Part 1 (1/2)

A Veldt Vendetta

by Bertram Mitford

CHAPTER ONE

A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

I had not a friend in the world

My own fault? No doubt It is usually said so, at any rate, so of course must be true For I, Kenrick Holt, who do this tale unfold, am not by nature and te constitutionally reticent; and, is it not written that the world takes you at your own valuation? Still, I hadso far--which was satisfactory, but in an uncongenial and sedentary form of occupation--which was not

Incidentally I owned to the ordinary contingent of acquaintances, but at the period of which I write I had not a friend in the world--only brothers

Of these, one owned an abo, which combination of circumstances may account for the fact that we had rather less to do with each other on the whole than the latest conjunction of club acquaintances Incidentally, too, I owned relatives, but for ordinary reasons, not material to this narrative, they didn't count

”Great events fro” is a truism somewhat shi+ny at the seams In the present instance the ”little cause” took the form of an invite from the last-mentioned of my two brethren--he who drew co a few rustics in the national creed to wit--to run down and get through a ith hie

I was out of sorts and ”hipped,” not soat a stretch: for, except a day off now and then up the river, I had stuck to h the hot , itfloated co as it lasted! There lay the rub For I had held two similar berths before!

Well, this invite caood in the world just then The invite was soht of certain foregoing re to my then philosophy-- except lack of the needful, and an aboo to sleep The first I had experienced more than once, the second I was destined to--and notably if I accepted the invite However, that didn't weigh The only thing that remained was to pack up and send a wire

I had packed, and found out a convenient train But the first thing in the ht a counter-wire--

”Sorry ot scarlatina holt”

Here was a nuisance--the said dick and Bertha being a the certain arch-contributors in prospective to the second of the things that matter in life, as referred to above Yes, it was a nuisance I was all ready to start, and the weather was perfect; just that soft, golden, hazy kind of September weather that is exquisite in the country, and here was I, doo oncein the prospect of a week of eo so, for I am not partial to solitary jaunts, albeit in o back to work

I strolled round to the club, thinking out an objective the while

There were few _habitues_ there, but a sprinkling of strangers, for ere housing another kindred institution pending its suot talking over our ”split” I found he was in the sao?” he said ”I'll tell you There's a jolly little place on the Dorsetshi+re coast--Whiddlecoht out of the public beat, only known to a few, and they always go back there

Jolly pretty country, first-rate bathing, and not bad sea fishi+ng

Let's run down together for a week or so We can capture a train from Waterloo at a decent hour to-morrow Waiter, just fetch me the ABC, will you?”

The ABC was fetched, and we put our heads together over it, and in the result the following afternoon saw us deposited--after a five-mile coach ride from the nearest station--in front of the principal inn at Whiddlecohtfully picturesque and retired place, with its one long steep street, and flat massive church tower; and seemed to deserve all the encoly in its own bay, which was guarded by bold headlands, all cri out into the sparkling blue of a suainst the soft haze in the offing a trail of s steamer

Our ”decent train from Waterloo” had proved to be a dismally early one, consequently we found ourselves at our destination at an early hour of the afternoon So after we had lunched--plainly but exceedingly well--I suggested we should go down to the beach and take on a good pull if there was a light boat to be had, and a sail if there was not

But Bindley was not an ideal travelling co particular on the way down Nor did he now juestion with the alacrity it deserved--or at any rate which I thought it did He made various objections It was too hot-- and so forth He feltaway for a rest if one began by grinding one's soul out? he said

However, I was bursting with long-pent-up energy The glorious open air, after the reek and fogginess of London had already begun to put new life into me, and the smooth blue of the sea and its fresh salt whiff invited its exploration So I left Bindley to laze in peace and took my way down to the beach For a moment I had felt inclined to fall in with his idea, or at any rate to wait an hour or two until he felt inclined to fall in withpassed How little I knehat the next twelve hours or so were destined to bring forth!

The beach at Whiddleco in common with the beach at half a hundred si boats and the sa, and two or three of their blue jerseyed owners doing odd jobs about the over the side to dry