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and six good-sizers got caught on my flies, three of which were taken by the mouth.' 'Did you ever live in a thorough eel-country?' I asked.

'No. What do you mean?'

'Well,' I replied, "if you had ever lived in New Zealand, you would know what an eelcountry means. The size and numbers of these creatures are beyond belief. Don't mistake what I am about to say for a traveller's tale; I appeal to any old Pakeha to corroborate me, with the utmost confidence. Why, one of the commonest ways in which the Maori takes them is to walk through a swamp and "proge" the mud and roots with a long thin narrow spear -quite casually-he never sees them; but when his spear transfixes one, he feels it. Then he slips his foot below the fish, gets the spear between his big and second toes, and so lands him. In this way he will take a good "kitful" in a few hours. As to size, we had a great joke against the old Sixty-fifths, who were quartered out there for many years. The story goes, that shortly after they arrived in the colony, a detachment was ordered up to the Hutt valley, some ten or twelve miles from Wellington. Some of the men went out fishing one night in the Hutt river. First one fellow pulled out a sizable eel; soon another hauled out what he considered a boomer, and made them all stare a bit; but a third pulled out by a powerful effort such a boa-constrictor-looking brute that all the Tommy Atkinses bolted in a mob.

'But the queerest dodge for killing eels I ever saw was at Whanganui. Near the mouth of the river there is a series of large lagoons, which communicate with the river by numerous very shallow small streams running through the sand. The natives had told some of us that these lagoons teemed with eels, which were on the run any moonless night. Accordingly, a party of us started off one evening in a canoe, armed with spears. But a bright thought had struck the leader, poor little Charlie Bwho was shortly afterwards murdered in cold blood by the rebels up the coast. He came equipped with an old blunt cutlass, and a bundle of torches made of reeds and steeped in tar and paraffin.

"What are you doing with the toasting-fork, Charlie ?"

"Wait a bit and you shall see."

'After a paddle of some three miles, we landed at one of the outlet streams. Sure enough, there were plenty of eels, many of them of great size. By the light of the torches, we could see them squirming about in all directions. A few were got with spears; but it was Charlie who did the trick.

"Now look here," says he. "One of you come on one side of me with a torch, and another on the other; go quietly, and hold the light steady." "Two of us obeyed.

"Now then, steady."

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"explosive commas" for biting him. At last he was secured. Soon Charlie got more expert; he managed to clip most of them near the head, and so they were handled with less danger. In three hours we filled, or nearly filled, two gunnybags (raw-sugar bags), and started home with fully a hundredweight of fish. The largest weighed eight pounds. I don't suppose you will believe me, but I once saw an eel taken by Maoris from Willie W's little lake, Grasmere, near Whanganui, over twenty pounds. They brought him in on a stick run through the head. As they carried him, the ends of the stick resting on their shoulders, his tail trailed on the ground.You smile. Well, there are some things you can never get fellows to believe. Now, you can never get a non-colonial Englishman to believe that a buck-jumper can buck the saddle over his head without bursting the girths.-You snigger again. It can't be helped. But such is the fact. I have seen a horse do it three times in one hour.-Hillo! there's a bit of a breeze. Let's give the trout another chance.' 'What shall we try now, Dugald? That's a good fly.'

'Oh, a very good fly.'

'What do you think of that one?'
'Oh, it is a very good fly too.'
'Which shall we try?'

'Ay, ay, sir, that will be the question.' But no further opinion could I extract from Dugald, and no more fish from the loch.

AN OLD LETTER.

ONLY a letter, Yellow and dim with age: Wistfully gazing,

I hold the torn old page.

Only a token

From one who loved me well;
The faded writing
Scarce the fond words can tell

Only a letter, Yet dearer far to me

Than all else beside, Minding me, love, of thee.

Only a letter, Yellow and old and torn; On my heart it lies, Now I am old and worn.

Only a message, Tender and true and sweet, The writer long deadNever again we meet.

Only a letter, Hid in an oaken chest ; Close, close to my heart, When I am laid to rest!

KATIE M. LUCK.

Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.

All Rights Reserved.

CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL

POPULAR

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART

Fifth Series

ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832
CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS)

No. 68.-VOL. II.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1885.

THE NORTH SEA LIFEBOATS.

BY AN OLD SHELLBACK.

PRICE 1d.

almost at the mercy of that tempestuous sea, would quail before and shudder at the perils they are surrounded by, and would probably set them down as foolhardy and reckless. But as they have hitherto always escaped the danger and accomplished their purpose, the charge of recklessness must be abandoned.

