CHAPTER III.
A WHOLE HOLIDAY.
To what boy or girl does not the promise of a whole holiday convey asort of Fortunatus' purse of anticipated enjoyment! I used to wonder--Iremember wondering that very day after Aleck's arrival, when I had themost enjoyable whole holiday I ever spent--why grown-up people whoalways had them should seem so indifferent to their privileges, writingit down upon the secret tablets of my resolve, that when _I_ grew upthings should be very different with me.
My cousin and I sat side by side at the breakfast-table in a vehementimpulse of boyish affection, so completely taken up with each other thatI for one never remember noticing any one else during the progress ofthe meal, except when once I caught a wistful look from my aunt, andheard her saying, in a rather sorrowful low voice, to my mother,--
"I am very thankful to see our boys take to each other; it is quite aload off my mind that Aleck should be with you instead of being left atschool."
"Won't Aleck come too?" I asked my mother, when she summoned me to ourusual Bible-reading after breakfast.
"Not whilst his own mamma is here," was the answer; and I was obliged torest content. But the moment I had put away my Bible, I flew off insearch of him, eagerly explaining that we were to do what we liked forthe whole of the morning, and sketching out a plan for our amusementsuch as I thought would be pleasant to him:--
"First, we must go over the whole house--you've only seen a little bitof it yet--and the kitchen-garden and the stables, and then down theZig-zag to old George's, and we'll get him to go out with us in theboat. It's smooth enough to sail the 'Fair Alice'--that's a little yachtof mine that old George gave me."
Aleck's face brightened. "May you go out in a boat when you like?" heasked, eagerly. "Oh, how _de_-light-ful!"
How we careered over the house that morning, visiting every nook andcorner of it, from the "leads" on the roof; accessible only by a ladderand trap-door, to the most hidden repositories in the housekeeper'sdomain! The servants good naturedly remarked I had gone crazy. PresentlyI bade Aleck shut his eyes, and submit to my guidance blindfold, whilstI led him to the only room he had not been in. We passed through severalpassages, and then I went forward, tapped at a door, and finding I mightcome in, fetched Aleck, still with eyes shut.
"There now, you may look," I exclaimed, watching in a satisfied mannerthe astonishment with which he opened his eyes to find himself in thestudy, and his confusion on seeing my father seated at the library tablenear the window, surrounded by books and papers.
"Oh, uncle," he exclaimed, "I did not know I was in your room!"
"And are very much startled at finding yourself there," said my father,finishing his sentence for him. "What shall we do with the culprit,Willie? Prosecute him according to the utmost rigour of the law, andsentence him to a year's imprisonment at Braycombe, with hard labour,under Mr. Glengelly and old George!"
"I think that would be a very good punishment," I answered, "only Ishould like it to be more than a year."
"See what a cruel fellow your cousin is," said my father, getting upfrom his chair, and proceeding to take Aleck round the room, showing himvarious curiosities with which I was familiar; then he sat down again,and keeping Aleck at his side, told him that so long as he remained atBraycombe he was to feel as much at home, and as welcome to the study asI was, and that he was to try and trust him as he could his own father,until we all had the joy of welcoming his parents home again.
"Famous chats we get here sometimes, eh, Willie?" he concluded,appealing to me.
"_Rather!_" I answered emphatically, seating myself on the arm of hischair, and looking over his shoulder. "Papa, shall you have time toplay with us this afternoon. It's a whole holiday. I want you to verymuch."
"I fear not, Willie. I must be away all the morning. Peter the Greatwill be at the door to carry me off in another minute, and I must keepthe afternoon for your uncle and aunt. To-morrow afternoon I will giveyou an hour, only I stipulate you must have mercy upon your old father,and not expect him to climb trees like a squirrel, or run like a hare."
"You know you're not an _old_ father, papa," I said; "and, Aleck, papacan run quite fast--faster than anybody else I ever saw, and he climbsbetter than anybody else. He's been up the tree I showed you in theavenue."
"Whatever papa's qualifications may be," my father observed, "the end ofthe matter just at present is, that Rickson is coming round with thehorses, and I cannot keep his imperial majesty waiting."
"What does uncle do?" inquired my cousin after we had been to the doorand had seen my father mount and ride away on Peter the Great.
"Papa! oh, he does quantities of things," I replied, somewhat vaguely.
"What kind of things?"
I proceeded to enumerate them promiscuously:--
"Why, he's a magistrate, and tries cases at Elmworth, and sends peopleto prison; and he goes to a hospital twice every week at Elmworth, andhe goes to see poor people--we often have some from the hospital downhere; and he always has quantities of letters; and he reads to mamma;and, do you know, he once wrote a book--"
I paused, not so much because I had exhausted the list of my father'semployments, as because I had named that achievement which of all othersfilled me with the deepest awe and reverence. I could remember how, whenI was four years old, my mother had lifted me up to see a volume on thecounter of the great bookseller's shop at Elmworth, and had let me spellthrough the name "Grant" on the title-page. I felt as if I had risen inlife, and looked upon books in general with a feeling of personalfriendship, as from one behind the scenes, from that day; whilst,personally, I was much elated by the thought of what a very wonderfuland extraordinary man my father was. I was rather glad when Aleck toldme that he did not think his papa had ever written a book;--it made mefeel a little bit superior to him.
