that you are ill, and so are all the boys. Peter thought you might be
wearying to--to use the c-cane, and Peter is wearying, too. Just a
little one, sir, to p-please Speug," and Nestie laid an old cane he had
hunted up, a cane retired from service, upon the bed within reach of
Bulldog's hand. A twinkle of amusement came into the master's eye, the
first expression of interest he had shown during his illness. He turned
his head and looked at Peter, the figure of chastened mischief. The
remembrance of the past--the mathematical class-room, the blackboard
with its figures, the tricks of the boys, the scratching of the pens,
came up to him, and his soul was stirred within him. His hand closed
again upon the sceptre of authority, and Peter laid a grimy paw open
upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the
strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers
can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and
overflowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out
of the room, who went into the garden, and, being joined by the master's
dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while
upstairs in the sick-room Manley declared that Bulldog had turned the
corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."
[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED AGAIN UPON THE SCEPTRE OF AUTHORITY."]
The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable-yard,
for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called
him "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat
Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's
phaeton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale
that the doctor was bringing him home with two broken legs as the result
of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-bye in the presence
of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news
of Bulldog's convalescence, and next day stone-ginger was flowing like
water down the throats of the Seminary.
A PLEASANT SIN
XI
Captious people, such as ministers of religion and old maids of the
precise kind, considered that the Seminary were guilty of many sins and
mentioned them freely; but those excellent people erred through lack of
vision. Hunting mice in Moossy's class-room, putting the Dowbiggins'
clothes into a state of thorough repair, raiding the territory of the
"Pennies," having a stand-up fight between two well-matched champions,
say, once a month, and "ragging" Mr. Byles, might have an appearance of
evil, but were in reality disguised virtues, feeding the high spirit of
those who were active, and teaching the Christian grace of meekness to
those who were passive. There was only one act which the Seminary knew
it ought not to do, and which all the boys wanted to do, which they
enjoyed very much in doing, and were quite willing to be punished for
doing. The besetting sin of a school--a country school--which will
remain its sin until the days of the millennium have fairly set in, was
playing truant.
This crime was equivalent to high treason in the State, and consisted in
a boy absenting himself from school without the knowledge of his
parents, and without the consent of his master, for a day or half of a
day. The boy did not disappear because he was ill, for he was on such
occasions outrageously well: nor because he was overburdened by work,
for the truants always guarded themselves against brain fag; nor because
he wanted to hang about the streets, or smoke in secret places. He was
simply seized with the passion of the open air and of the country. To
tramp through the bosky woods, hunting for birds' eggs and watching the
ways of wild animals; to guddle for trout under the stones of some clear
running mountain burn, or to swim in the cool water on a summer day, or
to join the haymakers on a farm, and do a full day's work, as long as
lesson time and harder. There was a joy in escaping from bounds, as if
an animal had broken out from a menagerie; there was joy in thinking, as
you lay beside your burn or under the shadow of a tree, of the fellows
mewed up in the hot class-room and swatting at their sums, under
Bulldog's eye; and joy in coming home in the evening, tired, but
satisfied, and passing the empty Seminary with defiance. There is no
joy--I mean sin--but has its drawbacks, and there were clouds in the
truant's sky. Country folk had their own suspicions when they came on a
couple of boys going at large on a working day, when the school was in
session, as one might have a shrewd guess if he came upon two convicts
in their professional dress fishing in some lonely spot on Dartmoor. But
there is a charitable sympathy with all animals who have escaped from a
cage, unless it be a tigress looking for her dinner, and no one would
have thought of informing on the boys, except one bad man; and
Providence, using Speug as an instrument, punished him for his evil
doings--as I shall tell.
"Well, laddies," some honest farmer would say, as he came upon them
sitting by the burnside eating bread and cheese and counting up their
trout, "I'm judgin' it will be a holiday at the Seminary the now, or
mebbe the maister's given ye a day's leave for yir health. Or is this
the reward for doing yir work so well? Ye have all the appearance of
scholars." And then the good man would laugh at the simple raillery and
the confusion of the boys.
