CHAPTER FIVE.
BOTH "SUITED."
Dick was now "in clover!"
Running away from a poor home and the tyranny of a cruel step-father, hehad, in the first instance, providentially succeeded in getting `a freepassage,' as the Captain expressed it, to Portsmouth, the goal of hisfondest ambition.
Then, after thus successfully overcoming the obstacles that lay in theway of his going to sea, so far as this initial stage to that ultimateend was concerned, the lucky fellow, in addition to gaining theCaptain's favour and making the acquaintance of Bob and Nellie, put thefinishing-touch to his good fortune by winning over Mrs Gilmour to hisside--a lady who, as a friend, was worth perhaps all the rest, she beingtrue as steel and thoughtful and considerate in every way.
For the Captain's sake alone, she would willingly have given the poorhomeless lad house-room; but, beyond that, she had taken a strong fancyto Dick from noticing his willing manner and anxiety to oblige those whohad been kind to him at the station, an impression that was more thanconfirmed subsequently when she witnessed his gallant conduct inplunging into the water to try and save the impulsive Bob.
So, Dick was in clover!
Like Master Bob, he had his wet clothes stripped off as soon as he gotwithin doors, and wrapped in warm blankets was put into an equally cosylittle bed; a hot treacle posset being afterwards given to each boy whencomfortably tucked in by Mrs Gilmour herself, which drink even Bob,accustomed as he was to good things, said was `not so bad, you know,'while to poor Lazarus-like Dick it tasted as nectar!
Nor was this the end of our runaway's good fortune.
In the morning, after a sound sleep which effectually banished all theill effects of their impromptu ducking from both Bob and himself, Dickawoke, or rather was awakened by his hostess in person, to be told thatthe Captain was waiting and wanted to see him particularly.
"I think too, my boy, it really is time for you to get up," added thelady kindly. "Do you know it's past ten o'clock?"
"Law, mum!" exclaimed Dick, ashamed of his laziness, having beenaccustomed at Guildford to turn out at sunrise, that is if he went tobed at all; for his unkind step-father often locked him out of a nightwhen in an especially angry mood. "Law, mum, whatever be I a-doing ofa-lying here in broad daylight! I humbly asks yer parding, mum."
"Oh, never mind that, you're not so very late, my poor boy, consideringall you went through yesterday and last night," said Mrs Gilmoursmiling. "But, come now, you mustn't keep the Captain waiting, or we'llhave him trotting upstairs after you himself. Dress as quickly as youcan; I have had your things dried at the kitchen fire, and here they arein this chair near the door."
So saying, Mrs Gilmour left the room, and Dick hopped out of bedimmediately afterwards, proceeding to put on his clothes; thinking, poorfellow, as he did so, how shabby and ragged they were, and that they andhe were altogether sadly out of place in an apartment which, to hisrustic eyes, used only to the surroundings of his village home, appeareda palace.
As soon as he was dressed and opened the door of the room, he found,waiting on the landing, a maidservant, who, first taking him downstairsto the kitchen, where she gave him a good breakfast, afterwards showedhim the way to the parlour.
Here Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie, were allassembled, apparently ready to go out, the ladies having their walkingthings on.
"A pretty time of day for a youngster like you to be getting up," criedthe old sailor jocularly as he entered. "I wonder the bright sun hasn'tscorched your eyes out long before this, sir!"
Dick was commencing an abject apology, but Mrs Gilmour stopped him.
"Oh, never mind the Captain," she said laughing at the poor lad's lookof contrition. "He's only `taking a rise' out of you, as he would callit."
"Humph! is he?" growled the Captain, blinking away and pretending to bevery serious. "But, come now, we must be off. I want you to go alongwith me into Portsmouth; so, get your cap and we'll start at once."
"Mayn't we come too?" shouted Bob and Nellie in one breath together."Do say yes, Captain Dresser!"
"Well, I don't know about you, Miss Nellie, for I may have to go intoplaces where little girls may be in the way; besides which, I don'tthink you would like to leave your aunt all alone, eh?"
"Of course not, dear Captain, I forgot that," said Nellie, acceptingthis quiet suggestion of the old sailor as a final settlement of thequestion, without betraying a particle of ill-temper or dissatisfaction."I will stop with auntie."
"Ah, you shan't lose anything by doing it, me darlint," smilingly saidMrs Gilmour, giving her an approving little pat on the cheek by way ofcaress. "You and I, Nell, may have a little expedition of our own,perhaps."
"But I may go with you and Dick," interposed Bob, by no means content tobe left behind. "Mayn't I, Captain?"
"Oh yes, you may go or come, just as you please to call it," replied theCaptain, making a move towards the door, with an energetic thump of hismalacca cane on the floor. "Look sharp, though, or it will be middaybefore we're out of the house!"
