Bluff Crag; or, A Good Word Costs Nothing
Page 4
boats. The poorboy was still in a fainting state, and it was not till after he had beenlaid on the bed that he opened his eyes and showed signs ofconsciousness. 'Oh, where am I?' he uttered; but even this exertion wastoo much for him, and he became insensible once more.
"'It's a bad break, this,' said one of the men to his fellow; 'Ishouldn't wonder, now, if he had to lose his leg altogether!'
"'Oh, please don't speak of it,' said Vea, her face becoming ghastlypale. 'Do look out again, Lily dear, and see if Alfred is coming withthe doctor.'
"Yes; there he was at last, running at a break-neck speed down the steepand rocky bank to the beach, while the doctor was distinctly seen highoverhead on the regular path, coming very quickly too. Indeed, though hehad taken the longest road, and did not seem to hasten like Alfred, hewas only a few minutes behind him, and showed no signs of heat andover-exertion.
"'Heyday, this is a pretty business,' said Dr. Blyth cheerily. 'What'sthis you've been about, Miss Vea? breaking your brother's leg, eh?' Allthis time he had been unrolling a case of formidable-lookinginstruments, taking off his coat, and getting fresh water brought, andbandages prepared with the help of Natilie. When these were ready, heturned to look at his patient, and bidding every one leave the hut butthe two fishermen and Natilie, he shut the door against them himself,and secured it firmly.
"'Oh, please, doctor, let me stay,' Vea had said pitifully. 'I'm surePatrick would like me to stay.'
"'I'm sure of that too,' said the doctor kindly; 'but you shall haveplenty of nursing by-and-by: don't be afraid, I mean to engage you as mychief assistant. Meanwhile, my dear, trust me for knowing what is bestfor you and for your brother, and take yourself off to the beach there.Come, Miss Lily,' he continued, turning to me, 'you take your frienddown to the beach, and keep her there till I call you. Remember, you arenot to leave the rock there till I call you, Miss Vea.'
"'Oh dear, dear, it does seem hard,' said Vea, when we were seated underthe rook, 'to leave Patrick in the hands of strangers. And yet, Dr.Blyth is such a good, kind man, I'm sure he won't give him unnecessarypain.'
"'Would you like me to read a story to you, dear Vea?' I inquired,opening a book I had brought out with me. 'It might help to pass thetime away.'
DOWN ON THE BEACH.]
"'Thank you, Lily,' said Vea; 'but I feel as if I couldn't listen toanything; and yet, if I sit here I shall go mad with the suspense.'
"'Come, then, take a walk along the beach,' I replied; 'we will bewithin reach of the doctor's voice quite as well. I know he will takesome time to set the leg; for when our stable-boy, Reuben, got his legbroken, the doctor took a long time to set it.'
"'And did Reuben's leg get well again--quite well, I mean?' inquired Veaearnestly; 'was he able to walk with it as he did before?'
"'Oh yes; he could use it quite as well as before,' I replied. 'Indeed,papa used to say Reuben was quicker at going a message after theaccident than before.'
"'Oh, I am so glad to hear that,' said Vea, sighing. 'I do hope it willbe the same with Patrick. Poor Patrick! Aunt Mary has so often said hewould need to get some severe lessons to make him think. She was alwaystelling him that he would find out the path of transgressors is hard,instead of pleasant, as he seemed to fancy. I don't think there is sucha miserable girl as I am in the world?' And here Vea began to cry.
"After comforting her as well as I could, she was at last prevailed uponto take a short walk along the beach in the direction where somechildren were playing. As we walked along I told her that my motheroften said, when we fancied ourselves ill-used and very unhappy, if welooked about us we would generally find that there was somebody evenmore miserable than we were ourselves. By this time we had come up tothe children, and found three of them in earnest conversation. We werenot long in discovering that the youngest was in evident distress, andher companions were listening to her words with deep interest.
"'I wouldn't stand it, if I were you, Polly,' said the eldest girl, whowas standing in front of the group.
