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THE RED ERIC.

oe

ube tei tees

Ss cabieh- tal hla; addaacaniaatinonaael eo ee

“Frank. tas ight

ge aa ah

“Bear down to the lee of the rocks, lads,” cried the captain, ‘it’s your only chance; don’t try to face it.” (Page 227.)

rishertionbinesitaebiteidtiv: Schasbieebiid

THE RED ERIC

OR THE WHALER’S LAST CRUISE

BY

R. M. BALLANTYNE,

AUTHOR OF

“THE CoRAL IsLanpD,” “UNGava,” ETC. ETC.

A NEW EDITION.

TORONTO: THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY, LIMITED,

THE RED ERIC

CHAPTER I.

THF TA°E BEGINS WITH THE ENGAGING OF A “TAIL” ——AND THE CAPTAIN DELIVERS HIS OPINIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

CAPTAIN DUNNING stood with his back to the: fire- place in the back-parlour of a temperance coffee- house in a certain town on the eastern sea-board of America.

The name of that town is unimportant, and, for reasons with which the reader has nothing to do, we do not mean to disclose it.

Captain Dunning, besides being the owner and com- mander of a South Sea whale-ship, was the owner of a large burly body, a pair of broad shoulders, a pair of immense red whiskers that met under his chin, a short, red little nose, a large firm mouth, and a pair of light-blue eyes, which, according to their owner’s mood, could flash like those of a tiger or twinkle sweetly like the eyes of a laughing child. But his eyes seldom flashed; they more frequently twinkled, for the captain was the very soul of kindliness and good-humour. Yet he was abrupt and sharp in his manner, so that superficial observers sometimes said he was hasty.

10 THE RED ERIC

Captain Dunning was, so to speak, a sample of three primary colours—red, blue, and yellow—a _ walking fragment, as it were, of the rainbow. His hair and face, especially the nose, were red; his eyes, coat, and pantaloons were blue, and his waistcoat was yellow.

At the time we introduce him to the reader, he was standing, as we have said, with his back to the fireplace, although there was no fire, the weather being mild, and with his hands in his breeches pockets. Having worked with the said hands for many long years before the mast, until he had at last worked himself behind the mast, in other words, on to the quarter-deck and into posses- sion of his own ship, the worthy captain conceived that he had earned the right to give his hands a long rest; accordingly he stowed them away in his pockets and kept them there at all times, save when necessity com- pelled him to draw them forth.

“Very odd,” remarked Captain Dunning, looking at his black straw hat which lay on the table before him, as if the remark were addressed to it—“ very odd if, having swallowed the cow, I should now be compelled to worry at the tail.”

As the black straw hat made no reply, the captain looked up at the ceiling, but not meeting with any response from that quarter, he looked out at the window and encountered the gaze of a seaman flattening his nose on a pane of glass, and looking in.

The captain smiled. “Ah! here’s a tail at last,” he said, as the seaman disappeared, and in another moment ‘eappeared at the door with his hat in his hand.

It may be necessary, perhaps, to explain that Captain Dunning had just succeeded in engaging a first-rate crew for his next whaling voyage (which was the “ cow ” he professed to have swallowed), with the exception of a cook (which was the “tail,” at which he feared he

might be compelled to worry). ' “You're a cook, are you?” he asked, as the man entered and nodded.

HIRING A ‘TAIL® Ir

“Yes, sir,” answered the “ tail,” pulling his forelock. And an uncommonly ill-favoured rascally-looking

cook you are,” thought the captain; but he did not say So, for he was not utterly regardless of men’s feelings, He merely said, “Ah!” and then followed it up with the abrvpt question

“Do you drink ” €s, sir, and smoke too,” replied the “ tail,” in some surprise.

“Very good; then you can go,” said the Captain, shortly,

“Eh!” exclaimed the man.

“You can £0,” repeated the Captain. “Yoy won't suit. My ship is a temperance ship, and all the hands are teetotalers. I have found from €xperience that

morning.” The “ tail ” gazed at the captain in mute amazement,

struck his fist on the table). “Now look here, young man, /’m an old wife, and my ship’s manned by similar old ladies; so you won’t suit.”

To this the Seaman made no reply, but feeling

among such a crew of females, he thrust a quid of tobacco into his cheek, put on his hat, turned on his

12 THE RED ERIC

hee! and left the room, shutting the door after him with a bang.

He had scarcely left when a tap at the door announced a second visitor.

“Hum! Another ‘tail, I suppose. Come in.”

If the new-comer was a tail,” he was decidedly a long one, being six feet three in his stockings at the very least.

“You wants a cook, I b’lieve?” said the man, pulling off his hat.

“TI do. Are you one?”

“Yes, I jist guess I am. Bin a cook for fifteen year.”

“ Been to sea as a cook ?” inquired the captain.

“T jist have. Once to the South Seas, twice to the North, an’ onc: round the world. Cook all the time. ‘I’ve roasted, and stewed, and grilled, and fried, and biled, right round the ’arth, I have.” ;

Being apparently satisfied with the man’s account of himself, Captain Dunning put to him the question— “Do you drink ?”

“Ay, like a fish; Jor I drinks nothin’ but water, I don’t. Bin born and raised in the State of Maine, d’ye see, an’ never tasted a drop all my life.”

“Very good,” said the captain, who plumed himself on’ being a clever physiognomist, and had already formed a good opinion of the man. “Do you ever swear >”

“Never, but when I can’t help it.”

“ And when’s that ?”

“When I’m fit to bu’st.”

“ Then,” replied the captain, “you must learn to bu’st without swearin’, cause I don’t allow it aboard my ship.”

The man evidently regarded his questioner as a very extraordinary and eccentric individual; but he merely replied, “T’ll try;” and after a little further conver- sation an agreement was come to; the man was sent away with orders to repair on board immediatel y, as everything was in readiness to “up anchor and away next morning.”

HIRING A ‘TAIL,’ 13

Having thus satisfactorily and effectually disposed of the “tail,” Captain Dunning put on his hat very much on the back of his head, knit his brows, and pursed his lips firmly, as if he had still some important duty to perform; then, quitting the hotel, he traversed the Streeis of the town with rapid strides,

CHAPTER II.

IMPORTANT PFRSONAGES ARE INTRODUCED TO THE READER—THE CAPTAIN MAKES INSANE RESOLUTIONS, FIGHTS A BATILE, AND CONQUERS.

IN the centre of thz town whose name we have declined to communicate, there stood a house—a small house— so small that it might have been more appropriately, perhaps, styled a cottage. This house had a yellow- painted face, with a green door in the middle, which

might have been regarded as its nose, and a window on each side thereof, which might have been considered its eyes. Its nose was, as we have said, painted green, and its eyes had green Venetian eyelids, which were half shut at the moment Captain Dunning walked up to it, as if it were calmly contemplating that seaman’s general appearance,

There was a small garden in front of the house, surrounded on three sides by a low fence. Captain Dunning pushed open the little gate, walked up to the nose of the house, and hit it several severe blows with his knuckles. The result was that the nose opened, and a servant-girl appeared in the gap.

“Ts your mistress at home?” inquired the captain.

“Guess she is—both of ’em!” replied the girl.

“Tell both of ’em I’m here, then,” said the captain, stepping into the little parlour without further cere- mony ; “and is my little girl in?”

“Yes, she’s in.”

“Then send her here too, an’ look alive, lass.” Se

14

THE HEROINE 15

saying, Captain Dunning sat down on the sofa, and began to beat the floor with his right {,0t somewhat impatiently,

In another second a merry little voice was heard in the passage, the door burst open, a fair-haired girl of about ten years of age sprang into the room, and immediately commenced to strangle her father in a series of violent embraces.

“Why, Ailie, my darling, one would think you had not seen me for fifty years at least,” said the captain, hold- ‘ng his daughter at arm’s length, in order the more : itisfactorily to see her.

“It’s a whole week, papa, since you last came to see me,” replied the jittle one, striving to get at her father’s neck again, “and I’m sure it seems to me like a hundied ‘years at least.”

As the child said this she threw her little arms round her father, and kissed his large, weather-beaten visage all over—eyes, mouth, nose, chin, whiskers, and, in fact, every attainable spot. She did it so vigorously, too, that an observer would have been justiied ip expecting that her soft, delicate cheeks would be lacerated by the rough contact; but they were not. The result was a heightening of the colour, nothing more. Having con- cluded this operation, she laid her cheek on the captain’s and endeavoured to clasp her hands at the back of his neck, but this was no easy matter. The captain’s neck was a remarkably thick one, and the garments about that region were voluminous ; however, by dint of determination, she got the small fingers intertwine" and then gave him a squeeze that ought to have choked him, but it didn't: many a strong man had tried that in his

7

day, and had failed signally.

“You'll stay a long time with me before you go away to sea again, won't you, dear papa?” asked the child earnestly, after she had given up the futile effort to strangle him.

“ How like!” murmu: _c the captain, as if to himself,

: dn: apt orreieeheese ane phe et a eal ta

16 THE RED ERIC

and totally uNnmindful of the question, while he parted the fair Curls and kissed Ailie’s forehead.

ike your mother—your beloved mother,” replied the Captain, ing low, sad Voice,

The child became instantly &tave, and she looked up in her father’s face With an €xpression of awe, while he dropped his eyes on the floor,

Poor Alice had never known a mMocher's love, Her

Dear, 800d, starched Misses Dunning | if they had had their Way, boys + ould have Played Cricket and foot-

often inopportune Seasons, like a furiously insane kitten, and she woyjq disarrange their collars too violently every evening when she bade them good night,

lice was intensely Sympathetic, [+ Was quite enough for her to see any one in tears, to Cause her to Open up

sympathy |} “ How would you like to 8° with me to the whale. iishery ? ” inquired Captain Dunning, somewhat abruptly,

- Propriety induced them to keep all visitors waiting at

THE STARCHED AUNTS 7

. he disengaged the child’s arms and set her on his ee.

the happy facility of childhood, totally nut of one idea and thoroughly into another, “Oh, I should like it so much!”

“And how much is ‘so’ much, Ailie?” inquired the captain.

Ailie pursed her mouth, and looked at her father earnest.y, while she seemed to Struggle to give utterance to some fleeting idea.

“Think,” she said quickly, “ think somethirg good as much as ever you can. Have you thought ?”

“Yes,” answered the captain, smiling.

“Then,” continued Ailie, “ its twenty thousand million times as much as that, and a great deal more!”

The tears stopped in an instant, as Alice le.. ved, with

whose sense of

“Here you are, lassies ; how are ye?” cried the captain as he rose and kissed each lady on the cheek heartily.

The sisters did not remonstrate. They knew that their brother was past hope in this respect; and they loved him, so they suffered it meekly.

Having admitted that they were well—as well, at least, as could be expected, considering the cataract of “trials” that perpetually descended upon their devoted

heads—they sat down as Primly as if their visitor were a perfect stranger, and entered into a somewhat lengthened Conversation as to the intended voyage, commencing, of course, with the weather.

“And now,” said the captain, rubbing the crown of his

Straw hat in a circular manner, as if it were a beaver, “I'm coming to the point.”

ne Saget cal eSieby s A

18 THE RED ERIC

Both ladies exclaimed, “ What point, George?” simul- taneously, and regarded the captain with a look of anxious surprise.

“The point,” replied the ca, ‘n, “about which I’ve come here to-day. It ain't a yoint o’ the compass; nevertheless, I've been steerin’ it in my mind's eye for a considerable time past. The fact is” (here the captain hesitated), “I—I've made up my .nind to take my little Alice along with me this voyage.”

_ e Misses Dunning wore unusually tall caps, and the. countenances were by nature uncommonly Iong, but th. length to which they grew on hearing this announcement was something ‘preternaturally awful.

“Take Ailie to sea!” exclaimed Miss Martha Dunning, in horror,

“To fish fi ¢ whales!" added Miss Jane Dunning, in consternation.

“Brother, you’re mad |” they exclaimed together, after a breathless pause; “and you'll do nothing of the kind,” they added firmly,

Now, the manner in which the Misses Dunning re- ceived this intelligence greatly relieved their eccentric brother. He had fully anticipated, and very much dreaded, that they would at once burst into tears, and being a tender-hearted man he knew that he could not resist that without a hard Struggle. A flood of woman's tears, he was wont to say, was the only sort of salt-water

accepted at once—off-hand. No human power could force him to any course of action.

In this latter quality Captain Dunning was neither eccentric nor singular.

“I'm sorry you don’t like my proposas. my dear sisters,” said he; “but ’m resolved,”

“Yon won't!” said Martha.

“You shan’t!" cried Jane, C

“TI wilt!” replied the captain,

Pree ee a ee ee eo | a,

THE WILD PROPOSAL 19

There was a pause here of considerable length, during which the captain observed that Martha's nostrils began to twitch nervously. Jane, observing the fact, became similarly affected. To the captain's practised eye these > aeons were as good as a barometer. He knew that the sterm was coming, and took in all sail at once (mentaliy) to be ready for it.

It came! Martha and Jane Dunning were for once driven from the shelter of their wonted propriety—they burst simultaneously into tears, and buried their respec- tive faces in their respective ocket-handkerchiefs, which were immaculately clean and had to be hastily unfolded for the purpose.

“ Now, now, my dear girls,” cried the captain, starting up and pattiug their shoulders, while poor little Ailie clasp. ' her hands, sat down on a footstool, looked up in their faces—or, rather, at the backs of the hands which covered their faces—and wept quietly.

“It’s very cruel, George—indeed it is,” sobbed Martha ; you know how we love her.”

“Very true,” remarked the obdurate captain ; “but you don’t know how I love her, and how sad it makes me to see so little of her, and to think that she may be learning to forget me—or, at least,” added the captain, correcting himself as Ailie looked at him reproachfully through her tears—“at least to do without me. I can't bear the thought. She’s all i have left to me, and-———”’

“ Brother,” interrupted Martha, looking hastily up, ‘did you ever before hear of such a thing as taking a little girl on a voyage to the whale-fishing ?”

“No, never,” replied the captain ; “ what has that got to do with it?”

Both ladies held up their hands and looked aghast. The idea of any man venturing to do what no one ever thought of doing before was so utterly subversive of all their ideas of propriety—such a desperate piece of profane originality—that they remained speechless.

“George,” said Martha, drying her eyes, and speaking

20 THE RED ERIC

in tones of deep solemnity, “did you ever read Robinson Crusoe?”

“Yes, I did, when | was a boy; an’ that wasn’t yesterday,”

“And did you,” continued the lady in the same sepulchral tone, “ dj you note how that man—that con, if I may use the expression, set up asa warning

wrecked, and Spent a dreary existence on an uninhabited

“And all,” continued Martha, “in consequence of his resolutely and obstinately, and wilfully and wickedly

“Well, it couldn't have happened if he hadn’t gone to sea, no doubt.”

“Then,” argued Martha, “ wi] you, can you, George, contemplate the Possibility of your only daughter coming to tue same dreadful end aes

George, not exactly seeing the Connection, rubbed his nose with his fcre-finger, and replied—« Certainly not.”

“Then you are bound,” continued Martha, in triumph, “by all that is upright and honourable, by all the laws of humanity and propriety, to give up this wild intention ~—and you must |”

“There!” cried Miss Jane emphatically, as jf the argument were unanswerable—as indeed it was, being incomprehensible.

The last words were unfortunate, They merely riveted the captain’s determination,

“You talk a great deal of nonsense, Martha,” he said rising to depart. I’ve fixed to take her, so the sooner you make up your minds to it the better,”

The sisters knew their brother's character too well to

CHAPTER IIL.

THE TEA-PARTY—ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF A MINOR KIND—GLYNN PROCTOR GETS INTO TROUBLE.

ention visitors’

The a-party in the light of a

firearm—a Ss—a thing which, it

; and, certainly, if

ad anything to do

» there was every

Prospect of its doing so wi inent success upon that occasion.

But besides the anxieties inseparable from the details of the Pending festivities, the Misses Dunning were overwhelmed and weighed down with additional duties consequent upon their oats sudden and unexpected

PREPARATIONS FOR A TEA-PARTY 23

determination. Little Ailie had to be got ready for sea by the following morning! It was absolute and utter insanity! No one save a madman or a sea-captain could have conceived such a thing, much less have carried it into effect tyrannically. The Misses Dunning could not attempt any piece of duty or work Sepa~tely. They always acted together, when possible; ana might, in fact, without much incon- venience, have been born Siamese twins. Whatever Marth- ‘id, Jane attempted todo or to mend; wherever Janey .t, Martha followed. Not, by any means, that one thought she could improve upon the work of the other ; their conduct was simply the result of a desire to assist each other mutually. When Martha spoke, jane echoed or corroborated ; and when Jane spoke, Martha repeated her sentences word for word in a scarcely audible whisper—not after the other had finished, but during the course of the remarks, With such dispositions and propensities, it is not a matter to be wondered at that the good ladies, while arranging the tea-table, should suddenly remember some forgotten article of Ailie’s wardrobe, and rush simulta- neously into the child’s bedroom to rectify the omission; or, when thus engaged, be filled with horror at the thought of having left the buttered toast too near the fire in the parlour.

“Tt is really quite perplexing,” said Martha, sitting down w..4 a sigh, and regarding the tea-table with a critical gaze; “quite perplexing. I’m sure I don’t know how I shall bear it. It is too bad of George—darling Ailie—(dear me, Jane, how crookedly you have placed the urn)—it is really too bad.”

“Too bad, indeed; yes, isn’t it?” echoed Jane, in reference to the captain’s conduct, while she assisted Martha, who had risen to read just the urn.

“Oh!” exclaimed Martha, with a look of horror.

“What?” cried Jane, who looked and felt equally horrified, although she knew not yct the cause.

24 THE RED ERIC

“Yes, the “8gs. You know €very one of the last OZEN We got was bad, and we've forgot to send for more,” said Martha.

inappropriately, Nevertheless, it may also be remarked that they never acted in a rapid or impulsive Way in

arrive, and that we Should have to open the door, YOu See, so it has happened, and we are not ready !”

ut there was no time for temark. The Case was desperate. Both sisters felt it to be so, and acted Ailie, having’ been forbidden to open

(meee e 8 “ a. [=]

, < < = o

SSS |

26

THE RED ERIC

violated pat of butter along with it, « I ax yer parding, but them brutes is sich thieves—J could roast ’em alive,

to “guess” and « calculate,” and to Speak through his nose. He was a man about forty, tall, big-boned, and muscular, though not fat; and besides being a gentle-

gant, assigning, as he did, to every real and ideal faculty of the human mind “a loca] habitation

THE COMPANY 27

the cranium, witha corresponding depression or elevation of the surface to mark its whereabouts. In other respects he was a commonplace sort of a man.

Mr. Millons, the first mate, was a short, hale, thick-set man, without any particularly strong points of character. He was about thirty-five, and possessed a superabundance of fair hair and whiskers, with a large, broad chin, a firm mouth, rather fierce-looking eyes, and a hasty, but by no means a bad temper. He was a trustworthy, matter- of-fact seaman, and a good officer, but not bright intellectually. Like most men of his class, his look implied that he did not under-estimate his own im- portance, and his tones were those of a man accustomed to command.

Tim Rokens was an old salt; a bluff, Strong, cast-iron man, of about forty-five years of age, who had been at sea since he was a little boy, and would not have consented to live on dry land, though he had been “offered gommand of a seaport town all to himself,” as he was wont to affirm emphatically. His visage was scarred and knotty, as if it had been long used to being pelted by storms—as indeed it had. There was a scar over his left eye and down his cheek, which had been caused by a slash from the cutlass of a pirate in the China Seas; but although it added to the rugged effect of his countenance, it did not detract from the frank, kindly expression that invariably rested there. Tim Rokens had never been caught out of t

to lose. Whether this was true or no, we cannot presume to say,

but certainly he never lost it. He was the best and boldest harpooner in Captain Dunning’s ship, and a Sententious deliverer of his private opinion on all Occasions whatsoever. When we say that he wore a rough blue pilot-cloth suit, and had a large black beard, with a sprinkling of silver hairs in it, we have completed his portrait,

“What's come of Glynn?” inquired Captain Dunning

nate s4 5 oth Fhe THM Raia

* ppmeenercerestnty tiie pews

sh adiad he chasm al hddbaiedh tides bled adsl talent lalbtaaadeoateen

tere nS

anata i cgitceas

»” replied Miss Martha, Whispered Miss Jane.

“He promised to come, and to be punctual,” continued

» Whispered Miss J), “but Something seems to have detaj im.

Odserving that Mr. Rokens was about eat his egg with a teaspoon,

“ Allow me, Mr. Rokens,” individual an ivory €Sgspoon,

“Oh, cer'nly, ma’am, By all means,” replied Rokens, taking the Spoon and handing it to iss Jane, under the impression that it was intended for her, iti :

beg Pardon, it is for yourself, Mr, Rokens,” said Martha and Jane together.

hank’ee, ma'am,” replied Rokens, 8towing red, as

€ was a little “off his course ” somehow. “I’ve NO Occasion for two, an’ this one Suits me oncommon,.”

