Dinner had not been finished above an hour before the sky became
overcast; and, all at once, a rushing, sweeping wind came over the
country. Far-off in the distance where the hills could be seen, a
thick, misty appearance almost hid them from sight. There was a low,
muttering sound, then another, seemingly nearer; then came a dazzling
blue flash of lightning that made all the party stationed at the
dining-room window start back; and then came a long, rolling, rattling
peal of thunder, that sounded as though it had come bellowing through
great metal pipes; while before it had died away in the distance,
splashing and plunging down came the rain in torrents, ploughing up the
flower-beds, and making little rivers run along each side of the
gravel-walks. Out in the home-fields the cows and horses were running
to get under shelter of the trees, and looked evidently frightened as
flash succeeded flash of lightning, and peal after peal of thunder
seemed to make the very heavens vibrate as they rolled round and round,
east, west, north, and south. The rain kept streaming down so fast that
out of doors seemed one great watery mist that could have been almost
swum through.
All at once, just in the middle of a clap of thunder, Mary, the
housemaid, opened the dining-room door, and hurriedly said something,
but what no one could tell, for her voice was drowned by the rumbling
peal.
"Oh! my poor verbenas," said Mrs Inglis.
"Oh! won't this fill up the carp-pond, jolly!" said Harry.
"Come in, Mary," said Mrs Inglis; "what's the matter? Are all the
upstairs windows shut?"
"Oh! yes, mem," said Mary; "but the drain's stopped in the yard, and
Dick's kennel's floating, and the water's all coming into the kitchen."
"Oh! come and see," said Harry; and away the whole party went, to be
just in time to see the water taking its departure, and Dick's kennel
wrecked, down by the gates where the yard was highest, for Old Sam, in
spite of the pelting rain, was punching away at the sink-hole with the
stump of an old birch broom, and the water was rushing down it like a
little maelstrom; while the bits of straw and twigs that floated near,
represented the unfortunate vessels that get caught in that famous
whirlpool.
And still the rain kept pelting down, although the lightning ceased to
flash, and the thunder grew more and more distant, till it could only be
heard to mutter occasionally afar off. And still the rain kept pouring
down, even after cook had made up a roaring fire and wiped up all the
water, trundling her mop outside the scullery door till it seemed to go
off like a wet firework, as she spun and twisted it upon her great red
arms. And still it kept raining, after cook had smeared mason's dust
all over the stone floor with the wet mop, and when it had dried up and
the floor looked beautiful and white--white like the clean dresser and
table that cook used to scrub with soap and sand as though she meant to
scrub all the top off. And still it kept on raining, till tea was
brought in, and the urn hissed and sputtered upon the table, and at last
it became very plain that there would be no more going out that night,
to the great disappointment of the boys; for though in London Fred
hardly went out at all except for a walk, yet now the liberty of the
morning made him feel like a caged bird, and a melancholy feeling seemed
to come over all three boys as they sat watching the leaden sky, the
dripping leaves, the beaten down flowers, the sandbanks by the walks,
and the great drops of water that formed upon the edge of the verandah
and porch, and then came down plash upon the stone pavement.
"Oh! come along," said Harry at last; "I know what we'll do."
"What?" said Philip and Fred together.
"Oh! come along, you'll see," said the other.
Mrs Inglis was busy over some needlework, and the Squire deep in a
book, so the boys slipped out of the room without any notice being
taken, and perhaps half an hour passed away, when all of a sudden Mrs
Inglis dropped her work and jumped out of her chair, while the Squire,
leaping up, overturned his little reading-table, and with it the
screened candle-lamp, breaking the glass and setting fire to the green
crimped shade.
"Whatever is the matter?" said the Squire, when he had extinguished the
burning paper; "whatever is the matter?" he continued, as they heard
another scream similar to one that had caused the first start.
Mrs Inglis ran out of the room, and through the passage into the
kitchen, from whence the sound seemed to have proceeded; and, on
entering, there stood cook upon the dresser, while Mary, having knocked
off the brass kitchen candlestick on to the floor, was balancing herself
upon the top of the little round table, which creaked and groaned and
threatened to break with the weight that had been put upon it.
"What's the matter?" said Mrs Inglis.
"Oh! do look, mem," said cook, "do look; there it goes again!"
And Mrs Inglis herself started, for a gritting, grinding, scraping
noise was heard, and then by the light of the fire she saw one of the
large tin dish covers go creeping along the kitchen floor, till it
reached the wall underneath the place where it generally hung.
Mrs Inglis could not help feeling a little startled, but, knowing well
that some trick must have been played, she told Mary to get down and
pick up the cover and hang it in its place.
