"AWAY, LIFEBOAT'S CREW!"
The house where the Clarksons dwelt, with the two dear little orphans
Lizzie and Tom, and to which Uncle Ben so often found his way, was a
fine old place. It stood high on a great green brae, not far from the
forest and sea, and had been at one time a real castle, for our friends
only occupied the more modern portion of it. All the rest was in ruins,
or nearly so.
It was within sound of the roar of a cataract, which could be heard ever
and ay in drowsy monotony, except on stormy nights, when the wild wind,
sweeping through the tall dark pine trees that grew on a beetling cliff
top behind the ruin, quite drowned even the voice of the linn.
It was a rare old house and ruin for cats and children to play about;
for there was not only quite a jungle of cover for birds of every sort,
but the ivy itself that covered some of the sturdy grey walls gave berth
and bield to more than one brown owl.
It was perhaps the noise made by the owls that gave rise to the notion,
ripe enough among the peasantry, that the old Castle was haunted.
Lizzie and her brother both believed in this ghost. They made
themselves believe, in fact, because it was romantic so to do.
There were fine old-fashioned walled-in gardens and lawns to play in
besides, so that on the whole it was a kind of ideal place.
There was one peculiarity about the lawn that I should tell you of. The
Colonel would not have it kept closely shaven, he loved to see the
daisies growing thereon, and many a pink, crimson, or yellow nodding
wild flower as well.
So all the summer long it was beautiful, and even in autumn too.
Lizzie and Tom were such gentle children, that none of the creatures of
nature which visited the lawn, seemed to be one whit afraid of them. In
fact, they--the children--were part and parcel of all that was beautiful
in nature around them.
The mavises sang to them nearly all the year through, sometimes even in
snow time. So did cock-robin, because he was always fed, even in
summer. Lizzie and Tom knew where his nest was in a bank of wild roses,
and robin appeared rather pleased than otherwise to have them come
quietly round and take a peep at his yellow-throated gaping gorblings of
youngsters.
"It takes me all my time," cock-robin told Lizzie, "and all my wife's
time too, to feed them. Oh, they do eat and eat and eat to be sure. It
is just stuff, stuff, stuff all day long; one beetle down the other come
on, so that I haven't time to sing a song to you. But wait till winter
comes, and the youngsters are up and away, and won't I just sing!"
There was a saucy rascal of a blackbird that used to run about on the
lawn gathering food, quite close to the children. When Shireen, Tabby,
and the rest were there the blackbird used to come even closer, in order
that he might nod his head and scold the cats.
But Dick would cry "Eh? Eh? What d'ye say? What is it? You
r-r-rascal!" and sometimes even fly down to offer him battle.
There was no song more sweet in the summer evenings however, than
blackie's.
The owl kept his song till midnight, and a very dreary one it was!
But strangely enough, some may think it, yet it is nevertheless most
true, wild pigeons built their nests in the pine trees, close to the
wall in which the owls had theirs. These pigeons knew, though
gamekeepers don't, that these owls lived on young rats and mice and not
upon birds.
Squirrels used to run about the lawn with their long brown beautiful
tails behind them, early in the morning; and they built in trees also.
Then there was a white-breasted weasel, that would often come quite
close up to Lizzie and Tom, and stand on one end to look at what they
were doing.
On this particular year, autumn lingered long on the hills and forests
and fields all around the children's beautiful home. It was, Uncle Ben
said, a real Indian summer, so soft and warm and mellow, that neither he
nor the Colonel ever cared to be much indoors.
"Well," said Warlock, one afternoon out on the Colonel's lawn, while
Lizzie and Tom sat at some distance making a garland of gowans for the
dogs' necks, and the old sailor and soldier sat in their straw chairs,
peacefully smoking and yarning--"Well, Shireen, although I have never
been to sea myself, considering that the land and the lovely hills and
woods are good enough for me, I dearly like to hear about it, so just
heave round with your yarn, as Uncle Ben yonder says."
"Yes, with pleasure," said Shireen. "Let me see though, where did I
leave off?"
"Why you left yourself sitting on the bulwark of the old _Venom_,
catching flying fish."
Oh, yes, so I did, Warlock. My memory is just getting a little fickle
now, while yours is supple and green. Well, the voyage south was
continued, slowly though, because we kept in towards the green-wooded
coast, you know, in order to hunt for slave-ships. And several times
Tom Brandy and I had to be blown out of the gun with a fuze before the
men could load it. I always knew what was going to happen when this
took place, and ran aft right speedily and got down below to my master's
bed; because do what I might, I could never reconcile myself to the
noise of those terrible guns.
