Rollo in Holland Part 5

All this conversation went on in an under tone; but though there was a great deal of noise and confusion on every side, Rollo could hear it all. While he was listening to it,--or rather while he was _hearing_ it, for he took no pains to listen,--the gentleman who had been talking with Mr. Waldo, and whom the latter had called Mr. Albert, went round to the two ladies who were waiting to be called, and said,--

"Now, ladies, the boat is ready. Follow me. Say nothing, but do just as you are told, and all will go well."

[Ill.u.s.tration: LANDING FROM THE MAIL BOAT.]

So the ladies came one after the other in among the crowd that gathered around the gangway, and there, before they could bring their faculties at all to comprehend any thing distinctly amid the bewildering confusion of the scene, they found their bags and shawls taken away from them, and they themselves turned round and gently forced to back down the steps of the ladder over the boiling surges, when, in a moment more, amid loud shouts of "LET GO!" they were seized by the sailors in the boat, and down they went, they knew not how, for a distance of many feet into the stern of the boat, where they suddenly found themselves seated, while the boat itself was rocking violently to and fro, and thumping against the side of the steamer in a frightful manner.

The officer, who had charge of the debarkation on the deck of the steamer above, immediately called to Mrs. Parkman.

"Come, madam!" said he.

"No," said she, "I can't possibly go ash.o.r.e in that way."

"Then you will have to stay on board all night."

"Well, I'd rather stay on board all night," said she.

"And you will have to go back to Dover, madam," continued the officer, speaking in a very stern and hurried manner, "for the steamer is not going into the pier at all."

Then immediately turning to Rollo, he said, "Come, young man!"

So Rollo marched up to the gangway, and was in a moment whirled down into the boat, as the others had been. Immediately afterwards the boat pushed off, and the sailors began to row, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Parkman on board the steamer. How they were to get to the sh.o.r.e Rollo did not know.

Rollo began to look about over the water. It had become almost entirely dark, and though the moon, which was full, had, as it happened, broken out through the clouds a short time before, when they were getting into the boats, she had now become obscured again, and every thing seemed enveloped in deep gloom. Still Rollo could see at a short distance before him the other boats slowly making their way over the wild and stormy water. He could also see the ends of the piers dimly defined in the misty air, and the tall lighthouse beyond, with a bright light burning in the lantern at the top of it.

"We shall only be a few minutes, now," said one of the gentlemen. "It is not far to the piers."

The boat went on, pitching and tossing over the waves, with her head towards the piers. The pilot who steered the boat called out continually to the oarsmen, and the oarsmen shouted back to him; but n.o.body could understand such sailor language as they used. At length, on looking forward again, Rollo saw that the boats before him, instead of going on in a line towards the land, were slowly scattering in all directions, and that their own boat, instead of heading towards the pier as at first, gradually turned round, and seemed to be going along in a direction parallel to the coast, as the steamer had done.

"What!" exclaimed Mr. Albert, on observing this, "we are not going towards the piers. Where can we be going?"

The other gentleman shook his head, and said he did not know.

The ladies remained quietly in their places. There was evidently nothing for them to do, and so they concluded, very sensibly, to do nothing.

The boat slowly turned her head round, all the time pitching and tossing violently on the billows, until finally she was directed almost towards the steamer again.

"What can be the matter?" asked one of the gentlemen, addressing the other. "We are not heading towards the sh.o.r.e." Then turning towards the pilot, he said to him,--

"What is the matter? Why cannot we go in?"

The pilot, who spoke English very imperfectly, answered, "It is a bar.

The water is not enough."

"There is a bar," said the gentleman, "outside the entrance to the harbor, and the water is not deep enough even for these boats to go over. We can see it."

Rollo and the others looked in the direction where the gentleman pointed, and he could see a long, white line formed by the breakers on the bar, extending each way as far as the eye could reach along the sh.o.r.e. Beyond were to be dimly seen the heads of the piers, and a low line of the coast on either hand, with the lighthouse beyond, towering high into the air, and a bright and steady light beaming from the summit of it.

"I hope the tide is not going _down_," said the gentleman, "for in that case we may have to wait here half the night."

