Bluff Crag Part 2

"It was no easy matter to scramble over the stony beach to the place where Patrick was lying; and rather a pitiable sight it was to see him with his leg doubled under him, and with a face so very pale that it was no wonder Vea cried out with pure horror, for she evidently thought he was going to faint, or die altogether, perhaps.

"'Oh, what shall we do?' cried Vea. 'How are we to get him up? and how are we to get him carried home?'

"'I would not have you distress yourself so, Miss Vea,' said Natilie. 'I think I can get him out of this difficulty, with very little patience, if we could get him carried home.'

"'If you get him out of the hole he has fallen into,' said d.i.c.k, 'I will manage the rest.'

"'But how can you carry him over such a rough beach?' asked Alfred.

"'I will get the boat from my grandfather,' replied d.i.c.k, 'and we can row him round to the harbour, where the men can help us up to the house with him.'

"'Oh yes, that will be the plan,' said Vea. 'Do run, like a good boy, and get the boat; I am sure your grandfather will be very glad to lend it to us, for Patrick was always a favourite with him.'

"'And I know somebody who is a greater favourite than even Master Patrick,' replied d.i.c.k, smiling, before he hurried away towards his grandfather's house.

"Very soon, though it seemed a long time to Vea, d.i.c.k was plainly seen shoving out the boat from the sh.o.r.e, with the a.s.sistance of two boys, who then jumped in and rowed it round as close to where Patrick lay as they possibly could.

"Natilie had by this time managed to get Patrick up out of the sort of hole he had fallen into, and by our united efforts we at last succeeded in getting him into the boat, where we all helped to support him, as he had fainted away again. It was considered advisable to row to d.i.c.k's grandfather's house for the present; and accordingly the boat was steered for a cove, up which the tide carried us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FETCHING THE BOAT.]

"The hut where d.i.c.k's grandfather lived was a very poor one, built mostly of turf, and thatched with rough bent or sea-gra.s.s. The chimney-can was made with an old barrel, which stood the blast and served better than an ordinary one would have done at such a stormy part of the coast. One or two fishing-boats lay at the rough pier or jetty old d.i.c.k had constructed, the men belonging to which were earnestly engaged preparing their nets for going to sea that evening; while a number of boys were busy sailing miniature boats in a small pool left by the last tide. No sooner, however, did they hear the shouts of their companions in our boat, than they left their sport, and hurried down to lend a hand in pulling in the boat to a place of security.

"'Has grandfather come back from the town, Jack?' cried d.i.c.k to a rough-looking boy, the tallest of them all, and who had carried his model boat in his arms, instead of leaving it as the others had done theirs.

"'No, he ha'n't,' replied Jack; 'and, what's more, it's likely he won't be for some time either; for I hears Tom Brown saying to Tim that my father would be late to-night, and I knows your grandfather is to keep him company.'

"'Then what's to be done now, miss?' said d.i.c.k. 'I had been thinking grandfather, who knows all about sores, seeing as he was boatswain's mate aboard a man-o'-war, might have been able to put young master's leg to rights.'

"'Oh no, d.i.c.k, that would never do,' said Vea; 'we must get him ash.o.r.e and laid in your grandfather's bed, and somebody had better run up to tell aunt of the accident, and get her to send for the doctor at once.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILD d.i.c.k'S HOME.]

"While Natilie prepared the bed in the old fisherman's hut, Patrick was being carried by the men who had been summoned from the boats. The poor boy was still in a fainting state, and it was not till after he had been laid on the bed that he opened his eyes and showed signs of consciousness. 'Oh, where am I?' he uttered; but even this exertion was too much for him, and he became insensible once more.

"'It's a bad break, this,' said one of the men to his fellow; 'I shouldn't wonder, now, if he had to lose his leg altogether!'

"'Oh, please don't speak of it,' said Vea, her face becoming ghastly pale. 'Do look out again, Lily dear, and see if Alfred is coming with the doctor.'

"Yes; there he was at last, running at a break-neck speed down the steep and rocky bank to the beach, while the doctor was distinctly seen high overhead on the regular path, coming very quickly too. Indeed, though he had taken the longest road, and did not seem to hasten like Alfred, he was only a few minutes behind him, and showed no signs of heat and over-exertion.

"'Heyday, this is a pretty business,' said Dr. Blyth cheerily. 'What's this you've been about, Miss Vea? breaking your brother's leg, eh?' All this time he had been unrolling a case of formidable-looking instruments, taking off his coat, and getting fresh water brought, and bandages prepared with the help of Natilie. When these were ready, he turned to look at his patient, and bidding every one leave the hut but the two fishermen and Natilie, he shut the door against them himself, and secured it firmly.

"'Oh, please, doctor, let me stay,' Vea had said pitifully. 'I'm sure Patrick would like me to stay.'

"'I'm sure of that too,' said the doctor kindly; 'but you shall have plenty of nursing by-and-by: don't be afraid, I mean to engage you as my chief a.s.sistant. Meanwhile, my dear, trust me for knowing what is best for you and for your brother, and take yourself off to the beach there.

