"G.o.d invented Hugh"s legs and the sun," Grizzel said; "Hugh only put in the squiggly toe."
"But that"s just it," Jerry argued; "like Newton and the apple. The simple things are there all the time, and no one sees them till the right person comes along. I think that"s a jolly ingenious idea.
You"d have to know exactly where due north was, of course, and you"d have to have the sun. That"s the trouble in London; the sun just slops about the sky, and half the time you can"t see him at all."
The children now twirled round and round like dervishes, making shadow-clocks till there were hardly any shadows left, as the sun rose higher and higher in the heavens. It also became warmer and warmer; so they decided to sit in a row with their backs to the sea and their eyes firmly fixed upon the hut, determined not to miss the sight of the treasure for a single moment.
"Let"s play "I went to market with a green umbrella"," Prue suggested, "and we can think of all the things the treasure might be." The green umbrella had been to market about twenty times when a voice behind them made them all start.
"Well, now--to be sure!"
And there was Mr. Brown, with nothing in his hands--no sack upon his back.
"How _did_ you come, Mr. Brown?" Mollie asked. "We looked and looked."
"Grand sentries you"d make--all lookin" one way," said Mr. Brown.
"Suppose you look at the sea for a change."
Six pairs of eyes turned to gaze at the sea--and six pairs of feet instantly began to run, for there, drawn up on the beach, was a boat!
"How"s that for a tidy craft?" asked Mr. Brown. "Is she pretty shaped? How do you like her paint? Look at her nice little oars.
Eight, she holds--nice-sized party eight is, sort o" cosy an"
cheerful."
The children looked from the boat to Mr. Brown and back again.
n.o.body thought any more of stilts or sewing-machines, or even of bull-dogs; the only thing on earth worth having at that moment was the wonderful boat around which they were standing. Her outer dress was of bright, dark green, with a scarlet line round the rim; inside she was pure white. A little railing of delicate iron scroll-work ran round her stern, and across it curved a board, with the boat"s name in scarlet and gold: _The Belle of Canada._
"Do you mean--" Hugh began, but he was too overpowered to finish, because it was all very well to talk about cameras and things in the abstract, but that such a thing as a real, life-sized boat--and such a beautiful boat too--should fall into their hands in this casual way was too wildly improbable to be true.
But it was true, nevertheless. That lovely little boat was really theirs!
The way it happened was this, Mr. Brown explained: the year before-- while the Campbells were in the hills--a little Canadian girl, visiting her Australian relations, had come with them to stay in the very cottage the Campbells were in now. She was very ill when she arrived. The doctors feared consumption, and said that open air all day long was the best medicine she could have. So the boat was bought--"and a fine price they paid for her too," Mr. Brown remarked--and the little girl was half her time on the sea, and got so sun-burnt and st.u.r.dy that before she left she was rowing the boat herself--"an" you"d never know she"d had a mite the matter with her," Mr. Brown said. When the time came for her to leave she took a fancy to give her boat to some other children, so that they might have as happy a summer with it as she had had. But it wasn"t enough to give it in the usual way of giving--she made up the plan of the message in the bottle, which she left with Mr. Brown.
"But I wasn"t in no hurry," he said. "I kep" my eye on the cottage children. The last lot were a rampagin" set o" young ruffians, smashin" everything they set hands on. I soon saw that this chap was a different sort altogether, hammerin" an" tinkerin" away at his raft, and careful of her as if she was a lady--he"s the sort for little Missie an" me, I said to myself, so in the bottle went, only an hour or two before you found it."
"And suppose no one had found it, or the other bottle?" d.i.c.k suggested.
"Not much danger o" that, with six pair o" sharp eyes an"
inquisitive headpieces around," Mr. Brown answered, with a laugh.
"The only bit I wasn"t sure about was the Duke"s Nose, for not many knows it by that name; but little Missie would have it--said it was more romantic like, though what"s romantic about a duke"s nose it beats me to see--just like any other nose, I don"t mind bettin"."
"Hugh says Jerry"s nose is like a duke"s," Grizzel said, so that all eyes were immediately fixed upon poor Jerry"s nose.
"Jolly romantic, especially when I have a cold in the head!" he exclaimed.
"Well now, jump in, the lot o" you, an" I"ll row you along to your Pa," said Mr. Brown.
"Do you know Papa?" asked Grizzel, whose round blue eyes had never left Mr. Brown"s face since he began his story.
"Yes, I know your Pa. There ain"t many round here that don"t. Now then----"
As Mr. Brown talked he had pushed the boat out, with some help from the boys, and had lifted the girls in. Now he took the oars, and, with a few powerful strokes, he sent the boat skimming over the sparkling blue sea.
