The Swan and Her Crew
Page 21
CHAPTER XIX.
Back again.--Taken in Tow.--Bobbing for Eels.--Glow-worms.-- Home.--Urticating Caterpillars.
It will be seen that our boys had great capacities for enjoyingthemselves, and so oblivious had they been of the flight of time, thatthey had only left themselves two days in which to get home, for theyfelt bound not to ask for any extension of their holiday. Two days was avery short time to sail all the way down the Yare and up the Bure again;and to add to their dilemma, the wind had settled in the east, and blewlight and fitfully all day until five or six, when it would drop. Theycould have gone back by road and left the yacht to be sent after them,but this would have been _infra dig._, and was not to be thought ofwhile the chance remained of reaching home in a legitimate way. So theystarted, and with infinite labour and much tacking and clever sailing,they succeeded in reaching Brundall, about six miles down the river, bythe middle of the day.
"This won't do," said Frank. "Here comes a steam-wherry. I wonder ifthey will take us in tow."
The wherry was hailed, and for a small consideration her crew consentedto tow them to Yarmouth. Their sails were accordingly lowered, and arope was made fast to the wherry; and in a few minutes' time they werebeing pulled along at a good pace by their great, black, ugly friend.
"Now we can enjoy our _otium cum dignitate_," said Dick, throwinghimself at full length on the roof of the cabin with the furled mainsailas a pillow; "and however light the breeze is to-morrow, it will take ushome in time; so I shall write a note home and post it at Yarmouth."
Between the waving reed-beds, through the long miles of marsh, acres ofwhich were white with the silky globes of the cotton-grasses, bywhirling wind-mills and groups of red and white cattle browsing on thereclaimed marshes, past sailing wherries that surged along before thelight breeze with a lazy motion, past white-sailed yachts withgay-coloured pennants at their mast-heads and laughter-loving pleasureparties on board, underneath a bright blue sky streaked with filmycloudlets and dotted with uprising larks, over a stream that murmuredand rippled with a summer gladness, they clove their steady way. Withevery nerve instinct with healthy life, and hearts which had the greatgift of understanding and appreciating the true and the beautiful aroundthem, what wonder if they felt as happy as they could wish to feel, andwere full of contentment with the pleasant time it was their lot topass.
They crossed Breydon Water under widely different circumstances to thosein which they first crossed it. Then it was wild and stormy; now it wasfair and placid.
They reached Yarmouth about five, and as the wind still held they turnedup the Bure with the flowing tide, and sailed on and on in that quietpeaceful evening, with lessening speed as the wind fell, until at lastthey barely crept through the water. Even when there was not a breath ofair perceptible to the upheld hand, and the surface of the river was assmooth as glass, and the reeds were silent from their whispering, yet amagic wind seemed to fill their large sails, and still they crept onwith a dream-like motion. At last that motion ceased, but then they wereso close to Acle bridge that they set to work and poled the yacht alongwith the quants, and in another half hour they were moored by theStaithe.
It was then half-past nine o'clock, but still very light; and there wasa whiteness in the sky to the north-east, which told them the sun wasnot very far over the horizon, and that at midnight it would be butlittle darker than it was then.
After they had had supper Frank said,
"Do you remember those men whom we saw near Norwich, who sat in smallboats all the night long, and with a line in each hand, bobbed foreels?"
"Yes; what of them?"
"Why should we not bob for eels to-night? I don't feel inclined to go tobed."
"Very well," said Jimmy; "but can we get the worsted?"
"I will go and ask for some at the Hermitage."
"What do you want worsted for?" said Dick.
"To catch the eels with; but wait a bit and you shall see. Bring thelantern and come with me."
Frank marched up to the house and knocked, and when the door was openedby a woman, said,
"Please can you let us have a hank of worsted? I will give you doubleits value." The woman looked at him in surprise, and he repeated hisquestion. Then she went indoors, and reappeared with a hank of worstedin her hand. This she threw out to them with a frightened look, andslammed the door in their faces.
"Wait, my good woman, we have not paid you," said Frank. But there wasno answer.
"We seem to have frightened her," said Dick.
Frank put a shilling under the door, and they went away laughingheartily. Their next proceeding was to look about the damp grass andpick up the lob-worms, which were about in great numbers. When they hadeach collected a large number they returned to the yacht, and by Frank'sdirections threaded the worms on to the worsted, lengthways, with theneedle they had used for sniggling. In this way they made three largebunches of worm-covered worsted. These bunches they weighted with astone, and tied strong lengths of cord to them.
"Now," said Frank, "we can begin to bob. This is the way, Dick:--let thebunch sink to the bottom and then keep the line taut. Let it lie therefor some time, and when you feel some sharp quick tugs, it is the eelsbiting at it. Then haul it quietly on board and shake the eels off.There, I can feel them on my line now."