"Dinna answer, laddies; for least said soonest mended, and ye mind where
leears go to. But I'm thinkin' ye wadna be the worse for a jug of milk
to wash down your dinner, and there's some strawberries in the garden up
by, just about ripe."
So they all went up to the farm kitchen and had a glorious tuck in, and
were afterwards turned loose among the strawberries, while the farmer
watched them with keen delight and a remembrance of past days. Whose
place in heaven for such deeds of charity is already secure.
The authorities at home were not so lenient, and the experienced truant
was careful, when he could, to time his arrival home about five o'clock
in the afternoon, which allowed for the school hours and one hour more
of special confinement. According to the truant's code he was not
allowed to tell a lie about his escapade, either at home or at school,
but he was not obliged to offer a full and detailed statement of the
truth. If his father charged him with being kept in at school for not
having done his work, and rebuked him for his laziness, he allowed it to
go at that, and did not accuse his father of inaccuracy. When, however,
a boy was by habit and repute a truant, his father learned by experience
and was apt to watch him narrowly. If the boy had an extra touch of the
sun on his face, and his clothing was disorderly beyond usual, and his
manner was especially unobtrusive, and his anxiety to please every
person quite remarkable, and if in moments of unconsciousness he seemed
to be chewing the cud of some recent pleasure, the father was apt to
subject him to a searching cross-examination. And his mother had to beg
the boy off with many a plea, such as mothers know how to use; and if
the others did not succeed, and the appeal to the heart was in vain, she
could always send the good man back upon his memory, and put it to his
conscience whether he ought to visit too severely upon his son the sin
the boy had inherited from himself.
It was next morning that the truant really paid for his pleasure; and
the price was sharp, for there was no caning to be compared with that
which followed a day in the country. It was a point of honour that no
boy should show distress; but even veterans bit their lips as the cane
fell first on the right hand and then on the left, and right across the
palm, and sometimes doubling on the back of the hand, if the cane was
young and flexible. Speug, though a man of war and able to endure
anything, used to warm his hands at the fire, if the weather was cold,
before going in to the inquisition, and after he had received a
switching of the first order he would go down to the lade and cool his
hands in the running water. It was an interesting spectacle to see four
able-bodied sinners, who yesterday had given themselves to the study of
Nature, now kneeling together, to efface their penalty in our waters of
Lethe; but you must remember that they made no moan before the boys, and
no complaint against the master. The school received them with respect
when they came out, and Speug would indicate with a wink and a jerk of
his head that Bulldog had exceeded himself; but he was not to be trifled
with for an hour or two, and if any ill-mannered cub ventured to come
too near when Peter was giving his hands a cold bath, the chances are
that Peter gave the cub a bath, too, "just to teach him to be looking
where he had no business."
Possibly fear of consequences might hinder some weak-hearted boys, but
it never prevented any of the hardy ruffians from having their day out
when the fever seized them. Playing truant was the same thing for a boy
as bolting for a high-spirited horse; done once, the animal is bound to
try it again, and to both, the joy of their respective sins must be very
much the same. Boys did not plan a week ahead and then go astray in cold
blood, because this sin was not an act of malice aforethought--it was a
sudden impulse, not a matter of the will so much as of the blood. Had
one determined on Tuesday night to take Wednesday, it might have turned
out in our fickle climate a cheerless day, when a boy would as soon be
playing marbles in the breaks, or cricket in the dinner-hour, or, for
that matter, amusing himself in Moossy's class. No; a boy rose in the
morning ready to go to school, without a thought of wood or
water--arranging his marbles, in fact, for the day, and planning how to
escape a lesson he had not prepared; but he was helpless against Nature
if she set herself to tempt him. No sooner had he put his nose outside
the door than the summer air, sweet and fresh, began to play upon his
face and reminded him of a certain wood. As he went through the streets
of the town, a glimpse of the river, steely blue that morning in the
sunshine, brought up a pool where a fat trout was sure to be lying. As
he crossed the North Meadow, the wind was blowing free from the
Highlands, and was laden with the scent of hay and flowers, and sent his
blood a-tingling. The books upon his back grew woefully heavy, and the
