ROLF MORTON'S HISTORY--DON HERNAN AND HILDA IN THE MORTON'S HOUSE--
MORTON DISPATCHED TO THE CORVETTE.
Bertha Morton had been considered not only one of the prettiest girls in
that part of Shetland where she was known, but as good and modest as she
was pretty, which is saying much in her favour, where beauty, modesty,
and kindness of heart are the characteristics of the people. Her
cottage, which was one of the largest in the island, was fitted up with
more taste and comfort than was usually found in others, and everything
about it bore the marks of competency and good taste. She had but
lately married Rolf Morton, who had, a year or two before, been left a
small property by his friend and guardian, Captain Andrew Scarsdale.
Rolf Morton's own history was somewhat romantic.
Captain Scarsdale, a Shetlander by birth, commanded one of the many
Greenland whalers belonging to Hull, Aberdeen, and other northern parts,
which touched at Lerwick on their outward and homeward voyages. At
length, however, having fallen into ill-health, he was advised to try
the effects of a southern clime; and having in his youth made two or
three voyages to the South Seas, he was induced to take the command of a
South-Sea whaler, which would keep him out three years, or probably
more: having no family to bind his affections to England, this was of
little consequence.
On his outward voyage, when nearly half way across the Atlantic, he fell
in with a raft, on which were three men and a young boy. The men stated
that the ship to which they belonged had foundered, and that the boy,
whose name they stated was Rolf Morton, belonged to a lady and gentleman
among the passengers on board. The rest of the people had perished, and
they, with no little exertion, had contrived to save the child.
Captain Scarsdale had, from the first, rather doubted the correctness of
their statement, and on his cross-questioning the men separately, his
suspicions that there was some mystery in the matter were further
confirmed. However, they suspected his object, and he was unable to
elicit what he could suppose to be the truth from them. He would have
remained altogether in ignorance had not one of them been seized with an
illness, and believing himself to be dying, sent for the captain, and
made what he asserted to be a full confession of all he knew about the
boy.
Captain Scarsdale, who was a cautious man, wrote down all that was told
him, and induced the man to sign it. He then instantly sent for the
other two men, and telling them what he knew, induced them to confess
the truth, and, partly by threats, and partly by persuasions, made them
sign the same document. He then carefully locked it up in his chest,
and being an upright and kind-hearted man, it was with great
satisfaction that he believed he had it in his power to right the
wronged.
"Man proposes, God disposes," is a proverb, day after day proved to be
true in the lives of every man. The sick seaman recovered, and he and
his comrades, after serving some months on board deserted the ship; and
although Captain Scarsdale hunted everywhere, he could gain no further
tidings of them.
The child thus strangely found became a fine intelligent boy, and
attached himself warmly to him. His recollections, faint though they
were, all tended to corroborate the account the seamen had given.
Captain Scarsdale would have sent home the information he had received,
and placed the cause of the boy in proper hands; but the men having
disappeared, he was afraid to trust the document to a stranger, with the
numberless chances of a long sea voyage, against its ever reaching its
destination. Unexpected events, however, kept him out in the South Seas
far longer than he had anticipated. He did not object to this, for he
had the boy as his companion, and he devoted himself to his education.
Young Rolf did not show any great talent, but he gave every promise of
becoming a fine, manly, true-hearted sailor, and with that his kind
patron was amply satisfied.
At length, just as the ship had nearly completed her cargo of sperm oil,
and was about to return home, she was overtaken by a hurricane, and
driven on shore and lost; the crew were saved, and so was the captain's
chest. Most of Captain Scarsdale's hard-earned gains were swallowed up;
and the command of another whaler, whose master had died, being offered
him, he gladly accepted it, in the hopes that, by remaining out a few
years longer, he should be able to retrieve his fortunes; and what was
still nearer his heart, of obtaining the means for, as he told his
acquaintance, of establishing young Morton's rights. What he considered
those rights to be he wisely told no one.
"No, no," he replied, when asked; "no one but a fool sounds a trumpet
before him to give notice of his approach, that the enemy may be
prepared to receive him."
Rolf Morton had by this time become all that his friend anticipated; but
though well-informed for his age, his knowledge of the world and its
ways, it must be owned, was not extensive.
