There came a day at last when the rats in Redwharf Lane obtained an
entire holiday, doubtless to their own amazement, and revelled in almost
unmolested felicity from morning till night. The office of Denham,
Crumps, and Company was shut; the reason being that the head of the firm
was dead.
Mr Denham had died without a will.
At the time when Guy offended his uncle by expressing his opinion too
freely, Denham vowed in his heart that his nephew should not inherit his
business or fortune. He resolved to leave both to another nephew, the
son of a younger brother, at that time in the East India Company's
service. But as death was a contingency inconceivably remote from
himself, at least in his own opinion, he did not think it necessary to
make his will at that time. He died, therefore, as we have said,
without making it.
He died, also, without carrying out any of his good intentions!
It is a common mistake to suppose that a man has only to repent of his
evil deeds, and that thenceforth all will be plain sailing. The habits
of a lifetime are not to be overcome without a hard struggle, even in
the most sincere of Christians.
Denham, after being saved by the Ramsgate lifeboat, had made up his mind
to turn his wealth to good account, and, in his philanthropic plans, had
resolved to look with special favour on the Lifeboat Institution. But
he delayed to carry out these plans. He did not strike when the iron
was hot, and so the iron began slowly to cool. He had also determined
to reinstate Bax in his employment, and to take Guy into partnership,
but he delayed in these matters also. The love of gold and the memory
of fancied insults began to tell on him, as of old. He even went so far
as to meditate carrying out his former intention of making his will in
favour of the nephew in India!
Still Denham did not fall back to his old position. A struggle which
began when he resided with his sister at Deal, went on in his breast
continually. While this struggle was yet undecided, a fever seized him.
His constitution, weakened by the hardships which he had so recently
undergone, gave way, and he died.
The result was that the business fell to the next-of-kin,--Mrs Foster,
whose son, in the natural course of things, stepped into his uncle's
shoes. The result of this was that poor Denham's good resolves, and a
great many more good resolves than Denham could ever have conceived of,
were carried out in a way that would have amazed him had he been there
to see it, and that almost took the breath away from old Mr Crumps.
A glance at Guy in his office, not long after his uncle's death, will
show the reader how things were managed by the new head of the firm.
Guy was seated in Denham's chair, at Denham's desk, reading and writing
what, in former days, would have been Denham's letters. Presently Mr
Crumps entered.
"I was just going to ask you to consult with me," said Guy; "pray sit
down, sit down, Mr Crumps."
The old man in his modesty meant to stand, as, in former days, he would
have stood before Denham.
"Here is a letter from a friend," continued Guy, "asking for a
contribution towards the establishment of a lifeboat on the coast of
Wales. He reminds me that I myself was once indebted to the services of
a lifeboat when my life was in great danger, and hopes that I will
respond liberally to his appeal. His name is Clelland. He was on board
the old `Trident,' when she was wrecked in Saint Margaret's Bay. I made
his acquaintance then. Now, what do you think we ought to give? I
should like to have your advice on this point, and on several other
matters of a similar nature, Mr Crumps, because there has been no
regular `Charity' account in our ledger, I find, and I would like to
open one. Don't you think it would be as well to open one?"
Mr Crumps thought it would, and--being a man of naturally charitable
and liberal impulses, who had been constantly snubbed by Mr Denham for
many years past--he felt overjoyed at the prospect of a new era opening
up before him.
"Well, what shall we send to Mr Clelland?" pursued Guy. Mr Crumps,
unable all at once to get over old habits and associations, suggested
fifty pounds, timidly.
"The district is a poor one," said Guy; "perhaps, that being the case--"
"Say a hundred," put in Crumps eagerly (and then, in a partially
apologetic tone), "the business can afford it, my dear sir. Heaven
knows it is but little that--"
The old man's voice faltered and stopped. He was going to have made a
remark that would have cast a slur on the character of his late partner,
so he checked himself and sighed.
"Well, then, it shall be a hundred," said Guy, jotting down the sum on a
slip of paper. "I would not advise more to be given to that particular
district just now, because it might tend to check the efforts of the
people on the spot. If they fail to raise the requisite sum, we can
then give what is necessary. Now, there is an urgent appeal for funds
being made just now to the public by the Lifeboat Institution. I think
this a good opportunity to give away some of the cash which ought to
have been--"
Guy hesitated. He too was about to make a remark that would have been
unfavourable to the character of his late uncle, so he checked himself.
"What do you say to giving them a thousand pounds?"
Mr Crumps said nothing to it. He was too much taken aback to say
anything; but when he saw that Guy had jotted the sum down, and was
apparently in earnest, he nodded his head, blew his nose violently, for
a man of his years and character, and chuckled.
"Well, then," continued Guy, "there is another subject which occurs to
me just now, although it does not come under the head of charities. I
wish to supply a ship's lifeboat to every vessel that belongs to us, and
a set of life-belts, besides other things. I estimate that this will
require a sum of nearly two thousand pounds. Let me see--"
Here Guy began to jot and calculate, and to talk to himself in an
undertone, while Mr Crumps, utterly bereft of speech, sat staring in
amazement and delight at his young partner.