After going to the stables to see my pony, we proceeded to the Zig-zag,chattering fast the whole way. I was full of plans and projects, andanxious at once to interest my cousin in every one of them.
"You see," I explained, "there are quantities of things that we haven'tbeen able to do, because there's been only George and me; and he'salways had it to say that there were only us two, and that he was oldand I young, but he can't say that now."
"He doesn't seem so very old," remarked Aleck.
"I don't think he is," I answered, "but he's taught me to call him oldGeorge since I have been a baby; everybody else calls him Groves or Mr.Groves. Now there's one thing I want very much to begin, and that isdigging a hole right through the earth to come out at the other side,where, you know, we should find ourselves standing on our heads! Georgehas always kept putting off beginning. But haven't you heard of manypeople beginning to do something great when they were boys?"
"Yes," answered Aleck, musingly; "I have a book about wonderful boys,and one of them cut out a lion in butter, and another drew a pictureupon a stump of a tree; but I don't think we should be able to dig sovery far down--we should have to stop at last."
This unprejudiced opinion of my cousin's, adverse as it was to myfavourite scheme, was rather disappointing, but we were now engaged inthe excitement of descending the Zig-zag, so I had not leisure to thinkmuch about it.
"Isn't it a jolly way down?" I exclaimed. "Papa says it's two hundredfeet to that piece of rock down below."
"It's not steeper than our hills at home," said Aleck; "only we have notthe sea near us--oh, how I wish we had!"
Aleck was quite as good a scrambler as I was, so we were not long inreaching the lodge, where old George seemed to be on the watch for us,and welcomed us both with his wonted heartiness.
"Master told me you'd be coming down, young gentlemen, as he rode by,and that you were to go out as much as you liked in the boat; and soI've been telling my good wife she must keep the look-out for the gate.Ralph's coming along presently, and will be down at the Cove most assoon as we shall."
George wanted Aleck to go into the lodge and see certain objects ofinterest, which, to use his ow
n words, he "set _great store by_." But Iwas too eager to allow of this, and insisted upon our setting out atonce for the Cove. "I want to show him the greatest treasure I have ofall my treasures," I exclaimed.
"Is that the 'Fair Alice' you were telling me of?" asked Aleck.
"Yes; you'll see her presently," I replied; "and you won't wonder that Ilike her better than all my other things."
I led the way at once by a footpath from the lodge across the slopinggreen meadow, then through a little tangled copse, and finally a shortrocky descent to what was at Braycombe always styled _the_ Cove. Not butthat there were many coves on our beautiful indented coast, but this onewas the most accessible on our grounds. The boat-house and thebathing-box were both here; and here, too, as being within easy reach, Ihad from earliest years climbed and scrambled and explored, until everystone was almost as familiar as the letters of my alphabet; and I couldtell at what state of the tide certain rocks would be uncovered, andknew at a glance whether it would be safe to cross from one part toanother on stepping-stones, or whether, to reach a given spot, we mustgo round by the side of the hill. How I loved, and do love, every footof the ground, every stone, every rock, every silvery ripple of that themost charming of all possible play-grounds!
Thither, then, I led the way, Aleck following me closely, and Georgemore slowly behind.
"There now," I cried, drawing up breathlessly as we gained ourdestination, "see, that's my boat-house." It was an exact miniature ofthe real boat-house, and Aleck stood transfixed with admiration lookingat it; for of all things calculated for the amusement of children,nothing, I think, succeeds so well as real miniatures--imitations inproportion--of things which belong to the grown-up world. But the truekernel of the nut--the jewel of the case--was the elegant little modelyacht, which I presently drew forth from her moorings within.
"Now that's the 'Fair Alice,'" I continued; "isn't she lovely?"
"Awfully jolly," Aleck replied, after gazing for a moment in speechlessadmiration. "I never saw anything half so nice before! Oh, if only wewere small enough to get into it! Just look how beautifully the deck ismade--I can see all the little timbers; and the mast, it's nearly ashigh as I am; and those little pulleys--oh, how perfect they are!"
"You must see her with all her sails set, a-scudding before the breeze,Master Gordon," said George, overtaking us. "I reckon there's not acraft of her size that would beat her for speed."
"Can you do the sails?" my cousin asked me, regardless of nauticalphraseology.
"Master Willie! he knows as much as a sailor born about reefing andunreefing the sails," said George, answering for me.
