In my studies I had only met with one successful case of extracting individuals from between the wheels of locomotives in motion, and therefore entered upon this branch of my experiments with considerable doubt. Nor did anything occur to remove that doubt. I watched the trains carefully for a month; and whenever I saw any one place himself near the edge of the platform as a train came up, I made a point of placing myself hard by. But we never got beyond the platform; and, indeed, the whole course of my experiments in this department resulted in nothing beyond my one day being knocked down by the unexpected opening of a carriage door; and on another occasion being nearly placed under arrest for clutching a man"s arm as the train came up, he said with intent "to chuck him on the line," but as I told him, and unsuccessfully tried to explain to him, because he seemed to me to be about to be swept over by the engine.
It was on the whole a relief to me, when, in order to extricate myself from the serious consequences of this last adventure, I was obliged to promise never to do such a thing again. That settled the locomotive business. As a man of honour I was forced to quit it, and cast about me for a new road to glory.
Now, I think it argues considerably for my heroism that after the unfortunate result of so many adventures I should still persist in keeping up my struggle after Fame. I might fairly have given her up after the honest endeavours I had made to win her. But, whatever others might do, as long as a chance remained everything combined to keep Hannibal Trotter at his post.
So, with not a little searching of heart, I turned my attention to mad dogs. I must confess that my heart did not go out towards them, and I could have wished that that mark of heroism had been omitted by the authorities. But, on the contrary, it was insisted upon vehemently, and there was no getting out of it. So, like another Perseus, I choked down my emotion and girded myself for the new fray.
I knew the authorities, as a rule, were silent as to any precautions which their heroes may have taken for this particular service. Still, as they said nothing against it, I did the best I could by means of my unaided genius.
I contrived a pair of secret zinc leggings to wear under my trousers.
They hurt me, it is true, and impeded my movements; still, I felt pretty safe in them. I also adopted the habit of wearing stout leather driving-gloves on every occasion, besides concealing an effective life- preserver about my person. Nothing, in short, was wanted to complete my equipment but the mad dog; and he never turned up.
One day I saw by the paper that there was one at large in Hackney, and thither I repaired, in greaves and gauntlets, with my life-preserver in my bosom. But though I met many dogs, they were all of them sane. Not one of them foamed at the mouth or looked out of the corner of his eyes.
There was one collie certainly who appeared to me more excited than the rest, and who by his proceedings seemed to menace the safety of a small group of children who were taking their walks abroad with their nurse.
Not to be precipitate, I watched him for some time, to make quite sure I was right. Then, when one of the children uttered a scream, I felt my hour was come. So I drew my life-preserver and advanced boldly to the rescue. At the sight of me in this threatening att.i.tude the children and nurse all set up a scream together, and the dog, showing his teeth and uttering a low growl, caught me by the fleshy part of my leg above the zinc and held me there until his little masters and mistresses, having recovered their wits and heard my scarcely articulate explanations, called him off, and allowed me to go in peace--I might almost say in pieces.
I was a good deal discouraged after this unfortunate affair, and might have postponed indefinitely my further experiments, had not fortune unexpectedly placed in my way what appeared to be an opportunity of dealing with a burglar after the most approved fashion of heroism. I was on a visit to an uncle who lived in rather a grand house at Bayswater, and kept up what people are wont to call a good deal of style. This "style" always rather depressed me, for it left me no opening for distinguishing myself on the heroic side of my character, and after a week I was beginning to get home-sick, when a curious incident occurred to break the monotony of my visit.
I was put to sleep in a sort of dressing-room immediately over the drawing-room, and here one night--or rather one dark winter morning--I was suddenly awakened by the sound of voices in the room below. I lay, as people are apt to lie under such circ.u.mstances, stiff and still for five minutes, listening with all my ears. There came into my mind while thus occupied all that the authorities had said in reference to burglars; and when, after a lapse of five minutes, the voices again became audible, I knew exactly what was expected of me.
I looked at my watch. Five o"clock. I was certain it could not be the servants; besides, even through the floor I could tell the voices were male. I glided from my couch, and pulled on my nether garments, and then warily set my door ajar. I could see a light through the c.h.i.n.k of the door in the landing below, and heard a stealthy footstep. So far, so good. I returned to my room, seized the poker and the water-bottle, and then cautiously descended to the drawing-room door.
Here I once more listened carefully. The keyhole was not eligible for observation, but my sense of hearing was acute. I heard--and this rather surprised me--some one in the room whistle softly to himself, then a gruff, typical burglar"s voice said, "Now, then, with that there sack! Fetch "im "ere, or I"ll warm yer!"
I heard the whistling cease, as something was dragged across the floor.
"Now, then," said the first voice, "wake up, Jemmy." That was enough for me. I recognised in this last name a term inseparably connected with burglary; and, not waiting longer, I flung open the door, and with a shout, as much to keep up my own courage as to alarm the enemy, I hurled first my poker, then my water-bottle, then myself in the direction of the voices, and felt that at last I was a hero indeed.
I retain but a dim idea of what followed. I recollect a sooty sack being drawn over my head, just as a general rush of servants and male members of the family, alarmed by the hideous noise of the water-bottle and fire-irons, rushed into the room. Then there was a pause, then a babel of voice, and then, with a cuff on the outside of the sack next to where my head was, the first burglar made a speech:--"I"m bust if I sweeps yer chimbleys any more! This "ere lunertick was handy the death of Jemmy with his missals. Bust me! I"ll summons the lot of yer, see if I don"t."