The ship was bound to Liverpool, but being dismasted in a terrific gale,
she was driven past the entrance to the Channel, and up the west coast
of Ireland. Land was made at last on the starboard bow, and hopes were
entertained that she might be brought round so as to enter the Irish
Channel by the northern passage. Captain Scarsdale himself lay in his
hammock, disabled by a falling spar.
Scarcely an hour had passed after the land was seen before the ship
struck. It was ascertained that it was on the extreme point of a reef,
and the first mate hoped that by lightening the ship she might beat over
it. The captain acquiesced, and every article that could be got at was,
as soon as possible, committed to the sea.
"Yes, heave away--heave away everything you can lay your hands on,
lads!" was the order. "It will matter but little, I suspect, after
all."
Among other things thrown overboard was the captain's chest; the mate
saw it just as it reached the foaming sea, too late to save it. He said
nothing to the captain: he believed that the ship herself would be lost,
but his prognostications proved wrong; the good ship drove over the
bank, weathered out the gale, jury-masts were got up, and she not only
got into the Irish Channel, but safe up the Mersey, without any help
whatever.
Great was the grief of good Captain Scarsdale, when, on recovering from
his hurts, he discovered that his chest and its valuable contents had
been hove overboard. As has been said, he was a mild-tempered man, so
he did not storm and rage, but as the profits of the voyage had been
considerable, he resolved to devote them to establishing the claims of
the young foundling. He had never told Rolf Morton what those claims
were. He knew that they would only tend to unsettle the mind of the
boy, and make him less contented with his lot, should he fail to obtain
his rights. Rolf had no more notion, therefore, than the world in
general, who he was, and he believed the story which had at first been
told by the men, that he was the son of a gentleman and lady who had
perished on board a ship which had foundered on its way to South
America.
As soon as Captain Scarsdale had settled his affairs in Liverpool, he
hastened to Edinburgh, where he had a relative, a writer to the
"Signet." He laid the boy's case before him.
"My good Andrew, don't waste your money in making the attempt till you
have surer grounds to go on than you now have," was the answer.
"Possession is nine parts of the law. I have no more doubt than you
have as to the claims of this boy; but can you prove them without
documents or evidence of any sort? Can you expect to overcome a
powerful and unscrupulous opponent? You have perfect trust in
Providence, Andrew--so have I, lawyer though I am; and be assured that
in God's good time justice will be awarded to all parties concerned."
This was not exactly like legal advice in general; but Andrew Scarsdale
at once saw its wisdom, and agreed to abide by it. Proceeding to
Aberdeen, he was at once offered the charge of a Greenland whaler. He
accepted the offer, taking Rolf Morton with him. He touched at Lerwick
both on his outward and homeward voyage. While on shore on the first
occasion, he heard that a small property was for sale in the island of
Whalsey, nearly the only portion of the whole island which did not
belong to the Lunnasting family. He at once authorised the principal
legal man in the island to purchase it for him at any cost.
"I have a mind to have it," he observed; "remember my ancestors came
from Whalsey, and I should like, perchance, to end my latter days
there."
Great was his satisfaction, on his return, to find that the property was
his. "That is well," he remarked; "and now, in case of my death, I wish
to settle it on my young friend Rolf Morton. You can get the necessary
documents drawn up, I hope, before I sail: we seamen learn one piece of
wisdom, at all events--the uncertainty of life--however slow we may be
to pick up others; and, therefore, when we sail, leave our last will and
testament behind us. You'll take care of this for me, and act upon it,
should I never return to desire it altered."
The lawyer promised to see his friend's bequest attended to, but many
years passed before he was called on to act in the matter. Not only did
Captain Scarsdale come back, but with young Rolf Morton as his
companion, he took up his abode for several years, during the winter, in
a farm-house which he had considerably improved on his newly purchased
property; he claimed relationship, which was fully acknowledged, with
the Brindister family, and he and Lawrence, who took also very speedily
to Rolf, soon became fast friends. He was invited also to become a
frequent guest at Lunnasting Castle, though he showed but little
inclination to accept the hospitality of its inmates.
