IN THE SEA.
Noll's presence of mind enabled him to clutch the jagged sides of the
rock desperately, so that in the wave's return he was not drawn with
it into the sea depths. Stunned, strangled, half blinded, and impelled
by a sudden horror of death in the cold, treacherous sea, he took two
or three forward steps, fell, then rose and strove to struggle on.
But a little hollow in the path let him down into the flood to his
waist. The spray flew into his eyes and mouth, and breathless and
bewildered he fell again, this time to disappear under the
foam-flecked water. He struggled up to air and life at last, with many
gasps for breath, and once more clutched at the rocks behind him. It
all seemed like the terror of a dream, not real and threatening. Was
he to be drowned? Some sudden thought of the pleasantness of life, of
dear friends across this same cruel, ravenous sea, of Uncle Richard
and his warning, came to him here. To be drowned in this dark, chill,
raging flood? Oh! no, no! Then he saw, out in the gloom and mistiness,
the white gleaming of a wave-crest, rising and sinking, but sweeping
steadily toward him, and knew that it would dash upon his narrow
foothold. Could he survive another?
Then from Noll's lips came a shrill cry, which rose above the thunder
and battering of the sea; and, whether from terror or whether from the
fact that the dear name was so warm and vivid in his heart at that
moment, the cry was not "Help!" but, "Papa, papa!"
The cry was answered!--at least, Noll fancied it was, and clung to the
jagged edges of rock with a new love of life in his heart, and, with
his eyes on the approaching wave, which began to loom up dark and
vast, cried out again with all his might.
Out of the darkness which hovered over his submerged path beyond, a
figure came struggling,--battling the water and making desperate
efforts to run,--crying,--
"Noll, Noll! where are you?"
"Here,--Uncle Richard,--quick!" answered the boy, clinging desperately
to his only refuge,--the slippery, icy rocks.
The wave came thunderingly in, burst, and hid uncle and nephew from
each other. Trafford uttered a groan of despair, and stood, for an
instant, like one palsied. Back swept the flood, leaving the sand bare
for a minute, and with a shout, the master of the stone house rushed
forward, seized the figure which had fallen there, and sprang away
toward the sand and safety. He gained it, and tremblingly laid his
burden down. Had he only saved a body from which the life had flown?
"Oh, Noll!" he cried, brokenly,--"Noll, Noll!"
Only the sea and the wailing of the wind answered him. Hurriedly
gathering the boy in his arms, he started for the house, running and
stumbling through the sand and over the rocks, fearful lest he should
reach its warmth and shelter too late. But before he had gained half
the distance between him and the redly-gleaming window, where he knew
Hagar was sitting before her fire, Noll stirred in his arms. Trafford
stopped, fearing that his excited imagination had deceived him.
"Noll," he cried, "speak to me,--speak!"
"Yes--only--I'm--I'm so cold," chattered Noll, faintly; "and--Uncle
Richard--you--you've saved me!"
Trafford could not speak, so great was the load which had suddenly
lifted from his heart. He started on with his burden, though Noll
protested against being carried, and at every step rejoiced within
himself. What cared he for the thunder of the sea, the wind's
screaming, and the terror of death which they boded? _His_ treasure
was safe, safe!--torn from the very yawning mouth of the deep, and
what were wreck and disaster of others to him? He came to the little
kitchen, presently, the light from its one window toward the shore
beaming cheerily upon him, and threw open the door and entered so
suddenly that Hagar screamed out with affright.
"De good Lord help us now!" she cried at the sight of the master and
his burden. "What's happened, Mas'r Dick?"
Noll answered, assuringly, "Nothing very serious, Hagar. I've been
in--the sea. Oh, Uncle Richard! how did you find me?"
Trafford set his burden down upon the three-legged stool which Hagar
had just vacated, saying,--
"I was looking for you, Noll, and heard your cry. O Heaven! what if I
had failed to hear it!"
"I should have been swept away," said Noll.
Here Hagar recovered her wits sufficiently to give a little howl of
lamentation.
"Out ob de sea! out ob de sea!" she cried; "de Lord be t'anked fur it!
