The Swan And Her Crew Part 5

"I tell you what we must do. We must get Meredith to give us part of our holiday at the end of May or beginning of June, and we will take a cruise over all the rivers and broads of Norfolk and Suffolk. We could do it nicely in three weeks and scour every inch of the country in that time. What do you say? I will undertake to get my father's consent and Mrs. Brett's. What will Sir Richard say, d.i.c.k?"

"If you go, Frank, I am sure he will let me go; he has every confidence in you, and that you will keep us all out of mischief."

"I will try. Then it is agreed that we go."

"Most certainly. Frank will go in for birds'-nesting, d.i.c.k will catch b.u.t.terflies and moths, and I must try to do something in the way of botany."

"And now it is time to go in; but before we go I just want to say that there is an old willow-tree down by the Broad which father thinks is an eyesore. I think that it is a likely tree in which to find the caterpillars of the goat-moth, which you know live on the wood of a willow, and eat long tunnels and galleries in it. What do you say to blowing the tree up with gunpowder?--it is only good for firewood, and perhaps we may find some caterpillars. Shall we get up early in the morning, bore a big hole into the heart of the tree, and fill it with gunpowder, set a train to it, and blow the whole affair up?"

Such a proposal was sure to meet with consent, and at seven o'clock the next morning the boys were down at the tree, boring a large hole into it.

The caterpillar of the great goat-moth feeds upon the wood of timber trees, notably oak, willow, and poplar. He is a smooth, ugly fellow of a red and yellow colour, with black feet and claws. He makes extensive galleries through the heart of a tree, eating and swallowing all that he gnaws away from the wood in his onward pa.s.sage.

During the summer he eats his way slowly through the tree, making numerous and winding galleries; but during the autumn and winter he takes a siesta, first casing himself in a strong covering made of chips of wood and the silk which he weaves. The next summer he renews his work, and so he lives and grows for the s.p.a.ce of three years, and then turns into the pupae state, and emerges about July a dark brown but not unlovely moth, which lives for a few weeks and then lays its eggs and dies.

The boring was completed and was rammed full of coa.r.s.e powder, and the mouth of the hole plugged up with a piece of wood. Through this plug a small hole was bored, and through this a long hollow straw made into a fuse was inserted.

Setting fire to this, they retired to some distance to await the issue of their experiment.

There was unfortunately a cow in the same meadow, and this cow was very much interested in their movements; so when they left the tree the cow approached, its curiosity the more aroused by the smoke rising from the burning fuse.

"Now there is an instance of unreasoning curiosity which animals possess. That cow will poke her nose into that tree, and get blown up for her pains if we don't stop her. Let's shy stones at her."

But stones in that marshy meadow were not easy to procure, so they tore up clods of earth and threw them at the cow. She scampered away, but went to the other side of the tree and again approached it. The boys dared not go any nearer to the old willow, because they momentarily expected the explosion, and they were in a great fright lest the cow should suffer damage. Just then, with a loud report and much smoke the powder exploded. They threw themselves down to avoid any errant fragments, and the cow scampered off unhurt, but exceedingly astonished and frightened, jumped the ditch which separated the meadow from the next one, and finally landed herself in another ditch, from which she had to be drawn with ropes and a vast deal of trouble by some of the neighbours.

The first thought of the boys was to see after the cow, and when they saw she was in a fair way of being pulled out, they returned to their tree, and found it split and torn to pieces and thrown about in all directions. It was quite a chance whether they found any caterpillars in the tree or not, and, to tell the truth, they hardly expected to be successful in their search. What was their delight then to find, that not only were there caterpillars there, but a great number of them.

Three or four they found dead and mangled by the force of the explosion, but the many perforations in the wood showed that there were many more caterpillars there. With the aid of a saw and axe they dug out several caterpillars not yet full grown, and also several pupae which they knew would be out in two months' time. They carried some large pieces of the wood up to the boat-house for living caterpillars to feed on, and reinserted the pupae in their wooden chambers, where they were safely kept until their appearance in July.

The caterpillars of the white b.u.t.terflies which d.i.c.k had collected under Mary's instructions had some time since come out, and it was a very pretty sight to see the chrysalis split at the head and the insect creep out with its wings all wet and crumpled, and then to watch them gradually expand to their full size and dry and harden, until the perfect insect was ready for flight, when with a few flaps of its wings, as if to try them, it would launch into the sunshine with a strong swift flight.

CHAPTER VII.

