YARNS: THE CABBAGES WHICH HUNG THEIR HEADS--THE RAFT OF
SPRUCE--VOYAGE OF THE "DEWDROP"--A LUCKY FAMILY--A DEEP, DEEP
DRAUGHT--THE MAIRE'S CAT.
Alec behaved splendidly while I was unable to help myself. He fished,
and by hook or by crook--or rather, by hook and by net--procured
whatever I cared for, beside which he killed the surviving pig, which
had now grown into an immense fellow, so that we had a good supply of
meat, although somewhat fat; but of this I ate little, preferring a more
vegetable diet, although at times I took a little meat, but not often.
When the day's work was over he would sit in the twilight and spin yarns
to me of his own curious experiences, one or two of which I cannot
refrain from repeating here.
"Did you ever do any smuggling?" I asked him one day.
"Well," said he, "that's rather personal, is it not? But still, I may as
well tell you truly--I have. But as it is now very risky work, and some
of my experience is recent, I shall not tell you of my own adventures
in that line of business, though I see but little harm in outwitting a
revenue officer, and at the same time enabling your neighbours to obtain
a luxury or two, which otherwise they would never have. Did I ever do
any smuggling? Rather! and my father and grandfather before me. In fact,
in the village of my birth a man is thought little of who has not, at
some time or other, been 'smarter than a revenue officer.'"
These remarks aroused my curiosity, so I asked, "Were you ever caught at
the game?"
"No," said he, "but I'll tell you how my father was once bowled over by
the sun taking part against him. It was in the month of August, 185-,
that he had, by manoeuvring, brought ashore quite a nice little lot of
contraband during the night, and not liking to keep it in the house,
placed a couple of men on watch while he buried it in the garden. He had
a little plot of cabbages near one side of the garden, and he uprooted
about a dozen of these in the middle of the patch; then, digging a
somewhat shallow hole, he placed his goods in, and re-casting the mould
back, replanted the cabbages, not forgetting to remove the surplus mould
in pails. So far so good; but early the next morning a customs officer
had, by some means, heard that my father had been seen in his boat on
the previous day, in close proximity to a trading vessel which had
signalled for water, one of her casks having been started by the heat.
Of course my father was very pleased to see the officer (or apparently
so), and after showing him over the place, invited him to stay to
breakfast, which he gladly did. About ten o'clock he took his departure,
apparently quite as satisfied with his visit, as my father was pleased
at his departure. All seemed very easy now--simply to wait till dark,
when one or two friends would divide the haul and take it away in some
secret manner. But a little after noon back came the officer,
accompanied by another. Here was evidently something in the wind, and my
father felt very anxious.
"'Very sorry to trouble you, M. Ducas, but duty is duty, you know. Will
you kindly accompany us over your premises?'
"'Certainly.'
"Then they searched high and low, but nothing could they find. Dinner
was being served. Would they join us at table?
"'Thanks, very pleased to.'
"So they sat down. My father, after dinner, handed them a bottle of the
'right sort,' of which they were connoisseurs, and they enjoyed it. It
was a hot day, and everything was greatly in want of rain, and being so
hot and dry they strolled out into the garden, preparatory to taking
their leave.
"'How are monsieur's pigs? Oh, ah, very fine fellows! Do you give them
much green food?'
"Yes, a fair amount,' my father replied, and pulling up the nearest
cabbage to him, threw it to the animals.
"'What a pity to waste such a fine cabbage,' said the chief officer.
'Why not give them one of those which are languishing so for want of
water?' and reaching over he made a big pull at one, which, to his
astonishment, came out of the ground without any resistance. 'Hello!
what's this, Ducas? Why, all the middle ones seem to be in a sad way!
See, they are-hanging their heads. Perhaps the soil is not congenial to
their growth. _Have you a spade?_'
"It was all up. The spade had to be forthcoming, and the end of it
was,--'Fined two hundred francs or thirty-five days in prison.'"
"Well, Alec, that's not half bad. Spin us another."
"Ah, well, I could spin you enough yarns to make a frigate's cable, and
a thick one too, if you would only listen to them."
"Very good. Then let me have another strand towards the said ship's
cable; but don't spin it _too thick_."
