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A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES:
OR, THROUGH THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.


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A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES:
OR,
THROUGH THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.
BY
G. A. HENTY,
Author of " By Pike and Dyke;" "The Lion of St. Mark;" "The Cat of Bubastes;"
"Bonnie Prince Charlie;" "By England's Aid;" Ac.
WITH SIX FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY
W. B. OVEREND.

BLACKIE & SON, Limited,
LONDON, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN.
1891.








ILLUSTRATIONS.
Waiting for Help, Frontispiece. 37
Jack beaches the Spar, 68
The Fight with the Egyptian Rioters 132
The three Lads witness the Bombardment, 164
"Surrender," Jim shouted, "or we Fire!" 207
Caught in the Cyclone 274





A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES.
CHAPTER I.
A FISHING VILLAGE.

|F the tens of thousands of excursionists
who every summer travel down by rail
to Southend, there are few indeed who
ever 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 coast-line 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


10 A FISHING POPULATION.
rate remained at the time this story opens, ten
years ago, as unchanged and unaltered as if, in-
stead 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 com-
posed 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


RISING TIDE. 11
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 South-
end 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.


12 A FISHER LAD.
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 four-
teen 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 readi-
ness 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
.


jack's mother. 13
"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 un-
known 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, sketch-
ing the picturesque boats as they came in and out,
or lay, with their heads pointing all round the
compass, on the soft mud.


14 A LOVE-MATCH.
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-tem-
pered 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 marry-
ing 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 and baker's bills.
He never repented his marriage; Bessy was an


BACK AT LEIGH. 15
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 her-
self 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 deduc-
tions, however, for damages to nets and spears. 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


16 ON BOARD A BAWLEY.
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 ex-
perience 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
(580)


"I AM GOING TO HELP UNCLE BEN." 17
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
(630) B


18 SUNDAY REST.
enough by night . We are going to fish over by
Warden Point, I think."
"I am glad to hear it," his mother said. "I al-
ways 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 un-
heard-of thing for a bawley to meet with an acci-
dent 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 free-
dom 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


A DANGEROUS PASSAGE. 19
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


20 COCKLE HEAPS.
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 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 fif-
teen feet, and they carry their width almost to the


THE LEIGH BAWLEY. 21
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 peculi-


22 "A FLOCK OF BROKEN-BACKKD DUCKS."
arity 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 appear-
ance, 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


"YOU CAN GO, JACK." 23
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."
wlm



CHAPTER IL
CAUGHT BY THE TIDE.

HACK 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.


BE IS ONE OF THE LAZY ONES. 25
"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 earn-
ings, 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


26 THE COAST-GUARD STATION.
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-guards-
men 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 bat-
ter 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 gene-


THE FLEET OF BAWLEYS. 27
rally 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 can-
not 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?"


28 RECKLESS CAPTAINS.
"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 off,
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


DAYBREAK. 29
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 burn-
ing, 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 Cor-
bett 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?"


30 OUT IN THE SANDS.
"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 is more
cockles down there than there is here now.
But father said we had best come here. I sup-
pose he thought that Joe, you, and me, made but
a poor cocklers' crew. Of course, with the wind


DIGGING FOB COCKLES. 31
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 Har-
wich. I reckon these boats are just as safe as
the bawleys?"
"I think so too; but they want more hand-
ling. However, I expect we could manage it."
They had now got out their implements, con-
sisting 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 fly-
ing fast across the sky, and the wind was work-


32 A STEAMER AGROUND.
ing 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 occa-
sionally 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."


CAUGHT BY THE TIDE. 33
"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 consider-
able 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
(680) c


34 THE BOAT ADRIFT.
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 consider-
able 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 chan-
nels 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,"


"SHE IS HEADING STRAIGHT OFF TO us." 35
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 they will be in time. Water will be breast-
high before they get up, and they may drop an-
chor 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


36 "GET OFF YOUR SEA-BOOTS."
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 shoul-
ders," 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 be-
hind 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


"you will have us over." 37
if you would lie on your back quiet I might man-
age 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 ex-
tremely 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 withstand-
ing 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.


38 "i am going!"
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 your-
selves 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
.


SAVED.
39
Two or three times he managed this, and ob-
tained 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 some-
thing 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.

FE of the sailors, dripping wet, knelt be-
side 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 ad-
vantage 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-guards-
man 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."


"THAT HAS BEEN A LESSON." 41
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 for-
get," 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 to-
gether. But I could feel then that somehow you
were keeping us up, and I tried not to catch hold
of your legs."


42
ON SHORE.
"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


THE EXCITEMENT ABATES.
43
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 ex-
pect 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. Rob son asked as her son entered the house.


44 A NARROW ESCAPE.
"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


AT HARWICH. 45
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 light-
ship.
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,


46 WRECKS AND NETS.
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 ob-
tained 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


STOW-BOATING. 47
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 ex-
ceedingly slight. Sometimes the sprats are abun-
dant, 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


48 WET JACKETS AHEAD.
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 think-
ing 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 chop-
ping 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


THE PROSPECT OF A FAST RUN. 49
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 baw-
ley 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 Wal-
ton, and then catch the flood and have it at its
full strength by the time we are opposite Clac-
ton."
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,
(680) d


50 "IT LOOKS RATHER WILD."
Jack was out soon after dawn. There was a haze
over sea andsky, and the wind was blowin g 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


52 ROUND THE NAZE.
and get everything ship-shape and tidy. By the
time they had finished, Harwich was fairly behind
them, and they were lying 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 regu-
larly, in nearly the same line the boat was 


"ALWAYS LEAVE WELL ALONE." 53
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 drop-
ping 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.


A HEAVY SQUALLS. 55
sail 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 com-
fort."
All three were wrapped up in oil-skins; but in
spite of this they had a general sensation of damp-
ness, 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,


56 TEA UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
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
scarcely 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 suffi-
ciently cool to be drunk Then tying on his sou'-


WITH WIND AND TIDE. 57
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 flare-up. 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


58
A GUN OF DISTRESS.
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, under'
"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 swash way. 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


"DONT MIND ME, UNCLE." 59
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 maintack
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


60 MAKING ALL SNUG.
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 com-
pletely 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 ex-
ceptional 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.


A TERRIBLE HALF-HOUR. 61
"Now, Jack, you had best lash yourself to some-
thing 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 pro-
ceeded 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 break-
ing 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 lee-
ward 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


62 NEAR THE WRECK.
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 loom-
ing 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 fine 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


IN THE BROKEN WATER. 63
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 an-
chor up on deck and fastening to it the warp 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 suffi-
cient 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 vio-
lently that he expected every moment that the


64 ANCHORED.
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 loos-
ened 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 him-
self, 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 an-
other 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."


"WHAT IS TO BE DONE?"
65
"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 al-
ready 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
.
(580) K


66 "I COULD TRY, UNCLE."
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.


