The Crew of the Water Wagtail Part 8

"If it makes another dash it'll escape," muttered the anxious boy, as he slid further and further down the bank--a hairbreadth at a time.

Just then the fish showed symptoms of revival. Olly could stand this no longer. He made a desperate grasp and caught it by the gills just as the hook came away. The act destroyed what little balance he had retained, and he went with a sharp short yell into the pool.

Paul looked up in time to see his friend's legs disappear. He ran to the spot in considerable alarm, supposing that the boy might have taken a fit, and not knowing whether he could swim. He was relieved, however, to find that Olly, on reappearing, struck out manfully with one hand for a shallow place at the lower end of the pool, while with the other he pressed some object tightly to his bosom.

"You don't mean to say," exclaimed Paul, as he a.s.sisted his friend out of the water, "that you went in for that splendid trout and caught it with your hands!"

"You saw me dive," replied the boy, throwing the fish down with affected indifference, and stooping to wring the water from his garments as well as to hide his face; "and you don't suppose, surely, that I caught it with my feet. Come, look at the depth I had to go down to catch him!"

Seizing his prize, Olly led his friend to the spot where he had fallen in, and pointed with a look of triumph to the clear, deep pool. At the moment a smile of intelligence lit up Paul's features, and he pointed to the extemporised fly-hook which still dangled from the bank.

Bursting into a hearty fit of laughter, the successful fisher ran up to the encampment, swinging the trout round his head, to the surprise and great satisfaction of his father, who had already got the fire alight and the rabbit skinned.

Need it be said that the meal which followed was a hearty one, though there was no variety save roast rabbit, roast trout, and roast pork, with the last of the cakes as pudding?

"A first-rate dinner!" exclaimed Paul, after swallowing a draft of sparkling water from the stream.

"Not bad," admitted Captain Trench, "if we only had something stronger than water to wash it down."

Paul made no reply to this remark, but he secretly rejoiced in the necessity which delivered his friend from the only foe that had power to overcome him.

"Now," remarked Paul, when he had finished dinner, "I will strengthen my bow before starting, for it does not send the arrows with sufficient force, and the only way to do that, that I can think of, is to shorten it."

"And I will feather the last arrow I made," said Oliver, drawing the shaft in question out of his quiver.

"Well, as my bow and bolts are all s.h.i.+p-shape and in perfect order, I will ramble to the top of the ridge before us and take a look out ahead."

So saying the captain departed, and the other two were soon so deeply absorbed in their work and in conversation about future plans that they had almost forgotten him when a loud shout caused them to start up. On looking towards the ridge they beheld Captain Trench tossing his arms wildly in the air, and shouting and gesticulating violently.

"Sees savages, I think," said Paul.

"Or gone mad!" cried Olly.

Catching up their arms, the two ran hastily to the top of the ridge, where they arrived perspiring and panting, to find that their excitable comrade had only gone into ecstasies about the magnificent scenery that had burst upon his sight.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

BEAUTIFUL SCENES AND STRANGE EXPERIENCES.

And, truly, the scene which met their gaze was of a nature calculated to arouse enthusiasm in a much less ardent bosom than that of Captain Trench. A wide undulating country, studded with lakelets and rich with verdure, stretched away from their feet to the horizon, where a range of purple hills seemed to melt and mingle with cloudland, so that the eye was carried, as it were, by imperceptible gradations from the rugged earth up into the soft blue sky; indeed, it was difficult to distinguish where the former ended and the latter began. The lakes and ponds were gay with yellow water-lilies, and the air was musical with the sweet cries of wildfowl; while the noon-tide sun bathed the whole in a golden glory.

The effect of such a sight on our wanderers was at first too powerful for words, and when words did burst forth they served to show how wonderfully diverse are the spirits of men. Captain Trench, as we have seen, was moved by this vision of beauty to shout, almost to dance, with delight, while in thought he bounded over the length and breadth of the new land, taking bearings, and making notes and charts with the view of extending the geographical knowledge of mankind! His son Oliver, on the other hand, allowed his imagination to revel freely through the forests and over the hills and across lakes and savannahs in powerful sympathy with the aspirations which must have animated Nimrod; while to Paul Burns, whose temperament was sedate and earnest, as well as cheerful and hearty, the glorious vision at once suggested thoughts of that tranquil home in which man's lot was originally cast by the loving heart of G.o.d.

"Now it is quite plain," said Trench, as they slowly descended into this beautiful scene, "that this land is no collection of small islands, as we have been led to suppose, but a great land full of all that is needful to make it the happy abode of man."

"Just so, daddy!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Oliver, "and _we_ have been sent to explore it and carry home the news--perhaps to bring out the first settlers and show them the way!"

"Why, Olly, you carry too much sail for so small a craft; you look out rather too far ahead. And what mean ye by saying we are sent? n.o.body sent us on this journey that I know of, unless you mean that Swinton-- the big scoundrel!--sent us."

