Captain Fancourt took his departure from Portsmouth to commission the
_Triton_, promising to send for Harry as soon as the frigate was
sufficiently advanced to give a midshipman anything to do on board.
"I will ride by a single anchor, so as to be ready to slip at a moment's
notice," answered Harry.
Harry recollected his engagement to take a cruise in Adam Halliburt's
boat.
"Come, Algernon," he said to his elder brother, a tall, slight youth,
three or four years his senior, with remarkably refined manners, "you
would enjoy a trip to sea for a few hours in the _Nancy_. It would give
you something to talk about when you go to college, and you have never
been on salt water in your life."
"Thank you," said Algernon. "I do not wish to gain my first experience
of sea life in a fishing boat."
"I want to see how these fishermen live, and I should have been glad of
your company," answered Harry; "but perhaps you would find it rather too
rough a life for your taste, so I will go alone, and to-morrow when I
return I will ride with you wherever you like."
Harry, after luncheon, set off on his pony to Hurlston, while Algernon
accompanied his mother and the two Miss Pembertons in the carriage to
the same village, where they wished to look at a cottage which Sir
Reginald had told them was to be let, and which they had proposed,
should it suit them, to take. They were much pleased with its
appearance. It stood on the higher ground above the village, surrounded
by shrubberies, in an opening through which a view of the sea was
obtained. On one side was a pretty flower-garden, and as Miss Pemberton
led her sister through the rooms and about the grounds describing the
place, they agreed that had it been built for them they could not have
been more thoroughly satisfied. Mr Groocock therefore received
directions to secure Downside Cottage, and they determined to occupy it
as soon as it could be got ready for them.
Sir Reginald, on hearing of the decision of the Miss Pembertons, invited
them to remain in the meantime at Texford, where he hoped, even after
they were settled, they would become constant visitors.
"I am getting an old man now, and as I cannot hunt or attend to my
magisterial duties, I am grateful to friends who will come and see me,
and you have only to send over a note and my carriage will be at your
disposal."
Miss Pemberton assured Sir Reginald that one of their chief inducements
in taking the cottage was to be near a kinsman whom they so greatly
esteemed.
Mrs Castleton the next morning had become anxious at the non-appearance
of Harry. She had not heard of his intention of remaining out during
the night till Algernon told her. He agreed to ride down to Hurlston to
ascertain if the boat had returned, and as the Miss Pembertons wished to
pay another visit to the cottage, the carriage was ordered and Mrs
Castleton accompanied them.
The weather, as it frequently does in our variable English climate, had
suddenly changed by the morning, and although it had been calm during
the night, by the time the ladies reached Hurlston a strong east wind
sent the surf rolling up on the beach in a way which to the ladies,
unaccustomed to the sea-side, appeared very terrible. Algernon, who was
on horseback, met them.
"The boat Harry went out in has not come back," he observed; "but as the
fishing-boats generally return about this hour, she will probably soon
be in."
Mrs Castleton, her anxiety increased by the appearance of the weather,
begged her companions to wait.
"Is that the boat?" she asked, pointing to a sail approaching the shore.
"I think not--that seems a large vessel," answered Algernon, and he rode
towards the pier, where a number of people were collected, while others
were coming from various directions. There seemed some excitement among
them. They were watching the ship observed by Mrs Castleton, which, in
the distance, had to her appeared so small, though in reality a large
brig.
"She brought up an hour ago in the roads, but only just now made sail
again," was the answer to Algernon's question. "As she is standing for
the mouth of the river she is probably leaky, and her crew are afraid of
not keeping her afloat in the heavy sea now running."
Algernon watched the brig, which, under a press of canvas, came tearing
along towards the mouth of the harbour; and as she drew nearer the jets
of water issuing from her scuppers showed that his informant was correct
in his opinion. She laboured heavily, and it seemed doubtful whether
she could be kept afloat long enough to run up the harbour.
The larger fishing-boats were away, but two or three smaller ones were
got ready to go out to her assistance, though with the sea then rolling
in there would be considerable danger in doing so.
At length the brig drew near enough to allow the people on board to be
easily distinguished. The master stood conning the vessel--the crew
were at their stations. So narrow was the entrance that the greatest
care and skill were required to hit it. Algernon heard great doubts
expressed among the spectators as to the stranger being able to get in.