"Oh! please 'm, I dussn't," said Mary.
"Then I must," said Mrs Inglis, and stepping across the kitchen, she
lifted up the cover, when out popped the great black tom cat, that was
generally toasting his back before the fire, but who now seemed
dreadfully put out with being shut up so long under such an unpleasant
prison-house.
Just then an uncontrollable burst of merriment came ringing out of the
passage, where it was all dark; which gave Mrs Inglis a very good clue
as to who were the authors of the mischief.
The next morning at breakfast time all the trees, flowers, buds, lawns,
and hedge-rows looked soaking wet, and the rain kept pouring down,--not
so heavily, certainly, as on the previous night, but quite enough to do
away with all prospect of going out that day.
"A bad job, as there's so much hay down," said Mr Inglis; "but I think
it will be fine again to-morrow, and it will swell out the corn
beautifully."
"But how wet it will be," said Philip, "when it leaves off raining! We
shan't be able to play."
"Oh, yes, you will," said his father. "Why, boys, you ought to go down
to the mill early to-morrow morning. Old Peagrim will have had the
fish-traps open to-night, for the river will be flooded, and then you
will be able to see some sport,--that is if it leaves off raining."
"Oh! that will be capital," said Harry; who then had to enter into a
long dissertation, explaining to Fred what a fish-trap was; and how
watermills went round; and which was the dam, and the tail, and the
waste-water, and all the rest of it. After this they helped the Squire
to arrange his cabinet of birds' eggs; and Fred learned the difference
between sparrows' eggs, and finches', and tits', and larks', etc, from
the tiniest tom-tit's egg right up to that of the wild swan, which had
been known to breed in the marsh, five miles from Hollowdell; and so
interested did the boys get with the work they had in hand, that the
dinner-bell rang before they could believe it was more than half-past
eleven.
After dinner there was the vivarium to clean out in the conservatory;
and a nice job it was, for there were the globes and glass jars to bring
full of clean water, and the gold fish to catch with the little net, and
to place in the globes; all of which duties Mr Inglis set the boys to
do, while he superintended. Then there was the syphon to draw all the
water off into the pails, which Sam had to come and empty; and this
syphon puzzled Fred a great deal, for he could not understand how the
water could run up, and then down the other side.
"Well, but," said Mr Inglis, "have you not learnt that at school in
your lessons on physics? Do you not know that it is by atmospheric
pressure; the air being exhausted from the pipe, the water is forced
through?"
Fred said he had learned all these things, but never understood them
well. And then, when the water was all drawn off, there was no end of
little, things to pop into the glass jars of clean water. Snails, and
beetles, and caddis worms; newts, frogs, toads, tadpoles, tiny crayfish,
and about a dozen tiny eels; while the grandest fellow in the whole
glass kingdom was a little jack, about five inches long, who wouldn't be
caught in the net, but dodged round the rock-work, and had at last to be
taken out by hand. Then the bottom was all renewed with fresh gravel
and stones; fresh-water plants put in; and all the inhabitants restored
to their glass home to dash about with delight; while, as soon as he
felt himself in fresh-water, a great mussel, that lay down at the side,
put out his pretty white mantle; the snails began sailing up and down,
and the water spiders began to pop in and out among the fresh plants and
weave webs, just as if they were out of the water, and did not have to
carry their supply of air down in a bright silvery-looking bubble
attached to their bodies.
Mr Inglis said he had hard work with all his pets, for they were so
fond of eating one another, and the jack was the worst of the whole
party, and always in mischief; but he was such a handsome green and gold
fellow, and so tame, that he could not be turned out, even though he bit
off the tiny gold fish's tail one day, and made him so bad that he died.
So what with getting the aquarium to rights, assisting to rearrange the
plants in the conservatory, and helping to water them, so that they
should not be teased by seeing the rain fall outside whilst they were
kept dry within doors, it got to be tea-time; and, dull as the day had
been, Fred declared he had enjoyed it wonderfully, and only wanted tea
to be over for Mr Inglis to fulfil his promise, and show them the
pictures of the sea anemones, and the other wondrous things that were
found on the seashore, where they were to go one afternoon before Fred
went back.
Mr Inglis used to say that he liked his boys to learn scientific
things, but not after the fashion of parrots; so he used to bring before
their notice the wonders of animal and vegetable life, that are spread
around us waiting to be noticed; and then, in reply to their questions,
give them the information they sought. The consequence was, that the
lads gained a vast amount of information through having their interest
excited, and what they learned in this way was never forgotten.