"But how can we get out?"
"I'll soon show you," I said, complacently. "I thought we'd be placed
in a fix after our lark, and I made my preparations accordingly."
"By Jove, Martin, you're a wonderful fellow!" cried Tom, as I then
proceeded to peel off my jacket and waistcoat, unwinding some twenty
feet of thick cord, which I had procured from my sailor friends in the
harbour and had been carrying about me all day, rolled round my body
over my shirt, so as not to lacerate my skin--fearing all the while that
the podgy appearance which its bulk gave to me would be noticed,
although fortunately it had escaped comment.
"We'll get down from the balcony outside the window by the aid of this,"
I explained, as soon as I had got rid of the rope from about my person,
coiling it up handily, first knotting it at intervals, so that we could
descend gradually, without hurting our hands, already sore from
"pandies."
"And, once outside the house, why, we'll make off for the harbour, where
I've no doubt my friends on board the coal brig, which was lying
alongside the quay last Wednesday, when I was down there, will take us
in, and make us comfortable."
"My!" exclaimed Tom, "why, you're a regular brick, Martin. One would
think you had planned it out all beforehand!"
"Just precisely what I did," I replied, chuckling at having kept my
secret. "I have determined ever since last summer to run away to sea at
the first opportunity I got; and when you suggested our blowing up Dr
Hellyer, and making a regular Guy Fawkes of him, I, thought it would be
too warm for us here afterwards, and that then would be the time to
bolt. There is no use in our remaining now, to be starved first and
expelled afterwards--with probably any number of `pandies' given us to-
morrow in addition."
"No," said Tom, agreeing with this pretty correct estimate of our
present position and future prospects. "Dr Hellyer will whack that
ruler of his into us in the morning, without fail--I could see it in his
eye as he went out of the room, as well as from that grin he put on when
he spoke. I dare say, besides, we won't be allowed a morsel to eat all
day; we shall be kept here to watch the other fellows feeding--it's a
brutal way of paying a chap out, isn't it?"
"Well, I'm not going to put up with it, for one," said I, decisively.
"You know, Tom, as soon as my uncle hears of my being expelled, prompted
by Aunt Matilda, he will seize the chance of doing what he has long
threatened, and `wash his hands of me,' and then, why I will be in only
just the same plight as if I take French leave of Dr Hellyer now!"
"My mother, though, will be grieved when she hears of this," put in Tom,
as if hesitating what he should do.
"Nonsense, Tom," I replied--still exercising the influence I possessed
over my chum for evil!--"I am certain that if she knew that the Doctor
had treated you as he has done, starving you and keeping you here all
night in the cold out of your bed, she wouldn't mind a bit your running
away from the school along with me; especially when I'm going to take
you where you'll get food and shelter."
This argument decided Tom at once. "All right," said he, in the usual
jolly way in which he and I settled all our little differences. "I'll
come, Martin. But it is getting late. Don't you think, too, we'd
better look alive and start as soon as we can?"
"I was waiting till we heard the Doctor snoring," I replied. "Go and
listen at the door; his room, you know, is on the other side of the
landing, and you'll be able to tell in a minute whether he is asleep or
not."
Tom did as I requested, stealing noiselessly across the room for the
purpose, returning quickly with the news that our worthy preceptor was
fast in the arms of Morpheus, judging by the stentorian sound of his
deep breathing. Dr Hellyer had made a hearty dinner, in spite of our
having upset his equanimity so unexpectedly. He had likewise disposed
of an equally hearty tea; so he was now sleeping soundly--his peaceful
slumbers doubtless soothed with sweet dreams in reference to the
punishment he intended inflicting on us on the morrow, not thinking for
a moment, unhappy dreamer, that the poor birds whom he had, as he
imagined, effectually snared and purposed plucking, would by that time,
if all went well with our plans, have flown far beyond reach of his
nervous arm!
The master asleep, we had no fear of interruption from any one else, for
the old woman took her repose in the back kitchen, out of earshot of
anything happening in the front of the house, and Smiley and the Cobbler
were probably snoring away as composedly as their chief in the
dormitories above, of which they were in charge; so, Tom and I at once
began operations for effecting our "strategic retreat" from the
establishment.
The windows of the refectory opened on to a narrow balcony that ran
along the front of the house; and these, having heavy wooden shutters,
fastened by horizontal iron bars, latching into a catch, we had some
little difficulty in opening the one we fixed on for making our exit by,
the bar securing it being some height from the floor and quite beyond
our reach.
