A Maid of the Silver Sea | Page 9

to fill in as best he could.
His father had been an enterprising free-trader, and had made money
before the family farm came to him on the death of his father. He had
married another farm and the heiress attached to it, and Peter was the
result. An only son, both parents dead, two farms and a good round
sum in the Guernsey Bank, such were Peter's circumstances.

And himself--good-tempered; lazy, since he had no need to work; not
naturally gifted mentally, and the little he had, barely stirred by the
short course of schooling which had been deemed sufficient for so
worldly-well-endowed a boy; tall, loose-limbed, easy going and easily
led, Peter was the object of much speculation among marriageably
inclined maiden hearts, and had set his own where it was not wanted.
"Ouaie," continued Tom, "an' if I'd join him in the loan the money'd all
come to me when he'd done with it."
"Aw!... Money isn't everything.... Can't get all you want sometimes
when you've got all money you want."
"G'zammin, Peter! You're as crazy 'bout that lass as th' old un is 'bout
his mines. Why don't ye ask her and ha' done with it?"
"Aw--yes. Well.... You see.... I'm makin' up to her gradual like, and in
time----"
And Bernel in the hole dug his elbow facetiously into Nance's side.
"Mon Gyu! To think of a slip of a thing like our Nance making a great
big fellow like you as fool-soft as a bit of tallow!" and Tom stared at
him in amazement. "Why, I've licked her scores of times, and I used to
lift her up by the hair of her head."
"I'd ha' knocked your head right off, Tom Hamon, if I'd been there.
Right off--yes, an' bumped it on the ground."
"No, you wouldn't. 'Cause, in the first place, you couldn't, and in the
second place you wouldn't have looked at her then. She was no more to
look at than a bit of a rabbit, slipping about, scared-like, with her big
eyes all round her."
"Great rough bull of a chap you was, Tom. Ought to had more lickings
when you was young."
"Aw!" said Tom.

"Join him?" asked Peter after a pause.
"No, I won't, an' he's no right to ask it, an' he knows it. Them dirty
mines may pay an' they may not, but the farm's a safe thing an' I'll stick
to it."
"Maybe new capt'n'll make things go better. That's him, I'm thinking,
just got ashore from brig without breaking his legs," nodding towards
the wooden landing-stage on the other side of the gulf. For landing at
Port Gorey was at times a matter requiring both nerve and muscle.
A man, however, had just leaped ashore from the brig, and was now
standing looking somewhat anxiously after the landing of his baggage,
which consisted of a wooden chest and an old carpet-bag.
When at last it stood safely on the platform, he cast a comprehensive
look at his surroundings and then turned to the group of men who had
come down to watch the boat come in, and four pairs of eyes on the
opposite side of the gulf watched him curiously, with little thought of
the tremendous part he was to play in all their lives.
"Where's he stop?" asked Peter.
"Our house."
"Nay!"
"Ouaie, I tell you. He's to stop at our house."
"Why doesn't he go to Barracks?"
"Old Captain's there and they might not agree. Oh ouaie, he'll have his
hands full, I'm thinking. And if he's not careful it's a crack on the head
and a drop over the Coupée he'll be getting."
"Ah!" said Peter Mauger.
"Come you along and see what kind of chap he is."

"Aw well, I don't mind," and they strolled away to inspect the new
Mine Captain, who was to brace up the slackened ropes and bring the
enterprise to a successful issue.
"Did you know he was going to stop with us, Nance?" asked Bernel, as
they groped their way out after due interval.
"I heard father tell mother this morning."
"Where's he to sleep?"
"He's to have my room and I'm coming up into the loft. I shall take the
dark end, and I've put up a curtain across."
"Shoo! We'll hear enough about the mines now," and they crept out
behind a gorse bush, and went off across the common towards the
clump of wind-whipped trees inside which the houses of Little Sark
clustered for companionship and shelter from the south-west gales.
CHAPTER IV
HOW GARD MADE NEW ACQUAINTANCES
Old Tom Hamon gave the new arrival warm greeting, and pointed out
such matters as might interest him as they climbed the steep road which
led up to the plateau and the houses.
"Assay Office,