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Quicksilver; The Boy With No Skid To His Wheel, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 22. The Beginning Of Trouble |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE "I say," said Dexter, a few days later, as he followed Helen into the drawing-room. "What have I been doing now!" "I hope nothing fresh, Dexter. Have you been in mischief!" "I don't know," he said; "only I've been in the study, and there's a tall gent." "Say gentleman, Dexter." "Tall gentleman with a white handkerchief round his neck, and he has been asking me questions, and every time I answered him he sighed, and said, 'Dear me!'" "Indeed!" said Helen, smiling. "What did he ask you?" "If I knew Euclid; and when I said I didn't know him, he said, 'Oh dear me!' Then he asked me if I knew Algebra, and I said I didn't, and he shook his head at me and said, 'Dear me! dear me!' and that he would have to pull me up. I say, what have I done to be pulled up!" "Don't you know that Euclid wrote a work on Geometry, and that Algebra is a study by which calculations are made!" "No," said Dexter eagerly. "I thought they were two people. Then why did he say he would have to pull me up?" "He meant that you were very much behind with, your studies, and that he would have to teach you and bring you forward." "Oh, I see! And is he going to teach me?" "Yes, Mr Limpney is your private tutor now; and he is coming every day, so I hope you will be very industrious, and try hard to learn." "Oh yes, I'll try. Mr Limpney; I don't think he much liked me, though." "Nonsense, Dexter; you should not think such things." "All right. I won't then. It will be like going to school again, won't it?" "Much pleasanter, I hope." Time glided rapidly on after its usual fashion, and Dexter grew fast. There was a long range of old stabling at the doctor's house, with extensive lofts. The first part was partitioned off for a coachman's room, but this had not been in use for half a century, and the whole place was ruinous and decayed. Once upon a time some one with a love of horses must have lived there, for there were stalls for eight, and a coach-house as well, but the doctor only kept two horses, and they occupied a new stable built in front of the old. The back part was one of Dexter's favourite hunting-grounds. Here he could be quite alone, and do pretty well as he liked. Peter the groom never noticed his goings-out and comings-in, and there was no one to find fault with him for being untidy. Here then he had quite a little menagerie of his own. His pocket-money, as supplied by the doctor, afforded him means for buying any little thing he fancied, and hence he had in one of the lofts a couple of very ancient pigeons, which the man of whom he bought them declared to be extremely young; a thrush in a cage; two hedge-sparrows, which were supposed to be linnets, in another; two mice in an old cigar-box lined with tin; and a very attenuated rat, which had been caught by Peter in a trap, and which was allowed to live _minus_ one foreleg that had been cut short off close to the shoulder, but over which the skin had grown. No one interfered with Dexter's pets, and in fact the old range of stabling was rarely visited, even by the gardeners, so that the place became not only the boy's favourite resort in his loneliness, but, so to speak, his little kingdom where he reigned over his pets. There was plenty of room, especially in the lofts with their cross-beams and ties; and here, with his pets, as the only spectators, Dexter used to go daily to get rid of the vitality which often battled for exit in the confinement of the house. Half an hour here of the performance of so many natural gymnastic tricks seemed to tame him down--these tricks being much of a kind popular amongst caged monkeys, who often, for no apparent object, spring about and hang by hands or feet, often by their tail. But he had one piece of enjoyment that would have driven a monkey mad with envy. He had discovered among the lumber a very large old-fashioned bottle-jack, and after hanging this from a hook and winding it up, one of his greatest pleasures was to hang from that jack, and roast till he grew giddy, when he varied the enjoyment by buckling on a strap, attaching himself with a hook from the waist, and then going through either a flying or swimming movement as he spun slowly round. Then he had a rope-trick or two contrived by means of a long piece of knotted together clothes-line, doubled, and hung from the rafters to form a swing or trapeze. Dexter had paid his customary morning visit to his pets, and carefully fed them according to his wont; his plan, a very regular one among boys, being to give them twice as much as was good for them one day, and a starving the next--a mode said to be good with pigs, and productive of streaky bacon, but bad for domestic pets. Then he had returned to the house to go through his lessons, and sent long-suffering Mr Limpney, BA, almost into despair by the little progress he had made, after which he had gone down the garden with the expectation of meeting Dan'l at some corner, but instead had come upon Peter, busy as usual with his broom. "Yer needn't look," said the latter worthy; "he's gone out." "What! Dan'l