SAFE AND SOUND
AT six o'clock the _Thetis_, with her ensign flying at half-mast,
staggered into Mapplewick Harbour. Willing hands assisted to berth
her alongside the jetty--a willingness prompted by the sight of the
half-masted colours, while a crowd of curious onlookers could hardly
be restrained from questioning the two grey-faced men who formed the
crew of the storm-beaten yacht.
Half-dazed by the magnitude of the calamity, Grant and Clifton went
ashore to perform their sad duty--to report the loss of one of the
crew and to telegraph the grim tidings to Craddock's parents.
At noon Mr. and Mrs. Craddock arrived by train.
They were met by the Scoutmaster, who fully expected to be
reproached by the missing lad's parents; but not a word of that sort
escaped them. They were yet to realise their loss, and were still
buoyed up in the hope that Peter would yet be restored to them.
For a fortnight they remained at Mapplewick. Mr. Grant remained,
too. Nothing would induce him to return to Aberstour while there was
a chance that the sea might give up the body of the drowned Sea
Scout.
But in spite of the assurances of the fisherfolk that the corpse
would be washed ashore in Mapplewick Bay at any time after the ninth
day, the fortnight passed without that grim event taking place. The
sea, lashed into fury by a prolonged Equinoctial gale, refused to
give up its secret.
At length, with hope all but extinguished, Peter's parents returned
to Aberstour. Mr. Grant went with them. He was utterly overwhelmed
by the disaster--a prey to self reproaches that he had not taken
better care of the boy. He remembered with a pang of remorse his
confident assurances to Mr. Clifton that Craddock could be trusted
to do almost anything. Peter had proved his resourcefulness in time
of danger, yet in a comparatively light wind he had vanished.
"I can never bring myself to go afloat with the troop again," he
thought to himself, dreading the time when the _Puffin_ was due to
be put into commission with her youthful crew.
One morning the Scoutmaster was interrupted in the midst of shaving
by a violent knocking on the front door.
"There's Mr. Craddock to see you, sir," announced his landlady
through the closed door of the bathroom, followed by a loud
hammering of the caller's fists.
"News--good news!" exclaimed Mr. Craddock excitedly when the two men
were face to face. "Read this, Mr. Grant. Peter's safe!"
He thrust a bulky envelope into the Scoutmaster's hands.
"Read it!" he repeated. "Everything's all right now, but it fair
puzzles me how Peter got there."
With this rather vague remark Mr. Craddock sat down, breathing
heavily, for he had been running.
Mr. Grant read the letter. It was from Peter, and was headed, "s.s.
_Boanerges_, Bahia, Brazil."
It was a breezy letter, relating at some length Peter's adventures
on the High Seas between Las Palmas and South America.
"I'm quite happy," it went on, "only I'd like to see you all again
very soon. We're off round the Horn and then to Sydney and
Singapore. I'm now rated as Able Seaman, and it's a topping life.
Hope you got my letter and cablegram from Las Palmas.
"Your ever loving son,
"PETER CRADDOCK."
"We never got either, but I suppose they'll come along soon," said
Mr. Craddock, referring to the last passage of his son's letter.
"I'm real curious to know how he got picked up."
"And so am I," added the Scoutmaster, who looked as if he were ten
years younger than he did ten minutes before. "And won't he be able
to tell some stories of his adventures when he does return! Able
seaman already, too."
"Ay," said Mr. Craddock. "Sounds grand--not that I know what an
able seaman is exactly. 'Tany rate, he says he's doing well, thanks
to his training as a Sea Scout."
THE END.
MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
PURNELL AND SONS PAULTON (SOMERSET) AND LONDON
[
Transcriber's Notes:
This book contains a number of misprints. The following misprints
have been corrected:
[even amongst rogues.] → [even amongst rogues."]
[without watertight] → [without water-tight]
{both spellings occur in the paper version. To make it
consistent, the latter (also the most frequent spelling in this
book) has been chosen}
[Ill try not to,] → [I'll try not to,]
[outside that beacon.] → [outside that beacon."]
[ten minutes before. And] → [ten minutes before. "And]
[the accomodation on]
{What appears to be a misprint was actually put in the text
deliberately, as can be concluded from the text}
The second item in the "List of illustrations" refers to page [60].
This has been corrected to page [61]
The paper version of this book uses italic text to emphasize parts
of the text. In the 'plain text' version that will be indicated
thus:
_italic text_
]