The Lifeboat Part 15

"Well now, my lad," said Bax, leaning forward in a confidential way which quite won the affection of the tiger, and patting him on the shoulder, "I would advise you strongly to go back."

"Oh! sir, but I can't," said Peekins dolefully. "I dursn't. My life is miserable there. Mr Denham is so 'ard on me that I feels like to die every time I sees 'im. It ain't o' no use" (here Peekins became wildly desperate), "I _won't_ go back; 'cause if I do I'm sure to die slow; an'

I'd rather die quick at once and be done with it."

Bax opened his eyes very wide at this. It revealed a state of things that he had never before imagined. Tommy Bogey puffed so large a cloud that his face was quite concealed by it, and muttered "you _air_ a rum 'un!"

"Where d'ye stop, boy?" inquired Bax.

"In lodgin's in Fenchurch Street."

"D'ye owe 'em anything at the office?"

"No, nothin'; they owes me seventeen and six."

"D'ye want it very much?"

"O no, I don't mind _that_, bless ye," said Peekins, earnestly.

"What d'ye mean to do?" inquired Bax.

"Go with _you_--to sea," replied the tiger, promptly.

"But I'm not going to sea."

"Then, I'll go with you wherever you please. I like you," said the boy, springing suddenly to his side and grasping his hand, "I've no one in the world to care for but you. I never heard any one speak like you.

If you'll only let me be your servant, I'll go with you to the end of the world, and--and--"

Here poor Peekins was again overcome.

"Bray_vo_!" shouted Tommy Bogey in admiration. "You're not such a bad fellow after all."

"Poor boy," said Bax, stroking the tiger's head, "you are willing to trust too easily to a weak and broken reed. But, come, I'll take you to the coast. Better to go there, after all, than stop with such a tender-hearted Christian as Mr Denham. Here, take a bit of dinner."

Having tasted no food since breakfast, Peekins gladly accepted the invitation, and ate heartily of the remnants of the meal, to the great satisfaction of his companions, especially of Tommy, who regarded him as one might regard a pet canary or rabbit, which requires to be fed plenteously and handled with extreme gentleness and care.

CHAPTER TEN.

THE "HOVEL" ON DEAL BEACH--A STORM BREWING--PLANS TO CIRc.u.mVENT THE SMUGGLERS.

On a calm, soft, beautiful evening, about a week after the events narrated in the last chapter, Guy Foster issued from Sandhill Cottage, and took his way towards the beach of Deal.

It was one of those inexpressibly sweet, motionless evenings, in which one is inclined, if in ordinary health, to rejoice in one's existence; and in which the Christian is led irresistibly to join with the Psalmist in praising G.o.d, "for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men."

Young Foster's thoughts ran for a considerable time in this latter channel; for he was one of those youthful Christians whose love to our Saviour does not easily grow cold. He was wont to read the Bible as if he really believed it to be the Word of G.o.d, and acted in accordance with its precepts with a degree of bold simplicity and trustfulness, that made him a laughing-stock to some, and a subject of surprise and admiration to others, of his companions and acquaintance. In short, he was a Christian of a cheerful, straightforward stamp.

Yet Guy's course was not all suns.h.i.+ne, neither was his conduct altogether immaculate. He was not exempt from the general rule, that "through much tribulation" men shall enter into the Kingdom. As he walked along, rejoicing in his existence and in the beauty of that magnificent evening, a cloud would rise occasionally and call forth a sigh, as he recollected the polite intimation of his uncle, that he had extended his leave of absence _ad_ _infinitum_! He could not shut his eyes to the fact that a brilliant mercantile career on which he had recently entered, and on which he might naturally look as the course cut out for him by Providence, was suddenly closed against him for ever. He knew his uncle's temper too well to expect that he would relent, and he felt that to retract a statement which he knew to be true, or to express regret for having boldly told the truth as he had done, was out of the question. Besides, he was well aware that such a course would not now avail to restore him to his lost position. It remained, therefore, that, being without influential friends, he must begin over again and carve his own way in the world.

But what then? Was this not the lot of hundreds of thousands? Little time had been lost; he was young, and strong, and hearty. G.o.d had written, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pa.s.s." "Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, as unto the Lord, and not unto men." Under the influence of such thoughts the clouds cleared away from Guy's brow, and he raised his eyes, which for some minutes had been cast down, with a hopeful gaze to the heavens.

There he soon became lost in admiration of the clouds that were floating in ma.s.ses of amber and gold; rising over each other--piled up, ma.s.s upon ma.s.s--grotesque sometimes in form, solid yet soft in aspect, and inexpressibly grand, as a whole, in their towering magnificence.

There were signs, however, among the gorgeous beauties of this cloud-land, that were significant to eyes accustomed to read the face of the sky. Various lurid and luminous clouds of grey and Indian-red hues told of approaching storm, and the men of Deal knew that the sea, which just then pictured every cloud in its gla.s.sy depths as clearly as if there had been another cloud-land below its surface, would, ere long, be ruffled with a stiffish breeze; perhaps be tossed by a heavy gale.

Men in general are not p.r.o.ne to meditate very deeply on what is going on around them beyond the reach of their own vision. This is natural and right to some extent. If we were to be deeply touched by the joys, sorrows, calamities, and incidents that at all times affect humanity, we should cease to enjoy existence. Life would become a burden. The end of our creation would not be attained. Yet there is an evil of an opposite kind which often mars our usefulness, and makes us unconsciously partic.i.p.ators in acts of injustice. This evil is, partial ignorance of, and indifference to, much that goes on around us beyond the range of our vision, but which nevertheless claims our attention and regard.

