Then it was light again, and a wild feeling of exultation shot through Nic"s breast, for he suddenly caught sight of the man"s inert body approaching him, after gliding right round the basin. It was quite fifty feet away, and seemed for a few moments as if about to be swept out of the hollow and down the gully; but the swirl was too strong, and it continued gliding round the pool, each moment coming nearer.
There was no time for hesitation. Nic knew the danger and the impossibility of keeping afloat in foaming water like that before him, churned up as it was with air; but he felt that at all cost he must plunge in and try to save his adversary before the poor fellow was swept by him and borne once more beneath the fall.
Stripping off his coat, he waited a few seconds, and then leaped outward so as to come down feet first, in the hope that he might find bottom and be able to wade, for he knew that swimming was out of the question.
It was one rush, splash, and hurry, for the water was not breast-deep, and by a desperate effort he kept up as his feet reached the rugged, heavily-scoured stones at the bottom. Then the pressure of the water nearly bore him away, but he managed to keep up, bearing sidewise, and the next minute had grasped the man"s arm and was struggling sh.o.r.ewards, dragging his adversary towards the rugged bank.
Twice-over he felt that it was impossible; but, as the peril increased, despair seemed to endow him with superhuman strength, and he kept up the struggle bravely, ending by drawing the man out on to the ledge of stones nearly on a level with the water, where he had been at first standing at the foot of the fall.
"He"s dead; he"s dead!" panted Nic, as he sank upon his knees, too much exhausted by his struggle to do more than gaze down at the dripping, sun-tanned face, though the idea was growing that he must somehow carry the body up into the sunshine and try to restore consciousness.
Comic things occur sometimes in tragedies, and Nic"s heart gave a tremendous leap, for a peculiar twitching suddenly contracted the face beside which he knelt, and the man sneezed violently, again and again.
A strangling fit of coughing succeeded, during which he choked and crowed and grew scarlet, and in his efforts to get his breath he rose into a sitting position, opened his eyes to stare, and ended by struggling to his feet and standing panting and gazing fiercely at Nic.
"Are you better?" cried the latter excitedly, and he seized the man by the arms, as he too rose, and held him fast, in the fear lest he should fall back into the whirlpool once more.
That was enough! Pete Burge was too hardy a fisher to be easily drowned. He had recovered his senses, and the rage against the young fellow who had caused his trouble surged up again, as it seemed to him that he was being seized and made prisoner, not a word of Nic"s speech being heard above the roar of the water.
"Vish as much mine as his," said the man to himself; and, in nowise weakened by his immersion, he closed with Nic. There was a short struggle on the ledge, which was about the worst place that could have been chosen for such an encounter; and Nic, as he put forth all his strength against the man"s iron muscles, was borne to his left over the water and to his right with a heavy bang against the rocky side of the chasm. Then, before he could recover himself, there was a rapid disengagement and two powerful arms clasped his waist; he was heaved up in old West-country wrestling fashion, struggling wildly, and, in spite of his efforts to cling to his adversary, by a mighty effort jerked off.
He fell clear away in the foaming pool, which closed over his head as he was borne in turn right beneath the tons upon tons of water which thundered in his ears, while he experienced the sudden change from sunshine into the dense blackness of night.
"How do you like that?" shouted the man; but it was only a faint whisper, of which he alone was conscious.
There was a broad grin upon his face, and his big white teeth glistened in the triumphant smile which lit up his countenance.
"I"ll let you zee."
He stood dripping and watching the swirling and foaming water for the reappearance of Nic.
"Biggest vish I got this year," he said to himself. "Lost my pole, too; and here! where"s my cap, and--?"
There was a sudden change in his aspect, his face becoming full of blank horror now as he leaned forward, staring over the pool, eyes and mouth open widely; and then, with a groan, he gasped out:
"Well, I"ve done it now!"
CHAPTER FOUR.
NIC WILL NOT SHAKE HANDS.
History repeats itself, though the repet.i.tions are not always recorded.
A horrible feeling of remorse and despair came over the man. His anger had evaporated, and putting his hands to the sides of his mouth, he yelled out:
"Ahoy, there! Help--help!"
Again it was a mere whisper in the booming roar.
"Oh, poor dear lad!" he muttered to himself. "Bother the zammon! Wish there waren"t none. Hoi, Master Nic! Strike out! Zwim, lad, zwim!
Oh, wheer be ye? I"ve drowned un. Oh, a mercy me! What have I done?-- Hah! there a be."
There was a plunge, a splash, and a rush against the eddying water, with the man showing a better knowledge of the pool, from many a day"s wading, than Nic had possessed. Pete Burge knew where the shallow shelves of polished stones lay out of sight, and he waded and struggled on to where the water was bearing Nic round in turn. Then, after wading, the man plunged into deep water, swam strongly, and seized his victim as a huge dog would, with his teeth, swung himself round, and let the fierce current bear him along as he fought his way into the shallow, regained his footing, and the next minute was back by the ledge. Here he rose to his feet, and rolled and thrust Nic ash.o.r.e, climbed out after him, and knelt in turn by his side.
