CHAPTER XI.
To the Rescue.--A Long-tailed Tit's Nest.--A Shower of Feathers.
When they had made all snug, they set out for a walk through the town,and as the quay-side was not so pleasant as the open country, theydetermined not to sleep on board the yacht this night, but to sleep atan hotel. They therefore went to one by the beach and engaged beds. Theythen ordered and ate an uncommonly good dinner, at the close of whichthe waiter intimated to them that he had never seen any young gentlemenbefore who had such good appetites. After a due amount of rest they setout for a stroll. Presently they met a boy with a nest in his hand,which was evidently that of a long-tailed tit. They watched the boyjoin a gang of other boys, and after some conversation they took anumber of tiny white eggs out of the nest, and arranged them on theground in a row.
"By Jove, they are going to play 'hookey smash' with them. Whatheathens!" said Frank. The boy who had brought the eggs now took a stickand made a shot at one of the eggs, and smash it went. Another boy tooka stick and prepared to have his turn.
"I say, I can't stand this," said Frank. "Let us make a rush and rescuethe eggs," and suiting the action to the word, he ran forward, and witha well-applied shove of his foot to the inviting target which a stoopingboy presented to him, he sent him rolling into the gutter. Jimmy pickedup the nest and eggs, and then the three found themselves like Horatiusand his two companions when they kept the bridge against Lars Porsenaand his host, "facing fearful odds" in the shape of a dozen yellingstreet-boys.
Frank was a big lad for his age, and he stood in such an excellentboxing position, his blue eyes gleaming with such a Berserker rage, andJimmy and Dick backed him so manfully, that their opponents quailed, anddared not attack them save with foul language, of which they had aplentiful supply at command. Seeing that their enemies deemed discretionthe better part of valour, our three heroes linked themselves arm inarm, and marched home with their heads very high in air, and with aconscious feeling of superiority.
"What are you laughing at, Dick?" said Frank.
"At the cool way in which you robbed those fellows of their eggs. Youhad no right to do so. They _will_ wonder why you did it."
"Let them wonder. I was so savage at their spoiling those beautiful eggsin such a brutal manner. At the same time I acknowledge that it wasn'tmy business, no more than if it were their own ha'pence they weresmashing, but all the same I feel that we have done a very meritoriousaction."
They now found themselves at the quay-side, and they stopped there sometime, being much struck by the scene which presented itself to them asthey gazed out over Breydon Water. The tide was flowing in rapidly, andBreydon was one vast lake, at the further end of which, five miles away,the rivers Waveney and Yare joined it, and, at the end near Yarmouth,the Bure, down which they had just sailed. The breeze had risen to agale, and as it met the incoming tide it raised a sharp popply sea. Thesun was setting red and splendid over the far end behind a mass of blackfiery-edged cloud, through rents in which the brilliant light fell uponthe tossing waste of waters, and tipped each wave-crest with crimson.Above the cloud the sky was of a delicate pale green, in which floatedcloudlets or bars of gold, which were scarcely more ethereal-lookingthan the birds which breasted the gale with wavering flight. Out of thesunset light there came a gallant array of vessels making for theshelter of Yarmouth. Dark-sailed wherries with their peaks lowered andtheir sails half mast high, and yachts with every possible reef takenin, all dashing along at a great pace, notwithstanding the opposingtide, and each with a white lump of foam at its bows. The parallel rowsof posts which marked the sailing course stood out gaunt and grim, likewarders of the sunset gates, and the whole scene was wild andimpressive. It so moved Dick, that when they got back to their hotel hesat down, and tried his hand at making some verses descriptive of it.They are not good enough to quote, but Frank and Jimmy both thought themvery good, only they were not impartial critics.
As they were sitting in the coffee-room that evening, Jimmy said that heshould like to see how many feathers the long-tailed tit's nestcontained. It looked a regular hatful, and he wondered how the tiny birdcould have had the patience to collect so many. So he drew a small tableaside, and sat himself down at it with the nest before him, and then setto work to count the feathers, putting them in a pile at his right sideas he did so. Dick joined him, and the two worked away for a long timeat the monotonous task of counting. The feathers as they were piled uploosely on the table formed a big feather-heap.
Frank grew tired of watching them, and a wicked idea entered his head.The window near which they sat encountered the whole force of the wind.Frank lounged up to it, and, under cover of a question, undid the latch.
"How many are there?" he asked.
"We have counted 2,000, and there are about 300 more. We shall soonfinish."
"Shall you, indeed," said Frank, as he opened the window. The windrushed in, and catching the light feathers scattered them all over theroom, which was full of people, some reading, some eating, and someenjoying a nightcap of toddy. The feathers stuck everywhere--on thefood, in the glasses, sticking on hair and clothes, and tickling noses,and causing universal consternation.
LONG-TAILED TIT AND EGG.]
"Here's a pretty kettle of fish!" said Jimmy, looking up in dismay. "Howcould you, Frank?"
But Frank had vanished out of the window laughing incontinently, andDick and Jimmy were left alone to bear the storm of expostulations andreproaches with which they were favoured by the company, who thought thewhole affair was premeditated.