The Swan And Her Crew Part 13

"Grizzly bear!" said Jimmy, whom Frank had released. "Something ten times worse than a bear has seized my toe and bitten it off, or nearly so, and then I hit my head against the roof, and Frank half choked me. I think it is a great deal too bad."

"You must have been dreaming, Jimmy," said Frank; "there is nothing here that could bite your toe."

"But I can feel that it is bleeding!" answered Jimmy, in a very injured tone of voice.

At that moment a noise in the corner of his berth attracted their attention.

"Oh, it must have been the hawks!" said d.i.c.k, and he and Frank went off into fits of laughter, which only grew more boisterous as Jimmy proceeded to light a candle, and bind his toe up with a piece of sticking-plaster, grumbling all the time, and casting savage glances at the offending birds.

The light was put out, and they once more went to bed, Jimmy taking care to tuck his feet well under him. Every now and then a smothered burst of laughter from the other berths told him that his friends were still enjoying the joke, and then, as his toe began to pain him less, his sense of the ludicrous overcame his sense of outraged dignity, and just as d.i.c.k and Frank were dropping off to sleep, they were again startled by a peal of laughter from Jimmy.

"Oh dear!" said Frank, "you will be the death of us, Jimmy. Have you only now discovered the joke?"

"Oh, don't make me laugh any more. My sides are aching so," said d.i.c.k.

Once more composed, they went to sleep, and awoke early in the morning to find that the gale had spent itself, and that a soft air from the south blew warmly over the land. The sun shone his brightest, and the birds sang their merriest. They had a bathe in the clear river water, and dressed leisurely on the top of their cabin, while the sun, which had not risen very long, threw their shadows, gigantic in size, over the green meadows, which were covered with silvery gossamers--and then they were witnesses of a curious phenomenon. Their shadows had halos of light around them, extending about eighteen inches from each figure, all around it. The strong light from behind them, shining on the wet and gleaming gossamers, was no doubt the cause of this singular appearance.

The same sight has been seen when the gra.s.s was wet with dew.

"The fields are quite silvery with the gossamer," said d.i.c.k. "Is it not pretty!"

"Yes, what a number of spiders there must be to cause such an appearance," answered Frank. "It always puzzles me how those spiders move about--and how is it that on some mornings they appear in such immense quant.i.ties, while on the next morning, perhaps, not one will be seen?"

"I think they are always there," replied d.i.c.k, "but they are only visible when the dew is falling heavily, and wetting them so that they become visible. In the clear air, too, the sun will dry them so that we shall not be able to see them; but they will be there all the same. Let us gather a bunch of rushes with a lot of them on and examine them."

He did so, and they saw great numbers of tiny spiders gliding about their tiny webs. By and by, as they watched them, the little spiders shot out long silvery threads, which floated out to leeward, and then the spiders let go their hold and launched themselves into the air, and were borne away by the faint south wind.

"Oh, so that is the secret of their wandering, is it? Don't you wish you could send a long floating thread from your stomach, Jimmy, and sail away over the marshes? It would be as good as having wings."

"Don't be so absurd, Frank."

A wherry was being pushed up the stream by its two stalwart boatmen, by the process known in Norfolk as quanting. The men placed their long poles or quants into the river at the bow of the wherry, and, placing their shoulders against them, walked to the stern, propelling the boat along with their feet. By this laborious method, when the wind fails them, do the wherrymen work their craft to their destination. As they pa.s.sed the yacht, one of them cried out--

"We have got no matches, guv'nor. Can you give us some?"

"Certainly," replied Frank; and diving into the cabin, he returned with a handful. These he handed to the wherryman, who thanked him and pa.s.sed on. The man stopped quanting and tried to strike a match by rubbing it on the sole of his shoe. It failed to ignite, and he threw it down.

Another met with the same fate, and another also. Then he tried striking them on wood, then on iron, then on his rough jacket, but all to no purpose, and they could see him trying one after another, and throwing them down with every symptom of disgust.

"Why, Frank, those matches strike only on the box," said d.i.c.k.

"I know that," replied Frank, laughing quietly.

"Oh, that's too bad. Fancy the fellow's disgust!"

They sailed up to the pretty little town of Beccles, where they took in provisions, and Frank bought some more sticking-plaster in case of any further accident. They then had a good dinner at the princ.i.p.al inn, and afterwards called upon a friend, who took them over the large printing-works near the town, where many books published in London are printed. They began with the compositors' room, where, with marvellous rapidity, the workmen were selecting the letters from their respective boxes in the case of type, and arranging them in their proper order. The extraordinary illegibility of some of the MSS. from which the compositors were reading with apparent ease astonished our boys, who could make nothing of them. They then paid a visit to the reader, who has the wearisome and eye-tiring task of reading over and correcting the proofs. When the proofs have been corrected and the "revise" submitted to the author, and his corrections made, the process of stereotyping comes in. The sheet of type is covered with a layer of plaster-of-paris, which takes a perfect impression of the words on the sheet of type. From this plaster-of-paris cast another cast is taken in metal, and this forms the stereotype plate from which the book is printed. The type, which is very valuable, can then be distributed to its proper places, and used again. The stereotype plates are always kept stored in stacks, like bottles in a wine-bin.

Jimmy, being of a mechanical turn of mind, was very much interested in the stereotyping process, and more particularly in the account they received of the way in which many daily papers are printed. The impression is in the first instance taken by means of a soft wet paper of sufficient thickness. This is dried, and the molten metal is poured upon it, and takes a perfect impression, without in any way spoiling the paper mould, or "matrix," which can be used again, while a plaster one cannot. Jimmy asked to be shown some wooden blocks from which wood engravings are printed, and the boys examined them curiously.