"Bean"t dead, be he?" said the man to himself. "Not in the water long enough. Worst o" these here n.o.blemen and gentlemen--got no stuff in "em."
Pete Burge talked to himself, but he was busy the while. He acted like a man who had gained experience in connection with flooded rivers, torrents, and occasional trips in fishing-boats at sea; and according to old notions, supposing his victim not to be already dead, he did the best he could to smother out the tiny spark of life that might still be glowing.
His fine old-fashioned notion of a man being drowned was that it was because he was full of water. The proper thing, then, according to his lights, must be to empty it out, and the sooner the better. The sea-going custom was to lay a man face downward across a barrel, and to roll the barrel gently to and fro.
"And I aren"t got no barrel," muttered Pete.
To make up for it he rolled Nic from side to side, and then, as his treatment produced no effect, he seized him by the ankles, stood up, and raised the poor fellow till he was upside down, and shook him violently again and again.
Wonderful to relate, that did no good, his patient looking obstinately lifeless; so he laid him in the position he should have tried at first-- extended upon his back; and, apostrophising him all the time as a poor, weakly, helpless creature, punched and rubbed and worked him about, muttering the while.
"Oh, poor lad! poor dear lad!" he went on. "I had no spite again" him.
I didn"t want to drownd him. It weer only t.i.t for tat; he chucked me in, and I chucked him in, and it"s all on account o" they zammon.--There goes another. Always a-temptin" a man to come and catch "em--lyin" in the pools as if askin" of ye.--Oh, I say, do open your eyes, lad, and speak! They"ll zay I murdered ye, and if I don"t get aboard ship and zail away to foreign abroad, they"ll hang me, and the crows"ll come and pick out my eyes.--I zay.--I zay lad, don"t ye be a vool. It was on"y a drop o" watter ye zwallowed. Do ye come to, and I"ll never meddle with the zammon again.--I zay, ye aren"t dead now. Don"t ye be a vool. It aren"t worth dying for, lad. Coom, coom, coom, open your eyes and zit up like a man. You"re a gentleman, and ought to know better. I aren"t no scholard, and I didn"t do zo.--Oh, look at him! I shall be hanged for it, and put on the gibbet, and all for a bit o" vish.--Zay, look here, if you don"t come to I"ll pitch you back again, and they"ll think you tumbled in, and never know no better. It"s voolish of ye, lad.
Don"t give up till ye"re ninety-nine or a hundred. It"s time enough to die then. Don"t die now, with the sun shining and the fish running up the valls, and ye might be so happy and well."
And all the while Pete kept on thumping and rubbing and banging his patient about in the most vigorous way.
"It"s spite, that"s what it is," growled the man. "You hit me i" th"
mouth and tried to drownd me, and because you couldn"t you"re trying to get me hanged; and you shan"t, for if you don"t come-to soon, sure as you"re alive I"ll pitch you back to be carried out to zea.--Nay, nay, I wouldn"t, lad. Ye"d coom back and harnt me. I never meant to do more than duck you, and Hooray!"
For Nic"s nature had at last risen against the treatment he was receiving. It was more than any one could stand; so, in the midst of a furious bout of rubbing, the poor fellow suddenly yawned and opened his eyes, to stare blankly up at the bright sun-rays streaming down through the overhanging boughs of the gnarled oaks. He dropped his lids again, but another vigorous rubbing made him open them once more; and as he stared now at his rough doctor his lips moved to utter the word "Don"t!"
but it was not heard, and after one or two more appeals he caught the man"s wrists and tried to struggle up into a sitting position, Pete helping him, and then, as he knelt there, grinning in his face.
Nic sat staring at him and beginning to think more clearly, so that in a few minutes he had fully grasped the position and recalled all that had taken place.
It was evident that there was to be a truce between them, for Pete Burge"s rough countenance was quite smiling and triumphant, while on Nic"s own part the back of his neck ached severely, and he felt as if he could not have injured a fly.
At last Nic rose, shook himself after the fashion of a dog to get rid of some of the water which soaked his clothes, and looked round about him for his cap, feeling that he would be more dignified and look rather less like a drowned rat if he put it on.
Pete came close to him, placed his lips nearly to his ear, and shouted, "Cap?"
Nic nodded.
"Gone down the river to try and catch mine for me," said the man, with a good-humoured grin, which made Nic frown at the insolent familiarity with which it was said.
"You"ll have to buy me another one, Master Nic," continued the man, "and get the smith to make me a noo steel hook. I"ll let you off paying for the pole; I can cut a fresh one somewheres up yonder."
"On our grounds?" cried Nic indignantly, speaking as loudly as he could.
"Well, there"s plenty, aren"t there, master? And you"ve lost mine,"
shouted back the man, grinning again.
"You scoundrel!" cried Nic, who was warming up again. "I shall have you up before the Justices for this."