbour, which was now crowded with shipping,
+as steamers laden with troops were arriving every day from England. The
+lads hurried down to the port, and as soon as the _Wild Wave_ dropped
+her anchor they were alongside of her. They were very warmly greeted by
+the captain and officers as they came on board ship.
+
+"Well, you young scamps," Captain Murchison said after the first
+greetings were over, "you have given us a nice fright. What has it all
+been about? for at present we have heard nothing whatever beyond the
+fact that you were safe; and we are prepared to put you in irons for
+desertion unless you can give us a completely satisfactory explanation
+of your absence. Mr. Timmins and myself are strongly of opinion that you
+simply hid yourselves till the vessel sailed, so as to be able to have a
+run on shore and see all that was going on."
+
+"We are very glad we have seen it, sir," Jim said; "but I don't think it
+was at all our fault that we were left behind." And he then proceeded to
+relate to the captain the story of what had befallen them since they
+last met.
+
+"Well, lads, I congratulate you on your escape, which was certainly a
+very narrow one. You have, I hope, all written to your friends at home
+to tell them everything that has taken place. It was most fortunate that
+your telegram from here arrived the day after we got to England, so that
+your friends practically received the news that you were missing and
+that you were safe at the same time. We had delayed sending off letters
+telling them that you were lost until we could receive an answer to our
+telegram to the consul. I went over and saw your mother and sister the
+same evening, Jack. Of course your mother was in some alarm at the
+thought of the danger she pictured to herself that you must have gone
+through. I told her I expected that when the row began you had hid up
+somewhere, and that not knowing that matters had quieted down again you
+had remained there until after we sailed."
+
+The boys had all written home on the day after they had rejoined their
+friends in Alexandria, and had, a week before the arrival of the _Wild
+Wave_, received answers to their letters. An hour later an officer came
+off with orders that the coal was not to be discharged on shore, but
+that the transports would come alongside and fill up from her. For a
+week all hands were engaged in the unpleasant duty of discharging the
+coal. Steamer after steamer came alongside and took from one to three
+hundred tons on board, to supply the place of the coal consumed on the
+outward voyage. All on board were heartily glad when the work was over,
+the decks scrubbed and washed down, and the hose at work upon the
+bulwarks and rigging.
+
+"We shall not be clean again till we have had twelve hour's rain on
+her," Captain Murchison said. "It is the first time so far as I know
+that the _Wild Wave_ has carried coal, and I hope it will be the last,
+so long as I command her."
+
+"Yes, I have been feeling a good deal like a chimney-sweep for the last
+week, sir," Mr. Timmins remarked; "and shall not feel clean again till
+all my togs have been ashore and had a regular wash."
+
+"I shall be glad to be out of this harbour," the captain said. "These
+tideless harbours soon get very unpleasant when there is much shipping
+in them. And yet I own I should like to wait to see the attack on the
+Egyptian position. I believe the last transports came in to-day, and as
+Lord Wolseley arrived two days ago, I suppose they will be at it in a
+day or two. However, as I sent off a telegram this morning saying that
+we were empty, I suppose we shall get orders this afternoon or to-morrow
+morning to go somewhere."
+
+Late in the afternoon they were surprised by seeing the boats of the
+fleet and transports occupied in re-embarking large numbers of troops.
+
+"Something is evidently up," Mr. Hoare said, as he stood with the lads
+watching the busy scene. "I suppose Lord Wolseley thinks it will cost
+too many lives to attack the Egyptian position in front, and that he is
+going to make a fresh landing somewhere along the coast so as to march
+round and take them in the rear. Or it may be he is going to sail up the
+canal and land at Ismailia; in that way, if he is sharp, he may get
+between Arabi and Cairo, and cut the enemy off altogether from the
+capital."
+
+The next morning at daybreak the great fleet of men-of-war and
+transports steamed away for the East on their way to Ismailia, and the
+_Wild Wave_, which had got her orders late the evening before, sailed
+for Genoa, where she was to take on board a cargo for England. Six weeks
+later she entered St. Katharine's Docks, and the three midshipmen were
+at once released from duty. Jack had already packed up his small kit,
+and, taking the train to Fenchurch St. and then a bus to Dulwich, was
+soon home. As the ship had been signalled when she passed the Downs, he
+was expected, and received a joyous welcome. Great was the interest of
+his mother and sister in the adventures he had passed through, and they
+were delighted with the gold watch and the inscription, stating that it
+had been presented to him by merchants of Alexandria whose property he
+had been the means of rescuing from its plunderers.
+
+The next morning Mrs. Robson received a note asking her to come up with
+Jack and Lily to dine with the Godstones. Jack learned that while he had
+been away Lily had been often there spending the day with Mildred, who
+was nearly her own age. On their arrival Mildred took her off to her own
+room to have tea, while Jack dined with Mr. Godstone and his wife, and
+after dinner had again to repeat the full story of his adventures. His
+stay in England was a short one, for the _Wild Wave_, as soon as she had
+unloaded her cargo from Italy, was chartered for Calcutta, via the Cape,
+and a fortnight after his arrival at home Jack was again summoned to
+rejoin his ship.
+
+The _Wild Wave_ was again fortunate in her weather during the early part
+of her voyage, but when off the Cape encountered a heavy gale. Jack had
+never before seen a storm at sea, and, accustomed as he was to the short
+choppy waves at the mouth of the Thames, he was astonished at the size
+of those he now beheld. They seemed to him as large in comparison to the
+size of the barque as those he had before seen were to that of the
+smack. For three days the vessel lay to. Fortunately the glass had given
+notice of the approach of the storm, and all the upper spars had been
+sent down and the vessel got under snug canvas before it struck her, and
+she therefore rode out the gale with no farther damage than the carrying
+away of part of her bulwarks, and the loss of some hen-coops and various
+other of her deck gear. As soon as the gale abated sail was made, and
+they continued on their course.
+
+"Glad it is over, eh, Master Robson?" the sailmaker, Joe Culver, said to
+Jack as he was leaning against the bulwark on the evening after the
+storm had subsided, looking at the reflection of the setting sun on the
+glassy slopes of the long swell that was still heaving. Joe Culver, or,
+as he was always called on board, Old Joe, was a character; he had
+sailed as man and boy over fifty-five years on board ships belonging to
+the firm; and now, although sixty-seven years old, was still active and
+hearty. It was a legend among the sailors that Old Joe had not changed
+in the slightest degree from the time he was entered in the ship's books
+as a boy.
+
+"Old Joe is like the figure-head of a ship," a sailor said one day. "He
+got carved out of wood when he was little; and though he has got dinted
+about a bit, he ain't never changed nothing to speak of. If you could
+but paint him up a bit he would be as good as new."
+
+Joe could have gone into quarters on shore with a pension years before,
+for his long service had made him a marked character; and while other
+sailors came and went in the service of the firm, the fact that his name
+had been on their books for so long a period, with but two breaks, had
+made him a sort of historical character, and at the end of each long
+voyage he was always expected to show himself at the office to have a
+few words with the head of the firm. He was still rated as an able
+seamen, with extra pay as sailmaker, but he was never expected to go
+aloft. In every other respect he could still do his work, and could turn
+out a new sail or alter an old one as well as any sailmaker on board Mr.
+Godstone's fleet.
+
+As Captain Murchison remarked to the owners when he saw that Joe was
+this voyage to form one of his crew: "The old fellow would be worth his
+pay if he never put his hand to work. He keeps a crew in good humour
+with his yarns and stories; and if there is a grumbler on board he
+always manages to turn the laugh against him, and to show him to the
+others in his true light as a skulker and a sneak. He looks after the
+boys and puts them up to their duty, and acts generally as a father to
+them. A man like that, attached to the owners, always cheerful and
+good-tempered, ready to make the best of everything, and to do his work
+to the best of his power, is a very valuable man on board a ship. I
+always feel that things will go on comfortably forward when I see Joe
+Culver's name down in the articles."
+
+"It was grand, Joe," Jack replied in answer to his question, "though it
+was very awful. I had no idea that a storm would be anything like that,
+or the waves so high. I have seen storms on our own East Coast, and they
+seemed bad enough, but they were nothing to this."
+
+"And this weren't nothing to some storms I have seen in these latitudes,
+Master Robson. I have doubled the Cape two score of times, I should
+say--eh, more than that, coming and going--and I have seen storms here
+to which that which has just blown over was but a capful of wind. Why,
+sir, I have seen a ship laid on her beam-ends when she was not showing a
+rag of canvas, and even when we had cut all the masts away the pressure
+of wind on her hull kept her down until we thought that she would never
+right again. Altogether I have been wrecked eight times, and three of
+them was down in these 'ere latitudes. They says as my name has been on
+the books of the firm for fifty-five years; but that ain't quite
+correct, for twice it was written off with D.D. after it, but somehow or
+other I turned up again, just as you see. One of these 'ere businesses
+happened hereabouts."
+
+"I should like to hear about it awfully, Joe."
+
+"Well, sir, seeing it was not what you may call an everyday sort of
+affair, and as perhaps the yarn might give you a hint as might be useful
+to you if you ever gets into the same kind of fix, I don't mind if I
+tell you. Just at present I have not finished my work, but if you and
+the other two young gents like to come forward here at six bells I will
+tell you about it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+OLD JOE'S YARN.
+
+
+AT seven o'clock the three lads gathered round the old sailor forward.
+Joe having got his pipe to draw to his satisfaction, proceeded to relate
+the story of his shipwreck.