"Let's see, which one shall I give you? Oh, I know; but it's one that
did _not_ end in a fine, though it was a very close shave. I was quite a
youngster, but anything but a green hand at the business, for I had
accompanied my father on many occasions on which he did not bring home
merely soles or _longue-nez_ for freight. Just before the occasion of
which I am about to tell you there had been a gale, and during the worst
of the blow a Norwegian vessel had jettisoned her deck load of spruce
poles, and we being out fishing a day or two after, happened, as luck
would have it, to fall in with some of them. As we had some spare rope
aboard we made a kind of raft of them, and commenced towing them towards
the harbour, which was only five or six miles distant.
"Now it so happened that a fishing boat passed us as we tugged our
timber along, and what is more remarkable, upon my father holding up a
white pail a man at the stern of the lugger did the same, then altering
her canvas she made a tack (where one was not required), and coming very
close to us dropped overboard a series of black tin cases, which were no
doubt hermetically sealed, to preserve their contents. These cylinders
were so nicely balanced that the rounded sides of them just showed above
the water, and no more. Some more cabalistic signs then passed between
my father and the lugger's skipper, as she stood away on her course, and
in an hour was out of sight round the cape. We made fast the cylinders
(which were attached to a rope) _underneath_ the raft, and standing in
for shore and entered the little port.
"We moored our logs, and my father at once went to the authorities and
reported the finding of _a raft_, and as usual an officer came down to
inspect and put a mark on the timbers. His inspection was finished, and
he was about to go upon other business when a boy who had, with some
companions, been scampering about the raft, fell into the water. At once
a number of men jumped on the raft, which was nearly submerged by the
additional weight; but what was worse the cordage binding the logs
together gave way, and behold, bobbing among the floating men were seen
a series of floating cylinders! The men were hauled out of the water,
and so were the curious tin cases, while with the latter my father was
hauled off to appear before the magistrates on a charge of smuggling."
"A clear case I should say, Alec," I remarked.
"Well, so everyone thought; but, strange to say, my father was
discharged with a caution. The turning point of the case was, did we
pick up separate logs of timber and construct the raft, or did we find
the raft _already made_? Our case was that we had picked up the _whole_
raft at sea, and not having examined it, were not supposed to know what
was hanging beneath it. Beside which, had not M. Ducas gone straight
away and given notice to the proper authorities? We obtained the benefit
of the doubt, but it was a very close squeak."
"It was indeed. Now do you not remember any little adventure of your own
you could tell me?"
"Adventures! I could fill a whole book with them; some of them so
strange that they would appear to most people more like falsehoods than
solid fact."
"But, you know, Alec, it is only a hair line that frequently separates
the sublime from the ridiculous, and perhaps the line that divides your
true tales of the marvellous from story book fiction is so thin, that
ordinary persons cannot quite detect it; but never mind, let's have
something mild, and I'll undertake to swallow everything you tell me,
even if I have to bite it in two first."
"There, now, you're laughing at me before I begin, and you shall not
have a strand of a yarn, so you may go to sleep again at once."
Then I had to coax him, and he soon came round. He could not bear to be
doubted, much less laughed at.
"Tell me about bringing that little cockle-shell of a yacht from London
to Guernsey, that you were speaking about the other day."
"Oh! the 'Dewdrop.' Why, that's no yarn at all."
Then, thought I to myself, here's something really true: and so I
afterwards proved it to be.
"The 'Dewdrop' was one of the smallest yachts that ever ventured across
the Channel in the month of March. I left London with a fair wind from
the west, and got along the London river well enough; but once past the
Nore I found it quite lumpy enough to make things very wet and
uncomfortable, and after leaving Dover behind I had serious thoughts of
putting into Folkestone, or one of the south coast ports, but as I am
not one to take a task in hand and then give it up, I shaped my course
for Guernsey, making up my mind to give Cape La Hogue a wide berth.
There was a high west wind blowing, and a choppy sea rolling the white
horses along at a great pace, so that it required some amount of
attention to handle a light built twenty-foot yacht. Everything stood as
we bowled along, but having no one to help me I felt dreadfully tired
and hungry, for I could not leave the tiller to get a proper meal. Two
or three hours more and the wind backed a little to the south south-west
and blew harder than ever, while, in proportion as the wind rose, so did
the sea, so that the poor little 'Dewdrop,' with nearly a head wind, was
labouring heavily. How I got through the night I cannot tell, for with
cold and hunger I was nearly dead, and what was more, _I was lost_. When
I say lost, I could not tell within a score miles where I was. I looked
for the Casquet Light, but could not see it. Then I strained my eyes
ahead, trying to penetrate the darkness and discern Alderney Light, but
in vain. Turning my head to the left I looked out for the lights of Cape
La Hogue, but again was disappointed. Where was I? I could not tell, but
I fancied I knew where _I should be_ in a very short time, for the seas
were such as to make it a marvel how such a cockle-shell could float in
such a turmoil of black seething water. It was a terrible night, for
death rode near me on every crested wave, any one of which breaking
aboard would have formed my winding sheet. To make matters worse,
towards morning a dense sea fog set in, and I so far gave myself up as
to say my prayers at least half a dozen times in as many half hours.