However, as Tom magniloquently quoted, difficulties were only made for
brave men--or boys--to surmount. By lifting one of the forms as quietly
as we could close to the window, and standing on this, the two of us
managed to raise the iron bar from the catch and let it swing down,
although the hinges made a terrible creaking noise in the operation,
which we thought would waken Dr Hellyer up. However, on going to the
door to listen again, we heard him still snoring, so we then proceeded
to unfasten the window, letting in the cold night air, that made us
shiver as it blew into the room from the sea.
It was quite dark when we got outside into the balcony, although we
could see a star or two faintly glimmering overhead; while away to the
westward, across the common, the red light at the pier-head marking the
entrance to the harbour was visible.
Like most watering-places in the "dead season," everybody went to bed
early in the terrace; so that, although it could have been barely ten
o'clock, not a light was to be seen from the windows of the neighbouring
houses.
"Just the night for a burglary!" said Tom with a snigger, on our
cautiously looking round us to see if the coast was clear.
"Yes," I chimed in, joyously, "only, we are going to burgle out, instead
of breaking in;" and we then both had a hearty chuckle at this little
joke.
Still, no time was to be lost, now that we had got so far. The next
thing, therefore, to do, was to descend the balcony; and, here, my
happily-thought-of rope ladder came in handily to deliver us from
durance vile.
Knotting it securely to the top rail of the balustrade, I gave it a
strong tug or two to test its strength, making the balcony shake and
tremble with the strain.
"Do you think it will bear our weight?" asked Tom, anxiously, noticing
me do this and feeling the vibratory movement.
"Bear our weight, you shrimp," I rejoined, "why, it would hold forty of
us, and Dr Hellyer too!"
At this we both sniggered again, suppressing our merriment, however, for
fear of being overheard; and then, drawing-to the shutter inside as
close as I could, so that it should not show too plainly the fact of its
being unbarred, and closing the window itself, which was a much easier
task, we prepared to slide down to the pavement below.
"I had better go first," I said to Tom, "I'm the heaviest; so, if I
reach the ground all right, there'll be no fear of the rope giving way
with you."
Tom argued the point, considering that the question was one of honour,
like that of leading a forlorn hope; but, on my saying that I had
planned the enterprise and thereby was entitled by right to be the first
to venture down, quite apart from the fact of my supplying the rope, he
yielded gracefully. Thereupon, without any more fuss, I got over the
railings of the balcony, and holding on tightly to the frail cord with
both hands, letting my legs drop, and then obtaining a grip below with
my ankles, I allowed myself to slide down below, checking the rapidity
of my descent by the knots I had previously placed there, a foot or so
apart, for this especial purpose.
I swayed round a bit, but the rope held firmly; and in a few seconds I
was standing on the steps below, waiting for Tom to join me.
He came down much easier than I did, from the fact of my holding the
other end of our improvised ladder, thus preventing it from twirling him
about in the same way as it had treated me, causing me almost to feel
giddy.
As soon as he stood beside me I coiled up the end of the cord, flinging
it back with a dexterous heave, in the way my sailor friend had taught
me, over the balcony again, so that the end of it might not be seen
hanging down, and so betray us too soon should any passer-by notice it.
"Come on, Tom," I then said, "a long good-bye to the Doctor's, my boy,
the blessed place shall never see me again, if I can help it! Let us
make for the quay now, and get on board the brig if we can--that is,
unless it be too late, in which case we must hide somewhere till the
morning."
"All right," he replied; and the two of us at once started off at a jog-
trot up the terrace and along the road that led into the town.
We were successful so far, but we were almost captured on the threshold
of victory through an unforeseen contingency; for, just as we turned
round the corner of the terrace by the country inn, or "hotel," which I
had noticed on my way from the station when I first arrived at the place
with Grimes, the cantankerous old railway porter escorting me to the
school, who should we meet point-blank but that identical worthy!
He was evidently going home to bed having just been turned out of the
inn, which was shutting up for the night. He had, apparently, spent a
most enjoyable evening, for he seemed in good spirits--or, rather,
perhaps had a pretty good amount of spirits or beer in him--as he reeled
somewhat in his gait, and, although it was Sunday, was trying in his
cracked falsetto voice to chant a Bacchanalian ditty assertive of the
fact that he wouldn't "go home till morning!"
