He only pointed to the water just below where they were standing, and where the head of Rover could be dimly seen in the gathering dusk of the evening, now rapidly closing in, splashing his way to the sh.o.r.e.

"Boys--save--quick--drown!" he stammered out brokenly. "Quick, quick!"

The men did not require any further explanation or incentive.

Without stopping to doff a garment, in they both plunged, boots and all; and, before the Captain knew that they were gone from his side, they had reached poor Rover, now quite exhausted, gallant dog though he was!

Then, one of the men grasping hold of Bob and the other catching hold of d.i.c.k, they swam with the two boys between them, still locked together, to the end of the rampart wall that jutted out over the water.

Here the Captain was ready and waiting to lean over and lend them a hand, keeping the while a steady purchase to his feet by the aid of his malacca stick, which possibly had never been of such service before; and, presently, the coastguardsmen, the boys, and Rover, who would not let go his young master's collar and was lifted out along with him, were all once more again on firm ground.

By this time, a small crowd of spectators had collected on the spot, composed princ.i.p.ally of persons who had come out for a walk round the castle and had their attention arrested by the scene pa.s.sing in the water below.

The majority of these now, in company with Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, hurried to the lower part of the rampart, which, on the side nearer the harbour, did not shelve down there so abruptly, broadening out by degrees to a wide flat surface where it joined the esplanade bordering the beach.

At this spot, the coastguardsmen laid down the rescued boys, who were quite insensible from their long immersion; when Rover, at length satisfied that his young master was ash.o.r.e and in safe hands, was persuaded to loose his grip of Bob's collar, contenting himself by venting his joy in a series of bounds and barks around his inanimate form and licking his apparently lifeless face.

Both Mrs Gilmour and the weeping Nellie thought they were dead.

"Poor boys!" sobbed the former, her tears falling in sympathy with those of the little girl, who was too stunned to speak. "But, what shall I say to Bob's mother? How can I tell her he is drowned?"

"Drowned? Not a bit of it--no more drowned than you are!" repeated the Captain, somewhat snappishly, his anxiety and excitement preventing him from speaking calmly, as he turned and bent over the inanimate bodies.

"Help me, men, to rouse them back to life."

The coastguardsmen bent down, too, and lifting the boys up were proceeding to lay them down again on their faces, when the Captain stopped them.

"You idiots!" he exclaimed. "What are you going to do, eh?"

"Why, to let the water run out of 'em, sir," replied the elder of the two, looking up in his face and touching his forelock with his finger in proper nautical salute. "Ain't that right, sir?"

"Hullo! that you, h.e.l.lyer?" cried the old gentleman, recollecting him as a former c.o.xswain. "Glad to see you again. By Jove, you came just now in the very nick of time to save these youngsters! Excuse me though; but, you've got hold of the same foolish idea a lot of other people have, that turning a poor half-drowned body upside down to empty him, as if he were a rum-cask, is the best way to recover him!"

"What should we do, sir?" asked the man with a grin. "I allers thought it were the right thing, sir?"

"Why, turn the poor fellows slightly a one side and then rub them smartly to restore the circulation," said the Captain promptly, suiting the action to the word; and, the next instant, he and the men were busily shampooing the boys till their arms ached. "Rub away, h.e.l.lyer; rub away!"

Rover growled at first on their touching Bob, apparently thinking the operation to mean an attack on his young master--he didn't mind what they did to d.i.c.k. But, presently he altered his opinion on the subject, helping so far as he could by means of barking and licking Bob's face and feet alternately to bring him back to consciousness.

In a short s.p.a.ce, although to the anxious onlookers it seemed hours, the efforts of the Captain and coastguardsmen were rewarded by Bob drawing a deep breath, which, it must be confessed, was sadly impregnated with the odour of tobacco from the air which h.e.l.lyer had puffed into his lungs to induce respiration!

This tobacco made poor Bob cough, but it likewise caused him to get rid of the greater portion of the sea-water he had swallowed; and after that, he opened first one eye and then the other and, finally, his mouth, exclaiming, much to the delight of Rover, who was just then in the act of licking his face, "Good dog!"

"Bravo!" cried the Captain, stopping his shampooing process on Bob's body and rubbing his own hands instead, in great glee. "Now we'll do!"

As for Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, they expressed their delight by almost hugging the little newly-recovered life out of Bob and giving way to fresh tears, only this time they cried for joy and not from grief; while Rover could not contain himself, whining in a sort of hysterical fashion between his loud yelps, and jumping up on every one around as if to say, "Oh, I am so glad, my young master's all right again!"

