A WHOLE HOLIDAY.
To what boy or girl does not the promise of a whole holiday convey a
sort of Fortunatus' purse of anticipated enjoyment! I used to wonder--I
remember wondering that very day after Aleck's arrival, when I had the
most enjoyable whole holiday I ever spent--why grown-up people who
always had them should seem so indifferent to their privileges, writing
it down upon the secret tablets of my resolve, that when _I_ grew up
things should be very different with me.
My cousin and I sat side by side at the breakfast-table in a vehement
impulse of boyish affection, so completely taken up with each other that
I for one never remember noticing any one else during the progress of
the meal, except when once I caught a wistful look from my aunt, and
heard her saying, in a rather sorrowful low voice, to my mother,--
"I am very thankful to see our boys take to each other; it is quite a
load off my mind that Aleck should be with you instead of being left at
school."
"Won't Aleck come too?" I asked my mother, when she summoned me to our
usual Bible-reading after breakfast.
"Not whilst his own mamma is here," was the answer; and I was obliged to
rest content. But the moment I had put away my Bible, I flew off in
search of him, eagerly explaining that we were to do what we liked for
the whole of the morning, and sketching out a plan for our amusement
such as I thought would be pleasant to him:--
"First, we must go over the whole house--you've only seen a little bit
of it yet--and the kitchen-garden and the stables, and then down the
Zig-zag to old George's, and we'll get him to go out with us in the
boat. It's smooth enough to sail the 'Fair Alice'--that's a little yacht
of mine that old George gave me."
Aleck's face brightened. "May you go out in a boat when you like?" he
asked, eagerly. "Oh, how _de_-light-ful!"
How we careered over the house that morning, visiting every nook and
corner of it, from the "leads" on the roof; accessible only by a ladder
and trap-door, to the most hidden repositories in the housekeeper's
domain! The servants good naturedly remarked I had gone crazy. Presently
I bade Aleck shut his eyes, and submit to my guidance blindfold, whilst
I led him to the only room he had not been in. We passed through several
passages, and then I went forward, tapped at a door, and finding I might
come in, fetched Aleck, still with eyes shut.
"There now, you may look," I exclaimed, watching in a satisfied manner
the astonishment with which he opened his eyes to find himself in the
study, and his confusion on seeing my father seated at the library table
near the window, surrounded by books and papers.
"Oh, uncle," he exclaimed, "I did not know I was in your room!"
"And are very much startled at finding yourself there," said my father,
finishing his sentence for him. "What shall we do with the culprit,
Willie? Prosecute him according to the utmost rigour of the law, and
sentence him to a year's imprisonment at Braycombe, with hard labour,
under Mr. Glengelly and old George!"
"I think that would be a very good punishment," I answered, "only I
should like it to be more than a year."
"See what a cruel fellow your cousin is," said my father, getting up
from his chair, and proceeding to take Aleck round the room, showing him
various curiosities with which I was familiar; then he sat down again,
and keeping Aleck at his side, told him that so long as he remained at
Braycombe he was to feel as much at home, and as welcome to the study as
I was, and that he was to try and trust him as he could his own father,
until we all had the joy of welcoming his parents home again.
"Famous chats we get here sometimes, eh, Willie?" he concluded,
appealing to me.
"_Rather!_" I answered emphatically, seating myself on the arm of his
chair, and looking over his shoulder. "Papa, shall you have time to
play with us this afternoon. It's a whole holiday. I want you to very
much."
"I fear not, Willie. I must be away all the morning. Peter the Great
will be at the door to carry me off in another minute, and I must keep
the afternoon for your uncle and aunt. To-morrow afternoon I will give
you an hour, only I stipulate you must have mercy upon your old father,
and not expect him to climb trees like a squirrel, or run like a hare."
"You know you're not an _old_ father, papa," I said; "and, Aleck, papa
can run quite fast--faster than anybody else I ever saw, and he climbs
better than anybody else. He's been up the tree I showed you in the
avenue."
"Whatever papa's qualifications may be," my father observed, "the end of
the matter just at present is, that Rickson is coming round with the
horses, and I cannot keep his imperial majesty waiting."
"What does uncle do?" inquired my cousin after we had been to the door
and had seen my father mount and ride away on Peter the Great.
"Papa! oh, he does quantities of things," I replied, somewhat vaguely.
"What kind of things?"
I proceeded to enumerate them promiscuously:--
"Why, he's a magistrate, and tries cases at Elmworth, and sends people
to prison; and he goes to a hospital twice every week at Elmworth, and
he goes to see poor people--we often have some from the hospital down
here; and he always has quantities of letters; and he reads to mamma;
and, do you know, he once wrote a book--"
I paused, not so much because I had exhausted the list of my father's
employments, as because I had named that achievement which of all others
filled me with the deepest awe and reverence. I could remember how, when
I was four years old, my mother had lifted me up to see a volume on the
counter of the great bookseller's shop at Elmworth, and had let me spell
through the name "Grant" on the title-page. I felt as if I had risen in
life, and looked upon books in general with a feeling of personal
friendship, as from one behind the scenes, from that day; whilst,
personally, I was much elated by the thought of what a very wonderful
and extraordinary man my father was. I was rather glad when Aleck told
me that he did not think his papa had ever written a book;--it made me
feel a little bit superior to him.