But, in despite of being tipsy, he recognised us both instantly. He was
in the habit of coming constantly to and from the station to Dr
Hellyer's with parcels, and was, besides, frequently employed by the
Doctor in odd jobs about the house, consequently he was perfectly
familiar with our faces--especially mine, which he had never forgotten
since that little altercation I had with him on my first introduction.
I believe the old fellow bore me a grudge for having spoken to him so
peremptorily on that occasion, which even my present of sixpence had not
been able to obliterate.
He saw us now without doubt, as we passed by hurriedly, close to one of
the street lamps which shone down full upon us; and, alert in a moment,
he hailed us at once.
"Hullo, you young vaggybones," he screeched out with a hiccup; "where be
ye off ter now, hey?"
We made no answer to this, only quickening our pace; and he staggered
after us waveringly, wheezing out in broken accents, "I knows you,
Master Bantam, I does, and you Tom Larkyns; and I'll tell the Doctor, I
will, sure--sure--sure-ly."
But, unawed by this threat, we still went on at our jog-trot until we
were well out of his sight, when, retracing our steps again, we watched
at a safe distance to see what he would do. We were soon relieved,
however, from any anxiety of his giving the alarm, for, although he
attempted to take the turning leading down to the school, his legs,
which had only been educated up to the point of taking him home and
nowhere else after leaving the inn, must have refused to convey him in
this new direction, for we could see him presently clinging to the lamp-
post that had betrayed us, having a parley with the mutinous members--
the upshot being that he abandoned any design he might have formed of
going there and then to Dr Hellyer, postponing his statement as to what
he had seen of us, as we could make out from his muttered speech, "till
marn-ing," and mingling his determination with the refrain of the ditty
he had been previously warbling.
This was a lucky ending to what might otherwise have been a sad
mischance, if Dr Hellyer had been at once made acquainted with our
flight; so, devoutly thankful for our escape, we resumed our onward jog-
trot towards the quay, which we reached safely shortly afterwards,
without further incident or accident by the way.
After being out in the open air a little while, the evening did not seem
nearly so dark as we had thought when first peering out from the window
of the refectory before making our final exit from the school. Our
eyes, probably, became more accustomed to the half-light; but whether or
no this was the case, we managed to get down to the harbour as
comfortably as if going there in broad day.
The brig which I had been on board of on many previous occasions, the
_Saucy Sall_, of South Shields, was lying alongside the jetty in her old
berth, with a plank leading up to the gangway; and, seeing a light in
the fo'c's'le, I mounted up to her deck, telling Tom to follow me,
making my way forwards towards the glimmer.
All the hands were ashore, carousing with their friends, with the
exception of one man, who was reading a scrap of newspaper by the light
of a sputtering dip candle stuck into a ship's lantern. He looked
rather surprised at receiving a visit from me at such a time of night;
but, on my telling him the circumstances of our case, he made us both
welcome. Not only this, he brought out some scraps of bread and meat
which he had stored up in a mess-tin, most likely for his breakfast,
urging on us to "fire away," as we were heartily free to it, and
regretting that was all he had with which to satisfy our hunger.
This man's name was Jorrocks, and he was the first seafaring
acquaintance I had made when I had timidly crept down to the quay two
years before during the summer vacation; thus, we were now old friends,
so to speak. He told us, after we had polished the mess-tin clean, that
the brig was going to sail in the morning, for Newcastle, with the tide,
which would "make," he thought, soon after sunrise.
"Why, that'll be the very thing for us," I exclaimed. "Nothing can be
better!"
But Jorrocks shook his head.
"I don't know how the skipper'd like it," he said doubtingly.
"Oh, bother him," interposed Tom; "can't you hide us somewhere till the
vessel gets out to sea; and then, he'll have to put up with our presence
whether he likes it or not?"
"What, hide you down below, my kiddies!" said the man, laughing. "Why,
he'll larrup the life out of you with a rope's-end when he finds you
aboard. I tell you what, he a'most murdered the last stowaway we had
coming out of Shields two years ago!"
"Never mind that," I put in here; "we'll have to grin and bear it, and
take monkey's allowance if he cuts up rough. All we want to do now is
to get away from here; for, no matter how your captain may treat us, Dr
Hellyer would serve us out worse if he caught us again! Do help us,
Jorrocks, like a good fellow! Stow us away in the hold, or somewhere,
until we are out of port."
