Three Boys; Or, The Chiefs of the Clan Mackhai

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER SIX.

  A MORNING BATH.

  "Yes! Come in. Thank you. Eh? I'll open the door. And--Don't knockso hard."

  Confused and puzzled, Max started out of his deep sleep, with his headaching, and the bewilderment increasing as he tried to make out where hewas, the memory of the past two days' events having left him.

  "Don't hurry yourself. It's all right. Like to have another nap?" camein bantering tones.

  "I'll get up and dress as quickly as I can," cried Max, as he nowrealised his position. "But--but you said something about showing methe bath."

  "To be sure I did. Look sharp. I'll wait."

  "Oh, thank you; I'll just slip on my dressing-gown."

  "Nonsense! You don't want a bathing-gown," cried Kenneth. "Here! letme in."

  "Yes, directly," replied Max; and the next minute he went to the door,where Kenneth was performing some kind of festive dance to theaccompaniment of a liberal drumming with his doubled fists upon thepanels.

  "Ha! ha!" laughed the lad boisterously. "You do look rum like that.Slip on your outside, and come along."

  "But--the bath-room? I--"

  "Bath-room! What bath-room?"

  "You said you would show me."

  "Get out! I never said anything about a bath-room. I said a bath--aswim--a dip in the sea. Beats all the bath-rooms that were ever born."

  "Oh!" ejaculated Max, who seemed struck almost dumb.

  "Well, look sharp. Scood's waiting. He called me an hour ago, and Idropped asleep again."

  "Scood--waiting?"

  "Yes; he's a splendid swimmer. We'll soon teach you."

  "But--"

  "You're not afraid, are you?"

  "Oh no--not at all. But I--"

  "Here, jump into your togs, old man, and haul your shrouds taut. It'sglorious! You're sure to like it after the first jump in. It's justwhat you want."

  Max felt as if it was just what he did not want; but strong wills ruleweak, and he had a horror of being thought afraid, so that the resultwas, he slipped on his clothes hastily, and followed his companiondown-stairs, and out on to the rock terrace, where a soft western breezecame off the sea, which glittered in the morning sunshine.

  He looked round for the threatening-looking black rocks which had seemedso weird and strange the night before, and his eyes sought the uncouthmonsters with the tangled hair which seemed to rise out of the foamingwaters. But, in place of these, there was the glorious sunshine,brightening the grey granite, and making the yellowish-brown seaweedshine like gold as it swayed here and there in the crystal-pure water.

  "Why, you look ten pounds better than you did yesterday!" cried Kenneth;and then, raising his voice, "Scood, ho! Scood, hoy!" he shouted.

  "Ahoy--ay!" came from somewhere below.

  "It's all right! He has gone down," cried Kenneth. "Come along."

  "Where are you going?" said Max hesitatingly.

  "Going? Down to our bathing-place; and, look here, as you are not usedto it, don't try to go out, for the tide runs pretty strong along here.Scood and I can manage, because we know the bearings, and where theeddies are, so as to get back. Here we are."

  He had led his companion to the very edge of the rock, where itdescended perpendicularly to the sea, and apparently there was nofarther progress to be made in that direction. In fact, so dangerousdid it seem, that, as Kenneth quickly lowered himself over theprecipice, Max, by an involuntary movement, started forward and made aclutch at his arm.

  "Here! what are you doing?" cried Kenneth. "It's all right. Now then,I'm here. Lower yourself over. Lay hold of that bit of stone. I'llguide your feet. There's plenty of room here."

  Max drew a long, catching breath, and his first thought was to run backto the house.

  "Make haste!" cried Kenneth from somewhere below; and Max went down onhis hands and knees to creep to the edge and look over, and see that therock projected over a broad shelf, upon which the young Scot wasstanding looking up.

  "Oh, I say, you are a rum chap!" cried Kenneth, laughing. "Legs first,same as I did; not your head."

  "But is it safe--for me?"

  "Safe? Why, of course, unless you can pull the rock down on top of you.Come along."

  "I will do it! I will do it!" muttered Max through his set teeth, as hedrew back, ghastly pale, and with a wild look in his eyes. Then,turning, and lowering his legs over the edge, he clung spasmodically toa projection which offered its help.

  "That's the way. I've got you. Let go."

  For a few moments Max dared not let go. He felt that if he did heshould fall headlong seventy or eighty feet into the rock-strewn sea;but, as he hesitated, Kenneth gave him a jerk, his hold gave way, andthe next moment, in an agony of horror, he fell full twenty inches--onhis feet, and found himself upon the broad shelf, with the cragprojecting above his head and the glittering sea below.

