The days flew by; the spring returned; Ralph completely recovered his
strength, and renewed his daily visits to his tutor; while Lilly,
unaided, pursued her own studies with unwavering steadiness, and
employed herself in calling, with her aunt, on some of the surrounding
families of their own rank, in riding, sketching, in visiting the poor
in the neighbourhood, and in doing good to all around as far as she had
the power. Doctor Morison called her his bright intelligence, and said
that he considered her a ministering angel, sent into their district to
awaken these people from the Boetian lethargy into which they had sunk.
Lilly, however, did not hear these compliments. Had she, her reply
would have been that she was only doing what she knew to be right.
Ralph occasionally joined his cousin in her occupations. Sometimes he
rode with her, and sat by her side while she sketched; and he even
condescended to carry her basket when she visited the cottages of their
poor neighbours. He was rising, though he was not aware of it, in their
estimation, and many expressed a belief that he would turn out well
after all. To be sure, he would occasionally cast that hope to the
ground by some outbreak of temper and violence of language. Lilly was
often almost in despair, but she remembered her motto, "We must try
before we can do," and so she determined to try on.
It must not be supposed that she had distinctly said to herself, "I will
set to work to give my cousin good principles, or to reform my cousin."
The nearest approach was to think, "I wish that anything I could say or
do would make Ralph give up some of his bad habits, and to act as I am
sure he ought."
Still, had she clearly seen all the difficulties of the task which she
had in reality, although unknowingly, undertaken, she would not have
shrunk from it. "It would be so delightful to have Cousin Ralph what he
ought to be," she said, over and over again, to herself.
She undoubtedly was setting properly about the work by gently leading
him into the right way. He had too undisciplined a mind to be reasoned
with, and had been too much indulged to be driven.
Ralph had since his recovery taken a great fancy for rowing. A broad
stream passed at no great distance from the Hall, which ultimately fell
into a rapid river. Ralph had persuaded his father to have a small boat
built for him, which he could manage by himself. He had hitherto had
but little practice; he had, however, learned to pull sufficiently well
to send on the boat ahead a short distance without catching a crab, and
this made him fancy himself already a proficient.
Lilly very naturally believed his assertions that he could row perfectly
well; and the boat having been repainted and put in order, she gladly
accompanied him on one of the first warm days in spring down to the
stream. John Hobby, a cottager near, had charge of the boat and kept
the oars. He was out when Ralph called for them, and so his wife told
their son to take them down to the boat.
"But you surely are not going alone, Mr Ralph, without my good man or
our lad?" said the dame. "It's a main dangerous stream, and needs a
strong arm and a practised hand to guide a boat along it."
"That's all you know about it, mistress!" answered Ralph, in his usual
self-satisfied, contemptuous tone. "I've rowed often enough on the
stream to know that I've no reason to be afraid."
"Well, maybe, Mr Ralph; but you won't go far, I do hope," persisted the
dame.
"Just as far as I please; and I'll thank you not to interfere with your
advice, mistress," answered Ralph, walking off to follow Lilly, who had
unfortunately not heard the warning voice.
Lilly had got to some distance before Dame Hobby saw her, or she would
undoubtedly have entreated her not to venture on the water. Ralph, with
unusual politeness, handed his cousin into the boat.
"John, John!" cried the dame, "here lad, take the oars down to the boat
for Master Ralph Clavering, and just give him a hint, that if he goes
without you, he may chance to drown himself and the pretty young lady
with him." Then she added, in a lower tone, to herself, "A nice young
gentleman to order people about as he does. He'll learn some day who's
who."
A fine handsome young lad, who had been working in the garden at the
back of the house, appeared at her call. He appeared to be about the
same age as Ralph Clavering, but was taller and stouter. There was a
look, too, of health and conscious strength about him, and withal, a
pleasant, good-natured smile on his well-formed countenance, which
showed that he was on good terms with himself and the world in general.
He took the oars from an outhouse, and followed Ralph and Lilly to the
boat.
Young John Hobby was about to follow, when Ralph told him to keep back,
and seizing the oars, exclaimed, "Now, Lilly, I will show you what I can
do; and we'll make a voyage unsurpassed since the days of Columbus!"
Lilly was but little accustomed to boating, and believing that her
cousin's experience was equal to what he asserted it to be, she
entrusted herself to him without hesitation. John Hobby stood watching
their proceedings, and scratching his head, evidently wishing to say
something. "You'd better go up stream, Master Clavering," he cried out
at length, as Ralph shoved off from the bank. "The current runs very
strong, and it's easier to go with, than against it."
"Hold your tongue, you lout," answered Ralph, angrily. "I know how to
row, and don't want to be dictated to."
