CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
"BROKEN UP!"
Early next morning, after their usual matutinal swim, Bob and Dickaccompanied the Captain for a stroll along the beach to the coastguard-station on the eastern side of the Castle, near to which the ill-fated_Bembridge Belle_ had been run ashore.
Of course, Rover formed one of the party; carrying, equally as a matterof course, his young master's towels in his mouth and wagging his finebushy tail with even more energy than he generally evinced whenperforming that function, in order to express his proud exultation atthe trust reposed in him.
At the coastguard-station they found Hellyer standing by the flagstaff,with his telescope under his left arm and evidently on duty.
"Not much damage done to her hull yet, sir," said he, touching his hat,as he thus anticipated the Captain's inquiry. "She were all awash,though, sir, at high-water this morning!"
"Indeed!" cried Captain Dresser. "Then, that forward bulkhead must havestarted when the fore compartment got full."
"No doubt o' that, sir," agreed Hellyer. "Why, the tide covered herafter-deck at Six Bells; and the cushions of the settees and a lot o'dunnage were floating about in the saloon below and washing through theports astern."
"Her fo'c's'le, however, keeps high and dry."
"Aye, now it do, sir," replied Hellyer. "But, not for long!"
"You're right, my man," said the Captain, after having a good squint atthe object of their commiseration. "She has been working already on theshingle, and her frame has been a good deal knocked about since lastnight."
The coastguardsman gave a shrug to his shoulders.
"I expect a tide or two'll settle her hash, sir," he observed, afterthus relieving his pent-up feelings. "With the water making a cleansweep through her fore and aft every time it rises, the poor thing can'tlast long, sir!"
"Aye," said the Captain. "She's bound to go to pieces, now, fastenough."
"So I've reported to the commander, sir, this very morning," continuedHellyer; "and, he's sent down word as I'm to keep men stationed alongthe shore so as to pick up any wreckage that mebbe washed out on her."
"Quite right," was the Captain's comment on this. "There are a lot oflight-fingered gentry about here, whom it is just as well to be on guardagainst. When will it be flood-tide to-night, Hellyer, eh?"
"Nigh upon nine o'clock, sir," answered he. "Just afore the moonrises."
"Humph!" muttered Captain Dresser, as if cogitating the matter andspeaking his thoughts aloud. "I think I'll come down then. The seaseems inclined to get up a bit?"
He raised his voice when uttering the last words, as if asking aquestion; so, the coastguardsman answered it at once.
"That it do, sir," he said with decision; "and, if the wind freshenmore, as is more'n likely, considerin' it's been backin' all themornin', I 'spects it'll be pretty rough by night-time!"
"Ah, well, so I think, too, Hellyer. Good-day to you, my man; I willcome down again this evening when the tide makes. I fancy she'll breakup then. Come on, boys!" sang out the old sailor in a higher key to Boband Dick, who had been amusing themselves by trying to walk round thehull of the stranded steamer, now nearly high and dry on the beach;although the venturesome fellows had to clamber over all sorts ofobstacles in the way of chain-cables and hawsers and other gear, besideswading through various pools of water to seaward, before they couldcongratulate themselves on effecting their object. "Come on now, myboys! There's nothing more to see at present; and I've promised MissNell to help her put those actinea we got yesterday at Seaview into hernew aquarium."
"But, you will come down again with us to see the wreck, won't you?"eagerly asked Bob, running after the Captain, who on giving thisexplanation of his desire of not wasting any more time on the beach justthen, had started off already on his way back to the south parade, andwas hobbling off at a fine rate across the common. "I do so want to seethe poor vessel once more before they take her away, Captain!"
"Humph!" grunted out the old sailor as he puffed and panted onward likea steam-engine, turning the services of his trusty old malacca cane togood account. "I don't think, my boy, you need have any fear on thatscore. The only shape in which she's likely to be taken away from herpresent berth will be--in pieces!"
"By Jove, ma'am!" he exclaimed later on, when Mrs Gilmour and Nell methim at the gate of "the Moorings," "I might just as well board with youat once. Dined with you on Monday, to lunch Tuesday; at breakfastyesterday, and again this morning. Why, I'll eat you out of house andhome!"
