Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished - Robert Michael Ballantyne (best ebook reader txt) 📗

paint.

Mr and Mrs Twitter contented themselves with gazing on Sammy's somewhat worn face, and lying in watch, so that, when Alice or any of the young members of the flock seemed about to stray on the forbidden ground, they should be ready to descend, like two wolves on the fold, remorselessly change the subject of conversation, and carry all before them.

Thus tenderly was that prodigal son received back to his father's house.


CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.


CANADA AGAIN--AND SURPRISING NEWS.

It is most refreshing to those who have been long cooped up in a city to fly on the wings of steam to the country and take refuge among the scents of flowers and fields and trees. We have said this, or something like it, before, and remorselessly repeat it--for it is a grand truism.

Let us then indulge ourselves a little with a glance at the farm of Brankly in Canada.

Lake Ontario, with its expanse of boundless blue, rolls like an ocean in the far distance. We can see it from the hill-top where the sweet-smelling red-pines grow. At the bottom of the hill lies Brankly itself, with its orchards and homestead and fields of golden grain, and its little river, with the little saw-mill going as pertinaciously as if it, like the river, had resolved to go on for ever. Cattle are there, sheep are there, horses and wagons are there, wealth and prosperity are there, above all happiness is there, because there also dwells the love of God.

It is a good many years, reader, since you and I were last here. Then, the farm buildings and fences were brand-new. Now, although of course not old, they bear decided traces of exposure to the weather. But these marks only give compactness of look and unity of tone to everything, improving the appearance of the place vastly.

The fences, which at first looked blank and staring, as if wondering how they had got there, are now more in harmony with the fields they enclose. The plants which at first struggled as if unwillingly on the dwelling-house, now cling to it and climb about it with the affectionate embrace of old friends. Everything is improved--Well, no, not everything. Mr Merryboy's legs have not improved. They will not move as actively as they were wont to do. They will not go so far, and they demand the assistance of a stick. But Mr Merryboy's spirit has improved--though it was pretty good before, and his tendency to universal philanthropy has increased to such an extent that the people of the district have got into a way of sending their bad men and boys to work on his farm in order that they may become good!

Mrs Merryboy, however, has improved in every way, and is more blooming than ever, as well as a trifle stouter, but Mrs Merryboy senior, although advanced spiritually, has degenerated a little physically. The few teeth that kept her nose and chin apart having disappeared, her mouth has also vanished, though there is a decided mark which tells where it was--especially when she speaks or smiles. The hair on her forehead has become as pure white as the winter snows of Canada. Wrinkles on her visage have become the rule, not the exception, but as they all run into comical twists, and play in the forms of humour, they may, perhaps, be regarded as a physical improvement. She is stone deaf now, but this also may be put to the credit side of her account, for it has rendered needless those awkward efforts to speak loud and painful attempts to hear which used to trouble the family in days gone by. It is quite clear, however, when you look into granny's coal-black eyes, that if she were to live to the age of Methuselah she will never be blind, nor ill-natured, nor less pleased with herself, her surroundings, and the whole order of things created!

But who are these that sit so gravely and busily engaged with breakfast as though they had not the prospect of another meal that year? Two young men and a young girl. One young man is broad and powerful though short, with an incipient moustache and a fluff of whisker. The other is rather tall, slim, and gentlemanly, and still beardless. The girl is little, neat, well-made, at the budding period of life, brown-haired, brown-eyed, round, soft--just such a creature as one feels disposed to pat on the head and say, "My little pet!"

Why, these are two "waifs" and a "stray!" Don't you know them? Look again. Is not the stout fellow our friend Bobby Frog, the slim one Tim Lumpy, and the girl Martha Mild? But who, in all London, would believe that these were children who had bean picked out of the gutter? Nobody--except those good Samaritans who had helped to pick them up, and who could show you the photographs of what they once were and what they now are.

Mr Merryboy, although changed a little as regards legs, was not in the least deteriorated as to lungs. As Granny, Mrs Merryboy, and the young people sat at breakfast he was heard at an immense distance off, gradually making his way towards the house.

"Something seems to be wrong with father this morning, I think," said Mrs Merryboy, junior, listening.

Granny, observing the action, pretended to listen, and smiled.

"He's either unusually jolly or unusually savage--a little more tea, mother," said Tim Lumpy, pushing in his cup.

Tim, being father-and-motherless, called Mr Merryboy father and the wife mother. So did Martha, but Bobby Frog, remembering those whom he had left at home, loyally declined, though he did not object to call the elder Mrs Merryboy granny.