“

she said, handing that

‘Said Captain Dunning, coming t a, he’s used to take care of him-

eplied, Stirring his tea gently, and Speaking with much deliberation, “that depends very l - Some digestions can manage a hard ege best, others find a SOit one more tractable, Omach at the time of eatin

Say now, that to judge from the rosy colour

as to b

€ taken into account. [| should my little friend Ailie, here,

30 THE RED ERIC

Rokens’ vest, and a minute yellow globule thereof alighted on the fair Martha's h

and, eliciting from that lady a Scream, and as a matter of co

urse, an echo from Jane in the sha of @ screamlet, Mr. Rokens ushed a deep Indian-red, and his nose assumed a warm blue colour instantly,

“Oh! ma’am, I @x yer parding,”’

“Pray don’t mention it—a mere accident. I’m g0 Sorry you have got a had——_ Oh!”

The little scream with which Miss Martha ir,

used by Mr. Rokens (who had just observed the little yellow globule above referred to)

p Way the speck with the identical handkerchief that had ‘f} t Swept away the pat of butter, Immediately thereafter, feeling heated, he a the perspiration from his fore. head, and unwittir sly transferred t. i

“How can van brother ? ” she said, reproachfully, shaking her head a the captai i

Nn, who was winking at the doctor wiu, one eye in a mos

t obstreperous manner, “Do try another egg, Mr. Rokens ;

amongst them.”

“Ah, try enother, my lad,” echoed the captain, "em up this way, Mr. Millons.”’

“ By no manner o’ means ; I'll eat this ‘un Fs the harpooner, Commencing to eat the bad e apparent relish. “T like ’e i nothin’, an

SEA-FARE 31

always receive duplicate orders), seizing his plate and Carrying it off bodily. It was immediately replaced by a clean one and a fresh egg. While Rokens somewhat nervously tapped the head of No. 6, Miss Martha, in order to divert attention from him, asked Mr. Millons if sea-fare was always salt junk and hard biscuit ?

“Oh, no, madam,” answered the first mate. “We've sometimes salt pork, and vegetables now and agin; and pea-soup, and plum-duff——”

“ Plum-duff, Ailie,” interrupted the captain, in order to explain, “is just a puddin’ with few plums and fewer spices in it, Something like a white-paiated cannon- shot, with brown spots on it here and there.”

“Ts it good?” inquired Ailie.

“Oh, ain’t it!” remarked Mr, Rokens, who had just concluded No. 6, and felt his self-possession somewhat restored. “Yes, miss, it is; but it ain’t equal to whale’s- brain fritters, it ain’t; them’s first-chop.”

“Have whales got brains?” inquired Miss Martha, in surprise.

“Brains!” echoed Miss Jane, in amazement.

=o madam, they ‘ave,” answered the first mate, who had hitherto maintained silence, but having finished tea was now ready for any amount of talk ; “and what's more remarkable still, they’ve got several barrels of oil in their skulls besides.”

“ Dear me!” exclaimed the sisters,

“Yes, ladies, capital oil it is, too; fetches a igher price hin the markit than the other sort.”

“By the bye, Millons, didn’t you once fall into a whale’s skull, and get nearly drowned in oi] ?” inquired the doctor,

“I did,” answered the first mate, with the air of a man who regarded such an event as a mere trifle, that, upon

consideration, might almost be considered as rather a pleasant incident than otherwise in one’s history.

“ Nearly dr wwned in oil!” exclaimed the sisters, while

ilie opened her eyes in a...azement, and Mr. Rokens

32 THE RED ERIC became

alarmingly Purple in the face with Suppressed chuckling,

hand P to his mout the etter to convey the sound to her ears “T seed him tumble in, and helped to haul him 9 — at ‘

St forgotten it. » My dear—not q,,;

uite so Strong as the ree times as Sweet, |’I]

rink “Success to the cup that Cheers, but don’t inebriate,’ Millons,”

“Natured » that rendered his yarns endurable on shore, and Positively desirable at sea

ory he was now Tequeste was not a long one.

uite a story,” in beg g 1 at with emphasis, thrust his thumbs into the arm-hole of his vest, and tilted h;

hind-legs —“it ain't quite a a sort of hincident, SO to ‘appened ;—

; 2 tr. Rokens to this Statement), « Well, we came up With a big whale, and fixed an iron cleverly in him at the first throw—_”

“An iron?” ;

inquired Miss Martha, to and Italian iro

= » We call the ‘arpoons irons, Well, away went the fish, like al] alive! not down, but

did. I never see sich a

THE MATE'S ADVENTURE. 33

straight for'’ard, takin’ out the line at @ rate that nearly set the boat on fire, and away we went along with it. It was a chase, that. For ix hours, off and on, we stuck to that whale, and Pitched into ‘im with ’arpoons and lances; but he seemed to have the lives of @ cat nothin’ would kill ‘im. At last the ‘arpooner gave him a thrust in the life, an’ Up went the blood and

to the ship, for there wasn’t a cat’s-paw of wind on the water. * W’en we came alongside, we got out the tackles, and

“Of course I began to roar for ’elp like a bull, and Rokens there, w’o appened to be near, ’e let down the hend of a rope, but my ’ands was so slippy with oil J

% ’old of it; so ’e ’auls it Up agin, and lets Own a rope with a ’ook at the hend, and t

that’s ’ow it was; and I ost a suit 0’ clo’s, for nothing on ’arth would take the oil out, and I didn’t need to use pomatum for six months after,”

“No more you did,” cried Rokens, who had listened to the narrative with snppteared delight ; no more you i Slazed rat as you wos when you

©

34 THE RED ERIC

comed out o’ that hole, in all my life; an’ he wos jist like a eel ; it wos all we could do to keep ’old on ’im, marm, he was so slippery.”

While the Captain was laughing at Rokens was narrating some of the min half-unwilling yet half-willing ears of the sisters, the door

Opened, and a young man entered hast for being late,

“The fact is, Miss Dunning, had I not promised faith- fully to come, I Should not have made my appearance at all to-night.”

“ Why, Glynn, what has kept you, lad?” inter. rupted the Captain, “y] thought you were &@ man of your word.”

“Ay, that’s the question, Capting,” said Rokens, who evidently regarded the new er : 2

with no favourable it’s always the way with them gentlemen Sailors till they’re got into blue water and brought to their bearin’s,”

Mr. Rokens had wisdo

i Messmates, this is Glynn Proctor, a friend 0’ mine,” said Captain Dunnin >» In explanation: « he is with us this voyag

efore the Mast, so make the most of him as an equal to-night, for I intend to keep him in his proper place to go as an ordin my advice, the Scamp ; so I'll make hin keep his head ag low as the rest when aboard. You’ll have to keep your time better, too, than you have done to-night, lad,’

continued the captain, giving his young friend

& slap on the Shoulder. “ What has detained you, eh?”

“ Necessity, captain,” replied the as he sat down to table with 8avoured of recklessness: “

upon oath if need be, that

Papen! with a smile,

-hand easy air that and I am prepared.

necessity is not ‘the mother

THE RED ERIC

above him, the collar, | As I was being hurrj

y lose my tea and your

€ prevented from TOW, SOT gave a Sudde1 I

1 twist, tripped up n my left, overturned th

€ one on my right, and bolted.”

“ They ran well, the rascals, and shouted like maniacs, but I got the start of em, dived down one Street, up another, into qa by-]

ane, over a back-garden wall, in at the back-door of a house and out

at the front, took a round of two or thre i l

“And so, sir,” said C your ‘ misfortune’? ”

“Surely, Captain,” said Glynn, putting down his cup and looking up in some surprise—‘ surely, you cannot

lame me for Punishing the rascal] who behaved so brutally, without the slightest Provocation, to my ship-

aptain Dunning, « you call this

mate ! “ Hear, hear!”

“I do blame you, lad,” “In the f

into your own hands,

tarily, replied the captain seriously. O take the law

» 4S you see; and poor Ing, of course, was not to bla

me, SO he'll be all safe 1, I hope, by this time,”

GLYNN IN TROUBLE 37

ank “There you're mistaken, boy. They will have secured C by Sling and made him tell the name of his ship, and also

en, the name of his Pugnacious comrade.”

led “And do you think he’d be so mean as to tel] >” asked

our

om iy.

up

nd

til after they had got it.”

Ip Poor Glynn looked aghast, and Rokens was over- at whelmed.

* “Tt seems to me, I’d better go and see about this,” © said Millons, rising and buttoning his coat with the air i of a man who had business tq, transact and meant to

transact it.

“Right, Millons,” answered t’ to break up our evening so soo: ve must get this man aboard by hook or crook as «-cedily as possible. You had better 0 too, doctor. Rokens and I will take care of this young scamp, who must be made a nigger as. of in order to be got on board, for his face, once seen La by these sharp limbs of justice, is not likely soon to be

intain. “I’m sorry

strength and activity. Glynn Proctor had many faults, He was hasty and

reckless. He was unsteady, too, and preferred a roving idle life to a busy one; but he had redeeming qualities.

GLYNN'S ADVENTURES

39

eger of—that is, having had ene to avoid detection

CHAPTER IV, THE ESCAPE, “ WELL, Millons, what news ?” inquired the Captain, as

e stepped on deck. “ Bad n

as’nt going to fellow into a scrape, ** © Why don’t you ask himself 2 ° “They told me ’s was make ’j » b

I’m too

” say nothin’,’

So I came away, and |’ inutes aboard

before you arrived. My own Opinion is, that ’e’s crazed, and don’t know what ’e’s Sayin’,”

“Oh!” ejaculated Captain Dunnin - “He said that,

did he? Then my opinion is, that he’s not so crazed as

ou think. Tell the watch, Mr. Millons, to keep a sharp

ook-out.” So saying, Captain Dunning descended to the cabin, and Rokens to the forecastle (in sea Phraseology the 40

THE ESCAPE 4]

“fok-sail"), while Glynn Proctor procured a basin and a Piece of soap, and proceeded to rub the coat of charcoal off his face and hands,

Half-an-hour had not elapsed when the watch on deck heard a loud splash near the wharf, as if some one had fallen into the water. Immediately after, a confused sound of voices and rapid footsteps was heard in the street that opened out upon the quay, and in a few seconds the end of the wharf was crowded with men who shouted to each other, and were seen in the dim starlight to move rapidly about as if in search of something.

“Wot can it be?” said Tim Rokens, in a low voice, to a seaman who leaned on the ship’s bulwarks close to him.

“ Deserter, mayhap,” suggested the man.

While Rokens pondered the suggestion, a light plash was heard close to the ship's side, and a voice said, in a hoarse whisper, “ Heave us a rope, will ye. Look alive, now. Guess I'll go under in two minits if ye don’t.”

“Oho!” exclaimed Rokens, in a low, impressive voice, as he threw over the end of a rope, and, with the aid of the other members of the watch, hauled Nikel Sling up the side, and landed him dripping and panting on the deck.

- “ W’y—Sling ! what on airth——?” exclaimed one of the men.

“It’s lucky—I am—on airth—” panted the tall cook, seating himself on the breech of one of the main-deck carronades, and wringing the water from his garments. “An’ it’s well I'm not at the bottom o’ this ere ‘arbour.”

“But where did ye come from, an’ why are they arter ye, lad?” inquired Rokens.

“'W'y? ‘cause they don’t want to part with me, and I've gi’n them the slip, I guess.”

When Nikel Sling had recovered himself so as to ialk connectedly, he explained to his wondering shipmates how that, after being floored in the street, he had been carried up to the hospital, and on recovering his senses,

42

found Mr, Millons Standing by the bedside, conversing with the y .

The first words of their something

THE RED ERIC

‘nt fractured after all, ubt he would dismissed cured in quiet until it was

When the hou the nurses had

agony ; or, in was on them,

THE PURSUERS BAFFLED 43

suffering, especially when exhibited in men. He paused long enough to note that the nurses were out of the way or dozing, and then slipping out of bed, he stalked across the room like a ghost, and made for the outer atev--y of the hospital. He knew the way, having once

fore been a temporary inmate of the place. He reached the gate undiscovered, tripped up the porter’s heels, opened the wicket, and fled towards the harbour, followed by the porter and a knot of chance passers-by. The pursuers swelled into a crowd as he neared the harbour.

Besides being long-limbed, Nikel Sling was nimble. He distanced his pursuers easily, and, as we have seen, swam off and reached his ship almost as soon as they gained the end of thé wharf.

The above narration was made much more abruptly and shortly than we have presented it, for oars were soon heard in the water, and it behoved the poor hunted cook to secrete himself in case they should take a fancy to search the vessel. Just as the boat oene within a few yards of the ship he hastily went

ow. ss Boat ahoy!” shouted Tim Rokens ; “ wot boat’s that ?

The men lay on their oars,

“Have you a madman on board your ship ?” inquired the gatekeeper of the hospital, whose wrath at the unceremonious treatment he had received had not yet cooled down.

“No,” answered Rokens, laying his arms on the bulwarks, and looking down at his questioner with a sly leer; “‘no, we ha’n’t, but you’ve got a madman aboord that boat.”

“'Who’s that ?” inquired the warder, who did not at first understand the sarcasm.

“Why, yourself, to be sure,” replied Rokens, “‘ an’ the sooner you takes yourself off, an’ comes to an anchor in &@ loo-natick asylum, the better for all parties consarned.”

“No, but I’m in earnest, my man——”

THES RED ERIC

“As far as that g0es,”” interrupted the imperturbable Rokens, “ go am J.” “ The man,”’ continued the Ratekeeper, « has run out of the hos ital with & smashed head, | cal

mad, and gone off the end 0’ the w’arf into the

water—_ “You don't mean it!” affected surprise, to be talkin’

: gone and Swummed off Without chart

to sea

» Compass, or rudder ! Hallo,

lads! tumble up there! Man Overboard ! tumble up, tumble up! »

inquired Rokens,

ini > round which several of © other boats began to congregate, big fellow I with le

A uess, 28 like steeples. He was sloping when they floo A thi n

red him, lef, J expect

why didn’t 0 be hanged

ago, I'll be t’ye, friend, and better luck next

» little Alice Dunning her father’s ship, &@ccompanisd by her for once, beca

me utterly and public] @ppearances and contemptuous of all

THE RED FRIC SAILS 45

propriety, as they sobbed on the child's neck and positively refused to be comforted.

Just as the sun rose, and edged the horizon with a gleam of liquid fire, the Red Eric spread her sails and stood out to sea,

CHAPTER y,

DAY-DREAMS AND ADVENTURES AMONG THE CLUUDS— A CHASE, a BATTLE, AND A VICTORY,

Farry morning on the Ocean! There is Poetry in the idea; there is music in the very Sound. As’ there is nothing new under the Sun, probably a SONg exists with

this or a Similar title; j not, we now recommend it

heart of their charge a knowledge of our Saviour’s love, and especially of His tenderness towards, and watchful Care over, the lambs of His flock. Besides this, little

ilie was naturally of a trustful disposition, She had

CLOUDLAND SCENERY 47

dream that it was possible for any evil to befall the ship which he commanded.

But, although Ailie delighted in the storm, she infinitely preferred the tranquil beauty and rest of a “great calm,” especially at the hour _ before sunrise, when the freshness, brightness, and lightness of the oung day harmonized peculiarly with her elastic spirit. Tt was at this hour that we find her alone upon the bulwarks of the Red Eric.

There was a deep, solemn stillness around, that irresistibly and powerfully conveyed to her mind the idea of rest. The long, gentle undulation of the deep did not in the least detract from this idea. So perfect was the calm, that several masses of clouds in the sky, which shone with the richest saffron light, were mirrored in all their rich details as if in a glass. The faintest possible idea of a line alone indicated, in one direction, where the water terminated and the sky began. A warm golden haze suffused the whole atmos- Bere, and softened the intensity of the deep-blue vault above.

There was, indeed, little variety of object to gaze upon —only the water and the sky. But what a world of delight did not Ailie find in that vast sky and that pure ocean, that reminded her of the sea of glass before the

reat white throne, of which she had so often read in

velation. The towering masses of clouds were so rich and thick, that she almost fancied them to be mountains and valleys, rocks and plains of golden snow. Nay, she looked so long and so ardently at the rolling mountain heights in the sky above, and their magical counterparts in the sky below, that she soon, as it were, thought herself into Fairyland, and began a regular journey of adventures therein.

Such a scene at such an hour is a source of gladsome, agian delight to the breast of man in every stage of ife ; but it is a source of unalloyed, bounding, exhilarating, romantic, unspeakable joy only in the years of childhood. when the mind looks hopefully forward, and before it

48 ‘THE RED ERIC

has begun—ag, alas! it must begin, so gaze regretfully back.

/

Oner or later—to

é Ad right dreams the splendour of the

= €xclaimed Ailie, looking round and ep sigh ; “Tv, been away—far, far away— t believe how far,”

“ Away, Ailie !

80ap-

Where have you been ? » asked Glynn, patting the child’s head as he ] e her,

®aned over the gunwale Side h

“In Fairyland, Up in the clouds in, and up and down.

yonder, Out and She pointe

» you’ve no idea, Just look,” imm towering cloud that i in the centre of the

of h “Do you see that mountain ? ”

child, e e thread the d

I mad

e Small and soft and Sweet,

AILIE’S ADVENTURES IN THE CLOUDS 49

a star—a bright star in her forehead—and she carried a wand with a star on the top of it too. So I asked her to take me to see her kingdom, and I made her say she would—and, do you know, Glynn, I really felt at last as if she didn’t wait for me to tell her what to say, but just went straight on, answering my questions,-and putting questions to me in returr.. Wasn't it funny ?

“Well, we went on, and on, and on—the fairy and me —up one beautiful mountain of snow and down another, talking all the time so pleasantly, until we came to a great dark cave; so I made up my mind to make a lion come out of it; but the fairy said, ‘No, let it be a bear ;’ and immediately a great ‘bear came out. Wasn’t it Strange? It really seemed as if the fairy had become real, and could do things of her own accord.”

The child paused at this point, and looking with an expression of awe into her companion’s face, said—“ Do you think, Glynn, that people can ¢h* % so hard that fairies really come to them ?”

Glynn looked perplexed.

“No, Ailie, I suspect they can’t—not because we can’t think hard enough, but because there are no fairies to come.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry !” replied the child sadly.

“Why ?” inquired Glynn.

“Because I love them so much—of course, I mean the good ones. I don’t like the bad ones—though they’re very useful, because they’re nice to kill, and punish, and make examples of, and all that, when the good ones catch them.”

“So they are,” said the youth, smiling. “I never thought of that before. But go on with your ramble in the clouds.”

“Well,” began Ailie; “but where was iz

“Just going to be introduced to a bear.”

“Oh yes; well—the bear walked slowly away, and then the fairy called out an elephant, and after that a *noceros——”

D

THE RED ERIC “A ’noceros !” interrupted Glynn;

its

“what's that?” » you know very well, A beast with a thick skin its nose—_”

ell, go on, Ailie”

to appear, and after that a monkey, and then a hippopotamus, and they all came out one after another, and some of the others began to fight. But the Strang

was, that every one of them was so like the pictures of wild beasts that are hanging in my room at home! he elephant, too, I noticed, had his trunk broken

Phant’s one was.

“Tt was rather odd,” replied Glynn; “but where did you go after that >”

» then we went on, and on again, ”

until we came

t “It’s your turn at the wheel, lad, ain’t it >” Mr. Millions, coming up at that moment, and p abrupt termination to the walk in Fairyland. “Tt is, sir,” answered Glynn, springing quickly to the wheel, and relieving the man who had been engaged in Penetrating the ocean’s depths,

he mate walked forward; the re

inquired utting an

the duties While Nature was thus, as it were, asleep, and the

watch on deck were more than half j;

dition, there was one individual in th

faculties were in active play, whose “

p. the worthy cook, Nike] Sling, whose duti

to his post at the galley-fire at an early hour each day. e have often thought that a cook’s life must be

one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit. Besides the innumerable anxieties in reference to such important matters as boiling over and over-boiling, being done to a turn, or over-done, or singed or burned, or capsized, he has the diurnal misery of being the first human being, in his little circle of life, to turn out of a morning, and must therefore experience the discomfort— the peculiar discomfort—of finding things as they weve left the night before. Any one who does not know what that discomfort is, has only to rise an hour before the servants of a household, whether at sea or on shore, to find out. Cook, too, has generally, if not always, to light the fire; and that, especially in frosty weather, is not agreeable. Moreover, cook roasts himself to such an extent, and at meal-times, in nine cases out of ten, gets into such physical and mental perturbation, that he cannot possibly appreciate the luxuries he has been occupied all the day in concocting. Add to this, that he spends all the morning in preparing breakfast; all the forenoon in Preparing dinner ; all the afternoon in preparing tea and supper, and all the evening in clearing up, and perhaps all the night in dreaming of the meals of the following day, and mentally preparing breakfast, and we think that we have clearly proved the truth of the proposition with which we started—namely, that a cook’s life must be one of constant self-denial and exasperation of spirit.

