CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
DESCRIBES A HAPPY HOME AND A HAPPIER MEETING.
In a small wayside cottage in the outskirts of one of those picturesquevillages which surround London, an old woman sat at the head of a smalldeal table, with a black teapot, a brown sugar-basin, a yellow milk jug,and a cracked tea-cup before her.
At the foot of the same table sat a young man, with a large knife in onehand, a huge loaf of bread in the other, and a mass of yellow butter ina blue plate in front of him.
The young man was James Slagg; the old woman was his mother. Jim had nobrothers or sisters, and his father chanced to be absent at market, sohe had the "old lady" all to himself.
"Well, well, Jim," said Mrs Slagg, with a loving look at her son'sflushed face, "you've told me a heap o' wonderful tales abouttelegrumphs, an' tigers, an' electricity an' what not. If you was asgreat a liar as you was used to be, Jim, I tell 'ee plain, lad, Iwouldn't believe one word on it. But you're a better boy than you was,Jim, an' I do believe you--indeed I do, though I must confess that someon it is hard to swallow."
"Thank 'ee, mother," said Jim, with a pleasant nod, as he cut anenormous slice from the loaf, trowelled upon it a mass of the yellowbutter, and pushed in his cup for more tea.
"It was good of ye, Jim," said the old woman, "to leave all yer finefriends and come straight away here to see your mother."
"Good o' me!" ejaculated Jim, with his mouth full--too full, we mightsay--"what goodness is there in a feller goin' _home_, eh? Who's finer,I should like to know, than a feller's mother?"
"Well, you _are_ a good boy, Jim," said the old woman, glancing at asuperannuated clock, which told of the moments in loud, almost absurdsolemnity; "but if you don't stop talkin' and go on wi' your eatin',you'll lose the train."
"True, mother. Time and tide, they say, wait for no man; but trains iswuss than time or tide, they won't even wait for a woman."
"But why go at all to-day, Jim; won't to-morrow do?"
"No, mother, it won't do. I didn't mean to tell 'ee till I came back,for fear it should be a mistake; but I can't keep nothin' from you, oldlady, so I may as well ease my mind before I go. The fact is, I've justheard of the whereabouts of John Shanks--Stumps, you know--my old mate,that I've told you bolted with all our treasure from Bombay. Ah!mother, if I'd only brought that treasure home wi' me, it's a lady you'dhave bin to-day. I had all sorts o' plans for you--a coach an' sixwas--"
"Never mind your plans, Jim, but tell me about poor Stumps."
"Well, mother, a tramp came past here, an' had a bit of a talk wi' meyesterday. You know I ginerally have a bit of a chat wi' tramps now,ever since that city missionary--God bless him--pulled me up at thedocks, an' began talkin' to me about my soul. Well, that tramp camehere early this mornin', sayin' he'd bin in a poor woman's house in thecity, where there was a man dyin' in a corner. While he was talkin'with some o' the people there he chanced to mention my name, an'observed that the dyin' man got excited when he heard it, and called tothe tramp and asked him about me, and then begged him, for love and formoney, which he offered him, to come and fetch me to him as fast as hecould, sayin' that his name was Stumps, and he knew me. So, you see, asthe next train is the first that--you needn't look at the clock sooften, old lady; it's full ten minutes yet, and I'll back my legs to doit in three."
"Don't forget to take your Bible wi' you, dear boy."
Jim Slagg rose with a pleasant nod, slapped the breast of his coat, onwhich the oblong form of a small book in the pocket could be traced,said "Good-day, mother," and left the cottage.
It was not long before he stood in the dark passage which led to theroom described to him by the tramp. The old woman who rented it gavehim her unasked opinion of her lodger before admitting him.
"You've got no notion, sir, what a strange character that young man is."
"O yes, I have; let me see him," said Slagg.
"But, sir," continued the landlady, detaining him, "you must be careful,for he ain't hisself quite. Not that he's ever done anythink wiolent tome, poor young man, but he's strong in his fits, an' he raves terribly."
"Has no doctor bin to see him?" asked Slagg.
"No; he won't let me send for one. He says it's o' no use, an' hecouldn't afford to pay for one. An' oh! you've no notion what a miserthat poor young man is. He must have plenty of money, for the box as hetakes it out on--an' it's at his head he keeps it, day and night,ginerally holdin' it with one hand--seems full o' money, for it'swonderful heavy. I could see that when he brought it here, an' there'sno clo'es in it, that I can see, when he opens it, to get at the fewpence he wants now an' again. An' he starves hisself, an' says he's notfit to live, an' calls hisself sitch awful names, an'--"
"Well, well, show me his room," said Slagg, with as much decision in histone as compelled immediate obedience.
