Part 18 (1/2)
”Monday, you're joking.”
”Not at all. We have been out on several rough nights in her, and surely, Norfolk is not such a great way off, that we need fear such a voyage in early September. By your leave I will go with you and act as skipper and pilot, and then, having taken you safely home, will resume my post as King of Jethou. What do you say?”
”But the 'Anglo-Franc' is too small, my good sir.”
”Perhaps so; but in a week we can lengthen her, and by adding a couple of strakes to her upper works she will carry a ton more than she does now, if it should be necessary.”
”Agreed, Alec. Your hand! Good thought!”
The more I turned it over in my mind the better I liked the project. Why not lengthen and strengthen her at once?
Without delay we would set about it; but to make sure that my father would not send a vessel for me, I would write him a line. As with my former letter, brevity marked my epistle.
”_Jethou_, ”_August 21st, 18--._
”DEAR FATHER,
”All's well. I hope to arrive home about September 10th, and trust to find you all well.
”Your affectionate Son,
”HARRY NILFORD.”
Then, launching the boat, I instructed Alec to take the letter to Herm, so that the first boat crossing would take it to the St. Peter Port post office.
I stood and watched him as he neared the little pier at the landing place of Herm, and before he had arrived within two hundred yards of the place, the whole population--men, women, and children--turned out to see him. I am not sure but that the _entire_ population was waiting to receive him, for I could only count twelve persons. I think they could not muster more than two or three more, all told, so that his reception was a grand one.
Having instructions from me not to land, he handed the letter up in a cleft stick, and pus.h.i.+ng off a boat's length, had a chat with the natives.
”They all spoke at once,” said he, ”and would not give me time enough to answer their questions, so they got very little information from me.
There was one very nice girl there though, that I should like to know, and when I get back from England, I think I shall try and see her parents, for I shall be very lonely all by myself, when you are gone.”
Poor fellow! He had fallen in love at first sight with a vengeance. But it is just like we poor men; we are no sooner in possession of enough means to live comfortably upon, than we are sure to want to share it with someone else, providing the someone else is a pretty and loveable woman. Right away from the Creation it has been the same. Adam and Eve set us young fellows an example that it seems will never die out--at least I hope not till we have all found Eves to our liking.
The next ten days we worked very hard, for we lengthened the ”Anglo-Franc” nearly five feet amids.h.i.+ps, and built her up nearly a foot above her old gunwale, so that by raising the deck or roof of the cuddy forward about fourteen inches, and lengthening it a couple of feet, we had quite a cosy little cabin.
It was wonderful what a remarkable difference these alterations made in her appearance. True, she was only some six inches broader in the beam, but now that she was lengthened amids.h.i.+ps she was over twenty feet long, and could stand larger and taller masts. These we soon gave her, so that she now appeared as a half-decked lugger, and, considering our materials and tools, quite a smart little craft.
My occupation of Jethou, according to the agreement, ceased on September 2nd, and as it was now the last day of August, we set about putting everything in order previous to leaving on the 3rd, should the weather prove fine.
It would never do to leave the island without someone in charge; and as we neither of us knew anyone who would act while Alec was away, we were again in a quandary. At last I hit on a bright idea, one that made my comrade's eyes sparkle with delight.
”Did you not say that the pretty damsel of Herm had a father?” I asked.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LENGTHENING THE ”ANGLO-FRANC.”]
”Yes,” said Alec, ”and a mother too. Would you like them to come over and take charge? Yes? Oh! la! la!!”
Then the simple fellow gambolled about like a young schoolboy, and exclaimed, ”Never mind the boat, let me try and swim over.”