But this is by the way, and was merely suggested by the fact that, while all other Creatures were enjoying either partial or complete repose, Nikel Sling was washing out pots and pans and kettles, and handling murderous-looking knives and two-pronged tormentors with a demoniacal activity that was quite appalling.

Beside him, on a little stool close to the galley fire, sat Tim Rokens—not that Mr. Rokens was cold—far from it. He was, to judge from appearances, much hotter than was agreeable. But Tim had come there and sat down to light his pipe, and being rather phlegmatic

A COOK’S MISERIES 51

cook, pausin iration greasy

ut for

» Without smoke,

“Dun know. Got it from a Spanish Smuggler for an old clasp-?:.1ife, Why?”

“Cause i; smells like rotten Straw, an’ won’t improve

the victuais, Guess you’d better take yourself off, old chap.”

“Wota Cross-grained crittur ye are,” said Rokens, as

he rose to depart.

At that moment there was heard a cry that sent the blood tingling to the extremities of €very one on board the Red Eric.

“Thar she blows! thar she blows!” Shouted the man in the crow’s-nest,

fishing-ground, ‘Thar she blows,” ad observed a Spout of steamy water into the air,

en Pees ts

Sena:

av -arsseserersspreamesprereenmenessenre

THE FIRST WHALE 53

more vigorously and simultaneously. Many days before, they had begun to expect to see whales. Every one was therefore on the qui vive, so that when the well- known signal rang out like a startling peal in the midst of the universal stillness, every heart in the ship leaped in unison.

Had an observant man been seated at the time in the forecastle, he would have noticed that from out of the ten or fifteen hammocks that swung from the beams, there suddenly darted ten or fifteen pairs of legs which rose to the perpendicular position in order to obtain leverage to “fetch way.” toa. thereafter the said legs descended, and where the feet had been, ten or fifteen heads appeared. Next moment the men were “ tumbling up” the fore-hatch to the deck, where the watch had already sprung to the boat-tackles.

“Where away ?” sang out Captain Dunning, who was among the first on deck.

“Off the weather bow, sir, three points.”

“* How far ?”

* About two miles. Thar she blows!”

** Call all hands,” shouted the captain.

“Starboard watch, ahoy!” roared the mate, in that curious hoarse voice peculiar to boatswains of men-of- war. “Tumble up, lads, tumble up! Whale in sight ! Bear a hand, my hearties ! ”

The summons was almost unnecessary. The “ star- board watch’? was—with the exception of one or two uncommonly heavy sleepers—already on deck pulling on its ducks and buckling its belts.

“Thar she breaches, thar she blows!” again came from the crow’s-nest in the voice of a Stentor.

“Well done, Dick Barnes, you’re the: first to Taise the oil,” remarked one of the men, implying by the remark that the said Dick was fortunate enough to be the first to sight a whale.

“Where away now ?” roared the captain, who was in . state of intense excitement,

54 THE RED ERIC

“A mile an’ a half to leeward, sir.”

“Clear away the hoats,” shouted the captain.

“* Masthead, &hoy! D’ye see that whale now?”

“ Ay, ay, sir. Thar she blows ! ”

“ Bear a hand, my hearties,” cried the Captain, as the wen sprang to the boats which were swinging at the davits. “ Get your tubs in | Clear your falls Look alive, lads ! Stand-by to lower ! All ready 2”

“All ready, sir,”

“Thar she blows!” Came again from the masthead

se Sperm-whales, sir; there’s a

whisper : Ailie,, who had left

road, Ailie, my pet,” cried her father “You'll get knocked over. Lower away, lads,

Ower away!”

Down went the starboard, larboard, and waist boats as if the falls had been cut, and almost before you could wink the men literal] tumbled over the side into them, took their places, and seized their oars.

“* Here, lynn, come with me, and Pll show you a thing or two,” said the Captain. “ Jump in, lad ; look h ~*

harpoo es beside him, and the whale-line coiled boat’s head. The captain steered.

taxed the boats’ & matter keenly fix the

SL SSS reer se EST

Saas |

THE CHASE 55

by Mr. Markham, the second mate—the latter an active man of about five-and-twenty, whose size and physical Strength were herculean, and whose disposition was somewhat morose and gloomy.

“Now, lads, give way! That's it! that’s the way. Bend your backs, now! do bend your backs,” cried the captain, as the three boats sprang from the ship’s side and made towards the nearest whale, with the white foam curling at their bow.

Several more whales appeared in sight spouting in al! directions, and the men were wild with excitement.

“ That's it! Go it lads!" shouted Mr. Millons, as the waist boat began to creep ahead. “ Lay it on! give way! What d’ye say, boys ; shall we beat ’em?”

Captain Dunning stood in the stern-sheets of the star- board boat, almost dancing with excitement as he heard these words of encouragement.

“Give way, boys!” he cried. “ They can’t do it! That whale’s ours—so it is. Only bend your backs! A steady pull! Pull like steam-tugs! That’s it! Bend the oars! Double ’em up! Smash ’em in bits, do!”

Without quite going the length of the captain’s last

iece of advice, the men did their work nobly. They t their strong backs with a will, and strained their sinewy arms to the utmost. Glynn, in particular, to whom the work was new, and_ therefore peculiarly exciting and interesting, almost tore the rowlocks out of the boat in his efforts to urge it on, and had the oar not been made of the toughest ash, there is no doubt that he would have obeyed the captain’s orders literally, and have smashed it in bits. .

On they flew like racehorses. Now one boat gained an inch on the others, then it lost ground again as the crew of another put forth additional energy, and the three danced over the glassy sea as if the inanimate planks had been suddenly endued with life, and inspired with the spirit that stirred the men.

A large sperm-whale lay about a quarter of a mile

56 THE RED ERIC

yin t board boat

They ha hem, as t

em.

“ There g° flukes,” cried Rokens, as th its huge tail in the air and “

j or a few n uncertain in wh again ; but their q t speedil rising within a few yards of the boat.

“Now, Rokens,” cried the captain > “now for it ; give

him the iron, Give way, lads ; spring, boys, Softly now, softly,”

In another instant the boat's bow was on the whale’s head, and Rokens buried a harpoon deep in its side, “Stern all!” thundered the Captain. eyed, and the

own it went, ca Caused the Chocks th na few minutes the

in its body,

& the boat throu curling up like a white

ee ennescmumertmeeaemrsaey ene een preset aetemeare So Sar ets (LAMM:

ibe Ot a

THE BATTLE 57

“She won't stand that long,” muttered Glynn Proctor, as he rested on his oar, and looked over his shoulder at the straining line.

“That she will, boy,” said the captain; “and more than that, if need be. You'll not be long of havin’ a chance of greasin’ your fingers, I'll warrant.”

In a few minutes the speed began to slacken, and after a time they were able to haul in on the line. When the whale again came to the surface, a third harpoon was cleverly struck into it, and a spout of blood from its blow-hole showed that it was mortally wounded. In throwing the harpoon, Tim Rokens slipped his foot, and went down like a stone head- foremost into the sea. He came up again like a cork, and just as the boat flew past fortunately caught hold of Glynn Proctor’s hand. It was well that the grasp was a firm one, for the strain on their two arms was awful. In another minute Tim was in his place, ready with his lance to finish off the whale at its next rise.

Up it came again, foaming, breaching, and plunging from wave to wave, flinging torrents of blood and spray into the air. At one moment he reared his blunt gigantic head high above the sea; the next he buried his vast and quivering carcase deep in the gory brine, carrying down with him a perfect whirlpool of red foam. Then he rose again and made straight for the boat. Had he known his own power, he might have soon terminated the battle, and come off the victor, but fortunately he did not. Tim Rokens received his blunt nose on the point of his lance, and drove him back with mingled fury and terror. Another advance was made, and a successful lance-thrust delivered.

“That’s into his life,” cried the captain.

So it is,” replied Rokens.

And so it was. A vital part had been struck. For some minutes the huge leviathan lashed and roiled and tossed in the trembling waves in his agony, while he

i Hi } | j i {

58 THE RED ERIC

Spouted up gallons of blood with every-throe; then he rolled over on his back, and lay extended a lifeless mass upon the waters,

“Now, lads; three cheers for our first whale. Hip! hip! hip !—_

The cheer and

The on getting aboard t boats had been

aving captured a

CHAPTER VI.

DISAGREEABLE CHANGES—SAGACIOUS CONVERSATIONS, AND A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. ;

‘A STRIKING and by no means a pleasant change took

place in the general appearance of the Red Eric imme-

diately after the successful chase de‘ailed in the last chapter.

Before the arrival of the whales the deck. ‘ .2 been : beautifully clean and white, for Captain Dunning was aa roud of his ship, and fond of cleanliness and order. A ae ew hours after the said arrival the decks were smeared ies with Greate, oil, and blood, and everything from stem to stern became from that day filthy and dirty.

This was a sad change to poor Ailie, who had not imagined it pessible that so sudden and disagreeable an alteration could take place. But there was no help for it; the duties of the fishery in which they were engaged required that the whales should not only be caught, but cut up, boiled down to oil, and stowed away in the hold in casks.

If the scene was changed for the worse a few hours after the cutting-up operations were begun, it became infinitely more so when the try-works were set going, and the melting-fires were lighted, and huge volumes of smoke begrimed the masts, and sails, and rigging. It was vain to think of clearing up; had they attempted that, the met would have been over-tasked without any

good being accomplished. dames was only one course

THE RED ERIC

Open to those who didn’t like it, and that was—to “ grin and bear it.”

“Cutting out” and « trying in” are the terms used by whale-men to denot- the processes of Cutting off the flesh or “ blubber ” from the whale’s carcase, and reducing it to oil.

At an early hour on the following morning ihe first of these operations was commenced,

Ailie went about the decks, looking on wit wonder, interest, and disgust, gingerly, as if afraid of coming in ¢

j €r nose and mout

se ~vho are obliged to The expression of‘ her fac stances was amusing,

As for the 3; 4, they went about their work with relish, and tot2! indifference as to consequences,

gest whale had been h

TOpes were attached to his h was secured near the stern while the latter ackle was then pulleys er-hook

then cut off,

“blanket-piece,’ hook being lowere continued until th

From the head of the first whale ten barrels of oi] were obtained. The blubber yielded about eighty barrels,

A WILD SCENE 61

When the “cutting out” was completed, and the remnants of bone and flesh were left to the sharks which swarmed round the vessel, revelling in their unusually rich banquet, the process of “ trying in” commenced. “Trying in” is the term applied to the melting of the fat and the stowing it away in barrels in the form of oil; and an uncommonly dirty process it is. The large “blanket-pieces” were cut into smaller portions, and put into the try-pots, which were kept in constant operation. At night the ship had all the appearance of a vessel on fire, and the scene on deck was particularly striking and unearthly.

One night several of the men were grouped on and around the windlass, chatting, singing, and “ spinning yarns.” Ailie Dunning stood near them, lost in wonder and admiration; for the ears and eyes of the child were assailed in a manner never before experienced or dreamed of even in the most romantic mood of clouc- wandering.

It was a very curk night, darker than usual, and not a breath of wind ruffled the sea, which was like a sheet of undulating glass—for, be it remembered, there is no such thing at any time as absolute stillness in the ocean. At all times, even in the profoundest calm, the long, slow, gentle swell rises and sinks with unceas- ing regularity, like the bosom of a man in deep slumber.

Dense clouds of black smoke and occasional lurid sheets of flame rose from the try-works, which were situated between the foremast and the main-hatch. The tops of the masts were lost in the curling smoke, and the black waves of the sea gleamed and flashed in the red light all round the ship.. One man stood in front of the melting-pot, pitching in pieces of blubber with a two-pronged pitchfork. Two comrades stood by the pots, stirring up their contents, and throwing’ their figures into wild uncouth attitudes, while the fire glared in their greasy faces, and converted the front of their entire persons into deep vermilion.

dais _ satmaseoos ce Bee 4 Bo aati bes 2 SEMURE metres

62 THE RED ERIC

The oil was hissing in the try-pots ; the rough weather- aten faces of the men on the windlass were smeared, and their dirty-white ducks Saturated, with oil. The

blubber lay scattered about; sparks flew upwards in splendid showers as the men raked up the fires; the decks, bulwarks, railings, try-works, and windlass were covered with oil and slime, and glistening in the red glare. It was a terrible, murderous-looking scene, and filled Ailie’s mind with mingled feelings of wonder, disgust, and awe, as she leaned on a comparatively clean spot near the foremast, listening to the men and gazing at the rolling smoke and flames.

“Ain’t it beautiful?” said a short, fat little seaman named Gurney, who sat swinging his legs on the end of the windlass, and pointed, as he spoke, with the head of his pipe to a more than usually brilliant burst of sparks and flame that issued that moment from the works,

“Beautiful!” exclaimed a long-limbed, shambling fellow named Jim Scroggles, “ why, that ain’t the word at all. Now, I calls it splendiferous,”

with marked emphasis,

“Did ye ever see that word in Johnson >” inquired

urney.

“Who's Johnson >” said Scroggles, contemptuously,

“Wot, don’t ye know who Johnson is ?” cried Gurney, in surprise. ;

“In course I don’t ; how should I >” retorted Scroggles.

ere’s ever so many Johnsons in the world ; which on

‘em all do you mean >”

“Why, I mean Johnson wot wrote the diksh’nary— the great’] exikragofer.”

SCROGGLES ASSAILED 63

“Oh, it’s him you mean, is it? In course I’ve knowed him ever since I wos at school.”

A general laugh interrupted the speaker.

“At school!” cried Nickel Sling, who a proached the group at that moment with a carving ie in his hand —he seldom went anywhere without an instrument of office in his hand—‘ At school! Wal now, that beats

creation. If ye wos, I’m sartin ye only larned to forgit

all ye orter to have remembered. I'd take a bet now, e wosn’t at school as long as I’ve been settin’ on this ere win et

“Yer about right, Sling, it ’ud be unpossible for me to be as long as you anywhere, ’cause everybody knows I’m only five fut two, whereas you're six fut four!”

“Hear, hear!” shouted Dick Barnes—a man with a huge black beard, who the reader ma perhaps remem- ber was the first to “raise the oil.” “It'll be ong before you make another joke like that, Gurney. Come, now, give us a song, Gurney, do; there’s the cap’n’s darter standin’ by the foremast, a-waitin’ to hear ye. Give us * Long, long ago.’ ”

** Ah ! that’s it, give us a song,” cried the men. “ Come, there’s a good fellow.”

“Well, it’s so long ago since I sung that song, ship- mates,” replied Gurney, “ that I’ve bin and forgot it ; but Tim Rokens knows it ; where’s Rokens ? ”

“* He’s in the watch below.”

In sea parlance, the men whose turn it is to take rest after their long watch on deck are somewhat facetiously said to belong to the “ watch below.”

“Ah! that’s a pity; so we can’t have that ’ere partickler song. But I’ll give ye another, if ye don’t object.”

‘No, no. All right ; go ahead, Gurney! Is there a chorus to it?”

“Ay, in course there is. Wot’s a song without a chorus? Wot’s plum-duff without the plums? Wot’s a

VENTA SESE o

64 THE RED ERIC

ship without a ’elm? It’s my opinion

& song without a chorus is no better t

It’s wus snor nothin’. It

blues, ~ 5 = wot si

him right. I wouldn’t, no, ive the fag-end o’ nothin’ mixed in a bucket o’ salt water = & song Erste a chorus—that’s flat ; so here goes,”

Having delivered himself of these opinions in an extremely vigorous manner, and announced the fact that he was about to begin, Gurne drew a number of violen succession, in order to ki which would last throu mencement of the chorus. k was sufficient for the men, when once f. n the chorus, would infallibly go on to t d with or without his assistance, and would therefore afford him time for a few restorative whiffs.

“It hain’t got no name, lads.’’

** Never mind, Gurney—all right—fire away.”

“Oh, I once know’d a man as hadn’t got a Nose, An’ this is how he come to hadn’t— One cold winter night he went and got it froze— By the pain he was well-nigh madden’d. (Chorus.) Well-nigh madden’d, By the pain he was well-nigh madden’d,

Next day it swoll up as big as my head, An’ it turn’d like a piece of putty ; It kivered up his mouth, oh, yes, go it did, So he could not smoke his cutty, (Chorus.) Smoke his Cutty, 8o he could not smoke his cutty,

Next day it grew black, and t’-e next day biue, An’ tough as a junk of leather ; (Oh! he yelled, so he did, fit to pierce ye through)— An’ then it fell off altogether ! (Chorus.) Fell off alt ether, An’ then it fell o altogether !

THE CROSS STEWARD

But the morial is wot you've now got to hear, n’ it's good—as sure as a gun; An’ you'll never forget it, my messmates dear, For this song it hain’t got none ! (Chorus) Hain't got none, For this song it hain’t got none !”

The applause that followed this song was most enthu- siastic, and evidently gratifying to Gurney, who assumed a modest deprecatory air as he proceeded to light his pipe, which had been allowed to go out at the third verse, the performer having become so engrossed in his subject as to have forgotten the interlude of puffs at that point.

“Well sung, Gurney. | Who made it?” inquired Phil Briant, an Irishman, who, besides being a jack-of-all- trades and an able-bodied seaman, was at that time acting-assistant to the cook and steward, the latter—a half Spaniard and half negro, of Californian extraction —being unwell.

“I’m bound not to tell,” replied Gurney, with a conscious air.

“ Ah, then, yer tight, my boy, for it’s below the average entirely.”

“Come, Phil, none o’ yer chaff,” cried Dick Barnes, “that song desarves somethin’ arter it. Suppose now, Phil, that you wos to go below and fetch the bread-kid”

“Couldn’t do it,” replied Phil, looking solemn, “on no account wotiver.”

“Oh, nonsense, why not?”

“’Cause its unpossible, Why, if I did, sure that surly compound o’ all sorts o’ human blood would pitch into me with the carvin’-knife.”

“Who? Tarquin?” cried Dick Barnes, naming the steward.

“ Ay, sure enough that same—Tarquin’s his name, an’ it’s kuriously befittin’ the haythen, for of all the cross- ney: mixtures 0’ buffalo, bear, bandicoot, and cracka-

ile I iver seed, he’s out 0” sight——”

“Did T hear any one mention my name?” inquired the E

66 THE RED ERIC

steward himself who came aft at that moment. He was

a wild Spanish-like fellow, with a handsome-enough

figure, and a swart countenance that might have been ood-looking but for the thickish lips and nose and the ad temper that marked it. Since getting into the

tropics, the sailors had modified their costumes con-

siderably, and as each man had in some particular

allowed himself a slight play of fancy, their appearance,

when grouped together, was varied and

Most of them wore no shoes,

to say the least, pecgliar.

brimmed straw hat, with a con

sash tied round his waist.

“Yes, Tarquin,” replied Barnes, “we wos engaged in makin’ free-an’-easy remarks on you; and Phil Briant there gave us to understand that you wouldn’t let us have the bread-kid up. Now, it’s my opinion you ain't goin’ to be so hard on us as that; you will let us have it up to comfort our hearts on this fine night, won't you?”

The steward, whose green visage showed that he was too ill to enter into a dispute at that time, turned on his heel and walked aft, remarking that they might eat

the bottom out o’ the ship, for all he cared.

“There now, you misbemannered Patlander, go and get it, or we'll throw you overboard,” cried Scroggles, twisting his long limbs awkwardly as he shifted his position on the windlass,

“Now, then, shipmates, don’t go for to ax it,” said Briant, remaining immovable. “Don’t I know wot’s best for ye? Let me spaake to ye now. Did any of ye iver study midsin ?”

“No!” cried several with a laugh.

“Sure I thought not,” continued Phil, with a patron- izing air, “or ye'd niver ask for the bread-kid out o’ saisin. Now I was in the medical way meself wance— ay, ye may laugh, but it’s thrue —I wos ‘prentice to a ‘pothecary, an’ I’ve mixed up more midsins than would pisen the whole popilation of owld Ireland-—barrin’ the

BISCUIT FRITTERS 67

praists, av coorse. And didn’t I hear the convarse o’ all

the doctors in the place? And wasn’t the word always °

—‘ Be rigglar with yer mails—don’t ait, avic, more nor three times a day, and not too much, now. Be sparin’.’ ”

“Hah! ye long-winded grampus,” interrupted Dick Barnes, impatiently. ‘‘ An’ warn’t the doctors right ? Three times a day for sick folk, and six times—or more— for them wot’s well.”