In the corner of a small room, on a truckle-bed, with scant bedding, laythe emaciated form of John Shanks, _alias_ Stumps, _alias_ James Gibson.He had raised himself on one elbow, and was gazing with great lustrousinvalid eyes at the door, when his old comrade entered, for he had beenwatching, and heard the first sound of footsteps in the passage.
"Oh! Jim Slagg," he cried, extending a hand which bore strongresemblance to a claw, it was so thin. "Come to me, Jim, How I'vewished an' longed, an'--"
He stopped and burst into tears, for he was very weak, poor fellow, andeven strong men weep when their strength is brought low.
"Come now, Stumps," said Slagg, in a serious voice, as he sat down onthe bed, put an arm round his old comrade's thin shoulders, and made himlie down, "if you go to excite yourself like that, I'll--I'll--quit theroom, an' I won't come back for an hour or more."
"No! O no!" exclaimed the sick man; clutching Slagg's arm with atrembling grip, "don't leave me, Jim--don't, don't! I shall die if youdo! I'm dyin' anyhow, but it will kill me quicker if you go."
"Well, I won't go. There, keep quiet, my poor old Stumps."
"Yes, that's it--that's it--I like to hear the old name," murmured thesick man, closing his eyes. "Say it again, Jim--say it again."
"Stumps," said Slagg, getting down on his knees, the better to arrangeand grasp his former comrade, "don't be a fool now, but listen. I havecome to look after you, so make your mind easy."
"But I've been such a beast to you, Jim; it was so awful shabby," criedStumps, rousing himself again, "and I've been _so_ sorry ever since.You can't think how sorry. I have repented, Jim, if ever a man did.An' I'd have come back and confessed long ago, if I'd had the chance,but I can get no rest--no peace. I've never spent a rap of it, Jim,except what I couldn't help--for you know, Jim, body an' soul wouldn'tstick together without a little o' suthin' to eat an' drink; an' when Iwas ill I couldn't work, you know. See, it's all here--all here--exceptwhat little--"
He stopped abruptly, having raised himself to open the lid of the box athis elbow, but his strength failed, and he sank on the pillow with agroan.
"Stumps," said Slagg, "come, old boy, you an' me will have a bit ofprayer together."
The sick man opened his great eyes in astonishment. It was so unlikehis old friend's brusque rollicking character to propose prayer, that hefancied he must be dreaming, and the possibility of the visit turningout unreal, induced an expression of distress on his haggardcountenance. On being ordered, however, in the peremptory and familiartones of former days, to shut his eyes, he felt reassured and becamecalm, while his friend prayed for him.
It was not a set or formal prayer by any means. It sounded strangelylike a man asking a friend, in commonplace terms, but _very_ earnestly,to give him what he stood in great need of; and what Jim asked for wasthe salvation of his friend's soul and his restoration to health. Thepetition, therefore, was remarkably brief, yet full of reverence, forJim, though naturally blunt and straightforward, felt that he wasaddressing the great and blessed God and Saviour, who had so recentlyrescued his own soul.
After saying "Amen!" which the sick man echoe
d, Slagg pulled out hisBible and read through the fourteenth chapter of John's gospel,commenting quietly as he went along, while his comrade listened withintense earnestness. At the first verse Jim paused and said, "Thiswasn't written to holy and sinless men. `Let not your heart betroubled,' was said to the disciples, one o' them bein' Peter, the manwho was to deny Jesus three times with oaths and curses, and thenforsake Him. The Lord came to save _sinners_. It would be a poorlook-out for you, Stumps, if you thought yourself a good man."
"But I don't--oh! I don't, and you _know_ I don't!" exclaimed the sickman vehemently.
"Then the Lord says, `Let not your heart be troubled,' and tells you tobelieve in God and Himself."
At the second verse Slagg remarked that it would be a sad, sad thing ifthe mansion prepared, among the many mansions, for his friend were to beleft empty.
"But how am I to get to it, Jim; how am I ever to find the way?"
"Just what the disciple named Thomas asked--an' he _was_ a very doubtingfollower of Jesus, like too many of us. The Master said to him what Hesays to you and me, `_I_ am the way and the truth and the life; no onecometh unto the Father but by _me_.'"
