Adrift in a Boat | Page 3

the old gentleman ran on. He kept his word with
regard to Harry, who very soon by diligent application caught up the
rest of the party, and was able to commence on the tarts and peaches.
All the gentlemen asked him to take wine, and the ladies were eager to
hear his adventures. He briefly recounted them in an animated manner,
for as he had been little more than a year at sea, everything he had seen
and done had the freshness of novelty. He belonged to the gallant
Arethusa frigate, which had put into Plymouth from a successful cruise
in the Bay of Biscay, where, after capturing several minor prizes of
considerable value, she had taken an enemy's frigate of equal force. He
had consequently got leave for a few days to come home and see his
widowed mother. He was her only son; her husband had been an officer
in the army, and was killed in battle; her daughter Jane could never be
induced to leave her, but they had promised to send Harry on to the
picnic after he had indulged them with a little of his society. He had
come by a chance conveyance, knowing that he should be able to return
with some of his friends.
In those days it was the custom to sit long after dinner, and even at a
picnic people consumed a considerable amount of time round the cloth.
At length, however, they got up and broke into separate parties. Some

went in one direction, some in another. The elders were more inclined
to sit still, or went only a little way up the cliff; but several of the
grown-up young ladies and gentlemen climbed up by somewhat steep
paths to the downs above. The younger ones, the tide being low, very
naturally preferred scrambling out on the rocks in search of
sea-anemones, and other marine curiosities. There were numerous
projecting rocks forming small bays in the large bay, and thus
completely hiding the different parties from each other. No two boys
could have had a more sincere regard for each other than had David
Moreton and Harry Merryweather. David was longing to go to sea with
Harry, but his father was greatly averse to his going. He was the eldest
son, and heir to a large property. As the boys had been separated for so
long a time (long in their lives), they had a great deal to say to each
other. They consequently strolled away, forgetting what Mary Rymer
or the rest of their fair companions might have thought of their
gallantry, in and out along the sands, round the points and over the
rocks, till they had got to a considerable distance from the place where
the picnic had been held. A dry rock, high above the water, which they
could reach by going along a ledge connecting it with the mainland,
tempted them to scramble out to it. There they chose a nice cosy, dry
nook, where, sitting down, the water immediately around them was
hidden from their sight. This circumstance must be remembered. It was
very delightful. They had not yet said one-half of what they had got to
say to each other, so they sat on talking eagerly, looking out seaward
and watching the white sails which glided by coming up channel in the
distant horizon. David was so delighted with the accounts Harry gave
him, that he resolved to make a further attempt to induce his father to
allow him to go to sea. It must be owned that Harry, full of life and
happiness himself, had pictured only the bright side of everything. He
had described the courage and determination to win with which he and
his shipmates had gone into action, and the enthusiasm and delight they
had felt on gaining the victory and capturing the prize; but he forgot to
speak of the death of some cut down in their prime, and the wounds
and sufferings of others, many maimed and crippled for life. Thus they
talked on without marking how the time went by. Harry's watch, which
he had locked up carefully before going into action, had been destroyed
by a shot which had knocked the desk and everything in it to pieces;

and David had forgotten to wind his up. Suddenly it occurred to them
that the sun was getting very low, and that it was high time for them to
return.
They jumped up to scramble back over the rock, but no sooner had they
done so than Harry cried out, "We are caught!" and David exclaimed,
"The tide has risen tremendously, how shall we get to the shore?"
"Swim there," answered Harry; "I see no other way. If we were to shout
ever so loud we should not be