Jeff Benson, or the Young Coastguardsman. Robert Michael Ballantyne
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boots, right up to the hip an’ rather tight; so in I went boots an’ all. Just as I was gettin’ to the other side, a most awful alligator seized hold o’ my right foot. It’s wonderful how easy my boot came off just then! Although I was used to tug, an’ shove, and gasp, and pull, at that boot of a night, no sooner did the alligator lay hold on it than my leg came out like a cork out of a bottle, and I was out o’ the water and up the bank like a squirrel. Now, Molly, what would you say was the moral that should be drawn from that—Never use an alligator as a boot-jack—eh?”
“I should say, Never wade across a South American river without your boots on,” suggested Jeff.
“Well, now, I should say, Never wade across a South American river at all,” said Miss Millet; “but, brother, that’s not what I meant. Before you arrived, Jeff and I had been talking about God’s ways with man, and I was trying to show that disasters and what we call misfortunes are not necessarily evil, but are often the means of great blessing. I don’t think Jeff quite sees that. I can’t explain myself clearly, brother; but you know what I mean.”
While the old lady was speaking, the captain had become thoughtful.
“Yes, I know what you mean,” he replied, “and I agree with you heartily. Is it not written of our Saviour, ‘He hath done all things well?’ and is He not unchangeable? Of course it is not to be expected that we shall always see through and understand His ways though we can always trust Him; but sometimes He lifts a corner of the veil and lets us see. Very odd, Molly,” continued the captain, extracting a large black pocket-book with some difficulty from a breast-pocket, “very odd that you should have touched on this question, for I have somethin’ to say to you that bears on it. Look here. What’s that?”
He handed an oblong piece of paper to his sister, who examined it slowly.
“Why, Dick, it’s a cheque for 500 pounds.”
“Just so, old girl, an’ it’s yours.”
“Mine!”
“Ay, I might have given it to you when I first came back, but I took a fancy to keep it as a little surprise for our last evenin’ together, so that I might leave you with a good taste in your mouth. Now, listen, an’ I’ll spin you an’ Jeff a yarn. But first fill up my cup. I’m fond o’ tea—nat’rally, bein’ a teetotaler. Up to the brim, Molly; I like a good bucketful. Thankee—now, let me see.”
The captain put his hand to his rugged brow, became thoughtful for a few moments, and then resumed.
“Just before startin’ on my last voyage to China I ran down to Folkestone to see Rosebud—that’s my little daughter, Jeff. Surely you must have seen her when knocking about here?”
“You forget, Captain, I have not been in these parts for six years. Nevertheless, I did see Rosebud some ten or twelve years ago with her nurse in this very room.”
“Yes, so you did,” chimed in Miss Millet. “She was six at that time, and the dearest little angel I ever saw.”
“She was all that and a great deal more,” said the enthusiastic father. “It don’t become me to have much of an opinion about the angels, but I wouldn’t give my Rosebud for the whole lot o’ them, an’ all the cherubs throw’d into the bargain. Well, as I was sayin’, I ran down to Folkestone to the school where she is, and as we were partin’ she made me promise when I got to Hong-Kong to run up the river to see an old schoolmate o’ hers that had gone out there with her father. I was to give Clara Rosebud’s dear love, and her photograph, and get hers in exchange. I would have done this, of course, for my darlin’, anyhow, but I promised all the more readily because I had some business to do with old Nibsworth, the father.
“Well, after I’d got to Hong-Kong an’ seen the ship all snug, I thought of runnin’ up the river in a small steamer that was ready to start. It so happened that I got a letter that very day from Nibsworth himself, who had heard of my arrival, askin’ me to come without delay, as there was a grand chance of doin’ a bit of business that might turn in some thousands of pounds. But it would have to be settled next day, or the chance would be lost. You may be sure I didn’t waste time after readin’ this, but when I got to the river-side, I found that the steamer had started, and there wasn’t another till next mornin’.”
“What a pity!” exclaimed the sympathetic sister and Jeff in the same breath.
“Yes, wasn’t it? Of course it wasn’t a personal loss, but it was the loss of a splendid out-o’-the-way chance to do a good turn to the owners. It was an ill wind—Jeff, almost a disaster. Hows’ever, I had to grin an’ bear it. But I couldn’t rest till next day; so I hired a native boat, determined to do my best in the circumstances, and you may be sure I wasn’t in the best of humours, as we went creepin’ slowly up that river, when I knew that the hours of opportunity were slippin’ away.
“It was not till the evenin’ o’ the next day that I reached old Nibsworth’s house. Just before we rounded the bend of the river that brought it into view, I noticed smoke risin’ pretty thick above the trees. Of course I thought nothin’ of it till I found that it was the old man’s house was a-fire! Didn’t we bend to the oars then with a will!
“As we drew near, we found that all the servants and work-people about the place were runnin’ here and there, shoutin’ and yellin’ for ropes and ladders. Most people seem to lose their heads in a fire. Anyhow those people had; for nobody could find a ladder long enough to reach a top window, where I could see that someone was waving his arms for help. The moment we touched the beach, I jumped out o’ the boat and ran up to the house. It was blazin’ fiercely in the lower rooms, and I soon found that old Nibsworth and his daughter were inside—driven to the attics by the fire and smoke. They soon left the window where I had first seen the arms waving, and threw open another that was further from the fire.
“I saw that the old man was frail. The girl, they told me, was delicate. ‘Get straw, hay, branches—anything soft,’ I shouted, ‘an’ pile ’em under the window.’
“‘Him’s too weak for jump,’ gasped a native servant.
“‘Do as I bid ye,’ said I, with a glare that sent ’em all off double-quick. Happily I found a rope handy in a storehouse hard by. I made a coil of it. You know a seaman can usually heave a coil of rope pretty well. I made a splendid heave, an’ sent it right in at the window. The old man caught it.
“‘Make fast to a bed-post,’ I roared, ‘or a table, or chest o’ drawers—anything big.’
“He understood me, I could see, and presently he looked over the window an’ shook his head. Then I could see the face of a dark-haired, beautiful girl. Even through the increasing smoke I could tell that she was deadly pale, and drew back with a shudder. By this time a big pile of straw lay under the window. I saw there was no hope of such an old man lettin’ himself or his girl down by a rope, so up I went hand over hand. Many a time had I done the sort o’ thing for a lark when I was a youngster; but bein’ out o’ practice, and a good deal heavier than in old days, I found it hard work, I can tell you. Hows’ever, I managed it and got in at the window, an’ didn’t my heart give a jump when I saw that the old chap had only made the rope fast to a light bedroom chair. If I’d bin a stone heavier, I’d have pulled that chair right over the window!
“‘God bless you!’ cried the tremblin’ old man; ‘save my Clara!’
“There was no time for pretty speeches. I made fast the end of the rope to the leg of a table, made a loop on the other end, threw it over the girl, caught her round the waist an’ swung her over the window. I was in such a hurry that the rope nearly took the skin off my hands; but I landed her safe on the straw below. The old man was heavier, and not so easy to manage; but I got him lowered safe, and then, slipping over myself, began to descend. The flames had by that time got headway, and were dartin’ like fiery serpents’ tongues out o’ the windows below. One o’ them gave me a wipe in passin’, an’ cleared eyelashes, eyebrows, and half the hair o’ my head away. Another twined round the rope and singed it; so that when I was half-way down, it snapped, and I came to the ground with a thud that