At the ninth verse the sailor-missionary said, "Jesus is God, you see,so we're safe to trust Him," and, at the thirteenth verse, "Whatsoeverye shall ask in my name that will I do," he said. "Now, we have askedJesus to save you, and He will do it, by His Holy Spirit, as He hassaved me--has saved millions in time past, and will save millions morein time to come. Why, you see, in the sixteenth verse He tells you Hewill pray the Father to send you a Comforter, who will stay with you forever. Has He not reason then for beginnin' with `let not your heart betroubled'? And that same Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is to `teach usall things,' so, you see, every difficulty is taken out of our way.`Arise, let us go hence.' Now, my old messmate, I have arisen. Willyou not arise and go with me, both of us looking unto Jesus?"
"I _will_--God helping me!" cried the sick man, literally arising fromhis couch and raising both arms to heaven.
"There, now--thank the Lord; but you must lie down again and keepquiet," said Jim, gently and kindly forcing his friend backward.
Stumps did not resist. He closed his eyes, and the restful feeling thathad suddenly arisen in his heart when he said the momentous words, "_Iwill_," coupled with exhaustion, resulted almost instantaneously in aquiet slumber.
"When did he eat last?" asked Slagg of the old woman, in a low voice,for he had been taught, or had learned intuitively, that few things aremore disheartening in a sick-room than a whisper.
"This morning he breakfasted at six, but it was on'y a hap'orth o' breadand a drink o' cold water."
"And how dare you starve your lodger in that way?" demanded Slagg,leading the astonished woman into the passage and closing the door."Don't you know that starving a man is equal to murdering him, and thatyou'll be liable to be hung if he dies? There, take this half-sov, andbe off to the nearest shop, an' buy--let me see--sassengers and steaksand--oh, _you_ know better than me what a sick man wants. Get alongwith you, and be back sharp. Stay! where are your matches? Ah! Anycoals? Good, now away with you and fetch a doctor too, else I'll fetcha policeman, you bolster of bones."
Thus ordered, threatened, and adjured, the landlady, half-amused, andmore than half-frightened at the visitor's gushing energy, hurried fromthe house, while Slagg returned to the miserable room, and did his bestto render it less miserable by kindling a splendid fire.
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that a breakfast soon filled thatroom with delicious odour, such as had not been felt in that lowlyneighbourhood for many years; that Stumps, after a refreshing sleep,partook of the feast with relish; that Jim Slagg also partook of it--ofmost of it, indeed--and enjoyed it to the full; that the old landladywas invited to "fall to," and did fall to with alacrity; that thedomestic cat also managed to fall to, surreptitiously, withoutinvitation, and not the less enjoyably on that account; that a miserablesemi-featherless but unconquerable canary in a cage in the window tookcare that it was not forgotten; and that several street boys, smellingthe viands from afar, came round the outer door, became clamorous, andwere not sent empty away.
It may, however, be advisable to add, that Stumps did not die; that joyof heart, good feeding, and--perhaps--the doctor, brought him round, andthat he afterwards went to the country to spend the period ofconvalescence in the cottage by the roadside, with Slagg's mother.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
IN WHICH THE STORY FINDS A "FAULT," AND THE ELECTRICAL CURRENT ENDS.
Now, it is not in the nature of things that man, in his present state,should attain to full satisfaction. He may, indeed he should, attain tocontentment, but as long as there are higher and better things withinhis reach, he must of necessity remain in some degree unsatisfied.
Some such idea must have been passing through Robin Wright's brain onefine morning, as he slowly paced the deck of a small schooner with hisfriend Sam Shipton, for he suddenly broke a prolonged silence with thefollowing remark:--
"I don't know how it is, Sam, but although I am surrounded witheverything that should make a fellow happy, I'm--I'm _not_ happy. Infact, I'm as miserable as it is possible to be!"
"Come now, Robin, don't exaggerate," said Sam in a remonstrative tone."Hyperbole is very objectionable, especially in young men. You knowthat if you were tied to a huge gridiron over a slow fire, you would bemore miserable than you are at present."
Robin smiled and admitted the truth of this, but nevertheless reiteratedhis assertion that he was decidedly unhappy.
This conversation, we may remark, took place on board of Sam Shipton'syacht, off the west coast of Scotland, several years after the eventsnarrated in the previous chapter.