THE highest instance that can be given of a noble mind is that a man should risk his life to save that of another; and perhaps in the catalogue of deeds of this description there are The narratives which appear from time to none more gallant than those performed from time in the local papers, though not so graphic year to year by our fishermen in the North as they might be, are, notwithstanding, more Sea. I have had many opportunities of study- calculated to excite a powerful interest than ing the character and habits of these men, and the most ingenious and startling fiction. But though they are a rough and ready set of fellows, the papers which contain these narratives do they are as a rule brave and honest and well not circulate far beyond the locality, and thereskilled in their craft. There are many men sail- fore the general public know nothing of them, ing in trawlers who have done deeds as heroic as and consequently are not able to appreciate the any for which the Victoria Cross has been received; gallantry and devotion which these humble fisherbut the trawler, as a rule, receives no decoration. men display. Beyond this, an ordinary newspaper I do not mean it to be understood that they have writer knows nothing of the disadvantageous never been recognised, or that barometers, medals, condition under which these noble deeds are perand rewards have not been given them in some formed. The skipper of a smack, when he falls cases; but still I am deeply impressed with in with a disabled ship, has at his command the fact that, taking all things into conside- only a small boat, not of the best description, ration, though the Shipwrecked Fishermen's and often not particularly seaworthy. It is not, and Mariners' Society has acted generously in as in the case of a lifeboat, specially adapted the matter, in these rescues, both the owners for the purpose of saving life. It is not selfand crews of the smacks have not been well righting; it has no air-tight compartments, and treated by our own or foreign governments. The is not ballasted with water, as a lifeboat is. men themselves do not complain; but when I Neither are the men clad in cork jackets, to keep state that in every case of a rescued crew being them afloat in case the boat is capsized or brought into port, both the owner and the swamped. If, therefore, in their passage between crew suffer a serious pecuniary loss, which in their own vessel and the wreck, an oar should very few instances is repaid to them, I feel break or any accident happen, the chance of the that I have stated a fact for which some remedy two hands who have manned her being saved should be sought. But whether a remedy is from a watery grave is very small. Besides, found or not, I am confident it will make no clothed as these men are, and must necessarily difference in the future conduct of the fisher- be, the strongest swimmer would find it diffiIf you speak to them of these things cult to keep afloat; but even if he could, the and of the danger and risk to their own lives, chances would be ten to one that he could be they only laugh, and tell you that when a ship- picked up. These facts are stated not with the wrecked crew has to be saved, go they must-view of detracting from the courage and daring there is no help for it; and spite of the risk displayed by the noble fellows who man to life and the pecuniary loss which follows, the lifeboats, but simply to show that all these boat is launched, and away they go. A lands- safeguards are wanting in the case of a rescue man watching them as they are tossed about, by a smack in the North Sea.

men.

our

With a desire to give the reader an idea of the perils these men go through to save life, I shall proceed to portray in as graphic a manner as possible the story of a rescue, as described to me by the skipper of one of the smacks belonging to Ramsgate.

Want to know how we managed to rescue them poor chaps?' he said in answer to my request. Well, sir, I'll try and tell you. We had been out three days. It had been blowing pretty stiffly from the south-east, and there was a lop of a sea on; in the afternoon matters changed for the worse. A great bank of clouds was gathering away in the north-west, and the sun set with a dull-red glare-a sure sign of a gale. Night came on dark and threatening, so we close-reefed the mainsail, stowed the foresail, set the stormjib, and made all snug. Shortly after dark, the gale came down in earnest. We had got her head off the land, so we knew we could keep her in this tack till daylight. Before midnight, the gale was at its height, and my little hooker began to labour heavily in the big billows that surrounded us on all sides. Every now and then a sea would come aboard of us, slashing over the bows, and washing aft to the companion-hatch, drenching us to the skin. A wilder night I was never out in; the sky was inky black, and you could hardly see an inch before you. I don't know nothing about hurricanes, but if ever there was one in these latitudes, it was on that November night I am telling you about. It was just terrific. The wind blew and howled and shrieked till I thought it would take the sticks out of her. As to sleep, none of us got a wink that night, except the boys, and they, poor little footers, seemed to be able to sleep through it all. You see, sir, a fisherman's life is not all sunshine; hail, rain, snow, or blow, he's got to face it; and if any thing happens to the smack, there's not much chance of escape, as many a poor fellow in the North Sea has found out. Many and many 's the good little craft as has sailed out of Ramsgate and never been heard of again. But that's neither here nor there. How the little hooker breasted these tremendous seas and weathered that storm, I could not tell you; but she did; and so the night passed, and morning came. But daylight didn't bring us much comfort. The clouds hid the sun; and the gale, if anything, was as fierce as ever; the daylight broadened; and when we rose on the top of a sea, a wild sight met our view. As far as the eye could see, the waves were raging and tossing madly. We roused up the boys, and managed to get our breakfast somehow. I had just finished mine, when my mate, who was on deck, put his head down the hatch and said: "There's something down to leeward, William; hand us up the glass, and let's see if I can make her out."

