Happy Days for Boys and Girls Part 70

dodge to perfection, and finds it answers too; don't you, Ford?"

Walter's sallies were received with roars of laughter by the boys.

Willie took no notice of them, although it was a difficult matter to restrain his anger.

"What a milksop the fellow is!" cried out one of the boys.

"A stupid little m.u.f.f!" cried another.

"Am I?" cried Willie, his temper now fully roused; "I'll show you about that. Although I'm not going to tell lies, I'll fight any one of you. Come now, Harrison, let's have it out together."

Harrison burst out laughing: "Fancy me fighting with a little c.o.c.k-sparrow like you! I should like to see myself!"

Willie was about to burst out again, but a friendly hand was laid on his arm, and his friend Philip said, gently, "Come away, Will; no fighting about such a trifle as that, lad."

"What a peppery little chap!" called out Walter as Willie turned away with his friend. "Pepper and sop! Ugh! what a nasty mess!"

The boys followed out their plan, and got their holiday, all except Willie and Philip and several little fellows who had taken no interest in the matter.

School over, the two boys rushed off in the hope that they might be in time to see something. They were too late, however, for the performances were just coming to an end when they arrived, so they started for a stroll through the beautiful park, which was not often open to the public.

"Why, there are our fellows!" said Philip as they suddenly came in sight of a group of boys on the edge of the magnificent lake.

"What are they up to? They're very busy about something!" exclaimed Willie.

"Let's go and see," Philip said, in reply.

As they came nearer they could tell that the boys were gesticulating and shouting to something in the water.

"It can't be one of them gone in and lost his depth," said Willie, anxiously.

No such thing, as they found when they got close--only a dog that the boys were amusing themselves by seeing how long they could keep under water. The creature was making frantic efforts to gain a landing-place, but as he approached the sh.o.r.e they drove him back with sticks and stones.

"We're teaching him to swim," cried one as Philip and Willie came up.

"A miserable little mongrel! he can't swim a bit!"

"Why, don't you see," cried Willie, eagerly, "that he's as weak as a rat? He can scarcely support himself in the water. I should think he's been starved."

At this moment the dog, being turned back once more, disappeared, quite close to the sh.o.r.e. With a loud cry of pain and anger, Willie darted through the boys, and wading into the shallow water succeeded in enticing the drowning dog toward him. He came out, holding the dripping creature safely in his arms.

"We must carry it home," he said to Philip, after they had vainly endeavored to set it upon its feet; and accordingly, they started off at a good pace, the poor half-drowned animal safely sheltered in Willie's arms.

Well might his mother be alarmed to see him come home to tea in such a plight; but when she heard his explanation, she was quite ready to sympathize with him, and told him he had done bravely and well to rescue the poor animal. As he seemed none the worse for his wetting, he was allowed to come down stairs again as soon as he had put on dry things. Very tenderly the little half-starved dog was fed with warmed milk. He had fallen into good hands. Willie's father and mother were kind Christian people, who had taught their children to be gentle and considerate to the meanest of G.o.d's creatures.

"Why, Willie, he's a fine fellow, and only quite a puppy; he will be a splendid dog when he is fully grown," his father said, when the animal had recovered sufficiently to be examined.

And so it proved. Bruno, as Willie named him, turned out a splendid creature. His devotion to the whole family, but especially to Willie, was quite touching to see. He would obey the slightest gesture of his young master in every matter except one. As a child once burned dreads the fire, so Bruno, once nearly drowned, could never be induced to enter the water.

While Bruno was developing into a handsome dog, Willie, you may be sure, was not standing still. He had grown into a fine strong lad, and got beyond poor old Dr. Jackson's school.

To the last day of his stay there he and Walter Harrison never managed to get on very good terms, and a suspected unfairness in the matter of obtaining a prize made them part with still greater coldness.

A year or two after he had left school Willie's parents went with their family to spend the summer months near the sea. Before they had been in their new quarters many weeks, much to Willie's vexation and disappointment, he found that Walter and his parents were also staying in the same town, and quite close to him.

The two lads frequently met, but they could get on no better now than they had done in the old days. Walter still looked upon Willie as a contemptible little milksop, and Willie was inclined to consider Walter's exploits more the result of foolhardiness than bravery.