"Well, now, it is strange," said Sam, with an earnestly sympathetic airand tone of voice, but with the faintest possible twinkle in the extremecorner of one of his eyes. "Let me see--everything, as you justlyremark, ought to make you happy here. The weather, to begin with--people always begin with the weather, you know--is splendid, thoughthere is a thundery look about the horizon to the west'ard. Then ouryacht, the Gleam, is a perfect duck, both as to her sea-going andsailing qualities, and Captain James Slagg is a perfect seaman, whileStumps is a superlative steward and cook. Our time is our own, and theworld before us where to choose. Then, as to our companionship, whatfemale society could be more agreeable than that of my wife Madge, andher bosom friend Letta, who, since she has grown up, has become one ofthe most beautiful, fascinating, charming,--but why go on, when, in thelanguage of the poet, `adequate words is wantin'!' And Letta's motheris second only to herself. Then as to the men, could there be foundanywhere finer fellows than uncle Rik and Ebenezer Smith, and FrankHedley--to say nothing of myself and our splendid little boy Sammy? Ican't understand it, Robin. You're not ill, are you?"
"Ill? no. Never was better in my life."
"Well, then, what is it? Be confidential, my boy. The witching hour ofsunrise is fitted for confidential communications. You're not in love,are--"
"Hush, Sam! the skylight is open. Come forward to the bows. Yes, Sam,I _am_ in love."
"Well, Robin, I can't pretend ignorance, for I know it--at least I haveseen it."
"Seen it!" echoed Robin, "how is that? I have never by word or lookgiven the slightest indication to any one, of the state of my feelings."
"True, Robin, as regards words, but there are other modes of indication,as must be well-known to a celebrated electrician like yourself. Thefact is, my dear boy, that you and Letta have been rubbing yourintellects together for so many years, that you have electrified eachother--the one positively, the other negatively; and even a Manx catwith an absent mind and no tail could hardly fail to observe thetelegraphic communication which you have established by means of thatadmirable duplex instrument, a pair of eyes."
"You distress me very much, Sam," returned Robin, seriously. "I assureyou I have never consciously done anything of the sort, and I have neveropen
ed my lips to Letta on the subject--I dare not."
"I believe you as to your consciousness; but, to be serious, Robin, whyshould being in love make you miserable?"
"Because it makes me doubt whether Letta cares for me."
"Nonsense, Robin. Take my advice, put an end to your doubts, and makesure of your ground by taking heart and proposing to Letta."
"I dare not, Sam. It is all very well for a fine manly fellow like youto give such advice, but I am such a poor, miserable sort of--"
"Hallo, fasser!" cried a merry voice at that moment, "how red de sunam!"
The owner of the voice--a mere chip of a child, in perfect miniaturemiddy costume--ran up to its father and was hoisted on his shoulder.
"Yes, the sun is very red, like your own face, Sammy, my boy, to saynothing of cousin Robin's. Where is mamma?"
The question was answered by mamma herself, our old friend MadgeMayland, coming up the companion-hatch,--tall, dark, beautiful, like thespirit of departed night. She was followed by Letta,--graceful, fair,sunny, like the spirit of the coming morn.
"Sunbeam, ahoy!" came up through the cabin skylight at that moment, likethe sonorous voice of Neptune.
"Well, grunkle Rik, w'at is it?" shouted Sammy, in silvery tones, fromhis father's shoulder.
"Grunkle" was the outcome of various efforts made to teach Sammy to callthe old captain grand-uncle.
"Where have you stowed away my hair-brush, you rascal?" cried the voiceof thunder.
"It's under my bunk, grunkle; I was bracking yous boots with it."
The thunder subsided in tempestuous mutterings, and Sammy, feeling thathe had begun the day well, struggled out of his father's arms and wentcareering round the deck into every possible position of danger. Hekept them all lively until Stumps caught him and extinguished him, for atime, with breakfast.
"Uncle Rik," said Sam, while that meal was being discussed in thesnuggest little cabin that could be imagined, "did you hear of theextraordinary manner in which a whale was caught by a telegraph cablelately?"
"No, I didn't, Sam, an' what's more, I wouldn't believe it if I did."
"It is true, nevertheless," said Sam, breaking his fifth egg--seabreezes being appetising.
"How did it happen, Sam?" asked Madge.
"In a very curious manner Madge. It will amuse Letta, for I know shetakes a deep interest in cables."
"Indeed it will," said Letta, who was the soul of earnest simplicity; "Idelight in electric cables."
Robin looked at Letta, and wished that he were an electric cable!