They received an invitation to spend the evening at their friend's house, and after returning to the boat to feed the hawks with some "lights" bought at a butcher's shop, they had a very pleasant evening, and slept that night on sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER XIV.

Oulton Broad.--Lateeners.--Lowestoft.--Ringed-Plover's Nest.-- Oyster-catcher.--Sh.o.r.e Fishing.--A Perilous Sail.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LATEEN SAIL.]

They sailed quietly down the river again, and excited much attention from the many yachts they met. They turned off along Oulton d.y.k.e, and on to Oulton Broad. The lake was full of craft of all rigs and sizes. There had been a regatta there the day before, and the major part of the yachts still remained. There was a stately schooner, moving with dignity; a smart cutter, heeling well over, but dashing along at a great pace; a heavy lugger; and, most graceful of all, the lateeners. These are a cla.s.s of boats peculiar to the Norfolk waters and to the Mediterranean. The shape of them will be familiar to all who have ever looked at a picture of the Bay of Naples. They carry immense yards, the yard of a boat thirty feet long being about sixty feet in length. Such a yard, of course, carries a very large sail. In addition to this large sail they have a fore and aft mizen astern. They sail wonderfully close to the wind, but in running before it they sometimes take it into their heads to duck under, because the weight of the sail is all thrown on the fore-part of the boat, and sometimes proves too much for it.

A boat which attracted our boys' attention was a lugger, with her sails crossed by strips of bamboo, so that they looked something like Venetian blinds. These made the sails stand very flat and firm, and the boat so rigged seemed to sail very fast. The sun-lit waters of the broad, covered as they were with rapidly-moving yachts, whose white sails contrasted with the blue water and sky and the green fringe of tall reeds which encircled the lake, presented a very pretty spectacle, and one that called forth the admiration of our young yachtsmen. As they threaded their way through the numerous vessels, they saw that they themselves were an object of curiosity, and as sound travels far on the water, and people seldom think of that when they speak on it, the boys overheard many comments upon themselves. Those upon their boat were sometimes not flattering, but those upon their skill in handling her upon that crowded water were very appreciative, and at length Frank said, with something like a blush--

"Look here, this is getting too warm. I vote we moor her, and go to Lowestoft to have a dip in the sea."

The others agreed to this, and having moored the yacht in a safe place, they took their departure. At the lower end of Oulton Broad is a lock, by which vessels can be raised or lowered, as the case may be, to or from Lake Lothing, a tidal piece of water, communicating with the sea through Lowestoft harbour. A brigantine collier was in the lock when our boys came up, and they stood and watched it come through, going out upon a floating raft of wood, so as to see it better entering the broad.

"Why, look at her bows. They are carved all over like an old-fashioned mantel-piece."

As it came through the lock, it knocked against their raft, and threatened their safety, so seizing hold of the chains that hung over its bows, they climbed on board and entered into a conversation with her skipper. He told them that his ship was 100 years old, and he considered her still stronger than many a ship of more recent build. He had on board some beautiful little dogs of the Spanish breed, pure white and curly-haired, with sharp noses, and bright black eyes. d.i.c.k insisted on buying one.

"We cannot have it on board with the hawks," said Frank.

"But I shall send it home by the carrier from Lowestoft," answered d.i.c.k.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RINGED-PLOVER.]

They walked along the sh.o.r.es of Lake Lothing to Lowestoft, and went and had a bathe. Then they walked along the cliffs towards Pakefield, and while crossing a sandy spot d.i.c.k discovered a ringed plover's nest.

There were three eggs, cream-coloured, and blotched with brown. They were simply laid in a hole in the sand. They saw the old birds running along the sh.o.r.e before the wind, as is their habit, and looking very pretty with their grey beaks, and white stomachs, and black collars. On the sh.o.r.e they also saw some oyster catchers, with their plumage nearly all black, except a white belt, and white bars on their wings; and also a pair of redshanks, with their long red legs and bills, and French grey plumage; but although their nests are common enough in Suffolk (in which county our boys now were), they failed to find their eggs. The redshanks nest on the ground in marshy places, and lay eggs of a great family likeness to those of other birds which lay in similar positions.

On the sh.o.r.e men and boys were fishing in the following manner:--

They had long lines with a number of hooks on at regular intervals, which were baited with mussels. One end of the line was pegged into the sand; the other was heavily weighted with lead. They had a throwing-stick with a slit at one end. Into this slit the line next the weight was introduced. With the aid of the stick the line was thrown out a considerable distance. After being allowed to rest some time it was hauled in, and the fish taken off. In this way they caught flat-fish and small codlings, and some of them had acc.u.mulated a large heap of fish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OYSTER-CATCHER.]

Two boatmen came up to the boys, and asked them if they would like a sail. "We'll take you for an hour for sixpence each."

"Well, it's reasonable enough," said Frank; "I vote we go." So they stepped on board and were soon tacking merrily about, a mile or two from land.

"Did you ever see two uglier fellows than our boatmen?" said d.i.c.k in a whisper to Frank.

"No--but what are they staring at that steamer so hard for?" A large yacht was making direct for Lowestoft harbour.

"I say," said Frank, "is not that steamer standing too close in sh.o.r.e?

There is a bank of sand somewhere about there. I remember seeing remains of a wreck there not long ago."

"Hush! hold your tongue," answered the steersman.