While they were thus engaged, the tiger in blue who had supplanted
Peekins entered, and said that three gentlemen wished to see Mr Foster.
"Show them in," said Guy. "Sit still, Mr Crumps, I have not yet done
with my calculations."
In a few seconds Bax, Bluenose, and Tommy Bogey were ushered into the
office. The latter had become a tall, handsome stripling during his
residence abroad, and bid fair to rival Bax himself in stature. They
shook hands cordially with Guy and Mr Crumps.
"Well, Bax, is the new ship a good one?" said Guy; "d'you think she will
suit you?"
"That will she," said Bax, with a gratified look. "As the old song
says--
"`She's a ship that's as tight to my fancy
As ever sailed o'er the salt seas.'
"I think she will be ready for sea in a couple of months. By that time
I will be ready to take command, if you choose to trust her to me."
"Trust her to you, Bax! Do you think we may trust our new vessel to
him, Mr Crumps?" inquired Guy, with a smile.
Mr Crumps, not having recovered the power of speech, nodded his head,
and rubbed his hands slowly, a benignant smile playing on his old face
the while.
"Well, then," continued Bax, "Amy, so far from making any objection to
going to sea with me, says that she won't let me go away without her, so
that's settled, and the wedding day is fixed for Monday next week. But
I'm not satisfied yet. I want you to do me still another favour, Guy."
"What is that?"
"To let Tommy Bogey go as supercargo. He's seaman enough to go as first
mate, but he's too young for that yet. Also, I want to take Bluenose as
a free passenger."
"A free passenger!" said Guy, looking at the Captain with surprise.
"Yes, you see," said Bluenose, modestly, "I'm raither moloncholy about
old Jeph, an' if Bax and Tommy leave me, I'll feel quite desarted like.
Moreover, I wants to see furrin' parts--specially the antypodes. But I
hain't blunt enough to pay my passage, d'ye see, and so--and so--"
"In short," interpolated Tommy, "he's blunt enough to ask a free one!"
"A1 on Lloyds'!" said Bluenose, looking at Tommy with a broad grin; for
the Captain regarded all his nephew's jokes--good, bad, and
indifferent--as being perfect!
It need scarcely be said that Guy readily agreed to their request, and
that Mr Crumps was ready to agree to whatsoever Guy proposed.
These matters being happily settled, the trio, having been invited to
dine with Guy at a neighbouring chop-house at five o'clock, rose and
left the partners to continue their consultation.
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From that time forward Bax and Tommy Bogey remained in the service of
Denham, Crumps, and Company, and Amy Russell went regularly to sea with
her husband. Bluenose was afterwards appointed coxswain to a lifeboat
on the coast of Kent where he rendered good service in many a wild
storm, and was the means of snatching many a fellow-creature from the
devouring sea. His friend Coleman happened to be on the coast-guard
station near him; and many a pipe did these two smoke together, under
the lee of the boat-house--spinning yarns of other days, chiefly
connected with the sea and shipwrecks. Old Coleman had had considerable
experience in rough, coast life, and was well able to speak on such
subjects. The records of the Lifeboat Institution show that about
one-third of the medals and rewards granted for meritorious services are
awarded to men of the coastguard. Old Coleman was one of those who had
taken his full share of the dangerous work of saving life. He was also
gifted with that rare quality--the power of telling a story well, so
that he and Bluenose became fast friends and constant companions during
their residence on the Kentish coast.
Similarity of tastes and desires drew other members of our tale
together, besides Coleman and Bluenose. Old Mr Summers and Mr
Clelland, the dark passenger in the "Trident," found such a strong bond
of sympathy existing between them, that they took cottages in
juxtaposition in the town of Deal, and went about continually "doing
good." Mrs Foster, Lucy, and Guy were allies, as a matter of course.
Rodney Nick improved somewhat in his character, and became a respectable
boatman. People said that Mr Burton, the missionary to seamen, had
something to do with this improvement. It is not improbable that he
had. But Long Orrick died as he had lived,--a notorious and
incorrigible smuggler.
Peekins was changed from a tiger into a clerk; and, in process of time,
came to keep the books of that celebrated firm in which he had
originally figured as a spider in blue tights and buttons.
Bax and Tommy sailed together for several years. They also engaged in
mercantile ventures to China on their own account, and were so
prosperous in their career that they realised ample fortunes, and
finally settled near each other on the coast of Kent.
Here they resumed their old career of saving human life. They became
noted as men who were ready to devise and prompt to act in cases of
emergency. They helped to man the lifeboat in their neighbourhood when
occasion required. They were the means of establishing a library and a
mission to seamen, and were regarded as a blessing to the district in
which they dwelt.
They were literally heroes of the coast, for they spent their time in
doing good to those whose lot it is to brave the dangers of the deep and
sweep the stormy sea.