Chapter 1

Transcribed from the [1888] T. Nelson and Sons, Home Sunshine Series, by David Price, [email protected]

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THE GOOD SHIP "ROVER."

T. NELSON AND SONS. London, Edinburgh, and New York.

I. HIGH AND DRY.

A gallant ship, some three feet in length, with full equipment of white sails and sturdy masts, rigging, pennon, and figurehead; but it had never seen the sea--never! It had "cast anchor" nearly a year before my story begins in the Leslies' nursery--a very pleasant, airy room, with nice pictures on the wall and a good many toys scattered about, but certainly not the very least resembling the sea. In fact, I don't think Mrs. Leslie would have liked if it had resembled it; for she was very much afraid of the children being near a lake or a pond even, on account of the dangers of damp feet and catching cold--two evils which always haunted her mind more or less. She was rather a delicate creature, often ailing,--which, perhaps, was the reason of these nervous fancies; and most of the children resembled their mother in this, that there was sure to be something the matter with one or other of them most days of the week. The doctor was seldom long out of the house. Fortunately, Dr. Hammond lived just next door, so he was easily sent for; and Walter Hammond, the doctor's eldest boy, was Harry Leslie's dearest and most intimate friend. The two boys were about eight years old, went to the same school, spent most of their play-hours together, and intended both to go to the sea together when they were old enough. For Harry Leslie, though he had never once seen the sea any more than his ship had done, had heard and read a great deal about sailor life and adventures, and had inspired Walter with the same admiration for these as he himself felt. Besides, his uncle Jack, Mr. Leslie's brother, who had made the ship for his little nephew, had often told him stories about the sea which he treasured in his heart all the more, perhaps, because he was so often mured up by his nursery walls, or even in his little iron bed, on account of colds, coughs, measles, chicken-pox, etc.

Walter Hammond, unlike his friend, was a strong, bright, merry little fellow, never a day in the house or away from school; but he was very fond of Harry all the same. Walter had only two sisters and then a baby- brother, all of whom were rather young for him to play with, so he spent a great deal of his leisure time in the Leslies' nursery. What scores of times had Harry and Walter studied and examined the _Rover_! They had taken down its sails and its rigging and its masts over and over again. They knew every inch of its planks, every nail and screw about its framework. And how often they had spoken about the delight of launching it in "real live water," in the wide blue sea perhaps! That would be something worth living for.

Harry and Walter were in the same class at Dr. Grierson's Academy in Rosehampton, and very good scholars both were. One or other was pretty sure to be at the top most days, and if Walter was first, Harry would be not far off, and _vice versa_.

One day, however, the rest of the boys were very much amused at some strange mistakes made by these duxes. Harry having been told to mention some chief towns in Asia Minor, rashly began with "Kingshaven," and then corrected himself, blushing and looking very much ashamed, while Dr. Grierson himself had some difficulty in subduing the bursts of laughter all down the forms.

Then Walter, who had been called upon to stand up and give some account of the appearance and structure of a steam-engine, astonished everybody by saying it had "_two masts_!"

That day the inseparable friends were very much lower down in the class than they were accustomed to be, and it required no little effort on their part during the succeeding days to prevent their thoughts from wandering, and to keep them fixed on the more dry and uninteresting subjects of their lesson.

The younger Leslies were also much excited about going to the sea-side; but visions of shell-gathering, digging in the sands, and such mild pursuits, were quite enough for them; and, indeed, they knew so little about the sea that they had no materials whereof to form any more brilliant plans. As to bathing, they were rather frightened about that, considering that it must be something like going into the green nursery tub, but with very cold water to wash in!

Walter had been at Margate once with his father, and could describe the sea to Harry in very lively terms. The sands, the bathing-coaches, the rocks, the billows--nothing was forgotten in Walter's narratives. But, alas! the little town of Rosehampton, where they lived, was very far away from any part of this enchanting ocean, and for long there seemed no chance whatever of Mrs. Leslie consenting to let her children brave the perils of a month's residence near the sea.

"I like them to go to the country," she would say to her husband or the doctor, who often recommended sea-air, "and to think of them running about on the grass when it is dry and sunny; for it is very close and airless sometimes here in Diamond Terrace in the long summer days. But do let me keep to dry land. It makes me quite nervous to think of Harry falling over the rocks or getting into boats, and Bobby and Frank getting their feet wet constantly on the shore when they are _so_ subject to bronchitis."

"Pooh, pooh, my dear!" her husband would say, "you are far too much afraid of these children getting into danger. It makes them little molly- coddles, indeed it does." But he was an easy-going man, who let his wife do pretty much as she liked, and did not interfere with her management of house or children.