"Whatever Olly meant by the expression," interposed Paul, "I think he is right; for all men are sent by the Almighty, no matter where they go."

"What! d'ye mean that men are sent by the Almighty whether they go to do good or evil?"

"Ay, Master Trench, that is what I mean; they _are_ sent by Him, though not sent to _do evil_. Look here, don't you admit that G.o.d created all men and _sent_ them into this world?"

"Of course I do."

"And that He made you an Englishman, and so _sent_ you to England; and that He made you a sea-captain, and among other places _sent_ you to Newfoundland."

"Well--I--I suppose He did," returned the captain, with that puzzled expression of countenance which was wont to indicate that his mind was grappling difficulties.

"Well, then," continued Paul, "_being_ good, of course the Almighty sent us to _do_ good; but He also gave us free wills, which just means permission to do as we please; so it remains to be seen whether we will use our free wills in working with Him, or in _trying_ to work against Him, for, strange to say, we cannot really work against G.o.d, we can only _try_ to do it, and in so trying we establish the fact of our own wickedness; but His grand and good purposes shall be carried out in spite of us notwithstanding, for he can bring good out of evil."

"Now, Paul, I've lost soundings altogether, and it's my opinion that you are foolishly talking about things that you, don't understand."

"I never heard, Master Trench, that it was foolish to talk about what one does not understand! On the contrary, it is by talking of things that we don't understand that we manage at last to understand them. You had a deal of talking about navigation, had you not, before you understood it?"

"Look 'ee here, lad," said Trench, stopping suddenly, with his legs planted firmly apart as though on the quarter-deck of his s.h.i.+p in a cross sea, while he drove his right fist into the palm of his left hand argumentatively. "Look 'ee here. How can it be possible that--that-- pooh! Come along, we'll never get on with our survey of the land if we dispute at this rate."

The stout mariner turned away with an air of exasperation, and resumed his walk at a rapid pace, closely followed by his amused friend and son.

This irreverent mode of dismissing a grave and difficult subject was not peculiar to Captain Trench. It has probably been adopted by those who shrink from mental effort ever since the days of Adam and Eve. Minds great and small have exercised themselves since the beginning of time on this perplexing subject--G.o.d's sovereignty and man's free will--with benefit, probably, to themselves. We recommend it in pa.s.sing, good reader, to your attention, and we will claim to be guiltless of presumption in thus advising, so long as the writing stands, "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good."

Before the sun went down that night our explorers had plunged into the very heart of the beautiful country which we have described--now pus.h.i.+ng through tangled underwood, or following the innumerable deer-tracks with which the country was seamed, or breasting the hill-sides, or making detours to get round small lakes, being guided, in a westerly direction, by a small pocket-compa.s.s which Captain Trench was fortunately in the habit of carrying with him wherever he went. No large lakes or broad rivers had yet been met with, so that up to this point the divergencies from the direct line had not been great.

Thus they advanced for several days, subsisting on game and fish, chiefly the last, however; for their shooting powers were very defective, and Oliver was an ardent--too ardent--fisher. Their inability to shoot became at last a serious matter, for many arrows and bolts were lost, as well as much game.

"Look, now, there's _another_ chance," whispered Paul, pointing to a plump willow-grouse that sat in a bush in front of them. "You try first, Master Trench."

"An' _don't_ miss, daddy," said Oliver entreatingly; "there's only the bones of a rabbit left from this morning's breakfast."

The captain took a fervently careful aim, but went far wide of the mark, to his intense chagrin. Paul then bent his bow, but without success, though his arrows stuck in a branch close under the bird, which, being very tame, only glanced down inquiringly. Oliver's arrow went over it, and the stone which he afterwards slang made such a rattling in the bush that the puzzled creature finally retired.

"This is becoming serious," remarked the captain, with a face so solemn that Paul burst into a fit of laughter.

"Ha! you may laugh, lad," continued Trench, "but if you were as hungry as I am you'd be more inclined to cry. D'ye think a stout man like me can sup heartily on rabbit bones?"

"You've forgot, daddy, the four big trout I caught to-day."

"So I have, Olly; well, come and let's have 'em cooked at once."

The fish, which were really more than sufficient without the rabbit bones, were soon grilling over a huge fire under the canopy of a spreading birch-tree.

When the skipper had disposed of enough to allay the pangs of hunger, he turned and said to his comrades, in a tone of marked decision--

"Now, mess-mates, I've been rummagin' my brains a bit, and the outcome of it is as follows:--`Whatever is worth doin' is worth doin' well,' as the old proverb puts it. If we are to explore this country, we must set about learning to shoot, for if we don't, we are likely to starve in the midst of plenty, and leave our bones to bleach in this beautiful wilderness."