"It"s blowing uncommon fresh, sir," said father. "I don"t know how you"ll like it when we get outside; still there"s not a wherry in the harbour that will take you aboard drier than mine, though there"s some risk, sir, you"ll understand."
"Will a couple of guineas tempt you?" asked the stranger, thinking that father was doubting about the payment he was to receive.
"I"ll take you, sir," answered father. "Step aboard."
I was already in the boat, thinking that I was to go, and was much disappointed when father said, "I am not going to take you, Peter, for your mother wants you to help her; but just run up and tell Ned Dore I want him. He"s standing by the sentry-box."
As I always did as father bade me, I ran up and called Ned, who at once came rolling along down the Hard, glad of a job. When he heard what he was wanted for he stepped aboard.
"I hope to be back in a couple of hours, or three at furthest, Polly,"
father sang out to mother, as he shoved off the wherry. "Good-bye, la.s.s, and see that Peter makes himself useful."
Mother waved her hand.
"Though two guineas are not to be picked up every day, I would as lief he had stayed in the harbour this blowing weather," she said to herself more than to me, as on seeing old Tom coming we stepped into her boat.
When father first went to sea, Tom Swatridge had been his shipmate, and had done him many a kind turn which he had never forgotten. Old Tom had lost a leg at Trafalgar, of which battle he was fond of talking. He might have borne up for Greenwich, but he preferred his liberty, though he had to work for his daily bread, and, I am obliged to say, for his daily quantum of rum, which always kept his pockets empty. He had plenty of intelligence, but he could neither read nor write, and that, with his love of grog, had prevented him from getting on in life as well as his many good qualities would otherwise have enabled him to do. He was a tall gaunt man, with iron-grey hair, and a countenance wrinkled, battered, and bronzed by wind and weather.
When he first came ash.o.r.e he was almost as sober a man as father, and having plenty of prize-money he managed to purchase a small dwelling for himself, which I shall have by-and-by to describe. Old Tom taking the oars, we pulled aboard the _Dartmouth_, forty-two gun frigate, just come in from the Mediterranean. Several of the men had been shipmates with father, and all those belonging to Portsmouth knew mother. They were very glad to see her, and she had to answer questions of all sorts about their friends on sh.o.r.e. It is the business of a b.u.mboat-woman to know everything going forward, what ships are likely to be commissioned, the characters of the captains and officers, when they are to sail, and where they are going to. Among so many friends mother drove a brisker trade than usual, and when the men heard that I was Jack Trawl"s son they gave me many a bright shilling and sixpence, and kind pats on the head with their broad palms. "He"s a chip of the old block, no doubt about that, missus," cried one. "He"ll make a smart young topman one of these days," said another. Several gave her commissions to execute, and many sent messages to friends on sh.o.r.e. Altogether, when she left the frigate she was in better spirits than she had been for a long time.
Scarcely had we shoved off, however, when down came the rain in torrents, well-nigh wetting us through.
"It"s blowing plaguey hard, missus," observed old Tom, as he tugged away at the oars, I helping him while mother steered. "I hope as how we shall find your good man safe ash.o.r.e when we gets in."
On reaching the Hard the wherry was not to be seen. After old Tom had made fast the boat, wet as she was mother waited and waited in the hopes that father would come in. Old Tom remained also. He seemed more than usually anxious. We all stood with our hands shielding our eyes as we looked down the harbour to try and make out the wherry, but the driving rain greatly limited our view.
"Hast seen anything of Jack Trawl"s wherry?" asked old Tom over and over again of the men in the different boats, as they came in under their mizens and foresails. The same answer was returned by all.
"Maybe he got a fare at Spithead for Gosport and will be coming across soon, or he"s gone ash.o.r.e at the Point with some one"s luggage,"
observed old Tom, trying to keep up mother"s spirits; but that was a hard matter to do, for the wind blew stronger and stronger. A few vessels could be seen, under close-reefed canvas, running up the harbour for shelter, but we could nowhere perceive a single boat under sail.
Still old Tom continued to suggest all sorts of reasons why father had not come back. Perhaps he had been detained on board the ship at Spithead to which he took the gentleman, and seeing the heavy weather coming on would remain till it moderated. Mother clung to this notion when hour after hour went by and she had given up all expectation of seeing father that evening. Still she could not tear herself from the Hard. Suddenly she remembered me.
"You must be getting wet, Peter," she said. "Run home, my child, and tell Nancy to give you your tea and then to get supper ready. Father and I will be coming soon, I hope."
I lingered, unwilling to leave her.
