on the edge of evening, we were pretty nigh run over by a ship bound for Cuba. That picked us up when we were out of provisions and water, and had given up all for lost. When we had cheered up a little, we shipped on a vessel bound for Halifax. Cook liked his berth so well that he kept it, but I sailed for Portsmouth, and then for Lucky Cove; and by the time I got here they had word of you by the letter you sent with the ship that picked you up. I stuck by the Dancer since then, for it wasn't in my mind to lay out plans for myself until I had seen you all home, and found out what you were going to do." What were they going to do, indeed? There were seven little children in the crippled captain's home-eleven in all to feed and clothe, and the strong bread-winner helpless now in his wheeled chair. It was hard work sometimes for Captain Adams to keep from wishing that he had not lived to come back to those of whom he could take care no longer. When Tom Epp used those words, "what they were going to do," Master Hastings glanced at the bent form of his son, and thought of the lost Seabird; Captain Adams turned his look sadly on his daughter; and Bess gazed entreaty at the minister. One thought was in the hearts of all: it was very hard to tell what they were to do. Then said the minister: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water; and dry ground into water-springs. And there He maketh the hungry to dwell. Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." This was the inspired history of their sufferings and the promise for their future; and so the souls returned unto their rest, because the Lord deals bountifully with His chosen. "Be sure and make the home-coming cheerful," had Bess written to Kate; and when the little house was reached, everything was in its best. The children, Lucy, and Kate, in their "Sunday clothes," were on the lookout for the coming of the long absent ones. Peace and plenty seemed to have found abiding-places in that humble dwelling. But after the evening meal, while one of the twins, perched on either arm of their father's chair, was telling of exploits in school, and baby Annie was serenely falling asleep in her father's arms, Lucy made her escape to the yard, and sat down on the last wood of Tom Epp's cutting, weeping bitterly. "I thought," sobbed Lucy, "that by your letters I was prepared for all; that I had made up my mind to what was to be; but, O Bess! what shall I do, what shall I do?" You will be brave, as you have been often before, Lucy. Yours has been a hard life," replied Bess sadly. "But I've been very happy for the last eight years," said Lucy. "And now it remains for you to make my poor father happy for whatever years he has to live. You must keep up your courage, Lucy, for his sake. Ah! if you had seen, as I have, what he has suffered those dreadful days on the wreck, and those just as dreadful days in the hospital, when-when he was the worst! You would feel, as I do, that nothing must be spared to make the rest of his life happy. It will be a hard thing for him, after all his busy days, to stop here at home in a chair. You must make the home very cheerful, Lucy; keep the children in order, that they won't fret him; have the house bright; and make his friends welcome at all hours, no matter what's doing. We all have our work laid out, Lucy; very often not the work we plan for ourselves, but we must do it heartily, nevertheless. You must not let him want for anything, Lucy. Get him the best that the Cove can furnish to eat and drink." Think how many there are of boys can do anything." "But, Bess, how are we to live? us; and it will be long before the "I'll take care of you, Lucy. Kate and I will see to that, somehow; I cannot tell just how yet, but it shall be done. You keep up as you did to-day when we got home. That was a good thought about those flowers, making the room so pretty." "That was Kate's thought; she sent the boys two miles off into the woods to hunt for them," said Lucy. "You know how useless I am, Bess. I can't earn anything." "Don't go back to that," said Bess stoutly. "We don't want you to earn anything. Why, you poor girl, with a house, and a sick man, and seven little children to take care of, have you not got your hands full ?" "I wouldn't mind that," said Lucy, "if I only knew that we could keep the house, and get the bread and those other things for plain comfort that he has been used to." 66 You can be sure of all those. The Lord is going to provide them, though I do not know yet by what means. And of all things, Lucy, you must not let father see you fretting about that; for it is just what troubles him most, and will make him feel his helplessness more than ever." For the first week or two after the return all was bustle and excitement; neighbours coming and going, and the story of the Seabird demanded several times a day. Bess was at Master Hastings' the most part of the time, watching over Rolf, or taking short walks with him where once they two had walked and played in all the exuberance of childish happiness. Yet in the hours when she was at home she saw plainly that some plan must be made and diligently pursued for providing for the family, where all those little lads were wearing out the knees of their trousers and devouring bread and butter at a fearful rate every hour in the day. Bess and Kate began to take long walks on the sands and by the cliffs toward sunset, walking slowly arm-in-arm, and talking earnestly the while. Each morning, before going over to see Rolf, Bess wheeled her father in his chair slowly along the village street to give him exercise. During these walks they generally fell into a discussion as to what should be done to provide for the family. When they first returned to Lucky Cove, Bess had hoped that Rolf would speedily recover, and be able to take command of the White Eagle. But Rolf had grown no stronger. The Dane, when first he received his son home, had felt assured that the consumption which had carried his mother to her early grave had set its seal upon her son. This had been the dread of Master Hastings in Rolf's early years; but as he had seen him growing vigorous and accustomed to exposure, and showing the hardihood of his Danish ancestry, he had begun to hope that the dread scourge would pass him by. But the exposure on the wreck and the blow on his chest had provoked the onset of the hereditary enemy. There was now no hope that Rolf could sail on the White Eagle. Bess was the last to relinquish this hope, and, losing it, she was doubly bound to home, to remaining where she could be with him the remainder of his life; but meanwhile what would the family do for food and clothing? "Your one "There's only one way, father," said Bess at last. third share in the White Eagle won't support eleven of us; we must have the captain's wages. You and Master Hastings are sole