side seemed to have a voice of its own. It was the first time I heard
these sounds. Some loud bawling and the sound of scurrying from on deck
caused me to start up suddenly, and I almost cracked my skull against a
beam. After that I could not sleep, and lowering myself from the bunk I
dressed and climbed out to the air.
I had imagined, from the patter of many feet, that I should find the
whole crew trying to save the ship from some distress, and I was not
prepared for the calm sight which met my eyes. It was moonlight, and all
sail was set. The brig rose and fell steadily, occasionally taking a
sea-chug under her broad bows with a jar which made her quiver, and the
water would fly up in a gleaming sprinkle and scatter along the wet
rail. Only four men were in sight--one at the wheel, two gathered in the
lee of the forward deck-house, and the first mate leaning back against
the skylight, smoking a long clay pipe.
(Oh, I have forgotten to mention that I had noticed the captain snoring
in his bunk as I left the cabin, which had been reassuring.) The cool
breeze and the damp on my cheeks were grateful to me, and then and there
I fell in love with the sea (and I have truly never lost it). I staid on
deck breathing a strange freedom until the morning watch.
About noon of this day the breeze had freshened, and we were carrying
only our lower sails. The planter and his wife both kept the cabin,
suffering much from the unusual motion, but as for myself I can here
record I have never felt a touch of that sickness which is expected to
accompany a first voyage or to follow a long stay ashore. I revelled in
the swinging of the vessel, and wished it would blow harder, which it
did.
At four o'clock in the afternoon a sail was made out to the northward,
and holding the course that we already were we would have passed close
by her, as she was bearing down on us before the wind. I noticed,
however, that as the stranger became clearer, and her lower courses
could be seen, the first mate went aloft with a glass, and hurrying down
held consultation with Captain Morrison. In pursuance to orders, the
brig's course was altered a few points, and we stood to the eastward to
give the approaching vessel a wider berth. But no sooner had we done so
than the latter held up a trifle, as if it were her intention to
intercept us, and an hour's more sailing brought her into plain view.
She was a vessel the like of which I had never seen up to that day. Her
hull appeared as large as one of the many-windowed warehouses of the
wharves of Baltimore, and her towering tiers of canvas gleamed white in
the sunlight. A smother of foam rolled under her forefoot.
A few more turns of the wheel now, and we were holding a course due
east, sailing close on the wind.
"She means to head us off," said Captain Morrison, looking about with a
scowl.
Why he should have any cause for alarm I did not know; but I could see
that the crew were much disturbed, and were gathered in a whispering
cluster at the break of the forecastle, watching the vessel with anxious
eyes. I timidly approached Mr. Norcross, the mate.
"Is she a pirate?" I inquired, half fearing.
"Yes, about that," was the gruff return. "She's a British line-of-battle
ship, and keeps the seas, with all her kind, by robbery."
"Will she harm us?" I inquired again.
"Not you, my son," he answered. "But she would like to get her clutches
on some of our brave lads yonder." He nodded his head toward the group
of seamen.
Slowly but surely we were nearing the huge vessel now holding the same
course as our own. It was a grand sight! As she heeled over, the gleam
of her copper showed in the hollows of the waves that swept past her,
and the shadows on her white sails were as blue as the sky overhead. Her
ports were open, and the muzzles of the black guns could be made out
plainly. The red coats of a party of marines on her forecastle made a
bright patch of color, and some men sprawling out on her great yard-arms
were no bigger to the eye than ants.
The Captain was giving nervous glances at our shaking foresail. Then he
took a look across the water, as if measuring the distance and the rate
of the other's travelling. Suddenly a smile wrinkled his cheeks.
"We're outpointing the old whale, Mr. Norcross," he said, grinning.
"Ay, sir; given the wind hold as it is and she will pass astern of us."
The crew by this time had noticed this fact, and a movement began
amongst them. One, a tall fellow with light hair and a well set up
figure, took a few steps of a horn-pipe.
"Not this time, Johnny Bull; not this time," he laughed, slapping one of
his companions on the shoulder. "I know her; it's the _Plantaganet_; and
I'd go overboard with a shot at my heels before I put a foot on her
deck. She reeks of the cat!"
