Saved by the Lifeboat, Robert Michael Ballantyne [great books to read txt] 📗

out to be mistaken. I am on the
point of hasting down to the shore to ascertain the truth for myself,
but am obliged to write to you this brief and unsatisfactory account
of what I have heard, in order to save the post, which is just being
closed. You shall hear from me again, of course, by the next mail.--I
remain, my dear sir, in much anxiety, your most obedient humble
servant,

"JOSEPH DOWLER."

It chanced that at the moment the above letter was handed to the postmaster, and while the wax was being melted before the final sealing of the post-bag, a sailor lad, drenched to the skin and panting vehemently, dashed into the office.

"Stop! stop!" he cried, "a letter--about the wreck--the _Water Lily_--to the owners--not too late, I hope?"

"No, no, just in time. Here, in with it. There, all right. Now, Jim, off with 'ee."

The postman jumped on his vehicle, the whip cracked, and in another minute the Royal Mail was gone. Thus it came to pass that two epistles reached Mr Webster that morning from Covelly. But in the extreme agitation of his spirit, he did not observe the other letter which lay among the usual morning mass that still awaited examination. After reading the letter twice, and turning it over with trembling hands, as if he wished there were more in it, he pronounced a deep malediction on his "humble" friend, and rang the bell for his confidential clerk, who was an unusually meek, mild, and middle-aged little man, with a bald head, a deprecatory expression of countenance, and a pen behind his ear.

"Mr Grinder," said Mr Webster, putting strong constraint on himself, and pretending to be quite composed, "a letter from Covelly informs me that it is feared the _Water Lily_ has been wrecked in--"

"The _Water Lily_, sir!" exclaimed Grinder, starting as if he had received an electric shock.

"I spoke audibly, did I not?" said Mr Webster, turning with a sharp look on his confidential clerk.

"Ye-es, sir, but, I--Miss An--" The poor man could get no further, being of a timid, nervous temperament, and Mr Webster, paying no attention to his remark, was going on to say that he intended to go by the mail to Covelly without delay to ascertain the truth for himself, when he was interrupted by the confidential clerk who exclaimed in a burst of agitation--

"There were _two_ letters, sir, from Covelly this morning--did you read--"

He stopped, for already his employer had sought for, found, and torn open the second epistle, which was written in a fair, legible hand. It ran thus:--

"SIR,--My father, Captain Boyns, directs me to inform you that your
daughter, Miss Annie, has been saved from the wreck of your brig, the
_Water Lily_, which ran aground here this afternoon, and has become a
total wreck. Your daughter's nurse and the crew have also been
rescued by our new lifeboat, which is a noble craft, and, with God's
blessing, will yet do good service on this coast. I have pleasure in
adding, from myself, that it was my father who rescued your child.
She fell into the sea when being passed from the wreck into the boat,
and sank, but my father dived and brought her up in safety.

"Much of the brig's cargo has been lost, I regret to say, but a good
deal of it has been washed ashore and saved in a damaged state. The
captain says that defective compasses were the cause of the disaster.
There is not time to give you a more particular account, as it is
close upon post-time. Miss Annie sends you her kindest love, and bids
me say she is none the worse of what she has passed through.--I am,
sir, your obedient servant,

"HARRY BOYNS."

"Thank God!" exclaimed Mr Webster fervently. "Why, what are you staring at, Mr Grinder?" he added, on observing that his confidential servant was gazing at him with an expression of considerable surprise.

"Excuse me, sir," stammered the unfortunate man, "I--I--in fact--you have so often told me that you did not believe in God that I fancied-- I--wondered--"

"Really, Mr Grinder, I must beg of you to confine your remarks in future entirely to matters of business. The so-called religious observations which you sometimes venture to make in my presence are extremely distasteful, I assure you. In explanation of what I said, however, I may tell you that this letter informs me of my daughter's safety, and I merely used the expression of satisfaction that is usual on such occasions. The phrase, as it is generally understood (except by weak men), commits me to nothing more. But enough of this. I find that the _Water Lily_ has indeed been lost. It was fully insured, I believe?"

"Yes, sir, it was."

"Very well; report the matter without delay. I will go to Covelly to-night, and shall probably be back to-morrow."

Saying this, Mr Webster left the office, and, on the evening of that day, found himself seated in Captain Boyns's parlour, with little Annie on his knee. Her pretty head was on his shoulder, her fair curls straggled over his chest, and her round little arms tightly encircled his large body as far as they could reach, while she sobbed on his bosom and kissed him by turns.