"Then please do let us sail her at once. I do long to see her on thewater," begged Aleck.
And accordingly we two sat down, overlooked by George, who, from adelicate desire to show off my capacity to manage the sails alone,abstained from offering any help; and, drawing the boat up between us onthe beach, set the sails, and then proceeded to launch her upon theclear deep water of the Cove.
"This way now," I said to my cousin, when we saw that the breeze wasfilling the sails, and the "Fair Alice" was making her way out towardsthe mouth of the Cove. "Come and see my harbour bar;" and springingquickly from rock to rock, and running where there was sand, I guided mycousin to the entrance of the Cove, which was very narrow in proportionto the width and extent of the inlet. On each side of it there was a lowstake strongly fastened into the rock, and from stake to stake a ropewas stretched: it was long enough to lie along the bottom of theground, and so offer no impediment to the boats; but when I was sailingmy vessel in the Cove, and the tide was in, it was always stretched moretightly, so as to prevent the possibility of my little ship escapingfrom me into the wide sea.
"See," I said, "I have only to slip this ring over the stake, and then Ican feel quite sure the 'Fair Alice' is safe. She can't get past myharbour bar."
In the meantime the little yacht had kept her course nearly to theentrance of the Cove, but a sudden shifting of the wind landed her onthe opposite side, and I had to make my way all round to get her offagain. Aleck remained on his side of the Cove, and we amused ourselvesfor some time in contriving to get the little boat to sail backwards andforwards, tacking gradually down to the boat-house.
My cousin was so absorbed in the enjoyment of sailing the "Fair Alice,"that he was less eager about getting into our own boat for a sail thanat first. But by-and-by, when we were dancing over the waves outside theCove, he became quite wild with delight, and enjoyed himself, I verilybelieve, as much as is possible for a free, happy, eager boy; and thatis saying a great deal. Of course I caught the infection from him,finding a fresh delight in my ordinary amusements through having acompanion to share them; and, truly, a merrier boat's crew than we madeon that whole holiday morning could not have been found.
SAILING THE "FAIR ALICE."]
Aleck's love for the sea was an absorbing passion; and it quite amusedme to hear all the questions he kept putting to old George--as, forinstance, how old he was when he went to sea; how long before he went upthe mast; how they reefed the top-sails in his vessel, and which of theship's company did it in a gale; together with many other inquiries,showing a degree of technical knowledge that perfectly overwhelmed me,and which, he explained to us, was extracted from "The Cadet's Manual,"and a big book on "The Art of Navigation" which they had at home.
I almost wished my cousin did not know quite so much; it made me feel asthough the ten months were a longer and more important period than I hadadmitted to myself. But it was a relief, when the oars were called intoaction on our way in, to find that he could not row, whereas I hadhandled an oar almost as soon as I gave up a rattle; and, as I showedoff my best feathering, I felt we were equal again.
"How is it you can't row, sir, when you know so much about it?" askedGroves.
"Why, there are only streams and the river at my home in Scotland,"explained Aleck. "We're up amongst the hills, you know. I have oftenfished, but I've scarcely ever been in a boat before, except when we'vebeen travelling; and then it was going out to the steamer, and Imightn't do anything but sit still. It was famous, though, in thesteamer," continued Aleck, kindling with the recollection of hisjourney. "I went down, and saw how the engine worked; and helped the manat the wheel; and learned about the compass--at least, I knew the pointsbefore, but it was different seeing how to steer by it. Only I liked thestoker the best. I had just gone down again with him to the engine-room,to see the engine stopped, and pulled off my jacket because it was sohot; and then the steam was let off, and made such a noise! Just whenthere was all the noise of the steam, I heard somebody shouting my name,and calling so loudly to me that I ran up to the deck at once. I hadquite forgotten about not having my jacket on, and I believe my face hadgot blacked--it was, I know, when we got on shore. Everybody laughed atme; only mamma was poorly and frightened--she thought I had tumbledoverboard. I suppose I oughtn't to have gone down just then, for thatwas the place where we were to go on shore," Aleck added, somewhatthoughtfully, remembering how very white was the face to which his ownblackened one had been pressed.
By this time we were re-entering the Cove.
"You'll only be just in time for your dinner, young gentlemen," saidGeorge, as we drew in towards the landing-place; "I reckon it won't comea minute before you're ready for it."
"You'll teach me to row, will you not, as soon as possible?" said mycousin, as we parted. "I should like to begin at once, please."
"So soon as you like, sir. Master Willie, you mustn't be long inbringing down your cousin."
Thus saying, Groves took his way to the lodge, and Aleck and I clamberedquickly up the Zig-zag, reaching home in time to appear, with smoothhair, and rosy cheeks, and keen appetites, at the luncheon-table.
Aleck was in wild spirits, and confided to me that he didn't think hehad ever enjoyed himself so much before.