+
+"It happened," he said, "on the very first v'yage I made as an A.B.; and
+proud I was, as you may guess, that I had done at last with being
+ordered here and ordered there, and kicked here and cuffed there. I was
+just twenty-one then, and as active and hearty a young chap as you would
+want to see; not over big, you know, and spare in flesh, but as strong
+and active as any on board a ship. Well, it came on to blow just about
+the same latitude where the storm struck us the other day, but much
+heavier. I never saw a worse sky in all my v'yges, and when the blow
+came it seemed to me there was an end of everything at once. I need not
+tell you about the storm; you just take the last one and pile it up
+about ten times, and you have got it.
+
+"Although we were ready and prepared for it, and had snugged down till
+we scarce showed a rag of sail, over she went at the first blow, till we
+all thought as she was going to turn turtle. We cut away her main and
+mizzen, and at last got her before it and run. That gale blew for ten
+days right on end. The sea was tremendous. Over and over again we were
+pooped, our bulwarks were carried away, the boats smashed, the caboose
+and pretty nigh everything else on deck swept clean off. Five of the
+hands had been washed overboard, another three men were down below badly
+hurt, and the first-mate had his leg broke. We were all pretty well
+exhausted, as you may guess. Where we'd got to none knew, for we had
+never had a glimpse of the sun since the gale began; and it would not
+have made much difference if we had, because, you see, we could do
+nothing but just run before the wind wherever it liked to take us. But
+we knew anyhow we had got down into high latitudes, for the gale had
+been blowing pretty steady from the north-west.
+
+"The air got bitterly cold all of a sudden; and though we could not see
+above a mile anywhere round us, we were pretty sure we were in the
+neighbourhood of ice. Towards the afternoon of the tenth day the weather
+cleared just a little, though the wind seemed as high as ever, and we
+caught sight of some big bergs. The captain, who was as good a sort as
+ever sailed, had done his best all along to keep up our spirits. The
+cook had been washed overboard in his caboose; but the skipper had kept
+his steward at work boiling water over a little spirit-stove he had aft,
+and kept a supply of hot coffee there at all hours for us; and with that
+and biscuits we had got on fairly well. Now he told us that he thought
+the gale would soon blow itself out, and that as soon as it abated
+enough to set a rag or two of sail he would try and bring us up under
+the lee of a berg.
+
+"But it wasn't to be. It had just struck four bells, and there was a
+gleam of daylight; I was at the helm, with the captain, who had never
+lain down for above an hour at a time since the gale began, beside me.
+Suddenly I saw it become lighter ahead, just like a gray shadow against
+the blackness. I had but just noticed it when the skipper cried out,
+'Good God! there is a berg straight ahead, it is all over with us!' and
+then he gave a shout, 'All hands on deck!'
+
+"There was nothing to do. We could not have changed our course a point
+if we had tried ever so much, and the berg, as we could see in another
+minute, stretched right away on both sides of us.
+
+"'You can leave the helm, Joe,' says the skipper; 'we have done all that
+men could do, we are in God's hands now.' I went forward with the rest,
+for I knew well that the only chance was to get on to the berg when she
+struck. It did not seem much of a chance, but it is wonderful how one
+clings to the hope of a few hours' more life.
+
+"It was not five minutes from the time when we first saw the gray shadow
+ahead that we struck. The crash was tremendous. The mast snapped off as
+if it was a pipe-stem. The whole front of the ship seemed stove in, and
+I believe that more than half of those gathered forward were killed,
+either by the fall of the mast or by the breaking up of the bows. The
+bowsprit was driven aft, through the bits against the stump of the
+foremast, and did its share in the work. I was standing in the
+fore-chains, having got over there to avoid the fall of the mast. Though
+I was holding tight to the shrouds I was well-nigh wrenched from my
+hold. There was one terrible cry, and then the ship seemed to break up
+as if she were glass, and I was in the water. A great wave came
+thundering down on me; it seemed to me as if I was being carried right
+up into the air, then I felt a shock, and it was sometime before I knew
+anything more.
+
+"When I came to myself it was daylight. For a bit I could not move, and
+I thought my ribs were staved in; but at last, after much trouble, I
+made a shift to work myself out and found that I was about fifty feet
+above the water. The wave had carried me upon its crest as it swept up
+the face of the berg, and just as it was at its highest had, by God's
+mercy, jammed me in between two pinnacles of ice, and though I daresay
+others had swept up as high, none of them had moved me. I sat for a time
+dazed and stupid, and then began to take a view of my position. The ship
+was gone. There was not a sign of a bit of floating timber or any of my
+messmates. I suppose all the wreckage had been swept away by the
+current.
+
+"The iceberg had, I reckon, been floating a long time, for it was seamed
+all over with cracks and crevices. It had been up under a pretty hot sun
+before the long gale blew it and us south, and the surface was rough and
+honey-combed. I did not feel as grateful as I ought to have done, lads,
+that I had been cast up, for I saw nothing but death before me; and
+thought that it would have been better to have died when I lost my
+senses in the water than to have to die again as it were by cold or
+hunger on the berg. However I set-to to climb over the berg and down to
+the other side so as to get under its lee. It took me two or three hours
+of hard work, but by the end of that time my clothes were dry, and I got
+some spirit and hope in me again.
+
+"Once over there I was pretty comfortable; the berg sheltered me from
+the wind, and the sun began to shine out a bit through the clouds, and
+in the afternoon, although it was still blowing hard, there was a blue
+sky overhead. There were a good many other bergs in sight, but none of
+them seemed near as big as the one that I was on. Fortunately I had a
+couple of biscuits in my pocket, having thrust them in there when I ran
+up when there was a call for an extra hand at the helm. One of these I
+ate, then I lay down on a broad ledge and went off sound asleep. When I
+awoke it was night. I was warmly clad when we struck, having my thick
+oil-skin over my pea-jacket, but I felt a bit cold. However I was soon
+off again, and when I awoke morning had broken. I ate half my last
+biscuit, took a drink out of a pool--I do not know whether it was melted
+ice or rain-water--and then climbed up to the top of the berg and looked
+round.
+
+"I had not expected to see a sail, and I didn't, for we were far out of
+the track of ships. Still it was just possible one might have been
+driven south as we had been. The wind had pretty well dropped now, and
+the sea was going down. I could see by some small bergs near us that we
+were driving through the waters at a good rate. When a great mountain of
+ice like that, you know, gets way on it, it will keep it for a mighty
+long time. It did not make much difference to me which way we were
+going; I had only half a biscuit left, and no chance of getting more. I
+sat down and wondered how long I should last, and whether it would not
+be easier to go down and jump off into the water than to sit there and
+die by inches. As I was thinking I was looking at what I had taken for
+another big berg, away in the distance, right on the course we were
+making, and it suddenly came to me that it was not the same colour as
+the others. I looked up to see if there was a bit of a cloud anywhere
+about that might have thrown it into shadow, but there weren't, and at
+last I felt sure that it wasn't no iceberg at all, but an island.
+
+"I jumped on my feet now quick enough. An island would be better than
+this berg anyhow. There might be shell-fish and fruit--though fruit did
+not seem likely so far south--and birds and seals. I had heard tales
+from others as to islands in the South Seas, and though I knew well
+enough that I should not find cocoa-nuts and such like, I thought I
+might get hold of something with which to make a shift to hold on until
+some whaler happened to pass along. For an hour or two I stood watching;
+at the end of that time I was sure it was land, and also that we were
+driving pretty straight towards it. As we got near I could see it was a
+big island that stretched right across our course, but was still a long
+way off. I felt sure we should ground somewhere in the night, for I had
+heard that icebergs drew a tremendous lot of water, and were two or
+three times as deep below the surface as they were above it. We were two
+or three hundred feet high, so unless the water kept deep right up to
+the island we should take ground a good way off it.
+
+"When it got dark I went down on the other side of the berg, for I had
+sense enough to know that just in the same way as the masts of a ship
+went straight forward when she struck, the pinnacles of the berg would
+go toppling down towards the island when she grounded. I was hungry
+enough, I can tell you, that day, but I kept my last half-biscuit until
+the morning, so as to give me strength to swim. I dosed off for a bit,
+but about eight bells, as near as I can guess, I heard a deep grating
+sort of noise. Then I felt myself rising up. I went higher and higher,
+till I began to wonder whether there was any chance of the berg turning
+over. There was a noise like thunder as the pieces of ice broke off and
+went crashing down the other side. Then slowly I began to sink down
+again, and I should say for an hour the berg rolled up and down. Then I
+went off to sleep.
+
+"As you may guess, I was on the top of the berg at daybreak, and saw we
+had drifted into a big bay, and had grounded about midway. The cliffs in
+most places rose sheer up out of the water, but here and there there
+were breaks, and I could see that the land beyond was rough and
+desolate-looking. I ate my last half-biscuit, and then made my way down
+to the water's edge. The shore seemed to me about half a mile away--a
+longish swim in cold water; but I was a good swimmer, and the sea
+between the berg and the land was as smooth as a pond. I took off my
+clothes, put them in the middle of my oil-skin and wrapped it round
+them, tying one of my stockings round the neck of the bag to keep it all
+together. I had bought the oil-skin just before I started on that
+voyage, and knew that it would keep out the water tidy. I could not get
+down nearer than twenty feet of the sea, so I dropped the bag in and
+then jumped.