"Beg pardon, Master Clavering: I only said what I knew would be best,"
answered John Hobby, sturdily.
Though a tenant of Mr Clavering's, John Hobby, the elder, paid his
rent, improved his land, and feared neither him nor anyone else. Of
young John, more will be said hereafter. Ralph had been undecided which
way to go. To show his independence, he immediately turned the boat's
head down the stream. He had skill enough to keep her in the centre of
the river, and down she floated smoothly and easily. He was delighted
with his own performance.
"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Away we go, right merrily. That lout wanted to
frighten you. I told you, Cousin Lilly, how pleasant it would be."
Lilly found it extremely pleasant. The sun shone brightly and sparkled
on the surface of the stream; and so clear was the water, that the fish
could be seen swimming about on each side of the boat. The water-fowl
skimmed lightly over it, or flew from bank to bank, every now and then
giving forth strange cries, which made Lilly declare that the river must
be infested by water kelpies, who were attempting to lure them to
destruction.
On the little boat glided. It did not seem to occur to Ralph that the
current, rather than his exertions, was carrying them on.
"This is what I like. Isn't it pleasant?" he exclaimed, again and
again. Lilly was inclined to enjoy it, although, perhaps, a suspicion
might have arisen that it would have been wiser to have followed John
Hobby's advice, and to have gone up the stream first, so as to have
returned with the current in their favour. They did not go very fast,
but had ample time to admire the scenery. Sometimes the stream expanded
in width, the banks were low, and little else than beds of rushes and
willows, green meadows with cows feeding, were to be seen, with,
perhaps, far off, a row of trees, a few Lombardy poplars, and the spire
of a church peeping above them. In other places there were steep
slopes, and rocks and cliffs, crowned with birch and alder, and even
oak, and a variety of other trees. There were bends or angles in the
course of the stream, which afforded a variety of pretty views, with
here and there a cottage, or some fine old tree, whose branches extended
over the water, forming a prominent feature.
"Oh! how I wish that I had brought my sketch-book," exclaimed Lilly.
"These views are so different to those I have been accustomed to take.
We must come again to-morrow, and then you must stop as we go up and
down the stream at the points I most admire to-day." Ralph promised to
do as his cousin wished, but it did not occur to him to ascertain how
far he could keep the boat in one place. At last, Lilly recollected
that she had the back of a letter and a pencil in her bag, and, with a
piece of board which was in the boat, she extemporised a drawing block.
"Now, Ralph, here is a very pretty spot, turn the boat round a little,
and I will quickly sketch it," she cried out, not doubting that her
wishes would be fulfilled. Ralph got the boat round, as he was
directed, but Lilly soon found herself receding so rapidly from her
subject, that it was impossible to take a correct sketch. Again and
again she called to him to keep the boat in one place. Ralph persisted
that he was doing his best.
"Why, Ralph, I thought that you were so expert an oarsman, that you
could make your boat go anywhere, or do anything?" said Lilly.
Ralph could not stand being jeered, even by his cousin. He quickly lost
his temper, and at the same time while increasing his exertions, he lost
his oar. Away it went out of his grasp, and floated down the stream.
"There, you made me do that, you silly girl!" he exclaimed, angrily.
"What is to be done now?"
"Try and pick it up, to be sure," answered Lilly. "Paddle after it with
the other oar."
Ralph stood up to use the other oar as a paddle, and very nearly tumbled
over in making the attempt. Lilly now became somewhat alarmed. She
knew, however, that the wisest thing to do was to sit still, especially
as Ralph began jumping about, and beating the water without any definite
object. The boat continued to float down, following the oar, which
gained but very little on her. Lilly again urged her cousin to try and
recover it. His next attempt was as unsuccessful as the first, and the
other oar nearly slipped from his hands. At last he sat down, almost
crying, and looking exceedingly foolish. "The boat may go where it
chooses," he exclaimed, pettishly. "How am I to row with only one oar?"
In spite of her fears, Lilly almost burst into a fit of laughter.
"Try again, cousin Ralph; you can do nothing unless you try," she
answered. "If you will not try to row, I must put you to shame by
making the attempt myself."
Thus put on his mettle, Ralph again roused himself, but it was to little
purpose; and he and Lilly now found that they had reached the mouth of
the stream, and were entering the main river, which was far broader and
more rapid. In vain he now tried to gain the bank, the rapid current
bore the boat on into the very middle of the river. They both had
ridden along the bank, and they remembered that some way down the water
rushed over a ledge of rocks, with a fall of several feet.
"Never mind," said Ralph; "there is a ford there, and I can but jump out
and drag the boat to land."
