The Coxswain's Bride; also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue by Ballantyne (reading fiction .TXT) đ
Read free book «The Coxswain's Bride; also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue by Ballantyne (reading fiction .TXT) đ» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Ballantyne
Read book online «The Coxswain's Bride; also, Jack Frost and Sons; and, A Double Rescue by Ballantyne (reading fiction .TXT) đ». Author - Ballantyne
âYoung man,â began the clergyman, sternly, but he got no further; for, without paying any attention to him whatever, Bob strode forward and seized Nellieâs hands.
âI dursenât kiss ye, Nell, for Iâm all wet; but I hadnât one moment to change. Bin out all night iâ the lifeboat anâ saved over thirty souls. The Brentley boatâs done as much. Iâm ashamed, sir,â he added, turning to the clergyman, âfor cominâ here like this; but I couldnât help it. I hope thereâs nothinâ in Scripturâ aginâ a man beinâ spliced in wet toggery?â
Whether the clergyman consulted his Crudenâs Concordance with a view to clear up that theological question, we have never been able to ascertain; but it is abundantly clear that he did not allow the coxswainâs condition to interfere with the ceremony, for in the Greyton Journal, of next day, there appeared a paragraph to the following effect:
âThe marriage of Robert Massey, the heroic coxswain of our lifeboat, (which, with all its peculiar attendant circumstances, and the gallant rescue that preceded it, will be found in another part of this dayâs issue), was followed up in the afternoon by a feast, and what we may style a jollification, which will live long in the memory of our fisher-folk.
âSeveral circumstances combined to render this wedding-feast unique. To say nothing of the singular beauty of the bride, who is well known as one of the most thrifty and modest girls in the town, and the stalwart appearance of our coxswain, who, although so young, has already helped to save hundreds of human lives from the raging sea, the gathering was graced by the presence of the bridegroomâs bed-ridden mother. Old Mrs Massey had been carried in, bed and all, to the scene of festivity; and it is due to the invalid to state that, despite rheumatics and the singularity of her position, she seemed to enjoy herself exceedingly. Besides this, the friends and comrades of the coxswainâbacked by the enthusiastic groomsman, Joe Slagâwould not permit Massey to don wedding garments, but insisted on his dancing himself dry in the rough garb in which he had effected the rescue. This he had no difficulty in doing, having already run himself more than half dry in hastening from the lifeboat to the church, which latter he reached only just in time.
âThe little girl whom Massey personally saved was also present, with her mother and grandfather; and one interesting episode of the evening was the presentation to our coxswain of a gold watch and a purse of fifty sovereigns by the grateful old grandfather. Another peculiarity of the proceedings was that Massey insistedâalthough the clergyman was presentâon his old mother asking Godâs blessing on the feast before it began. All who are acquainted with our liberal-minded vicar will easily understand that he highly approved of the arrangement.
âTo crown all, the feast was conducted on strictly teetotal principles. We have frequently advocated the principles of total abstinence in these columnsâat least for the young, the healthy, and the strongâand we are glad to acknowledge that this wedding has greatly helped our cause; for the fun and hilarity in all, the vigour of limb in dancing, and of lung in singingâin short, the general jollityâcould not have been surpassed if the guests had been swilling rivers of beer and brandy, instead of oceans of tea. Yes, as one of the Irish guests remarked, âIt was a great occasion intoirely,â and it will be long before the event is forgotten, for the noble deeds of our Greyton lifeboat are, from this day forward, intimately and inseparably connected with her coxswainâs wedding!â
Thus spake the Greyton oracle; but, prophet though that journal professed to be, the oracle failed to discern that from that time forward the names of Robert Massey and Joe Slag would very soon cease to be connected with the Greyton lifeboat.
Soon after the wedding recorded in the last chapter an event occurred which entirely altered the character and current of our coxswainâs career, at least for a time. This was the sudden death of the bed-ridden old mother, who had played such an interesting part at the wedding-feast.
To our hero, who was a tender-hearted man, and a most affectionate son, the blow was almost overwhelming, although long expected.
âI donât think I can stay here much longer,â he said one evening to his pretty wife, as they sat together outside their door and watched the village children romping on the sands; âeverything minds me oâ the dear old woman, anâ takes the heart out me. If it wasnât for you, Nell, Iâd have been off to the other side oâ the world long before now, but I find it hard to think oâ takinâ you away from all your old friends and playmatesâand your Aunt Betty.â
A peculiar smile lit up Nellieâs face as her husband concluded.
âI should be sorry to leave the old friends here,â she replied, âbut donât let that hinder you if ye want to go away. Iâd leave everything to please you, Bob. And as to Aunt Bettyâwell, Iâm not ungrateful, I hope, butâbut she wouldnât break her heart at partinâ wiâ me.â
âRight you are, Nell, as you always was, and always will be,â said Massey. He laughed a short, dry laugh, and was grave again.
It was quite evident that Aunt Betty would not be a hindrance to the departure of either of them and no wonder, for Betty had received Nellie Carr into her family with a bad grace when her widowed brother, âold Carr,â died, leaving his only child without a home. From that day Betty had brought the poor little orphan upâor, rather, had scolded and banged her upâuntil Bob Massey relieved her of the charge. To do Aunt Betty justice, she scolded and banged up her own children in the same way; but for theseâher own young onesâshe entertained and expressed a species of affection which mankind shares in common with cats, while for Nellie Carr she had no such affection, and contrived to make the fact abundantly plain. As we not infrequently find in such circumstances, the favoured childrenâwhich numbered sevenâbecame heart-breakers, while the snubbed one turned out the flower of the flock.