'I was on deck in a minute. "What do you

make of her?" said I.

"Can't tell. She's got nothing but her mainmast standing."

'I took the glass, and had a good look; then I said: "Ease away the main-sheet, lads; we'll run down and see if there's any poor fellow left as we can save.-So! well there! Keep straight for her."

'As soon as the helm was put up, and we

let her have the sheet, away went the little hooker like a racehorse. How she did fly on the top of them big seas was a sight to see! They came curling and tossing astern, seeming as if they must come right aboard and swamp us. Once I thought it was all up with us, for a great monster of a wave came tossing its great angry head right close to our stern. "Hold on all!" cried I. On came the wave, and away flew the hooker, the angry water leaping and tossing astern like mad; and, by jingo! if she didn't beat it! Then I took another look at the wreck. "There's a lot o' men in the rigging, mate," said I; "eight of 'em, as I'm a sinner!"

'By this time we could make out that she was a brig, and water-logged; and how that poor craft was rolled and tossed about was something tremendous. One minute she was pointing her bowsprit right up to the sky, and the next she was plunging headlong into the sea, which was making a clean sweep of her deck. It made us all shiver to look at her; every plunge she made we thought must be her last. Well, on went our little hooker, flying over the sea like a duck, just as if she knew as there was life to be saved and was doing her best to help to save it.

And now the poor fellows had seen us, and they seemed to grow wild-like, for they waved their sou'-westers and threw their arms about like madmen, as though that would bring us along faster. When we got within hail, they shouted: "For God's sake, don't leave us to perish. Come aboard and save us."

"That's just what we're going to do, my lads," I said to myself, "if it pleases God to help us."

'I ran as close as I could under the brig's lee, and then luffed up and hauled the jib-sheet to windward. We didn't make much bones about launching our little boat. I'd have gone in her myself; but I'd got my owner's interest to think about. You see my third hand wasn't up to much in the way of navigation; so, in case of a mishap, he and the two boys would have made a poor fist at getting back to Ramsgate. So I let Jim and Daniel go; and away they pulled like Trojans, and presently they were under the lee of the wreck. All this, you know, sir, is easy to tell about; but the reality was no joke. More than once, when a sea broke over 'em and the boat disappeared in the trough, my heart sank, for I thought I should never see her again. However, all's well that ends well, and thus far all had gone well. Under the lee of the wreck, the water was pretty smooth; but here came another difficulty. The brig was quite low in the water; and when a sea struck her and she rolled to leeward, the water poured over her side in a cataract, so that it was impossible to go close to her, for fear of the boat being filled. However, between the seas they pulled in, and one hand sprang aboard; this was done six times; and then there was a parley. What was the matter, I couldn't tell; but the next minute the boat's head was turned, and they were pulling down towards us. I let draw the jib-sheet, and luffed her up so as to get to windward of 'em, and then flung a line right over the boat. sailors caught it; and then in a twinkling the whole six tumbled aboard; and before you could

One of the

Journal

say Jack Robinson, they laid hold of a piece of raw pork, and, tearing it to pieces, began to eat it. When that was done, they began to eat some raw cabbage. Poor chaps! they were famished. They told us afterwards that they hadn't had anything to eat or drink for three days.

"Why didn't you bring the other two, Jim?" I asked.

"They wouldn't come. The old man said as how the weather was going to clear up, and he's made up his mind to stop by the ship." "Stop by the ship!" cried I. "What for? There's about as much chance of ever getting her into port as there is of my taking up the Monument and chucking it into the Thames. Duty's one thing, mate, and suicide's another; and if the captain and mate of that ship stop by her much longer in this gale, I shall have to bring in a verdict of temporary insanity.-Now, let the boat go astern, and then give these poor chaps some hot coffee and grub; it's all ready."