"Although apparently very reluctant to do so, the sun did rise at last,
and behold, as the fog melted away, not two miles off, on my starboard
beam, was Alderney. I never felt such a thrill of joy in my life as when
I saw the breakwaters at the entrance to Braye Harbour, extending their
arms as if to receive me into their snug embrace. I was glad to get into
smooth water once again, and inside a harbour to boot, for I had never
expected to set foot on dry land again. The old hands could scarcely
believe that I had crossed the Channel in such a gale; but there I was,
and there was the 'Dewdrop' to prove my assertion, therefore they could
not doubt it. I pumped her out, and repaired the little craft as well as
I could, and on the third day of being in port had eaten everything
eatable aboard, and as there was no chance of resuming the voyage yet I
had to get some food on 'tick.' This was all very well for a day or two,
but after I had been a week in Braye, with no prospect of getting away,
the landlord of the tavern from which I obtained my food, told me that
as I was a perfect stranger to him he could not afford, to keep me any
longer on credit. What security could I give him for further food? This
was a poser, but the end of it was that I left my whole kit in pawn with
him, including even my watch. At length, on the twelfth morning after my
arrival the sea became calm enough for me to proceed, and with a west
wind I was in Guernsey Harbour four hours after leaving Braye. I think
this was the most adventurous voyage I ever made, as it took me sixteen
days to make two hundred and fifty miles. I think if the pay was a
guinea an hour I should not care about again crossing the Channel during
an equinoxial gale, especially to be skipper and crew of such a midge as
the 'Dewdrop.'"
"That's what I call a decent little yarn, Alec,--_multum in parvo_--one
that might be drawn out into quite a long story, and if it were in the
hands of some men they would so spin it out, that the telling would
occupy almost as many hours as you were days on the voyage. Nothing like
condensing the agony and expanding the joy in a yarn, it makes the
listeners in a better mode, and more sociable with each other."
"Sociability," said Alec, "among seafaring men is pretty general. It is
usually 'Hail, fellow, well met!' with us, for we endeavour to get all
the fun we can out of life, because we know that whenever he gets the
chance, Death will have his gibe at us. A sailor must, of necessity,
often face death, and therefore his motto is, 'Eat, drink, and be merry,
for to-morrow we die'; and death does come to him frequently when least
he expects it. I'll tell you an instance of this in which I and some of
my relatives were concerned.
"Nine miles from the shore of my native village there is a most
dreadful sand-bank, in the form of the letter U, which at low tide is
frequently bare, while at high tide not more than two fathoms of water
cover it. It has been a death-trap to many a stout vessel, and at the
time I am speaking of had nothing near it in the form of a lighthouse,
lightship, or even a buoy to mark its dread presence. At daybreak on a
rough November morning the look-out on duty discovered that a small
trading schooner was fast on the sands, and after the usual half-hour's
excitement in the village the surf boat, containing eleven men, was
launched and proceeded to the wreck. There was quite a little party of
my family aboard, as beside myself, the crew also contained my father,
brother, and two cousins.
"To make a long story short, I will simply say, that after a three
hours' exhausting pull we reached the vessel, but were grieved to find
that of the crew of six hands, only one was left alive. Our attention
was therefore turned to the saving of this poor sailor, who had lashed
himself to the bowsprit, where he had sat all through the cold night,
and was so benumbed that he could scarcely speak. We shouted to him, and
made him understand that if he would cut his lashings, we would when
opportunity served, pull the boat under the bowsprit so that as we
glided by he might drop in and be saved. His knife was quickly at work,
and to show that he was free he held up his hands and moved himself on
the bowsprit. We gave him a cheer, and watching our best time, glided in
on the crest of a wave to deliver the poor fellow. Alas! in his
excitement he jumped too soon, and dropped between the bows of the
vessel and our heavy boat. His head was for a second visible on the
surface, but before an arm could be stretched out to save him the two
vessels came crash together, with his head between them. A gush of blood
was all we saw of him, for the next moment we were all in the sea,
struggling for our own lives. Our boat had stove its bows in against the
ship, which we had approached too closely, in our endeavour to save the
poor man.
