The hours which the three school leaders were spending in study and
merry sport were bringing great events into their lives.
On the same day that Fred Weldon fought with Clarence Raybold by the
side of that Devon river, his father, the reputed wealthy Australian,
died a bankrupt, leaving his family almost paupers.
He had been involved in the disastrous land boom, and forced to mortgage
all his stock and estates. Indeed, for the past five or six years he
had only been able to carry on his station through the leniency of his
creditors. When death overtook him, he had been threatened with
foreclosure, which took place directly after his funeral.
It was a couple of weeks before the expiration of the last term for the
three school friends, when a black-edged letter came to inform Fred
about the death of his father and his own penniless condition. A double
blow that was, which prostrated the poor Australian boy, and took the
sunshine out of his life.
He dearly loved his father, although he had not seen that father for the
six years he had spent at Shebourne Academy. To know that he should
never again on earth see the kindly face of that loved parent nearly
broke his tender heart.
He had been brought up under the belief that, as far as he was
concerned, the seeking for a living was not a consideration which need
occupy his attention. He might go in for a profession as an amusement
to fill out time, or study the wool markets in London, and afterwards
take up his father's gentlemanly occupation as a squatter. Money had
never hitherto troubled his young mind. A liberal allowance had been
regularly paid to Dr Heardman for his use outside his school and
clothing fees. Up to this date he always had the most lavishly lined
purse in the school. Not being a cad, he never paraded his riches in
the least. He was free and open-handed, and ready always to give
without considering or remembering; but with the instincts of
generations of gentlemen in his blood, he gave or lent delicately, and
without allowing his right hand to know what his left hand did.
He was in consequence universally liked and respected, instead of being
hated, as ostentatious givers generally are.
A bluff, offhand manner covered a very warm and tender nature, as the
brown freckles covered his clear skin, until the original tints had to
be guessed at. He had speckled, brown-grey eyes, a good deal resembling
the colour of the iron stains so plentifully bespattered over his face.
This monotony of yellow-brown gave him a bark-like appearance that did
not add to his beauty at first sight.
It was a good and a brave face, however, that of Fred Weldon, in spite
of its dingy tones. When he opened his mouth to laugh, he exhibited a
fine set of strong white teeth that made him almost beautiful. His
laugh also was a ringing and a hearty laugh, which went straight into
one's heart when heard. By-and-by also, when one began to examine his
points, it was wonderful how many excellences and beauties were
disclosed. Nicely shaped ears, although often skinned and roughened by
the weather; well-shaped hands, although tanned by the sun; hair with a
golden lustre and a sinuous waviness; delicately shaped lips; and a nose
bold, fine, and straight, with nostrils sensitive as those of a
well-bred horse. Fred Weldon decidedly improved on acquaintance, for he
was polite, considerate, and of a singularly happy disposition.
When the evil tidings came he showed his grit and breeding by at once
facing the difficulty instead of bemoaning it idly. He had no longer
any expectations beyond what pocket-money he had saved, and fifty pounds
which an uncle had sent him, to pay his fare, second class, out to
Australia, if he cared to go.
This uncle told him kindly, but frankly, however, in his letter, that if
he cared to go anywhere else for the present, it would be as well, for
Australia could not hold out much-prospect for a penniless young man for
some years yet to come.
His mother and sisters were provided for, as this uncle had taken them
home to his station. He need, therefore, suffer no anxiety on their
account. He had only himself now to consider.
It is a sad moment in the life of a boy when he loses his natural
protector, even although he may step into his father's property. This
desolation becomes intensified when, besides his father, the boy loses
home, and, with what makes home attractive, all certainty of the future.
Fred Weldon felt now, for the first time, that he was no longer a
passenger in life's bark, but had been forced into the position of the
formerly utterly trusted and lost pilot. He had now to steer where
formerly he had left that responsibility to others.
It would have been a most wretched time, those last two weeks at
Shebourne Academy, for poor Fred Weldon, but for the kindly sympathy of
both teachers and fellow-pupils. These made him feel that misfortune
has its compensations, when it brings out these traits of kindness and
friendship.
The entire school united in showing to Fred how much he was cared for
daring this period of grief and uncertainty.