After going to the stables to see my pony, we proceeded to the Zig-zag,
chattering fast the whole way. I was full of plans and projects, and
anxious at once to interest my cousin in every one of them.
"You see," I explained, "there are quantities of things that we haven't
been able to do, because there's been only George and me; and he's
always had it to say that there were only us two, and that he was old
and I young, but he can't say that now."
"He doesn't seem so very old," remarked Aleck.
"I don't think he is," I answered, "but he's taught me to call him old
George since I have been a baby; everybody else calls him Groves or Mr.
Groves. Now there's one thing I want very much to begin, and that is
digging a hole right through the earth to come out at the other side,
where, you know, we should find ourselves standing on our heads! George
has always kept putting off beginning. But haven't you heard of many
people beginning to do something great when they were boys?"
"Yes," answered Aleck, musingly; "I have a book about wonderful boys,
and one of them cut out a lion in butter, and another drew a picture
upon a stump of a tree; but I don't think we should be able to dig so
very far down--we should have to stop at last."
This unprejudiced opinion of my cousin's, adverse as it was to my
favourite scheme, was rather disappointing, but we were now engaged in
the excitement of descending the Zig-zag, so I had not leisure to think
much about it.
"Isn't it a jolly way down?" I exclaimed. "Papa says it's two hundred
feet to that piece of rock down below."
"It's not steeper than our hills at home," said Aleck; "only we have not
the sea near us--oh, how I wish we had!"
Aleck was quite as good a scrambler as I was, so we were not long in
reaching the lodge, where old George seemed to be on the watch for us,
and welcomed us both with his wonted heartiness.
"Master told me you'd be coming down, young gentlemen, as he rode by,
and that you were to go out as much as you liked in the boat; and so
I've been telling my good wife she must keep the look-out for the gate.
Ralph's coming along presently, and will be down at the Cove most as
soon as we shall."
George wanted Aleck to go into the lodge and see certain objects of
interest, which, to use his own words, he "set _great store by_." But I
was too eager to allow of this, and insisted upon our setting out at
once for the Cove. "I want to show him the greatest treasure I have of
all my treasures," I exclaimed.
"Is that the 'Fair Alice' you were telling me of?" asked Aleck.
"Yes; you'll see her presently," I replied; "and you won't wonder that I
like her better than all my other things."
I led the way at once by a footpath from the lodge across the sloping
green meadow, then through a little tangled copse, and finally a short
rocky descent to what was at Braycombe always styled _the_ Cove. Not but
that there were many coves on our beautiful indented coast, but this one
was the most accessible on our grounds. The boat-house and the
bathing-box were both here; and here, too, as being within easy reach, I
had from earliest years climbed and scrambled and explored, until every
stone was almost as familiar as the letters of my alphabet; and I could
tell at what state of the tide certain rocks would be uncovered, and
knew at a glance whether it would be safe to cross from one part to
another on stepping-stones, or whether, to reach a given spot, we must
go round by the side of the hill. How I loved, and do love, every foot
of the ground, every stone, every rock, every silvery ripple of that the
most charming of all possible play-grounds!
Thither, then, I led the way, Aleck following me closely, and George
more slowly behind.
"There now," I cried, drawing up breathlessly as we gained our
destination, "see, that's my boat-house." It was an exact miniature of
the real boat-house, and Aleck stood transfixed with admiration looking
at it; for of all things calculated for the amusement of children,
nothing, I think, succeeds so well as real miniatures--imitations in
proportion--of things which belong to the grown-up world. But the true
kernel of the nut--the jewel of the case--was the elegant little model
yacht, which I presently drew forth from her moorings within.
"Now that's the 'Fair Alice,'" I continued; "isn't she lovely?"
"Awfully jolly," Aleck replied, after gazing for a moment in speechless
admiration. "I never saw anything half so nice before! Oh, if only we
were small enough to get into it! Just look how beautifully the deck is
made--I can see all the little timbers; and the mast, it's nearly as
high as I am; and those little pulleys--oh, how perfect they are!"
"You must see her with all her sails set, a-scudding before the breeze,
Master Gordon," said George, overtaking us. "I reckon there's not a
craft of her size that would beat her for speed."
"Can you do the sails?" my cousin asked me, regardless of nautical
phraseology.
"Master Willie! he knows as much as a sailor born about reefing and
unreefing the sails," said George, answering for me.
