toMcBain, "that our friends are enjoying themselves; but you won't fail tonotice Rory's closing sentence, in which he says that, in the very midstof all the brightness and beauty so lavishly spread around him, he isofttimes longing to visit once more the strange, mysterious regionsaround the Pole."
"And you have never written a word to him about our new ship and ourpurposed voyage?" inquired McBain.
"Never a word," cried Ralph, laughing. "You see, I want to keep that asecret till the very last. Oh, fancy, McBain, how wild with glee bothRory and Allan will be when they find that the splendid ship is builtand ready, and that we but wait for the return of spring to carry usonce more away to the far north again."
"I'd like to see Rory's face," said McBain, smiling, "when you break thenews to him."
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Just six weeks after this quiet little _tete-a-tete_ dinner on the bankof the Highland lake, a very important-looking and fussy little tug-boatcome puff-puffing up the Clyde from seaward, towing in a large andpretty yacht; her sails were clewed, and her yards squared, andeverything looked trig and trim, not only about her, but on board ofher. The blue ensign floated proudly from her staff; her crew weredressed in true yachting rig, and her decks were white as the drivensnow.
An elderly lady with snow-white hair paced slowly up and down thequarter-deck, leaning lightly on the arm of a tall and gentlemanly manof mature age. In a lounge chair right aft, and abreast of thebinnacle, a fair young girl was reclining, book in lap, but not reading;she was engaged in pleasant conversation with a youth who sat on acamp-stool not far off, while another who leant upon the taffrail gazingshorewards frequently turned towards them, to put in his oar with a wordor two. He was taller than the former and apparently a year or twoolder. He was probably more manly in appearance and build, butcertainly not better-looking. Both were tanned with the tropical sun,and both were dressed alike in a kind of sailor uniform of navy blue.
"Yes, Rory," the girl was saying, "I must confess that I do feel glad toget back again to Scotland, much though I have enjoyed our cruise andall our strange adventures around that wild and beautiful coast. Oh! Ido not wonder at your being fond of the sea. If I were a man I feelsure I would be a sailor."
"And here we are," replied Rory, with pleasure beaming from his bright,laughing eyes, "within three miles of Glasgow. And, you know, Ralph ishere; how delighted he will be to meet us all again! I really wonder hedid not come with us."
But Ralph was very much nearer to them at that moment than they had anyidea of.
"Helen Edith," cried Allan at that moment, "and you, Rory, do come andhave a look at this beautiful steam barque on the stocks."
Both Helen and Rory were by his side in a moment.
"She is a beauty indeed," said Rory, enthusiastically. "There are linesfor you! There is shape! Fancy that craft in the water! Look at thebeautiful rake that even her funnel has! But is she a man-o'-war, Iwonder?"
"More like a despatch boat, I should say," said Allan. "Look, she ispierced for guns."
Allan was right about the guns, for just as he spoke a balloon-shapedcloud of white smoke rose slowly up from her side, and almostsimultaneously the roar of a big gun came over the water and died awayin a hundred echoes among the rocks and hills. Another and anotherfollowed in slow and measured succession, until they had countedfourteen.
"It is saluting they are," said Allan; "but they surely cannot besaluting us; and yet there is no other craft of any consequence comingup the water."
"But I feel sure," said Helen, "it is some one bidding us welcome. Andsee, they dip the flag."
The yacht's flag was now dipped in return, but still the mysteryremained unravelled.
But it does not remain so long.
For see, the yacht is now almost abreast of the new ship, and the decksof the latter are crowded with wildly cheering men. Ay, and yonder,beside the flagstaff, is Ralph himself, with McBain by his side, wavingtheir hats in the air.
The good people on the yacht are for a minute rendered dumb withastonishment, but only for a minute; then the air is rent with theirshouts as they give back cheer for cheer.
"Och! deed in troth," cried Rory, losing all control of his Englishaccent, "it's myself that is bothered entoirely. Is it my head or myheels that I'm standing on? for never a morsel of me knows! Is itdreaming I am? Allan, boy, can't you tell me? Just look at the name onthe stern of the beautiful craft."
