nature that is easilycast down, and just as easily elevated again. His spirits were aboutzero before dinner; they rose somewhat during that meal, and fell oncemore when the cloth was removed.
"Do you think," asked Ralph of McBain, "that the frost will hold?"
"Oh," cried Rory, "don't talk of the frost! sure it is the provokingestthing that ever was, that the three of us should have forgotten ourskates. I'm going to get my fiddle."
"Wait a moment," said McBain.
"Steward," he continued, "serve out warm clothing to-morrow for theseyoung gentlemen, and remind them to put on their pea-jackets; we aregoing to have such a frost as you never even dreamt of in Scotland.Don't forget to put them on, boys; and Peter, `dubbing' for the bootsmind, no more paste blacking."
"Ay, ay, sir!" said Peter.
"And don't forget the paper blankets."
"That I won't, sir!" from Peter.
Now while McBain was speaking Rory's face was a study; the clouds werefast disappearing from his brow, his eye was getting brighter everymoment. At last, up he jumped, all glee and excitement.
"Hurrah!" he cried, seizing the captain by the hand. "It is true, isn'tit? Oh! you know what I'd be saying. The skates, you know! Neverexpect me to believe that the man who thought beforehand about warmclothes for his boys, and dubbing and paper blankets, was unmindful oftheir pleasures as well."
"Peter, bring the box," said McBain, quietly laughing.
Peter brought the box, and a large one it was too.
Three dozen pairs of the best skates that ever glided over the glassysurface of pond or lake.
Rory looked at them for a moment, then admiringly at McBain.
"I was going to get my fiddle," says Rory, "and it would be a pity tospoil a good intention; but troth, boys, it isn't a lament I'll beplaying now, at all, at all."
Nor was it. Rory's fiddle spoke--it laughed, it screamed; it told ofall the joyousness of the boy's heart, and it put everybody in the samehumour that he himself and his fiddle were in.
Next morning broke bright and clear; Rory and Allan were both up evenbefore the stars had faded, and by the time they had enjoyed the luxuryof the morning tub--for that they meant to keep up all the year round,being quite convinced of the good of it--and dressed themselves,laughing and joking all the time, Peter had the breakfast laid andready.
The ice was hard and solid as steel, and glittered like crystal in therays of the morning sun, and you may be sure our heroes made the best ofit, and not they alone, but one half at least of the yacht's officersand crew. The whole day was given up to the enchanting amusement ofskating, and to frolic and fun. Wonderful to say, old Ap proved himselfquite an adept in the art, and the figures this little figure-head of aman cut, and the antics he performed, astonished every one.
But Seth, alas! was but a poor show; he never had had skates on his feetbefore, so his attempts to keep upright were ridiculous in the extreme.But Seth did not mind that a bit, and his pluck was of a very exaltedorder, for, much as his anatomy must have been damaged by theinnumerable falls he got, he was no sooner down than he was up again.Allan and Ralph took pity on him at last, and taking each a hand of theold man, glided away down the ice with him crowing with delight.
"But, sure, then," cried Rory, "and it's myself will have a partnertoo."
And so he linked up with old Ap, old Ap in paper cap and immensity ofapron, Rory in pilot coat and Tam o' Shanter. What a comical couplethey looked! Yes, I grant you they looked comical, but what of that?Their skating far eclipsed anything in the field, and there really wasno such thing as tiring either Ap or Rory.
And hadn't they appetites for dinner that day! Allan's haunch ofvenison smoked on the board; and Stevenson, Mitchell, and the mate ofthe _Trefoil_ had been invited to partake, as there was plenty foreverybody, and some to send forward afterwards.
"Now," said McBain, after the cloth had been removed, and cups offragrant coffee had been duly discussed, "what say you, gentlemen, if weleave the _Snowbird_ to herself for an hour or two, pipe all hands overthe side, and go on shore and open the new hall?"
"A grand idea!" cried Ralph and Allan in a breath. "Capital!" saidRory.