"Then please do let us sail her at once. I do long to see her on the
water," begged Aleck.
And accordingly we two sat down, overlooked by George, who, from a
delicate desire to show off my capacity to manage the sails alone,
abstained from offering any help; and, drawing the boat up between us on
the beach, set the sails, and then proceeded to launch her upon the
clear deep water of the Cove.
"This way now," I said to my cousin, when we saw that the breeze was
filling the sails, and the "Fair Alice" was making her way out towards
the mouth of the Cove. "Come and see my harbour bar;" and springing
quickly from rock to rock, and running where there was sand, I guided my
cousin to the entrance of the Cove, which was very narrow in proportion
to the width and extent of the inlet. On each side of it there was a low
stake strongly fastened into the rock, and from stake to stake a rope
was stretched: it was long enough to lie along the bottom of the
ground, and so offer no impediment to the boats; but when I was sailing
my vessel in the Cove, and the tide was in, it was always stretched more
tightly, so as to prevent the possibility of my little ship escaping
from me into the wide sea.
"See," I said, "I have only to slip this ring over the stake, and then I
can feel quite sure the 'Fair Alice' is safe. She can't get past my
harbour bar."
In the meantime the little yacht had kept her course nearly to the
entrance of the Cove, but a sudden shifting of the wind landed her on
the opposite side, and I had to make my way all round to get her off
again. Aleck remained on his side of the Cove, and we amused ourselves
for some time in contriving to get the little boat to sail backwards and
forwards, tacking gradually down to the boat-house.
My cousin was so absorbed in the enjoyment of sailing the "Fair Alice,"
that he was less eager about getting into our own boat for a sail than
at first. But by-and-by, when we were dancing over the waves outside the
Cove, he became quite wild with delight, and enjoyed himself, I verily
believe, as much as is possible for a free, happy, eager boy; and that
is saying a great deal. Of course I caught the infection from him,
finding a fresh delight in my ordinary amusements through having a
companion to share them; and, truly, a merrier boat's crew than we made
on that whole holiday morning could not have been found.
[Illustration: SAILING THE "FAIR ALICE."]
Aleck's love for the sea was an absorbing passion; and it quite amused
me to hear all the questions he kept putting to old George--as, for
instance, how old he was when he went to sea; how long before he went up
the mast; how they reefed the top-sails in his vessel, and which of the
ship's company did it in a gale; together with many other inquiries,
showing a degree of technical knowledge that perfectly overwhelmed me,
and which, he explained to us, was extracted from "The Cadet's Manual,"
and a big book on "The Art of Navigation" which they had at home.
I almost wished my cousin did not know quite so much; it made me feel as
though the ten months were a longer and more important period than I had
admitted to myself. But it was a relief, when the oars were called into
action on our way in, to find that he could not row, whereas I had
handled an oar almost as soon as I gave up a rattle; and, as I showed
off my best feathering, I felt we were equal again.
"How is it you can't row, sir, when you know so much about it?" asked
Groves.
"Why, there are only streams and the river at my home in Scotland,"
explained Aleck. "We're up amongst the hills, you know. I have often
fished, but I've scarcely ever been in a boat before, except when we've
been travelling; and then it was going out to the steamer, and I
mightn't do anything but sit still. It was famous, though, in the
steamer," continued Aleck, kindling with the recollection of his
journey. "I went down, and saw how the engine worked; and helped the man
at the wheel; and learned about the compass--at least, I knew the points
before, but it was different seeing how to steer by it. Only I liked the
stoker the best. I had just gone down again with him to the engine-room,
to see the engine stopped, and pulled off my jacket because it was so
hot; and then the steam was let off, and made such a noise! Just when
there was all the noise of the steam, I heard somebody shouting my name,
and calling so loudly to me that I ran up to the deck at once. I had
quite forgotten about not having my jacket on, and I believe my face had
got blacked--it was, I know, when we got on shore. Everybody laughed at
me; only mamma was poorly and frightened--she thought I had tumbled
overboard. I suppose I oughtn't to have gone down just then, for that
was the place where we were to go on shore," Aleck added, somewhat
thoughtfully, remembering how very white was the face to which his own
blackened one had been pressed.
By this time we were re-entering the Cove.
"You'll only be just in time for your dinner, young gentlemen," said
George, as we drew in towards the landing-place; "I reckon it won't come
a minute before you're ready for it."
"You'll teach me to row, will you not, as soon as possible?" said my
cousin, as we parted. "I should like to begin at once, please."
"So soon as you like, sir. Master Willie, you mustn't be long in
bringing down your cousin."
Thus saying, Groves took his way to the lodge, and Aleck and I clambered
quickly up the Zig-zag, reaching home in time to appear, with smooth
hair, and rosy cheeks, and keen appetites, at the luncheon-table.
Aleck was in wild spirits, and confided to me that he didn't think he
had ever enjoyed himself so much before.