This was quite a new experience in the life of the gold-lover. He had declined to submit to familiar caresses in former years, but on such an occasion as the present, he felt that common propriety demanded the sacrifice of himself to some extent. He therefore allowed Annie to kiss him, and found the operation--performed as she did it--much more bearable than he had anticipated; and when Annie exclaimed with a burst of enthusiasm, "Oh, dear, dear papa, I did feel such a dreadful longing for you when the waves were roaring round us!" and gave him another squeeze, he felt that the market price of the bundle of goods on his knee was rising rapidly.

"Did you think you were going to be drowned, dear?" said Mr Webster with the air of a man who does not know very well what to say.

"I'm not sure what I thought," replied Annie smiling through her tears. "Oh, I was so frightened! You can't think, papa, how very dreadful it is to see the water boiling all round, and sometimes over you; and such awful thumping of the ship, and then the masts breaking; but what I feared most was to see the faces of the sailors, they were so white, and they looked as if they were afraid. Are men ever afraid, papa?"

"Sometimes, Annie; but a white face is not always the sign of fear--that may be caused by anxiety. Did any of them refuse to obey orders?"

"No; they were very obedient."

"Did any of them get into the lifeboat before you and nurse!"

"Oh, no; they all refused to move till we were put into it, and some of them ran to help us, and were very very kind?"

"Then you may be quite sure they were not afraid, however pale their faces were; but what of yourself, Annie--were you afraid?"

"Oh, dreadfully, and so was poor nurse; but once or twice I thought of the text that--that--you know who was so fond of,--`Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee,' so I prayed and felt a little better. Then the lifeboat came, and, oh! how my heart did jump, for it seemed just like an answer to my prayer. I never felt any more fear after that, except when I fell into the sea; but even then I was not so frightened as I had been, for I felt somehow that I was sure to be saved, and I was right, you see, for dear Captain Boyns dived for me. I love Captain Boyns!" cried Annie, and here again she kissed her father and held him so tight that he felt quite angry with Mrs Niven, who entered at the moment, and said, apologetically--

"Oh! la, sir, I didn't know as Miss Annie was with you. I only came to say that everythink is ready, sir, for going 'ome."

"We don't intend to go home," said Mr Webster; "at least not for a day or two. I find that Captain Boyns can let us stay here while I look after the wreck, so you can go and arrange with Mrs Boyns."

During the few days that Mr Webster remained at Coral Cottage (Captain Boyns's residence), Mrs Niven found, in the quiet, sympathetic Mrs Boyns, if not a congenial friend, at least a kind and sociable hostess, and Annie found, in Harry Boyns, a delightful companion, who never wearied of taking her to the cliffs, the shore, and all the romantic places of the neighbourhood, while Mr Webster found the captain to be most serviceable in connection with the wreck. One result of all this was that Mr Webster offered Captain Boyns the command of one of his largest vessels, an offer which was gladly accepted, for the captain had, at that time, been thrown out of employment by the failure of a firm, in the service of which he had spent the greater part of his nautical career.

Another result was, that Mr Webster, at Annie's earnest solicitation, agreed to make Covelly his summer quarters next year, instead of Ramsgate, and Mrs Boyns agreed to lodge the family in Coral Cottage.

This having been all settled, Mr Webster asked Captain Boyns, on the morning of his departure for Liverpool, if he could do anything more for him, for he felt that to him his daughter owed her life, and he was anxious to serve him.

"If you could give my son Harry something to do, sir," said Boyns, "you would oblige me very much. Harry is a smart fellow and a good seaman. He has been a short time in the coasting trade; perhaps--"

"Well, yes, I'll see to that," interrupted Mr Webster. "You shall hear from me again as to it."

Now the fact is that Mr Webster did not feel attracted by young Boyns, and he would willingly have had nothing to do with him, but being unable to refuse the request after having invited it, he ultimately gave him a situation in one of his coasting vessels which plied between London and Aberdeen.

About a year after that, Captain Boyns sailed in the _Warrior_, a large new ship, for the Sandwich Islands and the Chinese seas.

True to his promise, Mr Webster spent the following summer with Annie and Mrs Boyns at Covelly, and young Boyns so managed matters that he got his captain to send him down to Covelly to talk with his employer on business. Of course, being there, it was natural that he should ask and obtain leave to spend a few days with his mother; and, of course, it was quite as natural that, without either asking or obtaining leave, he should spend the whole of these days in roaming about the shore and among the cliffs with Annie Webster.

It would be absurd