Every one who reflects will admit that it is pleasant to think, when we retire to rest, that a splendid system of police renders our home a place of safety, and that, although there are villains more than enough who would do their best to get at our purses and plate, we need not make ourselves uneasy so long as the stout guardians of the night are on the beat. Do we not congratulate ourselves on this? and do we not pay the police-tax without grumbling, or at least with less grumbling than we vent when paying other taxes?

Should it, good reader, be less a subject of pleasant contemplation that, when the midnight storm threatens to burst upon our sh.o.r.es, there are men abroad who are skilled in the perilous work of s.n.a.t.c.hing its prey from the raging sea; that, when the howling gale rattles our windows and shakes our very walls, inducing us perchance to utter the mental prayer, "G.o.d have mercy on all who are on the sea this night,"

that then--at that very time--the heroes of our coast are abroad all round the kingdom; strong in the possession of dauntless hearts and iron frames, and ready to plunge at any moment into the foaming sea to the rescue of life or property?

Who can say, during any storm, that he may not be personally interested in the efforts of those heroes?

We knew a family, the members of which, like those of all the other families in the land, listened to the howling of that fearful storm which covered our sh.o.r.es with wrecks on the 25th of November, 1859.

Their thoughts were sad and anxious, as must be the case, more or less, with all who reflect that in such nights hundreds of human beings are _certainly_ peris.h.i.+ng on our sh.o.r.es. But ah! what would the feelings of that family have been had they known--as they soon came to know--that two stalwart brothers of their own went down that night among the 450 human beings who perished in the wreck of the "Royal Charter?"

In regard to the "Royal Charter," it may be truly said that there was no necessity for the loss of that vessel. G.o.d did not send _direct_ destruction upon her. The engines were too weak to work her off the land in the face of the gale, and the cables could not hold her. These were among the causes of her loss. And when she did get ash.o.r.e, every life might have been saved had there been a lifeboat or rocket apparatus at hand. We know not why there were neither; but may it not have been because lifeboats and rockets are not sufficiently numerous all along our sh.o.r.es? How many bleeding hearts there were that would have given drops of their life-blood to have provided the means of saving life on the coast of Anglesea on that terrible night! A few small coins given at an earlier date might have saved those lives! No individual in the land, however far removed from the coast, can claim exemption from the dangers of the sea. His own head may indeed lie safe from the raging billow, but at any moment the sea may grasp some loved one, and thus wreck his peace of mind, or engulf his property and wreck his fortune.

Why, then, should not the whole nation take the affairs of the coast nearer to its heart? The Lifeboat Inst.i.tution is not supported by taxation like our police force. It depends on the charity of the people. Don't you think, reader, that it has a strong claim on the sympathies, the prayers, and the purse of every living soul in the kingdom? But to return, with many apologies, from this digression.

Guy Foster noted the peculiar appearance of the clouds, and concluded that "something was brewing." All along the sh.o.r.es stout men in glazed and tarry garments noted the same appearances, and also concluded that it would be dirty weather before long. The lifeboat men, too, were on the _qui vive_; and, doubtless, the c.o.xswain of each boat, from John o'

Groat's to the Land's-end, was overhauling his charge to see that all was right and in readiness for instant service.

"It's going to blow to-night, Bax," said Guy, on entering the hovel of the former.

"So 'tis," replied Bax, who was standing beside his friends Bluenose and Tommy Bogey, watching old Jeph, as he busied himself with the model of his lifeboat.

Jeph said that in his opinion it was going to be a regular nor'-easter, and Bluenose intimated his adherence to the same opinion, with a slap on his thigh, and a huge puff of smoke.

"You're long about that boat, Jeph," said Bluenose, after a pause, during which he scanned the horizon with a telescope.

"So I am. It ain't easy to carry out the notion."

"An' wot may the notion be?" inquired Bluenose, sitting down on a coil of rope, and gazing earnestly at the old man.

"To get lifeboats to right themselves w'en they're upset," replied Jeph, regarding his model with a look of perplexity. "You see it's all very well to have 'em filled with air-chambers, which prevents 'em from sinkin'; but w'en they're upset, d'ye see, they ain't o' no use till they gets on their keels again; and that ain't easy to manage. Now I've bin thinkin' that if we wos to give 'em more sheer, and raise the stem and stern a bit, they'd turn over natural-like, of their own accord."

"I do believe they would," said Bax. "Why, what put that into yer head, old man?"

"Well, it ain't altogether my own notion," said Jeph, "for I've heard, when I was in the port o' Leith, many years ago, that a clergyman o' the name of Bremer had made a boat o' this sort in the year 1792, that answered very well; but, somehow or other, it never came to anything.

There's nothin' that puzzles me so much as that," said the old man, looking up with a wondering expression of countenance. "I don't understand how, w'en a good thing is found out, it ain't made the most of _at once_! I never could discover exactly what Mr Bremer's plan was, so I'm tryin' to invent one."

As he said this, Jeph placed the model on which he was engaged in a small tub of water which stood at his elbow. Guy, who was much interested in the old man's idea, bent over him to observe the result of the experiment. Tommy Bogey sat down beside the tub as eagerly as if he expected some wonderful transformation to take place. Bax and Bluenose also looked on with unusual interest, as if they felt that a crisis in the experimental labours of their old comrade had arrived.

"It floats first-rate on an even keel," cried Tommy, with a pleased look as the miniature boat moved slowly round its little ocean, "now then, capsize it."

Old Jeph quietly put his finger on the side of the little boat, and turned it upside down. Instead of remaining in that position it rolled over on one side so much, that the onlookers fully expected to see it right itself, and Tommy gave vent to a premature cheer, but he cut it suddenly short on observing that the boat remained on its side with one of the gunwales immersed, unable to attain an even keel in consequence of the weight of water inside of it.