+
+"As I had hoped, the thing floated light. I pushed it before me as I
+swam, and found that by putting my hands on it it would keep me up well
+when I wanted to rest. However, I did not want much of that. The water
+was too cold to be idle in, and I never stopped swimming until I got to
+shore at the point I had marked out as easiest to land on. I wasn't long
+opening the bag and getting into my things, which were perfectly dry. My
+first thought was of food. While I had been swimming I thought I heard a
+sort of barking noise, and I wasn't long in seeing that there were a lot
+of seals on the rocks. I picked up a goodish chunk of stone, and then
+lay down and set to crawling towards them. I had heard from sailors who
+had been whaling that the way to kill a seal was to hit him on the nose,
+and I kept this in my mind as I crawled up. They did not seem to notice
+me, and I got close among them without their moving. Then I jumped up.
+There was a young seal lying not ten feet from me, and before he had
+time to turn I smashed down my bit of rock between his eyes, and there
+he lay dead.
+
+"Raw seal's flesh ain't a sort of food as you would take for choice, but
+I was too hungry to think about cooking, and I ate as big a meal as ever
+I had in my life. Up till then I hadn't really thought as there was any
+chance of my being saved in the long run. Now I felt as there was, and
+for the first time I felt really grateful that I had not shared in the
+fate of my messmates, and I knelt down and thanked God for having
+brought me safe to shore. Then I set-to to climb up to the top of the
+cliffs. It was hard work, and, as I afterwards found, I had just hit, by
+God's mercy, on the only spot on that part of the island where I could
+have got up, for in most places the cliffs rose pretty near straight up
+four or five hundred feet above the sea.
+
+"When I got to the top I saw that there were some mighty high hills
+covered with snow to the south-east, which might have been fifteen or
+twenty miles away. It was a dreary kind of country--rocky and desolate,
+with tufts of thin grass growing in the crevices of the rocks; and I saw
+that there was precious little chance of picking up a living there, and
+that if I was to get grub it was to the sea I must look for it. I
+thought the best thing to do was to try and find out some sheltered sort
+of cove where, perhaps, I might find a bit of a cave, for I knew that
+when winter came on there would be no chance for me in the open; so I
+set out to walk. I brought up with me a big hunk of flesh that would
+last me for three or four days, and what I had got to look for was fresh
+water. I walked all that day, keeping along pretty close to the edge of
+the cliff. I found plenty of little pools of rain-water among the rocks,
+and did pretty well. I was not hungry enough to tackle raw flesh that
+night, and had nothing to make a fire with. I had got matches in my
+pocket in a tight-fitting brass box which had kept them dry, but there
+was no fuel.
+
+"The next morning I started again, and after walking for four or five
+hours came to a spot where the cliffs broke away sudden. Getting to the
+edge I saw that there was a narrow bay stretching some way up into the
+island. An hour's walk brought me to its head. Here, as I had hoped, I
+found a little stream running down into it. When you find a bay, most
+times you will find water running in at its head. The ground sloped
+gradually here in great terraces; the rock was hard and black, and
+looked as if it had been burnt. I have heard since that it was what they
+call volcanic. Being so sheltered there were more things growing here,
+wherever a little earth had gathered; and I saw some things for all the
+world like cabbages, and made up my mind to try them, when I got a
+chance, with my seal-meat.
+
+"At last I got down near the water. Just at the head of the bay was a
+shelving shore, and along at the sides, as far as I could see it was
+rocky, and there were plenty of seals here too. Along on the beach and
+on the rock and on the terraces were quantities of birds--penguins, as I
+knew from what I had heard of them. They did not try to get out of my
+way, but just made an angry sort of noise. 'I will talk to you
+presently, my hearties,' I said; 'what I have got to do now is to look
+for a shelter.' It was the end of April, and I knew that it would not be
+long before winter would be upon me, and if I was not out of it by that
+time I should soon be frozen stiff. I did not go near the seals, for I
+did not want to frighten them. I looked about the rest of that afternoon
+and all next day, but I could not find what you might properly call a
+cave, and so determined to make use of the best place I could fix upon.
+This was a spot in the lower terrace, in the face of the rock. It seemed
+as if the lower part was softer than the upper, which was black and hard
+and almost like glass. Underneath this the rock had crumbled away
+perhaps six feet in depth.
+
+"This soft rock was about four feet thick. It was more gone in some
+places than others. I chose a spot where a hole was about eight feet
+long, and made up my mind to close up the front of this, just leaving a
+hole big enough for me to crawl in and out. First of all I brought up
+some big stones and built a wall and filled up the crevices with tufts
+of grass. Then I brought up smaller stones and piled against them,
+shooting in sand from the beach till I had made a regular solid bank,
+four feet thick, against the wall. Then I levelled the bottom of the
+cave with sand and spread it thickly with dried grass. All this took me
+five days' hard work. There was no difficulty about food. I had only to
+go and pick up a few stones and go among the penguins and knock them
+over. I made a shift to cook them over fires made of dry tufts of grass.
+
+"I had been careful not to disturb the seals. I did not want any of them
+until the weather got cold enough to freeze their flesh. I thought of
+oil from their blubber, but I had nothing to hold it. When I had
+finished my hut I began to hunt about to see if I could find drift-wood,
+but I could only find a few pieces in the cove, and gave it up, for I
+did not see how I could anyhow keep up a fire through the winter. Then I
+bethought me that the penguins could furnish me with feathers, and I set
+to work at them with earnest, and in a week had filled my cave two feet
+deep with feathers.
+
+"Every day I could feel that it got colder, and at night there was a
+sharp frost; so I determined now to set-to at the seals. There were none
+of the sort that you get fur from, and there was not much warmth to be
+had from the skins, still they would do to block up the entrance to my
+den. I killed five or six of them, and found that some of the young ones
+were furry enough to make coats of. As I was sitting on the ground by
+them next morning, lamenting I had nothing to boil down their blubber
+in, an idea struck me. I might use the blubber as candles, sticking
+wicks into it. I set to work and stripped the blubber off all the seals,
+and cut it in squares of about six inches. Then I got a bit of one of
+the fresh skins, bent it up all round, of the right size for the squares
+to fit into, fastened it, and spread it on the rocks to dry. The thought
+of how I was to make wicks bothered me. I could not spare my clothes. At
+last, after trying different things, I found that some of the grass was
+very tough. I put a bundle of this in a pool, and let it lay there for a
+week; for I was a North of Ireland boy, and knew how they worked flax.
+At the end of that time I took it out, let it dry, and then bruised it
+between flat stones, and found that it had a tough fibre. I thanked God,
+and picked a lot more of it and put it to soak. You may guess I tried
+the experiment that night; I made six big wicks and put them in one of
+the cakes of blubber and lighted them, and found that they burned
+famously and gave out a lot of heat. I killed some more seals; and by
+the time the winter set in in earnest I had a stock of meat enough to
+last me for months, and two or three hundredweight of cakes of blubber.
+
+"I had made several bowls and plates out of the seals' skins, and had
+fashioned myself, in a mighty rough way, some suits of young seal-skins
+with a hood that covered all my head and face except just my mouth and
+eyes. From the first I had eaten the cabbages regular with my food. I
+could not cook them, because I had nothing to boil the water in, and
+they were rather bitter to eat raw; but they were better than nothing
+with the flesh, and I knew that I must eat green food if I wanted to
+keep healthy. Among the drift-wood I had luckily found a couple of
+broken oars. To these I had fastened with seal sinews two sharp and
+strong bones, and they made very fair spears.
+
+"By the end of May the ground was covered deep with snow, and the cold
+set in bitter. What had bothered me most of all was where I was to store
+my stock of frozen meat and blubber. I knew that there was a chance of
+bears coming, and that they would scent it out however I might hide it.
+At last I determined to put it in a hole something like that I had made
+into a den for myself. This hole was not like mine, on a level with the
+ground, but was on the face of a smooth cliff about forty feet high. I
+made a rope of seal-skin, fastened it to a projection in the rock over
+the hole, and lowered myself down. I found the place would do well, and
+was quite big enough for all my store, while the face of the rock was
+too steep to climb, even for a bear. So I carried all my stock up to the
+top, and climbing up and down the rope, stored it in the hole, except
+what I wanted for a week's consumption.
+
+"Well, lads, I passed the winter there. However cold it was outside--and
+I can tell you it was bitter--it was warm enough in my den. At the very
+coldest time I had two of my lamps burning, but most of the time one
+kept it warm enough. I used to nestle down in the feathers and haul a
+seal-skin over me; and however hard it blew outside, and however hard
+it froze, I was warm there. I used to frizzle my meat over the lamp, and
+every day, when the weather permitted, I went out and brought in a stock
+of the cabbages. I always kept a good stock of blubber in the den and
+several bundles of my wicks.
+
+"One night I heard a sound of snuffing outside my cave, and knew at once
+that the bears had come. I had thought over what I should do, and was
+ready for them. The hole through the bank into the cave was only big
+enough for me to crawl through, and I knew a bear could not come in till
+he had scraped it a good bit bigger. I tied a bunch of the flax to the
+end of one of my spears, poured a little melted grease from the lamp
+over it, and then drew aside the seal-skin over the entrance and peeped
+out.
+
+"It was a moonlight night, and I could see a big head trying to thrust
+itself in at the other end of the hole. A moment later he began to
+scrape away at the sides. I lit the bundle of flax. It flared up
+fiercely, and I thrust it out full into the beast's face. He gave a
+roar, and off he went as fast as his feet would carry him. They tried it
+a dozen times if they did it once; but the torch was too much for them,
+and the seal bone in its middle must have given them some nasty wounds,
+for I generally saw blood on the snow in the morning. Whenever I went to
+get a fresh store of meat and blubber I could see how they had trampled
+on the snow at the foot of the rock, and how they had scratched its face
+in trying to get up at it, but it was all no manner of good. I was
+chased two or three times by them when I went out to gather my cabbages,
+but I always managed to get into my hole before they overtook me, and
+they had learned to give that a wide berth.