A Trial Sail.--Preparing for a Cruise.--Charging a Reed Bed.-- An explosion of Birds.--The First Adventure.-- Orange-Tip b.u.t.terfly.--No Salt.--How Salt is obtained.

The project of the cruise was not allowed to drop. The more the boys thought about it the more they determined to take it. The first thing to do was to obtain the consent of their elders. Mr. Merivale had no great objection to it. Sir Richard Carleton was so pleased with the rapid improvement in the health and spirits of his son that he would have consented to anything he proposed. Indeed, he was so anxious to help the boys in all their undertakings, that he would have spoilt them too much had it not been for the advice of Mr. Merivale, who said to him--

"Don't let the boys think they can have anything they like for the asking, or you will spoil their independence of character. Depend upon it they will find far more delight in making things for themselves than in having them bought for them, and it will do them more good."

Sir Richard saw the wisdom of this advice, but he insisted upon giving them a book on botany; and one day when the boys went into the boat-house they saw on the shelves a nicely bound copy of Ann Pratt's _Flowering Plants of Great Britain_ in six volumes. This was a great acquisition to them, and Jimmy, in the fulness of his delight, got upon the table with a volume under each arm, and executed a war-dance of exultation.

The consent of the ladies was far harder to obtain. Mrs. Brett said she would see what Mrs. Merivale said; and Mrs. Merivale was afraid that it would not be safe, and for some days she hung back, and would not say "yes" or "no," although Frank pleaded hard with her. His mother was very much afraid of the water. She did not like to see yachts heeling over as if they were going to be upset, and she thought the boys were not old enough to manage a yacht by themselves. Frank at last persuaded her to take a sail in the _Swan_, and see for herself how safe it was, and a day was fixed when everyone should have a sail on the Broad, and try the capacities both of the yacht and of the boys as sailors. When the day arrived, however, Frank put them off, saying it was not convenient. Mr.

Merivale smiled as he guessed the reason. It was blowing a stiff breeze, and sailing on such a day would not rea.s.sure a timid woman. The next day, however, was fine, and came with a gentle breeze, just rippling the surface of the water, and with a confident air, Frank got his party on board. The sail was quite a success. The yacht glided about on an even keel, and Frank, who was at the helm, carefully avoided any abrupt motion in tacking or gybing.

"You see it is quite safe, mother," said he.

"Yes, my dear, I suppose it is, and I suppose you must go, as you have set your heart upon it; but how can you possibly think of sleeping in that small cabin?"

"One of us will sleep at each side, and the third will sleep in a hammock stretched across the middle."

"But you will be suffocated, dear."

"Have no fear, mother, we will see to the ventilation."

So they obtained permission to go, and, as time was an object, they set to work with great vigour to prepare for their voyage. They made a hammock out of an old sail. Their beds were formed of cushions placed on the bunks on either side of the cabin. To prevent the necessity of tucking in their bedclothes they adopted a well-known dodge of yachtsmen; which is to double the sheets and blankets, and sew the sides and bottoms together, so as to form a bag into which they could creep. They took fishing-tackle with them, and also their old muzzle loader. d.i.c.k took his b.u.t.terfly net, Jimmy a quant.i.ty of newspapers in which to dry plants, and Frank an opera-gla.s.s, with which to watch the movements of birds at a distance. Frank also took care to see to the eating department, and with his mother's help he got a very fair stock of provisions on board. The day at length arrived for their departure.

It was the Monday in the last week of May. At eight o'clock in the morning they bade farewell to Mary and Florrie, who had come to see them off, hoisted their sails, and away they went before a light breeze from the northward. A cheer broke from them as they found themselves fairly afloat, and the boat-house grow smaller in the distance behind them, and the waving handkerchiefs of the two girls could be seen no longer. It was a beautiful morning, and their spirits were high. Holidays, sport, and adventure lay before them, a stout boat under them. There were no three happier boys in the world.

They sailed slowly through the narrow outlet of Hickling Broad into Whiteslea Pool, and through another narrow pa.s.sage into Heigham Sounds.

A d.y.k.e called the Old Meadow d.y.k.e ran from the Broad on the left into Horsey Mere; and Frank proposed making a detour along this and exploring Horsey Mere, but the other boys were too anxious to get on. It was too near home to begin to explore. In the middle of Heigham Sounds, which is a good sized sheet of water, was a large bed of reeds, such as is locally called a 'rond.'

"Let us go slap-dash into that. We shall be sure to find some nests,"

said Frank.

