By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War Read online

  Produced by Martin Robb

  BY SHEER PLUCK

  A TALE OF THE ASHANTI WAR

  By G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER I: A FISHING EXCURSION

  "Now, Hargate, what a fellow you are! I've been looking for youeverywhere. Don't you know it's the House against the Town boys. It'slucky that the Town have got the first innings; they began a quarter ofan hour ago."

  "How tiresome!" Frank Hargate said. "I was watching a most interestingthing here. Don't you see this little chaffinch nest in the bush, with anewly hatched brood. There was a small black snake threatening the nest,and the mother was defending it with quivering wings and open beak. Inever saw a prettier thing. I sat quite still and neither of them seemedto notice me. Of course I should have interfered if I had seen the snakegetting the best of it. When you came running up like a cart horse, thesnake glided away in the grass, and the bird flew off. Oh, dear! I amsorry. I had forgotten all about the match."

  "I never saw such a fellow as you are, Hargate. Here's the opening matchof the season, and you, who are one of our best bats, poking about afterbirds and snakes. Come along; Thompson sent me and two or three otherfellows off in all directions to find you. We shall be half out beforeyou're back. Wilson took James's wicket the first ball."

  Frank Hargate leaped to his feet, and, laying aside for the present allthoughts of his favorite pursuit, started off at a run to the playingfield. His arrival there was greeted with a mingled chorus of welcomeand indignation. Frank Hargate was, next to Thompson the captain of theTown eleven, the best bat among the home boarders. He played a steadyrather than a brilliant game, and was noted as a good sturdy sticker.Had he been there, Thompson would have put him in at first, in orderto break the bowling of the House team. As it was, misfortunes had comerapidly. Ruthven and Handcock were bowling splendidly, and none of theTown boys were making any stand against them. Thompson himself had gonein when the fourth wicket fell, and was still in, although two wicketshad since fallen, for only four runs, and the seventh wicket fell justas Frank arrived, panting, on the ground.

  "Confound you, Hargate!" Thompson shouted, "where have you been? And noteven in flannels yet."

  "I'm very sorry," Frank shouted back cheerfully, "and never mind theflannels, for once. Shall I come in now?"

  "No," Thompson said. "You'd better get your wind first. Let Fenner comein next."

  Fenner stayed in four overs, adding two singles as his share, whileThompson put on a three and a two. Then Fenner was caught. Thirty-oneruns for eight wickets! Then Frank took the bat, and walked to theground. Thompson came across to him.

  "Look here, Hargate, you have made a nice mess of it, and the game looksas bad as can be. Whatever you do, play carefully. Don't let out atanything that comes straight. The great thing is to bother their bowlinga bit. They're so cocky now, that pretty near every ball is straight onthe wickets. Be content with blocking for a bit, and Handcock will soongo off. He always gets savage if his bowling is collared."

  Frank obeyed orders. In the next twenty minutes he only scored six runs,all in singles, while Thompson, who was also playing very carefully, puton thirteen. The game looked more hopeful for the Town boys. Then therewas a shout from the House, as Thompson's middle wicket was sent flying.Childers, who was the last of the team, walked out.

  "Now, Childers," Thompson said, "don't you hit at a ball. You're safe tobe bowled or caught if you do. Just lift your bat, and block them eachtime. Now, Frank, it's your turn to score. Put them on as fast as youcan. It's no use playing carefully any longer."

  Frank set to to hit in earnest. He had now got his eye well in, and thestand which he and Thompson had made together, had taken the sting outof the bowling. The ball which had taken Thompson's wicket was the lastof the over. Consequently the next came to him. It was a little wide,and Frank, stepping out, drove it for four. A loud shout rose fromthe Town boys. There had only been one four scored before, during theinnings. Off the next ball Frank scored a couple, blocked the next,and drove the last of the over past long leg for four. The next overChilders strictly obeyed orders, blocking each ball. Then it was Frank'sturn again, and seven more went up on the board. They remained togetherfor just fifteen minutes, but during that time thirty-one had been addedto the score. Frank was caught at cover point, having added twenty-eightsince Thompson left him, the other three being credited to Childers. Thetotal was eighty-one--not a bad score in a school match.

  "Well, you've redeemed yourself," Thompson said, as Frank walked to thetent. "You played splendidly, old fellow, when you did come. If we do aswell next innings we are safe. They're not likely to average eighty. Nowget on your wicket-keeping gloves. Green and I will bowl."