"It happened to the Persian Gulf cable, quite recently," continued Sam,addressing himself to Letta. "The cable between Kurrachee and Gwadur, adistance of 300 miles, suddenly failed one evening. Now, you must knowthat electrical science has advanced with such rapid strides of late,that we have the power to discover pretty nearly the exact position of afault in a cable. Of course I cannot expect a young lady to understandthe technical details of the mode, in which this is done, but you willunderstand that by tests taken at either end the damage appeared to beabout 118 miles from Kurrachee, and a telegraph steamer was sent with anelectrical and engineering staff to repair it. The steamer reached thesupposed locality early on the morning of the second day out, andproceeded at once to grapple for the cable, though a thick fog prevailedat the time, and a heavy sea was running.
"The soundings at the place were very irregular, implying a ruggedbottom of submarine mountain-tops and valleys. On winding in the cableunusual resistance was experienced, as if it were foul of rocks, andwhen, after great difficulty, they drew it up they found that this wascaused by the body of an immense whale, with two and a half turns of thecable round it immediately above the tail."
"Pooh! boh!" exclaimed uncle Rik, "I don't believe it."
"But I do, uncle," returned Sam, as he opened his sixth egg, "for I readthe account of it in one of the engineering journals, in which dates andnames were given. The steamer was the Amber Witch, commanded by CaptainBishop, and the staff of operators were under Mr Harry Mance. The bodyof the huge creature was found to be rapidly decomposing, the jawsfalling away as it reached the surface, and sharks had evidently beendevouring it. The tail, which measured twelve feet across, was coveredwith barnacles at the extremities."
"But how could it have entangled itself so?" asked Mrs Langley.
"They suppose that at the time the whale had found a part of the cablehanging in a deep loop over a submarine precipice, and, thinking thechance a good one no doubt for scraping off the barnacles and otherparasites that annoy whales very much, had probably twisted the cableround him with a flip of his tail. Anyhow, the fact is unquestionablethat it held him fast until he was fished up dead by the electriciansand engineers."
"How strange!" murmured Letta.
"It is indeed," responded Robin, "the most extraordinary case I everheard of, though cables are subject to many singular accidents. Iremember one case of accident to the cable across the river Yar, in theIsle of Wight. A bullock fell from the deck of a vessel, and, in itsstruggles, caught the cable and broke it."
"I have read of several very singular cases," said Sam, "in which cableshave been attacked and damaged by inhabitants of the sea. The Cuba andFlorida cable was once damaged by the bite of some large fish, and asimilar accident happened to the China cable. In the Malta-Alexandriacable, a piece of the core from which the sheathing had been worn wasfound to have been bitten by a shark, and pieces of the teeth were foundsticking in the gutta-percha."
"I thought it was to the Singapore cable that that happened," saidRobin.
"No, but something similar happened to it. That cable was laid inDecember. In the following March a stoppage occurred. The fault wasspotted at 200 miles from Singapore. When hauled up, the cable wasfound to have been pierced, and bits of crushed bone were sticking inthe hole. The piece was cut out and sent to Mr Frank Buckland, who,after long and careful examination, came to the conclusion that it hadbeen the work of a saw-fish."
"Dear me, Mr Shipton," said Mrs Langley, "you speak as if every partof the world were connected by electric cables."
"And such is the case," said Sam; "we have now direct communication bysubmarine cable and land telegraph with every part of Europe; withCanada and the United States; down South America, nearly to Cape Horn;with Africa from Algiers to the Cape of Good Hope; with India fromAfghanistan to Ceylon; with China from Pekin to Hong-Kong; and downthrough the Malacca Archipelago, Australia, and Tasmania."
"I say, Sam, are you a member of the Royal Geographical Society, or awalking atlas?" asked uncle Rik.
"In short," continued Sam, not heeding the interruption, "there isn't acivilised quarter of the globe which is not tied to us by telegraph, andfrom which we might not hear any morning of the events of the precedingday."
"Always excepting Central Africa and the two poles," said the captain.
"I said civilised quarters," retorted Sam, "and, as far as I know, thepoles are inhabited only by bears."
"True, I forgot, the poles are barely civilised," said uncle Rik.
"Now, Master Sammy," growled a deep voice from the adjoining galley,"you keep your hands out o' that copper."
"Fasser," shouted a silvery voice from the same region, "'Tumps isnaughty. I wants to wass my hands in de soup, an' he won't let me."
"Quite right. Keep him in order, Stumps," said the unfeeling Sam,senior.
