The Coxswain's Bride; also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue by Ballantyne (reading fiction .TXT) đ
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- Author: Ballantyne
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They succeeded, however, in making soap by boiling wood-ash and sealâs fat in their cast-iron pot. Those who are accustomed to the celebrated âPearsâ can scarcely understand what an addition to cleanliness and comfort resulted from this coarsely manufactured article.
Gullsâ eggs were found in great quantity on the cliffs, and the discovery and capture of wild pigs added to the luxury of their tableâwhich latter, by the way, was an ingenious contrivance of Joe Slag. Binding four sticks together in the form of a stout oblong frame, Joe had covered thisâfilled it in as it wereâwith straight branches about a finger thick, laid side by side and tied to the frame. This he fixed on four posts driven into the ground, and thus formed an excellent, if not an elegant, table.
One morning at breakfast, Terrence OâConnor was observed to be unusually busy with a large hook.
âAre you goinâ to fish for sharks to-day?â asked Slag.
âFaix, no; itâs to the woods Iâll go fishinâ to-day, Joe. Now, Nell, giâ me the stoutest line yeâve got on hand, mavourneen.â
âWill that do? I made it the other day specially for sharksâor whales!â said Nellie, with a light laugh, for she expected him to reject the line she held up.
âThe very thing, Nell. Hand it over. Now, boys, Iâm off to try my luck iâ the woods, for Iâm gittinâ tired oâ the say.â
OâConnor went off alone, bestowing a mysterious wink on Peggy Mitford as he left.
The Irishman had observed that the wild pigs were particularly fond of a certain root which was plentiful in a valley about three miles distant from the hut. Repairing to that valley, he dug up one of the roots, baited his hook with it, hung it from a low branch to attract attention, fastened the other end of the line to a tree, and went off to hide and bide his time. Before half-an-hour had elapsed, a gay young pig visited the scene of its former festivities, saw the pendent bait, smelt it, took it in its mouth, and straightway filled the woods with frantic lamentations. The struggle between the Irishman and that pig was worthy of record, but we prefer leaving it to the readerâs imagination. The upshot was, that the pig was overcome, carriedâbound, and shriekingâto the hut, and tamed by Peggy. In a short time, other pigs were caught and tamed. So, also, were rabbits. These bred and multiplied. The original pig became the mother of a large family, and in a short time something like the sounds and aspects of a farm began to surround the old hut. Still furtherâby means of the cast-iron pot, which already boiled their soup and their soapâthey managed to boil sea-water down into salt, and with this some of the pigs were converted into salt porkâin short, the place began to assume the appearance of a busy and thriving backwoods settlement.
âItâs risinâ tide with us again, after a fashion, Nell,â said the coxswain to his wife, as they stood one evening on the sea-shore watching the sunset.
Nellie sighed. âIt is, Bob,â she said, âand Iâm very thankful; butâbut Iâd rather be at home in Old England among kith and kin, even though the tide was low!â
âWhat! alongside oâ Aunt Betty?â
âYes, even alongside oâ Aunt Betty; for if this voyage has taught me anything at all, it has taught me that, after all, âthereâs no place like home!ââ
âRight you are, Nell,â said Joe Slag, who came up at that moment, âthereâs no place like homeâwhen itâs a happy one; but if it ainât a happy one, there may be difference of opinion even on that pint, dâee see?â
That very night, a great ocean steamer, bound from the Antipodes to Old England, chanced to diverge from her true course, and sighted the beacon-fire which Tomlinâon duty at the timeâwas stirring up to fervent heat. The Captain was not one of those whom Terrence OâConnor credited with diabolic possession. He was a good man; and, knowing that men did not light beacon-fires on lonely islands merely for amusement, he resolved to lay-to till daylight, which was due in about an hour from the time the island was sighted. Meanwhile, he sounded his steam whistle.
At the sound, the hut instantly disgorged its male inmates, who, recognising the familiar noise and the steamerâs lights, sent up a shout of mingled joy and thanksgiving.
âGet out the boat, boys!â cried Hayward, as he ran back to the hut to rouse the women.
âGet ready, quick! Eva; a steamer at last, thank God, in the offing! Donât lose a moment. They may have little time to wait. Boat will be ready in a few minutes.â
âAy, anâ pack up all you want to carry away,â cried the coxswain, crossing the threshold at that moment.
âSo it is all going to end suddenly like a dream!â said Eva, as she hastened to obey orders.
âHome, sweet home!â murmured Nellie, trembling with joy at the prospect.
âWherever you are, my dear, the home will be sweet,â said Peggy. âThough of course it wouldnât be that without your âusband, for it takes two to make a fight, you know, anâ it takes two no less, I think, to make things pleasant, butâdear, dear, what a disagreeable thing it is to âave to dress in a âurry, though one shouldnâtââ
âLook alive, there! look alâiâve!â roared OâConnor, putting his head in at the door. âDaylightâs a-breakinâ, anâ they wonâtââ
âOh! Terrence, that reminds meâdonât forget our pets,â cried Nellie, who had steadily declined to speak of them as âlive stock.â
âAll right, missis. Itâs lookinâ after them I am this minnit.â
The Irishman ran, as he spoke, to the styes and hutches where the pigs and rabbits were kept and opened the doors.