"Mamma," said Harry one day, "how is it that Uncle Jack _never_ catches cold?--and, besides, he has never been drowned."

"Hush, Harry; don't talk so rashly. You don't know what may happen to your uncle yet. And I do wish he wouldn't tell you all those long stories about the sea when he comes; they make me quite miserable."

"I like them _awfully_, mamma," cried Harry, "and so does Walter. And do you know, mamma, Walter and I are both going to be sailors when we grow big. Only I do wish we might sail the _Rover_ first in real sea-water; it would look so splendid!"

"Well, Harry, be a good boy," said his mother, who did not like to disappoint her boy more than was for his good, "and don't go on talking about being a sailor, for that you shall never be. Your papa and I will never hear of it. As to Walter, his father may do what he pleases; but you are going to help your father in the warehouse when you grow big, so you don't need to trouble your head about anything else. But, as I was saying, if you are a good boy till next holidays, I promise to take you all to Kingshaven, and you shall sail your ship as much as you like from the little jetty or the rocks. It is a nice safe place with lovely sands--if the sea ever can be said to be _safe_."

Harry listened in silent amazement to these words. The utter crushing of his hopes as to sailor-life was for the moment completely forgotten in the near and enchanting prospect held out to him in its place. But he was a kind-hearted, affectionate boy, and even in this hour of excitement he did not forget his friend.

"But Walter, mamma?" he cried, as his mother was leaving the room,--"how can I sail it without Walter?"

"Well, you can ask Walter to come with us. I daresay he will be very glad," said his mother, calling back from the staircase, for she was in a hurry about some household affair.

Harry clapped his hands, and ran to tell Walter, who was equally overjoyed at the idea of going to Kingshaven with Harry. So they set to work and counted the weeks and days that must elapse until the holidays came round, and then they once more thoroughly overhauled the "good ship _Rover_" to see if it was water-tight and ready for its first voyage.

It would be literally its first voyage. Harry and Walter had tried the green tub that belonged to the nursery, but in vain. It was not nearly long enough. Cook would not let them try the fixed tubs in the laundry, and it was very doubtful if even they would have held the _Rover_.

The bath would have done so easily, and longing eyes had often been fixed on it with that idea. But Mrs. Leslie was inexorable--no such dabbling among water, either hot or cold, was to be permitted; so the _Rover_ still stuck high and dry in the nursery window.

II. THE SEA! THE SEA!

The midsummer holidays at last came round, and Mrs. Leslie, who had been busy packing up and arranging things for some weeks, now resolved to shut up the house for a whole month and, with the family, set off for Kingshaven.

It was a long way off--some thirty or forty miles--so it was quite like an adventure to Harry Leslie and his little brothers and sisters, and scarcely less so to Walter Hammond, who was to accompany them. Dr. Hammond could not leave home on account of his numerous patients; and had it not been for this fine chance, Walter would have had only a few days in the country now and then. He was a good-tempered, sensible boy, and a pleasant guest in any household. Mr. Leslie would be able to go down with his family to Kingshaven; but was to leave them there and return to business, making his home for the time at a married sister's house in Rosehampton. So everything seemed promising; and even Mrs. Leslie, naturally of a most anxious and troubled disposition, set off with hardly a cloud on her horizon.

Harry had been very active in helping his mother all the day before the departure, and once when carrying a heavy box down from the attics he had felt it bump heavily against his knee; but being a brave little boy, he said and thought nothing about it at the time. All through the afternoon and night, however, a strange, dull pain in the knee haunted him. He did not tell anybody, but he wished frequently it would go away before he got to Kingshaven. There stood the _Rover_, all nicely packed and ready for the railway journey, and Harry's heart beat high when he thought how soon he should see it riding proudly on the waves--the admired of all beholders.

Harry wakened early on the Saturday morning that had been fixed for their journey with this bright vision before his eyes; but a sudden shoot of pain, as he moved his knee, made him fall back on his pillow and almost scream for help. He controlled himself, however, and began to examine again the wounded spot. There was a swelling; but the blue and black marks he had seen last night were nearly gone. The thing had rather too white a look; but Harry took this for a good sign, and hoped it would be all right before long. He got up and dressed, slowly and with difficulty, and still concealed even from his mother's sharp eyes that anything was wrong. Walter came round early, and in time the whole party were off.

After a long but pleasant journey they reached the busy little sea-side resort of Kingshaven--a brisk, rising town, greatly patronized by families in search of bathing and safe boating and other marine enjoyments. Briery Cottage, which Mrs. Leslie had hired for the month, was very satisfactory in every way but one. It stood so far up in the town and in such a position that no view of the sea whatever, not even the tiniest bit, was to be obtained from its windows. That was a drawback certainly; and as they had only chosen it from an advertisement, they had not taken this point into consideration. It could not be helped now.

