by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XI.
IN WHICH ERNEST IS DISOWNED AND CAST OUT.
I was so nervous and excited after the stirring events of the day,that I could not sleep when I went to bed, tired and almost exhaustedas I was. I had enough to think of, and that night has always seemedto me like a new era in my existence. My father was dead; and mymother, somewhere in the wide world, was an occupant of an insaneasylum. My uncle had told me I had no property, which was equivalentto informing me that I must soon begin to earn my daily bread, unlesshe chose to support me.
I would not even then have objected to earning my own living; indeed,there was something pleasurable and exciting in the idea of dependingupon myself for my food and raiment; but I was not satisfied with myuncle's statements. I could see no reason why he should not tell mewhere my father had lived and died, and where my mother was confinedas a lunatic. I meant to know all about these things in due time, forit was my right to know.
I could not help weeping when I thought of my mother, with herdarkened mind, shut out from the world and from me. What a joy shewould have been to me! What a comfort I might have been to her! Myfather was dead, and she had no one to care for her. Was she in aproper place? Was she kindly treated while overshadowed by herterrible infirmity? I shuddered when I thought of her, for fear thatshe might be in the hands of cruel persons.
It seemed very strange to me that my uncle should spend money sofreely upon me if I had no expectations. Why should he wish to concealanything that related to my father and mother from me? Who was theperson that came to the cottage and quarrelled with him? I had reachedthe years of discretion, and was able to think for myself. What myuncle told me, and what he refused to tell me, taken in connectionwith his conduct, his mode of life, and his misanthropic habits,convinced me that there was something wrong. I intended to ascertainwhat it was; and I was fully resolved, whether it was right or wrong,to explore the library in search of any letters, legal documents, orother papers which would throw some light on the mystery, now becomingpainfully oppressive to me. It was my duty, as a son, to assure myselfthat my mother, in her helplessness, was kindly cared for.
I went to sleep at last; and I did not wake the next morning till nineo'clock, which was my uncle's usual breakfast hour. I took my morningmeal with him; but he did not speak a single word. After breakfast Iwent down to the boat-house. I missed the Splash very much indeed; forI wanted to take her, and sail away to some remote part of the lake,and consider what I should do. Then it occurred to me that mysail-boat might be raised and repaired; and I was getting into therow-boat, with the intention of pulling out and finding the placewhere the Splash had gone down, when my uncle made his appearance.
"Ernest, have you considered what you mean to do?" said he. "Do youintend to go to school?"
"No, sir, I do not," I replied, promptly and decidedly.
"Then I disown you, and cast you out," he added, turning on his heeland walking back to the house.
Was I becoming obstinate and self-willed? Was I refusing a reasonableservice? I sat down in the boat to think over it. It was not rightthat I should apologize to Poodles, after he had confessed that theevidence on which I had been condemned was a lie; and it was of no usefor me to return to the academy unless I could do so.
Mr. Parasyte owed my uncle a large sum of money, secured by the estateand good-will of the Institute. If I was driven from the school, amajority of the boys would petition their parents to be taken from italso, and the establishment would be seriously injured. There wasplainly an understanding between Mr. Parasyte and my uncle, or thetyrant would not have made war upon me as he did. Should I sacrificemyself in order to save my uncle's money, or to prevent the debt frombeing imperilled?
No! I could not; but I hoped my uncle would not lose his money, thoughit would not be my fault if he did. I had just been "disowned and castout." The sentence hardly produced an impression upon me. I was notbanished from a happy home, where I had been folded in a mother'slove, and had lived in the light of a father's smile; only from thehome of coldness and silence; only from shelter and food, which Icould easily find elsewhere.
I took the oars and pulled towards the bluff off which the Splash hadsunk. It seemed to me just then that I was breaking away from all myearly associations, from my home and my school, and pushing out on thegreat ocean of life, as my boat was upon the lake. I must go out intothe world, and make for myself a name and a fortune. There wassomething solemn and impressive in the thought, and I rested upon myoars to follow out the idea. Breaking away! To me it was not goingaway, it was _breaking_ away. There was no near and dear friend to bidme God speed on my journey of life. As for my uncle, he would nothave cared if I had, at that moment, been forever buried beneath thedeep waters of the lake.