"Dere--pa says I's kite right, an' to keep you in order, 'Tumps," saidthe silvery voice. (Then, after a few minutes), "Grunkle Rik, is youfinish bekfist?"
"Ay, ay, Sunbeam, quite finished."
"Den come on deck an' p'ay vid me."
Uncle Rik rose with a laugh, and obediently went on deck to play. Butthe play did not last long, for that day ominous clouds rose in thewest, and, overspreading the sky, soon drenched the little yacht withrain. Towards evening the rain ceased, but the wind increased to agale, and the weather showed signs of becoming what is known amongseamen,
we believe, as dirty. Ere long the low mutterings of thunderincreased to mighty peals, and the occasional gleams of lightning tofrequent and vivid flashes, that lit up the scene with the brilliancy offull moonlight.
"I wish we were nearer shore," said Letta, timidly, to Robin, as theystood looking over the bulwarks; "what is the land we see far away onour left?"
"The Island of Mull," returned Robin.
"Better if it was further away," growled Captain Rik, who overheard theremark. "We want plenty of sea-room on a night like this."
"We've got sea-room enough," observed "Captain" Slagg, with theconfidence of a man who knows well what he is about, as he stood by thetiller, balancing himself with his legs well apart.
"You've got a lightning conductor on the mast, of course?" observedCaptain Rik to Sam.
"No," replied Sam.
"Sam!" exclaimed the captain in a tone of intense surprise, "you, of allmen, without such a safeguard."
"Well, uncle Rik," replied Sam with a laugh, "yachts are not alwaysfitted with conductors. But I'm not so bad as you think me. I hadordered a special conductor with some trifling novelties of constructionfor the yacht, but it was not ready when we started, so we had to sailwithout it. However, it is not once in a thousand times that a vesselis struck by lightning."
While Sam was yet speaking, a flash of lightning almost blinded them,and the little schooner received a shock which told of disaster. Nextmoment the roar of reverberating thunder drowned the crash of timber asthe topmast went overboard, carrying the bowsprit and its gear alongwith it.
Fortunately no one was hurt, but the schooner became unmanageable, owingto the mass of wreckage which hung to her.
Jim Slagg, seizing an axe, sprang to the side to cut this away, ablyseconded by all the men on board, but before it could be accomplishedthe Gleam had drifted dangerously near to the rocks on the coast ofMull. To add to the confusion, the darkness became intense.
Captain Rik, forgetting or ignoring his years, had thrown off his coatand was working like a hero with the rest. The ladies, unable to remainbelow, were clinging to the stern rails, Madge holding her little boytightly in her arms, and the spray dashing wildly over all.
Another moment and the Gleam struck on the rocks with tremendousviolence. Only by the lightning could they see the wild rocky shore, onwhich they had drifted.
Instinctively each member of the little crew drew towards those nearestand dearest.
"Get out the boat!" shouted Captain Slagg; but the men could not obey,for a heavy sea had anticipated them, and the little dinghy was alreadycareering shoreward, bottom up.
The next wave lifted the Gleam like a cork, and let her down on therocks like fifty-six tons of lead. A flash of lightning revealed for amoment a range of frowning cliffs, as if to add horror to a scene thatwas already sufficiently appalling. Then all was again dark as Erebus.
In a frenzy of resolution Captain Rik seized an axe with the view ofextemporising a raft, when the Gleam parted amidships, and we mightalmost say went out, leaving her crew struggling in the waves.
Sam had seized his wife with his strong left arm--he happened to beleft-handed--and buffeted the waves with his right. Madge held on toSammy with the power of maternal love. Sam was aware of that, and feltcomparatively at ease in regard to his first-born.
Robin's arm had been round Letta's waist--unknown to himself or her!--when the Gleam struck. It did not relax when he felt that they wereafloat. Frank Hedley gallantly offered to take charge of Mrs Langley.
Ebenezer Smith, being unable to swim, confessed the fact, with somethingof a gasp, to Captain Rik, who considerately told him never to mind.
"I can swim for both," he said, tying a piece of rope-yarn tight roundhis waist, for he had long before cast off coat, vest, and braces; "butyou ought to be ashamed of yourself, a man come to your time o' life,an' not able to swim!"
"I never lived near the sea, and had no one to teach me," pleadedEbenezer in a tremblingly apologetic voice, for the roar of united wind,waves, and thunder was really tremendous even to those who _could_ swim.