68 THE SPAR REACHED.
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 lash-
ing 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.
At first those on board pulled but slowly, in



(580)
JACK REACHES THE SPAR.


i


r.
COMMUNICATION ESTABLISHED. 69
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 be-
neath the hawser. A lashing was put round her,


70 JACK IS SET TO WORK.
and then they waved their hands and the fisher-
men 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


ALL SAVED. 71
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


72 "NOW, LADS, LEND A HAND."
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 an-
swered, "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."


BEFORE THE WIND. 73
"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."


74 "WE OUGHT TO HAVE TRIED."
"I can quite believe that . Which of you was
it who sprang overboard to get our line1?"
"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,


MAKING FOR LEIGH. 75
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


76 A SAFE CRAFT.
no distance to the inn, where they can get be-
tween 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. For-
tunately 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 con-
solation 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


ON SHORE. 77
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 com-
paratively smooth water. In less than half an
hour the sails were lowered, and she anchored
some fifty yards from the coast-guard sta-
tion.
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


78 AT THE SHIP.
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 frac-
ture 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 conse-
quences whatever. After setting it he bandaged it
in splints, and said that although he should re-
commend 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, from 


THE PETREL. 79
sers, 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 par-
ticulars 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 passen-
gers; 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


80 HOW IT HAPPENED.
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 nmzen 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


NEARLY ALL OVER.
81
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."
(680)



CHAPTER VI.
ALTERED PROSPECTS 
IS 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
iheBessy had arrived with a number of shipwrecked
people had spread rapidly through the place.
"Well, Jack, so I hear the Bessy has been help-
ing 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


A PLEASANT THOUGHT. 83
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 differ-
ence. And, anyhow, we could not have driven her
fast in such a sea."
By the time Jack had had his tea a comfort-
.able glow had come over him. Now that it was
all over he felt bruised and stiff from the buffet-
ing he had gone through, and after half an hour's
chat with his mother and sister, in which he told


84 "IT WAS A GRANDACTION."
them more fully the events of the wreck, he
turned into bed and slept soundly till the morn-
ing. 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


"YOU MUST GO, JACK." 85
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 uncomfort-
ably.
"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


86 THE STATE OF THE BAWLEY.
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. Immedi-
ately 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 ar-
rived with them an hour before. Mrs. Godstone


VISITORS. 87
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 man-
ners 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


88 JACK HAS TO GO THROUGH IT.
Dulwich. Mrs. Godstone at once walked up to
Jack with outstretched hand.
"I hope you are none the worse for your exer-
tions 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


"NOT SO VERY BAD." 89
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 im-
possible.
"What a pretty room you have got, Mrs. Rob-
son, 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 sub-
jects."
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 morn-
ing," 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


90 EXAMINING THE BAWLEY.
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 be-
side 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."


"it's a nasty job, jack. 91
"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


92 benting's report.
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 con-
tract or day-work."
Captain Murchison that evening when he re-
turned 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.


REWABDING BRAVERY. 93
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 pre-
sented 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


94 THE INTERVIEW.
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 en-
tered, "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."


"I WANTED TO BE A SAILOR" 95
"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 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


98 MRS. ROBSON GLADLY ACCEPTS.
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 midship-
man, and that he would take care he had every
chance of making his way up, Mrs. Robson thank-
fully 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."


ANOTHER KIND OFFER. 99
"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. Rob-
son 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


100 MRS. GODSTONES ARGUMENTS.
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 differ-
ence 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


"it's all settled, jack." 101
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!


102 "MOTHER, DON'T CRY OVER IT."
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 con-
cluded 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


"BOYS ARE BOYS." 103
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 my-
self, 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."


104 "IT WILL BE GRAND, MOTHER!"
"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 edu-
cated 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


106 THE WILD WAVE.
self 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 posses-
sion 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 mid-
shipman. 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


A KIND RECEPTION. 107
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 thePetrel 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 every-
thing 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 under-
stand, 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.


108 AN OUTFIT ORDERED.
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


AT WORK. 109
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 morn-
ing," 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 volun-
teer, 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.

EN 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 morn-
ing 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


"IT WILL BE QUICK WORK." Ill
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,


BEGINNING TO LOAD. 113
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 steve-
dores. 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
(680) H


114 BUSY WORK.
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
fr om 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 come only 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


TWO SHIPMATES. 115
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 al-
ready made two or three voyages in Mr. God-
stone's ships. Arthur Hill was going to sea for
the first time. Jack knew that two other mid-
shipmen were sailing in the Wild Wave, and found
them arranging their things in the little cabin,
with three banks, 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 pre-
sent 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," 


116 DOWN THE RIVER.
"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 Wavehad been fitted
with an entirely new suit of sails—the vessel pro-
ceeded on her way. The officers were divided into
two watches. The first and third mates and Ar-
thur 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


"IT WAS A LUCKY DAY FOR ME." 117
bavvleys 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 offi-
cers, for there was much to be seen after in coil-
ing 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


118 A FAIR START.
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 navi-
gation, 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,


AT ALEXANDRIA. 119
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 under-
stand 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 fa-
vouring 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.


120 TROUBLE IMPENDING.
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 privi-
leges for the army, and in the second place they


LANDING. 121
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


122 A PLAGUE OF FLIES.
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,


A TOUR OF INSPECTION. 123
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. How-
ever, one gets the shade; that is something."


CHAPTER IX.
THE RIOT IN ALEXANDRIA.
OR half an hour the lads sauntered on, in-
terested 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 ex-
pending 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 


THE OUTBREAK. 125
men were shouting and gesticulating angrily, and
blows were exchanged.
"Let us get out ot 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 ex-
claimed. "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 fasten-
ings were outside.


126
A TEMPORARY SHELTER.
"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 cup-
board," 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 an-
other 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.


"WE WILL SELL OUR LIVES DEARLY." 127
"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


128 "IN AN AWFUL FIX."
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


DEFENDING THE STAIRS. 129
exhausted by his exertions, shrugged his shoul-
ders.
"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 land-
ing.
"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
(680) I


130 "THEY HAVE FIRED THE HOUSE!"
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 ex-
claimed 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


"I AM READY." 131
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 adjoin-
ing 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


132 A FIGHT FOR LIFE.
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. Look-
ing 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



THE FIGHT WITH THE EGYPTIAN RIOTERS.


I
I


WOUNDED AND PRISONERS. 133
thought of his comrades flashed across his mind,
and pushing the man's hand back from his fore-
head 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 re-
ceived; 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 dissatis-
fied 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
.


134 THE RIOTERS UNDISTURBED.
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 ex-
plosion. 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


A RIOT NOT A REVOLUTION. 135
represented for the consequences of the disturb-
ance, 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 dis-
persed 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 them-
selves 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.


136 ONE OF THE INSTIGATORS.
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 therumour spread of thearrival 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 point-
ing 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


A CRAFTY SCHEMER. 137
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 be-
longed to one of the ships of war.
He saw at once that their lives might be valu-
able 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 clothes and carried away through the
streets. As many dead bodies were being similarly


138 CAPTORS NOT FRIENDS.
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 cloth 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.
OR 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.


