Springhaven: A Tale of the Great War

by R. D. Blackmore

  CHAPTER XIX

  IN THE LINE OF FIRE

  No wonder there had been a great deal of talking in the village all thatevening, for the following notice had appeared in a dozen conspicuousplaces, beginning with the gate of the church-yard, and ending with twoof the biggest mooring-posts, and not even sparing the Admiral's whitegate, where it flapped between the two upper rails. It was not printed,but written in round hand, with a liberal supply of capitals, on a stiffsheet of official paper, stamped with the Royal Arms at the top.And those who were in the secret knew that Master Bob Stubbard, theCaptain's eldest son, had accomplished this great literary feat at aguerdon of one shilling from the public service funds every time hesucked his pen at the end of it.

  "By order of His Majesty King George III. To-morrow being Wednesday, andthe fishing-boats at sea, Artillery practice from Fox-hill fort will becarried on from twelve at noon until three P.M. at a mark-boat mooredhalf a mile from the shore. Therefore His Majesty's loyal subjectsare warned to avoid the beach westward of the brook between the whiteflagstaffs, as well as the sea in front of it, and not to cross the lineof fire below the village but at their own risk and peril.

  "(Signed) ADAM JACKSON STUBBARD, R.N., commanding Fox-hill Battery."

  Some indignation was aroused by this; for Mrs. Caper junior (who wasMrs. Prater's cousin) had been confined, out of proper calculation, andfor the very first time, the moment the boats were gone on Monday; andher house, being nearest to the fort, and in a hollow where the noisewould be certain to keep going round and round, the effect upon herhead, not to mention the dear baby's, was more than any one dared tothink of, with the poor father so far away. And if Squire Darling hadonly been at home, not a woman who could walk would have thought twiceabout it, but gone all together to insist upon it that he should stopthis wicked bombardment. And this was most unselfish of all of them,they were sure, because they had so long looked forward to puttingcotton-wool in their ears, and seeing how all the enemies of Englandwould be demolished. But Mrs. Caper junior, and Caper, natu minimus,fell fast asleep together, as things turned out, and heard not a singlebang of it.

  And so it turned out, in another line of life, with things againstall calculation, resenting to be reckoned as they always do, like thecountless children of Israel. For Admiral Darling was gone far awayinspecting, leaving his daughters to inspect themselves.

  "You may just say exactly what you consider right, dear," said MissDolly Darling to her sister Faith; "and I dare say it makes you morecomfortable. But you know as well as I do, that there is no reason init. Father is a darling; but he must be wrong sometimes. And how canhe tell whether he is wrong or right, when he goes away fifty milesto attend to other people? Of course I would never disobey his orders,anymore than you would. But facts change according to circumstances, andI feel convinced that if he were here he would say, 'Go down and see it,Dolly.'"

  "We have no right to speculate as to what he might say," replied Faith,who was very clear-headed. "His orders were definite: 'Keep within thegrounds, when notice is given of artillery practice.' And those orders Imean to obey."

  "And so do I; but not to misunderstand them. The beach is a part of ourgrounds, as I have heard him say fifty times in argument, when peopletried to come encroaching. And I mean to go on that part of his grounds,because I can't see well from the other part. That is clearly what hemeant; and he would laugh at us, if we could tell him nothing when hecomes home. Why, he promised to take us as far as Portsmouth to see someartillery practice."

  "That is a different thing altogether, because we should be under hiscontrol. If you disobey him, it is at your own risk, and I shall not letone of the servants go with you, for I am mistress of the household, ifnot of you."

  "What trumpery airs you do give yourself! One would think you were fiftyyears old at least. Stay at home, if you are such a coward! I am suredear daddy would be quite ashamed of you. They are popping already, andI mean to watch them."

  "You won't go so very far, I am quite sure of that," answered Faith, whounderstood her sister. "You know your own value, darling Dolly, and youwould not go at all, if you had not been forbidden."

  "When people talk like that, it goads me up to almost anything. I intendto go, and stand, as near as can be, in the middle of the space that ismarked off 'dangerous.'"

  "Do, that's a dear. I will lend you my shell-silk that measures twentyyards, that you may be sure of being hit, dear."

  "Inhuman, selfish, wicked creature!" cried Dolly, and it was almostcrying; "you shall see what comes of your cold-bloodedness! I shall paceto and fro in the direct line of fire, and hang on my back the king'sproclamation, inside out, and written on it in large letters--'By orderof my sister I do this.' Then what will be said of you, if they onlykill me? My feelings might be very sad, but I should not envy yours,Faith."

  "Kiss me, at any rate, before you perish, in token of forgiveness;" andDolly (who dearly loved her sister at the keenest height of rebellion)ran up and kissed Faith, with a smile for her, and a tear for her ownself-sacrifice. "I shall put on my shell-pink," she said, "and theywon't have the heart to fire shells at it."