has?" "Yes; gone to see a friend who's a gardener over at Champney Ryle, to buy some seeds." It was like the announcement of a holiday, and leaving the groom making the usual long stretches with his broom, Dexter went on aimlessly to the river-side, where, for the first time for many months, he found Bob Dimsted fishing. "Hullo, old un!" was the latter's greeting, "how are you!" Dexter gave the required information, and hesitated for a few moments, something in the way of a collection of Helen's warnings coming vaguely to his hand; but the volunteered information of the boy on the other side of the river, that he had got some "glorious red wums," and that the fish were well on the feed, drove everything else away, and in a few minutes Dexter was sitting upon the crown of a willow pollard, ten feet out over the river, that much nearer to the fisher, and in earnest conversation with him as he watched his float. Once more the memory of words that had been spoken to him came to Dexter, but the bobbing of the float, and the excitement of capturing a fish, drove the thoughts away--the fascination of the fishing, and the pleasant excitement of meeting a companion of near his own age, cut off, as he was, from the society of boys, being too much for him; and he was soon eagerly listening, and replying to all that was said. "Ever go fishing in a boat?" said Bob, after a time. "No." "Ah! you should go in a boat," said Bob. "You sit down comfortable, with your feet all dry, and you can float over all the deep holes and best places in the river, and catch all the big fish. It's lovely!" "Did you ever fish out of a boat?" asked Dexter. "Did I ever fish out of a boat? Ha! ha! ha! Lots of times. I'm going to get a boat some day, and have a saucepan and kettle and plate and spoon, and take my fishing-tackle, and then I shall get a gun or a pistol, and go off down the river." "What for!" "What for? Why, to live like that, catching fish, and shooting wild ducks and geese, and cooking 'em, and eating 'em. Then you have a 'paulin and spread it over the boat of a night, and sleep under it--and there you are!" Dexter looked at the adventurous being before him in wonder, while he fished on and talked. "I should make myself a sail, too, and then I shouldn't have to row so much; and then I could go right on down to the end of the river, and sail away to foreign countries, and shoot all kinds of wonderful things. And then you could land sometimes and kill snakes, and make yourself a hut to live in, and do just as you liked. Ah, that is a fine life!" "Yes," said Dexter, whose eager young mind rapidly painted an illustration to everything his companion described. "A man I know has been to sea, and he says sometimes you come to places where there's nothing but mackerel, and you can almost ladle 'em out with your hands. I should boil 'em over a fire. They are good then." Dexter's eyes grew more round. "Then out at sea you have long lines, and you catch big cod-fish, and soles almost as big as the boat." "And are you going to have a boat?" "To be sure I am. I get tired of always coming out to catch little roach and dace and eels. I mean to go soon." Dexter sighed. "That man says when you go far enough away, you come to islands where the cocoa-nuts grow; and then, all you've got to do is go ashore and pull your boat up on the sands, and when you are hungry you climb a tree and get a cocoa-nut; and every one has got enough meat and drink in it for a meal." "Do you?" "Yerrrs! That you do. That's the sort of place to go and live at. I'm tired o' Coleby." "Why don't you go and live there, then!" said Dexter. "I'm going to, some day. It's no use to be in too much of a hurry; I want to save a little money first, and get some more tackle. You see, you want big hooks for big fish, and some long lines. Then you must have a boat." The idea of the unknown countries made Dexter thrill, and he listened eagerly as the boy went on prosing away while he fished, taking out his line from time to time, and dropping the bait in likely places. "Haven't made up my mind what boat I shall have yet, only it must be a good one." "Yes," said Dexter; "you'd want a good big boat." "Not such a very big un," said Bob. "I should want a nice un with cushions, because you'd have to sit in it so long." "And sleep in it too?" "Oh yes; you'd have to sleep in it." "Should you light the fire, and cook in it!" said Dexter innocently. "Yah! No, o' course not. You'd go ashore every time you wanted to cook, and light a fire there with a burnin'-glass." "But suppose the sun didn't shine!" "Sun always shines out there," said Bob. "That sailor chap told me, and the birds are all sorts of colours, and the fish too, like you see in glass globes. I mean to go." "When shall you go?" "Oh, some day when I'm ready. I know of a jolly boat as would just do." "Do you?" "Yes; I dessay you've seen it. Belongs to Danby's, down the river. Lives in a boat-house." "Yes, I've seen it," said Dexter eagerly. "It is a beauty!" "Well, that's the sort of boat I mean to have. P'r'aps I shall have that." "You couldn't have that," cried Dexter. "Why not? They never use it, not more'n twice a year. Dessay they'd lend it." "That they wouldn't," cried Dexter. "Well, then, I should borrow it, and