Dat yer sea am a drefful t'ing, honey,--allers swallerin', swallerin',
an' nebber ken get 'nough fur itself, nohow. Hagar's seen it; she
knows what dat yer sea is, an' t'ank de Lord, he's let ye come out of
it alive. Mas'r Dick, why don't ye t'ank Him fur savin' ob yer boy fur
ye?"
"Hush!" said Trafford, his face growing gloomy; "find Noll some dry
clothes, Hagar. Quick, woman!"
"Yes, in a minnit, Mas'r Dick; quick's I ken git dis yer ole candle
lit. But ef ye don't t'ank de Lord now, ye'll have to come to it 'fore
long, Mas'r Dick; Hagar tells ye so! dat yer time'll come! it'll
come!"
"Hush!" said Trafford, harshly, "and do as I bade you."
Hagar went out, sighing, "Dat time'll come, dat time'll come, bress de
Lord!"
Noll looked up from his seat by the fire, where he sat dripping and
shivering, and said,--
"But aren't you glad I'm safe, Uncle Richard?--aren't you thankful?"
Trafford answered this question with a look which made his nephew
exclaim,--
"I know you are, Uncle Richard! Then why--why--aren't you thankful to
God?"
"Don't, don't, Noll!" said his uncle. "Strip off those wet garments
and make haste to get warm again. Culm Rock is no place for one to be
sick in. Hurry, boy?"
Instead of hurrying, however, Noll suddenly grew very grave and
exclaimed,--
"Oh, I've forgotten something, Uncle Richard! That tide drove it all
out of my head. What can I do? Dirk Sharp's little girl is
sick--dying, and I was to bring her some medicine, if Hagar had any!"
"What is Dirk or his to you?" exclaimed Trafford. "Was that what kept
you so late? Is that how you came to be caught by the tide?"
"Yes," said Noll, "I--"
His uncle interrupted him with a stern, "Noll, you reckless lad! What
are those Culm people to us,--to me? You put your life in peril--oh,
I tremble to think _what_ peril!--for Dirk's miserable child? What
were you thinking of? Have you no regard for your life,--for my
happiness?"
"Why," said Noll, quickly, "Dirk loves his child as well as you love
me, and I thought perhaps Hagar's medicines could help it, and I
didn't know there was any peril till I got into it; and oh, Uncle
Richard, what will they do now that I can't come back?"
"I don't know," said Trafford, gloomily; "they are accustomed to such
things, I suppose. Shall I have to command you to take off those wet
clothes?"
Noll began to remove his ice-cold garments, but presently said,--
"Is there,--do you think there'll be any hope of my going back
to-night, Uncle Richard? The child is dreadful sick, you know."
"Going back!--to-night! Are you crazy, Noll?" Trafford cried. "No, you
will not put foot outside the door this night!"
"But, Un--"
"Hush! not another word," said his uncle, sternly. "If you have no
regard for your life, I must have for you. Hagar is waiting at the
door with your dry clothes. Are you ready for them?"
Noll answered "Yes," his heart suddenly filled with a dreary
recollection of the sight which he had seen in Dirk's miserable abode.
It seemed to him as if he could hear the sick child's wail above the
war of the storm. Dirk, he thought, would watch and wait for his
return, peering through the dirty little window into the gathering
gloom and darkness, and, finding that he did not come, would settle
back into despair again.
Noll put on the dry garments with a heavy heart. He was sure he felt
strong enough to return to Culm, and although the sea barred the beach
path, yet, with a lantern, he could find a way over the rocks, he
thought. But Uncle Richard had utterly refused; so there was no hope,
and the child must suffer on, and Dirk watch in vain.
"Oh," thought Noll, "why wasn't I more careful? Why _didn't_ I think
of the tide? Then nothing would have happened, and I could have gone
back!"
Hagar came in, saying, "Ye'll hab yer supper here, in de kitchen,
Mas'r Noll, 'cause it's warmer fur ye dan in de dinin'-room. Ye won't
mind Hagar's ole kitchen jes' fur once, honey?"