"Something for good or evil must have happened," said Bobby, laying down his knife and fork as the growling sound drew nearer.

At last the door flew open and the storm burst in. And we may remark that Mr Merryboy's stormy nature was, if possible, a little more obtrusive than it used to be, for whereas in former days his toes and heels did most of the rattling-thunder business, the stick now came into play as a prominent creator of din--not only when flourished by hand, but often on its own account and unexpectedly, when propped clumsily in awkward places.

"Hallo! good people all, how are 'ee? morning--morning. Boys, d'ee know that the saw-mill's come to grief?"

"No, are you in earnest, father?" cried Tim, jumping up.

"In earnest! Of course I am. Pretty engineers you are. Sawed its own bed in two, or burst itself. Don't know which, and what's more I don't care. Come, Martha, my bantam chicken, let's have a cup of tea. Bother that stick, it can't keep its legs much better than myself. How are you, mother? Glorious weather, isn't it?"

Mr Merryboy ignored deafness. He continued to speak to his mother just as though she heard him.

And she continued to nod and smile, and make-believe to hear with more demonstration of face and cap than ever. After all, her total loss of hearing made little difference, her sentiments being what Bobby Frog in his early days would have described in the words, "Wot's the hodds so long as you're 'appy?"

But Bobby had now ceased to drop or misapply his aitches--though he still had some trouble with his R's.

As he was chief engineer of the saw-mill, having turned out quite a mechanical genius, he ran down to the scene of disaster with much concern on hearing the old gentleman's report.

And, truly, when he and Tim reached the picturesque spot where, at the water's edge among fine trees and shrubs, the mill stood clearly reflected in its own dam, they found that the mischief done was considerable. The machinery, by which the frame with its log to be sawn was moved along quarter-inch by quarter-inch at each stroke, was indeed all right, but it had not been made self-regulating. The result was that, on one of the attendant workmen omitting to do his duty, the saw not only ripped off a beautiful plank from a log, but continued to cross-cut the end of the heavy framework, and then proceeded to cut the iron which held the log in its place. The result, of course, was that the iron refused to be cut, and savagely revenged itself by scraping off, flattening down, turning up, and otherwise damaging, the teeth of the saw!

"H'm! that comes of haste," muttered Bob, as he surveyed the wreck. "If I had taken time to make the whole affair complete before setting the mill to work, this would not have happened."

"Never mind, Bob, we must learn by experience, you know," said Tim, examining the damage done with a critical eye. "Luckily, we have a spare saw in the store."

"Run and fetch it," said Bob to the man in charge of the mill, whose carelessness had caused the damage, and who stared silently at his work with a look of horrified resignation.

When he was gone Bob and Tim threw off their coats, rolled up their sleeves to the shoulder, and set to work with a degree of promptitude and skill which proved them to be both earnest and capable workmen.

The first thing to be done was to detach the damaged saw from its frame.

"There," said Bob, as he flung it down, "you won't use your teeth again on the wrong subject for some time to come. Have we dry timber heavy enough to mend the frame, Tim?"

"Plenty--more than we want."

"Well, you go to work on it while I fix up the new saw."

To work the two went accordingly--adjusting, screwing, squaring, sawing, planing, mortising, until the dinner-bell called them to the house.

"So soon!" exclaimed Bob; "dinner is a great bother when a man is very busy."

"D'ye think so, Bob? Well, now, I look on it as a great comfort-- specially when you're hungry."

"Ah! but that's because you are greedy, Tim. You always were too fond o' your grub."

"Come, Bob, no slang. You know that mother doesn't like it. By the way, talkin' of mothers, is it on Wednesday or Thursday that you expect _your_ mother?"

"Thursday, my boy," replied Bob, with a bright look. "Ha! that _will_ be a day for me!"

"So it will, Bob, I'm glad for your sake," returned Tim with a sigh, which was a very unusual expression of feeling for him. His friend at once understood its significance.

"Tim, my boy, I'm sorry for you. I wish I could split my mother in two and give you half of her."

"Yes," said Tim, somewhat absently, "it is sad to have not one soul in the world related to you."

"But there are many who care for you as much as if they were relations," said Bob, taking his friend's arm as they approached the house.

"Come along, come along, youngsters," shouted Mr Merryboy from the window, "the dinner's gettin' cold, and granny's gettin' in a passion. Look sharp. If you knew what news I have for you you'd look sharper."

"What news, sir?" asked Bob, as they sat down to a table which did not exactly "groan" with viands--it was too strong for that--but which was heavily weighted therewith.