Rivers of Ice | Page 3

boy. Beg your parding, sir," she added, to the
seaman, "the boy 'an't got no sense, besides bein' wicked and
naughty--'e ain't 'ad no train', sir, that's w'ere it is, all along of my 'avin'
too much to do, an' a large family, sir, with no 'usband to speak of;
right up the stair, sir, to the top, and along the passage-door straight
before you at the hend of it. Mind the step, sir, w'en you gits up. Go up
with the gentleman, you bad, wicked, naughty boy, and show--"
The remainder of the sentence became confused in distance, as the boy
and the seaman climbed the stair; but a continuous murmuring sound,
as of a vocal torrent, conveyed the assurance that the mother of Gillie
was still holding forth.
"'Ere it is," said the young pilot, pausing at the top of the staircase, near
the entrance to a very dark passage. "Keep 'er 'ead as she goes, but I'd
recommend you to shorten sail, mind your 'elm, an 'ave the anchor
ready to let go."
Having thus accommodated his language to the supposed intelligence
of the seaman, the elfin youth stood listening with intense eagerness
and expectation as the other went into the passage, and, by sundry kicks
and bumps against wooden walls, gave evidence that he found the
channel intricate. Presently a terrible kick occurred. This was the
seaman's toe against the step, of which he had been warned, but which
he had totally forgotten; then a softer, but much heavier blow, was
heard, accompanied by a savage growl--that was the seaman's nose and
forehead against old Mrs Roby's portal.
At this, Gillie's expectations were realised, and his joy consummated.
With mischievous glee sparkling in his eyes, he hastened down to the
Court to exhibit his sixpence to his mother, and to announce to all
whom it might concern, that "the sea-capp'n had run his jib-boom slap

through the old 'ooman's cabin-door."
CHAPTER TWO.
THE SEAMAN TAKES THE "CABIN" BY SURPRISE AND
STORM.
Without having done precisely what Gillie had asserted of him, our
seaman had in truth made his way into the presence of the little old
woman who inhabited "the cabin," and stood there gazing round him as
if lost in wonder; and well he might be, for the woman and cabin,
besides being extremely old, were exceedingly curious, quaint, and
small.
The former was wrinkled to such an extent, that you could not have
found a patch of smooth skin large enough for a pea to rest on. Her
teeth were all gone, back and front, and her nose, which was straight
and well-formed, made almost successful attempts to meet a chin
which had once been dimpled, but was now turned up. The mouth
between them wore a benignant and a slightly humorous expression;
the eyes, which were bright, black, and twinkling, seemed to have
defied the ravages of time. Her body was much bent as she sat in her
chair, and a pair of crutches leaning against the chimney-piece
suggested the idea that it would not be much straighter if she stood up.
She was wrapped in a large, warm shawl, and wore a high cap, which
fitted so close round her little visage, that hair, if any, was
undistinguishable.
The room in which she sat resembled the cabin of a ship in more
respects than one. It was particularly low in the root so low that the
seaman's hair touched it as he stood there looking round him; and
across this roof ran a great beam, from which hung a variety of curious
ornaments, such as a Chinese lantern, a Turkish scimitar, a New
Zealand club, an Eastern shield, and the model of a full-rigged ship.
Elsewhere on the walls were, an ornamented dagger, a worsted-work
sampler, a framed sheet of the flags of all nations, a sou'-wester cap and
oiled coat, a telescope, and a small staring portrait of a sea-captain in

his "go-to-meeting" clothes, which looked very much out of keeping
with his staring sunburnt face, and were a bad fit. It might have been a
good likeness, and was certainly the work of one who might have
raised himself to the rank of a Royal Academician if he had possessed
sufficient talent and who might have painted well if he had understood
the principles of drawing and colour.
The windows of the apartment, of which there were two very small
square ones, looked out upon the river, and, to some extent overhung it,
so that a man of sanguine temperament might have enjoyed fishing
from them, if he could have been content to catch live rats and dead
cats. The prospect from these windows was, however, the best of them,
being a wide reach of the noble river, crowded with its stately