THE OLD MEN'S FAITH
The journey back to Moulmein offered no further adventures worthy of
mention; and, when arrived there, Mr. Gilchrist remained in that place
quietly until after the New Year.
The floods had then subsided, and the articles for which he had sent to
England arrived.
He sent off to Mr. Herford all that he had collected during his first
expedition; and received advices from Rangoon, with money, and full
credentials for making every possible preparation whilst he was waiting.
Ralph and the two Cornish seamen were regularly engaged, at liberal
salaries; and Captain Rogers wrote to his nephew of the situation
reserved for him in the Rangoon house of business,--a situation which,
if he were assiduous and steady, would assure his fortune for life, and
enable him to forward the interests of his younger brothers.
Ralph also received letters from home, and from Kershaw, relating how
kindly he had been received by Mrs. Denham. He mentioned his
determination to pass for his master's certificate before again going to
sea; and assured his friend that he would often call upon his mother and
sister, to tell them all particulars about Ralph himself, which he might
omit when writing.
"I daresay he will," thought Ralph; "and a pretty farrago of rubbish
they will hear from him, too."
Letters arriving faster than the heavy goods that were sent round the
Cape, one from Mrs. Denham, giving the account of the mate's second
visit, reached Ralph before he again left Moulmein.
"Your good-looking young friend, Mr. Kershaw, called again last night,"
she wrote, "and was most amusing. I do not think I have laughed for many
years more than I did to hear him relating your imaginary love-affair
with a Burmese belle. With the gravest face, and pretended sympathy for
us, he went on piling up the agony, while Agnes believed every word, and
her big blue eyes dilated with horror. 'She is a very charming thing in
natives, from a Shan district,' he said, with a sly glance at her; 'she
is dressed chiefly with a tablecloth and a rose; she carries a green
cheroot in her ear, and she and Denham smoke it by turns. She sells
Burmese cats in the bazaar, and has a fascinating way of sitting upon
her heels, which leaves nothing to be desired as to grace. She will be
able to teach you much in the way of cooking, Miss Denham; this cake,
which I understand is made by yourself from a Cornish receipt, is
delicious to _me_, but Denham has quite taken to Burmese ways now. You
should see him devouring rotten fish. He is very partial to it, with
rice; and finishes his light and wholesome meal with Chinese patties
made of sugar and fat pork.'
"'Mr. Kershaw!' she cried. She could really say no more, her horror was
so great.
"He turned to her with the kindest air. 'It is sad, Miss Denham, is it
not? Your dear brother seemed made for better things; but, after all, an
early attachment is often the saving of a man. I think that I could draw
a sketch of the lady if you would favour me with a pencil.' Then he drew
the most awful-looking picture which you could imagine; and Agnes
watched every line with her whole soul in her face, and heaved the
deepest sigh when it was finished. 'It is a pretty face, is it not?'
asked he politely. 'Perhaps I have favoured her a little, she may not be
quite so sweet-looking in reality, but she really is a charming girl.'
"He has just walked in again, and brought Agnes the present of what he
calls a Burmese cat, and declares that your _fiancée_ sold it to him for
twopence three farthings, and a dish of fried maggots. It is a thing
upon wires, or joints of some kind, like a perfect demon, sprawling and
jerking about, and has already frightened baby nearly into a fit."
"I would like to punch his head for him," soliloquised Ralph. "What an
idiot he is!"
But this is somewhat out of place.
Mr. Gilchrist was not desirous of remaining long in Moulmein after his
stores had arrived from England. The sooner he started, the cooler would
be the weather, and the more time there would be for his journey before
the rains set in.
Their friends, however, would not part with them until they had passed
Christmas in company; and Ralph was a little disappointed to find that
the merry water-festival was not to take place upon the English New
Year's Day, but on that sacred to Burma. He found that this day fell
about the beginning of April, so he must wait to see the images washed,
and to share in the sport of throwing water at everyone, until that
time, when he would probably have arrived in Rangoon.
Mr. Gilchrist knew that many orchids could not be found in bloom before
February; but, as the jungles around Moulmein had been pretty well
investigated, he wished to reach fresh fields and pastures new by that
time; and travelling was slow work in Burma, where the people resolutely
refuse to proceed on their way if they consider the day unlucky,--if a
snake cross their path at the outset of their journey,--or if the white
witch of any district, who is always consulted _en passant_, pronounce
that the nats are adverse.
Upon the whole, the chances for this new expedition were considered to
be favourable, as a very fortunate day was selected in the first
instance, and the scouts of the party lighted upon a magnificent bed of
mushrooms before the sun was well up.
With great delight they collected a goodly supply of this delicacy; Mr.
Gilchrist produced a tin of gravy soup in which to stew them, and they
feasted upon them for breakfast. Even the Englishmen were cheered by the
satisfaction apparent on the faces of their attendants at this favorable
omen.
"Well," said Wills, "ef it be an omen, 'tis no manner of use to set
oneself up against 'un. 'Tis well az it be a good 'un, for there be a
pesky lot more of whisht 'uns than of 'tother zooart."
"Ah! there be," said Osborn; "and of spreets too."
"Did you ever see a spirit, Osborn?" asked Ralph.
"I did, my son," said Osborn.
"Tell us all about it," pleaded the boy.
