MUTINY AT THE BUNK
'Boys!' Theo's clear treble voice rang through the din that was
shaking the very pictures on the walls of the Bunk dining-room.
'Why, it's Theo, I declare!' shouted Geoff, the first to hear his
sister. 'We're in a state of mutiny, Theo! Isn't it fun?' He
shrieked in his glee.
'We've turned on old Price, and completely routed him off the decks,
and we've seized the ship. We're in sole command of the Bunk--hooray!'
Alick, his face flushed with triumph, his eyes dancing with wicked
mischief, executed a hornpipe in the middle of the dining-table in
furious style and making a hideous clatter, shouting the while--
'Will ye hear of Captain Kidd,
And the deeds of which he did,
All upon the Spanish main,
Where so many men were slain?'
'Won't you get down, boys dear, and tell me quietly what has maddened
you so this morning?' Theo, who had been standing transfixed, spoke at
last, looking calmly at her excited brothers, and her voice, so evenly
modulated and gentle, had an instantaneous effect. The dreadful din
and noisy dancing abruptly ceased, while the rebels regarded her with
much the same sullen stare as one encounters from a drove of Highland
cattle when molested.
'Where's Price? Have you seen him?' suspiciously asked Geoff. 'Has he
been reporting us?'
'He'd better not try on that game, I tell you, the coward that he is!'
growled Alick.
'I don't know about Mr. Price being the coward,' pointedly said Theo.
'It isn't usually the fashion among brave men for two to set on one, is
it, boys dear?' she added tranquilly.
Geoff gasped. Then his mouth, opening to sharply retort, shut with a
click. He knew that his sister, though only a girl, was perfectly
right. It had been an unfair, uneven conflict. Theo put her finger on
the blot with remarkable accuracy for a girl; two to one must always be
unfair, and a rush of shame tingled over him.
Not so Alick. He would not allow himself to be convinced.
'I'd like to know what right has Price to grind us down?' he muttered,
gloomily frowning at Theo. 'He's an oppressor, that's what he is! But
I'll soon let him see; I'll pitch into him, if he dares to show his
white face here again, I tell you! Down with tyrants!'
'He isn't likely to show his face here,' said Theo, loftily regarding
the inflamed countenance of her brother. 'That is,' she continued,
'not unless he receives an ample apology from each of you for this
morning's work.'
'Apology!' shouted--almost yelled--Alick. 'Never! Don't you believe
it, Miss Theo! You think you can do most things, but you won't bend us
to that!' Rub-a-dub on the dining-table hammered the furious boy's
toes and heels, as he broke out into another hornpipe.
'Won't you come down, dears?' again pleaded Theo as gently as before.
'Come to the tea-house, and tell me exactly what the trouble was from
the very beginning,' she said persuasively.
'Oh, we'll tell you!' eagerly assented the boys, with one voice; and
scrambling down from the table, each slipped an arm through Theo's, and
walked away with her, both talking at once, excitedly endeavouring to
make the best of their case in her eyes. They were genuinely fond of
their elder sister; principally, it may have been, because she never
scolded or flouted them, however badly they behaved. Theo's way was
different. It was by gentle means she sought to lead, not drive, her
rebellious, hot-headed young brothers back to the path of duty from
which they were so constantly straying.
'What did you want, did you say?' she asked, bewildered by the two
angry voices full of complaint on either side of her.
'You be quiet, Geoff, and let me tell her, said Alick, in a domineering
tone. 'I'm the eldest!' That being a fact, Geoff could not well
contradict it, and Alick triumphantly went on, 'You see, Theo, this is
how it all began. We asked Price, civilly enough, this morning to
allow us a whole day off on Wednesday next, instead of the usual
half-holiday. And I'll tell you why we were so anxious for a whole
day. You know Jerry Blunt?'
Theo nodded. Everybody had heard of the wanderer's return to
Northbourne.
'Of course you do. Well, but perhaps you didn't know that he has set
up as a bird-trainer, because he can't do any work since he lost his
right arm, and he is bound to make a living somehow. Jerry told Ned
Dempster that he was going to Brattlesby Woods all day Wednesday to
seek for young bullfinches, and he also said that we might go with him,
if we cared to, and help search the nests. Wouldn't that have been
splendid? Now, wouldn't it?'
Theo nodded again--emphatically. She thoroughly sympathised with all
the boys' pleasures and pursuits, even when she could not join them.
'But that cantankerous old Price refused us flat. He said we'd been
far too idle, me especially, to yield us one single hour extra; and he
hammered away about his responsibilities as he has the cheek to call
_us_. Now, I ask you, wasn't that enough to make a fellow just mad?
Wouldn't you have done exactly as we did yourself, Theo?' Alick gave
his sister's arm an impatient shake.
'Well, no. I don't think I should have danced so madly on the table to
the horrible music of the fire-irons. And I _do_ know I should not
have insulted a gentleman. Another thing'--Theo skilfully reserved her
best shot for the last--'I also am quite sure I shouldn't have set on
him when he was single-handed and I had a partner, as I said before.'
Geoff slid his hand quickly out of Theo's arm; her shot had gone home,
and his face took on a look of hot shame. Alick, on the other hand,
only frowned the more deeply.