I will not pursue this melancholy episode, and as a veil was drawn over me at the time, I will also draw a veil over what immediately ensued.
My visit to my uncle"s terminated that day, and a few weeks later I saw in the paper that he had been fined 5--for an a.s.sault committed by one of his household on two sweeps.
After this I had not the heart to proceed to the last desperate expedient for acquiring immortal fame. As long as my endeavours had hurt only myself, it was not so bad, but when they recoiled on the heads of my most important relatives I felt it time to draw the line. The bullet may not yet be cast which my heroic bosom is to receive in the stead of royalty, but I shall be ready for it when it is.
Meanwhile I have been cultivating the quieter graces of life, where, if I may not be a hero, I may at least do my duty without making a noise.
I am not sure, when all is said and done, whether the two things are not sometimes pretty much the same after all.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
THE HEROES OF NEW SWISHFORD. A SCHOOL EPISODE IN FOUR CHAPTERS.
Chapter I. Consultation.
The autumn term at Swishford School was more than half over, and boys were waking up to the hope that after all the Christmas holidays, which seemed such a way off six weeks ago, might yet arrive during their lifetime. It was already rumoured that Blunt, the captain, had been invited to spend Christmas at Walkenshaw"s, the mathematical Dux"s, and every one knew how well Miss Walkenshaw and Blunt had "hit it" the last prize day, and prophecies were rife accordingly. More than that, Shanks, of the Fifth, had whispered in the ear of one or two bosom friends, and thus into the ear of all Swishford, that he was going into "swallows" this winter, and he had got down a book from town with instructions for self-measurement, and was mysteriously closeted in his own study every other evening with a tape. Other boys were beginning to "sit up" a little in the prospect of the coming examination, and generally there was an air of expectation about the place which was prophetic of the coming event.
On the afternoon, however, on which my story opens, two boys as they walked arm-in-arm along the cliffs towards Raveling, appeared to be engrossed in consultation, which, to judge by their serious faces, had nothing to do with Christmas. Let me introduce them to the reader. The taller of the two is a fine, st.u.r.dy, square-shouldered youth of fifteen or thereabouts, whose name in a certain section of Swishford is a household word. He is Bowler, the c.o.c.k of the Fourth, who in the football match against Raveling a fortnight ago picked up the ball at half-back and ran clean through the enemy"s ranks and got a touch-down, which Blunt himself acknowledged was as pretty a piece of running as he had seen in his time. Ever since then Bowler has been the idol of the lower school.
His companion is a more delicate-looking boy, of about the same age, with a cheery face, and by no means unpleasant to look at. He is Gayford, as great a favourite in his way as Bowler, a boy whom n.o.body dislikes, and whom not a few, especially Bowler, like very much.
These are the two who walked that afternoon towards Raveling.
"Are you sure the fellow in the book doesn"t make it all up?" said Bowler dubiously.
"Not a bit of it," replied his companion. "My uncle"s a captain, you know, and he says there are hundreds of islands like it, the jolliest places you ever saw, any amount of food, no wild animals, splendid weather all the year round, magnificent mountains and valleys and woods and bays, gorgeous fishing and hunting, oceans of fruit trees, everything a fellow could wish for, and not a soul on one of them."
"Rum," said Bowler reflectively; "seems rather a waste of jolly islands that."
"Yes; but the thing is they"re hundreds of miles away from inhabited islands, so no one ever sees them."
"Except your uncle. I wonder he wasn"t tempted to get out and take possession of one."
"That"s just exactly what he said he was tempted to do," replied Gayford, stopping short excitedly. "He said very little would have tempted him to do it, Bowler."
"Oh!" was Bowler"s only reply.
"And I tell you another thing," continued Gayford, "he gave me an old chart with the identical island he saw marked on it, and I"ve got it in my box, my boy."
"Have you, though?" said Bowler. "I"d like to have a look at it."
That evening the two boys held a solemn consultation in their study over Captain Gayford"s chart, and Gayford triumphantly pointed out the little island to his friend.
"There he is," said he; "he doesn"t look a big one there, but he"s eight or ten miles across, my uncle says."
"That seems a fair size--but, I say," said Bowler, "how about getting there? How could any one find it out?"
Gayford laughed.
"You"re coming round, then," said he; "why, you old noodle, you couldn"t possibly miss it. Do you see that town called Sinnamary (what a name, eh?) on the coast of South Africa? Well, don"t you see the island"s dead north from there as straight as ever you can go? All you want is a compa.s.s and a southerly breeze--and there you are, my boy."
"But what about currents and all that?" queried Bowler, who knew a little physical geography. "Doesn"t the Gulf Stream hang about somewhere there?"
"Very likely," said Gayford; "all the better for us too; for I fancy the island is on it, so if we once _get_ into it we"re bound to turn up right."
"Anyhow," said Bowler, who was not quite convinced, "I suppose one could easily get all that sort of thing up."
"Oh, of course. But, I say, old man, what do you say?"
"Well," said Bowler, digging his hands into his pockets and taking another survey of the chart, "I"m rather game, do you know!"
"Hurrah!" said Gayford. "I know we shall be all right if we get you."
"Who do you mean by we?" asked Bowler.