"I think we will have to divide our forces," said Mr. Embury, when,
after preliminary preparations and arrangements, all were ready to set
out for the beach and the yacht, "for there are so many of us that we
will astonish the natives and they will probably be asking the meaning
and object of the procession."
"Well, my dear, what of what?" queried his wife gayly. "It will give
them an interesting subject of inquiry and conversation."
"Very well, my Molly; if you like to be talked about, I have no further
objection to make," was his cheerful response.
"There are a good many of us," remarked the captain, glancing about,
"actually two dozen, counting all--big and little, old and young."
"And a very respectable-looking crowd it is," remarked Violet. "I'm not
in the least ashamed of anyone in it. Yet it might be well to break up
into several smaller parties, by the way of guarding against alarming
our good neighbors, or making all the grown up ones keep to the slow
pace of the very little folks. Ah, I see Evelyn, Rosie and Walter, Lu
and Grace, are already on the wing."
"Yes," said the captain; "they have just started in response to a
motion from me to move on. They will reach the beach probably some
minutes ahead of us, but can be trusted not to get into any danger or
mischief."
"Surely," laughed Violet. "Mamma, shall you and I walk together?"
"While I follow with the children," added the captain. "I see your
grandpa and his wife are moving on ahead of us."
"Cousin Ronald should go next with his bonny bride, while we of this
cottage bring up the rear with our children," said Molly.
"Putting a small space between to avoid being mistaken for a
procession," added Mrs. Keith.
"Bound for Purgatory; but none of us to get inside, I trust," said Mr.
Embury. "I hope the young folks won't attempt to climb up those rocks
till we older ones get there to look after them."
"No, I think we'll find them on the beach," said the captain. "I bade
mine wait there for me, and I can say--for mine, at least, that they
love their father well enough to follow his directions carefully."
"That is very true," said Grandma Elsie; "and equally true with regard
to the care with which my Rosie and Walter conform to mine."
"And no wonder, mamma and Levis," said Violet, "for you are both so
reasonable in your commands and prohibitions, so kind and affectionate,
that it would take a very hard-hearted and stubborn nature to rebel
against your authority."
"Ah ha! ah ha! um h'm! that's exactly my opinion," said Mr. Lilburn,
looking round upon them with a smile. "I have noticed many times, with
sincere admiration, the admirable manner in which the children of these
families are trained. I only wish I'd been favored with such examples
before I went at the business myself."
"I see no reason why you should, Cousin Ronald," returned the captain,
"for the only one of your offspring with whom I am acquainted, seems to
me to be all a father could ask or wish."
"Ah ha! um h'm! I'll no deny that my Hugh is as fine a lad as could be
found in a day's travel; and Malcolm not a whit behind him; but neither
will I deny that the credit belongs more to the native goodness o' the
lads than to their father's training."
It was a fine breezy morning, with a delicious coolness in the air,
and all keenly enjoyed the walk to the beach. They spent a few
moments there, then climbed the rocks and passed along the summit
till they reached the deep fissure called Purgatory. There the
children, carefully guarded by their parents, lest a false step should
precipitate them into the deep chasm, were allowed to gaze into its
depths for a moment, then led away and seated on a rock to rest.
Most of the older ones lingered a little longer, watching the movement
of the water at the bottom, and speculating about the depth and width
of the chasm, and what would be the dire consequence of a fall into it.
"I wouldn't advise you to try it, my young friends," said Mr. Embury.
"It must be fully fifty feet down to the water, and if you reached the
bottom alive you wouldn't remain so many minutes."
"No, I suppose not," said Walter, reflectively; "but the fissure is not
very wide and I think I could jump across."
"Oh, Walter, don't think of such a thing!" exclaimed Rosie, stepping
back suddenly, at the same time catching him by the arm and pulling him
away.
"Why, Rosie, do you think I could be such a goose as to attempt
anything so foolhardy as that, when nothing was to be gained by it?"
he exclaimed, in a tone between vexation and amusement.
"No, I don't," she said, drawing a long breath, "but the very thought
of it frightens me."
"To run such a risk without any good object in view--such, for
instance, as the saving of the life of someone else--would be a very
wicked thing, I think," said Mr. Keith.
"I entirely agree with you," said Captain Raymond, "no one has a right
to rush uncalled into the presence of his Maker.
"Oh, I shouldn't think anybody would ever want to try jumping across
here!" exclaimed Grace. "I wonder if anyone ever did."
"It is said that the thing was done once under peculiar circumstances,"
replied Mr. Embury. "The story is that a young and pretty girl, who
had many admirers, suitors for her hand, came here with one of them
and dared him to jump across the chasm, saying that if he did so
successfully, she would marry him; otherwise she would not; whereupon
he attempted the dangerous feat and was successful. But his love for
his cruel charmer was gone; he turned toward her, lifted his hat, bade
her farewell, walked away and left her never to return."