"I was fortunate enough to secure an oar, and working gradually to
leeward of the wreck, with great exertion at length got aboard, where,
to my joy, I found my father. The boat still floated bottom upwards,
with five men upon the keel, who were constantly lashed by the cold
waves, till presently a larger wave than the others broke the hold of
two of the men, and washed them into eternity. Gradually in the swirl
and foam of the mighty waters the boat beat round to the leeward of the
ship, and I then saw that the men on the keel were my two cousins and
brother. They could all swim, and seeing that my father and I were ready
with ropes, quitted their precarious seat on the keel, and struck out
towards the ship. My brother and cousin Phillipe, after a terrible
struggle, were drawn aboard, but Gabriel, who could not swim so
strongly, presently became exhausted and cried out for a rope. The
distance appeared too far to fling it, but with a powerful swing my
father threw the coil, the end of which fell a yard short of the
swimmer. If I live a thousand years I shall never forget the look of
despair upon my cousin's face as he sank back in the water completely
exhausted. As his head disappeared his hand, like an eagle's claw, came
above the surface of the water and gave one wild clutch at the rope
which should have proved his salvation, then it disappeared also, and he
was no more.
"Thus, out of eleven men, only four were saved. Incredible as it may
seem, these were all of them relatives--my brother, father, cousin, and
self--it was quite a family party. We were taken off the wreck in the
afternoon by another boat and safely landed. Ducas was a lucky name that
day, and so it proved three years after, for my brother was the _only_
survivor when his fishing boat was run down, and a crew of eight men
perished."
Seeing that we had just had one melancholy recital I thought it best to
start something more pleasant, so I handed Alec a large mug of coffee,
and said:
"Take a drink, my comrade, and while you are slaking your thirst I will
spin you a drinking story."
Then I recounted to him the story of Count Tilly of Brabant, and the
Holy Prior. How, during one of Tilly's numerous campaigns, a certain
town held out far too long for the general's liking, but at last it was
forced to surrender. Tilly had six of the chief men brought before him,
and commanded, as the town had laughed at his terms, that they should
die, to expiate the rest of the citizens. All kinds of conditions were
laid before him to avoid the doom of these unfortunate men, but they
were of no avail with him; he was implacable. One, Prior Hirsch, sought
him and tried to melt his adamantine heart, and being a man of
experience with human foibles, concluded to try the effect of some of
the good old wine for which the country is famous, and his own monastery
in particular. A huge flagon being introduced, filled with some of the
very "A1" of the district, Tilly was induced to try some.
"Very good wine indeed," exclaimed the General, "but it is no use your
trying to get round me in that way to pardon your burgesses, for I can
no more turn from my word than you can empty this goodly flagon at a
draught."
"Is the case indeed so hopeless?" said the priest.
"Yes, indeed," said the Count rising, "Drink me the contents of this
flagon at a draught, and your citizens are free; else at noon they
swing," and with a mocking smile on his lips he was about to stride out
of the room, when the priest arrested his steps with,
"One moment, good Count, and I will e'en essay the task."
Then, taking up the flagon, which held _thirteen pints_, he emptied it
to the very dregs, and fell back into his townsmen's arms.
Tilly was as good as his word, and released his captives.
"Whew!" whistled Alec; "where's the salt box? Thirteen pints at a
draught--thirteen pints! Why, your old priest would make a good second
to our maire's cat!"
"What did his cat do?" queried I, innocently.
"Oh, I thought everyone had heard of Curat's cat," premised Alec. "You
must know that his cat was growing old and spiteful, so he determined to
kill it; but although he tried various means, and got very near
accomplishing his end on several occasions the cat would always appear
again to trouble him. One evening, as a final effort in assassination,
before retiring to bed, he tied a heavy piece of iron round the cat's
neck, and dropped it into a water-butt which stood in his garden. Next
morning he was down betimes, and standing on the tiptoe both of
expectation and of his boots, he peeped over the edge of the tub, when
lo! there, on the bottom of the butt sat the cat looking up at him with
tears in her eyes, for she was too heavily anchored to climb out."
But I broke in, "Where was the water?"
"Well, you see," said Alec, "being her only means of escape, _she had
swallowed it_, as your priest did the wine, which accounted for her
swollen condition. So now, Mr. Thirteen Pints, I think we are about
quits."
We were; Alec scored a point.
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