"Ah, but that was in the summer," answered Lilly. "I remember a man
telling us that in the spring a great body of water falls over the
ledge; and that when we passed, with the water scarcely up to our
horse's knees, there is a regular cataract, and that once some people
who were attempting to cross in a boat, got drifted near it, and were
carried down and all drowned."
"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Ralph, now fairly wringing his hands.
"Why did we come? How foolish we were. I wish that we had followed
that lout Hobby's advice. He, of course, knows more about the river
than we do."
Lilly was very much inclined to say, "Speak for yourself, cousin Ralph;
I believed your boastful assertions, and trusted myself to you."
Instead of that, she only said, "Still we must try to save ourselves.
We ought, at all events, to try to reach the bank. Ah! what is this?"
She lifted up a loose board from the bottom of the boat: "Here, do you
use this as a paddle, and give me the oar. We shall be able to guide
the boat if we try."
Ralph, once more roused, took the plank and used it as his cousin
directed. Still, from want of skill, they made but little progress.
The other oar had been caught in an eddy, and had been drifted so far
away, that they had lost sight of it altogether. As they were exerting
themselves with might and main, their attention was aroused by a shout,
and looking up, they saw a man standing on the bank and waving the lost
oar. This encouraged them; while the roar of the cataract, a little way
below, made them still more feel the necessity of exertion. The boat
was, of course, all the time drifting down, sideways, nearer and nearer
to the dangerous spot. Still they were approaching the shore. The man
with the oar ran along the bank. They had got within twenty yards of
it, when the current seemed to increase in rapidity. The man shouted to
them to use more exertion, but that was beyond their power. Poor
Lilly's arms were already aching, and her hands were hot and blistered
with the oar. Glancing on one side, they could see the ledge of rocks
against which the river rushed, breaking into a mass of foam. It seemed
impossible that they could reach the bank before they got within its
influence. The man with the oar, seeing their danger, sprang forward
and swam out towards them. He was not, apparently, a very good swimmer,
but he struggled on.
"He'll be drowned, and do us no good," cried Ralph.
"Oh, no! I pray God that he may be preserved!" exclaimed Lilly, with a
fervour, which showed that the expression came from her heart, and was
truly a prayer.
It was heard, the man struggled on, and seized the stem of the boat.
"Go back to the other end," he cried out; and, as Ralph obeyed the
order, he threw in the oar, and climbed up himself over the bow.
Without speaking a word more, he seized both oars, and began rowing away
with might and main towards the shore. Only then did Lilly and her
cousin discover that the stranger was no other than Arnold, the gipsy.
"Why, Arnold, we little thought that it was you!" they exclaimed in the
same breath.
"No time to talk," was the answer. "I'll tell you when we are all
safe."
In a few seconds the boat reached the land. Ralph shuddered when he saw
how short a distance they were above the place where the waters, raging
and foaming, dashed over the rocks. Lilly remarked, also, the great
danger they had escaped. Her first impulse was to offer their gratitude
to God for their preservation; her next was, to thank the gipsy for the
effort he had made on their behalf.
"But you will surely catch cold, Arnold, if you remain in your wet
things," said Lilly.
"No fear for me, young lady," he answered; "I am seasoned for all
weathers, and a little wetting will do me no harm; but, I'm thinking
that you young people will be wishing to get home again. How are you to
do it?"
"My cousin said that he would row back," answered Lilly, with a glance
at Ralph, indicative of her real opinion on the subject.
"Perhaps, then, you'll give me a passage, Master Ralph," said the gipsy.
"It's a long way round by land, and the roads, such as they are, are
not a little muddy in some places, and rough in others."
"Oh, yes, I'll row you round--or, that is to say, you shall go round in
the boat if you will take the oars, for I feel rather tired after rowing
all the way down," replied Ralph, looking very sheepish.
"Well, young gentleman, after my wetting it will be wise to keep in
exercise; so, sit down, and I will try what I can do," said Arnold,
taking the oars in a way which showed that he was accustomed to their
use.
He put the boat in motion, but instead of rowing out in the stream, he
kept close in with the bank, following all its sinuosities, so as to
avoid the opposing current. He bent sturdily to the oars, and sent the
boat so rapidly through the water, that she went up the stream even
faster than she had descended it when Ralph was rowing. For some time
he said nothing; perhaps he felt rather ashamed of himself, but if such
was the case the feeling wore off. Arnold made the boat skim over the
water so easily, that at last he began to fancy that he could do the
same. Surely he could do everything better than a wretched gipsy, who
only the other day was almost starving.
Meantime, Lilly had asked Arnold after his wife and family, and how he
had happened to be on the bank of the river at a moment so opportune for
her and Ralph.