  The House scored rapidly at first, and fifty runs were put on with theloss of four wickets. Then misfortune fell upon them, and the remainingsix fell for nineteen. The next innings Frank went in first, but wascaught when the score stood at fifteen. Thompson made fourteen, but therest scored but badly, and the whole were out for forty-eight.

  The House had sixty-one to get to win. Six wickets had fallen forfifty-one runs, when Thompson put Childers on to bowl. The change was afortunate one. Ruthven's stumps were lowered at the first ball. Handcockwas caught off the second. The spirits of the Town boys rose. There werebut two wickets more, and still ten runs to get to win. The House playedcautiously now, and overs were sent down without a run. Then off a ballfrom Childers a four was scored, but the next ball leveled the outsidestump. Then by singles the score mounted up until a tremendous shoutfrom the House announced that the game was saved, sixty runs beingmarked by the scorers. The next ball, the Town boys replied even morelustily, for Childers ball removed the bails, and the game ended ina tie. Both parties were equally well satisfied, and declared that abetter game had never been played at Dr. Parker's. As soon as the gamewas over Frank, without waiting to join in the general talk over thegame, put on his coat and waistcoat and started at a run for home.

  Frank Hargate was an only son. His mother lived in a tiny cottage on theoutskirts of Deal. She was a widow, her husband, Captain Hargate, havingdied a year before. She had only her pension as an officer's widow,a pittance that scarce sufficed even for the modest wants of herself,Frank, and her little daughter Lucy, now six years old.

  "I hope I have not kept tea waiting, mother," Frank said as he ran in."It is not my beetles and butterflies this time. We have been playing acricket match, and a first rate one it was. Town boys against the House.It ended in a tie."

  "You are only a quarter of an hour late," his mother said, smiling,"which is a great deal nearer being punctual than is usually the casewhen you are out with your net. We were just going to begin, for I knowyour habits too well to give you more than a quarter of an hour's law."

  "I'm afraid I am horridly unpunctual," Frank said, "and yet, mother, Inever go out without making up my mind that I will be in sharp to time.But somehow there is always something which draws me away."

  "It makes no matter, Frank. If you are happy and amused I am content,and if the tea is cold it is your loss, not ours. Now, my boy, as soonas you have washed your hands we will have tea."

  It was a simple meal, thick slices of bread and butter and tea, for Mrs.Hargate could only afford to put meat upon the table once a day, andeven for that several times in the week fish was substituted, when theweather was fine and the fishing boats returned, when well laden. Frankfortunately cared very little what he ate, and what was good enough forhis mother was good enough for him. In his father's lifetime things hadbeen different, but Captain Hargate had fallen in battle in New Zealand.He had nothing besides his pay, and his wife and children had lived withhim in barracks until
his regiment was ordered out to New Zealand, whenhe had placed his wife in the little cottage she now occupied. He hadfallen in an attack on a Maori pah, a fortnight after landing in NewZealand. He had always intended Frank to enter the military profession,and had himself directed his education so long as he was at home.

  The loss of his father had been a terrible blow for the boy, who hadbeen his constant companion when off duty. Captain Hargate had beendevoted to field sports and was an excellent naturalist. The lattertaste Frank had inherited from him. His father had brought home fromIndia--where the regiment had been stationed until it returned for itsturn of home service four years before he left New Zealand--a very largequantity of skins of birds which he had shot there. These he hadstuffed and mounted, and so dexterous was he at the work, so naturaland artistic were the groups of birds, that he was enabled to addconsiderably to his income by sending these up to the shop of a Londonnaturalist. He had instructed Frank in his methods, and had given himone of the long blowguns used by some of the hill tribes in India. Theboy had attained such dexterity in its use that he was able with hisclay pellets to bring down sitting birds, however small, with almostunerring accuracy.

  These he stuffed and mounted, arranging them with a taste and skillwhich delighted the few visitors at his mother's cottage.

  Frank was ready to join in a game of football or cricket when wanted,and could hold his own in either. But he vastly preferred to go out forlong walks with his blowgun, his net, and his collecting boxes. At homeevery moment not required for the preparation of his lessons was spentin mounting and arranging his captures. He was quite ready to followthe course his father proposed for him, and to enter the army. CaptainHargate had been a very gallant officer, and the despatches had spokenmost highly of the bravery with which he led his company into action inthe fight in which he lost his life. Therefore Mrs. Hargate hoped thatFrank would have little difficulty in obtaining a commission withoutpurchase when the time for his entering the army arrived.