Master I could see, much to my joy, was getting better and stronger
every day. But he often spoke to me about my mistress Beebee, and
always said that he would, at all risks, prevent her from being sold to
the Shah.
One day he went so far as to say, "Dear pussy Shireen, your mistress is
much too good and too beautiful for a fellow like the Shah. Let him be
content with the slaves he has. He is only a savage himself, at the
best, and rather than he should have your sweet mistress, I will go back
to Persia and carry her away."
My life on board the _Venom_ was now a most happy and pleasant one; but
often and often, Warlock, I dreamt that I was back again in the land of
the lion and the sun, in beautiful Persia, and that I was sitting as of
old in the turret balcony, with my darling mistress. Then I would awake
and find myself far away on the dark blue sea.
No, I should not say dark blue sea, because the Indian Ocean is more
lovely far than turquoisine.
Tom Brandy and I would sit for hours on the bulwarks, which I used to
call a fence, looking at the sea. The flying fish knew far better than
to come on board the vessel during the day, but there always was
something or other to be seen in the ocean. At times, especially on
calm days, it would be a shoal of silvery whitebait. And such a shoal!
Oh, Tabby, it would have made your mouth water to look upon it. We
could see first far ahead of us, a dark patch upon the bright blue
water, and when we came nearer, that part of the sea would be all
a-quiver, as if it were raining hard there and nowhere else. But soon
the shoal opened out in all its beauty of silvery life and loveliness.
I'm not a post, only a Persian cat, else I could describe it better.
"Oh, rats!" cried Warlock, "never mind the poetry."
Another sight we used to see would be a shoal of dolphins.
"Chasing the whitebait, I suppose?" This from Warlock.
"I didn't say so, Warlock."
But very prettily they used to come along on the top of the water. They
would be so far away at first that they looked like tiny black ticks on
the horizon, but soon they were near enough to us, and we saw that they
were monsters. Oh, a hundred times as large as you, Warlock, or all of
us put together. They came up head first, and went down head first,
just skylarking and playing and skipping like lambs on the leas. And
the water all around them was lashed into foam. Wasn't I afraid, did
you ask me, Vee-Vee? No, not a bit, because Tom told me they were as
harmless as cows.
But, my children, there were creatures in that deep sea of turquoisine
that were very far indeed from being harmless. These were the sharks.
There were always one or two down there that the doctor led. They used
to know the doctor, and floated alongside the ship, while he threw down
pieces of fat to them, and sometimes a ham bone.
The doctor said those tigers of the ocean used to swallow whatever was
thrown overboard, even if it were only an empty medicine bottle.
Sometimes they looked very lovingly at the doctor, and this officer
would tell me they were asking him to throw over a cat for them to
swallow. They said they had never eaten cat, but felt sure that it must
taste very nice indeed.
But little did we think that one day we would be in danger of our lives
from those awful monsters.
Only it wasn't by day, but by night, and a clear and beautiful night it
was too, with the moon shining as brightly almost as it used to shine
over the woods around my Persian home.
Tom and I had been sitting on the bulwarks as usual, expecting a flying
fish to come on board. But they could see us too distinctly, so they
kept away.
There was very little wind that night, just enough to fill the sails,
and carry us along about five knots an hour.
It was a few minutes past midnight, and the watch had been changed, and
stillness reigned everywhere. I think I must have fallen asleep and
been dreaming, for I started in fright when one bell was struck loudly
and clearly.
I started so that I missed my balance, and fell with a plash into the
sea. Next moment Tom Brandy uttered a plaintive howl and dashed in
after me. I am sure that the poor fellow had no idea of trying to save
my life, he only wished to share my fate.
I heard a shout just after Tom came down. For a man in the watch,
hearing the plash in the water, immediately concluded that someone had
fallen in, and raised the alarm.
"Man overboard! Away, lifeboat's crew!"
The shout was taken up and repeated fore and aft, down below and on deck
as well.
Then something came rushing down into the sea from the stern of the
ship, and fell into the water with a strange hollow ring.
The officer of the watch had let go the lifebuoy, but so quickly that he
had forgotten to light it. His neglect to do so probably saved our
lives.