140 "THIS IS THE RUMMEST AFFAIR."
"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 exclama-
tions 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 our-
selves 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."


NOT OUT OF KINDNESS.
141
"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 notthink 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 hard-
ness of the ground did not trouble the boys,


142 "WE ARE OBJECTS!"
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 com-
pletely 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."


"I SHALL BE A REGULAR SIGHT." 143
"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, gener-
ally 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


A GLORIOUS WASH. 145
enware, 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 Egyp-
tians 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 vari-
ous 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 slash-
ing 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."
(680) K


146 A WELCOME MEAL.
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 evi-
dently 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 min-
utes he searched about. "Hurrah!" he exclaimed
at last, "here is a bit of old hoop-iron that will do


A SHREWD GUESS. 147
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 pri-
vately 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


148 "WE CAN AFFORD TO WAIT."
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," Ar-
thur 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 yester-
day 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 shoul-
ders 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 some-
where 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 him-
self against the wall, and Jim helped Arthur on
to his shoulders.


DISCUSSING THE POSITION. 149
"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 was 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


150 jack's opinion.
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


NO CHANCE OF ESCAPE. 151
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 checking 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 even-
ing to serve as beds for them, and on the follow-
ing morning three or four men came down and
swept up all the rubbish from the floor. Once


152 PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.
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.
HILE the riot had been going on, a con-
siderable 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 re-
turned 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 en-
tirely 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 re-


154 SHIPS OF WAR ARR1VK
ceived 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 Alex-
andria, and of the threatening aspect of affairs
there.
In ten days after the outbreak there were in
port English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Ger-
man 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 busi-
ness 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 employes were armed


156 A SEARCH FOR THE BOYS.
out obtaining any information whatever. The
next morning he renewed the search. Matters had
now settled down a little, and the shops were re-
opened. 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.


NO NEWS.
157
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 uni-
forms 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 is
burned?" Mr. Hoare suggested.
"I should hardly think that possible," the cap-
tain said. "Their remains would have been found,


158 THE CAPTAIN STILL HOPES.
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 in-
formation 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


NEGOTIATIONS. 159
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 Alex-
andria 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 gov-
ernment 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, compen-
sation to the sufferers, and the punishment of the
guilty, were met with evasive answers. So threat-
ening and insolent was the bearing of the Egyp-
tian 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


160 THE ULTIMATUM.
obtained. Egyptian troops now commenced throw-
ing 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 satis-
factory 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, Con-
dor, Bittern, Beacon, and Decoy,


162 THE FIGHT IS GOING TO BEGIN.
"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 mut-


THE VIEW FROM THE GARDEN. 163
tered 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 parellel 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 defend-
ing the town against any naval force that could
be brought against it. They were armed with


164 THE FIRST GUN.
heavy artillery of the best modern construc-
tion.
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 battle-ships.
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 the heavy guns, mingled





THE DIN OF BATTLE. 165
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 burst-
ing 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 over-
head. 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


166 THE FORTS SILENCED.
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 un-
even. 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 bombard-
ment 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 ex-
plosion 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


CEASE FIRING.
167
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.

HOR two or three hours before the cessa-
tion 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 un-


THE FLEET UNINJURED. 169
derstood, 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 mi-
raculous. 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 over-
head.
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 wholsesale 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,


170 WHAT NEXT?
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


ALEXANDRIA ON FIRE. 171
what was likely to befall themselves; then, wearied
with the excitement of the day their voices be-
came 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 some-
where."
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 can-
not 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


174 "NOT A BAD IDEA."
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 re-
leased."
"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 re-


THE PLAN OF ESCAPE. 175
member 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 sepa-
rated 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 fel-
lows 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."


176 ON THE SHORE OF THE LAKE.
"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 pos-
sible 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


NOTHING TO EAT. 177
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 dis-
tance, 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
(680) M


178 WATER MUST BE HAD.
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 what-
ever 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
■*i


182 INTERRUPTED.
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 sur-
prise 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.

EE 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 sur-
prised. 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 boat-
men, 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.


184 CROSSING THE LAKE.
"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 be 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."


ON SHORE. 185
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 pos-
session of the town they would probably be keep-
ing 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


186 THE GREAT SQUARE
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 tittle 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!"


WITH FRIENDS. 187
"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 Wild Wave steamer;
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 start-
ing 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
steamer, and were captured at the rising."


188 A HEARTY MEAL"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."


190 "WE WOULD MUCH RATHERSTAY HERE."
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 dare-
say 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 plun-
der. The European stores were all broken into;


A. STOUT DEFENCE. 191
everything portable was carried away and the
furniture broken and smashed.
Fire was applied in scores of places. A con-
siderable number of the poorer classes of Euro-
peans 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 pointy 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 that the town was empty.
The next morning at daylight a force had
landed and driven the plunderers from the Euro-
pean part of the town, while the ships had battered
the forts that still held out. The following day a


192 RESTORING ORDER.
strong force of marines came ashore and patrolled
the streets. At the sight of the British uniforms
many doors were opened, and the wretched in-
mates, who had for forty-eight hours been trem-
bling 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


AT THE CONSULATE. 193
did turn up to let you have any money you re-
quired, 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 Beres-
ford 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
(6o0) N


THE BURNING STREETS.
195
"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 scarcely 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


196 FIGHTING THE FIRE.
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 pro-
vided 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 brick-
work, 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 satis-
faction of knowing that the fire was completely
cut off, and that there was no chance of its spread-


ADVANCE TO RAMLEH. 199
On Monday morning the 38th Regiment and
the third batallion 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, carry-
ing his orders to the various working parties, and
making themselves generally useful.


200
BAD NEWS 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 mas-
sacred 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 scoun-
drels- 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


REINFORCEMENTS.
201
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 mean-
time. 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


202 "A BRIGHT IDEA."
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 reconnais-
sance 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 seavengers. Several temporary inns had been opened
by enterprising Italians for the benefit of those
who on landing from the ships found their houses
burnt, 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


PREPARED FOR DEFENCE. 203
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 con-
cluded 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


204 THE PRISON HOUSE.
garden. When once beyond the town they found
almost all the houses entirely deserted; for bands
of plunderers were still pillaging everywhere be-
yond 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 cor-
rectly, 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."


"HE TREATED us WELL." 205
"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?"


206 FORCING AN ENTRANCE.
"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 open-
ing 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.



"SURRENDER!" JIM SHOUTED, "OR WE FIRE





"SURRENDER, OR WE FIRE!" 207
"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 re-
plied. "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, female dresses, clocks,
rich ornaments, choice, carpets, and other articles.


210 PROMPT PUNISHMENT.
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 scoun-
drels 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 by 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 re-
ceive three dozen lashes apiece and to be im-
prisoned for two years.


214 A HOT ENGAGEMENT.
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 for-
ward 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 Egyp-
tian 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-


THE "WILD WAVE." 215
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 de-
light 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 hur-
ried 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 what-
ever beyond the fact that you were safe; and we
are prepared to put you in irons for desertion


A DIRTY TIME. 217
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."