“Hear, hear!” cried the others, while two of them seized Briant by the neck, and thrust him forcibly towards the after-hatch. ‘‘ Bring up the kid, now; an’ if ye come without it, look out for squalls.”

“Och ! worse luck,” sighed the misused assistant, as he disappeared.

In a few minutes Phil returned with the kid, which was @ species of tray filled with broken sea-biscuit, which, when afloat, goes by the name of “ bread.”

This was eagerly seized, for the appetites of sailors are always sharp, except immediately after meals. A quantity of the broken biscuit was put into a strainer, and fried in whale-oil, and the men sat round the kid to enjoy their luxurious feast, and relate their adventures—all of which were more or less marvellous, and many of them un- doubtedly true.

The more one travels in this world of ours, and the more one reads of the adventures of travellers upon whose narratives we can place implicit confidence, the more we find that men do not now require, as they did of old, to draw upon their imaginations for marvellous tales of wild, romantic adventure. In days gone by, travellers were few ; foreign lands were almost unknown. Not many books were written; and of the few that were, very few were believed. In the present day men of undoubted truthfulness have roamed far and wide

over the whole world, their books are numbered b hundreds, and much that was related by ancient travel- lers, but not believed, has now been fully corroborated. More than that, it is now known that men have everye

68 THE RED ERIC

where received, as true, statements which modern dis- covery has proved to be false, and on the other hand they have often refused to believe what is now ascertained to oe literally true.

We would suggest, in passing, that @ lesson might be learned from this fact—namely, that we ought to receive a statement in regard to a foreign land, not according to the probability or the improbability of the statement itself, but according to the credibility of him who makes it. Ailie Dunning had a trustful disposition ; she acted on neither of the above principles. She believed all she heard, poor thing, and therefore had a head pretty well stored with mingled fact and nonsense,

While the men were —— with their meal, Dr. Hopley came on deck and found her leaning over the stern, looking down at the waves which shone with sparkling phosphorescent light. An almost imperceptible breeze = sprung up, and the way made by the vessel as

she passed through the water was indicated by a stream of

what appeared lambent blue flame.

“ Looking at the fish, Ailie, as usual ?” said the doctor as he came up. ‘“ What are they saying to you to- night ?”

“Tm not looking at the fish,” answered Ailie ; “I’m looking at the fire—no, not the fire ; papa said it wasn’t fire, but it’s so like it, I can scarcely call it anything else. What is it, doctor 2?”

“It is called phosphorescence,” replied the doctor, lean- ing over the bulwarks, and looking down at .ue fiery serpent that seemed as if it clung to the ship’s rudder. “ But I dare say you don’t know what that means. You know what fire-flies and glow-worms are ?

“Oh ! yes; I’ve often caught them.”

“Well, there are immense numbers of very small and very thin jelly-like creatures in the sea, so thin and so transparent that they can scarcely be observed in the water. These Meduse, as they are called, possess the Payer of emitting light similar to that of the fire-fly,

A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT 69

In short, Ailie, they are the fire-flies and glow-worms of the ocean. ~

The child listened with wonder, and for some minutes remained silent. Before she could again speak, there occurred one of those incidents which are generally spoken of as “ most unexpected” and sudden, but which, nevertheless, are the result of natural causes, and might have been prevented by means of a little care. +

The wind, as we have said, was light, so light that it did not distend the sails; the boom of the spanker-sail hung over the stern, and the spanker-braces lay slack along the seat on which Ailie and the doctor knelt. A little gust of wind came: it was not strong—a mere puff; but the man at the wheel was not attending to his duty: the puff, light as it was, caused the spanker to jibe—that is to fly over from one side of the ship to the other—the heavy boom passed close over the steersman’s head as he cried, “Look out!” The braces tautened, and in so doing they hurled Dr. Hopley violently to the deck, and tossed Ailie Dunning over the bulwarks into the sea.

It happened at that moment that Glynn Proctor chanced to step on deck.

“Hallo! what’s wrong?” cried the youth, springing forward, catching the doctor by the coat, as he was about to spring overboard, and pulling him violently back, under the impression that he was deranged.

The doctor pointed to the sea, and, with a look of horror, gasped the word “ Ailie.”

In an instant Glynn released his hold, plunged ever the stern of the ship, and disappeared in the waves.

CHAPTER VII. THE RESCUE—PREPARATIONS FOR A STORM,

It is impossible to convey by means of words an adequate idea of the terrible excitement and uproar that ensued on board the Red Eric after the events narrated in the last chapter. From those on deck who witnessed the accident there arose a cry so sharp, that it brought the whole crew from below in an instant. But there was no confusion. The men were well trained. Each - individual knew his post, and whale-men are accustomed to a sudden and hasty summons. The peculiarity of the present one, it is true, told every man in an instant that something was wrong, but each mechanically sprang to his post, while one or two shouted to ascertain what had happened, or to explain.

But the moment Captain Dunning’s voice was heard there was perfect silence.

“Clear away the starboard quarter-boat,” he cried, in a deep, firm tone.

“* Ay, ay, sir.”

“Stand by the falls—lower away!”

There was no occasion to urge the sailors; they sprang to the work with the fervid celerity of men who knew that life or death depended on their speed. In less time than it takes to relate, the boat was leaping over the long ocean swell, as it had never yet done in chase of the whale, and, in a few seconds, passed out of the little circle of light caused by the fires and into the gloom that surrounded the ship.

70

AILIE OVERBOARD 71

The wind had been gradually increasing during all these proceedings, and although no time had been lost, and the vessel had been immediately brought = into the wind, Ailie and Glynn were left strug- gling in the dark sea a long way behind ere the quarter-boat could be lowered; and now that it was fairly afloat, there was still the danger of its failing to hit the right direction of the objects of which it was in search.

After leaping over the stern, Glynn Proctor, the moment he rose to the surface, gave a quick glance at the ship, to make sure of her exact position, and then struck out in a straight line astern, for he knew that wherever Ailie fell, there she would remain struggling until she sank. Glynn was a fast and powerful swimmer. He struck out with desperate energy, and in a few minutes the ship was out of sight behind him. Then he paused suddenly, and letting his feet sink until he attained an upright position, trod the water and raised himself breast-high above the surface, at the same time listening intently, for he began to fear that he might have overshot his mark. No sound met his straining ear save the sighing of the breeze and the ripple of the water as it lapped against his chest. It was too a to see more than a few yards in any direction.

Glynn knew that each moment lost rendered his chance of a the child terribly slight. He shouted “‘ Ailie!” in a loud, agonizing cry, and swam forward again with redoubled energy, continuing the cry from time to time, and raising himself occasionally to look round him. The excitement of his mind, and the intensity with which it vas bent on the one great object, rendered him at first almost unobservant cf the flight of

-.e. But suddenly the thought burst upon him that

- y ten minutes or a quarter of an hour had elapsed sive Ailie fell overboard, and that uo one who could not swim could exist for half that time in deep water. He shrieked with agony at the thought, and, ancyin that he must have passed the child, he turned round ond

72 THE RED ERIC

swam desperately towards the point where he supposed the ship lay. Then he thought, What if I have tanned just as I was comin up with her?” §o he turned about again, but as the hopelessness of his efforts once more occurred to him, he lost all presence of mind, and began to shout furiously, and to strike out wildly in all directions.

In the midst of his mad struggles his hand struck an object floating near him. Instantly he felt his arm convulsively grasped, and the next moment he was seized round the neck in a gripe so violent that it almost choked him. He sank at once, and the instinct of self-preserva- tion restored his presence of mind. With a powerful effort he tore Ailie from her grasp, and quickly raised himself to the surface, where he swam gently with his left hand, and held the struggling child at arm’s-length with his right.

The joy caused by the knowledge that shc had still life to struggle i new energy into Glynn’

frame, a tone as was mstances when he i Ailie, Ailie, don’t struggle, dear, I'll save you tf you keep quiet.”

Ailie was quiet in a moment. She felt in the terror of

r young heart an almost irresistible desire to clutch at Glynn’s neck; but the well-known voice reassured her, and her natural tendency to place blind, implicit con- fidence in others, s>rved her in this hour of need, for she obeyed his injunctions at once.

“* Now, dear,” said Gl , with nervous rapidity, ‘“‘ don’t grasp me, else we shall sink. Trust me. J’ never let you go. Will you trust me 2?”

Ailie — wildly at her deliverer through her wet and tangled tressses, and with great difficulty gasped the word “ Yes,” while she clenched the garments on her labouring bosom with her little hands, as if to show her determination to do as she was bid.

Glynn at once drew her towards him and rested her

THE RESCUE 73

head on his shoulder. The child gave vent to a deep, broken sigh of relief, and threw her right arm round his neck, but the single word “Ailie,” uttered in a re- monstrative tone, caused her to draw it quickly back and again grasp her breast.

All this time Glynn had been supporting himself by that process well known to swimniers as “ treadin water,“ and had been so intent upon his pur te) securing the child, that he failed to observe the light of a lantern gleaming in the far distance on the sea, as the boat went —— hither and thither, the men almost breaking the oars in their desperate haste, and the captain standing in the stern-sheets pale as death, hold- ing the light high over his head, and gazing with a look of unutterable agony into the surroun ing gloom.

Glynn now saw the distant light, and exerting his voice to the utmost, gave vent to a prolonged cry. Ailie looked up in her companion’s face while he listened intently. The moving light became stationary for a moment, and a faint reply floated back to them over the waves. Again Glynn raised his voice to the utmost, and es cheer that came back told him that he had been heard.

But the very feeling of relieg at the prospect of imme- diate deliverance had well-nigh proved fatal to them both ; for Glynn experienced a sudden relaxation of his whole system, and he felt as if he could not support himself and his burden a minute longer.

“Ailie,” he said faintly but quickly, “we shall be saved if you obey at once; if not, we shall be drowned. Lay your two hands on my breast, and let yourself sink down to the very lips,”

Glynn turned on his back as he spoke, spread out his arms and legs to their full extent, let his head fall back, until it sank, leaving only his lips, nose, and chin above water, and lay as motionless as if he had been dead.

d now came poor Ailie’s severest trial. When she allowed herself to sink, and felt the water rising about

74 THE RED ERIC

her ears, and lipping round her mouth, terror again seized upon her; but she felt Glynn’s breast —" under her hands, so she raised her eyes to heaven an

= silently to Him who is the only true deliverer rom dangers Her self-possession was restored, and soon She observed the boat bearing down on the spot, and heard the men as they shouted to attract attention,

Ailie tried to reply, but her tiny voice was gone, and her soul was filled with horror as she saw the boat about to passon. In her agony she began to struggle. This roused Glynn, who had rested sufficiently to have re- covered a slight degree of strength. He immediately raised his head, and uttered a wild cry as he grasped Ailie again with his arm.

The rowers paused; the light of the lantern gleamed over the sea, and fell upon the spray tossed up by Glynn. Next moment the boat swept up to them—and they were saved.

The scene that followed baffles all description. Captain Dunning fell on his knees beside Ailie, who was too much exhausted to speak, and thanked God, in the name of Jesus Christ, again and again for her deliverance. A few of the men shouted; others laughed hysterically; and some Bs freely as they crowded round their shipmate, who, although able to sit up, could not speak except in disjointed sentences. Glynn, however, recovered quickly, a even tried to warm himself by pulling an oar before they regained the ship, but Ailie remained in a state of partial stupor, and was finally carried on board and down into the cabin, and put between warm blankets by her father and Dr. Hopley.

Meanwhile, Glynn was hurried forward, and dragged down into the forecastle by the whole crew, who seemed unable to contain themselves for joy, and expressed their feelings in ways that would have been deemed rather absurd on ordinary occasions.

“Change yer clo’s, avic, at wance,” cried Phil Briant, who was the most officious and violent in his offers of

A ‘LONG AND STRONG PULL'

assistance to Glynn. ‘Och! but it’s wet ye are, darlin’, Give me a howld.”

This last request had reference to the right leg of Glynn's trousers, which happened to be blue cloth of a rather thin quality, and which therefore clung to his limbs with such tenacity that it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to get them off.

“ That’s your sort, Phil—a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull all together,” o.ied Dick Barnes, hurrying for- ward, with a bundle of ga:ments in his arms. “ Here’s dry clo’s for him.”

“ Have a care, Phil,” shouted Gurney, who stood behind Glynn and held him by the shoulders ; “ it'll give way.”

“Niver a taste,” replied the reckless Irishman. But the result proved that Gurney was right, for the words had scarce esca his lips when the garment parted at the knee, and Phil Briant went crashing back among a heap of tin pannikins, pewter plates, blocks, and cordage. A burst of laughter followed, of course, but the men’s spirits were too much roused to be satisfied with this, so they converted the laugh into a howl, and rolonged it into a cheer, as if their comrade had successfully performed a difficult and praiseworthy deed.

** Hold on, lads,” cried Glynn. “I’m used up, I can’t stand it.”

“Here you are,” shouted Nickel Sling, pushing the men violently aside, and holding a steaming tumbler of hot brandy-and-water under Glynn’s nose. “ Down with it; that’s the stuff to get up the steam fit to bust yer biler, I calo’late.”

The men looked on for a moment in silence, while Glynn drank, as if _— expected some remarkable chemical change to take place in his constitution:

“Och! ain’t it swate ?” inquired Phil Briant, who, having gathered himself up, now stood rubbing his shoulder with the fragment of the riven garment. ‘ Av I wasn’t a taytotaler, it’s meself would like some of that same.”

In a few minutes our hero was divested of his wet gar-

76 THE RED ERIC

ments, rubbed perfect] clad in dry costume, alt if nothing unusual h meanwhile cut their

_ they stood round an process. As for

» and little Ailie had had, and the i he —— the captain shed before and h Fee

ie the captain to have possessed—as he ponde

these things, we say, his knotty visage fa to work, and his cast-iron chin began to quiver, and his shaggy brows contracted, ond his nose, besides ming purple, began to twist, as if it were an inde- pendent member of his face, and he .came, in short, to that climax which is familiarly expressed by ‘*«

words “ bursting into tears.”

But if anybody thinks the act, on the part of Tim Rokens, bore the smallest resemblance to the generally received idea of that sorrowful affection, “ anybody,” we take leave to tell him, is very much mistaken. The bold harpooner did it thus—he suddenly unhooked his right hand from the arm-hole of his vest, and gave his right thigh a slap which produced a crack that would have made a small pistol envious ; then he uttered a succession of ferocious roars, that might have quite well indicated pain, or grief, or madness, or a drunken cheer, and, un- hooking the left hand, he doubled himself up, and thrust both knuckles into his eyes. The knuckles were wet when he pulled them out of his ,» but he dried them on his pantaloons, bolted up the atchway, and rushing up to the man at the wheel, demanded in a voice of thunder— ** How’s ’er head ?”

“* Sou’-sou’-east-and-by-east,” replied the man, in some surprise.

GLYNN COMFORTS AILIE 17 “Sou’-sou’-east-and-by-east !"” repeated Mr. Rokens, in a savage growl of authority, as if he were nothing less than the admiral of the Channel Fleet. ‘“ That’s two points and a half off yer course, sir. Luff, luff, you— you-——”

At this point Tim Rokens turned on his heel, and began to walk up and down the deck as calmly as if nothing whatever had occurred to disturb his equanimity.

“The captain wants Glynn Proctor,” said the second mate, looking down the fore-hatch.

‘ Ay, ay, sir,” answered Glynn, ascending, and going alt.

“ Ailie wants to see you, Glynn, my boy,” said Captain Dunning, as the former entered the cabin; “and I want to speak to you myself—to thank you Glynn. Ah, lad! you can’t know what a father’s heart feels when— Go to her, boy.”” He grasped the youth’s hand, and gave it a squeeze that revealed infinitely more of his feelings than could have been done by words.

Glynn returned the squeeze, and opening the door of — private cabin, entered and sat down beside her crib.

“Oh, Glynn, I want to speak to you; I want to thank you. I love you so much for jumping into the sea after me,” began the child, eagerly, and raising herself on one elbow while she held out her hand.

“ Ailie,” interrupted Glynn, taking her hand, and holding up his finger to impose silence, “ you obeyed n.c in the water, and now I insist on your obedience out of the water. If you don’t, I'll leave you. You're still too weak to toss about and speak loud in this way. Lie down my pet.”

Glynn kissed her forehead, and forced her gently back on the pillow.

“Well, Ml be good, but don’t leave me yet, Glynn. I'm much better. Indeed, I feel quite strong. Oh! it was good of vou--—-”

‘

78 THE RED ERIC

“There you go again.”

“T love you,” said Ailie.

“T’ve no objection to that,” replied Glynn, “but don’t excite yourself. But tell me, Ailie, how was it that you managed to keep afloat so long? The more I think of it the more I am filled with amazement, and, in fact, I’m half inclined to think that God worked a miracle in order to save you.”

“I don’t know,” said Ailie, looking very grave and earnest, 2s she always did when our Maker's name hap- — to be mentioned. “Does God work miracles still?”

“Men say not,” replied Glynn.

“T’m sure I don’t quite understand what a miracle is,” continued Ailie, “ although Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane have often tried to explain it to me. Is floating on your back a miracle?”

“No,” said Glynn, laughing; “it isn’t.”

“Well, that’s the way I was saved. You know, ever since I can remember, I have bathed with Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane, and they taught me how to float—and it’s so nice, you can’t think how nice it is—and | can do it so easily now, that I never get frightened. But, oh! when I was tossed over the side of the ship into the sea I was frightened just. I don’t think I ever got such a fright. And I splashed about for some time, and swallowed some water, but I got upon my back some- how. I can’t tel! how it was, for I was too frightened to try to do anything. But when I found myself floating as I used to do long ago, I felt my fear go away a little, and I shut my eyes and prayed, and then it went away altogether; and I felt quite sure you would come to save me, and you did come, Glynn, and I know it was God who sent you. But I became a good deal frightened again when I thought of the sharks, and—— °

“Now, Ailie, stop!” said Glynn. “ You're forgetting your promise, and exciting yourself again.”

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM 79

80 she is, and I must order you out, Master Glynn,” said the doctor, opening the door, and entering at that moment,

Glynn rose, patted the child’s head, and nodded cheer- fully as he left the little cabin.

The captain caught him as he passed, and began to reiterate his thanks, when their conversation was inter- rupted by the voice of Mr. Millons, who put his head in at the skylight and said—

‘Squall coming, sir, I think.”

“So, so,” cried the captain, running upon deck. “I’ve been looking for it. Call all hands, Mr. Millons, and take in sail—every rag, except the storm-trysails.”

Glynn hurried forward, and in a few minutes every man was at his post. The sails were furled, and every prepar- ation made for a severe squall ; for Captain Dunning knew that that part of the coast of Africa off which the Red Eric was then sailing was subject to sudden squalls, which, though usually of short duration, were sometimes terrific in their violence.

“Is everything snug, Mr. Millons ?”

“All snug, sir.”

“Then let the men stand by till it’s over.”

The night had grown intensely dark, but away on the starboard quarter the heavens appeared of an ebony black- ness that was quite appalling. This appearance, that rose on the sky like a shroud of crape, quickly spread upwards until it reached the zenith. Then a few gleams of light seemed to illuminate it very faintly, and a distant hissing noise was heard.

A dead calm surrounded the ship, which lay like a log on the water, and the crew, knowing that nothing more could be done in the way of preparation, awaited the

bursting of the storm with uneasy —— In a few minutes its distant roar was heard, like muttered thunder. On it came, with a steady continuous roar, as if chaos were about to be restored, and the crashing wreck of elements were being hurled in mad fury against

80 THE RED ERIC

the yet unshattered portions of creation. Another second, and the ship was on her beam-ends, and the sea and sky were white as milk as the wind

tore up the waves and beat them flat, and whirled away

b-oad sheets of driving

CHAPTER VIII.

THE STORM, AND ITS RESULTS.

Autuoucn the Red Eric was thrown on her beam- ends, or nearly so, by the excessive violence of the squall, the preparations to meet it had been so well made that she righted again almost immediately, and now flew before the wind under bare poles with a velocity that was absolutely terrific.

Ailie had been nearly thrown out of her berth when

the ship lay over, and now when she listened to the water hissing and gurgling past the little port that lighted her cabin, and felt the staggering of the vessel, as burst after burst of the hurricane almost tore the masts out of her, she lay trembling with anxiety and debating with herself whether or not she ought to rise and go on deck.

Captain Dunning well knew that his child would be naturally filled with fear, for this was the first severe squall she had ever experienced, so, as he could not quit the deck himself, he called Glynn Proctor to him and sent him down with a message.

“Well, Ailie,” said Glynn, cheerfully, as he opened the door and peeped in; “how d’ye get on, dear? The captain has sent me to say that the worst o’ this blast is over, and you've nothing to fear.”