"Never fear, Captain," said Mrs Gilmour smiling. "Sure, I'll take therisk of that."
"But your servants, ma'am," he argued, as Nell took away his hat andcane. "I'm afraid I give them a lot of trouble, and they'll bespringing a mutiny on you."
"I don't know what poor Sarah'll do, sure; you've taised her so!"replied Mrs Gilmour jokingly. "But, Molly the cook's your friend, Iknow. She says you're the only one in the house that properlyappreciates her curries."
"Faith and she turns them out well, ma'am; and you can tell her so, withmy compliments," said the old sailor with much heartiness as he winkedto Nellie. "As for `that good Sarah,' ma'am, I shall have to make mypeace with her by and by, with your permission."
After breakfast, the Captain and Nellie, with the assistance of Bob andDick, even "the good Sarah," too, being pressed into the service, setabout preparing the sea-anemones and other specimens they had collectedthe previous day for their new home in the aquarium which Mrs Gilmourhad bought for the purpose shortly before.
This aquarium was in appearance somewhat like an inverted dish-cover ofglass--one of the best shapes to be had. This sort being free fromthose leaky joints that are the invariable accompaniment of all-squarecisterns; while globular ones have not got sufficient space at thebottom for rock-work, or those little hiding-places that delight thehearts of the denizens of the deep when they are free agents and intheir own waters.
Presently, under the active superintendence of the old sailor, thewhilom empty glass receptacle began to assume a more picturesque aspect.
To commence with, a groundwork was constructed of fine white sand andshells, each of the latter being washed in repeated baths of clear andfresh sea-water, which had been brought up from the beach in themorning, before being introduced into the aquarium; where, if success bedesired, cleanliness is as essential to the well-being of its littletenants as it is deemed to be amongst human beings.
The Captain said something to this effect while making Nellie wash thedifferent shells, which he then arranged along the sandy bottom, whichwas made to slope from the back of the structure down to the centre,forming a sort of hollow there; and then rising again in front.
"So far, so good," said the Captain, placing some bits of rock in thebackground, which, leaning against each other, formed so many smallcaverns. "These will do for those crabs, which Master Bob insists onhaving, to retreat to when some of the other fry pay them too muchattention."
On the right and left of the aquarium the old sailor dexterously builtup larger pieces of rock-work, intermixed with bits of red seaweed thatgrows in the form of a feathery plume, called by naturalists the"bryopsis plumosa," than which no more graceful marine plant can befound.
Close to this and serving as a contrast, the Captain placed the greenlaver he had made Nell pick up at the last moment when they were leavingSeaview and running to catch the steamer.
"This chap, styled the `ulva latissima' by the scientific gentlemen whomanufacture such titles, is a capital thermometer," said the Captain onputting in the laver. "You'll find he'll always rise to the surfacewhen the weather is bright and sunny; while he sinks back to the bottom,as I've put him now, on its being damp and overcast."
In the more immediate foreground, a number of little starfish squattedabout on the miniature strand that shelved down from the rocks, arrangedwith much care to the general spectacular effect by Nellie, who was mostpainstaking in the matter.
To be intr
oduced into this very select marine retreat, the anemones hadto go through similar ablutions to the sand and the shells, as well asother things, all of them being at the outset cleansed with the greatestcare. When, however, this was done and the actinea put into theirfuture home, the aquarium blossomed out into a garden of live flowers,whose tentacles of various colours resembled so many chrysanthemums,dahlias, and daisies, of the most gorgeous hues ever seen on Nature'spalette!
Of course, the actinea did not make themselves at home in their newlodgings and disclose their beauties all at once; but, in a few days,none of them having been hurt by Bob's knife, they seemed to have becomeacclimatised, putting out the petals of their flower-like bodies asfreely as when in their native pools at Seaview. So, too, did abeautiful rose and white dianthus, which Dick had picked up adhering toan ugly old oyster-shell; and, the even rarer anthea, whose long hangingfilaments were never altogether withdrawn into its body when disturbed,as was the case with the other sea-anemones, and which were thus aconstant source of alarm to Bob's little crabs; for, it was everlistlessly waving perilously near these nervous creatures, making themhurry out of their way in such frantic haste as their lateralconformation permitted.