HOME AGAIN. 219
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. Katherine'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 and then a bus to
Dulwich, was soon home. As the ship had been
signalled when she passed the Downs, he was ex-
pected, 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 spend-
ing 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


220 A GALE OFF THE CAPE.
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 ap-
proach 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 sail-
maker, 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 set-


JOE CULVER. 221
ting 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 ex-
pected to show himself at the office to have a
few words with the head of the firm. He was
still rated as an able seaman, with extra pay as
sailmaker, but he was never expected to go aloft.


222 A TRUSTY HAND.
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 valu-
able 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."


joe's experience.
223
"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."


A HEAVY GALE. 225
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 bul-
warks 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
(680) P


220
"ALL HANDS ON DECK!"
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 laid
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


WRECKED.
227
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 as 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 thunder-
ing down on me; it seemed to me as if I was being
carried right up into the air, then I felt a shock,


228 ON AN ICEBERG.
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 of 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


BETTER WEATHEB. 229
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 run
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
.


230 AN ISLAND IN SIGHT.
"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 driv-
ing 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


HOPE REVIVES. 231
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 some-
where 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 pin-
nacles 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


234 A DREARY LAND.
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 after-
wards 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 ortwenty
miles away. It was a dreary kind of country—
rocky and desolate, with tufts of thin grass grow-
ing 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


A SEARCH FOR WATER. 235
came on there would not 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, keep-
ing 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 stretch-
ing 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 gradu-
ally 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 grow-
ing here, wherever a little earth had gathered; and
I saw some things for all the world like cabbages,


BUILDING A SHELTER.
237
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 cre-
vices 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,


238 A HARVEST OF SEALS.
and I set to work at them with earnest, and in a
week had filled my cave two feet deep with fea-
thers.
"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


A STORE FOR WINTER. 239
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


240 SAFE AGAINST BEARS.
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 my-
self. 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. How-
ever 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 per-


EXPLORING. 243
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 con-
cluded 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 Bort 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


"I WILL TELL YOU THAT TOMORROW. 245
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 othet wreck not far
from here?"
"I will tell you that to-morrow evening, lads.
That were a more ordinary kind of thing. It
weren't pleasant; I don't know that wrecks ever
are, but it weren't such an out-of-the-way thing
as being chucked up on to an iceberg."


250 UP COUNTRY.
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 bad 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 was 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


254 RUNNING AWAY.
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 yarns 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


RETURN TO ENGLAND. 255
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 Portu-
guese 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


"IT MAY NOT LAST." 257
"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 sub-
merged, 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
(680) R


260 UNDER CLOSE CANVAS.
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.



262 THE FIRST BURST OF THE STORM.
"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. Car-
penter, put a man with an axe at each of the
weather-shrouds. We may have to cut away be-
fore 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


268 TAKING A SPELL.
Jack Moore was the next to come down. "Cap-
tain'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
never seed nothing as was 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 ex-
hausted 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 accus-
tomed 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,


"WE ARE RUNNING DUE SOUTH!" 269
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 navi-
gation. "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


270 "BREAKERS AHEAD1."
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 him-
self two or three feet higher to have a better view
A moment was sufficient.
He sprang down again and shouted in his com-
rades' ears,"Breakers ahead!" It needed no further
words. The light ahead was the gleam of a sea


"NOTHING FOR IT BUT DESTRUCTION." 271
of white foam towards which the vessel was hurry-
ing. 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 in-


272 "SHAKE HANDS ALL ROUND."
deed 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 in-
dulgence 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


"CUT AWAY THE LASHINGS." 273
the officers to the boat. As they did so they
knew well that the order was given merely to
keep them employed, for that the chance of any-
one 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 de-
scended a wave there was a tremendous shock,
followed instantaneously by a crash as the fore-
mast went over the bow. Another and another,
accompanied each time with the sound of rending
timbers.
"Cut away the lashings of the boat!" the cap-
tain 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 re-
place 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
(680) s





276 "WE ARE SAVED, OLD MAN."
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


THE WATER SUBSIDES. 279
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.


'2H2
THE STATE OF THEIR FUNDS.
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."


HOME. 287
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 Eng-
land. 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 Rob-
son is now second mate in one of Mr. Godstone's
ships, and will be first officer on his 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.


288 jack's future.
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."
THE END.


Blackie & Son's
Catalogue of Books
for young people.
INCLUDING WORKS BY
G. A. Henty. G. Manville Fenn. George Mac Donald, LL.D.
Prof. A. J. Church. S. Baring-Gould. Harry Collingwood.
Dr. Gordon Stables.. G. Norway. F. Frankfort Moore. Ascott R. Hope. John C. Hutcheson. Alice Corkran.
Rosa Mulholland. Sarah Doudney. Mary C. Rowsell.
and other popular Authors.


2
BLACKIE <fc SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNGPEOPLE.
BY G. A. HENTY.
"Mr. Henty ii one of the best of story-tellers for young people."—Spectator.
By England's Aid: Or, The Freeing of the Netherlands
(1585-1604). By G. A. Henty. With 10 full-page Illustrations
by Alfred Fx arbe, and 4 Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant,
olivine edges, 6s.
The story of two English lads, who go to Holland as pages in the service
of one of "the fighting Veres "—the Sir Francis Vere, who played so impor-
tant a part in the freeing of the Netherlands from the yoke of Spain.
After many adventures by sea and land, one of the lads finds himself on
board a Spanish ship at the time of the defeat of the Armada, and escapes
from Spain only to fall into the hands of the Corsairs. He is successful,
however, in getting back to Spain under the protection of a wealthy
Spanish merchant, and regains his native country after the capture of
Cadiz, which finally broke the power of Spain in Europe. While the plot
is entirely distinct from that of By Pike and Dyke, it follows it immediately
in point of historio interest, and is in this sense a sequel to it.
By Right of Conquest: Or, With Cortez in Mexico. By
G. A. Henty. With 10 page Illustrations by W. S. Stacey, and
Two Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, (U. The conquest of Mexico by a small band of resolute men under the mag-
nificent leadership of Cortez is always rightly ranked amongst the most
romantic and daring exploits in history. With this as the groundwork of
his story Mr. Henty has interwoven the adventures of an English youth,
Roger Hawkshaw, the sole survivor of the good ship Swan, which had
sailed from a Devon port to challenge the mercantile supremacy of the
Spaniards in the New World. He is beset by many perils amongst the natives, but is saved by his own judgment and strength, and by the devo-
tion of an Aztec princess. At last by a ruse he obtains the protection of
the Spaniards, and after the fall of Mexico succeeds in regaining his native
shore, with a fortune and a charming Aztec bride.
With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil
War. By G. A. Henty. With 10 page Illustrations by Gordon
Browne, and 6 Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"The story is a capital one and full of variety, and presents us with many
picturesque scenes of Southern life. Young Wingfleld, who is conscientious,
spirited, and 'hard as nails,' would have been a man after the very heart of
Stonewall Jackson."—Times.
"This is one of the best stories for lads which Mr. Henty has yet written. The
picture is full of life and colour, and the stirring and romantic incidents which
marked the struggle are most skilfully blended with the personal interest and
charm of the story."—Standard.
"A tale in Mr. Henty's best style. The interest is sustained at a high pitch by
the introduction of such episodes as a slave sale, a hunt after a runaway slave,
and a revolver fight. Is intended to instruct as well as to amuse."—Educational
News.


