The midsummer holidays at last came round, and Mrs. Leslie, who had been
busy packing up and arranging things for some weeks, now resolved to shut
up the house for a whole month and, with the family, set off for
Kingshaven.
It was a long way off--some thirty or forty miles--so it was quite like
an adventure to Harry Leslie and his little brothers and sisters, and
scarcely less so to Walter Hammond, who was to accompany them. Dr.
Hammond could not leave home on account of his numerous patients; and had
it not been for this fine chance, Walter would have had only a few days
in the country now and then. He was a good-tempered, sensible boy, and a
pleasant guest in any household. Mr. Leslie would be able to go down
with his family to Kingshaven; but was to leave them there and return to
business, making his home for the time at a married sister's house in
Rosehampton. So everything seemed promising; and even Mrs. Leslie,
naturally of a most anxious and troubled disposition, set off with hardly
a cloud on her horizon.
Harry had been very active in helping his mother all the day before the
departure, and once when carrying a heavy box down from the attics he had
felt it bump heavily against his knee; but being a brave little boy, he
said and thought nothing about it at the time. All through the afternoon
and night, however, a strange, dull pain in the knee haunted him. He did
not tell anybody, but he wished frequently it would go away before he got
to Kingshaven. There stood the _Rover_, all nicely packed and ready for
the railway journey, and Harry's heart beat high when he thought how soon
he should see it riding proudly on the waves--the admired of all
beholders.
Harry wakened early on the Saturday morning that had been fixed for their
journey with this bright vision before his eyes; but a sudden shoot of
pain, as he moved his knee, made him fall back on his pillow and almost
scream for help. He controlled himself, however, and began to examine
again the wounded spot. There was a swelling; but the blue and black
marks he had seen last night were nearly gone. The thing had rather too
white a look; but Harry took this for a good sign, and hoped it would be
all right before long. He got up and dressed, slowly and with
difficulty, and still concealed even from his mother's sharp eyes that
anything was wrong. Walter came round early, and in time the whole party
were off.
After a long but pleasant journey they reached the busy little sea-side
resort of Kingshaven--a brisk, rising town, greatly patronized by
families in search of bathing and safe boating and other marine
enjoyments. Briery Cottage, which Mrs. Leslie had hired for the month,
was very satisfactory in every way but one. It stood so far up in the
town and in such a position that no view of the sea whatever, not even
the tiniest bit, was to be obtained from its windows. That was a
drawback certainly; and as they had only chosen it from an advertisement,
they had not taken this point into consideration. It could not be helped
now.
"Well, it does not much matter, after all," said Mrs. Leslie. "You
children will be all day long on the beach; and as for me, if I take my
knitting down to the rocks all the afternoons, I shall see as much of the
sea as I want to. You know I am not so much in love with it as you all
are."
Briery Cottage, though it did not command a sea-view, was a very nice,
comfortable little cottage, with a pleasant garden in front and a long
strip of bowling-green behind. In front passed the wide public road,
with many carriages and other vehicles constantly coming and going; so it
could not be called a dull place at all events.
"O mamma, what a nice place Kingshaven is!" said Harry, quite
enthusiastically. "I'm sure I should never weary here even if we were to
stay for a whole year!"
"Not even if you didn't see the sea, Harry?" asked his father, laughing.
"Oh, but that would be impossible, you know, papa!" answered Harry.
Harry was to have a longer time at Kingshaven than he imagined, and
perhaps if he could have foreseen everything he would not have talked so
very confidently of "_never_ wearying." But it is very good for all of
us that just one step of our way is open before us. It helps to make us
humble and trustful, looking for guidance better and higher than our own,
and may often preserve us from being needlessly downcast and depressed.
Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were very glad to see all their children so well and
bright and so pleased with the holiday treat they had provided for them.
"I must come down on Monday morning to the shore before going home," Mr.
Leslie said to the boys as he saw them carrying their boat, "and see the
good ship _Rover's_ first voyage. It will be quite a sight!"
"Oh, we are all coming!" added his wife. "I assure you none of us would
like to miss the spectacle; and if none of the little ones fall over the
rocks, I'm sure everything will go well!"
By the time they got thoroughly settled in their new home it was getting
quite late in the day, so there was only time for a saunter all along the
beach and the parade and the principal streets of Kingshaven. It was
with some difficulty that Harry managed to walk now; but so anxious was
he to secure his grand treat on Monday that he still kept his pain to
himself. Walter and he had selected one delightful rock, stretching far
out into the sea, from which to make the first launch and trial trip of
the _Rover_. There were lots of little boys already there, and on
similar rocks, sailing their tiny boats, but none of them had anything
the least like the _Rover_.
"We'll call it a pirate ship, Wat," cried Harry excitedly, "and it will
be grand to see it chasing the little boats all about. What a splendid
thing the sea is! I wish we could stay always beside it."
Walter agreed to all Harry said.
"Yes," he said, "that will be the very thing. The _Rover_ is the very
name for a pirate ship, you know. Let's be up in good time on Monday
morning, Harry, and be down here for a first venture by ourselves, in
case it doesn't work right just at the very first, you know, and people
might laugh."
So the two boys chatted and planned while Mr. and Mrs. Leslie and the
rest sallied on in front. But Harry was not sorry when his mother gave
the order for everybody to go home and get to bed, so as to have a good
wash--it being Saturday night--and a good sound sleep before Sunday; for
Mrs. Leslie was a good mother, and loved to teach her children to observe
the Lord's day rightly, and to enjoy it in a way worthy of its sacred
rest. The Leslies all liked going with their parents to church. It was
never thought a weariness or a punishment even by the youngest. They
could not, of course, understand all that was said and done there, but
they learned to sit quietly and reverently while their elders listened,
which was in itself a valuable training for after life; and there were
many portions of the service which they could appreciate for themselves.
Mr. Leslie always liked them to say over the text and the psalms and
hymns they had heard, and this was looked forward to by the youngsters as
quite a pleasant exercise.
But we must go on with the story.
"What are you thinking about, Harry?" said his mother as she bustled
about, getting Bobby and Frank, Lucy and Janey, washed and dried and put
to bed in the tiny nursery at Briery Cottage, which indeed was very
different from the one they had left at Rosehampton, though, with the
usual happy taste of children, Lucy and Janey thought their narrow cribs
ever so much nicer than the home ones; while Bobby and Frank considered
the two skylights here infinitely preferable to the large bow-window they
were accustomed to.
Harry was sitting in a contemplative manner upon a trunk on the landing
below, Walter having preceded him upstairs.
"Run after Walter and see that you two boys have a good scrub. The bath
is ready for you; and see you don't hang about after it to catch cold,
but get into Blanket Bay as fast as you can. I'm sure I feel quite ready
for it myself after all that trudging about over sands and rocks."
Thus admonished, Harry made his way upstairs to the back attic, where
Walter and he and the _Rover_ were moored.