"Well, it wor when I was a young shaver, nineteen or twenty, or
theerabout, to age; and I'd gone down St. Minver way to stay with my old
granfer, who lived in thiccee parish. There wor an awful storm came,
fust week in December, and the breakers were mountain high against the
cliffs. Word went az how a big three-masted ship of foreign rig had been
zeen trying to make for Padstow Harbour when night came, but never a
stick of it wor zeen again. 'Twor supposed az it ran on the Doom Bar
theer, at mouth of the harbour. I must needs go down to Hell Bay, az
they do call 'un, next day, to zee the waves, az was foaming out for
miles; and a fine sight it wor, though the tide had turned, and wor
roaring out then. I walked along the head of the cliff so az to get out
amongst 'em; and az I went, I zeed an old man, with a long grizzled
beard and moustache, like a forriner, a-leaning hisself against a stile.
"'Good-marnin', zur,' saith I; but he only turned his great sorrowful
eyes upon me, with dark fire blazing out of 'em, and never spoke a word.
"'You'm an unmannerly chield,' thought I to myself, but I made to pass
him without no more to zay. But he stood in my road, and lifted his
hand, and beckoned, like a chield az was used to be obeyed.
"Then I did zee as how his hair was wet, dripping with watter down over
his cloathes, and zayweed and little crabs stuck to it, and his hands
and face wor all battered and bruised and torn, and he wor soaked
through and through with watter. He moved on, making signs for me to
follow of 'un, and the watter squelched in his shoes az he went, and I
didn't dare to hang back.
"He led me out right to point of the cliff, and down over the rocks to a
little cove behind, where a great broken mass reared up in front of a
cavern, and theer, a-lyin' on the strip of sand, beside the great pool
of watter, lay a lady, and she had a little child held tight in her
arms, with its face cuddled down on her neck, as ef 'twor asleep. When
he pointed to thiccee, he gave a dreadful great wailing cry, and wor
gone.
"I thought the lady was alive at first; for the wind lifted up her long
black hair, az ef 'twor playing with it; and for all that her white gown
were torn, and a great rag of lace fluttered from it, it wor decently
folded round her, but she wor dead and cold enough when I come to touch
her.
"I got help, and she wor carried round, and buried up in the
churchyard, with her little 'un in the same coffin, but neither I nor
any living chield ever saw the forriner more."
"Osborn!" cried Ralph. "Do you really mean to tell me that you saw that
yourself?"
"I did, Maister Ralph."
"That Hell Bay be a quare place, zur," said Wills. "I du knaw she well.
Ef there du be sech things az spreets, thiccee be the spot for 'un. Many
and many a good ship have gone to pieces there; never a winter passes
but three or four du go. I mind me of one awful gale when a big ship
were seen there, throwing up lights and firing guns for help, but no
help could drae near to 'un. Next day one little baby's shoe wor washed
up,--a purty little blue kid shoe, with a silver button to it, but never
a sign more of who or what the volks might be that had all gone in the
dead hours of the night."
"Ay," began Osborn, once more resuming his reminiscences. "That wor the
gale--I mind it well--when a brig rode safely into Padstow Harbour, and
wor saved, with never a living soul aboard of her. The crew had been
scared, and took to their boats, when ef they'd stuck to the brig they'd
have been saved. Never a one wor zeed, but the clock were ticking away
when the brig was boarded, a-telling the time for the dead men; and the
fried bacon and tetties wor a-keeping hot over the galley fire for them
az would never eat a meal more."
"Don't you think of these things when a storm comes while you are at
sea?" asked Ralph. "Do they not make you nervous?"
"No, maister, I dunna knaw az it du. Men must die sometime, and the
Lord's will must be followed. He du be so near to uz on zea az on land."
Ralph was silent, but he thought much. The old men's simple trust in
their God struck him forcibly in all its truth and beauty. It was not
ignorance of the risks which they ran, it was not heedlessness, it was
not fatalism,--it was faith. Were he called upon to face
death--instantaneous death--while life was still strong and lusty within
him, could he meet it in the same steady spirit?
He feared not. Then he remembered a passage in the Bible, where men
persecuted were counselled not to perplex themselves by wondering what
they should say in hypothetical circumstances, for it should be given to
them, in that same hour, what they should say. Perhaps it would also be
given to others what they should do. He prayed inwardly that it might be
so. Life was teaching this lad many lessons, though unconsciously to
himself.
Also the simple straightforwardness with which he was performing his
duty, under such untoward claims upon it, was influencing those whom he
loved, at home, in a manner of which he little thought.
He had gone out to Burma, because he wished to relieve his mother of his
keep, and this was the only manner in which he saw the possibility of so
doing at once. He had thus been the means of introducing into his
mother's household a lady who proved to be a most valued and valuable
friend to the whole family.
By his conduct during the voyage, he had secured the attachment of
several important friends for himself; opened for himself excellent
prospects for prosperity in life; and earned the advantages of seeing a
new country in a manner which few succeed in doing even after long
residence in it. This, in after years, proved to be of material service
to his career.
The accounts of his heroism in the fire at sea, and the esteem for his
character which that aroused, called out all that was best in his
brother's heart; and made the favourable turning-point in his life at a
critical and dangerous age.
Finally, this same heroism induced Mr. Herford to take great notice of
his mother and the whole family. He befriended them in many
ways,--assisting in the children's education, securing for them many
cheerful pleasures, and making them valuable presents from time to time.
None of these advantages would have accrued to himself, or to those he
loved, had Ralph been idle, selfish, or neglectful of his duty; but now
he was destined to go through a yet greater trial of endurance than any
before.
Little did he think, when he set out so gaily upon his second
expedition, of all the dangers which were about to beset his path while
pursuing it.