The Story of the White-Rock Cove | Page 2

the
garden, with Frisk barking at my heels; clearing the geranium-bed with
a flying leap, and taking the low wire-fence by the shrubbery twice
over, to the humiliation of my canine companion, who had to dip under
where I went over.
The conclusion of these performances brought me once again in front
of the school-room window, where my mother stood beckoning to me.
She had my straw hat with its sailor's blue ribbons in one hand, and a
slice of seed-cake in the other.
"Here, Willie," she said, "put on your hat, for the sun is hot although

there is a fresh breeze; and--but perhaps I may have been mistaken--I
thought perhaps some people of my acquaintance were fond of
seed-cake for luncheon."
"No indeed, dear mamma," I made answer speedily, "you are not at all
mistaken: some people--that is, Frisk and I--do like it very much; don't
we Frisk, old fellow?"
"And now," continued my mother,--who must certainly have forgotten
at the moment her opinion expressed just five minutes before as to the
propriety of kisses, for, smoothing back my hair, she stooped down to
press her lips upon my forehead before putting my hat on,--"and now
you are to take your troublesome self off for a long hour, indeed,
almost an hour and a half: away with you to your play."
"May I take my troublesome self to old George's, mamma?" I
petitioned.
"If you like," she answered; "only be careful in going down the Zig-zag;
I don't want to find you a little heap of broken bones at the bottom of
the cliff."
I confess myself to being entirely incapable of conveying on paper to
my young readers the charms, the manifold delights, of that Zig-zag
walk, which was our shortest way down to the lodge.
You started from the garden, then through the shrubbery, and from the
shrubbery by a little wire gate you entered the natural wood which
clothed the upper part of our hill-side. The path descended rapidly from
this point, being very steep in parts, and emerging every here and there
so as to command an uninterrupted view of the beautiful Braycombe
Bay, which on this bright summer morning was all dancing and
sparkling in the sunshine. Lower down, the wood gave place to rock
and turf, until you reached the top of the shingle which the path skirted
for a little distance; and, finally, crossing an undulating meadow, you
gained the lodge, the abode of my friend old George, mentioned above.
It was not its picturesque beauty alone which endeared the Zig-zag

walk to me, although, child that I was, I feel sure the loveliness of the
outer world had the effect, unconsciously to myself, of brightening my
little inner world; but over and above all this must be ranked my keen
enjoyment of a scramble, and of the sense of difficulty and danger
attendant upon certain steep parts of the descent. It was one of my great
amusements to be trusted occasionally to guide my parents' visitors
down by this path, for the sake of the view, whilst their carriages would
be sent the long way by the drive to meet them at the lodge. There were
precipitous places, where even grave and stately grown-up people
would give up walking and take to running; and then again little
perilous points, where ladies especially would utter faint cries of fright,
and would require gentle persuasion to induce them to step down from
stone to stone; whilst I, fearless from long practice, would triumphantly
perform the feat two or three times, to show that I was not in the least
afraid, devising, moreover, short cuts for myself even steeper than
those of the recognized path.
I question whether the birth-day which conferred on me the privilege of
going alone up and down the Zig-zag was the greatest boon to myself
or to my nurse; the exertion involved in scaling the hill-side being to
the full as wearisome to her as it was enchanting to myself. The
emancipation, however, came early in my career, since my friend, old
George, by my father's consent, assumed a sort of out-of-door charge of
me at a period when most little boys are exclusively under nursery
discipline. For my father reposed the utmost confidence in the old
man's principles, and did not hesitate to let me be for hours under his
care, saying, often in my hearing, that he would rather have me out on
the water learning from him how to manage the boats, or climbing the
rocks and exploring the caves under his safe guardianship, than
learning from a woman only how to keep off the rocks and avoid
tumbling into the water. He was an old seaman, united by strong ties of
friendship and gratitude to our