Bevis Part 48

"And how to tack?"

"Yes."

"Then let's do it, and tack and get s.h.i.+pwrecked, and live here. If we only had Jack's rifle."

"But we must sail properly first," said Bevis. "I shan't do anything till we can sail properly: now this is it. Look."

He showed Mark the two sketches, and how their mainsail did not reach back far enough towards the stern.

"Frances must make it larger," said Mark. "Of course that's it--it's as different as possible. And the mast ought to be higher--it would crack better, and go overboard--whop!"

"I don't know," said Bevis; "about the mast; yes, I think I will. We will make one a foot or eighteen inches higher--"

"Bigger sails will go faster, and smash the s.h.i.+p splendidly against the rocks," said Mark. "There'll be a crash and a grinding, and the decks will blow up, and there'll be an awful yell as everybody is gulped up but you and me."

"While we're doing it, we'll make another bowsprit, too--longer," said Bevis.

"Why didn't we think of it before," said Mark. "How stupid! Now you look at it, you can see it in a minute. And we had to sail half round the world to find it."

"That's just it," said Bevis. "You sail forty thousand miles to find a thing, and when you get there you can see you left it at home."

"We have been stupes," said Mark. "Let's do it directly. I'll shave the new mast, and you take the sails to Frances. And now come and see the place for the cave."

Bevis went with him, and Mark took him to the bank or bluff inside the island which Bevis had pa.s.sed when he explored it the evening of the battle. The sandy bank rose steeply for some ten or fifteen feet, and then it was covered with brambles and fern. There was a s.p.a.ce at the foot clear of bushes and trees, and only overgrown with rough gra.s.ses.

Beyond this there were great bramble thickets, and the trees began again about fifty yards away, encircling the open s.p.a.ce. The spot was almost in the centre of the island, but rather nearer the side where there was a channel through the weeds than the other.

"The sand's soft and hard," said Mark. "I tried it with my knife; you can cut it, but it won't crumble."

"We should not have to prop the roof," said Bevis.

"No, and it's as dry as chips; it's the most splendid place for a cave that ever was."

"So it is," said Bevis. "n.o.body could see us."

He looked round. The high bank shut them in behind, the trees in front and each side. "Besides, there's n.o.body to look. It's capital."

"Will you do it," said Mark.

"Of course I will--directly we can sail properly."

"Hurrah!" shouted Mark, hitting up his heels, having caught that trick from Bevis. "Let's go home and begin the sails. Come on."

"But I know one thing," said Bevis, as they returned to the boat; "if we're going to have a cave, we must have a gun."

"That's just what I say. Can't we borrow one? I know, you put up Frances to make Jack lend us his rifle. She's fond of you--she hates me."

"I'll try," said Bevis. "How ought you to get a girl to do anything?"

"Stare at her," said Mark. "That's what Jack does, like a donk at a thistle when he can't eat any more."

"Does Frances like the staring?"

"She pretends she doesn't, but she does. You stare at her, and act stupid."

"Is Jack stupid?"

"When he's at our house," said Mark. "He's as stupid as an owl. Now she kisses you, and you just whisper and squeeze her hand, and say it's very tiny. You don't know how conceited she is about her hand--can't you see--she's always got it somewhere where you can see it; and she sticks her foot out so," (Mark put one foot out); "and don't you move an inch, but stick close to her, and get her into a corner or in the arbour. Mind, though, if you don't keep on telling her how pretty she is, she'll box your ears. That's why she hates me--"

"Because you don't tell her she's pretty. But she is pretty."

"But I'm not going to be always telling her so--I don't see that she's anything very beautiful either--you and I should look nice if we were all the afternoon doing our hair, and if we walked like that and stuck our noses up in the air; and kept grinning, and smacked ourselves with powder, and scent, and all such beastly stuff. Now Jack's rifle--"

"We could make it shoot," said Bevis, "if we had it all to ourselves, and put bullets through apples stuck up on a stick, or smash an egg--"

"And knock over the parrots up in these trees."

"I _will_ have a gun," said Bevis, kicking a stone with all his might.

"Are you sure Frances could get Jack--"

"Frances get Jack to do it! Why, I've seen him kiss her foot."

They got on board laughing and set the sails, but as the island kept the wind off, Mark had to row till they were beyond the cliff. Then the sails filled and away they went.

"Thessaly," said Mark presently. "See! we're getting to places where people live again. I say, shall we try the anchor?"

"Yes. Let down the mainsail first."

Mark let it down, and then put the anchor over. It sank rapidly, drawing the cable after it. The flat stone in the shaft endeavoured as it sank to lie flat on the bottom, and this brought one of the flukes or points against the ground, and the motion of the boat dragging at it caused it to stick in a few inches. The cable tightened, and the boat brought up and swung with her stem to the wind. Mark found that they did not want all the cable; he hauled it in till there was only about ten feet out; so that, allowing for the angle, the water was not much more than five or six feet deep. They were off the muddy sh.o.r.e, lined with weeds. Rude as the anchor was, it answered perfectly. In a minute or two they hauled it up, set the mainsail, and sailed almost to the harbour, having to row the last few yards because the trees kept much of the breeze off. They uns.h.i.+pped the mast, and carried it and the sails home.

In the evening Mark set to work to shave another and somewhat longer pole for the new mast, and Bevis took the sails and some more canvas to Frances. He was not long gone, and when he returned said that Frances had promised to do the work immediately.

"Did you do the cat and mouse?" said Mark. "Did you stare?"

"I stared," said Bevis, "but there were some visitors there--"

"Stupes?"

"Stupes, so I couldn't get on very well. She asked me what I was looking at, and if she wasn't all right--"

"She meant her flounces; she thinks of nothing but her flounces. Some of the things are called gores."

"But I began about the rifle, and she said perhaps, but she really had no influence with Jack."

"O!" said Mark with a snort. "Another buster."

"And she couldn't think why you didn't come home. She had forgiven you a long time, and you were always unkind to her, and she was always forgiving you."

"Busters," said Mark. "She's on telling stories from morning to night."