"No," said Noll, sadly, "I won't mind at all, Hagar, and I'm not
hungry--much."
Trafford went out to change his own wet clothing. The old housekeeper
bustled between her cupboards and a little round table which she had
drawn before the fire, casting wistful looks at Noll as he sat gravely
gazing in the coals.
"Bress de Lord! bress de Lord fur savin' ye!" she ejaculated,
fervently, as she bent down over her tea-pot which was spouting
odorous jets of steam from its place on the hearth; "'pears like dar
wouldn't be nuffin left in dis ole house ef de sea had swallered ye,
Mas'r Noll. Don't _ye_ t'ank de Lord?" she asked, peering up into the
boy's sober face.
"Yes; I'm glad to live, and I thank God for saving me; but oh, Hagar,"
said Noll, almost with tears in his eyes, "there's somebody on this
Rock to-night that's as sad as you or Uncle Richard would have been
if the tide had swept me away!"
"Now!" said Hagar; "an' who is dem yer?"
"Dirk Sharp's little girl is sick with a fever, and I think she's
going to die,--though of course I can't tell,--and they haven't a drop
of medicine. Just think, Hagar,--dying, and nothing to save!"
Hagar thought, and sighed heavily over her tea-pot. "Don' know what's
goin' to 'come o' them yer Culm folks!" she said.
"And," continued Noll, "I promised to bring Dirk some medicine,--I was
going to get it of you; but I got into that fearful tide and was half
drowned, and now--oh, what can I do?"
"Bress ye, honey, ye didn't 'spect to go back in de dark to Culm?"
cried Hagar.
"I would--if Uncle Richard hadn't forbidden," said Noll; "do you think
you have any medicines that can help the child, Hagar?"
"Don' know," shaking her turbaned head. "Ef 'twas rheumatiz, or ef
'twas a cut, or ef 'twas one o' dem yer colds, Hagar'd 'spect to know;
but can't tell nuffin 'bout fevers, nohow. 'Tw'u'd be jes' as de
Lord's willin'!"
"Will you go, or send something in the morning?" queried Noll.
"Ef it's pleasant, honey, Hagar'll go wid ye. Yer supper's waiting fur
ye!"
Noll sighed, and did not stir. The misery which he had seen in Dirk's
wretched hut haunted him.
Hagar poured out the boy's cup of tea, waited a little space, then
returned it to its steaming pot again.
"Come, yer supper's cold 'nough, now, honey," said she, coming up to
Noll's seat. "What ye waitin' fur? Oh, chile, ye grows more'n' more
like yer poor father. T'inkin' ob de mis'ry ober dar; ain't ye?"
"_Such_ misery, too!" said Noll.
"Well, dar's mis'ry eberywhere!" said Hagar; "can't go nowhere but
what ye'll find it. Yer Uncle Dick has had mis'ry 'nough in his day,
but 'tain't done him no good 'tall. Jes' froze his heart up harder'n a
stone."
"It isn't all stone," said Noll.
"Don' ye t'ink so? Well, 'pears like ye's sent here by de Lord, jes'
to break dat heart ob his all to pieces!" said Hagar, earnestly.
"Sent here to break Uncle Richard's heart?" laughed Noll. "Well, I
wonder if he thinks I came here for that purpose?"
"Don' know," said the old housekeeper, with a shake of her head; "but
dat's what I t'ink de Lord sent ye here fur. Dat heart ob his is all
frizzed up. 'Spects 'twon't be so allus, chile,--de Lord helpin'."
Noll ate his supper, bade Hagar good-night, admonishing her to "be sure
and have the medicines ready the first thing!" and groped his way to
the library, where his uncle was sitting at his organ.
Trafford stopped playing the instant the door opened, and as Noll drew
near, put his arm about him, saying,--
"My boy!--_mine!_--doubly my own since I snatched you from death! Oh,
Noll! if I had lost you!"
The boy sighed. "Dirk has got to lose _his_ child," he said, "and oh,
Uncle Richard, I should be a great deal happier if I might only try to
save it!"