But his two chums, Ned Romer and Clarence Raybold, did more, for they
gripped the future with firm and energetic hands, and rendered it a
definite plan. As long as man or boy can map out his course with
definite lines, he has something worth living for. It is the groping
through a damp and dark mistland after a formless ideal which rusts the
mind and saps the vital forces. As long as we can trace a path, so we
can follow it; as long as we know our direction, difficulties are almost
pleasures. Without his two chums, Fred might have fallen into an inert
condition and given way to despair. Without this sudden calamity
befalling him, those three friends might have parted on that vacation
and gone different ways, to idle and dream abortive things. Now it
knitted their lives together, and while they discussed his affairs, they
settled their own.
Fred had received his letter on a Friday. On Saturday afternoon the
three friends were lying on the banks of the river near the
bathing-pool.
Fred was in the centre, lying on his back and looking at the sky. His
friends reclined on each side of him, resting on their elbows, and
plucking daisies and buttercups aimlessly.
That was their way of exhibiting their sympathy. They would not look at
him, for they instinctively felt that he would resent being watched just
now. He could not help his eyes filling now and then, as he saw
pictures of his lost Australian home with his father in that upper patch
of dark blue sky, but he would have hated his chums to see him crying
like a girl. So also would they have despised and detested themselves
for watching these signs of weakness. To cry is human, and sometimes
cannot be kept under--a man will own this with shame; but it is
abominable to be seen at the pitiful game, and no real friend would ever
own he had seen his chum at it. This is one of the sacred obligations
of man-friendship.
"I say, Raybold," cried Ned, speaking over the silent Fred, "I've been
thinking lately of making my exploration ground Africa. Do you intend
sticking to Johannesburg when you leave here?"
"Not likely, Ned; the pater wishes me to move about and see the country
before I settle down."
"Well, what do you say to making a company affair of it?" continued Ned,
cheerfully. "England, Australia, and Africa against the world."
"I am agreeable," replied Clarence.
"What do you say, Fred, to this partnership?"
"What partnership?" asked Fred, waking from his melancholy reverie.
"That we should go to Africa and become bona fide explorers. The
company to be called the Clarfredned Company of explorers and gentlemen
adventurers."
"With the last first, of course, Ned," added Clarence, modestly.
"Well, yes; I suppose I do know a trifle more than you pair of
scientists, having a year's advantage of you. And I haven't the
slightest objection to be your chief, on one condition."
"And that?"
"My condition is, that I provide the first expenses."
"Again agreeable," replied Clarence Raybold, with alacrity. "My pater,
since the Jameson Raid, hasn't had too much cash to spare. What with
confiscation, fines, and taxes, the life of an Uitlander is not an
enviable one in the Transvaal. Therefore I willingly accept your terms,
and declare you to be my captain."
"What do you say, Weldon?" asked Ned, calmly looking at the water pool.
He did this because there were indications of a girlish breakdown on the
part of Fred. His eyelids were twitching, and he was gulping something
down that appeared to be choking him.
"Some fellows go and pay a lot of money to be allowed to join an
expedition of this sort. I regard these fellows as fools to pay for
what should be paid for. The leader always gets the kudos, therefore he
ought to pay the costs. Now, boys, I'm fond of kudos, and I mean to
have as much of it as I can out of this affair, therefore I reckon it is
only fair that I should pay the piper."
Ned spoke musingly, and flicked with his stick at some grass-stalks.
Then Clarence Raybold took up the cue with the instinctive feelings of a
gentleman.
"Those are my sentiments also, of course, when partners go for equal
shares in profits as well as adventures. I think, as a kind of
guarantee of good faith, the subordinates ought to give a little. Now,
I would pledge myself to the extent of twenty pounds, and leave my
leader to do all the rest. What do you say, Weldon, old fellow, to
contributing twenty pounds each, and letting Ned do the rest?"
Fred crushed back into his eyelids a couple of tears, and then, gulping
down a big sob, like a huge pill, with the indifference of a Stoic, he
said--
"I'd give fifty pounds willingly to go with you and Ned; but if you
decide on twenty as the sum, all right, only I have an amendment to
propose."
"What is that?" asked both Ned and Clar, suspiciously.
"If we should discover any diamond or gold mines, or other treasures,
that the expenses be then fairly divided, and deducted from our shares
of profits."
"Done!" cried Ned and Clar, in one breath.
Then the lads shook hands solemnly, and the compact was made, which gave
them a grand object in life, and sent them forth in search of the
adventures which are now to be related.