Seminary reminded him of the city gaol frowning out on the fields with
its stately and unrelenting face. He loitered by the lade and saw the
clear water running briskly, and across the meadow he could catch a
glimpse of the river, and in the distance the Kilspindie Woods with
their mysterious depths, and rising high above the houses on the other
side of the river was the hill where he spent last Saturday. The bell
rings and he goes in, but not to work; the river is running through his
heart, and the greenery is before his eyes, and the wind coming in puffs
through the open window awakens the instinct of the wild animal in his
breast and invites him to be free. Speug has a slate before him, but he
is not pretending to do anything, he is looking out on the Meadow, and
sniffing the air, just like a horse about to make its bolt. He catches
Howieson's eye and reads that Jock is ready. Howieson inquires by signal
of Bauldie whether he prefers compound fractions to a swim, and Bauldie
explains, also by signal, that, much as he loves fractions, he will be
obliging that afternoon and join them in their swim. A fourth would
complete the party; and when Speug lifts his eyebrows with great
dramatic art to "Piggie" Mitchell, three desks off, "Piggie," like the
gallant spirit that he was, answers with a nod that he will not be found
wanting. Not a word has been said, and no one will say "Truant" at any
time, but at the next break the four separate themselves quietly and
unobtrusively from their fellows, and by the time the last boy has gone
through the door, they are scudding across the meadow to Speug's
stable-yard, where they will make their preparations. Sometimes nothing
more is needed than a hunch of bread and some fish-hooks; but as they
ran Speug had dropped the word Woody Island, and a day on Woody Island
was a work of art. It lay a couple of miles above the town, long and
narrow, formed with a division of the river into its main current and a
sluggish backwater. It was covered with dense brushwood, except where
here and there a patch of green turf was left bare, and the island was
indented with little bays where the river rippled on clean sand and
gravel. It was only a little island, but yet you could lose yourself in
it, so thick was the wood and so mazy, and then you had to find your
comrades by signal; and it had little tracks through it, and there was
one place where you could imagine a hole in the bank to be a cave, and
where certainly two boys could get out of sight if they lay very close
together and did not mind being half smothered. When you went to Woody
Island, and left the mainland, you were understood to blot out the
Seminary and Muirtown and Scotland and civilisation. Woody Island was
somewhere in the wild West, and was still in the possession of the
children of the forest; the ashes of their fires could be seen any day
there, and you could come upon their wigwams in one of the open spots.
There was a place where they had massacred three trappers and taken
their scalps, and in that cave "Bull's-eye Charlie," the famous Indian
scout, lying curled up like a ball, and with only the mouth of his rifle
peeping out, had held twenty of the red-skinned braves at bay for a
whole day. It was a fairy world in which our Indian tales could be
reproduced upon the stage, and we ourselves could be the heroes we had
so often admired. The equipment for the day consisted of four tomahawks
(three axes out of small tool chests and one axe for breaking coals
which "Piggie" used to steal for the day) two pistols (one belonging to
Speug and the other to Bauldie); a couple of toy rifles--not things for
kids, mark you, but long rifles with bayonets, and which could fire
caps; a tent, which was in reality an old carriage cloth from Peter's
yard; and a kettle for boiling water--I mean cooking the game--which
Jock Howieson abstracted from his kitchen. Each boy had to visit his
home on pretence of returning for a book, and bring away the necessary
articles of war and as much food as he could steal from the pantry; and
then everything, axes included, and, if possible, the rifles had to be
hidden away about their persons until the four, skulking by back lanes,
and separating from one another, reached the top of the North Meadow,
after which they went up the bank of the river, none daring to make them
afraid. They were out of bounds now, and the day was before them for
weal or woe, and already Speug was changing into an Indian trapper, and
giving directions about how they must deal with the Seminoles (see Mayne
Reid), while Howieson had begun to speculate whether they would have a
chance of meeting with the famous chief, Oceola. "Piggie" might want to
try a cap on his rifle, but Speug would not allow him, because, although
they had not yet entered the Indian territory, the crafty foe might have
scouts out on this side of the river, and in that case there was no hope
of Woody Island. The Indians would be in ambush among the trees on the
bank, and the four would be shot down as they crossed.
