The Settlers | Page 7

from his capacious pocket, and began, as was his wont, to smoke right lustily, giving utterance with deliberation, at intervals, as becomes a man thus employed, to various remarks touching the matter in hand. He soon found that Gilbert, young as he was, possessed a fair amount of nautical knowledge, and was not ignorant of the higher branch of navigation, which he had studied while at home, with the assistance of his brother Vaughan.
"You will make a brave seaman, my lad, if Heaven wills that your life is preserved," observed Captain Layton; "all you want is experience, and on the ocean alone can you obtain that."
"Had it not been for the unwillingness of my mother to part with me, I should have gone ere this on a long voyage," answered Gilbert. "It was not without difficulty that she would consent to my making the short trips of which I have told you; though now that I have a sacred duty to perform, she will allow me to go. As we were unable to obtain the exact position of the region where Batten met our father, we must expect to encounter no small amount of difficulty and labour before we discover him."
"We must search for the crew of the vessel in which Batten returned, for they may be able to give us the information we require," observed the captain; and he further explained how he proposed setting about making the search.
While he had been speaking, Gilbert's eye had been turned towards the south-west. "Look there, sir!" he exclaimed, suddenly; "I have been for some time watching a ship running in for the Sound, and I lately caught sight of a smaller one following her."
"I see them, my lad; they are standing boldly on, as if they well knew the port," said the captain. "I fear lest my hopes may mock me, but this is about the time I have been expecting my son, who sailed with John Davis for India, to return, unless any unexpected accident should have delayed them. Those two ships are, as far as I can judge at this distance, the size of the Tiger and the Tiger's Whelp."
Still the captain sat on, yet doubting whether he was right. The ships rapidly approached, for the wind was fresh and fair. Now they came gliding up the Sound, the larger leading some way ahead of the smaller. The captain, as he watched them, gave expression to his hopes and doubts.
"See! see! sir," exclaimed Gilbert, whose eyes were unusually sharp; "there is a flag at the mainmast-head of the tall ship. On it I discern the figure of a tiger, and if I mistake not, the smaller bears one of the same description."
"Then there can be no doubt about the matter," exclaimed Captain Layton. "We will at once return home. Go find your brother and my daughter; tell them the news, and bid them forthwith join us."
While the captain walked on to the house, Gilbert went, as he was directed, in search of Vaughan and Cicely. They, too, had been seated on a bank some way further on, watching the ships, but neither had suspected what they were. Indeed, so absorbed were they in their own conversation, that they had not even observed Gilbert's approach. Cicely started when she heard his voice, and on receiving the intelligence he brought, rose quickly, and, accompanied by the brothers, hastened homewards.
"The news seems almost too good to be true; but, alack!" she added, with a sigh, as if the thought had just struck her, "suppose he is not on board--what a blow will it be to my poor father! Roger is his only son; and he has ever looked forward with pride to the thought of his becoming a great navigator like Sir Francis Drake or Sir Thomas Cavendish."
Vaughan endeavoured to reassure her.
"My fears are foolish and wrong," said Cicely; "but if you knew how we love him, and how worthy he is of our love, you would understand my anxious fears as to his safety."
"I can understand them, and sympathise with you fully," said Vaughan. His reply seemed to please her.
On reaching the house, they found that the captain had already gone down to the beach, where his boat lay; and, his anxiety not allowing him to wait for the young men, he had rowed off to the headmost ship, which had now come to an anchor, the crew being busily engaged in furling sails. Poor Cicely had thus a still longer time to wait till her anxiety was relieved, or till she might learn the worst. She insisted on going down to the beach, to which Vaughan and Gilbert accompanied her. At length the captain's skiff was seen to leave the side of the ship. He had gone by himself, but