+
+"It seemed to me that winter was never going to be over; but I was young
+and had good spirits and was fond of a song, and I used to lie there and
+sing by the hour. Then I used to go over in my mind all the v'yges I had
+made and to remember the yarns I had heard, and would go over the talks
+I had had with Jack and Tom and Harry. You would be surprised how I kept
+my spirits up. You see I was a young fellow, and young fellows take
+things cheerful and make light of what would break them down when they
+get older. I never had a day's illness, which I set down to them
+cabbages. I never saw them anywhere else, and I larnt arterwards that
+Kerguelen Island--for that was the place I was thrown on--was famous for
+them.
+
+"When spring came and the snow melted I made up a package of forty
+pounds of meat, for the seals had not come yet, and started to make a
+tour of the island. I thought such a place as this was pretty well sure
+to be used by whalers in summer; and if so, I should find signs of their
+having been there. I made a few excursions first, and found I was pretty
+near the middle of the island--of course on the westerly side. I climbed
+a high hill, but I did not learn much except that the island was a big
+one, and there were hills both to the north and south that looked to me
+as if they must be thirty or forty miles away. As far as I could see of
+the west coast of the island the cliffs were everywhere precipitous; and
+though at the east they did not seem much better, I concluded to try
+that first. You see at this point the island was not more than fifteen
+miles across, but it seemed to bulge out both ways, and where I was
+looked like a sort of neck connecting two big islands. It was an awful
+country to traverse, all hill and rock; but after three weeks' tramping
+I gave a shout, for in a bay in front of me was a large hut.
+
+"I had had a hard time of it and was pretty well done up. My meat had
+lasted me well enough on short rations and I had filled up on cabbages;
+but I was often a long time without water, having to depend entirely on
+melted snow in the hollows of the rocks. I hurried down to the hut; it
+was a rough shed evidently erected for the use of whalers, and round it
+were ashes of fires, empty meat-tins, and other signs of the stay of
+sailors here. For the next month I lived here. The birds were returning.
+There was a stream close at hand, and enough drift-wood on the shores to
+enable me to keep up a constant fire. I woke up one morning in November
+to see a vessel entering the bay. The crew would scarce believe me when
+I told them that I passed the winter on the island alone, and that I had
+lived for six months on seal-meat, penguins, and cabbages. I learned
+from them that the bay was known as Hillsborough Bay, and the cove where
+the whaler entered as Betsy Cove, and that it was a regular rendezvous
+of whalers. I fished with them all through the summer, and went home in
+the ship, and was soon down again on the books of Godstone & Son."
+
+"Well, that was a go, and no mistake, Joe!" Jim Tucker said. "Fancy
+having to live for six months on seal frizzled over a lamp and raw
+cabbages! You did not tell us how you did for drink."
+
+"Melted snow," Joe replied. "I used to fix one of the basins of dried
+seal-skin a foot or so above the lamp, so that it would be hot enough to
+melt the snow without a risk of its burning itself. Then I used to pour
+the water from one basin to another for half an hour. Melted snow-water
+is poor stuff if you don't do that. I do not know the rights of it, but
+I have heard tell that it's 'cause there ain't no air in it, though for
+my part I never could see no air in water, except in surf. I had heard
+that that was the way they treated condensed water, and anyhow it was a
+sort of amusement like, and helped to pass the time."
+
+"Well, it is a capital story to listen to, Joe," Jack said; "but I
+should not like to go through it myself. It must have been an awful
+time, shut up in a hole with a stinking lamp, for I expect it did stink,
+all those months."
+
+"It did use to smell powerful strong sometimes, lad, and many a time at
+first it turned me as sick as a youngster on his first v'yage; but I got
+accustomed to it after a bit. The great thing was to keep your wick
+short."
+
+"And now about your other wreck not far from here?"
+
+"I will tell you that to-morrow evening, lads. That was a more ordinary
+kind of thing. It wasn't pleasant; I don't know that wrecks ever are,
+but it wasn't such an out-of-the-way thing as being chucked up on to an
+iceberg."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+IN DANGEROUS SEAS.
+
+
+THE following evening, as the twilight was falling, the lads again
+gathered round the old sailor.
+
+"Well, lads," he began, "just as this other affair I was telling you
+about happened further down south, so the other was a goodish bit to the
+north. We were bound for the Persian Gulf, and I fancy the captain got
+wrong with his reckonings. He had had trouble before we sailed; had lost
+his wife sudden, I heard, and, more's the pity, he took to drink. He was
+the first and last captain as ever I sailed under as did it; for
+Godstone & Son were always mighty particular with their masters, and
+would not have a man, not for ever so, who was given to lifting his
+elbow. Anyhow, we went wrong; and it is a baddish place to go wrong, I
+can tell you, is the Mozambique Channel. There was a haze on the water
+and a light breeze, and just about eight bells in the morning we went
+plump ashore--though none of us thought we were within a hundred miles
+of land. There was a pretty to-do, as you might fancy; but we had to
+wait until morning to see where we were; then we found, when the mist
+lifted a bit that we were on a low sandy coast.
+
+"We had no doubt that we should get her off so we got the boats out and
+the hatches off, and began to get up the cargo. We worked hard all day,
+and thought we had got pretty well enough out of her, and were just
+going to knock off work and carry out a couple of anchors and cables
+astern to try and heave her off, when there was a yell, and two or three
+hundred black fellows came dashing down on us with spears. They crept up
+so close before they showed, that we had no time to tumble into the
+boats before they were upon us. We made the best sort of fight we could,
+but that wasn't much. We had brought ashore muskets and cutlasses, but
+they had been left in the boats, and only a few of us had time to get
+hold of them before they were upon us. I cut and slashed as well as I
+could, but it was not for long; for a spear lodged in my shoulder just
+at the moment when a big native caught me a clip over the head with a
+club, and down I went.
+
+"I fancy I was some time before I got my senses again. When I did I
+found that I was tied hand and foot, and was lying there on the sands,
+with three or four of our fellows in the same plight as myself. They all
+belonged to the jolly-boat in which I had come ashore. The other boat
+had made a shift to push off with some of its hands and get back to the
+ship; but I did not know that until afterwards, for I was lying down
+behind a hillock of sand and could not get a view of the sea. There were
+lots of natives about, and they seemed mighty excited. I could hear a
+dropping fire of muskets, and guessed that those on board were keeping
+up a fire on any who so showed themselves on the beach. The natives got
+more and more excited, and kept jabbering together and pointing away
+along the coast; and I guessed that some of their own craft were coming
+to attack the ship.
+
+"Presently I heard one of the guns, then another and another. The shot
+didn't come whistling our way, so I had no doubt that the ship was
+attacked. For a quarter of an hour the firing went on--cannon and
+musketry. I could hear the yells of the natives and the shouts of our
+men, though I could see nothing. The natives round me were pretty near
+out of their minds with excitement; then they began to dance and yell,
+and all at once the firing ceased, and I knew that the niggers had taken
+the ship. I was afraid it would come to that; for you see they had lost
+pretty well a third of their crew in the fight on shore, and the niggers
+would never have ventured to attack if they had not been ten to one
+against them.
+
+"We lay there all that night, and I believe I should have died of thirst
+if a nigger wench had not taken compassion on us and given us a drink.
+The next morning our ropes were undone. Our first look when we got up
+was naturally towards the ship. There she lay, with a dozen native craft
+round her. Her decks were black with niggers, and they were hard at work
+stripping her. No one paid much attention to us, for there was nowhere
+we could run to; and we sat down together and talked over our chances.
+We saw nothing of our shipmates; and whether they were all killed, or
+whether some of them were put aboard the native craft, I never knew.
+They were some days unloading and stripping the ship, and they had big
+quarrels over the division of the spoil. I think the fellows with boats
+did our natives out of their share, beyond what fell into their hands
+when they first attacked us. However, at last it was all done; then two
+chiefs came and had a look at us, and one took me and Tom Longstaff,
+and another took the other two.
+
+"We had not done badly for eating while we were on shore, for there was
+several barrels of pork and biscuits among the lot we had landed, and we
+were free to take as much as we wanted. The other bales and boxes were
+all broken open and the contents made up into packets, and Tom and I and
+about sixty niggers, each with as much as he could stagger under,
+started away from the shore. It wasn't a long march, for their village
+lay only about six miles away. We knew it could not be far, because the
+women and children had come down to the beach two or three hours after
+the fight was over. We stopped here about a month, and then one morning
+the chief and four of his men started off with Tom and me. We made three
+days' marches, such marches as I never want to do again. Tom and I did
+our best to keep up; but the last day we were quite worn out, and if it
+hadn't been that they thumped us with their spears and prodded us up, we
+should never have done it.
+
+"The place we got to was a deal bigger than the first village. We were
+left outside the biggest hut with the four fellows to guard us, while
+the chief went inside. Presently he came out again with a chap quite
+different to himself. He was brown instead of being black, and dressed
+quite different; and having been trading up in the Persian Gulf I knew
+him to be an Arab. He looked us over as if we had been bullocks he
+intended to buy, and then went into the hut again. A few minutes later
+our chief came out and made signs to us that we belonged to the Arab
+now, and then went away with his men, and we never saw him again. We had
+an easy time of it for the next week, and then the Arab started with a
+number of carriers laden with goods for the interior.