In a few seconds more, a sea bearing her on, she seemed about to rush
into the harbour, when a crash was heard, the water washed over her
deck, both the masts fell, and her hull, swinging round, blocked up the
entrance. The men on shore rushed to their boats to render assistance
to the unfortunate crew, but as the foaming seas washed them off the
deck, the current which ran out of the river swept them away, and though
so close to land, in sight of their fellow-creatures, not one of the
hapless men was rescued.
Algernon could not repress a cry of horror.
"Oh, what will become of Harry?" exclaimed Mrs Castleton, when she saw
what had occurred.
"I trust he is safe with an experienced fisherman like old Halliburt,"
answered Algernon. "I wish, mother, you would return home. I will
bring you word as soon as he comes back."
Mrs Castleton, however, could not be persuaded to leave the shore.
At length several tiny sails were seen in the distance, and were
pronounced by the people on the pier to be the returning fishing-boats.
Some were seen standing away to the north to land apparently in that
direction, while three steered for Hurlston.
In consequence of the mouth of the river being blocked up, Algernon
found that the boats would have to run on the beach, all of them being
built of a form to do this, although those belonging to Hurlston could
usually take shelter in their harbour.
As the boats drew near, signals were made to warn them of what had
occurred. The people in the leading boat, either not understanding the
signal or fancying that there would be still room to get up the harbour,
kept on, and only when close to it perceived what had occurred. On this
the boat hauled her wind and attempted to stand off, so as to take the
beach in the proper fashion, but a sea caught her and drove her bodily
on the sands, rolling her over and sending the people struggling in the
surf.
The men on shore rushed forward to help their friends.
Mrs Castleton shrieked out with terror, supposing that Harry was in the
boat.
Algernon, who was not destitute of courage, rode his horse into the surf
and succeeded in dragging out a man who was on the point of being
carried off. Again he went in and saved another in the same way,
looking anxiously round for Harry. He was nowhere to be seen, and to
his relief he found that the _Nancy_ was one of the sternmost boats.
Two poor fellows in the boat were carried away, notwithstanding all the
efforts made to secure them. Much of the boat's gear was lost, and she
herself was greatly damaged.
"Which is the _Nancy_?" inquired Algernon, round whom several people
were collected, eager to thank him for the courage he had just
displayed.
She was pointed out to him. On she came under a close-reefed sail.
Adam, probably suspecting that something was wrong by having seen the
boat haul up to get off the shore, was on the look-out for signals.
The second boat came on shore, narrowly escaping the fate of the first.
Still the _Nancy_ was to come. She was seen labouring on amid the
foaming seas. Now she sank into the trough of a huge wave, which rose
up astern and robed in with foam-covered crest, curling over as if about
to overwhelm her. Another blast filled her sails, and just escaping the
huge billow which came roaring astern, the next moment, surrounded by a
mass of hissing waters, she was carried high up on the beach. Most of
her active crew instantly leaped out, and joined by their friends on
shore, began hauling her up the beach, when another sea rolling in
nearly carried them off their legs. Harry, however, who had remained in
the stern of the boat with Halliburt, leaped on shore at the moment the
waters receded and escaped with a slight wetting.
As they made their way up the beach, a fair-haired, blue-eyed little
girl ran out from among the crowd and threw herself, regardless of
Adam's dripping garments, into his arms.
"Maidy May so glad you safe," she exclaimed, as the fisherman bestowed a
kiss on her brow. "We afraid the cruel sea take you away."
"There was no great danger of that, my little maiden," answered Adam,
putting her down. She then ran towards Jacob and bestowed the same
affectionate greeting on him. Holding his hands, she tried to draw him
away from the surf, as if afraid that, disappointed of its prey, it
might still carry him off.
Harry remarked the reception the fisherman and his son met with from the
interesting-looking child, and he never forgot those bright blue eyes
and the animated expression of that lovely countenance.
Summoned by his brother, he now hastened to assure his mother of his
safety.
"My dear boy, we have been very anxious about you," exclaimed Mrs
Castleton, as he came up; "and I do hope that you will not go off again
in one of those horrible little fishing-boats; you run dangers enough
when on board ship in your professional duty without exposing yourself
to unnecessary risk."
"I assure you I have been in no danger whatever, except, perhaps, when
the boat was running in for the beach," answered Harry, laughing. "When
we went off we did not expect to have to do that, and I am very sorry
that you should have been anxious about me. However, I promise to
remain quietly on shore till I am summoned to join my ship, and as I am
somewhat damp, I will get my pony, which I left at the Castleton Arms in
the village, and ride home with Algernon." The ladies accordingly,
re-entering the carriage, drove towards Texford, and Harry and his
brother followed soon afterwards.