  Frank's desire for a military life was based chiefly upon the fact thatit would enable him to travel to many parts of the world, and to indulgehis taste for natural history to the fullest. He was but ten yearsold when he left India with the regiment, but he had still a vividrecollection of the lovely butterflies and bright birds of that country.

  His father had been at pains to teach him that a student of naturalhistory must be more than a mere collector, and that like other sciencesit must be methodically studied. He possessed an excellent library ofbooks upon the subject, and although Frank might be ignorant of the nameof any bird or insect shown to him he could at once name the family andspecies.

  In the year which Frank had been at school at Dr. Parker's he had madefew intimate friends. His habits of solitary wandering and studiousindoor work had hindered his becoming the chum of any of hisschoolfellows, and this absence of intimacy had been increased by thefact that the straitness of his mother's means prevented his invitingany of his schoolfellows to his home. He had, indeed, brought one or twoof the boys, whose tastes lay in the direction of his own, to the house,to show them his collections of birds and insects. But he declined theirinvitations to visit them, as he was unable to return their hospitality,and was too proud to eat and drink at other fellows' houses when hecould not ask them to do the same at his own. It was understood at Dr.Parker's that Frank Hargate's people were poor, but it was known thathis father had been killed in battle. There are writers who depictboys as worshipers of wealth, and many pictures have been drawn of theslights and indignities to which boys, whose means are inferior to thoseof their schoolfellows, are subject. I am happy to believe that this isa libel. There are, it is true, toadies and tuft hunters among boys asamong men. That odious creature, the parasite of the Greek and Latinplays, exists still, but I do not believe that a boy is one whit theless liked, or is ever taunted with his poverty, provided he is a goodfellow. Most of the miseries endured by boys whose pocket money is lessabundant than that of their fellows are purely self inflicted. Boys andmen who are always on the lookout for slights will, of course, find whatthey seek. But the lad who is not ashamed of what is no fault of hisown, who frankly and manfully says, "I can't afford it," will not findthat he is in any way looked down upon by those of his schoolfellowswhose good opinion is in the smallest degree worth having.

  Certainly this was so in the case of Frank Hargate. He was never in theslightest degree ashamed of saying, "I can't afford it;" and the factthat he was the son of an officer killed in battle gave him a standingamong the best in the school in spite of his want of pocket money.

  Frank was friends with many of the fishermen, and these would oftenbring him strange fish and sea creatures brought up in their nets,instead of throwing them back into the sea.

  During the holidays he would sometimes go out with them for twenty-fourhours in their fishing-boats. His mother made no objection to this, asshe thought that the exercise and sea air were good for his health, andthat the change did him good. Frank himself was so fond of the sea thathe was half disposed to adopt it instead of the army as a profession.But his mother was strongly opposed to the idea, and won him to her wayof thinking by pointing out that although a sailor visits many ports hestays long at none of them, and that in the few hours' leave he mightoccasionally obtain he would be unable to carry out his favoritepursuits.

  "Hargate," Ruthven, who was one of the oldest of the House boys, andwas about Frank's age, that is about fifteen years old, said a few daysafter the match, "the Doctor has given Handcock and Jones and myselfleave to take a boat and go out this afternoon. We mean to start soonafter dinner, and shall take some lines and bait with us. We have gotleave till lockup, so we shall have a long afternoon of it. Will youcome with us?"

  "Thank you, Ruthven," Frank said; "I should like it very much, but youknow I'm short of pocket money, and I can't pay my share of the boat, soI would rather leave it alone."

  "Oh, nonsense, Hargate!" Ruthven answered; "we know money is not yourstrong point, but we really want you to go with us. You can manage aboat better than any of us, and you will really oblige us if you will gowith us."

  "Oh, if you put it in that way," Frank said, "I shall be glad to gowith you; but I do not think," he went on, looking at the sky, "that theweather looks very settled. However, if you do not mind the chance of aducking, I don't."

  "That's agreed then," Ruthven said; "will you meet us near the pier atthree o'clock?"

  "All right. I'll be punctual."

  At the appointed hour the four lads met on the beach. Ruthven and hiscompanions wanted to choose a light rowing boat, but Frank stronglyurged them to take a much larger and heavier one. "In the first place,"he said, "the wind is blowing off shore, and although it's calm hereit will be rougher farther out; and, unless I'm mistaken, the wind isgetting up fast. Besides this it will be much more comfortable to fishfrom a good sized boat."

