B

CHAPTER IX.

ARTHUR'S OLD ENEMY.

ESSIE had hardly left off wondering where her aunt had gone, when Aunt Harriette came back again, and with her came Mrs. Stubbs, who had run home whenever she had seen that her brother was safely on shore.

Mrs. Stubbs had in her arms a very large basket, and she was followed by cook with another large basket; both of them piled up with thick slices of bread and cheese. Aunt Harriette had in one hand a large tin water-can, and in the other she held five or six drinking-mugs. It was very clear what she and the cook had been doing; for from the spout of the water-can there came a lot of smoke and a sweet warm smell of tea.

As soon as the men knew that this was all for

them, they crowded round Aunt Harriette and the other women, so that they could hardly give out bread and cheese, and pour out tea fast enough.

Of course all the men who had been so many hours pulling at the rope, and standing in the cold wind and rain, were very tired and hungry and thirsty; but they gave food and drink first to the men who had been saved from the wreck, as if they did not think of themselves at all; but most of all they seemed to wish to give it to the captain, so that he might have had six mugs of tea at once if he could have drunk them. Little Bessie caught sight of the captain for a moment, as the men moved a little, and she saw that he was lying upon the beach, and his eyes were shut. 'Oh dear! oh dear!' she cried; he is dead; I am sure he is.'

No, little miss,' said the kind man who had spoken to her before; he is not dead; it is the cold. Carry him to the "Lion," mates.'

The Lion' was an inn built near the Esplanade, as the beach walk was called.

Bessie was still dragging the railway rug by one corner; she had not remembered it till now.

Here, take this; wrap him up in this,' she said, pulling forward the rug. Then, as she Looked at the pale face of the captain, she clasped

her hands together and said, 'Oh pray God

save him!'

That's it; that's the sort of thing,' said Jones the fisherman, who had been covering the skipper with his jacket; he was almost the only man there who had a jacket with him.

Then they lifted the captain in their arms and carried him away. Bessie wished she might have followed him, but she turned towards home, when her aunt called her, and in a few minutes they were in the house.

Aunt Harriette put both Georgie and the little girl at once into bed, lest they should catch colds, although they had been kept so warm and safe all the time under the sailcloth. Bessie thought that she should never go to sleep, because she felt so full of thoughts, and it was broad daylight, but she had not been ten minutes in bed before she had forgotten everything.

Then Arthur came running home to say that the captain of the collier brig was all right and coming round nicely, and that Jones had said he would do quite well now; and as soon as ever Aunt Harriette saw him she threw her arms round his neck and kissed him a great many times, and said, 'Arthur, my dear boy, my dear brave boy! I feel so proud of you for your manly conduct during the storm.'

No

And then Mrs. Stubbs said, 'He's a noble boy, ma'am, and a boy to be proud of, I'm sure. full-grown gentleman, not your own handsome son, ma'am, which he is the finest gent I ever clapped eyes on, couldn't have behaved more braver and worked more harder than he have; and to see the two of 'em run into the water when I thought every minute my poor brother would be drownded-it was just like a picture.'

Arthur felt inclined to cry, but he thought that would not be 'like a full-grown gentleman,' so he laughed it off, and said it did not matter; but he felt very pleased at his Aunt Harriette's praises and at Mrs. Stubbs's speech, although there was so little grammar in it, and, more than all, that she put his name and that of Cousin Frank together.

So you see Arthur got the credit of manliness when he had forgotten all about himself, and thought only of doing his duty, when he might try for ever to pass off for a man by his self-conceit, and yet only be laughed at for a foolish boy. Even Cousin Frank, who came home shortly afterwards, shook Arthur by the hand, and said, 'Arthur, you are a brick! You will make a fine fellow yet, my boy, if you'll only shake off your good opinion of yourself.'

But I am rather afraid Arthur was a boy who