“T am glad to hear that, Glynn,” replied the child, holding out her hand, while a smile lighted up her face and smoothed out the lines of anxiety from her brow. “Come and sit by me, Glynn, and tell me what like it

el] ,

&2 THE RED ERIC

is. I wish so much that I had been on deck. Was it grand, Glynn?”

“It was uncommonly grand; it was even terrible— but I cannot sit with you more than a minute, else my shipmates will say that I’m skulking.”

“ Skulking, Glynn! What that?”

“Why, it’s—it’s shirking work, you know,” said Glynn, somewhat puzzled.

Ailie laughed. “But you forget that I don’t know what ‘shirking’ means. You must explain that too.”

“ How terribly green you are, Ailie.”

“No! am I?” exclaimed the child in some surprise. “What can have done it? I’m not sick.”

Glynn laughted outright at this, and then proceeded to explain the meaning of the slang phraseology he had used. “Green, you must know, means ignorant,” he began.

“How funny! I wonder why.”

“Well, I don’t know exactly. Perhaps it’s because when a fellow’s asked to answer questions he don’t understand, he’s apt to turn either blue with rage or yellow with fear—or both: and that, you know, would make him green. I’ve heard it said that it implies a comparision of men tc pla: ts—very young ones, you know, that are just up, just born, as it were, and have not had much experience of life, are green of course— but I like my own definition best.”

It may perhaps be scarcely necessary to remark that our hero was by no means singular in this little preference of his own definition to that of any one else !

“Well, and what does skulking mean, and shirking work ?” persisted Ailie.

“It means hiding so as to escape duty, my little catechist ; but——”

“ Hallo! Glynn, Glynn Proctor,” roared the first mate from the deck—‘ where's that fellow? Skulking, I’ll be bound. Lay aloft there and shake out the foretopsail. Look alive.”

THE STORM 83

“Ay, ay, sir,” was the ready response as the men sprang to obey.

“There, you have it now, Ailie, explained and illus- trated,” cried Glynn, starting up. “ Tas I am, at this minute in a snug, dry berth c atting to you, and in half a minute more I’ll be out on the end o’ the foreyard holding on for bare life, with the wind fit to tear o my jacket and blow my ducks into ribbons, and the rain and spray dashing all over me fit to blot me out alto- gether.’ There’s a pretty little idea to turn over in your mind, Ailie, while I’m away.”

Glynn closed the door at the last word, and, as he had prophesied, was, within half a minute, in the un- enviable position above referred to.

The force of the squall was already broken, and the men were busy setting close-reefed topsails, but the rain that followed the squall bid fair to “blot them out,” as Glynn said, altogether. It came down, not in drops, but in masses, which were caught up by the fierce gale and mingled with the spray, and hurled about and on with such violent confusion, that it seemed as though the whole creation were converted into wind and water, and had engaged in a war of extermination, the central turmoil of which was the Red Eric.

But the good ship held on nobly. Although not a fast sailer she was an excellent sea-boat, and danced on the billows like a sea-mew. The squall, however, was not over. Before the topsails had been set many minutes it burst on them again with redoubled fury, and the maintopsail was instantly blown into ribbons. Glynn and his comrades were once more ordered aloft to furl the remaining sails, but before this could be done the foretopmast was carried away, and in falling it tore away the jibboom also. At the same moment a tremendous sea came rolling on astern; in the uncertain light it looked like a dark moving mountain that was about to fall on them.

“Luff, luff a little—steady !” roared the captain, who

84 THE RED ERIC

saw the summit of the wave toppling over the stern, and

who fully appreciated the danger of being “ pooped,”

pag means having a wave launched upon the quarter- eck.

“ Steady it is,” replied the steersman.

“Look out!” shouted the captain and several of the men, simultaneously.

Every one seized hold of whatever firm object chanced to be within reach; next moment the black billow fell like an avalanche on the poop, and rushing along the decks, swept the waist-boat and all the loose spars into the sea. The ship staggered under the shock, and it seemed to every one on deck that she must inevitably founder; but in a few seconds she recovered, the water gushed from the scuppers and sides in cataracts, and once more they drove swiftly before the gale.

In about twenty minutes the wind moderated, and while some of the men went aloft to clear away the wreck of the topsails and make all snug, others went below to put on dry garments.

“That was a narrow escape, Mr. Millons,” remarked the captain, as he stood by the starboard-rails.

“It was, sir,” replied the mate. “It’s a good job too, sir, that none o’ the ’ands were washed overboard.”

“It is, indeed, Mr. Millons; we've reason to be thankful for that; but I’m sorry to see that we've lost our waist-boat.”

“We've lost our spare sticks, sir,” said the mate, with a lugubrious face, while he wrung the brine out of his hair; “and I fear we’ve nothink left fit to make a noo foretopmast or a jibboom.”

“True, Mr. Millons; we shall have to run to the nearest port on the African coast to refit; luckily we are not very far from it. Meanwhile, tell Mr. Markham to try the well ; it is possible that we may have sprung a leak in all this straining, and see that the wreck of the foretopmast is cleared away. I shall go below and consult the chart; if any change in the weather takes place, call me at once."

RUNNING FOR AFRICA 85

“Yes, sir,” answered the mate, as he placed his hand to windward of his mouth, in order to give full force to the terrific tones in which he proceeded to issue his cap- tain’s commands.

Captain Dunning went below, and looking into Ailie’s berth, nodded his wet head several times, and smiled with his damp visage benignly—which acts, however well meant onl kindly they might be, were, under the circumstances, quite unnecessary, ing that the child was sound asleep. The captain then dried his head and face with a towel about as rough as the mainsail of a seventy-four, and with a violence that would have rubbed the paint off the figurehead of the Red Eric. Then he sat down to his chart, and having pondered over it for some minutes, he went to the foot of the companion ladder and roared up—

“Lay the course nor’-nor’-east-and-by-nor’-half-nor’, Mr. Millons.”

To which Mr. Millons replied in an ordinary tone, “ Ay, ay, sir,” and then roared—“ Lay her head nor’-nor’-east. and-by-nor’-half-nor’,” in an unnecessarily loud and ter- ribly fierce tone of voice to the steersman, as if that individual were in the habit of neglecting to obey orders, and required to be perpetually threatened in what may be called a tone of implication.

The steersman answered in what, to a landsman, would have sounded as a rather amiable and forgiving tone of voice—‘ Nor’-nor’-east-and-by-nor’-half-nor’ it is, sir;” and thereupon the direction of the ship’s head was changed, and the Red Eric, according to Tim Rokens, “ bowled along” with a stiff breeze on the quarter, at the rate of ten Santa, for the west coast of Africa.

CHAPTER IX.

RAMBLES ON SHORE, AND STRANGE THINGS AND CERE- MONIES WITNESSED THERE.

Variety is charming. No one laying claim to the smallest amount of that very uncommon attribute, com- mon-sense, will venture to question the truth of that statement. Variety is so charming that men and women, boys and girls, are always, all of them, hunting after it. To speak still more emphatically on this subject, we

venture to affirm that it is an absolute necessity of animal nature. Were any positive and short-sighted individual to deny this position, and sit down during the remainder of his life in @ chair and look straight before him, in order to prove that he could live without variety, he would seek it in change of position. If he did not do that, he would seek it in change of thought. If he did not do that, he would die!

Fully appreciating this great principle of our nature, and desiring to be charmed with a little variety, Tim Rokens and Phil Briant presented themselves before Captain Dunning one morning about a week after the storm, and «sked leave to go ashorv. The reader may at first think the men were mad, hut he will change his opinion when we tell him that four days after the storm in question the Red Eric had anchored in the harbour formed by the mouth of one of the rivers on the African coast, where white men trade with the natives for bar- wood and ivory, and where they also carry on that

86

RAMBLES ON SHORE 8y

horrible traffic in negroes, the existence of which is a foul disgrace to humanity.

“Go ashore!” echoed Captain Dunning. “ Why, if you all go on at this rate, we'll never get ready for sea. However, you may go, but don’t wander too far into the interior, and look out for elephants and wild men o’ the woods, boys—keep about the settlements.”

“Ay, ay, sir, and thank’ee,” replied the two men, touching their caps as they retired.

“Please, sir, 1 want to go too,” said Glynn Proctor, approaching the captain.

“What ! more wanting to go ashore?”

“Yes, and so do I,” cried Ailie, running forward and clasping her father’s rough hand; “I di enjoy ‘myself so much yesterday, that I must go on shore again to- day, and sess go with Glynn. He'll take such famous care of me; now won't you let me go, papa?”

“Upon my word, this looks like preconverted mutiny. However, I don’t mind if I do let you go, but have a care, Glynn, that you don’t lose sight of her for a moment, and keep to the shore and the settlements. I’ve no notion of allowing her to be swallowed by an alligator, or trampled on by an elephant, or run away with by a gorilla.”

“Never fear, sir. You may trust me; I’ll take good care of her.”

With a shout of delight the child ran down to the cabin to put on her bonnet, and quickly reap peste. carrying in her hand a basket which she purposed to fill with a valuable collection of plants, minerals, and in- sects. These she meant to preserve and carry home as a surprise to aunts Martha and Jane, both of whom were

assionately fond of mineralogy, delighted in botany, uxuriated in entomology, doted on conchology, and raved about geology—all of which sciences they studied superficially, and specimens of which they collected and labelled beautifully,and stowed away carefully ina little

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88 THE RED ERIC

cabinet, which they termed (not jocularly, but seriously) their “Bureau of Omnology.”

It was a magnificent tropical morning when the boat left the side of the Red Eric and landed Glynn and Ailie, Tim Rokens and Phil Briant on the wharf that ran out from the yellow beach of the harbour in which their vessel lay. The sun had just risen. The air was cool (comparatively) and motionless, so that the ocean lay spread out like a pure mirror, and revealed its treasures and mysteries to a depth of many fathoms, The sky was intensel y blue and the sun intensely bright, while the atmosphere was laden with the delightful per- fume of the woods—a perfume that is sweet and pleasant to those long used to it, how much more enchanting to nostrils rendered delicately sensitive by . long exposure to the scentless gales of ocean ?

One of the sailors who had shown symptoms of weakness in the chest during the voyage, had begged to be discharged and left ashore at this place. He could ill be spared, but as he was fit for nothing, the captain agreed to his request, and resolved to procure a negro to act as cook’s assistant in the place of Phil Briant, who was too useful a man to remain in so subordinate a capacity. The sick man was therefore sent on shore in charge of Tim Rokens.

_On landing they were met by a Portuguese slave- dealer, an American trader, a dozen or two partially- clothed negroes, and a large concourse of utterly naked little negro children, who proved to demonstration that they were of the same nature and spirit with white children, despite the colour of their skins, by taking intense delight in all the amusements practised by the fair-skinned juveniles of more northern lands—namely, scampering after each other, running and yelling, in- dulging in mischief, spluttering in the water, rolling on the sand, staring at the strangers, making impudent remarks, and punching each other’s heads.

THE TRADER 89

If the youth of America ever wish to prove that they are of a distinct race from the sable sons of Africa, their only chance is to become paragons of perfection, and give up all their wicked ways.

“Oh!” exclaimed Ailie, half amused, half frightened, as Glynn lifted her out of the boat; “oh! how funny ! ake they look so very like as if they were all painted

ack ?”

“ Good-day to you, gentlemen,” cried the trader, as he approached the landing. “ Got your foretop damaged, I see. Plenty of sticks here to mend it. Be glad to assist you in any way I can. Was away in the woods when you arrived, else I’d have come to offer sooner.”

The trader, who was a tall, sallow man in a blue cotton shirt, sailor’s trousers, and a_broad-brimmed straw hat, addressed himself to Glynn, whose gentlemanly manner led him to believe he was in command of the party.

“Thank you,” replied Glynn, “ we've got a little damage —lost a good boat, too; but we’ll soon Tepair the mast. We have come ashore just now, however, mainly for a stroll.”

“Ay,” put in Phil Briant, who was amusing the black children and greatly delighting himself by nodding and smiling ferociously at them, with e view vo making a favourable impression on the natives of this new country. “‘ Ay, sir, an’ sure we’ve comed to land a sick shipmate who wants to see the doctor uncommon. Have ye sich an article in these parts ? ”

“No, not exactly,” replied the trader, “but I do a little in that way myself: perhaps I may manage to cure’ him if he comes up to my house.”

“We wants a nigger too,” said Rokens, who, while the others were talking, was extremely busy filling his

pipe.

At this remark the trader looked knowing.

“Oh!” he said, “ that’s your game, is it? There’s your man there; I’ve nothing to do with such wares.”

THE RED ERIC

He pointed to the Poriuguese slave-dealer as he spoke.

Seeing himself thus referred to, the slave-dealer came forward, hat in hand, and made a polite bow. He was a man of extremely forbidding aspect. A long dark visage, which terminated in a black peaked beard, and was surmounted by a tall-crowned broad-brimmed straw hat, stood on the top of a long, raw-boned, thin, sinewy, shrivelled, but powerful frame, that had battled with and defeated all the fevers and other diseases peculiar to the equatorial regions of Africa. He wore a short light- coloured cotton jacket and pantaloons—the latter much too short for his limbs, but the deficiency was more than made up by a pair of Wellington boots. His natural look was a scowl. His assumed smile of politeness was so unnatural, that Tim Rokens thought, as he gazed at him, he would have preferred greatly to have been frowned at by him. Even Ailie, who did not naturally think ill of any one, shrank back as he approached and grasped Glynn’s hand more firmly than usual.

** Goot morning, gentl’m’n. You was vish for git nigger, I suppose.” —

‘** Well, we wos,” replied Tim, with a faint touch of sarcasm in his tone. ‘‘ Can you get un for us?”

“* 'Yees, sare, aS many you please,” replied the slave- dealer, with a wink that an ogre might have envied. “ Have great many ob ’em stay vid me always.”

“Ah! then, they must be fond o’ bad company,” re- marked Briant, in an undertone, “to live along wid such a alligator.”

“Well, then,” said Tim Rokens, who had completed the filling of his pipe, and was now in the full enjoyment of it; “‘let’s see the feller, an’ I’ll strike a bargain with him, if he seems a likely chap.”

“* You vill have strike de bargin vid me,” said the dealer. “I vill charge you ver’ leetle, suppose you take full cargo.”

The whole party, who were ignorant of the man’s

PHIL BRIANT’S PECULIARITIES ot

profession, started at this remark, and looked at the dealer in surprise.

“Wot!” exclaimed Tim Rokens, withdrawing his pipe from his lips; “do you sell niggers?”

“Yees, to be surely,” replied the man, with a peculiarly saturnine smile.

“A slave-dealer?” exclaimed Briant, clenching his fists.

“Even so, sare.”

At this Briant uttered a shout, and throwing forward his clenched fists in a defiant attitude, exclaimed be- tween his set teeth—

“ Arrah! come on!”

Most men have peculiarities. Phil Briant had many ; but his most striking peculiarity, and that which led him frequently into extremely awkward positions, was a firm belief that his special calling—in an amateur point of view—was the redressing of wrongs—not wrongs of a particular class, or wrongs of an excessively glaring and offeasive nature, but a// wrongs whatsoever. It mattered not to Phil whether the wrong had to be righted by force of argument or force of arms. He considered himself an accomplished practitioner in both lines of business—2znd in regard to the latter his esti- mate of his powers was not very much too high, for he was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested, long-armed fellow, and had acquired a scientific knowledge of boxing under a celebrated bruiser at the expense of a few hard-earned shillings, an occasional bottle of poteen, and many a severe thrashing.

Justice to Phil’s ar-iability of character requires, however, that we sh _ . state that he never sought to terminate an argument with his fists unless he was invited to do so, and even then he invariably gave his rash challenger fair warning, and offered to let him retreat if so disposed. But when injustice met his eye, or when he happened to see cruelty practised by the strong against the weak, his blood fired at once, and

92 : THE RED ERIC

he only deigned the short emphatic remark—“ Come on,” sometimes preceded by “Arra " sometimes not. Generally speaking, he accepted his wn challenge, and went on forthwith.

Of all the iniquities that draw forth the groans of humanity on this sad earth, slavery, in the opinion of Phil Briant, was the worst. He had never come in contact with it, not having been in the Southern States of America. He knew from hearsay that the coast of Africa was its fountain, but he had forgotten the fact, and in the novelty of the scene before him, it did not at first occur to him that he was actually face to face wit’: a “live slave-dealer.”

“Let me go!” roared the Irishman, a3 he struggled in the iron grip of Tim Rokens, and the not less powerful grasp of Glynn Proctor. “Och! let me go! Doo, darlints. I'll only give him wan—jist wan! Let me go, will ye?”

“Not if I can help it,” said Glynn, tightening his grasp.

“Wot a cross helephant it is,’ muttered Rokens, as he thrust his hand into his comrade’s neckcloth and quietly began to choke him as ne dragged him away towards the residence of the trader, who was an amused as well as surprised spectator of this unexpected ebullition of passion.

At length Phil Briant allowed himself to be forred away from the beach where the slave-dealer stood with his arms crossed on his breast, and a sarcastic smile playing on his thin lips. Had that Portuguese trafficker in human flesi known how quickly Briant could have doubled the size of his long nose and shut up both his eyes, he would probably have modified the expression of his countenance; but he didn’t know it, so he looked after the party until they had entered the dwelling of the trader, and then sauntered up towards the woods, which in this place came down to within a few yards of the beach.

A RAMBLE ON SHORE 93

The settlement was a mere collection of rudely-con- structed native huts, built of bamboos and roofed with a thatch of palm-leaves. In the midst of it stood a pretty white-painted’ cottage with green-edged windows and doors, and a verandah in front. This was the dwellin of the trader; and alongside of it, under the same roof, was the store, in which were kept the guns, beads, powder and shot, etc., etc., which he exchanged with the natives of the interior for elephants’ tusks and bar-wood, from which latter a beautiful dye is obtained ; also ebony, indiarubber, and other products of the country. ‘

Here the trader entertained Tim Rokens and Phil Briant with stories of the slave-trade ; and here we shall leave them while we follow Glynn and Ailie, who went off together to ramble along the shore of the calm sea.

They had not gone far when specimens of the strange creatures that dwell in these lands presented themselves to their astonished gaze. There were birds innumerable on the shore, on the surface of the ocean, and in the woods. The air was alive with them; many being similar to the birds they had been familiar with from infancy, while others were new and strange.

To her immense delight Ailie saw many living specimens of the bird-of-paradise, the graceful plumes of which she had frequently beheld on very high and important festal occasions, nodding on the heads of Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane. But the prettiest of all the birds she saw there was a small creature with a breast so red and bright, that it seemed, as it flew about, like a little ball of fire. There were many of them flying about near a steep bank, in holes of which they built their nests. She observed that they fed upon flies whick they caught while skimming through the air, and afterwards learned that they were called bee-eaters.

“Oh! look!” exclaimed Ailie in that tone of voice which indicated that a surprising discovery had been

94 THE RED ERIC

made. Ailie was impulsive, and the foncs in which she exclaimed ‘“‘ Oh!” were so varied, emphatic, and distinct, that those who knew her well could tell exactly the state of her mind on hearing the exclamation, At present, her “Oh!” indicated surprise mingled with alarm.

“Eh! what, where?” cried Glynn, throwing forward his musket—for he had taken the precaution to carry one with him, not knowing what he might meet with on such a coast.

“The snake ! look—oh ! ”

At that moment a huge black snake, about ten feet long, showed itself in the grass. Glynn took aim at once, but the piece, being an old flint-loc:, missed fire. Before he could again take aim the loathesome- looking repile had glided into the underwood, which in most places was so overgrown with the rank and gigantic vegetation of the tropics as to be quite impene- trable.

“Ha! he’s gone, Ailie!” cried Glynn, in a tone of disappointment, as he put fresh priming into the pan of his piece. “We must be careful in walking here, it seems. This wretched old musket! Lucky for us that our lives did not depend on it. I wonder if it was a poisonous serpent ? ”

“Perhaps it was,” said Ailie, with a look of dee solemnity, as she took her companion’s left hand, and trotted along by his side. ‘Are not all. serpents poisonous ? ”

“Qh dear, no. Why, there are some kinds that are quite harmless. , But as I don’t know which are and which are not, we must look upon all as enemies until we become more knowing.”

Presently they came to the mouth of a river—one of those sluggish streams on the African coast, which suggest the idea of malaria and the whole family of low fevers, It glided through a mango swamp, wicre the

A COMICAL MONKEY 95

tree seemed to be standing on their roots, which served the purpose of stilts to keep them out of the mud. The river was oily, and sluggish, and hot-looking, and its mud-bands were slimy and liquid, so that it was not easy to say whether the water of the river was mud, or the mud on the bank was water. It was a place that made one involuntarily think of creeping monsters, and crawling objects, and slimy things !