Their first enemy, however, was not Oceola's Indians, but a white man--a
renegade--who, to his shame, was in alliance with the Indians and was
always ready to betray the trappers into their hands. This miscreant was
a farmer on the mainland, who was the tenant of Woody Island, and had a
determined objection to any boys, or other savages, except, as I have
said, the Seminole tribe living on the island, and who used to threaten
pains and penalties against anyone whom he caught on his land. One never
knew when he might be about, and it was absolutely necessary to reach
the island without his notice. There was a day in the past when Speug
used to watch till the farmer had gone into his midday dinner, and then
creep along the bank of the river and ferry himself across with the
other trappers in the farmer's boat, which he then worked round to the
other side of the island and kept there for the return voyage in the
evening, so that the farmer was helpless to reach the island, and could
only address the unseen trespassers in opprobrious language from the
bank, which was sent back to him in faithful echo. This forenoon the
farmer happened to be hoeing turnips with his people in a field opposite
the island, and Speug was delighted beyond measure, for now the four had
to drop down and crawl along through the thick grass by the river's
edge, availing themselves of every bush and little knoll till they lay,
with all their arms, the tent, and the food, concealed so near the
farmer that they could hear him speak and hear the click of the hoes as
the people worked in their drills. If you raised your head cautiously
and looked through between the branches of a shrub, you could see him,
and Bauldie actually covered him with his rifle. The unconscious farmer
knew not that his life hung upon a thread, or, rather, upon Bauldie's
trigger. Bauldie looked inquiringly to his chief, for he would dearly
have loved to fire a cap, but Speug shook his head so fiercely that the
trapper dropped down in his lair, and Speug afterwards explained that
the renegade had certainly deserved death, but that it was dangerous to
fire with so many of his gang present, and the Seminoles on the other
side of the river. By and by the farmer and his people had worked
themselves to the other end of the field, and the trappers, having
ascertained that there were no Indians watching them, prepared to cross.
Speug, who had reached the boat, spoke out suddenly and unadvisedly, for
the farmer had chained and padlocked the boat. It would not have
mattered much to the boys in ordinary circumstances, for they would have
stripped and swum across, and back again when they were tired of the
other side, for every one of them could swim like an otter; but that day
they were trappers, with arms, and food, and a tent, and powder which
must be kept dry, to say nothing of the kettle. There was a brief
consultation, and Bauldie regretted that he did not shoot the farmer
dead on the spot, and as many of his people as they could. Speug, who
had been prowling around--though cautiously, mind you, and ever watching
for a sign of the Seminoles--gave a low, mysterious whistle, which was
one of the signs among the trappers; and when the others joined him he
pointed and whispered, "A Seminole canoe." It was an ancient boat which
the farmer's father had used, and which had lain for years upon the
bank, unused. Its seats were gone, its planks were leaking, it had two
holes at least in it, and there were no oars. It was a thing which, in
the farmer's hand, would have sunk six yards from the shore, but it had
the semblance of a boat, and it was enough for the hardy trappers. Very
carefully did they work it to the bank, lest it should slip a whole
plank on the road, and very gently did they drop it in, lest the
Seminoles should hear. "Piggie" stuffed one hole with his bonnet, and
Bauldie the second with his; Jock spread his jacket over an oozy part.