"The questions, sweet lady, are easily answered," said Arnold. "My wife
and children are as well as scant food and hard living will allow them.
We are camped about a mile from where you saw me. Knowing of old that
the river is full of fish, I had gone to catch some. I had only just
thrown in my line when I caught sight of your boat, and guessed that you
would be the better for any help I could give you."
"Then your family will lose the supper you expected to catch for them,
and will not know what has become of you," said Lilly.
"They are too well accustomed to go without supper to complain of that,"
said Arnold; "and as to not knowing what has become of me, we make it a
rule never to trouble ourselves if one or the other does not appear at
the time expected. We suppose that the absent one has some good reason
for not coming back to camp. We gipsies do not allow ourselves to have
more cares than we can help. It is all very well for the rich who live
in fine houses, and ride in fine carriages, and wear fine clothes, and
have more food than they can eat, to make cares for themselves; that
would never do for us."
Ralph thought that the gipsy was growing rather impertinent in his
observations; yet, as Lilly encouraged him by her remarks, he said
nothing. They had for some time re-entered the tributary stream, and
were proceeding quickly up it. At last, Ralph, having recovered his
confidence, insisted on taking the oars, he had contemplated desiring
Arnold to get out, but he had a suspicion that Lilly would not approve
of such a proceeding. Arnold, without hesitation, relinquished his
seat, and allowed him to take the oars.
Ralph at first rowed away sturdily enough, but the boat at once began to
go on one side, and then to cross over to the other side of the stream;
and even Ralph could not help discovering that instead of progressing
upwards, the boat was once more dropping down with the current.
"I cannot tell how it is," he exclaimed at last, in a tone of vexation,
"there is something or other prevents me from managing the boat as I
used. The oars have been changed, or they have been doing something to
the boat."
Lilly's lips curled, but she saw that her cousin was not in a humour to
bear any quizzing; so she merely said--
"Never mind then, Ralph; let Arnold take the oars and row us home as
fast as he can, for I am afraid that Uncle and Aunt Clavering will be
very anxious about us, if they hear the report John Hobby is likely to
give."
"He'd better not have said anything--that's all," growled Ralph, looking
as if he could annihilate the low-born Hobby, had he dared to commit
such an atrocity.
Happily for that individual, now so unconscious of evil, nearly an hour
elapsed after this ere the boat reached the landing-place near the Hall.
There stood Hobby.
"I am truly glad to see you--that I am!" he exclaimed, honest
satisfaction lighting up his countenance. "I was terribly alarmed you
would never get back of your own selves--indeed I was, let me tell you."
Ralph was going to make an angry reply to what he considered Hobby's
impertinent remarks, but Lilly interrupted him--
"You are right, John Hobby," she said, kindly. "If it had not been for
our friend Arnold here, we might never have got back at all; and had we
followed your advice we should have saved ourselves a great deal of
anxiety, and not have been exposed to the great danger from which we
have been preserved."
"As to the danger, it's all well that ends well, Miss," remarked Hobby,
bluntly. "But I do hope Master Ralph won't be taking you on the water
again till he's learnt to row properly."
"Make the boat fast, and take the oars away with you!" exclaimed Ralph,
walking off homewards.
"Stop, cousin! You have not thanked Arnold, or asked him to come up to
the Hall, where I am sure Uncle and Aunt Clavering would wish to see
him," cried Lilly; but Ralph was so angry with Hobby's remarks, that he
would not return.
"Do not trouble him, young lady," said Arnold, casting a glance after
the young heir of Clavering Hall, in which he did not conceal his
contempt. "I do not require his thanks, nor any reward from him or his.
You show me by your looks that you thank me, and that pays me more than
enough."
"Oh, but his father and mother will not be satisfied with that; they
will wish to repay you," answered Lilly. "And besides, your wife and
children are not well off; some money or some clothing will be of use to
them, surely."
"I'll not deny it; but we value such things less than you fancy, young
lady," said the gipsy. "We have enough for the present, and we do not
trouble ourselves much as to what is to come. But I won't keep you
talking. The young gentleman has just remembered that he ought to wait
for you, and is sitting down on the bank there. He thinks himself very
rich and very important, and that he can do everything, I daresay; but
if he knew all about himself that I know about him, he would act more
kindly towards others and think less of himself. You may tell him so
whenever you like from me."
The meaning of this last remark did not strike Lilly at the moment. She
still pressed Arnold to come to the Hall, but he declined, saying that
he must of necessity go back to his family. Lilly again expressing her
thanks, hurried after Ralph, who did not recover his self-complacency
till they reached the Hall.