I was soon to learn why this man, whose name was Dash, knew so much. As
soon as he had finished his dancing, the tall sailor and another man ran
aft.
"Shall we show our colors, sir?" the former asked of Captain Morrison.
"Ay; toss them out," replied the Captain, whose good humor had now
returned.
A minute later the stars and stripes were crackling at our peak. The
line-of-battle ship was almost even with us by this time. Faces could be
seen above her bulwarks. Suddenly a puff of white smoke burst out from
one of her forward ports, and a ball skipped and plashed across our
bows--so close that we heard the slap of it against the water; then the
report came to us. The Captain mounted the bulwarks, and taking off his
hat, made an elaborate bow.
"Sorry I cannot stop, you great big hog," he said; and then standing
there bareheaded, he burst into such a torrent of cursing that Mrs.
Chaffee, who had come out of the cabin, and was anxious to see the
sight, sought its refuge again. But we had outpointed the battle-ship,
and crossed athwart her bows.
Not three hundred yards astern of us she roared past.
"She dassent fire a broadside at us, or she'd do it in a minute,"
muttered Mr. Norcross, looking back over his shoulder.
He had taken the wheel himself during the last few minutes, and had
handled it amazingly, I can tell you.
As if afraid to acknowledge her discomfiture, the three-decker went on
in silence, like she had not seen us, and our men, who were now all in
the rigging of the brig, burst out into a cheer.
But they were cheering too early in the game, and this was soon to be
proved.
Somehow, despite Captain Morrison's excited profanity, I had begun to
admire him hugely.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S DOGS.
BY KATHARINE DE FOREST.
This is the way I came to hear the story: One summer afternoon, two or
three years ago, I was sitting in front of a hotel in a Normandy
watering-place, watching for the diligence to come from Fécamp. At last
it appeared in the distance. And then began my surprise. For when I had
first caught sight of the figures in the imperial there had seemed
something familiar about them, and as they came nearer and I could see
the faces, they looked so much like some faces I knew that I could
hardly believe my eyes. It was--but no, it could not be--yes, it was; it
was the MacAlpines! There were Mr. and Mrs. MacAlpine getting out from
inside the diligence, and there were Janie and Isa and Fédie, Tom and
Alec and the maid, climbing down from the top, with, in Janie's arms,
the dearest little dog--the dearest little blue Skye terrier--you ever
saw.
"And who is this?" I said at last, looking at the little dog that Janie
still held in her arms, while Mrs. MacAlpine was talking to Madame
Ernestine, the landlady of the hotel, about rooms, and Mr. MacAlpine was
watching the men take down the luggage, and counting the different
pieces. "This is a new member of the family. I thought you said you
never would take a dog about with you, Mr. MacAlpine."
"And so I did," said Mr. MacAlpine. "But this isn't an every-day dog.
This is a family dog, and a dog of high degree. Almost anybody would be
glad to take her about."
"This is the Queen's dog," said Alec, giving her a pat, "or it used to
be."
"Has it ever been to court?" I asked.
"Yes, indeed, she has!" said Janie. "Haven't you, Lassie darling? She's
done all sorts of wonderful things, Aunt Katharine." (I was not really
the children's aunt. They only called me so because we loved each other
so much.) "She doesn't look like other dogs. She's much prettier."
"Yes, and more clever," put in Tom.
"She's certainly a very wonderful little dog," said Mrs. MacAlpine, who
had finished arranging about the rooms. "And of all the strange stories
you ever heard, Aunt Katharine, hers is the strangest. We'll tell you
all about it when we've been upstairs and got a little of this dust off.
What are you going to do this afternoon? Can't we have tea together
by-and-by when we're clean and rested?"
"Oh, my cake!" I called out, suddenly remembering it. "My beautiful
Paris cake! I must go and get it. We'll have our tea in the cabin on the
beach, and Tom and Alec shall carry down the tea-things. We'll meet at
the front door of the hotel at four o'clock;" and off I ran to get my
parcels.
At four o'clock we went down in procession to the beach, and settled
ourselves in front of our bathing-cabin.