It was a long job arranging the aquarium, engrossing the attention ofall engaged and taking up the entire morning; aye, and all midday, too!
"Good gracious me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, coming into the room whenthey had just completed the task. "What a long time you've been at it,to be sure! I believe I could have made an aquarium by now, let alonefit it up."
"Ah, ma'am, `more haste, worse speed,'" retorted the old sailor. "`Romewasn't built in a day,' you know."
"I thought you had enough of the Romans yesterday," said Mrs Gilmour,giving him this little cut in return for his brace of proverbs. "But,come, Sarah, you must see about getting luncheon now. I want it readyas soon as possible. You'll stop, Captain Dresser, I suppose?"
"Oh yes, ma'am, if you'll allow me," he replied with a chuckle. "I knowwhen I'm well off. You recollect, ma'am, you said just now the cook wasmy friend."
"Do you know why I wanted to have lunch especially early to-day?" sheasked him anon, when they were seated at the table. "Can you guess?"
"No, by Jove, I can't!" he snorted out indignantly. "I'm not aclairvoyant, or whatever else you call those people who pretend to readother people's thoughts."
"Sure, then, I'll tell you," she said, laughing at his quaint manner,"I'm going to see Mrs Craddock."
"I'm just as much in the dark as ever," he retorted. "Who the dickensis the woman, eh?"
Nell saved her aunt the trouble of answering.
"Why, don't you remember the old lady at the station whom Rover tumbleddown and broke her eggs?" she cried out eagerly. "You must recollect,for you sent her some port wine for her poor daughter, which auntie andI took the second time we went to see her.--You must remember her!"
"Ah, yes, I remember now," said the Captain, scratching his headreflectively. "So that's her name, eh--Craddock, Craddock. Where haveI heard it before? By Jove, I've got it now! Why, ma'am, there was aCraddock who was boatswain of the old _Bucephalus_ on the West Coast."
"What!" cried Mrs Gilmour. "My poor dear Ted's ship?"
"The same, ma'am," he answered. "I recollect the man very well now. Hewas a tall, spare, intellectual-looking chap, more like a longshore manthan a sailor. He was delicate, too, suffering from a weak chest; and,Ted told me, now I come to think of it, that he volunteered for a secondterm of service on the African station in order to be in a warm climate.It didn't do him much good, though, for he died on the commission."
"How strange!" said Mrs Gilmour pensively. "I don't remember poor Tedwriting me anything about it, but I've no doubt the man was our MrsCraddock's husband, and, if so, that will make me take an additionalinterest in her. Run upstairs, Nell, and get ready at once, my dear.As soon as you come down we'll start, for I have only got to put on mybonnet."
"Do you want me to come, too?" faltered the Captain, who, unlessvisiting a sick-bed on an errand of mercy, dreaded going to see any onewhom he had been kind to, the old sailor doing all his good deeds, andthey were many, by stealth. Indeed, the very idea of being thanked madehim always inclined to run away, a thing he had never done from anenemy.
"Well, if you'd rather not, or if you've somewhere else to go, I won'tinsist."
"Why, I did promise to go down to the Club," he replied, still speakingin a half-hesitating way. "I--I--I--"
"I know," said Mrs Gilmour, interrupting him, and looking veryknowing--"you don't want to go to Mrs Craddock's, because you sent herpoor daughter some port wine, and are afraid of being thanked for it--that's the reason, I know." The Captain blushed.
"I assure you, ma'am," he began timidly to remonstrate against herconclusion, when suddenly some little recollection gave him renewedcourage. "By Jove, I declare I nearly forgot all about it! I've got tomeet Sponson at the Club to see when that ship is going out for hertrials; I mean the one which I'm going to take Bob on board of."
