THE NOVELIST

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 34, 7 May 1881, Page 365

THE NOVELIST

PLAGUE-SM ITTEN.

A Story,

By J. Maclaren Cobban.

CHAPTER lll.— (Continued). THE next quarter of an hour was to the skipper a desperate, almost delirious hand-to-hand fight Avitli the rush and Avhirl and pitiless pelting of the storm. He reached the forecastle somehow and roused the boy, by dint of shouting and dragging, to a sense of the situation ; he Avas handling the Avheel while the boy let out tlie jib ; he was borne on by nughty hissing seas he knew not Avhither, except that it was farther and farther from the pier Avhose light greAv yellower and smaller. He kneAV not that his schooner Avas to become a Avreck ; it Avas of no use trying to run out to sea ; he could only strive to run her ashore on the beach. But a vast wave swept on tlie ship broadside, burst over her, and knocked him down. He clung to the Avheel, but in a moment he let it go : it was of no use : either the rudder or rudder-chain Avas broken. The ship iioav lay and Avas SAvept aAvay at the cruel mercy of the Avaves — swept Avith Avind and current aAvay to southward against the dark cliffs, Avhose liolloav roar, as they kept the breakers at bay, stunned the ears and made the blood run cold. That the dear helpless Susy must be flung to be torn hetween these Titanic combatants ! — ' Good Lord, deliver us, and forgive that inhuman old man !' It scarcely mattered that there Avas no boat left to launch, for it could not have lived a moment in such a sea. What, then, was to he j

done ? He got some toAv, lit it, and made the lad swing it to show a flare. But presently this Avas put out and the lad almost SAvept overboard by a heavy sea. He recollected his double-barrelled rifle in the cabin ; he brought it on deck, and fired it off. Surely noAv his distress Avas knoAvn, and kind souls would rush to his rescue ; for kind souls there must be in TAvyscar; it Avas an English town, and had seafaring men of its OAvn. Yet, though lights burned steadily and brightly in the houses on the cliff's, he saAv no lights appear along the shore. Were he and his quite, quite forsaken ? ... It seemed to him that he had been driving thus for hours through the storm. His body Avas growing numb and his mind stupid ; the Avind buffeted him, the Avaves burst upon the deck and drenched him, but he Avas no longer conscious of them. His one thought, groAving ever more Avild and distracting, Avas only ' Susy ! Susy ! ' But in reality it could not have been more than half-an-hour from the moment he kneAv he had left the pier before he felt the ship strike on the sunken rocks and Avoke anew to the necessity for instant action. The deck-load !— that Avas his only hope ! They might get ashore on it ! He descended to the cabin. To his dismay, he saAv that the Avater had already entered, and that Susy lay calmly asleep Avith the few bedclothes she had endured upon her all wet. In sudden despair at the thought that she would probably never open her eyes upon him again, he stood paralysed. Then he bent doAvn and passionately kissed her, calling 'Susy ! Susy ! my dear, dear wife ! ' She turned and murmured, and as if Avith a sudden inspiration (he remembered hearing among the old folk at home that seaAvet, if Avell wrapt in thick dry things, A\ r ould not give cold), he Avrapped her in the featherbed on which she lay, and which the water had not yet touched, then he swathed her tightly in all the blankets he could find, took off his oilskin and put it about her, and then aboA^e all wrapped a stout tarpauling Avhich completely encased her. He carried her thus on deck, and lashed her to the deck-load. Then he struggled to the forecastle, wrapped the sailors in Avhat things he could find, and carried them one by one and lashed them also to the timber. He undid the fastenings which bound this improvised raft to the deck, and shouting to the lad, ' Hold on for your life !' he Avaited for the next big Avave to break over the ship and carry the raft aAvay. It came, and they Avere SAvept into the seething, hissing cauldron of Avaters. . . . Then he kne av no more, — but that he clutched and clung Avith tearing nails and peeling fingers, that he was blinded and choked, beaten and bruised— till he came to himself on a ledge in the cliff, and let the desolate thought SAveep over him, 'I am alone ! Susy is gone !' But presently his heart bounded to see higher up the ledge the ruins of the raft, and to find close to his hand the line Avhich connected him Avith the tarpaulin Avhich lay upon it. Susy Avas near to him ! But Avas she alive ? He crept to her ; her eyes Avere closed, and her face Avas cold ! It could not be she Avas dead ! She must not die !— She might only have SAvooned. He unbound her and took her in all her Avrappings to carry her aAvay. But his heart fell again ; how could he Avith his burden escape from that cleft in the cliff up its rugged side ? He must Avait a little till he had recovered some strength. He crouched as far back as he could with his Avife in his arms. The cruel wolfish Avaves unAveariedly leapt at him, and with cold, strenuous fingers tried to tear him and his precious burden do avii. In their disappointed fury they hissed, and roared, and spat at him. The .vind smote him and tried to push or snatch him from his place, and, as if to dis-zy him, Avhirled great sponges of foam about his head and aAvay up into the cliff. But he clung to the rock. Then lie felt strong enough to climb out of his perilous perch. That evening of the fifth of March the Managing Committe of the Cliff Gardens and Promenade held their annual dinner in the banqueting-room of the Hall by the Sea. The sea climbing up their massive Avail derisively flung spray and foam and shreds of seaAveed at their lighted windoAvs, but they caused the shutters to de closed to keep all thought of the sea out, and they rubbed their hands and sat doAvn to eat and drink and to be as merry as became magistrates of the toAvn and fathers of | familes. Noav, it happened in Twyscar at that time, as it happens al .vays and every .vhere, that one corporate capacity attracted another; if a man Avas a magistrate, lie Avas sure also to be on the' Cliff Committee,' he was certain to |be on the 'Harbour Commission.' So all the I men Avho cheerfully leant over their soup knew j of the odd fate of the plague-smitten ship, and iof the providential deliverance of the to a A m from I the risk of the plague. Still, they .vere not free from care ; an irksome sense of not having acted either in person or by proxy quite as became honest men and merchants hung heavy about tlieir spirits— till the wine had circulated several times. Then tongues Avagged more freely ; but it Avas noticeable that no one even yet talked of what each Avas thinking about. At length, the chairman (the middle-aged banker .\'hom Aye sa .v on the pier in the afternoon) rose to propose a certain toast. — ( * Hear, hear.') ' Gentlemen, I rise to propose the toast of the evening— prosperity to Twyscar and to the Cliff Gardens. Never before, I think 1 may venture to say, has this committee met under such favourable auspices. The toAvn, I believe, has entered upon an era of unexampled prosperity. The Gardens and the Hall by the Sea have entered upon an era of unexampled prosperity, which, by the blessing of Providence ' There he stuck dumb, Avith all eyes fastened on him. He clutched the back of his chair, and the pallor of his face and the dumb movement of his lips Avere a study for Macbeth Avhen the ghost of Banquo appears at the feast. The reason stood in the door — a tall, Avild-looking man with yelloAv, dishevelled beard and hair; coat and shirt hung in tatters about his strong arms, in Avhich he bore a great tarpaulin package. ' Feastin', gentlemen !' he said in a natural tone enough, laying down his burden on the floor and kneeling over it, regardless of their