And then Mr. MacAlpine began the story: "Once upon a time I lived with
my father and mother and brothers and sisters in the beautiful islands
called the Hebrides. The Hebrides, you know, are islands off the coast
of Scotland, and they are noted for their wild and romantic scenery. But
scenery, I am sorry to say, was something that I didn't much appreciate
when I was a boy, and I would have given the whole of it for some boys
of my own age to play with. My brothers were all older and my sisters
younger than I, so I had to get my lessons and go to the manse to recite
them by myself; and very lonely work it was too, until one day my father
brought me home a blue Skye terrier, Lassie, just like this little dog
here.
"From the first moment I saw her I loved her almost better than anything
in the world. She was so little that I could take her about with me
everywhere I went, tucked away in my plaid when we climbed the rocks and
went long distances, and she always sat by me when I did my lessons, and
I spent all my spare time playing with her and teaching her tricks. She
could beg, and play dead, and wink one eye, and sneeze, and do more
things than I ever heard of a dog's doing before or since, and she could
understand everything I said to her exactly like a person, and
altogether I was perfectly happy with her up to the time Lady Jane came
to see us.
"Lady Jane was a cousin of my father's who was one of the Queen's
ladies-in-waiting, and a very grand lady she was, indeed. She always
came with so many boxes and bundles that we boys had a sort of feeling
it would be polite for us to move out and give the house to her, and she
also made us feel that everything she said must be obeyed, because she
represented the Queen, and we had been brought up to be very good and
loyal subjects. So you can imagine how I felt one day when she said to
me: 'Tom, I'm going to take your little dog back with me as a present
for her Majesty. You've trained her so nicely, and you won't care, will
you? I'll send you something else in its place.'
"My very heart stood still at these words. Lady Jane had a way of having
her own way if she wanted it, and none of us could stand out against
her, and so I went to my mother about it. 'She wouldn't take Lassie,
_would_ she, mother?' I said, looking into her eyes to try to read there
what she thought. And my mother said of course not, and comforted me,
and I went off for a long walk and tried to think no more about it. But
I couldn't help but feel uneasy, and after that I kept my dog out of the
way as much as possible until in a little while Lady Jane seemed to have
forgotten her. She was away nearly all the time--on excursions or
visiting at the great houses in the neighborhood--so that we children
seldom saw her, and by-and-by the last evening of her stay came.
"There were fine doings at our house that night. I can see the big hall
now with a roaring fire in the chimney-place at one end, throwing its
light over the deer-heads and odd birds and trophies with which the
walls were hung. And the Highlanders came up with their bagpipes and
played for us all to dance Sir Roger de Coverley up and down the
polished floor, and Lady Jane and my father danced a jig, and my
sisters sang, and I put Lassie through her tricks, and made her perform
the celebrated double somerset, which was the last trick I had taught
her. Everybody laughed, Lady Jane the most of all, and then she kissed
us children good-night and bade us good-by, and I went up stairs happy.
For Lady Jane would be gone in the morning; her trunks were strapped and
in the front hall now, and I went to sleep with Lassie curled up by me,
and a lighter heart than I had since the day when she first spoke to me
about the dog.
"It seemed to me I had only slept a moment when I began to dream of
icebergs, and then I was waked up suddenly by some one's pulling all the
bedclothes off from me. Then a hand snatched up Lassie, and before I
could realize what was happening Lady Jane's voice, very fresh and
wide-awake, said: 'Now, Tom, don't feel badly, but you know I must have
Lassie, and I've come after her. I'll send you something nice in her
place, my boy,' and before I could say a word she was out of the door
and my little dog was gone.
"There was no time for thinking. Like a flash I was out of bed and into
my clothes and rushing along the road to the pier where Lady Jane's boat
lay, trying to keep back the big tears as I went. But it was too late.
Just as I came up to the landing the boat sailed slowly out of the
harbor, and there in the stern was Lady Jane standing, waving her
handkerchief to the people on the shore, and under one arm I could see a
little shaggy head and a pair of bright eyes that seemed to look at me
with a sad farewell look, and my little dog went sailing away on the
unknown sea, and I burst into tears with my heart breaking, for I never
expected to see her again."
"And did you?" I asked, eagerly. "Is this dog--"
"Ah, that's the strange part of the story," said Mr. MacAlpine. "Janie
is the one who can tell that. Janie, tell Aunt Katharine the rest."