BLACK1E dc SOU'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 0
BY G. A. HENTY.
"Mr.Henty is one of our most successful writers of historical tales."—Scotsman.
In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce. By
G. A. Henty. With 12 full-page Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6a.
"Mr. Henty has broken new ground as an historical novelist. His tale of the
days of Wallace and Bruce is full of stirring action, and will commend itself to
boys."—A theneeum.
"Scarcely anywhere have we seen in prose a more lucid and spirit-stirring
description of Bannockburn than the one with which the author fittingly closes
his volume."—Dumfries Standard.
Throughthe Fray: A Story of the Luddite Riots. By
G. A. Henty. With 12 full-page Illustrations by H. M. Paget.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"Mr. Henty inspires a love and admiration for straightforwardness, truth, and
courage. This is one of the best of the many good books Mr. Henty has produced,
and deserves to be classed with his Facing Death."—Standard.
"The interest of the story never drags. Were we to propose a competition for
the best list of novel writers for boys we have little doubt that Mr. Henty's name
would stand first."—Journal of Education.
Captain Bay ley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of Cali-
fornia. By G. A. Henty. With 12 full-page Illustrations by
H. M. Paget. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"A Westminster boy who makes his way in the world by hard work, good
temper, and unfailing courage. The descriptions given of life are just what a
healthy intelligent lad should delight in."—St. James's Gazette.
"The portraits of Captain Bayley. and the head-master of Westminster school,
are admirably drawn; and the adventures in California are told with that vigour
which is peculiar to Mr. Henty."—The Academy.
BY GEORGE MAC DONALD.
A Rough Shaking-. By George Mac Donald, ll.d.,
author of "Robert Falconer," &c. With 12 full-page Illustrations
by W. Parkinson. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
Clare, the hero of the story, is a boy whose mother is killed at his side
by the fall of a church during an earthquake The kindly clergyman and
his wife, who adopt him, die while he is still very young, and he is thrown
upon the world a second time. The narrative of his wanderings is full of
interest and novelty, the boy's unswerving honesty and his passion for
children and animals leading him into all sorts of adventures. He works
on a farm, supports a baby in an old deserted house, finds employment in
a menagerie, is taken into service by an old lady, becomes a bank clerk, is
kidnapped, and ultimately discovers his father on board the ship to which
he has been conveyed. The story will certainly rank amongst the best
of Dr. Mac Donald's books for boys.


BLACKIE «fc SON'S BOOKS FORYOUNG PEOPLE.
BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
"Mr. Fenn It in the front rank of writers of stories for boys."—Liverpool
Mercury.
Quicksilver: Or, A Boy with no Skid to his Wheel. By
George Manville Fenn. With 10 full-page Illustrations by
FrankDadd. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"Quicksilver is little short of an inspiration. In it that prince of story-writers
for boys—George Manville Fenn—has surpassed himself. It is an ideal book for
a boy's library."—Practical Teacher.
"The story is capitally told, it abounds in graphic and well-described scenes,
and it has an excellent and manly tone throughout."—The Guardian.
'' This is one of Mr. Fenn's happiest efforts, and deserves to be read and re-read
by every school-boy in the land. We are not exaggerating when we say that
Quicksilver has nothing to equal it this season."—Teachers' Aid.
Dick 0' the Fens: A Romance of the Great East Swamp. By
G. Manville Fenn. With 12 full-page Illustrations by Frank
Dadd. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"We conscientiously believe that boys will find it capital reading. It is full
of incident and mystery, and the mystery is kept up to the last moment . It is
rich in effective local colouring; and it has a historical interest."—Times.
"We have not of late come across a historical fiction, whether intended for
boys or for men, which deserves to be so heartily and unreservedly praised as
regards plot, incidents, and spirit as Dick o' the Fens. It is its author's master-
piece as yet."—Spectator.
Devon Boys: A Tale of the North Shore. By G. Manville
Fenn. With 12 full - page Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"An admirable story, as remarkable for the individuality of its young heroes
as for the excellent descriptions of coast scenery and life in North Devon. It is
one of the best books we have seen this season."—Athenceum.
"We do not know that Mr. Fenn has ever reached a higher level than he has
In Devon Boys. It must be put in the very front rank of Christmas books."—
Spectator.
BPOWnsmith'S Boy: A Romance in a Garden. By G. Man-
ville Fenn. With 12 full-page Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"Mr. Fenn's books are among the best, if not altogether the best, of the stories
for boys. Mr. Fenn is at his best in Brownsmith's Boy."—Pictorial World.
"Brownsmith's Boy must rank among the few undeniably good boys' books,
hewill be a very dull boy indeed who lays it down without wishing that it had
gone on for at least 100 pages more."—North British Mail.
In the King's Name: Or, The Cruise of the Kestrel. By
G. Manville Fenn. Illustrated by 12 full-page Pictures by
Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"A capital boys' story, full of incident and adventure, and told in the lively
style in which Mr. Fenn is such an adept."—Globe.
"The best of all Mr. Fenn's productions in this field. It has the great quality
of always 'moving on,' adventure following adventure in constant succession."—
Daily News.


BLACK1E <t SOU'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
NEW EDITION OF THE UNIVERSE.
The Universe: Or, The Infinitely Great and the Infinitely Little.
A Sketch of Contrasts in Creation, and Marvels revealed and
explained by Natural Science. By F, A. Pouchet, m.d. With
272 Engravings on wood, of which 55 are full-page size, and a
Coloured Frontispiece. Tenth Edition, medium 8vo, cloth elegant,
gilt edges, 7s. 6rf.; also morocco antique, 16s.
"We can honestly commend Professor Pouchet's book, which is admirably, as
it is copiously illustrated."—The Times.
"This book is as interesting as the most exciting romance, and a great deal
more likely to be remembered to good purpose."—Standard.
"Scarcely any book in French or in English is so likely to stimulate in the
young an interest in the physical phenomena."—Fortnightly Renew.
BY S. BARING-GOULD.
GrettiP the Outlaw: A Story of Iceland. By S. Baring-
Gould, author of "John Herring," "Messiah," &c. With 10 full-
page Illustrations by M. Zeno Diemer, and a Coloured Map.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"A foremost place in the boys' fiction of the season must be given to Grettir
the Outlaw."—Globe.
"Is the boys' book of its year. That is, of course, as much as to say that it will do for men grown as well as juniors. It is told in simple, straightforward
English, as all stories should be, and it has a freshness, a freedom, a sense of sun and wind and the open air, which make it irresistible."— Scots Observer.
BY PROFESSOR A. d. CHURCH.
TwoThousand YearsAgo: Or, The Adventures of a Roman Boy. By Professor A. J. Church. With 12 full-page Illustrations
by Adrien Marie. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6s.
"Adventures well worth the telling. The book is extremely entertaining as
well as useful, and there is a wonderful freshness in the Roman scenes and
characters."—The Times.
"We know of no book which will do more to make the Romans of that day live
again for the English reader."—Guardian.
BY ROSA MULHOLLAND.
Giannetta: A Girl's Story of Herself. By Rosa Mulholland.
With 8 full-page Illustrations by Lockhart Bogle. Crown 8vo,
cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Giannetta is a true heroine—warm-hearted, self-sacrificing, and, as all good
women nowadays are, largely touched with the enthusiasm of humanity. One
of the most attractive gift-books of the season."—The Academy.
"No better book could be selected for a young girl's reading, as its object is
evidently to hold up a mirror, in which are seen some of the brightest and noblest
traits in the female character."—Schoolmistress.