They shipped all their stores, and one of them got in to bale, and the
others, stripping off their clothes and adding them to the cargo of the
boat, pushed out the boat before them, swimming by its side. It was a
mere question of time whether the boat would go down in mid-channel; but
so splendidly did "Piggie" bale, ready at any moment to swim for his
life, and so powerfully did the others push, swimming with their feet
and one hand, and with the other hand guiding the boat, that they
brought it over safely to the other side; and the fact that half their
clothes were wet through mattered little to men who had often hidden
from the Indians in the water, with nothing but their eyes and nose out;
and, at any rate, the food was safe. The matches and the percussion caps
also were dry, for "Piggie" had taken care of that, and, in the worst
emergency, they would have been carried on the top of his head if he
also had been obliged to swim. They brought the boat into a little
creek, and, communicating by signs to one another--for they were too
old hunters to be speaking now, when there might be a party of Seminoles
in that very wood--Speug and Jock hid themselves, each behind a tree
with rifle in hand, to cover the others, while "Piggie" and Bauldie drew
the boat up under cover of the bushes, and hid it out of sight, so that
even a Seminole's keen eyes would not have been able to detect it. The
trappers made another hiding-place, and left there the superfluous
garments of civilisation, confining themselves to a shirt and trousers,
and a belt which holds the pistol and tomahawk. Speug and Jock, as the
two veterans who could discover the trail of the Seminoles by a twisted
leaf on a branch, or a broken stick on the ground, warned their friends
to lie low, and they themselves disappeared into the brushwood. They had
gone to scout, and to make sure that no wandering party of Indians was
in the vicinity. By and by a wood-pigeon cooed three times, "Piggie"
nodded to Bauldie, and Bauldie hooted like an owl, then they knew that
it was safe to advance. The two rejoined the scouts, whom they found on
the edge of a clearing, leaning on their rifles in a picturesque
attitude. "Bull's-eye Charlie" led, and the others followed, pausing now
and again at a sound in the woods, and once at a signal from
"Bull's-eye" they separated swiftly, and each took up his position
behind a tree. But it was a false alarm. Then they went on as before,
till they came to a pretty spot on the other side of the island, where
they made their camp, cutting a pole for the tent, lighting a fire,
which they did with immense success, and proceeding to cook dinner. As
they had been afraid to fire, for fear of attracting any wandering
Indian's notice, they had no deer nor wild turkey, which, in other
circumstances, would have been their food; but they made tea (very
badly, and largely because they wished to use the kettle), and they had
bread and butter, which had turned into oil through the warmth of
Bauldie's person, a half ham which Speug contributed, a pot of jam for
which "Piggie" will have to account some day, and six jam tarts which
Howieson bought with his last farthing, and which had been reduced
practically to one in Jock's pocket. Speug had managed two bottles of
stone ginger-beer, which were deeply valued, and afforded them a big
mouthful each, as they drank without any cup, and shared honestly by
calculation of time.
[Illustration: "THEY DRANK WITHOUT ANY CUP."]
What a day they had! They fought Indians from one end of the island to
the other, killing and scalping twenty-nine. They bathed in the quieter
current on the other side, and they dried themselves in the sun, and in
the sun they slept till they were burned red; and then just as they were
thinking that it was time to go back to the camp and gather together
their belongings and set off for home, Speug gave a whistle that had in
it this time no pretence of danger, and bolted into the wood, followed
by the other three. Whether he had heard the firing, or the Seminoles
had sent a message, they never knew, but the farmer was on the island
and proceeding in their direction through the brushwood. Speug did not
think that he had seen them, and he would not quite know where they
were, and in an instant that leader of men had formed what he thought
the best of all his plans. He gave his directions to the other three,
who executed a war-dance at the mere thought of the strategy, and then
departed hurriedly for the camp; but Speug, who was naked, and not
ashamed, started rapidly in an opposite direction, and just gave the
farmer a glimpse of him as he hurried up the island.
"Ye're there, are ye, ye young blackguards! Wait till I catch ye;
trespassin' and lightin' fires, I'll be bound; it's Perth gaol ye'll be
in the nicht, or I'm no farmer of Middleton. Ye may hide if ye please,
but I'll find ye, and ye'll no get the old boat to go back in, for I've
found that, clever as ye thought yourselves, and knocked the bottom oot
o' it."
It was twenty minutes before he discovered Speug, and then Speug was
standing on the edge of the water at the top of the island, where the
current runs swift and strong towards the other side.
"Was it me ye were seekin'?" said Speug, rosy red all over, but not with
modesty. "I thought I heard somebody crying. We're glad to see ye on the
island. Have ye come to bathe?"
"Wait till I get a grip of ye, ye impident little deevil, and, my word,
I'll bathe ye," and the farmer made for Speug.