Ralph Clavering Part 3

Lilly was but little accustomed to boating, and believing that her cousin's experience was equal to what he a.s.serted it to be, she entrusted herself to him without hesitation. John Hobby stood watching their proceedings, and scratching his head, evidently wis.h.i.+ng to say something. "You'd better go up stream, Master Clavering," he cried out at length, as Ralph shoved off from the bank. "The current runs very strong, and it's easier to go with, than against it."

"Hold your tongue, you lout," answered Ralph, angrily. "I know how to row, and don't want to be dictated to."

"Beg pardon, Master Clavering: I only said what I knew would be best,"

answered John Hobby, st.u.r.dily.

Though a tenant of Mr Clavering's, John Hobby, the elder, paid his rent, improved his land, and feared neither him nor anyone else. Of young John, more will be said hereafter. Ralph had been undecided which way to go. To show his independence, he immediately turned the boat's head down the stream. He had skill enough to keep her in the centre of the river, and down she floated smoothly and easily. He was delighted with his own performance.

"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Away we go, right merrily. That lout wanted to frighten you. I told you, Cousin Lilly, how pleasant it would be."

Lilly found it extremely pleasant. The sun shone brightly and sparkled on the surface of the stream; and so clear was the water, that the fish could be seen swimming about on each side of the boat. The water-fowl skimmed lightly over it, or flew from bank to bank, every now and then giving forth strange cries, which made Lilly declare that the river must be infested by water kelpies, who were attempting to lure them to destruction.

On the little boat glided. It did not seem to occur to Ralph that the current, rather than his exertions, was carrying them on.

"This is what I like. Isn't it pleasant?" he exclaimed, again and again. Lilly was inclined to enjoy it, although, perhaps, a suspicion might have arisen that it would have been wiser to have followed John Hobby's advice, and to have gone up the stream first, so as to have returned with the current in their favour. They did not go very fast, but had ample time to admire the scenery. Sometimes the stream expanded in width, the banks were low, and little else than beds of rushes and willows, green meadows with cows feeding, were to be seen, with, perhaps, far off, a row of trees, a few Lombardy poplars, and the spire of a church peeping above them. In other places there were steep slopes, and rocks and cliffs, crowned with birch and alder, and even oak, and a variety of other trees. There were bends or angles in the course of the stream, which afforded a variety of pretty views, with here and there a cottage, or some fine old tree, whose branches extended over the water, forming a prominent feature.

"Oh! how I wish that I had brought my sketch-book," exclaimed Lilly.

"These views are so different to those I have been accustomed to take.

We must come again to-morrow, and then you must stop as we go up and down the stream at the points I most admire to-day." Ralph promised to do as his cousin wished, but it did not occur to him to ascertain how far he could keep the boat in one place. At last, Lilly recollected that she had the back of a letter and a pencil in her bag, and, with a piece of board which was in the boat, she extemporised a drawing block.

"Now, Ralph, here is a very pretty spot, turn the boat round a little, and I will quickly sketch it," she cried out, not doubting that her wishes would be fulfilled. Ralph got the boat round, as he was directed, but Lilly soon found herself receding so rapidly from her subject, that it was impossible to take a correct sketch. Again and again she called to him to keep the boat in one place. Ralph persisted that he was doing his best.

"Why, Ralph, I thought that you were so expert an oarsman, that you could make your boat go anywhere, or do anything?" said Lilly.

Ralph could not stand being jeered, even by his cousin. He quickly lost his temper, and at the same time while increasing his exertions, he lost his oar. Away it went out of his grasp, and floated down the stream.

"There, you made me do that, you silly girl!" he exclaimed, angrily.

"What is to be done now?"

"Try and pick it up, to be sure," answered Lilly. "Paddle after it with the other oar."

Ralph stood up to use the other oar as a paddle, and very nearly tumbled over in making the attempt. Lilly now became somewhat alarmed. She knew, however, that the wisest thing to do was to sit still, especially as Ralph began jumping about, and beating the water without any definite object. The boat continued to float down, following the oar, which gained but very little on her. Lilly again urged her cousin to try and recover it. His next attempt was as unsuccessful as the first, and the other oar nearly slipped from his hands. At last he sat down, almost crying, and looking exceedingly foolish. "The boat may go where it chooses," he exclaimed, pettishly. "How am I to row with only one oar?"

In spite of her fears, Lilly almost burst into a fit of laughter.

"Try again, cousin Ralph; you can do nothing unless you try," she answered. "If you will not try to row, I must put you to shame by making the attempt myself."

Thus put on his mettle, Ralph again roused himself, but it was to little purpose; and he and Lilly now found that they had reached the mouth of the stream, and were entering the main river, which was far broader and more rapid. In vain he now tried to gain the bank, the rapid current bore the boat on into the very middle of the river. They both had ridden along the bank, and they remembered that some way down the water rushed over a ledge of rocks, with a fall of several feet.

"Never mind," said Ralph; "there is a ford there, and I can but jump out and drag the boat to land."

"Ah, but that was in the summer," answered Lilly. "I remember a man telling us that in the spring a great body of water falls over the ledge; and that when we pa.s.sed, with the water scarcely up to our horse's knees, there is a regular cataract, and that once some people who were attempting to cross in a boat, got drifted near it, and were carried down and all drowned."

"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Ralph, now fairly wringing his hands.

"Why did we come? How foolish we were. I wish that we had followed that lout Hobby's advice. He, of course, knows more about the river than we do."

Lilly was very much inclined to say, "Speak for yourself, cousin Ralph; I believed your boastful a.s.sertions, and trusted myself to you."

Instead of that, she only said, "Still we must try to save ourselves.