+
+"You would scarcely believe, lads, what we went through on that 'ere
+journey. Many a time Tom and I made up our minds to bolt for it; and we
+would have done it if we had had the least idea which way to go or how
+we were to keep alive on the journey. We had agreed when we started that
+we would do our best, and that we would not put up with any flogging. We
+didn't much care whether they killed us or not, for we would just as
+leave have died as passed our lives in that country with all its beastly
+ways. Well, a couple of days after we had started, a big nigger driver
+who had been laying on his stick freely on the backs of the slaves came
+along, and let Tom and me have one apiece. Tom, who was nearest to him,
+chucked down his load and went right at him, and knocked him over like a
+ninepin.
+
+"Well, some of the other drivers or guards, or whatever they call them,
+ran up, and there was a tidy skrimage, I can tell you. It was ten
+minutes, I should say, before they got the best of us; and there was not
+one among them but was badly damaged about the figure-head. When they
+had got us down they laid it on to rights, and I believe they would have
+finished us if the Arab had not come up and stopped it.
+
+"'Look here,' said I, when I was able to get up on to my feet again; 'we
+are ready to work just as far as men can work, but if one of those
+niggers lays a finger on us we will do for him. You may cut us in pieces
+afterwards, but we will do for him.'
+
+"I don't know whether the Arab understood just what I said, but I think
+he got the gist of it. He spoke sharp to his men, and they never touched
+us afterwards. I could not quite make out what they were taking us for,
+because I can say honestly we were not much good at carrying--not half
+as good as one of the slaves. The first day or two we carried a good
+manful load. Then our shoes went to pieces, and we got that footsore and
+bad we could scarcely crawl along, let alone carrying loads. Tom said he
+thought that the Arab was a-taking us to sell as curios to some fellow
+who had never seen white men before, and it turned out as he was right.
+After we had been travelling for nigh a month we came to a big village;
+and there was great excitement over our coming, and for two days there
+were feastings, while the Arab sold part of his goods to the people for
+gold dust and ivory.
+
+"The chief had come to look at us the day we arrived, and we had been
+packed away together in a little hut. The third day he came again with
+the Arab, and made signs that I was his property now, while the Arab
+told Tom to go out and start with his caravan. It was a big wrench for
+us, but it were no good struggling against what was to be. So we shook
+hands and parted on it quietly, and what became of Tom I have never
+heard from that day to this; but like enough he is dead years ago.
+
+"Well, it would be too long a story to tell you all that happened in the
+nine months I stopped in that village. The chief was very proud of me,
+and used to show me off to his visitors. I had not such a very bad time
+of it. I used to make myself as useful as I could. I had been a handy
+sort of chap, and fond of carpentry, and I made a shift with what native
+tools I could get to turn out tables and chairs, and cupboards, and such
+like. All this time I was wondering how I was ever to get back again. I
+used to share a hut with another slave who had been captured in war.
+They generally sell them to the Arab slave-dealers to take down to the
+coast, but this man was the son of a chief who had gone to war with the
+fellow who owned me, and had been killed; and he kept this chap as his
+slave as a sort of brag, I think.
+
+"We got on very well together, and of course by the time we had been
+there six months I got to talk their lingo, and we agreed at last that
+we would try to make a bolt of it together. So one night--when it
+happened that there was a great feast in the village--we slipped away as
+soon as it got dark, and made south, our object being to strike one of
+the Portuguese stations. We armed ourselves with bows and arrows, and
+spears; and as many yams as we could carry. It would make a book, lads,
+if I was to tell you all we went through before we got there. We
+travelled chiefly by nights; sometimes killing a deer, sometimes getting
+a few yams or heads of corn from the fields of the villages we passed.
+We had one or two skrimages, but fortunately never ran against any
+strong bodies of natives. By myself I should have died before I had been
+gone a fortnight but Mwango was up to every dodge. He knew what roots
+were good to eat, and what fruit and berries were safe. He could steal
+up to a herd of deer without frightening them, and was a first-rate hand
+in making pitfalls for game.
+
+"I didn't keep no account of time, but it was somewhere about six weeks
+after we had started when we came down on the banks of a biggish river.
+We followed it down until, two or three days later, we came on a
+village. There we stole a canoe, and paddling at night and lying up in
+the day, we came after about a week to a Portuguese post. There we were
+kindly received, and stopped for a month; and then I went down the river
+with some traders to the coast, while Mwango took service with the
+Portuguese. Six weeks later I was lucky enough to get a ship bound for
+the Cape, and there shifted into another for England. So that, young
+gentlemen, was the second time as I was off the books of Godstone &
+Son."
+
+"Thank you very much, Joe. Some day you must give us some more yarns
+about it, and tell us something of your life in the village and your
+journey."
+
+"I will think it over, Master Jim. It is a long time ago now, for I was
+not above six-and-twenty when it happened. But I will think it over, and
+see if I can call back something worth telling."
+
+From that time onwards the boys had no reason to complain of dulness.
+
+If the old man's memory ever played him false, his imagination never
+failed him. Story followed story in almost unbroken sequence, so that
+between old Joe's yarns and the ordinary duties of sea life the time
+passed swiftly and pleasantly. After rounding the Cape they had a spell
+of fine weather, until one morning when Jack came on deck he saw land
+away on the port beam.
+
+"There is Ceylon," Jim Tucker said.
+
+"I should like to land and have a day's ramble on shore there, Jim.
+There would be something to see there with all that rich vegetation. A
+very different thing from the sands of Egypt!"
+
+"Yes, and all sorts of adventures, Jack. There are snakes and elephants
+and all sorts of things."
+
+"I certainly should not care to meet snakes, Jim, and I don't know that
+I should like wild elephants. Still, I should like a ramble on shore. I
+suppose there is no chance of our getting nearer to the land."
+
+"Not a bit, Jack. I heard Mr. Hoare tell Arthur that it was very seldom
+we passed within sight of the island at all. Sailors are not fond of
+land except when they are actually going to make a port. The further
+they keep away from it the better they are pleased."
+
+"Such splendid weather as this I should have thought it would have made
+no difference," Jack said. "I should be glad if we were going to coast
+up the whole way. Why, we have had nothing but a gentle regular wind
+ever since that storm off the Cape."
+
+"Yes, but it may not last all the way, Jack," Mr. Timmins, as he walked
+past and overheard the lad's words, said. "There is no place in the
+world where they have more furious cyclones than in the Bay of Bengal.
+Happily they don't come very often. Perhaps there is only one really
+very bad one in four or five years; but when there is one the
+destruction is awful. Islands are submerged, and sometimes, hundreds of
+square miles of low country flooded, the villages washed away, and a
+frightful loss of life. I have been in one or two sharp blows up the
+bay, but never in a cyclone; though I have been in one in the China
+Seas. That was bad enough in all conscience."
+
+The wind fell lighter as they made their way up the coast. They kept
+well out from the land, and had not sighted it since leaving Ceylon. So
+light were the winds that it was some days before Mr. Timmins told them
+that they were now abreast of Madras.
+
+"How much longer shall we be before we are at the mouth of the Hoogley,
+sir?"
+
+"It depends upon the wind, lad. With a strong breeze aft we shall be
+there in three or four days. If we have calms we may be as many weeks."
+
+Another week of light baffling winds, and then the breeze died away
+altogether and there was a dead calm. The sun poured down with great
+force, but the sky was less blue and clear than usual. At night it was
+stiflingly hot, and the next morning the sun again rose over a sea as
+smooth as a sheet of glass.
+
+"I wonder what the captain and the two mates are talking about so
+seriously," Jack said as the three lads leant against the bulwarks in
+the shadow of the mainsail.
+
+"I expect they are wondering whether the pitch won't melt off her
+bottom," Jim Tucker said with a laugh; "or what will happen if all the
+crew are baked alive. I am sure it is pretty well as hot as an oven."
+
+"The sky looks rather a queer colour," Jack said, looking up. "You can
+hardly call it blue at all."
+
+"No, it is more like a dull gray than blue," Arthur Hill said. "Hallo!
+What is up, I wonder?"
+
+The captain had disappeared in his cabin, and on coming out had said a
+few words to Mr. Timmins, who at once went to the edge of the
+quarter-deck and shouted "all hands to shorten sail." The vessel was
+under a cloud of canvas, for every sail that could draw had been set
+upon her to make the most of the light puffs of wind. Some of the young
+seamen looked as if they could hardly believe their ears at the order;
+but Jack heard one of the older sailors say to a mate as they ran up the
+ratlines, "What did I tell you half an hour since, Bob: that like enough
+we should have scarce a rag on her by sunset."
+
+The lads sprang up the ratlines with the men, for they took their share
+of duty aloft. Arthur's place was in the mizzen, Jim's in the main, and
+Jack's in the fore-top. The stunsails were first got in, then the royals
+and topgallant-sails. The men were working well, but the captain's voice
+came up loud from the quarter-deck, "Work steady, lads, but work all you
+can! Every minute is of consequence!"
+
+Jack looked round the horizon, but could see nothing to account for this
+urgency. The sun was nearly overhead--a ball of glowing fire, and yet,
+Jack thought, less bright than usual, for he could look at it steadily,
+and its circle was clear and well defined. From that point right away
+down to the horizon the dull heavy-looking sky stretched away unbroken
+by a single cloud.
+
+As soon as the topgallant-sails were furled the upper spars were sent
+down, then the courses were clewed up and two of her jibs taken off her.