One day they met on the beach. Walter had come down with a friend to take a boat.

"Rather rough for rowing," Willie called out as he pa.s.sed, "but I suppose you're a good oar."

"What's that to you?" responded Walter, insolently; "I suppose you're afraid of a little sea."

"I don't see the pleasure of going out when there's any risk," Willie replied, good-humoredly.

"How precious careful you are over yourself!" replied Walter.

The boat pushed off, and away started the two friends. Willie, not caring to watch them after the haughty, rude manner in which his remark had been received, turned away; but before he had gone far his attention was attracted by a succession of shouts and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns.

The tiny boat had come to grief before they had got much more than fifty yards from the sh.o.r.e. In the unskilful hands of the two lads the little bark was a mere plaything in the angry sea. Carried on with a swiftness they were unable to check, they rushed headlong on to one of the hidden rocks with which the coast abounded. The boat turned over and disappeared, leaving its occupants struggling in the water.

There were but few bystanders, and of these no one did more than talk and gesticulate and ask wildly what was to be done.

The same impulse that had prompted Willie to rescue a drowning dog now caused him to risk his life in order to save that of the boy who had always shown so unfriendly a disposition toward him.

Pulling off his coat, he threw it and his hat down on the sh.o.r.e; and giving Bruno an injunction to guard them, he plunged bravely into the tempestuous waves. He could swim well, and succeeded with great difficulty in reaching the spot where Walter had but a moment ago disappeared, and then began the terrible struggle for life.

Bruno sat by his master's clothes and gazed out over the sea with eyes which looked almost human in their intelligent anxiety. Presently he grew restless, and in another moment the faithful creature dashed into the waves, and made resolutely for the spot where his master was laboriously engaged in trying to convey one of the drowning lads to sh.o.r.e.

By the powerful aid of the n.o.ble dog Walter and Willie were saved; and a boat having now put off, Walter's friend was picked up after a while. What a cheer rent the air when the dog and the two lads gained the sh.o.r.e I cannot attempt to describe. Willie was never called a milksop any more, and Bruno was more loved and prized than ever.

[Decoration]

CHARLEY.

I made the acquaintance of my little friend Charley under very unusual and startling circ.u.mstances. I saw a lad about fifteen years of age clinging desperately for very life to the topmast of a sunken ship. I will tell you how it happened.

I must go back nearly twenty years. Indeed, I ought to explain that Charley was a little friend of mine a long time ago; now he's a grown-up man. Well, twenty years ago I was not very old myself, but my sister, who is some years older than I am, was already married, and her husband was very fond of yachting. They lived during a great part of the year in the Isle of Wight, and there I often used to go to stay with them.

The "Swallow"--that was the name of my brother-in-law's yacht--was a beautiful boat, and many happy hours have I pa.s.sed on board her as she skimmed merrily over the sparkling water. I delighted to sit on deck, watching the fishing-boats as they rode bravely from wave to wave, or sometimes wondering at some large ship as it pa.s.sed by, on which men live for weeks and months without ever touching land. We used to sail long distances, and occasionally be out for several days and nights together. My brother-in-law's skipper could tell me what country almost every vessel that we saw was bound for. Some were sailing to climates where the heat is so great that our most sultry summer in England is comparatively cold; others were off northward, perhaps whale-fishing, where they would see huge icebergs and hear the growling of the polar bears.

We were taking our last cruise of the season. It was already near the end of October, and the weather was becoming stormy. Pa.s.sing out of the Solent into the Channel, we found the sea much rougher than we expected, and as night came on it blew a regular gale. The wind and sea roared, the rain poured down in torrents, and the night seemed to me to be the darkest I had ever known. But on board the "Swallow" we had no fear. We trusted to the seamanship of our skipper and the goodness of our vessel, and went to bed with minds as free from fear as if the sea were smooth and the sky clear.

I awoke just as dawn was breaking, dressed quickly, and throwing a water-proof cloak over me popped my head up the companion-ladder to see how things looked. The old skipper was on deck; he had not turned in during the night. I wished him good-morning, and he remarked, in return, that the wind was going down, he thought. Looking at the sea, I observed two or three large fragments of wood floating near, and they attracted his notice at the same moment.

"Has there been a wreck, captain?" I asked, with a feeling of awe.