Bevis Part 15

"That would be bow and arrow time. Bows and arrows don't make any banging."

"No more they do. It wants lots of banging and smoke--else its nothing."

"No; only chopping and sticking."

"And smashing and yelling."

"No--and that's nothing."

"Only if we have rifles," said Mark thoughtfully; "you see, people don't see one another; they are so far off, and n.o.body stands on a bridge and keeps back all the enemy all by himself."

"And n.o.body has a triumph afterwards with elephants and chariots, and paints his face vermilion."

"Let's have bow and arrow time," said Mark; "it's much nicer--and you sell the prisoners for slaves and get heaps of money, and do just as you like, and plough up the cities that don't please you."

"Much nicer," said Bevis; "you very often kill all the lot and there's nothing silly. I shall be King Richard and have a battle-axe--no, let's be the Normans."

"Wouldn't King Arthur do?"

"No; he was killed, that would be stupid. I've a great mind to be Charlemagne."

"Then I shall be Roland."

"No; you must be a traitor."

"But I want to fight your side," said Mark.

"How many are there we can get to make the war?"

They consulted, and soon reckoned up fourteen or fifteen.

"It will be jolly awful," said Mark; "there will be heaps of slain."

"Let's have Troy," said Bevis.

"That's too slow," said Mark; "it lasted ten years."

"Alexander the Great--let's see; whom did he fight?"

"I don't know; people n.o.body ever heard of--n.o.body particular, Indians and Persians and all that sort."

"I know," said Bevis; "of course! I know. Of course I shall be Julius Caesar!"

"And I shall be Mark Antony."

"And we will fight Pompey."

"But who shall be Pompey?" said Mark.

"Pooh! there's Bill, and Wat, and Ted; anybody will do for Pompey."

Volume One, Chapter IX.

SWIMMING.

"Put your hands on the rail. Hold it as far off as you can. There--now let the water lift your feet up behind you."

Bevis took hold of the rail, which was on a level with the surface, and then leaning his chest forward upon the water, felt his legs and feet gradually lifted up, till he floated. At first he grasped the rail as tight as he could, but in a minute he found that he need not do so.

Just to touch the rail lightly was enough, for his extended body was as buoyant as a piece of wood. It was like taking a stick and pressing it down to the bottom, and then letting it go, when it would shoot up directly. The water felt deliciously soft under him, bearing him up far more gently than the gra.s.s, on which he was so fond of lying.

"Mark!" he shouted. "Do like this. Catch hold of the rail--it's capital!"

Mark, who had been somewhat longer undressing than impatient Bevis, came in and did it, and there they both floated, much delighted. The water was between three and four feet deep. When Bevis's papa found that they could not be kept from roaming, and were bent on boating on the Longpond, which was a very different thing to the shallow brook, where they were never far from sh.o.r.e, and out of which they could scramble, he determined to teach Bevis and his friend to swim. Till Bevis could swim, he should never feel safe about him; and unless his companion could swim too, it was of no use, for in case of accident, one would be sure to try and save the other, and perhaps be dragged down.

They had begged very hard to be allowed to have one of the boats in order to circ.u.mnavigate the New Sea, which it was so difficult to walk round; and he promised them if they would really try and learn to swim, that they should have the boat as a reward. He took them to a place near the old quarry they had discovered, in one corner of Fir-Tree Gulf, where the bottom was of sand, and shelved gently for a long way out; a line of posts and rails running into the water, to prevent cattle straying, as they could easily do where it was shallow like this. The field there, too, was away from any road, so that they could bathe at all times. It was a sunny morning, and Bevis, eager for his lesson, had torn off his things, and dashed into the water, like Pan.

"Now try one hand," said his "governor."

"Let one hand lie on the water--put your arm out straight--and hold the rail with the other."

Bevis, rather reluctantly, did as he was told. He let go with his right hand, and stretched it out,--his left hand held him up just as easily, and his right arm seemed to float of itself on the surface. But now, as the muscles of his back and legs unconsciously relaxed, his legs drew up under him, and he bottomed with his feet and stood upright.

"Why's that?" he said. "Why did I come up like that?"

"You must keep yourself a little stiff," said the governor; "not rigid-- not quite stiff--just feel your muscles then."

Bevis did it again, and floated with one hand only on the rail: he found he had also to keep his left arm quite straight and firm. Then he had to do it with only two fingers on; while Mark and the governor stood still, that no ripple might enter his mouth, which was only an inch above the surface. Next, Mark was taken in hand, and learnt the same things; and having seen Bevis do it, he had not the least difficulty.

The governor left them awhile to practise by themselves, and swam across to the mouth of the Nile, on the opposite side of the gulf. When he came back he found they had got quite confident; so confident, that Bevis, thinking to surpa.s.s this simple lesson, had tried letting go with both hands, when his chin immediately went under, and he struggled up spluttering.

The governor laughed. "I thought you would do that," he said. "You only want a little--a very little support, just two fingers on the rail; but you must have some, and when you swim you have to supply it by your own motion. But you see how little is wanted."

"I see," said Bevis. "Why, we can very nearly swim now--can't we, Mark?"

"Of course we can," said Mark, kicking up his heels and making a tremendous splash.

"Now," said the governor, "come here;" and he made Bevis go on his knees in shallow water, and told him to put both hands on the bottom. He did so; and when he was on all fours, facing the sh.o.r.e, the water only reached just above his elbow, which was not deep enough, so he had to move backwards till it touched his chest. He had then to extend his legs behind him, till the water lifted them up, while his hands remained on the bottom. His chest rested on the water, and all his body was buoyed up in the same pleasant way as when he had hold of the rail.

By letting his arms bend or give a little, he could tell exactly how much the water would bear him up, exactly how strong it was under him.

He let himself sink till his chin was in the water and it came halfway to his lower lip, while he had his head well back, and looked up at the sycamore-trees growing in the field above the quarry. Then he floated perfectly, and there seemed not the least pressure on his hands; there was a little, but so little it appeared nothing, and he could fancy himself swimming.

"Now walk along with your hands," said the governor.

Bevis did so; and putting one hand before the other, as a tumbler does standing on his head, moved with ease, his body floating, and having no weight at all. One hand would keep him, or even one finger when he put it on a stone at the bottom so that it did not sink in as it would have done into the sand; but if he extended his right arm, it had a tendency to bring his toes down to the bottom. Mark did the same thing, and there they crawled about in the shallow water on their hands only, and the rest floating, laughing at each other. They could hardly believe that it was the water did it; it kept them up just as if they were pieces of wood. The governor left them to practise this while he dressed, and then made them get out, as they had been in long enough for one morning.

"Pan does not swim like you do," said Mark, as they were walking home.

"No," said the governor, "he paddles; he runs in the water the same as he does on land."

"Why couldn't we do that?" asked Mark.