Bluff Crag | Page 9

spoke again, not even to father, who came
in soon after, and cried like a baby over her. She just opened her eyes
once, and looked at him with a smile, and tried to push Willie over to
him, and then she died. How good father was to us then! He used to
take Willie down to the beach with him while I made the house tidy
and got the dinner; and he made Willie a fine boat, and dug out a place
for him to sail it in; and oh! but we were happy then!'
"'I don't think your father would have been lost if it hadn't been that
step-mother of yours,' said Martha angrily. 'I can't a-bear her, I can't.'
"'Oh, don't say that, Martha. It was God who took father,' said Polly, in
a low whisper. 'Didn't you hear the rector saying it was God's will to
send the storm that night?'
[Illustration: LITTLE WILLIE AND HIS FATHER.]
"'Yes,' said Martha; but if your step-mother had only bade your father
stay at home, as all the other men did, he never would have been lost.
Didn't old Joe Gafler warn them there was a squall a-coming! but no,

she is so grasping, she wanted the money for the fish, and she let him
go. It was a shame!'
"'But father often says the boat may be found yet,' said Rachel; 'and you
know even old Dick says the thing is likely.'
"'Well, if so be's it should happen that Will Dampier comes to land
again, I hope he'll know how his Polly has been treated when he was
away,' said Martha.
"'Oh, I wouldn't mind for myself not one bit,' said Polly. 'It's when she
strikes Willie that I can't bear it; and I somehow think Willie is not so
well this last week.'
"'Then you mustn't think of running away, Polly,' said Vea. 'Wasn't that
what Martha was urging you to do? If you went away, who would take
care of Willie? Do you know, I have a brother I am very anxious about
too, Polly?' said Vea. 'He is lying in Dick's cottage, with his leg broken,
and the doctor is setting it while we are waiting out here.'
"'Oh, I am very sorry indeed, miss,' said Polly, forgetting her own
troubles in turn. 'Is that the young gentleman who is living with Mrs.
Berkley?'
"'Yes, Polly,' said Vea. 'Mrs. Berkley is my aunt.'
"'He's a very kind young gentleman, miss. Is there anything I could do
for him, miss? I should like to do something so much, for he helped me
more than once.'
"Vea naturally looked a little surprised, for Patrick was so often in
trouble, that it was rather astonishing to hear any one praising him.
"'I don't think it could be my brother Patrick,' said Vea.
"'Oh yes, miss, that was his name,' said Polly. 'He told me his name was
Patrick.'
"'And what did Patrick do for you?' said Vea, looking much pleased.

[Illustration: THE ANCHOR.]
"'I was playing with Willie one day at the harbour, and young Dick was
showing me a great anchor some of the men had left on shore for a new
boat they were going to build, when my step-mother called from the
cottage door, and bade me take the ropes and carry home the drift-wood
she had been gathering all the morning. Dick said as how he was sorry
he couldn't go to help me, as he had to go out in his grandfather's boat
that afternoon; and so, after leaving Willie beside old Dick, I took the
ropes and went down on the beach. My step-mother had called after me
I was to drag them in three bundles, but they were so heavy that I had
to separate the first one into two; and for doing this she beat me. I was
going back to the next one, crying a good deal, for I was wishing I
could go to my own mother and to father, when a boy jumped up from
behind a stone, and asked me why I was crying; and so I told him. And
when he heard it, he called my step-mother some hard names; and then
says he, "Are you the little girl young Dick helps when he has any
spare time?" And when I answered "Yes," he says, "Well, then, give me
the ropes and I'll help you, for Dick is away to-day." I couldn't help
saying that dragging drift-wood wasn't fit work for a gentleman; but he
just laughed, and said there were lots of people would be glad to know
Patrick Berkley was so usefully employed.'
"'And did he drag the wood for you?' said Vea, the tears standing in her
eyes.
"'That he did, miss. And