"Well, it does not much matter, after all," said Mrs. Leslie. "You children will be all day long on the beach; and as for me, if I take my knitting down to the rocks all the afternoons, I shall see as much of the sea as I want to. You know I am not so much in love with it as you all are."

Briery Cottage, though it did not command a sea-view, was a very nice, comfortable little cottage, with a pleasant garden in front and a long strip of bowling-green behind. In front passed the wide public road, with many carriages and other vehicles constantly coming and going; so it could not be called a dull place at all events.

"O mamma, what a nice place Kingshaven is!" said Harry, quite enthusiastically. "I'm sure I should never weary here even if we were to stay for a whole year!"

"Not even if you didn't see the sea, Harry?" asked his father, laughing.

"Oh, but that would be impossible, you know, papa!" answered Harry.

Harry was to have a longer time at Kingshaven than he imagined, and perhaps if he could have foreseen everything he would not have talked so very confidently of "_never_ wearying." But it is very good for all of us that just one step of our way is open before us. It helps to make us humble and trustful, looking for guidance better and higher than our own, and may often preserve us from being needlessly downcast and depressed.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were very glad to see all their children so well and bright and so pleased with the holiday treat they had provided for them.

"I must come down on Monday morning to the shore before going home," Mr. Leslie said to the boys as he saw them carrying their boat, "and see the good ship _Rover's_ first voyage. It will be quite a sight!"

"Oh, we are all coming!" added his wife. "I assure you none of us would like to miss the spectacle; and if none of the little ones fall over the rocks, I'm sure everything will go well!"

By the time they got thoroughly settled in their new home it was getting quite late in the day, so there was only time for a saunter all along the beach and the parade and the principal streets of Kingshaven. It was with some difficulty that Harry managed to walk now; but so anxious was he to secure his grand treat on Monday that he still kept his pain to himself. Walter and he had selected one delightful rock, stretching far out into the sea, from which to make the first launch and trial trip of the _Rover_. There were lots of little boys already there, and on similar rocks, sailing their tiny boats, but none of them had anything the least like the _Rover_.

"We'll call it a pirate ship, Wat," cried Harry excitedly, "and it will be grand to see it chasing the little boats all about. What a splendid thing the sea is! I wish we could stay always beside it."

Walter agreed to all Harry said.

"Yes," he said, "that will be the very thing. The _Rover_ is the very name for a pirate ship, you know. Let's be up in good time on Monday morning, Harry, and be down here for a first venture by ourselves, in case it doesn't work right just at the very first, you know, and people might laugh."

So the two boys chatted and planned while Mr. and Mrs. Leslie and the rest sallied on in front. But Harry was not sorry when his mother gave the order for everybody to go home and get to bed, so as to have a good wash--it being Saturday night--and a good sound sleep before Sunday; for Mrs. Leslie was a good mother, and loved to teach her children to observe the Lord's day rightly, and to enjoy it in a way worthy of its sacred rest. The Leslies all liked going with their parents to church. It was never thought a weariness or a punishment even by the youngest. They could not, of course, understand all that was said and done there, but they learned to sit quietly and reverently while their elders listened, which was in itself a valuable training for after life; and there were many portions of the service which they could appreciate for themselves. Mr. Leslie always liked them to say over the text and the psalms and hymns they had heard, and this was looked forward to by the youngsters as quite a pleasant exercise.

But we must go on with the story.

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" said his mother as she bustled about, getting Bobby and Frank, Lucy and Janey, washed and dried and put to bed in the tiny nursery at Briery Cottage, which indeed was very different from the one they had left at Rosehampton, though, with the usual happy taste of children, Lucy and Janey thought their narrow cribs ever so much nicer than the home ones; while Bobby and Frank considered the two skylights here infinitely preferable to the large bow-window they were accustomed to.

Harry was sitting in a contemplative manner upon a trunk on the landing below, Walter having preceded him upstairs.

"Run after Walter and see that you two boys have a good scrub. The bath is ready for you; and see you don't hang about after it to catch cold, but get into Blanket Bay as fast as you can. I'm sure I feel quite ready for it myself after all that trudging about over sands and rocks."

Thus admonished, Harry made his way upstairs to the back attic, where Walter and he and the _Rover_ were moored.

III. "BLANKET BAY."

Early next morning Walter Hammond knocked at Mrs. Leslie's door.

"Could you come and look at Harry's knee?" he asked in rather a frightened voice. "We think there is something wrong with it."

Mrs. Leslie lost no time, you may be sure. And here, sure enough, she found poor Harry lying in excruciating pain, and with a great white swelling on his knee, which her experienced eyes saw at once was no ordinary bruise or sprain.