+"Close reef the topsails!" was the next order, and when this was done,
+and the men after more than an hour's work descended to the decks
+drenched with perspiration, the ship was under the easiest possible
+canvas--nothing but the three closely-reefed topsails, the
+fore-staysail, and a small jib. Mr. Hoare and the third mate had been
+aloft with the men, and as soon as all were on deck the work of coiling
+away ropes, ranging the light spars, and tidying up began.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A CYCLONE.
+
+
+"WHAT on earth is it all about?" Arthur Hill asked his comrades as the
+three boys gathered together after the work was done. "Why, there is not
+a breath of wind. Is it all done for practice, do you think?"
+
+Jim shook his head. "I expect we are going to have one of those cyclones
+Mr. Timmins was speaking about the other day, though I don't see any
+signs of it, except the queer colour of the sky. I expect the glass must
+have been going down very fast. There is the captain popping into his
+cabin again. Well, he is not long about it," he added, as Captain
+Murchison hurried out again and spoke to Mr. Timmins, who immediately
+gave the order, "Furl mizzen and main topsails! Lower down the
+fore-staysail!"
+
+"Well, there can't be more to do now," Jack said, when the order was
+carried out, "unless we set to work to set them all again."
+
+"Look, Jack!" Arthur Hill said, grasping his arm and pointing away on
+the starboard beam.
+
+A wall of black mist seemed to hang upon the horizon, rising momentarily
+higher and higher.
+
+"The squall is coming, lads!" the captain shouted. "When it strikes her
+hold on for your lives. Carpenter, put a man with an axe at each of the
+weather-shrouds. We may have to cut away before we have done with it."
+
+All eyes were now turned towards the bank of cloud, which was rising
+with extraordinary rapidity. Small portions of the upper line seemed at
+times to be torn off and to rush ahead of the main body, and then to
+disappear, suddenly blown into fragments. A low moaning sound was heard,
+and a line of white could be made out at the foot of the cloud-bank. The
+water around the ship was still as smooth as glass, though there was a
+slight swell, which swayed her to and fro, and caused the shrouds and
+blocks to rattle.
+
+Louder and louder grew the murmur. Again the captain's voice was heard:
+"Hold on for your lives, lads!" and then with a scream and roar, as of a
+thousand railway whistles, the gale struck the ship. So tremendous was
+the force, that although the closely-reefed fore-topsail was the only
+sail that the _Wild Wave_ was showing aloft--for the jib blew from the
+bolt-ropes the instant the squall struck her--the vessel heeled over and
+over until her lee-rail was under water. Further and further she went,
+until the ends of the yards were under water, and the sea seemed to
+Jack, who was holding on by the weather bulwark, as if it were directly
+under his feet.
+
+[Illustration: CAUGHT IN THE CYCLONE]
+
+He thought that the ship was going to capsize, and had not her cargo
+been well stowed she must have done so. She was now almost on her beam
+ends, pressed down by the action of the wind upon her hull rather than
+her masts, and had it not been that the boys had each at the last moment
+twisted a rope round his body, they must have dropped into the water,
+for the deck afforded no hold whatever to their feet. Jack felt
+completely bewildered at the noise and fury of the wind. He had thought
+that after the gale they had passed through south of the Cape, he knew
+what bad weather was; but this was beyond anything of which he had the
+slightest conception.
+
+Looking round he saw Mr. Timmins clinging to the bulwarks, and making
+his way along with the greatest difficulty until he reached the sailor
+stationed with the axe at the mizzen-shrouds, he saw the man rise from
+his crouching position, and, holding on to the bulwarks, strike three
+blows on the lanyards. Then there was a crash, and the mizzen-mast broke
+suddenly off four feet above the deck and fell into the sea.
+
+Jack thought that the vessel lifted a little, for he could see one more
+streak of the deck planking. Mr. Timmins looked round towards the
+captain, who was clinging to the wheel. The latter waved his hand, and
+the mate again began to make his way forward. He passed the boys without
+a word, for the loudest shout would have been inaudible in the howling
+of the wind. He stopped at the main-shrouds again, the axe descended and
+the mainmast went over the side. The relief from the weight of the mast
+and the pressure of the wind upon it was immediate; the _Wild Wave_
+rose with a surge and her lee-rail appeared above the surface, then she
+rose no further.
+
+Mr. Timmins looked back again at the captain, but the latter made no
+sign. He could see that the pressure of the wind upon the foremast was
+beginning to pay the vessel's head off before it; as it did so she
+slowly righted until, when fairly before the wind, she was upon a level
+keel. Then there was a dull explosion heard even above the gale, and the
+fore-topsail split into ribbons. But the ship was now before the gale,
+and was scudding, from the effect of the wind on the bare pole and hull
+alone, at great speed through the water. As soon as she had righted the
+lads threw off their lashings, but still clung tight to the rail, and
+struggled aft till they stood under shelter of the poop.
+
+"This is something like!" Jim roared at the top of his voice into Jack's
+ear. Even then his words could scarcely be heard.
+
+Jack nodded. At present, even had conversation been possible, he would
+have had no inclination for it, for he felt stunned and bewildered. It
+had all taken place in ten minutes. It was but that time since the ship
+had been lying motionless on a still ocean. Now she was rushing, with
+one mast only standing, before a furious gale, and had had the narrowest
+possible escape from destruction. As yet the sea had scarce begun to
+rise, but seemed flattened under the terrific pressure of the wind,
+which scooped hollows in it and drove the water before it in fine spray.
+
+Jack had read in the papers about tornadoes in America, and how houses
+were sometimes bodily lifted with their contents and carried long
+distances, and how everything above the surface was swept away as if a
+scythe had passed over it. He had heard these accounts discussed by the
+fishermen, and the general opinion in Leigh was that there was mighty
+little truth in them. The Leigh men thought they knew what a gale was,
+and what it could do. They knew that chimney-pots and tiles could be
+carried some distance with the wind, that arms of trees could be twisted
+off, and that an empty boat could be carried a considerable distance;
+but that a house could be bodily whirled away, was going so far beyond
+anything that came within their experiences as to be wholly disbelieved.
+
+But Jack knew now as he looked round that this and more was possible. He
+felt the whole vessel leap and quiver as the gust struck her, and this
+with only one bare pole standing, and he would have been scarce
+surprised now had the ship herself been lifted bodily from the water. As
+to walking along the deck, it would have been impossible. No man could
+have forced his way against the wind, and Jack felt that were he to
+attempt to move from the sheltered spot where he was standing he would
+be taken up and carried away as if he were but a figure of straw.
+Presently Mr. Hoare came down from the poop and dived into the cabin,
+making a sign to the lads to follow him. He stood there for a minute
+panting with his exertions.
+
+"The captain has sent me down for a spell," he said. "He and the first
+and Jack Moore are all lashed to the wheel. Sometimes I thought that
+all four of us, wheel and all, would have been blown right away. Well,
+lads, this is a cyclone, and you may live a hundred years and never see
+such another. You had better stop in here, for you might get blown right
+away, and can be of no good on deck. There is nothing to do. The wind
+has got her and will take her where it likes; we can do nothing but keep
+her straight. There will be a tremendous sea up before long. The water
+at the upper part of the bay is shallow, and we shall have a sea like
+yours at the mouth of the Thames, Jack,--only on a big scale.
+
+"Our lives are in God's hands, boys; don't forget to ask for help where
+alone it can be obtained. Now I must be going up again. Steward, give me
+a glass of weak grog and a biscuit. Do you know, lads, my sides fairly
+ache. Once or twice I was pressed against the wheel with such force that
+I could scarcely breathe, and if I had been pinned there by an elephant
+butting me I could not have been more powerless. That is right, steward,
+get me my oil-skin and sou'-wester from the cabin. You had better get a
+kettle on over the spirit-stove, so that we can have a cup of hot cocoa
+when we like. Now then, I am ready for the fray again!" and buttoning
+himself closely up Mr. Hoare went on deck again.
+
+Jack Moore was the next to come down. "Captain's orders, steward. I am
+to have a glass of grog. Well, young gentlemen, this is a gale and no
+mistake. I have been at sea over thirty years, and have never seen
+anything to be compared with it. If you get through this you need never
+be afraid of another; not if you live to be white-headed!"
+
+After Jack Moore had gone up Mr. Timmins and the captain came down by
+turns. Each took a cup of cocoa. They said but few words to the boys,
+and were indeed almost too much exhausted by the struggle through which
+they had gone to be able to speak. The boys gathered again under the lee
+of the poop and watched the scene. It had changed considerably; the wind
+seemed as violent as ever, but the sea was no longer kept in subjection
+to it, and was now tossing itself in a wild and confused manner.
+
+Another half hour and it had settled in some sort of regularity, and was
+sweeping before the wind in deep trough-like waves with steep sides,
+resembling those to which Jack had been accustomed in Sea Reach, on a
+gigantic scale. Soon again these were broken up, and were succeeded by a
+wild tumultuous sea like a boiling cauldron. The vessel was thrown
+violently from side to side, taking water over, now on one beam now on
+the other, and at times shaking from blows as if she had struck upon a
+rock. So sharp and sudden were her movements that the lads could not
+keep their feet, and again made their way into the cabin. Even here it
+was necessary to shout in order to be heard.
+
+"What an extraordinary sea, Jim! I never saw anything like it before."
+
+"That is what it's from," Jim replied, pointing to the tell-tale compass
+hanging from the beams overhead.
+
+Jack glanced at it. "Why, we are running due south!"
+
+"Aye; and I expect we have been two or three times round the compass
+already. That is what makes this frightful broken sea."