âThen youâre sure you wonât think it hard, Nell, if I ask you to leave home and friends and go wiâ me over the sea?â
âYes, Bob, Iâm quite sure. Iâm willinâ to follow you to the end oâ the world, or further if thatâs possible!â
âThen the thingâs settled,â said Massey, with decision, rising and thrusting his short pipe into his vest pocket, the lining of which had already been twice renewed in consequence of the inroads of that half-extinguished implement.
In pursuance of his âsettledâ purpose, our coxswain proceeded to the lifeboat-shed in search of his bowman, Joe Slag, and found him there.
âJoe,â said he, in the quiet tone that was habitual to him, âNell and I have made up our minds to go to Australia.â
âTo Austrailly!â exclaimed Slag, leaning his arms on the mop with which he had been washing down the lifeboat.
âAy; I canât settle to work nohow since the dear old woman went away; so, as Nell is agreeable, and thereâs nothinâ to keep me here, Iâve decided to up anchor and bear away for the southern seas.â
The bowman had seated himself on a cask while his friend was speaking, and gazed at him with a bewildered air.
âAre âee in arnest, Bob?â
âAy, Joe, in dead earnest.â
âAnâ you say that youâve nothinâ to keep you here! Whatâs this?â said Slag, laying his strong hand tenderly on the blue side of the boat.
âWell, Iâll be sorry to leave her, of course, an all my friends in Greyton, but friends will get along well enough without me, anâ as for the boat, sheâll never want a good coxswain while Joe Slagâs alive anâ well.â
âYouâre wrong there, mate,â returned the bowman, quickly, while a look of decision overspread his bluff countenance, âthereâll be both a noo coxân and a noo bowman wanted for her before long, for as sure as the first goes away the tother follers.â
âNonsense, Joe; youâre jokinâ now.â
âYes, Iâm jokinâ if youâre jokinâ; otherwise, Iâm in dead arnest tooâin as dead arnest as yourself, if not deader. Wasnât you anâ me born on the same day, Bob? Didnât our mothers crow over us cheek by jowl when we was babbies? Havenât we rollicked together on the shore ever since we was the height of our daddiesâ boots, anâ gone fishinâ in company, fair weather anâ foul, to the present hour, to say nothinâ oâ the times weâve lent a hand to rescue men anâ women anâ childân iâ the lifeboat? No, no, Bob Massey! if you lay yer course for Austrailly, Joseph Slag follers, as sure as a gun.â
Finding that his comrade was in downright earnest, and possessed of a will as inflexible as his own, Bob made no effort to dissuade him from his purpose. On the contrary, he approved of the determination, for he was pleased at the unexpected demonstration of affection which his announcement had called forth in one who was by nature undemonstrative, and who, having thus given vent to his aroused feelings, quickly resumed the reserve from which he had been so suddenly drawn out. Massey, therefore, shook hands with him, by way of sealing an unspoken compact of eternal friendship, and suggested that they should proceed together to the office of an emigration agent, who had recently made his appearance in the village.
In the office they found a very small boy, with an air of self-possession that would have been suitable in his grandfather.
âIs the agent in?â asked the coxswain.
âYes, but engaged. Sit down; heâll attend to you directly.â
The lifeboat men obeyed, almost sheepishly, the one speculating as to whether highly developed precocity was not almost criminal, the other wondering how such a boy would look and act if obliged to undergo the process of being rescuedâsay by the hair of his headâfrom a wreck.
Their minds were diverted from this subject of contemplation by the entrance of a man and woman. These, like themselves, were told to sit down and wait. The man was long, thin, and lugubrious. The woman short, slight, and lackadaisical, though rather pretty.
Evidently the agent was a busy man, for he kept them waiting some time. When he at length appeared he almost took the breath away from his visitors by the rapid and enthusiastic way in which he described the advantages of the great island on the other side of the globe. There was goldâyes, enormous quantities of gold in all directions. There was land of the finest quality to be had for next to nothing; work for all who were blessed with good bone and muscle; a constant demand for labourâskilled or unskilledâat high wages; a climate such as the Olympian gods might revel in, andâin short, if all England had heard the oration delivered by that man, and had believed it, the country would, in less than a month, have been depopulated of its younger men and women, and left to the tender mercies of the old and middle-aged.
Our two fishermen were captivated. So were the lugubrious man and his mild little wife. The end of it was that, three weeks later, these four, with many other men and women of all ranks and conditions, found themselves on board the good ship Lapwing, ploughing their way through the billows of the broad Atlantic Ocean bound for the sunny isles of the Antipodes.
Wheels within wheelsâworlds within worldsâseems to be the order of nature everywhere. Someone has written, with more of truth than eleganceâ
âBig fleas have little fleas upon their legs to bite âem,
And little fleas have lesser fleasâand so ad infinitum.â
Oneâs native land is to millions of people the world in which their thoughts centre, and by which they are circumscribed. A farmerâs homestead is the world to him, and
Comments (0)