It was I, sir, Frank said rising in his place; I was there with Goodall. We ran on Mr. Gregsons ground after a butterfly. It was my fault, sir, for, of course, Goodall went where I did. We ran among his wheat, and I really did not notice where we were going till he called to us. I was wrong, of course, and am ready to pay for any damage we may have caused.
You are welcome, the farmer said, to trample on my wheat for the rest of your born days. I havent come over here to talk about the wheat, though I tell you fairly Id minded to do so. Ive come over here, Dr. Parker, me and my missus whos outside, to thank this young gentleman for having saved the life of my little daughter Bessy. She was walking along the road when a mad dog, a big brute of a mastiff, who came, I hear, from somewhere about Canterbury, and who has bit two boys on the road, to say nothing of other dogs and horses and such like; he came along the road, he were close to my Bess, and she stood there all alone. Some of my men with pitchforks were two hundred yards or so behind; but law, they could have done nothing! when this young gentleman here jumped all of a sudden over a hedge and put himself between the dog and my Bess. The dog, he rushed at him; but what does he do but claps a bag hed got at the end of a stick over the brutes head, and there he holds him tight till the men comes up and kills him with their forks.
Young gentleman, he said, stepping up to Frank and holding out his hand, I owe my childs life to you. There are not many men who would have thrown themselves in the way of a mad dog, for the sake of a child they knew nothing of. I thank you for it with all my heart. God bless you, sir. Now, boys, you give three cheers with me for your schoolmate, for youve got a right to be proud of him.
Three such thundering cheers as those which arose had never been heard within the limits of Dr. Parkers school from the day of its foundation. Seeing that farther work could not be expected from them after this excitement, Dr. Parker gave the boys a holiday for the rest of the day, and they poured out from the schoolroom, shouting and delighted, while Frank was taken off to the parlor to be thanked by Mrs. Gregson. The farmer closed his visit by inviting Frank, with as many of his schoolfellows as he likedthe whole school if they would come, the more the betterto come over to tea on the following Saturday afternoon, and he promised them as much strawberries and cream as they could eat. The invitation was largely accepted, and the boys all agreed that a jollier meal they never sat down to than that which was spread on tables in the farmers garden. The meal was called tea, but it might have been a dinner, for the tables were laden with huge pies, cold chicken and duck, hams, and piles of cakes and tarts of all sorts. Before they started for home, late in the evening, syllabub and cake were handed round, and the boys tramped back to Deal in the highest of glee at the entertainment they had received from the hospitable farmer and his wife.
Great fun had been caused after tea by the farmer giving a humorous relation of the battle with which his acquaintance with Frank had commenced, and especially at the threat of Frank to send a bullet into his eye if he interfered with him. When they left, a most cordial invitation was given to Frank to come over, with any friend he liked to bring with him, and have tea at the Oaks Farm whenever he chose to do so.
CHAPTER III: A TOUGH YARN
You had a close shave the other night, one of the boatmen remarked to Frank, as a few days after the adventure he strolled down with Ruthven and Handcock to talk to the boatman whose boat had been lost, a very narrow shave. I had one out there myself when I was just about your age, nigh forty years ago. I went out for a sail with my father in his fishing boat, and I didnt come back for three years. That was the only long voyage I ever went. Ive been sticking to fishing ever since.
How was it you were away three years? Handcock asked, and what was the adventure? Tell us about it.
Well, its rather a long yarn, the boatman said.
Well, your best plan, Jack, Ruthven said, putting his hand in his pocket and bringing out sixpence, will be for you to go across the road and wet your whistle before you begin.
Thank ye, young gentleman. I will take three o grog and an ounce of bacca.
He went across to the public house, and soon returned with a long clay in his hand. Then he sat down on the shingle with his back against a boat, and the boys threw themselves down close to him.
Now, he began, when he had filled his pipe with great deliberation and got it fairly alight, this here yarn as Im going to tell you aint no gammon. Most of the tales which gets told on the beach to visitors as comes down here and wants to hear of sea adventures is just lies from beginning to end. Now, I aint that sort, leastways, I shouldnt go to impose upon young gents like you as ha had a real adventure of your own, and showed oncommon good pluck and coolness too. I dont say, mind ye, that every word is just gospel. My mates as ha known me from a boy tells me that Ive bellished the yarn since I first told it, and that all sorts of things have crept in which wasnt there first. That may be so. When a man tells a story a great many times, naturally he cant always tell it just the same, and he gets so mixed up atween what he told last and what he told first that he dont rightly know which was which when he wants to tell it just as it really happened. So if sometimes it appears to you that Im steering rather wild, just you put a stopper on and bring me up all standing with a question.
There was a quiet humor about the boatmans face, and the boys winked at each other as much as to say that after such an exordium they must expect something rather staggering. The boatman took two or three hard whiffs at his pipe and then began.
It was towards the end of September in 1832, thats just forty years ago now, that I went out with my father and three hands in the smack, the Flying Dolphin. Id been at sea with father off and on ever since I was about nine years old, and a smarter boy wasnt to be found on the beach. The Dolphin was a good sea boat, but she wasnt, so to say, fast, and I dunno as she was much to look at, for the old man wasnt the sort of chap to chuck away his money in paint or in new sails as long as the old ones could be pieced and patched so as to hold the wind. We sailed out pretty nigh over to the French coast, and good sport we had. Wed been out two days when we turned her head homewards. The wind was blowing pretty strong, and the old man remarked, he thought we was in for a gale. There was some talk of our running in to Calais and waiting till it had blown itself out, but the fish might have spoil before the Wind dropped, so we made up our minds to run straight into Dover and send the fish up from there. The night came on wild and squally, and as dark as pitch. It might be about eight bells, and I and one of the other hands had turned in, when father gave a sudden shout down the hatch, All hands on deck. I was next to the steps and sprang up em. Just as I got to the top something grazed my face. I caught at it, not knowing what it was, and the next moment there was a crash, and the Dolphin went away from under my feet. I clung for bare life, scarce awake yet nor knowing what had happened. The next moment I was under water. I still held on to the rope and was soon out again. By this time I was pretty well awake to what had happened. A ship running down channel had walked clean over the poor old Dolphin, and I had got hold of the bobstay. It took me some time to climb up on to the bowsprit, for every time she pitched I went under water. However, I got up at last and swarmed along the bowsprit and got on board. There was a chap sitting down fast asleep there. I walked aft to the helmsman. Two men were pacing up and down in front of him. Youre a nice lot, you are, I said, to go running down Channel at ten knots an hour without any watch, a-walking over ships and a-drowning of seamen. Ill have the law of ye, see if I dont.