"All right," said both Jimmy and d.i.c.k. So Frank put the helm up, and the yacht drove on before the wind, surging through the rustling reeds, which bowed and bent before her, until she came to a standstill well into the heart of the rond.

"Down with the sails," said Frank, and the halyards were let go and the sails came down with a run. As the yacht crashed into the rond there was quite an explosion of birds from it. Water-hens, coots, and marsh-t.i.ts flew out on both sides, and from the centre of it rose a little duck with a bright, chestnut-coloured head and neck.

"That is a teal," said Frank, "we shall find her nest here, so look carefully."

They jumped into the shallow water, having first taken off their shoes and stockings, and began to hunt about for nests. They speedily found several coots' and water-hens' nests, and also a dab-chick's; but they wanted none of these, and continued their search for the teal's nest. At last--

"Here it is," said d.i.c.k delightedly, and sure enough there the nest was, in a small bush which grew in the very centre of the rond, where the soil was pretty firm. The nest was large and thickly lined with feathers, and it contained twelve cream-coloured eggs. They took six of them, and then, satisfied with their spoil, they went back to their yacht, and tried to push her off again. But this was no easy task. They pushed and pushed, until they were exhausted, and the only effect their pushing seemed to have was to push their own legs deeper into the mud.

The yacht refused to be moved.

"Well, this is a pretty go, to be wrecked at the very beginning of our cruise! We have run her almost high and dry. How they will laugh at us at home!" said Jimmy.

"They sha'n't have the chance of doing that. We will get her off somehow or other. We ought to have gone to leeward of the rond, and run her up in the wind's eye into it, and then we could have backed her off with the sails," said Frank.

"Live and learn," said d.i.c.k. "I vote we strip and go overboard again and try to lift her off. We can get the oars from the boat, and use them as levers."

This was undoubtedly the best thing to do, and although the water was not over warm, they took off their clothes and worked and pushed away, until they made the mud around the yacht as soft as a pudding, and themselves as black as negroes. Then the yacht moved a little, and putting forth all their strength they shoved her back into deeper water.

Not waiting to dress themselves, they ran the sails up and steered away for the Kendal d.y.k.e at the south-east end of the Broad. They meant to stay at the mouth of the Broad to bathe and dress. There was no one to see them, so it did not matter. As they neared the mouth of the d.y.k.e, to their great dismay a yacht with several people on board came out of it.

The people stared in blank astonishment at the strange double-bodied yacht and her still stranger crew. Jimmy and d.i.c.k dived at once into the cabin. Frank could not leave the helm, and yet could not stay where he was; so without further thought he plunged into the water at the stern of the yacht, and, holding on by the rudder, he contrived to keep her on her course until Jimmy reappeared with something thrown over him, and took hold of the tiller. When they came to an anchorage in a secluded spot among the reeds, they bathed and dressed.

"Well," said d.i.c.k, "if we go on having adventures at this rate, we shall have plenty to tell when we get home."

"I like adventures, but these are not the sort I like," said Jimmy.

"Well, never mind, better luck next time," said Frank, soothingly.

Sailing through Kendal d.y.k.e, which in places was so narrow that the _Swan_ brushed the reeds on both sides as she pa.s.sed through, they reached the Hundred Stream, and, turning to the south-westward, they sailed, with no further adventure, until they came to Heigham Bridge, where they had to lower their masts in order to get through. While Frank and Jimmy did this, d.i.c.k took his b.u.t.terfly net, and went after an orange-tip b.u.t.terfly, which he saw flying past. This b.u.t.terfly is one of the first which makes its appearance in the spring, and it is one of the prettiest. It looks as if a bunch of red and white rose petals had taken to themselves wings and fled. It is a small b.u.t.terfly, having an orange-red tip on the ends of its forewings. The male only has this ornament. The female has only a greyish black tip. The under surface of the wings of this pretty insect is no less beautiful than the upper. It is white, with bright green marblings, or what appear as bright green to the naked eye. When looked at through the microscope it will be found that the green appearance is caused by the mixture of black and bright-yellow scales. (I suppose that most of my boy readers will know that the dust which is so easily rubbed off a b.u.t.terfly's wings is in reality a coating of scales arranged one over the other like feathers and of very exquisite shapes.) The caterpillar of the orange-tip is green, with a white stripe on each side, and the chrysalis is very peculiar in shape, tooth-like, and pointed at both ends.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ORANGE-TIP b.u.t.tERFLY.]