"Well, be off with you to your Club," she rejoined laughing, giving hima little push in joke. "Away with you at once!"
"You see, she turns me out," he said humorously to Bob, in a sort ofstage aside. "That's what you might call Irish hospitality."
He hurried out after his insulting remark, but popped in his head againat the door to make a parting request.
"May I come back to dinner, please?" he asked, with his hands clasped inmute entreaty also. "I have breakfasted and lunched with you, so I mayjust as well make a day of it, and come to dinner."
"Yes, if you're good," she replied. "But why so particularly thisevening? I'm afraid it's a Banian day, and Molly will not have anythingnice for you."
"Never mind that, ma'am. I want to take you all down to see the wreckat high-water," said he. "It will probably be the last of the oldship."
"Hurrah!" exclaimed Bob, pitching his hat in the air, and catching itdexterously again. "Won't that be jolly?"
On Nell now coming downstairs, they proceeded on their respective ways;the Captain into Portsmouth, and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nellie,accompanied by Dick carrying a basket, to Mrs Craddock's old-fashionedcottage, at Fratton--almost in the opposite direction.
Here Mrs Gilmour, after one or two inquiries, discovered, much to hersatisfaction, that the widow and her daughter were the wife and child ofher husband's boatswain, whence ensued much talk between herself and theold lady, who declared the invalid to be "the very image of poor dearCraddock!"
While their elders were conversing, Nellie was also having a chat withthe bedridden girl, who, she was glad to see, looked decidedly betterthan at the time of her last visit; an improvement doubtless due to theCaptain's old port; and other nourishing things Mrs Gilmour had takenher.
Bob meanwhile had been overhauling the various curios in the littleparlour, where the invalid was lying, this being the first time he hadbeen there.
"Oh, auntie," he called out presently, "do look at this Chinese idolhere! It's just like one I saw at the South Kensington Museum, only ithas such funny wooden shoes on."
Mrs Gilmour came across the room to look at the monster figuresquatting down in the corner; but, on Bob's showing her the shoes, shelaughed.
"Those are not Chinese, my boy," she exclaimed, "they are a pair ofwooden sabots from France, such as are worn by the peasants of Brittanyand Normandy."
"You're quite right, my lady," said the widow Craddock, approachingthem. "My son, who was a sailor like his father, found them on board aFrench vessel he helped that was in distress in the Channel; so, hebrought them home and stuck them on that there h'image in fun. Lawk,mum, if them wooden shoes could talk, it's a queer tale they'd tell ye,fur they was the means, or leastways it wer' through his boarding thevessel where he found 'em, that my son Jim, which was his name, my lady,come to give up the sea; although, mind you, he's summat to do with itstill, being a fisherman fur that matter. However, the end of it wa
sthat he marries the French gal as took his fancy when he comed acrossthem shoes, and went to live at Saint Mailer, as they calls it."
"Saint Malo, I suppose," corrected Mrs Gilmour. "Eh?"
"Yes, my lady, I sed Saint Mailer, didn't I?" replied the old dame, notperceiving where the delicate distinction lay; and then she went on torelate in a very roundabout fashion all the incidents connected with herson's marriage--as well as talking of everything else under the sun, soit seemed to Bob, who thought it an interminably long story, and washeartily glad when old Mrs Craddock got to the end of it.
But, little did he think in how short a space of time he would bebrought in contact with that son of hers, Jim Craddock, in the verystrangest manner, and under circumstances that would never have enteredhis wildest dreams!
However, he did not know this; and, while the old dame was spinning heryarn, Bob employed the time by looking at the model of a ship over themantelpiece, which brought back to his mind all about the _BembridgeBelle_, making him feel on tenter-hooks lest they should be late fordinner, and so be unable to go down afterwards and see the wreck, as theCaptain had arranged.
He need not have been so fidgety, though.
Everything comes to an end in time, as did the old lady's talk; andthen, they were able to start home again, Rover coming in for muchpraise from his waiting so patiently for such a lengthy period outsideMrs Craddock's cottage, without bark or whine betraying his presencethere.