"And I at mine," said Jimmy.
"And I too," said Dick.
"Then wait five minutes, and haul on board."
At the end of five minutes they each hauled their lines quietly onboard, and on Frank's were no less than six eels, their teeth entangledin the worsted. On Jimmy's there were two, and on Dick's three. Theyshook the eels on to the deck. Jimmy's two at once wriggled themselvesoff back into the water, and Frank and Dick had hard work to keep theirsfrom doing the same, until Jimmy got out the bucket they used forwashing the deck, and in this they safely deposited their captives.
"This is not bad fun," said Dick, as he brought up three more eels, oneof them a large one.
"No, is it?" answered Jimmy, as he followed Dick's example.
So they went on laughing and talking and pulling in eels until twoo'clock in the morning, when their bucket was so full of eels that itwould not hold any more.
"Now it is time to turn in," said Frank; "take up the bucket, Jimmy, andput it by the foremast with something over it to keep the eels fromcrawling out, while I do up the lines."
Jimmy took up the bucket, and was walking aft with it, when his footslipped on an eel that had made its escape, and was wriggling about thedeck. In an instant, Jimmy, the bucket, and the eels all went into thewater. Jimmy rose to the surface and swam to the yacht, and climbed onboard, with the bucket still in his hands, but all the eels had ofcourse disappeared.
"What an extraordinary thing!" spluttered Jimmy, as he rose to thesurface.
"Very," said Frank, as soon as he could speak for laughing; "but hadn'tyou better dive after the eels?"
"Do you mind my losing them, Frank?" said Jimmy, rather ruefully.
"Not at all, old man. We don't want the eels, and a good laugh is betterfor us."
While they were undressing, Dick was peering through one of the sidelights and at length said,
"I suppose it is impossible for any one to have been smoking herelately, yet there are two or three things which are like cigar-endsgleaming on the bank. Is it possible that they are glow-worms?"
"Yes, of course they are," said Jimmy; "I will go and get them;" andpresently he came back with the little, soft, brown things, which shed acircle of phosphorescent light for two or three inches around them.
"Put them into that empty jar with some grass, and we will take themhome with us."
GLOW-WORM.]
The glow-worm is the wingless female of a winged beetle. The male has adim light, but nothing to be compared to that of his wife. The lightissues from the three last segments of her body, and is of a brightyellow in colour. In general she shines from ten to twelve o'clock, butoften much later, as on this oc
casion. Why such a brown, ugly littlebeetle should have such a beautiful light I do not know. Perhaps it isto guide the male to her. This beetle with the wonderful light hasplebeian tastes, for she eats the flesh of snails, and, unlike ourGallic neighbours, she does not wait for the snails' decease first.
The morning soon shone brightly, and again the fair east wind blew;
"The sun was warm; and the wind was cool,"
and the _Swan_ spread her white wings to the favouring breeze and glidedbetween the narrowing banks, where the meadow-sweet in full luxuriancewaved its cloudy clusters, the forget-me-not gleamed in turquoise blue,the tall iris or white flag reared its flowers of gold over its greensword-shaped leaves, and the modest ragged-robin showed its thin redpetals amid the dew-wet grass.
Through Heigham Sounds and into Hickling Broad, and there at the fartherend was a group of people, waving their handkerchiefs in greeting.
"There they are," said Frank; "give them three cheers;" and a "Hip! hip!hurrah!" rang over the water with a hearty good will.
Mr. and Mrs. Merivale, Sir Richard Carleton, and Mary, were all there tomeet them.
Frank brought the yacht up to her moorings in his best manner, and in afew minutes they were ashore.
"Dick," said Sir Richard, "I can scarcely believe my eyes. I amdelighted."
There was some cause for his surprise. Dick was as brown as a berry. Hisform was upright and full of vigour, and his handsome face was brightwith the smile of health. A greater contrast to the pale-faced delicateboy, who some months before had aroused his father's anxiety, could notwell be seen.
"I am glad you have enjoyed yourself, dear," said Mrs. Merivale toFrank, "but I have been very anxious about you, and it has seemed a longtime."
Frank laughed merrily, as he put his arm round his mother, and kissedher with all a lover's devotion.
"You are like Martha, mother, who troubled herself about many things.But where is Florrie?"
"Oh," said Mary, "she can't leave her room. She got a little black hairycaterpillar for you, and it has stung her. At least she has a rash allover her, and nasty little red lumps, and she suffers so much."
"That must be a mistake, Mary, about the caterpillar," said Frank.
"No, it is not, Frank," said Dick; "I was reading the other day abouturticating caterpillars. The caterpillars of some moths will affect somepeople like that."
"We have the creature in a glass, and you can see it, and try it, if youlike, Frank," said Mary.