The lifebuoy is made of two empty copper balls, with an arm of wood
between. From this rises a short mast, on the top of which a beacon
burns. Now had this been lit, Tom and I would have burned our paws when
we scrambled up the little mast.
I never knew I could swim till then, but I can assure you, Warlock, it
didn't take Tom Brandy and I long to reach that lifebuoy, and there we
clung till the boat came.
It was not long, perhaps, till the boat did arrive, but to me it seemed
like a hundred years, for the sea all around us appeared to be alive
with awful sharks. Tom told me afterwards my eyes must have multiplied
their numbers, and that there were only just the doctor's two tame ones.
Well, Warlock, tame or not tame, they wanted to tear Tom and me to
pieces, and were terribly disappointed when the men took us on board and
the boat went rushing back to the _Venom_ with us rescued pussies.
When the captain heard of what he called the gallant rescue, he ordered
the mainbrace to be spliced, and so the men all had a glass of grog for
saving our lives.
But next day the seaman who had struck the bell which so startled me,
informed the boatswain that he was positive both cats did not fall off
the bulwarks, but that I only had missed my hold and tumbled into the
sea. He looked quickly towards the bows he said, and for a second or
two saw Tom Brandy there safe enough. Then he heard his cry, and saw
him deliberately spring into the sea after me.
The boatswain told all this to the men and also to the officers, and
after that Tom became indeed a hero on board the ship. My master spoke
of presenting him with a handsome collar of solid silver. The armourer
said if my master Edgar would let him have the silver, he would very
soon make it and engrave it also; he received a large silver spoon, and
so heartily did he work, that in less than a week Tom was wearing his
collar.
But, children, continued Shireen thoughtfully, although Tom Brandy
looked somewhat dignified in his silver collar, it is rather a risky
ornament for a pussy to wear. For a cat friend of mine in the country
being presented with a lovely morocco leather collar by his own
mistress, who thought a great deal of him, disappeared soon after in the
most mysterious way. A whole week passed by and poor Clyde didn't
appear. Then one day a boy rang the door bell, and asked to see Clyde's
mistress. He thought he had found the missing cat he said.
"Where, my dear boy, where?" cried Mrs L--
"Up in a tree, far down in the wood, ma'am."
"And why didn't you bring him? I'll go with you, and we must get him,
and I will pay you well."
"Can you climb trees?" she added.
"Like a squirrel," he said boldly.
The tree was soon found, and up swarmed the boy.
"It is Clyde right enough!" he shouted down; "but she's been and gone
and hung herself."
"Oh, poor pussy! Is she dead?"
By this time the lad was coming down the tree with pussy under his
jacket.
"Never a dead is she, ma'am, but awfully thin."
She was indeed thin, and a miserable time she must have spent. A branch
of the tree had got caught in the collar, and there the poor cat was
hung up by the neck, and but for the boy, who perhaps had been
birds'-nesting, she would have been slowly starved to death.
That's the worst of a dandy collar. But nothing ever happened to Tom
Brandy on board the ship.
Well, in due course the _Venom_ arrived safely in port, and was paid
off. And I assure you, dear children, the day I parted from Tom Brandy
I was very sorry indeed. But, you see, he wasn't my master's cat, and
so couldn't go with us.
Indeed Captain Beecroft had taken a real fancy for Tom, and being like
many sailors, just a little superstitious, he thought that if he parted
with pussy, all his good luck would go also, so he determined to stick
to him.
Arrived on shore, we, that is my dear master and I, went to Yorkshire to
live for a time with an aunt of his, about the only relative he had
alive.
Mrs Clifford was an exceedingly nice old lady, and very fond of cats,
as every nice old lady is, you know, Warlock. She took quite a fancy to
me at once, and I had the run of the house and gardens, and a fine
old-fashioned place it was. There were several other cats here and dogs
too, but we lived like a happy family just as we all do here.
"Now, pussy Shireen," said master to me one evening, "I don't know what
I shall do. I think more and more about your beautiful mistress that
the Shah is going to claim, every day of my life; and I think, too, of
the vow I made to protect her from the terrible fate that awaits her.
But oh, pussy, I'm almost in a fix, for I must tell aunt about Beebee,
and, very nice though she is, I do not know how she may take it; I am
entirely dependent upon her, and what is more, I am her heir."
"But tell her I must, Shireen, even if she cuts me off with a shilling.
I still have my sword, you know, pussy."