  "You'll come down here like a grasshopper next time," cried Kenneth."Now then, after me. There's nothing to mind so long as you don't slip.I'll show you."

  He began to descend from shelf to shelf, where the rock had been blastedaway so as to form a flight of the roughest of rough steps of monstroussize, while, trembling in every limb, Max followed.

  "My grandfather had this done so that he could reach the cavern. Beforethat it was all like a wall here, and nobody could get up and down.Why, you can climb as well as I can, only you pretend that you can't."

  Max said nothing, but kept on cautiously descending till he stood upon abroad patch of barnacle-crusted rock, beside what looked like a greatrough Gothic archway, forming the entrance to a cave whose floor was thesea, but alongside which there was a rugged continuation of the greatstone upon which the lads stood.

  "There, isn't this something like a bath?" cried Kenneth. "It'ssplendid, only you can't bathe when there's any sea."

  "Why?" asked Max, so as to gain time.

  "Why? Because every wave that comes in swells over where we'restanding, and rushes right into the cave. You wait and you'll hear itboom like thunder."

  _Plosh_!

  "What's that?" cried Max, catching at his companion's arm.

  "My seal! You watch and you'll see him come out."

  "Yes, I can see him," cried Max, "swimming under water. A white one--and--and--Why, it's that boy!"

  "Ahoy!" cried a voice, as Scoodrach, who had undressed and dived in offthe shelf to swim out with a receding wave, rose to the surface andshook the water from his curly red hair.

  "Well, he can swim like a seal," cried Kenneth, running along the roughshelf. "Come along."

  Max followed him cautiously, and with an uneasy sense of insecurity,while by the time he was at the end his guide was undressed, with hisclothes lying in a heap just beyond the wash of the falling tide.

  "Look sharp! jump in!" cried Kenneth. "Keep inside here till you canswim better."

  As the words left his lips, he plunged into the crystal water, and Maxcould follow his course as he swam beneath the surface, his white bodyshowing plainly against the dark rock, till he rose splashing and swamout as if going right away.

  But he altered his mind directly, and swam back toward the mouth of thecave.

  "Why, you haven't begun yet," he cried. "Aren't you coming in?"

  "Ye-es, directly," replied Max, but without making an effort to remove agarment, till he caught sight of a derisive look upon Kenneth's face--alook which made the hot blood flush up to his cheeks, and acted as sucha spur to his lagging energies, that in a very few minutes he was ready,and, after satisfying himself that the water was not too deep, helowered himself slowly down, gasping as the cold, bracing wave reachedhis chest, and as it were electrified him.

  "You shouldn't get in like that," cried Kenneth, roaring with laughter."Head first and--"

  Max did not hear the rest. In his inexperience he did not realise thefacts that transparent water is often deeper than it looks, and thatseaweed under water is more slippery than ice.

/>   One moment he was listening to Kenneth's mocking words; the next, hisfeet, which were resting upon a piece of rock below, had glided off indifferent directions, and he was beneath the surface, struggling wildlytill he rose, and then only to descend again as if in search of thebottom of the great natural bath-house.

  "Why, what a fellow you are!" was the next thing he heard, as Kennethheld him up. "There, you can touch bottom here. That's right; standup. Steady yourself by holding this bit of rock."

  Half blind, choking with the harsh, strangling water which had gonewhere nature only intended the passage of air, and with a hot, scaldingsensation in his nostrils, and the feeling as of a crick at the back ofhis neck, Max clung tenaciously to the piece of rock, and stood with thewater up to his chin, sputtering loudly, and ending with a tremendoussneeze.

  "Bravo! that's better," cried Kenneth. "No, no, don't get out. You'vegot over the worst of it now. You ought to try and swim."

  "No. I must get out now. Help me," panted Max. "Was I nearlydrowned?"

  "Hear that, Scood?" cried Kenneth. "He says, was he nearly drowned?"

  "I--I'm not used to it," panted Max.

  "Needn't tell us that--need he, Scood? No, no, don't get out."

  "I--I must now. I've had enough of it."

  "No, you haven't," cried Kenneth, who was paddling near. "Hold on bythe rock and kick out your legs. Try to swim."

  "Yes, next time. I'm--"

  "If you don't try I'll duck you," cried Kenneth.

  "No, no, pray don't! I--"

  "If you try to get out, I'll pull you back by your legs. Here, Scood,come and help."