Come, Miss Lily,' he continued, turning to me, 'you take your friend down to the beach, and keep her there till I call you. Remember, you are not to leave the rock there till I call you, Miss Vea.'

"'Oh dear, dear, it does seem hard,' said Vea, when we were seated under the rook, 'to leave Patrick in the hands of strangers. And yet, Dr.

Blyth is such a good, kind man, I'm sure he won't give him unnecessary pain.'

"'Would you like me to read a story to you, dear Vea?' I inquired, opening a book I had brought out with me. 'It might help to pa.s.s the time away.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOWN ON THE BEACH.]

"'Thank you, Lily,' said Vea; 'but I feel as if I couldn't listen to anything; and yet, if I sit here I shall go mad with the suspense.'

"'Come, then, take a walk along the beach,' I replied; 'we will be within reach of the doctor's voice quite as well. I know he will take some time to set the leg; for when our stable-boy, Reuben, got his leg broken, the doctor took a long time to set it.'

"'And did Reuben's leg get well again--quite well, I mean?' inquired Vea earnestly; 'was he able to walk with it as he did before?'

"'Oh yes; he could use it quite as well as before,' I replied. 'Indeed, papa used to say Reuben was quicker at going a message after the accident than before.'

"'Oh, I am so glad to hear that,' said Vea, sighing. 'I do hope it will be the same with Patrick. Poor Patrick! Aunt Mary has so often said he would need to get some severe lessons to make him think. She was always telling him that he would find out the path of transgressors is hard, instead of pleasant, as he seemed to fancy. I don't think there is such a miserable girl as I am in the world?' And here Vea began to cry.

"After comforting her as well as I could, she was at last prevailed upon to take a short walk along the beach in the direction where some children were playing. As we walked along I told her that my mother often said, when we fancied ourselves ill-used and very unhappy, if we looked about us we would generally find that there was somebody even more miserable than we were ourselves. By this time we had come up to the children, and found three of them in earnest conversation. We were not long in discovering that the youngest was in evident distress, and her companions were listening to her words with deep interest.

"'I wouldn't stand it, if I were you, Polly,' said the eldest girl, who was standing in front of the group.

"'But what can I do, Martha?' replied the girl, rocking herself to and fro, and weeping afresh.

"'Do? I would run away,' replied the other. 'I would go into service, or beg my bread from door to door, rather than bear what you have to bear.'

"'But don't you think you had better speak to teacher, Polly?' said the other girl softly, looking from under her sun-bonnet with great dreamy-looking blue eyes; 'I wouldn't do anything rash before speaking to teacher. You remember what she said to us last Sunday, that all our trials were sent from our Father in heaven.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: POOR POLLY.]

"'Yes, Rachel, I heard her say that,' replied Polly; 'and I try to think about it; but oh! my step-mother would make anybody angry; and then my temper rises, and I speak out, and then I am beaten. I wouldn't mind that, however, if she would only beat me; but when I see her raise her hand to strike little Willie, who never was angry in his life, but was always gentle and good--always, always.'

"'Is there anything I can do for you, little girl?' said Vea, stepping forward, forgetting for the time her own trouble while witnessing the distress of another. 'Why does your companion want you to run away?'

"'It's to escape from her step-mother, miss,' replied the girl called Martha. 'She uses her shameful, she do, and all for what? Because Polly's father made so much of her afore he was lost.'

"'And was your father lost at sea, Polly? Oh, how dreadful!' said Vea, seating herself on the stones beside her. 'And have you no mother of your own?'

"'No, miss; mother died when Willie was a year old,' said Polly.

"'And do you remember her quite well?' asked Vea.

"'Oh yes, quite well, miss. It was a terrible night that, just before she died. Father was away to the town for some tackle, and I was left all alone with her and Willie. She hadn't been very well for some weeks, but n.o.body thought she was going to die. Even the very doctor had said that morning so cheerily to father she would weather through. She had been lying sleeping with Willie in her arms, but a sudden squall shook the door, and made it and the window-frame rattle, and that startled her, and she wakened. Then I couldn't help seeing she was much worse; and I tried to keep from crying, for she seemed wild-like, and the doctor had said she was to be kept quiet. Then she looked up in a moment, and said, "Polly, promise me you'll look after Willie when I die. Never let any harm come to Willie, mind that; and take care of father, but look well after Willie." She never spoke again, not even to father, who came in soon after, and cried like a baby over her. She just opened her eyes once, and looked at him with a smile, and tried to push Willie over to him, and then she died. How good father was to us then!

He used to take Willie down to the beach with him while I made the house tidy and got the dinner; and he made Willie a fine boat, and dug out a place for him to sail it in; and oh! but we were happy then!'

"'I don't think your father would have been lost if it hadn't been that step-mother of yours,' said Martha angrily. 'I can't a-bear her, I can't.'

"'Oh, don't say that, Martha. It was G.o.d who took father,' said Polly, in a low whisper. 'Didn't you hear the rector saying it was G.o.d's will to send the storm that night?'

[Ill.u.s.tration: LITTLE WILLIE AND HIS FATHER.]

"'Yes,' said Martha; but if your step-mother had only bade your father stay at home, as all the other men did, he never would have been lost.