10 BLACKIB fSOX'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
BY G. A. HENTY.
"Mr. Ilcuty is the king of story-tellers for boys "—Sword and Trowel.
St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers.
By G. A. Henty. With 8 full-page Illustrations by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Mr. Henty's historical novels for boys bid fair to supplement, on their behalf,
the historical labours of Sir Walter Scott in the land of fiction."—Standard.
"A story of very great interest for boys. In his own forcible style the author
has endeavoured to show that determination and enthusiasm can accomplish mar-
vellous results; and that courage is generally accompanied by magnanimity and
gentleness."—Pall Mall Gazette.
The Bravest ofthe Brave: With Peterborough in Spain.
By G. A . Henty. With 8 full-page Pictures by H. M. Paget.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Mr. Henty never loses sight of the moral purpose of his work—to enforce the
doctrine of courage and truth, mercy and lovingkindness, as indispensable to the
making of an English gentleman. British lads will read The Bravest of the
Brave with pleasure and profit; of that we are quite sure."—Daily Telegraph.
ForName and Fame: Or, Through Afghan Passes. By
G. A. Henty. With 8 full-page Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"The best feature of the book, apart from its scenes of adventure, is its honest
effort to do justice to the patriotism of the Afghan people."—Daily News.
"Not only a rousing story, replete with all the varied forms of excitement of a
campaign, but, what is still more useful, an account of a territory and its inhabi-
tants which must for a long time possess a supreme interest for Englishmen, as
being the key to our Indian Empire."—Glasgow Herald.
In the Reign ofTerror: The Adventures of a Westminster
Boy. By G. A . Henty. With 8 full-page Illustrations by J.
Sohonberg. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"Harry Sandwith, the Westminster boy, may fairly be said to beat Mr. Henty's
record. His adventures will delight boys by the audacity and peril they depict.
The story is one of Mr. Henty's best."—Saturday Review.
Orange and Green: A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick.
By G. A . Henty. With 8 full-page Illustrations by Gordon
Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"An extremely spirited story, based on the struggle in Ireland, rendered
memorable by the defence of 'Derry and the siege of Limerick."—Sat. Review.
"The narrative is free from the vice of prejudice, and ripples with life as
vivacious as if what is being described were really passing before the eye. . . .
Should be in the hands of every young student of Irish history."—Belfast News.
By Sheer Pluck:A Tale of the Ashanti War. By G. A.
Henty. With 8 full-page Pictures by Gordon Browne. Crown
8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"By Sheer Pluck will be eagerly read. The author's personal knowledge of the
west coast has been turned to good advantage."—Atherweum.
"Morally, the book is everything that could be desired, setting before the boys
a bright and bracing ideal of the English gentleman."—Christian Leader.
■


14 BLACK1E ic SOWS BOOKS FOR TOUXQ PEOPLE.
BY GEORGE MAO DONALD.
At the Back ofthe North Wind. By George Mac
Donald, ll.d. With 75 Elustrations by Abthub Hughes.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"In At the Back of the North Wind we stand with one foot in fairyland and
one on common earth. The story is thoroughly original, full of fancy and pathos,
and underlaid with earnest but not too obtrusive teaching."—The Times.
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood. By George Mac Donald,
ll.d. With 36 Illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Crown 8vo,
cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"The sympathy with boy-nature in Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood is perfect.
It is a beautiful picture of childhood, teaching by its impressions and suggestions
all noble things."—British Quarterly Review.
The Princess and the Goblin. By George Mac Donald,
ll.d. With 30 Illustrations by Arthur Hughes, and 2 full-
page Pictures by H Petheriok. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6rf.
"Little of what is written for children has the lightness of touch and play of
fancy which are characteristic of George Mac Donald's fairy tales. Mr. Arthur
Hughes's illustrations are all that illustrations should be."—Manchester Guardian.
"A model of what a child's book ought to be—interesting, instructive, and
poetical. We cordially recommend it as one of the very best gift-books we have
yet come across."—Elgin Courant.
The Princess and Curdie. By George Mac Donald,
ll.d. With 8 full-page Illustrations by James Allen. Crown
8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6rf.
"There is the finest and rarest genius in this brilliant story. Upgrown people
would do wisely occasionally to lay aside their newspapers and magazines to
spend an hour with Curdie and the Princess. "Sheffield Independent.
BY SCOTTR. HOPE.
The Seven Wise Scholars. By Ascott r. Hope. With
nearly One Hundred Illustrations by Gordon Browne. Square
8vo, cloth elegant, gilt edges, 5s.
"As full of fun as a volume of Punch; with illustrations, more laughter-
provoking than most we have seen since Leech died."—Sheffield Independent.
"A capital story, full of fun and happy comic fancies. The tale would put the
sourest-tempered boy into a good humour, and to an imaginative child would be
a Source of keen delight."—Scotsman.
The Wigwam and the War-path: stories of the Red
Indians. By Ascott R. Hope. With 8 full-page Pictures by
Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 5s.
"All the stories are told well, in simple spirited language and with a fulness of
ietail that makes them instructive as well as interesting. "—Journal of Education.