Our united entreaties at last prevailed, Jorrocks consenting finally to
conceal us on board the brig, although not until after much persuasion.
"Mind, though, you ain't going to split on who helped yer?" he
provisoed.
"No, Jorrocks, we pledge our words to that," Tom and I chorused.
"Then, come along o' me," the good-natured salt said, and lifting the
scuttle communicating with the hold forwards, he told us to get down
into the forepeak, showing us how to swing by our hands from the coaming
round the hole in the deck, as there was no ladder-way.
"There, you stow yourselves well forrud," he enjoined, as soon as we had
descended, chucking down a spare tarpaulin and some pieces of canvas
after us to make ourselves comfortable with. "Lie quiet, mind," he
added as a parting injunction, "the rest of the hands and the skipper
will be soon aboard, and it'll be all up if they finds you out afore we
start."
"All right, we'll be as still as if we're dead," I said.
"Then, belay there," replied Jorrocks, shouting out kindly, as he
replaced the hatch cover, which stopped up the entrance to our hiding
place so effectually that the interior became as dark as Erebus. "Good,
night, lads, and good fortune! I'll try and smuggle you down some
breakfast in the mornin'."
"Thank you; good night!" we shouted in return, although we doubted
whether he could hear us now the scuttle was on.
Thus left to ourselves, we scraped together, by feeling, as we could not
see, the materials Jorrocks had supplied us with for a bed, on which we
flung ourselves with much satisfaction, thoroughly tired out on account
of the Doctor's having kept us standing up all day, in addition to the
exertions we had since made in making our escape from school.
The novelty of our new situation, combined with its strange
surroundings, kept us awake for a little time, but we were too much
fatigued both in body and mind for our eyelids to remain long open; and
soon, in spite of our daring escapade and the fact that the unknown
future was a world of mystery before us, we were as snugly asleep as if
in our beds in the dormitory at Dr Hellyer's--albeit we were down in
the hold of a dirty coal brig, with our lullaby sung by the incoming
tide, which was by this time nearly on the turn, washing and splashing
by the bows of the vessel lying alongside the projecting jetty, in its
way up the estuary of the river that composed the little harbour.
How long we had been in the land of dreams, and whether it was morning,
mid-day, or night, we knew not, for a thick impenetrable darkness still
filled the forehold where we were stowed; but, Tom and myself awoke to
the joyful certainty that we were at sea, or must be so--not only from
the motion of the brig, as she plunged up and down, with an occasional
heavy roll to port or starboard; but from the noise, also, that the
waves made, banging against her bow timbers, as if trying to beat them
in, and the trampling of the crew above on the deck over our heads.
We listened to these sounds for hours, unable to see anything and having
nought else to distract our attention, until Tom, becoming somewhat
affected by the smell of the bilge water in the hold as well as by the
unaccustomed rocking movement of the brig, began to feel sea-sick and
fretful.
"I declare this is worse than the Doctor's," he complained.
"We'll soon be let out," I said, "and then you'll feel better."
But, the friendly Jorrocks did not appear; and, at length, wearied out
at last by our vain watching, we both sank off to sleep again on our
uneasy couch.
After a time we woke up again. There was a noise as if the hatchway was
being raised, and then the welcome gleam of a lantern appeared above the
orifice.
It was Jorrocks come to relieve us, we thought; and so we both started
up instantly.
The hour for our deliverance had not yet arrived, however.
"Steady!" cried our friend. "We're just off Beachy Head, and you must
lie where you are till mornin'; but, as you must be famished by now,
I've brought you a bit of grub to keep your pecker up. Show a hand,
Master Martin!"
I thereupon stretched out upwards, and Jorrocks, reaching downwards,
placed in my grip our old acquaintance of the previous night, the mess-
tin, filled with pieces of beef and potatoes mixed up together, after
which he shoved on the hatchway cover again, as if somebody had suddenly
interrupted him.
I made a hearty meal, although Tom felt too qualmish to eat much, and
then we both lay down with the assurance that our troubles would
probably soon be over.
I suppose we went to sleep again, for it seemed but a very brief
interval, when, awaking with a start, I perceived the hatchway open.
"Rouse up, Tom," said I, shaking him; "we'd better climb on deck at
once."
"All right," replied Tom, jumping up, and he was soon on the fo'c's'le,
with me after him.
"Who the mother's son are you?" a gruff voice exclaimed; and, looking
round, I saw the skipper of the brig advancing from aft, brandishing a
handspike.