  The dress of the ladies of the present passing period had been largelyaffected by the recent peace, which allowed the "French babies"--asthe milliners' dolls were called--to come in as quickly as they wereconceived. In war time scores of these "doxy-dummies"--as the rough tarscalled them--were tossed overboard from captured vessels or set up asa mark for tobacco-juice, while sweet eyes in London wept for want ofthem. And even Mr. Cheeseman had failed to bring any type genuinelyFrench from the wholesale house in St. Mary's Axe, which was famed forcanonical issue. But blessed are the patient, if their patience lastslong enough. The ladies of England were now in full enjoyment of all thenew French discoveries, which proved to be the right name, inasmuch asthey banished all reputable forms of covering. At least, so Mrs. Twemlowsaid; and the Rector went further than she did, obtaining for hissympathy a recommendation to attend to his own business. But when heshowed the Admiral his wife's last book of patterns--from a drawer whichhe had no right to go to--great laughter was held between the twain,with some glancing over shoulders, and much dread of bad example."Whatever you do, don't let my girls see it; I'll be bound you won'tlet your Eliza," said the Admiral, after a pinch of snuff to restore thetrue balance of his principles; "Faith would pitch it straight into thefire; but I am not quite so sure that my Dolly would. She loves a bit offinery, and she looks well in it."

  "Tonnish females," as the magazine of fashion called the higher classof popinjays, would have stared with contempt at both Faith and DollyDarling in their simple walking-dress that day. Dowdies would have beenthe name for them, or frumps, or frights, or country gawks, becausetheir attire was not statuesque or classic, as it should have been,which means that they were not half naked.

  Faith, the eldest sister, had meant to let young Dolly take the courseof her own stubbornness; but no sooner did she see her go forth alonethan she threw on cloak and hat, and followed. The day was unsuited forclassic apparel, as English days are apt to be, and a lady of fashionwould have looked more foolish, and even more indecent, than usual. Abrisk and rather crisp east wind had arisen, which had no respect forpersons, and even Faith and Dolly in their high-necked country dresseshad to handle their tackle warily.

  Dolly had a good start, and growing much excited with the petulance ofthe wind and with her own audacity, crossed the mouth of the brook at avery fine pace, with the easterly gusts to second her. She could seethe little mark-boat well out in the offing, with a red flag flaringmerrily, defying all the efforts of the gunners on the hill to plunge itinto the bright dance of the waves. And now and then she heard what sheknew to be the rush of a round shot far above her head, and followingthe sound saw a little silver fountain leap up into the sunshine andskim before the breeze; then glancing up the hill she saw the gray puffdrifting, and presently felt the dull rumble of the air. At the rootof the smoke-puffs, once or twice, she descried a
stocky figure movingleisurely, and in spite of the distance and huddle of vapour coulddeclare that it was Captain Stubbard. Then a dense mass of smoke wasbrought down by an eddy of wind, and set her coughing.

  "Come away, come away this very moment, Dolly," cried Faith, who hadhurried up and seized her hand; "you are past the danger-post, and I meta man back there who says they are going to fire shells, and they havegot two short guns on purpose. He says it will be very dangerous tillthey get the range, and he begged me most earnestly not to come on here.If I were anybody else, he said, he would lay hands on me and hold meback."

  "Some old fisherman, no doubt. What do they know about gun practice? Ican see Captain Stubbard up there; he would rather shoot himself thanme, he said yesterday."

  While Dolly was repeating this assurance, the following words were beingexchanged upon the smoky parapet: "If you please, sir, I can see twowomen on the beach, half-way between the posts a'most." "Can't helpit--wouldn't stop for all the petticoats in the kingdom. If they chooseto go there, they must take their chance. A bit more up, and to you, mygood man. Are you sure you put in twenty-three? Steady! so, so--that'sbeautiful."

  "What a noisy thing! What does it come here for? I never saw it fall.There must be some mistake. I hope there's nothing nasty inside it. Runfor your life, Faith; it means to burst, I do believe."

  "Down on your faces!" cried a loud, stern voice; and Dolly obeyed inan instant. But Faith stood calmly, and said to the man who rushed pasther, "I trust in the Lord, sir."

  There was no time to answer. The shell had left off rolling, andsputtered more fiercely as the fuse thickened. The man laid hold ofthis, and tried to pull it out, but could not, and jumped with both feeton it; while Faith, who quite expected to be blown to pieces, said toherself, "What pretty boots he has!"

  "A fine bit of gunnery!" said the young man, stooping over it, aftertreading the last spark into the springy sand. "The little artillery manis wanted here. Ladies, you may safely stay here now. They will not maketwo hits in proximity to each other."

  "You shall not go," said Faith, as he was hurrying away, "until we knowwho has been so reckless of his life, to save the lives of others. Bothyour hands are burned--very seriously, I fear."

  "And your clothes, sir," cried Dolly, running up in hot terror, as soonas the danger was over; "your clothes are spoiled sadly. Oh, how goodit was of you! And the whole fault was mine--or at least CaptainStubbard's. He will never dare to face me again, I should hope."

  "Young ladies, if I have been of any service to you," said the stranger,with a smile at their excitement, "I beg you to be silent to the CaptainStubbard concerning my share in this occasion. He would not be gratifiedby the interest I feel in his beautiful little bombardments, especiallythat of fair ladies. Ha, there goes another shell! They will make betteraim now; but you must not delay. I beseech you to hasten home, if youwould do me kindness."

  The fair daughters of the Admiral had enjoyed enough of warfare to lastthem till the end of their honeymoon, and they could not reject theentreaty of a man who had risked his life to save them. Trembling andbewildered, they made off at the quickest step permitted by maidendignity, with one or two kindly turns of neck, to show that he wasmeant to follow them. But another sulphurous cloud rushed down from theindefatigable Stubbard, and when it had passed them, they looked backvainly for the gentleman who had spoiled his boots.