Elsie's Journey on Inland Waters

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XVI.

  "I think we will have to divide our forces," said Mr. Embury, when,after preliminary preparations and arrangements, all were ready to setout for the beach and the yacht, "for there are so many of us that wewill astonish the natives and they will probably be asking the meaningand object of the procession."

  "Well, my dear, what of what?" queried his wife gayly. "It will givethem an interesting subject of inquiry and conversation."

  "Very well, my Molly; if you like to be talked about, I have no furtherobjection to make," was his cheerful response.

  "There are a good many of us," remarked the captain, glancing about,"actually two dozen, counting all--big and little, old and young."

  "And a very respectable-looking crowd it is," remarked Violet. "I'm notin the least ashamed of anyone in it. Yet it might be well to break upinto several smaller parties, by the way of guarding against alarmingour good neighbors, or making all the grown up ones keep to the slowpace of the very little folks. Ah, I see Evelyn, Rosie and Walter, Luand Grace, are already on the wing."

  "Yes," said the captain; "they have just started in response to amotion from me to move on. They will reach the beach probably someminutes ahead of us, but can be trusted not to get into any danger ormischief."

  "Surely," laughed Violet. "Mamma, shall you and I walk together?"

  "While I follow with the children," added the captain. "I see yourgrandpa and his wife are moving on ahead of us."

  "Cousin Ronald should go next with his bonny bride, while we of thiscottage bring up the rear with our children," said Molly.

  "Putting a small space between to avoid being mistaken for aprocession," added Mrs. Keith.

  "Bound for Purgatory; but none of us to get inside, I trust," said Mr.Embury. "I hope the young folks won't attempt to climb up those rockstill we older ones get there to look after them."

  "No, I think we'll find them on the beach," said the captain. "I bademine wait there for me, and I can say--for mine, at least, that theylove their father well enough to follow his directions carefully."

  "That is very true," said Grandma Elsie; "and equally true with regardto the care with which my Rosie and Walter conform to mine."

  "And no wonder, mamma and Levis," said Violet, "for you are both soreasonable in your commands and prohibitions, so kind and affectionate,that it would take a very hard-hearted and stubborn nature to rebelagainst your authority."

  "Ah ha! ah ha! um h'm! that's exactly my opinion," said Mr. Lilburn,looking round upon them with a smile. "I have noticed many times, withsincere admiration, the admirable manner in which the children of thesefamilies are trained. I only wish I'd been favored with such examplesbefore I went at the business myself."

  "I see no reason why you should, Cousin Ronald," returned the captain,"for the only one of your offspring with whom I am acquainted, seems tome to be all a father could ask or wish."

  "Ah ha! um h'm! I'll no deny that my Hugh is as fine a lad as could befound in a day's travel; and Malcolm not a whit behind him; but neitherwill I deny that the credit belongs more to the native goodness o' thelads than to their father's training."

  It was a fine breezy morning, with a delicious coolness in the air,and all keenly enjoyed the walk to the beach. They spent a fewmoments there, then climbed the rocks and passed along the summittill they reached the deep fissure called Purgatory. There thechildren, carefully guarded by their parents, lest a false step shouldprecipitate them into the deep chasm, were allowed to gaze into itsdepths for a moment, then led away and seated on a rock to rest.

  Most of the older ones lingered a little longer, watching the movementof the water at the bottom, and speculating about the depth and widthof the chasm, and what would be the dire consequence of a fall into it.

  "I wouldn't advise you to try it, my young friends," said Mr. Embury."It must be fully fifty feet down to the water, and if you reached thebottom alive you wouldn't remain so many minutes."

  "No, I suppose not," said Walter, reflectively; "but the fissure is notvery wide and I think I could jump across."

  "Oh, Walter, don't think of such a thing!" exclaimed Rosie, steppingback suddenly, at the same time catching him by the arm and pulling himaway.

  "Why, Rosie, do you think I could be such a goose as to attemptanything so foolhardy as that, when nothing was to be gained by it?"he exclaimed, in a tone between vexation and amusement.

  "No, I don't," she said, drawing a long breath, "but the very thoughtof it frightens me."

  "To run such a risk without any good object in view--such, forinstance, as the saving of the life of someone else--would be a verywicked thing, I think," said Mr. Keith.

  "I entirely agree with you," said Captain Raymond, "no one has a rightto rush uncalled into the presence of his Maker.

  "Oh, I shouldn't think anybody would ever want to try jumping acrosshere!" exclaimed Grace. "I wonder if anyone ever did."