All the children could row, more or less, but Mr. Brown gave them some useful hints. "An" you mustn"t ever go far out to sea by yourselves," he said, "nor yet too near the rocks except it be a calm day like to-day. Remember that a good sailor won"t ever run his ship into danger unless he can"t help himself, no more than he would his wife. If you want to go a regular excursion to the Port or such, you can always get one of us to go with you, unless, of course, your Pa can take you. But you"ll get plenty of fun, an" learn a lot too, playin" round here--you"ll learn the feel o" the sea, which is something quite different from rowin" on a river. An" don"t you be givin" the raft the go-by," he added, addressing himself to Hugh; "there"s a lot goes to a raft an" you never know when your knowledge o" handlin" one may come in useful. That"s a tidy one you"ve made, but it wants a bit o" tar. I"ll bring some along one o" these days an" show you how to use it--there"s your Pa wavin" to you."
An excited party of children landed on the beach and told their story to Papa, whose consent had to be won before the lovely boat was really theirs. He was as delighted as they were themselves, and an expedition was planned for that very evening, to include Mamma and her guitar.
"If you will give me the little girl"s address I will write and tell her all about how we found the bottle," Prudence said to Mr. Brown, "and we will all write and say "Thank you" for her _beautiful_ idea."
"She"s back in Canada now," Mr. Brown answered. "She"d be mighty pleased to hear from you."
It was difficult to sit down soberly to boiled mutton and batter pudding after these exhilarating adventures, but it had to be done, and after dinner the girls had to "sit quietly with their needles"
for an hour; but at last tea-time came, and evening followed, and the whole family except Baby embarked upon the first voyage in _The Belle of Canada_. It was delightful to float about on the moonlit water and listen to Mamma"s lovely voice. She sang a Canadian boat- song, in honour of the little hostess in far-away Canada:
"From the lone sheiling of the misty island Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas-- Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.
"Fair these broad meads--these h.o.a.ry woods are grand; But we are exiles from our father"s land."
Silence fell upon them all after that. Mamma"s white hands dropped from the guitar and slipped under Papa"s arm; Prudence thought in her dreamy way of the little Canadian; Mollie remembered the American soldiers and their song; Hugh"s mind was full to the brim of boats and rafts and ships.
"Look here!" cried Jerry suddenly; "we"re a good slice of our jolly old Empire to-night--Great Britain, Australia, India, sailing in a Canadian boat--there"s another song we ought to sing----" he jumped to his feet as he spoke, making the boat rock in the silvery water.
"Come on!" he sang:
"Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves!"
"Oh, Jerry! _Why_ did you go and do that?" Mollie called out, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "It isn"t nearly time to wake up yet!"
"Indeed it is, you little lazy bones," Aunt Mary said, with a laugh.
"Goodness, child! You are beginning to look quite rosy and sunburnt!
Spraining your ankle seems to suit you. I think I"ll sprain mine and see if I can raise a complexion like that. It"s as good as a visit to the seaside."
"Ah!" said Mollie.
CHAPTER V
The Gold-diggers or The Miracle
"DEAR MOLL,
"This is exactly what happened yesterday. Young Outram says that it is very important for us to keep notes, in case the Thingummy Society should want to know all about it one of these days.
"To begin with I was late for breakfast, so I grabbed your letter and stuck it in my pocket, along with a roll, and bolted. Everything as usual till about 2.30. Bibs was trying to knock some maths into our heads, which I call pretty hard luck on a chap who has crawled to the top of his left wing while shots were dropping round like hail. He looked fairly fed-up. It was tremendously hot and my head ached, and Young Outram had a rag-nail on his first finger which he said was causing him frightful agony, when I suddenly remembered the roll and found your letter. So we ate the roll and read it, I mean we read your letter and ate it--anyway, we were looking at that photograph and thinking that the boy looked a pretty decent sort, and wishing we were him instead of ourselves when suddenly he appeared! He really did, I"m not making this up. At the window just where the parrot was yesterday. And the funny thing is that we don"t usually sit at that desk for maths, but the other room was having something done to it, so we did yesterday. The chap stared at us, and Y. O. said, "Hullo!" and he said, "Hullo!" And Y. O. said, "Who are you?" And he said, "I"m a Time-traveller!" And we said, "What the d.i.c.kens is a Time-traveller?" And he said "Like to come and see?" And we said, "You bet your hat!" And he said, "Hold my fist and shut your eyes!" So we did, and next thing we knew we were floating on our backs in the sea as calm and cool as cuc.u.mbers, and the raft was bobbing about, and you know the rest. At least, we suppose you do. That"s what we want to know. Hugh told us the Time- traveller yarn. It sounds a fairly tall tale, but we"ve heard taller from chaps who were at the front. The point is, how can we go back?
London is a rotten hole in this weather.