“Look! oh! oh! such a darling pet!” exclaimed Ailie, as they stood near the banks of this rrver wonder- ing what monster would first cleave the muddy waters, and raise its hideous head. She pointed to the bough of a dead tree near which they stood, and on which sat the “darling pet” referred to. It was a very small monkey with white whiskers; a dumpy little thing, that looked at them with an expression of surprise quite equal in intensity to their own.

Seeing that it was discovered, the “darling pet” opened its little mouth, and uttered a succession of “‘Ohs!” that rendered Ailie’s exclamations quite insig- nificant by comparison. They were sharp and short, and rapidly uttered, while, at the same time, two rows of most formidable teeth were bared, along with the gums that held them.

At this Ailie and her companion burst into a fit cf irrepressible laughter, whereupon the “darling pet” put itself into such a passion—grinned, and coughed, and gasped, and shook the tree, and writhed, and glared, to such an extent that Glynn said he thought it would burst, and Ailie agreed that it was very likely. Finding that this terrible display of fury had no effect on the strangers, the “darling pet” gave mtterance to a farewell shriek of passion, and, bounding nimbly into the woods, disappeared.

‘Oh, what a funny beast,” said Ailie, sitting down on a stone, and dryirg her eyes, which had filled with tears from excessive laughter.

a) THE RED ERIC

“Indeed it was,” said Glynn. “It's my opinion that a monkey is the funniest beast in the world.”

“No, Glynn; a kitten’s funnier,” said Ailie, with a degree of emphasis that showed she had considered the subject well, and had fully made up her mind in regard to it long ago. “I think a kitten’s the very funniest beast in all the whole world.”

“Well, perhag :t is,” said Glynn thoughtfully. Pere you ever see three kittens together?” asked Ailie.

“No; I don’t think I ever did. I doubt if I have seen even two together. Why?”

“Oh! because they are so very, very funny. Sit down beside me, and I'll tell you abuut three kittens I once had. They were very little—at { ast they were litt! hefore they got big.”

Glynn laughed.

“Oh, you know what I mean. They were able to play when they were very little, you know.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. Go on.”

“Well, two were grey, and one was white and grey, but most of it was white; and when they went to play, oue always hid itself to watch, an] then the other two began, and came up to each other with little jumps, and their backs up and iails curved, and hair all on end, glaring at each other, and retenuing that they were so angry. Do you know, fees I really believe they sometimes forgot it was pretence, and actually became angry. But the fun was, that, when the two were just going to fly at each other, the third one, .-ho had been watching, used to dart out and give them such a fright —a real fright, you know—which made them jump, oh! three times their own height up into the air, and they came down again with a fuff that put the third one in a fright too; so that they all scatiered away from each. other as if they had gone quite mad. ‘What's that?”

THE YOUNG PHILOSOPE.ERS 97

“""-a fish I think,” said Glynn, rising and going te ‘ie river, to look at the object that had attra.. “1 his companion’s attention. “It’s a shark, ! do believe.

In a few seconds the creature came so clr 3¢ that they could see it quite distinctly; and on a more careful inspection, they observed that the mouth of the river was full of these ravenous monsters. Soon after they saw monsters of -a still more ferocious aspect; for while they were watching the sharks, two crocodiles put up their snouts, and crawled sluggishly out of the water upon a mud-bank, where they lay down, apparently with the intention of taking a nap in the sunshine. They were too far off, however, to be well seen.

“Isn't it strange, Glynn, that there are such ugly beasts in the world >” said Ailie. “I wonder why Gud made them ?”

“So do I,” said Glynn, looking at the child’s thought- ful face in some surprise. “I suppose they must be of some sort of use.”

“Oh! yes, of course they are,” rejoined Ailie quickly. “Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane used to tell me that every creature was made by God for some good pur- pose; 1d when I came tc the crocodile in my book, they saiu it was certainly of use too, though they did not know what. I remember it very well, because { was so surprised to hear that Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane did not know everything.”

“No doubt Aunt Martha and Aunt jane were right,” said Glynn, with a smile. “I confess, however, that crocodiles seem t:) me to be of no other use than tu kill and eat up everything that comes within the rezch of their terrible jaws. But, indeed, now I think of it, the very same may be said of man, fe ke kills and eats up at least everything that he waxts to put into his jaws.”

“So he does,” said Ailie; “isn’t it funny ?”

G

98 THE RED ERIC

“Isn't what funny ?” asked Glynn.

“That we should be no better than crocodiles—at least, I mean about cating.”

“You forget, Ailie, we cook our food.” “Oh! so we do. I did not remember to think of that. That's a great difference, indeed,”

Leaving Glynn and his little charge to Philosophize ou the resunblance between men and crocodiles, we shall now return to Tim Rokens and Phil Briant whom we left in the trader's cottage.

The irate Irishman had been calmed down by reason and expostulation, and had again been roused to great indignation several times since we left him, by the account of things connected with the slave-trade, given him by the trader, who, although he had no interest in it himself, did not feel very much aggrieved by the sufferings he witnessed around him.

“You don’t mane to tell me, now, that whalers comes in here for slaves, do ye?” said Briant, placing his two

sts on his two knees, and thrusting his head towards the trader, who admitted that he meant to say that; and that he meant, moreover, to add, that the thing was by no tneans of rare occurrence—that whaling ships occa- sionally ran into that very port on their way south, shipped a cargo of negroes, sold them at the nearest slave-buying port they could make on the Americar:

coast, and then proceeded on their voyage, no one hein; a whit the wi

A BLACK GUIDE 99

theus down into the hold than he shut down the natches, sailed away, and sold ’em every one,”

“Ah! morther, couldn’t 1 burs?” groaned Phil ; “ an’ OV coorse they left a lot o’ fatherless c lildren and widdors behind ’em.’

“They did; but all the widows are married again, and most of the chiidren are grown up.”

Briant looked as if he did not feel quite sure \hether he ought to regard this as a comforting piece of information or the reverse, and wisely remained silent.

“And now you must excuse me if I leave you to ramble about alone for some time, as I have hi -"ness to transact : meanwhile I'll introduce you to i nigger who will show you about the place, and one who, if I mistake not, will gladly accompany you to sea as steward’s assistant.”

The trader opened a door which led to the back part of his premises, and shouted to a stu. ' negro who was sawing wood there, and who came forward with alacrity,

“Ho! Nee lootambo, go take these gentlemen round about + og village, and let them see all that is to

seen,”’

“And they’ve got something to Say to you about going to sea—would you like to go?”

extended from ear to ear, but he made no other reply. “Well, please yourself, You’re a free man—you may do as you choose.” Neepeelootambo, who was almost naked, having only & small piece of cloth wrapped round his waist and loins,

house. “ Now,” said Tim Rokens, turning to the hegro, and

100 THE RED ERIC

pointing along the shore, “ we'll go alon jaw the matter over. Business first, and can get it, arterwards—them’s my notion: Nippi—what’s your name?”

“Coo Tumble, I think,” suggested Briant.

“Ay, Nippiloo Bumble—wot a jaw-breaker ! so git along, old boy.”

g this way and

Pleasure, if ye 8, Nip—Nip—

Surprised as well as chagrined, having been led to expect that the man

would consent at once. But no alluring pictures of the delights of seafaring life, or the Pleasures and excite. ments of the whale fishery, had the least effect on their sable companion. Even sundry shrewd hints, thrown out by Phil Briant, that “ the steward had always mand, o’ the wittles. and that his assistant would only have to help himself when convani

“* Well, Nippi-Boo-Tumble,” cried Tim Rokens, who in his disappointment unceremoniously contracted his name, “it’s my opinion—private opinion, mark’ee— that you’re @ ass, an’ you'll come for to repent

* Troth, Nippi-Bumble, he’s about right,” added Briant coaxingly. ‘Come now, avic, wot’s the raisin ye won’t go ? de we ain’t blackguards enough to ax ye to come for to be sold ; it’s all fair and above board. Why won’t ye, now?”

The negro stopped, and turning towards them, drew himself Proudly up; then, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him, he advanced a step and held up his fore- finger to impose silence.

“You no tell what I go to say ? at least, not for one, two day.”

“Niver a word, honour bright,” said Phil, in a

GREAT EXPECTATIONS 101

confidential tone, while Rokens expressed the same sentiment by means of an emphatic wink and nod.

“You mus’ know,” said the negro, earnestly, “me expec’s to be made a king!”

“A wot?” exclaimed both his companions in the same breath, and very much in the same tone.

“A king.”

“Wot?” said Rokens ; “ d’ye mean a ruler of this here country?”

Neepleelootambo nodded his head so violently that it was a marvel it remained on his shoulders.

“Yis. Ho! ho! ho! ’xpec’s to be a king.”

“And when are ye to be crowned, Bumble?” in- quired Briant, rather sceptically, as they resumed their walk.

“Oh, me no say me goin’ to be king; me only ’xpec’s dat.”

“ Werry good,” returned Rokens ; “but wot makes ye for to expect it?”

“Aha! Me berry clebber fellow—know most ebbery- ting. Me hab doo’d good service to dis here country. Me can fight like one leopard, and me hab kill great few elephant and gorilla. Not much mans here hab shoot de gorilla, him sich terriferick beast ; ’bove five foot six tall, and bigger round de breast dan you or me—dat is a great true fact. Also, me can spok Englis’.”

“‘An’ so you expec’s they’re goin’ to make you a king for all that ?”

“Yis, dat is fat me ‘xpec’s, for our old king be just dead; but dey nebber tell who dey going to make king till dey do it. I not more sure ob it dan the nigger dat walk dare before you.”

Neepeelootambo pointed as he spoke toa negro who certainly had a more kingly aspect than any native they had yet seen. He was a perfect giant, considerably

above six feet high, and broad in proportion. He wore .

no clothing on the upper part of his person, but his legs were encased in a pair of old canvas trousers, which had

attire ee s .

Sh ities rsiattemaemmeiiiladiees ss sees et ee rani arte.

102 . THE RED ERIC

been made for a man of ordinary stature, so that his huge bony ankles were largely exposed to view.

Just as Phil and Rokens stopped to take a good look at him before passing on, a terrific yell issued from the bushes, and instantly after, a negro ran towards the black giant and administered to him a severe kick on the thigh, following it up with a cuff on the side of the head, at the same time howling something in the native tongue, which our friends of course did not understand. This man was immediately followed by three other blacks, one of whom pulled the giant's hair, the other pulled his nose, and the third spat in his face!

It is needless to remark that the sailors witnessed this unprovoked assault with unutterable amazement. But the most remarkable part of it was, that the fellow, instead of knocking all his assailants down, as he might have done without much trouble, quietly submitted to the indignities heaped upon him; nay, he even smiled upon his tormentors, who increased in numbers every minute, running out from among the bushes and sur- rounding the unoffending man, and uttering wild shouts as they maltreated him.

“Wot’s he bin doin’?” inquired Rokens, turning to his black companion. But Rokens received no answer, for Neepeelootambo was looking on at the scene with an expression so utterly woe-begone and miserable that one would imagine he was himself suffering the rough usage he witnessed.

“Arrah! ye don’t appear to be chairful,” said Briant, laughing, as he looked in the negto’s face. “This is a quare counthrie, an’ no mistake; it seems to be always blowin’ a gale o’ surprises. Wot’s wrong wid ye, Bumble?”

The negro groaned.

“Sure that may be a civil answer, but it’s not o’ much use. Hallo! what air they doin’ wid the poor cratur now ?”’

As he spoke the crowd seized the black giant by the

KING-MAKING EXTRAORDINARY 103

arms and neck and hair, and dragged him away towards ‘the village, leaving our friends in solitude.

“A very purty little scene,” remarked Phil Briant, when they were out of sight; “very purty indade, av we only knowed wot it’s all about.”

If the surprise of the two sailors was great at what they had just witnessed, it was increased tenfold by the subsequent behaviour of their negro companion.

That eccentric individual suddenly checked his groans, gave vent to a long, deep sigh, and assuming a resigned expression of countenance, rose up and said—

“Ho! It all ober now, massa.”

“T do believe,” remarked Rokens, looking gravely at his shipmate, “that the feller’s had an attack of the molly-run bles, an’s got better all of a suddint.”

“No, massa, dat not it. But me willin’ to go wid you now to de sea.”

“Eh? willin’ to go? Why, Nippi-too-cumble, wot a rum customer you are, to be sure!”

“Yis, massa,” rejoined the negro. “Me not goin’ to be king now, anyhow; so it ob no use stoppin’ here.

€ go to sea.”

“ Not goin’ to be king? How d’ye know that ?”

“’Cause dat oder nigger, him be made king in a berry short time. You mus’ know, dat w’en dey make wan king in dis here place, de peeple choose de man; but

. dey not let him know. He may guess if him please— like me—but p’raps him Suess wrong—like me! Ho! ho! Den arter dey fix on de man, dey run at him and kick him, as you hab seen dem do, and spit on him, and trow mud ober him, tellin’ him all de time, ‘ You no king yet, you black rascal; you soon be king, and den you may put your foots on our necks and do w’at you like, but not yit; take dat, you tief!’ An’ so dey ’buse him for a littel time. Den dey take him straight away to de palace and crown him, an’, oh! arter dat dey become very purlite to him. Him know dat well ‘nuff, and so

H | ! Hi ; i ; i i

|

104 THE RED ERIC

Rokens exhibited symptoms of internal risibility, though his outward physiognomy remained unchanged.

“Och! Bumble, you'll be the death o’ me,” cried Briant. “ An’ are they a-crownin’ of him now >”

“Yis, massa. Dat what dey go for to do jist now.”

“ Troth, then, I'll go an’ inspict the coronation, Come along, Bumble, me darlint, and show us the way.”

In a few minutes Neepeelootambo conducted his new friends into a large rudely-constructed hut, which was

Glynn Proctor had pushed their way before them. Giving them a nod of recognition, they sat down on a

and made a speech in the language of the country, after which he advanced and crowned the new king,

KING-MAKING EXTRAORDINARY 105 who had already been invested in a long scarlet coat covered with tarnished gold-lace, and cut in the form peculiar to the last century. The crown consisted of an ordinary black silk hat, considerably the worse for wear. It looked familiar and commonplace enough in the eyes of their white visitors ; but, being the only specimen of the article in the district, it was regarded by the negroes with peculiar admiration, and deemed worthy to decorate the brows of royalty

Having had this novel crown placed on woolly pate, which was much too large for it, the new king hit it an emphatic blow on th

meant thence-

, vail himself of all the privileges that his high pccition conferred on him.

He then rose and made @ pretty long speech, which was frequently applauded, and which terminated amid a most uproarious demonstration of loyalty on the part of the people.

If you wish to gladden the heart of reader, get him into the midst of The negro’s delight is to shout, and | beat tin kettles with iron Spoons. The greater the noise, the more he enjoys himself. Great guns and musketry, gongs and brass bands, kettledrums and smashing crockery, crashing railway-engines, blending their utmost whistles with the shrieks of a thousand pigs being » and as near to him as possible, is a species of Elysium to the sable son of Africa, negroes procure and pro- So that the white visitors were soon glad to seek shelter, and find relief to their ears, on board He

But even there the sounds of re and long after the curt and sea, th

joicing reached them, ain of night had enshrouded land e hideous din of royal festivities came swelling

rod leicpashiemaenine eet ee esas

106 THE RED €RIC

out with the soft warm breeze that fanned Ailie’s cheek as she stood on the quarter-deck of the Red Eric, watching the wild antics of the naked savages as they danced round their bright fires, and holding her father’s hand tightly as she related the day’s adventures, and told of the monkeys, crocodiles, and other strange creatures she had seen in the mangrove-swamps and on the mud-banks of the slimy river,

CHAPTER X.

AN INLAND JOURNEY—SLEEPING (N THE WOODS—wWILpD BEASTS EVERYWHERE—sap FATE OF 4 GAZELLE.

THE damage sustained by the Red Eric during the storm was found to be more severe than was at first

covered, and the injury to the top of the foremast was neither so easily nor so quickly repaired as had been anticipated.

It thus happened that the vessel was detained on this part of the African coast for nearly a couple of weeks, during which time Ailie had frequent Opportunities of going on shore, sometimes in charge of Glynn, poh aga with Tim Rokens, and occasionally with her father.

During these little excursions the child lived in a world of romance. Not only were the animals. and plants, and objects of every kind with which she came in contact, entirely new to her, except in so far as she had made their acquaintance in pictures, but she invested everything in the roseate hue peculiar to her own roman- tic mind. True, she saw many things that caused her a good deal of pain, and she heard a few stories about the terrible cruelty of the negroes to each other, which made

107

108 THE RED ERIC

her shudder, but anpleasant thoughts did not dwell long on her mind; she soon forgot the little annoyances or frights she experienced, and revelled ir: the enjoymens of the beautiful sights and sweet perfumes which more thar counterbalanced the bad odours and ugly tings that came across her path

Ailie’s mind was a very inquiring one, and often and long did she ponder the things she saw, and wonder why God made some so very ugly and some so very pretty, and to what use He intended them to be put, Of course, in such speculative inquiries, she was frequently very much puzzled, as also were the com. panions to whom she propounded the questions from time to time, but she had been trained to brlieve that everything that was made by God was good, whether she understood it or not, and she notice particularly, and made an involuntary memorandum of the fact in her own mind, that ugly things were -very few in number, while beautiful objects were absolutely innumerable.

The trader, who rendered good assistance to Captain Dunning in the repair of his ship, frequently overheard Ailie wishing “so much” that she might -be allowed to go sar into the wild woods, and one day suggested to the captain that, as the ship would have to remain a week or more in port, he would be glad to take a party an excursion up the river in his canoe, and show them a little of forest life, saying at the same time that the little giri might go too, for they were not likely to encounter any danger which might not be easily guarded against.

At first the captain shook his head, remembering the stories that were afloat regarding the wild beasts of those regions. But, on second thoughts, he agreed to allow a well-armed party to accompany the trader; the more so that he was urged thereto very strongly by Dr. Hopley, who, being a naturalist, was anxious to procure specimens of the creatures and plants in

THE GREAT EXCURSION 109

the interior, and being a phrenologist, was desirous of examining what Glynn termed the “ bumpological developments of the negro skull.”

On still further considering the matter, Captain

unning determined to leave the first mate in charge of the ship, head the exploring party himself, and take Ailie along with him.

To say that Ailie was delighted, would be to under- State the fact very much. She was wild with joy, and went about all the day, after her father’s decision was announced, making every species of insane preparation for the canoe voyage, clasping her hands, and exclaim- ing, “Oh! what fun!” while her bright eyes sparkled to such an extent that the sailors airly laughed in her face when they looked at her.

Prepzrations were soon made. The party censisted of the captain and his little child, Glynn Proctor (of course), Dr. Hopley, Tim Rokens, Phil Briant, Jim Scroggles, the trader, and Neepeelootambo, which last had been by that time regularly domesticated on board, and was now known by the name of King Bumble, which name, being as good as his own, and more pronounceable, we shall adopt from this time forward.

The very morning after the proposal was made, the above party embarked in the trader's canoe; and plying their paddles with the energy of men bent on what is vulgarly termed “ going the whole hoe” they quickly found themselves out of sight of their natmal element, the ocean, and surrounded by the wild, rich, luxuriant vegetation of equatorial Africa.

“Now,” remarked Tim Rokens, as they ceased paddling, and ran the canoe under the shade of a road palm-tree that overhung the river, in order tu take a short rest and a smoke after a Steady paddle of some miles—“Now this is wot I calls glorious, Soitis! Ain't it? Pass the ’baccy this way.”

110 THE RED ERIC

This double remark was made to King Bumble, who Passed the tobacco-pouch to his friend, after helping himself, and admitted that it was “ mugni- i fercent.”

“Here have | bin a-sittin’

tinued Rokens, “ for more nor two hours, an’ to m : »

sartin knowledge I've seed with my two eyes twelve

sharks (for 1 counted ‘em every one) at the mouth of

the river, and two crocodiles, and the srout of a hopplepittimus ; is that wot ye calls it?” Rokens addressed his question to the captain, but hil Briant, who had just succeeded in getting his Pipe to draw beautifully, answered instead, “Och! no,” said he; “thet’s not the way to pur- nounce it at all, at all. It’s a huppi-puppi-puttimus.” “TI dun know,” said Rokens, Shaking his head

gravely; “it appears to me there’s tov many huppi- Puppies in that word,”

in this here canoe,” con-

infinite amusement, for she experienced considerab'e difficulty herself in pronounc- ing that name, and had a ver

y truthful picture of the hippopotamus hanging at that moment in her room at home.

“Isn’t Tim Rokens very funny, papa?” she remarked in a whisper, looking up in her father’s face.

“Hush! my pet, and look yonder. There is some- thing funnier, if | mistake not.”

He pointed, as he spoke, to a ripple in the water on the opposite side of the river, close under a bank which

Jaws, afforded the travellers a s and throat. Briant afterwards asserted that he could

see down its throat, and could almost tell what it had had for dinzer !