"What o' that?" returned Captain Rik, sternly. "Was there no river orpond nigh? Even a horse-trough or a washing-tub would have sufficed tomake a man of you. As for teaching--what teaching did you want?Swimmin' ain't Latin or Greek. It ain't even mathematics--onlyaquatics. All the brute beasts swim--even donkeys swim withoutteaching. Boh! bah! There, lay hold o' me--so. Now, mind, if you tryto take me round the neck with your two arms I'll plant my fist on thebridge of your nose, an' let you go to Davy Jones's locker."
A flash of lightning revealed Captain Rik's face in such a way thatEbenezer Smith resolved to obey him to the letter.
It was at this point of their conversation that the Gleam went down--orout--and they sank with a gurgle, coming up next moment, however, with agasp.
Strange to say, after the first plunge and overthrow amid the boilingwaves, the swimmers found themselves in almost still water.
"You'd better let me take Sammy, ma'am," said Captain Slagg, swimmingquietly alongside of Madge, and speaking in the calm tone of a mantaking an evening stroll.
"Is that you, Slagg?" asked Sam, who was striking out vigorously.
"Yes, sir, it is," said Slagg. "You've no need to exert yourself, sir,so violently. I know the spot well. We've bin washed clean over thereef by the wave that sank us, into a sort o' nat'ral harbour, an' weain't far from shore. I can feel bottom now, sir, which, bein' asix-footer, you'll touch easy."
"So I do!" exclaimed Sam, letting down his feet. "Madge, darling, cheerup, we've got soundings. Give Sammy to Slagg. There, we'll do famouslynow."
Only those who have been for a few moments in deadly peril canunderstand the feeling of intense relief that came to Sam Shipton'sheart when he felt his toes touch ground on that eventful night. Thefeeling was expressed in his tone of voice as he asked Slagg whether hehad seen any of the others.
"No, sir, I ain't seen 'em for want o' light, but I've heerd 'em.Stumps is splutterin' behind us like a grampus. If you'll hold on a bitan' listen you'll hear him. He's a bad swimmer, and it's all he can doto save hisself. If he only knowed he could reach bottom with his longlegs, he'd find it easier. Not quite so tight, Sammy, my boy, and keepoff the wind-pipe--so; you're quite safe, my lad. As for the rest of'em, sir, they all swim like ducks except Mr Ebbysneezer Smith, buthe's took charge on by Captin Rik, so you may keep your mind easy.There's a bit o' flat beach hereabouts, an' no sea inside the reef, sowe'll git ashore easy enough--let's be thankful."
Jim Slagg was right. They got ashore without difficulty, and they_were_ thankful--profoundly so--when they had time to think of thedanger they had escaped.
After a few minutes' rest and wringing of salt water from theirgarments, they proceeded inland to search for shelter, and well was itfor the shipwrecked party that the captain of the lost yacht wasacquainted with the lie of the land, for it was a rugged shore, withintermingled fields and morasses, and wooded rocky heights, among whichit would have been difficult, if not impossible, to thread one's way inthe dark without severe damage to the shins. But Jim Slagg led them toa cottage not far from the sea, where they received from the familyresident there at the time a warm and hearty Scottish welcome.
It is not uncommon, we suspect, for eccentric natures to undertake themost important matters at the most unsuitable times and in the mostridiculous manners. At all events Robin Wright, while stumbling amongthe rocks and rugged ground of that midnight march in Mull, dripping wetand with the elements at war around him, conceived the idea of declaringhis unalterable, not to say unutterable, attachment to Letta Langley,who leant heavily on the arm of her preserver. But Robin was intenselysensitive. He shrank from the idea, (which he had only got the lengthof conceiving), as if it had been a suggestion from beneath. It wouldbe unfair, mean, contemptible, he thought, to take advantage of thedarkness and the elemental noise to press his suit at such a time. No,he would wait till the morrow.
He did wait for the morrow. Then he waited for the morrow afterwards,and as each morrow passed he felt that more morrows must come and go,for it was quite obvious that Letta regarded him only as a brother.
At last, unable to bear it, our unhappy hero suddenly discovered thatone of the morrows was the last of his leave of absence, so he saidgood-bye in despair, and parted from his companions, who could notresist the genial hospitality of their new friends in the cottage on thewest of Mull.
Ten days later Sam got a letter from Robin, telling him that he hadreceived a cable-telegram from India, from their friend Redpath,offering him a good situation there, and that, having reached the lowestdepths of despair, he had resolved to accept it, and was sorry he shouldnot have an opportunity of saying good-bye, as he was urged to startwithout a day's delay.
