ON THE RIVER BANK.
A group of boys sat on the bank of Onion River, looking at the water
and occasionally casting pebbles into it. Wet hair, bare feet, and
other circumstances indicated that they had not long been out of it.
Below them, in one of the comparatively shallow, flat-bottomed reaches,
a company of smaller boys were paddling about, some taking their first
lessons in swimming, some struggling to duck each other, and some
carefully keeping aloof for fear of being ducked. Trees, rocks, broken
sunlight, and a summer breeze made the little scene quite Arcadian.
"My uncle is going to California to dig gold," said one of the larger
boys, who answered to the name of Tom Kennedy.
"My father says they have discovered gold mines in Australia that are
richer than those in California," said another, Felix Ostrom by name.
"But that is twice as far away," said the first speaker, "and you can
only get there by a long sea voyage. You can go overland to California,
and be in our own country all the time. Isn't that a great deal better,
even if you don't get quite so much gold?"
"It wouldn't be better for me," answered George Dewey. "I would rather
go by sea, and would rather go to other countries. I want to see as
many of them as I can. I would especially like to sail in the Pacific
Ocean."
"Why the Pacific?" said Tom.
"Because," said George, "that is not only the largest ocean in the
world, but it has the most islands and touches the countries that we
know the least about."
"It's an ugly thing to get to it, round Cape Horn," said Felix.
"You can go through the Strait of Magellan," said George. "Last week I
found a book of voyages in my Aunt Lavinia's house, and I've been
reading all about Magellan. He was the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean,
and he sailed through that strait to find it."
"He must have been a very modest man," said Tom.
"Why?"
"Because he didn't name it Magellan Ocean."
"He called it the Pacific because he found it so calm," said George.
"And he sailed clear across it. Just think of coming to an unknown sea
five or six thousand miles wide, and sailing right out into it, and on
and on, past islands and reefs, and sometimes long stretches with
nothing in sight but sky and water, and no way to tell when you'll come
to the end of it! And when you stop at an island you don't know what
you'll find, or whether you'll find anything--even good drinking-water.
And he didn't know whether the earth was really round, for no one had
ever sailed round it before. I think that beats Columbus."
"Was he really the first one to sail round the world?" said Felix.
"Not exactly," said George. "His ship was the first that ever went
round, but he didn't get round with her."
"Why not?"
"Because when they got to the Philippine Islands, which they
discovered, they went ashore on one of them and had a fight with the
natives, and Magellan was killed."
"I guess the Philippine Islands are pretty good ones to keep away
from," said Sammy Atkinson.
"I should be willing to take my chances, if I could get there," said
George. "But I suppose I never shall."
"You can't tell," said Sandy Miller, a boy who had recently come from
Scotland with his parents, "what savage countries you may visit afore
you die. Two years ago I didn't dream I'd ever come to America."
"Do you call ours a savage country?" said Felix, with a twinkle in his
eye.
"I didn't exactly mean to," said Sandy, "and yet I think I might, when
I remember how all you boys wanted to fight me the first week I was
here, only because I was a stranger."
"Not quite all," said George.
"No, I take that back," said Sandy. "You say truly not quite all, for
you yourself didn't, and I mustn't forget it of you. I suppose it's
human nature to want to fight all strangers, and maybe that's the
reason the Philippine men killed Master Magellan. I suppose they'd try
to do the same if anybody went there now. But I wish you'd tell us more
about him and about the Pacific and the Philippines, for I am aye fond
of the sea; I enjoyed every wave on the Atlantic when we came over."
Thereupon George, being urged by the other boys as well, gave an
account, as nearly as he could remember, of what he had read.
"What has become of those islands?" said Bill Ammon.
"They are there yet," said George.
"Did you think they were sunk in the sea?" said Tom Kennedy.
"It might not be very ridiculous if he did," said George, "for they
have terrific earthquakes, and a good many of them."
"Of course I meant," Bill explained, "who owns them?"
"Spain says she does," said George, "and she has had them a long time,
for she took possession of them about fifty years after they were
discovered; but she came pretty near losing them forever about a
century ago."
"How was that?" Bill inquired.
"A British force attacked them," said George, "and stormed Manila, the
capital, and the city had its choice to pay five million dollars or be
given up to the soldiers for plunder. It paid the money."
"Do you think that was right?" Felix Ostrom asked.
"I don't know enough about it to say," George answered; "but I suppose
war is war, and when it has to be made at all it ought to be made so as
to accomplish something."
"What was the name of Magellan's ship?" asked Tom Kennedy.
"He started with five ships," said George, "but four of them were lost.
The largest was only eighty feet long. The one that went round the
world and got home was the Victoria."
"Huh!" said Tom, "I might have known it--just like those Britishers,
naming everything after their queen."
"Magellan was not a Britisher, he was Portuguese," said George. "And
Queen Victoria was not born till about three hundred years after his
famous voyage."
The boys burst into a roar of laughter and hooted at Tom.
"It's all very well for you to laugh," said Tom when the merriment had
subsided a little, "but I'd like to know how many of you would have
known that I made a blunder if George Dewey hadn't explained it to
you--probably not one. I can't see that anybody but George has a right
to laugh at me, and I noticed that he laughed least of all."