BLACKIE <t SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 15
BY G. NORWAY.
Hussein the Hostage: Or, A Boy's Adventures in Persia.
By G. Norway. With 8 full-page Illustrations by John Sohon-
berg. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5».
The narrative of the adventures of the young prince Hussein and his
faithful follower Askar in their endeavour to free their oppressed tribe
from the Persian yoke. Hussein is for some time held captive by the
Persians, and Askar, after storing a secret cavern with provisions, sets off
to rescue him. He is himself kidnapped, however, and sold to a travelling
showman. Askar at length rejoins Hussein, who has escaped in disguise,
gathered about him some of his old adherents, and is holding the cavern
against the Persian forces. These are happily dispersed at the moment
when success seems assured to them. The book has the same originality
of conception and treatment which characterized the author's previous
story—The Loss of John Humble.
The LossofJohn Humble: "What Led to It, and what
Came of It. By G. Norway. With 8 full-page Illustrations by
John Sohonberg. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"This story will place the author at once in the front rank. It is full of life
and adventure. He is equally at home in his descriptions of life in Sweden and
in the more stirring passages of wreck and disaster, and the interest of the story
is sustained without a break from first to last."—Standard.
"Since the days when we read Robinson Crusoe no book of its kind has
delighted us more. It is just the gift-book for boys."—Schoolmaster.
"Among books of stirring adventure we can highly commend The Loss of John
Humble."—Guardian.
BY SARAH TYTLER.
Girl Neighbours: Or, The Old Fashion and the New. By
Sarah Tytler. With 8 full-page Illustrations by C. T. Garland Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5s.
"One of the most effective and quietly humorous of Miss Sarah Tytler's stories
. . . Very healthy, very agreeable, and very well written."—Spectator.
BY G. A. HENTY.
A Chapter ofAdventures: Or, Through the Bombard-
ment of Alexandria. By G. A. Henty. With 6 full-page Illus-
trations by W. H. Overend. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d
An east-coast fishing lad, by an act of heroism, secures tho interest of
a ship-owner, who places him as an apprentice on board one of his ships.
In company with two of his fellow-apprentices he is left behind, at Alex-
andria, in tho hands of the revolted Egyptian troops, and is present
through the bombardment and the scenes of riot and bloodshed which
accompanied it. They ultimately effect their escape, and in the subsequent
terrible voyage their ship is wrecked, and only the hero and a friend are
saved. The yarns of an old seaman on board add to the interest of the
exciting events of the narrative itself.


16 BLACKIE <fc SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNGPEOPLE.
BY JOHN 0. HUTCHESON.
Afloat at Last: A Sailor Boy's Log of his Life at Sea. By
John C. Hutoheson. With 6 full-page Illustrations by W. H.
Overend. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d.
"As healthy and breezy a book as one could wish to put into the hands of
a boy."—Academy.
"A tale of seafaring life told with fire and enthusiasm, full of spirited incident
and well-drawn character."—Observer.
Picked up at Sea: Or, The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek.
By J C. Hutcheson. With 6 full-page Pictures. Cloth extra, 3s. 6d
"The author's success with this book is so marked that it may well encourage him
to further efforts. The description of mining life in the Far-west is true and accu-
rate."—Standard.
The White Squall: A Story of the Sargasso Sea. By John
C. Hutcheson. With 6 full-page Illustrations by John Schonberc}.
Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6cL
"Few writers have made such rapid improvement in the course of a few years
as has the author of this capital story. . . . Boys will find it difficult to lay
down the book till they have got to the end."—Standard.
"The sketches of tropical life are so good as sometimes to remind us of Tom
Cringle and the Cruise of the Midge."—Times.
The Wreck ofthe Nancy Bell: Or, Cast Away on Ker-
guelen Land. By John C. Hutcheson. Illustrated by 6 full-page
Pictures. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. Gd.
"A full circumstantial narrative such as boys delight in. The ship so sadly destined
to wreck on Kerguelen Land is manned by the very lifelike party, passengers and
crew. The life in the Antarctic Iceland is well treated."—Athenaum,
SirWalter's Ward: A Tale of the Crusades. By William
Evebard. With 6 fall-page Illustrations by Walter Paget.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6rf.
"This book will prove a very acceptable present either to boys or girls. Both
alike will take an interest in the career of Dodo, in spite of his unheroic name,
and follow him through his numerous and exciting adventures."—Academy.
Stories Of Old Renown: Tales of Knights and Heroes.
By Asoott R. Hope. With 100 Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
New Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 3s. 6d.
"A really fascinating book worthy of its telling title. There is, we venture to
say, not a dull page in the book, not a story which will not bear a second read-
ing. "—Guardian.
Brother and Sister: Or, The Trials of the Moore Family.
By Elizabeth J. Lysaght. With 6 full-page Illustrations.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d.
"A pretty story, and well told. The plot is cleverly constructed, and the moral
is excellent."—AtlienfBV.ru.


20 BLACKIE & SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
BLACKIE'S HALF-CROWN SERIES.
Illustrated by eminent Artists. In crown 8vo, cloth elegant.
New Volumes.
The Secret of the Old House. A story for Children.
By Evelyn Everett-Green.
Tim, a clever boy of romantic tendencies, and his sister Dinah go to stay
with their rich grandmother in the country, near an old house which has
the reputation of being haunted. They not only see the ghost, but serenade
it and make friends with it—the ghost proving to be an unhappy youth
who has been allowed to seclude himself in one wing of the mansion. The
two children succeed in effecting the restoration of the boy to health and
his reconciliation with his grandfather.
Hal Hungerford. By J. R. Hutchinson, b.a.
A boy sent out by an emigration society to a farmer in Canada is charged
with the committal of a serious crime. Seeing no hope of clearing himself,
he leaves his new home with a boy-companion, and they take up residence in
an old block-house about which mysterious stories are told. They succeed in
unravelling the mystery at no little cost, his companion dying of injuries
received in the burning block-house, and be himself escaping death by the
merest chance. The story is full of exciting incidents—a smuggler's cave
guarded by a skeleton, a pirate's treasure, and the like.
The Golden Weathercock. By Julia Goddard.
The GoldenWeathercock on the church tower has in virtue of his position
the privilege of hearing about everything from everybody. From all
quarters dainty and interesting stories reach his ears, and the comments
and questions of the old gossip himself add piquancy to the interspersed
narratives.
The Hermit Hunter ofthe Wilds. By Gordon Stables,
CM., M.D., R.n.
"A boy's book par excellence."—Freeman's Journal.
"Pirates and pumas, mutiny and merriment, a castaway and a cat, furnish
the materials for a tale that will gladden the heart of many a bright boy."—
Methodist Recorder.
White Lilac: Or, The Queen of the May. By Amy Walton.
"One of the moat charming stories of the year."—Pall Mall Gazette.
"Every here and there we are reminded of Mrs. Tulliver and Sister Pullet In
the quaint dialogue of the story. . . . Every rural parish ought to add White
Lilac to its library."—Academy.
Miriam's Ambition: A Story for Children. By Evelyn
Everett-Green.
"A high minded, simple story, such as Miss Everett-Green can tell so well."—
Academy.
"Miss Green's children are real British boys and girls, not small men and
women, liabs is a charming little one."—Liverpool Mercury.