owners, and you know that I can sail a ship. You must give me the White Eagle, and let her be put on coast trade for a while, until you are accustomed to my being off on her. By that means we shall have as much to live on as ever." "I know you can sail a ship, Bess," said her father, shaking his head; but this is such a new and unheard-of plan." "That is nothing," said Bess quickly, "if it is the plan God has marked out for me. There's nothing else that I can do, father. There is no work for women near the Cove, and if I went to Portsmouth or Boston, what could I do? I could not teach school, nor sit as a seamstress. I can keep a little house like ours, and I can sail a ship; and, as there is Lucy to keep the house, the ship is all that is left to me." Bess dreaded any arguments against the plan from her father; for was not her own heart urging her all the while to stay ashore, never to leave the Cove while Rolf lived? "And, my girl, it would be much harder finding a crew and officers for you than for an ordinary captain." "Yes; but we have many sailors near here who have sailed with you. There is Tom Epp for a coxswain, and Jerry and Luke, to begin with. I can have Kate go with me, and you can get John Porter of the Ariel for first officer. I have known him and his wife since I was a little girl, and he'd be faithful to my interest on the ship." Well, yes. And there's Hall Jenkins. He must be twentyone by this time, and a neighbour's son, and he will make a good second. I don't know but it might be done, Bess; and if it can, why, there's provision for us all. But it is sacrificing you, my Annie's girl, to the rest of us!" "It is no sacrifice, father," said Bess sadly. "What better is there now left for me ashore? A sore heart finds its best relief in work-working for others; and if I must live without Rolf, I can bear it better with a ship and its cargo, and the wants of a score of people on my mind, than sitting quietly at home." Captain Adams gave a deep sigh at this passionate outburst from his daughter! How wise he had tried to be for her! How much he had hoped for her! He would have very gladly passed through his great troubles again, if this black cloud might be lifted from her future. "I can make this rule, father," said Bess, conquering her emotion: "I can have my men strictly temperance men, and Christian men too, father." "They'll be equally hard to get, I fear," interrupted he. "God will provide them, father, if it is right for me to go; for it would only be right for me to go with such a crew as would make me sure of good order and subordination. Principle must enforce my authority; they cannot expect me to knock a rebel down with a marlin-spike." "Very true; but I should take care that your first officer was a man of muscle, as Porter is. But I never found the argument of the marlin-spike needful, Bess, and I maintained strict discipline without sharp measures." "And there's my advantage in having sailed with you so long. You know I am not without experience, father." "Yes; well, we'll see what Master Hastings thinks of it." He thinks well of it; and the minister doesn't think amiss of it," replied Bess, sighing. They do not see that anything else is left for me." Master Hastings had indeed assented to the plan Bess proposed. Rolf approved it, and Master Hastings declared he was willing to trust all he had to the care of Bess. The loss of the Seabird had told on the Master's resources. He knew that the Adams family could not consent to live on charity. Someone must earn wages when there were so many to be supported; and no way seemed open to Bess but seafaring. It is the way the Lord points out," said Rolf; "and I know you will be blessed in it. The only breakers ahead will be if Lucy does not govern those children properly. That twin, Jim, is just like his old grandfather! I remember Jim Wren better than you do, Bess, and little Jim is wonderfully like him. I wonder what possessed Lucy to name a boy after him?" "He was her father, you know, and that covered a multitude of sins," replied Bess; "and she has a compassion for his unhappy memory and death, and this naming was just one of our foolish human efforts at compensating what can never be compensated, and doing something for those who are forever out of our reach." 'Well, you warn your father about Jim. If he takes any grog, don't let him put the glass where Master Jim can get the dregs. The little mischief got half of father's glass of wine the other day, and rejoiced over it like a little toper. The schoolmaster says he's sharp enough, but he is impish; and then the master is growing old, and the boy has no one to govern him." 'Little Phil is a much nicer child," said Bess. "They're all nice children, and Jim will turn out well if he gets properly brought up. If Lucy will do as well on shore as you will do at sea, my Bess, the family will come up to be a blessing to you." From Lucy came the stoutest opposition to the plan of Bess' being in command of the White Eagle. "What would you have, Lucy?" asked Bess. "Shall Kate and I go into a factory at Lowell, and die of the change from our sealife? Or shall we go to Portsmouth, and live out at service, getting fifty cents a week as first class servants?" "Your mother was my best friend," said Lucy, weeping, "and now it seems as if you and Kate, her only children, are to be sacrificed to me and my children." "It is not a sacrifice," said Bess; "it is the way the Lord has appointed for us and it will doubtless make us all happy when once we get accustomed to it and give up other hopes." It was August before the time for departure came. Rolf was only a little feebler than when he returned to the Cove, and Bess would cheer her heart with the hope that his lingering disease would yet take a turn for the better, and that he would return to something of his former vigour. She could not believe it a last farewell when she took leave of him to go to Portsmouth, accompanied by his father, who was to remain with her until the ship sailed. Rolf, however, was in nowise deceived; for him the bitterness of death was past when he parted from Bess. "I shall see you again, Rolf; I shall see you again," were her last words to him. 66 Yes, truly," said Rolf, turning to the minister, who was to be his chief companion and guardian during his father's absence, "I shall see her again. Bess is a true heart, and we two will meet where there are no more partings; but until then, never!" The people of Lucky Cove said that it seemed as if half the village was going away that day when such a large party set off for the White Eagle. There were Bess and Kate with Master Hastings, Tom Epp, Jerry and Luke, John Porter going for first officer, and young Hall Jenkins as second. All the village crowded to their doors to see them off. How dost Thou paint, O Spirit in such glory, -Horatio Nelson Powers. |