Sam was staying with his friends at the Oban Hotel at the time, havingat last managed to tear himself away from the cottage in Mull.
He instantly ran out and telegraphed--
"Don't accept on any account."
Then he sought Mrs Langley, and opened Robin's case to her. MrsLangley listened with a smile of intelligence, and soon after went toher daughter's room, the window of which commanded a splendid view ofthe western sea.
"Letta, dear, are you moralising or meditating?"
"Both, mamma."
"Well, I will try to help you," said Mrs Langley, seating herself bythe window. "By the way, did you hear that Mr Wright has been offereda lucrative appointment in the Telegraph Department of India, and isgoing off at once;--has not time even to say good-bye to his old friendSam Shipton?"
Letta turned very pale, then extremely red, then covered her face withboth hands and burst into tears.
"So, Letta, you love him," said her mother, gently. "Why did you notlet me know this sooner?"
"Oh, mamma!" said poor Letta, "why do you put it so--so--suddenly. Idon't love him--that is--I don't _know_ that I love him. I've neverthought about it seriously. He has never opened his lips to me on thesubject--and--and--"
"Letta, dear," said her mother, tenderly, "would you wish to prevent hisgoing away if you could? Open your heart to your mother, darling."
Letta laid her head on her mother's shoulder, but spoke not.
A few minutes later Mrs Langley went to Sam and said--
"Robin must not go to India."
Sam instantly went by the shortest conceivable route to London, where hefound Robin in his room feverishly packing his portmanteau, and said--
"Robin, you must not go to India."
From that text he preached an eloquent lay-sermon, which he wound upwith the words, "Now, my boy, you must just propose to her at once."
"But I can't, Sam. I haven't got the pluck. I'm such a miserable sortof fellow--how could I expect _such_ a creature to throw herself away on_me_? Besides, it's all very well your saying you have good ground forbelieving she cares for me; but how can you know? Of course you havenot dared to speak to her?"
Robin looked actually fierce at the bare idea of such a thing.
"No, I have not dared," said Sam.
"Well, then. It is merely your good-natured fancy. No, my dear fellow,it is my fate. I must bow to it. And I know that if I were to waittill I see her again, all my courage would have oozed away--"
"But I don't intend that you shall wait, Robin," interrupted Sam. "Youneed not go on talking so selfishly about yourself. You must considerthe girl. I'm not going to stand by and see injustice done to _her_.You have paid _marked_ attention to her, and are bound in honour to layyourself at her feet, even at the risk of a refusal."
"But how, Sam? I tell you if I wait--"
"Then don't wait,--telegraph."
Robin gazed at his friend in stupefied amazement. "What! make aproposal of marriage by telegraph?"
"Even so, Robin. You began life with electricity, so it is quite inkeeping that you should begin a new departure in life with it."
Sam rose, sought for paper, and with pencil wrote as follows:--"From MrR. Wright, London, to Miss Letta Langley, --- Hotel, Oban.--I can standit no longer. May I come to see you?"
Presenting this to his friend, Sam said, "May I despatch it?"
Robin nodded, smiled, and looked foolish.
An hour later Mrs Langley, sitting beside her daughter, took up a pen,and wrote as follows:--
"From Miss Letta Langley, Oban, to R. Wright, London.--Yes."
Presenting this to her daughter, she said. "May I send it?"
Letta once more covered her face with her hands, and blushed.
Thus it came to pass that our hero's fate in life, as well as hiscareer, was decided by the electric telegraph.
But the best of it was that Robin _did_ go to India after all--as if todo despite to his friends, who had said he must not go. Moreover, hetook Letta with him, and he hunted many a day through the jungles ofthat land in company with his friend Redpath, and his henchman Flinn.And, long afterwards, he returned to England, a sturdy middle-aged man,with a wife whose beauty was unabated because it consisted, chiefly, inthat love of heart to God and man which lends never-fading loveliness tothe human countenance.
Awaiting them at home was a troop of little ones--the firsthome-instalment of a troop of lesser ones who accompanied the parentstems. All of these, besides being gifted with galvanic energy andflashing eyes, were impressed with the strong conviction, strange tosay, that batteries, boilers, and submarine cables, were the mostimportant things in the whole world, and the only subjects worth beingplayed at by reasonable human children.
THE END.
The Battery and the Boiler: Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables Page 31