'Let us sit down and talk it all over reasonably,' went on Theo.
'Queenie dear, it is one o'clock; you may take your lesson-book, and
make yourself and your doll-people tidy for dinner.' Queenie
obediently trotted off to the house, and the speaker continued.
'What's all this about Jerry Blunt, boys? I thought he was a sailor?
What in the world has a sailor to do with training bullfinches, I want
to know?'
'Why,' glibly began Alick, his face clearing, for the subject was one
specially dear to him, 'you know Jerry was away on that expedition to
find the North Pole--the one that went so far north. They got to the
Franz Josef Land, the very farthest anybody has ever yet penetrated.
But they failed that time, and Jerry got a frost-bite all through his
own carelessness--he admits that. His right hand and arm above the
elbow had to be taken off. Oh, you needn't shudder, Theo; a man can't
both venture and go scot-free. When the expedition came back they gave
Jerry the sack--turned him off, you know. So he has come back to
Northbourne to settle with his old mother, and of course he is anxious
to turn an honest penny for a living. It seems he knows a rare lot
about training young bullfinches to pipe real tunes. He learned the
trick from a cunning old Frenchman's yarns--a man who was on the
expedition.'
'Yes, and just fancy, Theo!' cut in Geoff excitedly, and forgetting all
his recent twinges of compunction. 'Jerry trains the bullfinches with
a queer little musical instrument, a bird organ it is called. The
notes are as like their own as they can possibly be, Jerry says so. He
is going to show us the one he has got of his own. Old Frenchy, who
taught him how to train, gave him one for himself.'
'What's Jerry Blunt's object in training the birds? How can it be a
living for him?' asked Theo wonderingly. For the moment she, too, had
forgotten the disagreeable events of the morning in the novelty of the
subject.
'Why, he will sell them, of course--sell them to a chap in London who
sells them again. They fetch a good price, I can tell you. And oh,
Theo, listen, _we_ are going to have a trained finch, Alick and I.
We're going to save up, and Jerry has promised to keep a young bird to
train for us. We shall pay him, you know.' Geoff in his elation
jumped up and down on the seat.
'Yes, we are!' said Alick; adding wrathfully, 'and wasn't it a mean,
low trick of Price to refuse us leave to go with Jerry?' He was quite
ready to blaze up again, volcanic-wise, in another fury.
'Well, boys,' Theo spoke quietly and simply, but there was that in her
face and voice that forced both other brothers to listen, 'you know,
each of you, that father is too busy to look after you; so Mr. Price is
set over you, and he is on honour--being a gentleman, you
understand--not to take advantage of father's preoccupation to give you
such holidays as you have no right to have. Already they say your work
is far too light, and I know Mr. Vesey has again and again urged father
to send you both to a public school. When the book is done, and sent
to the publishers, father means to see about it seriously. You've
called Mr. Price a great many bad names to-day, but you can't call him
dishonourable; that's one point in his favour, and it's but fair that
we should allow him what we can. It would have been so easy for him to
grant this favour----'
'Humph!' interrupted Alick, as if to say, 'Oh, you're coming round to
our view, are you? I thought you would!'
'Quite easy!' repeated the young girl gravely. 'And there's another
thing: if it would have been such a pleasure to you, think what it
would have been to Mr. Price to get rid of such tiresome plagues as
yourselves for a whole day!'
In a flash Alick remembered the recent words of old Binks to the same
effect. For the second time the novel idea of how irksome he and Geoff
must be to their much-tried tutor presented itself, to the resentful
boy's secret astonishment.
'I am sure,' Theo began again, and still more gravely, 'you boys must
remember that the Bible tells us to respect those appointed to be
rulers over us.'
'Don't preach!' Alick rudely cut her short; but Geoff bit his lip. He
was already bitterly ashamed of his morning's exploit, and tender,
serious words from Theo never failed to touch him to the heart.
Left to himself, Geoff was undoubtedly one of those who, amid good
surroundings, would have kept on the straight path easily enough. So
could many. But human nature is, for the most part, made up of Alicks
as well as Geoffs--of boys who wilfully choose to do wrong and to stray
from duty. Like the genuine wheat and the tares, all must grow
together side by side--in the meantime.
'I didn't intend to preach, Alick,' rejoined Theo gently. 'I only want
to ask you boys to show that you also are gentlemen, in the true sense
of the word, by frankly begging Mr. Price's pardon, when he comes
to-morrow, for your rude outbreak of this morning. It is the least you
can do, to make amends for an almost unpardonable insult.'
There was a silence. The waves below dashed and broke on the rocks,
and the hoarse voices from a belated, heavy-laden fishing-boat stole
across the water in shouts to the women, who had been anxiously
awaiting them for some hours on the shore.
'Well, boys dear, have you decided? Are you to act as father's sons,
as Carnegys of the old stock, or, to put it in another way, as
Christians who have given offence, and know that there is but one way
of making up for it? Will you apologise?' Theo spoke with urgent
persuasiveness.
'I shall!' Geoff stood up straight, and his face was pale and set, as
he confronted Theo bravely.
'I shan't!' Alick's head sunk lower and lower; on his brow a gloomy
scowl deepened, and his eyes refused to meet those of his sister
wistfully seeking his.