(

CROCODILE SHOOTING II

“Plaze, sir, may I shot him?” cried Briant, seizing his loaded musket, and looking towar‘= the captain for permission.

“It’s of no use while in that vosition,” remarked the trader, who regarded the hideous-looking monster tare the calm unconcern of a man accustomed to such sights.

“You may try,” said the captain with a grin. Almost before the males 4 had left his lips, Phil took a rapid aim and fired. At the same identical moment the crocodile shut his jaws with a snap, as if he had an intuitive perception that something uneatable was coming. The bullet consequently hit his forehead, off which it glanced as if it had struck a piate of cast-iron. The reptile gave a wabble, expressive of lazy surprise, and sank slowly back into the slimy water.

The shot startled more than one huge creature, for immediately afterwards they heard several flops in the water near them, but the tall sedges prevented their seeing what animals they were. A whole troop of monkeys, too, went shrickiag away into the woods, showing that those nimble creatures had been watching all their movements, although, until that moment, they had taken good care to keep themselves out of sight.

“Never fire at a crocodile’s head,” said the trader, as the party resumed their paddles, and continued their ascent of the stream; “you might as well fire at a stone wall. It’s as hard as iron. The only place that’s sure to kill it just behind the fore-leg. The niggers always spear them there.”

“What do they spear them for?” asked Dr. Hopley

“They eat ’em,” replied the trader; “and the meat’s not so bad after you get used to it.”

“Ha!” exclaimed Glynn Proctor; “I should fancy the great difficulty is to get used to it.”

“If you ever chance to go for a week without tasting fresh meat,” replied the trader quietly, “you'll >- > it so difficult as you think.”

THE RED ERIC

That night the travellers encamped in the woods, and a wild charmingly romantic scene their night bivouac £ was—-so thought Ailie, and so, © would you have 1 thought, reader, had you been t. e. King Bumble managed to kindle three enormous fires, for the triple

purpose of keeping the part warm—for it was cold at night—of scaring away wild beast, and of cooking their supper. These fires he fed at intervals durin the whole »ight with huge logs, and the way in which he made | parks fly up in among che strange big leave of the tropical trees and Parasitical plants overhead, was quite equal, if not superior, to a display of regular fireworks.

Then Bumble and Glynn built a little platform of. logs, on which tt 'y strewed leaves and grass, and over which they spread‘a curtain or canopy of broad leaves and boughs. This was Ailie’s couch. It stood in the full blaze of the centre fire, and commanded a view of all that was going on in every part of the li

’

jovial laug

sha

rome gegee:

ENCAMPED IN THE WOODS 113

unaccountably saw at least six fires, and fuily half-a- dozen Bumbles, and eight or nine Glynus, and no end of fathers, and thousands of trees, and millions of sparks, all jumbled together in one vast complicated and marnificent pyrotechnic display ; and then—she fell asleep.

It is @ curious fact, and one for which it is not easy to account, that however happy you may be when you go to sleep out in the wild woods, you invariably awake in the morning in posezssion of a very small amount of happiness indeed. Probably, it is because one in such circumstances is usually called upon to turn out before

gle--n of a forest before sunrise is not calculated to elevate the spirits. Be this as it may, it is a fact that when Ailie was awakened on the followin morning about daybreak, and told to get up, she felt su ky—positively and unmis- takably sulky !

We do not say that she looked sulky or acted sulkily —far from it; but she felt sulky, and that was a very uncomfortable state of thi Ww

there—some of them, alas! so deep that we would not ike even to refer to them while writing in sportive vein,

into liquid fire, her temporary feelings of discomfort passed away, and her sensation of intensg enjoyment returned.

The scenery through which they passed on the second ay was somewhat varied. They emerged early in the day upon the bosom of a large lake which looked almost like the ocean, Here there were immense flocks of

H

114 THE RED ERIC

water-fowl, and among them that stra the pelican. Here, too

Several shots were fired at them, but although the balls hit, they did not penetrate their thick hides, until at last

se behind the fore leg.

nn, as the eddies circled down.

“Ah, so it ig!” replied the doctor; “ but he would . have been rather large to preserve and carry home as a specimen.”

“T ax yer parding, sir,” said Tim Rokens, addressing Dr. Hopley ; “ but I’m curious to know if cro-odiles has got phrenoligy ? ”

“* No doubt of it,” replied the doctor, laughing. ** Croco-

diles have bra i

» especially in the organs most used, hence corresponding development must take place in the skull.”

*T should think, doctor,” remarked the captain, who was somewhat sceptical, “ that their bumps of combative- ness must be very large.”

“Probably they are,” continued the doctor: “ some- thing like my friend Phil Briant here. I would venture to guess, now, that his organ of combativeness is well developed—let me see.”

The doctor, who sat close beside the Irishman, caused him to pull in his paddle and submit his head for in- spection, : mortial fear o’ operations iver since me owld grandmother’s pig got its fore-leg took off at the hip-jint.”

aes

BRIANT’S PHRENOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS 115

“ Hold your tongue, Paddy. Now the bump lies here —just under—eh ! why, you haven’t got so much as— what!”

“ Plaize, I think it’s lost in fat, sur,” remarked Briant, in a plaintive tone, as if he expected to be reprimanded for not having brought his bump of combativeness along with him.

‘* Well,” resumed the doctor, passing his fingers through Briant’s matted locks, “I Suppose you've not so combative as we had fancied ——”

“ Thrue for you,” interrupted Phil.

“ But, strange enough, I find your organ of veneration is very large, very large indeed ; singularly so for a man of your character ; but I cannot feel it easily, you have such a quantity of hair.”

“ Which is it, doctor dear 2?” inquired Phil,

“This one I am pressing now.”

“ Arrah ! don’t press so hard, plaze, it’s hurtin’ me ye are. Shure that’s the place where I run me head slap up agin the spanker-boom four days ago. Av that’s me

ump 0’ vineration, it wos three times as big an’ twice as hard yisterday—it wos, indade,”

Interruptions ‘in this world of uncertainty are not uncommon, and in the African wilds they are peculiarly frequent. The interruption vhich occurred on the present occasion to Dr. Hopley’s reply was, we need scarcely re- mark, exceedingly opportune. It came in the form of a

with his paddle. It did not seem to notice the boat, but after blowing a quantity of water from its nostrils, and opening its horrible mouth as if jt were yawning, it slowly sank again into the flood.

“Wot an ’orrible crittur!” exclaimed Jim Scroggles, in amazement at the sight.

“The howdacious willain ! remarked Rokens.

“Is that another on ahead ?” said Glynn, pointing to an object floating on the water about a hundred yards

THE RED ERIC

up the river; for they had passed the lake, and were now ascending another stream. “ D’ye see it, Ailie ? Look ! ”

The object sank as he spoke, and Ailie looked round just in time to see the tail of a crocodile flop the water and follow its owner to the depths below.

“Oh! oh!” exclaimed Ailie, with one of those peculiar intonations that told Glynn she saw something very beautiful, and that induced the remainder of the crew to rest on their paddles, and turn their ¢ yes in the direction indicated.

They did not require to ask what she saw, for the child’s finger directed their eyes to a spot on the bank of the river, where, under the shadow of a spreading bush with gigantic leaves, stood a lovely little gazelle. The graceful creature had trotted down to the stream to drink, and did not observe the canoe, which had been on the point of rounding a bank that jutted out into the river where its progress was checked. The gazelle paused a moment, looked round to satisfy itself that no enemy was near, and then put its lips to the water.

Alas! for the timid little thing! There were enemies near it and round it in all directions. There were leopards and serpents of the largest size in the woods, and man upon the river—although on this occasion it chanced that most of the men who gazed in admiration at its pretty form were ‘-iends. But its worst enemy, a — crocodile, was lurking close under the mud-bank at its feet.

Scarcely had its parched lips reached the stream when .& black snout darted from the water, and the next instant the gazelle was struggling in the crocodile’s jaws. A cry of horror burst from the men in the boat, and every man seized a musket ; but before an aim could be taken the struggle was over; the monster had dived with its prey, and nothing but a few streaks of red foam Joated on the troubled water.

SAD FATE OF A GAZELLE 117

Ailie did not move. She stood with her hands tightly clasped and her eyes starting almost out of their sockets, At last her feelings found vent. She threw her arms round her father’s neck, and burying he: face in his bosom, burst into a passionate flood of tears.

CHAPTER XI.

NATIVE DOINGS, AND A CRUEL MURDER—JIM SCROG- GLES SEES WONDERS, AND HAS A TERRIBLE ADVENe TURE,

It took two whole days and nights to restore Ailie to

her wonted cheerful state of mind, after she had witnessed

the death of t But although she sang and

] elf as much as ever, she f a new and Strange feel- ay, tinged her thoughts and tions.

ein her life experienced of

degrees, altho in the care

The present was such an occasion to little Ailie Dunning. She had indeed seen bloody work before, in the cutting up of a whale. But although she had been told it often enough, she did not vealize that whales have feelings and affections like other creatures. Besides, she had not witnessed the actual killing of the whale ; and if she had, it would probably have made little i":upression on her beyond that of temporary excitement—not even

118

AILIE’S DEEP IMPRESSIONS 119

that, perhaps, had her father been by her side. But she sym pathised with the gazelle. It was small, and beautiful, and lovable. Her heart had swelled the moment she saw it, and she had felt a longing desire to run up to it and throw her arms round its soft neck, so that, when she saw it suddenly struggling and crushed in the tremendous jaws of the horrible crocodile, every tender feeling in her breast was lacerated; every fibre of her heart trembfed with a conflicting gush of the tenderest ‘ty and the fiercest rage. From that day forward new thoughts began to occupy her mind, and old ideas presented themselves in different aspects.

We would not have the reader suppose, for a moment, that Ailie became an utterly changed creature. To an unobservant eye—such as that of Jim Scroggles, for ‘instance—she was the same in all respects a few days after as she had been a few hours before the event. But new elements had been implanted in her breast, or rather, seeds which had hitherto lain dormant were now caused to burst forth into plants by the all-wise Author of her being. She now fe/¢ for the first time—she could not tell why—that enjoyment was zo/ the chief good in life.

Of course she did not argue or think out all this clearly and methodically to herself. Her mind, on most things, material as well as immaterial, was very much what may be termed a jumble; but undoubtedly the above processes of reasoning and feeling, or something like them, were the result to Ailie of the violent death of that little gazelle.

The very next day after this sad event the travellers came to a native village, at which they stayed a night, in order to rest and procure fresh provisions. The trader was well known at this village, but the natives, all of whom were black, of course, and nearly ~aked, had never seen a little “bite girl befor-, so that their interest in and wonder ; ‘ie were qui.: amusing to witness. They crowded rc Yer, laughing and exclaining and

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120 THE RED ERIC

gesticulating in a most remarkab special notice of her li seemed t

yed by the attentions paid terested in th

anced to overhea na Tim Rokens,

phatic. ply to some questions put to him by eed ’em do it, not te Oh! but I wo very black villain in

No, t; oh, means wotiver.”

There was something unusual] y fierce in Rokens’ voice

that alarmed Ailie.

“T was continued the sailor, “down heerd a great yellin’ goin’ middle of a crowd o’ black

; SO I made sail, of course, to lend a hand if he’d got into trouble. He was scoldin’ away in the native lingo, as if he’d bin a born nigger.

A TERRIBLE MURDER 121

“* Wot’s all to do?’ says I.

“** They’re goin’ to kill a little boy,’ says he, quite fierce like, ‘cause they took it into their heads he’s bewitched.’

* An’ sayin’ that, he sot to agin in the other lingo, but the king came up an’ told him that the boy had to be killed ’cause he had a devil in him, and had gone and betwitched a number o’ other people ; an’ before he had done speakin’, up comes two fellers, draggin’ the poor little boy between them. The king axed him if he wos betwitched, and the little chap—from sheer fright, I do believe—said he wos. Of coorse I couldn’t understand “em, but the trader explained it all arter. Well, no sooner had he said that, than they all gave a yell, and rushed upon the poor boy with their knives, and cut him to pieces. It’s as sure as I’m sittin’ here,” cried Rokens, savagely, as his wrath rose again at the bare recital of the terrible deed he had witnessed. I would ha’ knocked out the king’s brains there and then, but the trader caught my hand, and said, in a great fright, that if I did, it would not only cost me my life, but likely the whole party ; so that cooled me, and I come away ; an’ I’m goin’ to ax the captin wot we shud do.”

“We can do nothing,” said the doctor sadly. ‘ Even Suppose we were strong enough to punish them, what good would itdo? We can’t change their natures. They are superstitious, and are firmly persuaded they did right in killing that poor boy.”

The doctor pondered for a few seconds, and then added, ir a low voice, as if he were weighing the meaning of what he said: “ Clergymen would tell us that nothing can deliver them from this bondage save a knowledge fo the true God and of His Son Jesus Christ ; that the Bible might be the means of curing them, if Bibles were only sent, and ministers to preach the gospel.”

“Then why ain’t Bibles sent to ’em at once ?”’ asked Rokens, in a tone of great indignation, supposing that the doctor was expressing his owr opinion on the sub-

$22 THE RED ERIC

ject. “Is there nobody to look arter these matters in Christian lands ?”

“Oh, yes, there are mary Bible Societies, and both Bibles and missionaries have been sent to this country ; but it’s a large one, and the-societies tell us their funds are limited.”

“Then why don’t they git more funds?” continued Rokens, in the same indignant tone, as his mind still dwelt upon the miseries and wickedness that he had seen, and that might be prevented ; “ why don’t they git more funds, and send out heaps o’ Bibles, an’ no end o’ missionaries ? ”’

“Tim Rokens,” said the doctor, lookin earnestly into his companion’s face, ‘if I were one of the missionaries, I might ask you how much money you ever gave to enable societies to send Bibles and missionaries to foreign lands ?

Tim Rokens was for once in his life completely taken aback. He was by nature a stolid man, and not easily put out. He was a shrewd man, too, and did not often commit himself. When he did, he was wont to laugh at himself, and so neutralize the laugh raised against: him. But here was a question that was too serious for laughter, and yet one which he could not answer without being self-condemned. He looked gravely in the doctor’s face for two minutes without speaking ; then he heaved a deep sigh, and said slowly, and with a pause between each word—

** Doctor Hopley—I—never—gave—a—rap—in—all— my—life.”

““So then, my man,” said the doctor, smiling, “‘ you’re scarcely entitled to be indignant with others.”

“Wot you remark, doctor, is true ; I—am—not.”

Having thus fully and emphatically condemned him- self, and along with himself all mankind who are in a similar category, Tim Rokens relapsed into silence, deliberately drew forth his pipe, filled it, lit it, and began to smoke,

STRANGE AND DREADFUL CREATURES 123

None of the party of travellers slept well that night, except ees the trader, who was accustomed to the ways of the negroes, and Kirg Bumble, who had been born and bred in the midst ot cruelties. Most of them dreamed of savage orgies, and massacres of innocent chil- dren, so that when daybreak summoned them to resume their journey, they arose and embarked with alacrity, glad to get away from the spot.

During that day and the next they saw a great number of crocodiles and hippopotami, besides strange birds and plants innumerable. The doctor filled his botanical-box to bursting. Ailie filled her flower-basket to overflowing. Glynn hit a crocodile on the back with a bullet, and received a lazy stare from the ugly creature in return, as it waddled slowly down the bank on which it had been lying, and plumped itno the river. The captain assisted Ailie to pluck flowers when they landed, which they did from time to time, and helped to arrange and pack them when they returned to the canoe. Tim Rokens did nothing particualrly worthy of record ; but he gave utter- ance to an immense number of sententious and wise remarks, which were listened to by Bumble with deep respect, for that sable gentleman had taken a great fancy for the bold harpooner, and treasured up all his sayings in his heart.

Phil Briant distinguished himself by shooting an im- mense serpent, which the doctor, who cut off and retained its head, pronounced to be an anaconda. It was full twenty feet long, and part of the body was cut up, roasted, and eaten by Bumble and the trader, though the others turned from it with loathing.

“It be more cleaner dan one pig, anyhow,” remarked Bumble, on observing the disgust of his white friends ; “‘an’ you no objic’ to eat dat.”

“‘Clainer than a pig, ye spalpeen!” cried Phil Briant ; “that only shows yer benighted haithen ignerance. Sure I lived in the same cabin wid a pig for many @ year

124 THE RED ERIO

“That doesn’t say much for your own cleanliness, or that of your family,” remarked Glynn.

“Och! ye’ve bin to school, retorted Phil,

“T have,” replied Glynn.

“Shure F thought so. [t’s there ve to be so oncommon cliver. Don’t for to go to school, Bumble, if ye iver git the chance. It’s a mighty lot o’ taichin’ they'd give ve, but niver a taste 0’ edicatic: Tin to wan, they’d cram ye till ye turn:d white i’ th. face, an’ that wouldn’t suit yer com. plexion, ye know, King Bumble, be no manes.”’

As for the trader, he acted interpreter when the

no doubt, haven't ye?”

must have larned you iver be persuaded

wl] them anocdotes without end about the natives and the wild creatures, and the traffic of the regions

through which the passed. In short, he made himself generally useful an

ing dinner when he went off, without arms of any kind, and without telling

whither he was bound. Indeed, he had no defined in-

y felt inclined for a

to be back in half. an-hour or less.

But Jim Scroggles had long legs and loved locomotion.

Moreover, the woods were exceedingly beautiful and fragrant, and comparatively cool ;

for it happened to

JIM SCROGGLES’ ADVENTURE 125

be the coolest season of the year in that sultry region, else the party of Europeans could not have ventured to travel there at all.

Wandering along beneath the shade of palm-trees and large-leaved shrubs and other tropical productions, with his hands in his breeches pockets, and whistling a variety of popular airs, which must have not a little astonished the monkeys and birds and other creatures— suci of them, at least, as hac! any taste for or know- ledge of music—Jim Scroggles penetrated much farther into the wilds than he had any intention of doing. There is no saying how far, in his absence of mind, he might have wandered, had he not been caught and very uncomfortably entangled in a mesh-work of wild vines and thorny plants that barred his further progress.

Jim had encountered several such before in his walk, but had forced his way through without more serious damage than a rent or two in his shirt and pantaloons, and several severe scratches to his hands and face; but Scroggles had lived a hard life from infancy, and did not mind scratches. Now, however, he could not advance a step, and it was only by much patient labour and by the free use of his clasp-knife, that he succeeded at length in releasing himself. He left a largé portion of one of the legs of his trousers and several bits of skin on the bushes, as a memorial of his visit to that spot.

Jim’s mind was awoke to the perception of three facts —namely, that he had made himself late for dinner ; that he would be the means of detaining his party; and that he had lost himself. :

Here was a pretty business! Being a man of slow thought and much deliberation, he sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and looking up, as men usually do when soliloquizing, exclaimed—

“ My eye, here’s a go! Wot is to be done?”

A very smali monke., with an uncommonly wrinkled and melancholy cast of visage, which chanced to be

Se eee emer

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126 THE RED ERIC

seated on a branch hard by, peering down at the lost mariner, replied—

“O! 0 3-0, Of o—o!” as much as to say, “Ah, my boy, that’s just the question.”

Jim Scroggles shook his head, partly as a rebuke to the impertinent little monkey and partly as an indica- tion of the hopelessness of ‘his being able to return a satisfactory answer to his own question.

At last he started up, exclaiming, “ Wotever comes on it, there’s no use o’ Sitting here,” and walked straight forward at a brisk pace. Then he suddenly stopped, shook his head again, and said, “If I goes on like this, an’ it shud turn out to be the wrong course arter al]— wot'll come on’t ?”

Being as unable to answer this question as the former, he thrust both hands into his pockets, looked at the ground and began to whistle. When he looked up again he ceased whistling ver abruptly, and turned deadly pale—perhaps we should say yellow. And no wonder, for there, straight before him, not more than twenty yards off, stood a creature which, to his ignorant eyes, appeared to be a fiend incarnate, but which was in reality a large-sized and very ancient sheego monkey.

It stood in an upright Position like a man, and was above four feet high. It had a bald head, grey whiskers, and an intensely black wrinkled face, and, at the moment Jim Scroggles’ eyes encountered it, that face was working itself into such a variety of remarkable and hideous contortions that no description, however graphic, could convey a correct notion of it to the reader’s mind. Seen behind the bars of an iron cage it might, perhaps, have been laughable ; but witnessed as it was, in the depths of a lonely forest, it was appalling.

Jim Scroggles’ knees began to shake. He was fascinated with horror. The huge ape was equally fascinated with terror. It worked its wrinkled visage more violently than ever. Jim trembled all over. In another second the sheego displayed not only all its

JIM SCROGGLES’ ADVENTURE 127

teeth—and they were tremendous—but all its gums, and they were fearful to behold, besides being scarlet. Roused to the utmost pitch of fear, the sheego uttered a shriek that rang through the forest like a death-yell. This was the culminatin point. Jim Scroggles turned and fled as fast as his long and trembling legs could carry him.