presence. Then he stood up and advanced to the table with uplifted hand and delirious look (they iioav observed his feet Avere bare and bleeding). 'If she's dead !— may God bring judgment upon your cursed toAvn I ' — Then Avith a great sob ke put his hands to his face and entreated, ' For mercy's sake, help me ! Is their a doctor among ye ? ' There Avas not. And, understanding that the strange bundle might he alive and breathing out pestilence and death (for one and all now guessed avlio the man Avas), they all shrank from its neighbourhood. « He's— he's mad !' gasped the chairman. ' Let's send 'em into the kitchen,' said one more pitiful or less terror-stricken than the They heard a sudden rush of feet in the hall ; a figure burst in at the door. ' Gentlemen ' and there lie stopped staring at the sKipper ; it Avas Dr. Harland. A rapid glance round, and he comprehended the situation. He took up the insensible woman in his arms, and Avas going out, Avhen he turned again and said, ' TAvyscar shall suffer for this. I'll put it in all the neAVspapers in the country. A parcel of coAvardly fools ! There Avas no cholera on hoard the ship that your Avretched creature Cripplegarth cut from her mooring. Oh, you need not start ane frown at me ! — it's a fact wliieh I can prove. If you have any remorse for the conduct of your toAvn, you can go out and see if there are any others you can save ; she's on the mussel-beds. — Hi, my poor friend !' The skipper had slipped from the chair in wliieh he had sat doAvn. In silent shame they gathered round to reAdve him (AA r ere they not assured by a doctor that there was no cholera ?) Others came about the doctor and his charge, Avhom he had carried to the fire, Avhile others still hurried out to find the wreck. ' You'd better leave this to me, ' said the doctor. * It's not cholera, but it's contagious.' He Avas puzzled and astonished to find, on undoing the many Avraps about the Avoman, that her skin Avas quite warm and soft and healthy. She did not need recovering from a savooh ; he held sal volatile to her nostrils, and she opened her eyes as naturally as from a deep refreshing sleep. In lieu of beef-tea he gave her some warm clear soup. In half an hour the skipper and his Avife looked calmly in each other's eyes and grasped with fervent, thankful love each other's hands ; the fever Avas gone. In a Aveek Susan was Avalking round Dr. Harland'sgardenonherhiisband'sarm; andinafortnight she gratefully and Avith a sisterly tenderness kissed the doctor after he had promised to visit Bideford, and Avar helped into the railway carriage on the beaming skipper's strong arm. That rapid recovery from typhoid fever Avas the talk of the toAvn and the study of the doctor. It resulted in Dr. Harland's famous 'Fever Treatment,' of which, amongst other things, TAvyscar is noAV famed ; for the doctor at once became a great man in the town, and Avas specially sought after to take charge of the liealth and the secrets of its magistrates. Those avlio would like to explore the scene of this strange story Avill hardly recognise it ; for TAvyscar is uoav rich and increased .vith goods ; it is groAvn beyond all belief, and is iioav often called by a royal name. Whether its marvellous prosperity has come because or in spite of its early crime, I leave casuists to determine. THE END.