Willis the Pilot | Page 8

is recharging our four-pounder."
"God be praised! you relieve my conscience of a great burden," said Ernest, placing his hand on his breast.
"He is going to discharge it," cried Fritz--boom. Then a second shot reverberated in the air.
"If Captain Littlestone be within hearing of that signal, he will be sure to reply to it." said Becker. "Listen!"
They hushed themselves in silence, each retaining his respiration, as if their object had been to hear the sound of a fly's wing rather than the report of a cannon.
"Nothing!" said Becker sadly, at the expiration of a few minutes.
"Nothing!" reiterated successively all the voices.
"How in all the world did Willis contrive to get transported to Shark's Island?" inquired Mrs. Becker.
"Simply, wife, by watching when asleep, whilst one of our gentlemen slept when he watched."
"Yes, mother," said Ernest, "and if you would not have me blush before Mrs. Wolston, you will not insist upon an explanation of the mystery."
"Mrs. Wolston," she replied, "is not so exacting as you seem to think, Master Ernest--the only difference that her presence here should make amongst you is that you have two mothers instead of one."
"That is," said Mrs. Wolston smiling, "if Mrs. Becker has no objections to dividing the office with me."
"Shall I not have compensation in your daughters?" said Mrs. Becker, taking her by the hand.
"Still," interrupted Fritz, "I cannot yet conceive how Willis managed to reach Shark's Island in a wretched canoe, without oars, through waves that ought to have swallowed him up over and over again."
"Bah!" exclaimed Jack; "what use has a pilot for oars?"
"There is a question! You, who modestly call yourself the best horseman on the island, how would you do, if you had nothing to ride upon?"
"I could at least fall back upon broomsticks," retorted the imperturbable Jack. "Besides, in Willis's case, the canoe was the steed, the oars the saddle--nothing more."
"We shall not stay here to solve the riddle," said Becker; "the storm seems disposed to abate; and the more that it was unreasonable to face certain destruction in a vain endeavor to assist a problematical shipwreck, the more it is incumbent upon us now to go in quest of the Nelson."
"But the sea will still be very terrible!" quickly added Mrs. Becker.
"If all danger were over, wife, the enterprise would do us little credit. It is our duty to do the best we can, according to the strength and means at our command. Fritz, Ernest, and Jack, go and put on your life-preservers--we shall take up Willis in passing."
"I must not insist," said Mrs. Becker; "the sacrifice would, indeed, be no sacrifice, if it could be easily borne; and yet--"
"Remember the time, wife, when I was obliged, in order to secure the precious remains of our ship, to venture with our eldest sons on a float of tubs, leaving you exposed, alone with a child of seven, to the chance of eternal isolation!"
"That is very true, husband: I am unjust towards Providence, which has never ceased blessing us; but I am only a weak woman, and my heart often gets the better of my head."
"To-day I leave Frank with you; but, instead of your being his protector, as was the case fifteen years ago, he will be yours. Then there is Mrs. Wolston, her daughters, and husband, quite a new world of sympathies and consolations, by which our island has been so miraculously peopled."
"Go then, husband, and may God bring back in safety both the pinnace and the Nelson!"
"By the way, Mrs. Wolston, how does our worthy invalid get on? We live in such a turmoil of events and consternations, that I must beg a thousand pardons for not having asked after him before."
"His sleep appears untroubled; and, notwithstanding all the terrors of the last few days, I entertain sanguine hopes of his immediate recovery."
"You will at least return before night?" said Mrs. Becker to her husband.
"Rely upon my not prolonging my stay beyond what the exigencies of the expedition imperiously require."
"Good gracious! what are these?" exclaimed Mrs. Wolston as the three brothers entered, equipped in seal-gut trowsers, floating stays of the same material, and Greenland caps.
"The Knights of the Ocean," replied Jack gravely, "who, like the heroes of Cervantes, go forth to redress the wrongs done by the tempest, and to break lances--oars, I mean--in favor of persecuted sloops."
Mrs. Becker herself could scarcely refrain from smiling.
Such is the power of the smile that, in season or out of season, it often finds its way to the most pallid lips, in the midst of the greatest disasters and the deepest grief. It appears as if always listening at the door ready to take its place on the slightest notice. This diversion had the good effect of mixing a little honey with--if the expression may be used--the bitterness of the parting