  "Don't, pray don't touch me, and I'll stay," pleaded Max.

  "Pray don't touch you!" cried Kenneth. "Here, Scood, he has come downhere to learn to swim, and he's holding on like a girl at a Rothesaybathing-machine. Let's duck him."

  Max uttered an imploring cry, but it was of no use. Kenneth swam up,and with a touch seemed to pluck him from his hold, and drew him outinto the middle of the place, while directly after, Scood, who seemedmore than ever like a seal, dived into the cave, and came up on Max'sother side.

  "Join hands, Scood," cried Kenneth.

  Scood passed his hand under Max, and Kenneth caught it, clasping itbeneath the struggling lad's chest.

  "Now then, let's swim out with him."

  "Ant let him swim back. She'll soon learn," cried Scood.

  "No, pray don't! You'll drown me!" gasped Max, as he clung excitedly tothe hands beneath him; and then, to his horror, he felt himself borneright out of the cave, into the sunshine, the two lads bearing him upeasily enough between them, till they were fully fifty yards away fromthe mouth.

  Partly from dread, partly from a return of nerve, Max had, during thelatter part of his novel ride through the bracing water, remainedperfectly silent and quiescent, but the next words that were spoken senta shock through him greater than the first chill of the water.

  "Now then!" cried Scood. "Let go! She'll get back all alone, and learnto swim."

  "No, no, not this time," said Kenneth. "We'll take him back now. He'llsoon learn, now he finds how easy it is. Turn round, Scood."

  Scoodrach obeyed, and the swim was renewed, the two lads easily makingtheir way back to the mouth of the cave, up which they had about twentyfeet to go to reach the spot where the clothes were laid.

  "Now," cried Kenneth, "you've got to learn to swim, so have your firsttry."

  "No, no; not this morning."

  "Yes. At once. Strike out, and try to get in."

  "But I can't. I shall sink."

  "No, you shan't; I won't let you. Try."

  There was no help for it. Max was compelled to try, for the support wassuddenly withdrawn, and for the next few minutes the poor fellow wasstruggling and panting blindly, till he felt his hand seized, and thatit was guided to the side, up which he was helped to scramble.

  "There!" cried Kenneth. "There's a big towel. Have a good rub, andyou'll be all in a glow."

  Max took the towel involuntarily, and breathlessly tried to remove thegreat drops which clung to him, feeling, to his surprise, anything butcold, and, by the time he was half dressed, that it was not such aterrible ordeal he had passed through after all.

  "She'll swim next time," said Scood, as he rubbed away at his fieryhead.

  "No, she won't, Scoodie," said Kenneth mockingly; "but you soon will ifyou try."

  "Do you think so?" asked Max, who began now to feel ashamed of hisshrinking and nervousness.

  "Of course I do. Why, you weren't half so bad as some fellows are.Remember Tom Macandrew, Scood?"

  "Ou ay. She always felt as if she'd like to trown that boy."

  "Look sharp!" cried Kenneth, nearly dressed. "Don't be too particular.You'll soon get your hair dry."

  "But it wants combing."

  "Comb it when you get indoors. Come away. Let's have a run now, andthen there'll be time to polish up before breakfast. You, Scood, weshall go fishing this morning, so be ready. Now then, Max,--I shallcall you Max,--you don't mind climbing up here again, do you?"

  "Is there no other way?"

  "Yes."

  "Let's go, then."

  "There are two other ways," said Kenneth: "to jump in and swim round tothe sands."

  "Ah!"

  "And for Scood and me to go up and fetch a rope and let it down. Thenyou'll sit in a loop, and we shall haul you up, while you spin roundlike a roast fowl on a hook, and the bottle-jack up above going click."

  "I think I can climb up," said Max, who was very sensitive to ridicule;and he climbed, but with all the time a creepy sensation attacking him--a feeling of being sure to fall over the side and plunge headlong intothe sea, while, at the last point, where the great stone projected alittle over the climbers' heads, the sensation seemed to culminate.

  But Max set his teeth in determination not to show his abject fear, andthe next moment he was on the top, feeling as if he had gone throughmore perils during the past eight-and-forty hours than he had everencountered in his life.

  "Look out!" cried Kenneth suddenly.

  "Why? What?"

  "It's only the dogs; and if Bruce leaps at you, he may knock you off thecliff."

  Almost as he spoke, the great staghound made a dash at Max, who avoidedthe risk by leaping sideways, and getting as far as he could from theunprotected brink.