Janie's rosy Scotch face dimpled, and smiling up at her father, she went
on:
"Well, you know that was always our favorite story, about when papa was
a little boy in the Hebrides, and about the little dog he lost, but we
always wanted to hear the end of it. We wanted to know what became of
Lassie after Lady Jane took her, and if the Queen liked her, and if she
did her tricks; but Lady Jane died soon after she went back to Balmoral,
and papa's father went to Canada and took papa with him, and so we could
only guess about Lassie, and make papa make up what happened to her.
"And then one time mamma and Isa and Fédie and I were going home from
England, and mamma and the maid were so seasick they had to stay down in
the cabin, but we children sat in steamer chairs on the deck, so
miserable, and with nothing to do to amuse ourselves. And then a little
bit of a dog that belonged to the lady sitting in a chair next ours
jumped down from her lap and came over and stood in front of us, and
stood up on her hind legs and began to sneeze. We all began to laugh,
and then we said how exactly she was like papa's little dog that he used
to tell us about, and she used to sneeze too, and they were the only
dogs we had ever heard of that did. And then we said we wished we knew
what the dog's name was, and the lady it belonged to said it was Lassie,
and then we couldn't help but cry out,'Oh, how strange!' Then the lady
asked us what was strange, and we told her about our Lassie, and she
told us about her Lassie, and we found out that hers was the
granddaughter of ours. And this lady, who had been one of the Queen's
ladies-in-waiting herself, could remember when Lady Jane brought Lassie
there.
"The Queen _had_ liked papa's little dog, and had always kept her, and
when her maid of honor left England for Canada her Majesty had given her
one of Lassie's puppies to take with her.
"Before the ship reached Quebec we all got to be great friends, and just
the last day out the lady called me to her, and said, 'My dear, I'm
going to make you a present of this little dog if you'll take her. My
maid doesn't like dogs, and I'm not strong enough myself to take care of
her. And it was Lady Jane that carried your father's Lassie away, and it
shall be Janie that brings her back.'"
"Yes, because the oldest girl in the MacAlpine family is always named
Jane," put in Tom.
"And then when papa came down to the wharf to meet them," said Alec,
"there was Janie standing on the ship and waving to him, and under her
arm was a bundle and a pair of bright eyes, and there was Lassie come
sailing back when he was a grown-up man."
BOXING FOR BOYS.
BY S. SCOVILLE, JUN.
There are two reasons why a boy should understand and practise boxing.
First, because in the life of every one there come times when it is
necessary to defend one's self or others. There are very few occasions
when a boy need ever fight on his own account. Sometimes, of course, it
is absolutely necessary, but more often it only seems so, and the older
a boy becomes, the more he is convinced that in boys' affairs, as well
as in those of nations, arbitration is the only sensible and civilized
way of settling disputes. Occasionally, however, there comes a crisis
when a boy must defend another weaker than himself, and then it is that
a boxer knows what to do and does it, while an untrained boy either
shirks his duty or, if very brave, tries to interfere, and usually makes
matters worse by being hurt himself.
At a Yale-Harvard football game in Springfield, the writer noticed an
incident which illustrates very forcibly the advantage of knowing how to
box. Some rows ahead of the writer in the grand stand, a slim young
fellow, certainly not more than eighteen years old, was sitting with a
lady in the aisle seats. During the intermission between the halves he
stepped some distance down the aisle to speak to a friend. Just then a
rough-looking character, who had been drinking enough to be quarrelsome,
pushed his way into the row, insisting that the lady was in his seat,
and seizing her by the shoulder, tried to pull her out into the aisle.
The boy turned at her call and sprang back. As the rough faced him the
other stepped easily forward, and like a flash his left shot out from
the shoulder and landed just under his opponent's chin--a clean
scientific lead with all his weight back of it. The rough went down,
striking his head heavily against the boards, lay there a moment, and
then climbing unsteadily to his feet, slunk off without a word. There
were no police officers nearer than the field, the lady was in the boy's
care, was insulted, and in danger of being injured. In time the crowd
would have interfered, but it was a case for immediate action. To
protect a woman at any cost is the duty of every American boy. This one
had developed and trained his strength so as to make it effectual for
exactly such an emergency. He knew just how and where to strike,
and--the thing was over. Altogether the incident convinced the writer
more than ever that boys owe it to themselves and their manhood, as
protectors of all things weak, to learn to use their strength most
effectively. And it is wonderful how effective a knowledge of boxing
will make a very small amount of strength. The writer remembers seeing a
skilled light-weight boxer in a college boxing-room easily best the
stroke oar of a class crew--a man of tremendous strength and weight, but
one who had never learned to box.