This contingency, however, did not happen, for within a minute or so heand the two boys were out on the parade; the party being furtherincreased by the presence of Rover, who had been lurking in the passageand followed them out unobserved. Not a bark or a gambol betrayed thathe was after them, until the Captain on turning round suddenly saw himin their rear, close up to Bob's heels.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed; "I can't have that dog with us. Rover is a veryfine fellow and a brave animal too; but, he's somewhat skittish asyesterday's proceedings at the railway-station showed me. I don't wantto get into any more scrapes with him, such as knocking down harmlessold women--she was a tartar, though, by Jove! Besides, I may have to gointo the dockyard, and they do not allow dogs in there."
"Don't they?" asked Bob, catching hold of Rover's collar and preparingto take him back to the house. "Not even if they're well-behaved?"
"No, my boy, they draw the line at puppies! I mean those jackanapes ofmidshipmen and sub-lieutenants, as they call mates now, with theirdandified airs. In my time, the reefers weren't half so conceited anddidn't try to turn themselves into land swabs as they do now-a-days,"said the Captain grimly, he being, like most sailors of the old school,a thorough believer in the times gone by. "But, go back now, and takethat rascal of a dog in. Dick and I will wait for you at the corner."
Rover did not like this arrangement at all, but he had to submit to theforce of circumstances; so, Bob disposing of him within doors andclosing the outside gate as well for additional precaution, allpresently made a fresh start for their destination.
While crossing Southsea Common, the boys were delighted with the sightof the soldiers of the garrison mustered for brigade drill, the troopsmarching and wheeling and countermarching to the music of the bands,which played such inspiriting airs that even the old Captain could nothelp keeping step, his trusty malacca coming down with a thump on thespringy turf, in time with the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums.
Bob had seen a regiment or two before in London, at parades in front ofthe Horse Guards, or when reviewed on a small scale in Hyde Park; but,never previously, had he witnessed so many battalions marshalledtogether in all the pomp of war as now--the men formed up in doublecolumns of companies, with the sunlight glinting on the bayonets oftheir sloped rifles and their legs looking like those of giganticcentipedes as they stepped forward in changing ground to the left, firstthe red stripe showing on one trouser-leg and then only the dark clothof the other.
"How funny they look!" exclaimed Bob, lost in admiration as he took noteof these little details, not a thing escaping him, the hoarse commandsof the officers, the galloping to and fro of mounted _aides-de-camp_ and`orderlies,' the tooting bugle-calls, each in turn attracting hisattention. "All move as if they were one man!"
"Aye, they march well, my boy," replied the Captain, taking advantage ofthe opportunity to point a moral lesson. "But, recollect it's all owingto discipline and obedience
to orders!"
Beyond the troops, the blue sea could be seen reflecting the hue of thecloudless sky overhead, its surface dotted here and there with the whitesail of some yacht or other, passing between Cowes and Spithead, orbeating out into the Channel in the distance; while, in the moreimmediate foreground, anchored abreast of one of the harbour forts, wasa modern ironclad man-of-war.
"What is that?" inquired Bob, pointing in the direction where the vessellay, looking like some marine monster asleep on the water.
"Humph! you may well ask the question," growled the Captain, jobbing hisstick down with an extra thump. "That is what they call a `ship' now-a-days! She's an `armour-clad' of the latest type, with all theimprovements, though very different to the craft I and your Uncle Tedwere accustomed to see in the good old times when ships were ships!"
"Why, Captain Dresser," said Bob sympathetically, "she's just like theroof of a house!"
"You're not far out, my boy. They all resemble floating barns more thananything else," grumbled the old sailor, bewailing the gallant frigatesand three-deckers of the past. "But, come on now, let us get to thedockyard, and I will show you one or two vessels of the right sort thatwe still have got left, thank God, to remind us of what England's navyonce was!"
With these words, he dragged the boys, much against their will, awayfrom the busy scene on the common and past the last remaining bastion ofthe old fortifications that once encircled Portsmouth; and, finallygetting into the town he dived through all sorts of queer little streetsand alleys, and then along the new road running by the side of theGunwharf until they reached the Hard.
Here, stopping outside an outfitter's shop not far from the dockyard,the Captain seized hold of Dick and pulled him forwards towards thedoor.
"Do you know what I'm going to do with you, eh, you young rascal?" heasked him, with a chuckle which took all the sternness out of histhreatening tones. "Can you guess?"
"No, sir," replied the lad; but, evidently did not anticipate anythingvery dreadful, for he grinned all over his face. "I carn't!"
"I'm going to give you a new rig-out," went on the other. "Do you knowwhat that is, eh?"
"No, sir," again answered Dick, thinking though that the Captain perhapsmeant something to eat. "I dunno."
"Well, come in here and you shall see."