  His comrades grumbled at the extra labor which the large boat wouldentail in rowing. However, they finally gave in and the boat waslaunched.

  "Look out, Master Hargate," the boatman said as they started; "you'dbest not go out too far, for the wind is freshening fast, and we shallhave, I think, a nasty night."

  The boys thought little of the warning, for the sky was bright andblue, broken only by a few gauzy white clouds which streaked it hereand there. They rowed out about a mile, and then laying in their oars,lowered their grapnel and began to fish. The sport was good. The fishbit freely and were rapidly hauled on board. Even Frank was so absorbedin the pursuit that he paid no attention to the changing aspect of thesky, the increasing roughness of the sea, or the rapidly rising wind.

  Suddenly a heavy drop or two of rain fell in the boat. All looked up.

  "We are in for a squall," Frank exclaimed, "and no mistake. I told youyou would get a ducking, Ruthven."

  He had scarcely spoken when the squall was upon them. A deluge of rainswept down, driven by a strong squall of wind.

  "Sit in the bottom of the boat,"
Frank said; "this is a snorter."

  Not a word was said for ten minutes, long before which all were drenchedto the skin. With the rain a sudden darkness had fallen, and the landwas entirely invisible. Frank looked anxiously towards the shore. Thesea was getting up fast, and the boat tugging and straining at thecord of the grapnel. He shook his head. "It looks very bad," he said tohimself. "If this squall does not abate we are going to have a bad timeof it."

  A quarter of an hour after it commenced the heavy downpour of rainceased, or rather changed into a driving sleet. It was still extremelydark, a thick lead colored cloud overspread the sky. Already the whitehorses showed how fast the sea was rising, and the wind showed no signsof falling with the cessation of the rain storm. The boat was laboringat her head rope and dipping her nose heavily into the waves.

  "Look here, you fellows," Frank shouted, "we must take to the oars. Ifthe rope were a long one we might ride here, but you know it little morethan reached the ground when we threw it out. I believe she's draggingalready, and even if she isn't she would pull her head under water withso short a rope when the sea gets up. We'd better get out the oars androw to shore, if we can, before the sea gets worse."

  The lads got up and looked round, and their faces grew pale and somewhatanxious as they saw how threatening was the aspect of the sea. They hadfour oars on board, and these were soon in the water and the grapnelhauled up. A few strokes sufficed to show them that with all four rowingthe boat's head could not be kept towards the shore, the wind taking itand turning the boat broadside on.

  "This will never do," Frank said. "I will steer and you row, two oars onone side and one on the other. I will take a spell presently.

  "Row steadily, Ruthven," he shouted; "don't spurt. We have a long rowbefore us and must not knock ourselves up at the beginning."

  For half an hour not a word was spoken beyond an occasional cheeryexhortation from Frank. The shore could be dimly seen at times throughthe driving mist, and Frank's heart sank as he recognized the fact thatit was further off than it had been when they first began to row. Thewind was blowing a gale now, and, although but two miles from shore, thesea was already rough for an open boat.

  "Here, Ruthven, you take a spell now," he said.

  Although the rowers had from time to time glanced over their shoulders,they could not, through the mist, form any idea of their position. WhenRuthven took the helm he exclaimed, "Good gracious, Frank! the shore ishardly visible. We are being blown out to sea."

  "I am afraid we are," Frank said; "but there is nothing to do but tokeep on rowing. The wind may lull or it may shift and give us a chanceof making for Ramsgate. The boat is a good sea boat, and may keep afloateven if we are driven out to sea. Or if we are missed from shore theymay send the lifeboat out after us. That is our best chance."

  In another quarter of an hour Ruthven was ready to take another spellat the oar. "I fear," Frank shouted to him as he climbed over the seat,"there is no chance whatever of making shore. All we've got to do is torow steadily and keep her head dead to wind. Two of us will do for that.You and I will row now, and let Handcock and Jones steer and rest byturns. Then when we are done up they can take our places."

  In another hour it was quite dark, save for the gray light from thefoaming water around. The wind was blowing stronger than ever, and itrequired the greatest care on the part of the steersman to keep her deadin the eye of the wind. Handcock was steering now, and Jones lying atthe bottom of the boat, where he was sheltered, at least from thewind. All the lads were plucky fellows and kept up a semblance ofgood spirits, but all in their hearts knew that their position was adesperate one.