The second reason why a boy should learn to box is because boxing not
only teaches him how to utilize the strength that he has, but before
long it tremendously increases that same strength. Nearly every muscle
of the body is brought into play. The triceps, or pushing muscles on the
back of the arm, the shoulder and back muscles, are the ones especially
developed in boxing. The bare back of a boxer is a perfect mass of
muscle. Great knots and coils appear between and across the shoulders
with every movement, while the ridges stand out clear down to the base
of the spine. Let a boy practise a single left-hand lead in front of a
mirror in gymnastic costume, and note how many muscles are used.
Besides the above-mentioned ones, the leg, thigh, fore-arm, stomach, and
breast muscles are all called upon indirectly. Besides strengthening all
the muscles, boxing trains the eye, gives quickness and a lithe, easy
carriage, broadens and deepens the chest, and enlarges the lungs, and,
best of all, teaches self-control, and gives a certain indefinable
feeling of strength and safety that comes only with a strong
well-trained body.
So much for the advantages of boxing. It is not the writer's purpose in
this article to do more than give the most general hints in regard to
the actual blows and parries. Boxing cannot be taught on paper, and a
boy can learn more in one lesson from a good teacher than by reading
volumes. But a few brief hints may aid those who are not fortunate
enough to be under an instructor.
And first, as to the selection of a teacher. Above all things, get one
that is a scientific boxer, not some strapping bruiser that will knock
you around at so much an hour. Every town has some veteran boxer who
will be glad to give boys a start in sparring. The first principles
should be learned thoroughly and correctly, or the pupil will always be
bothered by some clumsy habit picked up as a beginner. It was only this
winter that the writer broke his thumb by a wrong blow learned ten years
back from his first teacher, and which, in the excitement of a
hard-fought bout, is only too apt to crop out in spite of years of
warning from half a dozen instructors.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The first important thing to learn in boxing is the position. Figure 1.
represents what the writer considers an ideal position. The left foot
should be in front, with the right foot from fifteen to eighteen inches
in the rear and from six to eight inches to the right. The left hip
should point nearly front. By that position the whole body can be
protected from any right-hand blows by simply dropping the left arm as
shown in illustration No. 2. The right arm should rest across the chest,
with the glove on the left nipple, while the left arm should be held as
in the illustration. In connection with the subject of position comes
the management of the feet. The weight should rest equally on both feet,
and in breaking ground, as movement to one side or the other is termed,
or in advancing or retreating, the feet should never be raised from the
ground as in walking. Advance first the front foot some six inches, and
then the back foot, so as to always keep the same relative distance
between them.
Always "counter" (_i.e._, give a return blow with the hand not used in
parrying) every lead of your opponent. Remember that a straight line is
the shortest distance between two points, and always lead a straight
blow. It comes more natural for every one to hit "round"--_i.e._,
swinging--blows. But a straight hard lead is the more effective. Swing,
if swing you must, when countering, never when leading. Try as much as
possible to avoid blows at the face by ducking.
The left hand lead, either at the face or the body, is the most
important lead of all, the first taught, and by far the hardest to
learn. One of the best boxers the writer has ever met was not allowed by
his teacher to practise anything else for a whole year, until it was
almost impossible to avoid or parry his left-hand lead or counter, so
quick did he become.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Illustration No. 3 shows a left-hand lead at the face getting home.
Observe the tremendous force and drive that the blow has, while the
boxer can step back instantly into perfect position, and is not thrown
at all off his balance, as is the case with swinging blows. The
requisites of a good left-hand lead either at face or body are:
First, that the left foot shall be advanced in a perfectly straight line
with the hit (notice how straight the toe is in the illustration),
otherwise the blow is apt to be pulled across in the parry and leave one
desperately exposed.
Second, the weight of the body should follow the lead. This is what
gives the "kick" to the blow, and more than anything else shows the
difference between the veteran and the novice.