And in less than an hour, reader, everything was prepared: a great fireof logs and coals was cracking and blazing on the ample hearth of thehall, a fire that warmed the place from end to end, a fire at which anox might have been roasted. The piano had been transported on shore; atthis instrument Ralph presided, and near him stood Rory, fiddle in hand.McBain was duly elected chairman, and the impromptu concert hadcommenced. The officers occupied the front seats, the men satrespectfully on forms in the rear. Had you been there you would haveobserved, too, that the crew had paid some little attention to theirtoilet before coming on shore; they had doffed their work-a-dayclothing, and donned their best. Even Ap had laid aside his immensityof apron, and came out in navy blue, and Seth was once again encased inthat brass-buttoned coat of his, and looked, as Rory said, "all smiles,from top to toe."
McBain felt himself in duty bound to make a kind of formal speech beforethe music began. He could be pithy and to the point if he couldn't beeloquent.
"Officers and men," he said, "of the British yacht, _Snowbird_,--We aremet here to-night to try,--despite the fact, which nobody minds, that weare far from our native land,--if we can't spend a pleasant evening. Wehave been together now for many months, together in sunshine and storm,together in our dangers, together in our pleasures, and I don't thinkthere has ever been an unpleasant word spoken fore or aft, nor has agrumbler ever lifted up his voice. But we have a long dreary winterbefore us, and perils perhaps to pass through which we little wot of.But as we've stood together hitherto, so will we to the end, let it besweet or let it be bitter. And it is our duty to help keep up eachother's hearts. I purpose having many such meetings here as thepresent, and let us just make up our minds to amuse and be amused.Everybody can do something if he tries; he who cannot sing can tell astory, and if there be any one single mother's son amongst us who is toodiffident to do anything, why just let him keep a merry face on hisfigure-head, and, there, we'll forgive him! That's all."
McBain sat down amidst a chorus of cheers, and the music began. Ralphplayed a battle piece. That suited his touch to a "t," Rory told him,and led an encore as soon as it was finished. Then Rory himself had tocome to the front with his fiddle, and he played a selection of Irishairs, arranged by himself. Then there was a duet between Allan andRalph; then McBain himself strode on the stage with a stirring oldHighland song, that brought his hearers back to stirring old Highlandtimes in the feudal days of old, when men flew fiercely to sword andclaymore, as the fiery cross was borne swiftly through the glen, andwrong had to be righted in the brave old fashion. Stevenson followedsuit with a sea song; he had a deep bass voice, and his rendering of"Tom Bowling" was most effective.
It was Rory's turn once more. He brought out a real Irish shillalahfrom somewhere, stuck his hat, with an old clay pipe in it, on one sideof his head, and gave the company a song so comical, with a brogue sorich, that he quite brought down the house. It was not one encore, buttwo he got; in fact, he became the hero of the evening. Both Mitchelland the mate of the _Trefoil_ found something to sing, and Ap and Magnussomething to say if they couldn't sing. Magnus's story was as weird andwild as he looked himself while telling it; Ap's was a simple relationof a daring deed done at sea during the herring-fishery season. Afterthis Seth spun one of his trapper yarns, and the music began again. Asailor's hornpipe this time--a rattling nerve-jogging tune that set themen all on a fidget. They beat time with their fingers, they tapped atattoo with their toes; and when they couldn't stand it a moment longer,why they simply started up in a bold and manly British fashion, clearedthe floor, and gave vent to their feelings through their legs and theirfeet.
The dancing became fast and furious after that, and when Ralph and Rorywere tired of playing they came to the floor, and Peter took their placewith his bagpipes. But the longest time ha
s an end, and at last Ap'sshrill pipe summoned all hands on board.
There was little need of sleeping-draughts for any one on board the_Snowbird_ that night.
The frost held, our heroes could tell that before they left their beds,so intensely cold was it. Glad were they now of the addition of thepaper blankets served out by Peter; eider-down quilts could hardly havemade them feel more comfortable.
The frost held, they could tell that when they went to their tubs.Peter had placed the water in each bath only an hour before, but the icewas already so hard that instead of getting in at once Rory squatteddown to look at it, and he did not like the looks of it either. Thesponge was as hard as a
The Cruise of the Snowbird: A Story of Arctic Adventure Page 42