"Which served her just right," exclaimed Lucilla emphatically. "She
couldn't have loved him. Why, I wouldn't let an entire stranger do
so dangerous a thing, if I could hinder him. Unless it might be
somebody who was here to fight against my country," she added as an
afterthought, and with a little laugh.
"You would have let Prescott do it, I suppose--Prescott, the
Revolutionary tyrant--had you been with him here and he had shown an
inclination to try his skill in that line," said Walter.
"I think I shouldn't have made any very strong objection; for certainly
many of my countrymen would have been far better off with him down
there at the bottom of the fissure, than where he was--and had no
business to be. Do you remember the story of the Tory lady at a ball in
Philadelphia, while the British were in possession there, who, when the
British general, Sir Henry Clinton, ordered the band to play, 'Britons,
Strike Home,' said, 'You should say, "Britons, go home"'?"
"Yes, that was pretty good," laughed Walter. "The ladies had at least
one advantage over the men in those days, they could give the invaders
many a home thrust with their tongues without much danger of personal
violence or imprisonment, in return for it."
"That reminds me of a little anecdote of something that occurred in
Charleston, South Carolina, when they were in possession there," said
Grandma Elsie. "One of the British officers had taken a great fancy to
a beautiful American girl, but she would have nothing to do with him;
which, of course, made him very angry. One day they met in the street.
A big negro was near at hand and the British officer said to him, so
that the lady could hear, 'Go and kiss that lady, and I'll give you a
guinea.'
"'Yes,' said she, 'come and kiss me. I'd a thousand times rather be
kissed by you than by him.'"
"So he didn't make much by that," laughed Mr. Embury.
"I wonder if the darkey did kiss her," said Grace. "I'm glad I wasn't
in her place, if she had to let either him or the British officer do
it."
"And you would rather be living now, wouldn't you, daughter?" said her
father, giving her a loving look.
"And belong to you, papa? Yes, indeed!" she replied.
"How very straight these openings in the rocks are!" remarked Walter.
"They look as if they had been cut with a knife."
"Yes, it is very strange," said Rosie.
Then perceiving that the others had turned away and were going toward
the spot where the little ones were, they followed.
"There is a fine prospect here on both land and water," remarked Mr.
Embury. "Do you see that hanging rock over yonder--not close to the
water. That, they say, is where Bishop Berkeley used to preach. I
visited it the other day, and found it so hard a place to climb to that
I should think his congregations must have been small; unless they
stood in the valley below; which would make his pulpit very high above
them."
"Where is the house he lived in?" asked Rosie.
"At some distance, I believe. I have not seen it yet."
"Now," said Captain Raymond, "will any or all of you take a sail in the
_Dolphin_? You can all see her lying out yonder and the row-boat will
soon carry us to her. There is plenty of room for everyone here, a warm
welcome if they choose to go aboard, and a more delightful day for a
sail around the island could hardly be found."
All accepted the invitation with alacrity, descending the rocks to the
beach at once, and were soon aboard.
They found it a very delightful trip. The captain, having been
frequently in those waters, was able to point out every interesting
object, name all the islands, and call attention to the still visible
ruins of fortifications on Gold, Goat, Rose, Contour, and Canonicut
islands. That last, he told them, was the Dumplings Fort, or Fort
Canonicut; and directly opposite was the Castle Hill of the Revolution,
now Fort Adams, three and a quarter miles below Newport. In calling
attention to it, Captain Raymond remarked, "That is, as regards
strength, the third fortress in the United States. It is Newport's
defence against foreign foes."
"I am glad she has such a defence," said Mr. Embury. "But may she never
suffer again from a foreign foe as she did in Revolutionary days.
Perhaps you all remember that her population in 1774, the year before
that war began, was eleven thousand, and in 1782 it was reduced to only
about six thousand, and private property to the value of $624,000 in
silver money had been destroyed."
"Yes," said the captain, "there had been great and wanton destruction
by the ruthless invaders, in both town and country. The island of Rhode
Island had been so celebrated for its beauty and salubrity, before that
war, that it was the chosen resort of the rich and philosophical from
nearly every part of the civilized world; but war had sadly changed it
before the British left, after three years of occupancy, in which they
had pillaged and destroyed more like savages than civilized men; though
after Prescott was superseded by Sir Robert Pigot as commander of the
British forces on the island, the people were much relieved. They were
treated with respect, and plunder ceased. General Pigot was a gentleman
and no marauder."