So saying, the old sailor led the way into the shop, where on his givinga few short, sharp, and curt directions to an attendant, Dick was takenin hand and twisted this way and that and measured; the whilom raggedrunaway being in the end apparelled in a bran-new suit of navy sergethat made him look like a smart young reefer, very different indeed tothe ragged runaway who had forced his way into the railway-carriagefrightening Bob and Nellie during their journey Portsmouth-wards fromGuildford twenty-four hours before.
"There, what do you think of yourself now?" asked the Captain, wheelinghim round in front of a cheval glass so that he could see his reflectionin the mirror. "Eh, you rascal?"
Dick did not say anything; but, the look, of mingled wonder, self-satisfaction and gratitude, that overspread his speaking face more thanrewarded the good-hearted sailor for his thoughtful generosity.
"He only wants his 'air cut and a pair o' decent boots, sir, and thenhe'll be a reg'ler tiptopper," suggested the shopman. "I wouldn't knowhim now for the same chap ag'in, sir!"
"Thank you, my friend, for the hint," said the Captain politely. "Youcan fit him with some boots, and we'll see about the `'air' when we getoutside!"
Bob, of course, went into convulsions of laughter when the Captain thusmimicked the man's disregard of his aspirates.
The shopman's failing in this respect was all the more amusing from thefact that the poor fellow was quite unaware of his `little weakness';and, one boy's merriment affecting the other, while the Captain joinedin from sympathy, they all went out of the shop in the highest ofspirits, the old sailor before leaving directing the attendant to sendhome another suit of clothes with a complete sailor's kit, so that Dickmight have what he called "a regular rig-out."
Subsequently, Dick had his hair cut, after which the Captain took himinto the dockyard, with the intention of his being entered for servicein the Navy, the boy having expressed so strong a desire to go to sea.
However, as he was not broad enough in his chest measurements, althoughsufficiently tall for his age, his joining a training ship had to bepostponed until our runaway had, as the old warrant officer at the depotsaid, "Stowed a lot more beef and bread in his skid."
But, even beyond this material point, Captain Dresser was reminded bythis courteous veteran of something he had entirely forgotten; namely,that Dick would have to produce a certificate of birth to show hisproper age, and also a paper containing the written consent to his goingto sea of his parents, or guardians in the case of his being an orphan--which he was nearly if not quite--before Dick would be permitted to join"Her Majesty's Service."
These documents, it may be mentioned here, slightly anticipatingmatters, Captain Dresser subsequently obtained through the clergyman ofDick's parish at Guildford, to whom he wrote, and who gave the youngrunaway the best of characters.
This gentleman stated that the lad was not only honest and truthful, butthe steadiest scholar he had in his Sunday school; and he added that thegood news which he had been able to tell Dick's mother after hearingfrom the Captain, of his having fallen into such friendly hands, hadmade up in some way for her sorrow at being forced to part with her dearson.
"Well, what shall we do with you now?" said the Captain to Dick on theirleaving the dockyard, where, in addition to going on board the trainingship attached to the port, the boys had seen most that was to be seen--going over the smithery; the building-sheds, in which ponderousleviathans of iron, that would anon plough the deep, were being weldedtogether; the mast and rigging houses; the sail-loft; they had gone overeverything in fact! "You see they won't have you yet in the Navy, mylad; so, what is to be done with you, eh?"
"Dunno, sir," answered Dick, scratching his newly-shorn headreflectively and staring in the face of the old sailor, who had stoppedabruptly just outside the dockyard-gates to ask him the question. "I'llleave it to yer for to settle anythink yer likes."
"Humph! I tell you what, we'll wait a bit and then try again for thetraining ship three months hence, or so; when, perhaps, you'll havebetter luck," decided the Captain, who it need hardly be told hadalready made up his mind on the subject. "But, in the meantime, my lad,you shall stop with me and see if you can make yourself of use."
"Oh, sir," said Dick with tears in his eyes and his voice broken withemotion. "I can never thank yer, sir, for all as ye've done for me!I'll work day and night, sir, and do anythink as yer tells me!"
"We'll see, my lad," replied the Captain, walking on again, the watermenalong the Hard touching their hats to him. "I shall probably take youon board my yacht by and by, when the racing season begins. You will,thus, learn something of your future profession; and be able to pull arope and box the compass before the time comes for you to join thetraining ship."
"O-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob, the vista of delight thus presented beingalmost too great for words; for the sight of the sea, now that he hadseen it and been actually on board a ship, had made him long for a sail,his involuntary dip of the previous night not having any deterrentinfluence. "Won't that be jolly, Dick?"
Dick grinned a sympathetic grin, his own peculiar way of showing howpleased he was.
"I only hopes as how I'll suit the Capting," said he earnestly. "I'lltry to--that I will!"
"Suit me, eh?" cried that worthy with a chuckle, and his little blackeyes twinkling away. "That will be `changey for changey, black dog forwhite monkey,' as the niggers say. You will have to suit me in returnfor my having _suit-ed_ you, my lad, eh? Ho--ho--ho!"
Bob Strong's Holidays Page 5