+
+"Well, as long as we keep on running round and round," Jack said, "there
+is no fear of our running against the land anywhere."
+
+Jim was further advanced in the study of navigation. "You forget," he
+said, "the centre of the cyclone is moving along all the time, and
+though we may go round and round the centre we are moving in the same
+direction as the cyclone is going, whatever that may be."
+
+For hours the storm raged without the slightest signs of abatement. The
+sea was now terrific; the waist of the ship was full of water. Green
+seas swept over the vessel's bows, carrying everything before them, and
+pouring aft burst open the cabin door and deluged the cabin. By turns
+the boys made their way to the door and looked out.
+
+"Come out, you fellows!" Jim Tucker shouted after one of these trips of
+investigation. "The men are coming out from the fo'castle. There is
+something to be done."
+
+The boys came out and crawled a few steps up the poop-ladder, holding on
+for life as they did so. They did not attempt to get on to the poop, for
+they felt they would be blown away if they exposed themselves there to
+the full force of the wind. Looking round, the scene was terrible. The
+surface of the sea was almost hidden by the clouds of spray blown from
+the heads of the waves; a sky that was inky black hung overhead. The
+sea, save for the white heads, was of similar hue, but ahead there
+seemed a gleam of light. Jim Tucker, holding on by the rail, raised
+himself two or three feet higher to have a better view. A moment was
+sufficient.
+
+He sprang down again and shouted in his comrades' ears, "Breakers
+ahead!" It needed no further words. The light ahead was the gleam of a
+sea of white foam towards which the vessel was hurrying. Nothing could
+be done to check or change her course. Had the mizzen been standing an
+effort might have been made to show a little sail upon it, and bring her
+head up into the wind to anchor; but even could this have been done the
+cables would have snapped like pack-threads. There was nothing for it
+but destruction. Jack followed Jim's example--crawled to the top of the
+gangway, and holding on by the poop-rail raised himself to his feet and
+looked forward.
+
+Right across their bows stretched a band of white breakers, and beyond
+through the mist he could make out the line of a low shore. The lads
+descended again into the waist, and with great difficulty made their way
+forward to where the men were huddled together round the entrance to the
+fo'castle. They too had kept a look-out, and knew of the danger into
+which they were running and the impossibility of avoiding it.
+
+"Is there anything to be done?" Jim Tucker shouted.
+
+A silent shake of the head was a sufficient answer. The vessel and all
+in her were doomed. The officers were now seen leaving the helm and
+coming forward. It was a proof in itself of the hopelessness of the
+prospect. The vessel was indeed steering herself straight before the
+gale, and as there were no regular following waves there was no fear of
+her broaching to. The boats, that had at the commencement of the storm
+been hanging from the davits, were all gone or useless. One or two had
+been smashed to pieces by heavy seas striking them; others had been torn
+from their fastenings and blown clean away.
+
+The long-boat alone remained lashed amidships on the deck. Jack pointed
+to her, but an old sailor shook his head and pointed to the sea. No boat
+could hope to live in it a minute. Once in the breakers it would be
+swamped instantly. The officers made their way forward.
+
+"It is all over, lads!" the captain shouted; "but some of us may reach
+the shore on pieces of the wreck as she breaks up. We will get the
+long-boat ready for launching: some of you may cling to her. Now, lads,
+let us shake hands all round, and meet our fate as British sailors
+should do--calmly and bravely. At any rate some of us may be saved yet."
+
+The crew of the _Wild Wave_ had been a happy one. Discipline had been
+good, although every indulgence had been allowed the men, and all were
+fond of her officers. There was a silent hand-clasp all round, and then
+some of the sailors followed the officers to the boat. As they did so
+they knew well that the order was given merely to keep them employed,
+for the chance of anyone being washed ashore and reaching it alive
+through the tremendous surf was small indeed. As they cut away the
+boat's cover they looked round, and a low cry broke from several of
+them. The ship was close to the broken water.
+
+Every man clung to something and awaited the shock. In a few seconds it
+came. As she descended a wave there was a tremendous shock, followed
+instantaneously by a crash as the foremast went over the bow. Another
+and another, accompanied each time with the sound of rending timbers.
+
+"Cut away the lashings of the boat!" the captain shouted, drawing his
+knife and setting the example. As he did so he touched Jack and pointed
+into the bottom of the boat. The lad understood him. He was to put in
+the plugs, which at ordinary times were left out to allow any rain-water
+to escape as it fell. Jack in turn touched Arthur, and the two climbed
+into the boat to replace the plugs.
+
+As they did so a fiercer gust than usual struck the vessel. The lashings
+of the long-boat had just been cut, and the gale seized it and raised it
+in the air as if it had been made of paper. Jack and Arthur uttered a
+cry, and involuntarily clung for life to the thwarts. Over and over they
+were whirled. Confused, giddy, scarce knowing what had happened, they
+clung on. It was a sort of nightmare, and how long it lasted they knew
+not. Presently there was a terrific crash, and they knew no more.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+CAST ASHORE.
+
+
+WHEN Jack opened his eyes he lay for some time wondering where he was
+and what had become of him. There were stars in the sky overhead, but
+the light was stealing over it, and he felt that it was daybreak. There
+was a loud, dull, roaring sound in his ears--a sound he could not
+understand, for not even a breath of wind fanned his cheek. At last
+slowly the facts came to his mind. There had been a great storm, the
+vessel was among the breakers, he had got into the long-boat with Arthur
+to put in the plugs, they had been lifted up and blown away--and then
+suddenly Jack sat upright.
+
+It was light enough for him to see that he was still in the boat, but
+its back was broken and its sides staved in. Around him was a mass of
+tangled foliage, and close beside him lay Arthur Hill, the blood slowly
+oozing from a terrible gash in his forehead. Jack leaned over and raised
+him, and loudly shouted his name in his ear. With a sigh Arthur opened
+his eyes.
+
+"What is it, Jack?" he asked feebly.
+
+"We are saved, old man. We have been blown right ashore in the boat, and
+we have both got shaken and hurt a bit; but, thank God, we are both
+alive."
+
+"Where are we?" Arthur asked, looking round.
+
+"As far as I can see," Jack replied, "we are in the middle of a grove of
+trees that have been blown down by the gale, and the leaves and branches
+have broken our fall, otherwise we must have been smashed up. We must
+have been lying here for the last ten hours. It was just about six
+o'clock when we struck, for I looked at the clock in the cabin the last
+time we were down there; and as the sun will be up before long, it must
+be getting on for five now. Now, let us try to get out of this."
+
+With the greatest difficulty, for they were still weak and terribly
+shaken, the boys made their way through the tangle of trees and
+branches, into which they had so providentially fallen. Both uttered an
+exclamation of surprise as they reached the edge of the wood: the sea
+was nearly half a mile away! A tremendous surf was still breaking, and
+for a quarter of a mile out a band of white breakers extended along the
+shore. There were no signs of the _Wild Wave_.
+
+Scarce speaking a word they made their way down to the shore, with the
+faint hope that some of their comrades might have been thrown on the
+strand alive. A few bits of broken timber alone showed that a wreck had
+taken place; the rest had probably been swept by the current up or down
+the coast. They walked for half a mile and then stopped. The sea here
+had made a clean breach over the land, and extended as far as the eye
+could reach. Retracing their steps they were again stopped by a similar
+obstacle. Then they went inland, passed round the grove of fallen trees,
+and looked landward.
+
+As far as they could see stretched a broad sheet of water, broken only
+by the branches of fallen trees. It was evident that a vast tract of
+country had been submerged by the storm, and that what was now an island
+upon which they stood had only been saved from a similar fate by being a
+few feet higher than the surrounding country. Every tree upon it had
+been felled, and the very surface of the soil seemed to have been torn
+off by the fury of the gale.
+
+Scarcely a word had been spoken from the time they first reached the
+shore. The fate of their shipmates had depressed them profoundly, and as
+yet they could scarcely feel grateful for their own escape. Jack was the
+first to rouse himself from this state of despondency.
+
+"Well, Arthur," he said, "things don't look very bright, but we must
+hope for the best. At any rate let us thank God for having rescued us in
+such a marvellous manner. It seems almost a miracle."
+
+Both the boys were bareheaded, their caps having been blown away at the
+commencement of the gale, and they now stood with bended heads for some
+minutes silently thanking God for their preservation.
+
+"Now, Arthur," Jack said cheerfully, "let us go down to the water and
+see how fast it is sinking. It was running like a sluice into the sea at
+both ends of this island, and I do not suppose that it will be many
+hours before it is gone. As soon as it is we must set out and make our
+way across to the land beyond it. We are sure to find some villages
+there and to get some sort of food after we've been down to the water. I
+vote we go back to the wood and lie down in the shade there. The sun
+will soon be unpleasantly hot, and as there is no chance of our getting
+a drink the sooner we are out of it the better."
+
+The day passed slowly; the boys talked but little, and when they did so
+their conversation turned entirely upon their lost shipmates, for that
+subject occupied their thoughts far more than their present situation.
+Before night the water had so far sunk that only some glistening pools
+appeared where a broad sheet of water had before spread. Arthur was
+suffering much from thirst and would have started at once, but Jack
+persuaded him to wait until the next morning.
+
+"We may tumble into deep holes full of mud," he said, "and should get on
+very slowly. Let us have a good night's sleep and start with the first
+gleam of daylight. We shall be able to get along fast then."
