FIRST SIGHT OF THE SEA.
IT was vain for Mrs. Dryden to warn her boys against over-excitement as
they travelled west. From the moment when they left Paddington until
they alighted at the little Cornish station they were in high spirits,
and they greatly amused their fellow-passengers.
"Where is the coach for Trevethick?" Duke demanded with a lordly air,
as he sprang on to the platform almost before the train had stopped.
A tall, thin porter, sauntering in a leisurely way along the platform,
looked at him calmly, but made no reply as he moved forward to open a
carriage door.
Many other passengers were on the platform, and the chief concern of
all was their luggage.
The platform was soon littered with a rich variety of trunks and
portmanteaux, which were gradually sorted into family groups. Duke
hunted for the small box which contained his own and Noel's slender
outfit.
Just as he had made up his mind that it was lost, the guard tumbled it
out of his van on to the platform, shouting to a porter as the train
started and he swung himself into it, "The two little chaps will be met
at the Golden Lion."
"Two little chaps!" Duke's dignity was seriously impaired. Noel might
be a "little chap," but everyone said what a tall, big fellow Duke was
for his age.
Noel, meanwhile, had been looking round and had discovered, amid
various private and hired vehicles waiting outside the station, a small
country omnibus to which were harnessed three tall, bony horses.
"I believe it goes to Trevethick," he said to Duke as he drew his
attention to the conveyance. The porters were beginning to load the top
with luggage, while a short, square, red-faced man standing by the gate
shouted instructions.
"Oh, we're not going in that," said Duke; then turning to one of the
porters, he asked again, "Where is the coach for Trevethick?"
"There he be," said the man, jerking his head towards the conveyance.
"But that isn't a coach," said Duke.
"Baint it?" said the man. "Then I reckon he'll have to do instid of
one."
"How funnily they talk!" whispered Noel to his brother. "Why does he
say 'he,' when he means the bus?"
Duke did not reply. He was wondering how all the luggage scattered
round it was to be packed on to the omnibus. It seemed somewhat of a
puzzle to the men engaged on the task.
The other vehicles had started off and the porters were now anxious
to get off "the coach," as they termed it. They placed and replaced
the boxes, while the red-faced man shouted somewhat contradictory
directions and bystanders made suggestions.
"'Eave 'im up a bit, Joe. Put the littl'un atop. Not that way, t'other
side up. Mind that hatbox. All right, sir, that won't hurt. Safe,
ma'am? As safe as the baby's cradle."
Nearly half an hour slipped by ere all the luggage was piled up and
secured by a rope. Then the passengers took their places, six inside
and nine on the top. There was room for two on each side of the driver,
and five occupied the bench behind him.
Duke watched them take their places with some dismay.
"We want to go to the Golden Lion," he said to the red-faced man, who
proved to be the driver; "will there be room for us?"
"Don't you be afraid, sonny," he replied; "there'll be abundance of
room for you and t'other little chap. You don't want a whole coach to
yourselves, do you?"
"Now, if you please," he shouted to his passengers, "you can make room
there for a littl'un." So saying he helped Duke to clamber up, and
pushed him with little ceremony into the middle of the back row.
Then he lifted Noel on to the box, mounted behind him and took the
reins. Noel was squeezed into about six inches of space between the
driver and a fat-faced burly man who leaned over him as he talked so
that the small boy could see little more than the horses with their
blinkers saw. But he could see them and observe how they responded to
whip and reins and the driver's words. Duke, who sat higher, could see
the tall hedges, which promised a rich harvest of blackberries and
nuts, and waved sweet tendrils of honeysuckle high above the reach of
the passer-by.
When they had gone several miles the driver drew up his horses at the
foot of a very steep hill and requested the passengers to walk up it.
He told Duke and Noel, however, to stop where they were. For this they
were grateful, for, released from their cramped position, they could
talk to one another, and from the top of the vehicle they caught a
splendid view of the country through which they were passing.
Presently, as the road wound about and the horses climbed higher, a cry
of rapture broke from Noel.
"Oh, look! Look, Duke! The sea!"
To the left lay a narrow green glen with a stream rippling through
it. Beyond it rose mighty cliffs which, falling asunder, framed an
exquisite view of the deep blue sea.
"Hurrah!" cried Duke. "There it is! What a glorious sea! Look, Noel,
how the waves foam at the top! That shows the sea is rough."
"Ay, and it most always is rough along this coast," remarked the
driver. "You young gentlemen must not think of bathing alone, for it is
not safe. There are treacherous undercurrents in places, and I've known
even good swimmers swept away by them. Whoa, now—whoa!"
Noel with a sigh resigned himself to being crushed and squeezed by the
big man, who came back more talkative than ever. The boy had taken a
strong dislike to this man, who spoke in a thick husky voice.
"Is that Egloshayle House I see there?" he asked presently. "Just a bit
of a roof amongst the trees?"
"Ay, that's it," said the driver; "we can see it from here, though
we're more than three miles from it by the road."
Noel tried in vain to look in the direction indicated by the driver's
whip; he was unable to turn his head far enough.
"The twin brothers still live there, I suppose?" said the other man.
"Ay, but they're not at home now. Went off this very mornin' to furrin
parts."
"What—the cracky one too!"
The driver nodded. "'Tain't likely his brother would leave him behind."
"Is he really as mad as folks say?"
"Not likely," returned the driver; "I never knew folks tell the truth
yet. They say that he's a miser, and hides his money in out-of-the-way
places; and goes to count it when other folks are sleeping. They'll
tell you he haunts the rocks at night, and is a sort of wizard, or
something uncanny; but don't you believe it! I don't."
"They're very rich, ain't they?" said the big man. "Is the brother
miserly too?"
"Not he," replied the driver. "Mr. Oscar Torrington is as open-handed
as his brother's the opposite. I don't suppose he's over rich; but he
gave a hundred pounds to the Trevethick Lifeboat Fund, and he lets the
widow of a man who was drowned last year live in one of his cottages
rent-free."
"Oh, he's a good fellow; but his brother has got his crotchets—a bit
here, you know—" he touched his forehead—"there's no denying that."
"Do they live alone?" asked the man.
"They've no one belonging to them, if that's what you mean; but a lady
keeps house for them, and a real nice lady she is too. What is the
matter, sonny? A bit squeezed-eh?"
Noel in his excitement at hearing his mother thus mentioned was making
frantic attempts to get his arms free that he might signal to Duke. He
blushed and became very still; but only for a few moments. The horses
were turning a corner. Two or three cottages came into sight, together
with a quaint old inn, distinguished by a sign bearing a bold and
extraordinary painting of a lion.
But Noel did not observe this curious representation of the king of
beasts. His eyes fell on a lady who stood a few paces from the inn,
gazing eagerly up the road.
"Oh, there's mother—mother!" he cried, forgetting his shyness in the
rapture of the moment. "Duke, do you see? There's mother!"
"You don't mean to say she's your mother!" said the driver. "Well, to
be sure!"