bolt-ropes. The cry for succour was raised in vain; the wail of despair was not heard; the struggles for life were not beheld, as the elements in their wrath roared and howled over their victim.
As if satiated with its devastation, from that moment the storm gradually abated, and Forster taking advantage of a lull, slowly descended to the cove, where he found Robertson still heaping fuel on the fire.
“Save your wood, my good fellow; it’s all over with her; and those who were on board are in eternity at this moment,” said Forster, in a melancholy tone.
“Is she gone then, sir?”
“Right on the outer ledge; there’s not a living soul to see your beacon.”
“God’s will be done!” replied the fisherman; “then their time was come—but He who destroys, can save if He pleases; I’ll not put out the fire, while there’s a fagot left, for you know, Mr. Forster, that if any one should by a miracle be thrown into the smooth water on this side of the point, he might be saved; that is, if he swam well:”—and Robertson threw on more fagots, which soon flared up with a brilliant light. The fisherman returned to the cottage to procure for Forster a red woollen cap in lieu of the hat which he had lost; and they both sat down close to the fire to warm themselves, and to dry their streaming clothes.
Robertson had once more replenished the fuel, and the vivid blaze glared along the water in the cove, when the eye of Forster was attracted by the appearance of something floating on the wave, and evidently nearing to the shore. He pointed it out to the fisherman, and they descended to the water’s edge, awaiting its approach with intense anxiety.
“It’s not a man, sir, is it?” observed Robertson, after a minute’s pause.
“I cannot make it out,” replied Forster; “but I rather think that it is an animal—something living, most assuredly.”
In another minute or two the point was decided; they distinguished a large dog bearing something white in its mouth, and making for the shore where they were standing. Calling to the poor beast to cheer him, for he evidently was much exhausted and approached but slowly, they soon had the satisfaction of seeing him pass through the surf, which, even at this time, was not heavy in the cove, and, with the water pouring from his shaggy coat, stagger towards them, bearing in his mouth his burden, which he laid down at Forster’s feet, and then shook off the accumulation of moisture from his skin. Forster took up the object of the animal’s solicitude—it was the body of an infant, apparently a few months old.
“Poor thing!” cried Forster, mournfully.
“It’s quite dead, sir,” observed the fisherman.
“I am afraid so,” replied Forster, “but it cannot have been so long; the dog evidently bore it up clear of the water until it came into the surf. Who knows but we might restore it?”
“If any thing will restore it, sir, it will be the warmth of woman’s breast, to which it hitherto hath clung—Jane shall take it in her bed between her and the little ones;” and the fisherman entered the hut with the child, which was undressed, and received by his wife with all the sympathy which maternal feelings create, even towards the offspring of others. To the delight of Forster, in a quarter of an hour Robertson came out of the cottage with the intelligence that the child had moved and cried a little, and that there was every chance of its recovery.
“It’s a beautiful little girl, sir, Jane says; and if it lives, she will halve her milk between it and our little Tommy.”
Forster remained another half-hour, until he had ascertained that the child had taken the breast and had fallen asleep. Congratulating himself at having been the means of saving even one little life out of the many which, in all probability had been swallowed up, he called to the dog, who had remained passive by the fire, and rose up to return home; but the dog retreated to the door of the cottage into which he had seen the infant carried, and all attempts to coax him away were fruitless.
Forster summoned Robertson, to whom he gave some further directions, and then returned to his home, where, on his arrival, his old housekeeper, who had never been awakened from her sound nap until roused by his knocking at the door, scolded him not a little for being out in such tempestuous weather, and a great deal more for having obliged her to sit up and watch all night until his return.
Volume One--Chapter Three.
Creation smiles around; on every spray
The warbling birds exalt their evening lay:
Blithe skipping o’er you hill, the fleecy train
Join the deep chorus of the lowing plain:
The glassy ocean hush’d forgets to roar,
But trembling murmurs on the sandy shore.
Falconer.
Forster was soon fast asleep after his night of exertion: his dreams were confused and wild; but I seldom trouble people about dreams, which are as nought. When Reason descends from her throne, and seeks a transitory respite from her labour, Fancy usurps the vacant seat, and in pretended majesty, would fain exert her sister’s various powers. These she enacts to the best of her ability, and with about the same success as attends a monkey when he attempts the several operations connected with the mystery of shaving:—and thus ends a very short and conclusive dissertation upon dreams.
But, to use a nautical phrase, we must “heave to” in our narrative awhile, as it is necessary that we should enter a little more into the previous history of Edward Forster; which we can now do without interruption, as the parties we have introduced to the reader are all asleep.
The father of Edward Forster was a clergyman, who, notwithstanding he could reckon up some twenty or thirty first, second, and third cousins with high-sounding titles, officiated as curate in a district not far from that part of the country where Forster at present was located. He was one of the bees of the church, who are constantly toiling, while the drones are eating up the honey. He preached three sermons, and read three services, at three different stations every Sunday throughout the year; while he christened, married, and buried a population extending over some thousands of square acres, for the scanty stipend of one hundred per annum. Soon after he was in possession of his curacy he married a young woman, who brought him beauty and modesty as her dower, and subsequently pledges of mutual love ad lib. But He that giveth, taketh away; and out of nearly a score of these interesting but expensive presents to her husband, only three, all of the masculine gender, arrived at years of maturity. John (or Jock, as he usually was called), who was the eldest, was despatched to London, where he studied the law under a relation; who, perceiving that Mrs. Forster’s annual presentation of the living was not followed up by any presentation to the living, kindly took charge of, and received him into his own house.
Jock was a hard-headed fellow, studied with great diligence, and retained what he read, although he did not read fast; but that which he lost in speed he made up by perseverance, and had now, entirely by his own exertions, risen to considerable eminence in his profession; but he had been severed from his family in early days, and had never been able to return to them. He heard, indeed, of the birth of sundry brothers and sisters; of their deaths; and lastly, of the demise of his parents, the only communication which affected him; for he loved his father and mother, and was anticipating the period when he might possess the