  "It is said that the thing was done once under peculiar circumstances,"replied Mr. Embury. "The story is that a young and pretty girl, whohad many admirers, suitors for her hand, came here with one of themand dared him to jump across the chasm, saying that if he did sosuccessfully, she would marry him; otherwise she would not; whereuponhe attempted the dangerous feat and was successful. But his love forhis cruel charmer was gone; he turned toward her, lifted his hat, badeher farewell, walked away and left her never to return."

  "Which served her just right," exclaimed Lucilla emphatically. "Shecouldn't have loved him. Why, I wouldn't let an entire stranger doso dangerous a thing, if I could hinder him. Unless it might besomebody who was here to fight against my country," she added as anafterthought, and with a little laugh.

  "You would have let Prescott do it, I suppose--Prescott, theRevolutionary tyrant--had you been with him here and he had shown aninclination to try his skill in that line," said Walter.

  "I think I shouldn't have made any very strong objection; for certainlymany of my countrymen would have been far better off with him downthere at the bottom of the fissure, than where he was--and had nobusiness to be. Do you remember the story of the Tory lady at a ball inPhiladelphia, while the British were in possession there, who, when theBritish general, Sir Henry Clinton, ordered the band to play, 'Britons,Strike Home,' said, 'You should say, "Britons, go home"'?"

  "Yes, that was pretty good," laughed Walter. "The ladies had at leastone advantage over the men in those days, they could give the invadersmany a home thrust with their tongues without much danger of personalviolence or imprisonment, in return for it."

  "That reminds me of a little anecdote of something that occurred inCharleston, South Carolina, when they were in possession there," saidGrandma Elsie. "One of the British officers had taken a great fancy toa beautiful American girl, but she would have nothing to do with him;which, of course, made him very angry. One day they met in the street.A big negro was near at hand and the British officer said to him, sothat the lady could hear, 'Go and kiss that lady, and I'll give you aguinea.'

  "'Yes,' said she, 'come and kiss me. I'd a thousand times rather bekissed by you than by him.'"

  "So he didn't make much by that," laughed Mr. Embury.

  "I wonder if the darkey did kiss her," said Grace. "I'm glad I wasn'tin her place, if she had to let either him or the British officer doit."

  "And you would rather be living now, wouldn't you, daughter?" said herfather, giving her a loving look.

  "And belong to you, papa? Yes, indeed!" she replied.

  "How very straight these openings in the rocks are!" remarked Walter."They look as if they had been cut with a knife."

  "Yes, it is very strange," said Rosie.

  Then perceiving that the others had turned away and were going towardthe spot where the little ones were, they followed.

  "There is a fine prospect here on both land and water," remarked Mr.Embury. "Do you see that hanging rock over yonder--not close to thewater. That, they say, is where Bishop Berkeley used to preach. Ivisited it t
he other day, and found it so hard a place to climb to thatI should think his congregations must have been small; unless theystood in the valley below; which would make his pulpit very high abovethem."

  "Where is the house he lived in?" asked Rosie.

  "At some distance, I believe. I have not seen it yet."

  "Now," said Captain Raymond, "will any or all of you take a sail in the_Dolphin_? You can all see her lying out yonder and the row-boat willsoon carry us to her. There is plenty of room for everyone here, a warmwelcome if they choose to go aboard, and a more delightful day for asail around the island could hardly be found."

  All accepted the invitation with alacrity, descending the rocks to thebeach at once, and were soon aboard.

  They found it a very delightful trip. The captain, having beenfrequently in those waters, was able to point out every interestingobject, name all the islands, and call attention to the still visibleruins of fortifications on Gold, Goat, Rose, Contour, and Canonicutislands. That last, he told them, was the Dumplings Fort, or FortCanonicut; and directly opposite was the Castle Hill of the Revolution,now Fort Adams, three and a quarter miles below Newport. In callingattention to it, Captain Raymond remarked, "That is, as regardsstrength, the third fortress in the United States. It is Newport'sdefence against foreign foes."

  "I am glad she has such a defence," said Mr. Embury. "But may she neversuffer again from a foreign foe as she did in Revolutionary days.Perhaps you all remember that her population in 1774, the year beforethat war began, was eleven thousand, and in 1782 it was reduced to onlyabout six thousand, and private property to the value of $624,000 insilver money had been destroyed."

  "Yes," said the captain, "there had been great and wanton destructionby the ruthless invaders, in both town and country. The island of RhodeIsland had been so celebrated for its beauty and salubrity, before thatwar, that it was the chosen resort of the rich and philosophical fromnearly every part of the civilized world; but war had sadly changed itbefore the British left, after three years of occupancy, in which theyhad pillaged and destroyed more like savages than civilized men; thoughafter Prescott was superseded by Sir Robert Pigot as commander of theBritish forces on the island, the people were much relieved. They weretreated with respect, and plunder ceased. General Pigot was a gentlemanand no marauder."