"'But what can I do, Martha?' replied the girl, rocking herself to andfro, and weeping afresh.
"'Do? I would run away,' replied the other. 'I would go into service, orbeg my bread from door to door, rather than bear what you have to bear.'
"'But don't you think you had better speak to teacher, Polly?' said theother girl softly, looking from under her sun-bonnet with greatdreamy-looking blue eyes; 'I wouldn't do anything rash before speakingto teacher. You remember what she said to us last Sunday, that all ourtrials were sent from our Father in heaven.'
POOR POLLY.]
"'Yes, Rachel, I heard her say that,' replied Polly; 'and I try to thinkabout it; but oh! my step-mother would make anybody angry; and then mytemper rises, and I speak out, and then I am beaten. I wouldn't mindthat, however, if she would only beat me; but when I see her raise herhand to strike little Willie, who never was angry in his life, but wasalways gentle and good--always, always.'
"'Is there anything I can do for you, little girl?' said Vea, steppingforward, forgetting for the time her own trouble while witnessing thedistress of another. 'Why does your companion want you to run away?'
"'It's to escape from her step-mother, miss,' replied the girl calledMartha. 'She uses her shameful, she do, and all for what? BecausePolly's father made so much of her afore he was lost.'
"'And was your father lost at sea, Polly? Oh, how dreadful!' said Vea,seating herself on the stones beside her. 'And have you no mother ofyour own?'
"'No, miss; mother died when Willie was a year old,' said Polly.
"'And do you remember her quite well?' asked Vea.
"'Oh yes, quite well, miss. It was a terrible night that, just beforeshe died. Father was away to the town for some tackle, and I was leftall alone with her and Willie. She hadn't been very well for some weeks,but nobody thought she was going to die. Even the very doctor had saidthat morning so cheerily to father she would weather through. She hadbeen lying sleeping with Willie in her arms, but a sudden squall shookthe door, and made it and the window-frame rattle, and that startledher, and she wakened. Then I couldn't help seeing she was much worse;and I tried to keep from crying, for she seemed wild-like, and thedoctor had said she was to be kept quiet. Then she looked up in amoment, and said, "Polly, promise me you'll look after Willie when Idie. Never let any harm come to Willie, mind that; and take care offather, but look well after Willie." She never spoke again, not even tofather, who came in soon after, and cried like a baby over her. She justopened her eyes once, and looked at him with a smile, and tried to pushWillie over to him, and then she died. How good father was to us then!He used to take Willie down to the beach with him while I made the housetidy and got the dinner; and he made Willie a fine boat, and dug out aplace for him to sail it in; and oh! but we were happy then!'
"'I don't think your father would have been lost if it hadn't been thatstep-mother of yours,' said Martha angrily. 'I can't a-bear her, Ican't.'
"'Oh, don't say that, Martha. It was God who took father,' said Polly,in a low whisper. 'Didn't you hear the rector saying it was God's willto send the storm that night?'
LITTLE WILLIE AND HIS FATHER.]
"'Yes,' said Martha; but if your step-mother had only bade your fatherstay at home, as all the other men did, he never would have been lost.Didn't old Joe Gafler warn them there was a squall a-coming! but no, sheis so grasping, she wanted the money for the fish, and she let him go.It was a shame!'
"'But father often says the boat may be found yet,' said Rachel; 'andyou know even old Dick says the thing is likely.'
"'Well, if so be's it should happen that Will Dampier comes to landagain, I hope he'll know how his Polly has been treated when he wasaway,' said Martha.
"'Oh, I wouldn't mind for myself not one bit,' said Polly. 'It's whenshe strikes Willie that I can't bear it; and I somehow think Willie isnot so well this last week.'
"'Then you mustn't think of running away, Polly,' said Vea. 'Wasn't thatwhat Martha was urging you to do? If you went aw
ay, who would take careof Willie? Do you know, I have a brother I am very anxious about too,Polly?' said Vea. 'He is lying in Dick's cottage, with his leg broken,and the doctor is setting it while we are waiting out here.'
"'Oh, I am very sorry indeed,