HE LANDS AN UNEXPECTED FISH.
Now, as the rising sea came sliding over the coronet of rocks, as well
as through the main entrance--for even the brim of the pool is covered
at high water--I beheld a glorious sight, stored in my remembrance of
the southern regions, but not often seen at home. The day had been very
hot and brilliant, with a light air from the south; and at sunset a haze
arose, and hung as if it were an awning over the tranquil sea. First, a
gauze of golden colour, as the western light came through, and then a
tissue shot with red, and now a veil of silvery softness, as the summer
moon grew bright.
Then the quiet waves began--as their plaited lines rolled onward into
frills of whiteness--in the very curl and fall, to glisten with a
flitting light. Presently, as each puny breaker overshone the one in
front, not the crest and comb alone, but the slope behind it, and the
crossing flaws inshore, gleamed with hovering radiance and soft flashes
vanishing; till, in the deepening of the dusk, each advancing crest was
sparkling with a mane of fire, every breaking wavelet glittered like a
shaken seam of gold. Thence the shower of beads and lustres lapsed into
a sliding tier, moving up the sands with light, or among the pebbles
breaking into a cataract of gems.
Being an ancient salt, of course I was not dismayed by this show of
phosphorus, nor even much astonished, but rather pleased to watch the
brightness, as it brought back to my mind thoughts of beautiful sunburnt
damsels whom I had led along the shore of the lovely Mediterranean. Yet
our stupid landsmen, far and wide, were panic-struck; and hundreds fell
upon their knees, expecting the last trump to sound. All I said to
myself was this: "No wonder I had such sport to-day; change of weather
soon, I doubt, and perhaps a thunderstorm."
As I gazed at all this beauty, trying not to go astray with wonder and
with weariness, there, in the gateway of black rock, with the offing
dark behind her, and the glittering waves upon their golden shoulders
bearing her--sudden as an apparition came a smoothly-gliding boat.
Beaded all athwart the bows and down the bends with drops of light,
holding stem well up in air, and the forefoot shedding gold, she came as
strait toward this poor and unconverted Davy as if an angel held the
tiller, with an admiral in the stern-sheets.
Hereupon such terror seized me, after the wonders of the day, that my
pole fell downright into the water (of which a big fish wronged me so as
to slip the hook and be off again), and it was no more than the turn of
a hair but what I had run away head over heels. For the day had been so
miraculous, beginning with starvation, and going on with so much heat
and hard work and enjoyment, and such a draught of fishes, that a poor
body's wits were gone with it; and therefore I doubt not it must have
been an especial decree of Providence that in turning round to run away
I saw my big fish-basket.
To carry this over the rocks at a run was entirely impossible (although
I was still pretty good in my legs), but to run away without it was a
great deal more impossible for a man who had caught the fish himself;
and beside the fish in the basket, there must have been more than two
hundredweight of bass that would not go into it. Three hundred and a
half in all was what I set it down at, taking no heed of prawns and
lobsters; and with any luck in selling, it must turn two guineas.
Hence, perhaps, it came to pass (as much as from downright bravery, of
which sometimes I have some little) that I felt myself bound to creep
back again, under the shade of a cold wet rock, just to know what that
boat was up to.
A finer floatage I never saw, and her lines were purely elegant, and
she rode above the water without so much as parting it. Then, in spite
of all my fear, I could not help admiring; and it struck me hotly at the
heart, "Oh, if she is but a real boat, what a craft for my business!"
And with that I dropped all fear. For I had not been able, for many
years, to carry on my fishing as skill and knowledge warranted, only
because I could not afford to buy a genuine boat of my own, and hitherto
had never won the chance without the money.
As yet I could see no soul on board. No one was rowing, that was
certain, neither any sign of a sail to give her steerage-way. However,
she kept her course so true that surely there must be some hand
invisible at the tiller. This conclusion flurried me again, very
undesirably; and I set my right foot in such a manner as to be off in a
twinkling of anything unholy.
But God has care of the little souls which nobody else takes heed of;
and so He ordained that the boat should heel, and then yaw across the
middle of the pool; but for which black rocks alone would have been her
welcome.
At once my heart came back to me; for I saw at once, as an old sailor
pretty well up in shipwrecks, that the boat was no more than a derelict;
and feeling that here was my chance of chances, worth perhaps ten times
my catch of fish, I set myself in earnest to the catching of that boat.
Therefore I took up my pole again, and finding that the brace of fish
whom I had been over-scared to land had got away during my slackness, I
spread the hooks, and cast them both, with the slugs of lead upon them,
and half a fathom of spare line ready, as far as ever my arms would
throw.
The flight of the hooks was beyond my sight, for the phosphorus spread
confusion; but I heard most clearly the thump, thump of the two leaden
bobs--the heavy and the light one--upon hollow planking. Upon this I
struck as I would at a fish, and the hooks got hold (or at any rate one
of them), and I felt the light boat following faster as she began to get
way on the haul; and so I drew her gently toward me, being still in some
misgiving, although resolved to go through with it.
But, bless my heart, when the light boat glided buoyantly up to my very
feet, and the moon shone over the starboard gunwale, and without much
drawback I gazed at it--behold! the little craft was laden with a
freight of pure innocence! All for captain, crew, and cargo, was a
little helpless child. In the stern-sheets, fast asleep, with the baby
face towards me, lay a little child in white. Something told me that it
was not dead, or even ailing; only adrift upon the world, and not at
all aware of it. Quite an atom of a thing, taking God's will anyhow;
cast, no doubt, according to the rocking of the boat, only with one tiny
arm put up to keep the sun away, before it fell asleep.
Being taken quite aback with pity, sorrow, and some anger (which must
have been of instinct), I laid hold of the bows of the skiff, and drew
her up a narrow channel, where the land-spring found its way. The lift
of a round wave helped her on, and the bladder-weed saved any chafing. A
brand-new painter (by the feel) it was that I caught hold of; but
instead of a hitch at the end, it had a clean sharp cut across it.
Having made it fast with my fishing-pole jammed hard into a crevice of
rock, I stepped on board rather gingerly, and, seating myself on the
forward thwart, gazed from a respectful distance at the little stranger.
The light of the moon was clear and strong, and the phosphorus of the
sea less dazing as the night grew deeper, therefore I could see pretty
well; and I took a fresh plug of tobacco before any further meddling.
For the child was fast asleep; and, according to my experience, they are
always best in that way.