The dinner was not late, much to Bob's joy; and, the Captain being alsopunctuality itself, they set out for the beach, just when the dimshadows of the fading twilight were mingling with those of night.
There was a stiff breeze blowing from the southward and eastward, almosthalf a gale, as a sailor would express it, the wind causing the incomingtide to break on the shore with a low, dull roar, as if the spirit ofthe deep felt half inclined to be angry, and yet had not quite made uphis mind!
It was almost dark by the time the little party from "the Moorings"reached the wreck, and things were beginning to get indistinct a littledistance off; but, soon after their arrival on the spot, the silverymoon rising at the full, passing through occasional strata of dark cloudthat veiled her light at intervals, illumined the sky with her weirdbeams, making it bright as day, but with a ghostly radiance that lent amystic spectral effect to all the surroundings.
What a difference the vessel presented to her appearance of the morning!
Then she was high and dry on the shingle, with the retreating tide goingout to sea to flood coasts elsewhere, only indicating that it had notquite gone yet by a faint splash and ripple on the shore; and, desertedby the element that should have supported her and did when she moved andhad her being, gliding through the waters "like a thing of life," thewretched steamer stood up so gaunt and grim that she seemed more thantwice her natural size.
That was in the morning, barely twelve hours ago! But, now, where wasshe? The tell-tale light of the moon explained all, without a wordbeing wanted.
At first no doubt, the breakers!--how aptly named!--had begun theirattack against the poor crippled thing's hull by degrees, little billowsleading the assault that could only leap half-way up the side of thestranded steamer, falling back with impotent mutterings in a passion ofspray; then, as the tide rose, these were succeeded by bigger wavesrolling in from the eastwards, which, swollen with pride and brimmingwith destruction, beat and blustered all about the vessel from cutwaterto sternpost, seeking ingress through the timbers that they might fallupon her and devour her.
Through it all the poor _Bembridge Belle_ battled bravely, holding herown as long as she could keep her head above the boisterous billows;but, when the tide rose yet higher, and the waters flowed through herfore and aft, her upper deck became submerged, the sea made a cleanbreach over her, the waves took her in their rough hands and shook herso that she trembled, her hull working to and fro in the shingle, theblustering billows dashed against her, and she began to break up. Theloose upper or hurricane-deck parted. Then the contents of the mainsaloon below, of which this deck formed the roof, commenced washingadrift, the broken water round the deck pitching and tossing aboutcushions and chairs, flaps of tables, and all sorts of pieces offurniture, some of which were cast up ashore near by, and others carriedout by the tide to goodness knows where!
The Captain and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nell, and Dick and Rover,too, watched this sad ending of the steamer's career with almost asheavy hearts as if they were her owners. Rover, indeed, took such avery deep interest in her that he assisted Hellyer and the othercoastguardsmen on duty at the spot by helping them bravely in draggingout of the clutches of the waves everything that floated near enoughinshore for him to jump at and seize.
"We'd better go home now," said the Captain, when the vessel separatedamidships, her funnel and masts falling over into the water. "There'snothing more to see now, poor old ship!"
He spoke quite sadly, as if he had lost a friend; and the others, too,seemed equally affected by the scene, even Bob turning his back on thebeach without a murmur at their going indoors so early, as he wouldotherwise have done; this being the young gentleman's usual plaint.But, if depressed for the moment, on reaching "the Moorings" thethermometer of their spirits jumped suddenly to fever-heat.
Sarah, "the good Sarah," opened the door, as she usually did; but sheappeared to perform the task on the present occasion with even more thanher usual alacrity, while her face wore a pleased expression that hadnot visited it since the composition of that celebrated poem in honourof her memory! She actually beamed with delight and looked "bursting,aye, bursting with good news!" as the Captain said afterwards.
"Why, whatever is the matter, Sarah?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "Speak, mygood girl!"
She paid no attention, however, to her mistress.
"Oh, Master Bob--oh, Miss Nell!" she exclaimed. "Who do you think havecome, and is now in the house?"
Bob Strong's Holidays Page 16