"My boy!" she cried, "why didn't you tell me sooner? If I had only known!"

Harry could not help his tears flowing fast now. It had been such a long strain upon him to keep up hour after hour, that it was quite a relief at last to have the very worst fully confessed.

"I thought it would go off, mamma," he said, "or I would have told. And I was so anxious to be well just now, for the sea; and oh, I can't move one single step!"

"Don't cry, dear. We'll send for the doctor and see what he says. I daresay he will make it better before long. And you mustn't fret, you know, or you'll make yourself worse." So saying, Mrs. Leslie had the nearest medical man sent for, and the little patient laid neatly and comfortably in bed--as her skilful hands could well do.

Dr. Bell came, and pronounced poor Harry's a very grave case of what is popularly known as "white swelling," brought on by the hurt he had received, but chiefly owing to the little boy's very delicate system. "He must lie quite still for some weeks at least," said the doctor. "There must be no trying to get up or move about until I give permission."

Poor Harry! it was indeed a hard and bitter trial, and he did not then know that he would yet be thankful one day for a lesson taught him by this very trouble. But, indeed, we very seldom know such things till the time of trial is long past.

Walter was removed to a sofa-bed in the parlour, so as to give Harry more room and air, since the little attic must be his sole abode for long weeks in all probability.

And so it proved. Harry lay there day after day, hardly daring even to sit half up in bed for meals, and compelled to lie mostly on his back. There stood the unfortunate ship _Rover_, whose piratical wanderings had also been cruelly frustrated. It stood on a table just below the skylight, so that Harry could see it easily where he lay; but now the sight rather added to his vexation than otherwise. Would he ever be able to sail it before they left Kingshaven and returned to Rosehampton? It seemed very unlikely.

Their kind friend Dr. Hammond came down at once on hearing of Harry's illness--which was of course a great comfort, as he knew so well about his little patient; but he only confirmed Dr. Bell's verdict, and declared Harry must continue in the quiet quarters of "Blanket Bay," as his mother called it. The unfortunate thing of _this_ Blanket Bay was that it did not look to the sea, nor indeed to anything but the sky.

The days passed wonderfully, however. Harry was fond of reading, and plenty of nice books were got for him; the younger children were, of course, perfectly happy digging houses and castles in the sand; and Walter did the best he could to amuse himself companionless, or with any boys who seemed friendly and ready to play with him. He did all he could to amuse Harry, too, by coming home with stories of all he had seen, and would sit for hours on the bedside chatting to him, if allowed; but Mrs. Leslie said it was very wrong to waste his holidays that way, and generally packed him off to the shore again.

Harry Leslie knew that to Walter as well as to himself it was a great disappointment not to see the _Rover_ floated. He thought over it many a time, and being a kind-hearted boy in general, it did vex him not a little that Walter also should be disappointed. But the idea of his telling Walter to take the _Rover_ down himself to the rocks, and have the delight of seeing it ride proudly on the waves--oh, that was too much for Harry! If the idea ever did really present itself plainly to his mind as a thing that might be done--and I am not at all sure that it did--then it was put aside at once as a plan quite ridiculous and not to be encouraged. Harry had read of Sir Philip Sidney passing the cup of water from his own parched lips to the dying-soldier who had still greater need of it than himself, and he had thought it a grand and beautiful action; but then it had never occurred to him that in his own little common life--the every-day life of home and school, or it might be sick-room--deeds of the _same kind of heroism_, though not by any means so likely to be spoken of, were possible to and even required of him and every one who wished to lead a brave and noble life.

It was not till nearly a fortnight had come and gone--half the time they were to spend at Kingshaven--that some words of his father's set Harry thinking of this very subject, and the thing struck him as it had never done before.

Mr. Leslie had come down at the end of the week, as he always did, to spend Sunday with his family, and to see how his little sick boy was getting on. He stood looking at the _Rover_ for a little that Saturday night, and then said before leaving the room,--

"By-the-by, you've never got your grand ship sailed yet. What will Uncle Jack say when he hears of it? But let me see. Couldn't Watty there sail it? It's a sort of pity he shouldn't have some pleasure out of it, isn't it?"

"O papa!" cried Harry as if in pain.

"Why, what is it?" said his father, alarmed at the crimson colour rising in his son's face. "Is the knee so painful, my man?"

"No, no, papa," said Harry, rather abashed; "I was thinking of what you said. You know it is _my_ ship--my very own. How _could_ I let Walter or any one else sail it, when I can't even look out and see it, you know?"

Mr. Leslie was greatly surprised by this speech, but he was a good-natured, easy-going man, as has been said, never liking to cross or disappoint anybody if he could help it, and the sight of his poor little Harry lying there perhaps weighed against his own better judgment.