"Is the tide going down, or coming up?" he said, turning again to the pilot.

"It will come up. The tide will come up," answered the pilot.

"What does he say?" asked one of the ladies in a whisper.

"He says that the tide will come up," replied the gentleman. "Whether he means it is coming up now, or that it will come up some time or other, I do not know. We have nothing to do but to remain quiet, and await the result."

The clouds had been for some time growing darker and darker, and now it began to rain. So the gentlemen took out their umbrellas and spread them, and the party huddled together in the bottom of the boat, and sheltered themselves there as well as they could from the wind and rain.

They invited Rollo to come under the umbrellas too, but he said that the rain would not hurt his cap, and he preferred to sit where he could look out and see what they would do.

"Very well," said one of the gentlemen. "Tell us, from time to time, how we get along."

So Rollo watched the manoeuvring of the boat, and reported, from time to time, the progress that she was making. It was not very easy for him to make himself heard, on account of the noise of the winds and waves, and the continual vociferations of the pilot and the seamen.

"We are headed now," said he, "right away from the sh.o.r.e. We are pointed towards the steamer. I can just see her, working up and down in the offing.

"Now the men are backing water," he continued. "We are going stern foremost towards the bar. I believe they are going to try to back her over."

The boat now rapidly approached the line of breakers, moving stern foremost. The roar of the surf sounded nearer and nearer. At length the ladies and gentlemen under the umbrellas looked out, and they saw themselves in the midst of rolling billows of foam, on which the boat rose and fell like a bubble. Presently they could feel her thump upon the bottom. The next wave lifted her up and carried her towards the sh.o.r.e, and then subsiding, brought her down again with another thump upon the sand. The pilot shouted out new orders to the seamen. They immediately began to pull forward with their oars. He had found that the water was yet too shallow on the bar, and that it would be impossible to pa.s.s over. So the sailors were pulling the boat out to sea again.

The ladies were, of course, somewhat alarmed while the boat was thumping on the bar, and the boiling surges were roaring so frightfully around them; but they said nothing. They knew that they had nothing to do, and so they remained quiet.

"We are clear of the bar, now," said Rollo, continuing his report. "I can see the breakers in a long line before us, but we are clear of them.

Now the sailors are getting out the anchor. I can see a number of the other boats that are at anchor already."

The anchor, or rather the grapnel which served as an anchor, was now thrown overboard, and the boat came to, head to the wind. There she lay, pitching and tossing very uneasily on the sea. The other boats were seen lying in similar situations at different distances. One was very near; so near, that instead of anchoring herself, the seamen threw a rope from her on board the boat where Rollo was, and so held on by her, instead of anchoring herself. In this situation the whole fleet of boats remained for nearly an hour. Rollo kept a good lookout all the time, watching for the first indications of any attempt to move.

At length he heard a fresh command given by the pilot, in language that he could not understand; but the sailors at the bows immediately began to take in the anchor.

"They are raising the anchor," said he. "Now we are going to try it again. There is one boat gone already. She is just coming to the bar.

She is now just in the breakers. I can see the white foam all around her. She is going in. Now she is over. I can see the whole line of foam this side of her. Our boat will be there very soon."

In a very few minutes more the boat entered the surf, and soon began to thump as before at every rise and fall of the seas. But as each successive wave came up, she was lifted and carried farther over the bar, and at last came to deep water on the other side.

"It is all over now," said one of the gentlemen, "and, besides, it has stopped raining." So he rose from his place and shut the umbrella. The ladies looked around, and to their great joy saw that they were just entering between the ends of the piers. The pa.s.sage way was not very wide, and the piers rose like high walls on each side of it; but the water was calm and smooth within, and the boats glided along one after another in a row, in a very calm and peaceful manner. At length they reached the landing stairs, which were built curiously within the pier, among the piles and timbers, and there they all safely disembarked.

On reaching the top of the stairs, Rollo found Mr. George waiting for him.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, "here I am."

"Have you had a good time?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes," said Rollo, "excellent."

"And what became of Mr. and Mrs. Parkman?"

"I don't know," said Rollo; "I left them on board the steamer. She declared that she would not come in a small boat."