âOut wid ye!â he cried, âthe Act of Emancipationâs passed, and yeâre all freeâivery motherâs son of ye.â
Accustomed to his voice and his caressing hand, the astonished creatures seemed to look up at him in surprise.
âBe aff, at wance, hooroo!â cried the excited man, with a clap of his hands and a Donnybrook yell that sent all the âpetsâ leaping and squealing into their native jungle.
Soon after that the boat was bounding out to sea under the impulse of strong arms and willing hearts. A few minutes more, and they were receiving the warm congratulations of the passengers and crew of the steamer. Then the order was given to go ahead full speed, and the engineâs great heart seemed to throb sympathetically within the hearts of the rescued ones as the vessel cut her way swiftly through the Southern Oceanâhomeward bound for Old England! Nevertheless, there was a touch of sadness in the breasts of all as they turned their farewell gaze on the receding island and thought of the pets, the old hut, the long period of mingled pleasure and suffering, and the lonely grave.
We cannot part from the friends whose footsteps we have followed so long and so far without a parting word or two.
On returning to his native village, Bob Massey found that his successor as coxswain had died, and that another man had not yet been appointed to the lifeboatâhe was therefore installed, with much rejoicing, in his old position as a rescuer of human lives. Joe Slag, naturally and pleasantly, also fell into his old post at the bow. Nellie found that Aunt Betty had had what the villagers called âa strokeâ during her absence; which crushing blow had the effect of opening her eyes to many things regarding herself and others, to which she had been particularly blind before. It also had the effectâindirectlyâof subduing much of the evil in her character and bringing out much of the good. As evil begets evil, so good begets good; and one result of this law was, that the seven children, whom she had broughtâor bangedâup, became seven repentant and sympathetic and reasonably good creatures when they saw the old mother, whom they used to think so harsh and so physically strong, reduced to amiable helplessness. Thus it came to pass that there was not in all the village an old woman who was so well looked after by her progeny as Aunt Betty.
Terrence OâConnor continued to rove about the world in the capacity of a shipâs cook till near the end of his days. John Mitford and Peggy unexpectedly came into a small inheritance soon after returning home, and settled down for life close to the coxswainâs cottage. Tomlin went to New Zealand to seek his fortune. Whether he found it or not, we cannot tell! Last, but not least, Dr Hayward and his wife returned to their native land, and for many years afterwards kept up a steady correspondence with Nell Massey, in which, you may be sure, there were frequent and pleasant allusions to the time which they had spent together on the lonely isle in the southern seas.
One morning, Nellie presented her husband with a baby boy. Bob was out with the lifeboat rescuing a shipwrecked crew at the time the presentation was made. On his return, he opened the door and stood before his wife dripping wet.
âFifteen saved this time, Nell,â he began, but the nurse stopped him by exhibiting the baby boy.
âThank the Lord!â he said, with a glad look in his wet eyes.
âYou mustnât come near us,â said the nurse, with a look of warning. âOnly a look just now.â
âThe tide has risen to the flood now, Bob,â murmured the young mother, softly.
âAy,â said the coxswain in a deep voice, âanâ itâs a high spring tide too. God bless you, Nell!â
The End.One year in the last quarter of the present century John Frost, Esquire, of Arctic Hall, paid an unusually long visit to the British Islands.
John, or Jack, Frost, as he was familiarly called by those who did not fear him, was a powerful fellow; an amazingly active, vigorous, self-willed fellow, whom it was difficult to resist, and, in some circumstances, quite impossible to overcome.
Jack was a giant. Indeed, it is not improbable that he was also a âgiant-killer,ââan insolent, self-assertive, cold-hearted giant, who swaggered with equal freedom into the palaces of the rich and the cottages of the poor; but he did not by any means meet with the same reception everywhere.
In palaces and mansions he was usually met in the entrance hall by a sturdy footman who kicked him out and slammed the door in his face, while in cottages and lowly dwellings he was so feebly opposed that he gained entrance easilyâfor he was a bullying shameless fellow, who forced his way wherever he couldâand was induced to quit only after much remonstrance and persuasion, and even then, he usually left an unpleasant flavour of his visit behind him.
But there were some abodes in which our hero met with no opposition at all, where the inmates scarcely made any attempt to keep him out, but remained still and trembled, or moaned feebly, while he walked in and sat down beside them.
Jack was somewhat of a deceiver too. He had, for the most part, a bright, beaming, jovial outward aspect, which made the bitter coldness of his heart all the more terrible by contrast. He was most deadly in his feelings in calm weather, but there were occasions when he took pleasure in sallying forth accompanied by his like-minded sons, Colonel Wind and Major Snow. And it was a tremendous sight, that few people cared to see except through windows, when those three, arm-in-arm, went swaggering through the land together.
One Christmas morning, at the time we write of, Jack and his two sons went careering, in a happy-go-lucky sort of way, along the London streets towards the âwest end,â blinding peopleâs eyes as they went, reversing umbrellas, overturning old
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