bring it back when I'd done with it. What games you could have with a boat like that!" "Yes," sighed Dexter; "wish we had one!" "Wouldn't be such a good one as that if you had. That's just the boat I've made up my mind to have." "And shall you sail right away to a foreign country!" said Dexter, from his nest up in the willow. "Why, how can you sail away to another place without a mast and sail, stoopid!" cried Bob. "If you call me stupid," said Dexter sharply, "I'll come and punch your head." "Yah! Yer can't get at me." "Can't I? I could swim across in a minute, and I would, if it wasn't for wetting my clothes." "Yah!" cried Bob scoffingly. "Why, I could fight yer one hand." "No, you couldn't." "Yes, I could." "Well, you'd see, if I came across." "But yer can't get across," laughed Bob. "I know of a capital mast." Dexter looked sulky. "It's part of an old boat-hook my father found floating in the river. I shall smooth it down with my knife if I can't borrow a spokeshave." "And what'll you do for a sail?" said Dexter, his interest in the expedition chasing away his anger. "Oh, I shall get a table-cloth or a sheet. Sheets make beautiful sails. You just hoists 'em up, and puts an oar over the stern to steer with, and then away you go, just where you like. Sailing along in a boat's lovely!" "Ever been in a boat sailing?" asked Dexter. "No; but I know it is. That sailor told me. He says when you've got all sail set, you just cruises along." "Do you?" "Yes. I know; and I mean to go some day; but it's no use to be in a jolly hurry, and you ought to have a mate." "Ought you?" "Yes, so as he could steer while a chap went to sleep; because sometimes you'd be a long way from the shore." Dexter sat very thoughtful and still, dreaming of the wonders of far-off places, such as could be reached by Bob Dimsted and his companion, the impracticability of such a journey never once occurring to him. Bob had been about all his life free to go and come, while he, Dexter, seemed to have been always shut up, as it were, in a cage, which had narrowed his mind. "Some chaps would be glad of such a chance," said Bob. "It'll be a fine time. My, what fishing I shall have!" "Shall you be gone long!" said Dexter, after a time. "Long? Why, of course I shall; years and years. I shan't come back till I've made a fortune, and am a rich man, with heaps of money to spend. Some chaps would be glad to go." "Yes, of course," said Dexter dreamily. "I want to get a mate who isn't afraid of anything. Dessay we should meet lions sometimes, and big snakes." "What! in England!" "England! Yah! Who's going to stop in England? I'm going to sail away to wonderful places all over the world." "But would the boat be big enough to cross the great sea?" "Who's going to cross the great sea?" cried Bob. "Of course I shouldn't. I should only go out about six miles from shore, and keep close in, so as to land every night to get grub, or anything else. P'r'aps to go shooting. My father's got an old gun--a fine un. Think I don't know what I'm about? Shoots hares with it, and fezzans. "There's another!" he exclaimed, as he hooked and landed an unfortunate little perch, which he threw into his basket with a look of disgust. "I'm sick of ketching such miserable little things as these. I want to get hold of big sea-fish of all kinds, so as to fill the boat. Some chaps would be glad to go," he said again, as he threw his line in once more. "Yes," said Dexter thoughtfully; "I should like to go." "You!" said Bob, with a mocking laugh. "You! Why, you'd be afraid. I don't believe you dare go in a boat!" "Oh yes, I dare," said Dexter stoutly. "Not you. You're afraid of what the doctor would say. You daren't even come fishing with me up the river." "They said I was not to go with you," said Dexter quietly; "so I couldn't." "Then what's the use of your saying you'd like to go. You couldn't." "But I should like to go," said Dexter excitedly. "Not you. I want a mate as has got some pluck in him. You'd be afraid to be out all night on the water." "No, I shouldn't. I should like it." "Well, I don't know," said Bob dubiously. "I might take you, and I mightn't. You ain't quite the sort of a chap I should want; and, besides, you've got to stay where you are and learn lessons. Ho! ho! ho! what a game, to be obliged to stop indoors every day and learn lessons! I wonder you ain't ashamed of it." Dexter's cheeks flushed, and he looked angrily across the river with his fists clenched, but he said nothing. "You wouldn't do. You ain't strong enough," said Bob at last. "I'm as strong as you are." "But you daren't come." "I should like to come, but I don't think they'd let me." "Why, of course they wouldn't, stoopid. You'd have to come away some night quietly, and get in the boat, and then we'd let her float down the river, and row right away till morning, and then we could set the sail, and go just wherever we liked, because we should be our own masters." "Here's some one coming after you," said Bob, in a low voice; and he shrank away, leaving Dexter perched up in the crown of the tree, where he stopped without speaking, as he saw Helen come down the garden, and she walked close by him without raising her eyes, and passed on. _ |
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