We ought, at all events, to try to reach the bank. Ah! what is this?"

She lifted up a loose board from the bottom of the boat: "Here, do you use this as a paddle, and give me the oar. We shall be able to guide the boat if we try."

Ralph, once more roused, took the plank and used it as his cousin directed. Still, from want of skill, they made but little progress.

The other oar had been caught in an eddy, and had been drifted so far away, that they had lost sight of it altogether. As they were exerting themselves with might and main, their attention was aroused by a shout, and looking up, they saw a man standing on the bank and waving the lost oar. This encouraged them; while the roar of the cataract, a little way below, made them still more feel the necessity of exertion. The boat was, of course, all the time drifting down, sideways, nearer and nearer to the dangerous spot. Still they were approaching the sh.o.r.e. The man with the oar ran along the bank. They had got within twenty yards of it, when the current seemed to increase in rapidity. The man shouted to them to use more exertion, but that was beyond their power. Poor Lilly's arms were already aching, and her hands were hot and blistered with the oar. Glancing on one side, they could see the ledge of rocks against which the river rushed, breaking into a ma.s.s of foam. It seemed impossible that they could reach the bank before they got within its influence. The man with the oar, seeing their danger, sprang forward and swam out towards them. He was not, apparently, a very good swimmer, but he struggled on.

"He'll be drowned, and do us no good," cried Ralph.

"Oh, no! I pray G.o.d that he may be preserved!" exclaimed Lilly, with a fervour, which showed that the expression came from her heart, and was truly a prayer.

It was heard, the man struggled on, and seized the stem of the boat.

"Go back to the other end," he cried out; and, as Ralph obeyed the order, he threw in the oar, and climbed up himself over the bow.

Without speaking a word more, he seized both oars, and began rowing away with might and main towards the sh.o.r.e. Only then did Lilly and her cousin discover that the stranger was no other than Arnold, the gipsy.

"Why, Arnold, we little thought that it was you!" they exclaimed in the same breath.

"No time to talk," was the answer. "I'll tell you when we are all safe."

In a few seconds the boat reached the land. Ralph shuddered when he saw how short a distance they were above the place where the waters, raging and foaming, dashed over the rocks. Lilly remarked, also, the great danger they had escaped. Her first impulse was to offer their grat.i.tude to G.o.d for their preservation; her next was, to thank the gipsy for the effort he had made on their behalf.

"But you will surely catch cold, Arnold, if you remain in your wet things," said Lilly.

"No fear for me, young lady," he answered; "I am seasoned for all weathers, and a little wetting will do me no harm; but, I'm thinking that you young people will be wis.h.i.+ng to get home again. How are you to do it?"

"My cousin said that he would row back," answered Lilly, with a glance at Ralph, indicative of her real opinion on the subject.

"Perhaps, then, you'll give me a pa.s.sage, Master Ralph," said the gipsy.

"It's a long way round by land, and the roads, such as they are, are not a little muddy in some places, and rough in others."

"Oh, yes, I'll row you round--or, that is to say, you shall go round in the boat if you will take the oars, for I feel rather tired after rowing all the way down," replied Ralph, looking very sheepish.

"Well, young gentleman, after my wetting it will be wise to keep in exercise; so, sit down, and I will try what I can do," said Arnold, taking the oars in a way which showed that he was accustomed to their use.

He put the boat in motion, but instead of rowing out in the stream, he kept close in with the bank, following all its sinuosities, so as to avoid the opposing current. He bent st.u.r.dily to the oars, and sent the boat so rapidly through the water, that she went up the stream even faster than she had descended it when Ralph was rowing. For some time he said nothing; perhaps he felt rather ashamed of himself, but if such was the case the feeling wore off. Arnold made the boat skim over the water so easily, that at last he began to fancy that he could do the same. Surely he could do everything better than a wretched gipsy, who only the other day was almost starving.

Meantime, Lilly had asked Arnold after his wife and family, and how he had happened to be on the bank of the river at a moment so opportune for her and Ralph.

"The questions, sweet lady, are easily answered," said Arnold. "My wife and children are as well as scant food and hard living will allow them.

We are camped about a mile from where you saw me. Knowing of old that the river is full of fish, I had gone to catch some. I had only just thrown in my line when I caught sight of your boat, and guessed that you would be the better for any help I could give you."

"Then your family will lose the supper you expected to catch for them, and will not know what has become of you," said Lilly.

"They are too well accustomed to go without supper to complain of that,"

said Arnold; "and as to not knowing what has become of me, we make it a rule never to trouble ourselves if one or the other does not appear at the time expected. We suppose that the absent one has some good reason for not coming back to camp. We gipsies do not allow ourselves to have more cares than we can help. It is all very well for the rich who live in fine houses, and ride in fine carriages, and wear fine clothes, and have more food than they can eat, to make cares for themselves; that would never do for us."

Ralph thought that the gipsy was growing rather impertinent in his observations; yet, as Lilly encouraged him by her remarks, he said nothing. They had for some time re-entered the tributary stream, and were proceeding quickly up it. At last, Ralph, having recovered his confidence, insisted on taking the oars, he had contemplated desiring Arnold to get out, but he had a suspicion that Lilly would not approve of such a proceeding. Arnold, without hesitation, relinquished his seat, and allowed him to take the oars.

Ralph at first rowed away st.u.r.dily enough, but the boat at once began to go on one side, and then to cross over to the other side of the stream; and even Ralph could not help discovering that instead of progressing upwards, the boat was once more dropping down with the current.

"I cannot tell how it is," he exclaimed at last, in a tone of vexation, "there is something or other prevents me from managing the boat as I used. The oars have been changed, or they have been doing something to the boat."