Well, I luffed up and hailed the brig; but the old man was obstinate, and wouldn't leave her. But I was obstinate too; and in the end I conquered. One thing was he thought, because the wind had sagged a bit, that the gale had blown itself out; but I knew better, and I was right. Old Boreas was only taking a spell; for a little after twelve, the black clouds to windward began to grow and spread, and anybody with half an eye could see that a big squall was brewing; so we hauled up the boat, and Jim and Daniel started on another trip.

"Good-luck to you," said I as they started. "Pull for your lives, or that squall will be down on us before you're back; and if you're catched in it, God help you!"

"They got safe alongside; but the captain hesitated. Precious time that was being lost. To windward, it was as black as thunder; and although where we lay it was in comparison, as you may say, almost calm, the roar of the coming squall could be heard as plain as possible; and a white cloud, like smoke, crept down towards us; while the tops of the seas began to break and growl, as if they wanted to warn us of what was coming. I was getting quite mad with them two chaps aboard the wreck; and if I'd been behind 'em, I should have taken 'em by the scruff of the neck and pitched 'em into the boat without so much as with your leave or by your leave. However, at last they both sprang in, and Jim and Daniel were pulling back like mad. We were all ready. A line was thrown to 'em; the captain and mate and my two hands tumbled aboard, and the boat was hoisted in and stowed in a brace of shakes. Not a minute too soon, though, for the squall came thundering down upon us. As ill-luck would have it, it struck us right on our broadside; and for a minute or two, spite of all we could do, the little hooker was fairly on her beam-end, and I thought she would have turned keel up. However, I'd got the helm hard-up, and at last she began to pay off; and in another second the main-sheet was eased off, and she was flying before the wind like a lapwing. But before she had gathered way, a great roaring wave slashed right aboard us, over the Lafferel, and swept the decks fore and aft. dung like grim Death to the tiller; but I tell you I thought it was all up with us, and that

I

she'd never rise again. At last she struggled herself free, and rose gaily out of the sea, like a wild-duck shaking her feathers after a long dive, and having hove-to, we soon made capital weather of it again.

"The first thing I did was to look round to see if all hands were safe; and, thank heaven, they were. Then I looked for the brig; but she was gone! That was the nighest touch I ever had; and if my little hooker hadn't been a good sea-boat, I should never have been here to spin you this yarn.

"There isn't much more to tell. The squall lasted about half an hour, and then it settled down into a good, hard, steady blow, which lasted all night and far into the next day. To stow away eight extra hands aboard a little craft under fifty tons wasn't the easiest thing in the world. There were only six bunks; but we managed pretty well, sleeping turn and turn about. But the first night, we poor fishermen never turned in at all, for when these poor fellows had got their stomachs full and had turned in, they never started tack or sheet, doing fourteen hours right off the reel. It was Wednesday when we took 'em off the wreck, and it was Saturday before we got into port, and all that time the way these chaps tucked in the grub was something tremendous. We fishermen can take our batty of grub with most men, and some of you gentlemen would be rather astonished to see what a healthy smacksman could put away at a meal; but these eight hungry sailors beat us hollow.'

'And did you ever get paid for this?' I asked. 'No, sir; never a halfpenny. But we don't care about that-that's not where the shoe pinches. You see, it took us four days to get into port; we lay three days in Ramsgate, doing lots of little repairs, especially the boat, which cost three pounds to make seaworthy again; and it took us nearly two days to get back to our fishing-ground-that's nine days that we hadn't the chance of earning a penny. Leaving out of the question the grub for thirteen hands for four days, which didn't cost less than four pounds, there was, at the lowest reckoning, a week's fishing lost, and it's a bad week that we can't earn twenty pounds. We come in every six weeks to settle. Well, I've many and many a time taken my share of a hundred and fifty pounds, and even more, what we'd earned in the six weeks; that would average five-and-twenty pounds a week; so if I set down what we lost on that job more nor twenty pounds, besides the repairs which were paid for by the owner, I think I'm well under the mark.'

'What countryman was this brig?' I asked. 'A Norwegian.'

'Well, did not the owners or the Norwegian government make you any recompense for your loss?'

'No; not a penny. The consul at Ramsgate did all he could for us; but we never got anything from them. What we got was from the Shipwrecked Fishermen's and Mariners' Society; and that was a barometer and four pounds. Daniel and Jim got the four pounds between them; and I got the barometer. The poor owner, who had to stand the racket of most of the loss, never got a farthing.'

'Well, then, my friend,' I said, 'I think the owners of the brig and the Norwegian government behaved very shabbily to you.'