Allan himself was dumb with astonishment to behold, in broad letters ofgold the words, "The Arrandoon."
CHAPTER THREE.
RETROSPECTION--RALPH'S HOME IN ENGLAND--A HEARTY IF NOT POETIC WELCOME.
Many of my readers have met with the heroes of this tale before [in the"Cruise of the Snowbird," by the same Author and Publishers], butdoubtless some have not; and as it is always well to know at least alittle of the _dramatis personae_ of a story beforehand, the many mustin the present instance give place to the few. They must either,therefore, listen politely to a little epitomised repetition, or sitquietly aside with their fingers in their ears for the space of fiveminutes. But, levity apart, I shall be as brief as brevity itself.
Which of our heroes shall we start with first? Allan? Yes, simplybecause his initial letter stands first on the alphabetic list.
Allan McGregor is a worthy Scot.
We met him for the first time several years prior to the date of thistale; met him in the company of his foster-father, met him in a wildlypicturesque Highland glen, called Glentruim, at the castle of Arrandoon.It was midwinter; the young man's southern friends, Ralph Leigh andRory Elphinston, were coming to see him and live with him for a time,and right welcomely were they received, all the more in that they hadnarrowly escaped losing their lives in the snow.
Allan was--and so remains--the chieftain of his clan, his father havingdied years before, sword in hand, on a bloodstained redoubt in India,leaving to his only son's care an encumbered estate, a mother and onedaughter, Edith, or Helen Edith.
The young chief was poor and proud, but he dearly loved his widowedmother, his beautiful sister, the romantic old castle, and the glen thathad reared him from his boyhood; and how he wished and longed to be ableto better the position of the former and the condition of the latter,none but he could tell or say. Allan was brave--his clan isproverbially so; his soul was deeply imbued with the spirit of religion,and, it must be added, just slightly tinged with superstition--asuperstition born of the mountain mists and the stern, romantic scenery,where he had lived for the greater part of his lifetime.
Ralph Leigh was the son of a once wealthy baronet, and had just finishedhis education.
Rory Elphinston was an orphan, who owned estates in the west of Ireland,from which property, however, he seldom realised the rents. Like Ralph,Rory was fond of adventure, and ready and willing to do anything honestand worthy to earn that needful dross called gold; and when, oneevening, McBain hinted at the wealth that lay ungathered in theinhospitable lands around the Pole, and of the many wild adventures tobe met with in those regions, the relation fired the youthful blood ofthe trio. The boys clubbed together, as most boys might, and bought asmall yacht. Small as she was, however, in her, under the able tuitionof McBain, they were taught seamanship and discipline, and they becameenamoured of the sea and longed to possess a larger ship, in which theymight go in quest of adventures in far-off foreign lands.
Now Ralph's father, poor though he was, was very fond--and perhaps evena little proud--of his son; he would, therefore, not refuse him anythingin reason he could afford. He rejoiced to see him happy. The goodyacht _Snowbird_ was therefore bought, and in it our brave boys sailedaway to the far north. The narrative of their adventures by sea andland is duly recorded in "The Cruise of the Snowbird." You may seek forthem there if you wish to read of them; if not, there is little harmdone.
The _Snowbird_ returned at last, if not really rich, yet with whatsailors call an excellent general
cargo, quite sufficient for each ofthem to realise a tolerably large sum of money from. Every shilling ofhis share Allan had expended in improving the glen, with its cottagesand sheep farms, and the dear old castle itself. But, meanwhile, Ralphhad fallen into a large fortune, and found himself possessed of richestates, and a splendid old mansion in --shire, England. He might havemarried now, and settled quietly down for life as a country squire,enjoying to the full all the pleasures and luxuries that health combinedwith wealth are capable of bringing to their possessors. Ah! but thenthe spirit of the rover had entered into him; he had learned to loveadventure for the sake of itself, and to love a life on the ocean wave.
Loving a life on the ocean wave, he might, had he so chosen, have had avery pleasant cruise with his friends, had he gone with them in