Aye, Bob was soon all right, getting on his feet and being able to stand without a.s.sistance, the only effect of his ducking being that he looked pale, as far as could be seen in the twilight.

He was, besides, most unmistakably, as wet as a drowned rat!

d.i.c.k took a little longer time to recover; but, shortly afterwards, he, too, was himself once more.

When things had arrived at this happy stage, the Captain, who had been put in a fidget by the crowd cl.u.s.tering round--'a pack of star-gazing fools' as he whispered pretty audibly to Mrs Gilmour--thought it was time to make a move.

"h.e.l.lyer, you and your shipmate had better call round at my house in the morning," he said to his old c.o.xswain, the elder of the two coastguardsmen. "You know my house, eh, the same old place?"

"Aye, aye, sir," replied the man, saluting as before. "We knows it well enough!"

"Then, good-night to you, and thank you both for your timely a.s.sistance," said the Captain, turning away with a touch to the brim of his hat in acknowledgment of their salute. "Come on, boys, you'll have to hurry home fast to prevent catching cold after your swim."

So saying and offering his arm to Mrs Gilmour, who was feeling faint after all the anxiety she had gone through, the brisk old gentleman led the way round the castle.

He insisted that Bob and d.i.c.k should run races across the common on their way towards the south parade, in which gymnastic display Miss Nellie and Rover both joined, for company sake as well as to set a good example; the big black retriever going over more ground than either of the compet.i.tors ere they reached 'The Moorings,' as Mrs Gilmour's house was christened.

"Won't you come in?" said Mrs Gilmour on their getting to the door, when the Captain raised his hat in token of adieu. "Do come in and have a rest, me dear Captain?"

"No, thanks, not up to cribbage to-night," he replied, shaking his head and chuckling. "Feel my old bones too sore from sliding down that confounded rampart. I mustn't keep you chattering here, however, for you've got to see about those youngsters. You are sure you don't mind the trouble of putting up my foundling d.i.c.k for the night, eh?"

"I should think not, especially after his jumping into the sea so n.o.bly after Bob; and the poor boy, sure, not able to swim either!" said she warmly. "d.i.c.k shall not only stop in my house to-night, but as long as you please to let him, I tell you; and sure it's always grateful I'll be to him."

"Well, then," cried the Captain, "there's no use my stopping yarning here like an old woman now that point is settled. You'd better go and see after the boys at once."

"Oh, I'll say after them," she answered, laughing at his impatience, as he almost pushed her within the doorway and rushed down the steps towards the gate--"I'll say after them, never fear!"

"Mind you put them between the blankets, and give them each something hot to drink when they turn in," he shouted back over the railings.

"I'll come round in the morning and give them a lecture to wake 'em up!"

With these last words, off he went; his malacca cane coming down with a thump on the pavement at every third step he took, until the sound died away in the distance--"Stump, Stump, Thump!--Stump, stump, Thump!-- Stump, stump, Thump!"

CHAPTER FIVE.

BOTH "SUITED."

d.i.c.k was now "in clover!"

Running away from a poor home and the tyranny of a cruel step-father, he had, in the first instance, providentially succeeded in getting 'a free pa.s.sage,' as the Captain expressed it, to Portsmouth, the goal of his fondest ambition.

Then, after thus successfully overcoming the obstacles that lay in the way of his going to sea, so far as this initial stage to that ultimate end was concerned, the lucky fellow, in addition to gaining the Captain's favour and making the acquaintance of Bob and Nellie, put the finishing-touch to his good fortune by winning over Mrs Gilmour to his side--a lady who, as a friend, was worth perhaps all the rest, she being true as steel and thoughtful and considerate in every way.

For the Captain's sake alone, she would willingly have given the poor homeless lad house-room; but, beyond that, she had taken a strong fancy to d.i.c.k from noticing his willing manner and anxiety to oblige those who had been kind to him at the station, an impression that was more than confirmed subsequently when she witnessed his gallant conduct in plunging into the water to try and save the impulsive Bob.

So, d.i.c.k was in clover!

Like Master Bob, he had his wet clothes stripped off as soon as he got within doors, and wrapped in warm blankets was put into an equally cosy little bed; a hot treacle posset being afterwards given to each boy when comfortably tucked in by Mrs Gilmour herself, which drink even Bob, accustomed as he was to good things, said was 'not so bad, you know,'

while to poor Lazarus-like d.i.c.k it tasted as nectar!

Nor was this the end of our runaway's good fortune.