"Won"t you come yourself, mother?" I asked.
"I"ll wait a bit longer," she answered. "Go, Peter, go; do as I bid you."
"You"d better go home with Peter, missus," said old Tom. "You"ll be getting the rheumatics, I"m afraid. I"ll stay and look out for your good man."
I had never seen mother look as she did then, when she turned her face for a moment to reply to the old man. She was as pale as death; her voice sounded hoa.r.s.e and hollow.
"I can"t go just yet, Tom," she said.
I did not hear more, as, according to her bidding, I set off to run home. I found Mary and Nancy wondering what had kept mother so long.
"Can anything have happened to father?" exclaimed Mary, when I told her that mother was waiting for him.
"He has been a long time coming back from Spithead, and it"s blowing fearfully hard," I answered.
I saw Nancy clasp her hands and look upwards with an expression of alarm on her countenance which frightened me. Her father and brother had been lost some years before, crossing in a wherry from Ryde, and her widowed mother had found it a hard matter to keep herself and her children out of the workhouse. She said nothing, however, to Mary and me, but I heard her sighing and whispering to herself, "What will poor missus do?
What will poor missus do?" She gave Mary and me our suppers, and then persuaded us to go to bed. I was glad to do so to get off my wet clothes, which she hung up to dry, but I could not go to sleep for thinking what had happened to father.
At length mother came in alone. She sat down on a chair without speaking, and her hands dropped by her side. I could watch her as I looked out from the small closet in which my bunk was placed. Even since I had left her her countenance had become fearfully pale and haggard. She shivered all over several times, but did not move from her seat.
"Won"t you get those wet duds of yours off, missus, and have some hot tea and supper?" asked Nancy, who had been preparing it.
Mother made no reply.
"Don"t take on so, missus," said Nancy, coming up to her and putting her hand affectionately on her shoulder.
"Bless me, you"re as wet as muck. I"ve put Peter and Mary to bed, and you must just go too, or you"ll be having the rheumatics and I don"t know what. Do go, missus, now do go."
In vain Nancy pleaded, and was still endeavouring to persuade mother to take off her wet garments, when I at last fell asleep. When I awoke in the morning I saw Nancy alone bustling about the room. I soon jumped into my clothes. My first question was for father.
"He"s not yet come back, Peter," she answered. "But maybe he will before long, for the wind has fallen, and if he put into Ryde he"d have waited till now to come across."
"Where"s mother?" I next asked, not seeing her.
"Hush, Peter, don"t speak loud," she said in a low tone. "She"s been in a sad taking all night, but she"s quiet now, and we mustn"t waken her."
On hearing this I crept about as silent as a mouse till Mary got up, and then we sat looking at each other without speaking a word, wondering what was going to happen, while Nancy lit the fire and got breakfast ready. At last we heard mother call to Nancy to come to her, not knowing that Mary and I were on foot.
"I must get up and go and look after my good man," she cried out, in a voice strangely unlike her own. "Just help me, Nancy, will you? What can have come over me? I feel very curious."
She tried to rise, but could not, and after making several attempts, sank back on her bed with a groan. Mary and I now ran into her room.
"What"s the matter, mother dear?" asked Mary, in a tone of alarm.
She gazed at us strangely, and groaned again.
"Missus is, I fear, taken very bad," said Nancy. "I must run for a doctor, or she"ll be getting worse. I"m sure I don"t know what to do; I wish I did. Oh dear! Oh dear!"
"Let me go," I said, eagerly. "I know where he lives and you stay and take care of mother. I can run faster than you can in and out among the people in the streets."
Nancy agreed, and I set off.
CHAPTER THREE.
A SAD CHAPTER IN MY LIFE.
As I ran for the doctor I felt that I was engaged in a matter of life and death, for I had never seen mother ill before. In my anxiety for her I almost forgot all about father. On I rushed, dodging in and out among the workmen going to their daily toil--there were not many other persons out at that early hour. Two or three times I heard the cry of "Stop thief!" uttered by some small urchins for mischiefs sake, and once an old watchman, who had overslept himself in his box, suddenly starting out attempted to seize hold of me, fancying that he was about to capture a burglar, but I slipped away, leaving him sprawling in the dust and attempting to spring his rattle, and I ran on at redoubled speed, soon getting out of his sight round a corner. At last I reached Dr Rolt"s house and rang the surgery bell as hard as I could pull. It was some time before the door was opened by a sleepy maid-servant, who had evidently just hurried on her clothes.
"Mother wants the doctor very badly," I exclaimed. "Ask him, please, to come at once."