The boys appeared to feel the sting of Tom's argument, but at the same
time they felt that any opportunity to laugh at him should be improved,
because he was critical and sarcastic above all the rest. They wanted
to resent his remark, but did not know of any way to do it effectively,
and were all getting into ill humor when Felix Ostrom thought of a way
to turn the subject and restore good feeling.
"Look here, boys," said he, "as we are talking about the sea, and some
of us intend to be sailors when we are old enough, I'd like to propose
that Sandy Miller sing us a sea song. He knows a ripping good one, and
I know he can sing it, for I heard him once at his house."
There was an immediate demand for the song, which was so loud and
emphatic and unanimous that Sandy could not refuse.
"It's one that my great aunt, Miss Corbett, wrote," said he. "I can't
remember it all, but I'll sing you a bit of it as well as I can. Ye'll
just remember that I'm no Jenny Lind nor the choir of the Presbyterian
church." Then he sang:
"I've seen the waves as blue as air,
I've seen them green as grass;
But I never feared their heaving yet,
From Grangemouth to the Bass.
I've seen the sea as black as pitch,
I've seen it white as snow;
But I never feared its foaming yet,
Though the waves blew high or low.
When sails hang flapping on the masts,
While through the waves we snore,
When in a calm we're tempest-tossed,
We'll go to sea no more--
No more--
We'll go to sea no more.
"The sun is up, and round Inchkeith
The breezes softly blaw;
The gudeman has the lines on board--
Awa'! my bairns, awa'!
An' ye'll be back by gloamin' gray,
An' bright the fire will low,
An' in your tales and sangs we'll tell
How weel the boat ye row.
When life's last sun gaes feebly down,
An' death comes to our door,
When a' the world's a dream to us,
We'll go to sea no more--
No more--
We'll go to sea no more."
When the applause that greeted the song had subsided, little Steve
Leonard asked: "I suppose that means they'll sail all their lives,
doesn't it?"
"Yes, it means just about that," said Tom Kennedy.
Paying no attention to the touch of sarcasm in Tom's intonation, Steve
added:
"Well, they might do that in a fishing boat, but they couldn't do it in
the navy. My Uncle Walter is an officer in the navy, and he's got to
get out of it next year, because he'll be sixty-two years old, though
there isn't a gray hair in his head."
"The people in the song _were_ fishermen," said Sandy.
At this moment there was a cry of alarm among the small boys in the
stream. One of them had got beyond his depth and had disappeared
beneath the surface.
The larger boys rushed down the bank with eager inquiries: "Where?"
"Where did he go down?"
But two of them--George Dewey and Bill Ammon--did not need to wait for
the answer. They knew the exact depth of every square yard in that part
of the river, and the set of the current at every point, for they had
been in it and through it more than a hundred times.
"Run down the bank and go in by the pine tree, Bill," said George.
"I'll go in just below the riffle and explore the cellar-hole!"
A few seconds later both of these boys had disappeared under water.
The "cellar-hole," as the boys called it, was a place where some
natural force, probably frost and the current, had excavated the bed of
the river to a depth of eight or ten feet, with almost perpendicular
walls. It was a favorite place for the larger boys to dive; and another
of their amusements consisted in floating down into it with the
current, which, just before entering the cellar-hole, ran swiftly
through a narrow channel.
The two boys were under water so long that their companions began to
fear they never would come up. From the excited state of their minds it
seemed even longer than it really was.
Bill was the first to appear, and as soon as he could get his breath he
reported "No luck!"
A moment later George came up, and it was evident that he was bringing
something. As soon as Bill saw this he swam toward him, and at the same
time two other boys plunged in from the bank. They brought ashore the
apparently lifeless body of little Jimmy Nash and laid it on the grass.
"What shall we do?" said several.
"Shake the water out of him," said one.
"Stand him on his head," said another.
"Roll him over a barrel," said a third.
"Somebody run for a doctor," said a fourth; and this suggestion was
quickly carried out by two of the smaller boys, who scampered off in
search of a physician.
"The barrel is the right idea," said George, "but there is no barrel
anywhere in sight. Boys, bring us that big log."
Half a dozen boys made a rush for the log, rolled it down the slope,
and brought it to the place where it was wanted. They laid Jimmy across
it, face down, and gently rolled him back and forth, which brought
considerable water out of his lungs.
One of the boys who had run for a physician had the good fortune to
come upon Dr. Dewey, who was passing in his gig, and shouted:
"Doctor! Doctor! there's a drownded boy down here! Come quick!"
The doctor sprang to the ground, tied his horse to the fence in less
time than it takes to tell it, and followed the excited boy across the
field and down the bank.
After working over the little fellow about half an hour he brought him
back to consciousness, and at the end of another half hour Jimmy was
well enough to be taken to his home. He was very weak, and two large
boys walked beside him, supporting him by the arms, while all the
others followed in a half-mournful, half-joyful procession.
"I wonder if Jimmy's father will lick him for being drowned," said Tom
Kennedy.