Andrew Scarsdale, however, did not give up the sea. Though possessed of
a moderate independence he did not wish to lead an idle life, but every
summer he sailed to Greenland in command of a whaler, and most years
took Rolf with him: wishing at the same time that his young ward should
have the advantages of a liberal education, he sent him for two years to
Aberdeen, that he might acquire some knowledge in those branches in
which he was himself unable to afford him instruction. Rolf made up by
perseverance for what he wanted in talent, and thus, with Captain
Scarsdale's help, he obtained not only a necessary knowledge of nautical
affairs, but as large an amount of general information as most seafaring
men of his position at that time possessed. It might have been better
if the good captain, who was now advancing in years, had remained at
home; but anxious to increase his means for the sake of the object he
had nearest at heart, he took a larger share than before in a whaler,
and sailed once more, with Rolf in his company, for Greenland. Eager in
the pursuit of the oil-giving whale, he proceeded further north than
usual, his ship got nipped in the ice, crushed into a thousand
fragments, and Rolf Morton, and six of the crew only escaped with their
lives.
Sorrowing deeply for the loss of his kind friend and protector, and
caring very little for that of his fortune, Rolf at length returned home
to find himself the possessor of the small farm and house on Whalsey,
and very little else in the world. He was not in the slightest degree
cast down, however; he made another voyage to Greenland as mate, and
having been very successful, came home and married young Bertha Eswick,
to whom he had before sailing engaged himself.
Bertha Morton, like the rest of her countrywomen, accepted her lot, and
notwithstanding the fate to which so many others were subjected, she
hoped to enjoy years of happiness with her brave, fine-hearted husband.
There was not in all Scotland, just then, a blither or happier woman
than Bertha Morton. Her husband had told her that he expected to be at
home soon after midnight, and she was sitting up to receive him. As the
fury of the storm had not broke till some time after she hoped her
husband would be safe on shore, she was not particularly anxious about
his safety; still, as time wore on, her keen ear became more and more
alive to approaching sounds: at length she heard footsteps. Her
husband's voice called to her, and in he rushed with her mother and
Nanny Clousta, followed by Don Hernan and Hilda. Her astonishment at
seeing them was very great, but without losing time in asking
unnecessary questions, she set to work to remedy, as far as she had the
power, the effects of the pelting rain to which her guests had been
exposed. Fresh fuel was added to the already hot peat fire on the
hearth, that the foreign captain and her husband might dry their clothes
while she retired with her female visitors, that they might change
theirs for such as her own ample wardrobe could supply. Her best Sunday
gown well became Hilda, for except in height they differed but little in
figure; indeed, dressed as they now were, in the same homely garb, there
was a remarkable likeness between them. Nanny soon came back to place
certain pots and kettles on the fire to prepare supper, which by the
time all the party were ready to partake of it, was placed on the table.
Bertha Eswick's position in the family fully entitled her to sit at
table with her mistress, and of course her daughter and son-in-law took
their seats at their own table, but nothing could induce Nanny so to
intrude herself, and she requested that she might be allowed to carry
her plate to a large chest at one side of the room where she might eat
her food by herself. Morton and Don Hernan could not help glancing a
look at each other, as they observed the similarity of feature, but the
tranquil, contented look which those of Bertha wore offered a strong
contrast to the agitated unsettled expression of Hilda's. Bertha and
her mother did their utmost to tranquillise her mind, and by lively
conversation to counteract the effect which the strange scene she had
just gone through had produced. The beating of the rain and the roaring
and howling of the wind were alone sufficient to baffle all their
efforts. The storm continued with unabated fury, and gave every sign of
being one of those which last for three or four days.
Hilda having expressed her annoyance at the surmises to which her
absence would give rise in the castle, Rolf volunteered to go and inform
the household that she had taken refuge in his house, and would return
as soon as the weather permitted her to do so, while Don Hernan further
commissioned him to proceed on along the shore of the Sound to ascertain
that the "Saint Cecilia" was in safety, and whether his officers and men
had escaped injury, and had returned on board.
"I ought to go myself, Mr Morton, I am well aware of that, but here is
my excuse," he observed, pointing to Hilda: "my officers are true
Spaniards, and will receive it as a valid one."
"An English officer would consider that his first duty was to look after
his ship, whatever else might interfere, and there lies the difference
between us," muttered Morton, as facing the pelting rain and furious
wind, he took his departure from his comfortable home.