BLACK IE ic SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 25
TWO SHILLING SERIES—Continued.
"A Pair ofClogs:"and other Stories. By Amy Walton.
"Decidedly interesting, and unusually true to nature. For children between
nine and fourteen this book can be thoroughly commended."—Academy.
The Hawthorns. By Amy Walton.
"A remarkably vivid and clever study of child-life. At this species of work
Amy Walton has no superior."—Christian Leader.
Dorothy's Dilemma: A Tale of the Time of Charles I.
By Caroline Austin.
"An exceptionally well-told story, and will be warmly welcomed by children.
The little heroine, Dorothy, is a charming creation."—Court Journal.
Marie's Home: Or, A Glimpse of the Past. By Caroline
Austin.
"An exquisitely told story. The heroine is as fine a type of girlhood as one
could wish to set before our little British damsels of to-day. —Christian Leader.
Warner's Chase: Or, The Gentle Heart By Annie S. Swan.
"In Milly Warren, the heroine, who softens the hard heart of her rich uncle
and thus unwittingly restores the family fortunes, we have a fine ideal of real
womanly goodness."—Schoolmaster.
Aboard the "Atalanta:" The Story of a Truant. By
Henby Frith.
"The story is very interesting and the descriptions most graphic. We doubt
if any boy after reading it would be tempted to the great mistake of running
away from school under almost any pretext whatever."—Practical Teacher.
The Penang Pirate and The Lost Pinnace. By John C.
Hutcheson.
"A book which boys will thoroughly enjoy: rattling, adventurous, and romantic,
and the stories are thoroughly healthy in tone."—Aberdeen Journal.
Teddy: The Story of a " Little Pickle." By John C. Hutcheson.
"He is an amusing little fellow with a rich fund of animal spirits, and when at
length he goes to sea with Uncle Jack he speedily sobers down under the discip-
line of life."—Saturday Review.
Linda and the Boys. By Cecilia Selby Lowndks.
"The book is essentially a child's book, and will be heartily appreciated by the
young folk."—The Academy.
SwissStories for Children. From the German of Madam
Johanna Spybl By Lucy Wheelock.
"Charming stories. They are rich in local colouring, and, what is better, in
genuine pathos."—The TimesThe Squire's Grandson: A Devonshire Story. By J. M.
Call well.
"The lessons of courage, filial affection, and devotion to duty on the part of the
young hero cannot fail to favourably impress all young readers."—Schoolmaster.


BLACKIE <fs SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 29
BLACKIE'S EIGHTEENPENNY SERIES-Continued,
Tom Finch's Monkey: and other Yarns. By J. C. Hutcheson.
"Stories of an altogether unexceptionable character, with adventures sufficient
for a dozen books of its size."—V. Service Gazette.
MissGrantley's GiPls, and the Stories She Told Them. By
Thomas Archer,
"For fireside reading more wholesome and highly entertaining reading for young
people could not be found."—Northern Chronicle.
Down and Up Again: Being some Account of the Felton Family,
and the Odd People they Met. By Gregson Gow.
"The story is very neatly told, with some fairly dramatic incidents, and cal-
culated altogether to please young people."—Scotsman.
The Troubles and Triumphs of Little Tim. A City story.
By Gkkgson Gow.
"An undercurrent of sympathy with the struggles of the poor, and an ability
to describe their feelings, eminently characteristic of Dickens, are marked fea-
tures in Mr. Gow's story."—N. B. Mail.
The Happy Lad: A Story of Peasant Life in Norway. From the
Norwegian of Bjornson.
"This pretty story has natural eloquence which seems to carry us back to some
of the love stories of the Bible."—Aberdeen Free Press.
The Patriot Martyr: and other Narratives of Female Heroism.
"It should be read with interest by every girl who loves to learn what her sex
can accomplish in times of danger."—Bristol Times.
Madge's Mistake: A Recollection of Girlhood. By Annie E.
Armstrong.
"We cannot speak too highly of this delightful little tale. It abounds in
interesting and laughable incidents."—Bristol Times.
Box of Stories. Packed for Young Folk by Horace Happyman.
When I was a Boy in China. By Yan Phou Lee, a
native of China, now resident in the United States.
"Has been written not only by a Chinaman, but by a man of culture. His
book is as interesting to adults as it is to children."—The Guardian.
THEILLUSTRATIONS THROUGHOUT PRINTED IN COLOURS.
4TO, ONE SHILLING EACH.
GORDON BROWNE'S SERIES OF
OLD FAIRY TALES.
1. HOP 0' MY THUMB. 2. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Each book contains 32 pages 4to, and is illustrated on every page
by Pictures printed in colours.


30
BLACKIE <t SON'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
THE SHILLING SERIES OF BOOKS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
Each book contains
Square 16mo, neatly bound in cloth extra.
128 pages and a Coloured Illustration.
New Volumes.
Freda's Folly: or,The Guest at Dysart Manor. By M. 8. Havcraft.
Philip Danford: A Story ofSchool Life. By Julia Goddard.
The Youngest Princess: or, Little Means to Big Ends. By Jennie Cuappell.
Arthur's Temptation: or, A Bad Beginning. By Emma Leslie
A Change for the Worse: or. The Lesson of a Day. By Hauiuet M. Capes.
Our Two Starlings. By Christian Bedford.
Mr. Lipscombe's Apples.
Goddard.
By Julia
By
Gladys: Or, The Sister's Charge
E. O'Byrne.
A Gypsy against Her Will. By
EMMA LESLIE.
The Castle on the Shore,
BEL HORNIBROOK.
By ISA-
By
By Cora
An Emigrant Boy's Story.
Ascorr R. Hope.
Jock and his Friend.
Langton.
John a' Dale. By Mary C. Rowsell.
In the Summer Holidays. By Jen-
nett Humphreys.
How the Strike Began. By Emma
Leslie.
Tales from the Russian of Madame
Kubalensky. By G. Jenner.
Cinderella's Cousin, and Other
StoriesBy Penelope.
Their New Home. By Annie S.
Fenn.
Janie's Holiday. By C. Redford.
A Boy Musician: or, The Young Days
of Mozart.
Hatto's Tower. By Mary C. Row-
sell.
Fairy Lovebairn's Favourites. By
3. Dickinson.
Alf Jetsam: or. Found Afloat. By
Mrs. George Cupples.
The Redfords: An Emigrant Story.
By Mrs. George Cupples.
Missy. By F. Bayford Harrison.
Hidden Seed: or, A Year in a Girl's
Life. By EMMA LESLIE.
Ursula's Aunt. By Annie S. Fenn.
Jack's Two Sovereigns. By Annie
S. Fenn.
A Little Adventurer: or, HowTommy
Trent went to look for his Father.
By Gregson Gow.
Olive Mount, By Annie S. Fenn.
Three Little Ones: Their Haps and
Mishaps. By C. LANGTON.
Tom Watkins' Mistake. By Emma
Leslie.
Two Little Brothers. By M. Har-
riet m. Capes.
The New Boy at Merriton. By
Julia Goddard.
The Children of Haycombe. By
Annie S. Fknn.
The Cruise of the "Petrel." By
F. M.Holmes.
The Wise Princess. By M. Harriet
M. Capes.
The Blind Boy of Dresden and
his Sister.
Jon of Iceland: A Story of the Far
North.
Stories from Shakespeare.
Every Man in his Place: or, A City
Boy and a Forest Boy.
Fireside Fairies and Flower
Fancies. Stories for Girls.
To the Sea inShips: Stories of Suf-
fering and Saving at Sea.
Jack's Victory: and other Stories
about Dogs.
Story of a King, told by one of his
Soldiers.
Prince Alexis, or,'' Beauty and the
Beast."
Little Daniel: A Story of a Flood on
the Rhine.
Sasha the Serf: and other Stories of
Russian Life.
True Stories of Foreign History.