Part 6 (1/2)
The other boys dragged him up the beach with shouts and cheers of welcome to the new champion, while Gil, who had borne that t.i.tle for so long, crawled ash.o.r.e unaided.
”Hurrah for Jan!” they cried, tossing their caps and dancing happily, for Jan was a great favorite. ”Hurrah for the little brother! Now Gil must take the second place. You are the big brother now!” And they laughed and jeered at Gil,--not maliciously, but because they were pleased with Jan.
Jan ran to Gil and held out his hand for his brother's congratulations, but Gil thrust it aside. ”It was not a fair race!” he sputtered.
”Unfair, unfair, I vow!”
The others gathered around, surprised to see Gil so angry and with such wild eyes.
”Gil, oh, Gil! What do you mean?” cried Jan, turning very pale. ”Why was it not a fair race, brother?”
”Brother! You are no brother of mine!” shouted Gil, beside himself with rage. ”You are a changeling,--half fish, half sea-monster. You were helped in this race by the sea-people; you cannot deny it. I saw one push you to the sh.o.r.e. You could not have beaten me else. Every one knows that I am the better swimmer, though I am no fish.”
”Nonsense!” cried Boise, clapping Gil on the shoulder with a laugh. ”You talk foolishness, Gil. There are no sea-folk in these waters; those are old women's tales. It was a fair race, I say, and Jan is our champion.”
But Jan heeded only the cruel words which his brother had spoken. ”Gil, what do you mean?” he asked again, trembling with a new fear. ”I was not helped by any one.”
”Ha!” cried Gil, pointing at him fiercely, ”see him tremble, see his guilty looks! He knows that I speak true. The Mermaid helped him. He is half fish. He came out of the sea and was no real brother of mine, but a Merbaby. A Mermaid was his mother!”
At these words a whirring sound was heard in the air overhead, and a second time the Stork appeared, flapping across the scene out to sea, where he alighted upon the Round Rock. But Gil was too angry even to notice him.
”Gil, Gil, tell me how this can be?” begged Jan, going up to his brother and laying a pleading hand upon his arm.
But Gil shook him off, crying, ”It is true! He is half fish and the sea-folk helped him. It was not a fair race. Let us try it again.”
”Nonsense!” cried the other boys indignantly. ”It was a fair race. Jan need not try again, for he is our champion. We will have it so.”
But Jan was looking at Gil strangely, and the light was gone out of his eyes. His face was very white. ”I did not know that you cared so much to win,” he said to Gil in a low voice. Then he turned to the others. ”If my brother thinks it was not a fair race let us two try again. Let us swim once more to the Round Rock and back; and the winner shall be declared the village champion.” For Jan meant this time to let his brother beat. What did he care about anything now, since Gil hated him so much that he could tell that story?
”Well, let them try the race again, since Jan will have it so,” cried the boys, grumbling and casting scornful looks at Gil, who had never been so unpopular with them as at this moment.
Once more the two sprang into the waves and started for the Round Rock, where the spray was das.h.i.+ng merrily over the plumage of the Stork as he stood there upon one leg, trying not to mind the wetness which he hated.
For he was talking earnestly with a pretty Mermaid who sat on the rock in the surf, wringing her hands.
”It is he! It is he!” she cried. ”I know him now. It is the lad whom they call _Jan_, the finest swimmer of them all. Oh, he dives like a fis.h.!.+ He swims like a true Sea-child. He is my own baby, my little one!
I followed, I watched him. I could hardly keep my hands from him. Tell me, dear Stork, is he not indeed my own?”
The Stork looked at her gravely. ”It is no longer a secret,” he said, ”for Jan has been betrayed. He who is now Jan the unhappy mortal boy was once your unhappy Sea-baby.”
”Unhappy! Oh, is he unhappy?” cried the Mermaid. ”Then at last I may claim him as you promised. I may take him home once more to our fair sea-home, to cherish him and make him happier than he ever was in all his little life. But tell me, dear Stork, will he not be my own little Sea-child again? I would not have him in his strange, ugly human guise, but as my own little fish-tailed baby.”
”When you kiss him,” said the Stork, ”when you throw your arms about his neck and speak to him in the sea-language, he will become a Sea-child once more, as he was when I found him in his cradle on the rocks. But look! Yonder he comes. A second race has begun, and they swim this way.
Wait until they have turned the rock, and then it will be your turn. Ah, Gil! You have ill kept your promise to me!”
Yes, the race between the brothers was two thirds over. Side by side as before the two black heads pushed through the waves. Both faces were white and drawn, and there was no joy in either. Gil's was pale with anger, Jan's only with sadness. He loved his brother still, but he knew that Gil loved him no more.
They were nearing the sh.o.r.e where the boys waited breathlessly for the end of this strange contest. Suddenly Jan turned his face towards Gil and gave him one look. ”You will win, brother,” he breathed brokenly, ”my strength is failing. You are the better swimmer, after all. Tell the lads that I confess it. Go on and come in as the champion.”