+
+They found, however, that it was not very fast work; for the country had
+been cultivated and the soil was now converted into a soft mud, in which
+they sank up to their knees. Here and there as they went on they saw
+piles of mud and sunburnt bricks, with timbers projecting, and knew that
+these marked the site where villages or houses had stood. Among the
+clumps of fallen trees they saw bits of colour, and knew that these were
+the bodies of some of the natives. Here and there, too, they saw the
+carcass of a bullock. At last they found the ground under their feet
+much firmer.
+
+"This has been a road," Jack said. "The flood as it went down has left
+three or four inches of mud on it, but it is fairly firm underneath. If
+we can manage to keep on this we shall get on well."
+
+For six hours they plodded on, sometimes losing the path and floundering
+in the deep mud, at others regaining it and going along briskly. At the
+end of that time the mud was less deep, and in half an hour they were
+beyond the range of the inundation. Here and there a tree was still
+standing, and after an hour's walking they came to a village. All the
+houses were unroofed and many of them levelled to the ground, but the
+walls of a few were still erect; some natives were moving about, and a
+few were digging at the ruined houses, apparently searching for the
+remains of those buried there. They evinced no interest in the arrival
+of the two shipwrecked white boys, being too utterly cowed and broken to
+think of anything but their own misery.
+
+"There is a well, Arthur; at least I expect it is that," Jack said,
+pointing to a post upon which was a long pole with a rope hanging from
+the end in the air.
+
+They hurried to the spot, for both were suffering severely, and Arthur
+was scarcely able to speak. They found to their delight that Jack's
+surmise was a correct one, and hauling up the rope a bucket full of
+water came to the surface. Arthur was about to seize it, when Jack said,
+"You had better take this thing, Arthur; the natives might make a row if
+you drank from their bucket." Arthur seized the half gourd that Jack had
+picked up, dipped it into the bucket, and handed it to Jack.
+
+"Fire away, man; you are worse than I am," Jack replied.
+
+The gourd had to be refilled two or three times before they were both
+satisfied, then they went back into the village. Jack pointed to his
+mouth, and made signs that they wanted something to eat. The natives
+shook their heads apathetically and proceeded with their work. At last
+they went up to an old woman sitting in a chair, and rocking herself
+backwards and forwards. She paid no attention when Jack addressed her,
+but upon his holding out a shilling to her her manner at once changed.
+She hobbled into the house and returned with a pile of flat cakes made
+from some native grain.
+
+"We shall do now," Jack said, as, munching away at the bread, they
+tramped on. "We must get to some place sooner or later where there is
+somebody who can talk English. How much money have you got, Arthur?"
+
+"I have got two pounds," Arthur said. "I took it out of my chest while
+the gale was going on. I thought if we were wrecked and did get to shore
+it might be useful."
+
+"I wish I had done the same," Jack said. "I have luckily got a sovereign
+in my pocket, for I was going to pay Joe Scales for those six light
+canvas trousers he made me. Well, three pounds between us is not bad;
+and I have got four or five shillings loose, which will do, I hope,
+until we get to some place where we can change our gold."
+
+They walked on till sunset, passing several other villages by the way.
+All of these had suffered more or less severely by the storm, but it was
+evident that as they got further inland the work of destruction had been
+less complete. At sunset they sat down in a grove of trees still
+standing, the first they had passed, and there spent the night.
+
+"That looks a good-sized place," Jack said, as late on the following
+afternoon they came in sight of what was evidently a town of some size.
+"We shall probably find someone there who can speak English."
+
+After crossing a bridge over a river they entered the town. They
+addressed several people, but these shook their heads and pointed
+forward.
+
+"What do they mean, Jack?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know, unless they mean there is somebody farther on
+who speaks English." Presently they came to a large house. Several
+people were passing in and out. Jack spoke to one of these, but he shook
+his head and pointed indoors, "This must be the right place, Arthur."
+
+They went into a large room, where two or three natives were sitting
+writing. They looked up in surprise at the two travel-stained English
+lads.
+
+"Can any of you speak English?" Jack asked. One of them at once left his
+desk and came forward.
+
+"I can speak English. What do you want?"
+
+"Thank goodness!" Jack exclaimed fervently. "We are two officers
+belonging to an English ship that was wrecked in the storm two days ago.
+We believe all the rest have been drowned. We have made our way on foot
+across the country, and you are the first person we have met who can
+speak English."
+
+At the word "officer" the clerk had assumed a more respectful attitude.
+"The collector-sahib went away yesterday to see what could be done and
+what supplies are needed; he will be back this evening. If you will
+follow me I will take you to the memsahib, who will see after you."
+
+Wondering whom they were going to see, the boys followed their conductor
+out at the back of the house into a large garden, in the centre of which
+stood a pretty bungalow. In the shaded verandah a lady was sitting
+reading. Motioning the boys to remain where they were the clerk went
+forward and addressed the lady, who at once rose. He beckoned to the
+boys, who advanced to her as she was coming forward to meet them.
+
+"So you have been shipwrecked, I hear?" she said. "It was a terrible
+gale. We did not feel it so much here, but I hear the destruction on the
+coast has been awful, and they say thousands of lives have been lost.
+Pray, come in. My husband is away, but he will be back this evening."
+
+The boys soon found themselves seated in easy-chairs in the verandah,
+while white-robed servants brought them refreshments. "Now," the lady
+said, "tell me all about yourselves. You belong to a ship that was
+wrecked; whereabout did she come ashore?"
+
+"We have not the least idea," Jack said. "We had been hours running
+before the gale before we were cast ashore. We have been walking for two
+days, and have not found a soul who could speak English until now, so
+that we have not the least idea where we are."
+
+"This is Cuttack," the lady said. "It is just outside the Madras
+Presidency. We are only separated from it by the river Mahanuddy. You
+must have been wrecked somewhere between the mouth of the river and
+Palmyras."
+
+"How far are we away from Calcutta, ma'am?"
+
+"About two hundred miles," she replied. "It is a low swampy unhealthy
+country all the way, but you will have no difficulty in taking a passage
+from here in a native craft. My husband will see about that for you.
+Where are your companions? You surely cannot be the only two saved from
+the wreck?"
+
+"I am greatly afraid we are," Jack replied; "and we were saved almost
+by a miracle. I hardly expect you to believe me when I tell you." He
+then related the events of the storm, and the manner in which they had
+reached land.
+
+"It is certainly extraordinary," the lady said; "but it does not seem to
+me by any means impossible, for I have heard that in these terrible
+cyclones houses have been taken up and carried long distances, and I can
+quite understand the same thing happening to a boat."
+
+An hour later Mr. Darcy the collector returned, and after hearing the
+boys' story said he would at once cause inquiries to be made along the
+coast whether any white men had been thrown up alive.
+
+"I fear that there is but little hope," he said, "for the surf on the
+coast in a cyclone like that we have had is tremendous, and even were
+anyone to float in on a spar he would probably be dashed to pieces when
+he approached the shore, and if he escaped that would be carried out
+again by the under tow. However, I will cause every inquiry to be made.
+The destruction has been terrible: numbers of villages have been swept
+away, and I hear that a great number of native craft are missing. Of
+course you will stop here for a few days with us to recover from your
+fatigue. I will rig you out until you can get fresh clothes made."
+
+The lads stopped for a week under the hospitable roof of Mr. Darcy. No
+news came of any Europeans having been washed ashore alive, though
+several dead bodies were reported as having been cast up at various
+points. At the end of the week they were rigged up afresh, and Mr. Darcy
+procured passages for them in a dhow, bound for Calcutta. He laughed at
+the idea of the boys paying for their clothes or passage, and said he
+was only too pleased that he and his wife should have been of service to
+them.
+
+They arrived at Calcutta without adventure, and at once reported
+themselves to the agent of the _Wild Wave_ and told the story of her
+loss. Here again they experienced the warm-hearted hospitality which is
+so general in India, the agent taking them out to his house and
+installing them there until the next steamer was to sail for England. He
+had telegraphed upon the day of their arrival to Mr. Godstone, and
+received an answer requesting him to take passages home for them to
+England, where they duly arrived without any exciting incident.
+
+Seven years have passed away, and Jack Robson is now second mate in one
+of Mr. Godstone's ships, and will be his first officer on next voyage.
+He has gone through many adventures since, but none approaching in
+interest and excitement to those which occurred on his two voyages in
+the _Wild Wave_. His mother still lives at Dulwich, and Lily is engaged
+to be married to Arthur Hill as soon as the latter attains the rank of
+captain. Jack is neither engaged nor married, but his mother has a
+strong idea that before very long he and Mildred Godstone will come to
+an understanding with each other.
+
+Jack is always at the house when at home, and is treated by Mr. Godstone
+and his wife as one of the family. Indeed, Mrs. Godstone has as much as
+hinted to Jack's mother that she and her husband will offer no objection
+to the young sailor, but that, of course, they will wish their
+son-in-law to leave the sea and settle as one of the firm in London.
+Each time he is at home Jack makes a point of running down to Leigh and
+spending a few days there. "Sea-life is all very well, uncle," he says,
+"but for downright good sailing there is nothing in the world that to my
+mind beats a bawley."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 112, the edge of the print was not visible, the following words
+were filled in:
+
+  "arrival of tl" changed to "arrival of the"
+     "of the ric" changed to "of the riot,"
+  "and alarmed t" changed to "and alarmed to"
+
+Page 167, last letter on edge missing: "o" changed to "of" (great
+mountain of)
+
+Page 184, "did'nt" changed to "didn't" (We didn't much care)
+
+Pages 122 and 169, "dozed" spelled "dosed" in this text (dosed off)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Chapter of Adventures, by G. A. Henty
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