'So do I, sir,' he replied; and we ended our colloquy.

A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF.

CHAPTER XVI.

THERE was no more said for a day or two about the journey. But that it was to take place, that Markham was waiting till his step-sister was ready, and that Frances was making her preparations to go, nobody any longer attempted to ignore. Waring himself had gone so far in his recognition of the inevitable as to give Frances money to provide for the necessities of the journey. You will want things,' he said. I don't wish it to be thought that I kept you like a little beggar.'

"I am not like a little beggar, papa,' cried Frances with an indignation which scarcely any of the more serious grievances of her life had called forth. She had always supposed him to be pleased with the British neatness, the modest, girlish costumes which she had procured for herself by instinct, and which made this girl, who knew nothing of England, so characteristically an English girl. This proof of the man's ignorance-which Frances ignorantly supposed to mean entire indifference to her appearance-went to her heart. And it is impossible to get things here,' she added with her usual anxious penitence for her impatience.

'You can do it in Paris, then,' he said. 'I suppose you have enough of the instincts of your sex to buy clothes in Paris.'

Girls are not fond of hearing of the instincts of their sex. She turned away with a speechless vexation and distress which it pleased him to

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Thus it became very apparent that the departure of Frances was desirable, and that she could not go too soon. But there were still inevitable delays. Strange! that when love imbittered made her stay intolerable, the washerwoman should have compelled it. But to Frances, for the moment, everything in life was strange.

And not the least strange was the way in which Markham, whom she liked, but did not understand, the odd, little, shabby, unlovely personage, who looked like anything in the world but an individual of importance, was received by the little world of Bordighera. At the little church on Sunday, there was a faint stir when he came in, and one lady pointed him out to another as the small audience filed out. The English landlady at the hotel spoke of him continually. Lord Markham was now the authority which she quoted on all subjects. Even Domenico said 'meelord' with a relish. And as for the Durants, their enthusiasm was boundless. Tasie,

not yet quite recovered from the excitement of Constance' arrival, lost her self-control altogether when Markham appeared. It was so good of him to come to church, she said; such an example for the people at the hotels! And so nice to lose so little time in coming to call upon papa. Of course, papa, as the clergyman, would have called upon him as soon as it was known where Markham to conform to foreign ways and make he was staying. But it was so pretty of Lord the first visit. 'We knew it must be your doing, Frances,' she said with grateful delight.

'But, indeed, it was not my doing. It is Constance who makes him come,' Frances cried. Constance, indeed, insisted upon his company everywhere.

She took him not only to the Durants, but to the bungalow up among the olive woods, which they found in great excitement, and where the appearance of Lord Markham partially failed of its effect, a greater hero and stranger being there. George Gaunt, the general's youngest son, the chief subject of his mother's talk, the one of her children about whom she always had something to say, had arrived the day before, and in his presence, even Gaunt had been the first to see the little party a living lord sank into a secondary place. Mrs coming along by the terraces of the olive woods. She had, long, long ago, formed plans in her imagination of what might ensue when George came home. She ran out to meet them with her hands extended. 'O Frances, I am so glad to see you. Only fancy what has happened. George

has come.'

'I am so glad,' said Frances, who was the first. She was more used to the winding of those terraces, and then she had not so much to talk of as Constance and Markham. Her face lighted up with pleasure. 'How happy you must be,' she said, kissing the old lady affectionately. 'Is he well?'

'Oh, wonderfully well; so much better than I could have hoped.-George, George, where are you?-Oh, my dear, I am so anxious that you should meet; I want you to like him,' Mrs

Gaunt said.

Almost for the first time, there came a sting of pain to Frances' heart. She had heard a great deal of George Gaunt. She had thought of him more than of any other stranger. She had wondered what he would be like, and smiled to herself at his mother's too evident anxiety to bring them together, with a slight, not disagreeable flutter of interest in her own consciousness. It seemed a sort of spite of fortune, a tantalising And now here he was, and she was going away! of circumstances; though, to be sure, she did not know whether she should like him, or if Mrs Gaunt's hopes might bear any fruit. Still, it was the only outlet her imagination had ever had, and it had amused and given her a pleasant fantastic glimpse now and then into something that might be more exciting than the calm round every day.

of

surrounded the house, looking towards the open She stood on the little grassy terrace which door, but not taking any step towards it, waiting for the hero to appear. The house was low and broad, with a veranda round it, planted in the midst of the olive groves, where there was a

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