The sheego, at the same instant, was smitten with an identically similar impulse. It tyyned, uttered another yell, and fled in the opposite direction ; and thus the two ran until they were both out of breath. What became of the monkey we cannot tell; but Jim Scroggles ran at headlong speed straight before him, crashing through brake and oo in the full belief that the sheego was in

hot pursuit, until he came to a mangrove swamp; here his speed was checked somewhat, for the trees grew ina curious fashion that merits special notice.

Instead of rising out of the ground, the mangroves :0se

out of a sea of mud, and the roots stood up in a some- what arched form, su rting their stem, as it were, on the top of a bridge. Thus, had the ground beneath been solid,a man might have walked under the roots. In order to cross the swamp, Jim Scroggles had to leap from root to root—a feat which, although difficult, he would have attempted without hesitation. But Jim was agitated at that particular moment. His step was uncer- tain at a time when the utmost coolness was necessary. At one point the leap from one root to the next was too great for him. He turned his eye quickly to one side to seek a nearer stem; in doing so he encountered the gaze of a serpent. It was not a large one, probably about ten feet long, but he knew it to be one whose bite was deadly. In the surprise and fear of the moment he took the long leap, came short of the root by about six inches, and alighted up to the waist in the soft mud.

Almost involuntarily he cast his eyes behind him, and saw neither sheego nor serpent. He breathed more freely, and assayed to extricate himself from his un-

128 THE RED ERIC

pleasant position. Stretching out his hands to the root above his head, he found that it was beyond his reach. The sudden fear that this produced caused him to make a violent struggle, and in his next effort he succeeded in catching a twig; it supported him for a moment, then broke, and he fell back again into the mud. Each suc- cessive struggle only sank him deeper. As the thick adhesive semi-liquid clung to his lower limbs and rose slowly on his chest, the wretched man uttered a loud cry of despair. He felt that he was brought suddenly face to face with death’ in its most awful form. The mud was soon up to his arm-pits. As the hopelessness of his condition forced itself upon him, he began to shout for help until the dark woods resounded with his cries: but no help came, and the cold drops of sweat stood upon his brow as he shrieked aloud in agony, and prayed for mercy.

CHAPTER XII.

JIM SCROGGLES RESCUED, AND GLYNN AND AILIE LOST— A CAPTURE, UPSET, CHASE, ESCAPE, AND HAPPY RETURN.

THE merciful manner in which God sends deliverance at the eleventh hour has been so often experienced and recognized, that it has originated the well-known proverb, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity;” and this proverb is true not only in reference to man’s soul, but

often, also, in regard to his temporal affairs.

While the wretched sailor was uttering cries for help, which grew feebler every moment as he sank deeper and deeper into what now he believed should be his grave, his comrades were hastening forward to his rescue.

Alarmed at his prolonged absence, they had armed themselves, and set out in search of him, headed by the trader and led by the negro, who tracked his steps with that unerring certainty which seems peculiar to all savages. The shrieks uttered by their poor comrade soon reached their ears, and after some little difficulty, owing to the cries becoming faint, and at last inaudible, they discovered the swamp where he lay, and revived his hope and energy by their shouts. They found him nearly up to the neck in mud, and the little of him that still remained above ground was scarcely recognizable.

It cost them nearly an hour, with the aid of poles, and ropes extemporized out of their garments, to drag Jim from his perilous position and place him on solid ground; and after they had accomplished this, it took

129 I

130 THE RED ERIC

more than an hour longer to clean him and get him recruited sufficiently to accompany them to the spot where they had left the canoe.

The poor man was deeply moved; and when he fully realized the fact that he was saved, he wept like a child, and then thanked God fervently for his deliverance. As the night was approaching, and the canoe, with Ailie in it, had been left in charge only of Glynn Proctor, Jim’s recovery was expedited as much as possible, and as soon as he could walk they turned to retrace their steps.

Man knows not what a day or an hour will bring forth. For many years one may be-permitted to move on “ the even tenor of his way,” without anything of momentous import occurring to mark the passage of his little span of time as it sweeps him onward to eternity. At another period of life, events, it may be of ihe most startling and abidingly impressive nature, are crowded into a few months or weeks, or even days. So it Was now with our travellers on the African river. When they reached the spot where they had dined, no one replied to their shouts. The canoe, Glynn, and the child were gone.

On making this terrible discovery the whole party were filled with indescribable consternation, and ran™ wildly hither and thither, up and down the banks of the river, shouting the names of Glynn Proctor and Ailie, until the woods rang again. Captain Dunning was almost mad with anxiety and horror. His imagination pictured his child in every conceivable danger. He thought of her as drowned in the river and devoured by crocodiles ; as carried away by the natives into hope- less captivity; or, perhaps, killed by wild beasts in the forest. When several hours had elapsed, and still no sign of the missing ones could be discovered, he fell down exhausted on the river’s bank, and groaned aloud in his despair.

But Ailie was not lost. The Heavenly Father in whom she trusted still watched over and cared for her,

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GLYNN AND AILIE IN DANGER 131

and Glynn Proctor’s stout right arm was still by her side to protect her.

About half-an-hour after the party had gone off in search of their lost companion, a large canoe, full of negroes, came sweeping down the river. Glynn and Ailie hid themselves in the bushes, and lay perfectly still, hoping they might be passed by. But they forgot that the blue smoke of their fire curled up through the foliage and revealed their presence at once. On observ- ing the smoke, the savages gave a shout, and, running their canoe close in to the bank, leaped ashore and began to‘ scamper through the wood like baboons.

Only a few minutes passed before they discovered the two hiders, whom they surrounded and gazed upon in the utmost possible amazement, shouting the while with delight, as if they had discovered a couple of new species of monkey. Glynn’ :. '-v nature a reckless and hasty youth. He felt thc rt of a young giant within him, and his first im) :.s¢ was to lea upon the new-comers, and knock them down right and left. For- tunately, for Ailie’s sake as well as his own, he had wisdom enough to know that though he had possessed the power of ten giants, he could not hope, singly, to overcome twenty negroes, all of whom we'e strong, active, and lithe as panthers. He iserefore assumed a good-humoured free-and-easy air, and allowed himself and Ailie to be looked at and handled without ceremony.

The savages were evidently not ill-disposed towards the wanderers. They laughed a great deal, and spoke to each other rapidly in what, to Glynn, was of course an unknown tongue. One who appeared to be the chief of the party passed his long black fingers through Ailie’s glossy curls with evident surprise and deteee He then advanced to Glynn, and said something like—

“Holli-boobo-gaddle-bump-um-peepi-daddle-dumps.”

To which Glynn replied very naturally, “I don’t understand you.” =

Of course he did not. And he might have known

132 THE RED ERIC

well enough that the negro could not understand Aim. But he deemed it wiser to make a reply of some kind, however unintelligible, than to stand like a post and say nothing.

Again the negro spoke, and again Glynn made the same reply; whereupon the black fellow turned round to his comrades and looked at them, and they, in reply to the look, burst again into an immoderate fit of laugh- ter, and cut a variety of capers, the very simplest of which would have made the fortune of any merry- andrew in the civilized world, had he been able to execute it. This was all very well, no doubt, and ex- ceedingly amusing, not to say surprising; but it became quite a different matter when, after satisfying their curiosity, these dark gentlemen coolly collected the property of the white men, stowed it away in the small canoe, and made signs to Glynn and Ailie to enter.

Glynn showed a decided objection to obey, on which two stout fellows seized him by the shoulders, and pointed sternly to the canoe, as much as to say, “ Hobbi- doddle-hoogum-toly-whack,” which, being interpreted (no doubt) meant, “If you don’t go quietly, we'll force you.”

Again the young sailor’s spirit leaped up. He clenched his fists, his brow flushed crimson, and, in another instant, whatever might have been the consequence, the two negroes would certainly have lain recumbent on the sward, had it not suddenly occurred to Glynn that he might, by appearing to submit, win the confidence of his captors, and, at the first night-encampment, quietly make his escape with Ailie in his arms!

Glynn was at that romantic age when young men have a tendency to think themselves capable of deing almost anything, with or without ordinary facilities, and in the face of any amount of adverse circumstance. He there- fore stepped willingly and even cheerfully into the canoe, in which his and his comrades’ baggage had been already stowed. and seating himself in the stern took up the

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GLYNN AND AILIE CAPTURED

steering-paddle. He was ordered to quit that post, how- ever, in favour of a powerful negro, and made to sit in the bow and paddle there. Ailie was placed with great care in the centre of the canoe among a heap of soft leopard- skins ; for the savages evidently regarded her as something worth preserving—a rare and beautiful specimen perhaps of the white monkey !

This done, they leaped into their large canoe, and, attaching tre smaller one to it by means of a rope, paddled out from the bank, and descended the stream.

“Oh! Glynn,” exclaimed Ailie, in a whisper—for she felt that things were beginning to look serious—‘ what are we to do?”

“ Indeed, my pet, I don’t know,” replied Glynn, looking round and encountering tl.2 gaze of the negro in the stern, at whom he frowned darkly, and received a Savage grin by way of reply.

“I would like so much to say something to you,” con- tinued Ailie, “ but I’m afraid he will know whaé I say.”

“Never fear, Ailie; he’s as deaf as a post to our lan- guage Out with it.’

“Could you not,” she said, in a half-whisper, “cut the rope, and then paddle away back while they are paddling down the river ?”

Glynn laughed in spite of nimself at this proposal.

“And what, my pretty one,’ he said, “ what should we do with the fellow in the stern ¢ Besides, the rascals in front might take it into their heads to paddle after us, you know, and what then?”

‘I’m sure I don’t know,” said Ailie, beginning to cry.

“Now, don’t cry, my darling,” said Glynn, looking over his shoulder with much concern, ‘ ]’]] manage

= get you out of this scrape somehow—now see if I on’t.”

The youti spoke so confidently, that the child felt somehow comforted, so drying her eyes she lay back among the leopard-skins, where, giving vent to an ouca- sional sob, she speedily f.:!. fast asleep.

134 THE RED ERIC

They continued to advance thus in silence for nearly an hour, crossed a small lake, and again entered the river. After descending this some time, the attention of the whole party was attracted to a group of hippopotami, gambolling in the mud-banks and in the river a short distance ahead. At any other time Glynn would have been interested in the sight of these uncouth monsters, but he had seen so many within the last few days that he was becoming comparatively indifferent to them, and at that moment he was too much filled with anxiety to take any notice of them. The creatures themselves, however, did not seem to be so utterly indifferent to the strangers. They continued their gambols until the canoes were quite near, and then they dived. Now, hippopotami, as we have before hinted, are clumsy and stupid creatures, so much so that they occasionally run against and upset boats and canoes, quite unintentionally. Knowing this, the natives in the large canoe kept a sharp look-out in order to steer clear of them.

They had almost succeeded in passing the place, when a huge fellow, like a sugar-punchean, rose close to the small canoe, and grazed it with his tail. Apparently he considered this an attack made upon him by the boat, for he wheeled round in a rage, and swam violently towards it. The negro and Glynn sprang to their feet on the instant, and the former raised his paddle to deal ‘the creature a blow on the head. Before he could do so, Glynn leaped lightly over Ailie, who had just awakened, caught the savage by the ankles, and tossed him overboard. He fell with a heavy splash just in front of the cavernous jaws of the hippopotamus! In fact, he had narrowly escaped falling head-first into the creature’s open throat.

The nearness of the animal at the time was probably the means of saving the negro’s life, for it did not observe where he had vanished to, as he sank under its chin, and was pushed by its fore-legs right under its body. In its effort to 3! hold of the negro, the hippo- potamus made a partial dive, and thus passed the small

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THE ESCAPE 135

canoe. When it again rose to the surface the large canoe met its eye. At this it rushed, drove its hammer- like skull through the light material of which it was made, and then seizing the broken ends in its strong jaws upset the canoe, and began to rend it to pieces in its fury.

Before this occurred, the crew had leaped into the water, and were now swimming madly to the shore, At the same moment Glynn cut the line that fastened the two canoes together, and seizing his paddle, urged his ~craft up the river as fast as possible. But his single arm could not drive it with much speed against the stream, and before he had advanced a dozen yards, one of the natives overtook him and several more followed close behind. Glynn allowed the first one to come near, and then gave him a tremendous blow on the head with the edge of the paddle,

The young sailor was not in a gentle frame of mind at that time, by any means. The blow was given with a will, and would probably have fractured the skull of a white man; but that of a negro is .proverbially thick. The fellow was only stunned, and fell back among his comrades, who judiciously considering that such treat- ment was not agreeable and ought not to be courted, put about, and made for the shore.

Glynn now kept his canoe well over to the left side of the stream while the savages ran along the right bank, yelling ferociously and occasionally attempting to swim towards him, but without success. He was somewhat relieved, and sent them a shout of defiance, which was returned, of course with interest. Still he felt that his chance of escape was poor. He was becoming exhausted by the constant and violent exertion that was necessary in order to make head against the stream. The savages knew this, and bided their time.

As he continued to labour slowly up, Glynn came to the mouth of a small stream which joined the river. He knew not where it might lead to, but feeling that he

136 THE RED ERIC

could not hold out much longer, he turned into it, with- out any very definite idea as to what he would attempt next. The stream was sluggish. He advanced more easily, and after a few strokes of the paddle doubled round a point and was hid from the eyes of the negroes, who immediately set up a yell and plunged into the river, intending to swim over; but fortunately it was much too rapid in the middle, and they were compelled to return, We say fortunately, because, had they succeeded in crossing, they would have found Glynn in the bushes of the point behind which he had disappeared, in a very exhausted state, though prepared to fight to the last with all the energy of despair.

As it was, he had the extreme satisfaction of seeing his enemies, after regaining the right bank, set off at a quick run down the river. He now remembered having seen a place about two miles further down that looked like a ford, and he at once concluded his pursuers had

set off to that point, and would speedily return and easily recapture him in the narrow little stream into which he had pushed. To cross the large river was im- possilie-—the canoe would have been swamped in the rapid. But what was to hinder him from paddling close in along the side, and perhaps reach the lake while the negroes were looking for him up the small stream ?

He put this plan into execution at once; and Ailie took a paddle in her small hands and did her utmost to help him. It wasn’t much, poor thing; but to hear the way in which Glynn encouraged her and spoke of her efforts, one would have supposed she had been as Useful as a full-grown man! After a couple of hours’ hard work, they emerged upon the lake, and here Glynn felt that he was pretty safe, because, in the still water, no man could swim nearly as fast as he could paddle. Besides, it was now getting dark, so he pushed out towards a rocky islet on which there were only a few small bushes, resolved to take a short rest there, and then continue his flight under cover of the darkness.

THE ESCAPE 137

While Glynn carried +shore some biscuit, which was the only thing in the boat they could eat without cook- ing, Ailie broke off some branches from the low bushes that covered the little rocky islet, and spread thes out on a flat rock for a couch; this done, she stood on the top of a large stone and gazed round upon the calm surface of the beautiful lake, in the dark depths of which the stars twinkled as if there were secates sky down there.

“Now, Ailie,” said Glynn, “come along and have supper. It’s not a very tempting one, but we must con- tent ourselves with hard fare ard a hard bed to-night, as I dare not light a fire lest the negroes should observe it and catch us.”

“I'm sorry for that,” replied the child; “ for a fire is so nice and cheery; and it helps to keep off the wild beasts, too, doesn’t it ?”

“Well, it does; but there are no wild beasts on such a small rock as this, and the sides are luckily too steep for crocodiles to crawl up.”

“Shall we sleep here tili morning?” asked Ailie, munching her hard biscuit and drinking her tin panni- kinful of cold water with great relish, for she was very hungry.

“Oh, no!” replied Glynn. “We must be up and away in an hour at farthest. So, as I see you're about done with your luxurious supper, I propose that you lie down to rest.”

Ailie was only too glad to accede to this proposal. She lay down on the branches, and after Glynn had covered her with a blanket, he stretched himself on a leopard-skin beside her, and both of them fell asleep in five minutes. The mosquitoes were very savage that night, but the sleepers were too much fatigued to mind their vicious attacks.

Glynn slept two hours, and then he wakened with a start, as most persons do-when they have arranged, before gring to sleep, to rise at a certain hour. He rose

138 THE RED ERIC

softly, carried the provisions back to the canoe, and in his sleepy condition almost stepped upon the head of a huge crocodile, which, ignorant of their presence, had landed its head on the islet in order to have a snooze Then he roused Ailie, and led her, more than half asleep, down to the beach, and lifted her into the canoe, after which he pushed off, and paddled briskly over the stz, waters of the star-lit lake. Ailie merely yawned during all these proceedings ; said, “ Dear me! is it time to—yeaow! oh, I’m so sleepy :” mumbled something about papa wondering what had become of Jim Scroggles, and about h»r being convinced ‘hat—“yeaow ! —the ship must have 0s’. itself among the whales and monkeys ;” and then, dropping her head on the leopard- skins with a deep sigh of comfort, she returned to the land of Nod.

Glynn Proctor worked so well that it was still early in the morning and quite dark when he arrived at the en- campment where they had been made prisoners. His heart beat audibly as he approached the dark landing- place, and observed no sign of his comrades. The moment the bow of the canoe touched the shore, he sprang over the side, and, without disturbing the little sleeper, drew it gently up the bank, and fastened the bow-rope to a tree; then he hurried to the spot where they had slept and found all the fires out except one, of which a few dull embers still remained ; but no comrade was visible.

It is a felicitous arrangement of our organs of sense, that where one organ fails to convey to our inward man information regarding the outward world, another often steps in to supply its place, and perform the needful duty. We have said that Glynn Proctor saw nothing of his comrades,—although he gazed earnestly all round the camp—for the very good reason that it was almost pitch-dark ; but although his eyes were useless, his ears were uncommonly acute, and through “heir instrument- ality he became cognizant.of a souna. It might have been distant thunder, but was too continuous and regular

RETURN TO THE CAMP 139

for that. It might have been the distant rumbling of heavy wagons or artillery over a paved road ; but there were neither wagons nor roads in those African wilds. It might have been the prolonged choking of an alligator —it might, in fact, have been anything in.a region like that, where everything, almost, was curious, and new, and strange, and wild, and unaccountable ; and the listener was beginning to entertain the most uncomfortable ideas of what it probably was, when a gasp and a peculiar snort apprised him that it was a human snore !—at least, if not a human snore, it was that of some living creature which indulged to a very extravagant degree in that curious and altogether objectionable practice.

Stepping cautiously forward on tip-toe, Glynn searched among the leaves all round the fire, following the direc- tion of the sounds, but nothing was to be found ; and he experienced a slight feeling of supernatural dread creeping over him, when a peculiarly loud metallic snore sounded clear above his head. Looking up, he beheld by the dull red “~** of the almost extinct fire, the form of Phil Briant, heii sd, half-reclining, on the branch of a tree not ten feet from the ground, and clasping another branch tightly with both arms.

At that moment, Ailie, who had awakened, ran up. and caught Glynn by the hand.

“ Hallo! Briant!” exclaimed Glynn

A very loud snore was the reply.

“‘Briant! Phil Briant, I say; hallo! Phil!” shouted

arab howld yer noise will ye,” muttered the still sleeping man—“ sno-0-0-0-re ! ”

“A fall! a fall!—all hands ahoy! tumble up there, tumble up!” shouted Glynn, in the nautical tones which he well knew would have their effect upon his comrade.

He was right. They had more than their usual effect on him. The instant = heard them, Phil Briant shouted —“‘ Ay, ay, sir!” and, throwing his legs over the side of what he supposed to be nis hammock, he came down

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140 THE RED ERIC

bodily on what he supposed to be the deck with a whack that caused him to utter an involuntary but tremendous howl.

“Oh! och! ch! murther! oh whirra !”’ he cried, as he lay half-stunned. “Oh, it’s kilt I am entirely—dead as mutton at last, an’ no mistake. Sure I might have

knowd it—och! worse luck! Didn’t yer or owld mother tell ye, Phil, that ye’d come to a bad end—she did——”

‘Are ye badly hurt?” said Glynn, stooping over his friend in real alarm.

At the sound of his voice Briant ceased his wails, rose into a sitting posture, staded his eyes with his hand (a most unnecessary proceeding under the circumstances), and stared at him.

“It’s me, Phil; all right, and Ailie. We’ve escaped, and got safe back again.”

“It’s jokin’ ye are,” said Briant, with the imbecile smile of a man who only half believes what he actually sees. ‘I’m draimin’, that’s it. Go away, avic, an’ don’t be botherin’ me.”

“It’s quite true, though, I assure you, my boy. I’ve managed to give the niggers the slip; and here’s Ailie,