A Chapter of Adventures Part 22

"It is certainly extraordinary," the lady said; "but it does not seem to me by any means impossible, for I have heard that in these terrible cyclones houses have been taken up and carried long distances, and I can quite understand the same thing happening to a boat."

An hour later Mr. Darcy the collector returned, and after hearing the boys' story said he would at once cause inquiries to be made along the coast whether any white men had been thrown up alive.

"I fear that there is but little hope," he said, "for the surf on the coast in a cyclone like that we have had is tremendous, and even were anyone to float in on a spar he would probably be dashed to pieces when he approached the sh.o.r.e, and if he escaped that would be carried out again by the under tow. However, I will cause every inquiry to be made.

The destruction has been terrible: numbers of villages have been swept away, and I hear that a great number of native craft are missing. Of course you will stop here for a few days with us to recover from your fatigue. I will rig you out until you can get fresh clothes made."

The lads stopped for a week under the hospitable roof of Mr. Darcy. No news came of any Europeans having been washed ash.o.r.e alive, though several dead bodies were reported as having been cast up at various points. At the end of the week they were rigged up afresh, and Mr. Darcy procured pa.s.sages for them in a dhow, bound for Calcutta. He laughed at the idea of the boys paying for their clothes or pa.s.sage, and said he was only too pleased that he and his wife should have been of service to them.

They arrived at Calcutta without adventure, and at once reported themselves to the agent of the _Wild Wave_ and told the story of her loss. Here again they experienced the warm-hearted hospitality which is so general in India, the agent taking them out to his house and installing them there until the next steamer was to sail for England. He had telegraphed upon the day of their arrival to Mr. G.o.dstone, and received an answer requesting him to take pa.s.sages home for them to England, where they duly arrived without any exciting incident.

Seven years have pa.s.sed away, and Jack Robson is now second mate in one of Mr. G.o.dstone's s.h.i.+ps, and will be his first officer on next voyage.

He has gone through many adventures since, but none approaching in interest and excitement to those which occurred on his two voyages in the _Wild Wave_. His mother still lives at Dulwich, and Lily is engaged to be married to Arthur Hill as soon as the latter attains the rank of captain. Jack is neither engaged nor married, but his mother has a strong idea that before very long he and Mildred G.o.dstone will come to an understanding with each other.

Jack is always at the house when at home, and is treated by Mr. G.o.dstone and his wife as one of the family. Indeed, Mrs. G.o.dstone has as much as hinted to Jack's mother that she and her husband will offer no objection to the young sailor, but that, of course, they will wish their son-in-law to leave the sea and settle as one of the firm in London.

Each time he is at home Jack makes a point of running down to Leigh and spending a few days there. "Sea-life is all very well, uncle," he says, "but for downright good sailing there is nothing in the world that to my mind beats a bawley."