I was awed and solemnized by the thought that I was alone in theworld. And looking up to the clear blue sky, I prayed that God wouldhelp me to keep in the path of truth and duty. I really hoped that, ifI had done wrong, or was then doing wrong, I might be convicted of myerror. I prayed for light. I was afraid that I had been wilful andwayward; but as I knew that I was right so far as Poodles wasconcerned, I could not accuse myself of obstinacy in refusing toapologize. On the whole, I was satisfied with myself, though willingto acknowledge that in some things I had rather overdone the matter.
Resuming the oars, I pulled towards the bluff. My course lay near theshore until I had passed the northerly point of Parkville, where thesteamboat wharf extends a hundred feet out to the deep water of thelake. Continuing beyond this long pier, I came in sight of theParkville Liberal Institute. As it was then the middle of theforenoon, I did not expect to see any of the students; but, to mysurprise, I discovered large numbers of them on the grounds betweenthe buildings and the lake. They did not seem to be engaged in theusual sports, but were gathered in groups on various parts of thepremises. Everything looked as though some important event hadtranspired, which the boys were busily engaged in discussing.
I was tempted to pull up towards the Institute, and ascertain what hadoccurred, and why the students were not in the school-room, attendingto their studies; but I was fearful that my presence might domischief, and I reluctantly continued on my way to the bluff. Asnearly as I could interpret the signs, the boys were in a state ofrebellion, though it was possible that Mr. Parasyte was too ill toattend to his duties, and in the present excited state of the school,had deemed it best to give the boys a holiday.
The bearings of the spot where the Splash sank had been carefullynoted, after my capture, by the principal and his men, and withoutmuch difficulty I found the place. The bed of this part of the lakewas composed of gravel, washed down by the continual wearing away ofthe bluff; and as the water was clear, I could see the bottom. TheSplash lay in about twenty-five feet of water--as I found by measuringwith a fish-line. She sat nearly upright on her keel, and the tops ofher masts were not more than a foot below the surface.
How could I coax her to the top of the water? The Splash had beenfather and mother to me, and I loved her. In my loneliness I wantedher companionship. It did not look like an easy task to raise her; andyet the most difficult things become easy when we hit upon the rightmethod of doing them. The Splash was ballasted with ten fifty-sixes,each with a ring for lifting it. They were deposited on the bottom ofthe boat, where I could remove a portion of them when I had a largeparty to take out. I made up my mind, that with a long pole, having ahook on the end of it, I could fasten to the rings of the fifty-sixes,and raise them, one by one, to the surface; and when the ballast wasremoved, the boat would rise of herself.
Satisfied that this idea was a practical one, I started for Parkvilleto procure the pole. As I took the oars, I discovered that one of theInstitute boats, which I had not before noticed, was pulling towardsme. At first I was startled, fearful that it might contain some of mytyrant's minions, sent out to capture me, and carry me back to theschool. As the boat came nearer, however, I saw that it was filledwith my friends, prominent among whom were Bob Hale a
nd Tom Rush; andI lay upon my oars to await her coming.
"Good morning, Ernest; I'm glad to see you," said Bob, as theInstitute boat ranged up alongside of mine.
"What is the matter at the Institute? Don't school keep to-day?" Iasked, when I had returned the salutations of my friend.
"There's big news there, Ernest, you'd better believe," replied Bob,in an excited tone.
"What is it? What has happened?"
"There has been an awful row between Mr. Parasyte and Mr. Hardy, andMr. Hardy has been discharged--that's the first thing; and the fellowswon't stand it, anyhow."
"What was it about?"
"We don't know. Mr. Hardy opened the school as usual at nine o'clock;but he didn't say a word to us about the troubles. A little afternine, Mr. Parasyte came in, with a black eye and a broken head. He andMr. Hardy talked together a little while, and we saw that Parasyte wasas mad as a hop. They went into the recitation-room to have it out;but in two or three minutes they returned, and Mr. Hardy said he wasgoing to leave; but he didn't tell the reason--just bade us good by.If we had only known what the trouble was, we would have pitchedParasyte out of the window."
"Then Mr. Hardy has gone," I added.
"Left, and at once. Then Mr. Parasyte made a speech, in which he toldus the school was in a state of rebellion; that Thornton had assaultedhim, and struck him on the head with a heavy ruler, and that heintended to flog him till he apologized to Poodles, as his unclewished him to do. We didn't wait to hear any more. We gave a yell, andrushed out of the school-room."